This and that for your Sunday reading. – Liz Farmer discusses the growing body of evidence showing that high-end tax cuts do nothing to build the economy for anybody but the few privileged beneficiaries. And Stephen Kimber writes about the billions of dollars Canada loses to tax evasion every year,
Continue readingTag: First Nations
A Puff of Absurdity: On Those Statues Again
There are dueling petitions out to continue (which curiously disappeared) and stop statues of all 22 prime ministers being planted on the grounds of Wilfrid Laurier University, my old school that I loved all to bits. I wrote about this statue project on its inception two years ago. The statues
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Chevron says it won’t reroute LNG pipeline around Unist’ot’en blockade
Unist’ot’en blockade on Morice River in 20124 (Photo: Two Island Films) Read this Oct. 27 story from Mark Nielsen in the Prince George Citizen, on Chevron’s refusal to reroute its planned Pacific Trail Pipeline – designed to supply natural gas from northeast BC to its proposed LNG terminal in Kitimat – to
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: BC Government Preventing Access To Information
I really hope this isn’t going on in other parts of the country too. BC’s Liberal government is far too corrupt.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: BC Government Preventing Access To Information
I really hope this isn’t going on in other parts of the country too. BC’s Liberal government is far too corrupt.
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: A Brief Note On #Elxn42 And Moving Toward A New Left
This much is clear: with the NDP’s federal collapse last night, the neoliberal Third Way experiment can clearly be declared a failure. But now what? Now, to build ─ not rebuild on a broken foundation. But also this: pillory me as a post-structuralist if you must, but I’m not here for
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Democratic reform is the real change that must come from Canadian election
If Canadians don’t see a commitment for major change from Monday’s winner, the nastiest and most divisive election in our history, by far, will be for naught. Change is never easy and the results Read more…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Alex Himelfarb writes about the urgent need to reverse the vicious cycle of austerity. And Toby Sanger takes a look at the economic records of Canada’s political parties, and finds that the NDP ranks at the top of the class not only for
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: While one First Nation sues to stop LNG, another embraces it
Hereditary chiefs of the Luutkudziiwus House of the Gitxsan Nation at their Madii Lii Camp While the country speeds toward a high-stakes federal election, things are heating up on the provincial front with the LNG file in BC. As Premier Clark hosts a third international LNG conference in Vancouver, sticking to her
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – The Equality Trust reminds us that economic inequality leads to harmful health consequences even for the lucky few at the top of the income scale. And Matt Bruenig observes that a basic income would provide workers with far more scope to avoid employer
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Lax Kw’alaams claim on Lelu Island could sink Petronas’ LNG project
Lelu Island and Flora Bank (foreground) – site of controversial proposed LNG plant (Skeena Watershed Conservation Soc.) Read this September 18 Vancouver Sun story on a claim by the Lax Kw’alaams First Nation to Lelu Island – the controversial site for Petronas’ planned LNG terminal in the Skeena Estuary near Prince Rupert.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kevin Carmichael compares the federal parties’ promises to help parents and concludes the NDP’s child care plan to hold far more social and economic benefit, while Natascia Lypny likewise finds that parents are more interested in actual affordable child-care spaces than tax baubles.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Roheena Saxena points out that personal privilege tends to correlate to selfishness in distributing scarce resources. And that in turn may explain in part why extreme top-end wealth isn’t even mentioned in a new inequality target under development by the UN. – Or,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jordan Brennan details (and expands on) how corporate tax cuts have served solely to further enrich the people and businesses who already had the most: (F)ar from improving economic outcomes, there is evidence to suggest that corporate income tax reductions depressed Canadian GDP
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Tsartlip First Nation blasts Steelhead LNG over proposed Saanich project
Tsartlip Chief Don Tom opposing another unwanted project – construction of a luxury home on burial grounds The Tsartlip First Nation on southern Vancouver Island is weighing in on a proposed LNG project for the Saanich Inlet – pouring cold water on an August 20 announcement by proponent Steelhead LNG touting
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Transparency?
I don’t think that word means what you think it means. We just passed the deadline by which First Nations bands are required by the Federal Government to disclosed audited financial statements. The audited financial statements must be accompanied by a separate schedule which details the salaries for Chiefs and
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: National voter support campaign could mean the end for Harper
The primary objective of Stephen Harper’s new absurdly-named Fair Elections Act is to prevent hundreds-of-thousands of Canadians from voting for the NDP, Liberals, Greens, etc. The Conservatives are, in effect, “cheating” the electoral process again, just as blatantly as in the past. They know that a large number of people
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Strong voter registration campaign could mean the end for Harper
The primary objective of Stephen Harper’s absurdly-named Fair Elections Act is to prevent hundreds-of-thousands of Canadians from voting for the NDP, Liberals, Greens, etc.
The Conservatives are, in effect, “cheating” the electoral process again, just as blatantly as in the past. They know that a large number of people – students, marginalized people and First Nations – will have a hard time voting because of the changes. And they know those people would not likely vote Conservative.
Even though the Conservatives are trailing in the polls, it’s much too soon to say they will lose the election. Harper’s gang of strategists and pollsters have masterminded their way to victory three times, overcoming tough odds each time.
But efforts to help people to register to vote are not as strong as they could be. There needs to be close co-operation among groups to make sure that as many people as possible – particularly people in some 70 ridings where the Conservatives are vulnerable – have the identification they need to vote.
Alexie Stephens is one of Leadnow’s staff members working to defeat the Conservatives. |
The Council of Canadians contends that some 770,000 people may have a difficult time voting because of the changes to the Act. Included are 400,000 people who used the voter ID card in 2011 and believe that’s all they need this time; 250,000 people who will move during the election period; and 120,000 who used vouching in 2011.
Harper ‘scheme’ must be stopped
If many of those 770,000 people are unable to vote, the Conservatives could win a crucial number of closely contested seats. Vote splitting among New Democrats, Liberal and Greens – similar to what occurred in 2011 – could also result in another Harper government.
A second factor could prevent many people from voting. Voting was less complicated when Elections Canada enumerators went door-to-door registering voters and explaining where to vote, a process that was eliminated in 1997. Now voter information is compiled from tax records, which are less reliable.
“ It’s all part of voter suppression, making it as complicated as possible so people will just throw up their hands and stay home,” says Stephanie Sydiaha, a Saskatoon activist working on registering voters.
Public interest organizations are responding to the challenge, hoping to play a leading role in defeating the Conservatives.
Dozens of groups want to “knock off” the Conservatives, including well-staffed NGOs, the Council of Canadians, Leadnow, and Dogwood Initiative; unions UNIFOR, the Public Service Alliance of Canada , the Professional Institute of Public Servants of Canada, the Quebec Federation of Labour and others; First Nations groups in many ridings; and avaaz, the international lobby group.
Some groups are urging people to vote strategically for either the NDP or Liberals in as many as 70 ridings, while others are campaigning for just the NDP.
So far, only a few groups are running campaigns that encourage people to vote.
Fairly similar campaigns
The Council of Canadians and Leadnow’s ‘Vote Together’ are the main groups encouraging people to vote. Their campaigns are quite similar. People who visit their websites are asked to pledge that they will vote. So far, the response has been limited.
Both groups are giving extra attention to young voters. The Council has hired high-profile activist Brigette DePape to run its campaign.
The Council and Leadnow are conducting door-to-door campaigns, talking with people and leaving information on what they need to do to vote. The Council has been working in 10 ridings and Leadnow 13. Both groups say they plan to conduct detailed work in more ridings.
Because the Act makes it more difficult for people to vote, groups should do more than just drop off literature and a voters’ guide.
Excellent project in Saskatoon
Interestingly, one small group is doing a more thorough job. In Saskatoon’s downtown generally low-income core, a group of about 15 volunteers have been trained to take people – many of whom have never voted before – through the entire process to get ready to cast their ballot.
The volunteers, equipped with laptop computers, printers and cell phones, go to locations in the city where people congregate. They show people the Elections Canada website and, if they’re not registered, they help them through the process. They make sure people have the right pieces of identification to make sure they will not be turned away at the polls.
“I started with one church I knew about that has a food market for core neighbour residents,” says Stephanie Sydiaha, who launched the volunteer campaign. “I called the Food Bank, they were very eager, so we go there one afternoon a week.”
“We’ve been going to a soup kitchen that feeds 1,000 people a day – yes, in booming Saskatoon, they feed 1,000 people a day,” says Sydiaha , a long-time activist. “These are people who are not reached by politicians, they don’t have TV, or computers, etc. But they want to vote, believe me.”
This kinds of hands-on facilitation should be used by other groups in many neighbourhoods.
Some 14-million-plus people are expected to want to vote. It’s difficult to say how many will not make it through Harper’s rabbit snare of a voting process. But if a million are stymied, it will have a significant impact on the outcome of the election.
I dread thinking of a situation where, two or three days before the election, the NDP is leading the Conservatives by, say, three points in opinion polls. But come the morning after the election, and Harper ends up with perhaps three more seats than the NDP because of his latest trickery.
Serious need for groups to get involved
There is still time – and a serious need – for more groups, particularly unions, to get involved in voter registration campaigning.
Groups involved in the registration campaign need to co-ordinate their efforts. The Canada Elections Act restricts groups (Third Parties) from colluding to provide more than the legal amount of advertising revenue in support of a candidate, but there’s nothing in the Act preventing groups from working together to help people to vote.
Even at this late date, the creation of a national co-ordinating committee could give the campaign the profile needed to warm people about the changes to the Act. There’s still time to publicize the issue and conduct fundraising through a series of national newspaper ads.
There’s plenty of work for individuals. People can contact the Council of Canadians, Leadnow’s Vote Together or their union and volunteer to help with door-to-door voter registration.
Or, if you’d rather work in your neighbourhood on your own, that’s great too. Post voter information in community centres, churches, and grocery stores.
Voting guidelines and, if you want to, you can vote now.
If the campaign works, it will be one of the main reasons why Canadians will wake up on October 20th to a new government.
Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jim Stanford, Iglika Ivanova and David MacDonald each highlight how there’s far more to be concerned about in Canada’s economy beyond the GDP dip alone. Both Thomas Walkom and the Star’s editorial board write that it’s clear the Cons have nothing to offer
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Energy East: “Treaty and Aboriginal rights must be respected”
Energy East must respect treaty and Aboriginal rights, says the Ontario Energy Board in its just-released review of TransCanada’s proposed pipeline. The post Energy East: “Treaty and Aboriginal rights must be respected” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
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