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Canadians seem to be looking to the government more and more to provide them with whatever it is they feel they should have but don't. And if it costs millions, billions, tens of billions, well, so what? As long as someone else is footing the bill. I think what we're seeing is the fairly predictable result of a progressive tax system where, over the last decades, more and more people have been removed from the tax roles. When you don't have to pay - ever - then naturally you're going to vote for whatever party offers you more free stuff. Why not? “My rent should be waived!” “Tuition should be free!” “You can’t take away CERB!” It seems that more and more Canadians are expecting income support from the government, and increasingly, the government is delivering with direct payments to Canadians. This was already happening before COVID, but the pandemic appears to have accelerated the trend. It isn’t surprising that people like getting something for free. In tough and unprecedented times such as these, some degree of emergency support can be necessary. The problem with free, however, is that you usually end up paying for it somehow. But what happens if you can manage to get things for free and always have others pay? Canadians want government to take care of them

Didn't seem like a Marxist to me. I was annoyed that he thought he knew something about hockey. I'll take it though, compared to what we have in there now... no question about it. JT has barely ever held a hockey stick, I'll wager. I can tell. He's just not hockey material. Anyway, no need for any tears for Mr. Morneau. No, the house of cards is not about to fall yet. The house is on hold. Held together by red tape... and a layer of fresh organic matter. Moroneau moving on while Justin nods sardonically, is merely a symbolic jesture if you will. Now we can say the good PM has done some housekeeping. Does this mean we get a new deputy PM now? Or does Ms. Freeland get to consolidate her position across two cabinets, if you will...

I understand Barrack Hussein corrected her. "We get high."

No...it was expressly designed not to be a pure democracy.

That's like saying "it's not a dog, it's a German Shepherd". Your 'Constitutional Republic' is just a sub-category of 'Democracy'.

Not a myth...just ask Hillary Clinton...and the 2016 Electoral College...established by constitution.

Exactly as I said. We agree.

Americans tend to want to push government out of their lives a lot more than Canadians, they value liberty and independence from the state. Canadians want to be taken care of, they like the nanny state, they don't value independence as much. Canadians are the 35 y/o dude still living in their parents basement & having them pay their bills, buy their groceries, & do their laundry. Americans moved out after high school. Some Americans might have less money, and no healthcare, but they're also on their own two feet. The fact that the Liberals' approval rating went sky high after CERB is proof enough. Free money for not working, we love you!

I blame the Canadians who voted for Trudeau twice. This guy clearly was a lightweight from day one..it was clear he got in because of his charm and last name. He has no real work experience..he has never had to worry about money..losing a job. And somehow Canadians thought he was the best man. Its not Trudeaus fault..it was obvious from day one who he was..it is the voters fault for being so naive and superficial to think he was the best choice. So the results of his massive addition to the debt, which again is no surprise coming from him, will fall on the shoulder of those same voters but unfortunately on the rest of us as well who did not vote for him. All the western world has pretty much screwed themselves..only Sweden had some ounce of courage and intelligence to try and plot a reasonable path.

I am going to make a general comment as I havent read through all this thread. I agree that the country we have turned into is an embarassment to me. The fiscal imprudence of the Federal government is beyond my worst nightmares and I am pretty pessimistic at most times. But the number..350 billion possibly ending up at 500 billion deficit this year alone..and likelty 100-200 billion next year. The numbers are staggering..its 50 percent added to the national debt in less than a year and for what??? A virus that frankly is not that deadly to the vast majority of people..in fact most people have pretty benign symptoms no worse than cold or regular flu. Yes it affects the elderly worse and others with health issues but why lock down all of society? We should have put all the resources into protecting the vulnerabler from day one..ie the nursing homes. We probably could have put 30 billion dollars into thes facilities right away to hire more staff..keep them out of multiple centres..proper training and supervision and protocols..better pay and equipment and we would have cut the number of deaths by 50 perecent or more and we could have kept most of the economy running and hence not spend a fortune paying people not to work and even encourage them not to work. Now Canadians love this..free money..they dont need to work..working from home..but what a cost..this debt will cost far more to our society over decades both in terms of peoples health and lives but also there standard of living. How will we fund our already poor health care system with all this new debt..how will we pay for all these social programs..how will we aviod not increasing taxes sky high hence reducing people living standards..these all will kill people. The COVID response will clearly kill more people over the longer term than we saved from COVID.

The thing about pirates is they don't care about politics. They just want to get close to the money. They are not politicians or bureaucrats, they are the PR companies, the CERB fraudsters, the friends of the Minister of Customs in the days of prohibition. It is the Montreal mafia torpedos like George LeMay and Lucien Rivard, or the Hells Angels friends of Max Bernier's mistress. It isn't neccessarily the politicians who are dishonest, but it is the people on the edges who are the pirates. Some politicians are crooked but the vast majority of them are as honest as you and me...well, you anway. I always wanted to be a pirate, "Cause it's a heave-ho! hi-ho!Coming down the plainsStealing wheat and barley and all the other grainsAnd it's a ho-hey! hi-hey!Farmers bar your doorsWhen you see the Jolly Roger on Regina's mighty shoresArr! (Maybe I should have said I always wanted to be a lumberjack)

Maybe we will get lucky and O'Toole will win. Off topic, my favourite quote was from Prime Minister Clark. "If Joe Clark walked on water, the press headline would be 'Joe Clark can't swim.'"

I sense a strong case of Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Thanks... will sleep better now...

Not really. I feel like there is enough going on, I don't want to deal with political campaigns. I also want some time to get to know the Conservative leader to decide if I could support them. If there were an election this fall, should it be entirely voting by mail, or in-person as usual?

To see how long it would take you to try and derail a topic by posting a picture of it. You are much easier to play than a fiddle. But the Kielbergers should go to jail with Justin and his wife and mother. There's just no excuse for that

You are the one who insists on making such value judgements, not I. ...and I didn't choose them. They are reported attributes from any number of personality profiles for Trump in media. ...or Sir Winston Churchill, not exactly a sweetheart either. The U.S. is not a democracy...it is a constitutional republic.

The GG represents the Crown, vetted/ approved by the Queen. So only the Queen can fire her.