Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One,” endorsed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s leadership, called him “one of the greatest prime ministers ever.” The post Gretzky wrong to call Harper “one of the greatest prime ministers ever” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingTag: national security
The Canadian Progressive: Rights groups demand independent oversight of federal agency CBSA
by: BC Civil Liberties Association | Press Release Public inquiry recommended oversight in 2006 – no action since that time The BC Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Council for Refugees and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers today called on the government to end its long inaction on the need for
Continue readingAlberta Diary: It’s time to recognize the market-fundamentalist elephant in the airport security screening room
Some of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority’s sub-contracted passenger screening supervisors at Edmonton International Airport. Fortunately for them, theirs won’t be the heads that roll. Below: Skylar Murphy, the 18-year-old brainiac with a recreational pipe bomb; the proverbial elephant in the room. Canadian airports really do have a security
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Caught in an apparent conflict like Chuck Strahl? No problem! Just double down!
Manning Centre-Security Intelligence Review Committee Chair and Enbridge lobbyist Chuck Strahl. Below: Former would-be Reform Party prime minister Preston Manning; Reform Party prime minister in waiting Jason Kenney. All these slightly out-of-focus profile shots were taken by your blogger during his infiltration of the 2013 Manning Centre conference in Ottawa. When
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Democracy Now interview: Ladar Levison talks about decision to close Lavabit rather than comply with U.S. government
In a follow-up to the previous entry I’m posting a Democracy Now interview with Lavabit owner and operator Ladar Levison. Levison made the difficult decision to shut down the encrypted email service, Lavabit, after an apparent bid by the U.S. government to gain access to customer data. As mentioned in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Doctor of Panama: a strange tale of Harperite politics and national security
Positive vetting? Where’s George Smiley when you really need him? Not in Canada, by the sound of it. Below: Dr. Arthur Porter with his former pal Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Globe and Mail photo). It’s almost bizarre, and almost certainly driven by political expediency, that no one seems to have
Continue reading350 or bust: We Could Have Stopped Climate Chaos But We Were Too Damned Cheap
What a beautiful Friday morning in my part of the world. The sky is blue and clear on a minus 16 degree C March 1st day. I’m watching two pileated woodpeckers enjoy the suet in the bird feeder just outside the window. They certainly are impressive birds, especially close up!
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canadian activist says Harper is wrong about Iran, gets CSIS visit
By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 22, 2013: In January, 2012, outspoken labour and anti-racism activist, Ken Stone argued that “Harper is Wrong in Demonizing Iran” in an editorial piece published by the Hamilton Spectator. On January 15, 2013, two Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agents showed up on his door and
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada’s Environmental Activists “Threat To National Security”: Harper Government
RCMP and CSIS treat peaceful protest actions and questioning the Harper Government as ‘forms of attack’, label activists involved “national security threats”, documents reveal. By Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb. 22, 2013: The Harper Government is intensifying its attacks on environmental and other activist movements in Canada, according to documents released under freedom
Continue reading350 or bust: If You Wait Until You’re Dead Certain About Grave Danger, You’re Already Dead
It’s TED Talk Tuesday on 350orbust, and here’s a great presentation by Rear Admiral David Titley from the U.S. Navy on why he changed from being a climate skeptic to being very very concerned about climate change, and what America can do to respond to this crisis. *
Continue reading350 or bust: Dramatic Increase In Arctic Methane Release Requires Dramatic Increase In Political Will To Address Climate Crisis
* All eyes in the climate change community are going to be on President Obama tonight as he delivers his State of the Union address, which outlines his administration’s vision for the next four years. The clip below, from AP, discusses the urgent need for Obama to address climate change
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Norway’s experience with Big Oil offers lessons for Idle No More
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Jan 21, 2013: Norway’s experience with Big Oil offers lessons for Idle No More and other progressive movements determined to stop Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives from turning Canada into a petro-state. Earlier, I blogged about a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s CNOOC/Nexen deal pushes Canada closer to becoming a China-dominated petro-state
Thanks to our petro-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, Canada is on the verge of becoming a China-dominated petro-state. The Chinese government now owns a large chunk of Canada and the lucrative Alberta tar sands after the Harper Government approved Friday the $15.1 billion takeover of Nexen Inc., a Calgary-based and
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Why the U.S. Won’t Allow Dying Iranian Sociologist to Join His Family
by Cora Currier | ProPublica Dr. Rahmatollah Sedigh Sarvestani is dying. The Iranian sociologist, recently retired from a long teaching career at the University of Tehran, suffers from prostate cancer and a pelvic tumor. With his kidneys failin…
Continue readingAlberta Diary: None dare call it treason: Jeffrey Delisle’s secret sale and Stephen Harper’s secret treaty
Harper in China: Not likely to be an opera any time soon. Below: Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley, where is our Smiley now that we really need him? Sub-Lieut. Jeffrey Delisle, as himself; Sir John Harington. Is it only me that sees a certain irony in the fact a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Victor Toews demonstrates how wedge politics biteth like a serpent
Mennonites in Paraguay. Below: Victor Toews and Omar Khadr as they appear nowadays. Way below: Ron Anders in one of his waking moments. You’d think Victor Toews would have felt a little empathy for Omar Khadr. Mr. Toews is the Paraguayan-born public security minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Confirmed again: “Canada may use information obtained through torture”
Last February, we learned that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews had quietly authorized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to use information gleaned from terror suspects through torture. Today, Toews’ spokesperson, Mike Mueller, confirmed that the Canadian government is open to using information gleaned under dubious circumstances abroad. Mueller was
Continue readingLeft Over: Faddening Up the Support for Spy Bill
Online Surveillance: CSIS Chief Dick Fadden Supports Lawful Access Bill As ‘Vital’ To National Security- from this morning’s Huffpost Canada Here we go again..the slinking of these circus clowns towards a fascist state looms ever closer..and CSIS is ‘happy’ to see this legislation being pushed onto a continuously
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper v. Canada: News Headlines On June 25 2012
Make no mistake about it. Canada’s progressive and democratic forces are converging around Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his burgeoning elected dictatorship. And Harper and his merry bunch of Conservative praise-fingers are feeling the heat. At least according to the headlines in the last couple of days: Election result challenge
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper’s Canada “Making Up Terror Identities”
In Stephen Harper’s Canada, we’re all potential terror threats. Until proven otherwise. So suggests a recent study by Queens University’s Jeffrey Monaghan and Kevin Walby, published in the journal Policing and Society. Welcome to Multi Issue Extremism (MIE), Canada’s new classification of so-called domestic terror threats. We saw it coming.
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