Newsletter #13
Sierra Club - Chebucto Group
In this issue:
- elections!
- membership drive
- Sydney Tar Ponds *URGENT HELP NEEDED*
- first in a series on the evil MAI
- introducing SierraNites!
- Climate Change - RIO Report Cards
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Exciting events calendar [watch this space for more!]
contact:
Sept 16: Conservation Committee meeting Nadia
Sept 26-27: Point Pleasant Park workshop Henrietta
Oct 2: excomm meeting Paul
Oct 18: SierraNite potluck? (tentative) Paula
Nov 9: outing to Pennant Point Paul
Nov: SierraNite aquaculture seminar Paul
Feb: cross-country skiing? Paul
Sadly, all these events are concentrated in or around Halifax. If you
would like to see Sierra Club events in *your* area, rsvp!
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ELECTIONS are almost here. As many of you know already, the Sierra Club
is a grassroots organisation with democtarically-elected leaders. In
keeping with this, Chebucto Group will be having annual fall elections to
select its Executive Committee, or "excomm". These are the fine
volunteers responsible for day-to-day coordination of the Club.
If you's like to RUN in the upcoming election, NOMINATE someone else, or
if you can spare a little time to HELP administer the elections, rsvp or
contact Arciris at af169@chebucto.ns.ca.
NB ... you must be a paid-up member to nominate someone, run or vote.
Chebucto Group covers all 4 Atlantic provinces. Paid-up members are also
encouraged to vote in the Eastern Canada Chapter elections ... the EC
Chapter covers everything east of Manitoba. Therefore Atlantic Canadian
Sierra Club members belong to both Chebucto Group and EC Chapter.
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Please consider becoming a Sierra Club member! Of course _sierra-news_ is
free, but running the Sierra Club is not. MEMBERSHIP are our most
important source of revenue. Not only that, but it enhances our
credibility, ie we can say that we represent x number of members living in
Atlantic Canada. Membership allows you to participate fully in Sierra
Club activities, guarantees you'll receive the Chapter newsletter by mail,
and entitles you to discounts on books and publications.
To find out more, check out www.sierraclub.ca (our national web
site) or contact Allison . Regular memberships are
just $35, students and limited income are $15, and joint memberships
(couples) cost just $7 more.
For a copy of our brand new tree-free colour brochure, rsvp or [better
yet, cuz we're poor] send a SASE to: PO Box 36093, Halifax NS B3J 3S9
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From: Frances Morrison [fran.morrison@ns.sympatico.ca]
Subject: M.O.U. CANADA'S LARGEST TOXIC WASTE SITE
Hi Everyone! http://highlander.cbnet.ns.ca/~cbrm/jag.html
Above is the address for the JAG Memorandum of Understanding put forth to
the Roundtable in August. All members of the Roundtable have been asked
to circulate this MOU to everyone we know for suggestions, editions etc.
I couldn't think of a better group than fellow Sierrans to send this to.
ANY LAWYERS OUT THERE??? We need an MOU with TEETH and SPINE -- can any
of you look at this MOU from a legal standpoint on the side of Community
and forward any suggestions to myself at the above email address and I
will print them off and hand them over to the Roundtable.
I thank you all for any help you can offer. Hope to hear back
from some of you soon.
Regards,
Fran Morrison
Sierra Cape Breton
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Sierra Club is leading the fight in Canada against MAI ... the Multilateral
Agreement on Investments ... a treaty that will make multinational
corporations immune from domestic laws -- environmental and otherwise.
For info on Sierra Club efforts, visit our national web site
Here's the first in a series of postings about MAI:
From: "Bernard D. Tremblay" [ab006@chebucto.ns.ca]
Subject: MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENTS
From: Donald J. Black [ae533@chebucto.ns.ca]
> STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION ON THE MULTILATERAL
> AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENTS: A TREATY FOR CORPORATE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES,
> JANUARY 13, 1997
>
> This year the industrialized nations of the world are quietly trying to
> finalize a treaty to create a corporate utopia by restricting any local or
> governmental controls over transnational corporate investments throughout
> the world. The treaty, which is called the Multilateral Agreement on
> Investments, would first be approved by the industrialized countries
> within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and
> subsequently forced on the rest of the world. A parallel exercise is
> ongoing in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
>
> The treaty would give transnational corporations expansive new rights and
> powers and burden nations with new obligations owed to corporations. It
> would require nations to give foreign investors access to all economic
> sectors. It would abolish the power of citizens and governments to control
> the entry, conditions, behavior, and operations of transnational companies
> in their country. This right is especially vital for developing countries
> as it would effectively close the possibility of domestic capacity
> building.
>
> The adverse social, economic, environmental, and cultural consequences of
> various transnational corporate investments and companies, which now occur
> even when they are subject to government regulation, would be greatly
> magnified. In practice, this means that people anywhere on the globe could
> wake up and find that a local business, forest, or farm, or even an entire
> communications system or an entire employment sector, was bought and is now
> controlled by a transnational company with no interest in the well-being of
> that community.
>
> The power of national or local governments to screen the worst
> transnational corporations or to attach performance requirements to protect
> local people and their environment would be removed by this treaty. But
> the rights given to these corporations would not stop here. The treaty
> would give them the right to binding dispute resolution and enable them to
> initiate lawsuits against governments to protect their interests. Thus,
> these corporations would be able to challenge another country's laws as
> violating global investor rights.
>
> The treaty would prohibit transnational investments from being treated
> differently from local or national investments. In practice, this could
> mean that recycling content laws, local hiring requirements, and other
> community-based regulations could be challenged by a transnational company
> on the grounds that since it is harder for them to comply with such
> regulations, these regulations are discriminatory and therefore illegal.
> In summary, the treaty puts into practice the ideology that the entire
> natural and social diversity of the planet are resources to be controlled
> by global companies.
>
> The International Forum on Globalization, a group of eminent economists and
> leading social and environmental activists which met in San Francisco to
> review the proposed treaty, calls on governments of the world to reject
> this treaty and asks concerned citizens to spread the world about its
> harmful potential impacts on their communities.
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INTRODUCING SierraNites!
It's a Spanish train ... no, it's a Mexican condom ... NOOOOOOOOOO ...
SierraNites are a monthly event -- they are your chance to come out and
meet other Sierrans and prospective members in a fun, informal setting [as
opposed to our hostile and formal meetings ... 8)
Hopefully there will be at least one fun SierraNite every month.
Activities could range from workshops and speakers to beer nights. But we
need *you* to make them a success. Many hands make light work. Would you
like to suggest an event and organise it? rsvp!
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CLIMATE CHANGE ... I have a bound copy of the last 5 or so years of Sierra
Club Climate Change report cards. These are issued annually to Canadian
governments. If you'd like to see this, rsvp.
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SPREAD THE WORD!:
Stay in touch with the Sierra Club ... subscribe to Chebucto Group's
email newsletter. Just send email to <majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca>. In the
body of your message type only "subscribe sierra-news". It's free and you
can unsubscribe anytime by doing the same thing but with "unsubscribe"
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Chebucto Group Excomm
Chair Paul Falvo 492-1995 pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca
Vice Chair Nadia Stuewer 425-5119 n_Stuewe@bass.stmarys.ca
Conservation Nadia Stuewer 425-5119 n_Stuewe@bass.stmarys.ca
Cass Elliott 455-3852 au361@chebucto.ns.ca
Outings Henrietta Mann 496-8235 HMANN@shark.stmarys.ca
Programme Jack Devenney 463-0090 jack.devdart@ns.sympatico.ca
Henrietta Mann 496-8235 HMANN@shark.stmarys.ca
Youth Arciris Garay 443-8472 af169@chebucto.ns.ca
Membership Allison Denning 423-6486 adenning@is2.dal.ca
Secretary Allison Denning 423-6486 adenning@is2.dal.ca
Publicity *vacant*
Treasurer Jack Devenney 463-0090 jack.devdart@ns.sympatico.ca
Fund Raising Paula Boutis 429-2995 pboutis@is2.dal.ca
Web Master Ben Tremblay 423-8682 ab006@chebucto.ns.ca