Plane towing anti-Harper banner grounded by RCMP

Plane towing anti-Harper banner grounded by RCMP

www.cbc.ca

Cpl. Lucy Shorey with the RCMP told CBC News it appeared the PSAC plane was flying in restricted airspace, and confirmed that the police force commanded the pilot to terminate the flight plan so that he could be questioned by officers.

But in a release, the union denied the plane ever entered restricted airspace, saying "the pilot was fully aware of airspace restrictions in place in Ottawa and Nav Canada, Canada's air traffic control service, confirms that for the entire flight the PSAC-hired airplane remained outside the restricted zone."

(visit the link for the full news article)

So the RCMP unlawfully grounds a plane flying a banner critical of the Harper regime. Why am I not surprised? More of the same from Canada's answer to the Gestapo.

Harper promised transparency and accountability. Instead, he sicks his rabid dogs at the RCMP on anybody with a dissenting opinion. Now, I'm no fan of the the French, I've found them to be rude and demeaning and trying to get English service from a Frenchman is Quebec is like pulling teeth. But we're all Canadians (for now) and the Government and their paramilitaries with the RCMP should not be able to dictate our expression, regardless of whether or not it's critical of that icy-eyed soul-less mandroid Harper.

www.cbc.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

my 2 cents: if canadian airspace is anything like the US, which I know most of it is considering FAA "tries" to keep in line with ICAO and ICAO learns from the FAA (plus I have first hand experience with both), there is much more to this story than the assumptions being jumped to. A law enforcement agency does not control the sky, have any jurisdiction over it, nor can tell a controller what to do.

reply to post by exTAC

Nav Canada, Canada's air traffic control service, confirms that for the entire flight the PSAC-hired airplane remained outside the restricted zone.

This was an experienced pilot who knew all about the restricted air zones. Nav Canada, the government agency in this country which handles these kind of things, said themselves that the plane was outside of any kind of restricted air zone. What other conclusion do you suggest one should come to?

reply to post by Monger


A banner tow is not an experienced pilot, they are a very competent bush pilot... and once again, LE can't tell a controller what to do. Just asked the SS agent, several FBI agents, SOF team, and the one (poor bastard) city cop who tried to tell me what to do with my airspace.

There might be a problem here, but don't blame the mounties

I don't like Harper. An incident like this only asserts that dislike. I don't blame the Mounties; they were most-likely given the order to ground the pilot from higher-ups, in my opinion.

Originally posted by ArchAngel_X
I don't blame the Mounties; they were most-likely given the order to ground the pilot from higher-ups, in my opinion.

Stephen Il Sung has da powazz!

reply to post by ArchAngel_X


I appreciate your attempt on this, but a mountie, FBI agent DEA agent, secret service agent, or any of their higher ups can't tell someone to ground a plane, *only an air traffic controller can force it*. They can request it through the controller, or arrest the pilot once on the ground *in a non-movement area.*

i have heard "hey man, can you possibly steer this diamond/citation/moony toward (such and such) hanger?" 3 times this year by a JTF of mounties, dea, and the coasties...

reply to post by exTAC


You're missing the point. Someone told the RCMP to tell the air traffic controller to order the pilot to land the plane. And they complied. The pilot was not breaking any rules or laws, as confirmed by the air traffic controllers. You're right that the RCMP has to go through air traffic control to get the plane to land.

The point is that someone didn't like the banner and had the power to tell the RCMP what to do. There aren't many candidates. I doubt the RCMP acted unilaterally.

haha I actually saw this plane w/the banner. Enough people probably saw it (I did).Wasn't aware that it got grounded by the RCMP, what a bunch of tools. The cons need to wake up and realize most Canadians want the Harper government out. They are nothing but a bunch of American wanna'bes

reply to post by Monger
Ban this, Steve!

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck


Our country's electoral system is deplorable. When Canadians say they live in a democracy, it's laughable. Folks like Harpo want you to think that you do, but it's a low down dirty lie.

We don't even know for sure when the next election will be. Sham though the American system may be, at least THEY know ahead of time when they'll be able to vote the SOB out of office.

The question here has to be...had the pilot not flown the banner would nothing have happened?

If the answer is yes, then we need a national conversation on what it really means.

No dissent allowed? Is that the message?

I suppose it depends what the banner says and implies as well..

Canadians should be rallying in the streets about this, but we're too apathetic for our own good. Many of us see the blatant abuse of power by the Harper regime in conjunction with his dogs with the RCMP, but do nothing because, hey, in the scheme of things, we really don't have it so bad. Yet. But we're headed down a pretty scary road, and at a certain point theirs no turning back. We may have already passed that point already.

You know, there was a time when the 'mounties' were a police force respected world-wide for their honour and professionalism. Those days are long dead. Nowadays, they're the driving force behind the police state Canada is quickly becoming. Rife with corruption, the higher ups like to blame a few 'bad apples' but it's starting to seem like the whole damned crop is spoiled.

I wonder more and more each day if it wouldn't be a good idea to just dissolve confederation, or at least let each province individually put it to vote.