“If people had any clue how lax the security here was”, he chuckled, “they’d lose it.”

At the time, the words carried very little weight. Still a novice in my job as a security officer at the Refinery, my partner’s comment sparked some curiosity but seemed at the time a harmless quip.

Over the next few years those words would echo repeatedly in my mind.

If you know Alberta, you know the Western Canadian province is home to the enviroNazi-vilified oilsands. You would also know that Alberta is one of the major suppliers of oil and natural gas to the United States, so it stands to reason that in this post-9/11 world protecting the refineries – the people and the billions of dollars worth of equipment - is absolutely vital to the North American economy.

As is the industry norm, the Refinery contracted out the security responsibilities to a private firm to which I was employed. You’d be forgiven if you assumed that security procedures at such an important installation would be given top priority. But as I was to quickly learn, that is not necessarily the case. Procedures were in a constant state of flux – seemingly made on the fly.
On-site training (with the exception of the required First Aid/CPR) was primarily done on-line. Practical, hands-on training mostly came from having to deal with real experiences as they happened.

Not the grandest way to ensure confidence, to be sure.

My first partner, in a case of happenstance, was married to the security company’s representative in charge of several accounts including our Refinery.

Neither one of us had much previous security experience prior to working at the Refinery’s main security gate – the nerve center, if you will. This was not unusual, as many of the Security Officers (S/O) were inexperienced.

However, it wasn’t the experience or lack thereof that was alarming. It was some of the people themselves who raised red flags.

One particular day I arrived for a shift and was informed that one of the S/Os who was guarding a remote off-site warehouse facility the previous night, had (once again) fallen asleep at his post. As is common these days, thieves cut through the fence and had stolen hundreds of dollars worth of copper tubing and wire.

I was already shaking my head at this news when I learned that no one had even realized this had occurred until hours after the next shift had started. Was the S/O in question relieved of his duties? Not at all. In fact, after continuing on for several more months at the same post (and several more instances of sleeping on the job), he was transferred to a different site – at a higher rate of pay.

Not all of what I saw and heard was as whimsical, however.

On one of the required vehicle night patrols, I entered a guardhouse and was met by the strong odor of just-consumed marijuana. When questioned, the S/O denied any wrongdoing. The fact that he couldn’t focus or form coherent sentences didn’t detract from his denial.

When informed of this event, the Security Supervisor – himself a man of questionable intelligence – claimed that without tangible proof, nothing could be done. This, despite on-site drug testing capabilities.

That wasn’t the only time suspicion of on-the-job drug and/or alcohol consumption occurred, but without any further action by the management, the overwhelming feeling for most of the team became ‘why bother?’

A few months later, the Supervisor let it slip that an S/O had been sent back to the security company’s regional office. The reason? He’d made at least one, if not several, hours-long phone calls from his Guardhouse. Where were the calls going to? Somewhere in the Middle East!

Now, at the risk of riling up all of the politically-correct morons out there, it is only natural to raise your eyebrows when a person of Arabic heritage makes strange long-distance calls in the middle of the night. On a company phone. To a terrorist-sponsoring nation. From a North American oil refinery!

That S/O was, in fact, relieved of his duties, but that’s where it ended. No investigation, no follow-up. Apparently, even picking up the phone and dialing the number to see who would answer on the other end was too complicated for the crack security head-honchos.

As time when on, my faith in the security structure all but vanished. The incompetence shown from the top down killed any kind of confidence. Whether it was Officers sleeping on the job, leaving their posts for long periods of time, or having their girlfriends ‘visit’ them in the middle of the night, it seemed no one put actual security as a priority.

Just at the main security gate alone, of the endless stream of vehicles entering and exiting the refinery each day only a handful were checked by security. It wasn’t considered an important aspect of the job, if you can believe it. Sneaking equipment out – or conversely, sneaking something in – would not be difficult whatsoever.

When the economy tanked, things got even worse.

Cuts were announced, and as is usually the case, security was the first to feel the axe. Along with several others, I found myself on the chopping block. In an example of the warped thinking and sub-professionalism from the Security firm, I was informed of my lay-off upon arriving for a scheduled shift – via email.

The cuts took out much of the experienced team (read: those making the top wages), and left the newbies to run the show. Again, not something that instills confidence in the protection and well-being of a major oil refinery.

Epilogue

I have recently learned that what remains at the Refinery as far as security goes is nothing more than a skeleton crew. Major gaps, unqualified and untrained S/O’s saddled with the impossible, unrealistic task of providing a safe and secure environment.

I am more convinced than ever that there will be an incident at a Canadian refinery because of the low priority given to security. The numerous American truck drivers and shippers I had spoken with who enquired as to how the security procedures in Canada could be so relaxed is a tell tale sign. Their alarm rings familiar:

“If people had any clue how lax the security here was…”

The release of Canada’s latest unemployment numbers is still the hot topic around the water cooler – providing your local Service Canada Employment centre possesses such equipment, of course.

Since October, just a shade under 300,000 Canadians have lost their full-time jobs. Keeping mind that we are a nation of approximately 32 million give or take, that represents a stunning number.

The most recent strikes to our workforce were in Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec, which saw declines in employment of 35,000, 24,000, and 18,000 respectively. We now find ourselves with a national unemployment rate of 7.7% and spiraling.

And these are conservative estimates.

What is unique is the spread of the crisis. Like a plague, this (fill in your own favorite term here. Suggestions: ‘economic downturn’, ‘recession’, ‘depression’, ‘nightmare’…) ignores all barriers and tax brackets.

White, blue, pink, green, - whatever the collar, your industry or field of employment has probably been hit.

Not to sound too pessimistic, but there are many more frightening parts of this. Talk of knowing someone who has been laid off is commonplace now. Normally menial jobs, usually the target of a handful of applications, now see hundreds of hopefuls throwing their name in the ring.

More and more, the skilled and educated are competing directly with everyone else in the job market.

The bad news? The numbers for March will be even worse.

As with our neighbors such as the U.S. whose own unemployment rate sits at a ballooning 8.1%, we are searching for leadership. Finding it, of course, has been sparse.

In the U.S., the image of corporate fat-cats bonusing themselves in the boardroom with the taxpayer bail-out billions destroys any confidence that remains. Obama huffs and puffs and….hands out even more taxpayer money!

The problems at home are getting severe. We all heard that this was coming, yet the Harper government started off on the wrong foot by downplaying the situation and P.R. blundering his way out of a majority election win.

Then they redeemed themselves with tax cuts, which to any rationally thinking conservative is a no-brainer when weathering an economic storm. But then they do the ‘in thing’ and throw out all fiscal responsibility with their own version of a billion-dollar government bailout.

While I still hold out hope that the Harper government is still the best team to captain this ship in rough waters, their most vital issue of importance must be to speed up the E.I. process.

This unprecedented economic collapse makes even the most anti-safety net conservative see the need for one, albeit temporary. But the system must work and by all accounts, it doesn’t. Far from it.

The swell of claims has overwhelmed the feds, who are scrambling to grab everyone from part-time staff to former employees to the recently retired.

When things get so bad that federal employees whose job it is to handle Employment Insurance claims have to remove their name tags out of safety concerns, that is a huge red flag. When thousands and thousands of claimants are still waiting well-past the federally-mandated maximum of 28 days, frustration blends with anger.

The lay-offs continue and the backlog grows. One wonders if real leadership will emerge before the powder keg explodes.

Hey there, my British friends! I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but that’s what happens when a child grows up, leaves the nest, and moves half-way around the world.

I’ve just heard what is going on, and thought I’d better send you a little note of reassurance.

First of all, I understand why you are seething at Obama. It’s not the fact that the DVDs wouldn’t play in your video player – that would warrant a strong reprimand of the flunky whose job it is to check such mundane matters - but that DVDs were the choice of gift to begin with.

One gets the vision of top level security men, clad in their black suits and matching sunglasses, earpieces in place, scanning the aisles from left to right as Obama rolls up his sleeves and gets elbow-deep in the ‘2 for $11’ DVD bin at Wal-mart.




Too bad P.M. Brown already has the ‘Buns of Steel’ workout.

Heads of State from around the world are putting together their movie wish lists. Word is Vladimir Putin wants ‘Scarface’.

The real insult, of course, was the return of the Churchill bust that was presented to President Bush after 9/11 as a sign of the continued solidarity and friendship that exists between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Another vision comes to mind – British officials trying as politely as possible to refuse taking the bust back, some struggling not to embarrass the American president by having to remind him of the purpose for the bust in the first place, others struggling not to verbally lash out and accuse him of being the arrogant idiot that he is.

We both know that Americans can be...well, let’s just say there’s lots of Democrats. They can be a bit different. They listen to Michael Moore, for Heaven's sake. But foreign policy blunders are not new.

As a Canadian, I can tell you that we’ve suffered our share involving the U.S., none more so than after 9/11. I remember how, in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks the Prime Minister did not hesitate to call Dubya and reassure him of the strong ties that bind the two nations. I recall how the Prime Minister made us all proud when he vowed to offer all assistance America might need, both in recovering the shock at home and hunting down the criminals responsible.

…that’s British Prime Minister Tony Blair, of course. Hours and days passed before then-Canadian P.M. Jean Chretien bothered to utter a half-hearted (and misunderstood in both official Canadian languages) show of support towards America.

It was left up to also-then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley to step up to the plate and show at least some leadership. Manley, who I have stated is one of the very few Liberal politicians that I have ever had any respect for, spoke for millions of shocked and awed Canadians when he told our American cousins that ‘we stand shoulder to shoulder’ with them.

For many of us in this country, we felt the sting of a reported 25 of our country men who died that day. While a comparatively small number, when you consider 1 death due to a terrorist act worth of a major retaliation, 25 cements that feeling.

Its no coincidence that Manley was a driving force in getting Canadian soldiers into combat for the first time in decades with our commitment in Afghanistan.

That issue, while well in the past as is the Chretien government, still plays in our memories when we think of that day.

But time moves on, my friends. Maybe Obama will magically begin to live up to his prior billing as a foreign relations God compared to Bush, maybe he won’t.

Just know that Canada still loves you, and can’t wait to see you again. Oh, and the next time the Queen comes to visit, tell her to bring a movie.

The Bleeding Hearts Brigade won another judicial victory today, once again at the expense of common sense and justice for the victim’s family.

The crime in question made headlines around the world. On a Greyhound bus in the middle of Manitoba, just after pulling out of a stop in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Vincent Li began stabbing the sleeping man seated next to him. No reason, to provocation.

The bus stopped and the other passengers fled, leaving Li and his victim, Tim McLean. After the passengers prevented Li from exiting the bus, he returned to McLean’s lifeless body and continued stabbing. He then decapitated him.

A standoff ensued between Li and the responding RCMP before he was eventually taken into custody.

The insanity plea was expected to be the obvious play, and Justice John Scurfield ate it up. Apparently for a crime this outrageous only two witnesses are needed to be heard from. Conveniently, both were forensic psychiatrists who agree that Li is a schizophrenic who – cliché alert! – was told by The Voice of God to kill McLean.

A Law & Order episode with this tired and overused plotline would be just cause for switching to hockey highlights.

Interestingly, since Li admitted to killing McLean (in junction with his ‘not guilty because I’m a freaking nutjob’ plea), Justice Scurfield didn’t feel it necessary to hear any testimony from those people who historically used to have a purpose in trials such as this – commonly referred to as ‘witnesses’ - the passengers.

"Persons who are profoundly ill do not have the mental capacity to intentionally commit a crime," Scurfield said. "The goal of criminal law is to punish criminals, not persons who have a mental illness."

Morality and self-control are now endangered concepts, conscience a gamble. Ever wonder what it would be like to actually kill someone? Go ahead – claim you weren’t in your ‘right mind’ or that you listened to The Voice. The justice system is your best ally! They will look upon the act itself as evidence of insanity, making your job at convincing everyone that you’re unstable already half-done. Neat.

The only thing easier than getting a prescription from your family doctor is finding a couple of shrinks to declare that you have ‘issues’ (after all, if there is no mental problems there are no psychiatrist), so voila!

The truth is, Li will go to a mental institution instead of prison. Li will receive taxpayer funded ‘treatment’ instead of taxpayer funded ‘incarceration’. Li will – unbelievably – have an opportunity each and every year to be ‘cured’ and released.

While the potential outrage of an early release for Li will keep in the institution for some time, there could come a day when Li will be found ‘treated’ by the very same kind of psycho-babblers who gave him his get out of prison card.

Justice John Scurfield got taken. Vincent Li got away with murder. And the McLean family got nothing.

My admiration for Dutch politician and 'Fitna' filmmaker Geert Wilders is well-known to my readers.

The modern-day crusader has recently been on a overseas trip speaking out against the Islamisation of Europe, and warning the Western world that we are next. The recent refusal to be allowed into England (banishment?) lent weight and credibility to his claims.

Wilders dares to speak the truth, and while the naive leftists roll out the usual unjustified labels and tired slanderous names, he continues to risk everything - his career, his reputation, his very life - to speak what needs to be said, even though his words continue to fall on many ears that will not listen.

I reckon, if our public schools can show our children films by Michael Moore and Al Gore, surely Fitna should be required viewing.

As a symbol of support, I'd like to direct your attention to a petition being circulated. Open to Canadians, the petition asks Governor General Michaelle Jean to extend the offer of an Honorary Canadian Citizenship to Mr. Wilders.

THE PETITION:

http://www.gopetition.com/online/25733.html


Read more about Geert Wilders here.

Watch FITNA: The Movie here.