JuicyLesson 184: Med-Pot in the Constitutional Context … Welcome to the Jungle; Fear and Loathing at PQ Headquarters … And Now, in Honour of Pauline Marois’ Blown Election Call, Enjoy TSN’s Top Ten Blown Calls … Great Clip


http://youtu.be/xMecDe1r7C0
TSN Top Ten Blown Calls

Welcome to the Jungle with lyrics by Guns ‘N Roses
I’d forgotten how they really rock that number, Axl Rose, Slash, etc. You never knew which version of the band you would get considering the fact that there were around thirty different members of Guns ‘N Roses what with the firings, and the others comings and goings. The present members of the band aside from Rose include: Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, DJ Ashba, Frank Ferrer, and “Bumblefoot” Thai.

Holy shit! “Axl Rose” is an anagram? Really??!! For what, exactly?

The election results were expected. Winning with grace … That’s another story.

And now constitutionally speaking:
There are four classifications of powers according to the Canada Act, our constitution:

Section 91: contains powers RESERVED for the federal government. ex. Defense, Money and Banking, Foreign Policy

Section 92: contains ENUMERATED powers allocated to provincial government jurisdiction ex. education, the solemnization of marriage in the province, the building and maintenance of provincial roads, etc.

Section 93: CONCURRENT powers which are those shared by both the federal and provincial levels of government and of which there are only three: Finance, Agriculture and Health which means that each level of government will have its own Ministers of Finance and of Health, for instance which in turn means that each Canadian province plus the federal government will all have Ministers of Finance, Agriculture and Health.

There is a fourth category of powers classified as RESIDUAL powers which in theory are supposed to be allocated to the Feds but in fact have gone over to provincial government jurisdiction. ex. Welfare. These powers are defined as “residual” in the sense that they did not exist at the time of Confederation in 1867.

Thus to further complicate things and to muddy the waters even more, the issue of medicinal marijuana is definitely part of the Health portfolio, and as such, falls in an area of CONCURRENT jurisdiction between the federal and provincial governments.

I bring up the division of powers at this juncture for two reasons:

Due to the fact that there could have been a big “balagan” (mess) had the PQ been able to have legitimately laid claim to majority government status in the wake of Monday’s election because in that context and given the constitutional division of powers between the provincial governments and Ottawa, there is a plethora of fuel to add to the flames of dispute between the Quebec government and that of Ottawa. That’s all we need.

Say for instance that Quebec wanted to conclude a trade deal with Japan. This could cause conflict because “Trade” as a RESERVE power, has been reserved for federal government jurisdiction.

The other reason why I have brought the constitutional division of powers up for discussion at this point is because of the fight over the legalization of pot which is going to ensue between some of the more progressive provincial governments on the one hand and the Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the other.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the judicial system goes about interpreting existing or new laws pertaining either to the use of pot for medicinal reasons or regarding the all-out legalization of marijuana for recreational use. In either or both cases, it is apparent that this fight is bound to end up in the courts.

Have a puff on me.

Peace. Over and out.


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