The WAR on Science: Thursday, November 21, 2013, 7:00 pm Room 1900, SFU Harbour Ctr

[agentaqua]

http://westcoastnativenews.com/****-you-stephen-harper/

F*ck you, Stephen Harper
WRITTEN BY WCNATIVENEWS ON FEBRUARY 10TH, 2015
Stephen Harper

torontocitylife

That’s it…I’ve had it. I’m calling a spade a spade and the federal Conservatives exactly what they are: criminal scumbags hell bent on destroying any vestige of what it means to be Canadian. For that we all owe Prime Minister Harper and his band of merry assholes a big old F*CK YOU!!

In case you haven’t been following our majority government’s shameful and downright criminal actions, or worse, if you voted for them, please pull your head out of your butt and educate yourself on why they are, and I’m not exaggerating, trying to make Canada into something like a Stasi state or like something under Stalin. That goes double for Harper’s little pruned buddy Vic Toews and other Public Safety Ministers who have had an unwavering and constant record of dictatorial, freedom-quashing pronouncements under their belts. Here’s just a smattering:

Lawful Access – The charge for this bill, lead by non other than Toews, seeks to give police access to all your online records without warrant or justification. In other words, and quite literally, if there’s a cop who wants to snoop into what you’re doing, they can do it with absolutely no reason (not even a suspicion of a crime), directly in contravention of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Along with being given unrestricted access to your online activities, Lawful Access also allows police to install snooping devices on Internet Service Provider’s hardware so they can listen in on all your online conversations, completely against the highest law of the land, and against your very fundamental Canadian Rights. The Conservatives have shot down any debate on the subject, refused repeatedly to try to explain their asinine “but it’s for child ****” explanations in person which have been proven to not only be an outright lie, but have literally not a single police case to back up the claims. To add insult to injury, fuckwad Toews used a recent child **** ring bust involving hundreds of arrests as an example of how police aren’t able to do their jobs properly, and if you argue with that, you must be a pedophile too. Sh*t you not.

Torture – Canada used to be a place where you could come and be free of arbitrary government arrest, torture, and intimidation. Harper’s “Canadian values”, apparently, are contrary to this. Vic Toews recently popped his ugly head up and announced that the government is reversing its position on torture, ignoring even just the simple fact that it’s proven to not be effective in exacting accurate information, saying that not only is torture a-okay, we can even do it in Canada (but only against terrorists like environmental groups, so it’s okay). Of course, this once again goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedom, demonstrating that the Tories’ real targets aren’t pedophiles, terrorists, or online scammers — it’s you and your rights.

Mandatory sentences – The Conservative so-called Tackling Violent Crime which created mandatory sentences for a variety of crimes was, in a recent show of sanity, slapped down by a Toronto judge as “abhorrent” and completely unconstitutional in a case involving some guy goofing off in front of a webcam with a gun. He would’ve gotten three years in jail for that under Harper’s rule if the judge didn’t abide by the Constitution and Charter of Rights like she’s supposed to. Yet repeatedly and brazenly going against the highest law of Canada, apparently, doesn’t make the conservative government criminals for some reason. Only you and I are subject, it seems.

Unreported crime / super prisons – This was a project started in the days of Peter van Loan and Stockwell Day, Toews’ predecessors, showing how this is a long term plan by the Conservative government to destroy Canadians’ freedoms, once again without so much as a thread of real-world evidence to back up their claims. This particular gem centered around the government’s incessant push to build massive new prisons in order to prepare for all the “unreported” crime that’s happening out there. Mainstream presstitutes have tried to placate the public by pointing to the General Social Survey as being the likely source of this asinine argument, but failed entirely to ask why people didn’t report crimes; like, maybe, they didn’t think they were important enough. The Feds disagree and want you in prison, even if the “victim” doesn’t. It’s interesting to point out that the General Social Survey also includes many quality of life questions (how your life could be better), most of which go completely ignored by the federal government. No, they’re not in the business of making life better for citizens, they’re in the business of propping up mega-corporations against all opposition, all the while ensuring common, mostly law-abiding and generally innocuous citizens like you and me are made into abject criminals under their draconian laws. Let’s not forget the ******** of the G20 (protesting in a designated protest zone? How dare they?!), which was operated under Harper’s auspices, which to this day is actively preventing and perverting the course of justice (but at least no one really innocent was affected, so it’s okay).

Human rights — Under the Conservative government, the concept of Human Rights is more or less a joke (see above), and the office of the federal Human Rights Tribunal which is bleeding staff like a stuck pig because of harassment and derision, the very ideals they’re supposed to be defending, is the very personification of the Conservative’s attitudes on the subject. And that is, f*ck you, you have no rights, now cough up all your cash so we can toss your butt in jail for whatever damn reason we like.

ACTA — While the internet and public at large have expressed their seething disgust with acts like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Protect IP Act (PIPA), or Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), even managing to get the US federal government to back down, our own government signed up to ACTA months ago with glee and without discussion. In the United States, ACTA (created by the private, for-profit movie and record industries), was snuck in under the noses of the American people by making it top secret so that they wouldn’t be allowed to know what laws are being imposed on them. Sure sounds like it’s in the best interest of citizens, doesn’t it?

Anti-democracy — This is something that Toronto’s Rob Ford is learning all too well: you’re not the f*cking king and you don’t get to just make pronouncements and have them carried out. Someone needs to step up and slap Harper upside the head and say the same thing. In fact, someone should place him under citizens arrest and have some charges placed against him (conspiring to deprive anyone of their constitutional rights is a direct crime!) Yet the federal government continues on their merry way, telling everyone there will be no discussion on anything, and f*ck you, Stephen Harper has proclaimed it so. Say what you will about democracies, but there is absolutely no doubt that the Harper government is standing directly in opposition to their very concept.

And that, without doubt, makes Conservatives and their ilk supporters, directly and publicly, of dictatorship, tyranny, and oppression. This is the very same historical narrative that Hitler used to put Germany under his thumb, and the echoes of Mao and Stalin aren’t far behind. It’s not about left or right politics, it’s about simple Canadian freedoms which we all though we had inalienably enshrined in our Constitution and Charter of Rights, and which Harper is directly attacking over and over again, and with no basis in evidence, fact, law, or even common sense.

Note that on top of being just a few example of the outrageous, egregious, illegal, dictatorial, oppressive, and audacious bullsh*t that the Conservatives are pushing out these days, millions have been wasted to write these things up, pass them through the proper channels, and have them enacted. Not only are your rights being stripped away wholesale, you’re paying for it!

If you’re a staunch Conservative and still manage to support your scumbag government after reading some of these tidbits, I invite you to pick up a history book on something like the Nazis to see how people who support regimes like the Harper government end up. You can’t even say “but I was just following orders” at the end of it because you’re zealously behind it, and in that case, you’re no friend of mine.

Even if you’re ambivalent about all of this (meaning you don’t think it’ll affect you), ask yourself exactly how the Conservative government has made your life better. Are your taxes lower? Are you finding it easier to find a job? Is it easier to start or run a new business? Is your old age security safe?All of the programs and rhetoric being pushed by the feds are only helping to destroy all of these assistance programs. I mean, it’s all happening so saying that the Conservatives are not directly responsible for this (with a majority and many years in power), is a very nasty type of self-delusion. No, they’re not helping you, they’re not even leaving you alone, they are directly and purposefully making your life more difficult and miserable even if you completely ignore everything else. Or maybe you’re of the belief that your children’s lives should be worse than yours?

And if any of this disturbs you, please spread the word and let’s start to put the screws on this government. They keep passing increasingly illegal laws but because they have a majority, they don’t give a sh*t. But as we all know, ignorance of the law is no excuse, and being out and out criminal *ssholes even less.

 

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[6UsHHOCH4q8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsHHOCH4q8

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.vancouversun.com/technol...ocks+native/10843065/story.html#__federated=1

RCMP claim of B.C. anti-pipeline extremists shocks native, environmental leaders

Report makes ‘false inferences,’ borders on ‘misguided hysteria’

BY PETER O'NEIL, VANCOUVER SUN FEBRUARY 25, 2015

RCMP claim of B.C. anti-pipeline extremists shocks native, environmental leaders

A series of bombings, including of this shed on a gas pipeline near Tomslake, B.C., in 2009, was one of the few pieces of evidence an RCMP report gives to warn of extremists prepared to damage “critical” pipeline infrastructure in B.C.
Photograph by: John Lucas , John Lucas/Edmonton Journal

OTTAWA — An internal RCMP report’s portrayal of northern B.C. as one of two Canadian regions most vulnerable to violent, anti-pipeline extremists working with aboriginal radicals to sabotage “critical infrastructure” is “absolutely bizarre,” one of B.C.’s most outspoken First Nations leaders said Wednesday.

Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, has long espoused CIVIL disobedience to defend First Nations rights and was recently arrested during an anti-pipeline protest on Burnaby Mountain.

He expressed shock after being read sections of the report that was obtained earlier this month by the Montreal newspaper La Presse.

The report said New Brunswick, where a half-dozen RCMP VEHICLESwere torched in an anti-fracking First Nations protest in 2013, was the number 1 hot spot in terms of potential violent attacks on the oil and gas industry.

“Aside from New Brunswick, the most urgent anti-petroleum threat of violent criminal activity is in northern British Columbia, where there is a coalition of like-minded violent extremists who are planning criminal ACTIONS to prevent the construction of the pipeline.”

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“It’s absolutely bizarre, bordering on misguided hysteria,” Phillip said after being read several passages from the 44-page document, titled Criminal Threats to the Canadian Petroleum Industry and stamped “Protected … Canadian Eyes Only.”

The report’s author appeared to be trying to link mainstream environmental groups like Tides Canada, which receives considerable FUNDING from U.S. trusts, to individuals and groups who have threatened criminal “direct action” to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat and Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion to Burnaby.

“There is a growing, highly organized and well-financed, anti-Canadian petroleum movement, that consists of peaceful activists, militants and violent extremists, who are opposed to society’s reliance on fossil fuels,” states the January 2014 report that was prepared by the RCMP’s Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Team.

The report said the extremists advocate the use of “arson, firearms and improvised explosive devices,” and “some factions” have “aligned themselves with violent aboriginal extremists.”

The report even raises the spectre of two of the most ghastly acts of domestic terrorism in modern history — the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, including young children at a daycare, and a lone gunman’s 2011 rampage in Norway that left dead 77 people, most of them teens picked off one by one at an ISLAND youth camp.

“As seen in Oklahoma City in 1995 and in Norway in 2011, continued vigilance is essential since it remains possible that certain groups — or even a lone individual — could choose to adopt a more violent, terrorist strategy to achieve their desired results.”

Phillip said he’s never met anyone prepared to engage in criminal activity since his association with the B.C. environmental movement began in the 1970s.

“Every day when you turn on the television, you witness insane acts on the part of disturbed people,” he said. “But to suggest there’s a very well-organized jihadist-style network out there that’s a threat to the Canadian public — in my experience this is absolutely not the case. I hate to say this, but this is Canada. Excuse me?”

He said First Nations fighting to protect the environment have strong allies across Canada, as well as the force of several Supreme Court of Canada judgments supporting their claims.

“If I were to move in that direction (towards recommending criminal acts), I think we’d quickly alienate the vast majority,” of their supporters across Canada.

The report presents little evidence of extremist anti-energy industry violence in B.C., just the series of mysterious natural gas pipeline bombings in northern B.C. in 2008 to 2009, and a 2014 Georgia Straight article quoting activists hinting at their support for unlawful ACTIONSto stop Northern Gateway.

Environmental groups have also expressed shock over the report’s assertions about violence, as well as the author’s tone of skepticism about climate change science.

“The false inference in the leaked RCMP document that Tides Canada’s charitable work across the country is somehow situated in the murky world of terrorists and imagined criminal activity would be laughable were it not so concerning,” Tides Canada president Ross McMillan said in an email.

He said Tides will write to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson to “to express our grave concern that the RCMP could pen a report so steeped in misconceptions — from questioning the scientific consensus on climate change to besmirching legitimate and important non-profit organizations in Canada.”

The RCMP document has caused the federal government some communications challenges in connection with its current bid to get Bill C-51 through Parliament.

The controversial and sweeping bill, aimed at giving security forces and especially the Canadian Security Intelligence Service more powers, targets activity that “undermines the security of Canada,” including “interference with critical infrastructure.”

The bill also says the legislation does not target “lawful advocacy, protest, dissent and artistic expression.”

That has rung alarms among environmentalists and CIVIL libertarians fearing that CSIS could use the legislation to go after people arrested for civil disobedience that is illegal but not criminal.

Spokesmen for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and the RCMP both issued statements Thursday rejecting the notion the government is targeting the mainstream environmental movement.

“The RCMP is only INTERESTED in those who are or could be violent extremists,” said Blaney spokesman Jean-Christophe de Le Rue.

RCMP Sgt. David Falls said the force has a mandate to investigate criminal threats, “including those to critical infrastructure,” but doesn’t monitor or “focus on” environmental groups.

“The RCMP respects and protects the right of Canadians to PARTICIPATE in lawful protest activities in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

poneil@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/poneilinottawa

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[GLG]

“As seen in Oklahoma City in 1995 and in Norway in 2011, continued vigilance is essential since it remains possible that certain groups — or even a lone individual — could choose to adopt a more violent, terrorist strategy to achieve their desired results.”

Oh boy, now anyone opposed to expansion of the tarsands is getting compared to the extreme far right wing of those two. What are they thinking? Don't they know that we are all lefty....

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/09/17/harper-ramps-up-his-war-on-independent-thought/

Harper ramps up his war on independent thought
By Linda McQuaig | Sep 17, 2014 8:59 pm

In the conservative quest to shape public debate in recent years, no tool has proved more useful than the think tank. Nobody understood this better than the director of the ultra-right wing U.S.-based ATLAS Foundation, who once stated that his mission was “to litter the world with free-market think tanks.”

Mission accomplished. Certainly the Canadian landscape is cluttered with right-wing think tanks — the Fraser Institute, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Montreal Economic Institute, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the Frontier Institute, just to name a few — all well-funded by a business elite keen to have its message packaged in a manner that makes it appear grounded in serious research.

These right-wing policy shops have played a huge role in implanting an ideology that treats the rich as ‘wealth creators’ who must be freed from government regulation — and whose goodwill must be constantly cultivated, lest they be discouraged from investing. This has boiled down to a simple message — government bad, private sector good — that has become the mantra of our times, the guiding force in shaping public policy.

To the extent that anything manages to poke holes in this prevailing ideology, it usually comes out of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the Ottawa-based think tank routinely described in the media as “left-wing” — even though corporate-funded think tanks are generally spared the label “right-wing.”

Of course, we’re all familiar now with how Stephen Harper suppresses information that contradicts his agenda: blocking the collection of statistics, muzzling government scientists, auditing charities that critique his policies. And yet, somehow the news that the Harper government is conducting a harassing audit on the CCPA manages to break fresh ground.

This time there’s no recourse to the pretence that the audit was random. A Canada Revenue Agency document, obtained through Access to Information, makes it clear that the organization is being audited because its research and educational materials were considered “biased” and “one-sided.”

This is the truly ugly face of the Harper government — blithely brushing aside the basic democratic principle of tolerance for dissent.

As a result, the CCPA has been subjected to an exhaustive audit that already has lasted eleven months, with no end in sight. The tax department demanded copies of literally everything produced by the organization, carting away enough material to fill a small boardroom. The audit is far more intrusive than two previous, routine audits conducted in the pre-Harper era, according to CCPA executive director Bruce Campbell.

This is the truly ugly face of the Harper government — blithely brushing aside the basic democratic principle of tolerance for dissent as it shamelessly uses state resources to crack down on an organization doing nothing more than making the case for an alternative set of policies.

The charge of “bias” and “one-sidedness” is bizarre, since all think tanks have a set of values that shape the issues and questions they address. Right-wing think tanks certainly do, and yet they appear to have escaped the special audit program set up by Harper in 2012 to monitor the political activities of charities. (Most think tanks, including the far-right Fraser Institute, are registered charities, allowing them to give their donors tax breaks.)

What makes the singling out of CCPA’s political activities so striking is that, compared to the right-wing think tanks, the CCPA’s political connections are minimal. Although it shares similar values, its relationship with the NDP is arm’s-length, according to Campbell. A recent CCPA report on tuition fees gave top marks to the Progressive Conservative government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

By comparison, Harper himself, as prime minister, maintains close ties to many of the right wing think tanks, speaking at their events and warmly praising their work, as documented in Donald Gutstein’s new book Harperism.

Another thing that makes the CCPA an odd choice for an audit is its reputation for academically rigorous research — which explains why almost 500 academics, from universities across the country, quickly signed a petition this week defending the quality of the CCPA’s work.

It would be a stretch for the Fraser Institute, for example, to make a claim of academic rigour. Every year, the institute receives widespread media coverage for its “Tax Freedom Day” — designed to make Canadians feel overburdened by taxes — but the research behind this PR gimmick is shoddy, based on wild exaggerations, flawed math and chicanery, according to an analysis done by tax expert Neil Brooks.

For instance, by failing to factor out inflation and income growth, the Fraser researchers concluded that over the previous four decades taxes on Canadians had risen by a staggering 1,550 per cent … when, in fact, they had risen by about 40 per cent, Brooks showed.

For years, the corporate world has bestowed bountiful, tax-deductible resources on right-wing think tanks, allowing them to baffle the public with this sort of misinformation.

Meanwhile, alone and often ignored by the media, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives keeps churning out quality research exposing the fallacies of the right-wing arguments that have come to dominate our public conversation.

What choice is there for a paranoid, controlling, undemocratic, right-wing government but to call in the auditors?

Winner of a National Newspaper Award, Linda McQuaig has been a reporter for the Globe and Mail, a columnist for the National Post and the Toronto Star. She was the New Democrat candidate in Toronto Centre in 2013. She is the author of seven controversial best-sellers, including Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and other Canadian Myths and It’s the Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet. Her most recent book (co-written with Neil Brooks) is The Trouble with Billionaires: How the Super-Rich Hijacked the World, and How We Can Take It Back.

You can reach her at linda@lindamcquaig.com

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.theguardian.com/environm...s=10152577820096986&fb_action_types=og.shares

Canadian government pushing First Nations to give up land rights for oil and gas profits
Harper government organized private meetings between oil firms and Indigenous chiefs to try and gain support for oil and gas pipelines and other investments located on their lands, documents reveal

A rally against the expansion of the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline on Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia, Canada, in November, 2014. Photograph: Mark Klotz/flickr
Martin Lukacs
Tuesday 3 March 2015 06.02 GMT Last modified on Tuesday 3 March 2015 09.50 GMT

The Harper government is trying to win support for its pipelines and resource agenda by pushing First Nations to sideline their aboriginal rights in exchange for business opportunities, documents reveal.

The news that Canada’s Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs is working to this end by collaborating with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is sparking strong criticism from grassroots Indigenous people.

Funded by the federal government, the Working Group on Natural Resource Development held private meetings in Toronto and Edmonton in the fall of 2014 that were attended by several invited Chiefs and representatives from Enbridge, Syncrude and other oil corporations, as well as mining companies and business lobby groups.

In one email, a government official writes that it was “widely agreed” at the meetings that “unlocking resource development projects is squarely in the national interest,” a suggestion that will be contested by many First Nations involved in mounting protests against pipelines and other industrial projects around the country.

It was “noted repeatedly” that “we can no longer afford the investment uncertainty created by issues around Aboriginal participation,” the official writes. The transcripts of the meetings were redacted in the documents, which were obtained through access-to-information.

The documents cite $600 billion of investment that the Harper government hopes will flow in the next decade into mining, forestry, gas and oil projects. As of March 2013, 94 of 105 projects under federal review were “located on reserve, within an historic treaty area, or in a settled or unsettled claims area”.

In response to these pressures, considerations for the groups’ mandate include “reducing uncertainty and investment risk” and “advancing business-to-business partnerships rather than through a rights-based agenda.”

The federal government has been criticized for trying to minimize or ignore the land rights of First Nations, including refusing to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It has been doing extensive risk evaluations, increasingly worried that the growing power of indigenous rights could hamper its aggressive resource extraction plans.

One document suggests that “case studies have shown that separating rights-based agenda (politics) from economic development (business) is key to wealth generation in First Nations communities.”

The case studies cited from “expert bodies” include a Fraser Institute report entitled “Opportunities for First Nations Prosperity Through Oil and Gas Development.” The right-wing think tank has been heavily funded by the American Koch brothers, who are one of the largest owners, purchasers and refiners of the Alberta tar sands.

Also referenced is a report by envoy Douglas Eyford, whose appointment by Harper in late 2013 was seen as strategic shift to increasingly woo First Nations in the path of planned pipelines in British Columbia with an economic stake in resource plans. Eyford warned that the federal government’s failure to build good relationships with First Nations had set back the chances for their energy projects.

“Opposition to these projects by aboriginal groups may doom the development of oil, and natural gas pipelines and related infrastructure because neither industry nor our trading partners are prepared to idly stand by to wait out the results of judicial proceedings that can take a generation to complete,” Eyford said in a speech last year.

“The Harper government and resource corporations are keenly aware that Indigenous rights movements are standing in the way of their polluting, destructive projects,” said Clayton Thomas Mueller, Indigenous Extreme Energy Campaigner with 350.org. “Harper is desperately trying to manipulate the Assembly of First Nations and some of our Chiefs into sacrificing our rights and our lands at the altar of profit. But respect for our rights must be a basis for economic decision-making – indeed our rights offer a pathway to a more sustainable economic order for everyone in this country.”

The group was launched in December 2013, its creation among the pledges made by Prime Minister Harper at a January 2013 meeting with former National Chief Shawn Atleo, a meeting triggered by Theresa Spence’s hunger strike and the Idle No More movement.

It has two representatives from the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and two from the Assembly of First Nations, an organization which has been accused of being out of touch with grassroots Indigenous concerns. According to the documents, the representatives discussed renaming the group to “downplay” the connection between the Assembly of First Nations and the government and to make clear that it operates at “arms-length.”

The documents acknowledge that Indigenous community members are increasingly resisting those Chiefs who “try to establish and advance a “business to business” relationship with industry proponents.”

Included are detailed charts of economic opportunities that some First Nations located near oil and mining operations have been able to access.

The documents say that the group may propose that Canada’s largest corporate lobby, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, be “engaged to champion a new approach including through formal statements at First Minister’s Meetings or major political events.”

Other suggestions include a “centre of expertise on resource development” and a national roundtable, emphasizing the need to get more aboriginal organizations involved.

The group is releasing a final report on Tuesday with recommendations to the federal government and the AFN.

The Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs was unable to respond to a request for comment.

On twitter: @Martin_Lukacs

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/con...l-threat-troubling-alberta-mla-says-1.2981167

Conservative Facebook post on West Edmonton Mall threat 'troubling,' Alberta MLA says
Party's Facebook post uses YouTube recording posted by group behind 2013 mall attack in Kenya
By Kady O'Malley, CBC News Posted: Mar 04, 2015 10:34 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 04, 2015 1:35 PM ET

(Conservative Party of Canada/Facebook (screenshot))

An Alberta Progressive Conservative MLA says a new post on the the federal Conservative Party Facebook page that highlights an apparent terror threat against West Edmonton Mall issued by Somalia-based militants is troubling "on so many different levels."

Thomas Lukaszuk tweeted the comment on Tuesday night in response to the Conservatives' Facebook entry posted Monday night.

The post uses a screenshot and quote taken from a video posted to YouTube last month by the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, who were behind a brutal attack on Kenya's Westgate Mall in 2013 that left 60 people dead.

Near the end of the new video, which runs just over an hour in total, a masked man with an English accent urges followers to launch similar assaults on shopping malls in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada, and named West Edmonton Mall as a potential target.

"Jihadi terrorists are threatening Canada — we need to give our police and security forces the tools they need to protect us from the threat of terrorism." The Facebook post invites supporters to "add your name if you agree," with a link to a petition on the Conservative Party website.

In a response to Vitor Marciano, a former federal Conservative policy chair and one-time Wild Rose press secretary, Lukaszuk defended his view:

"Aside from questionable campaign tactic, why would a governing party ask to be petitioned for added police funding?" he wondered.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for the Conservatives deflected Lukaszuk's concerns.

"We should all be troubled when jihadi terrorists single out very specific locations in our country, and call on their followers to attack it," party communications director Cory Hann told CBC News.

Earlier this year, both the federal Conservatives and their Liberal rivals were forced to perform hasty edits on their respective party webpages after a link at the top of their pages made it appear both were attempting to raise money on the Oct. 22 attacks in Ottawa.

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/terro...ans-feel-less-safe-than-2-years-ago-1.2978177

Terrorism survey: 50% of Canadians feel less safe than 2 years ago
'People aren’t hysterical about terrorism:' Economic issues are top concern
By Jon Hembrey, CBC News Posted: Mar 04, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 04, 2015 2:01 PM ET

Terrorism survey: Canadians feel less safe 2:48

West Edmonton Mall threat crimps cheerleading championships 2:53

Nearly half of Canadians say they feel less safe from terrorism than they did two years ago, according to a survey conducted for CBC News.

Two-thirds say it is likely that an attack will occur in Canada within the next five years, including 42 per cent who expect that it will result in mass death and destruction.

However, only nine per cent think terrorism and national security should be the top priority for federal politicians, behind unemployment (20 per cent), the economy(19 per cent) and health care (15 per cent).

In the Conservative war on terror, the first casualty is Parliament
Timmins, Ont.-born jihadist recruited 5 others for ISIS

"People aren’t hysterical about terrorism. They’re still focused on the things that do affect them directly on a daily basis, which is the economy and jobs and health care," said Craig Worden, executive vice-president of public affairs at Pollara Strategic Insights. "But terrorism is there."

ISIS Iraq
A fighter of the al-Qaeda splinter group ISIS holds a flag and a weapon on a street in Mosul, Iraq on June 23, 2014. (Reuters)

Although two-thirds said they were concerned about a terror attack in Canada, the issue trailed several others in the survey, including:

economy (89 per cent)
health care (87 per cent)
jobs and unemployment (81 per cent)
the value of the dollar (79 per cent)
the environment (75 per cent)
oil prices (70 per cent)
housing prices (68 per cent)

Nearly a third of respondents said the ability of a party and its leader to prepare and respond to a terror attack would be a major factor in the upcoming federal election, with only 15 per cent saying it won’t be a factor at all.

Divided on party support

Twenty-eight per cent said the Conservatives were the best party to deal with terrorism, followed by 21 per cent for the Liberals and 11 per cent for the NDP. However, the largest group, at 38 per cent, said they were unsure.

"The overall message that this sends to me is that when you see a politician raising the spectre of homegrown terrorism," said Worden, "that those claims carry weight and credibility with a sizable proportion of Canadians."

More than half said the federal government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on the right track when it comes to managing terrorism and national security.

The government recently introduced anti-terror legislation, Bill C-51, that would give Canada's spy agency broad powers to disrupt alleged plots, allow suspects to be detained without charge for longer and let the government share information more widely.

Critics say the new powers are too broad and the legislation doesn't include adequate safeguards to protect Canadians' privacy.

Concerns about young people

When asked about challenges facing young people in Canada, 71 per cent said they are concerned that Canadian youth could become radicalized or recruited by extremists.

However, those concerns trailed youth unemployment (80 per cent), abuse of hard drugs (76 per cent), the cost of post-secondary education (74 per cent) and being recruited by organized crime (73 per cent).

Quebec parents plead for suspected radicalized teenager to come home
'Not wilting violets': Why young women join ISIS
Two-thirds said they expected Canadian youth they don’t know will become radicalized or recruited by extremists in the next five years. More than a quarter said they expected a young person whom they know to do so the same in the next five years.

Several high-profile cases of young people apparently becoming radicalized by Islamic extremists have made recent international headlines. Three British teens flew to Turkey in an apparent bid to join ISIS and six young Quebecers left Canada in January to join militants in Syria.

In another case, the family of a young Canadian woman said she travelled to Syria after becoming radicalized by an ISIS recruiter in Edmonton.

The poll was conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights for CBC. A total of 1,000 English-speaking, adult Canadians participated in the online survey between Feb. 8 and 11.

Since the poll was conducted online, reporting on the margin of error is not applicable. However, as a guideline, a probability sample of this size would yield results accurate to +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

As part of CBC's Our Canada series, Adrienne Arsenault asks Are We Safe? on The National tonight.

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cse-monitors-millions-of-canadian-emails-to-government-1.2969687

CSE monitors millions of Canadian emails to government
Critics question how long data is stored and what it's used for
By Amber Hildebrandt, Michael Pereira and Dave Seglins, CBC News Posted: Feb 25, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 26, 2015 1:00 AM ET

CSEC is watching 2:51

CSE: What do we know about Canada's eavesdropping agency?
External Links

The Intercept story
Communications Security Establishment
Citizen Lab
B.C. Civil Liberties Association
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

Canada’s electronic spy agency collects millions of emails from Canadians and stores them for “days to months” while trying to filter out malware and other attacks on government computer networks, CBC News has learned.

A top-secret document written by Communications Security Establishment (CSE) analysts sheds new light on the scope of the agency’s domestic email collection as part of its mandate to protect government computers.

CBC analyzed the document in collaboration with U.S. news site The Intercept, which obtained it from U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Canada’s electronic spy agency watched visits to government websites and collected about 400,000 emails to the government every day, storing some of the data for years, according to the 2010 document. Today’s volume is likely much higher given online traffic growth.

The Intercept: Canadian spies collect domestic emails in secret security sweep
CSE: What do we know about Canada's eavesdropping agency?
Read other CBC stories on Canada's Snowden files
Common online activities involving the government include Canadians filing their taxes, writing to members of Parliament and applying for passports.

The program to protect government servers from hackers, criminals and enemy states is raising questions about the breadth of the collection, the length of retention and how the information could be shared with police and spy partners in other countries.

Chris Parsons, an internet security expert who viewed the document, said there are legitimate purposes for the agency to monitor your communications with the government.

“But you should be able to communicate with your government without the fear that what you say … could come back to haunt you in unexpected ways,” says Parsons, a postdoctoral fellow at Citizen Lab, a unit at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs.

“When we collect huge volumes, it’s not just used to track bad guys. It goes into data stores for years or months at a time and then it can be used at any point in the future.”

CSE says “specific communications” are examined if they are “suspected to relate to a cyberthreat that could harm government of Canada systems and networks.”

Metadata kept ‘months to years’

The surveillance service vacuums in about 400,000 emails to and from the government every day and then scans them using a tool called PonyExpress to look for any suspicious links or attachments, according to the top-secret document.

CSE 2010 presentation

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That automated system sifts through them and detects about 400 potentially suspect emails each day — about 146,000 a year. That system sends alerts to CSE analysts, who then can take a closer look at the email to see if it poses any threat.

Only about four emails per day — about 1,460 a year — are serious enough to warrant CSE security analysts contacting the government departments potentially affected.

“It's pretty clear that's there's a very wide catchment of information coming into [CSE],” said Micheal Vonn, policy director at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

CSE holds on to emails for “days to months,” while metadata -- the details about who sent it, when and where -- is kept for “months to years,” according to the document. The agency also records metadata about visits to government websites.

Under the Criminal Code, CSE is barred from targeting the content of Canadians’ emails and phone calls, but it gets special ministerial exemptions when protecting government IT infrastructure.

The agency refused to provide specifics about the amount of email and metadata collected, and when they are deleted, insisting such information “could assist those who want to conduct malicious cyberactivity against government networks.”

IT security analysts at CSE only use and retain information “necessary and relevant to identify, isolate or prevent harm to government of Canada computer networks or systems,” the agency told CBC News in a written statement. Data that poses no threat or is not relevant to that goal “cannot be used or retained, and is deleted.”

Civil liberties lawyer Vonn argues that there’s “much more” Canadians should be told about the agency’s collection of their data, such as how long it’s held, without putting national security at risk.

“It’s distressing that we have to find [details] out in dribs and drabs as opposed to having the appropriate discussion nationally and democratically.

“If we're going to have trust that our agencies are acting responsibly, we need as much light shone on the architecture, the laws and the rules, as possible,” said Vonn.

Length of retention an ‘utter mystery’

Cybersecurity experts say storing emails and data helps IT security analysts fix vulnerabilities.

parliament hill security
CSE, under its mandate to protect federal government computer networks, vacuums up emails sent to and from the government and monitors website traffic, looking for malware and intrusions. (Canadian Press)

“Sometimes when they discover something they want to go back and check if this was the beginning or first of this particular kind of attack, so the data is actually very useful to them,” said Queen’s University computing professor David Skillicorn.

Still, documents suggest some of the data can be held as long as decades or even indefinitely.

CSE, under its cyberdefence mandate, is allowed to hold on to personal information — email addresses, IP addresses and other identifiers — for up to 30 years, then transfer it to Library and Archives Canada, according to the agency’s own description of its databanks in the federal Info Source publication.

Vonn says it’s “an utter mystery” why the government would need to retain personal information of those implicated in a potential cyberthreat for that long.

80 million probes a day

Skillicorn says the documents illustrate the great skill with which CSE is protecting both government websites and email traffic.

“I was impressed by the level of sophistication and cleverness and thoughtfulness,” said Skillicorn. “It really does try to do everything that’s possible to do in some very, very clever ways.”

CSE says it’s trying to set up defences because government networks are probed up to 80 million times a day by hackers looking for network vulnerabilities.

Skillicorn says most of those probes involve automated attempts equivalent to harmless mosquito bites, with only a tiny fraction meriting action.

Canada’s economic activities, international roles and technology know-how make it an attractive target for cyberattacks by other countries, criminals and hackers.

CSE response to CBC

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A single breach in the government’s online armour can leave it vulnerable, with the potential that a wealth of sensitive data could end up in the wrong hands.

Soon after the 2010 top-secret presentation, several key federal departments — including the finance department and Treasury Board — suffered major attacks by hackers that forced them offline.

More recently, Canada Revenue Agency shut down in 2014 during income-tax season when a hacker broke into the site via a security bug known as Heartbleed.

Still, Vonn says while government cybersecurity is essential, citizens’ level of trust in the post-Snowden era remains low, with many Canadians concerned about CSE activities.

“Accountability is central to understanding how this is keeping us safer and not in fact endangering our cybersecurity, our liberty, our ability to dissent.”

CSE tracks millions of file downloads daily
A step-by-step look at how Canada's spies track file downloads
Read other CBC stories on Canada's Snowden files
CSE document on R&D

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CBC is working with U.S. news site The Intercept to shed light on Canada-related files in the cache of documents obtained by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The CBC News team — Dave Seglins, Amber Hildebrandt and Michael Pereira —collaborated with The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher to analyze the documents.

For a complete list of the past stories done by CBC on the Snowden revelations, see our topics page. Contact us via email by clicking on our respective names or search for our PGP keys here.

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/ne...-bait-and-switch-canada-has-ever-seen-opinion

Bill C-51 could be the biggest bait and switch Canada has ever seen: opinion
Wes Regan Feb 21st, 2015

Photo via Flickr creative commons
In the spring of 2011 the Government of Canada was renamed the Harper Government. While to some it may seem a relatively minor issue of semantics, in retrospect it has come to signify something much greater: the dismantling of the Canada you grew up in, and its replacement with a strange and frightening new Canada birthed behind the closed doors of the Prime Minister’s Office. While Canadians have complained about the unchecked power of majority governments in the past, this one feels like a landslide that just keeps coming.

George W. Bush once famously intoned that “you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists.” Now with the proposal of Bill C-51 the Harper Government has essentially said the same thing, only with a twist. You’re either with the Harper Government and the oil companies, or you’re with the terrorists. Disagreeing is treasonous.

Canadians don’t deserve to be “othered” by what is ostensibly our own government. Canadians don’t deserve Bill C-51, a bill that that smells like the biggest bait and switch this country has ever seen in the making.

Show us pictures of beheadings, cars on fire and tell us that Bill C-51 will protect us from similar events. It's hard to argue against this. I am appalled at the apocalyptic and psychotic march of ISIS in the Middle East and I was shocked by the shootings in Ottawa and Quebec. But as a Canadian I am also disgusted by the vagueness and thinly-veiled intent of this creepy bill.

As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt might point out, Canada’s discussion on the economy, oil and gas and the environment has been hopelessly mired in a chasm of “moral matrixes” ever since the Harper Government decided to prioritize expansion of Alberta’s energy sector above all else.

As a Canadian who cares about our environment and as someone who has worked in community economic development for the past several years, I catch myself being at times dumbfounded and at other times outraged at the decisions being made in Ottawa these days. But I try to step out of my own moral matrix, as Haidt encourages, in order to understand why the Harper Government says and does the things that it does.

To many Canadians it probably appears that since Harper has come to power that we have slipped deeper and deeper into what the Superman comics dubbed Bizarro World. A Canada where the government does the opposite of everything you’d think a responsible government should do. Where Orwellian doublespeak has replaced facts, and where ideology has replaced data in policy making. A government that hastily drafts up anti-terror laws that intelligence experts emphasize won’t make us safer, and spends tens of millions on ads glorifying war, while it denies veterans services. Yes, these days, it seems that down is up and up is down.

One of the biggest bones of contention between this government and Canadians has been this exaltation of Alberta’s petroleum export economy above the environment, and now even above our privacy and freedoms. This has been particularly acute in BC. But there is a moral foundation to Harper’s ambition. Alberta, or the multinational energy corporations who have heavily invested in it over the past century, is desperately seeking new markets. Being too dependent on exporting to the U.S. the industry sees China as the logical place to focus; this has been presented by the Harper Government as being in the national interest. Unfortunately those corporations, the province of Alberta and the Harper Government have to run roughshod through BC and the environment in the process.

British Columbians who are concerned about pipelines or rail transport of petroleum products feel that we assume the majority of the risk, while Alberta and multinational corporations reap the majority of the benefits. We feel that our traditional tribal lands, our eco-tourism, our sport fishing, our recreational camping, our regional economies are threatened by the potential for oil spills, dozens of which have happened in the past decade in North America.

British Columbians are rightly insulted that our own economic priorities, our culture, our environment, and our well-being is somehow not considered in calculating the national interest. What is good for Alberta is good for Canada, but what is good for B.C. is not?

It is a powerful fallacy that what is good for the environment is not good for the economy— and yet another powerful fallacy that what is good for the oil companies is good for the economy. Oil is but one sector in a diverse web of industries and entrepreneurship that makes our economy tick. But as Thomas Homer Dixon warned in his 2013 New York Times op-ed, Canadians are concerned that our country is being “twisted” into a petro-state.

I imagine the Conservative Party faithful could feel confident justifying all of this if the economy was doing well, but sadly this isn't even the case. This government has vastly increased the national debt and produced consecutive deficits as it hemorrhages tax dollars in profligate spending to remake Canada. Under Harper, economic inequality has increased. Poverty has increased. Household debt has reached record levels. Our economy is not well. And neither is our environment. And neither is the state of our democracy nor our standing in the world.

What is perhaps saddest of all to this Canadian is that we can't even have the meaningful discourse required to adequately debate this bill in Parliament. Steven Harper was not even present at either opportunity. For years it has felt like we have been talking to a brick wall; now the man who announces sweeping anti-terrorist measures at a party fundraiser is not even there in Parliament to debate it.

To clarify the concerns raised by Green Party leader Elizabeth May and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair: they say the vagueness of this bill opens it to interpretation that will result in politically-motivated actions towards environmentalists and others.

The highly political use of CRA to crack down on environmental charities in my opinion has completely validated the concerns about how this government will direct CSIS to operate under these new laws, especially with vagueness around such things as defining “Interference with critical infrastructure” or concerns about "economic stability."

Does a pipeline that exports oil out of the domestic supply for a multinational corporation constitute “critical infrastructure”? Does action against a pipeline that isn’t built yet constitute a threat to critical infrastructure?

Would Canada's dollar becoming a petro-currency that soars and crashes constitute a threat to economic stability? Because this has done more damage to industries and sectors than any rail blockade or climate march we've ever seen in Canada.

Further to the suspect marching orders given to CRA we have now learned that there has already been unprecedented and wholly inappropriate spying on Canadian environmental organizations and Canadian citizens in a coordinated effort between oil companies, the National Energy Board, the RCMP and CSIS.

Here are the original screen shots of a recently leaked RCMP files that rely on absurd sources to validate eco-terrorist anti-petroleum paranoia. As a grad student I have marked undergraduate papers with superior sources and fact-checking. Once again, what is happening to this country? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

A former CSIS officer has noted that Harper is using the same tactics that fascist dictators have employed in the past. Let that sink in for a moment. Is that not truly disconcerting? So with expanded powers and no oversight or accountability to the public, whose CSIS will this really be? Canada’s or the Harper Government’s? Canada’s or the oil companies?

Or are Canadian environmentalists and the public who support them just being paranoid?

If the previous spying and coordination between the oil industry and Harper Government is any indicator, Canadians who care about the environment, free speech and their privacy are right to be extremely suspect of the motives behind Bill C-51. It may be presented under the guise of protecting Canadians from a purported global jihad against us, but as time will tell this bill may conveniently aid in another struggle. To silence dissent and quell environmentalism in Canada.

Canadians don’t deserve a Bill C-51 but I do feel we deserve a Government of Canada. When do we get that back? I think a lot of us have missed it and look forward to having a meaningful conversation with it again someday about our security, our economy and our environment.

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinio...cmp-intelligence-a-danger-to-canada-1.1783860

Paul Hanley: RCMP ‘intelligence’ a danger to Canada
PAUL HANLEY / TIMES COLONIST
MARCH 6, 2015 12:29 AM

The RCMP’s recently disclosed Critical Infrastructure Intelligence Assessment of Criminal Threats to the Canadian Petroleum Industry might be dismissed as a joke if its implications weren’t so disturbing.

Given the sweeping nature of proposed anti-terrorism legislation, what does this assessment reveal of attitudes about the environmental movement inside government?

The RCMP assessment lists several incidents of criminal activity directed at the petroleum industry. Fair enough. We all likely agree those involved in actual crimes, such as bombings and threats of violence, should be prosecuted.

But the police force then launches into a pro-petroleum polemic that tars the “broadly based anti-petroleum opposition” — hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Canadians — with the same brush as it does a handful of violent criminals.

The RCMP’s assumption that it’s somehow “anti-Canadian” to oppose the expansion of fossil-fuel infrastructure is simply wrong. It is also wrong that Canada’s police force should indulge in an ideologically based critique of a legitimate social movement. Its job is to enforce laws, not take ideological positions.

Beyond that, the report is rubbish. Its assessment of risk is not based on an investigation of actual threats but on comments from dubious media and industry sources. If this is what passes as “intelligence,” it makes one question the RCMP’s capacity to judge any threat.

Its first biased assumption is that opposition to the development of petroleum infrastructure runs counter to the national interest. It does not.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and even the International Energy Agency — Canada is a member of both — say it’s critical that we stop investing in infrastructure that locks us into the continued use of fossil fuels.

The next assumption by police is that there is something sinister about non-Canadians contributing money to environmental groups in this country or about foreigners coming here to protest large resource developments that could affect their country.

If there is something wrong with such foreign “interference,” then there surely must be something wrong with our prime minister or a premier travelling to the United States to promote Canadian pipelines. Or with Canadian companies lobbying for the Keystone pipeline in the U.S., or with foreigners investing in Canadian oil or pipeline companies.

The RCMP finds it menacing that some environmental groups have collected a lot of money to support their anti-petroleum activities. However, don’t such donations indicate substantial public support for these groups and the anti-petroleum movement?

The RCMP makes much of a report from an academic source about the nefarious use of social media by environmental groups to “dominate” the Internet and “recruit impressionable students” to “help save the planet.” How shocking!

How stupid can this thing get? Well, the RCMP goes on to cite a paper from a university student who made the startling discovery that Twitter is being used to mobilize people. That finding leads to this revelation: “Environmentalists are no longer confined to simply waving banners and yelling through megaphones: They have gone online.”

We actually pay people to churn out this nonsense?

If using social media is a sin, I guess the pro-petroleum movement will be cast into hell with the greens.

Any university instructor who receives a paper of this quality would give it a failing grade. Let’s hope this nonsense is not used as justification to impose Canada’s growing security apparatus on a legitimate environmental movement.

If this is what passes for intelligence, Canada is in danger.

Paul Hanley is a Saskatoon StarPhoenix columnist.

phanley@thestarphoenix.com

- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinio...nger-to-canada-1.1783860#sthash.7i6UYc3s.dpuf

 

[agentaqua]

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/03/0...ce=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=090315

The Establishment Has 'Ridiculed' our Democracy
Young and old are fed up with mounting betrayals from their 'betters.'
By Rafe Mair, Today, TheTyee.ca

I foresee a collision coming. Not between French Canada and the rest, not between East and West (although there is a role played by these stresses) but between the "establishment" and the general public. The "establishment" is difficult to define except everyone knows what it is. Dictionary.com defines it as "the existing power structure in society; the dominant groups in society and their customs or institutions; institutional authority." Let me give a couple of examples leading to the conclusion to which I have reached.

I almost spilled my muesli the other morning when I read that the prime minister's office had reacted to President Obama vetoing the Keystone XL pipeline, saying, "it has the support of the Canadian and American people... "

Since when did our prime minister give a damn about what the people thought? Moreover, it's a stretch to say that Keystone XL has the support of the Canadian people while in fact 54 per cent of British Columbians oppose, according to a poll from January 2014. That poll said only 52 per cent of all Canadians "somewhat" support it. Moreover, the poll was about a pipeline in the U.S., not at home.

My constituency is much opposed to an LNG plant in Squamish. Our Tory MP, John Weston, to the best of my knowledge, has not only never bothered to canvas his constituents as to how they feel about this ghastly project, he has twice, unsuccessfully, tried to get the West Vancouver council to reverse its decision to oppose it. Mr. Harper favours it. Thus, so does Weston and we the citizens simply don't matter.

Harper does more than support the LNG industry, and so do we, big time, whether we like it or not. On Feb. 19, he announced tax breaks for the liquefied natural gas industry.

"In order to ensure that Canadian natural gas can reach new and growing international markets, and make it accessible for new domestic uses, the government intends to establish a capital cost allowance rate of 30 per cent for equipment used in natural gas liquefaction and 10 per cent for buildings at a facility that liquefies natural gas," Harper said. "This tax relief will be available for capital assets acquired after Feb. 19, 2015, and before 2025."

Don't need tax breaks

Just why this business needs our tax dollars to survive is quite beyond me. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Premier Christy Clark so badly needs LNG to survive herself?

Then, on Feb. 27, the Vancouver Sun, consistent with its policy of permitting large industry to write op-ed articles, printed a piece by Michael Mulcahy, the president and CEO of FortisBC, a prominent energy company.

Hopeful to expand LNG, Mr. Mulcahy talks about everything except the important things. He brushes aside environmental concerns about LNG by consistently comparing it to things like propane and diesel in the most general and briefest terms. He doesn't deal with the basic issue raised by scientists that taking everything into consideration, extracting and using natural gas is no better for the atmosphere than coal or oil. He says not a word about the dangers of transporting or storing LNG.

Another thing that Mr. Mulcahy avoids like the plague is the issue of hydraulic fracturing, "fracking." There's no mention in his article about the huge amount of water required or the consequent poisoning of the water table where fracking is done. We don't hear a peep about "fracking" creating dangerous instability in the land. Not a word about the methane gas released. Needless to say, he doesn't mention the jurisdictions all around the world, including Quebec and New York State, which have either banned fracking or have seriously curtailed it.

Somehow Mulcahy forgets to tell us that Woodfibre LNG, the proponents of the Squamish LNG plant, is controlled by controversial Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, whose company, Asian Agri, was ordered in 2012 to pay over US$200 million in fines for tax evasion in Indonesia.

In 2014 the Guardian newspaper noted court evidence showing Asian Agri had long been engaged in "routine and systematic fraudulent accounting practices."

This is the fine corporate citizen with which FortisBC is supporting and doing big time business with.

There was a time when both the government and big business had a degree of credibility. Of course, we took what they said with a grain of salt but we didn't decide from the outset that whatever they said was a bunch of barnyard droppings.

Unfortunately, that's the point we have now reached, and for unassailably good reasons. I frankly don't believe a single solitary word that FortisBC or the government of Canada or the government of British Columbia or indeed any other large industry or government in the world has to say. I don't think that very many of my fellow citizens believe them either.

The credibility of big business has scarcely been helped by the disclosure that HSBC, the second largest bank in the world, has helped large companies defraud governments out of billions of tax dollars. Indeed, the list of the bank's clients includes some pretty seedy ones.

Below is an excerpt from Mayu Chang's Feb. 27 CorpWatch blog, Details Of Tax Avoidance Schemes For Wealthy HSBC Clients Revealed.

"Falciani's (the whistle blower) files show that HSBC employees in Switzerland reassured clients they would not disclose details of their accounts to tax authorities in their home countries. Some documents also showed that HSBC proactively contacted clients to discuss options that would allow its clients to avoid a new tax introduced under a treaty Switzerland signed with the European Union. And yet other documents show that HSBC maintained secret bank accounts for numerous dictators, arms dealers who sold mortar bombs for use by child soldiers in Africa as well as to traffickers in "blood diamonds" -- mined by warring parties in conflict zones."

This was not a one off.

In December 2012, HSBC was penalized $1.9-billion, the largest fine ever under the Bank Secrecy Act, for violating four U.S. laws designed to protect the U.S. financial system. HSBC had allegedly laundered at least $881 million in drugs proceeds through the U.S. financial system for international cartels, as well as processing an additional $660 million for banks in U.S. "sanctioned" countries.

According to news reports, the U.S. bank subsidiary also failed to monitor more than $670 billion in wire transfers and more than $9.4 billion in purchases of physical dollars from its Mexico unit. In a deferred prosecution with the Justice Department, the bank admitted that it "failed to maintain an effective program against money laundering and failed to conduct basic due diligence on some of its account holders."

In other words, HSBC copped a plea.

A February 2013 article in Rolling Stone magazine, stated, "Yes, they issued a fine -- $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit -- but they didn't extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying abuses" and further stated, "In this case, the bank literally got away with murder -- well, aiding and abetting it, anyway."

...continued below....

 

[agentaqua]

A modern environmentalism

Who does go to jail, of course, is the welfare mom who makes a little extra money and doesn't report it.

This all comes at a time when, especially in British Columbia, a new modern environmentalism has taken hold. The governments, especially my member of Parliament, don't understand the environmentalism that now prevails. Nobody wants to stop industry, stop development, or go into enforced but noble poverty, wearing sackcloth and ashes and munching nuts and raisins. They simply want "progress" in a manner that is consistent with protecting our environment. They understand that some sacrifices must be made -- nothing comes for nothing -- but know that this is eminently doable. They're prepared to trade off some "progress" to save what God gave us. The government and industry treat them as wild-eyed maniacs and probably neo-coms to boot.

The signs have been there for a considerable period of time. The Occupy movement involved nearly 1,000 cities in some 82 countries and over 850 U.S. communities. This, of course, is pooh-poohed by the "establishment" as just being young ne'er-do-wells who will have no long-term impact. This is wrong, shortsighted and dangerous. What the Occupy movement tells us is that the "young world" is thoroughly pissed off with how they are governed.

It's scarcely just young people involved. In Lions Bay, a small "c" conservative community if there ever was one, there will certainly be civil disobedience if the government forces the LNG plant in Squamish. The civil disobedience by the people in Burnaby over the Kinder Morgan expansion, far from offending my neighbours, encouraged them in their own battle against the proposed LNG plant.

One only has to read the comments in this paper and in others like it do see that there has been a sea change in the attitude of the general public towards their "betters."

I've been around too long to believe that the collision is coming tomorrow afternoon. What I do say is that it is coming, the signs are all there, and that to be avoided there must be massive changes in the attitude of industry and government.

There's another factor involved here which government seems unable to grasp. People are fed up with their MPs having absolutely no say in how the government is run and with leaders running the entire show from their offices. This has been going on a long time but it's getting worse and worse. Again, in my constituency, Weston is generally seen as being a mere shill for government propaganda, which he of course, is. He has no opinion until Harper makes a decision so he knows what he must think and say.

We have, then, governments without credibility -- and industry no one believes. No message will ever be accepted by anyone if, from the outset, they consider the person giving it a liar.

I'm not without hope. I believe that structural change to the way we run our government would make a huge difference. It would logically rub off on industry, which can't peddle their crap unless the government is behind them.

I believe in proportional representation or some modified version of it. I don't suggest that this would be a perfect solution. There's no such thing and as I have mentioned in past columns here, we continually make perfection the enemy of improvement.

We have to get over that -- if we do, we may actually restore some credibility to the "establishment," and restore to the people of this country the power that is promised them by that now ridiculed word "democracy."

 

[agentaqua]

http://m.insideottawavalley.com/new...ger-is-now-an-enemy-of-the-public/;send=false

Mar 06, 2015
Diana Beresford-Kroeger is now an enemy of the public
By Jennifer Westendorp

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is now an enemy of the people. The Merrickville resident gave a passionate talk, regarding new types...

Diana Beresford-Kroeger, an author, botanist, medical biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts on trees, is now an enemy of the people.

“I’ve just been made the enemy of the people,” said Diana. “According to this government (Stephen Harper’s), if you speak out about climate change and the health effects, you are an enemy of the people.”

She gave a passionate talk, regarding new types of medicines and embracing simplicity, at the Burritt’s Rapids Community Hall on February 25 for the New Horizon Club. She is known for her extraordinary ability to bring an understanding and appreciation of the scientific complexities of nature to the general public.

“People like me are being watched,” said Diana. “So watch me because I will be talking a lot about the environment.”

She explained her medical area of expertise was open heart surgery and organ transplants.

“That is what I have done for most of my working life,” said Diana.

She explained the biggest issue facing the medical profession right now is the over usage of antibiotics, which will eventually lead to its ineffectiveness.

“We are looking at a system in the future, when antibiotics will no longer work,” said Diana. “Our bodies are so used to them.”

She explained 60 per cent of all new medicines have come from the plant kingdom.

“I’m kind of an odd ball,” said Diana. “I studied duel degrees, in biochemistry and botany. Now I am in hot demand all over the world, from Finland to Japan. Nobody thought of doing this before and I have been doing it for a long time.”

She spoke of eight major pharmacopeias grown by aboriginal people.

“One of them can multiple the effectiveness of drugs by 100,” said Diana. “That means, if you take one aspirin, then it is 100 times more effective. Think about that, in terms of radiation therapy in cancer patients.”

She explained scientists around the world are starting to think about health and the environment in a different way.

She mentioned the movie she has been working on for the past five years, which will be the biggest and most expensive to come out of Canada.

“We are in the rough cut stage,” said Diana. “We had 400 hours of film that we cut down to two hours.”

The film, which is all about climate change, is currently untitled and is projected to be released in September, 2015. The film was directed by Jeff McKay, a Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, and produced by the internationally acclaimed production company, Merit Motion Pictures.

“It will be on the big screen all over the world,” said Diana. “I am asking you to pray for me, even if you’re not religious. I will be standing up alone with the film. It takes a lot of courage. I am not a wealthy woman. What I am doing will help save your grandchildren.”

In conjunction with the film, Diana has assisted with the production of a free app, which will be released at the same time as the movie, which will allow people to figure out which trees are best for them to plant.

“If you say, ‘I live in Merrickville and I have cancer in the family,’ the app will tell you which tree to plant, to help combat cancer,” explained Diana.

She explained trees have healing properties and the app will guide people in the right direction for all kinds of ailments.

She spoke about a book, ‘Global Chorus,’ by Todd E. Maclean, which she contributed to, alongside various other people, including Nelson Mandela.

“There are a number of people around the world talking about sustainability, ethical behaviors and peace,” said Diana. “This book is the voice of the people and I am very honored to have participated.”

She also spoke about her latest book, having penned a total of five, entitled ‘The Sweetness of a Simple Life.’

“I live in a simple house, in a simple place and lead a simple life,” said Diana. “Go to the library in Merrickville and go through it. I’m not asking you to buy it, but just take a look.”

She explained the book is all about applying simplicity to life and living healthier.

“Each one of you need to get off your asses and walk for 15 minutes every day,” said Diana. “Walking oxygenates the body. It keeps the pancreas in good order, which ties into diabetes, which ties into heart disease. It’s such a simple thing, so just walk.”


She explained when the walk is over, get a bottle of good red wine to keep in the house.

“I am not saying to get drunk,” said Diana, “but having a small glass every day, or every other day, with your dinner, drinking slowly, will fight cancer.”

She explained the tannins in wine, which are units of phenolic compounds, contain anti-stress benefits.

“If you have difficulty sleeping at night, relax before you go to bed – no fighting or throwing furniture – go to the fridge and get a tiny piece of hard cheese, one inch by one inch,” said Diana. “If you can’t eat cheese, then eat a few spoons of ordinary yogurt, 15 minutes before bed. It pools calcium in your stomach. It drops the cortisol, commonly known as fight or flight reaction, levels in the blood. It reduces the stress levels in your body.”

She said to smile, as much, and at as many people, as possible.

“It is so simple to do, and it relieves the stress on your kidneys and body,” said Diana. “Your grandma and great-grandma had all these very simple pieces of advice, but we don’t think like that anymore. Now we run everywhere and stress levels are very high.”

She explained meditation, no matter an individual’s religious sentiments, is very important.

“Solitude and thinking by yourself, whether it’s walking in a forest or praying,” said Diana. “You need to take that time every day for yourself.”

She said meditation calms the nervous system, which slows the heat beat. She explained a person is divided into three parts; the body, mind and soul.
“Meditation is what you do to help your mind and soul,” said Diana. “We don’t pay attention to those things anymore. It’s a very simple thing to do.”
She talked about various beneficial foods, including Bok Choy, which is high in folic acid, thereby stabilizing DNA.

“Eat it once or twice a week, by steaming it slowly,” said Diana. “It contains a mending compound that creates bridges in the lungs and protects from lung cancer.”
She said the quality of food in Canada is appalling.

“The oceans are emptied,” said Diana. “I want our children and grandchildren to have a future. At my age, I don’t care anymore about being in the crosshairs. The wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer. We live in a sovereign country and we need to pay attention to what’s going on. There are lots of huge political questions coming up for us, like the housing bubble in Canada right now, which is very similar to what happened in the US.”

She said they were told 35 years ago in medicine to stop using antibiotics.

“They are in everything; in fish, chicken and beef,” said Diana. “The fish we eat is caught here and shipped to China to be covered in tetracycline, which is like mummifying, then flash frozen and sent back here to be sold as food. Our government is not looking out for us.”

She also talked about some of the amazing trees in the world, including Giant Trees in Ireland.

“They were bigger than whales,” said Diana. “They have more complex DNA than we do and more of it.”

She explained that Brian Boru, first high king of the Irish, discovered a secret forest in County Clare, filled with giant oak trees.

“Of that enormous forest, there is just one left and they named it after Brian Boru,” said Diana. “It is like no other on the planet. It is said that 1000 men and 1000 horses took shade under this tree.”

She explained she is currently the lead scientist on a project, called the Woodland League, working on replanting that forest.

“If you ever feel the world is going to hell in a hand basket,” said Diana, “know there are idiots like me who are beginning to change the world.”

- See more at: http://m.insideottawavalley.com/new...lic/;send=false#sthash.t3vH0vdi.tk46lnOh.dpuf

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ian-veterans-do-not-stack-up/article23381161/

Benefits for wounded Canadian veterans do not stack up
GLORIA GALLOWAY
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Mar. 09 2015, 10:18 PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 10 2015, 7:02 AM EDT

A new analysis of money paid to disabled vets by Canada’s closest allies raises questions about the Conservative government’s claim that its support for injured troops is world class

A new analysis reveals that Canadians injured in the line of duty are eligible for significantly less financial compensation than the amounts provided to disabled soldiers in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States – raising questions about the Conservative government’s claim that its support for wounded veterans is world-class.

A comparison of monetary compensation offered to disabled veterans in Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States

Canada
Lump Sum
A lump-sum payment of up to $306,698.21 which can be taken in a single payment or spread out over multiple payments. The amount offered depends on the degree of disability. Someone with mild hearing loss, for instance, might collect just $14,929, while someone who has lost the complete function of their lower limbs and is confined to a wheelchair might receive the maximum. Of the 45,615 veterans granted a lump-sum payment between 2006 and 2014, just 185 received the maximum. It is non-taxable.

Earnings loss
An earnings-loss benefit of 75 per cent of salary for two years (or longer if the veteran is taking part in a vocational or rehabilitation plan), all of which is taxable and from which any outside earnings are deducted dollar-for-dollar for veterans who are permanently and totally incapacitated and at 50 cents on the dollar for those in a rehabilitation plan. For those who are permanently incapacitated and unable to work after the two-year period has ended, the benefits can continue to age 65, with annual inflation increases of up to 2 per cent.

Impairment allowance
There are three grades to this allowance with the lowest being $584.66 monthly, which is what most veterans get. The middle grade pays $1,169.33 a month and the highest grade pays a maximum of $1,753.97. In addition, there is supplement for most, but not all, veterans who are receiving the permanent impairment allowance of $1,074. The allowance and the supplement are taxable.

Britain
Lump Sum
Lump-sum benefits are available up to a maximum of $1,092,348. This was originally set in 2005 at half that amount but was doubled in 2008 when it was deemed inadequate.

Severely disabled
Severely disabled veterans receive 100 per cent of their military salary tax-free for life.

Australia
Lump Sum
Lump-sum benefits of up to $420,207 are available, but veterans can choose instead to receive this as a fixed-rate weekly pension which, for someone who starts receiving payments at the age of 25 and dies at the age on 80, would amount to a total of $902,261. This is tax-free.

Severely disabled
Lump sums are awarded for spouses and children of severely disabled vets. For each child, for instance, a veteran would receive $80,956.51.

Earnings loss
An earnings-loss benefit pays 100 per cent of the difference between what veterans were making before their injury and what they are making after their injury, for the first 45 weeks of incapacity. When the 45-week period ends, they are paid between 75 per cent and 100 per cent of the difference between what they were making preinjury and post-injury, depending on how many hours they are able to work. These payments are taxable.

United States
Disability pension
Tax-free disability pension ranging from $167.58 for someone with no dependents and only a mild impairment, to as much as $4,010 per month for a severely incapacitated veteran with one spouse and a child. In addition, there are supplements of up to $10,836 monthly for those with dependents who are severely disabled and need special help.

The Conservatives are fighting the perception that the party, which styles itself as pro-military, is failing veterans as Canada transitions from serving elderly veterans of the Second World War and Korea to helping a smaller number of young Afghanistan veterans who are suffering from psychological illnesses and debilitating physical injuries.

Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole, who replaced Julian Fantino in the portfolio earlier this year, is vowing to take steps in the coming months to repair relations with those veterans, a politically sensitive constituency in advance of this year’s federal election.

On Monday, Mr. O’Toole unveiled a new retirement benefit aimed at giving moderate and severely injured soldiers a monthly income support payment beginning at age 65.

But many veterans say those moves are just tinkering. They argue they are getting a raw deal under the New Veterans Charter, which was passed into law in 2006 and replaced a system that provided veterans with lifetime pensions.

An analysis of the money paid to disabled vets by Canada’s closest allies suggests those concerns may be well founded.

Whether it is a comparison of lump sums awarded according to the level of injury, or the ongoing payments meant to replace the incomes of those who can no longer do their jobs, Canada’s remuneration comes up short – in some cases by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Veterans benefits around the world are universally complex to both access and understand,” said Sean Bruyea, a retired Air Force captain and veteran’s advocate who helped The Globe and Mail obtain and analyze the numbers from other countries.

But “veterans instinctively know that the programs under the New Veterans Charter are deficient,” Mr. Bruyea said. “For the government to tell them otherwise really is just stepping on veterans’ hearts and destroying their dignity.”

Trying to compare the compensation offered by the Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States is difficult because each jurisdiction provides money to its veterans in different ways, and all four countries have additional programs that go beyond direct financial compensation. In Canada, for instance, the Veterans Affairs department provides an independent living program that includes grounds-keeping among other home-care services.

In addition, the level of service to veterans is not equal. There have been complaints in the United States, for instance, about a huge backlog of unprocessed claims. And the delivery of health care is not the same on both sides of the border.

But, looking solely at the money paid to those injured while they were in the military, this country lags behind.

Members of the PPCLI 1st Battalion, A Company 3 Platoon scale the side of foothills moving through enormous boulders while on patrol in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. (Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail)
While Canada offers lump-sum payments of as much as $306,698.21 to its veterans depending on the level of their injury, Britain will pay up to the equivalent of more than $1-million Canadian dollars.

Australia’s maximum lump-sum payment is in excess of $400,000 (Canadian), and veterans in that country can choose instead to receive a non-taxable, weekly pension which can amount to more than $900,000 for a soldier who retires in his 20s and lives into his 80s. Lump sums are also given to children of disabled Australian veterans, which does not happen in Canada.

The United States provides a tax-free disability pension that ranges as high as $4,010 (Canadian) per month, depending on the level of injury and the number of dependents. In addition, there are supplements of up to $10,836 (Canadian) monthly for the most seriously disabled.

Canada has a program that compensates disabled veterans for lost wages which pays 75 per cent of their military salary. This country also provides a permanent impairment allowance and a supplement that can combine to equal a little over $2,700 monthly. But most soldiers who qualify for that allowance receive far less than the maximum, and the money is taxable.

In Australia, on the other hand, the earning-loss compensation can amount to 100 per cent of a veteran’s former salary if he or she is completely unable to work. And in Britain, the most severely disabled veterans receive 100 per cent of their military salary tax-free for life.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has defended his government’s approach to veterans, saying Canada’s programs and services are the best in the world.

Mr. O’Toole, the Veterans Affairs Minister, said there are a number of programs and benefits offered to disabled Canadian soldiers which, when added to the amounts they are paid, makes Canada’s system of compensation one of the best anywhere. “On a category by category comparison,” he said in an e-mail, “some of our allies may have a few items that have stronger support than we have at present, but in other areas they offer less in terms of programming or financial supports.”

Not only does Canada have a good health-care system which in not available in every country, Mr. O’Toole said, but there are medical, rehabilitative, vocational and family supports that aim to return disabled former military personnel to a productive post-service career. And, in terms of the monetary payouts, for soldiers in the lower ranks, the combination of the earnings-loss benefit plus the permanent impairment allowance and the supplement could add up to more than their military salary, the minister said.

 

[agentaqua]

A Canadian soldier of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) 1st Battalion, A Company mans the gate at the Gombad safe house in the district of Sha Wali Kot in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, as two local Afghans walk by the main road in Gombad carrying shovels. (Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail)
The government has spent at least $700,000 fighting a court case against a group of veterans based in British Columbia who argue that the New Veterans Charter violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it does not provide the same level of benefits and support as the system of lifelong pensions it replaced.

Frank Valeriote, the Veterans Affairs critic for the Liberals, said the comparison with other countries “just adds more fuel to the fire of the argument that our veterans have been making and that is that [the benefits] are inaccessible, insufficient and inadequate.”

Peter Stoffer, the NDP critic, said looking at what other nations provide to disabled veterans is a bit of comparing apples to oranges, but “for those who qualify, there is no question that other countries do better than ours when it comes to cash outlay.”

Related: Ottawa to introduce new guaranteed pension benefit for injured veterans
Follow Gloria Galloway on Twitter: @glorgal

 

[agentaqua]

kinda says it all

 

[agentaqua]

a little realism

 

[agentaqua]

http://westcoastnativenews.com/barr...ypal-account-frozen-due-to-harper-government/

Barriere Lake Solidarity PayPal Account Frozen Due to Harper Government
- WCNATIVENEWS ON FEBRUARY 24TH, 2015 2:33 AM

Barriere Lake Solidarity PayPal Account Frozen Due to Harper GovernmentBy mediacoop.ca

On Thursday, February 21, 2015, a PayPal employee confirmed to a Barriere Lake Solidarity activist that the Barriere Lake Solidarity (BLS) account was being investigated due to a complaint made by a member of the Canadian Government. As a result of the complaint, Barriere Lake Solidarity’s account was frozen and the group has been unable to access funds raised for 23 families who were going hungry just before Christmas, because of non-payment of social assistance by a third party organizaition under contract with the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs.food_donations

The Algonquins of Barriere Lake have a 80-90% unmemployment rate and depend on social assistance for basic survival. The PayPal account involved a few thousand dollars to help support the Algonquins of Barriere Lake in their struggle.

The BLS PayPal account was created as a non-profit business/organization. It is a Working-Group under the Qubec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) who have registered non-profit status. Despite repeated attempts to prove that BLS is not a separate legal entity, PayPal gave BLS no other choice but to shut down the account, refunding all the moneys raised.

PayPal will no longer confirm the identity of the party who issued the complaint, but will verify that they received the call one day afer the fundraising campaign was launched.

BLS member Shiri Pasternak stated: “It is outrageous that the federal government sought fit to intervene in a fundraising campaign to provide stopgap funding for families who were going hungry due to the negligence of Aboriginal Affairs. Barriere Lake council members had been petitioning the government for months to resolve the missing social assistance issues. When we launched our fundraising campaign, hundreds of people reached out, but the government’s panicked response was to shut down this support and let the community starve.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barriere Lake Solidarity barrierelakesolidarity@gmail.com

Tony Wawatie (Interim Director General, Algonquins of Barriere Lake: 819-355-3662 and 819-435-2181

 

[agentaqua]

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/03/1...ce=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110315

Six Things Protesters Need to Know about Bill C-51
Preventative arrest? Secret police? Rights lawyers break down anti-terrorism law.
By Alyssa Stryker and Carmen Cheung, Today, TheTyee.ca

Burnaby Mountain protest
Protesters march against Kinder Morgan Nov. 27, 2014. Actions interfering with 'the economic or financial stability of Canada' can be interpreted as security threats under Bill C-51. Photo by Jackie Dives.

At over 60 pages, Bill C-51 -- the Anti-Terrorism Act -- is a heavy read. The bill proposes a myriad of radical changes to Canadian law and to Canada's national security apparatus, many of which seriously jeopardize the rights and freedoms of Canadians while promising little improvement to public safety.

Canada's privacy commissioner, ex-CSIS officials, former prime ministers and international whistleblower Edward Snowden have all raised alarm about the bill's impacts on Canadians' freedom and privacy. Lawyers at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association have gone over the bill paragraph by paragraph, and we've outlined the parts of this document that concern us most.

1. Bill C-51 drastically expands the definition of 'security.'

When you think of being secure, you likely think of being safe from physical danger. But Bill C-51 defines security as not only safeguarding public safety, but also preventing interference with various aspects of public life or "the economic or financial stability of Canada." With this definition, a separatist demonstration in Quebec that fails to get a proper permit, a peaceful logging blockade by First Nations, or environmentalists obstructing a pipeline route could all be seen as threats to national security.

2. It gives the government too much discretion to pick and choose which individuals and groups to target for further scrutiny.

Bill C-51 gives the government the ability to designate an extraordinarily broad range of activities as potential security threats. The government claims it will use good judgment when deciding which individuals and groups constitute true threats. Whether or not a group is deemed a national security threat may hinge on whether their cause is politically popular or in line with the views of the government.

3. It will severely chill freedom of expression.

It's unclear even to experts exactly what kinds of speech and protest activity may be considered threats to national security if the bill passes; the average Canadian has little hope of feeling confident that their legitimate political activity hasn't inadvertently crossed the line. Bill C-51's expansive language means many Canadians will likely choose not to express themselves -- even in completely legal ways -- rather than risk prosecution. Legitimate speech will be chilled, and our democracy will be worse off for it.

4. It will allow government institutions like Health Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency to share information about you with the RCMP.

The proposed Security of Canada Information Sharing Act (part of Bill C-51) would allow government institutions -- including non-security-related institutions like Health Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency -- to share information amongst themselves without a warrant if they believe the information may be relevant to national security.

Given that no one wants to be seen as responsible in case of a security breach, the default will be to share as much information as possible. Massive information sharing does not mean better security. Not only does this jeopardize the privacy of the individuals whose information is being shared, but it may actually make it harder for investigators to detect real security threats: when looking for a needle in a haystack, it hardly helps to add more hay.

5. Canada already has a troubling regime of preventative arrest and detention; Bill C-51 proposes to make it even worse.

Currently the Criminal Code permits the police to arrest, detain and impose restrictions (such as a curfew or travel ban) on someone who has never been (and may never be) charged with a crime if they have good reasons to believe a terrorist activity will be carried out if these actions aren't taken. Bill C-51 would lower the threshold for these actions to situations where the police believe that a terrorist activity might be carried out. It also doubles the amount of time an individual can be detained without charge. Innocent people could be arrested and detained on mere suspicion of future dangerousness.

6. It would give CSIS the power to act like a police force, while still allowing it to operate secretly as an intelligence gathering service.

Bill C-51 would radically redefine the role of CSIS to include the ability to act on -- rather than merely to collect -- security intelligence. This ignores the lessons of history. The 1960s and 1970s saw serious rights abuses undertaken by the RCMP under its "security intelligence" mandate. CSIS was created in the 1980s for the express purpose of separating Canada's intelligence agency from its police force.

As an intelligence agency, CSIS is permitted to conduct much of its work in secret, and the details of most of its activities are never revealed publicly. But that's precisely why CSIS should not be permitted to also operate as a police force: this secrecy means that rights violations by CSIS are more difficult to detect -- and once detected, more difficult to remedy -- than if they were the result of actions undertaken by law enforcement agencies.