Towards Police State Canada? Anti-terrorism Bill C 51, To be Adopted by Parliament, The Media Campaign
Global Research News Hour Episode 94
“In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Length (58:36)
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
Bill C 51, Canada’s so-called ANTI-TERRORISM ACT was introduced to Parliament on January 30, 2015.
After some deliberation, the Bill came to a vote on Monday February 23. The governing Conservative party voted to support the Bill. The opposition Liberals voted to support the Bill in principle, although with the caveat they would make amendments once they came to power. [1] The Opposition NDP and Green Parties voted against the Bill. [2]
Bill C 51 is now being brought before the House committee on National Security and Defence. Pending approval it will eventually be re-introduced to the House of Commons for a final vote before it is enacted into Law.
Legal experts, civil liberties groups including Amnesty International, and the aforementioned politicians have begun to sound the alarm bells about this legislation. They argue that it it will have adverse impacts on Canadians not even remotely involved in terrorist activities.
Legal Professors Kent Roach and Craig Forcese argue that the legislation essentially gives for the first time Canada’s spy Agency CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service) policing powers. CSIS would also have the active capacity to “take measures, within or outside Canada, to reduce (very broadly defined) threats to the security of Canada.”
So for example, if a project like the Keystone XL pipeline is deemed by the Canadian government to be a priority and strongly in the Canadian interest, then CSIS could theoretically provide misinformation to an anonymous foreign environmental funder in an effort to deter that funder from continuing to secretly fund a Canadian environmental group planning a protest of that pipeline without the requisite permit.
Likewise CSIS could break into a private home in order to destroy equipment it believes may be used to wreck pipelines. It could infect and destroy the computers of a radical environmental group believed responsible for “tree spiking,” but for whom there is insufficient evidence for criminal charges.
Bill C-51 (Antiterrorism Act 2015): Short Primer on Key Aspects from Craig Forcese on Vimeo.
Turning up the heat around this legislation, the day before Bill C 51 was to be voted on in Parliament, there was (coincidentally?) a story circulating in Canadian media warning of a Somali-based terrorist group inciting loyalists to launch attacks against facilities in Canadian cities, including the West Edmonton Mall.
This week’s Global Research News Hour focuses on some of the most regressive legislation introduced in Canada in a very long time, and particularly the role media is playing in enabling what Green Party leader Elizabeth May has dubbed ‘Secret Policing’ in the country.
Long time journalist, author, and media critic Barrie Zwicker dominates the hour with his take on the media campaign and whether it represents an unwholesome collusion between Canada’s fourth estate and the invisible government.
Zwicker’s analysis is followed by a brief breakdown of the Anti-Terrorism legislation by this producer. The source for this material is mostly derived from a series of backgrounders from the aforementioned legal experts.
Finally, we hear a classic tune from legendary folk singer Phil Ochs.
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Length (58:36)
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .
The show can be heard on the Progressive Radio Network at prn.fm. Listen in every Monday at 3pm ET.
Community Radio Stations carrying the Global Research News Hour:
CHLY 101.7fm in Nanaimo, B.C – Thursdays at 1pm PT
Boston College Radio WZBC 90.3FM NEWTONS during the Truth and Justice Radio Programming slot -Sundays at 7am ET.
Port Perry Radio in Port Perry, Ontario –1 Thursdays at 1pm ET
Burnaby Radio Station CJSF out of Simon Fraser University. 90.1FM to most of Greater Vancouver, from Langley to Point Grey and from the North Shore to the US Border.
It is also available on 93.9 FM cable in the communities of SFU, Burnaby, New Westminister, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Surrey and Delta, in British Columbia Canada. – Tune in every Saturday at 6am.
Notes:
1) Daniel Leblanc, Liberals to support Conservative anti-terror bill, will address the ‘gaps’ later”;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-to-support-conservative-anti-terror-bill-but-want-more-oversight/article22784759/ Globe and Mail, ” February 4, 2015
2) Zi-Ann Lum (February 23, 2015), Huffington Post Canada, “Bill C-51, Harper’s Anti-Terror Bill, Passes Second Reading Amid Criticism”;http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/23/rafe-mair-anti-terrorism-bill-c51_n_6739034.html
