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Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

ottawacitizen.com

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Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#12
post #8

Not really surprising. The current leader's family has always maintained close personal ties to dictatorships, such as the Castro family. [0] [1] The father even went as far as to "suspend constitutional rights" (apparently that's a thing over there) for dubious reasons back in the 70's. [0] https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-trudeau-familys-love-of-... [1] https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/world/justin-trudeau-castro-…

> "suspend constitutional rights" (apparently that's a thing over there) That's a thing in the US too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_America...

its easier in canada. the charter of rights and freedoms has weasel words in it that make it not absolute. In the US they ignore it, in canada the courts can declare infringements 'reasonable' based on the 'limitations clause'.

>1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

So its basically more of a guideline when it matters.

Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#13
post #8

Not really surprising. The current leader's family has always maintained close personal ties to dictatorships, such as the Castro family. [0] [1] The father even went as far as to "suspend constitutional rights" (apparently that's a thing over there) for dubious reasons back in the 70's. [0] https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-trudeau-familys-love-of-... [1] https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/world/justin-trudeau-castro-…

> "suspend constitutional rights" (apparently that's a thing over there) That's a thing in the US too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_America...

Considering that the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms wasn't even in the constitution until 1982 (and up until then the constitution was controlled by the British parliament), I have no clue what he's on about with it being suspended in the 70s.

Incidentally, that (the charter being put into the constitution and the constitution being put under Canadian control) happened during Pierre Trudeau's term.

There's also the notwithstanding clause in the charter, which allows for the government to temporarily (for up to 5 years, subject to renewal) pass bills violating some of the charter rights so long as they declare they are doing so, but Pierre Trudeau, and Justin Trudeau, and in fact the federal legislature as a whole, have never used it.

Edit: Ah, someone else pointed out that he's talking about Trudeau invoking the war measures act... that didn't implicate any constitutional rights, because there basically weren't any. There was a bill of rights and freedoms at the time, but that was a normal law not constitutional, and apparently exceptions had been passed for the war measures act...

Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#14
> The federal government never asked for the so-called information operations campaign, nor did cabinet authorize the initiative

Plausible deniability. So, yes, sure, the generals decided to do this putting their careers at risk if/when discovered.

And when the civilian government found this out, where was the indignant outrage that we could expect for what was clearly military insubordination?

Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "suspend constitutional rights" (apparently that's a thing over there) That's a thing in the US too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_America...

its easier in canada. the charter of rights and freedoms has weasel words in it that make it not absolute. In the US they ignore it, in canada the courts can declare infringements 'reasonable' based on the 'limitations clause'. >1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a…

> its easier in canada

No, its just explicit in Canada, where in the US it is, for the federal government, found implicitly in the tension between positive grants and negative restrictions in the Constitution, and, for States, the actual limits are only implicit in vague language (the 14th Amendment “Due Process” clause, into which much of the content of the Bill of Rights has been read in a form applicable against the States.)

Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#18

The Wolves of Nova Scotia!

For those that don’t know the reference, the Canadian military was caught a year ago in a slip up while conducting another domestic propaganda mission, a training mission reporting a loose pack of wolves in Nova Scotia.[1]

[1]https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/forged...

Re: Canadian military saw pandemic as opportunity to test propaganda techniques

#19
post #4

> A military investigation determined what the Canadian Forces public affairs leadership was doing was “incompatible with Government of Canada Communications Policy (and the) mission and principles of Public Affairs.” I would hope that deploying the military against your own citizens is against more than just an executive branch policy that can be changed at any moment.

We have investigated ourselves and found that we did nothing wrong
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