Ottawa hopes to make Aung San Suu Kyi an honorary Canadian citizen
NDP calls for review of Canadian Pension Plan investments in Burma
There are currently 140,000 Karen refugees from Myanmar living in nine border camps in Thailand, and many of them have been there for up to 20 years.
The Canadian government has pledged to resettle roughly 2,000 of the Karen refugees in this country, and the Grimsby church’s sponsorship is part of that initiative.
In fact making Aung San Suu Kyi an honorary Canadian citizen will not change what is happening in Burma. Nor give Canada any sway over the Burmese military junta.
There was never any chance that the monk-led "Saffron Revolution" in Burma in the last six weeks would be successful.
The notion of the junta collapsing and fleeing in the face of the moral armour of the monks and the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi is fanciful nonsense.
The generals have ruled Burma since 1962 -- two generations -- and, as they have shown in 1988 and in the last few weeks, they will not give up their golden goose without inflicting extreme violence on their enemies.
Harper is way ahead in race for best leader, says pollSEE:Nationally, 63 per cent of voters gave Harper "great" or "good" leadership marks, compared with only 36 per cent for Dion.
NDP Leader Jack Layton scored 57 per cent.
In Quebec, Duceppe's leadership rating (63 per cent) was in a virtual tie with Layton's (64 per cent), and only slightly above Harper's at 61 per cent. Dion was last in his home province with 33 per cent.
Stephane Dion remained undecided Tuesday whether to bring down the Harper government over its throne speech even as evidence mounted that his Liberal team - particularly in Quebec - is not ready to fight an election.The natural governing party is a house divided. Which means this is the best time for an election for the Conservatives and NDP.The Liberal leader lost both his Quebec lieutenant and the director general of the party's Quebec wing just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled the government's blueprint for the new session of Parliament.
More top Quebec Liberal officials quit party
With a federal election campaign possibly only days away, the federal Liberal party has just lost two of the key people responsible for ensuring it can fight a campaign in Quebec.
On Tuesday, former MP Serge Marcil resigned as the director-general of the party's Quebec wing, saying he has decided to take an attractive job offer in the private sector. While Quebec wing president Robert Fragasso agreed the timing was "very particular," he said Mr. Marcil is leaving the Quebec wing in good shape and there are a number of talented people who can replace him.
However, Mr. Marcil's departure leaves the Quebec wing without a director-general, just as the party is searching for a national director to replace Jamie Carroll, who quit amid controversy over remarks many members of the party's Quebec wing felt treated Quebec francophones as just another ethnic minority.
News of Mr. Marcil's departure came only 24 hours after Hull-Aylmer MP Marcel Proulx handed in his resignation as the Liberals' political lieutenant for Quebec. After MP Denis Coderre, a savvy veteran political organizer turned him down, Mr. Dion reached past his dozen Quebec MPs and into the Senate to name Celine Hervieux-Payette, one of the few caucus members who supported his leadership bid, as his new Quebec lieutenant.
However, her Senate colleague, Liberal party president Marie Poulin, was nowhere to be found on Tuesday.
While her office refused to comment, confirming only she was not going to be present for the reading of the speech from the throne, sources said Ms. Poulin is vacationing in Bermuda.Ex-Dion adviser is now the Prime Minister's secret weapon
Mark Cameron knows the inner workings of Stéphane Dion's brain, and now he is one of Stephen Harper's most trusted advisers.
In the unique position of having served Mr. Dion and now the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron recently joked that if the Conservatives lose the next election and the Liberals win, he could just stay in the PMO and no one would notice.
Chrétien's book revives spectre of house divided
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion could find that his old boss, Jean Chrétien, is more trouble than any Conservative attack ads, according to pollster Nik Nanos.
Pollster says former prime minister's memoir could undermine Liberal Leader Stéphane DionBy reigniting his old feud with Paul Martin, his successor, in his new book, Chrétien could do some serious damage to the Liberals, Nanos says.
"The Liberal brand has been able to effectively weather the image storm outside of Quebec," Nanos said yesterday. "Even with Stéphane Dion's rough ride, the Grits are still very competitive in Ontario and urban Canada. However, if a narrative emerges that the Liberals are a house divided, that would be potentially more damaging than any attack ad on Dion."
Harper vs. Dion: A battle of the bland
A new poll suggests the next federal election won't exactly be a battle of towering personalities.
Both Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion have a "charisma deficit" among voters, according to the Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll.
The good news for Harper is that while his personality is deemed a weakness by 41% -- among voters of both sexes and almost every age group -- Dion fares even worse.
Half deem Dion's personality as a weakness.
And while 38% consider Harper's personality an asset, just 19% feel that way about Dion.
Our Resources, Our Future, Our Decisions
Date: Time: Location: Street: City/Town:
Who should get the royalties - big oil or the people of Alberta? Come and have your say.
Participate in community discussions about the current Royalty Review. Hear from respected panelists and join in the discussion
Panelists Include:
Brian Mason - Leader of Alberta's NDP
Diana Gibson - Parkland Institue
Bill Moore Kilgannon - Public Interest Alberta
Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9pm to 10:30pm
Timberline Room, Sawridge Hotel, Fort McMurray
The Real Oil Workers Forum and Rally
Come sign our petition urging the government to increase royalties and guarantee more value-added production in Alberta. Make your voice heard. Bring copies of the petition back to your jobsites!
Hosted by the Alberta Federation of Labour
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man, is targeting further growth in Canada's energy sector as a company he controls has snapped up Calgary-based TransAlta Power LP for $629-million and could buy more of the country's beleaguered income trusts. TransAlta Power, one of Canada's larger power trusts, had put itself up for sale in May, claiming that the federal government's decision to tax income trusts like regular companies meant its business model was no longer the best way to serve unitholders. It is majority owned by Calgary-based private power producer TransAlta Corp.
People familiar with the deal said Mr. Li, who already controls approximately 71 per cent of Calgary-based Husky Energy Inc., is using his cash-rich position to take advantage of current uncertainty in the trust sector, with the TransAlta acquisition allowing CKI to become a meaningful Canadian electricity player without yet having to become an operator.CKI has some $1.1-billion of cash still to spend. Potential acquisition targets in Canada could include power generation trust subsidies owned by other infrastructure companies, such as Enbridge Inc., which will likely be sold or restructured as traditional common stock companies by 2011.
Mr. Li's increasing interest follows recent acquisitions in Canada's energy sector by another unlikely overseas player, Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., known as Taqa, which has targeted $7.5-billion on acquisitions in Alberta in just six months.
Interprovincial Pipe Line (IPL), which became Enbridge Pipelines in 1998, was incorporated in 1949, shortly after Canada's first major oil discovery at Leduc, Alberta. The original pipeline was constructed to transport oil from Western Canada to refineries in the east.Ah yes Colombia, home of death squads for trade unionists, and now has been given Harpers favorite nation trading status.
Although Interprovincial had long been publicly traded, for most of its life the company was primarily owned by a handful of producers who shipped their products on the system. Then in 1983, Hiram Walker Resources took a major position in Interprovincial, through a share swap. That led to a string of events that included the acquisition of Home Oil in 1986, the creation of Interhome Energy, and control by Olympia & York. In 1992, Olympia & York sold its majority interest into the general marketplace, and Interprovincial became a widely held company. That was really the beginning of the Enbridge of today.
But Enbridge now is also owner and operator of Canada's largest natural gas distribution system, and is building a new gas distribution system for the province of New Brunswick. Enbridge participates in gas transmission through the Alliance and Vector gas pipelines. It is involved in the gas midstream business, liquids feeder pipelines, electrical power distribution, retail energy services, energy marketing, fuel cells, and has a growing involvement internationally with investments such as the OCENSA crude oil pipeline in Colombia.
Bush: Free Trade Benefits US Workers
Some in Congress have expressed concern over violence in Colombia, particularly attacks on trade unionists. President Uribe takes these concerns seriously, and he has responded decisively. He's established an independent prosecutors unit to investigate and punish homicides against labor unionists. He's allowed the International Labor Organization to station a permanent representative in Bogota. He's worked to offer young Colombians better alternatives to a life of violence and drugs -- including the new jobs and economic opportunities that would come from a trade agreement with the United States.
Colombia's record is not perfect, but the country is clearly headed in the right direction -- and is asking for our help. Both houses of the Colombian legislature have expressed overwhelming support for the trade agreement with the United States. And now they're waiting to see if we will uphold our end of the deal. If Congress were to reject this committed ally, we would damage America's credibility in the region, and make other countries less willing to cooperate in the future. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada put it, "If the United States turns its back on its friends in Colombia, this will set back our cause far more than any Latin American dictator could hope to achieve." By its bold actions, Colombia has proved itself worthy of America's support -- and I urge Congress to pass this vital agreement as soon as possible
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Like TransAlta, Enbridge's board has former members of the Alberta Government, including the former CEO of Telus, as well as those with connections to the U.S. Government and with Dubai and other middle eastern investors looking to expand into the energy and utility markets in Canada.
There’s a new way of pegging an energy company a takeover target: TAQA-over.Like many of Alberta's energy companies there are overlaps between the board members.
As everybody knows, or will, once it finishes spending billions in the Canadian oil patch, TAQA is an acronym for Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., which is buying PrimeWest Energy Trust for $5-billion, and still has some $13-billion left to spend.
RBC analyst Fai Lee is calling Enbridge Income Fund a TAQA-over candidate. Without actually connecting the dots between the Abu Dhabi outfit and Enbridge, he calls the fund a potential takeover candidate for a private or strategic investor, given its attractive asset portfolio.J. LORNE BRAITHWAITE
(Age 65) Malahide, County Dublin, Ireland
Mr. Braithwaite joined the Board in 1989 and is a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and the Human Resources & Compensation Committee.
Mr. Braithwaite was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Shopping Centres Limited (developer and manager of retail shopping malls in Canada) from 1978 to 2001. As of January 2006, Mr.Braithwaite joined the largest shopping mall company in the Middle East, as the Chairman of MAF Shopping Centres, LLC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is a Director of Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. (public utilities company that is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation), Jannock Properties Limited (public real estate company), Bata Shoe Corporation (private international shoe retailing company) and Canada Post Pension Plan Investment Advisory Committee. Mr. Braithwaite is also a Trustee of Enbridge Commercial Trust (trust and a subsidiary of Enbridge Income Fund which is managed by a subsidiary of the Corporation).
Mr. Braithwaite owns 33,751 Enbridge Shares and 7,637 Deferred Stock Units.
With globalization, however, hollowing out has become a political issue for most industrialized nations. The difference this time is that no single nation is the principal acquisitor, nor is any one country the sitting duck. The hunter and the hunted have become interchangeable. Companies in China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Switzerland are on the prowl. And the prey may be in Germany, Italy, Britain, Australia, the U.S. and, yes, even Canada.
In the first eight months of this year, foreigners gobbled up Canadian companies worth an astounding $90 billion. Canadian companies such as Inco, Dofasco and Alcan that formed part of the industrial backbone of the Canadian economy are Canadian no more.This "hollowing out" of corporate Canada worries many Canadians, including top business leaders. For example, Caldwell Securities, a major investment firm, has run full-page newspaper ads on "The Sellout of Corporate Canada." It called the loss of head offices and industrial leadership "one of the great corporate tragedies of our time."
Despite these warnings, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has left no doubt that he considers the sellout to be of little importance.
After months of rising pressure to do something about the supposed threat that foreigners will buy up too many Canadian companies, the federal government this week responded in almost exactly the right way: with a policy of tough-talking inaction.
Canada is not drifting towards protectionism despite a government promise to look into the country's foreign investment rules, according to Jim Flaherty, finance minister."We cannot turn our backs on what's happening in global trade nor would we want to," Mr Flaherty told the Financial Times. "You are not going to see a protectionist Canada."
Four out of five of Canada's leading CEOs think Ottawa should impose new restrictions on takeovers by foreign state-owned firms and seven out of 10 favour reviewing acquisitions by outsiders for national security concerns.
These survey results of Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) members are being released today as part of an effort by the 150-CEO group to address public fears about a "hollowing out" of Corporate Canada's head offices.
"The world is awash in capital despite the current credit squeeze and some of the biggest players wandering around snapping up companies have very deep pockets and happen to be state-owned players," said Thomas d'Aquino, president of the CCCE.
I guess the election will be soon. Cause you can't buy publicity like this.
EDMONTON - As if we didn't already think politicians were a drag.
An ad campaign featuring a life-size model of Premier Ed Stelmach in a French maid's outfit, along with black nylon stockings and heels, is proving a hit for the San Francisco chain of gift stores.
``Premier Costumes and Halloween Gear' reads the poster, onto which Stelmach's head has been superimposed. The premier's spokesman says Stelmach has been told about it.
Tom Olsen says the premier has a sense of humour and has no plan to ask the store to take the posters down. San Francisco employee Cherish Byron says the posters had been sent out to the chain's stores across Edmonton and they were receiving comments about it all day
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Environmental Blog Roundup
October 15, 2007 — permalinkIn honor of Blog Action Day, we wanted to highlight some of the many Blogger-powered blogs that are focused on the environment, climate change, and sustainability. Want to see more Blog Action Day participants from around the web? Find them on Blog Search.
- The Conscious Earth - Earth-centered news for the health of air, water, habitat and the fight against global warming.
