ATTENTION CANADIANS!

Also: We want more money, guy!

I'm not your fwiend, pal.

I'm not your guy, buddy!

Since were calling attention of canadians on shit the canadian government is trying to pass:

SUNDAY, JUNE 1 * NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST RACIST BILL C-50 *

DEFEND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS- AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!!

JOIN US IN CALGARY ON JUNE 1 FOR LEAFLETING AGAINST BILL C-50

WHEN: SUN. JUNE 1, NOON (12-1PM)

WHERE: INTERSECTION OF MACLEOD TR & 7TH AVE SW (next to City Hall C-train station)

C-50 Background:

Recently the Conservative government introduced a series of amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act buried in Bill C-50. This undemocratic move sneaks in critical changes to immigration policy without proposing any of those changes before Parliament. The government is stating that these measures are a solution to the growing backlog by essentially giving the Minister and her department the power to kick people off the waiting list. Under the proposed changes, even if someone meets the necessary- already stringent- criteria for a visa (such as permanent resident, visitor etc), the Minister can reject the application. The Minister will also have the power to issue quotas and restrictions on the "category" of people. Humanitarian and Compassionate applications no longer have to be examined if the applicant is outside Canada. Finally, the Minister will have the power to decide the order in which applications are processed, regardless of when they are filed. These sweeping changes will give enormous and arbitrary powers to the Minister around application processing, while perpetuating a racist, anti-poor, restrictive, and exploitative immigration policy based on 'labour market needs'. The major lobby for Bill C50 comes from business organizations, who want immigrants to fulfill their need for disposable labour. These proposed legislative changes come in the context of a global capitalist reinforcement of labour flexibility as the guiding principle of immigration policy. In conjunction with the Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement, it is clear that the priorities will be relatively wealthy people, as well as increasingly vulnerable temporary migrant workers. The Conservative government says they are "welcoming record numbers of newcomers", however the reality is that the percentage of permanent residents is decreasing while there is an increase of vulnerable temporary migrant workers without basic rights. The favouring of migrant workers as commodities is taking place in an increasingly hostile climate to family class immigrants and refugees, who are perceived as security threats
and/or foreigners who are being too accommodated. In respose to an overwhelming negative reaction to these amendements, the Immigration Minister has recently been forced to attempt to spin these regressive changes, including launching a intense advertising campaign only in 'ethnic' media to help sell the bill and get it passed through the House within the next few weeks.
Join us in an action to call for the scrapping of Bill C-50! Demand justice and dignity for migrants- No One Is Illegal!

For more info please contact the Calgary Coalition Against War & Racism (CCAWR) at: calgarycawr@yahoo.com.

I wish you well in this effort. Big pharma is out of control down here.

Maybe you'll have better luck. Or maybe it'll come out better for you because you're paying attention. We didn't.

Those both sound like serious issues that need to be fought. Good luck!

Yeah big pharma is big trouble, though in canada we have "medium pharma" or a strong generic pharmaceutical industry that tends to have economic interests opposed to big pharma, never the less this is a troubling bill and the fact that it has this clause:

makes it clear that this is an anti democratic amendment...one bill right after another no less!

Also if anyone is interested their is a national Aboriginal day rally tomorow with a protest (Thursday, May 29, 2008, 4PM)
At the intersection near the Calgary & Area Outdoor Council (10 Street at Memorial Drive NW)

A little background on what natives facing from our governemnt....(I cut and pasted from a pamphlet I received, that is why their is no link)

the Tories and their police agencies are criminalizing Aboriginal youth, claiming for example
that opposition to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is driven by "Native terrorists."
This lie follows last year's revelation that a Canadian Armed Forces manual lists Aboriginal resistance
movements among so-called "terrorist" groups, clearly targets for military attack. In Ontario, the KI Six and Ardoch Algonquin spokesperson Robert Lovelace remain in jail for the "crime" of opposing corporate exploitation of their traditional territories. The racist policies of the Harper Tories
and provincial governments are setting the stage for new police attacks on Aboriginal peoples, with the tragic potential for future Ipperwashes.

I fully support you.

What color is your ribbon?

Damn, looks like they're trying to Americanize health care in Canada too? Where will our seniors be able to get cheaper drugs if this Bill passes? (Mexico is a long way from Minnesota). Good luck with that one Canada, I hope we find a way to follow your course to universal coverage...

This is an odd bill. I've studied natural food additives, "functional" foods and "nutraceuticals," and this bill seems to be waling on both sides of the issue at the same time.

One the one hand, it seems to be giving the government broad powers to regulate natural food supplements. The U.S. FDA tried to get this power for itself in the 1990's, and certain members of Congress fought back with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, which allows natural dietary supplements to be sold without proof of efficacy. The downside of this is that we have quack products like Enzyte and Hoodia. The upside is that Pharma companies can't use the government to block naturally-occurring substances for medical use. Ever since the passage of the DSHEA, the FDA has been trying to get control of dietary supplements back, and has so far failed.

On the other hand, by allowing the Canadian FDA to "incorporate by reference" materials created by other governments (I assume on food safety) opens up Canada to food safety standards from Japan, the U.S. and the E.U. (and its member nations), which all have lots of materials allowing various food products to be sold for quasi-medical (i.e. functional) purposes. So that part of the law seems to completely contradict the rest of the law by broadening the number of acceptable products. For example, if the U.S. FDA had a similar provision, we might have had stevia-sweetened diet sodas year ago, as they were allowed in Japan (as stevia can be sold as a natural supplement, but cannot be used as a food ingredient in the U.S. Such is the stupidity of the U.S. FDA).

Generally, it seems to be a way for the Canadian government to control the influx of engineered foods that make many health claims but, right now, don't have to back them up with science. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as long as its reach is limited to legitimate health concerns and it does not turn into an outright ban on natural supplements.

Wow, are people that bored on a Friday night that they have to be that mocking?

If I were a fellow Canuck, you'd have my support.

-TM