CanPol: May(?) 2011 Election. Vote today!

[notyoueither]

To be clear.

I am most angry with the member of the civil service who leaked the first report. That person needs to be found, judged, then drawn and quartered. I am extremely angry with the civil service interfering in an election. Head explodingly angry.

The conservative who leaked the second report can be hung from the Peace Tower, unless also a civil servant, in which case it's stretchy-cutty time for them too.

The media get packed onto a ship and sent away until such time as they grow the brains to be able to know when they are being used and do a better job of blindly falling into it.

All the politicians and party hacks get to row the ship the media are on.

Asher, Wezil, and myself will take over and give all our cash to KH for safe keeping.

[Wezil]

It's almost tragic to see this most secretive government getting skewered by a leaked document.

[Wezil]

Iggy wants to reduce the salt, fat and sugar in my diet.

[Wezil]

No knockouts at the debate although I'd give the "win" to Layton in that he was probably the only one to exceed expectations. He also had the best line "Why build more prisons when they seem so comfortable in the Senate?"

Steve Paikin was very good as usual.

[Asher]

I missed the debate, it seems.

Did Harper get nailed, or is it status quo in the polls tomorrow?

[Wezil]

No knockouts.

what the polls will do.

[Wezil]

National Post readers say Harper won.

Stephen Harper 65.51% (321 votes)

Michael Ignatieff 18.57% (91 votes)

Jack Layton 8.16% (40 votes)

Gilles Duceppe 1.02% (5 votes)

None of them won 6.73% (33 votes)

[Asher]

Well, that settles it.

[Hauldren Collider]

But Asher, Iggy has people grabbing his balls all day! How can you NOT vote for him?

Iggy wants to reduce the salt, fat and sugar in my diet.

I almost hate liberal democrats more for this than public healthcare.

[Asher]

I agree that it is morally reprehensible that poor people in need of medical care do not bankrupt themselves or indebt themselves for the remainder of their pathetic, tiny lives to save their life.

It is outrageous, I say.

[notyoueither]

Is Layton a secret Conservative booster?

'You're not the old Stephen Harper' repeatedly, and he gave Ignatieff a lot of harsh.

I wonder what the NDs think of the prospect of supporting a Liberal government of ~100 seats beside their friends in the BQ. Would they prefer to hold onto their seats with a Conservative majority over risking annihilation in a 2012 election?

[Asher]

Okay, I read some overviews.

Layton clearly won the debate. He sealed it with this quote:

“That’s been a hashtag fail."

Followed up by his description of the temptations of crime life:

"With the bling and everything that comes with it."

[Wezil]

I laughed at both of those.

Duceppe had a good one too about the intentions of the agreement formed between the Cons, NDP and BQ in 2004. Speaking to Harper "You didn't intend for Mr. Layton to become PM and you sure didn't intend for me to be PM..."

Hilarious.

[notyoueither]

Don't worry about law and order, Wezil. You are now a protected creature.

I wonder what this does to the mandatory minimum for six plants.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario/ontario-court-strikes-down-canadas-pot-laws/article1983105/

Ontario court strikes down Canada’s pot laws
ADRIAN MORROW
Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011 12:38AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011 1:01AM EDT


An Ontario court has struck down Canada’s laws against possessing and growing cannabis as part of a ruling that found the country’s medicinal marijuana program is failing to provide access to the drug for those who need it.

Smoking up, however, is not legal just yet: the federal government has three months to launch an appeal or change its regulations to fix the problems identified by the court.

Mr. Justice Donald Taliano of the Ontario Superior Court struck down the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, arguing they aren’t doing enough to ensure patients can obtain the necessary approvals to use the drug. Simultaneously, he ruled two sections of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act – those that prohibit simple possession and cultivating marijuana – are unconstitutional, since they can be used to criminally charge medicinal users who haven’t been able to obtain such approval.

The ruling means the government must either improve its system for licensing medicinal marijuana patients within 90 days, or it will become legal to use or grow the drug for any purpose. The government can, however, buy itself more time by appealing the ruling.

The government office handling the case could not be immediately reached for comment on what it planned to do.

The ruling is not the first time the courts have come to the assistance of those who use cannabis to alleviate their illnesses. A 2000 Ontario Court of Appeal ruling compelled the government to create the medicinal marijuana program or have its prohibitions against cannabis thrown out altogether. Other court rulings have pointed to specific problems with the medicinal marijuana rules.

This, however, is the first time a court has thrown the whole thing out, said Jacob Hunter, policy director with the Vancouver-based Beyond Prohibition Foundation. Even though the current ruling applies only to Ontario, he said it would have ramifications across the country.

“We know historically that decisions in Ontario have had an effect nationally, especially on this issue,” said Mr. Hunter, who is also a licensed medicinal marijuana user.

The court decision hinged on the difficulty medicinal users have in finding a doctor willing to sign the necessary paperwork. The problem, Judge Taliano ruled, is that the government requires patients to obtain the approval of a doctor to take marijuana legally but does not give physicians adequate training or fund sufficient clinical trials of the drug. As a result, much of the medical community refuses to approve its use.

“Rather than promote health – the regulations have the opposite effect. Rather than promote effective drug control – the regulations drive the critically ill to the black market,” he wrote. “Surely, the right to choose belongs to the patient, not to government that has failed to create the environment for better research into the drug’s effectiveness and harmful qualities.”

The case was brought forward by Matthew Mernagh, a 37-year-old man from St. Catharines, Ont., who couldn’t find a doctor to approve his use of marijuana to relieve the symptoms of several illnesses, including fibromyalgia and scoliosis. He was charged with cultivating his own cannabis, charges that were also staid by Judge Taliano.

Several other medicinal users of the drug testified they faced similar problems, and that Health Canada would take months to process their applications.

Judge Taliano agreed with Mr. Mernagh’s argument that criminally charging patients who had to resort to illegally buying cannabis amounted to a violation of their Charter right to liberty.

Proponents of medicinal marijuana have long argued that Health Canada’s system is flawed and that the roughly 10,000 people approved to use the drug represent only a tiny fraction of those who should qualify for the program.

“For the last nine years, patients have been complaining about the ineffectiveness of the medicinal marijuana program,” said Ron Marzel, a Toronto lawyer who has represented medicinal marijuana clients. “This judge finally accepted those concerns.”

[Wezil]

The government is sure to appeal. They won't change direction as this conflicts with their ideology again.

The Conservatives keep passing laws and Ontario keeps striking them down.