nocentre53

What then is the meaning of Christmas? A man who in the end,died in great suffering,to redeem the sins of strangers,yet managed at his last breath,to forgive his persecutors,demonstrating to the ultimate extent the act of self sacrifice.There are those who serve themselves and those who serve others.This man taught us to look outwards than inwards.We are billions upon this earth:and alone we are a passing moment.What we can do for our own desires is unremembered;what we do for others will be a legacy.

There are a number of points to consider: 1. A gateway pipeline south to the U.S. ? Remote.The Republicans and Democrats have been and are still locked in a bitter political civil war that should leave the American people feeling outraged and betrayed.As of 2012 Congress had nearly 2000 pieces of legislation to deal with and dealt with a mere 100 To my mind America is at a point in it's history,similar to the height of the Roman Empire,which experienced a gradual decline and fall. 2. The rising power region and future power brokers will be in the Far East: Japan,Russia,India,China and so on. 3. We need to diversify our national economic portfolio:much as you would not put all your financial investments into only one sector.With Canada so closely tied to the U.S. it makes sense to diversify our trade folio: the EU and The Far East are logical choices. 4. We are in a sense a merchant with a product to sell and we need buyers to give us money for the sale of our product.In our case we have oil and we need a steady and consistent customer to sell too. 5. With fast growing economies in the Far East whose growth will be fuelled by reliable supplies of oil,then politics aside,it is for Canada a pragmatic business decision. 6. Instability in the Middle East and surrounding regions make Canada seem more the go to choice as a stable and reliable supplier of oil. 6. It seems to me from a business perspective,only logical to project our product into thirsty Far Eastern markets with all possible speed: oil sitting in the ground does not earn us a cent.

I can see the value of political parties as like minded people with shared values who believe that public policy should be shaped in a certain way to achieve certain goals.As a Means to an End this is natural. However I have seen political parties regardless of name and country of origin,become an End rather than a Means.When the "Party" and perpetuating itself in power become the End,then good public policy becomes largely irrelevant.Party members allegedly represent their constituency,but in reality owe their allegiance to the Party: if they step out of line,they will be thrown out.Thus the "other guys" (rival parties) become their focus: not governing sensibly.This is where we have flagrant abuse of power and the breakdown of true representative democracy. Too much power is concentrated in The Leader and his Executive (caucus/cabinet).The ordinary member is there to make a lot of noise,warm their seat and vote as they are told to. So,yes I can see MP Chong's reasoning to balance out the uneven power distribution between the rank and file and the Executive and Chief.