Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, October 13, 2011

G8/G20 security company pleads guilty to being unlicensed before summit

OTTAWA—The company that won a $21-million RCMP contract for security screening at the G8/G20 summits pleaded guilty Friday to one count of being unlicensed under Ontario law and was fined $45,000.

Lawyer Howard Rubel entered the plea in an Ottawa courtroom on behalf of a numbered company that operates Contemporary Security Canada in Vancouver, relating to the offer of services while not holding a valid license.

All other charges under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act against the American-based company and 13 board members and executives were dropped.

Those counts had related to the failure to hold a license while tendering a bid for the G8/G20 contract, hiring an unlicensed guard and failing to ensure proper uniforms.

Rubel said the RCMP posted its request for proposals on Mar. 31, 2010, about 12 weeks before the summits were scheduled to start.

The RCMP was contracting out the work of metal detection, spot checks and x-ray screening inside summit security zones.

CSC and a partner company, Aeroguard, had won the $87-million contract to provide private security at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

Rubel said an agreed statement of fact that was read into the court record acknowledged CSC applied for a license to operate in Ontario on April 26 and formally submitted its bid on April 29, noting in writing to the RCMP that it was not yet licensed in Ontario.

The assistant crown attorney on the case, Yvonne Goebel, did not return the Star’s call.

CBC reported earlier this year that CSC did not exist in Canada until just before the Olympics, and that an official in its partner company Aeroguard was a former chief coroner in B.C. who had spent 35 years in the RCMP. The CSC bid was not the lowest submitted.

The RCMP denied any favoritism in the awarding of the G8/G20 contract.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star 

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