cannuck

You are assuming the Doug Ford would be as stupid as Wynne and simply sign on to something as idiotic and economically destructive as cap and trade (BTW: note that this handout to rape the economy for billions a year came from the left, not the conservatives - so WHO exactly is enabling the 1%????). Note that the only other Premier in Canada with any balls will NOT allow carbon tax in SK.

Yes, no doubt the top 1% wields an immense amount of influence over government, but Conservatives, Liberals and NDP (similarly the Uniparty of the US) all do exactly the same thing as far as influence peddling to the 1%ers goes. Actual conservatives (of which we have none in Ottawa or DC) would not be doing this as it is contrary to genuinely conservative beliefs. What is needed is a frank discussion of how economies work, how legislation and regulation affect changes (or not) and what it is that actually creates wealth rather than simply facilitating wealth re-distribution. ALL of these things were extremely well understood in the '30s

You will never silence his critics. They love to hear themselves bitch and moan. As to he and his party being "divisive", I guess you could say he divided the living shit out of the Libs, but you need to realize and admit he united the voters of Ontario as SHOULD have happened 15 years ago. Instead, all of the meeley-mouth wimps pandered to the poltically correct left and destroyed the province. As to party status? That has to be earned, not given. Same rules for everyone. When it comes to worrying about Liberal/ NDP as opposition, it makes no difference. Same-same.

This is a fallacy. Our economic structure does not reward those who MAKE money - it rewards those who simply take it. If you create wealth (i.e. actually EARN money) your company making widgets or whatever would be damned lucky to ever pay a double digit dividend. If you get your money by merely redistributing wealth by speculative gain, you create zero wealth, but redistribute it from the rest of the country - which is what makes the rest of the country poorer as the increase in money supply to cover pure speculation (or welfare, same thing) comes as a direct cost of debt or dillution of purchasing power of the currency of the nation. We give endless incentives to this kind (Casino Capitalism) behaviour, and punish the crap out of wealth created by capitalistic endeavour.

There, fixed that for you. Let's get things in perspective: Under Xi, China is a superpower. Under Trudeau, Canada is a stupidpower. If you pay really close attention to what Trump has done (hope it goes to completion) he may well have stopped what was looking to be probable nuclear conflict on the Korean peninsula. That means millions of lives far less at risk (they are already blowing up some sites in NoKo as we speak). FAR more important: the people of North Korea might now no longer be beggared to fund Rocket Man's rockets and can get to work feeding themselves and making better lives for their families. That is one hell of an accomplishment if he pulls it off - and to be noted NOBODY before him has got this far, NOBODY. When I see FAR 23 rewritten and the FAA "approval" (actually obstruction) process called to heal, that will be my personal measure of accomplishment that once more, NOBODY else has figured out and executed.

True that China is coming back from WAY behind, but don't believe this dollar a day crap. As I said, NOBODY in China reports their income and wealth - NOBODY. Yes, poor people can still be poor, but when you are manufacturing and exporting to the entire world, there is a hell of a lot of money floating around. The Chinese car market became the largest in the world 10 years ago, far surpassing the US market today. If you use car sales as some kind of measure (and it happens to be an accurate one), a market that size with that population would suggest the average REAL disposable income is something at least 1/4 of what the average US income is - hardly a dollar a day. As I said, you have to BE there to really understand. I have watched buyers come into the showroom and plunk down wads of cold hard cash (as in can't be traced) to pay a half mil for a car we would only pay $200k to buy - and this is as common as dirt. We see this constantly when Chinese entrepreneurs try to immigrate here - since their considerable fortune is 100% OFF record, there is no way for our gov't to verify their bux are legit.

China's population greater than 5x USA, but 30 years ago, it was an empty shell. Around 1960, Mao's "great leap forward" starved maybe 100 million people to their death. In 3 short decades, China has gone from nothing to the second largest economy in the world (largest by some measures - as the US measures speculative values as if they were real). Nobody has ever done that before, ever. Successful in that it met the goals of the leadership and continues to grow at a staggering pace. You have to have been there to fully appreciate some of the hidden facts: NOBODY in China reports their earnings or wealth with anything vaguely considered accurate. It is a hell of a lot more wealthy than Westerners think.

I think what is missing from this discussion is "what is left and what is right". To address H10's argument that "socialism works" as proven by Norway, well, not exactly true. If you want a primer, read the Regina Manifesto and see what a genuine socialist party believes (the NDP took it down from their website a few years back, but it is easily available ( http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/CCF/ReginaManifesto.htm ). Now, to be fair, there are VERY few genuine "socialist" states as defined by the RM and its Marxist philosophies. I have struggled with these definitions for decades, and come to the conclusion that a "communist" state differs from a "socialist" state in that Marxism is interpreted in a truly communist state as something run by the ruling party and/or its dictatorial leadership, whereas we transition into "socialism" when there is supposedly some involvement by the people determining how things are run. In either case, the ideal is that the state owns and controls the means of production and distribution as well as ALL of the resources. And, it ALL cases, it does not work for long. Best examples: Russia until 1992, Mao's China and watch how Venezuela crashed and burned when the Bolivarian Revolution got into full swing. They fail because people are intrinsically corrupt and greedy. Capitalism is NOT a political ideology, it is a method of how an economy handles capital. ALL "successful" socialist countries are genuinely capitalistic - as they use capital investment to manage their economy. So, successful socialist places such as Norway (and now Russia) are still very much from the political "left", but have their economy based completely on capitalistic philosophies and policy. I saved the BIG ONE for last in this situation: China. While still a communist country, run by the communist party with virtually NO input from the proletariat, it is by far the most successful economy on the planet. As you can see, it takes a "mixed" economy to be a successful socialist state. In fact: I can not think of ANY successful government that does not have some social policies and programmes. The "right" on the other hand can not be defined only as being "capitalistic", but by some other things that really DO constitute what in my years of deliberation define the "right". Those things (again IMHO) are precedence of personal rights and freedoms over those of the state or collective. Obviously, you would need capitalism as a mechanism to accomodate these fundamental freedoms and rights. BUT: what about corporatism and globalism? Well, they depend not on the political philosphies used, but far more by how the economic policies and laws accomodate what I believe to be the #1 problem of the world - how wealth is distributed. What the left calls the right is not politically from the right at all, but the business of government dispensing privilege to special interests - which of course is completely opposite of what personal rights and freedoms are about - since the state has granted special privilege. That, when it comes to most modern economies and particularly defined by the US - I refer to as "Casino Capitalism" as capital is not generally dedicated to creation of wealth by investing it in productive activities, but it is used to redistribute wealth without the bother of adding any value by basing economies on speculative gain rather than value added. You will notice that it doesn't matter WHAT the political ideology is, almost every country has been led down this garden path - and it also does not work (for the long term) - but it sure as hell results in some very lopsided distribution of wealth = a broken economy.

I hope Ford DOES turn out to be "like Trump". While DT might be a bit of an a-hole on a good day, he does what he feels is best for his country and his people. I don't care what they each did in their private lives, I care about what they are going to do in their public life. ON was sold down the river by the Lib/NDP (sorry if you think there is any difference - there is not) and our left wing media. While it might seem nice to congratulate the victor, what is really needed is a harsh reminder to the electorate that THEY put the Libs in and kept them there for 15 years, not to mention they seemed to have forgotten the lessons they SHOULD have learned from Bob Rae. Now they get to pay the price. The solution to this kind of crap is very simple: no deficit financing by constitutional provision. If a governement wants to give something to their voter base, the rest should directly feel and pay the price while the perpetrator is still in office.

yes, that is very true, but the last thing that a change in administration should have been doing is follow the Uniparty's bosses down the "too big to fail" megatrillion dollar rat hole. You may remember that the Obama "dream team" to solve the economic "crisis" presented to the public even before inauguration was the exact SAME bunch of Goldman Such hacks that put the country (and the world) in peril in the first place. Their brilliant solution was to simply rob the taxpayers blind in an orgy of rape and pillage that surpassed even the dirty thirties.

Do I need to remind you that we HAD a "charming" POTUS for 8 years prior to Trump. The end result is that the world got ISIS and a nuclear North Korea, banks "too big to fail" were rewarded for their treachery while the US paid more to have him than the cost of all other Presidents and wars combined.

I would love to see comparisson numbers from the new Can/US FTA days, when about 70% of all Can/US trade was under the Auto Pact, and almost all of that was between ON and MI (for obvious reasons). For NB: I suppose 50% of SFA is pretty much SFA. I imagine the big numbers for MB (electricity) SK (ag & petro) and AB (petro and mfg petro equip) are bigger under NAFTA than they were back then.

Great idea. Let's start a Kill a Commie for Christ movement.

Yes, destroyed - compared with what we could be and should be today. Instead, we have become the leftist backwater that mostly lives by exploiting a rather finite quantity of resources. And, yes again. I should be free to serve busty white chicks or provide a safe haven for the Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato community or whatever else I wish to do with on my own property. I should be free to hire and fire ANYONE I choose - it's my nickel, not yours. Public space, very different. Appropriately, the opposite of right is not just left, it is also wrong.

Michael, sorry don't have time for much of a response, on the way out of the door for a few weeks travel. Yes, hatred (to put it mildly) for the a-hole from the days that this country was jerked sharply to the left and essentially destroyed. Surprised you can't see the difference between public and private property. There is simply no way that ANY government should be able to dictate what I do with and on my property, as long as it doesn't REACH OUT and hurt anyone else. Just because the Yanks in their drift to the left into political correct nonsense is no reason some other country can't get it right. A system of government founded on hating almost everything Trudeau stood for could well be the best and most successful on the planet.

Uh...then I guess I am the very definition of NOT a "patriot". When a totally flawed document drafted by a card carrying communist and assisted by several socialists who openly adhere to the Regina Manifesto as their key belief, and when it has NOT been accepted by all provinces, yeah, I've got a rather big problem with that. Add in the very intentional and obvious avoidance of property rights. The acid test of that is exactly what we see in this thread: it is a PUBLIC pool, so there is absolutely no way there should be ANY discrimination of any kind applied. Conversely, a real "constitution" would respect the property rights of private organizations to do exactly as they please - be men only, women only, muslim only, Christian only - because they are on PRIVATE property - the anathema of the Regina Manifesto and our dear leaders' model of the Trudeau family, the Communist Manifesto. This makes sense from a document meant to give some kind of equality to Canadians in one section - the one following the section that gives decendants of aboriginal Canadians a whole other class of rights and privileges NOT available to other Canadians.

If Canadian voters are so daft as to have elected little Tur....I mean TRUdeau in the first place, do you think some of the old man's Marxist/Communist stuff playing out on the taxpayers' backs would change anyone's mind?

He is probably here to collect his $10mm and get a hug from our dear PM.

Yes, it is a slag to the most slag deserving PM we have ever had. Wait a minute: I guess second to his old man.

I can not think of much "good" about WWII, but the US was instrumental in bringing peace both during the war and for many years thereafter (especially with Marshall Plan).

The US does not NEED any sort of balance of state size. Yes, PEI would be only 1/3 of the pop of WY, but with 2 senate seats from each province, we would fit comfortably as the 51st to 62nd states (territories all one since even less population than PEI??)

A Nautical Mile is one minute of latitude and officially is part of the SI system of measurements and standards accepted internationally. The Yanks use "standard" measurements that are a mish-mash of Imperial and domestic things, but in reality, US manufacturing is drifting over to SI - where aviation speed and distance has always been (but not altitude). Speaking of which, a Fathom is purely Imperial but within the US (not sure which of two definitions of fathom they use in the US). Worth noting that in purely "metrified" Canada, we fly in nautical miles at an altitude measured in feet in airplanes assembled with fasteners all made to American inch standards of diameter, length and thread pitch.

Roosevelt certainly brought peace to the Asia-Pacific and played his belated (but crucial) part in Europe.

We have ridiculous expectations of a child whose greatest achievement in life was to be a drama teacher. When that is what you elect, that is what you get.