Saturday, December 03, 2011

Daily Digest December 3, 2011


The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/

PAPERS PAGEs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM - CORNER BROOK WESTERN STAR - CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN - CAPE BRETON POST - HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD - SAINT JOHN TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL - MONTREAL GAZETTE - OTTAWA CITIZEN - KINGSTON WHIG STANDARD- BELLEVILLE INTELLIGENCER - HAMILTON SPECTATOR - ST. CATHARINES STANDARD - NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW - K-W RECORD - WINDSOR STAR - SUDBURY STAR - THUNDER BAY CHRONICLE JOURNAL - WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SASKATOON STARPHOENIX - REGINA LEADER-POST - CALGARY HERALD - EDMONTON JOURNAL - GRANDE PRAIRIE DAILY HERALD TRIBUNE - LETHBRIDGE HERALD - RED DEER ADVOCATE -
Housing, not salaries
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/opinion/Housing_not_salaries_134907178.html
Band leaders must be accountable
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/opinion/Band_leaders_must_be_accountable_134907113.html
Nuclear the only real alternative to fossil fuels
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/opinion/Nuclear_the_only_real_alternative_to_fossil_fuels_134833578.html
PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN - VANCOUVER SUN - VANCOUVER PROVINCE - VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
OPINION AND INFORMATION

_____CANADA
Van Loan's defence of dirty tricks debases Tories and degrades democracy
once a year for the last 20 or more, as a pollster, I've been asked
"Why are young people so detached from our political parties?" or
"What can we do to reverse the decline in voting turnout, especially among young people?"
MORE...

>>>>>>>>>>INFOS <<<<<<<<<<
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SAMEDI 03 DÉCEMBRE 2011
 []
23h16 - Prisons québécoises | Femmes incarcérées · De plus en plus nombreuses
21h59 - Sommet national · Les indignés se rassemblent à Québec
20h58 - Octroi des places en garderie · La juge Charbonneau doit enquêter, dit Bonnardel
17h16 - Entreprise Smiley · Rappel de sauce à spaghetti mal conservée
16h54 - Limonade Tropik Splash · Présence possible d'éclats de verre
16h32 - La médiation citoyenne · Les justiciers du quotidien
16h24 - Aviation royale canadienne · Les hélicoptères de l'armée volent-ils trop bas?
15h36 - Occupons Toronto · Le maire encourage les syndicats à payer pour les dommages
15h05 - Selon Saganash · La politique relative aux autochtones a échoué
13h53 - Opération Catalyseur · Plus de 200 barrages routiers pour la SQ
05h44 - Santé | Implants mammaires · Vivre avec de la silicone dans le corps

BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)

Home from Florida. My cost razor blades, shaving cream can due to potential terrorism on my part I guess.

Slept and ate, went to flea markets and ate.

Did not think much - no internet nor papers.

So sat down, put this together going through
all the papers visited over the years for once.

Following are contentious issues some may
choose to express their opinion on, hopefully


Do you support stronger trade and security ties with the United States?
Yes
No
Vote
View Results Share This

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Closer+ties+with+America+Share+your+thoughts+with+Herald+editorial+board/5805162/story.html#ixzz1fXIGIte5



CWB bill will require sober thought
BY KEN ROSAASEN, THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 2, 2011
 
The following is the opinion of the writer, a professor in the University of Saskatchewan college of agriculture and an active farmer.

Bill C-18 passed third reading in the House of Commons on Monday.

The bill that ends the CWB single desk now proceeds to the Senate. There are many long-term impacts that will arise from this bill's implementation and there will be gainers and losers - but perhaps not the gainers and losers suggested by the federal government.

Removing the single desk takes income away from farmers. Studies conducted by reputable economists estimate the annual loss of revenue to the farm sector between $400 million to $600 million per year. This loss will accrue largely to consumers in other nations who will benefit from lower prices. There are also greater opportunities for increases in the margins of domestic railways and grain handling companies because of their market power versus farmers.

The Canadian federal government strongly supported the maintenance of a single desk for potash, Canpotex, as did the government of Saskatchewan. Conceptually, the economics are similar. Saskatchewan potash received the deserved federal recognition as a strategic resource. Are not food production resources as important to Canada?

When legislation is changed, compensation is sometimes negotiated and paid to those who are losers. The termination of the Western Grain Transportation Act paid out compensation to Prairie landholders because of the loss of the rail freight payments. The tobacco buyout by the Canadian government recently paid compensation to tobacco farmers for their quota termination. Sometimes compensation is part of the process. In other cases it has to be sought through the courts.

The CWB has no facilities, such as elevators or terminals at ports. Without the ability to physically control the product, blending revenues will accrue to the handling companies whose facilities it will have to use. Clearly, one should not be surprised that the grain trade is clamouring to achieve these additional marketing margins from people who might deliver to this new grain marketing agency of the government.

The survival of this new government marketing agency is highly unlikely.

The Australian Wheat Board had a much longer transition period. It also had assets and was given substantial legislative support in terms of delivery and access to rail and port facilities. Yet, it no longer exists. The remains of the AWB have been sold to Cargill.

The CWB has been a defender of wheat, durum and barley farmers in countervail actions launched by the U.S.

Who will do that now? The U.S., EU and others have sought the elimination of the wheat board. The U.S. tries to beat it up as a state trader, implicitly recognizing its value to Canadian farmers. When I asked a Canadian government negotiator what Canada will receive for giving up the CWB single desk, the answer suggested it's very hard to negotiate for anything when the Canadian government is giving it away.

I have followed the legislative debates about the Crow Rate, feed grains policy, GRIP and many others. Nothing has been rushed through like Bill C-18. Andrew Coyne in the Dec. 5 issue of Maclean's states that "Parliament is dying."

On the farm where I grew up, my father and uncle gave me some advice: "Measure twice, cut once." A more precise long-term plan than outlined in Bill C-18 is needed to foster a smoother transition of the Prairie grain marketing and transportation system with reduced uncertainty and long-term costs. On our farm, we have locked up some canola sales into September 2012, but cannot do the same for wheat due to the dismantling of the CWB and the lack of a functioning futures market for wheat in Canada.

If the government is determined to proceed, it should begin with a continental barley market in August 2012, with wheat and durum delayed for at least one year because of all the uncertainty and the potential for undue transition costs.

One hopes that the Senate will prove to be the chamber of sober second thought. I have found some of the Senators and staff with whom I have met to be very concerned with both the provisions and the process used to pass Bill C-18. They are open to a discussion of the economic outcomes of the changes as proposed. Amendments are needed, and I believe some will be made.

As Canadians, we need an informed decision, not an inflamed decision.
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix


Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/bill+will+require+sober+thought/5799799/story.html#ixzz1fXDDRW4h

 _______________________________
 Political control goes too far
THE STARPHOENIX DECEMBER 2, 2011
 
In 1993, shortly after former prime minister Jean Chretien began clamping down on access to the media, veteran political columnist Allan Fotheringham issued a warning to the new government.

Neither the public nor the press would tolerate such totalitarian measures.

With all due respect to Mr. Fotheringham, he seems to have been wrong on both accounts.

Not that the press went down without a fight. For years it bristled at the controls placed on it by Mr. Chretien and it took up arms against the much more stringent controls used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who insisted from his first days in office he saw the Ottawa Press Gallery as his enemy.

Soon after taking office, Mr. Harper made it clear he would not take questions from just anyone. Reporters had to sign up to ask questions and eventually had to submit written copies of what they wanted to talk about.

The press initially pushed back. Within months of the Conservatives taking office in 2006, most of the press gallery walked out when Mr. Harper refused to take their questions. The prime minister insisted he was being selective because he believed journalists on Parliament Hill were biased against his government.

Specific camera operators were banned from shooting within the prime minister's residence and it took Mr. Harper 20 months before he graced the National Press Theatre with his presence - and even then it not only shocked the media but also government communications staff.

It wasn't just the media that caught the communications chill. From backbencher Conservative MP Garth Turner, who was turfed from caucus for his blog, to the firing of senior government staff such as nuclear safety officer Linda Keen, to independent officers of Parliament such as veterans ombudsman Pat Stogran, to this week's decision to strip Theresa Spence, the elected chief of the troubled Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat, of her authority, it has been clear no one crosses the current government without paying the price.

They aren't the only ones. Canadians are also paying a steep price for this information control. An army of communications staff have been hired to vet everything from routine departmental announcements to major government policies.

The chill extends to scientists who have been told not to speak to the media without first clearing it with political staff, to third-party organizations warned they could lose their federal funding if they are found to have loose lips, to even the RCMP, which was told recently to co-ordinate communications with Ottawa in order to ensure the message is massaged in the proper manner.

As Stephen Maher said in his column, Harper's obsession hurts public, (SP, Dec. 1), "The government of Stephen Harper has gradually increased the level of political control over public information to an extent that is unprecedented in Canada or similar countries, to the point that we are starting to think it is normal."

This is, perhaps, the most dangerous situation a democracy can find itself in when professional bureaucrats are cowed to silence and public good is less important than political imaging.

The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper's editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Political+control+goes/5799792/story.html#ixzz1fXDuWpKA

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