The View Up Here Season 2 Premiere 1

Welcomes Journalist Amy MacPherson 2

September 4, 2014 3
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http://blogtalk.vo.llnwd.net/o23/show/6/861/show_6861619.mp3 5
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Glen: Well well, what do you know? Now I can hear the song. Welcome to 8
The View Up Here. Tonight we have Amy MacPherson on our show. And 9
the songs fading in and out from when I can hear it. So I hope somebody 10
can hear me. Blogtalk Radio. What a joke. Well, well be taking about 11
CSEC and private members bill C-622 from Joyce Murray. Well be 12
talking about the Canada Pension Plan and whats happened to it, hardly 13
anybody knows about it. Well be talking about fracking close to Lake 14
Huron, and storing nuclear waste. Only 40 million people at risk there. 15
Whats the big deal? And well talk about the price that Amy paid by 16
digging into this fun by the Harper government. So hopefully the song 17
will finish and Ill bring her on and everything will work. See what 18
happens. Welcome to The View Up Here. 19
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Okay Im looking at the chat. Can anybody hear me? Come on, somebody 21
tell me. Alright. Excellent. Somebody can hear me. Well okay, so you 22
must have heard what I said during the song, so well carry on. I have my 23
guest here in the studio, and now shes live. Good evening Amy, can you 24
hear me? 25
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Amy: Hey Glen, I can hear you. How you doing? 27
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Glen: Yay! 29
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Amy: (laughs) A little bit of technical difficulties? Its all good. It could be 31
CSEC, you know. (laughs) 32
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Glen: Well, unless CSEC actually runs BTR, this is standard for the course. But 34
whatever, youre here now, welcome to the show. 35
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Amy: Thanks so much. 37
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Glen: And uh, I think I pretty much covered it. Were gonna go over CSEC and 39
C-622, the Canada Pension Plan and our wonderful friend Nigel Wright 40
and the rest of the connected Board, and then well move over to Ontario, 41
and uh as I said in a couple tweets earlier today, you know if you wanna 42
look into some fracking and nuclear waste and Bruce Power, couple of 43
cabinet ministers gee, you wouldnt think that youre gonna end up 44
under surveillance but surprise! 45
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Amy: Thats exactly what happened. 47
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Glen: Well, well get along to that and then as I said to listeners, youve paid 49
quite a price, ongoing, for dealing with these people. And uh, Im sure not 50
everybodys aware of the story and well, its not a story, its a non-fiction 51
story, but a story it is. 52
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Amy: Well call it a saga, hows that? 54
55
Glen: That is-- that is accurate. I agree, that is a very good thing to call it. So, 56
where would you like to start? Would you like to start with Joyce 57
Murrays private members bill and what its trying to accomplish? Would 58
you like to start with CSEC? 59
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Amy: Sure. Um, now Joyce Murray does have Bill C-622, its a private 61
members bill, and they dont have very much chance of passing, so it 62
might be that its generating conversation right now, but its one that 63
needs to be had. And Ive read over the bill, and it still-- it still doesnt 64
have as much teeth as I would like it to have but at least its a starting 65
place. So what shes done is shes uh made a proposal for there to be 66
oversight of CSIS and CSEC with a parliamentary committee which 67
would be similar to the congressional oversight that the United States has. 68
And the Commissioner would report to the Committee and uh, the 69
information would be available to government and to the Prime Minister, 70
and they would need to justify, um, you know at least be documenting 71
what requests are made of them from other surveillance agencies, whether 72
the NSA, GCHQ, so on and so forth, um, what theyve fulfilled or not, and 73
if there are any issues that might put Canadian privacy at risk to be 74
reported so that they can go over it. But the problem that I have with this 75
bill is that um, ultimately it gives the Prime Minister a veto, so if theres 76
any information in these reports that should be available to the public that 77
the Prime Minister for any reason whatsoever says they dont want to 78
share, uh then it wont be shared. Um, so you know in a situation with the 79
Harper government that has been very closed to releasing any information, 80
I think that could be quite a stumbling block, I dont know if it would be 81
the same in the future but right now it-- it-- it seems a bit complicated. 82
And as well it doesnt-- it doesnt define the nature of privacy, and thats 83
at the core of the problem here. We have a lot of conversations about 84
metadata, and people have-- most people have no idea of what that 85
means, and they often think that it relates to telephone records, you know, 86
what number you dialed, how long the telephone call was, but now we 87
have the advent of the internet and its a lot more complicated than that. 88
And um, Ann Cavoukian, the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has taken 89
issue with the way information is being collected from the internet and she 90
says that although social media does have public features, that the mass 91
collection of information from these sites is an invasion of privacy, that 92
we do have some right to feel protected using these sites, so shes taking 93
up that cause and that is-- thats part and parcel to all of this, and as we 94
get further in our conversation Ill explain some more about that, because I 95
can tell you exactly how its been used to harm me and my family as a 96
journalist in a way that I alleged is meant to suppress the news. 97
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Glen: Well I agree with that, I mean uh, the definition of metadata is not well 99
defined. I mean it applies to posting a picture, a picture has metadata on 100
it. Uh, your ISP connection has metadata on it. It is very extensive, and 101
they dont really care to expound on that or explain it too much. This is 102
true, but when Ive been looking at 622, the big part if it is Part 2 of the 103
Act, which is basically an act to establish the Intelligence and Security 104
Committee of Parliament. And I agree that it is very similar to the House 105
Intelligence Committee in the U.S., but you know we dont have it 106
currently, but about the biggest thing that I saw in it that would maybe 107
help maybe is that this Committee will be composed of three members 108
of the Senate, six members of the House, and none of them can be a 109
Minister of Government or a Parliamentary Secretary to a Minister of 110
Government. So, it kind of makes it sound like its outsiders within the 111
House, and no more than four members of the entire Committee can be of 112
the same party. So, I would have to say 113
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Amy: I agree with all of that and I-- I definitely support Joyce Murrays bill. 115
Its just that it doesnt go nearly far enough. Itwhat it does is it 116
addresses oversight of CSEC, but it does not address what CSEC can and 117
cannot do. 118
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Glen: Thats true. Thats true, but then that is basically covered every year in the 120
defence bill. So that is similar to the NDAA bill in the States, but I mean 121
you know with-- with whats going on, and with ALEC being up here 122
helping write laws, you know thats-- thats, you know, it is progress 123
but yeah, I agree its gonna be one step at a time. I also see here in our 124
chat to inform you that uh, this show tonight is going out on 125
www.livestream.com / OccupyToronto. So thank you very much for doing 126
that 127
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Amy: Oh great! 129
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Glen: Yeah, thank you very much. 131
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Amy: Thats great. Yeah. 133
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Glen: Some other things that are in the bill in Part 2, theres not to be any extra 135
pay for anybody serving on this committee, so you know, especially when 136
were talking about the Harper government since almost half the entire 137
caucus is making extra cash from either being in cabinet or being a 138
Parliamentary Secretary to a Minister or on committees, that may kind of 139
get it across that youre not gonna do this just for some coin. And the one 140
that comes to my mind right off the bat is Sleepy Anders who is on the 141
committee for Veteran Affairs and couldnt even be bothered to stay 142
awake, he just wanted the extra coin. So maybe shes gonna get something 143
across with that. But I mean yes I agree, there is security and 144
confidentiality provisions in the bill, and uh anybody who does sit on this 145
committee, even when theyre done when theyre no longer a member of 146
the Senate or the House, theyre not gonna be able to tell us what they 147
know. So, I guess 148
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Amy: No, its sworn to secrecy for life. 150
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Glen: Yeah. So I-- I do understand what youre saying that, you know, it 152
doesnt really go far enough, but this committee will have powers with 153
this bill that other bodies like Elections Canada dont have, which they 154
should but they dont, and the mandate is to review the legislative 155
regulatory policy administrative framework for CSEC and other bodies 156
that come in contact with it, and this committee will have the power to 157
summon before it any witness and require them to give evidence, orally or 158
in writing, under oath, you know, solemn affirmation if they cant be 159
sworn to oath so you know, these are things that Elections Canada and a 160
lot of other federal operations should have but of course, they dont. So 161
you know 162
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Amy: It is 164
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Glen: shes trying to get it in there, you know? 166
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Amy: Its a definite starting place, its-- its a place that we must begin at, 168
because at present we have virtually no oversight of CSIS and CSEC, 169
there is a single judge with a very, very small um, staff to be working on 170
everything that theyre trying to keep oversight of it all, they cant speak 171
out of school to anyone else thats not right within that industry, so 172
theres-- theres no public aspect making sure, you know, whats 173
happening in all these gray corners, that its okay and-- and we-- we need 174
to have that, like there has to be some mechanism to say this is right or 175
this is wrong, and we dont even have that right now. 176
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Glen: This is true. This is true, there is absolutely nothing right now, so I mean 178
yeah, I understand it, and it is a private members bill so I mean, even the 179
chances of it getting even to third reading is pretty slim. 180
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Amy: There-- it is slim, but it is also not unheard of if there is enough public 182
support. So thats-- you know, part of the issue in speaking about it with 183
everyone to educate them about it, let them know that it exists so they can 184
start talking to their friends, we really need to develop this conversation in 185
the Canadian consciousness. As soon as anybody says CSEC or CSIS, 186
everyone just cowers, hides their heads you know, Oh better not talk 187
about that, we dont know anything about it, were not allowed to know 188
anything about it, its just you know, the spooks in the darkness and it 189
cant stay that way. We are a democratic country! (laughs) You know? 190
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Glen: I agree with that. I mean, there does-- there should definitely be 192
accountability and a certain degree of transparency, which you know, Im 193
not saying that the little guy from Shawinigan and Paul Martin were any 194
better at it, but uh, its certainly disappeared. With Harper. And I do 195
agree, that is a very good point that private members bills have a much 196
better chance of getting somewhere when constituents are aware of them, 197
and they let their representatives know that they are aware of them. That 198
is true, I will agree with that. 199
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Amy: And the other complicated part about this, um, journalism is the fourth 201
estate, um, it is a mechanism to keep a democracy in check, to keep 202
politicians in check, and to be operating honestly, thats the job of a 203
journalist is you know, to be checking what everyones doing, make sure 204
that its kosher, do your investigations when somethings fishy and what 205
not. But because of the state of things right now, and the attitudes of 206
many current governments, especially the Canadian government, the 207
powers to oppress through CSIS and CSEC and our law enforcement and-- 208
and without these regulations about uh metadata and whats public and 209
whats private on the internet, it is being used to oppress journalists 210
directly. So 211
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Glen: Indeed it is. 213
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Amy: So the fourth estate has also been hobbled from being able to do its job. 215
So now you have, um, a very powerful division of government that is 216
answerable to no one, and journalists are not even allowed to do their job 217
to look into things. 218
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Glen: Yeah, its not only that uh, but that is-- that is totally valid, and you will 220
explain it to us later on in the show. But its also this corporate media 221
club, you know weve been hearing about it out of the States somewhat, 222
you know,theres stuff that the New York Times or the Washington Post 223
has, and then they get a phone call. Well, wed appreciate it if maybe you 224
kept that to yourselves. And they cooperate. Well this happens in Canada 225
all the time. 226
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Amy: Even worse. 228
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Glen: Yes and we 230
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Amy: Thats what people dont realize, its even worse. 232
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Glen: Yeah, and we dont hear about it. You know-- you know, people can say 234
what they want about the New York Times being a crock of shit now 235
compared to what it used to be etcetera, but at least their editorial board 236
actually comes out at some point and says that they were requested under 237
uh national defence to-- to squash some information. But I mean we 238
dont even hear about it here. And that-- you know, we are behind the 239
Americans for example, and the British I would say, and as far if-- if you 240
really want to go out on a limb, were far behind the Israeli press. I mean 241
for the longest time, except for maybe the last ten years, the Israeli press 242
was the freest press that I knew of anywhere in the world for the longest 243
time. You know? So I mean it-- it can be done. It can be done. Its just-- 244
is there a willingness? 245
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Amy: I can give you examples of where very established journalists with major 247
productions in Canada have written stories about Canadian intelligence 248
that have been scrubbed from the internet. I do actually have proof of that. 249
250
Glen: Oh, I believe it. I believe it and I mean... 251
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Amy: And in the United States-- in the U.S. there is such a strong culture behind 253
civil liberties. And Canadians were known for being very polite and 254
reasonable and hearing, you know, both sides of things and not getting too 255
fired up, you know, emotionally without all of the logic behind it, and 256
sometimes we look at Americans as being truly driven by emotion. But on 257
this one theyve got us beat hands down. We need that type of fire in 258
Canada, to start protecting our civil liberties because we are losing them 259
by the day, especially under this state of surveillance. 260
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Glen: Yeah, I agree. I-- I definitely agree, and uh, you know Harpers trying to 262
make this into something similar to the United States with a separate 263
executive branch, with the Prime Ministers Office and the Privy Council 264
Office to an extent, but he cant do it, its illegal, its against the 265
constitution. I mean a lot of things that they do are against the constitution, 266
you know that, certainly. Uh, people are starting to catch on. I mean when 267
you go, 0 and 11 in-- in the Supreme Court, it would kind of give a clue to 268
most people that maybe you should follow the constitution once in a 269
while. But, you know its-- I guess like you said, uh I-- Ive got a lot of 270
respect for Joyce Murray, she actually wrote this and got it together and 271
got it on the floor. I mean thats a lot further than weve come, and 272
Harpers been here for nearly ten years, so I guess it is a start but-- but do 273
you think that the way to-- for 622 to have a real chance, what do you 274
think we have to do as citizens? 275
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Amy: I think everybody needs to start beating their drums and very loudly so, 277
theres been next to zero noise about this so its not even touching 278
headlines from mainstream media, theres no updates on the progress or 279
conversations that are being had in communities, uh we need to break that 280
silence desperately. Um, there are so many different advocacy groups, 281
and the only one that I see speaking out in Canada much is 282
www.openmedia.ca And theyre doing great work but they cant do it 283
alone, Joyce Murray cant do it alone, it-- it does take the majority of the 284
public to make a decision for our country. So you know, where are you 285
guys? Hello? 286
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Glen: Yeah, I agree with that, I agree a hundred percent. I support 288
www.openmedia.ca, I think theyre a fine group and theyre very small. 289
They make an awful lot of noise for the amount of people that are really 290
inside that outfit. And um, I have had them on the show before too, and 291
theyre quite happy to come on, you know? Like, they-- they really 292
deserve a lot more exposure for what they do out there in the public realm. 293
And uh I agree 294
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Amy: Definitely. 296
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Glen: Any-- anytime we can bring them to light, its only gonna help. Uh, 298
Nadine has mentioned in a 299
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Amy: I dont know if 301
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Glen: Go ahead. 303
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Amy: Sorry. Uh, just youll notice that the only publication that really does 305
cover them on a-- a constant basis is Vice Canada magazine. 306
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Glen: Thats true. That is true as well. I mean um, thats another thing too, I 308
mean, there are outlets out there. There are outlets that are distant from 309
the corporate media. Nadine has mentioned in chat Ricochet, who is still 310
really just getting off the ground. Now, theres a chance. You know? 311
Theres a chance. 312
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Amy: Well I will also let everybody in on this, and I dont mean offence, we just 314
need to speak really honestly to be able to make progress. So with all of 315
that said, I did meet with the editors of Vice, and they were interested in 316
my story of being surveilled as a journalist and what I was going through 317
um, with the intelligence community, but after we met and they looked at 318
everything they decided that they didnt have enough resources to take it 319
on and they had to back away. I also spoke with the editor of Ricochet, 320
and as theyre just getting off the ground, um, its too big for them too. 321
Because 322
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Glen: Wow. 324
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Amy: when youre taking on something like this, its-- its the fullest power 326
of the Harper government, and it is the dark corners of it that youre not 327
allowed to know anything about. 328
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Glen: Yes. Indeed it is. Thats too bad. Did uh did they say anything that you 330
know like, Well be back? 331
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Amy: Who? 333
334
Glen: Uh, Ricochet or Vice? Like like uh 335
336
Amy: Um, Ricochet, itits-- its sitting there, um when I spoke with Ethan he 337
said you know, they were just getting started and he really hasnt spoken 338
with me much more about it, and 339
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Glen: Hmph. 341
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Amy: Ive seen the direction theyre going and it doesnt seem to be taking on 343
anything about intelligence yet, I imagine theyre finding their legs so far 344
so I have yet to see how thats going to play out, but to start out with they 345
werent ready to make that big of a bang. And Vice Canada just doesnt 346
have enough resources to go up against the government on this. It-- its 347
because I have so much proof. So this isnt innuendo, um or what might 348
be. This is an actual example of how its being misused. 349
350
Glen: Yes. Yes indeed, I mean I know that for a fact. You are a victim of 351
oppression and suppression, by the government. Illegally. And that has to 352
be documented to be provable, and you have that documentation. The next 353
step is getting it out there, right? 354
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Amy: Correct. And I take an awful lot of flack for doing that too. Every time I 356
post a new investigation or start talking about, um, the intelligence 357
community and things that have been happening, I-- I get more contact 358
from my watchers, and I got a message from the RCMP just today. You 359
know, um, I-- Im coming on the talk radio with you, and voila there 360
they are. And there was a-- a new media surveillance company scouring 361
my website as well, theyre-- theyre always, you know, checking on me 362
at the very opportune times so that I know theyre there. But the thing is is 363
that I havent backed down. And what I believe is the only thing that I can 364
do to protect myself now from whats going on is to make every last bit of 365
it public. 366
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Glen: Yes I agree, the-- the harder they push, the louder you get. I agree. I 368
agree. Because thats the only thing that will prevent them from, you 369
know, doing something really stupid. Because they 370
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Amy: Because they already have. (laughs) Yup. 372
373
Glen: Yes. And they are just people doing their jobs, and they want to keep their 374
jobs, so they will not make that fatal mistake that will cost them their 375
career or their departmental budget. I mean, you know? Theyre just-- 376
theyre a different type of bean counter but theyre still bean counters. 377
And theyre only worried about their own end at the end of the day, I 378
mean theyre part of the bureaucracy, they just have more power than the 379
rest of the bureaucracy these days. Which gives them a dark advantage 380
381
Amy: Unchecked and unlimited. 382
383
Glen: Yes indeed, I mean just look at the stuff that came out about the CSEC 384
headquarters, and the increase in their departmental budget and their staff. 385
Its just like well get into it with the Canada Pension Plan, with the 386
number of employees of the Canada Pension Plan, how it shot up through 387
the roof. But everything else has to be cut, we have no money. Well, 388
guess what? You know? Depends what we want done I guess. Theres 389
always money for that. 390
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Amy: If I If I recall my numbers correctly, Im not looking at them firsthand 392
but I believe it was we had 70 employees within the Canada Pension Plan 393
Investment Board, and then when Harper came to power in 2006 he 394
immediately began a privatization process of the CPP, and um, he 395
appointed a whole new Board, and they put everything into the stock 396
market and employees shot up from 70 to 811, I believe it was. 397
398
Glen: Yes, Im looking at it right now, those numbers are correct. So I mean, 399
that is over a thousand percent increase. But yet, you know, we have to 400
control the civil service and we have-- you know, like give me a break. 401
Give me a break. 402
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Amy: And CSEC-- CSECs budget also went up, even though were not 404
allowed to know what they do with it (laughs) what happens, you 405
know, what its earmarked for, what its needed for, what the requests are, 406
nothing whatsoever. So their budget went up, and the-- the CPP 407
Investment Board budget went up for them to do their jobs and everybody 408
else got cut, public service got cut, the veterans are suffering, um, senior 409
citizens are suffering, um young children and families 410
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Glen: Yeah, I 412
413
Amy: its not good. Like the-- the list is nearly endless 414
415
Glen: Yup. 416
417
Amy: Now, everything that helped the public is being cut to reinforce the powers 418
of the bureaucracy. 419
420
Glen: I agree. This is not a democratic government that does this. There is no 421
way to explain it away as being one. Indeed. Alright well, I think weve 422
pretty much gone over C-622, and I agree with you that the best thing for 423
people to do is to read it. Find it. Look at it. And make noise. And as you 424
say, www.openmedia.ca and I imagine even CFF 425
426
Amy: Yup. 427
428
Glen: would have something to say about this, you know? I mean, they are 429
out there. Just-- come on people. 430
431
Amy: And email your MPs. Please! Like crazy. Youve got to let them know 432
this is an important issue, this does matter. Because theyve got to 433
prioritize their workload too, so whoevers making the squeakiest wheel 434
gets oiled the quickest. We need to speak up about this. 435
436
Glen: I agree, I mean even look at uh, C-13 and S-4 when they were just trying 437
to just slide them through with not much being said. Then they started to 438
come up, and then C-13 was basically defeated in the Supreme Court 439
before it ever got Royal Assent. So I mean, you know, even that 440
441
Amy: And if youll notice but heres the thing. In the way these things have 442
been defeated to protect Canadian privacy and our constitutional rights, at 443
the end of the day it has been lawyers who have had to bring that 444
argument for us again because the public is being quiet too quiet. Not to 445
say no ones making noise, yes there is some noise, but the ones actually 446
taking real action, its come down to us relying on all of our legal 447
community to know better and to help us. Weve gotten so lazy with 448
slacktivism, you know, most people only see a headline and dont actually 449
bother to read the story or theyll scan it, theyre not getting the full gist of 450
something and they just, you know, somebody else will do it. Well, look 451
whats happened to Canada as weve been behaving this way. This is our 452
fault too. Weve got to take responsibility for that. It is a democracy that 453
requires every voice to participate, we cant just lay down and wait for 454
somebody else. 455
456
Glen: Oh I agree with that a hundred percent. I mean anybody whos listened to 457
this show for a while, theyll know how many times I go off about why 458
dont people vote? You know, you can say all you want, that its uh, a one 459
day every four years make an X, go back home, blah blah blah, but the 460
bottom line is if there were 75 or 80 percent turnout at elections, they 461
would sit up and pay attention. Because that means people are watching. 462
And thats what has to happen. 463
464
Amy: Well, to give people some perspective, since the last federal election there 465
will be a little better than one million children who have turned 18 and are 466
able to vote in the next election. Those one million 18 to 19 year olds 467
would be able-- would have been able to affect the election so 468
dramatically that it would have put in a different party, let alone just take 469
away a majority. 470
471
Glen: Oh definitely. I mean uh, with all the analytics that have come out with all 472
the robocall noise and everything else, I mean, Harper got his majority 473
basically with 12,000 votes selectively across the country. Thats 474
ridiculous. Thats absolutely ridiculous! Theres 12,000 people in 475
Edmonton where I live that could have got off their ass and voted. You 476
know? I mean, I just dont understand it. People have to care. I-- I agree 477
with that a hundred percent. 478
479
Amy: I think thats probably another date on its own to discuss because I do 480
believe that probably the majority of it is protest, personal protest, um 481
without having much outlet to speak otherwise because uh, people arent 482
really familiar with returning their ballots as opposed to spoiling them. 483
484
Glen: Mm hmm. 485
486
Amy: But uh, yeah thththats-- thats definitely some of it, people have just 487
given up caring and that-- and that again plays into everything thats 488
happened in Canada and the slactivist ideal where we sit on our 489
computers, we click something and we think thats good enough, or we 490
sign a petition, we think thats good enough. Uh in Canada petitions 491
arent even legally binding whereas they are in the States 492
493
Glen: Yes. Well I was actually surprised to see that the uh CEO of uh, is it 494
Centerplate, the guy who was caught on uh 495
496
Amy: Kicking the puppy 497
498
Glen: camera in the elevator-- yeah, kicking the dog, he actually stepped 499
down. So, there you go. When-- when its a company where their 500
moneys on the line, okay well do something about that. But these 501
clowns 502
503
Amy: Yeah, thats where social pressure works. 504
505
Glen: Yeah. But these guys who actually control our lives ignore us. And 506
507
Amy: When youre talking about changing the laws that govern a country that is 508
um, an entirely different level than dealing with a single employee who 509
can be called a rotten apple and dealt with in that manner. But what were 510
talking about is actual laws that will govern all people, so thats not just 511
going to happen by complaining once or twice. Thats a-- a very invested 512
process that-- that we must all care about for it to happen, and if we dont, 513
things are just going to continue on this trajectory so that we have zero 514
privacy whatsoever and we really dont already, but were going to get 515
into that in a little bit. 516
517
Glen: Alrighty. Now um, like I said, that pretty well closes the-- the book on 518
C-622. Now how about we move on to what has happened to our very 519
sustainable, historically successful Canada pension plan. Now, your 520
article 521
522
Amy: Yeah. 523
524
Glen: your articles on it, uh, really cut to the chase. I mean uh youve-- 525
youve named the Investment Board of Directors, youve highlighted their 526
connections, um, everybodys good friend and outstanding gentleman 527
according to everybody, Nigel Wright, is uh, I think one day he will be 528
loathed in this country for what hes done, and what he continues to do. I 529
mean if you look at the slide show on the show page I have a meme of Mr. 530
Wright where it says $90,000? I make that a day now. You know, and 531
thats about it. 532
533
Amy: True. 534
535
Glen: I mean, people dont understand the connections that exist now between 536
the federal government, Onex, uh, military industrial complex 537
corporations, I mean, and pipeline companies, big oil, you know it kind of 538
puts a different view on it once you get exposed to these connections and 539
you see Harper and all his minions that continue to just rail for pipelines 540
and oil sands and pipelines and oil-- and well, its probably because they 541
put so much of our money into it. And I dont think Canadians have any 542
idea how far were in. 543
544
Amy: Id agree with that. Um, you know, it was a-- a two-part article, and it got 545
extremely great response from the public. And I did hear back from 546
opposition parties who had-- were concerned about it and they were 547
having their counsels look into it, and then everybody went silent. 548
Nothing more, uh even when I contact them again you know to say is 549
there any movement on this, just no words whatsoever. And thats 550
definitely concerning, you know, if we cant even communicate about 551
that, you know, how does any other party even feel about this, for that 552
matter? And when Harper-- he drastically, drastically changed the 553
structure of CPP and the way that it is invested-- it used to be invested in 554
safe products in-- in Canadian bonds and the majority of it and whatnot, 555
and he put it all into the private market. And when it went into the private 556
market, it went into the Alberta oil sands and the military industrial 557
complex. I mean, we-- our money is invested in the Iraq prison scandal. 558
One of the biggest companies, L L3 um 559
560
Glen: Yup. 561
562
Amy: that was responsible for the torture of uh, inmates and-- and a lot of 563
those people were just innocent civilians, uh were-- were lock, stock and 564
barrel in with them, you know, we covered some of their fines for 565
torturing these people through our CPP, and then were into Elbit as well, 566
and um, the American Predator drone, which is the one that is armed with 567
missiles that is responsible for all the civilian deaths in Pakistan, Yemen 568
and all those areas, so you know, youre talking about a few hundred 569
children, and I-- I figure-- the way I calculate that for the amount of 570
people that are paying into CPP from their cheque deductions, on average 571
each of us paid about five dollars each to kill all those children. When it 572
comes down to it at the end of the day. 573
574
Glen: Yeah I agree, I mean uh, I went over your articles about the corporations 575
names, and uh, theyre all very familiar to me. And you know like I said, 576
once you get a little familiar with them, its -- its quite obvious to me 577
why Harper seems to be such a warmonger. I mean L3 Communications 578
has worked with British Aerospace, theyve worked with Lockheed 579
Martin, they work with Boeing, they work with everybody, they were the-- 580
the corporation that actually bought out CAE, which was the biggest, 581
strongest Canadian aerospace corporation there was, they still exist 582
583
Amy: Were invested in that too, yup. 584
585
Glen: Yeah. You know, CAE still exists as an-- as an independent corporation, 586
but theyre puppets. You know? I mean uh, this whole F-35, you wonder 587
why they wont move off the F-35. Well were invested through the 588
Canada Pension Plan in just about every corporation that puts a nut or a 589
bolt on that damned thing. So I mean you know 590
591
Amy: Yes, were actually we-- actually were outright partners in that scenario. 592
Um, again through the-- the privatization of CPP and-- and thats a 593
colloquial term, but it was put into the private market from-- we used to 594
keep it in our Canadian investments, basically uh-- the government so 595
they were safe. But when it got put into private market we also became-- 596
CPP became a business partner of Onex, while 597
598
Glen: Yes. 599
600
Amy: Nigel Wright was in charge of everything. So together we bought um, 601
Tomkins and 602
603
Glen: Mm hmm. 604
605
Amy: they own Smith & Wesson, and then-- and they make a combat plane 606
and whatnot, and um so-- so together we partnered to buy them out with 607
Onex, so were 50-50 partners on that. And the company that we created 608
together was uh, Hawker Beechcraft, and 609
610
Glen: Mm hmm. 611
612
Amy: Theyre-- theyre of course making the warplanes, but theyre a direct 613
partner to Lockheed Martin and the F-35, so our money is directly in there 614
as a business partner. And through CPP were also-- weve got hundreds 615
of millions in Keystone XL and Northern Gateway as well on the oil side 616
of things. 617
618
Glen: Yeah, I agree with that, uh, Hawker Beechcraft, uh, theyre trying to sell 619
the AT6, the Texan 2, which used to be just uh, turboprop trainer aircraft, 620
now its been armed, and its being-- theyre trying to sell it as a light 621
attack aircraft, uh, theyll be trying to sell that to Iraq, Afghanistan, all 622
these countries that theyve completely obliterated, Well you know you 623
guys kind of have to start over, so here, take a look at this! Weve got 624
this. So, you know? So it does clear up 625
626
Amy: And 627
628
Glen: it clears up the ambiguity why Harper has taken such a warmongers 629
stance. Its because theres money in it. Directly. 630
631
Amy: Harper 632
633
Glen: you know? 634
635
Amy: if there were to be peace, we could not retire at this point. It-- it would 636
take all of our money if there were peace in the world for what we have 637
invested it in. And CPP is further implicated uh, in large investments in 638
the companies that are, uh, there are sanctions uh, U.N. sanctions and 639
proposals and what not, uh, for the illegal wall. 640
641
Glen: Hmm. Mm hmm. 642
643
Amy: You know, so 644
645
Glen: Yup. 646
647
Amy: our CPP is directly tied to issues that are about to go to the ICC for war 648
crime complaints. 649
650
Glen: (laughs) 651
652
Amy: Im not taking sides here, you know, its a complicated situation, um, but 653
thats where our money is, and its about to go to the ICC. 654
655
Glen: Well one of the biggest-- one of the biggest differences Ive seen with the 656
Canada Pension Plan compared to other funds like this around the world 657
with a-- a common publicly vested retirement fund for people is that the 658
CPP has such a big cushion that these guys can get away with doing very 659
risky things. They can take high risks and by law, the plan only has to 660
share 25% of their profits for benefits, and workers pay the rest. So 661
662
Amy: Yes. 663
664
Glen: these guys-- they can play all kinds of games with this money. They 665
dont have to go for sure things, you know? Its just Hey, you know 666
him? Yeah, we were buddies in school, hes got this thing, lets-- lets 667
go there. You know, this is just ridiculous. This is not about the publics 668
good. 669
670
Amy: But heres the real kicker. Theres-- the real kicker to all of this-- I dont 671
think a lot of the public realize, CPP, Canada Pension Plan, is not a tax. 672
Everybody looks at their paycheque, they see the deductions that come 673
off, youve got EI, Federal, Provincial tax, the whole nine yards, and 674
youve got your CPP deduction. CPP is not a tax. It is our collective 675
money together. It is not the governments to budget with. And thats 676
exactly what theyve done. 677
678
Glen: Yes exactly, it is not government revenue. They are merely collecting it on 679
our behalf. 680
681
Amy: Correct. 682
683
Glen: But yet, theyve turned it into basically a hedge fund is what theyve done. 684
685
Amy: For each of the 686
687
Glen: And 688
689
Amy: Prime Ministers pet projects. 690
691
Glen: Yes, it certainly seems this way. And there have been some bad 692
investments as well. Like, wasnt there one year 693
694
Amy: 695
696
Glen: one year the fund 697
698
Amy: 18.6 yeah, yeah we took a huge loss, I think it was 18.6% loss we 699
took one year because of the risky investments that they made, and that 700
may have been-- ImIm not sure whether it coincides with, um, the 701
period of time that uh, the fines needed to be paid for the torture in Iraq, or 702
if deals fell through for Keystone or Gateway pressures or anything like 703
that, I-- I havent matched it up with the market exactly what was 704
happening and politics at that time, but we took a massive loss that year. 705
And that-- that-- were not protected from that in any other year for that 706
matter because it is in the highest, riskiest private market 707
708
Glen: Well I-- you know, I mean, when you wanna put the money into these 709
shady no other word for it shady companies, I mean Barrick Gold? 710
They get sued all over the world. So and who ends up paying for it? 711
Canadian workers. You know? Like this is ridiculous. And then 712
713
Amy: And that was exactly what we were supposed to be protected from. But 714
715
716
Glen: Yup. 717
718
Amy: Harper changed that entirely. And I dont even know 719
720
Glen: Well 721
722
Amy: how that happened without anybody noticing. The changes went 723
through in C-36. And that was 724
725
Glen: Yes. 726
727
Amy: one issue that nobody raised. Not a single person. 728
729
Glen: Yeah, more of this wonderful omnibus legislation. Yes indeed. Now, if we 730
look at the Investment Board of Directors, I mean the connections here-- 731
this is nothing-- this is like organized crime. Theres no other description. 732
This is like the heads of the families getting together for the Commission. 733
Thats all this is. Like, Robert 734
735
Amy: Its a motley crew. 736
737
Glen: Yeah. Robert Astley, President of Sun Life, well, the Canada Pension 738
Plan purchased $109 million worth of stock in Sun Life. So that means he 739
gets to go on the Board? And thats-- theres no conflict there? Ian 740
Bourne, the Chief-- the Chief Executive Officer of SNC Lavalin, the most 741
disgraced engineering outfit in the world, they are banned from U.S. 742
contracts 743
744
Amy: Its now blacklisted. 745
746
Glen: Yeah. But even while you look across all Canada in all these Economic 747
Action Plan infrastructure bullshit projects, guess who engineers them all? 748
SNC Lavalin. You know? I mean, they paid bribes to Gaddafis family, 749
theyve paid bribes in Africa, theyve done this, theyve done that. Yet 750
they still get all this work in Canada, and the pension plan money goes 751
into them? And their CEO 752
753
Amy: How many Canadians looked in the mirror and said, I worked to pay to 754
off Gaddafi because we did. 755
756
Glen: Indeed. Now Ian Bourne is also on the Board for the Canadian Oil Sands 757
Limited, who Im very familiar with because they are the largest 758
shareholder in Syncrude. And Syncrude is in a very big lawsuit with 759
Greenpeace over the wanton death of wildlife. I mean, they were 760
convicted and fined, a token fine but still, I mean it sets precedent and 761
there will be more lawsuits, because they dont change the way they do 762
business. I worked there for 763
Amy: Sorry? 764
765
Glen: Yeah. No I mean, I spent more than five years of my life at Mildred Lake 766
for Syncrude, I know how they do things. And they dont change, you 767
know? 768
769
Amy: And now the scientist-- the scientists reports have come out about the-- 770
the mercury poisoning in the soil in the whole perimeter. 771
772
Glen: Yup. So you know 773
774
Amy: And thats new, thats new to deal with. But yup. 775
776
Glen: Thatll be comin down-- down the line as well, but I mean heres these 777
guys, screwing the environment, screwing aboriginal people around it, 778
screwing everything they can, but yet Canada Pension Plan drops more 779
than $80 million in there. Because oils such a dead-end business, theres 780
no money to be made. They need our help. And then not only them, 781
Exxon Mobil. I mean, Exxon Valdez look at all the spills, look at all 782
the disasters that Exxon Mobils involved with. Canada Pension Plan has 783
$553 million in Exxon Mobil. Why? I mean Exxon funded a lobby 784
against Kyoto that helped change public opinion that made it easy for 785
Harper to walk away from it. BP, British Petroleum. All you have to say 786
is Gulf of Mexico. Everybody knows whats going on there. But yet, 787
Canada Pension Plan has $347 million in BP. This makes no sense for 788
what this plan was supposed to be. 789
790
Amy: And let us not forget Nexen. (laughs) Were into that too. 791
792
Glen: Indeed. Nexen got $62 million of CPP money. And then they were sold 793
to China. Which raised concerns in the U.S., raised concerns a lot of 794
places but it still went through. You know? 795
796
Amy: So now that is a-- a Chinese state-owned enterprise that is using Canada 797
Pension Plan funds to prosper. 798
799
Glen: Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous, you know? Theres too many 800
801
Amy: And let us not forget, they want Temporary Foreign Workers as well, so 802
its not like its even turning into jobs for Canadians. 803
804
Glen: Thats another issue. Not only do they have our capital, they refuse to use 805
our labour. And theyre allowed. 806
807
Amy: Right. 808
809
Glen: Thats what kills me. Theyre allowed. I mean, Trans Canada Corp. 810
TCPL. The guys behind Keystone. Harper, Oh, Keystones for sure. For 811
sure. Yeah well theres only $218 million of pension plan money it 812
TCPL. Enbridge, $200 million. Like, give me a break! No wonder that 813
this is the agenda that he has tunnel vision on. Because like you said, I 814
think the truth is if these industries suddenly fade away, Canadians are 815
toast. Our moneys gone. 816
817
Amy: Our money is gone 818
819
Glen: Unbelievable. 820
821
Amy: if we dont keep going down the oil track and the war track, our money 822
is gone. And were already losing it whenever there are social or political 823
blips on the radar, we take a hit for that every time that happens. 824
825
Glen: Unbelievable. Then we have the corporation Methanex, which is the 826
worlds largest producer of methanol for petrochemical use and for fuel. 827
Of course guys from Methanex are on the Board as well. Well of course! 828
829
Amy: Two of them. Douglas Mahaffey and Pierre Choquette. 830
831
Glen: But they only got $38 million from the pension plan. But then Pierre 832
Choquette is a Director at Telus, which got $116 million from the pension 833
plan. You know I remember back when Telus bought out BC Tel when it 834
was AGT, Alberta Government Telephones and they bought out BC Tel, 835
then suddenly they were this monolith on the landscape in 836
telecommunications. Where did they come up with all this money? Oh I 837
dont know, I guess when theres somebody you can phone in Ottawa and 838
get a cheques for $116 million, kinda helps it out. And 839
840
Amy: When the guys on the Board? Yeah. 841
842
Glen: Exactly uh, this is-- this is the thing I mean, like when-- when the 843
directors of these corporations are on this Investment Board, gee what a 844
surprise, all the investments are in their corporations. Theres 845
846
Amy: Every single time an investment would be made in each of the Board of 847
Directors companies, each one of them would have to declare a conflict 848
of interest and not be able to speak on that issue. Which means all of them 849
cannot speak on many issues. (laughs) So whos representing us? 850
851
Glen: And then we havent even mentioned the chartered banks. Of course 852
Heather Marlo Bloom, you know, shes on the Board from the Royal 853
Bank. The Royal Bank is only into the pension plan for $707 million. 854
855
Amy: Yeah that ones our largest uh, domestic holding-- singular domestic 856
holding, and that was happening right around the time of implication in 857
the Libor scandal. 858
859
Glen: And of course people remember the Royal Bank being the one busted for 860
temporary foreign worker. 861
862
Amy: That too. Yup, yup. 863
864
Glen: You know? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Its just such a-- such a circle. 865
Such a circle. You know? And then uh oh, well you know, weve got 866
Robert Brooks, whos the Vice Chair of Scotiabank, weve got $537 867
million in Scotiabank. Scotiabank has been convicted of money 868
laundering, uh, all kinds of fraud in Central America, South America, they 869
were kicked out of some countries in South America twenty years ago but 870
you know, nobody-- hey, nobody says that. You know? Hey, theyre 871
Canadian. Yeah, oh yeah theyre Canadian all right. Its absolutely 872
ridiculous! And then of course, as you said, we have this partnership in 873
this fund with Onex. And Onex owns the air division of Raytheon. Who 874
anybody who knows anything about military industrial complex, Raytheon 875
is the largest manufacturer of air missiles in the world. Just about 876
everything thats on a fighter plane in a NATO country is made by 877
Raytheon. So if we keep having wars, we keep needing more missiles. 878
879
Amy: And that partnership caused the Canada Pension Plan, all of our retirement 880
funds, which is our pool of money and not a source of government 881
revenue, it made us a business owner of a defence company. 882
883
Glen: (laughs) How that is legal I have absolutely no idea. Im sure theres 884
absolutely nothing 885
886
Amy: Its our friend Nigel Wright. 887
888
Glen: Unbelievable. Like theres gotta-- theres no way that theres anything in 889
the Charter for the pension that says we will-- we will own a corporation, 890
never mind in that industry, we will own any corporation, a multinational. 891
But yet 892
893
Amy: And when I-- when I wrote that investigation, um, Mr. Wright was the 894
Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Harper, and I had a question at the time: 895
What would happen with conflict of interest when he did finally depart 896
that role, um because weve got lobbying rules and-- and what not, youre 897
not supposed to do that for five years after youve held a position like that, 898
but I wondered if when he departed he would resume his position at Onex 899
which again would make him the business partner, the legal business 900
partner to um, our ownership of-- of uh, Hawker Beechcraft, and doesnt 901
that present problems? And thats exactly what did end up happening. He 902
went straight back to Onex. So he is still in a sense managing our CPP. 903
904
Glen: From London now. Thats I guess 905
906
Amy: From London, and-- and-- and from the military viewpoint. 907
908
Glen: Yep. But you know, I mean its-- its like Arthur Porter being in uh 909
Panama, its like the biggest person from the robocalls being in Kuwait, 910
now Nigels in London. Out of sight, out of mind, nothing to see here, 911
move on. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And again I would have to 912
say corporate media, hell of a job. Way to follow up. You know? 913
Ridiculous. Has anybody even gone to Panama to try to talk to Porter? I 914
mean its obvious 915
916
Amy: I dont 917
918
Glen: the government just wants him to die there. You know? My God. 919
920
Amy: I assume, so he was um, he was recently terribly injured in a prison riot in 921
La Joya where hes being kept right now. 922
923
Glen: (laughs) 924
925
Amy: He-- he 926
927
Glen: And I 928
929
Amy: was trampled on and lost consciousness, but um, but we havent heard 930
any updates from that yet. 931
932
Glen: Well weve all seen movies where theres a disturbance in a prison just to 933
get to somebody. And you know-- especially in a place like La Joya 934
which has quite a reputation. I dont see it being too hard to pull off. 935
What a surprise. I heard they just re-arrested his wife in Montreal as well. 936
937
Amy: Ooh, I didnt hear that yet. 938
939
Glen: Yeah I saw something come across Twitter about that. I have to probably 940
look 941
942
Amy: Do you know what for? 943
944
Glen: No, I dunno, Ill probably have to look at Le Devoir and see what they 945
have to say about it but, I dunno. But I mean, so again, so I mean you 946
know, with your work, its here. It can be seen. But how can this become 947
the issue it deserves to be in the public arena? 948
949
Amy: Well, that requires one: the public, and two: its representatives, and Im 950
really discouraged by the response from our MPs and the oppositions 951
parties. They are definitely aware of this, and nobody will speak about it 952
and I cant explain to you why, because I did make those inquiries, you 953
know? I tried to get some response from people and I should probably 954
clarify for everybody that my work was done absolutely without bias. It 955
was done professionally. And its as I have been going through personal 956
attacks that I have allowed myself to express my personal feelings about 957
this. And thats the premise that Im speaking to you about, and Im 958
sharing that, because its gotten to the point where this really needs to be 959
heard. I am a human being, I do vote just like everybody else, Im not 960
going to divulge how I vote but I am-- obviously care about politics and 961
what happens to our country like anybody else. So every journalist does 962
have their own personal opinion. You keep it out of your work. And I 963
have kept it out of my work. It-- it-- thats not what has driven anything. 964
But my conversation about it now, this is my personal point of view. 965
966
Glen: Excellent. Thats why youre here. (laughs) 967
968
Amy: Thank you. 969
970
Glen: Definitely, definitely. I mean the work speaks for itself. Theres no 971
question about that. And I just thought that maybe this would also help 972
you, getting you on here because you know, people want to connect work 973
to a person, and here you are. 974
975
Amy: Yes. 976
977
Glen: Right on. 978
979
Amy: And theres no machine doing it, and-- and the thing is-- is that there has 980
been so much backlash. And its been on a very personal level at my 981
home. But as we keep talking Im sure listeners will get more familiar 982
with how this situation developed and then we can explain the nitty gritty 983
of whats actually happening to me. 984
985
Glen: Okay. Well then if we move on to the complex situation of-- the situation 986
around Lake Huron with fracking, nuclear waste and conflict of interest 987
with members of cabinet, Im sure well get an awful lot closer to how you 988
are being affected personally by your work. 989
990
Amy: Yup. And it did stem um, from the CPP investigation. When you 991
mentioned the name Robert Brooks who was the Vice Chair of 992
Scotiabank, we invested $537 million in that company, but he also heads 993
Dundee Reit. CPP invested another $20 million in the parent company, 994
and that was the one that caught my eye because I knew it had some 995
relationship to MP Kellie Leitch, also known as the current Labour 996
Minister. She was a Parliamentary Secretary at the time quickly after she 997
was elected, and uh from the riding of where all the commotion was with 998
Helena Guergis. So Guergis was turfed and uh, Kellie Leitch was brought 999
in, and there were questions of whether she could even legally run here for 1000
her address because nobody knew her there, you know there were 1001
accusations of being parachuted, and this is the riding that I live in. So I 1002
had a lot of personal knowledge of the ins and outs of things that were 1003
going on, complaints and-- and backstabbing I guess youd call it. Uh 1004
and-- and it-- it-- it caught my interest like when the Dundee issue came 1005
up, I knew right away there was something that I needed to look into and 1006
so I did. And I started looking up um, the Labour Ministers history and I 1007
found that, what I believe anyway, to be a conflict of interest. This is my 1008
allegation from my research, and she was-- youre not supposed to-- if 1009
youre a back-bencher, you can take some outside work so long as it does 1010
not cause any conflict of interest with your job in Parliament. But if you 1011
are a Parliamentary Secretary or Minister youre not supposed to be 1012
allowed to do those things because theres just too much complication for 1013
bias. So she was a Parliamentary Secretary while also sitting on the Board 1014
of Trustees for Dundee Reit with a gentleman by the name of Ned 1015
Goodman. Ned Goodman is the owner of the Dundee parent company and 1016
all its um, subsidiaries. And so they were sitting at the same table together, 1017
and I knew that that company was getting money from CPP and I started 1018
digging further. And what I found out was that um, through Dundee Reit 1019
that um, Kellie Leitch basically became the landlord to the Government of 1020
Canada and the vast majority of its buildings as well as um, oh geez, the 1021
National Energy Board, um, Enbridge, um, you know they had a lot of 1022
environmental concerns for their clients that they still be allowed to do 1023
their things and what not. So there was obviously a need to clear conflict 1024
of interest. And I wrote that piece, and it was published and again, 1025
opposition parties got in touch, they said you know theyre trying, theyre 1026
looking at doing something about it and months went by once again 1027
absolutely nothing. Um, Im really confused by that. 1028
1029
Glen: It does seem to be just a blatant-- like you know again, uh this-- this just 1030
reminds me of nothing but organized crime. Thats all it reminds me of. 1031
Because theres all these connected people in different spheres and they all 1032
come to the same table in a room somewhere and, you know, they have a 1033
good time. I mean-- 1034
1035
Amy: And more-- moreover I discovered her income, um from sitting on that 1036
Board of Trustees, and she did not declare it with the Ethics 1037
Commissioner 1038
1039
Glen: (laughs) 1040
1041
Amy: which you need to do as a Member of Parliament, she-- she declared 1042
her-- her work at University of Toronto and Sick Kids and what not, but 1043
she left out anything about the Dundee company. And theres um, theres 1044
tons of evidence of exactly what she got paid. So for that money not to be 1045
accounted for is an issue I think that needs to be looked into. 1046
1047
Glen: Well we see where Christy Clark got her uh, game plan. I mean Clark did 1048
the same thing with uh, RCI so I see where the precedent comes from. 1049
1050
Amy: Yes, very very similar and then everybody just clams up and doesnt talk 1051
anything about it and hopes it will go away except for, um, a-- a lawyer 1052
who is the-- who is or was-- at the time was anyway, the Treasurer of the 1053
Ontario Bar Association. And he was noted in media, he would often give 1054
comments on different situations as being a Conservative Party member. 1055
Um, so he sent me a letter after that investigation of the Labour Minister 1056
and accused me of a number of things and wanted an apology, and the 1057
story to be taken down, um, he argued with me about parts that he-- he 1058
claimed were not true, and that I should be thankful to her for-- to-- for 1059
giving up being a doctor to become a parliamentarian and what not, but 1060
um I-- he said that he was contacting me um, on behalf of Kellie Leitch, 1061
but he didnt sign his document properly and he didnt carbon copy her, 1062
which was a red flag to me because I am very familiar with legal 1063
documents, um, again well get more on that later (laughs) 1064
1065
Glen: (laughs) 1066
1067
Amy: So uh so I noticed that and I-- I wrote him back at length, and he was 1068
rather coy with me, and I called him out on it and I sent a copy to the Law 1069
Society of Upper Canada and um, he never spoke again. But I also was 1070
not able to publish at the Huffington Post ever again. Every single story 1071
Ive submitted since that one has been declined. 1072
1073
Glen: Wow. Well that doesnt just happen out of the blue, thats for sure. 1074
1075
Amy: Well I did have a dispute with Marni Soupcoff, um when I was writing at 1076
uh, Huff Post, blogging there, uh Danielle Crittendon was my editor. Now 1077
she is the daughter of the person who founded Sun News, not um Sun 1078
Media that as (indiscernible) does on TV but the actual newspaper 1079
itself 1080
1081
Glen: Yes. 1082
1083
Amy: um yeah and-- and uh she is married to David Frum who everyone is 1084
quite familiar with as um, as a-- a Tory strategist, commentator and so on 1085
and so forth. She was absolutely wonderful to work with, um, as strange 1086
as people might think. She didnt have any issues about censorship, I-- I 1087
really enjoyed working with her. But then she was moved out and Marni 1088
Soupcoff was brought in. Marni, um, she has written for a number of 1089
mainstream publications, um a lot for the National Post as well, but shes 1090
also a Fellow at Fraser Institute. And 1091
1092
Glen: Hmm. 1093
1094
Amy: she was the one that began declining absolutely everything that I was 1095
submitting. And I did confront her, and I asked her if this was an issue of 1096
politics. And she responded that there were certain people that were 1097
selected to cover news like this, and that she was brought in to restructure 1098
things. 1099
1100
Glen: So the fact that 1101
1102
Amy: And-- and-- Ill also note-- but heres-- heres the other part. At the 1103
same time Ariana Huffington joined the Board of Directors of Onex. 1104
1105
Glen: That I did not know. 1106
1107
Amy: Yes. 1108
1109
Glen: Well, well, well isnt that interesting. That says a lot right there. That 1110
says an awful lot right there. So basically de facto your new editor was 1111
brought in to basically make sure you werent covering what you were the 1112
best at. 1113
1114
Amy: Anything important yup, which is uh what brought me to starting 1115
www.freethepresscanada.org. There was also 1116
1117
Glen: Well, I 1118
1119
Amy: Conservative-- Conservative interference um, a volunteer for the 1120
Labour Minister-- when I was covering elections for CBC both 1121
provincially and federally in print and uh-- uh online, and also on 1122
television, um, there was a campaign to try and get me um, axed from 1123
there. And eventually it was successful, its uh, there were complaints 1124
made, the producers had my back, uh, lawyer Peter Rosenthal got into the 1125
mix and he also had my back so I was fine to do what I was doing. I was 1126
writing an investigative series for CBC as well uh, one that included 1127
health care, which did um, name Dr. Leitch in the process of that, so thats 1128
kind of how that all arose, and there were some death threats at my home 1129
that needed to be reported to the police, um, they didnt want to take any 1130
action. Uh, they were not just against me but also Bob Rae, the leader of-- 1131
he was at the time the leader of the federal Liberal Party. Um 1132
1133
Glen: Mmm hmm. 1134
1135
Amy: so there was another lawyer that wrote to the OPP Commissioner about 1136
that about them not taking act-- because there were plenty of videos-- 1137
threatening videos posted and-- and written diatribes and-- and uh, this 1138
person was um, tracking my movements even when I was with my son and 1139
what not so it was a very serious issue. But nothing came of that, and 1140
three months after Harpers re-election, the Executive Editoruh, most of 1141
the Board was re-appointed by the Conservative government, conditions 1142
got harsh within CBC as youve seen a lot of people have trickled out the 1143
door because of what things are like, but I was actually told that they did 1144
not have use for the type of material that I was writing anymore and I was 1145
kindly let go and at the same time, um, Connect with Mark Kelly show 1146
was cancelled and I had done um, a segment that I was pretty proud of on 1147
that one. Uh when Harper was denying that the recession coming to 1148
Canada I did a good socio-economic clip that basically gave a lot of 1149
indications that it was, so a month later everything was gone. 1150
1151
Glen: Yeah like you said, the-- the fourth estate, uh the so-called free press 1152
that is supposed to be the eyes and ears of the Canadian public, basically 1153
has ears of corn stuck in their ears and their head up their ass by the 1154
sounds of it. 1155
1156
Amy: Uh for the most part it just does not exist in Canada any more. Thats just 1157
my humble opinion. Thats not to say there isnt good journalism 1158
produced, there is; journalists are tenacious people, they want to get their 1159
stories out. But the amount of gatekeeping and pressures that are on the 1160
industry right now are absolutely unfathomable, and because people are 1161
not buying print newspapers, youve got the executives that are caving to 1162
the advertorial to the point that uh, Globe and Mail is actually defending 1163
uh, having their-- having their reporters cover branded content, so 1164
basically a company will come to them, say hey we want you to write an 1165
article about us that makes us look really great. And that is what has 1166
happened to our news. And when somebody does manage to squeak by 1167
with a really great story that needed to get out, mostly its scrubbed from 1168
the internet within a few days. But I have put up a fight about that all 1169
along because my work is legitimate and its always passed vetting and 1170
gone a legal process before its published, and Ive made sure-- Ive stood 1171
behind it remaining out there. 1172
1173
Glen: Yes, that is true. That is true, you have always defended your work and 1174
with good reason. Because as youve said, it is accurate, you have nothing 1175
to be afraid of. Its your subjects that have something to be afraid of. 1176
Now, do you want to what do you want to talk about to kind of have a 1177
big picture of whats going on with Dundee and Bruce Power and this 1178
crazy plan that they have to combine fracking and nuclear waste storage? 1179
1180
Amy: Okay, so that was the next investigation that came up for me, and after I 1181
came up with the conflict of interest questions about the Labour Minister, 1182
I started looking more into what exactly Dundee was doing. And it turned 1183
out that they were heavily investing in the riding that the Labour Minister 1184
represents, in quite a complex situation. So, another branch of Dundee is 1185
um, one of the largest oil producers in Ontario, and a lot of people dont 1186
realize how much were producing here around Nanticoke and um, under 1187
Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, uh, were getting it from under the water, but 1188
they started to-- they want to move on land since fracking has come a lot 1189
more mainstream. And there are a lot of partnerships with uh, Calgary 1190
and the oil sands as well. Um, a lot of their executives are-- are 1191
consulting on the projects out here and theyre even providing some 1192
information for government on their behalf, which is a rather curious 1193
situation. But-- so this-- were talking right now about Lake Huron and 1194
the Great Lakes system. And I think most people have heard about the 1195
great geologic repository that Bruce Power wants to place approximately 1196
one kilometer from the shoreline of Lake Huron. And deep in the ground, 1197
I think its around 680 feet below the ground, they want to carve out the-- 1198
the rock and put in moderate level radioactive waste and store it there. 1199
Which could take anywhere from three thousand to a-- a hundred 1200
thousand years to decay to a level that would not impact human health. So 1201
this is a huge issue on its own. And American senators have been up here 1202
banging their drums saying You cant do this, you know, Thats right 1203
on the water, we share the great lakes, this is, you know around 40 million 1204
peoples drinking water, you dont even know what could go wrong, this 1205
is a newer technology Nuclear um-- for all intents and purposes is an 1206
unfinished science. They figured out how to do it but they didnt figure 1207
out what to do with the waste. So that still needs to be discovered one 1208
day. And 1209
1210
Glen: Yes. 1211
1212
Amy: were just kind of hobbling along in the meantime, um on-- on 1213
pacifying the problems. So theres that. And there have been public 1214
hearings, and the National Energy Board of course which the Labour 1215
Minister was the landlord of, and Im sure still has connections to her 1216
business friends that still hold those interests. Um, so the-- and the OPP 1217
also um, overstepped their bounds on that file. And all the people who 1218
were speaking up against the deep geologic repository and-- and wanting 1219
to make um, presentations at the hearings or that may be considering 1220
going to a protest, the OPP actually went to everyones house. They even 1221
did it to Americans. Got in touch with Americans, you know, What is 1222
your intent? So on and so forth, and they were criticized for intimidating 1223
the public. That they had overstepped their bounds, they cant do stuff 1224
that, and nobody really talked about it again. But then I found the-- 1225
pardon me, the Dundee company was purchasing-- um, investing in the 1226
land around here for fracking, and the Ontario government has been 1227
promoting the area for shale gas and oil and there are some um, likely 1228
profitable deposits all around the area that surrounds Bruce Power. 1229
1230
Glen: Hmm. 1231
1232
Amy: So its like less than a half a kilometer away, theyve been taking-- 1233
theyve been uh, sampling from-- from bore holes and what not, theyve 1234
done more than 360 of them in the region testing everything (coughs) 1235
pardon me, sorry. And theyre-- every year they go-- they hold the-- 1236
the oil and gas conferences and-- and theyre presenting more and more 1237
information, and as that was coming available Dundee was buying up 1238
more and more. So were now in a situation, um, hundreds of millions of 1239
dollars have been invested, there is no real regulatory clause that can deal 1240
with fracking up against nuclear. And this would be happening right next 1241
door to each other. Like literally right next door. Theres a hole in the 1242
ground with nuclear waste and they would be fracking underneath the 1243
ground immediately adjacent to it. And all science has pointed in the 1244
direction that fracking causes earthquakes. Even if they are on the smaller 1245
end. Were talking about disturbing nuclear waste now. And when Harper 1246
changed the Navigable Waters Act so that the waters werent covered any 1247
more 1248
1249
Glen: Mm hmm. 1250
1251
Amy: that took away oversight that would be needed for any environmental 1252
um, hearings or what not related to the fracking end of it. So this is not 1253
talked about. Nobody really knows about it except for what Ive written, 1254
and people look at it and go Oh whoa, thats huge and what would we 1255
do, and-- and-- and then they sit idle. (laughs) 1256
1257
Glen: (sighs) 1258
1259
Amy: And Im really honestly worried about that, and I-- I-- I started getting 1260
more and more flack from the powers that be um, when that story came 1261
out. I got a call from the Department of Homeland Security uh, so this 1262
is the U.S. and I started to notice that I was being surveilled online. Um, 1263
Ive also written an article explaining all of that, if everybody wants to go 1264
to www.freethepresscanada.org um, youll find all the investigations there 1265
to look them up. Um, so yeah that-- that ones-- that ones been quite 1266
intimidating. And its a combination of U.S., Canadian, France and 1267
Britain thats actually watching me over this. 1268
1269
Glen: Well the thing that I find just beyond reason is that you have these two 1270
industries basically right beside each other, you have Bruce Power, which 1271
is technically owned by TCPL, Trans Canada, our friends from 1272
Keystone 1273
1274
Amy: Oh, uh its owned by Trans Canada and OMERS Power Workers Union, 1275
which is an affiliate of CUPE, and thats uh-- those are strange 1276
1277
Glen: Ohhhh. 1278
1279
Amy: very strange bedfellows and-- and nobody will address that, I can get 1280
no response from labour whatsoever. 1281
1282
Glen: Wow. But the thing is, we have these guys who say, Well wed like to 1283
put this radioactive waste in this shale because we think its strong 1284
enough. And yet next door, we have frackers who are saying We can 1285
get hydrocarbons out of this shale because we can work with it, its soft 1286
enough. Well 1287
1288
Amy: Its soft enough, thats exactly it. 1289
1290
Glen: One of you are wrong. You know? One of you are wrong. But yet this-- 1291
like you said, this just goes on. Its-- its insane! I dont understand it all. 1292
1293
Amy: And the aquifers that would be impacted here, this is a-- a really, really 1294
serious issue. The Great Lakes system is one of the largest water source in 1295
Canada, fresh water sources, and its aquifers travel all the way out to the 1296
continental shelf. So if we were to seriously harm the Great Lakes, lets 1297
say there was an earthquake and something went wrong and-- and nuclear 1298
waste got into waters and-- and did anything, that could im-- that would 1299
impact every single Great Lake and all land connected through Ontario, 1300
Quebec, Manitoba, um, Pennsylvania, Ohio, uh, Illinois, I believe also 1301
Maine uh, if Im remembering right, uh, but the-- the aquifers are all 1302
connected for that entire area because the way the Great Lakes were 1303
formed, it was um, it was Lake Ir-- uh it was-- one of the-- one the oldest 1304
gla-- biggest glaciers which carved out the land that turned into Lake 1305
Algonquin--, sorry, my bad my bad Lake Iroquois, which drained 1306
into 1307
1308
Glen: Hmm. 1309
1310
Amy: the Great Lakes, so all of that is connected from that time period. 1311
1312
Glen: Unbelievable. And I mean this is all known science. They know these 1313
things, yet they just choose to ignore them. Which is 1314
1315
Amy: Well actually were still finding out a lot about our-- Ill call it the water 1316
highway, the way the aquifers run underground, and supply all the water 1317
to all the homes where everyone lives in the area. Um (coughs) 1318
Pardon me, sorry. Um, where was I going with that? Um 1319
1320
Glen: The water highway. 1321
1322
Amy: Yeah, it-- it its connected all the way to Chicago, Illinois. So if we do 1323
something terribly wrong up on the shore of Lake Huron, it can affect 1324
Chicago. 1325
1326
Glen: Yeah, which is at the very southern end of Lake Michigan, which is quite 1327
a ways away. 1328
1329
Amy: And the reason why we know this is more from U.S. study than Canadian 1330
study. Weve clawed back so much from our science, there are new 1331
technologies now which are giving us a better picture but uh, universities 1332
are paying for a lot of this work to be done so that governments dont. I 1333
mean thats not to say theyre not subsidized, I mean they definitely are, 1334
but universities have really taken the lead on this to try and get the 1335
information for us because it-- its-- its suppressed, non-existent, old, 1336
and all the new data thats really applicable to whats going on, were 1337
having to get most of it from the U.S. 1338
1339
Glen: Well that is uh, that is a straight effect of Harpers war on science. I 1340
mean, you know it doesnt matter if its the long form census, or the 1341
Experimental Lakes region, or what it is, if we just shut it down theres no 1342
more data, so it doesnt exist. And this is the way he thinks. 1343
1344
Amy: Id agree, theres business decisions being made, um, without any basis to 1345
make them from. Nothing is evidence-based anymore. 1346
1347
Glen: Its all profit based, its all corporate connection based. And yet, its the 1348
people who will pay the price undoubtedly, its never the corporations 1349
because you know, theyre everywhere. Theyre multinational. Just Oh 1350
well, we blew that, lets move there. You know? Unbelievable. 1351
1352
Amy: If they lose money they can just-- they can just increase the price of their 1353
product, which we end up paying for, or we end up paying for it in um, uh 1354
governments needing to deal with environmental emergencies that might 1355
arise, but we are-- the-- the public is definitely the ones that are-- are 1356
paying for everything in the long run. And corporations now see penalties 1357
for doing anything wrong just as a cost of doing business. So if youre 1358
going to earn $800 million and get fined $150,000, does it matter? 1359
1360
Glen: (laughs) Exactly. Exactly, its in their business model. You know, I 1361
mean Dupont in the States, Dow, theres been a lot, especially in the 1362
chemical and the petrochemical industries, that its part of their budgeting. 1363
They expect that theyre going to have to pay settlements, and they just 1364
put it in there. And I mean 1365
1366
Amy: Yes. 1367
1368
Glen: thats insane because to-- to them its just a cheque. But what about the 1369
people that causes that fine to be made? You know? Its just absolutely 1370
no regard. Its insane. So I mean 1371
1372
Amy: Thats exactly it. And were gambling with 40 million peoples drinking 1373
water. And its not like Michigan can afford any more catastrophes at this 1374
point in their political and fiscal trajectory. 1375
1376
Glen: No doubt. So what is the current status of this unholy marriage of 1377
fracking and nuclear waste? 1378
1379
Amy: It continues, and continues to be denied. Um, Dalton McGuinty, Premier 1380
Dalton McGuinty, the former Premier of Ontario, he publicly stated that 1381
there was no fracking in Ontario, and that he was considering a 1382
moratorium. And when he said that, at the identical time that he said that, 1383
the Ontario government was hosting um, a shale oil and gas conference 1384
and soliciting investment for these properties and there was actually one 1385
location that I have confirmed in Lambdon County that has been fracked 1386
already, and there were plans for more sites this summer, although I 1387
havent been able to confirm additional sites yet. So it has been happening. 1388
And um, Kathleen Wynne, she was then brought in as Premier and there 1389
has been zero discussion since shes taken the helm so Im not even sure if 1390
shes aware, to be honest. I-- I will give her that grace. No one has 1391
approached her with a question to-- to find out if she even knows, if she 1392
has a position on that, if she understands that this threat really does exist, 1393
but again thats part of the communication breakdown. 1394
1395
Glen: Well yeah, no news is good news. To an extreme. 1396
1397
Amy: Pretty much. And no matter who I have contacted, sent it to said You 1398
know, we really need to take a look at this, and the response is silence. 1399
Well Thanks for that and then silence. 1400
1401
Glen: (laughs) Well, it does seem to be the overwhelming culture, federally, 1402
provincially you know I mean uh, Im in Alberta. Im used to that. I 1403
mean 1404
1405
Amy: (laughs) 1406
1407
Glen: fact is ignored as a matter of course, its just what you do, it doesnt 1408
matter. Truth has no bearing on reality in Alberta, its been that way for 1409
decades. But the more I-- the more I learn about Ontario and even places 1410
like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where theres a lot more shit going 1411
on than you really would think, looking at the surface, this has become a 1412
culture that is uh, its self-defeating. It-- it 1413
1414
Amy: Yes. 1415
1416
Glen: really does nothing for anybody. You know? Well, for a few. We 1417
know who they are. But its-- its not sustainable, and its-- its deadly 1418
serious. 1419
1420
Amy: I think since the ease of the internet that people started to think that it was 1421
that easy to deal with problems, that if you just flip on the internet and say 1422
something that thats your contribution to your community and thats all it 1423
takes. But its not. The internet does help us communicate with one 1424
another, but the-- it does not effect change on the ground. 1425
1426
Glen: Thats true, thats true, I would-- I would compare it as to uh, having 1427
access to a database. You may know more 1428
1429
Amy: Yes! 1430
1431
Glen: you may know more, but thats all fact. Its history. It doesnt change 1432
anything, its already happened. Thats not how you change things. You 1433
have to get out there and do it. 1434
1435
Amy: Correct, and so you look when people took it to the ground in Nova 1436
Scotia, um, just yesterday they had-- theyre now proposing legislation to 1437
ban onshore fracking. 1438
1439
Glen: Yes, I did see that. And Im sure 1440
1441
Amy: But thats-- thats the difference 1442
1443
Glen: Yeah. I mean Im sure theyre gonna hear about it from just about every 1444
corner. Youre gonna hear about it from industry, youre gonna hear 1445
about it from people who want these so-called free trade deals, theyre 1446
gonna hear about it from Ottawa, theyre gonna hear about it from 1447
everybody. But, well see how far it goes. Well see if its not just 1448
politicking, and well see if it sticks. Because you know uh, being from 1449
Alberta Ive seen that too, you know its like, Oh well we have new rules, 1450
were not going to allow this and were not going to allow that Yeah 1451
well see, youre gonna have to get out there and actually do the tests to 1452
know if its happening. When you 1453
1454
Amy: Right. 1455
1456
Glen: dont test, theres no evidence to say its happening, so then theres no 1457
restrictions. I mean its the same thing with Mount 1458
1459
Amy: Thats exactly it. 1460
1461
Glen: its the same thing with Mount Polley. For these clowns to say This 1462
was just an accident, we didnt know it was gonna happen, that is 1463
ridiculous. Thats impossible. 1464
1465
Amy: And-- and another thing I should um, probably clarify for listeners. I-- 1466
per-- from my personal perspective, I am pro-environment. M-- Mother 1467
Nature is what gives life to everyone. We need-- without water, nobody 1468
can work. Basically thats what it comes down to. Um, but I am not 1469
oblivious to the fact that we need oil, you know? We live in Canada. We 1470
have snowy winters, its downright freezing cold. We need to heat our 1471
homes. We have a large land mass to navigate. We need fuel to get to 1472
work. Im not ignorant to those things. We cant just turn off oil, you 1473
know like its a tap, turn it off and say Oh well were just gonna make 1474
everything solar now, it is a very long process, but what were not doing 1475
is looking at integrating greener technologies and mitigating things. 1476
Weve stopped testing, weve stopped regulating, like weve given it an 1477
absolute free for all to do as much damage as it could possibly want to do 1478
to us and make us pay for it. And thats what is not okay. 1479
1480
Glen: Yeah I agree with that, I saw a fact online today that said in 1980 in North 1481
America, uh fossil fuels was 88% the generation of energy. In 2012, we 1482
had dropped all the way to 87%. One percent. Thats it. 1483
1484
Amy: Right, and it 1485
1486
Glen: Yeah. 1487
1488
Amy: doesnt make much sense. We know that were 1489
1490
Glen: No. And 1491
1492
Amy: destroying the earth with the methods that were using, and by not 1493
regulating, not testing, not keeping our standards to a higher level, were 1494
just creating so much damage now that whole communities are dying from 1495
it that are down river. 1496
1497
Glen: And those people in the big picture, the way things work, theyre just the 1498
losers. You know? Its not like 1499
1500
Amy: Thats just the facts. Yeah. 1501
1502
Glen: Yeah. You know? Thats just how it is. Sorry for your luck. Thats 1503
insane. Thats ultimately insane. And the one thing I do like that-- that 1504
has been changing a bit, and I think youve spoken to this too, is that 1505
Canadians are starting to understand that the only people left that have 1506
anything to say about their land, their water, their air are First Nations. 1507
And we have to stand with them. And we have to support them, and we 1508
have to help them. Because if they lose, its over. 1509
1510
Amy: I agree with that, I think that theyre the last stopping point that we have 1511
left right now, because everybody else laid down, um, theyre the only 1512
ones that are still on the ground, uh, getting their message across, theyre 1513
the only ones that have legal mechanisms left to help them and protect 1514
them. And it costs a lot of money though to engage them, so theyve got 1515
all these court cases, one after another and then the government appeals it, 1516
and it always goes to the Supreme Court, and every last time they win. But 1517
that takes a decade, and 1518
1519
Glen: Yup. 1520
1521
Amy: millions of dollars. So, I think the government is looking at it for trying 1522
to run them out for time and money that way 1523
1524
Glen: Yeah. 1525
1526
Amy: and-- and thats the philosophy in dealing with that. So we really do 1527
need to support the in what theyre doing. And whether you agree with 1528
them or not, they are a self-determ-- every tribe is self-determining, uh, 1529
the way their community is going to work, it is not our right to criticize 1530
what that choice will be. Because theyre also taking a lot of flack for 1531
standing up too. You know that theyre-- theyre-- theyre surveilled by 1532
CSEC. (laughs) And they know it. 1533
1534
Glen: Oh definitely, definitely, theres no doubt about it. I mean all you have to 1535
do is look at the uh, video from-- from encounters like Elsipogtog and 1536
everywhere else, I mean you know, theres all these settlers in camouflage 1537
with rifles, and theyre blocking the road and beating a drum. Like, come 1538
on! 1539
1540
Amy: Yes. 1541
1542
Glen: Like you know, there-- theres no-- theres no measure of reality in this 1543
response, its-- its oppression. Flat out oppression. Now, we are down 1544
to only 23 minutes left in the live telecast, and uh 1545
1546
Amy: Oh! 1547
1548
Glen: and you know like-- like I said to you before, we can go into overtime, 1549
youre welcome to stay on as long as you want, Ill just remind the 1550
audience that to hear overtime live you have to call in and be on the 1551
switchboard, but since we are down to now 22 minutes, would you like to 1552
move into what this has cost you, personally? 1553
1554
Amy: Sure. So 1555
1556
Glen: Okay. 1557
1558
Amy: the uh, the backlash from-- from law enforcement and government 1559
actors has been really wild. Um, nothing I could have possibly imagined. 1560
And there is a publication ban on some of what Im about to say, uh I 1561
and so I-- I cant go into tremendous detail, but if I break some of those 1562
rules now then so be it because the world needs to hear this. So, I got the 1563
death threats from a uh, Conservative Party volunteer. And I went to the 1564
OPP and tried to report that. And the OPP would not act. Now, at that 1565
time we had a lot of commotion in our area and weve just discussed you 1566
know, a lot of the politics, environment, uh business, possible conflicts of 1567
interest, and we also had election campaigning. And Julian Fantino was in 1568
the area, and hes the former head of the entire OPP, I only have OPP 1569
where I live, Im not in a large city so we dont have a regional police 1570
force. And 1571
1572
Glen: Okay. 1573
1574
Amy: um, you know Im-- Im not saying about Mr. Fantino, its just that he 1575
was here. So I would assume that our police force um, you know, was 1576
really happy to have the former top cop around with everybody on their 1577
best behaviour and nothing could go wrong. And it was the timing of 1578
these death threats, I had no choice but to report it, they were really very 1579
scary and they were tracking my movements. Um, so when they wouldnt 1580
do anything, the OPP Chief actually uh, had quite a bit to say to me about 1581
deserving death threats because he says I was writing for CBC, and it was 1582
a left wing publication and what did I expect, and I was basically inviting 1583
these threats by aligning myself with the public broadcaster and get used 1584
to it. And my son was a witness to that. And he was fifteen at the time. 1585
And he did get upset, not anything outrageous, not misbehaviour, but he 1586
asked the Chief, he said How could you possibly speak that way to my 1587
mom? You know, how could you not protect her? And uh, five days 1588
later, the OPP went in my sons school record and retrieved his photo, 1589
without a warrant, and opened a file on him, and pressed charges. For 1590
something he did not do. And he has been exonerated by the court. And 1591
the constitutional rights abuses have been so severe that um, Rocco Galati 1592
is representing my son to deal with these issues and get it all sorted out. 1593
It-- its-- its half dealt with and half not. And we went to court, uh this is 1594
prior to Rocco signing on, and I got a-- a court order for all the 1595
documents, police notes and what not, uh to be released and so that I could 1596
share them with the Minister of Education, Minister of Community Safety 1597
and Corrections and the Minister of Youth Services so that they could call 1598
for a public inquiry into abuse of power, um, and inappropriate 1599
relationship between the OPP and the school. Quite, quite complex. Uh, 1600
the Crown was represented, the OPP was represented, the school board 1601
was also represented, and we were successful and they were not. Um, 1602
then I found they went in my sons school record a couple more times, and 1603
an allegation was trumped up. And they-- the first date on it, they found 1604
out that my son wasnt even a student at the school, and so they kept-- 1605
they went back in his school record about three times to come up with a 1606
date that he at least would have been there and kept changing the date of 1607
the allegation. They wouldnt even tell us what he was accused of when 1608
they charged him. Uh, which you cant do. (laughs) Uh, it-- it was-- 1609
and they-- they-- they withheld um, at least half the file for a year and a 1610
half, turned our lives absolutely upside-down being in and out of court, 1611
and now the, uh, the Crown Attorneys office will not forward all of the 1612
documents that they were ordered to forward-- forward, and the 1613
recipients-- the school board recipients, uh, has refused to receive them 1614
even thought that was part of the order. So, between the OPP and the 1615
school board, uh with direct interference of the OPP, my son was illegally 1616
expelled and kept from school for a year and a half. Which you cannot do 1617
because every child has a right to an education. This is massive, massive, 1618
massive abuse of power and constitutional rights. And I knew that things 1619
obviously were very difficult then. Um, but then I noticed the surveillance 1620
online. And there are a number-- theres six now actually, um, companies 1621
that-- that perform internet surveillance, and they actually-- its actually 1622
media surveillance. So what they can do is everything I publish and what 1623
they are doing, like I have actually found proof of this and its also in the 1624
investigations that are on www.freethepresscanada.org, they track 1625
everything I write, they psychologically assess it for semantics, the text, 1626
and then every single person who speaks about it, shares it, as it goes 1627
through the entire internet 1628
1629
Glen: Mmm hmm. 1630
1631
Amy: they are also assessing who reads and-- and speaks about it, um, to see 1632
you know whether Ive affected them or not. And that sounds like a really 1633
outrageous idea until you read the article, because I have laid out 1634
everything and how it happens, and I have actually presented the first 1635
company that I discovered doing it. And a week after I did that, uh, Ed 1636
Snowden, uh another Ed Snowden leak came out about um, France 1637
surveilling Canadian journalists exactly as I said I was being surveilled. 1638
And CSIS and our government did nothing about that. But my troubles 1639
have increased, and as I have been to political meetings to speak about my 1640
investigations and to provide the information, especially the 1641
water/fracking/nuclear issue, Ive had the OPP try to enter my vehicle and 1642
leave me a note that they did. And I still have proof of that. Um, and then 1643
uh, I went to speak at a university to give a seminar about this information 1644
and elaborate on some of my research because as-- as days go by I just 1645
keep finding out more and more, and um, three days later I got a call from 1646
my town that they are-- they-- theyre fining me for being on well water 1647
and they have filed papers to seize my house now. And our Mayor-- uh, 1648
Stephen Harper comes to vacation in my town as do some senators and 1649
other MPs and its a rather popular place that way for Tory members, and 1650
my Mayor did um, endorse the Labour Minister and the Tory party and 1651
there was uh, quite some ruffled feathers about that because he used the 1652
whole town to do it just to let you know how connected that is. And of 1653
course the OPP is on the budget of the town. Um, so if I dont come up 1654
with fifteen-- about $15,000 now, I have-- theres less than thirty days 1655
left to do this, theyre going to auction my house and take it from me. 1656
Some friends of mine have started and Indiegogo campaign uh, that is 1657
listed in the article and Ive tweeted it a number of times. Um, if anybody 1658
wants to check me out on Twitter, its @MsAmyMacpherson. Um, Ill put 1659
it up again so people can see it, but thats what Im up against right now. 1660
They are actually trying to take my home now. And if they could get rid 1661
of me out of this area, and this is based on a water issue, and theyre using 1662
Agriculture Canada to seize my home, so thats a federal entity, um I 1663
imagine that they figure they can get rid of me to stop talking about this 1664
problem. And I do believe its that big of a problem especially in light of 1665
connections to the NSA and Department of Homeland Security. I do have 1666
a CSIS handler who calls me from time to time to keep tabs on what Im 1667
doing, and Ive discovered further information about him and CSEC. Um, 1668
I have another investigation that needs to come out that I havent managed 1669
to find a mainstream partner with yet. CSEC is operating as a P3, Public 1670
Private Partnership 1671
1672
Glen: Mm hmm. 1673
1674
Amy: I dont believe theres any oversight of the private end of things, and my 1675
CSIS handler is actually employed by a defence contractor in the U.S. for 1676
the NSA, although he is um, reportedly part of CSIS. And theyre running 1677
the NSA spying operation from a Native reserve. 1678
1679
Glen: How convenient. How convenient. 1680
1681
Amy: Legally its um, a nightmare. How to sort that out, uh from a government, 1682
legal and-- and First Nations type of perspective, um but I am talking 1683
about the U.S. so I-- Im not-- Im not as familiar with as how uh the 1684
sovereignty of their reserves work, but I do believe this presents quite 1685
another spin on the issue. 1686
1687
Glen: Yup. 1688
1689
Amy: And again, no mainstream wants to go near it because theyre all afraid of 1690
the intelligence of this. If Im going through this and everything Im 1691
doing can be tracked which includes my GPS movement at every moment, 1692
theyre afraid it could happen to them. And this is how news is being shut 1693
down. 1694
1695
Glen: Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. 1696
1697
Amy: It does sound unbelievable, and I can only invite everybody to the website, 1698
www.freethepresscanada.org because it-- its all there. And Ive included 1699
all sorts of evidence to back it up so that you dont have any questions. I 1700
know that one of the companies surveilling me for sure is doing it on 1701
behalf of the OPP, the Ontario Provincial Police, um, andand-- yeah. I 1702
mean where do you go from there? 1703
1704
Glen: Yeah. Well when I said unbelievable, I didnt mean to say that it actually 1705
is. I know its happening, its just that you know, its-- its beyond any 1706
sort of premise that you could see happening. You know? And 1707
1708
Amy: Well it was-- Im the one that it is happening to, and it was 1709
1710
Glen: Yup. 1711
1712
Amy: unimaginable to me, and I had to go through such a long process of 1713
gathering all the evidence to even prove that this was happening to be able 1714
to say it because as a journalist you do not say anything that you cannot 1715
thoroughly back up. And I had to go through uh, so much torment to get 1716
to that point to be able to collect it all. 1717
1718
Glen: What about-- Im curious, what about the other people who live near you? 1719
Like, have you been ostracized? Do you get any support? Do people like 1720
not even see you anymore? Like-- like whats the deal? Like there must 1721
be some effect for people who live close to you as well with this type of 1722
prevalent intimidation. 1723
1724
Amy: Uh its basically just whisper talking, you know, people will whisper 1725
about it but they dont want to speak about it directly, its just-- its like 1726
having the plague, pretty much. (laughs) Um, you know, some people are 1727
even afraid to go to my site and read whats there because of you know, 1728
could they be watched too? But this is the establishment accomplishing 1729
exactly what it wanted to, and if anybody has any questions, Well how 1730
did Canada get like this? youve got your answer, and everyone is 1731
backing down from it. And I havent. And Im paying for that. 1732
1733
Glen: Indeed you are. That is correct. And yeah, thats-- thats a perfect 1734
explanation in a nutshell, you refuse to play the game. And this is the 1735
price. Well, your Indiegogo has been posted in the chat a few times 1736
tonight. As soon as I can get back on Twitter when were done here, I wil 1737
be putting it out there. And uh, Ill tell you right now, Ill tell you right 1738
now Amy, I might be unemployed but I dont give a shit, Im giving you 1739
some money. This is uh, this is ridiculous. You deserve every type of 1740
support that you need, because what youre doing nobody else will do 1741
obviously. And it needs to be done. 1742
1743
Amy: Thank you, thank you. 1744
1745
Glen: It needs to be done. Definitely. Definitely. And 1746
1747
Amy: I cant say its not scary. Ive never been this close to losing everything 1748
Ive got in my life, um, especially when I know Im standing on the truth 1749
and all the evidence is there, and so many people are just really afraid of it 1750
because its such a big idea, like these are-- are huge issues, I get that. But 1751
if everybody goes silent now, its not just me whos getting hurt, its 1752
everybody. 1753
1754
Glen: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly the-- this isnt-- I mean theyre making it 1755
extremely personal with you. But the issue is not personal. Its very 1756
public. It should be extremely public. But thats their whole 1757
1758
Amy: Thats exactly it. And they keep me tied up with all of the shenanigans 1759
going on so that I cant concentrate on my work, I cant sleep well, you 1760
know people come to my house on a daily basis. Um, the article is-- is 1761
quite something to read for anybody who hasnt, and theres witness to all 1762
of it, if I-- if its not documented by photo or video, then there are actual 1763
witnesses to every single thing I have said. 1764
1765
Glen: I can imagine-- like I understand that youre working on a book. Is that 1766
right? 1767
1768
Amy: Yes. Yes. 1769
1770
Glen: Do you see a problem getting it published? 1771
1772
Amy: I think that I will likely have to look at the U.S. market for that, um, but 1773
then again we have yet to see whats going to happen when I come out 1774
with the story of um, the intelligence community working as P3s and 1775
exactly how theyre doing that. I-- I-- theres um, theres-- theres likely 1776
to be more surprises for me on the horizon, but I wont stop telling the 1777
truth. And-- and because I have been attacked so deeply and so 1778
personally, it just drove the point home more that there really is that much 1779
on the line if they would come after me and my family like this to shut the 1780
talk down about that. 1781
1782
Glen: Yeah. Yeah, you-- yeah, thats-- thats proof. What you have is 1783
legitimate and big. Theres no doubt about that. Theres no doubt at all. I 1784
would have to agree. 1785
1786
Amy: You know there are other people-- there are other people who have had 1787
their homes broken into, I believe there were two in Alberta who were, 1788
you know, working on oil files or ene-- ene-- energy files of some sort, 1789
they had their homes broken into, their computers and all their files stolen. 1790
I have not had that happen, but Im pretty sure from the amount of 1791
surveillance that Im under, that my watchers are well aware of how many 1792
different offline locations that (laughs) Ive-- Ive backed my work up. 1793
Um, you know so if that does happen then-- because someone has-- has 1794
um, removed my biometrics from my computer, which is 1795
1796
Glen: Mm hmm. 1797
1798
Amy: confirmed by Hewlett Packard as a an intrusion that they have never 1799
even seen before. They didnt know that there was technology capable of 1800
doing that. 1801
1802
Glen: Yes um, I am familiar, we have talked about that, um, what Amys talking 1803
about is her computer had fingerprint scan for access, and her prints were 1804
removed from her computer remotely. Now if that doesnt paint a picture 1805
of a government intelligence agency, I dont know what does. Now also 1806
the thing about the P3s in the intelligence community, I think anybody 1807
who pays attention, they know it exists. But it is that proof that were 1808
missing. All we have to do is look at outfits like Booz Allen Hamilton, 1809
TRW, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, who has signed a database agreement 1810
with the Alberta government, what can go wrong there? Uh, you know 1811
and its-- plus we have the perpetual cancer of Blackwater, Academy Z or 1812
whatever theyre calling themselves this week, I mean, its out there, its-- 1813
its known. But 1814
1815
Amy: But you know how nobody can prove it? 1816
1817
Glen: Yeah. 1818
1819
Amy: I can. I have all the evidence. 1820
1821
Glen: Exactly. 1822
1823
Amy: And the-- the-- the pressures that Im under right now about trying to 1824
take my house are whats keeping me from writing that because Im 1825
scrambling to try and deal with this now, it was scrambling to deal with all 1826
the legal things with my son and until we could get Mr. Galati to take 1827
over, now its scrambling about my house, its always keeping me on edge 1828
and having to respond to all these attacks on my home and my family and 1829
myself that are keeping me from doing that work. And that is the next 1830
thing that needs to come out that I want more than anything to publish. 1831
And also cannot find someone to work with me. Now, granted I have only 1832
tried Canadian media, and Ive got to branch out now to the U.S. and to 1833
Britain, um, see what the response is there. They do seem to have some 1834
more courage left in their media, but the U.S. is under a program right 1835
now, um, the U.S. government has put a monitor in every major 1836
newsroom, whether television or print 1837
1838
Glen: Mm hmm. 1839
1840
Amy: to stand over the shoulder of editors now, quote: to see how they make 1841
their decisions in which stories will be accepted or denied. 1842
1843
Glen: Thats what I would call reverse embedded, thats what that is. But uh, Id 1844
just like to say that were under 90 seconds for the live show on the web. 1845
This is pretty much your last warning, people, were gonna keep going for 1846
a bit. Right, Amy? 1847
1848
Amy: Yes. And thank you so much 1849
1850
Glen: Okay. 1851
1852
Amy: to everybody for listening, you know? Talk to your friends, talk to your 1853
family, read the articles, Ill start posting them on Twitter, you can find 1854
them all on my website and Im sure Glen has been posting them as well. 1855
Education. But you cant just stop at education either. There needs to be 1856
real action. 1857
1858
Glen: Indeed. Now I-- I-- I was saying that anybody who listened tonight 1859
would get their eyes opened. Well anybody who did listen, your eyes are 1860
now opened. So, read it. Learn it. Act on it, and support this woman in her 1861
battle, shes fighting for everyone. Now anybody whos not going to 1862
listen live who will wait for overtime in the archive, okay, thats your call. 1863
But I thank everybody for listening, up to twenty users in the chat. Thank 1864
you everybody. Excellent turnout, uh, thank you for listening to the View 1865
Up Here. 1866
1867
Amy: Thanks guys! 1868
1869
Glen: Yeah. And were now in overtime. 1870
1871
Amy: Okey-dokey. 1872
1873
Glen: (laughs) Well I hope youre not talked out. 1874
1875
Amy: No, not at all, you know, I could go all night, I-- Im living this so Im 1876
steeped in every last part of it. If anybody has questions, please ask, you 1877
know and Ill-- Ill answer whatever you like so long as Im allowed to 1878
say it. 1879
1880
Glen: Well we didnt get a lot of people who called in, we had a good number 1881
listening live. We did well. We had a good attended show. But you 1882
know again, like I told you before, with the phone number that Im stuck 1883
with BTR is New York City, and we dont have the-- we dont have the 1884
phone plans like Americans do, I mean they can phone anywhere, and its 1885
all the same. We dont get that break up here, so I mean, not a lot of 1886
people phoned in live but you know basically if theres anything else that 1887
we havent gone over that you wanna go over, go right ahead. 1888
1889
Amy: One last thing, yup. Um, so we talked about Bill C-622, and then I 1890
1891
Glen: Mm hmm. 1892
1893
Amy: also spoke about metadata and public information. And the difference 1894
between those things, so what C-622 does not do is protect anybody from 1895
the surveillance that Ive been talking about online. The psychological 1896
assessment of what you write on the internet and responses to my articles 1897
and the GPS tracking that-- that goes around, uh, this is all a gray area 1898
that is not legislated in any single country right now. And a lot of people 1899
are talking about it strictly as metadata, but thats not all it is. Like, the 1900
companies are actually taking copies of what I write, and copies and 1901
theyre-- theyre-- theyre cataloging it and storing it. Every single thing 1902
people say on the internet about these stories. And watching it. And there 1903
is nothing we can do to stop that at present. Its-- its 1904
1905
Glen: Yup. 1906
1907
Amy: veritable stalking. Its stalking. You cant get around that. If youre 1908
tracking someones GPS movement at every moment of the day that is 1909
updating on a one minute basis, that is stalking! 1910
1911
Glen: Yeah, its just like when you were talking about the uh, semantics and the 1912
uh, grammar recognition software basically that theyre using, they are 1913
looking for key words, key phrases, key sentences. And they do have the 1914
ability and the technology to scan unbelievable amounts of data looking 1915
for those words together. And this is what 1916
1917
Amy: And theyre 1918
1919
Glen: gives them their flags. 1920
1921
Amy: And theyre also building maps of these networks of the people who talk 1922
about different stories, so this is all of the public thats on the internet. 1923
This is every major news audience. And the company that I first 1924
discovered is called Spotter, and its located in France, and they have 1925
contracts with the U.K. Home Office and the European Commission. Now 1926
the Home Office is in charge of MI5, GCHQ, which is the partner to the 1927
NSA and Canadas CSEC. Um, so we 1928
1929
Glen: In Five Eyes, yeah. 1930
1931
Amy: know-- we know that theyre doing defence contracts. But with the-- 1932
the European Commission especially, the specific program is media 1933
surveillance and doing this. 1934
1935
Glen: Mm hmm. 1936
1937
Amy: And of course it was the Ed Snowden leak about France spying on 1938
Canadian reporters, so you know, Canada says uh, Well we dont spy on 1939
any of our own people, U.S. says We dont spy on any of our own 1940
people. It really doesnt matter. (laughs) They just pass it off to one 1941
another, and then give the information back to each other. Its an absolute 1942
loophole, there is zero protection whatsoever, if you thought your 1943
government wasnt watching you, they are theyre just doing it through 1944
the contracted person that is able to. And even 1945
1946
Glen: Exactly. 1947
1948
Amy: And even with 622 1949
1950
Glen: This is 1951
1952
Amy: you know, they might not-- it might be illegal to steal your emails and 1953
keep those, but its still not considered illegal to psychologically examine 1954
you and everyone you know, and track all of your movements. 1955
1956
Glen: And also with 622, I dont see it mentioning the Five Eyes Agreement at 1957
all, so maybe-- maybe CSEC cant keep your emails, but NSA can and 1958
hand them over to CSEC 1959
1960
Amy: Thats exactly it. And that has been 1961
1962
Glen: you know? 1963
1964
Amy: that has been one of the larger issues, you know even when we get 1965
reports from the-- the CSEC watchdog, um it-- it basically the-- th-- 1966
they just started telling us how many Canadians theyve kind of surveilled 1967
by accident, so that numbers low, that numbers only around 66 for the 1968
last year that theyve specifically noted they have done in error that they 1969
should not have. 1970
1971
Glen: (laughs) 1972
1973
Amy: But the number that they will not report is how much intelligence they 1974
accept from the other agencies on Canadians. They will not release that 1975
number for anything, and thats what Im talking about. 1976
1977
Glen: Yeah, and Im sure they all have laws, etcetera, in effect that says that one 1978
cant say what comes from the other. You know? Theres just-- theres 1979
no way, I mean, theyve got this game rigged before they even play the 1980
game, so 1981
1982
Amy: And Im pretty sure that the Department of Homeland Security calling my 1983
house, and the company that I have discovered that it is-- that is an NSA 1984
contractor confirms that the U.S. is watching me. 1985
1986
Glen: Yup. 1987
1988
Amy: As a Canadian journalist. And I also have the confirmation that France is 1989
watching me, as a Canadian journalist. And then there was a-- another 1990
Snowden leak about uh, Babar and Snowglobe spy campaigns, and that 1991
was not covered by any Canadian media except for the Globe & Mail, and 1992
theyve wrongly framed it as um, France spying on Canada. But France 1993
were contracted by Britain to do it, you know, so this is part of the Five 1994
Eyes, they werent working against them. 1995
1996
Glen: Well that would be their out to frame it as well, because France is not in 1997
Five Eyes, but yet it fell within the Five Eyes parameter, just using a third 1998
party and yeah, exactly. And these are the things that they just neglect to 1999
include, they just omit by you know happenstance, and it changes the 2000
entire context, the focus, everything. And they are so good at it. And 2001
people are just not aware of how easily things can be mis-informed. That 2002
is the problem. 2003
2004
Amy: And-- and manipulated, and I am living proof of what can happen when 2005
that kind of information is manipulated without constraints. Because 2006
thats exactly how theyre getting to me and continue to get to me and do 2007
this on a daily basis. I mean it-- it-- uh, the show started tonight at 9 PM; 2008
at 3 PM on the nose, the RCMP of Ontario sent me a message on 2009
Facebook, just letting you know theyre there. You know? 2010
2011
Glen: Yup. 2012
2013
Amy: How many-- how-- how many of you get messages from the RCMP? 2014
2015
Glen: Not publicly, thats for sure. And thats another thing too. They do it 2016
publicly so everybody you communicate with may see it. You know? I 2017
mean 2018
2019
Amy: It was-- it was a pri-- it was a private message that-- that was sent 2020
2021
Glen: Oh, okay. 2022
2023
Amy: and Im the one that chose to post it. But the point is they know-- uh-- 2024
it-- Im quite sure that my watchers are well aware that I continue to post 2025
everything that they do, because thats one of the few things that I can do 2026
to insulate my family at this point is to just keep documenting it and 2027
putting it up. Um, so I would anticipate that they realize I would say 2028
something, because thats all Ive ever done in dealing with this, but they 2029
continue to do that. 2030
2031
Glen: Wow. Ridic-- well I mean, even-- even 2032
2033
Amy: So Ive got-- Ive got CSIS, CSEC, NSA, Department of Homeland 2034
Security, RCMP and OPP. 2035
2036
Glen: Just on this side of the ocean. 2037
2038
Amy: And-- and-- and France. And there-- yeah and theres France too, yeah. 2039
And France 2040
2041
Glen: Ridiculous. 2042
2043
Amy: actual criminal-- criminal charges have been laid in France against 2044
their spy agency for illegally surveilling journalists and taking their 2045
emails. But the Babar and Snowglobe campaigns were specifically meant 2046
and directed at and about Canadians. And absolutely nobody having our 2047
back on that. But the NSA did 2048
2049
Glen: And theres 2050
2051
Amy: see it as something important enough to post on their website as one of 2052
the leaks that threatens their spy operation. 2053
2054
Glen: And theres absolutely no way that GCHQ could set this up without full 2055
knowledge and approval from CSEC 2056
2057
Amy: Right. 2058
2059
Glen: Theres just no way. 2060
2061
Amy: You know like, where did 2062
2063
Glen: No way. 2064
2065
Amy: where did my name come from up in-- who-- who suggested my name 2066
in the first place? 2067
2068
Glen: Yup. Exactly. I mean, its the buddy network in the dark shadows. I 2069
mean I think the first time-- I think the first time that we communicated 2070
on Twitter was back when you were having the problems with your-- with 2071
what they were doing with your son. 2072
2073
Amy: Yup. 2074
2075
Glen: I think that was the first time, and I-- I tried to you know, I tried to give 2076
you what I could, what I thought maybe try this, try that, I mean, you 2077
know like, thats a while ago now. And its only gotten worse. And 2078
unfortunately it doesnt sound like its going to let up any time soon. 2079
2080
Amy: No, when I didnt back down from what they were doing about my son 2081
and I fought back with everything I had and it made me sick and I couldnt 2082
sleep for about a year, it was that bad, um, now theyre coming at me for 2083
my house. And from Agriculture Canada coming to seize my house? I 2084
dont have a farm. Go ahead and tell me that thats not the water-- I know 2085
its the water and theyre fining me for that, I know all of that but for 2086
anybody who might question, uh I think that Agriculture Canada being 2087
the one to move to seize my house speaks volumes. 2088
2089
Glen: Well, they have used Agriculture Canada for eminent domain type 2090
exercises before. I remember uh, the farmer where National Defence 2091
wanted his land and he refused to give it up, and it was-- it was 2092
Agriculture Canada 2093
2094
Amy: But this-- but this not about someone wanting my land, this is about 2095
forcing me onto municipal water and punishing me for being on a well 2096
because I am using that same water that Ive been writing about. 2097
2098
Glen: Yes. Yeah, I-- I understand the reality of it, Im just trying to get my head 2099
around the-- the pretext that they use 2100
2101
Amy: Yup. 2102
2103
Glen: to involve all these different agencies. Just to make it, you know, as 2104
many directions as possible, as many budgets fighting you as possible. 2105
Like, they want to be sure never to run out of ammunition. They can 2106
always pick up the phone and phone one of their teams who are in on this. 2107
2108
Amy: It sure feels that way. 2109
2110
Glen: Wow. 2111
2112
Amy: And with the people coming to my house, you know Ive even had uh, a 2113
land surveyor who was actually teetering his gear off of the lip of my door 2114
threshold, so no matter-- he didnt have credentials handy or anything 2115
which is a red flag, but if anybody who knows anything about land 2116
surveying, and I dont know that much (laughs) but what I do know is 2117
that your gear has to be stable to take a measurement, and if its teetering 2118
it wont be any good. But 2119
2120
Glen: Yup. 2121
2122
Amy: thats exactly what he was doing on my door threshold when I opened 2123
the door, and he didnt knock to let me know or anything like that. Then a 2124
few days later a woman came by and she wanted to clean my house for 2125
$10 because she needed quick money and uh, when I wouldnt let her in, 2126
she didnt want to try any of my neighbours because she only wanted to 2127
work for me. Um, and then she drove off in a hurry when I turned her 2128
down. Um, and-- and then I got a call from SITEL, which is a subsidiary 2129
of Onex, they wanted in my house to fiddle with my phone jack for 2130
illegitimate reasons. 2131
2132
Glen: Well you cant say theyre not persistent. Um 2133
2134
Amy: Ill give them that. 2135
2136
Glen: Well, you know, this might be related, Ill just tell ya, I-- I imagine you 2137
cant see the chat room, can you? 2138
2139
Amy: No, Im not looking at it right now, sorry. 2140
2141
Glen: Okay well we did peek out at about twenty-two, twenty-three users. Um, 2142
now we are no longer live on the net, were just uh live either on uh, 2143
Livestream/OccupyToronto or if you are called in, we have ten users left 2144
in the chat room, two, four, six of them are guests. They have not signed 2145
in with an account. Yeah. Thats kind of what Im saying. We have six 2146
who are still here who are guests, and theres nothing really being entered 2147
in the chat room, but theyre hanging around to see if anything is I think 2148
so, hi guys! 2149
2150
Amy: Interesting. Yup. Hel-- hello, whoever you may be and-- and hopefully 2151
youre friend and not foe, but these days I wouldnt want to hazard a guess 2152
on anything. 2153
2154
Glen: Wow. Well, you know, um like I said, the Indiegogo got posted a few 2155
times in the chat, I will be contributing once I shut all this down, I will be 2156
tweeting it. I dont see any reason that just the act of people-- even from 2157
Twitter, theres no reason that we cant make enough noise and get 2158
enough done that we cant get that as close as possible to your goal, 2159
because 2160
2161
Amy: No if-- if everybody that I knew was kind enough to send me enough for a 2162
cup of coffee, that would probably cover it once it was all added up. I 2163
mean if everybody could just help out a little bit, you have no idea how 2164
much gratitude I would have. Im up against the impossible right now. I 2165
dont know what to do. I-- I-- there are no more options left, theyd 2166
really like to take my house. And if they do that, then I am not in a-- a-- 2167
a stable situation to be able to continue writing these stories, I will have to 2168
get my life back in order, recapitulate, you know figure out what to do 2169
after losing everything which is not a-- a great option there. Um, and if I 2170
can get this attack dealt with, then I am free and clear to go with the rest I 2171
know and I want nothing more in the world than to tell it. 2172
2173
Glen: Excellent. Anybody listening, thats all you need to hear. That is all you 2174
need to hear. Well, I have kept you for two hours and a little more than 2175
fifteen minutes. Again I will say if theres anything further you wanna 2176
say, youre free to do it but Ive pretty much run out of stuff. Weve 2177
covered what we said we were gonna cover, and Amy, I thank you very 2178
much for coming on this show. You are welcome to come back any time 2179
in the future if theres further develop-- developments. Doesnt matter. 2180
You let me know, I will give you platform. 2181
2182
Amy: Thank you, thank you so very much. It has been an absolute pleasure, and 2183
I hope that the audience builds for The View Up Here, its a great 2184
platform, I really appreciate the folks that you get on to talk and-- and to 2185
stimulate the conversation in our society and props to you too. 2186
2187
Glen: Well, thank you very much. And uh with that, I will put you on hold my 2188
esteemed guest, and then you will be free to hang up as you like, and there 2189
you go everybody. That is Amy MacPherson. A very brave woman, 2190
fighting against just about everything thats wrong with government and 2191
oligarchy. And corpor--- corpo-rape. Its kind of what I wanted to say. 2192
You can see what happens to one person whos determined to tell the 2193
truth. How quickly everybody disappears, how quickly nobody will help, 2194
how quickly circumstances are changed, what platforms are taken away to 2195
speak those truths. This runs so deep in this country. Corporate media? 2196
Dogs. They have the same masters as the government. You know a lot of 2197
people like to say that media is the slave of the government. Theyre both 2198
slaves to the same masters. This is what people have to understand. And 2199
again, the attack on the internet that is not stopping. It is our last chance at 2200
free and open communication. Just think if the internet is no longer free. 2201
If its no longer open. What will stop these powers that be? I hope 2202
everybody enjoyed the information that was spoken tonight. Theres lots 2203
more. Go to Amys site, www.freethepresscanada.org. I seriously 2204
encourage everyone to give whatever they can to her Indiegogo. It was in 2205
the chat, its a long URL I cant rattle it off, but I will be tweeting it as 2206
soon as I shut the studio down. I thought this was a great show. It 2207
demonstrates whats wrong with Canada. And most of it is possible to be 2208
laid at the feet of Emperor Harper and the Conservative Party, but not all. 2209
We talked about the changes to the Canada Pension Plan. There was no 2210
opposition. The unaccountability of our intelligence sector. I mean 2211
everybody whos listened to this show for a while, my big thing is parties. 2212
Parties gotta go. Parties are the root of all evil. They are the constant, 2213
they never go away, they make the rules, they abuse the rules, they use the 2214
rules against those against them. Parties are the root of all evil. But its 2215
the system we have. The only way well ever beat it is if everybody 2216
participates, or as close to everybody as we can get. Forty percent turnout 2217
isnt gonna change a goddamn thing. Thanks for listening to The View 2218
Up Here. Good night. 2219
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Amys website: Free The Press Canada 2223
www.freethepresscanada.org 2224
2225
Support Amy MacPhersons fight on Indiegogo 2226
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/government-watch-listed-support-the-fightback--2 2227
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