Harper
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- Published on Thursday, 14 May 2015 16:45
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Thrown Under the Omnibus: C-51 the Latest in Harper’s Barrage of Sprawling, Undemocratic Bills
In 1982, an omnibus bill proposed by the Pierre Trudeau government provoked such indignation in parliamentarians that the official opposition whip refused to show up in the House of Commons.
Back then the custom was for Parliament to ring noisy “division bells” when opposition whips pulled a no-show and in this case they rang loudly — for two whole weeks.
The noise was so unbearable that parliamentarians were supplied, and this is no joke, with earplugs at the door.
While the division bells no longer ring, the passing of the Harper government’s most recent and certainly most contentious omnibus bill, the anti-terrorism bill C-51, has created a tremendous amount of noise. Read More
First Nations Chief Fears Site C Will Increase Mercury Poisoning of Fish
West Moberly First Nation Chief Roland Willson said the day his nine-year-old son caught a nine pound fish, a dolly varden, in the Williston reservoir should have been a proud moment. But because of high mercury levels, Willson knew they couldn’t eat the fish.
The Williston reservoir, resulting from the creation of the W.A.C Bennett dam, is known for containing high levels of mercury, a common feature of large man-made reservoirs containing high levels of organic material. Now Willson is concerned the recently-approved Site C dam will mean more contaminated fish. Read More
Rio Tinto Alcan Externalizing Air Pollution onto Kitimat Households, Says Expert Witness
Increased sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution from the expanded Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) aluminum smelter in Kitimat, B.C. will result in increased health costs for local households, an expert witness told an Environmental Appeals Board panel in Victoria, Monday.
Dr. Brian Scarfe, an economist and cost-benefit analyst from the University of Victoria, testified before the tribunal that the externalized health costs place on residents living near the Kitimat smelter will outstrip the cost of introducing scrubbers — which remove SO2 pollution from effluent — to the RTA plant. Read More
Tracing the 'Endless War' on Environmentalists Back to the War in the Woods
No one admits to recording Richard Berman’s address to a room full of energy executives in Colorado Springs in June 2014, but it’s an eye-opener.
In his speech Berman, a PR mastermind, told industry executives that they must wage an "endless war" on their environmental opponents.
This is the first instalment of an original DeSmog Canada series detailing the long history of the “endless war” to silence environmental critics in Canada and how the battle has been used to advance the interests of the forestry, pipeline and oil and gas industries. Read More
Notley’s False Majority: Why It's Time to Fix Canada’s Electoral System
While progressives across Canada relish the NDP victory in Alberta last week, an inconvenient truth about the election results has been largely overlooked: Rachel Notley secured her majority government with just 41 per cent of the popular vote.
With the right-wing reeling from its loss in Alberta, there’s never been a better time to talk about electoral reform — which has not had much traction with conservatives in recent years. r15 |r0
