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The amount of fraternization between the Alberta Government and the Oil Industry always makes decisions such as these seem questionable. The idea behind this three million dollar fine is more of a public relations ploy than anything
Making moonscapes here on Earth in the name or resource extraction.
else. Consider that Government gets to look good for ‘protecting the environment’ and the company also gets to be thoroughly ‘punished’ for its environmental indiscretions. Everyone wins! Well except for the wildlife, the Athabasca river, the people dying of cancer because of the emissions from the tar sands the atmosphere… Well, the right people are winning gosh darn it!
“Oilsands giant Syncrude Canada will pay a $3-million penalty for the deaths of 1,600 ducks in one of its toxic tailings ponds in April 2008.
Syncrude lawyers and federal and provincial prosecutors presented the deal Friday morning in provincial court in St. Albert, Alta., and Judge Ken Tjosvold accepted it.”
Woo, the cordial relations between Alberta Government and the oil industry. See, they can work together!
“Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert wouldn’t comment specifically on the court decision but said it sends a message to industry that the province will take action if environmental policies are breached.
“This whole process … shows that if there is a breach of an environmental regulation or legislation, that we are prepared to take action,” he said. “We did and the process unfolded and this is the culmination of it.”
In Vancouver, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the fine was the largest in Canadian history for an environmental offence.
“I think this shows that we have strong environmental laws in Canada and that we will enforce them,” Prentice said.”
One would think that strong environmental laws would have stopped the creation of huge tailings ponds in the first
The cost of doing business.
place. Again though, in the acceptable discourse, companies are ‘learning lessons’ and governments are ‘protecting the environment’.
CBC should be commended though as they did find room in their article to mention another point of view.
“A $3-million fine to a multi-billion dollar company equates to a slap on the wrist,” he [Mike Hudema of Greenpeace] said.
“This doesn’t send a very strong message to the industry that Alberta or the federal government is really serious about enforcing our legislation or that crimes like this can’t happen in the future.”
Exactly. What this amounts to is a non-fine for non-important issue. The correct notes have been played, the conductor has gesticulated in the appropriate way for the appeasement of the crowd. The hall goes dark, and it is business as usual here in Alberta.
Some of the prostitution laws of Canada have been successfully challenged in Ontario.
“An Ontario court has thrown out key provisions of Canada’s anti-prostitution laws in response to a constitutional challenge by a Toronto dominatrix and two prostitutes in 2009.
Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice ruled Tuesday the Criminal Code provisions relating to prostitution contribute to the danger faced by sex-trade workers.”
Specifically: prohibitions on keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade have all been deemed unconstitutional and need to be replaced or revised by parliament.
“The women and their lawyer, Alan Young, held a news conference Tuesday afternoon and expressed elation. “It’s like emancipation day for sex-trade workers,” said Bedford, adding the ball is now in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s court. “The federal government must now take a stand and clarify what is legal and not legal between consenting adults in private.”
Ah yes, the clear letter of the law scrubbed clean of any of the realities of the world of the sex trade and human trafficking. Statements like the above seem handcrafted out the dreams of Utopian libertarians, how quickly the privileged point of view obscures the reality for many women for which the highly touted notion CONSENT has never existed. But, before more doom and gloom more pretty flowers!
“We don’t have to worry about being raped and robbed and murdered,” she said. “This decision means that sex workers can now pick up the phone, and call the police and report a bad client. This means that we no longer have to be afraid, that we can work with the appropriate authorities.” Moreover, sex workers can set up guilds and associations, health standards, workers’ compensation programs, as well as pay income tax. “We want to be good citizens and it’s time, now we finally can,” said Scott.”
Wow, it is like just totally amazing. Organize crime and others who exploit women will just disappear from the scene because now the dehumanized, marginalized women won’t have to worry about being raped, robbed and murdered. They can simply call the police. Holy Frak Batman, it is just like 911 suddenly became available to sex trade workers now! All the coercive pressure they experienced before must also magically disappear because wow, you gain power as you further legalize the commodification of your body. That must be how it works! Who knew?
Apparently Austrailia, the Netherlands and other jurisdictions that have legalized the sex trade it works a little too well, human trafficking has also increased in these areas. It is also a very Canadian problem. Letting the laws lapse will not help the causes of sex-trade workers or victims of human trafficking. We need to have laws against the purchase on any sex act and reverse the onus of responsibility when it comes to the legal sharp end of the stick. The Johns must be made fully responsible for their actions and we should spare no legal expense to go after those who exploit vulnerable women and children.
We in Canada should adopt the Swedish model of prostitution laws which makes the the act of procuring sex illegal, while maintain the act of selling sex to be legal. The people who work in sex trade are to be treated as victims of sexual exploitation and assault and provided with counselling, housing, and addiction programs to get them out of the egregious cycle of having to sell themselves to others.
What a crazy egalitarian notion this is? Treating all people as human beings instead of commodities? You have to hand it to the Swedes for leading the way in this area. We’re still talking about it here in Canada. At least the Conservatives get some things right this from the National Standing Committee on the Justice and Human Rights 2007:
“Prostitution as a Form of Violence, not Commerce
In contrast, like many witnesses who appeared before the Subcommittee, members from the Conservative Party see prostitution as a degrading and dehumanizing act, often committed and controlled by coercive or opportunistic individuals against victims who are frequently powerless to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation. They believe that the most realistic, compassionate and responsible approach to dealing with prostitution begins by viewing most prostitutes as victims.
Questioning Consent and Harmlessness
Unlike other parties, the Conservatives do not believe it is possible for the state to create isolated conditions in which the consensual provision of sex in exchange for money does not harm others. They believe that all prostitution has a social cost, and that any effort by the state to decriminalize prostitution would impoverish all Canadians — and Canadian women in particular — by signalling that the commodification and invasive exploitation of a woman’s body is acceptable. In their view, such a notion violates the dignity of women and undermines efforts to build a society in which all members are respected equally, regardless of gender. Furthermore, considering that gender-linked social and economic hardships are often what push women into prostitution in the first place, the Conservatives question how often “consent” is truly given out of choice, and not necessity.
These members also feel that because of the negative elements it attracts, prostitution is unacceptable in any location — commercial, industrial or residential, including massage parlours and private homes. They feel it would be unethical for a government to voluntarily degrade or endanger any community by permitting increased prostitute, john and pimp traffic, and subsequently exposing locals to elevated levels of harassment, luring and drug use.”
It is nice when the Conservatives actually get something right, for once.
Inchoherent Policy? Quick to the batshite cave! We got this.
Have you ever wondered when the Conservative Government would stop adhering to reality? One would think that they would not just come out and admit they base their policy squarely on the ideological ass-cake that oozes from Steven Harpers well fertilized mind. Cue Vic Toews, and enter the zany ‘tough on crime’ talk. The rate of criminality in Canada has been in an overall decline for at least a decade. What is the gilded Conservative Answer? Let’s build more prisons!
Intellectually speaking, it is the same as being hit in the face with a fresh wriggling bag of minnows after you order your morning coffee. It just does not make any frakking sense whatsoever. Observe what Mr.Toews announces and watch for errant sacks o’ minnows.
“Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced Wednesday the Conservative government will spend more than $155 million to increase capacity at prisons in Ontario and Quebec, […]
“Our government is proud to be on the right side of this issue — the side of law-abiding citizens, the side of victims who want justice, and the side that understands the cost of a safe and secure society is an investment worth making,” Toews said in a statement.
Toews’s statement suggested that over the coming years, the Correctional Service of Canada will add more than 2,700 beds to men’s and women’s prisons across the country.
The Tories have pledged tougher sentences for violent crimes, which would keep inmates convicted of such offences in prison longer.
*Splat* Reap the slorpy minnowy whirlwind. Yes, my gentle fishily besotted readers, because of the declining crime rate is it not obvious we need more prisons. Let us check back in with reality just to reinforce the Conservative break with evidence based policy:
“In July, the statistical agency reported that “both the volume and severity of police-reported crime fell in 2009,” three per cent from 2008 and 17 per cent from 1999.”
Okay, good. Crime going down, therefore the answer is more prisons! Vic, bring the noise!
“The crime isn’t going down,” Toews insisted. “It is still unacceptably high. Canadians should not be subjected to that kind of crime rate.”
I think tricky Vic and Stockwell Day are starting to use the same brand of hallucinatory. (Not that Conservatives hate evidence based policy… much.) Objections?
“But critics quickly jumped on the announcement to expand the prisons, pointing to falling crime rates and charging that increasing prison space has proven to be ineffective at combating crime.
Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland accused the Tories of adopting a failed strategy in California, where tough anti-crime laws boosted the prison population but drove up recidivism rates to 70 per cent and nearly emptied state coffers.”
Bankrupting state coffers? Driving up recidivism rates? Sounds exactly like protecting Canadians to me!
“Justin Piche, a PhD candidate at Carleton University who studies federal prisons and government response to crime, said no academic evidence shows that increased reliance on incarceration enhances public safety.
Instead, she said the Correctional Service of Canada should increase the current 2 per cent of its budget it spends on programs that will allow prisoners to safely integrate into society.”
Come on Vic what do you have for us?
“Toews dismissed reports from Statistics Canada that the crime rate is falling“. – More cowbell minnows!
Don Davies, public safety critic for the NDP citing facts that, unlike current Conservative mythology, are based in reality said:
“And what this government has to do is start putting resources into programs that will help those offenders not re-offend. You can’t just lock them up for longer and harder, that won’t work. If you could punish your way to a safe society, the United States would be the safest place on Earth.”
Amazing what happens when you look to the real world as opposed to your own ideology to base policy on. Stay tuned for more fishy wriggling as our beloved Conservatives try to explain how the census will be better by having less people answer it.
Way to go Alberta!
With the amount of imprudent tampering that is going on with the publishing of scientific results in Canada as of late it is quaintly surprising to see that Alberta will be leading the way with free flu vaccinations this year.
“EDMONTON – Alberta will offer seasonal and H1N1 flu protection in one shot when the province’s immunization program begins after Thanksgiving.
The shot will be free.
Health officials say the province has already received large shipments of influenza vaccine and will receive more throughout the flu season.”
We are acting on evidence based ideas and carrying them out. Alberta politics has way of surprising people, in this case, with a brief instance of lucidity.
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Oh as a related bonus, the anti-vaxxer bingo card I found at ratbags.com. See if you can complete yours today!
Steven Harper, the megalomaniac that he is, gets included just because of the monolithic way he has decided to run his government, therefore the decision to bar former British Mp George Galloway from entering Canada is as much his responsibility as it is the foppishly addled Mr.Kenney’s.
Evil Doer, Terrorist, and Satan - According to the Harper Government.
Fortunately now, our supreme court has reversed the previous nut buttery decision and Mr.Galloway will be allowed into Canada.
“Former British MP George Galloway, who was told he was not welcome in Canada last year over accusations by the government that he supported terrorism, was allowed into the country on Saturday. Galloway, who arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport late Saturday afternoon, was greeted by supporters after he cleared customs.”
His crime? From the Guardian –
Earlier today the Sun said border security officials had declared Galloway, 54, “inadmissible” because of his views on Afghanistan and the presence of Canadian troops there and would be turned away if he attempted to enter the country.
Well disagreeing in Canada has always been one of those things we try to encourage, at least when deluded rightwing parties are not in power. But hey, perhaps our Reform party conservatives are not stark raving mad paranoid super patriots, zealously protecting their ideological directives from god Harper. A representative for Mr.Kenney says:
Protecting Canadians from evil British MP's 24/7!
Alykhan Velshi, Kenney’s spokesman, said that the act was designed to protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.
“We’re going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to this infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving ‘financial support’ to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada,” he said. “I’m sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won’t be one of them.”
Ahh, check. Guilty as charged.
“The MP said: “This decision, gazetted in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved – a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending.
“This has further vindicated the anti-war movement’s contention that unjust wars abroad will end up consuming the very liberties that make us who we are.”
Back in Canada the judicial arm of our country is busy ripping Kennedy and the government a new one for their inanely brutish propaganda designed to “protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.”
“Justice Richard Mosley called the move “a flawed and overreaching interpretation of the standards under Canadian law for labelling someone as engaging in terrorism or being a member of a terrorist organization.”
Galloway had planned a Canadian speaking tour to voice opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but cancelled when he learned he would be denied entry.”
What? Labelling people with anti-war sentiments terrorists is a bad thing? Who would of thunk that? This is the level of tolerance we get when we elect ideologues into power that have a strong anti-reality bias.
“[Justice] Mosley said he agreed with Galloway’s Canadian supporters that the main reason border agency officials said he would be barred entry was that “they disagreed with his political views.”
Stay away heathen! How dare you express dissent! Did Galloway not read the memo that dissent is most certainly 
not allowed in the Harperland Canada? One would hope that the Canadian people will remember the loopy-crazy decisions such as not allowing Mr.Galloway into Canada because of the views he holds, come election time. I, for one, am getting tired of the secrecy and paranoia fostered by the current government. Not to mention the embarrassment I feel when yet another wacky conservative policy (find any of that unreported crime yet Mr.Day?) is exposed for being based on wingnuttery as opposed to rational ideas.
not allowed in the Harperland Canada? One would hope that the Canadian people will remember the loopy-crazy decisions such as not allowing Mr.Galloway into Canada because of the views he holds, come election time. I, for one, am getting tired of the secrecy and paranoia fostered by the current government. Not to mention the embarrassment I feel when yet another wacky conservative policy (find any of that unreported crime yet Mr.Day?) is exposed for being based on wingnuttery as opposed to rational ideas.
Extra points if you can spot what is wrong with this picture.
The Globe and Mail has a stinky carcass of an article entitled “Are men being robbed of their masculinity?” Zosia Bielski the author in this homage to misogyny tackles the tough issue of Men and the Emasculating Culture they face.
“The movie [Mr.Munday] is just the latest in a string of emasculating offerings in popular culture.”
The War on Maleness is a rising crescendo of hateful messages that Men have to deal with. How can the dominant segment of culture ever survive?
“With the “mancession” hitting men hard during the economic downturn and traditional gender roles mutating, there is rabid concern that men are being robbed of their essential masculinity. The debate heated up after the Pew Research Center reported in January that women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth: 22 per cent of husbands have wives whose income now exceeds theirs, compared to 4 per cent in 1970. The rise in women’s earnings corresponds with an upsurge in their education. (The women were quickly dubbed “alpha wives.”)”
Oh my FSM! We are being robbed of our ‘essential masculinity’? What the hell is essential masculinity? The term is never defined in the article but boy, it seems like this is turning into an apologists piece for patriarchy and the male privilege it grants to men in our culture. Like the the religiously deluded christians who cry ‘persecution’ while in majority status this piece reeks of persecution of the minority with regards to the privileged status men hold in our society.
What is the best way to prove Masculinity is in decline? Mention an Asian outlier subculture:
“An extreme illustration of the slide away from masculinity may be the asexual “herbivores” of Japan, young heterosexual men who are wholly uninterested in pursuing women, material goods or careers. Multiplying after the recession, herbivores live reclusive, uncompetitive lives dominated by the Internet.”
Yes menfolk run! Beware! The World of Warcraft is coming to steal your testicles and carve an indelible mangina into your psyche. The horror!
We do need to give the author some credit as he does mention some facts that are at least loosely connected with reality.
“Boys who resist macho behaviours such as aggression and “emotional stoicism” have better mental health and social relationships, according to Carlos Santos, an Arizona State University researcher who studied 426 middle school boys and presented his findings at the American Psychological Association’s convention in August.”
You mean not acting like completely privileged douche is good for your mental health and ability to work well with others. Go Figure.
“Men have more to gain than lose from the “down with macho” movement, says Jennifer Berdahl, an associate professor of organizational behaviour at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.”
Another kernel of wisdom in this otherwise putrid article. It is amazing after so many years that people still deny the existence of the Patriarchy and Male Privilege. If people could actually be bothered to read a little about feminism we could avoid some the atrocious pap that regularly appears in the “life” section of newspaper.
Would it be surprising our government is focused on building prisons for non-reported crimes, rather than helping the mentally ill who currently reside within the prison population and really should not be there?
“The needs of mentally ill offenders in custody exceed the current capacity of the Correctional Service of Canada, according to the report released Thursday.
“Canadian penitentiaries are becoming the largest psychiatric facilities in the country,” said Howard Saper, correctional investigator of Canada.”
We are warehousing the mentally ill instead of treating them. Quelle suprise!
“In reviewing offender access to mental health services, the report found that the intermediate care component of the correctional service’s mental health strategy has not yet been implemented due to a lack of funding. Offenders requiring intermediate care fall between those needing primary care and acute inpatient care.”
Of course, this issue falls nowhere near the getting ‘tough on crime’ and ‘law and order’ agenda our current conservative government is addicted to. When ideological concerns trump reality and fact we get the kinds of irrational stands that Harper’s government is (in)famous for (Climate Change, Environment and the Oilsands etc).
Currently, these offenders are often managed in segregation units where they can be isolated for prolonged periods of time, a practice that is “unsafe and inhumane,” Saper said.
Ah, let us get back to the good ‘ole days:
Ah, let us get back to the good ‘ole days:
An excellent environment for rehabilitation...
Stay tuned for the Harper government to ignore the following:
Among the recommendations Saper made based on the report are that the correctional service should:
- Fund implementation of its mental health strategy, with a particular focus on intermediate care.
- Develop mental health service delivery partnerships with the provinces and territories.
- Enhance its support of the development of a national strategy for corrections and mental health, with a focus on care guidelines.
Needs more cowbell punishment! Being soft on these criminals is out of the question!
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