Wilber

"My fixation on the US has to do with the fact this is a thread comparing Harper to Bush." I thought it was about a blog by a guy called Kaplan. Who are you speaking for, him or yourself? I only speak for myself. "You don't remember the hazing? Was it not the 101 Airborne, Patricia Pats or something like that? That is the battalion, or whatever, Harper wants to resurect." Of course I remember it. We did the Canadian thing. Instead of fixing it, we banned it. As to what they were called, look it up for yourself. It will do you good to learn something new. "Again Kyoto is not the only environmental issue." I agree but that was what was mentioned in the blog. If you have evidence that US pollution is rising at a greater rate than Canada's, Let's see it. "I said IRAQ not Afghanistan. The war on terror is a lot different from a war for oil." I don't know whether it is a war for for oil, daddy's unfinished business or what, but we do agree on this. However, you can't prosecute a war on anything without and effective military.

THP Spending Budget Surpluses Federal spending is up more than for any other branch of government. Martin got his surpluses with a combination of downloading on to the Provinces and the lowest interest rates since WWII. How long do you think they would last with the 18 to 20% interest rates of the late 80's and don't blame that on Mulroney, the whole world had them. Not to mention things like a gas tax to fight a deficit we haven't had for eight years and raiding the EI fund to finance spending. Martin will spend whatever it takes to get elected. Harper from oil country I guess moving west of the Ontario border does disqualify one from being PM. Kyoto Kyoto was about reducing greenhouse gases, CO2. CO2 is a naturally formed gas, (you produce it every time you exhale) not pollution. I repeat, since Kyoto was signed, US CO2 production up 13%, Canada 23%. I don't know how we compare on pollutants. Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences I am not proposing an American system. I think 3 strikes and you're out is a ridiculous concept but no more ridiculous than our 50 strikes and you're still in. The Vancouver police have a new poster boy for their bait car program. In a recent interview he said he had been steeling cars and committing break ins for seven years (he is now 23 so you do the math). He was a meth addict and figures he stole around a 1000 cars and committed around 2000 break ins during that time. He was involved in 20 police chases and had been arrested more times than he can remember. He has never had and still doesn't have a drivers license. It wasn't till he was nailed in a bait car and spent 6 months in jail that he could finally get away from the drugs. Whatever happened to the concept that part of the justice system's function was to protect society from the bad guys. I guess it is no longer politically correct. Military Spending We need a good military so we can have a foreign policy that is independent of countries like the US. Where did this nutty Canadian idea that being strong makes us less independent come from? Talk about brainwashed. I don't approve of the Iraq campaign either but now that the Americans are there, I sure hope they can make it work because I don't see any good alternatives. We are members of NATO and the basic principal behind NATO is that an attack against one is an attack against all. On 9/11 the US was attacked by a group based in and supported by the government of Afghanistan. That is why we are there. I have no doubt the Americans would be there in spades if it happened to us. We should be able to pull our weight when it comes to protecting our own interests and supporting our allies. You watch too much TV. The 101 is very famous American airborne division. We used to have an airborne battalion. A battalion is around 1000 men. Most divisions are ten times that size. Dollar I don't dispute that balanced budgets are a factor when it comes to investor confidence but they are not the only factor. Our dollar dropped over a cent today and one of the big factors was commodities and a big drop in natural gas prices. I guess we have different ideas on what is fiscally irresponsible. Your fixation on the US merely confirms the degree that Anti Americanism plays in our domestic politics. How could we ever make any decisions on our own if we didn't have them to point at? Is this just my opinion? I've never inferred that it was anything else.

They will have to spend it on beer and popcorn for their parents as they will no longer have any children eligible for daycare.

Good point but I don't hate anyone.

I'll respond to Kaplans article even though I don't think much of it. About the only thing we agree on is I'm not a huge Bush fan either. Spending Budget Surpluses Harper's proposed tax cuts and spending proposals will lead us into deficit. Martin's proposed tax cuts and spending proposals (over 20B before the writ was even dropped) will not lead us into deficit. OOO KAAAY Harper from Oil Country I thought he grew up in Ontario. I guess changing your address in this country disqualifies you from being PM. Kyoto Since Kyoto was signed, US CO2 production up 13%. Canada's CO2 production up 23% . What's his point. Mandatory Minimum Prison Sentences for certain crimes I'm for em. Military Spending The Liberal's neglect of this country's military has been criminal. We love telling the world we are the best place to live but won't spend two bits to defend it. We leave that up to the Americans and insult them for their trouble. Doesn't matter because we know they will do it anyway and we can get a free ride. We have more military personnel at Command Center in Ottawa than we do soldiers in all our regular army infantry battalions and sailors on active warships put together. Such is the politicization of our military. During the last election campaign the Liberal had TV adds going that showed the Conservatives buying Nimitz class carriers. What the Conservatives were advocating were multipurpose ships that could carry aircraft. Exactly the same kind of ships that are being talked about now by the Liberals. 12 Years after Chretien shot it down, the Navy is still waiting for it's new helicopter with no end in sight. The only thing that is for sure is that they will be getting fewer, less capable machines and they will cost more. Our fighter aircraft are old and wearing out, our transport aircraft are ancient and worn out. We have to hire Russian and Ukrainian aircraft to get our stuff overseas or God forbid, ask those damn Americans. Do we really want to talk about submarines? Dollar The reason our dollar is doing so well is because we have what the world (China and the US mostly) wants. Resources. If commodity and energy prices go in the tank, so will our economy and so will our dollar. It's really too bad that Anti Americanism is so fashionable in this country and our politicians cannot resist the temptation to use it to gain votes even when it harms Canada. It is our misfortune to be located next to the US not because of the Americans but because it even stops us from having a meaningful dialog about the future of something important as healthcare. Our politicians cannot resist playing the Anti American card to gain votes and further their own dogma. Either this guy is not who he says he is or he knows little about Canada. IMO

I don't have a big problem with Ottawa trying to even the field from a financial point of view. I do have a problem when they try and dictate how it will be done.

What boggles my mind is that the people of Vancouver Center are probably going to elect either "I did it cause I'm crazy" Sven or "they're burning crosses as we speak" Hedy. How depressing

Closer to home always means greater accountabiltiy and usually means lower cost, if for no other reason than there is more accountability.

Senators by Province from the Parliament website Looks like NB 9, BC and Alt 6 each to me or am I missing something? Paul Martin was elected MP for LaSalle-Emard. That is in Quebec no? He was chosen leader by a bunch of unelected members of a political party no? Wherever he comes from happens to have been Quebec in most of my living memory. As old as some of them are, I doubt you can find many that weren't appointed by an MP from Quebec. If we can't have Senators elected by the citizens of each Province and if we must have political hacks, let them at least be political hacks chosen by our own Provincial Governments. Just because I don't see this country in Ontario's image doesn't make me any less a Canadian than you. That condescending attitude will be the death of this country.

I would think that someone caught with more than 3 kg (6.6 lbs) probably is trafficking. I don't use the stuff but how long might that much last a family of four? Other than that I have to say there is some sense to what you say but you don't address the fact that the major illegal drug exported south is marijuana and the Americans don't like it. You may not agree but it is a fact we have to deal with. I live near the border, I have property and friends in the US. I cross the border a lot and neither I, the Americans I know or the tens of thousands of Canadians who travel and do business across the border want it made much more difficult just because a bunch of Canadians want the right to get stoned.

My mistake. BC has three fewer Senators than New Brunswick.

My apathy? My regionialism? My sense of country? Westerners paying for their neglect when it is Ontario that keeps putting the Liberals in power? I live in a constiuency that has a larger population than PEI and has one MP. BC has two less Senators than New Brunswick and they are chosen by an MP from Quebec. Don't give me that crap. What you are hearing is not apathy and I for one hope you hear a lot more of it.

I know that there are people that the police won't bother to arrest unless they catch them in the act because they have arrested them dozens of times and had the prosecutors renege when they said they would press charges. They don't bother because half the time they try to arrest these people there is a struggle and it is a cop that ends up getting hurt. How many of these prosecutors and judges walk up to doors or vehicles in their working day wondering if someone on the other side (someone that may be "well known to them") is going to try and do them harm. I know that when the police say that someone is "well known to them" what they would often like to say is "we arrest this SOB every week but some other SOB's keep turning him loose."

I think Martin would become a Russian if he thought it would get him elected.

I wouldn't get too hung up on labels. Who is more to the left? Paul Martin's Liberals, Jack Layton's NDP or Tony Blair's Labour. I do miss the Rhinoceros Party

You mean he is now willing to throw in with the bunch that he just voted non confidence in because "they have lost the moral authority to govern". I guess he did it because he thought there would be another Liberal minority and now he is panicking. My My

Much of it is now user pay courtesy of Mr. Martin's cutbacks. Whenever I have a medical which my job requires by law (every 6 months and which is not covered under Medicare), renew a license, get an endorsement to an existing license or write an exam for a new license, I get processing bill from the government. Usually between $50 and $100. When you look at the amount of stuff that has either been privatized or had user fees tacked on plus the fact the lowest interest rates in 60 years have made servicing the debt easier than it has ever been, it's easy to see where their surpluses come from. My question is, where the hell is all this money going? I'm sure you are right however, there is too much money involved in such a program and too many votes to be bought in some part of the country by putting the new bureaucracy there.

They already have the teeth, they just don't have the balls to use them. Every time the subject of electing judges and prosecutors comes up. they all cry that they will loose their independence. Every time they are criticized for giving sentences that are too lenient they say they are subject to sentencing guidelines from the Justice Ministry or the jails are too full. In other words, they want it both ways. Maybe they should just do their job and enforce the laws as the politicians have written them and if there aren't enough jail cells available, let the politicians worry about it. That's their job.

Freedom of choice is not the issue here, it is freedom of government to tell you how your money will be spent. I'm missing something here. When did licensing a program come to mean it had to be paid for out of the public purse. I require two Federally issued licenses to do my job but have never received a paycheck from government or worked for a company that ever got more than a small percentage of its income from government. Let's face it, the Federal government is the most expensive and least accountable branch of government we have. The closer to home we can get the people who are responsible for spending the majority of our tax dollars the more control we will have over how they are spent.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> not avaoiding it, maybe there were more people from Ontario who support the National teams?? what difference does it make, they didn't boo the guy from Guelph or where ever, just Toronto. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Maybe it's just Torontonians who have a complex.

Why should I pay?

The Provinces are responsible for providing Medicare and education. It's to bad Federal politicians can't keep their faces out of the provinces business and stick to their own responsibilities. That way they wouldn't have to skim off 70 cents of every tax dollar, and the Provincial Governments would have the resources they need to do what their constituents want.

I thought all CPC'rs were the law and order type, I think the only time you need to be worried as a white chick in Edmonton or a black man in Toronto is if you have an illegal gun... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ...and I thought that "Liberals" were all about Defending The Charter ...get back to me when you recognize the contradictions inherent between what Paul Martin says he stands for and what he says he wants to do in this harebrained proposal. In all seriousness, yes. I'm all for law and order. I'm all for strengthening the RCMP and for increased security at border-crossings and ports. I'm for more police in places that need a stronger law enforcement presence. I'm all for tougher sentences of violent crime. Tougher parole conditions for violent crime. I'm all for keeping dangerous people locked up longer, even if it means (gasp!) creating more prison spaces. I'm even for unmonitored security cameras in public areas; cameras that keep 24 hours of footage that police could access with a warrant if they had reason to believe the camera contained evidence about a crime. I'm strongly in favor of enforcing the laws we have. I'm certainly not in favor of breaking the law in the name of appearing to be tough on urban gun violence. The question is, when did Mr Defender Of The Charter decide that you really *can* "cherry pick" from the Charter? As Canadians we scoff at Americans getting so amped up about terrorism that they're willing to erode personal liberty with legislation that gives the state excessive power to suspend someone's rights in the name of protecting Americans from terrorists. And yet here we are starting down a slippery slope towards the same thing in the name of protecting Canadians from urban terrorists. -k <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well done kimmy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> http://www.ctv.ca/mini/election2006/static.../marijuana.html <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Says he opposes decriminalization but mandatory sentences only for trafficking, importing, exporting or producing more than 3 kg. No mention of mandatory sentences for possession. Decriminalzing possession is a half assed policy. I don't think it makes much difference whether you call it a crime or a misdemeanor, a conviction will still keep you on this side of the border. 80% of drug production in BC is for export. As long as the laws south of the border don't change, the amount of crime involved won't change. There is just too much money in it. It will only make our relations with the US even worse.

Chump change. How about the 70+ million the Gomery Inquiry is costing taxpayers? Who's going to pay that back?