Canadian Killed in Iraq

It took Foreign Affairs a month, a month, to find out that he had been killed. They obviously didn't even know he had gone to Iraq. Sounds like the Department and its Minister fell down on the job. Peter McKay should resign.

An Iraqi-born Canadian from Montreal was killed last month when he returned to his homeland to visit the children he hadn't seen in about 15 years, Foreign Affairs has confirmed.Department officials confirmed that the body of Sadeq Aldifai was found in a desert near the western border of Iraq.Iraqi-born Canadian killed after returning to homeland

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Contracting -out Broadcasting Corporation

Another indication that our glorious peoples network is rapidly become the Conservative Broadcasting Corporation is their latest move in cutting their noses to spite their face. In this case the layoff and dismantling of their production department. The production department for chris' sakes.

Seventy-nine CBC employees - including workers who build sets, style hair and apply makeup - received layoff notices Thursday, a move critics called "the end of a television era" at the public broadcaster. 79 employees to be laid off at CBC-TV Toronto, executives say

The cash-strapped CBC announced it is having to cut back its in-house production capabilities dramatically by eliminating 79 design positions, from set builders and costume makers to makeup artists and hairstylists, at the broadcaster's Toronto production centre.

This is in addition to a number of voluntary layoffs, some terminated studio production jobs and positions left unfilled, bringing the total to around 106.

"We're sad about this. It is an end of an era. For 50 years, there has been in-house design at CBC, and now there is not going to be," said Fred Mattocks, executive director of regional programming and television production and resources. CBC drops axe on 79 design jobs

Aww he's sad. He has his job. Talk about crocodile tears. Obviously CBC is anticipating the Conservatives gutting our public broadcaster as they have threatened over the years. Quick action sought on CBC review

I thought that was why the CBC staff fought the lockout last year, to stop this kind of contracting out. A press release won't cut it folks, but a wildcat strike would. Of course that is illegal so I guess the best we can hope for is lobbying, email campaigns and maybe, just maybe an information picket or two. Sigh.

This is the begining of the end, what will be left of mothercorp is it becoming the NHL network. NHL is back so is the CBC


Also see:

Media Watch

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Alberta Needs a Living Wage

Alberta is booming. Jobs are waiting while employers finally realise they have to actually pay for labour, over and above the minimum wage, which is the lowest in the country. But are they paying you a living wage.

Find out by taking the Living Wage survey here.



Also See: We Need a Living Wage

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Alberta Labour History Institute Web Launch

Alberta Labour History Institute Web Launch

The launch will mark the culmination of seven years of work to collect materials and stories, resource archives and repositories, and interview Alberta workers and trade union leaders. This work was expedited in the past year with a Centennial Labour History Project made possible by generous funding from Heritage Canada and Athabasca University, as well as a number of trade unions and other working class organizations. On Wednesday, April 12, 2006, the Website will become available at http://www.labourhistory.ca

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labour, Edmonton, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, labour-history, history, web, historyweb, labourweb

AUPE gets off its ass

They have a great looking web page, they have up to date press releases and photos. So how come its taken them years to have their communications guy finally post their press releases to LabourStart?

I did it for them gratis for years cause they seemed to forget about this important source of labour news. Well I am happy to let the guy paid to do it, do it. Thanks Climenhaga. Took ya long enough.

Canada/North America AUPE and Calgary Health Region reach tentative agreement for 5,200 GSS workers [Alberta Union of Provincial Employees] For more info 20-Apr-2006 There are 4 more Canada stories today.

Wonder when Gil the former PR guy for the AFL and now their president will get off his ass and do the same thing for the AFL website.He is after all a hands on kinda guy. Probably when he corrects all the dead links on their website and updates it to include Mayweek and Public Interest Alberta.





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Dead Way

The peasants have surrounded the castle, the monster is put to the torch and the mad doctor is in chains.

King Ralph has lost another one. Just like Same Sex Marriage, the gun registry, Kyoto, the Vriend case, etc.. Talk tough, carry a big wad of cash, and run away.

The Third Way in Health Care reform is dead. Horray cry the Volk of Alberta, the monster is dead.

But lets not party too soon contrary to the blatherings of some.

Don't forget this is the PC's, the Party of Calgary and Presto is still waiting in the wings for an invitation to the dance. And Presto likes the Third Way.

And who actually embraced the Third Way, except the Tory-appointed Calgary Health Region, an outfit hell-bent to let docs cash in on queue-jumpers since some in this city have the fat wallets to get the red-carpet treatment? Even Ralph's own MLAs finally gave the deal the thumbs-down. Tories flatline Third Way

So on May Day in Edmonton , there will be massive march in celebration of the workers holiday and a protest against the Third Way the people need to really make sure the monster is dead. Bring your stakes and signs.

As workers, we must recognize and commemorate May Day not only for its historical significance, but also as a time to organize and speak out around issues that are impacting working-class people today. The March has historically been an opportunity for people to take to the streets and show their commitment to fairness, justice and respect in and outside of the workplace. In this spirit, this year’s March will provide a forum for the public disapproval and resistance to the Alberta Government’s plan for “third way” health care reforms. Edmonton May Week Labour Arts Festival


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America's Snow Job

He would be an appropriate press flak for the Bush regime. Then they could have their own Sunday morning talk show too. Wait they already do, and they have their own station too, heck why even hire him, just use Fox to broadcast all official White House PR. Wait they already do. FOX News' Tony Snow Among Possible White House Spokesman Candidates


Snow repeated falsehoods, offered new one in attempt to rebut Media Matters

See he is perfect for the job. And as another draft dodger that would make a full deck in the White House.



Also See:

Fox Bashing

Fox News Format Infiltrates Canada

An alternative to FOX NEWS

Canada vs Fox

Navel Gazing T.V.

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Harper Full Of Gas

Uh oh the Harpocrite broke another promise. He is telling Canadians to live with high gas prices.

In the 2004 election campaign, and when he was Leader of the Opposition ,he called on the government to eliminate the GST on gas prices. Now he says his teeny tiny 1% GST cut will suffice. Ha, ha, oh thats rich. Rich for gas gouging Big Oil that is sitting on massive reserves in Canada and so do not have to raise the gas prices.

And guess who is really upset with this....why Harpers allies on the right like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and gasp, the Blogging Tories. So I guess the honeymoon is now officially over.


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The Iranian View

Amidst the sturm and drang and the druming of war with a possible U.S. Nuclear attack on Iran the MSM and the blogs have missed the opportunity to give the Iranian view of their pride in joining the Nuclear club.

Yes pride. Mis-placed of course, but none the less pride just like the Americans have over being a nuclear power. Because with the advent of nuclear power, not the bomb perse, but the ability to produce their enriched uranium for nuclear power plants for 'domestic' use and thus the ability to produce the waste used for a bomb, the Iranian population are united in their view that this now makes them a Great Power.

In truth, the politicians who have overseen Iran’s nuclear file, whether under the presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani or Mohammed Khatami, and to this day, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are aware that the development of nuclear technology should not push Iran into crises that prohibit the country from using this technology for peaceful means.

As Iranians celebrated the announcement that their country had joined the nuclear club, conservative writers and journalists defended this incredible achievement but did not call for Iran’s exit from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Instead, they demanded the articles in NPT to be implemented.

The Editor-in-Chief of Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, known for his extremist views on such topics, demanded the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed El Baradei, investigate whether the NPT treaty had been breached, before submitting his report to the UN Security Council or the IAEA.

Yet, the academic Davoud Hermidas Bavand saw that from this point onwards, the Iranians should manage the nuclear file with great care and attention. He added that El Baradei’s talks in the Iranian capital would provide an indication of the IAEA’s intentions that it accepts Iran’s uranium enrichment program given that it has not breached any international treaty or it rejects it. In this case, it would throw the ball in the UN Security Council’s court.

Compared to their neighbours in the Middle East, this puts Iran on par with Israel. Israel who has the bomb but is not a member of the NPT, nor is India, both American allies. While Iran is a member of the Nuclear Club and subject to UN sanctions and IAEA observations.

The Bushehr nuclear reactor lies on the shores of the Gulf, and it is closer to Manama or Doha than to the Iranian capital which lies in the interior. This means Tehran is almost safe, much more so than the capitals of the Persian Gulf , in case a mishap or an attack. A nuclear Iran is not evidence the country has become a power in the industrial sense. Iran … “I cry out in the Gulf”

And while the U.S. and its allies threaten Iran over its joining their exclusive nuclear club, the point is that the Iranian people are united in their support for this. Which makes any attempt to mobilize the reformers to oppose the current regime a phantasmagoria.

In the world of geopolitics Iran becoming a Great Power, a global nuclear power places that country in an exclusive club. One whose membership is rather selective about who gets to join.

Missing in this one sided rant by the American Empire is the simple fact that all signatories to the NPT agree to eliminate nuclear weapons. The U.S., which along with Russia have the most nuclear weapons and WMD of other kinds, has refused to reduce its stockpile. In fact with the Bush policy of pre-emptive strikes, it is expanding its small scale nuclear capability with bunker bombs etc .

If sanity is to be regained then the world, the UN, countries like Canada need to demand that the U.S. and Russia along with all countries with nuclear weapons begin the mass destruction of these weapons for the safety and good of the planet.

That was and is the purpose of the NPT. And countries that do not belong to the NPT should be shunned until such time as they are forced to allow inspectors to check their weapons.

Canada has long been an advocate of Nuclear non proliferation, however under the Harpocrites it appears that the government in its hypocritical condemnation of Iran in support of the Bush regime seems to forget this.Harper says Canada stands with allies against Iran

If Canada is to condemn anyone it should be Israel, not likely with Zionist sympathisers like Stockwell Day in cabinet, and India, as well as those countries not members of the Nuclear Club; the NPT.

Canada could be a voice of sanity and calm in this current attempt by the U.S. to drum up support for another idiotic pre-emptive assault on a Soveirgn country. The real question is why after the end of the Cold War we see an increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons not a decrease. We are now less safe than we were when a balance of MAD existed between the Soviet Union and the U.S.

Canada as a country with NO nuclear weapons has the political responsibility and obligation to pose an alternative to this MADness and call for an end to all WMD. Period. And it the Harpocrites won't do it in a minority government then it behooves the Opposition to unite around this and demand it.




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Quit Yer Whining

Bush Calls Rising Gas Prices 'Major Problem' for Country

Yo America quit yer whining about gas prices.

Here in Alberta we are paying $4 a gallon, and we own the stuff.

While in the U.S. gas prices are half that.

You want good news or bad news? For commodities, it doesn't matter

But others hold out little hope for lower oil prices in the near future. "I think the price is going to go higher," said Peter Tertzakian, chief energy economist and director of ARC Financial Corp. in Calgary.

With China showing no signs of slowing and North American demand for gasoline remaining strong, "in the near term there isn't a lot of spare capacity out there to make the markets feel comfortable," said Mr. Tertzakian, author of A Thousand Barrels A Second: The Coming Oil Break Point and the Challenges Facing an Energy Dependent World.

While it's true that U.S. crude oil inventories are high, "that's like saying the gas tank is high in my car. But the issue isn't the gas tank in your car, it's at the pump."

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