In the next 24 hours, a vote in Parliament could stop FIPA

Breaking news from Ottawa:
 In the next 24 hours, a vote in Parliament could stop the secretive and extreme Canada-China investor deal, FIPA, for good.

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

If the Canada-China FIPA is ratified, this extreme and secretive deal would pave the way for a massive natural resource buyout, and allow China’s companies to sue Canadian governments in secret tribunals for unlimited damages, restricting Canadians from making democratic decisions about our economy, environment and energy.1

FIPA is the most sweeping trade deal in a generation, and experts thought Prime Minister Harper would sneak it through Parliament without a vote last November.2,3

Nobody expected your campaign to unite Canadians against FIPA. But, together, we put overwhelming pressure on Conservative MPs, divided their caucus, and the government had to shelve the deal while they try to repair the damage.4

Now, the NDP are holding a vote in Parliament that could stop FIPA. There are deep divisions inside the Conservative benches, and if we create a massive public outcry right now we have a chance to stop this terrible trade deal for good.

We only have 24 hours -- tell your MP and all the party leaders to VOTE TO STOP FIPA, then share this with everyone!

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

Background
Canadians have a right to determine our future, but this investor deal will undermine our democratic rights and lock us into an inescapable path of foreign-ownership and resource extraction until at least 2040.

In December, Prime Minister Harper approved the takeover of Canadian oil company Nexen by China's state-owned giant, CNOOC. If FIPA passes, companies like CNOOC can take over Canadian resources and then sue Canadian governments in secret, if the government does anything that threatens the company’s profits.

Any Canadian law or government decision – even ones that protect Canada’s environment, create jobs and stop dangerous projects – could be fought in secret tribunals outside of our legal system. Arbitrators unaccountable to the Canadian public would have the power to award billions in damages to foreign corporations if we do anything that hurts corporate profits, like improve environmental standards or slow down the export of cheap, unprocessed resources.1,5,6
We need to act now. Tell your MP and party leaders: VOTE TO STOP the secretive and extreme Canada-China FIPA.

Additional Information
Our government has not been transparent and accountable to the public.
There has been no real debate in Parliament, no binding vote, and no reports on the risks. The government’s talking points about this FIPA have been dismantled for misleading the public by a Canadian international legal expert.7 China is just as important as the US, and there was a whole election fought over NAFTA. If this is such a good deal, why don’t they want us to hear about it?
Investor-state lawsuits undermine our democratic control.

The ability for corporations to sue foreign governments in private courts, called “investor-state arbitration,” is a controversial practice built into many trade deals like NAFTA that has cost Canada millions and over-ruled democratic decisions, but none impose the level of secrecy in the Canada-China FIPA.

These private courts have a track record of systematically ruling against the interests of Canadians.8 Under this system, Canada has already been sued more than any industrialized country in the world.9,10

Right now, an American company called Lone Pine Resources is using a similar measure in NAFTA to sue Canada for $250 million dollars. Why? They are suing because Quebec placed a temporary hold on gas fracking to study the controversial practice’s impacts on health and environment.11
Incredibly, if BC tries to regulate or block Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, Sinopec, another Chinese state-owned oil company with investments in Canada’s natural resource infrastructure, may be able to sue for damages, and we may never even hear about it the case or the details of the results.5,6

Other countries are moving away from this runaway global system.
Other countries like India, South Africa and Australia are moving away from this kind of trade deal. Last year Australia rejected investor-state arbitration due to concerns that it would “constrain the ability of Australian governments to make laws on social, environmental and economic matters”.12,13

This deal threatens provincial and indigenous rights.
By allowing foreign corporations to sue Canadians governments for decisions made by any government - federal, provincial, or First Nation - this FIPA threatens the constitutional rights of provinces and First Nations.

In the 1990s, many provinces spoke out against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which had similar investor-state tribunals, joining a global groundswell that stopped the MAI in its tracks.14

The BC Union of Indian Chiefs has written an open letter to Prime Minister Harper condemning the Canada-China FIPA. They begin their letter: "On behalf the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, we are writing to firmly express, advise and direct the Government of Canada to reject the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with China as the Government of Canada has breached its fiduciary duty to consult First Nations on our respective constitutionally-enshrined and judicially-recognized Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights."15

The Chiefs of Ontario have also written to both Prime Minister Harper and China's Ambassador to Canada advising that the Canada-China FIPA investment deal violates First Nation Treaty rights and international law, and should be postponed indefinitely, pending nation-to-nation discussions between Canada and First Nations.16,17

Sources:
1. Canada-China Investment Deal Allows for Confidential Lawsuits Against Canada (Toronto Star)
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1264290--canada-china-investment-deal-allows-for-confidential-lawsuits-against-canada

2. Tories quietly table Canada-China investment treaty (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-quietly-table-canada-china-investment-treaty/article4573635/

3. Battle over CNOOC’s proposed Nexen Takeover Heats Up In Ottawa (Financial Post)
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/09/17/battle-over-cnoocs-proposed-nexen-takeover-heats-up-in-ottawa/

4. Opposition, activists in last minute push for more scrutiny of Canada-China treaty (The Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/opposition-activists-in-last-minute-push-for-more-scrutiny-of-canada-china-treaty/article4762814/

5. Chinese Companies Can Sue BC for Changing Course on Northern Gateway, says Policy Expert
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/chinese-companies-can-sue-bc-changing-course-northern-gateway-says-policy-expert

6. Chairman Harper and the Chinese Sell-Out (The Tyee)
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/11/Chairman-Harper/print.html

7. Taking apart Tories' Party Line on China-Canada Treaty (The Tyee)
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/11/05/Van-Harten-FIPA/

8. China Investment Treaty: Expert Sounds Alarms in Letter to Harper Toronto-based authority urges PM to halt ratification, laying out numerous 'deep' concerns. The Tyee, October 16, 2012.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/16/China-Investment-Treaty/

9. Canada has the 6th most investor-state cases against it in the world -- 17 cases against it to the end of 2011. UNCTAD publishes its annual review of investor-State dispute settlement cases, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. February 2012.
http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webdiaeia2012d10_en.pdf

10. If you include all notices of claims on the Government of Canada, Canada would have 34 cases against and be second in the world (US would rise to 16 cases). NAFTA - Chapter 11 - Investment. Cases Filed Against the Government of Canada: Notices of Intent Received and Current Arbitration, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/disp-diff/gov.aspx?lang=en&view=d

11. Quebec’s St. Lawrence fracking ban challenged under NAFTA. The Globe and Mail, November 22, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/quebecs-st-lawrence-fracking-ban-challenged-under-nafta/article5577331/

12. Trading our way to more jobs and prosperity (Government of Australia)
http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/trade/trading-our-way-to-more-jobs-and-prosperity.html#investor-state

13. Multiple Countries Rejecting Investor State Dispute Settlement (Janet M Eaton, PhD)
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/main-page/multiple-countries-rejecting-investor-state-dispute-settlement

14. Special Committee on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, First Report. Third Session, Thirty-sixth Parliament. December 29, 1998
http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/36thParl/mai/1998/1report/part_iv.htm

15. Open Letter: Canada – China Agreement Abrogates Rights of Indigenous People (Union of BC Indian Chiefs)
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/News_Releases/UBCICNews10311201.html

16. China Canada FIPA - Chiefs of Ontario Letter to PM Harper
http://www.scribd.com/doc/112459570/

17. China Canada FIPA - Chiefs of Ontario Letter to China's Ambassador
http://www.scribd.com/doc/112459565/

Help raise the alarm
Thousands of us are urgently calling on our MPs to vote to stop the Canada-China investor deal and its unprecedented giveaway of natural resources to foreign control - but we urgently need to reach thousands more before the vote on Thursday, and to do that we need your help to spread the word far and wide.

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

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This is what happens when a gang of thugs rules a country, they teach the people to be thugs, and compassion becomes a lost concept. Imagine if a violent totalitarian regime ruled your country for decades, people lived in fear, people accept the violence and oppression of the authorities. After living through the cultural revolution, standards and norms of acceptable behavior must have changed. To us it may seem strange, but to people who grow up under a such a regime, the culture of violence and racism is normal. Many Chinese people accept the Communist party because they believe the Communist party makes their country strong. For them human rights don't matter, they want power, expansion of the empire, they are doing it all for the so called "race". With an ultra nationalist school curriculum, increasing economic and military capabilities and claims to neighboring country's territory, this does not bode well for world peace.

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The Economy is a National Security Issue --------------- Industrial Apartied Part 3

A message to all small “c” conservatives, the so-called “free market” neo-liberal ideology that the Conservative establishment is pushing will wipe us out. This ideology if carried to its logical conclusion would allow the Chinese communists to buy out all of our industries.

If the Nexen oil deal angered you, how angry would you be if the communists owned all of our media companies, all of our telecommunications networks, all of our agricultural production capabilities, our banks, our health care delivery mechanisms, our architectural and engineering firms, our public infrastructure and related repair and construction, how about if we started to contract out our military, intelligence or police requirements to foreign state owned corporations. Yes a bit of hyperbole, but consider the implications of a pure “free” market economy with no rules or state intervention.

When the government green lighted all those Chinese miners to come into the country and the controversy erupted, the communists instructed one of miners to speak to our media in defense of the plan. He cited neo-liberal economics in defense of the scheme suggesting in a free market it shouldn’t matter if the workers are Canadian or Chinese the jobs should go to the best workers at the best price. It has even been suggested that Canada does not own the oil, apparently some feel it belongs to corporations.

The communists know full well our politics; they have spent massive amounts of resources to learn how they work. They know how to frame the issues so that they resonate with certain constituencies. The communists would never allow other countries to gain control of strategic industries deemed critical for security reasons, but they have developed a communications strategy to play to the outdated “free enterprise” constituency of Western voters in an attempt to justify imperial expansion.

In George Orwell’s Animal farm (Spoiler alert), a revolution occurs on a farm and a group of pigs takes charge claiming that from then on things would be different. By the end of the book the pigs put on suits and make a deal with the farmers. The book was written as a critique of the Russian revolution. Strangely there is a parallel to the situation Western nations are facing now. These days there are plenty of pigs in suits willing to shake hands with the evil communist emperors they once claimed to protect us from.

State intervention in the economy has been the basis of society since society has existed. Military defense, public infrastructure/ irrigation projects, police, education, health care, scientific research, many good things have been brought to us through government involvement in the economy.

The economy is not monetary figures, not numbers in an equation or on a balance sheet, the economy is what is happening all around us, it is what we occupy our time with. It is the activities that we all engage in and the result of those activities. Long ago on the Nile delta there was no stock exchange and no central bank but there was an economy. There were people growing food, people building infrastructure, people crafting tools and pots, musicians, and yes tax collectors and soldiers and public administrators.

There is confusion in our society, the confused faith that the economy is all about how many 0’s and 1’s of binary code are in configuration on the hard drive at the bank. This confusion is not held by all societies, some societies still remember that an economy is about the physical results achieved in the real world.

While the sale of Nexen, or the AMC movie theater chain takeover, or the construction of telecommunications networks by Huawei may look good on paper, in the real world these actions are acts of self inflicted damage to our economies. We provide resources to our competitors so they can gain experience and knowledge performing the tasks that once would have been reserved to locals. We train our competitors as they gain control over the physical elements of our society, against the warnings of the state security apparatus whose expertise it is to advise us on such matters.

This is why the economy is a matter of national security. National capability is the collective skill set and physical capitol pool available under state authority. We are in effect not separate legal entities because once the state no longer has the capability to defend our claims to “property”, said property will not be ours for long. The ties that bind our communities and institutions enable our existence and prosperity; these ties are bound by the state. If our National capability is degraded to the point where our state no longer posses the viable option of defense, our lands, our women and the blood of our sons will be shed as our sovereignty is traded for the shackles of slavery.

It is against this danger that state intervention in the economy is justified. Action must be taken to ensure that nations maintain the capabilities necessary for their defense in a world of full spectrum warfare. The struggle for this century to this point has been one of intense economic war waged by parties with varying levels of awareness of the dynamics of the conflict.

During the Second World War it was accepted among the Western elite that the state had a responsibility to strategically direct the economy because it was a necessity to winning the conflict. It seems that the young who where indoctrinated during the cold war to reject all things centrally planned as the ways of the enemy took that message to heart and brought it with them all their life to where they are now occupying positions of power.

There are three kinds of people who support neo-liberal “free” market economics, 1) those who stand to personally profit from minimizing state involvement in their business dealings, 2) those who actually believe it, 3) a confused mix of both.

There is no justification for risking a nations security to enhance ones personal wealth, such actions are actions of treason, political subversion through economic means. The communists know full well that the West is full of pigs in suits ready to shake hands with the devil. We have a business class without historical memory, without any frame of reference other than the neo-liberal economic theory indoctrinated into them as pre-requisite to their entry into the upper class.

This is how we have lost our economy, outsourced our future and threatened our national security. A failed process of socialization, in that the young are not given what is needed to maintain a civilization. Greed is no foundation.

Mindless consumers will not save us, so we had better stop producing them. Reform will take a willingness to accept citizen self-government, a feat not possible if citizens are not taught citizenship. Without a classical education ideology will rule, for there will be no way to adapt processes in response a rapidly changing environment. Those who do not adapt will fall to those that can; it is precisely the free market ideology that justifies the land beneath our feet being sold off to the most violent and oppressive foreign power in the world.

We must expand the mandate of our state security apparatuses to include economic affairs. The business class must take its place as servants of a comprehensive state strategy. Power must be wrestled from the grasp of industry and anointed to those who take national security as the highest priority.

This is the recipe for civilizational revival.

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OTTAWA – With ratification of the Canada-China Investment Treaty still pending, the Green Party of Canada underscores India’s decision to move away from bilateral investment protection agreements and their investor/state dispute system.

After facing the threat of international arbitration from foreign companies, India has ordered in January 2013 a freeze of all bilateral investment protection agreements negotiations until a governmental review is carried out and completed. Although news of India's decision has not been mentioned in the Canadian media, the decision is clearly relevant.

“In November 2012, Prime Minister Harper told me in the House of Commons that the Indian Prime Minister was committed to signing a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement with Canada. I think Canada should take good note of India’s freeze on all investment protection agreements,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“The investor/state dispute system contained in investment agreements allows foreign companies to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Special arbitrators would take the decisions; 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,” said May.

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Tightening the grip: muzzling of scientists ramps up in Canada

Elizabeth May

Back in October 2011, I wrote in Island Tides about the muzzling of DFO scientists. The scientist in question, Dr Kristi Miller, had achieved levels of scientific respect as her work on viruses linked to salmon aquaculture operations had been published in the internationally prestigious journal Science. When Science attempted to arrange media interviews with Dr Miller, the Privy Council Office ordered her to refuse.


It seems that the public outcry over that event, and others including ozone scientists at Environment Canada, led the Prime Minister’s Office to decide the contractual arrangements with scientists were too lax. As of February 1 this year, new rules were put in place requiring all scientists working on projects in conjunction with DFO in the Central and Arctic Region to treat all information as proprietary to DFO, and—worse—await departmental approval before submitting research to any scientific journals.


The story was broken by veteran journalist Michael Harris, in the online journal iPolitics. Harris has been one of the few journalists willing to dig into the pervasive repression, slashing of science and rejection of evidence based decision-making in Harper’s Ottawa.


The reaction from DFO was swift. It posted this attack on its website:

‘The iPolitics story by Michael Harris published on February 7th, 2013 is untrue. There have been no changes to the Department’s publication policy.’


Harris recounts that he was stunned. He had verified the change with several scientists, external to DFO. He called Dr Jeff Hutchings at Dalhousie University who re-confirmed the changes. Then Harris received support from an unexpected source—an anonymous DFO scientist posted the email from Michelle Wheatley, the Central and Arctic science director, sent out to detail the new publication policy.


The anonymous scientist wrote, ‘Here is the e-mail I got from my division manager on January 29, 2013: ‘Subject: New Publication Review Committee (PRC) Procedures for C&A Science …’. The email was reproduced in full, and began, ‘This message is regarding the new Publication Review Committee procedures for C&A Science…’


The email noted that the new policy was to take effect on February 1, 2013.
The anonymous scientist concluded: ‘You decide who’s being untruthful.’


A few days after DFO tried to deny that there were any changes, the Vancouver Sun broke the story of a US scientist, doing collaborative work with DFO, who is refusing to sign the new conditions. Calling it a ‘potential muzzle,’ Dr Andreas Muenchow, of the University of Delaware told the Sun, ‘I’m not signing it.’ Muenchow has been working on a project with DFO scientists in the Eastern Arctic since 2003.


In 2003, when the collaborative research project began, there were quite different rules about sharing data: ‘Data and any other project-related information shall be freely available to all Parties to this Agreement and may be used, disseminated or published, at any time.’


Within days of February 1st’s new publication policy, on February 7, came another DFO email to scientists: now they must obtain prior consent before applying for research grants.


You can see where this is going. It is not enough to muzzle scientists like Dr Miller when their research is published. The tightening of control over science must be established far earlier in the process. Stop the research from being submitted to journals. Stop the scientists from collaborating with others. Stop scientists from applying for research grants. Stop science from happening at all.


The elimination of whole branches of scientific work within the federal government, the slashing of governmental funds for science, and now a departmental veto on applying for research grants or submitting results to peer reviewed journals fits in the larger systemic dismantling of any aspect of governmental activities that could throw doubt on the wisdom of pressing for rapid expansion of fossil fuel exploitation.


‘Chilling’ is one word, but it does not seem adequate to this development. This is the 21st Century equivalent of the Dark Ages. This is book burning and superstition run rampant. This is the administration of a steady, slow drip of poison to a weakening democracy.

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“Unrestricted Warfare,” detailing a concept they describe as “warfare which transcends all boundaries and limits.”

"We believe that some morning people will awake to discover with surprise that quite a few gentle and kind things have begun to have offensive and lethal characteristics."

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By the Chinese definition of "Unrestricted Warfare" it's clear they are waging war on us.

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Cyber and nuclear attack greater threat than terrorism ever was
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DNI says new N. Korean missile being fielded

Russian government says N. Korean nuclear test used plutonium and was larger than earlier blasts

China's Drone Swarms Rise

Human rights group names almost 20,000 involved in persecuting Falun Gong
"Falun Gong is a spiritual practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It became a target for persecution in 1999, after former regime leader Jiang Zemin became afraid of how attractive the teachings of Falun Gong were to the Chinese people. Jiang Zemin saw Falun Gong as a challenge to the Party’s attempt to control how people in China think. "

Police and Villagers Clash in Guangdong Land Dispute

Iran and Hezbollah 'have built 50,000-strong force to help Syrian regime', Assad reported to be preparing chemical weapons

The Caravan - What Up Steve?