Disappearing activists, plain-clothed gunmen shooting into demonstrations, flagrant use of torture by state authorities âe" these scenes are reminiscent of former fascist dictatorships in South America or the current U.S. occupation of Iraq.

But these are, in fact, scenes from a new documentary filmed in Mexico, which recently had its Canadian premiere at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto.

Canada's steady “deep integration” with the UnitedStates is being designed and driven by corporategroups on both sides of the border, while beingsupported by our federal government, says Maude Barlow, spokespersonfor the Council of Canadians.

She warns that the Canadiangovernment is making efforts to harmonizeNorth American regulations on immigration, nationalsecurity, the economy and refugee policies, andtalks of the negative impact this would have onCanadians.

“This is a turning point for Canada and it's also a turning point for the neoliberal project, for the privatization project,” said Naomi Klein last week at a fundraiser for the Ontario Health Coalition.

“In Canada we have weird timing.

The vote is one of democracyâe(TM)s most fundamental tools, but a growing number of Canadians think that tool could use a serious overhaul. And soon Ontarians will have the chance to vote for change âe" that is, if the public-education campaign thatâe(TM)s meant to let them know about it ever gets off the ground.

A weak public-education campaign is thought to be to blame for the failure of the 2005 B.C. referendum on electoral reform to result in a new proportional voting system.

Paul Hoepfner-Homme, 26, shows off his ripening cherry tomatoes, chard, zucchinis, and a myriad of other vegetables. It was only earlier this year that Paul converted a gravel parking space into a bio-intensive garden behind his rented apartment in downtown Toronto.

It was in Nicole Sullivanâe(TM)s second month of university that she first surmised there was something suspect going on with the water fountains at her school.

Sullivan, a York University undergrad, noticed that the only water fountain in her environmental studies faculty was broken. Of course, it helped that some students had drawn attention to the fact by painting mournfully blue water drops down the fountainâe(TM)s sides. It turns out the fountain hasnâe(TM)t worked for over two years.

Outspoken British Member of Parliament George Galloway criticized the hypocrisy of the Western discourse on Palestine and the Arabic world, in a recent sold-out event organized by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.

Windsor — On the day after over 300 media critics, students, journalists and independent media pioneers from around the world converged on Windsor for a conference that drew, among others, Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and rabble.ca-founder Judy Rebick — Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias wrote an article noting how the mainstream media largely ignored the event.

“[T]here are no corporate media here but me,” wrote Zerbisias.

Itâe(TM)s been the hot topic in Toronto media for more than a month âe" Toronto is broke, and everyone is pointing fingers over whoâe(TM)s at fault. But behind the scenes of mud-slinging and hyperbole gleefully showcased by mainstream media, a more sinister tale can be told of a city in the stranglehold of broken democracy.

Itâe(TM)s a story, really, that could be told about any municipality in Canada. Itâe(TM)s the struggle between the creation of progressive policies, and the media-savvy right-wing lobby groups who stand in the way.