Good Sunday Morning and Happy International Women’s Day (IWD)!
March 8, 1980 was the day that changed my life. Long story short, when I was in Grade 10, I knew I wanted to be an environmental lawyer. As the daughter of well-to do parents, all achievable. That changed when, in 1974, my parents decided to move to a village of 42 people on remote Cape Breton Island. My parents were brave, impractical and who knows what mid-life crisis led them to invest every penny, plus some borrowed ones, to open a restaurant and gift shop on the Cabot Trail. Forgive me if you have heard this story before. I could not afford university and became a seasonal worker, waitressing and cooking in my parent’s failing business every summer, and running volunteer environmental campaigns, stopping aerial forest pesticide spraying, through every off-season. Winning year after year. By 1978 I was featured on CBC’s The Fifth Estate as “The 23 year old waitress who stopped the pulp company dead in their tracks.” Heady stuff, but I was not on track to be a lawyer! …until March 8 1980.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI0N_2urq_E
My best friend, Liz Archibald Calder, now living on Vancouver Island! had a car and picked me up from Margaree for the two hour drive to the other Sydney, to the pub for an IWD event featuring Rita MacNeil. A woman lawyer, well into her cups, told me I should be a lawyer and dismissed my objections that my lack of an undergrad degree was an obstacle. The next day I phoned Dalhousie school of law. By September, thanks to the mature student programme, I was a law student. So today, look for ways for women to lift up other women!
And tomorrow is another red letter day. March 9th marks a full year since Mark Carney became our 24th prime minister.
One year in, and I am still struggling to understand Mark Carney. It helps me to remember we come from very different cultures- different worlds. I love law. International law, parliamentary rules that protect democracy. But his world is one of banking and finance, large amounts with many zeroes. To me, that culture is an unknown, just as much as parliament and normal practice and procedures are unknown to him.
Still, his statement last Saturday morning that Canada supported the US attack on Iran was a surprise. As I am sure you have noticed, the government has backtracked and left a confused sense of where we stand. When I wrote last week, the full extent of the operation as a joint illegal attack coordinated by the US and Israel was not yet clear. Trump’s updates and postings are increasingly unglued. Trump posts “When crazy people have nuclear weapons bad things happen.” How much of the rest of the planet wonders if Trump ever looks in the mirror?
PM Carney restated Canadian support for the US-Israeli attack on Iran, as support “with regret,” others questioned Carney’s insistence that we had no involvement. Former foreign minister, the Hon Lloyd Axworthy, challenged the extent to which Canada was likely aware and involved. I have cut and pasted Axworthy’s article from the Toronto Star, as I plan to pursue his questions in parliament. This is strong stuff, especially from a senior Liberal.
Opinion | Mark Carney’s government needs to give us the full truth about our involvement in Iran
Lloyd Axworthy is a former longtime MP who served as Canadian foreign minister from 1996 to 2000.
Canadian Forces exchange officers working with the U.S. military were “very likely” involved at some level in planning the weekend strikes on Iran, a former Canada major-general has warned. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/iran-air-strikes-canada-israel-war-9.7110268
Trump’s unclear plan for Iran may be what keeps Canada on the sidelines, experts say
If true, this should raise alarm bells for Canadians because it means Ottawa’s insistence that Canada is “not involved” in this operation is not just implausible, it’s misleading.
For years, governments of all stripes have quietly wired the Canadian Armed Forces into U.S. command centres and targeting networks. Canadian officers sit inside American headquarters that plan and execute wars. Our ships, planes and sensors feed systems that find, track, and fix targets. On paper we are “supporting,” “monitoring,” “co-operating.” In practice, we are part of the machinery of force…
Behind closed doors, MPs can receive the classified detail they need to do their jobs. In public, Canadians deserve enough truth to know whether their country is riding shotgun on operations that shred the laws and norms we claim to uphold.
But this cannot end with another polite report gathering dust. We need real red lines: clear rules for when Canadian personnel must be pulled from allied operations, hard limits on how Canadian-origin intelligence can be used, and binding requirements to inform Parliament when integration with an ally crosses into effective participation in conflict. If that requires new legislation, so be it.
If we are going to be in the rooms where wars are planned, Canadians, through their Parliament, have a right to know — and a right to say no. A retired general has done his part by speaking bluntly. It is past time for Parliament to do the same.
Meanwhile, Victoria’s new Liberal MP, Will Greaves, has publicly expressed concerns about Canada’s stance. News reports suggest other back-bench Liberals share Greaves’ views. Good for him for being brave.
Greaves posted a video statement on social media: “Canada cannot endorse the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians, or the kidnap and assassination of foreign heads of government, while also insisting that our sovereignty, our rights, and our independence must be respected, All states have an obligation to protect civilian life, and no state has the right to wage aggressive war.”
The nightmare of an escalating war with, at this count, as many as 14 countries engaged, deaths in at least 12 nations, between the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and now Israeli ground troops in Lebanon and Iran’s retaliatory strikes on other Gulf States, with a downed missile that nearly hit NATO member Turkey. The risks are beyond high and the lunacy of it all even troubles hawks.
With the world spiraling into greater instability, it is easy to miss developments here at home.
This week the Senate amended omnibus bill C4- the Affordability Act, due to its unrelated amendments to the Elections Act. I have written before about Part 4 of C4, removing protection of Canadians’ private information. Under C-4, the law will take effect, twenty six years ago. The Senate will let this occur, but only with a proviso that parliament develop rules to ensure political parties protect privacy within three years. The Liberals with Conservatives and Bloc support already gave C4 the go ahead, with only my objection recorded, in their December 11 unanimous consent motion, I fully expect every effort to reject the Senate amendment and send the bill, back, unamended for the Senate to pass. Oh, for sober second thought!.
Meanwhile, this week we had another Carney move to increase oil production with one billion (Cdn$) to Norwegian state oil company, Equinor, to support drilling in our offshore.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/equinor-oil-agreement-nl-9.7112423
Ottawa agrees to cover Bay du Nord oil project’s UN fees, which could hit $1B
Bay du Nord would be Canada’s first deepwater oil installation. If Bay du Nord is fully developed, it would produce one billion barrels of oil and 400 million tonnes of GHG.
And then this news. FRIDAY! Stunning in its give-away of federal authorities to Alberta. I almost missed it. I am still picking my jaw up from the pavement.
Alberta, Ottawa agree on deal that would see province front its own major project reviews
Both levels of government say agreement-in-principle will speed up construction of projects
Ottawa and Alberta have reached an agreement that will see the province take control of regulatory approvals for its major projects, something they say will deliver those projects more expeditiously.
In joint announcements on Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith characterized the deal as the “next phase” in the relationship between the province and the federal government.
…
“We will continue to work with the federal government in their areas of legitimate federal interest, which of course includes water, includes Indigenous consultation,” Smith said.
In the agreement, projects that fall under Alberta’s jurisdiction would rely on the provincial environmental and impact assessment process. If projects include federal work or are on federal land, Ottawa would blend Alberta’s process into the federal review, if applicable.
In the event that both federal and provincial assessments apply, the agreement says regulators would work together to develop a single decision to minimize duplication.
The agreement also addresses Indigenous consultation. (I think this bit is highly problematic as the Honour of the Crown rests with the federal government, not the province. This will undoubtedly end up in court)
“When a proposed project is primarily under provincial jurisdiction, Canada will recognize Alberta as best placed to consult with Indigenous peoples through its own consultation policies and practices, the agreement says. Both governments say they remain committed to respecting Indigenous rights under Section 35 of the Constitution and ensuring Indigenous participation in the assessment process.
For many years, the Alberta government has been a vocal critic of federal legislation (C-69) concerning project approvals. The Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which came into force in 2019, is often referred to by those in the oil and gas industry (and by a former premier) as the “no more pipelines act.”
…
“The parties acknowledge that Alberta is challenging the constitutionality of the IAA, which is a matter before the courts,” the agreement reads. “By entering into this agreement, Alberta does not acknowledge the IAA is constitutional.”
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Finally, this March 4th announcement could be good news in moving to enhance connectivity of our electricity grid. A functional east-west, north-south electricity grid has ling been a Green Party goal; essential for a post carbon clean energy system for cheaper and cleaner renewable energy.
“Provincial and territorial leaders announce plan for a connected electricity grid
Memorandum of understanding aimed at clearing the way to build national infrastructure and transmission corridors.”
And as the old BBC classic had it, “That was the Week that Was.” Exhausted? You bet. We are so very very lucky to be here, to be Canadian. And as hard as it is, we have to stay on top of our own government. That is our work to protect democracy.
Tomorrow, in Question Period, I will pursue Lloyd Axworthy’s challenge to MPs. Meanwhile I keep praying – whether borne of my faith or my delusions, I do not agree with Carney’s mantra “we accept the world as it is.”
It echoes a parallel universe of RFK Sr, but I would rather go to the source:
“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
― George Bernard Shaw
Keep on dreaming and never forget, great chaos and flux breaks the chains of entropy and allows fundamental shifts. In other words, we may be about to win and cannot imagine it. TRY hard to imagine it.
Love, stay safe and sane and love all.
Elizabeth