FROM THE HARPER INDEX:
INTERVIEW WITH DAVE COLES, THE MAN WHO UNMASKED THE POLICE AGENTS AT MONTEBELLO:
The Harper Index has an interview with David Coles, the union leader who confronted and successfully exposed three police provocateurs at the recent Montebello Summit protests (see reports on this blog in the August archives on these events). Coles speaks about the events at the demonstration, the way that the Security and Prosperity Partnership will harm Canada, the long history of police provocateurs and the possible role of the Harper government in directing the tactics used. Some extracts from the interview:



"I feel disappointed and disgusted. I've been around people being infiltrated all my life in the labour movement. It never stops. These people will resort to every dirty trick in the world. It's not uncommon in the progressive movements for either the corporate cops or the state police to do this sort of thing. They have used these types of tactics for 100 years, from the Pinkertons to the RCMP...."
"That is why I maintain that somewhere up the political ladder someone is giving instructions to not let us tell our story. Our union has a very critical story to tell. Harper and his crew don't want it out..."
"A number of media insiders have told me that if they really wanted to have a meeting that didn't have a confrontation, why wouldn't they fly into Camp David or some other armed fortress and leave ? They set it up so they could send their goons in."
READ MORE...

ALSO AT THE HARPER INDEX THIS WEEK:
PRIVATIZING FEDERAL BUILDINGS A "SWEET DEAL" FOR NEW OWNERS:
The usual graft and corruption. While the events of Montebello took centre stage the Conservative federal government snuck in a little "sweet deal" for one of their corporate friends, Larco Investments. Sixteen federal buildings at nine different locations were sold to this outfit at a cost of $630 million less than their independently accessed values. Even at the falsely lowered value given out by the Harperites Larco stands to make a profit of $330 million over the course of 25 years. The icing on the cake is that the company has an open ended option to increase management and maintenance "costs" whenever it sees fit. In other words the feds will still be on the hook for ALL the costs involved in running said buildings while a private firm has basically been given a blank cheque to make money. This buildings are the first of some 40 federal properties that the Conservatives plan to sell off at God knows what long term cost to the taxpayer.
READ MORE on this boondoggle at the Harper Index.