SPP : Selling sovereignty for profit

From the Conservative Party website Dec 14, 2007 :

Standing on Guard. Defending Canada.

"Today, the Conservative Government strengthened its ability to protect our North by launching a new high-tech satellite which will provide essential 24-hour surveillance over Canada’s Arctic.
From a height of 800 km, the Radarsat-2 uses cutting-edge cloud penetrating radar to monitor foreign ships which approach Canadian waters. Its presence ensures that our control over our Northern islands and waterways is beyond dispute.
The satellite also sends a clear message to the other nations of the world that, after thirteen years of Liberal neglect, Canada is once again serious about protecting our Arctic sovereignty.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is determined to protect Canada’s sovereignty in the North. Investing in this innovative and powerful space technology is another way the Conservative Government is strengthening Canada’s place as a leader on the world stage.
Firm priorities. Strong decisions. Real action. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a leader who takes decisive action to protect Canadians and keep the true North strong and free."

Well, that was a whole two and a half months ago.

Now we're selling off that seemingly 'essential' satellite which 'protects our North' and 'sends a clear message to other nations' and 'strengthens our place as a leader on the world stage' for $1.3B to America's biggest manufacturer of ammunition, including land mines, depleted uranium shells, and cluster bombs.

From David Pugliese of the Ottawa Citizen :

"Sometime in the next few weeks, Canada's leading space technology firm will pass into American hands and, potentially, the 'top secret' files of the Pentagon. Critics fear millions of dollars of taxpayer investment, a significant number of high-tech jobs, our Arctic sovereignty and our international reputation in space research will also vanish."

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), Canada's largest space company, is selling off its space assets including Canadarm and the $524-million taxpayer-funded Radarsat-2 satellite to Alliant Technosystems Inc (ATK), because - get this! - the new CEO at MDA has determined that there is more money to be made for its shareholders providing data packages to real estate agents!

Canadians invented it and the Canadian public paid for it but we don't own it and critics within MDA say that following this sale we won't even be allowed to borrow it.

Barring the very unlikely possibility that Industry Canada steps in and puts a stop to the sale, US security concerns will likely bar Canada from any further access to Radarsat-2 climate change data in the far north, and transferred Canadian employees will not have clearance to work on what will become classified US military space programs.

Will Canadian taxpayers be reimbursed for the Canada Space Agency's decision in the late 90's to transfer the satellite technology and all data to MDA to sell off as it likes? Does the pope shit in the woods?

I don't know how much it matters anymore under SPP and its goal of "one security perimeter" that this technology stays under Canadian control, especially given that the Pentagon allegedly already downloads Radarsat-2 data to its field units in Iraq, but I'm sure as hell pissed that Canadian tax dollars are being used to promote US space warfare.

They already know in Ottawa that this is a crap deal with even crappier optics for Mr Defending Artic Sovereignty. Since Canadian scientists and engineers have gone public with their concerns and at least two have quit their jobs on ethical grounds, a planned photo op showing Harper scrutinizing R-2 data *snerk* has been cancelled.

Steven Staples provides a letter you can send to the relevant parties urging Harper not to approve this deal.

Or you could write your own. See if you can't fit something about being "serious about protecting our Arctic sovereignty" and "taking decisive action to protect Canadians" in there somewhere.

Two good articles from David Pugliese in the Ottawa Citizen :

Sovereignty for Sale Part 1 and Lost in Space Part 2

Happy International Women's Day

Steve and Sandra and the $1M question

Almost a third of Canadians think Harper is lying over Cadman affair : Poll

"Almost one-third of respondents said they favoured a public investigation led by a third party, such as the Commons Speaker or ethics commissioner, while 31 per cent said an investigation by the RCMP would be the most appropriate course of action."

H/t Dana at TGB

SPP : TOPOFF 5 and the 2010 Olympics

24 Hours : "Canada, U.S. and Mexico are planning a massive joint military exercise in April 2009 "to focus on terrorist events that could affect [the] 2010 Olympics," according to Public Safety Canada documents released to 2010 Watch via access to information.

The rehearsal, led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is code-named TOPOFF 5. Canadian troops were among the 15,000 participants involved in last October's TOPOFF 4 in Portland, Ore., Phoenix, Ariz. and Guam.

"Exercises provide unique training opportunities to strengthen our ability to deal with potential emergencies," said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in an e-mail statement responding to 24 hours' interview request. "They are important tools to strengthen Canada's ability to deal with real incidents."

An undated Public Safety Canada report said up to $22.8 million was needed to fund emergency management, counter-terrorism, cyber security and critical infrastructure protection exercises, "leading to a trilateral full-scale exercise prior to the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010, as outlined under the Security and Prosperity Partnership."

Now because I'm just not used to finding groundbreaking information about 'deep integration' military wargames in a free newspaper blowing around a bus shelter, I looked on the Public Safety Canada website. Unsurprisingly they don't mention it but the always frighteningly helpful US Dept of Homeland Security website does. Their National Exercise Program (NEP) page has a five year calendar and the June and July 2009 boxes read:
"National Level Exercise 09 Terrorism
TOPOFF 5 (Olympics Prep)."
The lavender colour coding indicates it is "Tier 1: White House directed, U.S. Government-wide Strategy and Policy Focus, Full Participation".


These TOPOFF exercises occur every two years and if this next one is going to take place in Canada around the Olympics, it might explain this news item from a couple of weeks ago :

Canada, US agree to share troops in civil emergencies
"Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency".

I wonder what qualifies as a "civil emergency".

SoCon or Busted

Cathie from Canada catches blogger SoCon or Bust doing a little premature gloating and dogwhistling about the all too obvious endgame of Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, aka the Stealth Act to Recriminalize Abortion :

"... the momentum is clearly moving in our direction.

If not this time, it will happen in the future. It’s inevitable now.

Just give us a little crack and we’ll drive this

RIGHT THROUGH IT!

Little baby steps….easy does it."

Oh come on, SoCons, that's not your usual truck.

This is your usual truck :

that creepy fetusmobile you have on loan from the US Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Anyone could drive that thing through C-484.

Go to a party or defend women's rights....hmmmm

Liberal leader Dion attended a reception to celebrate International Women's Day tonight. Oh, the irony.
Live it up, flyboy. Good of you to show up.
Where the fuck were you this afternoon when Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, aka the Stealth Act to Recriminalize Abortion, passed its second reading in the House today?

The vote was 147 to 132 in support of allowing the bill to proceed to committee stage, meaning that just a few more Libs showing up for work today and voting Nay would have ended this bullshit.

As Kuri at Thought Interrupted put it : "The Liberals failed to stand up against the Conservative agenda they warned us against."

And a big fuck you to NDP Peter Stoffer who voted for it as well, courtesy of Mattt at bastard.logic

So off it goes to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, where six of the twelve members including Chair Art Hanger distinguished themselves by voting Yea.
That's six for and six against.

And now a debate on granting fetal rights under the law can begin - which was what this was always about from day one.
Don't believe me? Horse's mouth right here.

Bill C-484 is the ninth private member's bill attempting to regulate abortion tabled by theReform/Alliance/Con party. Their last attempt to make the "murder of an unborn child when a third party murders a pregnant woman" a new criminal code offence, M-560, was introduced on March 11, 2004.
Today marks the first time such a private member's bill has reached second reading.
It was under your watch, M. Dion, and you didn't even show up for the vote.

Thursday update : Red Tory lists the 27 Liberals who voted for this piece of shit plus the 10 who were "conveniently absent".
H/t to Godammitkitty at Hope and Onions

Malalai Joya...

"After 9/11, unfortunately the United States and its allies like Canada pushed us from the frying pan into the fire, by putting in power the Northern Alliance criminals and warlords. As long as they follow this wrong policy, the situation in Afghanistan will become more disastrous.

Canada should not continue its current policy until 2011. Canada should act independently of the United States and find an alternative policy if they really want to be an honest friend of the Afghan people and improve this catastrophic situation.

Today, in the name of bringing human rights, women's rights and democracy, our country has been occupied.

You cannot bring values like democracy and human rights by supporting the sworn enemies of these values."

Continued at Rabble

Non-proportional representation, Alberta -style

52.69% of the total vote gave the Cons 73 seats,
while 26.31% of everyone who voted garnered the Libs only 8 seats, and the NDP pulled 2 seats with 8.53%.

So half the vote equals 88% of the seats!

Then after factoring in Liberal Catnip's report on voter turnout -
Urban ~ 43% and Rural ~ 39%, it's really more like
21% of all eligible voters elected 88% of the seats.

And it looks like this :



I imagine Idealistic Pragmatist will have something to say about this.

Tuesday Update : Kuri at Thought Interrupted made us all pie!
Ok, Kuri actually made us pie charts, but they're really really good pie charts which include the vast all-powerful Alberta non-voting bloc.
Go see.

A wide variety of "No comments"

from the scandal we wish everyone would quit calling "Cadscam" :

On Wednesday Harper's office released a statement : "The then-leader of the Opposition [Harper] looked into the matter with party officials and could find no confirmation."

You will recall that former Con MP John Reynolds, who was also Harper's campaign manager, facilitated the meeting at which Finlay and Flanagan are alleged to have offered the $1M bribe to the late Chuck Cadman.

Asked about the incident, former Conservative MP John Reynolds told Canwest News Service he did not wish to comment.
"I'm not involved in politics anymore,"said Mr. Reynolds. "I have no comment at all."

Later Reynolds remarked to CBC : "the story seems fishy." and "Sounds to me like some kind of fiction story."

OK then, anyone else?

"Ryan Sparrow, a Conservative party spokesman, refused to comment on the allegations."

"Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said he's never heard anything about any buyout. "I've never even spoken with Chuck Cadman," he said."

"Jay Hill, now the Conservative government whip and Opposition whip at the time of the vote in question, told NaPo he had never heard of the events," which he also characterized later as a case of "unfortunate miscommunication" and "a so-called make-believe fairy-tale scandal."

Con MP and Treasury Board chairman Vic Toews : "He [Cadman] cared about legislation not money. We've heard this story for years. It's bullshit."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay was deputy Con leader at the time of the alleged offer : "I don't know anything about how this has come about. Certainly it was something that I was not involved with,'' said MacKay, "I think it's sad, quite frankly, that this seems to have come up. It's very unfortunate.''

Ok, so it didn't happen but if it did, it isn't true. Got it.

Update : Chet reminds me in comments that the $1M meeting and the Flanagan/Finlay meeting are not one and the same meeting. Allegedly two days apart in fact. Quite right, my bad. I think I keep forgetting that little detail because it has that - oh no, it was two completely other guys who did that - whiff about it. Thanks, Chet.

Upperdate : Ok, now we're back to just one meeting again. Allegedly.

Canadian Gothic : McVety and Day

Impolitical reports that blowface evangelical crusader Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, is claiming credit for Bill C-10, an omnibus bill now before the Senate that would allow the federal government to deny tax credits for films that are "offensive or not in the public interest".

Or as McVety puts it : "films promoting homosexuality, graphic sex or violence"

So I guess a Canadian remake of that conservative values homo-erotic snuff film classic, "The Passion of the Christ" would be completely out then, would it?

Way to go, Chuck. Get that message out there before it clears the Senate!

McVety said "his lobbying efforts included discussions with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, and "numerous" meetings with officials in the Prime Minister's Office", and "a number of Conservative backbench members that do a lot of this work behind the scenes."

Seems the amendment was tucked into a finance bill and no one who works 'front of House' had read it.

But now, thanks to the grotesque vanity and eternal grandstanding of Charles "The bible interprets itself" McVety, we will have time to contact our MPs and ask whether they are part of McVety's little support group, and if not, just what the hell they are prepared to do about it.

"Films promoting homosexuality" indeed.

Bloggers and friends, start your letters.

Update : Nice to see that letter writing still works.

From Dead Things ON Sticks an as yet unconfirmed report that C-10 may already be limping its way back to committee.

Couldn't have done it without your blowtard help, McVety!