Harper, Britain and Elder Abuse

I have often wondered why Harper wanted to strengthen Canada’ ties to Great Britain, and now I am beginning to see why. It has nothing to do with love of Queen and country, but everything to do with love of Power. It appears to me that Harper loves the idea that the British people are among the most watched and spied upon people in the world. I think he is trying to move  Canadians along the path to accepting the idea that government surveillance is needed and that government can be trusted with the information it keeps on its citizens.

The Following articles from Britain, could be where we are heading in Canada

First Take away Canadians privacy

Pamela Owen wrote a very interesting article on the problem  people in Britain are faced with when going online. She says that details about text messages, phone calls, emails and every website visited by members of the public will be kept on record in a bid to combat terrorism.

The Government will order broadband providers, land line and mobile phone companies to save the information for up to a year under a new security scheme.

So we can see why Harper wants to have closer ties to Great Britain, so he can copy their security protocols  and make Canada the most spied upon country in the world.

But we still have a way to go to beat Britain but under Harper's agenda we may soon get this honour. of being the most spied upon people in the world.

"Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: 'Britain is already one of the most spied on countries off-line and this is a shameful attempt to watch everything we do online in the same way."

According to the Telegraph, the Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP) is already being attacked by privacy advocates as offering a license for abuse and as raising the “Big Brother” potential for universal surveillance. The British government, however, views it as a “vital” tool against terrorism and serious crime, and the legislation to put it into effect is expected to be proposed in May.

The information to be stored would not include the content of calls or emails but would consist of phone numbers and email addresses. These would would who was communicating with whom on what occasions and could also make it easy for police to track the movements of cellphone and computer users.

The British government is in the process of developing a scheme whereby all phone companies and broadband Internet providers will be required to store customer transaction data for a year and hand it over to security services upon request.

The databases would also include Facebook communications, Twitter posts — including direct messages between subscribers — and even communications between players in online video games.

Second start attacking the elderly and disabled

Disabled people face unlimited unpaid work or cuts in benefit according to this story in the Guardian.

Some long-term sick and disabled people face being forced to work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time or have their benefits cut under plans being drawn up by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mental health professionals and charities have said they fear those deemed fit to undertake limited amounts of work under a controversial assessment process could suffer further harm to their health if the plans go ahead.

The new policy, outlined by DWP officials in meetings with disabilities groups, is due to be announced after legal changes contained in clause 54 of the welfare reform bill have made their way through parliament.

According to the Daily Mail, 'The Government in England has been clear that because we are living longer, public service workers must work a bit longer and pay a little more for their pensions,' 'But in return we have also made an important commitment - that at retirement, those on low and middle incomes will get at least as good a pension as they do now.

Harper is also planning on committing financial abuse against elderly Canadians and to frame and sell his position, he will be pitting younger Canadians against older Canadians. Canadians who need their rightly earned pensions to live with some dignity. Harper assumes that people in my generation will not care that younger Canadians will be worse off because of his changing the rules. He assumes that the older Boomers will have an "I'm all right Jack"  attitude and will not care about what happens to younger Canadians. Well I think he is wrong, I have younger brothers, cousins and friends, who are going to be affected by his change of rules. I care and find it objectionable that Harper is pitting one group of Canadians against another.

Conservative government plans to broaden its case for changing Old Age Security by emphasizing the higher price younger Canadians will pay to support government programs unless Ottawa moves now to bring down costs.

In her first extensive speech on the topic of demographics since the furor over pensions erupted last month, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is expected to confirm on Tuesday that the details of proposed changes to OAS – which could include delaying qualification for benefits until the age of 67 – will be revealed in the forthcoming 2012 budget