You might have been thinking that big snowy land to the north was a place that hadn't lost its mind or its traditions of liberal democracy in this new world of global terror and corporate rule. Ha ha! You would be wrong!
Greenpeace has gotten hold of the RCMP's report on the "anti-petroleum" movement as potential terrorists in need of secret government surveillance, and released it to the public:
The RCMP has labelled the “anti-petroleum” movement as a growing and violent threat to Canada’s security, raising fears among environmentalists that they face increased surveillance, and possibly worse, under the Harper government’s new terrorism legislation....
“There is a growing, highly organized and well-financed anti-Canada petroleum movement that consists of peaceful activists, militants and violent extremists who are opposed to society’s reliance on fossil fuels,” concludes the report which is stamped “protected/Canadian eyes only” and is dated Jan. 24, 2014....
The government has tabled Bill C-51, which provides greater power to the security agencies to collect information on and disrupt the activities of suspected terrorist groups. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has identified the threat as violent extremists motivated by radical Islamic views, the legislation would also expand the ability of government agencies to infiltrate environmental groups on the suspicion that they are promoting civil disobedience or other criminal acts to oppose resource projects.
The legislation identifies "activity that undermines the security of Canada" as anything that interferes with the economic or financial stability of Canada or with the country’s critical infrastructure, though it excludes lawful protest or dissent....
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has already launched challenges...over alleged surveillance of groups opposed to the construction of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in B.C.
"These kind of cases involving environmental groups – or anti-petroleum groups as the RCMP likes to frame them – are really the sharp end of the stick in terms of Bill C-51," said Paul Champ, a civil liberties lawyer who is handling the BCCLA complaints. "With respect to Bill C-51, I and other groups have real concerns it is going to target not just terrorists who are involved in criminal activity, but people who are protesting against different Canadian government policies."
A spokesman for the RCMP responded that the Mounties only conduct surveillance when there is "suspicion of criminal conduct." But he refused to comment on the report or the way it equates opposition to resource development with opposition to the national interest, or the fact that it includes groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club in the threat of militancy or potential violence from the "anti-petroleum" hordes.
The report extolls the value of the oil and gas sector to the Canadian economy, and adds that many environmentalists "claim" that climate change is the most serious global environmental threat, and "claim" it is a direct consequence of human activity and is "reportedly" linked to the use of fossil fuels.
In fact, as a Greenpeace spokesman notes, the report "identifies anyone who is concerned about climate change as a potential, if not actual – the lines are very blurry – 'anti-petroleum extremist' looking to advance their 'anti-petroleum ideology,'" and therefore a suitable target for surveillance and dirty tricks.
Is there no end to this overreaching crap governments are imposing on their citizens? That one-way expedition to Mars is looking better every day....