COMMON CAUSES/CAUSES COMMUNES
http://commoncauses.ca/
People in communities across Canada are coming together under a banner of “Common Causes” on January 28 as MPs head back to the Hill and Parliament resumes. The Council of Canadians, with tens of thousands of members, is one of 47 groups and organizations that is part of this unprecedented social movement.
MORE:
REPORT: Common Causes: Progressive forces acting together to build a better society,
http://www.canadians.org/documents/CC/
CC%20-%20Maude%20Report.pdf
By Maude Barlow
RAPPORT : Causes communes: Les forces progressives collaborent au renforcement de la société,
http://canadians.org/documents/CC/
CC%20-%20Maude%20Report%20-%20FR.pdf
par Maude Barlow
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NEWS: Common Causes backs Idle No More rallies across the country
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=19046
UPDATE: Barlow speaks at Idle No More rally on Parliament Hill
By Brent Patterson, Monday, January 28th, 2013
Postmedia News reports, “Idle No More protesters are set to gather in at least 30 Canadian cities and will be joined by solidarity protests around the world as the indigenous grassroots movement marks a global day of action on Monday.”
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Actions held in 25 Canadian cities to launch Common Causes
http://canadians.org/media/other/2013/28-Jan-13.html
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UPDATE: Barlow speaks at Idle No More rally on Parliament Hill
By Brent Patterson
CBC reports this hour, “An estimated 300 Idle No More demonstrators have gathered during a heavy snowfall on Parliament Hill today.”
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COMMON CAUSES: Working Together to Defend Democracy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 28, 2013
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan—January 28, 2013—Opposition to Stephen Harper’s hidden agenda has stepped up yet again with action launched in Prince Albert. Community members gathered as part of the launch of Common Causes, a new collaboration of Canadians to defend democracy, the environment, and human rights, against the Harper agenda. The day of action is being planned jointly with Idle No More grassroots founders and organizers from across Canada.
“We have shown that we can work together to send a clear and loud message to Ottawa.” said Rick Sawa. “In Prince Albert, we are ready to take collective actions to speak out and defend what is right for our community.”
Community members gathered to send a strong message to Stephen Harper by videotaping representative voices of the collaboration. Sawa, Council of Canadians, Craig Thebault, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, Elaine Sukava, Food Secure, Murdine McCreath, Renewable Power—Intelligent Choice, and Angus McLean and Ashley Marie Wilson, Idle No More, all spoke eloquently.
Thebault listed the harm done to workers and their families with legislation around retirement and EI, “Canadian workers shouldn’t have to worry if they fall out of work, they will not fall into poverty.” Sukava said, “Changes to food safety inspection, seed security, and protection of fish species, waterways, and species at risk, are only a few stripped protections connected to healthy landscapes and foodways.”
McCreath stressed, “There is a disconnect with the current economic model which is short sighted, irresponsible, narrow and lacking a sense of responsibility [for the environment].”
McLean and Wilson again and again mentioned future generations. McLean noted Harper as an MP declared that an omnibus bill would put MPs in conflict and said, “If an omnibus budget bill of 21 pages was undemocratic in 1994, it cannot become any more democratic in 2012 when the legislation is 436 pages longer.” The video is available at
http://youtu.be/hOHPUG2eWBQ.
“Through organizing this action, we have reached out like we have not before in this community and beyond,” added Sawa, “We are ready to send a clear message by bringing together workers, students, parents, seniors, members of various groups including Idle No More to show that we will be united to fight Harper’s attacks.”
Common Causes is a new assembly of social movements dedicated to defending democracy, the environment, and human rights. Common Causes was launched today with several community actions taking place across the country as well as a press conference held in Ottawa.
Twitter: @Common_Causes & @CausesCommunes | Facebook.com/CommonCausesCausesCommunes |
www.commoncauses.ca -30-
For more information, or to arrange an interview contact:
Rick Sawa, Council of Canadians Prince Albert Chapter
306-922-3851
rj.sawa@inet2000.com
Murdine McCreath, Renewable Power Intelligent Choice
306-764-7199
murdine@sasktel.net
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Neoliberalism no more: Making common cause to defeat the Harper agenda
http://rabble.ca/news/2013/01/neolibera ... per-agenda
By Archana Rampure, | January 28, 2013
Stephen Harper has an agenda and it is all about turning Canada into a resource-extraction economy. He would like to make sure that nothing and no one stands in the way of exploiting the oil and the gas, the minerals and the water.
When Aboriginal people stand up for their rights and demand that they be consulted before natural resources are ripped out of the earth, the racist rhetoric begins to fly. When environmentalists suggest that this is a short-sighted, unsustainable and one-time-only plan, they are called radicals and terrorists. NGOs that network with the Global South peoples whose resources we exploit find themselves replaced by mining companies.
The list goes on: trade unions are demonized as big labour and compared to big corporations as though there is any real comparison between the power and influence wielded by corporations and that of the union movement. Aboriginal communities are abandoned by a Federal government which accuses their leaders of financial mismanagement.
These are the smoke-screens being put up to obscure a neo-liberal agenda that will brook no opposition. What I remember from my first anti-free trade protest more than a decade ago still rings true: deregulation, privatization and globalization is still the name of the game.
To me, much of this comes down to the sharp new focus on bilateral trade agreements that this Federal government has made its trademark. Free trade agreements and foreign investment promotion and protection agreements seem to be the Harper Conservatives answer to every problem we are facing. Their relentless drive to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU is emblematic of their mistaken policies: at a time when Canada`s industrial heartland is struggling with the loss of unionized manufacturing jobs, we are deep in the final stages of negotiating an agreement that might open up other sectors of our economy to transnational competition.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a“next generation”free trade agreement that Canada and the EU have been negotiating since 2009. Make no mistake about this -- it might not be called a free trade agreement but it will be Canada's most expansive free trade initiative since NAFTA. It will impact the ability of our elected governments to regulate and it will have a huge impact on how municipal and provincial governments use procurement for local economic development or for environmental sustainability. As far as we can tell from the leaked documents that have been made public so far, the provisions that it will include on investor-state dispute resolution will once again allow foreign corporations to bypass our legal system and appeal to secretive tribunals. The EU's demands around intellectual property translate into billions of extra dollars for brand-name pharmaceuticals.
And the Canada-EU CETA is only one among the stack of free trade deals that the Harper government has tied itself to: there are now on-going negotiations on free trade between Canada and India, Japan, Korea, Morocco, the Ukraine, the Dominican Republic and a number of other countries. There are also multi-lateral trade agreement negotiations that we are participating in such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Investment promotion and protection agreements are another key feature of this government’s foreign policy initiatives: in 2011 and 2012 alone, FIPAs have been negotiated between Canada and the Czech Republic, Romania, Latvia, the Slovak Republic, Benin, Kuwait, Senegal, Tanzania, China – the now infamous one! – and Mali.
At a time when Canada is supporting a resource war in Mali, and when we “partnering” with multinational mining corporations as part of our international “development” work, it hardly surprising that this government is so enthusiastically supporting Canadian “investment” and “investors” in places such as sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.
MORE:
http://rabble.ca/news/2013/01/neolibera ... per-agenda
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SIGN PETITION - LEADNOW:
http://www.leadnow.ca/cooperate
“I call on the opposition party leaders to support political cooperation for electoral reform.
During the next federal election, I call on the NDP, Liberals and Greens to work together in key ridings to defeat Stephen Harper's government. After the election, I call on them to cooperate to pass electoral reform and make sure our government better reflects the values and priorities of all Canadians.”
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CANADIAN ELECTORAL ALLIANCE:
http://www.electoralalliance.ca/content ... l-alliance
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Make 2013 the Year of Canada's Democracy Coalition
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/01/28/Ca ... Coalition/
If Liberal and NDP leaders aren't pressured to co-operate they'll enable another Harper majority.
By Murray Dobbin, January 28, 2013 TheTyee.ca
When historians write the chapter on the current period of social democracy in Canada they might well conclude that the worst thing that happened to it was the 2011 election when the NDP got 103 seats it hadn't really earned. It was such an unexpected event that the NDP could not cope with it. You could see it in the euphoria of election night -- the same night that the dismantling of the country (whose best government features the party could take much credit for) would begin in earnest with a Harper majority.
The delusion set in that night and it continues to today. While the party always talked as if it would become government it was always an article of faith, not reason. The election put that article of faith on steroids and the reward for the faithful was to be allowed to believe even more strongly. That blind faith will destroy social democracy in Canada and hand Stephen Harper the additional four years he needs to dismantle the country. After transforming the country in the post-war years into a modest social democracy without ever coming to power, the NDP's false dream of actually coming to power threatens to wipe out its legacy. If that isn't irony I don't know what would qualify.
The only hope of delivering a fatal blow to the Harper Conservatives is a one-time agreement between the opposition parties focused on a single policy agreement: a coalition to defeat Harper in the House and establish proportional representation.
Layton's Backfire . . . .
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/01/28/Ca ... Coalition/
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QUOTE: "(Joyce) Murray is the only one of nine Liberal leadership aspirants to support any form of co-operation with other opposition parties. Her rivals — most of whom appear to be tilting right in a bid to woo back so-called business Liberals who've defected to the Tories — have adamantly ruled it out."
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Liberal, NDP, Green Alliance Pushed By Joyce Murray In Bid To Beat Tories
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/27 ... 60606.html
CP | By Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press Posted: 01/27/2013 4:05 am
EST | Updated: 01/27/2013 2:01 pm EST
Elizabeth May, Liberal NDP Coalition, Thomas Mulcair, Joyce Murray, Joyce Murray Elizabeth May, Joyce Murray Greens, Joyce Murray Ndp,
Liberal Green Alliance, Liberal Green Coalition, Liberal Leadership, Liberal Leadership Race, Liberal Ndp Alliance, Canada Politics News Liberal Ndp Green Alliance
An electoral alliance between Liberals and Greens could ensure the defeat of the Harper Conservatives — even if New Democrats refuse to go along, Grit leadership hopeful Joyce Murray says. (CP)
OTTAWA - Electoral co-operation between Liberals and Greens could be a "game-changer" that ensures defeat of the Harper Conservatives — even if New Democrats refuse to go along, Grit leadership hopeful Joyce Murray says.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has flatly rejected any kind of collaboration with the Liberals, whom he deems untrustworthy.
But Murray thinks Mulcair could still change his mind, persuaded by the many New Democrats — including House leader Nathan Cullen — who support co-operation.
Even if he doesn't, the Vancouver MP said that wouldn't cripple her proposal for a one-time non-compete pact among progressive parties in vulnerable Conservative ridings during the 2015 election.
The Liberals could still join forces with the Greens, whose leader, Elizabeth May, is an enthusiastic advocate of the idea.
"If necessary, yes, of course, we could do this with just the Green party," Murray told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview, adding that May has told her she's interested in exploring the idea with her.
"I haven't crunched the numbers but I think that would be a game-changer as well."
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/27 ... 60606.html
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