(Everybody is free to toe the party line)

In an email leaked today to the Ottawa Citizen, the federal government has plans to increase surveillance of Canadians to include all demonstrations and protests:

“The Government Operations Centre is seeking your assistance in compiling a comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations which will occur either in your geographical area or that may touch on your mandate […] We will compile this information and make this information available to our partners unless of course, this information is not to be shared and not available on open sources. In the case of the latter, this information will only be used by the GOC for our Situational Awareness.”

The Government Operations Centre is a federal agency tasked with managing strategic planning for situations affecting national interests, such as pandemic and natural disaster planning, and also acts as an intelligence clearing-house. It was involved with compiling information on Aboriginal protestors against fracking, but apparently now it’s interested in everybody who disagrees with federal policies and cares enough to make a sign and go marching around with it.

Remember, Canadians: freedom is for businesses, not for people.