Stephen Harper will be our next Prime Minister

[secondtube]

well, if we simply make them illegal to sell, carry, or own, you'll see a helluva lot less break and enters on legitimate gun owners....

but its not fair to that gun collector.

[Alexis]

i wonder how protected the information on who has what guns and where they live is....i mean, if you're going to steal handguns, you don't just randomly pick homes and search for guns. you have to know in which homes they're located, and probably where in that home they are.

and if you have hand guns in your home....how THE FUCK do you allow them to be stolen? protect yourself....YOU HAVE HAND GUNS!!

[MarcO]

the guns these gangs are using are, I bet, rarely outright stolen from otherwise benign gun collectors, registered in Canada as per our laws. They are bought and sold on the black market and, according to the CBC, 90% of them are smuggled in from the US.

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

I could be wrong, in fact, I hope Stone Mtn, could enlighten us with some details, but, by banning handguns, I think it gives the police more opportunity to convict those that are in possession of a handgun.

[secondtube]

actually MarcO, there have been three major home invasions in the last two years here in the Hamilton area, one in Ancaster just recently, where major hand gun collectors have had their whole collection ripped off.

the Ancaster case had a guy who had over 65 hand guns stolen, then a few months later, they arrested a crack house on Concession here on the mountain, and found a few of the guns, with the numbers filed off.

You absolutely right that some get smuggled over, but you'd be surprised how many guns the gangs get are locally stolen.

Pro Gear, here in Hamilton, on the mountain, have been held up at gun point three times in the last little while, getting on their hand guns and shot guns stolen.

Its scarey.

[d_rawk]

I think it gives the police more opportunity to convict those that are in possession of a handgun.

Could be, but that is the incentive behind the existing handgun registration laws that have already been in place since the 1930s. People often seem to get a bit confused about what gun registration programs are about -- hence the argument that gun registration doesn't keep guns out of criminal's hands, so they are pointless.

But the real point is to provide a way to be able to instantly charge and ultimately convict someone. Being in possession of an unregistered gun (or a gun registered to someone else) becomes a crime, therefore it is easier to convict criminals/potential criminals. Gun registration programs are more about being able to effectively process people than about controlling access. So the proposed new handgun ban doesn't really contribute anything new in that regard. (arguably, it doesn't contribute anything, period )

[bouche]

Stockwell Gay and Stephen's small caucaus

[ollie]

Stockwell Gay and Stephen's small caucaus

It's all your fault for not making those t-shirts.

[Alexis]

yeah bouche...it is all your fault. just sell the iron on transfers!

[ollie]

For me, this came to a head recently with the Boxing Day shootings on Yonge St. in Toronto. My feeling was that somebody knows who did this; somebody knows people who have the guns that were used in this hideous crime; somebody knows someone out there with an illegal gun (handgun or otherwise). I want to see the people who know who has the handguns to turn these people in (anonymous tip line, anyone?). That is a change in behaviour which will (I hope) help rid our streets of guns (and, ideally, the criminals who possess them).

Aloha,

Brad

Along these lines, I find a slight glimmer of hope in this story:

Toronto teen arrested after mom turns in assault rifle

A Toronto teenager has been charged with weapons and drug offences after his mother turned in a loaded AK-47 rifle to police.

The suspect's mother said she was shocked when she found the weapon and a magazine filled with bullets on her son's bed in their east-end home on Tuesday evening, the Toronto Sun reports.

[bradm]

Fantastic! That's exactly the kind of thing I was writing about. To follow on from this, we need community leaders to applaud her actions, and call for more of it, to plead for people, within their own communities, to do the same kind of thing.

Aloha,

Brad

[d_rawk]

The survey, conducted by EKOS Research Associates for the Star and La Presse, found that 36.2 per cent of decided voters say they will support the Conservatives, while 30.4 per cent favoured the Liberals.

The NDP is supported by 17.9 per cent of voters, while the Bloc is at 10.4 per cent nationally and the Green party is at 4.7 per cent.

If the numbers hold up, it would mean a Tory minority government.

Hmm, I'd like to know how they came to the conclusion of the last line (that the numbers suggest a Tory minority government). That is some wacky seat projection.

First, we were bound to see a blip of backlash against the Libs in the polls over the income trust leak, so a temporary drop isn't a surpise.

But more importantly, it looks like the increase of support for the Cons is coming at the expense of the BQ in Quebec ... but it still isn't enough to win them any seats in Quebec. So really, though the national numbers look bad for the Libs on the surface, it seems to me that this suggests a gain of seats for the Liberals. (BQ support slipping to an unelectable party, giving Liberals the advantage in tight races)

Where's the panic? CPC momentum in Quebec is decidedly not scary.

[edit:] Looking closer at the regional breakdown, the spike in BC is surprising. Hux, what is the feeling out there? Are you guys hearing 'income trust', or something else?

Edited January 5, 2006 by Guest
BC

[d_rawk]

Ekos has released another poll since the one SugarMegs posted. Looks like they are doing daily tracking now along with SES and Strategic Counsel.

Cons are starting to drop back down, with the Libs and BQ climbing back up. Haven't found the regional breakdowns (Ekos hasn't updated their website yet). Ipsos Reid has the exact same numbers according to this morning's papers. I'd like to humbly retract the 'wacky seat projection' comment -- this story is more about Ontario than I thought from the first glance at the Ekos numbers.

[Alexis]

jeah...i heard that bit from the liberals on the news last night...when i also heard that the cons were ahead by 8 points in the polls....

my question...if the libs were so concerned, why didn't they do the math earlier? and release this as news, not as a reply to losses in the polls?

oh, and some economic think tank for the cons said, in response to this 12 billion deficit thing from the libs, that the cons plan would actually run a surplus.

and the fiscal imbalance they talk about is between the provinces and the feds, and yeah, if they correct that i expect it to cost money. the only way the deficit was eliminated in the first place was by cutting funding.

[Cully]

Steven Harper is the devil. If he is elected he will assume his real shape and colour.

Harper will destroy Canada....

[The Chameleon]

Steven Harper is Bush part two. If he gets in he will be bending over for George W. Bush in no time. And to make matters worse I'm sure there will be no lube!

PLEASE GOD NO!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!1

[Alexis]

no no, there will be fudge for lube, don't forget the fudge. i'm sure with all the campeign mayham, mr harper has forgotten his fiber

[djmelbatoast]

In a provincial election sure. But if Harper is elected it won't be long till we're in Iraq and Quebec has seperated and Alberta becomes the 51st state. The only possible outcome to hope for is a Liberal Minority with the NDP holding the balance of power. After all this is the only situation where anything truely meaningful has ever taken place, in my opinion(health care, employment insurance).

What would be really cool is if the Libs the Cons and the NDP split the vote evenly and by some fluke the Bloc had a minority government. That would really be democracy inaction. We would be having another election next month.

What we need to do is get rid of all this first past the post bullshit and turn to the single transferable vote system which was accepted by 57% of the citizens of BC but did not come to pass because of a stupid clause that called for 60% of the vote. Meanwhile Campell got a majority government with less then half of the population voting for him.

I'm just about ready to climb a bell tower here.

[Birdy]

In a provincial election sure. But if Harper is elected it won't be long till we're in Iraq and Quebec has seperated and Alberta becomes the 51st state. The only possible outcome to hope for is a Liberal Minority with the NDP holding the balance of power. After all this is the only situation where anything truely meaningful has ever taken place, in my opinion(health care, employment insurance).

*shudder*

[Alexis]

well it's nice to hear a new voice wade in on the topic...but i have to say i disagree with you.

i don't think that if harper wins our military will go to iraq...what's the point, it's in the phase of removal of soldiers, not insertion.

i also don't think quebec will seperate under a conservative government. to be completely honest, i dont' think they'll be allowed to. and if they did, i don't think alberta would become a state, it would more likely be either quebec, because they'd need currency, and if not quebec, the maritime provinces are much more likely in time to become a state or states because of the big new country between them and the rest of canada.

why do you think it would be alberta leaving the fold? because conservatisms roots are there? oil? i really have never heard that idea put forward.

i read a book a few years ago on this subject...i'll have to look up the title, that was actually pretty interesting. it predicted an entirely different North America within the next 50-100 years, with the US, part of mexico and parts of canada becoming 8 or 9 different countries, each country forming for different cultural and environmental purposes and similar resources. of course the reasoning behind this is an entirely different political landscape and world market/purpose.

[Cully]

all I have to say is "maditory minimums" Look at the USA and their maditory sentences for drugs (say goodbye to your drug-dealing friends if Harper wins. they could go to jail for a long, long time!!!)

[Birdy]

all I have to say is "maditory minimums" Look at the USA and their maditory sentences for drugs (say goodbye to your drug-dealing friends if Harper wins. they could go to jail for a long, long time!!!)

shit.. man.. harper isn't going to get the drug users vote?

*gasp*

what a way to vote- to protect the 'criminal element'. hilarious.

[Cully]

I am protecting my right to puff down...Harper can shove his maditory minimums up his ass!!

[gentlemonkey]

I work with a some older, traditional, Soft-c Conservatives and the majority of them seem to be turning Tory again. Even the ones who swore they'd never vote for Harper seem to be OK with him running the nation, all of a sudden. Almost seems as if they see their chance to finally be back on the more powerful bandwagon again, so they're hoppin on... strange mentality.

[Birdy]

maybe they realize the face of the party, isn't really the party itself.

a lot of conservatives across the board are united in their despise of the liberals and will cast a vote in hopes of bringing down the so called "governing party of Canada".