Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Apparently, some of the disruptive and law-breaking groups were ‘chilled’ by the belief that they were being spied on


I know I really should care --- and it is a slippery slope to be on because who knows what /who might be next (if in fact the allegations are actually true) --- however I’m sorry, and I really don’t give a crap!

According to a document released by the BC Civil Liberties Association yesterday (July 8th)...
The BCCLA complaint alleged that, contrary to sections 12 and 19 of the CSIS Act, CSIS was monitoring environmentalists who were opposed to the Northern Gateway Pipeline Proposal, and sharing this information with the National Energy Board (NEB) and petroleum industry companies.

The BCCLA further alleged that this spying activity was deterring individuals from associating with environmental groups and expressing their opinions and that this chilling effect interfered with the freedoms of expression and association as protected by Section 2 of the Charter. Specifically named in the complaints were Dogwood Initiative, ForestEthics Advocacy (now Stand.earth), Sierra Club BC, Leadnow.ca, and the #IdleNoMore movement. 

According to the BCCLA, they are ... arguing that the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) report suggests that CSIS monitors environmentalists generally for “domain awareness” and that information on some individuals and groups is collected “incidentally”.iv We believe that this amounts to keeping tabs on peaceful environmental groups, which is not only unlawful under the CSIS Act, it suggests a bias in the spy agency that sees environmentalists as an inherent threat. 

Apparently, some of the groups were “chilled” by the belief that they were being spied on ... and that while SIRC acknowledged these concerns were reasonable based on the public information available ... it was ultimately found that these fears were unjustified based on the confidential evidence.

The groups noted above, along with many others, effectively ensured that the Northern Gateway Project would never see the light of day ... and continue to attempt to see the same for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project.

Illegal protests ... road blockades ... chaining themselves to gates ... blockading equipment from going about legal business ... putting a halt to, and stopping, road construction ... and essentially costing BC, and Canada’s, resource sector billions upon billions of dollars --- along with loses in spin-off jobs --- expansion of supply companies --– loses in new manufacturing --- and billions in tax loses to all levels of government.

Full-time protesters, the Sierra Club, two faced First Nations service station owners ... Tiny House Warriors, #IdleNoMore, multiple layers and levels of First Nations governments often times at odds with each other, and a host of granola eating hippies and protest groups; all have had their way over and over again,  They have continuously broken the law with impunity, all the while trying to drive our resource industries into the ground.

If you were spied on, or kept tabs on, tough banana’s – I DON’T CARE. What I do care about however, is the safe environmentally sound production of Canadian resource industries --- including pipelines and oil and natural gas development.

The BC Civil Liberties are on the wrong side of this, and I feel confident the majority of British Columbians will agree.

On June 18th the Tiny House Warriors ... “responded to today’s official approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline by insisting that it will never be built on Secwempemc land”.

These same so-called ‘warriors’ then go on to shower total disrespect to their elders:

The fact that they have a few sellout Indian Act chiefs supporting their pipeline in no way legitimizes it. The salaries of these sellouts are directly paid by the Department of Indian Affairs and they have no right to speak for the people who are the rightful titleholders of the land.”

The elders and Chiefs ARE elected by First Nations people ... and because of this THEY DO have the right to speak for the people they are the leaders of.   

So, after all that, can we please simply lock up protesters breaking the law, and hold them in jail while they await trial on any number of charges that would and could apply.

It’s just my opinion, however it’s long past time for this to be done.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou

Rustad will support policy for 'everyday' people, otherwise work to bring down NDP

  Conservative Party of B.C. John Rustad Tuesday (Oct. 29) said his party would support government policies that support "average, everyday working" persons in B.C., but also repeated earlier promises to bring down the B.C. NDP government under Premier David Eby. "If there are things that are moved forward that will improve lives for those people, we would be looking at support it," Rustad said. "But if he's going to carry forward with the destructive policies that he has, then yes, we are going to look at every opportunity possible to bring him down as soon as possible."  CLICK HERE for the full story

Labels

Show more