[Stopwar-l] StopWar general meeting Wed April 4

[StopWar]

Reminder:

StopWar’s next general meeting is Wednesday, April 4, 2012 5:30pm at 65 W.
Cordova (at Abbott).

Among other items, we'll be discussing our Peace & Prosperity campaign,
new developments on F-35s, StopWar's AGM in June and plans for summer
activities.

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Canadian Peace Alliance Statement

March 28, 2012

The Federal Budget is still a war budget

Despite some cuts to DND – Military spending is still growing

Toronto: The Federal budget 2012 still shows an increase in military
spending to a total of more than $20 billion for the year 2012. Despite
claims that the Harper government will be reducing military spending, the
reality is that this reduction is simply a small haircut of $1.1 billion
off of a massive structural budget increase as outlined by the Canada
First Defence Strategy which calls for almost a half trillion dollars in
spending by 2025.

The costs of the military spending in the social wage for Canadians is
staggering and the Conservatives are purblind to those costs. They are
still pushing ahead with a plan to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets despite the
fact that we still have no idea what these offensive and rather useless
jest will cost. According to Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page the
total cost of the F35s may reach more than $30 billion.

To put that into perspective, the cost of one F35 could pay to hire 1,400
nurses in Canada for a year. A contribution of 1/6th of the cost of the
F35s or 1/5th of the annual defence budget could provide free tuition to
all post secondary students across the country for a year. $2 Billion
alone would retrofit all homes in Alberta needing energy efficiency
upgrades, lowering emissions, and creating up to 22,000 direct and
indirect jobs.

The Harper government will use this budget to attack the people who
deliver our public services and slash those federal programs that Canadian
need most. Meanwhile the war industries of Canada line up at the trough of
plenty to build more bombs and guns.

The Canadian Peace Alliance is calling for Peace and Prosperity – NOT -War
and Austerity.

Stop the Cuts - Redirect military spending

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