Tim Harper: Vic Toews on the hot seat in security talks

[CHIMO]

A gang of cabinet ministers and bureaucrats from both sides of the border has spent much of the summer working to craft a historic overhaul of Canada-U.S. relations.

Some 32 different aspects of that relationship are under negotiation in the perimeter security talks and most of the heavy lifting is being done under the radar.

At this point, that is understandable.

But at some point the Harper government is going to have to come out of the bunker and level with the Canadian electorate on the messy parts of such huge negotiations.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1039376--tim-harper-vic-toews-on-the-hot-seat-in-security-talks?bn=1

[shockedcanadian]

1. absolutely the worst person for the job of negotiating this...

As someone who has personal interactions with this man and who has closely monitored and observed how he speaks and what he says, Mr. Toews is the worst person to "go to bat" for Canadians in such a negotiation. I know first hand as I personally reached out to him with false hope based on the manner in which he promoted himself on his website (accountability was the main tenet). Instead of accountability and closure I received worse interference in my life than before I wrote to him. He will never have my support as a representative of the state.

Anytime he speaks, anything he has stated publicly suggests one thing in my opinion. He cares only, and solely about his budget and his organizations power; increasing the perception of fear with Canadians, pushing an expensive "tough on crime agenda" for their own gain. His interest in Canadian Human Rights, the Charter, the dignity of Canadians is a distant second to his primary objectives. I am sure he would be quite content with CSIS and the RCMP having absolute control; unregulated power (oops he already has this), unreported by the media, no barriers to do whatever they please. The soon to be put into law which provides full legal access by police to ones internet activity WITHOUT a warrant is just one such example. All in the name of National Security. He is in effect, the Minister of Propaganda.

Here is where HE has a major problem with any agreement. Without a doubt Canada and the U.S need to have some sort of border agreement, all nations do as obviously there are some legitimate bad people that the other nation must be made aware of. I am not sure how far it should go, hell I don't even know how far it has gone already, but I do know this; such an agreement requires immense trust. Trust in the integrity and reliability of the other guys system and the intel they are providing, unfortunately I speak from experience when I say that Canada does not have this in their own backyard. Many agents want to do the right thing and work hard to carry themselves in the proper many, far far too many do not, and they have ruined many lives with their unethical and immoral actions. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I will use Arar's case as an example since it has received the most print. Arar was, in effect, sent off and tortured in a coffin like cell, based on him having lunch with a suspected terrorist. He hadn't purchased any items to cause harm, he hadn't made threats, he wasn't part of some secret terrorist cell, he had lunch with a person of interest to the RCMP. The RCMP, as they and CSIS often do, extrapolated a great deal of concern based on a small, single interaction. It is proposterous to say the least. There was a recent report than illustrated a ridiculous percentage of citizens from B.C having some sort of information on file with the RCMP, all because they either were a suspect, or complained or were associated somehow with someone of interest to the RCMP. These guys have massive volumes of secret records on regular Canadians...how is this going to work out for so many who cross the border every day?

I was held for 40 minutes at the U.S border. I currently have an important lawsuit against CSIS and the RCMP to address this among other concerns. If anyone has ever been flagged and held at a border (and had his passport taken from him while he waited), it is a terrifying and horrible experience. You are not told why, nor do you even have a representative from your own country there to explain anything. You are a tourist in a foreign country. The authorities that held me did so based on information provided to them by my own government, by the intelligence agencies I assumed worked to protect me. You can be sure with the history of incompetence, ego, and personal career driven gain that permeates in Canadian intelligence (I refer to it as the God Complex) that such an agreement will be a major wake-up call to Canadians. Many more will be quite aware of just how much bs has been collected on and about them and their families once they have problems, delays and issues at the border.

[barackguy8245]

2. i agree

[Darth_Kitten]

3. This is bloody scary.

:(