We already had two submissions on the main page: <br /> <br />1. - NAFTA+ and NORTHCOMM negotiations, <br /> <br />2. A post about the rise and fall of support for various political parties. (see main page.)

   

I believe a third (or third and fourth) issue has to be the closing of our border to our beef and softwood lumber. These disputes are not new for 2004, but they lingered on.....also of note I think is how our government did basically nothing to end the disruption. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />**You mentioned this Susan in your preamble. Were you looking for specific stories?

   

Here is a sotry from notacolony.ca that outlines an importnat detail of the beef dispute--it woke our lumber producers up, both domestically-owned and foreign owned, as they are both now building their own processing plants up again, including independently-controlled plants operated by ranchers. <br /> <br />Here is one of the many tidbits about this. I can look for more: <br /> <br /><a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=841&ncid=841&e=4&u=/nm/20041229/wl_canada_nm/canada_madcow_col">here</a>

   

The issue of Chinese and Russian aggressive foreign invesment plans (Noranda, Stelco) in Canada are big issues as well, and not yet settled....seems selling to other countries is more of a sovereingty issue than selling out to the US. <br /> <br />Also, the possible American takeovers of the Hudson's Bay Company and Molson Brewery are also quite notable, as they have long histories Canadian companies, our oldest brewery IIRC and the oldest company still operating in at least North America. <br /> <br />All of these items can easily be found in the foreign ownership section of Vive <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/index.php?topic=ownership">here</a>

   

The Liberals purposely underestimate our surplus again, which has happened for several years now: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20041116144009624#comments">here</a>

   

Paul Martin essentially gives the provinces of Quebec and any other provinces that ask asymmetrical federalism, at least economically--the same thing we had a national crisis over under Mulroney's Meech Leake and Charlottetown Accords. <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20040926074418735">here</a>

   

Not a huge story, but outlines the crisis of having no shipbuilding industry policy to speak of to build a fleet of ships for Nuavut, and the fact our merchant ship union is American controlled. <br /> <br />Ships from Greenland in our waters with permssion under the Canadian flag? <br /> <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20040926074418735">here</a>

   

Not a top-ten, but amazingly no political leader came out strongly against Ontario possibly allowing the medieval sharia law in Canada: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20040610080620143">here</a>

   

How could I forget: <br /> <br />The HMCS Chicoutimi tragedy, due to problems possibly previously known about, and the fact the deal was delayed for 3 years due to political reasons, as David Collenette has said: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/Focus/chicoutimi/index_e.asp">here</a>

   

Thanks for all the help Perturbed, don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on the main page too (thought I'd put it there as well for anonymous input). Specific links when you have 'em, but if not that's fine. I'll probably try and provide a couple of links for each. <br /> <br />I definitely agree re NAFTA-plus and NORTHCOMM, and I think your suggestion about the foreign ownership issue (China esp) is also an obvious and excellent one. <br /> <br />I'm really well aware of the ranchers and BSE--being an ag reporter in northern Alberta (ground zero for the crisis) I know a lot of the ranchers starting up their own efforts personally (Eg Neil peacock of the Peace Country Tender beef Co-op) and have written about them frequently. I agree that's an important story and one that deserves recognition, which it hasn't got a whole lot of elsewhere. <br /> <br />I think I also want to include the fact that Lockheed Martin landed the contract for the Canadian census in 2006 too. It speaks a lot to the military industrial complex. <br /> <br />And was Maher Arar's story this year or 2003? Time flies.

   

[QUOTE BY= sthompson] Thanks for all the help Perturbed, don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on the main page too (thought I'd put it there as well for anonymous input). Specific links when you have 'em, but if not that's fine. I'll probably try and provide a couple of links for each. <br /> <br />I definitely agree re NAFTA-plus and NORTHCOMM, and I think your suggestion about the foreign ownership issue (China esp) is also an obvious and excellent one. <br /> <br />I'm really well aware of the ranchers and BSE--being an ag reporter in northern Alberta (ground zero for the crisis) I know a lot of the ranchers starting up their own efforts personally (Eg Neil peacock of the Peace Country Tender beef Co-op) and have written about them frequently. I agree that's an important story and one that deserves recognition, which it hasn't got a whole lot of elsewhere. <br /> <br />I think I also want to include the fact that Lockheed Martin landed the contract for the Canadian census in 2006 too. It speaks a lot to the military industrial complex. <br /> <br />And was Maher Arar's story this year or 2003? Time flies.[/QUOTE] <br /> <br /> <br />No problem. I think the issue of asymmetrical federalism without a debate is actually MUCH bigger an issue than the attention it got. <br /> <br />I think the NAFTA+ and NORTHCOMM issues may have been posted here, but I'll find the links.

   

Here's an ongoing issue...I think it is so important and obvious people ignore it, but are Canada's elite at war with its citizens? Is this situation simply the same around the world, with us as a more vulnerable country due to our young history and proximity to the U.S.? Whether the elite want to screw up European countries or not, some of them appear safe, if not the eastern European countries. <br /> <br />Just asking because as Gordon Laxer mentioned in "Open for business," Canada's elites are not enough to explain our lack of independence, yet they have been a big part of it. <br /> <br />From the Tyee's Murray Dobbin: <br /> <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/current/IsCanada'sEliteatWar%3F.htm">here</a> <br /> <br />Here's the Vive thread: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20041126145254908">here</a> <br /> <br /> <br />

   

Here are the integration links: <br /> <br /> <br />Is the Annexation of Canada part of Bush's Military Agenda? <br />by Michel Chossudovsky <br /> <br />(University of Otttawa politica economist--a bevy of links in his piece) <br /> <br /> <br /><a href="http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO411C.html">here</a> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Here's NORTHCOMM: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.northcom.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=s.who_homefront">here</a> <br /> <br /> <br />Herei's the Vive thread they were both found in: <br /> <br /><a href="http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20041124083312151">here</a>

   

<br /> They were all cookie cutter media blips, so not a one qualifies as a sovereignty story.<br /> Lots of getting it in the ass stories.<br /> <br /> Dennis Baker