Liberals favour decriminalizing pot possession- Mar.20.00
   The Liberals, at this month's convention, have backed decriminalizing the possession of
marijuana, so that it will no longer be a Criminal Code offence.
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Prime Minister Opens Door to Fall Election- Mar 20 - Jean Chretien ended a four day liberal convention saying he will call an election on values. Liberals will return to the centre left to fight to preserve medicare and help the poor.
   Chrétien heaped scorn on right-wing parties, saying they would Americanize Canada by auctioning off medicare, old-age security and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Chretien - The Old War Horse Kicks Back - Mar.17.00 - A leader in power riding high in the polls, being asked by members of his own party to resign. Only in Canada, you might say.
   The attack on Prime Minister Chretien is just another facet of the long swing to the right and of the desperation of these right wing forces.
   Power is the prize to be won at any price, and now that the right has failed to unite, corporate media sees replacing Chretien with Paul Martin and a band of fiscal conservatives as the fastest route to their new AmeriCanada.
   Chretien knows this and at this week's Liberal Convention he attacked greedy corporate media and its tax cut agenda. Delegates looked to the left of Martin, backing a proposal to cut the GST that Martin opposes. They also pushed for a national day care program.
   At the start of the convention, Jean Chretien vowed to take Canada on a major shift to the left, abandoning bigger tax cuts to champion the poor and downtrodden. His vision of Canada as a caring, generous "sunshine" land of help and opportunity for the needy was tailor made for youth delegates. It also revealed the dual mind of most liberals, as they talk of great social benefits, yet deliver Paul Martin and fiscal conservatism at budget time.
   The turn left did work for Chretien, as the old war horse gave Martin a kick down the stairs. And at the bottom, as the sounds of youth delegate hollering "four more years" echoed up - Martin found himself stuttering to the press while he most likely wondered what he was doing in the liberal party in the first place.
   Now we have Chretien wanting to fight an election campaign on the issues of compassion and liberal values. If it happens perhaps it will be the last time it happens. Next time around we get Martin or Manley, campaigning on the value of more cuts to taxes and social programs.
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Montreal Protester/Riot Cop Story Recipe: Montreal
read jaggi singh's report on
-  police brutality and police brutality protesters
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Conrad Black can't sue Chretien - Mar.15.00 - Press Baron Conrad Black can't sue Prime Minister Jean Chretien for blocking his appointment to the British House of Lords.
   Ontario Superior Court Judge Patrick Lesage ruled Wednesday that the prime minister's decision to block the newspaper publisher's appointment is beyond judicial review.
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Riot Police Raid Montreal Police Brutality Protest - Mar.15.00
    A march by about 300 people against police brutality drew police violence as some demonstrators spilled into two McDonald's restaurants and a police station.
   The march began as a vigil for Jean Pierre Lizotte, a homeless man who died after he was arrested at a St. Laurent Boulevard restaurant.
   The riot squad used force to obtain four arrests.
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Legal Opinions Against Klein's Health Bill- Mar.15.00
Alberta plan would violate Canada Health Act,
   Alberta's controversial move to allow the private sector to compete for health-care money violates the Canada Health Act in several ways, a legal opinion says.
   A second analysis released yesterday said that if Alberta goes ahead with Bill 11, all of Canada's provinces could be forced under the North American free-trade agreement to let U.S. Companies provide private health-care services for them.
   The Alberta Legislation violates or threatens four of the Canada Health Act's five principles for a publicly funded system," says a summary of the opinion by B.C. law firm Arvay Finlay. The bill would violate the act's requirements for comprehensiveness, universality and accessibility, and may violate its requirement that health care be publicly administered.
   The bill, announced earlier this month, would allow private clinics to receive public funds for a wide range of operations and health-care services.
   Under the Canada Health Act, the federal government can withhold funds from provinces that violate the principal of universal access to necessary health services. Bill 11 would authorize a system in which people with more money could receive treatment more quickly.
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Corporate Media Wants to Appoint Prime Minister - Mar.15.2000
   Paul Martin gave the Big Media the budget it wanted so with this victory under their hats it isn't a surprise to see the media barons now trying to name the prime minister.
   In a long boring series or articles, the wealthy barons now seek to replace political parties and the public in naming the leader of the liberal party?
   Is this Jean Chretien's and the liberal party's decision now or do people like Honderich, Black and Thompson name the prime minister.
   Corporate media really has no scruples these days.
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Ottawa must save Medicare from Klein's Privatization Plan - Mar.14.00
Canadian Health Coalition -  http://www.healthcoalition.ca/
   Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has tabled legislation allowing "For-Profit" companies to set up publicly funded facilities in the province. If you treasure Medicare now is the time to show it. We urgently need your help !
Telephone Action: This week, all M.P.'s will be returning to their home ridings. We need you to telephone your M.P. and tell them you want Medicare protected. Remind them that Medicare is Canada's defining quality, and if they don't fight for its protection, come next election you will vote for someone who will !
Demands:
1) Ottawa must introduce emergency legislation prohibiting public funds from being used to deliver for-profit services covered by Medicare. If emergency legislation isn't passed before Klein's Bill becomes law, say good-bye to Medicare;
2) Federal funding for health care must be restored to at least 25 per cent. When Medicare was introduced the federal contribution was 50% (today it is just 13%);
3) There must be public involvement in federal/provincial decisions on the future of Medicare. No back room deals dismantling Medicare.
   If we don't reverse the Americanization of our publicly funded health system, here is a glimpse of what we can expect: Made in the U.S.A.
- - People with no health insurance:  44 Million
- - People who are under insured: 71 Million Hispanic
- - Hispanic People with no coverage: 50%
- - African American People with no coverage: 37%
- -  White People with no coverage: 25%
- - Children with no coverage:  33%
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Greenpeace activists stop coker - Mar.14.00
   Edmonton -- Greenpeace escalated its campaign to stop the expansion of the Alberta tar sands today by climbing a 400-tonne coker, stopping its journey north from Edmonton. The coker, which will be used to turn tar sands into oil, is destined for the Suncor project near Fort McMurray, northern Alberta.
   In freezing conditions, five Greenpeace activists prevented the coker from leaving the location outside Edmonton where it had been stored for the weekend. Two climbers deployed a banner accusing the oil companies Syncrude, Shell, Canadian Natural Resources, Esso and Suncor for being "Climate Villains" because of their plans to greatly expand extraction of oil from the tar sands.
   Steven Guilbeault, Greenpeace Canada climate and energy campaigner and one of the climbers said, "If these projects are allowed to proceed, over the next 10 years greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands will make up 25 per cent of  the increase for all of Canada. Greenpeace is calling for a halt to the expansion of all the tar sands projects."
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World Internet Body Oks Elections of Public Reps - Mar.12.00
(Voters to choose 5 board members in direct election.)
- read the full article.
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Police Brutality Ends Women's Action In Montreal - Mar.00
Jaggi Singh - A-Infos News Service
 - Read the article
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Freedom Threatened as Business and Big Brother Unite in War on Cyber Crime - Mar.11.00
(One Big Warrant Allowing the FBI to Raid Anyone World Wide has been Proposed.)
full article at Hackers,computers, privacy issues
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Canadian Supreme Court Pans Internet Jurisdiction - Mar.11.00
(Freedom of Speech good news for Netizens)
   The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal of a B.C. court decision, and in doing so has aided citizen free speech rights.
full article at Hackers,computers, privacy issues
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Read Clips - from International Women's Day Toronto - Mar.04.2000
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Students Cheer as Banks Quit Student Loans Program - Mar.9.00
   The feds are taking over the Canada Student Loans Program after failing to reach a deal with three of the country's biggest banks. The Human Resources Department stepped in because the financial institutions wanted additional compensation for risk. The government must now borrow $1.5 billion to lend students money in the next school year. It must also hire a company to administer the loans.
   To make the takeover more economical the government could look at borrowing the the 1.5 billion from its own bank of Canada and in this way avoid paying excessive interest to private banks.
   Ottawa offered a risk premium of $155 million to the banks and they wanted even more. This can only be construed as greed when draconian laws covering students make them nearly a no risk group. Students have to undergo extensive credit checks by the banks, and cannot declare bankruptcy until 10 years after graduation.
   Student associations across the country celebrated the government's decision to take over all new loans, accusing the banks of putting profit above people.
   "Under the banks, the program became much more about profit and greed than it did about opportunity and access to education," said Michael Conlon of the Canadian Federation of Students.
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Feds Feeding Corporate Welfare Sharks -  The Globe and Mail reports that Human Resources Development Canada grants that are supposed to help society's downtrodden have boosted the bottom lines of almost half of Canada's 100 most profitable corporations.
   49 of Canada's 100 most profitable companies received HRDC grants in the past three years. All 49 of the companies made profit of at least $70-million for 1998, the most recent year of the ranking. All five of Canada's big banks were among the recipients. Grant money also went to such companies as Canadian Pacific, Loblaw, Shell Canada, Investors Group, Fairfax Financial.
Companies with thick connections to the Liberal Party, such as Bombardier, Power Corp. and Onex Corp. are also recipients.
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2000 World March of Women Launched in over 50 Countries -  March 8, 2000
   International Women's Day, will be a date to remember in the history of the women's movement worldwide: the launching of a planetary solidarity movement involving marches and actions reflecting women's determination to shake up the powers that be. On March 8, women everywhere will be launching the World March of Women in the Year 2000 and publicising  the demands for concrete change to combat poverty and violence against  women.
   This dream of women the world over is now becoming a reality. So far,3,500 participating groups in 146 countries are currently involved in this  unprecedented project.
   A signature is also a commitment. Starting on March 8, millions of women and men around the world will sign their names in support of the demands of the World March of Women in the  Year 2000. These signatures signify individual and collective commitments to end poverty and violence against women.
   On October 17, 2000, a group of women will be delivering the millions of signatures and support cards in front of  the United Nations headquarters in New York.
For more info
email: cathpete@camtech.net.au
Australian website:  http://www.uq.net.au/march2000/
International website:  http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/
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Health Care - Fixing or Demolishing - Mar.06.00
   The clip below from a Toronto Star Column notes that Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty has been consulting with Duncan Sinclair on the health care issue.
---On health care, the Liberals have been consulting with the likes of Duncan Sinclair and Michael Decter. Sinclair is head of the government's Health Services Restructuring Commission. Decter is the former deputy minister of health in the New Democratic Party government of the early 1990s. Both used to be Liberal targets, but now their ideas seem to be sinking in with Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty. ----
   Consulting with the likes of Sinclair can only mean more bad news. Federal Minister Allan Rock is also talking about how the system need to be fixed and that may mean similar consultations from him.
    These people are again forgetting that fixing is just about the biggest problem in health care. Sinclair was arrogant and dictatorial in manner; he refused to consult with local communities and he didn't fix anything. What he did was close hospitals.
   The closures cost a fortune and saved nothing - other members of the HSRC had open conflicts of interest in things like the cannibalizing of Wellesley Hospital on behalf of St. Mike's.
   Please save us from Duncan Sinclair and more of his restructuring. Tell you reps that you won't put up with more of it. Health Care needs to be saved not demolished.
Contact:
DALTON McGUINTY - dalton_mcguinty-mpp@ontla.ola.org
PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRETIEN Telephone:1-613-992-4211,Fax Number: 1(613)957-5514, e-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca
MINISTER OF HEALTH ALLAN ROCK Telephone:1-613-957-0200, Fax Number: 1(613)952-1154, e-mail: Rock.A@parl.gc.ca
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Save Medicare- The Canadian Health Coalition has launched a campaign to save public Medicare.
www.healthcoalition.ca
New e-mail group for public health care
contact Majordomo@penguin.reach.net and put the word subscribe cantalk  in message box, leave the subject line empty.
Web Message Board at http://www.reach.net/cantalk/
March 7 - Save Medicare Rally
From: "Gerry Hurwitz" <gerh@idirect.com>
There will be a rally at Allan Rock's (Federal Minister of Health) Office to pressure him to protect our Health Care System and not allow provinces to privatize our health care e.g. Alberta
COME JOIN US, as part of a national effort, to protect the principles of the Canada Health Act and our Health Care System. WHERE:  Allan Rock's Office,4180 Dundas St. West  Etobicoke, (Dundas and Prince Edward, between Scarlett Rd And Royal York) Tuesday March 7, 2000 at 12 Noon.
Gerry Hurwitz, The Alliance of Seniors To Protect Canada's Social Programs
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Save Medicare- The Canadian Health Coalition has launched a campaign to save public Medicare.
www.healthcoalition.ca
New e-mail group for public health care
contact Majordomo@penguin.reach.net and put the word subscribe in message box, leave the subject line empty.
Web Message Board at http://www.reach.net/cantalk/
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Government site identifies fuel-efficient vehicles -   Natural Resource Canada's list of the most fuel-efficient vehicle in every segment of the auto industry should be of  interest to new car buyers.
Reducing fuel consumption is a direct link to reducing the level of  greenhouse gases produced in Canada, since every litre of gasoline saved means 2.4 fewer kilograms of CO2 enter the atmosphere.
The most fuel efficient vehicle is the two-seat Honda Insight, which uses a combination of motors for its driving force. The Insight uses only  717 litres of fuel and costs only $394 to go those 20,000 kilometres.
Government of Canada's Fuel Consumption Guide.
http://autosmart.nrcan.gc.ca
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Greenpeace Arctic Oil Protest - Mar.00 - Eight Greenpeace activists have parachuted and snowmobiled onto the frozen Arctic Ocean to protest  the construction of BP Amoco's Northstar project, the first offshore oil project in the Arctic.
   Using a DC-3 cargo plane to carry supplies, the activists set up "Ice Camp Sirius" one mile from the controversial Northstar oil production facility in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast.
   Greenpeace is protesting against the project because the continued use of fossil fuels such as oil will increase greenhouse pollution to dangerous levels. The protesters have two survival huts, which will be powered by wind generators.
   If the Northstar project is built, it will open the door for offshore drilling projects throughout the
Beaufort Sea. Opening this new oil frontier will have grave consequences for the climate as well as the polar bears, whales, seals and other wildlife that call the Beaufort Sea home.
http://www.greenpeace.org/
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Health Care Anger - Mar.02.00 - The premiers and many angry groups are denouncing Paul Martin for coming up short with cash for health care. Yet no one is telling the truth on the issue. Health Care is a victim of two things - The first is tax cuts. Governments without vision can only talk about tax cuts and the Feds know that like them, the premiers have no vision. If Martin gives billions more to health care, he knows the provinces will have billions in general revenue freed up for tax cuts. So he won't give the money.
The second reason is Ralph Klein and Mike Harris and their moves to privatize health care services. The Feds don't trust them with the money so they are forcing the issue by not giving them enough. They have to make a deal with Ottawa to get more money. And it is true that money did just go into the health care from the Feds so Harris has no genuine reason to be using new funding as an excuse to say a crisis exists and the solution is privatized services.
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APEC Protesters Withdraw Complaints - March 1st - Three unrepresented APEC complainants have formarly withdrawn from the process.  Rob West, Jonathan Oppenheim, and Jaggi Singh formally and irrevocable withdrew their complaints today, and asked that all complaints made on their behalf be ignored.
Read their letters
more at
http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~jono/pcc/pcc.html
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Canada Budget 2000:
Editorial - Paul Martin's Four Winds Budget - Feb.28.00
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Links to Federal Budget 2000:
Finance Canada Budget 2000
Budget Highlights at CBC
Straightgoods.com budget special
Pre Budget Protest -  All Saints' Protest Action for Housing
(report on the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's Pre-Budget Meal & Rally) Sat.Feb.26.00
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Saskatchewan Vigils held for Murdered Aboriginal Men - feb.00 - More than 400 people attended vigils in Saskatoon and Prince Albert on the weekend to mourn the deaths of five aboriginal men
   RCMP are investigating the deaths of Rodney Naistus, Lawrence Wegner and Neil Stonechild. All were found frozen to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon. Lloyd Joseph Dustyhorn and Darcy Dean Ironchild were also honoured at the candlelight vigils.
   Two Saskatoon police officers have been suspended with pay during the RCMP investigation. It is suspected that police killed the men by driving them to remote locations in the freezing cold and leaving them. Vigils in support of a public inquiry into the deaths will be held every week.
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Stanley Park Human Chain- Fri, 25 Feb 2000 - At 2pm Friday, the judge turned down the application of SPEC and Friends of Stanley Park for an injunction to stop the widening of the Causeway.
   On Saturday, February 26, 2000, at 11:00 A.M., the Bicycle People are inviting all cyclists, pedestrians, and everyone else who has enjoyed the beauty and serenity of Stanley Park, to unite and form a human chain on the causeway to save Stanley Park from the chain saws of the NPA dominated park board. The 15 million dollars that has been found to expand the causeway should be for windway bike lanes elevated above the road. To date, nothing has been done for cyclists besides a slaughterhouse style narrow sidewalk.
The Bicycle People are asking everyone to bring an umbrella, warm drinks, cardboard to make sings, and transparent plastic wrap to cover signs in case of rain. We are also encouraging them to bring a candle or lantern, and bells, whistles, drums, or other musical instruments.
web page at
http://www.alternatives.com/bicycle/people.html
Contact: Guy Wera, phone 736-8194
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Jailing Kids a Death Sentence - Sat.25.Feb.00 -  The larger media is making a huge push for tougher young offender laws. Now Magazine is the only paper I've seen that mentioned that Canada jails more kids that any other industrial nation.
   Justice Minister Anne McLellan also mentioned it saying jailing kids is no way to address youth crime.
   Violence from youths is the number one fear in my Toronto neighbourhood. Most other crime is down. But if I do become a victim - and then cry for stiff punishment - I will really be out for revenge and not a solution.
   The reason is that you have to get to them before they reach that stage of violence. After it is too late. School closures and educational chaos initiated by the province and the Toronto School Board have uprooted kids. They've lost their sense of community. In New York they have taken steps to keep schools open at night and to get kids involved in programs that keep them away from gang activity. City Council is working on similar steps in Toronto.
   Though the media thinks jail is a solution -  it isn't. Once on the inside young offenders learn to be professional criminals. They are also exposed to the risk of HIV and Hepatitis C. In some US jails all of the inmates have Hepatitis C, and it is disease with effects that only show twenty years later. Long after he may have been rehabilitated, a former young offender then dies of the liver disease resulting from Hepatitis. Is that fair? - I don't think so. It is really just adding more human cost to the whole deal.
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Privacy - The Disappearing Web - Feb.18.00 -  Our privacy is disappearing on the net - this article details it and what we should do - read the article.
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NEW Site Page - Articles on Computers & Privacy Issues
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Canadian Professors Speak Out on Repression in México -Wed, 16 Feb 2000 - The Mexican government has unleashed a reign of judicial terror by arresting nearly one thousand students and supporters and charging them with crimes against the state-treason, terrorism, social endangerment.
Read the full statement
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Pierre Pettigrew shoots from the hip at Ralph Nader - Feb.17.00
   In today's National Post a piece has federal MP Pierre Pettigrew ripping into Ralph Nader and the Public Citizen group. Pettigrew has enlightened the big boys of the WTO and world trade as to just how the Seattle demonstrations came about. It was due to Ralph Nader taking money from the protectionist textile industry in the US and using it to organize demonstrations.
   Pierre Pettigrew was Canada's rep in Seattle and he got in the news as he was pulled over a wall to escape tear gas and police. Before popping into trade, Pettigrew had the human resources development portfolio. Lately Ottawa has been under a political storm over the alleged mismanagement of a billion dollars in job creation funds. Most of which happened when Pettigrew was in control.
   Critics say that a lot of money was handed out and there are no solid records. Even a groundhog managed to snatch a $50,000 a year sum. So if that is the case, how do we know that Nader didn't get the money to stage the WTO protests from Pierre Pettigrew?
   Nader could've filed in on a job creation scheme - say to dig canals in Idaho with Canadian labour, and got all of the money he needed.
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Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's Pre-Budget Meal & Rally - OCAP's Pre-Budget Meal & Rally
11 am - Saturday - February 26th
All Saints' Church - Open Door Drop-In
(Dundas & Sherbourne)
   The Federal Budget is coming out again at the end of February. While a number of homeless people have already died on the street since the new millenium, the Feds have given no real relief against the rising tide of homelessness and misery.
   In the space of one year OCAP organized two major actions of the homeless on Parliament Hill, to force it to invest a substantial amount of cash to build social housing. Instead of meeting our legitimate demands, we were forced into violent battles against RCMP and riot squad.
   This time around, the Feds have already announced a 46 billion dollar tax-cut, 2/3rds of which will only benefit families making more than $65,000 a year. While more and more poor families are tossed into the street, rich families are getting extra spending money.
The upcoming Federal Budget is sure to be business as usual. This government must be fought.
   Come to OCAP's pre-budget meal and rally to send a clear message:  we will not let our brothers and sisters die while the rich live high on the hog.
ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY
Dundas & Sherbourne office: 925-6939
Parkdale Office: 530-1550
Whatever it takes.
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Alberta - Brainwashing with Truth Squads - Feb.13.00 - Ralph Klein, Premier of Alberta is sending what he calls "Truth Squads" from his 17 (appointed) Regional Health Authorities across the province, into the hustings to convince sleepy Albertans that private health care is the smart way to go. Various citizens groups are already organizing to confront the truth squads.
Contact cfogal@netcom.ca if you want to help
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Colombia - 3 U'wa children murdered in police/military action - Feb.13.00 - On Friday 11th police and military launched an action targetting the U'was. The U'was are struggling in defense of their land being taken by oil multinational Occidental Petroleum.
   Military/police action tried to evict a group of 450 U'was. They were tear gassed and evicted by force. They were forced to cross a river to  escape in which process 3 children died. The U'was heavily condemn this  act, the colombian government and the Occidental Petroleum corporation. The U'was call for urgent international support to stop the repression and respect their right to live in self determination.
for more info contact: Rainforest Action Net
rags@ran.org
Patrick Reinsborough at +1-415-3984404
www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/beyond_oil/oxy/index.html
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It's Time for Action Against Microsoft - Big Brother Ware is here with Windows 2000 - Feb.12.00
(The public must act to stop Microsoft's new intrusion on Privacy)
Read the full article.
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General tax relief fails the test for Canada's families, study finds
Taxes & Families Report, Feb.2000
   At a cost of $6.5-billion an average family receives $466 while the most vulnerable families, those 25% with  annual incomes under $20,000, would receive $26. By contrast the small number of families with earnings above $100,000 would benefit by $2099 on  average.
The complete report is available at:
http://www.childcarecanada.org/CPAG_CCEF/taximpact/main1.html
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Tory Tax Cut Radio Campaign - Dirty Work for the United Alternative - Feb.7.00
read the full article.
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More Protests Against Far Right In Vienna - Feb.6.00
Rosa Antifa Wien (RAW)
Demonstrations against the new Austrian government continued throughout the city, with approximately 5,000 people taking part. The  provocations of the police got heavier and they regulary started attacks against the march.
   In return, the protestors  destroyed some police-cars and smashed the windows of a prison. In the late evening the police decided to end the manifestations--which had arrived at the FPOE [conservative party] Headquarters--with numerous acts of violence.
   They started to attack anyone that looked like a potential protestor for them. As a result, a lot of people were injured, some were arrested. However, this didn't manage to stop the protests. A hundred protestors gathered again an marched on through the  city.
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Lastman to ask Chretien for Affordable Housing - Feb.6.00
  Toronto mayor Mel Lastman will ask the feds to finance affordable housing in a meeting with Jean Chretien on Monday. A delegation of big-city mayors is scheduled to meet with Chretien in Ottawa.
   Toronto's homeless problem is getting worse as a city report released this week says 6,000 children (since 1998) now rely on Toronto's emergency shelters.  The fastest growing group of shelter users is now two-parent families with children, says the document.
   Lastman says we've got to have more affordable housing and the federal government must provide the cash or construct units for those in need.
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CCRAP - Reform Stole it all from the Grassroots - Jan.31.00 - read this post from the far right pgib to see how the United Alternative simply took what it needed from the grassroots. This is an article that leads me to believe that the UA is lacking in genuine leaders and ideas. Read the Post.
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Protest Against Far Right In Vienna - Feb.4.00- from Rosa Antifa Wien raw@swi.priv.
- Read the report
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Homeless win Street Freedom - Feb.5.00 -Cleveland -- A recent federal lawsuit settlement assures that Cleveland police will not arrest homeless people or threaten their arrest on public property if they are doing nothing illegal.
   The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of homeless people who had been arrested in a police sweep of Cleveland's downtown Public Square. According to the settlement, the city agreed to not arrest, detain or threaten to arrest homeless people for "performing innocent, harmless, inoffensive acts, such as sleeping, eating, lying or sitting in or on public property.''
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Taking the High Road:  -Sustainable Transportation for the 21st century" "From Crisis to Opportunity:  Climate Change, Ecological Sustainability & Ecological Security"
Go to http://www.davidsuzuki.org/climatereports.htm
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Frankenfood Treaty - Jan.30.00 - 130 countries signed a treaty giving them rights to restrict imports of genetically modified crops without breaking WTO trade rules. The pact will allow countries to apply a 'precautionary principle' and reject imports of GM foodstuffs if they think there is a safety risk. It will oblige all shipments and trading in genetically modified foods to bear labels stating that the products may contain GM organisms.
   Friends of the Earth said of the agreement. "For the past week the United States and its cronies have been holding the rest of the world to ransom to protect the vested interests of a few companies. They have not succeeded and now we have a protocol to regulate genetically  modified crops and foods."
   The Natural Law Party has a web page on the dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms.
   Canada was initially a force of negativity supporting corporate interests in regards to GMOs. We have not done well in protecting consumers since the Ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and the Ministry of Industry merged to a superministry that tries to cater to business interests and to protect consumers at the same time.
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High Noon for the CRAPPER - Jan.30.00 - That's right, it's right-wing and it's CRAP - or should we say CCRAP, the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance party that is to rise today at the United Alternative meet in Ottawa.
     The Crappers hate Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, gays, potheads, lesbians and the dog doo will rain down on them as Crappers work to kill any progressive legislation that rises in parliament.
     In a bid to establish himself as King Craphead, Harris crony Tom Long launched a bold attack on Joe Clark, labeling him a loser. For Clark's part, initiatives like his 15 Billion Plan to Combat Poverty are far to progressive for the Crappers who see it as a bunch of socialist shit.
     Preston Manning is begging the delegates to follow him into Crap heaven today. Will it happen - maybe it already has.
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RCMP Planned Internment Camps for Subversives - Jan.24.00 - The Canadian Press has a news report out stating that the RCMP planned to round up 1,000 plus subversives, including young children. They were to be placed in internment camps at the outbreak of WW3.
   The Cold War-era plan targeted Communists. The present number of persons who would be arrested as subversives in the event of a national emergency are 588 males and 174 females. Most are from the Toronto area; no names are included in the released material. An RCMP manual outlined procedures for everything from mail censorship to punishment.
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Giant Radioactive Waste Storage Shed - Jan.23.00 - The Atomic Energy Control Board  has approved the building of a giant shed to store highly radioactive waste fuel above ground at the Bruce nuclear station near Kincardine. The shed will hold up to 750,000 used fuel bundles inside 2,000  silos of concrete and steel.
   Local residents have launched a court challenge and want an outside environmental assessment of the waste storage plan. Recent reports have linked higher cancer rates to nuclear reactors and residents feel that health effects are studied when it is already too late.
   A new national surveillance plan to look for higher rates of cancer in people who live near nuclear installations has just been unveiled. The program will be run by the federal health department and the atomic control board. A citizens group called  the Nuclear Awareness Project, says the program just doesn't go far enough. The incidence of birth defects is being ignored.
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PORN LAW Straw Poll - 9 out of 10 Single Males with Home Internet Access could be charged under Canada's Child Porn Laws  - Read the Full Article -Jan.20.00
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BC - Group Protests Police Violence on the Street - Jan.22.00 - Report from a BC street action group staging street demos and demanding that complaints of police violence be investigated by an independent body
- Read the full report with dates of upcoming actions
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Joe Clark- 15 Billion to Combat Poverty - Jan.21.00 - Joe Clark and the Federal  Progressive Conservatives are proposing that Ottawa spend  $15 billion to combat poverty in Canada. The 106-page report based on nationwide consultations over the past nine months works to put Clark in the social justice camp and away from the right-wing Reform/UA party.
   Clark recommends a four year plan with $10.14 billion in tax relief aimed at those living in poverty, and $4.85 billion in new spending on social programs. The report also recommends that Ottawa and the provinces study creation of a guaranteed annual income for all Canadians, a $500-million enhancement of Employment Insurance benefits, restoration of the Canada Health and Social Transfer to 1993 levels, indexing on the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the National Child Benefit and creation of a national housing policy and homelessness strategy.
Read the full report online.
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Application to subpoena the Prime Minister - APEC ALERT protester Jonathan Oppenheim <jono@Phys.UAlberta.CA> has posted his application to subpoena the big cheese on the APEC Hearing updates page:
The motions will be heard on Wednesday Jan.19 and Thursday Jan.20 at the plaza of nations
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The Big Cheats - Jan.19.00 - Welfare Cheats to be cut off for Life, screams the headline. ... and it's forever, says Ontario Premier Mike Harris. - Read the full article.
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ACCESS 2000 - Jan 16, 2000 -  The Canadian Federation of Students is calling upon all secondary and post-secondary students to join in a one day strike or other demonstration on February 2.2000.
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Read the HOUSING AGAIN e-bulletin - A twice-monthly electronic bulletin published in on what people are doing to Put Housing Back on the Public Agenda in Ontario, across Canada and around the world. from http://housingagain.web.net - Jan. 2000 // Number 5
Also see Alerts  - at the Housing Again Site
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Greenpeace Disrupts Illegal Antarctic Whaling
http://www.greenpeace.org/~oceans/whales/index.html
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America Online Time Warner Marriage - Possible Effects on Canada - by Gary Morton - Jan.12.00 - Read the Full Article
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Greenhouse Gangsters -  Jan.14.00 - Corporate Watch's Parent Organization, TRAC, Releases a New Report on Climate Justice. The report, "Greenhouse Gangsters vs. Climate Justice,"  reveals that
· Just five giant oil companies account for 10% of all carbon emissions contributing to global warming.
· These same companies-Shell, Exxon-Mobil, BP-Amoco-Arco, Chevron and Texaco-- are also top polluters in local communities throughout the US  and around the world.
· The report also documents how "the most powerful industry in the  world" violates human rights from Burma to Ecuador to Nigeria.
· The authors put forward a vision of "climate justice," in which poor  communities do not bear the brunt of curbing global warming.
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Family incomes falling in Canada - Jan.14.00 - Family incomes have shrunk by 5.6 per cent since
1989 and have continued to fall right through Canada's economic recovery that began in 1992, according to a new study for the Vanier Institute of the Family.
   Average family after-tax incomes fell to $45,600 in 1997 from $48,300 in 1989, and continued to stagnate into 1999. Income taxes have increased as a percentage of income because families are earning less. The facts are that jobs are not paying the wages people need and family debt has hit record highs. Jobs have shifted from the higher-income heads of families to lower-income spouses.
   Government transfers to families have also fallen 10 per cent since 1992, largely due to lower unemployment insurance payments and fewer people qualifying for them. The study also found that poverty rates have increased sharply since 1989 from 11.1 per cent to 14 per cent in 1997. The worst hit were families headed by people under 25, where the low-income rate rose from 28 per cent to 43 per cent, and one-earner couples with children, where it increased from 20 per cent to 26 per cent.
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US Ownership - Government Misleads re Free Trade - by Paul Hellyer, Jan.6.00
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Feds get ready for Fall Election -Jan.13.00 - Senior Liberal party organizers are preparing plans for a federal election this fall. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien will focus the election on national unity.
Liberal campaign heavyweights John Rae and Gordon Ashworth will speak to the national Liberal
caucus meeting to be held Feb. 2-4 in Ottawa. The last time Rae and Ashworth spoke to the national Liberal caucus meeting was before the June, 1997 federal election.
The national Liberal party executive will also hold a special organizational meeting Jan. 29-30 in Ottawa. They will examine everything from policy to communications operations.
Liberal strategists feel that a fall election would catch the opposition in disarray.
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Tens of Billions more will be appearing on the Federal Books - Read -A New Methodology of Deceit? - Dec.99 - Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform
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Federal government must reinvest in housing programs, says new national coalition -Jan10.00 - read the full article
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CUPE to fight Alberta  private clinic plan - Jan.2000 -  Canada's largest union will begin a counter-offensive aimed at derailing Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's two-tier health care. CUPE will use television images of the destruction of a Calgary hospital, one of three recently closed in that city, to illustrate its belief the Klein government is trying to destroy medicare.
Judy Darcy, president of CUPE, said the media blitz would target Alberta, and it is a forerunner of a national campaign to guard against not only Klein's proposals but the danger that Ontario Premier Mike Harris will follow suit.
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Nuclear/Cancer Facts Ignored - Jan.2000 - A 40 per cent increase in child cancer mortality rates near the Bruce and Pickering nuclear power plants is statistically significant yet this evidence of Dr. David Hoel of the Medical University of South Carolina will not be considered in a judicial review of the approval of a nuclear waste storage facility at the Bruce power plant near Kincardine.
   The Inverhuron ratepayers' association from Inverhuron, a community of about 500 just south of the Bruce plant on Lake Huron, wants the report presented. The group says then-environment minister Christine Stewart erred last April when she approved the project without referring it for an independent environmental assessment. Ontario Hydro - now Ontario Power Generation - oversaw
its own environmental assessment, which was deemed sufficient.
   At a hearing in Ottawa, Mr. Justice Denis Pelletier upheld the arguments put forward by lawyers for the federal environment ministry, the control board and Ontario Power that Hoel's evidence should be excluded.
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Tory Nisga'a Referendum Costly - Jan.08.00 - The Federal Conservative e-mail newsletter mentions a Monday, January 10, 2000  telephone referendum to determine how many British Columbians are in favour of or oppose the Nisga'a Treaty as it is presently constituted. The information is to be given to the senate.
Though I am an Ontario resident, I received this news, and also noted that is really a pay vote as the number to call to register your vote: 1-900-565-8683 carries a charge of $1.99 for each call placed.
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The latest issue ofFriends of Canadian Broadcasting covers the CRTC's new mandate for public broadcasting in Canada. Jan.00
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Mike Harris' UA minister has no credibility (Tory Environment Minister moves to silence opposition with lawsuit)
   Jan.08.00 - Tony Clement thinks Dalton McGuinty defamed him during the Grit leadership convention in Ottawa in November. Now McGuinty has been served with a notice of intent of action under the Libel and Slander Act. At issue is McGuinty's suggestion that Clement had been dishonest in writing a letter to the Ontario Municipal Board.
   So far McGuinty has no comment on the suit. But here at citizensontheweb.com our comment is that McGuinty was only doing his job in pointing out the unethical actions of a Tory Minister.
   On the defamation issue, Clement has done a great job of defaming his own party - he broke one of their key promises of no more forced amalgamation almost immediately and is rushing the creation of new megacities. He has zero credibility on the Oak Ridges Morraine or housing and tenant issues. And in spite of all that - as an architect of the United Alternative, he is thinking of leading that new federal party - most likely into more fields of broken promises.
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Winnipeg women challenge new UI law - Jan.07.00 - Three women are challenging Canada's unemployment-insurance law on the basis the legislation discriminates against women and part-time workers with its tougher eligibility rules. Manitoba's Public Interest Law Centre is representing the women. The case says the law violates Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Section 36 of the 1982 Constitution Act. The two statutes guarantee that essential public service of a reasonable quality will be provided to all Canadians, regardless of race or gender.
The legislation, introduced in 1997, fails to provide an essential public service to all because the law raised the number of hours that part-time employees - mostly women -- must work before they qualify for unemployment benefits. Of Canada's estimated 1.5 million part-time workers, 70 per cent are women, who as primary caregivers, often lose out on promotions, salaries and better job benefits.
Since its introduction, the UI plan has run up a surplus close to $27-billion. Ten years ago, eight out of 10 unemployed Canadians were eligible to collect benefits. Today, less than four out of 10 collect. Tens of thousands of people pay into UI who never get their premiums back and can't be eligible for benefits.
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