Conservative Majority

[Shwa]

cite?

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=41ge&document=index〈=e

[Michael Hardner]

You don't have to toss slogans around any more. The Tories have won.

My, my. I just realized that after a few more years those slogans will have to go away. What will we do without them ?

[Black Dog]

My, my. I just realized that after a few more years those slogans will have to go away. What will we do without them ?

Replace them with concrete examples?

I'm just kidding: we know that will never happen.

[ninjandrew]

Harpers already planning to make wiretapping warrantless in the next 100 days.

Where did you hear this?

[regroup]

Where did you hear this?

The Harper Haters don't have to hear of something. They just invent this crap.

[Battletoads]

The Harper Haters don't have to hear of something. They just invent this crap.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/13/harpers-promise-a-warrantless-online-surveillance-state/

It's funny that the cons are usually the ones too stupid to look at what their voting for.

[HistoryBuff44]

I have seen several people make comments about the building of new prisons and complaining about increasing criminal population. My first thought is well, where do we put them if not in prisons? building a prison does not make more criminals, people do that on their own. letting criminals out too early cause they have no room for them doesn't mean they are done being a criminal. so please tell me what do we do with them? just not arrest them cause we have no room for them?

[RNG]

I have seen several people make comments about the building of new prisons and complaining about increasing criminal population. My first thought is well, where do we put them if not in prisons? building a prison does not make more criminals, people do that on their own. letting criminals out too early cause they have no room for them doesn't mean they are done being a criminal. so please tell me what do we do with them? just not arrest them cause we have no room for them?

Many of Canadian prisons are overcrowded, so I have no issue with building prisons. But mandatory sentences have been proved to be counterproductive. And in many situations a prison sentence at all is in fact harmful to society. Yes, our system does tend to bend over backwards to make absolutely sure that the criminal is "proven" guilty. But in spite of that, some innocent persons are still jailed.

Mrs. RNG volunteers at a woman's prison here. Almost all the "clients" she mentors come from abusive homes. And she says that prisons are more and more becoming housing for people with mental problems.

The US tough on crime initiative, zero tolerance policy on drugs and minimum sentencing has placed 1% of the population behind bars. How's that working out for them?

[Black Dog]

I have seen several people make comments about the building of new prisons and complaining about increasing criminal population. My first thought is well, where do we put them if not in prisons? building a prison does not make more criminals, people do that on their own. letting criminals out too early cause they have no room for them doesn't mean they are done being a criminal. so please tell me what do we do with them? just not arrest them cause we have no room for them?

There's a fine distinction between building new prisons because the current system can't handle the curreent population, and building prisons to accommodate all the new criminals you want to create.

[WIP]

Your rights and freedoms.

I hope all the idiots who voted for Harper will enjoy life living in a religious police state.

The religious zealots have to work by stealth in this country; there's not enough of them here to control the political process like they do in most U.S. states, even with high turn-out to vote. They will likely operate like the American religious right did during the 70's -- building the infrastructure for pushing the conservative social agenda.

[WIP]

Come off it. Of the 60% that actually showed up to vote, less than half voted for the CPC. He has a mandate, but a thin one. Nothing like the Mulroney landslide in 1984, more like the squeeker in 1988. And we all know what happened to the PC's in the next election in 1993 don't we? There is no way the CPC will ever forget how that worked out.

There is a vigorous opposition that will have plenty of press coverage and once they get their heads around how government works, I think you will see the CPC maintain their centre-ish Liberal-like position.

Mulroney was too much a liberal to go after the CBC, even though CBC News relentlessly gave a soapbox to the gang-of-four Liberal critics, and constant criticism of the Mulroney Government...which he fueled with his own arrogance, started taking his poll numbers down the day after he got his landslide majority. I don't see such a thing happening with Harper! We already know what he thinks of the CBC, and I expect there will be privatization plans, or plans to parcel off parts of the network announced within a year or so.

[WIP]

Many of Canadian prisons are overcrowded, so I have no issue with building prisons. But mandatory sentences have been proved to be counterproductive. And in many situations a prison sentence at all is in fact harmful to society. Yes, our system does tend to bend over backwards to make absolutely sure that the criminal is "proven" guilty. But in spite of that, some innocent persons are still jailed.

Mrs. RNG volunteers at a woman's prison here. Almost all the "clients" she mentors come from abusive homes. And she says that prisons are more and more becoming housing for people with mental problems.

The US tough on crime initiative, zero tolerance policy on drugs and minimum sentencing has placed 1% of the population behind bars. How's that working out for them?

Pretty bad from what I've read! So, since a minority Harper Government already started us down the road to American-style retributive justice, we can expect a lot more prisons, and a lot more funding cuts to drug treatment programs, and other such programs that deal with the root causes of crime.

[RNG]

Pretty bad from what I've read! So, since a minority Harper Government already started us down the road to American-style retributive justice, we can expect a lot more prisons, and a lot more funding cuts to drug treatment programs, and other such programs that deal with the root causes of crime.

That is the biggest negative I see in this Conservative victory. But I also see many positives, which outweigh this. Which is why I voted Conservative.

[RNG]

In the realm of mandatory sentences et al, doesn't the SCC have a big say?

[Scotty]

Your rights and freedoms.

I hope all the idiots who voted for Harper will enjoy life living in a religious police state.

Take that man's name! Send the mounties to his house immediately!

[Scotty]

Don't forget your health care, Harper will be after that too!

Puuuuurfect! Let all the poor people die! They don't pay taxes anyway!

[Scotty]

Farewell party subsidies, hello more corporate interests. And if you think the ban on "corporate donations" prevents this, you're kidding yourself.

So how do corporate interests influence the government without donations? Other than promising jobs, new factories, etc.

[RNG]

Take that man's name! Send the mounties to his house immediately!

Don't get the mounties involved, just send a squad of the black-shirted gun carrying street patrollers.

[Scotty]

We've had a long time to address our problems, but we haven't yet done so - so the ground is fertile for new ideas.

My earnest hope, and perhaps it's naive, is that now that he has a majority he doesn't have to shrink from the accusation that he's trying to destroy health care. This has been an accusation flung at them for years. Remember Stockwell Day desperately holding up a sign at the debate!? I think fear of that kept them from addressing health care issues, and now, hopefully, they are free to do so. That doesn't mean simply allowing private health care. It means, to me, moving us towards a more rational, multiple tier health system like they have in Europe - that's social-democrat Europe, btw, not fascist right wing evil American loving Europe.

[Scotty]

I agree and Harper has a mental illness when it comes to the liberals, he wants them gone like the Bloc

It's not a 'mental illness'. It's history. You probably don't remember and don't care about the ridicule, the jeers, the contempt and scorn heaped upon the Reform Party when they first showed up in Ottawa, but it was continuous, and led by the Liberals - gleefully, in fact. Every slightest insinuation was blown up into a national scandal. Every slight verbal misstep was pounced upon to defame the entire party. The Liberals ensured that a goodly number of the population were convinced the Reform/Alliance/Conservatives were little more than brown-shirts eager to start up the concentration camps. This continued through the Alliance years and into the Conservative years. After all those years, Harper has every right and reason to despise the Liberals.

[Scotty]

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/13/harpers-promise-a-warrantless-online-surveillance-state/

It's funny that the cons are usually the ones too stupid to look at what their voting for.

Apparently, though, they're smart enough to tell the difference between wiretapping and online information gathering. There is a difference, y'know. All this will require is that an ISP tell them who someone is if they see they've made some sort of radical comment or threat, ie give them your name and address, which is not much different than looking up your phone number, really.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Scotty

[Scotty]

The US tough on crime initiative, zero tolerance policy on drugs and minimum sentencing has placed 1% of the population behind bars. How's that working out for them?

Well... crime is down...

[Scotty]

There's a fine distinction between building new prisons because the current system can't handle the curreent population, and building prisons to accommodate all the new criminals you want to create.

All the allegations I've seen from the opposition concerned the Tories eliminating the 'mandatory supervision' rule, and that it was this, and toughening other parole applications, which required more prisons, not that the government was going to 'create new criminals'.

[Scotty]

In the realm of mandatory sentences et al, doesn't the SCC have a big say?

There is no constitutional right to parole, let alone mandatory parole after 2/3rds of your sentence.

[Battletoads]

Apparently, though, they're smart enough to tell the difference between wiretapping and online information gathering. There is a difference, y'know. All this will require is that an ISP tell them who someone is if they see they've made some sort of radical comment or threat, ie give them your name and address, which is not much different than looking up your phone number, really.

I'd advise you to read the legislation they are trying to cram through. Bill C-50, C-51, and C52.

The first major piece digital legislation in this bill mandates that internet providers must hand over user information to authorities upon request. Such information includes your name, your email address, the web pages you visit, your ip address, and your device identification numbers. No warrant or legal process is needed to procure this information, it is simply requested and the internet provider must under this legislation comply.

The second major component of this legislation mandates that internet providers must rework their networks to allow for the real time surveillance of users. Such surveillance would include the ability to intercept communications between individuals, and communication between individuals and web servers. Again no legal process would be required to implement such surveillance.

The third and final component of this legislation states that authorities can issue a preservation order which would require that internet providers hold onto user information for up to 90 days.

Sounds an awful lot like wiretapping. Actually scrap that, it makes wiretapping look like a benign practice.

Also thanks for showing the typical con level of intelligence on the issues

Oh and just a side note, phone and cable services are increasingly moving onto the same networks the internet uses. So in addition to this they will be able to tap your phone and even see what your watching with no warrant.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Battletoads