Video of the November 15 Block Harper Rally in Winnipeg

Watch it here!

The Council of Canadians supports the call for a coalition government.

The Council of Canadians, Canada's largest non-partisan public advocacy group has just endorsed the call for a coalition opposition government

Read their statement here: http://canadians.org/08-Coalition/index.html

We believe that a coalition government is a legitimate and democratic option in this minority Parliament, that it would best reflect the concerns of the majority of Canadians, and that it is best suited to deal with the current economic crisis. We encourage our members and supporters to promote this call for a coalition government in their community.

The Council calls on the three opposition parties to defeat the Harper government in a non-confidence vote as soon as possible and to form a coalition government guided by a set of progressive priorities, including:

1. Agreement to proceed with the renegotiation of NAFTA, including seeking the removal of the Chapter 11 investor-state clause, the energy provisions, and water from the treaty.

2. Implement a Canadian energy strategy, which would address the environmental destruction of the northern Alberta tar sands, reduce eastern Canada's dependence on imported oil, and create the opportunity for Canada to become an international leader in developing new green jobs and publicly-owned renewable energy sources.

3. Implement a national water policy that would prohibit bulk water exports (by removing water from NAFTA), recognize the right to water through the United Nations, and ensure that water remains a public good not a private commodity.

4. Place an immediate moratorium on the establishment of any new for-profit privately-owned health care clinics in Canada.

5. Take immediate steps to introduce proportional representation to address the unbalanced results that come with the current electoral system in Canada.

You Have A Choice

Created for avaaz.org

CREDITS:
K-OS, Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Kowalewicz of Billy Talent, Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, Sarah Harmer, Hawksley Workman, Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene, Darren Dumas of The Salads and the Arts Offstage Choir under the direction of David Reed.

SONG WRITTEN & PRODUCED BY
Ian Lefeuvre (The Hundreds and Thousands) and K-OS

Lyrics all contributed by the artists. Additional keyboards are performed by Todor Kobakov from Major Maker. The track was mastered by Joao Carvalho.

Messages from Allies

More from Anyonebutharper.ca (from a few days ago, but still very relevant!)

VIDEO
Just one today, and it's a big one. This is the video for "You Have A Choice"

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=slnN3GMy7Nc

by K-OS, Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Kowalewicz of Billy Talent, Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, Sarah Harmer, Hawksley Workman, Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene, Darren Dumas of The Salads and the Arts Offstage Choir under the direction of David Reed.

SONG WRITTEN & PRODUCED BY
Ian Lefeuvre (The Hundreds and Thousands) and K-OS

Lyrics all contributed by the artists. Additional keyboards are performed by Todor Kobakov from Major Maker. The track was mastered by Joao Carvalho.

PLEASE POST IT TO YOUR SITE(S) AND SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
(link to share)
http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=slnN3GMy7Nc

THE OFFICIAL PREMIERE OF THE VIDEO IS AT 7PM TONIGHT AT THE PHOENIX IN TORONTO AS PART OF "THIS IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE PARTY!"

http://departmentofculture.ca/concert/

If you're going, I'll might see you there!

It's just the long weekend to go folks, the fact that Tuesday is after the Thanksgiving weekend means people won't be paying alot of attention this week and voter turnout will be down on Tuesday (I'm sure that that is part of Harper's plan) so drag your friends with you to the polls on Tuesday, call them and ask if they've voted. For decades now we've said 'we'll do something about the environment someday', we've commissioned studies, come up with grand 10 and 20 year plans that fizzled but this is it.

I know people are concerned about the economy but have you noticed that when the economy is up they say we can't do anything about the environment because we'll kill the strong economy, when it's down they say we can't do anything because we'll damage it more. But virtually every reasonable economist in Canada, and most environmentalists agree that a Carbon Tax would actually be GOOD for the economy.

The time to do something about the environment is no longer someday, it is not, over the next 5 years, it is not 'when the economy improves' it is TUESDAY!

Vote with your heart, but don't leave your head completely out of the equation. Vote to remove Stephen Harper.


NEWS:

Alberta Premiere Calls for Economic Meeting With Counterpart: Contradicts Harper
http://tinyurl.com/3jlcnn

Oil sands will pollute Great Lakes, report warns
http://tinyurl.com/4ykb8p

Flaherty Suddenly Cares About the Economy
http://www.publicbroadcasting.ca/2008/10/you-cant-trust-conservatives-with-money.html

Elizabeth May Endorses Strategic Voting in Close Races
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081008.welxngreens1009/BNStory/politics/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

Canadian researchers call for end to 'politicization' of science
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/09/scientists-letter.html?ref=rss

Canadians prefer national child care system to monthly allowance 2 to 1 according to Nanos poll
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2008/09/c4801.html

POLLS:

CPAC-Nanos Conservatives 33% (no change) Liberals 29% (no change) NDP 20% (no change) Bloc 10% (-1) Greens 7% (no change) Undecided 15% (-1)
While the Conservatives and/or Liberals were up or down 1 - 2 points here and there it was within the margin of error. Statistically significant NDP +4% in Quebec, Conservatives -6% in Atlantic Canada.

Also in terms of "Leadership Indicators" Harper lost ground on Trust, Competence and Vision for Canada while Dion gained in all 3 areas.

http://www.nanosresearch.com/election/CPAC-Nanos-October-9-2008E.pdf

According to the Canadian PRess/Harris-Decima poll
Conservatives 32% (+1) Liberals 27% (no change) NDP 19% (-1) Green 12 % (no change) Bloc 8% (no change)

So - it is the 15% undecided that we need to convince, and strategic voters.

Five Things You Need to Know About Harper and The Environment

ONE:
Parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, committing Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012. The former Liberal government's failure to implement such reductions is expected to leave Canada 44% above its permitted Kyoto amounts by 2010, but at least the Liberals maintained their verbal support for Kyoto. The Harper government has reneged on the protocol altogether, announcing in April 2006 that it had no intention of meeting its Kyoto targets. A month later, it cut all the environmental funding designed to meet the Kyoto standards.

TWO:
The tar sands in Alberta are by far the largest contributor and fastest growing source of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions that intensify global warming. No matter the cost, the Harper government has been relentless in its push for the rapid, unchecked development of the tar sands. It favours a five-fold increase in production — from one million barrels a day today to five million barrels a day by 2030. Not a single application for tar sands development has ever been denied. Production is planned to double by 2012 and triple by 2018. By that time, annual emissions from the tar sands will triple from 25 million tonnes to 75 million tonnes.

THREE:
The tar sands help fuel the American military machine. Canada exports 750,000 barrels of oil daily to the United States, much of it to meet that country's military demand. The Harper government plans to have three more major pipelines built to the U.S. to keep that country's energy needs well supplied – although there is still no east-west pipeline to transport Alberta petroleum to Eastern Canada, which is forced to import 40% of its oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries. The three new pipelines are expected to convey over one million more barrels of fuel a day to the U.S.

FOUR:
The tar sands are a voracious consumer of natural gas and water. Each tar sands barrel requires up to 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, and, given planned expansion, it is projected that tar sands plants will be using four times as much natural gas by 2018. Burning so much comparatively clean and valuable gas to create dirty tar sands oil — especially when our proven reserves of natural gas are near depletion-- has been compared to using gold to make lead. Tar sands production also requires massive and unsustainable quantities of water—now up to 4.5 barrels of water for every barrel of bitumen—which ends up in huge toxic tailing ponds, some so big they can be seen from space. The Athabasca River, from which the water is extracted, is not expected by water experts to be able to maintain sufficient flows to meet the tar sands' growing thirst.

FIVE:
Since tar sands production started to increase, the people of Fort Chipewayan and other communities downstream have been plagued by high rates of abnormal cancers, such as those of the liver, blood, and bile duct, as well as other diseases and an ever-increasing death rate. Dangerous levels of mercury and arsenic have been found in nearby streams, and the fish and animals on which the Cree rely for food have been contaminated. Although the federal government has a legal responsibility for First Nations health care under the Indian Act and numerous treaties, the health crisis near the tar sands has been ignored by the Harper government. The health of the First Nations people evidently ranks far behind promotion of tar sands development in its list of priorities.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-MB
309-323 Portage Ave Winnipeg, MB R3B 2C1
ph: (204) 927-3200 // fax: (204) 927-3201 // www.policyalternatives.ca
CAW Local 567

Anything But Harper... Media

Harper is against freedom of the press and for secrecy and suppressing communication.

Find out more...

http://toutsaufharper.ca/?lang=en&cat=4

And there's still more...

Environment Culture Security Morality

www.voteforenvironment.ca

A message from a member of the DoC-WPG...

"This is an interesting link that may be of use on our doc winnipeg blogspot. It allows you to put in your postal code and determine how to vote strategically, based on where you live, to defeat the conservatives.

www.voteforenvironment.ca"

Awesome!

More laughs at the expense of Mean Person No. 1

As found on fb...

That burnt out backdrop is a nice touch. "We don ned treez or gras edeers. inviromentz sux!"

Messages from Allies

A message from Ricken, Lisa-Marie, Laryn of Avaaz Canada,

---

Dear friends,

For the last two years, the Harper government has done everything it could to wreck the world's efforts to fix climate change. Given the "fossil award" by environmental experts, Canada (our Canada!) has been repeatedly voted the WORST country in the world on climate change. Now, it's election time, and we have to make sure that Harper pays a real price at the polls for his reckless and un-Canadian climate policy.

Our first step is to target 3 of Harper's top MPs, including Environment Minister John Baird, and try to stop their re-election by telling their constituents just how irresponsible they've been, and what they've been doing in the name of all Canadians. Our ad campaign is ready to launch in these ridings, but we urgently need Canadian Avaaz members to donate $50,000 this week to get started. Click below to see the ads and donate just $10 or $25:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_harper

In an initial 3 target ridings, we'll be appealing to all voters to help save the planet by voting for the candidate most likely to beat the Conservative candidate. In one riding, we'll be supporting an NDP candidate, in another a Liberal, in another a Green. We're making sure to be "tripartisan" - we don't support any particular party, we just want to make sure the Conservatives pay for their almost criminal record on the environment. A large majority of voters in these ridings oppose Harper, but have split their votes among the 3 progressive parties, so even just a small shift in strategic or "smart voting" to favour the most popular progressive candidate will likely defeat the conservatives. That's the pitch our ads will make.

There's so much at stake, and no time to lose, let's pull out all the stops for Canada, and for the world.

With hope,
Ricken, Lisa-Marie, Laryn and the Avaaz Canada Team

PS - Canadian Avaaz members have a long record of campaigning against Stephen Harper's environmental policies, from calling him out on his failure to implement the Kyoto Protocol, to challenging his wrecking tactics at the Bali summit. In our online poll, 90% of Avaaz members strongly opposed a Harper majority. We've won some of these fights before, and if we all pull together in the next 2 weeks to give our voices, our time, our talent and our money, we can do it again!

PSS - Here are some links to more information:

Green party leader Elizabeth May calls for 'strategic voting' across party lines to stop Harper:
http://www.thestar.com/FederalElection/article/505642
Straight.com writer analyzes the stakes of the Canadian election for the world:
http://www.straight.com/article-163371/election-planet
This site shows that at a national level, strategic or smart voting will benefit all the opposition parties and prevent a Harper Majority:
http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/

Messages from Allies

From David Suzuki of the David Suzuki Foundation

---

We must elect leaders who care about the planet,

Leaders of nations worldwide know we are near more than one environmental tipping point. So they've met to hammer out agreements in crucial areas such as biodiversity loss and global warming. Canada itself has acknowledged, through national planning and legislation, the importance of issues such as species conservation and sustainable development. Many of these agreements and strategies must be addressed during the mandate of the government we elect on October 14.

In December 2009, Canada will meet with other nations in Copenhagen to adopt an international treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. In 2010, the country will also have to report on the progress it has made regarding the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's targets for reducing biodiversity loss. Over the next few years, Canada's government must also formally review its Species at Risk Act, implement a Sustainable Development Act, and tackle a number of other crucial environmental issues.

We need a government that will lead when it comes to caring for the finite world that gives us life and sustains us. We've already squandered 20 years since global warming was first recognized as an issue requiring immediate attention. We signed the Kyoto Protocol 10 years ago, in 1998, and ratified it in 2002, but have done little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since then. On top of that, our oceans have more plastics and pollution but fewer fish, plant and animal species are disappearing at an accelerating rate, and we have failed to take advantage of the many opportunities sustainable development offers.

Even though the environment has at least been on the agenda during this election, pollsters tell us Canadians see the economy and health care as more important. But it's not a matter of one or the other. The health of Canadians depends on a healthy environment, as does a healthy economy. Everything is connected!

The economy is a huge issue, as we can see from the current meltdown in the U.S., which will surely have an enormous impact on our economy. But some politicians are exploiting our fears to imply that environmental protection and action on global warming are not compatible with a strong economy. What planet are these people living on?

That way of thinking is wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. A strong, sustainable economy is not possible without a healthy environment. Global warming, pollution, diminishing resources, and loss of species and habitat will cost us increasingly more as our already burdened health-care systems are stretched to the limit, as we run short of fossil fuels and land to grow food, and as ecosystems collapse, threatening the availability of clean water, air, and soil.

Those who argue that protecting the environment will hurt the economy may want to take note that none of the current economic problems in the U.S., here, or around the world has been caused by environmental-protection measures! On the contrary, countries such as Germany and Denmark that took measures early on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to more renewable energy sources have seen substantial economic benefits and have been less vulnerable to the impacts of volatile fossil-fuel markets. We don't decry $90 a tonne tipping fees for landfills but we scream bloody murder at a suggested $10 a tonne to pollute the atmosphere with carbon. Sweden has a flourishing economy with a carbon tax at $150 a tonne!

We're a bit behind, but we can start to catch up by recognizing that environmental initiatives can give the economy a huge boost. We can keep sucking every last bit of coal and oil out of the ground until it's all gone, until it's all been burned and its carbon released into the air, or we can create jobs and economic opportunities by developing renewable sources of energy.

Yes, we can all make a difference through our own individual actions, by changing some of our habits, but we also have an opportunity to elect a government that will contribute to the kinds of large-scale changes needed for a sustainable world. As Canadians, we must hold the politicians to account and ensure that, no matter which party wins the election, we will have a government that shows foresight and leadership at home and abroad. That way we'll have a country that is thriving on opportunity rather than drowning in crisis. If we keep stalling, we won't have to worry about the economy, or health care, or anything else.