Jean's Posts

By Darrell Bellaart

By Peter W. Rusland

Opposition forces seem poised to make a push for reform in Canada’s marijuana laws.

 But no one’s expecting the federal government to respond any time soon.

 The federal Liberals recently adopted cannabis legalization as an official party policy, while that, or decriminalization, has the support of most federal NDP leadership candidates.

 But former Cowichan Tory hopeful John Kory doubted dope would be legalized by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s current Conservative government.

This month, the NDP called for an independent judicial inquiry into the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) in response to the privacy breaches against Board member Harold Leduc. 

His confidential medical files were allegedly shared with other board members and departmental officials with the intent to discredit his advocacy work on behalf of veterans. 

While the Minister claims that the problems with privacy violations have been fixed, this revelation suggests that Veterans’ Affairs has not fully dealt with the problem.

By Krista Siefken

The valley's MP is working to determine what cutbacks to Canada's Coast Guard could mean for Cowichan.

 Jean Crowder slammed Ottawa's plan to prune Coast Guard staff and shut down search-and-rescue centres in a press release on Friday

 No marine jobs are being cut on the West Coast, although there will be a reduction in staffing levels at the Pacific region's communication centres.

 And that could spell trouble in Cowichan, Crowder said.

By Gloria Galloway

Jobless Canadians who have been waiting weeks and months for their first employment insurance cheque will be able to tell their stories to opposition New Democrats who plan to visit regions of the country where EI processing centres are being closed.

The launch of the opposition tour comes as new documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show that the number of Canadians who visited Service Canada centres to inquire about the status of their EI claims swelled from 88,567 in April of last year to 147,065 in December.