Spiderfish

That's exactly my point...without any formal definition of what an "assault weapon" is, the decision on what should be banned is arbitrary and based on emotion, not objective rationale. You said anything other than hunting rifles should be banned. As I mentioned, the Mini14 is a very popular hunting rifle... it's also been used for more nefarious purposes. Do you think all semi-automatic rifles should be banned? Black guns? Maybe certain calibers? Then there's also the question surrounding who makes the decision. The Ruger 10/22 is one of the most popular rimfire rifles ever produced, it has been sold for decades in Canada. Practically every farmer West of the Man/Ont. border owns at least one of these rifles. In July 2016 the RCMP issued an internal memo which basically reclassified magazines for these rifles as prohibited. Without any prior warning or notice, this memo arbitrarily turned legal, law abiding owners of 1.2 million of these magazines into criminals overnight, with the Criminal Code penalty for possession of such a prohibited device up to five years in prison. It's one thing for Government to create laws deciding what we can and can't own, but do we really want the RCMP deciding our laws and arbitrarily determining what we can possess and what we can't? As I mentioned in my previous post, you are comfortable with a handgun and rifle ban because you obviously don’t own any. Agreeing to arbitrarily take away the possessions, rights and privileges from other people to show that something is being done is easy, but incredibly short-sighted and naive.

So....I'll repeat my previous question to you since you apparently conveniently missed it... Would you ban this? It's not black and it's a very popular hunting rifle.

Would you ban this? It's not black and it's a very popular hunting rifle.

Civilians in Canada cannot carry handguns or assault weapons now (whatever an “assault weapon” even is, as Canada has no definition of such thing). Obtaining a civilian carry permit or licence in Canada is not possible. Canadians can own restricted firearms provided they are properly licencesd and thoroughly trained. What protections?? You mean, in addition to the exhaustive protections in place currently? Canada already has a myriad of laws, rules, and restrictions to handle such crimes. Criminals won’t give up their guns regardless of how many rules or bans there are. And I find it interesting, though confusing that you seem to fear innocent people who want to protect themselves but don't seem to be focused on the criminals who aren't registering their handguns or obtaining the proper licence. Again, what is an assault rifle...is it a semi-auto centre fire rifle like thousands of hunters use currently to hunt? Is it black gun? Restrictions and screening of restricted weapons are already severe, and monitoring and control of both the weapons and the owners is strict. Of course you are comfortable with a ban, you obviously don’t own handguns so it wouldn’t affect you. It’s so easy to agree to taking other people’s possessions and rights away, no problem…right? Canadians are among the most regulated and scrutinized firearms owners in the world. In order to obtain a firearm in Canada, restricted or otherwise, a person needs to first apply for a licence which involves taking a Firearms Safety Course which covers basic safety practices, operation and firing techniques, and how to safely handle, store, display and transport guns. Licence applicants have to pass multiple tests to complete the Safety Course. Once that’s out of the way, an applicant is subjected to a thorough background check, which includes personal reference checks and a variety of background checks… in some cases, in-depth investigations. Applicants must also provide information on their mental health, employment and marital status. Based on that information, the Chief Firearms Officer may decide to interview the applicant, their references or, with the applicant's consent, their doctor. Once you get a licence, you are subject to continuous screening for criminal behaviour. People getting a licence for the first time must also undergo a minimum 28-day waiting period. I'm not sure how much more strict our current possession laws would have to be to make you feel comfortable. Maybe the problem isn't target shooters and collectors, maybe instead of taking away the possessions and freedoms of innocent law abiding citizens, or bringing in more even laws than we already have, we could focus more on the people who are breaking the laws. It is quite telling that the federal government doesn’t keep track of people who have been banned from owning guns as closely as it keeps track of ordinary duck hunters and target shooters. Of course, this isn't about Liberals wanting to make the public safer, it's obviously about keeping people fearful and exploiting those fears for votes.

Yes I know, I didn't want to bring up the obvious. He seems so angry already, no point in stoking the fire (groan). I wonder if/when Trudeau is going to bring in a carbon self-audit, that would be required to be self-reported annually. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he realizes that these filthy wood burners are slipping through the carbon tax net and polluting for free.

Wood heat is so nice, and it's a great way to dodge those punitive carbon taxes. Puttin one over on the man...good job.

How about you champ...you have the furnace removed from your home yet?

All on your own..without government mandating a thing or taxing you punitively...excellent. See, you don't need conservatives, liberals, or any other politician forcing you to make good decisions. Research and a strong desire to change brought you there already. I'm not going to extremes, I'm merely refuting your implication that warming our homes, driving to work, or taking winter vacations is killing the planet. In a comparatively sparsely populated country that is 9,984,670 sq. km in size, over 5,500 km from coast to coast, the majority of which is covered in snow 6 months of the year, I think cars and home heating are not that extravagant of ideas. Couldn't agree more. ...taking personal responsibility. couldn't disagree more. ... political garbage.

Sure we can...Are you? Or are you waiting for a "responsible government" to mandate you to? How many cars or toys have you gotten rid of? How can you possibly justify warming your home with this apparently eminent disaster hanging over your head? How responsible are you...do you walk the walk or are you just full of hot air? I bet you could do more, if only a politician told you to.

Trump knows he's over the top rhetorical, the world knows he's over the top rhetorical, there are no secrets in that regard when it comes to Trump. I look at that clip and I see someone who doesn't take his own rhetoric too seriously, and it's is obvious he could not possibly care less what other world leaders think of him. Unlike Obama, this isn't a popularity contest for him, it's about shaking up the status quo which he appears to be doing quite effectively. I do find it interesting that the laughter sounded like nervous laughter, until he let off the pressure.

All good points and I don't disagree. I'm just not ready to throw out my vote to ensure another Trudeau victory. I believe in principled support...but I believe in pragmatism more. Bernier can't get it done...period. It doesn't matter what he stands for, his policies and vision are moot in this election cycle. My interest and hope in this upcoming election is in stemming the bleeding...triage. Scheer is a light weight, no doubt...I'm not a Scheer fan. But if he can gain some momentum with his energy corridor idea, sway some influence by making a strong case to Canadians for responsible Canadian resource development without the need to shut the whole sector down , keep his hands off the guns of innocent target and sport shooters, try to keep the deficit below 15 or 20 billion a year, and keep from driving a gigantic wedge between regions of our country any further...he will be miles ahead of what we have now. And if he can keep from totally embarrassing this country on the world stage, playing dress up and dancing around like a ferry, arrogantly lecturing all of us on his morally superior virtue, and put a coherent sentence together when speaking off script, it will be a bonus.

If someone did a midnight stealth run and threw up a couple hundred feet of chainlink fence across the well-worn trail, it would likely be enough to deter 95% of the people crossing...for about an hour. Would be quite the photo op the next morning, watching the RCMP tear down the "unauthorized" fence to restore the free and unfettered passage of illegal border crossers into our country.

That's the problem though, every Conservative won't give him their vote. He doesn't have anywhere near the support he would need to put forward a realistically viable challenge, let alone defeat Trudeau... believing this could happen is a delusion. He doesn't stand a chance in this election...maybe in anther election cycle or two...maybe, but not this one. Splitting the vote is a big mistake, unless you're a fan of the current PM and his policies.

If you're looking to get the most aperature for the cheapest price for deep sky observing, a Newtonian reflector is the ticket. You can get a decent size 6-10" dobsonian for pretty reasonable price compared to similar sized SCT's, or Maksutov-cassegrains, etc. and they basically do the same thing, minus the mount. Personally I think it's better to start out with a basic mount without goto, as it encourages you to learn the sky better, and finding some of those elusive deep sky objects is half the fun IMHO. There are some limitations to going this route, such as photography, etc. but that's a whole other ballgame ...and the scope is usually the cheapest part of a good astro-photography rig. The other disadvantage of reflectors is their size...if you're looking for anything larger than a 10" objective, dobsonians are big and cumbersome unless you go with a truss tube, which are a bit more work to set up but easier to store and transport. I started out with a 10" dobsonion and a few good quality eyepieces and filters. I added a push-to object locator/ finder (Orion intelliscope) later on, which definitely helped find those dim fuzzy galaxies and nebulae. My rig is easy to use, and everything I need to resolve most of the deep sky objects that I'm interested in observing (although it's hard to resist wanting more aperture once you get into it). Having said all that, there's lots you can observe with a good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope if you're interested in planetary viewing or open clusters.

Trudeau has been roundly criticized for avoiding to use the word genocide when describing the disappearances and deaths of Indigenous women and girls in Canada on Monday, despite being called upon to do so. I wonder how long he can hold out before submitting to the demands of the hysterical mouth-breathers who demand compliance with their description and correct his perception to correspond to "their truth". Meanwhile, Commissioner Marion Buller has been making the morning radio talk show circuit declaring that the word genocide was used in the report with the intention of making people uncomfortable, to compel them into taking action. I suspect that most people won't feel uncomfortable, so much as making them upset or angry that the authors of the report could be so monumentally irresponsible with such words.

Despite the fact that the Liberals chose Trudeau to be the party poster boy during the last election, and despite the fact that he currently pretty much constitutes the total sum of the Liberal party identity at this moment.....he is in actual reality not the total sum of the Liberal party, only the leader. Two years ago Trudeau announced as part of proposed changes to House Rules, that he would be in Question Period for 45 minutes every Wednesday to answer every question posed to him. despite this, he was suspiciously absent for the two Wednesdays proceeding the Stay of charges against Adm. Mark Norman. Some suspect that he was just to chicken to face the music, however there were rumblings that he was actually told to stay away from QP by members of his own party, since he has personally tarnished the Liberal brand so badly, and his presence merely inflicts more damage to the party. Some people jump, some people are pushed, and some have moral integrity and choose to step aside to preserve the greater good. Trudeau won't jump, and he has certainly demonstrated he is positively devoid of any morals or integrity....the only way the Liberal party rids itself of the Trudeau stench is to give him a shove. It's doubtful that will happen this close to October. Trudeau's in it for the long haul.

Not a chance Trudeau will resign. He is so self-delusional that he has convinced himself his moral integrity is unmatched, and literally everyone else is "experiencing it differently". One only has to look at the interview he gave in the NYT last week when asked why he would not apologize to Jody Wilson-Raybould, a key quote completely reveals the level of his total narcissistic arrogance... Then when asked of his anticipation of the upcoming election campaign, Trudeau responds with: No way a guy this completely out of touch with reality would even think of stepping aside, he would rather throw everyone else around him under the bus...and then blame Harper.

I've said this from the beginning. Buying Trans Mountain was simply a way for Trudeau to be able to control and derail the only pipeline project that had any hope of possibly being constructed. In his mind it was a great way to play both sides of the fence by saying on one hand that he was doing something to champion the pipeline, and at the same time ensure an indefinite delay in the project. Plus there was an added bonus that he got to waste another 5 billion hard-earned Canadian taxpayer dollars, something he excels at and is very anxious to do. With Francois Legault declaring that there is no way a pipeline will be passing through Quebec, and Trudeau supporting and backing this declaration up on the weekend, it is clear that Energy East is dead as long as we have a Government intent on driving wedges between provinces and killing Western Canadian energy development. It's no wonder that Western Canadians find the hypocrisy infuriating... one province...Quebec, is more than happy to accept 66 percent of all equalization payments (a boost of 1.4 billion for next year), derived in no small part from oil revenues generated in the west, yet slam the door on infrastructure intended to support said resource development. The arrogant shortsightedness of this Quebec Premier and the overt divisiveness and incompetence of our PM is difficult to comprehend.

A pipe full of explosive without a fuse or detonator is indeed technically a bomb, albeit pretty much useless without any way to detonate it. It would be similar to mailing a deadly biological agent to someone in a vacuum sealed envelope packaged inside a reinforced container. It's becoming pretty apparent that this guy was not trying to kill or hurt anyone, only to affect prevailing political winds, instill fear, and grab headlines. He certainly succeeded.

I have one better... Ralph Goodale on twitter yesterday announced this carbon tax plan as "a major new federal payment going to every household in Sask!!" What...huh?? I thought it was a tax...turns out according to Liberals, it's a major new payment going to all families. Phew, for a minute there I was worried. I am a bit curious though, how does paying citizens more than they collect from them in carbon tax supposed to discourage people from emitting so-called "carbon pollution"? And wasn't this supposed to be revenue neutral?? Right...

Brad Wall summed it up pretty well yesterday... "usually when someone tells you to send in money but you'll get more back in return, it's a Nigerian Prince."

I wonder if the 2.65 billion dollars the Liberal government spends on "foreign aid" to "help other countries deal with climate change" makes a difference in stopping fossil fuels from coming out of the ground in China or India.