Craig Read

and i should have added that fully 40 % of PEI's revenue comes from transfers !!! This is sad and must end.

Canada is a small country. Ice, rock, trees and scrub do not mean it is habitable. Only a few areas are economically viable. This is the reality. I prefer to live in the real world, where real problems are met by practical solutions. You can wax poetic about native indian populations, rewrite history so that white men are criminals and the rest saints, and make up myths perpetuating your feeling of greatness and grandeur. Yes trees, lakes and such are nice and quaint. Most nations have such. But the current political and economic makeup of the country makes no sense. It does not conform to reality, the economic-political makeup which actually exists nor on the problems faced by a small, strung out population [like Chile's] in which income re-distribution has corrupted the proper functioning of both economics and politics. This is the problem that underpins the adolescent nature of Canadian politics.

California receives about 100.000 or more illegal immigrants per year. 50 % of illegal immigrants and / or their children never graduate from high school. 10 % or less spend 1 or more years in college. 25 % of prisoners are Mexican. On average the state LOSES $50.000 over the lifetime of the immigrant - state benefits vs. taxes paid. Spanish only schools, counseling, feel good therapy, renaming of streets into Spanish, entire gov't depts speaking Spanish, bi-lingual everything and the rewriting of US history [Mexico is good, US is bad], ensures that these people will remain poor, out of place and anti-progress. Lie-beralism's great Post Modern experiment is in California and it is failing. Assimilation works. Back to basics, toss out the PM nonsense and integrate these people into the mainstream so they pay taxes, feel proud to be American and speak English. Otherwise nothing but misery will result. And yes, stop illegal immigration and force the Mexican gov't to reform and stop exporting its poor brown skinned native Indian population - this policy is racism by any other name.

Do you enjoy being so wrong ? Less oil ? The entire infrastructure is being rebuilt, before the war Iraq was producing [most of it contra-UN sanctions] about 1.5 mbp day of oil. The amount is the same and trending now to 2 million. So much for that idea. The Iraqi people by all objective ie. non-BBC non CBC non CNN, reports, firmly believe that their future will be better with US occupation. The fact that the Lie-beral media goes out of its way to find dissatisfaction and present all events as a negative is disingenuous. Iraqi's want freedom, a proper functioning government and media and access to their oil for themselves not for a clan that butchers, imprisons and destroys. Other Arab nations will have to follow suit. I believe that the Western Enlightenment tradition is vastly superior to the tribal, superstitious pre-modern claptrap that one finds in the Arab world. It takes time, patience and intelligence to rebuild countries. This is why the Lie-berals should stay out of the way.

Well i think the resentment is already there. I live in Toronto and we export $20 billion a year in taxes to the rest of the country, work longer hours, put up with high traffic congestion and a crumbling infrastructure and ever higher taxes - and we watch pork project get thrown to PEI, and other areas of the country that should support themselves. If PEI is a province, Oshawa should be a city state - after all Oshawa has the GM plant and its economic size is at least as large as PEI's total economy. Re-confederation is necessary - too many anachronisms exist in the 21rst century that are legacies of 19th century thought. I do agree that the Potato farmers on Ann's little island will not like being told what is reality - namely that their large farm is not a significant part of Canada's political or economic system. But so be it. The fact that PEI carries such clout on the national stage with its shriveled economy and population necessitates change.

Swedish voters did the obvious, the necessary and the sound - they rejected forthrightly the imposition of the EU's socialised economic model - embedded in the Euro. I lived in Europe for 10 years - for some economies a common currency makes sense - but without significant reforms and without a Constitution that would prohibit Fiscal integration it is dangerous. Good for Sweden to reject this. The only Caveat is that the Swedish Parliament can still decide to COERCE Euro acceptance. Let's hope they don't. Now the Brits must send the same message. The EU will not lightly recover from this.

Drivel. Cite one report, study from any nation that supports that Trade is bad. You will not find one, unless it is written by vested domestic interest groups, intent on protectionism, to ensure their industry's and company's continued market dominance. The 3rd world needs trade, and liberalised tariffs. If Canada had any common sense it would unilaterally reduce its agro and textile tariffs.

The problem is that 130.000 people apparently receive largesse from the rest of Canada due to their provincial status - from a bygone era. How can one defend a small farming community's ability to act on the Federal scene as a co-equal when its population is less than the Oshawa region's and its economy smaller than a large neighbourhood in Toronto ? This is over politicisation at its worst. The problem is Confederation - in short a new deal is needed and PEI should be recognised for what it is - an insignificant island with some golf courses.

Amen brother. I was at ground zero this year on 9-11. Pretty moving spectacle. Wreaths from all over the world cover the one side of Independence Square. Many said 'New York City Capital of the World' or sthg like that in their native language 'Capitale del mundo' etc. People openly weeping, mourning and talking to themselves about 9-11. Some were giving lectures on its lessons, parents telling their children what happened, and most reading silently the millions of words of remembrance for the fallen that now occupy the site on all sides. I would urge anyone who can make it, to go to NYC and see this memorial. You will say to yourself 'Never again'.

Saudi Wahabbism is a variant of Islam and teaches intolerance and that the heathen, non - believers must be converted or killed. Tiny Bin Laiden and his group manifest this theory. Not all of Islam is violent but as I stated i have not heard of a Muslim Mullah condemning terror anywhere in the world. Silence means they are just as culpable.

Canada can take a lead and unilaterally negotiate ending protectionist subsidies with 3rd world nations. This would be a laudable and more worthy foreign policy goal than handing over $1 billion dollars to African regimes to waste.

Given the current socio-political and economic reality of Canada why is PEI - a large farm in the St. Lawrence with a shocking population of 300.000 farmers a province ? Why isn't Toronto then a City State ? Or Calgary ? Why isn't the Okanagan Valley a province ? Or perhaps Hamilton ? How can one explain the absurdity of shoveling money, projects and political pork to 300.000 farmers on a small island ? Sure Ann of Green Gabels was a groovy chick, but PEI should have another status - not a co-Province with Provincial powers and worst - unending pork.

Surprise Surprise the EU killed the recent WTO talks in Cancun. No compromise on their 'culture' which is underpinned by agribusiness. Sounds to me like blatant protectionism to discriminate and kill. Oh but hold on, isn't the EU more moral than the rest of the world, more caring, compassionate and willing to solve poverty ? Please. =============== Delegates said the Europeans agreed to back off on three of the proposals but insisted they be granted one. That was unacceptable to many developing nations. The announcement that the talks had failed appeared to take some delegates by surprise. One journalist ran into a briefing by U.S. trade officials, seeking a reaction. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Josette Shiner looked startled and said she would look into it. In the hallways, delegates said the meeting's chairman, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, was telling delegations of the talks' failure. The failure was a significant blow to the WTO and to efforts to regulate the world's trade. In 1999, talks in Seattle, Washington, collapsed amid violent street protests and divisions between rich and poor nations. ==================

You ignore all of the other postings and evidence. For the 3rd world to lift itself out of poverty it needs free trade on textiles and agriculture. Protectionism as I outlined in this thread kills poor people. Go away to some other forum where marxists play.

If you want to solve poverty in the 3rd world do the following: 1. 3rd world countries unilaterally if needed, start to bring down their tariffs. 2. 3rd world nations which account for 11 % of their trading volume can institute freer trade amongst themselves. 3. Developed nations must reduce tariffs on key 3rd world exports - the EU is the champion 3rd world killer. 4. Read De Soto's 'The Mystery of Capital' - it is the greatest work yet on why the 3rd world remains miserable. His ideas include; -More capital is sitting in illegal assets such as property and sqautting rights than exists in developed countries stock exchanges - about $9.2 Trillion -If gov'ts in the 3rd world did what the now developed countries did 100 years namely recognise property rights for the poor, it would immediately create capital, mortagage and saleable securities for their countries -Poor people in the 3rd world are not lazy or stupid, in fact they have invented their own forms of regulations, markets and social responsibilities that must be legally recognised by the State. Politicians and of course lawyers are against property and capital reform for reasons of vested interests. The poor have all the capital they need. We need to bring the extra-legal world into the legal. De Soto and his team spent 12 years and investigated povery everywhere. He wants property to be legalised and capital will form on top of that. Give US history and capital accumulation he is right. Such a development would be worth more than foreign aid spending over 150 years.

I agree. The Acronyms at the Fed level anyways usually get things wrong. 6 months after 9-11 - Atta the leader of the hi-jackings was mailed a Visa extension. I joke not. The Press uncovered this idiocy and I hope some people were fired. How can gov't be so incompetent as to issue Visa's to dead terrorists who's faces were planted on every media outlet in the world ??? Security is paid by the taxpayer to the Federal government and the 'Hobbesian' contract implicitly and explicitly demands that citizens are protected from force, threats and external coercion. The US gov't failed, but no one at a high level lost her/his job. This is reprehensible.

No because you are a narrow minded socialist, who has a simpleton's view of the world - namely the US is stupid, everyone else is good. This is foolhardy. No other nation has displayed in times past nor has the capability in times present to protect liberty through international fora, self interest and moral vision. Canada certainly adds nothing to the debate. What does Canada stand for but to free ride and criticise US activity.

The fact that no one has a military worthy of projection outside of Britain and the US is cause for dejection. Turkey backed out because southern Turkey's economy was thriving under the UN sanctions. The Turks were making billions off of smuggled product and the most coveted job in southern Turkey during the 1990s was a lorry driver. Turkey did not want to lose its precious trade. So much for high ideals. Terror will be beaten with force and power. The Gliberals, and Dumbocruds thought love would conquer Russia and China. No Force and military strength destroyed Communism. A lesson in history that the Lie-berals might heed.

First he will ask the UNO if self defence is okay. When the answer is negative, he will phone the President and make an appeal based on friendship. He will be surprised when no one in Washington answers his calls. The Gliberal party - national socialist hacks. If this was 1940 Martin and Chretien would be telling us that Hitler was reasonable and could be 'controlled' without violence.

Why is PEI a province - answer the question ? As opposed to Toronto or Calgary which basically fund the country. PEI accesses pork, political privilege and grants. I fail to see why it is a province and why anyone would post something about so insignificant a place.

40 nations supported the war in Iraq including 16 of 19 NATO members. So what are you talking about ? do you know what you are talking about ? If not for the US who would have freed 35 countries in the past 25 years ? The UN ? Sure ask Central Africans how wonderful the UN was in Rwanda and the Congo. Or maybe ask the Chileans during Allende's disastrous reign of power. Or perhaps ask the Poles during the 1980s as martial law was declared. Get a new idea man. Your shopworn nonsense grows thin.

Trudeau was a typical liberal dunderhead. Prancing with dictators, unable to even spell economics and ignorant of great power politics and what comprises not only the wealth but the prestige of nations. Only in Canada would such a disaster be feted.

Why is PEI a province ? It is a large farm with a small population.

Whatever fleabag. You offer no proof that state sponsored tariffs or land ownership works. In my above posts i give out details and sources and solutions in contradistinction to your peurile ravings.

Gov'ts are always late to react to reality. In Canada private systems of health care are outlawed yet 30% of treatment is private. Politicians are usually 10 years or more behind the times in the laws they craft. Vested interests and the legal profession always oppose changes to the codified legal system. Health care can be more efficiently run with competition, with the state being the insurer. This would allow both private and public systems to run. If the public system is better [as Romanow states] people will use it. If not private practices will flourish. I have said it a million times and will say it again- wage and price controls simply never work. Socialised health care is no exception.