It’s what we do. We lose the political wherewithal to do something correctly, and instead do the politically easy and/or cheapest parts only and leave the hard-but-worthwhile work on the floor. We’ll spend more time on the committee to support a motion to study the issue, which means that when it comes time to do something, all the will is gone and the recommendations are either watered down and/or hopelessly politicized.
See: drug decriminalization, housing, immigration.
(side note: the Liberals are absolute masters of this sort of milquetoast, C-minus, least-we-can-do, three-years-of-committees policymaking, but the Conservatives are often just as bad; they (the Cons) are just willing to do more because performative cruelty engages their base)
The LPC has adopted a “we’ll look the other way, fund some small arm’s length organizations, throw a couple bucks at safe-consumption sites” policy: basically a half-Portugal where drug crime isn’t really prosecuted, but little to no funding is allocated for comprehensive treatment and support.
Go to any city or town in Canada: drug use isn’t criminalized, let alone prosecuted. Which would be okay, but no money is spent on housing, treatment and it stops short of safe supply because that would mean taking a political risk. The result is people are desperate, still using, have no stable housing, no path to recovery and the results of crime break down on both addicts and citizens because the police won’t enforce anything unless it’s really, really bad.
So we get a worst-of-both-worlds that lets politicians hug themselves for being progressive while not raising taxes or inconveniencing billionaires.
I’d love to the see the NDP get in. The problem is that the Liberals flank them every election, promise that this time, for realz, they’ll do progressive stuff, just vote for us this time.
Canada half-assed it and slow-walked it.
It’s what we do. We lose the political wherewithal to do something correctly, and instead do the politically easy and/or cheapest parts only and leave the hard-but-worthwhile work on the floor. We’ll spend more time on the committee to support a motion to study the issue, which means that when it comes time to do something, all the will is gone and the recommendations are either watered down and/or hopelessly politicized.
See: drug decriminalization, housing, immigration.
(side note: the Liberals are absolute masters of this sort of milquetoast, C-minus, least-we-can-do, three-years-of-committees policymaking, but the Conservatives are often just as bad; they (the Cons) are just willing to do more because performative cruelty engages their base)
Given the logistics involved I don’t think it is possible to not half-ass it.
I wonder what you mean
Only the NDP are pro decriminalizing, pro housing, and anti-immigration
It’s not waiting that prevents progress on those fronts
The LPC has adopted a “we’ll look the other way, fund some small arm’s length organizations, throw a couple bucks at safe-consumption sites” policy: basically a half-Portugal where drug crime isn’t really prosecuted, but little to no funding is allocated for comprehensive treatment and support.
Go to any city or town in Canada: drug use isn’t criminalized, let alone prosecuted. Which would be okay, but no money is spent on housing, treatment and it stops short of safe supply because that would mean taking a political risk. The result is people are desperate, still using, have no stable housing, no path to recovery and the results of crime break down on both addicts and citizens because the police won’t enforce anything unless it’s really, really bad.
So we get a worst-of-both-worlds that lets politicians hug themselves for being progressive while not raising taxes or inconveniencing billionaires.
I’d love to the see the NDP get in. The problem is that the Liberals flank them every election, promise that this time, for realz, they’ll do progressive stuff, just vote for us this time.