Activism: Council of Canadians current report

There's some really good heartening information on these links below.

-Newsletter, April 2008

86% say Harper has no mandate in New Orleans for secretive trilateral agreement Council of Canadians representatives will be making their way to New Orleans in a few days to bring the message that Canadians do not want the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) – and we have the numbers to prove it. On the eve of the fourth annual leaders’ summit on the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the Council of Canadians released the results of a public opinion poll that shows an overwhelming majority of Canadians disagree with the main policy objectives of the secretive trilateral agreement, and that 86% want a public debate and vote on the deal in Parliament. Environics Research Group surveyed 1,007 Canadians from April 7 to 10 on whether or not they agreed with the SPP priorities of regulatory harmonization, energy integration, closer security links with the United States and bulk water exports. The results clearly show that Prime Minister Harper has no democratic mandate from Canadians for pursuing continental integration with his Mexican and American counterparts. Council of Canadians’ chairperson Maude Barlow will be taking the message of widespread Canadian opposition to the SPP to New Orleans next week, where she will be participating in a People’s Summit, which has been timed to coincide with the official leader’s summit from April 21-22. The People’s Summit is being organized by grassroots groups in New Orleans, who have invited international civil society organizations to discuss the SPP and the likely impact of its corporate goals on on North American communities. For regular updates on the SPP Summit April 21 and 22, and to see the full results of our Environics poll, visit http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/ To read more about the People’s Summit, visit http://www.summitneworleans.org/ "Caution Nafta at work" Photo courtesy of the People's Summit Here’s more about what’s new at the Council of Canadians: Canada takes a shameful position on the Right to Water Even magnifying glasses can’t reveal inter-provincial trade barriers Victory! Grassroots people power protects park Victory! Nova Scotians win support to hold onto uranium mining moratorium Victory! Industry Minister blocks sale of Canadian space company to U.S. following public protest

Canada's oil Sands a massive disaster!!

I have a little news for everyone .. the militarization and annexation of Canada is nearly complete - the US and Israeli bombers must fly.

Untilt Canada has a truly green Prime Minister, this is going to stay OPEN, no matter what or the US will withdraw the military contracts that our Trade Minister so eagerly laps up.

Virginia

Canada’s Oil Sands A Massive Disaster: Green Group

OTTAWA - Canada’s massive oil sands are “the most destructive project on earth” and the federal government must intervene to clean up the mess, a leading green group said on Friday.

Environmental Defense said excavation of the oil sands in the western province of Alberta — home to the richest petroleum deposits outside the Middle East — is producing vast amounts of greenhouse gases and poisoning local water supplies.

“This is Canada’s problem — our federal elected leaders need to clean it up or shut it down,” said Aaron Freeman of Environmental Defence.

The group called on the Conservative government to impose a firm cap on emissions from the oil sands and enforce regulations designed to prevent pollution.

The process to strip the tar-like bitumen out of the sands and turn it into synthetic crude oil is very energy intensive.

Alberta is a Conservative Party stronghold and critics say the government does not want to alienate the powerful energy industry by clamping down. Ottawa denies the charge and says a plan it unveiled last year will cut overall emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.

“All the major polluters, emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, will have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and that includes the oil sands,” said Mark Warawa, parliamentary secretary to the environment minister.

The Alberta provincial government says it has issued leases for 4,264 oil sands projects covering 25,065 square miles . New projects costing more than C$100 billion are on the books for the oil sands region and production is expected to triple to 3 million barrels a day by 2015.

($1=$1.01 Canadian)

Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Galloway

One more example of Jim Prentice's economic "bailout" plan, get more defense contracts!!

I don't post all these .. I just make sure I get them.

Why, because I believe that Jim Prentice is doing influence peddling - that old timey Canadian special ee all it tee.

I watch to see what trade deals he announces to see if they are ALL defense related.

Here is but one more example so you can "catch my drift". When a riding gets testy, the Conserves march in with a bit of a plum, but that is all except for getting US defense contracts that I can actually detect.

Those small business jets are just great for rendition .. and members of the Competitiveness Council. He looks after the fascists very very well. Seen any contracts for windmills or solar panels signed recently??

Veeger

LONDON, Ontario, February 16, 2008 -- The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, announced today a $19.6-million repayable investment in Diamond D-JET Corporation (Diamond) of London, Ontario for the pre-competitive research and development (R&D) of an all-composite, single-engine, five-passenger jet aircraft.

"The Government of Canada, guided by our Science and Technology Strategy, supports Canadian researchers and innovators in developing new ideas and bringing them to the marketplace," said Minister Prentice. "By enabling Diamond to expand its technological capabilities, the D-JET project will build on Canadian strengths and help maintain Canada's place as a world leader in small all-composite aircraft."

The $95.2-million D-JET program will allow Diamond to develop expertise in a new class of aircraft, small business jets, and continue to excel in the development of products for general aviation. Additional benefits of the program include attracting foreign investment to Canada and leveraging private sector investment in R&D, both of which will create significant economic benefits, particularly in the London region.

"“This R&D program is critical to helping our company become a major player in the rapid growth of the very light jet market," said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond D-JET Corporation and Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. "With its single engine and innovative composite construction, the D-JET redefines personal air transportation in terms of affordability and environmental impact."

This project will be funded through the new Strategic Aerospace Defence Initiative (SADI). SADI is managed by the Industrial Technologies Office, a Special Operating Agency of Industry Canada with a mandate to advance leading-edge R&D by Canadian aerospace and defence industries.

The Canadian copyright law storm/what you can do

New copyright law starts Web storm

Mathew Ingram, December 9, 2007 at 7:10 PM EST

The federal government is expected to release the latest version of a new copyright law this week, but it has already whipped up a storm of negative publicity on the Internet – a blogosphere and Facebook tsunami with Industry Minister Jim Prentice at the centre.

One of the architects of this storm is Dr. Michael Geist, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and an expert in copyright and the Internet, who says he is afraid that the new law will copy the worst aspects of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Among other things, Geist says, the legislation will likely "mirror the DMCA with strong anti-circumvention legislation - far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties," and will likely contain no protection for "flexible fair dealing. No parody exception. No time shifting exception. No device shifting exception. No expanded backup provision. Nothing."

Dr. Geist has posted a YouTube video that lists 30 ways in which people can protest the legislation, and has set up a Facebook group as a central rallying point for those opposed to the new legislation.

The law professor's fight has also been adopted by half a dozen influential blogs, including Boing Boing, whose co-founder Cory Doctorow is a Canadian author and former Electronic Frontier Foundation staffer.

In a recent post, Doctorow wrote that "The US’s approach to enforcing copyright in the digital age has resulted in 20,000 lawsuits against music fans, technology companies being sued out of existence for making new multi-purpose tools, and has not put one penny into the pocket of an artist or reduced downloading one bit. The USA stepped into uncharted territory in 1998 with the DMCA and fell off a cliff — that was reckless, but following them off the cliff is insane."

Canadian copyright lawyer Howard Knopf has also been blogging about the legislation, and CBC's Search Engine show tried to get Jim Prentice to come on and do an interview, and solicited questions from readers (host Jesse Brown got more than 240 responses) but the minister said he couldn't go on the program.

The Facebook group Geist set up has more than 10,000 members after less than a week, and helped to generate a small but opinionated crowd of vocal critics who gathered at an open house event held by the Industry Minister in his home riding in Calgary on Saturday.

Other sites that have been following the issue include Fair Copyright and Digital Copyright Canada as well as Online Rights Canada

Prentice: We need to 'demystify' the SPP

OH, yeah, us conspiracy theorists, we were so WRONG when we said it existed!


Jim Prentice, the federal Industry Minister, says governments and business leaders in North America must do a better job of selling the virtues of closer economic and security links among the three countries.

In a speech Tuesday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, he said there is an urgent need to "demystify" the push to closer ties among Canada, the United States and Mexico, as outlined in the Security and Prosperity Partnership launched in March of 2005.

“The objective of the SPP is both to advance security and remove challenges that undermine North American prosperity — our prosperity. Jammed borders, broken supply chains and reduced tourism can quickly lead to lost jobs. Ordinary Canadians and Americans can identify with these issues,” Mr. Prentice said, according to a prepared text of his speech. “If we fail to explain the partnership’s objectives and benefits, then it isn’t likely to be very useful in meeting all these challenges to our prosperity.”

The business community has championed the SPP as a way of reducing regulatory burdens among the three countries, and clearing logjams at the Canada-U.S. border crossing. But it has been a target of political activists and conspiracy theorists. Critics say it will lead to a building of a European Union-style government for North America and strip sovereignty from Canadian policy makers.