I’m a frequent reader yet rare poster. I like the real discussions that happen here.
Substance to this? Or are the crazy comments that characterize major Canadian media forums correct?..It’s just CSIS trying to drum up more funding? Coincidence that this came out right before the G8/G20 and its 1 billion dollar security bill?
Full disclosure…I’m a pretty solid centre guy who would normally go with the above. Except I’ve spent quite a few years in China both working, studying
and observing…and this is straight from their play-book. Furthermore, I’m also from an area of Canada that is resource-rich, yet would sell their children on the promise of more jobs and $$$. This area is also run by C-List municipal and provincial politicians who are fond of making ‘trade’ trips to China on a regular basis. These kind of guys are ripe for a hong bao and a night full of KTV and massages.
Maybe I’m crazy…but the online buzz (I know, not the best gauge) seems to be rather cynical about the whole issue. I would have expected more citizen concern and less apathy over elected officials being honeyed for foreign interests…there seems to be piles of interest when a domestic interest gets in bed with the politicians (see MP Rahim Jaffer)
I wonder if the timing is connected to that Air India inquiry that just finished. Along comes CSIS to point out some obvious criminal behaviour that the RCMP should have taken care of a long time ago.
If there are violations of the Criminal Code sections relating to espionage, et cetera then we should be learning about it through arrests, not through speculation from CSIS. But CSIS would rather win a pissing contest with the RCMP than actually help them out for a change. It’s much more fun to kick the RCMP when they’re down (the Taser inquiry isn’t being kind to the Mounties either) and CSIS still has a lot to answer for in how they handled the whole Air India investigation.
I dunno. It sounds like normal politics to me. And by that I mean of course there are going to be foreign countries who want to influence domestic politicians and press their agenda. In fact it sounds like a script from “Yes, Prime Minister.”
That’s a good point, and CSIS hasn’t had a very good track record over the past decade (same could be said for the RCMP) but if they were concerned about polishing up their reputation, it doesn’t seem to be a very good play.
My only prediction here is that if the politicians in question are liberals or NDP, the left in Canada will claim that this is all a Harper government plot to damage the left, and conservatives will claim that it shows how bankrupt and corrupt the Liberals still are. On the other hand, if these are conservative politicians, the left will claim that it shows how incompetent Harper is and how corrupt the Conservatives are, and Conservatives will claim that it shows that CSIS is out of control and working against the interests of the government.
That’s a pretty good prediction, but you missed possibility #3: that no politicians will be named, because it’s a complete load of shit.
Being a former Forces intelligence guy myself, I’m rather confused by the idea that if you actually had something like this you’d blather it to the media before acting on it. That’s more or less precisely the opposite of what you’d want to do.
As there are a non-trivial number of relatively recent immigrants or children of immigrants in politics, I’d be pretty surprised if there weren’t a couple with some significant relationship with their land of origin. Possibly even “under foreign influence” in the sense that they’ll take a call from the Minister of Trade from Country X and take a sympathetic stance. And so? It’s up to the voters to decide whether such a politician is providing too much consideration to Country X. CSIS can go take a flying leap.
If, on the other hand, someone is actually in the pay of a foreign government, I’d rather hope that CSIS would respond in some fashion other than blabbing to the press.
Someone remind me - has CSIS ever done anything right?
I agree with the why blab at all, you follow the source and identify the network and how far it extends. Since all that guy is doing is tainting provincial ministers without naming names, so they are all guilty in BC apparently.
Well, that’s the other problem, too; the old McCarthy trick of “I’ve got a few names here, but oh, I’m not gonna tell ya which ones.” Now every BC politician who isn’t lily-white is going to get the hairy eyeball by our more suspicious citizens.
That could literally be any of the other nine, while the betting person may play Ontario as the favourite, it could equally be Quebec or Alberta.
Between power generation in le belle province and oil in both Alberta, sask and now Newfoundland, the possibilities are not limited.
I’d be shocked if no politician was not on the take to someone, a national entity running a network and grooming lower level pols for a national stage is not that much of a stretch.
There is actually two separate intel agencies, of which csis is the more public. The other one you don’t hear about is GHQ, I could have the initials wrong, but it’s mainly a signint operation sniffing telephone calls and data packets.
By law it’s illegal to spy on domestic soil, so it gets farmed out to the American and British agencies, while Canada returns the favor to circumvent their domestic spying laws, and pooling the take.
Describing CSIS in poor light compared to the keystone cops may be locally accurate, but it keeps our attention on the bumbling fools, while the real work is done by others.
Off hand , Id have to track down where I read it and I am not sure if I am just going to be rehashing second hand stuff that everyone else who follows the trade says.
I believe its true , but evidence or a cite will take a while , if nothing else to say i got nothing.