Travers: PM fills political vacuum with rhetorical hokum

This is great commentary from James Travers of the Toronto Star. Copyright laws mean I have to include the ads.

Demand Dignity Campaign Launch - Premiere of "Poverty of Justice" Film

I just returned from Amnesty International (Lethbridge Chapter)'s launch of AI's Demand Dignity campaign.  The event at the Lethbridge Public Library, featured, first, the premier of "Poverty of Justice".  It's a film produced by Amnesty International.  It's about three communities who tell their own stories of the human rights abuses that keep them in poverty. The stories are from Kenya, Peru, and right here in Alberta: Little Buffalo, Alberta (Lubicon Lake Cree).  After the film the human dynamo behind AI Lethbridge, Mary Kosta, introduced agencies in Lethbridge that work to eliminate poverty:
Lethbridge Shelter Resource Centre, 
The Salvation Army
Interfaith Food Bank,
Lethbridge Food Bank
Lethbridge Family Services, 
Lethbridge Native Women's Transition Home Society, 
Streets Alive, 
Red Cross, Lethbridge
Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group, 
YWCA Lethbridge, 
Pathways to Housing, 
Opokaa'sin Early Intervention Society.

(If I've left any out, I hope someone will let me know.)

It was an eye-opening event, both for the depth of poverty that exists in many places in the world, the unfairness of the way the Lubicon Lake Cree have been treated, and the wonderful work that's being done right here in Lethbridge.  Thanks to everyone, especially to AI Lethbridge for bringing this together.

Update on the rally against prorogation Jan. 23 Lethbridge

An Update on the rally at Rick Casson's office on Saturday, Jan 23rd.
Thanks to Bev Mündel-Atherstone for this report and to Henning Mündel for photographs.

Thanks to the approximately 100 participants who came out in cold blustery weather to show their disgust and opposition to the Conservatives and the P.M.'s prorogation of Parliament. People marched in a circle chanting, "No prorogation--Listen to the Nation", while holding the coffins high. CTV and Global filmed the rally for their early evening news. Ric Swihart of the Lethbridge Herald interviewed many of the participants. His story is on the front page of Sunday's Herald. Staffers of the U of L Students newspaper, "The Meliorist" were also on hand, taping interviews.

Many people brought their own creative signs. We had two coffins symbolizing the "death of democracy". Someone brought a huge Canadian flag.
Tom Moffatt reminded the crowd that we must vote. Over 40,000 people in Lethbridge did not vote in the last election. Everyone must vote if we want change.

Mark Sandilands, our newly acclaimed Lethbridge Federal NDP candidate, pointed out that 36 bills were killed when Parliament was prorogues. Some of these were Mr. Harper's favorites on his getting tough on crime policies. Some were to protect consumers from the lead and cadmium in products, most especially toys produced in places like China. But, no matter, these bills were killed as Mr. Harper doesn't really care about Canadians.
The amount of effort, time, money and energy, never mind all the work that the various parties put in together to create these bills, was in naught. Four months of
work, lost! From January 25th, when Parliament was to resume, until March 3rd, another 5 weeks of work is lost. Then when Parliament begins, those same bills will have to start from scratch. How efficient is that to redo all that same work all over again? This is a waste of tax payers' money, our Parliamentarians time, and everyone's effort.

Thanks again to everyone for the terrific support.

Thanks to Bonnie at the Round Street cafe for the donation of the hot coffee and hot chocolate to the participants. Thanks to Sheila Rogers for organizing the bull horn and one coffin, which she and her partner James made. Thanks to Tom Moffatt for making the second coffin.

You can find a slide show of a power point by Henning Muendel of his photos of the event, here.

Thanks again,

Bev Muendel-Atherstone and Tom Moffatt, Organizers

Proroguing and the Afghan Detainees

Letter to the editor, Lethbridge Herald Saturday, January 23, 2010

Editor:

Stephen Harper's proroguing of parliament continues to cause criticism. We've heard the phrase "naked self-interest" from the UK's The Economist. His former chief of staff, Tom Flanagan, said "[doesn't] have much credibility."

By proroguing parliament, Harper cancelled all committee work, killed 36 government bills, including bills dealing with consumer protection and white-collar crimes. Only 27 out of 63 bills have passed, or just 43 percent--which, if it were a grade, would be a failing one.

But what were the real reasons? Many point to Harper's wish to end debate on the Afghan detainee issue. This is serious: just before Christmas Parliament passed a motion demanding access to the Afghan detainee documents, in effect a subpoena. Prorogation stops this from happening.

Harper's spin doctors are saying Canadians are not very concerned about a few Taliban sympathizers, but the detainee issue has a keen relationship to the success or failure of the Canadian/NATO mission. First, to say there were only a few (or just one) incidents of torture is to obscure the evidence. The International Red Cross, which can't directly give details, is widely believed to have repeatedly warned the Canadian government that the torture was widespread.

Second, the detainee issue has a strong influence on the view that ordinary Afghanis have of our soldiers: Are Canadians bringing democracy to this troubled country or do they represent a repressive occupying force? We're trying to convince Afghanis that democratic ways are better for them, but if they find that they or their friends and neighbours can be picked up and passed over to prisons where they'll be tortured, their trust and acceptance of Canadian soldiers is compromised. This, in turn, means that every day Afghans are less likely to cooperate with Canadian troops such as by telling where IEDs are hidden. Canadian soldiers and civilians are dying as a result.

Thirdly, as stated by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Canadian forces have legal obligations under international law to ensure that any person in their effective control is never transferred to torture. If reports of torture are made, Canada is legally obligated to intervene to stop the torture, or to request the return of the detainees being tortured.

Our elected representatives are there to hold the government accountable. Without them there, the very idea of Canadian democracy is weakened.

________

Mark Sandilands

On the campaign trail again!

Last evening (Saturday, January 16th) I was nominated again as the NDP Candidate for Lethbridge Federal Riding. The nomination meeting was well attended given it was a Saturday night. Also in competition was an arts event. The audience was pleased to hear what Judy Wasylycia-Leis had to say. My nomination speech was well received and, as a result of requests, I'm posting it here.

Notes for Nomination Meeting speech

Mark Sandilands

January 16, 2010

First, thanks to my nominator, Tom Moffatt. Your kind words make me want to work hard in the upcoming election, whenever it happens. I also thank all who worked in the 2006 campaign with Melanee Thomas and in the 2008 campaign with me, and since, to make us the clear alternative to the Conservatives in Lethbridge.

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a young woman, who, I think, is a supporter. She said that she’s disappointed with politicians (like me, I guess) who always seem to criticize each other and never say what they’d do if they were in power.

It seems, though, that from the point of view of those on the progressive side, there is so much wrong with the way Stephen Harper is governing Canada, that it’s easy to criticize. So I’d like to begin by discussing some of the most galling aspects of Conservative rule, and then talk about some of the ideas I’d like to see implemented in a new government.

Just a couple of examples: The issue that seized Parliament in the days before the prorogation was the reports of torture of the Afghan detainees, and that the government was aware of it. Harper and company even had the brass to call critics of his government’s approach disloyal to the troops. I say: by not putting in place a system for the safe handling of Afghan prisoners and showing such a cavalier attitude toward them, even the ones who may be innocent, Harper has sent a message to the Afghan people that he’s not really interested in bringing democracy to that unfortunate country. I believe that Harper is the one who’s been disloyal to the troops and the one who’s endangering them unnecessarily.

On the environment, Harper has spent the past four years blaming the lack of Canada’s action on climate change on the Liberals, but done nothing about it himself. When it came time to introduce stimulus spending to avoid a serious recession, he chose to spend Canadian money on nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage and, even including these questionable projects, he’s spending less on green energy in his stimulus package than just about any other developed nation. Obama is outspending him 14 to 1 per capita on green stimulus.

But enough of this. What would I do? Here are some of the choices we'd make:

1. Harper promised more accountability, but he's even less accountable than Chretien and Martin were. That's the first fix. I note that Democracy Watch gave the NDP the best overall grade in accountability in the last election.

2. Harper's climate record is abominable. As I said, Canada is spending less on green recovery than almost any other OECD country. This would be the second fix--moving Canada to a green economy.

3. Health care--rather than dismantling the health care system and turning a blind eye to privatization, we'd work to make it more efficient.

4. Dealing with crime: The NDP would do better than just locking people up working toward safe neighbourhoods, for example.

On broader issues, very recently I came across an author, Riane Eisler, who’s written several books, the most recent being The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics.

Eisler says, “The real wealth of nations -- and the world — consists of the contributions of people and nature.” Eisler suggests there are two approaches to categorizing societies, the partnership system and the domination system. Most societies we’re familiar with, be they capitalist or socialist, are domination oriented. Domination systems are top-down: “man over man, man over woman, race over race, religion over religion, nation over nation, man over nature.”

On the other hand, core elements of a partnership system “are a democratic and egalitarian structure in both the family and state or tribe; equal partnership between women and men; and a low degree of violence, because it's not needed to maintain rigid rankings of domination.” (For more, go to http://www.rianeeisler.com/ )

I believe the New Democratic Party espouses values that are best in synch with a partnership system, and I will work to make these links more evident.

I could say lots more, but I’m sure everyone wants to hear what Judy Wasylycia-Leis has to say. Before I go, though, a few thoughts: In the last election, only 53% of voters in the Lethbridge riding actually voted. We can work to get the other 42000 votes in our column.

As so eloquently said by Pierre Ducasse in the 2003 NDP Leadership race: “To achieve the results you have never achieved before, you must do what you have never done before!” And, of course there is the still very much relevant NDP slogan from 2007 and 2008: “Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done!” The work begins NOW!

Thank you.

Global warming is real and urgent (Letter to the Herald, Jan. 12, 2009

Editor:

Several letters recently published in The Herald have said current signs of global warming are part of a natural cycle. Further they say we should not take any precautionary steps to reduce our CO2 emissions because they might be too expensive. The warming we're seeing is NOT part of a natural cycle but is the result of an increase of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that humans have put in the atmosphere over the past 150 years. Glaciers are retreating, arctic ice is disappearing, methane is bubbling up from the permafrost, and islands are submerging.

How do we know the cause is CO2? First, CO2 concentration has increased from 284 ppm (parts per million) from the early 1800s to 387 ppm currently. Second, based on research done over 100 years ago, CO2 in the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas that traps heat. The planet Venus, for example, has vastly more CO2 in its atmosphere than Earth. Its surface temperature is 467° C, not because it's closer to the Sun, but because of the CO2.

Two main factors in global temperature are the sun and CO2. If we only use fluctuations of solar radiation (the sun) over the past 50 years, we are just like someone who tries to predict a child's height based only on the height of one parent. However, if we use solar radiation and CO2 levels over the past 50 years, we get better results. The test of accuracy of our prediction is to compare the actual temperature record with the results of prediction models. Climate scientists have found that their set of predicted temperatures are most accurate if they include CO2 and solar radiation in their models. If they don't include CO2, their prediction runs are inaccurate.

Global warming is real and it's urgent to take steps immediately to reduce our use of fossil fuels. It's nothing short of insane to listen to those who say it's a natural cycle and we can continue to spew CO2 into the atmosphere.

A final note: 1970's ice age predictions were predominantly media based with the majority of scientific papers (42 to 7) predicting warming (http://tinyurl.com/2vdj8u). We've had the information for years. At this point, there should be no debate, only urgently needed action.
________
Mark Sandilands

Lethbridge