Canada

Vancouver rally points to housing crisis

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

Advocates called for a national housing policy during a rally and federal all-candidates meeting on housing and poverty in Vancouver Saturday. The event was part of a provincewide "Stand for housing" campaign, in which advocates in communities throughout B.C. staged protests to call attention to what they say is a housing crisis in Canada.

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Roads to nowhere

Posted by Shemuses from Canada

Opposition to the provincial government's Gateway Project is heating up. But it may be too late.

From Anthony Perl's condo in Coal Harbour you can see small commuter planes, cruise ships, freighters loaded with containers and the Seabus trundling towards North Vancouver. At writer Richard Gilbert's Gastown apartment, you can view the CPR yards, the West Coast Express, a helipad, tourist buses, a car rental company and heavy trucks working the port. What they all have in common is their dependence on fossil fuels, a resource rapidly escalating in price as it diminishes in supply. It's also a resource that the B.C. government has picked as the backbone of its multi-billion dollar Gateway Project.

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Aboriginal issues missing from election campaign: First Nations leader

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

A First Nations leader in British Columbia says aboriginal issues are missing from the agenda in this year's federal election campaign. Shawn Atleo, the B.C. regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said it's frustrating to see issues like the environment and the economy dominating the election, while federal party leaders are ignoring the issues that matter to Canada's aboriginal population. "It's very difficult to talk about the economy in places like B.C. without talking about title and rights issues and negotiations," he said. "It's difficult to talk about health without considering that First Nations health issues are a top issue in this country."

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Obama Is Your Trudeau, I Tell American Friends

Posted by Shemuses from The Tyee

Even though I currently reside in Northern California, where news from Canada has to be sought out on the web on sites like The Tyee, I am well aware that Harper has called an election. I voted in the last federal election (I was in Vancouver then) and I'll feel frustrated again if Canada tilts even more to the right, away from our proud liberal heritage that, to some extent, still makes us the envy of the world.

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Mexican farmworkers sent home from B.C. after organizing union vote

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

Union officials are outraged after a group of migrant farmworkers who were harvesting vegetables in Abbotsford were sent back to Mexico after filing papers to unionize. United Food and Commercial Workers Canada alleges Floralia Plant Growers in Abbotsford put 14 migrant workers on a plane back home the day after the owners found out about their plans to join the union. Problems started when 29 workers at Floralia Plant Growers filed an application to unionize, according to UFCWC organizer Lucy Luna. The men were scheduled to vote to certify the union on Monday, and their contract with the farm was supposed to run until October, but Luna was shocked when the men called her from Mexico instead, she told CBC News.

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Liberals promise fairer, faster immigration system

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

Canada's immigration system would get a massive overhaul worth $800 million if a Liberal government is elected on Oct. 14, Stéphane Dion said Saturday. The Liberal leader promised to clear the current backlog of 900,000 immigrants waiting to come to this country, bring in a new business and visitors' visa system and introduce a series of programs to help new Canadians learn one of the country's official languages and have their professional credentials recognized here.

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It's official: Vancouver's centre-left parties form civic coalition

Posted by Shemuses from CBC

The coalition of Vancouver's centre-left civic parties is now official. After some debate Sunday, members of the Coalition of Progressive Electors voted to join forces with Vision Vancouver and the Green Party. The parties will field a joint slate of candidates for city council, school board and the park board in the Nov. 15 civic elections, with Vision Vancouver candidate Gregor Robertson running for mayor.

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