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Tens of thousands will march in Sao Paulo later Monday as protests against rising bus fares, soaring poverty, and scant public services in Brazil reach fever pitch.

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Alberta MP Brent Rathgeber said he has left the Conservative caucus in part because of the control Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office exercises over backbench MPs, which was preventing him from representing his constituents. The former Tory MP, who announced he was quitting late Wednesday night to sit as an Independent, said staff in Harper’s [...]

I have heard lots of people blaming the following people for why we didn’t get a positive change in government in BC three weeks ago: apathetic, nihilistic young people apathetic people who don’t follow politics apathetic people who simply don’t vote bad people who generally don’t care about a better world. But what really happened [...]

By: Council of Canadians | Press Release

OTTAWA – Two weeks after the launch of a public petition, organizers have received over 3,000 signatures demanding that energy company Lone Pine Resources drop its $250 million NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) lawsuit against Canada for Québec’s moratorium on fracking.

The petition sponsors—the Council of Canadians, the Réseau québécois sur l’Intégration continentale (RQIC), Sierra Club US, FLOW (For Love of Water), Eau Secours! and AmiEs de la Terre—sent three letters to Lone Pine today, each signed by 1,000 people, and will continue to collect signatures until the company agrees to (Read more…)

While everyone’s been glued to Rob Ford’s crack and Mike Duffy’s featherbedding, something even more important happened: the Federal Court confirmed that there was election fraud in the 2011 federal election.

Not just “robocalls” – that diminutive buzzword that the media clings to – but election fraud: a deliberate, targeted attempt at voter suppression. The conservative media has framed the ruling as a victory for the Harper Government^TM, because the court stopped short of nullifying the election results. But the ruling was very clear. Judge Richard Mosley wrote:

I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election.

Some important and potentially damning details still have not been revealed. Who had access to the Conservative Party’s database? Who orchestrated and authorized the election fraud? Let’s join the Council of Canadians in demanding the Conservative Party answer those questions. They won’t do it, of course. But let’s show them we’re paying attention.

Go here to send your letter through the Council of Canadians.

* * * *

The ruling itself could not be clearer. Here are some choice excerpts. (A copy is posted here.)

* “Misleading calls about the locations of polling stations were made to electors in ridings across the country” . . . and the calls “appear to have been targeted towards voters who had previously expressed a preference for an opposition party.”

* 247 ridings were affected by fraud complaints.

* There was a “deliberate attempt at voter suppression during the 2011 election.”

* “Access to a party’s central database is carefully controlled. The calls at issue in these proceedings are most likely to have been organized by a person or persons with: i) access to the central information system of a political party that included contact information about non-supporters; ii) the financial resources to contract voice and automated service providers to make such calls; and iii) the authority to make such decisions.”

* “There was an orchestrated effort to suppress votes during the 2011 election campaign by a person or persons with access to the CIMS [Conservative party] database.”

* “RMG [marketing company], at the direction of the CPC [Conservative Party of Canada], called hundreds of thousands of electors and read a message stating that: “Elections Canada has changed some voting locations at the last minute”. This included calls to electors in five of the six subject ridings. The information was factually wrong in that there had been only one polling station change in all of the six subject ridings in which RMG made such calls….It was therefore improper for the CPC and RMG to deliver the message they did, and this should not recur.”

* “I am satisfied that [it] has been established that misleading calls about the locations of polling stations were made to electors in ridings across the country, including the subject ridings,and that the purpose of those calls was to suppress the votes of electors who had indicated their voting preference in response to earlier voter identification calls.”

As Dr Dawg points out, Judge Mosley came down hard on the Conservative Party’s use of the legal system to obfuscate, foot-drag, stonewall, and otherwise impede the democratic process. From the decision:

* “In reviewing the procedural history and the evidence and considering the arguments advanced by the parties at the hearing, it has seemed to me that the applicants sought to achieve and hold the high ground of promoting the integrity of the electoral process while the respondent MPs engaged in trench warfare in an effort to prevent this case from coming to a hearing on the merits.”

* “Despite the obvious public interest in getting to the bottom of the allegations, the CPC made little effort to assist with the investigation at the outset despite early requests. . . . While it was begrudgingly conceded during oral argument that what occurred was “absolutely outrageous”, the record indicates that the stance taken by the respondent MPs from the outset was to block these proceedings by any means.”

Judge Mosley awarded costs to the Council of Canadians, meaning the Conservative Party has been ordered to reimburse the expenses associated with all that foot-dragging and stonewalling. The Party of Transparency and Accountability strikes again.

* * * *

The Council of Canadians is calling on the Conservative Party to come clean: give us a list of everyone who had access to the national CIMS database and the authority to initiate those calls, and turn over the information to the Commissioner of Elections.

Let’s all get on board with that. Take five minutes from your day, and write a letter. Show Stephen Harper that some Canadians are paying attention. Go here to send your letter through the Council of Canadians.

Here we are: only hours to go until the polls close. What will be the next BC government? What are your hopes, fears, dreams, goals? This page will refresh every 15 seconds, or you can manually reload it. Please add in your comments below What are your seat predictions? What do you think will be [...]

Citizen science is a growing movement that’s joining professional scientists with regular people around the world. Together, they’re expanding scientific knowledge and giving us all a better understanding of the world we live in. Western University’s masters in journalism class are exploring this emerging movement. 

This episode looks at how citizen science and citizen journalism differ and what they can learn from one another. How can citizen scientists and citizen journalists collaborate to get the general public interested in science?

citijou_podcast_-_rabble.mp3

By: Food Banks Canada | Press Release: TORONTO, May 6, 2013 – Today, food banks across the country are asking Canadians to join the Hunger Awareness Week movement from May 6-10, 2013, to raise awareness about the solvable issue of Hunger in Canada. Hunger hits much closer to home than many Canadians realize. In fact, [...]

The post Hungry in Canada: One-in-Five Skip Meals to Help Make Ends Meet appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.

How can the left fight back in the age of austerity? This is a clear and constant question being posed by and to people on the left. When the worldwide economic crisis hit in 2008, it was clear there would not be an immediate shift toward radica…

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Over 70 community groups have signed a letter demanding the immediate cancellation of anti-immigrant reality TV show, Border Security. The letter is addressed to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who personally approved the show, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and various companies with interests in the show, including Force Four [...]

The post Over 70 Community Groups Demand Cancellation of “Border Security” Reality TV Show appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.

Citizen science is a growing movement that’s joining professional scientists with regular people around the world. Together, they’re expanding scientific knowledge and giving us all a better understanding of the world we live in.

Alyssa Ashton, Rubab Abid and Amar Shah are journalism students at the University of Western Ontario and part of a team producing this Citizen Science series for co-publication by rabble.ca and The Tyee. This is the second episode in a series. 

isissciencepodcast_rabble.mp3

By: 350.org | Press Release: WASHINGTON – April 23, 2013 – Opponents of Keystone XL have submitted more than one million comments urging President Obama, Secretary Kerry and the State Department following the publication of the latest deficient environmental review urging that the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline be rejected. Across [...]

The post Public comments prove Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is all risk, no reward appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.

A group of 36 students in Western University’s Master of Arts in Journalism class has spent three months studying and reporting on citizen science. Over the next three weeks, we will be sharing our citizen science stories — how it emerged and evolved, where it stands now and where it’s going. We will be tackling scepticism about whether or not it is indeed science, looking at the effectiveness of gathering “big data” and introducing activists who are using citizen science to bring attention to their causes. To view all of the articles in this special series thus far, visit our Citizen Science page. 

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Download: earthgauge-podcast-april25-2013.mp3

This week on Earthgauge, we have a veritable green medley with a jam-packed show covering everything from urban sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, biking to work and even the latest green news. I have 4 features today:

Presentation by Alex Steffen called The Shareable Future of Cities Alex Smith’s interview with Dr. Thomas Lovejoy on biodiversity and climate change My interview with Jamie Stuckless of EnviroCentre on Bike to Work month in Ottawa This week’s green news from BradBlog.com

We also have our usual update on local environmental events and campaigns with Kathy of Ecology Ottawa. This week, (Read more…)

Some years, Earth Day clicks for people in a profound way. I’ve spoken to a few who were distinctly non-plussed with how things didn’t come together for them and their dreams this year. If you need some optimism for the rest of your week, check out this compendium. Pay attention to the ages of those [...]

By: Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association | Press Release: TORONTO, April 22, 2013 – The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), together with local OECTA units, have donated over $43,000 to support striking Porter Airlines employees. The workers, who are members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Local 343, have been on [...]

The post Catholic Teachers donate $43,000 to support striking Porter workers appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.

Nancy Zorn’s Direct Action

To mark Earth Day 2013, I hope you will submit a comment to the US State Department opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline. The form is properly set up for both US zip codes and Canadian postal codes. The goal is one million comments.

Submit your comment here.

In Arkansas, four weeks after a pipeline rupture spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a residential area, Exxon tried to buy off affected residents with the princely sum of $10,000. What’s that the human equivalent of, three cents? Exxon is refusing to pay the cost of (Read more…) the spill, and a private corporation is profiting from the cleanup.

We’ve seen it all before: the horrendous impact of pipeline failure, the utter negligence of the energy corporations, the disaster capitalism cleanup that profits from the misery.

Concerned and courageous citizens all over North . . . → Read More: wmtc: earth day 2013: one million comments against the keystone xl pipeline

Nancy Zorn’s Direct ActionTo mark Earth Day 2013, I hope you will submit a comment to the US State Department opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline. The form is properly set up for both US zip codes and Canadian postal codes. The goal is one million commen…