Buckdog

 Stephen Harper pledged more dialogue and respect for Aboriginal and First Nations people when he met with Chiefs as part of the Idle No More protests. But what's this? .... Mere days later, the Federal government began the shut down of the comprehensive Information Portal for Federal government programs and services for Aboriginal and First Nations! Just to add 'insult to injury', the Harper Conservatives are relegating information services to the dust bin.

See what happens if you dare challenge Mr. Harper and the Right wing party that supports and maintains his government.

Aboriginal Canada Portal Closure Notice
The Aboriginal Canada Portal will be closing February 12, 2013.
The Aboriginal Canada Portal was developed in 2001, when it was more difficult to find Aboriginal resources and services on the internet. There are now a wide variety of Aboriginal resources online and the rise of search engines and social media have rendered the Portal web site obsolete. For these reasons, the Aboriginal Canada Portal will be closed effective February 12, 2013. If you have any links to the Aboriginal Canada Portal on your web site, please remove or redirect them by February 12.

Two of the more popular components of the Aboriginal Canada Portal site have been improved and transferred to the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) departmental web site.
The Aboriginal Bursaries Search Tool is a searchable list of more than 680 bursaries, scholarships and incentives across Canada, targeted to Aboriginal students in high school and already in university. This mobile-friendly web tool is available on the AANDC web site at the following address: www.aandc.gc.ca/bursaries.
The Connectivity for Aboriginal and Northern Communities in Canada maps illustrate the progress of projects to increase connectivity and broadband internet access in Aboriginal and northern communities. These interactive maps are available on the AANDC web site at the following address: www.aandc.gc.ca/connectivity.
Alternate sources of other information previously available on the Aboriginal Canada Portal are:

• For Aboriginal business information please visit Industry Canada's Aboriginal Business Directory (http://www.ic.gc.ca/abd)
• For First Nation community information, please visit First Nation Profiles (http://pse5-esd5.ainc-inac.gc.ca/fnp/Main/index.aspx?lang=eng)
• For job seekers or employers, please visit Service Canada’s Job Bank (http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/intro-eng.aspx).

You can send comments or questions by e-mail at ACP@aadnc-aandc.gc.ca.
Aboriginal Canada Information Portal

"Marijuana legalization could mean thousands of new jobs and a significant tax boon for Canadians, according to a new draft policy paper by the Liberal Party. But the detailed report, released by the Liberals’ B.C branch, argues that low prices and high quality are essential to keep marijuana production out of the black market. The paper states that marijuana prohibition has failed in not only preventing usage among Canada's youth but also in enabling the black market to flourish. Legalization, it argues, is essential to fighting organized crime."
Victoria Times Colonist

 Hold on for one minute!!!! Why should anyone take the Liberals seriously on marijuana reform in Canada?

While they were in power, Canada's former Liberal government introduced marijuana reform legislation a number of times ... and then let the Bills die on the order paper session after session, year after year.

Why?

Well because they were playing both sides of the political fence at the same time... something that Liberals were very good at!  Let me explain.

1) If you were absolutely in favour of marijuana law reform, the Liberals pointed to their proposed legislation that would lessen sentences for simple possession. They sounded progressive and sincere. 
2) However, if you were not in favour of marijuana law reform, the Liberals pandered to you by NEVER actually passing the many bills that they introduced.

For years, pot reform advocates let the Liberals off the hook, because, 'reform was on the horizon'! The Libs were going to show progressive action on the issue. Hmmm ... not so much.

Because they did nothing, year after year and term after term ...  Liberals have some explaining to do!

-Liberal Party Hypocritical on Marijuana reform

A great article from the Lloydminster, Saskatchewan 'Meridian Booster'. By my reckoning, economist Erin Weir continues to ask the hardest questions of any candidate in the Saskatchewan New Democrat leadership campaign. The governing Saskatchewan Party is led by Premier Brad Wall and boosted (to the point of embarrassment) by the province's major daily papers and other MSM outlets. Weir holds Wall's fiscal and natural resource policy under the microscope and it's not as rosy as the government or the press try to tell you it is.

NDP leader candidate makes Border City stop 

A Saskatchewan NDP leadership candidate made a stop in Lloydminster last week on his campaign to take the reigns of the provincial party.
Erin Weir, a Regina native, said he joined the leadership race because he believes the Saskatchewan NDP needs to articulate an alternative policy vision for the future, and he believes he is the one who can do that.
“In particular we need to be able to engage the Sask Party on economic issues,” said Weir. “I don’t think anyone is likely to win a personality contest against Brad Wall but I think we can win the battle of ideas by staking out policy differences and engaging the Sask Party in a debate about issues.”
Weir said that while there is going to be a huge challenge to rebuild the party after the last election, it is an advantage to be someone running from outside the current NDP caucus.
“It will allow me to be free to travel the province and lead that renewal process,” said Weir, adding he would compare the Saskatchewan NDP now, to the federal NDP about a decade ago. “Jack Layton sought the leadership and one of the questions he faced was not having a seasoned parliament but his answer was that he would make use of not being in the house to tour the country and renew the federal NDP and we have seen how well that worked. I have seen Jack Layton’s leadership of the federal NDP as a model of what I would do provincially in Saskatchewan.”


Weir has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, History and Political Sciences from the University of Regina, a Master of Arts in History from the University of Calgary and a Master of Public Administration from Queen’s University.
He started work as an economist in the federal public service sector working with the treasury board secretary in the department of finance and with the privy councils’ office then moved on to work as an economist in the trade union movement first with the Canadian Labour Congress and then with the United Steel Workers Union.
Weir said he has also worked with the International Trade Union Confederation.
He was elected to the legislative assembly advisory committee, which is a group of party members chosen to represent party policies to caucus, and served from 1998 to 2000.
He also served as president of the Saskatchewan Young New Democrats from 2000 to 2001 and ran as a federal NDP candidate in 2004.
If elected to lead the Saskatchewan NDP, Weir said he would focus on collecting a better return from Saskatchewan’s non-renewable resources.
“Currently the provincial government is almost giving away resources to encourage companies to dig them up as quickly as possible but the goal should be to collect the best possible return for the people of Saskatchewan for the resources,” said Weir. “I would focus on closing loopholes in our resource royalty and tax structure that allows companies to extract oil and potash without paying anything approaching standard royalty and tax rates.”
Weir said Saskatchewan’s increasing population growth has put a strain on infrastructure and services, which is one of the main reasons the province needs to collect a better return for its resources.
He said as leader of the NDP he would also like to address the affordable housing shortage and believes the government could play a role in providing startup funding to housing cooperatives.
Growth has also led to a shortage of licensed childcare spaces, a problem he would address by providing universally accessible childcare for children between the ages of two and five.
He said establishing childcare in Saskatchewan schools would be a good way to use established infrastructure and would help families who have older children in the schools already.
Weir said he is opposed building a nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan and is also opposed to the storage of nuclear waste in the province, adding he believes those jurisdictions creating the nuclear waste should be responsible for storing it.

"The federal government ran a deficit of $1.85-billion in November but eight months into the fiscal year, the size of the federal deficit is coming in smaller than last year.

From April through November, the federal deficit for the 2012-13 fiscal year now stands at $12.4-billion, compared to a deficit of $15.5-billion over the same eight month period a year earlier.
However November’s $1.9-billion deficit was larger than the $1.6-billion deficit posted in November 2011. Private sector economists and the Bank of Canada have all pointed out that 2012 ended with slower than expected economic growth."
Globe & Mail

Harper gives $14 Billion Surplus to Banks - 2007

"In the sworn statement unsealed by a Quebec court Friday, former officials with the Montreal-based company (SNC-Lavalin) are accused of paying the son of the dictator Moammar Gadhafi $160 million in kickbacks to obtain major contracts in Libya, some of which police say paid for luxury yachts."
CTV News

A group of scientists and science educators are trying to overturn Louisana law that requires the literal teaching of the Book of Genesis in science classes of state schools. 

Senator Mike Walsworth may well be the dumbest elected official currently holding office anywhere in the United States of America. 

During senate committee hearings, he asks a Louisiana science teacher if she was able to 'evolve' E-coli bacteria into a person. The senator is a fundamentalist creationist who believes that the universe is about 6000 years old.

Gawker

The deadline to become a 2013 member and be eligible to vote for the next Saskatchewan NDP Leader is now just three days away! Memberships (new or renewals) must be received in Provincial Office before the cutoff date of Friday, January 25, 2013 at 5:00 PM CST to be eligible to vote in the leadership race. All four of our candidates have done a great job in this campaign.  There is so much energy and enthusiasm. I am proud to be a part of this process and I am proud to be a member of this party. If you have not already done so, click here right now to renew your membership. Your purchase will be confirmed by email receipt. If you do not receive an email receipt, it is possible that your purchase may not have been completed. If you are uncertain as to whether your membership was received, call 525-1322 ext. 0 immediately. If you want to learn more about the candidates, there are still six more debates!  Click here for a list of the dates and locations of the forum closest to you! Remember-all memberships must be received in Provincial Office by 5 PM on Friday, January 25th—not just postmarked but received.  Don't delay; renew your membership today!

by John Kay
 
"Like them or hate them, Alberta, Canada’s tar sands deposits of bitumen or extremely heavy crude oil, are the world’s largest. The province’s resources include the Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake deposits in the McMurray Formation, which consist of a mixture of crude bitumen, a semi-solid form of crude oil, admixed with silica sand, clay minerals, and water.

According to the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration, “Canada controls the third-largest amount of proven reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela…  Canada's proven oil reserve levels have been stagnant or slightly declining since 2003, when they increased by an order of magnitude after oil sands resources were deemed to be technically and economically recoverable. The oil sands now account for approximately 170 billion barrels, or 98 percent, of Canada's oil reserves.”

Lying under 54,000 square miles of forest and bogs, the bitumen tar sands are estimated to be comparable in magnitude to the world's total proven reserves of conventional petroleum.

But exploiting the tar sands comes at a significant environmental cost.

Oil sands pollution is not a topic that Ottawa is keen to publicize. In 2009 the Canadian government acknowledged that it deliberately had excluded data indicating a 20 percent increase in annual pollution from Canada’s oil sands industry from a 567-page report on climate change that it was required to submit to the United Nations.

Quite aside from the despoliation of the landscape, Alberta’s oil sands have been found to be one of the major causes of air pollution in Canada, as Tar sands facilities were found to be among the top four highest polluters of volatile organic compounds, a major air contaminant, along with acid rain.
Related Article: Looking at the Technologies that could Herald the Nuclear Revolution
That pollution rap sheet could soon include nuclear, as Toshiba is developing “mini” nuclear reactors to be used to mine Canadian oil sands, with an initial deployment projected by 2020.
Why nuclear power? It is estimated that approximately 90 percent of the Alberta oil sands are too far below the surface to use open-pit mining. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. Mining oil sands is water intensive; drilling one well consumes 5.5 acre-feet of water each year, and the production of one gallon of oil requires thirty-five gallons of water.

Toshiba's new mini reactor will produce only 10,000-50,000 kilowatts, about one to five percent the power of a regular nuclear reactor, according to company sources, with the steam generated in the reactor pumped underground. Toshiba reportedly plans to construct a nuclear reactor building underground, with an earthquake-absorbing structure.

Besides potential earthquakes, the buried reactor will have to cope with temperatures as cold as –40C in winter and 30C in the summer.

Related Article: Oil Exports, Politics and Propaganda
Toshiba is not the only Asian company to tout for business in Alberta’s oil sands. Last year China’s CNOOC Ltd. spent $15.1 billion to acquire oil sands producer Nexen Inc., but the deal was controversial. Accordingly, Wenran Jiang, a senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and senior adviser to the Alberta energy department noted, “They feel the oil sands projects are too large in pre-capital investment and take too long to get to the market.”

But Ottawa is not discouraged over its oil sands future. The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates that Canadian employment as a result of new oil sands investments is expected to grow from 75,000 in 2010 to 905,000 by 2035 and that oil sands developments overall will contribute $2.1 trillion to the Canadian economy over the next 25 years.

The wisdom of dotting Canada’s remote northern landscape with mini reactors has yet to be debated, but with Harper’s conservative government and the figures stated above, it seems likely that mini reactors in the Great White North are most likely a done deal."
By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com
OilPrice.com

"If the gun advocates behind this year’s inaugural Gun Appreciation Day had hoped to use the day’s festivities to build support for their anti-regulation platform, they are going to have to wait another year.
 
Emergency personnel had to be called to the scene of the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, North Carolina after a gun accidentally discharged and shot two people at the show’s safety check-in booth just after 1 pm. Both victims were transported to an area hospital, and the Raleigh Fire Department announced that the show would be closed for the rest of the day.

Gun Appreciation Day is the combined effort of dozens of far-right organizations who have been vocal opponents of gun control advocates’ efforts to reduce the number of dangerous weapons on our streets and prevent them from ending up in the hands of people with criminal backgrounds or a history of mental illness. In response to a renewed push for sensible reforms of gun laws after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, groups like the National Rifle Association and the founders of Gun Appreciation Day have instead advocated for an increase in the number of guns in public places like elementary schools, arguing — falsely — that more guns will mean more protection for individuals.
But today’s unfortunate accident, which took place at a safety check in surrounded by hundreds of people who presumably have at least some training on how to properly handle a dangerous weapon, undermines that case. Earlier this week, an armed security officer at a Michigan charter school accidentally left his gun in a restroom that is regularly used by students as young as five years old.
A representative from Political Media, the group responsible for organizing Gun Appreciation Day, was not immediately available for comment.


Think Progress

... and they will be doing the same a long, long time after he is gone.

Remember Afghanistan??? ... Well ... here we go again .. Stephen Harper won't be able to resist throwing Canadian troops into yet another conflict with guerrilla forces that can't be defeated in an open field of war.

"A lot of the terrorists the French are battling in Mali were well-trained by the US and know how US special forces operate, and can use that knowledge against American troops."
Michael Maloof 
Former Pentagon Official 
RT Question More
 
Former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told Russia Today that many of the terrorists in Mali were well-trained by the US and know how special forces operate. Maloof thinks that in France and Europe in general there may be a backlash against participation in the war and that the US might enter the war more directly.
Digital Forum

Brad Wall wrote to President Obama in his role as 'premier'. The use of a photo of him with a partisan Sask Party banner is highly inappropriate... but fairly typical of a pro-Wall bent that repeats itself quite frequently in the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

Unfortunately, Saskatchewan is the ONLY province in Canada without a functioning 'press council' where a member of the public can lodge a complaint against a media outlet for errors, omissions and partisan failings.

-RCMP Investigate Conservative MP Del Mastro’s election campaign spending  

-Conservative Finance Minister Flaherty tried to influence broadcast regulator's decision on radio licence

-Highly partisan letters from Conservative Cabinet Minister Julian Fantino posted to government website 

UPDATE - Damage Control is underway from the PMO, attacking the MSM for coverage of the Del Mastro RCMP investigation

One of the first questions that people ask about the Idle No More movement is what the movement is all about. While the historical injustices experienced by First Nations are too many to list, activists say the current government is pushing through a range of new bills that violate treaty rights.
"Never in history has there been so many bills regarding and impacting First Nations been pushed through the House of Commons at one time," Idle No More Bill Breakdown, a document released by activists, reads. Below is an excerpt adapted from the document, outlining the eight bills and amendments which have sparked protests across the country.
Vancouver Observer

If you would like to see an end to the Harper administration, you need to vote and get other like minded people to vote. Elections Canada indicates that there was a much lower turnout of First Nations voters in the last Federal Election. Remember .. Conservatives get out and vote for Harper. Those of us who oppose Harper's policies MUST get out and vote against him!

There is a reason that Harper and his Conservatives are nervous about 'Idle No More'. There is a reason that Ezra Levant and Sun News Network are viciously attacking the movement. It's because they know that an organization that can mobilize the anti-Harper vote will bring the Conservatives down.

Fer gawds sake ...... VOTE!!!


The Globe & Mail

Yens Pedersen is a lawyer, a former president of the Saskatchewan NDP and was a candidate in the 2009 leadership race.

Two foreign fertilizer companies have agreed to turn over information about an alleged price-fixing cartel and pay nearly $13 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit over potash. 

A federal judge recently granted preliminary approval for two deals that would end litigation between fertilizer buyers and the Russian potash companies, Uralkali and Silvinit, and their affiliates. 

However, the fertilizer buyers will continue to pursue a class-action lawsuit against other major global potash producers who didn't sign on to the settlement, including Agrium, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and the Mosaic Co. 

Uralkali and Silvinit agreed to two settlement deals -- the companies will pay $10 million to farm suppliers who bought potash directly from them and $2.75 million to farmers and others who bought the product through middlemen. 

A component of the latter deal with indirect buyers is an "agreement to cooperate," which means that Uralkali and Silvinit will "provide evidence regarding the liability of each remaining defendant in the litigation" and turn over "transactional documents" and other information, according to a court document. 

The plaintiffs asked the judge to approve the deals because such "early settlements can serve as 'icebreaker' agreements, strengthening plaintiffs' hand in the litigation and encouraging future settlements," the document said. 

Several fertilizer buyers have been pursuing the case against major global potash producers since 2008, claiming they restricted supplies to manipulate prices within the U.S. 

About 85 percent of the potash used by U.S. farmers is brought in from overseas, mostly from Canada, Russia and Belarus. The fertilizer is a primary crop nutrient, alongside nitrogen and phosphate. 

The lawsuit accused global potash producers of coordinating their mine and factory shutdowns to reduce supplies in China, India and Brazil, thereby inflating worldwide prices for the fertilizer to the detriment of U.S. buyers. 

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals initially threw out the fertilizer buyers' lawsuit in 2011 but then reversed its ruling in 2012, allowing the litigation to continue. 

"Foreigners who want to earn money from the sale of goods or services in American markets should expect to have to comply with U.S. law," according to the 7th Circuit's ultimate decision. 

The remaining defendants in the lawsuit recently asked a federal judge to dismiss the indirect buyers from the litigation because they lack legal standing to pursue the case under antitrust laws. 

"Any possible injury to plaintiffs occurred in a market secondary to the alleged price-fixed market and occurred only after potash was transformed into a different product," the defendants said in a court document. 
Capital Press
 
Previous posts on this story ... 

-Buckdog: Potash Corp - Agrium - Mosaic - Potash Companies In US Courts For Price Fixing  

-Buckdog: Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Agrium Inc. and Mosaic Co. Back In US Court Over Charges Of Price Fixing ..

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- NOTE: Saskatchewan's MSM (Print - TV - Radio) continue to ignore this story and will not carry any news stories that may be critical of the Potash Industry. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

(Reuters) - A leading U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory recently discovered its computer systems contained some Chinese-made network switches and replaced at least two components because of national security concerns, a document shows. 

A letter from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, dated November 5, 2012, states that the research facility had installed devices made by H3C Technologies Co, based in Hangzhou, China, according to a copy seen by Reuters. H3C began as a joint venture between China's Huawei Technologies Co and 3Com Corp, a U.S. tech firm, and was once called Huawei-3Com. Hewlett Packard Co acquired the firm in 2010. 

The discovery raises questions about procurement practices by U.S. departments responsible for national security. The U.S. government and Congress have raised concerns about Huawei and its alleged ties to the Chinese military and government. The company, the world's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker, denies its products pose any security risk or that the Chinese military influences its business. 

Switches are used to manage data traffic on computer networks. The exact number of Chinese-made switches installed at Los Alamos, how or when they were acquired, and whether they were placed in sensitive systems or pose any security risks, remains unclear. The laboratory - where the first atomic bomb was designed - is responsible for maintaining America's arsenal of nuclear weapons. A spokesman for the Los Alamos lab referred enquiries to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, which declined to comment.  
Reuters

-Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall Signs Business Deal With Chinese Company That Is Causing National Security Worries 

 -ATTENTION PREMIER BRAD WALL: Former Nortel exec warns against working with Huawei

Well ... it's time to pack away the Christmas decorations ... clean up after the New Years party and get ready to take the NDP leadership race to the home stretch ....

Leadership Events

The party has planned an ambitious series of all-candidates' forums in every region of the province. Click here to find the time and location of the forum nearest you!
Information about events organized by individual candidates can be found by contacting their campaigns. For more information on how to contact these candidates, click here.
-Buckdog's Saskatchewan NDP Leadership Campaign Blog

Stephen Harper has an extremely bullying approach towards issues. In his arrogance, he believed that he could merely change Treaties that exist between Canada and the First Nations by sweeping legislative changes hidden inside a massive Omnibus Bill.

He is wrong ... on all accounts.

Canada is a signatory to numerous Treaties with other nations. Not the least of which are the treaties that exist between Canada and the First Nations who originally owned the land that we now call The Dominion of Canada. 

Canada signed treaties with First Nations peoples recognizing them as 'nations'. These First Nations ceded Trillions of dollars worth of land for certain ongoing obligations from the Crown, represented by the Federal government. And while, yes, many generations have passed since the treaties were signed, they are as valid today (recognized by the UN and other nations) as an agreement between sovereign  nations.

Harper and his corporate friends would destroy the ecology and environment of the entire nation to extract profit and would leave future generations with a wasteland.

I applaud and salute the First Nations who are standing up to this Right wing crap.