Members of the Public from both sides of the border are gathering for a Rally on the Village Green in Bar Harbor at Noon on Monday, September 15.

The rally is in support of workers' rights, clean air and water, a safe and healthy environment, and the right of local communities to make the decisions that determine their futures. People are gathering in opposition to Atlantica, a NAFTA-style trade plan they see as a threat to workers, the environment, and local democracy.

A Public Hearing is being held after the Rally to provide a place for people to voice concerns, speak out, and share ideas about what is needed to sustain healthy communities.

Maine Public Broadcasting Network
http://www.mpbn.net/radio/mainenews/080915conference.htm

Today marks the opening of the thirty-second annual Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, held this year in Bar Harbor. The governors of the six states join premiers from six provinces to discuss regional policy programs in areas like economic development, transportation, environment, energy, and health.

But, this year a group of protesters is demonstrating their concerns about the involvement of corporate sponsors in those discussions.

The protest rally began in Downtown Bar Harbor as the New England governors and Canadian premieres were just beginning to arrive for their two-day conference. But there wasn't much response, as the officials were out on the golf green.

By Bill Trotter
Bangor Daily News Staff

BAR HARBOR, Maine — About three dozen protestors chanting in front of the Bar Harbor Club on West Street unofficially marked the beginning of the 32nd Conference of the New England Goverenors and Eastern Canadians Premiers.

The protestors, representing a group called Maine Atlantica Watch, criticized the conference, saying it is undemocratic and being held primarily to benefit business interests on either side of the border. Atlantica is a development concept business groups on both sides of the border have embraced as a way of strengthening the region's economy. The name 'Atlantica' refers to a cross-border region that includes the six New England states, northern New York state, the four Maritime Provinces in Canada and Quebec.

http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/

Harper launches major assault on food safety, fires government scientist; regulatory harmonization blamed

The extent of Harper’s current assault on Canada’s food and drug inspection system is about to dwarf any previous concerns we had with the regulatory harmonization of pesticide residues. The Prime Minister is simultaneously eliminating funding for BSE testing for Canadian producers, offloading federal research facilities to the private sector and academia, and firing government scientists who dare stand up against this widespread deregulation for the sake of corporate profits.

According to Premier Shawn Graham, breaking down Canada's internal trade barriers and increasing labour mobility will be critical to building New Brunswick's energy hub. Graham will making this pitch at the next meeting with all the Premiers and territorial leaders in Quebec City later this week. 33,000 workers are needed to build the energy megaprojects in southern New Brunswick.

Source: Premier to target labour barriers at summit, Daniel McHardie, Telegraph-Journal. July 15th, 2008. http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/354472

The labour unions protested at the last Premiers' meeting in Moncton last summer - which received little or no coverage in the corporate press.

By Robert Weissman
July 9, 2008

It's hard to dismiss the temptation to write off the G8 meetings as a meaningless talkfest.

On the other hand, when the political leaders of the most powerful countries get together and issue joint statements, it may be worth looking at what these planetary stewards have in mind. This is particularly true at a time when new global crises -- skyrocketing oil prices, the spike in food prices, the impact of the U.S. recession and accelerating global warming -- are added to ongoing public health disasters and persistent global poverty.

Is it too much to expect the G8 leaders (the political leaders of the United States, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) to offer something meaningful in response to these problems?

Photos: http://japan.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4561/index.php

Folks in Halifax reportedly marched on the Japanese Embassy yesterday. Here's part of their statement of solidarity:

RESIST ATLANTICA!

Atlantica is the abbreviated name for the Atlantic Northeast Economic Region (AINER), a cross-border trade concept spanning the Maritime provinces, Newfoundland, southern Quebec, and the New England states. It's main proponent and originator is a right-wing think-tank group called the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), whose board of directors represents many big-business interests in the Atlantic region. The proponents of Atlantica wish to develop a conduit to channel Asian goods to the United States through the Atlantic Provinces, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions, higher fatal-crash rates per mile, as well as the likely expansion of superhighways through communities, wilderness, and farmland.

David Coon
June 6, 2008

Finance Minister Victor Boudreau's discussion paper on reforming New Brunswick's tax system includes a carbon tax proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The theory is that you tax what you want less of - in this case oil and gasoline consumption - and remove taxes from what you want more of - income.

New Brunswickers should not be fooled. This is not an emissions-reducing tax. It's a revenue generating tax to finance objectives that are definitely not of the environmental kind. Painting it green is just a tactic to make a new consumption tax more palatable.

Julie Michaud
June 18th, 2008

Nine years ago I moved to New Brunswick from the infamously industrial city of Sarnia, Ont. I'd grown tired of my hometown - a city that looked upon its river as a handy place to site a refinery, a suitable repository for toxic waste, and an inconvenient international border.

I thought of myself as something of an exiled Acadian, and had romantic notions about returning to my roots-a land of clean air, human pace, and warm smiles. Against all odds, my youthful idealism seems to have mostly panned out.

I wake each day to a beautiful city and province. I belong to an engaged and active community of friends and neighbours. I have chosen to make my home in one of this land's best kept secrets.