Wilber

PM and Cabinet make the policy and define the legislation. They govern the country. The bureaucracy does the day to day management. It is Parliaments job (all of Parliament) to hold both of them accountable.

And how many fresh refugee claims do you think they should be allowed as long as they can obtain false documents that they can destroy enroute in order to get here?

No so. The government is the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is Parliament's duty to hold the government to account. Unfortunately, to a large degree our system has lost sight of that principle. No it doesn't.

I'm telling you that if our people find other people with false documents it is appropriate to put them in the slammer and back on the first aircraft back to where they came from. I don't care whether they intended to be in the US or not. Poor babies, they weren't able to destroy their false documents before they safely arrived at their destination under false pretences. You must be kidding. May I alter your passport and use it the next time I travel? So what. Are you saying that if you can beat the system that makes it OK regardless of the method used? These people where allowed every avenue of appeal before they were deported the first time. You seem to be saying that if they had been successful re entering the country by the use of fraudulent documents, that they should be entitled to the same process again. Did they ever apply for immigrant status like 99% of the people who come to this country?

To start with you have to prove these people destroyed their documents. These ones were caught red handed. That is one of the hypocritical things about our process. If a person arrives in Canada without documents, the airline is held responsible yet those documents are checked before they get on the aircraft. In Hong Kong and other places you have to show your passport as you walk on to the aircraft. There is no way anyone got on that aircraft without a passport and they should not be given any status if they arrive here claiming they don't have one. You seem to think that using forged documents is an OK way to enter the country as long as you don't get caught with them. Forging a document and lying to gain access to a country is hardly legitimate, particularly when you are asking that country to take you in. I'm pretty sure that they would also have tried to use those documents to enter Canada. When I was still flying, immigration used to routinely check documents right outside the aircraft door on some foreign flights because if they don't get to the customs hall, they aren't officially in the country and can't claim anything. I'm as critical as anyone about our system's inability to give refugee claimants due process in a timely manner but I don't have sympathy for those who flout our laws and then ask for our generosity.

Good point.

PMO/government hasn't stripped Parliament of its power. Parliament has given it away. Winning and personal advancement is more important than holding government accountable.

There is a lot of bashing on this forum. There are also some very good arguments which make you think. Unfortunately, none of them are yours. One knows where yours are going before they read them.

So you agree that if they had entered Canada using forged documents it would have been a crime because that was their intent and you maintain we should give refugee status to those who enter the country using falsified documents. If you enter a country and present forged documents to identify yourself, of course it is a crime. Perhaps Greece should charge them, after all it was forgeries of their documents which were being used.

So logical.

Or forged documents, a crime in most countries which is why they wound up in jail in the US.

Except 1999, BC didn't receive any equalization in the 90's or 2000. It has since.

I don't think so. I think the pendulum is now swinging the other way. All political parties get side tracked occasionally and there is no other option for conservative minded Americans because the Democrats are still trying to redefine themselves.

Agreed. Why would anyone begrudge any part of Canada economic success. It benefits the whole country. BC has been a net contributer to equalization except for the past few years and now the economy is out of the tank, it will be again.

As opposed to the kid who sits at his computer and plays things like Grand Theft Auto where you get points for killing cops and all those other healthy things that are available on electronic media. Serious problem when a kid looks up to people who are willing to put their lives on the line for their country. Can't have that. I spent over four years in Air Cadets. I went to three summer camps. Among other things. I learned discipline, respect, the proper use of firearms, how to work as a team, how to clean and press my own clothes properly (I wouldn't let my wife iron my uniform shirts or press my uniform pants when I was still flying) even make a bed properly with proper hospital corners tight enough to bounce a quarter off the top blanket. Oh, the fourth summer I got a scholarship to get my private pilots license which started me on a career in aviation, which I just retired from last year. A lot of the officers in my squadron were WW2 vets and I still treasure what I learned from them. Never did join the military though. Most kids who go through cadet programs don't, but you won't find many who don't have great memories of it.

As opposed to the Taliban and AQ, who of course do none of those things.

Capitalism is not a civilization it is a system based on human nature. A system that has survived every civilization in history. It is thriving in China, supposedly a communist state. Why, because it is human nature. When everything else collapses, it may change its look but capitalism will still be there.

I submit that we are not engaged in either imperialism or colonialism in Afghanistan. The purpose of both is to impose ones dominion over another nation. We are doing neither. We are trying to prevent that nation from being taken over by a repressive regime that has a history of brutalizing its own people and actively supporting terrorists groups who have attacked our allies and would either like to attack us or get to our allies through us. The present government may not be our friends but AQ and the Taliban are our enemies.

Are you maintaining that Canada wants Afghanistan as a colony?

I think we are stuck with something like the status quo. I'm not prepared to give up all regional or provincial representation solely to a central government dominated by a population center on the other side of the country. Provincial powers are the closest thing we have to checks and balances in our federal system. I think Geoffrey's version of federal powers would mean the end of the country as we know it. There is no guarantee that all the provinces would form alliances with each other. Some might prefer the US or none at all. On the other hand there is no way I would want to give the federal government more powers than they already have. It collects the majority of tax dollars and we have the less control over where they go than with any other level of government.

One would hope so.

I don't know enough about the regional sensibilities within Atlantic Canada but on the surface, something like that looks like it would have possibilities.

I agree that the regional level of government presents some problems that others don't because of the way they are constructed but they are still very important when it comes to coordinating things that concern all those involved such as transit and policing. The feds download to the provinces, the provinces download to the regions and municipalities and the municipalities end up having to download to property and business owners because the other levels of government control almost all other taxation. The buck stops at the municipality. The more senior the level of government, the less access a citizen has to it and as a result, the less accountable it needs to be. A senior level of government will always download transfers to a junior level before it reduces its own spending. Because it can.

Walk into your local Legion and tell that to the WW2 and Korean vets.

So, do you think you live in a vacuum, that the rest of the world should stand still? Booms come and go, the trick is being part of the next one. How did the rest of Canada destroy your prosperity? What could you have done outside of Confederation that would have given you more opportunities than being in it?