Monthly Archives: July 2007

U.S. Army And RCMP Derail Public Forum

canadian sovereignty, foreign affairs

There’s a very disturbing news article in yesterday’s Ottawa Citizen:

Police have derailed plans for a public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership that was to take place six kilometres from where the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will gather next month for a summit.

Several weeks ago, the Council of Canadians put down a $100 deposit to rent the community centre in Papineauville, not far from the summit site in Montebello, for the public forum.

The forum was scheduled for Aug. 19, the day before Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are due to start two days of meetings on the security partnership, a controversial initiative aimed at more closely aligning the three countries in a variety of areas.

But Brent Patterson, the council’s director of organizing, said a Papineauville official called late Tuesday to say the RCMP, the Surete du Quebec and the U.S. army would not allow the municipality to rent the facility to the council for the planned forum.

A citizens group isn’t allowed to meet a day before the conference in a community centre six kilometres away. For security reasons. *cough*

Would a pro-SPP group have also been denied the space? Not likely. Guy Cote of the Quebec police force in Montreal reportedly explained the move by saying the Council of Canadians “is an activist organization opposed to the summit and that it would not be wise to have [them] set up in the community centre.”

What kind of security-hating radicals were planning on attending this public forum? Writers, academics, parliamentarians. You know, your usual group of hoodlums.

In other words, the U.S. Army is now giving orders to working with the RCMP to frustrate freedom of speech in Canada, by Canadians. Hopefully the Council of Canadians will be able to find another venue, though how far away they have to go before the U.S. Army will let them meet (10km? 20km? 100km?) is unclear.

Elizabeth’s Writing

climate crisis, green party

Elizabeth May has written two things recently that might interest you, and that you probably wouldn’t stumble upon otherwise.

First, her article in the May issue of Policy Options Magazine titled The Saga of Bill C-30: From Clean Air to Climate Change, Or Not is a very interesting explanation of how our laws get made, or, well, not. “It is a saga,” writes Elizabeth, “a story of love and betrayal; of heroics and scandal; of a fight to the death for the future of the planet. It is at least the story of an overwrought and oversold piece of legislation called Bill C-30, The Clean Air Act.”

Second, in all of Sun Media’s papers today (Toronto Sun, Calgary Sun, London Free Press, etc.) Elizabeth squares-off on carbon taxes in a piece called Carbon conundrum. Her case is very compelling and well-argued.

Economists and experts agree that a carbon tax is the single most effective way to deliver a consistent signal to the economy. Among those who support a carbon tax are Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank, who explained, “Pollution must have a price tag. Currently it is too cheap to pollute, and too expensive not to.”

Her opponent, Tom Harris, spends his time denying the severity (or existence?) of climate change while making all sorts of claims he never backs up. Site commenters fail to distinguish between the Green Party, the government of Canada, and “think tanks,” while succeeding in missing the point entirely. Good for a laugh, bad for blood pressure.

Hopefully that will tide you over while you wait for her next (and sixth) book, Global Warming For Dummies, due out later this year or early next. Yes, seriously.

Welcome, Mark!

conservative party, meta

I’m a few days late, but I just wanted to officially welcome Mark Warner to this blog. Mark is the Conservative candidate in Toronto Centre, and you can read his maiden post (comment) here. I’ve already seen Mark out and about at a number of community events, and know he’s going to run a very hard-fought campaign.

I’m encouraged by this early indication that christindal.ca will become the hub of online inter-candidate debate in the coming election. This leads to an important question: Bob, El-Farouk, where are you? You don’t want to be late to this party.

Earth To Toronto: Stop Driving So Much

climate crisis, toronto,

James Lovelock is a scientist famous for advancing the Gaia hypothesis, which basically states that the Earth is one giant self-regulating organism. Some (most notably Agent Smith in The Matrix) have looked at the destructive force we’ve chosen to inflict on the Earth through this lens and compared the human race to a virus. Of course, when our bodies become infected with a virus, we raise our core temperature in an effort to burn it off.

From today’s Globe and Mail:

The heat and humidity yesterday may have played a role in the collapse of an express lane on Highway 401 near Islington Avenue just after 3:30 p.m., police say. It remained closed last night.