Leader Circle

Unlike many Liberal & NDP voters, I vote for the party who shares my beliefs! I know that sounds strange to some of you, but I don't think strategic voting does any good. It's funny when two parties with several differences would do such a thing to stop one party.

I am quite happy to be the polar opposite of Blackdog, although he is way more "out there"

This topic is pointless, for those centralized gov't lovers, they will always feel what belongs to Alberta, belongs to the ROC, except if you're talking about Ontario or Quebec, because they are the official no share provinces! According to the constitution. Canadian Constitution NON-RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES, FORESTRY RESOURCES AND ELECTRICAL ENERGY Laws respecting non-renewable natural resources, forestry resources and electrical energy 92A. (1) In each province, the legislature may exclusively make laws in relation to (a) exploration for non-renewable natural resources in the province; ( development, conservation and management of non-renewable natural resources and forestry resources in the province, including laws in relation to the rate of primary production therefrom; and © development, conservation and management of sites and facilities in the province for the generation and production of electrical energy. Export from provinces of resources (2) In each province, the legislature may make laws in relation to the export from the province to another part of Canada of the primary production from non-renewable natural resources and forestry resources in the province and the production from facilities in the province for the generation of electrical energy, but such laws may not authorize or provide for discrimination in prices or in supplies exported to another part of Canada. Authority of Parliament (3) Nothing in subsection (2) derogates from the authority of Parliament to enact laws in relation to the matters referred to in that subsection and, where such a law of Parliament and a law of a province conflict, the law of Parliament prevails to the extent of the conflict. Taxation of resources (4) In each province, the legislature may make laws in relation to the raising of money by any mode or system of taxation in respect of (a) non-renewable natural resources and forestry resources in the province and the primary production therefrom, and ( sites and facilities in the province for the generation of electrical energy and the production therefrom, whether or not such production is exported in whole or in part from the province, but such laws may not authorize or provide for taxation that differentiates between production exported to another part of Canada and production not exported from the province. "Primary production" (5) The expression "primary production" has the meaning assigned by the Sixth Schedule. Existing powers or rights (6) Nothing in subsections (1) to (5) derogates from any powers or rights that a legislature or government of a province had immediately before the coming into force of this section. (49) I am not a lawyer, maybe FTA can help me out here, but that seems to say, the natural resources are the Provincial responsibility and there right to make laws to govern it. I don't know how else to say it. If the oil is in Alberta, it belongs to them. If you read more about equalization, it doesn't really cover resources. I think this should settle disputes about who the oil & it's revenues belong to.

^^^^^^ Well said.

I think your history is a bit muddled. Alberta came calling when Trudeau(not a word I like using)royally screwed the west and Ontario(the continual have) province told them to take a hike, so for Albertans to be anti anything towards Ontario is par for the course. I am sorry you feel that way about Alberta KJ, maybe you should leave Edmonton and meet some of the people that remember the tough days and maybe your attitude would change! Alberta is the only place in Canada left where you can truly be free financially, and not dependant on the government and that pisses off the ROC. Yes, the oil is what made Alberta rich, why would anyone want to take that away from them? What is wrong with people having money? Is that a crime now? Tax them to death, but make sure they have great social programs to back that up. Just doesn't fly here.

Are you sure it wasn't your driving ? And do you realize that you're driving OUR cars ? ( Not really, but I'm using roughly the same logic that people use for natural resourced to manufactured goods produced in Ontario. I have never heard anybody here refer to the auto plants as 'our factories', but the time is coming when this will happen. ) Actually, My mega cab dodge(we like the big trucks here in Alberta..LOL) was built in Mexico, not in Ontario. The constitution says the resources belong to the provinces so, I cannot see where that point gets cloudy. Quebec certainly won't be sharing their hydro dollars with NS or NB or anyone in between, so why should Alberta share their money that way? The problem MH is not the equalization payment itself, it is the basis of it. The"have nots" want the payment to be based on the amount of oil revenue and that is where Albertans have a problem. The could base it on anything but the oil & nobody would complain. Albertans stake their claim to the oil, nobody is going to take that away again.

I love how some Albertans are so deperate to find reasons to be angry at Ottawa that they have to take on grudges for things that never happened to them. The 'airplane' contracts in the 80s were supposed to goto Manitoba - not Alberta. I am sorry, my mistake. linky "Western frustration came to a head when Ottawa awarded the CF-18 repair contract to Montreal-based Bombardier, not to the Winnipeg-based firm preferred by the Defence Department for technical and cost-related reasons. The CF-18 affair cracked the Tory alliance between moderate Quebec nationalists and Prairie conservatives." It just reminds you of this type of thing, the battle of East vs West!

In this politically correct world, putting racial spin on a news story sells!! It reminds the uninformed that we right wingers of the world are truly racists & bigots. It has become "old hat" for many, Stephen Harper included and it is nice to see him take a stand and throw a bone to local media groups like A-Channel London the other day!

Ralph is responding to a promise by the Conservatives in the election campaign to NOT include oil royalties in their equalization payments, he is merely trying to remind them of that. Sask, BC, NS & NFLD have already asked for the same, just didn't make as much news as Ralphy saying it. link Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert made a similar threat earlier this month in the form a letter delivered after the Tories' inaugural federal budget. Calvert reminded Prime Minister Stephen Harper of his campaign pledge during last winter's election to exclude non-renewable resource revenue from the formula for calculating equalization payments to the "have-not" provinces. Calvert was disappointed the promise wasn't reaffirmed in the budget. And he warned Harper there'll be a price to pay for reneging. This is Quebec & Ontario's ploy to try to get some love from Harper and would shore up support in those provinces and I am sure Quebec would say this was part of their fiscal imbalance. The problem Alberta has with all of this is, it is reminiscent of the airplane deal that was taken from Alberta and given to appease Quebec by Mulroney. Hopefully Harper won't forget where he came from!

Toronto StarThe column is rather comical, and is no better than the opinions one can read on this forum. Comical? Well, how else to react to Gwyn's following comment: My own guess is that English-Canada's, Toronto-centred punditry is scratching its head because its no better informed than anyone else. --- Paul Wells had a long piece on his weblog about Harper and the media. The piece is pointed, detailed and reasonable. But Wells misses the forest for the trees, or the elephant for the folding Swedish furniture. Politically astute Canadians (ie. political junkies) now have the Internet and so a new way to get information about what's going on. Sure, we usually rely on frontline journalists for the facts - although even that is changing. Who would have thought, 10 years ago, that Wells would be posting for all to see his long piece linked above? Moreover, there's alot more Canadians who give a passing glance, if that, to politics. By his actions, Harper is going over the standard journalists' heads and speaking to Canadians. What Harper is doing is a good thing because the national media are biased in favour of anyone besides the Conservatives. If Canadian's had listened to the national media we would have ignored for the most-part the colossal waste of taxpayer's money through the sponsorship program, the flawed gun registry and the many other wasteful programs started by the Liberals under both Chretien and Martin. We would have had another majority Liberal government had the national media had their way. I'm not so sure the national media is Liberal supporters either. Just look at the hard time Martin got on the way out. I think our media is skewed hard left, (like the CBC) and they are more critical of everything that is run by a right or right of center fiscal governments. Nobody in government could amuse the national media. They are like the nurses & teachers unions, you can never make them happy and the quality of their work will always be poor!

I can honestly say, after reading this, you meet all the requirements of a true hardcore lefty!(ignorance) Layton should be calling anyday!! Good luck to you!

This is true BD, but just like the war extension vote, he was going to respect the moral majority. I know that seems like a noble thought considering our past governments!!

Correction: a soldier's job is to protect his/her country and carry out his/her governments policies and, if neccesasry, to give his or her life to do so. In other words, the possibility of death is a big part of the job. Given this expectation, I again have to ask why the death of a single soldier is such a tragedy. I hate to say this, but I find myself agreeing with you BD! I haven't looked back, but do you support the mission BD? Nocrap, why do you feel the need to slander PM Harper every chance you get? DId Greg not tell us to refrain from name calling and slanderous comments? Yet, you continue to spout your garbage about Bush following & war mongering(did you forget who sent the troops?)and I start asking myself why Greg has not put a stop to someone so useless to this forum?? Maybe you should grab your soapbox and head for Young & Bloor and go preach to some like minded Harper haters like yourself!!

I find it amazing how easy it is to be painted a racist & a bigot in this pathetic left wing world. I read an article recently in the western standard, which basically said, to become left wing the only qualifications you need is ignorance to the truth. I know this sounds harsh, but given the right spin by our news media today, it is easy to be protective like a left winger. I will give you a for instance, if this was a headline on CBC," Gwyn Morgan, former CEO of Encana Corp, has been nominated by Stephen Harper to chair the public appointments commission. With this job comes the responsibility of overseeing public appointments and bringing down punishment to Jamaican gangs and strip poor single mothers of their welfare status.", wouldn't you be inclined to be against him and the Conservatives?? I know this is a drastic comment, but it's no worse than branding him for being a racist, like our media has. And because they called him a racist, with the slick job pointing out his connection to "bigoil"(evil people THEY are), the common public automatically dislikes him, Only because of media spin!! If they actually got to know Gwyn Morgan, they would find out he was Pro Kyoto, very environmentally minded, and quite an accomplished man and was willing to serve Canada for one dollar a year!!! Yet the media tends to leave out the important stuff and just call him a racist(as many of the lefties who have no idea what his job was supposed to be!). So, as you can see, with the media today, it's easy to become a lefty!!

I think Geoff is right here, we may end up with a few senators with agendas and something to prove, but the senate we currently have is a bunch of old fogies with no real purpose, but soaking Canadians with huge salaries.

I hope you made at least $500,000 to pay a tax bill that large!!! Do you have NO expenses? Never worth every penny!

Your correct it is not as simple as people make it out to be. However, what makes you believe that in order to compete internationaly Canada needs to "make sure that all Canadians have an opportunity to prosper". This is simply unproven. There are many nations smaller than Canada who thrive internationally. It is equally valid to say that some provinces, freed of the shackles of having to support unproductive provinces, could compete better on the world stage. Equalization is akin to welfare for poorer provinces, and that woudl be fine if it was a temporary situation which turned a equlization recipient into a equalization contributor. However, history has shown that for the most part this is not true. The reciepients end up being long term financial drains and perpetuates an attitude of entitlement. This has nothing to do with the size of our nation, but the strength of our people. If Alberta, or even Ontario, want to bow out of helping the other provinces, then they have no right to expect an equal voice in decisions that affect all Canadians. The resources belong to ALL OF US. The Prime Minister is SUPPOSED to represent ALL OF US. If non-Albertan or non-Ontarian soldiers are expected to go where he tells them, should he not represent THEIR CANADIAN interests too? What hapened to Confederation? These resources you speak of belong to ALBERTANS as it says in the constitution, don't skew the facts. As Canadians, Albertans should not be against aiding their fellow Canadians, but not to the extent that Quebec wants. If the governments of Quebec, Sask, & Manitoba would try not to employ half their population, they might actually have money. Instead, they choose to live in a communist state and expect the rest of Canada to dole it out for them. What the former gov't wants to do to Alberta, happened in NS & NFLD with the fishery. They knew fish stocks would disappear, but handed out licenses to as many people as they could, pretending to think they would not over-fish it. Well.... guess what happened!!! The fish stocks disappeared and these people came to the government for handouts and Ottawa handed it out(TAGS) and made the east a have not part of the country! What better way to control a province than take over there resources and cut them back to a fixed income. Communsim in it's purest form and what do you get in return for handing out "free" money? VOTES! Paint NFLD & NS red! Alberta mostly opted out of handouts, even when times were harsh(NEP) and vowed to survive and THEY DID! Now they are flourishing greatly and it pisses off the powers that be(Quebec). So nocrap, your theory of taking it from Alberta, will not fly. They got screwed by Ottawa too many times before.

Book. I think that from your original post we may have gone off topic a bit. However, I believe that you are speaking from some personal pain. I am also fifty-something so can empatize with your plight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have worked most of your life, perhaps for one company, and now find yourself unemployed at a time in your life when it is more difficult to compete for jobs in a youth-orientated society. You are now in financial trouble and risk losing your home, but still a decade away from being able to collect CPP. From where you sit the recent announcement of the low unemployment rate, would be the last sraw. Governments like to share these statistics because it means that they are doing a good job. However, I see the same thing everyday....long line-ups of people all vying for a handful of vacant positions. University grads driving cab and teachers working at McDonalds. It's got to be scarey. There are no easy answers, but perhaps posting here is a way of venting your frustration. I can understand your frustration Book, but what I can't understand is young people who refuse to leave home for work. If more unemployed young people would leave their homes and come to Alberta, there would be jobs for people like yourself. Instead, these same young people, will hang out at home and wait for their government to bail them out. That I have a problem with! I also know people in similar positions as yourself and alot of what holds them back is stubborness. I am not saying this is the case with you, but the wife's aunt, she refuses any help from her family and prefers to live in absolute poverty. Sometimes, you just can't help people who refuse to help themselves. Hope your situation improves book, regardless what people will tell you, we righties DO have a heart and don't wish misfortune on anyone.

I don't think we got below minus 30 this year. I have seen minus 50, but not this year. Just incase you're wondering, here in Grande Prairie, in the midst of breakup, companies are still hiring. You don't need to be on unemployment! I am surprised they stuck you in Helmut and paid you only $14.25/hr. They pay more than that here at Tim Hortons. If you were in Helmut this year for the first time, you probably never got to see the days of crossing the train bridge to get there! That was always interesting! Fort St. John is a tough market to break in to, Grande Prairie is a better place to find work, the only problem is housing here is tough. There is nowhere to rent or buy. This place is short of alot of workers.

These same people who are never wrong gave Mulroney 2 majority governments and in 84 Canada's largest ever majority gov't!! I think Harper will get his turn at majority, much to the dismay of people like you!

The Kyoto Accord does more damage to factories in Ontario than it does to Alberta. The ones who are fighting it are from Ontario. I have seen 2 large Oil Company CEO's say it was a good idea. Those being Encana Corp & Husky Energy. I never saw the CEO from Alcan agreeing with it!!! The problem with the Kyoto is, it is a futile effort to reduce emission, leaving the richer companies a way out of actually reducing, by ponying up the doe! Alberta, has more than complied in many ways and flaring is a minor dent in what toxic emissions actually do. If you look at Epcor's coal project, it would surprise you how they have cut emissions. The reason to be against Kyoto is it's huge shortcomings in reduction of emissions. An effective plan for reduction is needed, not ratifying a bad one to begin with!!

I would argue it is not a bad thign to protest when Human rights are being violated, and I would however argue it is a bad thign to treat rights so frivolously that we can mock people who defend them. You have made no qualifications to what sorts of people are being defended or actions only that lefties like to protest against anything that comes remotely close to infringing on Human rights, I would rather see protest against Rights violations then see rights violations themselves. Insults are the ammunition of the unintelligent - do not use them. It is okay to criticize a policy, decision, action or comment. Such criticism is part of healthy debate. It is not okay to criticize a person's character or directly insult them, regardless of their position or actions. Derogatory terms such as "loser", "idiot", etc are not permitted unless the context clearly implies that it is not serious. Rule of thumb: Play the ball, not the person (i.e. tackle the argument, not the person making it). I suggests that you refrain from making such implications, they are implications you are not capable of making and you are not capable of defending. It would be just as inflamatory for me to say all right wingers need a global massacre because they like to see children being killed, cut the B.S Well I think this would best describe the sentiments of the majority of Canadians wether left right or center. The Truth is that "Free speech is a right that all Canadians enjoy; Canadians also have the right to voice their opinions... but we regret the publication of this material in several media outlets. While we understand this issue is divisive, we wish that people be respectful of the beliefs of others. And we commend the Canadian Muslim community for voicing its opinion peacefully, respectfully and democratically. I do not belive the goal of the positionis to oppose tradition, it happens to be that Gay Marrige is apparently not traditional and by supporting Gay Marrige you are supporting something that tends to go against "Traditional Values" I am afraid you are already Starting with a mis charachterization. But for that Matter Canada is not Governed by Tradition, Canada is not ruled by Religion Canada is a country Governed by the people under a set of Laws, not under a religion and not under a tradition but by the people under laws, laws that should be followed. It is also funny that you blame the left for fearing "Irrate Muslims", when is it not most Conservatives who in a fear of terrorists, generally stereotyped as very Irrate Muslims, have violated their own laws of the land Of course in this case the right is very quick to argue it is justified, it is justified to violate such laws. But when the left asks for some tolerance to be shown, some respect to be shown, you have a problem with it. You will find that one of many things that seperates us from tyranical despots tends to be toleration and moderation, and yet in the fight against such people were are throwing that to the dogs. Well the left isn't so monolithic so that everyone holds the same opinions, so I am sure they can figure out their own personal beliefs for themselves, and they can take action based on that. Damned if you do damned if you don't, there are hundreds of millions of people in North America, probabley half of which could be carachterized as being left wing, it is not neccesary, practical, or even benificial to ensure that all these people walk, talk, and act like each other...who knew lefties the defenders of individuality. That is such a load, I think the better way would be for you to take a one month vacation. Slav, Opinions are still allowed on this forum. Most of this was not direct insults to lefties, it was a generalization. I was merely telling Monty that many lefties on this forum are not worth arguing with, because they can't see the forest for the trees. How about this Slav, I will not deny your ability to have an opinion and you do the same??? If Greg does not like what I say then he will suspend me, it's not for you to decide. You are a tarnished lefty with a hardon for people not from your side of the political spectrum.

I don't get it? First: what difference would it make if I was? And if I was gay, why would I be insulted? Because on the internet, to a 14 year old white kid, being gay is a huge insult, thus he thought he was burning you really bad. Ever play multiplayer video games, BD? I feel a slapping match coming on. All I ask of you BD, is no biting or hair pulling ok? Thanks!

Monty, You are wasting your time on these left wingers! These are people who would protest anything remotely close to infringing on someone's rights. (Most of these same people were slapped around in school for being a little off) They will staunchly defend a cause, not for the validity of the cause, mainly because they need a cause! Yet when an important thing like free speech versus running scared from crazed muslims, they bow down in fear and denounce anyone who would dare print some stupid ass cartoons, that has the whole muslin world up in arms! Their need to argue against traditions in marriage or religion is trumped by fear of attack(by irate muslims)! It certainly begs the question....how does a rookie lefty distinguish causes to support or protest? They have no clear path or leader, they merely jump from cause of the day to the latest "human rights" trendy protest without following anything through! Confusing enough to make ignoring them to be the better way!!!

For those of you considering the Western Standard a rag, check out the London Free Press and you will find the real definition of RAG! Oh BTW, Harper is the Devil.... Harper is the Devil!!!