CCPA Monitor back issues from July 2007:
Elite's "deep integration" plot coming out of the shadows
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE PLAN TO "DISAPPEAR" CANADA: If the machinations going on in this country to achieve "deep integration" were instead a communist conspiracy to take over Canada (you will, of course, have to try hard to imagine this), the news media would be blaring the story. Pundits would ...
Mending Medicare
Jul 01, 2007; ... EDITORIAL: Two different explanations have emerged about the extent and cause of the crisis afflicting Canada's public health care system. Medical practitioners-nurses as well as doctors-blame underfunding and understaffing for the long waiting lists and overcrowded hospitals ....
Worth Quoting
Jul 01, 2007; ... Socialism not passé "Since the 1970s, theThatcherite dictum that 'therft. is no alternative' has been used to stifle serious challenge to the way the world is run. Our governing and opinion-forming classes have evidently convinced themselves that no form of socialism has anything to do ...
INDEX: U.S. No. 1
Jul 01, 2007; ... * The United States burns up 20.7 million barrels of oil dally, the equivalent of the oil consumption of China, Russia, Germany and Japan combined. U.S. annual emissions of carbon dioxide-5.8 billion metric tons-also surpass those of China (3.3 billion), Russia (1.4 billion) and India (1.2 ...
Medicare's foes fail to stop its birth in Saskatchewan
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE FATEFUL SUMMER OF '62 This is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of national public health care in Canada, with the passage of the Canada Health Act in 1967. But Medicare was actually born five years earlier, in 1962, when the first public health care program was introduced in ...
Canada ranks among worst in children's health
Jul 01, 2007; ... Canada and other English-speaking countries rank near the bottom of a list of developed nations when it comes to children's health, says England's Children's Commissioner, Sir Albert Aynsley-Green. He says they're "stuck in the world of Charles Dickens" when it comes to looking after their ...
Failure to stop wave of takeovers tantamount to treason
Jul 01, 2007; ... ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Enough is enough, already! The Government of Canada must say "no" to any takeover of Alcan, and the sale of BCE to the vultures, and they must do so immediately. Not to do so will be a treasonous failure to act in the best interests of Canada. The same "no" must apply ...
Iraq war makes costly tar sands development profitable
Jul 01, 2007; ... BAGHDAD BURNS, CALGARY BOOMS: The invasion of Iraq has set off what could be the largest oil boom in history. All the signs are there: multinationals free to gobble up national firms at will, ship unlimited profits home, enjoy leisurely "tax holidays" and pay a laughable 1% in royalties ...
NGOs campaign to have water given a higher priority
Jul 01, 2007; ... GETTING WATER BACK ON TAP: Back in 1998, the Bangleshi NGO Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) arrived in Dharka to find a million people living in huts on wooden stilts sinking metres deep into stinking water black with raw sewage. Holding no land rights, none of these communities had ...
Supreme Court rules that labour rights are Charter rights
Jul 01, 2007; ... LABOUR RIGHTS RECOGNIZED: Fundamental labour rights, pursued historically and recognized under international conventions, must be respected in Canada, according to the highest court in the land. In a judgment rendered June 8, the Supreme Court of Canada reversed itself and recognized ...
Harper's military, environmental antics leave him vulnerable
Jul 01, 2007; ... TIME RIPE FOR A FEDERAL ELECTION: Stephen Harper and his advisors are in panic mode. You may have noticed how snappish and quick to anger Harper has become. Poor fellow. All his brilliant strategic and tactical manoeuvres designed to force an election and win a majority government are in ...
U.S. foments unrest in Iran, and spurns its overtures
Jul 01, 2007; ... COUNTDOWN TO WAR ON IRAN: Silently, stealthily, unseen by cameras, the war on Iran has already begun. Many sources confirm that the United States, bent on destabilizing the Islamic republic, has increased its aid to armed movements among the Azeri, Baluchi, Arab and Kurdish ethnic ...
Another 58,000 jobs lost in private sector in May
Jul 01, 2007; ... Another 58,000 private sector jobs disappeared in May, 12,000 of them in the manufacturing sector, which continues to crumble under pressure from a soaring Canadian dollar with no sign of help from the federal government. "How many more well-paying, full-time jobs does the Canadian ...
City of light becomes a city of bikes
Jul 01, 2007; ... The Champs Elysees will never be the same again. From July this year, 20,600 rental bikes will be made available across Paris for anyone to use. After paying a nominal annual membership fee of about £25, a user may swipe a pre-pay or credit card at any of the city's dedicated stations to ...
MEMOS FROM OUR MEMBERS
Jul 01, 2007; ... Electoral reform The Editor: Just because the STV version of proportional representation was recommended by the B.C. Citizens' Assembly should not be cause for the CCPA to publish a one-sided article that recommends it for other provinces. In fact, its rejection by B.C. voters ...
Food system's greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced
Jul 01, 2007; ... LET'S START A GREEN COUNTERREVOLUTION: Many Canadians driving to the takeout window of their favourite fast-food outlet will likely recognize the environmental consequence to their action: climate change. What's obvious is the greenhouse gas contribution of their vehicle. Less ...
Bush offers the planet punishment instead of prosperity
Jul 01, 2007; ... Bush offers the planet punishment instead of prosperity Armed Madhouse: Front Baghdad to New Orleans-Sordid secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild, by Greg Palast, a Plume Book, 410 pages, $18.50. ARMED MADHOUSE: In Armed Madhouse, Greg Palast asserts that the ...
Events of 9/11 are depicted in a blend of fact and fiction
Jul 01, 2007; ... Events of 9/11 are depicted in a blend of fact and fiction Modus Operandi 9111, by Hal Sissons, Global Outlook, Or, Ontario, 316 pages, $11. A NOVEL APPROACH: Much has been written, both before and after September 11,2001, that raises questions about the official version of the ...
"We could all be wealthy if we weren't so lazy and stupid"
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE MYTH OF POVERTY: In the recent Hollywood movie The Pursuit of Happy ness, actor Will Smith portrays a hapless victim of circumstance who, by dint of sheer guts, determination and brilliance, climbs from rags to riches. A true story, apparently, about a clearly remarkable man. For ...
Production of PCBs banned, but we're still exposed to them
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE DEADLY LEGACY OF PCBS: PCBs were chemicals that we made because we could. Manufactured from the waste products of the crude oil refining process and a range of chlorinated chemicals, these oily, syrupy liquids had a multitude of uses and have been described as being as near perfect ...
GM food nightmare looms from lack of regulatory control
Jul 01, 2007; ... IGNORING THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: Regulatory agencies like the European Food Safety Authority and the UK Food Standards Agency [and Health Canada] have been ignoring the precautionary principle, manipulating and corrupting science, sidestepping the law, and helping to promote ...
Canada plays sordid role in suppression of democracy in Haiti
Jul 01, 2007; ... OUR LESS THAN STELLAR FOREIGN RELATIONS: Canadians generally have a very positive impression of their country's role in world affairs, but Canada's relations with Haiti challenge that perception. It would be wrong to say that Canada has done nothing positive on the world stage, but we ...
Working on Poetry
Jul 01, 2007; ... For a good part of our lives we spend time within the grasp of work-whether it be the work that provides income, or the work that makes our bed, cleans our teeth, or makes us a cup of tea. This work of the many is rarely documented in a manner that goes beyond the cursory treatment it receives ...
Behind the Barricade
Jul 01, 2007; ... Too much wood on the fire - flames lashed past the rim like rash thought on a dark night. Curls of steam drifted briefly where the snow had been, where light licked the air. Charlie stared. His coat sleeue torn. A welt formed on his ...
THE BRIDGE THAT FELL
Jul 01, 2007; ... On June 17, 1958, Vancouver's Second Narrows Bridge collapsed while under construction. Eighteen men plunged to their deaths and later a diver was killed in the rescue effort. On the cusp of the soth anniversary of the disaster, critically acclaimed poet Gary Geddes, in his upcoming book ...
Barlow one of "Good 8"
Jul 01, 2007; ... BERLIN-Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, is featured in the popular German news magazine Stern's "Guten Achte" or "Good Eight" list, along with Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangaari Mathai and founder of the Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunnus. On newsstands in ...
Office veggie patch perk
Jul 01, 2007; ... VANCOUVER-Most of the 1,600 employees toiling inside a converted warehouse at the foot of the Gambie Bridge in Vancouver are techies who build complex business software. Starting this August, they'll also be farmers. Business Objects, a tech company that designs computer programs ...
Vatican goes green
Jul 01, 2007; ... VATICAN CITY-The Vatican's traditional colours of white and gold are starting to look green with a new solar energy project. A rooftop garden of solar panels is to be installed on the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall. The solar energy project will begin next year and, when completed, will ...
Europe's chemical crackdown
Jul 01, 2007; ... BRUSSELS-Far-reaching rules governing the multibillion-euro chemicals industry entered into force in June. The law bans some of the most dangerous chemicals from use in the 27- nation European Union. Some 30,000 other substances used in products ranging from detergents to toys will have to be ...
Ontario signs with Arnie
Jul 01, 2007; ... TORONTO-The Ontario government has signed an agreement with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that will see the province adopt the state's ground-breaking Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Schwarzenegger joined Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the Ontario legislature, where they signed ...
Colombian unionists risk lives to help country's workers
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE POLITICS OF COURAGE: Pale and distressed, the man had the look of a poet or doctor. He might have been 32. His face was sensitive, intelligent, horror-stricken. From the black-and-white video, it seemed clear that his hands were tied behind his back. His head was under a boot and a ...
It's too late now to prevent industrial society's collapse
Jul 01, 2007; ... FACING THE COMING DARK AGE: Although we prefer that Monitor articles about climate change, corporate power, and other looming threats to our civilization reflect hope and some prospect for averting disaster, we have to understand that some futurists believe we've passed the point of no ...
Stopping logging is fastest, cheapest solution to climate change
Jul 01, 2007; ... DEFORESTATION BEING IGNORED: The accelerating destruction of the rainforests that form a precious cooling band around Earth's equator is one of the main causes of climate change. Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and ...
Migrants sought to keep wages down, not fill labour shortage
Jul 01, 2007; ... WAGES, MARKETS, AND TEMPORARY WORKERS: Last November, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced a scheme to speed up the processing of foreign temporary workers for Alberta and British Columbia. The Minister appears to have been concerned with ongoing reports of ...
World Parliament would allow poor to speak for themselves
Jul 01, 2007; ... NO MORE VENTRILOQUISTS: It was first proposed (as far as I can discover) in 1842, by Alfred Tennyson in his poem Locksley Hall. Since then the idea has broken the surface and sunk again at least a dozen times. But this time it could start to swim. The demand for a World ...
Corporate capitalism is inhuman, undemocratic, unsustainable
Jul 01, 2007; ... ANTI-CAPITALISM IN FIVE MINUTES OR LESS: We know that capitalism is not just the most sensible way to organize an economy, but that it is now the only possible way to organize an economy. We know that dissenters to this conventional wisdom can, and should, be ignored. There's no longer ...
World's biggest tax scam run by banks and corporations
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE TAX HAVEN RACKET: The tax haven racket is the biggest scam in the world. It's run by the international banks with the cooperation of the world's financial powers for the benefit of corporations and the mega-rich. Tax havens-also known as offshore financial centres-are places ...
When does surveillance become an invasion of privacy?
Jul 01, 2007; ... ORWELL UPSIDE DOWN: Should parents keep a safetywatch on young children by the Global Positioning System (GPS), with microchips locked on the wrist or implanted under the skin? According to BBC News, three out of four British parents say they are willing to buy such GPS devices, ...
SPP is not seen as a good initiative for the U.S., either
Jul 01, 2007; ... A U.S. SECURITY-OBSESSED EXTENSION OF NAFTA: The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the world's most advanced example of the U.S.-led free trade model. But it's not just about economics any more. The expansion of NAFTA into the North American security and Prosperity ...
To avert climate disaster, most planes must be grounded
Jul 01, 2007; ... FLYING INTO TROUBLE: In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore produces a graphic of the cities to which he has flown (sometimes by private jet) to talk about climate change. There are dozens of them, all over the world. I am glad that he gave those talks; his contribution to the fight against ...
Climate change warnings continue to intensify
Jul 01, 2007; ... A recent flurry of climate change reports and conferences has confirmed the worst: that we no longer face climate change, but climate catastrophe, unless we act immediately to curb man-made emissions of greenhouse gases. The best-case scenario comes from the Inter-Governmental Panel on ...
U.S. now poses greatest threat of any country in history
Jul 01, 2007; ... VIEW OF AN AMERICAN CRITIC: The harsh title of this article (my wording, not the editor's) is not based on the belief that U.S. leaders are the most vicious ever, although they are amply arrogant, ruthless, and even vicious, rendered more hypocritical by the veneer of self-righteousness ...
Selling arms to terrorists
Jul 01, 2007; ... James Hacker, Minister of Administrative Affairs, was visited at his home by a NATO military officer who told him-in confidence-that Italian terrorists had been caught using British-made weapons. Hacker promised to have the government take action to prevent such sales. The next day he raised the ...
Municipalities will be hobbled by TILMA, legal firm declares
Jul 01, 2007; ... A legal opinion by the law firm of Sack Goldblatt Mitchell says that the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) will potentially prevent Canadian municipalities from adopting measures that corporations claim would have adverse effects on their operations. So far only ...
NAFTA, SPP, and Super-Corridors threaten our water
Jul 01, 2007; ... THE GROWING AMERICAN THIRST: Canadian activists, who see themselves as stewards of the country's abundant water resources, have been concerned since NAFTA was signed, fearing that it threatens our water. So it came as no surprise that, when early corporate schemes arose to allow the ...
Social justice, environmental groups may number a million
Jul 01, 2007; ... GOAL IS NOT TO SAVE THE WORLD, BUT RE-MAKE IT: I have given nearly 1,000 talks about the environment in the past 15 years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people offering their cards were working on the most salient ...
U.S. health care is bad for the health of most Americans
Jul 01, 2007; ... IF YOU'RE NOT RICH, DON'T GET SICK: One of the most contentious issues of the U.S. presidential campaign will be how to fix what many agree is a malfunctioning health care system. Adding fuel to the fire is a study published in May detailing the shortcomings of U.S. health care when ...