–Seems like something that the Provincial Government should be looking at.

Where: Alden Nowlan House (The Grad House), 676 Windsor St., UNB Fredericton.

When: Saturday, June 21.

7:00 pm - Food and speeches on the political and human rights situation in Colombia by Maikel and Leyda Rodriguez, James Brittain, sociology professor at Acadia University, and others.
8:00 pm - Salsa Crash Course with Hernando and Sandra Gonzalez.
9:00pm - Latin Dancing.

Tickets: $10/person or $20/family. Tickets sold at the door or in advance at the Multicultural Association, Doodles Cafe or True Foods.

Funds raised go to the family of the late Adolfo Montes Gonzales. On March 22, 2008, Adolfo Montes Gonzales, a union leader at the Cerrejon coal mine, where NB Power sources its coal to generate approximately 16% of electricity in New Brunswick, was murdered at his residence, leaving behind his wife and four small children. Sponsors include the Fredericton Peace Coalition, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, the Canadian Labour Congress, the NB Federation of Labour, the NB Union and Project Ploughshares Fredericton. More sponsors and volunteers are welcome. To co-sponsor or volunteer, email info@frederictonpeace.org

For more info: info@frederictonpeace.org

–Strange.

–A definite victory for the people of Saint John.

–Just more of a reason that we cannot trust the current Liberal government to do what is in the best interests of the working people of this province.

–This bill covers a broader list of government agencies but undermines the ability to get the information from all agencies as there is no appeals process. Yet again, the NB Liberal Government undermines the democratic process of government.

A comment from this thread which is in response to this article on CBC.

By:JA Penn

I am not sure of the exact figures offhand, but about half the working population makes < $5 + min wage.

The tremendous irony is that a flat tax does nothing to make people work harder or make more money. Everyone in NB knows that if you have a good job, then you probably work for the government! That means your salary is paid by people’s taxes. If your taxes go down, the government is giving you a raise, meaning it has to pay you more. Where is the tax money to do that going to come from?

If you work in the private sector, and make a good salary, then chances are you do business with the gov’t as a chief client, or with some gov’t-sponsored entity. That means it is still tax money that finds its way into your pocket.

If you do business entirely with the private sector, then it has nothing to do with the public of NB, and is therefore of no benefit — except by the taxes it pays to the public purse. If someone does business on your turf, they should pay a rent, no?

And finally, if you work in the private sector, then chances are you work for barely a living wage (if you call that living). It is true that these people get screwed over by gov’t taxation and deserve better. We should reduce taxes on annual incomes of <$36,000, and increase the 0% bracket to half that amount.

Our income tax regime is progressive at low and medium incomes - the marginal tax rate above $100k is flat. So the poor and middle class get screwed, the rich do quite well.

As for value-added and sales taxes, they are regressive. They suck more of your income the less you have. Indeed, they plain suck.

The Liberals can’t be serious about these measures. They simply won’t work in New Brunswick. The public is in general disadvantaged economically; only government intervention gives us a good standard of living. The measures the Libs propose would impoverish the public coffers and make the people leave the province in greater numbers, setting up a vicious circle.

We can reduce taxes progressively AND have greater expenditure on public goods and services (education, health care, elder care, child care, etc.) - i.e. have our cake and eat it too. But we will need to elect a government that establishes publicly-owned enterprises that make money for us the way capitalists make money for themselves: Earning profits from producing and selling things, charging rents on land and resources, and receiving interest from finances. These would funnel economic surpluses back into democratic hands.

Socialism or barbarism, in short. There you have it.

–The Liberals are destroying New Brunswick one report at a time, one bad piece of legislation at a time. The people of New Brunswick deserve better than to be sold out to corporate interests by a bunch of ideologues.

Corey Glass, a U.S. war resister who visited Fredericton in October 2006, was told yesterday, May 21, that his refugee application was rejected. Glass would be the first Iraq war resister to be deported from Canada.

The Fredericton Peace Coalition, Citizens’ Press and Project Ploughshares Fredericton openly and vehemently condemns the actions of the Canadian State against someone who clearly has the backing of a substantial section of the people in New Brunswick.

U.S. Iraq deserter loses bid to stay

CBC Story on Corey Glass visit to Fredericton in 2006

Dominion: Grilled Cheese and War Crimes

Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers. They manufacture missiles and the infamous and indiscriminate cluster bombs that are responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians. We must oppose the privatization of university research; it ultimately leads to Canadian tax dollars (my money, your money) underwriting a private, multi billion dollar corporation, famous for having a hand in deaths of thousands.

–To say that it is ridiculous doesn’t go far enough when talking about the City of Fredericton’s response to long-boarding. A public safety issue it isn’t and the apologists for power that keep writing into the CBC locally are just laughable as they try to convince us (most who drive) that long-boarders will “confuse” drivers. It is on-par with saying that cyclists (who are still trying to re-claim the streets) confuse drivers or that parked cars confuse drivers. Now, I don’t know about all the people in the city, but I am a driver and long-boarders don’t confuse me, I treat them like I would a cyclist. In fact, if anything, I am happy to slow down on city streets (Fredericton doesn’t really have busy streets most of the day) to allow for cyclists, roller-bladers, and long-boarders access. I also don’t think that the argument around “green transportation” is necessary, although it is a good one. If there are citizens of this city that want to use alternative and safe means of transportation (that also happens to be self-powered) then I think that it is a duty of the people to accommodate them. We cannot continue to criminalise what is, essentially, non-criminal behaviour.

The real issue here is that this shows, once again, that the majority of the elected representatives in the cities and in the legislature are not representing the interests of the citizenry who elect them. There were 100 people that came out to protest the illegality of long-boarding. An event that is becoming a general sight in this province as people are reacting to the regressive and anti-citizen laws that are being passed without public engagement and participation. It should be clear to council that their by-laws are opposed and the correct move would be to re-write the by-law and stop the jailing of people who are in no way a danger to public safety.

As citizens, we must continue to organise and find people and political parties that actually represent our interests as workers and citizens (and long-boarders) and make sure that they get elected. In the meantime, we must organise opposition to an increasingly authoritarian and paternalistic government which acts not in the interests of the public, but in the interests of the reactionary, business-oriented, power-elite.

Environmental groups from across the province are marking Canadian National Mining Week by joining forces in calling for an immediate ban on uranium exploration and mining in New Brunswick.

TONIGHT IN FREDERICTON!

Uranium Mining in New Brunswick?
A Public Information Session
7:00 PM, Wednesday, May 14
McCain Auditorium, Margaret Norrie McCain Hall, St. Thomas University

Did you that thousands of uranium claims have been staked, many in areas surrounding Fredericton?

Public information session featuring speakers on landowner rights and the N.B. Mining Act, the hazards of uranium mining to the environment and human health, and community opposition.

Organized by the Fredericton Chapter of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick

For more info, call Tracy at: 458-8747, forest@conservationcouncil.ca

–With all sides given opportunity to present arguements, I am sure.

Women in regions with the highest incidence rate of all types of cancer do not have the highest smoking, obesity or alcohol consumption rates. So what’s missing in the equation? We know little about the extent to which environmental hazards – industrial emissions, pesticide use, etc. - contribute to disease. The Conservation Council of N.B. has called for the provincial Wellness Action Plan to address potential environmental factors.

Rates per 100,000 population, women, N.B., 1998-2003
Overall rate of cancer, highest: Saint John/St. Stephen, 383 /100,000 (lowest: Bathurst/Caraquet, 319).
Breast cancer, highest: Fredericton/Woodstock, 108 (lowest: Campbellton/Belledune, 87).
Brain, highest: Moncton/Richiboucto, 7 (lowest: Campbellton/Belledune, 3).
Leukemia, highest: Moncton/Richibucto, 9 (lowest: Miramichi/Doaktown, 4).
Lymphoid, highest: Moncton/Richibucto, 24 (lowest: Madawaska/Edmundston, 20).
Colorectal, highest: Moncton/Richibucto, 48 (lowest: Campbellton/Belledune, 36).
Squamous (skin), highest: Saint John/St. Stephen, 34 (lowest: Bathurst/Caraquet, 11).
Basal (skin), highest: Saint John/St.Stephen, 115 (lowest: Madawaska/Edmundston, 54).
Lung, highest: Saint John/St. Stephen, 59 (lowest: Madawaska/Edmundston, 41).
Pancreas, highest: Miramichi/Doaktown, 14 (lowest: Fredericton/Woodstock, 8).

Highest smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption rates, women:
Alcohol consumption: highest rate, Bathurst/Caraquet, 36% (Saint John/St. Stephen: 24%, Moncton/Richibucto: 31%; Fredericton/Woodstock, 28%).
Obesity: highest rate, Miramichi/Doaktown, 28% (Saint John/St. Stephen: 24%, Moncton/Richibucto: 22%; Fredericton/Woodstock, 24%).
Smoking: highest rate, Madawaska/Edmundston, 23% (Saint John/St. Stephen: 21%, Moncton/Richibucto: 20%; Fredericton/Woodstock, 20%)

- From Age-standardized incidence rates per 100,000 population, women, N.B., 1998-2003 and Selected Cancer Risk Factors 2005, compiled by Conservation Council of N.B. with data from N.B. Department of Health & Statistics Canada. For more on cancers and environmental factors, see Health Watch at www.conservationcouncil.ca/Health-Watch/

* Two New Brunswick municipalities, Tracadie-Sheila and Memramcook, are implementing pay equity, and they have asked candidates if they will “spread the word” to Fredericton City Council to advocate for legislation and also to become another municipality that is implementing pay equity.

*In Moncton, municipal candidates were asked the following : If elected, are you prepared to implement a Pay Equity policy for all city and contractual employees? For more information: http://www.equite-equity.com/frameen.htm

A resolution was adopted unanimously at Moncton City council to motivate the provincial government to implement pay equity. We would like our Fredericton City council to make similar moves; implementing pay equity and passing resolutions to motivate the provincial government to implement pay equity.

All are invited to a theatre production (in French) happening in Fredericton on Friday, May 9th at 12 noon.

Théâtre: On ne travaille pas pour des pinottes
Le vendredi 9 mai 2008,

À 12h, les sandwichs sont servis ; à 12h15, la pièce de théâtre débute !

Legion Hall, rue Queen, Fredericton

La troupe de théâtre Moncton Sable

en collaboration avec la Coalition pour l’équité salariale et le Conseil consultatif sur la condition de la femme au N.-B.

vous invite à une représentation de cette pièce de théâtre.

Le jeu est joué dans un monde « fictif » où les perroquettes sont moins bien payées que les perroquets - en « pinottes » plutôt qu’en cacahouètes - et où les métiers traditionnellement féminins sont perçus comme moins importants et moins exigeants.

Un léger repas est servi.

GRATUIT mais il faut s’inscrire à l’avance : acswcccf@gnb.ca ou 1 800 332-3087.

Une activité rendue possible grâce à ArtsNB et Condition féminine Canada.

–Wow. Off to a great start. Not a lot of the right kind of thought has gone into this.

As leader of the official opposition in 2005, Shawn Graham’s Liberal Party committed to establish a public auto insurance system in New Brunswick. It seems that this priority has fallen off the Liberal agenda once in power. This pledge to provide public auto insurance wasn’t just an empty promise of its leader, it was and still is the will of the Party, as it was passed as a resolution at the New Brunswick Liberal Party Biennial Convention in 2005.

–Fill in this on-line petition to protest the murder of the Colombian labour organiser Rozo. Stay tuned to Leftnews for highlights of events putting pressure on our governments over their dealings with the Colombian governments. This includes the new unfair trade deal between Colombia and the Conservative government and the purchasing of coal from the mine that Rozo was an organiser for. We must act to stop the killing of social justice and union activists in Colombia.

This is how Columbia buys its support

Fundy Royal NDP candidate and economist Rob Moir was among the keynote speakers at Moncton’s Public Awareness meeting to discuss the effects of test drilling and uranium mining on our health and ecosystem. Dr. Moir’s presentation outlined the overall effects that uranium exploration and mining has on the economy.

Moir toasted the crowd with a glass of Moncton city water, and commenced by saying, “Thank you Moncton for keeping water public, and here’s to keeping it free of radioactivity.”

–A breakdown of the New Brunswick tax system and public services by the NUPGE.

–More public support for public health. The only people that are fighting for this are the unions and their supporters. Support the workers, your health may depend on it.

–That’s a close vote. 255 to 211. Clearly some people are not very happy. The government getting involved via threatening back-to-work legislation is yet another indication that this government does not understand the problems affecting working people of this province. With back-to-work legislation on the table, large companies can simply wait-out the unions which undermines the collective bargaining process. This makes strikes longer and more damaging to communities and the workers. It is even worse when it is unions bargaining with the government itself. Support yourselves, support the workers.

With the licenses formerly held by Bowater and Weyerhauser reverting to the provincial government, and the super license held by UPM possibly opening up as well, the Conservation Council wants the provincial government to establish Regional Forest Management Committees in Restigouche, Gloucester and Northumberland counties to determine how best to implement community forestry in those counties.

A major report released today by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s Fundy Baykeeper program demonstrates that the salmon aquaculture industry in the Bay of Fundy is not sustainable and needs to be dramatically restructured.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick has examined emissions data for the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John provided by the company to Environment Canada for the past 10 years and found that emissions of some VOCs and metals, specifically aluminum, have increased more than 10 times since the upgrade.

–A run-down of what is happening at STU.

Figures released today by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick conservatively estimate that between 300 and 700 New Brunswickers die annually as a result of exposure to environmental hazards such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, pesticides and contaminants in food and water. That’s about three to seven times more than die annually from motor vehicle accidents in the province.

–Wednesday, January 23 at noon there will be a rally of labour and students in support of the Faculty Association of St. Thomas University. The rally will be hold across the street from the NRC building.

–The STU Students should be ashamed that their student union is acting this way. Students should be standing with their professors not with the administration which pretends to have the students’ interests first while undermining negotiations and doing nothing to combat tuition fee increases. St. Thomas is a public institution. The students should be putting pressure on the government to increase public funding for the university and standing with the faculty to show that they are serious about quality education.

–We protest as the corporations slowly poison us and our families.

–Don’t get your hopes up. There is nothing like defence contracts to do absolutely nothing for long-term economic sustainability. The government under McKenna tried the same thing only to have the contract end just in time for the people to forget who he was.

Inka Milewski, science advisor to the Conservation council of New Brunswick, said from Miramichi that New Brunswick Environment Minister Roland Haché should issue a ministerial order to fix the problem. Further, she says the arsenic in the sediment shows that Environment Canada did not fulfill its responsibility to protect this ecosystem, and she wants a public inquiry to determine why. Randy Nason, an organic farmer and retired teacher at Cumberland Bay, wants NB Power to immediately stop effluent from entering the lake. He then wants experts to produce a remedial plan. Environment Canada found arsenic ranging from 15 to 301 parts per million in the lake sediment, and from 54 to 213 parts per million in a zone from 10 to 100 metres from the effluent outfall. Bielecki said the CCME sets its guideline at a maximum of 5.9 parts per million.

What if Irving Oil’s proposed new oil refinery is subject to a federal environmental review. That’s the Conservation Council’s what if.

Canada’s Environment Minister John Baird is facing a lawsuit for his lax treatment of Irving Oil’s proposal to construct a massive oil refinery in Saint John. The Conservation Council’s Fundy Baykeeper and Friends of the Earth Canada commenced the lawsuit to ensure that the multi-billion dollar refinery – which is expected to generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to New Brunswick’s biggest coal-burning power plant– faces the full scrutiny of an environmental assessment by the federal government.

NOTE NEW TIME!

All are invited to rally in support of the Faculty Association of the University of St. Thomas University (FAUST) in their struggle to achieve a fair negotiated settlement with St. Thomas University.

When: 1 pm, Monday, January 14
Where: Main entrance of St. Thomas University (across from Ludlow Hall Law Building).

Central issues for STU faculty include:

* office space, a basic health plan, and improved job security for part-time faculty

* workload, compensation, academic rights, and transparency in university governance for full-time faculty

The purpose of the rally is to express solidarity with professors who are locked out, on strike and currently on the picket line. The rally is being sponsored by Mobilization, a student and community social justice group.

“As students, we recognized that fair and equitable working conditions for our professors are key to a quality education,” stated Carolyn Shapiro, a Mobilization member and STU first year student, “we reject the characterization of our professors as greedy, and commend the solidarity of the full-time faculty with the part-time faculty who have clearly been taken advantage of in their place of work. The real reason for the delay in class commencement is the administration’s unwillingness to negotiate in good faith or at all.”

-30-

Contact: Carolyn Shapiro, Mobilization and a STU student, carolyn_shapiro@hotmail.com, 454-4814.

For more information, please visit www.caut.ca/faust/