Well nobody has ever been rushed to the hospital from one of my parties. Maybe that’s why I’m not getting elected to high office.
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This isn’t a “scandal”, but it’s the response to the event is that is intriguing more then anything else.
It’s the easiest press release in the world, right here: “At a gathering being held at the residence, someone brought alcohol, and one of the under-aged participants had too much to drink. While we do understand that kids will be kids, and that 18 is the legal drinking age in much of Canada, we apologize to the parents of [whomever] for not adequately supervising this party. Please drink responsibly.”
Instead, as seems to be the ongoing trend with this PMO, instead we get “INFORMATION LOCKDOWN”. That’s the reason why this is a story, for me at least.
Hell, I’d think higher of the PM just for an apology to the girl’s parents. It’s the absolute minimum that I would expect, were I a parent.
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I hear you, and agree that reaching out to the parents is a smart and appropriate choice, but at the same time I’ve got to tell you that if you think you can adequately monitor a group of teenagers in your home, you’re a dreamer. Just the other week I happened upon two 16-year-old boys coming out of our bathroom together (and no, they’re not gay…you really don’t want to know how I know that). I made a comment to them to indicate that I found it suspicious, and kept my eye on them, but do I know what they were doing in there? Nope. And often kids are coming and going in a way that makes it impossible to know what they might have ingested, or where, or when. For all we know, the girl arrived with quite a few under her belt, or maybe took some pills, so the one or two beers she drank at the party weren’t really the sum total of what caused the medical emergency.
Parenting teenagers is not for the faint of heart.
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Teenager drinks too much at a party, news at 11!
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I am showing my age here but when I was younger we had a quaint term for people who were 18 years old. We called them “adults”. And it was not considered to be internationally newsworthy when one of them got drunk.
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18th birthday parties are specifically for getting roaring drunk, are they not?
Teenager drinks too much at party, doesn’t get raped, is taken for appropriate medical attention.
Well if you have to have a scandal this is at least one with a nicer ending I guess?
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I’m not very fond of Harper for his politics - but apparently on the home front he’s at least reasonably responsible.
Allegedly not a super warm, demonstrative, huggy sort of father, but I think anyone who’s seen a TV interview with the man could have told you that.
Yeah, it’s about a half hour’s walk from the PM’s residence to the nearest Couche Tard (a Quebec specific convenience store chain that sells beer and wine).
The other thing that all the people applauding Harper’s (assumed) actions as reasonable and humane are forgetting is the fact that he leads a political party that would at this point be launching into action to viciously attack and cast aspersions on the competency and moral right to govern of any opposition politician found to be in an identical situation.
He really does bear some responsibility for creating an atmosphere in this country of “mental zero tolerance” when it comes to casting suspicion and assuming the worst of anyone even slightly connected to anything that could be interpreted even remotely scandalously.
So, just fuck that guy. Hope the girl’s okay, though, etc.
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Does the drinking age in Canada apply to private residences or just commercial establishments? Come to think of it, I’m not even sure how that works in the U.S. Is it illegal to allow an underage person to drink for free in your home?
Depends.
http://drinkingage.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002591
I like the idea that underage consumption of alcohol is specifically allowed for government work related purposes in 4 states.
Oh absolutely. But if you’re the PM, you have to keep up appearances. Look what happened to Berlusconi in Italy.
Aye, Harper’s just a corrupt, evil shit, Belusconi’s a proper cartoon villain.
Damn you! I have been telling my kids that while I can (and do) allow them to drink in a private home, I cannot serve their friends unless their parents have given permission. And now your handy-dandy little chart proves that I could technically serve their friends in our home without their parents knowing.
Do not send them this link, upon pain of death!!
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I fail to see what the public interest in this matter. A minor infraction at home, no foul play. The Public can - sory- fuck off and sniff the Kardashians’ butt - they apparently make their life public - but I fail to see here any special interest that would warrant any public statement beyond “Fuck off, this is none of your business.”
I don’t know, not saying anything isn’t necessarily “Information lock down”, and apologizing publicly to the parents isn’t really “Apologizing to the parents” is it?
Hmm, some actual context! Interesting, thanks!
So if Obama’s daughter had a party at the White House and someone (under the legal drinking age) got so drunk they were escorted to hospital under care of the National Guard, this wouldn’t be a national story in the US? What if she had died?
We’re not talking about the ‘average kid’ having a coming-of-age party, we’re talking about the official residence of the head of state, and his role as a leader of legal and ethical societal occurrences.
A ‘drinking’ party should not have happened in this building if the son of the Prime Minister, and his guests, are NOT OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE.
What if there were drugs and she OD’d? What if someone brought a gun and shot someone else?
All of those things are illegal in Canada.
Yeesh, your arguments for this NOT being a story are preposterous.
Of course it would be a huge national story in the US, but there are a lot of stupid stories that are huge national stories in the US. That doesn’t mean it should be one here.
It’s not like these are 10 year old kids. They are 18 year old adults, who more than likely purchased the alcohol legally in Quebec in order to bring it to the party. The fact that they could have walked literally 2 km away and legally drank that alcohol makes this pretty much a non-story, to me.
(edited for clarity, and to remove silly ALL CAPS TALKING)
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