PLANET IN PERIL

Dear Editor,  I've been struck by the irony of recent, published pictures of my Member of Parliament, Robert Sopick. Smiling broadly, he is shown in one, presenting trophies to the winners of a fishing derby and, in the other, in beaming attendance at a sport fishing banquet (below) .  A few days later, the government Mr. Sopuck represents, rammed through the all-purpose budget bill which included the gutting of the Fisheries Act. Now, all the Act will allegedly "protect" are those fish that are part of "a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fishery." The old Act protected all fisheries, presumably because fish don't always stop abruptly at the boundaries they have been designated. How naive! As a recent article from a Canadian professor of environmental law suggests, if the fish don't "obey" the new rules imposed by Harper, they could find themselves in mortal danger of strip mines, oil spills, clear cuts and the other hazards

Changing Election Law Requires All-party Consultation 06/13/12 For Immediate Release: The Manitoba Government, at its own initiative and without consulting with the other political parties in Manitoba, is moving to completely rewrite election law in Manitoba. Typically amendments to the elections law are suggested by Elections Manitoba, the independent agency charged with overseeing elections, and then discussed at an all-party committee meeting before changes are made. Clearly the principles of democracy once held dear by the NDP have now been abandoned. The proposals before the legislature seek only to cement efforts to create a two party system in Manitoba. “The New Democratic Party of Manitoba should rename itself the Non-Democratic Party of Manitoba,” said Green Party of Manitoba Leader James Beddome. “We are outraged that this stealth attack on a fundamental issue of fairness is brought about by the same stealth tactics the Federal Conservatives are using in Ottawa,” Although on

By Scott Huler | May 30, 2012 Scientific American   According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. Full story here.

Vancouver Observer Franke James, a Canadian artist and environmental advocate blacklisted by the Harper government, has obtained internal documents indicating BERNARD WEIL/TORONTO STAR   Canadian officials worked behind the scenes to discredit her work. Full story here.

Council of Canadians. Tories attack Council of Canadians’ involvement in election fraud court cases In the latest twist of the election fraud scandal, lawyers representing the Conservative MPs fr om the seven ridings involved in the citizen-led legal challenges to overturn election results have filed motions to throw out the cases. The initial legal ski rmishes are now underway, and important developments are expected before the end of June. The Council of Canadians is supporting court challenges to overturn election results by nine electors who allege that they received a fraudulent call advising them of a change in their polling location, that these calls were made to other electors, and that this lowered the voter turnout to a degree that affected the outcome of the election. Several affidavits have been filed in support of these applications, including one from Frank Graves of EKOS Research, whose firm surveyed voters and concluded that there were

By Bill McKibben  - Solution Climate protest, Regina, SK. 2009. PLT photo My solution is: get outraged. Full story here.