Ag Minister Ritz a No-Show at Rome Food Summit

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the world's got a food crisis goin' on. Right now, a human being starves to death every 3 or 4 seconds. The UN's worried and they got a bigass conference goin' on over in Rome. There's a buncha heads of state and agriculture ministers and officials from most countries. Canada is represented by only one guy and he was already there in Rome. We sent no one to a conference that aims to relieve the suffering of millions.

Eric Reguly wrote about it in the Globe.

There are dozens of heads of state and government at the United Nations Food Summit in Rome, from Japan's Yasuo Fukuda to Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. There are dozens of agriculture ministers and aid agency leaders.

You would think Canada would be well represented at the most important food conference since the 1970s. Canada is one of the world's biggest producers and exporters of grains. It is routinely touted as one of the few countries with enough spare growing capacity to prevent millions from going hungry.

Yet prime minister Stephen Harper is not here. The bigger surprise: Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz is also absent.

When the food summit was being mapped out a few months ago, Canadian diplomats in Europe and a good number of officials at the three UN food agencies in Rome assumed Canada would be represented by no less than Mr. Ritz. But the man never made a commitment and he bowed out last week. His absence leaves Alex Himelfarb, Canada's ambassador to Italy, as the senior Canadian at the event.

On behalf of Canada, Mr. Himelfarb will be making a statement Wednesday or Thursday on the food crisis, precise topic unknown. Poor guy. He will no doubt get peppered with questions about the agriculture minister's no show.

There was no explanation for Mr. Ritz's no-show status. Apparently, personal reasons, like an emergency root canal, had nothing to do with it. You could assume the prime minister's office made the decision for him. But why?

Egyptian leader Mubarek is up on his hindlegs blamin' it all on biofuel. Canada's a big backer of dumbass agrofuel. Why ain't Ritz there tryin' to defend the indefensible?

We may not have a food crisis here in Canada but we are members of the international community. We should be better represented at such an important meeting. After all, King Steve found time last week to duck pesky reporters by travelin' around Yerp for no other reason than to try to convince them we're serious about GHG's when we ain't. We got a lot more credibility when it comes to producing food and providing aid.

We could be stepping up to the plate and demonstrating compassion, humanity and leadership. But we ain't.

JimBobby

Food Crisis Finally Frontpage News

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, if you been payin' much attention to what's been happenin' around the world, the food crisis won't be much of a surprise. But, dangitall, I ain't seein' hardly squat in the Pergressive Boogeysphere about the food crisis. Now, I try to be a paragon of netiquette and I don't go all caps shoutin' very often. In fact, I never went all caps before but I am now.

24,000 PEOPLE STARVE TO DEATH EVERY DAY. ONE PERSON STARVES TO DEATH EVERY 5 SECONDS. THE CURRENT FOOD CRISIS MEANS THIS IS GOING TO GET A LOT WORSE VERY SOON.

Maybe your mind's been occupied with other stuff. The in-and-out scheme's been gettin' a lotta pixelplay in the boogs. Diane Finley's trouble with bikers an' tobacco farmers an' the Russian mob and immigrant advocacy groups an' Mohawk warriors is stirrin' up some interest. A lotta Canajun boogers got their eyeballs peeled on the bigass Merkin election and ol' Hillary an' Barack Obama. The TTC and Tyendinaga been gettin' some ink, too.

It ain't just the boogers who ain't been payin' attention. The North American main street media (MSM) been givin' the food crisis issue short shrift. Today, I was a little bit heartened to see that the Globe online edition is playin' a food crisis story as it's top item.

Maybe we ain't seein' much about it on accounta we'd all be feelin' a little guilty when we're crammin' a Tmmy's Venetian Creme into our gapin' gobs. It'd be tough enjoyin' a juicy steak if the dang blogs an' TV an' newspapers an' magazines was all tellin' how every 5 seconds some poor bastard keels over dead on accounta they ain't got enough food in their belly. It'd tough to enjoy the most basic of human need: food. So, we look the other way.

I reckon most of us don't wannna know about starvation because we'd quit enjoyin' our dinner. Too bad. Pretty soon, we ain't gonna have any choice. The food crisis is destabilizing governments. Desperately hungry people are bein' recruited to armed militias, gangs and terrorist cells with the lure of a daily meal.

One of the dumbest things about the food crisis is the fact that it would be so cheap to offset the current catastrophe. The UN World Food Program sez it needs a paltry $755 million bucks to stave off the immediate hunger of about 100 million people. That's about the same amount the Merkins spend each and every day over in EyeRack.

$755 million also about what Canada spends every 8 months, or so, in Afghanistan. Thing is, Afghanistan's one of the places where the food crisis is hittin' hardest. Since the warlords got all the farmland tied up growin' opium poppies, they ain't able to scratch out a meager subsistence like they was before we liberated 'em.

Today, I'm callin' on the fellers an' gals in the Canajun boogeysphere to start payin' attention to the food crisis. There's plenty o' stuff we can do the help the pore dirt-eatin' hordes but this boog story's long enough and I'm plannin' to keep the story alive by frequent boogin'. I gotta save some stuff fer tomorrow. I ain't worried that the issue will fade away by then.

Would you like fries with that?

JimBobby

Water is Life - Canada Works Against Water Rights at UN

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was just over to Jimmy Harris's Green Party blog where he's talkin' about another shameful black mark against Canada's international reputation. My ol' buddy Jim points to this article in the Trawna Star:

Canada foils UN water plan

Advocates devastated at failure of resolution to recognize water as a basic human right

Apr 02, 2008 04:30 AM

Linda Diebel
National Affairs Writer

Canada emerged as the pivotal nation behind recent manoeuvres to block the United Nations Human Rights Council from recognizing water as a basic human right, according to international observers.

The Geneva-based body wrapped up an intense three-week session late Friday without passing a German-Spanish resolution intended to enshrine its importance in a world where more than 2 billion people live in water-stressed regions.

It would have also set up an international watchdog to monitor the actions of individual countries.

After its 46 members accepted a consensus resolution – essentially for more study – Canadian representative Sarah Geh told the council: "Canada does not view this resolution as creating a human right to water under international human rights law."

In his final speech, disappointed German representative Reinhard Schweppe stressed action is urgent. Access to clean water and sanitation, is "a part of human dignity," he said, adding a child dies every 20 seconds due to water-borne diseases.

Advocates for water rights were devastated by the outcome.

From Oxford, Ashfaq Khalfan, co-ordinator of the U.K.-headquartered Right to Water Program, said he believes the resolution to make water a right would have passed without the resolute lobby efforts of the Canadian delegation.

"It's rather unfortunate Canada put itself in that position," he said in an interview.
(There's more...)

Yeow! Maude Barlow figgers the Merkins got their hands in this. Canada's on the UN Human Rights Council but the Merkins ain't so she sez we're just doin' their biddin' like the loyal water-carriers we are.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - them's rights that are promised to Merkins in their constitution. Since human life is impossible without water, I reckon Merkins could argue they gotta right to clean water. It's the rest of the world who Canada wants to deprive of that right.

The Green Party is the only federal Canadian party calling for the right to clean drinking water to be enshrined in law. Water is life. We shouldn't have to make such laws. We sure as hell shouldn't oughta be workin' against the right to life.

JimBobby

Harper vs. Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I seen somethin' in the news today that set my blood a-boilin'. The Harper gummint's doin' its dangedest to put the kibosh on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (a tip o' the headress to Shmohawk )

Now, Canada's a member of the UN Human Rights Council. There's 47 member nations on that there council. Canada and Russia are the only ones tryin' to kill the deal. Worse yet, the HarpoonTossers is tryin' to drum up support fer their regressive stand among badass human rights abusers around the world.

Here's the AP story ---

OTTAWA -- Amnesty International is accusing Canada of stalling a United Nations negotiation on the rights of indigenous peoples. The human rights group says Canada has been obstructionist and exploitive in its efforts to block discussion on the issue.

It notes that Canada and Russia were the only two members of the 47-country Human Rights Council to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in June 2006.

Amnesty says that since the Conservative government came to power in January 2006, it has been lobbying the UN General Assembly to vote against the declaration, which the previous Liberal government helped draft.

The group contends Ottawa has been encouraging abusive states in Africa, Asia and Latin America to oppose the declaration.

The Tories fear the declaration could run counter to the Constitution, defence laws and existing land deals.

Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, sent a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice last month, complaining that Canada's position "seriously undermines indigenous peoples' human rights.''

The federal government claims it is seeking "the broadest possible agreement.'' But Amnesty says that statement flies in the face of 68 states that recently endorsed the declaration and a "growing list'' of experts, prominent leaders and human-rights bodies that support it.

Conservative aboriginal policies have been criticized since the government scrapped the $5-billion Kelowna Accord, reached under the previous Liberal government. The deal was intended to improve native education, housing and economic conditions.

Shmohawk called 'em weasels. I reckon that's generous.

JimBobby