Notably National Post columnists Matt Gurney the author of the above piece has been in favor of enhanced US Canadian law enforcement cooperation(see below) but says the latest US demands are “too much”
Notably National Post columnists Matt Gurney the author of the above piece has been in favor of enhanced US Canadian law enforcement cooperation(see below) but says the latest US demands are “too much”
Good find, great to know the National Post (or at least one of their columnists) is on the right side on this one.
You know that when the CBC, the Star, and the Post are all over a story like this, Harper would be playing with dynamite if he proceeded any further on this nutbar request by the Americans.
my comments at National Post:
“Thanks for an excellent article outlining very clearly, exactly why Canada must say “NO.”
In the earlier versions of the Border Action Plan, it was stated that the RCMP would be supervising all activities of any policing done by the US on Canadian soil. At that time, many were concerned when reviewing other actions of the US such as:
1) persons put on the no-fly list for no reason; there is no way to appeal; then there was the Mahar Arar case where the RCMP aided the US in a complete aberration of the rights of a Canadian citizen resulting in torture and no due process
2) persons in Gitmo who are held for years without charge and tortured
3) American citizens are assassinated by drones without any charges laid nor due process followed
4) Americans enter the airspace of Pakistan without permission or even notifying the government in order to kill bin Laden.
At least points 1-3 are examples where the actions of the US are against their own laws and Constitution. Do we really want them up here, ignoring not only our laws but even their own? Exactly how would we be able to enforce accountability?
Point 4 is a perfect example of why they cannot be allowed to operate in Canada. They have no regard for the laws of anyone and impose their decisions whether they are wanted or not. The concept of exceptionalism underlies all American thinking and action. It is impossible to uproot their notion that they always know what is best and act accordingly.
Mr. Harper is only interested in seeing that all cross-border trade be handled quickly so he is quite willing to sign off to whatever the US wants. He must be stopped.
The problems would not be limited to the possibility of police officers being arrested; anyone the US would have a warrant for would be at risk.
Canada said no to Vietnam, no to Iraq and must say no to the Americans following American law in Canada.”
The US, and Harper or other like collaborators in Canada will keep trying this one way or the other. The fact that they can even contemplate this should wake up all Canadians that the US can never be trusted. They’ll keep pushing the envelope as far as they can. And unfortunately, there are plenty of our fellow Canadians who will rush to assist them.
I find it extremely ironic that as a US citizen, I was always trying to warn Canadians not to give away the store, but though Canadians were always happy to reprise worn anecdotes about US tourists looking for igloos in Ontario, they didn’t seem to be really energized by evidence of present and imminent threats to Canadian sovereignty and autonomy. Is it the boiled frog syndrome? Phase all this in bit by bit, while most people are lulled into complacency watching Hockey Night in Canada, and bingo – the US State of Canada is born.
See:
Thursday, Feb 7, 2013 11:42 AM EST
‘The Canadian border: A Constitution-free zone
Drone use, surveillance and now border police all exist outside the law in the post-9/11 world’
By Todd Miller
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/07/the_canadian_border_a_constitution_free_zone_partner/
@badger
I don’t get it either. I just spoke with a long-time close friend (CDN) and though he is not indifferent he told me that I was overly optimistic that any CDNs will really be worried or do anything about it.
I guess the national pastime is all talk and no substance.
Don’t kid yourself on the amount of Obama love in Canada. A while back someone sent me a bulletin from either NUPGE or PSAC saying how great Obama is. It went on and on about how Stephen Harper is trying to destroy the Canadian Public Service while Obama is trying to help people who work for the US government with bigger raises and better benefits(like IRS employees). It went on to say Harper love income inequality while Obama is trying to help the poor.
What really irks is that I’ve had CBC news on all afternoon and not even a mention of all this. GRRRRR
nobledreamer – I was overly optimistic
Glad that message can get through if you happen to hear it from a close friend.
Canada is not a nice place … except perhaps relative to the US, which it kneejerk panders to.
Sauve qui peut.
@USXCanada
What places do you think are “nicer” than Canada?
@Tim,
You scare me because, Canada is not ‘nice’. Canada is an illusion.
I am not saying Canada is “nice.” I just wonder what other countries he had in mind that were “nicer.”
Here is the deal on his whole US Canada border cooperation thing.
On just the basis of “economics” there is almost nothing in it from a Canadian perspective if live anywhere in Western Canada(including Vancouver for the most part). I would also go so far to say there is nothing in it for you if you live anywhere west of Thunder Bay. There might be something in it for you if live in Quebec or Atlantic provinces(including Ottawa) but probably not that much there either. Most border crossings in the praries have so lot little traffic there is hardly a delay even when US Customs rip apart every car. In Quebec and the Maritimes the crossings have plenty of room to expand. The one on AutoRoute 15/I-87 is huge.
Remember Western Canada is basically self sufficient in both food and energy many times over. Alberta even has its own supply of sugar something you don’t think of as coming from Alberta. The majority of countries would die to be in this position. Saudi Arabia has lots of oil but not a lot of food. Australia has food and but no oil. A lot of African countries have neither. Western Canada DOESN’T have manufacturing like Ontario does but perhaps that is just as well given how much manufacturing is leaving N America and Europe for China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan etc. The Maritimes and Quebec still has bits and pieces of manufacturing but there too things are shifting. The growth industries in those areas are things like aluminum smelting, offshore oil and gas, and aerospace in Montreal none of which are particularly tied to the US. Quebec Aluminum is sold all over the world plus its not like the US with limited hydropower has much ability to create its own domestic production.
The one part of Canada I have not covered of course is Ontario and hence the problem. Now I have absolutely nothing against living in Ontario or people who live there but Ontario has always thought of itself as most “Canadian” province. The problem with this is in reality Ontario is the part of Canada most tied to the US through the auto industry and branch plant manufacturing(Despite the fact these industries are in decline). It also has some really old and congested border crossing because water separates Southern Ontario from the US at all times. So all the parties might talk a good game about Canadian sovereignty but at the end of day a lot of people still live in Southern Ontario and depend on trade with the US(despite its shrinkage). Look can the NDP politically really afford for Windsor, London, and Hamilton to go down the tube ever if the “rest” of Canada(Alberta, Quebec, the Maritimes) are doing well. Thus even the NDP is attracted to these stupid border agreements to try to save branch plant manufacturing in S Ontario for a few more years.
Australia does produce some oil, but only roughly one sixth the amount that Canada does. It is a net energy exporter however, with good reserves of natural gas and is one of the world’s largest coal exporters. Not meaning to quibble or offend in any way, begging your pardon, and I do certainly agree with your point about Western Canada.
@usx
I am not yet convinced of that message.
Not being a real Canadian, I don’t know French. “Sauve qui peut.” Does this mean everyman for himself?
Not sure I have a good translation.
Pro Americanism in Australia is a somewhat different beast than in Canada and somewhat more irrational(Aussies think the need the Americans to protect them from the wicked Indonesians). In terms of coal Western Canada has both steelmaking and thermal coal. Steelmaking coal is exported through Vancouver and Prince Rupert to Asia. Western Canadian Thermal Coal though is very heavy(but also low in sulfur)and is used mostly for local mine mouth power generation in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
http://www.transalta.com/facilities/plants-operation/genesee-3
One thing I forgot to mention is Canada does have an indigenous Nuclear Power industry with several plants in Ontario and a homegrown supply of Uranium from W Canada.
For all my concerns about our current Federal government, I’m glad I’m Canadian and can’t think of anywhere else on this planet I’d rather be, even in the depths of winter. Today my stepdaughter who is visiting us with her family, in a late-evening political discussion, said every day she silently thanks her mom and dad for having moved to Canada before she was born, so her passport says she’s Canadian-born. She’s soooo glad she isn’t an American and that her kids aren’t either (her husband is Canadian born and raised, no American ancestry).
(Australia has loads of oil. They had had onshore oil for lotsa years, my adviser at University was from there. The west coast has every oil supplier located out there with the best paying oil jobs in the world, and lots of new fields and discoveries going on. I did a couple super projects for Australia customers in the last years. A big gold mine out there in the middle of nowhere, too)
Canada competes with the Mideast for the level of hatred versus the US. Before FATCA.
The World loves Obama. They loved him before he even opened his mouth.
Saw a survey that ranked Canada as a far more popularly admired nation world-wide than the US is. This survey was from June 2013, at URL http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/06/27/the-worlds-most-reputable-countries-2013/ (sorry for not using HTML formatting for the link there).
The list was compiled by a global private consulting firm called the Reputation Institute. Some snippets from their article which ranked the global reputation of fifty major world countries:
“Topping the list for the third year in a row: Canada. Sweden comes in second, one place up from last year and Switzerland is third, up from fourth last year. (Australia slipped from second to fourth place).”
“What’s most notable is how far down the U.S. ranks: 22nd place, behind Brazil and just above Peru.”
Perhaps Obama and his administration might not be loved by the rest of the world quite as much as one would imagine.
Tim – There is no call to be pleased with Canada and to ingest its myths just because the US cornerstones of slaveries and genocides appear to trump Canadian atrocities. Pragmatism gets backed into the corner that statelessness is a hard row to hoe no-matter-where on this earth. Let’s stop at two intertwined horrors of Canada. (1) The inexcusable and ongoing appropriation of indigenous land coupled with practices and policies aimed at the subjugation and elimination of indigenous peoples. (2) Rampant short-horizon crude resource extraction as primary activity that will engender its revenge indiscriminately among all life forms – financier ruling class happily not excluded.
nobledreamer – Sauve qui peut has become my refrain. As said before, the phrase expresses and implies so much with so few characters. Here are a few aspects. (1) Oblique appreciation of the French fact that mitigates “Canada.” (2) No gender specified. (3) Disaster is brewing up a storm. (4) No org whatsoever will save you. (5) The comforts of huddling in a karass should never be mistaken for effective action. (6) There are six million stories of naked US person extraterritorials and each tale is singular. (7) Casualties must mount.
i thinks it’s funny how the world likes to perpetuate the myth that Canadians are “nice”, when we are really a nation of passive aggressives, imo. We are no more nice than Americans are egalitarian.
Here is some of the reality conveniently obscured by the Canadian myth of ‘niceness’ as a national characteristic. The Canadian mining and resource extraction industry and their federal enablers don’t let human rights or environmental concerns get in their way – whether here at home, or abroad. But the convenient myth that Canada is ‘nice’ provides good cover here at home.
Mining company abuses by Canadian companies
http://www.miningwatch.ca/news/canadian-complaints-office-should-investigate-destructive-large-scale-mining-project-ecuadorian
http://www.miningwatch.ca/about-us-1
http://www.miningwatch.ca/categories/company-country-issue/issue/human-rights
Fracking companies stealthily buy up land in Southwestern Ontario and elsewhere, including wealthy tourist cottage area, and UNESCO environmental heritage designated sites – Blue Mountains / Collingwood, and Gros Morne NFLD.
http://www.thestar.com/business/2010/03/20/alberta_firm_eyes_ontarios_untapped_shale_gas.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2013/07/29/nl-gros-morne-fracking-residents-divided-unesco-730.html
http://www.canadians.org/energy/fracking
There is nothing inherently nicer about being poisoned by a Canadian corporation instead of any other predatory body.
@badger
Doesn’t saying “sorry” make it ok?
Other reasons to be very wary of the myth that Canada is inherently ‘nice’ Note; too many for an exhaustive list, apologies in advance for what is not listed):
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/07/30/aboriginal-nutrition-government-document.html
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/ourcityourworld/uk/the-barnardo-boys-149343895.html
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/war-conflict/second-world-war/life-after-auschwitz/none-is-too-many.html
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/racism/africville-expropriating-black-nova-scotians/topic—africville-expropriating-black-nova-scotians.html
http://imperialcanada.ca/
@bubblebustin, I guess that’s what the Harper government wants us to believe. Which one of his spokespersons said that this latest atrocity (and any others still undiscovered?) was covered in the previous apology? Sort of a blank check apology. No real contrition, no real redress.
One thing the US doesn’t like to admit is they have their own deposits of Tar Sands Oil right in groovy California. They have oil wells hidden in buildings right on the campus of Beverly Hills High School that produce the same type of oil as is found in Fort McMurray. California though doesn’t permit the large scale open pit mines the Harper government loves in Fort McMurray due to their labor intensity. If I was Stephen Harper I would make next trip to the US to Los Angeles and go around with the media in tow to all the “hidden” California tar sands. If any Brockers daring enough to travel to US find their way to Los Angeles go to the La Brea “Tar” Pits museum where you will find some very similar substances to what is in Fort McMurray Alberta.
The new Steam Assisted Gravity oil production technology though in Alberta is very similar to what is used in California.
Wow. I’m quite surprised at some of the Canada bashing. Especially the historical stuff. Having First Nations heritage on both sides of my family, the native stuff really irks me. Last I looked, no fences, gates, or Canadian law kept First Nations from doing anything any other Canadian can do today.
As for ‘nice’, I just got off the phone with my American/Canadian cousin, from our monthly convo. Having lived all of his adult life in the US, and some of his childhood in Canada, he can’t wait to retire next year and move his wife and pre-school child to Canada. I don’t think he has any illusions, he’s been here every year of his adult life, and has found Canada to be a refuge from his life in the US.
For what it’s worth.