Friday, June 25, 2010

Democracy in Action - Canadian Version


I'm sure we're all sleeping better at night knowing that the police for the G8 & G20 Summits currently taking place in Ontario, Canada are doing their job in protecting Demz Wot Rulez Us from us heathens, peons and the Great Unwashed.

You see they've been given special powers.

My favourite bit is this:


'The public has nothing to fear with this legislation and the way the police will use this legislation. It really comes down to a case of common sense and officer discretion.'— Sgt. Tim Burrows of the G8/G20 Integrated Security Unit


No, sorry, it is this:

The regulation also says that if someone has a dispute with an officer and it goes to court "the police officer's statement under oath is considered conclusive evidence under the Act."

Read more

All of this hoopla and police power is costing Canada 1 Billion Dollars.

Remember don't go out there with a peaceful placard of protest, police officers can say you were armed to the teeth and they had to shoot your legs off and they'd be believed.

And oh yeah, if they take a dislike to you they can just burst your ear drums with the sound cannon:


Read more about that here.

11 comments:

  1. 'When constabularly duty is to be done a policeman's lot is not a happy one.' I think old Gil and Sully had it right.

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  2. The husband and I were mulling over that bit about a cop's statement under oath being considered conclusive evidence, and we came to the conclusion that it was a bit of very sneaky forethought.

    Say you or I decide we're going down to the barricades to bear witness for democracy or even to watch the fun, and a cop demands to know our seed, breed and generation. In the name of civil liberty, and with the idea of making a case for our right to be there, we tell him to fuck off, it's none of his business, hoping to have our day in court and protect a fundamental right.

    But he's been flown in from some remote outpost of the dominion, drawn by the prospect of earning tons of overtime dosh, and Demz Wot Rulez Us don't want to have to bring him back again to testify during our day in court. Instead, they write in the aforementioned provision, get him to swear a statement, and voila! Case is dismissed and we're SOL.

    If only the powers that be applied the same kind of ingenuity towards getting us out of the financial and environmental messes they've all made, we'd be laughing.

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  3. Oh my!

    You know, in a sane world what they'd really be doing is protecting us - the Great Unwashed, Sundry Partial-Washed snd Squeaky Cleans from Dem Wot Rulez.

    Topsy turvy old world innit?

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  4. Forget all the legal stuff for just one minute...

    Toronto has sound cannons, South Africa has vuvuzelas, and here in Northern Ireland it is the season for Lambeg Drums - whatever happened to the laws on Noise Pollution?
    Now where did I put my earplugs.....

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  5. I must remember not to hold up a placard if I'm in Canada - I might come home in a coffin. Politicians everywhere are getting very antsy about popular protest now their economic belt-tightening is really starting to bite.

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  6. This is actually very similar to the stuff that the previous administration brought in here in Australia.
    Draconian laws and regulations that offended any sense of law, justice or decency, accompanied by the public pacifier that you honest, decent people out there have nothing to fear: this will only catch those who are evil and threatening you.
    An old school friend of mine has lived in Canada for 40 + years. Among the bilious emails she used to send, full of sunsets, puppies, kittens, God, she slipped in a violently racist one, for which she later apologised.
    Unfortunately, being a rather intemperate person, I did not respond in a moderate fashion: she has not emailed me since.
    Isn't that a pity.

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  7. Well, my last sentence really needed a sarcasm alert.

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  8. Oh, my, W3, you guys are getting more like us all the time. And now you have Dubya's twin, good ole Stephen H.

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  9. I saw how the police treated a protester with a relatively small protest sign and I thought it was pretty unvelievable. It was on the news in the Netherlands and no comment was made on it, but I'm sure much was implied. They acted as stupid as American cops do and for a minute I was confused as to which country this was happening in. Did they all get the same reinforcement training?

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  10. Someone has to protect 'Demz Wot Rulez Us' from the effects of their actions on 'us heathens, peons and the Great Unwashed', otherwise we might be tempted to retaliate, and hurt them for a change.

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  11. @GFB:
    And neither is the democratic process!
    @Tessa:
    Methinks we placed our faith and future too eagerly into the hands of Demz. We are paying the price and this is only the beginning.
    Duck and cover.
    @T:
    We will need more and more protection from Demz.
    @GM:
    Apparently, unlike the rest, sound cannons will burst the ear drums.
    @Nick:
    I'm very glad I'm in an outpost of the world.
    @Frances:
    All Canadians are not like your friend and I think you know that! I follow Oz politics and draconian is where Oz and Canada are today. I am ashamed of my country.
    @20CW:
    Alarmingly, Bushlite has a higher IQ which makes his behaviour all the more reprehensible.
    @Nora:
    Our PM is at the extreme end of conservatism - his maternal aid of millions of dollars to Africa forbids abortion and birth control. He is a sickening, misogynistic patriarch of the worst kind and he cloaks it in Xtianity.
    @RJA:
    I sure hope more of us wake up!
    XO
    WWW

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