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The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival is hosting a multi-media discussion of "Canada's Carbon Corridor" this week at North Vancouver's Centennial Theatre. The event's title refers to the interconnected web of major oil, gas, coal, mining and hydroelectric projects proposed and in development across northern BC and Alberta, and the Harper and Clark governments' grand plan to export these resources to new markets in Asia. My presentation - one of six on the program - will retrace a recent two and a half week filming journey across the Carbon Corridor for my forthcoming film, "Fractured Land".

Damien Gillis and SFU Radio's Sylvia Richardson discuss a wide range of energy topics - from the impact of Barack Obama's recent presidential victory on North American climate and energy issues to the potential effects of the Chinese FIPA trade deal on Canada's environment. The two also cover Fort Nelson First Nation's campaign against long-term water licenses for shale gas extraction that would see billions of litres of fresh water taken from their rivers and contaminated. Listen to the conversation in three parts. (From Nov. 10, 2012)

Leaders of Fort Nelson First Nation from northeast BC are coming to Vancouver to share their concerns over 20 new long-term water withdrawal licenses the BC Liberal Government is considering issuing for shale gas operations in their traditional territory. One such license alone - for which natural gas giant Encana is expecting imminent approval - would enable the company to dam and divert up to 3 BILLION litres a year of fresh water from the Fort Nelson River. Come hear directly from the community on this important topic Tuesday Nov. 13 from 7-9:30 pm at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (800 E. Broadway, Vancouver)

We have been overwhelmed with your support for the Common Sense Canadian's effort to prevent the ratification of FIPA and want to extend our thanks to the many readers who have participated so far. Since November 1, we have been reporting about the significant FIPA Environmental Assessment (EA) process not yet completed. Our reports have detailed how the FIPA Environmental Assessment offers us a clear path for an effective action to prevent ratification. Now, we ask for your support in one more effective action which clarifies the need for a new EA process and the halting of the immediate ratification of FIPA.

In recent weeks, numerous campaigns have been launched to take on the Canada-China trade deal known as FIPA - most involving online petitions. Yet there is an official avenue for public opposition that has been largely missed and presents a clear path to delaying or even preventing FIPA. The Conservative government must pass an Order in Council in order to facilitate ratification. This is done at the cabinet table. If you act now and submit your feedback outlining the grave concerns and serious shortcomings in the FIPA Environmental Assessment process, which is still active and open, we may be able to convince cabinet to delay the Order in Council until the pivotal Environmental Assessment is properly undertaken and completed. Learn how here.

CKNW’s collapse since 2003 has been catastrophic. Whereas they had a 15%+ of radio listeners in those days (I was about 20%) they now have a 9% share running third behind CBC's Early Edition, where Shiral now plies her trade. This is a crying shame. CKNW used to be the opinion setter in the community. Where they once had the public listening and arguing, they now have bland. They were a station with regular internal spats but even large spats were quickly forgotten as everyone wanted one thing: #1.

The New Cuban Missile Crisis

Written by - Sunday, 04 November 2012
The Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred just over 50 years ago can provide us with some important insights about ourselves and how we might address the global environmental challenges unfolding around us...Climate change is like another threatening nuclear holocaust. It's going to spin out of control if the “generals” of industry push the limits of brinkmanship. The consequences will be devastating if the “Kennedys” and “Khrushchevs” of the world don't have the imagination to gauge the severity of the situation.

The final Environmental Assessment report for the controversial Canada-China FIPA trade deal has not been completed AND there is still time for input from Canadians! We urge our readers to share their concerns about the process and inform the Government of Canada about the significant environmental impacts of FIPA. Learn more about the FIPA EA and how to submit your comments by the November 11 deadline here.

There are several things that jumped out at me with the Cohen Commission Final Report, released yesterday. The first is that my faith in Bruce Cohen as expressed on CBC's Early Edition right after his name was announced has been fully justified. I said then that I knew the man, had fought in court with the man, that he was a superb lawyer and judge and that those who thought he could be pushed around just because he happened to be a very nice guy to boot would be pleasantly surprised. Hell of a good job, Bruce, I’m proud of you.

An in-depth, out-of-the-box, common sense analysis and discussion paper issued on the day of the expected FIPA ratification. Over the past month we have seen an incredible flurry of concern arise from the Harper Government's move to ratify the Chinese FIPA. However much of the consternation expressed has not focused on the fact that this agreement is 15 years in the making and involved an extensive public consultation process that actively reached out to environmental groups whose mandate focuses on protecting the public and environmental interest. What went wrong? How did FIPA slide in through the back door?

Video from the press conference on the release of the final report from the Cohen Commission into disappearing sockeye. Justice Bruce Cohen highlighted several key recommendations to protect wild salmon from open net pen aquaculture operations, including: removing the promotion of aquaculture from DFO's mandate, prioritizing the health of wild salmon over suitability for aquaculture when siting farms, and even removing some farms if more research into diseases shows they cannot safely coexist with wild fish.
Published in Video

Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) is moving forward with plans to extensively dredge the environmentally-sensitive estuary of the Fraser River to build another man-made island for a new terminal with 3 container berths. The island will be 284 acres plus an intermodal yard and a widened causeway with road and rail expansions. The Project will impact 519 acres of internationally-significant fish and wildlife habitat at Roberts Bank. There is no economic or environmental justification for PMV to proceed with these plans.

I often noted half way through the Cohen Commission hearings in Vancouver in 2011 that I would not hold my breath for the Cohen Commission to make any real impact on changing DFO and if we do not rehabilitate DFO we cannot rehabilitate the fishery...I did my best to be a witness to get a number of issues before them but was told they “did not want anyone that was critical of DFO”, even though they gave me and ENGOs legal standing and hundreds of thousands of dollars to have legal representation. In one case they wanted one of my studies on Fraser River gravel mining but asked another expert to take my study and rewrite and remove all comments critical of DFO and put his name on it as though he was the author of the study. That was unethical!

Rafe on BC Premier Christy Clark's support for controversial Canada-China Investment Treaty (FIPA). In letter welcoming delegates to the 2012 Canada-China Investment Summit, Clark wrote, "I very much look forward to the ratification and implementation of the Canada-China FIPA so that two-way investment between our countries can be mutually beneficial for generations to come." We have, then, given our constitutional rights away without any consultation with the people who lose these powers. It’s been called “economic treason” and I agree.

  • Eco-Footprint Founder Dr. Bill Rees on Resources, the 7 Billion and You

    Eco-Footprint Founder Dr. Bill Rees on Resources, the 7 Billion and You With human population exploding and demand for resources fast outstripping supply, Dr. Bill Rees, founder of the "eco-footprint" concept, calls for "a new cultural narrative that shifts the values of society from growth (getting bigger) to development (getting better) - from competitive individualism, greed and narrow self-interest toward community, cooperation and our collective interests in repairing the earth for survival."

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  • Five Oil Spills in One Week: 'Accidents' or Business as Usual?

    Five Oil Spills in One Week: 'Accidents' or Business as Usual? What do ExxonMobil, Enbridge, Suncor, CP Rail and a Michigan Utility have in common? They've all spilled oil within the past week. This latest round of disasters should give Canadian and US lawmakers pause as they contemplate new pipelines.

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  • All Candidates Dialogue Wednesday Promises "Real Talk on Climate Change"

    All Candidates Dialogue Wednesday Promises \'Real Talk on Climate Change\' An all candidates dialogue on April 3 at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver - featuring representatives from four different political parties and one independent candidate vying for office in the May 14 provincial election - will focus on solutions to climate change.

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  • Salmon Confidential

    Salmon Confidential Anyone who has been following the sorry saga of inexplicable diseases and unusual mortality in BC's wild salmon will not be surprised that the information in Twyla Roscovich's documentary, Salmon Confidential, links the source of this trouble to the salmon farming industry. The surprise, however, is the impact of such information when its complexity is condensed to an intense 70 minutes.

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  • Mother Nature, US Govt Chase Shell Out of Arctic

    Mother Nature, US Govt Chase Shell Out of Arctic Shell Oil, the first energy company granted coveted Arctic drilling permits by the US Government, is shutting down operations for all of 2013, nearly as quickly as they began. Shell's hand is being forced by the Interior Department, following a scathing report which castigated the company for a series of misadventures in 2012 and early 2013.

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  • Paul Simon Lends Song to Coastal First Nations' Anti-Tanker Video

    Paul Simon Lends Song to Coastal First Nations' Anti-Tanker Video A 2-minute video produced by Coastal First Nations - a group representing nine different aboriginal communities on BC's north and central coast - is underscored by the famous Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Sound of Silence." The video, which harkens back to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in nearby Alaskan waters, was released around the 24th anniversary of that disaster, in order to voice opposition to the new threat from proposed tanker traffic on BC's coast.

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  • 'Heartwood' Explores Clash Between Different Visions for Future of Forestry

    'Heartwood' Explores Clash Between Different Visions for Future of Forestry "Cortes is not just a bunch of crazy tree-huggers...We want to log our lands. We want a community forest," one of the subjects of the forthcoming documentary film Heartwood tells Vancouver-based director Daniel Pierce. The film explores the conflict over logging practices on a remote island on BC's south coast, which encapsulates a larger debate currently shaping the future of forestry in the province.

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  • Why the NDP Can and Should Say No to Site C Dam

    Why the NDP Can and Should Say No to Site C Dam The BC NDP may finally coming to their senses on Site C Dam. On the heels of the release of new documents from BC Hydro in recent weeks, the Official Opposition is calling into question the crown corporation's proposed 1,100 Megawatt hydropower project. And so it should...With BC Hydro in virtual bankruptcy, skyrocketing hydro bills for consumers and businesses, a massive and escalating provincial debt and $80 Billion in additional contractual obligations for which taxpayers are on the hook, pushing ahead with Site C would be the height of fiscal recklessness for BC.

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  • Working Together Through Idle No More - Ben West, Mandy Nahanee, Damien Gillis Web Chat

    Working Together Through Idle No More - Ben West, Mandy Nahanee, Damien Gillis Web Chat Damien Gillis hosts a google web video chat discussing how indigenous and non-indigenous peoples can work together through the growing Idle No More movement to address historical injustices and build a sustainable energy future. Featuring Squamish and Nisga'a First Nations member and protocol specialist Amanda Nahanee and Ben West, Tar Sands campaigner for ForestEthics.

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  • The Different Faces of Idle No More - Web Chat

    The Different Faces of Idle No More - Web Chat Watch this 10 min web chat, in which two young, indigenous men discuss their different experiences across the country with the growing Idle No More Movement.

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  • Idle No More - Scenes from a Vancouver Train Station

    Idle No More - Scenes from a Vancouver Train Station On January 2, 2013, hundreds of First Nations and non-indigenous people converged on Vancouver's Waterfront Station for the latest Idle No More rally. The beating of drums and singing of traditional songs signaled this crowd's solidarity with the movement that is building across the country and beyond its borders.

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  • Travelling Canada's Carbon Corridor - the Making of Fractured Land

    Travelling Canada's Carbon Corridor - the Making of Fractured Land Watch this presentation by Damien Gillis, co-director of Fractured Land - a documentary in production which examines the industrialization of northern Canada through the eyes of a young indigenous man named Caleb Behn - at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival.

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  • Kinder Morgan Vancouver Pipeline, Tanker Debate

    Kinder Morgan Vancouver Pipeline, Tanker Debate On Oct 30, the Board of Change hosted a debate in Vancouver on American energy pipeline giant Kinder Morgan's plans to turn Vancouver into a shipping port to access new foreign markets with Alberta Tar Sands bitumen. Hear both sides of the story as representatives of Kinder Morgan and the shipping industry square off against an environmental activist, lawyer and filmmaker over the future of the world's "Greenest City", the province of BC and the planet.

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  • Justice Cohen Gets Tough on Fish Farms - Inquiry Report Released

    Justice Cohen Gets Tough on Fish Farms - Inquiry Report Released Video from the press conference on the release of the final report from the Cohen Commission into disappearing sockeye. Justice Bruce Cohen highlighted several key recommendations to protect wild salmon from open net pen aquaculture operations, including: removing the promotion of aquaculture from DFO's mandate, prioritizing the health of wild salmon over suitability for aquaculture when siting farms, and even removing some farms if more research into diseases shows they cannot safely coexist with wild fish.

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  • Video: Pipelines "Job Killers" - Energy Workers Union Leader @ Defend Our Coast

    Video: Pipelines \'Job Killers\' - Energy Workers Union Leader @ Defend Our Coast Watch this powerhouse speech from Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union at the Defend Our Coast rally in Victoria explaining why his members are "diametrically opposed" to Tar Sands pipelines to BC's coast.

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  • Video: Rafe Mair Honoured with Wilderness Committee's Eugene Rogers Award

    Video: Rafe Mair Honoured with Wilderness Committee's Eugene Rogers Award The Wilderness Committee, Canada's largest member-based environmental organization, honoured hall of fame broadcaster and co-founder of The Common Sense Canadian Rafe Mair with its annual Eugene Rogers Award for outstanding contribution to environmental protection in BC at its AGM this past weekend.

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  • Video: Rafe Mair and Economist Erik Andersen, Pt. 2 - LNG, Site C Dam and the Global Economy

    Video: Rafe Mair and Economist Erik Andersen, Pt. 2 - LNG, Site C Dam and the Global Economy In Part 2 of Rafe Mair's July 2012 interview of economist Erik Andersen, the two cover the plan to build Liquefied Natural Gas plants on BC's west coast - to sell natural gas to Asia - and the proposed Site C Dam. Andersen raises real concerns about investing in new dams and electrical infrastructure to supply industries like mines and LNG.

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  • Video: Rafe Mair and Economist Erik Andersen, Pt. 1 - The 'Enronization' of BC Hydro

    Video: Rafe Mair and Economist Erik Andersen, Pt. 1 - The 'Enronization' of BC Hydro Part 1 of Rafe Mair's July 2012 interview with economist Andersen, delving deep into BC's troubled energy situation, including Hydro's broken forecasting model, rip-off private power projects, and massive debt and Enron-style accounting practices at our public utility - all driven by the shadowy private American corporation to which we've unwittingly handed over our energy sovereignty.

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