This is indeed getting interesting, all the dirty rats squirming to get a piece of the action, the only problem is....There is still no game or arena in which to play in..
Paul Kariya(Run of river private power spokesman) is using First Nations support and power to turn the screw, an article appeard in the Vancouver Sun today titiled...
A couple of months ago Bill Bennet(BC`s energy minister) announced 10 run of river projects have been cancelled while 9 others have been put way off into the future.. The reason this was done is BC Hydro is losing $billions of dollars on purchasing high-priced run of river power, power no one will buy anywhere near the price we pay, $130 dollar per mega-watt hour while electricity on the spot market is around $30 dollars, there is even almost free power from other jurisdictions at night....stopping further run of river projects from happening is the only smart thing Christy Clark`s BC Liberals have done...
And that announcement sent shockwaves through the run of river plunderer`s world, no more free cream, no more guaranteed largesse all coming from the backs, shirts and sweat of BC Hydro ratepayers..As your BC Hydro rates are scheduled to rise by 70% over the next three years as it is, all that harm caused by Gordon Campbell`s run of river ponzi scheme, Gordo`s public dollar theft, dollars funneled to his corporate friends...
So now comes Paul Kariya squirming out from beneath his rock, trying to use First Nations as leverage to force the B.C. Government to order BC Hydro to acquire $billions of dollars more of high-priced run of river electricity to power LNG plants on the coast!!!!
Wake the hell up Paul Kariya, you son of bitch...Let me be clear and succinct, GO TO HELL...
First off, LNG plants require enormous gobs of energy, reliable 24/7 energy 365 days a year, something run of river can`t deliver..Second..LNG producers want dirt cheap power, they want power at a fraction of the cost we BC Consumers pay, yet run of river power contracts are at 5 times the going spot market rate and 10 times the rate big industry pays now...So my question to you Paul Kariya is..
Who do you suggest subsidizes the LNG producers electrical power needs, do you want Joe Public to pay?..The BC Government to pay?...Who...LNG producers want virtually free-power and you Paul Kariya are proposing LNG producer use gobs of high-priced run of river power that your association can build, providing you get guaranteed 30, 40, 60 year contracts..You and Gordon Campbell have already destroyed BC Hydro and busted ratepayers...Go crawl back under your rock...And one more thing..
NO LNG companies have agreed to build anything in BC, nothing..no final investment decisions, shouldn`t we wait for energy companies to make a final investment decision first????...Which brings me to another angle..Let`s crunch some numbers..
Christy Clark during the election stated British Columbia could receive anywhere from $180 BILLION TO $260 BILLION OVER 30 years from LNG revenues...and Christy also promised the lowest LNG tax regime in the world..It doesn`t add up, not even close...Here is the problem, according to rumours and one article the BC LNG tax regime will be as such...If energy companies sell LNG at a low price the tax will be low, if they sell LNG at a high price the tax will be higher..That is a recipe for disaster..take Petronas for example, they will be selling LNG to themselves at super low prices thus avoiding high taxation, and that opens up the entire taxation scheme to fraud, energy companies can sell LNG gas to subsudiary companies cheap to avoid taxation..Just think about it, a energy company that sells LNG cheap will pay a puny tax, while a energy company that inks a lucrative energy buying contract gets punished with high taxation..
THE EXACT SAME THING IS HAPPENING IN ALBERTA, ENERGY COMPANIES ARE SELLING BITUMEN TO REFINERS FOR A DISCOUNTED PRICE, THESE ENERGY COMPANIES IN ALBERTA AVOID PAYING ROYALTIES BECAUSE THEY ARE ALMOST LOSING MONEY ON PAPER WHILE THE REFINERS WHO AREN`T SUBJECT TO ROYALTIES REAP MASSIVE PROFITS, THE REFINERS AND TAR GOOP PRODUCERS ARE ONE OF THE SAME, IT`S A SCAM TO AVOID PAYING ROYALTIES AND WHY ALBERTA HAS RUN UP DEFICITS FOR 6 STRAIGHT YEARS, ...IT IS A CORPORATE TAX AVOIDING SCAM..
And Gordon Hoekstra has a real good read on LNG, he highlights how there are no final investment decisions, no pipelines built, no infrastructure, nothing...
______
"While B.C. has collected significant revenues from natural gas in the
past decade, peaking at $1.9 billion in royalties in the 2005-2006
fiscal year, that had dropped to $339 million by 2011-2012. If
five LNG plants are built, the province estimates it will collect
between $130 billion and $260 billion in related revenue, including from
existing provincial taxes and royalties, over the life of those plants. On average, that would mean B.C. would collect $4.3 billion to $8.7 billion a year in LNG revenues."
First off, there won`t be 10 LNG plants built in BC, Christy Clark`s numbers are so far fetched...
To build an LNG plant..$20 billion...Pipeline from northeast BC $5 billion...wage and expenses over 30 years..$5 billion dollars...$30 billion dollars..
Let us assume 5 LNG plants get built...Christy Clark stated we could collect $260 million dollars over 30 years..Let us round that number off to $250 billion dollars.$250 billion divided by 5 LNG companies is $50 billion dollars.
$50 billion plus $30 billion is $80 billion...Meaning these LNG plants have to produce $80 billion over 30 years in profit to break even..To make them viable that number needs to rise to double that..$160 billion dollars over 30 years..
Meaning these LNG companies need to make nearly $6 billion in profit per year..
Now, Christy Clark promised to pay off our $170 billion dollar BC debt, pay off BC Hydro debt, BC Ferry debt, pay off toll bridges, eliminate our sales tax, build hospitals and schools with LNG revenue and $100 billion in a prosperity fund..
Yet, in 2001 our BC debt stood at $31 billion dollars, now after 12 years of BC Liberal ruinous rule our debt stands at over $170 billion dollars, our BC debt has gone up over $10 billion dollars per year..so..
We now have to pay over $2 billion per year in interest payments...so even if those revenue projections posted above by Gordon Hoekstra came true..We need $7 to $10 billion per year to fix the structural deficit the BC Liberals have created...
Our courts are underfunded by a $100 million, public education is in a dire financial situation, we as a province don`t, and haven`t paid our bills for years..The NDP and previous Governments couldn`t defer the costs of everything they built, they actually paid for infrastructure whereas the BC Liberals have deferred payment on almost everything.
BC Ferries pay $millions in interest on their debt, BC Hydro has $5 billion in deferral debt..Golden ears bridge, not paid for..Port Mann not paid.Sea to sky highway not paid for, Abbotsford hospital not paid for, P`3.....energy buying contracts, the BC Liberals are living on credit card money, the BC taxpayer`s future money..
These LNG plants are not going to be lucrative, the taxation scheme is rife for fraud...and even if we did receive $250 billion in revenues over $30 years from LNG that money is only enough to pay our ongoing bills..It won`t create a prosperity fund and won`t be enough to pay off our debt, cuz..
The way the BC Liberals rack up deficits and debt B.C. needs $300 billion in revenue over the next 30 years just to stay where we are now...in debt $170 billion, broke, dysfunctional.
Anywho...more on LNG to come...And as for Paul Kariya, wake the hell up and think before you put your green run of river power foot in your mouth...Go talk to Petronas, to Shell Canada, the BG Group(British Gas)..Go ask those LNG producers who use gobs and gobs of electricity to freeze natural gas if they are willing to pay $130 per mega-watt hour..$120..$100...Ask them if they will pay $70 dollars...$60...$50 dollars...Ask them if they will pay $40 dollars for power, and the answer will still be a big fat no...
So who do you want to pay for this $130 dollar plus per mega-watt hour power Paul Kariya?
(Day by day it grows, Stephen Harper flaunting justice, poo-fooing science, intimidating Canadians while his excuses and alibis become more and more feeble, time is running out for Stephen Harper, time running out for Enbridge, the natives, meaning all Canadians are rejecting Harperism....{Now time for another installment of professor Robin Mathews`s ex`pose on Fascism}...Grant G)
Fascism And Contemporary Canada. Locating The Present Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper. ....... Part Seven.
The Prime Minister’s Office - A Criminal Organization?
The Prime Minister’s Office is nowhere named in Canadian constitutional documents as a part of Canadian government. It now has close to one hundred employees – political appointments. Nearly a quarter of the people there make $100,000.00 per year… or more.
Thinking about that, a person realizes that several millions of taxpayer dollars are used annually to support a wholly partisan collection of bodies in Ottawa. They are devoted to work outside of Parliamentary authority, to do an end-run on Parliamentary Democracy, and to (in effect) finalize political decisions before they even come before the elected representatives in the House of Commons.
Those nearly one hundred personal employees of the Prime Minister do all they can to force policy and practice upon the appointed Members of the Senate and the elected Members of Parliament. Such a ‘government’ is very clearly moving in the direction of fascist operation – unelected, oppressive, dictatorial, punitive.
Surprisingly for such a careful participant, Senator Marjory LeBreton gives information – in a few sentences not intended to incriminate anyone – to suggest the Prime Minister’s Office is, in fact, a criminal organization.
The people there are all answerable, finally, to the Prime Minister – no matter what screens and filters and make-believe divisions of power are pretended.
The people in the Prime Minister’s office move more and more towards becoming the real government of Canada. They push his agenda onto Conservative Members of Senate and Conservative Members of Parliament. They give orders – doubtless saying they come from the Prime Minister who will not be pleased if the orders are ignored.
Nothing that the Conservative leader in the Senate does, for instance, can be assumed to be independent. When Marjory LeBreton was Conservative Senate House Leader, that was clear. She was also a member of cabinet. Having botched (in Stephen Harper’s eyes) the Senate Scandal, she “resigned” as Senate leader on July 4, 2013.
To pretend the Conservative Leader in the Senate is not a puppet of the Prime Minister, the new Conservative Senate leader (not elected by Senators of course but appointed by Stephen Harper), Claude Carignan, hasn’t been given a place in the cabinet.
Already, in office only a short time, he has been accused by Senator Patrick Brazeau, of trying to do “a back room deal” that would lessen Brazeau’s punishment for alleged wrongful spending as a Senator. Brazeau continues to claim innocence in the matter, and the police investigation is not completed. One can guess the Prime Minister’s Office is trying to douse the flames shooting from the Senate windows. Senator Carignan’s move may very well have been dictated to him from The Prime Minister’s Office ... if not by the Prime Minister himself.
The people in the Prime Minister’s Office were described as “unelected staffers half my age” by the Conservative MP, Brent Rathgeber (Edmonton/St. Albert) when he resigned from the Conservative caucus in June, 2013. Not only that, but Brent Rathgeber MP said he was “constantly … directed” by those unelected staffers - very confident operators because they are errand boys for the Top Man.
Even fifty-year Conservative operative and seven-year Conservative Senate leader Marjory LeBreton found herself resigning from that job when the PMO didn’t like her leadership on the Senate Expenses Scandal. The fixers in the PMO have a lot of power. Stephen Harper knows what he wants.
On an interview program with CBC’s Rick MacInnes-Rae on October 25 Senator Le Breton made an “everyone knows” comment about the Prime Minister’s Office. Familiarity may not have bred contempt on her part, but it seems to have bred political carelessness. She said much the same thing in a Global News interview with Laura Stone on September 4, 2013.
In her interview with Laura Stone she says: “I’ve worked in the prime minister’s office. I’ve been in that pressure cooker”. That pressure cooker seems to be the place where illegitimate actions are planned and carried out under the overall direction of the Prime Minister – but without him being told exactly how the illegitimate actions are executed. That is rather like the top Mafia boss who tells underlings that person X is in the way and has got to be neutralized. When X is murdered and found in a dumpster somewhere, the Mafia boss can in no way be charged with murder or even of being involved in it.
That is not an exaggerated comparison with the Prime Minister’s Office.
“That’s your job in the prime minister’s office”, says LeBreton. “I was deputy chief of staff, I spent three-quarters of my time putting out fires, keeping things away from the prime minister”. “KEEPING THINGS AWAY FROM THE PRIME MINISTER”.
In her radio interview she was quite unruffled by the fact that Stephen Harper changed his story about Nigel Wright and the $90,000.00 paid to Mike Duffy. LeBreton argues that each time Harper spoke he was saying what he had been told up to that time. Apparently, he was kept in the dark about actions taken.
Why on earth would he be kept in the dark? He wanted the Expenses Scandal cleared up … quickly. And, apparently gave orders to have it done? Why would he want to be kept in the dark about it? One can only believe he would be kept in the dark so that he couldn’t be accused of being a part of criminal actions. (The payment of $90,000.00 by Nigel Wright to Mike Duffy, just for instance, might well turn out to be a criminal payment.) *
If Harper ordered action and ordered that he NOT be kept informed, reasonable Canadians might very well conclude he knew that criminal actions would probably be involved in the “solution” of the problem.
If that is the case, and if some of the nearly one hundred people in the Prime Minister’s Office willingly use criminal actions to achieve ends sought by the Prime Minister (as may be the case in the Senate Expenses Scandal), then Canadians would be perfectly correct to believe the Prime Minister’s Office is a criminal organization.
The whole, larger story of the appointment of “activist” Senators drags at Stephen Harper’s credibility. There is strong suspicion in some quarters that he appointed Senators to be full-time Party operatives – as well as careful reviewers of Commons legislation, giving it “sober second thought”. There is suspicion, too, that he didn’t care what or how much those Senators spent in the process as Party operatives. And then when the message came that the grassroots were outraged at the spending, it is suggested Stephen Harper turned on his own appointees.
We must remember Conservative Senators were implicated in the 2006 Election Violations in-and-out Scandal that the Conservative Party admitted guilt to and paid a fine for. Senators Doug Finley and Irving Gerstein were originally accused of submitting ‘false or misleading’ election expenses documents, and faced fines or jail terms. Charges against them were dropped in the final plea deal in which the Conservative Party admitted guilt and paid a fine. (The two Senators were never asked to leave the Senate until the matter was finished, let alone without pay.)
Let’s suppose that criminal actions are engaged in – as a result of orders given by the Prime Minister. Marjory Lebreton says – as I understand her words – that one of the major tasks in the PMO is not letting the Prime Minister be contaminated by them. One of the major jobs – is “KEEPING THINGS AWAY FROM THE PRIME MINISTER”.
There is much talk about the very, very difficult task of changing or abolishing the Senate of Canada. It is constitutionally housed in government, and it is protected by all the blocks set up to prevent careless or ill-intended changes in the constitution. As it should be. There is every reason to believe honest men and women can make the Canadian Senate a successful and effective arm of government … as it is intended to be.
The Prime Minister’s Office is not a part of the government of Canada in Canada’s constitutional make-up. It is a dangerous, perhaps criminal creation of avaricious people seeking unlimited power. It can be abolished. It can be reigned in. Legislation in Parliament could say, for instance, that the Prime Minister’s Office may have no more than ten employees, that they may not be paid more than a certain amount, and that they may not advise, direct, or in any way seek to influence elected MPs, or Senators.
It’s that simple. Don’t abolish the Canadian Senate. Abolish the present Prime Minister’s Office and reconstruct it to be contained, visible, answerable to the Commons and in no way a competitor with that body.
* In 2006, then Commissioner of the RCMP Guiliano Zaccardelli was responsible for what was deemed an attack on the Liberal Party in the last days of the election by announcing a criminal investigation of the Liberal Minister of Finance. With the in-and-out Conservative Election Scandal involving 67 constituencies, Zaccardelli’s action is alleged to have significantly helped the Conservatives win a minority in the election. Zaccardelli was later forced to resign in disgrace for his behaviour in the Maher Arar matter.
William Elliott, Zaccardelli’s successor as top RCMP cop, was appointed directly from the office of Stockwell Day, then Conservative Minister of Public Safety. Elliott was openly criticized by top Mounties as being incapable (in effect) of filling the post, and only when their actions became persistent and embarrassing was Elliott removed.
His replacement as RCMP Commissioner, Bob Paulson, apparently had no role in the removal of William Elliott or in efforts to clean up the faltering and increasingly criticized Force. Quiet to the point of near-invisibility on major issues, Paulson has made no public comment as his independence has been reduced by the Stephen Harper cabinet. In the case taken by women officers for sexual harassment in the RCMP, lawyers from the federal Justice Department are acting for the Defence … not RCMP lawyers.
Where does the Conservative Party end … and the RCMP begin?
(This is a copy of the letter I sent to John Horgan earlier today)
Thanks for the heads up notice?....You know John..Adrian Dix and the NDP owe everyone in British Columbia an apology
John....Like it or not you
are the only real choice we the people have...Yet I know, actually, I feel your
predicament...The NDP at present is lost, no message, not knowing what
message to even present to the public, the economy is so fucked up, there are no instant
cures, LNG will be a bust, the gravy is leaving the movie industry,
forestry is in a mid-term to long term mess, our fisheries are
collapsing, so here stands the NDP..
Scared, no message, Brian
Topp and his buddy Ken Boesenkool threw the last election...Robin Austin
is panting like a puppy dog on the LNG file, while Adrian Dix speaks like he is wearing dishwashing gloves, as to not tarnish his skin...Soft/bland milktoast speak.
OK, so you are worried you can`t make a difference, you have no answers, not prepared for the big fight, maybe you have health issues..
John
Horgan, maybe you aren`t the big picture guy, no great dreams, the
movement where sustainability and reason rule the day can be led by
someone else...
The NDP is laying on the ground bleeding, dying, no vision...SO WHAT THE HELL, DUST OFF YOUR JACKET AND GRAB YOUR PENSION..
LET THE LIBERALS RULE FOREVER, ...
Say
hello to your family for me....And tell them, the task before the NDP
and John Horgan was too difficult.....I and the party decided to quit..
Four years until an election, and we don`t even have an opposition..
(P.S. .....Mr. Horgan, telling the truth about our B.C. economy and near future no matter how frightening IS the path to victory...
It is never too late, you can change your mind)
Good Day..
Grant G
____________________
My letter to Mr. Horgan was rather snarky.....We 4 million losers in B.C. deserve to speak to the NDP in stark, and snark terms.
F. Fascism and Contemporary Canada. Locating The Present
Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper. Part Six.The Courts.
Jessica Ernst And The Honourable Neil Wittmann, Chief Justice, Court Of
Queen’s Bench, Alberta.
The Courts. Jessica Ernst And The Honourable Neil Wittmann
The present “Jessica Ernst Case” in the Court of Queen’s Bench, Alberta is - in my estimation - in the process of creating an historic, huge, and dangerous miscarriage of justice.
In doing so (if I am correct) the court is show-casing the move from the rule of law in Canada to government/corporate/court wrong-doing: practiced delay, manipulation of process, intimidation, and the imposition of perverse readings and judgements characteristic of a move to Fascism.
The case (already drawn out ridiculously) is simple.
EnCana Corporation drilled and hydraulically fracked land around and in the possession of Jessica Ernst at Rosebud, Alberta, between 2001 and 2006, causing, she alleges, damage to her well water and more. Ernst filed her first Statement of Claim in 2007, six years ago.
The Regulator (the Energy Resources Conservation Board, “ERCB”) she claims, failed (put simply) to regulate, and she claims it violated her Rights and Freedoms under the “Charter” by barring her from communicating with it “through usual public communication channels” (page 3, “Reasons for Judgement,” Neil Wittmann), by ignoring her, refusing her communications, and (as I read its actions) by attempting to associate her with eco-terrorism.
The government of Alberta as the entity “Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development” (“Alberta Environment”) failed, she claims, massively in its duties to the environment and people concerned.
In addition, (not mentioned in the case) the RCMP gratuitously visited Ernst, with no valid reason, to “interview” her.
I believe it is fair to suggest that the moves by the three entities complained of may be seen as not only single efforts to frustrate the court process, but as a collaborative effort of mighty forces (calling also upon the RCMP?) to intimidate and to prevent a reasonable hearing of reasonable claims by Ms. Ernst. I may be wrong.
That possibility is heightened, I believe, by two other aspects of the case that surround it with questions. (1) Case Management judge in 2012 was Madam Justice Barbara L. Veldhuis – about to receive the applications against Ernst’s case, especially the one to declare actions against the ERCB as impossible to conduct on the grounds that the ERCB cannot be, in any way, called to account by a Canadian citizen or citizens by reason of immunity protection written into its being.
In a truly strange and surprising move (Veldhuis had been on the Court of Queen’s Bench only about a year), the Conservative Minister of Justice in Ottawa, Rob Nicholson, promoted her to the Court of Appeal of Alberta on February 13, 2013… and off the Ernst case. Except … as clearly as I can understand the processes of the Alberta higher courts … Madam Justice Veldhuis could have been both raised to the Appeal Court and instructed to finish hearing the applications with which she was already involved. She was not so instructed.
What was the Conservative government of Stephen Harper doing removing Madam Justice Barbara Veldhuis from the Jessica Ernst case? Was it setting up Neil Wittmann to take over Case Management rulings, as he, in fact, did?
The claim by the ERCB that it is above the Canadian Constitution, that it cannot be held responsible for any action violating the Canadian constitution, and that it is not responsible to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is – I believe – a claim by it for existence as a fascist arm of government and private corporations. That means, to put the matter simply, the Canadian and Alberta governments (and environmental regulators created by them) acting, in fact, for large private corporations can behave in any way they wish and make whatever “laws” they feel necessary to facilitate profit-taking and the subjugation of injured Canadians in the process.
Such powers, I believe, are called fascist powers.
I suggest that no responsible judge in Canada would uphold such a claim to extraordinary powers. Chief Justice of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Neil Wittman – as I read and understand his judgement - just upheld the claim.
The second reason (2) for believing the Jessica Ernst case is surrounded with questions springs from the self-appointment of Neil Wittmann to be judge on the Case Management matter of the Jessica Ernst case.
I am not at all sure Chief Justice Wittmann should be on the bench.
My recent Open Letter to him (asking for a reply) invited him to answer questions about allegations that he supported repressive actions taken against Kelly Marie Richard in her long and heart-breaking dental malpractice case. Her allegations are clear and on record on her website. I formally requested the Attorney General of Alberta to undertake a full public inquiry into the Kelly Marie Richard case, and was rebuffed.
In addition, Chief Justice Wittmann was the investigator for the Canadian Judicial Council of a complaint I made of misconduct by a B.C. Supreme Court judge. I believe he was her colleague on the Council – creating an obvious conflict of interest – when he took on the task and completed it to my complete dissatisfaction.
Finally, his selfless and public-spirited willingness to let Madam Justice Barbara Veldhuis be moved aside as judge in charge of Case Management in the Jessica Ernst case seems to me to have been a highly suspicious result of questionable events. In his “Reasons for Judgement”, Neil Wittmann does not say he volunteered to take over from Barbara Veldhuis. Nor does he say his taking over the matter delayed decision on the applications for many months, putting Jessica Ernst to further cost and to unnecessary anxiety and concern. He does not apologize to her for his delay in his “Reasons”. I do not believe – by any stretch of the imagination – that the applications submitted needed several months to be examined.
His decision to strike down Jessica Ernst’s claim that ERCB engaged in Charter violation is most interesting … and, I believe, highly questionable. His decision, in effect, validates the (seemingly repressive) actions of the ERCB, I believe. Chief Justice Wittmann accepts legislation that provides immunity for government organizations (working, as I see it, in cooperation with large private corporations). That such government organizations or agencies may, in fact, be violating Charter protections appears to escape him.
He wipes away with a phrase the fact that the ERCB refused contact with Ernst because of an alleged reference made to Weibo Ludwig (convicted of eco-terrorism). Wittmann writes that he agrees with “Ernst that the ERCB cannot rely on its argument on the Weibo eco-terrorism claim, in the total absence of evidence. There is none.” (p. 20, “Reasons….”)
It seems plain to me that the ERCB violated Jessica Ernst’s Charter protections in refusing to accept communications from her on matters of substance “through the usual public communication channels”. (Freedom of Expression does not only mean uttering words. It means having those words received and registered, especially by a responsible public body. Public demonstrations, for instance, are not conducted only so that demonstrators may “express” themselves “freely”. They are conducted so members of the population at all levels of power hear and see the expression of the demonstrators. Freedom of Expression is not freedom to shout in a sealed cave.)
So plain (as I see it) is the violation of Jessica Ernst’s Charter Rights by the ERCB that I believe the duty of the judge on Case Management was to find in her favour, and to declare a violation on the part of the ERCB. Instead Chief Justice Neil Wittmann repeats his contention that if he agreed a Charter violation happened, “such a breach would be alleged in litigation against government wherever possible” (page 30).
That is a statement of such unbounded absurdity and irrelevance to the case, it is hard to believe it was written.
In effect, I take it he is saying that immunity to litigation permits governments and their agencies to violate Charter rights, and the violations must be upheld by judges of the higher courts in Canada. That is, apparently, because so many violations would be found they would throw into question the existence of immunity legislation! Wittmann does not question legislation that prevents Canadians from seeking remedies for real government wrong doing (often in support of large private corporations). I believe that such an argument is a fascist argument – an argument which claims that what government and large private corporations agree between themselves about greed-driven pursuit of profit comes before all rights and freedoms of Canadians. That, perhaps, is indication of a move to the acceptance of Fascism in Canada’s higher courts.
Behind the whole case – and nowhere mentioned in Chief Justice Wittmann’s “Reasons for Judgement” - is a brooding reality. Canadians believe that a civil case – like the one being taken by Jessica Ernst – should never have to be undertaken. Canadians believe that ‘regulators’ (such as ERCB and Alberta Environment) are there to protect the population and to act in criminal law against any corporation that violates the freedom, the sanctity, and the security of Canadians and the environment. Jessica Ernst and other Canadians have come to learn, instead, that government appointed ‘regulators’ are more and more the servants of large private corporations and are tasked with silencing and intimidating Canadians seeking remedy for corporate wrong doing.
Nowhere in Chief Justice Wittmann’s “Reasons for Judgement” does he suggest the proper place for remedy of the wrong doings claimed is in the criminal courts in cases taken by the Crown on behalf of all Canadians.
For that reason I believe the present Jessica Ernst case (presently in the hands of Chief Justice Neil Wittmann) against EnCana, the Alberta ERCB, and the Alberta government is deliberately stacked against her. I believe those who have power over procedure intend an historic, huge, and dangerous miscarriage of justice. I fervently hope I am wrong.
At the present, in Canada, it’s fascism, Conservative government style. Built on a mountain of lies. [In a democracy fascism has to be built on a mountain of lies.]
The first lie is the hardest to see, the biggest - The Killer – “there is no climate change that matters”.
From there … the other lies and lying actions spring. Win power by election fraud. Muzzle scientists. Destroy regulation (especially environmental legislation). Attack critics, call them terrorists. Undermine unions. Castrate Parliament. Fund corrupt cronies. Rape the environment. Make secret, foreign, super-Capitalist treaties. Buy toadies – fill the PMO, the cabinet, the Senate, the courts with toadies. They’re easy to find, cheap to buy. Buy who you need. And lie ….
It works. For awhile it works. And then …. And then from the pollution lakes of the Tar Sands, from methane gas seeping from conventional oil and fracking site leaks all over Canada, from corporate offices of the Big Six banks, from the whispering elevators carrying executives to top corner offices on Bay Street, from the stench of the Prime Minister’s Office, the freakshow of the Senate, from the waste baskets of the failed Opposition Parties a concept, a phrase not at all new, not at all planned to appear … surfaces … resurfaces. Truth begins to dawn – and with it – a need for different language.
In British Columbia the catastrophic, mind-blowing, Alice-in-Wonderland, George Orwellian, rationally planned collapse of the New Democratic Party in the 2013 election unleashed the concept, the phrase, a little faster in B.C. than elsewhere. For in British Columbia the fraud of fascism hit very hard.
The fraud of fascism – government in the hands of private, greed-driven corporations supported by police and the courts – took on real meaning. “Buy us”, the NDP said. “We’re for sale. We’re cheap. See, we’re not even fighting. We refuse to mention your role in B.C. corruption. We’re yours. Please ….”
“Oh,” … said a hardly noticeable little man standing on the sidelines, a man called Chuck Marcks, “… that’s what Social Democrats like the NDP always do. They join fascism … and always have.”
So they’re all gone into fascism in Canada: Conservatives, Liberals, NDP. And the good Green leader hasn’t named the key concept, hasn’t said the phrase: Democratic Socialism.
The dare word is out: Socialism. The word condemned for sixty years is out and about, alive and vital, like green grass growing between the dark planks of Conservative government fascism, between Liberal non-promises, between highway signs saying the NDP wants bland, do-nothing, good-mannered disagreement. The phrase has been uttered in British Columbia in what is, maybe, a first, fledgling organization: “The Vancouver Ecosocialists Group”. Ecology and Socialism.
It’s that simple, that complicated. The Capitalist system has rotted and rotted into Global Fascism … with a hundred names. In Canada it has rotted into the present Conservative government led by Stephen Harper. U.S. ‘Democracy’ is Capitalist Fascism. Chinese ‘Communism’ is Capitalist Fascism. And so it goes … with a hundred names: the One Per Cent, “Globalization”, “Outsourcing to Slave Economies”, Free Trade, The Bilderberg Group, the IMF, FIPPA, TPP, NAFTA, CETA, NATO ….
The phrase “Democratic Socialism” is small. The concept is large. It means a whole system change. Capitalism – unleashed, freed, unregulated, concentrated, brutalized, militarized – rules the planet. Capitalist fascism is destroying the planet. It is destroying human life on the planet. Now.
Climate change is Capitalism at work. Tar Sands rot is Capitalism at work. African wars are Capitalism at work. U.S. ‘Democracy’ is Capitalism at work. Chinese ‘Communism’ is Capitalism at work. Canadian Conservatism is Colonized Capitalism. All are fascist or the bedfellows of fascism. Just look at them.
Democratic Socialism means a complete system change – means the last thread of hope against Global Warming, against the end of human life on the planet. Democratic Socialism means rule by the One Hundred Per Cent. It means a planet that can scrape by, can survive while all the adjustments (and technologies) are pursued that can free earth and support human population on it … maybe just in time.
In Canada … begin. Destroy Election Fraud which means destroy the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper. And move on from there. Move on from the present Conservative government in Canada … and from the possible others that would do almost the same as that government. Move on to Democratic Socialism … while there is time.
It’s that simple; that complicated. Choose Capitalist fascism with the present Conservative government led by Stephen Harper and choose the death of human life on the planet. Or choose Democratic Socialism.
Well well well, time to discuss the NDP leadership issue, actually, it`s time to discuss who gets to vote for the new leader..
At present, one member one vote bullshit, $10 dollars to have the right to vote..
This is bullcrap, the party needs the best leader not who can win a popularity sign-up contest, and there are also external forces at play..
There are no safeguards against BC Liberals, BC LIBERAL PARTY MEMBERS OR OPERATIVES FROM HIJACKING THE NDP LEADERSHIP CONTEST..
You all know who my choice is, the honourable John Horgan, yet he is at a disadvantage because of the relatively low population in his riding, and John Horgan won`t cheat to win like Adrian Dix did, and like Ujjal Dosanjh did in 2000...mass sign ups, especially in the Indo-Canadian community ..
I am not casting stones, or making accusations, I am talking about the facts on the ground...Christy Clark, Mike De Jong, Kevin Falcon....Adrian Dix..Ujjal Dosanjh exploited that community and other ethnic groups, Indo -Canadian power players. in their community Indo-Canadian leaders have the ability to sign up thousands of members, have the ability to choose the wrong leader, the ability to corrupt, the ability to change the outcome of a leadership contest and that`s exactly what happened in the past, it happened with the BC Liberals and NDP, and it will happen again..
Let me be clear, Mike Farnworth can`t win a provincial election, there are too many bigots, Farnworth is gay, no children, that opens him up to ridicule from rednecks and subtle racism slurs from many, just think about the BC Liberal challenger in 2017......If Mike Farnworth was chosen leader they(BC Liberal pundits and mud throwing scum) will talk of children, talk traditional family, talk church, religion and ...And I don`t personally care what Farnworth does or doesn`t do in his personal life but I am but one vote and Canada is full of racism, in the Fraser valley homophobic racists live, the bible belt, up north, the interior of the province...Mike Farnworth probably has the most name recognition in the lower mainland yet party brass and those in the know....They know Farnworth is not leadership material and can`t win a general election, just look how the BC Liberals with help from their media friends painted Adrian Dix, even Ezra Levant attacked Adrian, specifically Adrian Dix`s wife in a nasty piece of gotcha trash reporting(Although Harvey O liked it).
Dana Larsen. What if Dana Larsen managed a massive pot-head /NDP leadership sign up and won the NDP leadership, Dana Larsen seems quite personable and friendly, yet we know there is a video of him driving on our highways smoking on a crack pipe, ...We know this video would be played endlessly on cknw and Global media in BC Liberal attack ads.....Or George Heyman managed a big union drive/sign up and won the leadership contest, the NDP are already called the big union labour controlled party(even though it isn`t true anymore, unions are dying everywhere)....George Heyman as leader ads telling of big wage increases for teachers and HEU members, ads telling of people being forced to join unions or else..... ads would run thick and heavy implying such..
Nathen Cullen seems like a good potential leader, however he is up north in a low population area too, I`m not sure he wants to run, a Federal election comes up in 2015, our provincial election is 2017..I doubt Nathen Cullen will run for NDP provincial leader, however, no bulk sign ups in the north, he too, like Horgan is at a disadvantage to city boys...
We need a leader who can talk, a sharp wit, a good sense of humour, someone who speaks without bouncing(right adrian Dix?)..Speaks without stuttering or stammering(right Farnworth)...
We need a selection process that picks the best horse to run, the best horse that gives us a chance to win..not who wins a mass sign up contest.
My suggestion is delegates get to choose who the leader is plus another few hundred more voters who are long-time committed party members and a select list of pundits, bloggers and those concerned, people like David Schreck and Bill Tieleman, even The Straight Goods deserves a vote..
Yes, what I am suggesting is not democratic, but how Democratic is Ujjal Dosangjh and Adrian Dix bringing in sacks of money and stacks of member sign-up forms, both stacks separate from each other, yes, what Adrian, Dosanjh, Clark did to win their leaderships was shocking and the new normal..
At the leadership convention where Adrian Dix was crowned leader...It was quite funny, and sad what happened on that night..
The trade and convention center, the candidates came out, the crowd was chanting "Horgan Horgan, Horgan"....The convention floor was clearly for John Horgan....The real live person momentum was for John Horgan...And yet, Adrian Dix has stacks of faceless sign up sheets, he had won before the contest even started, ..Adrian won through manipulation and ethnic sign up drives....Farnworth received alot of votes from casual party members, those who voted for name recognition voted Farnworth..
And then there are those in the know, those who knew of John Horgan, those who heard him speak, those following the issues and those who know who all the political players are and how well they communicate also knew that John Horgan was the best we had...How is it a convention floor was chanting Horgan, Horgan, Horgan, momentum, the crowd, almost everyone present at the leadership convention was pulling for John Horgan and the results get posted, and on the first ballot Adrian had won in a rout, his people, imaginary mass/bulk sign up people who paid $10 dollars or had someone pay their $10 dollars for them catapulted Adrian Dix to leader yet they weren`t at the convention, or on the web, or the blogs, whoever voted Adrian Dix for leader...they were never heard from again..
Bulk/mass sign up bullshit...one member one vote might be Democratic but it isn`t, the selection process was a cheat, it was a cheat with Dosanjh, with Adrian Dix, and Christy Clark, even Mike De Jong participated in mass indo-sign ups..
This charade of Democracy must end, we need the leader who rocks the house, a leader who has the real people behind them, a leader who can win the 2017 contest....We need a leader appointed by those in the know..
This isn`t American Idol texting to win, or fake Twitter followers, we can`t let one community buy the leadership, and if they did...Would party executives except Dana Larsen as leader if he actually won...or Justin Bieber...or some bimbo flashing boobs and butt...
We need an undemocratic leadership contest..
For the sake of winning an election and righting the provincial ship, to restore Democracy in British Columbia we need an undemocratic leadership contest..
Yes indeed, we have baskets, bushels and wheel-barrows full of oranges, our front pages have nothing but stories on oranges, articles on gullible, and yes, the usual braindead bloggers take the bait, hook, line and sinker..(eh Harv)
This LNG bullshit is really getting thick, the lies, the spin, the hyperbole have united to form a great big steaming pile of...
I also see there was more shipbuilding announcements today...Funny stuff, a contract with no orders yet, no chosen design, a contract going out decades like the one Harper awarded in 2011, the awarding announcement Christy Clark celebrated too, a big Seaspan party in 2011...And though, that 2011 shipbuilding contract has yet to cut any steel, the $8 billion dollar contract awarded in 2011, and a $35 billion dollar decades long contract for the Irving shipyards in Halifax and like here in B.C...not one piece of steel cut and none scheduled to be cut before 2017...6 years after the contract awarding, here in B.C. NO STEEL IS SCHEDULED TO BE CUT BEFORE 2017 TOO....
In fact, these shipbuilding carrots have been dangling for 7 years already(shipbuilding proposals from the Feds have been wafting since 2006), is it real or political propaganda, contracts that go out decades can`t be guaranteed, Seaspan and Irving shipyards were awarded contracts in 2011 and no ship is under construction at either shipyard as we near 2014....All we hear is about engineers working on different vessel designs, my gawd, we built vessels and ferries fast in the 40s, built ships for war, yet now in 2014 we have to take a decade to design a ship, or perhaps these awarded contracts are mere political theatre designed for votes, maybe a ship gets built, maybe cancelled, 8 ships proposed being built become 1 ship under construction...This con-game continues, read the shocking ship-building scam the feds have been running for a decade here..
{Updated here, Octoiber 12th/2013...Finally some of the media is beggining to notice that this ship building awarding and contracts is nothing but but a Federal vote-getting scam..
From postmedia...They must have read my shipbhuilding scam post from last year, the one linked above
"Exacerbating the problem is another delay — described by one official
as “a bit of a slip” — that will push back construction of the resupply
ships from 2015 to late 2016, at the earliest. The officials, who
cannot be named because of Conservative government rules, said they
knew several years ago there might be a scheduling conflict between the
new resupply vessels and icebreaker.
However, they sought to avoid
responsibility for any mismanagement, though they did not say what led
to the scheduling conflict in the first place. “We did everything
possible to eliminate any conflict,” one said. “It was a known risk. As
it became a fact, we started to work on it.”
Plans to acquire new
resupply ships were initially announced in 2004, with an expectation
that a contract for three ships would be awarded in 2008 and the first
delivered in 2012. However, the plan was scrapped in 2009 after
industry reported the $2.1-billion budget set aside by the Conservative
government was insufficient.
The budget is now $2.6 billion, and officials say they only expect to be able to purchase two new vessels."
(I suggest read the entire postmedia article linked above)
Exactly what was reported here and here only in British Columbia, no ships built yet, ship building plans announced in 2004..in 2009 no swhips and now cancelled, new budget and more vote buying, new contracts awarded in 2011..Still no shipbuilding, ...Now more awarding of shipbuilding contracts but still no construction, still no money and this fall our federal auditor gewneral is goi8ng to expose the Stephen Harper Government for this scam/fraud/vote buying exercise..Gawd, does the mainstream media ever tire of finishing second to little ole under-resourced bloggers!..Sheesh}
______________
Something really stinks around here and it`s more than Harvey Oberfeld`s last post...This LNG scam is really getting thick, time to clear a few things up..
First off, neither Prince Rupert nor Kitimat`s airshed can handle more than 2 gas powered LNG liquefaction plants....Yet we keep hearing about 10 proposed projects, 10 projects for Kitimat and Prince Rupert..So what projects are being cancelled?..I`m kidding, the real question is what projects are actually going to be built...?
I have been following this scam since its inception, for the last 4 years all we hear is about LNG yet no energy company has signed a final investment order or made a final investment decision, no one...
And I want you to think very carefully, there was articles last week telling us BCers that Christy Clark was heading east to promote LNG, Christy was pumping up LNG in Ontario last week, and last week`s articles proclaimed Christy Clark was early this week going to be in WASHINGTON TO AGAIN, PROMOTE INVESTMENT AND LNG.,
___________
"Her next stop is in Toronto for similar meetings, this time
co-chaired with New Brunswick Premier David Alward. The two premiers are
representing the Council of the Federation on this issue, and she is
trying a more diplomatic approach than some premiers would like. But she
says her approach is working: “Our strategy is to bring together all
the folks who are concerned about this and make sure the federal
government understands that we need it to work differently if we want to
grow the economy,” she said. “My sense is the federal government is
prepared to be flexible, because they want it to work.”
Then it’s
on to Washington, D.C., where Ms. Clark will be promoting investment in
her LNG ambitions. While TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil
pipeline is straining Canada-U.S. relations, Ms. Clark is promoting
something different than products from Alberta’s oil sands. She is
hoping B.C.’s leadership around the carbon tax will help open doors at a
time that the Obama administration is pushing a climate-change agenda.
“I want to get them interested in what we are doing from a
climate-change perspective, and also to make sure they understand the
scope of this. We have, arguably, the biggest natural gas fields in the
world – we have this huge investment opportunity.”
So ask yourself, if all these companies are begging to invest in B.C. why was Christy Clark looking for investors in Washington D.C.???? And in this article...
Rick Coleman is off to South Korea and Malysia to quote..."Sell LNG investments", and next month in early November Christy Clark is heading to Asia to promote and sell LNG....Why, I thought we had more real investors than sites suitable to build, why are we still looking for investors if this is a for sure thing...Why Is Rich Coleman going to Malaysia ???..Petronas is the only Malaysion enrgy company...Why indeed..
Yet that link above, that same Vancouver Sun article on Petronas clearly states that Petronas won`t be making a "final investment decision until late 2015".....2 years or more before Petronas decides to start building?
Why, Petronas despite their announcement has not made a final investment decision..and there is more...That article above describes how the LNG plant builders were denied Federal capital cost tax relief(CAPP and the energy companies lobbied Ottawa last year for that tax change"denied") what the LNG plant builders wanted was the ability to write off 100% of the capital build costs over 7 years, the Federal Government said no, present tax code laws, it takes 27 years in Canada to achieve the tax breaks Australia offered to LNG plant builders in Australia, there it takes but 7 years to recoup capital costs against 27 years in British Columbia, that too is revealed in that article linked above..
So here`s the deal, LNG plant builders want tax law changed to recoup their build costs...Strike 1..
There`s a glut of LNG liquefaction plants coming on line, 5 more LNG plants in Australia alone are coming on-line before any shovels are in the ground in British Columbia..
Japan wants a better price, all of Asia wants a better price for LNG, the new price structure will be linked to the Henry Hub scales, Cheniere energy has already agreed to sell LNG to Japan, delivered for $10 dollars...at that price nothing gets built in B.C....Especially without the capital cost recoup tax law changes, the advantage is in the $billions per plant to build in Australia compared to B.C...and in the USA... The USA has a huge advantage too, existing import facilities are being converted into export liquefaction facilities..thus saving the energy companies $billions in capital spending..
LNG articles are spinning like tops, Japan has offered up to $10 billion dollars to Japanese state owned enrgy companies operating, or should I say, wanting to operate in B.C....But the money offered is not for purchases of gas supply but for equity stakes/shares..Meaning ownership, Japan offered money for pieces of ownership, ownership has its perks, including not paying wholesale for product..
True private companies like Shell and Chevron, BG group(British Gas)....These companies are flustered, they sell to customers..And none of these private companies have agreed to build anything in British Columbia, and here are the reasons..
As mentioned, Australia and Africa offer huge tax incentives, including writing off the entire build cost over 7 to 10 years, whereas in Canada it takes 27 years....
Plus, our natural gas is a $5 billion dollar pipeline away from the proposed LNG plants on the coast, that would be $5 billion dollars each, as for each company wanting to connect their feedstock to an LNG plant..
Christy Clark has blathered about how each northern LNG community will be getting resource /revenues/rents from LNG profits, we have First Nations wanting resource rent, and we have Christy Clark who ...Who has promised BCers that all Government debts will be retired with LNG tax, crown debt retired, sales tax gone, bridge tolls and ferry fees all paid with LNG revenue, as well as new schools and hospitals, plus a prosperity fund with $100 billion dollars plus for future generations, all that wealth including monies for each gas community and First Nations...All that money to come from energy company`s pockets to Government coffers...Ahhhhh...now that is funny, energy companies making us rich...Really Christy...And you promised these energy giants the best taxation deal in the world..hmmm.
All that money, all those promises, yet not one ship is under construction at BC shipyards, not one shovel is in the ground building a LNG plant, not one company has committed, not one company has been given a sweet enough deal to build anything...That`s why Christy Clark is full of shit, all the BC Liberals are, if it was "a for sure thing" why travel to Asia..And what might you be selling Christy Clark?...Will you tell China that Chevron is building??/Or do you tell China that Chevron will decide in 2016 whether to build, or not....
What price will you sell LNG to China at Christy Clark????....What price will you offer for a product that isn`t produced in B.C. and won`t be for at least 6 years or more...What price will you sell this imaginary product at Christy????
Now do you see, Christy Clark can`t get a firm price selling pulled out of thin air products, she can`t sell contracts, she has nothing to sell but wishes, prayers and maybes or buts, ..Don`t you think Australia is selling real LNG futures, Africa, Papau New Guinea, Russia, Qatar...USA...
Now, time to burst a few LNG trial balloons..Petronas...Let me explain why the Petronas deal is going nowhere fast..
Petronas is a state company, the gas they own is at the wellhead...The pipeline they will own...they will own the LNG liquefaction plant...they will own LNG transport vessels..and they are their own customer..
Here is what Petronas is proposing to the BC Government...We own gas supply...we own the conduit to get it to the coast..we own the LNG plant and the gas produced is already sold..sold to ourselves, Petronas is the Malaysian Government, Petronas does not need energy buying contracts..
Get ready for this...Petronas wants to sell themselves the gas for as cheap as possible, thus avoiding taxation or paying as little as possible, a wink wink nod deal where Petronas plans to sell themselves LNG at virtually a on paper loss...Then what Petronas does with the gas after it has left B.C. is nobody`s business but their own..
When you start merging private companies with state-owned companies the lines get blurred..You tell me where B.C. could tell Petronas what price they can sell gas for to themselves??
You see, Petronas is not just a state-owned company, Malaysia the Government gets 50% of the entire country budget from the profits of Petronas the energy company...In other words, Petronas is not prepared to make everyone rich, they need the money to run a country....I don`t believe we could stop Petronas via tax law or regulation, if they own from well-head to end customer...and if you put a large tax on pure volume produced and shipped they won`t build..
Sources tell me that Petronas believes the one-time physical investment of building the infrastructure is benefit enough for the province of BC...And if BC demands more they will build nothing, that is the word from Petronas....And Petronas knows Christy Clark and the Liberal Government is stuck in a corner,...If they demand too much tax Petronas walks away, if the BC Liberals don`t offer more subsidies and gifts Petronas walks away...Petronas is using their investment dollars quoted in the media do their talking...(That`s why Petronas has announced this investment 6 times or more through various media over the last 2 years)
Let me be succinct, the energy companies want the world and more handed to them or they walk away, in no uncertain terms, these companies have told the BC Government that a little bit of money from projects built is better than a tonne of money from imaginary sources that will never exist...
Greed and human nature, Petronas doesn`t need customers, they provide the gas for their own people, the tens of millions of Malaysian people...The cheaper they sell gas to themselves or their subsidiaries, the more profit they make, wink wink nod, and do you believe the BC Government could mandate what price they sell to themselves for?
Just remember this....Private energy companies like Shell, Chevron and British Gas, EnCana, they make money from selling gas to countries and Governments, Petronas and Japanese National energy companies are in B.C. as countries needing energy and product, not private companies....Could Chevron selling LNG or Shell selling LNG....Could they compete with Petronas selling gas to JAPAN...OR Petronas selling gas to the MALAYSIAN Government?..
What is emerging is energy companies and buyers(countries) are both entering the same British Columbia LNG market, who is a buyer, who is a seller, they are now one of the same ..
Unfortunately our media is not prepared to ask tough questions, or ask why no one has built, or even started building any LNG plants, why is Christy Clark going to Asia and Washington looking for LNG investors...What is Christy Clark selling, $18 dollar LNG or $10 dollar LNG...will she have product to sell in 2020 or 2023?
No media available, no answers forthcoming, especially when no questions get asked...
The day I start basing my articles on nothing but tired rhetoric and a Government press release....If I can`t keep it real the time to stop writing is now.
D) Fascism And Contemporary Canada. Locating The Conservative Government of Canada Led By Stephen Harper. Part Four. Police, Government, Corporations.
:The long awaited part IV in Professor Robin Mathews`s chilling ex`pose on the growth of Fascism in Canada and those petty tinpot dictators who are facilitating Fascism`s rise.....
"Like the tenacious probing and relentless determination of spring ivy modern Fascism must continually be beaten back and burned, for roots remain" Grant G:..
The common definition of fascism involves the marriage of government and private corporations to exploit all available resources and – in pursuit of private profit - to repress populations. Long gone is the old (and brief) definition of fascism as ‘corporatism’ – meaning the concentration of all community powers to benefit “the nation”.
Repression of populations usually requires – at some point in the process – the use of police forces. They are transformed from being organizations of citizen protection – “keeping the peace” – to instruments of repression in the hands of the government/corporations alliance.
“RCMP hid cost of gun registry destruction from press” (Globe and Mail, Tues. Sept. 17, A10). Why? The Conservative government ordered the destruction of the federal gun registry data. The RCMP undertook the task, refused to report on it, refused to provide figures for eleven months, still refuses to speak on the matter … as a lap-dog taking orders from the Stephen Harper cabinet, renouncing even an appearance of independence. The role of police and policing in Canada is being politicized, militarized, deregulated and brutalized.
Concerned observers see politicization and militarization of police evident in large public events like the G20 brutality and the repression of Quebec students in the Maple Spring. But police actions against individual ordinary people on behalf of private corporations or as “biker gang brutality” also grows. As does the “deregulation” of police violence.
The nation itself is now under full-scale attack through assaults on (a) the rule of law, (b) the supremacy of parliament, (c) the sanctity of the individual, (d) the validity of Canada’s independent democracy and, therefore, the legitimacy of Canadians to decide - through their representatives - the primary policies of their country.
The attack is wide open. The present Conservative government led by Stephen Harper (a) destroys regulation, regulatory bodies, and information necessary to shape law. At the same time, it misinforms the public on legal matters. Stephen Harper himself declared the recent Robocall misuse undertaken to influence the Saskatchewan public against electoral boundary change … perfectly acceptable practice. (CP, Feb 6, 13)
He personally reviewed Senator Pamela Wallin’s Senate account and declared her spending appropriate. Elected Conservative MPs are bound and gagged. Appointed actors (cabinet, Senate, Conservative Party, and PMO) gibber rehearsed lines to surround repressive measures with distracting noise.
The present Conservative government undertakes (b) sovereignty-robbing foreign treaties executed without any relation to parliament and its members. In addition, it bulldozes through the House of Commons foreign corporation-serving bills of such magnitude and complexity the bills cannot receive democratic scrutiny. It loaded the Senate with political hacks, using taxpayers’ money to reward partisan work and to pervert the proper function of Senators and the institution.
The Conservative government destroys and/or vitiates entities protecting justice and the sanctity of the individual: the courts, the police, whistle-blower organizations, unions, and other citizen-protection groups. On two occasions of major importance – The BC Rail Scandal and the case taken in Alberta by Jessica Ernst against Encana Corporation and the Alberta government regulator for Fracking damage (still being fought) - the Conservative Minister of Justice promoted effective judges off the cases – in mid-legal process – to prevent, many believe, justice being done. Out of the BC Rail Scandal Stephen Harper appointed the man believed by many to be most central to the issue, former premier Gordon Campbell, to the position of Canadian High Commissioner in London, whisking him out of the province.
In both cases the role of the RCMP has been called seriously into question – as being less than impartial. The tip of the iceberg doesn’t show in cases that attract major public attention because they involve governments and large corporations. The tip of the iceberg is seen in what might be called small, individual cases where police wrong-doing and/or brutality is almost inexplicable.
In 2007 an innocent, uni lingual, slightly confused Polish immigrant arriving at Vancouver International Airport, Robert Dziekanskli, was set upon by four RCMP officers, tasered five times, and died with police officers “restraining” him as he lay on the floor.
The RCMP as a body is alleged to have attempted cover-up and falsification of the facts. The Commissioner in Ottawa telephoned to sympathize with the officers involved. The premier of B.C., Gordon Campbell, expressed his sympathy to the top RCMP officer in B.C.
A witness film to the police action revealed the brutality of the police officers and the serious misreporting of the event. Much of the general public who watched the film believed a murder had been committed. A former RCMP and CSIS officer told me he expected criminal charges to be laid within days after the event.
The tip of the iceberg reveals the solidarity of the RCMP (and government), from the perpetrators of the act on up, to prevent full and fair legal action in a case generally believed to be a criminal case.
Going on seven years later, after millions of dollars have been spent on denials, and reports, and a Commission of Inquiry, and the appointment of a Special Crown Prosecutor who took almost a year to read the Commission Report, and a series of what I believe are pretend trials of the men involved in the death of Robert Dziekanski for … perjury (?) … the matter drags on and on and on, a hopeless mess and a travesty of law and justice. A disgrace to Canada ….
Many believe the RCMP has proved it can violate the rule of law for years and years with impunity. Reform that has been demanded publicly is all but ignored in the RCMP head offices in Ottawa. At the same time the present Conservative government demands more and more control of the Force, insisting, for instance, that all statements by the Commissioner are first vetted by cabinet.
RCMP violence and violation of the kind observed in the Robert Dziekanski case is not rare. Rather, actions go unobserved because of the “unimportance” of the people violated or because of hasty, effective cover-up. In the Kelly Marie Richard Alberta dental malpractice case, the Lonnie Lundrud case in Quesnel, B.C., the Robert Erickson case in McBride, B.C., and the RCMP “interference” in the Wiebo Ludwig case the Canadian public can see in only those small number of instances cited that the RCMP works against ordinary citizens dramatically and – in highest probability – criminally as well.
What of the larger picture – the one made up of public protests against corporate government, globalized repression, attacks on basic freedoms and the rule of law, and the growing movement to impoverish whole populations on behalf of the one per cent?
Carefully gathered, chilling information is present in a recent book published in Quebec. It is edited by Francis Dupuis-Deri and is entitled A qui la rue? or in English Who Owns The Street?
The reality behind the question of the title appears to be that action in the streets by citizens is more and more relevant and even necessary. That is so because of the consolidation of government and the private corporations and because of the sell-out of formerly independent bodies: press and media, the courts, and the Opposition political parties. Together, they join in the repression of public freedoms: freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of the individual, as well as the common responsibility of all citizens to the rule of law.
The book out of Quebec covers police behavior from the anti-globalization action in Seattle (Sept. 2001) to the student actions against educational inequality in Quebec in 2012 (“the Maple Spring”). Three Canadian matters are dealt with: the G20 summit debacle of 2010, the Quebec Maple Spring of 2012, and the annual March 15 demonstration against police brutality in Montreal, since 1997.
The astonishing figures for the last event, held annually, tell the story. Though the demonstration is never large compared to many others, from 2005 until 2013 the number of people arrested at the demonstration has risen from 5 in 2005 to 297 in 2013.
One might well conclude that the Montreal police – supported by “the law” in Quebec – wish to erase public criticism of Montreal police brutality.
The book edited by political science professor from the University of Quebec at Montreal, Frances Dupuis-Deri, demonstrates a dangerous and disturbing trend in Canada. Police actions – more and more – are becoming politicized. That means police do not appear at demonstrations “to keep the peace”. They arrive with political orders to target selected groups – however peaceable – to foment violence, and to make arrests. They deliberately break the law, knowing they will be protected by government, corporations, the press, and the courts.
Faking the need for police intervention, the police now engage in arrests of mass groups – all the members of which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination – be guilty of law breaking. In addition, the police engage in so-called “preventative arrests” – arrests of people the police claim might commit criminal acts. Law experts consulted have declared such arrests lawless and unconstitutional.
Individual police officers often use foul and insulting language in dealing with demonstrators – revealing open political prejudice. Example of Quebec, French-language, “street” (joual’ist) expressions may be linguistically amusing but they are, in fact, vicious and offensive.
The political intention of Canadian police is marked by their attempt in Quebec to charge (often) innocent demonstrators, to give them the chance of immediate release if they admit guilt and pay a municipal fine of (most recently) $637.00.
Many innocent demonstrators believe an arrest means an infraction of the law. It doesn’t. And long court trials often reveal that many, many people charged are innocent of wrong-doing.
The ruse of getting on-the-spot admissions of guilt from the innocent and levying fines against them has been put in place. Alexander Popovic, activist against police brutality, spent years fighting the ruse. He write about the long campaign in A qui la rue?
His advice to demonstrators is to refuse admission of guilt and an on-the-spot fine. Demonstrators must fight for their innocence in large numbers, must crowd the punitive jails set up, and then self-defend in the courts – forcing them to observe the rule of law and just courtroom procedure.
If the court system becomes bankrupt as a result of lawless police action against large numbers of well-meaning citizens concerned for the good of Canadian society, then the bankruptcy of the courts might point to the bankrupt democracy in which such police behavior is permitted.
The history of government/corporate/police brutality revealed in A qui la rue/ Who Owns the Street? must teach additional lessons. Demonstrations against government/corporate/police oppression must grow in number and size. Demonstrators must self-educate about law and the courts. They must organize filming and other witnessing of police brutality. They must write immediate accounts of police lawlessness. They must gain political party, union, NGO, etc. support (or refusal of support) to make public.
Opposition party support for lawless police action must be exposed and attacked in order to protect the innocent.
In the largest sense, Canadians must realize they face police forces in Canada that are changing for the worse, that – apparently – welcome direction from above to engage in violent and lawless activity.
The name we give to such collaboration is “fascism”. That collaboration must be fought by Canadians with increasing awareness and increasing determination. Canadians must prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Canadian people own the street– not the police and not governments locked in the ugly embrace of private corporations.
Enbridge are thugs, bullies, belligerent, and they don`t learn their lessons...
As you know Enbridge is starting a new ad campaign, a campaign that goes out of the way to NOT mention the name Enbridge, instead the ad campaign features one-time Prince George resident, now executive vice president of Enbridge Janet Holder, ..Janet Holder talks of the ocean as a playground, the Orca whale is prominent too in the ad...
This morning on CKNW Janet Holder talked with Michael Smyth, Janet was asked about the Enbridge name being omitted from the ads, she blathered bafflegab, she claimed Enbridge was fulfilling the 5 demands/conditions the B.C. provincial Government put on this pipeline.
(cue up October 2nd, 8:00am...The Janet Holder bafflegab bullshit was at 8:50 to 8:58 am)
Before I go any further, let me remind you that Enbridge has had over 1000 pipeline oil spills in the last decade, they had a really bad spill in Michigan where the Kalamazoo river was destroyed, even after they spent $1 billion dollars to try and clean up the mess they were ordered back and asked to dredge 60 miles of river, the reason dredging was requested/ordered is because diluted bitumen spilled in water can`t be clean, the river literally has to be dredged of life, everything removed...The NTSB also desribed Enbridge as "Keystone Cops"n their response to the Kalamazoo spill..
Enbridge had oil puking out of a ruptured pipe for 16 hours...The spill was bad enough, Enbridge tried to clean up the mess but the technology doesn`t exist,...
and that is where Enbridge as a company went off the rails and turns into a strongarming gang of goons and thugs, instead of admitting the problem they threaten, they sue, they intimidate, they lie about the problem, more intimidating than a mafiosa, a ruthless cartel who uses violence and money to hide their crimes..
John Bolenbaugh, a local young Michigan Man was hired to help clean up the Kalamazoo oil spill, he worked for Enbridge for some time, ..John was removed from the spill site well before the attempted clean up was finished, a year later John Bolenbaugh returned to the area where he was working and he thought(at first) that Enbridge had really done a good job cleaning up their spilled Alberta crude, ...But that quickly changed to horror, to disgust, disgust when he discovered what Enbridge really did,...
Enbridge covered spilled oil and toxic dilbit stained soil with a special canvas and planted grass atop of the poison, a deliberate attempt to hide their crimes...
And that Enbridge environmental crime was only the beginning, John Bolenbaugh did a little investigating and realized that Enbridge did more, much more, a tributary stream polluted with Alberta sludge oil from the Kalamazoo oil spill was covered with tonnes and tonnes of sand, all in an attempt to hide the toxic sludge, this buried oil was left to leach slowly and forever into people`s water supply, into drinking water supplies, Enbridge didn`t care about that, no, Enbridge attempted to scare John Bolenbaugh into silence, they threatened him, they allegedly cut his brake lines on his truck, ...Enbridge didn`t apologize, they were mad that they got caught committing more environmental crimes..
And at town hall meetings with local people Enbridge denied liability for the spill, everyone else was blamed..
Enbridge uses money, intimidation and I suspect violence to get their way..
Enbridge not only lied, polluted and killed wildlife, destroyed environments , up here in British Columbia Enbridge have lied about the jobs this pipeline would create, they faked wildlife reports in the environmental assessment, Mark Hume busted Enbridge for that lie..
"When a clock strikes 13, you can never trust it again. So it must be for anyone who lies about information he is using to
back up a serious scientific statement upon which a great deal is at
stake. Mark Hume had an article in Sunday’s Globe and Mail BC Edition which, in a world of decent journalism, would be a headline story, titled ENBRIDGE CHEATS ON SCIENTIFIC PAPER ON THREAT TO CARIBOU. In fact Mark does this a lot and our newspaper chiefs should blush
with shame but they don’t do that very well. I leave it to you to read
this superlative article but suffice it to say that Enbridge has been
caught out big time and if it weren’t for Mark they would have gotten
away with it."
Enbridge was also reprimanded for lying about the Haisla nation supporting Northern Gateway, that was reported here in the below linked story..The Haisla nation demaded Enbridge retract their lies about the Haisla Nation cooperating and supporting northern gateway..
Meanwhile we in British Columbia were inundated with ads , cartoon ads about how glorious the Enbridge pipeline would be, ads that deleted thousands of islands on the BC coast, ads that eliminated the near 800 rivers and streams this proposed pipeline would have to traverse, cartoon ads that treated viewers like impressionable children, ads that assumed we BCers are nothing but dumbass chumps..
During the environmental assessment Enbridge fell short time and time again, landslide areas Enbridge had no answers, the NEB review panel was told answers would be forthcoming after approval of the pipeline, the entire review was done like that, Enbridge presented experts with no answers to probing questions, bafflegab and we`ll get back to you responses were standard fare..Enbridge experts admitted that the technology to clean up spilled bitumen in water doesn`t exist, I quote..Enbridge said about cleaning up spilled bitumen in water.."it`s a work in progress" snip.
Then Enbridge returned to their old tactics, trickery, guile, lies, with the Vancouver Sun and Canwest running shotgun headlines appeared in Canwest papers throughout British Columbia...
"First Nations support Enbridge"...
And it was a bold-faced lie, ..Enbridge bribed an old man named Elmer Derrick with $3 million dollars, Elmer Derrick had no authority to approve anything, Elmer Derrick ws quickly locked out of the First Nation office building, Elmer Derrick went into hiding , Elmer Dderrick was ever heard from again, except for Enbridge citing this bribed acceptance..
That shocking story was reported only by bloggers, Norman Farrell wrote about it as did The Straight Goods..That shocking story is linked here..
And after each lie, after getting caught lying and cheating, bribing and intimidating Enbridge just ran more ads and carried on as if nothing ever happened...And to this day Enbridge claims to have 50% First Nation support but refuses to name any individual First Nation group, ..Enbridge has tepid support from a few Alberta First Nation groups that are hundreds of miles from the pipeline, ..again, these are the tactics that Enbridge employs, threats, intimidation, lies, bribes and manipulated spin..
Now today, Enbridge and Janet Holder are trying to play nice, pretending they care, a new ad campaign for $5 million dollars , Janet Holder believes it is just a matter of engaging with British Columbians, that we don`t understand, that we are uninformed, and that is where Enbridge is wrong, a tanker spill will destroy our pristine northern coast, extinct species, cost taxpayers $billions of dollars trying to mitigate the damage, and like Enbridge has admitted, there is no cleaning up spilled bitumen in water, it will kill, poison and destroy, cost $billions of dollars and cost British Columbia thousands of permanent jobs that depend on wild salmon, on eco-tourism..
And for what, Enbridge has offered British Columbia $35 million dollars per year to risk everything we hold dear..And guess what, Enbridge has separated Northen Gateway from the assets of Enbrige, a limited liability company, in other words Northern Gateway has no assets, Enbridge not wanting to be liable for $billions in damage and spill clean-up costs separated northern Gateway from Enbridge..Why, because they know it will spill, pollute and poison..
Enbridge has made Northern Gateway a separate entity without a pot to piss in, we would have no ability to get Enbridge to pay, if Enbridge had real confidence in northern gateway pipeline their lawyers wouldn`t have shielded the company from liability, but they did, that is your answer on will is spill and pollute..
Enbridge has so little confidence in northern gateway they separated it from their assets..
" Enbridge has structured Northern Gateway as a limited liability
partnership in a deliberate attempt to limit shareholder responsibility.
Enbridge has not provided sufficient assurances that the financial
resources available to Northern Gateway will be sufficient to cover the
cost of cleanup and remediation in the event of a catastrophic or even
just a major oil spill. Enbridge seems to be incapable of admitting to
the fact that bitumen is different from conventional oil, particularly
when it hits water and sinks. Enbridge has never operated a marine
facility, but it is their plan to build one in a location that would
require oil tankers to navigate one of the most dangerous bodies of
water in the world. It fails to recognize this difference in the
development of it’s mitigation strategy or in it’s estimates of the
costs associated with cleanup."
The arrogance of Enbridge, you see friends, in their new ad campaign starting on Monday Enbridge and Janet Holder are attempting to be sugary sweet nice, ...Yet Enbridge can`t help themselves from being bullies, thugs and criminals, just days before this new ad campaign is to start Vern Yu..Enbridge Executive vice president in charge of business and market development in a conference call is telling investors that the Federal Government in mid 2014 will give them permission to proceed with this project and yes there will be First Nation`s court challenges but that any and all court challenges will be finished and won by Enbridge early in 2015...
A mere 6 months to clear all court challenges from First Nations, are you kidding me!...Court challenges filed, heard and finished in 6 months when British Columbia is still dealing with two-bit court cases from 2011 Stanley cup riots..Enbridge in that article states that they will get approval, that court challenges will be won, and ended within 6 months and construction will start forthwith...
The arrogance of Enbridge, ....You see friends, this is why Stephen Harper will be punted from power in 2015...That is the only way to drive a silver spike into the vampire named Enbridge, they can`t help but being arrogant, they have poisoned so many environments, polluted, lied, cheated and killed..
Enbridge will learn the hardway, court challenges for decades, any construction will be met with war in woods...
On the eve of a new ad campaign Vern Yu tells British Columbia that they Will build the pipeline, and when, and that court challenges will be over in a few months
Well Vern Yu..
Bring it on Enbridge, see you in hell.
Any politician or political party that allows Enbridge`s northern gateway pipeline will be decimated and removed from power , Enbridge have lied to the NEB review board, they lied about First Nation support, they faked wildlife reports, their submissions were incomplete on geo-hazards and mitigation, their ads lied, they admit Bitumen can`t be cleaned up, also Enbridge has spilled over 200,000 barrels of oil in multiple places in Canada since this northern gateway review started...This farce is over, this is Canada, beautiful British Columbia, and that`s the way it will remain..
