At a recent G7 meeting in Rome, finance ministers and central bank directors from the all seven nations agreed for the need to “take measures” in order to address and slowly reverse the current economic downturn, but also pledged to avoid protectionist policies within their countries.

Jim Flaherty in particular was critical of any shift toward protectionist policies, saying that it is “populist politics” to cater to short-term interests with policies that will discourage foreign ownership, tariffs, and quotas on imports as a method of stimulating economic activity domestically. Flaherty stressed that any policies that will interfere with the global free market would only lead to more severe consequences in the future, and explained that he made this point very clearly during the meetings in Italy.

For starters, Flaherty’s use of the word “populist” to describe protectionist policies is incredibly typical of Conservative party rhetoric. Dismissing anything that strays from their narrow ideology using extreme language is a favourite tactic of Harper and Co. We need only look at the proposed coalition government of late 2008 to see how intraparty letters instructed MPs and officials to refer to the NDP as
“socialists”.
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Chalk River Nuclear Site

A radioactive spill has materialized at the weathered Chalk River nuclear reactor, located west of Ottawa.

Officials say that this took place because the reactors workload had recently been amplified to meet the demand for medical isotopes, used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

The reactor supplies 70% of the world’s medical isotopes, and a potential shutdown of the plant could leave millions of Canadians, and people the world over, suffering from cancer and heart ailments without the necessary treatments.
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Barack Obama Being Sworn in as President of the United States

It is inauguration day. Today, we watched history enfold itself. Today we watched a man dedicated to change, dedicated to a world of peace, dedicated to his fellow citizens stand and take power – not into his own hands, but rather into the hands of the future. Today we witnessed the start of a long journey, but one filled with hope. As the torch gets passed from the old generation to the new, questions linger in everyone’s mind, questions only answered by time itself.

During his speech, President Obama did not once look down at his notes, he did not once look down to collect his thoughts, he looked forward. He looked to the seas of people who had been awaiting this day. He looked towards what lies ahead, the heavy tasks that lay in the future to correct this faltered world. He looked towards those who stood in the way of progress and denounced their heavy-handed ways. His action is symbolic of the man he is. Far exceeding his words – which was like poetry, sending chills down my spine and a tear down my cheek – his body showed the world what the future will bring. We must all take sight of this and do the same. Look ahead to your opponents, look ahead to your battle, look ahead to the future, and not at your feet or any small obstacles in the way. Do not shy from any problem, take courage, honor and truth by your side and take the 21st Century as we should have 8 years ago. Above all else take hope, imagination and solidarity for change to create a world of peace, started not by countries, not by politics, not companies or organizations, but started by individuals. Do what is in your power to change the world into a better place.
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CUPE National President Paul Moist denounces Sid Ryan's proposed resolution.

CUPE National president, Paul Moist, released a statement on January 13th calling Sid Ryan’s proposal wrong and discriminatory.

“As the national president of Canada’s largest union, with over 580,000 members, I can say that none of CUPE’s over 2,000 chartered bodies – including CUPE Ontario – have adopted such a resolution. I believe such a resolution is wrong and would violate the anti-discrimination standards set out in the CUPE Constitution. I will be using my influence in any debates on such a resolution to oppose its adoption.”
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President-elect Barack Obama Will Make His First Presidential Visit to Canada

President-elect Barack Obama has announced that his first international trip as the newly elected President of the United States will be to Canada.

The Prime Minister’s office confirms that the president-elect has accepted Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s invitation to visit Canada soon after he is inaugurated on January 20th.

Transition aides for the president-elect say that Obama picked the United States neighbour to north as his first trip within North America as president, but they could not discuss the date for the trip or its itinerary.

The Office of the Prime Minister has also said that it has been in close contact with Obama’s transition team and an official for the transition team says that aides for the president-elect and Harper have been discussing specifics of the trip in recent days.
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Sid Ryan Makes an Empty Apology

No, he did not apologize for his plan to ban Israeli professors from Ontario’s campuses. No, he did not apologize for his double standard against Israel; since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, thousands of Hamas rockets have been fired into Israel and have hit several Israeli schools.

What he apologized for is the part where he compared Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis during World War II. The Nazis who demolished learning institutions and burnt all religious books, compared to the Israel Defense Force who targeted a building allegedly housing terrorists. Canadians were outraged at such a racist comment and Ryan had no choice but to take his comment back.

While apologizing for this ghastly remark is a step in the right direction, Sid Ryan has not swayed his position at all. This empty apology leads me and all of my fellow Canadians to ask, “Now what?”
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CUPE is the Canadian Union of Public Employees that represents over 500 000 public employees across Canada. They have made headlines recently when the CUPE sector (CUPE 3903) representing the Teaching Assistants and many professors went on strike and displaced 50 000 students at Toronto’s York University.

If the outrage against CUPE, from this ongoing strike, is not enough, Sid Ryan, President of CUPE in Ontario, certainly decided to make matters worse. Tarnishing his own reputation and what was left of CUPE’s, Ryan released a press statement calling for a ban of any Israeli academics from speaking, teaching, or doing research work at Ontario universities. The only way Israelis can gain or retain employment is if they condemn the recent Israeli attack on the Islamic University in Gaza. On December 29th, Israel conducted an air strike on this university as part of their campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorist organization. Ryan then said that Israel is acting in the same manner as the Nazis by attacking an institution of learning. This ban on Israelis from campuses across the province will have a preliminary vote in February and if a majority is received, a final vote will be held in May.

HAS HE LOST HIS MIND?
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