People are dying... hahaha

If you needed any more proof that the Conservative government of Canada is just a larger, more heartless version of the one that spent about 8 years in power here in Ontario, check out this story.

The Ontario PCs made drastic cuts to the province's water inspection safeguards and people died in the famous Walkerton tragedy. Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Harper, with only a minority government, slashed and burned Canada's Food Inspection Agency, and it comes as no shock that 17 Canadians have died as a result of the Listeria disaster.

It was interesting to read at the end of the article that even the Canadian Medical Association has "blasted the Harper government for undermining public health safeguards."

I'm sure that this will be on Canadians minds on October 14th.

WTF?

Seriously! Who shoots a puppy?!

Like most Canadians that have heard about this story I was outraged when I read about how two hunters shot and killed a little boy's puppy. It turns out that the puppy had recently been bought to replace another one that had comforted the little boy throughout his ordeal with brain cancer.

Like anyone who knows what it's like to lose a loved pet, my heart goes out to that poor little boy.

From the story, it would appear that one of the hunters has turned himself in to police and is claiming that shooting the puppy was an accident. In fairness, I wasn't there, and I'm in no position to say whether it was an accident or not, but even if this individual is given the benefit of the doubt (to which he is entitled!) there are two crucial points that still make my blood boil:

1. I have been a hunter since I was 15 years old, a fact that I am damn proud of. We hunters are taught from the very beginning to always be certain of our game before we fire a shot, we are also taught various other important safety techniques, such as how to maintain proper control of a firearm in case of accidental discharge, making sure that the there is no one standing behind the game we are shooting at, etc. (in short a lot of common sense). I can see how it would be easy to mistake a small, white dog for a rabbit or other small game if you only saw it out of the corner of your eye, but that is why you are supposed to wait until you have clearly identified the animal rather than just blasting away at the first sign of movement! What if it had been the boy that had come running?!
2. In short, these guys did something really stupid. These things happen, even to smart people because nobody is perfect. I understand that, but after these two idiots realized their mistake, rather than owning up to it, they ran away. I have no respect for that.

Unless I'm missing some really important facts, I feel pretty safe in saying that it's people like this that give all hunters a bad name! I want everyone out there to know that the overwhelmeing majority of hunters are not like this! We are good, responsible people and we share your outrage.

The issues of guilt and sentencing are quite properly left up to the courts in this case, but most importantly, I hope that the two people who are responsible for the animal's death realize that what they have done is wrong and that they have a responsibility to pay for the damage they have caused (though sadly, experience tells me that is not terribly likely).

Canadian Democracy Takes Yet Another Hit

I haven't been able to find much free time to blog lately, since life as a student-at-law has been keeping me pretty busy these days, but I absolutely have to speak out against the Consortium of Networks decision not to allow Elizabeth May to join the televised leadership debates.

I don't agree with everything the Green Party stands for, in fact I think it's pretty obvious that I am a strong supporter of the Liberal Party, but there is no escaping the fact that 4.5% of Canadians who voted in the 2006 General elections thought that the Green Party deserved their vote. In fact, in many of the by-elections that have occured throughout Stephen Harper's term in office, the Green Party's support seems to be growing quite steadily as they have managed to beat the NDP several times and have come quite close on other occasions. I think they have earned the right to be heard on the national level.

I truly and sincerely hope that Elizabeth May and the Green Party of Canada take this case to court! I'm not sure what grounds they will be choose to base their claim on, since I do no think that the Consortium of Networks is a government agency, so the Charter won't apply to it, but freedom of speach is guaranteed under Section 1d) of the Canadian Bill of Rights, which applies to everyone, so perhaps the Greens may have a case! May they fight and win!