Ottawa

Okay, let’s try this instead: Hands up if your party *doesn’t* have a secret deal with the Marijuana Party.

Really, Western Standard – Stockwell Day? Really? :

Stockwell Day must come clean on “secret deal” with Marijuana Party: Western Standard

[…] The Western Standard discovered today that Conservative MP and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day may have been a pioneer of the “secret deal” approach to courting the cannabis community. In his failed campaign to retake the leadership of the Canadian Alliance in 2002, Day said he was “working secretly, with Boris, to legalise pot.” That’s former Marijuana Party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice to be clear.

Here’s what I’ve uncovered in a story written by Charlie McKenzie in 2002 and published in HOUR Montreal /NOW Toronto:

In his bizarre bid to replace himself as leader of the oxymoronic Canadian Alliance, is Stockwell Day courting Canadian pot-heads? While a visibly stunned Day evaded that question Tuesday night, the seeds of this intriguing suggestion were planted by Day himself, shortly after his federal debut in a B.C. by-election, where one of his adversaries was Marc-Boris St-Maurice, leader of the federal Marijuana Party.

Day, who smoked dope in his youth, told a Kelowna all-candidate’s meeting he was “working secretly, with Boris, to legalise pot.”

Since then, under his leadership, Alliance MP Keith Martin has sponsored a private members bill to decriminalise the herb while party justice critic, Randy White, now chairs a Commons committee studying how to lighten Canada’s drug laws.

At Day’s leadership launch Tuesday night, armed only with a tape recorder, this reporter approached and asked him directly; “Sir, are you actively courting the marijuana vote?”

Mrs. Day laughed nervously while he blanched and biblically turned the other cheek. Moments later he was seen shaking hands with the leader of the Marijuana Party, so I naturally moved in and repeated the question.

The tape recorded this:

“I’m sorry,” Day says to Boris, “we can’t talk here some guy’s following me with a tape recorder.”

A security guard pulled me away and Day disappeared. Moments later, I cornered St-Maurice for details.

“He definitely remembers the Okanagan meeting,” he said. “That’s a good sign. He looked kind of paranoid though and said some guy was following him with a tape recorder so he moved on.”

Let me guess – that story came out in early April 2002, right? Say, April 1?

C’mon, Western Standard — don’t make me demand that you come clean on your secret deal with an unnamed satirical comedy troupe to liven up the Canadian election.