blackbird

Most of the violence in the middle east is caused by terrorist organizations which are promoted and backed by Islamic extremists like Iran's governing party. They don't care much for the Palestinian people which should be obvious in Gaza. The Gaza people have paid a heavy price for the war caused by Hamas and other terrorist groups. The ordinary Palestinians are the ones that suffer the most for this. Hamas refuses now to sit down and negotiate a peace deal and refuses to release the last hostages. Most of the 250 hostages appear to have died in captivity. Most of the Palestinians are just being used as pawns by the Islamic extremists who seem to control Lebanon as well. Unless these Islamic extremists are removed from Israel (Gaza, West Bank) and Lebanon, the fighting and terrorist attacks will continue endlessly. Unfortunately, the Palestinian areas have brainwashed the young people to hate Israel from a young age. This guarantees an endless supply of terrorists. That is another issue that doesn't seem to have a solution. Talking about a two-state solution would not stop them. It is no solution.

Alberta should really consider what they can do about this. The Trudeau government is giving Quebec and Ontario 33 billion dollars for battery plants while planning to impose emission caps on the energy industry which will mostly affect Alberta. "One independent study has placed the loss of investment in Alberta alone at $28 billion and the independent Conference Board of Canada estimates that over the next 25 years, the Liberals’ “green” regulations could lead to up to 150,000 job losses, mostly in Alberta." EVs are extremely expensive especially in the high cost of living environment we are in. Decimating the energy industry will further push up the price of gas. I am not sure confederation as it stands is really the best arrangement for the people of western Canada in this scenario. Should we in the west be thinking of a different arrangement? GUNTER: Federal emissions cap both uneconomic and unconstitutional

How are all these endless promises to spend, spend, spend by Trudeau going to solve the housing crisis, high cost of food, failing health care system and dysfunctional justice system of catch and release? They are not going to solve them. Trudeau will just put Canadians further into debt which the young people will have to pay for.

The contrast between America and Canada couldn't be greater. While Canadians suffer carbon taxes and now caps on the energy industry, America chose a leader who will fight against the radical U.N. war on climate change. He will also try to stop the illegal migrant disaster while Canadians suffer a crisis in health care, housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and soft on crime justice system.

That is dumb. The big unions dominate the public health care system. That is why they spend a lot of money campaigning for the NDP. They know if B.C. went to a mixed public private system, a lot of health workers would then be working for private health care and possibly not belong to their union. Right now they have a monopoly on the health care system and want to keep it that way. That is why they invest heavily in political campaign ads for the NDP. The unions are among the NDP's biggest supporters. That is well known. The big unions don't do that for nothing.

quote The federal probe on Indigenous missing children and unmarked graves, the final report of which was released last Tuesday, does touch on the topic of residential schools. Mostly, though, it’s a 1,300-page tome that sets out arguments against the Canadian state. And because it’s so long and full of filler, few people will ever read the thing to appreciate its absurdity. Even the executive summary, at an undigestible length of nearly 300 pages, defeats its own purpose. Canadians, this $10.4-million essay project isn’t for you. It’s for governments and lawyers to use as support for future billion-dollar payouts and future arguments in court for more colonial concessions. The special interlocutor who authored this report, Kimberly Murray, never outright states that Canada has no right to exist. She instead talks around it by laying out various lines of logic supported by citations to decolonial scholars throughout hundreds of pages which, if taken together, seem to conclude that reconciliation will only be achieved when Canadian sovereignty is extinguished. It starts with Murray’s concept of nationhood: Canada, to her, seems to be a colonial blanket atop a bedrock of Indigenous fundamental rights. “Where Treaties were signed, Indigenous Nations agreed to share their lands with settlers, and where no Treaties exist, they have never ceded their sovereignty over their homelands. In either case, they have never relinquished their right of self-determination to the Canadian State.” It’s not true. For the Canadian state to exist as a sovereign country, it must hold that fundamental title to the land. That land was either settled upon, traded for (that some Indigenous groups in treaty negotiations didn’t have a concept of property rights in land, or only rudimentary ones, doesn’t make the trade illegitimate), or otherwise conquered. If Indigenous groups wanted to re-assert sovereignty, they could fight or trade; though, these are unattractive and costly. Murray’s own methodology presumes Canada’s illegitimacy: she takes an “anti-colonial” approach that recognizes the “inherent sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples.” Colonialism, she says, is a distinctly European phenomenon, a convenient categorization that saves her from the mess of excusing away the Chinese and Moroccan genera. Colony nations (those spawned from Europe, at least) only achieve sovereignty by “removing or undermining the sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples and replacing it with colonial claims to the lands and waters.” Jamie Sarkonak: The special interlocutor's plan for abolishing Canada (National Post)

Yes, it would make everything easier and less expensive for everyone. Man cannot control the climate so why try to control it and harm the economy for everyone? Just try to mitigate the effects of changing climate. Prepare for forest fires and floods, which we should be doing anyway.

I wouldn't accept anything the Conference Board of Canada says without knowing something about it. They don't reveal who supports or funds them. That should be red flag right there. There are reports that some European countries have good systems.

Of course it is not going to be stated in legislation or stated publicly. It goes without saying. For you to ask shows you have no understanding of how the world works. Did you ever notice the repeated campaign ads run by the Hospital Employees union on television in the recent election. These ads were often quickly followed by an NDP ad. Both repeated the same lie that the Conservative would cut the health care funding by 4 billion dollars. Obviously the HEU is in bed with the BC NDP. Doesn't take a genius to see that.

It does operate as a dictatorship in some ways. That should be obvious to anyone who thinks. People cast one vote in four years, but that leaves the winner do basically whatever he wants. He can choose almost anything and does. Also the election is often very dishonest with all kinds of lies and fake information broadcast. The masses of gullible people often vote for dishonest leaders which has been proven repeatedly. Very democratic.

Guess you haven't noticed. There is no "same treatment" in the health care system. It is completely haphazard care with millions getting vastly different care than others. Nothing equitable about it. That's what your commie mentality got you. It a lottery type of care. Government is not doing what society wanted. Society was led to believe everyone would have good care, but millions are not getting it. Wake up and smell the coffee.

" OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada will on Monday unveil the details of its long-awaited plan to cap emissions of greenhouse gases from the oil and gas sector, an idea which the energy industry and some provinces strongly oppose. Canada said in December 2023 it wanted oil and gas companies to cut emissions up to 38% from 2019 levels by 2030 by introducing a cap-and-trade system, and would unveil its draft proposals before the end of 2024." Canada to unveil proposed emissions cap on oil and gas sector on Monday Many Canadians are struggling with the housing crisis and the cost of living. Imposing emission controls on the oil and gas sector, which is a major economic driver, will just add more to the cost of living for Canadians and make life more difficult. This government must go ASAP.

The system is supposed to exist for the benefit of patients first. In Canada the system puts the unions and medical associations first. Ever thought of that?

True in a very limited sense. It doesn't tell anywhere near the truth. Some governments are brutal dictatorships, some are democratic to varying degrees. Your statement shows your ignorance about how the world operates. ....get over it.

It has shades of Marxism because in Canada the government controls the health care system and does not allow a true mix of public and private health care with private insurance. Government (Marxist type) knows what is best for you. We have an authoritarian type of government and and public health care system, which is failing us. The strange part is the public system delivers vastly different qualities of care depending on what is available in one's location and how fortunate one is. Some have a family doctor and many don't. Some might get fairly reasonable care while others might die on waiting lists or have no family doctor. The quality of care varies widely. There is no such thing as equal care for everyone.

The truth, which you conveniently ignore, is the government still controls the health care system and doesn't allow private care to operate independently with private insurance. This government only control is unique among western nations as most allow some sort of mixture of public and private care. This is autocratic or totalitarian. In that sense it has shades of Marxist ideology. While not a pure Marxist system, it leans that way. Only government knows what's best (according to the left wing Socialist mentality). You like it because that is your mentality.

Let me guess. The government still controls how the doctor runs his office or clinic and decides how much he is paid. The government together with the medical associations determines how much doctors make, how many doctors are trained and brought into the system. Everything is still basically controlled by the government. Is that Marxism or a form of Marxism? Government controls it.

The NDP are largely influenced and controlled by the big unions. The unions are dead set against any kind of mixture of public and private health care because it threatens their union power over the system. Therefore the NDP will never agree to any kind of public/private system.

You and yours were fortunate. I number of years ago I went into the ER with chest pains. The doctor forgot to give me a clot buster and I had a major heart attack that damaged my heart permanently and it only functions at a fraction of a normal heart now. My sister had a heart procedure recently that seriously damaged her heart. She was put on medications to eliminate infection and reduce fluid and was just sent home. She is on the medications and is extremely weak. She should never have been given a procedure where they had a serious accident and seriously damaged her heart. So much for the system that "is working fine from your perspective". Thousands have died on waiting lists and millions don't even have a family doctor. ERs are closing sometimes. Ya, great system.

This system denies freedom of choice and there is no choice to purchase private health insurance and get treatment. Anyone may be stuck on a long waiting list and in fact die waiting. So instead of fixing the failing system by allowing private care, the government offers assisted death to anyone who can't bear it anymore (MAID). The Marxist ideology is everyone should receive the same poor medical care. That's Socialist or Marxist ideology. Everyone must suffer equally. That's the theory. But in fact the system doesn't work that way either. Some, just by good fortune, have a family doctor and millions don't. Some get some kind of illness such as cancer and end up on long waiting lists and possibly die. Others don't get that particular disease or are in different location where the waiting list is much shorter. There is nothing equal about the universal health care system in Canada. The only thing one might say is that it is failing equally in a general sense everywhere in Canada. This makes it a kind of Marxist health care system. This information below about the options in other countries came from: SecondStreet.org

I guess you could say the north American natives owned north America then and we the white people of European descent invaded their land and took over.

Same reason aboriginals in north America were called Indians for hundreds of years. Just a name given to people who live in a certain area. Palestine was a name given to that area of the middle east by the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago and the people who lived in the area were called Palestinians.

There never was a country called "Palestine". That is a name for the general area given to it by the Roman Empire in the time the Roman Empire ruled that part of the world. The name was invented as a direct insult against Israel and is a derivative of the word Philistine. The Philistines were an enemy of Israel in Old Testament times. Perhaps you heard the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a giant soldier of the Philistines who David fought against when he was little kid. Goliath had a huge sword and protected by armor. The Bible story tells what happened. David was a young person who took on Goliath and hit him with his slingshot and then took Goliath's huge sword and killed him with it. Israel existed long before the Roman Empire took over a couple thousand years ago. Here is a brief history of Israel from Wikipedia. " The history of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel begins in the 2nd millennium BCE, when Israelites emerged as an outgrowth of southern Canaanites.[1][2][3][4] During biblical times, a postulated United Kingdom of Israel existed but then split into two Israelite kingdoms occupying the highland zone: the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.[5] The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (circa 722 BCE), and the Kingdom of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (586 BCE). Initially exiled to Babylon, upon the defeat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (538 BCE), many of the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem, building the Second Temple. In 332 BCE the kingdom of Macedonia under Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, which included Yehud (Judea). This event started a long religious struggle that split the Jewish population into traditional and Hellenized components. After the religion-driven Maccabean Revolt, the independent Hasmonean Kingdom was established in 165 BCE. In 64 BCE, the Roman Republic conquered Judea, first subjugating it as a client state before ultimately converting it into a Roman province in 6 CE. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the area of ancient Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars of 66–136 CE. The wars commenced a long period of violence, enslavement, expulsion, displacement, forced conversion, and forced migration against the local Jewish population by the Roman Empire (and successor Byzantine State), beginning the Jewish diaspora. After this time, Jews became a minority in most regions, except Galilee. After the 3rd century, the area became increasingly Christianized, although the proportions of Christians and Jews are unknown, the former perhaps coming to predominate in urban areas, the latter remaining in rural areas.[6] By the time of the Muslim conquest of the Levant, the number of Jewish population centers had declined from over 160 to around 50 settlements. Michael Avi-Yonah says that Jews constituted 10–15% of Palestine's population by the time of the Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem in 614,[7] while Moshe Gil says that Jews constituted the majority of the population until the 7th century Muslim conquest in 638 CE.[8] Remaining Jews in Palestine fought alongside Muslims during the Crusades, and were persecuted under the Kingdom of Jerusalem. History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel - Wikipedia It is not Palestinian land. There was no actual country called Palestine to begin with. So called Palestinians are Arabs who lived in the area which actually belonged to Israel long before 1949. The history is above. This has been Israel's land for several thousand years but has been fought over at various times ever since. There are reasons but they are not "good" reasons. You need to do some studying. I am not going to waste my time on here trying to explain why many countries in Europe persecuted the Jews the past 1,800 years because you don't accept what I say anyway. So if you are serious in wanting to know there are books and countless articles on the internet. It all culminated with the Nazis Holocaust. If you think all the persecution and murder of six million Jews was all right or that is must have been justified your brain is completely wrecked. You need help. I don't see any sign that anything I say will change your mind in the slightest.

I think we pretty much agree. I am not sure just how the system could be changed to a mixed system of public and private to enable everyone to receive good health care. This would raise the average age that people live. The problem is the governments that we have are not interested in changing the system. That is a very difficult hurdle. B.C. just re-elected an NDP government and they will only be holding onto power by a thread with a bare majority by one seat. They are not likely to legalize and enable private medical care on any scale because that goes against their ideology and they also depend on the big unions for voting support. So more of the same, massive doctor shortage and long waits in ERs, and people dying on waiting lists unfortunately. It would appear the whole system of how doctors are educated and brought into the system needs major changes. Whoever is running the present system seems to be an impediment. We need a system that produces a lot of new doctors every year.

That is a confusing statement. I agree with part of it; it is a failure of governments, which only proves government is not the right one to be the sole provider of health care. Of course if happened with every party in power. The problem is the left including the Liberals and NDP are adamant that only government can provide good health care when it has been proven they can't.