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I think that's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Stop telling people who they should be allowed to vote for. If they want to vote for the Marxist-Leninist Party, they damn well have the right to, if they want to vote for the CPC , they have the right to. This is Canada, not the US. Two party systems are fricking awful. Never bring forth that idea again. Canada is multi-party in name only. Even most Bloc/NDP supporters I know understand that. If you're not a Liberal/Conservative supporter and your party isn't going to win your riding, you'd be a damn fool not to vote strategically (unless of course, your party needs that $1.75)...

The last guy that said that was Trudeau. And you know what happened to the NEP. The thing I worry about is that when the U.S. enters a transaction, they tend to do it only if they get the better deal or upper hand. That's been their tradition. Of course. And why shouldn't it? If I were PM, I would want to do what's best for my country, regardless who I was entering into agreement with. Even Ontario, with has the most residents who call themselves "Canadians" before Ontarians" (not surprising after 12 years of the Libs though), looks for the better end of their deals with Ottawa. So now I say, of course the U.S. is going to look for a good end to the deal regardless of Canada. But a "good faith" negotiation shouldn't be impossible. Look, when Martin took over in early 2004, Bush invited him to the Crawford Ranch. Bush knew Martin and he disagreed on many domestic issues and perhaps Middle East issues as well, but he understood the need for good bilateral relations. I'll never forget the Secretary of State during the Reagan years saying, "I used to hate when the president would get a call from Thatcher or Mulrooney...they'd get Reagan to do whatever they wanted!" Think about it...the U.S. isn't preparing to invade us. But if we piss them off, instead of working with them in our common interests, I think the consequences could be dire.

Shoop, I second you on that. Gerry, My hotel's computer is really slow but I was able to find a website on polar bears... http://www.geocities.com/mikepolarbear/faq.html#bathroom I figure the section on "How does a bear go to the bathroom?" might be helpful.

I love how right-wing free market types sound almost like communists when it comes to Alberta and its oil. Agreed. It's the oil rights I lease as a free-marketeer entreprenuer from the ugly beaucracy called the EUB? (Better Sparhawk?) Either way... its good for everyone if the US buys our oil, the faster the better. Yeehaw! Of course they want our oil. They want (or will want) our water soon too. And I say let's work out a deal and get something in return instead of bitching about "sovereignty." Mulrooney was not a flawless PM and he was not one of my favourites but in all honesty, the one thing the guy understood was by working with/serving as an international bridge to the U.S. you get more done FOR CANADA than socialist Liberal pseudo-sovereign rights smugness.

Good call shoop, we all need to keep that in mind. And to uOttawa, we're talking about people that have committed a violent crime, not jaywalkers. There's a big difference between breaking the law in general or actually comitting a crime. Seriously, shoop was referring to the events in Toronto, not some guy jaywalking (it's clear to me you've also never walked in downtown Montreal... )

Liberals and their ilk usually take credit for events that took place out of their control. Clinton was lucky--damn lucky--daddy Bush raised the taxes when he he did...

How did Wilson sell us out? the FTA and NAFTA are the reasons that we have a trade surplus. The GST replaced a tax that was 6% higher (the Manufacturers Tax was 13%) and we are able to get rebates from this tax where we weren't able to get anything from the previous tax. I really like this appointment because along with some of the key cabinet positions it shows that Harper is supporting former Tories instead of Reformers and should help in the next election. Totally agree. Just one minor quibble--the MST was 13.5%. It originally started out at 9% but being a hidden tax, it was constantly nudged up. My prices dropped when the GST replaced the MST. Additionally, the duties (some as high as 18%) I was paying were phased out over 5 years. For all the previous uproar over NAFTA, I didn't hear any complaints from my customers. Mulroney did the right thing--our economy has been relatively prosperous since NAFTA. Members of the ruling party calling Americans morons, bastards, coalition of the idiots, stomping on a George Bush doll on State TV; it was deeply embarrassing and unprofessional. Having amicable relations with a wealthy country of 300 million that buys 85% of your exports is A Good Thing™. Agreed Monty and well put.

Clinton never ran the country. It was a power struggle between pollsters and his wife. Clinton was interested in plenty of people -- so long as they had a nice round behind, an ample bosom and were willing to screw an old man. What's wrong with this? At least he was entertaining If you're an ordinary joe -- nothing -- so long as your wife approves and you're honest about it when asked under oath. But as the POTUS I think it is assumed one would operate at a higher level of discourse than that. I agree. Look, I don't say Clinton didn't do a lot of great things. But the fact is, the man cheated on his wife and set a terrible example for the country. His "horniness," if you will, ruined his presidency and hurt his legacy. All facts in, Clinton wasn't awful...but he wasn't moral either.

Sorry Drea. The law is the law. Shoop, Stop trying to insult your opponents with *facts*

Toronto StarI think the Tories should follow this advice. It will be politically popular, and it makes sense. The government is capable of cutting income taxes (as the Liberals intended and as has been the case since 1 January 2006) and cutting the GST. With an intelligent and realistic budget, the government would stay in surplus - although a budget surplus is a needless, even foolish, Canadian political fetish. This would also be a smart political solution to the so-called fiscal imbalance. By cutting taxes, the federal government would leave it up to the provincial governments to raise their taxes and claw back the federal tax cut - taking the political heat in the process. Your right, a surplus is a bad thing. Why people are so hellbent on having this surplus beats me... I hope that they maintain the tax cuts and do the GST cut. Though if we can only have one, the GST will mean more money in our pockets (do the math on this one, the 1% tax cut for the lowest bracket is only a few hundred for those at the top of the bracket, it does nothing for real poor people). I really hate the idea of this massive surpluses that the government just then blows on wasteful spending. A surplus doesn't serve any purpose besides political points with many voters. Balanced budgets are nice, surpluses are just as bad as deficits! Surplus=cut my taxes!!! That's what I told the Quebec government... BTW: Geoffrey, do you sleep? It's 6:30AM here, it's like 4:30AM there?

Excellent post Monty. Very well done indeed...

Monty, "I predict the Emerson controversy will die down and eventually be a footnote." No doubt...agreed.

That's interesting: an article on MSNBC quoted Cheney's spokesperson as saying there may have been "a few beers around" (that reference was subsequently yanked form the article). Also, we know Cheney didn't talk to local law enforcement for almost 24 hours (needed time to sober up?) Also, alcohol is part of the hunting culture (especially for rich dudes playing at being good ol' boys). It's certainly a reasonable path to go down (alcohol would also explain many other of this administration's decisions). Certainly, the White House's treatment of the incident hasn't given the impression thay've nothing to hide. Or maybe they are just so obsessed with secrecy that even something as relatively innocuous as this has to be covered up (after blaming the victim, of course). Oh no! I fear for the future of the American Republic. Cheney actually drank a beer. Do you have any idea how unhinged and compulsively partisan you look? Cheney admitted to a beer at lunch. The shooting incident took place at dusk. According to everyone else involved, (MSNBC likely yanked the Cheney "spokesperson quote" because they made it up and got caught by rightwing bloggers--it happens all the time) there was no other drinking. One can reasonably conclude that alcohol did not play a factor in the shooting. The likelihood of the Secret Service allowing a drunken Cheney to be wandering throughout the woods with a loaded firearm is laughable. And the impugning you do of Armstrong is baseless, though carefully non-commital. The fact is if you're hunting with a group of people everyone is supposed to identity themselves at all times. This issue doesn't have to be turning so partisan. If it was a liberal or a private citizen, it wouldn't even be news.

Sweet ! What part of Canada do you give us Are you American? You can come here to live but I don't give you any of Canada to keep. But if the NDP takes power, it'd probably be the best time to bring the Marines in. After six months of Layton I'd give you guys six days for flat out victory...

uOttawaman, How be that lefty nation of yours going? My right-wing utopia's economy is "thriving." The NDP has essentially borrowed many of its ideas of communism. While I doubt they'd actually push for a proletariat revolution if they were in power, they'd probably push all business into the states and a good number of Canadians too. Alberta would immediately call a referendum and separate and borders would be open to all. The army would cease to exist. I have no doubt that 2 million fools want this. And if they want it, let them have it. I am out of here in that case though...

Very good and about damn time.

I think you fit in perfectly with his opinion, although not in a way you may like.

Agreed although I can't wait til the Habs come back. I am one of those fans that when they are on TV from 30 mins before the gam until 30 mins after the game I don't get up and RDS does not go off... I do grab a beer at the intermission though... Ick RDS, I'd rather just not watch TV... they have the weirdest camera angels, like whatever happened to watching hockey from that one fixed camera like on CBC?? Do you guys get sportsnet out East? Great local coverage, they even have this talk after about your hometeam in the game! (I learnt that in Edmonton vs. Calgary games, each city gets its own postgame!) I know I can always catch a Habs or Sens game on ol' channel 11 (French CBC). At least you have some interesting teams to watch the homeboys play against. In our division, its like constant teams that attempt to play the trap and its all boring defensive grind it out hockey. The Minnesota Wild are probably the most boring team to ever watch. Yeah we have Sportsnet East that plays Sens games if they play anything at all...it's even "molson canadian sens hockey" when they're playing the Habs... :angry: They used to have molson export Canadiens hockey on sportsnet but I haven't seen that recently...

Ontario 4 life meng. Dominik Hasek injured?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO My SENS are screweeeddd If you want Theodore you can have him for awhile...

Agreed Shoop...if he gets those things done with style and honour we'll be going David who? in about three weeks time...

The Prime Minister of my nation has just informed me the likes of you will now need a visa to enter my right-wing utopia nation-state. Be priveleged you're still welcome...

Good to know who we can trust on economic opinions! What course is it? I think we have similiar naming/numbering structures between BC and AB. Hey every ones got an opinion...but yeah the course was Money and Banking I really don't know what the hell I was thinking, every one in that class is a business or accounting major and I am History Major so I think I am a little out of place, it certainly is harder than macro and micro. Really, I've got Money and Banking in spring. I've taken some other 300's though already, International Trade and the such. I found money and banking one of the easiest parts of macro, so I'm hoping it plays to my strong points. I'm a finance/econ major, thats probably why! Don't stick me in a history class though. I think I'd do better in history than economics...

Good to know who we can trust on economic opinions! What course is it? I think we have similiar naming/numbering structures between BC and AB. Hey every ones got an opinion...but yeah the course was Money and Banking I really don't know what the hell I was thinking, every one in that class is a business or accounting major and I am History Major so I think I am a little out of place, it certainly is harder than macro and micro. Really, I've got Money and Banking in spring. I've taken some other 300's though already, International Trade and the such. I found money and banking one of the easiest parts of macro, so I'm hoping it plays to my strong points. I'm a finance/econ major, thats probably why! Don't stick me in a history class though. Dude I didn't need to take stats but an academic advisor told me too and I failed miserably. I think 17 on the final after a ten-point curve? I do well in courses in my department but struggle in outside areas...the faculty of science is my archilles heel. I did well, I think I got an A, in calc 1 though.

Agreed although I can't wait til the Habs come back. I am one of those fans that when they are on TV from 30 mins before the gam until 30 mins after the game I don't get up and RDS does not go off... I do grab a beer at the intermission though...

Thanks Geoffrey... My midterm went okay although I can't write as much as they want us too... Thought I was an old coot... Well sometimes they tell me if my expertise were graded in decades... BTW I checked out your nation. Way to stand by the cause...