Insite vs Ideology and Ignorance

I don't suppose many people are surprised by Clement's announcement that he will appeal the B.C. Supreme Court ruling. He has after all given every indication that he was leaning that way. He's stalled, commissioned studies that he hoped would buttress his case and avoided all and any direct answers for months.

The problem of course was, whenever he called for a study, the results came back in favour of the program. What to do? What to do? Not really a difficult question for this guy or the government he represents is it? They ignore fact, reason, science and create their own bizzarro world. They then proceed to lie and make it up as they go.

I watched the committee meeting yesterday and witnessed the arrogant Clement bluster his way through nonsense, absolute nonsense. He cherry picked a couple of items from a report and decreed that the science was 'mixed'. Baloney! The science is clear. What's foggy is this government refusing to own up to what they believe. He said that policy had to be based on more than science, it had to include ethical judgement. In this case, the word ethical is a substitute for the word 'moral' as defined by the Conservative Party of Canada.

This decision gives way to a much larger problem of course. You see, the funding is not really the issue here. It's important, but what the Con's are really trying to do is eliminate the extension of the exemption from federal drug laws. In doing so they would succeed in cutting off funding not only by the Fed's, but all levels of government and even private and social agencies. Clement can claim he doesn't want to shut Insite down, but that of course is precisely what he wants to do. One member on the Con side actually said that abstinence is the answer here. That would be David Tilson. He goes down in my book as the MP most deserving of the 'I'm angry at everything!' award.

It's obvious to me that this government ignores, or is incapable of seeing things in broad terms. They get stuck in their ideology and I presume determine how to play that to their base but this isn't just about addicts. It's about the community at large, you and me. It's about safety in that area for those who inhabit it. The Con's miss that of course and narrow the discussion to what I would term a juvenile overview.

This is not the only example. Consider Bill C-10. That's the Bill that has hidden in it's hundred's of pages, provisions for the Minister of Heritage to deny tax credits to the Art's community retroactively. Who do they have as their spokesperson? Charles McVety. Anyone who claims he does not have a narrow view of the world needs help. They don't cite him as their champ, but they aren't denouncing him either.

Then of course we have the Bill that will be voted on, on Monday. Hidden in there was the Immigration rights that go to the Minister. They lie about that too and have even advertised as to what the Bill will do, dishonestly, before the Bill has passed.

Then we have the Khadr debacle and the lies they tell around that. More on that in a later post.

My point here is this. The Harper government touted themselves to be on the 'up and up' and straight shooters. They are anything but. They have no qualms in discounting their opposition, no matter where it comes from. They call those who oppose them wimps, terrorist supporters and worse. Their supporters use more colourful terms, but lack the depth to debate, let alone see a full picture.

Guess who doesn't have courage here?

The Con's hide behind catch phrases and ludicrous commentary rather than be honest and say 'this is what we think'. They couch their views, because they know that is not how Canada thinks. That my friends is cowardly behaviour.

Polls last night told me that Canadians may be catching on. Here's hoping that trend stays fast.