Program Title: Headlines for September 3rd, 2008
Description: Theme Lee Fields

Good morning,

My name is Brodie MacRae and my name is Chesley Walsh. It's Wednesday September the 3rd, and these are some of the week's headlines from CKUT's Community News Collective in Montreal.

Blair WIlson became the FIRST EVER federal Member of Parliament for the Green party of Canada last week.

The Vancouver-area MP was elected as a Liberal in 2006 but resigned from the party amidst allegations of spending irregularities.

However, Elections Canada cleared him of all allegations this summer.

He remained in office as an INDEPENDENT until last SATURDAY, when Green party leader Elizabeth May announced that he had joined the Greens.

May said that with a Green MP in OFFICE, the party cannot be excluded from televised LEADERS' DEBATES during an election.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to call an election in the next week.

We go now to news from Queen's University, in Kingston Ontario.

>>> Queen's Grad Students Union - Sept 3.mp3 (1m28)

In other labour news, workers at Montreal's QUEEN ELIZABETH hotel went on strike last Thursday.

The demands of the 600 workers at the Queen Elizabeth -- who are represented The CSN -- include a reduction in the number of rooms that they are responsible for cleaning, in response to an increased workload.

They are also demanding a limit on the number of non-union workers hired from outside agencies, a salary increase, and an increased number of paid sick days.

Hotel workers are also on strike at Montreal's Sheraton Four Points hotel.

On Friday, the labour relations board for the province of Quebec ordered the Sheraton to refrain from using the services of six (quote) "volunteer" workers.

Four of these workers were minors, ranging from 13 to 16 years of age.

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And now to the United States, where Hurricane Gustav slammed the Gulf Coast just west of New Orleans on Monday.

Gustav was weaker than expected, turning into a Category 2 storm and sparing the city from a devastating hit.

However, the two million people who left New Orleans to avoid the hurricane will not be able to return home until just after midnight Thursday morning.

Forecasters also warn that another storm, Hurricane Hanna, could hit the Gulf Coast by midweek.
  
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Canada has dispatched a C-17 Globemaster cargo plane and two CC-130 Hercules aircraft to the region to assist with medical evacuations after a request from the U.S. government.

This marks the first time that the civil assistance plan signed six months ago between U.S. Northern Command and Canada Command was implemented.

The Civil Assistance Plan is a bilateral Canada-United States plan that facilitates military-to-military cooperation in the event of a civil emergency in either country.
 
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On the Friday before Hurricane Gustav was due to hit, Security contractor Blackwater Worldwide issued a call for personnel to be deployed in the streets of New Orleans. In 2005, the mercenary company made $70 million in federal money off of its Hurricane Katrina contracts alone.
 
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Meanwhile, between 10 and 40 thousand protesters marched on Monday at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul Minnesota,

More than 280 people were arrested, leading up to and during the march, including several journalists.

Among them was Amy Goodman -- who is the host of the newscast Democracy Now.

Two other Democracy Now producers and a photographer for the Associated Press were also arrested.

Police reportedly dispersed crowds using pepper spray and rubber bullets.

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In other news, former professor Dr. Sami Al-Arian has been released from U.S. custody for the first time in more than five years. He awaits trial on charges of refusing to testify before a grand jury.

Al-Arian has been imprisoned since 2003, after John Ashcroft accused him of being a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Dr. Al-Arian’s case has been one of the most controversial post-9/11 prosecutions in the US. He has been jailed despite a jury’s failure to return a single guilty verdict.  The prosecution has conceded that there is no evidence directly tying Dr. Al-Arian to a single terrorist attack.

Theme Lee Fields

And those are some of the week's headlines from CKUT's Community News Collective in Montreal.

Thanks this week to Laurin Liu, Courtney Kirkby, and David Koch. I'm Brodie MacRae and I'm Chesley Walsh.

To contact us, email headlines@ckut.ca or call 514-448-4041 extension 6788.

Host(s): Brodie MacRae and Chesley Walsh
Featured Speakers/Guests:

Credits: Laurin Liu, Courtney Kirkby, David Koch, Brodie MacRae, and Chesley Walsh.

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Topic: News Type: Weekly Program

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