The RCMP has compiled a secret "hit list" of B.C.'s 20 most dangerous crime bosses, a list it hopes will help it put more gangsters behind bars and strike a blow against organized crime in this province, a joint Vancouver Sun-Victoria Times Colonist investigation has learned.

And while the RCMP refuses to reveal the names of the individuals on its list -- for fear of tipping off potential investigation targets -- it will reveal which group it considers the province's biggest criminal threat: The H**** Ang***.

"OMG [outlaw motorcycle gangs] is the top," said Supt. Dick Grattan, head of the RCMP's criminal intelligence section in B.C.

Grattan said biker-gang members make up the largest proportion of people on the force's Top 20 list, an annual ranking known as the Strategic Threat Assessment that the Mounties in B.C. have been producing for the past few years.

Asian organized-crime figures make up the second-largest group on the list, followed by Eastern European gangsters.

"The Top 20 would be the ones who have the most influence over organized crime in the province," Grattan said. [. . . . ]

But The Sun has learned that a secret 2001 report by the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. identified by name five full members of the Hells Angels who work at the Vancouver and Delta ports, along with more than 30 known associates. [. . . . ]

Athwal said longshoremen are not subject to criminal-record checks or other background checks before working at the ports. However, Transport Canada has proposed new regulations that would require port workers -- like airport workers -- to be subject to background checks before working in restricted areas. [. . . . ]

SPECIAL SERIES:

TODAY [SEPT. 10]

- SECRET 'HIT LIST': Targeting B.C.'s crime bosses.

SATURDAY [SEPT. 11 ]

- HELLS ANGELS: Outlaw motorcycle gang members and the businesses they own.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 18

- CASH CROP: How the marijuana trade fuels organized crime.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 25

- Young & violent: Drug-smuggling and the extreme violence of Indo-Canadian gangs.

SATURDAY, OCT. 2

- GOING UNDERCOVER: Money-laundering and the dangerous life of an undercover cop.

SATURDAY, OCT. 9

- PURSUING JUSTICE: What we must do to put more perpetrators of organized crime behind bars.

Family deported over $50 relied on faith

* Auditor General tells inquiry of sponsorship abuses

* AdScam inquiry head slams Mountie boss, Zaccardelli

* Why use a third party when money is supposed to go directly from the government to the RCMP?

This article bothers me. Canada appears to have room for AIDS patients applying as refugees but this family from Poland, a country where many of our citizens originated from, recieved [sic] only harsh treatment. Please note that their Liberal MP was less than sympathetique to thei [sic] problem.

While illegal immigrants are routinely permitted to remain if their humanitarian applications are in progress when deportation proceedings commence, Elinor Caplan, the immigration minister at the time, dismissed them as queue-jumpers. The Sklarzyks' MP in Mississauga, Carolyn Parrish, angrily suggested the couple had had two of their children in Canada to improve their chances of remaining.

[. . . . ] At a meeting in her office, in the presence of the four Sklarzyk children, Ms. Parrish allegedly attacked the parents for creating a media furor. "I don't give a shit if you found a high-powered lawyer to get your story in The Globe and Mail," Ms. Parrish said, according to Mr. Mamann.

Three men are behind bars in Colombia and more arrests are expected following the discovery of an elaborate scheme that has duped the Canadian Embassy in Bogota into granting refugee status in Canada to undeserving applicants.

Officials in the Colombian public prosecutor's office estimate that, this year alone, at least 50 citizens of the violence-plagued South American country have fraudulently obtained residence in Canada as a result of the scam, run by civil servants employed by Colombia's National Senate.

One Colombian official told the Toronto Star that some of the bogus refugees are members of one or another of the country's two left-wing guerrilla armies, which have been fighting against government forces for decades in a conflict that has made Colombia one of the world's most violent countries.

"The investigators believe that some of the guerrillas have got to Canada," said the official. "It is known that they are guerrillas."

[. . . . ] According to the Colombian public prosecutor's office, corrupt officials employed by the human rights commission of the national senate have surreptitiously been providing fake documents to people wishing to emigrate, charging up to 12 million Colombian pesos, or about $6,100 , in each case.

These documents offer bogus confirmation that the bearer has been the victim of a threat of kidnapping or assassination from left-wing guerrillas or the right-wing paramilitary outfits that also roam Colombia's tormented political landscape. [. . . . ]

The scheme, running for as long as three years, targeted the embassy in Bogota mainly because Canadian immigration regulations include an unusual provision permitting residents of certain conflict-ridden countries to apply for the equivalent of refugee status while still living in their own lands.

Currently, those countries are Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. People admitted to Canada on humanitarian grounds directly from these countries are known as "source country class" refugees. [. . . . ]

Tony Blair's Britain continues to lead the way when it comes to turning a once strong society in a nation of wusses with a new poll that shows one-quarter of Britons wish to ban smokers from receiving publicly funded health care.

* ICM conducted the phone survey of 1,010 adults in England, Wales and Scotland for the BBC Healthy Britain poll on a range of public health issues.

* Some 27% said the government should discourage smoking by introducing the ban while 71% opposed the move.

So are meat eaters next? How about drinkers? Motorcycle riders? People who don't look both ways before they cross the street?

I said it before and I'll say it again: When government launches a public health care system they become de facto owners of your body.

KELOWNA, B.C. -- Prime Minister Paul Martin moved to lure Quebec into signing on to a national health-care deal by offering to let individual provinces ink separate side deals with the federal government.

Only days before a federal-provincial summit on health care opens in Ottawa, Mr. Martin sought to overcome Quebec's traditional reluctance to agree to Ottawa's health-care conditions by indicating that he will allow provinces to have different conditions for receiving federal health-care cash.

While he said that offer is open to any province, it is clearly aimed at Quebec, where Premier Jean Charest faces a potential backlash if he is seen to be letting Ottawa dictate priorities in an area of provincial jurisdiction like health care.

Mr. Martin noted that Quebec opted out of the National Health Council, which sets common health benchmarks, creating its own council. [. . . . ]

The "specialty squad" hatched by the three opposition leaders over the summer will plot daily strategy to take on the Liberals.

Their initial efforts are expected to include calling for more free votes in the Commons and urging the Public Accounts Committee, which probed the sponsorship scandal, to continue digging into spending at Crown corporations.

The importance of these actions shouldn't be underestimated.

Despite Paul Martin's promise to correct the "democratic deficit," the PM has revealed himself as a leader without the capital, courage or vision to enact significant changes.

In paying grudging respect to Jean Chretien's political longevity, Harper said: "The political gutters of this country are full of people who laughed at Jean Chretien somewhere along the line."

I'm beginning to suspect the same could be said about Harper.

The question is, has Paul Martin figured this out yet? [. . . . ]

Canadians want three things from the Gomery Inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal. First, they want the truth. They also want Justice John Gomery to be courageous in uncovering that truth, regardless of whose interests may be hurt. And they want the commission to complete its task in a timely and cost-effective manner.

[. . . . ] Allegations that the Liberals misused taxpayers' funds for partisan purposes, and that senior bureaucrats were involved, suggest our institutional order suffers from a case of ethical rot. If so, the Gomery Inquiry's ultimate responsibility is to pronounce on the integrity of our institutions. It must be prepared to name any and all officials and politicians who acted improperly so appropriate action can be taken against them. Only then can the integrity of our system of governance be restored and, possibly, the level of cynicism reduced. [. . . . ]

OTTAWA -- The onetime chief of staff to former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano failed to clean up the mess in the sponsorship program after he became the top bureaucrat in charge, a newly released government report says.

The document, which was released by a commission of inquiry on the first day of public hearings into the sponsorship scandal, says that Pierre Tremblay "demonstrated unacceptable laxity and lack of rigour for a manager at his level."

Mr. Tremblay was the top official in Mr. Gagliano's ministerial office from 1996 until 1999, then joined the bureaucracy to head up the sponsorship program, which provided financing to sports and cultural events in exchange for display of publicity material for the federal government.

According to an administrative review done of his tenure, Mr. Tremblay repeatedly authorized invoices without any assurances that the communications agencies did the work.

The report, which was not previously made public, said Mr. Tremblay failed to rectify problems in the sponsorship program under his predecessor, Chuck Guité. [. . . . ]

Hospitality Expenses

Date Description Cost
2004-05-27 Lunch - Supporting Political Relations $599.90
2004-05-26 Reception - Supporting Political Relations $7,463.25
2004-05-21 Lunch - Advocacy to Canada's Public Policy $593.71
2004-05-14 Reception - Advocacy to Canada's Public Policy $4,300.66
2004-05-10 Lunch - Support to visiting Delegations/Dignitaries $445.10
2004-05-07 Lunch - Supporting Political Relations $148.24
2004-05-07 Contribution to Dean of Diplomatic Corps - Furthering Multilateral interests abroad $40.78
2004-05-07 Dinner - Support to Partner Departments and Agencies Abroad $741.20
2004-05-07 Reception - Support to Partner Departments and Agencies Abroad $6,423.69
2004-05-06 Cocktail - Advocacy to Canada's Public Policy $7,999.20
2004-05-05 Lunch - Advocacy to Canada's Public Policy $2,404.94
. . .
2004-03-03 Tickets, hospitality received - Advocacy to Canada's Public Policy $1.00
. . .
2004-02-05 Reception; Political Relations $5,037.90
2004-02-04 Lunch; Advocacy of Canada's Public Policy $1,053.68 [. . . . ]
Total: $90,926.81

[. . . . ] Full representative democracy has been slowly but steadily -- and stealthily -- taken away from us for some time, particularly since Pierre Trudeau gave us his "legacy to the nation" of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and as he and his Liberal successor, Jean Chretien, chipped away at the rights of individual Members of Parliament and centred power in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

[. . . . ] Of the nine justices on the court, six were appointed by Chretien, one by Brian Mulroney, and now two by Martin. Eight Liberal appointees, one Progressive Conservative appointee (Who happens to be Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, also a judicial activist).

The traditional role of Parliament was to make the laws, and the role of the Supreme Court to see those laws were administered fairly. Yet now, Parliament can make any law it wants, and the Supreme Court can simply declare that law illegal (cloaked as being unconstitutional).

It's hard to think of another democratic nation that has so politicized its highest court, and it's hard to think of any other democratic nation in which voters would allow this to happen.

We the "people" have only one safeguard against the clever political fraud that has been perpetrated against us, and that is for provincial governments to relentlessly invoke the "notwithstanding clause."

In simple language, the notwithstanding clause means a provincial government can opt out and ignore the rulings of the court if it believes it violates the will of its own residents. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] Shipping Tycoon Paul Martin is probably too busy counting his bullion from the high seas to realize what the president of Russia has concluded --that the Third World War has already begun.

The first full assault came with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon in which thousands of Americans were killed.

To that savagery, Martin's predecessor, Jean Chretien, shrugged and said perhaps Americans got what they deserved because of their power and greed.

Maybe Martin thinks in the same vein.

[. . . . ] What's been happening in Israel -- a testing ground for Islamic zealots -- is now happening around the world. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] Should Justice John Gomery find that there was more smoke than fire to the sponsorship file or that there is simply too much smoke to arrive at clear conclusions, there will be questions about Martin's decision to add an expensive commission to the existing police and parliamentary inquiries.

Many will be bound to wonder whether electoral expediency rather than the public interest presided over his decision.

But if Gomery unveils a conspiracy designed at the highest levels of the government to corrupt the federal spending system, the ruling Liberals will once again be taken to task for their ethical behaviour.

There will be new queries as to how Martin, in his capacity as government and party insider, could be so oblivious to what was taking place under his nose. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] ConocoPhillips, Murphy Oil Corp. and BHP Billiton Petroleum (Americas) Inc. have kicked off a 2D seismic program to collect geophysical data beneath a portion of a vast ocean expanse straddling the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia boundaries, and including a strip of ocean under French jurisdiction located south of the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.

[. . . . ] "It's a completely different basin [from offshore Nova Scotia]. We are reasonably optimistic there is a possibility of finding hydrocarbons, and we have the opportunity by having these legacy lands to undertake this exploration and see if the theory holds up."

Part of the area, one of the largest land holdings in the East Coast offshore with almost seven million acres, was acquired by ConocoPhillips' predecessor company, Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., in the 1960s.

But it was subject to a moratorium because of a boundary dispute between France and Canada that was resolved in 1992, and a dispute between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland that was settled in 2002.

[. . . . ] The area, almost 200 kilometres wide, is located about 300 kilometres from the Sable complex, the only gas producing project in Atlantic Canada. [. . . . ]

WASHINGTON — France, Russia and China supplied Saddam Hussein with missiles, arms, defense technology and spare parts before — and after — the start of the Iraq war, an explosive new book claims.

In the book, Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz cites a slew of illegal covert arms deals between Saddam and several countries that opposed the U.S. invasion in the months before and after the start of war in March 2003.

The book, "Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies," cites secret Pentagon and CIA reports and interviews with top U.S. defense and intelligence officials.

Gertz claims that many of the weapons sold to Iraq in this critical time frame — and in violation of U.N. embargoes — were used by Ba'athist terrorists against U.S. forces after the fall of Saddam.

The book claims that U.S. Navy SEALs discovered that half the rockets fired by pro-Saddam guerrillas in the Oct. 26, 2003, attack on Baghdad's Al-Rashid Hotel — where Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying — were French-made Matra SNEB 68 mm rockets. .

The missiles were in "pristine condition," according to the book. [. . . . ]

[] Moore has a long history of supporting, and being rewarded for, anti-Israel stances. In 1987, Moore was honored by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee for his "courageous efforts in journalism." He attended and spoke at a June 5, 1990 demonstration protesting the continued Israeli occupation at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. In October 2003, Moore was honored by the Muslim American Public Affairs Council (MPAC) with a media award.

In his book, Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation, Moore proposed that Congress give Israel 30 days to end the bloodshed taking place in its name, and if Israel does not do so, funding to Israel should be cut. He also noted that while individual terrorism is bad, state sponsored terrorism is truly evil. Moore proposed that the Palestinians be given statehood and receive twice as much economic assistance from the United States as Israel receives.

[. . . . ] About one subject, the Moore had less to say: When questioned about the rumor that members of Hizbullah had been involved in the distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11, he had no comment. [. . . . ]

Mathematicians could be on the verge of solving two separate million dollar problems. If they are right - still a big if - and somebody really has cracked the so-called Riemann hypothesis, financial disaster might follow. Suddenly all cryptic codes could be breakable. No internet transaction would be safe.

[. . . . ] The Riemann hypothesis would explain the apparently random pattern of prime numbers - numbers such as 3, 17 and 31, for instance, are all prime numbers: they are divisible only by themselves and one. Prime numbers are the atoms of arithmetic. They are also the key to internet cryptography: in effect they keep banks safe and credit cards secure.

[. . . . ] "The whole of e-commerce depends on prime numbers. I have described the primes as atoms: what mathematicians are missing is a kind of mathematical prime spectrometer. Chemists have a machine that, if you give it a molecule, will tell you the atoms that it is built from. Mathematicians haven't invented a mathematical version of this. That is what we are after. If the Riemann hypothesis is true, it won't produce a prime number spectrometer. But the proof should give us more understanding of how the primes work, and therefore the proof might be translated into something that might produce this prime spectrometer. If it does, it will bring the whole of e-commerce to its knees, overnight. So there are very big implications." [. . . . ]

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Justice has asked an appellate court to keep its arguments secret for a case in which privacy advocate John Gilmore is challenging federal requirements to show identification before boarding an airplane.

A federal statute and other regulations "prohibit the disclosure of sensitive security information, and that is precisely what is alleged to be at issue here," the government said in court papers filed Friday with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Disclosing the restricted information "would be detrimental to the security of transportation," the government wrote. [. . . . ]

OTTAWA - The United States is forecasting China could surpass Canada as its largest trading partner within half a decade, a concern to both the Canadian government and industry.

Chinese exports to the U.S. have soared by 111% in the past five years to reach US$82-billion last year, allowing that rapidly expanding Asian giant to surpass Mexico as the second-largest exporter to the U.S. and leaving it next only to Canada whose exports totalled US$100-billion.

"Given this rate of growth, China could surpass Canada as the No. 1 trading partner with the U.S. in the next five years," the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says in a new analysis. [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] In fact, the drive to get First Nations on side has been so far-reaching and so thorough it's one of the reasons cost estimates for the project are escalating beyond the original $5-billion price tag. Imperial has not yet said by how much.

If no effort was spared, it's because the project's backers -- Imperial, ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and ConocoPhillips -- as well as many more oil companies exploring for gas in the Mackenzie Delta region that hope to use the line, do not want history to repeat itself. Three decades ago, the same project was stalled by native dissent.

But it wasn't enough.

The project, just as it was poised to make key regulatory filings by the end of the summer, is once again threatened by native resistance.

The Deh Cho filed a lawsuit last week against the federal government to stop a key regulator from reviewing it. More are planned to attack other aspects of the project. [. . . . ]

OTTAWA (CP) - Auditor General Sheila Fraser continued to weave a tale of financial mismanagement Wednesday, singling out the Public Works Department, Via Rail and a variety of private ad agencies for criticism at the federal sponsorship inquiry.

Even the national police force came under fire, as Fraser's staff questioned funding arrangements for the RCMP's 125th anniversary celebrations. Among the harshest conclusions reached by the audit team: Lafleur Communication of Montreal charged $112,000 in commissions, apparently for doing nothing but acting as middleman to deliver money from Public Works to Via Rail.

The transaction was part of a wider deal to fund a TV series on hockey legend Maurice Richard, but Fraser said she could find no evidence that Lafleur did anything to earn the commission.

"We saw no indication of any value being received for it," she said.

Via, for its part, spent more than $900,000 on the series without ever signing a contract to do so. It was later reimbursed for most of the money by Public Works, but still ended up shelling out $160,00 at the end of the day.

The controversy over the Richard series has been boiling since February, when Fraser first outlined it in a damning public report.

Her criticism was a key factor in leading Prime Minister Paul Martin to fire Marc LeFrancois, former president and chairman of the passenger rail corporation. [. . . . ]

There were other irregularities surrounding a separate $650,000 that went to activities involving the Quebec division of the RCMP. That money went into a special, non-government bank account that couldn't be audited in full because records were later inadvertently destroyed.

The Mounties, in a letter to Fraser's staff, dismissed the problems as "minor accounting lapses" - a description that troubled Gomery.

He said the force's comment "trivializes something that is more serious than that."

Gomery was also puzzled by documents indicating two private firms involved in the anniversary celebrations may have double-billed the force for $29,000 worth of commemorative pins and $10,000 worth of souvenir corkscrews.

The companies involved were Lafleur Communication and subcontractor Publicite Dezert - the latter run by Eric Lafleur, son of Lafleur Communication founder Jean Lafleur.

The head of the AdScam inquiry said RCMP boss Giuliano Zaccardelli "trivialized" revelations that the Mounties created a "rogue" bank account for sponsorship money used to buy horses, trailers and "giveaways" for its 125 anniversary celebrations. The $3 million in sponsorship cash issued to a pair of Quebec ad firms for eight contracts for the RCMP's celebrations was one of six cases highlighted yesterday as examples of questionable projects the feds funded but may not have received value for its investment.

Zaccardelli has said there was no "malicious" intent on the part of the RCMP when it opened a secret bank account in Quebec with $650,000 in sponsorship cash in 1998 or when all the records linked to it were destroyed after two years -- a breach of the Financial Administration Act.

"So the implication is if there's no malicious intent, it's OK or it's not serious," said Justice John Gomery. "I take issue with the expression 'minor accounting lapses.' I have to say that I find that trivializes something more serious than that." [. . . . ]

[. . . .] SOME items RCMP bought with federal money earmarked for its 125th anniversary:

- $9,000 for wine for the anniversary gala

- $18,000 for corkscrews

- $952 for 110 table cloths

- $60,000 for horse trailers

- $46,530 for six horses

- $60,000 for commemorative pins [. . . . ]