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[Canadian Politics] Shouldn't we talk about the weather?
SwashbucklerXX
Swashbucklin' CanuckRegistered User regular
Swashbucklin' CanuckRegistered User regular
Canadian Politics!
As of December, 2016!
Status: Liberal Majority, Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister
Opposition party status:
Conservatives: Interim Leader, Rona Ambrose. Leadership race in progress. Candidates range from Progressive Conservative to Holy Crap You Really Want to Be Hitler!
NDP: So they don't want Thomas Mulcair to be their leader anymore, but nobody else seems to want to be leader either... and actually I have no idea what's going on with the NDP right now. Mulcair for now it is!
Everybody Else: Uh, the Bloc has an interim leader, and Liz May is still in Parliament for the Greens. So basically...
Current Government Projects: Marijuana legalization in 2017, backing down from electoral reform (boo), thinking about maybe having a national drug plan someday, creating pipeline policy that neither side likes (does that mean it's good?), figuring out WTF to do about US relations and Trump (I presume).
Provincial Status:
Premiers are angry about the environment and health care. I'm sure they're mad about transfer payments too. Alberta's governed by the NDP right now... will it last? BC's got an electon coming up in 2017. Ontario is not very fond of the Wynne Liberals, but the Conservatives keep electing the least likeable leaders possible. Quebec is busy watching the Denis Coderre Show. The prairies will get back to us when they thaw out in the spring. I tried to find out what's up in Atlantic Canada but all I got was stories about moose rescues and road washouts.
Territorial Status: Cold, with natural resources.
First Nations Status: Slightly less fucked-up than under Harper? Maybe?
TL;DR:
As of December, 2016!
Status: Liberal Majority, Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister
Opposition party status:
Conservatives: Interim Leader, Rona Ambrose. Leadership race in progress. Candidates range from Progressive Conservative to Holy Crap You Really Want to Be Hitler!
NDP: So they don't want Thomas Mulcair to be their leader anymore, but nobody else seems to want to be leader either... and actually I have no idea what's going on with the NDP right now. Mulcair for now it is!
Everybody Else: Uh, the Bloc has an interim leader, and Liz May is still in Parliament for the Greens. So basically...
Current Government Projects: Marijuana legalization in 2017, backing down from electoral reform (boo), thinking about maybe having a national drug plan someday, creating pipeline policy that neither side likes (does that mean it's good?), figuring out WTF to do about US relations and Trump (I presume).
Provincial Status:
Premiers are angry about the environment and health care. I'm sure they're mad about transfer payments too. Alberta's governed by the NDP right now... will it last? BC's got an electon coming up in 2017. Ontario is not very fond of the Wynne Liberals, but the Conservatives keep electing the least likeable leaders possible. Quebec is busy watching the Denis Coderre Show. The prairies will get back to us when they thaw out in the spring. I tried to find out what's up in Atlantic Canada but all I got was stories about moose rescues and road washouts.
Territorial Status: Cold, with natural resources.
First Nations Status: Slightly less fucked-up than under Harper? Maybe?
TL;DR:
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Anti-north bias!
The Giant Mine continues to be a sore spot with something like 375,000 tons of arsenic needing permanent storage. The government rejected a proposal to drop territorial status and become a province. Climate Change is very real - it fucking rained in November in Yellowknife.
Right now it's -25 or something, so not bad, but I'm expecting worse.
Also, politics in the north is boooooring.
The plan to make a bike/hike path through the Pacific Rim National Park (you know, the place seen above where the PM is surfing) from the Feds doesn't actually link up with either of the neighbouring communities paths, putting small villages on to pay millions of dollars to finish it ... which they can't afford. So good news bicyclists and hikers, you'll only have to risk tourist and local vehicle traffic through the rainforest for several kilometers!
Meanwhile, the highway leading to that big ass park (and our communities) recently developed a sinkhole and washed out, then was repaired to one dirt lane. At least the ladies they had out there by the lake flagging 24/7 were replaced by some lights and temporary barricades. Not to worry though, not much traffic should be coming through the snowy pass, because it may only be a few inches deep but BC wet as fuck snow turns our roads into Slip N Slides, so for goodness sake, don't think All Seasons will do the trick (yet many in BC do) because Winter tires are better in the rain too, ya jokers.
And the local Coast Guard station remains shuttered, that's going to bite us in the ass, definitely makes a lot of people nervous about more tanker traffic and fishery poaching in the area, as well as treacherous waters well known in the past for sinking ships. Wonder how the Libs plan to get remote communities (mostly first nations) to be prepared to help on when another ship sinks will work out given how their other plans seem to be missing some key elements in the implementation and execution.
On such matters and more, seems our NDP MP Gord Johns is on the ball making it known in Ottawa the Liberal's need to step up their game. Haven't really heard any complaints about the guy so far. Let me know if you do though, lil wary after the last guy we had for an MP from the Cons, that supposed "Dr" was ... not helpful even while he and the Cons made sure get credit for things like a bunch of road work with all their accompanying road signs.
Fixed!
I have to say, living in BC for the first time this year has been an education for me. The infrastructure needs are so vast and so underfunded here, it really feels like one of the last North American frontiers once you get north of Whistler. And in the heavily populated areas, the drug crisis and homelessness crisis is so out of control, it's insane. Not that Ontario doesn't have many similar problems, but Toronto The Good is very skilled at sweeping them under the rug and hiding them away. Around here it seems very out in the open.
That's ... Well, actually not that far off. :P
I legitimately love how dull and moderate our politics are out this way.
That's some rough stuff. I sincerely hope more attention gets paid and things get better where you're at.
Bon cop bad cop 2 trailer is out(!!!!!!!!!):
Oh my!
I loved the first one!
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
They're also repealing the 26 application criteria needed under the previous Act in order to open a safe injection site, replacing them with:
* Demonstration of the need for such a site to exist.
* Demonstration of appropriate consultation of the community.
* Presentation of evidence on whether the site will impact crime in the community.
* Ensuring regulatory systems are in place.
* Site proponents will need to prove appropriate resources are in place.
The change from Justice to Health, though, is a needed reframing of the issue in terms of priorities and how they plan to address the problem.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Bolded made me smile openly at work.
So this is some super good news.
If JT follows the advice given to him by the task force I will be pretty happy!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marijuana-legalization-pot-task-force-1.3893876
A quick read of the highlights is encouraging so far.
Apart from that weird plant size restriction it seems all pretty reasonable.
Not seeing how that creates more of a fire risk.
Also I'm disappointed to see "a personal possession limit of 30 grams." Is there a limit on how much alcohol you can own? If you chose to grow within their advised limits you could easily find yourself with more than 30 grams at a time.
I'm still happy for legalization though. At the end of the day I'll take what I can get.
That's public possession. Mostly seems like a way of distinguishing people selling outside the approved channels.
I'm no lawyer, but I don't see how they can enforce a personal possession limit. They can limit how much you buy at one time, sure, but they can't stop you from buying more at another time, so that's pointless. They can't search your stuff willy-nilly to see if you have more than 30 grams. And I'd be surprised if they start giving our search warrants for suspicions of having 31 grams.
So I'm guessing the 30 grams thing is actually another law to slap on people caught drug trafficking. Someone trafficking weed is normally going to have more than 30 grams of it at one time, and they'll be found out while being arrested in a drug bust. Then it could also be a minor infraction used as a bargaining chip with small-time dealers to get them to turn on bigger fishes.
I think that maybe having a public possession limit might be something to consider, but ya, if I can stack my house with 5 kegs and many liters of hard liquor in preparation for a Christmas party, where's the sense that a private citizen couldn't do the same with weed?
some photos online of about what 30grams of weed looks like.. thats more weed than I have ever had on me at one time.
That's a little over an ounce. It's not unreasonable to have more but it's still quite a bit of product.
I picked up 1/4 pound once for a volume discount and split with some friends + camping. It was a cartoonishly large amount of green to have around and was terrified bringing that back to my house.
Had a few friends who dealt back in the day, seeing a pound of weed was like mind boggling to me, then again I never really smoked that much when I did..
christ that was 20 years ago...
http://www.finance.alberta.ca/publications/tax_rebates/tobacco/tta2.html
I vape and it's usually .2 - .3 grams. An ounce lasts a really long time ....
This is a really good point, and I hadn't see this number. Thanks!
Relevant passage that I found:
"Offences under the Procedures Regulation
In certain circumstances, as an alternative to the above penalties that could be imposed by the court, officers may issue violation tickets under the Procedures Regulation:
$500 for a consumer not paying tax on purchases of tobacco.
for unauthorized possession or purchase of black stock:
$250, for 400 cigarettes or grams of tobacco or less, or
$500, for between 400 and 1000 cigarettes or grams of tobacco.
$250 for unauthorized possession of between 200 and 1200 cigarettes or grams of tobacco not marked for tax-paid sale in Alberta.
$500 for unauthorized sale of black stock by an exempt sale retailer.
$1000 for possession of between 1000 and 3000 cigarettes or grams of tobacco."
Edit: Bolded for clarity.
That... uh... that would technically count as trafficking, no?
Also in the section talking about 100cm height limits, it doesn't say anything about "fire safety" being the reason. Maybe just to control the amount produced?
Yes. Or if you want to get technical it's possession with intent to distribute.
Was kinda of a last minute thing and I was terrified. Was a very fun camping trip after though!
As a restriction for "in public" only, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
2016 not done yet.
The federal Divorce Act - note federal, not provincial - referred to things like husband and wife, man and woman, etc..
Basically, remember that divorce is a relatively new phenomenon compared to marriage, so divorce laws were written up separately from marriage laws. So when we amended the Marriage Act, nobody remembered to go check the Divorce Act, and as it turns out, stuff that was defined in the Marriage Act was also defined separately in the Divorce Act and they stopped matching up properly, which meant that some couples could get married but not divorced, since they fell under the scope of one act but not the other.
What Ontario is doing is revising child custody laws, which are provincial jurisdiction, to allow for non-traditional families with the All Families Are Equal Act. So laws won't refer to mother and father any more. And, IIRC, children's documents will allow listing of up to 4 parents, etc..
Given that most people I've seen vaping in public around here treat it the same as smoking (they go to the designated areas) I don't think it's a big issue? Also, putting another voice on the confusion of why they'd need to specify same-sex divorce in the same-sex marriage laws.
Wikipedia actually covers it pretty well.
Same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in 2005. Edit: And the Divorce Act had already been fixed by that point, since it's federal but had to be fixed for that Ontario couple. (Thanks Hippofant for helping me clear that point up.)
Divorce is federal.
Marriage is provincial/federal. (Who and how is provincial, why and what is federal.)
:rotate:
Probably a Quebec thing. :question:
You are correct!
Helpful journal article on the history of divorce and marriage in Canada with relation to the Divorce Act: pdf link here
Brief summary: in the run-up to the BNA Act, objections were raised by Quebec during the Quebec Resolutions regarding giving the federal government jurisdiction over marriage:
A compromise was reached whereby marriage would be left to the provincial governments, and divorce would be left to the federal government. Effectively, they knew divorce existed in certain jurisdictions and that it was a "necessarily evil" and that by placing it in the hands of the federal government, "...its consequences would be less serious, because they would be more cramped in their development, and consequently less demoralizing and less fatal in their influence." Technically, legislative power would be held by the federal government over both marriage & divorce while the solemnization of marriage, as you mention, is in the hands of the provinces, but in practice the federal government was almost exclusively active in the divorce side of things as was intended.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
The entire summer student workforce for Parks Canada automatically set to the lowest possible wage for July-August, and a full 25% of them still have pay issues 3-4 months later. This would be comical if it weren't rage-inducing.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12