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If people no longer expect objectivity from their political and legal systems, then all justice will be reduced to a power struggle between conflicting and irreconcilable perspectives, a struggle in which the most dominant and pervasive bias will replace fair and impartial process as the character of justice. But if objectivity in law and politics is everywhere supplanted by conflict between subjective interests, then the side of economic privilege and established authority will always retain dominance. A society in which people no longer expect representatives of its major institutions even to attempt to render objectivity in their professional demeanours is a society whose major institutions are in a crisis of ethical legitimacy. In such a society, there is wide spread cynicism regarding the possibility of fair political process because it seems impossible that impartial, unbiased dispositions could exist to enact such processes.
Robert Nicholls
Language and Logic
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Chinese Firm Huawei In Control of UK Net Filters
Why are UK politicians handing over control of the internet to the communists?
It's obvious that the politicians are corrupt.
Solution: develop checks and balances that prevent corrupt politicians from damaging the national security interests of democracy. Politicians should not be allowed to sell out their country.
We need to develop systems that automatically deal with politicians who work for the enemy.
No sane patriot would hand over assets to the communists, not for anything, no surrender.
The people need to organize in support of democratic state sovereignty and security.
Irresponsible traitors will try to bring down our free society and all it has accomplished from within, the people must support the state, and the state must support the people. A symbiotic relationship.
Society is worth preserving, our freedom and the peace that it underpins are not to be cast aside.
Under no circumstance are politicians justified in selling off control to foreign totalitarian regimes.
The only reason you have rights, the only reason you have democracy is because of the people in the security services and military who volunteer to risk their lives to protect your constitutional rights. If we did not have forces to defend our state security we would not have a state, and with no state we would not be guaranteed constitutional freedom, or a vote, or any sort of basic security.
I very much doubt that MI6 would approve of handing over the keys to the intelligence store to a company founded by a highly placed Chinese Communist military officer. The problem is that the corrupt and incompetent politicians do not listen to the state funded advice provided to them, and in so doing disregard the national security interests of the people. Political re-adjustment is both possible and necessary. Just as the constitution acts as parameters for political action, the national security rights of the public should be enshrined in some kind of parameter that would prevent politicians from betraying state security. If we have freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom to vote, freedom of the press, and general freedom of conscience, than why do we not have freedom from politicians who sell out national security. Security is the ultimate freedom in that it underpins all else.
Democracy will only last so long as the security services can guarantee its continued existence.
Support the troops, and when you vote, vote to give our lads a fighting chance.
Chinese Firm Huawei In Control of UK Net Filters
Chinese firm Huawei controls net filter praised by PM
UK to review involvement of Huawei in Oxfordshire cybersecurity centre, as firm denies spying claims
Britain to review Huawei's UK-based cyber center
Former US Spy Chief Says Huawei Spies For China
Why Xi Jinping's 'Anti-Corruption Campaign' Is Hollow, Unserious, and Ultimately Doomed
Slaying of watermelon seller triggers fresh anger in China
Vigil at Chinese Embassy Marks 14 Years of Persecution
Persecution of Falun Gong Continues Unabated
Party Official, Undercover, Publishes Book on Tibet
Faith and human rights groups join in condemning Chinese regime’s human rights abuses
China’s salami-slice strategy
Japan Alarmed By China’s Air and Naval Surveillance
China Coast Guard ships confront Japanese cutters
Dark days for China and the Philippines
PLA Navy to Begin First Strategic Missile Submarine Patrols Next Year
US Should Take Lead Against Organ Harvesting in China, Says Doctor
Will U.S. Face Trade Sanctions for Anti-Smoking Law?
Obama Administration Stands Firm on ‘Dolphin-Safe’ Tuna Labels; Will the WTO Authorize Trade Sanctions?
Is Economics a Science or a Religion?
There’s nothing partisan about disclosure of political spending
Corporations Express Fear of Democracy
What the Prince of Cambridge can teach the United States about the benefits of a single payer health care system
Expert: Cuba could hit U.S. with EMP death blow
Panama finds MiG fighter jets on North Korean arms ship
Mike Rogers: China, Iran, and Russia Launching Cyber Attacks Against U.S.
Russia opposition leader freed on bail, protests rattle Kremlin
Russia's top lawyers sound alarm about government abuse of the Constitution
Egypt starts amending constitution despite political divisions
New Egyptian PM seeks dialogue, end to divisions
Islamist-Kurdish fighting spreads in rebel-held Syria
Water Crisis in the Middle East
Kitimat ocean program set for oil tankers
‘Nobody understands’ spills at Alberta oil sands operation
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Adjournment Proceedings Canada-China FIPA
Time to Put the Pieces of the Puzzle in Place
Elizabeth May
"Energy security would start by establishing the principle that we only export once domestic needs are met."
If all the key pieces of Canada’s energy future – the climate crisis, a prosperous economy, labour issues, east-west connectivity, energy efficiency, technological innovation, federal-provincial relations – were jigsaw pieces on our collective family table, it would be worthwhile to find the picture on the box the pieces came in.
The cover of the box, a glorious sustainable energy roadmap, would depict where we want to be, with: a meaningful carbon reduction plan; phasing out coal across the land; bringing in energy conservation and efficiency standards; producing far more energy from renewable sources; applying cleantech solutions broadly; paying attention to energy security; and shifting from a strategy of rapid export of unprocessed product to managed production at a steady rate of upgraded and refined product, with value-added creating far more employment in oil production while energy efficiency targets create jobs everywhere in overhauling our built infrastructure.
In the case of the current energy debate, the dialogue is so devoid of content that one cannot dignify the noise by calling it debate. Back to that Canadian family table with all the jigsaw pieces we need to fit together, sadly, the family cat got on the table knocking most of the pieces to the floor, while toddlers argue over the three remaining pieces shouting “Mine!”
A grown-up discussion starts with acknowledging that Canada needs an energy strategy. Federal and provincial jurisdictions respected, we need to think like a country. Rather than pit one region against another, we should start the conversation by setting out some over-arching goals.
Energy touches everything. A discussion about an energy strategy is not fundamentally about the oil sands. The oil sands are part of the conversation, but, back to our puzzle metaphor, those toddlers are fighting over the oil sands pieces of the puzzle. Nothing gets solved that way.
National goals should include:
1. Energy security
2. Energy pricing
3. An effective greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plan for the needed transition to a post-carbon economy
4. Full employment goals
5. The promotion of innovation and competitiveness in Canada
6. Social justice; ending energy poverty
7. Energy strategies for a resourceful and resilient Canada
Taken separately, we could be fighting over these individual elements without resolution. Taken together in a grown-up conversation, they all fit together.
Starting with energy security. Right now, if there were a disruption of supply from OPEC nations, most Canadians would have no home heating oil, no gas, and eastern refineries would be in crisis. While debating how best to export as quickly as possible, as much as possible, raw, virtually unprocessed bitumen, more than half of Canada is dependent on imports of foreign oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and Norway. As Gordon Laxer of the Parkland Institute identified, Canada has no energy security. Unlike the US, we have no Strategic Petroleum Reserves. If there was a blockade of foreign oil or economic embargo, those in Eastern Canada would have to wait for tankers to bring them bitumen for processing through the Panama Canal and up the eastern seaboard. As bizarre as that sounds, it was the solution offered by a Suncor executive when asked in Natural Resources Committee about the vulnerability of Eastern Canada to embargos.
The irony is that the dividing line of foreign oil to the east and Alberta oil for the west was the result of deliberate government policy – aimed at helping the Alberta oil and gas sector. Back in 1961, the National Oil Policy decreed that eastern Canadians (east of the Ottawa River) would only receive imported oil while those in the West had to purchase Alberta product. By deliberate policy, Eastern Canadians became dependent on foreign oil, while Alberta oil was consumed by those in western provinces and exported to the US. Now it is time to think like a country.
We also need to improve our east-west electricity grid to allow renewable-rich provinces to export to provinces with less.
The current proposal to link us east-west also makes no sense. Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna has proposed shipping unprocessed bitumen to Saint John, NB, to put it in tankers and export it from there.
Energy security would start by establishing the principle that we only export once domestic needs are met.
That brings us to the importance of maximizing employment opportunities. It makes much more sense for Canada to upgrade the bitumen, before trying to make it sufficiently fluid to flow in pipelines. Bitumen is not crude oil. And it isn’t even oil at all. It is thick and solid, described as being the consistency of peanut butter. (Before mining, bitumen is 10 percent of the volume of soils, then described as being the consistency of molasses. Oil-like analogies seem to run to food.)
To make it flow, a naphtha-like fossil fuel substance, called a diluent, is added. All the controversial pipelines now under debate (Keystone XL, Enbridge’s Line 9 and Northern Gateway), are intended to carry a 70-30 mixture of bitumen and diluents – brilliantly described as “dilbit.” According to Enbridge’s evidence in the NEB hearings, its twinned pipeline will carry imported diluents from Kitimat to Alberta to be mixed with the bitumen. And the diluents will be purchased from the Middle East, and put in tankers to Canada. So much for being a domestic source of oil.
Back to energy security, jobs and minimizing environmental risks, if the bitumen was upgraded to synthetic crude in Alberta we wouldn’t be talking about moving the most hazardous of all spillable fossil fuels. Check out the US government reports on the findings about the Enbridge spill in the Kalamazoo River to understand how much more damaging dilbit is in the natural environment than any other pre-crude, as well as how much more challenging and expensive it is to clean up a spill. The summer 2010 Kalamazoo spill is still not completely cleaned up.
Prior to the 2008 recession, several upgraders were planned for northern Alberta. Once the recession ended, the multinationals with under-capacity refineries for unconventional oil looked south to the refineries already built and sitting on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Alberta upgraders were cancelled and replaced with a pipeline proposal to move dilbit to US refineries. No wonder the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union, representing most of the energy patch workforce, is against the Keystone XL pipeline. It’s taking jobs previously slated for Alberta.
One reason the upgraders were cancelled is that what the late Peter Lougheed used to call “the traffic jam.” The hyper-inflationary bubble over northern Alberta is created by the push for constantly expanding production targets. Labour and capital are both scarce and pricey. (This is the explanation for Stephen Harper’s remarkable transformation regarding China. From his holier than thou treatment of the People’s Republic of China over the Beijing Olympics to the compliant, “Where do I sign?” greeting to President Hu in Vladivostok last September, when he penned the Canada-China Investment Treaty. There just isn’t enough capital from profit-oriented private sector oil multinationals to keep building new, and potentially unprofitable, oil sands mines without China).
We could with a bit of the planned approach, once advocated by Peter Lougheed, produce a steady amount of oil, upgraded and refined in Canada. Without the “traffic jam,” the industry could afford to build the ancillary infrastructure of upgrading and refining. We could do so within a plan for dramatically reduced GHG from Canada, by shutting down all coal-fired power plants, following the lead of another former premier, Dalton McGuinty. The carbon reduction plan would have the benefit of diversifying our energy sector with the commercialization of renewable energy – from wind, sun, geo-thermal, tidal. We also need to improve our east-west electricity grid to allow renewable-rich provinces to export to provinces with less.
It would create jobs in all parts of Canada through the retrofitting of buildings – commercial, institutional, residential – from energy wasters to energy misers, as well as through investments in modern, convenient mass transit.
The cleantech sector has the potential of becoming a $60 billion contributor to the Canadian economy within only seven years, according to a study by the Pembina Institute. Our myopic focus on the oil sands, as if it were the only part of Canadian economy that mattered, is blinding us to other and better opportunities. As the World Energy Outlook, reproduced by the International Energy Agency, pointed out, the world is coming to the realization that we must keep at least two-thirds of all known reserves of fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avoid such catastrophic levels of climate change that we put our very survival as organized societies and successful economies at risk.
A major new report from the UK, “Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets,” engaged the talents and expertise of Sir Nicholas Stern through a collaborative research project involving Carbon Tracker and the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The result is a new concept – the “carbon bubble.” The essence of their work is this – a great deal of the stated value of stock exchanges around the world is in unburnable fossil fuels. The level of capital expenditure in developing those reserves over the next decade would amount to $6.74 trillion in wasted capital – developing reserves that simply cannot be burned.
This new realization of the “carbon bubble” means that fossil fuel investments could very rapidly become stranded investments leading to financial ruin.
No harm can ever come from diversifying an economy. And that diversification and embrace of clean tech will help address our growing productivity gap with the US through innovation and R&D.
Sustainable energy is attainable. Stopping the waste of energy, noting that more than one half of all the energy Canada uses is lost as waste, is essential. There is no excuse for not getting it done.
Originally published in Policy Magazine.
Apache spill is one of Alberta's largest pipeline ruptures
Kinder Morgan reports oil leak near Merritt, BC
Regulator, industry find oilsands cleanup harder than first thought
Mining, oil and gas companies to face tougher rules around disclosing payments
New BC Liberal government raises pay for political staff
Steelworkers rally against low wage Temporary Foreign Worker Scam
Insight: In Washington, lawmakers' routines shaped by fundraising
^This is a major problem, lawmakers spend so much time begging for money they have no time to actually lead the country. And what happens with all that money, it gets spent buying political ads that do nothing to enhance the quality of political discourse, buying political staff and spin doctors who contribute nothing to society but counter productive ideological talking points, and further the legislative agenda of a class of people who have demonstrated that their business interests are not aligned with the national interest of our society. The problem is not democracy, the problem is that money in politics has blocked democracy from being able to efficiently function. Money in politics is a threat to national security.Time for a change at the White House (de)regulatory office
Obama's Top Trade Official Nominee: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
On June 12, House will approve the “AIG Bailout Certainty
Senkaku Islands are "core interest" of China, Xi tells Obama
In New Book, Former US Army Officer Warns of Romancing China
China buildup generates fear in Asia-Pacific
South China Sea row risks wider clashes
The Nicaragua Canal: China’s Secret Motive
Russian protesters march as Putin seeks firmer political footing
Heavy Pressure Led to Decision by Obama on Syrian Arms
Lebanon threatens retaliation against future Syrian attacks
War of words over anti-aircraft missiles could escalate
Could Syria ignite World War 3? That's the terrifying question as the hatred between two Muslim ideologies sucks in the world's superpowers.
Assad threatens attack against Israel
Wars over water will be everywhere in Africa
Egypt threatens to beat war drums for the Nile
Sunday, June 9, 2013
China And The Biggest Territory Grab Since World War II
China And The Biggest Territory Grab Since World War II
China’s Stealth Wars
For China, hacking may be all about Sun Tzu and World War III
UN fears for young North Korean defectors sent home by China
Chinese think tank warns of military clashes with Japan
China angry and nervous as Japan joins arms with India
After Scarborough, is Ayungin next? Chinese general boasts of takeover
PH tells China: Don’t tell us what to do within our territory
Chinese Kids Brainwashed into Killing Machines
Show of Force: The Growth of the Chinese Military
China moves against U.S. pivot to Asia with stepped up military, diplomatic economic ties to Americas
Brother-in-law of Chinese Nobel winner jailed for 11 years
China's Tiananmen Mothers criticize Xi for lack of reforms
US Commander Issues Stern Warning on S. China Sea Disputes
America and China: The summit
As Beijing becomes more bellicose, Washington clings to the hope that military-to-military relations will somehow relieve tensions. They won't.
The India vs. China Border Standoff: Lessons Learned
With troops and techies, U.S. prepares for cyber warfare
Nuclear Weapons: How Few Is Too Few?
Best Case For Sequester Is Still Disaster, Top Experts Say
Tanks in Beirut as Syria protest leaves one dead
Hezbollah leader says terror org ready to wage war on Israel
As Syrian Fighting Nears Border, Israel Considers Its Options
Mideast War in Our Time?
Russia to keep a dozen ships in Mediterranean to protect its national security
Russia to send nuclear submarines to southern seas
Russia Is Upping The Ante By Sending Its Only Aircraft Carrier To The Mediterranean
Tens of thousands on streets, Turkish PM Erdogan defiant
Fears of "Ottoman revival" explode in Turkey
Egyptian draft law said to dash hopes of free civil society
From Arab Spring to Global Revolution, Age of Upheaval
Obama’s Covert Trade Deal
Unemployed workers march on U.S. Chamber headquarters after 150 mile
President to seek fast track authority to override congress, push through “trade” deals
Motorola's Moto X Phone Will Be Part Assembled in America
Illinois becomes 14th state to back constitutional amendment to allow limits on election
A message From Public Citizen:
" We must be heroes.
Corporate greed has infected every aspect of our lives.
Corporations are taking over our elections.
Emboldened by the Supreme Court’s dumbfounding Citizens United ruling, corporations are buying off politicians left and right. I really don’t know how we can expect democracy to survive if we allow dollars to trump votes.
Corporations are taking over the media.
Mainstream newspapers, radio stations and television networks are giving up on investigating corporate wrongdoing and, too often, devolving to be little more than plasterers of pro-corporate propaganda. The infamous billionaire Koch Brothers — who have spent hundreds of millions meddling with elections and who don’t believe in climate science — are now trying to buy venerable papers like the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.
Corporations are taking over national sovereignty.
Not content merely with record profits in the United States, corporations like Apple, Pfizer and Citgroup are offshoring profits to avoid their fair share of taxes while simultaneously backing absurd multinational “trade” pacts that pit countries against each other in a race to the bottom for food and product safety, labor standards, and environmental protections.
And we need to fight back with all the strength and passion we can summon. This isn’t just about safeguarding consumers from unsafe products or corporate rip-offs. This isn’t just about advancing progressive ideals like fairness, justice and the American Dream.
This is about standing up — together — to save our country, our fellow citizens spanning the globe, our planet itself from the contagion of corporate power. "
Controversy over temporary foreign miners prompts flood of angry letters
Another pipeline rupture in spill-prone Alberta
Alberta Tory MP Brent Rathgeber quits caucus
``I would submit that if the House does not jealously protect the rights of the members to bring forward matters of concern to their constituents ... the role of the private member, and Parliament and ultimately democracy have all equally been compromised.''
Neoliberal Attacks on the Idea of the Nation State
Human Rights Clause in EU Pact Gives Harper Gov't Pause
Candidates can lie about their finances or omit details thanks to MLAs who nixed penalty
Christy Clark Discloses Zero Assets
Province denies firings aimed to protect BC Liberal donors' profits
NDP tables second wave of legislation to protect lakes and rivers
Canada Defence Minister wants greater military exchange with China
Raise Oil Sands Tax, Save Alberta (and Our Climate)
Three reasons BC's Northern Gateway rejection is 'good politics'
'What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?': Exxon CEO
Friday, May 24, 2013
Questions Remain in HD Mining Case
Key evidence was struck from the record in federal court, say unions.
Chinagate: Who's Minding the Resource Store?
Asia tension could lead to conflict—DFA chief
China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland
China should not be a "free rider" in global trade, the EU's trade commissioner has warned.
Report Hits Out At China's Black Jails, Self-Immolations
Activists Warned Off Tiananmen Memorial March
Toxic Rice Highlights China's Lack of Openness on Pollution
Kinder Morgan takes next step in its Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion plan
Bitumen Doesn't Float
Activists demand public hearings for coal export project
USDA Stands Firm on Consumer Meat Labels, but Will the WTO Continue its Anti-Consumer Legacy and Authorize Trade Sanctions?
RECAP FROM LIMA: Experts, Activists, and Peruvian Members of Congress Rally Against the TPP
London on edge and police fill the street as public beheading stokes ethnic tensions
Stockholm calmer but violence spreads outside Swedish capital
Accused in alleged terror plot seeks lawyer who will use Qu'ran as 'reference'
Canadian drug policy experts recommend decriminalizing all drugs
Russia’s top military officer skeptical about further nuclear arms cuts
Police agency Interpol quashes Russian bid to hunt down UK investor
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Court dismisses union challenge of temporary foreign worker permits
Court dismisses union challenge of temporary foreign worker permits
If there is one thing that this entire incident has proven, it is that Unions are the only political force left that will protect the people. It was the Unions that stood up for us, not business, not government. I was raised to hate unions, anti-union propaganda everywhere, but when the chips fell and everything was on the line the only thing that stood up for us was the Unions. The Unions make every effort to protect our jobs, our communities, to stop unfair trade treaties, to protect workers health and safety, to protect our national sovereignty, to defend the middle class from the 1%. Unions are the reason we have weekends, property, savings, education. Unions prevent slavery and the temporary foreign worker program is the evidence. Unions have proven to be almost as important as the military as a mechanism for national defense. God bless Tommy Douglas and his Big Government National Health Care. God bless Big Government for winning World War II.
Everything political is a matter of organization, just look at how we the people have suffered national humiliation under big business and foreign powers. The answer to this is that we unite and organize into a political entity that sets objectives based on the interests of the people.
Big Government wins wars.
It is the only force capable of this, and we must gain power over it.
God bless the Unions.
God bless the Military.
God bless the Police.
God bless National Health Care.
God bless any Public institution that Defends the People.
We are public citizens, it is our duty to uphold our society.
Trust must be re-build between Government and Citizenry.
Individualism will not save us from this decline, collectivism will.
We must establish a new social contract, one where we take on greater responsibility for society in return for a government that backs us up when we need it too. What we have now is an arrangement where everyone looks out for themselves, big business attacks our countries, while citizens behave with extreme irresponsibility. This does not work. We need to look out for each other, work as a team. Whether you believe in god or not is irrelevant to the fact that Christianity was a code of conduct that provided a cohesive and functional social order. This is now gone and we are seeing the result.
Government should protect our people from both military and economic attacks. Government should protect our people from the conspiracies of the elite. Government should be a part of our family, our community. We should be the government, our interests should be represented in government.
Our government should be concerned with providing us with jobs, affordable housing, and education. Not catering to a foreign elite who stifle citizen opportunity, inflate housing prices, and destroy the cultural cohesiveness and values of our once prosperous communities.
It is your responsibility to take care of yourself and your community. Eat right, exercise, don't use drugs or alcohol, educate yourself, work hard, pay your taxes, commit everything to building up the society around you. Live below your means and invest the excess wisely. Become a kinder, more patient person and be ethical. When you speak to people, say what you mean, be genuine. The biggest problem the world faces is one of communication, be genuine and don't judge. Have a heart. Commit to being a better person, commit your life and time to achieving a better world around you. Chose your spouse carefully and stick with them. Take care of them and your children for the rest of your life. Stop this endless cycle of broken homes and social problems. Learn to love, then learn to love the whole of society as it where your own family, because it is.
Time is something that people don't understand. That is why lives are wasted. That is why civilizations fall. When people only experience the now they lose context of where they have come from and where they are going. When the links of communication through time have been broken, knowledge and purpose are lost. Do not fall to distraction. Imagine where you will be when you are old and what you have accomplished. Realize that all those short term meaningless distractions did not contribute one bit to you getting to where you want to be. Stop making excuses and do it. Stop complaining about things and change them. Figure out what you want and then get the skills and knowledge required for you to be in a position to contribute to the vision you have.
We need to create of society of no excuses and no judgement, one where we are all focused on solving problems. A society that has a government that cares for the people and a people that cares for the government. A seamless, symbiotic culture of achievement.
Failure is a result of the actions of both the citizen and the administrator, but so is success.
Yes government has failed us in many ways, but don't fall for the anti-government propaganda preached by big business and foreign powers. We need a cultural new deal.
Bill Gertz On Obama's US Nuclear Force Cuts
China’s nuclear program still shrouded in secrecy
Old School Chinese Espionage Behind Alleged NYU Theft
Ai Weiwei rages against state abuses in song
Syrians reported attacking the Israelis on daily basis along Golan Heights
Israeli air force chief says military needs to be ready for 'surprise war' from Syria
Moscow warns Jerusalem about attacking Syria
Hezbollah forces mass on Israel’s northern border
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister: Iran is Positioning Itself to Become a Nuclear Superpower
The World is Entering a Pre-Collapse State
Immigrants riot in Stockholm
Man dead in suspected London terror attack
Major anti-worker trade legislation appears increasingly likely to clear Congress
Loblaws Only Canadian Firm to Endorse Worker Safety Accord in Bangladesh
Difficult Truths about 'Difficult Oil', Must transition to Nuclear Power
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Elizabeth May Speaking at Falun Dafa Month Rally on Parliament Hill
Elizabeth May Speaking at Falun Dafa Month Rally on Parliament Hill
" The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned the practice of Falun Gong in 1999, using tactics employed against peaceful Falun practitioners including imprisonment, forced labour, torture, murder, Orwellian indoctrination and even allegations of live organ extraction.
Help Elizabeth push the Canadian government to tell the Chinese government to stop their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Sign or download her petition, get as many people as possible to sign it, and mail it – postage free – to either her Ottawa or Sidney offices. With as few as 25 signatures, Elizabeth can present your petition to the government in the House of Commons. "
Elizabeth May is one in a million. A politician that stands for ideals that you can trust. As you all know politicians are usually the worst kind of people on the planet. The vast majority of politicians have no bravery, they go along with the crowd and never stand for anything. Politicians are usually the opposite of leaders. Politicians go along with our flawed and corrupt systems without ever taking the risk of standing for real change. We are all human, we want to love one another, but the world that we want is not the world that we have. Nothing will change if we do not act to change it, and that requires bravery. The calculation of a better world is not a cold equation of personal gain and power, a better world is build by devotion to sacrifice.
We like to pretend that we are ok as a society, but we are not. Money and violence rules humanity as it always has, and through the process of globalization our responsibility for the ongoing atrocity has been collectivized. Our political processes are games between organized gangs of thugs, just as they always have been. The objective is and always has been to keep you addicted to the things that don't matter and ignorant of the things that do.
I don't want this. I don't want to feed this beast. It will only get bigger. I don't want a world where our money, our labour, our tears and the blood of our sons are spent to enrich foreign dictators. I don't want the money that I spend to be used to oppress people for the ideas that they have. I don't want to engage in a commercial system that enriches psychopaths and hurts ordinary people.
Long ago the ruling families were bound by family ties, today our political entities are bound by commercial ties. Money binds your "representatives" to histories greatest monsters. Money enables "democracy" to occur without informed debate or fair choice. Money makes law. I am not against wealth, in fact I view it as something virtuous, so long as it is paired with moral purpose.
I am not a radical for wanting to ensure that we live in a world with human rights, democracy, an educated and informed citizenry. This is not the world we are currently building.
The only radicals I see are the thugs in the 1% who want to maintain their power through any means necessary. And it is through this they lose what it is that they seek to gain.
What scares the elite is that Elizabeth May is the most powerful person in Ottawa.
The seeds have already been planted, and they will grow.
CTV: Mike Duffy Tried To Influence CRTC Decision On Sun Media: Source
International Internet Copyright (Censorship) Conference Underway
Our Fair Deal
White says SEC not now writing political spending rule
Okinawa doesn't belong to Japan, says hawkish PLA general
China Conducts Test of New Anti-Satellite Missile
Chinese military unit said to resume cyber spying
Russia building up missile defenses while seeking to limit U.S. Defenses
Cold War Never Ended
ERICKSON: Missiles to meet the new threat curve
Iran agents training to storm Israel's border
Israeli Official Signals Possibility of More Syria Strikes
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Communist China wins BC election
After all polls predicted a major liberal loss, the Communist backed ruling Liberals win a solid majority victory. The battle over the infamous pipelines advances to the next stage as citizens prepare for a showdown with foreign imperialist forces.
Cyber Threats could overwhelm Canada within two years: CSIS
Harper assailed for cutting Elections Canada budget despite rampant vote problems
Procedural errors rampant during 2011 federal vote: Elections Canada
BC's Labour Market Weaker than Worst of Recession
The Pipeline Plan that Rattled BC, Explained
Probability of Enbridge oil tanker spill as high as '99.9%': SFU study
Enbridge breaks safety rules at pump stations across Canada
No evidence BC gov't investigated recruiters charging temp foreign miners produced
BC's Fish Farm Falling out, Explained
Drug companies not involved in ministry purge, says minister
Five Reasons to Turf Christy Clark's Liberal Crew
Green party's Elizabeth May on Energy Security
Debate has been about how best to export raw, virtually unprocessed bitumen — as much as possible and as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the eastern half of Canada depends on imports of foreign oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and Norway. As Gordon Laxer of the Parkland Institute tried to point out to a Parliamentary committee (before the Conservative chair ordered him to stop talking and stormed out of the room), Canada has no energy security.
I feel some responsibility for this shift in debate, as I was the first political leader to point out that there was something wrong with the picture.
Unlike the US, we have no Strategic Petroleum Reserves. If there was a blockade of foreign oil or an economic embargo, those in Eastern Canada would have to wait for tankers to bring them bitumen for processing through the Panama Canal and up the eastern seaboard. As bizarre as that sounds, it was the solution offered by a Suncor executive when asked in committee about the vulnerability of eastern Canada to embargos.
Oppositional Canada
The irony is that the dividing line of foreign oil to the east and Alberta oil for the west was the result of deliberate government policy—aimed at helping the Alberta oil and gas sector. Back in 1961, the National Oil Policy decreed that eastern Canadians (east of the Ottawa River) would only receive imported oil while those in the West had to purchase Alberta product. By deliberate policy, Eastern Canadians became dependent on foreign oil, while Alberta oil was consumed by those in western provinces and exported to the US. Now it is time to think like a country.
The Solution: Shipping East?
However, the current proposal also makes no sense. Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna has proposed shipping unprocessed bitumen to St John, New Brunswick, to put it in tankers to export it from there. Others are proposing refining it in New Brunswick.
The first decision point is Enbridge’s application to reverse its Number 9 pipeline. This pipeline was built in the 1970s and had originally flowed west to east. It was reversed in the 1990s as the markets favoured cheaper foreign oil.
Now, Enbridge is applying to reverse it once again, running a different product, dilbit, from west to east. The request to the National Energy Board is being considered in two stand-alone applications; Line 9A (Sarnia to North Westover) and Line 9B to Montreal.
From there the bitumen would likely go south through New England. When I was in Washington DC, I heard from quite a few Congressmen and Senators that they do not want those pipelines over their territory.
Bitumen
The nature of bitumen and diluents in pipelines is a critical issue in why the Green Party oppose pipelines of unprocessed product to either coastline. So, before talking about the direction of pipelines, we need to talk about the product.
Even after the extensive and intensive process of extracting the viscous material known as bitumen from the soil in which it is found (generally about 10% by volume), it is still not processed to even the level of crude oil. Crude oil can flow. Bitumen cannot. It has the consistency of peanut butter, so needs to be mixed with something else to flow. That something else is called ‘diluent’—a mix of undisclosed chemicals. The most commonly used diluent is a natural gas condensate, similar to Naptha. The public does not know the make-up of any particular diluent. Some have more benzene than others—benzene is a well-documented carcinogen.
The resulting so-called dilbit product is about 30% diluents and 70% bitumen. We do know a lot more about dilbit than we used to. And we did a lot of that learning through the 2010 Enbridge dilbit spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. We know it both floats and sinks; that it is far harder and far more expensive to clean-up than unprocessed conventional crude. The Kalamazoo spill is still not cleaned up.
Meanwhile a debate rages about whether dilbit is more likely to cause pipeline failure. Cornell University found that between 2007 and 2010 pipelines carrying dilbit had a spill-rate three times higher than pipelines carrying conventional crude. Oil sands products have a higher sulfur and a higher acidic content than conventional crude and those properties could explain its increased corrosive nature.
This finding led to the Department of Natural Resources to commissioning a study by a group called Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (ATIF). That study compared dilbit and conventional crudes and concluded the types of corrosive compounds between the two products were comparable. So we have labwork versus the real life rate of spills in US pipelines. At the moment, despite what Harper’s Cabinet ministers claim, the science on the corrosive nature of dilbit is not settled.
Meanwhile, if local residents along the Number 9 pipeline wish to speak before the NEB hearings, or even submit a letter, they are required to fill out a 10-page form, and are also encouraged to submit references and a resume! This is an NEB effort to meet the new requirements imposed by the horrific overhaul of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that took place last year in the Omnibus Budget Bill (C-38).
Unlike the previous CEAA, which was premised on a fundamental commitment to rights of public participation, the Harperized CEAA restricts access to only those ‘directly affected’. The NEB has made this restriction even worse by demanding that any citizens who want to make comments, fill out the forms and apply within a two-week period—which will close before this article will be in print.
Refineries In Alberta
So, what should be done? The best environmental, economic and climate outcome would be to slow down the boom-and-bust cycle of constant expansion in the oil sands. What the late Peter Lougheed used to describe as the ‘traffic jam’ of feverish expansion in the oilsands prevents the construction of ancillary infrastructure, like upgraders and refineries.
The hyper-inflationary bubble that sits on northern Alberta is what makes it cheaper for Big Oil to build a $7 billion pipeline to Texas, rather than build facilities in Alberta. Any reasonable carbon plan would set a level of managed growth for oil sands production—say 2 million barrels of oil a day (more than the current 1.7 million barrels, but less than Harper’s goal of 6 million barrels of oil a day). That level of production could cool down the capital and labour markets enough to build upgraders and refineries near the resource. Then, we could be talking about shipping—by pipeline, truck or train—a finished product whose properties are better understood. Shipping a product with a far lower risk of environmental impact in the event of spills.
If we are thinking like a country, we should get Alberta oil to Eastern Canada, but we should not ship bitumen + diluents.
Weaver wins first ever Green seat in BC: Globe
Elizabeth May Tables Bill Targeting Excessive Party Discipline
Conservatives boost resources ad spending to $16.5M, target U.S. audiences
Harper Government Media Monitoring: Opposition Accuses Tories Of Spying On MPs
Effort afoot in court to sue Canadians for illegal downloads
Public Citizen and Sierra Club Denounce World Trade Organization Attack on Successful Clean Energy Program
Who hires temporary foreign workers? You’d be surprised
For young Canadians, labour market as bad as during the recession
Trade Talks? Only Business Insiders Invited
Global youth unemployment set to rise, UN warns
Canada's foreign-born population soars to 6.8 million
What Is TPP? Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA
Canada loses appeal at WTO over Ontario's green energy legislation
More Conservative MPs say No to taxpayer-paid attacks against Trudeau
John Ivison: Grim report warns Canada vulnerable to an aboriginal insurrection
12 Latin American Governments Gather to Confront Extreme Investor Privileges Regime
Pentagon plans to share missile secrets with Russia
Did Citizens United thwart the effort to overturn “Citizens United” in Washington
Pentagon Paying Chinese for Satellite Bandwidth
Republicans say U.S. headed toward ‘armed revolution’: Poll
Why the world is reading Gillard's defence paper
‘Get ready to fight’: China shifts from Deng’s ‘low profile’ to Mao’s aggression | World Tribune
China Escalating Territorial Disputes with Neighbors
Chinese think tank warns of more 'serious' incidents
AFP: China should ‘reconsider’ who owns Okinawa: academics
Medvedev Says Russian Rearmament On Level With WWII
Why China Lets North Korea Run Wild
Russian military again flies strategic bombers near Alaska
North Korea missile can hit US with nuclear warhead, Pentagon report says
Xi Jinping and the Chinese dream
China’s rift with Japan is open challenge to U.S.
China Registering the Religious in Xinjiang
Chinese government has U.S. auto industry in cross hairs
Chinese Hackers Raiding U.S. Military Tech Secrets
Inside the Ring: Russia builds up, U.S. down
China risks war as it pushes its territorial claims in Asia
Red Lines, Deadlines, and Thinking the Unthinkable: India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and China | Center for Strategic and International Studies
China's Militant Nationalism
Xi's War Drums
Sunday, April 28, 2013
4 reasons Why Christy Clark must go
1) Christy Clark Mismanages the Economy – Increasing debt, deficits – Selling off public property – Creating budgetary dependency on raw resource extraction while spending away the proceeds when they should be saved and invested for future generations.
If the resources of a nation are to be used, they should increase the wealth of the nation. Development can be a responsible and cautious conversion of underground wealth to above ground wealth. Underground wealth should be used to supply domestic industries, entered into a strategic stockpile, or saved and invested in a sovereign wealth fund. In this way the wealth of the nation increases over time. However the current ruling neo-liberal school of thought forces us to shovel as much wealth out the door as soon as possible at the lowest prices. Any revenues generated are spent on current consumption/ operating costs. Neo-liberal economic theory puts the interests of multinational corporate profits over the objective of national wealth/ development/ power. The Communist Chinese dictatorship is taking advantage of the failed economic ideology of Western Neo-liberalism in order to corrupt and interfere in our internal affairs. Any political party that gives away our sovereignty to foreign dictators is a puppet of foreign powers and a danger to the peace. The two headed liberal/conservative movement are the same beast. In the interest of national security, all liberal/conservative candidates should be booted from office as soon as possible. We the people demand a world of non-violence and compassion, and we demand that any trade, investment, or business operations be conducted according to the highest of human rights standards. Hight standards, whereby business, government, and society in general is a place where people love one another, and whereby truth and respect takes precedence over greed and self interest.
Why Isn't Christy Clark More Popular?
“BC Liberals are on their way to doubling the provincial debt since 2001, from $33.8 billion to $66.3 billion in 2015!”
The Era of Tax Cut Stupidity that Starved BC
Election year, BC's small projected surplus depends on asset sales and optimism
Selling off property to pay the bills, selling off non-renewable resources for a piece of what they are worth, does that sound like strategic fiscal management to you?
Oil riches wasted discredit the 'Calgary School.' But a proven path to prosperity exists.
“Norway produces roughly the same amount of oil as Alberta, yet this tiny nation has managed to salt away over $600 billion in accumulated oil wealth in a sovereign wealth fund that now amounts to more than one per cent of global equity markets. Norway has no public debt, full employment and fully-funded social programs that Canadians would drool over. Norwegians enjoy free university tuition, universal day care and 25 days of paid holidays per year. Per capita spending on healthcare is thirty per cent higher in Norway; funding for arts and culture is more than three times higher than Canada.”
Why can't neo-liberal economics (conservative/liberal) ever balance the budget?
your government pays too much of its road, education, and hospital bills with finite and volatile hydrocarbon revenue.
“ must "redirect the revenues gained from the sale of resources away from the government's budget and toward saving," ”
" "As we noted previously this is the solution to the problem of energy price volatility that has been successfully employed by energy-rich Norway... ”
2) Christy Clark Supports FIPA
Premier Clark Supports Canada-China Trade Deal, Abandons BC's Constitutional Rights
Rafe Mair
1. “It applies to trade agreements between Canada and China and, thanks to the premier, BC as well.
2. It is, like NAFTA, a treaty that for practical reasons, is all but unbreakable for 31 years.
3. It gives China the ability to obtain huge damages if we don’t perform our side of any deal and to sue for them in her own courts
4. This agreement has not been debated in Parliament nor in the Legislature of BC
5. It won’t be debated in Parliament or the BC Legislature because both the Prime Minister and Premier Clark don’t think they need the agreement of our legislative bodies
6. Without any question, this treaty will impact upon the Province of British Columbia and could cost us hundreds of millions of dollars
7. It seriously compromises the constitutional rights BC has under Section 92 of the Constitution Act (1982)”
“We live in a federation where both the federal government and the provinces have legal, inviolable rights. This is the glue that holds the nation together.” “On the pipelines/tankers specifically there are a number of areas where BC has the absolute right to make conditions or ban them outright. Premier Clark, in her disastrous statement, has, on the face of it, estopped BC from exercising our rights. “Estopped” means that she has taken a position upon which another has acted and can no longer exercise the rights she signed away.”
“In short, by agreeing to this treaty, she has, for the length of the contract, surrendered our right to exercise our constitutional rights.”
“We have, then, given our constitutional rights away without any consultation with the people who lose these powers. It’s been called “economic treason” and I agree.”
The Rush to Ratify: BC Rejected International Investment Deal in '98 and Should Do So Again
3) Christy Clark Supports Pipelines, Tankers
The Economics of Oil Pipelines and Supertankers
Robyn Allan
“The debate about oil pipelines and supertankers is not about economic benefit stacked against environmental cost to see if the risk is worth it.
That’s a false dichotomy. It’s developed by oil interests to pit ordinary Canadians against ordinary Canadians.”
“ The energy strategy in Canada is about multinational oil companies and national oil companies of foreign governments reaping vast financial gain and market power versus economic and environmental cost for the rest of us.
I am going to discuss the oil industry and how two pipeline projects—Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain twining—fit into the oil sector’s strategy for Canada.
The costs of these pipeline proposals come in many forms.
What are they? Here’s the top 10:
1. Decades of higher oil prices for Canadian consumers and businesses across the country;
2. Lost opportunity to add value, create meaningful jobs and control environmental standards here at home;
3. Hollowing out of the oil sector as raw bitumen exports take precedence over upgrading and refining;
4. Twice the number of pipelines and almost double the tanker traffic to move diluted bitumen as compared to upgraded bitumen;
5. As soon as Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain are approved, more pipeline capacity will be requested;
6. Rapidly rising exchange rates along with rising diluted bitumen oil prices, impacting other sectors of our economy and our ability to export;
7. Continued reliance on foreign, higher priced oil imports through eastern Canada;
8. A growing dependence on foreign condensate imports through western Canada;
9. Crowding out of BC’s legitimate and vibrant economic activity; and
10. Supernatural British Columbia becomes a Supertanker terminal for Alberta. ”
Bitumen’s Deep Discount Deception and Canada’s Pipeline Mania: An Economic and Financial Analysis
“1)Western Canadian unconventional heavy (WCS) and light crude (SCO) oil experienced normal differentials as compared to WTI in 2012.
2)The majority of oil sands supply comes from producers who are also integrated downstream operators and they make up the difference in the second step–the WTI to Brent spread–in their refinery margins.
3)It is effectively Canadian consumers and businesses that are price-gouged at the pumps. We pay petroleum product prices as if all Canadian crude oil was purchased by refineries at Brent prices–as if we imported all our crude oil from foreign markets.
4)The “supply glut” in Cushing, Oklahoma was largely industry induced and much of it was anticipated. It is expected to be sorted out within the next year, or so, as companies solve their technical difficulties with refinery and pipeline capacity expansions. This throughput realignment will occur without approval of the three bitumen export pipelines.”
The day after the release of Bitumen’s Deep Discount Deception, CIBC World Markets released a short report claiming losses from the double discount. I contacted CIBC to request their underlying analysis. Unfortunately CIBC will not be transparent or accountable for their calculations and refused to discuss their figures or the shortcomings in their methodology. I have addressed the recent claims in an article published in the Tyee “Oil Sands Money ‘Left on the Table’ and More Myths”.
Oil Sands 'Money Left on the Table' and More Myths
“Economist Robyn Allan on why Canadian petro fortunes aren't hurt by lack of pipelines.”
“Petro industry's interests aren't Canada's, The 'opportunity loss' myth”
Calgary fundraiser for BC Liberals to support oil sands agenda
" More than 100 business elites are expected to attend a private fundraiser Thursday night for Christy Clark's B.C. Liberals -- in Calgary. "
Canada's Petro Lobbyists Grow Faster than Pipelines
"Oil and pipeline companies, including seven of the world's largest corporations, have intensified their lobbying efforts in Ottawa over the last four years and held 2,733 meetings with public officials."
Rafe Mair: All I Want for Christmas Is a May election that puts in power true defenders of BC's natural bounty.
“To me the dominant issue before all others going into May's provincial election is the environment. Fiscal fudge-ups can be fixed as can most bad policy. But environmental damage -- be it due to fish farms, pipelines, tankers, Site C or loss of agricultural land -- is, to all intents and purposes, permanent.”
---
Opposition Statement on Government support of pipelines:
This isn’t the first time the BC Liberals have failed to act in the public interest. When it came time to stand up for our province in the Enbridge pipeline review process, they passed the buck to Ottawa – over 4000 kilometres away from the people the project will directly affect. Only you and your neighbours can truly understand the environmental and economic devastation a major oil spill might bring to your community.
4) Christy Clark backs Temporary Foreign Workers Program, HD Mining
HD misled saying it needed Chinese specialists for 'long wall' mining
" The company said it intended to use the so-called long-wall technique to harvest coal from its Murray River mine and insisted the Chinese workers were needed for their specialties in the use of it."
"But according to documents obtained by the union, HD Mining's application to the B.C. Ministry of Natural Resource Operations in June 2011 shows during a two-year bulk sample collection period the company had no plan to employ the long-wall technique. "
“After winning a court decision to have resumes of 300 Canadians who applied for the positions handed over to them, unions have accused the company of turning down fully qualified Canadians for the jobs.”
“Unions began their fight against the company on the basis that Canadian resources should be used to create jobs for Canadians”
" The case has been an open pit of controversy since it was discovered by the United Steelworkers union the company had listed Mandarin as a language requirement in job advertisements. Labour groups contested that was done to eliminate Canadian candidates so the company could be granted Labour Market Opinions supporting their case for foreign miners for smaller wages. "
Steelworkers Allege BC Importer of Chinese Miners Tied to Deadly Accidents
“Dehau Mines linked to Shandong energy group, whose subsidiaries had five disasters killing nearly 200 workers”
HD Mining's Biggest Backer Is Mysterious, Say Steelworkers
“It also questions the backgrounds of some of the people involved in the company, such as the company's chief consultant Ye Qing, referring to him as "as high-level an insider as one might hope to become within the Chinese Communist Party."
---
The government is not serving the people, it is time for a replacement. Patriots Vote.
UBC trains Chinese officials how Canada Government works
The elite school many Canadians can't afford to go to rolls out the red carpet for Communist party officials to be given a world class education in how to work the Canadian government. Odds are this will be the most under reported story of the year. No major mainstream coverage.
UBC trains Chinese officials how to work Canada Government
" The University of B.C. will soon become a temporary home to about 125 Chinese civil servants looking to learn as much as possible about the Canadian political system and public policy. "
Sauder to train Chinese bureaucrats in public policy
" UBC has finalized a deal for Chinese government officials to come to the university and take summer classes for the next five years. "
China’s stealth wars of acquisition
" Since the Mao Zedong era, China has adhered to ancient theorist Sun Tzu’s advice: “The ability to subdue the enemy without any battle is the ultimate reflection of the most supreme strategy.”
This approach involves taking an adversary by surprise by exploiting its weaknesses and seizing an opportunistic timing, as well as camouflaging offense as defense. As Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.” Only when a war by stealth cannot achieve the sought objectives should an overt war be unleashed. "
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting for the right of oil, gas and mining corporations to keep payments to foreign governments secret
Industry lobbies for right to bribe corrupt officials.
Global Civil Society Expresses Rejection of the Report, “The Future of Trade: The Challenges of Convergence”
Our World is Not For Sale
" The “Our World is not for Sale” (OWINFS) network is a loose grouping of organizations, activists and social movements worldwide fighting the current model of corporate globalization embodied in global trading system. OWINFS is committed to a sustainable, socially just, democratic and accountable multilateral trading system. "
This Workers’ Memorial Day, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”
(Mother Jones, 1925)
SEC commissioner, others call for SEC to protect investors from forced arbitration
Charles Schwab Corporation responds to Public Citizen petition
Digital currency dealers grapple with big banks and murky financial rules
Monday, April 22, 2013
Parliament rejects NDP motion to stop FIPA
Parliament rejects NDP motion to stop FIPA
See 'Whipped,' Sean Holman's Expose on Slavish Politicians
Big thinkers still stumped on global economic crisis
Civil service shuffle sees CSIS director Fadden moved to Defence, Fonberg to PCO
Chris Hedges: Harper is “venal”, U.S. politics is “totally rigged”
Foreign Giants Line up to Develop Chunks of BC's Coast
Politicians Begin to pick up on Growing Public Anger over Foreign Imperialism
Patriot Movement Slowly Seeps into Mainstream Political Discourse.
Adrian Dix on the Kinder Morgan Pipeline
Too valuable to sell
BC NDP promises $24 million to grow local agriculture industry
Cullen calls on government to scrap Canada-China trade agreement
MP Nathan Cullen on Enbridge Northern Gateway
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Globalist Conservatives/Liberals both back FIPA
Please call or write to your Members of Parliament
http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout/letter-to-mp
On Monday, there will be a vote on an NDP motion to demand that Canada not ratify the Canada-China FIPA. We strongly support this motion and believe that it represents the will of Canadians.
Currently, both the Conservatives and Liberals have promised to vote against the NDP motion.
Please take a few minutes of your time to call or write to your your NDP and Liberal Members of Parliament ask them to reach a compromise to prevent the ratification of the Canada-China FIPA without ANY public consultation.
Most importantly, please call or write to your Conservative Members of Parliament and ask that they stand up for Canada and vote to prevent Prime Minister Harper from ratifying this Agreement behind our backs. We only have a few days left.
Red Carpet for China
So what is the Canada-China Investment Treaty? Simply put, it is the most significant trade agreement signed by Canada since NAFTA. Only this time our “partner” is the communist government in Beijing, an authoritarian regime with an appalling record on human rights –and it isn’t getting better. This deal requires that Chinese government-owned companies be treated exactly the same as Canadian companies operating in Canada. Once in force, it lasts a minimum of 15 years. If a future government wants to get out of it, a one year notice is required – and even once the treaty is cancelled, any existing Chinese operations in Canada are guaranteed another 15 years of the treaty’s benefits.
We at the Green Party of Canada believe there are many flaws in that agreement. And we think Canadians should know about them:
1. Open bar for Chinese state-owned enterprises
The Canada-China Investment Treaty means easier takeovers of Canadian assets, especially in the resource sector. In the context of the possible takeover of Nexen by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), it is crucial that we collectively pause to consider the wisdom of granting Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such an easy access to our natural resources.
2. The right for China to claim damages over Canadian laws
The Canada-China Investment Treaty allows Chinese companies (including state-owned enterprises) to sue the Government of Canada over decisions that can limit or reduce their expectation of profits. In treaty language, this is called “tantamount to expropriation.” China can claim damages against Canada for decisions at the municipal, provincial, territorial or federal level. Even decisions of our courts can give rise to damages. The damage claims start with six months of diplomatic negotiation. If that fails, damage claims move to arbitration – behind closed doors.
3. Secret hearings
The Canada-China Investment Treaty would allow Chinese investors to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Special arbitrators would take the decisions. These arbitrators, unlike judges, do not have secure tenures or set salaries. Their decision cannot be subject to judicial review. And the arbitrations are to be secret. Even the fact they are happening is to be secret.
4. Limit right to be heard
Only the federal government is allowed to take part in the arbitration process. Provincial governments or Canadian companies, even if their interests are affected, do not have the right to voice their concerns during the arbitration process.
5. China’s obsession for secrecy
The Canada-China Investment Agreement makes Chinese lawsuits secret . At any time, we will not know if we are being sued and who will decide the case. We will not know what our government is saying on our behalf. We will not know if Canada has been ordered to change government decisions. This is a complete U-turn for Canada who has always insisted on complete openness in investor-state arbitration, for example when signing the Canada-US-Mexico free trade deal.
6. Restrictions on our use of our own resources
The Canada-China Investment Treaty requires that if, in the future, Canada wants to conserve natural resources (fisheries, water, oil, uranium, forests -- everything is covered), and reduce Chinese access to these resources, we are only allowed to do so to the extent we limit our own use of those natural resources.
What the Greens have done
The day after the Canada-China Investment Treaty was made public on September 26th by the Conservatives, Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May held a press conference to warn Canadians on the dangers of the treaty with China. The following day, Elizabeth wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons demanding an emergency debate about the deal. The Speaker turned down May’s request, saying it did not meet the tests of an emergency.
We were the first (and for some time the only) party to raise the issue, demanding debate and alerting Canadians to the threat -- reduced sovereignty, reduced democracy, all for more Chinese ownership of Canada's resources.
We now call on Canadian citizens to also demand a democratic process for Canada’s ratification of the Canada-China Investment Treaty while we still have time.
Please call or write to your Members of Parliament
http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout/letter-to-mp
New Democrats make last-ditch effort to stop FIPPA trade deal with China
NDP: Canada-China agreement should not be ratified in current form
Parliament debates NDP motion to defeat FIPA
The Outrage That Is Outsourcing, forcing workers to train cheap foreign replacements. Business Elite Globalist Conservatives/Liberals work to wipe out Native Born Middle class.
Vast Coastal Protection Plan May Hinge on Election
Elections are not for shale
Big Pharma wants to own naturally occurring genes
Businesses Crowd Corporate-Hosted Government Hearing on Trans-Atlantic "Trade" Deal
Who is Too Big to Fail: Does Dodd-Frank Authorize the Government to Break Up Financial Institutions
Woman Recounts Torture in Most Notorious Labor Camp in China
Chinese Authorities Muzzle Labor Camp Victims After Exposé
Armed Chinese troops, helicopters cross boarder, set up camp in Indian territory
China's Victim Complex
Asia-Pacific Military Spending Spree, Aggressive China, Rivalries Drive Naval Buys









