Just an advance warning to all my reader(s). I will be helping to organize a fundraiser at the upcoming NDP Provincial Council on Saturday June 24th at 6PM in Calgary. The details are sketchy right now, but I’m just letting you know so that you can keep that date free on you calendars.

This is a call to anyone who cares about the environment, and is frightened by what the Conservative government (or any government) will do to it.

The current government is cutting useful programs such as energuide. They are saying that they are implementing a “Made in Canada” solution, while getting rid of made in Canada ideas. They are spreading uneducated opinions, as though they were fact, that we can not reach our Kyoto targets. Other countries right now are reaching their targets, without taking every car and truck off the road, so what makes us different?

On August 26 2006, voices across Canada will be heard. These voices will be calling for the government to act, and act fast. We do not have much time left; we must act before it is too late. August, 26, 2006 is Canada Climate Change Day.

Please visit the website, and join by emailing renfunk@gmail.com to get updates on this event. Hopefully we can get communities from all over Canada involved, because I know that Canadians care about the environment.

Last night while at Tim Horton’s with my father, we sat down at a table with a Future Shop flyer on it. I started to read through it. On one of the pages they had “Great gift ideas for Mother’s Day” On it they had a bunch of different kitchen appliances, but beside one of the microwaves it said that would receive a free iron with the purchase of the microwave! Now I don’t think too many people are alive today that gave their mother an iron for Mother’s Day.

I am very offended tonight. Offended by whom, you may ask? The Conservative government.

Three times tonight, before I shut off the television, they lied straight to my face. Do they think I don’t pay attention? Do they think I don’t know how to add and subtract? Do they just want to make me angry? I think the answer is yes to all three questions.

First it started while I was watching Primetime Politics on CPAC. Diane Ablonczy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, was on and once she told her first lie she just couldn’t stop herself. First she started to state that all parents, including parents with children over the age of six, would receive the $1200 benefit. Maybe I missed something, but isn’t this just for children under six? Then when a caller called up who was making less then $20,000/year and stated that he would not benefit much on the GST cut because most of his purchases were non taxable, she started to state that Canadians would save money on all purchases with the GST cut. Please Diane, do not insult my intelligence.

But the biggest lie of all came from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty while I was watching a rebroadcast of the budget speech. He stated that his government will be lowering the lowest tax bracket rate from 16% to 15.5%. I shutoff the television as soon as I heard that. I knew that I was being lied too. I just filed my taxes and the lowest tax bracket was the only one I paid into. The tax rate was 15%, although it was just recently lowered from 16%. I hope the Conservatives don’t mind that when/if the Liberals get back in power and they raise the GST to 6.5% but claim they are lowering it from 7%, because it is the exact same thing.

It’s a shame that our government is lying to us so blatantly.

The Canadian Music Creators Coalition is a newly formed group that really represents Canadian music and artists. While the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) disagrees by saying they are working in the best interest of Canadian music. I choose to believe the people who actually create the music.The CRIA, by law, must represent the share holders of the record labels that are members of it, and most of these record labels are non-Canadian.

Here is an excerpt from Canadian Music Creators Coalition’s Website:

1. Suing Our Fans is Destructive and Hypocritical
Artists do not want to sue music fans. The labels have been suing our fans against our will, and laws enabling these suits cannot be justified in our names. We oppose any copyright reforms that would make it easier for record companies to do this. The government should repeal provisions of the Copyright Act that allow labels to unfairly punish fans who share music for non-commercial purposes with statutory damages of $500 to $20,000 per song.

2. Digital Locks are Risky and Counterproductive
Artists do not support using digital locks to increase the labels’ control over the distribution, use and enjoyment of music or laws that prohibit circumvention of such technological measures. The government should not blindly implement decade-old treaties designed to give control to major labels and take choices away from artists and consumers. Laws should protect artists and consumers, not restrictive technologies. Consumers should be able to transfer the music they buy to other formats under a right of fair use, without having to pay twice.

3. Cultural Policy Should Support Actual Canadian Artists
The vast majority of new Canadian music is not promoted by major labels, which focus mostly on foreign artists. The government should use other policy tools to support actual Canadian artists and a thriving musical and cultural scene. The government should make a long-term commitment to grow support mechanisms like the Canada Music Fund and FACTOR, invest in music training and education, create limited tax shelters for copyright royalties, protect artists from inequalities in bargaining power and make collecting societies more transparent.

The CRIA is currently lobbying the government to change the copyright laws in Canada. The Canadian Music Creators Coalition agrees the copyright laws need to change. But who should be creating them, multinational record labels or Canadian artists themselves? The answer is quite clear, the Canadian artists.

Canadian culture is important. And it must be encouraged. But how can multinational record labels truly represent Canadian talent when most of their clientele is American? They can’t. With five Canadian record labels dropping out of the CRIA last month, the CRIA is becoming less and less Canadian. Canadians should be making the laws of Canada not corporate interests.

I say keep up the good work to all the artists involved in the Canadian Music Coalition and I hope to hear more from them in the not too distant future.

“Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.” ~ John Lennon