More on Asbestos

The other day I wrote a piece lamenting the ongoing immoral Canadian export of asbestos and the fact that Canada was the sole country that recently prevented it from being listed as a toxic substance under the Rotterdam Convention. I also suggested that the government has made all Canadians who say or do nothing about this indefensible export complicit in it.

The Star's Tim Harper has a good column about the issue, and the fact that efforts are being made to keep this issue in the public arena. Kathleen Ruff, a senior human rights adviser to the Rideau Institute, is one such person unwilling to shrug her shoulders and lament her lack of power, reminding us that the export of this deadly substance is a question of democracy, saying, "If Harper cannot be budged from his position ... Canadians are nothing but serfs in a dysfunctional democracy.

We need to all get involved. Write to your Member of Parliament, and even if you get, as I did, the official party line about how chrysotile is safe if handled properly, your opposition is on record. To do anything less is to give permission to this Government to continue a practice that, according to The World health Organization, kills as many as 107,000 people annually.

the Real News Asks Some Important Questions About The G20 Secret Law

Although hardly the best interview I have seen, the following is worth viewing inasmuch it raises real questions about credibility regarding who the driving force was behind requesting the Public Works Protection Act invoked during the G20 Summit. Was Bill Blair acting on his own initiative, or was it at the behest of the RCMP? Just one of the many questions that only a public inquiry can answer, an inquiry that both Dalton McGuinty and Stephen Harper are steadfast in their refusal to call.

Judge: Police Have A Culture That Rejects Accountability

Those were the words of Justice Elliot Allen as he sentenced two Toronto police officers to one year of house arrest for beating a Cabbagetown man in 2009. As is the usual practice when one of their own is under judicial scrutiny, the courthouse was packed with brothers and sisters in blue. Whether this had the effect of intimidating Justice Allen is unclear; he cited understaffing and overcrowding as reasons he didn't sentence them to a penitentiary term, saying their security couldn't be guaranteed. One wonders why protective custody wouldn't have provided that guarantee, since they would then have been segregated from the general prison population and permitted one hour of carefully monitored exercise per day.

Even though the sentence includes a prohibition on firearms' possession for 10 years, one wonders if the lack of a jail sentence means they get to keep their jobs.

Why Civilian Oversight of the Police is Crucial

Rex Meade of Dundas has a very interesting letter on police heavy-handedness and how to deal with it in today's Star. If you get a chance, take a look at it.

G20 Summit Police Tactics Continue to Outrage Canadians

There is a series of letters in today's Star that articulate the ongoing sentiments of ordinary Canadians a year after people had their Charter Rights ripped away by an out-of-control police force during the G20 Summit in Toronto.

There is also one by Bruce Cox, the Executive Director of Greenpeace, about the not-so-subtle lesson that 'kettling' imparts.

All of the letters speak for themselves, and need no further comment from me.

Asbestos - Canada's Shame Continues

I recently wrote about the opportunity that Canada had to end its pariah-like status by no longer opposing the listing of asbestos as a toxic product in the Rotterdam Convention. Because the Convention requires consensus, Canada, of all the member nations, was the only country to oppose that listing once again, scuttling any attempt to rein in its use in developing countries.

Bearing in mind that Canada's agreement would not have actually impeded its indefensible export of death, but only add a warning as to its danger, our country insisted upon being the lone holdout, continuing to adhere to the fiction that asbestos is safe when handled properly.

This is, of course, the Conservative Party line, one that was parroted by my Member of Parliament when I wrote to him about the issue. Now Geoffrey Simpson has written an article excoriating Canada for its position; it is a timely reminder of how, thanks to the neo-con agenda that has been so vigorously promoted these past several years, Canada has not only lost its former exemplary international reputation, but also made all of its citizens who say and do nothing about this abominable behaviour complicit in it.

Chief Bill Blair: No Apology, No Resignation

Having released a self-serving 70 page report reviewing the G20 Summit debacle, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has concluded he has nothing to apologize for and will not consider resigning. As reported in today's Star, despite a public opinion poll showing a dramatic drop in public support for police actions at the Summit, (2010- 72%) (2011 - 41%), the Chief seems content to talk about things that went right, such as protecting the perimeter fence, while ignoring the widespread violations of Charter Rights in the arrests of over 1100 protesters, promising only that kettling will not be used in the future.

Also absent from the report is any explanation for the obstructionist tactics employed by the police this past year in identifying offending officers, despite the plethora of video evidence submitted by citizens. The fact that only two officers have thus far been charged says a great deal to me about the Chief's 'commitment' to uncovering the identity of these renegades.

Despite the erosion of public trust in the police and despite the ongoing trauma of people who directly experienced last June's police-state actions, something positive emerged for Bill Blair - the opportunity to hone his political skills to the point where his public utterances match the platitudinous quality of the most seasoned of Queens Park or Parliament Hill veterans.

Clearly, should his police career suffer an unlikely reversal, a new one serving the people awaits him.