2014 In Review

Here's some other significant stories of 2014.

[b]Local news (Greater Vancouver):[/b]

-- Gregor Robertson is re-elected to a third term as Mayor of Vancouver.

-- COPE runs a Mayoral candidate and a majority slate for council for the first time since 2002.

-- Derek Corrigan is re-elected as Mayor of Burnaby, winning 68.9 percent of votes cast.

-- Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts decides not to run for re-election, instead deciding to run for the Conservative Party nomination in the federal riding of South Surrey--White Rock. Linda Hepner is elected as the new Mayor of Surrey, for the Surrey First party of which Diane Watts is also a member.

-- Kinder Morgan's illegal clearcutting and drilling on Burnaby Mountain sparks major protests.

-- 51 Year-old Phuong Na Du is killed by the VPD at the intersection of 41st and Knight in Vancouver.

-- Main street Skytrain Station undergoes major upgrades beginning in April, to accomodate fare gates. This results in special 2-car "Train 2 Main" service through to December, when regular service to Main Street Station resumes (regular trains are 4 cars -- these bypassed Main Street Station during the construction).

-- The Expo Line Skytrain suffers two major malfunctions in July, and a third major malfunction in October, all of which cause major delays.

[b]BC News:[/b]

-- Kitimat residents vote No to the Enbridge pipeline in a non-binding plebescite, by a margin of 58.4 percent to 41.6 percent.

-- Federal government approves the Enbridge pipeline. Two major protests are held against Enbridge in Vancouver: one on Saturday, May 10, at Sunset Beach; and an emergnecy rally on Tuesday, June 17, at the CBC Plaza, the day Enbridge was approved.

-- BC Government approves the Site C Dam.

-- SCOC approves land title for the Tsilhqot'in.

-- Mount Polley mine Tailings Pond spills into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, Quesnel Lake and Cariboo Creek. This poisons the water supply for the community of Likely, BC.

-- The BC government passes Bill 4, which ammends the Parks Act to allow industrial incursions into provincial parklands including energy extraction, construction of pipelines and industry-led research.

-- John Horgan is elected as the new leader of the BC NDP.

[b]National News:[/b]

-- The CBC announces that it will cut 1,500 jobs over the next five years. A large protest is held in Montreal to protest the cuts to Radio-Canada, CBC's french language service.

-- Canadian government passes anti-prostitution legislation that criminalizes the purchase of prostitution, while leaving the sale of prostitution technically legal.

-- Ontario Government approves clearcut logging on the territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation near Kenora.

-- Allison Redford resigns as Premier of Alberta amidst a spending scandal. The ruling Progressive Conservative (PC) party elects Jim Prentice as Alberta's new Premier.

-- Most of the caucus of the Wildrose Party, including its leader Danielle Smith, crosses the floor to join the Alberta PC government.

-- Rob Ford admits to smoking Crack during his time as Mayor of Toronto.

-- Rob Ford is disgnosed with Cancer. Ford refused to step down as mayor, but withdraws from the 2014 Mayoral race just prior to the deadline, and his brother Doug Ford enters the race.

-- John Tory is elected as Mayor of Toronto, after emerging as the Anybody But Ford candidate in the Last couple of months of the election campaign. Doug Ford finishes a close second. Olivia Chow finishes a distant third after holding a sizeable lead in the polls through the first several months of the campaign.

-- The People's Social Forum (PSF) is held in Ottawa from August 21-24. 6,000 people are registered for the PSF; and at least 6,000 people march on Parliament Hill on August 21.

-- Mass protests in Montreal against austerity plans by the Liberal government in Québec.

-- Joe Oliver replaces the late Jim Flaherty as Finance Minister.

-- Ricochet Media holds the most successful crowdfunder in Canadian media, from late May to late June, raising $75,000. Ricochet Media launches a preview website in mid-June, and then launches their full website at the beginning of October.

-- Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois launches the most successful crowdfunder in Canadian history, when he announces on Toute Le Monde En Parle that he is donating his $25,000 Governor-General's award prize money to the fight against the Energy East Pipeline. The crowdfunder raises an additional $170,000 to fight the project.

-- Former Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Jean Béliveau dies at the age of 83.

-- Former hockey player and coach Patt Quinn dies at the age of 73.

-- Libby Davies (Vancouver Eat MP) announces she will not seek re-election in 2015.

[b]International News:[/b]

-- Evo Morales is elected to a third term as President of Bolivia, with 60% of the votes cast. After the election, Morales declares it "a triumph of the anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists" and dedicates his win to both Castro and Chávez.

-- Thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations: The two countries participate in a prisoner exchange, in which Cuba releases an unnamed U.S. intelligence asset (imprisoned for 20 years), and the U.S. releases the final three members of the Cuban Five (imprisoned since 1998). The U.S. announces plans to open a U.S. embassy in Havana, and Obama announces his intention to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba (though the actual repeal of the legislation authorizing the embargo is up to congress).

-- The U.S., Canada, and a few other countries launch an air war against ISIS in Iraq, and in the case of the United States, also in Syria. This air war does not have the backing of the U.N. or NATO. Many of these countries also have military advisors in Iraq.

-- Israel launches 50 days of airstrikes and a ground invasion against Gaza in Operation Protective Edge, killing at least 2,200 people, injuring thousands more, reducing much of Gaza to rubble, turning a large portion of the population into internal refugees, and  instituting a 1 mile "buffer zone" inside Gaza. This is the most brutal of Israel's three major assaults on Gaza (Dec 2008-Jan 2009, Nov 2012, Jul-Aug 2014). Mass Protests against the assault are held in hundreds of cities around the world. The protests in London (England) were particularly notable, where one of the demonstrations had a reoorted turnout of a million people.

-- The U.S. vetoes Palestine's bid for Statehood at the U.N. Security Council.

-- Fascist government in Ukraine launches a brutal war against seperatist regions in the east of the country, leaving thousands dead and wounded; and thousands more turned into refugees.

-- A second civil war begins in Libya between secular and muslim forces.

-- NATO officially ends its combat role in Afghanistan, though military advisors from some NATO countries remain in Afghanistan.

-- Malala Yousufzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

-- The Pakistani Taliban attack a millitary-run school in Peshwar District, killing 141 people.

-- Narendra Modi is elected as the new Prime Minister of India.

-- Cuba sends over 300 medical professionals to help fight the ebola outbreak in Africa, a move completely ignored by the mainstream media in the advanced capitalist countries. The Cuban contingent represents over half of all foreign medical professionals sent to Africa to help fight Ebola.

-- Protests in Burkina Faso lead to the resignation of President Blaise Compaore, who was President for 27 years. Lt. Col Isaac Zida will govern until elections in 2015.

-- Nigerian Islamic jihadist group Boko Haram kidnaps 276 school girls in Nigeria. Boko Haram forces the girls to convert to Islam, and to marry against their will.

-- Man Haron Monis holds hostage ten customers and eight employees of the Lindt Chocolate Café in Sydney, Australia. The police takedown leaves Man Haron Nonis and two of the hostages dead, and three hostages plus a police officer are wounded.

-- 43 Mexican education students dissapear during a protest against the poor funding of the Mexican education system, victims of police and paramilitaries. The dissapearances lead to a series of mass protests against the Mexican government, and calls for the resignation of President Enrique Peña Nieto.

-- The No side wins the Scottish Independence Referendum by a margin of 55.3 percent to 44.7 percent.

-- The price of oil declines by 46%.

-- Air Asia flight 8501 goes missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore, and is presumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.

-- 28 Women accuse Bill Cosby of raping and or/sexually assaulting them. The allegations go back decades, and Cosby declines to discuss them.

-- Dylan Farrow accuses Woody Allen of sexual abuse dating to 1992.

-- #BeenRapedNeverReported (national/international story)

--  Folk singer and activist Pete Seeger dies at the age of 94.

-- Comedian and actor Robin Williams commits suicide at the age of 63.

-- Comedian Joan Rivers dies at the age of 81.

Newsweek Declares Putin Public Enemy Number One

http://www.freakingnews.com/NEWSWEEK-DECLARES-PUTIN-PUBLIC-ENEMY-NUM-Pic...