GreenerPolitics

From Agoravox

WP:This by-election is a crucial turning-point in Albertan politics. What, in your opinion, makes you stand out from all the other candidates vying for the Calgary-Elbow riding?

GR: The Green Party stands out from the other political parties as the right option in this by¬election because we are the only political party that is offering voters social, environmental and fiscal responsibility.The Green Party is committed to public health care and a healthy society along with saving our oil wealth for the future.

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From the Edmonton Sun

CALGARY — An agreement between Alberta and the federal government will allow 25,000 foreign workers per year to come to the province to aid in its worker shortage.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach says the agreement will cut red tape and give the province increased influence and control of immigration.

The rise to 25,000 immigrant workers per year will happen over the next 10 years under the provincial nominee program.

Right now, 2,500 workers per year come under the program.

Read the full article here!

JANE TABER

From the Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who has vowed to run a positive campaign, has made a deal with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May not to run a candidate against her in the next election, senior Liberals say.In return, Ms. May will not run a candidate against Mr. Dion in his Montreal riding. It appears that Ms. May has negotiated the better deal, because Mr. Dion’s decision considerably improves her chances of beating — and embarrassing — one of the Conservatives’ most high-profile ministers, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.

Ms. May announced last month that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova against Mr. MacKay, who has held the seat since 1997. His father, Elmer, also represented the riding and served as a minister in Brian Mulroney’s government.

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From the Council of Canadians

Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA)

Another acronym to learn, another trade agreement to fight

We thought we’d seen them all – NAFTA, FTAA, WTO, GATS – different acronyms, but the same system of unfair trade. But there’s a new one to learn and to fight: TILMA. In April 2006, without public consultation or legislative debate, the premiers of Alberta and British Columbia signed an unprecedented inter-provincial free trade deal called the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement.

This deal allows corporations and individuals to sue provincial governments for any provincial or municipal government measure they feel “restricts or impairs” their investment (i.e. their profits). Under TILMA, even measures designed to protect the environment and public health are vulnerable to attack from corporate lawsuits with compensation penalties as high as $5-million.

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From the Green Party of Alberta

(Apr 2nd, Calgary) – George Read, Leader of the Green Party of Alberta, announced his candidacy for the Calgary Elbow by-election.

Read, a veteran Green Party campaigner, said, “This by-election is an opportunity for the people of Alberta to choose between a bright, positive plan for a sustainable future, and more of the same shortsighted practices of the past that won’t meet the demands of the future.”

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