Harare

Same thing here in Manitoba, when I advertise for new job openings, I get very few applacants. If there are no jobs where you are, move your lazy ass west.

And Dippers are a minority, thank God.

If e-mail boy's list of reasons for why Harper needs to be stopped is the best that the Libs and socialists can come up with then I think we should just get on with it and vote Harper in. The logic and hypocritical reasoning displayed is so patheitc that I can't even be bothered to take the time to respond, except for one quip about the naughty Harper opportunism as compared to the well thought out offer of a cabinet post to Belinda which of course was not opportunism or bribery. Senate seat for Buzz Hargrove ?? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Aspers are Liberals, get your story straight. The National Post was only really conservative under Mr. Black. And there is nothing wrong with a Liberal media outlet, in fact, I welcome it. Not funded by taxpayers though. Publicly funded TV is dangerous, no matter how long the arms length its operatthd at is. I shouldn't have to pay for Liberal TV just because its not commericially viable. You get your story straight. The great and legendary Izzy Asper was a proud Conservative, and he went as far as to fire editorialists who ventured too far left of his own positions. You are both right and of course both wrong also. There are two sacred cows for the Aspers which CanWest journalists dare not criticize. First of these was the Liberal party. Izzy Asper headed the Manitoba Liberals in the 1970s; former prime minister Jean Chrétien visited Izzy in the hospital, days before he died in 2003. Not surprisingly, their papers and other media rarely went after Chrétien’s scandal-ridden government. That situation has changed now, since the passing of Izzy and the retirement of Jean Chrétien. Most CanWest papers are pushing for the Conservative party of Stephen Harper.

Argus, here are the last couple of EPP numbers and you will note that the so called "safe seat" numbers can and do change. http://www.electionprediction.org/2005_fed/index.html National projection Dec 27 Jan 13 Jan 17 Liberals 85 81 77 Conserve 73 91 97 N.D.P..... 14 15 17 The Bloc 51 51 51 Too close 85 70 66 Total 308 seats

Liberals 36.7% 4,955,050 135 – 37,000 per seat Conservatives 29.6 % 3,996,835 99 - 40,000 per seat NDP 15.7% 2,117,889 19 - 111,467 per seat Bloc Quebecois 12.4% 1,673,303 54 - 31,000 per seat Green Party 4.3% 581,020 Additionally the disprecancy in the number of seats per population esp Atlantic Canada In the Senate it breaks down like this: NF 6 seats 516,000 PEI 4 seats 138,000 NB 10 seats 937,000 NS 10 seat 750,000 Atlantic 30 seats 2,341,000 QC 24 seats 7,397,000 ON 24 seats 12,541,000 BC/ABMB/SK 12 seats 9,682,000 Wonder why westerners want to abolish the Senate.

Which of these items in your view help or hurt the effort to strengthen the country and it's sense of national identity. a/ Paul Martin's side deal with Newfoundland? b/ Multiculturalsim? c/ Fiscal inbalance? d/ Appointed Senate? e/ So many positions appointed by the PM that MP's are powerless? f/ A voting system that usually results in the majority of voters being unrepresented?

Must have been passed when our illustrious Senate was working on their hidden agenda late one night.

Hey Stigy, I am not a politician or journalist or a member of any political party. I am however an observer and in my opinion he has been stumbling and stuttering MORE than he used to. So if you'd keep that word MORE in mind I think you'd acknowledge no derision - some of my best friends stutter - in my observation. So why don't you offer your opinion on this question instead. ps Harper looked much more nervous during the last election IMO.

It is my opinion that many folks in the highest echelons of the RCMP who have for years felt frustrated and have been hearing from their men the same frustration with having their own shot at and killed, have had to see and smell - first hand- the cut up, raped, shot and broken bodies of victims, have had to bring the sad news to families of victims, have had to see all of their hard work to find evidence result in some asshole judge hand out a slap on the wrist before returning to his comfy and secure neighbourhood. It is my belief that they WANT to see a change in government and felt that the time was right to help out and that if they were correct their help in this election would also help them keep their jobs. What do you think ?

If there really is any "bomb" - it would appear to me that Paul M doesn't have much faith in it's effectiveness based on his body language. Maybe it's just me but as each day goes by it seems to me that he's more desperate and stumbles and stutters or loses his train of thought more often. What do you think ?

Ummm, lets not go there, immigrant strippers get fast tracked thru the system and then join one of Jack's unions.

Poor Buzz, he really thought that little speech he gave endosing Paul Martin would buy him a Senate seat, I feel so bad for him.

Well thank-you Geoffrey, it means a lot to me to be pulled back from the brink on crazy.

Wilber, I certainly wasn't suggesting sending 10,000 young thugs to our military but it would be a start and even if only a thousand went thru boot camp every three months it would still be better than the current set up. Mar, my intention was to promote some discussion and Debate if you have aproblem with that you must be a closed minded Liberal who is 'entitled' to tell all of us yobs how to think. I don't think so.

Issues that are most important to me all revovle around one word "JUSTICE" A just voting system ie - set election dates and elected or abolished Senate. All appointees through multiparty committee rather than PMO. A just tax system A just government ie - no lobbyists or insider leeches. Independant ethics and auditor Depts. A just criminal justice system - no wait times to get to court and accountable & elected Parole boards - real time for serious crime. Change the Youth Justice system. A just security force ie - serious military, Customs, Prison and Police forces. A just unemployment and welfare system ie - no more lifetime, able bodiied welchers A just pension plan for Politicians - do some crime and lose your pension. A just and unbiased government Radio and TV channel - no more subsidies for the Liberal propoganda machine. A just Health care system - if you can't meet the SCC parameters then get out of the way.

Philosophy in schools? I thought high school was completely irrelevant, and now philosophy? No, not philosophy, debate = the ability to argue any topic from both sides of the issue. Voting from computer would encourage many people to vote, not just youth. There is alot of potential for abuse though. If someone created such a system, I'm sure it would be great for the system, if your one of those that believe voter turnout is a good thing. If revenue Canada and the banks can arrange for us to safely do our taxes or banking then there's no reasong not to vote in the same way. Far better than busing in loads of senile seniors with trinkets and a smile to vote for your guy.

I simply don't understand this statement - Universal Health Care Jack Layton's NDP has made a firm commitment to preserve and improve the present sytem and has earmarked a lot of money to pay for the upgrades. The Conservatives want to openopen up the system to private HC & that will destroy it. The Liberals are wishy-washy on the issue, I suspect they will open up the system to private health care also. Layton wants to fund the training of more Nurses, Doctors and other health-care providers. Isn't that a more effective means of shortening wait times? There a many socialist run countries like UK, New Zealand, Germany and France that have both private and publicly run hospitals. The competition keeps the Government run entities honest and everyone benefits. France for example has NO WAIT LINES. Surely we can do better than the French. The PC's simply believe that private systems will deliver the service better than public, no-one is talking about removing universality or free health care.

No I wouldn't but I wouldn't expect these guys to be allowed to leave boot camp untill they had proved themselves. Also you would be kidding yourself if you thought that every enlistee had a squeaky clean background. IMO, at least in the US a lot of enlistees are drawn from poor and black or hispanic backgrounds who have few options and are to a certain extent compelled to sign up. I believe, but have no direct evidence that most folks in the military grow in their morals and ethics while in the military rather than come into it with thise values already.

Involvement in politics involves a/ Believing that it is a fair process b/ Having a belief that your vote counts c/ The ability to see thru the propoganda and the ability to think and reason and debate. It would help the youth to get involved if our schools had a required course on "How to think" instead of the current system of learning by rote. A debating club would also help a great deal Having a way to vote from your computer would also bring in a lot of youth votes, I think.

In a few weeks, most people will be paying their taxes. Some people will have to borrow money to pay their taxes. They will be borrowing at rates over 5%. The federal government borrows money at rates well below 5%. So, does it make sense for the government to tax and individuals to borrow or for the government simply to borrow? It makes even less sense to tax people to pay back the government debt. It's cheaper to just pay the low interest charges and roll the debt over forever. ROI and picking winners are critical questions but how we finance government is not related to them. Harare, read this: Thanks for the info August, I'm not a debt repayment alarmist, however all of you info is based on a 2 huge and dangerous policy wonk assumptions - Interest rates will for ever remain low No major crisis will hit this country in the next thirty years. Just suppose that Avian flu hits us like the Spanish flu did, what happens if GM goes broke or the Chines automakes choose not to invest in plants in Buzz Hargroves back yard in Ontario...... Would you rather be debt free or up to your eyebrows in debt? Gold prices and weakness of the US dollar are two things to keep an eye on. Sparhawk - you have a car to show for your debt, what does Canada have for it's debt ?

There's lots of nice islands in the Artic where a boot camp could be set up. Would you go AWOL if you were serving in Afghanistan or Bosnia...could you if serving on a ship. I doubt that most of these guys would want to after they got assimilatrd. "That idea is a disgrace to our military. Your saying that are military should basicly be a place for punishment. Are military deserves much better than these scum joining their ranks.' I don't agree at all - it's a recognition of the military's problems with recruitment and of their skill in making men of young punks from all walks of life. In most cases these kids are not "scum" just young men that are lost directionless and without hope or good role models. I'll bet most men that enlist come out of the lilitary with a whole lot more pride and self worth then when they went in - kudos to our military trainers. All lot of young underpriviledged men with no job skills or hope go into the military rather than become criminals anyway.

You didn't aswer the question about how we'll have no debt in ten years. No R&D is not a waste unless I suppose nothing comes of it. Foreign aid is a waste if it's ineffective or simply lines the pockets of dictators as is often the case. Military is never a waste unless of course if it's so under equpipped that it can't defend, fly men and equipment, rescue in crises ( like a major earthquake in Vancouver) or function as effective players in peackeeping causes. Money spent on debt servicing does absolutley nothing for the Canadian people.

without pay - just room and board. Are you for or against? For: It's cheaper. It will free up space in prisons for lessor criminals They will come out with a sense of pride and discipline and some usable skills with which to get a job. They will have paid back some of what they cost society. They will become much integrated into Canadian Society. They will become good role models for younger siblings. Against: Should be teach gang members how to use explosives and grenades and bigger guns Should be teach gang members how to make bombs Should we let them have access to more weapons and ammo.

We don't have to 'pay off' the debt. As long as the economy grows and we don't run a deficit then the GDP to debt ratio will fall and the the percentage of tax revenues required for debt interest charges will drop to insignificant levels.Here is a chart that illustrates my point: http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/pps/13/figure11.html You will note that interest payments spiked in the 1930s and then dropped off. The drop off was not caused by debt repayment but by a rapidlly growing economy (the gov;t ran a huge defict during the war years). The graph only goes up 1996 - if it had data to 2006 you would see the ratio of interest to GDP is declining rapidly. As long as Harper stays the course set by Martin (surpluses, modest debt repayment) then gov't debt will be a non-issue in 10 years. So are you saying that in ten years (assuming surpluses, modest debt repayment) NONE of our taxes will be wasted on servicing our debt ? Any other question IMO is irrelevant. It may not be real money to the government but money that I pay in taxes is very real. Yes it's OK to go into debt to deal with a crisis like a war or to invest in something where the ROI justifies it but let's face it the government has a piss poor record on picking winners.