Ontario To Raise Minimum Wage
by Terry Wilson
Canadian Awareness Network
January 28, 2014
am980.ca
Ontario’s lowest paid workers will likely get a raise this year when the $10.25 an hour minimum wage is hiked for the first time in four years.
Sources say a special panel set up to look at ways of adjusting the minimum wage will recommend it be tied to the inflation rate, and that businesses get four months warning of any increases.
The panel did not say what the new rate should be, but sources say the minimum wage will be increased retroactively back to 2010 based on the rate of inflation since then.
Business groups warn a hike in the minimum wage will only hurt the very people it’s supposed to help by driving up costs, resulting in fewer jobs. However, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce last year called for future changes in the minimum wage to be tied to the rate of inflation.
Premier Kathleen Wynne says businesses and individuals should be pleased at having a more predictable system in place.
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Raising the minimum wage in Ontario has been a top priority amongst the political “left” for the last few years and has been heavily scrutinized by economists and business owners. Below is an example of why they oppose the move. (it is an American video but does highlight the issues of raising minimum wages)
The move is more likely to hurt the workforce in Ontario rather than helping workers. In fact many see that this move will only encourage businesses to replace workers with computerized stations.
This move is also coming on the heels of a huge spike in hydro costs for the province. Media has been reporting a 46% increase on hydro prices over the next five years, and the Ontario NDP is stating the increase will be in the 74% range.
A move that is driving the remains of Ontario’s manufacturing base out of the province. Why would a manufacturer set up shop in Ontario, when they can do so in another province or country while having less power charges?
It seems that every move this provincial government makes is just another nail in the Ontario job market’s coffin.
Engineering The Rollout Of Geoengineering
by Bernie Suarez
Activist Post
Jan 30, 2014
The systematic pre-planned rollout of geoengineering and aerosol spraying of our skies is now in full swing. This attempt to roll chemtrails out to the general public was predicted and anticipated by many in the movement for years, but now we are seeing the actual implementation of the agenda. Chemical spraying nationwide has been relentless for years.
All of humanity has been watching planes dropping their sustained chemical trails which artificially start and stop whenever chemical barrels are empty or when perhaps the person or system controlling the release of these chemicals from the planes needs to. All of this has been happening in broad daylight. We’ve watched as these unmarked planes with transponders in the off position sneak around the skies (go to flightaware.com and confirm this for yourself). These same non-passenger planes are known to loop around and fly back in the same path previously traveled. Whistleblowers have come out and confirmed many segments of these mass operations. I have personally interviewed someone who had regular access to a large military Air Force base and confirmed the spraying of the “white stuff”. Others have taken up to sampling soil, water and air, all which have turned up exponentially high levels of improbable metals, and the accompanying pH increases that come with that. Many of the metals found just happen to match the metals required in the same weather modification patents issued to U.S. defense contractors. All of these metal elements are incompatible with life. All have deleterious effects on all of nature, its life forms and its life cycles. All of these realities ignored by the U.S. government, its mouthpiece politicians and the mouthpiece geoengineers.
All of this information only confirms and vindicates the whistleblowers who have spoken out against chemtrails spraying operations. For years now chemtrails operations have become common knowledge, having been exposed worldwide from deep in the trenches of the movement to the public and private letter writing efforts to politicians and other agencies informing and inquiring about these programs and asking for their help. At some point in say the last 5-10 years the movement started getting attention from segments of media but the script eventually became clear: chemtrails was to be denied and not talked about. Soon we saw those stories about chemtrails go away, ignored, side-stepped and even replaced by other environmental concerns.
Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich may have learned about the need to keep chemtrails in denial mode the hard way when his brother was mysteriously “found dead” in his own home. Was this foul play? Who knows, but this much is factually known: Kucinich was also the one who specified “chemtrails” in his Space Preservation Act of 2001. He wasn’t kidding. The opposition and its Internet trolls would have you believe he didn’t really mean chemtrails. It was all a misunderstanding. Anyone believes this? We may not know who was behind the mysterious death of his brother but we do know Kucinich never spoke about chemtrails again.
As for the movement against chemtrails, it has been met with as much resistance and propaganda as any movement. My hat goes off to the chemtrails-geoengineering activists. They’ve had to watch as the control system literally re-edits old movies and animated films to insert chemtrails into them. This is the same system that is re-educating the children that cirrus clouds and geometrically straight (tic-tac-toe) lines in the sky are part of natural cloud formation. We’ve watched paid trolls defend chemtrails by asserting (blindly) that persistent contrails is the ordinary phenomenon which explains how temperature-humidity variations dictate whether planes can change today’s weather in a matter of an hour or two. These are just some of the piles of lies that the chemtrails movement has been subjected to, up until now that is.
Until now, the globalists and their politician minions have been sitting on the deny card. This plan is about to change. The trick is how to go from covert to overt. How to say we admit we’re doing it, but then sell the item as a good thing. This is a job that can only be pulled off by Barack Obama and his administration. In times like these you need a sales closer to close the deal. Someone who can convince the victim that the punishment is good for them. Like a master-slave relationship.
VIDEO — RT first TV crew at besieged Syria town after alleged atrocity by Islamists
RT
Jan 30, 2014
It’s been more than a month since Islamist rebels seized the industrial Syrian town of Adra, and allegedly massacred dozens of civilians there. Heavy fighting left thousands displaced, and militants still hold large parts of the city, making it impossible to go in and verify the details of any atrocities. Yet RT became the first foreign TV crew to get to the area since the start of the siege – and spoke to some of the survivors.
RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air
Thailand: Thaksin Regime Turns on its Own Supporters
by Tony Cartalucci
Alt Thai News Network ATNN
Jan 29, 2014
Regime sends “red shirt” enforcers to threaten farmers and their families for protesting 6 months of unpaid subsidies – smashing the myth of “rural support.”
January 30, 2014 (ATN) – While the US, UK, and others across the West attempt to sell upcoming sham elections in Thailand as upholding “democratic values,” the regime overseeing the one-party self-mandate in a climate of regime-sanctioned terrorism, political intimidation, and a “state of emergency,” has begun turning on its own supporters – mainly farmers.
Farmers began blocking roads across the country in response to unpaid rice subsidies that are now half a year late. Thaksin Shinawatra promised 40% + over-market prices for rice as part of vote-buying populist policies that propelled his nepotist appointed sister into power in 2011. Since then, the rice-buying scheme has collapsed in scandal, corruption, and bankruptcy with government warehouses literally collapsing from the weight of rotting rice left unsold for months.
Unable to sell the rice to nations that have turned to other rice-producers over concerns of downward spiraling quality, the regime attempted to sell bonds. The sale failed to raise even half the cash necessary to pay farmers who already had promised rates slashed and delayed.
As protests began to spread across the north and northeast of Thailand, considered Thaksin Shinawatra and his regime’s stronghold, and with other farmers headed to Bangkok to join the “Occupy Bangkok” campaign, the regime has begun turning its notoriously violent “red shirt” enforcers on the farmers – most of whom, according to the BBC, AFP, Reuters, and others constituted the regime’s support base.
Image: Rice farmers in Phitsanulok province were threatened by regime “red shirts” to end their protest. Often cited by the Western media in their “class divide” narrative, it is now clear the nation’s farmers were simply used to get Thaksin Shinawtra back into power, and that the violence and intimidation usually reserved for his political opponents is now being turned on them in the wake of being cheated by his vote-buying rice subsidy scam. Rice farmers have already turned in their rice, but have not been paid for it for half a year – in other words – they were robbed. (Photo by Chinnawat Singha)
VIDEO — Disgusting Grammy Propaganda Exposed
Infowars
Jan 27, 2014
Jakari Interviews Joy Camp to talk about their satire of the Grammy’s Illuminati Award.
http://www.youtube.com/thejoycamp
Why Are Banking Executives In London Killing Themselves?
by Michael Snyder
Activist Post
Jan 29, 2014
Bankers committing suicide by jumping from the rooftops of their own banks is something that we think of when we think of the Great Depression. Well, it just happened in London, England. A vice president at JPMorgan’s European headquarters in London plunged to his death after jumping from the top of the 33rd floor. He fell more than 500 feet, and it is being reported by an eyewitness that “there was quite a lot of blood“. This comes on the heels of news that a former Deutsche Bank executive was found hanged in his home in London on Sunday. So why is this happening?
Yes, the markets have gone down a little bit recently but they certainly have not crashed yet. Could there be more to these deaths than meets the eye? You never know. And as I will discuss below, there have been a lot of other really strange things happening around the world lately as well.
But before we get to any of that, let’s take a closer look at some of these banker deaths. The JPMorgan executive that jumped to his death on Tuesday was named Gabriel Magee. He was 39 years old, and his suicide has the city of London in shock…
A bank executive who died after jumping 500ft from the top of JP Morgan’s European headquarters in London this morning has been named as Gabriel Magee.
The American senior manager, 39, fell from the 33-story skyscraper and was found on the ninth floor roof, which surrounds the Canary Wharf skyscraper.
He was a vice president in the corporate and investment bank technology department having joined in 2004, moving to Britain from the United States in 2007.
What would cause a man in his prime working years who is making huge amounts of money to do something like that?
The death on Sunday of former Deutsche Bank executive Bill Broeksmit is also a mystery.
According to the Daily Mail, police consider his death to be “non-suspicious”, which means that they believe that it was a suicide and not a murder…
A former Deutsche Bank executive has been found dead at a house in London, it emerged today.
The body of William ‘Bill’ Broeksmit, 58, was discovered at his home in South Kensington on Sunday shortly after midday by police, who had been called to reports of a man found hanging at a house.
Mr Broeksmit – who retired last February – was a former senior manager with close ties to co-chief executive Anshu Jain. Metropolitan Police officers said his death was declared as non-suspicious.
On top of that, Business Insider is reporting that a communications director at another bank in London was found dead last week…
Last week, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG died last week. The cause of death has not been made public.
Perhaps it is just a coincidence that these deaths have all come so close to one another. After all, people die all the time.
And London is rather dreary this time of the year. It is easy for people to get depressed if they are not accustomed to endless gloomy weather.
If the stock market was already crashing, it would be easy to blame the suicides on that. The world certainly remembers what happened during the crash of 1929…
Historically, bankers have been stereotyped as the most likely to commit suicide. This has a lot to do with the famous 1929 stock market crash, which resulted in 1,616 banks failing and more than 20,000 businesses going bankrupt. The number of bankers committing suicide directly after the crash is thought to have been only around 20, with another 100 people connected to the financial industry dying at their own hand within the year.
But the market isn’t crashing just yet. We definitely appear to be at a “turning point“, but things are still at least somewhat stable.
So why are bankers killing themselves?
That is a good question.
As I mentioned above, there have also been quite a few other strange things that have happened lately that seem to be “out of place”.
For example, Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report posted the following cryptic message on Twitter the other day…
What in the world does he mean by that?
Maybe that is just a case of Drudge being Drudge.
Then again, maybe not.
And on Tuesday we learned that a prominent Russian Bank has banned all cash withdrawals until next week…
Bloomberg reports that ‘My Bank’ – one of Russia’s top 200 lenders by assets – has introduced a complete ban on cash withdrawals until next week. While the Ruble has been losing ground rapidly recently, we suspect few have been expecting bank runs in Russia.
Yes, we have heard some reports of people having difficulty getting money out of their banks around the world lately, but this news out of Russia really surprised me.
Yet another story that seemed rather odd was a report in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week that stated that Germany’s central bank is advocating “a one-time wealth tax” for European nations that need a bailout…
Germany’s central bank Monday proposed a one-time wealth tax as an option for euro-zone countries facing bankruptcy, reviving a idea that has circled for years in Europe but has so far gained little traction.
Why would they be suggesting such a thing if “economic recovery” was just around the corner?
According to that same article, the IMF has recommended a similar thing…
The International Monetary Fund in October also floated the idea of a one-time “capital levy,” amid a sharp deterioration of public finances in many countries. A 10% tax would bring the debt levels of a sample of 15 euro-zone member countries back to pre-crisis levels of 2007, the IMF said.
So what does all of this mean?
I am not exactly sure, but I have got a bad feeling about this – especially considering the financial chaos that we are witnessing in emerging markets all over the globe right now.
So what do you think? Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below…
This article first appeared here at the Economic Collapse Blog. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
NAFTA and the Next Phase of North American Integration
BE YOUR OWN LEADER
Jan 27, 2014
By Dana Gabriel
In preparation for the upcoming North American Leaders Summit which will be held in Toluca, Mexico on February 19, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently held a meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts. Over the last number of years, not as much attention has been given to the trilateral relationship. Instead, the U.S. has essentially pursued a dual-bilateral approach with both Canada and Mexico on key issues including border and continental perimeter security, as well as regulatory and energy cooperation. On the heels of its 20th anniversary, there once again appears to be renewed interest in broadening and deepening the NAFTA partnership as part of the next phase of North American integration.
On January 17, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted the North American Ministerial with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Mexican Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade. The discussions centered around topics such as regulatory, energy and trade relations, along with border infrastructure and management. The meeting was used to lay the groundwork for next month’s North American Leaders Summit which will include the participation of U.S. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. During a press conference, a reporter asked about reopening NAFTA in order to update it. Secretary Kerry answered, “the TPP, is a very critical component of sort of moving to the next tier, post-NAFTA. So I don’t think you have to open up NAFTA, per se, in order to achieve what we’re trying to achieve.” Minister Baird added, “we believe that NAFTA’s been an unqualified success, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations, which all three of us are in, offer us the opportunity to strengthen the trilateral partnership.” Secretary Meade also chimed in, “We do not think it is necessary to reopen NAFTA, but we think we have to build on it to construct and revitalize the idea of a dynamic North America.”
In December 2013, the Miami Herald reported that the Obama administration, “is exploring a regional trade plan for the Americas that would be the most ambitious hemispheric initiative in years.” It went on to say that Secretary of State John Kerry, “would like to first seek an agreement to deepen the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, and to expand it afterward to the rest of Latin America.” According to some of Kerry’s top aides, “the plan to relaunch NAFTA could come as early as February, when President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts at a North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico.” The recent article, U.S. lays out goals for NAFTA cautioned that, “the shared goal of a NAFTA 2.0 that wins fresh, sustainable gains for Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the Americans warn, is unlikely to come in a single, dramatic and easily digestible sound byte.” It further noted that, “Instead, the Americans are urging a more realistic approach aimed at reviving trilateral momentum, with a dogged diplomatic effort that aggressively fine-tunes, streamlines and expands the trade pact.”
Last year, business leaders from across North America released a set of policy recommendations designed to increase continental economic integration and competitiveness. In a letter issued to President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Enrique Pena Nieto, the Business Roundtable, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios called for greater trilateral government action in the areas of intelligent border systems, regulatory standards and practices, as well as North American energy security and sustainability. The business organizations explained that, “More can and should be done to promote regulatory cooperation between our three countries, to facilitate the legitimate movement of people, goods and services.” They emphasized that the time to act was now and that their specific proposals would, “help deepen our economic ties, strengthen the international competitiveness of Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. companies and their workers, and realize North American energy self-reliance.” Their goal is to create a seamless North American market.
PN 