The Wild West Buyout

Crony Capitalism Alberta Style

Controversy swirls around the Alberta Legislature this week while our Fuehrer, Herr Klein is off vacationing. Isn't that always the way it is in Alberta, shit happens and the Premier is off not available for a media scrum almost like it’s planned.

This week the shit hit the fan when it was revealed that the Dark Prince of Privatization, the Premiers old drinking buddy[1], Steve West[2] was given a golden handshake of $180,000. A buyout for having been dismissed as Klein’s Chief of Staff two days after the Election debacle which saw Alberta’s One Party State reduced to an overwhelming majority of only 61 Tories from 74.

The question that has to be asked is what the hell are the taxpayers of Alberta paying Steve West for, when he was essentially running the Tory campaign. Shouldn’t the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association INC. pay their own bills? Concerned Alberta taxpayers want to know.

Only in his post for six months he spent most of that time doing electioneering for the Party of Alberta. Dismissed unceremoniously by a haggard querulous Klein he has been replaced by another Klein drinking buddy[3] and former waiter; Rod Love[4], the man who made Klein Mayor of Calgary and Premier of Alberta. If Love is Klein’s Richealu, West was his Dr. Gobblels.

“West had earned the nickname Dr. No after pulling colour televisions out of provincial jails, chopping government jobs, launching electrical deregulation and privatizing liquor stores, vehicle registries and parks. Klein said he needed a "tough taskmaster" like West in his office. But two days after the Nov. 22 election, a news release announced that West was leaving because his work was done and he wanted to return to the private sector. Although it was painted as a voluntary move, political observers have suggested West was dumped because the Tories lost seats in the election.” Macleans

West like Love had been retried from Politics when he took the job as Chief of Staff for Klein in the spring of 2004. He replaced Peter Elzinga who had stepped down to become a paid lobbyist for Suncour which was suing the provincial government, his former employer! The cronyism of the Klein government knows no bounds. And they lie about it, with perfect aplomb.

Even this week in a story about West’s golden hand shake CBC news reported that ”West was hired as Klein's chief of staff last spring when Peter Elzinga left to donate a kidney to a friend.” How humanitarian of him.

As political observer Rich Vivone says: “how the story is spun is more important than the story being told. Nobody spins as well as these guys.” Spin is polite terminology for political lies. Like the debt and deficit lie, the lies about electrical deregulation they lie well to cover their obvious cronyism.

West had been formerly the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Minister of Resources, Minister of Transportation and Public Works and had a stint as Provincial Treasurer.

As Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, Steve West, known as the dark lord of privatization, made sure everything in his prevue was for sale. He oversaw the privatization of; the provincial Liquor Board the ALCB, our provincially funded public radio and TV stations; CKUA and ACCESS TV, as well as the Public Works department which was responsible for Highway Construction and Maintenance in Alberta.

He slashed government workers jobs replacing them with contract workers; he froze wages and benefits for those lucky enough to remain. He was Klein’s unfailing hatchet man.

"It is important to contrast this to Steve West's treatment of other people," Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said. "When he was a cabinet minister, Steve West turfed 900 ALCB (the former Alberta Liquor Control Board) employees without any severance whatsoever and it did not matter how long they worked. They were gone without sympathy, without respect, without dignity."

As one writer said of West at the time:

“In the real world, privatization isn't about money, it's about principles. Alberta's own Steve West set a tough benchmark when he cost Albertans billions of dollars by selling off government-owned land during a recession simply because it was there. Today, Steve West may not be admired for his intelligence, his concern for the public purse, or God forbid, even his business sense, but he is admired for his unwavering belief in privatization.”

West and Klein used the debt and deficit hysteria of the 1990’s to create what is now known as the Klein Revolution; the privatization and outsourcing of government services, and cuts to services to the average Albertan.

In reality the provincial fiscal shortfall which caused the temporary deficit of 1993-1994 was the result of Alberta’s already low tax base for business and its royalty holiday to the oil industry. And though it did have a debt problem, as did many governments and corporations during this period, that debt will now be paid off next year due to surpluses produced by the rising cost of oil.

The push to privatize was Steve West’s ideological conviction, not because there was any fiscal need to or benefit from doing so. Even their right wing supporters have acknowledged this.

“The province has run budget surpluses every year since 1994-95 and is rapidly paying down its net debt; this year, buoyed by surging oil and gas revenues, it is expected to post a surplus of at least $5 billion. This string of budget surpluses and the related drop in its stock of outstanding public debt have given Alberta a great deal of fiscal manoeuvring room.” Fraser Institute, 2001

As provincial Treasurer in 2000, West oversaw the shifting of the tax burden from Alberta business to the average Albertan. He declared the creation of a provincial ‘flat tax’ of 10.5 % for Albertans, another ideological solution to buoy up capitalism in the province, in order to sell the huge corporate tax cuts the government was making.

That year there was a tax shortfall, which forced the government to make it an 11% flat tax, and to again cut services for Albertans while business laughed all the way to the bank.

As the right wing think tank the Fraser Institute, cheerfully reported at the time;

“by 2004 the general corporate tax rate in Alberta will be less than half of the rates levied in the other three Western provinces;

• its corporate tax rate on manufacturing and processing income will also be less than half of the comparable BC and Manitoba rates, and considerably lower than the (variable) rates charged in Saskatchewan;

• Alberta’s small business tax rate will be the lowest in the country; and,

• Alberta will continue to enjoy other important business tax advantages over BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, notably in the sales tax on business inputs (Alberta does not have a sales tax), the capital tax (Alberta doesn’t impose one on non-financial enterprises, and intends to remove its capital tax on financial institutions next year), and fuel taxes.

Taxes on business in the other provinces were noticeably higher even before the unveiling of Alberta’s tax cut plan. With Alberta’s proposed reforms, the disparities in overall business tax burdens will widen dramatically— unless the other provinces respond.”

West’s most successful privatization effort benefited privately owned Trans Alta Utilities, a company where the Alberta Government has historically put to pasture its retired cabinet ministers[5]. On their behalf he convinced Klein to deregulate electricity in the province.

“Privatization in Alberta was all but dormant until Klein realized he was in danger of being exposed as the neo-liberal he really is. Everything that could be usefully privatized – liquor stores and registry offices – had been, but the ideologue Steve West was able to convince Klein that Alberta’s stable electricity industry needed to be deregulated,” wrote columnist, Hamish MacAulay at the time.

The deregulation of electricity was controversial at the time, being opposed by both public utilities like the City of Edmonton’s EPCOR and private utilities like Tory Bag Man Ron Southern’s ATCO. Even business opposed the idea of deregulation, as much as the socialist NDP did.

So far deregulation has cost Alberta consumers millions in increased costs, has not produced infrastructure expansion(5) but has allowed Trans Alta to market electricity across Canada and into the U.S. which was its purpose all along.

A Calgary CIPS forum in the fall of 2001 on how the electrical industry in Alberta has experienced significant changes in the form of deregulation "Alberta is leading Canada and many other countries in this area. Dawn Farrell, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development at TransAlta Utilities, will discuss this question, based on her extensive experiences in the industry. Dawn will discuss how TransAlta re-invented itself within the Alberta context, what strategic decisions were made and why, and how, in hindsight, all of these decisions were the right ones.[6] “

Deregulation may have been right for TransAlta but for the rest of the us, “Deregulating the electricity market cost Albertans $3 billion. Alberta started selling off its energy interests in 1998. In the aftermath of that move, prices tripled.”

So who benefited from this Wild West scheme, besides TransAlta? Ironically it wasn’t the private sector as he had hoped, but the public utilities.

“Jaccard, former chair of the B.C. Utilities Commission and an adviser to governments in Asia, Europe and South America with respect to electricity deregulation, says in his commentary on the Alberta electricity scene that from the very beginning Alberta's plans to introduce a competitive power market had problems. After all, nothing is perfect and maybe it's progress, not perfection that counts in the long run.

That observation will, unfortunately, be of little solace to the hundreds of industrial, commercial and business power consumers who warned then-energy minister Mike Cardinal and his predecessor, Steve West, the energy minister/godfather of deregulation, that the government's plan to move to a competitive market on Jan. 1, 2001 was problematic. Electricity consumers, after all, are the ones footing the electricity bill and in those areas of Canada where low electricity rates have historically been used to attract and stimulate large industry, their fears are real.

As Jaccard points out, there were signs of impending problems with Alberta's deregulation as early as August 2000, when the government's much-touted power auction raised a mere $1 billion instead of the $3 billion to $4 billion that had been projected by industry observers.

In addition, the auction attracted only a handful of bidders, with the result that two Alberta-based, municipally owned utilities, Epcor and Enmax, were able to capture the bulk of the generation available after a number of higher-profile American energy traders dropped out of the process.

Almost one-third of the available generation did not attract bids (although a good portion sold at a second auction, adding a further $1 billion to the pool of funds available to Albertans) and an important chunk of the province's power remains inexplicably under government control to this day.

Of greater interest -- for both taxpayers and ratepayers -- is Jaccard's pricing analysis that shows most purchasers of generation (Epcor and Enmax among them) paid so little at the auction that they will most likely pay off their initial investment in just one year.

That will leave those companies free to "earn substantial profits for the remaining life of the power purchase agreements, some of which last for close to 20 years", he claims.

That suggests the government -- in its eagerness to proceed with deregulation -- sold off generation too cheaply.

Enmax, for instance, is expected to report net profits of some $250 million for the last year -- compared to $44 million in 2000.

"When distribution and other costs are added to the wholesale prices and the rebate, Alberta's net residential rates for 2001 were about 12 cents per kilowatt hour, giving the province the dubious distinction of jumping from one of the lowest to the highest electricity rates in the country," Jaccard says.” The Electricity Forum

So why are we paying Mr. West, Dr No, Dr. Death, anything since his privatization schemes have cost Alberta public sector workers their jobs and Alberta consumers millions in extra electrical costs?

“A spokesperson in Klein's office said West had been working in the lucrative private sector when he came to work for the premier.”

While Klein was away he left his cabinet Ministers to fend off the press. An obviously embarrassed Iris Evans said; "This was a contractual obligation and as such they paid it out. Do I think that settlement is significant? Yes, it is significant. But I'm not necessarily saying it is out of line with what you would get in the private sector."

Once he was out of government he became a paid insider lobbyist for business interests in the province including the Hotel Owners Association, of Alberta. Again the cronyism of this government and its ex cabinet ministers knows no limits. How does being a lobbyist/consultant to the Government qualify as a private sector job, though it is obviously lucrative.

And after his return to his recent position in the government he negotiated his own contract and pay out! Nice work if you can get it. Remember this is the guy that broke union contracts and fired staff with NO severance packages.

And when we are talking about the private sector, what exactly are we referring to here, a job a MacDonalds, probably not. Even in the private sector the payouts to top executives are limited to what they would be earning. Since Dr. West didn’t earn Albertans anything, the question is why are WE paying him instead of the Tory Party which hired him?

Cronyism Abounds in the Klein Reichstadt

Prior to the provincial election last fall you could practically hear the crash and fall of the office chairs as Tory cabinet ministers rushed out of their offices to collect huge severance packages.

As the NDP pointed out during the election on their Platinum Handshake web site:

“Energy Minister Murray Smith is not just responsible for your power bills doubling – he was indeed the architect of the energy deregulation disaster.

But now, Smith is grazing the greener pastures of plum patronage on your dime. Smith is in line for a sweet gig at Alberta’s spankin’-new Washington trade office. He’s retiring from politics, so will receive about $350,000 in severance just for quitting his job. In addition, he’ll be appointed the head Washington trade office with a cool $450,000 salary, living allowance, and benefits package.

The irony is that Murray Smith shut down a bunch of trade offices in 1995, when he was Economic Development Minister. The reason? The offices had become places where Tory cronies died and went to patronage heaven, and had become a symbol of the wastefulness of Premier Don Getty’s Tory government.”

Mr. Smith was not alone, as an Edmonton Journal Editorial pointed out, he was joined by:

“Cabinet ministers Stan Woloshyn, Halvar Jonson and Pat Nelson are all in line for a "transition allowance" of about $500,000 after announcing they won't be running in the next provincial election. Lorne Taylor will receive about $375,000.”

And Premier Klein will get a big fat pay out of half a million dollars when he leaves.

“While a premier's-office spokeswoman says the severance payments are intended to compensate MLAs in lieu of a pension, the government already contributes to an MLA's retirement savings by paying him or her half the maximum allowable RRSP contribution ($7,750 this year) to put into a retirement fund -- money that does not have to be matched by the member. An MLA like Jonson, elected before 1989, also receives pension benefits under the old plan eliminated by Klein in 1993.

The premier made the changes just before the 1993 election, in response to widespread voter concerns about generous pensions and practices such as double dipping, in which former Alberta cabinet ministers drew pension benefits while still sitting as MLAs. The bill effectively ended the formal pension plan for MLAs elected after 1989.

During the subsequent election, Klein told disgruntled voters that 35 MLAs, including himself, would receive "no pension whatsoever." Yet all these MLAs receive an RRSP allowance each year and a severance payout upon retirement. Klein will be eligible for a severance package of more than $500,000 if he retires before the next election.”

Total cost for taxpayers for rats jumping ship $5 million. Let’s remember this is the same government that fired workers and gave them no severance. Something Herr Klein should remember when he gives his pal $180,000 after firing him.

But in Alberta it’s the workers who get the goose, while those giving the goose get the golden egg.

KLEIN AIDE CONDEMNED FOR $180K SEVERANCE

Lorraine Turchansky

Canadian Press

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

EDMONTON (CP) - The man who once presided over the firing of hundreds of Alberta civil servants was condemned Wednesday as a hypocrite for taking a $180,000 severance package after six months of work in the premier's office.

Steve West, who was a cabinet minister in the days of massive cost-cutting by the Conservatives in the 1990s, returned as Premier Ralph Klein's chief of staff in February 2004.

West had earned the nickname Dr. No after pulling colour televisions out of provincial jails, chopping government jobs, launching electrical deregulation and privatizing liquor stores, vehicle registries and parks. Klein said he needed a "tough taskmaster" like West in his office.

But two days after the Nov. 22 election, a news release announced that West was leaving because his work was done and he wanted to return to the private sector.

Although it was painted as a voluntary move, political observers have suggested West was dumped because the Tories lost seats in the election.

"Steve West boasted of terminating hundreds and in some cases thousands of employees, many of whom never got any severance," fumed Liberal Opposition Leader Kevin Taft. "It's just outrageous. It's completely morally bankrupt."

Taft called on West to refuse to take the money on ethical grounds.

West was not available for comment.

NDP Leader Brian Mason called the payout "hypocritical in the extreme."

He suggested that if West is so fond of working in the private sector, he should take a severance package in line with that sector. Most corporate managers, he noted, get a month's pay for each year worked, so that would put West's buyout at two weeks.

Instead, his severance totalled more than his annual salary, which is believed to be in the range of $113,000-$152,000.

Klein is on vacation and was not available for comment. Deputy premier Shirley McClellan said she wasn't prepared to talk about the West contract because it was none of her business.

Taft recently fired his own chief of staff, which is also a taxpayer-funded position. That severance was still being negotiated, "but it's well within what you would expect normally," he said, possibly a month or two's pay.

Dan MacLennan, who heads the union that represents Alberta government employees, said he didn't blame West personally for seeking the best possible deal for himself. In fact, he said he wished his negotiators could get those kinds of deals.

"We're bargaining with the government today and there's not a lot of money for change right now, so when the members see $180,000 for someone, they'd like to know how that bargaining worked compared to ours," said MacLennan.

© The Canadian Press 200

WEST DEFENDS HIS PACKAGE

Broadcast News

Thursday, February 17, 2005

EDMONTON -- A former chief of staff for Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is defending his large severance package.

The premier's office confirmed earlier this week that Steve West was paid $180,000 more than his annual salary -- after working only six months.

West says the money was equivalent to one year's salary, plus a payout of his benefits.

He says what he received was less than half of what he was making in the private sector over the past four years.

West received $119,000 four years ago when he retired as a member of the Alberta legislature.

He's also entitled to a member's pension of more than $27,000 a year, which he's not yet collecting.

The NDP has said the province should take its cue from the private sector when it comes to paying severance to managers.

The going rate for corporations is one month's pay for a year worked.

Watchdog says former minister's image as a 'tax warrior' is tarnished

By PABLO FERNANDEZ, CALGARY SUN

The lucrative severance package given Steve West for six months of work tarnishes a reputation he built as a "tax warrior," said a spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday. West, a former provincial government minister, was given $180,000 in severance after serving -- for only six months -- as Premier Ralph Klein's chief of staff.

Federation spokesman David MacLean called it ironic that a politician who did so much to hold the public service accountable and to cut government spending, ended up as a bureaucrat who took home "an obscene" amount of cash for very little work.

"He was so tough on spending and expected so much from government and bureaucrats and now he himself is on the receiving end of a huge lump of taxpayer money," said MacLean.

"He led the charge and gained a reputation as a friend of taxpayers ... this tarnishes that reputation."

West's approach was considered the epitome of conservatism during Klein's early years as premier and is responsible for the privatization of liquor stores and registries in the province.

West's severance package shows just how far the Klein government has strayed from its promise to be a fiscally-conservative administration, said MacLean.

"This government has drifted far from what got them there in the first place -- fiscal conservatism and respect for taxpayers' dollars," said MacLean.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft demanded West give the money back.

Taft said that under West's watch, transportation and utilities workers, as well as Alberta Liquor Control Board employees, were let go in the 1990s without one dollar in severance.

Earlier in the week, the government justified their actions by saying the severance package was likely part of a contract signed to lure West from the private sector to public office.

But with the number of bright people in Alberta willing and qualified to do the job, and considering the typically short career spans of chiefs of staff, a severance package of that magnitude is never prudent, said MacLean.

West did not return calls.

Alberta's Klein appoints new 24-member cabinet

Wed. Nov. 24 2004 Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Ralph Klein went back to the future Wednesday, snaring former adviser and friend Rod Love to be his chief of staff for his final term.

The premier announced the move as he rolled out a new 24-member cabinet that brings together a mix of old and new faces.

Love, who was Klein's closest adviser for nearly two decades and ran his campaigns for mayor, Tory leader and premier, replaces Steve West, who is heading back to the private sector.

Love left Klein's office in 1998 to begin a private consulting business. He also did a short stint as chief of staff for former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day.

Before Monday's Alberta election, he mused that his years with Klein had been special.

"I had a great run with him -- 19 years,'' he said. "Everything I have got in this world I owe to him.''

The Tories won the Monday vote, capturing 61 seats in the 83-seat legislature. But the victory party was subdued as opposition members reclaimed a number of Tory seats in Edmonton and even won in Klein's hometown of Calgary.

Klein said West served him well in a transition period after Love's successor, Peter Elzinga, stepped down last April.

"I am very pleased to welcome Rod back to my staff,'' he said. "With a new mandate for our government and a very important social agenda ahead for Alberta, having Rod as my chief of staff will bring proven experience to my office team.''

Alberta shifts entire $1.5 billion cost of new power lines onto consumers

EDMONTON (CP) -- Alberta consumers are on the hook to pay the entire $1.5-billion cost of building new power lines, the province's energy minister confirmed Friday.
Greg Melchin said the province rejected a 2002 Energy and Utilities Board ruling that consumers and generators should each pay half the cost of new transmission lines.
The move has outraged consumer groups and the opposition, who say electricity customers are getting a raw deal.
But Melchin defended the decision by his predecessor, Murray Smith, to overrule the EUB.
"It wouldn't be in Albertans' interests to see the generators lose money year after year, or else we'll have no generation, we'll have no electricity at all," said the minister.
The gravity of this policy decision only became clear last month, when a report by the Alberta Electric System Operator pegged the total cost of upgrading the province's power lines at $1.5 billion.
The Consumers Association of Canada said this will mean added charges on power bills for Alberta consumers once construction of the new power lines begins.
"In many respects the generators want all of the juice and none of the pulp," said Jim Wachowich, who speaks on Alberta electricity issues for the Consumers Association.
Premier Ralph Klein had said previously that he did not support the idea of consumers paying the entire cost of new power lines.
But premier's office spokesman Jerry Bellikka said the policy shift was done for transparency.
If generators had to pay for half the cost of new power lines, they would simply pass the cost on to consumers' on the power bills anyway, said Bellikka.
But Wachowich said there's no guarantee that power generators would have had the opportunity to pass on the costs.
"If a generator went out of business or was forced to sell power cheaper than it had forecast, then consumers would not see these costs on their bill," he said.
Opposition Liberal energy critic Hugh MacDonald says Albertans are already paying some of the highest power bills in Canada and this will drive costs even higher.
"Electricity consumers in this province have been sold down the river by their government and they're going to have another add-on to their bill," said MacDonald. "This is flawed ideology."
Energy Department spokeswoman Donna McColl said when consumers start paying the cost of the new power lines in five years, the average power bill will increase by about $2 per month.
But MacDonald said department estimates have been inaccurate in the past. He pointed out Albertans were promised lower power rates under industry deregulation, but instead saw their electricity bills soar.
"How can you rely on the government's word? We have seen bills go higher and the credibility of this government on electricity deregulation go lower. They should tell us what the true costs are."

---

[1] “Alberta, however, has a precedent. In 1992, when Gettywas Premier, Solicitor General Steve West embarrassedthe Conservative government by being involved in an altercationin a bar. It was personal, in public, and involvedliquor. When the Legislature opened some weeks later, West swore that he would not touch liquor again as long as he held public office. “ Rich Vivone

[2] “Ashley Geddes, a colleague at The Edmonton Journal, had to wait a year to get a story in print in the early '90s about cabinet minister Steve West's shenanigans in local bars. References to West's sometime drinking buddy of the day, Klein, were removed.” Mark Lisac

[3] Klein’s drinking habits have a long public history.

The stories of Klein and alcohol are endless. He drank openly as Mayor of Calgary in the 1980s. He made the St. Louis Hotel in Calgary a national institution. He drinks with reporters. When he decided to contest the Conservative Party leadership in 1992, he was asked about the drinking. His response: a guy can change. He didn’t.

[4] Love’s batting average on creating right wing party leaders is high. He also worked to get Stockwell Day elected leader of the Federal Alliance Party, ok Day was a screw up but hey that’s not Love’s fault. He went on to organize Stephen Harpers coronation as both Alliance Leader and then Leader of the newly merged Alliance/PC party.

[5] LOUIS D. HYNDMAN

Director since 1986 and resident of Edmonton, AB. He is a senior partner of the law firm Field LLP. Mr. Hyndman is a director of Canadian Urban Ltd., Clarke Inc., EllisDon Inc., Enbridge Inc., Melcor Developments Ltd. and Meloche Monnex Inc. He held several ministerial appointments before serving as Provincial Treasurer of Alberta from 1979 to 1986. Mr. Hyndman is a member of the Order of Canada and a trustee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

[6] DAWN FARRELL began her career at TransAlta in 1985 as a Forecast Analyst. Over the last 15 years, she has held a number of positions including Supervisor of Forecasting and Market Research, Vice President ofBusiness Development, and Executive Vice President, Independent Power Projects. Currently Executive VicePresident Corporate Development, Dawn is responsible for identifying and developing opportunities in newtechnologies, eCommerce, and Mergers and Acquisition activities. Outside of TransAlta, Dawn is a Director forMount Royal College Board of Governance, Vice Chair of the Mount Royal College Foundation, and a Member of the Calgary Foundation Investment Committee.

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The End of Public ACCESS

Once upon a time Alberta had both a public funded radio station and TV station. The radio station CKUA was the oldest and only provincially owned public radio station in North America.
The TV station was ACCESS and is now the only private educational TV channel in Canada.

This week CHUM Ltd. purchased up all the shares of the Learning TV Network which includes ACCESS. Its part of its move into the Alberta media marketplace with its purchase of A-Channel in Edmonton and Calgary and its launch of a new FM radio station in Edmonton. This is the final act of fire sale piracy that sacrificed public access to media on the altar of privatization.

ACCESS was a crown corporation created to house both CKUA and an Educational TV network modeled on TVO(ntario) and the Knowledge Network in B.C. It used public access to cable to launch itself, and was a crown corporation.

The upper management of ACCESS were Tory good old boys owing their positions to who they knew , not what they knew. And it was this that led to the downfall for both CKUA and ACCESS. CKUA has survived as a community supported radio station. This week ACCESS was fully privatized.

This then is a tale of crony capitalism Alberta style.

CKUA The Day the Music Died
A lesson in HOW NOT TO PRIVATIZE

CKUA was surprisingly progressive in its music and news programming, even during the right wing Social Credit era, and through Peter Lougheed's Progressive Conservative ( PC) government era of the seventies and eighties. It broadcast KPFA news a decidedly left newservice and it covered Alberta politics with independent progressive news and features.
It was not just publically owned, but was opena nd remains open to community and public involvement.

I worked with CKUA in the early 1970's setting up its first ever Teen Youth radio show. Youth Radio Production was a cooperative of high school students programming on CKUA every Saturday for 1/2 hour reporting on activism in the community. We were all volunteers who had created radio shows in our High Schools using the school intercom system, those radio shows still exist in Edmonton High Schools. Several of the high school radio show programmers went on to work at making CJSR at the U of A a viable community station.

Like the CBC, CKUA was funded by taxpayers, but was not beholden to the government. For years as an educational radio station it did function as the first distance education program for Alberta Education, and it ran Question Period from the Legislature. During the nineties with the privatization putsch of the Klein government, Question Period was deemed too 'expensive' to support on CKUA and was canceled by the government. So much for democracy in Alberta.

Using a phony debt and deficit crisis to push to reform the state in the 1990's the Alberta Tories under Ralph Klein became Republican Lite. The Alberta Government turned to the extreme right, under the influence of the Reagan Republicans, Sir Roger Davies of New Zealand, the Thatcher Government in England, and with the support of right wing think tanks like the Fraser Institute in Canada and the Cato Institute in the US.

The debt and deficit hysteria was international and allowed right wing parties in power around the world to embrace "change" and propose "radical new ideas" on society and the governments they ruled. Of course there was nothing new in their ideas, it was the same old same old tired mantra of the Chicago School of Economics (Milton Friedman) and their Austrian School (Ludwig von Mises) predecessors; it was the cry of the lazzie faire; Let the Market rule- privatize, privatize, privatize.

In Alberta the so called deficit was temporary, and was a direct result of the government giving a royalty holiday to the giant oil corporations that dominate the provinces economy. It used the economic down turn affecting North America between 1993-1995 to impose wage and benefit cuts on public sector workers as well as downsizing and outsourcing, and began its campaign to sell off public assets and to privatize everything.

As Ralph Klein likes to say; "We want to get the government OUT of business." or "The government has no business being in business", sheer intellectual brilliance out of our infamous Teflon populist Premier. It's a beer hall catchphrase that sums up the neoliberal agenda of privatizing everything.

And that’s what the Klein government proceeded to do. And do it abysmally. As with the privatization of the Liquor Control Board in Alberta (ALCB), everything was put on the block and sold at fire sale prices. CKUA and ACCESS were no exception. Throughout this process of privatization, the same crony capitalism that Russia has suffered from was prevalent in Alberta too. Which is what happens when a One Party State embraces neoliberalism, it moves from state-capitalism to the state funding of capitalism.

In 1994, Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs, Steve West, known as the dark lord of privatization, made sure everything in his pervue was for sale. He oversaw the privatization of the ALCB, as well as the Public Works department which was responsible for Highway Construction and Maintenance in Alberta.

He was Kleins unfailing hatchetman. Like Klein, West made no bones that the government should not be in the the business of broadcasting. And he told CKUA and ACCESS to come up with a plan to run independent of government funding. He gave them a month!

Already in the wings CHUM created the Canadian Learning Television and got a broadcast licence with the support of the Alberta government which paid CLT $8 million annually for three years. It sold CLT, ACCESS TV's Edmonton facilities, including library material and the broadcasting and duplicating rights to those materials for $1.

Ever the hatchetman West fired CKUA's President, Don Thomas and its GM Jackie Rollans. He replaced them with a hand picked foundation board. The foundation board was created within the ACCESS coporation to run CKUA.

"Gail Hinchliffe, a Calgary-based property developer with strong Conservative party ties, served as the chair of ACCESS from 1991 and (simultaneously) as the CEO of CKUA from October 1994." Within three years Hinchliffe and her cronies had spent millions of dollars on themselves leaving the station on the verge of bankruptcy.

As the Auditor General would later report on the CKUA debacle; " Further, at times during the period from February 1994 to April 1997, some directors of the Foundation were also directors of ACCESS."

In March 1997 she and her board cried bankruptcy and pulled the plug on the station, their political agenda was clear, they had never intended to make CKUA a viable operation, they were there to plunder it and shut it down.

As Larry Pratt noted in his article in Alberta Views in 1998:

"A lawyer friend of mine says the fiasco surrounding last spring's closure and reopening of CKUA radio station made her long for a return to the days when political leaders who had betrayed the public trust would be dragged out to a city square and locked in stocks for a few days of self-reflection, preferably in February.

What really outraged her was less the revelations about financial mismanagement or the incompetence of CKUA's board than it was the total failure of anyone - board, management, government - to take any responsibility for the mess. How is it possible that no one was held accountable for the million dollars that the former directors of CKUA paid themselves and their own companies out of the station's scarce funds from 1994 to 1997, the period after it was privatized by the Klein government, in spite of an explicit ban on any remuneration for the board members?"

The CKUA Foundation board under CEO Gail Hinchliffe were predominately from Calgary, and like other privateers benefiting from this provinces crony capitalism, she was part of the Calgary Tory network. While she issued layoff notices to all the staff and after she shut down the station she still paid herself a salary.

SEE magazine reported at the time that "Hinchliffe had dual roles as board chair and CEO, and board member Larry Clausen's Calgary company, Communications Inc., handled the station's marketing contract. Revenue Canada documents showed three of the station's top executives shared some $201,000 in earnings in 1995."

Liberal MLA Lauri Blakeman revealed that " former board chair Gail Hinchliffe's company received $388,345 between Aug. 1994 and April 1997; former board member Larry Clausen's firm received $245,345 from March 1995 - March 1997; former board member and station accountant Gerry Luciani's company was paid $120,190 from July 1995 - May, 1997; and former board member Rick Baker's company, on contract to develop Friends of CKUA chapters across the province, earned $48,150 from March 1995 - Aug. 1996."

This crony capitalism is rampant in the Klein Government that rules Alberta. Under Klein's leadership the PC's became the Party of Calgary with links to the National Citizens Coalition (which moved its headquarters to Calgary), the Federal Conservative Party (which was formerly the Reform/Alliance party based in Calgary), the right wing think-tank the Fraser Institute, lobbyists for the Charter School movment, and the right wing think tank in the Political Science department of University of Calgary.

Under the leadership of both Peter Lougheed and Don Getty the PC's ruling Alberta viewed Calgary as the headquarters for corporations in Alberta and Edmonton, the provincial capital, as headquarters of the government. Under Klein the putsch to privatize the government was also an attempt to radically restructure power in Alberta, moving it from the capitol city to the corporate environs of Calgary. Even if it meant that ALCB buildings and inventory were sold off at below cost and CKUA and Access were sold off for $10 and $1 each!

The unionized staff that was all laid off called an emergency meeting and decided to shut down the station at midnight. This was a tactic never before used by media facing state intervention in their radio or TV stations. Around the world radio and TV stations have been occupied and continued broadcasting. In hindsight the tactic was brilliant. It mobilized Albertans in outrage and it was done in the middle of the provincial election!

Hinchliffe talked about running a scab radio station with volunteer announcers, but that was for naught, their were public pickets across the province at every CKUA station, and no one was going to cross the line.

As CKUA GM Ken Reagan told the CRTC last November :

"In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, when CKUA was taken off the air in 1997, what occurred was, indeed, unprecedented and, some might say, astounding. The citizenry of one of Canada's most politically conservative provinces rose up to save their community radio service. Something even more remarkable when you consider that essential services like health and education were also being cut significantly at that time. But people drew a line in the sand over CKUA radio and it begs the question: why? To be honest, I'm not sure that I have an answer. Except to surmise that over its 77-year history, CKUA has become such an integral part of people's lives in Alberta and the life of its community that, for those people who love it, losing it is not an option. And I'm not trying to hyperbolize or be melodramatic, but the love the people have for CKUA is deep and genuine."

Mass protests and candle light vigils were held and within a month a new board was created which removed the privateers and created a viable non-profit public station, which is still running the station today.

Unfortunately one of things CKUA sacrificed in its rebirth was news and critical news features. In order to be a PBS like public access radio station with telethons, it has spent several years being more music than substance.

The Klein government did nothing to change its "privatization is the cure for everything ideology". And it still engages in crony capitalism funding CHUM to run ACCESS. One of the ideological reasons given by the right wing for privatizing the State is that crown corporations are a monopoly, with no competition.

Of course ACCESS was a monopoly it was the only educational station in the province. There are plenty of private broadcasters in Alberta but none who provide this service because it is 'not profitable'. In fact without Alberta Education and other provincial governments funneling taxpayers money into ACCESS it would not be a viable private Educational TV station. And it's still a monopoly, albeit a private one!

While the public rallied for CKUA lost in the dust of the Klein Revolution in Alberta was the effects of the privatization of ACCESS. It never went off the air, it just quietly shifted from being owned by Albertans to being owned by CITY-TV/CHUM and funded by Albertans. It is another example of the public purse being used for private profit.

The most recent P3-Public Private Partnership- endeavor of the government is to fund the private construction of a ring road around Edmonton. The reason to contract out this service, paying the contractor $34 million a year for 30 years, says Infrastructure Minister Lyle Oberg its because the province doesn't own any road construction equipment. Nope they sold that off at fire sales prices of 25 cents on the dollar to the private highway construction contractors back at the same time they sold off CKUA, ACCESS and the ALCB.

Appendix to this Article

CKUA History of a privatization putsch

ACCESS- The Privatization of Educational TV in Alberta

Also See Wild West Buy Out, February 20, 2005









This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.









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Contaminants in cannabis and hemp flowers create potential for health risks

Team of researchers urges further study and evaluation of standards for medical use

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE

 

IMAGE: 

MATURE CANNABIS INFLORESCENCES EXHIBIT A LARGE FLORAL STRUCTURE THAT IS COMPOSED OF FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS (PISTILS), INFLORESCENCE LEAVES, AND THE BRACTS SURROUNDING THEM. PHOTO FROM FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, COURTESY OF Z. PUNJA.

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CREDIT: PHOTO FROM FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, COURTESY OF Z. PUNJA

Cannabis use, even for medical purposes, could make some people sick due to harmful fungi that contaminate the plants.

That is the finding of a recently published peer-reviewed journal article, whose authors recommend further study and consideration of changes to regulations to protect consumers, especially those who are immunocompromised. They examined data, previous studies, and U.S. and international regulations related to the cannabis and hemp industry.

The article was published in Frontiers in Microbiology. It was researched and written by Kimberly Gwinn, professor of entomology and plant pathology at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture: Maxwell Leung, assistant professor, and Ariell Stephens, graduate student, both from the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at Arizona State University; and Zamir Punja, professor of plant pathology/biotechnology at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

“Hemp and cannabis are new crops, and we are in the early stages of understanding relationships with their pathogens. Several pathogens produce mycotoxins, compounds that negatively impact human health and are regulated in other crops. In this review, we summarize the current literature on mycotoxins in hemp and cannabis products, identify research gaps in potential mycotoxin contamination in hemp and cannabis, and identify potential developments based on research in other crop systems,” Gwinn said.

Cannabis research has mostly focused on the substance and medical uses of the plant, but with the increased legalization of cannabis for various uses, this article addresses the need for more study of potential health risks.

“Although fungi and mycotoxins are common and well-studied contaminants in many agricultural crop species, they have been generally under-studied in cannabis and hemp. This is partly because human health risk assessment methodologies used to regulate food and pharmaceuticals have yet to become standard for the emerging cannabis and hemp industries. Additionally, the wide range of consumer uses of cannabis and hemp flowers, including for medical use by patients with susceptible conditions, makes it uniquely challenging to assess and manage human health risk of these contaminants,” according to the article.

The authors discuss Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Mucor, and other fungi that can infect the plants and can produce mycotoxins; review the regulations and assessment methods of the contaminants; and offer recommendations to produce safer products for all consumers. Environmental factors such as where the plants are grown, whether indoors or outdoors, and in soil or soilless media, may impact the kinds of contaminants and ensuing health risks.

Studies reviewed by the authors show some fungi may cause infection on lung and skin tissues, and these infections were most common when smoked and less common in edibles. They also found cancer patients using cannabis to help with nausea and appetite as well as transplant patients and consumers with HIV and type 1 diabetes may be particularly susceptible to infection. Studies also show workers harvesting cannabis could also be at risk. The authors encouraged consumers who are immunocompromised to use products that have been sterilized until better data are obtained.

The authors studied international and U.S. standards for these contaminants, but there is a lack of data on the prevalence of the contaminants and their health impacts. Another issue for consumers is the varying levels of legalization of cannabis products from state to state, which has resulted in each state creating its own regulations. Fusarium mycotoxins, a prevalent class of fungal contaminants in agricultural commodities that can result in vomiting, are not currently regulated.

Assessing and testing for pathogens can be problematic, as the authors found when they studied various methods including culture-based assays, immuno-based technologies, and emerging technologies. The article also examines management of the possible toxins before harvest and after harvest. “A major hurdle faced by cannabis and hemp industries is addressing the disconnect between production-related issues and human safety issues,” the article states. Recreational use of hemp and cannabis is common in many areas and all case studies linking cannabis use and fungal infections, except one, involved patients who were immunocompromised. The authors suggest a potential solution is “to reduce potential harm to medical users of cannabis from toxigenic fungi is to develop a two-tier system that distinguishes products intended for medical and recreational use.”

“We wrote this article to bring these issues to the attention of the scientific, medical, and regulatory communities. We hope to encourage further research in this area, particularly in the areas of mycotoxins in product. Better data and public access to data will allow us to fully evaluate these risks and subsequently ensure safe products for consumers,” Gwinn said.

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is composed of UT AgResearch, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT Extension, and the Herbert College of Agriculture. Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.

mycelium (IMAGE)

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE

Proliferation of mycelium of a Fusarium species within cannabis inflorescence tissues under conditions of high humidity.

CREDIT

Photo from Frontiers in Microbiology, courtesy of Z. Punja.

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Microbiology

ARTICLE TITLE

Fungal and mycotoxin contaminants in cannabis and hemp flowers: implications for consumer health and directions for further research

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Oct-2023

Canada Goes To Pot

Canada is a nation of pot heads.

\Marijuana use in Canada is the highest in the industrialized world and more than four times the global rate, according to a report from the United Nations.

Forty per cent of Canadian cannabis is produced in British Columbia, 25% in Ontario and 25% in Quebec, the report noted.

 Health

   -   One in 10 Canadian women uses marijuana.

Experts and activists are not concerned about the high rate of Canadian marijuana use reported in 2007 UN World Drug report —even though young people are the largest users of the drug.

The report states that 16.8 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 64 used marijuana in 2004. Canada is ranked fifth in marijuana use and the country’s usage percentage is four times the world average of 3.8 per cent. To compare, the report found that 12.6 per cent of people in the United States and 6.1 per cent in Holland have used the drug.

Richard Mathias, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine, said he is pleased with the results from the report and is not worried about the high numbers of young people using the drug.

“I think that marijuana is a safer drug than some other options and I know that youth is a difficult, highly stressful time and it is to be expected that youth will explore and that’s good,” he said. “I teach these kids. They’re not criminals.”

A study conducted in 2002 by Carleton University professor Peter Fried also concluded that only heavy pot smokers are negatively affected by marijuana use. Fried’s 70-person study found that only heavy marijuana users between the ages of 10 and 20 had a decline in their IQ scores. The rest saw an increase in their scores.

The study also found that those who smoked heavily and later quit returned to their former IQ level.

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa-based lawyer who specializes in drug policy issues, said the UN report shows that the legal status of marijuana in a given country seems to have little bearing on consumption rates.

The report found that only 6.1 per cent of people in the Netherlands, where marijuana use has effectively been decriminalized, reported trying pot.

This shows decriminalization has no bearing on rates of use, and Canada shouldn't be so afraid to follow the Dutch lead, Oscapella said.

"The criminal law does not prevent people from using marijuana, nor does legalization force people to use it," he said.

Jean Chretien's Liberals first introduced a bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in 2003, but it was never brought to a final vote. Stephen Harper's Conservatives killed the bill when they came to office in January 2006.

Oscapella added that Canada should be focusing its resources on the root causes of drug abuse, rather than persecuting people for possession.

"It is a health and a social issue," he said. "The criminal law is not the appropriate mechanism for dealing with drugs in the vast majority of cases."

Marijuana and tobacco use among young adults in Canada

The authors characterized marijuana smoking among young adult Canadians, examined the co-morbidity of tobacco and marijuana use, and identified correlates associated with different marijuana use consumption patterns. Data were collected from 20,275 individuals as part of the 2004 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey. Logistic regression models were conducted to examine characteristics associated with marijuana use behaviors among young adults (aged 15-24). Rates of marijuana use were highest among current smokers and lowest among never smokers. Marijuana use was more prevalent among males, young adults living in rural areas, and increased with age. Young adults who were still in school were more likely to have tried marijuana, although among those who had tried, young adults outside of school were more like to be heavy users. Males and those who first tried marijuana at an earlier age also reported more frequent marijuana use. These findings illustrate remarkably high rates of marijuana use and high co-morbidity of tobacco use among young adult Canadians. These findings suggest that future research should consider whether the increasing popularity of marijuana use among young adults represents a threat to the continuing decline in tobacco use among this population.

We have a large scale industry in producing illicit and licit marijuana. The latter for medicinal purposes. We have approved marijuana and its byproducts for medicinal uses.

Since the 1970's when the LeDain Commission recommended decriminalization to today when the right wing think tank the Fraser Institute recommends decriminalization for controlling grow ops and increased tax income.

Canadians favour decriminalization. However the Harpocrites ignored their old Fraser pals as they ignore 'polls' and once elected declared war on pot. Quietly without much fanfare, what had been Liberal policy waiting for a vote was squashed.

“We will not be reintroducing the Liberal government’s marijuana decriminalization legislation,” Harper announced at a Canadian Professional Police Association meeting. “I thought we might find a receptive audience here,” he added, according to a Reuters report.

The Harpocrites would rather pander to their regressive base with a phony war on drugs, blaming as they do the rise in crime and pot smoking on the Liberals, pathetic.

In view of the former Liberal government's determination to medicalize and legalize marijuana, it is not surprising that, according to a study of young people in Canada released in 2004, our youth now hold the distinction of topping all nations (Switzerland was second) in frequent marijuana use. The lead researcher for this study, Dr. William Boyce of Queen's University, stated that the increased use of marijuana in Canada was tied to the three As - affordability, availability and acceptability. He stated, "in Canada, I think all three of those things come together so that it's actually used quite a bit by kids here. It's not so expensive, it's definitely available and with the legislation introduced in the last Parliament - and perhaps again in this one - that decriminalizes marijuana use, it certainly provides a signal to kids that this is not a highly illegal activity."

Thank heaven, the Conservative government is now providing a different message to our youth on marijuana use.

Please write to Prime Minister Harper and Minister of Justice Toews to thank them for the planned enforcement of the present marijuana laws rather than legalizing its use. Their actions will make a significant difference to our nation's youth. Please also request that marijuana use for so-called medical reasons be stopped if and until such time that it can be scientifically determined that its use has in fact, medical benefits.

The Harpocrites have adopted the oh so successful American War On Drugs Policy. And they have included marijuana as a key element of their new anti-drug campaign. Look forward to more regressive stupidity in the fall sitting of the house as the Minister of Health declares a drug panic.

Clement to MDs: Get tougher on illicit drugs

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement delivered a tough, anti-drug message to doctors yesterday, saying young people need straight talk about the dangers of illicit drugs, including marijuana.

"The messages young people have received during the past several years have been confusing and conflicting to say the least," Clement told the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Vancouver.

"We are very concerned about the damage and pain that drugs cause families and we intend to reverse the trend toward vague, ambiguous messaging that has characterized Canadian attitudes in the recent past," he said.

Ottawa plans a campaign emphasizing the dangers of all illicit drugs in any quantity, Clement said. "We will discourage young people from thinking there are safe amounts or safe drugs."

Meanwhile the Police and Senate disagree with the Harpocrites new War On Drugs.

Victoria's No. 2 cop testified in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday that neither the Vancouver Island Compassion Society nor its distribution of medical marijuana has ever been the subject of a criminal investigation.

Deputy Chief Bill Naughton said the society's Cormorant Street office of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society has not generated any complaints, adding marijuana ranks behind drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in terms of Victoria police priorities.

"The enforcement of federal laws against marijuana takes a back seat," said Naughton, who was subpoenaed by the defence in the trial of Michael Swallow, 41, and Mat Beren, 33.

Also testifying yesterday in Victoria was Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, who chaired the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, which called in 2002 for the legalization of marijuana in Canada.

Nolin told the court the regulations, as they currently exist, are an obstacle to Canadians who want access to medical marijuana.

He said the rules ask doctors to be "gatekeepers" for access to legal marijuana. It's a role doctors don't want, and so Canadians are being denied access to a medical product.

"[The] medical profession is reluctant, generally reluctant," he said. "They don't want to be the gatekeepers, they don't want that responsibility."

Heck even the da Judge disagrees with the Government.

Rolling a joint might require the removal of stems and seeds, but the legal limbo in which pot smokers in Canada find themselves is far from clear-cut.
On July 13, an Ontario Court judge in Toronto acquitted Clifford Long, who was charged with possession of 3.5 grams of marijuana.
The court held that Canada's marijuana possession laws are unconstitutional. Justice Howard Borenstein cited a seven-year-old Ontario Court of Appeal case, which also described the possession law as unconstitutional, due to its ambiguity on medical marijuana.
Long argued in court that since the government of Canada allowed for medicinal use, but did not change the law on marijuana to accommodate this policy change, then all possession laws should cease to exist.

While the Harpocrites declare a War On Drugs, including marijuana, at the same time they approve big pharma profiting off Medical Marijuana.

GW Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: GWP) and Bayer Inc., a subsidiary of Bayer AG, announce that Health Canada has approved Sativex®, a cannabis derived pharmaceutical treatment, as adjunctive analgesic treatment in adult patients with advanced cancer who experience moderate to severe pain during the highest tolerated dose of strong opioid therapy for persistent background pain.

While local marijuana growers are limited in providing medical marijuana to one or two Canadians. Clearly the Harpocrites missed the point of the Fraser Institute Report. Local grow ops legally functioning can produce medical as well as recreational marijuana that then could be taxed. Quality and consumer protection, would be assured.

A Vancouver Island grower of organic marijuana is being inundated with pleas for pot from disease sufferers, but Health Canada says he can supply only one person, a provincial court trial has been told.

Eric Nash said he wrote to Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement with a list of 121 people, all approved by Health Canada to use marijuana as medicine and asking him to grow it for them. One of them was a former RCMP officer diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

But Nash said regulations forbid him from growing for more than one person at a time. So his company, Island Harvest, can supply only two people, one each for him and his partner, although it could easily supply more.

And Tony's announcement of a new PR campaign in the War On Drugs looks suspicious in light of the governments failure to extend the license for the Vancouver Safe Injection Site.

The Canadian government is ramping up a massive anti-drug campaign, the first in 20 years, amid calls to keep open a Vancouver clinic that monitors heroin addicts as they inject themselves with the drug.

"Canada has not run a serious or significant anti-drug campaign for almost 20 years. The messages young people have received during the past several years have been confusing and conflicting to say the least," federal Health Minister Tony Clement said yesterday in a speech to the Canadian Medical Association in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, the Health Minister was vague about whether the Insite injection clinic in Vancouver would stay open. "There has been more research done, and some of it has been questioning of the research that has already taken place and questioning of the methodology of those associated with Insite," he said.

Isra Levy, president of the National Specialty Society for Community Medicine called for Insite to remain open in an interview with The Globe and Mail, stating that "illicit drug use is indeed a scourge, it's the cause of untold misery for those ill with addiction and their loved ones."

Is Harpers War in Afghanistan an excuse to expand his War On Drugs.....not only against opium but against the powerful Cannabis Indica and Afghani Hash....remember Afghani hash? It ain't been around in North America since the late Sixties and early Seventies when Hippies made their holy pilgrimage to Marrakesh and on to Afghanistan and back. It remains however a staple in Europe.

Hashish is produced practically everywhere in and around Afghanistan. The best kinds of Hash originate from the Northern provinces between Hindu Kush and the Russian border (Balkh, Mazar-i-Sharif). As tourist in Afghanistan it will be very difficult to be allowed to see Cannabis-Fields or Hash Production. The plants which are used for Hash production are very small and bushy Indicas. In Afghanistan Hashish is pressed by hand under addition of a small quantity of tea or water. The Hashish is worked on until it becomes highly elastic and has a strong aromatic smell. In Afghanistan the product is stored in the form of Hash-Balls (because a round ball has the less contact with air), however, before being shipped, the Hash is pressed in 100g slabs. Good qualities of Afghani are signed with the stem of the producing family. Sometimes Hash of this kind is sold as Royal Afghani. Color: Black on the outside, dark greenish or brown inside. Can sometimes look kind of grayish on the outside when left in contact with the air. Smell: Spicy to very spicy. Taste: Very spicy, somewhat harsh on the throat. Afghani can induce lots of coughing in inexperienced users.

Afghani
aka Afghanistan
Marijuana

Afghani Marijuana Strains - The origins of this seed strain come from Afghanistan and travel to Holland. Afghani has big round fat leaves and the same beautiful big fat buds. It usually has a rich smooth hash like heavy smoke taste. The Afghani marijuana plant tends to be very bushy and will yield large amounts of very sticky buds. Well known for excellent growth because it originated in mountainous conditions and over thousands of years a very stocky, sturdy and disease resistant plant was produced.

Well Cannabis in Afghanistan is back in a big way. As Canadian forces found last fall. Hey guys don't put that to the torch or ya' all will fall down.

Maj. Patrick Robichaud, commander of the operating base, this week characterized the security situation around Ma'sum Ghar as "fragile." He said Taliban insurgents appear to have taken advantage of a change in command among the Canadians and the Afghan National Army to slip back into the region. The insurgents are looking to strong-arm local farmers for a piece of the action in the impending marijuana harvest, said Maj. Robichaud.

Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy — almost impenetrable forests of 10-foot-tall marijuana plants.

Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

Weed Fields in Afghanistan Video

The United Nations has conducted surveys of poppy crops, but has not done so for marijuana plants. The focus on poppies possibly reflects the view of international donors that highly addictive heroin is the more urgent problem.

Marijuana plants are widely grown in at least three of the 16 districts in Balkh province, which is home to Mazar-e-Sharif. Local authorities have sent letters to villages urging farmers to stop growing the illegal crop, but they have yet to decide how and when they will crack down.

"The farmers have planted this stuff like smugglers," said Saheed Azizullah Hashmi, head of the province's agriculture department. "We don't know how much there is out there."

He said many people associated with the hashish trade were linked to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. But marijuana plants thrived well before they held sway over much of Afghanistan, and local commanders with large land holdings reportedly benefit from its cultivation.

Rouzudin and his fellow farmers made no effort to hide their plants, which loom over nearby cotton bushes. The two crops are interspersed along the road leading to Shibergan, the headquarters of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek commander and powerful political figure in the north.

Farmer Majid Gul said he can get 5 million Afghanis, or about $100, for 2.2 pounds of hashish, 200 times more than he could earn for the same amount of cotton.

"When we're ready to sell, people in big cars will come from the bazaar in town," he said. "We don't know who they are, we just want the money."

. For the decade before the Soviet army invaded in 1979, the teahouses of Afghanistan were the toking tourist's hangout of choice. And even during 23 years of war, when the Afghans fought the Soviets and then one another, the hash trade thrived. "Afghan black" remained a staple sale for cannabis dealers across the world. Mazar-i-Sharif gave its name to a particularly potent variety. And last year, in the final weeks of the Taliban, Amsterdam's coffee-shop owners even boasted they were doing their bit for the war on terror by buying blocks stamped with a golden Northern Alliance stencil reading "Freedom for Afghanistan."

Now, as Afghanistan emerges from war, dope farming has never been so good�and the drought never so bad. The Taliban banned hash production, but in the postwar chaos of lawless fiefdoms that dot the land, growers and traders across the country are finding themselves free once again to cultivate and export hashish without fear, and often with warlord protection. Moreover, the international perception that cannabis is a relatively benign drug�prompting some authorities across Europe and Australia to decriminalize its use�has persuaded drug-policing agencies to largely ignore it. So, while opium cultivation is monitored to the acre, neither Interpol, the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention nor the U.S.'s Drug Enforcement Agency can offer even rough estimates for how much hashish Afghanistan produces or what the trade is worth. But around Mazar it's almost impossible to find a field where hemp is not being grown, either openly or poorly hidden behind watermelons or knee-high cotton plants. "Everybody's farming chaars now," says former Taliban fighter Faizullah, 27, watering a verdant six-hectare oasis of hemp surrounded by desert. Cannabis used to be outlawed by the Taliban. "But now," says Faizullah, "it's a free-for-all."

Harpers War On Drugs is doomed to fail, as has the American campaign. But this proves once again that he and his pals have abandoned any pretense to libertarianism, while embracing the traditional right wing screed of Law and Order Republicanism. Heck Canadians even support the medical use of opiates despite this governments opposition.

While in the U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate and Libertarian Ron Paul embraces his inner Canadian and calls for decriminalization, and an end to Americas war on drugs. Why Is This Canadian Pot Dealer Campaigning for Ron Paul?

Also, a little known fact is that if Ron Paul got his way, there would be no federal war on drugs. He has called the war on drugs “as stupid as the war in Iraq”. He is uncompromisingly against federal laws banning medical marijuana, and completely opposed to the federal government coming in, when a state has legalized medical marijuana, and using force to nullify this legalization (such as has happened in California, where medical marijuana is legal, but the federal government uses force to effectively keep it criminalized. This would NOT happen under a Paul administration.)

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