No to
Creating a War Government in Canada!
Get Canada Out of NATO!
Dismantle NATO!
Legislation Ratifies 1952 NATO Protocols to Enable NATO Installations in Canada
While more and
more voices in Canada and around the world are
opposing the dangerous, bellicose expansion of NATO and demanding its
dissolution, it has come to the attention of the Marxist-Leninist Party
of Canada (MLPC) that the Trudeau government snuck legislation into the
2023 budget to ratify NATO agreements from the time of NATO's
foundation. These NATO agreements allow for the establishment of NATO
military operations in the country. While the fact they were not
ratified at the time they were first adopted is used to dismiss this
development as unimportant, the fact is it is done surreptitiously and
underscores that attention is being put to look after everything the
U.S./NATO aggressive military alliance needs at this time which makes
Canada a zone for war.
This is done by enabling the further penetration of NATO into various spheres of life, from research in the universities, to the financial incentivisation of tech start-ups to place their skills in the service of aggression, destruction and war, to the installation of NATO premises and all-sided militarization of culture. Amongst other things, it also includes projects related to the integration of Canada's economy into the U.S. war economy, including the takeover of mines by the Pentagon and pay-the-rich programs for electric vehicles and infrastructure to enhance the transportation, energy, communications and security corridors between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Crossing the t's and dotting the i's on unfinished business certainly shows how deliberate the government is in putting the conditions in place for war.
The latest shenanigans of the Trudeau government can be found buried in its 430-page 2023 Budget, enacted through Bill C-47, which amends the 1985 Privileges and Immunities (NATO) Act which it failed to ratify in 1985. The original legislation is now titled the Act to provide for privileges and immunities in respect of the NATO and any international military Headquarters or organization established under that Treaty.
The key element of the legislation gives parliamentary approval (ratification) to a September 1951 NATO Ottawa Agreement related to the status of its international staff and country representatives and the August 1952 Paris Protocol that governs the status of international military headquarters and installations in member states. The legislation also specifies that going forward the Governor-in-Council is authorized to "make any orders [it] considers necessary to enable any international military Headquarters or organization established under NATO to exercise its powers or perform its functions in Canada...."
The legislative measures are required so that two NATO installations that the Liberals had previously announced it would set up in Canada could be set up: the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE) and the North American Regional Office of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). Notwithstanding the prerogative powers of the executive on foreign and military affairs, their sham democracy requires that they have "democratic" ratification of the two agreements. So they buried the new law in the 430 page 2023 budget which they railroaded through Parliament.
Besides anything else, it shows that it is high time Canadians kick the cartel parties out of Parliament and not permit corrupt party governments to continue the practice of railroading megabills through to Royal Assent. Furthermore, crucial matters related to war and peace, the economy and how to resolve international conflicts must involve the Canadian people directly in giving their views in a process not subject to the manipulation of ruling factions.
The legislation
to expand the U.S. war machine in Canada was adopted
without further ado by both the House of Commons and the Senate. The
Finance Committee referred the section of Bill C-47 dealing with NATO
to the National Defence Committee, but it did not deliberate on the
matter. In the
Senate, it was discussed for about an hour. Blair Brimmell, Head of
Section for Climate Change and Security Policy at Global Affairs and
Interim Director of CCASCOE explained to the Senate that it is actually
"an international military organization" which necessitated
ratification of the two
agreements.
A Senator asked Brimmel: "Why now? Why not sooner? The [Paris Protocol] is an old protocol; it has been in place for many years. I'm curious why it is coming now."
Brimmel explained: "It's a great [question]. It's one that we asked ourselves when we found that Canada had not yet ratified this 1952 agreement, although we signed it in 1952. We did a thorough examination of the text of the Paris Protocol and found no legal or policy reason why Canada could not have ratified it previously. [...] [I]t might simply be the case that there wasn't a pressing need to do so previous to this. Canada has not previously hosted NATO headquarters or international military organizations accredited by the North Atlantic Council, but we are going to now."
Another Senator asked, "Why use the budget implementation act for a protocol under the Privileges and Immunities Act? I assume it's because that is required as a prerequisite to actually getting organized, but it is not a usual process."
Brimmel explained that it is "a time-sensitive measure to ratify the Paris Protocol at this time and use it to enable appropriate status being given to the Centre of Excellence and the privileges and immunities to it and its personnel."
The August 2023 Order-in-Council authorizing CCASCOE also explained, "A plausible explanation for not having ratified the Paris Protocol is that there were no plans until now for Canada to host a NATO international military headquarters or organization. With Centres of Excellence now treated by NATO as international military organizations, and Canada selected as CCASCOE host, ratification is necessary in order to enable the granting of privileges and immunities covered by the Paris Protocol."
The CCASCOE subsequently opened its doors in Montreal in late 2023 and is expected to become fully staffed and operational by the end of 2024.
Most recently, on June 10, an Order-in-Council was registered to establish that DIANA is an official subsidiary of NATO. It states "the Order is necessary to establish the North American Regional Office of DIANA, which will support the already strong and favourable relationship between NATO, NATO Allies and Partners, and the Government of Canada."
Already in November 2022, at the Halifax International Security Forum, Canada announced it would host DIANA. At the Forum, Defence Minister Anita Anand boasted that DIANA would "facilitate cooperation between military operators and the Alliance's best and brightest start-ups, scientific researchers, and technology companies to solve critical Allied defence and security problems."
"With more than 300 entrepreneurial science and technology start-ups, Canadian Forces Base Halifax, Defence Research and Development Canada, and seven universities, the Halifax Regional Municipality is a natural host for DIANA," Anand added.
This front of NATO war preparations will deal with what it calls "emerging disruptive technologies." DIANA will direct both public and private research in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI); data autonomy; quantum-enabled technologies; biotechnology; hypersonic technologies; space; novel materials and manufacturing; and energy and propulsion.
Aside from the main site in Halifax which is expected to have a permanent office set up by the summer of 2025, a second "satellite office" will be created in the Greater Toronto Area. Scheduled for 2025-2026, it is described as "an administrative space primarily used for meetings, engagement, and relationship management, to fully leverage the region's globally ranked innovation centre ..."
The announcement in the Canada Gazette, the official newspaper of the Government of Canada, provides examples of the immunities and privileges accorded to NATO establishments in Canada. They list "inviolability of its premises, documents and archives and immunity from legal process, ...exemption from direct taxes (i.e., income tax), rebate of sales taxes (e.g., the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax); and exemption from customs duties and taxes..."
Personnel of both NATO and DIANA are granted "immunity from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and/or acts done by them in their official capacity; immunity, together with their spouses and family residing with them, from immigration restrictions; exemption from taxation on salaries and emoluments paid by the organization; the right to import free of duties and taxes their furniture and personal effects at the time of first taking up their post in Canada; and the right to temporarily import free of duty their private motor vehicles."
The government states that "granting certain privileges and immunities to NATO and DIANA officials, representatives of member states and experts on mission when in Canada is essential so that they can adequately carry out their functions in Canada."
It further declares that the establishment of DIANA's North American Regional Office in Canada, "will support the already strong and favourable relationship between NATO, NATO Allies and Partners, and the Government of Canada. [...]
"Granting certain privileges and immunities to NATO and DIANA officials, representatives of member states and experts on mission when in Canada is essential so that they can adequately carry out their functions in Canada. This will support Canada's deepening relations with NATO and improve existing diplomatic and programmatic engagement with the organization by facilitating meetings in Canada with key NATO counterparts. Strong diplomatic relations with NATO are expected to advance Canada's explicit interests in the transatlantic region, including regarding peace and security and technology and innovation."
The Government announced that, "The Order implements Canada's obligations under the Ottawa Agreement and will be viewed favourably by NATO, NATO Allies, and by other stakeholders."
Canadians can take note that all costs linked to these ventures are outside of Canada's announcement at the 2024 NATO Summit held in Washington, DC that it will devote two per cent of GDP to the NATO war budget by 2032. Besides other things, the NATO sycophants in Canada must think that using Canada to set up these centres, i.e. not Europe, is a safer bet given the rising revolt of the peoples of Europe against NATO bases and installations in Europe and the dangers NATO poses to the peoples of the world. But the surreptitious ways of doing business pursued by one government of Canada after the other which attempt to keep the people disempowered, no matter what political stripes they boast, do not change the fact that Canadians are peace-loving, have sacrificed their lives for peace, time and again, and will not support Canada's use as a base for war.
All Out to Make Canada a Zone for
Peace!
All Out to Get Canada Out of
NATO and to Dismantle NATO!
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 6 - July 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M540061.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca