12 min > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vhW-seBVpOs
(videos of the protest attended by Scott Olsen (war veteran) show a policeman lobbing a tear gas canister. Olsen’s back was to the police. He was hit in the head by the canister, causing a skull fracture. Olsen was in critical condition in hospital; Saturday the 29th, upgraded to “fair” condition.)
Just click on the link – Jeremy Rifkin. (A short first part is in French. Then it goes to English.)
Valuable for Canadians, and if you’re in Saskatchewan, it is critical information for voting in Nov 7 Election.
Be clear: a vote for the status quo means we will have “small” nuclear reactors in Saskatchewan and high-level radioactive waste disposal.
Hear Rifkin before you vote.
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CONTENTS
1. CONNECT THE PLAYERS
AND WHAT IS BEHIND THE “SMALL REACTORS”? … TAR SANDS DEVEL0PMENT.
2. MOVING SASKATCHEWAN FORWARD . . TO A TOXIC ECONOMY, Sept 2, Jim Harding, (re THE HITACHI / GE DEAL FOR “SMALL REACTORS”). Click on http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3445
3. PREMIER WALL CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, Oct. 28, Jim Harding. RE: High-level Radioactive Waste transported to Saskatchewan. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3453
4. URANIUM TAKEOVERS ARE OFFERING INVESTORS THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL PAYOFFS – – LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER FUKISHIMA. (Suckers, anyone?!)
5. AFTER THE OCTOBER MEETING OF SENATE (Sandra speaking) WHAT’S GOOD FOR CAMECO IS GOOD FOR THE UNIVERSITY
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1. CONNECT THE PLAYERS
The Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation (CCNI) with its thinly-disguised mandate is now established at the University. (I will post more info on it later.) The Brad Wall Government put in $30 million. Plus another $17 million in tied funding that makes it difficult to separate nuke and not-nuke funding. Who wants to forego $47 million?!)
The University Administration working with the Government has given away the autonomy of the University to decide how money is allocated.
Further, the SaskParty Government signed and funded $10 million with Hitachi/GE for “small” reactors. The “small” nuclear reactors for expanded tar sands development will be brought on-line through the University (CCNI). The CCNI reports directly to the Board of Governors, chaired by Nancy Hopkins with her approximately $2 million in Cameco shares, by-passing the normal reporting lines at the University. The composition of the Board of Directors for the CCNI is very convenient for industry interests.
I should not forget: • March 17, 2009 Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd . . . signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the government and Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a U.S. Department of Energy institution that is considered that country’s top national laboratory for nuclear energy research. (from http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1211)
Recently, University president Peter MacKinnon endorsed SaskParty candidate, and the candidate, Rob Norris, was given permission by the president to use it in his campaign brochure: “Rob Norris is the finest minister responsible for post-secondary education that I have been privileged to work with in my (13) years as (president) – .”
Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/MacKinnon+comment+conflict+prof/5620291/story.html#ixzz1c5aYGp9U
(Also posted with the on-line comments at http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3448)
The USSWORD infographic (more below) shows the connections between MacKinnon (University) and Norris (University / Government / Industry) and the Government.
(There is a lot happening. I will try to get more of it posted. Sorry – I cannot get it all circulated by email. Click on www.sandrafinley.ca ; go to right-hand sidebar, to the category “Energy”. )
Makes me sick. The Government and University of Saskatchewan are taking us down the UTTERLY wrong road. We will be so heavily invested in the wrong thing, there will be a very sad future. But big pay-offs today for a few people.
The good news: a Provincial Election on November 7th.
The Green Party was, is and always will be: renewables as the way forward.
Listen to the concise, clear, compelling statements by Jeremy Rifkin to understand why.
Everyone who is voting in the Saskatchewan Election should hear them.
Everyone should see it! (A very short first part is in French. Then it goes to English.)
/Sandra
– – – — – – – – – – –
RECEIVED from Jim P:
The commentary by Jim Harding (item #3 PREMIER WALL CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS) is the best summary of what is happening in the Province that I have seen anywhere. His analysis, coupled to the USSWORD infographic . . .
(INSERT: The USSWORD “infographic” shows the connections between the players,
Go to http://ussword.blogspot.com/ , click on “infographic” at the top right.)
Several suggestions have been made as to how to stop them using the University as a ‘back door’ for their agenda. Unfortunately, the ‘UDP group’ (INSERT: Uranium Development Partnership established by the Wall Government) has gotten a toehold at the University through CCNI (Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation). Unfortunately, President MacKinnon considers himself bullet proof in the propaganda war (see Norris campaign literature for example). Unfortunately, he is probably correct in his assessment, as the ‘fix’ seems to be truly ‘in’ with the nuclear industry, the Wall Government, their re-election, the Harper Government and the shadowy murk of international capital/strategic national interests that husbanded and ushered in the Harper regime. The only aspect that they have not effectively muzzled as yet is the press – although one would wonder, seeing, for example, the StarPhoenix and Globe’s coverage of events so far.
… The ‘UDP group’ is now using time as a weapon to find and suborn a Northern community . . . (so poor) that they will eventually have to do as they are told. . . . I fear that they will be coerced into this gristly experiment to establish nuclear processing and storage facilities.
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2. MOVING SASKATCHEWAN FORWARD . . . TO A TOXIC ECONOMY (re THE HITACHI / GE DEAL FOR “SMALL REACTORS”). (posted at http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3445 )
By Jim Harding
Published in R-Town News September 2, 2011
The Wall government is ramping up for the fall election with the slogan “Moving Saskatchewan Forward!” But is the direction it is taking us really forward at all? The recent announcement of a $10 million deal with GE-Hitachi to research “small” nuclear reactors and nuclear wastes won’t take Saskatchewan towards sustainability. Rather it will ensure a toxic future for our children’s, children’s, children.
GE-HITACHI ORIGINS
The companies that build nuclear reactors continue to decline. France’s Areva is still in the business but its huge cost-overruns and cumulating debt make it vulnerable. And Canada’s AECL, now privatized by Harper, will have increasing trouble justifying multi-billion taxpayer subsidies to build Candus. To try to enhance their competitiveness, the U.S.’s General Electric (GE) and Japan’s Hitachi formed a global nuclear alliance in June 2007. However this was premised on Japan and the U.S. continuing to build large nuclear plants, which is highly unlikely after the Fukushima catastrophe. So GE-Hitachi is now desperate for new markets to survive. Enter Saskatchewan, stage right!
UPDATE FUKUSHIMA
Before Fukushima the nuclear industry was regulated by the Trade Ministry, which promoted nuclear energy. Since Fukushima the Japanese government passed strong renewable energy legislation requiring utilities to buy any domestically-produced renewable energy regardless of cost. This is a green light for off-shore wind, geo-thermal plants in the earthquake-prone mountains and an expansion of photovoltaic (PV) electricity. (Japan along with China is already a world leader in PV technology.) This jump-starts the phase-out of nuclear power and puts an end to GE-Hitachi plans to build 20 more Japanese plants, so where does GE-Hitachi go? Apparently they are coming here, where the government is so irrationally-pro-nuclear that it won’t allow itself to face hard economic or ecological facts.
While other countries do a full nuclear phase-out and renewables continue to gain ground globally, our government cancels Sask Power’s net-metering program, which was just a baby step to bring more renewables onto the grid, and makes a nuclear deal with GE-Hitachi. Wall’s government seems totally out of sync with emerging trends. While Minister Norris was finalizing his Memorandums of Understanding with GE-Hitachi, Beyond Nuclear told us that that the situation at Fukushima continued to worsen. The scope of radioactive contamination widens, with high levels of long-lived radioactive cesium now found 62 miles from the plants. Japan’s monitoring agency calculates that the cesium contaminating the country is now 168 times that from the Hiroshima bomb (15,000 tera-becquerels compared to 89.) Both radioactive cesium and strontium are now in Chinese territorial waters, threatening sea life and sea food.
The Wall government not only refused to greet the 20-day walkers who came 820 km from Pinehouse to call for a provincial nuclear waste ban; it has turned its back on what’s continuing to happen to the Japanese people.
MORE SPIN
Always searching for a corporate way to “move Saskatchewan forward”, regardless of cost and risk, the Wall government ignores the role of its new partner-in-arms in building the flawed Fukushima plants. A deal with GE-Hitachi to study nuclear safety, after Fukushima being the second worst nuclear disaster in history, after Chernobyl, is simply unconscionable. There is something Orwellian when the Hitachi-GE head is reported in the August 25th Star Phoenix as saying, “our latest findings from Fukushima will greatly contribute to safety of nuclear power in Canada also”. I suppose it could also be argued that one way to study cancer is to cause more of it.
In spite of its lapse into “populism” to stop the BHP Potash takeover, the Wall government seems to fundamentally embrace the amoral worldview of corporate globalization. There seems little or no concern about GE-Hitachi’s direct involvement in Fukushima; no apparent concern that Cameco was a major supplier to the reactor company Tepco that operated these plants, or that Tepco is a partner in the troublesome Cigar lake uranium mine! As long as it’s about profitable business, apparently anything goes.
WALL’S CORPORATE PARTNER
What else has Wall’s corporate partner been up to? In 2010 GE-Hitachi signed an agreement with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) to do research on small modular reactors (SMR) and on new nuclear fuels. Savannah, in South Carolina, is where the U.S. nuclear industry began; it did the refining-enriching for U.S. nuclear weapons. And when Minister Norris says that Saskatchewan is moving forward with a “peaceful, responsible, robust nuclear agenda”, he isn’t going to mention that Savannah, where GE-Hitachi operates, is the only place in the U.S. where tritium continues to be produced for nuclear weapons. Savannah has also been earmarked for a mixed-oxide (MOX) plant which would recover plutonium from nuclear waste spent fuel.
In reality the so-called peaceful and military sectors of the nuclear industry remain tightly interlocked. Semantic spin is also rampant in nuclear promotions. What does GE-Hitachi actually mean by “small reactors”? Do they mean small in comparison to big reactors, which produce up to 1,600 megawatts? The IAEA defines “small” as producing under-300 mega-watts electricity (MWe), and “medium” as producing up to 700 MWe. It’s clear that by “small” GE-Hitachi means fairly big, for in April 2011 they submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to apply for a permit for a 311 MWe “small modular reactor”. Such a reactor, however, has not yet been proposed or approved.
SAVANNAH NORTH
Why hasn’t GE-Hitachi gone to Ontario, which produces most of Canada’s nuclear waste. Why has it come to Saskatchewan? Maybe GE-Hitachi thinks it can build its 311 MWe “small reactor” here more easily than in the U.S. After all, the Wall government seems willing to throw public moneys at waning nuclear companies. Maybe GE-Hitachi thinks Ontario’s, and even the U.S.’s nuclear wastes will someday be here too.
The MOU between the Sask Party government and GE-Hitachi makes us into Savannah North. GE-Hitachi needs a place to launch its “small” reactor industry using nuclear wastes as spent fuel. And the Wall government has welcomed them with open arms. This is what the nuclear industry-dominated UDP recommended in 2008, and in spite of the public consultations showing overwhelming opposition to this toxic vision of “moving Saskatchewan forward”, the Wall government carries on. It apparently can’t take “no!” for an answer.
NUCLEAR DUMP STILL ON
So take it with a big grain of salt when Premier Wall says he’s not sure whether we should have a nuclear waste dump in the north, because it is a Saskatchewan-wide issue, and there’s not much support. (He’s right about this!) He’s only begging time. He’s operating the same as the industry-based Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) when it tries to buy its way into a northern community like Pinehouse, with the rest of us not really knowing what is happening or the implications for our future.
The University of Saskatchewan, in this regards, is a little like Pinehouse, with a few people willing to be part of the nuclear agenda, if there is something in it for them. In the north NWMO tries to piggy-back its agenda on the crisis of youth; in Saskatoon GE-Hitachi tries to do this piggy-backing nuclear medicine. In neither case are they related. Economic impoverishment has remained in the north in spite of the uranium mining “boom”; and a nuclear dump would only aggravate the situation. And research on using the U of S synchrotron for producing medical isotopes has nothing to do with “small” reactors or nuclear wastes. In fact, it would make nuclear reactors even more obsolete.
To truly move Saskatchewan forward we are going to have to cut through the growing pile of nuclear spin! We can only hope this will start to happen in the fall election.
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3. PREMIER WALL CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, Oct. 28, Jim Harding. RE: High-level Radioactive Waste transported to Saskatchewan. http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3453
For R-Town News Oct. 28, 2011
BY Jim Harding
We could finish this election campaign without serious issues even being raised, which isn’t the way to practice democracy. One such issue is whether thousands of truckloads of highly radioactive nuclear wastes will be brought from Ontario’s nuclear plants to a nuclear dump in our north.
Premier Wall sidesteps the issue; there was no concern expressed when Pinehouse, Patuanak and Creighton were targeted as potential sites for a nuclear dump. On April 14th North Battleford groups delivered 5,000 signatures of people opposed to such a dump. Afterwards the Premier publicly acknowledged the “negative public opinion about a nuclear waste facility”, adding “I don’t think the mood of the province has changed, and frankly, what’s happening in Japan has got people thinking…” This left an impression that his government didn’t support a nuclear dump, but the industry-run Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) carried on with its monetary inducements in the north.
7,000 GENERATIONS WALK
The northern-based Committee for Future Generations then organized an 820 KM walk from Pinehouse to Regina to express its opposition to a radioactive dump. After 20 days on the road, the respectful thing would have been for Premier Wall to greet these hardy citizens. The walk got front page coverage in both big city dailies, but when the walkers got to the Legislature August 16th Premier Wall was nowhere to be seen. Not even the Deputy Premier or a Sask Party MLA turned out to welcome those who had just made Saskatchewan history with their marathon. Only a staffer came to receive the letter to the Premier.
By August end there was still no response. At the Legislature rally August 16th the NDP opposition took a position against a nuclear dump. And the northern Committee continued collecting petitions, now having an additional 10,000 signatures in addition to the 5,000 presented to the government in April. People across the province are apparently eager to say “no!” to a nuclear dump; private party polling will confirm the widespread opposition.
THE PREMIER’S LETTER
Wall’s advisors may have thought it ill-advised to continue ducking the issue, for on Sept. 6th Committee Chair, Max Morin, finally received a letter. Premier Wall “apologized for the delay in my response”; though he didn’t apologize for not greeting the walkers. He reiterated the industry position about the NWMO looking for “a suitable location for the storage of used nuclear fuel”, without mentioning that it would be far safer to keep the wastes close to where they are created. No mention that a main reason the industry wants central storage is to reprocess nuclear wastes to get plutonium in the future.
YEARS DOWN THE ROAD
What is Premier Wall actually up to? The clincher sentence in his letter is, “The Government will not make a decision on a particular proposal by a willing host community until a proposal has been developed and put forward…which could be years down the road.” If Premier Wall meant what he said in April, when he acknowledged the “negative public opinion” about a nuclear dump, then why is the industry-run NWMO continuing with its insidious process for “years down the road”? Does this explain why Wall’s government recently signed an agreement with GE and Hitachi, Cameco’s partners in uranium enrichment technology, to do research on nuclear waste fuel with the University of Saskatchewan?
Politically, Premier Wall can’t appear to be completely in the hands of industry. So his letter continues with the “on the other hand” answer to the northern Committee. His wording is deceptive. It is perhaps encouraging that he says “the decision on whether to host a site” will be decided “in relation to the level of support from the Saskatchewan people more generally”. However, he said that this is in addition to “the NWMO assessment and level of community support”. Premier Wall has already admitted what the polls show, that there is not any significant support for a nuclear dump here. So, again I ask, why is the industry being allowed to continue to animate, that is, try to buy “community support”?
ON CONTRADICTIONS
Premier Wall’s letter includes the seemingly unambiguous statement that “The Government will not support a proposal unless there is clear support from the people of Saskatchewan.” If he sincerely means this, if this is the government’s position, he doesn’t need to wait for “years down the road” to make a decision. There should be a process underway right now to see if “there is clear support from the people of Saskatchewan” for a nuclear dump. If not, he should tell NWMO to cease their monetary inducements in the north. He can’t have it both ways.
The burning question is: which comes first for Premier Wall? Is it Saskatchewan democracy? Or is it nuclear industry expansion? If Premier Wall was true to his words he’d already have come out against a nuclear dump. He talks as though he respects “the level of community support”, meanwhile a petition in Pinehouse has already shown that community support for a nuclear dump doesn’t exist there. So why is the “NWMO assessment”, with only one goal, of creating a nuclear dump, being allowed to proceed?
Premier Wall’s appeal to “community support”, like his appeal to “clear support from the people of Saskatchewan”, is apparently political rhetoric to buy more time for industry to penetrate the north. That way, by the time Saskatchewan democracy comes into play “years down the road”, the industry might have signed contracts and its dump be underway. Their strategy has always been incremental so the public doesn’t know their end-game.
PUBLIC BE DAMNED
We know from Manitoba that the “feasibility research” was inextricably tied to the actual planning of a dump. When people caught on and government changed hands legislation banning waste storage was passed. Why isn’t Premier Wall following the example of Manitoba in 1987 or Quebec in 2008 when they said flat out, “we won’t take Ontario’s nuclear wastes”?
The Wall government isn’t being proactive or protective because it wants the nuclear industry-driven process to succeed. It considers a nuclear dump to be “adding value” to the uranium industry, as was advocated by its own Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) in 2009. Though over 90% of the thousands participating in the UDP’s public consultations opposed a nuclear dump, the public be damned.
If Premier Wall meant it when he says in his letter that a nuclear dump “is not a priority to the province” and it is already clear that there is not “the support of provincial residents” for this, why is he being so permissive with the industry? Why is Premier Wall so interested in remaining “informed and engaged” with the nuclear industry, when he is unwilling to do this with the Saskatchewan public?
Premier Wall’s letter to the northern Committee appeals to rhetoric about popular democracy, but unless his government is challenged, it’s clear it will let the industry get its way. We can’t allow such smoke and mirrors to operate with an issue so vital to our future. The Premier and other Sask Party candidates need to be called on their “double-speak” on nuclear wastes.
More on nuclear wastes at: http://crowsnestecology.wordpress.com/category/nuclear-wastes/
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4. URANIUM TAKEOVERS ARE OFFERING INVESTORS THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL PAYOFFS – – LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER FUKISHIMA. (Suckers, anyone?!)
Uranium Deals Pay Off on Nuclear Demand
Bloomberg News by Tara Lachapelle – Oct 24, 2011 6:58 PM CT
Uranium takeovers are offering investors the biggest potential payoffs, less than a year after the partial meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant.
Hathor Exploration Ltd. (HAT), the owner of a uranium deposit in northern Saskatchewan, is trading 8.4 percent above a bid from Rio Tinto Group that topped an offer from Cameco Corp. (CCO) That signals investors are now betting Hathor will extract the biggest price hike of any pending North American deal greater than $500 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kalahari Minerals Plc (KAH), which resumed talks with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group after a takeover was derailed by Japan’s disaster, would now hand shareholders a higher return than the pre-Fukushima agreement, even with a 5 percent lower offer.
Hathor has become the target of a bidding war, while talks to buy Kalahari, which owns a 43 percent stake in the developer of what will be the world’s third-largest uranium mine, have reignited as energy demand surges in developing nations. China, India and Russia are still constructing or planning to build at least 125 nuclear reactors combined in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that caused radiation leaks in Japan.
“The Chinese and other emerging economies are going to need uranium to power their nuclear reactors,” Rob Chang, an analyst for Versant Partners Inc. in Toronto, said in a telephone interview. “When you start seeing consolidation, it’s usually a sign of the bottom. Buyers, they’re trying to snap these assets up on the cheap. Investors would be well served.”
Uranium Explorer
Kelsea Murray, a spokeswoman for Vancouver-based Hathor, and Murray Lyons, a spokesman for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco, didn’t respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment. Tony Shaffer at London-based Rio Tinto didn’t respond to a phone message or e-mail outside normal business hours.
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5. AFTER THE OCTOBER MEETING OF SENATE (Sandra speaking) WHAT’S GOOD FOR CAMECO IS GOOD FOR THE UNIVERSITY
As I understand the situation at the U of S and in Sask:
Industry
tar sands
NEEDS
nukes
The two industries are working closely together and have co-opted both Government and the University to be on-side with their agenda.
Scientists whose good work reflects poorly on either industry (nuke/uranium OR tar sands) are not particularly welcome.
But I would like to have a balanced view, especially because I am an elected representative on University Senate.
/Sandra
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University Senate met Oct 15. The Govt of Sask recently provided another $30 million to the U of S for the newly-coined “Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation” (CCNI). The CCNI is a FUNDING body that reports directly to the Board of Governors. Bypasses all the normal reporting lines at the U. Has a Board make-up that is Industry. Has a mandate that covers all the things the industry wants, down to “small reactors” and “safe storage” (deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste). University Council recently pushed through the paperwork to move ahead, almost no debate. Deans jumping into the Administration’s lap. Only a couple of voices stood up in an effort to get the CCNI referred back for something as basic as analysis.
The CCNI did not appear on the Senate agenda. The Executive is working at re-wording Senate By-laws such that individual Senators will not be able to put items forward for inclusion on Senate agendas.
They are doing an end-run around public sentiment – public consultations (forced on the Govt) in 2009 were emphatically “no” to nuclear in Sask. The University is the vehicle for moving public money to the industry and lends an air of legitimacy.
Nancy Hopkins, chair of the Board of Governors of the U, has been on the Cameco Board since 1992 and had $1.8 million in Cameco shares as of the end of 2009. Ivany, President of the U before current President Peter MacKinnon was on Cameco Board until very recently, young Dean of the Business School became Senior VP at Cameco and was touted as heir-apparent to come back to the U and succeed MacKinnon. Dave Sutherland is on the Board of Governors – he is on the Cdn Council of Chief Executives and the Security and Prosperity Initiative. They are all about harmonization and integration with the U.S. – corporate interests in tar sands, electricity and water.
There is a long-established relationship between Cameco (which has a 30% interest in Bruce Power) and the Univ of Sask. Bruce Power was “run out of town” in 2009 when they tried to buy options on land to build a reactor near a large bend in the North Sask River near Lloydminster. Bruce also has a large interest in the high-level radioactive waste disposal site the industry has in mind for northern Sask and which we have been battling strenuously for some time. The nuke industry needs a place for the waste from Ontario, but also for all the waste from the U.S. – they have been promising for decades to truck the waste “away”. Saskatchewan is the “away”.
What’s good for Cameco is good for the University. What isn’t good for Cameco is not good for the University. University autonomy and service to the public interest have gone out the window, as far as I can see.
– – – – – — – – – – – –
The Green Party is ALL grassroots. No corporate or union or other funding. ONLY individual citizens. Maybe you will see why myself and others are saying vote green. Only citizens can take us off this insane road and put us on one that offers hope of a habitable world for our children.
For R-Town News Oct. 28, 2011
BY Jim Harding
We could finish this election campaign without serious issues even being raised, which isn’t the way to practice democracy. One such issue is whether thousands of truckloads of highly radioactive nuclear wastes will be brought from Ontario’s nuclear plants to a nuclear dump in our north.
Premier Wall sidesteps the issue; there was no concern expressed when Pinehouse, Patuanak and Creighton were targeted as potential sites for a nuclear dump. On April 14th North Battleford groups delivered 5,000 signatures of people opposed to such a dump. Afterwards the Premier publicly acknowledged the “negative public opinion about a nuclear waste facility”, adding “I don’t think the mood of the province has changed, and frankly, what’s happening in Japan has got people thinking…” This left an impression that his government didn’t support a nuclear dump, but the industry-run Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) carried on with its monetary inducements in the north.
7,000 GENERATIONS WALK
The northern-based Committee for Future Generations then organized an 820 KM walk from Pinehouse to Regina to express its opposition to a radioactive dump. After 20 days on the road, the respectful thing would have been for Premier Wall to greet these hardy citizens. The walk got front page coverage in both big city dailies, but when the walkers got to the Legislature August 16th Premier Wall was nowhere to be seen. Not even the Deputy Premier or a Sask Party MLA turned out to welcome those who had just made Saskatchewan history with their marathon. Only a staffer came to receive the letter to the Premier.
By August end there was still no response. At the Legislature rally August 16th the NDP opposition took a position against a nuclear dump. And the northern Committee continued collecting petitions, now having an additional 10,000 signatures in addition to the 5,000 presented to the government in April. People across the province are apparently eager to say “no!” to a nuclear dump; private party polling will confirm the widespread opposition.
THE PREMIER’S LETTER
Wall’s advisors may have thought it ill-advised to continue ducking the issue, for on Sept. 6th Committee Chair, Max Morin, finally received a letter. Premier Wall “apologized for the delay in my response”; though he didn’t apologize for not greeting the walkers. He reiterated the industry position about the NWMO looking for “a suitable location for the storage of used nuclear fuel”, without mentioning that it would be far safer to keep the wastes close to where they are created. No mention that a main reason the industry wants central storage is to reprocess nuclear wastes to get plutonium in the future.
YEARS DOWN THE ROAD
What is Premier Wall actually up to? The clincher sentence in his letter is, “The Government will not make a decision on a particular proposal by a willing host community until a proposal has been developed and put forward…which could be years down the road.” If Premier Wall meant what he said in April, when he acknowledged the “negative public opinion” about a nuclear dump, then why is the industry-run NWMO continuing with its insidious process for “years down the road”? Does this explain why Wall’s government recently signed an agreement with GE and Hitachi, Cameco’s partners in uranium enrichment technology, to do research on nuclear waste fuel with the University of Saskatchewan?
Politically, Premier Wall can’t appear to be completely in the hands of industry. So his letter continues with the “on the other hand” answer to the northern Committee. His wording is deceptive. It is perhaps encouraging that he says “the decision on whether to host a site” will be decided “in relation to the level of support from the Saskatchewan people more generally”. However, he said that this is in addition to “the NWMO assessment and level of community support”. Premier Wall has already admitted what the polls show, that there is not any significant support for a nuclear dump here. So, again I ask, why is the industry being allowed to continue to animate, that is, try to buy “community support”?
ON CONTRADICTIONS
Premier Wall’s letter includes the seemingly unambiguous statement that “The Government will not support a proposal unless there is clear support from the people of Saskatchewan.” If he sincerely means this, if this is the government’s position, he doesn’t need to wait for “years down the road” to make a decision. There should be a process underway right now to see if “there is clear support from the people of Saskatchewan” for a nuclear dump. If not, he should tell NWMO to cease their monetary inducements in the north. He can’t have it both ways.
The burning question is: which comes first for Premier Wall? Is it Saskatchewan democracy? Or is it nuclear industry expansion? If Premier Wall was true to his words he’d already have come out against a nuclear dump. He talks as though he respects “the level of community support”, meanwhile a petition in Pinehouse has already shown that community support for a nuclear dump doesn’t exist there. So why is the “NWMO assessment”, with only one goal, of creating a nuclear dump, being allowed to proceed?
Premier Wall’s appeal to “community support”, like his appeal to “clear support from the people of Saskatchewan”, is apparently political rhetoric to buy more time for industry to penetrate the north. That way, by the time Saskatchewan democracy comes into play “years down the road”, the industry might have signed contracts and its dump be underway. Their strategy has always been incremental so the public doesn’t know their end-game.
PUBLIC BE DAMNED
We know from Manitoba that the “feasibility research” was inextricably tied to the actual planning of a dump. When people caught on and government changed hands legislation banning waste storage was passed. Why isn’t Premier Wall following the example of Manitoba in 1987 or Quebec in 2008 when they said flat out, “we won’t take Ontario’s nuclear wastes”?
The Wall government isn’t being proactive or protective because it wants the nuclear industry-driven process to succeed. It considers a nuclear dump to be “adding value” to the uranium industry, as was advocated by its own Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) in 2009. Though over 90% of the thousands participating in the UDP’s public consultations opposed a nuclear dump, the public be damned.
If Premier Wall meant it when he says in his letter that a nuclear dump “is not a priority to the province” and it is already clear that there is not “the support of provincial residents” for this, why is he being so permissive with the industry? Why is Premier Wall so interested in remaining “informed and engaged” with the nuclear industry, when he is unwilling to do this with the Saskatchewan public?
Premier Wall’s letter to the northern Committee appeals to rhetoric about popular democracy, but unless his government is challenged, it’s clear it will let the industry get its way. We can’t allow such smoke and mirrors to operate with an issue so vital to our future. The Premier and other Sask Party candidates need to be called on their “double-speak” on nuclear wastes.
More on nuclear wastes at: http://crowsnestecology.wordpress.com/category/nuclear-wastes/
MacKinnon comment a conflict: prof
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix October 28, 2011
University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon delivers an address to grads at fall convocation, October 22.
Photograph by: Greg Pender, The StarPhoenix
A University of Saskatchewan professor says president Peter MacKinnon’s endorsement of Saskatchewan Party candidate Rob Norris in a campaign brochure is unprecedented and constitutes an “abuse of power.”
But the U of S president said the comment came at a public funding announcement and it is not uncommon for university officials to offer praise for politicians at such events. Len Findlay, a professor of English and the director of the U of S humanities research unit, said a personal endorsement by MacKinnon in a Norris brochure is in conflict with the role of the university president to stay neutral. MacKinnon is quoted as saying: “Rob Norris is the finest minister responsible for post-secondary education that I have been privileged to work with in my (13) years as (president) – .”
“It’s a publicly funded institution and it’s a provincial responsibility,” Findlay said. “Provincial governments change and the interests of the institution and the public interest is best served by the university not being seen to align itself with one party or one candidate or another.”
In an interview Thursday, MacKinnon said the comment was made at a plaque unveiling ceremony for the Academic Health Sciences Centre on campus in early September, well before the writ was dropped. The comment was a matter of public record and Norris “was entitled to use it,” he said. Norris’s office asked for permission and MacKinnon said he did not object.
“During election campaigns and other times you’re very careful, but at the same time in the work that I do, you have to know how to say thank you and the opportunities to say thank you are typically public occasions,” MacKinnon said. “Appreciation is very important and I was expressing appreciation well before the election campaign.”
Findlay said the comment is critical in a back-handed way of those who held the post before Norris. In September, the set election date made it widely known a campaign was forthcoming, Findlay said. University officials typically offer general appreciation and not personal praise at such funding announcements, he said.
“To single out a particular minister at a particularly sensitive time and to praise that minister in terms that seem to cast aspersions on his predecessors and cast him in a role of unmatched ability is something that I haven’t encountered,” Findlay said.
The comment was meant as a thank you to Norris for improving post-secondary education, MacKinnon said, and not as a jab at previous ministers of post-secondary education.
“How it’s interpreted is one thing. What I intended is another,” he said.
The comment could make it difficult for the U of S to deal with future governments, Findlay said.
“I think that universities have to live with the paymaster, whoever is in residence in Regina,” he said. “The distance from government and the distance from donors and from pressure groups in society is critical – and means that the university’s independence is not compromised.”
Norris, the Sask. Party candidate in Saskatoon Greystone, said Thursday he thought the comments were “generous in nature” and saw no issue quoting them in campaign material.
“(Endorsements are) appreciated as they arrive,” he said.
Saskatoon Greystone NDP candidate Peter Prebble declined to comment, but said he was aware of the endorsement and the concern of some on campus.
dhutton@thestarphoenix.com
Twitter.com/HuttonSP
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COMMENTS (as at 1:12 pm 2011-10-28)
12:58 PM on 10/28/2011
“Since taking over as president in 1999, he has not only transformed the University of Saskatchewan into a leading Canadian postsecondary institution, engaged aboriginal Canadians, overseen construction and operation of the largest science project in Canada, restored our historic College Building (with original cornerstone laid by Sir Wilfrid Laurier), served with wide national respect as chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, been short-listed for the Supreme Court of Canada and many other accomplishments, he has offered Canadians — by model and mentorship within our community and country — a notion of an engaged and mature Saskatchewan within a confident and dynamic Canada.”
With these words, Norris nominated MacKinnon as a “Nation Builder” in the Globe and Mail in 2006.
The next year, Norris became Minister of Post-Secondary Education, much to the delight of both I expect.
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10:58 AM on 10/28/2011
Premier Wall has attended numerous events and made many funding announcements, but has not been on the campus of the University of Regina once during his time as premier, and Mr. Norris’ track record isn’t all that much better. The U of S has received a disproportionate share of capital funding, receives more $ per student from the government, and is able to pay its faculty member significant more than that made by those doing the same work at the University of Regina. No wonder President Mackinnon wants to say thank-you and keep the money flowing.
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10:57 AM on 10/28/2011
This is just further evidence of the cozy relationship between the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Party that has only been furthered by the unethical conflict of interest inherent in having Rob Norris as the minister responsible for post-secondary education. Mr. Norris was a University of Saskatchewan employee, and his wife is currently employed there and the U of S is deriving benefits from this fact, at the expense of other institutions (most notably SIAST and the University of Regina).
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10:38 AM on 10/28/2011
Half the senior admin at the UofS are also in over their heads. I’ll give P-Mac his due–he’s good at what he does and a smooth player. Unfortunately, I don’t agree at all with his vision of our university’s role (see his op-ed in today’s SP) and wish he weren’t so good at pimping our public facilities out to special interests.
Norris is a good example of how untalented people get ahead in this province: connections. Please the right people and don’t offend the wrong ones, and you can go far on luck and hot air. Heck, that describes the SaskParty itself.
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9:16 AM on 10/28/2011
The real irony here is that Rob Norris is completely incompetent as a Minister. From a low level administrative position at the U of S to a head role in the government. He’s in way over his head.
This video focuses on the sailor who was standing beside Scott Olsen, the war veteran whose skull was fractured by a tear gas canister lobbed by the police.
The police officer who lobbed the canister has by now (Nov 2) been identified. One can have empathy for him, he is no longer anonymous.
Thank goodness for those who help to ensure that the protests (necessary) are peaceful.
Bush in B.C.: Canada Hosts a War Criminal
CONTENTS
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1. “OCCUPY POLICE” GROUP IN THE U.S. (FOLLOWS ON HEELS OF “OCCUPY MARINES”)
—–Original Message—–
From: Jim Kirwan Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011
Subject: Fw: Veterans and Police Officers Support “Occupy Wall Street” Protesters
one of the breakthroughs we’ve been looking for!
—– Original Message —–
From: “William Hedgepeth”
= = = = = = = = = == = = = = == = = =
2. OCCUPY MARINES, OCCUPY POLICE, TRIGGERING ALARM BELLS IN THE CENTRES OF POWER??
a. From: Leora To: Sandra Finley Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011
Subject: RE: U.S. Marines join the OCCUPY movement!
Hmm we all know what happens when the military overthrows the government.
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b. From: Jim Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011 To: Sandra Finley
Subject: Re: U.S. Marines join the OCCUPY movement!
Sandra – this is very dangerous gamesplaying by one or more power blocks in the USA – This will bring the OCCUPY movement to a rapid and bloody end. Which, I suspect, is what is wanted. This we do NOT need – especially the last phrase “Support the Troops – We’ll need them to overthrow the Government”. That phrase is a call to mutiny, and will trigger alarm bells in every power centre in America, leading to a swift and violent response.
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c. (I sent the immediately preceding to the originator of the message re OCCUPY Marines. His response:)
From: Jim Kirwan
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 To: Sandra Finley
Subject: Re: Jim – – re U.S. Marines join the OCCUPY movement
One thing is certain, if there is no physical protection for the demonstrators then the TROLLS will begin to do what they’ve been doing already. Maybe Jim isn’t aware of the over 400 dead we already have at the hands of these outlaw bastards? The kinds of things that military vets can do is to do what the Sargent did in backing them down, forcing them to THINK about what it is they are doing to Americans each and every day. If enough of the uniformed military show up then that will make the task of creating riots (the real purpose of the various PD units all over this land) a lot harder: Hell this might well lead to a number of defections among the rank and file of theTROLLS which could create far more problems for them than for us: ISN’T THIS THE POINT behind these demonstrations to be able to drive home the idea that we all MUST speak, regardless of the jobs we have or the problems which speaking out will bring?
My point here is that it is up to the public to raise the bar above violence, and in favor of reason, common sense and resolution over revolution – while we still can. There are too many out there who still think that people have no choice in what they choose to do with their lives – there are always choices, and if we want to FREE OURSELVES THEN WE HAVE TO BEGIN TO TAKE SOME CALCULATED RISKS IF WE WANT TO LIVE TO SEE A BETTER TOMORROW.
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d. (Not sent to kirwan – – an observation I’d like to make. /S)
STRATEGICALLY SPEAKING
It makes informed Canadians VERY nervous. Aware Americans have the same trepidations.
Strategically, I have urged Canadians to put the information into the hands of every police and military person they know. It is essential that police and military at ground level understand that we are working in their interests, too.
To the extent that we do not build relationships with them, we throw the door wide open for the military to step in. All the dominos are in place, right down to the Troop Exchange Agreement signed February 14, 2008. And now a cross-border police “project” to be rolled out in 2012.
Water shortages in the southwestern U.S.A. are extremely serious and not being dealt with. People cannot live where there isn’t water. We are talking about water for 25 – 30 million people and their industries, including large amounts of food production enabled by irrigagion. More dominos to fall.
The response to “civil unrest” will be military UNLESS, through the OCCUPY movement we can band together across North America to usurp the corporate-military-industrial-university-government power agenda.
I do not see the OCCUPY Marines and OCCUPY Police additions to the struggle as a threat to security. I see them as a welcome addition – they are good people who see what we see. They have an important role to play in taking back what is ours. With faith and confidence in each other it can be done in a way that will move us all to a New Economy and a new way of being in the World. I think Kirwan is right: we have to be willing to take some calculated risks. /Sandra
The battle heats up. More people are active, more are aware of what Canadian authorities do or don’t do.
This is the latest development in the efforts to have George Bush and Company tried for war crimes. The B.C. Attorney General immediately blocked a private prosecution of Bush for torture.
At some point it may be necessary to do what I said needed to be done (2009-09-30): Let’s say that they do not arrest Bush. That would open the way AFTER Bush’s visit, to bring legal action against the responsible persons for failure to carry out their duties under the law.
CENTRE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS & CANADIAN CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
In Canada: Matt Eisenbrandt, CCIJ, (604) 569-1778, meisenbrandt at ccij.ca
In U.S.: Jen Nessel, CCR, (212) 614-6449, press at ccrjustice.org
David Lerner, Riptide Communications, (212) 260-5000, dlerner at riptideonline.com
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CONDEMN CANADIAN ATTORNEY GENERAL’S MOVE TO IMMEDIATELY BLOCK TORTURE CASE AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH
October 24, 2011, Surrey, BC and New York, NY – After successfully lodging a private torture prosecution with a British Columbia court against former U.S. president George W. Bush as he visited Surrey for a paid speaking engagement, four torture victims have had their pursuit of justice blocked by the Attorney General of B.C. The private prosecution was brought on behalf of three former
Guantánamo detainees and one man currently detained at Guantánamo who has been imprisoned without charge for more than nine years. Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ) responded to the Attorney General’s intervention in the case and order that the proceedings be stayed:
Matt Eisenbrandt, legal director of the Canadian Centre for International Justice, who submitted the case on behalf of the torture victims remarked, “Mere hours after a justice of the peace received the criminal information and the court set a hearing date for January, we received notice by phone that the Attorney General of British Columbia had already intervened in the case and stayed the proceedings against former President Bush, effectively ending the case. The legal basis for the case is exceptionally strong under the Criminal Code of Canada, and this private prosecution was initiated because the government of Canada refused to prosecute. The Criminal Code allows us eight days to obtain the consent of the Attorney General of Canada to continue with the prosecution, yet the case was shut down the very day it was filed. This is a slap in the face to the four men who were brutally tortured by Mr. Bush’s government who have a right to have a court of law examine the evidence and hear the legal arguments.”
Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, added, “The government of Canada obviously did everything it could to protect George Bush from facing criminal accountability for torture, which is a stark example of politics trumping law. The Attorney General still has not given us any reasons in writing for staying the case, but the speed with which it was done shows the case was not treated seriously and the claims of torture by four men imprisoned without charge at Guantánamo Bay were simply ignored. Canada will have to account for its actions and its failure to uphold its obligations as a signatory to the Convention Against Torture before the United Nations Committee Against Torture. At the same time, Mr. Bush will need to be exceedingly careful about where he travels. He has caused harm to so many – including those who were tortured in U.S.-run detention facilities – and he remains vulnerable to prosecution in any of the other 145 countries that have signed the Convention Against Torture, as long as the United States continues to breach its own obligations under the Convention.”
Further details regarding the case can be viewed at: http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/bush-torture-indictment or http://www.ccij.ca/programs/cases/guantanamo/index.php.
The Canadian Centre for International Justice works with survivors of genocide, torture and other atrocities to seek redress and bring perpetrators to justice. The CCIJ seeks to ensure that individuals present in Canada who are accused of responsibility for serious human rights violations are held accountable and their victims recognized, supported and compensated. For more information visit www.ccij.ca
The Center for Constitutional Rights, in addition to filing the first cases representing men detained at Guantánamo, has filed universal jurisdiction cases seeking accountability for torture by Bush administration officials in Germany, France and submitted expert opinions and other documentation to ongoing cases in Spain in collaboration with ECCHR. The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org. Follow @theCCR.
NOTE: the newscast in the link below arises out of a YouTube video
” . . .Sgt. Thomas stood up to the NYPD during the protests in Times Square and told the officers that hurting peacefully protesting American citizens is wrong. His message seemed to work on the officers present since they backed down. Now more members of the military are joining the movement . . . ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRlQM3IS4Dg
—– Original Message —–
(From Jim in the U.S.)
Better LATE than NEVER – we need everyone on board, including the military; since they’ve been dying and getting damaged for LIES for far too long!
Occupy Marines Bringing Reinforcements To Occupy The Nation:
The Occupy Marines site:
And to confuse matters more…..
….there is that bumper sticker:
Support the troops.
We’ll need them to overthrow the Government.
Oct 22, 2011 Want to keep this for the time being. The link to the “report” shows NorthCom insignia with American eagle spread across North America. Would like more corroboration before accepting it as bona fide.
http://thenewamerican.com/opinion/954-chuck-baldwin/2338-us-troops-wearing-un-colors
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Oct 24: add Subject: Re: Logo for the US 5th Army & NorthernCommand – same
Note: When the Troop Exchange Agreement came into force in 2008, we circulated information about NorthCom. Canadian Generals are part of the command structure, consistent with the new (2008) “Canada First Defence Strategy” which involves inter-operability with American forces.
Showing the entireity of North America behind the Eagle It’s the first image top left of the page – it cannot be copied! (I copied by saving and then uploading.)
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_North
United States Army North, or the Fifth Army, is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC)[1] of the United States Army. It is responsible for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities as the joint force land component command of United States Northern Command. . . .
Fifth Army has recently given up its Reserve preparation obligations to First Army, and is now responsible for homeland defence and defence support to community affairs as United States Army North. Joint Task Force-Civil Support, a subordinate command, is designated as the Department of Defense (DoD) command element for Department of Defense assistance to the overall federal response to a state governments request for assistance in the event of a catastrophic chemical, biological, nuclear or high yield explosive CBRNE emergency.
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Another site with info on U.S. 5th Army: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/5army.htm
The sites mention Northern Command (NorthCom) but not that Canada is a part.
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I will try to find and post earlier info re NorthCom and Canada’s role in it.