Marc Montgomery, Carmel Kilkenny, Lynn Desjardins, Marie-Claude Simard

The Link ONLINE- Jan.26-27-28, 2018

Your hosts this week, Carmel, Lynn, Marie-Claude, Marc  (video of show at bottom)

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WATER CRISIS- CAPE TOWN

The amount of water in Voelvlei Dam near Cape Town, one of the region’s largest water catchments, is nearing a critical level. PHOTO:
Mike Hutchings/Reuters

The city of Cape Town, with it’s almost 4 million souls, is almost out of water.  The estimated date of having none left. Day Zero, is only a couple of months away in early April.

A Canadian expert who knows the situation well says its something all major cities in the world should be taking very careful note of.. The reason is that many, if not most of the cities have ageing infrastructure like Cape Town which leaks much of its potable water through old pipes, but even more so, climate change will affect hydrological patterns, and almost never for the better.

In this excerpt of their conversation, Marc spoke with Larry Swatuk (PhD) a professor of international development at the University of Waterloo here in Canada, and extraordinary professor at the Institute for Water Studies, University of Western Cape, S. Africa, and asked first about the role of ageing infrastructure in the overall problem, something that many cities have to deal with…

GAP WIDENS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR

A Bangladeshi garment worker reacts before the media after police baton charged them in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Bangladesh police on Thursday entered the premises of a garment factory, fired tear gas and used batons to disperse workers who were on a hunger strike since July 28 demanding payment of their salaries and festival allowances. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

The renowned aid agency OXFAM has released a new report on the growing gap between the world’s rich and poor. It was released in time for the meeting of the world’s rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland

The report notes the growing erosion of worker’s rights, excessive corporate influence on government, and pursuit of profit for shareholders over well-being of employees.

Lynn spoke with Diana Saroisi, manager of policy at OXFAM Canada.

NAFTA TRADE TALKS-MONTREAL

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland with Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, left, and Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative, during the final day of the third round of NAFTA negotiations in Ottawa on Sept. 27, 2017. The NAFTA negotiations are moving to non-capital cities for a first meeting outside of Washington, Mexico City and Ottawa, beginning in Montreal. (Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

The talks about renogiating the North America Free Trade Agreement with Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, resumed this past week in Montreal.

But while the weather was cold outside, observers say it wasn’t all that warm at the talks either.

The feeling seems to be that U.S. President Trump would be favourable to having the deal fail, and then possibly renegotiate a separate deal with Canada. Carmel spoke with

Ian Lee, associate professor at the Sprott School of Business, at Carleton University in Ottawa.who was an observer of the original Canada-U.S Free Trade Agreement in 1988, later expaned to NAFTA in 1994 with the inclusion of Mexico.

Photos of the week

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