Ontario is in a deep fiscal hole. Without urgent action, we're staring at a $30 billion deficit and a $411 billion debt in just a couple of years. So if we really care about a stronger Ontario we've also got to care about our public debt -- and then do something about it. It's time for government to exit the distracting and unnecessary business of being in business: things like designing and selling lottery tickets and putting wine bottles on shelves. Honestly, what's more important: Roulette wheels for shiny new casinos -- or more MRI scans and cancer-beating drugs on the formulary?

On Thursday, the House continues its debate on Bill C-37 -- the "victim surcharge bill" -- government legislation that doubles the amount of the victim surcharge -- money collected from convicted offenders to support victims of crime. Simply put, there is no evidence that the federal victim surcharge either deters crime as is, or that its doubling will do so.

Trudeau's Protection of Privacy Act made it illegal for people to use wiretaps and other forms of electronic devices without a person's consent. The law has since evolved, but its spirit still resonates with Canadians. That explains the widespread wince last winter, following Vic Toews' tabling of an "online snooping bill" that put an electronic prisoner's bracelet on every Canadian. And members of the LGBT community were left disturbed and frightened when a GLBT-themed message from the minister's office landed in their email inbox in September. The Harper government's Orwellian strategies constitute an affront on the Canadian way of life and the freedoms we all cherish.

The notorious online "snooping" bill, C-30, looks like it may be coming back for round two. But people shouldn't be complacent as efforts are underway to put C-30 back on the agenda. Towes claims that getting access to subscriber data is simply like getting access to a phone book. The privacy commissioners of Canada disagree. Canadians aren't fools. Privacy matters to us. So does balance. Justifications for online snooping by the state are not going to be solved by invoking buzzwords and bogeymen.

The legalization or decriminalization of marijuana has become a nonpartisan solution so blatantly obvious that only misguided moral opposition remains. And while there is still some way to go before marijuana is legalized in Canada, this eventual feat should be a gateway for the legalization of other currently prohibited substances. If the legalization of marijuana can be accepted by the Canadian populace, the legalization of all drugs should be as well. Taboos, fear, and moral opposition should not prevent the government from taking the rational scientific steps necessary to solving the drug crisis.

In the House of Commons, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews said "Individuals with mental health issues do not belong in prisons but rather in professional health facilities." He made this sweeping and dramatic claim in the wake of the release of the Ashley Smith videos, which portrayed her horrendous and inhumane treatment while she was in custody. Toews's comments might give an observer hope -- hope that soon we will stop putting people with mental health problems in jails. But in reality, the actions of the federal government lead to a different, bleaker conclusion.

Talks get underway today in Doha, Qatar, where government officials from around the world will meet to discuss how, as a global community, we can work together to curb global warming pollution and adapt to the impacts of the climate disruption we're already seeing. So the question for these talks in Doha is: WWHD? What Will Harper Do?