Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Farms Fall Behind While Big Ones Keep on Getting Bigger

Manitoba Co-Operator

Level of on-farm investment favours large Canadian farms...Details here.

PLT photo




PLT: The law of the jungle still rules in the Canadian countryside!

Secrets of the Rich

Billionaires are hiding behind a network of “independent” groups, who manipulate politics on their behalf.

By George Monbiot... the Guardian 

Conspiracies against the public don’t get much uglier than this. As the Guardian revealed last week, two secretive organisations working for US billionaires have spent $118m to ensure that no action is taken to prevent manmade climate change(1). While inflicting untold suffering on the world’s people, their funders have used these opaque structures to ensure that their identities are never exposed.

The two organisations – the Donors’ Trust and the Donors’ Capital Fund – were set up as political funding channels for people handing over $1m or more. They have financed 102 organisations which either dismiss climate science or downplay the need to take action. The large number of recipients creates the impression that there are many independent voices challenging climate science. These groups, working through the media, mobilising gullible voters and lobbying politicians, helped to derail Obama’s cap and trade bill and the climate talks at Copenhagen. Now they’re seeking to prevent the US president from trying again(2).

US Groups Sue Environmental Protection Agency Over Honey Bee Deaths

(Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators are failing to protect honey bees and their role in pollinating important food crops, and should immediately suspend use of some toxic insecticides tied to the widespread deaths of the bees, a lawsuit charges. Details here.

Major Canadian Pork Processor, Olymel Hints at a Phase-Out of Gestation Crates - But Not for Awhile

The Manitoba Co-Operator

Packer/producer's move ahead of revisions to code of care for pigs. Full story here.

Billion Dollar Caribou - Nature of Things - CBC TV

CBC - TV

Through its beautiful and elusive Canadian icon - the woodland caribou - and their passionate advocates, Billion Dollar Caribou will reveal that even in the 21st century, the conservation of natural spaces and the species that live there is much contested territory, mired in controversy, drama and debate. Click here to watch!

PLT: The first show aired last night (Thurs.). So please watch for a repeat! I'm also a day late posting the item, below. But, once again, please note the CBC always repeats the shows, both on CBC TV and CBC New Channel!

Dear Manitobans - Fracking May Well be Coming to a Neighbourhood, Town or Park Near You!

....and there will be "frack-all" you can do about it!
Please read the Winnipeg Free Press article,  "Shale gas seen as possible new resource here," then watch and learn of this horrific practice on:
CBC -The Nature of Things with David Suzuki - - Shattered Ground

As reported in the Winnipeg Free Press, exploration for shale in Manitoba is underway with the potential for the industry to develop within the next ten years.

The potential shale formation runs from the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border to Treheme, including the Manitoba Escarpment, Swan Valley, the Porcupine Hills and around Riding Mountain.
Province's geologists are (as of January 2012) four years into a study of the province's shale gas potential.

Source: Mary Agnes Welch, Shale Gas seen as Possible new Resource Here, Winnipeg Free Press, January 21, 2012,http://goo.gl/AjXlr

It is also reported in the news that Petroleum Services Association of Canada predicted 300 new fracked wells will be drilled in Manitoba.

Source: Joyce Nelson/Watershed Sentinel, Ugly Reality of Fracking, Greenmuze, April 19, 2010, http://goo.gl/ofqUf  

PLT: Make no mistake - if the industry considers this viable, it WILL happen here! Our moronic leaders care nothing about the health or well-being of you, me, nor, apparently, themselves, as long as oil-industry bottom-lines and raw greed are satiated! Watch for it - it's coming. Mark my word. Because we no longer live in a democracy. Neither you nor I have ANY power. Get used to it.

Via Rail Passengers Stranded Near Unity, Sask. (& Video)

CBC SK: Whiteout conditions are said to have contributed to the stranding of more than 150 people near Unity, SK since early yesterday. Details here.

A wintry view from the train. Winnipeg to Toronto in Feb.'13. A PLT video.

Please also read: "Climate Change and the CNR. - Are the two already on a collision course, with train travellers caught in the middle?"