Attawapiskat Still Waiting, Angus Gets Standing Ovation

John Duncan, slightly more alert today

 Charlie Angus demanded to know why the money for the modular homes is not forthcoming so that people can be spared the hardship of makeshift and untenable living conditions.  The bitterness of this government to hold out tough until demands for book keeping are met just shows that the issue is really a power struggle and precedent setting.  They need to show "accountability to the taxpayers" yet are willing to fritter away huge sums with impunity in other matters.


Angus said officials from diamond company De Beers,  the diamond mine closeby will prepare the land and the 22 homes are ready to be installed with minimum delay at present but for the holdout stalemate.

Children are also without schooling for the past two months.  Everyone knows how hard it is to keep the interest and momentum up with education once it has been stalled.

The reasons for lack of funding and placing blame is well argued in The National Post so why repeat it when the writer Chelsea Vowel made clear where the inefficiencies lie, namely the bureaucracy of delivery of services, lack of real co-ordination and no accountability from start to finish. 


The issue is more than just mistreatment towards the band in one circumstance, but a long going racist and discriminatory series of legislations made all the more despicable because a watching, silent public plays a role in the crime.  Yes, Canadians.  All you who did not vote in the last election are going to have to answer for the government's manipulations of the Aboriginal people's displacement on their own lands.

The mining companies are making sure that they profit and plunder while leaving the land destroyed for habitation.  Plans to divert water from the rivers where settlements predominate are afoot as in this explanation.  The United States needs water for the midwest.  Fracking is spoiling most of its fresh water and Canada has the most fresh water in the world.  So, the Aboriginal Peoples will have to be plundered yet again. 

So, the housing is just a start of how the government is framing the narrative.  How it plays out in the public depends on making sure all Canadians do not allow misinformation to take over the truth.

Love The Blackberry not the Apple Toy

For doing real business, the Blackberry is by far a preferred product when compared to the IPOD.  Yet the Canadian Press is beating it up, or trying to, and for no other reason except to kill it.  Blackberries are made in several countries in the world, not just China, and one of them being the United States.  It's an ethical company that gives back to the community.  Bad press should be shunned.  Here's a Globe commentator who agrees.

A_sqrd

4:35 AM on February 1, 2012

I must admit I find this article incredibly strange.

There is absolutely no doubt that Apple is doing amazingly well, with results that are "out of this world" - see recent G&M article. Also, RIM has had quite a few huge missteps, and was caught completely flat-footed by the iPhone, which they arrogantly viewed as not a threat to them prior to its launch.

However, that in itself is hardly news anymore. Also, there is an amazing lack of analysis in this article. No statistics or even remote attempt at a competent review of blackberry usage among professionals working in the legal and financial sector. It is mostly based on a conversation in a coffee shop with a couple of lawyers...and even those guys still seem to use a blackberry and say that the majority of the lawyers they work with do as well. Bizarre. Mr. Gray - what would possess you to write this type of article? Do you hold yourself to any standard of journalistic integrity?

Your article seems to amount to: "Hey, listen to what a couple of lawyers in a coffee shop told me - they don't like their blackberries. BUT - they are using them, and so are their friends. I have some other info too, but those guys don't want to go on record, but they said some bad things. So in conclusion - even elites don't use a blackberry anymore, except that they often do."

G&M - you really should be ashamed. What is your long-term vision for this paper? More of this type of journalism?

Kanada-USA

3:11 AM on February 1, 2012

the Globe is owned by BELL which makes a lot of money selling iPhones and iPaids, etc.

Bell is a terrible company, they treat their employees like garbage, customers even worse.
So this constant attack on BB is some Bell corporate order from on high to sell more iPhone contracts from Bell.

Someone is getting iPaid along the way.

Randolph Duke

12:35 AM on February 1, 2012

G&M doesn't need to promote RIM just because they are Canadian, but they seem quick on the draw to report anything which makes the company look like it's going down.

It's not this one particular article though - it is the overall reporting about RIM that seems inclined towards unfavorable news, rather than maintaining equal focus on positive accomplishments.

Personally I thought this article was disgraceful, and totally unnecessary.

YKER

3:38 AM on February 1, 2012

You wonder why this Toronto newspaper is losing their loyal subscribers/readers.

I'm using a leaked OS 7.1 on my Bold 9900 and I can tell you that it is a better phone than a kiddie i-toy.

Blackberry Traffic is now the best "phone GPS" out there released days ago.

You can now share internet using WIFI with "Mobile Hospot Connection" in BB OS 7.1.

Puck

4:06 AM on February 1, 2012

I'm suffering an iPad right now. It does one fun thing at a time while swtching seamlessly between apps. Typing is slower with just a single digit instead of opposing thumbs. The auto correct can be ludicrous.

The Globe and Mail have Harper trolls voting thumbs down.  Hard to believe that they need to politicize even the Canadian product.  Most real readers would just remain neutral.  These folks are paid to spread dissent and bully pro Blackberry users with sarcasm and hate. Sample of troll below.

TiredOfMcGuinty

9:07 PM on January 31, 2012

Hard to believe these idiots won't sell this company. They'd rather drive it into the ground. A real shame. As soon as one of their competitors decides to enter the business arena, RIM will be dead meat.

Canada's Freedom of Information Process is Abysmal

Not good enough

Who sends checks by mail or requests government information by mail?  In the digital age, we ought to be able to access all government documents from a database by using a password, perhaps linked to our voter number.

Under the Access to Information Act, any resident of Canada can request government-controlled information, such as a bureaucrat’s expense claims or a minister’s briefing notes, for an initial $5 fee. The application is subject to a range of exemptions.

Only about 16 per cent of the 35,000 requests filed last year resulted in the full disclosure of information, compared with 40 per cent a decade ago.

And delays in the release of records continue to grow, with just 56 per cent of requests completed in the legislated 30-day period last year, compared with almost 70 per cent at the start of the decade.

Why the delay, the cost, the very poor response to requests?  Transparency?  Accountability?  Sloppy.

I bet it's easier to have the RCMP scan our twitter and Facebook accounts than get a simple answer from FOI.  Above graph shows a graph of how Canada stacks up globally.

The Harper Conservatives first came to power in 2006 on an explicit promise to reform the Access to Information Act dramatically but have largely failed to deliver after five years in power.

Parliament did broaden the number of federal institutions covered by the Act, but growing delays and excessive censorship have plagued the system, prompting repeated public scoldings from the last three information commissioners.

At least three government departments are currently under investigation for alleged political interference in the release of documents, which has led to the resignation of a ministerial aid.

MP Paul Szabo announce planned to introduce a private member’s bill to guarantee a public right to information in our Canadian Constitution.  Maybe again in 2014.

Principle 10 of the Declaration of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development presented at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, was endorsed by Canada. It reads: “At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes.”

Source: By Stanley Tromp, Freedom of Information caucus coordinator of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), and author of Fallen Behind: Canada’s Access to Information Act in the World Context (2008). http://www3.telus.net/index100/foi

Jenkins Report Fails Conservative R&D Strategies

Incremental progress.  But we can do much, much more.

This year, Ottawa and the provinces spent $4.7-billion to more than 20,000 Canadian companies under one of the richest R&D tax expenditures in the world.

But a third or more of that cash is being wasted and paid to consultants as a result of unclear rules on what’s legitimate R&D and limited government auditing resources, according to dozens of interviews with consultants, claimants and government officials.

 That's why Harper is getting support from industry that is inflating the prices of work or expenditures.

The program is prone to abuse because the risk of getting caught is low. Tax authorities routinely accept a significant percentage of refund claims with little or no vetting in what one CRA source called the R&D industry’s “dirty secret.”

 Does the Tony Clement spending come to mind?  Puts the Liberal Adscam embarrassment into perspective.

For example, we will continue to make the key investments in science and technology necessary to sustain a modern competitive economy.  But we believe that Canada’s less than optimal results for those investments is a significant problem for our country. Harper in Davros

In line with feedback from stakeholders, we are recommending that the SR&ED program should be simplified. Specifically, for SMEs, the base for the tax credit should be labour-related costs, and the tax credit rate should be adjusted upward. The current base, which is wider than that used by many other countries, includes non-labour costs, such as materials and capital equipment, the calculation of which can be highly complex. This complexity results in excessive compliance costs for claimants and dissipates a portion of the program’s benefit in fees for third-party consultants hired to prepare claims.  Source: Jenkins Report

Put simply, the government strategy is that tax credits to corporations should result in job creation or investment into research and development.  Looks like it doesn't.  It's wasted instead on machinery and capital equipment.  I wonder if Caterpillar will take the machinery away with it when it goes south?  How much machinery is being put into the pipelines?  

Harper blames red tape for eating up the costs and showing less benefit for the free money incentive to industry.  In fact, it is the lack of front loading of clearly written documentation and planning.  His government is incompetent.  R & D should be results oriented, observable, quantifiable.  We have professionals that write proposals, yet Harper wants to keep secrets in house.  Well, the tar sands mess just shows how well that works out. 

Tories Tamper with Elections Donations in Alberta

Incremental damage

Andrew Frank, is not the only whistle blower to suffer the Tory chill by losing his job.  Chief electoral officer Lorne Gibson has filed a complaint for Alberta's former chief electoral officer,

who was canned by the government of Premier Ed Stelmach in 2009 for the shambolic way the 2008 Alberta general election was run. Someone's head had to roll and, as the man in charge of the election process, it was Gibson that got the chop.

the problems with the election were mostly the fault of Alberta's deeply flawed elections law and the people in the Conservative cabinet who actually had the power to run things.
You don't believe "deeply flawed"? Only in Alberta -- among Canadian jurisdictions, anyway -- were electoral officers appointed by a partisan agent of the governing party.

 The Wildrose has said the donations are symptomatic of a diseased political system that comes from the Conservatives being in power for 40 consecutive years. The party also said municipal leaders feel the heat to donate or be punished through funding cuts or other measures. 

Because the election was called so quickly, apparently there was not enough time to get voters' lists in order and people were either left off the lists (about 250,000 in Alberta) or had to suffer long waiting times.  I certainly did on the advanced voting poll.  I never had any problem with my name being on the list, but rather we were for some reason corralled like cattle and made to wait while the slowest people on the planet and completely inefficient pencil pushers tried to cope with make a check mark.  It was a disgrace and the local MP was appalled by what he saw.

But back to the donations.  Obviously, there was more money thrown around for Conservatives to spend on their own campaign.  Holding up the shambles mess for criticism is worthy at this time - to incrementally damage the Conservative self promotion machine and show it up for what it is- pushy, self serving, spiteful towards those who would speak the truth.  

Non Reporting of Aboriginals Water Treatment Plant Needs

It is no longer possible to ignore the rights of Canada's aboriginals, now that they are crucial to much needed land access.  Long ghetoized and ignored in poverty and government neglect, their story of inequality has become a cause célèbre in the environmental issues of Canadian water rights.

“The report released today is shocking in that it reveals the quality of drinking water in First Nation communities is even worse than anticipated,” said the National Chief.  “More than half the water systems our people are using are risky systems.  While First Nations have been calling attention to this matter for years, today’s report should spark swift and urgent action to ensure the health and safety of our people.  Other Canadians would not tolerate this situation in their communities and we must not tolerate it in First Nation communities.” Assembly of First Nations 

Results for Alberta from Statistics Canada 

Contamination of Aboriginal Water is a Human Rights issue.  They own the land.  They must have water rights and water treatment plants that ensure healthy living on that land.  To neglect this fact is a sure method to extinguish the number of peoples who can live on reserves.  The government has for years walked away from water treatment projects by saying that there are no roads to access in order to build the plants.  Whereas there are no such excuses for not continuing to drill and push huge hulking machinery into the remotest regions of the Yukon in pursuit of minerals.

As anti fracking communities are gaining traction in the US with help of the EPA, shouldn't it now be time for investment into the north with Environment Canada water standards, water treatment, clean water standards and followup with action? And shouldn't environmental lawyers be lining up in droves to support Aboriginal water claims pro bono to fight for Aboriginal ownership of water on their land? 

Read Turtle Island News for the latest points of view from communities opposing such inaction and for true reporting from an Aboriginal perspective.

Media Sources Not to Trust

Don't expect Wall Street Journal to write honestly about climate change.  It's a business magazine and its readers are looking for profits, not prophecies, well, maybe!  From Peter Gleick of Forbes.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has long been understood to be not only antagonistic to the facts of climate science, but hostile. But in a remarkable example of their unabashed bias, on Friday they published an opinion piece that not only repeats many of the flawed and misleading arguments about climate science, but purports to be of special significance because it was signed by 16 “scientists.”

For example, their op-ed has fundamental errors about recent actual temperatures, they use false/strawman arguments that climate scientists are saying climate change “will destroy civilization,” they launch ad hominem attack on particular climate scientists using out-of-context quotes, and so on.  

For the penultimate authority for science journalism:

 The National Academy of Sciences is the nation’s pre-eminent independent scientific organizations. Its members are among the most respected in the world in their fields. 

Science magazine – perhaps the nation’s most important journal on scientific issues – published the letter from the NAS members after the Journal turned it down. 

Science specific research, use Scirius or Google Scholar.