Pubdate: Sun, 25 Aug 2013
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.edmontonsun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Ezra Levant

TRUDEAU HAZE

Liberal leader - and lawmaker - is trivializing the use of drugs and 
pretending he's for the middle class

The only policy issue that Justin Trudeau speaks about with any 
interest or passion is marijuana.

Sure, he reads speeches about the economy and asks questions in 
question period about other subjects. But they're prepared by the 
policy wonks in the Liberal research department.

Marijuana, though, is something he keeps bringing up, unscripted. The 
man couldn't find Syria on a map. Probably not Calgary, either, come 
to mention it. But he knows his pot.

He's proud of it, too - when asked by reporters, he laughed it off, 
saying he's more embarrassed about the revelation that he doesn't drink coffee.

That's not just an easy way to deflect a tough question with an 
attempt at a joke. It's a trivialization of the use of drugs. He's 
making a serious point with a laugh. He really doesn't think smoking 
pot is a big deal. He's done it himself. Even since becoming an MP.

It's one thing for Trudeau to smoke pot as a private citizen. But 
he's a lawmaker. That's the central job of an MP - to write our laws. 
And, if he thinks a law is wrong, to try to change it.

But Trudeau has never introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. In 
fact, he spoke against it at a Liberal policy convention last year, 
saying it was the wrong direction for society.

And when the Conservatives introduced Bill C-15 - a law to bring in 
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences - Trudeau didn't vote 
against it. He didn't even skip the vote that day (which he often 
does, as an MP with one of the worst attendance records). Not that 
day. He showed up and proudly voted with the Conservatives to bring 
in mandatory minimums, to take away any discretion that judges would 
have in the matter.

He was just as tough on crime as Harper or Vic Toews or Jason Kenney.

But unlike Harper, Toews and Kenney, Trudeau was also a marijuana user.

He wanted jail terms for the little people. But for himself, well, 
he's a child of privilege. He'd never get charged with a drug offence 
- - and if he did, you better believe he'd hire the best lawyer money 
could buy. Why one set of laws for regular people, and an exemption 
for special elites, like himself?

Trudeau's whole life has been a special exemption. Born a millionaire 
with a massive inheritance from his father - including a rare 
supercar worth over a million dollars in itself - Trudeau never had 
to do middle class things like earn a living. He flitted around, 
dabbling in being a drama teacher, starting some college courses but 
getting bored. You can imagine that pot use was extremely normal 
amongst the millionaire heirs club.

Not so much for normal people. Marijuana is a part of millions of 
Canadians' lives. As in, they get drug tested for it at work. 
Construction sites, factories, truckers, anyone in the oil sands - 
people who work hard with dangerous equipment are tested for pot all 
the time. It's not because their bosses are squaresville 
conservatives. It's because being on dope is a very real danger on a 
job site. Trudeau wouldn't know about any of that. Drugs are also a 
big deal for parents - especially moms. Is there a greater worry for 
moms than their children running with the wrong crowd in school? It 
used to start in Grade 10.

Now it probably starts in Grade 5, an older kid, a bad kid, saying, 
"Here, have a puff of this! Why not - did your mom say not to?" That 
happens right now. It will happen a lot more with Trudeau legalizing 
pot - and normalizing it. He's a role model for youth - just ask him. 
He has done countless speeches at high schools.

And he's now saying drug use is OK.

Yeah, it was always a stretch for this silver spoon liberal to 
pretend he was for the middle class. His comfort with drugs shows it 
was always a fake.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom