Change on the way for BC?

This was in my in-box today, from Fair Voting BC.  I am encouraged by news of so many groups that have spawned (to use a word from my sons' gaming world) into existence for the sole purpose of re-claiming a democratic society.   If change can happen in BC, I believe it can happen across the entire country, but as with all things demanding political will, we have to help make it happen.

January 26, 2012 Networks and Partnerships for Democratic Reform Dear Democratic Reform Supporters: As both the western and Chinese New Years get underway, our news is mainly about networking and partnerships. Fair Voting BC is pleased to announce the following: Vancouver City Council To Renew Request for Power to Choose Best Voting System for City: Fair Voting BC has had numerous discussions with Vancouver city councillors over the years about addressing some of the problems with the city’s democratic processes. We were therefore very pleased that Councillor Andrea Reimer has introduced a motion calling on the province to change the charter to allow the city freedom to choose its own voting system and to make detailed ballot data publicly available (our request! See last month's newsletter). While council generally appears to be favourable, the minister responsible, Ida Chong, stated that she’ll only implement the requests if the Local Government Elections Task Force and the Union of BC Municipalities agrees, so there’s still a lot of work to be done yet before we win our democratic rights. Fair Voting BC will be speaking in favour of this motion when council hears speakers (likely next Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning). It would be great to have FVBC supporters join us and speak in favour of the motion yourselves - there's strength (and fun) in numbers! Check out the meeting agenda and, if you can come, please send a note to Jim DeLaHunt (jdlh@jdlh.com) to get put on the speaker's list. Fair Voting BC Partners With Party X on Democratic Dialogue Series: Party X is a Vancouver-based non-profit community of tech innovators and social entrepreneurs who are developed new web-based tools for building public consensus. Fair Voting BC is delighted to partner with Party X to offer a dialogue series later this spring on issues of democracy, technology and collective decision-making. Our first organizing meeting will take place downtown at 6pm on Feb 1 (next Wed) and we invite anyone who’s interested to join us. Please click here to register (no charge). Integrity BC Invites FVBC Supporters to Sign Petition Banning Union and Corporate Donations: Integrity BC is a relatively new non-partisan organization championing accountability and integrity in BC politics and we are pleased that two of Fair Voting BC’s founding directors sit on their board: Nick Loenen (former Socred MLA) and David Marley (former assistant to the BC Attorney General). Integrity BC is currently running a campaign called “Who Really Runs BC?” which calls for a ban on corporate and union funding of political parties, a cap on personal donations and a Citizen's Assembly to study and make binding recommendations on a host of other reforms, including banning contributions from outside B.C. They invite you to visit their website for more information on this issue, to sign a petition and to volunteer to help collect signatures. Liberal Convention Supports Alternative Vote: At the Liberal Convention last week, the party adopted a motion that recognizes the failings of Single Member Plurality voting and endorsing the Alternative Vote (AV). AV is much like our Single Member Plurality system, but it substitutes a preferential ballot for the current ‘Mark an X’ ballot. With a preferential ballot, you rank the candidates (1, 2, 3, etc). If no candidate wins 50% on the first vote, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the ballots supporting them transferred to those voters’ second choice. This repeats until someone has 50% support. While there are some (arguably small) benefits of using AV, it is by no means a form of proportional representation (despite some confusion in news reports). Fair Vote Canada regards AV as a non-reform, and Fair Voting BC calls on the Liberal Party to initiate a combined multipartisan and public deliberative dialogue to build consensus on voting reforms that can be broadly supported. Visit our Website fairvotingbc.com

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Enemy of the people of Canada.

Who is the enemy, you decide!
In a sworn affidavit released Tuesday to The Canadian Press, Andrew Frank says he was told by his supervisor at ForestEthics that a PMO official had referred to their organization as an "enemy of the state." The affidavit describes how staff were told their jobs were at risk after the official told Tides Canada, which supports the work of ForestEthics, that the government would "take down" all of the agency's projects unless it cut ForestEthics loose.
Frank says he was fired from his job as communications adviser at ForestEthics on Monday over his plans to go public. His affidavit details a series of conversations allegedly held in early January between ForestEthics and Tides staff.
Mr Frank's open letter follows-

 A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada

My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small town in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia. My granddad taught me how to fish. My father was a well‐respected lawyer known for his unwavering integrity, and my mother was a favourite kindergarten teacher. Both have always impressed upon me the importance of telling the truth. Today, I am taking the extraordinary step of risking my career, my reputation and my personal friendships, to act as a whistleblower and expose the undemocratic and potentially illegal pressure the Harper government has apparently applied to silence critics of the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil tanker/pipeline plan.

As I have detailed in a sworn affidavit, no less than three senior managers with Tides Canada and ForestEthics (a charitable project of Tides Canada), have informed me, as the Senior Communications Manager for ForestEthics, that Tides Canada CEO, Ross McMillan,was informed by the Prime Minister’s Office, that ForestEthics is considered an “Enemy of the Government of Canada,” and an “Enemy of the people of Canada.”This language was apparently part of a threat by the Prime Minister’s Office to challenge the charitable status of Tides Canada if it did not agree to stop funding ForestEthics,specifically its work opposing oil sands expansion and construction of oils and tanker/pipeline routes in Canada. This is especially concerning because ForestEthics is a legally registered intervenor in the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel process, currently examining the Enbridge oil tanker/pipeline proposal. By attempting to silence a registered participant in the review, I fear the Harper government may have permanently damaged the integrity of this process.

After waiting more than two weeks for Tides Canada to go public with this story, it has become clear to me that the organization is too afraid of reprisals from the government to act. Tides is responsible for the employment of hundreds of Canadians and dozens of crucial environmental projects like the Great Bear Rainforest, and has been understandably paralyzed in challenging the Prime Minister’s Office on this matter. I on the other hand, am speaking out as a private citizen because I feel that the rights and civil liberties of my fellow Canadian citizens, including freedom of expression and freedom of speech, are at risk. There was a look of fear and disbelief on my fellow staff members’ faces the day they were told our own government had labelled them enemies of the state. Our administration coordinator had tears in her eyes. In the days that followed, our employees couldn’t sleep well. They lost their appetites, and they began to fear for their own personal safety and civil liberties, and those of their families and loved ones. They began looking over their shoulder, out of fear and paranoia, because their own government might be watching them.

 

The language of anti‐terrorism, when applied to Canadian citizens who legitimately question the wisdom of an unsustainable oil tanker/pipeline plan, is an affront to the rights of all Canadians. It is the language of bullying. It is language that is violent and above the law, and harkens to previous examples of RCMP surveillance of Canadians for political rather than legal purposes, including Tommy Douglas. The casual use of such loaded language at the top of our government is immoral, unethical and probably illegal. A strongly opposed oil tanker/pipeline plan is now the least of this government’s worries. In its heavy‐handed attempt to override public opposition, the government has breached the public’s trust. I now invite Canadians, including the media and members of the House of Commons, to challenge the unacceptable behaviour described in this letter and sworn in my affidavit.

Approximately three weeks from now, Mr. Harper will visit China on an official state visit. In China, Amnesty International asserts that a half‐million “enemies of the government” are held in prisons without charge. If the argument in favour of the Enbridge pipeline is that Canada stands to make billions selling oil to an oppressive Chinese government, then my answer is “no thank you.” That’s not “ethical oil,” especially when profiting from this oil wealth requires repressive tactics against critical citizens ‐ tactics we would normally associate with the Chinese state, not Canada. The events of the last month have ensured that I will never take my rights as a Canadian citizen for granted again. That is both sad and encouraging. Sad that I ever had to question them, and encouraging because I have been reminded of another lesson taught to me by my parents: the best way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. I invite you to join me in expressing your voice on what is perhaps the most pressing moral crisis facing our nation today.

Together we can hold this government to account and prevent the dismantling of Canadian civil society and the further erosion of citizens’ rights.

 Andrew Frank is a Canadian citizen, and the former Senior Communications Manager with ForestEthics Canada. He is also an instructor in the Environmental Protection Technology  program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in Surrey, British Columbia.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canadians

T/H to Dale Smith for this one

UPDATE: see-

Who is Andrew Frank and Andrews blog

 

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Prime Minister Dad

In case you missed it Rick Mercer latest “rant” once again says what others, myself included, say in a page full in just a few sentences, and once again he is right on the money.

Ricks Rant as broadcast 17,01,2011

Democracy is very messy. In fact on paper it doesn't even make a heck of a lot of sense. For starters it involves all of us, and by all of us I mean the people. And what’s worse, people’s opinions, which only leads to debate. And let's face it, no matter what the issue, for every sensible person on either side there are two idiots who are addicted to the sound of their own voice. I should know I'm one of them.

But lately, I’ve noticed that some of the messy parts of democracy are slowly being done away with. Like debate. Remember debate? No, neither do I. It's been a while.

For example, a couple of months ago, Stephen Harper decided to change the name of the Canadian Navy to The Royal Canadian Navy. There was no debate. He just announced it. Now personally I don't care one way or the other, but people in the navy do. Some of them love it; some of them hate it. But the important thing is nobody asked for their opinion. Who cares what they think? They just serve in the Navy. Who cares what we think? We just pay for it. Nope, dad said, end of story.

And now we have this pipeline business. Now I realize I should have paid more attention to this a year ago, but like a lot of Canadians it's just showing up on my radar now. And honestly, I don’t know if the pipeline is a good idea or a bad idea. But the good news is I no longer have to look at both sides. None of us do. No, because dad has made it perfectly clear, there’s only one side to this issue. And anyone who thinks otherwise is an enemy to Canada. I’ve got to say this is way better than the old days when we had the burden of being informed citizens on our shoulders.

No, now we have a new job: to be seen and not heard. Welcome to Canada 2012. His house, his rules. God save the King.

http://www.rickmercer.com/Rick-s-Rant/Blog/January-2012/Prime-Minister-Dad.aspx

More recent home truths from Rick about our failing democracy Here and Here.

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