G7 Summit: No to the neo-liberal, anti-social offensive, retrogression and war!

Demonstration in Quebec City, April 5, 2018, against upcoming G7 summit in La Malbaie. Banner reads: “The G7 Does Not Represent Us.”

The 44th G7 Summit is hosted by Canada. It will take place June 8 and 9 in the luxury hotel Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. It is preceded by ministerial meetings.

La Malbaie is a small town of 8,000 people about 150 kilometres north-east of Quebec City. The Summit area has been secured behind a $3.8 million, three-metre high, 3.7-kilometre long fence anchored in cement posts sunk half a metre into the ground. A temporary prison will be set up near the arena in Clermont, a neighbouring municipality, at a cost of $1 million, according to local radio station CIHO. The budget for the G7 events will be more than $600 million with $259 million to be allocated to the RCMP alone for security, over $35 million to National Defence, $99 million to Public Safety Canada, $2 million to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and $1 million to the Canada Border Services Agency.

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No consent – No pipeline! Canadian’s opposition to Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project

Protesters block the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain facility, March 17, 2018.

Patrick Brown: Am I missing something?

By TONY SEED

International Women’s Day March, Toronto, March 2017

(Revised and expanded from a Facebook post on January 25) – CBC TV’s The National hosted by Michael Serapio devoted the first 21 minutes of its 3-4 p.m. newscast on 25 January to the case of Patrick Brown, who has resigned/sacked as leader of the Conservative Party in Ontario although not his seat as an MPP after two women accused him of sexual misconduct. The case is dominating the news cycle. Premier Wynne, head of a government known for corruption and selling out the interests of the working class as in the case of U.S. Steel, was “shocked.” For its part, the Ontario PC Party declared it “unequivocally upholds the principle that a safe and secure society is what we expect and desire” and has “a message of change.” Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called the Brown allegations ‘heinous.” Tory MP Lisa Raitt says she has an “open door” for anyone experiencing harassment. All apparently stand for women’s empowerment.

Canada seeks expanded military role in Asia-Pacific

BY ENVER VILLAMIZAR

Picket and signature collection, November 23, 2017, at the University Skytrain station in Vancouver. More than 2,500 Canadians thus far have signed the Canadian Petition Against War and Aggression on the Korean Peninsula.

While Canada claims it is for diplomacy and solidarity, it is not well known that the Canadian military has joined the massive annual U.S.-Republic of Korea joint military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle in the spring and Ulchi-Freedom Guardian in August as well as others, all aimed at provoking the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) into a war on the Korean Peninsula. In September 2017, after participating in joint naval manoeuvres with the U.S., south Korean and Japanese military, HMCS Ottawa and HMCS Winnipeg docked at the U.S. naval base on Jeju Island which the people are fighting to demilitarize.

Maritime workers take action to oppose Trudeau government’s anti-national Preclearance Act

“We are Going to Have to Fight It Through the Regulations” — Interview, Rob Ashton, President, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Canada

 

Maritime Workers at the port of Vancouver as well as ports throughout the country have been standing up to the Trudeau government’s Bill C-23, An Act respecting the preclearance of persons and goods in Canada and the United States. This legislation expands “preclearance,” a process for clearing customs of the destination country before leaving the country of origin, from select airports in Canada to land and water crossings. It permits preclearance of cargo in Canadian facilities by U.S. agents, and authorizes them to carry weapons and detain, search and use force against Canadians within those facilities.

Bombardier’s attempt to enter US market: Boeing uses US state to crush its competitor

Since this article was published a week ago, the US Commerce Dept. has levied additional tariffs on Bombardier at the behest of Boeing, now amounting to some 300 per cent on a sale of the C Series of aircraft to Delta Air Lines Inc. Yesterday, Bombardier announced that Airbus SE, a European Union monopoly and the main rival to Boeing, has assumed 50.1 majority ownership of the C Series airliner, without putting up a dime, in a deal that lasts only seven years. Jetliners ordered for the US market will be assembled in Mobile, Alabama to circumvent the tariffs. The C Series was originally intended to end the duopoly in the narrow-body jet market between Airbus’s A320 family and Boeing’s 737.

Canada’s Iraq war mission extended

Since September 11, 2001, Canada has consistently been expanding its foreign military and police presence in Central and West Asia under U.S. and NATO command. While openly participating in the invasion of Afghanistan, the Chrétien Liberal government would not openly join the “Coalition of the Willing” and provide more than a handful of troops for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, despite having provided troops, warships and jets during the previous U.S. invasion of Iraq – the Persian Gulf War. The Trudeau government has now taken up the challenge to provide an air of legitimacy for Canada’s ongoing military actions in Iraq and their expansion. On June 29, the Trudeau government announced that its mission in Iraq would be extended for two more years and that the mission would be “adjusted.” This is a far cry from its election claim that it would end Canada’s combat mission in Iraq, giving the impression that it was against foreign military escalation. Shortly after being elected, the Trudeau government launched a new mission in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq and neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.