Paddy and I have visited several times, she’s attended and spoke publicly at occasions I’ve invited her to, I deeply admire her.  But she also knows, I disagree with her.  Paddy is a woman who understands the role of the government is to serve people and do good for them.  She has travelled the world on our behalf, helping the poor and those struggling to find democracy.  She has served in the demanding role of Justice Committee leadership and travelled coast to coast investigating solutions for Canada’s problem with illicit drugs.  The report she authored had more than 30 recommendations for how to improve addiction treatment and to curtail hard drugs in Canada.  These were all good things, but her report also included suggestions to legalize small amounts of marijuana possession, so I went in to see her for another visit.  I’m on the Parent Council at my public high school, my kids are teenagers, I’ve cried with mothers whose kids use drugs, and I helped get young people into treatment for drug abuse.  I completely disagree with any legalization of marijuana, but Paddy talked over my concerns and for the first time I left a visit with her feeling she misunderstood how important a moral compass is for our country.  This is a hard thing to say about a person who is as good as Paddy is.

The child pornography crisis in Canada is another reason why I cannot vote for the Liberal party.  Paddy Torsney helped champion a tougher new law against child porn, Bill C12, through Parliament, but the Bill is still not in effect, it died in the Senate when the election was called.  If it had been as important to the Liberals as they say it was, there should have been a way to see Bill C12 become law sooner.  C12 was after all, the Liberal response to the appalling John Robin Sharpe court ruling in BC that struck down our previous law prohibiting the possession of child pornography.  There was a quicker way than the now dead C12 to solve the problem.  On Feb. 2, 1999, a motion was introduced calling on Parliament to "take legislative measures to reinstate the law that was struck down by a recent decision of the Court of British Columbia regarding the possession of child pornography, even if that entails invoking the Notwithstanding Clause."  A few Liberal MP’s supported that motion to act quick and tough against the court’s liberalizing of the child porn law.  The Prime Minister and my Member of Parliament did not, they voted no.  I’m voting Conservative.