Is Canada losing its marbles? by Jennifer Chesnut

Growing up in Canada in the eighties, I got a bit dusty around the marble pits. There was the ceremonial reveal of the marble bag from pocket. Mine was a velvet purple with gold stitching. It suited my little girl need for beauty and soft perfectly. I thought the label Crown Royal referred to Queen Elizabeth so it felt a rather stately carriage for my little shinies. But it wasn’t the bag I loved. It was the spherical sculptures inside gently clinking their light translucent bodies. My collection expressed the wink of a cat’s eye, the wisp of the wind and the shimmer of silver minerals from somewhere deep in the earth. These my seven year old gems.

Out on the edge where tarmac meets playground, I remember digging many holes with tan corduroys rolled at the ankles and rayon chemise sleeves pulled above knobby elbows. I, like my fellow competitors, meant business from beginning to end. Us marble enthusiasts were bent on protecting our shiny assets. With front teeth missing, one of the only things we owned was these beautific rolling spheres. Value and rule were continually reinvented by our big imaginations. Is that very different from the global system of economics today? The marble game was serious business.

I wish our federal government took what Canadians owned more seriously. I wish they remembered the shiny-eyed value of the little people’s assets over policy table, especially free trade, foreign investment negotiations. The CETA, or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is the largest rolling of assets Canada has ever sat down for. Much wider in scope than CAN-CHINA Foreign Investment treaty, more impactful on Canadian urban life than the TPP, this comprehensive plan is the most high stakes game Canadians like you and me have ever played. Do you know that we have been playing since 2009?

Called the most important under-reported story facing Canadians (NewsWatch Canada), the CETA is a new generation trade deal negotiated behind closed doors. It is not so much concerned with tariffs and trade of goods but intimate items never before offered to non-Canadian entities. Ready to roll with the signing of CETA in early 2013, our prized possessions such as city services: water, transit, energy, aspects of hospital and education are being pulled from the public purse. The content of this policy shift is the traditional Commons, nature-made and human-sustained for generations, including modern cultural offerings like the internet. The water that we drink, the land on which we walk, the systems we have created for health and education are all in our care for the people that are coming. Does the Canadian federal trade committee, so focused on competition, remember that?

In an unprecedented decision, municipal assets under the jurisdiction of city councils coast to coast will be given equal opportunity for foreign management by companies that could include Veolia water corporation, BP Shell and others. The corporation who can parcel together the cheapest bid will set the rates, decide the environmental and health standards and ultimately, oversee the particulars of the jobs in the sector they manage. The CETA will permanently open contract bidding of Canadian city assets to corporations across the European Union (EU), the United States (US) and Mexico. Though crafted to encourage competition with European corporations, the US and Mexico will be invited into the bidding process because of NAFTA rules that mandate all new trades must include NAFTA partners. 

As a Canadian who is first a global citizen of the earth, it’s not that I don’t value many influences from European thought. Development in the arts, sciences, philosophy, have been encouraged by centuries of accumulated wisdom. Some solid environmental protections have come from Europe, for example, bans of genetically modified (GMO) agriculture. It was France that through committed research showed that we can restore at-risk bee populations by no longer using GMO seed. I think we are all are thankful for these many blessings that have propogated culture and made the planet a little more stable. I'm glad they also shared the latte with us. However, CETA will get us no closer to the European ethos of slow and style or increase our environmental protections. What it will do is allow their largest corporations, which are actually rootless transnational entities, to make important decisions involving our environment and city infrastructure to suit their needs. It would be wise to never forget in these fragile times that transnational corporations are not evil but their shareholder-at-the-top structure requires them to base every decision on their mandate -- which is to make ever higher returns. Do we want this impulse to be the source that shapes Canadian cities and landscapes now and far into the future?

Ultimately, the CETA game is not an equal competition. The EU, many times larger than us, has a 50% trade surplus over us. That means that for every one item we export to them, we import two. Trade deals don't change these relationships, they only increase the amount of items being moved around the globe. This scenario is much like what we had with the US when we negotiated NAFTA, an un-savvy bargain with all sort of giveaways like the Canadian magazine industry. It is unsurprising that among global trade enthusiasts, countries are sometimes disparaged with the saying “pulling a Canada”. Another reason why CETA is not a fair deal is that the EU is pulling out its smallest marbles while Canada is offering the big crocks -- raw resource management, crown corporations and city assets, especially public services.

Canadians have the right to decide together whether they want to play this high risk game wagering many of our precious shinies. Over our first free trade agreement with the US and Mexico, though much smaller than CETA, we had an election. Sitting with a London city councillor, he said CETA requires a referendum. No doubt, many other councillors feel the same. There is the city council of Victoria, Thunder Bay, Mississauga, Toronto, Niagara Falls, London and many more who don't agree with the CETA negotiations so much that they have asked their premiers to fully exclude them. These sub-national elected representatives understand that like in marble matches, whoever plays must play for keeps. Now in the Canadian version of marbles, if players call the game not for keeps at the beginning, then the trade is not permanent. What if we did the same with the CETA? In a way this is already happening. Through thirty-nine full exemption requests, and forty other partial requests, future-invested, local-savvy city councils and school boards are asking that their premiers walk away from a game with too much at stake.

Wanna play? Only you can decide.

One website with more information on trade and the CETA is www.canadians.org.

Crocks:  a term for the large marble; also part of a colloquial expression meaning nonsense.

Originally published in London Fuse:
 http://londonfuse.ca/blog/canada-losing-its-marbles

Localites, we are about to get grinched! by Jennifer Chesnut

The generous season is upon us. Though there is rising hardship across the globe, compared to our sisters and brothers in the Global South, many Canadians have a cup that still overfloweth. We Canucks are busy filling stockings for our little people and dashing down line-ups at the grocery store. For me, what is truly valuable at this dark time of year is a meta moment that rises a little more often. Flashes about what we truly desire from life slip in between the candle gazing, sipping of eggnog, lighting of the hearth. These new-year reflections are a fertile opportunity. One might say a real necessity.

With all the merry-making, we might miss the biggest scrooge sneak since the Grinch flew down to Whoville on his one-dog sleigh. Called the most important under-reported story facing Canadians (NewsWatch Canada), the CETA, or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is a plan to set up foreign management of our city assets like hospitals, transit, and energy. By Christmas 2014, Canada Post could become America Post and city water from Halifax to Victoria could be run by Veolia from France. And we thought the ghost of Christmas past was bad.

How does this transfer of power from city councils to foreign corporations work? Canada and other democracies use tax dollars to keep city infrastructure publically run and locally controlled. We employ city councils to make these decisions on our behalf so that we have a voice in the Commons. Enter globalization and a federal government that prefers global over local. Eager to participate in the world trade free market model, our federal government is handing over the keys to our cities not to a quirky little green dude with retro style but to multinational corporations from the EU, the US and Mexico. Because CETA has been written behind closed doors, we don’t know its timeline. However, if it’s similar to the length of the CAN-CHINA FIPA deal, we may get a chance to discuss changes in fifteen years, 2028. City transit, postal service, education, pharmaceuticals, and more will be pushed towards private management outside of Canada. These changes will be enforced by trade tribunals that could fine Canadian cities in the same manner the federal and provincial government have been charged under NAFTA. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, suffered a multi-million dollar attack for asking Exxon Mobil and Murphy Oil to follow provincial legislation that requires a small percentage of company profits to be invested in local research and development. Under CETA, Canadian cities will be facing this same struggle. It’s like somebody going into our house and stealing what we own while we sleep. Not under the guise of red suit and sleigh but through the signing of what Minister Fast calls the boldest economic plan Canada has ever attempted.

The globalization of national economies through trade law has been gaining ground for thirty years but recently, many are questioning its intelligence and impact on our cultural and ecological survival. In the late nineties, the MAI, much like CETA in its scope, came close to passing before it was exposed and rejected by the OECD community. If CETA passes the way it is, this will be the first time that local government will lose its power to make decisions as a result of a trade deal. It’s important to note that not all city governments will have their power signed away under CETA. Canada is the only country in the negotiations that has offered city assets for permanent bidding by foreign corporations. The idea is that in offering this cash cow, the Europeans will swallow more North American agricultural products like beef. Vandana Shiva, a leader of the International Forum on Globalization, calls the cow a sacred symbol of living economies. In a country that is beginning to ride the wave of localization, remembering its roots at the local farmers market, and spending more and more of its money at local cultural events, this metaphor transfers well to our cities. Our cities are where our money is and where our power lies to create community and politics we love.

What if our cities don’t oblige? Toronto City Council, as part of its request for total exemption from CETA, asked “the Federal Government to protect the powers of the City to create local jobs, protect the environment, and provide services and programs as it sees fit - from any restrictions to those powers in the CETA.” Thirty-nine other city councils and school boards have asked their Premiers for the same thing – to be taken out of the plan. Though CETA is intended to be signed early in the new year, not one Premier has responded yet.

This season is a time to take pause. What is it that we truly desire? What about security on a vulnerable planet. We want our little people and next generation to have stable jobs. We want them to grow up well and see beyond the consumer facade. Free trade for its first twenty-five years has not destroyed Canada, but since the nineties we have endured increasing cultural erosion and economic instability while the power of transnational corporations grows. Compared to CETA, NAFTA was small, and it took away five hundred thousand manufacturing jobs from Canadian families. This holiday, in preparation for the signing of CETA, let’s ask our premiers for the gift that will help the little people, the elders, the middle class and all, to build stability and stronger local communities. Tap into your New Year reflection prowess. When harnessed collectively, our visions for culture and community are the essence of our power. Join the thousands of people in Toronto, Hamilton, London, Victoria and across the country demanding Canadian cities be taken out of CETA by contacting your city councillor and MPP. Vision can only be potentiated by action. Protect your community’s power to make sustainable and creative decisions far into the future. This holiday season -- an exemption for all Canadian cities from CETA -- is the ultimate gift.

*localization: to make local

*localite: a lover of local

Originally published in London Fuse:
 http://londonfuse.ca/blog/localites-we-are-about-get-grinched

Further details: There is something very unsettling about a state corporation gaining momentous global scope. However, in terms of trade courts over-ruling national legislature if health and social policy challenges corporate profits, only a private corporation can sue a country and not vice versa. Under CETA’s predecessor, NAFTA, Canada has been successfully sued by Ethyl Corp and SD Myers when Canadian policy was used to curb the negative impacts from their products – a carcinogenic gasoline additive and PCBs. As far as I understand, it is not yet possible for a state corporation to sue another country using global (trade) law. These Investor State lawsuits allow a one-way legal process -- foreign corporations suing governments. But with this transmutation of nation power to state-owned companies, you are right, there are many unknowns. Maybe state-owned companies will begin to sue other nations by using global trade law.

The CETA allows for equal exchange with the EU in theory, and there will be some increased profits for specific sectors especially in raw resources like oil and agriculture. Canada’s pork and beef industry and genetically-modified agriculture will likely be a winner from relaxed rules in the EU as a result of CETA. This increase in earnings may not be a positive thing for a citizen of any nationality whose highest values are placed in sustainability not tiny increases in the GDP. Overall, trade deals exemplify trade relationships as they exist already. Canada has a fifty percent trade deficit with the EU. On average, for every 1 unit Canada sells to the EU, we purchase 2 units from the EU.

Canadian companies will have no chance to bid for municipal contracts in European public services. Unknown to many Canadians, over the last five years, the EU has heavily privatized its services. Many Europeans are unhappy with the outcome of this on the public's standard of living and there are hard battles being fought to re-stabilize public assets. Some are being won in places like Paris, France where they have regained public control of water. This, oddly, in the country with the two most powerful water corporations in the world, Veolia and Suez. The EU is not eager to solidify long-term plans for privatization with foreign companies through new generation trade deals. It is only Canada that is offering up this sector, about 70% of our economy. The EU has protected all EU city assets from foreign management under CETA and used the Annexes in the agreement to keep its municipal services out. This is why there has been less alarm about CETA in the EU. The only time that folks in the EU have gotten upset about CETA is when the intellectual property rights chapter of CETA went public and it was disclosed that CETA would restrict internet freedom using copyright law.

Here is one Youtube video that may be helpful: The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement - A Primer

"The Secret Vampire: Sucking the Lifeblood out of Canadian Cities" by Jennifer Chesnut

Why have forty city councils and school boards asked to be excluded from CETA? Isn’t it just a trade deal?

In the context of corporate global austerity, city politics may be the best hope we have for creating sustainable, kind communities and reversing the shaky trajectory we run on this earth. In the city we have close access to the leaders who write the policy that impacts our day to day lives. We are able to talk face to face from our hearts with our city councillors who decide how much we pay for our housing, how clean our local water is, and how many jobs will be secured for our youth, family and friends eager to work. When urban democracy is thriving, the citizens drive the city hall agenda. But a great threat lurks quietly in the wings. Given the dubious title of the most under-reported story facing Canadians (NewsWatch Canada 2011), it isn’t the boogeyman or the devil. It’s something much more tangible if you are willing to read between the lines. Brace yourself: it’s the new generation trade agreement, the most radical form of free market capitalism.  Think the ugly Canada-China FIPA by Prime Minister Harper. Now, widen your lens. The CETA is trade’s worst incarnation, and it is going to suck the lifeblood out of your city.

Writers of horror prose watch out. These free trade political dystopian policies may compete for reader interest if the masses get trade savvy. Imagine a wide force with gaping maw swooping the European Union over the great Pacific to take up residence in a Canadian city near you. Its goal: to siphon off any city assets it can get a hold of. Your water, your energy services like hydro, your hospitals, your transit, your local food, and more are slated to be opened for purchase and control by European, American and Mexican mega corporations. This means the quality and cost of these essential day to day needs and all the jobs associated with them will be decided by a huge corporation with a CEO who doesn’t live in your country let alone your city. Note: none of the other countries are giving up their city assets to foreign corporations. This is highly uncommon for a country to willingly offer. Sounds like the Canada-China deal isn’t the only thing odd about Canada’s long-term trade plans.

This could be another moment to ridicule Canadian trade policy except we don’t have a second to waste. CETA aptly stands for the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement.  And it is the most comprehensive bill of sale you can imagine. CETA the secret vampire will be nibbling at our local food movements and indeed, there are also surely going to be many more gushing bites. Many cities are resisting CETA because its laws will restrict municipalities for making sovereign economic choices. Some of the worries of city council: the city of Stratford’s public investment in its regional food network is at risk. Toronto’s local job creation plans such as its highly successful, local transit construction is at risk. Hamilton fought to bring the care of its water back in house after a messy experiment with privatized water. Under CETA’s grasp, as soon as water is open for bidding to private foreign corps, Hamilton won’t be able to get it back. 

Unlike national budgets, free trade deals last decades. New generation deals restructure the way government operates and downloads the responsibility of healthcare, education, natural resources and more to foreign corporations to turn a profit in the hope that the wealth will trickle down to the people. Though it’s not easy to get out of a trade deal, especially a country like Canada with such a wimpy trade record, some countries learn from their mistakes.  Australia decided after being sued by Du Maurier that they would never sign up for another agreement that is enforced by investor state lawsuits. In a nutshell, these trade tribunals allow corporations to sue countries for their regulations that keep local jobs, rivers clean, and bad chemicals out.  Australia was successfully sued for 55 million when Du Maurier’s profits were threatened by a government plan to ban cigarette ads aimed at youth. Australia had to keep the ads and its citizens forked over the money with their taxes. The people got nothing in return but a loss of their rights to make good choices for their kids. And by the time they run out, all the changes have been made and you are either dead or too old to remember what it was like back then. CETA may haunt your community for eternity.  

Bloody powerful, suavely deceptive, seemingly benign but hungry.  And just like the after-effects from being bitten, the CETAs impacts will be slow but certain. First a dullness of municipal economies, then the paling of the palour of local culture, slowly our cities from Halifax to Nunavut to Victoria will lose the ability to make their own decisions. CETA will have an exasperating long shelf-life.  Like a vampire, the CETA and other trade deals are very hard to kill once created.

If you like local good paying jobs, properly funded hospitals, schools and other public institutions, farmers markets, water bottle bans, a creative new vision for your city, then CETA is the one lurking in the dark. You are not going to like its style one bit. And the forty councils and school boards including the city of Toronto, Thunder Bay, North Vancouver and more have asked to not be included in this long term plan. But why have none of their city council voter certified requests been granted by the provinces? Ontario has forty cities and a school board who have asked to be written out of it in part or full. CETA is a reason to talk to your city councillor and member of provincial parliament about the quality of life for your family. Friends – enough with the CETA nightmare. The province of Ontario, it’s time to get back to work

Hang the garlic from the rooftops. Get calling your elected member of parliament – city, province and national.  The secret vampire is near completion and it can be beaten. Not with a magic bullet but with the sure-fire way of people engaging in the community where they live. Speak up. Read. Breathe. Imagine a fate better than CETA.

"Harper gifts us with 99 lumps of coal." by Roberta Cory

Christmas is for children - trade deals are NOT!

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The mice were curled up all snug in their nests,

While visions of cookie crumbs danced in their heads;

Mum in her nightie and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When next to the chair there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the table I flew like a flash,

Uncovered my iPad and clicked on the hash.

The light from my iPad glowed chilly and white,

And I gasped when I saw it, a frightening sight;

For what to my wondering eyes was revealed,

But our PM in a sleigh with eight tiny trade deals.

He signed with a ball point so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment this wasn't St. Nick!!

More rapid than eagles his trade deals they came,

And he whistled while signing and called them by name:

"Now CETA*, now FIPA,* now TPP* and NAFTA*!

On Nexen,* on Suncor, on PERC* and CNOOC;*

To the the EU, to China, to Columbia and Nepal;

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!!"

And then in a twinkling, I heard in the hall,

The scratching and chewing of something in the wall.

I opened the door and was looking around,

When out of a mouse hole Harper came with a bound.

He was dressed all in seal fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with coal dust and soot.

A bundle of bags he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His dress shirt was ironed, his blue eyes …. they twinkled.

His skin was like plastic, his suit wasn't wrinkled.

His droll little month was drawn up like a bow,

And the sound of his voice was as cold as the snow.

He was smiling, and pleasant, and handsome to see,

And I laughed at the thought that he could hurt me.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word but went straight to his task,

Filling stockings with trade deals too secret to ask.

He hurried and did it with all of his power,

Changing our lives at the very last hour.

He ran to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And flew back to Ottawa like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"I just sold off Canada, go to sleep, and good night.."

*CETA - Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement

*FIPA - Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement

*TPP - Trans-Pacific Partnership

*NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement

*Nexen - a Canadian oil and gas company based in Calgary, just purchased by CNOOC

*CNOOC - China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

*PERC - Pan-European Regional Council (trade union)

CETA vs. FIPA

What do the CETA and FIPA (the Canada-China Trade deal) have in common? 
They both will take away the power of people in cities from protecting local natural assets from foreign corporate take over. Foreign corporations will be heavily fining municipal and provincial government (paid for with our taxes) in secret if any environmental, labour or health law is used that slows their anticipated profits. *See the FIPA video below for more info. The CETA and the FIPA are part of the long-term policy plan like we have never heard of before. The recent budgets have been preparing for the new trade landscape just like the budgets of the late 80's and early 90's did with the FTA and NAFTA. The power of using trade deals to make changes is that they cannot be reversed when you elect a new government as they are internationally-binding. * This link is a FIPA video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbUjScUwyA&feature=player_embedded What else do the CETA and the FIPA have in common? If not critiqued, our federal government will pass these long-term policy plans asap without telling you about the details of them. The FIPA on this Tues. Oct. 30, and the CETA's last round of major negotiations finished today with plans to pass in 2012. There's still time. And the momentum is growing... 
 Blessed be the Canadian who uses their voice to name the long term plan they want for their friends, their coworkers and their family. Thank you to Stuart Tru, Maude Barlow, Paul Moist and many others who have been leading the pack on public education nationally on the CETA. Thank you to Elizabeth May, Thomas Mulcair, Clayton Ruby and others who have been leading nationally on the FIPA. Thanks to Robert and Gary for sending these on. Thank you to all for every action you take, to educate and press for dialogue on the "new generation" trade landscape and the stability of Canada's real economy, and the welfare of our families. Every little act makes a small difference.

Jennifer on behalf of StopCETA Trade Justice -- A coalition of the Council of Canadians, London Chap.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

London Chapter Council of Canadians
London, Ontario, Canada
Date: Monday, November 12, 2012
Place: Lamplighter Best Western, 591 Wellington Road South 
Time: 5:00 PM registration & verification of member credentials
5:30 PM AGM
6:30 PM Reception
7:00PM Dinner

8:00PM Speaker is Briana Blencowe “Human Trafficking”
Followed by a Question and Answer Period
9:30PM Adjourn

Agenda:
http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonChapterAGMAgenda2012.pdf

(NOTE: "Verification of member credentials" refers to VERBAL verification that you are a member. You may have to sign a sheet stating that you are a member, but you will not show any card or any other piece of paper.)

Poster:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonChapterAGMposter2012.pdf

Human Trafficking Speaker Nov 12

For Immediate Release
October 30, 2012
Human Trafficking
Right here in London Ontario

November 12, 8 pm, come learn more from Briana Blencowe and her associate, a victim of the crime, when the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians present “Human Trafficking”.

As Briana explains, “I was thrilled when asked to speak at the London Council of Canadians Chapter Annual General meeting as their views for Canadian independence; promotion of policies on fair trade and action for justice is something I support. The fact that Council of Canadians attempts to place social issues in the spotlight is just what is needed when it comes to the problem of Human Trafficking in Canada.”

Human trafficking effects upwards of 25 million and is viewed as an international problem, still it lives right here in London Ontario. The United Nations reported in 2006 that an estimated global annual profit of 3.1billions dollars US making human trafficking the second most profitable organized crime.

Join us on November 12 at the Lamplighter Inn to learn more about this seemingly invisible crime right before our very eyes.

You are invited to join us for any or all portions of the evening. Please RSVP to Louise Hollingsworth (519) 679-0765. Tickets are also available at the East Village Coffeehouse, 785 Dundas St. Dinner tickets include a complimentary copy of Maude Barlow’s book "The Great Lakes Commons".

London Chapter of the Council of Canadians Annual General Meeting
Lamplighter Best Western, 591 Wellington Road
Monday November 12, 2012

5:30 pm ►Meeting
7 pm ►Dinner and Speaker— $40 includes book
8 pm ►Speaker only—free will donation

For more information on the Council of Canadians you can visit their website at: http://www.canadians.org/

For more information on the event contact Louise Hollingsworth 519-679-0765
Council of Canadians, London Chapter

Stop CETA Open Mic & Candlelight Vigil

7:30-10:30 p.m.
Saturday
September 29, 2012

East Village Coffeehouse
785 Dundas St. E

Pdf version of poster, click here.

You are invited to the Sat. September 29th StopCETA Open Mic to mark the anticipated final round of negotiations in October 2012.

Chat with interesting people who care as deeply as you do about the earth and human rights.

This trade justice event will combine CETA education & action with bluesy-groovy-folksy music and poetry.

Line up: the sweet blues of the Dave Dillon, the seasoned folk of Mark 30, the hard hitting & comical storytelling song of Margo Does and more. A presentation on CETA entitled “What else is possible, eh?”A MPP mail out of your specific CETA concern. A candlelight vigil for Public Services in Canada post CETA.

Not to mention the good ol' edible and beverage offerings of the East Village Coffeehouse. I hear Absynthe may be on tap.

What: stopCETA trade justice open mic
(for the love of canada, stopCETA!)

When: Sat. Sept. 29th, 730 pm

*Come early, limited spaces

*Candle-light vigil interlude at 8pm.

Where: Our favourite and recently liberated East Village Coffeehouse (EVC)
785 Dundas St.
Dundas and Rectory, just west of Aeolian Hall.

Ample free parking on the street and around the corner.

Cost: $5 Suggested Donation

Come early, seating limited. This is a scent free event.

Media release:

For Immediate Release:

Candlelight Vigil for Municipal Public Services

Monday, September 24th, 2012

On Saturday, September 29th, Londoners are invited to a candlelight vigil for Canadian Public Services. This event will witness the loss of Canadian public services from the largest trade agreement ever negotiated by Canada called the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) which is intended to be signed by the end of 2012. The vigil's purpose is to bring attention to an enormous trade deal that has been negotiated behind closed doors whose major content is municipal public services in Canadian cities coast to coast.

The CETA will allow foreign corporations from the European Union, The United States and Mexico to bid with equal power for city hall contracts to oversee municipal transit, hydro, water services and parts of the health and education sectors. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), over five hundred thousand manufacturing jobs were lost in Ontario with much work being downsized to part-time status without benefits. People in the know about this quiet trade deal are concerned that a similar result will happen not only in the last manufacturing sector jobs but also public service. Further, there are serious concerns about increases in daily costs of living for families. For example, a study from the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary demonstrates a one billion increase in essential drug costs out of the pockets of people living in Ontario. The reason for the more expensive medicine is that the European negotiators have asked Canada to extend patent monopoly for brand name drug companies to have exclusive rights of sale for 3.5 more years.

With over forty city councils and school boards requesting a full opt out of CETA from the provinces, including London, the word is getting out about its many potential risks.

Join us at the East Village Coffeehouse, 785 Dundas Street, on Saturday, September 29th at 8pm to draw attention to this very comprehensive deal that will impact your job, your family and your day-to- day costs of living. All are welcome.

#####

Contact: Rod Morley (519 872-0008) or rmorley1@sympatico.ca StopCETA Trade Justice
A Coalition of the Council of Canadians, London Chapter

Second Poster:

Attracting Peace: Educating for Peace, with Lee McKenna

7:00-9:00 p.m.
Wolf Performance Hall
London Central Library
251 Dundas St.
London, Ontario

Lee McKenna will be talking about her work with war-affected people in places like Sudan, Colombia and the Philippines. Come and learn about the economic, social and cultural roots of violence, the role of consciousness in combatting violence and oppression and how to organize for social and political change.

FREE!

LEE MCKENNA
(B.A., MDiv, PhD cand), activist, practitioner of active non-violence and principal of Partera International (partera. ca), has been working alongside peace-makers from more than a dozen countries for more than 20
years.
http://www.partera.ca/bio/

The evening will end with a guided meditation for peace.

Jennifer Chesnut's Radio Interview re CETA

Jennifer Chesnut, Trade Justice Chair 
London, Ontario Chapter, Council of Canadians

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3     Part 4     Part 5

For the Love of Canada, Stop CETA Rally Against Increased Medication Costs, July 11, 2012

Approximately twenty-five Londoners joined on Commissioners Road West outside of Ed Holder's office to participate in the first of a series of summer rallies to be organized around specific threats of CETA. Tonight's focussed on the concern raised in the joint University of Toronto and University of Calgary study that warns of a 2.8 billion dollar increase in drug costs annually out of the pockets of Canadians.

The rally was hosted by the stopCETA trade justice coalition and was attended by a diverse group of citizens from union folks to NDP and Green party candidates, artists, teachers, students, various public service workers and a few members of the local Occupy movement. Instead of chanting, we smiled and waved at the long lines of cars that were slowed in traffic along Commissioners. Literature such as the Council of Canadians Healthcare & CETA handbill was given through car windows. Many folks were honking but the favourite was the city bus driver honking most enthusiastically. The group held up signs that said messages like: For the love of Canada, stop CETA, and others about increases in prescription drug costs. One of the trade justice members silkscreened a banner about loving Canada, and of course, the CETApus was out with Roberta and Rory Cory.

Dre Aube was interviewed by London Community News, a local press, and on camera with CTV news about the drug costs issue. Jennifer Chesnut spoke also with CTV news about the local trade justice movement and national municipalities resolution movement and they asked to do a longer interview segment prior to the next rally. The group started planning for the second rally tonight which will focus on Investor State lawsuits from corporations and will take place on Wed. July 25, also outside of Ed Holder's office from 5 to 6pm. They intend, at minimum, to double our crowd. And, will continue with the style of business-attire rally to promote openess to demonstration in a city that is shy about it. London encourages local Council of Canadian chapters to come on down, share the message and spend some time building our networks together.
...... overall, we had a lot of fun and feel very good about the vibe that was created. Dre did a fab job on camera...

Below are the sound bites that we were working with:

CETA will force Canadians to pay 3 billion more a year on necessary medicine. High prescription drug prices are already a barrier to relief for millions of Canadians from pain of cancer to depression, and CETA will only make the situation worse. People living in Ontario will have to deal with the largest hike of about 1.3 million. Drugs are the fastest growing part of health care costs in Canada. Why would we agree to increase our drug costs further?

In CETA, the EU is demanding that we align with their system that favours brand-name pharmaceuticals and phases out the cheaper generic-label drugs. The 3 billion rise in drug costs annually is another example of why CETA is bad for Canadian people.

We are not against trade. We are against reckless trade contracts that favour transnational corporations over people’s health and community well-being. We do not think that a less than 1% increase in the Canadian GDP is a good enough reason to prevent Canadians from getting the medicines they need. CETA runs contrary to the Canadian Constitution that states in clause 36 that “the government of Canada and the provincial governments are committed to promoting equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians, … and providing essential public services of reasonable quality to all Canadians.”

Nowhere in our constitution does it say that our well-being would best be taken care of by transnational corporations.

Notes: The study showing the drug increase of approximately 3 billion was a collaborative study by U of T and U of Calgary presented to the federal government.

Jennifer Chesnut, July 11, 2012

Stop CETA Rally, July 11, 2012 (Photos by Robert McMaster)

Maude Barlow in London, Ontario on May 30, 2012!

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/GreatLakesNeedGreatFriendsLondonposter.pdf

The Great Lakes of North America form the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world, holding more than 20 per cent of the world's surface freshwater and 95 per cent of North America's. They provide life and livelihood to more than 40 million people and are the economic centre at the heart of the continent. Yet the Great Lakes of North America are in serious trouble. Multipoint pollution, climate change, over-extraction, invasive species, and wetland loss are all taking their toll on the watershed.

With a patchwork of limited government protection that is hampered by inadequate funding and differing political priorities, the Lakes urgently need people to join together to forge a new future for them, one that will ensure the Lakes will thrive for generations to come. To help forge links and build relationships in communities surrounding the Great Lakes' waters, the Council of Canadians has launched the "Great Lakes Need Great Friends" tour.

Video: click here.

Doors open 6:30 Event 7:00-9:00

Maude Barlow The Great Lakes Needs Great Friends Tour.
How many of us went to camps on Georgian Bay or summer at the cottage?  Don't we all love taking the family to the beach for a refreshing swim on those hot summer days.  It is time we begin to bring our Great Lakes back into focus to ensure that our children and grand children have the chance to make some of their own memories about this world treasure.
Come join the conversation as the Council of Canadians and the Aeolian Hall present a special evening with Maude Barlow and the Great lakes Needs Great Friends Tour.
Also speaking, Great Friends
Thom McClenaghan President, Friends of the Coves Subwatershed.
Patrick Donnelly, Urban Watershed Program Manager City of London
along with displays from partners in watershed protection in London.
Location:  Aeolian Hall
For more information contact Gary Brown GPBrown@Rogers.com
Admission is free and donations are welcome.
There will be a special performance by the children’s choir El Sistema London from 6:30 to 7:00 http://www.aeolianhall.ca/el-sistema-aeolian

http://www.aeolianhall.ca/events/great-lakes-need-great-friends

http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Great_Lakes/index.html

Take Action to Protect Local Health Care!

Town Hall Meeting
Wednesday May 16, 2012

7:00 pm 

King’s University College

Labatt Hall, Rm. 105 

266 Epworth Avenue 

Poster: click here.

Featuring: 

Vicki McKenna, Ontario Nurses’ Association 

Peter Bergmanis, CAW 

Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition

Sandi Blancher, OPSEU

Michael Shapcott, Wellesley Institute

What we can do to protect our local health services and make health care decisions more accountable
Discussion
Q& A
Ideas

You can help to forge a better way!
For more information: London Health Coalition 519-473-6191
or Ontario Health Coalition 416-441-2502
www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

“The Ontario budget will result in harsh
cuts to local health care services. After
years of corporate tax cuts and tax
giveaways for the wealthy, the Ontario
government is now trying to resolve the
deficit on the backs of the sick and
elderly.
We already have a severe shortage of
hospital beds and unprecedented
hospital overcrowding. There are more
than 30,000 people on wait
lists for long-term care homes.
We also have a privatized home
care system that fails to meet
the basic needs of Ontarians.
Yet more cuts are on the way.
It is urgent that ordinary Ontarians from across
this province stand up to protect universal and
fair access to public non-profit health care for
all people in need.”
-- Natalie Mehra, Director of the Ontario Health Coalition

Letter from Maude Barlow

Letter from Maude Barlow to London City Council re CETA