By: Ish Theilheimer, Publisher, Straight Goods
Internet buzzes over Quebec summit. I was in Chicago the week of the Democratic National Convention (August 1968). I didn't actually get to the front lines to get my head cracked, but you could feel the electricity everywhere. You get the same buzz now about the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City April 20, particularly on the Internet. I hope the outcome won't be so painful.
It promises to be quite the party. Outside the 4-metre steel fence will be everyone from gonzo anarchist direct action types to "respectable" citizens' groups, unions and the NDP - with nary an available hotel room within 100 kilometres. There's a lot of info out there on the Web, some of it more reliable than others. Straight Goods recommends that if you want to see and be part of history, you should go with one of the organized groups and bring bottled water and a large bag of groceries, including toilet paper. (See our expanding list of info for protestors - and please contribute if you know of something that should be added. And thanks to all who have added info.)
People - especially youth - are getting involved who have never been political. The one thing they seem to share is worry about how corporations have come to dominate all aspects of our lives. Websites, chat groups, teach-ins abound. What will be Left after the pepper spray drifts away? Time will tell. But the buzz is too intense - and the stakes too high - to ignore or stay away.
Whose $70,000? When the Alliance party received a huge gift last December from a partner in the Calgary law firm that had billed over $400,000 for unsuccessfully defending Stockwell Day on defamation charges, it looked fishy. But until now, no one has ever asked why a lawyer with no history of political giving would suddenly give the Alliance the biggest individual donation Reform/Alliance ever had received, and one of the biggest on record. And whose money was it really? York U poli sci prof Robert MacDermid has a fascination with following the money. He tells a saga about how political power is bought and sold in Canada. He concludes we'll never really know who owns our politicians until Canada reforms election finance laws that make it easy for parties to hide donation sources.
Why is Canada risking a trade war so it can subsidize US forest giants? Environmentalist Gary Gallon of Montreal advises corporations, organizations and governments. In his e-mail bulletin (The Gallon Report) he lays bare the roots of the softwood lumber dispute that threatens to ensnare the two countries. Gallon says the US is right that Canadian stumpage fees - money paid for cutting public timber - are too low in comparison with the US, and that reforestation rules in Canada are too lax. He points out what should have been an obvious irony - that the forest companies benefiting most from low stumpage fees are primarily US-owned. So in effect, Canada's low timber dues constitute a multi-billion-dollar subsidy to US industry to exploit our forests at the risk of a major trade war with the US. Good grief.
The latest corporate get-rich-quick scheme: According to economic journalist Linda McQuaig this is to sue countries. Under NAFTA, companies can sue nations if they feel a nation is impairing their competitive advantage. That's what courier company UPS is trying to do in suing Canada over "subsidies" to competing couriers via arrangements with Canada Post. Next you'll see Nestle's suing mothers for nursing their own children.
Back to consulting. One of my favourite subjects is dead dot coms, because Straight Goods isn't one of 'em - yet. But they're dropping like flies, as Toronto Internet maven K.K. Campbell points out, and they stand to drag down the whole economy. Funny how an industry so hyped and promoted a year ago can turn into such a dog so quickly. I've seen some on list serves call it the "back to consulting movement." This week both Salon, the grand-daddy of American Web zines, and Straight Goods got to the same point for the same reasons by vastly different paths. Both publications put out appeals to their readers for subscription support out of recognition that advertising alone won't support Internet publishing. With luck, readers will. Otherwise, it's back to farming as a more respectable way to lose money.
And lest we forget: We owe a huge thanks to the many readers who have responded positively to our Spring Drive to Survive. We'll have to work a bit more to hit our goal of $25,000 this Spring, but thanks to you we're well on the way, having topped the $5,000 mark.
The Straight Goods Report is a new weekly column being distributed to newspapers, web 'zines and portals, and radio stations all over Canada. You need not ask permission to reproduce it in your print or web publication, but please include our URL and let us know where you are posting it.
- Ish Theilheimer
- Killaloe, Ontario
- March 26, 2001
- ish@straightgoods.com
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