Gender gap by level of education, field of study

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Published on Wednesday, 29 October 2014 21:44

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Newly released Statistics Canada data show women make, on average, half of millions less than men over 20 years.
Interestingly, the gap is smallest for women in education (with BEds), where they are represented by strong unions.
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http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/canadian-women-make-half-million-dollars-less-men-over-20-years
Sarah

Israels Settlement Expansion is an Outrage – Time f

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Published on Sunday, 09 November 2014 13:22

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION

Israel’s Settlement Expansion is an Outrage – Time for Full Recognition of Palestinian State

Brussels, 29 October 2014 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has condemned Israel’s intention to build yet another 1,000 settlement dwellings in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “Binyamin Netanyahu’s government is treating the international community with total contempt, and trampling further on the rights and livelihoods of Palestinians with this provocative and illegal move. Governments around the world should respond by giving formal recognition to the State of Palestine, and acting to stop any form of international involvement in building and sustaining these illegal settlements.”

The adoption by the Irish Senate last week of a Resolution to recognise the State of Palestine...

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EAO will finish its review of the application within the next month

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Published on Wednesday, 29 October 2014 11:44

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Watch for the list to get busier though – and for us to be asking for your help. A revised application for the proposed Raven Underground Coal Project has been sent to the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) and it is likely that the EAO will finish its review of the application within the next month. At that time, they will ask the applicant for more information, delaying acceptance of the application, or they will reject the application, or they will accept the application and commence the environmental assessment of the Raven project. When the environmental assessment formally starts, a comment period will begin. Then we will need you and all the people you can mobilize, to submit comments about the deficiencies and omissions in the application. We’ll use email and our website to help you with this. Thanks again.

John Snyder 
Coal Watch Comox Valley Society

Can We Defend Our Pensions Without Challenging Financialized Capitalism?

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Published on Tuesday, 28 October 2014 23:00

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1050 .... October 29, 2014
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Can We Defend Our Pensions
Without Challenging Financialized Capitalism?

Kevin Skerrett

Unrelenting employer attacks on workplace based pension plans are intensifying, and the struggle to defend them is becoming more challenging right across the country.

One recent development appears to be an important partial victory. Some 900 workers at Bombardier's Thunder Bay production facility, represented by Unifor, launched an eight-week strike on July 14, and the dispute centred on an employer demand to eliminate the secure, "defined benefit" type pension plan with an individualized "defined contribution" savings scheme for all new hires. Bombardier's proposal was hardly a new idea – private sector employers without unions have been unilaterally imposing just that for a number of years, and it's the model that has sparked a...

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[coalalert] PQB NEWS POLL RESULTS

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Published on Tuesday, 28 October 2014 16:00

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LAST WEEKS QUESTION OF THE WEEK FOR THE PARKSVILLE QUALICUM BEACH NEWS

QUESTION: WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A NEW COAL MINE IN BUCKLEY BAY?

FINAL RESULTS: YES 21.5%
NO 78.5%

Pipeline Resistance Costs Statoil in the Tar Sands

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Published on Monday, 27 October 2014 15:22

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http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/pipeline-resistance-costs-statoil-tar-sands/31924

by JENNIFER MILLS

Aerial image of a SAGD site in Alberta (not Statoil). Photo by author.
Sign for Statoil's site near Conklin. Photo by author.

In New York recently, not only did Prime Minister Harper skip the UN Climate Summit, but the Canadian government was the only UN member state raising objections to the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.

The same week as the UN meetings, the Norwegian oil company Statoilannounced that it is shelving its Corner expansion project in the tar sands for at least three years. Statoil’s a small player in Alberta, but its decision points to obstacles facing all companies in the tar sands. Statoil’s press release cites “costs for labour and materials” as well as “market access issues”. Crude oil prices are also at two year lows, hurting high cost tar sands producers. The change in Corner’s status follows Total’s decision in May to shelve its Joslyn project indefinitely and Suncor’s cancellation of an upgrader facility in 2013.

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Bank of Canada on the state of Canada's manufacturing sector

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Published on Monday, 27 October 2014 10:22

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With last week's shooting on Parliamentary Hill, this story flew on the radar from the Governor of the Bank of Canada. Stephen Poloz's speech was cancelled, but it was posted on the bank's website -- in which he delivers a sober assessment about permanent structural damage to Canada's manufacturing sector.
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http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/bank-canada-just-gave-us-dog-has-died-talk-about-manufacturing-sector Sarah

The War Against the Islamic State: Techno vs Medieval Barbarism

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Published on Sunday, 26 October 2014 22:44

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1049 .... October 27, 2014
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The War Against the Islamic State:
Techno vs Medieval Barbarism

J. F. Conway

Stephen Harper finally got his war in Iraq, something he demanded while in opposition when Bush's ill-fated “coalition of the willing” was inveigled by the U.S. to bomb, invade and occupy Iraq, all contrary to international law. Harper's war in Iraq will be a rather sad and inglorious affair, hardly up to the excesses of his war-mongering rhetoric. Only six CF 18 jet fighters have gone to join the new crusade. The number of sorties to be flown is uncertain since these rather rusty fighters are not always reliably air worthy. The jets join the latest American imperialist military adventure, carrying out bombing runs against Islamic State (IS) forces in Iraq. The...

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BCSEA E-News: Inside the People's Climate March

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Published on Sunday, 26 October 2014 12:22

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BCSEA E-News | Thursday, October 23, 2014
Inside the People's Climate March
By Gisela Ruckert, Vice Chair and Cheryl Kabloona, Chair - BCSEA Kamloops Chapter

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Two of BCSEA’s Kamloops members were in New York recently for the People's Climate March on September 21. They decided they would write about their experience in a two-person format so readers can hear from both of them.

How did you decide to go to New York for the March?

Gisela: Our trip was a combination of destination (NY March), cycling holiday (Vermont) and family visit (Ontario). We scheduled the trip around being in New York for the day of the March. Why not be a part of history? I’d love to look back and say “I was there!” Working for action on climate change at the community level can be discouraging at times, so I wanted to boost my own motivation by feeling the power of a large crowd unified in the call for change.

Cheryl: Gisela had mentioned several times through the year that she hoped to go. I hadn't considered going until I realized that I was already planning to be in Montreal to see my daughter there just a few days after the March, and the two cities are not far apart. So for me, New York was an add-on to the Montreal trip, and of course I was delighted at the thought of being there.

What was it like?

Cheryl: The March assembly area stretched for 27 blocks along Central Park and had sections for different themes. Organizers had advised everyone to arrive well before start time of 11:30. We arrived at our assembly place in front of the American Museum of Natural History just after 10:00, carrying water, snacks and signs. It was a beautiful warm day. We chatted with the people around us, mostly from the 350 Toronto and Canadian Greens organizations, did songs and chants, admired each other’s signs and took pictures…..for four hours! The long wait told us that the March was HUGE.

If you were watching the news from home in BC, you would have seen a lot more of the big picture than we did. We were basically in a microcosm of just what we could see around us, and cell service was so overloaded that we couldn’t get any news. But the mood was very positive and eventually we got moving. The last few hours went quickly as we walked through the streets of New York.

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Radical Political Poetry

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Published on Saturday, 25 October 2014 22:44

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LeftStreamed — Recorded in Toronto, 18 October 2014

Radical Political Poetry

Poetry allows us to rethink violence, justice, resistance and revolution. It opens up the possibilities for radical imagination and allows us to think new ways of being into existence.

Introduction by Robert Massoud from Beit Zation. Moderated by Ayesha Basit. Poetry readings by:

• Kaushalya Bannerji is a Canadian writer whose work explores the tensions and joys of life as a queer and socialist poet. Drawing on inspirations and struggles from home and abroad, Kaushalya is the author of poetry books, A New Remembrance, The Faces of 5 O’Clock, and translator for Cubans, Silvio Rodriguez and Josefina de Diego. Her work has been anthologized in Third World and feminist/queer publications and journals.
• Cheran is a Tamil poet born in Jaffna, in Sri Lanka and now lives in...

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Pulling Together for First Nations Legal Defence

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Published on Saturday, 25 October 2014 11:00

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Pulling Together with a New Site for First Nations Legal Defence

Happy Fall! We have a lot of news to share - and it will explain why it’s been so long since you’ve heard from us.

A Bold New Look: raventrust.com Through the summer the RAVEN team consolidated the intense strategic planning from 2013 - the results of which are now online in the form of our fantastic new website! This is why we disappeared for a while. We worked with the amazing Jason Mogus of Communicopia Inc, and Christopher Roy and Natasha Kong of Marketworks to develop the new site. It’s been an extraordinary experience - we feel so grateful to have teamed with these brilliant, insightful people.

The goals were to tell a clearer story of RAVEN’s unique work, create a better platform to support our fundraising for First Nations legal cases, and more easily share the bigger picture context of those legal actions. We hope you will agree with us that the new website accomplishes these goals, and more!

You’ll notice on the Donate page there are many more options for ways to engage. You can make a difference by not only donating to our legal cases, but also by signing up as a personal fundraiser. In the style of campaigns like Run for the Cure or Movember, you can choose from a variety of options for giving and getting involved. We’ll be reaching out soon with a fall/winter fundraising campaign - to muster the full force of our awesome donors who support First Nations and the environment.

As you go through the different pages, you will also notice we’ve expanded our work. Here’s a summary of what’s new. Pull Together Our newest campaign is in support of five B.C. nations that launched legal actions to protect their land and water from the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project.

The Gitxaala, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Nadleh Whut’en and Nak’azdli Nations are challenging the federal government’s failure to consult First Nations during the federal environmental Joint Review Process. Their constitutional rights, recently strengthened by the Supreme Court of Canada’s Tsilhqot’in Nation vs British Columbia decision, give them substantial power.

Read more: Pulling Together for First Nations Legal Defence

Tribes and farmers unite to end oil palm expansion in Philippines - News from Survival

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Published on Thursday, 23 October 2014 10:44

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Tribes and farmers unite to end oil palm expansion in Philippines

Oil palm plantations have taken over land that the Palawan used to grow coconuts.© ALDAW

Tribal people and small-scale farmers in the Philippine province of Palawan have called for a halt to the expansion of oil palm plantations which are destroying the forests they rely on to survive.

Their newly formed Coalition against Land Grabbing (CALG) collected over 4,000 signatures from tribal people and farmers affected by the plantations, calling for a moratorium on oil palm expansion.

Palawan, which is often referred to as “the Philippines’ last ecological frontier”, is a biosphere reserve and home to tribal peoples such as the Palawan, Batak and Tagbanua, who rely on their forests for food, medicines and for building their houses.

Yet there are plans to convert up to 20,000 hectares – an area the size of Washington DC – into oil palm plantations, which will forever destroy the forests the tribes rely on. Oil palm is used for biofuel and is found in many foods and cosmetics.

Read more: Tribes and farmers unite to end oil palm expansion in Philippines - News from Survival

The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ passes divestment resolution

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Published on Thursday, 23 October 2014 10:00

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BDS is continuing to expand.
One more step for BDS.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/10/connecticut-divestment-resolution?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=b75042a811-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-b75042a811-398412821
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CAIA Active Members Committee

Building Democracy in Canada ...

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Published on Wednesday, 22 October 2014 22:15

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October 21, 2014

BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN CANADA
If we want a better Canada, we need more democracy. Democracy is 'government of, by, and for the people'. Not government of the corporations, but government of the people.

The corporations that control Canada are plundering our nation. To get our Canada back, we have to fight the corporations, beat them, take back our country, and fix things up.

Health Care is one example of how they treat us. Canadians are forced to wait for health care because the corporations know they have to ruin our public system before they can privatize it; and long waits are a part of the plan. As for those who suffer and die - Corporate Canada does not care. We need to regain control of our health care system - and make it work for us.
And it's not just health care. Our corporate rulers create Homelessness and Poverty. They send our jobs overseas by the tens of thousands. They refuse to pay taxes, and they create huge public debts. They have genetically contaminated our food supply, poisoned us with chemicals and pollutants, and on and on.

But these things - as bad as they are - are just 'symptoms'. The real problems are that we don't have a free press - or a democracy - in Canada. These are things we have to fix. And we can. How to build democracy in Canada:
1. We need a media that works for us. Democracy requires a free press, and if we want democracy we have to build that free press.
2. We have to realize our democracy is gone. And we have to set to work to take it back.
3. We need to discuss our Voting System. Our First Past the Post voting system does not give us the governments we vote for. In the last federal election the Greens got about 600,000 votes and the Conservatives 6 million. The Greens elected one MP, the Conservatives more than 160. Why should ten times the votes give 160 times the seats? Most Canadians want a better voting system, but our rulers won't allow it - because what we have works well for them.
4. We need to reform our Parliaments. Why do our Premiers and Prime Minister control the people WE elect. The people we elect are supposed to represent us - not be controlled by corrupt party leaders. In a democracy, the citizens control the politicians; in Canada the politicians control the citizens - for the benefit of The Corporations. We can change this.
5. We need to control the political parties. If the big political parties are corrupt and undemocratic - and they are - then nothing good will come from them. We need public oversight of the parties, to ensure that the people who run them are honest.
6. We should look at 'Direct Democracy'. With Direct Democracy, citizens vote on important issues, to force politicians to do what we want. Direct Democracy is something we should discuss, and move ahead with if we want.
7. Citizens Assemblies ... are groups of average citizens, brought together to look into important issues - like those above - and come up with solutions. These Assemblies can help us move forward because they give citizens some power and a way to express our ideas. We should learn about Citizens Assemblies and start to use them if we think they can help.

Read more: Building Democracy in Canada ...