Democracy gone Astray: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Press Freedom Index: Occupy Wall Street Journalist Arrests Cost U.S. Dearly In Latest Survey

The targeting of journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street movement has caused the United States to drop precipitously in a leading survey of press freedom.

Reporters Without Borders' latest Press Freedom Index was released on Wednesday, and the list reflected some of the tumult that took place in the world in 2011, as well as the impact that those events had on journalists across the globe. Reporters became targets over and over again throughout the year, both in the Middle East and on the streets of New York.

Some examples of the change wrought by the Arab Spring could be found in Tunisia, which the compilers moved up 30 places on the list in the wake of that country's democratic revolution. Not so lucky were Bahrain and Egypt, both of which cracked down on journalists and on the popular movements pressing for further change in their countries. They fell 29 and 39 places, respectively, on the scale.

But the U.S. tumbled almost as far as Bahrain did in the wake of the repeated crackdowns on journalists covering Occupy movements. Reporters Without Borders was explicit in its summary of its report, saying that "the United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests."

The treatment of journalists by police was well documented throughout 2011. Reporters were beaten, arrested and prevented from covering police action against Occupy protesters. Tensions heightened so much that the New York Police Department had to meet with journalists and remind its officers not to mistreat them.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: Jack Mirkinson

First Nations have right to resources, Atleo says

First Nations are more than just stakeholders and have rights to resource development that must be recognized, Shawn Atleo said Wednesday.

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the chiefs who met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper Tuesday told him they have real rights through their treaties when it comes to pipeline and mining projects.

"Right now, government feels that through their actions and through their regulatory processes and licences that First Nations are simply stakeholders," Atleo said.

"That simply is not the case. The treaty relationship said that we would be full partners in designing and determining what would happen within our respective territories and that First Nations would benefit from the wealth and from the resources of the land."

Atleo pointed to the notion of having free, prior and informed consent over what happens in First Nations territories.

Corporate tax cuts create no jobs while starving government of revenue

South of the border we have the strange phenomenon of the "true conservative" Gingrich attacking his opponent Mitt Romney as a predator capitalist.

"You are using the arguments of the left," Romney tells the former House Speaker.

Indeed, it is a peculiar meeting of minds: the Occupy Movement and Newt Gingrich agreeing that folks like Mitt Romney are self-interested profit-takers and predators, not job creators.

Here in Canada we have a similar meeting of the minds on the impact of corporate tax cuts.

Just about everyone who has examined the issue -- business, labour, right and left -- agrees that the cuts in the federal corporate tax rate from 28 per cent 10 years ago to 15 per cent today have not created any significant investment in job-creating activity.

To start with, there is the fact that Canadian firms are sitting on huge piles of cash.

Canadian corporate cash reserves have climbed nine per cent since last year and 27.3 per cent since 2007.

Statistics Canada reports that Canadian businesses hold more than $583 billion in Canadian currency and deposits, and more than $276 billion in foreign currency.

Ontario shortchanged in wealth-sharing system, censored federal report suggests

Ottawa is suppressing key parts of a politically explosive federal report that reveals Ontario is being shortchanged by Canada’s national wealth-sharing scheme, the Star has learned.

The 67-page study is a searing assault on a $15.4 billion-a-year equalization system that redistributes taxpayers’ dollars to ensure equivalent levels of health, education and other programs across the country.

Its conclusion: Ontario and B.C. lose out because it’s much more expensive to operate in those provinces. Conversely, Quebec and the Maritimes, where the cost of living is cheaper, reap disproportionate benefits.

And when the government was forced to release the report, it removed large, potentially controversial, chunks.

Entitled, “An Operational Expenditure Need Equalization Formula for Canada,” the report was written in 2006 by Peter Gusen, then director of federal-provincial relations at the federal finance department in an attempt to analyze how much it costs to deliver services in different provinces.

The Star has obtained the uncensored report.

“ ‘Poor’ provinces are not generally needy. British Columbia has the highest expenditure need per capita and Quebec the lowest,” wrote Gusen, then, in one of 27 sections of his report censored by Ottawa.

In an apparent show of strength, Washington is deploying a second carrier strike group in the Gulf. US officials also confirmed their commitment to maintaining a global fleet of 11 aircraft carriers despite budget pressure to cut the fleet's size.

“That’s the reason we maintain a presence in the Middle East,” AP cited US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, as saying in a speech to about 1,700 sailors aboard the USS Enterprise. “We want them to know that we are fully prepared to deal with any contingency and it’s better for them to try to deal with us through diplomacy.”
Panetta added that the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is on course for the Persian Gulf – and will steam through the Strait of Hormuz in a direct message to Iran, AP reports.
"We'll continue to make those messages clear. The most important way to make those messages clear is to show that we are prepared, that we are strong, that we'll have a presence in that part of the world," Panetta added.
The USS Enterprise, along with the other six ships in the carrier strike group, will deploy to the Middle East in March. It means the US will maintain two carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf region. The warships are expected to support the country’s battle operations in Afghanistan, its anti-piracy efforts and other missions.
Meanwhile, Iran claims it is not concerned with the move, saying it is a part of routine activity.
"US warships and military forces have been in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East region for many years and their decision in relation to the dispatch of a new warship is not a new issue and it should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence," Revolutionary Guard Deputy Commander Hossein Salami was quoted by the IRNA news agency on Saturday.
Tensions escalated in the Gulf after Iran warned the US that it might block the Strait, which is a major transit route for global oil supplies, if the West places an embargo on its oil exports.
Tehran also urged Washington not to send carriers into the Gulf. In return, Washington said it would continue to deploy its ships in the region.
The USS Enterprise, along with the other six ships in the carrier strike group, will deploy to the Middle East in March. Therefore, the US will maintain two carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf region. The warships are expected to support the country’s battle operations in Afghanistan, its anti-piracy efforts and other missions.
Next week the EU is set to agree an embargo on Iranian oil. The West expects the sanctions to force Iran to suspend the nuclear weapon activities it is allegedly practicing.

Original Article
Source: RT
Author: Rafael Martie

Science museum pressured by corporate sponsor over oilsands exhibit

OTTAWA — The Canada Science and Technology Museum faced pressure from a corporate sponsor to change its portrayal of the oilsands in a new energy exhibit, the museum’s former vice-president confirms.

Randall Brooks said both Imperial Oil and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers felt the exhibit was too critical of the oilsands. Brooks was still vice-president at the time but retired last year.

“They certainly were pushing for a positive portrayal of the oilsands,” he said Tuesday.

The Imperial Oil Foundation gave $600,000 over six years for the show called “Energy: Power to Choose.”

Brooks said industry representatives made up a large part of an advisory committee of about 25 people overseeing the exhibit’s preparation. It reported directly to the museum’s CEO, Denise Amyot.

“One of the things that they wanted point out, obviously, was that Canada is an energy-rich country and we need to exploit it,” he said.

“They were as far as possible trying to downplay the negative side of energy exploitation.”

Meanwhile correspondence between the museum and industry reps, obtained by Radio-Canada in an access to information request, show the industry pushing for changes in the exhibit’s content.

The head of a right-wing lobby group that recently launched a controversial internet attack ad against interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae and drew much of its financial support from Conservative Party donors over the past two elections says his connections to Prime Minister Stephen Harper are unrelated to the group’s political campaigns.

OTTAWA—The head of a right-wing lobby group that recently launched a controversial internet attack ad against interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae and drew much of its financial support from Conservative Party donors over the past two elections says his connections to Prime Minister Stephen Harper are unrelated to the group’s political campaigns.

National Citizens Coalition President Peter Coleman, who was treasurer when Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) was its president from 1997 to 2001, say his lobby group was not acting in support of Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party when it launched the attack against Mr. Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) a week ago.

And—even though Mr. Harper, when he was the NCC president, went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to fight election law limits against campaign spending by the NCC and other third parties in federal elections—Mr. Coleman recently told a radio interviewer “there has never been any proof” that money influences elections in Canada.

Mr. Coleman, in an interview with a conservative talk-show radio host at Calgary’s CHQR, said his organization’s You Tube attack ad against Mr. Rae was intended to help the Liberal party by swaying party members against choosing Mr. Rae as their permanent leader, not to lend support to the Conservatives and Mr. Harper.

BEIJING, CHINA—Deadly clashes between ethnic Tibetans and Chinese security forces have spread to a second area in southwestern China, the government and an overseas activist group said Wednesday.

The group Free Tibet said two Tibetans were killed and several more were wounded Tuesday when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county in politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. It quoted local sources as saying the area was under a curfew.

According to the Chinese government, a “mob” of people charged a police station in Seda and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them.

The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter, injured another and arrested 13.

The spread of violence came after some 30 Tibetans sheltered in a monastery after being wounded when Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters in neighbouring Luhuo county, a Tibetan monk said Tuesday. He said military forces had surrounded the building.

The monk who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation, and the Draggo monastery could no longer be reached by phone Wednesday.

An oil spill at Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Sumas Terminal site in Abbotsford, B.C., has spread 110,000 litre of light crude oil into a containment area, sending fumes into a residential area through much of Tuesday.

Residents in the area began complaining about the strong smell of oil early Tuesday morning.

Abbotsford police started getting calls around 4:30 a.m. PT, said Const. Ian MacDonald.

“The folks at Kinder Morgan are working pretty quickly to try and do what they can to dissipate and reduce that odour,” MacDonald said.

Containment efforts are now underway, there is no threat to public health and air quality in the region is being monitored, Kinder Morgan said in a written statement.

The company does not say how much oil has spilled, or what kind it was, but claims the spill was “not significant.”

Students at a nearby elementary school were kept indoors during the morning hours because of the strong odour.

Let My People Go

Some are calling the meeting this week in Ottawa between the Harper Government and the Assembly of First Nations, "historic." In a way, I am sure it is. After six full years in power this is the very first time Harper and his ministers have taken the time to meet the chiefs. I'm not sure if that makes this historic, but the delay surely must be a record.

What I do know is historic is Chief Shawn Atleo's sense of urgency. He says that the AFN is searching for ways to "smash this status quo in tangible ways." I do not remember a chief ever using this kind of language to describe the onerous and debilitating Indian Act. His was a frustrated plea for action after decades of inaction and complacency.

While that is a positive development, the problem is far from one-sided. Provinces have responsibility for land off reserve, but claimed as "traditional territory" by First Nations. The treaty process designed to deal with these questions has been painfully slow and incredibly expensive. The result has is the spawning of an "Indian Industry" that keeps army's of aboriginal people, lawyers, consultants, and bureaucrats well fed.

"First Nations" themselves - numbering in the hundreds - are often hopelessly divided and their leaders frequently live very comfortable lives with the status quo, which is safer than the uncertainty of deep change. A profoundly entrenched culture of dependency within these communities has taken root. Changing that will taketime and political will from everyone involved.

No bold moves may be Harper's best move

Ovide Mercredi didn't like the word "incremental." When it came his turn to speak at Tuesday's aboriginal conference, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations tartly noted that "to us, the answer is not about incremental change."

It was a not-so-subtle dig at Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who just a few minutes earlier had offered precisely that. After ruling out a holus-bolus scrapping of the Indian Act, Harper promised "creative ways, collaborative ways, ways that involve consultation between our government, the provinces, and First Nations leadership and communities . ways that provide options within the (Indian) Act, or outside of it, for practical, incremental and real change."

Phew. A mouthful. But it encapsulates in a few short lines the Harper government's strategy for addressing the endemic misery and suffering engendered by the reserve system. Here's a bet: Harper will get hammered, in the days to come, by those who believe he should have outlined a grand vision, or at least a few bold measures. But the PM may be crazy like a fox here.

Does the Indian Act have to go? Absolutely. This relic of 1876 (though it has undergone "updates" since the original) is unabashedly, explicitly racist. It is an abomination, in fact. And no one can credibly deny that the system it underpins perpetuates misery. Consider the numbers, all of which have been reported before, by me among others. They bear repeating.

The deep snow in Davos this year is no surprise — but the deep doubts about capitalism certainly are. What is Stephen Harper getting himself into?

For decades, this ritzy Swiss resort has hosted an annual celebration of capitalism where luxurious Audis ferry potentates and presidents between lavish hotels so they can bemoan the perils of socialism, high taxes and debt. And yet, this year, the veteran founder and Chairman of the Davos World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, declares that "Capitalism, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us."

Really? Is Schwab, of all people, joining the Occupy Davos movement? The business professor who's been presiding over these festivals for the rich and mighty for forty years? Maybe so.

"We have failed to learn the lessons from the financial crisis of 2009," he goes on. "A global transformation is urgently needed and it must start with reinstating a global sense of social responsibility."

Such remarks, from such an insider in the capitalist club, certainly give a clue to the trauma that has hit the Eurozone in its season of debt and desperation. Greece and Italy are under new management. The survival of the Euro remains in the balance.

Underpaid or out of work? You're not alone.

Employment quality in Canada deteriorated last year as more people moved into self-employment and the composition of the labour market tilted towards lower-paying positions, a new report says.

Canada's labour market was lopsided last year, with virtually all of the country's job growth in the first half of the year. The pace slowed considerably in the last six months, and the quality of work worsened, notes CIBC in its employment quality index.

“The impact of a softening pace of job creation is exacerbated by a worsening level of job quality in the Canadian labour market,” the bank's economists say in their analysis to be released Wednesday.

That double-whammy hit the pocketbooks of Canadians. As both the quantity and quality of employment fell, “it is hardly a surprise that real disposable income was unchanged in the first three quarters of 2011 -- the worst showing in fifteen years,” they said.

While the index is well above levels through the recession, it has fallen by more than one percentage point in the past year.

The bank's index incorporates three measures: full-time versus part-time work; the mix of paid and self-employment, and wages among full-time jobs.

ORILLIA—A report on security at the G8 and G20 summits in 2010 says there was some confusion when Ontario Provincial Police were unexpectedly redeployed to help police in Toronto.

The provincial police report says the force’s primary role was perimeter security at the G8 in the Huntsville, Ont., area.

When violence and vandalism erupted in Toronto on June 26, 2010, provincial police were called in to bolster the G20 interdiction zone in Toronto.

The report says there was confusion because it was not clear if the provincial police officers were supporting Toronto police or the RCMP.

The report states about 650 officers worked 20 hours straight without meals and multiple accommodation was booked for them because of communications and logistics disconnects.

The report makes 91 recommendations, many dealing with earlier and more inclusive planning, should a similar event ever be held again in Ontario.

Should multiple major events occur simultaneously in the future, “greater planning should be undertaken for the emergent redeployment of officers between theatres of operation,” the 53-page report said.

This planning should include clear command and control and logistical co-ordination to ensure proper communication and support for officers.

The report also recommends greater use of social media during major events such as the G8-G20, saying there was minimal use of Twitter and Facebook during the planning phase.

“A more aggressive approach would have helped to counter rumours ... during the operational phase by adding to the number of followers and friends,” the report said.

Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Canadian Press

London 2012: 100 Arrests Ahead Of Olympics As May Says Tents Should Be 'Banned' From All Games Sites

Almost 100 people have been arrested ahead of the Olympics and all tents and encampments should be banned from the Games, the home secretary has said.

But the Olympic organisers have not yet imposed a total ban, saying only that they will work with the Home Office to prevent encampments "if necessary".

The Occupy protests seen at St Paul's Cathedral and other sites around the UK, in which large amounts of tents are pitched for long periods of time, have raised concerns that similar tactics could be used at the London Games.

The Home Office is keen to avoid such scenes at the Olympics, and on Wednesday May suggested that tents and other similar items should be banned from the Games.

In her speech on Olympic security planning at the Royal United Services Institute, Theresa May said that with six months until the Games police and security teams were preparing for "all eventualities" and work was continuing behind the scenes.

Calling out "encampment protests" as a specific new threat that would be tackled before the games, May said she was confident police were taking a "robust attitude" to organised crime.

The Met's anti-crime push ahead of the Olympics is led by Operation Podium.

Harper, Atleo leave summit still at odds over Indian Act fate

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Chief Shawn Atleo both spoke of a renewed relationship Tuesday at the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa.

But when it came to specifics, the two leaders were slightly - maybe even completely - at odds.

Harper said his government has no plans to repeal or rewrite the Indian Act, but Atleo said it is a painful obstacle to re-establishing any form of meaningful relationship.

Still, at the end of daylong meetings, which included 150 chiefs and 12 cabinet ministers, most chiefs said they were heartened by the dialogue and called the event an important first step.

Harper, who was expected to leave after the opening ceremonies, ended up staying through the day - a move Lake Huron Regional Grand Chief Isadore Day said showed "he was listening."

Day was part of a delegation of 30 chiefs who met with the prime minister Monday evening in an impromptu, closed-door session on Parliament Hill.

"Last night had just as much, if not more, significance than today," said Bill Erasmus, regional chief of the Northwest Territories. "The prime minister heard directly from the leaders."

OTTAWA - Paul Martin does nothing to mask his frustration on the other end of a telephone line.

The former prime minister and architect of the scuttled Kelowna Accord tried to find something to salvage in the historic talks between First Nations chiefs and Stephen Harper. Instead, what he saw was the federal government wasting more time and sending the chiefs home empty handed.

"The government has nothing concrete to say," Martin told The Canadian Press. "They wasted six years."

The joint statement between Harper and the chiefs released Tuesday committed to a task force on economic development and a working group on the structure of government financing of First Nations.

It also committed to reviewing a report on education, as well as processes to improve governance and the implementation of treaties.

But all that work has already been done many times over, Martin said.

New report shows police rely on long-gun registry

OTTAWA - A new report shows that Canadian police services are using the firearms registry more than ever, relying on it more than 14,000 times a day rather than viewing it as an obsolete and unreliable database as the Conservative government claims.

The RCMP quietly posted on Monday annual report on the controversial firearms program which shows in 2010, law enforcement agencies across the country logged in and queried the Canadian Firearms Registry Online an average of 14,357 times a day.

In fact, since the Conservative government took power in 2006 and immediately proceeded to lift penalties against long-gun owners who didn’t register their weapons, police in Canada have more than doubled their use of the database.

In 2006, there were a total of 2,397,639 online queries, and in 2010, that number soared to 5,240,414 queries.

The report appears to refute suggestions by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government that any cop who runs any kind of casual licence plate check through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database automatically triggers a query to the firearms registry and throws the stats out of whack.

Once upon a time, "in the last decade of the 20th century, Alberta became a paragon of fiscal virtue."

So begins a fairy tale spun by Ken Boessenkool and Ben Eisen, Alberta's equivalents of the Brothers Grimm.

Their fantasy story was treated by journalists with respectful kid gloves and a deceptive lack of background when it was released to the mainstream media last week by the so-called "School of Public Policy" at the University of Calgary.

Indeed, the National Post liked it so much, it practically copied the study's opening line for the opener of its editorial last Friday.

Alas, unlike the work of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, the yarn spun by Boessenkool and Eisen is designed to obfuscate, not to illuminate.

As time goes on and the number-crunchers have a chance to pull at the threads of this colourful but poorly knitted sweater, many more flaws are certain to be revealed that cast doubt on its sensational conclusion that (as summarized by the Calgary Herald) "Alberta's public sector wage bill has increased nearly twice as fast as the national average over the past decade."

Conservatism in North America

Two recent articles on conservatism are worth considering. First, from the left, there is Cory Robin's insightful articulation, "The Conservative Reaction," in the Chronicle of Higher Education of the classic progressive critique of the right: conservatives -- since the French Revolution -- essentially want to preserve elite interests against movements, like feminism, that advance agendas for greater democratization. Second, from the right, there is Stephen Hayward's thoughtful self-critique in the autumn edition of Breakthrough Journal.

While Hayward's "Modernizing Conservatism" predictably misunderstands the left -- the author thinks that progressives essentially believe that individual success is due to luck rather than merit -- the essay clearly grasps the core ideological mistake that conservatives must confront if they wish to retain their hegemony over economic policy. Hayward surprisingly acknowledges that the conservative project of "starving the beast," that is, weakening the welfare state by decreasing its tax revenue, diminishing entitlements and limiting government intervention in the lives of families and business, has been a failure. Government is larger than ever and Reaganism -- despite its rhetoric -- seems to have only perpetuated a broader process of increasing state administration over society.

The driving conservative assumption over the past generation was that by reducing tax revenue, U.S. administrations would eventually be forced to cut spending. The truth is that the cost of middle-class entitlements has continued to grow -- compelling greater expenditure -- but without the tax income needed to offset the increased expense. Hayward notes that Americans currently pay 60 cents for every dollar of government service that they receive; thus the author concludes that the best way to reduce spending may be to tax the public according to the level of benefit that is actually provided. Hayward believes that, when confronted with a choice that imposes the costs of social programs on their beneficiaries, the public may be more cautious about the desirability, or at least scope, of state-delivered social programs. This conclusion may not be justified in the Canadian context, where a broad-based consensus exists that each should contribute to the education, medical treatment and other basic needs of the whole. It is, however, a perceptive application of public choice theory in the United States where significant segments of the population embrace -- sometimes admirably -- rugged individualism and thus expound an almost existential hatred of taxes.

Hayward's views are, for a U.S. conservative, refreshingly fact-based. One gap in his essay is that he has not spent time studying the most adroit conservative politician of our generation. No political leader in the Western world is more cunning, pragmatic and far-sighted than Canada's Prime Minister: witness the guile behind his government's recent decision on health-care funding. If right-wingers in the United States want to ensure conservative hegemony, they should take lessons from Stephen Harper -- who, like all resilient leaders, understands Niccolò Machiavelli better than his rudderless opponents. Our current Prime Minister promises to last longer than Jean Chrétien or Brian Mulroney -- while reconfiguring government spending along lines that preserve elite interests against the occasional intrusions of democracy.

Original Article
Source: Rabble.ca
Author: Thomas Ponniah

McGuinty says history of goodwill with public servants will ease pain of cuts

Like Nixon to China, Premier Dalton McGuinty believes he has the credibility to confront some politically challenging decisions.

Stepping up his warnings of imminent spending cuts, McGuinty on Tuesday reminded Ontarians he has built up years of goodwill with public servants, which should ease the pain by averting labour strife.

“The foundation of respect and collaboration and measureable progress that we have laid during the first eight years puts me in a good position,” the premier said, referring to the generous contract settlements since his Liberals took power in 2003.

“So when I go to my teachers and I go to my doctors and I go to my nurses and everybody else in the public sector and I say: ‘Listen folks, we need to do this’ . . . I’m hoping that they’ll receive that with an open mind.”

McGuinty’s comments to reporters, following a Canadian Club speech to 700 people at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, raised comparisons to former U.S. president Richard Nixon using his anti-communist credentials to open relations with Mao Zedong in 1972.

Don Drummond, the Ontario government’s adviser-on-everything, is still a few days away from officially revealing details of his proposed spending cutbacks. But critics are already weighing in.

Chief among these are the health care unions, who suspect from Drummond’s musings that the former bank economist will propose sweeping measures designed to make Ontario’s non-profit hospitals operate more like profit-maximizing private corporations.

The unions obviously have a monetary interest in this. Private corporations are under tremendous shareholder pressure to reduce costs by whatever means — including the contracting out of good jobs to cheaper, non-union shops.

But the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which bargains for 30,000 hospital, long-term care and ambulance workers, also argues that the kinds of free-market measures Drummond has been hinting at won’t save money for taxpayers.

The union analysis rests to a large extent on research done in the U.S. and Britain, where private corporations are far more involved in the delivery of publicly funded health services than in Canada.

Officer’s G20 conduct becomes an issue at inquest into teen’s death

Witness testimony at the coroner’s inquest into the death of Junior Manon was suspended Tuesday afternoon as lawyers argued about the admissibility of a report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD).

That report names Const. Michael Adams — who, along with Sgt. Stuart Blower, was arresting Manon when he died in May 2010 — as one of five officers that evidence suggests used excessive force in the beating of G20 demonstrator Adam Nobody.

Julian Falconer, the Manon family’s lawyer, argued that he should be allowed to cross-examine Adams about statements contained in the report.

“Every inch of Junior Manon’s history will be introduced to paint a picture that Junior Manon had a history with the police and that (Adams) needed to be afraid of him,” said Falconer. “But when it comes to Adams, we’ll foster all notions of presumption of innocence,” he said. “That’s where the unfairness starts.”

Audio of Adams’ testimony to SIU investigators after Manon died was entered into evidence by Falconer on Tuesday and released by the inquest.

PMO branded environmental group an ‘enemy’ of Canada, affidavit says

OTTAWA—The Prime Minister’s Office allegedly labelled an environmental group an “enemy” of Canada for opposing a proposed west coast oil pipeline and threatened retribution if its funding was not cut off, according to the affidavit of a former employee.

The group, ForestEthics, operates in both Canada and the U.S. with money from Tides Canada, a charitable group that funds initiatives to tackle poverty, climate change and social problems.

ForestEthics is also a registered intervener at hearings on Enbridge’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline that would pump Alberta oil to freighters on the British Columbia coast destined for China.

But a former communications manager with ForestEthics says that senior federal officials referred to the group as an “enemy of the government of Canada” and an “enemy of the people of Canada” in a private meeting with the president of Tides Canada, Ross McMillan.

Andrew Frank, a 30-year-old instructor in the environmental protection program at Vancouver’s Kwantlen Polytechnic University, also claims the Prime Minister’s Office wanted McMillan to revoke funding to the organization.

Canada exports jobs along with its oil

Canada is an emerging energy superpower that's the most attractive investment opportunity in the world, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a London business audience in July 2006.

Today, Canada's dependence on Middle Eastern oil is growing. It is now as large, proportionately, as the Americans' dependence.

Canada not only has no plan to guarantee Canadian oil for Canadians first, its foreign-controlled oil industry intends to spend billions on two giant pipelines carrying millions of barrels of Canadian oil daily to the U.S. Gulf Coast and China.

Canada is also the only country in the 27-member International Energy Agency without strategic petroleum reserves and the only one with no plan to deal with a sudden international oil crisis, "even though one is almost certain to hit soon," says University of Alberta political economist Gordon Laxer.

"Just think about Iran closing the Straits of Hormuz after a U.S. attack," continues Laxer, the founding director and former head of the university's Parkland Institute. "Forty per cent of ocean-bound oil shut in at one blow. Canadians, who face special conditions of long, cold winters, would be immediately impacted. Some could even freeze in the dark...

Corporate tax breaks designed to lure Canadian businesses into hiring employees and investing in equipment are instead fuelling higher dividends and allowing companies to “hoard” billions, says a new study.

The study, prepared by the Canadian Labour Congress and scheduled to be made public Wednesday morning, found the “leading cash hoarder” was Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan whose coffers grew by over $5 billion between 2000 and 2010.

In second place was George Weston Limited, which has accumulated $4 billion, followed by Barrick Gold Corporation with $3.9 billion. Embattled Research in Motion was in fourth place with $2.6 billion and Kinross Gold Corporation has set aside $2 billion.

“Cuts to corporate taxes have resulted in a major loss of government revenues, without the anticipated result of higher corporate investment in machinery and equipment, new plants and other areas of company operations,” wrote authors David Macdonald and Andrew Jackson. “Instead, we have seen a big increase in the divident payouts and in financial assets.”

GE and water privatization

Investment banker Goldman Sachs has famously been described by Rolling Stone's business writer Matt Taibbi (July 2009) as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." So it's a good idea to take notice whenever that Vampire Squid moves its blood funnel towards something. Having profited handsomely from the Wall Street bailouts, the Squid has smelled money in a new direction: water privatization.

In January 2010, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, and the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington-based think-tank, together launched a water "initiative" to develop an index measuring water-related risks facing companies and their investors. As their news release put it, "In many regions around the world, water scarcity from climate change and pollution is starting to impact a company's performance, yet few analysts account for water-related risks."

Their new water index would "draw on publicly available data regarding physical scarcity and water quality and overlay factors including the regulatory regime and social and reputational issues" in various regions of the world. In other words, their risk-index might more accurately be called an "opportunity-index" for water-investors.

Goldman Sachs' partner General Electric has long smelled money from that sector. According to Canada's water expert Maude Barlow, "The biggest water company of all is General Electric."

China attacks rights groups' accounts of Tibetan violence

Beijing (CNN) -- China on Tuesday criticized human rights groups' accounts of a violent clash between Tibetan protesters and the Chinese police, accusing them of trying to "distort the truth."

The dispute over what took place in a remote area of Sichuan Province comes at a sensitive time in China's relationship with its Tibetan population after a string of self-immolations by Tibetan protesters in recent months.

The International Campaign for Tibet, which promotes human rights for Tibetan people, reported Monday that thousands of Tibetans had marched on government offices before the police opened fire into the crowd, killing at least three protesters and wounding nine.

Free Tibet, a London-based group that campaigns for Tibetan independence, said that one person was killed and as many as 30 others wounded by gunfire from the Chinese security forces.

The rights groups said the protesters had been motivated by a recent security crackdown on Tibetans in the region following the circulation of pamphlets raising the prospect of more self-immolations.

The reports, which could not be independently verified, contrasted with the account given by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. It reported that "dozens of people, including some monks, stormed and smashed some stores along a main street and a police station" in the autonomous Tibetan prefecture of Ganzi in Sichuan.

Google starts tracking people as they use YouTube, search, Gmail

Google on Tuesday said it will begin tracking people as they use Google search and Gmail, watch YouTube videos and use other Google services—at their computers and on their mobile devices.

That announcement came hours after Facebook said it will make Timeline and Open Graph part of the default user interface. These new services chronologically assemble and make more easily accessible the preferences, acquaintances and activities of its 800 million members.

The two changes will become effective over the next few weeks, the tech giants said. “It’s clear that they’re doing this to chase more advertising revenue,” says P.J. McNealy, analyst at Digital World Research.

The $32 billion U.S. market for online advertising in 2011, as estimated by eMarketer, is expected to grow at a robust clip. Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, Adobe and a flock of Internet-based companies are part of this gold rush.

Google and Facebook have been sanctioned by U.S. regulators for privacy violations. The moves disclosed on Tuesday are sure to draw scrutiny.

“Google’s plan to change its privacy policy raises important questions about how much control Google users will have over their personal information,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Critics worry the tech giants will open fresh opportunities for cybercrooks to prey on users of the sites.

“Both are racing to monetize our private information and in doing so creating collateral damage,” says Alisdair Faulkner, chief product officer at security firm ThreatMetrix. “They are essentially indexing more and more private information and, in doing so, serving it up on a platter to cybercriminals.”

Previously, any trace of a user’s search or surfing activities on a Google product was used to generate ads only on that particular product. After March 1, when the new policy change becomes effective, a Google account holder’s search and surfing activities will be tracked and used to generate ads and search results across all of Google’s products.

For instance, a search for “2011 Honda Accord” on YouTube may result in a Honda ad flashed on the user’s Gmail. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products,” the company said on its blog.

Original Article
Source: Star
Author:Byron Acohido and Roger Yu

Conservative supporters max out to party, then give to National Citizens Coalition

PARLIAMENT HILL—A new political fundraising trend has developed over the past five years involving Conservative Party supporters who donated as much as they could to the party under electoral law limits in the past two elections as well as intervening years and also contributed as much or thousands of dollars more to a right-wing lobby group that has indirectly supported the Conservative government in those elections, a Hill Timesreview of political financing reports to Elections Canada shows.

The practice by donors to the National Citizens Coalition, once led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.,) began after current president Peter Coleman assumed the job in 2006. Mr. Coleman was the NCC’s treasurer when Mr. Harper served as its president from 1997 to 2001, after Mr. Harper resigned as a Reform Party MP to temporarily leave politics.

A review of Conservative Party donor filings with Elections Canada and third-party election campaign reports by the National Citizens Coalition found eight Conservative supporters who contributed the maximum allowed to the party in either or both of the 2008 and 2011 election years and donated more than $1,000 to the NCC during those two elections.

At least three of the Conservative Party supporters donated $10,000, and a long-time Calgary friend of Mr. Harper’s, former Encana oil company executive Gwynn Morgan, contributed $20,000 to the Citizens Coalition during the 2008 federal election campaign while also giving the maximum possible to the Conservatives, $1,100.

For the 2004 federal election, the Citizens Coalition had only 18 donors, who gave the group a total of only $6,509, all under the $200 contribution level after which reports by contributor name and amount must be reported to Elections Canada.

Republican Response: Mitch Daniels Delivers Speech After State Of The Union

WASHINGTON -- Republicans don't think it's fair for President Barack Obama to accuse them of obstructing progress. But that's not going to stop them from blaming him for doing the same.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) delivered the Republican response to Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, accusing the president of pushing an extreme agenda that was "pro-poverty." Picking up on many of the themes sounded by the GOP presidential candidates on the campaign trail, Daniels criticized Obama for calling on the wealthiest Americans to pay higher taxes, saying it was doing nothing but "divide" America and stifle economic growth.

Daniels pointed to Obama's "grand experiment in trickle-down government" that has "held back rather than sped economic recovery" and his record in putting America on a course to make the federal debt "radically worse in the years ahead."

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," said Daniels. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat. If we drift, quarreling and paralyzed, over a Niagara of debt, we will all suffer, regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have."

While the government has backed down from petroleum subsidy cuts, long-term solutions require a drastic restructuring of Nigeria's economic and social policies.

Long before the Occupy movement forced economic and class inequality onto the political agenda in the U.S., Nigeria had its own “We are the 99%” rallying cry. According to the World Bank, more than 80 per cent of the vast oil revenues flowing into the country – $59 billion in 2010, accounting for “more than 80 per cent of government revenues and 95 per cent of foreign exchange income” – were captured by one per cent of the population. The spectacle of political, military, and commercial elites participating in a corrupt and explosive struggle for oil wealth highlights the deep rupture between rulers and ruled in a large, complex, oil-rich state of 160 million people, where 70 per cent of the population lives in poverty and life expectancy stands at 47 years.

Nigeria is typically held up as the worst example of virtually every species of developmental failure: rampant official corruption, corporate bribery, decaying social and physical infrastructure, military indiscipline, ethnic and religious insurgencies, industrial and agricultural decay, and deplorable health indicators. Yet the country’s demonstrated failure to effectively produce any industrial good – even electric power – has blocked any ability to resuscitate the national economy. The seventh most populous country in the world has roughly as much grid power as Stockton, CA.

Few really expected any very specific progress to flow from today’s summit meeting between the Prime Minister and Aboriginal leaders, but an unexpectedly precise step forward on proper financing for reserves appears to have materialized.

The “Crown-First Nations Gathering Joint Statement” issued at the end of today’s sessions here in Ottawa includes an “Immediate Steps for Action” section. The very first item promises that “Canada and First Nations will work on a renewed relationship that is based on… movement toward a single, multi-year Government of Canada financial arrangement for First Nations with high-performing governance systems.”

The wording might sound bureaucratic, but the two underlying points are of critical importance. Ottawa will provide multi-year funding, but only to reserve communities that meet proper standards of governance.

At his closing news conference, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the model for the new arrangements will be an existing process under which some 55 First Nations have taken on full control of their own land management—after satisfying the federal government that they had sufficient administrative capacity.

A prominent environmentalist has been fired from an organization that has staunchly protested the Northern Gateway pipeline after he accused the Prime Minister’s Office of resorting to intimidation tactics against the project’s critics.

The dismissal of Andrew Frank, spokesman for anti-oil-sands group ForestEthics, comes amid an increasingly tense atmosphere among environmental groups – especially those registered as charities, whose public advocacy is supposed to be limited – that have come under fire by the federal government for harbouring “radicals” intent on “hijacking” the review process for Gateway.

The departure of Mr. Frank reflects the fear that has been created among environmental groups nervous about federal scrutiny of their practices.

One of the groups that has received the most attention is Tides Canada, a wide-reaching foundation that supports nearly 40 organizations, including ForestEthics, an environmental organization with roots in the mid-1990s fight against clear-cut logging.

Today, ForestEthics devotes substantial effort to battling the oil sands, including the Gateway pipeline. It has registered as an intervenor in the public review of the $6.6-billion project, which hopes to bring Alberta oil sands crude to Pacific waters for export to Asia and California. Gateway has stoked major debate, with supporters saying it will give Canada access to new markets, and opponents saying it stands to devastate western waters rich with salmon and whales.

It took 35 minutes and three 911 calls before emergency workers began rescue efforts for a man dying of a heart attack in the lobby of a downtown apartment building, a coroner’s inquest heard Tuesday.

The first two 911 calls were assigned a low priority, even though James Hearst, 59, had a history of serious heart problems, government lawyer Stefania Fericean said in her opening remarks at an inquest into Hearst’s death.

She noted that paramedics arrived earlier on the evening of June 25, 2009, but chose to stand by around the corner from his Alexander St. apartment building and wait for a police escort while a security guard and passersby tried unsuccessfully to save Hearst.

The first two 911 calls weren’t classed as urgent by a dispatcher, Fericean said. Finally, half an hour after Hearst’s collapse, the call was upgraded to urgent.

Firefighters arrived three minutes later, but it was too late to revive Hearst.

The coroner’s inquest, before Dr. Albert Lauwers, is expected to hear 26 witnesses — including 911 dispatchers and paramedics — and is set to run until Feb. 17.

ORNGE lets 18 go, shutters charitable entity

The axe swung at ORNGE again Tuesday: 18 middle management staff cut, along with a charity program. At least two top executives have also left the building.

Interim president Ron McKerlie said it is being done “in an effort to contain costs and to redirect our focus.”

ORNGE receives $150 million annually to deliver air ambulance service to Ontario. McKerlie, a deputy minister, was sent in by provincial health minister Deb Matthews after a Star investigation turned up high salaries, executive spending sprees and delays in responding to emergency calls.

McKerlie said more resources need to be devoted to the “front-line delivery of patient care.” He referred to the “immediate termination” of staff from what he called “back-office departments.”

No names were provided when the Star asked. Paramedics and pilots are not affected in this round of cuts. Many of the people let go were involved in supporting a group of for-profit international companies that the province recently chopped in an attempt to get ORNGE back to its basic job of providing emergency services to Ontario.

It was the massacre which left 24 unarmed Iraqis dead and cast fresh shame on the American military, already reeling from Abu-Ghraib.

But a military judge yesterday ruled that the final U.S. soldier to face charges over the notorious assault on Haditha will not be jailed.

Instead, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who led the attack, faces no more than three months in confinement after admitting the least serious of three charges – negligent dereliction of duty.

He had initially been implicated in 19 of the deaths. Among the victims were seven children and a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair.

The ruling by military judge Lietenant Colonel David Jones came after a surprise statement by Wuterich in which he claimed he was not a ‘cold blooded baby killer’ and had never fired his weapon at any women or children.

He also apologised to relatives of the Haditha victims.

Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will not serve a jail sentence following his guilty plea in the killing of 24 Iraqis in 2005, a military judge said Tuesday.

The announcement by Lt. Col. David Jones came after Wuterich took responsibility during his sentencing hearing at Camp Pendleton for the killings in the Euphrates River town of Haditha and expressed remorse to the victims' families.

Jones said he had planned to recommend 90 days in the brig — the maximum as requested by the prosecution — but that the plea bargain approved by Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser had called for no jail time.

"It's difficult for the court to fathom negligent dereliction of duty worse than the facts in this case," Jones told Wuterich.

Wuterich, 31, was the last of eight Marines charged in the Haditha killings to have his case resolved. Six had the charges against them dropped, and one Marine was acquitted.

The lack of trial convictions in the Haditha case is likely to further inflame anti-U.S. sentiment in Iraq, as well as fuel criticism by some legal analysts of the 6-year-long investigation and prosecution.

A Marine Corps spokesman said Waldhauser would offer no public explanation of his decision to accept the plea bargain and stipulate that Wuterich receive no jail time.