hitops

I'm surprised there are as many 'no' as there are in this poll. Seems like a minor issue, just legalize it and collect the tax dollars. Smoking and alcohol each cause far more personal, professional and economic damage. Not to mention huge costs to the healthcare system. Makes no sense they are legal and pot is not. It's widely known that high-functioning people often use pot. This is what make it different than other street drugs, which are really not compatible with a successful lifestyle.

It is much safer to transport oil by pipeline than by rail or any other method.

The criticisms about rewarding loyalty with posts makes no sense. All political parties do this when they can. The Liberals previous lock on message and puppeteering puts Harper's to shame. The CPC actually has private members who are allowed to make noise and have their own voice to some extent, something that would never be tolerated in the Liberals or NDP, and in fact isn't as we have recently seen. That's just how the system works. You guys criticizing Harper, if you were allowed to hand-pick his cabinet yourselves you would still find reason to criticize it. It makes no difference, you will not vote for him no matter what he picks. But more to the point, who cares? Does it really make any difference? The only one that really matters is top diplomat because relationships matter for trade.

That's every political party in existence. Hopefully you are consistent in your beliefs, and vote for nobody at election time since none can meet that standard. Ever watch power and politics? Notice how, no matter what issue it is, no matter what people are involved, no matter what the facts are, no matter the time or the place, that 100% of the time the opposition parties disagree with the incumbent party on 100% of the issues? That's intellectually dishonest, but it's politics. There is NO case in which NDP or Liberal will agree with the CPC or each other, and this has nothing to do with the actual issues. They all spin and lie as best they can get away with. But some do different things in practice that affect us, and that's what matters. This astronaut thing, makes exactly zero practical difference to anyone in Canada, it only makes a symbolic difference to a small cadre of malcontents on parliament hill.

When you spend your entire political life and identify crying wolf, you don't get much credit even when a real problem happens. When I look at decades upon decades of billions worth of handouts and the results, I have good reason to be cynical. Your last sentence makes no sense whatsoever.

Not really. The Liberals were way more corrupt last time. I would never vote for the NDP since I want to continue living in a functional first-world nation with attachments to reality, so it's either Liberal or Conservative for me. As such I just look at the issue objectively. Does it really affect me in any way? No not really. Do I want Wright or Duffy to go to jail on principle if the law calls for it? Yes. Is it irritating that money, partly donated by supporters, was considered for use to cover Duffy? Oh ya. Do errant senators have anything to do with the federal government policies that affect me and my family? No. At the end of the day, I want to know which party will leave my Canada the least worse off than when they found it. And senators claiming the wrong expenses, who have almost nothing to do with running the country, likewise have basically nothing to do with that. I also would not cease to vote for Justin Trudeau even if every Liberal senator were arrested to for running a crack ring, if I thought Justin was the guy for the job. If he got arrested for drunken brawling, but promised to cut off the piggy trough of my money going to native reserves for non-existent results, he would get my vote. If the policies are better, who cares that somebody is drinking $16 orange juice?

Oh great, now when I feel like things aren't going great in my life, I can jack a Brink's truck to improve them. Glad to know. It's the usual garbage. Has NOTHING to do with land or violation of environment etc. It is exactly what it always is with reserves, the perception of a great chance to politically extort some cash from the mining company.

No I don't think the $90,000 or the the conditions are the issue, it's a little foggy but it's not clear that either giving a senator $90,000 or giving him $90,000 to stop talking to the media are illegal. There is no law requiring senators talk to the media which Duffy was breaking by agreeing not to. The issue according to the news report you link is that the conservative party was ok with paying $32,000 from party coffers (partly taxpayer money because of tax credit for donations) to cover Duffy's duff. The others issue that might be illegal is obstructing or lying to investigators. Obstructing or not speaking to the media in not, I believe, a crime. If he was given money to change his vote, vote on behalf of the giver, or abuse rent his authority otherwise, that would be clear bribery. No matter what happened, it was shady.

Quite true, the actual money involved is basically nothing. Billions get wasted on other things, particularly in the 90's. However, the common person is going to care a LOT more about stuff like Duffy because it's relatable on their level, like the Bev Oda $16 orange juice. And also because its personal, it become more emotional for people that an individual is stealing their tax money. A crony that gets tens of millions for his company however, kind of just flies over most people. At least 10x what Duffy fudged, gets stolen and squandered by your average native reserve every year. However we just accept that as a daily reality, whereas this senator business is new an sexy. Nevertheless, if somebody broke the law they should be prosecuted. If that standard was upheld for the previous government, they would have probably lost too many officials to actually function, but still doesn't make it ok for senators to do it now. They should be prosecuted.

Umm no that wasn't shown. The Iranian gov report (PRESS TV) story is completely different from what occurred and was factually reported in our media. I'm not sure how many times this needs to be said. The Iranian government does not produce news, they produce propaganda. You folks referencing this based on this article, are making fools of yourselves. We live in an age where tyrants cannot control the message anymore, to buy into this one is bizarre.

If something illegal happened, hopefully somebody goes to jail. The senate are flawed human beings as well, and looks like we cannot trust this 'esteemed' body any more than any other human being acting on normal incentives.

As a physician I think that argument is completely coherent and supportable by the evidence in every sense. The cost to society and the healthcare system from marijuana is not even on the radar compared to the cost for smoking and alcohol.

No that is not supported anywhere. One the one hand you have guy who ran not just 1 but 5 stop signs with the police already signaling him to stop, and who then threatened the officer with his status, and one the other hand you have a women who got a ticket and paid it without fuss. There is not similarity between those incidents. It's grotesque to threaten a person implying consequences to their employment (you will be in trouble) just because you think you are a bigshot. They should have given him a ticket for each stop sign and taken him into custody for failing to stop for a police officer. He should have thought about how important he was overnight at the station.

Hey sometimes I feel ashamed as well if I didn't study hard enough and get some questions wrong. That's an easy problem to solve - do some research and correctly identify our head and state, and you won't feel so ashamed next time.

That's because it's not a story, it's a statement from the Iranian government. PRESS TV is well known to be about as unreliable as a tabloid. They create fake reports, and this is well known all over the internet. I do give them credit though, they are probably the best at looking and feeling like a legitimate news website, of any website under strict state control.

lol, are you actually defending this? Fact: The story is a complete fabrication, confirmed nowhere and discredited in our major media. Fact: PRESS TV is Iran, they are not independent journalists. They NEVER, and are forbidden from criticizing their government. You want to trust this source? Fact: THIS MONTH, they claimed the Saudi King died, which is also completely fabricated. I realize it's tempting to try to save face, but don't embarrass yourself. You got duped by the department of propaganda. Now you know what PRESS TV is, and you can be aware of that in the future. Or, just continue doubling down with the network that gives people airtime to argue that the holocaust never happened. What does this have to do with the Ford brothers? Perhaps you should also check out the north korean news agency to gain knowledge about your world.

Justin has well demonstrated that he is kind of flaky but why do we insist charities operate outside reality? They hired Justin and got what they paid for. If they didn't want to pay him $20,000, they should not have paid him $20,000. If he wouldn't come for less, they should have hired somebody else, or nobody. It's not Justin's fault that this charity did not make money. He did what he agreed to do, and should not be required to pay back the money. If want to hire an inspirational speaker who will deliver meaning and encouragement to young people who have extremely sensitive substance vs BS detectors, and you hire Justin Trudeau, that's not anyone's fault but your own. Don't blame Justin for your mistake. He earned his money. Obviously however, the public reaction will be pure emotion and he will be required to pay it back or face political consequences.

I guess you didn't know who these guys are. Lol - look at the titles of the other stories on the sidebar. They include such insightful pieces telling us all about how Assad is great and will win the war soon, how Tony Blair is a warmonger because he wants to stop Syrian slaughter and how Iran is going to build a glorious space station! Live and learn, pay closer attention to source next time.

Wake up boys and girls, PRESS TV is the Iranian state broadcaster. They publish anything the regime would like to be true, in the hopes it makes their own repression look less bad. This story is of course, false, and the correct account was reported awhile back. 10 seconds of fact checking could have avoided this being posted. Don't you look foolish right now. That's what happens when you have no real objectivity or desire for accuracy, you are ready to believe anything that confirms your inner monologue. Even the the state broadcaster of a place that stones women to death. PRESS also published the Saudi King's death 2 weeks ago (Iran hates Saudi Arabia). That was wrong too. They are the government propaganda arm. They depend on people like you for their stories to gain traction beyond people who's names begin with 'Ayatollah'.

Adding more government programming will not solve this problem. At some point you have diminishing returns, you can spend infinite money and not make much difference for some people. It makes a lot more sense to spend the money where it packs a much larger punch, such as in Asian or African countries where the parenting might be solid but the resources are lacking. I definitely would support means-tested school based meal programs though.

Duffy's situation is worse than Mulcair's, and warrants more coverage. He deserves punishment to the full extent of the law. But there is no doubt the media loves to cover conservative problems more than liberal, that's just what they do.

Just want to echo the thoughts here - Harper is probably one of the least controlling leaders in recent history. There is no way this kind of dissent would have been tolerated with Chretien. It's not clear if these pamphlets will help or hurt the CPC. Interesting to see the refusal to send them.

I think Quebec is losing importance overall. The population grows mostly by new immigrants and by the children of immigrants (because they have more of them). New immigrants largely favor conservative policies, because they are not as culturally adapted to validaiton of the victim mentality. This is a good thing for Canada, as these folks are usually some of the most productive. I cannot wait until there are enough immigrants in Canada that we can tell Quebec they are free to run their own affairs, but we will no longer be paying for it. They can then discover the actual costs of the way they operate.

Where can I see the latest polls?

I think you're right, it's all about the careful balancing of NDP and Lib voters for the CPC. Personally, I think they should just let Justin goof himself into a corner and lay off the ads. Let people see the CPC as above the fray and let Justin do himself in. Lots of voters will move back from the NDP to the Libs as you say, let Mulcair fight for them.