The economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 was a distant memory by 2010 for Canada’s top chief executive officers, at least as far as their pay packages were concerned.
A Globe and Mail review of executive pay last year shows CEOs at Canada’s 100 largest companies saw their compensation jump 13 per cent last year, led higher by a 20-per-cent increase in annual cash bonuses. Base salaries climbed 4 per cent.
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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.]
Monday, May 30, 2011
Foreign workers uniting to seek better treatment
Foreign farm workers, nannies and other temporary labourers in Canada are forming a united front to fight for better treatment by employers.
“What we are seeing now is a shift and expansion of the temporary foreign workers program from agriculture and live-in care to food industry, restaurants, hospitality and tourism,” said Sonia Singh of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, the coalition to be launched this week.
“We are seeing worsening work conditions for these workers. It sets a dangerous path to have our immigration policy based on temporary work.”
Despite the recent economic downturn, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has skyrocketed from 160,908 in 2006 to 283,096 in 2010.
Individual groups have organized within their own sectors, but it is time to have a united front to advocate for all foreign workers, who are at the mercy of Canadian employers and third-party recruiters, said Singh, whose group is made up of 17 grassroots organizations and unions.
Full Article
“What we are seeing now is a shift and expansion of the temporary foreign workers program from agriculture and live-in care to food industry, restaurants, hospitality and tourism,” said Sonia Singh of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, the coalition to be launched this week.
“We are seeing worsening work conditions for these workers. It sets a dangerous path to have our immigration policy based on temporary work.”
Despite the recent economic downturn, the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has skyrocketed from 160,908 in 2006 to 283,096 in 2010.
Individual groups have organized within their own sectors, but it is time to have a united front to advocate for all foreign workers, who are at the mercy of Canadian employers and third-party recruiters, said Singh, whose group is made up of 17 grassroots organizations and unions.
Full Article
$784M budget shortfall a sign of fiscal doomsday?
Toronto faces a massive $784 million shortfall projected for its 2012 budget. To balance it, the city will be forced to cut services and struggle to find new sources of revenue.
And without offering him extra staff or resources, the mayor has tasked Del Grande with what seems like a mission impossible. During last year’s municipal election, Rob Ford promised he’d lower taxes and stop the gravy train — all without cutting any city services, “guaranteed.” Now, unless the mayor and Del Grande pull off a miracle, this budget chair may unfairly, but forever, be identified as the man who couldn’t save Toronto from the approaching apocalypse (assuming there’s anyone left around to remember).
But I have some faith in Del Grande’s abilities and don’t honestly believe society as we know it will come to an end next year. But it very well may look different than what we’re used to. The buses will continue to run, but not as often. We’ll still have community centres, but they’ll be more expensive to access. Our roads will be repaired, but not as quickly. Some services may disappear completely.
To avoid this scenario, I wonder if most Torontonians are willing to pay higher user fees or taxes? Should we consider other options such as the controversial subject of introducing road tolls for 905ers, who are essentially subsidized by Toronto’s property taxpayers when using our infrastructure?
If Mr. Ford was wrong about his gravy prophecies, something will surely have to give.
Full Article
And without offering him extra staff or resources, the mayor has tasked Del Grande with what seems like a mission impossible. During last year’s municipal election, Rob Ford promised he’d lower taxes and stop the gravy train — all without cutting any city services, “guaranteed.” Now, unless the mayor and Del Grande pull off a miracle, this budget chair may unfairly, but forever, be identified as the man who couldn’t save Toronto from the approaching apocalypse (assuming there’s anyone left around to remember).
But I have some faith in Del Grande’s abilities and don’t honestly believe society as we know it will come to an end next year. But it very well may look different than what we’re used to. The buses will continue to run, but not as often. We’ll still have community centres, but they’ll be more expensive to access. Our roads will be repaired, but not as quickly. Some services may disappear completely.
To avoid this scenario, I wonder if most Torontonians are willing to pay higher user fees or taxes? Should we consider other options such as the controversial subject of introducing road tolls for 905ers, who are essentially subsidized by Toronto’s property taxpayers when using our infrastructure?
If Mr. Ford was wrong about his gravy prophecies, something will surely have to give.
Full Article
Was Harper asked to help Israel at G8 summit?
ATHENS—Stephen Harper has been portrayed as more than just a friend to Israel but someone who did the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at last week’s G8 summit in France.
A leading Israeli newspaper reported that Harper was asked by Netanyahu to ensure that the summit of the world’s leading economies did not refer to Israel’s pre-1967 borders as any starting point to new Middle East peace negotiations.
U.S. President Barack Obama had called for those borders in concert with land swaps as a negotiating start but Netanyahu called those borders “indefensible.’’
The English language Haaretz said Netanyahu called Harper on the eve of the summit to express his concern that the summit would back the Obama position.
At the summit neither Harper nor his spokesperson would deny reports that the Canadian PM blocked the 1967 reference from the final communiqué.
After any reference to 1967 borders was dropped from the final communiqué Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman called his Canadian counterpart John Baird to thank him for his help, Haaretz said.
Full Article
A leading Israeli newspaper reported that Harper was asked by Netanyahu to ensure that the summit of the world’s leading economies did not refer to Israel’s pre-1967 borders as any starting point to new Middle East peace negotiations.
U.S. President Barack Obama had called for those borders in concert with land swaps as a negotiating start but Netanyahu called those borders “indefensible.’’
The English language Haaretz said Netanyahu called Harper on the eve of the summit to express his concern that the summit would back the Obama position.
At the summit neither Harper nor his spokesperson would deny reports that the Canadian PM blocked the 1967 reference from the final communiqué.
After any reference to 1967 borders was dropped from the final communiqué Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman called his Canadian counterpart John Baird to thank him for his help, Haaretz said.
Full Article
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Road toll ‘reality check’ stirs up Toronto council
An exclusive report by the Star that new road tolls and congestion charges will be needed to deliver the $4 billion Sheppard subway has caused a stir among city councillors and business groups.
Claims that the private sector will step in and build the line on its own are not realistic, Gordon Chong, head of Toronto Transit Infrastructure Ltd., told the Star’s Royson James in an interview.
Chong is a former TTC commissioner who was hand-picked by Mayor Rob Ford to hammer out the details of his transportation plan. His comments fly in the face of promises by the mayor that taxpayers will not foot the bill for new subway lines.
“This could be the wake up call for Torontonians to realize how foolish from a business perspective the mayor’s Sheppard subway proposal really is,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s), a former vice-chair of the Toronto Transit Commission.
Full Article
Claims that the private sector will step in and build the line on its own are not realistic, Gordon Chong, head of Toronto Transit Infrastructure Ltd., told the Star’s Royson James in an interview.
Chong is a former TTC commissioner who was hand-picked by Mayor Rob Ford to hammer out the details of his transportation plan. His comments fly in the face of promises by the mayor that taxpayers will not foot the bill for new subway lines.
“This could be the wake up call for Torontonians to realize how foolish from a business perspective the mayor’s Sheppard subway proposal really is,” said Councillor Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s), a former vice-chair of the Toronto Transit Commission.
Full Article
Vaccine Prices Disclosed By UNICEF For First Time
UNICEF is for the first time publicizing what drugmakers charge it for vaccines, as the world's biggest buyer of lifesaving immunizations aims to spark price competition in the face of rising costs.
On Friday, UNICEF posted on its website the actual prices that it has paid individual drugmakers for 16 vaccines purchased over the last decade. It's a move that a few Western pharmaceutical companies don't support. Novartis AG and Merck & Co., which only sells one of its many children's vaccines to UNICEF, both declined to have their prices published.
UNICEF said it will continue to disclose pricing of future vaccine deals, with the hope that the transparency will push drugmakers to cut prices and thus allow the organization to vaccinate more children and save more lives.
Full Article
On Friday, UNICEF posted on its website the actual prices that it has paid individual drugmakers for 16 vaccines purchased over the last decade. It's a move that a few Western pharmaceutical companies don't support. Novartis AG and Merck & Co., which only sells one of its many children's vaccines to UNICEF, both declined to have their prices published.
UNICEF said it will continue to disclose pricing of future vaccine deals, with the hope that the transparency will push drugmakers to cut prices and thus allow the organization to vaccinate more children and save more lives.
Full Article
Cyber Security
Cyberspace has become an all-immersive domain, and the global communications environment in which all of society, economics, and politics are now embedded. Its constituent parts are widely conceived of as critical national infrastructure.
But the domain of cyberspace is entering a potentially chaotic and very dangerous phase of its evolution, which is why it has become a key issue for consideration at today's G8 summit in Deauville, France.
Full Article
But the domain of cyberspace is entering a potentially chaotic and very dangerous phase of its evolution, which is why it has become a key issue for consideration at today's G8 summit in Deauville, France.
Full Article
PM Denies Netanyahu Sought Help Before G8
Report claims Israeli prime minister asked Harper for assistance in defeating Obama proposal.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's spokesman is denying a report that says Harper and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a discussion two days before the G8 meeting in France to stop support for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. The report, published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Sunday, quoted an Israeli official who said Netanyahu had contacted Harper over growing concern that the border proposal was being supported by at least seven of the eight G8 countries. Netanyahu allegedly argued that mentioning the border crisis would only benefit the Palestinians, not the Israelis. The G8's final declaration on Friday did not mention the new border proposal, and European diplomats said it was not discussed due to Canada's objections. At the time, Harper did not confirm or deny that report.Origin
Will Rendition Always Remain a State Secret?
On President Obama's first day in office, he stated unequivocally that his administration was "committed to operating with an unprecedented level of openness in government," leaving behind the culture of secrecy surrounding the executive branch during the previous administration. One key brick in the government's wall of secrecy has been the state secrets privilege, which the executive has invoked to dismiss lawsuits alleging abuses committed under its national security policies, such as extraordinary rendition to torture. After the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a case challenging the government's use of the state secrets privilege in a rendition case, it is time for the president to live up to his promise.
In Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc., five men alleged that Jeppesen, a subsidiary of the Boeing Company, helped the CIA transfer them to other countries for detention, interrogation and torture. The government successfully argued that the very subject matter of its extraordinary rendition program is a state secret and therefore entirely off limits to the courts. When the lower courts dismissed their case on this basis, the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse that decision -- an appeal that fell on deaf ears.
Full Article
In Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc., five men alleged that Jeppesen, a subsidiary of the Boeing Company, helped the CIA transfer them to other countries for detention, interrogation and torture. The government successfully argued that the very subject matter of its extraordinary rendition program is a state secret and therefore entirely off limits to the courts. When the lower courts dismissed their case on this basis, the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court to reverse that decision -- an appeal that fell on deaf ears.
Full Article
Obama Dragging His Heels on Appointing Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren’s problem is not with the Republicans—though they have worked hard to demonize her. Her real problem is with the “boys” at the Treasury Department and Timothy Geithner, the head “boy” in charge of the president’s banking policies. Maybe she also has a problem with the “boys” at the White House. We are soon to find out. In the next month or so, Barack Obama must decide whether or not he will appoint Warren to chair the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
This ought to be a slam-dunk for him. After all, Elizabeth Warren invented the idea of a new regulatory agency to protect hapless consumers from predatory bankers. Obama embraced the concept as his own and it is one of his few distinctively original accomplishments. Warren knows consumer fraud. For many years, as a savvy reform critic, she courageously called out the banking industry on its most notorious practices. Her dynamic and plainspoken advocacy was essential in getting Congress to include the proposal in the financial reform legislation enacted last summer.
Yet Obama hesitated. For nearly a year, he has played coy and held off naming her to the job. We presumed that was because Republicans vowed to block her nomination unless the law is altered to weaken the CFPB and appease angry bankers. But that explanation doesn’t add up. Obama could always put her in the office through a recess appointment that gets around Senate confirmation. Yet he didn’t do so. What’s up with that?
Full Article
This ought to be a slam-dunk for him. After all, Elizabeth Warren invented the idea of a new regulatory agency to protect hapless consumers from predatory bankers. Obama embraced the concept as his own and it is one of his few distinctively original accomplishments. Warren knows consumer fraud. For many years, as a savvy reform critic, she courageously called out the banking industry on its most notorious practices. Her dynamic and plainspoken advocacy was essential in getting Congress to include the proposal in the financial reform legislation enacted last summer.
Yet Obama hesitated. For nearly a year, he has played coy and held off naming her to the job. We presumed that was because Republicans vowed to block her nomination unless the law is altered to weaken the CFPB and appease angry bankers. But that explanation doesn’t add up. Obama could always put her in the office through a recess appointment that gets around Senate confirmation. Yet he didn’t do so. What’s up with that?
Full Article
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