EnviroNewsandIssues Newsletter - Edition 12

May 20, 2005

Idea to cut rebates panned - Calgary Sun

Axing the province's natural gas rebate would negate the Alberta advantage and condemn low-income citizens to hardship, say critics of the Klein government.

The Sun reported yesterday provincial Energy Minister Greg Melchin was considering the elimination of the wintertime rebate on natural gas bills, with an eye to encouraging conservation.

But Tony Storcer, a seniors' advocate involved in utilities issues, warned the province elderly Albertans, who turn out in droves to vote, would remember any attack on the rebate.

"The government would be in deep trouble if they went in that direction," said Storcer, a former president of the Kerby Centre for seniors.

Canada Council unveils new visual arts grant program - CBC.ca

OTTAWA - After holding cross-country consultations with visual artists, the Canada Council for the Arts has revamped the way it distributes its visual arts grants.

The new $3.5-million program, announced Wednesday, is two-pronged and will provide grants for independent artistic research and creation as well as longer-term support assisting artists to develop their art and careers.

Printmaking pioneer's work lives on - Edmonton Journal

The late George Weber's prints were known for their bright colours and classic compositions.
RETROSPECTIVE

Showing at: Scott Gallery, 10411 124th St.

Until: May 31; opening reception this Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m.
Fine-art fans have an excellent opportunity to reacquaint themselves with printmaking pioneer George Weber via a handsome retrospective show and sale at the Scott Gallery.

"Weber is an important printmaker who needs to be more broadly recognized," gallery owner Marianne Scott says of the influential artist, who was 95 when he died in 2002.

Scott says the show, featuring 30 landscape and cityscape works, coincides with the purchase of
a handful of Weber's vividly coloured prints by Canada's National Gallery.

Senate report slams DFO - Vancouver Sun

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has caused economic and social devastation in small coastal B.C. communities through short-sighted management policies, and shifted control of the salmon fishery to Vancouverites who don't even fish, a Senate committee report stated Thursday.

The committee says the DFO should halt plans to implement a controversial new catch quota system for West Coast salmon fishermen until it consults with communities that will be impacted by the system. And the department must in future "take into consideration the socio-economic impacts of its major decisions."

May 19, 2005

LIBERALS SURVIVE KEY BUDGET VOTE - Globe and Mail

The Liberal government survived a crucial budget vote Thursday night by a sliver, effectively ending the possibility of a snap election and giving the governing minority a bit of breathing room to finish this session of Parliament before the summer break.

By the closest of margins, the Grits, along with the support of the NDP, and Independent MPs Chuck Cadman and Carolyn Parrish, pushed their budget with NDP amendments through, thus surviving a non-confidence motion on Bill C-48 which contained $4.6-billion in concessions for the Democrats. The final result was 152 to 152, with the Speaker breaking the tie for the government.

Women appalled by nasty Stronach rhetoric <--- An insult to Aristotle - Winnipeg CBC.ca

Some women say the language used following Belinda Stronach's move to the Liberal Party was unacceptable.

Stronach said she could no longer work with the Conservatives or its leader, Stephen Harper.
Following the move, the rhetoric turned nasty when she was referred to an "attractive dipstick" and others accused her of "whoring" herself out for power. Newspaper headlines called her move a "Blond Bombshell" and several editorial cartoons depicted her in bed with the Prime Minister.

University of Winnipeg Women's Studies Professor Fiona Green says she's appalled by the coverage.

"It's almost as if she's being reprimanded for not being a good girl," she says.

Single Transferable Voting and Democracy - OhMyNews

British Columbia is replacing its 'first past the post' system with something new

This Tuesday, the citizens of British Columbia, a province in Canada known both for its beauty and its extreme swings of politics, voted on a new system called the "Single Transferable Vote" or STV for short.This system, rare but with a long history, is currently used in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Malta and parts of Australia and the U.S. It is designed to allow a more representative balance of views and parties in government, and democratically allow for smaller parties to get their voice.

Yes side in proposed electoral system in B.C. want government to implement it - Canadian Press

Proponents of a proposed new way to elect politicians in British Columbia want the government to implement the system because it came so close to passing and making the province the first in Canada to reflect the popular vote.

A referendum question on the ballot in Tuesday's election asked voters to answer Yes or No to a new system of electing MLAs using proportional representation.

Results that were close to being fully counted Wednesday showed that 57 per cent of people want the single transferable vote - or STV - where voters could rank multiple candidates in newly marked ridings with two to seven legislature members.

South Koreans Streamline Cloning of Human Embryos - New York Times

In what scientists say is a stunning leap forward, a team of South Korean researchers has developed a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos by cloning and then extracting their stem cells.

Writing today in the journal Science, they report that they used their method to produce 11 human stem cells lines that are genetic matches of patients aged 2 to 56.

Previously, the same group, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, produced a single stem cell line from a cloned embryo, but the process was so onerous that scientists said it was not worth trying to repeat it, and some doubted the South Koreans' report was even correct.

Now things have changed.

Climate Signals - New York Times

Hardly a week goes by without somebody telling President Bush that his passive approach to global warming is hopelessly behind the times, that asking industry for voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions won't work and that what's needed is a regulatory regime that asks sacrifices of everyone. He's heard this from his political allies here and abroad - from Tony Blair, George Pataki and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name three - and now he is hearing it from the heaviest hitters in the business world, including, most recently, Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric.

May 18, 2005

Aging Sewer Systems Fouling Great Lakes - Associated Press

Sewage is fouling the Great Lakes and other waters in the region because many municipal waste treatment systems are failing to stop overflows, environmental groups said in a report Tuesday.
Most municipal systems in six Great Lakes states that combine stormwater with domestic and industrial sewage haven't met minimum federal standards for preventing such discharges, nor have they received approval for long-term plans to control overflows, the report said.

The situation poses a health hazard that could get worse under Bush administration proposals to slash funding for wastewater system upgrades and to let sewage plants skip some stages of treatment during heavy rains or melting snow, environmentalists said.

Thinking globally, shutting Locally - Ottawa Citizen

Big companies closing plants in small towns -- thinking globally, shutting locally -- is the story of manufacturing in Eastern Ontario during the last 25 years.

If there is any surprise in the announced closure of the Nestle plant in Chesterville on Monday, it may be that this didn't happen sooner. Here is a plant, after all, that has survived in one form or other since 1918 when it operated as The Maple Leaf Condensed Milk Company.

The frustrating part, for workers and economic stakeholders, is that so much of what happened Monday -- so much of what has happened for a generation -- is beyond their control.

US Air Force Seeks Bush's Approval for Space Weapons Programs - New York Times

The Air Force, saying it must secure space to protect the nation from attack, is seeking President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move the United States closer to fielding offensive and defensive space weapons, according to White House and Air Force officials.

The proposed change would be a substantial shift in American policy. It would almost certainly be opposed by many American allies and potential enemies, who have said it may create an arms race in space.

Old Foes Soften to New Reactors - New York Times

Several of the nation's most prominent environmentalists have gone public with the message that nuclear power, long taboo among environmental advocates, should be reconsidered as a remedy for global warming.

Their numbers are still small, but they represent growing cracks in what had been a virtually solid wall of opposition to nuclear power among most mainstream environmental groups. In the past few months, articles in publications like Technology Review, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Wired magazine have openly espoused nuclear power, angering other environmental advocates.

Stewart Brand, a founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and the author of "Environmental Heresies," an article in the May issue of Technology Review, explained the shift as a direct consequence of the growing anxiety about global warming and its links to the use of fossil fuel.

May 17, 2005

My Comment: Belinda's Jumping Ship

This is a surprise? Shouldn't be. I have always maintained she would not stay around long when put on the front benches of the opposition told to shut up, and have to put up with Stockwell Day. She was a wasted talent, and it shows with Harper now saying he saw this coming. If the Admiral of the ship sees a torpedo coming directly amidships, he does not wait until after it hits, but sounds the alarm and protects his ship's company. Harper has not got the horses behind him to do the battle that is needed. On the other hand no one in Canada really cares about this latest in a long line of machinations in the House of Commons. All the average Canadian wants is secure pay check, food and housing for the children, and hope for their children's future.It is one of many rats that will be jumping ship when they discover that Harper cannot win, but in this case Stronach is jumping to another ship that is dead in the water with its anchor firmly stuck in the past.

Can wildlife survive the political jungle? - Globe and Mail

With the election fast approaching and the NDP shifting its platform to appeal to Green voters, the Liberals recently made a move of their own to shore up the party's environmental agenda.

But how genuine was it?

In March, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection put out a press release under the heading, B.C. Protects Two Million Hectares Of Wildlife Habitat.

Ottawa to comply with ban on troops in Darfur - Globe and Mail

Canada will respect the will of the Sudanese government and not send its troops into the ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur, senior federal officials said yesterday in response to Khartoum's cool reception of a recent Canadian aid proposal.

Federal officials moved to appease the concerns of the Sudanese in relation to last week's $170-million proposal, which included a plan to send up to 100 Canadian troops to Sudan.

The plan never stated that troops would go into Darfur, but it didn't reject that notion, raising concerns among Sudanese officials, who say that only African troops should enter the region.

Canadian officials insisted yesterday they will act in concert with the African Union, which is spearheading the assistance effort in Darfur. As a result, any Canadian troops sent to Sudan are likely to work out of the capital city of Khartoum.

Court sides with park wardens over guns - Globe and Mail

Doug Martin has been put in some pretty dangerous situations during his 30 years as a warden in Canada's national parks.

"I've been threatened to be stabbed. I've been threatened to be killed. I've been shot at," he said. "I have worried about my preservation of life."

Mr. Martin and his union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, have waged a five-year campaign asking Parks Canada to allow wardens to carry guns. Parks Canada balked at the idea, so Mr. Martin took his case to the Federal Court.

Last week, he won a major victory when the Federal Court of Appeal overturned two key rulings that sided with the department. The court accepted many of Mr. Martin's arguments and ordered federal health and safety officials to re-examine the issue.


The African Union's mission to Darfur deserves our support, not our censure - Globe and Mail
By LIA COPELAND

Canada can't stop agonizing over what to do about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur in the eastern Sudan. Independent MP David Kilgour has linked his support for the minority Liberal government to its taking action. Should Canada send 100 military advisers (as the Department of Foreign Affairs continues to suggest) - even though the Sudanese government has just rejected the presence of any but African troops? Or should Canada send only what Khartoum will allow: logistical and financial support to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), which is already operating in Darfur?

Campaign trails reach final stop - Globe and Mail

In a bid to be the first British Columbia premier in a generation to win re-election, Gordon Campbell swept through constituencies from Vancouver to Abbotsford yesterday, urging party workers to bring out the Liberal vote.

And hoping to be the first Green Party candidate elected in Canada at the provincial level, Leader Adriane Carr offered voters a third way.

In her final day of campaigning, Ms. Carr said the Green Party would be a breath of fresh air in the legislature. "Voters are cynical . . . they are tired of old-style polarized, negative politics in B.C.," she told reporters in Vancouver.

"People have expressed disappointment in this election to me, disappointment because they have just heard the same old messages, from the old parties. And that message is this: They are saying the other party was the worst government ever, and they are getting people to vote again out of fear," Ms. Carr said.

"People are saying to me they are cynical about the politics of vested interest. About big unions or big business determining policy in government. And my message back to people is then, don't vote for a party that is attached to vested interest."

Ms. Carr noted that, although the Greens failed to elect anyone in the 2001 B.C. election, the party moved in from the fringes to run second in 12 ridings.

She said the Greens have used this campaign to continue to build the party's popularity. "People really like what the Green Party is saying and they are on board in a much bigger way than ever before," Ms. Carr said.

Stronach crosses floor to join Liberal cabinet - Globe and Mail

In an explosive development leading up to Thursday's dramatic budget vote, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach has crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party as the new Human Resources Development Minister.

Prime Minister Paul Martin said he met with Ms. Stronach – who had been one of the more outspoken and moderate Conservatives – for a private dinner at 24 Sussex Drive Monday evening and after a lengthy discussion, Ms. Stronach said she felt confident that leaving the Tories was the right decision.

"I'm proud to have Belinda Stronach as part of my team," Mr. Martin said at a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday morning, where the official announcement was made.
Nursing in America: A Portrait of a Profession in Critical Condition - New York Times Books

Reviews
"Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care," by Suzanne Gordon. 489 pages. Cornell University Press. $29.95.

Exhausted by heavy work, mandatory overtime and the stress of looking after hospital patients who are sicker, frailer and in need of ever more high-tech intervention, nurses are leaving the bedside faster than they can be replaced.

The situation is so bad, Ms. Gordon writes in this gloomy assessment of American nursing, that even nursing educators, the people we rely on to train the next generation of nurses, are leaving the field, so nursing schools cannot accommodate declining numbers of would-be students.

Global Dimming - Straightgoods
Dirty fuels blocked sunlight.
by Ole Hendrickson

It sounds like fantasy literature. A planet gradually dims as its sun is blocked by ever-thickening clouds. But no rain comes, just growing darkness.

Professor Gerry Stanhill was the first to notice the effect. Working with data from Israel, the British scientist was surprised to find that the average sunlight at ground level had declined by 22 percent since the 1950s. Data for other parts of the world showed a similar trend.

When he published his study in 2001, people joked about it. Journalists coined the term "global dimming".

My letter to the New York Times...

Newsweek Says It Is Retracting Koran Report

It would seem that the American media, have decided it is okay to lie to people, lies that lead to innocent people dying.

The very least Mark Whitaker, editor of Newsweek should do is resign with no golden handshake or parachute.

The publisher of Newsweek before resigning himself with no golden handshake or parachute, should then take one years salary from Whitaker and himself and give it to the families of the dead Afghans in person, with an apology.

What you do about the President lying to the Americans about an illegal and immoral war, is up to the Americans.

I lost the bet...
Alberta Tories accept Code of Silence award - Calgary Herald

The Klein government mockingly said it will accept the Canadian Association of Journalists' annual Code of Silence Award, which it earned last year as the "most secretive government body in Canada."

In a media release, Premier Ralph Klein, who announced Friday he was skipping the remainder of the legislative session to take "personal time" this week, said: "It's no secret that secrecy is no laughing matter. I have been instructed by Cabinet and Caucus members at our last secret meeting that we need more openness in government, but, like, not too much."

Klein's director of communications Marisa Etmanski refused to divulge Klein's whereabouts, saying only that "it's a secret."

Klein "most secretive" government: CAJ - CBC.ca Calgary

Premier Ralph Klein's government has been named the "most secretive government body in Canada" by the country's leading journalism association.

At its annual awards ceremony this past weekend, the Canadian Association of Journalism voted the Government of Alberta the winner of its Code of Silence Award, for its handling of a Freedom of Information request on the use of the government's private jet.

The association said the Alberta government won out over other deserving candidates for withholding public records from the Edmonton Journal and opposition parties for six months, until two days after the provincial election.

Senior dies following hunger strike - CBC.ca Calgary

EDMONTON – An 86-year-old woman who launched a hunger strike to protest conditions at Alberta's long-term care facilities has died.

Care givers at the facility where Marie Geddes lived say her health just wasn't the same after her four-day hunger strike.

"It is a bit disconcerting that two or three weeks ago Marie was such a vital messenger," said Diane Hutchinson, a spokesperson for the Bethany Long-Term Care Centre in Camrose.