BLAME IT ON OTTAWA

The murder of four RCMP officers in Alberta on Thursday should come as
a wake-up call to federal politicians, who are directly responsible
for the deaths of the young Mounties by their dithering back and forth
on marijuana.

On Thursday, a national newspaper quoted a Liberal Party activist who
said he looked forward to the day when Canada was like Holland - with
drugs available freely, legal same-sex marriage and the most liberal
of approaches to all of life's issues.

The federal Liberals and their buddies on the Supreme Court of Canada
(all of whom are appointed solely by the prime minister) have been
actively working towards this end for years.This tragedy is the result.

Criminals run the drug trade in this country. Police are told to
enforce the laws against growing marijuana, but they are not equipped
with the proper tools to do the job, because whenever they haul
someone in, the judges quickly let them out.

That may have happened in this case - the shooter is reported to have
been in jail the night before. He got out, got his gun (was it duly
registered?), and shot four young men who were just doing a job they
loved.

Thankfully, our provincial Solicitor General Rich Coleman, a former
policeman, gets it. Sentencing is far too lax; penalties are
insignificant; and this laissez-faire attitude to grow-ops comes
directly from Ottawa and the Supreme Court of Canada.

If we want to legalize drugs - let's do so. Let's have them available
in government-run stores, and let's tax the heck out of them - just as
we do with tobacco and liquor.

But as long as drugs are illegal, let's see some tough-minded
sentences from judges, and some true leadership from the ditherers in
Ottawa and on the Supreme Court of Canada bench.