MightyAC

I’m glad it is a minority government or this piece of crap would be law shortly. The best thing Harper can do is kill it before a vote. IMO Garth was turfed before the release of this act because his views on climate change and the environment are well known. He would have had to vote against it in order to maintain any integrity at all. After Garth’s suspension Cons wouldn’t dare vote against it, which puts Con MPs between a rock and a hard place. Their party is forcing them to vote in favour but by doing so they look like fools in front of their constituents. I’m sure Harper’s advisors will encourage him to scrap this BS bill and save a little face for his team. I know that this bill was the centerpiece of the Con fall session. It was preceded by 4 announcements and it was marketed for months. It will be very tough for Steve-O to put his tail between his legs and kill the bill before a vote but it is the right thing to do.

I'd wager that most people slamming the Green party as lefty, idealists don't have a clue what their actual policies are. I encourage people to actually go to their site and read about their policies. You'll find they are far more than a group of environmentalists and they tend to offer solutions to problems rather than just criticizing the government. I think Garth would be great for the Green party...but I hope if that's what he decides to do he waits until the next election. Based on the way our BS electoral system works it is just wrong to change parties after being elected. I have no problem with anyone sitting as an independent but actually crossing the floor like Emerson or Stronach is disgusting. I doubt he will just cross the floor without a looming election. He has too much integrity to do that. He may actually be invited back to the Cons....he's been part of the Blue team a lot longer than Steve-O.

The Ontario caucus mentioned that he violated caucus confidentiality but has not and will not provide any information to defend that claim. Garth did speculate on what he thought would be in the next budget. However his is not at all privy to that information. He himself was on the outside lobbying Flaherty for what he felt best served his constituents. He was aggressively pushing for income splitting. Anyway, on his blog he speculated in very general terms that we'd see another 1 point drop in GST among some other things but that income splitting is not a priority for the finance minister. So far it seems that the claim of violation of caucus confidentiality is unfounded. It also seems that this incarnation of the blue team does not believe in free thinking or free speaking MPs. One has to wonder how free they are to vote as well. Methinks the party mascot must be a lap dog.

I don't think is going to help on air pollution all that much. Going to stop a few of us from dying though. Alot more than Kyoto will ever do. What makes me laugh is that people feel compelled to back whatever their chosen party puts forth no matter how absurd. Some people actually defend Dalton McGuinty in Ontario and likewise some people are actually making excuses for this Green plan. Staunch Conservatives must know it’s bad because all they can come up with is…uh, well the Liberals didn’t do anything. That may be true but this plan is still absolute crap. Instead of playing party politics why don’t we try to push the government no matter what party is in to do what’s right? It’s time to push this party to do something meaningful. First, let’s all thank the government for creating some mandatory targets. Second let’s all push them for some meaningful ones that actually begin in during our lifetimes.

No it's not a commitment at all... The plan doesn't kick in for 44 years but I fear it may immediately exacerbate the climate change problem. The amount of hot air that is sure to be expended to defend this so called green, so called plan will be immense. I'm no scientist but I'm pretty sure political hot air contributes to the greenhouse effect.

From the link above: While Turner challenged people to find examples of him breaching caucus secrecy, conservative blogger Stephen Taylor found an example of a May 23 posting that Taylor says was later altered. If Taylor is correct, the post was altered to soften a report about a briefing that Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice gave on settling aboriginal people with outstanding claims over abuse at residential schools. However, Taylor doesn't suggest when the post may have been altered. So exactly what information was being leaked? Is the May 23 example the only example they could find? Why did it take until October for this to happen if the incident supposedly happened in May? This is quote is from Garth's blog, Stephen Taylor has apologized and posted a clarification.

Exactly, I find it hard to believe that Harper wasn't aware of an MP being turfed in advance of it happening, especially in a minority government situation.

The problem with that excuse is that Garth isn't privy to the company secrets. His bench is as far back as possible. I think it's out in the hall somewhere. As an avid reader of his blog I am aware the he speculates on his party's decisions and lobbies them adopt ideas that he and his constituents feel are important but that's about it. Currently he was aggressively pushing for income splitting…first for the retired and then for all of us.

So the Cons turfed popular outspoken MP Garth Turner. This from a party that prides itself on free votes and individual opinions. It seems to me that the Conservative party may really be controlled from the top down. I get the feeling they prefer lap dogs to yap dogs. Is there really any difference between red and blue? Maybe it's time to try Green. I really hope this decision comes back to bite them in the ass. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/st...c50&k=81442

I'm sick of people making BS claims like these. The PM does say merry Christmas and he ends his speeches with "God bless Canada". Our anthem has the word God in it. I can't speak for all provinces but Ontario has a Catholic school board that receives public money to operate. Public money should not be spent on religion specific activities. The rest of your post is too ridiculous to comment on. As for the Korean plaza... Any former tenant can file a suit against the new landlord. If they can prove they were evicted simply because of their race then they may be entitled to some sort of compensation. This has nothing to do with the government. It is simply a matter for the courts decide.

Sorry if I my statement was unclear. I was trying to illustrate that certain religious friends and I both feel that we are morally superior to each other, and that our set of morals are derived from completely different sources. In my opinion, based on my morals I live to a higher moral standard. In their opinion and based on their moral code they would feel the opposite. Thus I feel that religion is not a requirement for being moral. I also feel that too often people expect that others should live by their personal moral code and fail to realize that there is not one a one size fits all package that suits everyone.

Often truthes are witheld from the public. Also, many of us would really like to believe certain theories. The combination of bits of fact and bits of fiction with the fact that we are often lied to makes for interesting stories...and I think we all like a good story.

Morals are simply a collection of beliefs relating to right and wrong. There are genereally multiple sources for an individuals set of morals and they need not be religious ones. I am an atheist and a very moral person. I find the moral standards of many of my religious friends to be quite low. Yet some of beliefs on equality, etc make me immoral to many religious folk.

Harper, Ambrose et al will give some specifics to the Green plan in 10 minutes or so... The speeches given by Ambrose in the previous weeks have led me to belive I will be disappointed but hey maybe hit one out of the park here. There is always hope I guess.

So what is the Cons strategy? Tell Mr. Ford in Windsor to scram back to Detroit? How will that help the air quality? Don't get me wrong ... I hope they do. Go IGGY GO! Nobody knows what the Cons full strategy is, that's why I said it was weak.. However, mandatory efficiency standards are a good idea. Ford or GM won't have to scram back to anywhere...the new mandatory standards won't even kick in for 5 years and fuel economy is already major factor in the design of all the manufacturers’ next generation vehicles. As a whole the Green plan is a joke. Ambrose has even been caught willfully taking expert opinion out of context to justify their bogus plan.

Arnie can only drive one Hummer at a time no matter how many he owns. I hate the smell of cigar smoke but I doubt it has a serious effect on the air quality in California. Too bad that Arnie lowered taxes on luxury vehicles but I don't live in California...They do have tough emission standards...we don't...and we should. Now we will. Get your facts straight. California is suing General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan. The six top selling manufacturers in California. All of these manufacturers are meeting emission standards. The suit just claims that cars and their manufacturers are responsible for global warming. California is simply filing a nuisance suit claiming that automakers should cover some of the massive costs California pays do to its brutal air quality. It's a frivolous lawsuit... If California set tough emission standards long before it was a smog pit they would be far better off. In the seventies governments set mandatory efficiency standards and almost overnight fuel economy improved by leaps and bounds. In the early 80's efficiency became self regulated and improvements flat lined. The Cons are right on this one. Fuel efficiency will not improve if left to the automakers themselves and it is better to be proactive when dealing with air quality. Far too often we see the writing on the wall do nothing to correct or head off a problem and then whine about how past governments screwed us over. I think the Green plan needs to be far more aggressive but this one point is a step in the right direction.

Bertuzzi was a big part of the offense 2 and 3 seasons ago. Plus he started this season with a 4 point night. I think he just needed a change of scenery after the incident. I think it will be one of those moves that turns out to be good for both teams.

Domi scored a few goals two seasons ago when playing on a line with Sundin. In the new NHL the 3rd and fourth lines are populated with up and coming young talent...not aging, overpaid, tough guys that can no longer provide a physical presence. Domi was a hard working player but his lack of physical presence, lack of scoring talent and $2M+ price tag meant he was just wasting a roster spot that could be used to develop a future Leaf.

Is your job some how tied to the Ontario Liberal party? I can see disliking Tory, but how can you back Dalton McGuinty?

No. I just don't understand why Ontario is upset that they are going to MAKE gas guzzling vehicles (i.e. the souped up Camaro). They're just PRODUCING them. By doing that, does it preclude them from putting in whatever loco leftie laws that they want regarding emissions etc for their province? Do they have to BUY some of their production, or can they not just make 'em & ship 'em ( to some less socialist places like the US? Excluding Cauli-fornia of course.) I see... Except that it was the Premier of Ontario and Buzz Hargrove complaining about the "loco leftie" fuel efficiency standards proposed by the federal Conservatives. I guess their point is the auto industry is taking a pounding and government regulations like those of the 70's will only hurt sales of the Ontario produced vehicles. I am 100% in favour of mandatory fuel efficiency standards as the average fuel efficiency of vehicles produced has not improved since the early 80's. Toyota and Honda are also producing tones of vehicles in Ontario, in fact Toyota is opening a brand new plant shortly, and they have no problem meeting efficiency and emission standards. Another problem for Buzz and his league of extortionists is that the real successful plants in Ontario are not unionized. As an aside, I find it hilarious that many of the 3.0 V6 engines found in some new GM vehicles have been purchased from Honda. The largest auto maker in the world could not make a V6 engine that met California emission guidelines in time so they had to buy them from a little Japanese company.. Anyway, the Conservative Green plan is a little weak but I fully agree with their mandatory standards for auto makers. I also see the point of Buzz and Dalton though...they are trying to attact auto investment in the province and soon guidelines will be inacted that will hurt sales of the vehicles they produce. Oh well the automakers didn't improve fuel economy under their own voluntary standards so they should loose the right to self regulate.

All religions are guilty of atrocities. However people like JS would like to demonize all others while overlooking their own. What JS did in his opening comment here is like Enron calling World Com a bunch of cheats or McDonalds’s calling Burger King unhealthy. There are more and more so called religious people who feel the need to build up their own while simultaneously slamming others. Here's some advice...be happy with your choice of religion, or at least the one that was forced on your as a child, and keep your mouth shut about the choice of others...in the end you come out looking much more pious. Guys like JS end up looking insecure in their choice of religion or like they have an agenda to recruit more followers.

Hmmm, good idea. I'll start a tally of reported rapes and molestations against Christian clergy versus Muslim clergy. I'll also keep a tally of Muslim civilians killed by Jewish governments versus Jewish civilians killed by Muslim governments. It may be hard to get the information..but if I can maybe I'll try to calculate the number of people swindled out of their money in the name of "God" versus "Allah". I like the 'starting today' bit.. It's a great way to gloss over a brutal past. Starting today I'll keep a tally of how many young girls are raped by Paul Bernado... I'm willing to bet the result will be 0 but does that make him a good man?

Is it fair to tax the physically fit when they eat the occaisional burger? No...but I have a solution. I think every establishment that sells food should be equiped with a government issued, body fat sensing weigh scale. This scale would sit in front of the cash register and while you're checking out the scale would calculate you're weight, BMI and body fat percentage. Based on this information the a progressive tax would be applied to your bill.

I turned 30 this year... Mentally it didn't bother at all me but somehow that one day affected me physically. Now after hockey, baseball or ultimate frisbee I hurt a quite a bit more than I did at 29.

Did anyone else think Harper looked like he was wearing make up at the game? Odd considering his social attitudes. The man is hard to like as is and then I find out he's a Leafs fan...ouch. I have to admit that even though the members of Leafs Nation are annoying they are true fans. They haven't even been to the cup finals in 40 years. The last time they appeared in the cup final there was only 6 teams in the league. Now 16 make the playoffs. Anyone that cheers for a team that pathetic deserves some sort of credit. Leaf fans like to point out that Chicago hasn't won a cup in 45 years but hey at least they've made the finals a couple of times since. Anyway, go Oilers.