Leader Circle

This needs to be laughed at, not taken serious in any way. It is meant to be a joke! CC, you need to lay off on insulting other posters for their take on this and many others. Kimmy was merely stating the humor in all of this! Are you sure you're not THELIBERAL?

This is from the Western Standard. A nation torn apart An exclusive Western Standard poll shows more than a third of westerners are thinking of separating from Canada. What’s dividing the country--and can anything be done to save it? Kevin Steel - August 22, 2005 Western Independence How much do you agree with the following statement: “Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country”? By Gender Male Female All Respondents Agree 42.7 28.7 35.6 Disagree 57.3 71.3 64.4 By Age 18–29 30–44 45–64 65+ Agree 37.2 36.1 33.7 36.3 Disagree 62.8 63.9 66.3 63.7 By Province B.C. Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Agree 32.1 43.0 33.6 28.8 Disagree 67.9 57.0 66.4 71.2 How effective do you think Prime Minister Paul Martin’s government has been at eliminating the democratic deficit since being elected one year ago? Poor 56.8% Good 43.2 % How effective do you think the Martin government has been at ending western alienation since being elected one year ago? Poor 64.0% Good 36.0% How much has the Gomery inquiry testimony impacted your opinion of western Canadians exploring the idea of forming their own country? Increased 38.0% No impact 34.8% Reduced 27.2% How much did the manner in which the Liberals won the budget confidence vote impact your opinion of western Canadians exploring the idea of forming their own country? Increased 37.5% No impact 36.6% Reduced 25.9% What impact would a Liberal re-election likely have on your opinion of western Canadians exploring the idea of forming their own country? Increased 40.4% No impact 35.5% Reduced 24.0% The poll was conducted around Canada Day, between June 29 and July 5, 2005, when sentiment for federation should have been running at its peak. It sampled 1,448 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20. That’s the conclusion of a Western Standard poll, which found that a record number of people in all four western provinces say they are willing to look at separating from the East. According to the poll, which was conducted in July, using random selection methods, 35.6 per cent of westerners agreed with the statement: "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country." How serious is that? In Quebec, measures of separatist sentiment often find about 37 per cent of Quebecers endorsing independence (though, at times, the numbers have risen as high as 55 per cent, as was the case with a poll conducted by the newspaper La Presse in July). http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/inde...28&pagenumber=1 To view this link, you need to sign up for a free membership. This is quite surprising! Interesting read.

That guy should get the Darwin Award this year. Wear a heavy coat and run from the police in the subway a few days after a bombing, swift.... That is a tragic scenario, but a sign of the times. I do not fault police procedure. This chap made bad choices but at least he had choices, unlike the people that died in the bombings. Unfortunate. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> he was brazilian and probably accustomed to a much warmer climate. The weather in the UK was probably chilly to him. how many people do you see rushing to the subway in the morning? Oh yeah...just about everyone who is late for work. Since it has already been determined that he was brazilian perhaps he has a difficult time understanding english, or maybe in his rush to get on the train he was more focused on making it on time and thought the PLAIN CLOTHES officers were shouting at someone else. The murder of this unarmed man is inexcusable. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> These damn cops should have know he was Brazilian and spoke his native tongue when they told him to stop! Damn the intolerant British for not having multi-lingual police!!!! Robin Williams used to say about British police: "police in England don't have guns, so it's "stop...or I'll say stop again"". Which is so true, because the British have always been a mellow bunch. If people started setting bombs off in my backyard, you know damn well, I'd be pulling out guns. Kudos to the British for defending their people with guns. If this Brazilian died, it's tough, but if he can't think before pulling a bonehead stunt, it is his fault. The police only did what they thought they had to, how can you possibly run them down for that? Casualties of the war on terror. If you have no hidden agenda, then stop when the police tell you to stop!!!!!

I am wondering is canadian conservative is actually THELIBERAL, trying to make Conservative supporters look silly. cc, you don't seem to know much about the CPC and you contradict yourself steadily. Maybe this poster is actually Belinda Stronach! LOL

This is just another way for the red CBC to divert attention from the real scandal! I think Grewal is a slug myself and was actually trying to buy himself a nice Liberal posting, but when he was not given any details of that posting, he decided to turn the table. He is an embarassment to the Cons and should be tossed aside. What kind of a dumbass would write Grewal a personal cheque? If this guy was actually dumb enough to write this cheque to Grewal, he should be ashamed of it! This story is way out there, but makes a nice tidbit for the lefties to argue about! Lots of corruption, but you have to have some perspective on the amount of cash here versus the sponsorship scandal.

Yes Slav if more MP's voted the way their constituents voted, what a wonderful parliment we would have, I doubt that will ever happen!

Ever heard of the national energy program or a recession??? None of these things were caused by Mulroney or the Conservatives. In fact the NEP was the handy work of the wingnut himself, Trudeau. One of the reasons I vote Conservative. HELLO!

That should be interesting for a change from you! I find it hard to believe myself, but if you truly are a Liberal, like Ontario & the majority of Canada, I will blindly believe you!

Looks like politcalman has made himself a new identity. How much do you get paid to advertise for this magazine?

Martin bought Belinda, and she was more than willing to go. She cared more about her personal career than representing her riding, she deserves every nasty word or bad publicity that gets thrown her way. It had nothing whatsoever to do with leadership. Refer to my earlier post on media portrayals, and how they oftentimes are wrong =p As for doing as they accuse others of doing, explain how exactly they could be responsible for the scandals and money-laundering they are currently accusing the Liberals of? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, I've seen Stephen Harper doing a lot of work for Calgary West since he's been making wild stabs at power. I wonder if he's even been to his riding since he's been elected. And since we're on the subject of buying Harper bought MacKay, he was more than willing to sell and only wanted to be part of a larger party and someday be it's leader. Of Course media portrayls are sometimes wrong, I mean Hell we can't have all Liberal media! The Conservatives wouldn't be able to launch massive misinformation campaigns! Where would the fun in that be? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, Harper should certainly be around his riding more... it seems he is never there, always trying to get votes in the East. Its sad that any political party HAS to be center or left-wing just to survive in Eastern Canada, it completely alienates the rest of the country. I personally am not nearly so supportive of the current CPC as I was when Day was running it, simply becase Day had balls. Add to that the fact Harper is slowly but surely going to simply turn the CPC into the next Liberal party, they can't win without being at least centrist. When that happens they wont be the right-wing alternative anymore. As for media bias for the Cons, agreed it exists out West but unfortunately that makes no difference in elections =) Not to mention our media outlets are primarily privately owned and operated, not funded by the ruling dictator. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're right Hawk! The CPC will lean towards the center to gain support from Ontario. As leader of the CPC, he doesn't spend much time in Calgary, but most westerners understand that to win an election, it has to be done in Onartio! The reason most of Ontario still supports the Libranos is that they are afraid that Harper is only pretending to be centrist until he gets elected! Also, the Libs have painted him to be such a Hitler clone, that his own mother couldn't trust the man they portray.

I find it interesting that only the NDP were fiscally prudent to not have a debt. Funny how CPC and Liberal supporters always claim that the NDP is not good with money management. Considering that both the CPC and the Liberals were well over $1 million in debt, these same CPC and Liberal supporters are obviously hypocrites. Because to me it seems that the CPC and the Liberals are the ones that can't handle money. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It tells you how agressive parties are in campaigning. During an election, NDP ads usually run off-peak times and do very little advertising. It also shows in the number of MP's they actually have. I think if a person was to look into it, many of their constituent offices are private homes of supporters. In my riding, their head office is at the home of their riding president. This would save loads of money for office rent, office supplies & phones & such. Maybe instead of fiscally responsible, they are simply cheap!!! If you look at the Libs & Cons, they advertise at peak times, go very extravagant with their ads and are quite a production. Come to think of it, NDP ads usually have a picture of Jack Layton and him talking about environment, nothing fancy! The Libs & Cons mostly have constituent offices, with several volunteers and enough phones to start a support hotline for Microsoft. No question the Libs & Cons are not very fiscally responsible when it comes to campaign spending, but they are also not cheaping out!

The reason I moved here was to get ahead not get by! This is the land of plenty and granted the Klein gov't has been lacking in some needed areas, but for the most part we have much more than other provinces. Klein has lost interest in provincial politics and is letting the province suffer somewhat because of it, but our "suffering" is still a better life than many provinces. The last election is proof that Klein support is falling and with it maybe the Conservative strangle hold on Alberta. Most of rural or urban Alberta is more to the right and if the Cons bring a viable candidate to the front, they will probably stay in. When business starts to decline, people tend to fall back to the left a bit and need more gov't intervention. During the boom we are now enjoying, most will vote for the Cons, because free enterprise lines most people's pockets here. I lived in Ontario during the Bob Rae years and what a pathetic excuse for a gov't. He was the undisputed king of mismanagement!!! I remember being at the skydome and it was full, 60,000 people jeering when Bob Rae's face was on the big screen!! He was a hated man by the time an election rolled around and the Cons were a welcome sight to the NDP fiasco! Actually, CrazyCanuck, like any place, you'll have good & bad. From my time in Ontario, I found there were very nice people and snobs, depending on where you were. For it's size, I felt very safe living there and found that, despite the huge diversity of cultures, it was a fairly friendly city! In contrast, if you were from the west, people did tend to treat you different than if you were from the east. Central Canada does seem somewhat intolerant of westerners. Quebec, I have found, are intolerant to most anglophones from outside of their border. I found many Quebecers to be very mean & ignorant if you wanted to communicate in English. The strippers in Quebec are a friendly bunch though, I can assure you!!!! They are also some of Canada's finest, although that is another topic!! By far, Newfies are the nicest people in the world!! Look at what they did for Sept 11th in Grand Falls(I think) when they housed some 5000 stranded plane passengers. Gotta love the Newfies!!!

In the words of Bruce Hutton, "100 years is enough". Maybe Alberta will heed his advice. As far as happy, I can't say that I am in the state this country is in!

60%-70% of the population lives in central canada. In a democracy (the last time I checked) one person equals one vote, therefore you would expect that central canada would dominate gov't decision making. I would be seriously concerned if the narrow minded policies of an Alberta party representing a province with maybe 10% of the country's population had control over the national agenda. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Who ever said anything about Alberta controlling the national agenda? If the CPC got in, why in the world would Alberta have control in anything? Ontario still has the largest population, so they would mostly decide. (Which is not fair IMO!) It is the narrow minded pukes like yourself, who see this as the "Alberta Party" not the CPC. If Harper plans to be PM, he has to win Ontario and do what they tell him to, simple as that. If anyone thinks differently, they'd be wrong! Spar, come in from left field, the sun has melted your brain or the seagulls have shit on you so bad, you cannot see ahead of you!

What ever happened to that annoying THELIBERAL guy, Greg must have banned him. I haven't seen him throwing his trash at the curb lately!! LOL

Take a look at Figure 1 in this document: http://www.bus.ualberta.ca/wcer/pdf/14.pdf The revenue from resources gave the Alberta government huge advantage compared to other provinces from 1975 to 1985. This advantage came at a time when all other provinces were racking up debt. This meant that by the time the oil prices dropped in the 90s, the Alberta provincial debt situation was significantly better than all other provinces (see Figure 4). Even though Alberta debt situation was the same as other provinces by 1995, no other province had a huge trust fund to draw upon. In short, without oil, Alberta would be no better off than Saskatchewan today. It all comes down to how much revenue/person the oil generates for Saskatchewan. I suspect it is much smaller than the Alberta gov't and was not developed until later which meant Saskatchewan did not get the huge boost that Alberta got from 75 through 85. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, the oil boom was in Saskatchewan in the 70's & 80's their gov't would not open it up. Estevan & Weyburn had oil back in the 60's, but they were limited to where they could drill by their gov't. Northern Sask. has yet to be touched and they know it is there. The NDP gov't calls it their protected land and they may have oil farther in the future because of it, but when Sask needs it the most, the gov't won't let them touch it. The socialist thinking is, if everyone isn't working for the gov't or on welfare, how can they control their income??? Have you ever driven in Sask? The forestry roads are in better shape in AB than some of their highways, but that welfare crack house needed to be built!!! M I S M A N A G E M E N T!!!

And by the way, if someone calls me a redneck, I take it as a compliment. To me a redneck is a hardworking, no BS, straight talker. No hidden agendas and wear their hearts on their sleeve. For you to use redneck as an insult or a derogatory term, you are no better than the people you love to refer to as bigots! At least we stick to our cause and don't flip flop on our beliefs like the mighty ditherer himself! Did you hear than everybody, the world's greatest human rights defender, using derogatory terms to call Ralph Klein and the right wing movement inbreeders and buggers! Now that is IRONY! Good job Black Dog!

Boy, you try and inject some humour in to the proceedings and this is what you get. Let me explain: I'll go slowly so you can keep up. 1) You praised ralph Klein for "sticking to the redneck ways." 2) Redneck is a derogatory term, usually used to describe backwoods hillbilly types. 3) Other than intolerance, other behaviours popularly associated with rednecks include inbreeding (ie. incest) and bestiality. 4) I opted to point out the irony in praising "redneck ways" which, presumably, would include such stereotypical redneck behaviours as inbreeding and sex with farm animals, in a debate over same sex marriage when both incest and bestiality are two components of the "slippery slope" argument against SSM. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I caught that you dimwit, what I simply meant aren't you an advocate for human rights and not insulting people with stereotypes???? Yet you have the balls to throw shit at me like calling rednecks inbreeders??? I believe if people have a cause, like you and your buddies tend to say they do, you should stick to it and make sense of what you're saying, not flipflopping like your last post was. So don't look down your nose at me you arrogant weiner! Irony or not, I was saying I was proud of Ralph Klein for sticking to his guns(aka redneck ways), and not bowing down to the mouthy ingrate minority cause jumpers. So, if you have something you believe in and post about it all the time, don't come back to me with your "ironic insults". Hasn't anyone told you, two wrongs don't make a right?

I thought you were against bestiality and incest? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Try making some sense in your posts? Ah shit, forgot who I was talking to...also, like Bill Engvall says "I didn't see your sign"!!!

It's an important distinction to make. You're making it sound like gays are demanding they be able to throw orgies in the pews. But the KoC are not the Catholic Church. In many cultures (including our own) heterosexual marriage is oppressive to women. What's your point? Alberta may stop solemnizing marriages: Klein So in order to avoid opening up the institution to gays, Klein wants to close it off to straight people (IIRC, the majority of marriages in Alberta are civil: that is non-religious). 'course, if "marriage" means a union of one man and one woman, any heterosexual civil union in Alberta would be, according to the the logic of SSM opponents, a de facto marriage. Gay civil unions, on teh other hand, would remain civil unions. What kind of tortured logic do these people employ? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I say good job Ralphy. Stick to the redneck ways!!

from here? Cybercoma, if you're going to respond to a post, at least try to read it first. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Because by implying people with religious beliefs are INTERFERING with the government and should be silenced would be the same thing as putting the nail in the coffin of religion. Religion is an integral part of some people's lives and protected as a HUMAN RIGHT, asking people to disregard their basic human rights for the sake of politics is pure nonsense. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, and I have no problem with people living THEIR LIVES as they see fit, so long as it doesn't interfear with other's rights. I can't remember who it was but another poster said it well in another thread, that Christians seem to think its their duty to police the world and to make all believe as they do, they can't seem to accept the fact that other people believe something they don't. That's why I chose a religion that respects the beliefs of others. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ok.... If you have no problem how others live their life, how about if the Hell's Angels sue a church for not letting them host their "event" whatever it may be? Do you think the church has the right to refuse? How about the neo-nazis renting a Knights of Columbus hall for their "events"? Most will agree, if the church refuses to have Hell's Angels in their church it is their right. If gays want the church, many of you will say it is oppression!!! Where is the line drawn? How long do you think it will be before they require schools to teach homosexuality in their sex ed courses?

Little or no effect on anyone who isn't gay? OMG! It is going to bring civil suits against anyone who disagrees with them. If they wanna be married in a church and get denied, they will sue. If someone morally believes ssm is wrong, that should be their right! Not anymore!!!! So for you to say it will have no effect is pure crazy. This will have no end, it opens the door to more reverse racism towards opposers of ssm.

Much of what you say gets lost on them Jerry. To point out all of Martin's flaws would take an evening and a whole lot of bandwidth and it would be wasted on the Liberal zombies here on this forum. I agree that Martin's track record given to anyone but him would destroy their career, yet he seems to flourish. It amazes me the fear put on so many people to blindly follow a lowlife like PM, just to avoid voting for someone of class & moral fiber. Ethics mean nothing to this man. As for ssm, what a sad day!

Again I ask, what, pray tell, is their next cause? We have all conceded to be dominated by the minority, what else can you demand of us to prove equality for all shapes and sizes?

What a shock, a Liberal with morals!! I say good for him! Listening to your constituents is why he was voted in there! http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/Article...?hub=topstories