David Orchard speaking to
rally in Toronto, Sunday, December 28, 2008, against
the bombing of Gaza. He calls for an immediate ceasefire and
urges the Canadian
government to do the same.........more
There's no time like now
LANA PAYNE
The Telegram Premier Danny Williams has done something the left in
Canada has struggled to do in recent years - focus attention
on trade agreements that rank corporate privileges over the
rights of citizens.
The expropriation of AbitibiBowater's access to timber and
water came at a time when citizens everywhere are questioning
the world economic order and the lack of rules governing
capital and corporations.
Threats by Abitibi-Bowater to sue the Canadian government
because the province of Newfoundland and Labrador acted in the
public interest have served to highlight the very real
problems with trade agreements.
By taking back the "people's resources" - the water and timber
leases that had been issued to the operators of the Grand
Falls pulp and paper mill in exchange for industrial
development - Williams acted to uphold the public interest
over the corporate interest.......more
A federal budget wish list
LANA PAYNE
The Telegram Stephen Harper, the economist, has finally woken up to the
economic crisis that has gripped the planet.
It took him long enough.
During this fall's election, he downplayed disastrous economic
news around the globe by telling Canadians the fundamentals of
our economy were sound and by insensitively offering really
bad stock market advice.
His failure to recognize the hardship many Canadians were
experiencing and to take action almost cost him his job. One
could argue that it has certainly cost untold numbers of
Canadians their jobs.
For someone who is supposed to be so smart, he's been terribly
slow to grasp the economic deepfreeze the rest of the world
has been responding to for months now.......more
Canada standing still in
the midst of a global crisis
LANA PAYNE
The Telegram At this point, Stephen Harper must be thinking that
accountability and transparency were not such good ideas.
During the federal election, the prime minister found himself
off sides with his government's parliamentary budget officer's
report on the cost of the Afghan war. The Budget Office was
created in 2007 as part of the Federal Accountability Act.
Kevin Page, the civil servant keeping an eye on all things
fiscal, reported the war was costing Canadians about $18
billion, but he also noted that a lack of transparency within
government meant that figure was likely on the low side.
The prime minister was left scrambling as he tried to explain
away the cost during a volatile federal election......more
As Stephen Harper soaked up the warmth of the people of the
Irish Loop last week — a shock to his chilly demeanor — his
apostles were busy hiding from a Parliamentary ethics
committee.
By mid week, more than a dozen Conservative officials,
including a few high-ranking ones, had refused to appear
before the committee and answer questions about what can be at
best described as the federal party’s creative application of
Canada’s financing rules.
The Conservative Party has also been investigated by Elections
Canada for the “in and out” financing scheme.
Under the scheme, the federal party transferred money into 67
local ridings, including Labrador, for advertising during the
2006 federal election......more
PM's ambition destroying
the nation
LANA PAYNE
The Telegram
It appears nothing is safe from Stephen Harper’s ruthless
hunger for a majority — not even the Canadian federation.
The prime minister and his caucus gathered in Quebec last week
to talk policy and politics.
The policy talk was not aimed at making the nation greater,
but rather weaker. If there was anything left of the shop to
give away before the Harperites arrived in Quebec, there
certainly wasn’t by the time they went home.
Cabinet ministers gave rare interviews to the media, but even
then there was a method to the madness — the floating of trial
balloons before a possible fall election.
Some of the balloons were filled with the same stale air —
like the Conservative plan to get tough on crime at a time
when statistics say crime in the country is at an all-time
low.
And then there was the continuation of the Harper agenda to
alter the federation — handing over even more “autonomy” to
the provinces, weakening and neutering the federal government
by giving up nationhood powers to the provinces, especially
Quebec.........more
Freedom
of the Person
Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of human bondage must disappear.
Freedom
of the Mind
Unless a free people are educated -- taught to think intelligently
and plan wisely -- freedom usually does more harm than good.
The
reign of law.
Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will and whims of human
rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in accordance with
accepted fundamental law.
Freedom
of speech.
Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all
forms of expression for human aspirations and opinions.
Security
of property.
No government can long endure if it fails to provide for the right
to enjoy personal property in some form. Man craves the right to
use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his personal
property.
The
right of petition.
Representative government assumes the right of citizens to be
heard. The privilege of petition is inherent in free citizenship.
The
right to rule.
It is not enough to be heard; the power of petition must progress
to the actual management of the government.
Universal
suffrage.
Representative government presupposes an intelligent, efficient,
and universal electorate. The character of such a government will
ever be determined by the character and caliber of those who
compose it. As civilization progresses, suffrage, while remaining
universal for both sexes, will be effectively modified, regrouped,
and otherwise differentiated.
Control
of public servants.
No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the
citizenry possess and use wise techniques of guiding and
controlling officeholders and public servants.
Intelligent
and trained representation.
The survival of democracy is dependent on successful
representative government; and that is conditioned upon the
practice of electing to public offices only those individuals who
are technically trained, intellectually competent, socially loyal,
and morally fit.
Only by such provisions can government of the people, by the
people, and for the people be preserved.
Freedom
of the Person