PLANET IN PERIL

Huffington Post HALIFAX - A U.S. company hoping to produce genetically modified salmon eggs in Canada has also applied to the federal government to sell its fish for human consumption.  Full story here.

Do those negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership have any interest in democracy? Here’s a test. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th March 2014 Nothing threatens democracy as much as corporate power. Nowhere do corporations operate with greater freedom than between nations, for here there is no competition. With the exception of the European parliament there is no transnational democracy, anywhere. All other supranational bodies – the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, trade organisations and the rest – work on the principle of photocopy democracy (presumed consent is transferred, copy by copy, to ever greyer and more remote institutions) or no democracy at all(1).

OnEarth What is happening along the Rocky Mountain Front is what happens whenever big energy arrives in small places. It offers a devil’s bargain: a choice between the lure of prosperity and the preservation of place. It pits neighbour against neighbour, family against family, and whatever the eventual outcome, a lot of people are probably going to be unhappy. Details here.

The Globe and Mail An unprecedented court injunction has barred the DFO from opening a commercial fishery off Vancouver Island after a judge concluded DFO was “fudging the numbers” and that the federal minister declared it open against her own bureaucrats’ advice. Details here.

Common Dreams Environmental groups raise alarm over potential transport of tar sands oil from western regions to New England coast. Detail here.

Council of Canadians Oil pipe awaiting allocation on the CN line in Manitoba. PLT photo. Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow Tweeted these questions this week. "Were western farmers sacrificed so that Big Oil could take over the trains? Is that why Harper killed the Wheat Board?" Details here.