Winter Post 2007

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A PARKLAND INSTITUTE PUBLICATION

the Volume XI, N˚7, Fall 2007

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Alberta geologists push their limits Petroleum engineers have slowed efforts to combat climate change by developed and industrialized nations.

This science has provided the expertise in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas in petroleum basins in every region of the world. It has enjoyed a reputation second to none in achieving economic objectives from which we have all received benefits.

However, it’s the very fact that petroleum geology has been so successful and has provided knowledge of the entire earth’s history through exploration and development work that has contributed to a misunderstanding of global warming’s causes. Since it is earth science that is responsible for how we understand ancient geological processes, many petroleum geologists in the United States and Canada have taken it upon themselves to project their discipline into areas for which they are not qualified. There is a superficial attitude that since geology has the best knowledge of pre-human earth processes it should also have a say in the extent to which current sources of greenhouse gases can be attributed.

J.R. CENTURY

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lthough it appears much progress has been made in the public awareness of global climate change, the battle is far from over. Environmental progress depends upon an understanding of how some Alberta and Canadian scientists have contributed to public misinformation about the very real threat of global warming.

One obvious source of misinformation is from the oil patch, because there is unnecessary fear that meaningful controls on greenhouse gas emissions will severely impact the bottom line of the Canadian and American oil and gas industry. While the science of climate change is the discipline responsible for our understanding of global warming, there is another valuable science that has challenged the work that climatology has provided : petroleum geology. This discipline is one of the most important the world has ever known, in terms of its contribution to the quality of life enjoyed

Defending democracy

CECILY MILLS

Alberta observer reflects upon Nicaragua’s latest election

Because petroleum geologists are so accustomed to dealing with natural global forces it appears obvious to them that projections can be easily made into the present time and beyond. This mistaken view ignores the fundamental fact that 6.5 billion people are now for the first time acting as important geological agents of global change and contribute largely to the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In addition, although knowledgeable about the earth’s physical processes, some petroleum geologists have also taken it upon themselves to be experts in astronomy without justification. Some have come to the conclusion that certain earth movements and their relationship with the sun are the major contributors to global temperature change. However, it is astronomy and climatology that best explains processes in this area - not geology.

Presently, there are over 35,000 petroleum geologists in the world and 3,500 in Canada, mostly in Calgary.

Associations of global warming deniers

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his fall, I had the opportunity to re connect with Witness for Peace (WTP), a Washington, DC-based grassroots organization committed to changing U.S. policies that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America. I had worked with WTP in Nicaragua from 1992-1995 and was now a member of a delegation observing the Nicaraguan elections.

At that time, election fever was building as Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) leader Daniel Ortega maintained a significant lead in the polls. Winning the presidency on the first round with 35 per cent of the vote and a five per cent over his closest opponent seemed possible, but polls are often wrong in Nicaragua. Inter-

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include some leading Canadian geologists and have taken it upon themselves to present their opinions about global warming as facts to the political arena in Edmonton and Ottawa. The same has occurred in the United States where geologists have greatly influenced leaders in the U. S. House of Representative and the Senate. These negative influences have affected important political decisions and effectively denigrated the legitimate work of climate change experts, who have correctly identified the source of global warming as mainly from human activity.

Since it is earth science that is responsible for how we understand ancient geological processes, many petroleum geologists in the United States and Canada have taken it upon themselves to project their discipline into areas for which they are not qualified.

Fortunately, both the Canadian and American public have finally rejected these misleading accounts of global warming recently though the democratic process. In Nov. 7, the Democrats won the U. S. House and Senate, a change that promises environmental reform. Just one month later, Stephane Dion became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

See ALBERTA GEOLOGISTS/ page 9

ference in the elections by U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli and a number of highly placed U.S. politicians increased concerns that Nicaraguans would not be allowed to vote freely.

Elections have never gone to a second round in Nicaragua. Historically, only two strong parties have vied for the leadership but all this changed in this election. The traditional right-wing Liberal or PLC party - the party of outgoing president Enrique Bolaños and former president Arnoldo Alemán now under house arrest after misappropriating public funds - faced the breakaway ALN Liberal party led by Eduardo Montealegre. In the fall of 2005, the U.S. Ambassador noted that the division of the Liberal forces See NICARAGUA/ page 14

INSIDE THE POST

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, page 3 HEALTH AND WELLBEING Human dignity before dollars, page 4 My work as a mental health advocate, page 5

HOUSING Homelessness in Medicine Hat, page 6 Alberta needs a low-income transit pass, page 7

CONFERENCE RETROSPECTIVE Conference illuminates energy issues, page 10 Fuelling Norway’s future, page 11

ALBERTA What happened at Didsbury, page 8 Adolescent Alberta, page 9

ALBERTA’S ENVIRONMENT Oil and gas industry rife with contradiction, page 12 McClelland Lake watershed, page 13

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editorial the

Post

New year, new green possibilites?

Volume X, N˚6, Fall 2006

What is the Parkland Institute?

Parkland Institute is an Alberta wide research network that examines issues of public policy.

The Institute is based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta and its research network includes members from most of Alberta’s academic institutions and other organizations involved in public policy research. It operates within the established and distinctive tradition of Canadian political economy and is nonpartisan. Parkland was founded in 1996 and its mandate is to: · Conduct research on economic, social, cultural, and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians. · Publish research and provide informed comment on current policy issues to the media and the public. · Sponsor conferences and colloquia. · Bring together the academic and non-academic communities. · Train graduate students.

Opinions expressed in this newspaper reflect the views of the writer, and not necessarily those of the Parkland Institute. Readers are invited to submit letters and articles, which may be edited for style and length. Information on up coming events and conferences may also be submitted. The Parkland Post is organized and admininistered as an editorial collective.

Coordinating Editor: Caitlin Crawshaw Director: Gordon Laxer Executive Director: Ricardo Acuña Research Director: Diana Gibson Program/Admin Coordinator: Cheri Harris Promotions/ Outreach Coordinator: Mary Elizabeth Archer Administrative Assistant: Katia Michel Design: Flavio Rojas Volunteer Proofreader: Joyce Hildebrand

January brings its usual blend of optimism and pessimism

RICARDO ACUÑA

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anuary is an interesting month. As the new year dawns, there is always the hope that perhaps this will be the year that the federal and provincial governments will start governing for the public interest and enacting policies that put people first.

Typically, however, those hopes are dashed as soon as government starts rolling again after the holidays.

This year it seems that the Conservative government in Ottawa has made something of a new year’s resolution of its own.

Prime Minister Harper has articulated, in no uncertain terms, that his government will make protection and conservation of Canada’s environment a top priority.

The PM backed up his commitment early in January by shuffling Rona Ambrose out of the environment portfolio and replacing her with one of his cabinet’s most aggressive and strategic politicians - former Treasury Board President John Baird.

Harper also moved quickly to create a new cabinet committee on the environment and energy security.

For those of you who are regular readers of the Post and/or followers of Parkland’s various research and programming initiatives, the idea that an environmental and energy security strategy should be a top priority will be nothing new. Parkland has been advocating just such a strategy for close to two years now.

In fact, the Parkland Institute even offered the Conservatives an opportunity to profile and explain their strategy to participants at our tenth annual fall conference this past November - an offer they did not take us up on (even though the federal NDs, Liberals and Greens all did).

Likewise, Alberta’s Conservative govern-

ment seems to have made something of a resolution to make energy and the environment a top priority. Premier Stelmach has launched a royalty review committee and has stated that one of his priorities is environmental sustainability.

Premier Stelmach has backed this up by issuing his Environment Minister a threepart mandate that includes updating Alberta’s Climate Change Act, updating and resourcing the Water for Life Strategy, and addressing the cumulative impacts of development on the environment. While these are still just baby steps, the simple acknowledgment of a problem is leaps and bounds beyond anything coming out of the Premier’s office in well over 10 years.

So, as I write this, we are fully one week into 2007, and my hopes for some effective people-friendly environmental policy from our federal and provincial governments have yet to be completely dashed.

However, I have never been one to let “auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind,” and my past knowledge of both governments makes me a bit cynical about whether they will actually be able to follow through on this newfound commitment to the environment.

After all, the federal Conservatives spent a full year in office before realizing that the environment and energy security were important issues to Canadians that should be prioritized. What’s more, instead of replacing the Clean Air Act with concrete policy, they have opted to simply replace the minister responsible.

The issue with Rona Ambrose was not that she was at odds with Conservative environmental policy, but that she failed to effectively sell and promote those policies.

That does not demonstrate a new commit-

ment to the environment, but rather a new commitment to spin and public relations.

This reinforces the widely held theory that Harper is not genuinely interested in the environment and is rather interested in appearing to be green in time for an imminent federal election. It is no coincidence that this move occurs just after the release of polls showing that the environment has replaced health care as the number one issue for most Canadians.

This, combined with a commitment to consult extensively with industry and government (not NGOs and academic experts) on environmental policy, makes it unlikely that any significant changes will come our way in this area.

On a provincial level, although the premier has yet to articulate any official plans or policy, Stelmach has already suggested that there are limits to his environmental conscience. In one of his first media availabilities as premier, Stelmach made it clear that he does not believe you can “touch the brake” or move to slow down development in the energy sector.

In other words, his commitment to addressing the cumulative impacts of development must be accomplished within a business-as-usual growth model. Clearly, this also sets serious limits on what can be accomplished in terms of provincial environmental policy.

In the end, it seems that despite new governments, cabinets and environmental epiphanies, not much will change from the status quo. There is, however, always that slim sliver of hope that any January brings with it.

Ricardo Acuña is the executive director of the Parkland Institute.

Parkland Research Update contact us Your comments are welcomed and may be submitted to: Parkland Institute, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta 11045 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E1 Phone: (780) 492-8558 Fax: (780) 492-8738 E-Mail address: parkland@ualberta.ca Visit our website at: www.ualberta.ca/parkland or contact the Coordinating Editor directly at: parkpost@ualberta.ca Canadian Publications Mail Agreement 40065264 ISSN 1206-9515

Parkland fills the policy void DIANA GIBSON Diana Gibson is the Parkland Institute’s researcher director.

It is no coincidence that oil and gas royalties have gone from the topic of an outlier report by Parkland in 1999 to a key topic in the fall leadership race. The public policy terrain in Alberta is shifting, due to frustrations with the overheated economy and fears of the next bust, and the lack of a government plan, which is costing the public more every minute.

Parkland is busy filling this policy void. In the fall of 2006, the institute released Selling the Family Silver, a report on oil and gas royalties, corporate profits and the disregarded public. This report coincided with Parkland’s excellent 10th anniversary conference, “Power for the People.” To build on the incredible interest we saw in the fall, Parkland has undertaken to map out a development strategy for the province.

We have struck a working group and begun a dialogue process in order to make a significant contribution to this critical policy void. Watch for a release in late spring.

Parkland is also building on the success of our recent work promoting research on healthcare issues, including the best-selling book, The Bottom Line. As next steps, we are organizing a conference, “Forgotten Families: Globalization and the Health of Canadians,” Feb. 6-8. Also, in recognition that one of the leading factors determining the health of our society is inequality, Parkland will be releasing a report at the February conference on wealth and inequality in Alberta.

Thanks to all of those who contribute their time, energy and resources to Parkland’s research program.

It is critical and exciting work that is changing the public policy landscape of the province.

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letters to the editor Post writer misuses terms Some of Stewart Steinhauer’s statements in his Fall 2006 Post article require comment.

For example, referring to the Indian residential school system, he repeatedly applies the word “genocide,” even invoking Hitler and the Holocaust. Certainly the system was a misguided and often cruel attempt to assimilate the Indian people into the European culture, but to call it a genocide is as false as it is slanderous. “Genocide” is the gravest word in the English language and deserves to be used only with great care. Using it carelessly, as Steinhauer does, demeans both the word and the victims of real genocides.

Steinhauer goes on to accuse Europeans of “asserting that my indigenous ancestors were sub-human and incapable of forming societies or nations.” He fails to specify which Europeans. It certainly wasn’t the British, when they referred to “the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected” in The Royal Proclamation of 1763, or when “Her Majesty the Queen” made treaty with specified tribes.

In loving memory of my father...

Unearthing the real history of residential schools

Some Europeans had great respect for the Indian people and their cultures, and many did not. Categorizing them all under one convenient stereotype is hardly less egregious than the lesser among them stereotyping the Indians.

Bill Longstaff Calgary AB

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Is Alberta right?

Everyone thinks of Alberta as a politically right-leaning province, but is it? In 1993, Ralph Klein’s Conservative Party won 44.5 per cent of the vote. The Liberals (39.73 per cent) and NDP (11.01 per cent) combined would have clearly won the election, even in a supposedly conservative province. The result was a slashing of public jobs, significant downsizing of social services, privatization, escalating post-secondary tuition fees, the closing of much-needed hospitals, and an affordable-housing crisis. Alberta’s Heritage Fund has remained stagnant for the past 30 years, while Norway’s is over $250 billion US - accumulated in just the last 10 years.

The centre-left parties in Alberta could have easily prevented the disintegration of social services and could have built an impressive oil fund with something called strategy and cooperation.

Since 1993, King Ralph, man of the common folk, has increased Conservative support in Alberta. In 2005, the Conservatives in the provincial election garnered 47 per cent of the vote. The Liberals had 29 per cent and the NDP 10 per cent of the vote.

The potential upcoming 2007 provincial election presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the left to create a government in Alberta. Unless the Liberals, NDP and Greens form a coalition, though, there is no hope for either one of these parties to form a government.

A solution to this problem would be for the progressive Liberals, NDP and Greens to hold pre-election elections in each of the ridings in Alberta. The party that wins the pre-election in each riding will be the only party of the three in that riding that will run a candidate in the upcoming Alberta provincial election. Liberal, NDP and Green supporters will vote for just that one candidate.

This would prevent the splitting of the left vote, and would allow all three parties to elect MLAs to the legislature. After the election, the three parties would form a coalition to counterbalance the Conservatives and make them more accountable, or, in the best case scenario, the coalition could even form the government. From there, they could finally implement a proportional representational election system.

Will the left continue to split the vote to allow the Conservatives to rule for another 35 years? Or will the left build a coalition to form a government that is more reflective of the views of Albertans and more accountable? Continuing with the same old strategy is just plain wrong. The left needs to get it right this time.

David Wilson Calgary, AB ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Underdog victories a sign of changing times I find it interesting that in three recent elections, the masses chose underdogs over the front runners. In Edmonton’s last municipal election, dark horse Stephan Mandel was picked over acclaimed front runners Bill Smith and Robert Noce. In the Liberal leadership race in Montreal this December, it was Stephane Dion who unexpectedly won out over front runners Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. The trend was repeated in Alberta, where underdog Ed Stelmach came out on top over Jim Dinning and Ted Morton to become leader of the Progressive Conservative party and Alberta’s Premier.

Do I detect a faint hope that voters are becoming aware that they should no longer accept decisions made in corporate boardrooms to be in their best interests?

William Dascavich Edmonton, AB

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health & wellbeing Human dignity before dollars Does the “Alberta Advantage” benefit persons with disabilities?

LANA PHILIPS

People living in Alberta talk about the “Alberta Advantage.”

We live in a debt-free province, the job market is booming and people from all over Canada flock to Alberta as if it is the promised land. On the surface, the province seems to offer a lot, but in reality, these advantages aren’t available to everyone.

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f you’re an adult with a disability the whole picture changes. The bright future promised by countless news stories isn’t a reality for many adults with disabilities who strive to make cultural contributions.

When it comes to the province’s wealth, people with disabilities unable to work receive a very small share. A document compiled by the Alberta Disabilities Forum in November 2006 points out the need for cost-of-living increases in Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) and rental subsidies in addition to the basic AISH amount.

The government must put more money into providing affordable housing that is accessible for persons with disabilities (a difficult task when you consider the range of types of disabilities for which housing must be made accessible, including mental and emotional), along with more home and personal care services. To allow people to become meaningfully involved in their communities, our government must provide grants to municipalities to help them increase access to affordable and accessible transportation that serves persons with a range of levels of disability (not just limited to those who use wheelchairs or have little to no mobility).

The Alberta Disabilities Forum states, “When building Alberta communities, consideration must be given to the inclusion and accessibility for Albertans with disabilities (e.g. housing, community leagues, recreation centres). As an example of inclusive communities, all new playgrounds in Edmonton must meet a certain accessibility standard. This model must be applied beyond playgrounds to all aspects of the community.”

The ACT Centre in the east end of Edmonton is an example of how persons with disabilities are excluded from accessing the very facilities intended to enrich their lives.

Many individuals with disabilities that do not preclude their taking public transportation have no access to the ACT Centre because there is no way to get there on the city bus. If they don’t drive, have someone to drive them, or qualify for the disabled

transportation service in the city, then they have no way to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Centre.

I have a disability that leaves me ambulatory but unable to hike the distance from the bus stop to the ACT Centre. I recently missed a disability arts festival that I had been asked to cover for the Post simply because of a lack of transportation. I don’t qualify for Disabled Adult Transit Service because there are so many others who need the service more desperately, so I miss out on opportunities to be active in my community. Because I am not disabled enough, I must walk two blocks to a main bus route in all types of weather. I am not disabled

pounded by the fact that there are often gaps in services.”

So few of our citizens living with disabilities are working and contributing to our society in expected ways because their time, money, and other resources are spent trying to provide the supports they need for themselves. If these supports were readily accessible to them, the greatest barrier to their active participation in their communities would be removed.

Roxanne Ulanicki, an advocate for persons with disabilities, spoke at the Human Rights Day held at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Dec. 10. She told her story eloquently, but hers is not the only story of

enough, so I am left to prove that I am ablebodied enough to do everything that I am expected to, even though my body knows better.

A fairly comprehensive system provides services to children under the age of eighteen who have disabilities. After they become adults, the picture shifts, and they are forced to search out help for themselves instead of having the help readily accessible. The Alberta Disabilities Forum’s statement on access to disability supports is simple and stark: “Finding required services becomes a full-time job. This is com-

its kind in Alberta. She says that at 18, “we are thrown into a bureaucratic system which constantly requires us to prove we are disabled enough. Suddenly we have to beg for what was once given without judgment.”

Much of her income through employment with the federal government went toward providing her own disability supports, yet that income kept her from qualifying for most of the available support programs. As anyone who receives AISH in Alberta already knows, getting married or living common-law makes it even less

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likely that someone with a disability will qualify for support.

Many adults find themselves floundering. How many individuals have access to a medical professional who understands their disability and the effects that it has on their lives? Persons with mental health disabilities are truly struggling because there is such a severe lack of psychiatrists in our province. General physicians who may be uncomfortable prescribing psychotropic medications or assessing a person’s mental health are forced to step into the shoes of those who have been specially trained to make those judgments. Even finding mental health professionals for counselling or therapy proves to be a difficult task. Practitioners at Alberta Mental Health are overworked, and people who have a hard time fighting for regular appointment times or other services often fall through the cracks.

How many can access medical equipment without too much hassle? If someone who is hearing-impaired needs two hearing aids, Alberta Aids to Daily Living only covers one at a time. That person and his/her family are left to appeal to social service organizations and service clubs like the Rotary Club to help the person in need.

Those who have limited eyesight and require a service animal or special equipment have to appeal to agencies and clubs to get what they need.

Alberta is known all over Canada as a place where opportunity abounds, but not everyone is able to take advantage of those opportunities. Even if people’s disabilities are not visible or not as severe as those of others, they deserve the support of their province when they are trying to build a life for themselves and become active participants in the Alberta Advantage.

Lana Phillips is an Edmonton writer who has written for numerous publications, including Our Voice and Edmonton Street News.

need a speaker?

Parkland Institute has a variety of informed engaging speakers available to speak on a variety of local, national and international issues.

Please contact us at (780) 492-8558 or parkland@ualberta.ca with the date and time of your event and the topic, and we will find you a speaker.

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health & wellbeing My work as a Mental Health Advocate Too often those with mental illnesses are stigmatized and discriminated against when they ought to be treated with respect and dignity. We need to be seen as people, not a label with respect to our diagnosis: we are not just ‘schizophrenic,’ ‘biopolar’ or ‘depressed.’

JAMAL ALI

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s an individual afflicted with schizophrenia, I am working as a mental health advocate to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness. I find this work to be rewarding and exciting, particularly my involvement with the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta (Calgary chapter) and Potential Place Clubhouse - two mental health organizations dedicated to protecting the human rights of those with mental illness.

The need for greater housing options The right to housing is one of the human rights to which we are all entitled - but for those with mental illness, this right is not always realized.

Recently, my advocacy work led me to a participatory action research project that investigated housing for people with schizophrenia. The research was conducted by members of the Peer Support Unsung Heroes Program at the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta (Calgary chapter), led by Dr. Barbara Schneider from the University of Calgary. In April 2005, nine members afflicted with schizophrenia, including myself, began conducting the research of the project, entitled, “Housing for People with Schizophrenia: Dilemmas of Care and Control.” Participatory research involves members of a community group in meaningful participation in all stages of the research process, including choosing the topic, developing the research question, gathering the data, analyzing the data and disseminating and using the result.

The tension between care and control in the relationship between people with mental illness and housing and medical service providers is the central theme arising from our research. What we found is that people with psychiatric disabilities want, need and appreciate the help and care they receive from family members,

mental health professionals, government agencies and other service providers. But to receive that care, they must submit themselves to intrusive surveillance and coercive control over many (perhaps all) aspects of their lives. If they are not willing to do this, they run the risk that care including housing-will be withheld. Our research team formulated recommendations for service providers which reflect the voices and views of people with schizophrenia.

Our recommendations included a central agency for the city the specializes in finding housing options for people with psychiatric disabilities. Service providers at this agency should follow someone right through the system, from homeless to housed, to ensure that people do not get lost in the system. This agency would provide advocates to mediate disputes between the mentally ill and housing providers or landlords.

The research team also emphasized the need for more education for service providers and landlords about mental disorders. Many lack compassion and do not treat us with respect and dignity.

Families are often an important stopgap, preventing schizophrenics from becoming homeless, and also require education about different housing options, as well as support.

It is important for a person’s community to contain resources on housing for the mentally ill, so that those with mental illness can be supported as they work towards greater independence. We are very fragile when we start to do things, and need assistance in doing taxes, saving money, learning about insurance, providing for ourselves in the future, learning about nutrition, and managing stress.

Reducing control while providing care is possible as long as the service providers and the mentally ill work together. Service providers must work with clients to help them make choices, but should not tell them which decisions to make. People with mental illnesses have a right to their private lives. They need help with sorting out the paperwork required for receiving Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), for instance, but they don’t want others to decide if they have roommates, or to intrude on their private lives.

It is time that people with psychiatric disabilities have the opportunity to expanded access to housing. We should be

able to live where we want to live. Most of us dream of living in our own homes in the community, and all of us desire permanent housing of some kind. Housing should be flexible, accommodating peoples financial needs, their pets, etc. Government needs to make subsidized housing a priority, by offering tax incentives for affordable housing or requiring that builders make a certain percentage of their units affordable housing.

At some point in the future, the research team hopes to present their research to influential authorities at the local and provincial level. Our objective is to bring awareness to the housing crisis facing the mentally ill in Alberta. Our hope is that the research will convince the decision makers to help in the process of building more affordable housing.

Community outreach makes a difference My work has also led me to present to high school students taking psychology courses or Career and Life Management, through the Schizophrenia Society’s Partnership program.

I have taken the opportunity to present with several family members in high schools in Calgary, Didsbury, Cochrane and Okotoks. The program involves a person with schizophrenia speaking about their illness, alongside a family member who speaks on their experience as a caregiver.

The impact of the presentations has been great. The feedback from the students and teachers has indicated that their knowledge of schizophrenia has greatly increased. Educating young minds about the disorder is an important step by help-

ing to erode the stigma. I am very optimistic that the youngsters we have impacted will be the future generation and leaders that would greatly assist in eliminating the stigma and discrimination facing the mentally ill in our society.

Potential Place Clubhouse activism Potential Place Clubhouse is for people with different types of mental illness. The focus of this organization is the belief that we all have capabilities, talents and strengths that can be utilized. My participation in their work-related activities has proven to be an important ingredient to my wellness. Aside from work-related activities, the fostering of relationships is encouraged. The importance of socializing is part of Potential Place’s philosophy.

Taking part in the Clubhouse coffeehouses, dances and other social events nourishes my mental health. Entering the doors of this organization creates an atmosphere of empowerment among its members. This is the spirit and magic that becomes the catalyst towards the well being of its members.

At Potential Place, my colleagues and I have worked together with other organizations such as Calgary Low Income Coalition (CLIC), Vibrant Communities Calgary and the Schizophrenia Society to seek an increase in AISH from the Alberta government and a reduced transit pass from The City of Calgary for all AISH recipients residing in the city.

Reflecting on our success, we were able to get an increase in AISH benefits from $855 per month to $1,000 per month. Also we were able to get a discounted transit pass from $70 to $35 per month.

Working together with my colleagues at the Schizophrenia Society and Potential Place has greatly instilled meaning and purpose to my life. Both organizations have connected me to groups such as CLIC and Vibrant Communities Calgary. A transformation has taken place in my life: from a miserable individual with an untreated mental disorder during my earlier years to a mental health advocate dedicated to the rights of the mentally ill. My journey of hope and happiness continues.

Jamal Ali is a writer, researcher and mental health advocate residing in Calgary since 1967. He holds a BA degree in Political Science from the University of Calgary.

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housing

Homeless in Medicine Hat Despite Alberta’s economy, many are being left behind On a bustling downtown street in Medicine Hat, on a cold winter day, shoppers are often seen hurrying out of stores, coats open, to the warm cars that await them.

At the same time, there is likely to be someone not nearly as blessed, standing under a nearby awning watching people walk past, like the young man who caught my attention recently.

“Hey, can you spare some change?” he asked, cringing as the snow blew across his dishevelled hair and ripped coat.

TOVAH ISAACSON

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was about to walk past him when I spot ted the snake coiled around his neck. It’s not everyday I see a boa constrictor, so I struck up a conversation. Where are you from? Where are you going? What do you feed that snake? What are you doing here?

Is the snake warm enough? He answered my nosy questions good-naturedly.

“The snake eats live mice and hamsters and it keeps warm with body heat,” he told me.

He had travelled by bus from down east and was begging for money for bus fare to get to a relative’s home in B.C. He said he was sleeping on the bus - at least, that was his story. I gave him a bit of change and wished him luck. Later, I phoned Greyhound and was surprised when the voice on the other end laughed at his sad story.

They don’t allow snakes on the bus. It was then that I realized that likely little of what he had told me was the truth. In exchange for some change, he gave the one thing he had: a story.

I like a good story with a happy ending, but when it comes to homelessness, they are few and far between. Not everyone has his or her very own cosy bed to sleep in every night and the warm knowledge that it will be there tomorrow. According to the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society website (www.mhchs.ca), the average income of a Medicine Hat resident is less than both the Albertan and Canadian average. In fact, according to 2000 tax data, 58 per cent of Medicine Hat residents filed a tax return with an income of less than $25,000 per year.

Furthermore, Medicine Hat has a vacancy rate of 1.7 per cent and a growth rate of 2.2 per cent, which has left many lowincome families scrambling for housing.

Social housing is one option for those struggling to find affordable housing, but right now around 200 families and individuals are waiting for social housing in Medicine Hat, and it will probably take about 15 months before they receive their housing.

Those needing immediate help often turn to the Salvation Army, whose Medicine Hat homeless shelter houses more than 700 people each year, according to www.mhchs.ca. Others turn to places like

the Transcanada Motel, which was converted into transitional housing for adults in 2002 and contains 19 units.

Both options are only temporary solutions, and for many people in Medicine Hat, there are still barriers to finding permanent shelter. However, a number of community efforts are working to change the situation.

One solution has been the Community Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, which is a project of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society. In October and November of 2005, project staff conducted a survey using focus groups, a public forum, and a questionnaire to consult with the community on housing services.

Questions were also asked about what additional needs exist and what priorities should be set. As a result of the consult, a plan was formulated and a document of the plan is posted on www.mhchs.ca.

Focus groups in the survey recognized the important role of community supports for successfully helping those in need, especially “the chronically homeless and those with mental health and/or addiction issues.”

Another community venture to confront homelessness is the Crisis Assistance Network, which consists of partners from various non-profit organizations. The group is geared to helping individuals or families in need of shelter, food or clothing, and includes a number of agencies, including the Miywasin Centre, which offers transitional housing and related supports for aboriginals in need.

For many low-income people, private sector housing can be out of reach because of the start up expenses: security and utility deposits, moving expenses, and the first month’s rent, including the costs associated with securing personal identification, references and a bank account. People may be restricted further by the size of their family, or if they smoke or have pets. Appearance can play a role in successfully obtaining housing.

Darren Rudd of Medicine Hat Homeless and Community Initiatives explains that some common causes of homelessness include mental health and addiction, as well as poor socialization, work skills

and budgeting skills. Rudd believes that supports need to be available for people after they leave the transitional housing system, since it can be challenging for clients to seek private sector housing solutions. People often need the support of an agency that offers guidance with budgeting as well as work and social skills, says Rudd.

He explains that there are a few supported housing options for people with these kinds of needs. One is the Salvation Army-sponsored Champion Centre, which houses men in rooms above their café in in a room-and-board situation. It is a supported environment with an emphasis on family values.

But when it comes to homelessness, housing options are only part of the solution. Ultimately, employment is a key element. And part of securing a job means looking the part. One manager of a downtown apartment told me she can’t understand why tenants come and go so often.

She can’t understand why people are so unstable and “aimless.” After all, “there is work in the Hat in the fast food industry,” she told me.

But I wondered about the “look” that is [JH1]characteristic of the fast food employee: a college-aged, clean-cut appearance. Does it really make sense to apply for these types of jobs when you don’t think you fit the profile?

The stigma of being homeless or lowincome is also a hindrance for those seeking stability. For instance, the Tim Hortons downtown is an inviting spot for tourists or shoppers, with nearby park benches and flower beds. But this summer, the district cracked down on loiterers out of a desire to rid the area of the homeless and “riffraff ” hanging out downtown during business hours, socializing and perhaps not looking for work as diligently as the government issue books advise.

Rhetoric concerning loiterers and those who spend daylight hours in idle socializing downtown indicate there is resentment about “streeters” and their activities. The type of social skills and work skills required to hold down a job is not learned socializing on the street. Street smarts are a different skill set. Agencies such as Commu-

nity Employment Services, Human Resources and Employment, and Salvation Army offer support services related to job finding.

However, which comes first - the chicken or the egg? Without the security of housing, there’s not as much motivation for seeking employment. It becomes a vicious circle. Rudd says that “the poor have always been there and will always be a part of society.” He suggests that permanent housing with support will stabilize people’s futures and take the desperation out of their lives. Once food and shelter needs are met, the other issues of addiction, mental illnesses, family abuse, illiteracy, ill health, and poor life skills can be faced with a positive outlook.

With the link established between housing and social supports, there’s no doubt that volunteering for a social agency can make a real difference. One of the issues mentioned in the plan is the need for support agencies to work more closely with housing providers.

According to Karen Ann Hall and Pat Specht, co-ordinators for Citizens Advocacy, another member organization of CAN, volunteers are needed to work on the “front lines.” It’s a more personal donation than cash, says Hall, since “volunteering keeps you involved, people become real - flesh and blood - you become aware of the issues, volunteer and give with the heart.”

Of course, agencies appreciate any monetary gifts, they add, and whenever there are food and clothing drives in Medicine Hat, Hatters are always very generous.

Those interested in donating their time can check out www.volunteerinthehat.ca for more information.

Tovah Isaacson has lived in “the Hat” for the last three years, but has lived in five provinces during her lifetime and appreciates Canada’s diversity. She has a BFA in drama from the University of Lethbridge, which she earned as a middle-aged person.

Tovah enjoys doing volunteer work in the community, particularly for Citizens Advocacy, Veiner Centre and the Shaw television program Enriching Your Life.

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housing Alberta needs a universal low income transit pass Subsidized transportation will benefit economy RAMONA JOHNSTON “A Low Income Transit Pass allows me to leave my home and access the city for my employment, doctor appointments, community activities, personal needs, groceries, other shopping, visits with my children and personal contact with my relatives. To be independent on transportation keeps my morale up to achieve things by handling them myself and keeps me sane. Thanks.”

- Calgarian living on low income

F

ormer Premier Ralph Klein admitted that the Alberta government did not have a plan to deal with the problems associated with the province’s economic boom. Alberta’s new premier, Ed Stelmach, promises to remedy this by dealing with the acute shortage of affordable housing and by tackling the lack of skilled workers in Alberta. Premier Stelmach’s early attempts to address the rising costs of living resulting from our economic boom are commendable. However, as part of the provincial strategy to remove employment barriers, the government should provide support for affordable transportation.

According to a Calgary transit survey, of the more than 100,000 Calgarians living on low-income, 55 per cent use transit regularly (more than three times per week). However, the cost of public transportation is a barrier for many individuals and families living on low income.

Someone working for minimum wage ($7 per hour) would have to work over 10 hours to purchase an adult Calgary transit pass ($75/month), making the cost of transportation extremely prohibitive.

The government of Alberta’s website states that “nearly 400,000 jobs will be created in Alberta over the next 10 years, but only 300,000 new workers are expected to enter the labour market. This means the province may face a shortfall that may be as high as 100,000 workers.” Increasing access to transportation by removing income as a barrier will facilitate greater participation in the workforce and in our communities for Albertans with limited incomes. Removing this financial barrier will benefit not only people living on low incomes, but also small business owners and other employers by vastly increasing the labour pool.

Many American and European cities are increasing the affordability of public transportation to attract larger and more reliable work forces and to save in a variety of ways. The benefits of this approach are innumerable, contributing to multi-million dollar savings in health care, education, and criminal justice systems. Affordable transportation also provides a vital link to friends and family for seniors, the disabled and children.

In Alberta, a provincial affordable transportation program would enable up to 400,000 low-income Albertans to access and maintain employment, volunteer in their community, buy groceries and other essentials, attend medical appointments and places of worship, take their children to recreation activities and enjoy the many great opportunities our cities, towns and rural communities have to offer.

Some may argue that cities are responsible for municipal transportation issues, but the inability to afford transportation is an issue of income security, which is the responsibility of our provincial government.

The ongoing bickering over jurisdictional responsibility is depriving our economy of workers, putting a strain on our social services and health-care systems, and limiting the ability of children, seniors and people with disabilities to visit friends and family and make a more meaningful contribution to our communities.

In the interim, Grande Prairie, Calgary and Edmonton agreed to fund and implement reduced fare public transit programs for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) recipients. In January 2006, The City of Calgary expanded its AISH transit pass program to include all Calgary residents with incomes below 75 per cent of Statistics Canada’s Low Income Cut Off lines.

In 2006, more than 10,000 low-income Calgarians registered for the Universal Low Income Transit Pass (ULITP) program.

However, due to budgetary concerns, The City of Calgary has increased the cost of the monthly pass from $35 in 2006 to $37.50 for 2007. The City of Calgary also announced that its program is scheduled to expire in December 2007, due to financial constraints. If this program is cancelled, thousands of people may again face reduced access to the economic and social opportunities that other Calgarians take for granted.

In order to secure funding for Calgary’s ULITP program and as part of a broader grassroots movement to provide provincewide affordable public transportation, more than 16,000 constituents from across Alberta mailed postcards and letters to their MLAs supporting Fair Fares for lowincome Albertans. In response, the government of Alberta committed in September 2006 to establish a cross-departmental provincial committee to further explore the issue of affordable transportation.

Calgary has requested provincial funding support for affordable transportation in the amount of $2.25 per capita. Applied to all Alberta municipalities, it is estimated that the provision of affordable transportation requires a provincial investment of less than $8 million annually, a small fraction of the Alberta government’s projected surplus of $4.1 billion in 2006-07.

Alberta’s economy is currently the envy of Canada. However, unless the province successfully manages its boom, we will have squandered the opportunity to provide an inclusive, thriving, sustainable economy. Alberta needs an affordable transportation program to realize these

goals. It is hoped that the government of Alberta will partner with municipalities before the end of 2007 to provide equitable access to the economic, social, cultural and family life of our communities.

If you have any questions about the affordable transportation needs of Albertans, please contact your MLA. MLA contact information is available at: www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/streetkey.

For more information on Fair Fares, or to become involved with the provincial initiative in support of affordable transportation, visit www.vibrantcalgary.com. For more information on Calgary’s Universal Low Income Transit Pass program, please contact Calgary Transit at 403-262-1000 or visit www.calgarytransit.com.

Ramona Johnston, the director of Vibrant Communities Calgary, is a member of Fair Fares, an action team that is committed to addressing the affordable transportation needs of Albertans.

A More Democratic Alberta Making it Happen

It has been clear for some time that Alberta has a substantial “democratic deficit.”

The question is what to do about it.

Public Interest Alberta (PIA) is offering citizens around the province a chance to have a say and play a role in bringing about democratic renewal in our province.

Please plan to attend these forums from 1:00 – 4:30 PM in the following cities and dates: March 3 Red Deer March 10 Lethbridge March 11 Medicine Hat March 16 Athabasca March 17 Edmonton March 23 Camrose March 24 Calgary March 31 Grande Prairie Registration is only $10.

(Please register early as space is limited) Please contact Public Interest Alberta at (780) 420-0471, E-mail pialta@telus.net or register online at www.pialberta.org Co- sponsored by the Parkland Institute

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alberta What happened at Didsbury

Protester discovers mixed community reaction to animal abuse case

LANA PHILIPS

Most Post readers in Alberta have either read about or seen television coverage of the dog cruelty trial in Didsbury, Alberta, and the two young men (one who was a minor at the time of the incident, but turned 18 two weeks later) who are accused of the crime. After attending the first court date and seeing the community’s outraged reaction to the accused individuals in person, I found myself shocked at the repercussions of it all in a small town where almost everyone knows each other.

T

he media has given us a window into these young men and the town of Didsbury, but their accounts aren’t complete.

Most of the town residents who came out that day were very angry and some told us what they knew about these boys. I met people that day who had known one or both young men for a long time. A mother told us that her son had had troubles with Daniel Charles Haskett since grade six, and the conflict had started over a girl. The picture of angry protesters crowding the van carrying Haskett made headlines and videos of the scene turned up on www.YouTube.com, an international website for people to upload and view video footage. The latest revelation is that the man accused of mischief for kicking the van when leaving the courthouse has been dismissed from the RCMP recruiting process because charges are pending against him.

Local resident Tamara Chaney is circulating a petition in support of a bill (C373) promising harsher penalties for people convicted of animal cruelty. The petition has received more than 48,000 signatures across the country as of the writing of this article and will be presented to Parliament early in the New Year.

On the other hand, a couple of young people who had known Haskett, from school were there in support of someone they didn’t believe was guilty of the crimes.

They yelled, “We love you, Charles!” to the

dismay of those angry protesters who had come to protest the death of Daisy Duke.

The local humane society examined the Haskett home and determined that in spite of the accusations, another dog, Diesel, was not in danger of being abused and decided not to take the dog out of the home.

On the other hand, a couple of young people who had known Haskett, from school were there in support of someone they didn’t believe was guilty of the crimes. They yelled, “We love you, Charles!” to the dismay of those angry protesters The few people who support the families of the two accused individuals generally stay silent out of fear of retribution, and there have been many threats of further violence in what was previously a peace-loving small town. The RCMP recruit was so angry about what he believed had transpired that he may possibly lose the chance to fulfill his long-term goal.

Didsbury is on the national map now, and not for reasons that anyone would want.

Will their lives ever be the same? Even if the charges are found to be unfounded, has the community reached the point of no return to their peaceful lives? And what about the lives of these families and these young men?

Any time violence touches us in such a raw way that it makes us want to retaliate in kind, our lives are changed forever. Cruelty toward animals strikes at the very heart of who we are because they are voiceless and defenseless. Even those of us who have become jaded and immune to news stories of violence react with anger toward the plight of an animal who has been hurt.

Working for peace and the good of our communities means working for the good of all in the community - including our animals. Protecting animals by stricter laws

against cruelty means that we protect voiceless, defenseless humans. Many domestic violence offenders often start out as animal abusers, as do serial killers.

Fighting for animal rights is a sign of a compassionate, involved citizenship. A community that strives to end violence must protect both people and animals.

Lana Phillips is an Edmonton writer who has written for numerous publications, including Our Voice and Edmonton Street News.

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alberta

HARRY B. CHASE

Adolescent Alberta What does Alberta want to be when it grows up?

H

aving just last year celebrated its first century, Alberta is a young province within a relatively young nation. In 1867, when our southern neighbour was tearing itself apart in a most uncivil war, Canada was coming together. Thirty-eight years later, in 1905, Alberta and its sister province, Saskatchewan, joined Confederation.

A defining point in Alberta’s history that has led this province down a path dramatically different from its sister occurred 42 years later when oil was discovered at Leduc in 1947. Since that discovery, the paths of the two provinces have diverged, with Alberta occasionally playing the role of the spoiled sibling. This spoiled child is

now struggling as an adolescent in terms cycle, to restore an economic and environof deciding what it wants to be if and when mental balance both short term and long it grows up. What path will it take? What range, regional, provincial and federal is the plan? planning is necessary. The trend over the During the 12-year reign of Ralph Klein, past 12 years to centralize control either who recently admitted that his govern- provincially in Edmonton or federally in ment had no plan, the image of Alberta as Ottawa has to be replaced by a collaborarebellious teenager dominated the politi- tive vision for the future. cal landscape and surpassed Quebec for the most spoiled status within the Canadian family. As a result of its energy wealth, Alberta has chosen to thumb its nose not only at the rest of the external Canadian family but internally as well. The separation within Alberta resulting from the province’s worship/pursuit of the almighty unfettered market has created two distinct classes of winners and losers: haves and have-nots. The figurative firewalls designed to keep Ottawa out of the province - forThe Alberta provincial debt has not merly proposed by Stephen been eliminated; it has simply been Harper and currently favoured downloaded as an infrastructure

by Ted Morton - have been redeficit onto the municipalities. placed by financial barriers within the province itself.

Platitudes such as “all boats rise with the tide” have been proven false by the rapidly Alberta’s adolescent, self-serving image growing number of food banks, shelters, reinforced over the past decade by its prohomeless families, and working and study- vincial government’s lack of direction ing poor. The Alberta provincial debt has needs to be replaced by that of an elder not been eliminated; it has simply been statesman who doesn’t sacrifice long-term downloaded as an infrastructure deficit sustainability for immediate economic onto the municipalities. This deficit when gratification. Our non-renewable resource combined with the government’s portion wealth must be extracted and invested of unfunded public sector pension liabili- wisely to secure our future prosperity. Alties rivals the previous $23 billion provin- berta’s future must include a healthy, wellcial debt. The unparalleled/unrestricted educated, participatory populace. pursuit of non-renewable energy sources coupled with unsustainable timber harvesting practices like clear-cutting is com- Harry B. Chase is... promising our environmental health, especially our water quality and quantity.

In order to counteract the boom/bust

ALBERTA GEOLOGISTS/cont. from page 1

Dion has promised a greater commitment to bringing Canada into the community of nations which support the Kyoto Accord, allowing Canada to play its legitimate role in dealing with climate change problems.

Other positive changes are also in the works. In the past, major oil industry corporations such as ExxonMobil have been averse to accepting the role that humans contribute to global warming and, at the same time, granted substantial sums to organizations that promote the denial of global warming. This is now changing, as the new chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, has reversed course from the previous management.

Tillerson has asserted, “We should take steps now to reduce emissions in effective and meaningful ways” and provides hope the global fossil fuel industry along with auto manufacturers and other major energy players will take meaningful measures to deal with the consequences of global warming.

Further cause for hope is the fact that the State of California has passed stringent controls on greenhouse emissions and continues to make progress in that effort.

It is said that, “as goes California, so goes the nation.” Dozens of U.S. states and hundreds of cities have stopped waiting for Washington to deal effectively with controlling emissions and have initiated independent emission reduction programs. In addition, some Canadian provinces and U. S. states are now cooperating in mutually beneficial projects.

In spite of this progress there will be some who will continue to maintain a posture of global warming denial perhaps because it is too difficult to admit a major error in judgment. Whatever the reason for continued denial, history will record who these people are and what organizations they represent. There is an unfortunate parallel of events petroleum geologists should remember because it too represented a monumental scientific blunder in judgment. Over 75 years ago, many U.S.

Dozens of U.S. states and hundreds of cities have stopped waiting for Washington to deal effectively with controlling emissions and have initiated independent emission reduction programs. In addition, some Canadian provinces and U. S. states are now cooperating in mutually beneficial projects. petroleum geologists rejected the theories of Alfred Wegener who pioneered the subject of continental drift and plate tectonics. This theory revolutionized geology in many areas of exploration and development of oil, natural gas and minerals. Although there was scientific rationale for differing opinions, the real reason for the American rejection of the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics was that it

was based on ideology not science. This I learned as a geology student at the University of Illinois. Unfortunately, some things are slow to change.

Jack Century has been a petroleum geologist since 1952 when he graduated from the University of Illinois with B. S. and M.S. degrees. He has participated in numerous projects in Alberta, beginning with the major Swan Hills Reef oil play. In 1973, he started a consultancy, participating in many drilling prospects in Alberta, the U. S. and in overseas basins. He became involved with the issue of Global Warming on the birth of his second grandson in 1989 and has participated in various environmental projects ever since.

In 1990, he became Founding Chair of the Environmental Geology Division of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists.

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conference retrospective Conference illuminates energy issues

The Parkland Institute’s 10th annual conference, Power for the People: determining our energy future, explored oil and gas issues through the lens of democracy.

Conference participants enjoyed a diverse group of speakers, including best-selling author John Ralson Saul, journalists Marc Lisac and Gillian Steward, Parkland Institute Director and cofounder Gordon Laxer, Norwegian economist Ole Gunnar Austvik, and many others.

Photo captions to go here.

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conference retrospective Fueling Norway’s future How Norway has managed its petroleum industry since the 1970s When Norwegian petroleum activities started in the 1960s, the country had little knowledge about the industry.

Fortunately, all of the political parties agreed that the industry should be kept under national control and that profits should benefit the entire nation.

OLE GUNNAR AUSTVIK

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art of their strategy involved direct management of the economic rent, the difference between a company’s accounting profit and the normal profit (the minimum profit necessary to attract entrepreneurs to an investment).

State participation in petroleum activities The national oil company, Statoil, was created in 1972 and was instrumental in developing a Norwegian petroleum industry and managing government interests on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

Statoil typically got huge shares of the best and biggest fields. Consequently, some began to fear that Statoil would become too dominant in the industry, resulting in 1984’s ‘Statoil-compromise.’ This reduced the company’s shares substantially and gave the larger parts to the State’s Direct Financial Interests (SDFI).

Under the SDFI arrangement, the state pays its share of investments and costs, and receives a corresponding share of income from the production license. Through the SDFI, the state takes all costs and risk, but also all economic rent. Typically, the SDFI holds the largest shares in the biggest and most profitable fields.

After SDFI was established Statoil became responsible for its administration.

When Statoil was privatized in 2001, the administration of the SDFI was transferred to the state-created trust company Petoro.

Statoil remained however responsible for marketing and sales of the SDFI’s petroleum together with its own supplies.

Today, Petoro is the largest licenceholder on NCS (24 per cent oil, 41.6 per cent gas) and represents more than 40 per cent of total production. In addition, SDFI holds 18-62 per cent ownership shares in oil and gas pipelines, and landbased facilities for oil and gas processing and refining (average 40-50 per cent). The state owns at present 100 per cent of Gassco, which is the operator of the integrated gas transportation network, 71 per cent of Statoil, and 44 per cent of Norsk

Hydro. Statoil and Norsk Hydro often hold 15-20 per cent of fields in production making the combined Norwegian state controlled share (Petoro, Statoil, Hydro) of NCS production some 70 - 80 per cent.

Except for Norsk Hydro, the Ministry of petroleum and Energy (MPE, www.odin.dep.no/oed) administer the Norwegian petroleum activities

Government petroleum revenues In addition to the Norwegian companies Statoil and Hydro, most major international companies have participated on the NCS from the start. The tax system for the companies is based on rules for the ordinary Norwegian corporation tax (28per cent). Due to the economic rent made in the sector, especially when oil prices are high, a special tax (50 per cent) is also levied, making companies pay a 78 per cent share of net profit to the government.

The base for both ordinary and special taxes is subject to depreciation of investments, operating and exploration expenses, financial costs, CO2-tax and an area fee. The companies are permitted to consolidate between fields. In order to shield normal profits from the special tax, the deduction of an “uplift” is allowed. The uplift amounts to 30 per cent of investments made, allocated over four years (7.5 per cent per annum). Most important for new entrants and small companies is that those not in a tax position may carry forward their losses and uplift with interests.

Through direct and indirect taxes and direct ownership, the state is ensured a high proportion of the values created from the petroleum activities, and makes the Norwegian government the biggest “capitalist” and rent taker on the NCS. In 2005, the state’s net cash flow from the petroleum sector amounted to NOK 283 billion (CAD $52 billion) that represents approximately 33 per cent of total government revenues.

The Petroleum Fund In developing the petroleum industry, the Norwegian government was also concerned about its macroeconomic effects.

From the start, there was a fear of infla-

tion and currency appreciation associated with setting a specific Norwegian production ceiling at 50-90 Million Tons of Oil Equivalents (MTOE) - a value which approximates the amount of energy produced by burning one metric ton of crude oil.

The creating of the Petroleum Fund in the ’90s removed much of the cautiousness against high production levels. As the fund decoupled earnings and expenditures, it protected against boom and bust cycles, loss of competitiveness in non-oil and gas sectors and dependency on oil revenues. Additionally, oil revenues in foreign currencies weren’t automatically exchanged for the Norwegian kroner anymore, and an appreciation was avoided.

With higher depletion rates, the fund also moved the use of the petroleum wealth from present to future generations. Alternatively, production could be saved for future generations. However, when moving capital from the ground to international financial markets, the rewards were considered over time to be higher than keeping the oil in the ground.

Consequently, from having a rather restrictive production policy, production increased substantially, limited mostly by resource availability, costs and technological developments. Actual production in 2005 was 223 MTOE, nearly three times larger than the former upper limits.

The Petroleum Fund was established as a fiscal policy tool to support a long-term management of the petroleum revenues.

The first net transfer came into the fund in 1996. The fund is fully integrated into the state budget and net allocations to the fund reflect the total budget surplus (including petroleum revenues). The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the its management, and has delegated the operational management to the Central Bank.

The capital is invested in non-Norwegian financial instruments (bonds, equities, money market instruments and derivatives). All government net cash flow from the petroleum sector goes into the fund and saved together with the return on these investments (at present 40 per cent shares and 60 per cent bonds).

With high oil prices after 2000, the fund has been increasing at quite a rate. In 2005, it had a return on investments of ca NOK 120 billion (CAD$23 billion). Combined

with a net cash flow from the petroleum sector of NOK 283 billion, the total inflow to the fund was some NOK 400 billion in 2005. By the end of 2006, it is expected to reach some NOK 1,750 billion (CAD$330 billion). In the national budget for 2007, the fund is forecasted to reach NOK 3,000 billion (CAD$570 billion), double the size of the fund in 2005. As it grows, the yield from investments will grow in relation with the net cash flow from production.

Challenges ahead A combinatinAThe combination of state ownership and direct participation in the oil industry, and a strong taxation system, have succeeded in giving most of the economic rent to the state. Norway has done quite well in protecting the economy from tribulation by creating the Petroleum Fund. The state is still in control of the sector on all levels, but now in a more regulatory way than in the ’70s.

There is little controversy in Norway about the model and most people seem content to have a professional petroleum industry, a healthy Petroleum Fund and political control.

However, growing concerns are on the horizon. How much should the fund be emphasized? Should more oil be left in the ground? Will Norwegians remain moderate forever, or will the size of the fund lead to a greater desire to take more of the money today? Should money also be used to upgrade the society more than otherwise would have been done? The oil industry is ultimately ‘easy come, easy go.’

There will be an end to the oil supply, ultimately. It is critical to develop new economic bases and invest in infrastructure (including education and research), to decrease dependency on petroleum.

Ole Gunnar Austvik is an economist at Lillehammer University College in Norway. He also holds a masters of public adminisration from Harvard University, and has published numerous articles and books about petroleum. This article is a version of Austvik’s November lecture at the Parkland Institute’s 2006 conference, Power for the people: Determining our energy future.

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alberta’s environment Oil and gas industry rife with contradiction Industry defined by hypocrisy would it not be similarly involved? If anything, Canada should be more involved in order to ensure the security of both oil and gas and industrial stability.

For years we’ve known that there was something not quite right about the oil and gas industry. After some analysis, I’d say that the industry is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder, for the actions of oil companies are often contradictory, shifting and hypocritical.

Albertans, and Canadians, need to reject the attitude that the government shouldn’t participate directly in the harvesting of its resources. Given that Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corporation and BP plc are fine with working in regimes such as that in China, Russia, Norway, and even Alaska, Canadians and Albertans should not be afraid to hold them to the same standards.

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ll of this adds up to a raw deal for Canadians, since these multi-national oil and gas companies, who are free enterprise, for-profit corporations, hold Canadians to a different standard than their oilproducing colleagues. And Canada is allowing this to happen.

When it comes to their dealings in Europe, Russia and Denmark, for instance, energy giants Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhilips, Chevron Corporation and BP plc tolerate government intervention and protectionist policies, yet cannot tolerate similar behaviour form the Canadian government.

BP’s CEO, for instance, has been quoted as extolling the virtues of Russia’s control over its own natural resources. This quote was taken right after the Russian government’s announcement of an increase in state control of that the nation’s energy industry. This control is being tightened on projects owned and operated by large international companies like BP and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Another country with strong government controls, China, is also becoming a major target for big oil and gas companies.

Pipeline company Enbridge is working with China’s national oil and gas company, Petro-China, to build a pipeline that will run from Edmonton to Kitimat, B.C., that could transport 200,000 barrels of oil on a daily basis.

Petro-China is an energy company wholly owned by the Chinese communist government.

Enbridge, a free enterprise for-profit corporation with shareholders to please, is aggressively promoting the deal through its own resources and that of the elected governments in Alberta and Ottawa.

Another corporation, Calgary-based Husky Oil, has also set its sights on China.

It has recently discovered a huge natural gas field in the South China Sea and has partnered with the government-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Clearly, these companies - several who are based in Canada - have found attractive ventures overseas, largely through collaborations with national corporations.

This contradicts the predictions of the chief economist of CIBC World Funds, Jeff Rubin, who has recently said that free enterprise for-profit corporations will stop investing in Mexico, Russia, the Middle East, China, Venezuela and other countries with strong government control over the development of their oil reserves. Interest-

Canada’s government will point to the North American Free Trade Agreement as the reason why we can’t have our own natural resources controlled by ourselves, forgetting to point out that Mexico was excluded from that clause. In fact, Mexico has a clause in their constitution dictating that their oil and gas industry must remain in the control of the Mexican government.

It is time Canada and Alberta take control of our future and let their government know it is okay to put an end to the issues of Multiple Personality Disorder in our natural resource industry.

NORM GREENFIELD ingly, he still sees Iraq, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Canada as countries that are safe to invest in.

Canada is seen in different terms than most of the world’s oil-producing countries and some Canadians are quite fine with it.

On Dec. 19, 2006, the Financial Post’s Claudia Cattaneo took up 25 column inches to tear apart Newfoundland’s Premier Danny William for working on an Energy Plan that might involve that province taking direct involvement in developing its offshore resources. She perpetuates the ‘old tired boogey man under the bed,’ used by Ralph Klein when he had no new and progressive ideas to take to the people.

Albertans, and Canadians, need to reject the attitude that the government shouldn’t participate directly in the harvesting of its resources. Given that Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corporation and BP plc are fine with working in regimes such as that in China, Russia, Norway, and even Alaska, Canadians and

Albertans should not be afraid to hold them to the same standards.

77 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves are controlled by oil companies owned by governments.

Norway may offer a model for how Canada should manage its oil. The Norway government partners with some of the largest for-profit private, multi-national energy giants in the world. In January, Canadian Press reported that Norway had even partnered with Calgary-based oil and gas producer Talisman Energy Inc. in order to restart an offshore oilfield that was years ago deemed unprofitable and shutdown.

Yet, Norway stays focused on its own best interests. The country’s oil and gas industry, which came on stream in 1969, has put $265 billion in their state savings account. Since 1980, Alberta has only $13 billion in its Heritage Trust account from oil and gas royalties.

If Canada is prepared to allow China’s government-run offshore oil corporation to operate in our oil and gas sector, why

Norman Greenfield is a political and corporate communications consultant now living in Edmonton, but has clients and works around the world. He is a registered Federal government Lobbyist, and can be reached at normfg@hotmail.com or 780-935-6275.

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alberta’s environment

McClelland Lake Watershed “Make hay while the sun shines!” says Petro-Canada JOYCE HILDEBRAND

“We talk about natural resources as if everything had a price tag. You can’t buy spiritual values at a shopping mall. The things that uplift the spirit - an old-growth forest, a clear river, the flight of a golden eagle, the howl of a wolf, space and quiet without motors - are intangibles.”

- George Schaller, National Geographic, October 2006

I

t’s one of the rare places in Alberta’s boreal that has felt few human footprints. For millennia, the inaccessibility of the spectacular fen draining into McClelland Lake has allowed this rich ecosystem to flourish. That is about to change.

Four years ago, the fen, located 90 km north of Fort McMurray, was opened to tar sands mining. Petro-Canada’s construction of the Fort Hills project tailings pond in the McClelland watershed is only two years away.

The precariousness of the entire 330km2 watershed - less than half the size of Edmonton or Calgary - became starkly clear to four Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) staff and volunteers as we flew over it last July. The forests and wetlands surrounding McClelland Lake are already marred with clear-cut’s, well pads, roads, seismic lines, and a pipeline corridor.

But as we returned to Fort McMurray, we realized that this damage is minimal compared to what is to come. Flying over the vast open-pit mines, tailings ponds, and billowing emissions of operating tar sands projects, we saw the grey wasteland that will replace the upper portion of the McClelland watershed, including half the fen, if the Fort Hills project is allowed to proceed as planned.

Petro-Canada: “We have lots of lawyers” According to their website, “Petro-Canada is committed to environmental sustainability and continuously improving our operational practices and stewardship in the oil sands and elsewhere. We take pride in being a highly principled com-

pany.” In September, I met with a representative of Petro-Canada, the operator of the Fort Hills project, to discuss concerns about environmental impacts.

Petro-Canada, he said, has complete confidence that the unmined half of the fen will remain unaffected and that the mined portion will be restored to its original condition in two or three hundred years. Apparently what took nature 8,000 years to accomplish, Petro-Canada thinks it can do in one-fortieth the time, starting with a flayed landscape and with no evidence that a patterned fen can be restored.

When we discussed the planned tailings pond, which will straddle the McClelland watershed boundary, Petro-Canada’s spokesperson agreed that naphthenic acids, pollutants from tar sands mining, are probably the most serious toxins in tailings. Naphthenic acids are not included in the government’s Surface Water Quality regulations: industry is allowed to return “used” water to the Athabasca River when it meets those standards. He assured me that nobody would ever return water containing high densities of naphthenic acids to the river because “it would kill things,” and people just wouldn’t do that. Right.

He also pointed out that naphthenic acids exist naturally. According to Pembina Institute’s statistics, however, the average density occurring naturally in the area’s water bodies is 1 ml/L; in tailings ponds, it is 110 ml/L. Tailings ponds are so toxic in perpetuity, according to some experts that as I stood beside them, I heard the constant boom of airguns to keep birds and other wildlife away. Who will ensure that these deterrents are still operating a few lifetimes from now, when the tar sands are history?

The depth of Petro-Canada’s commitment to the environment might best be summed up in their representative’s veiled threat as we ended our meeting: “And don’t forget,” he said. “We have lots of lawyers.”

A Petro-Canada presentation to the Oil Sands Consultation Panel in Fort McMurray this fall confirmed this attitude: “Make hay while the sun shines,” was the presenter’s comment, reported in the Globe and Mail the next day.

How Did We Get Here?

The betrayal of both the Alberta public and the McClelland Lake ecosystem has been

as toxic as the tailings and emissions that we smelled from 1,000 feet up. In 2002, after TrueNorth Energy (the original operator of Fort Hills project) discovered oil under the fen, the government broke its own amendment guidelines to give in to the company’s request to change the 1996 IRP, which protected the fen from mining.

The protective notation on the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex (MLWC), recommended through the Special Places program in the late 1990s, was removed. In October 2002, the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) approved TrueNorth’s application despite a lengthy hearing with strong opposition to the project.

Four years after signing all of the necessary approvals, what can the government do to revisit the process and approvals?

Apparently nothing, according to Alberta Environment, unless it can be shown that “a major error or something fraudulent happened during the approval process.” An approval can be challenged through the Environmental Appeals Board, but the time for appealing the Fort Hills approvals ended years ago, and there was no fraud or major error to appeal - only government’s flawed industry-biased interpretation of public interest.

Shelving the Bad News According to Alberta Environment’s website, “an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report plays an important role in Alberta Environment’s review of applications.... The completed environmental assessment assists decision-makers to decide if a project is in the public interest.”

True North had an EIA done on the area that would be directly affected by their project. The portion of the EIA that concerned the MLWC predicted major, possibly irreversible project effects. Not surprisingly, True North “withdrew the portion of its EIA describing the project’s impacts to the MLWC,” asking the Board to accept in its place the promise to convene a committee “to develop a management strategy to sustain the unmined eastern portion of the wetland” (EUB Decision 2002-089).

What is surprising, or should be, is the EUB’s acceptance of this substitution: the replacement of a mandated EIA with a non-existent (at that time) committee.

According to Petro-Canada’s amended development plan, mining is scheduled to begin in the MLWC in 2020. The EUB Decision states that the Fort Hills operator must submit to the government “an acceptable mitigation plan [for the unmined portion of the fen] prior to mining in the MLWC.” Tailings pond construction within the watershed, however, will begin in 2008 or 2009, causing disruption to the MLWC with a mitigation plan still far from complete.

remove rare plants and replant them when the fen is “reclaimed”: a Noah’s Ark approach to reclamation. But will there be room on the ark for the endangered whooping cranes who stop to rest here on their migrations? Will resident lynx, moose, and river otters find refuge from the massive disturbance that will send shock waves through their habitat? Will declining species such as the short-eared owl and American bittern abandon their nesting grounds?

What is the dollar value of an irreplaceable gift of nature like the McClelland Lake watershed? Of the Red-listed Canadian toad or the rare pitcher plant? Is an ancient fen worth a billion barrels of oil, enough to supply Canada’s (or rather, the United States’) needs for 15 months? I wonder if our children and grandchildren will thank us for destroying this unique ecosystem in exchange for one-third of one percent of Alberta’s recoverable bitumen.

Unless the public is mobilized, the watershed’s fragile rare plants and mosses will be crushed under the four-metre-high tires of 400-ton mining trucks, the proud new symbol of our province that seems to have replaced the wild rose. The fen’s intricate patterning - delicate strings of black spruce separating peat-filled pools - will no doubt disappear because of disturbance of the water regime that feeds it. And since the mining will occur in the upper part of the watershed, nobody knows what the impact will be on the entire region.

Urgent Action Needed Judging by the 170 presentations to the Oil Sands Consultation Panel, Albertans care deeply about our wild lands. Of those presenters, 150 expressed great concern about the impacts of the headlong rush to develop the tar sands. If all Albertans had been given an aerial tour of the tar sands mines instead of our Ralph-bucks, I suspect that we would all be in an uproar. No one could remain unaffected by the sights and smells of greed next to the quiet beauty of the boreal.

“There are certain natural treasures in each country that should be treated as treasures,” says world-renowned biologist George Schaller. We must recognize before it is too late that the McClelland Lake watershed is a treasure and that we are dependent on the boreal forest’s services and diversity.

The only thing that might save the McClelland Lake fen and watershed is a flood of letters to Petro-Canada and government ministers, a public boycott of Petro-Canada, and letters to the editor of every newspaper and magazine in the province.

Where Are We Now?

For more information on the McClelland Lake watershed, go to www.AlbertaWilderness.ca.

All of Petro-Canada’s approvals are in place, including a water license for withdrawing 39.27 million m3 per year from the Athabasca River. Petro-Canada is already removing rare plants from the fen for pilot projects. They plan eventually to

Joyce Hildebrand is a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), based in Calgary, and considers herself one of a fortunate few who get paid for doing what they love.

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international politics NICARAGUA/ continued from page 1

“liberal” in Latin America means conservative, pro-corporation and small government - meant that Ortega, the dreaded Marxist ‘dictator’ and ‘enemy of democracy,’ could win. Trivelli tried, without success, to unite the forces of the right.

Finally he chose Montealegre as his candidate. Trivelli claimed just days before the election that the U.S. would have to “revisit the relationship it has with Nicaragua if Ortega wins,” including the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Millennium Challenge Account which provides Nicaragua with $175 million in aid, investments from private companies, and Nicaragua’s debt with multilateral institutions in which the U.S. participates.

Embassy Spokesperson Kristin Steward linked Ortega and the Sandinistas to international terrorism. USAID official Adolfo Franco and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez threatened loss of jobs and aid if Nicaraguans chose Ortega.

Congressmen Dan Burton and Dana Rohrabacher threatened to embargo the $500 million that half million Nicaraguans living in the U.S. send to their families each year. Remittances represent 17 per cent of Nicaragua’s GDP and equal Nicaragua’s total exports.

United States interference in Nicaraguan elections is nothing new. In 1990, through the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. channeled $15 million to consolidate opposition to the Sandinistas and to fund anti-Sandinista literature, speakers and events in what the U.S. Embassy labels as Nicaragua’s first “democratic” election. Threatened with the continuation of the U.S.-funded Contra war and the economic embargo, Nicaraguans elected the U.S.-sponsored party and presidential candidate, Violeta Chamorro. In Nicaragua´s second “democratic” election in 1996, the U.S. State Department advised against voting for Ortega and called into question his “democratic” credentials and U.S.-backed candidate Alemán won the presidency. In the third ‘democratic’ election, Florida governor Jeb Bush took out a full-page ad in La Prensa, Nicaragua´s major newspaper on Oct. 29, 2001, expressing outright support for U.S.-favoured presidential candidate Bolaños, and suggesting that Ortega, allied with terrorists, was “an enemy of everything the United States represents.”

The FSLN was also split. Herty Lewites, a popular long-time Sandinista member asked Ortega, the perpetual presidential candidate, to hold a leadership convention.

Ortega refused and threw Lewites out of the Sandinista Party. Together with members of an earlier FSLN fragmentation and prominent Sandinistas, Lewites founded the Movement to Rescue Sandinismo (MRS), a democratic wing of the Sandinistas. The MRS rose in the polls until the sudden death of Lewites in July before plummeting.

Our delegation - which included 17 North Americans and one Canadian - met with the four major political parties as well as various groups involved in the election process, including: the Supreme Electoral

Council, the governmental body in charge of the election process; the 11,000-strong Ethics and Transparency Nicaraguan civic observers; the Movement for Nicaragua, a group urging Nicaraguans, especially young people to vote and facilitating procurement of necessary identification. All of these groups were financed by a number of countries and organizations, among them USAID featured prominently.

The partiality of the U.S. government was evident in the “educational” material, including a beautifully crafted comic book-style history of Nicaragua that vilified the Sandinista revolution of the 19s and subsequent ‘democratic’ governments - all elected with U.S. support - without once mentioning the role of the U.S.funded Contras or the U.S.-imposed embargo on the Nicaraguan economy.

In 1987, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled against the United States that the CIA had illegally mined Nicaragua´s harbours. The U.S. government refused to accept the World Court’s jurisdiction and never paid the $17 billion in war damages. Nevertheless, both rightwing Liberal parties, the U.S. Embassy and groups funded by USAID coincided in qualifying Nicaragua as a young democracy of only 16 years, as though no government prior to 1990 had been democratic.

In the third ‘democratic’ election, Florida governor Jeb Bush took out a full-page ad in La Prensa, Nicaragua´s major newspaper on Oct. 29, 2001, expressing outright support for U.S.-favoured presidential candidate Bolaños, and suggesting that Ortega, allied with terrorists, was “an enemy of everything the United States represents.”

The popular sector, whose poor citizens earn their living salvaging recyclables from the Managua dump and of the rural area of Arenal in the municipality of Masatepe, where we spent two days, expressed their mistrust of the word ‘democracy.’

“It is a word without meaning,” a poor campesino (peasant) woman maintained.

“There is no democracy here. Democracy is having enough to eat, sending your children to school, having access to health care, housing and employment. This is the democracy we want.”

Over 2,000 accredited international observers from organizations including the Carter Center, the European Union, the Organization of American States and WTP, as well as 18,000 Nicaraguan observers assured an average of 1.7 observers for each of 11,243 voting stations. The U.S. financed the training of the vast majority of the national observers to guard against electoral fraud. Ethics and Transparency covered 100 per cent of the voting stations and did a “quick count” of results to check possible fraud. Representatives from each of the four major political parties were present from start to finish in almost all of the voting stations and had the right to intervene if they noted any abnormalities in the voting process.

Just over 2.3 million Nicaraguans roughly 73.5 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots. From our observation, the voting process in Nicaragua was free, fair, and transparent - precisely what we had come to ensure.

Nicaraguans chose to give Ortega the most votes - 38 per cent. The two right wing parties, the ALN and the PLC, won respectively 28 per cent and 27 per cent of the votes. The other Sandinista party, the MRS, finished with 6 per cent.

Why did 38 per cent of Nicaraguans choose Ortega? Perhaps they were reaching out for the smallest sign of hope. After all, in Nicaragua 79 per cent of the population live on less than US$2 per day - 45 per cent on less than one dollar a day.

Three-quarters of the population doesn’t receive the minimum level of nutrition, and two thirds of the rural population doesn’t have access to water. Furthermore, one million school-aged children do not attend school, 55 per cent of the country lacks basic medicine, over half the country’s population is unemployed, and 50 per cent of households have no access to electricity.

“Together, we will work, as we did in the past, for the good of all - but especially for the poor,” reflected my friend Rosibel.

While the national government did nothing for the poor under Alemán and Boleños, Sandinista mayors and municipal councils tended to receive more projects funded by bilateral aid and international NGOs, making the people feel less abandoned.

The popular sector...expressed their mistrust of the word ‘democracy.’

“It is a word without meaning,” a poor campesino (peasant) woman maintained.

“There is no democracy here.

Democracy is having enough to eat, sending your children to school, having access to health care, housing and employment.

This is the democracy we want.”

On Nov. 12, for instance, one project flew 104 poor persons to Venezuela for eye operations. Another project sends hundreds of poor Nicaraguan youth study in Cuba. In San Ramón, a small town that always elects Sandinista municipal councils, hundreds of children each day flock to a lunch program funded by Spain. Dozens of other projects give the people hope.

When it comes to helping his struggling citizenry, I don’t believe Ortega can do very much. He has been a pragmatic politician, but he is limited by having only 38 per cent of seats in the Assembly. Unlike Romeo Dallaire, Ortega willingly shook hands with the devil and never looked back. He made pacts with Alemán and Boleños to consolidate the power of the FSLN and the PLC in all facets of government. Ortega likely will continue the “pact” with Alemán´s PLC party for the coming five years. Between them they are expected to hold 63 seats in the 93-member legislature, a two-thirds majority.

The last insult to the Revolution came on Oct. 26. With the support of the Sandinistas, deputies voted for an absolute ban on abortion, criminalizing all abortions,, including therapeutic abortions.

The Catholic Church called for 20 years in prison for all who participate in abortion.

The Assembly settled for six years. Recently Ortega returned to the Catholic Church, married his long-time partner with whom he had eight children. Now he is a devout Catholic, close to his former arch-enemy, Cardinal Obando y Bravo. The people of Nicaragua are reluctant to let go of their dream, but as far as Ortega is concerned, the revolution was cancelled long ago.

During the electoral campaign, all political parties vowed to diminish poverty, create jobs, and spend more on education and health. Can Nicaraguans hope that the deputies they elected will agree on the way to achieve this? Will the United States, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, CAFTA, allow them to do so?

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international politics Ortega was sworn in as President of Nicaragua on Jan. 10, 2007, several days after meeting with the International Monetary Fund in Washington, where he was presented with the new IMF program for Nicaragua. Ortega has already signed on to CAFTA, a treaty designed to meet the U.S. trade interests. The Executive Director of the Millennium Challenge Account warned the president-elect that ‘democracy’ will be a condition for the continuation of the program in Nicaragua. The In-

ter-American Development Bank will cancel less of the debt owed to it by Nicaragua than agreed upon last February. Will the United States respect this small, impoverished country´s sovereignty? I hope so.

While Nicaraguans celebrated the U.S. elections which gave the Democrats a majority in both Houses, my 17 co-delegates returned to the U.S., knowing their government had interfered in the Nicaraguan elections and would likely continue to interfere as Ortega prepared to take over. As

the sole Canadian, I bring back a message as well. Throughout the ’80s, Canadians were very supportive of the revolution. All over Canada, support groups mushroomed. In Alberta, Tools for Peace and Farmers for Peace founded by some of the wonderful ‘Marta’s and Henry’s’ that grace our province, focused exclusively on Nicaragua. We refused to adopt any of the policies of U.S. government, joined millions of Americans in protesting the Contra war, and facilitated their efforts to break the embargo.

Throughout the ’80s, Canadians were very supportive of the revolution... In Alberta, Tools for Peace and Farmers for Peace founded by some of the wonderful ‘Marta’s and Henry’s’ that grace our province, focused exclusively on Nicaragua. We refused to adopt any of the policies of U.S. government, joined millions of Americans in protesting the Contra war, and facilitated their efforts to break the embargo.

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Unlike Romeo Dallaire, Ortega willingly shook hands with the devil and never looked back. He made pacts with Alemán and Boleños to consolidate the power of the FSLN and the PLC in all facets of government.

Now, I fear that the Canadian government will heed the U.S. rhetoric and join the U.S. War on Terror against Nicaragua.

I feel that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) may be pressured to decrease or withdraw its support of the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Over the last three decades, Change for Children found Nicaraguan NGOs to be excellent partners in grassroots development projects. Years after a project is completed, communities continue to maintain and extend the work begun with modest financial support. The National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG) predicts that CAFTA, by forcing Nicaraguan farmers to compete with subsidized products from U.S. agribusiness, will eliminate over 400,000 agricultural jobs over the next decade. Free trade zones - with their history of forced overtime, animal-like treatment and union-busting will expand U.S. ‘investment’ in modernday slavery. Economic violence will extend to the privatization of water, with devastating consequences on the poorest Nicaraguans. Ecological disasters and forced displacements will continue to plague indigenous and poor campesinos as our government refuses to control the actions of Canadian mining companies in the global south.

Nicaraguans are aware of the political, economic, social and environmental implications of CAFTA and neo-liberal policies. They demonstrate - usually peacefully - for their rights with the slogan: “A right not defended, is a right that is lost!” I really fear that the U.S. government will not take lightly to any demonstrations. Will Ortega be forced to unleash the army and police on demonstrators? Will USAID close down in Nicaragua? Will the battle of words and threats continue unabated?

Will our ‘Canadian’ press continue to print as god-given truth the U.S. propaganda originating from Miami?

As Canadians, we owe it to the people of Nicaragua to be informed and to help them in their quest for their democratic rights to water, education, health, jobs, food and sovereignty.

Cecily Mills holds a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Alberta. In addition to spending three years in Nicaragua with WFP from 1992-95, she traveled to Nicaragua in 1988 at the time of the Contra war and several times since 1996.

She has contributed to the WFP publications Bitter Medicine and High Price to Pay on the effects of neo-liberalism and structural adjustment programs on Nicaragua and in particular on women.

Presently, she volunteers with Change for Children, an Edmonton-based NGO with a 30-year history of working for sustainable, grassroots community development in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries.

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