NB Progressive Newswire

July 3, 2008

Ottawa - The Council of Canadians is calling on the Harper government to respect the will of Parliament and the Canadian people. Despite strong public support for war resisters who want to stay in Canada, the Harper government has remained silent, apparently content to let deportation proceedings continue, the organization says.

“The war resisters seeking refuge in Canada have shown tremendous courage in refusing to participate in an illegal war, and it is time the federal government let them stay,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “It is shameful that the Harper government, so fond of telling us to support the troops, is trying to send these heroic soldiers back to persecution in the US or redeployment in Iraq.”

Stephen Harper’s adherence to the policies of George Bush is at odds with the views of the majority of Canadians who oppose the Iraq war and who have been supportive of refuge for U.S. war resisters. On June 27, Angus Reid published its poll results showing three in five Canadians (64%) are in favour of giving U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in Canada as permanent residents. A recent Strategic Counsel poll has revealed that 82% of Canadians oppose the Iraq war.

“Canadians support the war resisters. Parliament supports the war resisters,” says Dylan Penner, Media Officer for the Council of Canadians. “Over one million civilians have perished in the illegal war in Iraq and Canada made the right decision not to participate. How can we punish the war resisters for making the same decision?”

The Council of Canadians joins the War Resisters Support Campaign in calling on the federal government to respect the democratic decision made in the Parliament of Canada. On June 3rd, the House of Commons passed a motion calling for an end to deportation proceedings against Corey Glass and other war resisters.

The Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country.

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For More Information: Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians Office: 1-800-387-7177 ext. 249

canadians.org

Where: Alden Nowlan House (The Grad House), 676 Windsor St., UNB Fredericton.

When: Saturday, June 21.

7:00 pm - Food and speeches on the political and human rights situation in Colombia by Maikel and Leyda Rodriguez, James Brittain, sociology professor at Acadia University, and others.
8:00 pm - Salsa Crash Course with Hernando and Sandra Gonzalez.
9:00pm - Latin Dancing.

Tickets: $10/person or $20/family. Tickets sold at the door or in advance at the Multicultural Association, Doodles Cafe or True Foods.

Funds raised go to the family of the late Adolfo Montes Gonzales. On March 22, 2008, Adolfo Montes Gonzales, a union leader at the Cerrejon coal mine, where NB Power sources its coal to generate approximately 16% of electricity in New Brunswick, was murdered at his residence, leaving behind his wife and four small children. Sponsors include the Fredericton Peace Coalition, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, the Canadian Labour Congress, the NB Federation of Labour, the NB Union and Project Ploughshares Fredericton. More sponsors and volunteers are welcome. To co-sponsor or volunteer, email info@frederictonpeace.org

For more info: info@frederictonpeace.org

A comment from this thread which is in response to this article on CBC.

By:JA Penn

I am not sure of the exact figures offhand, but about half the working population makes < $5 + min wage.

The tremendous irony is that a flat tax does nothing to make people work harder or make more money. Everyone in NB knows that if you have a good job, then you probably work for the government! That means your salary is paid by people’s taxes. If your taxes go down, the government is giving you a raise, meaning it has to pay you more. Where is the tax money to do that going to come from?

If you work in the private sector, and make a good salary, then chances are you do business with the gov’t as a chief client, or with some gov’t-sponsored entity. That means it is still tax money that finds its way into your pocket.

If you do business entirely with the private sector, then it has nothing to do with the public of NB, and is therefore of no benefit — except by the taxes it pays to the public purse. If someone does business on your turf, they should pay a rent, no?

And finally, if you work in the private sector, then chances are you work for barely a living wage (if you call that living). It is true that these people get screwed over by gov’t taxation and deserve better. We should reduce taxes on annual incomes of <$36,000, and increase the 0% bracket to half that amount.

Our income tax regime is progressive at low and medium incomes - the marginal tax rate above $100k is flat. So the poor and middle class get screwed, the rich do quite well.

As for value-added and sales taxes, they are regressive. They suck more of your income the less you have. Indeed, they plain suck.

The Liberals can’t be serious about these measures. They simply won’t work in New Brunswick. The public is in general disadvantaged economically; only government intervention gives us a good standard of living. The measures the Libs propose would impoverish the public coffers and make the people leave the province in greater numbers, setting up a vicious circle.

We can reduce taxes progressively AND have greater expenditure on public goods and services (education, health care, elder care, child care, etc.) - i.e. have our cake and eat it too. But we will need to elect a government that establishes publicly-owned enterprises that make money for us the way capitalists make money for themselves: Earning profits from producing and selling things, charging rents on land and resources, and receiving interest from finances. These would funnel economic surpluses back into democratic hands.

Socialism or barbarism, in short. There you have it.

Corey Glass, a U.S. war resister who visited Fredericton in October 2006, was told yesterday, May 21, that his refugee application was rejected. Glass would be the first Iraq war resister to be deported from Canada.

The Fredericton Peace Coalition, Citizens’ Press and Project Ploughshares Fredericton openly and vehemently condemns the actions of the Canadian State against someone who clearly has the backing of a substantial section of the people in New Brunswick.

U.S. Iraq deserter loses bid to stay

CBC Story on Corey Glass visit to Fredericton in 2006

Dominion: Grilled Cheese and War Crimes

Environmental groups from across the province are marking Canadian National Mining Week by joining forces in calling for an immediate ban on uranium exploration and mining in New Brunswick.

TONIGHT IN FREDERICTON!

Uranium Mining in New Brunswick?
A Public Information Session
7:00 PM, Wednesday, May 14
McCain Auditorium, Margaret Norrie McCain Hall, St. Thomas University

Did you that thousands of uranium claims have been staked, many in areas surrounding Fredericton?

Public information session featuring speakers on landowner rights and the N.B. Mining Act, the hazards of uranium mining to the environment and human health, and community opposition.

Organized by the Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick

For more info, call Tracy at: 458-8747, forest@conservationcouncil.ca

–Fill in this on-line petition to protest the murder of the Colombian labour organiser Rozo. Stay tuned to Leftnews for highlights of events putting pressure on our governments over their dealings with the Colombian governments. This includes the new unfair trade deal between Colombia and the Conservative government and the purchasing of coal from the mine that Rozo was an organiser for. We must act to stop the killing of social justice and union activists in Colombia.

This is how Columbia buys its support

Fundy Royal NDP candidate and economist Rob Moir was among the keynote speakers at Moncton’s Public Awareness meeting to discuss the effects of test drilling and uranium mining on our health and ecosystem. Dr. Moir’s presentation outlined the overall effects that uranium exploration and mining has on the economy.

Moir toasted the crowd with a glass of Moncton city water, and commenced by saying, “Thank you Moncton for keeping water public, and here’s to keeping it free of radioactivity.”

–Another bad budget from the Liberals in Ontario.

Canadian Federation of Students - Students Call Ontario Budget “Impoverished”

McGuinty’s budget ignores financial barriers to post-secondary education

TORONTO, March 25 - Ontario’s students and families who are
struggling to afford post-secondary education will find no relief in today’s
Ontario budget, according to the Canadian Federation of Students. Despite
dubbing itself an “activist government on poverty,” the McGuinty government’s
first budget of its new term fails to invest in affordable post-secondary
education as a component of the province’s poverty-reduction strategy.
“Students feel that Premier McGuinty has failed to consider the financial
barriers that his government has put in the way of Ontario families struggling
to put their kids through college or university,” said Jen Hassum, Chairperson
of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. “Reducing tuition fees and
student debt is an important piece of the anti-poverty puzzle.”
The budget’s primary provisions for post-secondary education focused on
investment in university deferred maintenance and incentives to invest in
research “innovation.” The only measures targeting students and their families
include a $150 annual textbook voucher and modest funds for rural student
travel.
“Over the past fifteen years, tuition fees and student debt have risen
more than four times faster than the rate of inflation,” said Hassum. “When
thousands of Ontario students signed petitions calling for debt relief, a one
hundred and fifty dollar text book voucher wasn’t what they had in mind.”
During McGuinty’s first term of office, tuition fees rose from the fourth
to the third highest in Canada and community colleges were allowed to charge
illegal ancillary fees. As a result, today’s students are graduating from a
four-year programme with more than $25,000 of debt.
“With the Finance Minister projecting a surplus of $600 million this
year, students are left wondering why more isn’t being done to improve
educational access and to lift families out of poverty,” said Hassum.

The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario unites over 300,000 college
and university students who are members of more than 35 students’ unions
throughout the province.

For further information:
Jen Hassum, Chairperson, CFS-Ontario: (416)925-3825 or (416) 832-9073 (cell);
Joel Duff, Organiser, CFS-Ontario: (416) 925-3825 or (416) 707-0349 (cell)