Saturday, June 27, 2009

The World We Live In

Associated Press, on Iran, international attention spans and the real world - as revealed by the modern news cyle:

As the protests dwindle amid intensifying official pressure, the opposition may suffer from a decline in international attention. The protests and violence dominated Western news broadcasts for nearly two weeks, with the reports substantially bolstered by videos gleaned from Internet sites and by commentary from social networking sites.

Such sites were a key pipeline for the opposition amid the tight restrictions on foreign media in the country.

But along with the diminished action on the streets in Iran, other stories have arisen to siphon away attention — especially the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

Television coverage of Iran's turmoil has fallen since Jackson's death Thursday; on the Twitter micro-blogging site, Iran remained among the most discussed topics, but fell below Jackson and comments about the movie "Transformers 2.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

King of Pop Dead

Vancouver Sun reports that Michael Jackon died toady afternoon in his LA mansion after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 50.


One of musics most influential and successful artists, Jackson found place in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time."

While Jackson has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons; accusations of child molestation , debt problems and his ever changing looks, he remains the King of pop music and an all time great.

- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto

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Saturday, June 20, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Constitutional Right To DNA Testing

Another sad day for American justice, as a narrow 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment does not guarantee prisoners access to potentially-exonerating, post-conviction DNA testing:
[Chief Justice John] Roberts, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., said ..."A criminal defendant proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the same liberty interests as a free man," he wrote, and thus states have more "flexibility" in deciding procedures for post-conviction relief.
...The "challenges DNA technology poses to our criminal justice systems and our traditional notions of finality" are better left to elected officials than federal judges, Roberts wrote for the majority in a 5 to 4 decision.
The compelling dissenting argument of the Court's moderate wing held little sway with the majority:

Dissenting justices, led by John Paul Stevens, said the right to post-conviction DNA testing should not depend on the widely varying laws enacted by the states. Allowing a prisoner to test DNA evidence at his own expense would "ascertain the truth once and for all," Stevens wrote.

"On the record before us, there is no reason to deny access to the evidence and there are many reasons to provide it, not least of which is a fundamental concern in ensuring that justice has been done," he wrote. He was joined in dissent by Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

The full, Washington Post article is here

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Friday, June 19, 2009

Montana Town Demands Job Applicants Provide Facebook Passwords

See ABA Journal: Town Requires Job Seekers to Reveal Social Media Passwords:

...job seekers for Bozeman city posts are required to sign a background check waiver. In addition to allowing standard criminal records checks and past employment reviews, the applicant is required to do the following:

"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc."

The city form then offers three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords, Montana News Station reports.

City Attorney Greg Sullivan is quoted as defending the policy: "We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city."

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

UPDATE: June 20, 2009

I guess they decided that wasn't such a great idea, after all: City drops request for Internet passwords

GJW

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$1.92 Million Damages for Illegal File Sharing

A Minnesota jury has ordered a Minneapolis woman to pay damages to the music industry of $1.92 million for willful copyright infringement.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset had illegally shared 24 songs online. She was ordered to pay damages of $80,000.00 per song.

Thought you'd like to know....

Ontario Court Nixes CIBC Overtime Class Action

A class action proceeding by bank tellers against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for $600 million in unpaid overtime wages has been dismissed by an Ontario Superior Court judge.

Madame Justice Joan Lax ruled against certification of the class action proceeding yesterday, holding that inadequate "common issue" presented among the individual claimants in the class to justify continuation of the class action.

The ruling allows the overtime pay claimants to bring subsequent individual actions for damages against the bank.

The Toronto Star summarized the decision:

Justice Joan Lax ruled the case didn't meet the test to be a class-action lawsuit.

"While some of the certification requirements could be satisfied, the action lacks the essential element of commonality," Lax wrote in the decision released today.

"In my opinion, there is no asserted common issue capable of being determined on a class-wide basis that would sufficiently advance this litigation to justify certification."

Financial Post also reported on the decision:

An Ontario Superior Court Justice has refused to certify a $600-million overtime class-action lawsuit against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

It's a ruling that could stymie other overtime class-action suits that are pending in Canadian courts, including one against the Bank of Nova Scotia..

Justice Joan Lax rejected the suit brought by CIBC employee Dara Fresco on the basis that "this is not a proper case for certification and that a class proceeding is not the preferable procedure for resolving the claims of class members for unpaid overtime."

Bloomberg reports that CIBC shares "rose 0.7 percent after the ruling was released. The shares rose C$1.17 to C$54.19 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today."

We previously reported on the case, Fresco v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 07-cv-334113PD2, Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto) in November 2007. See: Update: CIBC Employees' Overtime Class Action.

We will post the ruling of Madame Justice Lax when it is available online.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Facebook's "New Rules" for Divorcing Couples

Daniel Clement of New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog provides a nice thumbnail summary of Time Magazine's Five Facebook No-No's For Divorcing Couples.

The rules, as compiled by Time, can succinctly be boiled to one- “Discretion is the better of valor.”

1. Don’t brag.

Your claims of poverty will ring hollow if you brag on Facebook about your purchases of expensive items or post photographs of lavish vacations.

2. Keep the party off-line

Sure you may want to let off some steam, but if you are engaged in a custody fight, the pictures of you holding a bong in one hand and a half empty bottle of “Jack” in the other are not going to win you points with the judge. They probably are not going to be too helpful when lecturing your kids about sobriety or on your next job interview.

3. Guilt by association.

You are who you hang out with.
See Rule No 2.

4. Keep the details of the divorce private.

Don’t fuel the fire with comments and criticisms on the internet. No one likes their spouse’s divorce attorney or the judge after an unfavorable ruling. But remember, the judge is going to make many rulings in the course of a case- some you will win, others you will lose. Do you really want the judge to rule on your case after you publicly criticized him or her?

5. Don’t Defriend.

As Time points out, unless it is high conflict, “Don't "defriend" in-laws or your ex's friends right away. People need time to adjust.”

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Video: The War on Jokes - Protesting David Letterman

Funny stuff from Sam Seder:

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Web 2.0 becomes Landmark Word

According to news reports, "Web 2.0" which refers to the second generation of web development became the millionth word in the English Language. MSN news reports that on June 10th 2009 Texas-based Global Language Monitor, which monitors the English Language, announced that Web 2.0 was the millionth word in the English language. Global Language Monitor acknowledges new words once they have been used 25,000 times on media and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, but technically it’s not. It works on the same technical specifications as the first generation internet. The difference is the way software developers and end-users utilize the Web. Common examples of Web 2.0 are social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis or collabrative websites, blogs etc.

- Shashi K. Raina, Toronto

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Iran Reality Check

I am inclined to agree with John Cole's comments in The Blogger Coverage of Iran that the blogosphere's breathless endorsement of allegations of election fraud in Iran has been slightly overblown and, from a factual standpoint, a bit hard to swallow.

Andrew Sullivan's Twitter v. The Coup is but one example of the current, hyperbolic genre.

In reality, the facts are not in. The evidence may or may not ultimately support the election fraud hypothesis that has been so readily accepted here in the West.

Perhaps most likely, neither we nor the Iranian people may ever know.

There is some indication, however, that incumbant President Ahmadinejad may legitimately have won the election.

As the Washington Post is reporting in Signs of Fraud Abound, But Not Hard Evidence:
There are many signs of manipulation or outright fraud in Iran's disputed election results, according to pollsters and election experts, but the case for a rigged outcome is far from ironclad, making it difficult for the United States and other Western powers to denounce the results as unacceptable. Indeed, there is also evidence that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president deeply disliked in the West for his promotion of Iran's nuclear program and his anti-Israeli rhetoric, simply won a commanding victory.
Also see Ahmadinejad Won, Get Over it from Politico:

Without any evidence, many U.S. politicians and “Iran experts” have dismissed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection Friday, with 62.6 percent of the vote, as fraud.

They ignore the fact that Ahmadinejad’s 62.6 percent of the vote in this year’s election is essentially the same as the 61.69 percent he received in the final count of the 2005 presidential election, when he trounced former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The shock of the “Iran experts” over Friday’s results is entirely self-generated, based on their preferred assumptions and wishful thinking.

Although Iran’s elections are not free by Western standards, the Islamic Republic has a 30-year history of highly contested and competitive elections at the presidential, parliamentary and local levels. Manipulation has always been there, as it is in many other countries.

But upsets occur — as, most notably, with Mohammed Khatami’s surprise victory in the 1997 presidential election. Moreover, “blowouts” also occur — as in Khatami’s reelection in 2001, Ahmadinejad’s first victory in 2005 and, we would argue, this year.

Bottom line is that opinions aside, at this point we in the West have very little idea as to the will of the Iranian electorate or what the facts will eventually disclose.

Thus, a bit of analytical caution is urged here, and U.S. President Barack Obama's measured approach strikes me as entirely appropriate:

Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the White House, President Obama stressed that it is difficult for the United States to pass judgment on the running of the Iranian election. He stressed that "it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be."

"We did not have observers there," he said. "We did not have international observers on hand, so I can't state definitively what happened one way or another with respect to the election. But what I can say is there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy, who now feel betrayed."

..."What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation - regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," said President Obama.

Let's just wait and see.

In the meanwhile, CBC reports that Iran orders partial vote recount. And to be clear, I doubt we will know much more thereafter.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Monday, June 15, 2009

Twitter Downtime Delayed to Aid Iran Communications

Twitter has jumped into the political fray, acknowledging the critical role it is playing in Iran, with this announcement:

Down Time Rescheduled

A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran).
Perhaps, in taking this step, Twitter has chosen to become more than a mere, neutral conduit for information - it has embraced a proactive role as an advocate for change.
The New York Times has more on the leading role of social media in Iran: Social Networks Spread Iranian Defiance Online:

Iranians are blogging, posting to Facebook and, most visibly, coordinating their protests on Twitter, the messaging service. Their activity has increased, not decreased, since the presidential elections on Friday and ensuing attempts by the government to restrict or censor their online communications.

On Twitter, reports and links to photos from a peaceful mass march through Tehran on Monday, along with accounts of street fighting and casualties around the country, have become the most popular topic on the service worldwide, according to Twitter’s published statistics.

A couple of Twitter feeds have become virtual media offices for the supporters of the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi. One feed, mousavi1388, (1388 is the year in the Persian calendar) is filled with news of protests and exhortations to keep up the fight, in Persian and English. It has more than 7,000 followers.

Mr. Moussavi’s fan group on Facebook has swelled to over 50,000 members, a significant increase since election day.

CBC is also following this story: Twitter emerges as news source during Iran media crackdown

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Update:

Welcome Twitter Blog readers.

A reader makes a good point that Twitter may be helping save lives with this delay of its scheduled downtime. Perhaps, in that sense, the change is akin to a phone company ensuring that its lines remain open in an emergency.

What is unique in this circumstance, however, is that emergency or not, the leaders of Iran apparently would prefer it if the lines all went dead.

And Twitter's not buying in.

(Compare that with Google's "deal" with China).


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Phoenix Judge Rejects Balsillie's Hamilton NHL Bid

Via CBC:

Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie's bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move the NHL team to Hamilton was rejected Monday by an Arizona bankruptcy judge.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, had imposed a June 29 deadline to complete the sale — hoping to speed up the process and have the team ready to play in Hamilton for the 2009-10 season.

But in a ruling handed down late Monday, Judge Redfield Baum said "this court is unconvinced that it should order that the NHL must decide the relocation application to meet the June 29 deadline."

"The motion is denied, without prejudice," Baum wrote.

Judge Baum's ruling is now online in PDF format.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

UPDATE:

Judge Baum's ruling notwithstanding, Mr. Balsillie indicates his bid to purchase the Coyotes will be moving forward.

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Sunday, June 14, 2009

That Facebook URL Thing

I caught the Facebook url bug today, so you can now find us @:

www.facebook.com/garryjwise

Friday, June 12, 2009

California Marketing Executive Awarded $4.1.Billion in Wrongful Dismissal Suit

A California arbitrator has awarded a marketing executive compensation of $4.1 billion in a wrongful dismissal claim.

Via World of Work:

An arbitrator recently awarded $4.1 billion in favor of the former chief marketing officer of iFreedom Communications Inc., finding that iFreedom breached his employment contract by firing him without cause. You read that right: $4.1 billion, with a "b." U.S. Dollars, not Zimbabwean. Don't believe us? You can read the opinion yourself: Chester v. iFreedom Communications Inc.


...So, how did Chester rack up $4.1 billion in damages? The employment agreement guaranteed him a salary of $12,000 a month plus commissions of 5 percent of gross sales; if he was fired without cause, he would continue to receive commissions. iFreedom also was supposed to provide Chester with 1.1 million shares of common stock upon hiring and another 600,000 shares if he met certain sales targets . Apparently, iFreedom did really, really well. Sales, stock and interest added up, and in a big way.

International Enforcement of Ontario Child Support Orders

In response to an enquiry today, I thought it would be useful to post the folllowing links from the Ministry of Justice, detailing the nations with which Ontario and other Canadian provinces have reciprocal child support enforcement arrangements:

On Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosalie Abella

Writer Kirk Makin profiles Madame Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada in today's Globe and Mail:

Five years after Judge Abella arrived on the court, the jury is in. Having largely silenced critics of her public profile and vocal support of social causes, Judge Abella has emerged as a tower of strength in her favoured fields - family law, employment law, youth criminal justice and human rights.

In addition, the growing number of majority judgments that she writes has stifled any suggestion that Judge Abella aspires to be a squeaky wheel.

"Justice Abella certainly started slowly, but I see a judge who is starting to assert herself as a distinct judicial personality on the court," said Bruce Ryder, a professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. "I see her emerging as a leader on the court."

See Mr. Makin's article: Justice tempered with a soft heart

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Canadian Human Rights Commission Releases Report on Section 13 Hate Provision

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has tabled a report to Parliament on the nation's hate laws.


Section 13 is the provision of the federal Act that addresses publication of extreme hate speech online and elsewhere:
The Commission is mindful of the changing nature of hate activity, especially with regard to hate on the Internet. The Commission is also aware of the criticism by some of how the Commission deals with section 13 cases. Both the Criminal Code and the CHRA could be amended to better deal with current realities. This section reviews the Commission’s observations and recommendations.
The current text of Section 13 is as follows:

Hate messages

13. (1) It is a discriminatory practice for a person or a group of persons acting in concert to communicate telephonically or to cause to be so communicated, repeatedly, in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking within the legislative authority of Parliament, any matter that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.

nterpretation

(2) For greater certainty, subsection (1) applies in respect of a matter that is communicated by means of a computer or a group of interconnected or related computers, including the Internet, or any similar means of communication, but does not apply in respect of a matter that is communicated in whole or in part by means of the facilities of a broadcasting undertaking.

Interpretation

(3) For the purposes of this section, no owner or operator of a telecommunication undertaking communicates or causes to be communicated any matter described in subsection (1) by reason only that the facilities of a telecommunication undertaking owned or operated by that person are used by other persons for the transmission of that matter.

R.S., 1985, c. H-6, s. 13; 2001, c. 41, s. 88.

The proposed amendments seek to clarify the definitions of "hatred" and "contempt" under the CHRA and the nation's Criminal Code.

As well, procedural safeguards are suggested, including changes allowing the Commission to summarily dismiss groundless complaints at an early stage and to make awards of costs against a complainants who file frivolous complaints that abuse the Tribunal process:
RECOMMENDATION 1

It is recommended that both the Criminal Code of Canada and the Canadian Human Rights Act continue to contain provisions to deal with hate on the Internet.

RECOMMENDATION 2

It is recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to provide a statutory definition of "hatred" and "contempt" in accordance with the definition applied by the Supreme Court of Canada in Taylor.

RECOMMENDATION 3

It is recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to allow for an award of costs in exceptional circumstances where the Tribunal finds that a party has abused the Tribunal process.

RECOMMENDATION 4

It is recommended that section 41 of the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to include a provision that allows the dismissal of section 13 complaints when messages do not meet the narrow definition of hatred or contempt.

RECOMMENDATION 5

It is recommended that the penalty provision in section 54(1)(c) of the Canadian Human Rights Act be repealed..

The proposed amendments will likely do little to satisfy the more extreme and vocal critics of the nation's human rights commissions, who view all provincial and federal human rights legislation as an egregious affront to freedom of speech in Canada.

Our regular readers will recall that I've never shared that opinion - I've simply not been of the view that the CHRA was ever particularly flawed or broken.

If accepted by the Harper government, however, the proposed changes will go a long way toward addressing many of the critics' most commonly stated concerns, by bringing additional balance, certainty and procedural fairness to the federal tribunal process.

I have no difficulty acknowledging that the proposed changes will improve what is already a reasonably good system - the good news is the proposed changes seek to do so without threatening our legislation framework for addressing the most extreme examples of online hatred.

More on this from the Ottawa Citizen - see: Rights commission rejects call to quit policing online hate.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Lawyers Got Their Blue Jeans On

It's not quite blue jeans on Bay Street, but at least one San Francisco firm has opted for comfort over style in its summer "dress code" for lawyers.

In a breakthrough for legal couture, blue jeans will be de rigueur this summer at Latham & Watkins’ San Francisco office.

Well, sort of....
Dressier clothing is required for client meetings or court appearances, though.
Makes me think of the Jeff Healy Band's Blue Jeans Blues:

I done run into my baby,
and finally found my old blue jeans
Well, I done ran into my baby,
and finally found my old blue jeans
I knew they was mine,
by the oil and the gasoline, yeah
If I ever get back my blue jeans,
well how happy could one man be?
I said, uh, if I ever get back my blue jeans,
well, how happy can one man be?
'Cause when I get back those blue jeans,
yeah, you know my baby,
will bring em home to me
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The Jeff Healey Band Blue Jean Blues lyrics

(Conceptual credit to my friend, Dave Bilinsky)

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Rachel's Bits and Briefs

Food Fight

If you have been out and about in Toronto lately, you may have noticed the A La Cart vendors that have been popping up.

If not, you’re in for a treat.

The Toronto Sun reported on a decision last December by Toronto City Council to allow the Toronto Public Health pilot project “A La Cart.”

For some, however, the decision came with a price. Existing hot dog vendors who have paid thousands of dollars in licensing fees have been excluded from the new project:

"We were hoping our menus could be changed as well," said Marianne Moroney, executive director of the Street Food Vendors Association, which represents about 100 Toronto hot dog vendors.
"They talk about ethnic diversity, well, we have 25 spoken languages in our membership. The project should've been hatched through our members who are highly regulated and already have street experience, but we were shut out of the process."

After presenting a business plan and paying $40,000.00 for the new A La Cart cart and location fee, eight vendors were chosen. One of the stipulations of this decision was that the owners had to agree to work 70% of the time and pre-cook their dishes in a kitchen.

Here are where some of Toronto's new street delicacies can be found:

Nathan Philips SquareBiryani and Souvlaki

Roadhouse ParkInerja

St. Clair Avenue & Yonge Street – Jerk Chicken

Mel Lastman Square – Pad Thai

Metro Hall – Kebabs

Queen’s Park – Kebab Wraps

Yonge St. & Eglinton AvenueBulgogi with Kimchi


Unveiled: The Amended Canadian Citizen Act

On April 17th, 2009 the Amended Canadian Citizenship Act (C.C.A.) came in to effect. The Lawyers Weekly reports that the new Act contains major changes.

Highlights of the new C.C.A. include granting Canadian Citizenship to those who lost citizenship as a result of the preceding amendments, restoring citizenship to those who were forced to renounce their Canadian Citizenship when they became citizens of other countries, and granting citizenship to those who were not previously qualified.

In addition,

“The new Act denies automatic citizenship to the grandchildren of Canadians living abroad. According to the Canadian government, by denying citizenship to second-generation children and beyond, the Act is protecting the value of Canadian citizenship.”

The amendments arose in response to recent U.S. immigration policy changes which included the tightening of border security. Due to these changes, many travelers, who had assumed they were citizens, were denied Canadian passports.

The article sets out additional changes enacted by the amendments:

The new law restores citizenship to those who had become citizens when the first Citizenship Act was enacted on Jan. 1, 1947, including people born in Canada prior to 1947 and war brides. It also restores citizenship to other British subjects who had lived in Canada for at least five years before 1947, became citizens on Jan. 1, 1947 and subsequently lost citizenship.
The new law restores citizenship to people who were born in Canada or who became citizens on or after Jan. 1, 1947 and then lost their citizenship as a result of becoming a citizen of another country (dual citizenship was not permitted prior to 1977). It gives citizenship to some people who were never citizens. This includes people who were born outside Canada on or after Jan. 1, 1947 and are first-generation descendents born abroad to Canadian citizens.”

Others will not gain citizenship:

...It does not include people who did not become citizens when the first Citizenship Act took effect on Jan. 1, 1947 or who were born in Canada but are not citizens because one of their parents was a foreign diplomat and neither parent was a permanent resident or citizen of Canada.
Those who did not gain citizenship under the new amendments include those who renounced their citizenship as adults with the Canadian government; who were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent and were not already citizens; who lost their citizenship in the past; who were born in the second or next generation abroad (this includes people who failed to retain citizenship); or who had their citizenship revoked by the government because it was obtained by fraud.”

Previously, the law permitted Canadians to pass their citizenship on to each generation born outside of Canada. A significant change referred to as the “first-generation limitation” allows children born to Canadian parents who were the first generation outside of Canada, to be granted Canadian citizenship if either parent was born in Canada or if one became a Canadian citizen by immigrating and being granted Canadian citizenship.

An interesting exception applies to all children born to a Canadian parent working for Canadian Forces or the Canadian federal or provincial governments, who will be granted citizenship.


The Green Energy & Green Economy Act

The Ontario Green Energy Act website notes the recent passage of the Green Energy & Green Economy Act (GE & EA) which has been said to be beneficial from not only a climate and environmental perspective, but also as an investment in new companies and employment.

The Act aims to improve conservation programs, promote investment in renewable energy projects through North America's first feed-in tariff program, and create green jobs. The Act, introduced in November 2008, is the cornerstone of the government's plan to put Ontario on a path towards reducing Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions, while becoming a leader in the emerging global renewable energy sector.

Various industries are on board with the new Act. Many see it as a positive step in combatting the Province's current economic crisis:

"With today's passage of the Green Energy Act, and the investments to support it, Ontario is starting down the road to a green jobs future," said Ken Neumann, National Director of United Steelworkers of Canada. "The members of our union are ready and eager to produce the next generation of clean energy products and parts, such as steel for windmills and glass for solar panels. The future of manufacturing in Ontario lays, in part, in the green jobs of the future."

- Rachel Spence, Legal Assistant, Wise, Toronto

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