london's largest generally well-read newspaper! - Scene Magazine

NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL�DIGEST
Repurposing living space in
downtown Vancouver
Representatives from the Canadian federal government and the province
of British Columbia recently announced a private-public partnership – a
so-called ‘P3’ agreement – to renovate and restore provincially owned Single-Room
Occupancy (SRO) hotels in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Once
completed, the new residences will provide access to clean and safe social
housing in a city where the need always seems to be rising. “This project is
an excellent example of how the private sector can leverage greater value for
public dollars and deliver infrastructure that matters to Canadians,” said
Vancouver South MP Wai Young. “By retrofi tting these historic buildings, we
will give those in need a place to call home, provide a lasting benefi t to the
community, and create jobs and growth for Canadians.” Under the terms of
the agreement, the feds will contribute up to $29.1 million through the P3
Canada Fund towards eligible construction and implementation costs, while
the province will kick-in a substantial $87.3 million, as well as funding the
project over a 15-year maintenance period. The 13 provincially owned SROs
are over a century old with structural, plumbing and electrical infrastructure
defi ciencies that require refurbishment. In addition to the upgrades, the
aging hotels will be restored, preserving their heritage features that add to
the historic character of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Treasury Board faces heat over
new litigation unit
The federal government’s willingness to circumvent collective bargaining
processes and impose deals on public and semi-public sector employees has
come under increased fi re recently. One of the more incendiary criticisms
to be levied concerns the creation of a new litigation management unit by
the Treasury Board. The unit is intended to handle the growing number of
constitutional challenges that unions and others have initiated against the
federal government - largely over collective bargaining rights - between 2006
and 2011. Nine of are lawsuits address the constitutionality of the Conservatives’
omnibus budget legislation in 2008; specifi cally, the Expenditure Restraint
Act. Two other lawsuits are aimed at overturning the Public Service
Equitable Compensation Act - also buried in the 2008 omnibus budget bill
- to overhaul pay equity, effectively killing workers’ rights to equal pay for
work of equal value. The last two lawsuits include the long-standing battle
over whether RCMP have the right to form a union and engage in collective
bargaining; the other challenges the constitutionality of certain federal laws
that forbid unions from bargaining pensions, staffi ng and job classifi cations
for their members. With ‘austerity’ already a buzz word for the 2012 Canadian
budget, critics say the creation of a new $16 million agency to defend
the government against its own employees is poor use of the public’s money.
Young and unemployed,
full-time
It’s great to be young and Canadian – unless you’re looking for a job. According
to numbers released by Statistics Canada in recent years, Canadians
between the ages of 15-24 have consistently scored low on their ability
to break into regional employment markets. For the youth demographic
nationwide, prospects for work remained largely unchanged between 2008
and now – a remarkable fi nding considering the country and the world
experienced a recession during the interim period. A paper released by TD
Bank economist Francis Fong affi rms this perspective, showing how employment
in the youth demographic is still 250,000 positions below prerecession
levels. In contrast, all other employment cohorts have recovered
from the 430,000 jobs lost during the recession, and workers over 25 have
added another 400,000 besides. Economic downturns have traditionally
been hard on the young, but that isn’t the only barrier to employment they
face in the 21st century. A recent analysis of the national job market found
10
that Canadians over 55 were increasingly joining the labour force and taking
jobs traditionally done by young people, particularly in the retail and
service sectors. Since the recession, one-third of all jobs created have come
in this older age category, while other cohorts experienced losses.
US employment improves
over pre-recession levels
The American labour market has been picking up steam since the beginning
of 2012. Recently released numbers from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics
indicated that February was the third consecutive month of job growth over
200,000, capping a 12-month run in which employment nationwide jumped by
just over two million positions. Private employment is 2.8 million jobs higher
than it was at the end of the recession, and government employment is nearly
600,000 jobs less than the level reported in June 2009. The drag from government
job losses continues, but at a much slower pace than the past several
years. In the fi rst two months of 2012, 7,000 public-sector jobs were cut, while
local governments actually added 2,000 workers during the same month.
Undercover hacker
turns state’s evidence
A group of expert hackers who attacked governments and global corporations
were busted recently after its ringleader - one of the world’s mostwanted
and most-feared computer vandals - turned against the group and
secretly became an FBI informant. According to court papers unsealed
in New York federal court on March 6, fi ve people have been charged in
a number of high profi le cybercrimes, including virtual attacks on Visa,
MasterCard and PayPal servers, the US Senate, PBS, Fox News Corp. as well
HECTOR XAVIER MONSEGUR HAS IMPLICATED A NUMBER
OF ASSOCIATES IN SERIOUS CYBERCRIMES
as government computers in Tunisia, Algeria, Yemeni and Zimbabwe. Authorities
revealed that a sixth person who had headed the group, Hector
Xavier Monsegur - a legendary fi gure known in the hacking underworld
as “Sabu” - had pleaded guilty as well. Authorities said Monsegur and his
followers embarked on a dastardly stream of deeds against numerous business
and government entities under the group handle “LulzSec”, resulting
in the theft of confi dential information, the defacing of websites and attacks
that temporarily put victims out of business.
Joe Biden talks drugs in
Mexico and Honduras
American Vice President Joe Biden recently visited Mexico City to meet with
the three main contenders in Mexico’s upcoming elections. Although current
Mexican President Felipe Calderon did not raise questions about the legalization
of drugs, other leaders did. When asked, Biden reiterated the US
position that there was “no possibility that the Obama-Biden administration
will change its policy on legalization.” Many Latin American leaders blame
American drug prohibition policies for generating violence throughout the re-
�news
AMERICAN VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TALKED ABOUT US DRUG POLICY
WITH MEXICAN POLITICIANS
gion, such as in Honduras, which currently has the highest murder rate in the
world, the next stop on Biden’s diplomatic tour. The Organization of American
States and other critics warned that drug gangs posed a threat to democracy,
and that tackling the drug trade in one country only pushes it somewhere else.
Biden, in an unprompted statement, seemed to admit this last point was true,
but remained fi rm on the American position. Issues of drugs and prohibition
are likely to arise again next month when regional leaders including President
Barack Obama will attend a Summit of the Americas in Colombia.
Fukushima: one year later
It’s been one year since Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi reactor melted down
after sustaining heavy damage from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the
resulting tsunami. Local Japanese offi cials, now wary any nuclear reactor,
have been using their legal power to prevent any reactor shut down
for maintenance from being restarted. By the end of next month, the last
two of Japan’s nuclear reactors will be shut down. So far, the government
has made up for the loss of nuclear energy by importing fossil fuels and
enforcing extreme energy conservation, although these measures are not
sustainable. Leaving nuclear plants idle has also lowered tax revenues, left
many unemployed and raised electricity costs. The Japanese people remain
deeply distrustful of the nuclear program, but also of the government and
how they managed nuclear plants in the wake of the tsunami. It’s since
been revealed that offi cials withheld information from the public, and
fi red an offi cial who used the word “meltdown” a day after the tsunami.
The Japanese government’s only solution at the moment is to continue
importing expensive fossil fuels, and to reassure the Japanese people that
nuclear reactors are safe.
Iraq still facing daily violence
Although violence in Iraq has decreased since it reached its post-war peak
in 2006, security continues to be an issue. On March 5, a particularly vicious
and coordinated attack resulted in the deaths of 25 police offi cers in the Western
Iraqi city of Haditha by gunmen disguised as SWAT teams. Local police
said two vehicles used in the attacks contained materials suggesting ties to Al
Qaeda. On March 11, nine people were killed, and several others injured, in
two separate attacks north of Baghdad. These attacks raise worries that political,
economic, and security conditions in Iraq, generally improving since
2006, will begin to decline, plunging the country back into sectarian violence.
Despite concern that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is consolidating
power and moving towards a one-man rule, his popularity among
Shiites continues to improve, with many in favour of his tough approach to
political and security threats. Among Sunnis, approval is much smaller, but
as one Sunni journalist noted, even with all the problems Iraq faces, they still
have much more freedom than they did under Saddam Hussein.
~ Adam Shirley and Chris Morgan
LONDON’S LARGEST GENERALLY WELL-READ NEWSPAPER! MARCH 15 TO 28 • 2012