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Vote Online for Legalization of Marijuana in Canada

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 1:29am
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided to ask the Internet what issue is most pressing to Canadians.

We have a chance to push marijuana legalization to the top of that list (It's currently #2 and #3). You don't have to be Canadian to participate, so please, wherever you're from, help us legalize marijuana in Canada.

Please, click here to vote for marijuana legalization! Let's make marijuana the #1 and #2 questions to Stephen Harper!

And here vote here again!

House of Commons meets YouTube

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 1:18am

David Akin, National Post

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's record-setting performance at the Vancouver Olympics should be an inspiration to MPs and all Canadians as they face the challenges of recovering from the recession.

Mr. Harper made the remark in the House of Commons but was hopeful that it was heard by more than just MPs. Mr. Harper's speech was broadcast live on YouTube, the online video service owned by Google, part of a new initiative his staff said was intended to reach out to Canadians who don't normally pay attention to politics.

Vic Toews blames media for Rahim Jaffer 'smear job'

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 8:42pm
Jane Taber, Globe and Mail
 
Stephen Harper’s senior Manitoba minister has launched a public attack on a journalist from his province over her reporting of the Rahim Jaffer affair, calling it a “smear job.”
 
In an angry letter, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews accuses Winnipeg Free Press reporter Mia Rabson, the only Manitoba reporter covering Parliament Hill, of advancing the “Liberal spin.”
 
Mr. Toews writes that Ms. Rabson “regularly engages” in “conspiracy theory” stories “because they don’t involve a lot of thought or work.”
 

Former Harper aide says Jaffer should apologize

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 8:37pm
Tonda MacCharles, The Star
 
OTTAWA – Most of Rahim Jaffer’s Conservative caucus colleagues dashed, squirmed, or told reporters to ask Ontario’s Crown why their former national caucus chair got a “break” – as the judge called it—from prosecution on drunk driving and cocaine possession charges.
 
But Kory Teneycke, a former spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Jaffer is the one who owes the public an explanation and an apology.
 

Key Senate post up for grabs, but Tories take a pass

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 8:33pm
By Jennifer Ditchburn, CP
 
OTTAWA — The Conservatives have passed up a chance to seize control of a key Senate committee that they regularly attack for stalling or watering down government bills.
 
Now that the Tories hold more seats in the upper chamber than the Liberals, they can reconfigure committees to reflect their new power.
 
But instead of taking the chair of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, which has been examining hot-button crime bills, they left that job to Liberal Senator Joan Fraser.
 

Harper Government Borrowing, Increasing Taxes, to Build Prisons - Crime at 30 year low

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 12:19am
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — The head of Canada's prison system says there will be "major construction initiatives" in the coming years to cope with federal legislation to imprison more offenders longer — an assertion backed by new spending estimates showing a 43 per cent increase in penitentiary capital costs next year.

Don Head, commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, set the stage for prison expansion in a recent e-mail, obtained by Canwest News Service.

Tories bristle when asked to explain Rahim Jaffer's 'slap on the wrist'

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 12:16am
By. Jane Taber, Globe and Mail

Stephen Harper’s tough-on-crime Conservatives were accused of being not-so-tough when it comes to one of their own today during a particularly nasty Question Period today.

Winnipeg Liberal MP Anita Neville raised the issue of the $500 fine given to former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer after he pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving earlier today. Her questions – and accusations – touched off a firestorm in the Commons.

Harper tough on crime? Not at all

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 12:13am
By John Hutton, Winnipeg Sun

Despite having spent most of last year arguing that his “tough on crime” agenda was urgently needed, Stephen Harper killed off most of it when he prorogued Parliament.

This means the legislation will have to be re-introduced and debated all over again over the next few months.

It is also a second chance for Canadians to see that his initiatives aren’t going to accomplish much, but they are going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.

Harper’s agenda involves increasing the amount of time people have to serve in jail or prison (at taxpayer expense) by imposing more minimum sentences, and making it harder for inmates to get parole.

Jail rests on boosting prisoner total

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 8:28pm
 

THE CITY is banking on the federal government sending more people to jail for longer periods of time if its hope of an economy-boosting jail here is to be realized.

A city co-sponsored feasibility study lists three pieces of legislation the federal government wants passed, each one of which would result in more people headed for federal jail cells.

Ignoring opposition, Tories force through rights-agency appointment

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:20pm
Jane Taber, Globe and Mail
 
1. Gerard Latulippe it is. At the 11th hour – well, at 10:20 p.m. last night – the Foreign Affairs Minister announced via press release that Mr. Latulippe, the National Democrat Institute’s former regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, is the new head of the troubled Montreal-based human rights agency, Rights & Democracy.
 
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