Del Mastro's perp walk

This footage will be in a campaign ad thanks to the Conservatives passing a law allowing use. 

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Here are five questions raised by Dean Del Mastro's 2008 campaign spending:

5. Was He Reimbursed For The $21,000 Personal Cheque

Federal election spending laws say candidates can contribute $2,100 to their campaigns, a tenth of the amount in question. Del Mastro says his campaign or his riding association reimbursed him for any election expenses, but records on the website of Elections Canada show no sign of a repayment that big. The records show the campaign reimbursed Del Mastro a total of $437.54 for his 2008 run. Likewise, the expenses filed by the riding association show $96,670 in transfers to Del Mastro's campaign, but none to him. 

4. Why Isn't The $21,000 Paid To Holinshed Research Group Listed In The Election Return?

After a 2009 falling-out over a contract with Del Mastro, Frank Hall, president of Holinshed Research Group, filed a suit in small claims court. The claim was dismissed as abandoned June 8, 2011, meaning Hall let it lapse. But the records he filed in the claim are still available. They show a $21,000 invoice, as well as the personal cheque from Del Mastro. The Sept. 14, 2008 invoice lists 630 hours of voter identification phone calls, plus election day get-out-the-vote calls. But the Elections Canada return lists only two Holinshed expenses: one for $10,000, categorized in a miscellaneous "amounts not included in election expenses" category, and another for $1,575 for election surveys or other research.

3. What Happened To The Other $11,000?

If the $10,000 Holinshed expense listed in the campaign costs comes from the $21,000 invoice, Del Mastro's campaign has up to another $11,000 unaccounted for.

2. How Does The $21,000 Fit In Under The Spending Limit?

Del Mastro's campaign spending limit was $92,566.79. The expenses he submitted to Elections Canada show he spent $90,987.52 or 98.29 per cent of his cap (before the election agency reviewed and got more detailed information from him, records showed he spent $91,770.80, or 99.14 per cent of his cap). Elections Canada records suggest that if the $21,000 invoice is included, he would have exceeded the limit. Del Mastro did not explain the additional $21,000.

1. What Happened To Holinshed?

The Ottawa-based research and polling company appears to be out of business, with its website out of service and its phone disconnected. The firm did work for at least 10 federal Conservative candidates in the 2008 election, and worked with Ontario Progressive Conservatives as well. As the CBC's Kady O'Malley pointed out last fall, Holinshed got $125,000 from the federal government to develop GeoVote, a voter ID system. The cash was part of the Canada Economic Action Plan. The project website says the money was to develop "the firm's flagship application GeoVote used in support of election campaigns and data management used in preparation for upcoming elections." It also seems to be the only political polling firm to have got stimulus money.

Obesity In Canada

Obesity In Canada Is Growing Steadily Worse.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) shows that the proportion of obese Canadians now sits at 20.2%, up from just over 15% in 2003.

The number of men who report being obese sat at 21.8% in 2014, up from just over 15% in 2003. The proportion of obese women grew from 14.5% to 18.7 per cent in the same time frame.

Obesity has been identified as a result of a lack of "food security," meaning access to nutritious and affordable meals.

The higher rates of obesity in Atlantic Canada, meanwhile — 30.4 per cent of people in Newfounland and Labrador are considered obese — have been attributed to a lack of physical activity, The Canadian Press reported in 2013.


Facts About Childhood Obesity

Over Half Of Obese Children First Become Overweight By Age 2

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

http://www.letsmove.gov/sites/letsmove.gov/files/Let_s_Move_Child_Care_Fact_Sheet.pdf


17 Percent Of Children And Adolescents Are Obese
According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 17% (or 12.5 million) of kids and adolescents aged 2 - 19 years in the United States are now obese.

Obesity Rates Among Kids Ages 2-5 Have Doubled In 30 Years
The rate among this age group increased from 5% to 10.4% in 1976-1980 and 2007-2008.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_child_07_08/obesity_child_07_08.htm


One In Five Kids Is Overweight By Age 6
Obese kids are more likely to also be obese as adults, which puts them at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and more adult health problems.

The Childhood Obesity Rate Has Almost Tripled Since 1980

CDC data shows that there was an increase in the pervasiveness of obesity in the American population between 1976-1980 and then again from 1999-2000, the prevalence of obesity increased.

One In Seven Low-Income Preschoolers Is Obese
Obesity in low-income 2- to 4-year-olds rose from 12.4% of the population in 1998 to 14.5% in 2003 but increased to 14.6% in 2008.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2009/r090723.htm

Less Than Half Of Preschoolers Consume Two Daily Servings Of Fruit
And only 25% of kids in this age group get the recommended three daily serving of vegetables. One way to make sure your child gets the amount of fruit and vegetables that they need is to serve them at every meal.

One-Third Of High School Students Get The Recommended Amount Of Exercise
In 2011, only 29% of high-schoolers in a survey participated in 60 minutes of physical activity each day, which is the amount recommended by the CDC. It’s best for kids to get three different types of exercise: aerobic activity, like walking or running, muscle strengthening activities like push-ups or pull-ups and bone strengthening activities like jumping rope.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/facts.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/index.htm

Childhood Obesity Is Linked To A Wide Range Of Health Problems
High blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiovascular issues have been previously tied to obesity. But a 2013 study found that obesity also puts kids at risk for other health issues such as ADHD, allergies and ear infections.

The Food Industry Spends Over $1.6 Billion To Market To Kids Each Year

This number was documented by the FTC in 2008. According to the APA, there are strong associations between the increase in junk food advertising to kids and the climbing rate of childhood obesity.

Marketing Food To Children and Adolescents

here's how your Senators voted on Bill C-51

Heroes and Zeros - here's how your Senators voted on Bill C-51

https://openmedia.ca/blog/heres-how-senators-voted-bill-c-51

The fight over Bill C-51 is far from over




RCMP officer to Bill C-51 protester: “You could be branded a terrorist” [VIDEO]


The the rank-and-file of our national police force may be struggling to distinguish between legitimate dissent and terrorism.

Asked about his opinion on Bill C-51, the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015, the RCMP officer responded with: “Whenever you’re attacking the Canadian economy you could be branded a terrorist.”

Harper is determined to criminalize legitimate dissent.

“Kill Bill C-51": Conservative Supporters Tell Stephen Harper

Game-changing supporters of the Conservative Party of Canada are warning Stephen Harper that Bill C-51 could lead to his political downfall.

More than 60 of them have signed a letter asking Harper to “kill Bill C-51″ because it could result in “a split in the Conservative moment” and his defeat during the 2015 federal election, scheduled for October 19.

“Do you really want to live in a C-51 Canada that you don’t govern?” the letter asks. “We thought not. We don’t either. Kill Bill C-51.”

Canada --- Banking

“The road to power is paved with hypocrisy, and casualties.”

Study Reveals Secret Bailouts to Canadian Banks

Canadian Banking System Exposed - Bill Abram

  

Corrupt Banking System Explained By 12 Year-Old

Magna Carta, June 15, 1215

Magna Carta (Latin for "the Great Charter"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Latin for "the Great Charter of the Liberties"), is a charter agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.

Read more at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

Here's an excerpt from Magna Carta:

"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights ... or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land." 

Those are the words from which habeas corpus, prohibition of torture, trial by jury and due process of law have stemmed from the last 800 years.


Magna Carta is considered a seminal building block of democracy because simply put, it established that everyone is subject to the rule of law.

Magna Carta is the foundation of many of what we consider to be fundamental human rights and constitutional rights. Particularly the right of habeus corpus,  which is the right to test your detention, the right to be free essentially from executive detention. You have a right to go to court, the king can't just send you into a prison, or the president (or Prime minister) can't without taking you to a court. The prohibition on torture came out of it. Really fundamental rights.

It's very important to talk about Magna Carta particularly for two reasons:

(1) Let's look at those rights and see how they've come down and whether there's more than lip service being paid to them by our current politicians.

(2) When people talk about the Magna Carta they forget about another charter of liberty that occurred at roughly the same time and was considered equally important at the time, and that's called "The Charter of the Forest".

Magna Carta gave what we call political and judicial rights. 

The Charter of the Forest actually gave economic rights. And it's ignored of course in this country and in the United States, particularly because this is a country that doesn't believe in economic rights.

Does Harper believe in economic rights? I don't think so.


Have your say

YOU CAN'T FIX ...

Harper's Permanent Record

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NAFTA

Election 2008 fact sheets for activists

After 15 years under NAFTA Canada is a much more unequal society. 
Freetrade boosters still credit the agreement with increasing employment and prosperity, but though 'compensation' for a few corporate CEOs has rocketed up, NAFTA has in fact contributed to the loss of manufacturing jobs and exerted a downward pressure on wages. Here’s the real story on jobs and NAFTA: 

• In the last 6 years, we have lost 350,000 manufacturing jobs. That’s like 150 good jobs
disappearing every day. And it’s getting worse.

• The job loss is hitting many different industries all over the country: auto, food
processing, forestry products, textiles, metals, furniture etc. The details are different but
the story is the same: decline in orders lost to cheaper imports, missed investment, job
cutbacks and plant closures.

• Too many of the new jobs being created today are low-paying, insecure jobs with fewer
benefits, particularly for women.

• Canada is increasingly becoming a society of haves, and have-nots with the gap in wealth growing every year. 

A new government must act decisively to ‘manufacture’ good jobs

NAFTA, massive corporate tax cuts and do-nothing industrial policies promoted by Ottawa are destroying Canada’s manufacturing sector - this at a time when corporate profits are at an all time high. Free trade policies have hurt both Canadian workers and workers in poorer countries.

Mexican workers were promised that joining NAFTA meant that their wages would become ‘first world’ within a generation, but it hasn’t happened. This year hundreds of thousands of impoverished workers and landless farmers have repeatedly taken to the streets demanding that Mexico renegotiate NAFTA, or pull out. In Canada recent opinion polls show that a majority here also want to reopen NAFTA and get a better deal. A new Canadian government should:

• Renegotiate NAFTA to ensure more and better jobs, economic development and social justice – or get out of the agreement.

• Regulate foreign investment, ensure that new investment goes into strategic sectors, and target the creation of a new generation of ‘green jobs’.

• Re-invest in Canada’s social programs eroded during 15 years of NAFTA, and protect worker’s pensions from disappearing because of the actions of fly-by-night corporations.

• Provide a just income for the unemployed.

• Say no to any other ‘free trade’ deals in the works, especially with Colombia where trade unionists are being targeted in a state-sponsored campaign of annihilation. 

What you can do

o Ask the candidates what they will do to ensure more and better jobs

o Send an op. ed. to the media and/or write a letter to the local newspaper

o Spread the word at local union, community or church gatherings. 

Harper's record

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BLOCKING PROGRESS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Despite the scientific evidence, and an overwhelming consensus among Canadians that something must be done to slow global warming, the Harper government has been at the forefront of efforts to block and reverse progress in this area.

Climate Action Network named Canada the country most active in blocking, stalling or undermining the UN climate negotiations in Poland.

At the end of 2011 Canada became the first country to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. A Montréal Gazette banner captured the international mood: “Kyoto rejection cements Canada’s rogue reputation.”


Canada has become the lead cheerleader for Big Oil and their neoconservative agenda. 

Clean Energy Jobs

Guess which industry employs more Canadians? The oilsands or clean energy?

Answer:   clean energy

Employment in Canada's clean energy sector has jumped 37% in the past five years, says a new report from the think tank Clean Energy Canada, and now exceeds employment in the oilsands.

There were 23,700 people directly employed by the clean energy industry in 2013, compared to 22,340 jobs in the oilsands

Those job gains were the result of about $25 billion in new investment over the past five years, the report said. It singled out Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia as the three provinces leading the way in clean energy investment.

The federal government has helped lay the groundwork for green energy, but has done very little to build on it.

Clean Energy Canada would like to see a federal industrial policy, based on tax and research incentives, like the one that helped Canada's aerospace and oil sands industries in their infancy.

If the federal government got engaged we could be a real world leader in clean energy, but the federal government is really missing in action.

Harper Conservatives - Income Inequality

Income Inequality Has Skyrocketed Under The Harper Conservatives

Neglect TV ad | Harper Conservatives are not there for you

JULIAN ASSANGE ON TPP

"It is mostly not about trade ... Only 5 of the 29 Chapters are about traditional trade."

The others are about regulating the internet, and what information internet service providers have to collect, they have to hand it over to companies under certain circumstances, the regulation of labor conditions, regulating the way you can favor local industry, regulating the hospital, health care system, privatization of hospitals, so essentially every aspect of a modern economy, even banking services are in the TPP.

So that is erecting and embedding new ultramodern neoliberal structure over U.S. law and the laws of other countries. And putting it in treaty form.

By putting it in a treaty form, there are 14 countries involved, that means it is very hard to overturn, so if there is a desire, a democratic desire to do it on a different path. For example, to introduce more public transport. Then you can’t easily change the TPP treaty, because you have to go back to the other nations involved.

What if, for example, the government or a state government decides it wants to build a hospital somewhere, and there is a private hospital has been erected nearby.

Well the TPP gives the constructor of the private hospital the right to sue the government over the expect loss, the loss in expected future profits. This is an expected future loss, this is not an actual loss that has been sustained, this is a claim about the future.

Governments can be sued over free trade treaties. For example, Togo, Australia, Uruguay are all being sued by tobacco company Phillip Morris to prevent them from introducing health warnings on cigarette packaging...

TPP -- Our Worst Nightmare

The Trans Pacific Partnership is our worst nightmare. It will affect everything from GMOs and labeling, food safety, environmental issues, public health, jobs, the Internet and much more and will give nearly unlimited power to the big corporations. 

TPP - Our Medicines

Time is running out to change a trade deal that could jeopardize people's access to affordable medicines

TPP would restrict access to generic medicines, making life-saving treatments unaffordable to millions.

TPP would give pharmaceutical companies longer monopolies over brand name drugs. Companies would be able to charge high prices for longer periods of time. And it would be much harder for generic companies to produce cheaper drugs that are vital to people’s health.

How much damage has to be done before people will finally start waking up?