Enbridge Pipeline Opposed By Former Tory Minister

A former Conservative federal fisheries minister is speaking out against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, saying it poses a serious threat to the environment, fisheries habitats and future generations.

Tom Siddon, who now lives in B.C.'s Okanagan, is calling on the Harper government to reconsider plans to allow Alberta crude to be shipped to China through B.C.

"What's Canada doing? We're getting rid of our natural resources as quickly as we can at the lowest possible price," said Siddon.

Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises

WASHINGTON -- A critical document from President Barack Obama's free trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow radical new political powers upon multinational corporations, contradicting prior promises.

The leaked document has been posted on the website of Citizens Trade Campaign, a long-time critic of the administration's trade objectives. The new leak follows substantial controversy surrounding the secrecy of the talks, in which some members of Congress have complained they are not being given the same access to trade documents that corporate officials receive.

Producers find greener way to extract oil from oilsands

CALGARY — Oilsands operators say they're ready to zap dirty oil accusations with electromagnetic force.

No, they're not targeting environmental activists with incapacitating rays, but instead they're well on their way to using radio waves to more efficiently extract black gold from the oilsands.

A consortium of companies have field-tested the process that heats the oilsands electrically with radio waves, reducing the amount of steam and water needed to extract bitumen from sand.

How does Redford solve a problem like Mulcair?

CALGARY — Premier Alison Redford isn’t exactly a willing combatant in the escalating war with federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair — not yet, anyway — but she knows how to lob a noise grenade.

On Wednesday, Redford said in French that when Mulcair is in Alberta, “he’s not very critical” of the province, but after he’s back in Ottawa, “he is more critical.”

This shows that “what we have here is a political discussion,” the premier said.

Québec protests provoke a sense of déja vu for some in B.C.

For British Columbians of a certain age, watching events in Montreal over the past four months may have been bringing back memories of political turmoil on the west coast nearly three decades ago.

In May, 1983 — after campaigning on a platform of public sector restraint during one of the worst recessions in the province’s history — Premier Bill Bennett won his third majority mandate.

Two months later, following intense cabinet discussions but virtually no public consultations, the Bennett government tabled a restraint budget targeting public sector wages and staffing levels. Then, minutes later, it introduced 26 pieces of legislation, including one eliminating rent controls and another that did away with the existing human rights commission.

Aside from the stunned NDP opposition in the legislature, many British Columbians felt the government was going well beyond the mandate it had received in the election; within a week 35-40,000 protesters packed the old Empire Stadium in Vancouver. A few days later, about 25,000 people gathered on the lawns of the provincial legislature in Victoria.

Repeal of Section 13 leaves only Criminal Code to deal with hate speech

We are so used to Stephen Harper breaking his promises that few Canadians noticed his most recent flip-flop.

The Conservatives in the House of Commons have axed the anti-hate provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act, even though in 2009 he intimated the exact opposite.

He had been asked if he was going to get rid of Section 13, which prohibits exposing a person or a people to hatred or contempt on grounds of race, religion or ethnic origin. His answer was emphatic: “The government has no plans to do so.”

Voting endlessly oddly appropriate way to protest abuse of Parliament

The House of Commons was to begin voting Wednesday night on several hundred amendments to Bill C-38, the 425-page monster known as the omnibus budget implementation bill. The voting was expected to go on all night and all day Thursday.

Viewed one way, the whole thing is quite silly. Given the government’s majority, none of the amendments is likely to pass, nor is the bill itself in any danger of defeat. Viewed another way, however, this is an important moment. For the first time since the last election, the opposition is putting up a serious fight against the abuses this government has visited upon Parliament: not only the omnibus bill, which repeals, amends or introduces more than 60 different pieces of legislation, but the repeated, almost routine curtailing of debate by means of “time allocation”; the failures of oversight, misstating of costs, and abdication of responsibility in the F-35 purchase; and the refusal to provide basic information on spending to Parliament or the Parliamentary Budget Officer — to say nothing of the stonewalling, prorogations and other indignities of the minority years.

Language watchdog says DND violated Anglo rights

OTTAWA — The Department of National Defence violated Canada's official languages law by closing a library at a Quebec recruitment school that was serving the minority English-language community in a region south of Montreal, says a new report released by the federal government's language watchdog.

The department decided to shut down the General Jean V. Allard Commemorative library in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., due to budget cuts on Sept. 30, 2010, replacing it with an Educational Resources Centre for military and civilian personnel and for students at the Land Force Quebec 5 Area Support Group.

Tories seek to prevent 'back door' long-gun registries

The federal government is trying to quash attempts by provincial authorities to create what some critics have called new "back door" long-gun registries.

On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews tabled the proposed Firearms Information Regulations. They're aimed squarely at the RCMP's provincial chief firearms officers (CFOs), who are responsible for administering firearms rules.

After a long battle, the Conservative federal government scrapped this country's controversial long-gun registry in February.

Auditor-General sounds alarm on House and Senate contracts

Parliament has wrongfully awarded large contracts that went to unqualified bidders, were signed retroactively or did not include any justification for being untendered, the Auditor-General has found.

After having faced resistance from MPs and senators, the country’s spending watchdog spent months poring over the books of the House of Commons and the Senate, finding a series of administrative errors.

However, Auditor-General Michael Ferguson did not study the effectiveness of the spending safeguards in Parliament, despite a series of scandals involving public funds in Ottawa and in legislative assemblies elsewhere in Canada and around the world.