Watch This Video To See What's Wrong With Canada's Foreign Investment Review Policy

This video, from Michael Moore's website, shows the social and economic devastation that will result from the decision by Brazilian-owned Vale to close its nickel and smelter refinery in Thompson Manitoba in 2015.

After receiving approval to buy Inco, the mine's previous owner, in 2006, and after receiving a $1 billion loan from the Harper Government last fall with the promise of increasing jobs, Vale has shown what kind of corporate citizen it is upon announcing this closure, which will result in upwards of 500 job losses.

This is the most recent in a series of disastrous decisions made by Investment Canada and Industry Minister Tony Clement, and mirrors the action taken by U.S. Steel in closing its Hamilton operations shortly after being given the green light to take over the former Steel Company of Canada.

Isn't it strange that it takes a foreign national, Michael Moore, to publicize what we Canadians should all be outraged about?

Police Response to Criticism? The Best Defence is an Offence (to all of us)

Yesterday I wrote an entry detailing the frustrations of Ian Scott, head of the Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, over his inability to get the cooperation of the majority of police forces when investigating allegations of police misconduct. Today, The Star reports on the strategy these forces use to combat such criticism.

Here is an excerpt from that story:

The association representing 33,000 front-line police officers in Ontario has accused the head of the province’s police watchdog of “destroying public confidence in the criminal justice system” with a “bias against police officers.”

In a letter of complaint to the body that regulates lawyers, the Police Association of Ontario says that Special Investigations Unit boss Ian Scott, a lawyer, committed professional misconduct by telling the Star in an interview that officers being investigated for alleged crimes “get all kinds of breaks in the (criminal justice) system.”

The Law Society quickly dismissed the December 2010 complaint without an investigation, telling the Police Association there is “insufficient evidence” of misconduct to warrant even a request for a probe.

The most ironic part of the complaint made by the police against the SIU head is found in the first paragraph, accusing Scott of destroying public confidence in the criminal justice system by his assertion that police officers are not held to the same high standard when being investigated for alleged crimes.

I agree that public confidence is being undermined, but not by the SIU. It is the refusal of the police themselves to cooperate with investigations, their refusal to bring wrongdoing of fellow officers to light (e.g., exactly how many have been charged in the G20 fiasco?), and the refusal of the police chiefs in charge of them to do anything to try to alter the 'brotherhood of the badge' mentality that appears to allow corruption and abuse of authority to exist and spread.

But then again, I'm sure, in their complaint to the Law Society of Upper Canada, that they were aware of how effective 'shooting the messenger' can be.

And The Beat(ing) Goes On

I couldn't help but think of that old Sonny and Cher song this morning as I read in The Star about the inability of the SIU to do its job thanks to the refusal of the majority of Ontario police forces to co-operate with its investigations. At a time when citizen cynicism about the police is pervasive, a cynicism exacerbated by the many videos depicting police brutality and violation of Charter Rights during last summer's G20 Summit in Toronto, one could be forgiven for thinking that our security forces would be eager to rehabilitate their image, but such is not the case.

In the article, SIU head Ian Scott says that with the exception of the Hamilton and York forces and smaller services like South Simcoe, it is routine for police to refuse to co-operate with the SIU, even in the most serious of cases. Consider the following:

In a letter dated May 5, 2010, Scott questions why a police force waited to notify the SIU until an official medical report confirmed the severity of the injury to a civilian's head. The SIU director suggests to the police chief that it should have been immediately obvious, because “when the paramedics arrived, (the man)'s head was sitting in a pool of blood and (he) initially appeared unconscious. He was placed on a spine board and transported from the scene to the local hospital.”

In one case, an officer not responding to a call and with no emergency lights on was driving 74 km/h in a 50-km/h zone and struck a cyclist that ran a stop sign.

The civilian was propelled into the air, and the impact broke his skull and bones in his back, chest and neck. The cyclist was also scalped. Scott wrote that while the officer's speed did not justify a dangerous driving criminal charge, “the subject officer was exceeding the speed limit at the point of impact by 24 km/h and according to the accident reconstructionist could have avoided the accident but for his rate of speed ... I leave issues of charges under the Highway Traffic Act to your police service.”

In several other cases, Scott told the police force that witness officers, who are required to talk to the SIU, refused to answer questions; in a few cases, Scott said he would be “happy” to supply police with tape-recorded evidence of the refusals, and in one case he bluntly asked a force to charge two officers with neglect of duty. In another, involving the broken jaw of a civilian, the dispirited director said that he had already tried to address the issue with the police force but never got a reply.

Until the police drop this 'brotherhood of the badge' mentality, they can expect to continue to be looked upon with quite justifiable suspicion and distrust.

G20 Special on The Fifth Estate

Just a brief post to provide a link to the preview of a Fifth Estate program this Friday (February 25th) showing people's eyewitness videos of police violence during the summit.

Paul Krugman and the Wisconsin Attack on Unions

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has some interesting insights on Wisconsin's attempts to strip the collective bargaining rights of public service unions. He sees it as an effort by the American oligarchs to destroy what little opposition is left to their assuming complete control, not only of the economy through tax policies that favour the rich, but also of the entire political agenda. Much of what Krugman says, I believe, has direct application to the Canadian scene now under the control and sway of a right-wing administration that has shown little respect for opposing views during its five years in power.

Something New from Michael Moore - A High School Newspaper

I recently received an email from Michael Moore's website describing a very interesting and timely addition: a high school newspaper, edited by Moore's 17-year-old niece, soliciting the input of young people on a wealth of issues. While the stereotype of teenagers suggests that they are simply shallow and self-absorbed, I suspect the content in this paper will demonstrate otherwise.

Access to Information and the Health of Democracies

In getting caught up on my reading of the Saturday Star this morning, I came across a column by Katy English entitled, English: Words can change the world. Referring to the recent upheavals in the Middle East, she reflects upon the vial role that access to information plays in a healthy and democratic society. While she shows restraint in making comparisons with Canada, I couldn't help but juxtapose the Middle East restrictions on information she discusses with our own limited access to information that has become something of a fetish for the Harper Government.

Whether we are talking about Afghan detainee documents, spending estimates for government bills, political ads that seek to inspire fear and loathing of 'the other,' or answers to questions about CIDA funding, we, and the people we elect to represent in Parliament, are being treated with the same contempt shown by Middle East despots who have been doing everything in their power to keep the people under their oppressive dictates.