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Bill C-21: Yellow Flag Laws To Temporarily (Or Indefinitely) Suspend A Gun License

Red Flag Laws were covered previously. Bill C-21, would also allow for a Chief Firearms Officer to suspend or revoke the license of a person based on “reasonable grounds”. However, the wording is vague, and a reasonable interpretation is that a suspension could be renewed indefinitely. It also calls into question the due process options the person would have.

1. Gun Rights Are Essential, Need Protecting

The freedoms of a society can be gauged by the laws and attitudes they have towards firearms. Governments, and other groups can push around an unarmed population much easier than those who can defend themselves. It’s not conspiratorial to wonder about those pushing for gun control. In fact, healthy skepticism is needed for a society to function.

2. What The Firearms Act Currently Says On This

Refusal to Issue and Revocation
Marginal note: Licences and authorizations
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68 A chief firearms officer shall refuse to issue a licence if the applicant is not eligible to hold one and may refuse to issue an authorization to carry or authorization to transport for any good and sufficient reason.

Marginal note: Registration certificates
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69 The Registrar may refuse to issue a registration certificate, authorization to export or authorization to import for any good and sufficient reason including, in the case of an application for a registration certificate, where the applicant is not eligible to hold a registration certificate.

Marginal note: Revocation of licence or authorization
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70 (1) A chief firearms officer may revoke a licence, an authorization to carry or an authorization to transport for any good and sufficient reason including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
(a) where the holder of the licence or authorization
(i) is no longer or never was eligible to hold the licence or authorization,
(ii) contravenes any condition attached to the licence or authorization, or
(iii) has been convicted or discharged under section 730 of the Criminal Code of an offence referred to in paragraph 5(2)(a); or
(b) where, in the case of a business, a person who stands in a prescribed relationship to the business has been convicted or discharged under section 730 of the Criminal Code of any such offence.

Marginal note: Registrar
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(2) The Registrar may revoke an authorization to export or authorization to import for any good and sufficient reason.

Previous Version
Marginal note: Revocation of registration certificate
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71 (1) The Registrar
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(a) may revoke a registration certificate for a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm for any good and sufficient reason; and
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(b) shall revoke a registration certificate for a firearm held by an individual where the Registrar is informed by a chief firearms officer under section 67 that the firearm is not being used for a purpose described in section 28.

Marginal note: Automatic revocation of registration certificate
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(2) A registration certificate for a prohibited firearm referred to in subsection 12(3) (pre-August 1, 1992 converted automatic firearms) is automatically revoked on the change of any alteration in the prohibited firearm that was described in the application for the registration certificate.

Marginal note:Notice of refusal to issue or revocation
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72 (1) Subject to subsection (1.1), if a chief firearms officer decides to refuse to issue or to revoke a licence or authorization to transport or the Registrar decides to refuse to issue or to revoke a registration certificate, authorization to export or authorization to import, the chief firearms officer or Registrar shall give notice of the decision in the prescribed form to the applicant for or holder of the licence, registration certificate or authorization.

Marginal note: When notice not required
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(1.1) Notice under subsection (1) need not be given in any of the following circumstances:
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(a) if the holder has requested that the licence, registration certificate or authorization be revoked; or
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(b) if the revocation is incidental to the issuance of a new licence, registration certificate or authorization.

Marginal note: Material to accompany notice
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(2) A notice given under subsection (1) must include reasons for the decision disclosing the nature of the information relied on for the decision and must be accompanied by a copy of sections 74 to 81.

Marginal note: Non-disclosure of information
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(3) A chief firearms officer or the Registrar need not disclose any information the disclosure of which could, in the opinion of the chief firearms officer or the Registrar, endanger the safety of any person.

Marginal note: Disposal of firearms
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(4) A notice given under subsection (1) in respect of a licence must specify a reasonable period during which the applicant for or holder of the licence may deliver to a peace officer or a firearms officer or a chief firearms officer or otherwise lawfully dispose of any firearm, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device or prohibited ammunition that the applicant for or holder of the licence possesses and during which sections 91, 92 and 94 of the Criminal Code do not apply to the applicant or holder.

Marginal note: Disposal of firearms — registration certificate
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(5) A notice given under subsection (1) in respect of a registration certificate for a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm must specify a reasonable period during which the applicant for or holder of the registration certificate may deliver to a peace officer or a firearms officer or a chief firearms officer or otherwise lawfully dispose of the firearm to which the registration certificate relates and during which sections 91, 92 and 94 of the Criminal Code do not apply to the applicant or holder.

Marginal note: Reference
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(6) If the applicant for or holder of the licence or registration certificate refers the refusal to issue it or revocation of it to a provincial court judge under section 74, the reasonable period of time does not begin until after the reference is finally disposed of.

The Chief Firearms Officer or the Registrar already have significant powers in the Firearms Act to suspend or revoke licenses and authorizations for “any good and sufficient” reason”. Of course, this is very vague, and open to interpretation.

There is also the option to refuse to disclose information that could “endanger a person”. In practice, this can mean the person who made such a complaint to get the gun seizure would not have to be confronted by the person they accuse.

This Bill will go even further, and allow for 30 day suspensions of licences. Of course, nothing says that a suspension can’t be renewed — or another one handed out — 30 days later.

3. What Bill C-21 Would Change To Firearms Act

28 The heading before section 68 of the Act is replaced by the following:

Refusal to Issue, Suspension and Revocation

29 Section 68 of the Act is replaced by the following:

Refusal to issue — chief firearms officer
68 (1) A chief firearms officer shall refuse to issue a licence if the applicant is not eligible to hold one and may refuse to issue an authorization to carry referred to in paragraph 20(b) or an authorization to transport for any good and sufficient reason.

Refusal to issue — Commissioner
(2) The Commissioner may refuse to issue an authorization to carry referred to in paragraph 20(a) for any good and sufficient reason.

30 The Act is amended by adding the following after section 69:

Suspension
69.‍1 (1) If a chief firearms officer has reasonable grounds to suspect, on the basis of information that they have collected or received from any person, that the holder of a licence is no longer eligible to hold the licence, they may suspend, in respect of a licence, the holder’s authorization to use, acquire and import firearms for a period of up to 30 days.
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Notice
(2) A chief firearms officer shall give notice in writing of the suspension to the holder of the licence. The notice shall include reasons for the decision, the nature of the information relied on for the decision, the period of the suspension and a copy of this section and sections 69.‍2 and 70.
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Non-disclosure of information
(3) A chief firearms officer need not disclose any information the disclosure of which could, in their opinion, endanger the safety of any person.
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Termination of suspension
(4) A chief firearms officer shall terminate the suspension at the expiry of the period referred to in subsection (2) or, if they are satisfied that the grounds for the suspension no longer exist, at any time before the expiry of that period. The chief firearms officer shall give notice in writing of the termination of the suspension to the holder of the licence.

Prohibition on use, acquisition and importation
69.‍2 The holder of a licence shall not use, acquire or import firearms while their authorizations to do so are suspended under subsection 69.‍1(1).

31 (1) The portion of subsection 70(1) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

Revocation of licence or authorization
70 (1) A chief firearms officer may revoke a licence, an authorization to carry referred to in paragraph 20(b) or an authorization to transport — and the Commissioner may revoke an authorization to carry referred to in paragraph 20(a) — for any good and sufficient reason including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
(2) Subsection 70(1) of the Act is amended by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (a) and by adding the following after paragraph (a):
(a.‍1) where the holder of the licence uses, acquires or imports a firearm while their authorizations to do so are suspended under subsection 69.‍1(1); or

32 Section 71 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):

Automatic revocation of registration certificate
(3) A registration certificate for a handgun is automatically revoked on the failure of the holder to provide to a chief firearms officer, during the 180 day period referred to in subsection 58.‍01(2), the information required to update the registration certificate for that handgun.

33 Subsection 72(6) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Reference
(6) If the applicant for or holder of a licence or registration certificate refers the refusal to issue it or revocation of it to a provincial court judge under section 74 they shall, within 30 days after referring the matter, deliver to a peace officer or otherwise lawfully dispose of any firearm that they possess. Sections 91, 92 and 94 of the Criminal Code do not apply to the applicant or holder during that time.

Order — return of firearm
(7) If the decision of the chief firearms officer or the Registrar is confirmed, the judge shall, if a firearm was delivered to a peace officer under subsection (6), order the return of the firearm to the applicant for or holder of the licence or registration certificate, in order for the applicant or holder to lawfully dispose of it.

A Chief Firearms Officer can revoke a license for any “good and sufficient” reason. The information can come from anyone, and there is no requirement that the person be named, if done for safety reasons. In short, there is no real right to confront the accuser.

A license can be suspended for 30 days. However, it doesn’t look like there is anything that would prevent necessarily the suspension from being renewed.

While this portion of Bill C-21 is pretty bad, a lot of these rules were already on the books. This just seems to make it easier to issue a 30 day suspension without a real investigation.

4. Challenging Case In Provincial Court

74(2) Limitation period
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(2) An applicant or holder may only refer a matter to a provincial court judge under subsection (1) within thirty days after receiving notice of the decision of the chief firearms officer, Registrar or provincial minister under section 29, 67 or 72 or within such further time as is allowed by a provincial court judge, whether before or after the expiration of those thirty days.

75(3) Burden of proof
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(3) At the hearing of the reference, the burden of proof is on the applicant or holder to satisfy the provincial court judge that the refusal to issue or revocation of the licence, registration certificate or authorization, the decision or the refusal to approve or revocation of the approval was not justified.
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Marginal note: Where hearing may proceed ex parte
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(4) A provincial court judge may proceed ex parte to hear and determine a reference in the absence of the applicant or holder in the same circumstances as those in which a summary conviction court may, under Part XXVII of the Criminal Code, proceed with a trial in the absence of the defendant.

A few things to point out when challenging this is court:

First, there is a 30 day time limit to initiate the proceedings. While the Court “may” allow an extension for applications filed after that, they don’t have to, and there is no guarantee they will. So, be aware of this.

Second, the burden is on the Applicant to prove that the revocation or refusal to issue is unjust. The Firearms Officer doesn’t have to prove anything.

Third, in limited cases, the Judge can proceed ex-parte, which means “without the Parties”. In practice, this will mean the person who applied may not be able to attend.

An overall impression: while this 30 day suspension is certainly bad news, the Firearms Act was already pretty stacked against the rights of gun owners. This certainly doesn’t help.

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Conservatives Whine About Sexual Assault During Quarantine, Not The Forced Quarantines Themselves

This is a new level of moral relativity. Apparently, authorities detaining people for 14 days under the false pretense of public safety is okay. The forcible confinement is not the issue. Nor is the nasal rape that comes in the form of PCR tests. However, the entire experience is suddenly a human rights violation if a sexual assault is committed during that time.

1. Rempel Supports House Arrest In Principle

https://twitter.com/GregMcLeanYYC/status/1358115105683066881

This is from February 6, 2021. At the 28 second mark, Michelle Rempel-Garner explicitly states that everyone (presuming her party included), supports the idea of forcing people into their homes for 14 days at a time.

In her usual “Canada last” ways, she does ask for exemptions for Temporary Foreign Workers from quarantine, at a time when unemployment in Canada is still extremely high.

To reiterate, the “Official Opposition” doesn’t have a problem with imprisoning people. Their complaints are limited to some of the details of implementing such policies.

2. Fake Outrage Over Assault In Quarantine

https://twitter.com/MichelleRempel/status/1365032919866118147

On February 25, Rempel pretended to be outraged that people coming into Canada were being forced into quarantine against their will, and not knowing where they are going. Keep in mind, on February 6, she was okay with this, according to her own statement.

Does any of this mean that Conservatives now have a problem with this sort of confinement? Keep in mind, it would be illegal in any other circumstances. No. Instead, all that is asked is for a review, and to do a better job of vetting the guards holding them prisoner.

“The Liberal government must take action now. We call for the Liberals to suspend the hotel quarantine requirement until they have put measures in place to ensure the safety of Canadians and institute a system for verifying at-home quarantine that doesn’t involve security agents who have not been properly vetted. During this necessary pause, the federal government should continue with on-arrival testing and the 14-day at-home quarantine for all international travelers to protect the public health of Canadians.”

Even in her statement, there is no principled objection to the quarantine camps themselves (or internment camps). There is no objection to forcing people into house arrest. In fact, they seem content to re-establish these detention centers once better screening methods are in place.

The National Post mentioned that there was a call to suspend the program, which is not the same thing as cancelling it altogether.

3. Vaccine Agenda: They’re All In It Together

(See 1:30 mark in this, or original video). Trudeau claims that “normalcy will not return without a vaccine that is widely available, and that could be a very long way off”.

https://twitter.com/erinotoole/status/1356966419934683138

This is Erin O’Toole, the leader of the so-called “Conservative” Party of Canada, which claims to be the main opposition to Trudeau. Problem is: they don’t actually oppose anything ideologically. They whine about vaccines and tests not arriving fast enough, but don’t object on moral or ethical grounds.

There’s no way to describe this other than as a dog and pony show. These “leaders” are just going through the motions.

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CV #10(C): Active Federal Pharma Lobbying Registrations, Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

According to the Federal Lobbying Registry, there are 69 ACTIVE registrations that are flagged under the search word of “vaccine”. This includes multiple registrations from the same company, and a few irrelevant hits. Lobbyists aren’t cheap, and there is considerable money tied up in all of this.

Also, what exactly is going on with that proposed vaccine injury compensation program?

1. No Details In Vaccine Injury Program

News release
December 10, 2020 – Ottawa, ON – Public Health Agency of Canada
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We as Canadians pride ourselves on our commitment to each other. By getting vaccinated, we protect one another and our way of life. Vaccines are safe, effective and one of the best ways to prevent serious illness like COVID-19.

Vaccines are only approved in Canada after thorough and independent review of the scientific evidence. They are also closely monitored once on the market and can quickly be removed from market if safety concerns are identified. Notwithstanding the rigour of clinical trials and excellence in vaccine delivery, a small number of Canadians may experience an adverse event following immunization, caused by vaccines or their administration.

Like any medication, vaccines can cause side effects and reactions. After being vaccinated, it’s common to have mild and harmless side effects — this is the body’s natural response, as it’s working to build immunity against a disease. However, it is also possible for someone to have a serious adverse reaction to a vaccine. The chances of this are extremely rare — less than one in a million — and we have a duty to help if this occurs.

It is for this reason that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is implementing a pan-Canadian no-fault vaccine injury support program for all Health Canada approved vaccines, in collaboration with provinces and territories. Building on the model in place in Québec for over 30 years, the program will ensure that all Canadians have to have fair access to support in the rare event that they experience an adverse reaction to a vaccine. This program will also bring Canada in line with its G7 counterparts with similar programs, and ensure the country remains competitive in accessing new vaccines as they become available.

Quick facts
Serious adverse reactions to vaccines are extremely rare. They happen less than one time in a million.

It was announced on December 10, 2020, that a vaccine injury program would be launched in cooperation with the Provinces. That was 2 1/2 months ago, and no details have emerged. Considering that mass vaccination is going on NOW, this is pretty urgent.

In “collaboration with the Provinces” implies that they will have to go along with it as well. If history is any indictation, Federal-Provincial talks go very slowly.

While it’s claimed that vaccines undergo serious testing PRIOR to their approval, that isn’t really the case. Details will be provided in the next section.

2. Vaccines Approved While Still In Testing

Interim orders
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30.1 (1) The Minister may make an interim order that contains any provision that may be contained in a regulation made under this Act if the Minister believes that immediate action is required to deal with a significant risk, direct or indirect, to health, safety or the environment.

People naturally assume that a medical product (such as a vaccine), is thoroughly tested prior to being approved. Actually, the Section 30.1 of the Food & Drug Act allows the Health Minister to sign an Interim Order and approve almost anything. And yes, such an Order was signed by Patty Hajdu.

3. Active Lobbying Registrations On “Vaccines”

COMPANY LOBBYIST/POSITION/FIRM
AstraZeneca Canada Inc. Jane Chung, President
Bayer, Inc. *Sheamus Murphy, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
Bayer, Inc. *David Murray, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
Best Medicines Coalition *William Dempster, 3Sixty Public Affairs Inc.
Best Medicines Coalition Paulette Eddy, Consultant
Best Medicines Coalition Jay Strauss, Consultant
Biotecanada Andrew Casey, President & CEO
Canadian Animal Health Institute Kevin Bosch, Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Canadian Medical Association E. Ann Collins
Canadian Medical Association Timothy Smith, Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Pharmacists Association Annette Robinson, Director
Canadian Pharmacists Association Glen Doucet, Chief Executive Officer
Entos Pharmaceuticals Farid, Faroud, Global Public Affairs Inc.
Entos Pharmaceuticals Conor Mahoney, Global Public Affairs Inc.
Entos Pharmaceuticals *Andrew Retfalvi, Global Public Affairs Inc.
Entos Pharmaceuticals Jay Strauss, Consultant
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Ashton Arsenault, Crestview Strategy
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Jason Clark, Crestview Strategy
GlaxoSmithKline Faris El-Refaie, President
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. *Bridget Howe, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. *Sheamus Murphy, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. *Ben Parsons, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. *Amber Ruddy, Counsel Public Affairs Inc.
Immune Biosolutions Frédéric Leduc, Président
Innovative Medicines Canada Andrew Balfour, Rubicon Strategy Inc.
Innovative Medicines Canada Pamela Fralick, President
Intervac Int’l Vaccine Centre *Douglas Richardson, McKercher LLP
Janssen Inc. (Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson Jorge Bartolome, President
Malaika Vaccine idee Inyangudor, Wellington Advocacy
Medicago Inc. Ashton Arsenault, Crestview Strategy
Medicago Inc. Jason Clark, Crestview Strategy
Medicago Inc. Danielle Peters, Magnet Strategy Group
Medicago Inc. Patricia Sibal, Crestview Strategy
Merck Canada Inc. Anna Van Acker, President
Moderna Therapeutics Paul Monlezun, Public Affairs Advisors
National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada David Valentin, Liaison Strategies
Particle Vaccine Canada Ltd. *Dylan McGuinty, Director
*Pfizer Canada ULC Cole C. Pinnow, President
PlantEXT Inc. *Andre Albinati, Earnscliffe Strategy Group
PlantEXT Inc. *Charles Bird, Earnscliffe Strategy Group
PlantEXT Inc. Craig Robinson, Earnscliffe Strategy Group
Sanofi Pasteur Limited Fabien Marino, Vice President
Sanofi Pasteur Limited *David Angus, Capital Hill Group
University of Saskatchewan *Douglas Richardson, McKercher LLP
*University of Saskatchewan Peter Stoicheff, President and Vice-Chancellor
Variation Biotechnologies, Inc. Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, Consultant
Vaxil Biotherapeutics Lester Scheininger, Barrister and Solicitor
Zebra Technologies *Adria Minsky, Cumberland Strategies
Zebra Technologies Alec Newton, Cumberland Strategies
  • means person has held public office, or organization has former public office holders currently on staff.

4. GSK Lobbyists Worked In Public Offices

The 4 lobbyists registered to advocate on behalf of GSK, (GlaxoSmithKline), have all held public office in some capacity. But don’t worry, they are probably neutral actors here, and nothing improper will happen.

5. Other Lobbyists Worked In Public Offices

Of course, Crestview Strategy, Ashton Arsenault, Zakery Blais & Jason Clark have all been addressed in previous pieces. Please check them out for more information.

This might also be a good time to bring up the people that have Doug Ford’s attention, Bill 160, Alberta and Quebec lobbying as well.

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Using Artificial Scarcity, Product Placement, Market Manipulation, To Drive Up Demand

This article will get into some of the advertising and marketing techniques employed to get people to purchase products and services. There is quite a lot of science and research behind it.

1. Important Links

Alex Cattoni On Creating Scarcity Conditions
Justin Atlan On Scarcity To Create Sense Of Urgency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_scarcity
Psychology Today: The Scarcity Mindset
Investopedia On Suggestive Selling
Product Placement Strategies, History
Marketing Plans Should Include Sponsorship
Psychology In Advertising: Common Methods
CTV: Culture Shift On Wearing Masks

2. Techniques To Create Scarcity Illusion

  1. Price Scarcity — the price will increase
  2. Quantity Scarcity — limited amount available
  3. Premium Scarcity — limited time bonuses
  4. Offer Scarcity — relaunching a temporary product

Now, these specific techniques can be used individually, or in some combination, depending on the circumstances. The point of this is to put pressure on people to act now, or else the offer will never be better. While the creator, Alex Cattoni, says to be honest, artificially creating scarcity can be very manipulative nature. This type of pressure can be applied almost universally, although the specific methods vary. Justin Atlan talks about using scarcity in order to drive up sales.

Of course, artificially creating scarcity can be done for many reasons, and several of them are quite valid and legitimate.

  • Cartels, monopolies and/or rentier capitalism
  • Competition regulation, where regulatory uncertainty and policy ambiguity deters investment.
  • Copyright, when used to disallow copying or disallow access to sources. Proprietary software is an example.
  • Copyleft software is a counterexample where copyleft advocates use copyright licenses to guarantee the right to copy, access, view, and change the source code, and allow others to do the same to derivatives of that code.
  • Patent
  • The Agricultural Adjustment Act
  • Hoarding, including cornering the market
  • Deliberate destruction
  • Paywalls
  • Torrent poisoning such as poisoning bittorrent with half broken copies of music and videos to drive up prices when instead streamed from places the author has deals with
  • Planned obsolescence
  • Decentralized digital currencies (e.g. Bitcoin)

    • This is from Wikipedia. There are perfectly valid reasons to engage in the creation of scarcity, such as intellectual property, and not undercutting your own prices. That said, there are unscrupulous ones as well.

    Economics is the study of how we use our limited resources (time, money, etc.) to achieve our goals. This definition refers to physical scarcity. In a recent book titled Scarcity, Mullainathan & Eldar (2013) broaden the concept of scarcity by asking the following questions: What happens to our minds when we feel we have too little? How does the context of scarcity shape our choices and our behaviors? They show that scarcity is not just a physical limitation. Scarcity affects our thinking and feeling. Scarcity orients the mind automatically and powerfully toward unfulfilled needs. For example, food grabs the focus of the hungry. For the lonely person, scarcity may come in poverty of social isolation and a lack of companionship.

    The scarcity mentality is well known by social psychologists. It forces being to think in finite terms, and to ask what they are missing out on. This can be good or bad, depending on the circumstances.

    3. Fear Of Missing Out On A Benefit

    FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is commonly used to pressure people into buying good and services now. Notice, it doesn’t have to be the product itself. It can just be having their life back to the way that it used to be. Perhaps something happened recently to change what was considered normal.

    4. Suggestive Selling/Upselling

    Understanding Suggestive Selling
    The idea behind the technique is that it takes marginal effort compared with the potential additional revenue. This is because getting the buyer to purchase (often seen as the most difficult part) has already been done. After the buyer is committed, an additional sale that is a fraction of the original purchase is much more likely.

    Typical examples of add-on sales are the extended warranties offered by sellers of household appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, as well as electronics. A salesperson at an automobile dealership also generates significant add-on sales by suggesting or convincing a buyer sitting at their desk that the buyer would be much happier with the car with a few or several add-on options.

    Investopedia explains that upselling it often considered a better use of a person’s time that focusing solely on new customers. After all, the person is already buying something, so why not take the minimal amount of effort to see if they will purchase anything new?

    There is of course the idea of a volume discount. For example, take the BOGO (buy one, get one) free or greatly reduced. Often, people who may not have been willing to take multiple products now will, if it appears to reduce the price per unit.

    5. Product Placement As A Sales Strategy

    Product placement is a marketing strategy that has accidentally evolved a few decades ago. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the product placement has been spotted by professionals and since then various companies engage in product placement activities in various levels with varying efficiency. One of the main differences of product placement from other marketing strategies is the significance of factors contributing to it, such as context and environment within which the product is displayed or used.

    Implementing an efficient marketing strategy is one of the essential conditions for a product to be successful in the marketplace. Companies may choose different marketing strategies including advertising, channel marketing, internet marketing, promotion, public relations, product placement and others. Each of one of these marketing tools has its advantages and disadvantages and the rationale behind the choice among these tools relates to the type of the product, type of the market and the marketing strategy of the company.

    Product placement is a long recognized trick for getting a product into another production, without directly admitting that it is a form of advertising. This may be a substitute for more blatant ads, or may work in conjunction with it.

    6. Keep Repeating Your Talking Points

    This comment was (supposedly) in the context of pushing the climate change agenda on Canadians, but the principle can be applied much more broadly. It’s a variation of “if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth”. Unfortunately, this is all too true.

    7. Including Sponsorship In Marketing Plan

    1. Shape consumer attitudes.
    2. Build brand awareness.
    3. Drive sales.
    4. Increase reach.
    5. Generate media exposure.
    6. Differentiate yourself from competitors.
    7. Take on a “corporate citizen” role.
    8. Generate new leads.
    9. Enhance business, consumer, and VIP relationships.

    Sponsoring a group or event can bring several benefits to your group, and those are outlined pretty well. Yes, the benefits are more intangible and difficult to measure, but it’s commonly believed to be an effective practice.

    8. Pay For Advertising, Sponsoring In Media

    (a) Subsidization Programs Available For Media Outlets (QCJO)
    (b) Political Operatives Behind Many “Fact-Checking” Groups
    (c) DisinfoWatch, MacDonald-Laurier, Journalists For Human Rights
    (d) Taxpayer Subsidies To Combat CV “Misinformation”
    (e) Postmedia Periodicals Getting Covid Subsidies
    (f) Aberdeen Publishing (BC, AB) Getting Grants To Operate
    (g) Other Periodicals Receiving Subsidies
    (h) Still More Media Subsidies Taxpayers Are Supporting
    (i) Media Outlets, Banks, Credit Unions, All Getting CEWS

    Paying for advertisements in newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and online, is a long accepted way of getting a message out. It’s an effective way to promote a product, service, or ideology. Of course, Governments can go the extra mile and just outright subsidize such outlets. It’s a way to create financial dependence, and ensure that they will be obedient to whatever is needed.

    9. Psychology Used In Selling To People

    1. Branding
    2. Give, Give, Give, Give, and Ask
    3. Power of Scarcity, FOMO
    4. Perceived Value & Pricing
    5. Power of Persuasion
    6. Power of Convenience
    7. Appeal To Morality
    8. Changing Language, Misusing Terms

    Advertising is much more complicated than simply being interesting and visually appealing. There are plenty of mental and psychological ways to do this. After this, it’s impossible to view ads in the same way ever again.

    10. Have Credible Actors Promote Message/Brand

    One of the keys to an effective marketing program is to have believable and realistic actors selling the message. Getting caught out like this doesn’t help at all. From a casting perspective, Ontario Deputy Medical Officer Barbara Yaffe was an extremely poor choice. Health Minister Christine Elliott wasn’t a great selection either.

    When the stakes are high, it’s essential to have actors and actresses who have read and understood their scripts. They will be better able to improvise when asked difficult questions. See here and here. Remember, even though the media questions are screened, sometimes they will accidently be curveballs.

    BC Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry is also a bizarre choice. While she seems likeable, and has the fake trembling nailed, she frequently jokes about the “no science” part. Perhaps she was never informed that this is serious.

    Alberta Premier Jason Kenney may have topped them all. He admits there could be 90% error — and hence, no pandemic — but then defers to the experts.

    Granted, these are difficult roles to play, given the scrutiny they are under. But still, the casting left a lot to be desired.

    11. Why Does This Marketing Info Matter?

    Even back in May 2020, the MSM in Canada was openly talking about “shifting the culture” to get everyone wearing masks for the foreseeable future. Of course, this sort of predictive programming is not limited to masks, but spread to other areas.

    Imagine a group of people not driven by money, but by ideology. They wanted to convince the general population to inject — en masse — an experimental mRNA vaccine, to cure a disease they don’t know exists.

    Such a task would be very difficult to accomplish, without using brute force. An alternative solution would be to apply some of the techniques outlined above, and get people to take it willingly.

    As for appealing to morality, does this sound familiar?
    “My mask protects you, and your mask protects me”.

    Words and terms are redefined in false and misleading ways.
    It’s not “martial law”, it’s “sheltering in place”.

    Healthy people should not be viewed as normal.
    Instead, they are “potential asymptomatic spreaders”.

    The Federal and Provincial Governments are not buying off media outlets and businesses into compliance. Instead, they are handing out “emergency relief”. See the difference?

    FOMO, or fear of missing out is being applied as a hardball tactic to get more people into taking the vaccine. After all, who isn’t desperate for some return to a normal life? If there aren’t enough to go around, doesn’t that create artificial scarcity?

    Covid internment camps are a conspiracy theory. Those “mandatory isolation centres” are not at all the same thing, and people need to stop misrepresenting the truth.

    No one is trying to trick citizens into taking the vaccine. Instead, they are just conducting research into ways to overcome “hesitancy”. See Part #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5.

    Regarding hope for the future: an astute person will note that Canada has ANNOUNCED a program to compensate people for injury or death caused by vaccines. However, there have been no DETAILS of what it will look like. It could be the Government falling behind, or it could be tat they have no intention of implementing anything.

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    DisinfoWatch: Ties To Atlas Network, Connected To LPC Political Operatives

    Another website is out, this one called DisinfoWatch. It’s a rather ironic name, considering who funds it, and that its agenda is to parrot the Government narrative,

    1. DisinfoWatch Is Brand New Group

    MONITOR
    We identify and track mis/disinformation narratives and trends emerging from both domestic and foreign sources, through a global network of partners
    .
    RESEARCH
    When we detect potential Covid related mis/disinformation we analyze content, its sources and seek to debunk wherever possible. Examples are then added to our database
    .
    LITERACY
    Promoting digital literacy with the latest learning resources to foster greater awareness of mis/disinformation and promote skills such as source, claim and fact checking.
    .
    DEFEND
    By exposing and debunking mis/disinformation on an ongoing basis and producing regular DisinfoDigests, DisinoWatch builds resilience against it – regardless of source or intent.

    DisinfoWatch’s Twitter account started in September 2020. At the time of writing this, there are only 65 tweets listed. This was clearly set up specifically for this “pandemic”. There are also several examples cited of their work making its way into mainstream outlets. The site also contains a database of disinformation and debunked claims to go through.

    2. Who Is Behind DisinfoWatch’s Media Efforts?

    DisinfoWatch.org is the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s new COVID-19 and foreign disinformation monitoring and debunking platform. http://macdonaldlaurier.ca

    That quote is from the Twitter profile. On the website, near the bottom, 2 organizations are listed, and it’s implied that they are behind everything.

    • Journalists For Human Rights
    • MacDonald-Laurier Institute

    Both entities will be addressed in the following sections. Things are not quite what they seem to be, as the rabbit hole goes much deeper.

    3. MacDonald-Laurier Part Of Atlas Network

    • Alberta Institute
    • Canadian Constitution Foundation
    • Canadian Taxpayers Federation
    • Canadians For Democracy And Transparency
    • Fraser Institute
    • Frontier Center For Public Policy
    • Institute For Liberal Studies
    • Justice Center For Constitutional Freedoms
    • MacDonald-Laurier Institute For Public Policy
    • Manning Center
    • Montreal Economic Institute
    • World Taxpayers Federation

    Atlas’ partners can be searched instantly online. When this last piece was written, Atlas Network had 12 Canadian partners. A few changes have been made, and now there are currently 11.

    • Alberta Institute
    • Canadian Constitution Foundation
    • Canadian Taxpayers Federation
    • Canadians For Democracy And Transparency
    • Fraser Institute
    • Frontier Center For Public Policy
    • Institute For Liberal Studies
    • MacDonald-Laurier Institute For Public Policy
    • Manning Center
    • Montreal Economic Institute
    • Second Street

    Both the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms and the World Taxpayers Federation are no longer listed as partners. However, the organization we are mostly interested in is the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

    Interesting aside, the JCCF, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, is responsible for filing several court actions against Provincial Governments.

    Also, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney used to be the President of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, which is also part of Atlas.

    It’s not much of a secret that Atlas Network is a group of “conservative” and “libertarian” think tanks, and gets a substantial part of its funding from the Koch Brothers.

    4. Staff Of MacDonald-Laurier Institute

    Brett Byers is the Communications and Digital Media Manager for MLI. He also spent 2 1/2 years an an e-Communications Officer for the Trudeau Government.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-byers-lane-63872710a/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-carrigan-69045513/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianleecrowley/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-habchi-02853a195/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-watson-33740221/

    Full list is available here.

    5. Journalists For Human Rights (JHR) Donations

    The project Mobilizing Media to Fight COVID-19, with a $1,479,857 contribution from Global Affairs Canada, is a COVID-19 crisis response project to train journalists: a) to ensure that COVID-19 reporting is scientifically accurate and technically sound and, thereby encouraging safer behaviours; and b) to work with citizens’ groups to identify mis/disinformation, particularly on social media, and to debunk harmful myths surrounding COVID-19. The training will particularly focus on ensuring that information is being provided to women and marginalized communities, and that their needs and rights to adequate services are included in media coverage. Subject to the successful conclusion of discussions for the financial instrument, the project implementation partner, Journalists for HumanRights (JHR), will work in the following 12 African and Middle Eastern countries: Gambia, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen.

    Journalists for Human Rights has received a few large grants from taxpayers, including nearly $1.5 million in 2020 as a form of “Covid relief”. Perhaps this is cynical, but it may explain their mission to combat misinformation.

    6. Peter Donolo: JHR, Longtime LPC Operative

    Peter Donolo is a longtime Liberal operative. He was Chretien’s Communications Director, he worked in the Office of the Official Opposition for Michael Ignatieff, and other political roles. Ignatieff, incidently, is now a Vice-President of Soros’ Open Society Group.

    Donolo is also now a Board Member at CIVIX and Journalists for Human Rights. He has ties to the Liberals, who are also funding various initiatives to counter misinformation.

    7. Chad Rogers, Crestview Strategy

    Chad Rogers not only works for JHR, but he’s a Co-Founder of the lobbying firm, Crestview Strategy. Another Co-Founder is Rob Silver, husband of Katie Telford, the Chief of Staff for Justin Trudeau. Incidently, Crestview was also involved in lobbying Canadian officials for money is relation to vaccines.

    Looking through some of the other members, such as Michael Cooke and Karen Restoule, it’s clear the the Journalists for Human Rights actually are journalists with connections to the mainstream media.

    8. JHS Agenda: Combatting Misinformation

    Canadians need quality, trustworthy coverage for evidence-based public debate about issues that matter, to hold duty bearers accountable and to mobilize knowledge toward solutions to complex problems. JHR’s project, “Fighting Disinformation through Strengthened Media and Citizen Preparedness in Canada” trains journalists on best practices of combating disinformation and exposing deliberate manipulation of public opinion on social media, while concurrently engaging people in Canada on digital and news skills literacy to enhance citizen preparedness against online manipulation and misinformation.
    .
    This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

    Canadians need reliable, quality coverage to hold factual debates on important issues, empower bondholders, and mobilize knowledge to find solutions to complex problems. JDH’s project, “Fighting Disinformation Through Media Strengthening and Preparing Citizens in Canada,” trains journalists in best practices to combat misinformation and expose the deliberate manipulation of public opinion on social media, while simultaneously engaging the Canadian public on digital literacy and news to build resilience against online manipulation and misinformation.
    .
    This project was made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

    Straight from the source. This project was made possible — namely, funded — by the Canadian Government. The Journalists for Human Rights are less about journalism, and more about perpetuating the official narratives. While fact-checking stories is important, fact-checking the fact-checkers needs to be done as well.

    These are the groups behind DisinfoWatch:
    (a) Journalists for Human Rights
    (b) MacDonald-Laurier Institute

    9. No Wonder Government Measures Are Legal

    DisinfoWatch has released many articles “debunking” so-called conspiracy theories, and trying to debunk claims that this is all about population control, and forcibly altering society. In fact, virtually all exposes that reveal Government deception are labelled hoaxes. Although, one has to wonder how many theories are put out by groups like DisinfoWatch, as an effort to make all claims seem ridiculous.

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    About Michael Chong’s Motion Concerning Genocide In China….

    Canada passed a resolution, declaring a genocide in China. It was sponsored by Michael Chong, and Ontario Member of Parliament with the Conservative Party of Canada. While the Motion itself is not the issue, the lack of consistency is.

    1. Trafficking, Smuggling, Child Exploitation

    Serious issues like smuggling or trafficking are routinely avoided in public discourse. Also important are the links between open borders and human smuggling; between ideology and exploitation; between tolerance and exploitation; between abortion and organ trafficking; or between censorship and complicity. Mainstream media will also never get into the organizations who are pushing these agendas, nor the complicit politicians. These topics don’t exist in isolation, and are interconnected.

    2. Text Of Motion Declaring Genocide

    MOTION TEXT
    That,
    .
    (a) in the opinion of the House, the People’s Republic of China has engaged in actions consistent with the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 260, commonly known as the “Genocide Convention”, including detention camps and measures intended to prevent births as it pertains to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims; and
    .
    (b) given that (i) where possible, it has been the policy of the Government of Canada to act in concert with its allies when it comes to the recognition of a genocide, (ii) there is a bipartisan consensus in the United States where it has been the position of two consecutive administrations that Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims are being subjected to a genocide by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the House, therefore, recognize that a genocide is currently being carried out by the People’s Republic of China against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, call upon the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Olympic Games if the Chinese government continues this genocide and call on the government to officially adopt this position.

    Michael Chong introduced a Motion to declare what has been going on in China as “genocide”. Have they always thought that the Chinese Government was bad?

    3. Michael Chong Then V.S. Now

    https://openparliament.ca/debates/2013/4/18/michael-chong-1/
    https://openparliament.ca/debates/2021/2/18/michael-chong-1/

    It’s interesting how Chong was a huge fan of letting China infiltrate Canada (via FIPA), in 2013/2014. He shrugged off the many justifiable objections to this.

    In fact, Conservatives in general have been largely supportive of “free trade” arrangements which outsource Canadian industries. They see nothing wrong in engaging in a rigged game with a country that can undercut Canadian workers and companies.

    4. Erin O’Toole Then V.S. Now

    https://openparliament.ca/debates/2014/9/22/erin-otoole-1/
    https://openparliament.ca/debates/2021/2/17/erin-otoole-7/

    Since first getting elected as an MP, O’Toole was a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade. O’Toole repeatedly hyped up how Canada would benefit from FIPA, and how the concerns were unwarranted. His recent opposition to China appears to be politically motivated, not based on ideology or morality.

    5. Federal Cabinet Abstains In Vote

    The vote was 266-0, and sold as “unanimous” to the public. However, that’s misleading, considering that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet all abstained from voting. Was this done to at least make working with China possible, while pretending to object?

    Considering that everyone else voted to declare this a genocide, a predicted election would be interesting. Discussions around foreign relations could get awkward and strained.

    What really happens now, anyway? Other than some words on paper, what will actually be accomplished? Will the Chinese Government suddenly realize the error of its ways? Will these camps suddenly be shut down?

    6. Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations

    Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention

    It was addressed a week ago that Canada, and dozens of other nations signed the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations. This seemed (at least in part), to be a shot a China, given it held 2 Canadians prisoner, and was abusing Muslim minorities on a massive scale.

    While this is fine in principle, the elephant in the room is that Canada has been under varying levels of martial law over the last year. Using the false of pretense of a health emergency, politicians of all parties have supported suspending indefinitely the basic rights of citizens.

    Going abroad to seek human organs should be criminalized (Bill S-240), but forcing quarantine on healthy people, and medical experimentation locally is very hypocritical.

    7. Support Genocide Via Population Replacement

    The Canadian Government grandstands about how morally superior it is to China. Even so, successive Administrations have engaged in the practice of population replacement, to eliminate the “old stock”, or at least, dilute their numbers. While it’s certainly not exclusively Chinese, they are in the top 3 source countries, year after year.

    Not only are the people replaced, but the culture, history and traditions go as well. This is supported by the United Nations. A “Canadian” identity is substituted for a “multicultural” one. This inevitably leads to balkanization and enclaves, as similar people band together.

    In most countries, this would be considered genocide. In Canada, and other Western nations, it’s diversity, and only racists question the agenda.

    These symbolic actions against China ring hollow when considered against other things that go on.

    8. Canada-China Business Council

    There is Ambassador Dominic Barton, featured prominently.
    Who else runs the group?

    • Paul Desmarais Sr. — former head of Power Corp (deceased)
    • Andre Desmarais — son-in-law of Jean Chretien
    • Oliver Desmarais — Vice President of Power Corp
    • Sam Boutziouvis — VP (Government Relations) of SNC Lavalin
    • Morgan Elliott — VP (Government Affairs) of Huawei
    • Tim McGuire — Executive VP, China Construction Bank
    • Martin Cauchon — was in Jean Chretien’s Cabinet
    • James Moore — was in Stephen Harper’s Cabinet
    • Stockwell Day — was in Stephen Harper’s Cabinet
    • Scott Brison — was in Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet

    Sure, Canadian politicians will grandstand to show how righteous they are with regards to China. But will any of this stop them from doing business with them? That seems highly unlikely. Morals are morals, but money is money.

    In fact, take a look at the CCBC website. There isn’t a single mention of genocide by the Chinese listed anywhere.

    While there is talk locally of boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics, that is pretty minor in the scheme of things. It is a single event.

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