Bill C-26: Border Insecurity, Immigration, AgricTax? Delhi, Etc.

Adrian Humphreys: Quotas trump security -- Border guards' report says emphasis on quick searches NP, Oct. 31, 05

[. . . . ] The system ties managers' bonuses to meeting the quotas and running border operations under budget, says the submission to be presented by the border agents' union as part of the Senate hearings on Bill C-26, an act to establish the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

"Intelligence-based, targeted high-risk searches are routinely discouraged because of the time involved to carry out such searches and so that easier searches -- to pad the numbers -- can occur. [. . . . ]

From a report to be presented today to the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, chaired by Liberal Senator Colin Kenny

Search: arm inspectors , Anne McLellan, Minister of Public Safety , Alain Jolicoeur, CBSA president , pitting the union against CBSA management , pepper spray



Someone finally noticed?

63% fear immigrants bringing in conflicts -- 83% want stricter controls to battle known terrorists Don Butler, CanWest, Oct. 31, 05

[. . . . ] Those are some key findings of a public opinion survey commissioned for the annual Ottawa conference of the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute, which begins today.

The Innovative Research Group poll found 63% agree Canada is having increasing trouble with ethnic groups bringing problems from their home countries to Canada. First-generation Canadians -- those born here to immigrant parents -- were the most concerned, with 70% holding that view. [. . . . ]

Mr. Bercuson says new Canadians are more likely to share the views of English-Canadians than those of French-Canadians. [. . . . ]

Search: the government's new focus on shifting trade from traditional partners such as the U.S., England and France and to emerging countries such as China and India



Tax all groceries, agriculture report says NP, Oct. 31, 05

Suggestion:

Start planting your own food and supporting your local farmers. Pay them a little bit more and do without the imports -- anything to support the suppliers of our own food. Any taxes that go through Ottawa's sticky fingers may end up in . . . . well, you know where.



Porkbusters: Help the blogosphere cut the fat -- would be a great idea to start for Canada too via Newsbeat1, Instapundit, Truth Laid Bear



Will the Liberal Party reign over us forever? The Hill Times, October 31st, 2005, BOOK REVIEWS, By Richard Cleroux via Newsbeat1

Stephen Clarkson's new book, The Big Red Machine, investigates why the Grits have ruled for every three out of four years since Confederation, sort of like the PRI in Mexico. [. . . . ]

Judge the review for yourself.



More "peace and love" from the "peaceful" religion

India declares state of emergency in New Delhi -- Islamic group claims responsibility for weekend bombings Dan McDougall, The Daily Telegraph

NEW DELHI - India declared a state of emergency in its capital yesterday as police hunted those behind Saturday's bombings that killed 61 people and wounded more than 200.

[. . . . ] A man saying he represented a militant group [Is that the same as a "terrorist" group?], Islamic Inquilab Mahaz ("Front for Islamic Uprising") claimed responsibility for the bombings, in a call to the Kashmir News Service. The little-known group is thought to be tied to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the most feared militant group in Kashmir. The caller, who identified himself as Ahmed Yaar Ghaznavi, said the attack "was meant as a rebuff to the claims of Indian security groups" that militant fighters had been wiped out by military crackdowns and the earthquake. [. . . . ]

Salim Mansur: UN has a Heart of Darkness Toronto Sun, October 29, 2005

In Joseph Conrad's small yet dense novel set at the turn of the last century, Heart of Darkness, the up-river journey of Marlow, the story's narrator, takes him to a place in the interior of Africa and a man, Kurtz, where power and greed represent the evil face of his time.

Our contemporary Marlow needs to sail up the river Hudson and dock by the New York headquarters of the United Nations to discover another sort of modern-day heart of darkness.

Here, Kofi Annan, the UN's secretary general presides over [. . . . ]

Our contemporary Marlow at the UN, however, will discover legions of Kurtzes representing scoundrel governments from around the world.

[. . . . ] Serious people must ask whether the world's poor and oppressed would not be better served by a Coalition of Democracies, without the UN as an assembly of thugs, terrorists and human rights abusers pretending to help bring progress for them.

We Need the Mansurs to Ease the 'Heart of Darkness'

[. . . . ] While thought could be given to revamping and rededicating all U.N. member nations to the founding principles of the U.N., the corruption of those founding principles has become so ingrained and has so weakened the entire principled foundation of the U.N., that probably nothing short of re-building the entire concept of the U.N. from the ground up is in order.

In that regard [. . . . ]

Senator Larry Campbell and The Four Pillars Strategy , an article entitled "Larry Campbell Mayor of Vancouver" by Nick Swift. Campbell is a former officer in the RCMP drug squad.

Choose one. The Mayor of Vancouver is Li Jian Bao. The Mayor of Vancouver is Dominic Da Vinci. The Mayor of Vancouver is Larry Campbell. The Mayor of Vancouver, who will retire at the end of his present term, is all of the above.

The correct answer is “all of the above”: the city’s Chinese community held a contest and bestowed a carefully-thought-out Chinese name on him, and fans of a popular Canadian television series have long known that he is the model for its title character.

[. . . . ] The Four Pillars Strategy consists of enforcement, treatment, prevention and harm reduction, and has as its goal “to eliminate the open drug market on the Downtown Eastside by the next election. We should see more people in treatment and detox. A comprehensive education and prevention program should be in place to reduce the toll of drug addiction. New housing and business investment should be generating new activity in the community.

“Equally importantly, we should see a reduction in drug-related property crime and an increase in neighbourhood security across the city.” [. . . . ]

“Thanks to the courage of people like Mayors Owen and Campbell and Senator Nolin, Canada is increasingly breaking with Washington’s drug war and following the Western European model of pragmatic and humane reform”. [. . . . ]

9/11 Public Discourse Project

The 9/11 Commission Report: The Unfinished Agenda: An ongoing series of public events assessing the progress of reform since the 9/11 Commission Report.

Next event: Third Report on 9/11 Commission Recommendations: Reforming the Institutions of Government
Monday, November 14, 2005 [. . . . ]

October 20, 2005
9/11 Commissioners Issue Second Report on Recommendations
Part II: Reforming the Institutions of Government
Download the Report (PDF)
http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2005-10-20_report.pdf

Remarks by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton (PDF)
http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2005-10-20_remarks.pdf

There are other reports on that site: e.g. homeland security

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