Experts warn against dangers of Canadian government's police state bill

Ed. here. Walt's comments below were posted a week ago. Today, CBC Radio's The House features an interview with Prof. Craig Forcese, of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, in which he highlights the serious flaws in Bill C-51, aka the Harper Police State Bill. We also recommend the backgrounders written by Prof. Forcese and Kent Roach, of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, which tells you in great detail why this bill is a threat to the civil liberties of all Canadians.

Attention Canadian readers! Your civil liberties are threatened by Bill C-51, the "anti-terrorism" bill introduced by your Dear Leader, super-authoritarian control freak Stephen Harper.

The editors of Canada's self-styled national newspaper, the Globe and Mail -- the same ones who endorsed Mr. Harpoon and his party at the last federal election -- now accuse him of using his new spying law to create a "secret police force" in Canada.

Why call it a "spying law"? Because C-51 will give reckless and unnecessary powers to the Mounties, CSIS and other spy agencies, including the ability to detain people who haven’t committed any crime, with minimal oversight or democratic accountability.

Dear Canadian readers, don't let Harper mislead you as to what C-51 really means. Four former prime ministers -- Joe Clark, John Turner, Jean Chrétien, and Paul Martin -- are among almost two dozen prominent Canadians concerned about this bill!

Your rights and freedoms -- freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, even freedom of thought -- are in danger. Be sure to read "What's happening to Canada?!", posted here yesterday.

Your Dear Leader is telling you that people like Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair are careless of the security of the country, unpatriotic, and probably in league with the Islamic extremists too! The way he tells it, to be against C-51 is to be against Canada. If there's a climate of fear in the Not-so-great Not-so-white North today, Harper created it!

Yet, a poll published on Thursday claims 82% of respondents support this draconian, totally over-the-top legislation. I don't believe it. I don't want to believe it. Did they ask you? Are you willing to trade your rights and liberties for "enhanced security" against the threats which are the direct result of Harper's pro-Israel, pro-American foreign policy?

There’s little doubt that many Members of Parliament -- including some Conservatives -- are concerned about the outrageous laws and lack of oversight. But before they stand up to Harper, they need to know that people across Canada will speak out too.

Dear Canadian readers, you must ask yourselves: are you the kind of people who give up your freedoms to fear-mongers, or are you the kind of people who will defend your democracy? Right now is the time to reject fear! Sign this online petition to stop the encroachment on your freedom of Harper's increasingly authoritarian and dictatorial state.

Thanks to Agent 34 for making us aware of the petition. Stay free!

Canuck Tories shelve internet spy 'n' snoop bill

Just checking the overnight news before I head out the door, and am delighted to read the report in this morning's Globe and Mail that "Call me Steve" Harper's government has put on hold legislation that would grant new powers to authorities to police the Internet. Let's hope that -- like when you call the government's "help line" -- it gets put on hold forever!

Time is Walt's enemy today, so I can only refer you to the newspaper article and posts in this space last week. But I do have time to say congratulations to all the Canadians who weren't fooled by the Tories' law and order bullshit, especially the part about protecting the world from pornographers.

A big debt of thanks is owed to all who posted comments in the social media and the lamestream media, and especially to those who took the time to e-mail or call Old Vic Toews and Rob "the Boy Wonder" Nicholson.

More anon.

Canada's Tories backtracking on internet snooping bill

"Old Vic" Toews, Canada's Minister of Public Safety & Security & Law & Order & Correct Behaviour, was interviewed on CBC Radio's The House today. The subject was Bill C-30. That's the one which, if you don't support it, you're standing with the child pornographers, according to Vic.

Mr Toews's characterization of those who believe in freedom of expression and freedom of information as supporters of porn peddlers drew a lot of ire, not just from the usual "progressive forces" but from libertarians as well. The outcry from normally passive Canadians seems to have surprised the minister, and his puppet-master, "Call me Steve" Harpoon. To judge from the interview, they're now in damage control mode.

Hence the unusual move to refer Bill C-30 to a parliamentary committe for further study, following first reading rather than second reading as is the usual procedure. Toews also says the government will look at any and all amendments which the opposition or anyone else -- for instance the Privacy Commissioner -- might suggest. (Canada's Privacy Commissioner was also interviewed on the programme.)

So the ball ["bill", surely. Ed.] has been pretty well kicked into the long grass. But that doesn't mean Canadians concerned about the invasion of their privacy shouldn't make their voices heard... while dissent is still legal. Here are some useful links.

The Honourable (sic) Vic Toews can be reached (supposedly) at vic.toews@parl.gc.ca. And here's his office phone number: +1-613-992-3128. For those still living in the `80s, Vic has a fax number too: +1-613-995-1049.

To yank the chain of the Rob Nicholson -- the one standing with Toews in the picture, not with the pornographers -- e-mail rob.nicholson@parl.gc.ca. (Are you starting to see a pattern to these e-mail addresses?) His phone number is +1-613-995-1547, fax +1-613-992-7910.

If you want to contact another of the 308 MPs, go here to find his or her co-ordinates. If it's a senator you want -- like that great champion of free speech Mike Puffy -- here's a list of those who slumber in the Red Chamber.

One more tip. It's still the law, in Canada, that anyone can write to a Senator or Member of Parliament for free! (That means Canada Post has to pay the cost, which sounds only fair to Walt.) Here are the addresses:

Senators: Name of Senator / The Senate of Canada / Ottawa / Ontario K1A 0A4
MPs: Name of Member of Parliament / House of Commons / Ottawa / Ontario K1A 0A6

And don't forget... no-one ever said you could write only once! Go ahead! Knock yourself (and them) out!

Note from Ed.: I meant to take some pornographic pictures for these posts, but I forgot my pornograph.

Big Brother wants to look into your computer... really!

Warning to Canadians! Any Canuck who uses the Internet to download, upload, share, look at, or even search for anything which is incorrect -- legally, morally, politically, or otherwise -- should be very, very afraid. The Conservative government of "Call me Steve" Harpoon has reintroduced the "Investigative Powers for the 21st Century" bill.

If enacted -- and given the Tory majority in Canada's Parliament this is almost a certainty -- the ultimate "snoop and spy" law will require Internet service providers to install surveillance technology on their networks. They, and such portals and search engines as Google and Yahoo!, will be obliged to tell the police and other "authorities" what you're viewing and what you're doing. All the storm troopers have to do is ask. No warrant will be required.

A firestorm erupted in the House of Commons on Tuesday, as opposition MPs charged the Tories are bent on turning Canada the Great White North into a "surveillance society", along the lines foreseen by George Orwell in 1984. Walt says Orwell was only out by a generation or so, and you could get an argument that he didn't miss by even that much.

Time doesn't permit further comment today, but I have to share with you the editorial cartoon by Brian Gable in today's Globe and Mail.

Warning to non-Canucks: Don't think for even a minute that your government -- American, British, whatever -- doesn't want to control your computer and your mind. An Internet lobotomy is being planned for you even as you read this.

Saudis catch spy in the sky

Strange story today from the Middle East. The Israeli news agency Haaretz reports that Saudi Arabian authorities have arrested a vulture, which they claim was trained to be a spy for Mossad, the notorious Israeli equivalent of the CIA.

The vulture had been tagged at Tel Aviv University for a science study. For some reason it flew into Saudi territory, where it was nabbed. Agent 17 wonders what will become of the alleged spy (pictured). Perhaps it will be stoned to death according to Sharia law?

Footnote: Speaking of flying predators and the war against terrorism, does anyone out there remember "Blackhawk" comics? Where is Blackhawk and his gang of birdmen now that the west really needs them?!

Americans, we're watching you!

Dear American friends... Be afraid! Be very very afraid!!! This is a spy coin -- a super-hi-tech Canadian quarter which Canadian soldiers and airmen will smuggle into US government and armed forces meeting rooms to learn your military secrets and prepare for the invasion!

At least that was the rumour when these coins -- really commemorating the sacrifices of Canadian lives in foreign wars -- first appeared about four years ago.

The funny thing is, the US Department of Defense took the story seriously. We know this from classified documents recently obtained by AP under the Freedom of Information Act.

Pentagon officials question whether they should warn military officers in the U.S. Northern Command, who regularly met Canadian counterparts about classified subjects inside bug-free government meeting rooms known as secure compartmentalized information facilities, or "SKIFs". (If it didn't have an acronym it wouldn't be in the Pentagon, eh.)

"Isn't the Canadian piece something that should be briefed to Northcom since the Canadians sit in their SKIFs?" asked the "deputy director for counterintelligence oversight", in emails marked "Secret/NoForn."
"Good point," replied the Pentagon's acting director for counterintelligence. "It is possible that DSS (the U.S. Defence Security Service) sent their report to Northcom. Then again, I don't think it is an issue of the Canadians being the bad guys, but then again, who knows."

Indeed. Who knows? Such is the paranoia of the world's most powerful nation.