shoop

I thought the Liberals *weren't* supposed to be arrogant anymore.

Was it a mistake? Yes. Should the government fall over it? No. I laugh at the idea of the NDP taking a truncheon (whatever the f*ck that is) to most of his planned reforms. How exactly will they do that? They don't have the balance of power. They have no natural allies in the House right now. The Canadian people gave the CPC a mandate to implement their five key priorities. They can't do it in 9 months. If a government fell every time it made one mistake we would be averaging two elections a year, at least. People don't want that. How is giving people what they want arrogant?

Quite typical of an NDP supporter. Basic ability to grasp reality. Any parties that forced an election in 2006 would pay for it at the ballot box. Nobody wants a third election in a 30-month span. Thanks for coming out though.

Thanks for proving my point newbie. The Conservatives actually had MPs complain about floor crossing -on principle- when somebody crossed the floor *TO* them. When Belinda crossed the floor NO Liberal MP complained on the principle of the issues. Instead of admitting the hypocrisy you try and deflect the issue. Soooo much easier when you have no principles.

Oh, no. Wouldn't want to stop majority governments from having absolute power. Perish the thought. Good straw man though. "I don't like it so I will appeal to knee-jerk anti-Americanism." Good work uOttawaMan. You clearly have a future in the Liberal Party of Canada. If it survives the next election.

They are conspiring to keep the Natural Governing Party out of power for more than nine months!

So to be fair, you pick out one of the five points I faulted Trudeau for. Then you compare it to Meech Lake/the Charlottetown Accord, which *almost* passed. Charlottetown failed because Mulroney left it up to the people to make the final decision. If Trudeau had the balls to do that with Constitution Act 1982 it definitely would have failed. Hmmm, gotta prefer Mulroney over Trudeau still. To be fair. I am assuming you agree with me on the other four issues I had with Trudeau.

Good post August. That is the problem, your out-and-about parents are the Starbucks crowd. The people who are going to be helped most by the Conservatives plan are the Tim Horton's crowd. The Conservatives are under no obligation to honour the Liberals desperate, last-minute deal and shouldn't do it.

The Liberals would *never* do that. You cannot point to one Liberal MP who publicly took issue with Belinda crossing the floor last spring. The Liberals worry only about power. So their is no *standard* their supporters can hold them to.

It is finally dawning on me. The Liberals are so outraged about being denied their god given right to govern they are hammering this story to milk it as much as they can before it gets knocked off the front pages by the Olympics. newbie's moronic, childish five word post goes to show they have nothing more to say about it. Nothing to add to the debate, nothing more to say. sad, sad, sad. Maybe a new leader will change the mindset of the Liberals. The Olympic opening ceremonies are tomorrow. One more day on the front pages then the story dies. Enjoy it while you can.

If you believe IMT then missing the press conference was another terrible mistake. However, IMT appears to be a little short on the truth. Yet again. *Must you really emulate your namesake?* No word on any media site about Emerson being in his office. The CBC.ca story doesn't even mention the missed conference call. Here is what CTV.ca said. Must you lie about this issue IMT? It is pretty sad when you are lying as a way of making points when hammering an opponent about integrity. People see through those tactics and that is why you lost the election.

The level of outrage over the move has got to be far more than Harper expected when he made the decision. That's the downside of having supporters who actually have principles. From here Harper has to stick with his decision and ride out the storm.

I nominate George Stombolopolous. He represents the *hip* *cool* *happening* *wow* *now* attitude that the CBC uses to hide/justify/gloriy their fair and balanced view of Canadian society. We have had two Governors General with no more credentials than working for Mothercorp. Why not a PM? Wouldn't that be great to have a PM who used to be a Veejay?

He killed two birds with one stone. Got somebody with good experience in the lumber industry *and* a representative at the cabinet table for Vancouver. Clearly nobody met both of those criteria ... not really all that telling.

Well said. The only real troubling appointment is Emerson. If he helps broker a deal on softwood lumber then the storm will die down.

Remember the most controversial thing in the campaign was stating that he would allow a free vote on SSM. He got it out there right away and it faded from the headlines. Could be the same tactic for this announcement as well...

Yeah, yeah Mimas we get your point. Harper is a bad guy. Your three posts to date have all pointed that out. He has only been in office for four days. The accountability act stated very clearly how PM Harper will clean up government. Give him a little time before passing judgment. Who am I kidding? You have already made up your mind about Harper and *nothing* he can do will change that.

Exactly. Joe Clark attempted to govern as if he had a majority and failed miserably as a result. Harper realizes he doesn't have a majority, but is taking steps to ensure that he wins one in 2008.

I like the comment from Osama Bin Laden on the petition. He seems pretty well versed in Canadian politics given the time he has spent hiding in caves in Afghanistan. Who knew?

Kennedy got the U.S. into Vietnam. So much mythology got built up with Camelot and the Kennedy assasination it is tough to dispute. My opinion changed a lot on Kennedy the first time I actually sat down and studied that period of U.S. history. Here is a link to a very interesting book by Noam Chomsky on Kennedy. If you really want some insight into Kennedy it is worth the read. The whole Kennedy thing goes to prove how family money and looks can still go a long, long way in our society.

Uhhh, a lot of what Layton *won* in his budget deal with Martin was so far down the road that it was irrelevant. Jack's mistake was made at the time of the deal. Not in the interim.

The Conservatives are being shrewd in putting forth their childcare plan now. They should also stick to their guns and make little or no changes to it. That and the GST should be dealt with ASAP. They should strike while the iron is hot and nobody wants to force an election again. The other parts of their five priorities are far less contentious and the Government should be able to find support in the commons for parts of it.

Fair enough. When I talked about supporting the Democrats I was referring to the party at the National level. For example, I would definitely support Gordon Campbell in BC. Although the BC Liberals provincially can probably work pretty well with the CPC.

OK crazy I will stir it up with you. Overall I have very little respect for Joe Clark. His first go as leader of the PCs was terrible. He pissed away the Prime Ministership because he did not even try and work with the other party leaders. Very little had to be given to the creditistes to get them on board with that budget. His terrible *leadership* gave us four more years of Trudeau than were necessary. All the worst of Trudeau (N.E.P. Constitution Act 1982, the biggest of the deficits) were done in those last four years. He called a leadership review at a point when Mulroney and his gang thought they had lost the vote at the National convention. To his credit he served Mulroney well. His return to politics was a nightmare. He stubbornly kept the PCs on life support for far too long. Then he turned pissy and went out of his way to screw over the CPC at every turn. He endorsed Anne Maclellan in 2004. wtf? I am an Edmontonian but a little young to remember Hawrelak. Heard of the park though... Kennedy was not a great leader. Bay of Pigs ... unnecessary fiasco. Cuban Missile Crisis ... terribly handled. He did nothing on civil rights. He most likely would have been just a failed one-term President had he not been shot. Agreed Don Getty was terrible. He is a PC who almost lost in Alberta. wtf?

In spite of our differing views on investment of the Heritage Trust Fund I think we agree on many political topics in Canada. I am a pretty strong CPC supporter here in Canada, but would definitely consider myself a member of the old PC wing of the party. When I lived in the U.S. the Republicans scared me ... seriously. I found myself much more naturally drawn to the Democrats there.