Fracking Industry Shakes Up Northern BC with 231 Tremors

British Columbia's shale gas fracking industry triggered more than 231 earthquakes or ''seismic events'' in northeastern British Columbia between Aug. 2013 and Oct. 2014.

Some of the quakes were severe enough to ''experience a few seconds of shaking'' on the ground in seven areas of the province on top of the large Montney shale gas basin.

The events, many of which occurred in clusters or swarms, showed that the regulation of the industry still lags behind the pace of drilling activity in the region.

''Induced seismicity related to wastewater disposal and hydraulic fracturing within the Montney (a 29,850 square-kilometre underground siltstone formation) indicates a more uniform application of regulations is appropriate,'' concluded a December report by the BC Oil and Gas Commission.

The false debate between freedom of expression and religious extremism

Reading news coverage about the recent attacks on the French satirical magazineCharlie Hebdo left me with many unanswered and uncomfortable questions. A very complex French, European and international event was summarized with simplistic headlines such us: "How remarkable that a humour magazine has led the fight against fanaticism" or "Paris attack illustrates the power of mockery."

After the deadly attack, many cartoonists reduced the event to a confrontation between an armed, bearded jihadist and a pen. A simple representation, yet it is both powerful and misleading.

Ashton Larmond, Carlos Larmond Arrested For 'Terrorism Offences'

OTTAWA - Two Ottawa brothers have been charged with terrorism related offences.

An RCMP statement alleges that Ashton Carleton Larmond and Carlos Larmond, both 24, were planning to leave Canada to engage in terrorist activities abroad.

The RCMP say Ashton Larmond is charged with facilitating terrorist activity, participation in the activity of a terrorist group and instructing to carry out activity for a terrorist group.

Carlos Larmond faces charges of participation in the activity of a terrorist group and attempting to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activity abroad.

The news release says the arrests were made on Friday _ Ashton Larmond was arrested in Ottawa while Carlos Larmond was arrested at Montreal's Trudeau international airport.

Police say a court date has yet to be determined. They add they won't comment further because the case is before the courts.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: cp

France's Far-Right Leader Exploits the Paris Attack and Calls for Reviving the Death Penalty

Shortly after gunmen burst into the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and murdered a dozen people, Marine Le Pen, the leader of Front National, a far-right, anti-immigrant party, called for France to revive the death penalty, which it abolished in 1981. In an interview with France 2, she declared that capital punishment should be part "of our legal arsenal," and she vowed to hold a national referendum to restore it if she is elected president in 2017.

La Pen's remarks were not surprising. While the manhunt for the Charlie Hebdo killers was underway, she used the horrific attack to justify her own political war on Islam. And it did seem that her party, which promotes a hard-line anti-Islam and anti-immigrant message, was in a good position to gain politically.

Tar sands make international headlines again, for all the wrong reasons: op-ed

Canada has made international headlines again—and again for all the wrong reasons. It's a pattern that's becoming disconcertingly familiar.

A study published on January 8 in the prestigious journal Nature examined known fossil fuel reserves globally and the climactic consequences of extracting them from the ground. The conclusion is stark. If the world is to avoid catastrophic warming, much of the oil, coal, and natural gas reserves that are already known to exist must be left untouched.

The report singles out the Alberta tar sands as being of particular concern: because the reserves of bitumen in northern Alberta are so vast, unearthing (and then burning) them will have a massive impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Death on the streets of Canada

We literally saw death on the streets of Canada this week in Toronto. In a 48-hour period two homeless men died. On Monday, January 5, a man in his fifties, whose identity has not yet been released, was found in the west end of the city in an abandoned van. On Tuesday January 6, a man now identified as Shabbir Jaffa was found in a bus shelter at the busy intersection of Yonge and Dundas.

Both deaths occurred in an extremely bitter Arctic cold spell. Temperatures ranged from -10 to -14 C but were closer to -20 C with wind chill. The social and political context was also chilling. The Medical Officer of Health had not yet issued an Extreme Cold Weather Alert and the appropriate city officials did not direct the opening of the 24-hour warming centres. Meanwhile, the city's shelter system was operating beyond the City Council approved 90 per cent capacity. The volunteer-run Out of the Cold program, which the city relies on to provide over 800 spaces per week, was packed as usual. To add insult to injury, years of funding cuts to agencies that provide shelter, food and health care to homeless people left organizations stretched and diminished in their ability to respond to emergency conditions.

Stripping the national cupboard bare: Harper's plan for Canada

The Harper government's anti-democratic actions have been so numerous, it's easy to lose track of them.

I almost forgot, for instance, about the way it clamped down on that little bird-watching group in southwestern Ontario, putting its charitable status under surveillance after the group raised concerns about government-approved chemicals damaging bee colonies.

Harper's behaviour -- his attack on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, his muzzling of government scientists and disdain for scientific evidence, his proroguing of Parliament to save his own skin, his use of omnibus bills to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny -- has been so at odds with democracy and the democratic process that he's even alienated many of his natural allies in Canada's elite.

Elections Canada Budgets $1M For Aboriginal ID Issue In Federal Vote

Elections Canada has budgeted up to $1 million to help First Nations cope with new voter-identification rules that could make it harder for indigenous people to cast ballots in this year’s federal election.

The agency is hiring the Assembly of First Nations to warn its 634 bands and others about the tougher rules, which are doing away with “vouching,” commonly used on reserves where relatively few voters have identity cards that show their home address as required.

'Canada Is In Serious Trouble' As Debt, House Prices Climb, Deutsche Bank Declares

It was little more than a year ago that Deutsche Bank declared Canada’s housing market to be the most overvalued in the world, and on Thursday the German-based bank doubled down on its bearish assessment of Canada.

Residential real estate in Canada is overvalued by 63 per cent, according to research from Deutsche Bank chief international economist Torsten Slok.

Why does terrorism work? Because we let it.

As Europe staggers toward scapegoating, paranoia and bigotry in the wake of the unspeakable mass murder of journalists in Paris, there’s one thing that every Canadian can take to the bank: When Parliament returns, Stephen Harper will be bringing forward new anti-terror legislation.

Like Stephen Rigby before them, the new national security tandem of Dick Fadden and David McGovern will be one of the most potent forces in the PM’s re-election plans. Fear is Harper’s most powerful vote magnet; security is fear’s most reliable handmaiden.

No country for old men

IN 1967 Canada invented a way to remove discrimination and prejudice from the process of choosing which immigrants to let in. The points system ignored an applicant’s race and country of origin (until then it helped to be white). Instead, it rewarded education, fluency in English or French and work experience. With the change, Asians supplanted white Europeans as the dominant immigrant group. The idea of basing admission to Canada on merit rather than on a bureaucrat’s whim was visionary at the time. Several countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, adopted Canadian-style points systems. In Europe even politicians hostile to “uncontrolled” immigration sing the praises of Canada’s selective approach.

By closing the Health Council of Canada, Stephen Harper is abandoning national medicare

Health Ministers from across Canada were recently told by the Harper government thatit will stop funding the Health Council of Canada and wants it “wound down” in order to save $6 million.

When the Harper government says it is time to wind down the Health Council of Canada, it is saying in effect, it is time to wind down national medicare. Let me explain.

The Health Council of Canada was formed in 2003, following the Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, to provide accountability, oversight, planning and national coordination for our health care system. Its achievements to date include lowering wait times and encouraging innovation in the public health care system to ensure access to a continuum of services, in and out of hospital.

How Harper killed medicare — and got away with it

The Harper government’s anti-democratic actions have been so numerous, it’s easy to lose track of them.

I almost forgot, for instance, about the way it clamped down on that little bird-watching group in southwestern Ontario, putting its charitable status under surveillance after the group raised concerns about government-approved chemicals damaging bee colonies.

Harper’s behaviour — his attack on the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, his muzzling of government scientists and disdain for scientific evidence, his proroguing of Parliament to save his own skin, his use of omnibus bills to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny — has been so at odds with democracy and the democratic process that he’s even alienated many of his natural allies in Canada’s elite.

Elizabeth Warren Says Economy Is 'Rigged' Against Workers

WASHINGTON -- With a celebrity assist from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the AFL-CIO union federation hosted what it billed as a national summit on raising wages in D.C. on Wednesday, making its case for progressive labor policies to reduce U.S. income inequality.

The union group and its high-profile guests, including Labor Secretary Tom Perez, laid out some familiar liberal prescriptions for shared prosperity, including a higher minimum wage, mandated paid leave for workers and more robust collective bargaining.