Page 15 March 16,2009 PROVINCIAL/ NATIONAL

PANTHER POST

IN BRIEF

Educated immigrants still at

a disadvantage A Statistics Canada re- port released last week found that immigrants earn less than Canadian- born workers, regardless of education level and work experience.

“The low earnings of immigrants are often at- tributed to the specificity of human capital to the country from which [he or she] originates, the argument being that skills generated through edu- cation or work experience in the source country cannot be directly trans- ferred to the host country, resulting in apparently well-qualified immigrants holding low-paying jobs,” reads the March 4 report.

N.S. reaffirms commitment to tuition freeze

Tuition in Nova Scotia won't be going up, at least for the next two years, as the premier has vowed to honour the tuition-freeze agreement with the prov- ince’s universities.

Rumours of a $10-million cut to post-secondary ed- ucation funding began cir- culating on March 7 when the province announced that it is short on funds and will be looking for places to cut their budget.

With files from the Canadian University Press

Oil-slicked loonies seek to ban

tankers fro

By Sam VanSchie - CUP Western Bureau Chief

VICTORIA (CUP) — Oil- stained loonies are turning up in change collections across the country, thanks to acampaign by The Dogwood Initiative, a Victoria-based non-profit environmental or- ganization.

Last month, the organiza- tion started distributing de- cals that, when placed over $1 coins, turn the loon black and advertised their cam- paign website, notankers.ca.

The website urges citizens to pressure Parliament to legislate a ban on oil tankers

on B.C.’s north coast. A leg-

islated ban would strength- en the 1971 suspension of tanker traffic in B.C.’s inner coastal waterways.

“Every decal you see is there because somebody volunteered their time to put it there,” said Charles Camp- bell, a Dogwood Initiative spokesperson.

The campaign was sparked by the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which would ship almost half the current oilsands crude oil production to Asia via pipelines and a tanker port in Kitimat, B.C. when

completed.

Dogwood insists that the volume of oil going through the coast would undoubtedly result in a spill.

“The decals are a good ac- tivist tool because they keep the issue in front of people’s eyes,” Campbell said.

The decals are for sale on the Dogwood website, and for $10, supporters are sent 42 decals.

Campbell says there have been over 400 orders from places as far east as Nova Scotia. They also sent decals out, free of charge, to many of their supporters.

The group has a deal with a community grocery store in Calgary to have decals put on all the loonies they give

m B.C. coast

“Tt’s a pretty exciting part- nership for us,” said Camp- bell. “I don’t think people expect to see that kind of thing in Calgary — oil coun- isa ae

But according to the Royal Canadian Mint, decals are trademark violation _ that contravene Section 11 of the Currency Act by using Cana- dian coins for purposes other than as currency.

They sent Dogwood a cease and desist order just days after the campaign was launched. But Campbell says the Mint seems to have backed off.

“We sent back a letter of.

response that said we would continue our campaign,” said

Campbell. “They said they would get back to us within a week and [a month later] they never did.”

Over 200,000 decals have been distributed across the country and Dogwood has ordered another 250,000 to give out around March 24, which they and other en- vironmental groups have deemed No Tanker Day. It’s also 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

“We’re asking our support- ers to make all their purchas- es that day using No Tanker loonies,” said Campbell, not- ing that special party packs of the decals will be avail- able on their website leading up to the event to help make that possible.

Canada tending towards single parent families

By Dan Huyghebaert |

WINNIPEG (CUP) — Kirstie Lindsay has been a single

| parent by choice to her

daughter for 15 years.

“I grew up in an absentee father household,” Lindsay said. With her father gone, Lindsay found it difficult to acknowledge her self-worth.

She wanted to spare her daughter this experience.

“T felt it was better to raise a child in a household where

‘she was wanted, loved, and

needed with one parent, rath- er than have one parent there all the time and the other be- ing absentee,” she said.

Susan Prentice, a Univer-

sity of Manitoba sociology

professor, says Lindsay is part of a growing Canadian trend towards single-parent families, thanks in part to di- vorce rates.