Canada in brief: Jan. 13, 2010

No new stimulus plan for upcoming budget
OTTAWA – According to Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a press conference on Jan. 11, a new stimulus plan will not be introduced with the budget this March.

A spending program has been deemed unnecessary as the economy has stabilized, moving out of a recession.

The current $46-billion stimulus package will be phased out as scheduled by Mar. 31, 2011.

The deficits amounting due to the recession should not lead to detrimental structural deficits.
–Compiled by Linda Givetash

Faculty band together against climate change
WINNIPEG (CUP) – Dr. Helmut Burkhardt, a professor emeritus at Ryerson University, believes there is no question about the scientific necessity of replacing oil and coal with renewable energy.

Politicians often claim economic infeasibility as the major hurdle to jump from tried and true fossil fuels to renewable energy, said Burkhardt, whose discipline is physics.

In an effort to bring attention to climate change, faculty members from universities from across the country signed an open letter to the Canadian government at the end of December through Science for Peace, enforcing the need to drastically reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible.

Although the letter does not outline a specific timeline to reduce carbon emissions, Burkhardt said the change has to happen within the decade.
–Ashley Gaboury, CUP Central Bureau Chief

Canadians take to the streets online
MONTREAL (CUP) – Canadians have been anything but quiet since Prime Minister Stephen Harper once again requested that Parliament be suspended.

A contingent of anti-prorogation Canadians has convened through a Facebook group called “Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament,” which, as of the afternoon of Jan. 12, had a membership of close to 172,000.

In contrast, the “I Support the Prorogation of Parliament and the Prime Minister of Canada” Facebook group had about 800 members at the same moment.
–Michael Bramadat-Willcock, The Concordian