State of the Environment in Canada & the Harper Government
candleofthought26
Posts: 81
I will apologize in advance for posting some info that has been posted in other threads - I just received this letter from an MP in British Columbia outlining the most recent report on the atrocious effects of the dirty political games played in Canada, and had to share. It would seem we can't discuss it enough. Our environment hangs by a thread. As does the future of Canadian democracy. I am terrified.
"There is no shortage of compelling issues to discuss in a Hill Times Environmental Policy briefing. Even listing, without describing, the catalogue of assaults on environmental law and policy by the prime minister in the last 12 months is enough to occupy the whole issue.
Canada undermined global climate negotiations in Durban in December, negotiated in bad faith, and immediately announced intent to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol when the Environment Minister touched down on Canadian soil. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver kicked off the New Year with an assault on environmentalists and First Nations as “radicals.” The Prime Minister attacked environmental groups for accepting foreign funding, even as he courted Communist Party controlled state operations from China as investors in the oil sands. One Parliamentary Secretary said anyone opposed to pipelines and tankers was “against Canada.” When asked to withdraw the remark as un-parliamentary, she refused.
The legislative juggernaut, C-38, repealed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, replacing a coherent piece of legislation with a discretionary formula for confusion, conflict and court cases. The gutting of the Fisheries Act raised the ire of four former federal Ministers of Fisheries. Environment Minister Peter Kent insulted the four former ministers, suggesting they had not read the Act. Mulroney era Minister Tom Siddon showed up to testify before the sub-committee on Finance and in short order made it clear he may be the only Minister who has read the act. While Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield tried to claim the new Fisheries Act will improve habitat protection, the assault to habitat is real, underscored by the subsequent lay-off notices to all DFO habitat officers in British Columbia. The National Round Table on the Environment and Economy is scrapped. The Species at Risk Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act amended to allow the National Energy Board to assume jurisdiction of endangered species or navigable waters are in the way of any pipeline.
Basic science and monitoring is being savaged with the end of funding to the Canadian Foundation of Climate and Atmospheric Science, elimination of the Adaptation research group within Environment Canada, the cuts to ozone monitoring, the closure of the Polar Arctic and Environmental Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, the sale of the 58 lakes in the globally unique Experimental Lakes Area near Kenora, Ontario, the elimination of the marine contaminants programme within DFO, the loss of scientists in Natural Resources Canada to study ice cores data (and the hope to find a university with a large fridge willing to take the 80,000 year ice core record Canada’s government no longer wants), the end of monitoring smoke stack emissions, cut backs in the Canada Oil and Gas research group in Halifax, and cuts at NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) resulting in the closing of the Yukon Research Lab at Yukon College in Whitehorse.
The thin end of the wedge of privatization has hit National Parks – first Jasper and then the hot springs at Banff, while cuts to ecological staff in the parks compelled former Deputy Minister Jacques Gerin to call on Harper to stop gutting National Parks.
It is a blitzkrieg of bad news as cut-backs and programme cancellation hit the core areas of federal responsibility to protect nature. The multi-faceted assault has the effect of blinding media and the public to the largest threat. In 2012, Canada still has no plan to address the threat of climate change.
While Stephen Harper has succeeded in dramatically reducing the Canadian media coverage of climate science through the muzzling of government scientists, the atmosphere does not seem to have gotten the memo. Around the world, the force and frequency of severe weather events has woken up even the mainstream US media. Fires, floods, tornadoes, heat waves are wreaking havoc on agriculture and running up the bills to the insurance industry. The culprit for much of this year’s strange weather phenomenon is the rapidly warming Arctic. As the Arctic warms the differential in temperature between the Arctic and the Equator becomes less pronounced. That causes the jet stream to lose its straight and fast course. (Francis, Vavrus study, Rutgers/Univ of Wisconsin). Slowing down, it has allowed large low pressure systems and high pressure systems to sit for far longer periods than normal in one place -- causing flooding in the low pressure zones and heat waves and fires in the high zones.
Loss of agriculture, losses to floods and fires also cost the economy, as well as human lives. Despite the Prime Minister’s attempts to destroy the collection of data, the evidence of the climate crisis is all around us. We are sabotaging our children’s future – but what does it matter as long as the bitumen flows?
Elizabeth May
M.P. for Saanich-Gulf Islands"
"There is no shortage of compelling issues to discuss in a Hill Times Environmental Policy briefing. Even listing, without describing, the catalogue of assaults on environmental law and policy by the prime minister in the last 12 months is enough to occupy the whole issue.
Canada undermined global climate negotiations in Durban in December, negotiated in bad faith, and immediately announced intent to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol when the Environment Minister touched down on Canadian soil. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver kicked off the New Year with an assault on environmentalists and First Nations as “radicals.” The Prime Minister attacked environmental groups for accepting foreign funding, even as he courted Communist Party controlled state operations from China as investors in the oil sands. One Parliamentary Secretary said anyone opposed to pipelines and tankers was “against Canada.” When asked to withdraw the remark as un-parliamentary, she refused.
The legislative juggernaut, C-38, repealed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, replacing a coherent piece of legislation with a discretionary formula for confusion, conflict and court cases. The gutting of the Fisheries Act raised the ire of four former federal Ministers of Fisheries. Environment Minister Peter Kent insulted the four former ministers, suggesting they had not read the Act. Mulroney era Minister Tom Siddon showed up to testify before the sub-committee on Finance and in short order made it clear he may be the only Minister who has read the act. While Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield tried to claim the new Fisheries Act will improve habitat protection, the assault to habitat is real, underscored by the subsequent lay-off notices to all DFO habitat officers in British Columbia. The National Round Table on the Environment and Economy is scrapped. The Species at Risk Act and Navigable Waters Protection Act amended to allow the National Energy Board to assume jurisdiction of endangered species or navigable waters are in the way of any pipeline.
Basic science and monitoring is being savaged with the end of funding to the Canadian Foundation of Climate and Atmospheric Science, elimination of the Adaptation research group within Environment Canada, the cuts to ozone monitoring, the closure of the Polar Arctic and Environmental Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, the sale of the 58 lakes in the globally unique Experimental Lakes Area near Kenora, Ontario, the elimination of the marine contaminants programme within DFO, the loss of scientists in Natural Resources Canada to study ice cores data (and the hope to find a university with a large fridge willing to take the 80,000 year ice core record Canada’s government no longer wants), the end of monitoring smoke stack emissions, cut backs in the Canada Oil and Gas research group in Halifax, and cuts at NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) resulting in the closing of the Yukon Research Lab at Yukon College in Whitehorse.
The thin end of the wedge of privatization has hit National Parks – first Jasper and then the hot springs at Banff, while cuts to ecological staff in the parks compelled former Deputy Minister Jacques Gerin to call on Harper to stop gutting National Parks.
It is a blitzkrieg of bad news as cut-backs and programme cancellation hit the core areas of federal responsibility to protect nature. The multi-faceted assault has the effect of blinding media and the public to the largest threat. In 2012, Canada still has no plan to address the threat of climate change.
While Stephen Harper has succeeded in dramatically reducing the Canadian media coverage of climate science through the muzzling of government scientists, the atmosphere does not seem to have gotten the memo. Around the world, the force and frequency of severe weather events has woken up even the mainstream US media. Fires, floods, tornadoes, heat waves are wreaking havoc on agriculture and running up the bills to the insurance industry. The culprit for much of this year’s strange weather phenomenon is the rapidly warming Arctic. As the Arctic warms the differential in temperature between the Arctic and the Equator becomes less pronounced. That causes the jet stream to lose its straight and fast course. (Francis, Vavrus study, Rutgers/Univ of Wisconsin). Slowing down, it has allowed large low pressure systems and high pressure systems to sit for far longer periods than normal in one place -- causing flooding in the low pressure zones and heat waves and fires in the high zones.
Loss of agriculture, losses to floods and fires also cost the economy, as well as human lives. Despite the Prime Minister’s attempts to destroy the collection of data, the evidence of the climate crisis is all around us. We are sabotaging our children’s future – but what does it matter as long as the bitumen flows?
Elizabeth May
M.P. for Saanich-Gulf Islands"
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I can't fight all Miss May's points but I can say I am 100% in favour of Alberta's Oil Sands; please read for yourselves the developmental precautions and subsequesnt re-development of the environment surrounding them. Did you know that the Oil Sand lands we are currently mining are already in the process of reclamation; that is, returning the land to it's previous state prior to mining? And the continuous improvements being made to the processes mean Oil Sand mining will become one of the cleanest ways to develop petroleum.Way to go Alberta!
http://oilsands.alberta.ca/cleanenergystory.html
Couldn't agree with this more. I live in Alberta and know that what is going on in our province is getting a pretty biased review in the media. It is such a shame that the other provinces turn a blind eye to the things they have done. For example; over fish the Atlantic, Asbestos mines, massive hydro dam floods, nickel factories with acid rain, the contamination of the great lakes, clear cutting of the interior forests and the massive mining operations in the north. We all are blind to the issues we have in our own backyards and point fingers but nobody seems to take the time to really research these topics.
Have to admit though that the bill is really going to make things too easy for expansion and at the end of the day Alberta isn't getting enough money back from the developments to pay for future reclamations.
Its a hot topic nonetheless.
Having these discussions is incredibly important, whether we agree or agree to disagree. The day we can no longer do this, a different world awaits us. Thank you for your insights.
I think that the NDP MP in Ottawa is forgetting just how much the Oil Sands is maintaining manufacturing in Ontario and Quebec. Where do you think the vehicles used in area come from? These trucks are abused and have a 12 to 18 month life, once expired these are scrapped and recycles and where do you think this happens? Edmonton? Not necessarily it gets shipped back out east for future uses. This is just one example.... I've not the time to dig deeper into this for the sake of a ignorant politician that has yet to 'struggle' to have ends meet. Cushy life, cushy outlook Mr. Mulcair....
Nice try Mr. Harper
Sha la la la i'm in love with a jersey girl
I love you forever and forever
Adel 03 Melb 1 03 LA 2 06 Santa Barbara 06 Gorge 1 06 Gorge 2 06 Adel 1 06 Adel 2 06 Camden 1 08 Camden 2 08 Washington DC 08 Hartford 08
According to this article: http://www.pembina.org/oil-sands/os101/reclamation only 0.15 % of these lands are certified by the Canadian government as reclaimed.
And this:
Oilsands reclamation will not return the boreal forest to its natural state.
The Athabasca boreal forest is naturally composed of about 60% wetlands,4 Wetlands perform several important ecological functions, including flood reduction, prevention of erosion, water filtration, recharging water tables and carbon sequestration.5
Research outside the Alberta oil sands region suggests peatland restoration may be possible, but, to date, there has been no demonstration of successful reclamation of wetlands with high peat content in the Athabasca boreal region.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Basically the 2 big left wing parties split the left vote...and we only have 1 Conservative Party. I wouldn't agree that he's as conservative as you can get...in the states i would say both parties are more conservative than our conservative federally...just my opinion though...I'm sure some will view it different...either way he's the PM for 3 more years.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
the reality is that i would have a bit more respect for the people involve with the tarsands if they just said ... look, i know its bad but i'm getting paid a lot of money and i gotta think of my family and me ... the world ain't perfect and i got kids to put through school ... instead of all this propaganda and bs ...
these are oil companies ... if you were to rank industries that are most evil ... they would be second to weapons manufacturers ...
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
solutions to what?
we don't need the oil
solutions to employing everyone in the entire oil industry? solutions to massive profiteering? ... not entirely
well there not going to be shut down! don't need oil...huh...my vehicle needs oil! If people think I'm going to pay a premium do drive an electric car or some form of hybrid think again. Somehow I don't see the demand for oil dwindling.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
2. just because an industry employs a ton of people - doesn't make it good ... should we get more people with cancer so we can employ more doctors, pharmaceutical researchers and hospitals to support that industry? ... oil is an obsolete fuel that has more cons than pros ... we need to move off of it ... and if we need to use oil now - we certainly shouldn't be getting it from a source that requires triple the amount of resources to extract it than conventional places ...
Like I said...they are not going to stop extracting...so people who are extremely annoyed by this need to start pushing solutions to make it less harmful to extract (if there are solutions).
And those who would like it stopped need to tell the rest of us how that money is going to replaced in the economy...like I said manufacturing is near extinction, our resource economy is really providing a lot of government revenues.
And I am one who not only wants it extracted here I also want it refined here...
of course Alberta could get into the manufacturing of wind turbines...first though they should check and see how many Ontarian's are employed in the industry that I'm sure Dalton and his gang of thieves poured mega $$$ into.
Somehow though I seem to think most of Alberta has far less pollution than this cesspool Ontario has become...and why not focus in your own back yard. Ontario is an extremely polluted, waster of energy province.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
there are solutions ... plenty ... we haven't needed the combustible engine for a long time ... what's your average daily commute?
and again - just because they aren't going to stop extracting doesn't mean we should be ok with it ... how absurd of logic is that!? ...
pollution rank by province ... http://www.pollutionwatch.org/rank.do?c ... st=RELE_ON
1 Alberta 1,340,911,481 30.56%
2 Ontario 854,285,048 19.47%
3 Quebec 661,832,714 15.08%
and ontario has over 3 x the population as Alberta ...
Well there not bringing out anything affordable to replace the combustion engine. I commute 45 kms 1 way...public transit is not an option...I generally buy used fuel efficient vehicles...Ontario is a cesspool and my opinion on that will never change...the Windsor to Toronto corridor is extremely polluted, I realize the vast majority is coming in from the states, but you barely hear any of the knucklehead politicians bring that up
anymore, we also contribute plenty to it as well.
I like the fact that Alberta has 1/3 less people...make the province even more attractive
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
ok ... so, let me get this straight ... you admitted that most of our pollution comes from the states ... you recognize that alberta produces over 50% more pollution than ontario with less than a third of the population but yet - it's irrelevant ... ontario is the cesspool!? ... :fp:
ontario just closed another coal power plant ... our energy consumption is on the decline and we are increasing our use of renewables ... but hey - don't let facts get in the way of your hate ...
Yeah...Ontario is a cesspool...this province also spent 190 million to cancel a gas powered plant for the babies in Mississauga a pushed into non liberal riding to save save a liberal seat...I have no use for this cesspool of a province. So why don't the elected officials start speaking up more about the pollution coming in froth sates?
Ontario a cesspool for more reason than just pollution...thats just the topic being discussed...it became a huge cesspool the minute the clown running this province decided he could just legislate contracts...ONTARIO = CESSPOOL!
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
:fp:
Open pit mining sucks but in situ is improving daily. I'm not defending whats taking place but again I know my subsistence is reliant on the economic benefits it has.
hey ... i appreciate your honesty ... and like i said originally i'd much prefer this than the regurgitating of big oil propaganda ... still tho - i would agree with you that there are a lot of poor practices across the country and throughout the world but i really don't think you appreciate just how bad the oil sands are ... they are arguably the single biggest environmental threat in the entire world and that is without exaggeration ... between the gHg, the destruction of habitat, the pollution of waterways, the need for resources (water) and the fact that the primary energy source by which all that power is being used to extract oil is from coal ... add to that the socio-political implications of oil use (war and displacement) and the blind eye we as canadians are turning in the name of economic benefits is tragic ... i'd much rather us build nuclear weapons because at least there is a chance they will never go off ...
I just had to post this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-LzM9fM ... re=related
I've seen the video before...funny stuff.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/arti ... rainforest
BELLA BELLA, B.C.—Sometimes in life you have to witness a place firsthand to really get it.
See it. Experience it. Sense it.
I had watched a video of the channels and byways in western British Columbia that supertankers will ply if the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline is approved. But I decided I wanted to see them up close, then form my own opinion.
So I paid to join a five-day sailing trip through the Great Bear Rainforest region organized by the World Wildlife Federation. To say this region showcases some of the most spectacular scenery that Canada has to offer barely captures it. But more on this later.
I should make it clear, right off the top, that I understand fully Alberta’s desire to sell its oil abroad. It’s the “how” and “where” we must get right.
My journey turned out to be one of both discovery and surprise, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We began at Kitimat, the endpoint of the proposed bitumen pipeline.
Within minutes of our Gitga’at guide Marven Robinson showing us the likely marine terminal site, three orcas splashed by. Then a pod of seven humpbacks. The oh-so-familiar juxtaposition of trade pitted against the environment was set early, a theme that would haunt throughout.
Certainly the fierce opposition of the Coastal First Nations to the project is well known. For Marven, decked out in his “Stop the Tankers” T-shirt, the feeling is visceral. “This just cannot happen,” he growls.
The first surprise was that the exact tanker route from Kitimat to the ocean is far from direct or straight. Disabuse yourself of any notion there is a wide-open, direct channel to the sea. Indeed, the route twists and turns, offering different options.
It starts at the top of the Douglas Channel, a 70-kilometre fjord with forested mountains plunging to the water on each side. It is about two to three kilometres wide.
Just across from Marven’s village of Hartley Bay, the channel meets Gil Island, 27 kilometres of cliffs and trees that sits smack in the middle of the route. A tanker could pass on either side, but the channel narrows by half. One suddenly remembers that supertankers need at least 500 metres to alter course.
(It was the northern tip of Gil where the B.C. ferry, Queen of the North, sank after running aground in 2006. It missed a turn, ran onto the rocks, and now lies 440 metres beneath the surface. Marven and his fellow Gitga’at villagers were the ones who averted total disaster by rushing to the scene, saving all but two passengers.)
Once you pass Gil, the route skirts Campania Island before entering the often wild Caamano Sound. Its chart shows a splash of rocks, shoals and shallow water. While there is definitely an open route to the ocean, there is little room for error.
Certainly water depth is not an issue. Virtually the entire channel is hundreds of metres deep. And Northern Gateway proponents can justifiably argue that vessels have been carting industrial products up and down the same channel to Kitimat for decades.
But a modern supertanker — roughly six to seven times the size of a typical ore carrier — has never plied these waters. And losing a load of bauxite or aluminum is a far cry from a supertanker disgorging millions of litres of molasses-like bitumen.
The next variable is the weather. For my trip, the sun shone brilliantly and visibility was unlimited. Yet the area is legendary for its deep fog, gale-force winds, wild storms and rockslides. No one disputes the severity of the climate. Enbridge, the pipeline’s owner, says it has a foolproof plan to manage all this. Needless to say, that claim has provoked controversy.
Another major surprise — certainly news to me — was that there has been an informal moratorium on all oil tanker traffic off the coast of B.C. since 1972.
The reason? Fear of a massive and damaging oil spill. For almost four decades that has been federal government policy. Periodic reviews have been held, but each study has come to the same conclusion: the risk of a tanker spill is still too high.
But in 2009 the Harper government declared there was no moratorium, saying nothing formal had ever been enacted. Yet the following year, federal environmental watchdog Scott Vaughan wrote a scathing report saying, “I am troubled that the government is not ready to respond to a major spill.”
Thus it is probably not a surprise that the House of Commons subsequently passed a non-binding resolution banning tanker traffic again.
There is certainly no evidence of any emergency infrastructure these days. The Coast Guard is based in Prince Rupert, some 135 kilometres northwest of Gil Island. Even if it were closer, I was mindful of what Vaughan wrote just two years ago. “We found that Canada’s Coast Guard national emergency plan is out-of-date and the organization has not fully assessed its response capacity in over a decade.”
That, in itself, should give everyone huge pause for concern. On its website, Enbridge outlines in detail what steps it would take to prevent any spill. However, what capacity, governmental or otherwise, is there in place now to handle an emergency? Again, we saw none.
That leads to the third and final surprise.
The proposed tanker route cuts right through Canada’s one and only rainforest region. Again, this fact had escaped me; I have always thought of the Amazon or Congo when the word rainforest is mentioned.
Yet this particular slice of British Columbia houses the world’s second largest temperate rainforest, about the size of Belgium. It is called the Great Bear Rainforest because of the spectacular population of black, grizzly and kermode bears that live off the abundant salmon runs.
It is wild but not a wilderness. The region supports about 10,000 direct jobs — mostly harvesting its resources — and 20,000 indirect jobs. In a landmark agreement six years ago spearheaded by both Ottawa and B.C, all stakeholders came together to sign a master plan on how the region could be used. At the time, then federal environment minister John Baird called the Great Bear “an area of extraordinary ecological significance.”
The agreement is still trumpeted today as a major achievement that balanced legitimate economic development against the delicate ecology of the area. Yet to the Coastal First Nations and many others, the proposed supertanker route is a fundamental betrayal of the spirit of that agreement. The Gitga’at are one of the 12 Coastal First Nations whose rights to this land have never been ceded or relinquished.
They view the Great Bear as an ecological treasure. Having now seen it up close, so do I.
It is a unique place where ocean, salmon rivers and coastal rainforest exist in one dramatic landscape that takes your breath away. It is also one of the richest and most productive ecosystems on the planet, all based on the salmon.
The Great Bear Sea is the critical habitat for 17 types of marine mammals, including the endangered blue, fin, right, sei and orca whales. Both the Skeena and Nass Rivers, critical for 60 per cent of B.C.’s multi-million-dollar salmon catch, run through the region.
And when you visit the Great Bear, you learn how interdependent and connected the entire eco-system is. It is all based around the salmon, which provide food for the bears, the bald eagles, the gulls, and then nutrients for the surrounding rainforest. Stop the salmon and the entire system would implode.
As an aside, one of the extraordinary highlights was seeing the spirit bear, a member of the black bear family with a recessive gene that turns the bear’s fur a brilliant creamy white. There are only a few hundred on the planet and they only live in the Great Bear.
In its entirety, this is what would be at stake if there was ever a massive oil spill. And the “oil” these tankers would be carrying would not be traditional crude or refined petroleum. It would be the heavier bitumen from the tar sands. Once spilled, diluted bitumen separates into a toxic gas, which can linger for days, and then into particles. Since the bitumen is so heavy, it could easily spread from the surface right to the bottom. And it could also disperse throughout the channels of the region.
Nowhere can I find or read about any existing technology to effectively clean up bitumen. This may be one major reason why B.C. newspaper mogul David Black has proposed the pipeline go instead to Prince Rupert, thereby bypassing the Great Bear, and that the bitumen be refined in Canada before going into these supertankers.
There is obviously a very good reason we have had a longstanding ban on tanker traffic along the B.C coast. The risk is simply too high. And surely it would be folly to make such a critical decision on the basis that a bitumen spill would never happen.
So why would we put the Great Bear at risk?
Having now seen it up close, I don’t get it. It seems like sheer folly.
And finally, what is our responsibility to future generations of Canadians for this unique region?
I can do no better than return to the words of the same minister Baird, whose government is now pushing Northern Gateway, when speaking previously about the Great Bear. “Canadians feel a duty and an obligation to protect future generations so that they can enjoy the sight of these ecological treasures.”
To which I can only add — Amen!
I want to highlight an important portion:
"Another major surprise — certainly news to me — was that there has been an informal moratorium on all oil tanker traffic off the coast of B.C. since 1972.
The reason? Fear of a massive and damaging oil spill. For almost four decades that has been federal government policy. Periodic reviews have been held, but each study has come to the same conclusion: the risk of a tanker spill is still too high.
But in 2009 the Harper government declared there was no moratorium, saying nothing formal had ever been enacted. Yet the following year, federal environmental watchdog Scott Vaughan wrote a scathing report saying, “I am troubled that the government is not ready to respond to a major spill."
--this is what lies beneath the stage set to distract us from what is fundamentally wrong with our picture; 'democratic' government officials who ignore, refute, or simply make up Canadian law, our rights and freedoms, as they go. The greatest evil at work. Conservative or not, each party in this country was originally bound by the same imperative: to carry out democracy. Should Canadians decide the tar sands, or any other environmental project, is right - then so be it - but let us decide, let us think for ourselves. Give the public our constitutional right to a voice instead of erecting legislative barriers to keep scrutiny out. Hell, let people know what you're up to for that matter. Isn't this the defining hallmark of a democratic society?
--
"On September 9th, Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed an agreement with China, the Canada-China Investment Treaty. The agreement was kept from the Canadian public and Parliament until September 26th, 2012, when it was quietly made public, tabled in the House of Commons. No press release. No technical briefing. The deal is set for automatic approval. No vote or debate will take place in the House. Once tabled in the House, the clock started ticking. 22 sitting days from September 26th (November 1st), this treaty will bind Canada.
So what is the Canada-China Investment Treaty? Simply put, it is the most significant trade agreement signed by Canada since NAFTA. Only this time our “partner” is the communist government in Beijing, an authoritarian regime with an appalling record on human rights –and it isn’t getting better. This deal requires that Chinese government-owned companies be treated exactly the same as Canadian companies operating in Canada. Once in force, it lasts a minimum of 15 years. If a future government wants to get out of it, a one year notice is required – and even once the treaty is cancelled, any existing Chinese operations in Canada are guaranteed another 15 years of the treaty’s benefits."
--
Yes, this is real. Harper will not only do whatever he likes during his term, but he apparently also has free reign over our leaders for at least the next 3 terms. Check it out the Government of Canada's website: http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-ag ... =en&view=d