Bill 38-Protected areas of British Columbia: http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th4th/3rd_read/gov38-3.htm

Peter Dimitrov's video comments pertaining to water governance as it relates to the Pitt River and other river systems in British Columbia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SEaZJCV1a0

Modernizing BC's Water Governance: Ideas for Discussion

(c) Peter Dimitrov, Barrister & Solicitor, March 26,2008

This document proposes the creation of a Citizens' Commission on Water Governance. It is meant to 'up the ante' on public debate respecting water and its allocation in British Columbia. It also presents creative ideas to significantly devolve decision making authority to local Watershed Management Councils who would implement principles of subsidiarity within balancing parameters of the principle of harmonization. Your support for this document would be of great help towards the goals of (a) increasing public education about issues pertaining to BC's water, and (b) hopefully "kick-start" a democratic process to modernize water law governance in British Columbia.

As I see it British Columbia has a dysfunctional, ancient Water Act that centralizes political power in the Executive branch of government in Victoria, it also places too much priority for water allocation use on industrial uses. The ideas that follow, would in my estimation go a long way to putting power in its place, of giving local Watershed Management Councils significant authority, while at the same time providing province wide harmonizing regulations that local Councils must meet. By applying principles of subsidiarity, the local will be empowered to check and balance centralized power, while Victoria's power to legislate some aspects of water law for the entire province, a harmonizing influence, will act as a check and balance to local excesses.

Therefore, I sugest that a modern Water Governance Act for British Columbia might incorporate some or all of the following ideas, such as:

1.Entrenching the water law concept of public trust doctrine in regards to the use, allocation and management of all water resources in British Columbia.

This concept will obligate the Government to make water use decisions in the best public interest as distinguished from private interest and it should make it easer for the public to get legal standing in the courts to advance legal arguments pertaining to water and water law related issues.

2. Entrenching the idea that the use of water for development of hydroelectricity that will be linked to a high voltage transmission line, or for the export of water beyond provincial boundaries by a privately owned, or a publicly listed stock-exchange corporation is not a benefical use of water and is thereby not allowed.

This concept will disallow the allocation of water licenses for hydroelectric generation to private or publicly traded corporations that seek to link to a high voltage transmission line and thereby sell power, or that seek bulk export of water beyond the provincial boundary. 

3. Repealing the "first in time, first in right" doctrine of water allocation, and replacing it with a water license allocation system that establish priorities for water use according to such public interest priorities, in a descending order, with the most important user allocation being residential use, wildlife, fish and park use, agricultural use, recreation use, commercial and industrial use, provincial trans-basin boundary use, inter-provincial trans-basin boundary use, or some reasonable revision and facsimile thereof;

4. Designating the boundaries of Watershed Management Regions for all watersheds in British Columbia;

5. Establishing decentralized regional Watershed Management Councils for all British Columbia Watershed boundary areas, especially on a priority basis where industrial or hydroelectric development exists, or where a water license for power generation, or a license for coal bed methane exploration, or mining project, has been applied for, or is in the process of being approved;

6. Establishing that the majority of members to each Watershed Management Council will consist of Canadian citizens resident within, and directly elected from the Watershed Management region where they permanently reside, with a minority of members to be appointed by the Government of British Columbia. The exact number of members of each council to be at the discretion of the Minister;

7. Establishing the terms of office and duties for each elected citizen-member of the aforementioned Watershed Management Councils.

8. Establishing conflict of interest and disclosure requirements for all citizens seeking to be elected to a Watershed Management Council.

9. Establish a "future employment and contract" prohibition of "x" years thereby preventing formerly elected members of a Watershed Management Council from being employed or contracted by a commercial or industrial water user or association of such users.

10. Defining the meaning of the term 'lobbyist" and to require that all lobbyists enter their names and other particulars with a local Watershed Management Council Lobbyist Registry before being permitted to lobby a local Watershed Management Council member or members. Defining regulations pertaining to the ethical conduct of lobbyists.

11. Entrenching the legal principle of "harmonization" thereby requiring that each Watershed Management Council abide by province wide harmonized standards including but not limited to such binding laws as: that public ownership of public B.C. water shall not be transferred to private ownership; that allocations for use to water shall no longer be according to the current rule of "first in time, first in right" but according to a new province wide scheme of allocation as previously described in paragraph 3 herein; that leases or licenses for water use be for a fixed term no longer then 'x" years, renewable upon application and upon specified conditions; that revenues from water rentals be distributed according to an equitable formula between the Province and each Watershed Management Council; that water rentals from the use of water for hydroelectric power generation be established by reference to the market price of that power; that the beneficial use of water will be defined as "x,y,z"; that Province wide drinking water quality standards apply within all regions; that source protection and water conservation plans be developed by local Watershed Management Councils that 'meet or exceed' province wide standards; that local Watershed Management Councils establish a licensing requirement for groundwater extraction that is beyond a provincially defined threshhold; that there be a protocol to amend the Water Act and the fiscal sharing of water rents that abides by principles of administrative and constitutional law but which gives regional Watershed Managment Councils a weighted voting priority; and other innovative ideas as may be presented to the Citizens Commission on Water Governance.

12. That parallel with the aforementioned principle of harmonization, the principle of subsidiarity be included within a new Water Governance Act, thereby giving final decision making authority to local Watershed Management Councils to devise by regulations the process whereby Watershed Management Plans shall be established, updated and approved by the electorate in each Watershed Management Region, in consultation with existing water license holders, existing and potential user/stakeholder communities existing within each Watershed Management region. Furthermore that local Watershed Management Councils be legally empowered to develop source protection and water conservation plans that 'meet or exceed' province wide standards, and furthermore,  that they establish a licensing requirement for groundwater extraction that exceed a provincially defined threshhold. [Note: source protection plans were recommeded by the Walkerton Inquiry to protected drinking water quality. They are also useful to protect groundwater degradation from such activities as agribusiness and coal-bed methane extraction, and likewise groundwater dependent ecosystems, parks, ecological reserves. ]

13. That local Watershed Management Councils be empowered to devise regulations specifying reserve-rights to the use of water for the purposes of fish protection, recreation use, wildlife use, parks and ecological reserves, heritage use, First Nations use, environmental flows, groundwater dependent ecosystems, and any other benefical use of water.

14. Establishing that intellectual property rights to commercially sensitive water related information and/or services remain confidential and under public ownership,care and control; 

15. That citizens and all water users, including riparian landowners have a right to judicially appeal any decision of a Watershed Management Council to a Provincal Watershed Management Appeals Board, equally composed of Provincial appointees and representatives from an association of BC Watershed Management Councils. The decision from such Appeal Board will be final.

Sticker Shock: The Impending Cost of BC Hydro's Shift to Private Power Developers by Dr. John Calvert, published by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC region)

click here  

  RIVERS & CREEKS TO PRIVATE ENERGY CORPORATIONS.  Attached are two Summary Reports that show that the BC government has granted 'water licences for power production' on hundreds of British Columbia Rivers & creeks to private energy corporations

. more>>

Hydro Summary 1Hydro Summary 2

Hydro Summary 2

BC Hydro and the Stolen Rivers *.pdf
During the last few years the provincial government has gone to unusual lengths to keep energy information from the public. We said we wanted our electric power systems kept public. The government then used the legal system to covertly achieve their policy of deregulating our power system against our interest.

THESE ARE THE TIMES, WE ARE THE PEOPLE
Great news --I applaud the action by the traditional Chiefs and the non-indigenous community to travel to Calgary and directly confront the corporate powers that are planning coalbed methane exploration and production in the Bulkley Valley areas. But we (in the rural and urban parts of this province) must, ally together, and go beyond these actions. These are the times, and we are the people.

Tricked and Treated:
The Case of Modern Day Piracy involving British Columbia hydroelectricity and water
Folks, this is an article I would rather not write. Indeed I would rather enjoy Halloween, the trick-n' treating, attending parties, the joking around, and watching the fireworks that accompanies this time of year. But it is not to be. The story that unfolds herein ought to be sufficient to 'scare your socks off', to cause you to demand answers, leap in to action. If you have any concern for the welfare of your children and grandchildren - please read this, pass it around, get very active.

BC HYDRO AND THE MISALLOCATION OF POLITICAL POWER
WITHIN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Presently the Crown owns it all, and grants most of the coal, timber, minerals, oil, gas, hydro licenses to major Corporations whose Boards of Directors really don't give two cents worth for local workers, families, and communities. Their focus is the bottom financial line and value to shareholders - especially majority shareholders. This is not new "news", this is the colonial way it has always been in BC., the municipalities and cities, and the people that reside within them, have little political power within the province vis a vis the Premier and the elite class of big business powers. This dysfunctional allocation of political power is the root cause of why the problem of BC Hydro's sale, restructuring, and the privatizing of our river's water to independent power producers exists.

'We might become extinct'
David Walkem was just finishing his breakfast at Vicky's Café on the banks of the Thompson River and gazing out the window at a dozen bighorn sheep moving up the hillside on the opposite bank.
Here at Spences Bridge in the southern interior of British Columbia, the hills gently rise into mountains, and above everything looms Shawnikenmx, a beloved peak where Mr. Walkem's Nlakapamux people used to go in the old days to get spirit power. Back then, the 50-year-old chief of the Cook's Ferry Indian Band explains, the high country was like parkland. As a boy, his grandfather could ride his horse through the forest at full gallop.

Sea-to-Sky Hurts Communities
The Sea-to-Sky highway project has more critics than just Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Habitat Enhancement Branch. Some residents of West Vancouver are extremely concerned over the impact changes in the traffic flow will have on their community. They would be joined by users of the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal if they had the slightest idea what is being proposed.

Corporate Influence
It is fitting, perhaps ironic, that information from the search warrants used in the December 28, 2003 raid on the Legislature was made available at the same time that the public learned who financed BC's political parties in 2005. Information in the search warrants is nothing but unproven allegations but they contain assertions that Ministerial Assistants received benefits from lobbyists for assisting a corporation. Filings with Elections BC show that in 2005 the BC Liberal party received $9.2 million from corporations and just under $1 million from unincorporated businesses, for a total of over $10.1 million out of $13.1 million from all sources. Despite having received 77% of their funding from the business sector, the Liberal Party had the gall to issue a news release which claimed that "Individuals made up a full eighty-two percent of the contributors to the BC Liberal Party in 2005". Of course, the BC Liberal Party wasn't counting dollars when it made that outrageous claim. If corporate and union donations were banned, as they are in Quebec and Manitoba, the Liberals would have a funding crisis.

Day's strategy: 'Debate is futile'
In the right-wing attempt to overthrow our public health-care system and put in place a multitude of for-profit privatized services, Dr. Brian Day is its leading revolutionary.
In a campaign-style speech for the very conservative Fraser Institute last Thursday, Day made clear that despite recently being chosen by B.C. doctors as their choice to be the next president of the Canadian Medical Association, he will not moderate his views.

Canada's energy security in jeopardy
OTTAWAA report on the Athabasca tar sands released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Parkland Institute, and Polaris Institute warns of the potential enormous economic, social, and ecological threat from Athabaska tar sands development.
"The Athabasca tar sands project is the centerpiece of a continental energy plan to send massive new oil and gas supplies to the U.S.," says Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Institute. "Canada is sitting back and letting George W. Bush and the big oil companies dictate our energy policy."

Emerson's defection raises legal issues
Vancouver lawyer Peter Dimitrov has suggested that Vancouver Kingsway MP David Emerson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper might have "nullified" the constitutional rights of Emerson's constituents when Emerson abandoned the Liberals and joined the Conservative cabinet. In a phone interview with the Straight, Dimitrov said that a 2003 Supreme Court of Canada decision involving Miguel Figueroa "clearly elucidates the right of citizens to play a meaningful role in the election of their representatives".

Finally, a debate about private health care? Give us a break!
Ottawa (8 March 2006) - With the recent Supreme Court decision on wait times, and the moves by some provincial governments to allow a bigger role for the for-profit sector in health care, advocates of for-profit care are pretty pumped.
Finally, we're informed, we'll have the much needed 'public debate' about for-profit care. Those dinosaurs who've insisted we shouldn't even think about a for-profit role will now have to face the crucial 'debate' which we've apparently never had the courage to face.

Albertans must de-Klein the third way on Medicare
The Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, has defended his government's scheme to legislate two-tier health care with this line: "It's about people making choices for themselves."
No, Mr. Klein, it's not. It's about rich people making decisions for themselves. It's about the very wealthy being able to jump the queue at the expense of the rest of us.

CEOs set agenda for foreign policy talks
On March 7th and 8th a delegation of CEOs, all members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), an organization made up of 150 of Canada's largest corporations, will arrive in Mexico City to seek out "new business opportunities" according to the February 16 editorial in the Mexican daily Reforma.

Is there a Legal Case Against David Emerson? - Part Two
In the United Kingdom where parliament is supreme "tradition' gives parliamentarians the right, indeed the privilege, to switch sides as they please without any restrictions whatsoever.
Parliamentarians in Canada seem to think that they can do exactly the same. The reality is, however, that in Canada, since the 1982 patriation of the Constitution with a new Charter of Rights and Freedoms - 'parliament is not supreme'. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any common or statutory law, tradition, privilege, entitlement, or judicial ruling inconsistent with the Canadian Constitution can be overturned by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The Return of the Ruling Class
Last Monday I had occasion to speak to a Political Science class at University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops. I used my hour with the students to try and argue against cynicism about politics and political activity. I have long believed that cynicism is the path to hopelessness, and hopelessness is the excuse to take no action to improve our collective experience. Academic life sometimes encourages students to confuse cynicism with intelligence, and faith with naiveté. I wanted to refute that assumption and convince the students that the world as they would inherit is theirs to design or abandon and the appropriate way to make that choice was to make it consciously.

Is There a Legal Case Against David Emerson?
It is now becoming evident that David Emerson's actions have support, amongst some within his constituency, within the Conservative Party, but especially within Corporate Canada. Nonetheless I hazard to assert that the majority of ordinary Canadians across the political spectrum think that his actions were an absolute betrayal of those who supported his campaign and those who voted for him.

Public service workers take strike vote
The 25,000 women and men who work in the provincial public service will be taking a strike vote to back their contract demands for protection from privatization and contracting out of their work and stronger job security, the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) announced today.

Harper's hogwash hard to digest
I thought Stephen Harper was sharper than this. Apparently not.

He has made an unelected man, Michael Fortier, a senator  after saying future senators would be elected, not appointed. Then he put Fortier, along with turncoat Liberal David Emerson, into his cabinet  bypassing a clutch of very able MPs in his caucus.

Citizens Demand Emerson Step Down & Face By-Election
Recording of the Rally in MP3

More than four hundred people attended a rally in Vancouver on Saturday to pressure Liberal-turned-Tory David Emerson to resign. It's another forum for people to vent their anger with Emerson. Organizers of two online petitions say they have gathered more than 20,000 signatures in a week.

TERMINATOR BAN UNDERMINED AT UN MEETING IN SPAIN
The National Farmers Union (NFU) of Canada, the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) in the United States, and other organizations are concerned that "suicide seeds" may be introduced into the environment through the back door.

A worldwide de-facto moratorium on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs ­ popularly known as "Terminator" technology) was undermined this past week at a United Nations conference in Granada, Spain. Terminator technology is used to create genetically modified seeds which are rendered sterile at harvest.

Could Harper's win cost voters their homes?
On election night, some socially progressive voters probably heaved a sigh of relief that Conservative prime ministerdesignate Stephen Harper failed to win a majority government. Nationally, his party won fewer seats than the Liberals did in 2004. Without the support of other parties in Parliament, Harper won't be able to drag Canada into a war, ban same-sex marriage, create a "made-in-Canada" alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, or cut off funding for embryonic-stem-cell research.

Offshore oil an issue in BC
The Conservative candidate for the Skeena-Bulkley-Valley riding on B.C.'s north coast says he would push for offshore oil and gas drilling if his party forms the next government.

Will federal parties secure Canada's energy future?
The spike in world oil prices after Hurricane Katrina highlighted the need to plan for coming oil and natural gas shortages. The Americans are discussing how to ensure security of supply. So are politicians in many countries.

But not in Canada. We now have only 8.7 years of proven supply of natural gas. Conventional oil production is falling. Alberta's tar sands have plenty of oil, but it comes with horrific environmental damage. During an election campaign, Canada's main political party leaders seem oblivious to Canada's energy security needs.

Deep Integration and the New North American Man.
Isn't it strange that a prominent political figure often touted as the next Prime Minister is actively and openly participating in a group whose unstated goal amounts to the destruction of the very country he wants to lead?

Stranger yet, this bizarre and frightening fact is ignored by the national media. Instead of front page stories, angry editorials and outraged columnists there's a soothing silence, which enables the man to keep alive his dream of becoming Prime Minister.

Will the Real Harper Stand Up
Human Rights Commissions:

"Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack o­n our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society&It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff." (BC Report Newsmagazine, January 11, 1999)

In Their Own Words collects quotations by and about Canada's Conservatives, as well as quotes about Canada by well-known American conservative pundits.
"The establishment came down with a constitutional package which they put to a national referendum. The package included distinct society status for Quebec and some other changes, including some that would just horrify you, putting universal Medicare in our constitution, and feminist rights, and a whole bunch of other things."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

Council denounces Harper's desire to include property rights in Charter
Ottawa  During the party leaders' debate last night, Stephen Harper announced that a Tory government would entrench property rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Council of Canadians warns that this legal change would give sweeping new rights to corporations and enable them to undermine government regulations that protect social programs and the environment.

PPWC condemns mill closures
The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada will not stand idly by and watch yet another closure and the loss of over 400 jobs.
The workers at the Western Forest Products Woodfibre pulp mill in Squamish, represented by PPWC Local 3, yesterday (December 15) received notice that their mill will close permanently in January 2006. This results in the loss of 282 jobs in the Local Union and an escalating impact on the community of Squamish. This news comes just a week after Cascadia Forest Products announced it was permanently closing their Island Phoenix sawmill in Nanaimo, laying off 170 members of PPWC Local 8.

The Future of Canadian Postal Services Goes On Trial In Washington DC
Ottawa, December 12, 2005  The future of Canada's public post office will be decided by a private trade tribunal operating from the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. The hearings over our post office will run from December 12-17th

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and the Council of Canadians (the Council) are concerned that the tribunal, which is looking at a complaint filed by United Parcel Service (UPS), could issue a decision that has disastrous implications for postal and other public services.

Public Services or NAFTA  The choice is yours
In a few months a hearing will get underway within the inner sanctum of World Bank headquarters in Washington DC. On trial in those proceedings will be Canadian postal policy and the activities of Canada Post. The outcome could mean the dismantling of affordable, Canada-wide public postal service.

Reports on Poverty in British Columbia from SPARC BC
Welfare Leaves People Hungry
Two new reports show that despite BC's booming economy over 100,000 people on welfare are left behind.

B.C. has worst child poverty rate
A new report indicates B. C. had the highest child poverty rate in Canada in 2003  despite the province's impressive record of job creation in recent years.
The report by the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition says the province's child poverty rate was 23.9 per cent, indicating that nearly one in four B.C. kids was living below the poverty line.

Campbell Government Expands Internet Gambling
It started in July with the online purchase of lottery tickets, not long after the government cracked down on charities selling their lotteries online. It appears that the government wanted a monopoly on online sales. The Campbell government, through its agent the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC), has moved into full fledged Internet gambling. As the promotion says, "frequent, fast, fun". One of the reasons almost all slot machines in BC casinos have been replaced with video lottery terminals is that they play faster and hence relieve players of more money. The latest introduction to online gambling by BCLC is a new online keno game every five minutes! Gamblers can sit at home in front of their computer terminal and blow the week's grocery budget. It is hard to imagine a more hypocritical government than what Gordon Campbell has delivered. The sale of BC Rail, chaos in the Ministry of Children and Families and the expansion of gambling are all the opposite of what Campbell promised.

May I take your order, please?
Just four days before May's provincial election, Vancouver investment tycoon Peter Brown sent a blunt e-mail to his staff at Canaccord Capital Corp. He started by claiming that he wasn't trying to influence how employees voted. But any sense of evenhandedness was quickly erased by what followed: a hearty endorsement of Premier Gordon Campbell and a thorough denunciation of the NDP.

Falcon Derailed
Too long in power makes many governments become arrogant. The Campbell government may have started out that way partly as a result of its initial 77-2 majority and partly because of the personal style of the Premier. Losing 30 seats in the 2005 election should have been a humbling experience that offered lessons, but Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, one of Campbell's closest allies, demonstrated in question period on November 3rd that nothing has been learned.

Corky Evans calls on British Columbians to speak out on Terasen sale

I oppose the sale of Terasen Gas to Texas-based Kinder Morgan. However I believe that my opinion is of no greater value than other British Columbians I hear from on a daily basis.
I write today to encourage all British Columbians to tell government to facilitate (actively, vigorously, and with purpose) a public discussion of the implications of this transaction with the citizens of British Columbia. I am not talking about an intellectual exercise, or a big meeting in Vancouver, or a legal process that is intimidating to persons unaccustomed to the affairs of State or the Law.

Canada's Deadly 'P3' Hospital Boondoggles
It's difficult and perhaps pointless to try to pick the most dangerous threat to public Medicare in Canada - the drug companies' profit margins, Alberta's ideologically-addled Ralph Klein, the Canadian Medical Association's endorsement of more privatization, the shockingly misinformed decision by the Supreme Court allowing for competing private services within the public system. All of these endanger public health care. But, perhaps, the most immediate threat is the de-facto privatization of our hospitals through the use of public private partnerships known as P3s.

How Big Media Covered the Teachers' Dispute
On the evening teachers wrapped up their vote to return to school, BCTV legislative reporter Keith Baldrey surmised that they had succeeded in putting class size on the public agenda. Thanks to teachers' efforts, the Campbell government will need to address this issue seriously in the months ahead because the public will be watching, Baldrey predicted.

Seniors launch MSP complaint hotline, 1-866-699-4449, to chronicle poor service by Maximus
Fed up with lengthy delays in accessing information about their medical plan, B.C. seniors have established a toll-free hotline for British Columbians to share their complaints about poor service provided by the U.S. company Maximus Inc.

Privatization of BC Hydro
Having privatized a third of BC Hydro's operations by contracting various customer services to Accenture, and having severed responsibility for transmission by putting it under the BC Transmission Corporation, the Campbell government probably couldn't take the heat if it admitted that it was also privatizing Hydro's generating capacity, yet that is precisely what is happening. The evidence is found in Hydro's "service plan" which shows that 40% of BC's electricity supply will be privatized by 2020.

Teachers to Vote on Vince Ready Proposals
Yesterday, Vince Ready made recommendations to both sides in the Teacher's dispute on how to end the impasse. The Campbell government which has been intransigent in its refusal to meet with the teachers was quick to accept said recommendations. Certainly they are looking for a way to end this impasse without losing face, while at the same time achieving their objective to commit to not repealing Bill 12- the legislation that forces teachers back to work, with a zero pay increase, and without addressing the issue of class size or the need for more support for special needs/education teachers.

Mel Hurtig Says Foreign Investment? No. Foreign Ownership and Control? Yes!
The latest figures from the Investment Review Division of Industry Canada are now available. They cover the period from June 30, 1985, when the Mulroney government put the Investment Canada Act into effect, after abolishing FIRA, to the end of September, 2005.

Submission to the BC Utility Commission regarding Kinder Morgan's Application
to Take-Over Terasen
Firstly, I write to express my opposition to the possible approval by the BC Utilities Commission of the acquisition of Terasen's common shares by Kinder Morgan Inc.  a Texas based corporation. It is my opinion that the take-over' is not in the best long-term public interests of British Columbia or Canada, or in the best public interests of this or future generations yet unborn.

Legislation mocks Libs' own words
The B.C. Liberals think they are above the law when it comes to dealing with teachers.
By imposing a contract last week on B.C. teachers instead of allowing them to continue with free collective bargaining, including the democratic right to strike, the Gordon Campbell government once again showed disrespect for the law.

What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?
Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple:

Why we need to support the teachers of British Columbia
BC Teachers don't consider themselves obliged to obtain permission from Gordon Campbell's government in order to exercise their rights as guaranteed under international labour laws. In September, teachers passed a strike vote with 88.4% approval for a legal strike. Now that the government has provocatively passed Bill 12, one would expect fewer BCTF members to support strike action in defiance of punitive legislation that makes it illegal.

British Columbia teachers defy anti-strike law, court rulings
Forty-two thousand British Columbia elementary and secondary school teachers are mounting an "illegal" strike in defiance of a provincial labour relations board "cease-and-desist" order, a BC Supreme Court contempt of court ruling, and a series of repressive laws enacted by BC's Liberal government.

BC Teachers Backed by All of Us Can Win Against This Government!
Across B.C. teachers are striking over fundamentals. It's a fight to maintain quality public education. It's a strike against the policies of a government rolling in money that has closed 113 schools and terminated 2,600 teaching positions.

C. Evans: Mr. Speaker, it's good to see you sitting there.
As you're aware, this is not my first speech. If this was a marriage, I wouldn't be dressed in white. After I gave my real maiden speech, which was 14 years ago, I received a note from a lovely man, Emery Barnes, who worked here then. He said: "That was a good job." I took it home, and I pinned it on the wall. He kind of tried to show me how you function here. In honour of that wonderful fellow, I'm wearing a shirt made by his daughter so I'll look better. He always was better dressed.

It May Be Time for Canada to Pull Out of NAFTA
Outrage over the duplicitous diplomacy used to avoid treaty obligations on Devil's Lake is not enough.
Cancelling a meeting of trade bureaucrats in defiance of a NAFTA trade ruling on softwood lumber is blowing smoke in the wind.

Union wants B.C. Ferries examined
Victoria  As B.C. ferries break down almost every day, the ferry workers' union is demanding that the company face some scrutiny.
Two more vessels broke down on Wednesday  the Queen of New Westminster on the Tsawwassen-Nanaimo run and the Queen of Capilano on the Horseshoe Bay-Bowen Island route.

New Legislation Threatens Privacy for Canadians Once Again!
The Globe and Mail report by Bill Curry on Aug.19,2005 states, "The federal government will introduce legislation this fall that would give police and national security agencies new powers to eavesdrop on cellphone calls and monitor the Internet activities of Canadians, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday." The first question should be why? Is there no longer a presumption of innocence in this county? Have we all become possible criminals as we go about our daily lives?

Hitler's Germany Revisited in Canada?
Connie Fogal, Leader of CAP, says " 'NO' to an impending federal law to give police and national security agencies new powers to eavesdrop on cellphone calls and monitor the Internet activities of Canadians"
"This law is another destruction of Canadian freedom,"insists Fogal. "It moves Canada even further into the realm of a police state. This is an adjunct to our nefarious anti terrorism laws imposed on an uninformed citizenry by our Parliament and Senate. It is another elimination of some of our sovereign rights that were supposed to be guaranteed to us under our Constitution and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is an act of stealth imposed under the guise of national security."

Uranium battle brewing
A new uranium mining project in the Okanagan is set to revive a fierce environmental battle in B.C. Sparton Resources and Santoy Resources have bought the Blizzard uranium claims near Beaverdell, about 50 kilometres southeast of Kelowna, and plan to extract some 4,500 tonnes of the fuel, a spokesman said Tuesday.

NDP shadow cabinet unveiled
Veteran MLA Jenny Kwan has been appointed as the NDP finance critic, after spending the past four years as one of the two NDPers to survive the Liberal election sweep of 2001.

Liberal Corruption, beyond the Sponsorship Scandal
For the past couple of months, Canadians have been inundated with stories, commentary and parliamentary debate about corruption -- as in the sponsorship scandal. It is unfortunate that the same amount of attention is not paid to a kind of corruption that is much more serious, and has a far larger impact on far more people. I am speaking here of the corruption of the role of government, often at the behest of the country's -- and the world's -- largest corporations. This is not to say that the sponsorship scandal should be ignored or is unimportant. But on the grand scale of things the sponsorship scandal is a side-show of Lilliputian proportions The people involved, the usual bottom-feeders of power politics, don't deserve the attention they're getting. The Liberal government has a lot more to answer for when it comes to political corruption.

Quebec Referendum #3: Beyond the Pedagogy of Fear-Opportunity?
The way I see it, the legal relations between Quebec & the Federal government and the rest of Canada needs changing big time. The constitutional framework which Quebec did not sign is not only not good for Quebec, it isn't good for the rest of Canada either. Canadians, including Quebecers and First Nations need to modernize the legal relations between themselves the cities, provinces and the federal government. For those who lament the death of the old institutional-legal order that constitutes the state of CANADA please remember, a new constitutional order, hopefully better, can only rise from the ashes if citizens and NOT the Premiers and the Prime Minister are empowered.

Sterile Seeds, Canada's Impotence
Two weeks ago, a group of self-appointed guardians of Canada's well-being released their final report on "The Future of North America." The task force that wrote it is promoting some extremely radical proposals for the integration of Canada, the US and Mexico.

CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION: PART TWO
I Can't GET No Satisfaction ..from the May 17th election result and another four years of seeing Gordon Campbell's face all over the news, and worse, knowing that for four more years Capital in this province will have virtually a free- hand to continue extracting even more profit by exploiting organized & unorganized workers, by running completely roughshod over the natural environment, by furthering shredding the social fabric. The attacks on all forms of labor will continue, de-regulation affecting the forestry, mining, fisheries, oil & gas, hydro-electricity, farm-fishery, etc. sectors will continue as major corporations extract even more surplus wealth from the natural world without a care in the world about the environmental consequences. I expect to see more public assets sold off to private corporations. I expect to see more promises broken or not kept. I expect to see even more money from the bcpension funds invested in the 'war economy' of US companies ...which is ethically scandalous. The big losers are the non-business elites of this province, and those that have no voice, the wild salmon, the grizzly, the wildlife whose habitat will be affected as the boundaries of other provincial parks get 'de-constructed' so as to further benefit Capital- (as the Fiberals did in the Chilcotin!). What the Green Party Leadership hoped to gain by running non-electable candidates in virtually all 79 ridings is unknown to me?

"I can't get no satisfaction, but I tried, and I tried!