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 Editorials | Opinions | February 2008 
Canada's Anti-Terrorism Oriented Bill C-3 - ‘Virgin on the Ridiculous’
 Hall Sisson - The Canadian
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| | Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, NDP Leader Jack Layton, and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe (From left to right). | | |
On another one of the many days of infamy in the world’s history, Feb 6th, 2008, by a vote of 191 - 54, the minority Canadian Parliament thoughtlessly passed legislation that smelled like a kangaroo in a Star Chamber - Bill C-3. The stench rivalled that of the U.S. Patriot Acts it emulated.
Okay, so for those Canadian citizens who weren’t paying attention in class or haven’t yet been bothered to become aware of the odious content, C-3 is the so-called Security Certificates Legislation, the latest reincarnation of the Terrorism Bill that replaced the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) that was passed in the aftermath of 9/11. This is the bill that denies Canadians the presumption of innocence, an open trial, the right to know one’s accusers, to have equal access to evidence presented against an accused - in short the abrogation of the rule of law as we have come to know it.
The basic foundation of our legal system, going all the way back through the English Common Law to the Magna Carta is destroyed. And in order to create what? A Police State the same as the one that is operative in the present day United States. This law would not have come about if so many Canadians and our elected parliamentarians would seem to be among the worst wrong thinkers, did not suffer from ‘ignorance and apathy’, states in which the majority seem to be happiest. One Canadian turns to another and says, “Do you believe that?” and the other guy replies, “I don’t know and I don’t care!”
Where is our time honoured ideological belief in our sovereignty, our country and our freedoms, the preservation of our rights, liberties and identity, our desire to expose those who seek to challenge our inherent human rights; to say nothing of our water supply, natural resources and commodities. Citizens do not seem to realize that we are presently integrated with the U.S. military forces, and Bush can order them into Canada if he so desires. No matter what the government has always told you, water IS on the table and one bulk water sale means U.S. corporations can come for it all.
Water and the SPPA aren’t the subject matter of this article but it is important to know that in regard to water the ‘ratcheting clause’ kicks in. Mexico was not stupid enough to sign the agreement that contained that tricky little gem. Canadians were. The ratcheting clause prevents Canada from reducing our percentage of trade with the United States, and this applies to energy, oil, gas, water, anything. So we sell 60% of our energy to the US and can never sell them any lesser percentage. If we export up to 75% or 85% on occasion we would always have to give them access to that percentage even if we needed it ourselves.
We cannot retain self-sufficiency if we are committed to this agreement to supply the United States. At the moment Americans have more control over our natural resources than Canadian corporations do. The Canadian government intentionally hides the truth of what they are doing under FTA, NAFTA and the SPP Agreement from the public. If Canadians don’t want this condition to continue then we have to elect a government whose policy is to serve notice on the United States that we are getting out of NAFTA and will not enter the SPP agreement.
Do we actually really want to get into bed with the States -- with its private prisons full of ‘unlawful combatants’ and the victims of their draconian pot laws, its armies and intelligence agencies cutting deals with heroine cartels in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, its pensions plans plundered and public wealth withered. Americans owe more debt per capita than any people in human history, and they are beginning to realize that the paper fiat-currency of an over-indebted country isn’t money either. Why would you pick such a time to join the fading American Empire? They are descending into a fascist police state whose main ambition and goal is looting the natural resources of any small country where they set up a puppet government. Why is the Harper Government so keen to oversee the parceling off of Canada through trade deals such as NAFTA and the SPPA?
But back to Bill C-3 - why saddle ourselves with secret trials, secret evidence, secret sentencing and secret prisons. The Intelligence Certificate Review system constitutes a festering harassment of suspected prisoners. Why not give them a fair trial rather than an assessment by intelligence agencies that always use national security as an excuse for their secretive actions.
Defence lawyers are anathema under these conditions. You can’t properly access your client, they hold court behind your back, and they don’t have to fully divulge the evidence, other than too a special advocate who doesn’t know the client and does not have free access to the accused. This is a highly distasteful situation and absolutely ripe for false accusations. And there is another atrocity I haven’t mentioned - Bill C-2, a sweeping ‘law and order’ bill that also emulates failed American policies on crime and punishment.
Nobody in Canada will any longer be able to protest anything they don’t like, without the new para-military SWAT teams that exist in every area, showing up in force. You've seen them and they no longer bear any resemblance to friendly neighborhood cops. I associate with ordinary Canadians who have the intestinal fortitude to get out in public and protest what they see to be wrong and destructive of our sovereignty and general welfare. The middle and business classes however, instead of finding out what a protest is all about, shun and back away from it, for fear of somehow being considered anti-establishment or undignified by their peers, uncooperative with the establishment. Just not enough raging grannies around, I guess.
Some prime examples of the police state abound. One occurred recently near Victoria, BC on Feb 15th, 2008, when sixty RCMP officers in full battle dress, carrying assault rifles and other weaponry, surrounded and attacked seven protesters asleep in a tent at 6.a.m. The protest was in opposition to a $32 million Bear Mountain Highway interchange in old forest territory. The SWAT team was equipped with dogs and a mobile command centre accompanied by construction crews, backhoes and tree felling equipment. Obviously a practice exercise for larger protests to come - why coddle these candy-assed troublemakers with their cockamamie concerns about environmental protection, the use of depleted uranium, get out of the Afghanistan war, an independent and impartial investigation of 9/11, secret agreements to ship water to the US, the North American Union and the Amero. Several shots from a Tazer and a sojourn in durance vile will cool their ardour for such shenanigans.
Do you remember ‘Quick Draw’ Stewart, the fastest pepper-sprayer in the West, who could spray a protester in the eyes before he had time to turn around to leave the scene. RCMP Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart would have been proud of that overwhelming show of force in Langford. Stewart was the officer who pepper sprayed the protesters lining the route of world leaders attending a November 25th, 1997, Asia-Pacific Economic Conference at UBC in Vancouver. Retired Saskatchewan Judge Ted Hughes found the Mounties had acted inappropriately and that protesters had the right to see and be seen at peaceful activities without the fear of forceful tactics being used against them.
And how about those three agent provocateur cops at the recent Monticello, Quebec, Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement meeting. The SPP is run by a joint task force of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in the United States and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) in Canada, as well as the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. These are the corporate bodies that produced the document “Building a North American Community” which is the blueprint and plans for the integration of North America. The infiltrating police provocateurs joined the protestors for the sole purpose of trying to create an incident that would allow the military police to attack a crowd of peaceful Canadian citizens. When are the names of those criminals going to be released and the men charged with incitement to violence, public mischief or whatever, in that covert false flag fiasco designed to be blamed on the protesters.
A Warning: if a guy who looks like Nelson Eddy shows up at your door with Yukon King the Wonder Dog in tow, and tries to deliver ten tons of fertilizer - don’t sign for it. Because the next day a squad of sixty RCMP will show up at you’re house charging you with making a bomb and being a terrorist.
Remember that fifteen-year-old kid in Ontario who likely had a couple of beers after a paint ball game? An informer recruited by the RCMP to play a role in a sting operation, with the promise of a lighter sentence in his own case if he co-operated and came up with some evidence, infiltrated a group of seventeen people. He likely asked the kid if he thought it would be a good idea to cut off Prime Minister Harper’s head. Maybe the kid thought it was a good idea at the time (a vote was not taken) but the entire gang was then charged with terrorism. This was heralded across Canada by the police and mass media propaganda departments as a triumph in the War on Terror, intended to foster the necessity of public acceptance of a police state.
If all this and Bills C-3 & 2 weren’t so sad and unnecessary I would have to say that the situation reminds me of what was said when the Nun fell down upon the Court Jester, “This is Virgin on the Ridiculous!”
The Canadian is a socially progressive and not-for-profit national newspaper, with an international readership. We provide an alternative to the for-profit commercial focused media, which often censors vital information and perspective of potential interest to the diverse Canadian public, and other peoples internationally. |
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