The Council of Canadians Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada's largest advocacy organization, with members and chapters across the country. If you believe that our social programs and public services should be strengthened, not privatized; that our foreign and trade policies should be independent, not subservient to the United States; and that our water and natural resources should be protected, not exploited, please join us as a member. Email Distribution Agenda – March 2011 Newsletter: 1. Call to Action - Immediate Attention Required 2. News Updates - Current Affairs 3. Newsletter - Monthly Summary 1. Call to Action - Immediate Attention Required Bottled Water on City Council Meeting Agenda· Monday February 28, 2011 4PM – Please attend · City Hall Council Chambers – Floor 2 – 300 Dufferin Street · Please come to support keeping the ban on selling bottled water · Documents on bottled water are attached. · Please familiarize & update your knowledge – Attachments (4) 2. News Updates - Current AffairsCouncil of Canadians – London Chapter We are now fully back in action with all Chapter administration up to date. Please see the attached list for our prime London Chapter Contacts. We are still looking for a Secretary/Admin person for our Chapter to take minutes at our monthly meetings – please let me know if you would like to volunteer. In the interim we will assign a volunteer at our meetings Monthly London Chapter Meeting When: Tuesday March 8, 2011 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Where: Literacy Room – Floor 2 Central Library 251 Dundas Agenda To Follow Message from Maude Barlow Hello Don and everyone. I am thrilled to see the London chapter up and running again and I thank you all so much for becoming engaged. London is and has been such an important chapter in the history of the Council so it is doubly wonderful that you are organizing. I am so pleased about your intervention in the municipality's bottled water ban. We cannot afford to have that rolled back. And we will soon be launching a new campaign on the Great Lakes and I expect London to be as central to this one as it was to the last several years ago. Many thanks and love to you all. Maude Council of Canadians & London Chapter’s Email DistributionOur London Chapter is the largest civilian advocacy organization in London! Currently we have 1130 “Registered Members” with Council of Canadians that live in London! Registered Members are on Council of Canadians records, having completed an application and made a contribution. 244 Registered Members have their email addresses on Council of Canadians file and receive regular email updates directly from CoC Ottawa HQ. To be added to this email distribution, please send your request with your email address to: info@canadians.org We also have over 500 “Affiliate Members” & “Registered Members” that are on our London Chapter’s email distribution. Affiliate members are people that have signed up to receive Chapter information. There is some overlap to the email distribution list from Ottawa CoC HQ and the London Chapter email distribution list. To be added or deleted from the London Chapter email list, please send an email to: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca My best guess is that in London, Ontario we have over 1500 citizens involved with the Council of Canadians. I encourage those of you who are “affiliate members” to complete an application and join us as a registered members. See next item. Membership Council of Canadians – London Chapter To become a Registered Member of the Council of Canadians, please complete a Membership Application. Membership Applications can be obtained from our London Chapter Membership Director: Jane Pelton, Chapter Membership Director or at Monthly London Chapter meetings. Jane can be reached via our Chapter email: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca On-line membership applications can be input at: www.canadians.org Please respond to the Chapter question with “LONDON, ON” London Chapter Communication Web Site: www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Please visit our web site regularly for information on what is happening in Council of Canadians and around London. London Chapter on Facebook – Use the icon on Chapter web site London Chapter on Twitter – Use the icon on Chapter web site London Chapter Email Contact: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Please use this email address for contacting everyone in our London Chapter. Please be clear on your request so that your email can be directed to the Chapter Member that can best answer you. Events Calendar February 28, 2011 4:30PM City of London Council Chambers. Please attend to support maintaining the ban on bottled water Tuesday March 1, 6:30 PM Dear Sisters and Brothers, We invite you to join us for our March 1 London Activist Assembly as part of the CLC pensions campaign and overall fightback plan. The purpose of this assembly is to draw together activists from across the labour movement and from our social justice networks to keep the pressure on the Harper Government to expand the CPP and to collectively strategize a plan to take this anti-union and democracy destroying government out of power in the upcoming federal election. I do not need to emphasize to you how much damage they have done as a minority government -- we must not allow them to be re-elected. There will be an exciting panel of speakers including OFL President Sid Ryan, Senior CLC Economist Andrew Jackson, Smokey Thomas OPSEU President and Gary Howe USW Local 1005 Vice-President. Following the panel there will be breakout groups in order to strategize our collective fightback plan. These assemblies will be taking place all across Canada and will build momentum for the mobiliziation that is so critical at this time. Join us with your ideas and your energy! Please circulate this message widely and encourage your members, friends and social justice activist contacts to attend. All are welcome. In Solidarity, Patti Dalton Date: March 1 Time: 630-900pm Place: 1092 Dearness Drive London OPSEU Office Please contact Patti Dalton pattidalton@gmail.com for further information Thursday March 3, 3PM The Bee Hive Collective Huron University College, in room W112 - 'Free' trade and cutbacks in the Americas http://www.londonfuse.ca/event/beehive-design-collective-free-trade-and-cutbacks-americas Thursday March 3, 7:30 pm at King's University College, -Wemple Lounge - Mesoamerica Resiste! http://www.londonfuse.ca/event/beehive-design-collective-presents-mesoamerica-resiste The Mesoamerica Resiste graphics go beyond illustrating corporate globalization plans to illustrate, document and share diverse stories of survival, community development, collective action and inspiration Beehive collective video about their great work: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beehivecollective/the-beehive-collectives-10th-anniversary-poster-pr-0 Tuesday March 8, 7PM Chapter Meeting Literacy Room F2 Library 3: Monthly Newsletter Keeping You Updated! On the first day of every month we will summarize events to keep you informed. Our London Chapter Monthly Newsletter will be distributed to our local Chapter’s mailing list. This email & attachments will be our March Newletter for updates and informing you of London Chapter activities. In Conclusion Welcome to our Council of Canadians – London Chapter! We invite everyone to come out to our monthly meetings to engage in discussion on topics that affect all Canadians. Our current plan is to have 2-hour monthly meetings with a brief business update followed by discussion group break-outs. We will bring members together for the last 30 minutes to summarize issues and action plans. Please come out to our meetings – we value your input & participation! With our London Chapter web site, Facebook page with blogs and Twitter accounts now all active – our Chapter is “plugged-in” to keep you updated. Thank you to Rory (Robert) Cory for all your work on our London Chapter’s web based communications! Your work has given our London Chapter new vigourous life! Wonderful! We look forward to seeing many of you out to the City of London Council Chambers on Monday February 28, 4pm to support keeping the ban on bottled water. Our Chapter is for you to utilize to engage in advocacy and have your say on issues that affect all Canadians. With our combined voice we can make a difference! Our Chapter Contacts will assist you with your questions. We welcome your input. London Chapter email contact is: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Onward! Yours in the Council, Don McLeod Facilitator London Chapter Contact Council of Canadians info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Attachments: Bottled Water on City Council Meeting Agenda (4) Chapter Contacts (1) The Council of Canadians Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada's largest advocacy organization, with members and chapters across the country. If you believe that our social programs and public services should be strengthened, not privatized; that our foreign and trade policies should be independent, not subservient to the United States; and that our water and natural resources should be protected, not exploited, please join us as a member. Email Distribution Agenda – March 2011 Newsletter: 1. Call to Action - Immediate Attention Required 2. News Updates - Current Affairs 3. Newsletter - Monthly Summary 1. Call to Action - Immediate Attention Required Bottled Water on City Council Meeting Agenda· Monday February 28, 2011 4PM – Please attend · City Hall Council Chambers – Floor 2 – 300 Dufferin Street · Please come to support keeping the ban on selling bottled water · Documents on bottled water are attached. · Please familiarize & update your knowledge – Attachments (4) 2. News Updates - Current AffairsCouncil of Canadians – London Chapter We are now fully back in action with all Chapter administration up to date. Please see the attached list for our prime London Chapter Contacts. We are still looking for a Secretary/Admin person for our Chapter to take minutes at our monthly meetings – please let me know if you would like to volunteer. In the interim we will assign a volunteer at our meetings Monthly London Chapter Meeting When: Tuesday March 8, 2011 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Where: Literacy Room – Floor 2 Central Library 251 Dundas Agenda To Follow Message from Maude Barlow Hello Don and everyone. I am thrilled to see the London chapter up and running again and I thank you all so much for becoming engaged. London is and has been such an important chapter in the history of the Council so it is doubly wonderful that you are organizing. I am so pleased about your intervention in the municipality's bottled water ban. We cannot afford to have that rolled back. And we will soon be launching a new campaign on the Great Lakes and I expect London to be as central to this one as it was to the last several years ago. Many thanks and love to you all. Maude Council of Canadians & London Chapter’s Email DistributionOur London Chapter is the largest civilian advocacy organization in London! Currently we have 1130 “Registered Members” with Council of Canadians that live in London! Registered Members are on Council of Canadians records, having completed an application and made a contribution. 244 Registered Members have their email addresses on Council of Canadians file and receive regular email updates directly from CoC Ottawa HQ. To be added to this email distribution, please send your request with your email address to: info@canadians.org We also have over 500 “Affiliate Members” & “Registered Members” that are on our London Chapter’s email distribution. Affiliate members are people that have signed up to receive Chapter information. There is some overlap to the email distribution list from Ottawa CoC HQ and the London Chapter email distribution list. To be added or deleted from the London Chapter email list, please send an email to: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca My best guess is that in London, Ontario we have over 1500 citizens involved with the Council of Canadians. I encourage those of you who are “affiliate members” to complete an application and join us as a registered members. See next item. Membership Council of Canadians – London Chapter To become a Registered Member of the Council of Canadians, please complete a Membership Application. Membership Applications can be obtained from our London Chapter Membership Director: Jane Pelton, Chapter Membership Director or at Monthly London Chapter meetings. Jane can be reached via our Chapter email: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca On-line membership applications can be input at: www.canadians.org Please respond to the Chapter question with “LONDON, ON” London Chapter Communication Web Site: www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Please visit our web site regularly for information on what is happening in Council of Canadians and around London. London Chapter on Facebook – Use the icon on Chapter web site London Chapter on Twitter – Use the icon on Chapter web site London Chapter Email Contact: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Please use this email address for contacting everyone in our London Chapter. Please be clear on your request so that your email can be directed to the Chapter Member that can best answer you. Events Calendar February 28, 2011 4:30PM City of London Council Chambers. Please attend to support maintaining the ban on bottled water Tuesday March 1, 6:30 PM Dear Sisters and Brothers, We invite you to join us for our March 1 London Activist Assembly as part of the CLC pensions campaign and overall fightback plan. The purpose of this assembly is to draw together activists from across the labour movement and from our social justice networks to keep the pressure on the Harper Government to expand the CPP and to collectively strategize a plan to take this anti-union and democracy destroying government out of power in the upcoming federal election. I do not need to emphasize to you how much damage they have done as a minority government -- we must not allow them to be re-elected. There will be an exciting panel of speakers including OFL President Sid Ryan, Senior CLC Economist Andrew Jackson, Smokey Thomas OPSEU President and Gary Howe USW Local 1005 Vice-President. Following the panel there will be breakout groups in order to strategize our collective fightback plan. These assemblies will be taking place all across Canada and will build momentum for the mobiliziation that is so critical at this time. Join us with your ideas and your energy! Please circulate this message widely and encourage your members, friends and social justice activist contacts to attend. All are welcome. In Solidarity, Patti Dalton Date: March 1 Time: 630-900pm Place: 1092 Dearness Drive London OPSEU Office Please contact Patti Dalton pattidalton@gmail.com for further information Thursday March 3, 3PM The Bee Hive Collective Huron University College, in room W112 - 'Free' trade and cutbacks in the Americas http://www.londonfuse.ca/event/beehive-design-collective-free-trade-and-cutbacks-americas Thursday March 3, 7:30 pm at King's University College, -Wemple Lounge - Mesoamerica Resiste! http://www.londonfuse.ca/event/beehive-design-collective-presents-mesoamerica-resiste The Mesoamerica Resiste graphics go beyond illustrating corporate globalization plans to illustrate, document and share diverse stories of survival, community development, collective action and inspiration Beehive collective video about their great work: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/beehivecollective/the-beehive-collectives-10th-anniversary-poster-pr-0 Tuesday March 8, 7PM Chapter Meeting Literacy Room F2 Library 3: Monthly Newsletter Keeping You Updated! On the first day of every month we will summarize events to keep you informed. Our London Chapter Monthly Newsletter will be distributed to our local Chapter’s mailing list. This email & attachments will be our March Newletter for updates and informing you of London Chapter activities. In Conclusion Welcome to our Council of Canadians – London Chapter! We invite everyone to come out to our monthly meetings to engage in discussion on topics that affect all Canadians. Our current plan is to have 2-hour monthly meetings with a brief business update followed by discussion group break-outs. We will bring members together for the last 30 minutes to summarize issues and action plans. Please come out to our meetings – we value your input & participation! With our London Chapter web site, Facebook page with blogs and Twitter accounts now all active – our Chapter is “plugged-in” to keep you updated. Thank you to Rory (Robert) Cory for all your work on our London Chapter’s web based communications! Your work has given our London Chapter new vigourous life! Wonderful! We look forward to seeing many of you out to the City of London Council Chambers on Monday February 28, 4pm to support keeping the ban on bottled water. Our Chapter is for you to utilize to engage in advocacy and have your say on issues that affect all Canadians. With our combined voice we can make a difference! Our Chapter Contacts will assist you with your questions. We welcome your input. London Chapter email contact is: info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Onward! Yours in the Council, Don McLeod Facilitator London Chapter Contact Council of Canadians info@londoncouncilofcanadians.ca www.londoncouncilofcanadians.ca Attachments: Bottled Water on City Council Meeting Agenda (5) Chapter Contacts (1) |
Harper Moves Health Accord Review from Commons to Unelected Senate
OTTAWA – The Harper government has given the unelected Senate the mandate to conduct a second mandatory review of the 2004 Health Accord. The previous review was conducted by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health in 2008. The move bypasses the House of Commons, where the Harper government is in a minority, to a Senate committee where the Conservatives are now in a majority. This is one more in a growing list of anti-democratic actions by the Harper government. Hearings started today in the Senate Committee on Science, Technology and Social Affairs. Already, organizations that support a strong leadership role of the federal government in health care, including the Canadian Health Coalition, have been told they will not be allowed to appear and give testimony. “The message for Canadians is clear: The Harper government not only holds Parliament in contempt, it also seems to view Canadians who strongly support public health care with contempt as well,” said Michael McBane, National Coordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition. “This does not bode well for the future of Medicare.” On the eve of negotiations for renewal of the Health Accord in 2014, members of the Harper government and the Conservative Party have floated trial balloons hinting at cuts to health care transfers. One prominent caucus member has even called for a termination of all federal health care transfers. The Canadian Health Coalition, founded in 1979 at a conference attended by Tommy Douglas, Emmett Hall and Monique Bégin, has been critical of the lack of leadership from the Harper government on health care and, particularly, its decision to abandon a key element of the Health Accord: the National Pharmaceutical Strategy. The federal government can’t claim to be concerned about health care sustainability and then continue to encourage the drug industry to make obscene profits and drain health budgets. -30- For more information: Michael McBane, National Coordinator Canadian Health Coalition 613-277-6295 mike@healthcoalition.ca |