Mr. Dither's Campaign - Me Too

As a Liberal, it must be rather disappointing to sit there and watch Stephen Harper lead the policy plank process, with your leader responder by saying, 'Me Too.'

 

I wonder when the vision part of the Liberal Party will return. I wonder when you will see real leadership. What's more, when will Canada see any sort of leader, with any sort of vision for Canada, with innovation being the norm, rather than the rarity.

 

The biggest question must be, when does Mr. Dither's bring out the 'Bashing Klein,' part of the campaign plan?

 

It will be so sad to see the manipulation and dirty tricks in the nomination process on behalf of the M. Dither's win, go to waste.

Okay. I am going to regret this, and be blamed for your lack of sleep. So be it.

Okay. I am going to regret this, and be blamed for your lack of sleep. So be it.

 

The article, I was talking about Friday is an essay in the December edition of Harper’s.

 

You might be able to find the article, Jesus Without the Miracles by Erik Reece, sooner or later at http://www.harpers.org/Newsstand200512.html .

 

For some stuff on Reece take a look at http://alterdestiny.blogspot.com/2005/03/mountaintop-removal.html.

 

He is kind of a do-do disturber.

 

Anyways the recent essay in Harpers is about comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Bible and writings on religion, and the Gospel of Thomas. Apparently Jefferson took the King James Bible, cut out the story of the virgin birth, all of the miracles, especially the Resurrection, and pasted together a version of the Bible. He called it the Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth. This was done 200 years ago, and by a lapsed son of a Baptist preacher father.

 

Jefferson was president of the US of A in the early 1800’s, so it is even more interesting to see this story, considering how much reference to God the current President uses, as do many of the Republicans.

 

This Jefferson believed that the ‘Christian Church,’ had hijacked Christianity. I don’t think he is referring to the Catholic Church specifically, but I am sure they are in that group. The belief in most who have studied the Gospel of Thomas, the Q Gospel, and other historical religious documents that the ‘Christian Church,’ had put the Nicene Creed ahead of the Sermon of the Mount as the center that teachings of the ‘Christian Church.’

 

Jefferson believed that when he had cut away the miracles that he believes were constructed or created by the ‘Christian Church,’ along with the ‘Christian Church’s,’ claim that Jesus was the divine son of God, all you had left were the true teachings of Jesus. It was his contention that this was in fact what was the true code of morals that Jesus was offering to man.

 

Epicurus a philosopher about 200 years ago, taught that life would be much easier to endure if we stopped fearing God and death, and followed instead a program of prudent self-sufficiency. “Everything easy to procure is natural.” “Everything difficult to obtain is superfluous.” Keep in mind this comes from a philosopher deeply engrained in an agrarian society. A society that knew nothing of processed foods, 7/11’s, or a microwave. All Jefferson was saying was that Jesus was talking or teaching about a supplement of the duties and charities we owe to others. The word charities or charity as it was used, might have a little different meaning than we think of it now. It might have meant a disposition to think kindly of others. Sort of like the ‘do unto others, as you would have them do unto you,’ kind of thing.

 

To Jefferson and me, the life of Jesus, which can be compared to a itinerant preacher, was much less important, than what he taught.

 

As you will notice is you go into any ‘Christian Church,’ you will see the cross. This is either empty in churches that celebrate the resurrection, or in the Catholic Church where the cross has Jesus on it, who celebrate or base their rites and rituals on the lead up to the crucifixion.  The case Jefferson makes is that this is way too much emphasis placed on the Jesus’ life and death, instead of his teachings.

 

To me, too many Christians walk around working towards eternal salvation or the promise of whatever that will bring, and little on the desire to practice the teachings of Jesus, which in the end were taken from the Jewish Bible, and probably Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, and probably paganism of the day.

 

The essay is exceptionally deep with out being too scholarly. It cites passages in the bible without hitting you over the head with the bible. The essayist sticks with one bible as Jefferson did, so that you are not confused.

 

He also explains the origins and reasons for the disappearance of the Gospel of Thomas and Q Gospel.

 

What it all comes down to, is that we should be, righteous as Jesus taught, instead of preaching or talking about being righteous. Jefferson also wanted to stop the move to the city and industrialization, and stay on the farm. Maybe we would be better off, or maybe he was fighting progress.

 

It is a good essay. One worth the dough to buy or go down to the Library and copy.

FW: Telemarketing Do Not Call List Piece

To: Homestretch - CBC Calgary
Subject: Telemarketing Do Not Call List Piece

So I guess I could call anyone I wanted to, to find out what kind of carpet cleaning services they would like, and how much they would like to pay for it, and ask for their address, that is information gathering.

 

Your guest from the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business was misinformed.

 

The fact is the telemarketing and direct marketing industry have few if any self-controls on this issue. Hence the need for the legislation.

 

The vast majority of all telephone polling is so flawed as to be useless for any meaningful marketing use, either in planning or strategy.

 

Her example of the cellular phone industry using tele-marketing for product research is just the reason that telemarketing polling does not work.

 

In fact the telecom industry only uses tele-marketing to sell or upsell services to their current customer base.

 

The fact that the people who wrote the No Call List legislation are the same who have been excluded by the legislation should be no surprise.

 

Would you be surprised if the fox designed the security system on the chicken coop, with his own interests in mind?

 

I pay for my telephone system and service. I should be able to expect that my privacy will be respected unless and until I decide I want to be called by a marketing company, polling service, or political robotic telephone machine.

 

 

Thanx

Norm Greenfield

Calgary, Alberta

403-807-1251

 

' The only people that could think the economies of the world could grow exponentially for ever, based on an earth with finite resources, are dreamers or economists. '

 

 

FW: Things Newsletter - Issue 38

Things Newsletter - Issue 37

---

'This election isn't just about this election; it's also about the last and the next.' James Travers National Affairs Columnist - Toronto Star

---

Chapter 1 - Election Campaigning 101 According to Norm:

Elections are all about getting the vote out, which is dependant on identifying the votes, which depends on finding those voters that you want.

 

The Election Districts in Canada are all based on the Postal Code system. In fact everything the Federal government does is based on the postal code system.

 

If you take a look at the poll by poll results of the past election or even the past several elections, which you can do on the Elections Canada (www.elections.ca) you will be able to identify polling areas that voted along a particular line. From this you can make some assumptions and extrapolations you where those voters can be found that will be more receptive to a Green message. In addition you can find out more about your riding by going to www.elections.ca you can also get a profile of your riding through Statistics Canada organized according to the riding you are running in.

 

Don't go to Statistics Canada site first as this only seems to work by going to Elections Canada first.

 

I would suggest you identify the polls that had fewer than 50% of the eligible voters show up to vote, as well as the polls that had the winner not getting more than 50% of the votes that were counted. (IE: Winner - 40% Runner-up 25%, Second Runner-up 20%, and Third Runner-up 15%) The next sorting value you want to pay attention to is the polls that had a large Liberal and/or NDP vote, and in the elections prior to the last, a Progressive Conservative Party who got a good number of votes.

 

Take that list of polls, and apply it to the polling map of your riding and colour those polls Green and go drop your brochures in them. Or if you have a ton of dough, have the post office drop them in the Postal Code walks that will match up to those polls. Or go knock on the doors of that area and introduce yourselves to them.

 

At the very least stand out at the major intersection into those areas in the morning and afternoon rush hours with your Green Party signs.

---

 

FOR ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN THE ELECTION - Another Article that hits the nail on the head

---

Election apathy: 'Nobody' wins - Edmonton Journal

What election? say cynical, twenty something non-voters

EDMONTON -- What if they held an election and nobody came?

With the second federal campaign in less than two years expected to begin Tuesday, experts fear fewer voters than ever will bother taking part.

In 2004, just 60.9 per cent of eligible Canadians cast a ballot, the lowest figure since 1896 and the fourth consecutive election in which voter turnout declined.

Young people in particular are opting out of the process.

Wandering down Whyte Avenue last week, Scott Davis, 27, didn't even know there was an election on the way. Davis, like many others his age, doesn't follow politics.

"It just doesn't seem to matter who's in power, really," he said.

---

December 2, 2005

Gloves off as parties attack Grits - Abbotsford News

Three men who will battle it out on Jan. 23 to become Abbotsford's next MP are already attacking the fallen Liberal government.

Just days after the federal election date was confirmed, the gloves were removed by the confirmed local Conservative, NDP and Green Party  candidates, who criticized the Liberals on issues ranging from health care to the much-publicized sponsorship scandal.

On Tuesday, Green Party candidate Peter Hoefgen announced he will likely join Ed Fast (Conservative Party) and Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson (NDP) on the January ballot as voters decide who will replace former Abbotsford MP Randy White.

Election News: Off and running - Hamilton Mountain News

Keeping the community informed

Sharon Eldridge, a 45-year-old administrative and sales staffer at AMA Roofing Supplies, is running for the Green Party  and she is looking forward to knocking on doors and meeting voters.

"I want to have a lot of conversations with people," Ms. Eldridge said. "Just tell them who we are and what we're about."

Ms. Eldridge, who has been a Hamilton resident for the past 10 years, said she became interested in the Green Party while living in Vancouver.

Along with environmental issues, Ms. Eldridge said she wants to make a return of VIA Rail service to Hamilton an election issue.

While the Green Party is not expected to pick up more than a few thousand votes in Hamilton, Ms. Eldridge expects the party will, over time, grow and become a well-known force in Canadian politics.

Food, politics and power - Straight Goods

Whistleblower Dr. Shiv Chopra addresses National Farmers Union.

"The intelligence of the Earth (has been) in the farmers for thousands of years," said Dr Shiv Chopra, to cheers and thunderous applause from the crowd attending the National Farmers' Union convention. "Canada is a large land with a small population," he continued, "with all the resources one could ask for. Yet we act like destitute people, begging other countries, 'Please buy our products.'"

The topic of Chopra's keynote speech was: "Behind Closed Doors: Biological, technological and political control of the Food System." It was an appropriate theme for an iconic scientist whose name has become synonymous with food safety. NFU members are intensely loyal to Chopra and his colleagues (Drs Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert) for their refusal to approve dangerous drugs for livestock, including Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

Blue Quills wraps up - Straight Goods

It would cost about $3.5 million to extend Blue Quills — out of the $78 billion Alberta has collected in resource revenues.

This is the final report on the Blue Quills (BQ) Indigenous Studies Course, having reached the end of the first "quad" of the BQ Adult Upgrading Program. From here on in the students will be taking so-called "hard" courses, like reading, writing and arithmetic, all delivered by Euro-Canadian retired school teachers performing contract work for BQ, following the Alberta provincial curriculum. In short, these young adult students will be returning to the system that failed them in the first place. By failed them, I mean failed to engage them in their own education, and failed to provide access to an education that was meaningful and useful to them in their real Rez Zone lives.

My cousin, the President of BQ, and my other cousin, the actual instructor for the Indigenous studies course, asked me what I thought of the ten week experience. I replied that they would have to present a very compelling case to convince me to ever do that again, although as part of my ongoing commitment to each of them, personally, I would try to do whatever they asked me to do. I felt a wrenching pain, leaving the class on the last morning, because I was abandoning these students to a known fate.

French fry power - Straight Goods

Vehicles run on used cooking oil.

This article is fifth in a series by the Ottawa River Institute on energy innovators in the Ottawa Valley. As everyone knows, oil and gas are finite resources. The supply of both is expected to begin to decline soon and prices to rise sharply as a result. Burning of fossil fuels also contributes to climate change. For both reasons, we need to get better at energy conservation and using energy from renewable sources. Fortunately here in the Ottawa Valley there are many pioneers that are leading the way.

On a beautiful sunny day recently, out in the country near Wilno, Steve Anderson of Arnprior shared his knowledge of how to convert waste cooking oil from restaurant deep fryers into fuel for his diesel engine pick-up truck. More than 40 interested folks from around Renfrew County and as far away as Burk's Falls attended.

Garbage continues to pile up: Statscan - Globe and Mail

Canadians continue to generate more solid waste and the bulk of it winds up in landfills, Statistics Canada said Friday.

On average, the agency said, each Canadian produces about 383 kilograms — or about 30 green garbage bags — of solid waste a year.

Only about a fifth of that amount is recycled or otherwise diverted.

The agency based its findings on figures for 2002.

Clean coal? - Straight Goods

More incentives are needed before any major utility makes the changeover.

In a 2004 article, Jeff Johnson, staff of the Chemical and Engineering News, described President George W Bush's new plan, FutureGen, for coal — tomorrow's pollution-free plant — as a $1 billion, 10-year project to produce the world's first zero-emissions coal-fired plant, which produces hydrogen and electricity and injects carbon dioxide into the earth within ten years. Johnson also had a name for it: "a lofty plan", and its biggest problem would be to get coal-fired utilities to risk it. The size and power of US utilities means that they have no real incentive to take any risk on this kind of project.

The US Department Of Energy has funded projects on clean coal technologies such as the "integrated gasification combined cycle" (IGCC) for the last fifteen years. The IGCC process, said to have the most potential for commercial scale clean coal technology, involves combining carbon material (such as coal) with steam and oxygen at high temperature and pressure. Inorganic material from this reaction is left as slag. Hydrogen is produced by the gasifier, as well as carbon monoxide, methane and carbon dioxide. The synthetic fuel is cleaned again, after leaving the gasifier, and used in primary and secondary gas and steam turbines and in natural gas combined cycle generating system.

CLIMATE CHANGE MAP

Next time somebody says, "But there's no proof of climate change," you can

point them to this new world map from the Union of Concerned Scientists and

World Resources Institute. It's spattered with documented "Fingerprints"

(heat waves, melting glaciers) and "Harbingers" (early springs, droughts

and fires) that signal the effects of global warming. If you've been

wondering about the local weather, this world map gives you a regularly

updated Big Picture - and it's worrisome. http://www.climatehotmap.org/

December 1, 2005

Same main candidates running here again - Fort Francis Times

The ballot for the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding in the Jan. 23 federal election will look remarkably similar to the one voters filled out just 17 months ago.

    Four of the six candidates who ran in June, 2004 have confirmed they are throwing their hats into the ring once again.

 Liberal incumbent Ken Boshcoff will seek a second term. Meanwhile, NDP candidate John Rafferty will run again, as will Conservative candidate David Leskowski and Green candidate Russ Aegard.

 

  Aegard also listed the economy and health care as important issues, as well as aboriginal affairs and political integrity.

    “Locally, the main issues will be regarding the economy, in terms of our recent mill closures in Thunder Bay and Kenora, and the closure of the power plant in Atikokan and the state of aboriginal living conditions,” he said.

    “Nationally, I believe that honesty will be a big issue with the Canadian public and you always have to have health care as an issue, considering the three other parties will not ensure Canadians that they will prevent privatized health care from taking over our socialized health care system,” Aegard added.

    And Aegard felt the sponsorship scandal likely would bring national unity to the forefront again.

    “I think national unity will be a topic in this election as we now have a new provincial leader in Quebec,” he said. “And with the Liberal government being responsible for the justified outrage that Quebecers feel [sponsorship scandal], our country remaining whole will be an important issue.” 

Veg-Wain. campaign - Sherwood Park News

The vast Vegreville-Wainwright riding takes in most of rural Strathcona County and Conservative Leon Benoit hopes to continue representing it after residents go to the polls Jan. 23.

Battling the popular veteran MP are, so far, New Democrat Len Legault, who also challenged Benoit in 2004, and Brian Rozmahel of the Green party, a political neophyte who’s excited about his party’s common-sense policies. The Liberals have yet to nominate anyone.

The new Green candidate is Viking farmer Brian Rozmahel.

The 46-year-old is making his first foray into politics and he’s looking forward to spreading his party’s message across the riding, which he describes as the “size of a small country.”

A major thrust of his campaign is the viability of the family farm and encouraging the growth of healthy food.

“I’m offering a vision of vibrant communities, a vibrant family farm, vibrant local industry, and local food production,” said Rozmahel.

He sees the Green party creating a grassroots swell across Canada.

“We hope to ride the wave of cynicism and get people involved.”

Get ready to hear from candidates - Brampton Guardian

Brampton and the rest of Canada are returning to federal election polls Monday, January 23.

To date, candidates in the riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton include the Green Party's Ernst Braendli, Marxist-Leninist Frank Chilelli, Liberal Gurbax Malhi, and Conservative John Sprovieri.

In Brampton West, candidates include Liberal Colleen Beaumier, Conservative Baljit Gosal, New Democrat Fernando Miranda and the Green Party's Jaipaul Massey Singh.

Brampton Springdale candidates include the Green Party's Ian Chiocchio, Liberal Ruby Dhalla, Conservative Sam Hundal and New Democrat Anna Mather.

In Mississauga-Brampton South announced candidates so far include Liberal Navdeep Bains, Conservative Arnjeet Kaur Sangha and Marxist-Leninist Tim Sullivan.

They're off and running - Burlington Post

Voters will be looking at familiar faces in the Burlington and Halton ridings during the January federal election. In each riding, three of the four main party candidates ran in the 2004 election.

The Green Party will have a different candidate in Burlington, with Rick Goldring representing the party this time around. The lifelong Burlington resident is a certified financial planner and was formerly president of the Hamilton Chapter of the Life Underwriters Association of Canada. He currently chairs the International Service Committee of the Burlington Lakeshore Rotary Club.

Halton Green Party candidate Frank Marchetti finished fourth in the 2004 election, garnering about five per cent of votes cast. He has been serving on the Green Party of Ontario's executive council as membership secretary.

Marchetti has worked in the biological pest management field and has a business marketing and selling beneficial insects.

Greens hope to double party support - CBC.ca

The Green party, which garnered 4.3 per cent of the popular vote in the last federal election, said its top goal is to get its first MP elected to the House of Commons.

Deputy leader David Chernushenko also said he hopes to double the party's support.

He said that the Greens will run a candidate in each of the 308 ridings, as they did in the last election. The support the party received in 2004 entitles it to more than $1 million in public funds for the Jan. 23 campaign.

Chernushenko said he doesn't mind if voters choose the Green party simply because it is a "none of the above" choice in relation to the other parties.

"And, undoubtedly, there will be some Canadians who will vote for the Green party because we're 'none of the above.' They're right. And we're proud of it. Because we bring a fresh, honest approach to Canadian politics and we are none of the above."

Harper:

Revisiting same-sex debate ruins a dandy day for the Conservatives
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=d2a95c8f-6aab-43a2-bf74-707109a867b1

Harper reopens same-sex debate
Out of the blocks, Tory Leader says he'd allow free vote to overturn law
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051130/ELECT30/National/Idx

Harper reopens same-sex marriage debate
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canadavotes2006/national/2005/11/29/harper-smaesex051129.html

Day 1: Harper tackles same-sex
Tories would reconsider marriage law
Martin pounces on Conservative stand
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133304615957&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

Harper would put gay unions to free vote 
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/headlinescan.html

November 30th, 2005

A chance to chart Canada's future - Toronto Star

Canada's politicians are about to hit the election campaign trail with a lack of seasonal good cheer in what promises to be a nasty, close-fought race. When it is over, Parliament may not look much different.

 

The country has several pressing needs, both political and fiscal.

• Health care: Canadians are deeply attached to publicly funded, universal health care. The party with the most credible prospect of cutting patient waiting times, stopping creeping privatization and thwarting two-tier health care will have the widest appeal.

• National unity: In Quebec, support for sovereignty is on the rise. The next prime minister must have the stature and skill to "sell Canada" in Quebec, and to win another referendum.

• Poverty: Despite Canada's strong economy, child and aboriginal poverty, income inequality and homelessness remain stubbornly persistent. The next prime minister must offer hope to those left behind.

• Cities: Despite winning some transit funding, and a share of the federal tax on gasoline, Canada's big cities still lack a reliable source of long-term finding, like a share of sales and income taxes. They need a champion.

• Education: Canada's future prosperity hangs on a highly educated, adaptable workforce. We need to boost productivity by investing in university and college education, and worker training.

• Foreign affairs: The next prime minister must champion Canada's sovereignty in security and trade issues with the United States. He must also project Canada's interests in the world by strengthening the military to help the United Nations keep the peace, and by increasing foreign aid.

In the coming weeks, voters will weigh the parties' leadership, credibility and vision on these and other issues. Few Canadians favour a Christmas-winter election, but it does offer a chance to set the country on a better course. That makes it vitally important.

 

Ideas please, not insults - Ottawa Citizen

This country desperately needs national debates on health care, the role of our military, federalism and the future of our economy. Instead, sadly, Canadians are readying themselves for six weeks of cheap shots. At Christmas, yet.

In the election campaign that begins today, both Prime Minister Paul Martin and Conservative leader Stephen Harper are in the fight of their lives. If Mr. Martin loses his minority, his career is over; if he only maintains the Liberals' standing in the House of Commons, the knives will be out in the back rooms he so recently owned. And if Mr. Harper doesn't win at least a plurality of seats, his own political future will be bleak.

Negative campaigning is ugly but it works; the more frightened the candidate, the more savage he will be. The brutality has started already, with Mr. Harper's ill-advised effort to link the Liberals to organized crime (shades of the 2004 campaign's allegation that the Liberals liked child pornographers) and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe's rhetorical accusation that Tory MPs treat themselves to champagne showers on the taxpayers' C-note.

Why this election matters - Toronto Star

This election isn't just about this election; it's also about the last and the next.

That makes the first winter campaign in 25 years — cold, unwanted and dirty as it already is — unusually important. Along with passing judgment on 17 months of minority rule, it prepares the ground for yet another day of decision with at least one new party leader and issues that will mushroom between now and then — national unity, international competitiveness and democratic reform.

True, this election's significance is ingeniously disguised. Not much has changed since Canadians in discouraging low numbers straggled to the polls in June 2004 — not the issues, leaders, public opinion polls and, most obviously, not the schoolyard pleasure of slinging mud.

Canadians Will Be The Ones To Freeze In The Dark
New Paper Highlights Urgency of an Energy Security Strategy for Canada

EDMONTON – A paper released today by the Parkland Institute calls on Canada’s political leaders to prioritize the development and implementation of a Canadian energy security strategy.

Spikes in oil prices following Hurricane Katrina, dwindling natural gas supplies, and the fact that Canada already imports almost half of the oil it consumes all point to the need to ensure that Canada’s future energy supply is secure.

“Both our NAFTA partners, Mexico and the US, currently have energy security policies in place,” says Parkland’s director Dr. Gordon Laxer. “These are policies that enable them to prioritize the needs of their own citizens in the face of global energy shortages. All Canada has is a clause in NAFTA which says we cannot prioritize the energy needs of Canadians over those of the United States.”

NAFTA’s proportional sharing rules must be dealt with before we can even begin to address energy security for Canada states the paper, and none of the federal parties in this election have put forth any concrete proposals for dealing with the agreement. “We can implement all the sustainability and conservation initiatives we like,” says Dr. Laxer, “but unless we deal with NAFTA, these policies will not help Canadians one bit.”

The Parkland Institute insists that a comprehensive Canadian energy strategy cannot work if it is imposed unilaterally by Ottawa – it must be a federal-provincial partnership, or it will meet the same fate as the NEP of the ‘80s. Parkland Institute is developing a strategy which includes the following key principles:

- the Dinning principle, which would establish 30 years of proven supply natural gas and oil before exporting to the rest of Canada;
- that energy exports occur only if there is sufficient proven supply to meet Canadians’ energy needs;
- slow the pace of oil-sands development both for environmental sustainability, and to maximize the value of the oil;
- that provinces raise royalty rates to a point where they truly reflect the value of both the resource and the environment to Albertans and Canadians;
- that western oil be used to supply for Quebec and Atlantic Canada’s needs rather than importing from abroad;
- that any policy include just transition programs for workers who lose their jobs as a result of conservation and sustainability initiatives; and
- that a Canadian energy strategy include provisions for Canadian ownership and crown corporations.

Dr. Laxer emphasizes that the first step is for this to become an election issue. “There is no better time than an election for the parties to debate how they plan to protect Canada’s energy future.”

November 29th, 2005

Election Potpourri

Minority Liberals set to be defeated tonight
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051128/minority_liberal_election_051128/20051128?hub=Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/28/noconfidence-051128.html

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2005/11/28/1327252-sun.html

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsChannel.aspx?type=domesticNews

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=99edf6eb-b06f-4378-8e27-d198b2b03242

In close race, focus turns to bellwether ridings
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051128/ELECTRIDINGS28/National/Idx

Theme for a 2006 vote: The song remains the same
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051128/ELECTMINORITY28/National/Idx

On the Cusp of a Campaign
A coast-to-coast countdown
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/canada_world/story.html?id=daaa472f-d465-4762-8e30-5853f741ec7d

Conservative Party owes Orchard more than $70,000
Ex-leadership candidate alleges party being vindictive
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/story.html?id=0b5b361f-e8f4-486e-b1af-6df98034395d&k=30733

Rivals practise before election kickoff
Confidence vote today in House
Chilly Grey Cup reception for PM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133133016677&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

New role a gamble, Ignatieff admits
Brushes off talk of succeeding PM
Lists national unity, diversity as issues
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1133133016624

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=d974783d-9661-4548-842f-1e4447e6588b

History shows odds against Harper
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133133016618&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

Belinda tries to fix election
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2005/11/28/1327253-sun.html

Tories push for trust probe
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2005/11/28/1327264-sun.html

 

Election hopeful splits Grits
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2005/11/28/1326980-sun.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051128/IGNATIEFF28/National/Idx

Grit goodies 'draining the treasury'
http://winnipegsun.com/News/Canada/2005/11/28/1327089-sun.html

Quebec shaping up as key election battleground
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051127/questionperiod_quebecfocus_20051127/20051127?hub=Canada

Minority gov't likely outcome of vote: experts
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051127/elxn_minority_051127/20051127?hub=Canada

Observers say pre-election spending a tradition
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051127/election_spending_051127/20051128?hub=Canada

Winter not a factor in '80 vote
Joe Clark's death ship kept reporters hopping while Pierre Trudeau's joyride kept them drunk
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=6308d229-daf9-484c-9d8d-8d83afdaaae3

Angriest voters ready for holiday campaign
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=53e7d6d8-61be-4632-ba4f-cf53aec32a72

Clumsy, sloppy attacks in Quebec run won't work, Liberals warned
Federal Liberals in Quebec are eager to put up a bigger fight against popular sovereigntist Bloc Québécois in the next election. http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/november/28/quebec/&c=1

38th minority Parliament: not memorable
Ned Franks, a top expert on Parliament democracy, says the 38th Parliament had no 'knock-down, dragged out fight on public policy' issues. http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/november/28/legislation/&c=1

Federal Libs 'well-resigned' to their fate as nasty election set to begin . . . A 'sense of futility' pervades federal Liberal caucus as incumbents prepare to hit the campaign trail in historic, nasty, low-down and dirty campaign. http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/november/28/caucus/&c=1

 Tories ready for battle
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/current/n1.php

Parties set to do battle for B.C. seats
Three-way federal race unusually close, analysts say
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=fe0c716e-db25-4cc8-bba8-e8288aba89ff

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November 28, 2005

Environment summit's blushing host - Toronto Star

The government of Canada persists in the fiction that it is serious about meeting this country's commitments to the Kyoto Accord.

When the signatories of the environmental treaty gather in Montreal this week to begin advancing the Kyoto Accord to a new level, Environment Minister Stéphane Dion will preside over the assembly.

This may have environmentally concerned Canadians blushing because Canada is hardly ready to embark on Kyoto II. Canada, in fact, has yet to even begin to meet the requirements of the original Kyoto deal.

That treaty requires Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 6 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. The federal government, however, has failed to reduce emissions at all. Greenhouse gases in Canada have risen rather than dropped since the accord was written so that the Kyoto gap grows steadily wider.

To make Dion's position even more awkward, a report released last week says the commitments Canada has already made, unworkable though they may be, are far from adequate.

Electoral reform rejected in PEI - Globe and Mail

Charlottetown — A proposal to reform Prince Edward Island's electoral system was rejected Monday by a large majority of voters in a provincewide plebiscite.

Islanders turned out in heavy numbers to vote on whether the province should switch from its first-past-the-post system to a hybrid system that included proportional representation.

They were asked to vote yes or no for a two-ballot, mixed-member proportional system that many people here said they never fully understood.

“This isn't the end of the debate,” said Ivan MacArthur of the victorious No campaign. “But this was not the right proposal for the Island.”

Canada seeks ‘broader' approach to climate change - Globe and Mail

Climate change is the biggest environmental issue facing the world today and combatting the problem will need a broader international approach, Environment Minister Stéphane Dion said on Monday.

“Let us set our sights on an effective, more inclusive, long-term international approach to climate change,” Mr. Dion said, kicking off an global climate summit in Montreal.

“We know that climate change is the single most important environmental issue facing the world today.”

Both the United States and Australia have held out of signing onto the United Nation's Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

November 26/27, 2005

Record a message for the environment

Greetings!

Greenpeace wants to hear your voice on climate change! We want to take your words directly to delegates at this month’s Montreal Climate Conference and to candidates during the upcoming federal election. We want to make sure that Canadian representatives hear directly from you about climate change.

To do this, Greenpeace has set up a special toll-free line. Dial 1-866-496-4409 and leave your name, where you are calling from, and a brief message about climate change. Tell us why you're concerned about climate change and what you want the world and Canadian leaders to do about it. Messages will be delivered to delegates at the Montreal Climate Conference and to candidates during the upcoming federal election.

Tell friends and family members and encourage people around you to leave a recording. The more voices we have, the more we will be heard.

For more information about the Montreal Climate Conference visit: http://www.greenpeace.ca/climate2005

Letter to Editor: Without reforms,the choice is tough - The Brandon Sun

My sense of responsibility as a citizen makes me agree with Mr. Graham’s letter to the editor ‘None Of The Above’ Is Not A Viable Option (Nov. 22). I have an obligation to do more than hang around on the margins and complain. Yet I also suspect that when it comes time to mark that federal ballot, it will be tough for me to place my X beside one of the names.

Why? For two main reasons. First, I am more than tired of partisan squabbling and the opponent-bashing that has come to characterize our election campaigns and much of what seems to happen on Parliament Hill. To see this go on has robbed me of confidence in the system and many of the people.

Politicians, your job is too thankless, but I for one will thank you if you just tell me straight up what you will be accountable to do if we deliver you to Ottawa, so I can make an informed choice among candidates. Please do not resort to bashing your political opponents — it gives me reason not to vote for you, which is the opposite of your intent. There are many important and complex issues in health, education, agriculture, environment, international affairs and poverty, just to name a few. The issues do not have simple answers, but we still need to have you lay out, clearly and without spin, how you propose to deal with them.

But now we have four main parties, none of which could lay claim to comprehensive national representation. In addition, the Green Party will likely make advances in this coming election and there are other groups whose voices have a right to be heard in Parliament as well. We are more diverse than ever before, but that diversity means our once functional system has become less functional and less democratically representative.

 

JACK MOES

Brandon

Climate talks to be most significant since Kyoto - Globe and Mail

Stéphane Dion will be taking to the podium next week in Montreal to preside over the most challenging task he's likely to face as Canada's Environment Minister.

He'll be in the spotlight as chairman of the first United Nations climate change conference since the Kyoto Protocol took effect last February, a fractious gathering expected to attract up to 10,000 officials, scientists and environmental activists from around the globe.

The meeting is widely viewed as the most important on climate change since the original Kyoto deal to control greenhouse-gas emissions was devised in 1997. Countries attending are under pressure both to fine-tune operational problems from protocol, and to start working on the next plan to fight global warming after Kyoto expires in 2012.

Having Canada serve as host of the conference wasn't accidental, Mr. Dion said. In an interview, he said he and Prime Minister Paul Martin were personally lobbied by Britain, other European countries and nations in Africa and South America to hold the gathering, thanks to Canada's international reputation as a balanced broker.

A game too nasty for most women - Calgary Herald

Mean-spirited federal politics drives away female candidates

Federal politics in Canada, it appears, is still very much a man's world. More than three-quarters of a century after the Famous Five's "persons" case won women the right to sit in the Senate, our country's House of Commons still has four men for every woman.

And the number of female candidates in the 2004 federal election suggests this trend is not about to change any time soon. Of 1,685 people running for any of Canada's parties, less than one in four, 391, were women.

What gives? One researcher says there's a good reason why only 65 women sit in the House of 308 seats -- because they get a rougher ride than men.

Joanna Everitt, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, cites as evidence the treatment accorded Belinda Stronach when she crossed the floor.

Although some of the abuse came from media commentators, the deepest and rudest invective came from her former party comrades, employing words like "whore," "slut," "prostitute," "dipstick" and "little rich girl."

This was a bitter pill for Stronach, who had enjoyed a virtual free ride in her early days, where her political inexperience showed in her flat, wooden and uninspired speaking style.

Almost throughout the entire campaign for leadership of the Conservative party, the media gave her enormous grace.

The word is genocide - Ottawa Citizen

By declaring the regime in Khartoum innocent of genocide, Canada can continue to do nothing to stop the killing.

David Kilgour, Citizen Special

If the tsunami and earthquake tragedies in Asia brought out the best in both Canadians and our government, the response to the continuing horrors in Sudan's western province of Darfur is evidence of an indifference that suggests the Canadian government has forgotten the important lessons of the Rwandan tragedy.

The recent declaration in Sudan's capital by all three members of the prime minister's task force that the murders in Darfur did not qualify as genocide is only the most recent indication. Ambassador Robert Fowler, the government's issue manager, reportedly downplayed the entire situation by asserting that it is simplistic to blame the Sudanese government for what continues to occur in Darfur. Both messages were presumably intended to convince Canadians that the ongoing crisis is not really as serious as many of us think.

We certainly live in unfortunate times. Two well-researched books were published very recently about this government-created catastrophe, which was escalating even as the books reached bookstores. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide by Gerard Prunier of the University of Paris, who also wrote about Rwanda's experience in 1994, is clear that the mass killings, gang rapes and forced-starvation deaths of displaced Darfurians -- being "Africans" -- at the hands of "Arab" janjaweed militias, are continuing. Another brutal raid by 400 janjaweed and government of Sudan helicopter gunships on three villages in West Darfur occurred only a few weeks ago.

The Ambiguous Genocide is good at disentangling complex truths from oversimplified and usually partisan fictions. It explains, for example, how, while virtually all six million or so Darfurians are black and Muslim, the nomadic community came to be called "Arabs," while farmers are called "Africans." A preventable famine in 1984, systematic blatant discrimination against Africans by Khartoum officials in favour of Arabs, decades of marginalization of the province -- all had created a time bomb in Darfur by the late 1990s.

Forest report puts dollar value on clean water, stable climate - Canadian Press

 

JOHN COTTER

EDMONTON (CP) - The clean water and stable climate provided by Canada's boreal forest are worth billions of dollars to the economy and can no longer go unrecognized, says a new report.

Counting Canada's Natural Capital puts a financial value on what forests and wetlands do for the environment, including purifying water, regulating climate and producing oxygen.

The report estimates that value at $93.2 billion annually - about twice the total market value of forestry, hydro and oil and natural gas activity.

"Ignoring the value of Canada's boreal wealth to the well-being of the nation is akin to ExxonMobil ignoring the volume of oil and gas reserves and annual production in its annual report," says the report commissioned by the Canadian Boreal Initiative and written by the Pembina Institute.

Ajax-Pickering voters see familiar faces - newsdurhamregion.com

DURHAM -- There's some familiarity, but a new face too for voters in the federal Ajax-Pickering Riding.

Liberal incumbent Mark Holland is seeking his second term, while Kevin Modeste is once again carrying the NDP banner. He ran for the party in June 2004 as well. Rondo Thomas is the Conservative candidate. The Green Party hasn't selected a candidate. In 2004 Karen MacDonald represented the party.

 

Mr. Holland was a City of Pickering councillor before his election to federal office, while Mr. Modeste has an extensive track record of volunteer service in the community. Mr. Thomas is the vice-president of student affairs and dean of biblical studies at the Canada Christian College.

 

Thank you

Norman Greenfield

403-807-1251