Vic Toews : To serve and protect the Con agenda

So after the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews tacked a few additional "terrorism" charges onto Omar Khadr's Canadian file that were not in his original conviction by the discredited Guantánamo Bay military tribunal (h/t Cathie from Canada): 

Ottawa’s file on Omar Khadr contains faulty information based on a memo prepared by a senior policy analyst for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews ... Among other things, the government alleges the late terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden was an accomplice of a 15-year-old Khadr, and that the Canadian citizen killed two Afghan militia men. 

“Mr. Khadr engaged U.S. military and coalition personnel with small-arms fire, killing two members of the Afghan militia force. He threw and/or fired grenades at nearby coalition forces, resulting in numerous injuries to them.”

The assertions are important given they will help inform decisions Canadian prison and parole authorities make on Khadr. [Khadr's appeal coming up in July]

a Public Safety spokesy now opens the door to not releasing Khadr even if his Guantánamo conviction is overturned in the US :

"Canadian authorities insist they will decide what happens to Omar Khadr if his conviction for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan more than a decade ago is overturned in the United States. 

Lawyers for Mr. Khadr, now 26, said Friday they will appeal his guilty plea and conviction on murder and terrorism charges in a U.S. federal court that has already tossed out several similar Guantanamo military tribunal convictions."

In January, in what a number of public officials anonymously referred to as "highly unusual extraordinary political interference", the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews twice overturned a Canadian Press request for a phone interview with Khadr after it had already been approved by the warden at Millhaven where Khadr is being held, citing "access could pose a security risk".

Because a child soldier who has spent the last 10 years in Guantánamo since the age of 16 is naturally "a security risk" to Canada and must be silenced.

The request had been flagged by the Privy Council Office.

In another example of extraordinary political interference that came to light this week, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson ordered all senior Mounties to get clearance from Toews and his office before meeting with any MPs or senators via a liaison office that co-ordinates RCMP strategy with the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. (h/t DammitJanet!)

Last year Paulson told Liberal Senator Colin Kenny that he himself could not commit to a meeting until he got the stamp of approval from the Department of Public Safety. The meeting never took place.

Toews parlsec Candice Bergen, formerly Hoeppner, who introduced final reading of the Combating Terrorism Act in the House last week, explained on Friday:

"If parliamentarians need to, or want to, meet with RCMP or other officials, the appropriate place for them to do that is in parliamentary committees."

NDP MP Randall Garrison : 

"It's not appropriate for the government to reach into the police operation. It's a very, very fundamental part of what we must be assured exists so that the police aren't doing the work of the government, they're doing the work of the public." 

Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell said he feared the "politicization of the police force."

Bit late for that.

More on recent Toews RCMP Police State escapades : Montreal Simon and DammitJanet!

Fun fact : G&M Editor's note on Omar Khadr’s freedom in Ottawa’s hands despite U.S. appeal, Safety Minister insists : "An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to Vic Toews as the Public Security Minister".

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Peter Van Loan's "recent days"

On Thursday, a reporter doggedly tried to wring from Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan exactly how long he sat on the RCMP's Firearms Commissioner's Report in favour of keeping the long-gun registry so that MPs would not have that info prior to passing the bill to scrap it. The report was released two days after the vote.

I've omitted PVL's initial 12 responses here as they bore no relation to the question asked but the entire interview is a quite extraordinary read:

"How long have you had the report from the Commissioner of Firearms?
How long have you had it?
So how long have you had it?
How long have you had it?
How long have you had the Commissioner of Firearms report?
How long have you had the Firearms Commissioner's report, sir?
This isn't a news conference, these are questions. How long have you had the Firearms report?
We're asking you a question. How long have you had this report?
How long have you had it?
Has it been weeks?
How long have you had this report?
How many days?

Peter Van Loan: It's - I received it and looked at just recently, in recent days."

Saturday : Firearms database popular with police

"Responding by email to questions from the Star, RCMP Sgt. Greg Cox said late Friday the force submitted its 2008 firearms report on Oct. 9, four weeks ago."

As the dogged reporter - who was that woman? - put it : "That was totally useless. Thank you."

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Good article from Harper Index : Gun control politics revised Canada's political map

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Owelympic$ welcomes US forces to Canada

Out here in Lotusland "Exercise Gold", the full-on security rehearsal for the 2010 Owelympics, begins today and runs through Friday. It involves simulated chemical, biological, nuclear and explosive incidents in and around Vancouver.

While the Vancouver Sun excitedly pumps away on its joey smallwood - Fighter jets to buzz Vancouver! - Public Safety Canada carefully explains who is involved in Exercise Gold:

David Charbonneau :

"Exercise Gold will confirm information-sharing and coordination between federal, regional, municipal and private sector organizations and will be largely out of the public eye."

Kash Heed, BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General :

"Working with our partners in the federal and local governments, we will ensure these Games are safe and secure for all."

Public Safety Canada :

"The Program includes participants from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, as well as emergency services and private sector partners.
Security preparations for these Games, including the Integrated Exercise Program, will leave B.C. and Canada as a whole with a valuable legacy."

Not giving much public credit to the US forces involved in this "valuable legacy", are they?

DND to Commons Defence Committee via David Pugliese at Defence Watch :

Question 1: Exercise Gold, will it involve American forces?

Response: Yes. NORAD is a bi-national command that includes both Canadian and American personnel and equipment. NORAD will be participating in exercise Gold. Various US military headquarters and operations centres will be exercising with Canada Command during exercise Gold, through exercise Determined Dragon (a Canadian Forces exercise) and exercise Vigilant Shield (a US military exercise). In addition, a small number of US military liaison officers will be participating with Joint Task Force Games.

The 2010 Owelympics : Come for the war games; stay for the valuable legacy.

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