Being in Ottawa this week as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his minions tried to recreate the Cold War on many fronts, I thought to honour the strategy of our fearful leader by making a little pilgrimage down to Ground Zero of the real Cold War, the one between Team NATO and Team Warsaw Pact.

How many of you, dear readers, remember that the first skirmish of the Cold War was fought on a dreary block of Ottawa's Somerset Street on Sept. 5, 1945, just three days after the official end of the Dubya Dubya Two?

RCMP records obtained under freedom of information legislation reveal a disturbing relationship between the national police force and corporations.

According to a CBC news report, the Joint Intelligence Group, an RCMP-led intelligence team that has extensively spied on community organizations and activists, "made a series of presentations to private-sector corporations, including one to 'energy sector stakeholders' in November 2011. Other corporations that received intelligence from police included Canada's major banks, telecom firms, airlines, downtown property companies and other businesses seen to be vulnerable to the effects of summit protests."

The Council of Canadians and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada demands answers.

Something about Wiebo Ludwig that doesn't quite come through in a TV interview or even a feature-length documentary is the crackling charisma of the man, the intensity of those startling pale blue eyes.

Seeing him on videotape holding court in his living room tells part of the story, but leaves a viewer not quite certain what sparked the rapt adoration his children and followers direct at a man journalists call an "environmental activist" for lack of anything that makes more sense in their limited frame of reference.