It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, April 21, 2022
INDIA
IT Employees Union Files Complaint Against Infosys Over New Non-compete Clause
Yesterday, a Pune-based IT employee union named NITES reportedly filed a complaint against Infosys. The employee union is seeking the removal of the newly imposed non-compete clause by Infosys. What Does The Clause State?
The clause states that the employees cannot work for the competitor companies for six months after leaving the company.
That’s not all. The clause also restricts employees from joining the workforce of the clients they had worked for in the last 12 months before quitting, according to the letter to Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Labour and Employment.
The clause reportedly includes these companies in their competitor list- Accenture, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), IBM, Cognizant, and Wipro. The Letter To Labour Minister
As per the letter sent to the minister, the clause says “For the period of six months after leaving Infosys, employees will not — accept any offer of employment from any customer, (with whom I worked) in the twelve months immediately preceding my termination or accept any offer of employment from a Named Competitor of Infosys, if my employment with such Named Competitor would involve me having to work with a Customer with whom I had worked in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the termination of my employment with Infosys.”
The letter was written by the NITES union president, Harpreet Saluja, to the minister stating that the clause violates Section 27 of the Contract Act.
“They are likely to affect the employee’s means of procuring a livelihood for himself and his family. Hence the company should be stopped from enforcing it.” read the letter. Infosys' Highest Attrition Rate
Recently, IT giant Infosys had also witnessed the highest level of attrition rate in the company, which worsened from 25.5% in the December 2021 quarter to 27.7% in the March 2022 quarter.
Infosys is reportedly looking to hire more than 50,000 employees in FY23 as against the 85,000 hired in FY22.
The company’s net profit for the March 2022 quarter rose about 12% to ₹5,686 crore with revenue growth of 22.7% year-on-year at ₹32,276 crore.
Mom furious Grade 8 students at Woodstock, Ont., school must make posters for anti-abortion group's contest
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The posters being made at Woodstock school will be graded, entered in Right to Life Coalition contest
The assignmentat St. Patrick's Catholic Elementary School in Woodstock, Ont., for students to make a poster for a contest by an anti-abortion group has caused controversy. (Submitted by Rachelle Lynne Dixon)
An Ontario Catholic school is under fire for a Grade 8 assignment that requires students to make anti-abortion posters for marks and the chance to win a cash prize.
The assignment at St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School in Woodstock involves students creating a poster that includes the words "Unborn Babies Matter," along with a picture or pictures that incorporate the theme. The in-class assignment is being graded and entered in a contest run by a local anti-abortion group.
"The parents weren't told about it, and they're not allowing the kids to learn about the opposite side of this issue," said Rachelle Lynn Dixon, whose daughter Kaydence, 13, alerted her mom to the assignment. "It's a Catholic school, but it's also funded by the public. It's an elementary school that is asking kids to Google images about abortion.
"I want her [Kaydence] to form her own opinion," added her mom. "I understand it's a Catholic school and it teaches Catholic beliefs, but we're living in a day and age where women's rights matter. With everything going on in the world, I don't think these kids need to have this added on top of it."
Kaydence Lee Dixon, 13, says a contest at the school asking her and other Grade 8 students to make anti-abortion posters is troubling. (Submitted by Rachelle Lynn Dixon)
Dixon spoke Thursday morning to the school, and said she plans to pull her two children from the Catholic system at the end of this school year.
She said it's problematic that the contest is being run by an outside group not affiliated with the church and that marks are being awarded alongside possible prize money is problematic.
"It's not the teacher, it's not the school. It's not even the church. It's a competition through an outside group. If anything, this should have been a handout so if the kids want to participate, they can talk to their parents and do it on their own time," Dixon said.
'Sanctity of life' teachings
Students in the class are learning the Catholic Church's view on the "sanctity of life" as part of the Grade 8 religion curriculum, and are given a poster assignment to complete on the topic, said Mark Adkinson, a spokesperson for the London District Catholic School Board.
"Students may choose to create a poster that would fit the criteria for both the assignment and the optional third-party contest," he told CBC News in an email.
Kaydence plans to talk to her teacher and class about why she finds the assignment and contest troubling.
"I think it is OK to talk about abortion with kids, but what's not OK is only teaching them about pro-life. I think instead of our current project, we should be allowed to make pro-choice posters and we should have a debate about the subject, as all opinions matter and everyone has the right to be heard," the teen wrote in a speech.
Woodstock mom Rachelle Lynn Dixon is pulling her kids out of Catholic schools over an in-class anti-abortion assignment and contest. (Submitted by Rachelle Lynn Dixon )
An anti-abortion contest has been part of the Oxford County Right to Life group's offerings for the past 20 years, but this is the first time a teacher has used it as an assignment, said Mary VanVeen, who runs the group and said it is not affiliated with the Catholic Church.
"Right now, we have a cancel culture where people want to get rid of the people who have values. We hope students in Grade 7 and 8 think about human life, and express themselves in art, and have a discussion about it at home and school," VanVeen said.
VanVeen's contest offers a $50 prize. The assignment on the blackboard offered a $150 prize, which a board spokesperson said was a typo.
"Parents weren't told about this assignment. It says it can only be done in class. That is outrageous. I want my daughter and son to always come talk to me about anything they're disturbed about, not to be told not to do that by their teacher," Dixon said.
Tying the assignment to a contest gives students little choice, she said.
"One of Kaydence's friends tried to speak up about it in class, but her grades really matter to her. She's on the honour roll, graduating this year, so she ended up doing the project anyway, even though it made her uncomfortable."
Dixon said she's proud of her daughter, who told her about the assignment and will speak to her teacher about her objections.
Ontario Catholic religion curriculum where abortion is mentioned:
Grade 6: Students must be able to "Articulate the Church's teaching concerning the Fourth & Fifth Commandments – "Honour your father and mother; You shall not kill" and apply these to the moral issues facing society today (e.g. sanctity of human life – abortion and euthanasia, dignity of the human person..."
Grade 7: Students must be able to "Summarize the moral teachings of the Church with regard to particular life issues (e.g. marriage, sexuality, cloning, abortion, genocide, euthanasia) and the social order (e.g. use of technology, economic injustices, environment)."
"I'm hoping her teacher will think that a healthy debate is a good idea on this topic. I am Catholic. I was baptized Catholic. I am a modern Catholic, and we live our lives with grace and love in our hearts. That's what being Catholic is to me."
Dixon will be at the school Friday morning to protest the assignment and contest, and how it was delivered to children.
The assignment doesn't allow for dissenting views and that's problematic, said Joyce Arthur of Abortion Rights Coalition Canada.
"Kudos to this young girl. It took courage to speak up," she said. "It's really a violation of students' conscience and own beliefs, because they should be able to choose what they believe on this issue by themselves and not be influenced by Catholic doctrine, because it's basically a political issue."
Nina Azzahra, left, and her father, Prigi Arisandi, are environmentalists in Indonesia and are pictured in a tunnel of plastic water bottles built from those collected in their community. Nina, 14, has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking that Canada stop shipping waste to Indonesia. (WatchDoc/CBC)
The federal government has privately sanctioned several Canadian recycling companies for shipping illegal, unsorted household trash to developing countries, but is keeping the list of names of those caught violating environmental and international laws secret from the public.
A Fifth Estate/Enquêteinvestigation has found that at least 123 shipping containers have been returned to Canada in the past five years after foreign authorities discovered numerous violations of international waste export regulations aimed at stopping Western countries from dumping their trash in developing countries.
"We can't make those names public," Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in an interview with The Fifth Estate.
Guilbeault said the only time names would be made public is when a company or executive was charged under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
WATCH | "Bait and switch: Recycling's dirty secrets," a special edition of The Fifth Estate, on Wednesday at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV or CBC Gem
Environment Canada told The Fifth Estate/Enquête that in the past five years it issued nine warning letters against companies involved in the shipping of the illegal waste.
In that time, there have also been six fines totalling less than $9,000 against four companies and two individuals.
According to the regulations, environmental officers may avoid laying charges if they decide a fine or a warning is "sufficient and appropriate" to address a company that has violated the law.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says he cannot release the names of the companies that his department sanctioned for illegal waste exports. (CBC)
Guilbeault said that because his officials only laid fines, he agrees with Environment Canada's decision not to release the names.
"We can issue fines, but in terms of communicating this information publicly, there is still in our legal system this provision that you're innocent until proven guilty by a court of law," Guilbeault said.
Illegal waste 'will continue' without policy change: inspector
Marc De Strooper, a Belgian port inspector, told Enquête and The Fifth Estate that throughout his 25-year career, he has repeatedly caught recycling shipments containing illegal trash from Canada. De Strooper inspects shipping containers passing through the port of Antwerp on the way to their final destinations in India and other countries in Asia.
European port inspector Marc De Strooper digs through a container of what was supposed to be paper recycling but was actually mixed with plastic and metal waste. De Strooper inspects many Canadian waste shipments that pass through Belgium and alerts Canadian authorities when he finds violations. (Mathieu Marck)
As recently as January, he caught five illegal recycling shipments coming from Canada that were destined for developing countries.
De Strooper said he believes Canadian companies send their trash to developing countries because it can be cheaper to send it overseas rather than process recycled paper and plastics back home.
For that reason, De Strooper said governments should be more vigilant in preventing the exports of contaminated recycling products.
In Belgium, inspectors test bales of recycling to measure the amount of non-recyclable waste they contain. This one had far more than the allowable amount, according to the inspector. (Mathieu Marck)
"I don't know how [Canadian authorities] do these inspections, or how much inspection they do on these items. I still see this waste coming to the port of Antwerp," De Strooper said.
"If Canada does not change this policy or its habits around this, it will continue."
No accountability without names, lawyer says
Environmental lawyer Sabaa Khan said that Canadians have a right to know the names of the companies sanctioned by the federal government — and that lifting the secrecy around illegal shipments could help prevent future violations.
"If there's no transparency, there can't be any accountability either. That's the most frustrating part," said Khan, who works on these issues with the David Suzuki Foundation.
"The Canadian government has decided that it won't monitor plastic waste very closely."
Sabaa Khan is a environmental lawyer with the David Suzuki Foundation who specializes in international waste supply chains. (CBC)
Under Canadian law, companies are allowed to export some recycling materials like paper or metals for processing. But DeStrooper and others have found that too often shipments for paper recycling, for example, are mixed with household trash or unrecyclable plastic.
As for those illegal shipments from Canada caught recently in Belgium, De Strooper said that the manifests stated that the trash came from companies operating out of Montreal, Toronto and Calgary.
'I just feel kind of lied to'
For young environmentalists and recyclers like sisters Sadie and Willa Vipond in Calgary, the lack of transparency helps protect companies — and prevents Canadians from addressing the issue in public.
"If people knew this was happening and there was more transparency … then I think real change can happen," Sadie, 16, said.
"I just feel kind of lied to, personally," Willa, 14, said. "So why are they showing us these videos in school about what is supposed to happen after you recycle something, and it just being a myth?"
Willa Vipond, left, and Sadie Vipond, right, are sisters and environmentalists. The teens have long recycled their household waste as a way to reduce their environmental footprint. (Jamie Ross/WestRock Images/CBC)
Through confidential sources, Enquête was able to identify the source of some of the containers that Belgian authorities say were being illegally shipped abroad. The paper waste came from one of the City of Montreal's recycling centres, operated by the company Ricova International. According to the inspectors, the paper recycling shipment destined for India contained far too much additional plastic and other waste.
Ricova disputes the findings of the Belgian inspector and said that the non-paper waste in the shipment was not out of the ordinary.
'Stop exporting your plastic waste'
Young activists and governments around the world have been pushing for a blanket ban on Western waste exports to developing countries.
In Indonesia, 14-year-old environmentalist Nina Azzahra has developed a large following on social media after her push to try to convince to Western countries to stop shipping waste to her country.
Representatives from several countries, including Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, met with her and promised to change their export policies.
Since 2020, Nina has sent two letters to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"Why do you send your trash to our country? You should take care of your own trash in your own country," she wrote.
Nina Azzara reads her letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The 14-year-old activist wants Canada to stop all waste exports to Indonesia. (WatchDoc/CBC)
Trudeau's office responded to Nina in January, nearly two years after her first letter, and said they forwarded her letter to the environment minister.
However, Guilbeault has yet to respond.
"They know that recycling is hard, it's difficult and expensive. Maybe they still don't want to leave Indonesia. They still want Indonesia to be a dump site for their waste," Nina said in an interview with The Fifth Estate.
"I really want you to stop — stop exporting your plastic waste to Indonesia. Just stop."
Politicians supported a ban
Scot Davidson, a Conservative member of Parliament for York-Simcoe, north of Toronto, has been pushing to ban the export of Canadian non-recyclable plastic waste.
"Canada has to take responsibility," Davidson said. "We just can't lob our garbage over the fence to our neighbours and say, 'Out of sight, out of mind.'"
Last year, his bill to ban the export of non-recyclable plastic waste got widespread support from opposition parties. But the Liberals wouldn't back it.
"I hate to be partisan, but sometimes, you have to be. This is all talk, no action. The Liberals proclaim to be the party of the environment," Davidson said.
"It was almost like they didn't want the Conservatives to have a win on the environment, so we're not going to vote for this bill."
Scot Davidson is the Conservative member of Parliament for York-Simcoe, an Ontario riding. He proposed Bill C-204 to prevent the export of non-recyclable plastic waste. (CBC)
Guilbeault told The Fifth Estate he disagrees with Davidson's characterization of why the Liberals voted against his bill. He said the government is focused on banning some types of single-use plastic substances to cut down on the amount of plastic Canada is producing overall.
"We're banning plastic substances in Canada," Guilbeault said. "This idea that because we didn't vote in favour of that bill, we're not – we don't want to tackle the problem is simply not true."
Despite Liberal opposition, Bill C-204 passed in the House of Commons. However, it died in the Senate along with other proposed legislation because the 2021 election was called.
"Unfortunately I think the world's oceans are going to suffer because of that delay now," Davidson said.
He has reintroduced his bill for this sitting of Parliament and hopes this time it will pass both houses.
Canada avoids international pledge to stop exports
Khan, the environmental lawyer, said that Canada has faced repeated requests from other countries to end waste shipments and join international agreements, but has delayed doing so.
"We live in one of the most technologically advanced, richest societies," she said. "There's no reason that we should be exporting our wastes."
In recent years, countries in Asia in particular have been pushing back against waste coming from the West.
In 2019, 187 countries signed onto an amendment to an international treaty known as the Basel Convention. The amendment applied new regulations for the shipment of plastic waste. Canada eventually signed on, but only after two years of delays.
To this day, Canada has not signed onto another Basel amendment, one that would answer the demands of environmentalists like Nina in Indonesia.
More than 100 countries have signed onto the new amendment that would ban many waste exports to the developing world completely.
"At the end of the day, this is simply a lack of political will on Canada's part," Khan said.
"The European Union, for instance, has adopted the Basel ban.... Canada has adamantly refused to do so."
Willa Vipond, left, and her sister Sadie Vipond, right, say that a lot of what Canadians can buy in grocery stores is covered in plastic, leaving few options for environmentally conscious shoppers on a budget. (Jamie Ross/WestRock Images/CBC)
Guilbeault said there are "a number of reasons" why Canada has not yet signed. He said one of the reasons was that his government is assessing Canadian laws and enforcement tools and is considering tougher penalties for illegal exports.
"We need to do better," Guilbeault said. "We're banning a certain number of plastic substances in Canada. It's about managing waste in Canada."
Nina Azzahra holds a bag of President's Choice praline nut mix from Canada that she found in her neighbourhood in Indonesia. The young activist wants Canada to stop waste shipments to her country. (WatchDoc/CBC)
As for Nina, she is still waiting for a promise from Canada to stop exporting non-recyclable waste to Indonesia. She continues to educate people around the world, recently travelling to the Netherlands to give a speech to environmentalists there.
"As children, we have the right to live in a safe, clean and healthy environment," Nina told the crowd.
"The present generation should not steal our basic rights and endanger the lives of the next generation."
Opinion
Attacking opponents as socialists and dictators weakens the fabric of our democracy
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While such terms have a textbook definition, they also have a strategic meaning when used by politicians
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the opening session at the Paris Peace Forum in November 2018. Both of these men were recently called dictators in the House of Commons. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
This column is an opinion by Stewart Prest, a lecturer in political science at Simon Fraser University. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
From communists to dictators, there are a lot of five- and 10-dollar words flying around in politics these days.
While such terms have a textbook definition, they also have a strategic meaning when used by politicians. They are labels used to encourage listeners to think about someone in a specific, often highly negative, and even delegitimizing way — a shorthand code to associate politicians with anti-democratic values.
For instance, during the recent debate about the government's fiscal update, Conservative MP Brad Redekopp stood in the House of Commons to say, "In Ottawa, we saw the use of the Emergencies Act to call on police forces to crush peaceful protesters under the jackboot of the prime minister's basic dictatorship, and another dictator is currently using his war machine to crush our friends in Ukraine."
Fellow Conservative MP Rachael Thomas supported her colleague, arguing that "According to the Oxford dictionary, a dictator is a 'ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.' There are many Canadians who would hold the view that this applies to the Prime Minister of Canada. It is up to the Canadian people to determine that, and they will be determining that in the next election."
On its face, something doesn't add up here. A leader that can be publicly challenged in the legislature, and voted out in a forthcoming free and fair election, is not a dictator. Moreover, every democracy must use some measure of force to maintain public order and to balance among competing freedoms. If some feel that a government has overstepped the mark in doing so, their actions are challengeable in court. We are seeing a number of Canadians do just that with regard to the response to the Ottawa occupation.
Such realities aside, politicians like Redekopp and Thomas use the "dictator" label to convey the idea that a leader is not sufficiently accountable to the will of the people, or that they have illegitimately used coercion to maintain power. The impression that the leader is out of touch and abusing their power can stick with listeners.
Repeated often enough, the insult becomes part of the way opponents perceive a leader. They are effectively framed as undemocratic, and even illegitimate.
Terms used to delegitimize
Other terms can be used to delegitimize as well. For instance, as part of his leadership campaign, Pierre Poilievre is leaning into a relatively libertarian view of conservatism. The central word of his campaign has been "freedom": from pandemic regulations to access to alternative currencies like Bitcoin, his campaign is built around the idea that more government is the problem, and freedom is the solution.
To emphasize his own views, Poilievre refers to his opponents as "socialists." He dismissed the supply-and-confidence agreement between the NDP and the Liberals as a "socialist coalition." Given how the label "socialist" conjures up additional burdens of taxation and regulation, it is an ideal foil for a libertarian speaking to those who feel they would be better able to chart their own path without the state's assistance.
"Socialist" used as an attack can be delegitimizing as well, particularly when a link is drawn or implied between it and the anti-democratic evils of 20th-century communism.
Communists, while agreeing with democratic socialists on the need to redistribute resources, endorse the need for revolutionary change, a transformation of the economy toward collective ownership to which all contribute, and are paid according to some combination of needs, abilities, and work. In theory, that revolution need not be undemocratic; in practice, however, communist revolutions, and the regimes that followed, have been just that.
While not using the label "communist" to refer to opponents directly, Poilievre has at times drawn links between his opponents and socialism, communism and authoritarianism. For instance, last year he tweeted that "Trudeau said he admired China's 'basic dictatorship' and called Fidel Castro a 'legendary revolutionary.' He still believes those things. That is why he won't condemn the socialist crackdown on the Cuban people."
Again, the reality is that belief in a more active state makes one neither communist, nor anti-democratic. In kindergarten — stay with me here — along with rules like "don't eat the paste," and "don't give yourself a haircut with your neat new scissors," we learn two seemingly contradictory, yet equally crucial social lessons: don't take what isn't yours, and make sure you share with others so that everyone has enough.
A potent insult
In a way, libertarianism and socialism represent each of those lessons applied to politics. Libertarians believe that we should each be left alone to do what we will with what we have. Conversely, socialists focus on the need to ensure everyone has what they need to live a life of dignity.
While socialist policies do indeed focus on the state's ability to collect and redistribute resources in ways that improve the lives of all, particularly the least advantaged, they may be both widespread and popular, as in the case of state-supported childcare. Indeed, there are socialist policies found in nearly every capitalist democratic society, sitting alongside robust protections for private property and personal freedoms.
Even so, it remains a potent insult given the way the label draws links with the Cold War legacy of totalitarian communism.
Some may be inclined to dismiss such language as "just politics." Others may say I'm only targeting Conservatives here. Fair enough. But at the moment, they are the ones standing up in the House of Commons to delegitimize their opponents as anti-democratic. We certainly saw inflammatory language on the margins of Twitter and elsewhere attacking former prime minister Stephen Harper as a fascist, but when used in the House, such language was rightly called out as unparliamentary.
The repeated intimation that democratic leaders are acting undemocratically can undermine the confidence of voters in the legitimacy of the system. Such labels can serve to heighten political polarization as well, encouraging voters to see political opponents not just as mistaken but illegitimate.
In the long run, these effects can weaken the very fabric of democracy. If we lose the ability to distinguish between an unpopular democratic leader and a dictator like Vladimir Putin, or between state-funded childcare and a centrally-planned economy, we risk losing sight of the value of discourse and debate in a pluralist liberal democracy, and the vital importance of defending it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stewart Prest is a lecturer in political science at Simon Fraser University. He teaches and researches a range of subjects, including democratic institutions and Canadian politics.
VANCOUVER
Angry commuters drag protesters as they block Ironworkers Memorial Bridge
Protesters dragged off
Chris Campbell / Burnaby Now - Apr 21, 2022 / 10:07 am | Story: 366623
Photo: Save Old Growth
A series of anti-logging protests on Highway 1 in Burnaby turned rough Thursday morning as some drivers had apparently had enough of the traffic disruptions.
A video posted by the group Save Old Growth shows some of its members sitting on the deck of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.
Suddenly, in step some drivers who had left their vehicles to try and drag the protesters out of their path.
“The Trans-Canada Highway has been blocked by Save Old Growth,” reads a tweet. “People were violently attacked by angry commuters and stayed calm and non-violent during the process.”
Traffic was backed up well into Burnaby.
The protests have been going on for several weeks, but multiple events have been staged in the last couple of days. Earlier this week, two people were arrested at the intersection of Grandview and Boundary Road in Burnaby for blocking traffic.
Motorists are advised to stay in their vehicles and wait for police to arrive if they encounter a blockade.
This was the group’s 10th direct-action in Vancouver and Burnaby this month.
A total of 84 people have been arrested on B.C. highways since January in Vancouver, Burnaby Revelstoke, Victoria and Nanaimo.
“We’re done being afraid. We won’t stop until the government passes legislation to end all old growth logging. This is not a big demand, we’ve only got 2.7% of the productive old growth left. Killing the last of these ancient trees is a death sentence for millions of Canadians due to ecological breakdown,” said Julia Torgerson, a spokesperson for the group, in a statement.
