Member of Parliament 1997-2015, Public speaker, writer, community activist
In good economic times or bad, basically at any time other than election time, child care seems not to be a government priority. And true to form last week we saw the BC Liberal government again knocked child care to the bottom of the list with their withdrawal of Minor Capital Grants to child care centres.
OTTAWA – Federal and provincial New Democrat MPs and MLAs called on the Liberal Government to hold public hearings into the sale of Terasen Gas and to suspend Investment Canada’s approval of the sale until the United States accepts the NAFTA ruling on softwood in Canada’s favour and returns the $5 billion impounded by the Bush Administration to Canadian producers.
“This is a fire sale of Canada and a kick in the teeth of British Columbians” said Peter Julian MP Burnaby New-Westminster, NDP critic for Trade and Natural Resources. “The liberal government failed to respond to our calls for a broader review back when the decision was still being made by Investment Canada. With more than 11,000 takeovers approved without a single rejection, there is a very strong case against Investment Canada and the Liberal government’s ability to defend the public interest”.
Last week, Industry Canada announced its approval for the $6.9 billion sale of Terasen Gas to Kinder Morgan, whose environmental record is under review in the U.S. Earlier, the B.C. Utilities Commission (B.C.U.C.) had approved the sale without public hearings.
“The Campbell government has abrogated its role in the Terasen sale to Texas-based Kinder Morgan and let down the people of BC,” Corky Evans, the BC Opposition Critic for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources said. “This is the third largest public utility in the country, and the sale tells the world that British Columbia is open to plunder.”
With the U.S. being increasingly reliant on Canada’s natural resources, and the Bush administration refusal to meet its binding obligations under NAFTA, the NDP caucus is gravely concerned that the liberal government is selling off Canada’s sovereignty and reducing its leverage.
“When an important decision like this is up for discussion, when the Americans and Canadians struggle to find a solution to the softwood lumber dispute, it seems only logical to link the two issues,” said Surrey-Newton MLA Harry Bains. “The Americans refuse to move on softwood, and it is my assertion, along with many other Canadians, that the sale of Terasen Gas Inc. should be halted until the softwood dispute has been settled. It will send the Americans a clear message that our resources are not for plunder, and that the American government should negotiate in good-faith.”
OTTAWA – There’s nothing stopping Paul Martin from compromising to avoid an unwanted holiday election and get work done this fall, NDP MPs Libby Davies, (Vancouver East), Peter Julian (Burnaby-new Westminster) and Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) said today as the NDP introduced a compromise motion in Parliament that would see a January election call.
“Nobody wants a holiday election. Let’s schedule the vote for February and get things done for Canadians like Bill C-55, cracking down on high-risk offenders, providing some relief for winter fuel costs and wage protection. People also want to see the First Ministers’ Aboriginal Conference go ahead. There’s a compromise on the table that accomplishes all of that,” said Julian.
With Parliament at an impasse, Canada’s Opposition leaders agreed Sunday to a common sense compromise – proposing a January election call, for a mid-February vote. The leaders also agreed to compromise on expediting passage of legislation-in-progress, including the energy rebate bill and a wage protection bill.
“As Jack Layton has said, there’s nothing stopping Paul Martin from compromising,” said Siksay, “The Opposition proposal says yes to the priorities Paul Martin identified for this fall. It lets work get done. Parliament doesn’t even sit from mid-December to February, so the only thing compromising would stop is two months of taxpayer-funded Liberal electioneering in the New Year.”
Unlike the spring, when the Liberals accepted good NDP ideas to get things done for people, this fall they said no to protecting medicare from privatization. The NDP cannot express confidence in a government that’s not getting results for people, and it can’t condone the Liberal record on ethics. But compromise from all parties could still avert an unwanted holiday election.
“People don’t understand why if three parties can compromise, the fourth can’t,” said Davies. “There’s nothing stopping Paul Martin from committing to an election call that would have fallen in mid-January anyway given Justice Gomery’s original timetable. That’s what he committed to last spring. There’s nothing stopping the Prime Minister from saying yes to this common sense compromise.”
Are you one of the many Canadians increasingly concerned about the situation of our country’s media? Media diversity is the cornerstone of democracy, yet in recent years consolidation has left our media in the hands of fewer and fewer big corporations, with ownership (control) among the most concentrated in the industrialized world; the CRTC has advanced consolidation and commercialization while neglecting the public interest and even adopting policy breaking its own legal mandate; insecure and inadequate funding has compromised our public broadcasting, and English CBC now earns most of its revenue from commercial sources.
I encourage you to check out the CRTC’s Diversity of Voices Proceeding. This proceeding was created in the wake of major corporate media mergers to examine issues of concentration of ownership and its impact on diversity. It is open to public input until July 18th.
The airwaves are public property, yet CRTC proceedings are usually dominated by representatives of big media. If they are allowed to dominate this important proceeding, it will lead to even more policy serving corporate interests at the expense of consumers, workers, local communities, citizens, and our democracy.
A new coalition, Canadians for Democratic Media (CDM), has just launched a national action campaign to get Canadians directly involved in the CRTC. A non-partisan coalition of activists, labour unions, civil society, academics and independent media, CDM is acting to mobilize unprecedented public input to ensure the CRTC gets the message that Canadians oppose concentrated ownership. We want the CRTC to encourage and protect diversity, and strengthen non-commercial and community media.
On CDM’s website, you can join Canadians from across the country sending input to the CRTC – and the CRTC weighs each comment. This is a powerful way of countering big media’s influence and promoting the public interest. I am supporting this campaign but the deadline for public input is July 18th, so we need to act fast to defend diversity and stop the big media takeover.
Please consider supporting this campaign – just as important – and spread the word among your own networks, communities and organizations. Please take action now and learn more at www.democraticmedia.ca.
I urge you to join and support this critically important action today.