Over the Edge + January 18, 2006 News 3 Decriminalization, Euthanasia, Swingers Clubs? ae pe ~~ & ey te oe ig 0 Pas 7 * NADYA BELL / CANADIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS Supporters and protesters of all kinds gathered on René-Levesque to make their voices heard on Tuesday night for the second round of the federal leaders debates. NADYA BELL CUP OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF OTTAWA (CUP) - Canada’s top political leaders responded to ques- tions from major network journalists in four hours of debates in both official languages, but the result was offered little information on post-secondary education. The debates took place in Montreal on Jan, 9 and 10, first in English, then the following day in French. Student leaders have criticized the debates for not touching on post-secondary educa- tion policy issues. George Soule, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students watched the English debate with stu- dents at Concordia University. “T's unfortunate that politicians con- tinue to talk about each othtr more than they talk about the issues that really matter,’ said Soule. “Students are really frustrated that politicians are kind of paying lip-service to issue of post-secondary education.’ Phillippe Oullette, president of Can- adian Alliance of Student Associations said “Post secondary education is be- ing overthrown by swingers clubs, by healthcare, by scandal, by everything else.’ Both Oullette and Soule mentioned that post-secondary education consist- ently ranks as Canadian’s second high- est priority after healthcare in opinion polling. For two hours, leaders responded to questions ot offered follow up com-, ments on the other leader's statements. When one leader spoke, the micro- phones were turned off for other three, in an attempt to avoid the direct con- frontations that were problematic in last year's debate. The only detailed mention of post- secondary issues was in the first debate, when Liberal leader Paul Martin briefly outlined his plan for post secondary education, including paying for half of students tuition for their first and last year of school. “This country is rich in natural re- sources but it is not going to make it unless in fact we understand that our greatest talent is the people who walk on our ground, and that is our young students, and we cannot allow them to graduate from university hugely in debt,’ Martin said. “We've got to fund education, and we have to put money in students pockets so they can afford that education,’ he said. Government ethics, social equality, the economy and national unity were the areas covered in both debates. The questions from journalists in the French debate covered controversial topics that were not mentioned in the English debate, such as euthanasia, de- criminalization of Marijuana, and the recent Supreme Court decision legal- izing swingers clubs. ; But in both debates, discussion of the RCMP investigations into illegal trading of income trusts, Options Can- ada spending, and the Gomery inquiry dominated the discussion. Conservative Leader Stephen Harp- er asked on Jan, 9," Will you tell us, Mr, Martin, how many criminal investiga- tions are going in your government?” “Income trust is an opposition al- legation, that's all it is, and in fact the RCMP have said there is not a shred of proof that supports it,’ replied Martin. “Paul Martin and Ste- phen Harper spent a . lot of time attacking each other ... it's per- sonal attacks, rather than talking about the issues, that are frustrat- ing for students.’ - George Soule Martin introduced a new policy in the English debate, saying he would to remove the Constitutional non-with- standing clause for the federal govern- ment. The clause allows the govern- ment to make legislation that does not follow the Canadian Charter. Use of the clause would be necessary to dis- allow same sex matriage. NDP Leader Jack Layton said he would retain the clause in case it was needed to protect public healthcare. “We don't want to leave everything, every time to a judge to make a deci- sion,’ said Layton, j Harper, Layton and Martin were all in support of stronger sentencing for gun crimes, while Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe was more inter- ested in addressing the root causes of crime, such as poverty. When marijuana decriminaliza- tion was raised in the French debate, Duceppe, Layton and Martin were in support while Harper said that was not part of his platform. All the lead- ers agreed that it would be good to have heavier sentencing for trafficking crimes, “We don't intend to decriminalize marijuana. We feel the liberal proposal is far to liberal,” Harper said in French. When the leaders were asked what they would do if they had an ailing rela- tive in pain, and weather they would support euthanasia legislation, only Duceppe said he supports it through a bill introduced by one of his members. Harper was opposed to the idea, say- ing “My government does not. intend to put forward any such legislation. I think it is important to resist the idea of giving people the power to play god.” He did say he would allow a free vote on the topic. Martin and Layton both said they would be open to a debate on the issue, but that it would be a difficult subject to discuss. Both leaders also agreed that they would not attempt to alter the Supreme Court decision on swing- ers clubs. : Duceppe said he supports the swing- ets clubs decision, while Harper might attempt to reverse it. “The government of Canada can look at that provision and provide new legis- lation and see if there is a way to plug that loophole,’ Harper said. Harper said his government would look at the criminal code sections be- cause “a lot of Canadians were troubled by that decision.’ For voters under 30, a CPAC-SES Nightly Tracking poll showed that on Jan. 10, support for the Liberal and Conservative parties were tied at 30 and 33 percent, within the margin of error. Older age groups all showed a significant lead for the Conservative Party, while NDP support was even at 18 — 13 per cent across age groups. The CPAC-SES poll is accurate within 2.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Because of the.low response of young people, the margin of error was 6.7 per cent. . Paul Adams, Executive Director of Ekos Research said younger- people were much less likely to have watched the debate this year than older people. " Generally, their polling indicated that only 47 per cent of Canadians watched the debate on Jan. 9. “Paul Martin and Stephen Harper spent a lot of time attacking each other rather than talking about the issues that really matter,’ said George Soule. “It's personal attacks, rather than talk- ing about the issues, that are frustrating for students.’ “For the youth I'm sure they want to have a debate [on post-secondary edu- cation] and they want to know what the vision is. Currently there is inad- equacies in the system and they have to be fixed,’ Oullette said.