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maplesyrup

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Posts posted by maplesyrup

  1. Gays cheer ruling

    Canada's highest court gave its constitutional blessing to same-sex marriage yesterday, a decision hailed as a landmark victory by gays and civil libertarians but panned by religious groups who say the centuries-old institution has been "hijacked." In a 28-page opinion that backs the Liberal government's plan to legalize gay nuptials, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Parliament has the exclusive power to redefine marriage. The non-binding judgment also offered assurance religious officials won't be forced to marry gays against their beliefs.

    "This is victory for all Canadians, a victory for Canadian values, a victory for the Charter of Rights of Freedoms, and for the principles of equality and dignity and respect that it embodies," said Alex Munter, a spokesman for Canadians For Equal Marriage.

    Well somebody's happy! ;)

  2. Say what you like about them but the people of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are very happy with their current New Democratic governments, as they keep on re-electing them with majority governments.

    You mean a MINORITY of the people in those two provinces elect the NDP governments, contrary to NDP policy everywhere else.

    I don't want to hear any more whining when it happens elsewhere, hypocrite.

    ft........no party in power wants to give up its power, however I can assure you that eventually every provincial and federal governemnt in Canada will have some form of PR, in order that the voters are fairly represented in the legislatures and parliament.

    Why don't you believe in a real democracy where everybody's vote is as equal as possible?

  3. Welcome victory for gays, lesbians

    Even without the Supreme Court's opinion, however, there are compelling and urgent reasons for MPs of all political stripes to support the bill.

    It has been 35 years since then prime minister Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality and almost 10 years since the Supreme Court ruled the Charter bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Canadian society has changed dramatically since then, as have our norms and values. Just as women were once denied the vote and it was once acceptable to discriminate against Jews and blacks, so gays and lesbians have not enjoyed full civil rights in this country.

    But we can no longer refuse rights to some citizens that are granted to others without question. It is a matter of dignity and fundamental human rights. Martin phrased it elegantly when he said yesterday: "I do not believe you can have two classes of citizens."

    It is time to make same-sex marriage legal across the country. And while the Supreme Court opinion came as no surprise, it does provide a welcome legal advisory that Martin is on the right track in extending rights in this field to a disenfranchised minority.

    We need much more tolerance in our society.

  4. Article

    MPs also voted Thursday night not to take money out of the federal gun registry, as the Conservatives had wanted.

    Liberal backbencher Roger Gallaway had introduced a motion to have $80-million in funding for the rest of this year's National Firearms Program budget hived off from a general estimates vote. But Mr. Gallaway backed down, leaving the Conservatives to introduce their own motion to oppose the registry.

    The gun registry vote was not expected to threaten the minority Liberal government, because the Bloc Québécois had indicated it would side with the Liberals. But it could have placed pressure on rural Liberal MPs to break with government.

    Mr. Gallaway's proposed motion raised some objections among MPs who were surprised by its timing, which coincided with the 15th anniversary of the attack at the École Polytechnique in Montreal that left 14 women dead. The incident was the impetus for the Chrétien government's gun-control legislation.

    Anything we can do to prevent another incident like what happened 15 years ago at the U of Mtl I support.

    And the parents of the people who were killed support it too, combined with the police, so that is good enough for me.

    A lot of folks here have been listening to too many NRA cartoons. ;)

  5. Well, I think they should be required to have English or French signs.  Those are our two official languages.  Give them too much rope and they will want to declare Richmond to have special status and /or want to separate.  I personally will never shop there again.  My son and his friend were refused service and told "we don't serve your kind here"  racial discrimination.

    I am sure most shops would be happy to take our money but if even some have that attitude it is unacceptable; they would scream loud and hard if the shoe was on the other foot and they were refused service in a English Canadian shop.

    I belive we here at Mapleleafe web like to call this systematic Racisim.

    Please try speaking for yourself.

  6. What kind of fallacy is this?

    That is like saying we will talk about national traffic fatalities but exclude the ones that are caused by male drivers.

    Put in gun control and a gun registry in the US and you will see  the homicide rate drop.

    not at all maplesyrup, it makes perfect sense for extrapolation of the data. If we compare for instance gun crimes in mirrored areas between the U.S and canada and notice no statisticaly notable difference then it can be argued that the Canadian Gun Registry is not affective. Not I said Gun registry, this is not about Gun control this is about the canadian gun registry, please dont purposefully interchange the words, or perhaps the next tiem we talka bout the new democrats i will infer they are communists because socialism is used interchangably by Karl Marx even though it is evident they are two different things. Likewise Gun Control and the Canadian gun registry are two different things. Anyways if it can then be prooven (i don;t ahve any data infront of me) that Gun crimes in suburban Canada and suburban America are very close, then it doesn;t take a conservative to recognize the gun registry isn't working. So if we were going to advise the U.S on lowering gun crimes we should then focus on the one area that we outline dpreviously, Slums. So perhpas the best way for Canada to avoid homicides is to funnel two billion into Housing subsidies for the poor?

    weach leads me to my conclusions:

    1) The money has been spent

    2) it was a wate of money better spent in other areas

    3) there is a better way to control gun violence, then the useless gun registry

    4) The gun registry, yes we have it, but if we could go back in time it should never have been implemented and the money spent elsewhere.

    Which leads me to ask you why defend a useless thing, we have it we are stuck with it we all agrre but you actually support it.

    Which then leads me to my next question, How woudl the gun registry have stopped the nightclub shootings? You claim the NRA uses smoke and mirrors but clearly you are fairly good at it yourself as you have made seven posts since I asked you that question and each tiem you have bi-passed answerign my question.

    Furthermore you also have blatantly lied to the members of thsi forum to justify your position, you claimed the majority of voters support the gun registry

    The vast majority of Canadians want gun control and the gun registry
    correct?

    well may I put it in familiar terms, what kind of fallacy is this?

    In a February poll, Ipos-Reid found 52 per cent thought the gun registry should be scrapped, versus 43 per cent who thought it should be retained. That support was highest in the West and Atlantic regions.

    So now that 43% beeing a vast majority right, would meen that an overwhelmingly high majority of Canadians wanted to go into Iraq correct? and an overwhelming majority of Canadians voted for stephen harper, right? and an overwhelming Majority of Canadians don't want same sex Marrage right? Oh and by the way an overwhelming majority of Canadians belive I am God

    and considerign I am God defined as,

    the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions [syn: God, Supreme Being]

    Being perfect and all that Good stuff as God I decree that the Gun registry is a useless load of crap that does nothing to help the Canadian Population, and to support it is irrational.

    slavik44....oh I see, communist innuendo now.

    FUCK YOU!

  7. Labour's major role to play

    Strong labour-market organisations was a central factor in establishing negotiating procedures between the social partners and a wide network of collective agreements -- which may cover all wage-earners, including non-union members, but still leave considerable flexibility at the branch, company, and even work-place levels.

    The social partners were also fathers of our national pension system, which covers all wage-earners as well as entrepreneurs. They have, moreover, been able to agree on the small continuous adjustments to the system which are needed to ensure its sustainability as our population ages. As a result Finland is about the only European country not threatened with a so-called "pension bomb" in the foreseeable future.

    All of the above are central features of the Nordic welfare model, with the result that our countries have a significantly more equal distribution of income and a smaller proportion of people falling below the poverty line than any other country in the world.

    Vacations are another area that would be best controlled by the governments. Employers and employees can pay into a fund, with your minimum amount of vacation depending strictly upon your age. The older one gets the more vacation time is required.

    Age 20: 4 weeks vacation

    Age 30: 6 weeks vacation

    Age 40: 8 weeks vacation

    Age 50: 10 weeks vacation

    Put this option to the Canadian people on a referendum and I can guarantee you it will pass 80% of the vote.

    Canada needs a major shake up in our social policies, including making pensions portable.

  8. There are other goals in life besides getting rich.

    It is the distribution of the wealth in the US that is wrong.

    This is the one of the problems in the US:

    Bill Gates makes millions billions, whatever, because of low taxes, which have decimated the puiblic school system.

    Bill Gates then turns around and with his tax deductible receipts, and donates (read controls the direction) to the school system.

    Educators, not some rich guy, need to be making decisions about the school system.

    Inproper distribution of wealth has lead to the mess of US inner-city life.

  9. She has the same explosive power as a tactical nuclear weapon

    Is former provincial cabinet minister Christy Clark a ticking time bomb? That's the question some audience members were asking following this morning's Ipsos-Reid Corp. briefing on the upcoming election. The reason: during his presentation, BCTV legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey told the assembled that Ms. Clark is "fundamentally unhappy with the direction government is taking but it's too early to be speaking out against the government." During his presentation, the television reporter also said the New Democrats were better organized on the ground than the Liberals and there was a real possibility the lefties could win the next election - although he added the New Democrats continue to be a divided party.

    Have the Liberals had a leadership review yet? ;)

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