Issues of the Council of Canadians

The document with this title, a link to which is given in the right hand column of this blog, will eventually need to be revised as the Council of Canadians changes direction with changing times. For now, it needs to be mentioned that two issues currently of great importance in the work of the Council of Canadians, particularly in Western Canada, are the tar sands and run-of-the-river projects. The tar sands development in Alberta and Saskatchewan is one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history. It ties in with almost every active issue of the CoC. Run of the river hydro projects, prominent in BC, tie in mainly with trade, energy and water.

Climate Change & G8/G20: Not Business as Usual

Monday, June 14, 2010
7:00pm - 9:30pm. Displays open at 6:30.
St. John the Divine Anglican Church, 1611 Quadra St. Victoria BC

Speakers: Francois Pihaatae (Pacific Conference of Churches),
Tria Donaldson (youth representative to Copenhagen climate meetings),
Harjap Grewal (Council of Canadians), local Indigenous leadership

"By now, you may have read about ‘Climate Justice: Take Action for People and the Planet,’ a new development in the energy campaign. Myself, along with Maude Barlow and other Council political staff, were present at the UN Copenhagen climate negotiations last December and just last month at the climate conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia. These high-level climate talks have been key to advancing our climate justice work, including: building the international campaign against the tar sands, call the Canadian government accountable for failing to take meaningful action on climate change and ensuring energy security for Canadians, and contributing to real solutions to the climate crisis grounded in the principles of social justice and ecological sustainability.

We are continuing to work with our chapters in Canada on these issues, including with this important and timely tour. The event is free and open to all – so bring along a friend and feel free to forward this invitation broadly!"

If you can’t attend, take this opportunity to send the Harper government a message that climate action is needed by using our joint action alert with the Indigenous Environmental Network, Harper’s emission reduction is off target!, at: http://canadians.org/action/2010/emission-target-Jan-09.html
Contact: Susan Draper, graceful@shaw.ca, 250-370-0121
Sponsored by the Council of Canadians, KAIROS (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives) and the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) on a cross-Canada tour for climate justice: Climate Change and the G8/G20: Not Business as Usual.

Next Monthly Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Wed. July 7, 2010, 7-9 pm Commons Room, 1246 Fairfield Rd.
***NOTE UNUSUAL LOCATION***
All members of the Council of Canadians are welcome, as long as they are invited or approved ahead of time as attendees by the board. If you are not a board member, and you wish to attend, and/or if you have items you would like to have added to the agenda, please contact us at least a week in advance of the meeting.

Salmon Protest & March of May 8, 2010

The migration event to Victoria was grassroots awesome. Thousands walked. And walking --they talked in ever changing kaleidoscopic migrating citizen knots pooling in back-eddies to surge across intersections 400 a time --unmarshalled.

Schools of bright painted cardboard salmon on sticks jumping and twirling over the throng seething --dancing with salmon, the drumbeat, the music enjoining onlookers to feel the wild salmon imperative -our migration. Pied-pipered we follow not a street, not a direction but a calling, a need, a compelling attraction towards vitality, towards renewal.

Through the canyon of downtown buildings, we feel a quickening intensify. The salmon inside me feels --destination, attracting, animating, joyfully moving me us blurring and like magnetized marionettes pulled towards not place, but purpose and exhilaration.

Gathering in number, cascading, almost mindful bits of reminiscence, a place resolves itself to become a purpose and then to breathe-in, inspiration to become motivation to see and then to shout we are here --arrived to feed and nurture this place, so that it will remember us too as we remember it.

We have a sense of useful selfless joy being in and with our noble kind. I, we are not supplicants at the legislature. We are mobile thoughtful food sharing its values and inspiration with all who eat of us. Are we not wild salmon migrating now? Are we not returning to our waters our land and our fellow beings with sustenance?

More than four thousand* of us became the wisdom and voice, of wild salmon yesterday. If you hear this voice then you are too.

Upstream,

Michael Major

-----------------------------------

*Security at the Legislature estimated more than 5000.

Historical Background for the AGM on May 17, 2010

As we head toward our panel discussion on “the poverty industry” at our AGM on May 17, we would do well to recall that the Council of Canadians was founded 25 years ago to counter the free trade, deep integration policies of the Reagan and Mulroney administrations.

The crushing poverty and homelessness that we have today are the direct result of the rise of globalization and its underlying economic philosophy of "neoliberal" “trickle down” wealth. The idea is that by the rich accumulating huge fortunes from exploitation of those who are now referred to as the “working poor”, smaller amounts of this money will eventually infuse all of society with a healthy glow. This fundamentally flawed foundation of “neo-conservatism”, which has been parodied as “tinkle down economics”, simply results in an acceleration of what has always been true in capitalist economies: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

This situation has now become so entrenched that even more progressive governments such as the Obama administration in the U.S. cannot escape its grasp, even though Obama campaigned on the promise of a “renegotiation” of NAFTA.

The Council of Canadians will not rest until the wrongs of free trade and its resulting increase in poverty have been righted.

Robert Cory

Next Monthly Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Tues. June 1, 2010, 7-9 pm Commons Room, 1246 Fairfield Rd.
***NOTE UNUSUAL LOCATION***
All members of the Council of Canadians are welcome, as long as they are invited or approved ahead of time as attendees by the board. If you are not a board member, and you wish to attend, and/or if you have items you would like to have added to the agenda, please contact us at least a week in advance of the meeting.

Call for New Board Members

If you would like to become more active in the Council of Canadians in the Victoria area, we have openings on the Board of Directors. Let us know if you would like to put your name forward for possible nomination to the Board. The new board will be elected at the AGM on May 17. Contact us at:
info(at)victoriacouncilofcanadians(dot)ca

Annual General Meeting/Potluck/Panel Discussion

Victoria Chapter, Council of Canadians

Annual General Meeting

Monday, May 17, 2010

BCGEU Bldg., 2994 Douglas St.

5:45 p.m. Potluck Supper
7:15 p.m. Panel Discussion
8:30-9:30 p.m. AGM

Free admission; open to the public; new members welcome

Panel discussion:

Jody Paterson, Moderator
Exposing the Poverty Industry
Are social services helpful? Solutions will be discussed.
Panelists:
Kym Hines, former frontline worker
Carol Romanow, differently abled frontline worker
Lise Wrigley, former frontline worker, active member, Committee to End Homelessness in Victoria

info(at)victoriacouncilofcanadians(dot)ca

Board Member, Roberta Cory: Vic West Art Quest

Roberta Cory is resigning from the Board of Directors of the Victoria Chapter after 4 years as the Membership Chair. She founded the Vic West Art Quest in 2007 and will now be spending more time working on her art. Her invitation to this year's Art Quest is provided below:

Vic West artists are excited about their upcoming third annual artist’s studio tour, which is timed to coincide with the Vic West Fest! This year we have 17 artists participating.

Vic West Art Quest

Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9, 2010
1:00 to 5:00 p.m. each day

Reception

Friday, May 7, 2010
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Spiral Café and Hemp & Co.
418/422 Craigflower Rd.

We have two group shows this year. Hemp & Co. is currently showing our work for the months of April and May, and the Spiral Café will show our work for the month of May.

All artist’s studios will have extra maps of the Quest for those who have not picked one up at one of many locations throughout Victoria. For additional information go to our website at http://vicwestartquest.com/

Roberta Cory
Vic West Art Quest


Roberta Cory
"Oak Bay Beach Hotel #6"
39"h 23"w 4"d
2010

Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition meeting

GVWWC GENERAL MEETING

Thursday, May 6, 2010
7:30 to 9:30 pm
James Bay New Horizons
234 Menzies Street

Guest Speaker:
CRD Board Member, Philippe Lucas

GET THE LATEST SCOOP !
Find out what you can do to ensure that CRD sewage treatment is managed & operated on a not-for-profit basis & that sewage treatment is delivered as a PUBLIC SERVICE !

(Coffee, tea, and cookies available.)

Your core committee has been extremely busy on the privatization issue of late and, thanks to general membership support and community concern expressed in 4,081 petition signatures, has brought this issue to the forefront and won significant political gains on procurement of the proposed CRD sewage treatment facility.

We need help. There are many water-related issues that need addressing, and fresh faces on the core committee would be an excellent means of dealing with them. We invite your participation in this meeting, your questions for Councillor Lucas, and your extended involvement in GVWWC programming and pursuits.

29th Annual Earth Walk

Saturday, April 24, 2010
Peace, Earth & Justice
Meet at the Legislature at 12 noon.
Begin walking to Centennial Square at 12:30 pm, arriving at about 1:15 pm for a concert, speeches and environmental fair.
Speakers include Vicky Husband and Ross Crockford.
The mc will be Colleen Eccleston.
Music by Oliver Swain and Friends and the Ecclestons.
Lots of organizations will have information tables.
Information: SteveFilipovic@hotmail.com
www.EarthWalkVictoria.ca

MEGA-YACHT PROTEST

RT @Denise Savoie: Victoria paddlers and residents came out in force today to protest mega-yacht marina proposal - http://denisesavoie.ndp.ca/node/1163

There were something on the order of 200 protesters on land and 100 boats on the water! Very effective protest against corporate (developer) arrogance and disdain for democracy, destruction of a spectacularly beautiful harbour by the installation of a parking lot for the rich and their huge yachts blocking the view enjoyed by residents and tourists alike, the loss of recreational freedom of kayakers and other boaters to use the harbour, the loss of safety engendered by a far too congested harbour, and the environmental pollution of an already stressed waterway, to say nothing of the unconscionable use of fossil fuels to power gigantic toys for ridiculously wealthy overgrown boys! And all subsidized by the Campbell and Harper governments (our money), which are in power partly as a result of political donations from developers!

PUBLIC FORUM on SENIORS' CARE

Sunday, April 18, 2010, 2:00–3:30 pm
Cadboro Bay United Church, 2625 Arbutus Rd.

The South Island Health Coalition and others are organizing a Public Forum on Seniors’ Care to highlight our concerns about the sell-off and corporatization of Oak Bay Lodge and Mount Tolmie Hospital and the future of public seniors’ care. We will have a panel to discuss seniors’ care and time for comments and questions. The press and our MLA will also be invited as well as other local politicians.
Information: Jessica Van der Veen, 250-598-9272

Next Monthly Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Wed. April 28, 2010, 7-9 pm BCGEU Building, 2994 Douglas St.

All members of the Council of Canadians are welcome, as long as they are invited or approved ahead of time as attendees by the board. If you are not a board member, and you wish to attend, and/or if you have items you would like to have added to the agenda, please contact us at least a week in advance of the meeting.

WIN! Public sewage treatment in Victoria

A CUPE BC media release this evening states, “On March 31, Capital Regional District (CRD) directors gave final approval to a business case that will see public operation in at least five, and possibly all seven communities mandated to develop sewage treatment.”

That means, “residents of Greater Victoria have the option of choosing fully public sewage treatment and resource recovery.”

“Mauricio Navarette, president of CUPE 1978 which represents CRD workers, said that the work of CUPE’s ‘Keep it Public’ campaign, coordinated by Kim Manton, along with the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition and the Council of Canadians has gone a long way to ensuring public and environmentally sound sewage treatment.”

On November 20, 2009, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke against the privatization of sewage treatment in Victoria. More on that at www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=2251


Kim Manton wrote in the November 2009 issue of our newsletter ‘Making Waves’ that, “Public opinion research and consultation confirms that the residents of Greater Victoria overwhelmingly reject privatization.” That’s at www.canadians.org/publications/subscribe/making-waves/vol-1.html


There’s also much more about this campaign on our Victoria chapter’s website at http://victoriacouncilofcanadians.blogspot.com/


The Victoria Times-Colonist reports that, “The provincial government requires that every project needing more than $50 million of provincial funding look at a public-private partnership.”

“Ninety per cent of the people who attended public meetings and gave their opinion on how the project should be done were in favour of a fully public system, the (Capital Regional District) board heard today.”

“The regional sewage committee earlier decided that the major components of the system be done publicly, and that the West Shore treatment centre and a resource recovery centre where biosolids are converted should have the option of a P3 or public.”

“That recommendation was approved by the (CRD) board this afternnon, at a meeting filled with spectators advocating for a fully public system.”

“The province’s Partnership BC will review the business plan and give its recommendation likely in June.”

The CUPE BC media release is at http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Win-for-Public-Sewage-Treatment-in-Victoria-1141240.htm.

(Reblogged from http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3193)

Parliament HAS Environmental Committees

The Victoria Chapter's multi-party panel on "Trade, Politics and Global Climate Change" on Wednesday night (April 7, 2010) was extraordinarily well-managed and full of information. I would like to clarify one impression, however, that may have been misleading: in answer to a question posed about why there is no parliamentary committee on the environment, there are actually TWO:

• Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources (EENR)
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Common/Committee_SenHome.asp?Language=E&Comm_id=5

• House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI)
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/CommitteeHome.aspx?Cmte=ENVI&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3

I particularly recommend the proceedings of the March 16th EENR meeting in which Murray Stewart, President of the Energy Council of Canada, is a witness.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/3/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/enrg-e/01cv-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=3&comm_id=5


Jane Brett

Bharat Chandramouli's Presentation to the CRD CALWMC

March 10, 2010

I thank the committee for giving the public an opportunity to speak on this very important issue. As a recent visitor to Coast Salish territory, I am happy to see that the greater Victoria region is installing secondary sewage treatment to deal with our ever increasing volumes of waste. As an environmental scientist, I am interested in the future direction of the CRD's water and waste management plans. I am concerned about the possible privatisation of local infrastructure. I want our infrastructure to be locally owned, controlled and operated so accountability and jobs stay within the community. The provision of water and sewage is universally regarded as basic infrastructure where local control is vital. P3s only make sense from a risk management perspective when a government is unable, or not considered trustworthy enough to carry out natural government monopoly functions. I can only hope that our trust in our governments' abilities to perform these basic functions has not eroded this far.

Sewage treatment is a well established and mature field where expertise is easily available, and it meshes well with the water provision infrastructure which is already municipally controlled. It makes little sense to spin the sewage off to a private entity. Costs will increase due to the extra layer of complexity, and due to the returns to the shareholders the companies need to provide. Governments traditionally have lower borrowing costs and superior bargaining abilities. Why waste that kind of power? Upper/middle management jobs may not be available to local people, so there is no jobs benefit or job diversity from privatization. There is lowered accountability as well. While P3s claim to shift risk away from governments, studies show that this risk shifting has not actually worked in practice. Non-local companies can leave if things go wrong, municipalities cannot. Non local companies can declare bankruptcy and shed all accountability if things go wrong, we cannot.

I urge you to look at work produced by Aidan R. Vining of Simon Fraser University and Anthony E. Boardman of the University of British Columbia as a valuable counterpoint to estimates coming out of the Conference Board of Canada and Partnerships BC (see attachment). They find that official cost benefit analyses showing the supposed benefits of P3s are fundamentally flawed because they do not take any of the social costs, transaction costs or externalities into account. They conclude that P3s only work from a financial perspective when they are designed to closely mimic traditional design-build-transfer or build-transfer contracts. Why waste time and effort trying to make this shoe fit when it clearly does not?

When we run the plant, we have the power to be flexible, to optimize the operations and modify them to suit our changing needs. We get to decide how much data we want to release, or what kind of research we want to support, what kind of relationship we have with the local community, and what kind of behavioural changes we would like to encourage to reduce waste. When we run the plant. our success does not depend on any one company's business practice or technology bias. We get to incorporate best practices to operate a sewage treatment facility that works for us, not the other way around. Public ownership is the conservative choice!

In conclusion, I oppose privatisation of the water and sewage infrastructure for the following reasons:

1) Increased costs

2) decreased accountability

3) Loss of job diversity

4) Decreased efficiency due to increased complexity

Thank you very much for your time.


Bharat Chandramouli, Ph. D

Trade, Politics and Global Climate Change

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Date: Wed., April 7, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
Location: Da Vinci Centre
Street: 195 Bay St.
City/Town: Victoria, BC

Are International Trade Agreements undermining efforts to solve Global Climate Change? Can our politicians cooperatively address this issue, by working together across party lines?

The Council of Canadians, Victoria Chapter presents a forum on climate change with the focus on trade agreements and how they affect the environment. We need to address how to create and enforce trade agreements that place environmental sustainability and the lowering of our carbon footprint in the forefront. It is time for our elected officials to cooperate on these issues. In this non-partisan forum we hope to discuss the challenges and the solutions to this most important issue. Microphones will be available for you to speak to this critical situation.

Invited Guests:

Elizabeth May leader@greenparty.ca

Dr. Keith Martin MP MartiK@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Gary Lunn MP lunng@parl.gc.ca

lunnmp@garylunn.com

Denise Savoie MP SavoieD@parl.gc.ca

See: http://www.canadians.org/energy/issues/climatejustice/index.html

Further information: 250-380-7145 or 250-220-5355

Stuart Hertzog's Presentation to the CRD CALWMC

March 10, 2010

Good evening.

My name is Stuart Hertzog and I spoke to you this morning about the impact of this project on greenhouse gas emissions. I calculate that in 40 years, this project would add 1.6 Megatonnes of CO2e to the global atmosphere. On that basis, this project should not go ahead.

Because it would create environmental and financial problems where none existed before, many people, including myself, are wondering why you have embarked on such an ill-advised path. Perhaps the answer lies in the push by the BC government to privatise public utilities?

There is no doubt my mind and the minds of many others, that this entire project has been mandated by the BC government's desire to privatise municipal sewage services. But the public response you have been receiving points to considerable concern about this. There is strong public support that the CRD's sewage system should be publicly owned and operated.

You are asking the public to choose from a menu of six procurement options, from the public Design Bid Build to the P3 Design Build Operate Maintain. But there is another option that has not been included, which is not to proceed at all with this billion-dollar mega-project. There is considerable public support for that option, too.

This public 'involvement' process is manipulative and meaningless without including "none-of-the-above," which I suggest is the best choice.

Without the option of not proceeding, you are faced with three political solutions to the thorny issue of ownership and procurement: a fully-public system; a hybrid mix of public and private; and a full P3 package.

Because you must somehow assuage the public fear of privatisation, there is no doubt in my own mind that you will favour the politically less-damaging, 'hybrid' solution. That way you can appear to be fair and balanced -- except that this will be the worst possible choice.

This 'hybrid' solution is in fact a P3, in which the heart of this project -- ownership and sale of the revenue-producing streams of biogas and biosolids -- will be moved into private hands, while the costly, non-revenue, supporting infrastructure, will be paid for with public funds.

The devil is hidden in the details. The draft Business Case presented by Ernst & Young last week, recommended that both the West Shore and the Victoria biosolids plants be P3s. I suggest to you that these two plums are of great interest to the private sector.

These two plants will receive the liquid waste streams from the entire Capital Region District. They will dry and process them to produce methane biogas for internal process use, with any surplus for sale to Terasen Gas. The operator will sell the biosolids as cement kiln or municipal waste incinerator fuel. The CRD will be reduced to a supplier of liquid waste at public expense.

It's the perfect money machine. The plant operator is guaranteed a flow of feedstock, which it can process as cheaply as possible. It can then resell its products to the highest bidder, maybe even while being paid to process the sewage -- it all depends on the details of the contract.

Who would own the incoming feedstock? Who would own the biogas and biosolids produced? What about any future carbon credits -- who will own these valuable, tradable assets? These details are vitally important to the regional taxpayer -- but we aren't being asked about those, nor are we likely ever to learn exactly what will be negotiated on our behalf.

Should these two plants be privatised, we know that the financial and operational details of any contract will be hidden from public view on the grounds of commercial secrecy. Yet these contracts could contain minimum and maximum flow requirements that could limit the ability of the CRD to fulfil other policies, such as water use and greenhouse gas reduction.

You are asking the public to choose between just six models of procurement, while the devilish details are hidden in carefully-crafted reports that suggest privatising these two key plants.

That's like Henry Ford saying "you can have any colour car you want -- as long as it's black."

By choosing the hybrid option, you will be still turning over the valuable assets of a municipal service to the private sector, while asking the public to pick up the tab. This doesn't seem right to me, nor to the majority of the voting public in your municipalities.

The decisions you will be making in the next months are crucial, both for the financial stability of the CRD and each for municipality; for public health; and for the global environment.

Do not deliver valuable CRD sewage assets into the hands of a private operator while calling it a "hybrid" solution. This would be subterfuge and sleight-of-hand.

Thank you.

Coffee Night Speaker: Arthur Caldicott

“Vancouver Island's Watersheds in Peril”

Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Time: 7:00 – 9:15 p.m.
Place: BCGEU, 2994 Douglas St.

Arthur Caldicott is an analyst of energy and mining issues in British Columbia. His
research, writing and presentations focus on the environmental, health, and public interest
aspects of those issues, as well as the economic considerations.
A company proposing a project will come to a community selling jobs and taxes as the
local benefits which will accrue from its pipeline, or mine, or mall. The company will
minimize the environmental impacts, avoid the fact that most of the jobs last only as long
as the construction period, and that the real economic benefits flow to its shareholders.
Caldicott tells the other side of the story – the parts the company is less keen to talk
about.
Using thoroughly researched and verifiable information, his writing and
presentations are balanced and credible. He is an insightful and engaging speaker.
Twenty years as an IT professional, and ten years as an energy analyst have equipped
Caldicott with an understanding of what motivates business (it is the profit motive, of
course, but informed and nuanced by complex factors), and how our governments
frequently seem to confuse the corporate interest for the public interest. Communities get good information clearly presented – and are then better equipped to make informed
decisions.
A sampling of Arthur Caldicott’s work is available at http://www.sqwalk.com/cv. Please
contact him at 250-384-5551 or arthurcaldicott@sqwalk.com.

Recent article by Arthur Caldicott:
http://www.greenmuze.com/climate/energy/2394-the-raven-coal-mine.html

Free Admission
Free parking at the Lifestyle foods plaza next door
Fairly traded coffee and tea are available with a donation
Contact: Nana 483-1277