When we don't hear the whole story

I have received two worrying posts via Facebook in the last 24 hours.

The first was a link from an acquaintance of mine who traps and does everything he can to promote that activity. He was interested by an article Biodiversity benefits from new snaring scheme - National Park agrees about how black grouse conservation in Scotland is being aided by trapping predators such as foxes and weasels. Which is no doubt true, but if one looks a bit deeper into the story, the RSPB are the other lead body working on black grouse conservation. Their emphasis is very much on habitat management, and "reducing fox and crow predation where essential". Notice the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust never mentioned crows. By cherry-picking at bits of the whole story, they have come up with an article that shows how wonderful snaring is.

Perhaps more worrying, because it is about something I agree with, is this video made by Hellmans in support of food security.



The problem here are the numbers they quoted for blueberry production in NS: "NS production in 2007 was half what it was in 2003". Now, this is actually true, 13500 tons, down from 29300. And if this were a trend, yes, we should be worried, but it is not born out by the statistics. One could equally have compared 2008 with 2007 and said that harvest is up 54%.

Take a look and you will see that 2003 saw an abnormally high production, with an unprecedented yield of 0.77 tons/acre, while 2007 was low at 0.34 tons/acre. The ten year average was 0.49 tons/acre (my maths). No doubt yields vary considerably according to the weather and other factors.

What should be noted from these figures is that the acreage under production has risen fairly steadily in the past 10 years. Totally counter to the argument that the video is making, and however much one wants to support a cause like food security, one has to wonder just how reliable all their other numbers are.

The state of journalism in Canada?

National Post columnist Don Martin wrote at length about the mistakes made by the Green Party in the last election. None of this is news, and pales into insignificance alongside his remark that he, and possibly other reporters in Ottawa, could not name another Green candidate.

I could excuse this ignorance if it came from Joe Public, but not from a journalist. Surely they should keep themselves better informed than this? It doesn't take long on the internet to find out who the candidates are, who the deputy leader is, or to answer most other questions that an inquiring mind might ask. Has Mr Martin already forgotten the name Blair Wilson? And does he live in one of the few ridings that didn't run a Green candidate?

If this really is indicative of the intelligence of the people in the media whose job it is to keep the public informed, then Canada is in real trouble.

Fair Votes

Once again an election has shown just how broken our voting system is.

• Turnout hits an all-time low of 59.1%.
• The only major party to persuade more people to vote for them than in the previous election was the Green Party, yet they won no seats. The Conservatives got 168,737 fewer votes and gained 19 seats. The NDP got 72,522 fewer seats and gained 8 seats.
• There were numerous calls for tactical voting and vote swapping to prevent a Conservative majority.

FairVote.ca campaigns for change to the electoral reform. Join today!

Liberals and CAW endorse Elizabeth May in Central Nova

On Tuesday, prominent Central Nova Liberals endorsed Elizabeth May. Senator Jim Cowan said "The country needs her. Stephane Dion needs her, and I ask you to do your part."

On Wednesday, CAW announced today that the union is throwing its support behind Green Party leader Elizabeth May in the Central Nova riding, as a part of the CAW's strategic voting approach.

Remember, You Have A Choice:

Vote for visionaries

Green Party spokesperson Angela Reid talking about the need to vote for candidates and parties with a vision of the future.

Tired of the same old party lines?

Hamilton Greens have created their own election video called Green Door. It is aimed at voters who are tired of the way politics is done in Canada, and maybe want to know more about green policies and the six fundamental principles underlying everything the Green Party stands for.

Strategic voting

Avaaz.org are organising a grass roots effort to prevent a Harper majority government...

Dear friends,

For the last two years, the Harper government has done everything it could to wreck the world's efforts to fix climate change. Given the "fossil award" by environmental experts, Canada (our Canada!) has been repeatedly voted the WORST country in the world on climate change. Now, it's election time, and we have to make sure that Harper pays a real price at the polls for his reckless and un-Canadian climate policy.

Our first step is to target 3 of Harper's top MPs, including Environment Minister John Baird, and try to stop their re-election by telling their constituents just how irresponsible they've been, and what they've been doing in the name of all Canadians. Our ad campaign is ready to launch in these ridings, but we urgently need Canadian Avaaz members to donate $50,000 this week to get started. Click below to see the ads and donate just $10 or $25:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_harper

In an initial 3 target ridings, we'll be appealing to all voters to help save the planet by voting for the candidate most likely to beat the Conservative candidate. In one riding, we'll be supporting an NDP candidate, in another a Liberal, in another a Green. We're making sure to be "tripartisan" - we don't support any particular party, we just want to make sure the Conservatives pay for their almost criminal record on the environment. A large majority of voters in these ridings oppose Harper, but have split their votes among the 3 progressive parties, so even just a small shift in strategic or "smart voting" to favour the most popular progressive candidate will likely defeat the conservatives. That's the pitch our ads will make.

There's so much at stake, and no time to lose, let's pull out all the stops for Canada, and for the world.

With hope,

Ricken, Lisa-Marie, Laryn and the Avaaz Canada Team

PS - Canadian Avaaz members have a long record of campaigning against Stephen Harper's environmental policies, from calling him out on his failure to implement the Kyoto Protocol, to challenging his wrecking tactics at the Bali summit. In our online poll, 90% of Avaaz members strongly opposed a Harper majority. We've won some of these fights before, and if we all pull together in the next 2 weeks to give our voices, our time, our talent and our money, we can do it again!

PSS - Here are some links to more information:

Green party leader Elizabeth May calls for 'strategic voting' across party lines to stop Harper:

Straight.com writer analyzes the stakes of the Canadian election for the world:

This site shows that at a national level, strategic or smart voting will benefit all the opposition parties and prevent a Harper Majority:

The initial three ridings that Avaaz are targeting are:

Central Nova, NS - Vote GREEN, Elizabeth May
Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC - Vote NDP, Mike Bocking
Ottawa West—Nepean, ON - Vote Liberal

Dictatorship in the making?

There is an excellent article in the Globe and Mail today by Margaret Atwood. She is commenting on Stephen Harper's attack on the arts and culture community, in particular his comments suggesting that "ordinary people" don't care about "the arts."

One sentence in particular stands out:

Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists, because they're a mouthy lot and they don't line up and salute very easily.

The more I read about this man, the more worried I get. Take a look at The Harper Record and make your own mind up. Vote ABC, or ABC.

Atwood's article is an excerpt of her speech to be delivered at the Hurtig Lecture on the Future of Canada, Wednesday October 1, 2008 at the University of Alberta.

Climate change in Canada

Climate change is already creating serious problems in Canada. Here is a video of Elizabeth May addressing the Global Greens Conference in Sao Paulo earlier this month.



The text of the speech is here if you prefer.

For the love of Dog

Last week one of the main news stories in Nova Scotia was the discovery of nearly 100 cats and dogs being kept in appalling conditions at a private animal shelter. This is yet another reminder of the gross overpopulation of cats and dogs, many of which will end up homeless or at a shelter desperately hoping to find a loving home.

PETA have two videos on the subject which I'd like to share with you. The first talks about all the reasons why owners should have their pets neutered or speyed:




The second is a plea to get pets from a shelter rather than a pet store or breeder:


Learn more about PETA's ABC campaign at PETA.org.

More reasons Harper needs to go

Coming fast on the heels of the Chalk River nuclear fiasco in which the government overuled then fired the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Mr Harper has decided that he doesn't need any advice from scientists. This man is unbelievable in his arrogance. I thought the Liberal party were bad enough, but this regime is totally out of control.

No science in the PM's ear: Canada dismisses National Science Adviser

One of the comments in the post above suggests that Harper gets all the advice he needs from Washington. I suspect he also takes a fair bit from some whacko interpretation of the bible.

Another troubling aspect of his character is highlighted by Elizabeth May who reports that all the art in the Government Lobby at the House of Commons has been replaced by photos of Harper.
[Update: confirmation of this by Kady O'Malley, and the Ottawa Citizen seeks a comment from a Harper press aide]

Is Canada safe with this man as leader?

Wind energy on the Great Lakes

Harper Conservatives let us down.

Right now, a major UN summit in Bali has just a few days left to hammer out an agreement on stopping catastrophic climate change. But instead of helping out, Canada is actually sabotaging the talks! On Saturday, experts gave us the global "fossil" award for being the worst country in the world on climate change.

There's still a few days left to save Canada's reputation -- and the climate -- but we need a massive democratic roar to remind our Prime Minister what Canada is all about, and stop him from blocking the world at Bali. Sign the petition now, which will be advertised with the number of signatures in an ad campaign across Canada this week. The goal is to get 25,000 people to sign in the next 3 days -- before the ads run.

Prime Minister Harper's short-sighted, undemocratic and big oil-driven policy on climate change is damaging the world and destroying our image as a good country. We're supposed to be the nice guys, who try to do the right thing in the world.

The vast majority of Canadians are hopping mad on this issue -- we can win this. We just need to show Harper how serious we are that he change course. Sign up now and forward this email to everyone you know - we've got just 3 days to hit 25,000 signatures!

Thanks for your help!

PS - Here are links to some more info on this:

David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government's spin on climate change "humiliating" and "ludicrous" - www.thestar.com

The former editor-in-chief of CBC news discusses the damage done by Canada's climate policy to our international reputation - www.cbc.ca/news/