normanchateau

The NDP was strongly pro-Israel years ago when the Labor Party governed Israel. The Labor Party has long been out of power. Today Israel is governed by a leader who failed to win a majority and who holds power in part because he is strongly supported by social conservatives and religious zealots. In other words, Israel has become Canada.

http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_june_17.pdf The poll figures, analyzed by province and prorated for provincial populations reveal the following: Outside of Alberta, which can only deliver Harper a maximum of 28 seats, the CPC now has 24.7% of decided voters. The Liberals have 26.1%, a lead of 1.5% over the CPC in the rest of Canada. Both major parties would likely benefit from a change in leadership.

I think the growing right-wing bias of CBC is making many former viewers switch the channel. Why did CBC have a need to hire former Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke? And of the three member CBC political panel, we have Andrew Coyne of the right-leaning Maclean's, and Allan Gregg, who polls for the Conservatives. Hardly a middle-of-the-road political panel. CBC's chief pundit is Rex Murphy, now also at the right-leaning National Post. And then there are former journalists in the Harper government: member of Parliament Peter Kent, and Senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin -- they all had serious CBC careers. If all this doesn't show the CBC's true ideological bent, I don't know what does. No wonder Harper been increasing funding to the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/realitycheck/2008/10/cbc_funding_thank_you_mr_harpe.html

What is your definition of a narcotic?

Whose understanding is wrong? Mr. Harper's, Mr. Emery's or Ms. Davies'?

Is this statement evidence-based or just an opinion?

True. I guess a majority of Canadians disapprove of him because they like the man.

Absolutely nothing! I suspect that even Harper and his more intelligent supporters know this. However, they are counting on the media, increasingly in the hands of Conservative supporters, to send out to ill-informed voters the blatant lie that Harper is responsible for Canada's economic standing. When was the last time that you heard the media remind Canadians that Canada lead all G-8 nations on economic indices in 2005? 2000-2004?

A majority of Canadians disapprove of Stephen Harper.

What's bizarre here is that the US government was willing to have Emery imprisoned in Canada but the anti-libertarian Harper government chose to extradite him: http://www.straight.com/article-323466/vancouver/open-letter-ndp-mp-libby-davies-extradition-marc-emery-us

Instead, we are stuck with a government who ignores our wishes. Although a majority of Canadians loathe Stephen Harper, they cannot unite behind a single alternative leader. Sadly, Harper and Ignatieff have identical disapproval ratings (51-52%).

If you're a Harper supporter, two wrongs do make a right as long as Harper is responsible for one of the wrongs. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, before we were even into the global recession, Harper increased government spending more than any Prime Minister in the history of Canada. Apparently spending like a drunken sailor can be justified by Conservatives since it was Harper who did it. Ironically, Harper supporters even give him credit for how well Canada has done relative to other G-8 nations, conveniently forgetting that Harper inherited a balanced budget. I wonder how many of them remember where Canada stood relative to other G-8 nations before Harper was elected: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/10605/art-2-chart-a.gif

The above is a 2010 BBC poll. It's exactly the same poll below that showed a significant decline of 15% from 2009 to 2010 in how Canada is viewed by the international community. http://canadasworld.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/why-does-the-world-view-canada-more-negatively/ I challenge you to solve the following mathematical problem. If Canada had a 15% decline in favourability from 2009 to 2010 and has a 51% favourability score in 2010, what was the % favourability in 2009?

Perhaps the US data suggest that the gay community is more diverse than your initial presumptions. Unrestrained debauchery is not a feature of same-sex parents raising children. Similar data have yet to be collected in Canada where same-sex marriage is actually legal despite the failed effort of the Harper government to "revisit" the issue.

Those principles have been ignored numerous times in the past both by the Harper government and by Harper supporters. Even in his first year as Prime Minister, Harper attempted to take away previously legislated human rights under the bogus guise of a "free vote": http://www.samesexmarriage.ca/advocacy/mot061206.htm

I suspect that a devout RC would vote for an Evangelical Christian like Stephen Harper. They have a lot in common.

In the U.S., gay men account for 40% of same-sex couples with children. Lesbians account for 60% of same-sex couples with children: http://www.law.ucla.edu/Williamsinstitute/publications/USReport.pdf

Raising Canada's profile favourably? Long-term tracking of how Canada is viewed by citizens of other nations shows a decline from 2005 to 2006, a rise from 2006 to 2009, and a decline from 2009 to 2010. Canada is viewed less favourably in 2010 than it was in 2005. In 2010, Americans viewed Canada 15% less positively than they did in 2009: http://canadasworld.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/why-does-the-world-view-canada-more-negatively/

Would you say the fact that a majority of Canadians support marijuana legalization indicates social acceptance of this substance?

I assume you are referring to Canadian society. A majority of Canadians support the legalization of marijuana: http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/canadian_majority_would_legalize_marijuana1/ Remarkably, the percentage of Albertans supporting legalization is even higher: http://endprohibition.ca/group/endprohibition/reefer-madness-automatic-jail-six-pot-plants-too-harsh On this issue, Harper is even out of step with his strongest supporters. No wonder, a Harper majority is a frightening prospect. If Harper can ignore the opinion of most Canadians while holding a minority in Parliament, what will he do with a majority?

Gay men and lesbians who have families also have that responsibility.

Approximately a century ago, a majority of Canadians voted for alcohol prohibition in a national referendum. Does that indicate social acceptance of alcohol?

Your logic makes no sense. If marijuana has been around for thousands of years and only became illegal in the twentieth century, it's use was accepted for centuries.

Do you seriously believe that marijuana was only recently introduced to society? It's been around for thousands of years. In 1923, without any parliamentary debate or medical evidence whatsoever, marijuana became illegal in Canada. In 1937, marijuana became illegal in the United States. Despite being a far more dangerous substance, alcohol was not prohibited at any time by the Government of Canada even though a 1898 referendum revealed that a majority of voters in all provinces (except Quebec) favoured alcohol prohibition. Various Canadian provinces introduced alcohol prohibition laws between 1900 and 1919. Those laws were repealed shortly after marijuana became illegal in Canada. So in the early part of the twentieth century, the status quo in most of Canada was that marijuana was legal but alcohol was illegal. If a social conservative like Stephen Harper could be transported back 100 years to 1910, would he support the status quo and the Women's Christian Temperance Union?

Following this logic, the lesbian community has front and rear brakes on unrestrained debauchery - two women. Check out Figure 2 of this article: http://www.psych.wright.edu/~lkurdek/pdf%20files/JFP2008.pdf Figure 2 reveals that relationship quality in lesbian couples is superior to that of gay men and heterosexual couples at all time points during a 1-10 year interval. At the 10 year time point, relationship quality is lowest in heterosexual couples and highest in lesbian and gay couples. However, consistent with your point, relationship quality is lower in gay men than heterosexual couples in the first three years of a relationship. In homosexuals as in heterosexuals, debauchery is a transient phenomenon.