BC Supreme Court to Harper – Back Off!

“I cannot agree with the Canada’s submission that an addict must feed his addiction in an unsafe environment when a safe environment that may lead to rehabilitation is the alternative.”

With that finding, BC Supreme Court judge Ian Pitfield ruled it would be unconsitutional for the Harper cryptos to shut down Vancouver’s safe injection site.

“Society cannot condone addiction, but in the face of its presence it cannot fail to manage it, hopefully with ultimate success reflected in the cure of the addicted individual and abstinence,” says the ruling.
It says that certain sections of the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act are inconsistent with section 7 of the Charter and are of no force and effect.

Pitfield’s ruling says denial of access to the site “amounts to a condemnation of the consumption that led to addiction in the first place, while ignoring the resulting illness.

“While there is nothing to be said in favour of the injection of controlled substances that leads to addiction, there is much to be said against denying addicts health care services that will ameliorate the effects of their condition,” he wrote.

Federal health minister Tony Clement, shown above, was unavailable for comment or at least that’s what it sounded like he was trying to say.

 

The Revenge of Couillard – Bye, Bye Max!

Mad Max Bernier has finally wound up in the ditch. Turns out that his jilted girlfriend, Julie Couillard, did him in after all, not so much because of her tenuous former links with biker gangs but because Maxime left classified documents at her place. From the Toronto Star:

“…Bernier’s departure came just a few hours before Couillard was about to go on air at the French-language television station TVA to say that her former lover was careless with classified documents.”

What does this tell us about Bernier? Nothing we didn’t already know. He was (and presumably remains) a dolt, utterly unsuited to the lofty job of foreign affairs minister that Harper bestowed on him. The guy was a walking disaster from Ottawa to Kandahar.

What does this tell us about Harper? Plenty, although not much that we didn’t already know. Our Furious Leader isn’t very good when events force him off his script. It’s no wonder he’s such a “talking points” control freak. He should have dumped Bernier a long time ago when his blatant incompetence became public during his visit to Kandahar. That, however, would have meant conceding awfully poor judgment in the first place and you don’t readily get that sort of admission from Harpo.

Curious isn’t it that it wasn’t Maxie’s string of blunders that forced Harpo’s hand but the threat of a scorned woman’s revenge. Well, Stevie’s going to have to suck on this one for quite a while.

Here’s another thing that Mad Max illustrates about Hapless Harper – his caucus is razor thin on talent and, even then, he chooses really poorly. Look at the cast of flops and duds – Rona Ambrose, Gordy O’Connor, Johnny Baird, Tony Clements, Vic Toews and, of course, Maxime Bernier. If they’re his first picks, imagine Harper’s “B” team.

All things considered, it’s not such a bad thing that Harpo has run flat out of ideas. If he had’em, who would he appoint to implement them?

 

Harper’s Malignant Narcissism

One of the best Canadian e-zines is Metaball.

In the March, 2008 edition, Metaball editor RK Finch presents a brilliant psychological dissection of Stephen Harper entitled “The Singular Face of Megalomania.” This is a “must read” for those of us who can’t quite put our finger on what truly lurks inside our Furious Leader:

http://metaball.ca/2008/ball_Mar-08/0308_01.html

 

Surprise, Dead Men Tell No Tales

The RCMP have announced they’ll pursue no charges in the Cadman Affair. What a surprise!

Chuck, of course, is long gone, lost to cancer in 2005. Before he died he told his wife, daughter and son-in-law about an apparent bribe offered by some Conservative fixers to get him to vote to defeat the Liberal government of Paul Martin.

Unfortunately this man of such great integrity didn’t get into details of who, what, when and where – the information the cops would need to build any case warranting prosecution.

With Cadman dead and the possibility of the others voluntarily incriminating themselves pretty slim, there’s really nothing for the cops to go on but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have tasered a few highly placed Conservatives just to avoid the appearance of favouritism.

So, what does the RCMP announcement tell us about the Cadman affair? Precisely nothing.

 

Save the Polar Bear – From Bush, Harper & Big Oil

Okay, I know better, it’s my fault. I know that if something sounds too good to be true, chances are it is.

Like the announcement yesterday that the US had declared the polar bear a species in imminent danger of extinction. Yippee, it’s “Save the Bears Day!” Not.

What was I thinking? This is the Bush regime, the same pack of bait and switch clowns the world has had to endure for seven and a half years already. Surely if we’ve learned anything it’s that, when these creatures say anything, you can bet they mean something else altogether.

Yes, Washington has declared the polar bear in imminent danger of extinction. But the Bushies have also effectively said “so what?” The Independent sums it all up very nicely:

“Yesterday marked the first time the US Endangered Species Act was used to protect a species threatened by climate change. The US Geological Survey says that two-thirds of the world’s polar bears could be gone by 2050.

The bears will only be protected from the direct effects of hunting, and some other activities, because of limits imposed by the Interior Department. It invoked a seldom used loophole to make it easier for the energy industry to actually expand activities that already threaten the bears and their habitat.

The Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, who spent much of his political life opposing the Endangered Species Act, said it would be “inappropriate” to use the polar bear listing “to regulate global climate change.”

American scientists believe that sea ice loss will likely result in two-thirds of the polar bears disappearing by mid-century.

The plight of the polar bear has also caused vehement disagreement within the Bush administration and last month the conservative Canadian government refused to list the polar bear as endangered. Canada has some 15,500 polar bears and it has given the polar bear its weakest classification, that of “special concern”, saying the animals were in trouble but not at risk of extinction.

President Bush is publicly committed to the rapid expansion of oil and gas exploration along the Alaskan coast, even at the cost of the polar bears’ habitat and opposes any moves to combat global warming through regulation.

But faced with overwhelming scientific evidence that already rapid loss of sea ice is accelerating, Mr Kempthorne said and he no choice but to declare the species threatened. “Sea ice is vital to polar bears’ survival,” he said. “This has been a difficult decision. But in light of the scientific record, and the restraints of the inflexible law that guides me,” he had made “the only decision I can make.”

So, kids, what’s the lesson from all this? It’s that these right-wing governments will follow the law when it’s “the only decision [they] can make” but then they’ll do everything in their power to make sure their decision is virtually meaningless.

The North American Oil Lobby, also known as Bush/Cheney/Harper, know that, so long as they’re at the wheel, Big Oil rules baby!

 

A Pox on All Their Houses

Who is going to lead Canada’s next majority government?

I don’t know and neither do you because that person hasn’t won their party’s leadership yet.

Neither Stephen Harper nor Stephane Dion has struck the essential chord with the Canadian public to lift their parties out of the minority rut. If anything, each is propping up the other’s mediocre performance. The best thing Stephane has going for him is Stephen and the best thing Stephen has going for him is Stephane.

Stephen has shown even the Tory faithful that he’s a cold, secretive, manipulative guy, the sort few are willing to trust. Stephane has shown himself a weak and uninspiring leader with utterly atrocious communications skills.

Now before you jump on me for critiquing Stephane Dion, think about this. When you run for the leadership of a party, you’re representing that you have the skills and the aptitude for the job. You’re representing yourself to be able to reach beyond card-carrying party faithful and connect with the general public. After you win that leadership you have to make good on those promises. All you won was the right to lead but you have to perform and perform well.

Stephane Dion is a good man. He’s certainly intelligent and well-intentioned. He probably has enough skills to get at least a passing grade. It’s on the other part, aptitude, that he fails badly. It’s the aptitude that’s necessary to reach out to the general public – charisma, confidence, clarity. This is where Mr. Dion repeatedly comes up empty.

Stephane Dion’s command of the English language is not good and it’s not one bit better than it was when he was running for the leadership. He ought to have dealt with that, he plainly hasn’t and that’s inexcusable.

So, let’s clean house. It’s time for an election. Conventional wisdom in Liberal ranks holds that Mr. Dion, regardless of his performance, has won the right to lead our party into the next election. If that’s the way things are then, fine, let him lead but let’s get this over with so that the Liberal Party of Canada can actually move ahead.

Look at it this way. The first party, Liberal or Conservative, to move to a powerful, effective leader will form the next majority government of Canada. Wouldn’t it be great if that party was ours?

 

Who’s Not Talking to the Taliban? We’re Not – It Seems

Canada’s clear as mud policy on Afghanistan got just a bit murkier this week. First came the news from Lt.-Col. Gordon Corbould, the new battle group commander, and Sgt. Tim Seeley, a civilian-military co-operation officer for Canada’s Provincial Reconstruction Team, that our military would be reaching out to Taliban members, trying to engage them in talks.

Two days later, speedball DefMin Peter MacKay put the boots to that little bit of insubordination, telling Canadian Press:

“We are not talking to the Taliban. We are not having direct discussions with terrorists. We won’t, will not, that will not change. What we are doing obviously in reconstruction and development and daily contacts that happen is encouraging people to move away from the Taliban’s influence, to renounce violence.”

Pistol Pete told the press that the government – no make that the cabinet – ah hell, make that Boss Harper – will set military policy, not the military and, besides, Harper gets all the quality military advice any Leader could want from Jungle Dick Cheney who’s never more than a scrambled phone call to a secret cellar away! Besides, Pete noted, when it comes to Canada’s rapidly mildewing New Government, if the Taliban want to talk, they’ll first have to go through Furious Leader’s political commissars in the PMO just like everybody else.

After assuring the press that we’re winning in Afghanistan, hands down, DefMin MacKay slipped back into the cardboard shoebox where Furious Leader keeps the rest of his sock puppets. In an adjoining room, the Prime Minister herself, just finishing up a double portion of delicious Taliban short ribs, was heard to utter what most observers suspect was a satisfied belch.

 

Harper Tories "Despicable" – Really?

The lead author of a study of Vancouver’s safe injection site says the attempts by the Harper government to muzzle scientist researchers and misrepresent their findings are “despicable.” From the Globe & Mail:

“An article published in the International Journal of Drug Policy charges that the Conservative government interfered in the work of independent scientific bodies, attempted to muzzle scientists and deliberately misrepresented research findings because it is ideologically opposed to harm-reduction programs.

“From a scientific perspective, it’s despicable,” said Evan Wood, a research scientist at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and lead author of the study. “Governments should not hand-pick grants based on ideology.”

In 2003, the Liberal federal government approved North America’s first safe injection facility, allowing public health officials to provide sterile needles and emergency medical care to intravenous drug users.

The facility, called Insite, was granted an exemption from Canada’s drug laws on the condition that the pilot project be subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation.

Since then, Dr. Wood said, there have been 22 peer-reviewed papers published on the program and they have all shown a positive benefit to users, such as reduced rates of transmission of HIV-AIDS and greater use of rehabilitation services.

An independent scientific review led Health Canada in the spring of 2006 to recommend that funding for the project be extended and that similar programs be tried in other cities.

But federal Health Minister Tony Clement intervened, saying there were too many unanswered questions and placed a moratorium on this type of research. The journal article says that was done at the behest of police organizations and based on political concerns, not sound public health policy.”

 

Memo to Lardo

Memo to Lardo:

We’ve checked and, sure enough, you don’t pay the public and armed services of Canada, we do. Their job description requires them to work for the best interests of the country, not for the furtherance of your political fortunes.

Look here, you abysmal control freak, take the gags off the public service and the armed forces. If they’ve got something to say, let us hear it. When we want to hear from you, we’ll let you know.

Let’s have their opinions, their insights, their considerable experience and invaluable knowledge, not your censored, perverted version of what you would have us believe. You don’t have to agree with them and you certainly have every opportunity and the full means of Parliament at your disposal to explain your position when you disagree and choose another path. If you’ve got a case, make it and, this being a democracy, we’ll decide.

You see, Stevie, when you gag the public and armed services, you impose a form of partisan, political censorship on them and on us. That’s undemocratic and what’s undemocratic in Canada is unpatriotic. You’re being unpatriotic and those who shill for you are just as unpatriotic and even those who merely sit on their hands and support you are not one bit better.

Look here chum, we have plenty of reason to be suspicious of you and yours. If you’ll do something this egregious when you have only a bare minority government, how underhanded will you be if we ever give you a majority?

Every now and then, Steve, you can’t help but reveal just how deeply you hold the country and the Canadian people in contempt. It’s time you showed a little respect, Steve, for Canada, for Parliament and for us lowly Canadians. We’re not cattle and we’re sure as hell not your serfs either.

 

What’s Next for Harper, a Gulag?

There are times when Canadians have to put aside their political affiliations and stand up for the country, its institutions and its very democracy.

In my opinion, it speaks volumes for the patriotism of Tories that they sit mute, continuing to support their Leader (do I need to translate that into the original German?) when he steadily gags our government, establishing himself as some sort of autocratic emir served by a cadre of faceless, unaccountable political commissars in the Prime Minister’s Office, the PMO.

The essence of democracy is the free flow of information and transparency. There is no free flow of information, no full democracy, when the flow of information is constrained and filtered and manipulated for political advantage. This is not democratic, this is not the Canadian way, but it is very much the way of the Conservative Leader, Harper.

First he gagged Canada’s environmental scientists, forcing them to communicate to the public only through the PMO. Information would be submitted to Harper’s political commissars to be censored, shrunken, warped and shaped, not to reflect the truth but to reflect Mr. Harper’s chosen message. That, friends, is thought control and nothing but.

How many conservatives did you hear howling in protest, coming to defend Canadian democracy when Harper raised that dark curtain around the environment ministry? How many conservatives finally rose up to defend Canada when he did the very same thing to the defence ministry? How many chose Canada over Stephen Harper? Damned few.

Now Harper wants to muzzle Parliament’s independent agencies, institutions such as Elections Canada and the Auditor General in the very same way. The Harper regime has issued draft rules that would require even those who are supposed to be independent, at arm’s length from the government, to submit their intended public statements to the PMO for vetting or filtering, blatant censorship.

Even with the Tory rank and file sitting mute in the face of this outrage, the rest of us, which includes the overwhelming majority that did not vote for this thug, need to yell “no, enough”. We need to show conservatives and their Leader that this is Canada, not Stevieland, and that he’s not the choice of most Canadian voters and he can damn well stop acting like he’s the Dick Cheney of the True North.

It’s time to take the gags off the environment and defence ministries and it’s time to stop Harper muzzling Elections Canada, the Auditor General and others.

Here’s something to think about. If Harper will so blatantly abuse Canadian democracy while he’s in a minority, what excesses will he resort to should we ever be blind enough to give the Tories a majority?