Canada's Right Strikes Back

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Recently the Canadian government and courts have paved the way for dramatic and progressive social changes. I am of course referring to the recent decisions to de-criminalize the possession of small amonuts of marijuana and sanction same-sex marriages. These changes made me proud to be from such a forward thinking, and just plain cool, country. It appears however, that many Canadians don't feel the same way and they are trying to scuttle legislation which would do nothing other than guarantee ALL Canadians the same rights. Here's what they have to say from themselves.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Yo progressives, ratchet up the presence. Don't be overcome by the natural national tendency to reasonable compromise, turn the whole place into the Paradise Garage! Do it quick, I wanna see it by the time I get back.

― dave q, Wednesday, 27 August 2003 09:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Supporting same-sex marriage is the best thing that Chretien has done in 10 years. Hell, it's the ONLY thing he's done in 10 years and the rednecks are trying to mess it up.

You're right about "reasonable compromise" too. I hope that the courts and our notoriously changeable PM stand firm on this one.

In an unrelated aside: I'd like to nominate John Howard as the dumbest head of state currently in office. That's really saying a lot given some of his competition. What's up Australia?

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Umm, its not just rednecks J-rock or this wouldn't be an issue. Jean will be gone by the time same sex marriages gets back from the supreme court. Say what you will about him, he's still less scary then Martin. I've never been a Copps fan but I'd rather see her take the party left then Jr steer it right.
My guess (no comment on if its right or not) is we are going to get "same sex unions" held in equality with marriages by the government and the churches will do what they will.
Im not for de-criminalized pot myself since it never stopped me in the first place and its going to make parenting a hell of a lot harder.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Hell, it's the ONLY thing he's done in 10 years

So lowering out debt and balancing the budget was nothing? Surviving the referendum was nothing?

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

you're forgetting about him making the right decision on iraq, and possibly koyoto aswell.

and what the hell do you mean "Im not for de-criminalized pot myself since it never stopped me in the first place and its going to make parenting a hell of a lot harder."¿
parenting¿

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Decriminalized = what's your fall-back excuse to your kids as to why not to toke up if it's legal?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Yup,
"there's a time and place for everything, and that time is college."
but in all (or at least in some) seriousness I could always point out various family members as an attempt to scare them straight through out high school.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

but. uh - you're not a parent, right noodles¿

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

&
nicka: decriminalized * legal. and shame on you for using the word "toke" - you're kids will laught at you. unless they're in jail for doing it.

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Not that I know of.
A quick phone call later, its still no.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Im probably still more pissed off about the Marshall decision then anything the Liberal government has done in recent years.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

My son laughs at me anyway! Of course, he's only 4, he laughs at squirrels!

Oh wait I laugh at squirrels too.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Squirrels are evil.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Toronto squirrels are, anyway:
http://ftp.mts.net/~bryang/EVIL.jpg

What pissed you off specifically about the Marshall decision, Noodles? I haven't been following. Has there been widespread abuse?

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

squirrels will inherit the earth.

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Extended family has members trying to make a living off of fishing out east. Luckily none were involved in the Burnt Church fiasco.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

That was ugly.
This article is crap. Anecdotal crap filled with references to "polls". I hate shit like this and Maclean's is always bad for it. The government is going to pass the legislation because it's the right thing to do, just like when they voted to end the death penalty. Poll after poll suggests Canadians are in favour of bringing the death penalty back. It'll never happen, even if the Alliance or some new right wing party gets power at some point.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I support the death penalty for ppl who harsh my buzz

― dave q, Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Poll after poll suggests Canadians are in favour of bringing the death penalty back. seriously¿ i'm surprised.

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's one, dyson.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

although i do think it's wrong - i'm still in the one-of-seven percent that would watch one on tv

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Me too. Especially an electrocution, hanging or beheading. Maybe someone here can answer this for me: when they execute someone by lethal injection, why do they swab the injection point with alcohol? THEY'RE GONNA BE DEAD IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES!!! INFECTION IS NOT A CONCERN!!!

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

well, ask Jeb Bush, they don't always die right away.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Say what you will about him, he's still less scary then Martin

I've never even been to Canada!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

How about 'gibbetting'? Even better if the condemned is forced to deliver 'Large Marge''s monologue from 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure' while doing it

― dave q, Wednesday, 27 August 2003 16:55 (twenty-two years ago)

When my eyes roll across this title on the "New Answers" page I hear the Imperial Theme from Star Wars in my head. That's a good thing, btw.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

que photoshopped image of stephen harper in darth vader garb.

― dyson (dyson), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Noodles is pregnant?

― Kim (Kim), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Noodles, I can't believe that you are seriously giving Chretien credit for lowering the debt and balancing the budget! Martin did those things and as a reward, was turfed out of the cabinet. As for surviving the referendum, that's all he did - survive, and barely. If Trudeau hadn't spoken up at the very end there would probably be a Quebec embassy in Ottawa by now. Jean seemed quite happy enough to stand by silently and watch the country disintegrate.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 28 August 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Kyoto was a no-brainer and he delayed his "decision" on Iraq until the last possible moment refusing to take a firm stand for as long as he could. Even after he refused to send Canadian troops, he still made some vague and contradictory statements.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 28 August 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

In an unrelated aside: I'd like to nominate John Howard as the dumbest head of state currently in office. That's really saying a lot given some of his competition. What's up Australia?

Oh don;t start me. The man is a lying bag of dicks and it is becoming a joke. And I don't usually concern myself with politics... but this is just embarrasing.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 August 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Im probably still more pissed off about the Marshall decision then anything the Liberal government has done in recent years.

Marbury v. Madison? Cause, you know, you've had two centuries to get used to it.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 28 August 2003 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Mr. Noodles, I can't believe that you are seriously giving Chretien credit for lowering the debt and balancing the budget! Martin did those things and as a reward, was turfed out of the cabinet.

What? Martin just woke up one day and went out and decided to balance the books? He was a good finance minister but make no mistake it was the PM that got the other ministries in line and took the heat from the cut services and the failure to scrap the GST.

Kyoto was a no-brainer

A no-brainer? No-brainers don't get the west riled up and the central mpps cracking on corporate pressure and siding against it. No-brainers don't split the provincial governments against eachother. If he had loudly stomped and stormed on about Iraq he would have made the US even harder to deal with as a trading partner. Heck we are just now winning all the NAFTA and WTO cases on softwood I'd hate to see what other industries the hawks to the south could find to make our life miserable. They picked up on steel already. In terms of the referendum if he had weighed in early the separatists would have used that to his effect. Instead the government funded youth movements and small grassroots shows of protest while able to keep their efforts below the surface. Jean jumped in at the right time as did PET.

and as a reward, was turfed out of the cabinet

That wasn't his reward. His reward was for breaking cabinet orders to stop his fundraising and campaigning. He continued even after being warned publicly so the fact he got kicked out of cabinet was purely a pissing contest Martin got himself in on his own accord.

Marbury v. Madison? Cause, you know, you've had two centuries to get used to it.

No, your thinking the wrong country, remember you don’t own us yet and hopefully never will provided we can keep the Reform Party out of power. The Marshall decision was in 1999, with a clarification the next year. http://www.rism.org/isg/dlp/bc/introduction/ is the best introduction I can find on short notice if slightly skewed.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 28 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm with noodles: kyoto was far from a no-brainer. it was an extreemly tough decision and the easy thing to do would've been to not sign.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 28 August 2003 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

On top of the signing there was the ratification which recently caused headaches at home.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 28 August 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

and when i think about the fence sitting (re: invading iraq), it seemed almost ingenious afterwards. it saved months of b.s.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

And yet we actually contributed to the Iraq conflict as much as we would have if we'd actually declared ourselves part of the coalition. We had hospital ships in the Gulf as part of the war against terrorism.

― Bryan (Bryan), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

We had hospital ships? I thought we had our wonderful frigates out there but thats maybe cause I like them boats. I'm also happy with the difference between looking for what accounts to smugglers and bombing the living shit out of a country for at least the second time in ten years. Not ideal timing your right Bryan.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The frigates may have been there to protect the hospital ships. For most of the Iraq war we had just about all available troops in Afghanistan, so there wasn't going to be much that we could do, and our F-18s are in such rough shape right now it would've been silly to send them. Not joining the coalition on moral grounds was easy because contributing militarily wasn't really feasible and would've possibly caused us more embarrassment.

― Bryan (Bryan), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

We could have sent SEAKINGS!
Its a bird! Its a planem , no wait its a helicopter shaped bomb!

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Should've just sent in Jean by himself. He would've slapped them around!

― Bryan (Bryan), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Or hit them with an Inuit carving. But enough jokes about our military prowess.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 28 August 2003 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

choked 'em. e'd ave defianately choked 'em.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 28 August 2003 15:25 (twenty-two years ago)

its going to make parenting a hell of a lot harder.

But why should pot be criminalized any more than alcohol? I think it's much less harmful. Even if it was legalized all the way, it's not like it would be legal for kids.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 28 August 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Ask Ozzy of all people why.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 29 August 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Osbourne, you mean? I scarcely think pot was the biggest problem there.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 29 August 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

(I'm trying to stop myself but that's neither here nor there.)

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 29 August 2003 01:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Look, I'm not anti-Chretien or anti-Liberal and I definitely think that he is the least offensive leader of any of the major parties, but from a lot of the comments I've read here, it seems like we've been watching a different man run the country over the past decade.

The Martin thing can be interpreted in any number of ways but the simple fact is that he fired his most capable lieutenant because he was jealous and afraid of him. The timing of his retirement was also designed to put the screws to Martin.

I just worry about Jean because the same-sex marriage issue appears as though it is going to get quite intense in the near future and I wonder if he has what it takes to continue to do the right thing.

Also, where are all the our new helicopters?

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 29 August 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

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