Category Archives: Canada

Minority Government Bodes Well for Kyoto

arctic.jpg

Canada’s first minority government in 25 years will have to ensure it acts on environmental and sustainable development issues if it is to maintain support from the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois.
According to International Institute for Sustainable Development Board Member Mary Simon — also a former Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs — climate change should be at the top of the Liberal government’s environmental priority list. As someone with close connections to Canada’s north she is well aware of climate change’s “profound implications for the social, cultural and economic well-being of the 50,000 aboriginal people who live in the Canadian Arctic.”
Ms. Simon’s compellingly readable two-page report (Adobe Acrobat required) is available here.

Canada Celebrates Its 137th Birthday


MAP-OF-CANADA



Across this great land of ours, Canadians from coast to coast to coast celebrate a remarkable country on its 137th birthday.
As the election dust settles, this is a day to put aside our political differences, to come together in commemoration of a vibrant nation of almost 32 million people, a Canada that is held up around the world as a model of tolerance, civility and social-mindedness.
As the world becomes a smaller place, as globalization and the communications revolution sometimes blur the distinctions between countries and cultures, today is a day to acknowledge Canada’s ‘differentness’ — from our social safety net and welcoming immigration policies, to our cherished Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our acknowledged politeness — these are just a few of the traits that define us as Canadians.
In these troubled times, who we are as Canadians is cause for celebration.
Happy Canada Day !!!

Restraint Gave Way To Excess
The Bitter End of The Common Sense Revolution

MIKEHARRIS The first act of the newly-elected Ontario Tory government of Mike Harris in 1995 was to withdraw funding from, and set for sale, 45,000 units of social housing that had been commissioned by the New Democratic Party government of Bob Rae. This Co-operative and social housing was all but ready to receive families (that means, children) in dire need of adequate housing. Instead, Harris sold off this much-needed housing to the private sector.
Thus political precedent was set for what became one of the most mean-spirited, reactionary provincial governments in Canadian history, by extension setting the stage for the equally mean-spirited likes of rabid right-wing provincial premiers like Gordon Campbell in British Columbia, John Hamm in Nova Scotia, and lest we forget, Ralph Klein in Alberta, and their devastating set of social policies.
From the failed workfare programme for mothers of infant children who — many of them escaping abusive marriages — found themselves in receipt of income assistance (a programme which also required demeaning drug and literacy testing), to the devastating reductions in funding for the province’s Environment Ministry which resulted in the tainted-water disaster in Walkerton, when it came to attacking the poor, and the interests of Ontarians, Harris’ government knew no equal in Ontario history.

Continue reading Restraint Gave Way To Excess
The Bitter End of The Common Sense Revolution