Mark Sandilands's Blog--Notes from progressive Lethbridge

Plebiscite fair way to settle CWB issue

2011-11-29T02:35:00.003-07:00

Note: This letter was published in the November 29th edition of the Lethbridge Herald. The Herald did not publish the letter in its online edition for reasons of their own.

Editor:

In his letter about the CWB of, November 20, Jim Hillyer is technically correct that Parliament has the right to overturn legislation put in place by previous governments.

However, governments also have an obligation to seriously consider the effects of overturning previous legislation and of introducing new legislation. This is why there are debates in the Parliament and, usually, extensive committee hearings. But the Conservatives are using closure to shut down debate and to limit severely the time available for the agricultural committee to hear witnesses. Furthermore, the legislation they're introducing is coming at a time when farmers are busy harvesting crops. The Canadian Wheat Board Act required a plebiscite to determine if the majority of wheat farmers agree with the move. Yes, it is technically legitimate to rescind this old legislation, but it definitely violates the spirit of the old law and, more importantly, the spirit of fairness. Why not hold hearings throughout the prairies? Independent experts (e.g., agricultural economist Murray Fulton) have stated that the CWB cannot survive without its single desk (See The Canadian Wheat Board in an Open Market: The Impact of Removing the Single-Desk Selling Powers ). Why not ask the farmers and see if they agree with Fulton or with Harper?

It's hard to argue against the phrases, "Marketing Freedom" and "Freedom of Choice." But if a group, very likely a majority group, chooses one approach to marketing, a change to that approach should, at the very least, include consulting with that group, particularly if it's a major and irreversible change.

A group of farmers have, in the past 12 years, chosen repeatedly to keep the CWB in its present form by repeatedly electing farmer directors of the Board who support the CWB's monopoly. Indeed, some directors who were elected on a dual desk platform, when they learned about the advantages brought about by the single desk, changed their mind.

Recently the Globe published an obituary for Ken Ritter, former chair of the CWB. Mr. Ritter, a Conservative, was one of the ones who changed his mind from supporting dual desk to the single desk.

Mr. Hillyer mentions a small group of farmers, but it's a small group that are the ones who want to dispose of the CWB in its current form and who are in the minority. No one can know for sure, unless there's a fair plebiscite of those affected. Why are you and your party so afraid of doing this, Mr. Hillyer?

Mark Sandilands

Survey's 'majority' doesn't add up

2011-11-15T02:01:00.003-07:00

TUESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2011 02:01 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Re: "Municipal taxes too high: survey" (Lethbridge Herald, Nov. 8, page A1). It's interesting to see that 49.9 per cent is labelled "a majority." There's a common phrase: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." However, it's not the statistics - the numbers - that lie, it's the interpretation of them that can be misleading. The research quoted in the article found that 15.8 per cent of the respondents think their taxes are far too high and 34.1 per cent believe taxes are somewhat too high. Adding these two together, a common and legitimate practice in interpreting survey data, gives the 49.9 per cent figure. But 49.9 per cent is not a majority. Just ask the supporters of Quebec separation in 1995. But I digress. If adding response percentages from a survey is a legitimate exercise, let's add some other response percentages. The survey found an almost identical number, 46.4 per cent (almost within the margin of error, I might add), felt that property taxes are at about the right levels in relation to the services received from municipal governments. Also, 3.7 per cent think their taxes are too low. (This is made up by summing 3.4 per cent who think they are somewhat too low and 0.3 per cent who state that they are far too low. Adding these together leads to the conclusion that 3.7 per cent think taxes are too low. Thus we could conclude that 50.1 per cent (46.4 + 3.4 + 0.3) think taxes are about right or (even) too low. This figure, 50.1 per cent, is a majority, by the way. They'd likely object to a cut in services done to reduce taxes. As I said, it's all in the interpretation. When one of several possible interpretations leads to the conclusion that taxes should be lowered, and amplifies it by suggesting that 49.9 per cent is a majority, one wonders why. Just asking.
Mark Sandilands Lethbridge

Okaying Hands Free Cell Phones is the wrong way to go

2011-09-13T12:54:00.000-06:00

Editor,

You’d think a government wanting to enact effective legislation would consult with experts in the field and then mostly follow their advice when writing a new law. Not the government of Alberta! And not with the new Alberta “distracted driving law.”

This is an example of the half-measures and one-step-forward, two-steps-back that we’ve come to expect from a government that is growing tired and ineffective.

So what would experts say about distracted driving legislation? One of Canada’s leading experts on this topic is Dr. Louis
Francescutti, an emergency room doctor in Edmonton. Dr. Francescutti says he’d prefer no law at all than this law, saying it’ll probably kill more people than it will save.

According to Dr. Francescutti, the research shows that using a cellphone while driving increases the risk of collision by four to six times, and it doesn’t matter whether the cell-phone is hand-held or hands-free. It’s the mind that needs to be engaged, not the hands. The main problem with any cell-phone use while driving is not that both hands are not on the wheel, it’s that the mind is elsewhere, engaged in a conversation. Unlike a passenger in the vehicle, the person on the other end of the conversation cannot see when difficult driving situations arise and adjust accordingly. A person’s reaction time and peripheral vision are seriously impaired by cell-phone use, making it equivalent to driving with over .08 blood alcohol.

The government has said a ban on hands-free cell phones would be impossible to enforce; however, Dr. Francescutti points out that (a) cell phone companies keep accurate records of when calls are made, down to the second, and (b) recent autos have an event recorder that notes the exact time when an airbag is deployed. If anyone is in an accident it would not be difficult to subpoena these records to prosecute offenders. Indeed, anyone who's been injured by a cell-phone using driver should pursue this path in any legal action.

The best policy is when someone calls is to let the phone take the message, pull over, park, and call them back. For more information, see http://www.cellphonefreedriving.ca/ Too bad the government MLAs didn’t bother to look here.
________
Mark Sandilands
Published today in the Lethbridge Herald:
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/letters-to-the-editor/new-driving-law-ringsthe-wrong-number-91311.html

Rural Canada Relies on the Canadian Wheat Board

2011-07-17T13:13:00.003-06:00

In the ongoing debate about the future of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), one of the arguments for dismantling it is to allow farmers to find their own markets and presumably a better price for their wheat and barley.
On the surface, independence seems a good thing. However, it brings to mind an analogy: many if not most Canadians own at least some mutual funds, usually in their RRSPs. One could study and become an expert on investing and do the buying and selling that mutual fund managers do on our behalf, but we do have other ways, some useful, to spend our time. So we pay a fee, hopefully a reasonable one, to a mutual fund to do that work for us.
Yes, wheat farmers could track the price of wheat daily and sell their crop to a grain company at just the right time for a really good price.
However, unless they run a really large operation, the larger number, prefer to stick to farming and leave the grain trading to the paid staff at the CWB. The CWB offers a number of advantages to wheat farmers. First is price pooling which protects from abrupt price shifts so that farmers don't have to deliver their wheat exactly when the price peaks.
If the single desk goes, so will the producer car loading sites. Producer cars mean farmers can bypass grain companies' elevators and save themselves $1,200 per hopper car. The producer cars use branchlines and shortline railroads - what will happen to them and the communities along them?
As economist Murray Fulton said, "The . . . loss of the CWB's single-desk . . . would make the Canadian system . . . more like that in the (U.S.) . . . Grain company and railroad competition would fall, . . . the current freight revenue cap would disappear, and less value would be returned to farmers . . . These changes . . . are irreversible."
We can imagine a modern feudal system with farmers at the mercy of multinational corporations who'll decide what to grow and how much to grow.
Farms will have to grow bigger; there'll be fewer small- and medium-farming operations and the loss of small, rural communities with their schools, hospitals, community centres and other services. One could drive through rural Canada and find virtually no inhabitants.
Do Harper and company and their corporate friends care about rural Canada? It seems not.
Mark Sandilands
Lethbridge
Published in the Lethbridge Herald, Sunday, July 17th. http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/letters-to-the-editor/rural-canada-relieson-cwb-71711.html

Canadian Wheat Board

2011-05-28T18:27:00.000-06:00

If you're interested in reading a thorough analysis of the Canadian Wheat Board, here's a start. It's from the Saskatchewan desk of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Excerpt:
"Without the Wheat Board, the big grain companies would totally take over. Farmers would just be contract growers, restricted to the company's varieties, their chemicals, their prices and conditions. For transportation rates and service we'd be at the mercy of the railroads, with no representative body strong enough to take them on."

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/sasknotes-harper’s-renewed-attack-canadian-wheat-board

Corporate tax cuts not in best interests of Canadians --letter to the editor of the Lethbridge Herald

2011-05-19T06:28:00.000-06:00

Editor,

Even though the election is over, the debate about corporate tax cuts continues, as shown in recent letters to the editor (2011- 04-22, 2011-05-05) and news stories stating Flaherty is set to go ahead with corporate tax cuts. Aside from the fact that there is no clear link between corporate tax cuts and job creation (for example:http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/corporate-income-taxes-profit-and-employment-performance-canadas-largest-compa), a serious item has been almost totally ignored in the debate. Munir Sheikh, former head of Statistics Canada and of tax policy at Finance Canada, pointed out in a Globe and Mail column on April 20th (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-canada-us-tax-gap-means-a-canada-us-tax-transfer/article1991567/) that USA taxes US corporations on their world-wide income. If there’s a tax cut elsewhere, such as in Canada, US corporations are required to pay more American tax on their Canadian profits, since the US rate is about twice as high as ours is. This transfer from the Canada treasury to the US treasury amounts to between $4 and $6 billion a year. These missing billions will have to be made up with higher taxes paid by individuals or cuts to services—health care, the environment, food inspectors.
One wonders why the Conservatives plan to go full speed ahead on corporate tax cuts in light of these facts. Cutting taxes is the ideological mantra of conservative governments. Let’s hope ordinary Canadians tell Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty to govern with them in mind, not ideology or the best interests of large corporations.

Reality Check

2011-04-24T19:18:00.002-06:00

REALITY CHECK: Will Harper withdraw his made-up ads?

Coming off a week where the Conservatives were pretty testy about misquotes in TV ads, Stephen Harper released ads that were full of made-up stuff.

Here is each attack on Jack Layton in the newly released Conservative ads, and the facts (citations are from the Ads themselves.)

HARPER SAYS: “Layton planned a coalition with the Bloc Quebecois before our votes were even counted (How we Almost Gave the Tories the Boot, Brian Topp, p. 46)”

HE MADE IT UP: The only mention of the Bloc on page 46 is a reference to the number of seats they won: “The campaign went well. We emerged with 37 seats, our second-largest result in our party's history. The Tories won 143 seats; the Liberals 76; the Bloc 48. We finally had a clean balance-of-power position in Parliament. As directed by Layton, I had re-activated our scenarios committee during the course of that 2008 campaign.... We reviewed party election proposals and reached roughly similar conclusions as we did in the 2006 exercise. We could see some areas of common ground with the Conservatives (consumer protection, crime). We could also see somewhat more common ground with the Liberals. On the other hand, we were now going to have to deal with a fundamental policy disagreement with the Liberals, passionately committed as they were to Mr. Ignatieff's tax-shift, carbon-tax plan.” – Brian Topp, How We (Almost) Gave the Tories the Boot, p. 46

HARPER SAYS: “Layton was willing to make Duceppe the “Driving Force” in the Coalition (Toronto Star, October 6, 2010)”

HE MADE IT UP: Full citation: “In a book released this week Duceppe casts himself as the driving force behind the Liberal-NDP coalition agreement.” – Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star, October 6, 2010

HARPER SAYS: “Layton didn’t tell you until after the election”

HE MADE IT UP: Jack Layton has been clear about his plans to work with other parties to get results for Canadian families.

Seamus O'Regan: Do you believe so strongly in that that you would entertain even the notion of entering a coalition with the liberals in order to keep the conservatives out of power?
Jack Layton: I have worked with any other party. Maybe it goes back to my days on municipal council. You role up your sleeves and you try to solve a problem. Right now the problem we have is Stephen Harper and his Conservatives.”
–Canada AM, September 22 2008 (22 days before the election)

Making stuff up in TV ads is more proof that Ottawa is broken.

Campaign Update

2011-04-17T13:02:00.000-06:00

CAMPAIGN UPDATE:

We have completed 3 weeks of this election – with 2 more to go. Here are some observations from this point in the race:

WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT CAMPAIGN TEAM! About a dozen men, women and youth make up the core of my Election Team. They have:

good skills
great team cohesion,
intense moments of problem solving,
also times of laughter.

NATIONALLY – this has been a good three weeks for New Democrats.

Jack Layton has proclaimed the vision and message very clearly:

Solid issues on environment, health care and government ethics support the NDP platform.

The Conservatives, nationally, have stumbled through one glitch after another,

Most recently, the ugly Helena Guergis publicity;
The barring of potential dissenters from Tory rallies;
Edmonton Strathcona Conservative candidate, Ryan Hastman, confessing he is "losing";
and many more.

LOCALLY – there is lots to celebrate

An energetic phone canvas 4 nights a week, with cell phones we have purchased;
Coffee parties just now in full swing;
A sign campaign we are winning!
My own solid track record on the environment and social issues that wins support from many wavering voters;
A fluid mood out there (which we hear repeatedly through the phone canvas) that many voters are considering other options besides the standard Conservative one for this riding.

LOOKING AHEAD – We look forward to the round of all candidate forums, which will give us a chance to speak clearly to local voters, and challenge other candidates. We will also be reminding the many undecided voters that NDP candidates have run second in the last two federal elections in Lethbridge, and in this riding are the obvious choice for those who have had enough of Harper’s domineering, controlling style, shabby ethics, outrageous environmental stance, tenuous support for health care and more.

April 6th Event

2011-04-04T17:31:00.000-06:00

Prison Farm issue is still alive.

2011-01-29T13:49:00.005-07:00

I've recently received information from Prison Farm supporters in Kingston: Here's the message:

Hello, prison farm supporters,
Next Wednesday, Feb. 2, MPs will be voting on the Public Safety Committee's motion to halt dismantling the prison farm program, conduct an independent review of the program and report back to Parliament.
Leading up to the vote and in order to witness the vote, we are planning events and actions described below. Please participate in as many of these actions as possible to keep up the pressure on the Conservative government to reverse its wrong-headed prison agenda.
We hope a strong show of support for the prison farms will result in a victory on this vote.
Remember, we live in hope...

Four of the things they're planning are:

Write to MPs (particularly your own MP), and ask friends and family across Canada to write to their MP (especially if the MP is Conservative);
Monday, Jan. 31, at 9 am -- demonstration at the entrance to Frontenac Institution;
Monday night vigil at Frontenac Institution;
Wednesday, Feb. 2 -- bus trip to Ottawa to witness the vote on the prison farm motion.

Now, unless you live in Kingston, the last three will be difficult, but you can write to your MP. Given the timeframe, a fax or a phone call would be better.

For Lethbridge people, here's the information for Rick Casson:

Ottawa:
Tel: (613) 996-0633
Fax: (613) 995-5752

Lethbridge
Tel: (403) 320-0070
Fax: (403) 380-4026
255 - 8th Street South
Lethbridge, Alberta
T1J 4Y1

For other MPs: http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsAddressList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

Here's a sample letter:

To my Honourable Member of Parliament,

On February 2, you will be asked to vote on the prison farm issue. A favourable vote will place a moratorium on further dismantling of Canada's six internationally-recognized prison farms, until an independent study researching the value of the farm program is completed and communicated to Parliament, allowing for a constructive dialogue on the provision of rehabilitation for inmates.

I believe that the prison farm program operated by Correctional Service of Canada offered an effective rehabilitation and training program for inmates (in addition to providing food for the prison system). In polls conducted by the CBC and the Globe and Mail, over 90 percent of Canadians voted to retain the prison farm program.

I understand that this will be a free vote, and trust that you will vote for Canadian values of democracy and rehabilitation, and endorse the value of farming in Canada. As my representative, I ask that you vote as you should — representing your constituents.

On February 2, please vote to save Canada’s prison farms -- and demonstrate that you are listening to the vast majority of Canadians that believe that providing constructive rehabilitation for inmates increases public safety. It is time to be smart on crime.

In peace, respect and friendship,

FInally, here are some links to articles about the issue:

Mauri restorative justice http://www.sfu.ca/~palys/Tauri%20chapter%20on%20Maori%20the%20CJS.pdf
Coalition of churches condemns Ottawa's justice plans http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/coalition-of-churches-condemns-ottawas-justice-plan/article1884171/
Why Canada' prisons can't cope with flood of mentally ill inmates http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-canadas-prisons-cant-cope-with-flood-of-mentally-ill-inmates/article1879501/
Article from The Nation on ending the war on crime http://www.thenation.com/article/end-war-crime
Newt Gingrich's column opposing prison expansions in the US http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/article_0f359876-c028-5269-9c47-4df21f3ddf4c.html
Editorial in The Star opposing expanding prisons (relates to the Newt Gingrich column) http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/922295--expanding-prisons-getting-it-right-on-crime

Why doesn't PM work to bring about good legislation?

2011-01-02T12:29:00.002-07:00

Editor:

Re Harper vows no election (Dec. 18, 2010). Although your story says Stephen Harper will not call or provoke an election in 2011, he clearly wants to set the stage to blame opposition parties for this kind of speculation as it said later on in your article.

This news story, however, caused me to pause and think: If Stephen Harper does not want an election, why doesn’t he work with the opposition parties to bring good legislation to Canadians?

Consider: although Harper has been Prime Minister for almost five years, he and his government have not accomplished a whole lot in that time. For example, they have brought approximately 60 bills into the House of Commons since it reconvened last March. But about half were leftovers from the previous session--they had to be brought up again because Harper prorogued parliament (for a second time!) in December 2009 to avoid the questions about Afghan detainees. According to the Québec newspaper, Le Devoir, of the 60, only 11 bills have been passed, which is why Le Devoir concluded that “2010 was a total waste on the legislative front.”

Looking deeper, if Harper wants to keep governing with a minority, why does he keep offending the opposition parties and the sensibilities of over 60% of Canadians? Canceling the long-form census? Closing prison farms? Abusing Veterans and only giving in when the Veterans take to the streets? Publishing a handbook for Conservatives to disrupt parliamentary committees? Continuously assaulting women’s rights? Canceling anti-smoking messages recommended by Health Canada? Bringing in an Omnibus budget bill with irrelevant, environment-threatening sections? Ignoring police advice on firearms? And this is a shortened list. Further, most of these actions have been taken without debate in Parliament. If he wants to continue it’s because he can continue to do things outside parliament especially now that he controls the Senate.

Harper is, according to a recent book about him (Harperland, by Lawrence Martin), the consummate political strategist whose choice is always to smash the opposition rather than bring good policy to Canadians. Let’s hope an election can rid Canada of this style of leadership!

________
Mark Sandilands
NDP Candidate, Lethbridge Federal Riding

Prison farms would be ideal for rehabilitation

2010-11-23T08:24:00.009-07:00

TUESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2010 LETTER TO THE EDITOR
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/letters-to-the-editor/prison-farms-would-be-ideal-for-rehabilitation-112310.html

Re " Prison climate needs changing " (editorial, Nov. 10). Clearly, the Harper government places rehabilitation way down the list of priorities as stated by Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers. The majority of prisoners will return to society, so it's in our best interest that they return able to fit in.
Further, you might think that, with the majority of his caucus from rural Canada, Harper would be more receptive to the idea that working on a farm is good rehabilitation. Sadly, not. Last February, Harper announced the closure of all six of Canada's prison farms, one of which is in Alberta; others are across Canada. This decision and associated comments about farming should anger southern Albertans, particularly farmers.
Activists have been protesting the closure, arguing that the farms act as a necessary and successful method of rehabilitation for low-risk criminal offenders. According to NDP MP Alex Atamanenko, these farm programs "have received support from local police and municipalities as well as trade unions, farm groups and food security advocates." There's even a website devoted to opposing the closure: www.saveourfarms.ca/about.html .
The decision surprisingly resulted in a column in the National Post (Aug. 11, 2010), a paper that regularly supports the Conservatives. The Post said the government's main arguments in favour of closing the farms are lack of benefits and costs to taxpayers. However, the Post stated that neither justification holds up to scrutiny. They asked how much will it cost to replace the food they produce, what other rehabilitative programs will replace the program, and what will they cost?
"Minister Van Loan has made various claims in an attempt to support the farm closures," said John Edmunds, National President of the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE). "Claims that the farms lose approximately $4M per year is an unsubstantiated number. We've asked for a forensic audit to be performed, but have yet to receive a reply to our request."
Small farms, local businesses and charities all rely on their local prison farms to provide them with quality food at fair prices, as well as persons willing and wanting to be trained.
Canada's prison farms sit on some of the most desirable agricultural land in their regions. What's most upsetting is that the Conservatives plan to build more prisons on this prime agricultural land perhaps to house Stockwell Day's "perpetrators of crimes"?
Mark Sandilands
NDP candidate, Lethbridge Federal Riding

www.marksandilands.ca

Casson's statement just not true

2010-09-11T09:12:00.002-06:00

Ombudsman’s term could have been renewed

Written by Mark Sandilands

Friday, September 10 2010, 10:02 PM

The Conservatives are at it again! I read with amazement Rick Casson’s monthly column (“[Pat] Strogan’s term was non-renewable,” Sept. 3). Casson’s statement, “when the position of Veterans Ombudsman was created in 2007, a decision was made that the appointment would be made for a three-year, non-renewable term” is just not true. This same statement can be found in statements from other Tory MPs, too. Obviously this is the Conservative government’s spin on the issue.
It all sounded fishy to me so I went looking for the documents creating the Veterans’ Ombudsman. I found the Order in Council establishing the Ombudsman’s office (http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/pdf/OVO_Charter_English_Feb19.pdf, or http://bit.ly/dbAOQV), but nowhere does the document say anything about “non-renewable.” In fact, the terms of reference are supposed to be in Annex A of the Order in Council but, interestingly, Annex A is missing from the website (Annex B is there) and the pages seem to have been renumbered.
I did find a blog with a link to a report from the Ombudsman (http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/reports-rapports/publications/line-ligne-eng.cfm) which contains this statement: “The Ombudsman shall be appointed by the Governor in Council for a term of three years, which term may be renewed . . .” Strangely, this report cannot easily be found on the Ombudsman’s page. Would the government actually remove parts of a webpage so their public statements cannot be contradicted?
Perhaps they don’t want to reappoint Strogan because of his strong criticism of how veterans have been treated. Example: “[He] was told by a senior Treasury Board analyst . . . that it is in the government’s best interest to have soldiers killed overseas rather than wounded because the liability is shorter term.”
Another example is the Agent Orange issue from the 1960s. Stogran said he received a press briefing backgrounder and spotted what he considered to be “gross exaggeration, bordering on outright lies.” He wrote a complaining note to the minister — and was cut off from the mailing list.
There’s a growing list of civil servants who have suffered by speaking out: Peter Tinsley, Military Police Complaints Commission; Paul Kennedy, RCMP Public Complaints Commission; Linda Keen, president of Nuclear Safety Commission; all are gone. Soon Pat Strogan, Veterans’ Ombudsman — gone.
Is this what Stephen Harper meant by open, accountable, transparent government?
Mark Sandilands
Lethbridge Federal NDP Candidate

The real reason some people objected to the 2006 long form census

2010-08-03T10:53:00.005-06:00

Letter to Editor, Lethbridge Herald, August 3, 2010
Editor:

I was pleased to read in The Herald of July 29, 2010 a discussion of objections people had to the long form census in 2006. The 166 complaints from among 13 million households, gives a miniscule complaint ratio of .001% or one in 100,000. Many of the 166 complaints were about awarding the contract to arms-maker Lockheed-Martin in the data analysis hardware and software, as mentioned in your news article. There’s even a website devoted to this issue http://www.countmeout.ca/. Of deep concern to these people is that the PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act will allow, even require, that US companies release Canadian census data to US government agencies, an even more serious breach of personal privacy. All of this has been totally omitted or obscured by Harper’s minions.

Are the Harper Conservatives using complaints about Lockheed-Martin’s involvement to justify the cancellation of the mandatory long-form? If so, a simple solution is to contract the software and hardware to Canadian firms, rather than canceling the long form altogether. It’s such an obvious example of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. (Lockheed-Martin, remember, has just received an untendered contract for $9 billion for unnecessary jet fighter planes.)

The jail-time issue has a simple solution suggested by Jack Layton and others: cancel this part of the act. Why can’t Harper work out simple solutions and easy compromises with the opposition parties?

A glance at the broader picture reveals that this is part of Harper’s “hidden agenda” for Canada: weakened government driven by ideology rather than facts and information. Harper is ignoring vastly diverse groups—provinces, municipalities, hospitals, businesses, NGOs, researchers—all who say they need valid and reliable information to make good decisions. Instead Harper is saying in essence, Let’s further hamper government by denying it and its citizens good information.

Mark Sandilands

Here's the real deal about PM

2010-06-27T21:24:00.001-06:00

This letter was published in the Lethbridge Herald on June 26th, 2010, although not published in their online edition. It was submitted on June 3rd, but a mix-up delayed its publication.

Editor:

The unqualified praise contained in the editorial you reprinted from the Red Deer Advocate on Monday, May 31st ("Perhaps PM is the real deal") almost made me choke on my porridge. Here are some of the reasons:

To me one of the most disturbing aspects of Harper is that he does not accept even the principles of democracy. It starts with his contempt for Parliament.

1. Remember the handbook for disrupting the work of committees? (a 200 page manual the Harper Conservatives had issued committee chairpersons. It suggested debate-obstructing delays and, if necessary, it told chair persons to storm out of meetings to grind business to a halt).

2. There’s the silencing of watchdogs that Parliament put into place to serve the interests of all Canadians: (a) the head of the Canadian Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Linda Keen. Fired. (b) Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page. Harper has tried to muzzle him by cutting his funding unless he keeps his mouth shut. (c) Paul Kennedy, head of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission. He was a bit too critical of the RCMP. Kennedy's four-year mandate was not renewed last November. (d) The Military Police Complaints Commission, one of two committees investigating allegations of torture of Afghanistan prisoners. Conflict between Peter Tinsley, the commission's chair, and the government came to a head in Oct. 2007, when Tinsley suspended the hearings in the face of three government motions seeking an adjournment. Tinsley’s position was not renewed.

3. Let's not forget the two prorogations to avoid a sticky situation in parliament.

Harper uses executive spending powers to eliminate things he does not like, with no reference to the House of Commons and no public debate:

1. A continuous assault on women's rights;

2. Diminishing the role of science in the economy;

3. Attacks on the cultural sector;

4. Eliminating the funding for advocacy organizations which criticize the government: e.g., Kairos and, this week, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation.

The Omnibus Budget Bill represents another order of abuse, one copied directly from the corrupted legislative system in the U.S. The Omnibus Budget Bill would allow Harper and his cabinet to change pension rules, waive environmental assessment of projects such as tar sands expansion and oil pipelines, and privatize parts of Canada Post.

Harper is "some kind of real deal" but not one most thinking Canadians want.

Mark Sandilands

Too many people buying into the corporate version

2010-06-10T12:00:00.001-06:00

Too many people buying into the corporate version

Written by Mark Sandilands

Tuesday, 08 June 2010

Re: “Writer failed to recognize economic realities” (Herald, May 26). In my May 12 letter, I described two narratives to the royalty fiasco. One is the corporate narrative: the government jacked up the royalties too high and drove out the oil industry; the non-corporate narrative says even this feeble attempt to increase royalties angered the oil companies and they decided to teach the government a lesson.
Clearly Mr. Wilson has bought the corporate, oil industry version. He shows thinking that is ages old, from at least the time of feudal lords and serfs through the beginnings of industrialization to now. It’s always the same message: we must trust big corporations (and now their right-wing political parties) to bring us economic prosperity. Any attempt to take away the lords’ or owners’ privileges will only result in economic ruin for the common folk. We’re now hearing the corporate narrative from the same industry that is telling us the “accident” in the Gulf of Mexico was not BP’s fault, when evidence appears daily of malfeasance by BP in this dangerous kind of drilling.
This kind of thinking has led to right-wing governments in Alberta for almost its entire history. Mr. Wilson mentions the NDP government in B.C. in the ’90s, conveniently overlooking the Asian meltdown that happened during its term of office.
If we want to consider governments in neighbouring provinces, how about Grant Devine’s Conservatives in Saskatchewan in the 1980s? That was definitely a “lost decade”! (At least six of Devine’s cabinet ministers were subsequently convicted of fraud, by the way.) It took the social democratic government of Roy Romanow to balance Saskatchewan’s books, a year ahead of Alberta. Manitobans also seem happy to elect NDP governments who’ve had a string of balanced budgets. Indeed, data from the federal finance department shows NDP governments consistently have the best track record for the past 25 years for balancing their books.
Further evidence of Conservative collusion with corporations can be seen in the Harper Conservatives’ Bill C-27, which would require that only producers delivering at least 40 tonnes of grain can vote in Canadian Wheat Board elections. Also note Conservative tinkering with the percentage of Canadian sugar in goods, which will negatively affect local sugar beet growers.
When common folk begin to understand that Conservative governments generally don’t have their interests in mind, perhaps we will elect different governments.
Mark Sandilands
Lethbridge

p.s. [not included in Herald letter due to lack of space]. I'm reminded of a couple of books I've read recently. One is The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, discussed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ragged_Trousered_Philanthropists and available as a free e-book: (see the bottom of the page of the Wikipedia article for URLs). The other is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, discussed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle and also available for a frree e-book (again see the bottom of the Wikipedia article for links).

Tax Freedom Day from the Fraser Institute. Bunkum!

2010-06-08T21:34:00.003-06:00

On the weekend, news outlets reported Tax Freedom Day, based on a news release from the right-wing, anti-government Fraser Institute, e.g., http://www.live-pr.com/en/the-fraser-institute-june-5-marks-r1048484728.htm

Here's another take on the concept from tax expert, Neil Brooks:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National_Office_Pubs/2005/tax_freedom_day.pdf

A shorter version is here: http://www.policy.ca/directory/page.cgi?g=Detailed%2F1526.html;d=1'%20years%20of%20education

Here is a paragraph from the conclusion to Neil Brooks's essay:

Yet the Institute has presented us with infor-
mation that seriously distorts the picture of how
much tax Canadians pay. Far from promoting ra-
tional discussion, the Institute is clearly trying to
incite Canadians to anger, to encourage them to
join with members of the ﬁnancial élite in a kind
of collective “tax rage.” The ultimate result of its
campaign will be even lower taxes, particularly
for high-income Canadians — and a continued
decline in the capacity of our governments to de-
liver programs that most Canadians value.

Gywn Morgan--now campaigning for salmon farming.

2010-06-07T15:36:00.000-06:00

If, like me, you read the Globe and Mail, you may have come across a column in the May 31st paper written by Gwyn Morgan, former CEO of Encana, and the person Harper put forward as his choice for a new public appointments chief (rejected by the opposition). The column's title was "Blaming salmon farms for decline makes for one fishy tale". I thought the column was rather "fishy" and am pleased to note the comments have appeared. Here is a link to the column and rebuttals http://www.salmonaresacred.org/blog/damage-globe-and-mail-credibility. The first rebuttal begins, "Heavily biased misinformed writing such as below damages the credibility of your paper. Someone should have reviewed this piece with the scientists studying the collapse of wild salmon in BC. " The second rebuttal begins, "Gwyn Morgan's article is very narrowed minded, ignoring mounting scientific evidence from around the world that concludes open net aquaculture are breeding grounds for sea lice and are lethal to wild salmon, shrimps and clams. "

Big oil running the show

2010-05-12T10:57:00.000-06:00

Big oil running the show

Written by Mark Sandilands

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

According to a recent report from Associated Press about the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP somehow avoided submitting a plan in 2008 for handling a blowout. This illustrates how big oil companies can get governments to bend to their will.
Here in Alberta, a recent example of this phenomenon is the oil royalties issue. Some highlights:
• 2006: all PC leadership candidates call for a royalty review
• February 2007: Premier Stelmach appoints a Royalty Review Panel;
• September 2007: The Panel calls for increased royalties;
• October 2007: Alberta’s Auditor-General Fred Dunn says in his annual report that the Alberta government knew as far back as 2004 that Albertans could collect at least another $1 billion a year from the oil industry;
• October 2007: Stelmach increases royalty rates by 20 per cent (25 per cent less than the panel recommended);
• February 2008: It comes out that the Royalty Review panel was not given all the data — data indicating royalties could be increased without harming the economy;
• March 2008: Stelmach announces a five-year royalty break worth $237 million per year.
And on it goes.
There are two story lines to the oil and gas royalties issue:
1. Stelmach changed the oil royalties at the absolute worst time — when the prices were plummeting, causing the oil industry in Alberta to flee to other jurisdictions where royalties are lower, making the economic slump in the Alberta oilpatch worse than otherwise.
2. The oil companies were outraged that Stelmach and company and decided to punish him.
First, they pulled out of Alberta — their huge profits allow them to lose a bit of money and the loss is worth it to teach Stelmach a lesson. Second, they pull donations from the PCs and funding an upstart further-to-the right party, the Alberta Wildrose Alliance, which promises to give the oil companies what they want.
What’s the effect of all this on Albertans? Less money for health care, long-term care, etc. Cataract surgery is pulled out of Lethbridge and long-term care facilities are closed in favour of DAL where costs are carried by families.
If you’d like to hear more about this topic, plan to attend one or both of the talks by Brian Mason, leader of the Alberta NDP:

Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization. Title: Good Health Care and Royalty Fair Share.
Thursday at 7 p.m. at Southminster United Church Thursday. Title: Good Health Care, Long Term Care and Royalty Fair Share.

Setting the record straight about climate science

2010-05-07T11:53:00.000-06:00

Editor:

The letter from Ben VanHees (April 21: Climate scientists have done nothing to earn respect) contains a number of misleading statements which need to be corrected.

To start, the IPCC scientists did not and do not work for pay from the UN. The IPCC website clearly states, “Experts contributing to the review will do so without any remuneration.” And they didn’t work for a solid year: a glance at the call for applications at the IPCC website mentions frequent week-end gatherings and rely on email the rest of the time.

Secondly, the hockey stick graph, based on an analysis of tree rings (used as temperature estimations) showed clearly how temperatures were fairly steady for hundreds of years and then spiked in the last part of the 20th Century.

The hockey stick graph has been the focus of attacks by certain right wing national newspapers, perhaps because it was prominent in the Third IPCC Report (we’ve received the Fourth and IPCC is working on the Fifth) and in Al Gore’s film. Yes, two Canadians found errors in the Mann “hockey stick” paper, not by visiting trees, but by obtaining the original data and re-analyzing it. However, independent assessments agree that, although there was one small error in the paper, the overall conclusions were reasonable. This website http://www.logicalscience.com/skeptic_arguments/fakeddata.html has a nice summary of the controversy.

VanHees says that replication is the basis of the “scientific method” and charges that Michael Mann, one of the authors of the hockey stick graph, refuses to release all of his data. How then did the two Canadians re-analyze it? In fact, Mann’s data are available (see the website above for links). More importantly, the research findings shown in the hockey stick graph have been replicated again and again, using different temperature proxies and different methodologies. The findings have been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as SCIENCE (arguably one of the top science journals in the world) unlike attempts to discredit the research.

That the earth is warming is accepted by the national academies of the G8 countries (http://www.nationalacademies.org/includes/G8+5energy-climate09.pdf) and even by most skeptics who now focus on the cause. There are local temperature changes such as receding glaciers and earlier spring break-ups. More importantly, global temperature averages show the warming (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/). Quick action is imperative.
________

Mark Sandilands

Published in the Lethbridge Herald 2010-4-29, page A8

Fraser Institute take on stimulus plan off target--Letter to the Lethbridge Herald April 14th

2010-04-14T21:34:00.000-06:00

Fraser Institute take on stimulus plan off target

Readers must have been surprised to see the right-wing Fraser Institute attacking the federal government stimulus program (“Stimulus Plan Didn’t Help Economy,” Lethbridge Herald, March 31). After all, doesn’t the Fraser Institute usually cheer for the Harperites? Well, they do except when Harper and company are forced into doing something they don’t want to do by the majority of members of Parliament.

Memory takes us back to the fall of 2008 — the first time Harper prorogued Parliament to avoid a nasty situation: the confidence motion that might have toppled his government. The Tories went into overdrive, convincing a slight majority of Canadians that this was an illegitimate, undemocratic move by the opposition parties. Harper tossed away his credibility, particularly in Quebec, by accusing the Liberals and New Democrats of colluding with separatists. (All this is grippingly detailed in a recent book: “How we almost gave the boot to the Tories” by Brian Topp). The culmination of the drama was the budget of January 2009, brought in with enough stimulus to ensure that Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals would not vote it down.

So, did the stimulus plan help the economy? Fortunately other economists have analyzed the report done by the Fraser Institute and found it lacking. One (Erin Weir of the Progressive Economics Forum) analyzed Statistics Canada data and found that “government purchases and investment, which accounted for only one-quarter of the economy in the second quarter of 2009, have accounted for one-third of the economic growth since then.”

Weir then asked how the Fraser Institute got it so wrong. The answer is that the Fraser authors did not examine stimulus as a share of economic growth. Instead, according to Weir, they compared the rate of increase in stimulus between quarters. This would almost guarantee that no effect of the stimulus would appear. But then, that would suit the relentlessly anti-government-action Fraser Institute to a T, wouldn’t it?

Travers: PM fills political vacuum with rhetorical hokum

2010-01-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-25T10:29:00.007-07:00

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

2010-01-23T11:08:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-01-17T15:07:00.008-07:00

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

2010-01-12T09:51:00.001-07:00

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

Posts from the previous election

2009-12-16T15:37:00.001-07:00

Posts below here are from the 2008 election. Many of the issues are still around, so the posts will remain here for reference.

What great supporters, what great new supporters.

2008-10-08T12:30:00.002-06:00

Andy, shown on his bike, is a long time and solid supporter.

But I continue to receive indications of support from surprising places. Many have called to say they're voting NDP for the first time.

The poll just announced on Global is based on polling done on October 4th and 5th. As the pundit said, "A week is forever in politics." This comment

"I think there's probably some great buying opportunities emerging in the stock market as a consequence of all this panic," Harper told reporters as the S&P/TSX fell for the fifth straight day. [Ottawa Citizen, Oct 7]

has resonated throughout Canada, showing how little empathy he shows for those whose life savings have diminished 40% in just a few days.

Questions from some Grade 6 students

2008-10-02T22:58:00.002-06:00

I received an email from a local Grade 6 class asking several questions:

During our lessons on democracy, our grade 6 Social Studies class has been learning about the 40th General Election and the political parties involved. The students found it difficult to find answers to their questions while searching the political party websites so together we decided that the best way to find answers to their questions would be to send an email to each candidate in our electoral district. I have attached a letter to this email with their questions for you.

Hi [Teacher's name],

Thanks for the questions. Here are my answers:

Kailyn – “Has Jack Layton always wanted to be in the political system?” I don't know for sure, but the evidence suggests the answer is yes.

Layton comes from a long line of politicians. His great-granduncle, William Steeves, was a Father of Confederation. His great-grandfather Philip Layton was a blind activist who led a campaign for disability pensions in the 1930s. His grandfather, Gilbert Layton, was a cabinet minister in the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis in Quebec, and resigned due to the provincial government's lack of support for Canadian participation in World War II. His father, Robert Layton, was a Liberal Party activist in the 1960s and 1970s, and served as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet minister in the 1980s.[2]
Layton was born in Montreal and reared in nearby Hudson, Quebec, a comfortable and largely anglophone community.[3] He was elected student council president of his high school, and his yearbook predicted that he would become a politician.[4] He studied political science at McGill University, and in 1969, at age 19, he married his high school sweetheart Sally Halford, with whom he had two children, Sarah and Mike.[5] (Layton and Halford's marriage ultimately ended in 1983 after 14 years.)
In 1970, the family moved to Toronto where Layton went to York University to obtain his Ph.D. in political science. Layton then became a professor at Ryerson University.[6] He also became a prominent activist for a variety of causes. He has written several books, including Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis and, more recently, a book on general public policy, Speaking Out.

At York and Ryerson, Layton developed close links with a number of Toronto figures including John Sewell and David Crombie. He was first elected to Toronto City Council in 1982, in a surprise upset against incumbent Gordon Chong. He quickly became one of the most outspoken members of council, and a leader of the left wing.[7] He was one of the most vocal opponents of the massive SkyDome project,[8] and an early advocate for rights for AIDS patients.[9] In 1984, he was fined for trespassing when he handed out leaflets at the Eaton Centre during a strike by Eaton's staff, but the charge was later thrown out on freedom of speech grounds.[10] Layton was also one of the few opponents to Toronto's bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics.[11] In 1985, he moved to the Metro Toronto council, in the first direct elections for members of that body.[12][13] In the 1988 municipal elections, Layton traded places with City Council ally Dale Martin, with Martin going to Metro and Layton returning to Toronto City Council. Layton was easily elected in a contest with former high school teacher Lois MacMillan-Walker. The election was a major victory for Layton as the reformist coalition of which he was the de facto head gained control of City Council, the first time in city history a coalition of New Democrats and independents controlled council.[14]

From <Wikipedia Jack Layton>, accessed on Wednesday, 2008 October 1. Footnote numbers refer to the website:

Natalie – “Does the NDP want to lower taxes?”

Yes and no. One year ago, Stephen Harper and his finance minister, Jim Flaherty (who as finance minister in the Ontario government of Mike Harris ran up a huge deficit), proposed to cut corporate taxes by $50 billion. The NDP proposes to cancel this planned cut and continue to tax corporations at the same rate as they've been paying for a number of years. Is this raising taxes or not?

For individuals, we plan to cut some taxes for lower income individuals as well as providing $400 per child (up to the age of 18) to families. We may raise some taxes for persons making over $188,000 per year.

Natalie – “People have to send their children to daycares because they have to work. How does the NDP plan to help these families?”
See Child Care:

Children and Child Care: Ensuring a Head Start for Kids

In consultation with the provinces and territories, Jack Layton and the New Democrats will:
Enact the New Democrats' Early Learning and Child Care Act – which has already passed Second Reading in Parliament - to establish the program in law for the first time in Canada.
Establish and adequately fund a Canada-wide child care and early learning program. We will make high quality, accessible, affordable, non-profit and licensed child care available to Canadian families, including aboriginal Canadians.
These initiatives will create 150,000 new child care spaces in the first year, growing to 220,000 spaces per year in the fourth year.
Ensure a healthy head start for kids. We will develop a Children's Nutrition Initiative to support and expand provincial and local programs that provide healthy meals to school children.

Dohyun – “How could the NDP help and support the families of Canada?”

Almost our whole platform is directed to helping and supporting the families of Canada since we believe that the kitchen table is more important than the boardroom table. Please see

Protecting Consumers
Here's an excerpt from that page, but there's lots more

Reduce overcharging and hidden fees, and ban ATM fees for institutions regulated under the Bank Act, by requiring more accountability and transparency from the cell phone companies, the banks, airlines and other companies. This will include ending unfair charges on incoming text messages.
Limit outrageous interest rates and fees charged by "fringe banks". We will enforce existing regulations to limit the interest rates and fees that can be charged for services like "payday" loans, tax refund advances and cheque-cashing.
Cap the interest rates on credit cards to a maximum of 5 percentage points over prime by amending the Bank Act.
Help alleviate gouging at the gas pumps through monitoring and regulating fuel prices at the pumps.

Rylan and Nathan D. – “How will the NDP make our land and water cleaner?”

Again, we have lots of ideas. See Fighting pollution and
environment

Here are two excerpts:

We will implement Jack Layton and the New Democrats' comprehensive new Clean Water Act. This will:
Establish enforceable guidelines for drinking water quality, starting with standards for First Nations reserves, and working with provinces and territories to make sure that all Canadians have clean, safe water in their homes and communities.

And

Implement a parks and wilderness plan that reflects Canadians' strong commitment to preserve our natural heritage. We will:
• Complete the National Parks system.
• Establish a nationally representative system of Marine Protected Areas and complete the Integrated Management Plans of our three oceans.
• Ensure that the integrity of parks and protected areas is not compromised by industrial activity or inappropriate development.

Nathan D. – “Why does NDP want justice for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples?”

Canada is one of the 12 wealthiest countries of the world (one ranking has us 11th- ). The past wrongs are many. The grinding poverty among First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples also has a negative effect on all Canadians. Our platform is at this site: First Nations Iniut and Metis

Leaders' Debates, Amnesty International, canvassing, forums

2008-10-02T22:21:00.004-06:00

Tonight I missed most of the leaders' debate because I was attending the 60th Anniversary Party of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! Twenty human rights defenders received volunteer awards from Amnesty International Lethbridge. I am honoured to be one of them. (I will not mention the names of the others to protect their privacy). It's amazing to see how Amnesty International Lethbridge has grown from a group of five in January 2007 meeting at Mary Kosta's home (three attended, plus Mary and her husband), to a group of 30 or 40 tonight at a local church (which supplies space for free). Congratulations, Mary!

The tail end of the leaders' debate was fascinating, but to hear the Keith Boag of CBC give such praise to Jack Layton was gravy. It's not often that CBC is quite so positive to the NDP.

Lastly canvassing is going very well as are the forums. I receive positive feedback about forums. Showing up well in forums is not much related to electoral success--look at the absent Conservative candidates in the Calgary debates--but it helps.

Climate change and canards

2008-09-30T05:24:00.002-06:00

At some recent forums one of the other candidates has been saying in authoritative tones,

"Global warming is probably being caused by factors other than human activity. For example, Mars is warming."

The word that came to my mind is one that's not used a lot and I wasn't 100% sure of it's meaning: CANARD. I looked it up and find I was right. A canard is "An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story." The petroleum and coal industries never cease to try to defuse the criticism of their industry by supporting those who'll spread the word that we can go on living as usual. Here's a link to a place that gives all the facts about Mars warming as well as other FAQs: RealClimate.org

And here's what they say about Mars:

Globally, the mean temperature of the Martian atmosphere is particularly sensitive to the strength and duration of hemispheric dust storms. . . .

Thus inferring global warming from a 3 Martian year regional trend is unwarranted. The observed regional changes in south polar ice cover are almost certainly due to a regional climate transition, not a global phenomenon, and are demonstrably unrelated to external forcing. There is a slight irony in people rushing to claim that the glacier changes on Mars are a sure sign of global warming, while not being swayed by the much more persuasive analogous phenomena here on Earth…

NDP Platform favours middle class and working families over corporate tax cuts.

2008-09-28T16:11:00.004-06:00

Today's news featured (at least for NDPers) stories detailing the announcement of the NDP Platform.

Prudent plan chooses the middle-class over corporate tax cuts
TORONTO – New Democrat Leader Jack Layton released his party’s platform today at a community centre in his east-end Toronto riding. The platform focused on helping middle-class and working families make ends meet.

“While Stephen Harper’s priority is a $50 billion corporate tax cut, my priority is investing in families and their children,“ said Layton.

The centerpiece of the platform is the New Democrat’s new Child Benefit, an initiative that unifies, simplifies and enhances existing programs such as the Child Tax Benefit and the Universal Child Care Benefit. . . (For more, go to NDP announcement).

What strikes me most and makes me most proud is that this will be balanced. Here's how: both Jack Layton and Stephen Harper are proposing to spend about $50 billion dollars. Stephen Harper is planning to spend it on corporate tax cuts. Jack Layton is proposing to spend it on things like the Child Benefit, hiring more doctors and nurses, a national children’s nutrition plan, investments in cancer research, and helping students with their tuition.

Harper says corporate tax cuts will stimulate investment and mean jobs; Layton says these tax cuts will benefit corporations already making lots of money (if they're not making money, they're paying little or no taxes anyway), and do little to stimulate the economy. Better to stimulate some green industries.

For the whole platform, see Platform (PDF Document)

Two forums down, six and a half to go

2008-09-26T16:33:00.006-06:00

Last night (Sept 25th) was the second forum in a row; the first being on Wednesday night in Picture Butte. Lethbridge Herald story.
Feedback for me was positive:

Hi Mark,

I just wanted to let you know that you did a fantastic job in the forum last night. I was supposed to be at an event . . ., but I was so sick that they sent me home. So, I watched the forum on TV. You were by far the most intelligent and the most knowledgeable on your party's platform.

Blush.

Anyway it's interesting being on stage with the bright lights shining and the TV cameras blinking. I've run in previous elections (2001 and 2004 Alberta Provincial), but in those elections, the Chamber of Commerce Forums were at the LCC Barn.

One item that came up in the forum is the possible closure of rural post offices because of the "review" being done by Canada Post. Many communities around the country are upset at the possibility that their postal service may disappear or be severely cut back. One of the communties is Coalhurst which sent this into the CANADA POST CORPORATION STRATEGIC REVIEW:

WHEREAS the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review, which was launched by the federal government on April 21, 2008, is looking at deregulating our public post office (i.e. reducing or removing Canada Post's exclusive privilege on letters); and
WHEREAS it will become increasingly difficult for our public post office to provide affordable service to everyone, no matter where they live, if the government erodes or eliminates the very mechanism that funds universal postal service - the exclusive
privilege; and
WHEREAS postal deregulation in other countries has led to post office closures, less service, fewer jobs and higher postal rates for the public and small businesses; and
WHEREAS the government is not holding public hearings as part of its strategic review or adequately consulting with the real owners of the post office - the public;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the TOWN OF COALHURST send a letter or submission to the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review opposing deregulation of Canada Post and insisting that the government hold public hearings and properly consult with the true owners of Canada Post - the public.

The post office is one of the few focal points remaining in many small towns. Here is a website campaigning to oppose the privatization and/or deregulation of Canada Post. Website.

I stated in the forum that I'd hate to see a day that a drive from Lethbridge to Calgary involves travelling through 200km of virtually uninhabited land. At the very least, postal deregulation, if we can learn from other countries, will lead to post office closures, less service, fewer jobs and higher postal rates for the public and small businesses. With the Conservative policies Canadians are looking at, this is a possibility.

The Prime Minister's email list was hacked!

2008-09-22T12:11:00.006-06:00

Yesterday (Sunday) a supporter forwarded the following email to me:

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:34:54 +0000
From: pm@PM.GC.CA
Subject: Why you shouldn't fear me
To: ALLNEWS_E@LSERV.PMO-CPM.GC.CA

Hi The Average Canadian,

Stephen Harper wanted to tell you...

My name is Stephen Harper. I am an ALBERTAN, here me roar! My goal is to make Canada America's 51st state and destroy health care that all Canadians cherish by infusing my propaganda with hard core ad hominem attacks. Please vote for me, because if you do, I promise you'll be able to vote for McCain 2012!

We are a tar sands level party, not a grass roots party. We consider anything with the word \"Green\" offensive, except for the almighty American dollar, which we hope to be able to implement in the coming months! We shall first have to make sure that American and Canadian jelly beans have the same standards, and then we shall proceed.

I hope everyone has a great weekend,

Take care,

Stephen \"I can lead you to Hell but not back\" Harper

If you agree click here [link deleted].

The person who sent this to me was very upset. She thought she'd signed up in good faith to hear news from the PM's office and here some hacker had obtained her email address.

The Canadian Press, and others, now have a story on this.

The Canadian Press story says,

The jokesters would not necessarily have needed to hack into government computers to perform their stunt; all they would have required was the listserv's email address.

This is totally false. I also run a listserv type email list and, if anyone posts to the list who's not authorized, the message is not sent out, but, instead comes to me for approval.

Another lie coming from Harper's office?

Some fun things for candiates

2008-09-21T12:43:00.003-06:00

Saturday, I went to the Pig and Pumpkin event at Broxburn vegetables and Café. I found lots of support for the NDP and also took a turn at the pumpkin cannon. There's now a web album for the campaign . Please visit to see the photos Henning took.

Sadly today's Lethbridge Herald reported that someone stole money from the fundraiser during the celebrity auction. The fundraiser was sponsored by the Lion's Club with proceeds going to the Lethbridge Association for the Blind which is a member of The Canadian Council for the Blind.

This week will really start to get busy. Monday night is the talk by Naomi Klein; Tuesday is the Friends of Medicare Forum; Wednesday is the forum in Picture Butte; and Thursday is the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Forum at the Yates. All events start at 7 p.m. See my Calendar for details.

NDP: ‘small C’ Conservatives !?!?!?

2008-09-20T08:25:00.004-06:00

I admit I was taken aback when I saw what part of the interview the Herald chose to emphasize. However, upon reflection, I'm glad they did. It offers the opportunity to open discussions on a wide variety of topics. (Full story)

First, just what was said? The story quotes me fairly accurately:
"Take the Conservative Party of Canada, for instance. Mark Sandilands . . . says the Conservative party has changed so much, it’s really no longer very conservative. Yet many people still vote Conservative out of habit.
There is, however, a party that believes in old-fashioned conservative values.
“Now, the NDP is the small C Conservative Party,” Sandilands says.
Sandilands, who officially opened his new campaign office Friday at 519 7 St. S." (Click on the link in the headline to read the whole story.)
What I also said is that the Conservatives, who are no longer Progressive (and in fact deserve a new label: UPC for Unprogressive Conservative Party), are closer to being libertarians. A libertarian is someone who "who, in general, supports government policies that favor individual liberty in all matters, whether economic, personal, or social (http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/libFAQ.html); in other words, those who don't believe government should have much of a role at all the lives of people. Contrast that with long gone Conservatives such as John A. MacDonald (let's build a national railway), John Diefenbaker (let's develop the North and let's have a Bill of Human Rights), or even RB Bennett (let's have a national broadcaster and call it CBC). Do you know which US president freed the slaves? Abraham Lincoln. Which party? Republican.

How about balancing the books? Figures from the federal Department of Finance confirm that, on average, NDP provincial/territorial governments stayed out of deficit 49% of their years in office from 1984-85 to 2005-06, compared to 39% for Conservatives and only 23% for Liberal governments. (Interestingly, this study seems to have been taken out of the Department of Finance online material.)

New Democrats believe in the moral stance that we are our brothers' keepers, that we are responsible custodians or even sharers of this planet, and that one shouldn't take more than a fair share.

Mark will be on the ballot.

2008-09-18T22:10:00.016-06:00

Tonight when I got home from the Naomi Wolf lecture there was a message on my machine from Elections Canada. The news was that all the hoops have been jumped through and my name will be on the ballot. On October 14th you'll see

Mark Sandilands NDP [__X__]

(please add the X on your ballot.)

The two Naomis; 1.

2008-09-18T22:10:00.012-06:00

By a strange coincidence, two powerful speakers named Naomi are visiting Lethbridge within the space of four days. I attended the lecture tonight and will see Naomi #2 on Monday. Tonight was Naomi Wolf, author of a recent best seller, The End of America. She was very impressive in laying out what she believes are the steps that may be leading to a "fascist [United State of] America".

Here they are:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

During questions, one person asked, "Why?" The answer was "Profit." After the end of the cold war, the industries that profited from missiles and nuclear weapons were losing money--they needed a new enemy. Voila! The war on terror. They've switched over from weapons to surveillance systems.

I'm sure we'll hear more about how companies such as Blackwater have profited when Naomi Klein speaks on Sept. 22.

I spoke briefly with Naomi Wolf after her talk at the book signing. She wished me well in my campaign and was happy to put one of my campaign button on.

For more on Naomi Wolf see Naomi Wolf article

Strong leadership in perilous times

2008-09-17T22:06:00.013-06:00

The news today is laden with bad economic news. The Toronto Stock Exchange dropped almost 350 points and the Dow dropped 400+ into the 10,000s even though the US government bailed out AIG to the tune of $85billion.

As someone told me on the doorstep tonight, Stephen Harper still doesn’t get it. He seems to believe that Canada is safe from the economic woes of the Americans. As the former head of the National Citizen's coalition and a graduate of the Calgary school of economics (a clone of the Chicago School), he still firmly believes the market will solve all.

The world is moving rapidly back towards government regulation of the financial sector and the economy in general: Harper has not moved an inch from his laissez-faire ideology.

A recent article in the Globe and Mail addressed this:
"With the nationalization of American mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the February nationalization of Britain's Northern Rock, governments are stepping in again. The heady days of conservative economics are over for now." (Skidelsky is professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University, England, and author of a prize-winning Keynes biography)
Read the rest of Skidelsky's article

Anyone wanting to read more about the Chicago School of Economics should read from a left perspective must read Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine, attend her upcoming lecture at the University of Lethbridge, or, at the very least, visit her website:
Naomi Klein Official Website

Nomination has taken the next step.

2008-09-17T22:06:00.010-06:00

Late this afternoon, I met with the excellent Returning Officer for Lethbridge Federal Riding, Arlene Albiez at the Election Canada Lethbridge offices at Lethbridge Centre (Main floor). We were pleased to learn in a conversation with the assistant RO that there will be registration sessions for student voters at both the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College. Students are going to be able to vote in this election IN LETHBRIDGE.

Our main reason for being there was to register to be on the ballot. We turned in well over the 100 required signatures, the candidate fee and associated papers. We were promised a response within 48 hours. Thanks to all who signed my nomination papers.

After the nomination Leona and I did a bit of door knocking.

Listeria continues to be a problem for Canadians

2008-09-16T17:01:00.004-06:00

As I stated in my September 5th letter, Canadians should be able to rely on government to keep their food safe. Nothing is 100% safe, but we also shouldn't have to worry a lot either. Here's what a group of physicians are saying in the Canadian Medical Association Journal:
"Listeria is the biological agent, cold cuts the vector, but the ultimate cause may be found in risky government decisions."
The editorial, signed by several doctors and journal editors, states that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has reversed much of the progress previous governments made in relation to public health."Full article

September 5th 2008 Letter

2008-09-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

Editor:

The latest news regarding the infection of meat with the listeria bacteria shows how dangerous Stephen Harper and the Conservatives' policies are to the health of Canadians. According to news stories published on August 30th Harper and his band of free marketers bent to pressure from the meat industry and cut back on inspections by meat inspectors across Canada.

Most Canadians think their inspection regimes are tougher than the American ones, but not in the case of meat inspection. The policies of the Canadian Department of Agriculture are significantly weaker than those of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, because many meat-processing plants export to the USA, Canadian processors must open their doors to USDA inspectors who then take their reports back to the USA to inform USA consumers. Canadian consumers are left in the dark. But freedom of information requests to the US government are very revealing. An example is one at a PEI company where the floor drainage was so poor that a worker had to stand surrounded by water with blood in it.

Cutbacks to inspectors began with the Liberals under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin and have picked up pace with Stephen Harper whose government now wants to turn over inspection of food processing plants to the companies themselves with the federal inspectors simply auditing the work now and then. Like putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse.

Canadians should turf out Harper and turn over government to a party that's not in bed with the corporations.

Mark Sandilands
NDP Candidate, Lethbridge Federal

Pre campaign thoughts

2008-09-16T15:22:00.006-06:00

It now turns out that the Conservatives were planning to have an election way back in July. Kind of throws out the window the claims that the householders that were taken by Conservative MP staffers to Canada Post on August 27th were "just normal" constituent mailouts, doesn't it?

Anyway, as those who follow my letters to the editor or browse my website, know, I've been sending thoughts out about my feelings for the Harper government for many months now. The latest one was printed in the Lethbridge Herald on September 5th. It's in the post immediately above this one.

Those who want to read earlier letters to the editor can go to Mark Sandilands Comments.