Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Source: Guardian, The (CN PI)
Copyright: 2014 The Guardian, Charlottetown Guardian Group Incorporated
Contact:  http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/174
Page: A12

WEEKEND THOUGHTS

Can armageddon be far off, Prime Minister Stephen Harper must wonder 
today? The New York Times took the extraordinary position earlier 
this week of calling on the U.S. government to repeal the ban on 
marijuana. The Times said, "It took 13 years for the United States to 
come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept 
drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime 
syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since 
Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm 
on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than 
alcohol. The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana." 
Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who has called for a similar 
change in Canada, has his chest puffed out just a little bit more today.

Statistics Canada admits it made an error in its labour force survey 
for July last week, when it said the economy created just 200 new 
jobs while analysts were projecting 20,000. Stats Can blamed human 
error when the actual figure should have been a robust 42,000. Did no 
one think something was wrong before grossly erroneous figures were 
released? The absence of a '4' at the start, a 'comma' towards the 
middle and that extra 'zero' at the end should result in someone 
being fired. It's little wonder that low PISA test scores are a 
concern in Canada.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom