Quebec Police Admit Infiltrating the SPP Protests

The true north strong and infiltrated.

Earlier this week, video of SPP protesters clashing with alleged "infiltrators" at the so-called Security & Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec was made publicly available on YouTube™. Immediate denials of police infiltration were issued by the Surete du Quebec and the RCMP.

The Mounties and the SQ, the two police forces involved in summit security, continued to refuse specific comment on three alleged undercover officers caught on camera in an apparent bid to incite a confrontation.

But they denied using agents to provoke violence.

"I confirm (to) you that there are no agents provocateurs in the Surete du Quebec. . . It doesn't exist in the Surete du Quebec," said Const. Melanie Larouche.

On Thursday, the Surete reversed course and admitted it had infiltrators at the protest:

QUEBEC - Quebec's provincial police acknowledged in a statement Thursday that their agents had infiltrated protesters demonstrating during the recent North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que., but denied that they acted as "agent provocateurs".

"They had the mandate to spot and identify violent demonstrators to avoid the situation from getting out of hand," the Surete du Quebec said in a statement. "The police officers were identified by demonstrators when they refused to throw projectiles."

That last statement is patently false.

Watch the video:

"At no time did the Surete du Quebec police officers act as agents provocateurs or commit criminal acts," the statement adds.

Wrong again.

As the article continues:

The video shows the three black-clad bandana-wearing men being singled out by union organizers and the crowd. Other protesters started pointing at them and crying "police."

One of the three men is seen shoving and swearing at Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, who is angrily confronting the trio, demanding they put down the rocks, remove their bandanas, and identify themselves.

After being backed into a corner against a line of provincial police officers in riot gear, they try to force themselves through the police line and are arrested while the crowd cheers.

I'm sure that once the Surete realized there had been calls for a public inquiry along with escalating requests to have the arrest records of those provocateurs released, it knew the game was over.

The fact that it wasn't enough for summit security to insultingly create "free speech zones" out of the site of Bush, Calderon, and Harper and that a court decided to issue a "compromise" aka "Protest TV" which was supposed to comfort protesters by mandating that TV sets in the Chateau would broadcast video of the protests for the leaders to watch if they chose to shows just how much our speech is being stifled in this country. Our arrogant leaders even refused to allow the delivery of opposition petitions at the summit, treating citizens as mere hysterical peasants.

During the final SPP press conference, Bush joked about so-called "conspiracy theories" about the summit (and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux echoed that slur). What, exactly, is the public supposed to think when North American leaders meet behind closed doors with 30 corporate CEOs and refuse to openly inform the public about the content of those meetings? That's the issue - the secrecy - along with the fact that business and political leaders are setting policy about the future of North America without any input from the citizens.

That's not democracy.

You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to demand transparency and to know something is wrong when it isn't provided.

Related: For more information about the history of the SPP concerns, visit the site of the Council of Canadians.

Watch the CBC news story about the Surete's admission of police infiltration:



Update: Our so-called Public Safety minister is clueless and in denial (as usual). (h/t penlan)

This really could be a Monty Python skit:

Public Security Minister Stockwell Day continued to brush of questions about a call for a public inquiry, saying in Vancouver that those with complaints can make a formal complaint.

"The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three people in question were spotted by protesters because [sic] were not engaging in violence," Mr. Day said.

"They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the irony of this," Mr. Day said.

Mr. Day added the actions were substantiated by the video that he has seen of the protests.

"Because they were not engaging in violence, it was noted that they were probably not protesters. I think that's a bit of an indictment against the violent protesters," Mr. Day said.

 

A PR Stumble by Harper

You would think that Steve would be extremely careful about how he talks about Canada's Afghanistan war casualties, considering that he seems to think his government just has a "communications" problem (ie. the propaganda just isn't working) when it comes to boosting support for the war. (It's a bit more complicated than that, Steve.)

But today, during his SPP press conference with Bush and Calderon, when Harper was asked about the war he made reference to Pte. Simon Longtin "the first member of Quebec's Van Doos regiment to be killed in Afghanistan" and said, "I note the death obviously...of a...of a Canadian soldier...Longtin, I think was the name". (G & M video at the 45:18 mark)

Frankly, if I was a Longtin family member, friend or military colleague, I would be personally offended that our prime minister would be so blasé about his name. Add to that the massive opposition to the war in Quebec and the fact that Steve is now trying to do whatever he can to gain support in that province and those 5 words speak volumes about his detached attitude. There's simply no excuse for not being sure about the name of a Quebecois soldier who just lost his life in this war that Harper and his cronies continue to pimp.
 

Write Your Own Caption

Bush: Damn these buttons are hard to do up. I wish Karl was here.

Steve: Just do it like I showed you, George.

Photo credit: Reuters

SPP Summit News Roundup

The G&M: White House plays down summit expectations

Nothing to see here, folks. Trust us. We know what we're doing.

Right.

And here's what Steve thinks about the democratic right to protest:

Asked about the protests against the summit, Mr. Harper told reporters as he greeted Mr. Bush, "I heard it's nothing," then added. "It's sad."

That didn't stop him from acting like a huge chickenshit though:

Mr. Harper was accompanied in the cavalcade of carts by security personnel and members of his staff, some hanging on for dear life as the tiny vehicles whipped their way up the hotel's main drive.

The Star: Bush arrives for summit

Harper greeted the tanned president outside the majestic Chateau Montebello resort as he arrived here for the start of the North American leaders’ summit.

“Geez, you’ve got a small army with you there,” quipped Harper as he clapped Bush on the shoulder and shook his hand.

“Yeah,” said Bush. “Sorry I’m late. Beautiful place here.”

The two exchanged handshakes, and as a reporter asked Bush whether he had seen the protests, he glanced over his shoulder and grinned.

The obnoxious boy king grin, no doubt.

And yes, there are some "anarchist" type protesters in the vicinity - which hardly explains Bush's need for a "small army".

As for the agenda and why people are protesting:

One common complaint echoed by all is the secrecy surrounding the meeting.

A group of powerful business executives has been invited to make a closed-door presentation Tuesday at the summit on changes they believe the continent needs. No such invitation was extended to scientists, environmentalists, or other social activists.

Welcome to Corporate North America™ where that pesky democracy thing is just an annoying sideshow.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians said people shouldn’t be fooled about who really sets the agenda at these summits: the 30 business leaders who sit on the North American Competitiveness Council.

The group comprises leaders from 10 companies in each country and includes corporations like Wal-Mart, General Electric and weapons-maker Lockheed Martin. They advise the three national governments on facilitating trade.

Barlow called for a moratorium on the “profoundly anti-democratic” North American Security and Prosperity Partnership until the citizens of all three countries are consulted and their elected representatives are given oversight over the business-driven initiative.

Flanked by U.S and Mexican opponents of the scheme and Canadian labour activists, Barlow told a news conference Monday that big business is trying to create a competitive North American trade bloc.

“And for this they need regulatory, resource, labour and environmental convergence to the lowest common standards,” she said, predicting that it will ultimately include a common passport, common currency and free trade in resources, including oil, gas and water.

“This is not about security for people, social security, security for the poor, environmental security or job security. This is about security for the big corporations for North America.”

And you definitely can't count of the Liberal or Democratic parties to seriously oppose the corporate regime. They're too beholden to corporate money and lobby groups.

This is what our so-called leaders think about the voices of the people:

Harper refuses to receive SPP petitions at Leaders Summit in Montebello

Ottawa – The RCMP has been informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs that the delivery of a petition to the Leaders Summit in Montebello, which was signed by more than 10,000 Canadians across the country, will be prohibited.

The RCMP had previously told the Council of Canadians that the petitions could be delivered just outside the gates of the Chateau Montebello, which is being heavily guarded by Canadian and American security forces.

“This is clearly not a security concern but a political prohibition,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “This is yet another strong message from the Conservative government that they are not willing to hear the concerns of Canadians on the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”

Once again, the RCMP is doing the political bidding of the Conservative party/ Canadian government.

If you're not concerned about what's going on in Montebello, you need to be.

Do you want to live in a corporate state or a truly democratic state?
 

'Protest TV'

Protest TV via the Globe & Mail:

OTTAWA -- When the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico meet in the fortress-like Château Montebello next week, TV monitors inside the hotel will allow them to tune in or tune out live images of the protests raging behind the fences on the outside, government officials said yesterday.

As they discuss economic and security issues, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon will see live shots of demonstrators condemning their gathering - and maybe even burning them in effigy.

Wishful thinking on Daniel Leblanc's part. Those leaders won't see anything that they don't want to and the last thing they deem important is to actually listen to the protestations of the rabble. They must keep themselves insulated at all costs just in case reality might rear its ugly head and burst their power bubbles.

I'll tell you what: why don't we get a court order to get a live feed from inside the Chateau broadcasting exactly what's going on in these secretive meetings? Or is that just too much democracy for those guys to handle?

Related: For more information about the so-called Security & Prosperity Partnership, visit the Council of Canadians site. As they say "Integrate This!"
 

Random News & Views Roundup

- There's a good article in Adbusters about North American integration aka the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) – a plan critics have called “NAFTA on steroids.”" Check it out.

- If you're a fan of Dahr Jamil's MidEast Dispatches - real, unembedded reporting from Iraq - or even if you've never heard of him, you should listen to his interview on antiwar.com radio. Describing Baghdad as "hell" really is an understatement considering what's really going on there.

- Rice insists that Cheney backs diplomacy with Iran.

Rice was responding to remarks by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. ElBaradei had told BBC Radio that the world risked a war in Iran because of "new crazies who say, 'Let's go and bomb Iran.' "

Asked who the "new crazies" were, ElBaradei replied, "Those who have extreme views and say the only solution is to impose your will by force."

Cheney, a major advocate of war with Iraq, is regarded as a hawk on Iran and recently made a tough speech denouncing the Islamic republic from the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

Who do you trust? Rice or ElBaradei?

Here's Cheney's definition of "diplomacy":

BRUSSELS, May 11 — Vice President Dick Cheney used the deck of an American aircraft carrier just 150 miles off Iran’s coast as the backdrop today to warn the country that the United States was prepared to use its naval power to keep Tehran from disrupting off oil routes or “gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region.”

By the way, Dahr Jamail also addresses the US policy towards Iran in the above linked radio interview.

- The video of heavy artillery fire and tanks storming the Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon on Friday is extremely depressing.

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Advancing under a blanket of artillery and tank fire, Lebanese troops overran positions held by al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp on Friday and 19 people were killed.

Artillery and machinegun fire shook Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon from early morning to well into the night. At times shells exploded at a rate of 10 a minute.

Security sources said at least 16 people were killed inside the camp, as well as three soldiers, after the fiercest fighting in two weeks.
[...]
At least 84 people -- 35 soldiers, 29 militants and 20 civilians -- had been killed before Friday.
[...]
More than 25,000 of Nahr al-Bared's 40,000 Palestinians have fled to the smaller Beddawi camp nearby.

Isn't there already enough death and destruction? Those Lebanese weapons are, of course, happily provided by the US government in this proxy war against Syria.

- Whose bright idea was this?"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. architectural firm posted drawings of the new U.S. Embassy being built in Baghdad on its Web site, prompting complaints from U.S. officials on Friday that their release could endanger U.S. personnel.

- How is Iraq's oil money, which is supposed to benefit the Iraqi people, being spent?

UNITED NATIONS -- More than four years after the fall of Baghdad, the United Nations is spending millions of dollars in Iraqi oil money to continue the hunt for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

I should add that while the Bush administration is critical of the work this UN team is doing, it (obviously) has no moral high ground to stand on whatsoever (about anything) when it comes to complaining about money being wasted in Iraq. After all, they've sent billions of dollars in cash to Iraq via pallets on airplanes and lost some $8.8 billion in the process. It just really is all quite insane, isn't it?

- Canada is so special that it shouldn't have to do what other G8 countries do when it comes to dealing with that global warming stuff.

Liberal MP David McGuinty called Harper's plea for special consideration "theatre of the absurd."

"I've been doing this for 20 years and I have never heard anything as absurd – on the international diplomatic level, on this international environmental issue – anything as absurd as this. Ever.

"(Other countries) tell us they're paying the price and biting the bullet, and working feverishly hard to achieve their Kyoto targets. But they're not going out to the world and saying, 'We're special! We're sooo special!' "

Be prepared to be ridiculed by your government at yet another international meeting. You can start cringing and hiding under your desks now.