Vancouver, BC January 27, 2012.

*******FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*******

ONE OF THE “LAST TRUE CANADIANS”

MEL HURTIG TAKES UP THE CANADIAN NATIONAL CAUSE YET AGAIN AT THE VANCOUVER EVENT

“TAKE BACK CANADA!”

Subhead: Proposed Jasper National Park privatization and sale of Canadian publisher McClelland and Stewart riles Order of Canada holder. Reeling from the news that two of Canada’s national treasures are being traded away, the man who founded both the Council of Canadians and the National Party of Canada will soon be speaking in Vancouver at an event entitled “Take Back Canada!” Order of Canada recipient Mel Hurtig will share his reaction to two new developments that have rocked Canadian patriots in recent weeks: the Harper government’s push to privatize part of Jasper National Park, and the recent sale of Canadian publishing stalwart McClelland and Stewart to Random House,a division of the German media giant Bertelsmann.

Hurtig is the key speaker at a February 11 event in East Vancouver organized by veteran Vancouver activist Occupy movement supporter Ruth Meta. Meta and fellow organizers are not part of Occupy Vancouver, but a new grouping provisionally titled “Occupy Ideas.”

Meta is a former independent bookseller and founder of Downtown Eastside non-profit dedicated to self-employment of residents of Strathcona/DTES.

Hurtig established his own publishing company in the early 1970s, published the landmark Canadian Encyclopedia in the mid-’80s before selling the company to the venerable Canadian publisher McClelland and Stewart in 1991. Random House of Canada became the sole owner this month, taking over the 75 per cent that had belonged to the University of Toronto Press.

Hurtig has been speaking off about the sell off of all things Canadian for the past 40 years … and these two Harper initiatives are just two of the increasingly dismal sell offs of all things “Canadian”.

Hurtig considers the sale of McLelland and Stewart “extremely painful” both personally and nationally. McClelland and Stewart was founded in 1906, and was to have published Hurtig’s next book, a deal which he is now considering canceling.

Another development which has riled Hurtig and other Canada boosters is a proposal by the Harper government to allow what is essentially an American company to build a 300-metre metal walkway over the world-famous Columbia Icefields Parkway, in Jasper National Park.

If approved, the walkway will be built by Brewster Canada – a travel company that is an 80 percent-owned subsidiary of the American-based company VIAD. Hurtig and other critics say the plan would not only spur development, but give an American company the right to charge Canadians for entry into parts of Jasper park.

“Take Back Canada!” Saturday, February 11, 2012 7:00 pm. – 2010 Dundas East

- Musical accompaniment by “The Canadian Sellouts.” (aka Hall 23) – 2010 Dundas East Street Vancouver, BC.

- Admission by donation (suggested minimum $5)

- Inquiries: Ruth Meta. 778-869-8414. Email: emmis@shaw.ca

FB INVITE: TAKE BACK CANADA!

A gift to our neighbours in the Downtown Eastside from Vancouver Community College and its partners

Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings

Saturday Jan 21, 11 AM – 130PM

VCC’s downtown campus

On Sunday January 22, 6:30 PM PST, Dr. Peter Ferentzy will be doing a talk at

Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre (515 West Hastings St)

In Fletcher Challenge Theatre (Room 1900)

Courtesy of Insite,

Vancouver’s famous safe injection clinic.

Ending Drug Prohibition and Emancipating the Addict – the Last Frontier in a Struggle for Enlightenment

With a special introduction by Dr. Gabor Mate.

Peter Ferentzy holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Thought from York University. His dissertation is a historical sociology of the origins and recent development of the modern concept of addiction with an emphasis on how it has interacted with ideas about mental illness and compulsions in general.

Dr. Ferentzy has studied and written extensively on Gamblers Anonymous, as well as other issues related to pathological gambling. His two most recently completed studies involve: 1.  The history of ideas related to addiction with an emphasis on problem gambling wherein special attention is paid to the role of metaphoric conceptualization in the construction of scientific discourse; 2.  A street level, ethnographic study of gambling patterns among crack users in downtown Toronto. 

Peter Ferentzy is a recovering drunk and a recovering crackhead. He knows this topic from the gutter right up to the halls of academe. After losing two friends to overdose, and seeing clearly that in each case the governing approach to addiction was the cause, Peter wrote Dealing with Addiction — Why the 20th Century was Wrong. Peter wants to change things, and is arrogant enough to believe that he can.

Please see more at Peter’s website and book

Aren’t I cute?

I’m sitting pretty!

I’m thirsty for milk!

Om Nom Nom!

Slurp!

Yummy!

I’m a Good Puppy!

I drank all the milk while the Jealous cat wonders where is his milk?

My tummy is full!

Saturday February 4, 2012

ING DIRECT Cafe, 466 Howe Street

10 am – 4 pm (6 hour session with 1 hour lunch)

Social Flow Workshop: How to Win with Social Media Without Losing Productivity

Who: Noted social media trainer Lorraine Murphy and “productivityist” Mike Vardy (editor Lifehack.org)

What: Social Flow: How to Win with Social Media without Losing Productivity

When: 10-4, February 04/2012

Where: ING Web Cafe, 466 Howe Street, Vancouver BC

How: Register here for the Social Flow workshop

It’s a social media struggle!

Wrestling with the idea that you can’t possibly become better at promoting yourself or your business through social media without it harming your productivity?

Well, wrestle no more.

Taking part in Social Flow: How to Win with Social Media without Losing Productivity is your ticket to championship gold in record time!

Social media trainer Lorraine Murphy and “productivityist” Mike Vardy (editor Lifehack.org) will guide you through the ins and outs of managing the social media profiles that keep you both active in your work and telling the public about your work all in one go.

Topics covered include:

• How to Make Gmail Your Best Friend
• What Task Manager is Right For You
• Why Your Email Inbox is Not the Right Task Manager for anyone
• Improving your Social Flow in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the new kid on the block, Google+
• Why Planning your Social Media output is Integral to Your Social Flow
• How to Avoid Falling Prey to the Perpetual Automation Machine
• What Calendars are actually For
• How to Increase Your Social Flow Using Hashtags, Twitter Lists…and more

This hands-on boot camp will not only get you on top of your social media profiles, but it will get you on top of what you need to do make sure they add attention to your business rather than subtract your attention from your business.

Register to attend an upcoming Social Flow workshop

Mike Vardy is the writer, speaker, and “productivityist” behind Vardy.me and the productivity parody site Eventualism. Vardy’s candid satire has made him a desirable speaker on an often dry topic, delivering talks on the topic such as “Hacking Lifehacks” at TEDx Juan De Fuca. Currently a Managing Editor at Stepcase Lifehack, Vardy has contributed to many popular productivity websites and publications, including David Allen’s GTD Times and Productive Magazine. He lives with his wife, daughter and son in Victoria, BC, Canada.

AHA MEDIA is very proud to have Lorraine “raincoaster” Murphy as their mentor and good friend!!

Here is where you can see raincoaster and raincoaster media other than, you know, the coffee shop, the pub, and the beer garden at the track. You’re welcome, stalkers!

Potted Bio:

Lorraine “raincoaster” Murphy is founder of raincoaster media, specializing in transformative social media training, as well as President Emeritus of Social Media Club of Vancouver, and has been a professional blogger and social media trainer since 2002. She specializes in teaching beginners and those with barriers to internet use, and in social media for social change. She was in charge of Web and Social Media training for the Fearless City project, and her students there included citizen journalist April Smith and poet Henry Doyle.

Her flagship blog, raincoaster.com, has been studied as part of the New Media curriculum in three universities, and the comments thread on her Mummified Fairy post has been called “one of the most beautiful things on the internet.” She once got into a flamewar with the nation of Albania, and won. She conducts workshops in the transformative use of social media on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and blogs regularly to many different sites, including:

http://raincoaster.com: 49 degrees latitude, 360 degrees attitude!

http://thedailydot.com The internet’s hometown paper

http://trueslant.com/lorrainemurphy The Celebrity Industrial Complex

http://raincoastermedia.com Transformative Social Media Training

http://theshebeenclub.com Vancouver’s Practicing Literati (practice makes perfect, right?)

http://lolebrity.net Mai Lak Uv Dignitty: Let Me Show U It

http://ayyyy.com Gently Making Fun of the Famous

http://manolofood.com Eat! Drink! Be Merry!

http://www.offsitedatabackup.com/blog/ Simple. Fast. Secure.

Register to attend an upcoming Social Flow workshop