By: Nathan Vanderklippe and Carrie Tait Alberta’s bid to transform a fifth of its oil sands region into parks and recreation areas has set the stage for a costly and drawn-out compensation battle with more than a dozen energy companies whose leases the province wants to cancel. A draft land protection plan released this week [...]
The rewards of politics: It all starts with the nomination
Monday, March 28th, 2011By: Gary Mason While no one would suggest that federal politics offers an easy life, it can certainly present some rich rewards. The base salary of nearly $160,000 isn’t bad. Get into cabinet and you can tack on another $75,000 a year. Then there’s a nice housing allowance, and don’t forget the pension plan. So [...]
UN Guiding Principles for business & human rights published
Thursday, March 24th, 2011Today the United Nations released a much-anticipated set of Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights…The Guiding Principles seek to provide for the first time an authoritative global standard for preventing and addressing the risk of adverse human rights impacts linked to business activity. The UN Human Rights Council will consider formal endorsement of the [...]
Bruce Carson was lobbying on oil, not just water deals: Documents obtained under Access to Information
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011By: Keith Stewart Far be it for me to defend Bruce Carson (the only time I met him in person, he asked me to take down my (pre-scandal) blog tracking his work on behalf of the oil industry), but the hypocrisy coming out of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Carson-as-lobbyist is staggering. It’s no secret [...]
Reservation Inc.
Monday, March 21st, 2011By: Alexandra Lopez-pacheco, Financial Post In 2001, Beau and Cain Derickson, two young brothers from the Westbank First Nation in Kelowna, British Columbia, walked into the offices of aboriginal-owned All Nations Trust Company (ANTCO ) and applied for a small loan. “One had strong skills in operating equipment. The other had skills in technology and [...]
Yemenis launch social media video live from ground today in Ottawa, Sanaa, Calgary, & Aden
Monday, March 21st, 2011OTTAWA, March 21 /CNW/ – Yemen Rights Monitor, an effort of Yemenis and Canadians to circumvent Yemeni government bans on media coverage of attacks, launches officially today : www.yemenrightsmonitor.com. With more local correspondents than Al-Jazeera on the ground in Yemen, many Yemeni users use faceboook to blog news, videos and photos on YemenRightsMonitor with latest on [...]
Controversial water firm presented to Alberta chiefs
Friday, March 18th, 2011By: Eva Ferguson As a local research institute accepted a temporary leave issued by a former government aide over alleged ethics violations, an Alberta chief confirmed the Ottawa-based water company connected to the controversy made a presentation at a chiefs’ meeting in Calgary last week. RCMP have been asked to investigate Bruce Carson, a former [...]
Norway’s Socialists hold firm on no Arctic drilling
Monday, March 14th, 2011From: Reuters Norway’s Socialist Left party vowed on Thursday to reject any compromise that could lead to drilling off a pristine Arctic archipelago, setting the stage for talks that risk fracturing the Labour-led cabinet. The untapped waters around the Lofoten and Versteraalen islands are regarded by the oil industry as the most promising that remain off [...]
Oilsands water checks inadequate: report
Thursday, March 10th, 2011By: Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald A damning new government report examining conflicting water quality data from the oilsands says the current monitoring system is inadequate, energy development is depositing toxins into the ecosystem and that environmental impacts are largely unknown. Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner appointed the review committee last fall to try to resolve conflicting [...]