It’s Cocktail Time!!!
He deserves a Molotov, but he’s going to get a Martini instead. Sometimes you gotta tip your cap, and give the devil his due, even if you hate what he’s done. Some moves are just too brilliant not to honour. The way that Stephen Harper has played the Tamil boat people issue is nothing short of genius. For a week leading up to the arrival of the boat carrying 490 Tamils on our shores … whose purpose was to claim refugee status … the Conservative government was calling them tuberculosis ridden, terrorist cargo of human smugglers out to eat up government resources meant for Canadians. If they were such a threat, there is nothing that would have prevented the Canadian Coast Guard from meeting them just before they entered Canadian waters, gassing up their ship, giving them plenty of food, and turning them back. However, although they were such a threat, Harper decided not to protect us against them. They were allowed to dock, claim refugee status, and now have all the rights to due process that Canadians enjoy. The cost to our health care system, legal aid system and welfare system will be in the tens of millions… because they now have full entitlements. It is nearly impossible to deport refugee claimants, because the appeals process is interminable. Of course, the government says that our laws left them with their hands tied – which is not true, as those Tamils were not refugees until they got off the ship. There is no legal requirement to let them off the ship. And as usual, the opposition parties have blundered right into Harper’s obvious trap and are playing the role of bleeding hearts, and saying each of these people should have full access to the Canadian system, thereby enraging most Canadians. In order to capitalize on the anger and fear he has created, Harper has intimated that he will change the laws to be less friendly to refugees, and he is totally owning this issue. Canadians are 5 to 1 against allowing these boat people into Canada, and Harper Is going to turn xenophobic fervour, into a ton of votes. Have a martini on Solvent you evil SOB. And by the way, Ignatieff, for a super smart dude, you sure don’t know when to keep your trap shut. You didn’t need to talk about this issue at all, but you predictably contradict the government, on every single issue, in the most ineffectual ways possible. Molotov for you.
A real deserving Martini goes out to North Bay city council. There is a storm of controversy surrounding the fate of Tweedsmuir park. The city had intended to turn yet more green space into housing, and hence tax revenue. The neighbours kicked up a stink and got their attention, and since that time, there seems to be a concerted effort to reach a suitable compromise whereby all parties will be equally disappointed with the outcome. This is the way the system is supposed to work. If they can figure out the right balance between preserving green space and taking care of the city’s fiscal position, then it will be a triumph. Good job.
Major league Molotov goes out to the administrations of Canadore College and Nipissing University upon the announcement of the name of their new “Learning Library”. It would be reasonable to expect that if tax payers money, and student money is being used to build the library, the name of the library should not insult the taxpayers and students. Also, the name of the library should not make a mockery of the library itself. Nothing at an institution of higher learning should be named after an enemy of education, and our former Premier, Mike Harris is nothing if not an enemy of education. If the university was going to sell the naming honour, there should have been some reasonable limitations placed upon it, but there was none, so now we have the “Harris Learning Library” and a couple of schools with tarnished images. Congrats, celebrate your shame with a Molotov cocktail.
How about a martini for respected constitutional lawyer, Clayton Ruby, who is representing a couple of high profile clients for the purpose of protecting our constitutional rights. The first is Natalie Gray who was shot twice by police using rubber bullets. The police had originally said that they did not use rubber bullets at these protests, then they admitted that they shot people with rubber bullets at the Queen’s Park free speech zone, then it was revealed that Natalie Gray was shot twice with rubber bullets outside the Eastern Ave. temporary detention centre. Clayton Ruby is her lawyer and has filed a police brutality lawsuit on her behalf. It is important that police are held accountable for the brutality of their actions, and for lying about them afterward. We will all benefit from this accountability. Mr. Ruby’s second high profile client is Charlie Veitch of the Love Police from England. He is the second person charged under the laughably unconstitutional Public Works Protection Act that the McGuinty government secretly amended right before the summit. Mr. Veitch, who was not being charged with a crime, and as per his rights, refused to identify himself to police as he was giving a performance at the G20 fence. Unbeknownst to him, or anyone else for that matter, save the government and the police, his rights had changed … but only within 5 metres of that fence. He was arrested. The first person who was charged under this mysterious law, David Vassey, had his charges dropped, but if the government is foolhardy enough to pursue the charges against Mr. Veitch, then it is nice to know that a lawyer of Clayton Ruby’s stature is on the job to take it right to the supreme court if need be, to protect our rights. Have a martini, and good luck Mr. Ruby.
Check out the video of Charlie Veitch’s arrest, and Clayton Ruby discussing the case…
