Notes from the London Council of Canadians potluck on October 21, 2015 (including a letter to Justin re Protecting the Thames)

London Council of Canadians supporters collect water from the Thames River at the Forks.

Twenty two members celebrated the end of the Stephen Harper era at our October 21 potluck meeting held at the Mary Campbell Common Room. The room has a fresh coat of green paint and all chairs are new! It is a beautiful place to meet and we are indebted to Kathy Kaill for reserving it for us to use. Conversation was intense, and about the election of course. Thank you all for bringing such wonderful food to share. 

After we finished eating, the subject for discussion was “Where do we go from here?” Suggestions considered came from 350.org, the Council of Canadians, and the Green Party as well as others with proportional representation appearing at the top of most people’s lists.

 http://campaign2015.fairvote.ca 

Rod Morley volunteered to head up a group which would collect a bottle of Thames River water to deliver to Justin Trudeau on Nov. 7 as part of a “Climate Welcome” gift. 

http://climatewelcome.ca/water 

Rod wrote, and Meg edited, a letter (see below) from our chapter to Prime Minister Trudeau asking him to protect our river from toxic oil spills. Dimitri Lascaris agreed to accept the bottle of water and deliver it and our letter personally when he goes to Ottawa. 

We had a guest, Jim Joyce, formerly from London, who plans to relocate here from Yellowknife and wants to become active with our chapter. In Yellowknife they are opposing fracking. Jim serves as Treasurer for the Yellowknife chapter. 

Upcoming events: 

 1) The next monthly event will be our annual AGM, November 18, with our business meeting at 6:30 pm and our potluck at 7:30. It will be at the Mary Campbell Co-op common room. 

 2) Climate Rally in solidarity with the Paris Climate Conference - Victoria Park - Nov. 29 - 1 - 4pm 

 3) “This Changes Everything” a film by Avi Lewis and Naomi Kline, will have its London debut on Dec. 7 as part of our Cinema Politica program of monthly documentaries. Venue and details will follow. 

Roberta Cory, Chair 
London Chapter, Council of Canadians 

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

October 26, 2015 

Dear Justin, 

We, the Council of Canadians London Chapter, are writing to you today and sending along a water sample from the former Heritage River known as the Antler/Thames River from Southwestern Ontario. We are providing this gift to you to remind you of your pledge to safeguard Canada’s bodies of water. 

We in Southwestern Ontario are deeply concerned about the possible environmental damage that could occur to Antler/Thames River should the Line 9 pipeline rupture where it crosses this once protected waterway. The Line 9 pipeline is over forty years old and was never purposed to transport the heavy and toxic diluted bitumen that it is now authorized to carry. 

Many of us in Southwestern Ontario do not want to see the repeat of tragedy that occurred near Kalamazoo Michigan just over five years ago when the Line 6B pipeline ruptured, spilling diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River. The Line 9 pipeline was built at the same time, and was built with the same materials and safeguards as Line 6B. We wouldn’t want to see the same devastating result here in Canada, and would hold your two new London MPs responsible should they not heed our warnings and work to stop this accident waiting to happen. It isn't a matter of if it happens – it's when.  

The good people of Southwestern Ontario would love to open up a dialogue with a representative of your government to see if we could come up with alternatives to seeing the start of diluted bitumen – dilbit - being transported through this pipeline. We would love to see if we could come up with new ways to power Canada’s prosperity, without destroying the environmental treasure that is Southwestern Ontario. 

Yours in hope,

Council of Canadians London Chapter http://www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/

World Water Day Snake Walk!

The Thames River, actually, the “Askunesippi” or “Antler River,” begins near Tavistock and Mitchell and flows 273 kilometers into Lake St. Clair. Along its course it is polluted by runoff and threatened by leachate from a proposed landfill of Toronto mid level waste into the Beachville Quarry. It flows over Enbridge’s Line 9 pipe just north of Fanshawe Lake and under the CN railway bridges in downtown London. 

On August 14, 2000 it was formally designated a Canadian Heritage River. Forty Five citizens had worked tirelessly for four years to present enough evidence to make that happen, no mean feat. In 2012, the Harper government removed protection for our river with the Omnibus Bill, C–45. Now Alberta bitumen can be shipped east by pipeline and rail without any legal roadblocks. 

On World Water Day, Sunday, March 22, at 3:30 pm, twenty three citizens gathered in Thames Park to walk the thirty foot, blue, sparkly, scaled Water Serpent along Wortley Rd. to its destination next to the river, just north of the Horton St. overpass. Tina Stevens carried the massive blue green head of the Serpent and lead us in the traditional Water Song. Many people brought home made signs proclaiming “Water is a Human Right,” and admonishing us to take heed that an “Oil Spill in the Thames (is) Not Worth the Risk.” 

Everyone is asked to use social media to pass on the photos of the rally, the river, the railroad trestle, and the city of London in the background. We are asking you to tweet your Member of Parliament to reinstate protection for our waterway using the hash tag #Pledge2Protect. 

CTV showed up, to our great surprise, and filmed the Snake Walk. It played a short version, which included parts of the speech by Julie, our Water Committee Chair, and parts of an interview with Roberta, London CoC Chair, on the 6:00 pm news. You can see the film clip here:
http://london.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=575688&binId=1.1137796&playlistPageNum=1 

Sources: Upper Thames River Conservation Authority – About Us – Thames Heritage River – Watershed Health 
http://thamesriver.on.ca/about-us/thames-heritage-river/

Canadians.org – National website – Campaigns – Water 

Irene.mathyssen@parl.gc.ca 

• Twitter:  @irenemathyssen 

Susan.Truppe.C1@parl.gc.ca 

•  Twitter:  @SusanTruppe 

Ed.holder.c1@parl.gc.ca 

•  Twitter:  @EdHolder_MP

Monthly Meeting January 8, 2015: LeadNow and Fair Vote: featured speakers, Lorna Cairns and German Gutierrez

German Gutierrez

Thursday 
January 8, 2015
6:30 pm
London Public Library
Landon Branch
167 Wortley Rd.
London, Ontario


Martha Bishop Room 

DEMOCRACY IN CANADA: 
FAIR ELECTIONS AND ELECTORAL REFORM 

Our focus from January through March will be on election issues. The Jan. 8th meeting will feature presentations from LeadNow and from Fair Vote Canada, followed by Q & A with the audience. Bring your election questions for these expert speakers and expect a lively, informative event. Donations are welcome. 

6:30 Coffee, tea, snacks (bring something to share) and social 

7:00 Business, reports and announcements 

7:15 Speakers: Lorna Cairns, LeadNow and German Gutierrez, Fair Vote Canada 

FRAGRANCE FREE EVENT! Please be respectful of attendees who have serious allergies! All are welcome! Free! Refreshments! Donations accepted gratefully! 

Roberta 519-601-2053 (Questions, bus routes, ride pool). 

Details: 

Lorna Cairns, LeadNow: 

Leadnow.ca is an independent advocacy organization dedicated to achieving progress through democracy. They bring Canadians together to build a stronger democracy that protects our environment, creates economic opportunity, increases equality, and guarantees universal health care. 

1.) Leadnow supporters across Canada had indicated that defeating Harper in 2015 is the highest priority. 

2.) Leadnow sent in one of their full time staffers to facilitate a meeting to introduce the Leadnow voting strategy to Londoners on December 8. The meeting was a great success and the rest will be history! 

German Gutierrez, Fair Vote Canada: 

From the website:
www.fairvote.ca 

“Fair Vote Canada (FVC) is a grassroots multi-partisan citizens’ campaign for voting system reform. We promote the introduction of an element of proportional representation into elections for all levels of government and throughout civil society.” 

As a local representative for Fair Vote Canada, German Gutierrez-Sanin will be speaking on proportional representation. German is a journalist; a member of the Inter-American Press Association; a Professor at Fanshawe College – School of Language and Liberal Studies; a social activist and former NDP candidate in the Riding of London North Centre for the 2011 Federal Election. He currently sits as a member of the Central Council of the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership (LMLIP) of which he has been a member since its creation in 2010.

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

Minutes of our last monthly business meeting:
http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonCoCMeetingMinutes.pdf
(Our last monthly meeting on Nov. 6 had no business component. Our AGM was held on Nov. 28.)

London RALLY on the Eve of the CETA Ceremony!

We Stand on Guard for Canadian Cities!

No to CETA!
No to Investor-State!
And a Big Yes to Fair Trade!

The world famous CETApus of London, Ontario, 2011.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, at 4:30 pm, outside London City Hall, you are invited to take a stand for Canadian cities. Together we will mark the historic resistance to the CETA trade pact by city councils from Victoria to Thunder Bay to Toronto. These municipal governments, along with dozens of others, including London, represent the first ever cross-country resistance to a corporate trade pact. The CETA gives corporations the right to directly sue governments if new laws or regulations impact their profits. It also removes the right of municipalities to govern local assets publicly, in favour of privatization and foreign corporate management.

Together we will acknowledge London city council, which passed two resolutions to be excluded from the CETA, for which it has received no reply from either the federal or provincial governments. This gathering will also bear witness to the official announcement, on Friday, Sept. 26th in Ottawa, that negotiations for the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement are complete. In reality, while the agreement is nearing completion, the CETA still needs to be ratified, a process which could take up to two years.

Following the announcement, the CETA cannot be changed. But it can be rejected!

Thursday, September 25

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Outside City Hall (300 Dufferin Avenue, London ON) 

Hosted by Council of Canadians, London Chapter 

More info: www.canadians.org/trade 

Local contacts:

Aldous Smith         tradejusticelondon@gmail.com 
Jennifer Chesnut   jennifer.reanne@gmail.com 

Come together, connect, and thank Canadian city councillors for standing up to protect families and democratic process.

Bring your voices, ears for listening, and determination for democracy. Stand tall together, knowing we are on the right side of history. No to CETA and Investor State! Yes to Fair Trade!

Anti-Harper Demonstration: Anonymous Report from the Marconi Club, May 2, 2014

Conservative "Volunteer" confronting anti-Harper demonstrators

Report on the Conservatives 3rd year anniversary party from the Marconi Club: In the line up there were some people who threw disgust at the protest but even more of them felt uncomfortable and nervous in the line so the protest had some effect. No microphones for questions from the audience and I have never seen so many RCMP and local police at an event in London before. They had what appeared to be the Western Conservative Club (Hitler Youth) on the stage behind where Harper spoke so the cameras could film the youngest Conservative contingent even though the crowd was predominantly 50+. They did however have the creme of London's political, business, academic and even members of London's non profit agencies there. 

Harper was way late in getting started, and he spoke, thankfully, for only about twenty minutes. What he didn't talk about was more interesting than he did talk about which are the Con's faithful, a strong stable economy, safer streets, etc. He did drone on about the economy but he never mentioned the oil and gas industry at all. He talked about making strong and preserving things for the future but he only gave one line to the environment in the way of preserving Canada's park system, the rest of the night was made up on the Con's talking points and the fact that the opposition fought him on all of the "great" things the Con's have done for Canada during this session. When he talked about the opposition he only talked about the NDP Party as a whole but Justin Trudeau only for the Liberals. 

He wanted the Party faithful to keep working for the Party but I am surprised he never mentioned anything about money for the next election. I would have figured that would have been the time to try and get those purses and wallets loosen up but I expect massive amounts of follow up requests. 

Harper's biggest round of applause was for his support for Israel against Arab terrorists (his words) and second biggest was for his support for the Ukraine. It seems that Cons believe everything western news outlets broadcast or publish.

For a news story on the demonstration click here.

Monthly Meeting of the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians

TZEPORAH BERMAN 
("Canada's Queen of Green") 
"Hope and Engagement: 
Tackling Climate Change and Pipeline Politics" 
Monday, May 12 at 7:00pm - 9:00pm 
Stevenson and Hunt Room 
London Public Library 251 Dundas St., London, Ontario 

$5 suggested donation 

http://www.tzeporahberman.com/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzeporah_Berman 

Tzeporah Berman has been designing and winning environmental campaigns in Canada and internationally for 20 years. She currently works as a strategic advisor for dozens of environmental organizations, First Nations and philanthropic advisors on clean energy, oilsands and pipelines. She is the former co-director of Greenpeace International's Global Climate and Energy Program, Executive Director and Co-founder of PowerUp Canada and Co-founder and Campaign Director of ForestEthics. Tzeporah was one of the experts in Leonardo Di Caprio's environmental documentary 11th hour, was one of six Canadian nominees for the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has been profiled as one of 50 Visionaries Changing the World in Utne Reader and as "Canada's Queen of Green" in the cover story for Readers Digest. This year Tzeporah was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of British Columbia. Her first book, This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge was recently published by Knopf Canada.