March 24, 2014
SHARE
CANADALAND
#25 How Canada’s Spies Game the Media
CSEC is shadier than the NSA. Nobody really knows what they are doing, including the Ministers who empower them and the judges who grant them warrants.

Synopsis:

CSEC spy on Canadians and lie to the press and to the Courts.  Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze talks about the frustrations of covering a secret institution.

Guest:

Colin Freeze (link)

Links:

Colin Freeze’s super awkward visit with CSEC (link)

Canada’s top CSEC expert is blogger Bill Robinson (link)

People mentioned: 

Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, John Forster, Ray Boisvert, Elizabeth Renzetti, Mike Frost, Margaret Trudeau, Jane Shorten, Andrew Mitrovica, Richard Mosley, Robert Decary

Topics discussed:

Is CSEC spying on Canadians? Just what do we know about them? What do they tell the media? Who is keeping an eye on them? Why don’t Canadians care about government surveillance as much as Americans? Why do we not have one journalist reporting on this full time? Does boring or jargon-y coverage of CSEC contribute to public apathy? So can CSEC basically just do anything?

More from this series
“I'm just watching the great powers in between me and down there and over there and it's almost like a bad nightmare.” - Larry Audlaluk
April 21, 2025
“ Here is what I would've done if I was Mark Carney, right? Just let it be out there. If you really have nothing to hide, don't hide.” - Professor Partha Mohanram
April 14, 2025
“...the tentacles of party discipline and party control have completely grabbed a hold of everybody and they have a really hard time breaking free. We just no longer have politicians who can speak their minds, politicians who can stand up on behalf of their constituents.” -Alex Marland, author of Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada
April 7, 2025
“   …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.” - Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe
March 31, 2025
“ Look inside yourself, Rosemary. I mean, you start from a prior of conflict and Ill will.” - Prime Minister Mark Carney
March 24, 2025
“We cannot treat libraries as organs of propaganda, and whether it's for progressive values or for conservative values, we should not be treating libraries as simply the PR department for the kind of ideology that we believe in, and trying to ban everything else.” - Ira Wells, author of “On Book Banning”
March 17, 2025
We take a dumpster dive to look at all the legislation that got thrown out when Trudeau prorogued Parliament. Jesse tests the theory that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
March 10, 2025
The CBC: Defund or UnF*ck? The choice is yours as we open up the phone lines to hear what you have to say about the possible futures of the CBC.
March 3, 2025
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND