News from Avaaz, a global online citizens organization which NAL supports and which makes as its “democratic mission,” closing “the gap bestween the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.”
(A Brief NAL note on this – I don’t know if it is possible for people to get that outraged over anything that happens in Harper’s Canada any more. But the fact that a corporate interest could buy the silence of a duly elected municipal council with the gift of a $30,000 emergency vehicle is an assault on the democracy hundreds of thousands of Canadians have fought and died for, and should outrage us all. Hello, is there anyone out there who still cares any more, or am I just yelling down a black hole?)
Ontario northeastern town of Mattawa urged to accept funding to shut up about tar sands pipe.
Pipeline giant TransCanada just secured an entire town’s silence with a $30,000 “gift” — preventing the town council from speaking out about a dangerous new tar sands pipe. But a massive uproar can still kill this dirty deal and win back the town’s voice.
Giant oil companies are fighting hard to snake these tar sands pipelines across our country — and deals like this let them plow through without resistance. But now the company is on the defensive and says that they will cut out the silencing clause “if necessary”. On Monday, this July 114th, Mattawa’s town council will meet and have the chance to demand they do just that.
It isn’t easy to stand up to a huge corporation, but the small Ontario town of Mattawa can do it. We only have days to act! Click to sign the petition, and Avaaz will deliver it straight to the city council meeting:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/dont_silence_mattawa_e/?bRUUpdb&v=42364
TransCanada is building its “Energy East” pipeline carrying tar sands oil just 60km east of Mattawa. In 2012 they donated money for a rescue vehicle for the town — and now a condition bars the council from publicly commenting on the pipeline. But another part of the contract gives a way out if both sides agree. On Monday, Mattawa town council can pass a resolution demanding that the silencing clause be removed — and put the pressure on TransCanada to return freedom of speech to the town.
No town in Canada should be prevented from looking out for the interests of its citizens, especially in the face of pipelines that could devastate their areas with a leak. And critics say this one could hurt our climate even more than the Keystone Pipeline! TransCanada says this isn’t a gag order, that it actually protects the town from having to say nice things about the pipeline. But that’s ridiculous – the deal itself describes the ban on comments as a “benefit” the town must provide for the company.
On Monday, Mattawa’s town council can stand up to Big Oil on behalf of all of Canada’s communities and say that our silence can’t be bought. Click now and tell Mattawa that we’ve got their back.
– https://secure.avaaz.org/en/dont_silence_mattawa_e/?bRUUpdb&v=42364
The Avaaz community has never been afraid to take on the power of Big Oil in Canada, from backing the people of BC against the Enbridge pipeline to supporting the rights of First Nations communities against the tar sands. Let’s do it again now against TransCanada’s big pipeline payoff.
With hope and determination,
Jeremy, Danny, Ari, Emma, Ricken, Melanie and the rest of the Avaaz staff
For additional information on this issue, click on this Huffington Post story – http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/07/06/transcanada-mattawa-energy-east_n_5561573.html .
For more information on Avaaz click on http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php .
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
The “gift” is to keep the Counci quiet _ it says nothing about the people of te community. It is time the Silent Majority begins to “flex its muscles” against the Vocal minoriity
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Bill
I agree with you the silent majority has been too quiet for too long as the HARPER’S dictatorship has cast aside all pretense of representative government and instead He and his Goon squad have with little fan fare completely become the Voice and Force of CANADA.
If WE, THE PEOPLE continue to allow this to happen then we are nothing more than sheep waiting to be slaughtered and HARPER and his Goons will continue to sell CANADA off to unscrupulous foreign INVESTORS whose only claim to fame is the Bottom Line on their Profit and Loss Statements. They care about nothing and when CANADA is so polluted that life no longer exists they will use CANADA as a dumping ground for their rubbish and that is already starting to happen in Alberta and in the once pristine lakes that are becoming the sludge containment ponds for deadly chemical being used as they strip mine everything worth while. The Oil Cartel has complete control of Alberta and when they are finished Alberta will become the largest man made desert in the world. There will be no acreage to support the Caribou that once ranged across the vast North and already scientist are finding the River fish scarred by corrosive chemicals that are polluting the whole river system. That 61 year old submerged Oil Pipeline from Michigan into Canada if ……or should I say when…… it ruptures will pollute the Great Lakes and be like the American Kalamazoo River rupture the greatest calamity every in Canadian History. This is the Legacy of HARPER and it will come to past if He and his GOONS are allowed to continue this DICTATORIAL control of our Country.
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