Wetmonton

Hark what light on yonder window breaks....why it's the sun....after weeks of depressing overcast weather and cold rain.If I wanted to live on the Wet Coast I would move there. But for the past three weeks Edmonton has had rain. Rain in October.

Not exactly our normal weather for the fall. Sigh. But at least it's a dry rain ;)

Rainfall in Edmonton varies from 36.0 to 258.0 (mm/month).

Rain mm inch 500 20 400 16 300 12 200 8 100 4 0 0 J F M A M J J A S O N D

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Ralph Keynes

Oh what a clown King Ralph is. Having spent a decade denouncing Keynesianism, he ups and turns out to be one....

Klein's advice to cities illogical

Ralph Klein found the biggest cow pie in the field this week and jumped right in -- with both feet.

The premier now says Edmonton and Calgary should put off building new roads and arenas because it's just too expensive in this overheated economy. Don't worry about all those new citizens who need libraries, more transit and fire halls.

"Delay the projects. Put them on hold until they're affordable," thundered Klein, who will retire shortly -- though it's not soon enough in our view.

The premier then proceeded to pass on a little helpful advice.

"The best time to build is during a recession or depression. That's when you get the best possible prices," he said.

Really? So why did Klein spend a decade doing exactly the opposite?

Because he is a neo-con who said Keynesianism was dead all that is important is to fight the debt and deficit. And of course toss in the privatizing of public services, which leads to private profit at public expense.

Shame on Ralph

Alberta Liberals say Ralph Klein is being hypocritical for telling cities to delay projects with runaway costs when his own government is routinely approving massive cost increases on its own projects.

The Liberals produced documents showing more than 50 projects with cost overruns as high as 106% in the past two years - and that doesn't even include recent projects.

"Ralph is saying you have to get your costs under control," said Liberal MLA Maurice Tougas.

"Maybe he should practise what he preaches. We've found cost overruns by the truckload."

Tougas said he was concerned millions of dollars in overruns are being quietly approved behind closed doors without any discussion in the legislature.

See:

Klein


Klein, Martha, Henry, severely, normal, Albertans, Alberta, PC, Conservative, Tory, government, politics, drunk, KingRalph, Ralph, leadership, PCleadership, race, Premier

PET Would Not Be Amused

The quiet death of Trudeau Liberalism. Grits declare Quebec a nation And the guy touted as the New Trudeau, well he ain't. Frontrunner Michael Ignatieff was among those to welcome the move. "I speak for those who say Quebec is a nation, but Canada is my country," Ignatieff said in his opening remarks.

Of course the NDP already beat them to it.



Also See

Liberal Leadership Race



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The Church of Global Warming

It appears that the some in the Evangelical Movement in the United States have seen the light and are now concerned that Global Warming might not be good for God's creatures.

In other words Global Warming must be the work of the Devil. After all Satan's abode does produce a lot of Greehouse Gases.

And Lucifer ,as Promethean Man, is the meme for fire which leads to industrialization.

Took them long enough to realize what William Blake did three hundred years ago when he denounced capitalism for it's dark satanic mills.

Of course these evangelists aren't that radical.

Holy Global Warming!

An alignment of faith, science for the planet's sake




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More Corporate Welfare

During her press conference on the Tories Hot Air Act Environment Minister Rona Ambrose tossed about the phrase CO2 sequestration It is experimental technology and it is being developed in Socialist Saskatchewan thanks to government funding.

Now this is interesting the guys who are making record profits want more government handouts to create Greenhouse Gas Technology. CO2 sequestration to be exact. And that is what the Tories Hot Air act promises, an infrastructure fund. A fund paid for by taxpayers, not by fining business or taxing them for their Greenhouse Gas emissions. More corporate welfare from the New Canadian Government just like the Old Canadian Government.

Alberta's booming oilpatch pleased with Ottawa's new clean air act
In April, Shell Canada CEO Clive Mather said the energy giant was in the early stages of lobbying officials in Ottawa and Alberta to develop a framework for an emissions market and help fund infrastructure to make such a project, commercially viable.

CO2 sequestration is being looked at not to reduce Greenhouse Gases, but as a way of extracting Methane gas from coal and for Natural Gas extraction. Business after all doesn't exist to be charitable or do good for the environment unless there is a profit in it.

Study Finds Plenty of Carbon Dioxide Storage Capacity Underground

Geologic sequestration refers to the process of permanent underground storage of carbon dioxide captured from sources such as coal-fired power plants, cement plants, and others manufacturing plants. Widespread deposits of shale are generally thought to be the seal or cap for deeper storage reservoirs that would prevent sequestered CO2 from leaking to the surface. Injection of CO2 into black gas-producing shales may have an additional value of enhancing the recovery of natural gas.

However as with so called clean coal technology this too is experimental and may not actually work.

US researchers who injected carbon dioxide in a depleted oil field in Texas found it caused the minerals underground to dissolve, raising fresh doubts about carbon capture and storage technology as a viable solution to global warming.


Of course that makes it a risky investment. Risk is of course something capitalists abhor, so pass it on to the taxpayers instead with a innovation fund as proposed by the Tories with their Hot Air Act. Which Shell lobbied for.

As my pal Larry Gambone calls it Socialism for the Rich. Public investment for private profit.

The irony in all this is that the forests in Canada are the largest carbon sink going, they actually scrub the CO2 out of the air, but are being destroyed for the sake of the lumber industry. Another of the contradictons of capitalism, which is not sustainable.

See:

Ambrose

Environment

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Time To Resign

Remember this; Environmentalists call for Ambrose to resign, that was back in May.

Now that she has proven she is a shill for the oil industry, with her hot air act, that makes it even more of a reason to call for her resignation.

Clean Air Act wins plaudits from business

A tip o' the blog to Devin Johnston for this.

See:

Ambrose

Environment

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Whistle Blower

In a Globe and Mail story on the WestJet scandal and the whistleblower who exposed WestJets rip off of confidential Air Canada computer information, the whistleblower; Melvin Crothers, may have had more than just good intentions for his actions. Mr. Crothers made $180,000 a year at Signature Vacations in the late 1990s, plus bonuses. At WestJet, he drew an annual salary of $50,000. Hell hath no fury like an employee scorned.

Comments on this story were rather interesting with several commentators calling him a rat and a snitch. These are probably the same people that approve of scabbing during strikes.

The fact is that Westjet owners, you know those folks who work for Westjet and are featured on their TV ads, aren't. They may have profit sharing but the ownership is a fiction, it is WestJets way of avoiding unionization. The real owner is Clive Bedoe who is the guy responsible for the WestJet/ Air Canada scandal.WestJet CEO used purloined data, court files show

And of course while the whistle blower is fired the big guy keeps his job. It's business as usual.

As a result of the legal suit between Air Canada and West Jet, they both collude to appear as good corporate citizens.Air Canada, WestJet feeling charitable
Call it forced charity, the result of the court case not corporate generosity. Since both companies are making record profits, at the expense of their workers.

The funniest thing about all this is that Westjet is awarded for having the best corporate culture in Canada. Of course they overlooked the fact that it is also a 'criminal' corporate culture. Who say's crime doesn't pay.


See:

Criminal Capitalism



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Make Robert Milton Happy

This should be good news to Robert Milton CEO of Air Canada, it's what he has been waiting for; open skies. Remember Open Skies....it was brought into Canada by the Mulroney Conservatives as part of NAFTA and allowed for the privatization of Air Canada. it led to the death of Canadian Airlines and the small air carriers to be swallowed up by the privatized monopoly.

Capitalists love privatized monopolies, which is what happens with globalization. And thats what United is hoping for. Since it is the only airline in the U.S. that is not teetering on bankruptcy, with foreign ownership, say ACE which is the parent company of Air Canada and rolling in dough, it could buy up its competition and we could end up with two or three airlines operating in contiental North America.

United CEO: Bring globalization to US airlines

United CEO Glenn Tilton is calling on U.S. regulators to lift ownership restrictions that limit how much of a U.S. airline can be owned by foreign investors. Such rules have so far blocked a global consolidation that some in the industry say is needed, Tilton says. "U.S. airlines should have the right to grow their businesses in the global marketplace," Tilton is quoted as saying Thursday to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "It's about time we abandon the policy of fragmentation," he adds. Reuters writes that "Tilton, long an advocate for international airline partnerships, reiterated his view that foreign airlines are better positioned to thrive than those in the United States partly because foreign carriers face fewer restrictions to cross-border consolidation." Current rules dictate that U.S. carriers must be controlled by American citizens, though foreign investors are allowed to hold up to 25% of a U.S. airline's voting stock. Reuters adds that "there is little or no foreign investment because of [that] long-standing federal regulation that prohibits overseas interests from having a say in airline operations."

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Fox Guarding Hen House

Remember those coal mining disasters last year in the United States, they weren't a problem of enforcement of the law, say corporate apologists, just mine companies failures to comply with exisiting regulations, and this guy should know....

Ignoring Senate, Bush Taps Mine Exec to be Safety Chief

The Senate has refused to confirm former coal company executive Richard Stickler as the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). So, while they were out, Bush gave him a recess appointment to the post. According to the Charleston Gazette, Stickler's mines had accident rates of twice the national average. At a Senate hearing in March, Stickler explained that if U.S. mines were unsafe, it wasn't an "enforcement problem," merely a "compliance problem.".

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Small Arms Trade

While Canada takes the high road on small arms in conflict areas, Canada Seeks Treaty To Prevent Illicit Flow Of Small Arms To Conflict Areas it has also benefited from the boom in small arms demand since 1990. Go figure. It's called war profiteering. Which will only increase under the New Conservative Government which has close connections with the Military Corporate Complex.

It also reflects Canada's views on gun control, which under the Harper government may mean not only a change in our domestic policy but our international policies as well.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay would not answer the oppositions question about the governments position on the UN Treaty.Small Arms and Light Weapons A simple yes or no question. As usual.

Campaigners for a new international Arms Trade Treaty have noted with disappointment that Canada has yet to endorse a UN resolution, expected to go to vote next week, to start work on the new Treaty.

According to the above story the Government of Canada has now added its official signature as a sponsor of the the Treaty. Now that wasn't so hard, why all the obfustication? Because it is contradictory for the New Canadian Government to want to dismantle the gun registry on one hand and to promote this small arms treaty on the other.

GENDER AND SMALL ARMS

A discussion of gender is relevant to understanding the effects of violence as well as its causes, in conflict and in peace, and particularly where small arms are concerned. While small arm casualties among women and children are significant both in war and in “peace”, the vast majority of victims of gun violence world-wide are men. At the same time, women are targets of certain types of violence as a result of their gender. Moreover, some forms of violence against women are unique and an understanding of these dynamics is the key to effective intervention. For a variety of reasons, small arms ownership and use are predominantly male enterprises. A disproportionate percentage of the aggressors (whether in conflict or in peace) are male, while a significant proportion of victims are women. In other words, the percentage of women victimised by the misuse of small arms is greater than the percentage of small arms misuse by women. Sociological perspectives have focused attention on militarized cultures that are both a cause and an effect of the proliferation and misuse of firearms. The political processes at the national and international level are dominated by men who bring certain perspectives to small arms. As one Canadian Senator noted during a heated debate on domestic firearm regulation: "if there were more women in Parliament, we would not even be having this debate". The way in which expertise is defined (e.g. technical knowledge of the weapons themselves rather than knowledge of violence or conflict prevention) also shapes the way in which the issue is addressed. However, women have played critical roles throughout the world in successful community-based and advocacy efforts to address the problem. Many of these efforts have involved building coalitions that bring together players from across various sectors. The problems associated with the proliferation and misuse of small arms is a women's issue, but not exclusively so. Indeed, mobilizing women is critical to devising and evaluating strategies to reduce these problems. The gender lens provides a unique perspective which crosses traditional boundaries that encourage dichotomies such as crime/conflict; licit/illicit; north/south; domestic/international. It promotes an integrated and holistic approach to the problem of small arms that includes addressing both demand and supply. The regrettable truth is that women are often as much at risk of violence from small arms in contexts described as peaceful as they are in conflicts. Women are as much at risk from licit small arms as from illicit small arms. In terms of improving the safety of women and children from small arms, measures aimed at strengthening control over civilian possession of small arms in order to reduce diversion and misuse are as critical as those aimed at strengthening controls over state to state transfers or imports and exports. Consequently, a gender analysis reinforces the need for an integrated and holistic plan of action arising from the 2001 conference.

CONFLICT, PEACE-BUILDING, DISARMAMENT, SECURITY Gender Perspectives on Small Arms

Small Arms and Light Weapons

A multitude of studies and reports conducted since the end of the Cold War show conclusively that the excessive and destabilizing accumulation and uncontrolled spread of small arms and light weapons has posed and continues to pose a major threat to international peace and security. In virtually all conflicts that have erupted since 1990 the principle or exclusive weapons system used have been small arms and light weapons.

Canada and Small Arms Exports

According to the Small Arms Survey (2005), Canada is a “major” small arms exporter because it typically exports more than US $10-million in small arms and ammunition a year. At the same time, Canada is not among the “top exporters” identified in the 2005 Small Arms Survey (p. 100): the United States, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, the Russian Federation, and China.
Canadian exports of military small arms are reported by the Canadian government in its Annual
Report on the Export of Military Goods. To date the Annual Report has provided data on the export of goods specifically designed or adapted for military use, including a category—Item 2001—for military small arms. This item was defined in the most recent Annual Report as “firearms and automatic weapons with a calibre of 12.7 mm (0.5 inches) [or less], including firearms for sporting and competition purposes and their components and accessories.” 2 The category includes rifles, carbines, revolvers, pistols, shotguns, and machine guns.

As illustrated by Figure 1, in the last decade of reported data (1993-2002) the value of these exports has fluctuated dramatically, from a low of less than $1-million in 1993 to a high of more than $30- million in 1995. The spikes in military small arms exports have corresponded to concentrated shipments of Canadian-manufactured automatic weapons to NATO countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and the UK. The total value of shipments for the 10-year period is $143-million or an average of over $14-million per year. The totals of Figure 1 are incomplete, however, for two reasons. First, exports of military small arms and light weapons to the United States are not included because special military trade arrangements between Canada and the US do not require the usual government tracking and reporting of military goods. Second, the totals shown are for the firearms and automatic weapons category of Canada’s Export Control List (ECL Item 2001) and do not include the light weapons and small arms ammunition that are included but not reported separately in other military goods categories. Consequently, the true values of Canada’s annual military small arms exports are higher than the reported figures.

The Military Lobby

While much smaller but no less successful than the corporate lobby, the military lobby comprises corporations that produce goods or provide services to the Department of National Defence, the Pentagon, other foreign governments, parent corporations and prime contractors. They benefit from military contracts, and federal and provincial subsidies and tax breaks.

A strong element of the military lobby is bonded by ideology (with some self-interest thrown in). These are the pro-defence "think tanks" such as the Conference of Defence Associations or the Security and Defence Forum that links largely hawkish academics from a dozen universities together through common interests and a $2-million fund from the military.

On the industry side, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries reports that in 2000 (the latest figures available) there were more than 1,500 firms in Canada generating more than $100,000 in defence revenues, comprising an industry worth roughly $7 billion per year.

A third of the industry's revenues are derived from arms exports, half of that to the United States. As a result, both the Washington-based Congressional Research Service and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ranked Canada as the sixth largest global arms exporter in 2004.

These companies build everything from wheeled tanks to tactical helicopters. But most Canadian defence companies are branch plants or subcontractors, building components for U.S. systems, such as gearboxes for the Apache helicopter.

Even the top Canadian companies realize a small share of their revenue from military contracts. According to Project Ploughshares, the industry is dominated by a handful of companies who typically land on the list top 10 Canadian military contracts: CAE Inc., General Dynamics Canada and General Dynamics Land Systems Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group, Bell Helicopter Textron, Bombardier. Half of the top 10 companies are foreign owned or controlled. Yet only six of the top 10 companies actually rely on military contracts for more than 20 per cent of their revenue.

Finally, one cannot exclude the Department of National Defence itself from the military lobby. It spends millions of dollars a year on public relations, including public opinion polling, cultivating favorable coverage from journalists, in addition to funding conservative think tanks and university research institutes.

Canadian Small Arms Industry & Products

The following information was compiled by Project Ploughshares from open sources.

Small Arms Manufacturers|Ammunition|Components

Small Arms Manufacturers

Diemaco Inc., Kitchener, Ontario
Designated the Small Arms "Centre of Excellence" by the Canadian Department of National Defence, Diemaco was proclaimed to be "the firearms-production capital of Canada" when it received a C$107 million contract from the Defence Department to supply automatic rifles and carbines in 1984. In 1994 the company landed a C$50 million contract with the Netherlands military to supply C7 rifles, followed in 1995 and 1996 by Danish orders worth C$13 million. Diemaco also has exported automatic weapons and components to Belgium, New Zealand, and the United States, according to company and media reports, and it has had additional "export experience" in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, according to Industry Canada [source: Industry Canada, "Canadian Company Capabilities"].

Diemaco produces the C7 Combat Rifle (a version of the US Colt M16), the C7A1 Combat Rifle (an optically-sighted version of the C7), the C8 Carbine (a C-7 with a telescoping stock and a shorter barrel), and the C10 training rifle. The company is a division of Devtek Corporation, based in Markham, Ontario.

From 1981 Diemaco lobbied the government to change the Criminal Code so that it could export automatic rifles, contributing to 1991 legislative changes creating an Automatic Firearms Country Control List of prescribed countries eligible to order automatic weapons from Canada.

Para-Ordnance Manufacturing Inc., Scarborough, Ontario
Para-Ordnance manufactures and sells handguns -- a range of 9mm, .40- and .45-caliber pistols. According to company material, Para-Ordnance is the originator of the "high magazine capacity" .45-caliber pistol, and "offers a wide range of quality engineered products for the law enforcement, military, and civilian markets" [source: "About Us" from the company website]. Para-Ordnance supplies domestic customers, including Canadian police forces, private sports shooters and hunters, and ships handguns out of the country, reporting export sales exceeding C$500,000 in a company report to Industry Canada in 1998. In 1996, Para-Ordnance received an export permit to sell about 200 handguns worth just over C$100,000 to police in Thailand, according to media reports. The company also claims "export experience" in over 20 countries, including South Africa, Philippines, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, and all states in the United States.

Savage Arms (Canada) Inc., Lakefield, Ontario
Savage Arms (Canada) produces .22-caliber long rifles and sporting fire rifles, including those used for target shooting and biathlon events. Formerly the Canadian-owned Lakefield Arms, the company is now a subsidiary of the Massachusetts-based Savage Sports Corporation. According to company officials, Savage Arms exports 97 per cent of its rifles, mostly to the US. [source: testimony of Mr. Barrie King, Vice-President and General Manager, to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, 24 November 1997]

Armament Technology, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Armament Technology sells Canadian-assembled 7.62 mm tactical and sniper rifles to military, police and civilian customers. The Canadian-owned company also distributes associated firearms equipment such as optical sights and rifle stocks and provides refits, including rebarreling, of police and military sniper rifles. Armament Technology has reported sales to Canadian and US police forces as well as exports to Australia.

Additional Ontario businesses involved in "manufacture, processing or assembly of firearms"

Marstar Canada Inc., VanKleek Hill
Phantom Forge, Shelburne
Precision Arms & Gunsmithing Ltd., King City
Stoeger Canada (1990) Limited, Whitby
United Sport Shooting Ranges, Gormley

[source: Chief Firearms Office of Ontario]

Small Arms Ammunition Manufacturers

SNC Industrial Technologies Inc., Le Gardeur, Quebec
A division of the SNC-Lavalin Group of Montreal, SNC Industrial Technologies produces a range of small arms ammunition, including 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, 9 mm, .50- and .303-caliber rounds as well as small arms training ammunition for military, special forces, and police in Canada and abroad. The Canadian Department of National Defence is the company’s largest customer by far, awarding regular multi-million dollar orders for small arms ammunition. (In 1996, for example, the Department of National Defence placed a C$180 million order for "ammunition through 30 mm" with the company.) SNC has also exported training ammunition to the US Navy and Army, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the French Ministry of Defence. In reports to Industry Canada, the company cites "export experience" with over 30 other countries, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Oman, Russia, Thailand and the former Yugoslavia. SNC Industrial Technologies also has supplied 81 mm mortar cartridges and, before 1992, "Elsie" anti-personnel landmines to the Canadian Army.

Royal Canadian Cartridge and Munitions Corp., North Vancouver, British Columbia
Royal Canadian Cartridge and Munitions produces shotshells, .22-caliber rimfire rounds, and other small arms ammunition. It is a Canadian-owned company.

Challenger Ammunition, Sainte-Justine-de-Newton, Quebec
Challenger Ammunition produces shotshells, and firearms ammunition, including bullets, and centrefire and rimfire rounds. According to Industry Canada, the company reported no export sales, although it is "actively pursuing" many foreign markets.

Wolf Bullets, Kingston, Ontario
According to promotional material, the company manufactures lead bullets and remanufactures handgun cartridges.

Expro Chemical Products Inc., Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec
Expro manufactures military and commercial propellants and explosives, including explosives used in small arms weapons and ammunition. These include Cyclotol used in grenades, special fragmentation projectiles, and shaped-charge bombs, RDX, used in landmines, and M9 flake explosive used in mortars. The company’s largest military customers are DND and the US Army. The company reports "export experience" with 11 other countries, including Mexico, Philippines and Turkey, although these may have been commercial orders. Expro is one-third owned by its employees.

Small Arms Component Manufacturers

ELCAN Optical Technologies, Midland, Ontario
ELCAN produces optical sights for military small arms use, including sights with night vision capability. The company, now a division of the US-based Raytheon Systems Company, also produces optical systems for mortars and the Eryx anti-tank weapon. ELCAN has sold thousands of sights to the Canadian military-–in 1992 the Department of National Defence ordered 6,750 optical sights worth C$5 million for C9 light machine guns and 55,000 sights worth C$20 million for C7 combat rifles. Additional military customers include Australia and the UK. In 1998 the US Army ordered ELCAN telescopic sights for 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns in an initial C$200,000 order that could lead to sales totalling C$6 million.

The ERYX Short-Range Anti-Tank Guided Weapon System - Canadian components
As part of a 1993 Department of National Defence contract with Aerospatiale Missiles of France for Eryx short-range missiles, the Canadian government obtained offset arrangements that provide for Eryx component production in Canada. The Eryx anti-tank system, which is "man portable" and can be shoulder-launched, was subsequently ordered by Brazil, France, Malaysia, Norway, Turkey and an "undisclosed member of the Gulf Co-operation Council" in the Middle East. [source: Jane’s Defence Weekly, 14 April 1999, p.18]

The Canadian subcontractors consist of:

Allied-Signal Canada Inc, Montreal, Quebec (joint production with Thomson TTD Optronique, France of the Mirabel Thermal Imager);

Composites Atlantic Limited, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (firing post tripods);

Canadian Marconi Company, Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec (hybrid electronic circuits);

Amptech Corporation, Calgary, Alberta (plastic components).

Click here to view a table of small arms producing companies in Canada.

See:

Foreign Aid Or War Profiteering

Canada War Profiteers

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