Saturday, September 07, 2013

Wendy Butler, President of the Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta, please call your office.

Because there may be a message for you from Team Justin and Liberal HQ.




What a piece of work.

But this is not the first time Wendy has shown her 'liberal tolerance'.













Remember this is the president of the Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta!


And there are more where that came from, actually her twitter feed is filled with hate and intolerance, but you get the idea.

Let's hope that her phone is indeed ringing and that Justin 'doing politics different' Trudeau does the correct thing and rids the Liberal Party of types like this because she is doing her party the opposite of proud.

Friday, September 06, 2013

What happened in High River is going to end badly for someone within the RCMP.

In a letter to Alberta's official opposition Wildrose Party, an official with the RCMP says officers did what they felt was necessary but "did not take operational direction from any elected officials or public service employees to enter in private homes"  (link)

Read that last part again: The RCMP "did not take operational direction from any elected officials or public service employees to enter in private homes"

That is quite the admission. The RCMP entered locked private homes without a warrant and seized personal property ( This is not about guns. The property seized, had it been computers or even vacuum cleaners, is irrelevant) on their own without direction from any elected official or public service employee.

Unfortunately for the RCMP the only law in Alberta that would allow them or anyone else to undertake such extraordinary actions is the Alberta Emergency Management Act (AEMA  (read the entire act for yourself) and the act very clearly states that such actions must be authorized by someone who is an "elected official or public service employee."*

Powers of Minister in emergency:
19(1) On the making of the declaration and for the duration of the
state of emergency, the Minister may do all acts and take all
necessary proceedings including the following:
h) authorize the entry into any building or on any land,
without warrant, by any person in the course of
implementing an emergency plan or program;

c) acquire or utilize any real or personal property considered
necessary to prevent, combat or

alleviate the effects of an

emergency or disaster;


It reads 'the Minister may authorize' something, not 'the Minister automatically does authorize'. There are no extraordinary powers given directly to the police anywhere in the act and in fact the word "police" is nowhere to be found in the act, and any such powers available to the police require that the Minister authorize their use. Without that authorization, there are no special powers. Also note that it says 'any person'. The Minister may authorize, the fire dept, the postman or even his crazy Uncle to do any of those things listed in sec 19 as he (they) deem necessary, it does not have to be the police and in fact there are very good reasons why the word 'police' was omitted from the AEMA and why they were not given any specific powers.


Note also that in the AEMA is the requirement for a paper trail which it seems the RCMP do not have.

Proof of authorization
 
If the Minister authorizes a person to carry out a power or duty
of the Minister under this Act as the Minister responsible for this
Act or as a local authority and the authorization
(a) is made in writing,
(b) purports to be signed by the Minister responsible for the
Municipal Government Act
or the Minister responsible for
the Special Areas Act, and
(c) states that the person named in it is authorized under this
section to carry out the power or duty set out in the
written authorization,
that written authorization or a copy of it shall be admitted in
evidence as proof, in the absence
of evidence to the contrary, of
that person’s authorization to carry out the power or duty without
proof of the signature or official character of the Minister.
RSA 2000 cD-13 s3;2007 c12 s4;2010 c5 s2

It is this simple. Warrantless entry and property seizures require written authorization and either that written authorization from someone who is allowed to do so exists or it does not exist. If it does, let's see it.


Somebody screwed up big here and while many want to blame the Redford government for this, it appears that the RCMP are responsible for the mess in High River and I suspect that it will not end well for somebody in the force. Heads will roll.


Not that the Redford government has much to be proud of on this file by having this happen under their watch and now by desperately trying to downplay the entire gun grab and divert attention away from themselves by claiming the opposition are playing politics and scare mongering. Redford's bizarre attempt in the face of facts to create an alternative reality and Minister Doug Griffiths use of the F-bomb yesterday show just how worried the PCs are about this issue and unfortunately also shows that they would rather continue play political games by downplaying the incident and dismiss the legitimate concerns of Albertans all to protect their own skins. There is little in their actions to date to be proud of and even though the RCMP look to be at fault here, the attempt by the PC's to make this political rather than worrying about possible breaches of law against the people of High River doesn't make them look any better than the RCMP here.






*The act reads "the Minister" but in the case of a local declaration of emergency as was the case in High River (the local state of emergency was declared in High River on June 19, 2013 at 7:04AM) the 'local authority' in this case the mayor and council have the same authority as the Minister with regards to authorizing the extraordinary powers listed in section 19.

 

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Alison Redford's alternate reality on the High River gun grab should concern us all.

Undisputed Facts: The RCMP forced their way into locked homes in High River Alberta during the recent  flood causing various amounts of property damage to those homes in the process. According to the RCMP themselves: "there were about 1,900 reports of damage caused by entry during the flood."

But in-spite of these well documented and undisputed facts, Premier Alison Redford has come out with an alternate reality from what did happen in High River, and is claiming that she was unaware of any property damage that was caused by the RCMP forcing entry into hundreds(?) of locked homes.

Alison Redford: “The leader of the Opposition has to stop sensationalizing these issues. Seizure of guns and destruction of property? So we now have the leader of the Opposition saying that the RCMP destroyed property during what was the worst natural disaster in Alberta’s history?

"I don't buy that. I think it’s about time the Opposition, including the leader of the Opposition, tried to come up with some forward-thinking solutions instead of preying on people’s fears and frustrations, because that’s not how we build Alberta.”

----------------
Wow, there is so much here that I don't know where to begin so let me get to the point.

That statement from Alison Redford was nothing other that a pile of Baranski inspired political bullshit! 100% partisan political theater with the added bonus (lucky us) of treating the electorate as idiots by having Premier Redford lie to our faces.

A bit harsh?

Ask yourself these questions:

How is this even possible?  How can it be that the Premier of Alberta is unaware that the RCMP destroyed property, intentional or not, while entering locked dwellings?

It isn't possible. Alison Redford is not incompetent and not an idiot, she is not living in an alternate reality and she has not lost her mind nor was it taken over aliens. She knows.

Is there a single person aside from Premier Redford who believes that no property damage occurred as a direct result of the RCMPs actions in High River?  Anyone?

There are none. Property damage happened and has been well covered and documented. The Premier knows this as well.

So with all of this do you really think the Premier believes this?

She doesn't.

It was a calculated lie wrapped up in a partisan attack on the Wildrose with Redford playing politics with the floods by trying to scare Albertans away from 'team angry' (Wildrose) by saying they are playing politics with the flood and expecting YOU to 'buy it' just because she said it.

This isn't fiction. This isn't an alternate reality. This is how the Premier and the PC party play politics in Alberta. I would say that is is a new low but after you use kids for partisan props and lie to them, there is absolutely nothing that you will not lie about or anyone you won't lie to for partisan gain.
 
This does concern me and I hope it does you, and to borrow a phrase: this is not how we should be 'building Alberta'.

We deserve better that this.