Not all disabled people can operate a car, or afford to own one. And sidewalks are often too narrow, and/or uneven for mobility aids. The climate emergency requires that we give everyone the opportunity to travel using low-carbon modes of transportation. Bike lanes host many types of users, who move at different speeds - including some with disabilities. Many cycling advocates and other organizations support access to cycling facilities by people using electric mobility aids.

The public needs to be reminded that there are many possibilities that could have led to this catastrophic event, and without a completed investigation, there is no way for Mission Group to assure public safety. BC Minister of Labour Harry Baines said himself when asked about increased regulations for developers and construction trades that it would be “inappropriate to comment until the investigation is complete.” We are asking: is it not equally inappropriate for construction to resume on the same site until that same investigation is complete in case there are recommendations that are necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again. “There are so many painful layers to this experience so far. It is all still raw for everyone. We are just asking for a little time without being reminded of what those buildings took from our families. When the accident first happened I felt a connection to the site as it was where Cailen took his last breath. The memorial site now has construction all around it and the memorial looks to become insignificant in the big picture of the project and the site itself. This is going to be a long grieving process and the families need a place to go and remember their loved ones and not be reminded of the tragedy with all the surrounding construction. Our loved ones are not collateral damage, they mean more than deadlines and money.” -Chris Vilness Mission Group itself expresses one of their core values as “building it right,” and goes on to describe themselves as, “honest, transparent and committed to doing the right thing with uncompromising integrity. We know that what is right is not the same as what is easy, and while we may fall short at times, we always make it right. This is our foundation.” Given this commitment, we feel it should be a very easy decision to right this wrong. They either comply with these requests to pause, connect, and consult, or make it clear that these words on their website are nothing more than that- words that do nothing to honour five souls gone too soon in favour of profit over integrity.

This year alone, we have seen an unprecedented amount of disasters all over the world, such as deadly heat waves, wildfires, tornadoes, over one billion sea creatures possibly boiling to death in the oceans, melting icecaps causing northern parts of the world to become inhospitable, to countless floods and other major disasters. All of these issues and much more serve as a grim reminder that the Earth is a fragile place that requires immediate action. Climate science has shown us time and time again that our way of living is unsustainable, but those in power refuse to acknowledge these facts for monetary gain. The worst is yet to come, and we will be the ones to inherit a desolate planet if we do not do our part. Not our children, or our children's children, but those of us here now. We at Green Tomorrow Niagara refuse this fate, and so we are calling on you to stand with us and demand more from your leaders, and prove to all that sustainable is attainable.

Join us - Because now we are older, wiser, angrier. Because we know that action builds hope.

Nurses carried Alberta through the pandemic. But instead of rewarding them for their heroic efforts, Jason Kenney is threatening them with a 3% pay cut. [1] It’s a slap in the face. Nurses have worked flat out to care for us and our loved ones amidst this unprecedented health crisis, scrambling to keep up with surging COVID-19 case numbers, understaffed hospitals, and inadequate medical supplies. Add in the constant threat of contracting the virus, and it’s no wonder many nurses have been at the breaking point for months. [2] If you agree that we should support - not punish - our hard-working nurses after they’ve done so much to care for all of us - will you sign the petition calling on Kenney to pay Alberta nurses the wages they deserve? Sources [1] ​​https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-nursing-union-says-government-wants-them-to-take-a-3-pay-cut [2] https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/07/08/barely-out-of-a-pandemic-heres-why-jason-kenneys-government-is-picking-a-fight-with-alberta-nurses.html

There is a disturbing trend of hedge funds and corporations buying up large numbers of single family dwellings in the US, even whole subdivisions, to be used as rental units. Now, a developer is planning to invest 1 billion dollars to buy single family homes in Canada for investment purposes. As you know, owning your own home is not only every families dream, it is also the best route to accumulating wealth for retirement. If this trend continues, we will be a nation of renters with no equity in the end and reliant on the government for our well being in retirement years. This is a huge wealth transfer and will prevent families from having a stable future. Excerpt from Globe and Mail - June 13, 2021 A Toronto condo developer is buying hundreds of detached houses in Ontario, with the plan of renting them and profiting on the housing crisis ripping across the country. Core Development Group Ltd. is building a large-scale single-family home rental operation, an unproven business model in Canada, where the market is fragmented and individual investors lease a small number of their own properties for income. Institutional house rentals have become highly lucrative in the United States, with private-equity firms, pension funds and big companies throwing billions of dollars into the asset class. In Canada, deep-pocketed investors, as well as real estate investment trusts, have already acquired hundreds of apartment buildings to tap into the strong rental demand but have not moved into rental houses. Core founder Corey Hawtin and executive vice-president Faran Latafat questioned why there wasn’t a similar business in Canada, which has had a rental vacancy rate below 3 per cent since the turn of the century. “We were trying to answer the question: Why is nobody doing this in Canada? We could not come up with an objective answer to that. In Canada, it works as well or better than the U.S.,” said Ms. Latafat, Core’s president of single-family development. Core’s main business is condo development, and it has 14 projects in the Toronto region. Last fall, Mr. Hawtin raised $250-million from investors to buy approximately 400 properties, add basement apartments and turn the houses into two rental units. Core is targeting eight midsized cities in Ontario, and this year started buying properties in Kingston, St. Catharines, London, Barrie, Hamilton, Peterborough and Cambridge. It will soon start buying in Guelph. Its medium-term goal is to have a $1-billion portfolio of 4,000 rental units in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Atlantic Canada by 2026. Mr. Hawtin said Core’s rental units will provide affordable housing for families and residents who do not want to live in small apartments. If Core succeeds, it could spur major investors to follow suit. Ms. Latafat and Mr. Hawtin believe a major house rental business will flourish in Canada because of decades of low rental vacancy rates, desire for more space and high immigration. They also point out most of the country’s population is concentrated around a few job centres. As well, the pandemic’s real estate boom has priced even more residents out of the housing market with rentals as the only option. National home prices are 20 per cent above prepandemic levels, with values 30 to 50 per cent higher in parts of Ontario, B.C., Quebec and the Maritimes. The typical price of a detached house in Guelph and nearby Kitchener-Waterloo is now more than $800,000, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. That is about $200,000 more than a year ago. Economist David Rosenberg said an affordable rental house could become more attractive to a potential home buyer because house prices are so high. “The ratio of home prices to rental rates is so extreme that new entrants to residential real estate will gravitate to the rental market,” said Mr. Rosenberg, who leads Rosenberg Research & Associates, adding that if more potential buyers are forced to rent, that could eventually reduce competition in the residential real estate market and slow home price increases. Ms. Latafat said Core chose the eight Ontario cities because they all have strong local economies, are close to larger job centres, have growing populations and low housing vacancy rates. In Barrie and Guelph, the rental vacancy rate is closer to 2 per cent, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. data. Meanwhile, in the first year of the pandemic, rental rates have increased in the high single digits in Barrie, Guelph, London and St. Catharines, according to CMHC. “They have tight vacancies, like zero vacancies,” said Mr. Hawtin. “Immigration is growing, population is growing and buying a house or a condo has become less and less attainable. That is really compounding the rental demand in all of our marketplaces,” he said. So far this year, Core has spent $50-million on 75 properties, the executives said. Their two-bedroom basement apartments go for about $1,600 a month and a three-bedroom above-ground unit at about $2,100 a month. Those prices are higher than the average rental rate of $1,407 for a two-bedroom apartment in Ontario, according to CMHC data. Though Core’s rentals are newly renovated units in houses with gardens. Institutionalized family home rentals got their start south of the border, after the U.S. housing bubble burst in 2007 and companies bought thousands of houses at fire-sale prices. Companies and their investors now own swaths of U.S. neighbourhoods and make money on the rent, similar to apartment building owners. Toronto-based Tricon Residential, one of the largest operators of single family home rentals in the U.S., said Core’s decision to split the properties into two rental units makes sense given the price of houses in Canada. Full article - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-condo-developer-to-buy-1-billion-worth-of-single-family-houses-in/

In the spring of 2021 alone, over a quarter million Albertans lost their jobs due to Covid related employment and economic issues. As Alberta rises from these ashes, many affected Albertans will face new financial challenges - including home foreclosures, evictions, vehicle repossession, credit card and loan forfeitures - personal and business. Each event negatively affecting the credit ratings of the individual and requiring time to resolve. Newly graduated individuals will also enter the employment and rental markets with no active credit history. The increasing arbitrary practise of credit checks for employment, housing and basic services will paralyze the lives of so many Albertans. In spite that none of these services are offering a credit or loan product. Credit checks and credit information bureaus were created to affirm payment worthiness for credit and loan products, not as means for discrimination, invasion of privacy, to deny basic services or to justify pre-penalizing potential customers of these services. Alberta's population needs to know our right to rebound is protected so that we can get on with the business of building and rebuilding our future.

To bring all these people together while we are still in the grips of fighting the corona virus is irresponsible. The world is still not ahead in the fight to control this virus and would likely lead to a high transmission rate that would be especially unfair to the people of Tokyo. We can accommodate athletes and competition in a revised format in the future.

Greyhound is pulling its services out of Canada, leaving many rural and low-income communities stranded. [1] It’s a massive loss to all of us who rely on Greyhound to get to work, visit our families, and access critical services. Private companies are clamouring to fill the gap Greyhound left behind — but they’re fully prepared to abandon remote and Indigenous communities in favour of more lucrative routes. [2] This move could mean social and economic isolation for thousands. And for many Indigenous women, the difference between a bus ride and a hitchhike could be life and death. [3] With entire communities deserted for the bottom line, it’s never been more clear that we need a publicly funded, national bus service that is safe, reliable, and affordable. The federal government is in crisis talks to replace Greyhound — and companies like Megabus are fighting hard to get in on the new market. [4] Time is short — but a massive injection of public pressure could be enough to force a publicly-funded national bus service into the federal conversation. Will you add your name to stand up for accessible, affordable, and green transportation for all? [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-canada-1.6025276 [2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-bus-column-don-pittis-1.6026564 [3] https://globalnews.ca/news/7860104/greyhound-closure-disaster-communities/ [4] https://globalnews.ca/news/7863365/megabus-ottawa-toronto-kingston-greyhound-canada/

Nous sommes des artistes, auteurs, créateurs et professionnels provenant de toutes les associations du milieu de la culture. La liberté d’expression se trouve au cœur même de nos démarches artistiques. C’est une valeur sacrée et intouchable à nos yeux, et nul ne saurait remettre en cause cet état de fait. Le gouvernement canadien, ayant à cœur de faire rayonner la culture originale canadienne, impose à tous les diffuseurs d’intégrer au sein de leur programmation des contenus musicaux, télévisuels et cinématographiques produits ici, notamment en français. Malheureusement, cette obligation ne s’applique pas aux géants du numérique tels que Netflix, Spotify, YouTube et autres multinationales étrangères. Celles-ci font pourtant des affaires en or sur notre territoire, sans aucune obligation de réinjecter, ne serait-ce qu’une fraction des sommes générées, en soutien à nos créateurs canadiens et francophones. Cette injustice tue graduellement nos entreprises culturelles, affecte nos emplois, et c’est l’ensemble de notre identité culturelle qui s’en trouve inévitablement menacée. Nous croyons qu’il est urgent d’imposer aux géants du Web les mêmes règles qui prévalent à l’endroit de tous les diffuseurs dans le but de favoriser la création originale d’ici et la vitalité du milieu culturel et artistique. C’est pourquoi nous appuyons le projet de loi C-10, actuellement en discussion à Ottawa. Nous demandons aux parlementaires de tout mettre en œuvre pour établir l’équité dès maintenant et assurer le bon cheminement du projet de loi. Il y va de la survie de notre avenir culturel. Pour plus d’information, consultez cette lettre ouverte signée par les présidentes et présidents de l’UDA, la FNCC-CSN, l’APASQ, l’AQAD, l’ARRQ, la GMMQ, l’UNEQ, la SARTEC et TRACE : https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2021-05-06/projet-de-loi-sur-la-radiodiffusion/une-reforme-essentielle-pour-le-milieu-culturel.php

“With classes ending and Canada in the midst of a deadly third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, students are facing a dismal job market and high unemployment as they move into the summer. Unless the CESB is renewed, students will continue to struggle to recover from the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic for years to come. For many students, summer is when they earn money to support their studies. Without those summer jobs, and without the CESB, debt will grow, and racial and social inequities amongst students will only deepen. Students without other support systems will fall through the cracks. The Green Party is calling on the Government to ensure all those eligible for the CESB receive $2,000 per month – the same amount as the Canada Recovery Benefit – and not last year’s figure of $1,250. The benefit should also cover both international and recently graduated students. “In 2020, the government justified offering students a discounted emergency benefit based on the promise of summer jobs,” said Ms. Paul. “Those jobs never materialized; the summer student unemployment rate was 40 per cent and many students were driven into further debt. We cannot make that mistake again. “Reinstating the Canada Emergency Student Benefit must be a critical part of Budget 2021. Supporting our students is one the best investments we can make in our future.” -quote taken from the Green Party of Canada https://www.greenparty.ca/en/media-release/2021-04-13/green-party-leader-annamie-paul-calls-prime-minister-and-federal-government

Many low-income people use Dollar stores and budget stores that have been left off a list of "essential" goods during COVID in favor of rich area stores. This is discriminatory and will make more people get sick and die - especially in areas hard hit by COVID 19.