Give It a Rest Mark II
As a followup to my previous post and as evidenced in the linked editorial, we see that some people aren't satisfied with the spectacle of their elected government looking on impotently as the courts decide the fate of their bungled legislation. No, these guys want the government to use the Notwithstanding Clause if the courts don't rule the way they want. There are a few things we can deduce about these people:
a. They've a piss-poor idea of how the Clause works - as shown here, it's not as simple as the PCs declaring it into law - it has to be passed in the Legislature and it has to be renewed after 5 years, which leads us to the second conclusion;
b. They can't count - all the times the Clause has been revoked were with Governments who had healthy majorities. With the razor-thin margin Premier MacDonald has, there is simply no way this would survive a vote, and Rodney's smart enough to realize this, which is why it's not going to happen, which leads us to the final conclusion about these folks:
c. They're idiots.
Of course, speaking as a Newfoundlander, I can't help but be cheered by these developments, cause if this keeps up the 'Newfie Joke' will be a thing of the past, and instead Canadians from Coast to Coast will be saying 'Hey, did you hear the one about the Dumb Nova Scotian?"
Yeah, they definitely do have that 'the sky is pink in my world' aura about them, don't they?
Posted by
Dan |
Thu Aug 10, 03:06:00 PM
and d)After a week there are only 262 of them.
So following their own logic, they've just defeated themselves.
Posted by
Alison |
Sun Aug 13, 07:31:00 AM
This is beautiful stuff, Dan! I just peeked at the petition and learned this from one of the 20-Watt bulbs that signed it:
I support this petition because where will it stop? The world is stressed enough- increase in heart attacks, high blood pressure,etc. Sunday is a chance to unwind and relax withfamily and friends. If there was an increase inthe number of stores open on Sunday, then thatwill be taken away, as people will no longer beavailable or will be too tired or too sick!
Shopping on Sundays causes heart attacks and high blood pressure! Holy shit, that must be why the heart attack rates in Nova Scotia are the lowest in the country. No, wait, they're among the highest...
and then there's:
I support this petition because I work retail and in my opinion if you cannot findthe time to shop during the hours that the storesare open now (around 96 plus hours) whatdifference is 5 hours on Sunday going to make,other than to ruin the day for the unfortunatepeople who have no choice but to work or risklosing their job. People seem to think that justbecause the stores are going to be open on Sundaythat magically the budget for the wages for thesecompanies is going to grow, so the poor retailworkers should be grateful that they'd havemore hours to work. That is so uninformed becausehaving worked retail for many years I know thatthis is not the case. The people that work onSunday just won't be there on Tuesday or anyother day of the week that they would haveoriginally been there. The stores are not goingto add hours for being open on Sunday, there willjust be less people working there during the restof the week. Also, if people are niave enough tothink that the workers are going to be given achoice whether to work on Sunday or not, they aresadly mistaken. We, as Nova Scotians, have votedon this issue. Isn't what's great aboutCanada is democracy? Since when did the majoritynot rule? I ask this with great concern, becauseit starts with Sunday shopping and then what elsecomes under fire after? Where will it end?
First, the NDP have demanded, along with Sunday shopping, laws protecting the rights of workers to refuse working on Sunday. Second, 96 hours of shopping during the week when you have kids and a job is reduced pretty quickly to maybe one evening and Saturday; Sunday shopping would make Saturday a bit easier. As for having voted on the issue, Briguy has already talked about how clear and fair that last one was.
Where will it end, indeed?
Posted by
kevvyd |
Mon Aug 14, 08:40:00 PM
On a personal level I have to admit to not caring much one way or the other about people having the opportunuty to shop at The Gap seven days a week. The NDP motion for worker protection is a very good thing though and should have a broader effect than it likely does (can someone tell me if a description of it can be found on the web?) the retail worker that you quote kev has got a point. When you work at that end of the labour market very little that your boss does is intended to benifit you. Maybe working for the Irvings has made me cynical but if big business starts claiming that something is good and desirable and will bring comfort to the afflicted like they seem to be doing here, then I automatically think that it needs much closer examination. About ten levels past what they're willing to accomidate is a good place to start.
Posted by
Anonymous |
Thu Aug 17, 12:04:00 PM