December 2006

By Ellen Gould
Briarpatch Magazine
December 2006/January 2007

Canada�s most ideologically right-wing provincial governments have joined forces in an agreement that erodes their own powers�and now they are trying to sell other provinces on the deal. Ellen Gould argues that the rest of Canada would be well-advised to reject the deal as an attack on their very right to govern.

On a CBC radio show in October, British Columbia�s Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen and Alberta�s Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Gary Mar boasted about how Saskatchewan was keen to sign on to TILMA, the BC/Alberta Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement. This agreement, which goes far beyond existing trade agreements, was signed by British Columbia and Alberta in April, 2006, after zero consultation with the general public. The agreement will come into effect in April, 2007.

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By Don Kossick
Briarpatch Magazine
December 2006/January 2007

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is driven not only by the spread of the disease among vulnerable and marginalized populations, but also by the unwillingness of transnational drug companies to allow the widespread use of generic antiretroviral treatment to challenge their patent control. Simply put, intellectual property rights and free trade agreements have undercut the ability of countries to provide generic antiretroviral drugs to save people with HIV/AIDS.

In spite of a formal agreement allowing the most affected countries to get generic drugs to those who need them, the large pharmaceutical companies, the US government and other governments have continued to use unfair trade rules and procedures to throw up obstacle after obstacle to protect the patent regimes that ensure that Big Pharma profits from their drug sales.

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Briarpatch Magazine
December 2006/January 2007

The Golden Voice of the Great Southwest, Utah Phillips is the embodiment of folk music. A Korean War vet fighting for peace as a political activist, Utah was destined to make himself heard. In 1969, blacklisting and poverty pushed him into the folk scene, and its nourishing community kept him there. Utah drew on his own life experience while learning and singing about the life experience of countless others. Having criss-crossed the US as a vagabond, sharing his love of histories both written and oral, Phillips soon found himself with a plethora of stories to tell. Now, close to 40 years later, he is still telling them with as much passion and humour as he ever did.

Clare Powell caught up with Phillips at the Regina Folk Festival in August.

Briarpatch: You’ve been in the entertainment industry for a long, long time. How long?

Utah Phillips: Well, I’m not in the entertainment industry, I’m in the entertainment trade. I work at a sub-industrial level. I make a living and not a killing, see? I avoid capitalism as much as I can. In fact, my record label, which I own, is called On Strike Music: I’m on strike against the music industry.

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By Peter Dodson
Briarpatch Magazine
December 2006/January 2007

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was faced with the decision of whether to extend the exemption from Canada’s drug laws (the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) for Vancouver’s Safe Injection Site (InSite). InSite has been generating much attention for its unconventional approach to drug abuse, giving users a safe, clean space to shoot up and access to medical attention and addiction counseling.

Harper’s objection to InSite, shared by many social conservatives, is ideological: he believes that drug addiction is primarily a criminal issue and should be treated as such through strict enforcement of the laws. Social conservatives see InSite as a form of appeasement—giving the addicts what they want, thereby encouraging rather than combating drug use. But the available research says otherwise, showing that InSite not only reduces public drug use and needle-sharing, but also encourages addicts to enter into treatment more frequently than those who don’t use the site. For Harper the question was simple: should he follow the dictates of his ideology and force Vancouver back to a policy of strict enforcement, or continue to fund a successful and innovative program that was having a positive impact?

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