Thanks to John Keen for identifying it as “make war against those who make war” (Lockheed Martin).
It is the leaders, the power at the top, who create the war. They profit. It is the everyday citizens joined around the world who pay and who will put a stop to it. The balance of power in the world has changed.
== = = == = = = = =
In the reading of “to Eric” (below), it is important to understand the consequences of “offset agreements” in Government contracts.
Canadians are paying more than $11 billion dollars to Lockheed Martin Corporation through various Government contracts. Through offset agreements in the contracts, 75% of those taxes then go to build the military-industrial-parliamentary complex in Canada. Lockheed is in the business of killing people and destroying the environment. The Canadian economy will become as dependent upon the waging of war and as debt-laden, as the American. IF we allow it.
NEVER has killing solved any problems. It creates terrorists, it drives us into indebtedness (we pay taxes in order to pay billions of dollars in dividends for share-holders and in interest to banks), it de-stabilizes, it means that we do not have money to invest in the new economy which is one based on caring for the Earth and for others.
Get rid of immoral corporations. Please read on; the situation is more complex than just that, understand the WHY of the growing American military presence in Canada. The remedy calls for booting out Lockheed Martin Corporation. You can do that by refusing to cooperate with the May 2011 census, as long as Lockheed Martin with sub-contractor IBM has census contracts.
And fight to hold onto the unconditional Charter Right to Privacy. It is critical.
– – – – – – – – – – – — – – — – –
Hi Eric,
There is one clear, simple and right position to take on the census long form. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Right to Privacy, is essential and must be upheld. The census long form cannot be mandatory. No accompanying contortions are necessary.
Existing law (the Charter Right to Privacy, Section 8 case law) says: the Government cannot force citizens to hand over a biographical core of personal information which individuals ina free and democratic society would wish to maintain — ANDcontrol from dissemination to the State. (The Conservative announcement that the long form is no longer mandatory is not changing anything. They are stating what was already the case. As you know I am on trial for refusing to fill in the 2006 census. I did so because of Lockheed Martin Corporation’s involvement in the Canadian census. Lockheed Martin is the American military.)
The point: Statistical data IN COMPARISON TO the Charter Right to Privacy (biographical core of personal information) is secondary.
If the information previously sent does not convince you that the Green Party must uphold the rule of law (Charter Right to Privacy), then please consider:
I am going to fight to defend the Charter Right to privacy because I know thatthe kids who are fighting to stop the tar sands (climate change) and the Northern Gateway Pipeline are at risk if I don’t.
I will not allow anyone to take away the Charter Right to Privacy becauseI know that the water activists in Canada are at risk if I don’t.
So are Muslims and Arabs – they are the Polish people and the Jews of World War Two – the people the police state uses propaganda against to demonize in order to assert the military presence.
The G20 Summit in Toronto was a billion-dollar display of military police might and tactics. The protests are happening because corporations are running the Government. American corporate interests want Canadian water, oil, electricity and the nuclear industry. They want them because the U.S. faces depletion of those resources. They waged war on Iraq to secure oil. They are in the process of setting up a puppet and police state in Canada in order to secure the resources. I didn’t make this up – I sent the detailed documentation, the sources (chronology). It’s all there in the public domain.
Consider yet-another occurrence:
I did an interview with the New York Times over the Canadian census and the out-sourcing to Lockheed Martin Corporation. I sent the information on Lockheed’s role to the reporter. . . . What got reported in the NYT? . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/world/americas/24canada.html?_r=1&ref=canada
Intense Debate in Canada Over Longer Census
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: July 23, 2010
“a small number of people refused to fill out (the Canadian) census forms. But they were protesting the use of an American technology contractor.”
“AN AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTOR”?! Don’t mention the name Lockheed Martin Corporation? They’re better known in the U.S. than in Canada. Keep the people in the dark. This is the way propaganda is used in a police state.
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
I documented that Lockheed Martin Corporation is one of the main corporate players in the determination by the Americans to appropriate oil, electricity, water and the nuclear industry in Canada. Maclean’s magazine, Sept 13, 2006: “Meet Nafta 2.0”, Ron Covais, President of the Americas for Lockheed Martin, in relation to the SPP meeting)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
I showed you the statement made in the Ottawa Citizen in 2008:
(I believe “visa-free access” is a tactic of attempted intimidation to which Canadians should not bow.)
“… In exchange for continued visa-free access to the United States, American officials are pressuring the federal government to supply them with more information on Canadians, says an influential analyst on Canada-U.S. relations.
“Not only about (routine) individuals, but also about people that you may be looking at for reasons, but there’s no indictment and there’s no charge,” Christopher Sands of the Hudson Institute told a security intelligence conference in Ottawa yesterday. . Canadian officials have said this country will meet the new standard, “plus or minus a little,” by 2011, he said. “But there’ll be tremendous pressure (from the U.S.) to get there faster.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
There is no better way for the American military to gain access to the most comprehensive data base on all Canadians than through Lockheed Martin census contracts (the Patriot Act applies to subsidiaries). Also, Lockheed Martin will have our health records: “a premier systems integrator to manage and deliver large-scale electronic health record solutions for the Canadian healthcare sector”, using their “heritage in the aerospace and military markets”. (Link no longer valid.) They already manage the health records of the Canadian military.
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
Lockheed Martin is the American military. One of their specialties is international surveillance, along with weapons of mass destruction including unmanned aerial vehicles (unmanned drones).
It is an act of treason to out-source census work to Lockheed Martin (with IBM as a sub-contractor) – they are the biggest liars on the planet with a string of court convictions to prove it. They were also instrumental in the decision of the Americans to drop bombs on Iraq in order to secure oil. They used lies and propaganda in order to start that war so they could get the oil. Oil = tar sands.
Anyone who believes the line “Lockheed Martin only does software for the Canadian census” is worse than naive. They have no knowledge of history (the use of propaganda) or of Lockheed Martin’s record. Only military states maintain comprehensive files (read “census long form”) on individual citizens. Lockheed Martin is the American military.
The point I made: “Statistical data in comparison to the Charter Right to Privacy of personal information is secondary” requires that you have an appreciation of the significance of the Charter Right to Privacy.
Unfortunately most Canadians do not KNOW the Charter Right, let alone its significance. Democracy (Charter Rights and Freedoms for example) and history are not well taught in Canadian schools.
Pretend that you are one of the people who
1. know that climate change is a large threat to the world
2. have locked down and blockaded a giant dump truck and shovel at Shell’s massive Albian Sands open-pit mine in northern Alberta to send the message that the tar sands are a global climate crime that must be stopped.
3. convinced the Norwegian Parliament that their crown corporation should get out of the tar sands
4. are the First Nations people who will not allow the Northern Gateway Pipeline which is supposed to carry tar sands products from Fort McMurray to the West Coast.
5. Police arrested after a protest that saw activists scale the Parliament building in Ottawa and drape it with banners advocating government action to combat climate change. This was just before the Copenhagen meetings.
6. has worked locally to stop nuclear developments
7. has worked to stop water privatization projects
8. are Muslim
9. are Arab
10. Pretend that you are someone whose country has oil — or even tar sands, let’s say.
11. Pretend you are a citizen of a country that has water and is situated next-door to the U.S. that needs water
(Reference Scripps Institute of Oceanography report on the two largest water reservoirs in the U.S., Lake Mead and Lake Powell behind the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams on the Colorado River: 50/50 chance that hydro-electric capacity will be gone by 2017 because of falling water levels and 50/50 chance that the reservoirs will be bone-dry by 2021. I talked with lead researcher Tim Barnett in the summer of 2009 to see if they are getting their act together to help avert disaster. He was very pessimistic. I asked if there are going to be environmental refugees and if the population (residential, commercial, irrigation) dependent upon water from the Colorado River numbers in the 25 million. His figuring is same as mine, yes.)
OKAY, now:
1. Pretend that you are Simon Reisman giving a speech to corporate leaders about how much money there is to be made in selling Canadian water to the U.S. Maybe you were in diapers at the time. It was in the 1980’s.
2. Pretend that you are Simon Reisman, chief negotiator for the free trade agreement (Brian Mulroney Prime Minister) and you give away the exclusion in the free trade agreement for water. You also negotiate so that Canadian energy has to go to the U.S., no matter what shortages might exist in Canada, and at the same price as in the Canadian market. The Mexican government didn’t sell out their citizens like the Canadian Mulroney Government did.
3. Pretend that you are Ron Covais, President of the Americas for Lockheed Martin, who said to Maclean’s magazine, (Meet NAFTA 2.0, Sept 13, 2006) “We’ve decided not to recommend any things that would require legislative changes, because we won’t get anywhere.” The main avenue for changes would be through executive agencies, bureaucrats and regulations, he said, adding: “The guidance from the ministers was, ‘Tell us what we need to do and we’ll make it happen.'”
You want the resources that lie in Canada. I’ve sent the information which shows that this agenda has been in the works for decades. I’ve sent the information that shows the crisis situation now in the western U.S. in particular (water and hydro-electricity). If you are the American military, part of the military-industrial-congressional complex in the U.S., what is your strategy going to be?
Maybe you think they don’t have a strategy? Maybe you think that the successful and growing resistance in Canada to the tar sands, to privatization of water and electricity, will not create repercussions from those who want to appropriate? Maybe you think that these people are not in the business of using their own agents to create the pretexts for military-police interventions (as they did at Montebello and in Toronto)?
Hundreds of thousands of young men (mostly) gave their lives for what we have, a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to protect us against totalitarian corporate police-states. I cannot understand those who advocate we should give that away through some form of “mandatory” long census form. There are a lot of ill-informed people out there!
I repeat: there is one clear and simple position for the Green Party to take. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Right to Privacy, is essential and must be upheld. End of sentence.
Best wishes,
Sandra Finley
On 26-Jul-10, at 11:59 PM, Sandra Finley wrote:
Hello Eric,
Regarding your question: If there is no penalty for not filling out a “mandatory” Census then how do you see this as government using “force” to hand over personal information? (insert hyperlink to Orwellian newspeak – – the census long form will be mandatory and voluntary)
The Government has relied on force (COERCION) because citizens do not know their Charter Right to Privacy.
Excerpt from another email explains it:
I think it was obvious that the Crown (the Government) cannot win the case, which is a serious situation for them to be in. They are using fairly extreme coercion (the threat of jail and a fine) to force people to hand over the “biographical core of personal information”. This is in contravention of a constitutional right to privacy. . ….
The Government (StatsCan and the Justice Department) use the threat of the justice system to obtain compliance, just like Monsanto coerces farmers by using the threat of court action. You’re liable to 3 months in jail and a $500 fine (Section 31 of the Statistics Act taken out of context, without mention of Charter Rights and other conditions in the Statistics Act.)
Most people cannot afford the time and cost of defending themselves against the Government, nor the possible cost of going without income while they sit in jail. At least two people charged for non-compliance with the 2006 census, Todd Stelmach and Darek Czernewcan, were found guilty because they did not have the resources to defend themselves. Most people knuckle under before they see the court doors.
Perhaps the Justice Department, through the Crown Prosecutor, knew after the March 16th day in court that they are in deep trouble with the law. It is all on the transcript. I had a lawyer representing me on that day, which made a huge difference in the likely outcome of the trial. Steve (the lawyer) has a passion for privacy law. He specialized in it when he was working in Ontario. He knows what he is doing in court, unlike me.
I had represented myself in Court up until then, and would have lost the case. But just in time I realized that the Crown was heading for an override of the Constitutional right to Privacy. Fortunately there was time to call in a lawyer who knows that the Government can’t meet the test requirements (the “Oakes” test) for an override of the charter right. Had I not been able to call in a lawyer, I believe the Court would have found me guilty (same as the trial outcomes for Todd Stelmach and Darek Czernewcan) because I had no idea of how to defend against an override of my Charter Right.
The Government would not have flinched if I am found guilty. (My next day in court is September 9th, 2010.) Unexpectedly they came up against the lawyer, Steven, who knew the law; they found themselves in need of an exit route. The way out for them was to announce that the census long form is no longer mandatory, except that it never was mandatory under the law.
All that was needed was someone who they selected to bring charges against (me), who simultaneously through whatever quirks of fate, had the support to stand up to them in court. Otherwise they would have continued to be disrespectful of the charter rights of citizens and gotten away with running roughshod over them.
The Government has counted on the ignorance of the population. It is apparent from the media on the “no longer mandatory” nature of the census long form that Canadians don’t know the law. Worse, they have little comprehension of the reason why we have a Charter right to privacy. I say this of “educated” people.
A Governments takes away a charter right. If citizens do not:
– know WHY they have the charter right, and
– stand up and fight to keep the right when it is taken away
then the simple outcome is that they, through ignorance, no longer have the right. With a growing military presence in Canada, that is dangerous ground to give up.
– – – – – – – – – – —
(2) ERIC – Regarding your second question to me: Do you appreciate that if people can without penalty refuse to answer the long-form census – including for reasons outlined in your case – then this will in turn force Stats Canada to change its policies to maintain compliance rates
The situation is that THE LAW does not allow the Government to force citizens to hand over “a biographical core of personal information which individuals in a free and democratic society would wish to maintain, and control from dissemination to the state”.
We agree to be governed by the law. Governments must uphold the law. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, the highest laws of the land.
The problem is this (well explained by John Ralston Saul): we are uncomfortable with UNCERTAINTY and COMPLEXITY. The unfortunate reality is that both are REALITY. We don’t live in a simple and unchanging world. Things will be just fine WITHOUT having the seeming certainty that statistics offer. We will be REALLY screwed if we give up the Charter Right.
You have a choice:
– more data to tell you that the rich are getting richer and the poor and middle classes getting poorer OR
– upholding the rights of citizens in a democracy that thousands upon thousands of young men have given their lives to defend.
Or so I see it.
Best wishes,
Sandra
From: Eric
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 9:18 PM
To: Sandra Finley
Subject: Re: Green Position on the Census long form
Hi Sandra, If there is no penalty for not filling out a “mandatory” Census then how do you see this as government using “force” to hand over personal information?
Do you appreciate that if people can without penalty refuse to answer the long-form census – including for reasons outlined in your case – then this will in turn force Stats Canada to change its policies to maintain compliance rates.
Regards, Eric
On 26-Jul-10, at 10:58 PM, Sandra Finley wrote:
Hi Elizabeth,
SHORT ANSWER: No, the long form should not be mandatory, even without Lockheed Martin.
It is helpful to understand the human psychology behind this. WHY did the census long form strike a chord with Canadians? Why all the fuss?
It is a repeat of WHY did the Canadian public respond to Harper’s prorogation in January, as they did? Why not the usual apathy?
If you understand the psychology, I think you will find that it is prudent ALL AROUND: the long form should not be mandatory. It is the right position to take, from all angles, including that of gaining the support of the public.
(1) THE GREEN PARTY SHOULD UPHOLD THE LAWS OF CANADA.
The census long form cannot be mandatory, by law (the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 8, Privacy. Section 8 is about freedom from “unreasonable search and seizure“. The case law associated with Section 8 says that the Government cannot force citizens to hand over “a biographical core of personal information such as that individuals in a free and democratic society would want to maintain, and control from dissemination to the state”.
The reason for the charter right is sound, based on the historical record. It is appropriate and prudent to exercise the right to privacy of personal information, especially in today’s world (the militarism of the U.S., represented in this debate by Lockheed Martin Corporation). There is increasing militarism, police-state tactics and overall weakening of democracy in Canada. It is an environment in which the Charter Right to Privacy becomes critical. If we do not defend it, we will not have it when we need it. If you don’t think we will ever need it, you are naïve. The Americans are fast approaching the wall on resource depletion, of water, oil and electricity especially in the West.
We have the right to privacy AND the Government cannot meet the “Oakes” test for a Section 1 override of the Right, in relation to the census long form.
Further, under the Statistics Act the census long form is also not mandatory: citizens must fill in a census form unless they have “just cause” not to do so. They have a Charter Right to Privacy as just cause (and for good reason if you know history). In addition, charter rights override legislation like the Statistics Act.
People who are calling on the Government to make the census long form mandatory don’t understand that the law forbids this, and do not understand the importance of Charter Rights. (I don’t know how they could even change the law to make the long form mandatory; it would require a re-write of the common law associated with Constitutional Law?)
Nor do they have the information about Lockheed Martin’s role in the census.
The Government cannot just say, “The long form is mandatory”. They have to abide by the laws of Canada. The long form never was mandatory. Coercion (you’ll go to jail if you don’t fill it out) is the only reason that it has been perceived to be mandatory. As you know I am on trial over this issue (which started out in the form of opposition to Lockheed Martin’s involvement in the census). This court challenge reclaims the Charter Right to privacy. I cannot emphasize enough: it is a very important Charter Right, one that Canadians are ill-advised to throw away.
(2) More on the psychology below. But I think the Green Party is dreaming if it thinks Canadians will ever go back to a “perceived” mandatory form. Too much has already been undone. The genie is out of the bag.
(3) GUY-ON-THE-STREET RESPONSE to “long form not mandatory”:
The guy-on-the-street response is not the same as that of the vocal people who call for it to be mandatory. (The silent majority opinion is not the same as those calling for it to be mandatory.) My sense of things is reflected in this exchange:
Dear Sandra, I read the newspaper briefly this morning looking for what was said – still no mention of Lockheed Martin, However, there was one bright spot in today’s G+ M Neil Reynolds suggested that the mandatory long form of the Census is unimportant and that many countries are eschewing. The funniest thing was his statement that in Britain the Census found that .7 % of the population are Jedi Knights. Lynn
Dear Lynn,
Hey I love it – the Jedi Knights!
That’s along the same vein as the farmers. They receive lots of forms from StatsCan re agricultural production – – between Revenue Canada and StatsCan and the GST people, the Govt is not well appreciated. My Dad’s cousin was a census supervisor at one time. He was saying last night that the farmers lie through their teeth when it comes to Govt surveys. He referred to some field visits he did. Just one example: the farmer had written down that he had 40,000 bushels in the bins – – but he didn’t even have a single bin on the farm! I hear similar comments when I’m out home, and have for a long time.
I think there is an established culture around getting the best of StatsCan. I suppose it givespeople a sense of power. The farmers have a laugh when they’re dropping their forms in the mail – sort of like “they think they can jerk me around with the demand that I supply all this information to them, well I’ll get the better of them”.
The prima donas are the people who want the information, from the point-of-view of the guy-in-the-street.
It is not just the farmers that have this attitude. I have not talked with one person who says that they dutifully fill out the census long form with accurate information. Quite the opposite. They are indignant and they are pressed for time; the census form simply isn’t a priority. StatsCan officials delude themselves if they think they get accurate information. There are 50 pages with 40 questions. Forget it! I’d rather get my housework done, or go golfing. Besides which it is personal. Many of the questions require you to look up information; people simply grab a number out of the air instead. They really do not care. If StatsCan is dumb enough to think they are getting accurate information, so be it.
The difficulty with a centralized authority wielding the power, if you tell them the preceding (bogus data), their response is to do exactly what happened to friends here in Saskatoon. StatsCan came in January 2010, in between censuses. Instead of leaving a form to be filled out and mailed in, the StatsCan woman came into the house with her laptop computer. She asked questions and entered the answers. When it came to the figure for income tax, she insisted that they get out their actual income tax form so she could verify it.
. . . And they create an ever-increasing bureaucracy to get “more and more”. With StatsCan, a chevy is no longer enough. We have to have a loaded Cadillac of information. And there is a built-in incentive to keep growing: if you can become a manager, a big part of your salary is tied to the number of employees you supervise.
The farmer, etc. starts to see that he exists in order to keep the bureaucracy employed. You’re the cannon fodder. Hours of your time looking up information and filling out forms that, quite frankly, ask some pretty stupid questions. You don’t get paid for your time, but the guys forcing you to do this (some of it is under the threat of jail and a fine) get paid rather handsomely. You’re working hard, without security, while they sit behind their desks; when they retire it’s on an indexed pension.
(I definitely do not think that all Government officials are the same. There are excellent people, working hard in the public interest. But there are lots of others, and there are systemic problems. There are no limits.)
– – – — – — –
Everyday people believe, and I think rightly so, that the information needed by the community is in the community; it’s not in Ottawa.
The Green Party is about de-centralized local Governance. Centralized power structures, whether in the former communist countries, or in Western capitalist countries are either already overthrown, or they are in the process of being overthrown.
A lot of what I have heard in the recent media coverage about the “you have to” have the data from StatsCan, “it is THE ONLY WAY” – – i.e. it is inevitable, like globalization – – is mostly hype. There is never only one way; we have ingenuity. People will always find other and better ways of doing things. What we have is an established status quo that doesn’t want to let go of what it has.
God forbid! they think it is more important to have numbers than it is to have a Charter Right to Privacy.
THE PSYCHOLOGY (prorogation and census uproar) IS THIS:
– It’s like in a relationship between two people. One person will suddenly be triggered into an eruption. The trigger will often have nothing to do with the underlying grievance. There is stuff that people know at some level; they haven’t reached the point of being able to verbalize it
The back lash against prorogation wasn’t about prorogation. At some level people know that Harper is running roughshod over democracy. Prorogation opened the pressure valve.
The reason there is all the furor over the census long form is because there has been long term simmering resentment. People are relatively powerless. But no longer. Which is why I say I think you are dreaming if you think we can go backwards, even a little bit. We are in the process of fairly massive change, taking back our power from centralized authorities – a very positive development. This is part of it.
You are aware of my concerns around the growing presence of the American military in Canada, represented by Lockheed Martin, The Troop Exchange Agreement, the so-called Canada First Defence Strategy (both from 2008). And the reasons behind that growing presence. You know the story of “IBM and the Holocaust” (by Edwin Black, 2001). The Nazis were able to do what they did because IBM mechanized and grew their data files on individual citizens. That information was mobilized for all kinds of purposes in the Nazi state. ANY reading of history tells you: you uphold the individual right of the citizen to Privacy of Information. “Whites” may not understand and appreciate the WHY. Poles and Jews most certainly should. And in today’s world, I think we have to uphold the right, on behalf of Muslims and Arabs. And on behalf of activists, the other vulnerable population when push comes to shove.
Sandra
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The two central issues around the census are:
Lockheed Martin’s involvement.
The Charter Right to Privacy.
Neither of these issues is being addressed and communicated effectively in the media coverage.
STATSCAN’S CORPORATE CLIENT BASE
It is also the case that the Government attempted to force me and others, through prosecution, the threat of 3 months in jail and a fine of $500, to hand over “a biographical core of personal information”. From the testimony of Anil Arora, StatsCan witness at my trial and until recently the head of the census operation, StatsCan is bundling and selling information. Its “client” base includes corporations. I’ll be damned before I am coerced into handing over information so that it can be sold to corporations. Nor will I pay in taxes for the exorbitant costs of such a “census”. The corporations can buy their information from market survey companies. A friend of mine does door-to-door surveys for such a company. I have a choice, there is no coercion.
Long form or short form, I will not be cooperating with the Canadian census as long as the American military has ANY involvement in it.