dictation's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- zzzzzzzzzzzz election zzzzzzzzzzz Today is our federal (national) election. Canada may be the only country in the world that has a Marijuana Party on the registered parties list. Their campaign slogan is "LET'S ROLL!" Isn't that cute? They're on the ballot but I didn't vote for them. (GW Bush is concerned that Canada may decriminalize marijuana. Most Canadians want to see marijana use and limited possession legalized.) [Medical marijuana is legal in Canada and doctors can actually write prescriptions for patients. The funniest thing is the federal gov't started growing grass in an underground mine shaft in a remote Prairie location (Flin Flon, Manitoba). The quality is apparently so poor that people who have bought it have returned it and asked for a refund and permission to buy from the criminal element! They can't get a buzz and they say it tastes so bad they want to throw up. Canadians are of the opinion that the gov't should entrust dope-growing to the people who know HOW to grow the stuff - that would be all the criminals. Bud, by the way, is the largest underground economy industry in British Columbia...just think of the money the governments could make if they'd legalize it and tax it.] Wouldn't you love to live in this quirky country? It's so cute, isn't it? I wanted to vote for the Green Party or the New Democratic Party, but didn't this time. I - (gulping back vomit) - voted Liberal. According to pre-election day polls, the leading contenders - Liberals (Canadian version of the US Democrats) and Conservatives (Canadian version of the Bush-lead Republicans) - are running neck and neck. Neither party has any integrity but the Liberals are considerably less right wing and intolerant. The Conservative party is a recent creation - a conjoining of the old Progressive Conservative Party and the New Alliance Party (formerly called Reform). The New Alliance is the scary equation of the new Conservative Party as it's comprised of pro-life, anti-homosexual and frequently racist Christian fundamentalists. Their leader, Stephen Harper (one of the founders of Reform), is robotic, bland, and very Stepford-wife like. During the election campaign he resorted to inflammatory insults that bordered on slander. (the worst example: Harper said the current Prime Minister - a Liberal - supported child pornography, an outrageous statement that has no basis whatsoever. He refused to apologize.) In the televised national leader's debate, Harper said he is against same sex marriage and will fight this becoming legal. He said if his party gained a majority government he'd put the issue to a "free vote" in Parliament which loosely translates into a handful of fundamentalists deciding the morality of the nation. Harper is also a Bush buttfuzz nuzzler who advocated for Canada participating in the war against Iraq (even as Canadians overwhelmingly expressed their disagreement with the US decision to launch an attack against Iraq). He still says he believes WMDs might be found in Iraq. He also supports, without reservation, the North American missile defense shield. Harper wants to put $50 billion into the military and decimate other government services to do so. Health care is not a huge priority for him, and anyway, he's very keen to privatize medical care and have everyone pay their own expenses. Good lord, is he even Canadian? So although I practically had to choke back vomit to put my X next to Stephen Owen (L), doing so is my way of supporting the cause against the Conservative Party. I can only hope BC doesn't give Harper the break he assumes it will. [The polls are now closed across Canada. Early speculation has it the Liberals will win a minority gov't. And Yay!!! the Conservatives have dropped 13% in the popular vote in BC!!!! They were really counting on votes here.] 6:32 p.m. - 28 June 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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