Leafless

Renegade You wrote- " There are good reasons to have immigration, afterall Canada is a desirable destination and there are skill shortages in certain areas which can't be filled by the existing population." I have never seen the jobs you are talking about concerning skill shortages and if there are truly skill shortages I would think the feds and provinces are badly lagging proper educational courses in our schools and universities and colleges. What the REAL PROBLEM is 'el cheapo' companies are to cheap to properly train existing staff or don't want to spend money to properly pay for what the positon is really worth. Immigration is a partial answer to exploit our home grown work force but they then become a problem when U.I runs and cost taxpayers extra money for welfare. So in effect the tax payer is subsidizing private companies to exploit Canadians with our federal banana governments blessings. The only reason most immigrants come here is to escape poverty and violence from there war torn countries. No one leaves tropical conditons for the COLD white north.

cybercoma You wrote-" Canada is Canada, english or French Canada is a bilingual nation." Firstly nations can't speak so we are NOT a bilingual nation. What we are is a country with two official languages English and French with the province of New Brunswick being the ONLY province classed as having an 'officially bilingual' language policy. The federal government also incorporates an 'official bilingual' language policy in which many Canadians feel this discriminates against the majority English speaking population of Canada especially considering the fact Quebec itself does not incorporate an 'official bilingual policy' and that bilingualism (French) is grossly over represented in our federal public service as in comparison to what Quebec represents as a percent of our total Canadian population. Your whole post is senseless as everyone knows it is Quebec that wants to be culturally different and it votes for regional federal political Parties not national and incoporates discriminatory and destructive language policies not the ROC. We also all know in Quebec it is mainly the 'fleur de lis' that is flown in that province with hardly no sign anywehere of the Canadian maple leaf with Quebec residents loyal to provincial interest. If there is anyone in this country that should start looking at things differently it's Quebec.

newbie You wrote- "Well, in all seriousness, how does one deal with this problem and still remain impartial and fair to the rest of the provinces and country." That is the one million dollar question. The most important concern in all of this is what constitutes a province? Obviously there has to be legislation to govern this and this is where our system has failed. In Quebec's case cultural aspects overides the normal federalistic criteria of other provinces and basically choose to abide by their own provincial self interest. As far as I am concerned separatist or regional Parties should be federally banned as the way it is the country is being driven away from it's federalistic nature and has created a corrupt political system.

newbie You wrote- " Sleeping with the separatist: Albertans will love that." Well newbie this is nothing new to the Liberals they even hire them. But I admit you point out a serious flaw in Canadian politics and this is the forced political relationship between a national Party and a regional separatist Party especially concerning minority government concerns. The two simply do not jive. Ontario would be the only other province in Canada that would be able to carry the same regional political weght as Quebec and in my opinion this is unconstitutional as it is simply not fair and discriminates to the smaller provinces. I have been waiting patiently for parlimentarians or provinces to attend to this problem but yet seems to be unresolved.

eureka You wrote- "Canada export 70% of it's oil." Those fiqures are avilable in 'Canada Country Analysis Brief'. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/canada.htlml Canada produces 3.1 million bbl/d and exports 2.1 million bbl/d.

crazymf You wrote- " So why get married at all? He can jump from hole to hole just like a gopher." This is true but there must be an appeallig stigma attached to marriage that somehow makes one more conventionally appealing. I don't understand it either!

Humber student You must certaintly be a student if you are not fully aware of the problems pertaining to Canada and this current government. Many Canadians view the Liberal government as corrupt and no longer in a moral positon to govern Canada. I to can see a strong possibility of Canadians heading to the polls with snow fakes falling from the sky.

tml12 You wrote- "Do you really think, paying us to have kids." I think the major problem to-day preventing couples from having children is affordable housing and this could be helped a great deal with federal-provincial assistance. I think immigration is not necessarily good thing for the country as there are many cost associated with immigration that make this an expensive proposition for Canadian taxpayers. On top of this immigrants take advantage of our Charter and many never do become Canadian by Canada allowing dual citizenenship which encourages an attachment to political concerns from their home country, an attachment to a religion with undesirable political ramifications along, an attachment to their culture which promotes cultural fractionation which could cause undesirable consequences for Canadian interest.

Semperfi_dani I never did place any importance on the 85 referendum and felt it was always Liberal Quebec Wing grandstanding in an effort to improve Liberal fortunes and feel the same way to-day. I think it would be an impossibility initially for Quebec to separate unless it comes to some sort agreement with the ROC which I think again would be an impossibility. I really don't know how Quebec can continual wave the threat of separation around when in reality it means very little as they need the ROC for their survival.

Sparhawk You wrote- " Strange logic coming from someone who complains about how the Liberals have mis spent public money." Nobody can outdo the Liberals mis spending money and that is creating jobs through social programs paid for by the Canadian taxpayer including the poorest of the poor. Stephen Harper cannot run Canada like George W. Bush since we do not have the same political mandate in several areas but can he run the country in a much more conservative manner. But I think the Conservatives will do a better job creating 'real jobs' incorporating private investment and return the country to a more meaningful concept of what democracy is suppose to mean. I have not given up on the hope that Canada cannot only exist as a socialist state under the type of corrupt dictatorial Liberal leadership we have at the present time.

Stephen Harper alleges federal Liberals would be deeper under criminal investigation if they weren't in power. Martin's asking the RCMP to further investigate potential Liberal misconduct shows how John Gomery's report on the sponsership scandal could quickly spiral into a political-legal storm. You be the judge! http://www.metronews.ca/news_detail.asp?id=11941

A request was killed by Stephen Harper's Conservatives, along with Bloc MP's to kill a request by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe for $168.5 million in new funding for immigration measures and other expenditures. This is good news as I have a hard enough time taking care of my own family and have no desire to raise immigrants. If the federal or provincial governments are serious about Canada's sagging population maybe they should consider PAYING Canadians to propagate Canada's population. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/...pf-1290989.html

Leader Circle No matter how you arrive at your conclusion concerning Martin's innocence he FAILED miserably concerning the seriousness of the matter to call an immediate election to clear the corrupt air. BTW - I am one of the ones that hope Stephen Harper if elected would carry on a government similar to the Republican one currently under the direction and leadership of George W. Bush.

Yaro You wrote- "Canada as a whole imports more energy from the U.S. than it exports, although it might have been specifically electrical energy." The fiqure I gave indicate Canada as a whole exported 29.3 billion kilowatt-hrs. and imported 23.6 billion kilowatt hrs. from the U.S. This is electrical energy we are talking about. Do you have a link regarding your article?

tml12 You wrote- "But to Quebecers it was a deeply personal and flagrant attempt to but the hearts of Quebecers." Arn't you getting a little carried away? These were corrupt arrogant Liberal greedy politicians ripping off the tax payers of Canada who never expected to get caught with both hands in the cookie jar.

Sparhawk You wrote- "Basically what you are saying is that we need to keep having 'inquiries' until one said Martin is guilty because that is what you want to believe." I am against 'inquiries' because they are not like police investigations Gomery's powers are limited and as you pointed out the police have been laying criminal charges where there is merit but who up to now who as went to jail? The point is, there are for a fact many individuals within the Liberal Party who knows what's going on but can't be proven with a limited inquiry. It is because of this Paul Martin should have done the right thing regarding the seriousness of this whole scandal and called an immediate election but did not. This indicates that in fact corruption can continue within the Liberal government and if another scandal is found out simply hold another 'mickey mouse' inquiry and everthing is back to normal. I certainly hope Canadians have the intelligence to fully understand that it is the 'whole Liberal Party' that should be held accountable.

Sparhawk You wrote- "This kind of response is pretty pathetic." This whole effort was nothing more than an inquiry and a total waste of taxpayers money and accomplished nothing. This INQUIRY could not legally implicate anyone in a criminal sense but simply only could advise Mr. Martin and the Liberals that possibly a certain situation could be pursued in a court of law in which the Liberals had up to two years to decide whether or not pursue these findings or totally reject Judge Gommery's reccommendations. It should also be remembered this was a LIBERAL inspired commisssion in the form of an 'inquiry' and UNLIKE a CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.

Everyone with a pea for a brain knows this Liberal initiated commission has no legal ramifications and in reality means very little as far as serving any form of justice to the taxpayers of Canada. But what the tapayers of Canada can do is vote out this corrupt Liberal government once and for all.

Yaro Canada is a net exporter of oil, natural gas, coal uranium and hydropower. The facts regarding your dubious concern relating to electricity is that Canada in 2003 exported 29.3 Bkwh of electricity to the U.S. while importing 23.6 Bkwh from the U.S. Blackouts in Canada are not related to total exports and are a seasonal event and basically call for increased domestic production to curb this temporary situation which does make us rely on U.S. imports of hydro during times of abnormal peak demands.

eureka You wrote- "And who would make the appointments in your "Golden" Republic. Many of these appointments could be qualified individuals provincially nominated for the positon and voted on by MP's from all political parties combined. There are many other ways to accomplish this and no process is perfect but almost anything would beat the unilateral biased way this is accomplished now.

Semperfi_dani Your own words- "the average taxpayer could care less". From your posts it certaintly indicated you question the importance concerning visits from the royal family as being a burden on the tax payers purse as well as discount the fact Canada always has accommodated members of the royal family. There are people who don't support the monarchy and you sounded like one of them.

RB You wrote- "That you must also must be smart enough to make some distinction between what you perceive as "terror and terror", plus be accommodating of their whims and fancies." This is where the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" fails or becomes a fallacy in allowing certain Rights to overide common sense laws built for the safety or well being of society. It is the same in another sense with federal official bilingualism has to why is there such a high percentage of francophones dominating the federal civil service and bilingual positons when Quebec's population is only around 22%. Bilingual positons should not exceed the percentage of what Quebec's population represents out of Canada's total popualtion and therefore can be seen as discriminating against the majority English language in Canada.

Semperfi_dani People like you make me sick to discard the monarchy as trivial. Historically the monarchy is a historical reminder of the British conquest of Canada and who knows what Canada would be like to-day if this was not FACT. It also sets up Prime Ministers like Paul Martin who fully takes full advantage of the dictatorial qualities of our government being both a parliamentry democract and a constitutional monarchy. The PM and his government has the power in Canada to appoint: 1- Governor General of Canada 2- Lieutenant Governors of all provinces 3- Governors of the territories 4- Members of the Senate 5- Supreme Court Judges 6-Clerk of the Privy Council 7-Cabinet Ministers and their deputies (who control every aspect of life in Canada) 8- Ambassdors to foreign countrie and Consuls 9-Canada's representative to the United Nations 10- Chiefs of the armed forces 11.- chiefs of the RCMP and security Agencies (CSIS) 12- Heads of the Crown Corporations 13- Head of CBC ans it's directors 14- Commissioner of Official languages 15- Bilingualism Czar of Cabinet rank 16- Head of Prime ministers Office 17- Governor of the Bank of Canada 18- President of the Tresury Board 19- Heads of all government sponsered Commissions 20- Members of the Human rights Tribunal 21- His own Ethics Councilor So you see Semperfi the ramifications of our monarchy have been of great importance but have been abused when combined with immigration and Quebec interest and Liberal ideoligies. I to would like to see IMMEDIATE electoral reform or the transformaton to a repulic as this would reduce the dictatorial aspects Canadains have to endure in a co-called democratic country.

Semperfi_dani You wrote-"The obligation does not extend to royal family members." Of course Canada accommodates 'The House Of Windsor' royal family on 'OFFICIAL VISITS'. Here is a list of royal visits since 1953 both private and official. http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cp...-rf/visit_e.cfm

Quebec just finished signing a $1.1 billion dollar deal with no strings attached while New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord has been trying for months to negotiate it's own deal but accused the Liberals of being inflexible with his province. "I hope this means the federal government will be willing to offer the people of New Brunswick the same thing their willing to offer to the province of Quebec." I think there is to much secrecy involved in the concept of assymetrical federalism and seems to be nothing more than a federal blank cheque to give to provinces to support unaffordable provincial aspirations. The problem with this is who is in the rightful federal positon to decide who get's what and under what terms. This it appears is nothing more than an extension of the banana repulic the Liberals have turned Canada into. No accountably with taxpayers money and no fairness applied to ensure each province gets what the other receives. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/10...1283196-cp.html