[Sust-mar] Twelve items: Election activities, upcoming events, take action, resources and win money!

[Tamara Lorincz]

Twelve items - Upcoming All Candidates Debates (great places to ask an
environmental or social issue question), events, take action, resources, and
a chance to win easy money! Please scroll through and circulate widely.

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1. 
Halifax West All Candidates Forum
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Mount Saint Vincent University, 166 Bedford Highway, Seton Auditoriums B&C 

Free community event. Come out to meet the candidates!

Alan Hill (New Democratic Party www.ndp.ca) Rakesh Khosla (Conservative
Party www.conservative.ca) Geoff Regan (Liberal Party www.liberal.ca) Thomas
Trappenberg (Green Party www.greenparty.ca)

Moderated by CTV's Rick Grant. This is a great opportunity to listen to the
candidates and to ask them questions. Find out where they stand on the
issues. Learn more about the political parties. Make an informed
decision.Your vote matters! For more information, please phone the MSVU
Student Union President Chantal Brushett at 457-6434 or Tamara Lorincz at
443-2423


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2. 
All Candidates Debate Wednesday January 18  7-9PM Dal Graduate Society of
Poli-Sci
Dalhousie Kenneth Rowe Building Rm. 1028
Dalhousie University
Open to the public 

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3. 
Thursday, 19 Jan 2006 
Lord Dalhousie Room 
HHAA 
Dalhousie University 
11:30 - 1:30 
Follow the Money: Failed States and the Politics of Oil 
Dr Peter Author, Dr Jerome Davis and Iain Grant. 
This is jointly sponsored by the Dalhousie's Centre for Foreign Policy
Studies and Crosscurrents (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research
Seminar Series). 

The panelists will address the following issues: Dr Peter Author - Failed
States and Oil: Who ~Owns the State"; Dr Jerome Davis "Privatization and
Caspian Oil and Gas"; and, Dr Iain Grant "Changing Regimes? The Role of
China as ~Spoiler"". http://centreforforeignpolicystudies.dal.ca/index.php
(see details for upcoming Seminar Series)
 

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4. *NOT-TO-MISS!*

"The Americanization of Canada's Military"
Steven Staples, Polaris Institute

Two public lectures:

Wednesday, January 25
7:30-9:00 PM
Room 105
Weldon Law School
Dalhousie University
6061 University Avenue

Thursday, January 26
12:00-1:30 PM
University Hall
MacDonald Building
Dalhousie University
(next to Henry Hicks A&A clock tower building:
http://www.dal.ca/visit/index.html)
Co-hosted with the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies

Description:

We have heard little about this during the election, but Canada's military
is being quietly transformed from a U.N. peacekeeper to a U.S.
warfighter.Canada's $14 billion in defence spending is the seventh highest
in NATO, and will soon grow to the highest level since the Second World War.
Hundreds of Canadian secret commandos and snipers are fighting with U.S.
soldiers in Afghanistan, and 2000 more troops are being sent to relieve U.S.
forces in Kandahar. Meanwhile, Canada has slipped to the 36 highest
contributor of soldiers to U.N. peacekeeping, on par with Peru and
Guatemala. Do Canadians know what our military is being sent to do? Is this
the international role that Canadians want for our military?

Biography:

Steven Staples is the Director of Security Programs for the Polaris
Institute, a public interest research organization based in Ottawa. The
Polaris Institute is widely credited as playing a key role in preventing the
Canadian government from joining the U.S. missile defence program in 2005.
Steven is a frequent contributor to journals, magazines, and conferences,
and is often called upon to comment on defence and public policy-related
issues by the national and international news media including the Globe and
Mail, the National Post, Time, CTV National News and CBC Television's The
National and the BBC. He is regularly invited to appear before federal
government committees and departments to speak about defence and foreign
policy issues, including the Standing Committee on National Defence and
Veterans Affairs, and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and
International Trade, and the Standing Committee on Finance. His years of
work with popular organizations, including the Council of Canadians, has
made him well-known amongst civil society organizations, and he speaks
regularly to audiences in Canada and the United States, and around the
world. Born in the Maritimes and a long-time resident of Vancouver, Steven
now lives in Ottawa with his wife and two children. He holds a Bachelors of
Education (Hon. History) from the University of New Brunswick.

Organized by the Society for Corporate Environmental and Social
Responsibility (CESR), the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) and
the Halifax Peace Coalition (HPC) Web site:www.hfxpeace.chebucto.org /
Email: hfxpeace at chebucto.ca

Register at www.ceasefire.ca and receive complimentary background
information from the Polaris Institute.


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5. 
Saint Mary's University
Lunch & Learn Lecture Series  

You may attend one or all lectures with no registration or charge. Feel free
to bring your lunch. Drop in welcome. If you are interested in taking this
course as a university credit, contact the Division of Continuing Education
at Saint Mary's University at 420-5492. Co-sponsored by the Division of
Continuing Education, Saint Mary's University.

Canada, United Nations and Peacekeeping
with Mike MacKinnon
POLI3492.2 DT
Spring Garden Library
Wednesdays/12 pm beginning January 4

This course will examine the historical evolution of UN peacekeeping and
Canada's peacekeeping policies, the dynamics driving the changes in the
practice of peacekeeping in the post-Cold War world, the rise of
sub-contracted peacekeeping and the related politics surrounding the notion
of humanitarian intervention and Canada's shift away from the UN.

The Invention of Canada
with Blake Brown
HIST3403.2 DT
Spring Garden Library 
Thursdays/12 pm beginning January 5

Canada has been imagined in a number of ways throughout its history: as a
storehouse of staples and commodities, a raucous frontier society, a mature
colony that evolved peacefully into nationhood, a bicultural and/or
multicultural society, a land of regions, a cultural appendage of the United
States and a peacemaking middle power. This course will explore how these
images were created, and whose interests they served.


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6. 
Mount Saint Vincent University
Lecture Series

Canada-US Relations
with Dr. Reginald Stuart
Keshen Goodman Library 
330 Lacewood Drive
Fridays, January 20-February 24/1 pm 

Are Canadians and Americans really all that different? This course will
explore these and many more questions surrounding our relationship with our
neighbours to the south. Co-sponsored by Mount St. Vincent University. 

January 20: Both Sides of the Border Are we really that different from
Americans?

January 27: Separating Cultures Is Canadian culture truly unique and
independent?

February 3: Why We Think We're Better Social judgements and anti-Americanism

February 10: All About Money How much do we rely on the American economy?

February 17: Presidents and Prime Ministers What happens when Ottawa and
Washington disagree?

February 24: How Do We Get Along? What's going to happen next, and how do
you find out about it?

More info, contact (902) 490-5738 Visit:
http://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/

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7. 
"From Belgrade to Baghdad: How the Uncorrected Media Lies about the Balkans
led to the US Fiasco in Iraq"
Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corps Journalist and Author

Thursday, February 2
12:00-1:30 PM
Lord Dalhousie Room
Henry Hicks Arts & Admin Building
Dalhousie University
(Campus Map: http://www.dal.ca/visit/index.html)
Co-hosted with the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies

Biography:

Scott Taylor, a former professional soldier, has been editor and publisher
of Esprit de Corps, an Ottawa-based magazine. Taylor has logged over one
million air miles as a war correspondent reporting from such global hot
spots as the Persian Gulf, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Croatia, Bosnia, and
most recently from Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Since
August 2000, Taylor has made a total of 21 trips into Iraq to report on the
effects of the UN sanctions, the ravages of depleted uranium following the
1991 Gulf War, and the occupation by the United States. Taylor regularly
appears in the Canadian media as a military analyst. 

Organized by the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies
(http://centreforforeignpolicystudies.dal.ca/index.php) and the Halifax
Peace Coalition (HPC) Web site: www.hfxpeace.chebucto.org /
Email:hfxpeace at chebucto.ca

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8. 
"Iraq: America's Imperial Nightmare"

Thursday, February 2
7:00-9:00 PM
McNally Theatre Auditorium
McNally Building, 923 Robie St.
Saint Mary's University
 
Description: 

Taylor has made 21 trips into Iraq, before, during and after the US
intervention to topple Saddam Hussein. Reporting as an unembedded
journalist, Taylor discovered first hand the risks involved in frontline
journalism. September 2004, Taylor was held hostage for 5 days by Mujahadeen
rebels in the Turkmen enclave of Talafar where he was beaten, tortured and
threatened with beheading. His first-hand experiences have given Taylor rare
insight into the American occupation of Iraq. 

Biography:

Scott Taylor, a former professional soldier, has been editor and publisher
of Esprit de Corps, an Ottawa-based magazine, since 1988. Taylor has logged
over one million air miles as a war correspondent reporting from such global
hot spots as the Persian Gulf, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Croatia, Bosnia,
and most recently from Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, and Macedonia.
Since August 2000, Taylor has made a total of 21 trips into Iraq to report
on the effects of the UN sanctions, the ravages of depleted uranium
following the 1991 Gulf War, and the occupation by the United States. Taylor
regularly appears in the Canadian media as a military analyst. 

Organized by the Saint Mary's University Student Union Association (SMUSA)
and the Halifax Peace Coalition (HPC) Web site: www.hfxpeace.chebucto.org /
Email:hfxpeace at chebucto.ca


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9.

Watch the inspiring CODEPINK flash "Women Say No To War" released to
celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day
http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=719
Be sure to sign the petition to get 100,000 signatures worldwide!


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10. 

Stay tuned to SALSA's IdealLaw Conference to be held at Dalhousie University
on Feb. 11 & 12, check out:
http://societies.dsu.ca/salsa/idealaw.html


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11.

*GIVE US A SLOGAN for the Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN) ASAP! You
could win $50 ($25 Gift Certificate from Just Us! + $25 Gift Certificate
from Mountain Equipment Coop) for giving the Nova Scotia Environmental
Network the winning slogan. We need a slogan for our organization and we
would like to hear your suggestions. Send us your slogan suggestion, name,
phone number and email. One slogan submission per person. In case of same
slogan, it will be based on first received. Questions? Email NSEN:
nsen at web.ca  


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12.

Please endorse the campaign to Ban the Terminator Seed:
http://www.banterminator.org/
(It's appalling and shameful that the Canadian government is pushing this at
the WTO!)


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Tamara Lorincz
Coordinator, Nova Scotia Environmental Network (NSEN)
French Student
BA, BComm, MBA, LLB
55 Willowbend Court
Halifax, NS CANADA B3M 3L3
(902) 443-2423
tlorincz at dal.ca
CESR: http://cesr.dsu.dal.ca
GN: http://www.space4peace.org/
HPC: http://hfxpeace.chebucto.org/
NSEN: http://www.nsen.ca
"A better world is possible"

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" -
Dr. Martin Luther King