Feb 142021
 

Derek writes:

This really bothers me….I see it as a slithery ploy by Trudeau and Freeland to finally allow bulk sale of fresh water to the States under some mumble mouthed phrase that will be interpreted by “an independent Tribunal of corporate CEOs”.

If you have any way of supporting Sandra Finley please do.  (simply by drawing the Canada Water Agency into your conversations.)

I suspect that by using the route of “consultations” and establishing an Agency, this subject will never have a chance of debate in Parliament and nobody will ever be held accountable.

Derek

 

From: Sandra Finley
Sent: January 24, 2021 3:52 PM
Subject: Proposed creation Canada Water Agency. Invite from Federal Govt. Jan 27 & 28

Please Scroll down to the  

PROPOSED CANADA WATER AGENCY  INVITE,

from the Federal Govt.

Beyond which is musings on:

QUESTION:  Can Water issues be used to help understand the difference between terms like Revolution, Coup, Insurrection, Insurgents, Counter-Insurgency, Terrorist?

4 points from me, upfront: 

  1. HEALTH and WATER QUALITY are inextricably connected. 

True PREVENTION of disease is the goal.  Early identification is not the same as prevention.  Prevention comes with REMOVAL OF CAUSE.

The strong Laws & Regs to keep poisonous pollutants out of Canadian water supplies are a thing of the past;  over time they have been gutted.  To serve economic interests.

2.Establish informed expectations about any proposed Canada Water Agency.

    • Typically, the economic interests in water, trump the need to protect it, at our peril.
    • Typically, “agencies” of Government in Canada are a way to loosen democratic oversight and control.  There is far less transparency and accountability.
    • Typically,  “agencies” are run by un-elected officials who have a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) or equivalent.  They have been TRAINED & CREDENTIALED, in a specious mindset.

3.  The Federal Govt has well-resourced and funded programmes to expand the export of water from Canada.  Water export is seen as a tool of economic development.  Lots of money to be made.  Even if export-for-profit and government revenue were desirable,  water export creates VERY FEW jobs.  It moves water out of “the commons” into the private sector.  Quislings sell out the public interest.

 4.  IMPORTANT   Just before Christmas, the CME Group, the New York-based market operator that takes its name from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, began trading water futures. For the first time, Wall Street traders are now able to take a stake in the future value of water, the way they have with other agricultural and mineral commodities. So far, the water contracts being bought and sold are limited to five water districts in drought-prone California, representing a tiny fraction of the water actually used in the state. But the idea of water as something to be bought and sold by Wall Street speculators does not necessarily sit well with those who study the economics of this resource in Canada. “I find it quite disturbing,” said Jim Warren, Regina-based scholar and author of Defying Palliser: Stories of Resilience from the Driest Region of the Canadian Prairies. “I mean it’s upsetting, especially since, you know, the world will be watching and others will be thinking it’s the way to go.” Read more analysis of water trading:  http://newsletters.cbc.ca/c/1F7Ks4WF0FDfJgom1noffLIuG

/Sandra

PROPOSED CANADA WATER AGENCY    (I am forwarding to you)

. . . the upcoming National Freshwater Policy Forum, online Jan. 27 and 28, is really important – initiated by the federal Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC).

The two-day national event is valuable – scroll down and click open the “Placespeak” link to see the Agenda – to learn what is being recognized as current and potential threats, plus discovering various contacts for your own upcoming correspondence (on top of the general email contact).

After attending this National forum, you will have more insight to advocate to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNRCan) why it is important for MNRCan to be fully inclusive of the other federal departments such as MECC, because the environmental and human health issues are so deeply interconnected.

Also important to note is that in February, the above-mentioned National forum is being followed up by a series of Regional Freshwater Forums where, once again, it is yet another excellent opportunity to spell out concerns where you regionally live.

———- Forwarded message ———

From: Grands Lacs / Great Lakes (EC)
Date: Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 5:43 PM
Subject: Registration now open for the National Freshwater Policy Forum!

Register today for the Canada Water Agency
National Freshwater Policy Forum!

Registration for the National Freshwater Policy Forum is now open! The two-day virtual event will take place January 27-28, 2021, from approximately 11 a.m. ET (12:00 p.m. AT/ 12:30 p.m. NT/ 10:00 a.m. CT/ 9:00 a.m. MT/ 8:00 a.m. PT) to 4:10 p.m. ET.

The National Freshwater Policy Forum will involve discussion of key freshwater issues and opportunities identified in the Discussion Paper “Toward the Creation of a Canada Water Agency.” It will also provide an opportunity to hear from leading experts, practitioners and knowledge holders involved in managing and protecting freshwater on what they see as the greatest opportunities to improve freshwater management through the creation of a Canada Water Agency.

Panel discussion topics will include: Freshwater prediction to inform climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; Indigenous peoples and freshwater management; Agriculture and fresh water; Economic sectors and fresh water; Freshwater science and data; Transboundary freshwater management; Freshwater technology, innovation, and infrastructure; and, Engaging Canadians in managing and protecting fresh water.

Register here to reserve your spot for the National Freshwater Policy Forum. Full event details, including a draft agenda for the Forum, are available on our Canada Water Agency consultation site: www.placespeak.com/CanadaWaterAgency.  

Stay tuned! Registration will soon be available for the Regional Freshwater Forums, planned for February 2021. Visit the Events section of our PlaceSpeak consultation site to save the event date for your region.

For any questions, you can contact us at ec.water-eau.ec@canada.ca.

We welcome you to share this email with your networks.         

Stay Informed!

We appreciate and value your interest in Environment and Climate Change Canada’s efforts to protect the Great Lakes. If you wish to update any of your contact information, or to be added or removed from this distribution list, please send an email to ec.grandslacs-greatlakes.ec@canada.ca with your name, the name of your organization, and your email address. As always, your details will be treated as privileged information and will only be used to distribute our Great Lakes information to you. This distribution list is never shared outside of Environment and Climate Change Canada. 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

QUESTION:  Can Water issues be used to help understand the difference between terms like Revolution, Coup, Insurrection, Insurgents, Counter-Insurgency, Terrorist?

Networks involving thousands of citizens across Canada have worked for decades to restore protection for Water.   The  4 points up top speak to obstacles to our success. 

When decades of needed & legitimate citizen effort

run parallel to

steadily worsening systemic problems,

the land has been sown and steadily fertilized for Revolution by citizens.  (Protection of Water is far from the only issue.)

 

We conclude that the Government has abdicated its assigned role  to protect that upon which we all, humans and other life forms, are dependent for health and ultimately for survival.

The Government has also abdicated its assigned role of guarding our ideal of “peace, order, and good governance” in Canada.  Or so it seems to me, because

eventually comes realization, in spite of the rhetoric, that the money is flowing one-way (the income gap);  the water is not being protected.  We talk and we get restless (common sense tells you that).  We Protest, we Occupy and we Idle No More.  For how long?

 

When/if citizen action looks like it might result in actual protection of Water (e.g. stop the export-for-profit),  there is push-back from corporate and government players, those who want the money.  They fight to maintain the power and control they have over Water, whether to sell it, pollute it as a cost-saving measure, or exploit it in other ways.

Democratic government is replaced by corporate or fascist government.

Steadily worsening systemic problems, corporatist values

Lead to

Mobilization of citizens, non-violent resistance.

Outcomes?

The Montebello experience

2012-05-19 TO: MP Blake Richards re his private member’s bill to make it a crime to wear a mask at protests. Remember Montebello, it was the police who wore the masks.

The G-20 experience in Toronto and so on.

 

The CORRUPTION has to be addressed head-on.  Without success on that front,  the situation can only continue to deteriorate.    I recommend to you the information in:   2020-09-23 Part of conversation re Nuclear Issue & the Throne Speech (Small Modular Reactions – SMR’s)

 

Please do whatever turns your crank:  forward the information, sign up to the Government’s invitation, speak up,  use whatever opportunities present themselves.  The protection of water from poisons and pollutants, from private/corporate takeover, from quislings, from “for-profit” exploitation, from ignorance, is essential.

QUESTION:  Can Water issues be used to help understand the difference between terms like Revolution, Coup, Insurrection, Insurgents, Counter-Insurgency, Terrorist?

these are political terms, they are not legal or technical terms, they are used and abused in the media and used interchangeably.

It’s difficult to precisely define the words because of the variety of scenarios.

That does not prevent some observations, musings:

  • “Revolution”  is not always the overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. BUT!  properly used, it is that.
  • In some situations the term used revolves around whether Corporate America, equally Corporate Canada, has financial or strategic investments in the country, and whether those interests are threatened.
  • A pejorative is required to describe the party that is the threat.
  • Do I agree that a word for what happened in Washington was “insurrection”?  Yes.  Was it Revolution in the Arab Spring? Yes.  But there is confusion over which words to use, and inconsistent use of words.
  • Terms perceived to be more pejorative are for the “Bad Guys”, even if they’re doing the same thing as the “Good Guys”.

More:  2016-07-08   Democracy overtaken by Corporatocracy = coup d’état. Citizens fight to regain democracy = Revolution (insurgency) . Corporatocracy fights to hold on = counter insurgency.    (https://sandrafinley.ca/blog/?p=16943)

 

Cheers!

/Sandra

 

 

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