Springer

Huxley... I'm not even going to bother responding to that. This isn't the place for a history/economics lesson, nor would you read it anyway...and besides, I'm fresh out of crayons. Waldo... There were five studies, confirmation of which you should be able to Google up in about 10 or so seconds. And, yes it is pertinent. That useless SOB has singlehandedly cost Canadians tens of billions in lost revenues, and many billions more lost by both levels of governments in royalties and taxes. Lost due to our oil being sold at hefty discounts of $20/bbl and more because of the bottleneck caused due to lack of pipeline facilities. He's most sorry excuse for a president I've ever seen. But then again, what the hell to do Canada's left care anyway, eh? Gots to fight AGW before we all burn to a crisp!!! Keeeeripes!

Huxley, bending over for them? Please explain.

And BTW... Today marks the 7th anniversary of TransCanada Pipeline's application to build the Keystone. Seven GD years, including five studies, all of which gave it approval. You wanna see a leader play toady to the rich and powerful, in this case the Enviro Millionaire Wannabe Do-gooder (Hollywood) Jet Set, look no further than that darling of the Liberal Lefties R Us Bootlickers Society, Obama. As one POed Democrat Senator said, to paraphrase: "It took us less time to fight WW2 than it's taken to make a decision on this pipeline!" What a pathetic farce that SOB turned out to be!!!

69cat... Nobody frets a conspiracy theory like a lefty, eh? Some of 'em are still convinced Bush was behind 9/11. They love to obsess over Harper's supposed connections to Canada's rich and powerful corporate elites. Fact is, one need look no further than Chretien, Martin and Rae in that regard. Indeed, Harper is likely the least beholding to Bay Street of any PM since Diefenbaker. He is certainly the least impressed and intimidated by wealth and power that I have ever seen.

To put it bluntly, security agencies don't give a rat's butt about your emails unless: a ) they contain child pornography, and b ) you're talking terrorist s***. They have enough on their plates without wasting their incredibly valuable time on anything else of absolutely no consequence to the issues on the table in front of them. As Argus astutely put it, Google et al collect a helluva lot more of your personal data of any consequence than the likes of the NSA or CSIS would care to waste five seconds on.

Indeed, most American observers of Canadian politics would describe...and some have...Harper as to the left Bill Clinton.

Argus... Particularly liked the reference to Google! Right on! :-)

Actually, there is an oversight panel...three judges I believe. As opposed to politicians with axes to grind, and whom have a rather poor history of keeping their mouths shut, leaks wise.

Any serious analysis of C-51 will conclude that CSIS has been given updated means to counter terrorism threats...means that have been standard practice in many other western nations for years. We live in the world of the Internet now; that's the reality. And the likes of ISIS and Al Qaida exploit it for everything they are worth...successfully, as we have come to learn all too painfully. Expecting CSIS or the RCMP to counter the very real threats posed by ever modernizing 21st century technology with 20th century tools is, frankly, just plain naïve and silliness. And if they can use those new tools to also track down the vile vermin who peddle child pornography and exploitation, more power to them!

Metaphorically... People are testing the water right now. Like a day at the beach, nice and sunny, hot out, blankets laid out, and the lake looks very inviting. And then they dip a toe in the 10 degree water, and that's the end of that. Ask anyone (outside of the imaginary world of forums like this one) what concerns them most: An ethically challenged Mike Duffy's issues with expenses? Or the safety and the security of their neighborhoods? Duffy was a distraction from the real world (outside the Ottawa Press Gallery's little club.) Security and safe streets are all about the real world.

Recent poll on CTV's main site... How can Canada best address the migrant crisis? Accepting more refugees 1528 (23 %) Fighting Islamic State 3580 (55 %) Sending aid 1415 (22 %) And the immediately following poll... After seeing the haunting image of the drowned boy, do you feel more compelled to help? Yes 2392 (32 %) No 5099 (68 %)

Michael... I wouldn't be too hasty with that assumption. The more the NDP and LPC leaders entrench themselves in an open floodgate approach, in stark contrast to security screening/back checking caution taken by the CPC, the more of a deal breaker this becomes for voters. Europe is quickly becoming a powder keg looking for a place to happen. And five weeks is an eternity in politics.

Just a little bit gone off the rails, ya think, folks? (My favorite was: ISIS inspired terrorists - no big deal. Duck hunters with guns - now that's scary! You guys never disappoint, eh? Even managed to invoke a little Nazism.) Anyway... I'm starting to think this is going to be one of those elections where the silent majority has the final say. For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth calling for opening the floodgates to as many refugees as possible, it is my hunch that probably half the country is not on this same page. Couple recent online polls at CTV certainly suggested as much. Security is a major issue for Canadians. And, clearly, only one leader understands that.

Okay, so let's make terrorism, particularly the home grown kind, the elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about, because it's too scary. That's a mature approach, eh?

Long time ago, I, too, had an idealistic approach to politics. Ideological purity and good manners were high on my list. Preston Manning and about 50 other Reformers turned up for their first stint in parliament on opposition benches, bound and determined to set a new tone of conduct in the House, and in Ottawa. Within several months it became patently clear that the Ottawa Press Gallery was already bored with them, and thus coverage of the Reform Party dropped almost entirely off the political radar. We live in the age of the nine second sound bite, context be damned! And thusly, if an MP is going to open his/her mouth to say something, it damn well better be thought out first...or the MSM will cram it up their's...and their party's, and their party's leader's...butt until hell won't have any more of it, every 15 minutes of air time for days on end. Loose lips sink ships, and all that rot. That's the reality of politics in these days of the Internet and social media. In the end, when historians pontificate about the things that finally brought down democracy, the sane ones will include the modern media high on that list. Muzzled scientists? No, no. Scientists whom work for the government...our government and on the taxpayers' dime...have no business whatsoever running their own agendas, on the side or otherwise. And if they don't like that, they are quite free to join the private sector, and see how long such stuff will be tolerated there as well. Discipline is the order of the day, and it is by pure necessity that this is so. And...as Mulcair and Trudeau are finding out lately...this is the reality for any political party hoping to succeed in these times. And speaking of the Internet and social media, here's another sad reality of the times: People are tried, convicted and executed in a matter of mere hours now, thanks to modern communications. Indeed, there are those wholly dedicated to this cause...listened to one brag about it recently on CBC radio, even referred to it as the new democracy of the people. I beg to differ! Once upon a time, this was known as "vigilantism", and it was, and still is, illegal in any respectable democracy. Nevertheless, peoples' entire lives are ruined in a heartbeat. Marriages ripped apart, careers crushed, literally thrown to the wolves. And when it turns out everyone was wrong, and someone was innocent, how does he/she get back their life? And when's the last time anyone ever heard an apology even offered to said victims?

Don't give me that crap!!! Good Gawd! Grow up already! Why is it that the left wing gets so apoplectic when it comes to a discussion about terrorism and the real world about us??? Some ISIS/Al Qaida inspired whacko goes off the deep end, and it's somehow Harper's fault because he speaks openly about it...in the manner that is expected of adults. Yeah, sure! Let's knuckle under to those bastards, and let them dictate the conversation we're somehow allowed to have in our country regarding their barbarism. Hell of a plan for action!

Huxley, dangerous to Canadians, you say? Please explain.

Oh, really? Nothing like a little looting and burning to make a point, eh? But then, I'm kinda, you know, conservative when it comes to BS like that.

I watched about five minutes of the Trudeau interview with Uncle Peter. That was about as much as I could choke down. You listen to him, and then to Harper, and then you try to imagine Justin sitting at the table in a G7 or G20 meet with other world leaders. If for no other reason, that's the deal breaker for me!!! He wouldn't have the foggiest clue in hell about anything being discussed. Keeeripes! I don't even want to think about that scenario!!! And Mulcair couldn't get through two consecutive sentences without using the UN and multilateralism to justify his position, or quoting David Suzuki on climate change.

Most the lefties on any forum only know how to call people names and offer snide remarks. Some things never change, eh? Gets even worse in the comments sections of articles on MSM websites...one spends more than five seconds reading these, for example, on the CBC's, the next thing one wants to do is move to the nearest far away cave and wait for the end of the world.

Just for the record, bud, I live in the E. Kootenays of BC. My next job at any level of politics would be my first. Whatever. (...always come away feeling like I should have posted with crayons instead. You know what I'm sayin'?)

Let's see now... There's the matter of $40,000,000 still unaccounted for during the Adscam scandal. There's $2.5 million the NDP apparently bent, if not broke, some rules in spending. Meanwhile, Wright, who was working for the PMO for free, digs into is own pocket to pay back $90,000 he felt Duffy owed taxpayers. Right. Only in the minds of Canada's MSM could the latter be twisted into the scandal of the century. Granted, I'll concede Harper did make one big mistake: He appointed two members of the Ottawa press gallery to the Senate. He definitely should have known better.

Well, fact is, Waldo, nobody is perfect. You want perfect, you'll find it in the dictionary between "pedantic" and "petty". Politics is, and always has been, about compromise. It's not about the narrow view of getting everything one wants, which is naïve at best, and impossible in the real world. And... If I'm the guy in short pants, then I'd suggest you're probably the one still in diapers...and a tad on the wet side at that.

Nope!

I moved to Llloydminster, Alberta circa 1980 for a career closely related to the oil industry. I was there when the N.E.P. was inflicted upon its energy sector by P.E.T. and the Liberals. I saw the devastation of peoples' businesses and lives first hand. I'm a firearms owner, and I remember well the imposition of Bill C-68, which in no uncertain terms implied that, because I owned firearms, I could not be trusted, and thus I represented a criminal act waiting for a place to happen. Both were nothing more than the actions of a Liberal Party playing to its base support in eastern Canada for votes. An LPC that was all too accustomed to exploiting regional differences to serve its own ends. Then I watched the PCs yank a CF-18 maintenance contract won by a Winnipeg firm, and hand it off to a Quebec based company. More of the same old, same old, from a political party that, at its core, was not one iota different from the LPC. A PC party run by Red Tories whom had nothing but contempt for "conservatism", and westerners who identified with Conservative ideals. I returned to BC in 1993, and became a witness to the trashing of this province's economy by the NDP. Labor codes re-written for unions, everyone else be damned. Taxation that drove businesses into the ground, if not right out of the province. And a preoccupation with leftist, quasi-socialist ideology that refused to acknowledge any limits to spending. By the time British Columbians had finally had enough, 15,000 more were leaving BC than were moving here...something that had not happened since the early days of the W.A.C. Bennett regime. And BC had become a "have not" province, dependent on equalization dole...another first in four decades, thanks to the NDP. In a similar vein, under the NDP Saskatchewan was perennial recipient of federal dole, until Brad Wall and the conservative Saskatchewan Party came to power. And Bob Rae's NDP trashing of Ontario's economy is the stuff of political legend. In fact, aside from NFLD, beneficiaries of a booming energy sector, every province east of Saskatchewan now receives equalization dole. What do all those provinces have in common? Every one of them is, and has been for too many years, managed by left wing governments. And the provinces picking up the tab for equalization dole, are managed by, to one degree or another, conservative governments. Even Ontario, once the driving force of Canada's economy, thanks in large part to conservative policies and approaches to economics under various PC governments, has been brought to its knees by over a decade of left wing inspired principle inflicted by the current Liberal regime. And now we have an NDP government in Alberta hell bent on putting a final bullet into the energy sector, one already reeling from the effects of global oil prices that are the direct result of the Saudis' interventions. Oil prices crushed deliberately to effect the demise of both N. American shale exploration/production AND Canada's oil sands...their two greatest competitors for N. American oil markets, and the US dollars that flow from them into Saudi coffers. To the election before us... On the economy: The CPC has steered Canada through the toughest economic/financial times since the Great Depression. And has received accolades globally for its successes. That's the fact of it. And they did it while reducing tax burdens upon middle income Canadians and upon Canadian industry and small business. Yes, they racked up some debt, inevitable under the circumstances. But debt that is still but a fraction of the deficits that would have resulted from a Dion led coalition all too willing to pay any blackmail demanded by a Layton led NDP and Duceppe led BLOC to keep them in power! And through the first several years of recovery, both the NDP and LPC complained bitterly that the Harper government still was not spending enough. Bottom line: PM Harper has forgotten more about economics than any of the opposition leaders he has faced, and it is abundantly clear that this is the case this day. Harper remains the only adult in the room on the economy. On the energy sector: This government has recognized that the energy sector is a crucial part of the overall economy, which provides employment across the nation, be it in the oil fields, the manufacturing plants that supply equipment and materials, or Atlantic Canadians that can't find employment within their own provincial economies. One study, by TD Waterhouse if I recall correctly, estimated that, over twenty-five years, the oil sands alone would generate $2.6 TRILLION in economic activity, and over $600 BILLION would flow out of it to provincial and federal coffers in royalties and taxes. Yes, the Saudis' have managed to undermine this benefit to Canadians...for the short term! In the long term, the potential remains essentially the same. Pipelines are essential to the long term prospects of this sector. ONLY the CPC understands this. Both the NDP and LPC are either against all pipelines, or ever so reluctant to consider them in so much as they can withstand the braying and bitching of environmental activism to whom they shamelessly pander for votes and support on bended knee. (And don't even get me started on Obama and the Keystone! Canadian oil now barely fetches $20/bbl due to a bottleneck to US refineries the Keystone Pipeline would have solved. That SOB has singlehandedly cost Canadians tens of billions in lost revenues due to his preference for Hollywood cash flowing into Democrat collection plates over American's most reliable and longest standing ally on the entire planet.) Harper remains the only adult in the room who gets it. On national security: The Laurier Doctrine has been the backbone of the left's approach to national defense since the '50s, which plainly stated is as follows: The US will cover our sorry asses for us, so let's spend what should be allocated to defense on other stuff instead. Hence, decades of neglect to Canada's military, beginning with the PC's cancellation of the Avro Arrow project. That said: The position of both the NDP and LPC on Canada's role in the middle east crisis is, in a word, pitiful. Or, pathetic, or disgraceful, or despicable, or perhaps best stated as downright gutless. One can only wonder just how much horror it actually takes to finally motivate the usual suspects of the left wing to serious action. That the NDP and LPC would abandon the fight against the barbarian hordes of ISIS, and leave the heavy lifting to our allies is, IMHO, beyond contempt. But it certainly is consistent. As Harper so acutely stated it yesterday, "The enemy is not CSIS, it is ISIS!" Harper, yet again, is the only adult in the room whom understands the importance of Canada's role in global security, and the need to be defenders of human rights, and warriors for freedom. On the environment: I've delved into AGW extensively to find out what the truths actually are. The fanaticism, if not outright religious zealotry, that has become the trademark of environmental activism should be cause for alarm across the globe. Millions are being pumped into Canada from dubious sources to undermine our energy sector, this much is a given and quite provable. Hundreds of billions more are being pumped into bankrupt green schemes wholly reliant upon taxpayers' subsidies and artificially jacked energy costs to consumers for no more reason than to make appear reasonable the cost of energy from wind farms...which only work when the wind blows...and solar farms...which only work when the sun shines...stuff that isn't a mystery to your average twelve year old! I will only say this: Thank God Harper has been in charge for the last decade, as he has been the only adult in the room when the matter of climate change comes up! One cannot even begin to imagine the tens of billions either an NDP or Liberal government would have blown out Canadian taxpayers' butts on the stupid and utterly bankrupt schemes and just plain crap!!! And the claims that the CPC have undermined protection of the environment through de-regulation is just bull****! What they did is eliminate duplication across federal and provincial jurisdictions, duplication that mandated endless studies piled on top of bureaucratic quagmires of red tape leading to paralysis across the board. A pipeline (Kinder Morgan) that took two years from concept to moving oil in the early '50s, now can't get built in a manner of decades...if ever! And it's no secret whatsoever that both the NDP and the Liberals will blow their brains out trying to rebuild that bureaucratic plug to entirely new levels of perpetual navel gazing and jockeying for primacy. I could go further, but on these three counts, atop of the history I have witnessed, this election is, IMHO, a no-brainer. I'll be voting...again...for the Stephen Harper, the only adult in the room, and the Conservatives. Perfect? No. But he kicks the hell out of the alternatives.