The Peachland View
December 17, 2010
Record Breaking Minority
Another milestone this week. Prime Minis- forces to outnumber the Conservative governter Harper surpassed the mark of former PM ment on a constitutional change on 'gender Lester Pearson. identity'. PM Harper now has the record for mainThis change to the Charter would be applied taining a minority government for the longest to transgendered individuals. It would also apperiod of time without being defeated by a ply to individuals based on what gender they non-confidence vote. say they are, not what gender they actually are, The recent federal by-elections also earned a or whether they have had a sex change operaspot in the record books. tion or not. It is also rare, if not practically unheard of, Most Conservatives voted against this mainfor the governing party of the day to actually ly because no clear answers were given by the gain a seat from the opposition in a by-election. Liberals or NDP regarding possible implicaThe last time a governing tions of a law like this. party did that was back in the It goes to 3rd reading vote in ! WEEKLY COMMENTARY horse and buggy days of WilFebruary or March. STOCKWELL DAY, MP fred Laurier. This week the Minister of Three seats were up for Justice will be calling for a vote grabs in the federal by-elecon legislation, which would tions two weeks ago. The Conservative party prevent those, convicted of sexual offences not only held onto their existing seat with a against children from having their records huge majority, it also shocked the political erased. world in Ontario by stealing one that the LibUnder existing law, a convicted criminal erals had previously held for almost a quarter who has served his time and remained crime of a century. free for at least five years from the end of his In the third contest, in Manitoba, a well- sentence may apply for a pardon. known local Liberal former MLA managed to With most crimes, this is to allow a person a knock out the NDP, which had previously held second chance in life. The problem here is that that riding for years. The new Liberal MP was a convicted pedophile could wind up having introduced into the House of Commons this his record erased. week. I must say he put on a feisty and aggresThen, if for instance he applied for a job at sive performance in Question Period on his a day care centre, kids camp, or boys and girls first day. club no past record would show up on his file. To get insights on what types of legislation That's why the pardon provisions need to be would be put in place by a Liberal/NDP coali- changed in cases of sex offenders against chiltion just look at what type of legislation they dren. are proposing or opposing. The opposition has been delaying this for In the Senate right now is an Opposition Bill months. that would require all Supreme Court Judges to The Liberals/NDP/ Bloc have said they will be fully bilingual. vote against our Human Smuggling Bill. The Liberal/NDP/Bloc voted together on This Bill is designed to discourage human this. exploitation incidents such as the arrival of the All Supreme Court proceedings are already last two boatloads of smuggled illegals to our done in both official languages with full trans- West Coast. lation service. Neither the Constitution, the Clearly, there are very different approaches Charter nor the courts have ever required this to legislation and policy between parties. extra step to be taken. We'll see where this goes. See you at the end of the week for my usual This week the opposition parties also joined meetings around the riding.
Peachland through Tania’s Eyes
Winter Evening, December 9, 2010, Princeton Avenue Amateur photographer and Peachland resident, Tania Simpson, started photography in 2007 and immediately found a passion for it. She chronicles the seasons, the people, and the wildlife of Peachland in almost daily photos of the area. View more at flickr. com/photos/taniaseyes. The View will be publishing a weekly look at Peachland, through Tania's eyes.
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December 30, 2010
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