"All five of the country's security certificate cases have been scheduled to go before Federal Court judges in November and December - although there is one legal hurdle yet to clear.
"The federal judges will be asked to determine the "reasonableness" of the security certificates ....
"..Special advocates were introduced in response to last year's Supreme Court decision that struck down the previous system as unfair: the high court said the process denied defendants the fundamental right to meet the case against them.
"Special advocates will be able to test the classified evidence presented by government witnesses and make submissions, but they will not be able to communicate details of what they learn to the defendant without permission of the judge...
"...The government uses the secretive security certificate process to deport foreign-born terror suspects. Canadian citizens must be charged under the Criminal Code."
Clearly, besides all the other problems with this, the danger here is that these men could be innocent and could end up being deported back to their home countries where they could be tortured. If they are believed to be guilty, they should be charged with an offence and given a proper trial. If they are innocent, they should be let go or sent somewhere safe.
Why is the evidence secret? Why the secrecy? People will either assume these men are guilty or the government is covering up its mistakes. I just assume the latter. That's what secrecy is for - so the government can get away with whatever injustice it wants to perpetrate. As long as there is a so-called "war on terror", there is this dubious justification for secrecy. So everything is done in the dark, justice can be abused, and government agencies are shielded from public scrutiny - the same agencies who are supposed to serve us.
There is no accountability with these "special people" in government who are "protecting us" or God knows what they are doing. And I suppose many Canadians, strangely, defend this state of affairs about which they have no information and no input. I guess they identify with those who have the power to abuse.
Say I'm a typical Canadian citizen who feels uncomfortable with this situation. Would I vote for the Liberals who created it or the Conservatives who maintained it? I would want to talk to the candidates about it and I would assume that a Liberal or Conservative candidate supported it unless they stated otherwise. Does the NDP have a clear policy against it? If it did, what if I disagreed with the NDP candidate about too much else? This shows a flaw in having a system of representatives instead of direct democracy where citizens vote issue by issue. In the meantime I would hope for a real Libertarian candidate and talk to them about this issue, and related issues such as what happened to Maher Arar.
August 30, 2008
Libertarian Party of Canada Candidate in Guelph By-election Radio Debate
Will the by-election end up being cancelled because of the possible federal election announcement?
"The possibility of a general election was on the minds of Guelph's byelection candidates when they gathered yesterday for a radio debate.
"All eight candidates participated: Philip Bender (Libertarian), Tom King (New Democrat), Kornelis Klevering (Marijuana party), Gloria Kovach (Conservative), Karen Levenson (Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada), Mike Nagy (Green), John Turmel (Independent) and Frank Valeriote (Liberal).
"They took questions for two hours from listeners who called CJOY 1460 AM."
August 29, 2008
Libertarian Campaigns
If you live in or near the riding of Guelph, Ontario, please contact Phil Bender, the Libertarian candidate for the federal by-election. You can find more details on the September 8th by-election here.
To complicate the picture with the by-elections, there are rumors of a federal election being called in September.
Summary of what my (potential - possible - likely but not finalized) Libertarian campaign in Scaroborough--Rouge River is all about:
We need to preserve the freedoms we have in the face of federal, provincial and international efforts to stamp them out.
We need to wake up to the authoritarian aspects of our society and work towards greater respect for individual autonomy and choice.
Libertarians advocate the non-aggression principle, which means not initiating the use of threats and force against anyone in order to "solve problems". This how the current system works: it functions on a very primitive level and uses compulsion to make people live in a certain way and deprive them of choice. Non-aggression means society should function on a voluntary basis and defend against the initiation of aggression. This means people have the right to protect themselves and their rightful property. This may or may not require a type of government, but it would be a system that upholds everyone's individual rights.
If society is not moving in this direction of respecting peoples' autonomy in a political sense - it happens to be moving in the opposite direction! - then this is going to prevent progress in every other way: economic, cultural, scientific, spiritual. Like I said, it is primitive to force others to live the way you want them to live, whether you are a majority or a minority.
In the meantime, I believe libertarians should advocate policies that move us in the right direction and oppose policies that move us in the wrong direction. We should oppose wars of aggression (dropping bombs on innocent people), war propaganda, attacks on civil liberties (due process, habeas corpus etc.) We should uphold traditional freedoms (free speech, freedom of association, etc.) We should uphold self-defence rights. We should uphold systems of self-government such as the rights of juries, self-government for aboriginals and communities in general to determine their own destinies - yes, decentralization, trusting different regions to govern themselves justly. We should oppose central planning and most legislation that falls into the category of setting arbitrary regulations. We should promote competition and choice and free market solutions to consumer issues, and oppose government-created cartels, licensing and other such suppression of competition. We should advocate free trade and economic freedom domestically as much as we advocate free trade across borders. We should defend attacks on property rights, favor lower taxes, oppose systems of coerced payments (taxation) and find means of voluntary payments for services. We should oppose the war on drugs. We should oppose laws against prostitution etc. We should not be punishing people for making their own choices with their own bodies. We should oppose laws that interfere with voluntary economic arrangements. We should oppose laws that forbid private health care. We should oppose laws that interfere with choices about health products, natural or otherwise. We should oppose subsidies. We should oppose government secrecy, and abuses against representative government - such as international treaties that undermine our representative decision-making - in other words, our sovereignty. The same people undermine our individual sovereignty. We should oppose central banking, regulation of interest rates and the fraudulent practice of fractional reserve banking. We should advocate competition in money, allowing currencies based on gold, silver or other commodities to compete with the dollar. We should advocate justice reform: victims' rights and restitution. We should oppose the surveillance society and invasions of our privacy.
As a means of reform, I think we should start considering and advocating systems of direct democracy, where we no longer need representatives, but each individual represents their own views in a virtual assembly. In this type of system, libertarians could be very effective in debating with others and influencing our societies to move in the direction of greater freedom and choice. I feel that representative government has failed. And I think that if some libertarians are actually going to change the system of government, we need to consider direct democracy as a means to achieve this, as it is moving in the direction of greater empowerment for ordinary people. If enough Canadians adopted this idea - and some provinces are inching towards it - we would start with recognizing the federation as it is. There are different levels of government and each province, for example, would have its own direct democracy virtual assembly and not just the federal government. The courts would need to be responsive and in the hands of ordinary people also in order to defend individual rights. The power structures are failing. Authoritarianism is unresponsive. People need freedom, and many Canadians - not all - can see the problem. We don't all agree. Not everyone in the freedom movement calls themselves "libertarian". But we know our society is moving in the opposite direction. Enough is enough. We need to get away from "right" and "left" and we need to get our lives and choices back in our own hands.
Other libertarians of course are going to disagree with me about particular points. I think competition of ideas and debate is healthy. If this can work within the Libertarian Party, that's good too. But I insist on this basic definition of what "libertarian" means - non-aggression - it's not my definition - I didn't come up with it myself. And it doesn't include justifying and ignoring imperialism and the suppression of individual rights by others who use government to enrich themselves at the expense of rights. Real libertarians do not advocate the violation of civil liberties and torture, dropping bombs and mass slaughter. Real libertarians are not happy with the status quo. We're not content to identify with the politically connected and those who prop up the system that controls people using force and lies.
Your help is needed for my campaign, especially if you live locally in or near Scarborough. You don't need to agree with me about everything to help out. I have a lot of different interests when it comes to the freedom movement and welcome all Ron Paul supporters, anybody interested in health freedom (Bill C-51), antiwar, and other groups. I know a lot of people are in to 911 truth. NAU/SPP. Gun rights. Property rights. Free speech. Whatever. Contact me by email or phone at (416) 629-0764.
If you live elsewhere in Canada, I can give you information on the Libertarian Party of Canada and how to volunteer where you live, including how to sign up as a candidate.
More to come, including news about my status as a Libertarian Party nominee - that has to be confirmed - and links to my previous federal and provincial campaigns, and platform ideas.
--Alan Mercer
August 27, 2008
Libertarian Party of Canada in Guelph By-election: Candidates Excluded from Debate
As expected, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce excluded all but the four status quo candidates from their debate on August 25. I am sure they had really fascinating and innovative things to say about maintaining and strengthening Canada's power structures and tax-and-control systems, but I don't feel like looking up the transcript. Congratulations to all four parties: Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Green on being part of the "we hate freedom" movement! I know we can count on the four of you to compete for that constituency.
John Turmel did a little routine in protest before he was escorted out by police. The Animal Alliance Environment Voters candidate and Marijuana Party candidates were also excluded.
"Libertarian candidate Phil Bender also feels his exclusion from the debates was undemocratic, he said in a call to the Mercury last week....The Mercury is holding a televised debate Sept. 3, to which all of the candidates have been publicly invited."
"LEAP [Law Enforcement Against Prohibition] faces an uphill battle, but the odds in this battle may have improved somewhat this week. Libertarian Party leader Dennis Young has joined the organization. A legal agent in Calgary and a former military police officer, Young has been fiercely critical of the current government’s approach to drug policy.
" “Stephen Harper is at odds with Canadians who are overwhelmingly opposed to putting marijuana users in prison. He’s at odds with the countless cops and prosecutors I talk to everyday. And he’s at odds with members of his own caucus, people like Scott Reid and even Stockwell Day,” said Young.
In 2001, libertarian-leaning Scott Reid wrote that “prohibition skews the allocation of law enforcement resources, artificially raises prices to extremely high levels, encourages crime by addicts, and prevents the emergence of private institutions and products to deal with the very real social problems posed by addiction.” And Public Safety minister Stockwell Day has said in the past that marijuana users should face only fines, and not the possibility of prison sentences.
“When those guys get sick of towing Harper’s line on this drug policy disaster, they are welcome in the Libertarian Party,” said Young.
August 25, 2008
Afghanistan Civilian Casualties
In addition to Antiwar.com, I recommend this site for Afghanistan coverage. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) appears to have an all-round all-sides coverage of the death, atrocities and lack of freedom in Afghanistan.
This page, however, should be of particular interest to Candians, Americans and Brits. I singled out the US-NATO tag because I'm Canadian and I know how concerned Canadians should be about the brutal atrocities being committed by the U.S. and its NATO allies - including Canada - week after week.
Week after week, month after month, year after year, airstrikes on villages, weddings, etc, on and on, forever, systematic death, systematic - unintended? - accidental? - death. And the more deaths, the more recruits for the other side, the more civilian deaths caused by both sides, the more Canada becomes the bad guy. Are we still angry at them over 911? It's time to wrap it up.
As a Canadian, I'm angry at this war that's going on in my name and fed up with how the pro-war people always like to identify with the big stick, so they have the guilt and the guilt-trip to dump on their fellow Canadians about their version of patriotism ("love America" I guess) and loyalty (to Bush I guess, and Obama who supports this war). And "support the troops" just means blind support for government policy and letting more young people suffer terrible injuries and death. It's all very "politically correct" if you ask me, to be so afraid of criticizing the Canadian government, so "politically correct" to refuse to see the evil - death, injustice and torture - being done in our name.
Our government just does whatever it's told to do by foreigners and doesn't listen to vast numbers of reluctant Canadians who it taxes to pay for this war in the middle of Asia. We should sort out things at home in Canada - more freedom and independence for Canadians - instead of sending soldiers to countries we know nothing about.
"Also on August 22, the Israeli Ynetnews.com published a Russian daily Kommersant interview with Washington's new Moscow ambassador, John Beyrle, sure to embarrass his superiors. He called Russia's response justified after its troops came under attack. "Now we see Russian forces which responded to attacks on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, legitimately...." He went on to criticize Russia's over-reaction and warned about its impact on US - Russia relations as well as investor confidence. Nonetheless, his first comment is telling and quite contrary to everything from Washington and biting anti-Russian media responses."
"The decidedly apolitical, non-ideological Web site Reliefweb put it this way:
""The place that has suffered most is South Ossetia which is home to both ethnic Ossetians and Georgians, the latter accounting for about a third of the population. The destruction there has been appalling and it looks as though many hundreds of civilians have died, in the first place as a result of the initial Georgian assault of August 7-8. Gosha Tselekhayev, an Ossetian interpreter in Tskhinvali with whom I spoke by telephone on August 10 said, 'I am standing in the city center, but there's no city left.'
""Ossetians fleeing the conflict zone talk of Georgian atrocities and the indiscriminate killing of civilians."
From a video posted on YouTube August 13, 2008, a 12 year old American girl who had been visiting her relatives in South Ossetia, tells the truth about the massive aggression initiated against South Ossetians by the Georgian leader: "I was running from Georgian troops bombing our city, not Russian troops..."
Russia was not the aggressor in this case. If you think otherwise, it's because you have been lied to by your media and government. We shouldn't give Russia a pass for the civilian deaths it caused or its Chechnya actions, but we shouldn't give the Western media and governments a pass for their submissive obedience to U.S. government lies about Georgia and South Ossetia. There should be no more tolerance any more for U.S. and Canadian politicians and media outlets guilty of this - especially after they swallowed the U.S. government's lies over Iraq. It's over. No more credibility for people who keep spreading establishment lies.
Always there is a foreign scapegoat, a fake overseas "enemy" these people want to push at us while they loot our pockets, and bash away at our sovereignty (the SPP) and freedoms (Conservative-sponsored Bill C-51 being an excellent example of freedom-destruction). Take your lies-and-war business out of our sight. It's a disgrace for Canadian politicians and media to be repeating this slop. If you want to go to war with Russia, pack your bags and go. Run along. Don't stand around here lying to me through your boss's puppet media, which buries the truth at the end of the story.
--Alan Mercer
August 24, 2008
Libertarian Party of Canada: Guelph By-election Coverage
All candidates invited to Sept. 3rd Guelph Mercury - Rogers TV debate.
Phil Bender's photo and information is here and includes contact information if you would like to support him.
"I am 57 years old, father of four children. Three are graduates of Ontario Colleges and Universities, and the fourth currently enrolled. Married for thirty-five years to Loretto. We are residents of Wasaga Beach and Erin Ontario.
"I am a Professional Engineer. I have owned and operated a small independent telephone company and an apple orchard. I have also worked as an investment analyst. I hold degrees from the University of Toronto in engineering and business, and I have a CFA designation.
"I have served as a volunteer with several organizations, boards and committees including: Rotary Club of Erin, Erin Township Public Library Board, Erin Community Radio, Ontario Libertarian Party, and Collingwood Regional Airport Commission. My hobbies and interests include alternative fuels - particularly biodiesel and wind energy - flying, amateur radio and barbershop singing. I would like to play more bridge.
"I am inspired by our party's values: personal responsibility, individual liberty, recognition of property rights, free and voluntary associations, freedom of expression, and voluntary mutual aid. Libertarians accept people as they are."
"...What do you do when the government owned and operated health care monopoly cannot supply you a family doctor?
"You die in less than two months as in the case of my friend Jim; rationed to death.
"He had needed a colonoscopy to confirm his suspicion of colon cancer, but this test needs to be ordered by a specialist. You cannot just call up a specialist for an appointment - you need a referral from a family doctor. But there was no family doctor, just a waiting list. Jim had no choice.
"This is wrong and that's why our government monopoly in health care has to be opened up so that people like Jim can have a choice. So they can live (and contribute more taxes).
"Libertarians believe that individuals need to control their own lives and solve their own problems. Life is too important to leave up to government. When was the last time you had a good warm and fuzzy experience with your government? Do you trust them with your life?..."
"A federal loan to a Quebec pork processor has the Canadian Taxpayers Federation accusing the Conservatives of vote buying, and animal rights group, PETA, demanding an end to taxpayer-funded cruelty.
"...Libertarian Party leader Dennis Young argues that “there is a lot the federal government can do to improve Canada’s capital markets to make it easier for deserving businesses to get money. Remove the barriers to foreign bank competition, let people roll their capital gains into new investments tax free and leave more money in the hands of investors with a low, flat income tax.” Young added that “the Harper government’s inaction is forcing business people to choose between a government handout or a cash-starved business. I don’t blame [Charcuterie L. Fortin] for taking the money; I blame the Conservatives for not fixing the underlying problems.”
[Comments by author] "...You do not have to be sympathetic to the goals of PETA to respect the right of animal rights advocates to abstain from supporting an industry they regard as immoral."
August 21, 2008
Libertarian Party of Canada Leader: Withdraw from Afghanistan
"Dennis Young, Libertarian Party leader and a veteran of NATO operations in Bosnia, thinks that is too long for troops to be in the region.
"“We should help the Afghans celebrate their independence by marking the national day next year by withdrawing the last of our troops from the region,” said Young. “Our presence in Afghanistan is not achieving national security objectives. It looks more and more like an expensive nation building entanglement that is costing lives.”
"...Young is arguing that it’s time to leave altogether. “I don’t hear clear statements from this government about specific national security objectives. I hear fluffy rhetoric about development in Afghanistan -- but I don’t hear how our daily efforts in the region are making life for Canadians safer,” said Young.
""... While I would like to see Western values dominate the world, we can not and should not do that militarily. To kill someone to make them live more like us is counterproductive to say the least.”
"The Globe and Mail reported [Aug.17] that in an open letter the Taliban threatened to kill more Canadians if Canadian troops do not pull out of Afghanistan."
August 25th debate - The Guelph Chamber of Commerce will only invite the top four parties: "What question would you like to ask our four federal candidates?" The phrase "our four federal candidates" is a complete distortion if we compare the list published by Elections Canada.
Email the contact and complain about the Libertarian Party candidate and others not being invited! This is the "democratic" system, you see. I guess only some business people believe in freedom - like Phil Bender. With our system the way it is, private entities like the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and Rogers TV have a citizen's responsibility to make sure the event is fair and democratic. Otherwise events like this become part of the systematic distortions in our society, you know, like using government to prevent competition. Why don't they poll their members about who should be included and see what they say? Why isn't there at least information about the other candidates on their web site? If enough people complain to the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, maybe they will change this situation.
"He has previously run in a byelection against Turmel, whom he beat by 50 votes, with a total of 135, in 2007 in the riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey. The byelection was won by John Tory.
"Bender has also ran in 2003 and 2007 in general provincial elections in Simcoe-Grey. He said his platform follows along the lines of the federal Libertarian party.
""I ask myself the philosophical question -- we're humans, we have failures -- and the question as I see it is do we need an overseeing body, government . . . which is what most people call it, to protect us from our own failures? And I would say no, we should be allowed to make our own mistakes.
""And if people want an organization to protect them we have those organizations, but they're not coerced on us, and government is, by its nature coercion. If you don't do what government says they'll fine you or put you in jail or restrict your freedoms.""
Mikheil Saakashvili ... "widely perceived in the country as having started the war with Russia."
Kakha Kukava member of the opposition Conservative party of Georgia:... "Saakashvili was personally responsible for the military operation, and for starting a war we could not win."
Mr Saakashvili ..."has steadily centralised his authority since he was brought to power by popular protests in the 2004 Rose Revolution and engineered a brutal crackdown on dissent last November."
"many Georgians see the president's decision to send troops into South Ossetia as the primary cause of the war."
""What he did by restoring constitutional order, in his words, was only to provoke Russia," said Mr Gachechiladze."
"We in the music industry have shown ourselves unable to follow in this change. Some of us have even waged war against those the music is recorded for – the listeners. The rift between producers and consumers has never been bigger."
"...We don't want to have appeals against laws or pirates."
"...It is impossible to say yes or no to file sharing. It is something that exists and can't be removed. Get started and put the energy towards driving the development instead of trying to slow it down."
"...We believe in music and welcome every new way to spread it. That increases our audience which in the end makes it both easier for us and our artists to get compensation for committed work and increases the possibility to further spread more of the music we like. "
Cory Doctorow, Canadian Science Fiction Author and Civil Liberties Advocate
"The worst technology idea since the electrified nipple-clamp is “Digital Rights Management,” a suite of voodoo products that are supposed to control what you do with information after you lawfully acquire it. ... No customer wants DRM. No one woke up this morning and said, “Damn, I wish there was a way to do less with my books, movies and music.”"
He also explains the Creative Commons license concept and how giving away e-books increases his sales.
His latest book, Little Brother is about teens dealing with the surveillance society and Big Brother.
There is an interview with him from July at Free Talk Live where some disagreements come up with the libertarian hosts.
Law professor Lawrence Lessig warns that there is a liberty-destroying Internet "PATRIOT Act" sitting on the shelf waiting for an Internet version of "911" (between 3 min 50s and 5 min 55s during the video). Other discussions touch on government control of the radio spectrum and Intellectual Property.
"After a year-long investigation, the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission has rejected a complaint by the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant over his republication of the Danish Muhammad cartoons.
"...What is certain is that this complaint, and others like it, have roused a broad contingent of free speech advocates to whom the bombastic Mr. Levant is a champion."
"It's precisely because of all of the above that Bush concocted his kangaroo courts, avoiding both the civilian courts and the military courts martial, both of which would have ensured due process.
""It all stems from the administration's decision to endorse torture," says Jameel Jaffer, a Canadian who directs the American Civil Liberties Union's national security project."
