Media Updates

Council of Canadians objects to Canada's participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations
MEDIA RELEASE | February 15, 2012
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 »
Barlow joins growing chorus calling on U of A to revoke honorary degree for Nestlé CEO
MEDIA RELEASE | February 15, 2012
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has written to the University of Alberta warning that rewarding former Nestlé CEO 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 »
World Water Forum attendance reportedly down as activists ramp up preparations for Alternative Forum
MEDIA RELEASE | February 14, 2012
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 »
Romancing Harper's EU Trade Deal will lead to Heartbreak
MEDIA RELEASE | February 13, 2012
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 »
Lobby Busting Tour of EU Embassies Debunks Tar Sands Misconceptions
MEDIA RELEASE | February 7, 2012
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 »
Harper wants to protect business, not human rights, on visit to China: FIPA should be rejected, says Council of Canadians
MEDIA RELEASE | February 6, 2012
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 »
Don’t frack with our water, say majority of Canadians in new poll
MEDIA RELEASE | February 6, 2012
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 »
Council of Canadians deplores the actions of Caterpillar
MEDIA RELEASE | February 3, 2012
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 »
Nova Scotia Government leaves out important public services from Canada-EU trade offer: Council of Canadians
MEDIA RELEASE | February 3, 2012
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 »
Expiring nuclear waste shipping licence gives feds a second chance to do it right, says Barlow
MEDIA RELEASE | February 2, 2012
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 »
PEI Government willing to protect Gambling and Betting services and not drinking water in CETA negotiations!
MEDIA RELEASE | February 2, 2012
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
• Moratorium vital, Emma Lui, Calgary Herald, February 20, 2012
• With Trade Deal, Will Canada Give EU 'Right to Profit' on Water? Maude Barlow and Paul Moist, The Tyee, February 2, 2012
• Documents show CETA ill-advised, Stuart Trew, The StarPhoenix, February 2, 2012
• Don’t use E-word when describing concerned citizens, Anne Lévesque, The Chronicle Herald, January 21, 2012
• Ontario should call Europe’s bluff on Green Energy Act, Stuart Trew, The Toronto Star, January 16, 2012

Headlines

• Grand Canyon Will Ban Sale of Bottled Water, ICTMN.com, February 8, 2012
• Green groups lobby embassies on EU fuel, Embassy, February 8, 2012
• New Education about Water Storage, "Fracking" and Gender Equality on Sharon Kleyne Hour Power of Water, PRWEB.com, February 8, 2012
• North Vancouver becomes a Blue Community, North Shore Outlook, February 7, 2012
• Poll: Most Canadians Oppose Fracking, Common Dreams, February 7, 2012
• Austerity budget, free trade, crime bill: Conservatives eye sweeping changes with 2012 legislation, Vancouver Observer, February 7, 2012
• Nelson Contracts Open to European Bidders? The Nelson Daily, February 7, 2012
• NGOs counter-lobbying the EU, Straight Goods, February 7, 2012
• Most Canadians oppose natural-gas 'fracking', Postmedia News, February 6, 2012
• Critics point out water not excluded in EU trade deal, Postmedia News, January 26, 2012
• Canada seeks to carve out agriculture, telecom in EU trade talks: documents, The Guardian, January 26, 2012
• Canada’s cities (well, some of them) against Europe trade deal, Macleans, January 25, 2012
• Threats to health care worst in decades: Council of Canadians, Saanich News, January 20, 2012
• Conceptualizing A Great Lakes Commons, Ashland Current, January 20, 2012
• The future of Canada's health care at stake: Maude Barlow warns of privatization and high-cost drugs, Vancouver Observer, January 17, 2012
• Water Law: Public Trust May Be Fresh Approach to Protecting Great Lakes, Circle of Blue, January 17, 2012
• Is the Canada-European Trade Agreement Helping or Hurting? Huffington Post, January 15, 2012
• Council asks province to include it in approval process for oil and gas tests, The Chronicle Herald, January 9, 2012

OLDER HEADLINES »

Speeches

• VIDEO: Free Trade With E.U. Concerns, Maude Barlow, Guelph Mercury, January 28, 2011
• Our Commons Future Is Already Here: A stirring call to unite the environmental and global justice movement from Maude Barlow, by Maude Barlow, October 13, 2010

Blogs

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• Blue Planet Project
  

Campaign resources and reports

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Canadian Perspectives

• 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.

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AUDIO: Barlow on public health care, January 16, 2012

AUDIO: Privatizing Water: Stuart Trew, Trade campaigner for The Council of Canadians. Part One of The Current, CBC, January 27, 2012

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)

VIDEO: September 26, 2011, civil disobedience sit-in against the tar sands in Ottawa

VIDEO: Maude Barlow discussing CETA in Guelph

VIDEO: Maude Barlow, Dave Coles, Fred Wilson, and others arrested at tar sands protest

VIDEO: Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy and climate justice campaigner, The Council of Canadians, explains the reasons for a pipeline protest at Parliament Hill, Global National, September 26, 2011
 

VIDEO: Pipeline protest (Andrea Harden-Donahue at 1:55), CBC Ottawa News at 6, September 26, 2011

AUDIO: Mark Calzavara and The Council of Canadians welcomes the announcement by Ontario’s Minister of the Environment John Wilkinson that a proposed mega-quarry in Melancthon Township will be subject to an Environmental Assessment. Zoomer Radio, September 2, 2011

VIDEO: Interview with Andrea Harden-Donahue in Washington re Keystone XL pipeline (41:08), CBC Northbeat, August 31, 2011

AUDIO: Maude Barlow on CBC radio Newfoundland re CETA, CBC Radio, June 30, 2011

AUDIO: Plan to bury radioactive waste meets opposition, Interview with Emma Lui, National Water Campaigner, Council of Canadians, Bayshore Broadcasting News, June 24, 2011

VIDEO: Maude Barlow calls for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth at the United Nations in New York on April 20, 2011. See a fuller interview with Maude and Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange here.

VIDEO: Golden residents protest Selkirk Power, Golden Star, March 16, 2011

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

VIDEO: 'Harper's Folly' on CTV News with Brent Patterson, Director of Campaigns and Communications, The Council of Canadians, June 7, 2010

VIDEO: Maude Barlow discusses glaciers, climate change and water in Cochabamba with Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! April 22, 2010  

VIDEO: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network interviews Andrea Harden-Donahue and others at the Arctic Summit rally, March 29, 2010

UPDATE: Maude Barlow challenges Aquafed on CNN

More multimedia here »

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