This Election Matters

Follow the Council's ongoing election coverage; with issues analysis, questions for the candidates, our election blog, and more resources being added daily. More »

Majority of Canadians want Canada-EU trade deal text released now

The Council of Canadians has found that 77 percent of Canadians want the draft text of a sweeping new Canada-European Union trade deal made public before the October 14 federal election vote, in a poll conducted by Strategic Communications. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has reportedly decided not to release the draft text and internal study of the trade deal that is said to exceed NAFTA in scope, despite talks on the deal that will take place in Montreal just three days after the election. The poll also shows that 67 per cent of Conservative voters believe that the draft text should be released right away. More »

Read the full poll results (PDF) »

Take Action: Release the Canada-EU 'deep economic integration' text!

Unreleased government report on water crisis in Canada

The Council of Canadians and MiningWatch Canada have made public a report drafted by Environment Canada in December 2007 revealing that the agency had documented crucial information regarding the looming freshwater crisis in Canada.

The report, titled “A Federal Perspective on Water Quantity Issues,” which was obtained through an Access To Information request warns "there may be heightened risk for jurisdictional conflict for water allocation between provinces and also between Canada and the United States." More »

Read the Report (PDF) »

Q: When is a lake not a lake?
A: When the Canadian Government says it should be a dump for mine waste.

Lakes that would normally be protected as fish habitat by the Fisheries Act are now being redefined as “tailing impoundment areas” according to a 2002 “schedule” added to the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations of the Act. Once added to Schedule 2, healthy freshwater lakes lose all protection and become dump sites for mining waste. In 2006, two lakes in Newfoundland were added to Schedule 2 and more recently two lakes in Nunavut were approved for destruction.

Online Poll: Should Canadian lakes be used as dump sites for mining corporations? View poll results

Click here for Environment Canada’s list of 11 lakes proposed for destruction.

Take Action! Sandy Pond, near Long Harbour, N.L., is next on the hit list. The mine tailings that Vale Inco plans to dump into the lake will destroy the lake, causing irreversible damage. Save Newfoundland's Sandy Pond and tell our government that lakes should not be used as dump sites.

Join the growing movement to ban bottled water in public spaces

Across the country, concerned citizens are visiting their municipal councils and local school boards to say that bottled water is an unnecessary drain on the environment and on budgets. More »

Not Counting Canadians: The Security and Prosperity Partnership and public opinion

On April 21, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper traveled to New Orleans to attend the fourth annual North American Leaders’ Summit to discuss progress to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) with his American and Mexican counterparts. It has been four years since this process began, and no one beyond an elite group of corporate CEOs has been asked how they feel about the SPP—until now.

» Click here to read the report.

Click here to read a letter to Prime Minister Harper demanding a debate on the SPP, which was signed by Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), David Suzuki, Ken Georgetti (Canadian Labour Congress), and Maher Arar and Monia Mazigh.

Visit IntegrateThis.ca for SPP updates, to download audio, video and to read more about the SPP.

WATER

F.L.O.W - For Love of Water
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab.

How you can help ban bottled water
Across the country, concerned citizens are visiting their municipal councils and local school boards to say that bottled water is an unnecessary drain on the environment and on budgets. More »

Download the Council of Canadians 2008 General Water Presentation

HEALTH CARE

NEW! Best Kept Secret: Canada’s health care competitive advantage – a comprehensive resource guide about the advantages of Canada’s public health care system for citizens and businesses.

ENERGY

Stop the injustice: Overhaul Ontario's mining laws and policies Joint statement on Ontario's mining act, March 17, 2008

Click here for energy fact sheets and ideas on what you can do.