Thursday, March 28, 2024

As in Canada, so in the USA???

 

It's emerged that a couple of years ago, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did a deep dive into potential future challenges in the light of then-current circumstances in Canada.  The report was not publicized until very recently.  I'm going to leave out the politically-correct "climate change" stuff, because I'm far from convinced things are as bleak as the "woke" like to paint them:  but the rest of the report (the parts that have been released, anyway) makes interesting reading.

Here's how the RCMP sees social and political developments over the next few years in Canada.  Could we see the same thing here in the USA?  Frankly, I'll be surprised if we don't.


The report paints a bleak picture of what the RCMP — and Canada — could have to face over the next several years.

. . .

"Emergency management planning should be considered by law enforcement decision makers to ensure continued levels of service delivery. Capacity building through the attraction and retention of qualified staff remains a challenge to law enforcement."

Political polarization and resentment, coupled with the threat of an economic recession, will also present a challenge, the report predicts.

"The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations," says the report.

"For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live. The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the fact that the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations."

Populists have been capitalizing on a rise in political polarization and conspiracy theories and tailoring their messages to appeal to extremist movements, the report says, adding that authoritarian movements have been on the rise in many liberal-democratic countries.

"Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fuelled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions," says the report.

New information technologies, including AI deepfakes, quantum computing and blockchain, could also present challenges, says the report.

"Law enforcement should anticipate that criminals will leverage technological innovations to gain profit and influence," the report says. "Law enforcement should also continue to contribute to policy change related to the privacy of personal information, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, quantum computing, digital ledger technology and more."

. . .

Christian Leuprecht, a Queen's University and Royal Military College professor who specializes in defence and security, said the section of the report on the challenges posed by new information technologies — and the suggestion that law enforcement should "contribute to policy change" in response — stood out for him.

"That's a highly unusual statement," said Leuprecht. "This is a hint that clearly there is a sense that the policy framework in this country is not adequately set up for the challenges of everything from safeguarding personal information ... artificial intelligence, the connectivity of the Internet of Things … the privacy challenges and others presented by quantum computing and blockchain technology, and the accelerant that has proven for all sorts of criminal activity in this country."

Leuprecht said the report also points to some threats that are often overlooked, such as problems with global supply chains and the need to improve emergency management planning.

"What we see is some of the disconnect between the strategic threat assessment ... and the resources, capacities, capabilities and political will to posture Canada effectively for what is clearly going to be a very difficult future for this country," he said.


There's more at the link.

I daresay most of us can identify many areas where American society and politics are just as screwed up (if not more so) than Canadian.  The key issue, as noted in the highlighted passages above, is that our systems of government and politics are simply not capable of responding to such pressures in anything like a satisfactory manner.  Too many of our state and national leaders are out to use any opportunity that arises to arrogate more power to themselves and/or their political parties, rather than work for the good of the people of that state or our nation as a whole.  That applies across the aisle - it's not just a left-wing or right-wing problem.  Our leadership has become stultified, atrophied, insular.  The rot runs so deep that flexibility and responsiveness are largely conspicuous by their absence.

This, of course, makes it all the more urgent for us, as individuals and like-mined "tribes" or self-selected small communities, to prepare ourselves for these disruptive factors.  That's not just in terms of stockpiling food and basic essentials, either:  it's educating ourselves to provide as many as possible of the services we need from within our own ranks, rather than relying on our local, state and national authorities to provide them.

I think a very good example is health care.  I'm facing multiple surgeries this year, and frankly I've been horrified by the deterioration in professionalism and competence that I've observed in the past couple of months, compared to what it was even five years ago.  The bureaucracy and administrative orientation (rather than patient and health orientation) is mind-boggling - so much so that I've already refused to continue with one major medical practice, and asked to be referred to a different specialist for a forthcoming surgery.  If things are that bad inside "the system", we need to make ourselves as independent as possible of that system by improving our fitness and personal health, ceasing unhealthy habits, and stockpiling the medications we need to deal with our present and likely future health problems.  For several years I've seen to it that my wife and I have a six-month supply of every long-term prescription medication we take.  I'm now doubling that, to a year's supply, and adding to it a selection of antibiotics that we've used in the past for common conditions and that we might need again.  I think I'd be irresponsible not to do so when the health care system can't guarantee their availability.  (That doesn't even consider the frightening possibility that China, which supplies the vast majority of all medications sold and/or prescribed in the USA, might restrict their availability as a geopolitical pressure tactic.  Imagine where that might leave us!  People might - almost certainly would - die as a result.  How would we, as a nation, respond?  How could we respond in any effective way that would solve the problem?)

One final note.  If the RCMP has produced this report for the Canadian government, it's just about certain that US law enforcement agencies and/or the Justice Department have produced something similar for US policymakers.  The question is, what does that US equivalent report say?  What measures does it suggest to "control" the situation (i.e. control the population)?  How many constitutional rights and freedoms may be trampled underfoot in the process?  Judging by the way the COVID-19 fiasco was handled, more than a few may be at serious risk.

Peter


14 comments:

  1. An amazing read.
    Everything they are 'afraid' of is a monster of their own creation?! Back off? Pshaw, no, they're going to double-down! The police can SEE that their actions are creating the problems, but was that the purpose of the report? Or is just a skin to use to cover their intentions of subjugating the masses? Reminds me of that meme of the cop beating the person on the ground "For their own protection".

    TINVOWOOT!!!!! Do you grok it yet?

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  2. I think the part about Canadian Law Enforcement Policy changes needed is NOT about protecting personal information, considering what they did with people's information during the Truckers protest.

    I wonder how many of them have been able to get their bank accounts back so far....

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  3. I'm not sure that the under-35 inability to buy somewhere to live is wholly due to deteriorating standards of living, at least as envisioned by the RCMP.

    In Vancouver, at least, the massive influx of wealthy Chinese due to government policy in the runup to the 1999 Hong Kong debacle led to immense Chinese investment in real estate which has driven the price of said real estate through the roof. This started in roughly the early 90s and the population of Vancouver soared. Richmond, a "suburb" has become so Chinese that many of the business signs aren't in English and friends of my parents, having lived in their condominiums for decades, are now shut out of the HOA meetings, which are held in Chinese instead of English. The native Anglo population may still be working the same type of job for the same relative compensation but when the price of a house has gone from reasonable to insane, where are they going to buy? The house I grew up in, for example, went from $34k in 1970 to $210k in 1982 to $2.3 million in roughly 2008. The BC government, about as leftist as you can get, even implemented a "vacancy tax" to try to limit the number of empty "investment" properties sitting idle while people couldn't find a house to buy.

    Add to this reduced interest in "stuff". My 40some year old sister lives in a very small flat, basically one room with a little kitchen and bathroom attached. It isn't a money issue, she has no interest in moving somewhere bigger and no interest in more stuff to fill a bigger apartment. Is this a reaction to pricing? Possibly, but she's never expressed any frustration to me about not being able to afford more. She uses her money to travel rather than to fill a house with goods.

    Finally, add in environmental regulations that severely restrict the building of new housing. There is great pressure in my small US town to build up not out. We are restricted by the state from expanding the boundaries of the town and required to have all sorts of plans and incentives for "affordable housing", to the point where developers are being given incentives to build housing that will be permanently deed restricted on price. The free market will have no control over the price, rather the units will be sold for "affordable" pricing and the deed will set acceptable sale pricing into the future should the owner wish to sell and move on.

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  4. I'm Canadian, few facts to add to the context (apologies if I'm verbose):
    - Canada is more Socialist than USA. It's probably middle of the road between EU and USA.
    - The Dems of Canada are Liberals. But there's also a party left of Liberals, NDP.
    - Liberals are in many ways just like Dems in USA: corrupt, Marxist/eco-Marxist, with idiotic/crippling ideas. Immigration is one of them.
    - Current Prime Minister is a clown - totally clueless, zero-focus, narcissist, dictatorial tendencies. Re immigration, Libranos brought in LOTS of people from 3rd world countries.
    - I have nothing against, I'm an immigrant myself. But back in the 90s there was a very decent and comprehensive way to bring in people - you had to have skills/education, know English/French, be in good health.
    - Now, no. Every thug from Middle-East gets in, SE Asia, India? no pb. Since all admin local/state-level/federal is Socialist (meaning bloated, ineffective and rotten to the core), all legislation re house/appt building is very convoluted and tedious. It is hard and expensive to build new homes in Canada.
    - Idiots from NDP are pushing even more to the brink: let's invite more people, let's declare 'sanctuary'. let's provide "affordable housing" meaning rent very low/perks from gov.
    - Media is on Libranos/NDP side always. There's been decades of grooming the population into accepting all this Leftie crap as facts/reality.
    That's why we are here. And things will get even worse, Mad Max worse.

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  5. " The key issue, as noted in the highlighted passages above, is that our systems of government and politics are simply not capable of responding to such pressures in anything like a satisfactory manner."

    Those pressures are self-created by these self-same governmental authorities through their ignorance, gullibility, and outright stupidity. They are primarily responsible for the deterioration of civil society. Wokeness is a disease, a pandemic, and our so-called elite and leadership class has become fully infected. They are leading us all onto the beach to die, like pilot whales following a diseased leader.

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  6. Put the Woke to sleep.

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  7. When they finish their DEI takeover no worries, nothing will be left

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  8. Amazing posting. One question though, where do you get the stockpile of prescription drugs? --ken

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  9. @coyoteken48: I'll answer that question in a blog post tomorrow.

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  10. A double 'Amen' to the notion of improving health as much as one can. I've been investigating eye surgery for so many years now-- I'm extremely dependant on contact lenses, blind as the proverbial bat without them. Not being able to get new ones would mean that I would be handicapped. So it's time to bite the bullet and get 'er done.

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  11. It's all part of the Agenda 2021/2030.

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  12. Having been in various levels of Real Estate since I went back to work in 1973 one trend in '73 were buyers, under 30, buying 1st home and looking for a starter homes. By the beginning of the '90's they wanted what they had been raised in and sneered at a starter home. Gets worse every year. Then they complain about living in a $100K home and demanding a large walk-in closet, chef's kitchen and garage. Unrealistic demands combined with poor credit and very little saving. Mom and dad's are paying most of down payment and when asked how they are going to manage to go from a $900 rent to a $2,000 payment and keep up paying for the speed boat and 2 large SUV's when they have less than a thousand in savings. They look at you like you just spit in there door dash meal.

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  13. For anon at 3:07. Its kind of funny how that whole thing has played out. My parents married young and bought a place to stash us all while he went to Vietnam. Her parents lived right down the street. I don't think her mother ever came by but her dad did all the time. He was our doctor.
    You hit it right on the head though. There are a zillion little houses out there that are quite affordable for young people starting out but the Cities, the States and the Government have done their best to make it not work. I heard yesterday on the way back from the office that here in Metroparkcentralis it is cheaper to rent then to buy. Average monthly rent is $1700/month. Average cost to buy is $2700/month.
    The other problem is the enormous number of houses available in parts of town so bad that you don't want to be there in daylight much less after dark. Those houses are counted in the "house available market" but only a suicidal idiot would buy one and move in.

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  14. Anon at 3:07 I'll just say it plainly: your explanation is laughably ignorant poppycock, if not outright, baldfaced lying. Millennials aren't satisfied with "simple, small homes" (paraphrase) but demand elaborate luxuries? Yeah, indoor plumbing is nice, and not living next to the people who will rape and murder your wife and sell your daughter into sex slaverybis a strong personal preference. Such a decadent set of requirements, eh? Millennials are literally *saving money to buy freaking shipping containers* because actual homes of any type are too insanely expensive. And Zoomers know they're going to be even more screwed. But yeah, it's totally because every millennial demands heated floors etc. Yep.

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