blackbird

I have been on another news comment forum which is dominated by progressives and liberals and I can tell you they are not open-minded at all. There is a group of maybe a dozen or so regulars that frequent that website who will be very rude and hostile to any conservative or especially a social conservative who expresses an opinion. There is one guy who even wants other people to contact their MP to make it a hate crime to speak against man-made climate change. Others are rude in different ways. At least this website allows one to have a reasonably rational discussion. That other site is a news comment site where there is no rational discussion if you differ with the progressives.

Very good post! Food for thought.

Please don't lump everyone in B.C. in with the "green agenda" or environmental radicals. I think at least half the people in B.C. support the KM pipeline. We're not all enviro "mental" types.

Quote The 1982 amendments to the Constitution Act, 1867 explicitly recognized provinces’ and territories’ constitutional rights to manage their own non-renewable natural resources, forestry resources, and electrical energy. This includes the power to levy mining taxes and royalties. Section 92A stipulates that each province’s legislature can enact laws related to: exploring non-renewable resources, and developing, conserving and managing non-renewable and forestry resources. As well, provincial legislatures can make laws relating to raising money by any mode or system of taxation with respect to non-renewable natural resources as long as such laws do not result in differential taxation between primary production processed within the province and primary production exported to another part of Canada. Unquote https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mining-materials/taxation/8882

To make generalizations like that is an indication you don't understand the Old Testament. As far as justifying christian beliefs, it depends what part of the Old Testament you are talking about and be sure you are not taking something in the Old Testament out of context. That would take some study and investigation and can't be done by simply pulling a verse out of the Old Testament. You might be able to delve into it on certain websites but you could also be easily misled.

The National Energy Program was an attempt by the Federal government and central Canada to grab Alberta's oil. Natural resources belong to the province according to the Constitution. It was a disaster for Alberta. Google it.

Parts of the Old Testament are historical in nature and give the history of Israel and God's dealing with them. Yes, he did treat them differently than New Testament christians because Israel was God's chosen people. So when you read the O.T. you have to read it in that context. What happened then, does not necessarily mean that is how things should be today. That would be taking it entirely out of context. Things that happened between Israel and God were unique for that particular time and circumstances and only apply to them. As for example, the various ceremonial laws given to Israel. There are certain eternal principles of morality that are applicable for all time, as for example the sanctity of life and the ownership of private property.

The King James Bible (1611) is the only version that is wholly based on the "received text" for the New Testament. Modern versions are based on some corrupt manuscripts discovered around 1880. The were used by two English clergymen, Westcott and Hort, around that time, to produce a corrupt modern version and have been used ever since to produce the over 100 modern corrupt versions. If you want to know the details, I would suggest you get the book "New Age Bible Versions" by Gail Riplinger. They have a website where you can order it. I think it is called avpublications (dot) com or you can order it through Amazon. It goes into the various topis as to why the modern versions cannot be trusted. The KJV (1611) is a 100% accurate version and can be completely trusted. You can't say the same thing about modern versions. The book I mentioned gives many, many examples where they are corrupted. The NIV and NASB are exposed frequently. Modern version translators have often taken great liberties in the translation process. Some versions are paraphrases and not word for word translations for example. Modern translators did not believe in the inspiration or inerrancy of the KJV or manuscripts it is based on. Most churches believe only the original manuscripts were inspired (which no longer exist). This is contrary to verses in the KJV which say God would preserve his word, every word. Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away he said.

Yes, but cutting off a vital product like gas supplies would create a serious threat to security for millions of people. No transportation would be a catastrophe. No more sunny ways from Trudeau. I dont' know the details of Alberta not shipping oil to Ontario, but isn't it true that Ontario and Quebec (and the maritimes I assume) get most of their oil from Saudi Arabia and possibly Venezuala. They have other sources. I am not sure B.C. has other sources that could compensate for Alberta's oil.

I doubt anything like that would ever happen. It would be considered a terrorist act and the Federal government would send the military into Alberta, just like they sent it into Quebec for the FLQ crisis in 1970. It would give Trudeau the chance to declare the War Measure Act as his father did and make a legacy for himself.

What people fail to understand is how the Constitutional monarchy works. That is the reason many people say we can get rid of it. If they understood it's value, they might have a different view. As I said before on this string, the Queen is responsible for ensuring our Parliamentary democracy continues to exist without some dictator taking over. The fact that the RCMP and Armed Forces swear allegiance to the Queen as our head of state means nobody, such as a renegade PM, could suddenly decide one day to dismiss the GG, dissolve Parliament, and set himself up as a dictator. The Armed Forces and RCMP, acting in loyalty to the Queen, would be required to stop such an insurrection. Also, it might come as a surprise, but the GG actually does, as the Queen's representative in Canada, have constitutional power to dissolve Parliament when there is a non-confidence motion passed. The renegade PM cannot ignore the GG or overrule him because it all comes back to the Queen as head of state. When a large number of people support the monarchy and institutions swear allegiance, it ensure stability of our system of government. Coup d'etat and totalitarian dictatorships with human rights violations occur from time to time in some African and South American countries. This is less likely to happen where there is a system such as what we have.

NO, I am not suggesting there would be a civil war. But it is likely to cause a lot of stress to Confederation. Environmental radicalism as in banning pipelines or banning a hydro-electric project is not environmental stewardship. There's more to it than hurting Alberta's feeling. Like thousands of jobs for laid-off Albertans and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for Alberta, Canada, and some money for B.C. if they can ship their oil to Asian markets. NDP and Green types live in a kind of dreamworld where they think money grows on trees and we don't need certain industries, like pipelines. Very inconsiderate of them.

In the recent election in B.C., the Liberals got 43 seats, the NDP 41, and the Greens 3 seats. The NDP and Greens formed a kind of coalition although they stress it is not a coalition. This is not what the voters who voted for NDP or Green parties voted for. Their agenda is bad news for B.C. They plan to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline project. This will be very bad for Canada and could have serious ramifications for national unity. Alberta is quite choked up by the harsh words the Green Party leader Andrew Weaver said against the Alberta oil industry, shipping oil, and against Premier Notley. This was the first major gaff by the Green Party leader. Now we have a situation where the Premier of Alberta and the PM have their backs up. Also, there is a situation where the NDP/Green coalition could be required to supply one member as the speaker in the legislature. This presents a major problem because the LIberals have 43 seats, the NDP 41 and Greens 3. The total number of MLAs is 87. This means if the NDP supply the Speaker, the NDP/Green coalition will have only 43 members, which is the same as the Liberals. This could create a very unstable legislature. The Liberals are unlikely to provide the Speaker because that would reduce them to 42 members. This means if no party provides an MLA to be the Speaker, the lieutenant governor could be forced to dissolve the legislature and call and election. The parties will have some very hard decisions to make within weeks.

You are partly correct. The Queen cannot send Canada to war. Parliament would have to approve the country going to war. I know there is one exception in circumstance like the FLQ separtist threat in Quebec; the PM has the power to invoke the War Measure Act which he did in about 1970 for the FLQ crisis. Not sure in what other circumstances the War Measures Act can be used. Ultimately Parliament has to approve, which includes the Senate and GG.

OK, who would you suggest to be our figurehead (King, Queen, whatever you want to call them)? You think the RCMP and Armed Forces would swear allegiance to that person and would they protect and obey that figurehead in the event someone tried to seize control of the government and set up a dictatorship? The GG is not a flunkey of the PM actually. In our system, the GG actually represents the Queen in Canada. The PM cannot remove the GG or tell the GG what to do when it comes to Constitutional powers of the GG.

The B.C. NDP (41 MLAs) and Green (3 MLAs) have joined together to form a majority to be able to govern. Premier Clark has decided after much legal and constitutional advice to not resign, which she doesn't have to, as she is already the Premier and has 43 seats. She said she will call the legislature and have the throne speech presented. She expect the NDP/Green coalition to move a non-confidence motion which would bring the government down. At this point it is expected the lieutenant governor will give authority to the NDP/Green parties to form a government. Mz. Clark will assume the position of opposition leader. The agenda of the NDP/Green includes a plan to immediately block the Trans Mountain Pipeline (Kinder Morgan). If successful this will eliminate the chance to create thousands of jobs during construction and prevent the province of Alberta from having greatly increased capacity to ship it's oil to world markets. This will prevent the re-hiring of possibly thousands of people in the oil industry in Alberta and cut off a source of taxation and royalty revenue for Alberta and Canada and to a lesser extent, B.C. Trudeau has stated this pipeline project has already been approved. The federal government said today they will wait and see what action the (new) government in B.C. takes. Presumably the federal government does have certain powers, which if they decide to exercise them, could overrule the B.C. government and allow the pipeline project to proceed. Apparently there have been other times in the history of Canada in which the federal government has stepped in and over-ruled provincial laws or action. We will see if Trudeau has what it takes to do this. I am hopeful Trudeau will act, but understand he must wait until the new B.C. government makes it's move. That is why we have a federal government. It must be able to act in the national interest when matters of national importance are threatened by provincial or local politics. This same scenario could develop with respect to the Energy East pipeline project and Quebec, or at least certain cities in Quebec such as Montreal.

I wouldn't go that far. Leitch is actually a pretty good speaker. The left and CBC, media types despised her and spoke against her at every chance. She probably doesn't have much experience at making videos or her videographer might have zero experience. That could be improved. I don't see any of the other candidates having that much charisma. Charisma might help but politicians can also be elected without much charisma. Stephen Harper didn't really have much charisma but received a lot of support. He made up for lack of charisma with intelligence and knew what he was talking about. Often charisma is more bragadosia. Some of the PMs we had came across that way. Funny a lot of people voted for them anyway. Bragadosia seems to sell.

Leitch did a good job getting the message about Canadian values out and many Canadians agreed with her. Trudeau doesn't believe in this. Many Canadians do partly because Leitch made it a central issue.

There is no obstruction of justice.

You're assuming he will be impeached. I don't think so. He can't be impeached just because democrats or others don't like him.

1. Doesn't matter if Scheer is from the west. Harper was too and was in for nine years. Poor french might not be the best but it is better than none. 2. There were a lot of Ontarians that voted for Harper during his nine years. Scheer is more of a populist who wants to do things that bring unity to the party. I would agree that a social conservative would not be very popular in Ontario but don't think Scheer is a strong social conservative except he opposes gay marriage; that doesn't mean much. Hopefully people are getting tired of that issue. It effects very few people. 3. A lot of people don't agree with a lot of what Trudeau has done. Lots of people oppose carbon taxes for example. I think lots oppose legalizing marijuana. 4. I will agree with you on that. The maritimes will be tough to win, but if the CPC get a lot of seats in the rest of Canada, they could still win the election.

The Bible is a spiritual book and can only be understood if one receives the gift to spiritually discern it as it says in the above verse. The natural mind cannot understand the Bible. (1 Corinthians ch2 vs 14 KIng Jame Bible 1611) I will pray that you may receive the spiritual gift

I don't think Chong has a chance because of his carbon tax. Don't know how Leitch is doing. She may be in the top three or four. The media are reporting Bernier is in the lead.

You are not aware of the fact the Bible is a supernatural book and a record of supernatural events that were done by God. Of course you can't apply human reasoning and look for earthly explanations for supernatural events. So Noah's flood, as well as other supernatural occurrences in the Bible, can only be understood as miraculous occurrences. Why did God choose to perform these supernatural events? "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness:" 1 Corinthians ch1: 19-23 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14

Our politicians are scared to death by the PC crowd and leftists are ready to call anyone who disagrees with diversity and multi-culturalism racists. Any politician who opens his mouth against the Liberal agenda will be blackballed as racist. Look what happened to the senator who very mildly said everything done in residential schools wasn't bad. She was condemned and kicked out of the committee and dealt with swiftly.