Green Party in Canada

Hydrogen Fuel
Biodiesel Fuel
Canada's Green Party
Batteries and Supercapacitors


Nuclear Physics 101
Nuclear Paradigm Shift
Can Auto Dealers Go Green
Wind and Other Energy Alternatives

Here's Kelly Wyatt's response

Dear Rick,

Thank you for your interest in the Green Party. We are very concerned with the new legislation you have mentioned, Bill C-51 and Bill C-61.

We wholeheartedly believe that this draconian legislation (Bill C-51) is a danger to Canada and to Canadians' freedom of choice. Please view our recent press release regarding C-51 for more details.
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/12.05.2008
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/12.06.2008


12.05.2008
C-51 threatens natural products industry and Canadian health, say Greens

OTTAWA – The Green Party is calling on Members of Parliament to vote down Bill C-51, a government bill designed to restrict the use and sale of natural health products. Bill C-51 would amend key terminology in the Food and Drugs Act to impose a licensing requirement on natural health products, drastically restricting their legality and availability.


"Bill C-51 radically alters the Food and Drugs Act in ways that would allow government to control and restrict natural products, including herbs, vitamins and even foods like blueberries," said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. "Many Canadians are shunning pharmaceuticals in favour of effective natural health foods and products, but Mr. Harper seems bent on helping the pharmaceutical industry stifle competition from natural products."

Ms. May said that the Bill expands the federal government's power to reject natural products, imposes extreme fines on those who violate the proposed new rules and criminalizes natural health practitioners by providing Health Canada with alarming enforcement powers. She added that limiting natural products may force Canadians to turn to pharmaceuticals instead.


"The text of Bill C-51 is rife with Orwellian doublespeak. It is worded to confuse and is promoted by the Conservatives as legislation designed to protect Canadians' health. But clearly, Prime Minister Stephen Harper cares only about protecting profits for Big Pharma."


Green Party acting Health Promotion critic Jake Cole added that the Bill would prevent parliamentary scrutiny before synchronizing Canadian Food and Drug laws with those of foreign countries. The government could simply introduce new regulations without proposing legislation and seeking parliamentary approval.

"Mr. Harper is threatening the health of every Canadian with this draconian legislation," said Mr. Cole. "Those who use natural health products to obtain relief from medical conditions are doomed to suffer. The Green Party opposes any move to force pharmaceuticals on Canadians who prefer natural products."




As for C-61, It is imperative that reforms of the copyright act respect the balance of granting privilege to the creators of intellectual works with the needs of the public to interact with, critique and enjoy these works. The Green Party recognizes that these interests are not always antagonistic: creators of intellectual property can, and have, benefited from controlled and well articulated levels of fluency with the public domain. Copyright legislation needs to be progressive in embracing technological evolution and permitting consumers to continue to exercise their fair dealing rights. We believe that Bill C-61 is not an effective way to protect and stimulate our cultural institutions.

Copyright legislation must evolve with the culture it is protecting, and the rapid evolution in technology has made it pertinent to revisit today. Tantamount to reforming copyright legislation is protecting the interests of Canadian producers and consumers of intellectual property. Responsible and reciprocal treatment of our international partners will follow from clearly defining our domestic interests.

In order to achieve these objectives the Green Party of Canada will:

Establish a copyright registry that will facilitate tracking and protecting of copyrights where registration is optional for the original author, but mandatory upon the transfer of ownership or death of the author;

Remove the Levy on Blank Audio Recording Media and replace it with private copying exemptions;

Introduce a formal notice-and-notice mechanism for dealing with copyright infringement online, thereby affirming common carrier status for Internet Service Providers (ISPs);

Renounce the Crown Copyright applied to all government produced documents, thereby immediately releasing them into the public domain;

Hold consultations with music and movie industry artists, producers and distributors along with citizen's assemblies to address the issues of online peer-to-peer networks.

Unfit to stand so close to presidency

Dan Payne of the Boston Globe Makes some interestintg and revealing facts about Palin.
An his analysis is hard to ignore.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/11/unfit_to_stand_so_close_to_presidency/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed2