Showing posts with label Bill C-51. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill C-51. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Bill C-51 Senate Perp Walk of Shame

The Red Chamber of Sober Second Expense Accounts passed the anti-terrorism Bill C-51 by 44 votes to 28 yesterday. 

Below find those 44 Con Senators who voted YEA - along with their contact info/bios/pix - because I don't think these fine folks are well enough known to Canadians. You'll note some of them will still be in the Senate 30 years from now. 
All but three were appointed by Harper - two were appointed by Mulroney and one by Paul Martin. 

A full seven out of the 30 Harper's Perps with Perks are senators.


Name&contact info - Party affiliation - Appointed by - Province - Term of office

Ataullahjan, Salma  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2010 to 2027

Batters, Denise  CON - Harper - Saskatchewan - 2013 to 2045

Bellemare, Diane  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2012 to 2024

Beyak, Lynn  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2013 to 2024

Black, Douglas  CON - Harper - Alberta - 2013 to 2027

Carignan, Claude  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2009 to 2039

Dagenais, Jean-Guy  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2012 to 2025

Doyle, Norman E   CON - Harper - Nfld Labrador - 2012 to 2020

Eaton, Nicole   CON - Harper - Ontario - 2009 to 2020

Enverga, Tobias  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2012 to 2030

Fortin-Duplessis, Suzanne  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2009 to 2015

Frum, Linda  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2009 to 2038

Gerstein, Irving   CON - Harper - Ontario - 2009 to 2016

Greene, Stephen   CON - Harper - Nova Scotia - 2009 to 2024

Lang, Daniel  CON - Harper - Yukon - 2009 to 2023

LeBreton, Marjory  CON - Mulroney - Ontario - 1993 to 2015

MacDonald, Michael  CON - Harper - Nova Scotia - 2009 to 2030

Maltais, Ghislain  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2012 to 2019

Manning, Fabian  CON - Harper - Nfld Labrador- 2011 to 2039

Marshall, Elizabeth  CON - Harper - Nfld Labrador - 2010 to 2026

Martin, Yonah   CON - Harper - British Columbia - 2009 to 2040

McInnis, Thomas  CON - Harper - Nova Scotia - 2012 to 2020

McIntyre, Paul  CON - Harper - New Brunswick - 2012 to 2019

Mockler, Percy  CON - Harper - New Brunswick - 2009 to 2024

Nancy Ruth  CON - Martin (Lib)- Ontario - 2005 to 2017 

Neufeld, Richard  CON - Harper - British Columbia - 2009 to 2019

Ngo, Thanh Hai  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2012 to 2022

Ogilvie, Kelvin   CON - Harper - Nova Scotia - 2009 to 2017

Oh, Victor  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2013 to 2024

Patterson, Dennis  CON - Harper - Nunavut - 2009 to 2023

Plett, Donald  CON - Harper - Manitoba - 2009 to 2025

Poirier, Rose-May   CON - Harper - New Brunswick - 2010 to 2029

Raine, Nancy Greene  CON - Harper - British Columbia - 2009 to 2018

Rivard, Michel   CON - Harper - Quebec - 2009 to 2016

Runciman, Bob  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2010 to 2017

Seidman, Judith  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2009 to 2025

Smith, Larry  CON - Harper - Quebec - 2011 to 2026

Stewart Olsen, Carolyn  CON - Harper - New Brunswick - 2009 to 2021

Tannas, Scott  CON - Harper - Alberta - 2013 to 2037

Tkachuk, David  CON - Mulroney - Saskatchewan - 1993 to 2020

Unger, Betty   CON - Harper - Alberta - 2012 to 2018

Wallace, John D.  CON - Harper - New Brunswick - 2009 to 2024

Wells, David M.  CON - Harper - Nfld Labrador - 2013 to 2037

White, Vernon  CON - Harper - Ontario - 2012 to 2034

Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, and Pamela Wallin didn't vote of course.





Here are the 28 Liberal senators who voted against the bill in the Senate, as opposed to the 33 Liberal MPs who voted for it at final reading in the House of Commons.


Although the Senate records "nil abstentions", Con Senators Raynell Andreychuk, Jacques Demers, Janis G.Johnson, Don Meredith, and Josée Verner did not vote ; 
nor did Liberal Senators George Baker, Colin Kenny, and Terry Mercer.

Open Media : Bill C-51 Just passed. Where do we go from here?

Fingus : How the Senate's failure to provide any second thought on C-51 may serve as the ultimate signal that it has nothing useful to offer Canadians.

Akin : Deafening disrespect of aggrieved senators

Update : Dear Open Media : In your Heroes and Zeros list, your attribution of Rivard and Larry Smith as Liberals is incorrect. They are Cons and were appointed by Harper in 2009 and 2011 respectively.
..

Thursday, May 07, 2015

Cons, Libs pass C-51 anti-terrorism law.

"The federal government's controversial new anti-terrorism bill has won the approval of the House of Commons.The Anti-Terrorism Act, also known as Bill C-51, easily passed third reading by a margin of 183 to 96, thanks to the Conservative government's majority and the promised support of the third-party Liberals."

April 1, 2015
"Not one of the more than 100 amendments submitted by opposition parties to try and change the government’s much-criticized anti-terror bill were adopted as a House of Commons committee wrapped up its study of the legislation." 
During a clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-51 that ran late into Tuesday evening, the public safety and national security committee voted down all the amendments proposed by the NDP, Liberals and Green Party. 
The bill on the whole was passed in committee with Conservatives and Liberals voting in favour, and the NDP against."

Justin Trudeau answering questions on his support for C-51 at UBC, March 4, 2015:
Transcript :

Trudeau : "I agree that Canadians have real concerns about this bill and that's why we're putting forward some very very clear improvements.  My hope, however, is that this government, the same way it did on C-31- the TellVicEverything Bill, and some other ones, that it actually realizes from public pressure that it is going to have to make significant amendments to this bill. But we know that tactically this government would be perfectly happy if the opposition completely voted against this bill. Because it fits into their fear narrative and let's people bash people on security. 

The fact is I don't want to encourage them to not make those amendments. If they think if they don't make the amendments that the Liberal Party won't support this bill, they can make political hay out of it and I do not want this government making political hay out of an issue - more than they're already trying to - out of an issue as important as security for Canadians. 

This conversation might be different if we weren't months from an election campaign but we are. And the fact is these measures - three measures in particular that I talked about - are going to keep Canadians safer in the immediate, deserve to be brought in. The bill needs to be fixed and if this government doesn't do it now, we will do it after the next election."

Q : "Ok, you yourself have expressed reservations about this bill. And yet you've already all but unconditionally guaranteed your support of the bill."

Trudeau : "That's the same question we had earlier."

Q : "It's not. You said I am hopeful that the government .... but if the government does not, I will still support the bill."

Trudeau : "Yes"

Q  : "Now if the government does not accept your amendments..." 

Trudeau : "If the government does not support my amendments, we're still going to support the bill.  We will be offering changes as part of our election platform because Canadians are asking for those changes and when we form government we will bring it in." 

Q : "Sir, I must say supporting a bill you know is dangerous while promising to reform it when you are elected to government is tantamount to holding our rights hostage where our vote is our ransom."

Trudeau : "Yes I appreciate that. [Applause]  Thank you for expressing your concern.  I've heard this - we've heard this from Canadians and I share those concerns about this bill and that's why the pressure that you and everyone else are putting on this government is getting them to understand that if they don't bring in oversight, if they don't bring in review, if they don't narrow the overly broad provisions in this bill, they're going to have a very difficult time in the next election campaign convincing Canadians that they're worthy of their trust.  And I think that that's a good thing - that Canadians are challenging them on this and I certainly hope that it will result in this government making significant amendments to this bill, but the fact is there are elements in this bill that keep Canadians safe right now, and I am not going to ...sorry?" 

Q: "Can you give examples?"

Trudeau : "Yes I can give three examples ... preventative arrests... Sorry, there's a whole bunch of people here with questions, ok? And i think I've been very generous - I've answered a couple of times on this one. I appreciate your presence here today. It's great to see you. Thank you very much for your support. I'm glad you're taking an interest in the process but I am going to get a few more questions in on this."  

45 of 48 witnesses who appeared before the House Committee criticized the bill.
The bill now goes before the Liberal and Conservative held Senate for an easy passage into law.

Below are the 33 Liberals MPS who voted in favour of C-51 May 6, 2015

Write to them. Tell them their peacetime consiglieri appeasing Harper aren't cutting it :

Monday, April 06, 2015

Edward Snowden and "dick-pics"



Funny, sad, brilliant. 

John Oliver has done a very clever thing here ... and that's all I'm gonna say - just watch it.

Bonus: Ex-CIA John Kiriakou on Canada's intelligence safeguards: "You're kidding me."

Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati, whose privileged conversations with his clients were wiretapped three years ago : "It’s all a smokescreen. SIRC isn’t there to do anything but make it look like it’s doing something to oversee CSIS. Nobody is doing anything to oversee CSIS. They’re out-of-control renegades."

 "If CSIS can get away with bugging a lawyer’s phone calls with his client, imagine what the spy service will do when Bill C-51 becomes law."
Update :  Anon in comments : The photos of your junk will be publicized 
and also Boris' brilliance from comments below, reposted here. :
"2015 turned out to be a bizarre year for the surveillance state. 
In April, John Oliver interviewed Edward Snowden about the spy agencies spying and used a "dick pic" to make his point. Later, the Canadian government passed Bill C-51 giving its spy agency free reign. 
The "Dick Pic Revolution" began shortly thereafter and by December googling "dick pic" brought up over 500 trillion hits. It was estimated that 25-35% of all the penises in the world were now digitized and that fewer than 1% of searches would now be free of dick pics within the first 25 hits. 
Rebel hacker group Anonymous joined the fray by hacking into government and corporate email programs and installing a virus, later made available freely for any disgruntled government or corporate employee to install at their workplace, that would attach a random dick pic to every email sent from those addresses."
Heh. 
.

Friday, April 03, 2015

One minute against austerity in Montreal



A one minute time lapse of yesterday's student strike against austerity in Montreal. 
Austerity - that's when your government impoverishes its citizens by decimating public services like education and health in order to balance its lining of corporate pockets with tax breaks.

“Our services are worth more than your profits” is the slogan of the march.
Quebec police declared the march illegal before it began - itself an illegal move on their part in Quebec - highlighting why the Cons' didn't want to fix that bit about *illegal* strikes in Bill C-51.

Ricochet : Everything you need to know about Quebec’s latest student strike

Flashback to G&M last May : Canadian businesses accumulating ‘dead money’ faster than other G7 countries :
"Statistics Canada data shows Canada’s corporate cash hoard was $626 billion in the last quarter of 2013, a jump of six per cent over the previous quarter — more than the federal debt and almost a third of the country’s gross domestic product."
Let's hear that once again : "Canada’s corporate cash hoard was $626 billion ... more than the federal debt and almost a third of the country’s gross domestic product."
"The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has found that CEO pay for Canadian public companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange has ballooned by 73 per cent between 1998 and 2012, the latest figures available."
So naturally we really really need to bring in a half a million temporary foreign workers who will eventually have to join the underground workforce as Canadian graduate students intern for free and the many of the rest of us struggle to make ends meet with several part time jobs with no benefits.

Think the Quebec student strikes aren't about you?

We will now go to our corporate sponsored media who will interview someone stuck in traffic whining about being inconvenienced by the strike, followed up by Dan Kelly, head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, whining about how expensive TFWs are.

Meanwhile I'm trying to remember when 75,000 people showed up in the streets of any other Canadian city for something other than a funeral. 

h/t Kev @ Trapped in a whirlpool for G&M and Ricochet links
.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Dear Fred :

Thanks for yet another letter about how your anti-terrorism bill will crack down on ISIS recruiting Canadians over social media.


Have you heard of twitter by any chance? 


But the show must go on, eh? 

Gosh, was it only a year ago you announced a $10 to $14 billion General Dynamics contract to build and sell military LAV IIIs to Saudi Arabia because jobs jobs jobs? 

Sadly the whole jobs jobs jobs angle hasn't really taken off for you, has it? 
So its jihad jihad jihad all the time instead now and later today Steve will announce in the HoC he's going to expand getting his war on in Iraq and Syria for another year because following the US into yet another disastrous cycle of seeing how much worse the next bunch of rabid killers we will create out of it will take Steve's 'war president' shtick past the next election.

Anyhow, Fred, I wanted to thank you for this inspirational line from your letter :
"Those who would attempt to abuse the rights enjoyed by Canadians to spread their ideology of hate must be stopped."
Yeah, come the next election I think the majority of Canadians will be looking into that.

Alison

P.S. Almost forgot - please send $15.
.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

A Tale of Eco-Surveillance

Ottawa Citizen June 4, 2014  Government orders federal departments to keep tabs on all demonstrations across country
"The federal government is expanding its surveillance of public activities to include all known demonstrations across the country, a move that collects information even on the most mundane of protests by Canadians.
The email requesting such information was sent out Tuesday by the Government Operations Centre in Ottawa to all federal departments.
“The Government Operations Centre is seeking your assistance in compiling a comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations which will occur either in your geographical area or that may touch on your mandate,” noted the email"

G&M Sept 14, 2014 Environmental extremism a rising threat to energy sector, RCMP warns
“Environmental ideologically motivated individuals including some who are aligned with a radical, criminal extremist ideology pose a clear and present criminal threat to Canada’s energy sector,” said the report, written in March 2011. Since then, the RCMP has held regular meetings with energy companies and federal officials to review potential threats to infrastructure
RCMP spokesman Greg Cox denied the force is targeting protesters or environmental groups in general

"In highly charged language that reflects the government’s hostility toward environmental activists, an RCMP intelligence assessment warns that foreign-funded groups are bent on blocking oil sands expansion and pipeline construction, and that the extremists in the movement are willing to resort to violence.
RCMP spokesman Sergeant Greg Cox insisted the Mounties do not conduct surveillance unless there is suspicion of criminal conduct. 
“As part of its law enforcement mandate the RCMP does have the requirement to identify and investigate criminal threats, including those to critical infrastructure and at public events,” Sgt. Cox said in an e-mailed statement. “There is no focus on environmental groups, but rather on the broader criminal threats to Canada’s critical infrastructure. The RCMP does not monitor any environmental protest group. Its mandate is to investigate individuals involved in criminality.”
... the report which is stamped “protected/Canadian eyes only” and is dated Jan. 24, 2014."

Global, March 17, 2015 CSIS helped government deal with Northern Gateway protests
"Canada’s spy agency helped senior federal officials figure out how to deal with protests expected last summer in response to resource and energy development issues – including a pivotal decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service prepared advice and briefing material for two June meetings of the deputy ministers’ committee on resources and energy"
"A B.C. climate change scientist says he got an "intimidating" call from RCMP because he had taken pictures on Burnaby Mountain near the site of a proposed [Trans Mountain] Kinder Morgan pipeline.
Tim Takaro, a health sciences professor at SFU, says he was having lunch in Tofino with his family on Wednesday when his daughter's [unlisted] cellphone rang. When she answered it, she was told it was the Burnaby RCMP calling and they were looking for her father."
Prof. Takaro works at SFU on Burnaby Mountain. He was taking pictures in a public park.
You can listen to his account at the link.

Some good news ...
Forum Research and VICE have a poll out today on plummeting support for Bill C-51 from 1370 online Canadian voters surveyed March 13 and 14th :
"When asked their approval of a number of specific provisions of bill C51, the majority disapprove of the Bill allowing security services to infiltrate and track environmentalists, First Nations and pipeline protesters (61%)"  
Support for tracking and infiltrating environmentalists, FN, and pipeline protesters came from Alberta (32%) and federal conservatives (56%)

Support for the overall stiffer legislation of C-51 (just under half of respondents) :
"is common to the oldest (62%), the wealthy ($80K to $100K - 62%), in Quebec (72%), among Conservative voters (84%), Bloquistes (76%), the least educated (74%), mothers of children under 18 (65%), Catholics (72%) and Evangelicals (82%)."
Figures.
.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

RNN : Canada's "Patriot Act" as a political ploy.



The Real News Network is doing a weekly panel discussion on Canadian issues and it's refreshingly less middling than the media panels we have become accustomed to
In today's panel, Leo Panitch and Dimitri Lascaris take on Bill C-51, the tanking tarsands, and the political positioning of the Libs, Cons, and NDP going into the next election. 

Please click through to RNN at the link to show your support for a vid I've only pillaged from their site. 
.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Bill C-51 : ICYMI - rights are important



C51 Day of Action protest tomorrow, Saturday March 14

Find the one nearest you on the map

Only public pressure has any hope at all of shifting the Cons because they  are  definitely  not  listening  to  the C51 committee witnesses so we're gonna need something that looks like this.

Update : Saturday at the old courthouse in Vancouver:

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Steven Blaney calls a cat a cat

"The Holocaust," intoned Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney today, "did not begin in the gas chamber; it began with words."  

He's right, of course. It began with a government capitalizing on a disaster event to demonize a segment of the population and suppress civil rights - including freedom of expression, assembly, and the expectation of privacy in personal communications - while hurriedly implementing a legal basis for the secret imprisonment of anyone considered not friendly to the government's agenda of security over democracy.

So it began with a law something like Bill C-51.

Press Progress is already all over Blaney's peculiar mention of the Holocaust to justify certain measures of Anti-terrorism Act 2015 at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security studying Bill C-51 today, but I noticed it was a somewhat leading - dare I say, planted - question from Con MP Rick Norlock that preceded and provoked it.

Norlock awkwardly read a question off his prepared question sheet regarding the takedown of internet sites :

 Norlock at 49:35:
 "Can you explain the gap in the legislation you're trying to fill and I'm referring mainly to the promotion and and takedown threshold with regards to internet sites. We've heard some folks say that this portion of the legislation is an attack on our freedom of speech. I don't believe it is but I do believe, I do not believe, that promoting the commission of terrorism acts is acceptable. Can you explain the legislation and how it is different than the current hate speech laws that are focused on certain groups."
Certain groups? I hadn't realized we had "current hate speech laws that are focused on certain groups".

After JustMin Peter MacKay's response, Blaney signalled he wished to speak to the question also:

At the 53:45 mark, Blaney : 
"As you know our government has tabled a counter-terrorism strategy that has four pillars - to prevent, detect, deny, and response. And the fact that as a government , as a society, as we will be able to shut down those websites who are promoting hatred and violence is a tool helping us in the first pillar of prevention of radicalization because as we know, we've heard it, the Holocaust did not began in the gas chamber, it began with words. So we have to be careful and that's why this measure I feel is so important and I also am committed as Minister of Public Safety to work with my partners such as Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of France, our European partners, American - so that websites that could be hosted in other countries could also be shut down if they are promoting hatred, extremist ideology, and violence. So I believe this measure, C-51, is part, is helping the four pillar of our counter-terrorism strategy. Thank you."
Randall Garrison (NDP - Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca, BC) protested Blaney's rhetorical trivialization of the Holocaust and Blaney doubled down in the portion Press Progress posted :




Asked about possible abuses of C-51, Blaney explained he was not worried because he would be the one signing off on the warrants.

Gosh was it only six weeks ago that Blaney gave a speech to the UN General Assembly on the Holocaust and Canada's efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the form of the BDS movement? :

"One year ago our Prime Minister Harper stood in the Knesset in Jerusalem to declare that through fire and water Canada would stand with the people of Israel and all the Jewish communities in the face of anti-Semitism. ... That is why Canada plays a leading role in the fight against the Islamic State. Prime Minister Harper spoke at the Ottawa conference on combating anti-Semitism, clearly outlining the real threat of anti-Semitism and Canada's duty to respond. He said " We must speak clearly, remembering the Holocaust is not merely an act of historical recognition - it must also be an understanding and an undertaking - an understanding that the same threats exists today and an undertaking of a solemn undertaking to fight those threats."

.... Canada has a zero tolerance to anti-Semitism in all forms of discrimination, including in rhetoric towards Israel and attempts to delegitimize Israel such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. This is because that those who threaten the existence of the Jewish people are a great threat to us all. More works needs to be done to combat the scourge of discrimination inherent to anti-Semitism and under Prime Minister Harper's leadership, Canada will continue to be a leader in those efforts."

And just a couple of weeks before that, John Baird was in Israel signing a new MOU:
  • Deeply concerned by efforts to single out the State of Israel for criticism and isolate the State of Israel internationally including calls for a boycott of the State of Israel, for the divestment of investments, and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel
  • Recognizing that the selective targeting of Israel reflects the new face of anti‑Semitism
while another MOU (there were five) promised Israel and Canada would develop "a coordinated, public diplomacy initiative" to combat such criticism.

Meanwhile the website of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada addressed the new MOUs and "the challenge posed by terrorism", including more "standing with Israel through fire and water" and concluding  :
"Whether the fight against violent extremism is conducted over the skies of Iraq or in the tunnels under Gaza, Canada and the State of Israel are fighting enemies whose hateful ideologies and goals threaten all peaceful, democratic societies. That’s why we are committed to enhancing our collaboration on security and defence, especially in the increasingly important area of cyber-security."
From Part One of Bill C-51 : Security of Canada Information Sharing Act :
"Whereas Canada is not to be used as a conduit for the carrying out of activities that undermine the security of another state"
and where the last of nine definitions of "activities" is : 
(i) an activity that takes place in Canada and undermines the security of another state

So I ask again : how much of Bill C-51 is about the Cons soppy infatuation with the current rightwing government of Israel?
.
Wednesday Update : The first use I can find of the phrase "The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers - it began with words" is from Liberal MP Irwin Cotler writing for the Jerusalem Post five years ago. It's the title of his article.
.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Fundraising at the mall - terror for the win






Friends,

As one of our strongest supporters, you know the fourth quarter fundraiser of 2014 was our best in a decade. But we could raise so much more!

Why just this week, 20 cheerleading teams withdrew from a competition at West Edmonton Mall due to fears it would be bombed by a Somali terrorist group that has never committed a terrorist act outside of East Africa. Terror for the win!

But wait - there's more! 
When we put our West Edmonton Mall mujahideen ad up on Facebook, many of the responses demanded we allow Canadians to open carry guns in malls to defend themselves against our ad. 

Shockingly, the hug-a-thugs Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair have not made any terrorist ads of their own. 

Fortunately we can count on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to pass our new Anti-Terrorism Act to keep Canadians safe. At the mall. Remember, they hate us for our values at the mall.

Please send $15 and add your name to stand with our Prime Minister and his strong stable throbbing authoritarian majority here.
.
Update : Heh and heh
.

Blog Archive