OH CANADA...is it time to start using the "f"word?

[djmarkpaul]

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Thinking the unthinkable about Canada’s future
Is it time to start using the “f”word?

by Geoff Olson


Disclaimer: I know this is from Common Ground, so no patchouli comments or anything of the sort despite the rhetorical value....it's actually a pretty indepth read. Let's keep comments on the subject matter please. BTW I did my best to put this into cliff notes...really!


In the eye-opening film Hoodwinked: The Myth of Free Trade, former Liberal prime minister John Turner reflects on the mid-’80s battle over the North American Free Trade Agreement. After a famous heated exchange with Brian Mulroney, Turner lost the battle for Canadian hearts and minds on the divisive trade issue – and their votes in the process.

Turner reflects on how, unlike most politicians, he had read the actual NAFTA agreement. After discovering an absence of binding agreements on such things as monopolies, antidumping, and labour standards, he decided the document had more to do with investment than “free trade.”

Cut to 20 years later. Iconic Canadian institutions like Hudson’s Bay and the Laurentian Hotel chain have disappeared into the deep pockets of foreign investors. Provincially, it’s more of the same. Texas-based Kinder Morgan owns BC’s gas delivery system. One third of the operations and services of BC Hydro, our most profitable public company, has been outsourced to Bermuda-based Accenture. The BC Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare are in the hands of American firms. The CEO of the privatized BC Ferries hails from the US, where he presided as vice-president of Covanta Energy, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001.

Neo-conservative apologists in academia and media continue to applaud the high levels of direct foreign investment, federally and provincially, even though the bulk of it is in takeovers and acquisitions. Foreign direct investment has more than doubled in Canada since 1990.

In a speech this January in Utah, former US vice-president Al Gore said “the election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta… and the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election... and to protect its interests.”

The suspicion that our nation is being bought out from underneath our feet, with complicit or ignorant silence of big media, appears to have little evidence to contradict it.

In fact, the disassembly of Canada is proceeding on several fronts simultaneously: economic, political, cultural and military. While South American nations are disengaging from the “Washington Consensus,” (the IMF/World Bank prescription for open markets described by critics as a Trojan horse for keeping poorer nations in economic servitude), Canada’s leaders are doing quite the opposite, bringing us into tighter orbit with the US.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives is the nation’s premier business association, composed of the top executives of 150 leading Canadian firms. Formed in 1976, the CCCE promulgated the development of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, and of the subsequent North American Free Trade Agreement. Concerned that fortress America might retreat within its own borders after 9/11, disrupting Canada-US trade, the organization successfully pressured Ottawa to bring Canadian military and security policies in line with those of the US. A “common security perimeter” serves interests that are not just economic. The CCCE’s petitioning had the enthusiastic endorsement of the military lobby.

According to Michael Chossudovsky, another piece of bureaucratic DNA for Canada’s militaristic mutation came with the formation of the Bi-National Planning Group. Accountable neither to the US Congress nor the Canadian Parliament, the BPG’s role transcended electoral governance, and as the name suggests, the BPG had members in both countries. The organization’s role was to negotiate Canada’s entry into the US Northern Command (Northcom). Its work now largely completed, BPG expired this spring and Canada is now positioned to sign on with Northcom.

Michel Chossusdovsky writes that “Canada’s participation in the Bilateral Planning Group and hence the Northern Command implies Canada’s acceptance not only of Star Wars, but of the entire US war agenda, requiring significant hikes in Canada’s defence spending. The latter are intended to fuel the military-industrial complex. Canada’s defence contractors are supportive of this process.”

One should not think of this as a partisan issue, or a phenomenon brought into being solely by the famously American-friendly Harper government. The federal Liberals have danced to this tune for some time, and the cross-border tango of mutual interests remains the same, even if the political venues have changed.

The Independent Task Force for North America, organized by the business elites of the US, Mexico and Canada, was lead by Canada’s own former Liberal deputy prime minister, John Manley. Last spring, Manley’s task force released its Trinational Call for a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010. A united continental bloc will share a common approach to trade, energy, immigration, law enforcement and security.

So is this all just a conspiracy theory, a paranoid extrapolation from the US/Canada “business-as-usual? Corsi refers to a task report by The Council on Foreign Relations which presented a blueprint for expanding the SPP agreement into a North American Union that would merge the US, Canada and Mexico into a superstate/trading bloc. “The CFR task force report called for establishment of a common security border perimeter around North America by 2010, along with free movement of people, commerce and capital within North America, facilitated by the development of a North American border pass that would replace a US passport for travel between the US, Canada and Mexico.”
“Also envisioned by the CFR task force report were a North American court, a North American inter-parliamentary group, a North American executive commission, a North American military defense command, a North American customs office and a North American development bank.”
Sceptics may ask, so what’s is the big deal? Canada has to be “competitive” in the New World Order, and if lumbering dinosaurs like The Hudson’s Bay Co. can’t compete with neighborhood-nuking behemoths like Wal-Mart, you can’t stop globalization, right? And if we join the US missile defence shield and sign on to Northcom, don’t we stand to benefit from shared security? Again, we are being offered the polarities of economic stagnation versus global competitiveness, and civil rights versus police state safety – even though these represent false choices manufactured for us. Once we join Northcom, according to University of Ottawa economics professor Michel Chossudovsky, Canada’s “borders will be controlled by US officials and confidential information on Canadians will be shared with Homeland Security.” The bi-national arrangements will allow US troops and special forces to enter Canada, he says. “ Canadian citizens can be arrested by US officials, acting on behalf of their Canadian counterparts, and vice versa.”

In June, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day revealed that last year law enforcement agencies allowed their “helpers” to commit a broad spectrum of crimes. According to Vancouver Sun reporter Ian Mulgrew, these included “gun offences, passport forgery, counterfeiting, possession of stolen property, and theft over $5,000.” Mulgrew notes that “after 9/11, Canadian law enforcement agencies were given carte blanche to break the law if necessary… as it stands now, police, park wardens, fisheries officers, custom officials, jail guards and their agents are immune from prosecution for virtually anything short of obstructing justice, non-consensual sex or violence.” And abuses of power aren’t likely to go reported, due to the all-purpose rationale of “security.” Incredibly, the February 2002 immunity law is still on the books. With the recent arrests of alleged terrorists in Toronto, there will undoubtedly be greater enthusiasm to enlarge police powers at the municipal and provincial levels.

If you still doubt the depth of Canada’s transformation, consider how quickly our role in Afghanistan went from “peacekeeping” to an open-ended, indefinite war in Central Asia against the “destable murderers and scumbags” described by General Rick Hillier. The General told The Globe and Mail “this is a 10 year mission – minimum.” Yet one ever asked the electorate if the expansion of our military role overseas was desirable or even sensible. In the House of Commons, MPs were allowed only one “note-taking” debate on the matter, with no opportunity to vote. This is not the behaviour of representative democracy, but rather of a totalitarian-lite proxy state.
Manipulating people by fear and uncertainty is a time-tested way to get democratic citizens to deconstruct their own civil institutions, and quietly assume the roles of prisoners and prison guards. Is it time to start using the “f” word for both Canada and the US? As we look into the political abyss, are we seeing the darkening signs of fascism?

***

A chilling report if I must say so myself, as this is dealing not in paranoid dilusions of what's to come, but for the most part what has already happened.

I remember making threads a few years back about Canada being turned into a police state and the bulk of the responses being self-assured chortles of my obviously delusional paranoia. Is there anything in this article you the reader feel is just paranoid at best? Or perhaps a better question would be, is the erosion of our sovereignty a laughing matter?

[DJ Ponz]

The erosion of sovereignty is charateristic of the new global economy. I think its just a matter of time before we really are 'global citizens' - which has good and bad implications. Either way, resistence is futile. You better get used to the idea.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

The erosion of sovereignty is charateristic of the new global economy. I think its just a matter of time before we really are 'global citizens' - which has good and bad implications. Either way, resistence is futile. You better get used to the idea.

Oh I have been used to it for a long time, long enough to remember not so fondly about being called a quack for even mentioning the idea of history repeating itself, which it has.

Speaking of which...how would you feel about being a 'global citizen' under the Nazi regime? Are you familiar with Hitler's second book? Where their scientists went to work after WW2? What is on each side of the speaker's podium in the US congress?

Well history certainly seems to repeat itself, but it doesn't mean I have to repeat the mistake. I would rather fight against something I don't want and loose then to simply lie down and admit defeat.

So no longer am I a quack when I talk publically about this...but everybody should just get used to the idea they can't do anything about it.

Well I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty pathetic, and I would rather die a martyr, alone in my plight, then to be that disenfranchised.

[DJ Ponz]

Quacks aside, history does repeat itself. During the industrial revolution, bands of 'activists' ran around beating up machines in hopes of stopping humanity's progression toward automation. Many of them preferred death and imprisonment than the thought of a machine looming cotton.

The problem with your idea is that you're still thinking in conventional terms - 20th century, nation-state, geographic, economic and possibly ethnic affiliation. The bottom line is that global values are changing around you - particularly in the 'developing' world. New global circumstances require new ways of thinking about them. It may be time for a re-think about what it means to be human in the so-called information age.

Despite that rhetoric, I do believe in human agency. But this isn't Eagle Ridge Bluffs. This is a global juggernaut.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Adding randomly: In relative terms, the nation-state is new idea. In the fullness of time, it too will fall by the wayside.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

The problem with your idea is that you're still thinking in conventional terms - 20th century, nation-state, geographic, economic and possibly ethnic affiliation.

Don't be so sure...I'm merely catering to the audience that has yet to put on their thinking caps, or turn them on for that matter.

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

The bottom line is that global values are changing around you - particularly in the 'developing' world. New global circumstances require new ways of thinking about them. It may be time for a re-think about what it means to be human in the so-called information age.

How about new ways of thinking in general? Behavioral control is the wave of the future.

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

Despite that rhetoric, I do believe in human agency. But this isn't Eagle Ridge Bluffs. This is a global juggernaut.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Adding randomly: In relative terms, the nation-state is new idea. In the fullness of time, it too will fall by the wayside.

A new idea? I would consider the works of Huxley and Orwell as modern literature, but it's hardly new. You just expect it to fall wayside? Well that is awfully convienent in a world of increasing automation...but wishful thinking can only go so far.

You are missing the point though, or just adverting it for your own devices... this isn't so much about human agency as it is about full blown facism. It's in our face, and about as casual as an old man's balls on wreck beach.

[Revolver]

just the other day i was sitting in a bar called the "yellow rose of texas" here in iquitos when it came under attack by a large angry group of peruvian anti globalist anti free trade protesters.

it was pretty viloent and i was trapped in this restaurant. now, this place, the yellow rose, is like george bush himself puked up everything about texas and put it into this little bar. so its like the perfect representation of american imperilism here in the amazon. plus its run by a completely fucking insane texas guy.

so, i had my camera kit with me and managed to catch the whole thing on video ....i was evan almost hit by a flying bottle and some guy nearly grabed me from the doorway and into the mob.

it was intense.

anti globalism, anti NWO is everywhere here. everyone knows about the masons, everyone knows about the conspiracy of consolodation of government.

something really big is going to happen and soon. what it is i have know idea. but it truly feels as if the world is about to buckel.

[fable]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

The erosion of sovereignty is charateristic of the new global economy. I think its just a matter of time before we really are 'global citizens' - which has good and bad implications. Either way, resistence is futile. You better get used to the idea.

the erosion of sovereignty? Characteristic of the new global ecoonomy? Do you write for the economist by any chance?

Erosion would imply a detioration within a natural cycle of events. This has no relevency to what is essentially imperialist nations accelerating their rate of plunder, subsequently ignoring any notion of sovereignty.

[esoter1c]

Originally Posted by Revolver

just the other day i was sitting in a bar called the "yellow rose of texas" here in iquitos when it came under attack by a large angry group of peruvian anti globalist anti free trade protesters.

it was pretty viloent and i was trapped in this restaurant. now, this place, the yellow rose, is like george bush himself puked up everything about texas and put it into this little bar. so its like the perfect representation of american imperilism here in the amazon. plus its run by a completely fucking insane texas guy.

so, i had my camera kit with me and managed to catch the whole thing on video ....i was evan almost hit by a flying bottle and some guy nearly grabed me from the doorway and into the mob.

it was intense.

anti globalism, anti NWO is everywhere here. everyone knows about the masons, everyone knows about the conspiracy of consolodation of government.

something really big is going to happen and soon. what it is i have know idea. but it truly feels as if the world is about to buckel.

Today I went to work, went to a bbq, drank some beer, soon I sleep.

Fuck you John you sonuvabitch !1!!!!!

One day I'll be a hallucinating cracker in the middle of the Amazonian revolution............or maybe I'll just go to more bbq's n drink more beer. :285:

[decypher]

Originally Posted by djmarkpaul

The General told The Globe and Mail “this is a 10 year mission – minimum.” Yet one ever asked the electorate if the expansion of our military role overseas was desirable or even sensible. In the House of Commons, MPs were allowed only one “note-taking” debate on the matter, with no opportunity to vote. This is not the behaviour of representative democracy, but rather of a totalitarian-lite proxy state.

-The MP's are stooges in our prime ministerial government. Calls for direct democracy tools have been squashed many times. I think we could benefit by increased MP powers and recall mechanisms for constituents.

-I've long been weary of US companys assimilating our industries.

-Speaking of Star wars, the US national strategy for space is going to be released within a week. This could be the definitive start of the new arms race everyone has been waiting for. We all know the US has refused to sign on to resolutions to stop the weaponization of space. The National Security Strategy brought us pre-emptive warfare, i wonder what kind of vocab this strategy will bring.

-People need to know that Anti-ballistic missile technology is just as bad as nuclear weapons. ABM technology assures first-strike capabilities over another state, so whoever is in control destroys all. In the cold war there was Mutual Assured Destruction, where the US and the Soviets could not fire on each other because both states would be destroyed. ABM's change that game. Weaponization of Space also changes that entire game.

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by 3507321C

Today I went to work, went to a bbq, drank some beer, soon I sleep.

Fuck you John you sonuvabitch !1!!!!!

One day I'll be a hallucinating cracker in the middle of the Amazonian revolution............or maybe I'll just go to more bbq's n drink more beer. :285:

hahaaha...blake you rule.

hallucinations dont exist down here....only visons.

[Grapes]

I remember making threads a few years back about Canada being turned into a police state and the bulk of the responses being self-assured chortles of my obviously delusional paranoia.

Oh I have been used to it for a long time, long enough to remember not so fondly about being called a quack for even mentioning the idea of history repeating itself, which it has.

I love how MarkPaul can't post without having equal parts bitter resentment and overbearing superiority creep into his dialogue.

[DJ Ponz]

Originally Posted by fable

Erosion would imply a detioration within a natural cycle of events. This has no relevency to what is essentially imperialist nations accelerating their rate of plunder, subsequently ignoring any notion of sovereignty.

Sovereignty will become less and less relevant as traditional notions of nation-state and other conceptual divides are stripped back in the face of an interconnected, globalized world. Thinking about this purely in economic terms is myopic.

Cosmopolitanism, my friends, is where we're going. And I think its our only hope.

[fable]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I love how MarkPaul can't post without having equal parts bitter resentment and overbearing superiority creep into his dialogue.

Shut up already bro. Make a point or fuck off.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I love how MarkPaul can't post without having equal parts bitter resentment and overbearing superiority creep into his dialogue.

Superiority?

I don't claim to be all knowing...I question my research on a daily. I simply just take the time to educate myself on geo-politics and the weary state of our world, and I put alot of passion into it. So I can get angry when I come across people that trivialize my claims when they don't take the time to educate themselves, like yourself.

Especially when they call me names are claim that I am delusional, like you have in the past.

Atleast my posts have substance, all you are doing here is attacking the messenger because you can't stand to face the message...it show you lack moral dignity and the character to stand up against oppression.

Believe it or not I'm on your side.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by Revolver

hallucinations dont exist down here....only visons.

Dude we will have a long talk when you return speaking of that in specific...and I must say that's a pretty intense story man, if people didn't have so many modern distractions here I think there would be more of the same to speak of.

[DJ Ponz]

Originally Posted by djmarkpaul

So I can get angry when I come across people that trivialize my claims when they don't take the time to educate themselves, like yourself.

I would hate to be cast as someone who's trivializing your claims. OK, the activist fighting cotton looms was a cut, but my goal here was to situate your claims within a broad spectrum of ideology.

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by djmarkpaul

Superiority?

I don't claim to be all knowing...I question my research on a daily. I simply just take the time to educate myself on geo-politics and the weary state of our world, and I put alot of passion into it. So I can get angry when I come across people that trivialize my claims when they don't take the time to educate themselves, like yourself.

Especially when they call me names are claim that I am delusional, like you have in the past.

Atleast my posts have substance, all you are doing here is attacking the messenger because you can't stand to face the message...it show you lack moral dignity and the character to stand up against oppression.

Believe it or not I'm on your side.

Lol lol lol.

I educate myself, though no doubt not as obsessively as you.

For the record, that particular article struck me as insightful and accurate. I have no issue with it, which makes me wonder why you think I can't "face the message".

I just hate you because you're a pompous dick.

It's always been that simple.

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by fable

Shut up already bro. Make a point or fuck off.

Sorry, I thought I made my point. Did you miss it?

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

Quacks aside, history does repeat itself. During the industrial revolution, bands of 'activists' ran around beating up machines in hopes of stopping humanity's progression toward automation. Many of them preferred death and imprisonment than the thought of a machine looming cotton.

The problem with your idea is that you're still thinking in conventional terms - 20th century, nation-state, geographic, economic and possibly ethnic affiliation. The bottom line is that global values are changing around you - particularly in the 'developing' world. New global circumstances require new ways of thinking about them. It may be time for a re-think about what it means to be human in the so-called information age.

Despite that rhetoric, I do believe in human agency. But this isn't Eagle Ridge Bluffs. This is a global juggernaut.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Adding randomly: In relative terms, the nation-state is new idea. In the fullness of time, it too will fall by the wayside.

pretty much sums up how i feel.

[SEAN!]

Originally Posted by fable

the erosion of sovereignty? Characteristic of the new global ecoonomy? Do you write for the economist by any chance?

Erosion would imply a detioration within a natural cycle of events. This has no relevency to what is essentially imperialist nations accelerating their rate of plunder, subsequently ignoring any notion of sovereignty.

do you even read the economist? It sounds like you dont know what you're talking about.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Lol lol lol.

This is not a laughing matter. I take these issues seriously, and I can be light hearted and take criticism actually, but you seem to have another impression of me. What you don't seem to get is that when you just laugh, or try and call me out without focusing on the subject matter, you are the one being a pompous dick.

Originally Posted by Grapes

I educate myself, though no doubt not as obsessively as you.

You call me obsessive, and that's a negative outlook. Perhaps if you saw it the way I did, having a passion for social and political issues, you'd see it's a lacking trait in our society and one with that needs to gain momentum while there is still time.

But hey, that takes time and effort, it's alot easier just to slag someone you don't know.

Originally Posted by Grapes

For the record, that particular article struck me as insightful and accurate. I have no issue with it, which makes me wonder why you think I can't "face the message".

Well then why come into this thread just to slag me?

What's more important to you...the fact that our nation is being bought out from under our feet for a new arms race...or the fact that some guy that
you don't know personally takes the time to raise awareness on a message board that he and yourself frequent, and in your opinion, does so in a brass manner?

You need to gain some perspective man, and keep your rude comments to yourself.

You call me pompous, yet I never go out of my way to slander someone like you yourself have. Proof is in the pudding.

If you actually agree with the message, then what you are doing here is just really low and reeks of a pompous attitude. Check your head man.

Maybe what you need to tell yourself is: here's a guy I disagreed with in the past, but now it may seem we agree on something. Maybe taking a step back and realizing the Common Ground we share should be more important than pointing fingers huh?

If you think I am so callous, why not show me how it's done?

Why not show me how to be utterly modest when people you don't know question your morality and sanity, but care not for your message?

I don't think you could do it yourself, and I can make that claim based on your past behaviour. I've seen you in flame wars on this board in the past, and you simply love taking cheap shots at people. To you, flowery rhetoric is more important the substance of a message, even one as important as this.

Originally Posted by Grapes

I just hate you because you're a pompous dick.

It's always been that simple.

You claim you hate me, yet you don't even know me. It's always been that simple.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by DJ Ponz

I would hate to be cast as someone who's trivializing your claims. OK, the activist fighting cotton looms was a cut, but my goal here was to situate your claims within a broad spectrum of ideology.

Like I've already stated, I don't need an update or a broader spectrum in my ideology. This is NOT a new idea and I have already given examples to my understanding of that. I am well aware of the globalist mantra, and in the end all it's about is putting more control into fewer hands.

No matter how you feel about it, that's what it comes down to, and all I am saying is history has shown us time and time again that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Thank you for having a shred of decency and not go out of your way to shoot me down if you disagree with where I am going on this. If only more that shared your opinion could follow your example we could have alot more mature debates on this forum.

[djmarkpaul]

Originally Posted by SEAN!

pretty much sums up how i feel.

and in summary, this is pretty much how I feel.

[fable]

Originally Posted by SEAN!

do you even read the economist? It sounds like you dont know what you're talking about.

I try to read the economist as much as I can. Its definetly a good reference. I just use it carte blanche when I hear or read a remark or statement that smacks of econo-speak.

Erosion would imply a detioration within a natural cycle of events. This has no relevency to what is essentially imperialist nations accelerating their rate of plunder, subsequently ignoring any notion of sovereignty.

is this what irked you? What exactly about this comment is untrue?

[fable]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Sorry, I thought I made my point. Did you miss it?

Call me crazy, but I equate making a point with making a relevent statement. The statement I was refering to, was not.