What Makes Canada SOOOO great?

According to Heather Mallick , a Toronto journalist who is "so in love" with Canada on its one hundred and fiftieth birthday this year, is the same kind of stuff that makes Canada ever so much better for real people than that cacaphony of 'democrazy' lying just to its south - especially, don't we all know,  how Canada has so wisely managed its 'abortion issue'.

She had this to write in Toronto's Daily Star

Heather on what makes Canada so great

Heather was almost pious in her praise of the handful of NDP 'activists' who appeared with their own signs and a demand to de-hoist the "anti abortion" banner that had been raised to mark the occasion by the Ottawa City Council.  That affirmation  of somebody's freedom  not to be insulted by a flag was not 'Trumpian? Nor is the demand to outlaw the 'devisive' issue and punish its adherents?

The Flag - It's 'up and down'

 The  20th  annual   Life March in Ottawa  taking place this weekend must have triggered a post-traumatic something in Heather, for she  has been able to crystallize her thinking thus: Canada is about every woman's right to have her womb tumor, her unwanted alien, her life destroyer removed absolutely free and (with the help of an agreeable Obstetrician or surgeon)  up to  the moment of delivery. And anyone who would stupidly, I imagine,  continue to show-up to state the opposite is well "Trumpian" and representative of everything evil in America and most cetainly Canada too if we were draconian assholes - which we are not. I thought there were other greater evils than somebody having to travel out of state, or to Canada - or to have to pay for their pregnancy termination.

                             Another wanted child  protesting but probably not bussed-in

 Abortion actually used to be a criminal offense in Canada - but so were many other things now accepted as legitimate. There were Canadians protesting abortion before Trump made his first 10 million, Heather,  and there will be Canadians protesting abortion after he's hit the Presidential Hall of Fame.  For you see, Heather, for all our civilization, the termination of 175 000 lives  every year (the last time the statistic was recorded 5 years ago) flies in the face of 'abortion as social panacea', the 'solution' that would remove 'the need for itself' , sold to Canadians when the 'industry' was eastablished.

 Like any right-minded establishment,  abortion in Canada is, perhaps, the most common medical procedure and costs the health care system billions in annual expenditure.  Rather than 'reducing a need' it seems to be creating an ever-growing one.  What's really wrong with this, Heather, is that Canadians have never had, and are still denied, a voice on this 'divisive' issue.  Most Canadians are stuck between the true believers on both ends of the issue and would have it regulated,  were not such as yourself so shrill in castigating those who don't see things your way - those who would qualify this particular 'right' - as some sort of ignorant primitives willing to chase women down with the proverbial coat hanger and abort them themselves. There used to be a law against such people but not any more. - for now they are all caring and 'scientific' and use hi-tech to do the same old 'dirty' job.   Abortion is no longer a law of the land, in Canada, and there lies the rub.  Soviet Russia and China -  bulwarks of women's 'rights to choose', did not have so draconian a procedure for terminating a fetus  as does enlightened Canada.

One would think that now that  a full generation is grown up in the age of liberalized abortion all those happy, wanted children that resulted from the 'choice'  would be making a change. But as Heather says there is something seemingly 'wrong' with them being bussed to Ottawa to celebrate life and give thanks that their mothers weren't having a few 'bad days' 17 - 20- 25  years ago. Or maybe she wishes they had been aborted,  leaving the best kind of Canadians the ones who 'don't care'  or don't want to be reminded that, in Canada, a 'mother'  killing a baby before its born is no crime. Afterward that's a different story.  But why?

                                  Wanted children protesting after being "bussed -in"

It must be like a US refugee reaching the magical Canadian 'border' where, all of a sudden, good things happen that don't happen any other place, any other way.  Maybe our abortion laws are another reason they're 'running' here - one might expect to see more pregnant ladies, no?

I imagine that Heather is equally 'down' on repression,  but something tells me that, shy of a ban on such 'protests',  she might not mind the annual 'Life March' being swept-off the street by machine gun fire - oh to be in such a benighted land for a moment.

Anyhoo Akbar!

Homegrown terror has struck at the 'heart of Canada's democracy'. And in the aftermath, Canada's real democrats are preparing some 'very sound' steps to keep us all free. The first step is a serious funding increase for CSIS and the RCMP and probably for a 'new' security organization to 'fill the gaps' that CSIS and the RCMP seem to feel are 'wide open', namely on the internet.

Just last week the head of CSIS and the 'big stick' of the RCMP with the Minister of War,  Mr. Blarney, were comfortably ensconced before some parliamentary committee , reporting on the state of state security. There were 'areas of concern', they noted, but nothing that was 'beyond them'. They were still there when some ''radicalized" Quebecois ran over two soldiers at a Strip Mall in St. Jean, Que.

After that attack, the state security organs were quick off the mark to decry the 'self-radicalization' that resulted in 'terror attacks'. But once again, they were 'on it', having had the 'perp' in their sights and under observation for 'quite some time'. It's just unfortunate they weren't told of his jihadi plans, or watching him the day he did it. Some 80 such 'radicals were similarly in their sights, we were told - not to frighten, simply to inform.

 Then a 'gentleman of the streets' with what could be jihadi delusions of grandeur, or mental issues, shot a soldier guarding the War Memorial in Ottawa. He hen followed-up with what was described as a 'shooting spree' in the Houses of Parliament. That 'spree' resulted in one parliamentary guard shot in the foot, the shootist shot dead and the Sargent-at-Arms of the House of Commons probably in line for the Medallion of Fortitude, or whatever Canada calls its security-level VC.

Oh, and a 'world class' police security operation.

That truly put the wind up State Security - for they had to admit they hadn't the foggiest about what was going on.  US security even told them who the shootist was - apparently based on a photo that went up, and then down again, on an "Isis-related twitter account". It seems that the shooter may have stolen a rifle and ammo from a visit to his Aunt last week, for, according to  everybody, his police records and other proclivities would have banned him from gun ownership eternally, in Canada anyway. After he stole the gun he then must have posed for a selfie of himself holding it. If he didn't practice with it somewhere, the shooting of the guard might be classed as accidental, for he held that gun in a way that, if fired, could hurt someone, likely himself.

(The photo, above, which appeared on Canadian media within an hour of the incident and was attributed to “an ISIS twitter account”, now is being claimed to have been taken, at the cenotaph, during the incident, by a "tourist",  and forwarded to 'security'.
It was disseminated to emergency services to assist apprehension of the assailant. From there it was, apparently, forwarded to foreign intelligence  (the US identified the shooter)  and leaked to the press. Police are investigating how the leak occurred and by whom.)

Updated security cam ( quite a bit of it for low security Canada) is appearing. It shows the shooter arriving by car (his own) before the legislature, scattering a covey of parliamentarians and doing a windsprint up to the main driveway where he hijacks a limo and speeds off to the centre entrance, by now pursued by two RCMP units.

He 'dumps' the limo and sprints into the building, just ahead of the pursuing police, where we are told,  he had a 'firefight' with the door security, shooting one guard in the foot. He then 'escaped' down a hallway in a flurry of shots. He took up a hidden position in a nook by the parliamentary library door. At that point video shows security advancing down the hall toward him. In the meanwhile the Sargent-at-Arms of the legislature, a dignified looking ex-RCMP gent, hearing the shots, exited his office near the library with his service pistol in hand. Warned of the gunman's location, he took position on the other side of a pillar forming the 'nook'. It was reported that he could see the barrel of the gunman's Winchester protruding past the pillar. Diving to the floor, we are told, the Sargent rolled onto his back discharging his pistol and dropping the shooter. He then emptied his clip into the man, as other personnel appeared to join him in the fusillade. The video ended with the Sargent at Arms looking very cool indeed, pistol still in hand entering the Caucus chamber to inform the government that the assailant was dead.

The parliament building remained in lockdown until after sunset and the gunman's corpse was removed later in the evening. Work crews worked overnight to clean up and mask some significant damage from gunshots.

Parliament resumed its business on Thursday morning after a suitable dignified visit and photo-op at the War Memorial. A man was arrested by police for 'interfering with a police investigation' by crossing the yellow tape, much as the Prime Minister and his wife did. The Sargent at Arms was regaled to a thunderous standing ovation and a desktop-slamming by the grateful politicos. He was visibly moved by the tribute.

No doubt the impending legislation - which has been in the works for some time, will save us all from internet piracy if it does nothing else.

Slow Learning

Whoo-hoo! My second-favorite p'leece force is doing it again!

My first favourite Justice Minister Vic 'movember man' Toews has commanded  the  stick-bearer general of the RCMP/GRcC to prepare, for his ocular orbs, a detailed 'gender audit' of the force. In a knee-jerk reaction the Commandant has stated that the RCMP is 'no more prone to gender bias and harassment of females than any other government bodies'. I guess Canada Post and the Coast Guard have a bumper crop of females suing the ass off them too.

Is there a 'donney' a-brooking?

                                                      The Chief and his Stick of State

 You see, since he took command, other than getting a new set of uniforms made and re-inventing the RCMP totem pole, the new 'Commissaire' has done little more for females than marry his second one.  He appeared to be one of those reflective types who would observe, study and then  take action. In actuality that was an act. After forcibly retiring all his 'peers', the 'Sultan of the Skagway'  has felt safe enough to regress to the state of honour so well-enjoyed by others who have gone before him. He's really done SFA as  far as we've been able to glean, but there haven't been new lawsuits - just unsettled old lawsuits.

And then there's the marriage. 'Constable Bob' took a second wife earlier this year. It was an 'all force' affair, planned, we are told, by a couple of duty Sargeants from his Office and attended by 'volunteers' ordered up from the Musical Ride's 'trainee' program. It was, from the look of the picture below, a red letter day. Until Bob found out the trainees were 'on duty' and had been assigned to provide the honour guard/cum ushers/cum valet parking roles at the hitching.  It was then, too, he found out he was 'honour-bound' to cough-up some $912 semollianos Canadenses to pay for them. On the cheque he wrote the annotation - "Honour Gaurd fiasco".

                                            The Chief, the bride and the Musical bambini

 It seems to me that somebody thought he might have been 'entitled' to something here. Or those kids turned into a bunch of bumbling putzes and accidentally 'lanced' some of the wedding guests. Just what part of it all was the 'fiasco' part.

The two sargeants who 'planned' the manueuvre were present - off duty-  to do a sword salute at the door (above). Like all policemen's pals they were doing this out of 'pal-ship'. But they were probably 'at work' when they were drawing-up the operational plans.

                                               Sorry they pulled-it, so it wasn't flattering

It looks like the Mounties are staying true-to-form when it comes to 'promoting' boneheads from the inside. It's a cultural thing, ya know?

Maybe Vic Toews doesn't like getting 'unrespected' by the hired help. The Commandant certainly wouldn't. And Toews is only an elected official. I do believe the CO's days are numbered, now that Toews has him in the sights.

The Priministerial Aide

Off and running and right into a tree,  the 'Harper Government' of Canada comes wallowing out of the blocks and right into another cabinet-style embarassment.
                                                                                        

This ain't Carson but  the picture came up when he was googled. 

About a month back newspapers were carrying a story that the Assembly of First Nations had asked police to investigate the possible malfeasance of one Bruce Carson, who, at that time, was putting himself across to them as someone with inside connections to the Tory government. He had involved himself in the sale of some water filtration equipment and  was 'hyping' the deal with news that water quality was becoming a government 'priority' for first nations reserves and that he could access government money for equipment and training. He was also engaged in erroneously 'hyping' a particular filtration system to Indian band councils as being 'approved by the government and the AFN'. He might have failed to mention that his girlfriend, working for the company involved, stood to pick-up a 20 percent commission on sales. 

     Bruce's fiancee

                                                                                                     

Turns out that his girlfriend is a reformed Ottawa area 'escort' and former teen prostitute. Bruce had , apparently taken her 'under his wing', helped her get out of 'the life'. Helped her land  a job. They had also become engaged and moved into a new house together. But that's the interesting part of the story. Since the story broke there are, so far, only trace elements of her previous existence on the internet.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                   The 'pied a terre'
 

The rest of the story is more mundane.

 Carson, a former lawyer who was disbarred and spent some time in jail for a small fraud, has been a denizen of Tory caves in Ottawa since Harper came to power. He has had a number of functions tangential to government, acting as an aide and advisor. One of his more interesting appointments was as  the policy chief on the Afghanistan deployment of Canada's Armed forces. Carson's job, at that time, was to receive and review daily reports from Afghanistan, to prepare a briefing digest for the Prime Minister and to advise on policy ramifications. It is said that he had 'secret' level security clearance, but reports from the military operation that he received must have been at a higher level than that, considering that one of the 'biggies' he handled was the matter of possible war crimes charged by returning military personnel. How a convicted fraudster managed to attain such status, is a question on which the Harper Government seems to be doing the 'cabinet shuffle'. They've blamed an anonymous clerk and, of late,  said the outgoing 'Staff' of the Mounties did it - but he denies that. It's looking more like nobody vetted Mr. Carson at all. And this gaffe won't be solved by tossing another aide under the dumptruck. It's even better than the 'Minister of War' dropping his brief at his girlfriend's house, for Harpo, himself, gave Bruce his jobs.

In the interim, Carson has had to step down from his latest appontment as the executive Director of the Canadian School of Energy and Environment. The CSEE is a government creation, a multi-institutional panel to collect studies on energy and the environment. A viable alternative to actually doing anything about energy and the environment, no doubt. Carson took that job late in 2008.