Green Shift Tax=GST

The green PM Brian Mulroney gave us the GST a tax on consumers, a regressive tax, one the Liberals promised to abolish but never got around to doing so. Stephne Dion and his Liberals now offer their of the GST with their Green Shift Tax. Again the average Canadian faces another Gouge and Screw Tax aimed at consumption rather than producers/production.
The Liberals new Green Shift is not green but it certainly is a shift, from taxing producers of greenhouse gases to those who consume the products.
In other words same old same old.
Brought to you by the folks who signed Kyoto but who had no plan to deal with it.
The Conservatives have no plan period, so this election anything they do is sheer opportunism; hence their diesel tax reduction. Which will not bring down the prices of your vegetables, furniture, or tropical fish, or anything else transported by truck.
The only party that is actually proposing a Green plan that meets the needs of capitalism is the NDP. New Zealand this week adopted a carbon cap and trade plan, Chicago has a cap and trade commodities market in place, Quebec supports cap and trade, and is creating its own market for it as well, hoping to use its hydro power as a carbon offset against the greenhouse gases produced by more inefficient coal powered utilities in Ontario and of course against the greenhouse gases produced in Alberta and the Wests rapidly expanding oil and gas fields.
Cap and Trade is the Kyoto solution for capitalism to address the climate crisis. Create a market place for trading emissions, make it a cost of doing business but market it based on an investment model.
Why the Liberals and Conservatives don't get this is simple because they fare old party's of the aristocracy and as much as they have adapted to bourgeoisie parlimentarism they fail to understand how capitalism functions. It sees a problem and it sees an investment opportunity. The Liberals and Conservatives being the old party's of the state only understand taxation not investment. They are lousy capitalists. Ironically for the libertarian ideologues of the free market it is the statist socialists who understand real world capitalism best.
The Whigs and Tories of old understood only taxation, they inherited their titles and their title to capital. With the rise of the workers movement there came the call to universal sufferage in Europe and these two old parties of the ruling classes of their day adapted. However what they did not adapt to was capitalism.
The new workers parties of Social Democracy on the other hand educated by Marx's Kapital knew of the the new world being born by their labour.
After 100 years of battle inthe parilments of capitalist democracy, honed through booms and busts and failed revolutions, they came to an post-modernist understanding in the ninties, in order to pose an alternative to the neo-con agenda of revival of 19th Century lazzie faire Austrian School economics
they needed a different social agenda. So they added eco to eco-nomics.
The Kyoto accord is not some socialist agenda to overthrow capitalism, despite its characterization as such by such neo-con mouthpieces as Stephen Harper, rather it is very much a 'market' solution to overproduction of emissions. And capitalists like it, they understand it, they endorse it which is why in states in the U.S. across Europe and around the world cap and trade is their prefered choice over carbon taxes.
But because business and its mouthpiece political party, the Conservatives, of all lands oppose carbon taxes does not mean that we as workers should support them. They are after all the most regressive form of tax that on consumption rather than production.
Nor should we be fooled that creating new stock markets based on cap and trade will actually have any real impact on the environment.
Rather we need to pose the one alternative to the crisis of capitalism and it's impact on our world, workers control of production. Nothing less will halt capitalisms ultimate entropy which is the climate crisis.




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Work, Life and Blogging

Thanks to those of you who wrote me or commented here about my absence from blogging, its nice to be loved.

I have been away from blogging for two months now due to work and life changes. During June when I last posted, I was busy with work commitments especially around training and teaching.

I was elected President of the Edmonton Branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, and thus this has taken up much of my time as we celebrate our 90th Anniversary and look forward to making ourselves a prescence in the progressive community once again. Our hall is being used again by the progressive community after several years of inactivity.

I was also elected to Chair the Gaia Gathering, the Canadian National Pagan Conference, which will be holding its fifth annual conference in 2009 in Vancouver with the theme Left Coat Paganism's.

Finally I was involved in organizing this years PanFest which took up much of my time as Programming and Events coordinator.

Because of these commitments I have not had the urge to blog as much about local, national or world events. It doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, rather I did not feel the urge or urgency to blog.

However I will be blogging on an occasional basis and will probably return to more regular writing by the end of summer.

Oh yes and I should mention that with the nice weather we have had I have been enjoying my backyard and garden. Beer in hand, reading interesting books and listening to music.

Work and life trump blogging.

"Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it."

- Wilhelm Reich

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1

Perks

One of the perks of being a one party state is that you can give yourself pay raises without fear of opposition in the legislature.

EDMONTON — One of the wealthiest provinces in Canada has dramatically boosted the pay packets of its premier and cabinet ministers.

The Alberta government has approved a pay hike, which will see each of the province's 23 cabinet ministers get a pay hike worth about $42,000, bringing their annual compensation to around $184,000 per year.

Premier Ed Stelmach will become among the nation's best paid premiers after approval of a 34 per cent pay hike.

That brings his total compensation package to over $213,000 per year.

Stelmach is defending the hefty hikes, saying they're needed to help recruit more people into politics.

Scott Hennig, a spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is critical of the move, saying it's not fair that the premier and cabinet were able to get such big pay raises without first putting the matter before the legislature. (CTV)

Oh that's rich Scott the legislature is dominated by the PC's. And they very rarely meet. In fact this pay increase goes to the politicians that work the least in Canada since Alberta has the shortest legislative sittings of any government in Canada. And in fact like most things done by the Alberta Government, (tm)(c) of the PC Association of Alberta, this increase was passed by Cabinet fiat.The issue never will come up in the legislature. That would mean it would be subject to public debate.

When Alberta’s freshly re-elected premier Ed Stelmach decided to hand his caucus a massive pay increase this week, he avoided such complications: there was no panel, no polling. Just a quiet notice buried in the daily compendium of passed Orders in Council, of something called the “MLA Remuneration Order.” In actuality, it was an eye-popping 30% pay raise for cabinet ministers, who now will make $184,000 a year, instead of $142,000 — more than federal MPs and most provincial premiers. Premier Stelmach gets an even bigger boost to the paycheque: He’ll now make $213,450 a year, up from $159,450. Mr. Stelmach now makes more than his Ontario counterpart, Dalton McGuinty, who manages a province nearly four times as large, making Alberta’s CEO the highest paid premier in the land (Quebec’s premier makes $194,900 and everywhere else the rate is $165,000 or lower). Not bad for a government that famously chooses to sit in the legislature for less than five months out of the year. MLAs will also get bonuses for attending committee and cabinet meetings, which had previously been considered part of their full-time job.

Ok folks the Premier has set the rate for collective bargaining increases in Alberta for this year. After all he claims his 34% increase is needed for purposes of attraction and retention, a current problem faced by all employers in the province.

Then Stelmach tried to explain the inexplicable.

"If we are going to attract younger people for government we've got to pay them appropriately," the premier said. "I remain committed," he said without much conviction.

And the Alberta Weekly Average Wage increase was 4.53% as announced by the Government in April. Ed gets a whopping 30% increase over that. Far greater than the incease most Albertans got this year. And a salary increase that is larger than the annual Canadian salary.

Albertans have every right to be furious at Premier Ed Stelmach and his 23 cabinet ministers for topping up their salaries by 30 to 34 per cent.

That's an extra $41,950 to $54,000 a year for work that's always been included in their base salary -- attending meetings for cabinet, Treasury Board and policy committees.

Not a bad promotion, considering the average weekly earnings in Canada last year were just $751, or $39,052 per year.

And certainly larger than any minimum wage increase in Alberta.

In June 2007, government announced minimum wage increases would be adjusted based on the average weekly wage and come into effect April 1. If Alberta's average weekly wage increases from one year to the next, the minimum wage will increase by the same percentage.

And its not like they don't get raises, the Government members get an annual increase based on this same index, so its not like they weren't going to get a raise anyways.

Edmonton Journal

Published: Monday, April 03 2006

Members of the Alberta legislature received pay raises of 5.23 per cent effective Saturday, an increase more than twice the rate of inflation.

That brings their yearly salary to $71,244, up from $67,698 last year.

Salary levels for Alberta MLAs are set every April 1 based on the annual increase in average weekly earnings in the province as calculated by Statistics Canada.

Meanwhile former Tory Energy Minister Greg Melchin gets to become a paid lobbyist to the government that used to employ him. This is the same guy who screwed Albertans out of our fair share of royalties from his pals in Big Oil. This is the ultimate kick back for his doing his masters bidding.

Word of the cabinet pay hike broke the same day we learned former energy minister Greg Melchin was hired on to the board of a Calgary oil company -- just three months after leaving politics.

Turns out Melchin is exempt from the government's six-month cooling-off period because he hadn't been energy minister since 2006. (He's also not bound by the new 12-month cooling-off period because he left politics before April 1.) He was most recently minister of seniors. So, there's no problem with him taking the oil company job, says the province's ethic's commissioner.

Rules are made to be broken or gotten around, or well you see how it works. It's all very transparent and above board. The rules don't apply to clever Tory Cabinet Ministers never have, never will. After all those who write the rules know how to get around them, they wrote them.

The Democratic Deficit continues in Alberta, it is the Alberta Advantage for the Tired Old Tories.


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Navel Gazing Tourism

I flip channels on my satellite TV and find lots of ads promoting folks to visit Ontario, not just on Ontario channels. I see ads promoting tourist to visit Newfoundland and Labrador, again broadcast across Canada. But Alberta, well once again the mentality of the One Party State is reflected in Travel Alberta campaigns.

That is they market not to Canada or the U.S. but within Alberta. Their latest campaign is to tell Albertans to stay home. And to our neighbours east and west of us, to come visit Alberta and when they do stay longer. Of course all these folks are not really visiting Alberta they are coming here for jobs.

Especially now that Alberta and B.C. have created a free trade market in labour; TILMA. And most of our so called tourism is oil business related, not the usual mom pop and the kids coming for a visit rather it is conventions and business related travel

Tourism in Canada is in a crisis and in Alberta it has been for years, due to the short sighted ideology of promoting Alberta to Albertans rather than to Americans or other Canadians.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that American visitation was down 14.8 per cent in March 2008 compared with the same month a year ago.

In fact, they hit a record low for the fifth consecutive month.

In March, foreign visitors made 2.3 million trips to the country, which is the lowest since record keeping started in 1972.

Overall visits were down 12.4 per cent in March 2008 compared with March 2007, Statistics Canada reported.

Worse yet Alberta has the highest costs for Skiing of anywhere in North America, go figure. Now that's sure not to help encourage folks to visit here.

Alberta is one of the most expensive places in the world to ski, says a comparison of ski passes from around the world.

Alberta's Ski Big 3 Pass that covers the Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mount Norquay resorts around Banff costs about $485 US for six days of skiing, ranking it second behind Vail, Colorado's peak season six-day pass at $552 US, said the World Lift Ticket Price Report.

And where do Albertan's go on vacation? Why B.C. of course because prices are cheaper.

B.C. remains one of Alberta's top choices for recreation property, says Rudy Nielsen, president of Landcor Data Corp.

Landcor collects statistics on real estate sales in B.C. and found Albertans accounted for 67 per cent of out-of-province "secondary property buyers" in B.C. in 2007, generating nearly $2.2 billion in sales.

"Albertans love B.C. because we have so many recreational uses, with good golf courses, good fishing -- you can still go to the Queen Charlottes and catch a 30-pound salmon, and we have the ski hills," says Nielsen.

"And of course, there's the beauty."

Even during economic downturns, interest from Alberta remains strong in B.C.

"We've had no indication of any slowdown of Albertans buying in B.C.," says Nielsen, who is also president of NIHO Land & Cattle Co.

And no amount of Vacation in Alberta propaganda will change that fact. So when will Tourism Alberta start advertising to non-Albertans? Well considering they haven't done much in the past two decades since the Calgary Olympics, don't hold your breathe. Until they do we will only get visits from the Accidental Tourist.

SEE:

Avalanche

Jasper National Park Centennial

tags
Canada, Alberta, tourism, Jasper, Banff, national parks, tourism, Jasper, Albera

Support War Resisters

Canada has a tradition of welcoming American Draft Dodgers and War Resisters now that is being challenged by the Harper Government and its courts.

Canada to deport first US deserter of Iraq war

War Resisters: Canada Turns Back on Trudeau Legacy

But there is good news, the NDP have brought a motion in the house to allow Iraqi War Resisters to stay in Canada.

BREAKING NEWS - YOUR HELP STILL NEEDED

To members of Save U.S. Soldier Corey Glass - Keep Him in Canada!

Breaking News: Parliament Debates Motion to Allow Iraq War Resisters
to Stay

On May 29th, following a motion put forward by NDP MP Olivia Chow,
Parliament began debating a motion in support of Iraq war resisters.

The debate lasted for 3 hours with all three opposition parties
speaking strongly in favour of the motion.

The Tories tried to derail the motion by procedural means but their
attempt was defeated by a vote of 121-97.

WE STILL NEED YOU!!!

With the debate now completed, a vote on the motion will take place
on Monday, June 2nd.

Call and email Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley
today!
phone 613.996.4974
fax 613.996.9749
email finley.d@parl.gc.ca and finled1@parl.gc.ca

Tell her you want her to
• rescind the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass
• support US war resisters, not Bush's war in Iraq
• support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada

Call and email Prime Minister Stephen Harper!
phone 613.992.4211
fax 613.941.6900
email pm@pm.gc.ca

Tell him you want the Government of Canada to
• rescind the deportation order against US war resister Corey Glass
• support US war resisters, not Bush's war in Iraq
• support the motion to allow Iraq war resisters to remain in Canada

Call Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion at 613.996.6740 or 613.996.5789

Tell him you want the Liberal Party...
• to support the Parliamentary motion to allow Iraq War resisters to
remain in Canada,
• to oppose the deportation of people of conscience who have resisted
an illegal war, and
• to support the will of the Canadian people, not Stephen Harper’s
decision to deport war resisters, and not the U.S.’s war agenda.

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Sexism Duffy Style

On Mike Duffy Live yesterday the issue of Maxime Bernier's jilted girlfriend was the big story. No news there, however he had a woman reporter on from Le Devoir; Helene Buzzetti, who exposed the fact that Julie Coulliard former boyfriend, who was part of her biker past, was trying to get contracts with a provincial government justice department. Now thats news.

According to the opposition Parti Québécois, a firm whose principals once included a former boyfriend of Couillard's won a $158,000 government contract last year to escort detainees from Quebec's jails to outside medical and dental appointments.

The problem is that Robert Pépin, Couillard's former flame and the key figure behind Agence d'investigation et de sécurité D.R.P., was a convicted felon who owed six-figure debts to a loan shark with direct ties to the Hells Angels and to a member of another well-known Montreal criminal gang.

So what does Duff ask her about, well to comment on Couillard's interview with the French language journal; Seven Days; 7 Jours,which focuses on her personal pain at being jilted by Maxime. 7 Jours is a fluff journal published by Quebecor, the owners of the Sun chain of papers.

Does he ask the Le Devoir reporter about the real news breaking in Quebec about how Couillard lied about her being a Real Estate agent, or about her biker boyfriend attempts to gain government contracts, or about what Maxime knew about her past?

'Maxime knew' of biker ties, Couillard says

Nope he asks her to respond to the pain Couillard suffered over being jilted he read sections of the Seven Day's interview, all mush and gush, with nary a political implication, all about her bosom being exposed, and her belief she was seen as a tart in the English press, because her photo was national news.

Not satisfied he goes on at the end of the program to interview two more female reporters about Le Affair Couillard, and again nothing of political import, rather he again asks them to talk about the Seven Days interview and her bosom.

Maxime Bernier and Julie Couillard arrive at Rideau Hall last August for his swearing in as Minister of Foreign Affairs. (PAUL CHIASSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Is it me or do I detect an attempt here to avoid the real issue, that Julie Couillard who has biker connections held onto secret government documents for a month, in favour of salacious fawning over her bosom.

For Duff it was as if nothing political happened rather this was a news feature worthy of Women's Wear Daily. And he demeaned his female colleagues by his focus on the Seven Days article, avoiding the more important political implications of this sordid affair. Had they been male reporters he would not have asked them to comment on Couillard's personal feelings, but rather he would have asked them about the political impact of the Bernier affair in Quebec. It was as if we had gone back to the days when women reporters were relegated to the social and fashion pages of the newspapers where they worked.

And on a different note, the Duff used to be accused by the Blogging Tories and their ilk of being a shill for the Liberals. The more I watch the Duff the more I believe he is simply acting as a Government Mouth Piece. His focus on the personal trauma of Couillard reinforces the governments claim that this is all about a personal affair which is none of the publics business.

His fawning interview with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty further proves it; Duffy=Shill for the Government.



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Fire Your Boss

I was traveling on the bus down Whyte Ave today and saw a fellow with a hat which had written on it;



I regretted I was not wearing my wobbly button in response;




See:

Palm Sunday April Fools Day

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May 1968

Forty years ago this month the world changed with students and workers taking to the streets of Paris to call for revolution. Capitalism was at the height of its post war boom yet these folks were calling for its overthrow. A conference was held this month in England to celebrate 1968 And All That.




SEE:

MLK Day

Forty Years Ago

40 Years Later; The Society of the Spectacle

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Eco Socialism

I love the pretense behind this meeting announcement. As if eco-socialism, social ecology or even feminist ecology were NEW only to be recently discovered by the Left in Toronto.

A new synthesis is emerging, combining two great radical forces -- the

'red' movements that seek to free labor and bring down capitalism, and the

'green' movements that seek to mend our relationship with nature. Activists

from 13 countries met in Paris October 7-8 to discuss this perspective.

They founded the Ecosocialist International Network, and called

for a global ecosocialist conference, to be held in conjunction with the

next World Social Forum.

Speaker: IAN ANGUS

Ian is a member of the Steering Committee of the Ecosocialist International

Network, and the editor of the web journal Climate and Capitalism. He will

discuss what happened in Paris and provide an overview of the state of

ecosocialism today: as a goal, as a body of ideas, and as a movement

against capitalist ecocide.

Sponsored by: Socialist Project, International Socialists, New Socialist

Group, and Socialist Voice.

Seems to me they missed the notice that Murray Bookchin revived libertarian socialist environmentalism known as social ecology, over forty years ago. Of course being Trot's they probably didn't read his Listen, Marxist! either.

The journal Capitalism Nature, Socialism has been around for about thirty years. . Get a sub.

Monthly Review Editor John Bellamy Foster has long promoted a Marxist view of ecology and environmentalism. Get a sub.

Missed the big meeting announcing the founding of the German Red Greens led by old Sixties activist Rudi Dutschke and Daniel Cohn Bendit over two decades ago did we.

As happened elsewhere in the world, most of the 1968ers ultimately joined the mainstream, with a number of 1960s activists -- including Rudi Dutschke -- later paving the way to found the Green Party. Dutschke himself was to be a key figure in the party, but he died shortly before its official creation in 1980. Some of them, most famously Joschka Fischer, became ministers in the German government led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Skipped reading Adrienne Rich on feminist ecology/green feminism because she was only taught in Womens Studies, did we.

Missed the work done by syndicalist feminist eco activist Judi Bari did we. She who split with Earth First! over its tactics that endangered lumber workers rather than getting them onside with eco activists.

And clearly these folks need to read my blog.

And while they jump on the eco-environmental-green bandwagon, they do so without addressing the contradictions current in the ecology/environmental/green movement, that places more emphasis on consumers and morality then on understanding that environmental degradation is essential for capitalism to function.

Here are some contemporary articles that they would do well to read as well.

The Modern World-System as environmental history?
Ecology and the rise of capitalism

JASON W. MOORE
University of California, Berkeley

Abstract.

This article considers the emergence of world environmental history as a
rapidly growing but undertheorized research ¢eld. Taking as its central problematic the gap between the fertile theorizations of environmentally-oriented social scientists and the empirically rich studies of world environmental historians, the article argues for a synthesis of theory and history in the study of longue duree socio-ecological change.

This argument proceeds in three steps. First, I o¡er an ecological reading of Immanuel Wallerstein’s The ModernWorld-System.Wallerstein’s handling of the ecological dimensions of the transition from feudalism to capitalism is suggestive of a new approach to world environmental history. Second, I contend that Wallerstein’s theoretical insights may be e¡ectively complemented by drawing on Marxist notions of value and above all the concept of ‘‘metabolic rift,’’ which emphasize the importance of productive processes and regional divisions of labor within the modern world-system.

Finally, I develop these theoretical discussions in a short environmental history of the two great ‘‘commodity frontiers’’ of early capitalism the sugar plantation and the silver mining complex.

Animals, Agency, and Class: Writing the History of Animals from Below

This essay is an historical exploration of the nexus between
animals, agency, and class. More significantly, it seeks
to place the agency of horses, cows, sheep, pigs, etc. into the
process of historical writing. This essay is divided into three
sections. The first is a critique of the current state of the historiography
of animal-studies. The second, ‘A Product of an
Unspoken Negotiation,’ considers how animals themselves
have shaped their own lives and labors. The third, ‘The Evolution
of Vegetarianism and Animal-Rights,’ explores how a
class relationship developed between humans and other animals.
Moreover, this section demonstrates how this solidarity
then led to the creation of social change.

Kate Soper:
Beyond Consumerism: Self-Interest, Pleasure and Sustainable Consumption
Abstract
Responses to climate change and ecological attrition seldom say much about the downsides of the consumerist lifestyle nor promote the pleasures and fulfilments of a less work-driven and acquisitive life-style. This is hardly surprising given the dominance of global capitalism and the scale of its advertising budgets. But there are signs that the tensions between economic growth and human and environmental well-being will not be indefinitely contained. The negative impacts of affluence are a growing political concern and a source of disenchantment on the part of consumers themselves. In this context, the article seeks to counter the suppression of other visions of the ‘good life’ and presents the attractions of a post-consumerist life-style as of critical importance in winning wider support for a sustainable future.

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Bedtime Reading

NATO reports as bed time reading, post-coital pillow chat about troop placements, its all too much and led to the inevitable fall from grace for Maxime Bernier yesterday. That his now 'ex' girlfriends apartment might have been bugged might be another reason for the PM to finally fire Bernier who seems to have confused libertarian and libertine.

On becoming listed as Mr. Bernier's official partner after dating him for one month:

"He said I should reflect on it because he is a public personality, so he can't be changing his partner like you'd change a shirt. He said it was a mandate of at least one year."

Yep that's the Minister of Outsourcing before he became Minister of Foot In the Mouth. Even his girlfriend was on contract.

Meanwhile the PM continues to defend his Ministers right to date a girl who used to go out with Hells Angel bosses, another reason for the bug in her apartment? Not unlike the NHL which defends players who have cousins in the Angels. After all its a private affair nez pas?

The whole sordid affair arose from the fact that Bernier should never have been promoted to Foreign Affairs, a position that left him with his foot firmly placed in his mouth on one too many occasions.

After all he was only a finger puppet for the PMO which is where foreign policy is actually made.

The delicious irony in all this is not only was Bernier hopelessly incompetent in this post, but that the Law and Order Government insists that his personal affair with a biker chick was nobodies business. Bikers, crime, law and order.

Say good night Max.



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