Respect mah authoritah!

Like Eric Cartman, the obnoxious 8-year-old traffic cop on a tricycle in the classic South Park cartoon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives seem to be hollering Respect mah authoritah! at every turn and hauling out the billy club to make their point.

In the past few days alone they’ve clubbed a Cree community in crisis, dissed the Federal Court of Canada and shrugged off a dirty tricks campaign. This arrogance may come back to bite them.

Consider the Attawapiskat fiasco.

When Chief Theresa Spence declared an emergency in the remote James Bay community because families with young children were facing the winter ice-up in rotting sheds and flimsy tents, many Canadians reacted with shock, shame and compassion. Not the Harper government. It held the band council responsible. Harper told Parliament that Ottawa had pumped millions into the town, and promptly put its finances in the hands of a federal manager. He’ll be paid $1,300 a day … with band money.

“Their solution is to blame the victim,” Spence and the band council said. They accused Ottawa of colonialism, bullying and sheer ignorance. One resident called Harper “a schoolyard bully.”

Fiorito: Merry Xmas, and get the hell out

If you knew a woman who lived alone and had a lingering illness, and if you had known about her illness for a long time but done nothing, and if it finally dawned on you that the woman needed help, would you break her arm in order to get her an ambulance?

That is, in effect, what the Toronto Community Housing Corporation is doing to my friend Anne. She lives at 40 Asquith. No, TCHC did not break her arm; they did, however, send her a letter telling her that her tenancy will end on Dec. 25.

Get the hell out.

And have a Merry Christmas.

I talked with Anne the other day; and when I say we talked, I mean I wrote questions and she wrote answers. Anne is deaf.

She is also 86 years old, and she has been deaf since she was in her teens. She is tiny and sweet and fierce, and she retains the posture of a ballet student, but — brace yourself for some jargon — she has clutter issues.

Her apartment is hip-deep in stuff: odds and ends of books, magazines, toys, games, dolls piled here and scattered there. She apparently has bedbugs, although I could see no sign that she herself is being bitten.

Stomping on Israel's liberal values

An ill wind is blowing through Israel’s Knesset. If passed, a spate of bills sponsored by the governing coalition will have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and compromise the judiciary’s independence.

The laws on the table include the imposition of draconian taxes to impede foreign funding of NGOs, a politicization of the selection of judges and a loosening of libel laws that will have the effect of curbing investigative journalism. They follow previous laws that also restrict open dissent, especially by citizens who aren’t Jewish.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done little to stop this disturbing trend. Driven by a desire to keep his government intact and to undermine what’s left of Israel’s liberal social and political elites, he’s enabling a process that, if successful, will reshape the country’s institutional values.

Mr. Netanyahu targeted the “old elites” when first elected prime minister in 1996. Defeated three years later, he blamed what he believed was a biased establishment. When re-elected in 2009, he again formed a coalition of religious and nationalist interests. This time, he’s determined to complete his project by ensuring long-term Likud dominance in pivotal decision-making junctures.

Regulator approves Canadian Zinc mine in Nahanni park

A northern regulator has approved a controversial lead-zinc mine in a national park reserve and world heritage site.

The Mackenzie Environmental Impact and Review Board has recommended federal Northern Development Minister John Duncan give the final okay to Canadian Zinc Corp. (CZN-T0.760.068.57%)’s Prairie Creek mine in the Nahanni National Park Reserve.

“I'm very happy,” said Canadian Zinc president John Kearney.

“We hope with this positive report that the timelines can now move quickly.”

Mr. Kearney said he didn't anticipate any problems meeting the conditions recommended by the board, which involve improving water storage, tailings management and ore concentrate transport.

The mine in the Northwest Territories has been bitterly opposed by environmentalists and the board's approval was not unanimous.

How Ottawa’s foreign ownership rules are causing big headaches

Critics say the situation has taken a turn for the worse under the current government

Anthony Lacavera arrived on Canada’s wireless scene with a sunny attitude and a promise to shake up the industry. But after spending the past two years bogged down in regulatory and legal proceedings, the once-optimistic CEO of Globalive Communications is beginning to sound like a different man. Though he remains “bullish” on upstart Wind Mobile’s chances, Lacavera says he’s been forced to abandon his original game plan as dark clouds begin to gather over Wind and other new entrants.

It’s been a long, see-saw battle: Industry Canada, which paved the way for new wireless start-ups by preventing giants like BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. from bidding on certain licences during a 2008 auction, approved Globalive’s corporate structure only to have the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission reject it over concerns that the involvement of a giant multinational telecom and its Egyptian billionaire founder violated foreign ownership laws. Embarrassed, then-industry minister Tony Clement scrambled to have cabinet overrule the regulator and then promptly lost a legal challenge in federal court. The decision was later reversed on appeal and could possibly be overturned yet again if the Supreme Court of Canada decides to look at the case.

“It’s a ridiculous set of events,” a weary-sounding Lacavera says. “And it was all very high profile. So now any investor thinking of investing in Canada sees that on the radar screen and would be saying, ‘Do I really want to risk my money?’ ”

No 'credible information' to support claims oilsands are green, says Environment Canada

DURBAN, South Africa — Canada lacks "credible scientific information" to support its claims that oilsands development is environmentally responsible, putting the industry's economic future in jeopardy, says newly-released briefing material prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent and senior management in his department.

The background notes, emailed to Environment Canada's top bureaucrat, Paul Boothe, cast doubt on the integrity of environmental assessments on new projects exploiting Alberta's natural bitumen deposits, also known as the oilsands.

They also noted that the regulatory shortcomings have left the industry ill-prepared to defend itself from foreign environmental policies, such as proposed climate legislation in Europe to reduce pollution from transportation fuels, as well as criticism on the international stage at events such as the global warming summit in this coastal resort town.

"National and international concern over the environmental footprint of oilsands production represents a growing threat to the economic future of the industry," said the briefing material, sent on June 4 by Assistant Deputy Minister Michael Keenan and released to Postmedia News on Thursday evening through access to information legislation. "Governments need to provide assurance that oilsands production is environmentally responsible in order to secure the industry's social license to operate."

NDP blames Tory ‘Grinch’ as EI offices buckle under overtime cuts

The federal New Democrats say the Human Resources Minister is acting like the Grinch who stole Christmas for refusing to approve overtime pay to employment-insurance processing agents who normally work extra hours in December to deal with a seasonal spike in claims.

“Officers processing EI claims will not be able to put in overtime over the holiday season, unlike previous years, thanks to this government,” Alain Giguère, the NDP MP for Marc–Aurèle–Fortin told the House of Commons on Friday.

“This is, however, the season when Service Canada needs to deal with an increase in the number of claims from unemployed people – mothers and fathers who won’t be able to pay their bills and offer their children some gifts,” Mr. Giguère said. “Has this government become the Grinch who stole Christmas?”

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley replied that Mr. Giguère has facts wrong.

“There is a rise in EI at this time of year and that’s why we have a long-standing tradition of adding extra resources in order to process them and we will continue to respect that tradition,” she said. “We will be adding additional resources.”

Attawapiskat: Feds Won't Assure They'll Pay For $1.2 Million In Emergency Housing For Reserve

OTTAWA - The troubled native community of Attawapiskat says it has major problems with the federal government's offer of evacuation and 15 new modular homes, and is countering with its own proposals.

In a letter to the minister of aboriginal affairs, Attawapiskat's chief, Theresa Spence, says the 15 homes offered are not enough; her community needs 22.

Spence is demanding that Minister John Duncan rescind his decision to place her reserve under third-party management � a decision that removes the band's power over its finances and usually indicates deep financial problems.

And she says there is no way her band will pay such a third-party manager to take over, although they will agree to a full audit going back five years as requested by Duncan.

The Canadian Press revealed Thursday that the government appointee will be paid about $1,300 a day, with the money coming from the band's administration budget.

"My community will not consider third party managers nor pay for them out of our already depressed band support funding budget," Spence writes in all caps to stress the band's adamance.

House Of Commons Cost: Annual Report To Canadians Details Spending

The total cost of the House of Commons to taxpayers was approximately $424 million from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011, according to numbers in a report tabled by Speaker Andrew Scheer on Friday.

That's actually less than was anticipated. The $424,264,000 spent over the year was $16,514,000 less than was planned. In every category of spending, from standing committees to benefit plans, final costs were either less than estimated or exactly on target.

The estimates are adjusted and revised over the course of the year, which may contribute to how closely the final numbers match the projections.

The largest share of that money, 55 per cent, went to costs associated with House members and officers.

The total cost of the House in 2009-10 was actually slightly more than in the past year. The total cost that year was $427,692,000.

The information was published in the annual Report to Canadians. The non-partisan report also details the activities and initiatives undertaken by the House over the year.

Origin
Source: Huff 

OWS Occupies Movie-Set Replica of Itself, for Real

It's straight out of a Don DeLillo novel: A few hours after television producers set up a replica of Occupy Wall Street for the filming of a new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the real Occupy Wall Street announced plans to occupy the fake one. At 11:30 p.m. the call to occupy the set went out on Twitter with the hash tag #Mockupy. Located at nearby Foley Square, the fake camp includes a replica of the OWS kitchen and library as well as numerous tarps, tents, and signs. "They've delivered us this perfectly wrapped Christmas present with a bow on top: They rebuilt our camp," OWS organizer Jake DeGroot told me shortly before the announcement went out. "How could we not go and take it?"

Here's video of the fake Zuccotti Park being occupied by the real occupiers:

As of about 1:00 a.m., the police had begun to push protesters out of the park and dismantle the set. "NYPD does not respect Law and Order," the crowd chanted cheekily. At one point, an occupier asked an officer, "Are these real barricades, or a set piece?"

Within about an hour police had cleared out the protesters, which was less time than it took clear the real Zuccotti, but probably more than they'd need on a TV show. "You guys just cleared a fake Zuccotti Park," the tweeter @NewYorkist told a police officer, who countered that they'd done no such thing: "We didn't clear a fake Zuccotti," he insisted. "They're taking the set down."

A few minutes later, the occupiers regrouped on a nearby set of steps for an impromptu general assembly. "This is beautiful, and this points out to us a more clever way to fight the struggle," someone said, echoed by the people's mic.

"Whose park?" another man yelled.

Everyone knew their lines. "Our park!"

Origin
Source: Mother Jones