statism watch

Vito Pilieci, Canwest News Service
May 26, 2008

OTTAWA – The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.

The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.

Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws.

Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.

The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

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On top of these enforcement efforts, ACTA also proposes imposing new sanctions on Internet service providers. It would force them to hand over personal information pertaining to “claimed infringement” or “alleged infringers” – users who may be transmitting or sharing copyrighted content over the Internet.

Currently, rights holders must collect evidence to prove someone is sharing copyrighted material over the Internet. That evidence is then presented to a judge who issues a court order telling the Internet service provider to identify the customer.

The process can produce lengthy delays.

It is expected the new agreement will be tabled at July’s meeting of G8 nations in Tokyo, Japan.

Fewer has been following the progress of ACTA and has exhausted every avenue at his disposal to gain insight into its details.

He said Friday’s leak of a “discussion paper” which outlines the priorities of the agreement is the first glimpse anyone has into ACTA.

“We knew this existed, we filed an Access to Information request for this but all it provided us with was the title. All the rest of it was blacked out,” he said. “Those negotiations can take place behind closed doors. At the end of the day we may be provided with something that has been negotiated which is a `fait accompli’ in which civil society gets no opportunity to critique it.”

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In October, International Trade Minister David Emerson announced Canada would participate in ACTA’s creation. The initiative was originally aimed at stopping large-scale piracy, such as printing operations that make thousands of copies of movies that are still in theatres.

“We are seeking to counter global piracy and counterfeiting more effectively,” said Emerson at the time. “This government is working both at home and internationally to protect the intellectual property rights of Canadian artists, creators, inventors and investors.”

The new document is reported to be drafted by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

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Kevin Carmichael, The Globe and Mail
May 26, 2008

FINTRAC sees potential abuse of electronic transactions tied to gold and silver

OTTAWA – Canada’s financial intelligence agency warns that criminals may be exploiting Internet-based companies that convert cash into electronic gold, exposing a new front in the international effort to restrict terrorist financing and money laundering.

While other channels of money laundering are successfully being shut down, authorities are increasingly worried about a proliferation of “digital precious metals operators” websites that offer clients a chance to conduct Internet business in units backed by gold and silver rather than paper currencies.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FINTRAC, says in a report these websites have “achieved critical mass on the Web” and are facilitating millions of transactions on the fringe of the international financial system – the equivalent of a Wild West where legitimate businesses, privacy-seeking individuals and criminals can mingle just out of reach of the law.

At stake is the effectiveness of the financial reporting rules that countries such as the United States, Britain and Canada enacted in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A network that allows individuals to move money around the world means criminals can avoid commercial banks and other financial institutions required to turn over their records to the government.

“As financial institutions and non-financial businesses increasingly deter money laundering and terrorism financing, adaptable and technology-savvy criminals and terrorist financiers will likely see other unregulated, exploitable avenues to further their nefarious purposes,” concludes the report, which was made available under the Access to Information Act.

“Digital precious metals may become one of them.”

FINTRAC, which gathers and analyzes data on financial transactions for law enforcement under oversight of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, stresses in the 21-page report that websites offering precious metals accounts are serving a “legitimate market demand.”

So-called “e-currencies” backed by gold are attractive to companies and individuals involved in international business because they eliminate the risk of fluctuating exchange rates adding to the cost of a transaction.

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Most digital precious metals websites are run by responsible managers who report all suspicious activity to the police, said Maylin dela Cueva, director of the Global Digital Currency Association.

Starting later this year, Canadian dealers of precious metals and stones – both real and digital – must register with the government.

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CBC News
Monday, May 26, 2008

The Canadian military has established a special intelligence unit to gather information on overseas missions, in places like Afghanistan, CBC News has learned.

CBC obtained military documents that show the Canadian Forces is spending about $27 million over the next three years to purchase equipment for the new unit, which is actively recruiting soldiers.

Although many details about the unit are considered classified and not being released to the public, documents show the focus of the group is “human intelligence.”

Members of the unit, known as the Human Intelligence Company (HUMINT), are trained in collecting and analyzing information gathered from the wide variety of human contacts, or sources, they encounter on missions.

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Forces won’t disclose details for security reasons

The military is tight-lipped about the size of the unit, where its members are stationed and what equipment it uses. The military also won’t confirm how much money, in addition to the $27 million for equipment, is being spent to fund the unit’s activities.

“Unfortunately, other than to acknowledge that the program exists, the national defence and the Canadian Forces will not provide specific details about the program, as these are liable to have negative consequences for operations security, and the successful conduct of ongoing Canadian Forces operations,” said Isabelle Moses, spokesperson for the Chief of Defence Intelligence.

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NDP Defence critic Dawn Black said more information needs to be made public.

“We don’t know, and that leaves it open to all kinds of questions,” she said. “Because we don’t know, that raises all kinds of red flags.”

“There’s never been a debate in Canada that I am aware of on running an intelligence company out of the Canadian Forces. I believe that should be something that is open to debate and security and civilian oversight,” she added.

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Bruce Campion-Smith, The Toronto Star
May 26, 2008

Zeal to manage message sees journalists shunned, bureaucrats, cabinet ministers routinely muzzled

OTTAWA—In the 6th-floor office of a nondescript building sit the gatekeepers, the bureaucrats who decide what Canadians learn about the workings of their government.

Questions on the hot issues of the day all get funnelled through this office, the “communications and consultations” unit of the Privy Council Office, housed in the Blackburn building that fronts the Sparks St. pedestrian mall.

Throughout the government, it’s known simply as “downtown,” the place where decisions are made on who speaks on issues and what they say. In the Conservative government’s clampdown on communications, this is Ground Zero.

Public appearances by cabinet ministers — whether it’s a speech or an interview — are carefully staged, starting with a “message event proposal” vetted by the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

And in a marked change from previous governments, now even basic demands for information from reporters, once easily fielded by department spokespersons, are sent to this office for review — and often heavy editing — before they are okayed for public release, government insiders say.

Working in close tandem with the PMO, they are the filter for information — and often the roadblock, veteran insiders say.

“Everything is being ultra-centralized. That’s why there are delays. Nothing gets responded to on time and when there is a response, it’s useless,” said one insider familiar with the communications strategy.

“It’s a very deliberate philosophy. They don’t want to communicate through the media, they don’t want to engage media, they don’t want to answer questions,” the official said.

“If you want to tell your story, you’ve got to let people talk. And right now, there’s nobody talking,” the official said.

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According to the government’s own communications policy, federal employees are to be encouraged “to communicate openly with the public about policies, programs, services and initiatives.

“Openness in government promotes accessibility and accountability,” the Treasury Board policy states.

But long-time insiders interviewed by the Star say reality is far different, where journalists’ requests for information are routinely denied or delayed until long past deadlines.

None of the bureaucrats would speak for attribution for fear of retribution. One said being publicly identified would be “career limiting.”

The clampdown could get worse. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser recently revealed that the government is proposing a new policy that would require all communications “products” to be vetted by the Privy Council Office.

One government official said the new rules would formally enshrine in policy the unwritten rule that now exists.

“The screws are being tightened bit by bit. It’s gotten very extreme in the last six months. Just more and more delays, more and more control over things, less and less things getting approved,” the official said.

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Emily Kaiser, Reuters
May 26, 2008 04:30 AM

Move over credit crisis, spiralling global oil prices have become the West’s biggest economic worry

WASHINGTON—Somewhere between the implosion of Wall Street firm Bear Stearns in March and today’s $130-plus oil, inflation supplanted the credit crunch as North America’s biggest economic worry.

Just a few weeks ago, investors were paralyzed by fears that Bear Stearns could be the first of many financial firms to fall. But the relative calm — and rise in the case of Canada and Mexico — that has settled over markets since then encouraged buyers to tiptoe back into stocks.

Now, the mood is wary once again as oil has surged more than 30 per cent so far this year and economists warn that it is cutting into consumer spending and eroding corporate profits. U.S. stock markets, which had been taking cues from the latest bank rumour, now slide on each new high for crude.

“For the first time in our memory, inflation, not growth, is the primary macro driver at the global level,” Merrill Lynch economists wrote in a note to clients.

“The inflation shock has already happened. What matters now is how persistent it is, and how markets and policy-makers react. At a global level, this begs for an accident that will awaken markets and policy makers to the risks.”

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Frank Ching, The Globe and Mail
May 26, 2008

‘When many Western observers look at China,” former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani writes in his latest book, The New Asian Hemisphere, “they cannot see beyond the lack of a democratic political system. They miss the massive democratization of the human spirit that is taking place in China.”

At a time when the Chinese people have mobilized themselves to cope with the May 12 earthquake, with untold numbers volunteering to give blood, donate money and travel to devastated towns and villages to help the afflicted, it is easy to see the country’s vibrancy.

There is a new spirit, different from that before Deng Xiaoping launched the country on the road to reform and openness 30 years ago.

This book is full of insights – and contradictions. Mr. Mahbubani praises the West for Asia’s development. Asian countries progressed, he says, because they implemented seven pillars of Western wisdom: free-market economics, meritocracy, pragmatism, a culture of peace, the rule of law, an emphasis on education and a willingness to pursue advances in science and technology.

But while he says the United States has done more good for the world than any other country, he also calls it an international outlaw that refuses to be bound by “the constraints of international law.”

What makes his book controversial is his assertion that “the era of Western domination has run its course,” although so far, “the West has refused either to admit its domination of the world or to contemplate sharing power in a new world order. This is a prescription for eventual disaster.”

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After man was stopped, he gave Nazi salute

Paul Walton, Daily News
Published: Monday, May 26, 2008

A Nanaimo provincial court judge, in dropping a charge against a local man of assaulting police, instead blamed a Nanaimo Mountie for creating the violent confrontation.

The decision was handed by Judge Allan Gould on Monday in staying charges of assault police and uttering threats against Shane Owen, 48.

On Nov. 25, 2005, Owen was walking down the street when the officer, who told the court that Owen had committed no offence but didn’t look right, decided to question him.

Owen told the officer to leave him alone, gave a Nazi salute and swore at him. Gould said that a more experienced officer would have “spoken in kind” to Owen and gone on his way. A Supreme Court of Canada decision states that only when there is reasonable suspicion of a crime can police force someone to comply with their requests.

Gould said the officer then “hounded” Owen into the behaviour that led to the charges. The officer’s actions were “akin to Chinese water torture” and his actions escalated the situation, said Gould, though he also said that Owen’s actions in part brought the unwanted attention on himself. Other officers attended what became a brawl and Owen was subdued with a Taser, batons and pepper spray.

Owen was then held in custody, “to which he should not have been subjected in my opinion,” said Gould.

The judge also found that the officer engaged in “retrospective reconstruction of grounds (for arrest)” at the trial in his claim that Owen was drunk in a public place. Gould said the officer’s motive were not malicious, but the result of inexperience and indecision. Owen’s lawyer, Doug Christie, said the police response was excessive given his client’s actions, which he acknowledged were impolite.

“We don’t usually get beaten by police and charged for being impolite,” said Christie.

Owen suffered injuries to his knee and shoulder that he said took two years to heal. Christie introduced photos in the trial showing Owen bruised and bloodied. Owen said he’s now the victim.

“Everybody in this whole case has been paid except me  it’s cost me a lot. I’ve watched nine cops get up there and lie,” said Owen.

Christie asked Gould about recovering costs, which the judge declined to do, and it remains unclear whether Owen will now sue, go to the RCMP public complaints commission or both. Christie said the RCMP now have the responsibility to review the matter and learn how to avoid such incidents in the future.

“I hope police will give better direction to constables on the street,” he said.

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Karen Howlett, The Globe and Mail
May 26, 2008 at 9:13 PM EDT

TORONTO – The federal Finance Minister has tapped Bay Street lawyer Ed Waitzer to draft legislation for a proposed national securities regulator, and will put the project before his provincial and territorial counterparts in Montreal this week.

Mr. Waitzer, a securities lawyer at Stikeman Elliott LLP, would not comment yesterday beyond confirming that he and his firm have been hired by a government-appointed panel to draft legislation that would replace Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial regulators with a single agency. Mr. Waitzer is a former chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

The panel is led by Tom Hockin, a former federal cabinet minister who helped create Canada’s federal banking regulator. It has until the end of the year to table a report.

The contentious topic of a single regulator will be on the agenda at a two-day meeting, beginning Thursday, between Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his provincial and territorial counterparts .

Mr. Flaherty said yesterday that he plans to raise “economic union” issues at the meeting. These include interprovincial barriers that restrict the movement of goods and services in Canada and a common regulator, he said.

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CBC News
Monday, May 26, 2008

Foreign affairs minister departs ahead of ex-girlfriend’s TV interview

Embattled Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has resigned from cabinet over a security breach involving classified documents, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters on Monday.

The resignation came ahead of Monday night’s airing of a French-language television interview of Bernier’s former girlfriend, Julie Couillard, in which she revealed the minister had left a secret document in her apartment sometime in April that she later returned to Foreign Affairs.

“Maxime came to my house, and the document stayed there,” Couillard said during her interview with private television network TVA, without disclosing the contents of the document.

Harper said he accepted Bernier’s resignation after learning Monday that Bernier had inadvertently left the documents in an unsecured location.

“It’s only this error. It’s a very serious error for any minister,” Harper said. “The minister immediately recognized the gravity of that error.”

The prime minister staunchly defended Bernier in recent weeks after he came under fire for his involvement with Couillard, who has been linked to the criminal biker underworld.

“Let me be clear: This is not to do with the minister’s private life,” Harper said Monday. “What matters here is that rules respecting government classified documents were broken. Obviously it was not done on purpose … but it was clearly done and it has to be treated appropriately.”

Harper has asked Trade Minister David Emerson to assume the foreign affairs portfolio on an interim basis, while Heritage Minister Josée Verner will handle the Ministry of La Francophonie, which was also held by Bernier.

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Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe rejected Harper’s contention that Bernier’s resignation had nothing to do with Couillard’s highly anticipated interview .

Duceppe said many questions remain unanswered, including how “people with very strange pasts” can bid on government contracts for airport security.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said it was about time that Bernier was replaced after committing a “series of incompetencies.”

“It’s been one thing after another and why the prime minister didn’t come forward with more information about this whole sordid mess is something he’s going to have to answer for,” he told reporters.

Full Story | See Also: | Harper shrugs off new concerns about minister’s ex-flame

CBC News
Monday, May 26, 2008

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not discuss security concerns about his foreign affairs minister’s ex-girlfriend, despite a news report that raises fresh questions about her professional interest in public security.

Montreal newspaper Le Devoir reported Monday that Julie Couillard – who had links to the criminal biker underworld as late as 2005 – is the head of a high-tech firm that has been involved in airport security.

The newspaper reported that Couillard’s business specializes in “systems of high security technology” that include security system installations and passenger security.

The information was provided to Le Devoir by a former employee at Couillard’s firm.

Couillard, 38, allegedly receives documents regarding airport security, according to the report.

On Monday, Harper refused to answer whether authorities had run a security check on Couillard. “I have no intention to comment on a minister’s former girlfriend,” he said. “I don’t take this subject seriously.”

Harper’s Conservative government has insisted Couillard’s relationship with Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is a private matter, and their intimate relationship – which recently ended – is no threat to national security.

Refused to provide details

The Tories refused again to provide details during Monday’s question period about when the government learned of a possible connection between organized crime and Couillard’s firm, and they ignored the Liberals’ suggestion that the government sack Bernier.

According to the reports, Couillard developed an interest in airport security because of her former boyfriend, Robert Pépin.

The report said the pair bid on a federal contract in 2004, to install an airport security access card system. The two submitted their proposal through Pépin’s business, the Agence d’investigations et de sécurité DRP.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority didn’t choose DRP’s bid, but Couillard allegedly “saw many things relating to airport security,” the newspaper report said.

The couple reportedly broke up some time later, and Couillard launched her own security company, Itek Solutions Globales.

Montreal newspaper La Presse reported Pépin owed large amounts of money to a lender linked to the Hells Angels and had been summoned to testify in front of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Quebec’s securities regulator, when he hanged himself in 2007.

Couillard has already stirred controversy because of her past links to organized crime and biker gangs.

Once married a Rocker

Published reports have referred to court documents that say Couillard once married a member of the Rockers biker gang, and was a potential target of Hells Angels’ kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher while she dated another biker.

Couillard has said she cut off ties with the underworld in 1999, and her romantic past involving bikers is part of a distant past.

She started dating Bernier before he was sworn in as foreign affairs minister in 2007. They recently split up.

Couillard says her name and reputation have been tarnished because of published reports documenting her past ties, but she is not ashamed of anything.

She has granted an interview with private television network TVA, which will air on the French-language news channel Monday night.

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