If not now, when? Cracks Justice System, Ports, Failed Gun Control Laws, White-collar Psychopaths, Narco-Prov, Salim Mansur

If not now, politicians never will. . . . The politicians will try to slide through this week without making any changes and it will be back to business as usual- doing nothing. People should be calling their MP'S this week. It's the least we can do to protect those who protect us.

Now is not the time, we're told, to discuss issues like cracking down on marijuana grow ops, or scrapping the useless federal gun registry, or fixing the systemic problems in our justice system that allowed a violent bully and sex offender like James Roszko to terrorize a small Alberta town for years.

Silence is the only crime

Contrary to the politically correct bafflegab coming from too many federal politicians and the media commentariat in recent days, now is exactly the time we should be talking about reforming Canada's lax criminal justice system.

Ever since a gun-toting madman murdered four young RCMP constables in cold blood last week before taking his own life, the cry from our chattering classes has been relentless.

Now is not the time, we're told, to discuss issues like cracking down on marijuana grow ops, or scrapping the useless federal gun registry, or fixing the systemic problems in our justice system that allowed a violent bully and sex offender like James Roszko to terrorize a small Alberta town for years. [. . . . ]

Search: soft sentencing, early parole, mandatory minimum sentences, what he stands for




Grass-roots effort 'beyond belief' March 6, 2005, Greg Weston, Sun Ottawa Bureau

The former high school principal and retired parole board member was visibly shaking at the microphone of the Liberal policy convention, passionately arguing the need for tougher prison sentences for marijuana growing operations.

Most of all, Garth Goodhow was madder than hell at mainly young Grits who were calling for the legalization of pot "when four Mounties have just been killed upholding the laws." [. . . . ]

They figure there's plenty more where that came from -- Read Weston closely; do not skim.

Chill only warmed-over rhetoric -- Martin announced a spending freeze when he became prime minister, but it didn't take long for it to melt away March 8, 2005, Greg Weston, Ottawa Bureau

Search: Martin's big chill, $1.5 billion of the Chretien crowd's going-away spending spree, Public Works Minister Scott Brison, 11 grand splurges, a proposed new home for the taxman, planned new office building




Probe must target gun laws: Inkster -- MASSACRE TIED TO FLAWS: EX-COP March 8, 2005, Kathleen Harris, Ottawa

A SWEEPING review of the Mountie massacre must expose how cracks in Canada's justice system -- including failed gun control laws -- led to the bloody ambush, Canada's former top cop says. Former RCMP commissioner Norm Inkster said the tragedy raises questions about how the gun registry failed to keep a powerful weapon from the hands of a man known as a violent psychopath.

[. . . . ] Conservative MP Rob Merrifield, . . . . "We'll be examining those in the future and we'll use incidents like the example of these four slain RCMP officers as reasons why we need to become more vigilant at changing our soft approach to crime in Canada," he said.

Everything's OK at the ports? -- They have 350 police at Port of Rotterdam- how many here?

Canadian Security Guide Book 2005 EDITION An Update of Security Problems in Search of Solutions -- Vulnerable Ports & Organized Crime in Ports CHAPTER 6 -- Ports

Problem 1: Vulnerable Ports

HIGH PRIORITY

Canada’s ports are insecure and the extent of their vulnerability to crime makes them a target for terrorists. The Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia has found that there are 48 members or associates of the Hells Angels working on Vancouver’s docks. The Agency’s report, quoted in the Globe and Mail, “identifies members of East European, Indo-Canadian, Columbian, Mexican [and] triad organized-crime syndicates working on the port.” An even greater concern is the so-called ‘unholy alliance’ between organized crime and terrorist networks.[66] [. . . . ] (Report: Canadian Security and Military Preparedness, February 2002, #8, The Committee reiterated the need for an inquiry in Canada’s Coastlines: The Longest Under-Defended Borders in the World, October 2003, recommendations #4.2) [. . . . ]

Problem 2: Organized Crime in Ports

HIGH PRIORITY

The presence of organized crime in Canada’s ports and airports leaves Canada’s security perimeter vulnerable to both smuggling and terrorist infiltration. The Committee heard in 2002 that an estimated 15% of longshoremen and 36% of checkers at the Port of Montreal have criminal records, that out of a sample of 500 longshoremen at the Port of Halifax, 39% had criminal records, and that 28 out of a sample of 51 workers at the Port of Charlottetown (almost 54%) had criminal records.[67] [. . . . ]

"White-collar psychopaths and their suave helpers who plunder a clients' lifetime savings"

The crooks have had a favourable environment for years -- White-collar cops have seen it all -- IMET: Their job is to bust corrupt accountants, lawyers, bankers and tax planners Paul Luke, The Province

An undercover commodities trader, Bill Majcher saw how the hunger for big bucks can corrupt some financial-services professionals.

So the head of Vancouver's Integrated Market Enforcement Team knows he faces more than just the bad brokers or predatory promoters who roam capital markets.

The RCMP inspector's team is up against the accountants, lawyers, bankers and tax planners the crooks hire to facilitate their crimes.

It's up against white-collar psychopaths and their suave helpers who plunder a clients' lifetime savings and blame the victims for being too stupid to know better. [. . . . ]

Search: Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge, The facilitators typically are professionals, integrated teams, Vancouver team comprises, Canada Stockwatch, his undercover days

"The problem is especially bad in British Columbia, which is showing early signs of becoming a "narco-province" along the lines of some South American countries"

Lax drug laws create Mexico of north -- U.S.: Canada's marijuana policy a growing irritant to American neighbours Tom Blackwell, National Post, Mar. 8, 05

WASHINGTON - The killings of four RCMP officers in Alberta last week may or may not end up having much to do with the marijuana grow operation the killer maintained. But the incident has still managed to generate fresh American irritation and fear over the growing flood of potent Canadian marijuana into the U.S.

[. . . . ]

Search: Canada as our front door, Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, more lenient handling of immigration and the terrorism threat, judicial sanctions, logjam, Alberta, new provincial forces



Above the Law by PAUL PALANGO -- ISBN: 0771069065, McClelland & Stewart

From the Reviews

[. . . . ] “Above the Law is as exciting as any detective novel.”
–Winnipeg Free Press


“Palango’s alarming book details one sorry tale after another of influence-peddling, bid-rigging, and fraud and stock manipulation associated with the country’s highest political office.”
–Alberta Report

“All sorts of prominent little piggies come snuffling through theses pages, looking to jam their noses into the political trough.”
–Books In Canada [. . . . ]

The Last Guardians : The Crisis in the RCMP - and Canada -- Editorial Reviews -- From the Inside Flap

What Paul Palango found at the end of his journey was a force in crisis, struggling to be all things to all Canadians in a society that is no longer sure what role it wants the federal police to play – but is sure that it wants them to do it on less money. Palango also argues that looking carefully at the RCMP, shaped as a federal institution by all the societal and economic pressures that have swept the country over the years, is an effective way to examine many of the problems that ail Canada after the event of September 11, 2001 [. . . . ]

Salim Mansur's on target

Saying 'no' to U.S. was very Liberal March 7, 2005, Toronto Sun

Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario

Beneath the heartfelt expressions of anger, dismay or satisfaction among contending classes of Canadians over their government's refusal to participate in the U.S.-sponsored Ballistic Missile Defence for North America, there is nothing new save the manner in which Paul Martin arrived at his decision.

[. . . . ] Hence what was once the great refusal amounting to nation-building became strident anti-Americanism to bind an increasingly divided country, adrift in its own falsely induced uncertainties by a political party whose sole interest is perpetuating its hold on power, by whatever means and at whatever costs.