Has Vic Toews Been Treated Fairly?

Today's poll question; has Justice Minister Vic Toews been treated fairly this week? On Tuesday he introduced a government bill to help police catch child pornographers, which had many on the left and some on the right going bananas expecting to be persecuted like child predators. By Thursday the CBC was promoting places on Twitter where you could go to attack Vic personally. One Twitter feed with a House of Commons IP address went so far as to post sensitive details from Toews personal life. All this because he introduced a bill to catch child predators, then made the ill advised comment that if you do not support the legislation then you support child pornography.

Liberal MP Wayne Easter seems to think he deserves what he's getting, but I'd rather hear what you have to say. Has this now gone too far?

To Catch A Predator

It is astonishing how a piece of legislation designed to make it easier for law enforcement to capture and prosecute those who produce and traffic child pornography, in matter of hours, can have the media going bananas with broadcasters comparing the bill to George Orwell's 1984 (thanks for that Lisa LaFlamme). We can all agree that producing or possessing child pornography is a despicable crime, one we would all like to see wiped out. We know that the people who commit this crime in the greatest volume are incredibly cryptic and difficult to catch.

The perverts we see on the show "To Catch a Predator" are more of the casual/curious pedophiles, the big fish generally aren't that easy to catch. If this legislation is a bad idea, then does anyone else have any better ideas on how we can increase the rate at which we capture them? Certainly having officers cruise the Internet posing as sexually curious minors is a great deterrent and should continue. We want the creeps to know that if they go online to try and find a victim there is a reasonable chance it could be a cop. I'd like to hear from those officers who specialize in capturing child predators and pornography traffickers why this legislation is good or not.

I don't need left wing journalists alleging that Stephen Harper's thought police are going to hunt down scores of innocent civilians under cover of darkness. Honestly 99% of Canadians will never be affected in any significant way by this legislation. I'm a Libertarian with no objection given the objective. But hey, maybe I'm just an idiot for trusting the police.

Warning Shots-gate

The controversy of the day on Thursday was whether or not it is appropriate to fire warning shots with a gun to deter someone threatening your life. Recent comments by the Justice Minister set off a small media firestorm, including attacks in Question Period and a grilling on the Soloman Show. Though when Evan ran a poll asking "should you be able to defend your property with a gun?" it is unlikely he was expecting 80% of his audience to answer "yes". You can lead sheep to water, but you can't always make them drink. He should have asked if it is cool to fire warning shots.

Today's poll question; if you are being threatened, is it acceptable to fire warning shots with a gun?

Government Promoting Torture?

The big controversy today on the Soloman Show was a "government directive to CSIS" to use information that MAY have been obtained through torture if that information can save lives. As you can well imagine, the usual suspects went bananas claiming that this was tantamount to promoting and encouraging the use of torture. Gerard Kennedy was damned near ready to ship Vic Toews off to the Hague. Evan kept referring to "groups" who might use torture, when in fact what he's talking about are foreign governments, a number of them our allies.

Canada has intelligence sharing agreements with roughly 150 countries, and a chunk of them allow what we define as torture. Does that mean we should immediately stop accepting all intel from those countries, or should we have them prove that no torture was used on a case by case basis? I was hoping that Evan would list all our allies who permit torture that we should stop sharing intel with, but he would only mention the United States and Afghanistan. Today's poll question; should we stop accepting all intelligence from countries known to on occasion use torture? We're going to have to stop using most intelligence coming out of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. I'm not sure how much we can use from South America either.

One thing that kept coming up today was that the information obtained through torture "is not reliable" or "tainted". It is most unreliable when obtaining a confession, but I would be curious to see the actual numbers when it comes to the locations of militant bases, future attacks, or the names of operatives. That data is likely classified, but my guess is that the more specific the information, the more reliable it is. I don't condone torture nor want to see my country torturing enemy combatants, but if Saudi Intelligence informs us that there could be an attack on a subway on a certain day, we certainly can't ignore that because someone may or may not have been tortured. It may not be 100% reliable, but neither is it 100% unreliable.

The letter Vic Toews wrote to CSIS (which Evan kept waving around for the camera today) made perfect sense. It is not creating a "market for torture" if we accept intel that may save lives. One panel loon even
went so far as to say that this memo was going to lead to rendition, where we start shipping off prisoners to foreign countries for the sole purpose of having them tortured. Come on man! Seriously?

Quebec Suing The Government?

Quebec is going to sue the federal government to try and save the gun registry, or rather the data contained within. Their plan is to start their own gun registry, which is their government's prerogative. If the province would like to go ahead with their own gun registry, then that's their business. The matter of debate is whether or not the data held by the feds can or should be shared with provincial jurisdictions. The Tories have long campaigned on abolishing the registry and were recently elected to a majority government (including MPs from Quebec). The abolition of the registry becomes law in January. Should the gun registry data be shared with provinces who want to start their own registries? That should be a poll question.

Personally I would not object to the Tories sharing limited data about only Quebec residents, but the information of gun owners outside the province should be off limits. Although I am not a gun owner, I have always supported scrapping the gun registry because it is expensive and does nothing to prevent crime. If my province of British Columbia planned to launch a gun registry I would strongly oppose that action and it would affect my vote. However if it is popular in Quebec, go ahead, knock your socks off.

Occupy Vancouver Peacefully Dismantles, Before Moving A Block Away

This morning in Vancouver the talk of the town was that the protest at the Art Gallery was closing up shop, that the clowns were choosing to leave peacefully instead of defying a court order. So what did they do? They took down their tent city in front of the Art Gallery and moved it behind the Art Gallery to the provincial courthouse. Classy. To add insult to stupidity, they decided that it would be a good idea to block a major traffic corridor on a Monday afternoon while they were relocating around the corner. Nothing wins the battle for hearts and minds quite like making commuters sit in gridlock.

The new location is also on public land because they seem unable to find a private land owner who is willing to host them. Really, if you are the kind of person who wants a heroin party on your front lawn, you probably don't have a front lawn. Even our left wing Premier Christy Clark was pissed off, suggesting that the next court order will be coming a whole lot faster than the last one. Granted, this sounded a lot like her demand for swift justice for rioters back in June, so I won't hold my breath.

Occupy Evictions

This morning as snow hit the lower mainland, Occupy Vancouver protesters were packing up their junk and putting it in storage for another day. They will leave peacefully, but their comrades in Occupy Toronto might be getting ready for a fight. Both have been ordered by the Courts to vacate public property, as freedom of expression does not include freedom to squat in public parks. While it is great that the law has finally taken action against these clowns, these evictions should have come when the first tents went up. Hopefully next time we'll learn our lesson and evict them on day one, and trust me there will be a next time. The hooligans who do this seem to very much enjoy civil disobedience.

Ironically last week CBC reported a "major victory" for Occupy Toronto when a judge delayed eviction notices to allow arguments to be presented. It did not take long for the judge to reach this decision. It was strange that the CBC reported a short delay of eviction notices as a major victory, especially considering the evictions were eventually upheld. Vancouver is dismantling peacefully, Toronto may be gearing up for a fight. I'm sure that has nothing to do with Vancouver having a left wing Mayor and Toronto having a right wing Mayor...

UPDATE: So after all that, the Occupy clowns in Vancouver didn't leave, they just moved a block away to the courthouse. Please, start arresting people.

Should Occupy Camps Be Dismantled?

Today's poll question; do you support your local mayor ordering the dismantling of an Occupy protest near you? Is it time for Rob Ford to call the police on Occupy Toronto? These protests have been allowed to continue for far too long, and now with a growing epidemic of drug overdoses, it has become dangerous. Perhaps the question is not whether or not they should be dismantled, but what degree of force the police should use to shut them down. Tasers or no tasers? Some police officers have been assaulted or bitten when they have intervened, as these clowns don't want to go peacefully. They want to be dragged away kicking and screaming like little children, and if that's the case, then so be it.

"The 99%" Really Likes Their Heroin

The Occupy Canada "movement" has now experienced its third drug overdose in a week, this time in Toronto. It would seem that "the 99%" has a bit of a heroin problem. When the initial day of protest cleared and the comparatively normal people went home, those left behind pitching tents were not exactly the bright young minds of tomorrow. Maybe I'm just part of "the 1%" that does not enjoy shooting heroin, but they need to shut down this camping trip ASAP because it has become dangerous.

I'm sure there are some people at these Occupy protests who have good intentions, but what they have created is not what they intended. Some might say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, which is how I feel about extreme socialism in general. When the safety net becomes a magnet, the downward spiral is soon to follow.

The Death Of Occupy Vancouver

While I can't speak for all Occupy camps near you, judging by what's been going on at Occupy Vancouver, this so called "movement" is dying and will soon be at an end. This downward spiral of childish imbecility was entirely predictable when the decision was made right from day one to make it a permanent live in protest. You were sure to get big crowds on opening weekend with people of various left wing associations supporting any number of complaints against "the system", but you knew the people pitching tents would not be the sane and rational people from the original group. Some might call them the lunatic fringe, I prefer to call them clowns. In Vancouver it tends to be the same people, and I've seen their protests before.

Then, when the normal people went home to their jobs after their symbolic appearance on opening weekend, the people left speaking for the entire movement were the least desirable spokespeople you could possibly leave in charge. The inmates took over the asylum, and the tent city protests got substantial media coverage. Here's an idea, let's start a protest movement and leave the craziest among us in charge of it when we go home and see what happens! Now it has degraded to the point where they damned near need a mobile safe heroin injection site just to keep the protesters alive! There are a number of left wingers who are now frustrated, even angry, with the Occupy Vancouver protesters for taking legitimacy away from the original movement. People like my friend who initially supported the protest, but now believe it needs to be shut down because it has started hurting the cause.

If they won't leave peacefully. Make them leave. If the nuts throw temper tantrums, then deal with them accordingly. That's what tasers are for.

Should CSIS Conduct Operations Abroad?

Today's poll question; should CSIS conduct operations in foreign countries? This question has now been introduced to the media conversation and I'd like to know if you think our Secret Service/CIA should be conducting operation abroad (not counting trips by Canadian officials and diplomats). Normally I would defer to the Americans to fight the intelligence battle, but I'm curious about the idea of CSIS performing a similar function in order to protect Canadian interests. If foreign spy services conduct operations of espionage against Canada, would our interests be better protected if we had field agents operating in those countries? Our spies don't need to kill people or blow things up, but the art of collecting intelligence can be a very valuable commodity.

Occupy Heroin

It would appear that the Occupy Vancouver movement has developed a bit of a drug problem, as a woman died today of an alleged drug overdose. This comes two days after another person was rushed away by paramedics for overdosing on heroin. I'm not sure these are the kind of people we want dictating how our economy should function. At their next "general assembly", they should pool their collective minds to write the manifesto "economics for junkies" about the "evils" of capitalism. It is unfortunate that it takes the death of a young woman to expose what's really going on in tent city; getting stoned while being sanctimonious regarding something the protesters are ignorant about, our economy.

They need to shut this place down before more people die. They have proven unable to shoot heroin responsibly while deciding the future of the Canadian financial system.

Occupying Traffic

For a protest movement that seeks to grow public support for their anti-capitalism rhetoric, these clowns seem unable to grasp the simple concept that if you block traffic to force people to take notice, you will inevitably piss off far more people than you'll impress. Today the Occupy Toronto people began occupying vital intersections creating traffic havoc in Canada's largest city, because nothing wins hearts and minds quite like sitting in gridlock. I'm not sure how your movement can claim to represent 99% of people when your actions are only going to upset the 93% who have jobs and just want to get home from work.

All those idle car engines are pumping extra exhaust into the atmosphere, damaging the city's already poor air quality...and the greenhouse gases!!!??? Are the occupy protesters trying to destroy the planet? It seems as though they would rather spread misery and destruction instead of creating a Utopian society in Karl Marx's image.

Occupy Vancouver

Get ready Vancouver, the slacker revolution is preparing to start a permanent protest downtown in an effort to "take back Democracy". The organizers haven't made any demands for what they hope to accomplish, they're going to figure that out later. If I know anything about the Vancouver protest crowd, it shouldn't take long before they start demanding the government build them free houses. Minimum guaranteed incomes shouldn't be too far behind, where the government guarantees your income whether you work or not. The "steal from the rich to give to the lazy" agenda is generally the policy that emerges from these little gatherings, so I can spare you the suspense. Free houses and free money without having to work.

You'll probably also hear demands to shut down Alberta's oil patch, which is of course a massive source of tax revenue for the federal government. There will be demands for the government to spend more money and demands that will hinder Canadian economic output. That's what they mean when they say "let's take back democracy"; because democracy is great, unless the guy you don't like happens to win.

Remembering Caledonia

As Ontario heads to the polls, I'd like to re-post something I wrote a little less than a year ago when Julian Fantino was running in a federal byelection. Right wing bloggers were hammering him for his role in the Caledonia crisis. Here we are a year later, his boss who issued the "passive containment" order is running for a 3rd majority, and none of those people are complaining about Dalton's role in that fiasco. Citizens were terrorized when the rule of law was not enforced. That was the order issued by the elected government of Ontario which commands the provincial police force. That was Dalton McGuinty. Nobody seems to have discussed this during the election.
Where are the angry voices of Caledonia when Dalton is running for re-election?

From Ipperwash To Caledonia
Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A week before the upcoming byelections in Vaughan, Conservative candidate Julian Fantino is still drawing criticism from right minded people for his role in the Caledonia crisis. His "great mistake" was carrying out the policy of Dalton McGuinty's government. Remember the road from Ipperwash to Caledonia. In September of 1995 a group of First Nation protestors occupied the Ipperwash National Park. When small bands of native mobs started spilling out of the park into adjacent civilian areas, the Ontario Provincial Police assembled a Swat Team/Riot Squad to force protesters back into the park, a riot broke out, and somebody was killed. Ontario Liberals (including especially Dalton McGuinty) hammered the Harris government forevermore for the forceful response in the Ipperwash case.

Fast forward to 2006 and suddenly Dalton McGuinty is sitting in the Premier's office when a similar land dispute gets nasty in Caledonia. Paranoid that Caledonia will become his Ipperwash, Dalton sets up a policy of ‘passive containment’ and ostensibly stops enforcing the rule of law in that area. It was government policy. As Jonathan Kay wrote in 2007: "Since the crisis began, Dalton McGuinty's government has been petrified of taking decisive action, lest the Toronto media compare his actions to those of Mike Harris' government during the Ipperwash Crisis of 1995. At numerous points during the Caledonia standoff, the OPP has been ordered to sit on their hands despite numerous provocations by native protesters."

I am not trying to argue that the order of passive containment was the best course of action, but that policy came from Dalton McGuinty's government, not Julian Fantino. He was the civil servant instructed by the provincial government to avoid a violent confrontation with native protesters at all cost. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is responsible for law enforcement services in the province of Ontario, including the Ontario Provincial Police, jails, parole boards, public safety and disaster management.

How exactly should our police force respond to these types of incidents? I think the answer lies somewhere in between Ipperwash and Caledonia. As one OPP Sgt was recorded saying the day before the deadly Ipperwash riot, "we want to amass a fucking army. A real fucking army and do this. Do these fuckers big-time". I don't think that's the answer. At the same time, I don't think suspending the rule of law because you're afraid of bad press is an appropriate response either. Some of you want to blame Julian Fantino for Dalton McGuinty's poor judgment. I guess Fantino should have raised an army to "do those fuckers big-time" and defy the orders of the elected government who sets their policy?

Solving Problem Of Overcrowded Prisons

Sometimes it can be difficult to follow the left's condemnation of the Tory tough on crime agenda, with frequent criticisms of plans to expand our prison capacity, followed by outrage that we have more prisoners than our prisons were built to hold. There is a consensus that our prisons are indeed overcrowded leaving Corrections Canada to repeatedly cram multiple inmates into cells designed for single occupancy. The argument is what to do about it. The Rosemary Barton Show today discussed the overcrowding issue and is running a poll question asking if the Conservative tough on crime agenda is increasing violence in prisons (65% of their audience say yes the rise in prison violence is the Tories fault). The contention is that overcrowded penitentiaries create violence, and that the Tories are responsible for the overcapacity problem. The Mark Hollands of the world might not want to come right out and say it, but their solution to the overcrowding problem seems to be putting fewer people in prison. Too noble by half if you ask me.

Today's poll question; what do you think should be done to solve the problem of overcrowded prisons?

When CBC Poll Questions Go Awry

Sometimes poll questions don't exactly turn out the way you expected; just as I'm sure the people over at the Solomon Show didn't expect what would happen yesterday when they asked "is it appropriate for the government to ask for the public's assistance in tracking down suspected war criminals?" Given that the CBC has been attacking the government for doing exactly that and defending their own policy not to publish the names or pictures of these individuals, you'd think their own audience might share a similar opinion, right? Wrong! 75% of CBC audience respondents agreed with the Sun News position that it is indeed appropriate for the government to ask for the public's assistance. Ouch!

But I'm sure the PR war isn't over. As of Friday night the only article on this story in the CBC politics section is "5th war crime suspect denies wrongdoing". Like we expect them all to confess and allow themselves to be deported. If they were willing to return to their home countries, they would have left when they were originally instructed to. They are trying to get refugee status, not found guilty and sent home. But hey, the CBC takes the word of Taliban combatants over the word of Canadian soldiers, so its not like they have any credibility on these matters. Evan Soloman was all over "torture-gate" with a vengeance. Je me souviens.

Is it appropriate for the government to ask for the public's assistance in tracking down suspected war criminals? 

Yes 74.52%
No 21.43%
Not sure 4.05%

Total Votes: 938

Should The Names Of Suspected War Criminals Be Published?

Today's poll question; should the names of suspected war criminals potentially hiding in Canada be made public? The CBC doesn't seem to want to publish them because they are only suspected rather than tried and convicted. Common sense might dictate that the names should be published so that we can increase the probability of capturing them, then again, we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. On Friday Evan Soloman was acting like these names were pulled out of a hat without any evidence or jurisprudence, though I would suspect that considerable time was spent investigating these individuals. It is quite common to release the names and photos of people wanted for criminal acts before they have been put on trial because it aids the police in capturing them in order to put them on trial. These "suspects" hiding in Canada will get the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law if captured. Relax CBC, they aren't going to be dragged out and hung on the lawn of Parliament.

Evan Soloman Needs A Lesson On Crime Rates

Evan Soloman needs to learn the difference between a crime "rate" (per 100,000 people) and total volume of crimes. If you are going to have a debate about expanding prison capacity, you should not be citing crimes per 100,000 but rather total number of crimes. Why? Because our population grows by about 350,000 people every year, nearly doubling in size since 1962. Evan's big question today was if crime rates are declining, why would we spend money expanding prison capacity? First, let's disregard all the reports about how dangerously overcrowded our prisons currently are and just look at crime rates versus crime volume. I downloaded the same Statistics Canada data that Evan used (although he focused mostly on the last two years). For your viewing pleasure, I prepared two different charts comparing violent crime rates versus total number of crimes since 1991 and fit a trend line.

Oh my Lord, what kind of crazy Voodoo magic is this??? Simple answer, the violent crime rate has fallen by 15% since 1991. Great news right? Sadly, our population has grown by 19% over that same time period. You might have a smaller percentage of people committing crimes, but because our population keeps growing we actually have more criminals. What was Evan's question of the day today? You have to love how he started with "given dropping crime rates", because that's not a leading question at all...

Given dropping crime rates, should money pegged for prisons and the government's tough on crime agenda, be spent on other priorities?

yes 79%
no 19%
unsure 2%

Total Votes: 438

All that being said, the TOTAL number of violent crimes has fallen consistently every year since the Conservatives came to power in 2006, so they must be doing something right in their tough on crime agenda. It is working. If what the Tories have been doing has been working, why would we change course now?

"Creative" Civil Disobedience

If the first week of our new Conservative majority Parliament has taught us anything, it is that we might be entering a new era of creative civil disobedience. More and more people are willing to make asses of themselves for a chance to get on television, and as the CBC audience becomes desensitized to these extreme measures the more extreme the stunts will have to be to produce that coveted 15 minutes of fame. By virtue of the law of diminishing marginal returns, activists need to turn up the volume with each new protest to have the same effect of the one previous. What tool will the "civil disobedience" crowd use in the next 4 years? Flash mobs seem to be all the rage these days. Expect more of those.

Frankly now that we have a majority government, these little PR stunts don't bother me like they would have a few months ago when we were treading lightly in minority waters. Now I find them more amusing than anything. Watching interviews with "Stop Harper Girl", I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. She really believes she is some kind of new age Princess Leia who is leading a rebellion against the evil Emperor Harper. She is really upset that Canadians elected a Tory majority, and in that sense I find her anxiety entertaining. It gave us something more interesting to talk about than a standard boring throne speech, so in a strange way I suppose we pundits owe her a thank you.

Expect more stunts in the coming years, with ever increasing degrees of ridiculousness.