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Ottawa – The Council of Canadians has submitted a report to the federal government objecting to Canada’s entry into Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations as part of a public consultation announced in December by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Read more »
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has written to the University of Alberta warning that rewarding former NestléCEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe with the institution’s highest honour “would be a global black mark on the university’s reputation”. Barlow served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. Read more »
Brussels – Critics of the triennial World Water Forum are encouraged by the failure on the part of forum organizers to attract large numbers to this year's event taking place March 12-17 in Marseille. Read more »
At 11am this Valentine’s Day, local Council of Canadians activists will present an oversized card to Premier Selinger asking his government to keep Manitoba out of CETA, the controversial economic and trade agreement currently under secretive negotiation with the European Union. Read more »
The Council of Canadians, Climate Action Network Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network have been meeting with Ottawa-based European Union Embassies to counteract Canadian lobbying against an important European climate policy.
“Canadian lobbying against the EU Fuel Quality Directive is riddled with misleading arguments and it does not represent the values many Canadians share,” says Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and Climate Justice Campaigner with the Council of Canadians.. Read more »
Ottawa – The signing of a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement with China during the Prime Minister’s state visit this week would be a sign the Harper government is only interested in protecting rights for some humans (and rich corporations) – not human rights generally, says the Council of Canadians. The organization opposes the FIPAs and other bilateral investment treaties which have been used extensively by corporations and investors to undermine the public good globally. Read more »
Ottawa – The controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, is facing mounting opposition across the country. A new Environics Research poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians has found that 62% of Canadians support “a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all the federal environmental reviews are complete”. Read more »
The Council of Canadians deplores the actions of American giant Caterpillar in closing its London Ontario plant. Caterpillar took this action after the workers rightly refused the company's demand of a 50% wage cut. The company declared all-time record profits for 2011 one week ago and massive Canadian sales (including in the tar sands) are part of Caterpillar's large revenues. Read more »
Halifax – The Council of Canadians, commenting on Canada-European Union trade documents leaked last week, is calling on the Dexter government to explain why it has not carved out drinking and wastewater services from its offers to the EU in the ongoing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement negotiations. Read more »
The transport licence that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) issued to Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden will expire on February 3, 2012. Bruce Power had planned to use Swedish company Studsvik to ‘decontaminate’ the radioactive waste and sell the scrap metal back onto open markets. The most radioactive parts of the generators would be transported back to the Great Lakes and stored near its nuclear power plant on Lake Huron. Read more »
Charlottetown –- The local Council of Canadians is calling on the PEI Government to explain why it has included Gambling and Betting Services in its list of protected items under the proposed Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and not water services such as drinking water and wastewater. Read more »
Op-eds and articles
Key point missed, Stuart Trew, The StarPhoenix, February 21, 2012
Canadian Perspectives, our in-depth membership magazine, reports on the work of the Council and explores the important political developments affecting Canadians and the world around us.
VIDEO: Maude Barlow on public health care, January 2012
Maude Barlow speaks with Libby Davies as Canada's premiers meet on the future of medicare during the Council of the Federation meeting on the 2014 Canada Health Accord negotiations, January 14, 2012 in Victoria. (Rabble.ca)
AUDIO: More Generator Opposition, Emma Lui, National Water Campaigner, voices opposition to Bruce Power's steam generator plan, Bayshore News, March 21, 2011
AUDIO: Telephone Town Hall with Maude Barlow, On Sunday, February 27, 2011, the Council of Canadians welcomed more than 20,000 members and supporters from communities across Canada to our first “National Telephone Town Hall” with National Chairperson Maude Barlow.
(Download MP3 here)
VIDEO: Free Trade With E.U. Concerns, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow speaking on the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in Guelph, Ontario on January 26, 2011
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Media releases
MEDIA CONTACT INFORMATION
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: