MiddleClassCentrist

To the right of everyone else. Did you ever take the vote compass that was on CBC.ca?

Duh? They are the only party to the right, aside from fringe parties.

They have 40% of Canadians on their side. I'm not saying that as a dig at their election win. I'm saying it from a strategic point of view. They are the only party in their political territory. They can move all the way to the centre and lose no votes. As long as they are more right wing than Liberals, they'll get the extreme right vote. The votes to be won are at the centre and left. You don't get those votes by moving further right.

Are you trying to prove that being convicted of fraud is an asset? Because that is all I am getting when you try to minimize the conviction.

Like cardboard spoons, maybe even wooden knives! OH THE HORROR!

This is really an argument between unionized and non-unionized environments. Unionized workers make more with better benefits. This is well documented. Most(all?) of the public sector is unionized. Canada Post does not run on Tax Payer money. It runs on customer money. If Canada Post can pay those wages without dipping into Tax Payer money, I really don't care. It is giving people a good living and anyone can apply for the job. So if they are really overpaid, why isn't everyone applying for a job to work with them? Maybe because the job isn't as good as people make it out to be. Rain, snow or shine, they have to do their work. Why not just be a professional roofer and make more?

My favourite part about this article is that it was written by a fraudulent business man. Showing, yet again that to CPC faithful that a fraud conviction is deemed an asset and not a liability. Maybe you get extra credit points based on how long you kept the fraud going before being caught?

One of the misunderstandings and wishful thinking of those whose party did not win the election. 60% of people for two parties does not mean 60% of people for one party. It's likely that a combined progressive socialist party would get over 50% of the vote but, retaining all 60% support would be unlikely.

This is an argument I don't understand. There is clearly, without a doubt, more money in denying climate change at the current moment. The oil and manufacturing industries are the first to come to mind. The 'some of them also make money and are wealthy' is the argument spoon fed by those lobbyists and other representatives in the back pocket of big oil to protect their current market interests. Now, I believe climate change is a huge threat to humans over time. We will need to change our ways over the next century as we run out of oil. But, the effect of a slightly warmer planet, I feel is exaggerated. Especially for those of us who have a bit too much winter.

My favourite part was when the media outlets used quotations on "secret". Because it wasn't a secret law at all and was already in existance. The context is somewhat inaccurate. The law has been in existence for years in Ontario to give police the power to detain people on government property, it was authorized for the area so it could be applied.

Don't know what the fuss is about. Harper said he was going to be moderate with no drastic changes. It's in his, and the CPC's interest to do so. Lure people a little more to the right. This is him doing exactly that.

Are you saying that her actions were in ... contempt of parliament?

See, that's the issue I have. People assume we have lazier workers. The reality is that the worker may actually be much more productive. But our transportation and equipment used is the lagging factor.

Source?

K, maybe screwed up on the type of plan. $6000/year of their salary is put into the plan as a 2nd year teacher. It's tough to see that, especially with student loans. Of course, it is for the greater benefit of the teacher later on but, it is hard. That's why most people, like yourself, go around on web forums whining and complaining that they don't have one. They take the easy route, and don't actually save for themselves. Do you save 15% of your salary for your pension each year? You are also not fully correct. Employee contribution rates go up when the plan is not able to meet its future 70 year obligations.

What type of pension plan is Canada Post? I know the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan is a defined contribution pension plan. A young teacher friend of mine pays over $6000/year into theirs.

The problem is that so many public positions require professional training, either college or university. Especially when talking about federal and provincial (Nursing, Teachers, Doctors, Accountants, etc) The average private sector wage includes teenagers working part-time for entertainment and education money. The average private sector wage include people who work at McDonald's and Walmart. People who essentially threw their life away with bad decisions or inability. The average private sector wage does not factor in the huge, unreported under the table income earned in the private sector. I bet, that if you factor in the examples I list above the average wage of public sector and private sector would be pretty close.

Then you should be happy that the free market is fixing the problem!

Yeah, people with a lower quality of life cost less. Cost of living is much lower in societies where the standard family has 3-5 kids in 2 bedroom houses and apartments. Put your money where your mouth is, join that lower cost and quality of living. Just move your business there! Alternatively, you can advocate that Canadians live in straw shacks or mud huts. That would bring the cost of living down. Yeah. Let's stick it to unions who complain when CEO's get raises and bonuses in bad economic times! Conservative minded indivuals would never complain about workers getting a raise or bonus in a recession... oh wait .

Absolutely! Oil and corporate farming are great places to start. Sure help out the family and small business farmers but, factory farms need no assistance. The 1.7B would save a fraction of the deficit. That's what we are looking to get rid of. 2/33rds down! only 94% to go! How exactly, does not funding extra art above and beyond what people make, reduce one's quality of life? How exactly, would defunding the CBC and letting it float as an independent business, reduce one's quality of life? There are tons of private exhibits, shows, entertainment. I'm hard pressed to find a reason that people need to be subsidized to create art. It is more of a hobby, than a career. My family has a long history of painting in their spare time. Pretty high quality too! Engineers, teachers, lawyers, etc.

Don't pull the wool over your eyes. The anti-trust regulatory body just means oligopolies occur instead of monopolies. Two or three companies end up dominating and abusing their position in the market instead of one. They don't compete, because that would reduce profits.

I'm not. Just suggesting that the numbers need to be fully shown. Like in Toronto, where the Mayor, Rob Ford, voted to privatize garbage collection but, ironically voted against forcing the private companies to prove exactly how they would be more cost effective. Luckily, the councillors had enough sense to pass the requirement to actually show where the money would be saved by all bidders. Privatizing services often costs more. Instead of providing a non-profit service, you need to add a minimal expectation of profit of around 7% (based on historical market trends). Every middle man needs to make that profit. If you have just 2 different stages, costs ballon by 14.5% just to provide the required profit to investors. It's not that much to ask the exact cost of privatizing. Brampton, ON used PPP (Private-Public Partnership) to build a hospital. They ended up spending way more money for a smaller hospital. The government itself would have been more efficient.

Prove that the private sector can do it for cheaper. I don't mean wage wise. I mean big picture. FedEx and UPS don't charge less than Can Post. If you can prove that, you can prove that it is actually draining the tax payer's dollar.

In some markets, maybe but that is not the reality in many markets. For instance, telecom, oil, real estate services, etc are all heavily guarded to prevent innovation and cost reduction. I pay twice as much now for half the bandwidth, and limited bandwidth to boot. I could list my own house through MLS without a realtor and make a sale using easily acquired forms and real estate document templates. Many realtor boards actively hinder this ability (Toronto, for instance) The mainstream electric car was not killed by lack of demand (4000 person waiting list for EV1 before it reached mass manufacturing market), it was killed at the realization that electric cars are more efficient. They cost less to run. They cost less to maintain. Both big oil and big car companies lose out. Less fuel consumption. Less wear on parts. It is easy to neglect that in a world of limited resources, we do not really live in a free market economy. We live in a partially free market economy dominated an manipulated by the big players to protect their interests. Companies in market control have lobbyists and pocket politicians to ensure that they continue to have that control. Again, Telecom companies were trying to force Usage Based Billing down our throats. They claimed it was because of internet congestion. The reality is that innovative internet services make having Phone, TV and Internet connections obsolete. You only need an internet connection for all three of those services. Limiting bandwidth kills the competition.