Dan Gardner is an intimidating guy.  I met him about a decade ago, when he was leaving the employ of the Ontario PC government and heading off to work at the Ottawa Citizen.  He was a big, slightly-intimidating guy.  I figured he was a conservative, and that we wouldn’t agree on much.

In the interim, I have come to be very impressed by his passion for certain issues, and the ferocity with which he writes about them.  As such, he’s probably the most informed journalist in Canada on the drug trade, and what should be done about it.

Dan argues that the so-called “war on drugs” is irrevocably lost, and that governments have been doing a very bad job dealing with illegal drug use.  In particular, he is resolutely favours programs like Insite in Vancouver.  He also favours expanding them.  So, today, do others.

Arguing with Dan, I think, is a bit like arguing with me: people don’t like to do it.  We tend to take no prisoners.

But, with respect – lawyers always say that when they are about to disagree with you – I disagree with him, still, about safe injection sites.  Not for the reasons that conservatives always give, of course, with their inane fetish for “law and order” (except as it applies to them, cf. Robocon).  For another reason – for the reason a bleeding-heart liberal like me would give: drug addiction is bad, and it ultimately kills people.  So we need to help addicts from being addicts, because we don’t want them to die.  I believe we have a moral obligation to do that.  That’s not hurting them; that’s helping our fellow citizens.

Dan will have a passionate and much more thoughtful take on that, of course.  But I wanted to venture my own opinion – offered up to someone I respect a great deal, but with whom I still disagree.

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One said they’d vote against the budget before they read it; the other says they’ll vote against it if all the demands in their ransom note aren’t met.

We don’t want an election. But we’ll be ready when and if there is one.

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The latest in the Trayvon Martin tragedy, here.  Hope it’s correct.

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She doesn’t seem to understand why declaring the founder of Free Dominion her “good friend,” and linking to her, is a really bad idea.  In fact, “Fern” has lately taken to expressing her pride in being associated with racist dregs.

Here’s a sampling of just a few words posted over the past two years on Free Dominion by just one regular, Edward Kennedy (who, by the by, is a longtime OLA and Tim Hudak supporter).  Wonder how a self-professed feminist and progressive can be okay with raw sewage like this?  Me, too.

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No wonder he looked medicated in that NDP ad!

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Both despise the Charter, for different reasons. Harper loathes equality; Mulcair hates the idea that provinces are equal, and the Charter’s genesis.

Liberals need to be all over this. If there is one document Canadians cherish, it’s this one. Heed the instincts of the old guy, always.

“Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien is expressing surprise that next week’s 30th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution seems to have largely escaped the official attention of an otherwise history-conscious Conservative government.

Chretien, who was Pierre Trudeau’s justice minister at the time and a pivotal player in the political drama that led to Queen Elizabeth’s historic Parliament Hill signing of the documents on April 17, 1982, told Postmedia News on Tuesday that — as in 2007, when the 25th anniversary of the charter was widely celebrated outside the federal government — he has not been approached to participate in any official anniversary-related activities.

“I don’t know why they don’t,” Chretien said during an exclusive interview in his Ottawa law office ahead of next Tuesday’s anniversary. “You know, it’s a very important moment in Canadian history — whether you agree or disagree,” added the 78-year-old Chretien, who is scheduled later this week to unveil a new historical display in his hometown of Shawinigan, Que., showcasing hundreds of gifts he received from foreign countries during his decade as prime minister from 1993 to 2003.”

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This ain’t a blog, it’s a web site. But if I had to define it, I’d say it was indeed “progressive.” Just not a Prog Blog.

Anyway, the progressive web site folks have added me to their helpful aggregator, found here. I’ve therefore added them to my blog roll, a few inches to the left, and appropriately so.

Check them out! I plan to.

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In at least two Conservative-won ridings with reported election irregularities, Front Porch Strategies had US staff on the ground – possibly against Elections Canada rules barring foreign campaigning. In the wake of the “robocall” voter suppression scandal, the Republican-tied U.S. firm hired by 14 Conservative campaigns admitted on Friday to having had U.S. staff working “in the trenches” during the 2011 elections, in an apparent violation of the Canada Election Act which bars foreign political involvement.

Americans PJ Wenzel and Matthew Parker — director and CEO of Front Porch Strategies, respectively – participated directly in at least two Canadian Conservative campaigns, according to social media updates and a photograph from the successful election campaigns of associate defence minister Julian Fantino and MP Rick Dykstra, immigration minister Jason Kenney’s parliamentary secretary.

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I am dictating this post, I am not typing it. This is a first.

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And she still thinks hanging out where neo-Nazis and white supremacists hang out is okay.

It isn’t. Time for Fern to learn a lesson, I’d say.

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