Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Highway 30 files
Friday, May 30, 2008
Scott McClellan and "What happened"
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Canada's Foreign Minister Resigns
By ROB GILLIES
The Associated Press
Monday, May 26, 2008; 11:41 PM
TORONTO -- Canada's embattled foreign minister resigned after leaving classified documents at a private residence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday, calling it "a serious error."
Harper said that he accepted the resignation of Maxime Bernier, who came under fire in recent weeks amid reports that a former girlfriend had previous relationships with men linked to the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang.
"Mr. Bernier has learned and informed me that he left classified documents in a nonsecure location. This is a serious error," Harper said.
Harper said that Bernier's controversial relationship with the woman was not a factor in the resignation.
But it was announced as Bernier's former girlfriend, Julie Couillard, was preparing to go on a French-language television station to say that Bernier had been careless with classified documents.
"It's only this error. It's a very serious mistake for any minister. We must always accept responsibilities for the documents that are classified. The minister has immediately acknowledged the gravity of this mistake," Harper said.
The documents were left at a private residence, Harper said in a statement. He did describe the documents, say if they were shared with others or provide other details.
Bernier wrote in a letter of resignation that he became aware Sunday night that he had left behind classified documents at a private residence. He wrote that he asked for a thorough review of the situation.
"Prime Minister, the security breach that occurred was my fault and my fault alone and I take full responsibility for my actions," Bernier wrote.
In her interview, Couillard said Bernier left a document at her home, which she declined to describe.
"Maxime came to see me and he left a document behind," she said, adding it was returned to the government.
Couillard insisted she was doing the interview to re-establish her dignity and credibility after intense media scrutiny.
The former model said she told Bernier about her involvement with Quebec motorcycle gangs. "Maxime knew about it," she said.
Harper said David Emerson, the international trade minister, will take over as interim foreign minister.
Just hours before Bernier quit, Harper had dismissed the whole affair.
"I have no intention to comment on a minister's former girlfriend," Harper said earlier in the day. "I don't take this subject seriously."
Opposition Liberal Member of Parliament Ralph Goodale said the prime minister has a lot of explaining to do because he had dismissed the story for weeks.
Bernier has come under fire for a variety of gaffes, including promising aid for Myanmar on a plane that was not available.
Bernier first drew the attention of Canadians when he appeared at his swearing in ceremony last August with the provocatively dressed Couillard on his arm.
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier
Canadian foreign minister Maxime Bernier resigns over secret document row
The foreign minister of Canada resigned on Tuesday after it emerged he left classified information in the apartment of a former girlfriend linked to members of a biker gang.
Foreign minister Maxime Bernier with former girlfriend Julie Couillard
Maxime Bernier, 45, had been under increasing pressure to quit after Julie Couillard revealed details of her personal life, and disclosed that the minister had left a document at her flat.
"He came to my place, then he left, and the document remained with me," she told the French-language TVA network.
She said she had given the document to a lawyer who returned it to the government. It has not been revealed what the document contained, nor whether any other party saw it.
Miss Couillard, 38, also confirmed she had once been involved with a member of a biker gang who was assassinated and later married – but quickly divorced – another gang member.
She conceded that neither man had been an innocent but added: "I have done nothing to embarrass my country."
Miss Couillard attended Mr Bernier’s swearing-in as foreign minister last year, and had been designated his “spouse” to enable her to travel on official trips.
Her connection with bikers did not become public knowledge until later, and the couple reportedly broke up some months ago.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper accepted Mr Bernier's resignation, stating: "Minister Bernier informed me that he left classified government documents in a non-secure location. This is a serious error.
"This is about one thing and that is a failure to uphold expected standards on government documents. It is a very serious mistake, regardless of who the minister is, regardless of personal life," he said.
"This is about one thing and that is a failure to uphold expected standards on government documents. It is a very serious mistake."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
More on: Canada
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier
One good week on Keith Olbermann's Coutdown
Keith Olbermann's Coutdown: Special Comment May 23, 2008
Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Stay the Course/Appeasement May 26, 2008
Just for laught, August 24, 2007, how idiot she was...
... idiot as...
But back to Keith on May 20, 2008
Olbermann Analyzes BUSH ATTACK On NBC For EDITING INTERVIEW
May 19, 2008
KO Countdown : Comment 08-05-19 : Bush Cold Blood
Oliver North Wins Worst Person in the Worrrrld!
The same night!!!
Olbermann: Hillary mentions Karl Rove on May 19
Labels: Clinton, Keith Olbermann, Obama
Oh Maxime what have you done?
I don't want to live in a country where a single man who reaches the pinnacle of his career can't sleep with hot biker chicks.
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier
Julie Couillard Claims Her Home Had Been Under Electronic Surveillance - (but she is not sure who was bugging her)
Canoe.TV has posted their exclusive interview with Maxime Bernier's ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard. In the interview she relates how Bernier left secret government briefing documents at her home. It is this disclosure that prompted the rapid departure of Bernier from Cabinet.
But what is more disturbing is Ms. Couillard's statements that she recently had her home screened for electronic listening devices and was advised by a professional firm that she had been 'bugged' but that her home had been recently 'cleaned' of the devices - they had been removed. She could not speculate who had been conducting surveillance of her or if Maxime Bernier had ever been recorded while in her residence.
We therefore have to wonder if she was being monitored by a local police force, CSIS, the RCMP or possibly a more nefarious source such as organized crime of a foreign service.
This story is NOT done yet!!Her comments concerning the wire tap can be found on the Canoe.TV tape at the 16:00 minute mark until 19:00.Exclusive Julie Couillard interview video from Canoe.TV
Here is how the MSM is carrying the wiretap angle:
" Julie Couillard, the ex-lover of Canada's deposed foreign minister, says she learned her bedroom had been bugged with secret microphones months after the couple split.
The former girlfriend of Maxime Bernier, who resigned from as foreign affairs minister yesterday, could not guess who might have been behind the plants. But the 39-year-old Quebecer, who garnered international headlines for links to Hells Angels bikers before she met Bernier, made the startling revelation in an interview broadcast on canoe.tv last night.
"They could not find any bugs, but they definitely came to the professional conclusion that there was proof bugs that were there, that were taken out," she said. "And the worst part is there was apparently some in the box spring of my mattress in my bedroom.
"Couillard said experts who examined her home recently found evidence it had been bugged. She could not say who may have hidden the microphones -- or why."Winnipeg Sun
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier
Maxime Bernier RESIGNS From Cabinet - Everyone Hopes The Door Doesn't Hit Him In The Behind!
Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has resigned from Cabinet, (over a NEW scandal!)
"The resignation came ahead of Monday night's airing of a French-language television interview of Bernier's former girlfriend, Julie Couillard, in which she revealed the minister had left a secret document in her apartment sometime in April that she later returned to Foreign Affairs.
"Maxime came to my house, and the document stayed there," Couillard said during her interview with private television network TVA, without disclosing the contents of the document.
Harper said he accepted Bernier's resignation after learning late Sunday that Bernier had inadvertently left the documents in an unsecured location." CBC NewsEarlier Buckdog posts record the sad sorry tale that led to todays resignation ...
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The Truth Behind Hillary’s Faux Pas: Crime Families Kill the Competition
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
May 24, 2008
Keith Olbermann, obvious Obama partisan, is shocked, just shocked Hillary Clinton would suggest “the inspirational leader” Obama might be assassinated, as RFK was assassinated before him, the Democrat nomination within his reach. Olbermann may be shocked, but Clinton’s remark is simply politics as usual. Assassination is part of the political mix, especially here in the United States. Clinton, in her desperation, made a mistake, a faux pas. She “misspoke,” something apparently only politicians are capable of doing. Now she has backpedaled, apologized.
Here is the reality behind Clinton’s remark — political crime families, like Cosa Nostra crime families, on occasion kill the competition. RFK was not killed by a lone Sirhan Sirhan. Video and photographic evidence reveals that three senior CIA operatives were at the scene of Robert Kennedy’s assassination. “Three of these men have been positively identified as senior officers who worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA’s Miami base for its Secret War on Castro,” the BBC reported in 2006. “I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard,” boasted David Morales, Chief of Operations.
But the CIA does not act on its own. It simply takes orders. “Any sober examination of any of the assassinations leads directly to the same master list of agencies, political suspects and covert operatives, from the Kennedy killings to the crimes of Watergate and Iran-Contra, to the present day. The system that made the RFK murder and cover-up possible is at its zenith today, with the openly criminal, overtly brutal George W. Bush administration,” writes Larry Chin. “The conspiracy and cover-up of all the 1960s’ assassinations must be understood not as isolated murders, but parts of a long and seamless continuum. To borrow the words of Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall, authors of The Iran-Contra Connection, they are merely ‘the outgrowth of a long tradition of covert US activities,’” covert activities directed by presidents, who are of course selected minions of the elite.
Last October, the elite’s enthusiasm for Hillary was revealed when Lynn Forester de Rothschild, wife of Sir Evelyn Rothschild, said “Hillary will be good for America,” that is to say good for Rothschild and the elite. Lord Rothschild supports John McCain, but then there really is little difference between McCain and Clinton. As for Obama, he is considered an outsider, never mind he is supported by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Trilateral Commission, and the Ford Foundation. Call it a New World Order family feud. And like the legendary Hatfield-McCoy family feud, people may end up dead.
It would be more accurate to call it a feud between cosche, or Mafia crime families.
Labels: Bush, Clinton, Keith Olbermann, Obama, United States
South American Nations Form New Regional Grouping: UNASUR
May 24th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela's President Chavez and Colombia's President Uribe shake hands at the UNASR summit, while Chavez's daughter (far right) looks on. (Francisco Batista/Prensa Presidencial)
Mérida, May 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- At a summit in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday, 12 South American countries formally constituted the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional integration initiative which began informally in 2004. At the Summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe shook hands respectfully, and Colombia remained the only country which declined to participate in the proposed South American Defense Council.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez described UNASUR as the culmination of the region’s search for unity since South American independence two centuries ago. "Only in unity will we later have, progressively, complete political, economic, cultural, scientific, technological, and military independence," Chávez commented.
Chávez distinguished the organization’s mission from other forms of regional integration. “We are talking about union, not integration, because that is a concept that grew out of the project of hegemonic neo-liberal globalization. Later on, we developed this conscience that embraces a unitary, originary project based on the project of the Great South American Fatherland,” he asserted.
Regarding President Uribe, with whom diplomatic relations have been strained most recently by Colombia’s accusations that Venezuela financed Colombian insurgents, Chávez, accompanied by his daughter, expressed the “willingness to recuperate lost trust and retake the path of cooperation.”
The two presidents had a “relaxed” and “agreeable” conversation in which they “ratified their willingness for peace and to respect differences,” Chávez told the press.Uribe kissed Chávez’s daughter on the cheek and told her, “Your generation must live happily, without the problems of us, the elders. If dialogue has taught us something, it is respect for people.”
The Colombian president also expressed hope that UNASUR would not recognize the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the main guerrilla army fighting against the Colombian government, as a political organization. The Colombian government, the main ally of the United States in the region, classifies the FARC as a terrorist group.
The temporary president of UNASUR, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, said the new grouping will help the region “contribute to the construction of this new 21st century, where Latin America is capable of having a strong and firm voice because we have been able to initiate a process of effective integration.”
Bachelet highlighted the potential for UNASUR to promote economic and social development in the region. At the top of the organization’s agenda should be combating poverty, eradicating illiteracy, and coordinating university programs so as to facilitate the movement of professionals throughout the region, she said. Also being contemplated is a regional citizenship.
Having successfully formed UNASUR, “South America acquires the status of global actor,” said the President of Brazil, Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva.
Lula assured that UNASUR is open to other Latin American countries in the region, and the foundational treaty signed Friday should not be perceived as “a finality.”
“Our Caribbean neighbors are invited to associate themselves with the union. UNASUR is born in this way, open to the entire region in the spirit of diversity and pluralism,” said the Brazilian president.
The countries that make up UNASUR are Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, and Uruguay, encompassing a total population of 380 million inhabitants.
Lula also emphasized his administration’s proposal to create a South American Defense Council “founded on common values and principles such as respect for sovereignty, self-determination, territorial integrity of states, and non-intervention in internal affairs.”
Such a council will help UNASUR members “deepen our South American identity in the area of defense,” Lula said, assuring that “our armed forces are committed to the construction of peace.”
The presidents at the summit agreed to form a commission that will come up with a proposal for the defense council within 90 days. The countries will then meet sometime in the second half of this year to officially form the council.
Colombia was the only country that anticipated that it would not participate fully in the South American Defense Council, although it was not opposed to the creation of a working group to study the possibility.
Colombia “cannot become part of the [council], given the threats of terrorism and known derivations” related to the country’s four decade-old civil war, according to statements to the press by Colombian presidential spokesperson César Mauricio Velásquez.
Nonetheless, President Bachelet and others agreed it is important to proceed with the council even if all UNASUR members do not participate and that the proposal should take into account “the preoccupations and the different emphases that each country may have.”
The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, opined, “I think we need a regional security council in order to shift from rhetoric to practice. Let’s not deceive ourselves; to maintain stability in the region, and mutual respect, words are not enough.”
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said about UNASUR, “We are placing the foundation of the Union of South American Nations … Today is a day in which we, as presidents, have converted ourselves into workers, bricklayers for the construction of South American Unity.” “This is a historic deed for our people,” he added.
Morales also highlighted the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual character of UNASUR, saying, “UNASUR is being born with the recognition of the immense contribution of our indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, mestizos, and whites, which is why we are in a plurinational state in South America.”
Labels: Chávez, Colombia, Venezuela
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Bouchard-Taylor Commission recommends guidelines for harmonization practices
Montréal, May 22, 2008 – The establishment of guidelines respecting harmonization practices between citizens is one of the key recommendations made by the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCPARDC). Commission Co-Chairs Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor today made public their final report. These guidelines cover several dimensions, indicated below.
State neutrality
The Co-Chairs recommend that representatives who must embody to the utmost State neutrality and maintain the appearance of impartiality that is essential to the exercising of their duties be prohibited from wearing religious signs. This is true of judges, Crown prosecutors, police officers, prison guards and the president and vice-president of the National Assembly. However, teachers, civil servants, health professionals and all other government employees should be allowed to continue to wear religious signs. In keeping with the same principle of neutrality, the crucifix in the National Assembly and the reciting of prayers at meetings of municipal councils should not be permitted in a secular State.
Gender equality
Respect for core values such as gender equality is of prime importance. According to this principle, accommodation requests that compromise it should be refused almost without exception.
- In health care institutions, patients should a priori receive care from the professionals available without expecting to choose them according to sex. They could, however, express this wish, subject to staff availability.
- In the case of individuals hospitalized in long-term care facilities, they should be able to obtain intimate care from an attendant of the same sex.
- Coeducation must prevail wherever possible in swimming and other classes, bearing in mind educational requirements or constraints.
Freedom of religion and the educational milieu
- Students who wish to wear in class religious signs such as the hidjab, kippah or turban should be able to do so.
- Students must not be exempted from compulsory courses in the name of freedom of religion.
- Educational institutions are not required to offer permanent prayer rooms, in keeping with a resolution handed down by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.* However, it is in keeping with the spirit of adjustment to authorize for the purpose of prayer the use of temporarily unoccupied rooms.
The Commission
Individuals, groups and associations submitted over 900 briefs and 241 people testified during the 31 days of hearings. All told, 22 regional forums attracted 3 423 participants and over 800 people took part in four province-wide forums. Moreover, 13 research projects conducted by specialists from Québec universities were commissioned and 31 focus groups were organized throughout Québec in which participants came from varied backgrounds.
When it concludes its activities in June, the CCPARDC will have spent $3.7 million of a total budget of $5.1 million. The final report and related documents can be consulted online (www.accommodements.qc.ca).
Labels: Bouchard-Taylor, Religion and fanaticism
The 37 recommendations in the final report of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission
Montréal, May 22, 2008 – The Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCPARDC) today made public the 37 recommendations in its final report, which are listed below.
A) Learning diversity
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
A1. the Québec government provide much more extensive funding to organizations with a mandate to inform and protect citizens. We are thinking, first and foremost, of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse and the Conseil des relations interculturelles;
A2. the government encourage projects and initiatives that enable members of the ethnic minorities to make themselves more extensively seen and heard by the general public through radio or television programs, theme days, and so on;
A3. the government increase financial support for organizations such as the Fondation de la tolérance, the Institut du Nouveau Monde and Vision Diversité. It should also encourage the creation of other similar projects throughout Québec devoted to information, training, intercommunity action, intercultural debate and the dissemination of pluralism;
A4. the government also increase its support for similar, equally promising initiatives already under way or in preparation in the education and health sectors.
B) Harmonization practices
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
B1. the government broaden its efforts to promote the common civic framework or what we have called common public values in institutions and among Quebecers in general;
B2. the managers of public institutions step up their efforts to:
- adapt to their milieu and express in concrete directives the key guidelines governing the management of adjustment requests;
- pursue the implementation of the so-called contextual, deliberative and reflexive approach;
B3. in keeping with the objective of dejudicializing the handling of accommodation requests, the government foster the accountability of interveners in institutions by ensuring that they have received adequate training. Some examples are the modification of the training program for future teachers to include additional instruction time devoted to intercultural questions and the organization of specialized sessions for current teachers;
B4. the government ensure that health care establishments have sufficient funds to cover their needs for interpreters’ services;
B5. the government implement the necessary mechanisms to:
- establish in each institution practical expertise in the realm of the handling of adjustment requests;
- disseminate in each establishment, in particular among new employees, the knowledge that interveners have accumulated;
- implement exchange and cooperation initiatives between units in a given establishment or between establishments in the same sector;
- better inform newly arrived immigrant parents about adjustment practices and the operation of the school system.
B6. The Co-Chairs approve of the initiative now under way in the National Assembly to introduce into the Québec Charter an interpretation clause that establishes gender equality as a core value of our society.
Moreover, the Co-Chairs recommend that:
B7. the government establish an Office d’harmonisation interculturelle, a paragovernmental body that reports to the Conseil des relations interculturelles, which works in tandem with other agencies in related fields. This body would, in particular, play a role with respect to information, training, coordination, advice, and research centred on intercultural harmonization practices, including interdenominational practices, in our society.
B8. Religious holidays:
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
- the government encourage public and private administrators to adopt paid leave with compensation accompanied by possibilities for adjustment;
- the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse produce an advisory opinion that establishes practical reference points for managers in all work environments, including an explanation of the legal framework, the elaboration of tools to rule on requests for religious holidays and the proposal of an array of formulas in keeping with previous court decisions and adaptable to each workplace;
- as regards problems stemming from the system of religious holidays in force in the school boards, i.e. extra paid leave, that the government set up a select panel to find a fair solution that conforms to the current legal framework of the system of religious holidays, following consultation with the key interveners concerned;
B9. the government highlight excellence in the realm of harmonization practices in the workplace by:
- encouraging big government-owned corporations to assert leadership in this field;
- publicly honouring public- or private-sector employees who have distinguished themselves through their integration and harmonization efforts.
C) The integration of immigrants
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
C1. from the standpoint of the planning of immigration rates, the government make sure that the number of immigrants admitted corresponds to the reception resources available, especially in respect of labour market integration and francization;
C2. in order to overcome a serious deficiency that is now apparent, the government increase funding for community groups and other front-line organizations devoted to welcoming and integrating immigrants, in particular to consolidate and develop the existing network of organizations while avoiding a piecemeal approach;
C3. the government step up its efforts in respect of the francization and integration of immigrants by:
- ensuring better coordination between the government departments concerned of francization programs for immigrants;
- establishing a task force to review the entire question of the under-representation of members of the ethnic minorities in positions in the public administration and designing a more effective approach in this respect;
- achieving more concerted management of government integration programs and measures, more specifically between the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles, the ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, and the ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale;
- better aligning immigration and integration policies with Québec’s economic and social development objectives;
- seeking vigorously to reduce the extremely high unemployment rate among Quebecers born in Africa and who have lived in Québec for less than five years;
C4. the government step up measures to accelerate the process of recognizing skills and diplomas acquired abroad. Among the urgent measures, we recommend:
- the establishment of an independent fact-finding committee with a mandate to shed light on the practices of the professional orders with respect to the recognition of diplomas;
- the establishment of an independent body to which immigrants can submit complaints and request reviews of the decisions reached by the professional orders;
- the clarification of relations between the Conseil interprofessionnel du Québec, the Office des professions du Québec and the professional orders, on the one hand, and universities, Cegeps and the Office québécois de la langue française, on the other hand, to resolve the stalemates that are hampering efforts to follow up on the retraining requirements imposed on immigrants;
C5. the government step up its efforts to foster the regionalization of immigration. In this spirit, it would be advisable to:
- implement incentives for businesses that recruit immigrants, such as fiscal measures, in order to foster the regionalization of immigration;
- provide ad hoc funding to the municipalities and the many organizations that welcome and support immigrants that have been established outside Montréal to bolster the existing network;
- pay special attention to the Capitale-Nationale to make it a second urban reception centre for newcomers;
- ask the regions to make known their needs and elaborate projects that rely on immigrant workers;
- encourage and broaden agreements governing student training sessions and exchanges such as those between France and Québec, which bring foreign students to Québec's regions;
- delegate broader responsibilities to regional authorities;
C6. to facilitate the integration of newcomers, the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles create for them an interactive portal in order to centralize all information on resources and institutional services, including municipal and community resources and services, with respect to employment, housing, health, education, and so on;
C7. the government increase funding for organizations that support immigrant women;
C8. the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles adopt the appropriate measures to make the most of Québec volunteer work for the purpose of welcoming and integrating immigrants, in particular to enable them to gain access to social networks;à
C9. the government department now responsible for immigration be renamed the ministère de l’Immigration et des Relations interculturelles.
D) Interculturalism
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
D1. the government launch a vigorous campaign to promote interculturalism in Québec society to broaden awareness of it;
D2. to better establish interculturalism as a model that prevails over intercultural relations in Québec, the government enshrine interculturalism in a statute, a policy statement or a declaration and that this initiative include public consultations and a vote in the National Assembly;
D3. the government encourage all forms of intercultural contact as a means of reducing stereotypes and fostering participation in and integration into Québec society. In this spirit:
- implement immersion, mentoring and tutoring programs and sponsorship and twinning, in particular based on the model of the former program devoted to exchanges of students between Montréal and the regions. In the same spirit, broaden intercultural educational practices, municipal initiatives and existing programs;
- encourage all forms of intercommunity action;
- emphasize efforts to promote regional tourism among members of Montréal's ethnic minorities;
D4. a Fonds d’histoires de vie des immigrants be established, to be managed by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec;
D5. the government pay close attention to testimony presented concerning so-called ethno-denominational schools.
E) Inequality and discrimination
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
E1. the government seek to better understand and combat the different forms of racism, especially ethnism, found in our society. In this spirit:
- special attention should be paid to the fight against hate crimes and the protection of all individuals subject to multiple discrimination, e.g. homosexuals and the disabled;
- the Québec Charter should prohibit public incitement to discrimination;
- exceptional measures should be taken to combat Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and the discrimination to which all racialized groups, especially Blacks, are subject;
- the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse should be given more extensive resources and means;
E2. government mandataries and agencies be responsible for their results in respect of the fight against racism and discrimination and that accountability mechanisms be introduced for this purpose based on performance indicators;
E3. the National Assembly follow up on a recommendation made by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse aimed at strengthening the economic and social rights recognized in sections 39 to 48 in the Québec Charter:“The Commission recommends that the economic and social rights recognized in sections 39 to 48 of the Charter be strengthened in light of:
- the inclusion of a general provision, before section 39, stipulating that legislation must respect the essential content of economic and social rights;
- the extension to sections 39 to 48 of priority over legislation stipulated in section 52 of the Charter;
- the gradual coming into force of such priority, initially limited to subsequent legislation then extended to existing legislation.”
F) The French language
The report does not contain any formal recommendation since the CCPARDC deemed this theme to be on the margin of its mandate. That being the case, the Co-Chairs have reviewed the situation in their report.
G) Secularism
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
G1. the government draft a white paper on secularism in order to:
- define secularism in light of its four principles, two of which reflect its profound purposes (the other two are reflected in essential institutional structures);
- review the major choices that Québec has made in respect of secularism;
- defend the conception of open secularism adopted and implemented by Québec;
- clarify and submit for public debate questions on which a consensus has yet to be reached;
G2. with regard to the wearing by government employees of religious signs:
- judges, Crown prosecutors, police officers, prison guards and the president and vice-president of the National Assembly of Québec be prohibited from doing so;
- teachers, public servants, health professionals and all other government employees be authorized to do so;
G3. measures be adopted to bring certain practices in public institutions into line with the principles of open secularism. Consequently, in the name of the separation of the State and the churches and in the name of State neutrality, we recommend that:
- the crucifix above the chair of the president of the National Assembly be relocated in the Parliament building in a place that emphasizes its meaning from the standpoint of heritage;
- municipal councils abandon the saying of prayers at their public meetings;
G4. the government vigorously promote the new ethnics and religious culture course that is to be introduced in September 2008;
G5. the government produce and disseminate every year among the managers of institutions and public or private organizations a multidenominational calendar that indicates the dates of religious holidays.
H) Research to be conducted
The Co-Chairs recommend that:
H1. the government free up additional research funds that would be earmarked, in particular, for the study of:
- the state of interculturalism;
- the dual relationship among immigrants to their culture of origin and the host society’s culture;
- changes in ethnocultural concentrations and their meaning in terms of integration or compartmentalization;
- the state and impact on integration of intercommunity action;
- the elaboration of indicators that measure the impact of numerous government programs pertaining to reception, employment, the fight against discrimination, and social and cultural integration;
- the situation and path followed by disadvantaged sub-groups such as young people from racialized minorities, immigrant women, and others;
- the change in the social bond in neighbourhoods where immigrants are heavily concentrated;
- forms of Islamophobia and the remedial measures to be adopted;
- displays of anti-Semitism and the remedial measures to be adopted;
H2. the government set up a special grant fund reserved for universities and Cegeps in the regions to fund applied research devoted to the general theme of immigration and integration in the regions.
The Commission
At the request of Premier Jean Charest, the CCPARDC took stock of accommodation practices, conducted a public consultation throughout Québec and examined the attendant questions.
Individuals, groups and associations submitted over 900 briefs and 241 people testified during the 31 days of hearings. All told, 22 regional forums attracted 3 423 participants and over 800 people took part in four province-wide forums. Moreover, 13 research projects conducted by specialists from Québec universities were commissioned and 31 focus groups were organized throughout Québec in which participants came from varied backgrounds.
When it concludes its activities in June, the CCPARDC will have spent $3.7 million of a total budget of $5.1 million. The final report and related documents can be consulted online (www.accommodements.qc.ca).
Labels: Arab World, Bouchard-Taylor, Canada, Hijab, Human mistake, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Palestine, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism, Sharia
Open secularism, interculturalism, the fight against discrimination and guidelines for accommodation form the core of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission’s
Montréal, May 22, 2008 – The adoption by the government of basic texts in order to define open secularism and typically Québec-style interculturalism are two of the priority recommendations in the final report of the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCPARDC). The report, which Commission Co-Chairs Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor made public today, also recommends additional measures to combat discrimination and promote reconciliation in the realm of accommodation practices. Recourse to the citizen route and concerted adjustment should be emphasized instead of the legal route from the standpoint of reasonable accommodation.
Foster concerted adjustment
In addition to promoting interculturalism by means of a statute, a declaration or a policy statement and open secularism through a white paper, the Commission invites the government to encourage interveners to assume greater responsibility in the management of adjustment requests. To this end, the Co-Chairs advocate more extensive training for interveners and reconciliation with respect to harmonization practices.
That being the case, our society also has key social and economic responsibilities. In this spirit, the Co-Chairs have also stressed how important it is for the Québec government to combat the many forms of racism and discrimination found in society.
“We must rightly insist on secularism and interculturalism, but we must adopt vigorous measures to more broadly foster the integration of immigrants and combat discrimination,” Professor Bouchard noted. “Our consultations reveal that members of the ethnic minorities are seeking employment much more than accommodation."
To this end, the Co-Chairs recommend that the government step up measures to accelerate the process of recognizing skills and diplomas acquired abroad. The report contains 37 recommendations covering an array of topics ranging from the wearing of religious signs by government staff to the regionalization of immigration.
“Our recommendations are in keeping with what is commonly called ‘the path that Québec has followed,’ Professor Taylor added. We are proposing neither a break nor a radical shift but only measures to facilitate intercultural relations and the normal development of a pluralist, modern society.”
The Commission
At the request of Premier Jean Charest, the CCPARDC took stock of accommodation practices, conducted a public consultation throughout Québec and examined the attendant questions.
Individuals, groups and associations submitted over 900 briefs and 241 people testified during the 31 days of hearings. All told, 22 regional forums attracted 3 423 participants and over 800 people took part in four province-wide forums. Moreover, 13 research projects conducted by specialists from Québec universities were commissioned and 31 focus groups were organized throughout Québec in which participants came from varied backgrounds.
When it concludes its activities in June, the CCPARDC will have spent $3.7 million of a total budget of $5.1 million. The final report and related documents can be consulted online (www.accommodements.qc.ca).
Labels: Arab World, Bouchard-Taylor, Canada, Hijab, Human mistake, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism, Sharia, Zionism
Anne Humphreys
Bouchard-Taylor to Quebecers: CRUSH YOU!
Source on that link:
http://ledernierquebecois.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/la-commission-bouchard-taylor-aux-quebecois-ecrasez-vous/ .
http://ledernierquebecois.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/la-commission-bouchard-taylor-aux-quebecois-ecrasez-vous/ .
It was with amazement and great sadness that I read this text which speaks about the possible conclusions of the commission Bouchard-Taylor on accomodements reasonable. While the problem is clear and recognized by all (ie that immigrants are unable to integrate and reject our culture, while wishing privileges because of their religion) Bouchard-Taylor commission, headed by what is now called traitors two of the worst kind, it takes Quebecers! No, excuse me, not the Quebecer, a people who no longer exists, but the French-speaking Quebecers, the majority becoming a minority, and who is already in Montreal, in this large and stinking ghetto multicultural. (One often goes with the other, unfortunately… and this experience that I write).
So, according to the commission of our two losers, Jews, Muslims and others have nothing to reproach. They can go above the laws, not to oust their homes because of religious principles, be givrer windows so as not to see the bodies of young women, or not to give tickets because of their religious festivals. No, this is not their fault. It is OUR fault, we Quebecers poor colonized too stupid to have understood that our law is inferior to their religious practices. We would be affected by lack of information and false perceptions.
And instead emphasize the decline in french and explain that the refusal to integrate immigrants is a cause more important, the commission hopes to accelerate our assimilation we anglicisant more. Instead emphasize that the problem is too large presence of English in Montreal, she prefers that we learn more English. Then it will be what? It will become Muslims and Jews to have the same privileges as those religious fanatics delayed?
It asks us to be even more open to the world. No, it's damn it. We are the people more open to the world, and that is an immigrant who told me that. We speak English as soon as we crossed one. We try to speak Spanish as well. We put the rastas smoke and firecrackers with Jamaicans. We try Creole food. We are so open to the world that we have more awareness of our culture. We are uprooted, and we are asked to be even more.
The commission is a real scandal, a farce, a fucking joke as saying all fucking old english bitches of the west of Montreal who hate everything that is French.
With such recommendations, the result is easily predictable. In fifty years the french minority will not only Montreal but also in the suburbs. The french will be a dead language, as the latin, and Quebecers speak fluent English has since devoted this language as the only one that is common to all. Instead franciser immigrants when it was time, they have allowed us the opportunity angliciser, we assimilate, and what was a day the representatives of our culture are no longer a gelatinous ramassis of poutine folk we invite to France a little like inviting Zachary Richard in Quebec: an ancestor, a still-living dead and a culture that survives only on artificial respirator.
That's "openness to the world." That's more reasonable accomodements. And that's bilingualism, the number one enemy of our culture and the main cause of decline in french.
Personally, if you asked me tonight if I think the people of Quebec deserves to be saved, maybe I want to say "die, you do not survive merits, colonized people of dish cloth. "
David, when you can hallucinate several…, instead sees all this as a playground where is the new applying its rules:
[...] Messrs. Bouchard and Taylor were appointed supervisors of the court and playground will soon make their account of the situation. Either nicer with the new in your class, leaves do what he wants is his case. I have the impression that the specter of censorship prowls around. Individualism is perhaps good for the economy, but it's very bad for a company.
Yes, we are in a big on school, and instead take the new kid and teach him to respect the rules, we are asking all the other kids to bow to his will.
With such a mentality of losers, how can we still surprised that Quebec has a suicide rate?
On the day we will be really proud of us, our culture, where we refuse to speak English or even to accept that anyone imposes on us its language or its values will be a great day not only for us, because it will confirm our right to exist, but also for democracy. The dictatorship of a minority of anglophiles hiding under the guise of bilingualism and multiculturalism is a shame for all of Quebec.
Yes we are tolerant, yes we are open. We love our immigrants and our integrated English Anglicized. We want Parking remains a French-speaking city and we hope that English speakers understand that they are not welcome among us.
p.s. Faced with such a new, one can already imagine the bulk of settlers Angryfrenchguy a train to dance and celebrate our anglicization prelude to our demise. Bravo idiots; thanks to your work anglicization of Quebecers, you are contributing to our loss and apply the letter and the conclusions of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission.
Labels: Bouchard-Taylor, Human mistake, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Francis Chartrand in the company of his young delegate Jessica Leblanc
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Why we must remove the part of religious culture | by Daniel Baril
Under the guise of "secularism open", this course marks the turn of the multi-Quebec school.
Daniel Baril, adviser for the Mouvement laïque québécois
Hell, for those who believe it, is paved with good intentions, they say. On a theoretical level, the idea of a course of religious culture is a good intention with which it seems difficult, prima facie, to disagree. But just take a look at the programme Ethics and religious culture to see that the objectives of the religious fall of surrealism and that the supposedly non-denominational foundations are in fact a vision of the mind.
Remember the objective of this part: "bring students understand the various expressions [of religious phenomenon], to grasp the complexity and perceiving the experiential dimensions, historical, doctrinal, moral, ritual, literary, artistic, social or policy. The development of competence […] requires the ability to associate these terms to their respective religion and perceive that they may have links with various elements of the social and cultural environment here and elsewhere. "
Nothing less. Let us not forget that this course is given to children who have just left kindergarten. How can we reasonably believe that such an objective, which is actually a career plan for a sociologist of religion, can be achieved in children aged 6? The teacher must for its part "to bring students to learn to think for themselves "and to" develop a critical sense that helps students understand that all opinions are not equal in value. " One can not but agree here. But "in order not to influence students in developing their point of view, [the teacher] does not give his own". The approach is to advance the judgement of the child by confrontation with other views or with the consequences of a view has a sense of ethics but is inapplicable to religious content. How to develop critical judgement face of beliefs that are the faith? The content of the religious aspect is simply inappropriate for such an approach.
The prayers… cultural!
The most revealing the true nature of this course lies in the themes. Here are some examples from the primary curriculum. The teacher must address "significant stories that have a big influence." These stories are, among others, those of the Magi, Flood, Nanabojo, Glouskap and the revelation to Muhammad. Then there are stories of "important people" (sic): the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the birth of Moses, the birth of Buddha, the life of David and "giant Goliath."
All these stories are mythological stories. To solve the supposed deficit religious culture deplored by some theologians, therefore abreuvera on children aged 6 to 12 years in the sum of mythologies of mankind.
The course also covers religious practices in order to "discover" their characteristics: Mass, the first communion, confirmation, worship on Sunday, the consecration of children, the Friday prayer, the Sabbath, the postures of prayer, contemplation, ritual objects, rosary, prayer wheel, the Lord's Prayer, reading the Bible, singing incantatory, and the list is still long.
How will we talk about how these cultural practices faith? Children who are present these contents are religious and can not make a difference between a confessional approach to religion and a cultural approach. This distinction exists only on paper and becomes a vision of the spirit in the classroom. While the confessional approach was to say, for example, "Jesus is risen at Easter," the cultural approach will be to say "Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at Easter." The message is the same and the approach will not change the meaning that a child of six years will give the religious beliefs which will be presented.
Bringing the lost sheep
What role will the children that parents preferred to include training in moral order to prevent this type of religious indoctrination? They will be drowned in the majority believing and practicing and will soon join its ranks.
Even if the program states that "cultural expressions and those from representations of the world and human beings that define the meaning and value of human experience outside of beliefs and religious adherence are discussed," nothing, absolutely nothing like this exists in the program beyond this puritanical périphrase which aims to avoid the words humanism and atheism.
Not only this course glorifies religions and thus falls within the historical revisionism, but each occasion where a naturalist or scientific vision of life could have been dealt with is missed. This is particularly the case with the theme of representations of the world: it introduced the "story of the Creation", the AUM, the American turtle, the yin and yang, but not a word about what it said science or that affect atheists.
The course marks the turn of the multi-Quebec school. Instead of having a separate religious education according to the confessions, any place in the same course is to remove the name of religious schools, decreed that the approach is cultural and here is the result.
It is against this background that will support multi the second part of the course, the ethical component. Such a confusion between religion and ethics is unacceptable and is thus leaves suggest that ethical behavior can not be developed in connection with a religious belief and a person without religion is therefore amoral or immoral.
Although this could be justified, we do not believe that a return to the exemption would be desirable. The religious culture could be offered as an optional second cycle of secondary while young people have acquired a minimum of critical thinking with regard to religious content.
We believe that such a development could positively endorse all of Quebec's population and avoid the deadlock that legal challenges could lead.
Daniel Baril, adviser for the Mouvement laïque québécois
Hell, for those who believe it, is paved with good intentions, they say. On a theoretical level, the idea of a course of religious culture is a good intention with which it seems difficult, prima facie, to disagree. But just take a look at the programme Ethics and religious culture to see that the objectives of the religious fall of surrealism and that the supposedly non-denominational foundations are in fact a vision of the mind.
Remember the objective of this part: "bring students understand the various expressions [of religious phenomenon], to grasp the complexity and perceiving the experiential dimensions, historical, doctrinal, moral, ritual, literary, artistic, social or policy. The development of competence […] requires the ability to associate these terms to their respective religion and perceive that they may have links with various elements of the social and cultural environment here and elsewhere. "
Nothing less. Let us not forget that this course is given to children who have just left kindergarten. How can we reasonably believe that such an objective, which is actually a career plan for a sociologist of religion, can be achieved in children aged 6? The teacher must for its part "to bring students to learn to think for themselves "and to" develop a critical sense that helps students understand that all opinions are not equal in value. " One can not but agree here. But "in order not to influence students in developing their point of view, [the teacher] does not give his own". The approach is to advance the judgement of the child by confrontation with other views or with the consequences of a view has a sense of ethics but is inapplicable to religious content. How to develop critical judgement face of beliefs that are the faith? The content of the religious aspect is simply inappropriate for such an approach.
The prayers… cultural!
The most revealing the true nature of this course lies in the themes. Here are some examples from the primary curriculum. The teacher must address "significant stories that have a big influence." These stories are, among others, those of the Magi, Flood, Nanabojo, Glouskap and the revelation to Muhammad. Then there are stories of "important people" (sic): the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the birth of Moses, the birth of Buddha, the life of David and "giant Goliath."
All these stories are mythological stories. To solve the supposed deficit religious culture deplored by some theologians, therefore abreuvera on children aged 6 to 12 years in the sum of mythologies of mankind.
The course also covers religious practices in order to "discover" their characteristics: Mass, the first communion, confirmation, worship on Sunday, the consecration of children, the Friday prayer, the Sabbath, the postures of prayer, contemplation, ritual objects, rosary, prayer wheel, the Lord's Prayer, reading the Bible, singing incantatory, and the list is still long.
How will we talk about how these cultural practices faith? Children who are present these contents are religious and can not make a difference between a confessional approach to religion and a cultural approach. This distinction exists only on paper and becomes a vision of the spirit in the classroom. While the confessional approach was to say, for example, "Jesus is risen at Easter," the cultural approach will be to say "Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at Easter." The message is the same and the approach will not change the meaning that a child of six years will give the religious beliefs which will be presented.
Bringing the lost sheep
What role will the children that parents preferred to include training in moral order to prevent this type of religious indoctrination? They will be drowned in the majority believing and practicing and will soon join its ranks.
Even if the program states that "cultural expressions and those from representations of the world and human beings that define the meaning and value of human experience outside of beliefs and religious adherence are discussed," nothing, absolutely nothing like this exists in the program beyond this puritanical périphrase which aims to avoid the words humanism and atheism.
Not only this course glorifies religions and thus falls within the historical revisionism, but each occasion where a naturalist or scientific vision of life could have been dealt with is missed. This is particularly the case with the theme of representations of the world: it introduced the "story of the Creation", the AUM, the American turtle, the yin and yang, but not a word about what it said science or that affect atheists.
The course marks the turn of the multi-Quebec school. Instead of having a separate religious education according to the confessions, any place in the same course is to remove the name of religious schools, decreed that the approach is cultural and here is the result.
It is against this background that will support multi the second part of the course, the ethical component. Such a confusion between religion and ethics is unacceptable and is thus leaves suggest that ethical behavior can not be developed in connection with a religious belief and a person without religion is therefore amoral or immoral.
Although this could be justified, we do not believe that a return to the exemption would be desirable. The religious culture could be offered as an optional second cycle of secondary while young people have acquired a minimum of critical thinking with regard to religious content.
We believe that such a development could positively endorse all of Quebec's population and avoid the deadlock that legal challenges could lead.
Labels: Art and culture, Canada, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism
Time for Quebecers to be more open : Bouchard-Taylor report
by Jeff Heinrich, The Gazette
Saturday May 17, 2008
Get used to living in globalized society, Bouchard-Taylor report urges.
Learn more English, be nicer to Muslims, get better informed.
Those are just some of the ways the unhappy French-Canadian majority in Quebec can shake off its angst about minorities and help build a truly open society in a globalized world, say the authors of a much-anticipated report for the Liberal government on the "reasonable accommodation" of minorities.
In several chapters of the final draft obtained by The Gazette, Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor argue the "discontent of a large part of the population" over demands by Muslims, Jews and other religious minorities "seems to us the result of partial information and false perceptions." The chairpersons of the $5-million commission address a number of what they call "unfounded objections" to the role of religion in Quebec society, mostly voiced by old-stock francophones during three months of highly publicized hearings last fall.
Rebutting those objections, Bouchard, a prominent Chicoutimi sociologist and historian, and Taylor, a world-renowned Montreal philosopher, lay out their vision of a new Quebec coming to terms with kirpans, hijabs, kosher food and other expressions of non-Christian cultures.
In Quebec, they say, everyone should feel welcome and the majority should no longer feel under threat by newcomers.
"We think it is possible to re-concile Quebecers - franco-phones and others - with practices of harmonization, once it has been shown that :
a) these practices respect our society’s fundamental values, notably the equality of men and women.
b) they don’t aim to create privileges but, rather, equality that is well understood and that respects everyone’s rights.
c) they encourage integration and not marginalization.
d) they’re framed by guidelines and protected against spiralling out of control.
e) they’re founded on the principle of reciprocity.
f) they don’t play the game of fundamentalism.
g) they don’t compromise the gains of the Quiet Revolution." The final draft is dated March 19, two weeks before the commission announced on its website that the writing of the report was finished and that, after adding a series of recommendations, proofreading the document and translating it into English, it would be sent to the printers.
The official report is now in the hands of Premier Jean Charest, who is to present it to cabinet on Wednesday. After a budget-style "lock-up" behind closed doors for journalists Friday morning, the commissioners will hold a news conference to discuss their findings.
Broken down into half-a-dozen parts, the voluminous report has more than a dozen chapters and almost as many annexes consisting of a series of research reports, independently produced under special order by the commission.
Their subjects relate to the accommodation debate, including media coverage, ethnic ghettos and French-language training for immigrants.
In their report, Bouchard and Taylor - but mainly Bouchard, who did the bulk of the writing, insiders say- argue that the responsibility for open-mindedness and desire for change lie mainly with one people : the French Canadians themselves.
Labels: Canada, Hostile races, Human mistake, Québec, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism
Monday, May 19, 2008
U.S. Violated Venezuelan Airspace, Says Defense Minister
Venezuela's Minister of Defense, Gustavo Rangel Briceño, denounced on Monday, May 19, that a U.S. fighter jet violated Venezuelan airspace on Saturday night, one day after Caracas complained about a Colombian army’s incursion into Venezuelan territory.
According to Rangel, who read out loud an excerpt of the conversation between the Venezuelan control tower and a U.S. pilot, explained that the latter was not aware he was in Venezuelan territory and that his course was set to the Caribbean Curaçao island during a flight exercise.
At the same press conference, the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, announced that he talked with his Colombian counterpart, Fernando Araujo, about the incursion of the Colombian military into Venezuelan territory. He said they both agreed on activating diplomatic mechanisms in order to settle cross-border conflicts via diplomatic means.
Regarding the U.S. fighter, Maduro said he will arrange a meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in order to demand an explanation.
On Saturday, Venezuela protested the Colombian military incursion; however, on Sunday, the Colombian Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, denied it was an “act of provocation” as the Venezuelan government described it.
On March 1, Colombian troops illegally entered Ecuadorian territory in order to bombard a temporary FARC camp.
During the attack, the Colombian army slaughtered over 24 people (guerrilla members and civilians), including the FARC second-in-command, Raul Reyes, four Mexican students and an Ecuadorian citizen.
The violation to Ecuador’s sovereignty led this country to break diplomatic relations with Colombia, whose government defended the attack and justified it as part of its war against “terrorism.”
Labels: Bush, Chávez, Colombia, Ecuador, United States, Venezuela
A great TV moment
Contrary to our has been analysts of Quebec television, I invite you to watch a great moment of television - in USA, on the MSNBC network. The commentator Keith Olbermann analysis an interview given by Bush - the president intellectually inferior, and mentor of Stephen Harper on the Yahoo network. The video commentary is worth to be seen and heard. Bravo.
Labels: Bush, Harper, Keith Olbermann
Monday, May 12, 2008
How to advocate "Made in China"
By Jeremiah Carvalro
"Let us act quickly, Tibet is dying" scandent they say. Advocacy has become a real way since the beginning of the trail of the "torch" Olympic. Even the organization Reporters Without Borders has gone from denouncing passive activism. All these banners, flags and banners have been in the shadow of the struggle of human rights much more than they have sustained.
This is the ridiculous 100% cotton "Made in China" this mode which is sinking the credibility of this cause. The citizen who fate in the streets full of good intentions, inflated by media coverage and slogans that are raining everywhere should realize that even if brandished posters "Free Tibet" or the Tibetan flag, his clothes bear probably oppressor country to which he must oppose.
Advocacy becomes a naive opposition, which can not be taken seriously and which retains only the clumsiness and misbehaviour of a major speech yet. It is still not an easy task to be aware when we faced the silence of our big men policy. If these details elude us, the economy is largely taken into account in such political contradictions.
This is what I affectionately hypocrisy market, shouted by a silence political than ever before. It will be used to criticize and punish the Russian government, African, or all of these bloody regimes such as Zimbabwe, but face the economic power of the People's Republic of China, major politicians seem to forget human rights, freedom expression and these values which they both boast of being the defence.
When one takes into account the heavy past Olympics, it is ridiculous that some claim loud and clear that sport should not be politicized. Stop lying to you, it always has been. The best example is the Games of Moscow that a fifty countries had boycotted to denounce the invasion of Afghanistan. But South Africa is the economic boycott which was less grand, or our political beliefs of the time who were stronger?
This silence political replongera Games in the dark days of the Games of 1936. Do you remember? The nations were paraded one after the other to cover prestigious Berlin and the now famous Adolf Hitler.
Nicolas Sarkozy is the only head of state to consider a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Games. Its participation will depend on the attitude of the Chinese government faces a dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Yet the primary issue was freedom of expression and human rights in China that the organization Reporters Without Borders denounced the past few years. But the Tibetan cause, rather than become a symbol, has rather overshadowed. No wonder that Western society, plunged into materialism up to the neck, taken in an existential vacuum in search of a god feel more concerned by the repression that live the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. Meanwhile, the Chinese live the same repression but are not entitled to the same cries nor the same banners.
If not able to reverse the repression, we should first be honest. It's been seven years since we know the choice of the International Olympic Committee to name China as the host of 2008 Olympic Games. It's been decades that we know the repressive system that prevails on the People's Republic, but it is at midnight least one that we insurgeons as if it were a new one. But it's too little too late. Assume it, we are the oppressor!
Labels: China, Jérémie Carvalro, Reporters without borders, Sports
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Maxime Bernier's Girlfriend Tied To Underworld - Why Is He Still At The Cabinet Table?
Maxime Bernier's Girlfriend Tied To Underworld - Why Is He Still At The Cabinet Table?
OTTAWA - After his diplomatic faux pas in Afghanistan which revealed Canadian meddling into Afghan internal politics, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is hogging the headlines again.
This time over a former girlfriend who has been linked to a biker gang. Bernier's ex was Julie Couillard, a former model and aspiring actress, who had relationships with two men linked with the Hells Angels biker gang.
One of them was Gilles Giguere, an underworld figure, who was suspected together with two other men of involvement in a murder and extortion plot on Hells Angel head Maurice (Moms) Boucher. Couillard was arrested with Giguere in a pre-dawn raid, but was eventually released."
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Harper, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier, Québec
Maxime Bernier
Category: New Democrat Blogs
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The only Conservative Member of Parliament who was probably happy to see the RCMP raid on Conservative Party headquarters was Minister Maxime Bernier ... because it got the heat of him for a few days.
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The only Conservative Member of Parliament who was probably happy to see the RCMP raid on Conservative Party headquarters was Minister Maxime Bernier ... because it got the heat of him for a few days.
The question still remains though as to why this incompetent minister is still sitting at the Cabinet table, and representing our great nation around the globe?
As the Conservatives continue to do damage control concerning the RCMP raid, there is some behind the scenes efforts to try and salvage Bernier as a minister.
Firstly, Minster Bev Oda has been in Afghanistan desperately trying to mend fences with both the Afghani government and the Governor of Khandahar province.
Secondly, the PMO is obviously calling in favours from the likes of the Ottawa Citizen to shore up and justify the complete gaff that Bernier made in his portfolio.
The fact that Harper's electoral fortunes will live or die in Quebec, he is desperate to keep Bernier on. The question still remains, Why Is Maxime Bernier Still Minister Of Foreign Affairs???
Labels: Canada, Conservative Party, Harper, Julie Couillard, Maxime Bernier, Québec
Solutions for the extension of commuter trains around Montreal
Train Montréal / Dorion Rigaud
Lucien-L'Allier
Vendôme
Montréal-Ouest
Lachine
Dorval
Pine Beach
Valois
Pointe-Claire
Cedar Park
Beaconsfield
Beaurepaire
Baie-d'Urfé
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
Île Perrot
Pincourt / Terrace-Vaudreuil
Dorion
Vaudreuil
Hudson
Rigaud
Train Montréal / Deux-Montagnes
Gare Centrale
Édouard-Montpetit
Canora
Mont-Royal
Montpellier
Du Ruisseau
Bois-Franc
Saraguay
Sunnybrooke
Roxboro-Pierrefonds
Île Bigras
Sainte-Dorothée
Grand-Moulin
Olympia
Deux-Montagnes
Train Montréal / Blainville Saint-Jérôme
Lucien-L'Allier
Vendôme
Montréal-Ouest
Côte-Saint-Luc
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Namur
Côte-des-Neiges
Canora
Parc
Chabanel
Bois-de-Boulogne
Laval-des-Rapides
De la Concorde
Saint-Martin
Bélanger
Vimont
Auteuil
Sainte-Rose
Rosemère
Sainte-Thérêse
Côte-Saint-Louis
Blainville
Chante-Bois
Mirabel
Saint-Antoine
Saint-Jérôme
Train Montréal / Mont-Saint-Hilaire Saint-Hyacinthe
Gare Centrale
Saint-Lambert
Edna-Maricourt
Saint-Hubert
Saint-Bruno
Saint-Basile-le-Grand
McMasterville
Otterburn Park
Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Sainte-Madelaine
Douville
Saint-Hyacinthe
La Providence
Sainte-Rosalie
Train Montréal / Delson Candiac Cowansville
Lucien-L'Allier
Vendôme
Montréal-Ouest
Lasalle
Kahnawake
Sainte-Catherine
Saint-Constant
Delson
Candiac
Saint-Philippe
Du Grand Bernier
Saint-Jean-sur-le-Richelieu
Iberville
Farnham
Cowansville
Train Montréal / Marieville
Gare Centrale
Saint-Lambert
Edna-Maricourt
Laflèche
Greenfield Park
Springfield Park
Cornwall
Gilles-Villeneuve
Chambly
Richelieu
Marieville
Train Montréal / Huntingdon
Lucien-L'Allier
Vendôme
Montréal-Ouest
Lasalle
Kahnawake
Châteauguay
Youville
Léry
Maple Grove
Beauharnois
Melocheville
Saint-Timothée
Champlain
Grande-Île
Baie-Saint-François
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka
Huntingdon
Train Montréal / Sorel Tracy
Gare Centrale
Saint-Lambert
Edna-Maricourt
Saint-Hubert
De Normandie
Terrace-Charbonneau
Saint-Louis
De la Seignerie
Boucherville
Rivière-Saint-Charles
Varennes
Verchères
Contrecoeur
Tracy
Sorel
Train Montréal / Mascouche
Lucien-L'Allier
Vendôme
Montréal-Ouest
Côte-Saint-Luc
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Namur
Côte-des-Neiges
Canora
Parc
Chabanel
Bois-de-Boulogne
Laval-des-Rapides
De la Concorde
Saint-Martin
Bélanger
Duvernay
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul
Saint-François
Terrebonne
Lachenaie
Mascouche
Train Montréal / L'Assomption Joliette
Gare Centrale
Édouard-Montpetit
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Labels: Canada, Montréal, Public transport, Québec
Monday, May 05, 2008
The ABCs of the Global Economy
The ABCs of the Global Economy
The Dollars & Sense Collective
In the 1960s, U.S. corporations changed the way they went after profits in the international economy. Instead of producing goods in the U.S. to export, they moved more and more toward producing goods overseas to sell to consumers in those countries and at home. They had done some of this in the 1950s, but really sped up the process in the '60s.
Before the mid-1960s, free trade probably helped workers and consumers in the United States while disadvantaging workers in poorer countries. Exporters invested their profits at home in the United States, creating new jobs and boosting incomes. The AFL-CIO thought this was a good deal and backed free trade.
But when corporations changed strategies, they changed the alliances. By the late 1960s, the AFL-CIO began opposing free trade as they watched jobs go overseas. But unionists did not see that they had to start building alliances internationally. The union federation continued to take money secretly from the U.S. government to help break up red unions abroad, not a good tactic for producing solidarity. It took until the 1990s for the AFL-CIO to reduce (though not eliminate) its alliance with the U.S. State Department. In the 1990s, unions also forged their alliance with the environmental movement to oppose free trade.
But corporations were not standing still; in the 1980s and 1990s they were working to shift the architecture of international institutions created after World War II to work more effectively in the new global economy they were creating. More and more of their profits were coming from overseas—by the 1990s, 30% of U.S. corporate profits came from their direct investments overseas, up from 13% in the 1960s. This includes money made from the operations of their subsidiaries abroad. But the share of corporate profits earned overseas is even higher than that because the 30% figure doesn't include the interest companies earn on money they loan abroad. And the financial sector is an increasingly important player in the global economy.
Financial institutions and other global corporations without national ties now use governments to dissolve any national restraints on their activities. They are global, so they want their government to be global too. And while trade used to be taken care of through its own organization (GATT) and money vaguely managed through another organization (the International Monetary Fund), the World Trade Organization has erased the divide between trade and investment in its efforts to deregulate investment worldwide.
In helping design some of the global institutions after World War II, John Maynard Keynes assumed companies and economies would operate within national bounds, with the IMF and others regulating exchanges across those borders. The instability created by ruptured borders is made worse by the deregulation sought by corporations, and especially, the financial sector. The most powerful governments of the world seem oblivious to the threat giving into this neoliberal corporate agenda poses to their ability to govern.
This is a world-historical moment in which it is possible to stop the corporate offensive, a moment when the ruling partnership composed of the United States, Europe and to a lesser extent Japan is fracturing, as the European Union reaches its limit on the amount of deregulation it will take and Japan's economy is in turmoil. Those opposed to ruling bloc—Third World governments (which may be conservative), labor, and environmentalists worldwide—have built alliances of convenience with sympathetic elements within the EU to derail the neoliberal push for further trade liberalization. In the summer of 2006, the current round of World Trade Organization talks, launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001, collapsed for good in the face of European refusal to give up its farm supports and the growing recognition among developing countries that further trade liberalization had little to offer them. That the collapse of the Doha round of WTO trade talks was met with resounding cheers from popular organizations in many parts of the world gives hope that a reshaping of global institutions in a liberatory manner just might be in the offering.
What follows is a primer on the most important of those institutions. —Abby Scher and the Dollars and Sense collective
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Where did they come from?
The basic institutions of the postwar international capitalist economy were framed in 1944, at an international conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, dominated by the United States and the United Kingdom. Among the institutions coming out of this conference were the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
At both the World Bank and the IMF, the number of votes a country receives is based on how much capital it contributes to the institution, so rich countries like the United States enjoy disproportionate voting power. At both, five powerful countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan—get to appoint their own representatives to the institution's executive board, with 19 other directors elected by the rest of the 150-odd member countries. The president of the World Bank is elected by the Board of Executive Directors, and traditionally nominated by the U.S. representative. The managing director of the IMF is traditionally a European.
What are they up to?
Just after World War II, the World Bank mostly loaned money to Western European governments to help rebuild their countries. But during the long presidency (1968-1981) of former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, the bank turned toward "development" loans to Third World countries. McNamara brought the same philosophy to development that he had used in the war against Vietnam: more is better. Ever since, the Bank has favored large, expensive projects regardless of their appropriateness to local conditions. Critics argue that the Bank pays little heed to the social and environmental impact of the projects it finances, that it creates dependence on imports and capital from rich countries, and that it often works through dictatorial elites that channel benefits to themselves rather than to those who need help. The poor are left to foot the bill later.
The most important function of the IMF is as a "lender of last resort" to member countries that cannot borrow money from other sources, usually when they are in danger of defaulting on previous loans from private banks. The IMF lends money on the condition that the country implement policy changes that are formally known as a "structural adjustment program" (SAP), but more often referred to as an "austerity plan." Typically, a government is told to devalue its currency, eliminate price controls and subsidies, and eliminate labor regulations like minimum wage laws—all changes that hurt the working class and the poor by cutting their real incomes.
Why should you care?
The IMF and the World Bank wield power disproportionate to the size of the loans they give out because private lenders follow their lead in deciding which countries are credit-worthy. Both institutions have taken advantage of this leverage—and of debt crises in Latin America, Africa, and Asia—to impose a cookie-cutter model of "development" based on "free market" principles, against varying levels of resistance, on the people and governments of poor countries around the world. —Alejandro Reuss
The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs)
Where did they come from?
You're probably not the sort of person who would own a chemical plant or luxury hotel, but imagine you were. Imagine you built a chemical plant or luxury hotel in a foreign country, only to see a labor-friendly government take power and threaten your profits. This is the scenario which makes the CEOs of footloose global corporations wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. To avert such threats, ministers of the richest countries met secretly at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris in 1997 and tried to hammer out a bill of rights for international investors, the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). When protests against the MAI broke out in the streets and the halls of government alike in 1998 and 1999, scuttling the agreement in that form, the corporations turned to the World Trade Organization to achieve their goal.
What are they up to?
Both the MAI and Trade Related Investment Measures (or TRIMs, the name of the WTO version) would force governments to compensate companies for any losses (or reductions in profits) they might suffer because of changes in public policy. Governments would be compelled to tax, regulate, and subsidize foreign businesses exactly as they do local businesses. Policies designed to protect fledgling national industries (a staple of industrial development strategies from the United States and Germany in the 19th century to Japan and Korea in the 20th) would be ruled out.
TRIMs would also be a crowning blow to the control of governments over the movement of capital into or out of their countries. Until fairly recently, most governments imposed controls on the buying and selling of their currencies for purposes other than trade. Known as capital controls, these curbs significantly impeded the mobility of capital. By simply outlawing conversion, governments could trap investors into keeping their holdings in the local currency. But since the 1980s, the IMF and the U.S. Treasury have pressured governments to lift these controls so that international companies can more easily move money around the globe. Corporations and wealthy individuals can now credibly threaten to pull liquid capital out of any country whose policies displease them.
Malaysia successfully imposed controls during the Asian crisis of 1997 and 1998, spurring broad interest among developing countries. The United States wants to establish a new international discussion group—the Group of 20 (G-20), consisting of ministers from 20 developing countries handpicked by the U.S.—to consider reforms. Meanwhile, it continues to push for the MAI-style liberation of capital from any control whatsoever.
Why should you care?
It is sometimes said that the widening chasm between the rich and poor is due to the fact that capital is so easily shifted around the globe while labor, bound to family and place, is not. But there is nothing natural in this. Human beings, after all, have wandered the earth for millennia—traversing oceans and continents, in search of food, land, and adventure—whereas a factory, shipyard, or office building, once built, is almost impossible to move in a cost effective way. Even liquid capital (money) is less mobile than it seems. To be sure, a Mexican can fill a suitcase with pesos, hop a plane and fly to California, but once she disembarks, who's to say what the pesos will be worth, or whether they'll be worth anything at all? For most of this century, however, capitalist governments have curbed labor's natural mobility through passports, migration laws, border checkpoints, and armed border patrols, while capital has been rendered movable by treaties and laws that harmonize the treatment of wealth around the world. The past three decades especially have seen a vast expansion in the legal rights of capital across borders. In other words, labor fights with the cuffs on, while capital takes the gloves off. —Ellen Frank
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)
Where did they come from?
One of the less familiar members of the "alphabet soup" of international economic institutions, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has governed "intellectual property" issues since its founding in 1970. In the old days, "intellectual property" only covered property rights over inventions, industrial designs, trademarks, and artistic and literary works. But WIPO has been busy staking out a brave new world of property rights, especially in the electronic domain. Now "intellectual property" includes computer programs, electronic images, and digital recordings, as well as pharmaceuticals and even biological processes and genetic codes.
What are they up to?
The 1996 WIPO treaty outlaws the "circumvention" of electronic security measures. It makes it illegal, for example, to sidestep the security measures on a website (such as those requiring that users register or send payment in exchange for access). The treaty also prevents programmers from cracking open commercial software to view the underlying code. Similar restrictions had already gone into effect in the United States, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These laws prevent programmers from crafting their own programs so that they are compatible with existing software, and prevent innovation in the form of "reengineering"—drawing on one design as the basis of another. Reengineering has been at the heart of many countries' economic development, including the United States'. In the 19th century, for example, Lowell, Massachusetts, textile manufacturers built their looms based on English designs.
In recent years, WIPO has faced a turf war over the intellectual property issue with none other than the World Trade Organization (WTO). Wealthy countries are attempting an end run around WIPO because it lacks enforcement power and because some poor countries have resisted its agenda. But the mass media, information technology, drug, and biotechnology industries in wealthy countries stand to lose a great deal from "piracy" and to gain a fortune in fees and royalties if given more extensive property rights. So they have introduced, under the name "Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights" (TRIPs), extensive provisions on intellectual property into recent WTO negotiations.
Why should you care?
TRIPs would put the muscle of trade sanctions behind intellectual property rights. It would also stake out new intellectual property rights over plant, animal, and even human genetic codes. The governments of some developing countries have objected, warning that private companies based in rich countries will declare ownership over the genetic codes of plants long used for healing or crops within their countries—what activists have called "biopiracy." By manipulating just one gene of a living organism, a company can be declared the sole owner of an entire plant variety.
These proposals may seem like a new frontier of property rights, but except for the issue of ownership of life forms, TRIPs actually defend the old regime of property rights. It is because current electronic, chemical, and biological technology make virtually unlimited production and free distribution possible that the fight for private property has become so extreme. —Alejandro Reuss
The World Trade Organization (WTO)
Where did it come from?
Since the 1950s, government officials from around the world have met irregularly to hammer out the rules of a global trading system. Known as the General Agreements on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), these negotiations covered, in excruciating detail, such matters as what level of taxation Japan would impose on foreign rice, how many American automobiles Brazil would allow into its market, and how large a subsidy France could give its vineyards. Every clause was carefully crafted, with constant input from business representatives who hoped to profit from expanded international trade. The GATT process however, was slow, cumbersome and difficult to monitor. As corporations expanded more rapidly into global markets they pushed governments to create a more powerful and permanent international body that could speed up trade negotiations as well as oversee and enforce provisions of the GATT. The result is the World Trade Organization, formed out of the ashes of GATT in 1995.
The WTO's ministerial meetings have been the target of massive antiglobalization protests. Over 50,00 people went to Seattle in 1999 to say no to the WTO's corporate agenda, successfully shutting down the first day of the ministerial meeting. African, Caribbean, and other least-developed country representatives walked out of the meeting. The WTO held its 2001 ministerial meeting, Doha, Qatar, safe from protest. Their WTO initiated a new round of trade talks it promised would address thee need s of developing countries. The Doha Development round was in fact continued the WTO's pro-corporate agenda. Two years later "the Group of 20 developing countries" at Cancún ministerial refused to lower trade barriers in their countries trade until the United States and EU cleaned up its unfair global agricultural systems. By the summer of 2006, five years after it began, the Doha round had collapsed and the WTO suspended trade negotiations.
What is it up to?
The WTO functions as a sort of international court for adjudicating trade disputes. Each of its 135 member countries has one representative, who participates in negotiations over trade rules. The heart of the WTO, however, is not its delegates, but its dispute resolution system. With the establishment of the WTO, corporations now have a place to complain to when they want trade barriers— or domestic regulations that limit their freedom to buy and sell—overturned. Though corporations have no standing in the WTO—the organization is, officially, open only to its member countries—the numerous advisory bodies that provide technical expertise to delegates are overflowing with corporate representation. The delegates themselves are drawn from trade ministries and confer regularly with the corporate lobbyists and advisors who swarm the streets and offices of Geneva, where the organization is headquartered. As a result, the WTO has become, as an anonymous delegate told the Financial Times, "a place where governments can collude against their citizens." Lori Wallach and Michelle Sforza, in their book The WTO: Five Years of Reasons to Resist Corporate Globalization, point out that large corporations are essentially "renting" governments to bring cases before the WTO, and in this way, to win in the WTO battles they have lost in the political arena at home. Large shrimping corporations, for example, got India to dispute the U.S. ban on shrimp catches that were not sea-turtle safe. Once such a case is raised, the resolution process violates most democratic notions of due process and openness. Cases are heard before a tribunal of "trade experts," generally lawyers, who, under WTO rules, are required to make their ruling with a presumption in favor of free trade. The WTO puts the burden squarely on governments to justify any restriction of what it considers the natural order of things. There are no amicus briefs (statements of legal opinion filed with a court by outside parties), no observers, and no public record of the deliberations.
The WTO's rule is not restricted to such matters as tariff barriers. When the organization was formed, environmental and labor groups warned that the WTO would soon be rendering decisions on essential matters of public policy. This has proven absolutely correct. The organization has already ruled against Europe for banning hormone-treated beef and against Japan for prohibiting pesticide-laden apples. Also WTO rules prohibit selective purchasing laws, even those targeted at human rights abuses. In 1998 the WTO court lodged a complaint against the state of Massachusetts law that banned government purchases from Burma in an attempt to punish its brutal dictatorship. Had the WTO rules been in place at the time, the anti-Apartheid divestment movement would have violated them as well.
Why should you care?
At stake is a fundamental issue of popular sovereignty—the rights of the people to regulate economic life, whether at the level of the city, state, or nation. The U.S. does not allow businesses operating within its borders to produce goods with child labor, so why should we allow those same businesses— Disney, Gap, or Walmart—to produce their goods with child labor in Haiti and sell the goods here? —Ellen Frank
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
Where did it come from?
The ILO was established in 1919 in the wake of World War I, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and the founding of the Third (Communist) International, a world federation of revolutionary socialist political parties. Idealistic motives mingled with the goal of business and political elites to offer workers an alternative to revolution, and the result was an international treaty organization (established by agreement between governments) whose main job was to promulgate codes of practice in work and employment.
What is it up to?
After World War II the ILO was grafted onto the U.N. structure, and it now serves a wide range of purposes: drafting conventions on labor standards (182 so far), monitoring their implementation, publishing analyses of labor conditions around the world, and providing technical assistance to national governments.
The ILO's conventions set high standards in such areas as health and safety, freedom to organize unions, social insurance, and ending abuses like workplace discrimination and child labor. It convenes panels to investigate whether countries are upholding their legal commitment to enforce these standards, and by general agreement their reports are accurate and fair. ILO publications, like its flagship journal, The International Labour Review, its World Labor and Employment Reports, and its special studies, are of very high quality. Its staff, which is headquartered in Geneva and numbers 1,900, has many talented and idealistic members. The ILO's technical assistance program is minuscule in comparison to the need, but it has changed the lives of many workers. (You can find out more about the ILO at its website: www.ilo.org.)
As a rule, international organizations are reflections of the policies of their member governments, particularly the ones with the most clout, such as the United States. Since governments are almost always biased toward business and against labor, we shouldn't expect to see much pro-labor activism in official circles. The ILO provides a partial exception to this rule, and it is worth considering why. There are probably four main reasons: The ILO's mission explicitly calls for improvements in the conditions of work, and the organization attracts people who believe in this cause. Compare this to the mission of the IMF (to promote the ability of countries to repay their international debts) or the WTO (to expand trade), for instance. Governments send their labor ministers (in the U.S., the Secretary of Labor) to represent them at the ILO. Labor ministers usually specialize in social protection issues and often serve as liaisons to labor unions. A roomful of labor ministers will generally be more progressive than a similar gaggle of finance (IMF) or trade (WTO) ministers.
The ILO's governing body is based on tripartite principles: representatives from unions, employers, and government all have a seat at the table. By institutionalizing a role for nongovernmental organizations, the ILO achieves a greater degree of openness and accountability. Cynics would add that the ILO can afford to be progressive because it is largely powerless. It has no enforcement mechanism for its conventions, and some of the countries that are quickest to ratify have the worst records of living up to them.
Why should you care?
The ILO has significant shortcomings as an organization. Perhaps the most important is its cumbersome, bureaucratic nature: it can take forever for the apparatus to make a decision and carry it out. (Of course, that beats the IMF's approach: decisive, reactionary, and authoritarian.) The experience of the ILO tells us that creating a force capable of governing the global economy will be extremely difficult, and that there are hard tradeoffs between democracy, power, and administrative effectiveness. But it also demonstrates that reforming international organizations—changing their missions and governance systems—is worth the effort, especially if it brings nongovernmental activists into the picture. —Peter Dorman
Resources Arthur MacEwan, "Markets Unbound: The Heavy Price of Globalization," Real World International (Dollars & Sense, 1999); David Mermelstein, ed., The Economic Crisis Reader (Vintage, 1975); Susan George and Fabrizio Sabelli, Faith and Credit: The World Bank's Secular Empire (Penguin Books, 1994); Hans-Albrecht Schraepler, Directory of International Economic Organizations (Georgetown University Press, 1997); S.W. Black, "International Monetary Institutions," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds. (The Macmillan Press Limited, 1987).
Labels: Global Econony, International Monetary Fund
L'Actualité
Anti-Nafta candidates
by Jonathan Trudel published in L'actualité on April 1, 2008
Since his election as President of the USA in 1992, Bill Clinton had been a champion of free trade. Suffering from major unions rally and the base of his party, traditionally resistant to this principle, he had signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which entered into force in 1994. Fourteen years later, at the approach of presidential, his wife, Hillary, and the rival Democrat thereof, Barack Obama, more flirting with protectionism. Both candidates promise to revisit NAFTA and prefer to talk about fair trade rather than free trade. Republicans remain more open to free trade. But Congress, dominated by Democrats, could torpedo any new effort trade liberalization if the Republicans retain control of the White House.
"People do not want a t-shirt cheaper if it costs them their jobs." Barack Obama
"We should review our free trade agreements every five years to ensure they reach their goals. And we should begin with NAFTA, which suffers from serious deficiencies. " Hillary Clinton
"NAFTA has directly lost 900 000 jobs for American workers. […] Should we really submit the interests of those brave Americans to the United Nations, NAFTA, WTO, multinationals and foreign governments? I do not think so. " Lou Dobbs, host of CNN-Features
"Given our close relationship with them, it is in our interest to remind the USA that we are friends. You must be aware that only an elite in the USA recognizes the existence of Canada. There is not much favourable electoral base in Canada there. " Pierre Marc Johnson, former Quebec premier
"The best way to ensure the security of USA is not to fortify our borders with Mexico and Canada, but to establish a common security perimeter around all of North America. It also wants to facilitate the free movement of goods and people on the continent. " Robert Pastor, director of the Independent Working Group on North America
L'Actualité du 1er avril 2008
http://www.lactualite.com/economie/article.jsp?content=20080307_155634_7416
http://www.lactualite.com/economie/article.jsp?content=20080307_155634_7416
Labels: Free trade, Global Econony, International Monetary Fund
Journal de Montréal
Former NDP
New Party for the Federal Government?
Mathieu Bélanger Le Journal de Montréal 22/04/2008 11:00
A new political party could be part of the landscape at the next federal election.
The possible political formation is composed mostly of former militants disappointed with the NDP, supports Francis Chartrand, NDP candidate defeated in the constituency of Riviere-des-Mille-Iles in the last elections.
Many people who jump with Mr. Chartrand worked to elect Thomas Mulcair in the riding of Outremont.
The young man of 25 years says that his group would be able to present 200 to 250 candidates if general elections were held next autumn.
He describes his movement of "centre left" and said already more than 1 000 militants, mostly in Quebec and Ontario.
Secular state
This new political formation would favour a secular state and the withdrawal of Canada from NAFTA.
Topics such as transit, the fight against poverty, massive reforestation and forest compliance with the Kyoto Protocol are also among the priorities of this political movement.
On 17 and 18 May, more than 150 delegates and observers will meet in Saint-Eustache. The decision to create a political party will take a week later in Kingston.
The founding convention could be held next September in Saint-Hyacinthe.
Labels: Francis Chartrand, Free trade, Kyoto, New Democratic Party, New political party, Ontario, Québec, Secularism
Articles in April
Monday, April 21, 2008
A new national party in training
La Presse
Canada could soon have a political party besides. A group composed mainly of Quebecers, disappointed by their visit to New Democratic Party (NDP), held in the coming weeks of first meetings for the formation of this new national movement "centre-left". The group claims to be able to nominate candidates in nearly 200 constituencies where elections were to take place in autumn.
The first meeting of this group will take place in Saint-Eustache on May 18 and 19. It will be followed by a second one in Kingston, Ontario, at the end of the month. More than a hundred people are expected each time. "This is especially disappointed activists of the Quebec section of the NDP," said to La Presse Francis Chartrand, a candidate in the constituency of Riviere-des-Mille-Iles in the last elections. The young man of 25 years was asked by the party leadership to withdraw his candidacy for the forthcoming election, shortly before Christmas. He is joined in its efforts by Christian Barette and Anne Humphreys, who had also been approached to appear in the forthcoming elections under the banner of the NDP.
This new training militerait including the integration of secularism in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for the withdrawal of Canada from any free trade agreement, as well as to prohibit the companies to close any plant or manufacture in order to move abroad.
If the party establishment is approved by both boards of May, it will result in a caucus next September in Saint-Hyacinthe. But already, Anne Humphreys maintains that more than 50 people were given a constituency and that efforts are made to recruit other candidats. The NDP has refused to comment on these approaches and what Mr. Chartrand.
Labels: Anne Humphreys, Christian Barrette, Francis Chartrand, Free trade, Hostile races, New Democratic Party, New political party, Religion and fanaticism, Secularism
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