Canada functions less as an independent state. No painting of the Maple Leaf on the C-17 planes of Canada One and the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Unit cost, F-35A: US$122 million (flyaway cost, 2011) F-35B: US$150M (avg. cost, 2011) ... F-35A weapons system unit cost is US$183.5M (FY 2011) - planes, will delude people that Canada is acting independently and not ready to go anywhere, any place and at any time at the behest of the US policy of preventive/pre-emptive aggression.

(1)  Canada, under Harper governments, has increasingly close military integration with US policy, and entered into an agreement, cutely called "Shiprider program"; this program is designed to increase border security by allowing the RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard to team up and ride in each others vessels during border patrols. The Harper government  has agreed to an enhanced role for NORAD. And is spending 35 billion on purchasing US F18

(2) Canada, under Harper governments has increasingly moved towards a perimeter agreement with the US

EXHIBITING DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

(3) Canada has been in a constitutional crisis because under the Canadian constitution a minority government, can speak on behalf of Canada. Normally, in the past, minority governments generally have had the support of at least one of the opposition parties. From 2006 - April 2011 the new Conservative minority government governed as a majority until Harper's government was found in contempt of parliament and he lost the confidence of the House of Commons, and an election was called.

(4) Canada had an election in October 2008 when Prime Minister, Harper had stepped down. At that time, Harper Conservatives were being investigated, by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee, for a fraudulent in-and-out  funding scheme during the 2006 election. The Chief Electoral officer had testified before the Committee that the 2006 Conservative scheme was in violation of the Elections Act. When the Governor General failed to call upon the other Opposition Parties, representing at that time 66 percent of seats, to form a government, an election was called, and the Parliamentary Ethics Committee was disbanded.Thus asa minority government acting as a majority government, it  disregarded majority votes, and s declared most motions as non-confidence motions.
 
In 2011, four senior Conservatives, including two Senators were charged in relation to the in-and-out scheme. They are awaiting sentencing in Court. In the meantime they have retained their Senate seats and one of the Senators was elected at the 2011 Conservative Conference to be in charge of fund raising.

(5) Canada ended up with a new minority government  led by Harper, who, when faced with a non-confidence vote, in December 2008, went to the Governor General and requested the proroguing of Parliament; The Governor General supported Harper's request even though there was a coalition of Opposition Parties ready to govern.

(6)  Under the Canadian Constitution, an international agreement can be ignored, adopted, signed, or ratified simply by the agreement of the Prime Minister and Cabinet: this means that, even though the three opposition parties representing two thirds of the electorate are opposed to the government's position, the minority government can bind Canada, internationally.

(7) Canada, under the Harper government, has refused to respect and act on the majority vote in parliament. For example, on May 8, 2007 two thirds of Parliament endorsed the majority report from the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration; this report supported the request by war resisters to remain in Canada. The Conservative government did not respect the majority vote in Parliament. Yet Canada allows war criminals like George Bush into Canada.

The Harper government lost the confidence of the House of Commons, and for the first time in History a Canadian government was found in contempt of parliament - Contempt of Parliament displayed through refusing to pass on vital documents in relation to costs of exorbitant military purchases,  of new prisons, and of corporate tax reductions and documents related to the Afghani detainees.

Harper claims that the Conservatives are the only ones who can deal with the economy. How soon they forget about how his government almost fell because of the opposition parties being prepared to have a vote of non-confidence over his failure to have an economic plan; and, there was the threat to have a vote of non-confidence and then form a Coalition. He was saved, again, by a compliant Governor General.

( 8) Canada has a flawed electoral system: the first past the post system rather than some form of proportional representation.Governments can be elected with as little as 33% supports from the electorate. Often opposition parties refrain from bringing down the government because of the fear, under the current electoral system, of the repercussions of the splitting of the vote. Often citizens vote for the party they want less to prevent the party they want least from being elected. The current system discriminates against women and minorities, (see Joan Russow v The Attorney General of Canada, The Chief Electoral ... A Charter Challenge to Canada's Electoral System", www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/testcase/ -)

(9) Canada has less has had than 27% of women elected to the Parliament. In a publication, prepared under the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the various states were listed according to the percentage of women elected to the national legislatures; the list stopped at 27% thus Canada was not included on the list. In the May election, the percentage was increased due to the high percentage of women elected by the New Democratic Party.

(10) Now after the May 2, 2 011 election Harper through getting a "national Stable majority government" has absolute power to make over Canada into a panacea of militarism corporatism and fundamentalism. Now there is a different and more ominous  democratic deficit; Through Canada`s antiquated First past the Post system, Harper has a majority and absolute power with just under 40% support of the voters.

(11) Canada has extended "human security" to mean "humanitarian intervention" and "Responsibility to protect" and created the license to increase the military budget and intervene militarily in another state. Canada also was the state that originally promoted R2P- A principle which was opposed by most of the non-aligned nations; in addition, three Canadians, Romeo Dallaire, Ed Broadbent, and Robert Fowler, proposed a new guise: the Will to Intervene. Canada has been covertly complicit in invasion of Iraq (2003) and overtly complicit with a number of invasions of sovereign states: under the guise of  human security, (Iraq 1990); of humanitarian intervention (Kosovo, 1999); of self-defence (Afghanistan, 2001); of responsibility to protect (Haiti, 2004) and (Libya 2011): Or of the “will to intervene”...

(12) The US Invasion in Afghanistan was an act of US revenge in violation of international law. Canada has accepted the misconstruing, by the United States, of Article 51 (self-defence) of the Charter of the United Nations to justify premeditated non-provoked military aggression on Afghanistan. Canada has overtly engaged in "operation enduring freedom" against Afghanistan. [The US Invasion in Afghanistan was an act of US revenge in violation of International law, and never  sanctioned by the United Nations, and was a misconstruing of article 51-self-defence... When NATO became involved, the UN gave conditional support providing the Operations complied with the Charter of the United Nations. One of the purposes of the United Nations is to comply with international law. The ISAF NATO operation along with Operation Enduring Freedom has violated several Geneva Conventions through the treatment of prisoners, and the use of prohibited weapons, and has more recently been condemned by the UN for night-time raids resulting in civilian deaths].

(13) Canada has been covertly complicit  under the guise of pre-emptive preventive attack (Iraq, 2003). While Canada had taken the position that Canada would only be involved in the invasion of Iraq if the invasion was sanctioned by the UNSC, and while  Canada attempted but failed, in 2003 to get a UNSC resolution to authorize the invasion of Iraq, and while the Canadian government  then declared that they would not participate; It has been revealed  that Canada was substantially involved covertly in supporting the invasion

(14) Canada appointed Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk, who was groomed at U.S. Army War College, whose ultimate purpose of land power is to support U.S national objectives in a joint, inter-agency, and multinational environment; and who was made deputy commander of the multi-national corps (Iraq) in operation Iraqi Freedom [in a war in which Canada refused to overtly participate].

(15) Prior to the 2011 Election, all the political parties in Parliament invoked the flawed Responsibility to protect guise and joined in the NATO invasion of Libya. After the Election, all the members of Parliament except the leader of the Green Party of Canada voted in favour of Canada`s  extension of the NATO mission.
 
(16) On July 18 2006, the Harper minority government described the Israeli attack on Lebanon as a “measured' response. In addition, Canada was one a few countries that did not condemn the deadly Israeli attack  in international waters, on the  humanitarian Flotilla.
 
(17) Canada among others had undermined Haiti's elected government, and, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has perpetuated the sustaining of this unconscionable intervention in Haiti

(18) Canada has continually supported the using war against terror as a justification for military aggression, for redefining torture,  for being  complicit in the  violation the of Convention against torture; and for denying fundamental civil and political rights. Prior to the May 2 ,2011 election, the Harper minority government  refused to release the documentation related to Canada`s transfer of Afghani Prisoners who were subsequently tortured. The former Speaker of the House ruled before the election that the documents should be released. The information is finally being released  on June 2, 2011, conveniently after the election. The documents have been redacted under the guise of national security International Criminal Court (ICC) gives strong reminder to Harper majority government to investigate violation of Convention of Torture in relation to Afghani detainees ICC request. With Harper’s majority perhaps the only recourse will be rely on international law to hold Harper to account.

(19) Canada, under the Harper government has abandoned Canada's long standing role of a sanctuary for those opposed to war, and even though the majority of members of Parliament supported allowing US war resisters to stay in Canada, the Harper minority government has refused to give sanctuary.

(20) Canada has substantially increased its military budget, to over 10% of the annual revenue available for Federal government programs. The military budget has increased 3 fold since 2000; the current budget is 30 billion. There is also the Canada First Program which is estimated at 400 billion.

(21) Canada, to promote its increased spending has given a grant of $500,000 to the Canadian Defence Association Institute's (CDAI)/ and the Conference of Defence Association (CDA). On May 16, 2008, it was revealed that the Conference of Defence Association (CDA) and its charitable front group the Conference of Defence Association Institute had received $500,000 from the new Conservative government to legitimize the Federal Government’s annual Defence spending, and the government announced Canada First anticipated future budget along with the $45 billion retrofit budget. In the Covenant for the $500,000 grant the CDA and the CDAI are linked in the application.

"As a recipient, the CDA, with the support of its charitable wing, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI), will promote exchanges on security and defence issues among its membership, decision makers, the media and the broader Canadian public. As a result of these activities, the CDA will educate its members and the broader public on defence issues relevant to Canada."

Under this Covenant between the government and the CDA/CDAI, to receive the grant the CDA and the CDAI must fulfill the following
"charitable" actions: The CDA (or the CDAI) will undertake the following activities in each fiscal year

"1. Provide tangible input into legislative and policy governmental work. 2. Secure a minimum of 24 extended invitations to CDA staff to participate in meetings or briefings. 3. Maintain a minimum of 12 member associations. 4. Maintain a minimum of 17 associate member associations 5. Maintain a minimum overall membership of at least 100,000 members. 6. Attain a minimum of 200 requests for information. 7. Attain a minimum of 29 media references to the CDA by national or regional journalists and reporters. 8. Attain the publication of a minimum of 15 opinion pieces (including op-eds and letters to the editor in national or regional)”

A complaint which was called for the revocation of the charitable status of the CDAI was filed. But its status has not been revoked.

(22) Canada has engaged in military exercise such as NATO”s Trident Fury, and Northcom's Exercise Amalgam/Falcon Dart, and has not spoken out against the increased Northwest Training Range Complex (these have been flagrant displays of propaganda of war in violation of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits propaganda of war).

(23) Canada continues to welcome US nuclear powered and nuclear arms capable vessels into the Canadian harbours of Greater Victoria, and Halifax. On the 100 year anniversary of the Navy held a belligerent display of militarism with nuclear powered and nuclear arms capable USS Ronald Reagan.In 2011 The Harper majority government has invited the infamous Chilean ship the Esmeralda into the Greater Victoria Harbour. In 1973, in the aftermath of a bloody coup against the democratically elected government, the Chilean Navy made a special contribution to the new military junta led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. They allowed La Esmeralda, a four-masted Chilean naval ship, to be used as a prison and torture chamber. According to testimony collected by Amnesty International and the Organization of American States, at least 110 political prisoners - 70 men and 40 women - were interrogated aboard the ship for more than two weeks without charges or trial.

(24) Canada has continued to permit US nuclear powered and nuclear arms capable vessel, such as USS Abraham Lincoln into the harbour of Greater Victoria, Canada. This vessel is the infamous vessel from which President G. W. Bush proclaimed US Victory in Iraq. The intrusion into Canadian waters by U.S. nuclear powered and nuclear arms capable vessels contravenes obligations to prevent disasters, commitments to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and the 1996 decision by the International Court of Justice that the threat to use or the use of nuclear weapons is contrary to International Humanitarian law.

(25) Canada, with its JTF-2 commandos has, along with British and US soldiers, conducted secret night-time raids and execution missions in Afghanistan, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. And on CBC, June 30, 2010  a RCMP officer who was training Afghani soldiers in Afghanistan, demonstrated his pedagogic skill, by shouting: "Wake up and Turn your Brains On!"

(26) Canada has continued to support NATO which still neither confirms nor denies the existence of a first strike nuclear policy. Canada has continued to be a member of NATO, with its belligerent, and offensive operation, "Bomb, Blast and Bribe Operation in Afghanistan. In 2011, the Harper government claims it will transfer Canada's current belligerent operation into an Afghan military training program.

(27) Canada has continued to be a major supplier of uranium and of CANDU nuclear reactors and as such has directly or indirectly or through the "fungibility principle" contributed to the production of nuclear arms.

 (28) Canada has not opposed Article IV of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - this article establishes the inalienable right of all states to the "peaceful use of civil nuclear energy."

(29) Canada is estimated as the sixth largest exporter of arms, and has continued to profit from the sale of arms. Canada has been complicit, in the development and use of weapons such as Depleted Uranium and cluster bombs that would be prohibited under the Geneva Protocols. Canada continues to have an international Armament Exhibition in Ottawa, and in 2009 pepper sprayed protesters in the area around the Exhibition. The Harper government has undertaken to purchase F 35 jets whose cost  appeared to be far mor than originally estimated by the Harper Conservative government. Unit cost, F-35A: US$122 million (flyaway cost, 2011) F-35B: US$150M (avg. cost, 2011) ... F-35A weapons system unit cost is US$183.5M (FY 2011)

(30) Canada has failed to denounce the hypocrisy of the US opposing the possession of nuclear weapons by certain states, but failing to criticize the destabilization of the Middle East through the Israeli possession of nuclear arms. In 2007, the Harper  government reversed Canada’s long standing support for a nuclear arms free middle East.

(31) Canada, under the Harper minority government, has failed to criticize the Israeli strike on Syria, and has not come out in opposition to the dangerous precedent set by the US in the US adoption of the policy of pre-emptive strikes against states that pose a threat to the United States. [It was reported that, on September 6, 2007, Israel struck a facility in Syria]. Harper failed to seriously condemn the attack on the humanitarian Flotilla going to Gaza by the Israelis.

(32) Canada, through the acceptance by Harper, of an international "human rights award" has abandoned Canada's less biased position in the Middle East. Harper's award was based on the following:

Unequivocally supporting Canada's role in the UN-sanctioned mission in Afghanistan; refusing to adopt a resolution denouncing Israel's right to self-defence at the 2006 Francophonie Summit.

(33) Harper has failed to denounce the hypocrisy of the US opposing the possession of nuclear weapons by certain states, but failing to criticize the destabilization of the middle East through Israelis possession of nuclear arms. December 2006 CANADIAN SUBMISSION ON THE ARMS TRADE TREATY (resolution 61/89)
 
(34) Canada has not supported the setting up, by the United Nations General Assembly, under Article 22, an international Tribunal to try the Bush Regime for Crimes against the peace. Canada failed to invoke transnational law, and its own statutory law to arrest Bush in Calgary and in Toronto

DEMONSTRATING DISDAIN FOR THE RULE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

(35) Canada has demonstrated disdain for the international rule of law, by refusing when brought to the International Court of Justice in 1999 over the invasion of Kosovo, to accept the jurisdiction or decision of the ICJ.

(36) Canada, through transferring prisoners in Afghanistan, has violated the Convention against Torture by being complicit in causing torture. Even though a Canadian ambassador advised the government about the fact that the prisoners transferred by Canada to an Afghan prison were being tortured, the Harper minority government  ignored the warning. The Harper minority government denied that they had been informed and discredited him, and now in June, the documents indicate that Harper had been informed.
 
Conveniently this information which was requested by the opposition was released after the election.

(37) Canada has violated the Geneva conventions on the treatment of civilians, and international human rights and humanitarian law during the invasion and occupation of sovereign states.

TRUMPING CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
 
(38) Canada has signed and ratified international conventions, treaties and covenants but has failed to enact the necessary statutory legislation to ensure compliance. [Even though in 1982, Canada sent a Communiqué internationally indicating that when Canada signs an agreement it ensures that the necessary legislation is in place, and in the event that there is a discrepancy, Canada will enact implementing legislation].

(39) Canada, under the Harper governments, has ignored the April 20, 2006 recommendations made Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Under article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Canada along with other signatories, is required to report every five years to the Human Rights Committee of the ICCPR.

(40) Canada has obsequiously drafted the Canadian model of Homeland Security Act in the drafting and enforcing of the "anti-terrorist Act" which has contributed to racial profiling. Canada has violated the civil and political rights of its citizens by instituting a copy-cat no-fly list, and by relying on FBI lists of Activists to prevent their entry into Canada.

(41) Canada has also embarked upon caving in to US paranoia by contributing to a North American Fortress and has agreed to develop, enforce intrusive identity measures such as biometrics, and as increased  phone tapping, and internet spying.

(42) Canada, under the Harper government, has permitted a pilot project of Body Scanning for the virtual stripping of citizens through a device that penetrates through clothes.

(43) Canada, has used the RCMP, as agent provocateurs, to target activists opposed to government policies at conferences, such as APEC, and the SPP, and possibly in the G8-G20 Conference in Toronto.

(44) Canada has placed citizens, engaged in lawful advocacy, on RCMP Threat Assessment lists.

(45) Canada has equated lawful advocacy with criminal acts in violation of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act.

(46) Canada has exchanged "caveats down intelligence" information with the US; this misinformation has led to "rendering" of citizens to states which permit torture.

(47) Canada has failed to condemn the redefinition, by the US, of what constitutes torture; The Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz during the Bush regime even tried to redefine what constitutes torture.

(48) Canada has been implicated in intruding and intervening, through questionable institutes, in the electoral process in sovereign states.

ENGAGING IN ANTI-ENVIRONMENTALISM

(49) Canada has instituted major environmental awards, such as the Canadian Environmental Award, and permitted major polluters, such as Shell and Nexen to sponsor the event, and thus has condoned greenwash.

(50) Canada has condemned and prosecuted citizens for attempting to prevent irreparable harm to the environment and for calling upon governments and the courts to respect the rule of law. Since the arrests in Clayoquot Sound and subsequent arrests of citizens protesting the destruction of the forests, concerned citizens have been asking "Who are the real criminals?" The Court must end designating, as criminals, those who strive to respect international obligations, and begin charging the corporations who continuously disregard the rule of law, and the long-standing obligations towards the Environment.

(51) Canada has for years ignored the warnings of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate change, and disregarded its obligations under the Framework Convention on Climate Change and ratified but ignored the Kyoto Protocol.

(52) Canada, under the Harper minority government, received the colossal fossil award at the COP15 climate change Conference in Copenhagen. Canada was one of three countries that refused to accept 1990 as the base line for greenhouse gas reduction commitments. Harper demonstrated such disdain for the Conference recently been accused of influence peddling. The Harper minority government was perceived to be an international Pariah. Harper has even stated that ”Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations”

At Cop 16 in Cancun, In the final document , there was a recognition that to fulfill the obligation-i.e. below 2 degrees- in the IPCC 2007 Report it would be necessary for the developed states  to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions  by 25-40 % from 1990 levels by 2020. While this is a modest demand when states should strive to go much further, Canada under the Harper government has agreed to the equivalent of 4% below 1990 levels by 2020.

(53) Canada has even ignored the serious short term and long term consequences of nuclear energy and advocated that civil nuclear energy is the solution to climate change.

(54) Canada has promoted two questionable "solutions" to climate change: Nuclear and biofuel, and ignored the principles that a"solution" should never be equally bad or worse than the problem it is intended to solve .Canada continued to support this position at the 2009, Commission on Sustainable Development and subsequently.

(55) Canada has failed to call for states to release information related to the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of all weapons systems, military operations and interventions, military exercises, weapons testing, military aviation, environmental warfare, troop transfer, waste generation, reconstruction after acts of violent interventions etc. It has been reported in 2011 that Canada, under Harper government, has misrepresented, to the UN, the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the tar sands UPDATE http://t.co/FH6kAB the leaving out, in the Report to the UN, of the Tarsands data should be investigated as fraud.

(56) Canada has either not been invited or refused to participate in the German government initiative to establish an International Renewal Energy Agency (IRENA). The preparatory conference for the foundation of the international renewable energy agency (IRENA) took place in German on April 09 -11, 2008, there were 170 participants from 60 countries attended and discussed the possible objectives, activities, organisation and finance of IRENA. Canada was not one of them. Harper’s position has not changed.

(57) Canada has continued to transfer to other states, substances and activities that are harmful to human health or to the environment and to justify this transfer through the notion of "informed consent."
 
(58) Canada, under the Harper government opposed a bill on mining which called for Canadian mining Companies to abide by standards when they operate outside of Canada. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that corporations engaged in mining, oil or gas activities and receiving support from the Government of Canada act in a manner consistent with international environmental best practices and with Canada's commitments to international human rights standards.– Bill C-300, an Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. On second reading on April 22, 2009, the Bill squeaked through by four votes. On October 27, 2010, however, bill C-300, the Responsible Mining Bill, went to a final vote in the House of Commons and failed.
Bill C-300:

1. proposed standards for Canadian extractive companies operating in developing countries; 2. made provisions for complaints against these standards to be brought before the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; 3. provided for public reporting in Canada Gazette of the reasons a complaint was dismissed, or the results of any examination undertaken as a result of the complaint; The Bill proposed that there would be financing through Export Development Canada, and that promotion and support, through Canadian embassies, for Canadian extractive companies would be contingent on Canadian extractive companies` being in compliance with the proposed standards.

(59) Harper Canada, on June 20, 2011, blocked the placing of Asbestos on the Rotterdam list of dangerous substance list. Rebranding asbestos as "chrysotile" is duplicitous. Nothing will absolve Canada from complicity in deaths across the world. The production and sale of Asbestos must be banned and a fair and just transition for workers and communities, instituted.

(60) Canada collaborated with the US in the gutting and discarding of the precautionary principle which reads where there is a threat to human health or the environment, the lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent the threat.

(61) Canada has continued to the destroy biodiversity not only in Canada but even in the United States, through the transboundary impact caused by the Canadian company, Cominco. Canada, under the Harper government, has obstructed the Biodiversity Protocol, Indigenous Groups allege Canadian Obstructionism on the Biodiversity ABS Protocol

UNDERMINING FOOD SECURITY.

(62) Canada continues to be a major producer, and promoter of genetically engineered foods and crops which has led to deterioration of the food supply, and of heritage seeds. Canada has used the WTO to undermine European opposition to genetically engineered foods and crops by filing a complaint with WTO Tribunal On April 25 - 26, 2006 in Brussels the harper minority government attempted to pressure EU to support GE crops  The EU has been opposed to genetic engineering. The Harper government reported that a meeting with the European association for bio-industry was very useful in gaining insight into EU processes for approval of GM crops and the need to keep the pressure on particular states for a favourable outcome on approval for Canadian bioengineered products.
 
(63) Canada has participated in the export of genetically engineered corn into Mexico when, under NAFTA on January 1, 2008, the Mexican border was opened to genetically engineered corn. Canada has continued to export this corn into Mexico.

(64) Canada has supported corporate demands, under the Biosafety Protocol, for an acceptance of a high percentage of adventitious material in containers previously used for the transport of Living Modified Organisms.

(65) Canada has permitted the salmon Aquaculture, which has impacted on wild salmon. Canada has condoned the use of Slice -a drug with restricted use, to prevent sea lice in farmed salmon.

G8 - G20 AND TRADE AGREEMENTS

(66) The G8-G20 that was held in Canada generated serious concerns about the police violence and about a 50 million Legacy fund that was spent on questionable projects. The police investigation is still underway. As a result of the election the final report of the Auditor General could not be released before the election. A leaked report indicated that funds designated for border infrastructure was improperly transferred into the Legacy fund. The Auditor General's report was released on June 8 2011 after the election. The 50 million expenditure for G8 /G20 was described as misappropriation of funds, and the assistant Auditor General said in all his career he had never seen anything like it.

67) Canada, through the Security and Prosperity Partnership, NAFTA, TILMA and numerous other trade agreements, has been harmonizing standards leading to the lowest common denominator, and has been relaxing regulations.

(68) Canada voted against the declaration of Water as a Human Right, at the reunion of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Subsequently, on 30 September 2010, in a landmark decision, the UN Human Rights Council has finally adopted the right to water and sanitation as legally binding in international law. The Harper minority government abstained.

(69) Canada, during the Harper minority and majority governments has increasingly resorted to promoting public private partnerships  (3 Ps) as the means to  fund and operate in the commons in areas of drinking water and sewage.

EVADING HUMAN RIGHTS

Social and Cultural Rights

(70) Canada has failed to incorporate, provisions, in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for the right to food and housing which were enshrined in International Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights to which Canada is a signatory.

(71) Canada has failed to implement into statutory legislation the guarantees under the Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights to the right to food and the right to housing, both vital determinants of citizen’s health.

(72) Canada has failed to act on the international commitment to transfer .7% of the GDP for overseas aid.

(73) Canada has failed to seriously advance the cancellation of third world debt. And at the January 2011 Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC) the Harper minority government ignored the pleas, of the representative of the LDCs, for cancelling the debt and acting on the commitment to transfer .7%o GDP for Overseas Development Aid.

EDUCATION  HEALTH  CARE UNDERMINED

(74) Canada has reduced funds for universities, causing universities and researchers to grovel for corporate and defence funding.

(75) Canada has condoned the corporate funding of higher education and the corporate direction of research.

(76) Canada, through the appointment of general Rick Hillier, former Canadian Chief of Defence staff, as Chancellor of Memorial university; reflects the reifying of the inBEDedness of the military in academia, and of the disconcerting revolving academic/military door.

(77) Canada is moving progressively away from its national policy of universal accessible, non-two tier, not for profit health care system.

(78) Canada has, through the election of Dr Brian Day, as President of the Canadian Medical Association could be moving more towards condoning private facilities: In a November 2010 Address to the Canadian Medical Association stated the following: "Frustrations with wait lists led me, in 1995, to found the Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver - the first private facility of its type in Canada."

LABOUR RIGHTS

(79) Canada, has failed to sign and ratify most of the International Labour Conventions (ILO). ILO supports the right to strike. The right to strike was enshrined in the International Covenant of Social Economic and cultural rights. Canada Post and the Postal workers were negotiating for nine months and then the postal workers held a rotating strike, which still allowed the service of delivery to continue. Canada Post in collaboration with the Harper majority government decided to lock the postal workers out.  Then the Harper government drafted a bill C8 in which they planned to force the postal workers back to work, and in it imposed a pay settlement that was less than what Canada Post had already agreed to. On June 23 and all night  and on the 24, the Opposition Parties have been calling for the lock-out to end and the Postal workers have agreed to return to work under the same contract and continue to negotiate. During the debate, a Conservative claimed that the right to strike is not respected in Canada. The  Conservatives keep missing the point and go on and on about how everyone is suffering when they have the power to end the lockup. There is no reason to legislate them back.

The Harper majority government has now ignored the right to strike and collective bargaining by ordering the postal workers back to work

(80) Canada has failed to institute a Fair and just transition program for workers to move away from activities that are harmful to the environment and to human health.. Since the emergence of concern about the environment in the 1970s, many union members anticipated that there would be the phasing out of industries for environmental reasons, and they began advancing the principle of fair and just transition.

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS

(81) Canada, on September 13, 2007, under the Harper minority government failed to adopt the International Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Canada was one of only four states that refused to adopt the declaration; subsequently with the change in government in Australia Canada is then one of three states that did not adopt the Declaration). In 2007, the three opposition Parties in Parliament, representing two thirds of the electorate, notified the United Nations about their support for the adoption of the Declaration. In 2010 the Harper minority government finally adopted  the Declaration. There is still  continued violation of the social and cultural rights, the right to self-determination, the right to safe drinking water, right to education, etc. for indigenous peoples in Canada

(82) Canada cannot be absolved from the longstanding and continuing exploitation of aboriginal peoples in Canada.  Canada has allowed the situation of indigenous peoples in Canada to deteriorate to such an extent that first Nations are often desperate enough to enter into agreements with industries that exploit resources of the land in a way that is destructive to the environment and culturally inappropriate.

(83) Canada under a Harper government has ignored the pleas of indigenous peoples both in Canada and internationally to address the environmental degradation caused by the tar sands and the contribution of oil industry to greenhouse emissions that impacts the environment and atmospheric space indigenous peoples around the world

(84) Canada has refused to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families.

FLAUNTING CORPORATISM

(85) Canada has continued to promulgate globalization, deregulation and privatization through its support for trade agreements, such as the WTO/FTAA/NAFTA, SPP.

(86) Canada has advocated and supported the IMF’s structural adjustment programs which have resulted in serious deterioration of social services and exploitation of the resources of vulnerable peoples around the world.

(87) Canada has entered into the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), with the US and Mexico, which will contribute to the increased violation of international peremptory norms, and lead to the relaxing of health and environmental standards through the “harmonization” of standards.

(88) Canada has been increasingly willing to provide “reliable energy” to the US regardless of health or environmental  consequences.

(89) Canada has ignored even the NAFTA provision to not relax environmental standards to attract industry, for example, in British Columbia, rivers are being destroyed through the Run of the Rivers project which permits US Corporations to harness energy to serve US energy wants; in Alberta, land and waterways devastated through the Tar Sands; in the West Coast, the sea contaminated through potential tanker traffic accidents.

(90) Canada has, on the other hand, always relied on what has been described as the proportionality principle which it claims would require, regardless of the environmental consequences to continue to export the same proportion of energy.

(91) Canada, in its 1993 Environmental Assessment of NAFTA, claimed that Canada’s international environmental obligations would take precedence over NAFTA; yet Canada has not used the Convention on Biological Diversity which Canada has signed and ratified, to counter any corporate claims against Canada.

(92) Canada has increasingly succumbed to foreign corporate take-overs of Canadian industry.

(93) Canada has promoted the privatization of public services such as water, and health care. Canada has passed Bill C-10, which included a revision to the Waterways Protection Act created in 1884 to protect the historic right of navigation for the everyday needs of common people. With this revision, decisions about environmental assessment would rest with the Federal transport Minister. Transport Canada has thus rewritten the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) to eliminate a developer's obligation to consider impacts on navigation when building dams, bridges, causeways or other invasive structures on thousands of waterways across Canada. Further encroachment, by corporation would have devastating environmental impacts as well allowing them to divert, drain, strip and leave jams and other detritus in the pathway.

(94) Canada has advocated corporate voluntary compliance rather than instituting Mandatory International Ethical Normative (MIEN) standards and enforceable regulations to drive industry to conform to international law.

(95) Canada has failed to revoke licences of corporations that have violated human rights, destroyed the environment, contributed to war and conflict, and denied social justice.

(96) Canada has condoned and  actively facilitated corporations benefiting and profiting from war.

(97) Canada is willing to sacrifice the environment, in the tar sands, to satisfy US energy wants and is indirectly contributing to US military production.

(98) Canada has engaged in flawed consultation process in the tar sands, and conveyed an over the top rhetorical vision statement: Our vision for oil sands development leads to a future for Alberta that:

Honours the rights of First Nations and Metis
Provides a high quality of life
Ensures a healthy environment
Maximizes value-added in Alberta
Builds healthy communities
Sees Alberta benefit from the oil economy and lead in the post-oil economy
Sees Alberta as a world leader in education, technology and a skilled workforce
Provides high quality infrastructure and services for all Albertans
Demonstrates leadership through world class governance (agreed to by the committee of the consultation process)

(99) Canada has directly or indirectly subsidized companies that have developed weapons of mass destruction, that have violated human rights, that have denied social justice, that have exploited workers, that have destroyed the environment.

(100) Canada, under Harper government ,is moving away from a country of multifaith, and no faith toward a form of Christian fundamentalism which includes a form of dispensationalism whose tenets include the belief in Armageddon, and the importance of the borders of Israel being maintained so the prophecy of Christ`s return will be fulfilled.