06.19.2014 08:22 PM

In Friday’s Sun: no dope

Good people of Scaraborough-Agincourt, we give you Liberal Party candidate Arnold Chan. You should vote for him not so much for what Arnold has done – but for what the Conservative Party hasn’t.

To be precise, the Conservative Party hasn’t behaved itself in the Toronto riding, which was formerly the domain of one Jim Karygiannis. This week, the ruling party circulated noxious flyers all over Scarborough-Agincourt, much in the way that the Axis used to drop propaganda leaflets on advancing Allied troops. As in that case, the Tory propaganda is unlikely to defeat the Grit forces.

Take a look at the leaflet in question, if you don’t believe us. On one side, there is a photograph of Karygiannis, alongside a quote in which he is critical of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. The Conservatives apparently think this is a big deal. Apparently they are unaware that Karygiannis – who stood astride Scarborough-Agincourt, like a Greek colossus of Rhodes, for more than 25 years – has disparaged every Liberal leader for a generation. Karygiannis being critical of Liberal leaders isn’t in any way news.

The flip side of the glossy Conservative Party leaflet is truly news, however, and voters in the June 30 Scarborough-Agincourt by-election should take note. It is, as Trudeau himself said, disgusting. It is a disgrace.

The leaflet displays an unflattering photograph of a goateed Trudeau, alongside a boy who is smoking a joint. Smoke is wafting towards Trudeau, and the leaflet states that “Trudeau wants marijuana in local stores, just like alcohol and cigarettes.”

Well, no, actually, he doesn’t. Trudeau’s marijuana policy – over which the Conservative Party has been obsessing, for more than a year – is one that is supported by plenty of folks, including veteran police officers. If implemented carefully, it is a sensible, reasonable approach.

Says Trudeau: “Our current approach on marijuana is failing in two primary ways. The first one is it is not protecting our kids from the negative impacts of marijuana on the developing brain. Secondly, we are funneling millions upon millions of dollars each year into organized crime and criminal gangs.”

Does that sound, to you, like Justin Trudeau and his party wish to sell “marijuana in local stores, just like alcohol and cigarettes”? No, it doesn’t. In fact, it sounds like Trudeau wants to move aggressively to keep dope away from kids – and that he wants to inflict maximum damage on criminal organizations that profit from trafficking in it.

So, in other words, the Conservative Party leaflet – which was fraudulently designed to look like it came from Jim Karygiannis, not the Conservatives – is a lie. More significantly, it will not work.

Here is something that can be placed on another leaflet: one, about fifty polls have been conducted since Justin Trudeau became Liberal leader. He has been far ahead of Stephen Harper in all but a couple of them. Two, the Conservatives’ bizarre, infantile fixation on marijuana – which just about every living adult Canadian has tried, at least once – hasn’t helped them one bit. There is evidence (see point one) that it may even have hurt them.

There is a year left until the Conservative Party’s mandate runs out. If their idiocy in Scarborough-Agincourt is going to remain their political strategy, it will be their last year in power.

Remember that name, Scarbough-Agincourt: Arnold Chan. By voting for him, you have a unique opportunity to send the Conservative Party a message.

That is, it is Stephen Harper who is acting like he is on drugs. Not Justin Trudeau.

53 Comments

  1. Michael says:

    Furthermore, the marijuana stigma is rooted in racism. Fine and dandy to get potentially brawling, belt the old lady, shitfaced on the finest whiskey from the old country. But don’t go near the black man’s mellow pleasure of choice which just so happens to be just another plant in some other old country. And how exactly can a plant be illegal?

  2. Ridiculosity says:

    Joint’s jumpin’

    To be blunt

    Government’s blowing nothing but smoke

  3. sezme says:

    I don’t smoke dope and never have, but crikey! criminalizing it has been majorly counterproductive to society as a whole. It’s long past time to end prohibition.

    (Notice I didn’t say “never will.”)

  4. sezme says:

    Oh, and the Conservatives should figure out that Canadians have decided they don’t like schoolyard bullies.

  5. Reim says:

    So are the CONS insinuating they want to ban the sale of booze and cigs because they are ‘just as bad as pot’?

    “Trudeau wants marijuana in local stores, just like alcohol and cigarettes.”

  6. mary says:

    So what if marijuana is sold like “alcohol and cigarettes…in local stores” ? What’s the special impact on kids? Kids only have access to alcohol and cigarettes from those stores illegally. And presumably, they would also only have access to marijuana dispensed from those stores, illegally. And come to think of it, they have the same access now – they can buy marijuana illegally.

  7. TrueNorthist says:

    Trudeau handed the CPC a glorious opportunity to consolidate their new and very popular centrist rationale by taking a more libertarian approach to marijuana, but instead decided to pander to the shrinking and moribund “base” of social conservatives. The CPC is slowly back-sliding to the right, growing cheaper, meaner and angrier as they go. It will cost them dearly if they keep on that track.

  8. Jordan says:

    I don’t even like Justin Trudeau and I think the anti-pot attack ads the Conservatives are running against him are stupid.

  9. domenico says:

    Obviously the Conservative “brain trust” behind this campaign have never been to Scarborough, have not yet realized that Trudeau’s position on marijuana is popular, and that Canadians are more and more tired of the Harper cabal behaving like bullies.

    (btw: my captcha code is PM 24. Time to run for office?)

  10. socks clinton says:

    The Cons should do some dirty tricks from the Soviet era such altering photographs which today is made easier using photoshopping.

  11. Ron says:

    I hope the paper they used for this flyer is “soft and gentle”.

  12. Coelocanth_Jones says:

    I’ve long vowed to use any anti-pot lit I receive from the tories as rolling paper. In other news, Harper’s silence on his past support for Ford continues to be deafening.

  13. Brad Young says:

    People see thru that crap, the bit about Justin wanting to sell drugs in convenience stores, conservatives will never get that. Keeps the senile base happy I guess.

  14. Steven says:

    WK: To borrow from your War Room wisdom, when will the LPC hit back twice as hard on this?

    • Steven says:

      Or should they hit back at all, given the issue?

      • Ron says:

        I just got a fundraiser email from the LPC, signed by JT, with an illustration of the flyer calling it the outrage that it is.

        Does that qualify ? Think boomerang.

    • Bill Templeman says:

      Steven, another question following your “hit back” theme is when will one of the opposition parties hit back on Northern Gateway? It would appear as if Stephen Harper has chosen that particular hill to die on.

      • TrueNorthist says:

        I think you may be in for a surprise. Opinion is quite split on Northern Gateway and unless the opposition stops shrieking hysterically and starts making sensible arguments they will not lay a glove on the gov’t. I will grant that such boilerplate is excellent red-meat for the base, but if they want to change minds in their favour they will need to lay off the exaggerated, overwrought and emotional hyperbole — the threats of violence too. I’d love to engage further on this subject but I do not want to hijack the thread. This subject needs much more discussion.

        • debs says:

          this cbc poll from a few days ago….the split is 70-30. BC doesnt want the pipeline, and has vocally said as much from the beginning, but we got shut out of the process for being too against:P
          this is the link and below that is the poll results from the bottom of the article. the kitimat plebescite was 60-40, and that was with the folks who want the jobs.( different article but legitimate vote not online)

          VOTE: Do you support the federal government’s decision to approve the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal?

          Thank you for voting!
          Yes, it’s the right move 20.29% (1,505 votes)

          No, it’s the wrong choice 74.35% (5,516 votes)

          Maybe, if they improve the proposal 4.61% (342 votes)

          I don’t care 0.75% (56 votes)

          Total Votes: 7,419

          • TrueNorthist says:

            It’s true that BC will definitely be a tougher sell, (even I am not convinced) but CBC push-polls are not exactly representative. I actually think a cross-country referendum on pipelines is warranted before things go any further. Attach it to the next federal election and it won’t add much cost at all.

        • Bill Templeman says:

          Dear TrueNorthist: Exactly which “exaggerated, overwrought and emotional hyperbole” are you referring to? All that stuff about unprecedented species extinction, unprecedented global warming, the poisoning of the Athabasca watershed, the necessity of leaving all the oil in the ground and getting off fossil fuels as soon as we can? I agree that opinion across the country may not be as I imagine, but from contacts in BC, the poll that Deb quotes below sounds like a fairly accurate picture of BC public sentiment on this issue.

          • TrueNorthist says:

            That’s it right there. You nailed it. That kind of language might work well with the base, but to everyone else it’s getting kinda old. Words like unprecedented are so over-used and abused it is virtually meaningless now.

            As for the CBC poll, even they will admit it is far from accurate. Besides, if folks here had voted accordingly we would have elected the NDP last election, but we didn’t. The NDP lost quite badly in fact, even though the Liberals are corrupt and well past their due date. It was precisely because they said they would stop not just Northern Gateway, but the Kinder Morgan twinning as well that the NDP went from being 20+ points ahead to 15 behind on election day even though they tried desperately to walk it back.

          • debs says:

            trunorthist, lost in my response but I threw it in was teh kitimat plebiscite as I figured the online poll was not as representative for most of WK responders, ( being cbc and all lol and I know cons hate them, though it had a large sample size) the kitimat vote was 60-40 and that area is conservative and that town has much to gain economically from the pipeline.
            the votes and the polls and the politicians in the know all say its close to 70percent against…..so not really a split. The pipeline isnt popular and Harper may sink himself on this battle.
            BC is hoping for a referendum on this issue since the JRP and Harper cocked it up and tipped everything in their( bigoils) favour.

          • TrueNorthist says:

            Kitimat is decidedly not a conservative town! lol You simply have to go there to see that first hand. For the past 3 elections provincially, Skeena has sent a New Democrat to the ledge and has done so the majority of the time since the 80’s. Federally, Skeena-Bulkley Valley (Nathan Cullen) is solid NDP going way back. Kitimat is actually quite progressive compared to Prince Rupert or Smithers and yes, it is clear that the folks there are not very keen on a heavy oil facility, as you rightly point out. Mind you they allowed a huge CNG terminal in and have many other resource industries located there, so they’re not totally anti-resource. Kitimat also has a very high employment rate and wages there are quite good compared to most neighbouring towns. In fact, Kitimat is very likely where I will be moving at some point in the next few years. Lovely place.

            As for the polls, I am simply repeating what I have seen and heard from various sources in the know, that the BC public is indeed split on the issue and a large group undecided. I don’t know what the federal numbers are but they will likely be similar. Again I am trying to stick to the facts as I know them and appreciate being corrected if I am wrong. Personally I am not convinced that DilBit should be getting piped anywhere for several reasons both economic and environmental. If oil is going to be produced in Canada we should be refining it ourselves, not shipping all the jobs and profit elsewhere. And truth be told I am in agreement with those who oppose Northern Gateway as it is currently proposed.

          • debs says:

            thanks for the details TrueNorthist, I gathered from past and present comments that you too were an undecided. I didnt like the JRP process as it seemed very much a done deal with Harper and Big Oil. They stopped listening to the groups and citizens last year so many were shut out of the process.
            Regardless of a future referendum and if the results are for/against, I guess much of the power will rest with First Nations. I for one would like this project turfed, as even if the pipes on ground arent a problem, the coastal waters pose a great risk for a calamity.
            and yes bottom line, many of us would be alot happier if this resource was not shipped out as dilbit, but instead used to create jobs here, refining it in alberta, its strange why they didnt or dont go that route. More money and jobs would stay in canada.

          • TrueNorthist says:

            Thanks Debs. I am convinced that oil isn’t getting refined here because the few companies that currently control the export of tar-sands bitumen already have facilities elsewhere and are maximizing profits at the expense of Canadians who lose out big on the deal. They would build refineries here if they were forced to do so, but the government must first decide to start looking out for the best interests of Canadians — including First Nations — instead the profit interests of a handful of oil companies.

  15. Swervin' Merv says:

    A very well crafted piece, Warren. The sliminess of Harper’s Cons makes Hudak, in comparison, look like a favourite uncle. Only good thing about Harper’s Cons is that they will be gone within a year. (As surely as England has been bounced from the FIFA World Cup.)

  16. MississaugaPeter says:

    The Wynne win revealed that what many (including myself) expect first generation Canadians will do isn’t what they actually do.

    I doubt the federal Conservatives would be doing such a smear job if they did not feel it would be effective. But then, I thought there was no way the provincial Conservatives would lose seats. Therefore, ignore what I said two sentences ago about the federal Conservatives. They may just be idiots.

    Over and out.

  17. debs says:

    since harper threw the brains of the group( Nigel Wright) under the bus, decision-making has gone downhill:P

  18. Enroi Bascolli says:

    First I heard JT partied with Bieber …

  19. e.a.f. says:

    Isn’t there an old picture of MacKay bing drinking in his younger days with a couple of other guys. MJ has about the same effect on a growing brain as booze. Neither of them are good. Currently it is much easier for kids to get mj than booze out here in B.C. Go to any dealer and he’ll sell you drugs. Booze, usually it means a store and they want i.d.

    Trudeau has a much more mature attitude about mj and the role it plays in Canada and the lives of Canadians. It would be much better to legalize it so the profit would be taken away from organized crime. Much better to legalize it, sell it like booze and TAX IT!

    Prohibition didn’t work. made organized crime very wealthy and powerful, but in the end the Americans gave it up. They needed the tax money.

    el harpita needs to find something meaningful to do. The cons idea of running a campaign is just so American. They must have used the same group Hudak did and we know how that worked for him.

  20. TrueNorthist says:

    A loooong way off topic, but I just had to share this article: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-20/inflation-only-if-you-look-food-water-gas-electricity-and-everything-else

    Just today some babbling head on CBC was claiming inflation is ~2.3 % in Canada. Ya right. And if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon. Got to keep feeding that insatiable and still unidentifiable blob called the economy. I wonder if I change my name to Canadian F. Economy, will I get a raise? (Have a guess at the middle name)

    But again, I am not trying to hijack this thread. Just socializing my sense of dread…

  21. Russ says:

    And leaving the cultivation, distribution and sale of cannabis in the hands of organized crime will keep it away from our kids….. morons

  22. debs says:

    pulling the same crap in vancouver, the cons really need a new leader, or a new brains behind the operation/
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-mp-claims-liberal-party-promoting-marijuana-to-kids-1.2683052

  23. RonO says:

    Has the CBC stepped over the line by offering politically biased reporting that defends Trudeau’s marijuana legalization position?

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-mp-claims-liberal-party-promoting-marijuana-to-kids-1.2683052

    My concern is that the Cons are planting the ‘dope meme’ in the minds of Canadians now, and at general election time it will reemerge to sway votes away from the Liberals. They are hitting Trudeau with half-truths and outright lies and forcing Liberals to explain in a rear guard action. Not good.

    • smelter rat says:

      Considering that most Canadians have smoked dope, i doubt the Con attack will have any effect at all, now or at election time.

      • Shirley Dunn says:

        Do you think that parents who toked now want their children to partake of sucking a mind altering drug into their brains? If doobies are available to 18 year old boys will they share them with their 16 year old legal squeeze? You bet they will and it will become available to 12 year olds too.

        The government is trying to discourage people from sucking cigarette smoke into their vulnerable lungs and now you want then to add marijuana to the mix? How about the cost to the healthcare system once the druggie floodgates are flung wide open for Liberal voting 18-28 y.o. Canadian youth? Answer that please.

        • MgS says:

          Simple: Nobody is talking about making it “easier”, rather treating Marijuana with more or less the same kind of rules that tobacco is subject to.

          In other words, legalize it, control it and tax it.

          The point is pretty simple: criminalizing marijuana possession has not effectively stopped consumption. Continuing to throw people in prison for it is a waste of taxpayer resources from stem to stern.

          We’ve accomplished far more in reducing drunk driving and tobacco consumption with public education campaigns than has ever been accomplished with prohibition.

        • Kaspar Juul says:

          Holy cow that is some of the funniest drug lingo I’ve read in awhile.

          Thanks for the laughs Shirley

          • Shirley Dunn says:

            A “Marijuana Canada” is not MY Canada, and I will fight against the Trudeau marijuana legalization and I mean fight!

            I don’t want mj legalized, controlled and taxed because that’s a recipe for societal failure. I would prefer more policing against illegal drugs and mj. And just because many Canadians have toked that doesn’t mean mj should be made easily available to the general population.

            Besides, if mj was legalized for sale at retail outlets that sell cigarettes, the underground mj industry would compete by lowering the price and jacking up the high. I hope nobody thinks that the illegal grow ops will suddenly vanish if a Trudeau Liberal government legalizes marijuana!

          • Kaspar Juul says:

            Oh my god that is just delusional. Where are you getting this paranoia from? Miami Vice?

  24. Ron says:

    This whole “campaign” has to be straight from the desk of Ray “Garage Loft” Novak.

    The honour system took a hit when Ray was awarded an LVO, probably as a reward for years of professional heckling for Manning, Anders, and then Harper.

    People need to know more about this guy. He is the poster boy for The Generation of Swine. Someone should make him famous.

  25. Philippe says:

    That fact is the Harper Cons are way outside of the mainstream on their Marijuana stupidity. The USA is moving towards legalization (not decriminalization), in part because many States are broke, but also because public opinion is now ripe for it. Same up here, and good on the Libs to own the issue, it’s a vote-getter.

  26. Bill Templeman says:

    TrueNorthist: Which parts of the following do you not believe to be true (quoting from my post above in this thread):

    Unprecedented species extinction,
    unprecedented global warming,
    the poisoning of the Athabasca watershed,
    the necessity of leaving all the oil in the ground and getting off fossil fuels as soon as we can?

    Please let us know…

    • TrueNorthist says:

      I had a feeling you were trolling me and you just confirmed it. Who the hell do you think you are that you can presume to interogate me? Go crawl back under your rock you narrow-minded twit.

      • Bill Templeman says:

        Huh? Narrow-minded? How can you view the clarification of core beliefs as an act of narrow mindedness? Blogs like this, at their best, are places where contributors dialogue. Our host encourages that sort of thing; he is a big booster of democratic process, and all of us are the beneficiaries. Examining beliefs, challenging facts, challenging opinions posing as facts, all that is part of dialogue, no? I just wanted to know where you stood. Perhaps I could have learned something. Now, if we can get past the name calling, I am curious about your beliefs on the above 4 points. If we cannot dialogue, then we are no better than our elected buffoons in Ottawa who prefer to yell at each other as opposed to try to understand each other. As to your challenge “who the hell do you think you are…”, my name is at the top of each post. You can find me on Google. Who are you?

        • TrueNorthist says:

          What a load of bull. You have no intention of discussing anything. You are simply trying to shut me up. Your method was transparent so at least have the courage to admit it. I took your advice and googled your name and lo and behold; not only are you an enforcer of the new orthodoxy ,but you actually teach others how to do it! I would rather stick needles in my eyes than try to engage a fanatic like you. It is bad for the soul to try and reason with religious zealots.

  27. Steven says:

    With the latest smear from Wai Young – CPC MP (BC), the HarPerp Government at its best.

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