Our Russian Spy and Sagging Pants

WHAT IS IMPORTANT THIS WEEK

(so many things, so little substance - in no particular order)                                         

1) In a shocking turn of events, Manitoba is in for another six weeks of winter. Manitoba Merv, a golf club cover, acting as a groundhog hand-puppet who  resides at Oak Hammock Marsh, interrupted his slumber Saturday morning and was able to see his shadow, despite suffering from the handicap of being an inanimate object. We have to use a puppet because our live groundhogs hibernate and don't talk.

2) The Canadian penny becomes history on Feb. 4th as part of Canada's Economic Action Plan in its own web site and Department of Finance Canada Eliminating the Penny Web portal.  As Canada's Minister of Finance explained it, "The penny is a currency without any currency,” and they “take up too much space on our dressers at home” and take up “far too much time for small businesses trying to grow and create jobs.” It is always nice to have a clearly thought out explanation.

4) The Ikea monkey continues to be a regular news item (appearing in Saturday's Winnipeg Free Press). The Idle No More movement did not make it into our Saturday paper although it did make CBC news on Jan 28 with its demonstrations nationwide to mark the sitting of Parliament. Again, the monkey wins.

4) Canada is slowly reacting to the "Sagging Pants" syndrome appearing in society and schools. Obama's reaction in 2008 to the anti-sagging-pants ordinances being suggested in several states at that time was, as are most of his responses, very common sense and honest:

     "Here's my attitude: I think passing a law about people wearing sagging pants is a waste of time . . . There are some issues that we face that you don't have to pass a law [against], but that doesn't mean folks can't have some sense and some respect for other people. And, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear — I'm one of them."
     In 2009, county judge Laura Johnson in USA ruled that the ban was unconstitutional, and that the baggy pants trend is protected by "freedom of choice and liberties guaranteed under the 14th Amendment".

    I was frequently reminded of saggy pants a couple of weeks ago when I was in New Orleans (now often referred to as "NOLA"). I accidentally discovered a fellow with a short shirt and sagging pants which answered my recurring question of, "how can they stay up?" I had been thinking of Velcro, but it turns out that there are pant garters available at a reasonable cost. And it leaves your hands free for other activities other than holding your pants up.

CANADA ACTS TO DEAL WITH A RUSSIAN SPY
(after six years)

       Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle first came to the attention of the RCMP in a letter from the FBI

 in the United States on Dec. 2, 2011. It is now Feb 2013 and he has pleaded guilty in a Halifax court to breach of trust and two counts of passing information to a foreign entity between July 2007 and Jan. 13, 2011. His two-day sentencing hearing began Jan. 31, 2013

    

     When the FBI tipped off the Mounties, Delisle was the threat assessment officer for the Canadian navy based in Trinity on the East Coast. His job came with a Level 3 top secret security classification — the second highest possible — that gave him access to secret information gathered by the CIA, the FBI, CSIS, and British, Australian and New Zealand intelligence services.

    But the warrants show that Delisle's top secret security clearance had lapsed before he was transferred to Trinity in August 2011. The transfer came after Delisle was promoted to an officer, giving him access to more classified material. "Jeffrey Delisle's security clearance is Level 3 — TOP SECRET and is currently being updated. The last information request made to approve this clearance was completed on March 22, 2006," the warrants state.

    The Defence Department has confirmed to CBC that Level 3 security classifications are supposed to be updated every five years. Delisle's should have undergone the rigorous security process in March 2011, five months before he moved to Trinity. 

    But that check never happened, and the warrants don't explain why.

 A brief TIME LINE of relevant events

2006 - Delisle begins working at the chief of defence intelligence office in Ottawa.

2007 - Delisle starts a stint at the strategic joint staff division in Ottawa.
        - July 6 according to the RCMP, Delisle first breaches a trust or communicates safeguarded 

           information. The Mounties have yet to elaborate on the details of this breach.
        - Delisle was working on a system called the Stone Ghost, said CBC reporter Rob Gordon,

          who  reviewed court documents related to the case. "It's a computer system that links the 
          five eyes".

          The five eyes are the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

          All their information is shared on the "Stone Ghost" computer.

       - He would go to work every time with a thumb drive and download reams of information,

          which he would then make available to the Russians on a monthly basis by copying
          information onto a common email account as a "draft" which the Russians would log onto
         and then read.
          There were no email records because no emails were sent - just read as "draft". 

2011 August - Delisle joins HMCS Trinity, an intelligence facility at the naval dockyard in Halifax

          that tracks vessels entering and exiting Canadian waters via satellites, drones and
          underwater devices. The centre is a multinational base with access to secret data from
          NATO countries.

        December - Delisle's house is raided as part of the investigation by the military and the RCMP.
2012 Jan. 13 - According to the RCMP, this is the date that Delisle last breached a trust or
         communicated safeguarded information.
         Jan. 14-15 - Delisle is arrested by the RCMP.  He is charged with breach of trust and
         communicating safeguarded information to a foreign entity without lawful authority. Delisle is
         the first person charged under Section 16(1) of the Security of Information Act.
         Jan. 23- The military evacuates HMCS Trinity in order to search the naval communications
         and surveillance centre for evidence of espionage or devices meant to leak information to the
        outside. In a separate development, Delisle’s lawyer, Cameron MacKeen, quits the case. He
        does not explain why, or whether his ties to the Conservative Party and Peter MacKay
        influenced his decision. Delisle retains his new lawyer, Mike Taylor, on Feb. 27.
 2012 Oct. 10 -In a surprise move, Delisle pleaded guilty to all three charges. His two-day
          sentencing hearing begins Jan. 31, 2013.
2013 Jan. 31 -Deslisle's sentencing hearing will begin in a Nova Scotia provincial court.
         The Security of Information Act lays out an array of breaches, ranging from threatening the
         safety of the Forces to selling software and the technical details of operations. The Criminal
         Code charge can net a five-year prison sentence, and convictions under the Security of
         Information  Act can lead to life in prison.

*************************

Canada's Debt VS Deficit

      Canada’s Finance Minister (Flaherty) recently said that our Federal yearly budget (deficit) will not be "balanced" until 2016-17. That just means we will not be increasing the debt after that date.  

      The Prime Minister contradicted him three days later and reaffirmed the government's plan ". . . . to  balance the budget prior to the next federal election (2015)." They disagree by only a year or two of increases to the debt.

     The following updating "clock" shows the TOTAL debt that Canada has accumulated to date. Our children can pay it off some day. Reducing the yearly DEFICIT by adding to the DEBT may make good sound bites but it doesn't change reality. The following updating "clock"  can be downloaded from Taxpayer.com.

.

 GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN CANADA

1) University of Waterloo student team earned the title of this year’s Facebook hackathons Champions over teams from U.S, Canada , Brazil, and Ukraine. It isn't really "hacking". It is more of an APP for finding  groups of your :friends.

2) Maybe it is not a big deal, but the Parti Quebecois (Quebec provincial party) has approved having the Canadian Maple leaf flag fly beside the Quebec Fleur de Lis in their National Assembly. For the party devoted to the separation of Quebec this is a major concession. The fact that a recent poll showed 57% of Quebecois had strong positive feelings for the Maple Leaf flag.

3) Somewhat related to the above, an online survey of 2,287 Canadians found that just 55 per cent are very or somewhat satisfied with the way democracy works in this country. That’s sharply down from the 75 per cent who expressed satisfaction in response to an identical question in 2004.

"Atypical" Canadian Happenings

1) National Chief Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations opened a three-day strategy session for First Nations leaders from across Canada with a call for unity in a "shared struggle" for change.

Some of the chiefs went to Parliament Hill, where MP's were to begin voting on the government's second omnibus budget implementation bill. A brief scuffle ensued after security guards stepped in to prevent some of the chiefs and First Nations members from trying to enter the House of Commons.

2) And speaking of scuffles, near the end of the session Wednesday, Peter Van Loan, the government's House Leader, crossed the floor of the Commons to confront his NPD counterpart, Nathan Cullen. Microphones were shut off but tape recorders showed "in-the-face" shaking of fingers complete with use of "f***" words. It was on the way to becoming more typical of a hockey game than the Canadian Parliament when the combatants were physically separated. Not typical of the staid old Canada I used to know.

Why We Need The USA

1) The XL Foods plant was at the centre of an E. coli outbreak in September that led to the largest meat recall in Canadian history. The contamination was discovered by US border inspectors who notified the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Sept 3rd.
    Until Sept 16th the Canadian government continued to say publicly that the meet was safe. On Sept 16th CFIA sent out its first alert warning with recalls continuing to increase past Nov.16th.  Check the timeline.

2) The RCMP opened an investigation into the spy activities of Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, a Halifax navy intelligence officer, several months after it received a letter from the FBI notifying them of the possible security breach. The RCMP investigation began only after Delisle voluntary turned himself in as a spy for Russia.