Posted: February 26, 2002
Updated: February 27, 2002

Big oil moves in on Cape Breton shorelines - Holly Dressel
  Oil exploration appears set to go ahead on the sensitive shoreline of Cape Breton. All regulatory agencies oppose it. It would be completely illegal on the east coast of the U.S. and the entire West coast of North America. Why is Nova Scotia giving it nothing but green lights?

Fishers a special interest - resource (and former fisheries) minister Dhaliwal

Straight Goods interviews:
Former Ontario meat inspector sets up website for whistle-blowers
  A Straight Goods interview with Joanne O'Hara of Peterborough.

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum with Larry Solway A lot to be smug about   Toronto - and other cities we love - should go to court for the right to impose city-based taxes. Larry Solway, patriotic Torontonian, thinks his city should fight for the right to tax. Does the idea tax you? Visit the Straight Goods Cyber Survey and Speakers' Corner and tell us what you think. Qualify for a prize in the weekly Straight Goods draw. Straight Goods readers trash Solway on Enron bailout/takeover - analysis of last week's Cyber Survey.

Corporate Watch
Character attacks used as weapon of choice against globalization's critics - Linda McQuaig
  Calling them "bank bashers" and "America-haters" makes it easy to ignore criticism and the damages done to millions of the world's poorest people.

Mazankowski handsomely paid by Power Corporation and Great-West Lifeco - Robert MacDermid
  So why do media reports humbly describe him only as "former deputy PM"?

Trading away the future to private enterprise
  A new background paper from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops raps Chapter 11 of NAFTA.

GAO will sue Bush Administration for energy policy documents - Environment News Service
  The investigative arm of the Congress is suing the Bush Administration to force the release of documents detailing Dick Cheney's meetings with industry officials about the new US National Energy Policy.

Ethics and government

Closed-door review may weaken access to information - Aaron Freeman
  Bureaucrats write new regs that makes it even easier for them to keep things under wraps.
 

Consumers

The energy privatization debate
Down to Earth - Shopping for green electricity - Suzanne Elston
  Ontario's electricity market opens this spring. All the news isn't bad.

Oh, yes it is
  Privatization will not encourage green energy spontaneously argues reader Jessica Markland, of the pro-consumer Ontario Energy Coalition (to which Straight Goods happens to belong).

Admit it - energy deregulation is a failure - Brian Kohler
  Right-wing politicians and financiers continue to insist that the free market will solve our energy problems. Enron proved them wrong.

Angry consumer wins out over bylaw - The Globe and Mail
  Supreme Court sides with Quebec consumer who put up a sign denouncing insurance company that screwed him.

Books

Edwards' One Dead Indian details deadly mix of police and politics - Mick Lowe
  Web of policy brutality and official deception helped sink Harris.
 

I'm With Stupid and Today Is the Day
  A message from Michael Moore.
 
 

Health Care
Seniors and Health Care*
The threat to public pensions - Part Two - Monica Townson
  If there really is a 'demographic time bomb' of aging Canadians, how would it help to get rid of public pension plans?
  * A partnership with the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens Organizations

Cree walk against diabetes - Boyce Richardson
  Crees of James Bay are on an extraordinary 1,200 km walk to stimulate awareness of diabetes.

For-profit health care won't benefit patients - Dr. Gordon Guyatt
  The evidence tells us that a switch to for-profit health care would be a disaster.
 

Rising number of gambling deaths alarm critics - CBC News
  Officials in Quebec are dealing with a disturbingly high number of gambling-related suicides, a number that critics say is only the tip of the iceberg.

Mammography may be a cause of breast cancer - Environment News Service
  A prominent cancer prevention physician is warning that mammography is a risky, unreliable, profit driven technology.

Afghanistan
Afghans live and die with US mistakes - Washington Post
  Residents of the bombed-out village of Chowkor Kariz tell of over 100 civilian casualties, while the Pentagon refuses to make an admission of error.

Security
'No one asked questions' - Washington Post
  As the FBI investigates possible military links to last fall's anthrax attacks, new revelations suggest the US' premier biological defense labs failed to adopt strict safeguards against theft.

OK, George, make with the friendly bombs - The Observer
  If only the UK had used Bush's idea of preventing terrorism by dropping bombs, Northern Ireland wouldn't be in the mess it is today, says Terry Jones of Monty Python.

Community, Rights and Change
Documenting the costs to society of poverty - Reuel S. Amdur
  Welfare Council report reminds us of widespread effects in health, security, productivity, and child development.
 

Business
Forced retirement clouds audit picture - Washington Post
  The revolving door between auditors and the companies they audit existed long before the collapse of Enron Corp., which hired at least three top financial executives from Andersen.

Media files
Pentagon steps up propaganda effort - The Guardian
  A new department could specialize in the planting of fake news reports.

Publisher's welcome
Hype, history and hockey - Ish Theilheimer
  Canada should take a deep breath on the subject of hockey gold and celebrate the real heroes - the women's team.

Take action
Declaration of Israel's Refuse-niks
  More than 270 Israeli reservists have signed a declaration saying they won't serve in occupied territories. Sign an on-line petition in support of them.