Pros & Cons: Policies for People and the Planet, featuring Maude Barlow

I'd like to invite you to a very special online event on November 1. It's a teach-in called "Pros & Cons: Policies for People and the Planet," organized by the Council of Canadians and Common Causes.

WHAT: Pros & Cons: Policies for People and the Planet, featuring Maude Barlow

WHEN: Friday, November 1, 2013, 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 7:00 p.m. Mountain / 8:00 p.m. Central / 9:00 p.m. Eastern / 10:00 p.m. Atlantic / 10:30 p.m. Newfoundland

WHERE: Your computer

FEATURING:
Maude Barlow (National Chairperson, the Council of Canadians)
David Suzuki (Scientist and environmentalist)
Crystal Lameman (Beaver Lake Cree Nation)
Jean Lortie (Secretary-general, Confédération des syndicats nationaux)
Andrew Nikiforuk (Author and journalist)
Jim Stanford (Economist, UNIFOR)
Brigette DePape ("Rogue Page," writer and activist)
Paul Moist (National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees)
Michael Harris (Writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker)
Chief Theresa Spence (Attawapiskat First Nation)

Moderated by Bill Phipps (Author and activist)

From October 31 to November 2, the Conservative Party of Canada will descend on downtown Calgary for the party's national policy convention. On the heels of the deepening Senate spending scandal, the court decision that found widespread fraud during the last election, and the ongoing environmental devastation caused by extractive industries, this convention will set the Conservative agenda heading into the next election.

At the convention, Conservatives will debate policy resolutions that would:

• "move to a less progressive tax system"
• "support the sale of public assets"
• restructure the CBC with the aim of the "elimination of all public funding of the corporation"
• "integrate our foreign policy with policies on trade and national defence"
• support "right to work legislation" while severely limiting how unions can spend members' dues
• gut public sector benefits and pension plans
• unilaterally change how land on First Nations' reserves is governed
• push for even more so-called public-private partnerships

Join us online to learn about the potential impacts of these policies. Hear from a range of provincial and national speakers about a different vision, one that focuses on progressive policies for people and the planet.

This event is brought to you by the Council of Canadians and Common Causes, an assembly of social movements dedicated to defending democracy, the environment, and human rights.

I hope you’ll join me in watching the livestream of this incredible event!


Garry Neil
Executive Director, the Council of Canadians