“They tend to be anti-intellectual, anti-science and with little interest in debating the evidence or listening to expert opinion. Many simply want people who do bad things to be severely punished whether it makes streets safer or not.”
—EKOS pollster Frank Graves
70% of Canadians favour the decriminalization of marijuana. But the Harper government wants a two-year mandatory minimum sentence for a teenager who passes a joint to a friend.
Sado-politics: the aim is punishment for its own sake. Law is an excuse. Harper’s grunting, hairy-knuckled backers know what’s what. And the man’s mandate has hardly begun.