Daily Digest June 23, 2008

The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/

EDITORIALs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
[Cheers & Jeers]
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sc=80

CORNER BROOK WESTERN STAR -
Butt out of the inquiry
http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=146278&sc=30

CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN -
Energy drinks and the buzz they're creating
Board officials concerned about students bringing energy drinks to school are right to call our attention to this.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=146365&sc=103

CAPE BRETON POST -
Dion lays claim to green ground
http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=146202&sc=151

HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
Don't feed the Tigers
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1063641.html

MONTREAL GAZETTE -
It's simple: Just tell us the real air-ticket price
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=a4b7328d-d84a-47ec-801e-e690fd771e62

Parental-leave program is popular, but too costly
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=427263a5-4187-4c5b-823a-890112a0a700

OTTAWA CITIZEN -
Route up in the air
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=ca5541d4-880e-4a8c-bd05-11a3eba9a481

KINGSTON WHIG STANDARD-
Going nuclear is a bad bet
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1084498

BELLEVILLE INTELLIGENCER -
It's now or never for Dion as he ties future to carbon
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1082996&auth=MICHAEL+DEN+TANDT

TORONTO STAR -
Act on Taser report
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/447139

Poverty advice ignored
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/447140

GLOBE & MAIL -
Too wide a net for hate
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080623.wehumanrights23/BNStory/specialComment/home

Tax harmony on the East Coast
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080623.wemaritime23/BNStory/specialComment/home

Inside cells and cultures
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080623.weprize23/BNStory/specialComment/home

NATIONAL POST -
The Irish are pro-EU
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=607099

TORONTO SUN -
'Revenue neutral' not the issue
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/06/23/5959841-sun.html

ST. CATHARINES STANDARD -
Government must commit to avoid past mistakes
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1084970&auth=TORONTO+SUN%3b+--+THE+SAULT+STAR

NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW -
Politicians and their ex-girlfriends' tell-all books deserve bricks
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1084578

WINDSOR STAR -
Public scrutiny
Boost ombudsman's powers
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=ae7d1476-a79d-44af-903a-843c19f8b537

SUDBURY STAR -
Dion's carbon tax plan not so crazy
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1085033&auth=FROM+THE+KINGSTON+WHIG-STANDARD

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS -
Protecting privacy
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4190155p-4780904c.html

On guard for thee?
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4190152p-4780867c.html

SASKATOON STARPHOENIX -
Countries need to get prepared for new economy
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=afad8d18-e034-4608-913f-f1efe3209ef8

CALGARY HERALD -
No turning back now
NATO troops more powerful and popular than Taliban
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=1c80e546-320f-43d0-9861-ff9e7c16355d

LETHBRIDGE HERALD -
The same old tricks on display
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/article_11165.php

VANCOUVER PROVINCE -
High hopes for China junket
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=059047ed-7804-472d-861a-ee2b708bd8c3

Flight-saving devices
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=56c09e21-99fb-490f-9c6d-3ba131cc7dea

VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
Longer sentences for chronic crooks
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=99379455-4614-40d3-9ff2-316c71175aad


ISSUES

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS -          
It won't work on the rez
Home ownership a different ball game for First Nations
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4189779p-4780475c.html


AFGHANISTAN -
Prison break highlights intelligence shortfall, Manley says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080622.wintel23/BNStory/National/home

Long, winding road for interview with Khalid
By SCOTT TAYLOR On Target
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — IT WAS CERTAINLY A long trip to reach the governor's residence in Kandahar.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1063617.html

Afghan, US forces kill 55 Taliban after ambush
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/06/afghan_us_forces_kil.php

Civilian sex assaults by Afghan soldiers ignored
RINF, UK (06/23/2008)

Afghan teachers face poverty
The National, UAE (06/23/2008)

Pakistan adrift without a leader
International Herald Tribune (06/23/2008)

Stream of deportees from Iran continues
IRIN (06/23/2008)

Iran opens port to Afghan business
Pajhwok (06/23/2008)

For Karzai, itsa battle for survival
ANI (06/22/2008)

Warlord: My encounter with Taliban mastermind
The Independent (06/22/2008)

The Taleban can't win in Afghanistan - but nor can we
The Times (06/22/2008)

Descent into Chaos: How the War Against Islamic Extremism Is Being Lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia
The Sunday Times (06/22/2008)

Grim scene in Afghan village
The Associated Press (06/22/2008)


CANADIAN FORCES
Senate says Coast Guard needs tougher ships and regulations to protect Arctic
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080623/national/coast_guard_arctic


CANUSA/USACAN
Auto trade deficit with U.S. doubles
http://wheels.ca/reviews/article/265161

Bitten by the NAFTA deal that once fed usComment
Canadians should hope for an Obama presidency and the reopening of NAFTA
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080623.wconafta23/BNStory/specialComment/home

Troubled states of mind
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/viewpoints/story.html?id=843e4da4-a8fe-4131-ae91-13abb3f16dc1

The truth about trade
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=55ccb469-9ca2-4d8e-b6c8-408440dd65a6

U.S. mayors pass resolution urging cities not use oilsands-derived fuel
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/World/2008/06/23/5963261.html


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The myth of 'weapons-grade' enrichment
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF24Ak04.html


MIGRATION
Shock as Canada rejects Iraq refugees
Instead of joining kin here, applicants directed to ancestors' homeland
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/447476


POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
Carbon-tax war will challenge Campbell
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=767a8537-adc3-4ad4-b7f5-dddb4fb209e1

Carbon plan would hurt people and industries: Alberta premier
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/06/23/edm-stelmach.html

No skipping gay-friendly classes, schools tell parents
Catholic group says parents must have the right to pull kids out of classes
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4e7d57ae-6bf2-4bec-85d7-369352b16b42

Quebec's destiny within Canada: poll
Even many French-Canadians dispute historical narrative of separatists
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=151531fe-5676-4ef4-835c-5b0d02be9af0

No shame in admitting a mistake, premier
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=000f43e8-dfb3-454a-a09c-48e1e5cd1418

Time to take a scalpel to health-care dogma
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=0868b4b4-59b2-4b0e-a8dd-4c1ccf40d4ac

Loser image hurts NDP
http://www.northernlife.ca/News/Columns/Archive/Dowd/06-24-08-ndp.asp

Lost generation? Exodus of youth presents 'scary' challenge on aging East Coast
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080623/national/atl_exodus


PARTY POLITICS
Dion fires back at PM
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/447355

Dion challenges PM to 'green' debate
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080622.wdion23/BNStory/National/home

Ignatieff to hit the road for immigration reform
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/447514

Carbon tax has potential to "shift' voters to Liberals, national poll finds
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080623/national/green_shift_poll


POLITICAL OPINION -
Top Canadian officials agreed to Afghanistan 'energy bridge'
'If we try to build the pipeline now, with the insurrection going on, it could become a massive target,
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/june/23/energy_bridge/&c=1

Liberals to push hard for fall election on environment, carbon tax
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2008/june/23/carbon_tax/&c=2

MPs get sensitive to travel costs, gas guzzling; it's now a political issue
MPs receive 52.2 cents per kilometre to cover gas expenses while travelling in ridings, but it will go up again on July 1.
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/june/23/travel_costs/&c=1

Liberals to push hard for fall election on environment, carbon tax
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2008/june/23/carbon_tax/&c=2

C'mon, Mr. Harper, if Mr. Dion wants a green debate, let's do it
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080623.COMARTIN23/TPStory/TPComment/Politics/

'Revenue neutral'not the issue
http://www.ottawasun.com/Comment/2008/06/23/5958291-sun.html

Carbon tax: Who wins, who loses?
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/447138

Strutting and swaggering, but not doing much else
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/columnists/top3/story/4190050p-4780898c.html

The Wheat Board should remain silent
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=950bc5cb-8d66-4249-9972-7ecc137d9906

Making Oshawa the comeback kid
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/2008/06/23/5959851-sun.html

Harper should debate Dion
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080623.wcomartin23/BNStory/specialComment/home

Great green debate misses the mark
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080622.wcomment0622/BNStory/specialComment/home

Harper not doing any favours for women
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/viewpoints/story.html?id=e3450ff2-44ea-4546-804c-e80017b82ce5

Dion's 'green shift' brave attempt
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=d4a3a84a-fc43-4854-8d40-3ad720912088

Harper missed an opportunity by ducking meeting with McCain
The PM could have formed a personal bond with the man who might be next president
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=ea3e40ce-d446-48fc-842b-697b0ae5f0e2


PROGRAMMES
Copyright lobby hunkering down, studying Bill C-61, and building alliances
Lobby groups are laying low for now, partly because the bill was introduced late in the Parliamentary session and will not be referred to committee until the fall. http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/june/23/energy_bridge/&c=1

Bank loans still unlimited under campaigns and elections Bill C-29
http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/june/23/bill_c29/&c=1

Ottawa's mining of tax files angers judges
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/447485

No plans for new prisons despite election promises
Government to renovate, upgrade the existing facilities
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=f7ec661c-9012-4dc9-823e-65be797c9f70

Canada enlists realtors to fight money laundering
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080623/canada/canada_realtors_col

Copyright amendment act draws fire
http://technology.canoe.ca/Columnists/Canton/2008/06/23/5961211-sun.html


PRESSURE POINTS
Terror trial to test use of new law
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/447512

If global warming is real, aren't higher prices good?
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=324f9a9b-390e-4480-8012-c0f94c90d5c6

"Global Warming worse than Terrorism":
Maurice Strong Politics 101
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3618


OPINION AND INFORMATION
Anyone care about free speech?
http://www.ottawasun.com/Comment/2008/06/23/5958296-sun.html

Exercise your iPod 'right' and you'll be out of a job
Your employer pays you to work, not to text-message your friends
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=02f021ab-e867-4108-ad35-04931545d9e8

Cellphone use in schools shows students' ignorance
Want to stay connected? You can do it outside of the classroom
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=195ba0bb-1822-48fe-b72c-ac6f8657c47c

No bans yet on drive-thrus that clog the air and roads
Three Canadian cities consider outlawing fast-food windows to reduce idling, smog
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1e61b866-ae7e-4f63-a412-38b349a45fb3

Quality time with family benefits teen girls: study
Girls who eat at home more are less likely to smoke, drink, use marijuana
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=d93df20c-4357-4041-ad0f-c4925cdd77b2

Accountability has only one face for Tories
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=a59f245a-1685-4f16-b90c-f5023f3df7e5

The power of celebrity
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=0426b622-eb77-4e32-ae2a-1b15df8809ac

Put the country in Canada
We can't simply let our rural regions fade away -- the prosperity of all Canadians depends on it
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=065ce7aa-bfd2-4765-8360-a5e63a934f2e

The ethnic cleansing of Arabic Jews
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214132663726&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Alternate energies
Strutting and swaggering, but not doing much else
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4190082p-4780898c.html

Killing the Canadian in the Canadian
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3619


INFOS 
Les Forces canadiennes se préparent à assurer la défense de l'Arctique
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080622/N062238AU.html

Des juges blâment Ottawa pour avoir fouillé dans leurs rapports d'impôt
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080622/N062250AU.html

Le procès de Khawaja constituera un test pour l'accusé et la Couronne
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080622/N062270AU.html

La Coalition QuébecKyoto veut que le projet de taxe sur le carbone aille plus loin
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080622/N062228AU.html

Dion reproche à Harper ses propos sévères sur son plan de taxe sur le carbone
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080621/N062158AU.html

Stelmach favorise le captage du carbone
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/alberta/2008/06/23/002-stelmach_plan_dion_n.shtml

La Société canadienne du cancer demande l'interdiction des cigarillos
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080623/CPACTUALITES/80623142/1019/CPACTUALITES

La taxe sur le carbone passera-t-elle le test?
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080622/CPACTUALITES/806220601/1025/CPACTUALITES

Trois soldats canadiens blessés à Kandahar
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080622/CPACTUALITES/80622072/5846/CPACTUALITES

Souveraineté - Le Québec est toujours aussi divisé
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/06/23/195107.html

Taxe sur le carbone - QuébecKyoto en veut plus
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/06/23/195100.html

Défense de l'Arctique - Les militaires canadiens font leur liste d'achats
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/06/23/195115.html


La Teoria Conspiratoria

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Recently ministerial responsibility has been recrafted by the Harper minority government. Cabinet ministers rarely appear in Parliament any more. Instead, government House Leader Peter Van Loan has become about the only face the Harper government has the courage to show in Parliament.
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=a59f245a-1685-4f16-b90c-f5023f3df7e5


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From: "Phyllos Wagg"
Subject: Commentary

The Dion Green Shift Plan

The Positive Point of View

There is no doubt that the Dion Green Shift is not perfect but from a progressive conservative standpoint it is brilliant.  Specifically by using tax shifting it is focused on creating a market based solution that has two major implications:  badly needed economic adjustments coupled with a reduction in green house gases and other substances now freely deposited into the air.

There is no doubt that, as with any economic change, there will be winners and losers.  Even so, this is a step that must be taken to ensure the future.  

The plan is based on the "carrot" rather than the "stick" strategy.  No one is forced to change behaviour but not changing behaviour has a cost associated with it.

It is designed to encourage the marketplace to invest in technologies that will facilitate the adjustment and create alternatives for the general public.  Many new technologies that are already available have not been developed because they cannot attract capital.  By transferring the tax burden away from these alternatives it should help them attract investment.

At the same time it can slow down the incentive to invest in petroleum production as demand falls.  Our reliance on petroleum products has given producers a virtual monopoly.  This monopoly has fuelled speculation and market manipulation.

Canada is at a point where we need to develop a new value added economy.  With the removal of manufacturing to offshore we need to adjust and create new opportunities.    The development of renewable energy sources will make our economy more efficient and more competitive.

While every change has its downside the Dion plan encourages the market adjustment that the private sector was not making on its own.  Instead, it was driving the cost of petroleum based products to such heights that it threatens the entire global economy.-

Even if one denies that environmental change is man made, the Dion plan, by encouraging economic adjustments promises new economic opportunities.  While for some the Dion plan is too "conservative" and for others it is too "progressive" for a progressive conservative it seems to provide the right balance.


Phyllis Wagg

===================================
From: "Mahmood Elahi"
To: <ottsun.oped@sunmedia.ca>
Cc: <eric.margolis@sunmedia.ca <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Subject: Military intervention cannot ensure cheap oil

The Editor
The Ottawa Sun
 
Military intervention cannot ensure cheap oil
 
Re "These wars are about oil, not democracy," by Eric Margolis (June 22).
 
Eric Margolis may be right that the United States invaded Iraq for oil. Well, America has occupied Iraq, but the oil prices have been shooting up since the invasion. Invasion of Iraq had the opposite result as such intervention has increased increase political tensions, causing oil prices to rise and not fall. As for occupying Afghanistan to ensure the gas pipeline, the oil companies must be out of their minds to invest billions of dollars in building a pipeline across Afghanistan to Pakistan, because it will provide the Islamists a visible target in their "jihad" against the "infidels." Pakistan cannot ensure any security as its military ranks have been infiltrated by Taliban/al-Qaeda and their acolytes. No American or British oil company will be foolish to invest billions of dollars in the Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline if no one can guarantee that it will be secured.
 
MAHMOOD ELAHI
2240 Iris Street, Ottawa.

===================================
From: Ron Thornton

Hi Joe:

Just a quick response to the June 21 D.D. (I see the 22nd version has also already arrived). The Whig Standard says "What's really crazy is doing nothing tangible about climate change." Actually, just about everything I've heard on the subject sounds crazy. A welfare system (Kyoto) that allows 85% of the world's nations (representing a solid majority of mankind) to ignore the issue while crippling the economies of the rest seems pretty damned crazy to me. Carbon taxes on top of rising fuel costs, which seems more the work of deep-pocket speculators than actually supply-demand economics, is absolutely nuts. Crazy is all around us. On the subject of climate change, I'm at the point that I want to hear from someone who still advocates we fight against climate change even though they might have everything to lose in doing so. So far, all we hear from are the Al Gores and David Suzukis, who would be rendered irrelevant if not for this latest craze.  Climate change? The climate is always changing? Global warming? Good, I hope it is. Global cooling, on the other hand, would cripple us. I'm afraid the twits were right thirty years ago, and we are actually starting to cool off. I'm all for protecting the environment, but that isn't what this climate change crap is all about. It is about someone somewhere making money off of our backs over a fairy tale. Now, that is really crazy.

Ron Thornton

===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich" <r.gingrich@sympatico.ca>
Subject: [On-Guard] Canadiana

PATRIOTIC QUESTION

An interesting recent news article stated: "Scotland's minorities adopt the
kilt (tartan) to show their patriotism." I wonder what piece of Canadiana
might be adopted here to express patriotism for this great country.

John Round

(Readers?)

The Calgary Sun wants ideas. callet@calgarysun.com

Becky

=====
Toque?
The tuque usually is considered Canada's national winter hat, much like the fur hat is in Russia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuque
==================================
From: "Ray Strachan"
Subject: More War

Joe
 
Wouldnt more war be good?   Just think how the money would br rolling in for The Military Industrial Complex>    What is your take the Visit to our country by Mr. McCain.  Is he eyeing up the spoils already?   Heard on Seattle Radio that Cheney has already divided up the Araqi Oilo Fields between the Multi Nationals ,no Tenders required. Just bequeathed. Never thot I would see a world quite as insane as now.   I turned 76 yesterday and have mixed feelings about it.  On one hand maybe wont have too many years to contend with this insanity but on the other hand wont have enough years left to physically fight the FASCISM spawned primarily by the USA and the Tail that wags the Dog,  Israel.
 
Ray Strachan

=================================
From: "Brian D. Marlatt"
Subject: Senate

Joe,
 
Your correspondent Suan Booiman did not attend any of the Tory policy meetings I chaired in what was, then, South Surrey-White Rock-Langley during the work-up to the Progressive Conservative National Policy Convention at Quebec City in 2000.  The riding consultations were consciously non-partisan and were intended to seek the opinion of all in the community.  One or two Liberals took part, as did some from the local Reform/CA executive - although the latter tended to be disruptive, perhaps sharing the disdain for PCs expressed so frequently by Mr. Booiman and implicit in the comments made by Reform Party MP Val Meredith who, when interviewed by CPAC during Reform's first "United Alternative" fiasco, said that she could hardly bring herself to say the word Conservative.  (In fairness, I should point out that in a February 2002 Tory meeting in Saanich, as a member of the DRC, she thanked Joe Clark and the rest of us for making such a welcoming home for her - but then went straight back to the CA once Stephen Harper replaced Stockwell Day.)
 
So Mr. Booiman may not be aware that the Progressive Conservative Guiding Principles for Senate Reform are not only based on a careful reading of the Theory of Second Chambers, the Canadian federal principle and constitution but that they were written with attention to the expressed views of constituents in his own BC riding.  Two of the three Guiding Principles were adopted by BC and National PAC directly from the report of the PC South Surrey-White Rock-Langley Riding Association, affirmed at Quebec City in 2000 and re-affirmed in Edmonton in 2002.
 
The three Guiding Principles are as follows:
 
GP 235. The Senate fulfils important functions that cannot be adequately addressed by the House of Commons because of that body's inherent instability, such as the ability to conduct thorough examinations of proposed legislation and regulation, and provide the opportunity for long-term study of complex issues.

GP 236. The Senate fills a valuable role as a check on the power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

GP 237. The first duty of Canada's Senators is to Canada as a whole and to all Canadians rather than to the party, interest, province or region from which they were selected. Non-partisan reflection is essential to the objective of "sober second thought"

Without adherence to these Guiding Principles any proposal for senate elections or redistribution of seats would be illegitmate and inherently undemocratic.  They are the litmus test of any proposal for Senate Reform.
 
As stated further in a Progressive Canadian policy discussion in 2005 (Progressive Canadians are the legitimate heirs of the PCPC):
 
"Canada's Senate is designed after the British House of Lords as a revising chamber, freed of partisan party or prime ministerial discipline by its appointed status and similarly prevented from being obstructionist for while its powers are considerable it lacks the democratic legitimacy to obstruct government legislation in ordinary circumstances. The Senate does not exist to defend the provinces against the federal government nor is the Senate an advocate of individual or collective "provincial rights"; the Senate is a chamber of "sober second thought" within Canada's parliament."
 
Democratic principle is timeless; understanding the trickery and devious purposes to which even the best intended proposals for change may be put is essential to defending democratic principle.  So we must guard these principles with care and passion.
 
The Triple-E proposal is an excellent example of what I mean.  The idea was included in the Charolottetown Accord and may well have caused its defeat, Triple-E having been rejected eventually by some, perhaps influential, commentators.  Joe Clark was willing to accept it and even revisited the subject in 2000.
 
But it could be put to undemcratic purposes, for equal, elected and effective is capable of malicious meaning.  Equal: By population, as is implicit in comparisons between the number of BC and PEI senators?  Or by population within Senate Divisions (each have 24 seats)?  Does it mean taking seats from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, within the West and giving them to BC and Alberta?  Or taking seats from all six provinces with about 3% of the population?  Or is it about allowing talk of western alientation undeserved seriousness in order to gang up on Ontario or Quebec (together 62% of Canada by population, while Ontario alone represents about 40% and 40% of economic activity)?  Hardly democratic!  Elected: Unless a means to take away electoral partisanship or to ensure senators are not accountable to their provinces, the function of the Senate as a revising chamber, or "sober second thought", would be lost, as would the Senate's role as a democratic check  on excesses of partisanship in the Commons, as represented by the prime minister and cabinet in 21st century Canada, would be lost.  Effective: To pursue provincial interests, one province against another or the provinces together against the national interest and parliament?  Democracy would not be well-served by such arrangements, nor would national unity.
 
So, I stand by what I wrote in my letter to the editor, although what appears above is rather longer than the 200 words allowed by the Vancouver Sun.
 
Brian Marlatt
South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale, former South Surrey-White Rock-Langley.

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From: "T.S.H.Baxter"
Subject: Cancellation of Daily Digest

Hi Joe:
    I seem to have less and less time to read your daily offerings, so I think I should get you to take my e-mail address off your list. Although we do not agree on some things we do have areas of agreement across the spectrum. I want to stress how valuable I think your efforts have been over the years, and how much I have appreciated the labour of love that you have given to summarizing the media, the issues, and engaging debate.
 
Thanks again for all your efforts.
Tom Baxter

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From: Mary-Sue Haliburton
Subject: Sneaking tyranny of Bill C-52, & legal challenge

Although Bill C-51 did not pass the second reading, the danger of losing our basic health freedom continues because C-52 did pass. So this summer it will go to the Standing Committee on Health, which is stacked with conservatives who will carry out Harper's agenda while everyone else is off on vacation and not paying attention to what the government is up to.

If anything, C-52 is worse than C-51. Further, if it passes third reading the government can simply attach C-51 to it, as explained by health-freedom advocate Chris Gupta:
An Order in Council (a cabinet decision without parliamentary debate, media inquiry, or public input via our respective MP's office etc) can be used to sneak an unpopular, unwanted set of rules into law. This would enable the Harper government to bypass all objections from the public and even some of their own backbenchers. The government has already sold us out on health issues.

(See Gupta's articles at < http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/control_tactics.htm>, especially "Another Health Canada Horror Story - C-51& C-52", posted on June 9th, 2008. If you want to get on his list to get updates on this unfolding situation, you can contact him through his website.)

C-52 thus pushes forward the SPP and other international harmonization/globalization and unless stopped enables Harper to present us with the SPP's harmonized rules as a "fait accompli" next fall. On June 20, Conservative member Mr. James Rajotte (Edmonton?Leduc, CPC) apparently using a pre-planned strategy that caught everyone off guard, put forward a motion allowing C-52 to proceed as if it had been approved by the House:

"That, at any time the House stands adjourned during June or July, the Standing Committee on Health or the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development has ready a report, when that report is deposited with the Clerk, it shall be deemed to have been duly presented to the House."

Apparently many Hon. Members among the opposition failed to recognize the significance of this and let it go through unchallenged. This motion's acceptance in effect negates all the attempts to stop or modify C-51 with one clever procedural ploy.

Independent journalist Helke Ferrie is donating donating 50% of the price from her new book to a legal fund supporting a court challenge to C-52. She writes:
"In my opinion something should be done immediately to tie up C-52 in court and challenge its legality so they cannot have committee hearings until the court has ruled. Should you have any doubts about this, I suggest you go to www.nhppa.org and read Shawn Buckley's analysis of C-52 which explains how it could turn Canada into a police state."

It is because of these new regulations limiting access to natural health and forcing adoption of GMOs in agriculture that the people of Ireland voted to reject the European Union's Lisbon treaty. The wording of the Canadian bills is taken from that EU treaty to which the Irish refused to submit.

What most people are not grasping yet is the fundamental legal difference between the system of standards and rules we have known and what is being brought in to replace it. This is the difference between English Common Law and Napoleonic Code. The traditional English legal system operates under the basic assumption that unless specifically forbidden, everything is permitted. Napoleonic Code reverses this. Everything is forbidden unless specifically permitted. And under the Codex Alimentarius, the list of permitted items such as vitamins is very short! 


Those in Toronto region (and anyone willing to travel at that time) can attend a panel discussion on this new legislation which is to cement in place changes of policy that are already being implemented sneakily. Those not able to attend in person either this event or its preceding rally should be able to get video streaming at the Canadian Natural Health Coalition's website:  www.cnhc.ca

This is a charitable event; voluntary donations may be made. There is a pdf poster for this that can be downloaded from:  Details are here.

DATE:          June 26, 2008, 7-10 p.m.

LOCATION:  OISE, Main Auditorium,
                   252 Bloor St. W. (at St. George subway station)

SPEAKERS:   Helke Ferrie, author (See articles at < http://www.kospublishing.com/>)
    Shawn Buckley, LLB
    Dr. Shiv Chopra

Chopra, who stopped the approval of Bovine Growth Hormone, was fired from Health Canada for opposing the new policy direction. He is the author of Corrupt to the Core, a book explaining how Health Canada has set aside consumer health in favour of corporate profits.

Topics to be covered include examining the limits to access to Natural Health Products, and whether these bills open the door to Codex Alimentarius.

Slightly edited for clarity, here's my most recent e-letter to "my" MP John Baird:

In your letter dated 21 May 2008 you assert that Bill C-51 is designed to give Canadians better access to NHPs, and that enforcement measures are gauged to the degree of risk of the product. You say these regulations have been working for five years already.

That is precisely why I am worried about the future access to NHPs if this bill becomes law.

The amount of and type of enforcement recently used against Truehope, a non-profit group providing nutritional supplements to people with bi-polar disorder, was far in excess of any degree of risk. These patients were largely those for whom pharmaceuticals were not helping, and the nutrient blend offered them a decent level of stability. Yet Health Canada inspectors seized the product, and deprived these patients of a needed remedy. There were some suicides as patients lost this last bio-friendly way to keep themselves on an even keel. A judge determined that Truehope had -- and still has -- a responsibility to defy the orders and to keep supplying this nutritional product to these people in need.

If this is typical of how Health Canada is going to apply these rules, this bill is even worse than it looks.

Health Canada's inspectors who knowingly endangered these fragile people have never been brought to justice, nor has the abusive legal quagmire of the new regulations that unleashed such inspectors been re-examined, as it must be. Far from undoing this kind of damage, C-51 will like lead to many more such cases. It's likely that giving these excess powers to the minister will result in more removals of safe products, and more people being forced against their will and better judgement back into dependence of over-priced, toxic pharmaceuticals, and ending up in hospital from side-effects.

To ensure safe, uncontaminated products, we already have laws in place. To ensure that claims are backed up by evidence, we already have laws governing accuracy in advertising. Just apply them through our normal legal system, where evidence must stand up in an open court.

C-52 goes far beyond necessity and imposes abusive use of authority. Instead of our standard legal system where the accused have the right to have their case heard in court, we're going to have some kind of hole-in-corner system where the regulators can make decisions against someone who won't have any recourse to a jury of his peers nor rules of valid evidence on which a conviction could be overturned if false charges are laid. In the Truehope case, the company remains in limbo awaiting some real justice on behalf of their clients injured by Health Canada's abusive actions.

In another infamous case, loud accusations from Health Canada were aimed at the Strauss Herb Company just as their first television-sports sponsorship (curling) was underway. An independent judge ruled against HC and vindicated the herb company, saying that the government did not have enough evidence of harm or wrongdoing.

But if the judges are all inside Health Canada and associated agencies, and controlled by the regulators, companies like Strauss and their products will be taken away without recourse and without the public having any confidence that justice has been served.

That's the dim future to which your Bill C-51 and C-52 would consign us all.

It's NOT acceptable.

You should listen to the doctors in the House of Commons. Dr. James Lunney has raised concerns about the bill in your own caucus, and Dr. Carolyn Bennett described the powers given to the minister as  "unbelievably unreasonable" in her speech to the House;

I went to the extreme of contacting every member of the Standing Committee on Health because this is an example of the excess influence of the business arm of the drug industry on Health Canada policy. The recent policy change that seems to please you so much is anathema to me: the removal of all independent testing by Health Canada, the firing of Dr. Shiv Chopra who protected us from the synthetic bovine hormone, and profit is more important than safety (which is relegated to "aftermarket surveillance" -- i.e. lots of people have to die before a drug is recalled and victims' families have to sue the company to try to get some compensation).

But under these new rules nobody has to die before an NHP is recalled. There were no dead bodies due to taking Truehope's formula (but only after its removal).

So something is seriously wrong and unbalanced in the new/current system, and C-51 will only extend and worsen that. MP Dr. Bennet also commented:
"Yet, again, we are finding the government preferring ideology and business over evidence. The evidence is that direct to consumer advertising is wrong and bad for patients. The bill would eliminate this serious prohibition on the evidence based policy and evidence based practice."

It should not be overlooked that there are sections in C-52 that confer excess power on the Minister, and that violate Section 8 of the Charter of Rights, i.e. to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. And C-52 allows the Minister to use "administrative violations" against a person with no recourse to normal legal self-defence processes.

Removing the right to have a day in court is unacceptable.

This is why we needed, and still need, the earlier-proposed Bill C-420. If we are going to harmonize to American laws, then the DSHEA -- their health and education act that allows information to be communicated about nutritional effects of foods and food supplements -- should be our model.

I know of a conservative who sent back his party membership because of this issue. He is not fooled by rhetoric and fake reassurances when small businesses that are doing no harm to any customers are put at risk of arbitrary search and seizure.

Your party must withdraw C-51 and C-52.

Respectfully,

Mary-Sue Haliburton

Ottawa West - Nepean

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