PLANET IN PERIL

By: Gus Van Harten  05/3/2012 Wpg Free Press Among the Harper government's latest environmental reforms -- packed like sardines into the budget -- Canada's Fisheries Act will soon protect fish habitat only in designated waterways. Details here.  Fishing boats at Gimli, Lk. Winnipeg.

by David Suzuki.  "Over the past 50 years, environmentalists have succeeded in raising awareness, changing logging practices, stopping... " Complete story here. ==== PLT: A chilling admission from a great Canadian. I'm sure your message was as hard for you to deliver as it was for us to hear, David. That you have kept fighting in the face of incredible odds over the years is what needs to be remembered here. And, just as I will not give up the battle in my own small corner, despite those odds, I just know that you will not, either! Thanks for the courage and wisdom you have already shown and for that which so many of us will be counting on in the time ahead.

PLT; I'm no fan of the big banks, God knows. But, listening to "The Current" on CBC Radio this morning, I began wondering whether the CCPA got it quite right in its recent report, "The Big Banks' Big Secret." Did Canada "bail out" the banks with massive aid, or was it something subtly but significantly different? Listen to the CBC podcast here as it asks the question, "Was there a secret Canadian banking bailout?," then decide for yourself. 

Elizabeth May - Leader, Green Party of Canada. Columbia Icefield - Jasper/Banff Nat'l. Parks.  Larry Powell. P in P photo. “Most of Bill C-38 has nothing to do with fiscal matters or what a budget is supposed to do.  Instead, it attacks environmental legislation, amending the Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, and repealing the Kyoto Implementation Act, along with cancelling the National Round Table on Environment and Economy,” said May. Read more here.

Wpg Free Press May 2 '12 (Fort McMurray, Alberta)....this former small northern town is perhaps the most polluted and.... Details here.

Apr 30'12 San Francisco Chronicle April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Babies exposed in the womb to a commonly used insecticide have brain abnormalities after birth, according to a study that looked at children born before the U.S. limited the chemical's use. Details here. A "crop-duster" sprays Lorsban, (Dursban's "sister" chemical, sharing the same active ingredient, chlorpyrfos) on a canola crop in western Manitoba PLT photo. Please also read: "Are Pesticide Regulators on the Take?" (See chlorpyrfos reference in section headed "So Who or What is to Blame?)

                                   Cdn Centre for Policy Alternatives - Apr 30 '12 David MacDonald   Estimating government support for Canadian banks during the financial crisis. Read full story here. PLT: Please also read: "How Ethical are Canada's Ethical Funds? Conscientious Investments and the Tar Sands Connection."  

Science Matters by David Suzuki   Few people would argue against making environmental review processes and regulations more efficient - as long as they're effective. But changes announced in the recent federal budget don't do that. Instead, they make it easier for the federal government and industry to push through projects that could harm the environment and the economy, and limit the ability of ordinary Canadian citizens to have a say in matters of national importance. Big Boggy Creek, MB, a possible future "drain" for sewage effluent. PLT photo Based on the budget announcement you'd think delays and duplication in the environmental review process are the biggest issues. They're not. As the Pembina Institute points out , the equivalent of one major oil sands mine has been approved in each of the past five years, and the pace is increasing. Some people, including former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, suggest we'd benefi

Adbusters , 26 Apr 2012 Hey you dreamers, strikers and new left redeemers out there, for thirty-one magical days beginning this Tuesday, May 1, we take the plunge and strike! Details here. Occupy Winnipeg Oct.  2011 PLT photo

By Andrew Mitrovica, The Ottawa Citizen April 26, 20 My brother, Jerry, is a genius. He will, I’m sure, be upset that I have publicly described him as such. But, brother, it’s true. Details here.

(That's Harper in Black!) PLT