h/t (and credit for the clever title) to Gerry Nicholls on this one.

The Canadian Wheat Board is one of many ridiculous government institutions that interferes with the production, sale and consumption of agricultural goods in Canada, North America, and the world. It's for the good of the farmers... or at least that's what we're told, until one of them speaks up.

It's not too often that you get agricultural policy that doesn't just jack up prices and starve poor people, but hurts farmers, too. Unfortunately, oppression is one area where government excels at innovation.

The government of Canada announced yesterday in its Throne Speech that it will, among other things, be pursuing a "tough on crime" agenda.

A big part of that agenda will be an omnibus crime bill that will propose the following:

- raising the age of sexual consent,
- increasing penalties for impaired drivers,
- toughen bail provisions and impose mandatory prison sentences on "gun crimes,"
- reintroducing "security certificates,"
- toughen the Youth Criminal Justice Act,
- new initiatives on dealing with elder abuse,
- new initiatives on curbing identity theft,
- awarding police new powers to deal with drug dealers.
- funding the recruitment of 2,500 new officers.

Now some of this stuff might not suck that much, but other parts really, really suck. As a matter of fact, even if it didn't suck for liberty (and it really does), it sucks for anyone who likes consistency in their laws.  read more »

There is no surer way to pervert the law than to institutionalize breaking it. So why would there be majority support for breaking the law to fight organized crime?

If you don't see why this is such a scary proposal, consider the following - should the government, the police or anyone consider it a good idea to break a law that shouldn't be repealed? I would argue that the answer to this question is "no" in any case, but especially in the case of government, who has the power to change laws they don't want followed, or the police, who, being entrusted with enforcing the law, should be the last ones to break it.

Further, what laws would have to be repealed in this case? The laws protecting individual rights from the government; laws protecting us from unnecessary search and seizure, protecting our privacy, and protecting us from entrapment.

It's also important to look at the crimes that are so serious that we need to stop them by striking a blow against every Canadian, law-abiding or not. The bans of the mid-twentieth century allowed for big business in organized crime through rumrunning and casinos - two industries now controlled promoted exclusively by the government in Ontario.  read more »

In Canada I embarked on an epic expedition for cigarettes.  It was epic not because cigarettes are difficult to find in Canada but because they are difficult to find in the Bureaucrash Van, where we have been spending many an hour.  When we finally reached civilization I merrily skipped toward the nearest convenience store, full of glee and exhilaration. Upon my entrance I decided to make small talk with my savior, the Canadian convenience store man.

I naively started babbling about how expensive cigarettes are in Canada.  Can you blame me?  They are TEN DOLLARS!

The jolly Canadian convenience store man pulled a card out of his pocket. “Well, little miss,” he said mysteriously, “I have something you don’t have back home.”   I peered cautiously at his plastic card.  THE ONTARIO HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN, it read sadistically.

I was stunned, shocked even.  I didn’t want to argue with the jolly Canadian convenience store man, but I didn’t really want to admit that his brilliant heath care system, full of long lines and shoddy service, was something I envied (especially enough to pay five extra dollars for each pack of cigarettes.)  I politely smiled and told him that it was a very pretty little card.

It wasn’t good enough.  The jolly Canadian convenience store man continued on about the merits of the Canadian health care system.  I stood paralyzed, really needing a cigarette, and ready to bolt at the soonest possible opportunity.  

When the jolly Canadian convenience store man told me that I should really watch Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” I could take it no more.  “Thanks, need a smoke.”  I ran. 

Went to the SPP Protest in Montebello today but most of the protesters had already cleared out. The stench of Tear Gas was still strong in the air. There were still small handfuls of activist there to make their statements, but they were easily outnumbered by the press and police. The biggest shock was the amount of discarded posters, fliers, signs and empty water bottles that littered the streets. Whatever message the crowd wanted to present, environmental responsibility did not appear to be included. We did several interviews with some of the protesters and the crowds standing outside the IndyMedia safe house. I even did my first on camera interview, which turned out alright, even though I was shaking like a leaf. Stay tuned for more of our shenanigans.  read more »

Today, Crash Across America hit up a North American Leaders' Summit in Montebello, Quebec, where George Bush, Stephen Harper and Felipe Calderón met to discuss opening the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, (SPP) an initiative to develop a more integrated North American Community.

There were some pretty large protests in Montebello yesterday - there's a heavy police presence and residual tear gas offending the senses of anyone passing by.

While there seem to be some legitimate concerns about the SPP - the initiative seems to have been led by a group of corporations and government leaders with very limited transparency and accountability regarding their initiatives - and small government types will be unhappy to hear that it sounds like one of the goals are common and possibly more stringent restrictions on trade (tariffs) and movement (biometric ID) from outside of North America.

On the other hand, the SPP also has some goals that could really help everyone in the deal - the establishment of an economic community and therefore complete freedom of trade and movement within North America.

Protesters are still hanging around, and Bureaucrash - and the people - needed to know, why are people so opposed to these deals? Is it for all the right, or all the wrong, reasons? We interviewed a bunch of people there to protest the summit to get their views and Erin, Minister of Propaganda, is compiling the videos. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: here's the video

Still recovering from the 2007 Liberty Summer Seminar, which took place this past weekend. There were some really amazing speakers - Ben Perrin, founder of The Future Group, brought to light the devastating problem of child sex slavery in the world and the non-government initiatives that he and his friends have put in place to start solving this problem - and they have. What a great cause - one I'm eager to start looking into once I get home.

The Institute for Liberal Studies was happy to announce Marc Emery and Gerry Nicholls (both of whom gave pretty amazing talks) have been brought aboard as Associates of the Institute.

Actually, I'm going to stop ranting about the speakers, as Karen Selick, Crashers Jason and Erin from Bureaucrash, Avril Allen, Grant Brown, musical acts Neville Arbuckle and Lindy, and, of course, ILS President Jan Narveson, all gave really great talks and performances (respectively) that will be put online as soon as possible. For a more immediate preview of the videos, I'm working on uploading my photos, so stay tuned!

And (coincidentally), 25 days from Crash Across America, 2007! The seventh annual Liberty Summer Seminar is fast approaching. Falling on the August 18-19 weekend, the overnight retreat features a concert, incredible food, great people, and a bevy of pro-liberty speakers. We even have a theme song!

Make sure to register at LiberalStudies.ca before July 28th to save $10 on registration. The price is $55 for students and $75 for everyone else. After the 28th, it will be $65 and $85, respectively.

More info after the jump...  read more »

The last Ontario business owners fighting for property rights over their businesses by allowing smoking on the premesis are being forced to shut down as the Ontario government begins denying business licenses for infringements of the law.

Reid said she and her supporters will fight in court the convictions under the local bylaw and Smoke-free Ontario Act charge because they say the smoking laws give the government too much control.

"We see it as the first step in a chain of government control issues," she said. "And that makes us frightened and that's why we are taking a stand."

 read more »

Conservative MP Joy Smith has introduced a private member's bill calling for government control and censorship of the internet.

The bill is pretty unbelievable, and calls for the CRTC to license all ISPs in the country and revoke internet access from anyone who has committed crimes involving child pornography, hatred and violence against women.  read more »

One of my first forays into libertarianism came at age 15 when I wrote a history essay arguing that Canada's Official Languages Act was a dismal failure (and it is). Today, I've just finished my undergraduate degree and I'm looking for a job (mmm, capitalism). There are dozens upon dozens of jobs I'm otherwise qualified for but won't get because I'm not fluent in French. Damn Trudeau.

Our good friend, rock star and, most importantly, crasher Lindy has entered his band, MajorMaker, into a contest sponsored by Yahoo Up Yours. The reward is some money, a Universal Canada contract, studio time, and other goodies.

You can help him win by following this LINK. Then rate the video, comment on it, and send it to all your friends. You can also post it on your own facebook site and on your blog.

Spread the news! Let's get him to the top.

FLASHBACK: Lindy in Windsor!, Lindy Says Capitalism Heals, Major Maker Releases a New Album.  read more »

The Ontario government is debating two bills right now debating whether it's acceptable to just deny someone a driver's license for not disclosing their their organs donation intentions to the government or if the state should be allowed to seize your organs by default.

And you thought socialized medicine was our biggest problem.  read more »

The Canadian Press reports today that Health Canada is charging patients fifteen times what they pay for medicinal marijuana.

(I'll let you insert your own joke equating the government with the organized crime they think they're fighting via the drug war.)  read more »

Staying silent and minding your own business? Not acceptable! This poster was up in the student centre of my university. It made me sad to know that the thought police have their own bulletin board, but decent, freedom-loving individuals don't.

I'm considering getting a tattoo of ama-gi, the earliest known writing of the word "freedom" and was trying to find out if the Ontario tattoo industry was regulated or not, since if it was I would go to Michigan, where the industry is unregulated.

I texted my friend, who has a bunch of tattoos, is best friends with the girlfriend of a tattoo artist and worked in a tattoo parlour for a while, to ask her if the industry was regulated. She responded to say that she didn't know, but, being the caring friend that she is, gave me a list of questions I should ask anywhere I go to verify that their equipment is safe.

She asked why I was asking, and I told her that, on principle, I wanted to get my freedom tattoo in an unregulated tattoo parlour. She responded, "So, on principle you want to get hepatitis?"  read more »

Register today for the 2007 Windsor Liberty Seminar by clicking here and visiting the events page.

Last year's seminar was great, and this year's won't disappoint. Speakers have been confirmed from the Society for Quality Education, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and the Fraser Institute, with another speaker (or maybe two!) to be announced!  read more »

our greatest source of social justice is not attacking the product and currency of hard working Canadians. It is in celebrating our achievements and those of our loyal countrymen.  Countrymen who work so hard in spite of crushing government interference in their lives and businesses.  It is in this which we achieve our strength. Canada's economic prosperity will be great as long as socialist rats and do-gooders are kept out of power.  read more »

Researchers at University of Toronto plan to introduce a software tool on Friday that aims to help people in countries that censor the World Wide Web.

Psiphon (pronounced sigh-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in a country that censors the internet sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions.

Its creators plan to launch the software at the Protect The Net conference at the university's Munk Centre for International Studies, where psiphon emerged as a project of Citizenlab. Researchers at the facility examine the relationship between digital media and politics around the world.

"We're aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia," a free, user-maintained online encyclopedia, and other information and news sources, Michael Hull, psiphon's lead engineer, told CBC News Online.

Citing countries such as China and Iran among some 40 countries that censor the internet, Hull said that the way in which access to information is cut off is troubling.

Source & More

I came across this today, and it really scared me. According to a Queen's university, 53% of canadians agree with the idea of a biometric ID, containing fingerprints & retina scans among other nice things. Prime Minister Harper, who doesn't need to prove himself as absolute statist anymore, said that it wasn't an option and that his government is definitely leaning towards this piece of ID.

Their rationale is saying that About 170 countries across the world already have a national ID. My question is: how many of them have biometric IDs?

Apparently this is a global trend amongst statist governments and it's going to become the "norm" sooner or later.

Everyone should love The People's Cube. It is just subtle enough. I just wish it cost $10 less...

For those of you who don't know Lindy, he's a Canadian musician who loves freedom. His songs aren't super liberty-oriented, but they are good. He was in Windsor last night at Phog night club, and there was much freedom-loving. I also got to engage in some good ol' capitalism by buying the new Paper Moon CD.

View full post for photos!  read more »

A little over a week ago I was riding on the TTC and looked up, and, to my amusement, saw this ad:

and snapped a photo.

If you're sitting there wondering to yourself "Why do people litter on the TTC?" think of this: People don't litter at home because, since they own their homes, they have an interest in keeping their home clean and generally in good shape - the benefit and the responsibility for the home fall on a specific person or group of people. Since everybody "owns" and uses the TTC, there isn't one person or group of people who have an interest in keeping it clean and so, since the responsibility falls on everyone, it effectively goes to no one.

If you're still confused, then I suggest you educate yourself on the tragedy of the commons, which is the name for this phenomenon. Here's the gist of it from Wiki:

The parable demonstrates how unrestricted access to a resource such as a pasture ultimately dooms the resource because of over-exploitation. This occurs because the benefits of exploitation accrue to individuals, while the costs of exploitation are distributed between all those exploiting the resource.

If you have a few spare minutes, you should also play the Bunny Game.
(From The IHS' Liberty Arcade.)

While I don't think that privatization would necessarily have that great an impact on the litter levels on the TTC (a private owner who would be able to set the fares may be more inclined to hire people to clean it up than a forever rationing government administration... but then again they may not), I do find it simultaneously amusing and sad that people are so ignorant about a fairly basic economic concept that explains why so many well-meaning plans go afoul.

(And, for the record, though I don't think litter levels would necessarily be changed, I do think that the overall service levels and quality of the TTC would be improved by privatization... just so there aren't any crazy misunderstandings.)

Peter Jaworksi offers his thoughts on my photo here. Cross-posted at Liberty is Good here.

Crasher Infamous Prodigy took me to the Canadian Parliment building where she arranged for me to speak to 60 of the Prime Ministers interns. Because of the subversive nature of Bureaucrash I was told that they would rather that I didn't publish the group photo but I'll describe it to you: It was me and 60 young Canadian interns smiling and looking at me adoringly as I held the beer mug they gave me. My presentation consisted of showing them some of our greatest video hits from crashes of yesteryear, a chat and a Q & A which is always my favorite part.

After some lousy Thai food and some quality time at Starbucks, Crasher Infamous Prodigy and I boarded her rental car and departed Ottowa for Orono, Ontario. Along the way we picked up xxx and had dinner at the Lone Star in Kingston. We arrived at the Liberty Summer Seminar just in time to provide token assistance in setting up the tent and to help drink the fine Canadian beer that I.P. provided.

After prying myself off of the couch I slept on I headed over to a nearby Starbucks where I worked all day. Crasher Infamous Prodigy met me there after she finished her 9 to 5 and headed out for some dinner.

She took me to a sushi place named Kinky. As their name implied they played up the sex appeal with nearly orgasmic women pictured on their menus eating sushi. Every single one of the waitresses were hot and service was excellent. Techno music was pumped into the place and above the sushi chefs was a large mural of two goldfish humping. The one on top was displaying his "o face." The food was excellent as were my seven and sevens. Other than the Kinky experience, the reason for the dinner was so that I could meet a graphic designer and fan of the 'crash.

After dinner I.P. took me on a tour of Ottowa by night. We met up with some other crashers at a Country / Western bar.

Ottowa Fun Fact: I'm told that thanks to affirmative action 60% of the people in Ottowa are chicks and 40% are dudes.

Crasher Yabo kindly drove me to the nearby airport where after a TSA security screening I boarded a jet plane to Chicago. I had little time to make my connecting flight but I'll be honest with you, I stopped for a personal pepperoni pizza and a coke.  I'm not sure what power this pizza had over me but outside the gate I ate it just causing me to miss my flight. I talked to a ticket agent and because my incoming flight was kind of late they scored me tickets on a competitors flight. I looked at the time and noted that I had little time to make this one so I hauled ass across the airport to make it... an hour early. I didn't compensate for the changing of time zones. I used my extra time to enjoy a bottle of water and an Economist magazine. It seems that reading this is turning into a in-flight tradition for me.

I arrived in Ottowa after 11PM where I met up with Crasher Infamous Prodigy. We then headed to her crib where I got settled in and then we departed for some random Canadian's birthday boozefest. There I ran into some crashers that I met at the Liberty Summer Seminar last year. We'll be kicking it again all weekend long.

A lot of people like to harp about how great Canada's "free health care" system is. Well, thanks to all that government control, a Calgary woman was forced to sit in a crowded waiting room while she miscarried her baby. The official explanation? "A shortage of beds."

More here.  read more »

I was stoked when one of my former professors won a province-wide competition designed to find the "best lecturer" in Ontario. Not only did I learn a lot from Dr. Kislenko's class about the Cold War, I was thoroughly impressed with his handling of issues surrounding communism. He explained that his family fled Russia and fought for the Finnish during the war because they hated communism so much, but also took some well-deserved swipes at people who think communism is cool. During a lecture on communist China, he said that he gets visibly upset when he sees anyone wearing Mao shirts -- because they "might as well be wearing Hitler or Stalin on their chest." Score one for sanity!

This is going on in Windsor, Ontario - right across the river from Detroit.  As if a smoking ban isn't bad enough, it's illegal to advertise the sale of legal products and it's going to put these store owners out of business. 

The boyfriend is trying to find a lawyer to see if we can find the guy near the end of the article some representation, but he also pointed out to me that there's a good crash opportunity here since, in his words: "it seems to me that other thing are worse than smoking. perhaps...fascism?"

Would anyone in the area be up for this?  read more »

The Liberty Summer Seminar, held this year on the July 29, 30 weekend in Orono, Ontario, seeks to bring together Canada's best pro-liberty speakers with a bright and energetic audience. Hosted on a beautiful 40-acre property with a swimming pond, horseshoes, walking trails, and acres of forest, the Liberty Summer Seminar is now in its sixth year. That's right: we're six years old this year! And what better way to celebrate our sixth year than with an icon in the movement for liberty in Canada? This year's keynote speaker will be none other than Dr. Michael Walker.  read more »