Highest voter turnout since 1999 as well which makes this feel even worse, with having so many more voters and not a god damn difference was made.
Highest voter turnout since 1999 as well which makes this feel even worse, with having so many more voters and not a god damn difference was made.
Well shit, my Plan B just flew out the window.
We just legalized weed!
Why is every headline on every news story about this accompanied by a stock photo of some bearded white dude smoking a GIANT novelty-sized blunt? When the legislation comes into effect, are we going to give clemency to people convicted of cannabis related offences? You know, the ones who look less like that (short answer: no; because Canada is racist as fuck).
Uh, maybe you have me confused with someone else? I have nurses in my family...
Incarceration rates for drug offenders bespeak a HORRIBLY racist system that needs redress.
As for pot imagery, just about every major newspaper has photos on file from "pot march" demonstrators and the one image they inevitably recycle whenever the legalization debate comes up is the one I alluded to; current articles from the Star and the Globe and the Post are all using it.
Fair enough but do you seriously think there is correlation between using a photo of some white dude stoner and perceived racist attitudes in the justice system?
Yes. I do. The debate is (as usual) framed around primarily being of concern to white people, and how new legislation will be 'mainstreaming stoner culture', such as it is. What we're actually facing is a possible increase in charges for cannabis-related offences, which you can bet will predominantly target Black and Indigenous people. But we're too busy talking about the white protesters, not the people who this legislation really is going to affect.
For possessing anything over the legally limited amount of cannabis (which is 30g for non-medical use), or for growing/selling/transporting/ingesting it 'improperly', however Provincial jurisdiction dictates, we're investing the Police with a whole bunch of new powers to search homes and seize property without a warrant. Wonder which neighbourhoods they'll decide 'urgently' need to be searched by surprise? Oh, and if you're wondering, a prior criminal conviction record will still fuck your life up forever. Also, the new federal sentencing rules for people convicted under these incoming cannabis laws are harsher than they were before.
Last edited by botley; 07-08-2018 at 01:50 PM.
Interpretation from province to province will be up in the air until October when the Act comes into force (you can read the final version of the Federal bill here). Warrantless searches happen when the authorities determine there are certain 'urgent' situations in play, and I'm hearing from lawyers that the Act will add more potential interpretations to this list that the Police can use in order to erode limits on their search and seizure powers.
As for who is keeping tabs on these numbers of arrests and so forth, well, there are a number of studies, but not a lot of robust demographic data compiled in a way that makes it easy to see who is targeted. However, like I said, it's probably not going to be in neighbourhoods like Rosedale and Outremont where they'll be flexing their muscle for warrantless searches. Organizations like the CCLA exist to advocate for civil liberties in the face of these changes, and their work led to me discovering more about this legislation's potential impact. So, basically I'd recommend giving them a look.
Last edited by botley; 07-14-2018 at 02:17 PM.
From what I've read at various media outlets, Greyhound asked the federal government for money, but the government said no. So the cancellation of service in all but 2 provinces is actually Trudeau's fault.
I read the report this morning from the Canadian Press. That's terrible news for Northern communities, particularly those in remote locations and in poverty. Greyhound Canada are citing "a 41 per cent decline in ridership since 2010 [caused by] persistent competition from subsidized national and inter-regional passenger transportation services, the growth of new low-cost airlines, regulatory constraints and the continued growth of car ownership" as reason for their pullout, along with increasing costs... and I'm pretty sure that's a trend which started long before Trudeau took office. But yeah, it would be real nice if the federal government (and provincial ones) ended subsidies for car ownership and airlines (GAS AND AIRFARE IS TOO FUCKING CHEAP). Oh, and uphold their promise to stop subsidizing fossil fuels entirely. Not holding my breath, though...
Last edited by botley; 07-10-2018 at 09:09 AM.
Hard to imagine Greyhound no longer offering services for so many provinces now. I used them a couple times, once with my folks on a house hunting trip to go from Petawawa, ON to Calgary, AB back in 2002 and then again to get from Calgary to Vancouver, B.C. in 2008 when i went to visit my great grandmother for her 100th birthday.
I remember hearing about that gruesome murder of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus going from Edmonton, AB to Winnipeg, MB where he was stabbed, beheaded and cannibalized by Vince Li. Even though it was an isolated incident and not something that would be a common occurrence on a bus-line, I bet ridership trended downward A LOT after that.
I'm really finding it hard to keep my head above the fray with all the bullshit flying around. There was a mass shooting down the street, right by one of the restaurants where I ate with my family the night before, and there are dead kids and everybody's lost their fucking minds in the insane amount of racist xenophobic fascist rhetorical responses to it. I don't know what to write, except that the grief and anger and disappointment of this year has just... been... exhausting.
I would encourage all Canadians to support this petition: https://digitalrightsnow.ca
He's got some weird new tactics for shutting down criticism, including accusing the opposition of making bomb threats in response to questions about basic income and instructing staffers to clap over questions during news conferences so that nobody can hear what questions are actually being asked.
What a farce.
A sort-of-silver-lining that came along with the announcement of the snitch line, high schoolers will still be taught the 2015 sex-ed curriculum.
Sadly, elementary schools are being told not to, and Doug Ford wants you to report any teachers who are going above and beyond in helping their children so that they can be punished, but at least the high schools have been spared for now.
https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-b...sion-1/bill-31
"Notwithstanding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms"
Douglas Robert Ford is a tyrant who should be fired into the Sun.
Anyone here see a silver lining to Maxime Bernier's new People's Party?
He's trying to be a populist, and if he's good at it, he'll probably attract the far-right. If he can take the far-right crazy's away from the PC's, that'll be good for everyone.
The PC's have only done well because they're the only right-wing party in Canada. Typically, the Liberals do well partly because of strategic voting to stop the PC's.
If the PC's and the People's Party split the right-wing vote, then left-wing strategic voting becomes unnecessary.
If it's unnecessary, we'll likely see more minority governments, and more compromise between multiple parties. Which could be good for everyone. Might start to move our conversations back towards discussions and debate of ideas and away from one side shouting insults at the opposing side.
I could be being far too optimistic though. His party may be dead in the water, or it just might not go that way.
OK, I give up. I am quickly becoming convinced that the general population is just too fucking stupid for democracy to work.
I was standing in line at the store, listening to an old man rant to his friend in front of me.
He believes Trudeau needs to be removed. He noticed he hasn't won any small prizes on scratch tickets for a while, and he says that's because the government has been taking them away. He says that they only have the 50k and 75k prizes now, but he doesn't play for the big prizes, he only plays for the small wins. And the government is taking the small wins away from the little guys like him, and giving to the big guys who are trying to win the big prizes.
And that's how the liberals are ruining this country. By stopping this guy from winning small prizes on a scratch ticket.
Fucking hell I'm done. I'm so done with listening to people talk about politics. Forget free speech, let's just muzzle all the stupid people.
The device that th RCMP are testing is... flawed. Other police services across the country aren't buying in to it (but some are). The biggest problem is that it detects THC (and lasting up to 6hours, it does nothing for impairment (and ingestion does not equal impairment).
Ontario's ruling "Progressive Conservatives" (terms clearly no longer applicable in any sense) have decided they want to ban "the teaching and promotion of gender identity theory" from schools. Our public curriculum may be in tatters, but we are NOT going to go backwards. You cannot erase or censor non-binary and trans people anymore. We will not stand for it.
^My kids do not have an ounce of racism, stereotypes, or prejudice thoughts. But once we start teaching "Ok classroom, today we will discuss being gay and why it's not nice to tease gays and why you need to be accepting of their odd behavior" --- OMG thats so true, up until today I never even thought of it that way.
Now my kid is having racist, stereotype, or prejudice thoughts.
But in a strange way I also want to protect my kids from the idea of being gay... I don't want him, at the age of 4 or 6 or 8 to be influenced to think that kissing other boys is totally cool. If he naturally turns out to be gay then thats totally fine.... but I dont want him to be exposed to it. Does that make sense?
No, that does not make sense.
Your kid may not have a prejudiced thought, but other kids will hear prejudices they've picked up at home and expose your kids to it. It's the responsibility of educators to teach what's proper and counteract the effects that ignorance has on a community.
And boys kissing boys is totally cool. Consent is cool. Forcing relationships to be heterosexual is not.
Who you are or are not attracted to is something deeply inherent and personal, you don't just get convinced by outside factors to be one way or another.
Thinking your child is just going to be exposed to homosexuality and be convinced of it as if they've been brainwashed or programmed is the wrong way to think about it.
Knowledge is power, I say the more we know and understand the more we can evolve and be a better society.
Last edited by snaapz; 11-19-2018 at 03:13 PM.