Young Liberals take strong stand against Mulcair's pro-Harper, pro-prohibition stance on marijuana

Today Young Liberals across the country are taking part in a campaign taking on NDP leader Tom Mulcair for his pro-Harper position on marijuana prohibition. I'm proud to count myself as part of the Ottawa team, putting up posters, handing out information and buttons, and reaching out to the majority of Canadians who believe that continuing the war on marijuana would be a mistake.

The current state of marijuana laws in Canada are hitting taxpayers hard, and Stephen Harper's tough on wallets crime schemes will only make the situation worse. Hardworking Canadian policemen and policewomen should be working on stopping serious crimes, not be forced to arrest Canadians for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. It is particularly disappointing to see the NDP and Tom Mulcair stand with Stephen Harper on the issue of marijuana, as those punished under the current laws are disproportionately youth, members of racialized communities,and those with limited income.

Liberals are taking a strong stand for common-sense drug crime policies, as legalization will hurt violent gangs by depriving them a significant source of income, and help policemen and policewomen keep more dangerous drugs off the street. I am happy to see the Young Liberals take the lead on this issue and push the senior party in the right direction, making clear, strong arguments for evidence-based policies.

Liberals want to treat Canadians like adults and take on Harper on his costly and ineffective prohibitionist policies. The NDP and Tom Mulcair want to capitulate and let Harper set the terms of discussion on drug laws and crime. A big part of rebuilding the Liberal Party is staking out bold new policies and advancing them to Canadians, and I'm glad I can play a part in that process today.

Conservative attacks on eco groups should give LPC an opportunity to reach out

A lot has been written about the attacks on environmental groups in the recent Conservative budget, most of it negative, such as this Globe and Mail editorial: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/budgets-new-rules-unfairly-target-environmental-groups/article2387590/

While the Conservatives are wasting your tax dollars to go after legitimate environmental groups (full disclosure: I am currently working part time for an environmental organization, although as the group is not a charity I don't believe the new guidelines would impact us) and gut Elections Canada, I believe the federal Liberal Party should use this as an opportunity to expand ties with environmental groups across the country, and help ensure the importance of the environment in the Liberal platform.

I think in retrospect a failure of the Green Shift in 2008 was that a lot of environmental groups couldn't be brought onside to promote it and the Liberal Party as the best choice for environmentally minded voters. One only needs to contrast how vocally environmental groups rallied around the Ontario Liberals in the most recent provincial election to see the difference this kind of support can make. Both the NDP and Conservatives seem to be wanting the next election to be framed as an economy/environment battle (as Paul Wells has written extensively about) for different reasons, and the Liberals risk being shut out of this conversation (which would be terrible for any hopes of escaping third-party status) unless we can present a pragmatic middle ground approach, and talk about building the green economy and creating jobs here in Canada in a way neither the NDP or Conservatives can do. Having the support of the environmental movement behind a green jobs approach would be absolutely vital, and I think the Liberals need to move quickly and firm up these ties, while at the same time keep active talks open with the natural resources sector, to make balanced environmental regulations and create jobs, without the vilification of either environmental activity or the hard-working Canadians who work in the natural resources sector.

Renewal and activity in the commissions a great sign for Liberal rebuilding

Blogging has been light of late, although I've been keeping very active in Liberal events, obviously. In particular, in the last couple of weeks I've been to events involving the Young Liberals, the Aboriginal Peoples' Commission, and the Women's Commission here in Ottawa, and they all speak to the fact that our commissions are playing a crucial role in the renewal of the Liberal Party and the Liberal brand.

I attended a great Young Liberal organized event in Ottawa, the Ottawa Centre/Ottawa-Vanier Young Liberal Bonanza. It was great to hear from Mauril Belanger and Yasir Naqvi how important Young Liberals are to the Liberal Party, particularly Yasir Naqvi talking about how the single biggest commitment the Ontario Liberal Party made in the last election was the 30% off tuition grant, and how this idea came straight from Young Liberals. Another remarkable thing was to see so many new faces I hadn't met before, showing that youth are interested in playing a proactive role in politics and are attracted to the Liberal message.

International Womens' Day saw two events, a breakfast organized by the Women's Commission, and the launch event of Beyond the Numbers, a great idea put forward by the YLC and VP Maddie Webb in particular to increase the role of young women in the YLC and the Liberal Party as a whole. The breakfast was very well attended, with MP's and guest speakers from around the country coming in, such as new Commission president Mary Pyenburg. Bob Rae spoke passionately about the need for the Liberal Party to not only go after the Conservatives backwards approach on women's issues, but to always look at the Liberal Party itself and see what more we can do to advance women's rights and make our party even better. The Beyond the Numbers event had dozens of Young Liberals get together, including many from out of town, to network, talk about young women in the party, and be inspired by a touching speech from Kirsty Duncan about her journey into politics.

Last but not least, I helped support our Aboriginal Peoples' Commission by going to the "10-for-10" fundraiser, part of a campaign to create an endowment fund for aboriginal candidates ($10,000 for 10 candidates, as a starting goal) in the next election. Sen. Lillian Dyck, Bob Rae, Carolyn Bennett, and Jeff Copenace all talked about the role of the Liberal Party as promoting understanding between all the peoples of Canada, educating non-aboriginals about aboriginal history, and the important task of recruiting strong aboriginal candidates to run in both rural and urban ridings in the next election.

All in all, a series of great events that leave me inspired and optimistic about the role our party commissions can play in the party renewal process. Now to paint Toronto-Danforth red for Grant Gordon!

Harper wants $80 million of your tax dollars to creep your emails

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/22/pol-lawful-access-costs.html

That's what it'll cost you to give Stephen Harper the privlidge to look through your email's and browsing history.

It's going to cost at least $80 million to implement the government's lawful access bill to force internet and telecommunications service providers to collect customer information in case police need it for an investigation, CBC News has learned.

C-30, a bill to update Canadian law when it comes to crimes committed online, will cost $20 million a year for the first four years and $6.7 million a year after that, Public Safety Canada told the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau on Wednesday.

Harper wants your $80 million to spy on you at the same time he's slashed over $200 million and over 1000 jobs from Environment Canada. Sign the Liberal petition to keep Harper out of your inbox, because the government does not belong in the hard drives of law abiding Canadians like you:

http://petition.liberal.ca/online-privacy-surveillance-lawful-access-bill-c30-liberal-amendment/

Meet Richard Ciano, new Ontario PC President

A big issue Tim Hudak had during the provincial election was his unwillingness to put Ontario first, as he never discussed in a real way he would show independence from the federal Conservatives and the Ford braintrust at Toronto City Hall. We all remember Harper declaring to a partisan Tory crowd how happy he was to seeing a Tory hat trick, Jim Flaherty jumping into the provincial election, etc. As Premier McGuinty put it to Tim Hudak in the leaders debate, Ontario families couldn't count on Hudak standing up to Harper on important issues like health care and equalization reform.

Well, by electing Richard Ciano as PC President, the PC's have demonstrated they still do want that hat trick, and want Ontario to be run out of downtown Toronto and 24 Sussex. Here's just a few of Ciano's greatest hits:

"Richard Ciano is another Harper insider"

Wed Jan 25 2006
Georgina Advocate

Mr. Ciano says…"I love Rob [Ford], I love Doug [Ford]"

The Globe and Mail
Sat Jul 31 2010

Conservatives' Cotler poll 'reprehensible'…the calls had come from a firm called Campaign Research. Among the firm's senior members are…Richard Ciano.

Postmedia News Regional News - East
Tue Dec 13 2011

Reflections on convention and moving forward

I've had some computer difficulties the last couple weeks, combined with work and school keeping me busy, so only now do I have a chance to reflect on the LPC convention.

First off, congratulations to Mike Crawley and his team for a great winning campaign for President. I had a lot of good friends working very hard on his campaign, and I think that hands down he had the best campaign. It was an honour to work with some incredible Liberals on Alexandra Mendes campaign, and I look forward to seeing all candidates who ran for exec board positions to stay active in the party and contribute to the rebuilding process.

On the policy front, the big issues were obviously marijuana and the monarchy. I'm glad the marijuana policy passed in particular, and I sincerely hope the party makes it a part of the platform, and more generally, takes on the Harper crime agenda in a more cost-based way. For too long Liberals have either taken a less solid position on opposing the Conservative crime bills than I think many grassroots Liberals would have liked, or have attempted to use the "dumb on crime" messaging. I think using a more cost-based (and federalism) based line of attack on the Tory crime legislation will yield more positive results. The problem with saying the Conservatives are "dumb on crime" is that it sends a message that if you, personally as a voter believe in the Conservative attitude on crime, you must be dumb. It comes off as smug and elitist, and the Conservatives can and have spun this as "You want to lock up drug dealers and gangsters? Hug-a-thug Liberals think you're dumb." Saying that the Conservatives are "tough on wallets" when it comes to crime I think is a better line to use, and would help re frame the issue as one of pocketbook issues and government spending.

Constitutionally, I was pleased to see the creation of the supporter class, but disappointed at the outcome of them being allowed to vote in leadership races but not local nomination races. I was hoping for the opposite outcome, as I believe the leader as the embodiment of a ideology must be accountable first to the members of the party supporting that ideology. Allowing supporters to vote locally would help us engage in much more community politics, building up from the grassroots on the riding level, helping the people whose names will actually be on the ballot to reach out to the local population, engage with them, and get involved with the thousands of Liberal voters who aren't party members in a given riding. I am also against the oft discussed idea of banning appointments, but I was hoping that the amendment to limit the use of them would have passed.

On the whole, it was of course a very positive convention, and it was great to meet and see Liberals from all over the country. We can rebuild the party, and this convention was a great start.

Join the Alexandra Mendes call tonight and learn more about her plan to put members first!

Mendes has got momentum!

With this great profile in iPolitics: http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/01/10/alexandra-mendes-my-priorities-if-i-am-elected-president-of-the-lpc/ talking about putting members first, and her solid plan to engage and empower Young Liberals: http://www.alexamendes.ca/en/blog/5-young-liberals-les-jeunes-liberaux Alexandra Mendes would like to invite you to her conference call tonight to have your say and hear how she wants to put members first!

Grab your call in number here: http://www.facebook.com/events/229623607115780/

And register here if you want to ask a question: http://apps.calliflower.com/conf/show/278965?conf_key=74c6046f60904b28693edb3150a605267b6b7fe5

Looking forward to seeing you all there!