normanchateau

Best reason I've heard yet to vote for the Cons. They're like the Liberals. Not only do they break promises, they steal ideas from Ralph Goodale.

I see that the author of this piece is Rafe Mair, former BC Social Credit Cabinet Minister. When right-wingers like Mair are writing Harper off, good chance that this signifies the beginning of the end. Mair is well-known in BC for his attacks on the provincial NDP and federal Liberals. When someone like Mair acknowledges Harper's mediocrity, it suggests that the Cons will lose even more seats in BC than they did in the January, 2006 election.

Yes, Israel is currently occupying some territory illegally. No question about it. But what about the legal part of Israel? Hamas claims that none of Israel, legal or illegal, should exist. How does one negotiate with a Palestinian government which claims that none of your country, legal or otherwise, has the right to exist?

The "they" you should be referring to is any party that has run this country or is trying to run this country, not just the present government. Do you know of any ruling government of Canada that didn't break a promise? I love it. The Cons have sunk so low that now even their supporters have to resort to claiming that they're no worse than previous governments. Perhaps "honest" Harper can incorporate that into his campaign advertising in the next election.

Normie, you make no sense. What does any of these mean? Which part of the above don't you understand? You condemned David Orchard for not being "loyal" to his party by supporting Dion.

For lying? Or for getting rid of a tax avoidance loophole?

I think you are the fifth person to bring up poor David Orchard in this thread. Who gives a f*ck about Orchard? He's so 'loyal' that he's now a Liberal and supporting Dion in the leadership. wrf? The political party that David Orchard belonged to no longer exists. Is not being loyal to a political party worse than lying? Apparently so if you're Belinda Stronach but apparently not if you're David Emerson. Perhaps its no surprise that the person who called Belinda Stronach a bitch was Brian Mulroney's former Chief of Staff. Mulroney values loyalty. If I'm not mistaken it was Mulroney and Stronach who were co-conspirators in handing the knife to MacKay with which he backstabbed Orchard.

Of course, many people liberal and conservative think crack, heroine, and ecstacy should remain illegal Yes many people, liberal and conservative, think that crack, heroin and ecstacy should be illegal but it's mainly social conservatives like Harper who think possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana should also be a criminal offence. The Liberal decriminalization bill of the previous government was supported by the NDP and BQ. But Harper thinks it's acceptable for teenagers to have a permanent criminal record for mere possession. Sounds like a social conservative position to me.

Indeed it was, followed by a bold-faced LIE. And seeing our foreign minister lie so openly like that is applicable to citizens. He has a history of lying. Ask David Orchard.

The GST cut was stupid. I think the income tax would have done a lot more people good. I anticipate that by the time the next election is called, Harper will finally acknowledge this and propose income tax cuts rather than another GST cut. It'll be another flipflop like the trusts.

I think they assumed that by throwing a couple of bones to seniors, it would defuse the outrage about the new tax on trusts. It worked for them on July 1st when they raised the income tax rate for those paying the lowest marginal rate while simultaneously reducing the GST by 1%. I doubt that they anticipated the outrage, especially from Alberta. Not only did the TSX drop by almost 300 points, but the Canadian dollar declined by .90 points. It makes one wonder whether Preston Manning knew something when he replaced Stephen Harper with Herb Grubel as senior finance critic. Stephen Harper was moved by Harper into the position of unity critic. Grubel, who is now with the Fraser Institute, pointed out recently that an income tax cut would have been far more beneficial to the Canadian business community than a 1% drop in the GST.

Opposed to gays in general. He voted to exclude sexual orientation, and therfore gay bashing, from hate crimes legislation. The legislation passed thanks to the BQ, NDP, Liberals and even some members of Harper's own party. But Harper voted against it.

His comment was crass, but calling someone a bitch is merely a personal insult, not "sexist terminology." Then why did Spector acknowledge in his interview with Bill Good on CKNW that he would not use the word "bitch" in reference to a man?

Yeah that's something I would do. Confuse Israel with Egypt. It's possiible given your belief that Israel is in Africa.

Certainly they can write off the softwood lumber industry who continue to grumble about their betrayal by Harper to the U.S. lumber lobby.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley: "We have never been neutral in the Middle East - we have always been a friend of Israel." http://johnmanley.blogspot.com/2006/08/joh...-on-israel.html

Which one?

Yes you can indeed debate what is and what is not Africa. Wherever you might situate it, Israel is a long way from here. Here is what I mean by being neutral... Under Paul Martin's watch, a suicide bomber killed a Canadian Israeli who was living in a West Bank Settlement. The Canadian Jewish community put heavy pressure on the Canadian government to send a diplomatic representative to visit the family of the victim in their West Bank home. The government refused because Canada has agreed with the UN Resolution and Geneva Convention that make the settlements illegal. I have no doubt Harper would have sent someone. OK, so Harper is not neutral but I think it's unfair to suggest that Paul Martin is not pro-Israel merely because he acknowledged that the settlements are illegal. Many Israelis share that view and they view disengagement from the settlements as being in Israel's best interests. It's not debatable. Israel is not in Africa. Perhaps you're thinking of Egypt which is.

I too applaud Harper for taxing the trusts. Perhaps "the howls from the liberals" reflect the fact that Harper condemned the previous government for proposing to tax the trusts. Or perhaps "the howls from the liberals" reflect the fact that he promised not to tax the trusts.

Generous treatment because we've been pro-Israel for years and Israel is not in Africa.

I thought Canada was pro-Israel long before Harper was elected. And Canada's next Liberal leader and possible PM, will also be pro-Israel despite Harper's deceitful attempts to characterize the leadership candidates as not being pro-Israel.

What kind of buying opportunity do you have when you have lost your shirt? Fortunately, I sold all my trust units about a year ago because I believed that (1) the Liberals would be re-elected and (2) Goodale would probably tax the trusts after the Liberals were re-elected. Must say I never imagined Flaherty would do this after Goodale backed off.

There were enough to make the Liberals back down when they tried the same stunt. I think the conservatives have vindicated poor ralph....and I think they think that either becasue ralph ttried this they will be insulated from the heat or they think they are months if not years away from an election. Yes, Ralph Goodale must be pleased with himself today. And maybe Jim Flaherty will turn out to be a better finance minister than I ever imagined and maybe the Conservatives did this...and here's a novel thought...because they thought it was in the best interests of the Canadian economy even if it would lose them votes among their older constituents. If I am not mistaken, this is not the first time that Jim Flaherty has not supported a Conservative campaign promise. Didn't Harper promise last December or January to eliminate the capital gains tax if that money was re-invested within a short time period? That doesn't seem to be on Flaherty's agenda.

Norm Specter is not in politics. It's true that Norm Spector is not currently in politics but he was Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney and is a political commentator on radio, TV and print media. Hence the media interest. Spector can criticize Belinda Stronach all he wants but needn't resort to sexist terminology.

Kudos to the Conservatives. A little more than a year ago, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale raised the spectre of taxing income trusts partially on the grounds that the trusts distribute their profits to unit holders rather than stimulating the economy and international competition by re-investing in productivity-enhancing machinery, equipment and technology. Here's what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said yesterday in breaking the Conservative campaign pledge : "We're concerned about competitiveness and productivity. Therefore we're acting now." It took a while for the Conservatives to realize that this was in the best interests of the Canadian economy and Canadian business. Harper should be applauded for this flipflop. As I write this, the TSX is down by 208 points. It will recover. View this as a buying opportunity for common shares in many Canadian companies even though the game is over for trust units.