Online hate speech could be curtailed under new anti-terror push – Politics – CBC News

We need a thoughtful, debated, reasoned approach not a kneejerk reaction. ‘We could not arrest someone for having radical thoughts. It’s not a crime in Canada.” “No law can possibly deter hateful thoughts from those who think them,” “This is a very slippery slope … and is going to have to be dispassionately and reasonably debated.” How ironic that Harper would use this tragic event of a soldier who died guarding a symbol of Canada’s efforts to preserve democracy to pass laws that diminish democracy in Canada.

Online hate speech could be curtailed under new anti-terror push – Politics – CBC News.

HERE COME THE CANADIAN THOUGHT POLICE

“Your words, your thoughts and your beliefs could be made criminal. It seems the Conservatives mean to, once again, seize upon a tragic event to fast-track a potentially unconstitutional law. Canadians are asked to blindly stand by and be stripped of their civil liberties in the interests of security. And they couldn’t even wait a day. We understand well how the rhetoric of terrorism works, it allows governments ‘to exploit the fears of its citizens and ignore objections to the manner in which it responds to terrorist violence.'”

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/10/24/here-come-the-thought-police/

 

LET’S NOT GIVE AWAY WHAT WE’RE FIGHTING TO KEEP

As Harper is and will use this tragic event to push forward his “1984” agenda in “a rushed and ludicrous overreaction – one that will be wildly intrusive, impossible to enforce, that repeats what hate crime laws already prohibit and that would ensnare far more loudmouths than menaces” we have to think and debate long and hard the wisdom of willingly giving up the very rights and freedoms our enemies would forcefully take from us.

Reid: We’ve seen MPs unite, now we need them to be divided | Ottawa Citizen.

YOU ARE BEING TRACKED – LICENSE PLATE SCANNERS

Massive surveillance – license plate scanners.  Did you even know they exist?  Did you have any idea how much police use them on a routine basis?  There is no privacy.  There is no escape.  Big brother is here and he is most definitely watching.

Here’s how they’re being used in Ferguson, Missouri.

https://privacysos.org/node/1565

‘You are being tracked’: How cities use licence-plate scanners to create vast databases of vehicle sightings | National Post.

LET’S NOT THROW AWAY OUR RIGHTS TO PRIVACY

In light of yesterday’s attack on our military and parliamentary institution, we have to be very careful to discern and exercise discretion in giving up or forfeiting our constitutional and democratic rights to privacy.  “A bill that lowers the bar for police to conduct digital surveillance and mine the protected online data of Canadians for an expanding number of reasons is disturbing.”  I think it is probably common ground that we are willing to infringe upon the rights of war combatants but let’s not let this recent event lead us all over the precipice like a bunch of lemmings.

EDITORIAL: Online privacy should trump all with feds’ privacy bill C-13 – Saanich News.

FEWER ARRESTS = LOWER CRIME RATE

“Clearly, there are some crimes — again, crimes — that the police just can’t be bothered to take seriously anymore, even though enforcing the law is their only job.” (e.g. possession of marijuana) “Triaging of minor offences might make sense in a country plagued with rampant, serious crimes. But we’ve gone from extremely safe to even safer, in a country where the number of law enforcement officers has been stable. What’s wrong with this picture?”  My theory is that local politicians want their communities to have the lowest crime rates to encourage residential, commercial and industrial development so they encourage the police to make fewer arrests and be more engaged in community involvement instead.

Matt Gurney: If crime is consistently down, why does it sometimes seem that the police can’t be bothered to enforce the law? | National Post.

MONEY vs. JUSTICE

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” but before, when it was cheap to prosecute crime the police and Crown could and did hide all of their evidence from you, even evidence that would prove your innocence, make you wait for 18 months for a trial on bail restrictions if you didn’t plead guilty and didn’t care if you were too poor to afford a lawyer.  Yes, you can do “justice” on the cheap or you can do it right, with fairness, human dignity and respecting constitutional rights.  It’s not the Supreme Court’s fault.  Blame the decision to afford Canadian citizens basic fundamental legal rights.

Canada’s justice costs are soaring while crime rate sinks — and the Supreme Court is to blame: report | National Post.

THE GOING RATE – BLOCK FEES

National Fee Ranges (average, minimum, maximum)

Summary criminal offence (one day trial)    3,264     2,361     5,674
Bail hearing                                                             923        577      1,710
Criminal offence (one day trial)                      3,693     2,957     6,773

Ontario Fee Ranges (average, minimum, maximum)

Summary criminal offence (one day trial)    3,356     2,442     5,769
Bail hearing                                                          1,037         721     2,163
Criminal offence (one day trial)                      3,747      3,146     7,458

(Source: www.canadianlawyermag.com)

THE GOING RATE – HOURLY FEES

“In 2013, hourly rates nationally are $193 for one-year calls; $256 for five-year calls; $310 for 10-year calls; $364 for 20-year calls; and $375 for those called more than 20 years ago.” “More than half (55 per cent) of respondents offered free initial consultations, though the second biggest proportion — 14 per cent — charged between $201 and $300.”

The going rate.