Gordon Knight, via email;
Its been six months since our SDA mention. Your site brought a lot of traffic, and I think we’ve got enough material for an update. […] Our latest article is here.
Pull quote? “But a Canadian regulatory entity has no business using Canadian taxpayer dollars to send the people of Taipei to watch Batman remakes.”
Things We’ve Learned Since May 6th:
Companies have contacted us to advise that CSA has been demanding that they make payments to CSA because these companies are quoting from, teaching, posting or otherwise using the rule of law. As CSA has the power to harm these entities if they don’t pay, and as the demand for payment is legally baseless, we consider these to be demands for protection money. RestoreCSA issued a Public Notice to targeted entities on May 27th.
We have learned that CSA has de facto powers of taxation on construction activity in Canada.
The office of Geoff Regan, MP has submitted an Order Paper in Parliament demanding answers from the Standards Council of Canada on the actions of CSA.
CSA has sent three threat letters since the launch of RestoreCSA.com, we’re averaging one threat every ten days.
CSA has threatened us with a new lawsuit over our latest video, entitled “Payments.” This video covers the topic of CSA members paying money in exchange for influence over the law. They are really cross with us over this one.
CSA had the lawyers for the Telus Convention Centre send us a threatening letter in advance of the CSA AGM, advising that if we attended their event they would “append you without warrant.”
CSA has been discovered lobbying Industry Canada for protection from civil litigation. This is ironic, because they’re trying to get a degree of immunity from legal proceedings while simultaneously suing us at PSKnight Co. Detail and fed filing here.
CSA will only answer with a “yes” or “no” to anybody’s Code questions, and they take up to three years to give that one word answer. Detail here.
PSKnight submitted an Open Letter to the CEO of CSA suggesting a meeting during the CSA AGM to discuss collaboration on efforts to reform the CSA organization.
CSA and its affiliate demand “imprisonment” for companies which counterfeit certifications, yet CSA was counterfeiting certifications for eight years. Detail here and here.
Access to Canadian law is now run out of Cleveland, Ohio. We have to call the United States for permission to use or access Canadian law. Detail here.
CSA generates about $22MM per Code cycle, just on sales of access to electrical law. Detail here.
CSA is exempted from most federal accountability and transparency laws. They also exempt themselves from their own accountability and transparency standards. Detail here.
CSA is claiming ownership of the acronym “CSA”. That is, nobody is allowed to use this acronym without CSA approval. Detail here. The trouble is that over there are over 500 legal and legitimate uses for that acronym. List is here. In Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and a few others have rejected CSA’s claims. Detail here.
CSA has been threatening RestoreCSA’s internet service provider and managed to get our website shut down for a couple of days. Detail here. CSA also sent a threat letter to the wrong IT company. Detail here.
CSA is caught washing their website of anything that looks incriminating. Detail here.
And, CSA is now generating over a quarter billion per year in revenue. That’s a lot, for an electrical regulator.
And believe it or not, there’s more: Canadian standards group accused of negligence in certifying modular homes
Start by sending this to every electrician, draftsman, and electrical engineer that you know.
When an electrical testing organization abandons its voltmeters in favor of legal threats, it’s over.
it sounds to me like someone has stumbled apon the place (nest) where all the liberal bag men ended up after their leaders were voted out of office. sz2qhv
CSA regulatory powers go far beyond electrical standards
Just a reminder: In October 2001 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a regulatory agency and its personnel cannot be held legally responsible for its errors, incompetence or even deliberate malfeasance. This was handed down in a judgment called Cooper v. Hobart. Exactly how this decision would apply to a non-profit non-governmental organization, I’m not certain.
This is perhaps the most idiotic organization in existence on the planet today. Makes it clear why I can’t find out anything about electrical codes. I refuse to pay a group of thieves money to find out what they think I should be doing when I do my own wiring.
Had a major argument with an electrician my wife insisted on hiring because, in her opinion, if I did the house wiring the house couldn’t be insured. Outside electrical sockets are required to have GFI circuits which, to me are useless. Same thing holds in bathroom wiring. The only reason to have a GFI circuit is to prevent someone from electrocuting themselves by holding the hot end of a 110 VAC circuit while sitting in a bathtub to which they’ve added a couple of bags of salt (something I view as evolution in action). The imbalance in the currents shuts off the power (assuming a metal tub drain which is grounded). I thought the 3 wire plug ground connection was adequate safety and, in many cases have tied both grounds together — a sure way of flipping a GFI circuit. As it was, I let him put in the GFI outdoor plugs and then just replaced them with regular plugs after he was finished; a real waste of money to comply with useless regulations. A GFI circuit has too many components to be reliable but it does produce lots of work for electricians when it inevitably fails as most people seem to be terrified to do their own electrical repairs.
Generally, I tend to over-engineer everything I wire for high voltages choosing greater wire diameters than are indicated and using metal clad cable outdoors. I also put in more strain relief on cables than is called for as I expect things to last and realize that a wire I put in a wall might be there for the next 50+ years. The last thing I need is someone who wasn’t born when I started playing with electricity to tell me that I’m doing it wrong and, that if I want to find out how I should be doing it, to pay an exorbitant sum of money for a set of codes which are totally arbitrary and have no experimental data supporting them.
It seems crazy to have a separate set of Canadian standards, when we could just adopt American standards, and save a boatload of money.
Think about all the money wasted setting automotive safety and pollution standards in Canada, when they’ve done it already right next door, with ten times the resources. It would also lower the cost for Canadians, when manufacturers don’t have to alter their product for the Canadian market.