News

By Chris Hedges

What happened to Canada? It used to be the country we would flee to if life in the United States became unpalatable. No nuclear weapons. No huge military-industrial complex. Universal health care. Funding for the arts. A good record on the environment.

But that was the old Canada. I was in Montreal on Friday and Saturday and saw the familiar and disturbing tentacles of the security and surveillance state. Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto Accords so it can dig up the Alberta tar sands in an orgy of environmental degradation. It carried out the largest mass arrests of demonstrators in Canadian history at 2010’s G-8 and G-20 meetings, rounding up more than 1,000 people. It sends undercover police into indigenous communities and activist groups and is handing out stiff prison terms to dissenters. And Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a diminished version of George W. Bush.

read full article http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/30

Governments lie.  The Harper Canadian government coordinates lying about "the imminent destruction of human life on the planet".  Global heating.  The only answer is action - by you and me.  By us all.  Action.

By Kevin D. Annett

If James Joyce is right, and history is a nightmare from which we are trying to awaken, then it is also true that victory belongs to those who can remember.

Twenty years ago, soon after my ordination as a clergyman in the United Church of Canada, I first began to hear stories of what my church had done to innocent children in its Indian residential schools. Like most people, I didn’t believe the accounts of murder and torture I was hearing. And if I had have kept my ears and heart closed to these tales, I would have been spared an enormous personal loss and liberation.

But fate, and choice, forced me not only to listen, but give voice and a platform to hundreds, and then thousands of indigenous men and women whose stories you will read in these pages. And as a result, the face of Canada has been changed forever.

read full article http://www.wariscrime.com/2012/01/24/news/the-canadian-holocaust-hidden-no-longer/

The Mainstream Press and Media (MSM) have been accused of being messenger-boys for the Big Corporations.  And, now, they're accused of being Big Corporations themselves, purposefully misleading the public.

A kind of conservative in British Columbia wants the best for the province.  Stephen Harper and Christy Clark, B.C.'s premier, are trying to get those conservatives to join "the looters" of B.C.

When the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) reported that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) dedicated countless INAC staff and thousands of dollars to spying on Cindy Blackstock -- I think most of us in Turtle Island gave our heads a shake.

While it has been known for some time that Canada spies on our Indigenous leaders and community members who defend our lands, I don't think most of us were aware that any First Nation advocate was a target. This is what shocked me the most -- that Canada's "national security" laws are so broad as to make someone like Cindy Blackstock an enemy of the state.

read full article http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/pamela-palmater/2012/01/csis-and-me-what-first-nation-activities-are-not-considered-p

The Courts in British Columbia are in disarray.  They exist in a corrupt province - and (with the Mainstream Press and Media) they mirror that corruption.

Since at least 2005, China has been taking the exact steps required to counter the brunt of a global debt collapse.

CTVNews.ca Staff

The United States Senate passed budget legislation Saturday that included a provision demanding that President Barack Obama decide the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days.

U.S. Senators agreed to the terms of the legislation on Friday evening and approved it in a rare Saturday session.

The legislation calls for a two-month extension of a Social Security payroll tax cut and also extends jobless benefits for Americans who have been unemployed for six months or more.

GOP Senators pushed to include in the bill the Keystone provision, which requires that Obama decide within 60 days whether to give the pipeline the go-ahead.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111217/senate-obama-keystone-111217/#ixzz1gvNBde33

After months of negotiations, the U.S. and Canada have unveiled new trade, regulatory and security initiatives to speed up the flow of goods and people across the border. The joint action plans provide a framework that goes beyond NAFTA and continues where the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) left off. This will take U.S.-Canada integration to the next level and is the pretext for a North American Homeland Security perimeter.
 

read full article http://beyourownleader.blogspot.com/2011/12/pretext-for-north-american-homeland_11.html

By Tria Donaldson

We live in a country whose leaders appear willing sacrifice our collective future to appease the short-term needs of Big Oil.

Take, for example, Stephen Harper's recent declaration that he wants the Enbridge pipeline to go ahead, despite the overwhelming First Nations and public opposition in B.C. In a recent Global TV interview, Harper adamantly declared that the Enbridge pipeline is in best interests of Canada. He went on to say "American interests would line up against the Enbridge pipeline," and would "funnel money to environmentalists and others to delay the project."

read full article http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/tmdonaldson/2011/12/fighting-pipelines-un-canadian-harper-thinks-so

by Arthur W. Macklin

Open Letter To Environmental Groups from an Alberta grain farmer

I am a Canadian wheat and barley producer; who values and respects democratic process. I want to protect the environment, preserve wild life habitat and I am very concerned about climate change

The Harper government is intent on destroying our Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) (BillC-18) before Canadians have time to become aware of the negative effects this fundamental change to grain marketing will have on the environment and many other aspects of Canadian life and our food.

read full article http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28118

The Christy Clark B.C. government has just appointed a U.S. "expert" as independent police monitor - opening an ocean of ugly questions.

O Peter MacKay!  O Peter MacKay!  A verse for the times.

By Dana Gabriel

At the recent APEC meetings, Canada and Mexico announced their interest in joining the U.S., along with other countries already engaged in negotiations to establish what has been referred to as the NAFTA of the Pacific.

The leaders of the nine countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) met at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hawaii and agreed on the broad outlines of a free trade agreement. The current members include the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Peru and Chile. The TPP has been hailed as a, “landmark, 21st-century trade agreement, setting a new standard for global trade and incorporating next-generation issues.” Key features of the TPP are that it would provide comprehensive market access and be a fully regional agreement designed to facilitate the development of production and supply chains. Various working groups have been discussing issues such as financial services, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, rules of origin, telecommunications and trade remedies. The next round of talks will take place in December and there are hopes of concluding negotiations before the end of 2012. Apart from Canada and Mexico, Japan has also expressed interest in being part of the TPP. The door is also open for other countries to join which is why many consider it to be a building block for an Asia-Pacific free trade zone.

Following the APEC forum, President Barack Obama held a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Originally, it was scheduled to be a North American Leaders Summit, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon could not attend due to the death of Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora. According to a Readout by the Press Secretary, the leaders look forward to a rescheduled trilateral summit. During his meeting with Prime Minister Harper, President Obama, “noted the important progress being made on the Beyond the Border and Regulatory Cooperation initiatives.” He invited Harper to Washington in early December where an action plan that would work towards a North American security perimeter could finally be released. Both leaders also discussed the announcement by the State Department to seek additional information regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline project. A final ruling on the pipeline which would carry oil from western Canada to the gulf coast of Texas will not be made until after the November 2012 presidential election. The move has prompted Canada to further diversify its trade ties and shift its focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
 

read full article http://beyourownleader.blogspot.com/2011/11/canada-and-mexico-to-join-us-in-nafta.html