Campaign Lies. One Small Example

Near the end of the recent election campaign, I found this in my mailbox from the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC):

At least some of what was on this mail out didn't ring true, so I did was I suppose few voters would bother to do: I downloaded the NDP's campaign platform and had a look.

The full document was easily downloaded here.

First, the NDP says quite clearly that what they want to do is "decriminalize" drugs, not "legalize" them.  This might seem like a small point to some people, but there is an important difference.  Decriminalizing drugs means that drug addiction will be treated as a public health problem, not a criminal problem.  This means, according to all the research, better and more effective treatment for people with drug problems.  A good example of how this might work can be seen in Portugal, as described in this article.  It's probably worth reminding everyone how well the "war on drugs" has worked out.

Of course, we know why the Conservatives decided to call this "legalizing hard drugs".  It's the typical Conservative tactic of spreading fear, especially about a topic most people don't know much about.  We know, of course, that Conservatives in general aren't in favour of safe injection sites, overdose kits, or any of those kinds of proactive tactics designed to save lives.  Shame on them.

I had a look on the page mentioned to see if the NDP had decided to ban all gas powered cars and trucks.  Couldn't find anything remotely like that on any pages near there.  So what are the Conservatives talking about here?  More fear tactics or an outright lie?  The latter, I suspect.

Finally, on raising the national carbon tax.  We know, of course, that the Conservatives, led by Mr Deny, have no plan for dealing with the growing climate crisis, choosing only to wave their arms and jump up and down about that "job-killing carbon tax".

Reasonable people, of course, know that we needed to start addressing human-caused climate change quite a few years ago and that a carbon tax is just one strategy in any climate action plan and that such a carbon tax would have to increase over time if users of carbon-based fuels are going to have an incentive to reduce their use..  Not for the Conservatives, though.  They would rather pretend there isn't a problem.

So, what we have here is misinformation and clear lies.  Just a couple of reasons why I will never vote Conservative until that party grows some integrity and develops policies that will actually help, not just play on the fears of some voters.  I understand the Conservatives are entering a post-election phase where they will try to understand why they were unable to appeal to more voters.  I'd have a suggestion or two: develop some policies that will actually help deal with some of the problems that we have and get with the 21st Century when it comes to climate change.