General

Leading health organizations today launched BC’s first ever anti-pesticide advertising campaign – a major newspaper blitz that urges all British Columbians to support a lawn and garden pesticide ban.

Health organizations endorsing the campaign include the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, the Lung Association, the Public Health Association of BC and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

It’s been said there are many differences between Canadians and Americans.

Groundhogs can now be added into the mix.

In Ontario, Canada’s weather expert Wiarton Willie failed to see his shadow this morning, which bodes well for Canadians as according to tradition, an early spring is on its way.

Ditto for Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam.

However, south of the border, the news is less pleasant as the USA’s best weatherman Punxsutawney Phil, did see his shadow in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Madison's Lumber Reporter has learned that the United States' claim against Canada, for alleged subsidies on British Columbia's timber stumpage rates, has been reduced from US$499 to US$303.6 million.

In the American rebuttal of Canada's defense, which was filed on Dec. 23, 2011 but only made public this week, the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office is asking for almost 40 percent less penalty against Canada than previous U.S. filings had indicated.

Two recent stories out of Ottawa underline the ongoing political and economic assault on ordinary Canadians. More Canadians are now working for low wages than at any time in decades, continuing a trend that began in the early 1990s, and Stephen Harper has announced major changes to retirement benefits — including delaying Old Age Security (OAS) eligibility to age 67.