The Canada thread

[Jeff]

Comments pertinent to the Quebec student strike should be posted to this thread.

To start things off, from MSNBC:

Budget cut overkill? Canada axes entire marine pollution program

By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com

Canada has been sending letters to government scientists notifying them that their jobs will be eliminated or affected by the closure of the country's marine pollution program -- but at least one isn't going without making some noise.

"It's perplexing that we face the loss of this program, given the 25,000 chemicals on the market and the ever-increasing threats posed by shipping and oil and gas exploration and development in temperate and Arctic waters," Peter Ross told msnbc.com. Ross is perhaps Canada's best known marine scientist for his work on identifying killer whales as the most contaminated marine mammals on the planet.

"As can be expected when one is told their position is being terminated, one is shocked and saddened," he added. "However, when told that the entire pollution research and monitoring program for Canada's oceans is being eliminated, I was speechless."

The program, which employs 75 staff, is set to be shut down by April 1, 2013, the Victoria Times Colonist reported.

"I cannot think of another industrialized nation that has completely excised marine pollution from its radar," Ross said.

The program is under the Department of Fisheries, which is shedding a total of 400 jobs. More than 600 others will be "affected." Of the some 1,000 jobs impacted, three quarters are with the Canadian Coast Guard.

A Department of Fisheries spokesperson told the Colonist that the cuts would produce $79 million in savings and that an advisory group from academia and the private sector would instead provide advice.

...

I think the unspoken rationale for this is the anticipation of the Arctic opening up to tanker traffic.

Silent Summer

By Peter Ross

Since being hired 13 years ago as a Research Scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), I have been fortunate to conduct research on such magnificent creatures as killer whales, beluga whales, harbour seals and sea otters. I have visited some of the wildest parts of coastal British Columbia, Arctic Canada and further afield. I have been humbled by the power of Mother Nature as we deployed teams to explore and better understand the lives of creatures beneath the surface of the ocean. I have marveled at the evolutionary adaptations of marine mammals to an existence at the interface of land, sea and atmosphere. And as a scientist, I have come to learn that I possess but rudimentary powers of observation when it comes to the mystery and beauty of a vast ocean. For all of this, I remain eternally grateful.

...

It is with deep regret that I relay news of my termination of employment at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the loss of my dream job. It is with even greater sadness that I learn of the demise of DFO’s entire contaminants research program – regionally and nationally. It is with apprehension that I ponder a Canada without any research or monitoring capacity for pollution in our three oceans, or any ability to manage its impacts on commercial fish stocks, traditional foods for over 300,000 aboriginal people and marine wildlife.

Canada's silence on these issues will be deafening this summer and beyond.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... scientists

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

As a Canadian I find it tres tres sad what's happening to a country I once thought was great. I always liked the idea of universal health care and tried to vote for the party that would protect it. Now, it seems so fragile, you can only whisper it, to speak louder would make it vanish.

Now I hear US law enforcement is going to be allowed into Canada in pursuit of wanted felons and fugitives? I remember watching a tv show where a cop from a US city has to go into Canada to find a suspect. I remember he tries to do things his way but the Canadian police officer tells him he has no jurisdiction here. I thought that was awesome. (I can't remember what show, if it was american or CBC or a movie.) Maybe I just like putting americans in their place.

Oh well, such are dreams and ideals. They are to be trampled on.

[NeonLX]

I'm sad too. Looks like whatever has infected the U.S. has no problem crossing borders and infecting its neighbors.

People are always asking me why I'm such a pessimist. Why are they such optimists?

[brainpanhandler]

I'm sad too. Looks like whatever has infected the U.S. has no problem crossing borders and infecting its neighbors.

People are always asking me why I'm such a pessimist. Why are they such optimists?

Seriously. People are always telling me I'm too negative. I try to tell them it does no good to admire the new tires on a car that doesn't run.

[Elvis]

---

Jeff, thanks for bringing out some of the unfortunate 'darker' side of Canada that one doesn't get from CBC. Canada is, literally, near, and dear to me, and CBC Radio One & Two are all over the dial. CBC radio and TV were hallmarks of the liberal Canadian society (to use a shorthand) that I always admired. CBC is still good, better than almost anything on US radio, but not as hard-hitting as it was years ago. Also to Canada's credit were gems like the National Film Board which made possible so much art but is now tragically cut back and probably subverted to corporate service (I haven't followed that for a long time). And of course Canada's taking in US draft refusers during the Vietnam error cemented my impression of a country that respected justice.

I've heard it said more than once that "there are two Canadas: the Canada of the CBC and hip, cosmopolitan Vancouver, and the Canada of old men in checkered green pants and funny golf tams driving backwards on freeway entrances." In my county, in the heyday of the US dollar, 60% of retail sales came from Canadian shoppers (who ditched the tags to skirt customs duties ) and that was the stereotype.

A great number of the visiting Canadian consumers, however, were immigrants from India and Pakistan. Most were somewhat stand-offish with the local Americans, and later I learned why: While I think Canada has always had freer immigration, one reason for the large Sikh and Hindu populations in B.C., and the relatively small groups on the US side, is that a democratic coalition of Americans in this county---"the mob included several Filipino and black men"---ran them all out in the "Hindoo Riots" of 1907. (http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2007/09 ... -east.html)

My rosy perception of Canada started to wilt starting with Brian Mulroney, then Paul Martin's shipping business apparently included hauling cocaine (http://www.lufa.ca/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=4769), discussed on this board somewhere. That right there told me things were "deep." Then things like the Montreal police goons in protester costumes carrying rocks. It was good to see that exposed but I'll bet they're still doing it, just smarter. Next, the frackin' destruction coming from shale oil extraction, and now this edict---and the heartening response of Quebecers!

Again listening to CBC (I don't recall the program, maybe As it Happens), I heard a smarmy Montreal police spooksperson telling an interviewer that everything in the Order was necessary and reasonable and legal. I was glad to hear the interviewer say, "We'll see about that, wont we?"

[Iamwhomiam]

Jeff wrote:

I think the unspoken rationale for this is the anticipation of the Arctic opening up to tanker traffic.

I quite agree, Jeff.

Neon wrote:

I'm sad too. Looks like whatever has infected the U.S. has no problem crossing borders and infecting its neighbors.

Please! Neon, greed is universal and goes hand in hand with privilege and both are found everywhere. Putting blame on the US for your conservative government's actions is wrongly placed, especially coming from one under the Crown's rule.

And please do not think this is an apologia for the US or it's conservatives, because it is not. That Harper's and Charest's mindset parallels, say the Hoch brothers, or that of a Rockefeller is no one's fault but theirs. Charest is trying to distance himself from the decision promoting the passage of Bill 78 and the consequential crackdown.

If anyone is to blame for these radical conservatives being in power in Canada, that would be the Canadian voter or perhaps their non-voters, who elected them.

The "infection" is spreading. Greed is a relentless pandemic disease. We all must choose whether we want to be the vaccine or remain content being simply a carrier facilitating its spread.

I believe the world will soon be in chaos and to me police responses today are all real-life trainings in crowd control so they'll have some experience dealing with many more thousands of 'unruly' citizens when that soon approaching time comes.

In Solidarity!

Iamwhomiam,
Fighting disease for nearly 40 years

[Simulist]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Neon's point: "...whatever has infected the U.S. has no problem crossing borders and infecting its neighbors."

The rampage of an ascendent Empire — and the United States has been this entity's pointman in that rampage — has been increasing for years now.

What Neon mentions that has "infected" the United States is the Empire's derangement, and yes: part of that virulent derangement is greed. As the culture providing that derangement a warm, wet place to grow in also spreads, so does the infection.

[Jeff]

A timely piece today re cross-border contamination. Americans will recognize these agents of infection:

Harper is right: Foreign radicals are after the oil sands

GERALD CAPLAN
Saturday, May. 26, 2012

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have courageously chosen to expose and confront foreign interests that have surreptitiously been infiltrating the Canadian oil industry – and they don’t mean their Chinese Communist partners. They are apparently in possession of revelations about these extremists and criminals that, in the words of Senator Nicole Eaton, “would make your blood boil.”

Launching a much-needed Senate inquiry into “interference of foreign foundations in Canada’s domestic affairs” and their “abuse” of registered charitable status, Ms. Eaton stated: “There is political manipulation. There is influence peddling. There are millions of dollars crossing borders masquerading as charitable donations.” I am glad to contribute to their work.

Welcome to the world of American brothers David and Charles Koch. According to Forbes, in 2011 Koch Industries was the second-largest privately held company in the United States with annual revenue of about $98-billion; the total revenue for the government of Canada for 2011-12 was $248-billion. The brothers each had a net worth of $25-billion, more than the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame. Among the most powerful men in the world whose holdings included major commercial investments in the Alberta oil sands, for years the Kochs have moved heaven and earth to protect the unrestrained pursuit of oil from environmental considerations.

...

But the Kochs are equally at home in the Alberta oil patch, as has now been comprehensively brought to light by InsideClimate News, an America-based non-profit organization dedicated to a clean environment. But their very long, impressively documented report cannot for a moment be dismissed as the biased work of tree huggers. Titled “Koch Brothers’ Activism Protects their 50-year Stake in Canadian Heavy Oils,” it carefully details their “long and deep investments in the tar sands,” investments that have been “central to the company’s initial growth and subsequent diversification since 1959.” Researching every conceivable source to uncover the holdings of this once ultra-secret family, the story lists Koch Industries interests in Canada:

» The company is one of Canada's largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters, with more than 130 crude oil customers.

» It is among the largest U.S. refiners of oil sands crude, responsible for about 25 percent of imports.

» It is one of the largest holders of mineral leases in Alberta, where most of Canada's tar sands deposits are located.

» It has its name attached to hundreds of well sites across Alberta tracked by Canadian regulators.

» It owns pipelines in Minnesota and Wisconsin that import western Canadian crude to U.S. refineries and also distribute finished products to customers.

» It owns and operates a 675,000 barrel oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, a major tar sands export hub.

»And this year it kicked off a 10,000 barrel-a-day mining project in Alberta that could be the seed of a much larger project.

So far as I can see, all these statements are thoroughly backed up in this scrupulous piece of investigative journalism.

The report also notes the Kochs’ political activities in Canada, based on Canadian news sources. Last year the Edmonton Journal reported that Koch Industries had hired a Calgary lobbyist with good local Conservative connections to lobby the provincial government on its behalf.

Then last month, the Vancouver Observer reported the Kochs were contributors to the Fraser Institute, a self-declared charity that some see as an unabashed political advocacy group for unregulated private enterprise and a zealous foe of environmental regulation. Its former chief executive, Michael Walker, confirmed to the Observer that the brothers had contributed $500,000 to the Fraser Institute between 2007 and 2010 for undefined “international work.”

Since the Canadian Revenue Agency is busy hunting down non-profits who are abusing their charitable status, it will no doubt be interested in the $1.7-million the Fraser Institute received from “sources outside Canada,” nearly 16 per cent of its funding.

I know that Conservative Senator Nicole Eaton’s inquiry will welcome these leads and that its findings will truly make the blood boil of all who honour Canada’s "ethical oil."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2444373/

[Elvis]

---

I essentially see the US-Canada "infection" as a spreading crime syndicate. Canada the nation is different. The respective border guards are not a perfect example, but the US side is, with a few exceptions, goonish, treating everyone like criminals (especially returning Americans!), while the Canadian guards, as a rule, are nice to people. They're just nicer.

[Iamwhomiam]

I've obviously misunderstood NeonLX's posting, as he did not blame the US for originating the infection, only spreading it. My apologies, Neon.

I still believe, though, that the disease infecting the 1% originated with the Crown, perhaps passed down over generations, long before the US existed. We're fast learners, though.

Simulist, thank you for your comment, which caused me to reexamine Neon's posting and mine.

But I must say, the Koch Bros. Suck.

Yes, Elvis, the infection is indeed a crime syndicate of the most ancient order.

I agree with you about the nature of our different border guards.

[NeonLX]

Yeah, sorry about sounding so parochial...I'm actually from south of the (unpatrolled) border, though with a strong enough south wind, I could spit right into Canada (not that I'd want to, really). The infection is definitely global, but I often feel that the U.S. is a huge incubator for the virus...

[peartreed]

Comparatively quiet Canadians tend towards maintaining an open and friendly culture and society until pressed by conservative governments into containing the kind of cruel capitalism and armed enforcement seen more often to the South.

Both the provincial government in Quebec and the federal government in Ottawa are illustrating to the Canadian voter, yet again, that the traditional way of life is put in peril every time corporatists and wannabe warmongers are put in charge.

It looks like Quebekers are going to illustrate to the other provinces how to contain and then kick out a corrupt regime, while reasserting the right to self-determination.

I just hope that, as they can do so, Quebec still remains a valued component of the country. This is the kind of crisis that serves to resuscitate the talk of separation.

[Jeff]

The Fraser Institute is Canada's senior right-wing think tank. (Though I never hear its spokespeople identified in ideological terms when the media taps them as "experts.")

Fraser Institute co-founder confirms 'years and years' of U.S. oil billionaires' funding

by David Bell, May 26

Amidst revelations that the Fraser Institute accepted at least $500,000 from the Koch family between 2007 and 2010, the institute's co-founder acknowledged that the US oil billionaires have a long history of donating to the think tank.

Two foundations under the Koch family's auspices – the Charles G. Koch and the Claude R. Lambe Foundations – gave the Fraser Institute large grants to conduct “international work,” its former executive director Michael Walker told the Vancouver Observer.

“I know the grant from the Koch Foundation is for our international work, but I can't tell you which of the projects that it's funding,” Walker, who co-founded the institute in 1974 and remains a Senior Fellow, told the Vancouver Observer. “Before the Koch Foundation, we used to get funding from Koch Industries, when they had extensive holdings in Canada.

“Years and years” prior to receiving grants from the Koch family foundation, Walker said, a Canadian subsidiary of Koch Industries made regular donations to the organization as a corporate member.

“If your intent is to find out that the Fraser Institute, just like the (David) Suzuki Foundation, is funded by offshore money, the truth is that any money I'm aware of from that source – if we're even getting any anymore – is used for our international research. We do have an extensive international program, so we do have to raise money offshore from different sources.”

The institute's international work includes an "Economic Freedom Network,” and will expand this year to co-publishing a “Human Freedom Index” with the Koch-created Cato Institute, which was originally founded as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974, the same year as the Fraser Institute's inception.

Koch Industries is responsible for 25 per cent of Canadian oil sands imports, or roughly 250,000 barrels a year, to the United States.

...

In 2003, the Fraser Institute accepted $120,000 from ExxonMobil oil company, using the money for “climate research”, according to the Vancouver Sun.

The institute – which supports the development of the Alberta oil sands as well as oil pipelines through BC – has also employed both Sun News Network host Ezra Levant (author of the pro-oil sands book Ethical Oil) and former Ethical Oil organization spokesperson Kathryn Marshall.

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politi ... es-funding

[Project Willow]

[norton ash]

^^^I'm sure she's with the Canadian Action Party. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Action_Party

They're fairly new and quite obscure, question 9/11, and founder Paul Hellyer is a complicated man. Jeff or some other canucks may have opinions-- I just see them as thought-provoking libertarian anti-federal-reserve types who will never be elected because they spook the normals.