This morning, Statistics Canada reported that the implementation of Harmonized Sales Tax in Ontario and British Columbia helped drive the national inflation rate from 1.0% in June to 1.8% in July. By comparison, the Bank of Canada’s core inflation rate (which excludes tax changes and volatile items) edged down from 1.7% to 1.6%. However, annual inflation [...]

There are many ways to view the legacy of Prime Minister Harper and his Government thus far, but few offer evidence that the processes and institutions of democracy are held with any esteem. The selection of the latest Governor General of Canada has been described as one such rare example. The process of selecting the Governor General [...]

The short answer to that question is that I don’t know. I am not a believer in the infallibility of financial markets and perfect information and all that stuff. But the bond market is surely speaking loud and clear. As an aside, the media focus excessively on the ups and downs of the stock market. But [...]

Dear CUPE 391

If you read the Bulletin News you will have the information for Gail’s Event. Further to this; people might be interested in bringing sandwiches, finger food, savouries or sweets to Gail Buente’s Celebration of Life.  Yen Zhing is organising these contributions.  If you would like to bring an offering of food, please let Yen know at yencansurf@yahoo.com. She will tell you what would be useful and anything else you might need to know.

A Celebration of a Life
11 a.m August 28, 2010 (Saturday)
Mountain View Cemetary
Celebration Hall
5455 Fraser Street
(Entrance at 39th Avenue and Fraser)

Please forward and show this to those you know want to attend.

Hello all -

An obituary was printed in the Vancouver Sun on Saturday 14 August, and is available here:
http://www.legacy.com/can-vancouver/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=144672488

As well, one of Gail’s co-workers posted this to a union blog - you may have to search for “Citizen Gail”:
http://www.unionblogs.ca/aggregator/categories/all?page=1

Dascha and I will look forward to seeing you at the Celebration Hall on the 28th. If you have photos of Gail
that might be included in the presentation, please do send them along.

Pat

ps: please forward this notice to other interested persons.
pps: feel free to send messages by return email or to memorial@editation.com

in solidarity

Alex

Don Tapscott nails it in his commentary in today’s Globe and Mail. Everyone wants to see and not be seen.  That’s getting less possible, even for the most guarded individual. Today’s zeitgeist is Google, and the Google Zeitgeist is transparency.  The push-back  — and every thesis has its antithesis, as all you Hegel fans out there know [...]

Yes, yawn, fiscal federalism is pretty darn dull. But it is also pretty darn important.  The division of responsibilities and resources between the feds and the provinces is central to the shape of Canadian fiscal policy overall and to the level and design of a host of jointly financed programs, including health, post secondary education [...]

UWFA is looking to sell our 12’ x 4’ boardroom table as we convert our boardroom into an office space for Lisa. It is a sturdy table but has a few scratches and one stain on its surface. Custom built for the office. Quality wood construction. We’re sorry to see it go, but need to have it out of the office as soon as possible. Asking $250.00 OBO, moving cost not included. For more information, please contact Daniel at 786-9430.

“If you kill one person, you’re prosecuted. If you kill ten people, you’re a celebrity; if you kill a quarter-of-a-million people, you’re invited to a peace conference.” – Haris Silajdžić Patient readers will bear with me as I sink into the quagmire of Balkan and, specifically, post-Yugoslav politics to make a broader point about states [...]

There is no environmental crisis, and global warming is just “a socialist plot” – at least according to Prime Minister Harper, when he was denouncing the Kyoto Accord. But while Harper’s many sins are serious – ignoring child poverty, sending Canadians to fight in Afghanistan, attacking women’s rights – the worst one is his minority [...]

Wounded soldier is honored at ceremony Thursday, 12 August 2010 ' ); document.write( addy_text94511 ); document.write( '' ); //-->\n by Tim Hennagir ' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ' ); //--> Life Editor Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Anoka Composite Squadron members have dedicated a new flag pole to honor a former cadet who was...

With the Canadian economy slowly improving, it is more important than ever that policymakers realize that we could just as easily drift back into recession if we do not continue to make targeted and strategic stimulus investments.

The BC Federation of Labour is calling on the provincial government to shut down and launch an independent investigation into Surrey-based Khaira Enterprises following allegations of widespread abuse of silviculture workers. A Khaira Enterprises workcamp at Bluewater Creek, 40 kilometres west of Golden, was shut down on July 21st when it was discovered by a [...]

Last night it was Imtiaz Popat and I on “The Rational” talking about the HST, HST petition oddities, recall of MLAs, a fall legislative session, the BC Conservatives and the NDP on the HST, a new BC Liberal leader, Kim Campbell and Rita Johnson, a fall federal election, direct democracy, Vic Toews being an immigrant [...]

This morning I wrote about how we and the French are continuing to rip off Haiti 7 months after their earthquake. Today I read about one woman’s experiences. She sounds so much like us. Getting to the human level during these kind of existential events, we always see that “they” are just like “us”. I [...]

As we all are well aware, a boat containing 500 Tamil immigrants arrived in Victoria, Friday.  It is reported that of several hundred men, and more than 50 women and 50 children, one man lost his life over the 3 month trip from Sri Lanka.  Several people aboard the ship had to be taken to [...]

It was so nice to see so many billions pledged to help Haiti after its earthquake where the planet kicked the country after it was down from centuries of racist, imperial and neoliberal exploitation. But how much money pledged has shown up? And worse, did you know that Haiti spent more than a century paying [...]

In the past few weeks some of Canada’s most respected economic authorities, including Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, have voiced concerns over the fragility of the recovery, globally and at home.  Now Paul Krugman joins that chorus of Cassandras, pointing his finger straight at the wishful thinkers who say Canada’s heavy lifting is [...]

The recent controversy over the long-form census has caused me to be a bit more suspicious of Statscan lately.  Two recent events in particular have left me scratching my head. First, as part of my doctoral dissertation research, I was trying to get ahold of (time series) social assistance statistics for all 10 Canadian provinces, namely social assistance rates [...]

CHANGES TO EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS UNDER BILL 68 = MORE BARRIERS FOR WORKERS Proposed changes to Employment Standards under Bill 68, Open for Business Act will create huge barriers for workers who face unpaid wages. The Workers’ Action Centre and Parkdale Community Legal Services are calling on the provincial government to stop proposed changes that would [...]

I think one of the key issues in all my questions about the Tamil ship the other day is what kind of Canada do we want. Are we really open to visitors, immigrants, refugees? If there is a federal election this fall, the G20, the long-form census and how we ought to treat “visitors” like [...]