How's FIPPA so far
STEVIE?

You let the dragon in Treasonous Stevenous!

Stevie Harper should feel proud and happy tonight. Already the Chinese are making trouble on multiple fronts, threatening legal action against HarperCon Cabinet Ministers who had the temerity to question the notion of importing Chinese miners when there is no shortage of experienced miners in Canada, some of whom might prefer to actually work in the same province in which they live. I live in a town full of miners both retired and working, though most of our guys wouldn't be that enthused about coal mining, being more the hard rock miner type - but there certainly used to be a lot of underground coal miners in the Maritimes, they didn't blow them all up.  Of course our Canadian coal miners are a bit lacking in their command of Mandarin or Cantonese. 

But you have to admit, the following headline looks good around the HarperCons' necks:

Chinese mining firm launches rights complaint, threatens feds with lawsuit

According to a Canadian Press report:

VANCOUVER - The Chinese mining firm at the centre of a controversial plan to use temporary foreign workers in a British Columbia coal mine has launched a two-pronged attack, threatening both a human rights complaint and legal action.

HD Mining distributed two separate letters to the media Thursday, one accusing the United Steelworkers Union of discrimination and the other putting the government on notice it may pursue claims for civil damages after federal ministers made public statements about the company.

A CBC news article states that:

A Chinese miner employed to work in a controversial northern British Columbia coal mine has launched a human rights complaint against the United Steelworkers Union.

Huizhi Li, who works at HD Mining's Murray River project in northern B.C., has sent a letter to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that says leaflets and the content on union's website are likely to create contempt for Chinese people.

This is almost laughable. I saw Mr. Huizhi Li, who can barely speak English, yet was supposed to have filed a seven page complaint, on HD Mining Company letterhead, to the Human Rights Commision, claiming his human rights have been abused or something because Canadian labor unions and workers think perhaps Canadians should have an opportunity to exploit our own resources. After all, the HarperCons are trying to make EI go the way of the dodo, so we can't just ski all winter and beach it all summer while collecting EI benefits.

Personally, I think Mr. Huizhi Li, if he is really concerned about human rights, should perhaps go back to where he is from. From what I understand there might be some human right abuses he could complain about there and I'm sure Canadians can dig their own coal out of the ground. Oh yeah, I forgot, it ain't our coal anymore - hell since Stevie got in the big chair it ain't our country anymore.

By the way, it has also come to light that these "temporary" Chinese miners are only going to be here for at least FOURTEEN effing years........pretty damn temporary, though somebody said they might hire an actual Canadian in four or five years (so start studying your Mandarin, boys) .