shoop

The anger is amazing. The term "natural governing party" isn't legally binding. From the anger she exhibits you would think it is!

Hmmmm, let's just look at this comment about doing some research. The ardent/angry/apoplectic STEFROCKS wonders why Peter Lougheed didn't use the proposed firewall (aka the Alberta Agenda) to block the National Energy Program. Hmmmm, if one reads the letter you can see that it proposes using many of the powers as granted to provincial governments in the Constitution. The N.E.P. was introduced in 1980. The Constitution was patriated in 1982. How was Premier Lougheed supposed to use the powers of the Consitution before it existed? A time machine? Do some research .... brilliant.

Great point BD. It doesn't have to be that cut and dried. There is room for compromises in the system. Elimination of candidates is insane. You could get absolute nutbars in the House on that basis. Heck, enough nutbars get in under the current system. How much worse would the problem be with this well-considered alternative? Why go to extremes?

Sorry to let facts get in the way of your little diatribe. Ambrose's riding is Edmonton-Spruce Grove which includes the western party of Edmonton *AND* Sherwood Park. James Rajotte's riding is Edmonton-Leduc which is the same rural/urban mix as Ambrose's. At least find something honest to vent your anger over...

The optics of the Emerson crossing are bad. However, Harper made a conscious choice that having a representative for Vancouver at the cabinet table would outweigh the negative optics in the medium to long-term. He just might be correct. Call Harper's actions what you will. But if you want to be fair, they weren't corrupt.

crazy, More of an Albertan's only post ... but here is a quick answer for you. Nancy Betkowski After she lost the leadership to Klein she didn't run in the next election. She came back later and ran as a Liberal. That is totally fine as she never changed parties *while* sitting as an MLA. Whenever she was elected she represented the party she was elected for.

Quit being such a whiney little biotch IMT. Your guys lost. Face facts, you gotta get used to being in opposition. If you cared to read the forum rules, you'd see that insulting entire groups of people based on your narrow stereotypes is explicitly prohibited. But more to the point, I don't see why you insist on throwing out these pointless and inflammatory comments constantly.

Because he used the power in ways I don't agree with. Bloated government bureaucracies, soaring deficits and debt. He rammed through the flawed and inadequate Constitution Act 1982 just to create a legacy for himself. He never, ever tried to govern all of Canada. Never even cared to reach out to Canadians west of Ontario...

tml12, Thanks for the support. See die-hard Liberals can only blame westerners for not liking Trudeau on indoctrination. Typical Liberal - can't even take responsibility for their own actions. When Keith Davey was the Liberal's national campaign chair in 1980 the parties unofficial slogan was "Screw the West - We'll win the rest." Which is pretty much happened when the P.E.T. lead Liberals won 2 out of 77 seats west of the Manitoba/Ontario border. Then the true screwing of the west began. The N.E.P. helped exacerbate the problems of the slump in oil prices in the 80s. Yet it is Alberta high schools teaching farcically, and nothing wrong with what Trudeau did.

They can't really ban it but they can make it far less common as part of a complete overhaul of the system. Including an elected Senate. Direct election of the PM. A cabinet separate from the House of Commons.

I am sickened by the fact that it took place a couple days before the election and it wasn't announced until after. It is truly sad that Dingwall get any money as severance. I think the Government could very well have won its case in court. However, court costs alone could have pushed the cost over the half million range so this was likely the most cost effective outcome for the Government.

Good to hear ... I guess. But my post wasn't all *ruffled feathers*...

Uhhh, say what you will but this place is no FreeDominion.

A very odd point from a man who chose the namesake you did. P.E.T.'s only principle was screwin' the west.

Uhhh, no and it never did. It has been on the conservatives web site since the early stages of the campaign. Accountability act. Geoffrey, read again but it sounds to me like you are disagreeing with BD.

Was it a mistake? Probably. A major blunder? Absolutely not. You conveniently omitted Harper mentioning the Senate in the *blunder* to which you refer. Since the election both the Chief Justice and Liberal leader in the Senate (may have been a different Senator) have proven Harper's sentiments correct. The CPC were not in majority territory for long. The Liberals scary, scary, scary started to work. At most this *blunder* of Harper's cost the party 10 seats. Definitely didn't cost them a majority.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The story may have legs for a few days but that is it. My guess is that Harper will ignore it for the most part...

Brilliant. Your little disclaimer at the start makes all the difference.

Deputy PM isn't like the Vice-Presidency of the U.S. *If* something happened to Harper caucus would probably pick an interim leader (and PM) before the party had a leadership convention. No reason to be so knee-jerk anti-Harper on this one. Does Harper think that, should something happen to him, his wife or son will replace him? Dream on, Stephen!

True enough. At least wait till they have done something *as government* before going on the attack. There is a valid argument to be made supporting what they did. But at the heart of it the Emerson crossing was pretty slimey. I don't think calling their appointments *less important* portfolios is very fair, or accurate. Industry is a powerful portfolio. Labout is improtant. International cooperation is important to Quebec given the promises Harper made about UNESCO, etc... Bottom line, I am willing to trust Harper's judgment too. I think it is unnecessary conspiracy theorizing about Kenney. Harper had some real tough choices to make in Alberta. Kenney, Ablonczy, Rajotte and Jaffer all could have made it into cabinet without anybody batting an eye. Too bad they are all from Alberta. Indeed.

BD, You were being fair and reasonable until that part I highlighted. Harper's bench isn't weak. Unfortunately too much of the strength is concentrated in Alberta. tsk tsk fairness and all.

Yes, there are issues with the Emerson appointment. However, governments - like people - are not perfect and sometimes have to make hard choices. Hopefully, this does not set the tone for the Harper government. If Emerson is an isolated incident he will be ok. If it sets a pattern of behaviour then they are in trouble. It also goes to show the Liberals that the CPC is playing for keeps this time and won't give away government like Clark did in 1980.

Your anger at the Emerson appointment to Canada is rightful. If the CPC gets hammered in the press it will be over this one. The Fortier thing is fluff in the wind. Belinda got a post as soon as she crossed the floor. Brison did not.

Quick question Black Dog. What were you saying when Belinda crossed? Being the big fan of consistency that you are...

I get into this for a serious reason. The Conservatives have traditionally lacked the discipline of the Liberals. That lack of discipline is what has hurt us in the past. Sure you may not agree with everything Harper did with his cabinet, but histrionics about selling out, and red-necked comments about big cities voting the right way only hurts us. The Conservatives have a chance to govern for an extended period here. *Supporters* jumping on the PM the day he takes office isn't the way to stay in power. Remember the old saying "moral victories are for chumps". It is far better to stay in office and get 80% of your platform enacted then to fall on your sword, lose power and get NONE of your platform enacted. We have been out of power long enough that we need to re-learn how to govern. We also need to learn how to not go overboard when we see things happen that we don't agree with at first glance...