Tag Archives: squatters

Its time for citizens to get to work and clean up “Camp Cloud”

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The ramshackle two story shack built dangerously under a power line acts as a giant, symbolic middle finger to Canadians who value commerce under the rule of law. Indeed as can be seen in the picture above, the squatters in the encampment that they have named “Camp Cloud” like to use the shack to stand upon and literally give the finger to Canadians.

The shack and the surrounding mix of tents, trailers and trash send a message to the the world investment community. It says that the administration within Canada is so cowardly, they will let a group of miscreants set up an illegal encampment in a community and impede legal commerce with impunity. It says that following process and law in Canada is pointless as crazed, extreme minority groups can bring your efforts to a halt on a whim and the state will do nothing to protect your investment. It tells neighboring property owners in Burnaby that compliance with bylaws, construction standards and public safety rules is only expected of them as legal, taxpaying homeowners. Self-identified “water protectors” can squat at will without paying any taxes and while flaunting all local laws.

The continued presence of “Camp Cloud” sends the message that violence is an acceptable means of discourse as the squatters repeatedly have assaulted people in the area as shown in the video below.

 

Click here for the full account of the latest violent encounter with “Camp Cloud”.

The City of Burnaby sneaks in during the early hours to drop eviction notices for “Camp Cloud” and scurries away. The city gives the squatters 72 hours notice to vacate due to a plethora of safety and bylaw violations. The squatters scornfully ignore the warning and are rewarded as the callow authorities do nothing to enforce the law.

The camp grows more deeply entrenched and the violent, entitled attitude of its dwellers grows. Why shouldn’t it? It appears that they are above the law. Warnings are toothless.

Enough is enough.

If the authorities will not clean up “Camp Cloud” it becomes incumbent upon citizens to do so. Energy workers have endured a deep recession for years only to have economic recovery hindered by illegal opposition to energy infrastructure. Many of them are more than happy to take a day to come out to clean things up. Many Burnaby residents are ready to come out and help clean up their community. Many citizens in general are tired of a government that lets extremists walk all over them.

I created a facebook group late last night to gather these citizens and organize the cleanup. By this morning the members neared 200 and it continues to grow. Click here to join in the organization effort. 

Its time to bring this standoff to a head.

The illegal and dangerous squatter encampment called “Camp Cloud” is going to come to an end in coming weeks. Whether the clean up is done by authorities or whether it is done by the group I am organizing is up to the state. I and others are going to continue planning, gathering people and organizing them under the assumption that we will have to do this ourselves.

We are left with no other choice.

They really have nothing better to do.

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Today, two more court challenges against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion were tossed out of court. One from the Squamish First Nation and one from the city of Vancouver. 

It is becoming increasingly clear that the law is fully on the side of Kinder Morgan in their efforts to expand the capacity of a pipeline that has operated safely for over 50 years. Horgan and other environmental ideologues will continue to waste the court’s time and the taxpayer’s money on more court challenges but they will eventually all be tossed out. They know this of course but their hope is that in delaying this legal project long enough that investors will flee. They may be right and Canada will lose untold other billions as we become an international investment pariah of a nation who allows themselves to be led by the nose by environmental extremists.

Assuming that Notley and Trudeau manage through promises and tax dollar backing to convince Kinder Morgan to continue with the project by the deadline next week and assuming the court cases get settled to the point where we can finally break ground on construction there still remains one huge problem, the protesters.

There is a subculture of career protesters in North America who wander aimlessly from cause to cause. It morphs identities. One year it is “occupy”, then “idle no more”, then “black lives matter” and lately they are self-styled “water protectors”. Its all the same group. Some of the faces come and go but at its core it is always the same group of people. Transients with little sense of purpose who have found a social group that accepts their pointless lifestyle as they pick a site to squat upon and protest against whatever their perceived cause of the day is.

There is no reasoning with these people because they are beyond reason. They latch on with causes but usually don’t even really understand what the cause is or what the outcome of their protest may be. Their demands are mixed, addled and often outright bizarre. They don’t want actual resolution to any cause. They just want to gather and feel a sense of purpose. Unfortunately their pursuit of this feeling of purpose is hindering some very important infrastructure projects.

I spent a fair amount of time around the squatters taking part in “Occupy” Calgary a few years ago. Below is a video with some dialog of an exchange that I recorded from what was very much a typical “occupier” and it demonstrates just how rational these people are.

How do you reason with people like this? How do you negotiate?

You don’t!

Lets not beat around the bush. If the Trans Mountain pipeline is ever going to be built, these protesters are going to have to be removed and with force.

Sadly, years of cowardly appeasement from governments at various levels has emboldened these people to the point where they have utterly no fear of legal authority. I honestly will never understand why governments fear this tiny subculture of bums so much but they will only enforce the law with them when utterly forced to do so if at all.

They laugh while literally giving the finger to cops who have been essentially neutered by politicians.

They giggle and take selfies in front of police lines comfortable in the knowledge that the police are about as empowered as a typical mall security guard despite flagrant lawbreaking happening all around them.

Again, why shouldn’t they?

In Burnaby the bums have been erecting buildings on the pipeline right of way and along the roadway leading to the Kinder Morgan terminal with utter impunity.

When I worked as a surveyor in the oilfield, I could not leave so much as an equipment trailer parked on a pipeline right of way. It is a safety hazard and I would have found myself fined and removed from the site if I refused to comply.

If you are a protester however, apparently you can build a “watch house” on the right of way with impunity. If an accident does happen, we can rest assured that these assholes will sue Kinder Morgan.

Ugly structures are being erected while junk and literal shit piles up in what once was a nice neighborhood. Local residents are petitioning to have this squatter encampment removed but their request to have the laws enforced have been ignored.

If I build so much as a large garden shed on my own property without a permit I can face fines. If I am a transient protester however, it appears that I can turn any residential neighborhood into my own little private garbage dump of a hobo camp.

This is all before the construction of the pipeline has even begun. Can you imagine how bad it will get once the equipment gets moving?

It is not just fiscal or legal security that Kinder Morgan needs. They need to know that they will be able to build their legal pipeline under the protection of the law of the land.

The government needs to clean out these squatters now as they will only multiply and entrench themselves further. It is a national embarrassment that Trudeau has let things go this far. He has plenty of tools to exert pressure upon municipalities and provinces to encourage them to enforce the law. He needs the will and the balls to do so however.

If for no other reason, these protesters need to be removed and charged for the protection of the environment itself.

Few things demonstrate the hypocrisy of these bums better than seeing the mess they leave behind after one of their squatting efforts. No person who truly cares about the earth would leave such a mess. As I said though, these people don’t really have a cause.

The above pictures are of what protesters left behind while protesting Kinder Morgan doing preliminary drilling a few years ago.

The bunch of pics above are from the Burnaby Mountain protest along with some “occupy” sites.

Rather consistent pattern.

Who can forget the million dollar cleanup of the mess left behind by the pigs protesting the Dakota Access pipeline? They even abandoned a number of dogs there.

Rapes, assaults and drug use are rampant in these camps as well. Calgary’s small “occupy” camp had not one but two different pedophiles amidst them who were charged during their stint in a downtown Calgary park.

As the title of this posting states, these people really have nothing better to do. The bums in the encampments are enabled by a variety of American activist groups along with individual hippies who won’t put their own necks on the line but will happily fund things so that others will. It is the free tents and food that draws these bums to these encampments. These are not friends of the earth. They are a tiny dispossessed minority who are being used by larger activist interests for their ideological ends. We need to remove these protesters for their sake and our own.

The hippies and hipsters from the city love coming out to these demonstrations. They love putting some token natives in the front of the line and they love letting somebody else take the brunt of the cost when the arrests actually begin.

Yes there have been some arrests and charges but in looking at the mess at the Burnaby terminal it is clear that we need more arrests and more serious charges. Rest assured the hipster crowd will vanish from the support ranks fast enough when their own criminal record free histories are are on the line.

First and foremost though the squatters need to be moved and the encampments totally removed. They won’t leave any other way as they indeed have nothing better to do.

 

Rally 4 Resources. A true grassroots movement.

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I rarely cross post other people’s writings. My insecure vanity doesn’t let me share my space and limited readership with others often. 😉

The group “Rally 4 Resources” has really impressed me of late. They are a small group of people with limited resources but with their dedication they have been managing to make a good splash in support of resource development when we really need it.

They are organizing counter rallies at energy related events and they have been working to document and expose what the anti-energy movement is really all about.

Recently, Rally 4 Resources went to visit “Camp Cloud”. This is an encampment of protest squatters which is very reminiscent of the baseless “occupy” movement of the past. It is ramshackle, disorganized and over run with substance abuse. Despite that, they present themselves as a rational movement when they are anything but.

Enough out of me. I will let Rally 4 resources take it from here. Their pictures and video tell the tale better than I.

Their facebook page is here.   Their website is here.

Our visit to Camp Cloud on May 2nd was a complete eye-opener.

We had expectations from media reports of a large protest community. The media had been talking about thousands on Burnaby Mountain protesting Trans Mountain expansion and that idea was driving the national news narrative that BCers were against the project.

Reality was so far from that. We found 8 sketchy people in various stages of intoxication at 5 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. I gave them pet names like Punchy, Slurry, Ranty, Angry, Phony, Sell-out, Teen Rebellion and Rage Machine. But watching the video later we recognize some of these people from previous thug incidents in Northern BC. These aren’t protesters, they are known agitators like Matt Danes. Funny how the same people are never busy and are flown around to be involved in every issue in every city. Most of the tents and shacks were empty, just sitting there to be props in this piece of protest theatre, derelict vehicles, gas cans and propane tanks littered their camp and the irony was lost on no one in our small group of four.

We drove through it first to see if we were safe to approach our actual destination, the Kinder Morgan Burnaby Terminal security gate. We were kind of amazed looking at the garbage and not finding any people. We found one person on our first pass, he was using an electric saw to cut lumber for their newest feature, a carver’s cabin. Yes, an electric saw used to build a cabin on the shoulder of a highway in an anti-pipeline camp set up to protest oil and gas. So the reports of the camp using gas powered generators were confirmed right off the hop.

We carried on up the road to a park to check out the site of their Camp Cloud fb star filming herself kicking a RCMP officer while he made an arrest. There was indeed protesters’ motorhomes parked on the soccer field away from the protest camp like the video had shown. The man there was hostile so we went back down the road to the gate.

Along the way we stopped to talk to the locals walking and biking about their feelings on the camp. People were scared to be on camera, fearing retribution, and spoke of anger directed at the Burnaby Mayor and Premier Horgan, both were called some nasty names, complaints about the noise, traffic concerns, feeling under seige, and fearful of even walking their dogs alone. This is a beautiful residential neighbourhood surrounded by the green bush and park like space of the Kinder Morgan property. Some residents were concerned as their jobs were tied to the Vancouver ports and they openly wondered what the protesters would go after next.

We asked permission to be at the terminal gate and security obliged us to speak to workers as they left the facility and to present a banner “Pipelines to Tidewater” signed by pro-resource Canadians from across the country. The workers were hurting from the announcement the delays caused by the dithering and uncertainty necessitated 18 layoffs on site. They were very welcoming and appreciative to finally have a public show of support from the majority of Canadians on their site. Unfurling the banner stirred up Camp Cloud though.

They crossed the highway and demanded we leave in not so polite terms. They claim we were “trespassing on Salish unceded territory” despite the court order barring them from trespassing on Kinder Morgan property. Two men were instantly flexing and raging while a older man lectured us on how the world doesn’t have a demand for oil (false) and how oil gave all his dogs cancer(false and crazy). I giggled at the ridiculousness of his drunken claims but the laughing stopped fast as his camp mates circled around to flank us. Being circled and yelled at was definately overkill for just taking pics at the gate and ignoring them totally. This did not stop until I started filming with my cellphone. Once I was filming they retreated for a minute to get a phone to take our pictures and call in support from the city. We were soon accused of being from The Rebel (we’re not) and then accused of being paid professionals (we’re not).

So once again the whole crew crosses the street to bring their elder Rose Desjarlais to berate us. Their crew are extra cranky because we arrived during happy hour. She yells and tells us we cannot speak, we have no right to be there, and we don’t have the same right to protest as they do. She rambles on a story about how oil poisoned Alberta and her late mother, but fact is she lived to a grand old age of 96. She then says her family made good money working in oil and gas. Then switches back to saying she doesn’t care who loses their jobs. She did confirm her relationship to Chief Allen Adam, he’s her cousin. Her son is with her too. We perk up, a lot. Chief Adam is pro-oil. He’s so pro-oil he’s trying to build his own pipeline. Why is his family trying to shut down Kinder Morgan expansion and representing themselves as 1st Nations water protectors if he is trying to build pipe too? Oh because this is business. They are trying to shut down the competition of their family’s proposed pipeline. Suddenly it dawns on me this place has nothing to do with their cries of “leave it in the ground” or “water protectors”. They use propane, gas, drive F350s with Alberta plates and their cousins own projects that are Kinder Morgans’s competitors. What fools we were to think this was about the environment. It’s about money and power.

A Volkswagen pulls up quick and two young Starbucks looking hipster chicks hop out and start fixing their hair without putting down their mason jar drinks. Oh look, it’s the RCMP assaulting, previously arrested, facebook live attention seeking, Greenpeace Idol wannabee phony alias Uni Urchin. She sees the phone recording and fluffs her hair before giving us a valley girl line ” I hope, you like, you know, have water to drink…with your kids” followed by “Thanks but no thanks” and a smirk. So at this moment one of the hotheads is darting between vehicles on the highway. An older red compact car honks at him. He kicks the moving car and screams “F*ck you bitch”. He crosses back to us. Again the glowering teenager wrongly accuses us of being paid professionals before Uni herds her tipsy charges back across the road.

We look at each other very bemused since they came to the gate to harrass us. That’s all they’ve got, Chief Adam’s cousin, some muscle and the Greenpeace Idol valley girls that drove out to get on film. The two hotheads are still yelling, the girls get back in the Volkswagen and we thanked Rose for sharing her stories. We start the walk back to our car, a local stopped in his vehicle at the corner stop sign yells at the camp inhabitants to “get the f*ck out”. We are all a little relieved filming caused a signifigant change in their attitude and tactics towards us. We are all also stunned such a rag tag posse could be used by media to create the narrative Camp Cloud is a water protectors’ protest community impeding the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. We assume it must grow on weekends when the paid US organizers email their databases to get the Hastings social justice scene and Green politicians out to attend media events. It’s a nightmare for the usually peaceful suburban neighbourhood. It’s best called a grievance industry hobo circus taking US dollars to organize and some pretty bold home grown nepotism to shut down this Canadian resource project. Nothing more.

Respect the Burnaby residents who want the almost empty shanty town and garbage removed.

Respect the rule of law, get out of the way and let these hard working BC engineers, contractors and labourers earn a living. #buildKM

Respect the principle of our cooperative polite Canadian federation and let the west work and provide for their famillies, communities and transfer dependant have not provinces. #buildKM

Camp Cloud was a joke. End it before you have all of Vancouver’s street scene squatting there permanently.

They will not go willingly.

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Now and then I see the odd person commenting or tweeting saying that if we simply ignore the “occupy” Calgary squatters that they would go away. Alas were it only that simple.

For one thing, that would set a terrible precedent. A group of people have purposely broken our laws, damaged our public property, disturbed neighbors and displaced other users from what is supposed to be a public space. Are we to allow this every time that a small collection of people wants to hold a public tantrum without a cause? Rest assured they will.

Nenshi and some others were hoping that cold weather would do the job that City officials lack the courage to do. Sadly, despite temperatures plunging a few weeks ago the squatters still remain. Two were injured when a tent caught fire due to a person trying to warm himself with a candle though. We may see a lawsuit out of that yet as the squatters feel that taxpayers are responsible for that fire. Cold weather will not dislodge the squatters.

Not only are the squatters not leaving, they are actually growing in numbers as squatters that were evicted from other cities are actually converging on Calgary. Yes, being the last major city in Canada (almost in all of North America) lacking the balls to evict their illegal squatters has actually led to our becoming a destination. Layabouts and whining entitled bums are coming to Calgary to suckle on the tax-funded teat that Nenshi has so generously provided.

Rather than kick out our squatters like other wise cities have, Calgary has opted to beg and grovel with ongoing negotiations and offers to the squatters hoping that they give Olympic Plaza back to taxpayers. My better half covered that on her fine blog along with many other nuggets of discussion from the squatters.

Considering that the city’s attorney had her ass handed to her in court by a crazy old man and a volunteer fired and hired again non-lawyer, I guess I can see some of the cities fears here. One of the discussions by the squatters that Jane posted on her blog showed the squatters actually confused and wondering what the bar association was. Despite demonstrating utterly no legal knowledge, this group of clowns managed to own the City of Calgary retained lawyer in last Friday’s hearing as the city vainly (so far) sought an injunction to remove the illegal squatters.

I swear City Hall found Lionel Hutz’s sister. I hope that they are not paying much for this “service” at least though that is a faint hope.

The biggest error being made by people who think that the squatters may simply leave on their own is that people are assuming that these squatters are rational in any way. I guess folks can’t be blamed. Many people have better things to do than go down to meet the squatters in person to realize just how disconnected from reality these guys are.

That is part of why I take and post videos of these nuts. People can see just how crazy our squatters are without subjecting themselves to the verbal abuse (and nasty aromas) that I did.

Below is a video of “occupy” Calgary spokesperson Aaron Doncaster as he tries to tell a passerby that the city was criminally responsible for the tent fire that burned two people. If Doncaster’s loony ramblings don’t manage to convince you of his lunacy, check out the skirt he is wearing. Nobody in their right mind would try to wear that skirt with those boots. They clash and it is a crime against fashion at the very least.

Next up is “occupy” Calgary martyr and hero; Sarah Scout. Scout’s infantile behavior is typical of her as I have had the displeasure of encountering her at the squatter camp on a number of occasions. Her disconnect with reality and gross sense of entitlement and victimhood are nothing less than profound.

Police approached Sarah who became immediately belligerent forcing them to arrest her for criminal obstruction. Apparently she had a past warrant as well.

Watch that video. Note the incredibly terrible acting as Sarah tries to force some sort of incident where she could claim police brutality. Only her awful rendition of the national anthem eclipses those rotten acting skills that convinced only her delusional comrades that she is some sort of victim.

The members of the Calgary Police Service deserve a commendation for their patience and gentle treatment of Scout as she resisted.

Now in watching these videos, do you really think that these are the sort of people who simply will go away if ignored? Any rational protestors left weeks ago. These squatters will not be going anywhere until we actually physically have them removed. To try and wait it out simply won’t work and it really is a cowardly approach in an ordered society.

If the videos are not enough, again I strongly recommend that you visit Jane’s blog to see more of what these people have to say in their own words.

You can’t reason with the irrational.

Lets take back our park!! I do hope that the courts rule soon and we get this long overdue action over with.

SQUAT BE GONE!!

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Have you found your park spaces suddenly overrun with squatters?


Can you no longer enjoy lunch in the park without being accosted by hippies, hipsters, bored suburban kids and communists?

Does your dog now hate trips to the park for fear of stepping in the feces left between the tents of un-housebroken squatters?

Are you tired of seeing your very flag disrespected along with public property through vandalism and defacement?

Does your mayor cower in abject terror at the prospect of taking a leadership role and enforcing common city laws?

Well folks, have no fear!!!

SQUAT BE GONE

 IS HERE!!

 

 Fear not weary taxpayer. Just call 1-800-END-POOP to speak with one of our representatives so that we may get to work on ending your infestation as quickly as possible. One of our teams can be at your location within hours and will immediately begin implementing our special patented squatter elimination process.

 We do like to be as humane as possible in our squatter control. We begin using methods of repellant in order to drive away some of the less entrenched squatters.

 Years of careful research have proven that the concept of work in itself can drive many a squatter into the fetal position in terror.

 Carrying signs and application forms, our trained professionals will circle the park repeatedly while trying to engage squatters in impromptu job interviews. This method has been proven to reduce squatters by as much as 25% as many retreat in terror back to their parent’s basements.

At the “occupy” Calgary site, even stubborn squatter James (I don’t work man!) Bullock (in video below) vanished after having been offered a job by Richard Evans as seen on CTV. Jobs horrify squatters every time.

As is evident in any squatter infestation, many squatters decline all forms of personal hygiene thus rendering themselves completely unemployable. This reduces their fear of  gainful employment and makes these ones more difficult to dislodge.

 Thankfully, soap is to squatters as sunlight to vampires. When our cleaning crews arrive, many more squatters will flee. The remainder will smell marginally better at least.

Those squatters who have endured the prior two repelling measures are clearly being driven by strong and misplaced idealism. Gilbert Gottfreid will be brought in to repeatedly recite John Galt’s radio speech from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in those soothing tones that only Gilbert can produce.

 Some squatters will run screaming from the common sense being recited. A few others may find enlightenment and suddenly seek a productive life. Rand is good that way.

 While the above measures are effective in reducing squatter populations, like crab-lice “occupy” squatters tend to cling and make themselves difficult to remove.

 The remaining squatters will be trapped in as humane a manner as possible with targetted trap sites.

 The hipster trap has proven very effective for the suburban kid crowd and the crazy conspiracy spouting college professor crowd. Trap baits can be changed to suit needs with pot, patchouli and granola until all remaining squatters have been live-trapped.

 With another wash and a spay or a neuter our problem squatters are now readly to be loaded on to our first class transport to ship them to their new home.

 Yes, your squatters will be released to roam free in their natural habitat within North Korea!!

 Kim Jong-il will be more than happy to add all these fine healthy suburban kids to his happy family in the worker’s paradise of North Korea.

 The squatters will finally get to experience that wonderful equitable society that they purport to support and you will regain use of your public space.

WIN! WIN!

Be sure to call soon!

 Our 10th lucky caller gets a free park disinfecting!!

You could die of old age waiting for city action or a court ruling so act now!

No actual squatters were harmed in the making of this blog post. (except maybe some feelings)

Entitled!

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There are so many adjectives that help describe our “occupy” Calgary squatters from bitter to lazy to unwashed. Entitled really does encapsulate their attitude most effectively though (envious is a close second).

What has me going this time is a series of comments that have been submitted by a visitor to my blog over the last week or so. I do indeed moderate the comments on this blog and with good reason. Hardly a day goes by where somebody does not try to place an obscenity laced tirade in the comment section of one of the postings. Other postings can be prone to being libelous and others simply don’t make sense. I have not, do not, and will not allow that crap on my blog.

What is outstanding recently though is that one persistent “occupy” Calgary supporter wrote a very long and detailed piece in my comment section last week. The diatribe had to be at least a couple thousand words and went everywhere from some semi-coherent arguments in favor of the squatters residing in Olympic Plaza to some oddball conspiracy theories about corporations. It was clear though that this person had taken their time to lay out their case to present on my site. Unfortunately this fool prefaced the piece with two paragraphs that were intent on questioning my mental well-being and the size of my genitalia.

To confirm by the way, yes I am a little crazy and I am not exceptionally endowed in the reproductive sense.  These questions were clearly on top of the mind of my commenter.

Either way, I deleted the comment out of hand. I do allow contrary opinion in the comments area but really have little time for the personal insults. Since then though I have had almost daily comments from this person demanding that I post their comment. This person has become increasingly agitated claiming that I have violated their free speech and that I absolutely must post their opinion in my comments. I was told that it is unfair that I only allow my own view and that I should be less biased.

I was content to enjoy the daily ravings while envisioning this squatter supporter sitting in Mom’s basement furiously and indignantly typing as I continued to ignore the daily demands. I swear I could almost hear the tortured keyboard crying for mercy as it was beaten by fat entitled fingers.

The last comment crossed a line however and I have been forced to address the commenter. In the last comment it was mentioned that I and my site have gained a degree of profile from the whole “occupy” thing and I have a “social obligation” to allow counterpoints to my postings on this site.

Well alas, that comment caused me to let out a snorting laugh which in turn led to a mouthful of Balvenie Doublewood evacuating from my nostrils.

Two terrible crimes happened here. One: my poor nostrils were burned terribly. Two: some fine single-malt was outright wasted. Both are unforgivable crimes.

Now lets get some things straight. I owe no “social obligation” to anybody on this site. The only thing I owe on this site are the payments for hosting and domain registration. I own this place lock, stock and barrel and can post (or not post) whatever the hell I want and I will continue to do so.

The squatters and their supporters continually and mistakenly ramble on with their misguided interpretations of our rights. One right the squatters continually overlook is that of private property! Look up on your screen dear squatters and read the domain URL. It is indeed http://www.corymorgan.com The domain is not http://www.FreeForAllOpinions.com or http://www.PointCounterPoint.com It is simply named after myself as this is the sandbox where I have staked my opinionated ground.

I am under no obligation to be unbiased and I am under no obligation to be nice. I don’t recall ever having claimed to be either of those things anyway.

Your speech dear squatter is not being hindered by my refusal to post your comments. You are free to speak and say whatever you like. You just can’t do it here.

Our squatters and their supporters need to quit trying to take our Charter rights as blind absolutes to the point on infringing on the rights and comfort of others. We see that here as my property rights are ignored and we see it in Olympic Plaza as park users are displaced and taxpayers foot the bill for a collection of fools squatting in tents.

If you squatters want a voice here is what  you need to do. Quit sitting and whining in the park. Go out and join the rest of our Liberal Arts graduates in the barista trade. With a few weeks and a few hundred smiley faces drawn in lattes, you should have more than enough money to buy your own domain and write whatever you like upon it. Perhaps http://www.TheWorldOwesMeSomething.com or http://www.DirectFromMomsBasement.com or something of the sort. Rest assured, you will not get an unhindered soapbox at http://www.corymorgan.com

Thousands of people have been coming here and reading my reflections on my visits to the “occupy” Calgary squatter site on numerous occasions. I appreciate and am flattered that so many people find what I write worth reading (even if not all agree with it). Lets be clear though, the readers owe me nothing and I owe them nothing.

The “occupy” crowd still appears to be stumped as to why public support for them has completely evaporated. I think more than a month of hearing “I want” and “I demand” and “you owe me” from a bunch of layabouts has pretty much done it in. Get off your butts and do something guys and perhaps you will earn a grain of that respect that you think you deserve.

Until then I will continue to expose the hypocrisy and idiocy of the “occupy” Calgary movement. I will call it like I see it and I make no apologies.

Budget time!!

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Well, lets see. Courts across the country are indeed proving that there is not, never has been and never will be a Charter protected right to squat illegally in a city park under the guise of freedom of expression. Sadly court time had to be wasted in reaffirming this reality as common sense on the part of city officials should have ended all this squatting long ago.

Vancouver, Toronto and Edmonton are all moving and will be getting rid of their illegal squatters soon. Regina, Saskatoon, Victoria, London and Halifax have all evicted the squatters from their park.

Despite all this, Nenshi’s Calgary is still intent on negotiating with what can now only be called extortionists. These guys are clearly breaking the law and are demanding that the city provide them with a long list of freebies in order for them to consider ending their illegal squatting.

The city’s last offer (way too generous as it was) was spit upon by the squatters who said they would like to light it on fire. That offer from the city would have provided the extortionists with the means to hold several public forums and to establish what could be a permanent information booth for them near the plaza.

I am sure that many charities and lobby groups would love to have free hosted public forums and free permanent information booths downtown. Alas, legitimate groups have been playing by acceptable rules of society. Clearly the way to get things is to break the law. Nenshi and the rest of the cowardly officials will then heap offers upon your cause in hopes that you consider becoming law-abiding again.

Now the squatters have been emboldened further (who can blame them?) by the craven attempts of capitulation from the city and they are drafting new demands. Since it is budget time, I would like to itemize these demands so that Nenshi can add them to the budget deliberations as he clearly is not afraid of throwing city tax money at our illegal squatters (on top of the estimated $40,000 in damage that the squatters have already done to our park).

From the mouths of squatters themselves:

1) That the city find a place agreeable to OC where we can hold General Assemblies in safety and warmth.

2) That the city will cover rent for said place.

I guess it should go without saying that the squatters expect us to pay for everything but they made sure to make a specific demand for that to be sure.

Now they hold their GAs daily and have been known to hold them twice per day. Turnout is extremely variable but lets be generous and assume that they will need daily space for as many as 60 people. The Epcor center is right next to the squatters so would be an ideal new warm spot for their general assemblies. Lets be kind on the costs though and just assume that they will hold one meeting per day in that room.

Daily meetings for 60 in meeting room next to Olympic Plaza: $277,400
Of course with regular scheduling that could even be knocked down to a cool $250,000

4) That the city pay to hold sixteen GAs as stated above with time/date/location/format of our choosing. (Maybe even twenty to get us through our winter of discontent with weekly GAs).

Again they wanted to ensure that the taxpayers would cover everything. Now when I went down to Olympic Plaza, they advertised a General Assembly every day at 1:00pm and 6:00pm if I recall. Perhaps it has now moved to sporadic or maybe there are different categories. Some are general General Assemblies while others are Uber Big General Assemblies. It really does not need to make sense or have consistency. Nothing else from the squatters has so far.

Due to the above ambiguity, I will raise the Epcor room cost back to the initial estimate that I had reduced for what I thought would be regular scheduling of the room.

5) That the city permit one tent at the plaza, or at a mutually agreed location, as an info booth to disseminate information to the public and to operate during normal park hours.

OK so they want permanent prime space downtown. Well, for a 10×10 vending tent on Steven Avenue it is $520 per month plus GST so that comes to about $6552 per year.

6) That the city provide electricity during normal park hours to ensure adequate lighting in and around the information tent referred to in 5) and provide assistance (CFD, Bylaw) in setting up an adequate and compliant heating system for the information tent referred to in 5). Also, that the city provide security for the information tent during off hours.

Hmm. So they want the tent to remain 24/7, with electric, heat and security. That is essentially a small free-standing business in downtown Calgary. Lets give that a cost of around $200,000 and forgo the earlier vending tent estimate.

7) That the city pay for three evenings rental of the largest rooms at every Community Hall in Calgary for the purpose of holding public forums.

This one is cute. I am afraid that at three days each, they would not be able to get through all of the meetings in one year as there are too many halls in Calgary. Lets just assume one every day all year then. My community hall charges $500 for it’s largest room for a night. It is about an average sized hall. There will be a meeting held at a hall in somewhere in Calgary every day of the year.

Demand for hall rentals: $182,500

8) That the city pay for the rental of all equipment necessary to hold such forums. For example: mic’s, amp’s, speakers, tables, chairs etc. Including internet access for live steaming.

Tables and chairs are usually included with most halls. Sound systems and internet are extra though. Lets just be generous and add $100 per night.

Extras: $36,500

9) That the city pay to advertise all public forums. Including TV, radio, newspapers, community newsletters, etc.

Hmm, I am afraid that gets really pricey. Lets just assume that you get good deals on advertising in all of those mediums for 365 meetings per year with a total being about $2,000 per day.

Advertising on all forms of media: $730,000

10) That the city pay for a CPS presence at each public forum for the duration of the meeting.

Afraid I can’t find a pricing guide for genuine armed police officers. I assure you it will be at least $500 per meeting.

Personal police presence: $182,500

Well at the moment that is all they have come up with so far. Rest assured their greedy little entitled minds will come up with more things that they feel hardworking taxpayers owe them.

Nenshi has made it clear that he is OK with squatters being in our park ad infinitum so this had best be added into Calgary’s city budget.

The cost annually to keep up with he latest extortion demands being made by “occupy” Calgary squatters totals:

$1,608,900!!!

Please include this in the budget deliberations Mayor Nenshi.

Of course you could also grow a set, do your job and kick the damn illegal squatters from our park too.

The above pricing does not account for leap years nor further illegal occupations of parks that will be sure to follow upon capitulation to extortion by the city of Calgary.

The dangerous remnants of “occupy” Calgary.

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I guess it could be arguable as to when “occupy” Calgary lost all credibility. For some such as myself, it was the moment that a legitimate march ended on October 15 and turned into an encampment of squatters in Olympic Plaza and St. Patrick’s Island. For some it was within a few days as it was clear that there really was no distinct goal or message to be had in the squatting and that the time was being wasted.

Clearly a large turning point for even some of the most staunch supporters of “occupy” Calgary was when a group of extremists from the Olympic Plaza squatters actually went out of their way to interfere with a legitimate effort to find long-term housing for the truly and chronically homeless who were encamped at St. Patricks Island.

The incident linked above proved very clearly that the organizers and hardcores in the Calgary “occupy” movement could not care less about the truly disadvantaged. For these people to try to purposely interfere with efforts to aid the homeless so that they could keep some homeless folks in their camp for good optics was nothing less than repugnant. Resolutions soon followed in the Olympic Plaza camp to stop feeding homeless and to stop letting them use their tents. The “occupiers” love using the homeless for talking points and for optics but they really don’t care much for associating with them.

Things continued to degenerate with the Calgary “occupy” movement as more and more incidents drove moderate and rational people away from the squatter encampment. Calgarians were disgusted to find that these people had been defecating in our park and had defaced Canadian flags leading up to Remembrance day.

The dwindling support for and increasing extremes within the movement became very evident a couple weeks ago when a much-touted, union backed rally could not even draw 50 people. Rather than listen to the handful of speakers, many occupiers chose instead to attack a man in a chicken suit who was counterprotesting.

Things continued to heat up as there were less and less occupiers and more and more people confronting the squatters and demanding that they leave our park. Scenes such as the two videos below illustrate the clear frustration on the part of citizens and the incoherent nature of the squatters.

Why is it that the only remaining squatters are increasingly nutty while we still see a fair degree of apparent support on social media?

Well, unfortunately there is a crowd of champagne socialists who while sitting comfortably in suburban homes they are vocally supporting and enabling some disadvantaged and troubled people squatting dangerously in a park. These hypocrites would not dare actually go sleep in a tent themselves. They are much more content drinking fine wine and drawing their battle lines on twitter and in facebook groups. These people will pop downtown now and then with some cookies to perk up their pawns and ensure that they stay on display.

This used to be very evident as we saw the somewhat moderate debating with the extreme on their organizational Facebook page (almost no actual squatters participating in in the facebook group). Slowly but surely the moderate thinkers were pushed away and the once open group has not become closed as these people recognize that their increasingly extreme ideas are costing them a loss in what little remaining public support may be out there.

Unfortunately the remnants of the squatters fall pretty much into two groups now. There are a few chronic, career protesters down there. These are the same kooks we see being teargassed and arrested at pretty much any event where more than a few people can be gathered. While insane and often violent, these people are often fairly bright and can take care of themselves so I am not too worried about them.

The next group are a bunch of predominantly young displaced people. I have met a few of them. They appear to have social and communicative challenges often and are truly not far from real homelessness. Some of these kids have substance abuse problems and others have more subtle but distinct challenges. These kids don’t really look at this as a movement and often can’t enunciate even why they are a part of it. They really don’t understand. These are kids who are displaced and have found what appears to be a welcoming social group. Unfortunately these kids are being terribly used by the remnants of the “occupy” movement.

The problem with the kids listed above is that things are becoming very very dangerous in Olympic Plaza. These young people are not well capable of taking care of themselves and have not been prone to making good long term decisions. That is what does make them ideal for padding the dwindling “occupy” movement but it does not make it ideal for these people to safely function in very adverse weather conditions.

Yesterday I went down to the squatter camp in Olympic Plaza for a visit. There I met one of the victims of a fire that happened a few days ago. He is pictured below.

 

Those are not typical white gloves this young fellow is wearing. Those are gauze and they are covering the terrible burns on this kid’s hands. His legs are burned as well and the wounds were already seeping through the bandages. The pain must be terrible and I have heard that the person who rescued this guy from the tent was pretty badly burned as well.

I never caught the kid’s name I am afraid. He politely approached me and began to awkwardly explain how he was confident that the candle in his tent had been put out and that he felt that somebody had broken into his tent, lit a second candle that had caused the fire and had left an incriminating lighter behind. I think the kid really believed that was the circumstance.

What was more disturbing than the terrible burns that this young man had gotten was the clear reality that this kid had some serious challenges. What those are I wont begin to guess but I can confidently say this kid needs assistance to get by and that a winter tent camp is a terrible environment for him to be in. Not only did this kid get horribly burned while desperately trying to stay warm on a winter night, he has come back for more. Treating burns is a long, painful and critical process. This kid (I sure wish I had caught his name) is at terrible risk for infection and these wounds may indeed become much worse. The tent camp is littered with garbage and feces and is far from a sterile environment. Environment aside, those bandages will need regular changing and his wounds need treating. I seriously doubt that will happen while squatting.

This all happened before temperatures plunged to the -20 that we have now. What will happen next? Will there be more fires? The tents are closely packed and insulated with cardboard. Tragedy can very easily happen. Are they all warm enough? Digits can very easily be lost to frostbite. Hypothermia leading to death can easily occur should somebody overindulge in a substance. It is not like passing out at home.

Things are only going to get worse down there as a Canadian winter moves in. Mayor Nenshi and other city officials should clear the camp if only for safety purposes. They fear to do anything due to apparent poor optics. Personally I would rather deal with poor optics as a politician than to have to live with a kid being disfigured or even worse due to my inaction.

The coldest of them all out there though are the hypocrites who sit in warm houses and enable this. These people who are using troubled kids as pawns for their undefinable cause. It truly is sick.

Mayor Nenshi, clean the squatters out. There is no message and this whole affair is clearly not harmless.

Which Charter of Rights covers Calgary?

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Well in this last few days we have seen a great deal of abuse of our Charter whether through using it as an excuse to illegally and dangerously squat in a city park to seeing our Mayor and city officials use the document as a shield to cower behind rather than do their jobs.

If illegally squatting in city parks is a Charter right, how did the cities below manage to evict their squatters?

Occupy protesters’ tents removed by police in London, Ontario.

Halifax police evict occupiers.

Occupy Victoria tent camp dismantled

Occupy Saskatoon protesters evicted from Gabriel Dumont park

Occupy Regina camp torn down by police

All of those cities are bound by the same Charter of Rights and Freedoms as Calgary are they not? Has the Supreme Court intervened on the actions of these cities? Have the cities been sued for Charter abuse?

The reason that those cities could clear out their illegal squatters is that THERE IS NO CHARTER RIGHT TO ILLEGALLY SQUAT IN PARKS!

I (and I am sure many Canadians) am sick and tired of this gross misinterpretation of our Charter being tossed out by cowardly city officials.

Speech is protected by the Charter. Expression is protected by the Charter. If it could be proven by the squatters that they can only express and speak through illegal squatting, then perhaps they would have a case. The onus of proof should be on the squatters and the law should be enforced in the meantime. The bottom line is that speech and expression can be done without squatting illegally in parks.

For Mayor Nensh, Chief Hanson and any other Calgary officials may I suggest that you read the charter and try to find the entrenched right to break laws and squat in parks. Just click on this paragraph.

Section one of the Charter is a section that city officials and squatters alike seem to like skipping over. I will paste it below:

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

I think laws against illegal squatting in parks are pretty reasonable dont you? There is a reason for this clause and a reason that it is at the beginning. The Charter exists for protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. It was recognized during the drafting though that reasonable limits had to be imposed as this is not a document intended to give license for an anarchistic free for all for every nut who wants to break local laws while claiming to be expressing themselves.

This has gone before the courts before. A group tried to protest through camping on Parliament Hill and they claimed free expression protected their illegal squatting. This went to court twice and both times it was ruled that there is no Charter Right to squat in parks.

The only excuse left for the city of Calgary in this mess is simple cowardice. Mayor Nenshi and others are hoping that the weather will do their job for them. Due to that two people got hurt when a tent caught fire as a squatter tried to heat himself with a candle. There is potential for frostbite, more fires and hypothermia if that shantytown of cardboard and tents is allowed to remain as temperatures plummet. The responsibilty of those events can rest solidily on the laps of Calgary officials who are afraid to enact our common sense laws.

There is no Charter right to ignore fire codes either.

Mayor Nenshi, Chief Hanson and Bylaw Bill Bruce, what will your next excuse for inaction be? The Charter one is a fail.

Lost!!! Please help to try and find Nenshi’s knackers as they appear to have fallen off somewhere.

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Well, I guess that Mayor Nenshi and City Hall have decided that yesterday’s action of issuing warning tickets with no fines on them nor names of the people they issued them to was a step too far. Today City Hall cowered in terror yet again in the face of a couple dozen squatters in Olympic Plaza and didn’t even go so far as to issue a single bylaw ticket. The cowardice and inaction of Calgary’s city hall has been almost as embarrassing as the garbage dump that we used to call Olympic Plaza has become.

I have already reported on the damage being done to the park through illegal squatting ($40,000 and counting). I have reported on how the squatters are literally crapping on the ground there (I apologize for the graphic photos but I like to provide proof). I reported on how the occupiers were defacing the Canadian flag in lead up to Remembrance Day.

Now I would like to point out the damage that is being done in the sense that local residents are being disturbed and put out by these belligerent squatters. Many people live right in the area and they are getting tired of looking at a garbage dump in the park. They are tired of being harassed by “occupiers” and they tired of the noise and distraction.

Enough from me on that, the video below depicts a man who was walking home for lunch, tool belt and all (99%er) who felt he finally had to say something. The poor man did find that reasoning with occupy Calgary representatives is an exercise in futility.

 

Many may have heard that a pair of squatters got badly burned last night when one of them had a lit candle in his tent. There is a reason that we do not allow squatting in city parks. The parks are not designed for camping and desperate squatters are going to idiotic means such as open flames as they fight dropping temperatures. It was extremely lucky that the fire did not spread through the entire shantytown potentially killing multiple people. The tents are packed closely together on dry wooden pallets and are insulated with cardboard. If left to remain like this, we are almost certain to see a disaster soon.

If not bylaws, how about fire code enforcement for public safety?

Now below we have a squatter hounding a passerby while claiming that the city of Calgary is criminally responsible for last night’s fire because they did not provide free electricity to the illegal squatters.

I say yes and no.

We taxpayers are not obligated to provide free electricity to loafing squatters and are not responsible for the squatters going without.

The Mayor Nenshi and the city are indeed responsible for this in that this unsafe mess should have been cleared from our park months ago. I do hope that Mayor Nenshi locates his reproductive organs before we see either a larger and more disastrous fire, frostbite cases or even overdose deaths like Vancouver occupiers had.

The next little video below is of a couple squatters who hid behind a tree like little cowards and shouted obscenities and threats at me. Their cowardice is second only to that of Nenshi’s in this. These squatters are sad specimens and no message exists aside from entitlement and filthy unsafe living.

Finally we see what Nenshi and the city are truly cowering behind their desks about. A squatter holds a sign and clearly implies that violence will occur if the squatters do not get their petty demands met. This is the depth of squatter dialog and with the handful of extremists (like the one pictured below) remaining in Olympic Plaza a violent and possibly tragic outcome is pretty much assured.

 

So will the city wait until there are further inguries before enforcing the law? Will they wait for open violence? Will they wait until there is a death?

I tell you what, I fear the consequences of inaction much more than what we may see if the city enforces the law.