Wow. Jack Layton is dead. I don't think that I ever voted for the man myself (Vancouver Quadra is about as strategic as it comes...every vote has to count to keep the Conservatives out of this riding). But I always enjoyed his crazy optimism and passionate pursuit of what he believed in. I always thought that if he could have just shifted things a few degrees he would have been an unstoppable force. It's kind of nice that he was able to experience a pretty dramatic election "victory" before passing on. The strangest thing...I swear to god we saw Joy Macpheil standing outside the Darby's Cold Beer and Wine Store last night...like some sort of harbinger of doom.
The Conservatives start the week by taking on one of the real challenges facing this country: Lack of royal identity within the military. Yes, Peter Mackay has caught the royal fever and added the "Royal" back in to our military titles. Now, I don't want you to think that I'm one of these people that says things like "how can you worry about X when there's starving children in Africa!" I believe that human beings are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, so taking on more than one problem should be alright. But this is just such a tremendous waste of time. I really don't get it. It offends me that this is a story.
Speaking of offensive...Harper makes gains in best Prime Minster rankings? Good lord. I thought...I thought...Oh man.
It's only taken a few months of killings and Obama to jump on board, but Stephen Harper thinks that the Syrian President should resign.
It's been a good couple of weeks for professional associations in Canada. Last week, lawyers told Stephen Harper his tough-on-crime agenda was stupid. This week, a group of doctors are encouraging a Conservative MP to respect her Hippocratic Oath and help change Conservative policy on asbestos. I think that's pretty awesome.
I heard about this story a few months ago. A North Vancouver man was arrested in Mexico and held without charge for 3 years (or so). They were rallying to try to get somebody from the Federal Government to help them out. They weren't having much luck. It seems like the Harper Government policy is that if you're accused of a crime in another country, you're on your own. Well, good news. The man was released. So if a Mexican judge can look at the evidence and decide that he's not guilty, you'd think that there would be enough doubt that the Canadian Government would deem him worthy of some sort of assistance?
Some BC Politics...I'm not a huge fan of politicizing the courts and criminal complaints. I happen to agree with Jim Chu that it might take some time to adequately sort out all of the charges related to the Stanley Cup Riot and that we will be better served by this in the end. I happen to think that the UK convicting and throwing people in jail within days of the riot is a bit scary and something I'd expect in Syria, not England. And I happen to think that Christy Clark should shut up and let the justice system do it's job without making political statements that will make it tougher for everybody to do their jobs. Because this (dramatic spikes in prison population, excessively harsh sentencing) doesn't sound like the way to do things.
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