normanchateau

That would have meant Harper temporarily giving up power instead of grovelling to the GG and begging her to let him keep his job. So much for the pre-election perception of Harper being a strong leader.

Yeah, it was skewered by those Liberal, NDP and Bloc lesbian lovers . I think the homophobe Harper, now that he has more CPC MPs than ever since the 2008 election, should move in the H of C to revisit the issue of the definition of marriage. If his principles extended beyond hanging on to power and pandering to the Left, he would do so. He should even make it a confidence motion.

I think the answer to your first two questions is yes and largely explains the opposition. That the third party "in" the coalition was the Bloc I think was a bogus rationale employed by those who wrongly believe that only the party which got the most votes can form the government.

Hard to say which party has more principals. However, one-time Young Liberal then Progressive Conservative/Reform/National Citizens Coalition/Alliance/Conservative Harper appears to have no principles other than routinely changing his stripes.

And much of it had to do with polls showing that Harper would win a majority if Dion formed a coalition. I suspect polls would show Ignatieff wining a majority if Harper formed a coalition, Bloc or no Bloc.

Mr. Harper saw what forming a coalition did to Dion. Dion's own party threw him out with lightning speed.

"OTTAWA, March 30 (Reuters) - Canada's opposition Liberals have gained a slight lead in popular support over the ruling Conservatives amid increasing unhappiness over how the government is tackling the economic crisis, according to a poll published on Monday,. The Leger Marketing poll for the French-language Le Devoir newspaper put the Liberals, led by Michael Ignatieff, at 35 percent popular support, compared with 34 percent for the Conservatives, who won a strengthened minority in the general election held last October. The Liberals have continually attacked Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not doing enough to tackle the economic crisis. The survey showed that 41 percent of Canadians said Ignatieff had the best ideas for fixing the economy, compared with just 32 percent for Harper. "There is no good news at all in this poll for the Conservatives." Leger pollster Jean-Marc Leger told Le Devoir. http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/i...034003320090330 The 41% approval of Ignatieff's economic plans coupled with Layton's continuing decline bodes well for a potential Liberal majority in the next election.

The previous Liberal government introduced decriminalization legislation which was tabled before the anti-marijuana party of Stephen Harper was elected. It's not likely that we'll see new legislation as long as the anti-libertarian Harper remains in power.

"Critical thinking" can also be used to argue against the continuing criminalization of marijuana which provides billions in profits to armed thugs.

Not the best strategy for Harper. It won't turn Liberal or NDP voters into Conservative voters and it merely demoralizes principled Conservative voters. Of course I have no objections to this strategy...

Who said pedophilia is civilized, morally acceptable and should be allowed? What I said was that enlightened legislators created an age of consent, the purpose of which was to prevent the pedophilia which was permitted prior to age of consent legislation. Which word didn't you understand?

Some would argue that we're becoming more civilized. Prior to the twentieth century, child molesting was legal in most countries. Enlightened civil legislators decided to create an age of consent for sex since the Bible has no problem with pedophilia.

Absolutely, the placebo effect should not be denigrated, particularly since it's physiological mechanisms of action have been demonstrated in numerous laboratory studies. For example, placebos release central nervous system endorphins in quantities sufficient to enhance positive emotions and produce a "natural high". Prayer and even singing in church may function in very well the same manner in believers.

Do you know of a particular situation that would be the ideal precedent-making case? How many Canadian polygamists are there who don't use religious grounds as their rationale for polygamy? If the courts choose to strike down the laws against polygamy, there's nothing to prevent legislators from enacting new legislation to prevent it. Canada already has plenty of laws in place which are completely inconsistent with what the Bible allows or doesn't allow.

I would agree that spending the money to obtain more cops to target illegal hand guns would be wiser but I've yet to hear that it's an either/or situation with respect to the long gun registry. Incidentally, similar logic could be applied to marijuana legalization, i.e., the money spent enforcing marijuana criminalization and the billions lost in potential government revenues by not selling marijuana in the manner of alcohol could instead be spent on hiring more police officers to target illegal hand guns and violent crime.

Hand guns have been controlled via registration since 1934. Criminals have little problem getting hand guns. Let's have unrestricted gun ownership. Why just remove control on some guns?

Criminalization of marijuana is working just great, isn't it? Just ask the criminal gangs controlling marijuana sales in Vancouver. I guess we should legalize it, right?

Seems like a reasonable inference. When Harper vehemently opposed hate crime legislation to protect homos, he stated that it would take away freedom of speech from religious groups who discriminate against them on religious grounds. He did not say at any point that he opposed hate crime legislation per se. Why would he not indicate that he opposes hate crime legislation per se? It would have made his stance far more principled, respected and rational. Harper's vote against making it a hate crime to promote the killing of homosexuals is apparently religion-based and even worse, consistent with his repeated opposition to same sex marriage. He has twice now in parliament lead the forces opposed to allowing lesbians to marry. I'm sure even Harper's most ardent supporters see it as no coincidence that he opposed both C-250 and same sex marriage. I have no idea whether his motives are exclusively homophobic or religion-driven but it's difficult to believe that they're merely driven by a passion for freedom of speech. Harper does not appear passionate about protecting Galloway's freedom of speech.

Not always. Hand gun registration in Canada became mandatory in 1934. If Harper wants to turn back the clock, why do it incrementally? Let those poor hunters be able to hunt with whatever weapon they want. Criminals continue to have access to hand guns so that's hardly a reason to require those poor unfortunate hunters to register their weapons.

Something McCarthy did not anticipate is godless atheistic communists becoming billionaires in their relentless drive towards penetration. Some of the wealthiest men in the US, people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, now turn out to be Democrats and therefore supporters of the socialistical Obama. Communists are constantly evolving and only in the post-McCarthy era have they fooled the masses by disguising themselves as money-hungry billionaires supporting liberal causes. And of course Obama's links to a communist terrorist would never have been exposed were it not for the heroism of anti-liberal, pro-family values Sarah Palin.

No argument there. I never claimed that praying for others has been shown to be effective. However, some studies have shown that praying for oneself sometimes works. This is no surprise since placebos also sometimes works.

Liberal MPs support Conservative anti-crime legislation: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1331895

this nonsense has gone on long enough......criminalization of marijuana is an absolute failure the Gang violense is proof of this, billions of dollars were sunk into this all for nothing ! Its time to stop harassing innocent citizens for marijuana possession and start changing the laws to legalize marijuana and make stiffer penalities against Gang members including bringing back the death penality for this garbage....this country is full of organized criminal weed sellers..and their time has come and gone......its time politicians go after and truly punish the people who are really causing all the crime..GANGS! and stop making life difficult for Canadians who'd be perfectly happy to buy government-controlled marijuana.

That's a question I'd rather (a)void.

Sounds like you've been reading from the collected works of US Senator Joseph McCarthy who once said: "You are seeing today an all out attempt to marshal the forces of the opposition, using not merely the communists, or their fellow travelers-the deluded liberals, the eggheads, and some of my good friends in both the Democratic and Republican Parties who can become heros over night in the eyes of the left-wing press if they will just join with the jackal pack"