fixer1

Well I will say that we should get used to seeing the liberals that are right leaning getting ready to jump ship. It amazes me that they got the 103opps 102 seats they got and that was only by with holding news about Dngwal etc. The Liberals are a devasted party if anyone cares to look at it closely. There are no core candidates with any true or compelling vision ready to take the lead as party leader. Hell, eveyone knows that the party is in melt down and that is why you can not find or bribe anyone of any consequence to run for party leadership. It should come as no surprise that if left rutterless for long that party infighting will again tear the party apart. They will be many, who will then see that it may well time to see what political stripes best fit, and that is where many future defections will come from. So, as much as you and I dislike these changing MP's. as Harper said that we all must recognize them as valid choices. He said this even when it was himself on the bad end of the stick. So now why when he is on the better end should he denounce such behaviour. It has little to do with cleaning up politics, as what the people want to see is those who cheat the tax paying people, they go to jail. Whather it be by lieing about firings and severance or by the adscam, and any otherof the 34 criminal invertigations into the liberal party actions. That is what cleaning up government is all about. Many more rats will abandon the liberal ship in the months to come. It may well yet become a CPC majority

I will say that yes this was a sleazy move on Emmersons part and Harper will also take some heat for it. But I think Harper would have taken more heat if he did not get some forum of representation within Canada's big cities. Toronto he has MP's that are that close to and have lived and worked in Toronto, and he assignned an un-elected person to the senate to give Montreal representation. He did this because he wanted to be fair in representing these cities if when they chose not to elect an MP from there. It is a gift to them nothing more, but yes it smacks of undercurrent, which I do not think they need. The opposition will use it to make hay and it will be a good guide as to just how much hay they will intentionally pile on here. He as well has said that his child bonus cheques will start this July and that is going to be on show down for all opposition as no one is ready or prepared to bring down the govt at that time. It is a line in the sand. I am not sure it was wise but it has been done.

What we need is to put prisons on the high artic islands, and make prisoners the ones responsible for working together to survive situation. This would be for the violent and repeat offenders. It would not cost much and anyone escaping would have one hell of a long walk to get anywhere near civilization. We would only drop food and clothing and materials for them to build their shelters. They would have to learn to hunt and fish, and also to get along together, as survival is not really a one man thing. Plus it would help Canada prove sovergnty of our artic.

Harper really needs to be honest about his views on abortion so that Canadians can quit the guess work and speculation. Too many women are turned off by the Conservatives because he refuses to come out and state his opinion on the matter. If the following is true: "A 2004 Environics poll showed that more than two-thirds of the population wants greater restrictions on abortion" ... as the poll suggests.... what are those restrictions and certainly women do not want to have their choices taken away completely? Particularly city dwelling women who have to work to support the high price of real estate and no $100 per month daycare solution is going to help that one. Funny how it always seems to be the Liberals that seem to bring up the position on abortion. I have heard Harper say many times that he and his party have no immediate plans to talk about abortion, one way or another. So whay is it so important for him to have a position on it when he has no plans for anything to do with it. If he does as he said he will on all issues of social values, have free votes on the issues. That would mean that the MP's should vote to represent the wish of each of their electorates. Now I do believe unless there are people in the other parties that intend to bring up these matters before parliament, then there is no pressing need to seek out each persons position. After this long time of abortion rights being granted to prochoice, I would find it hard to think it will need to change, or rather have a reason to change anytime soon. This is much like Martin's fighting a vote on sovergnity when there was no issue on it in the last election. We females need more female representation in government and if the CPC's want to earn more seats in the city come next election, he must confront this issue. Why do we need to address this issue when Harper has said many times that his party and himself have no plans to visit this any time soon. The only people you hear this from are the Liberals. So it seems plain to me that unless the liberals plan to bring this up in parliament, we have nothing to fear .

I do not believe Canada should be making any moves to be friendly to Iran, but not because of the Nuclear programs. It is going to be totally impossible to stop countries like Iran from pursuing nuclear energy and from that it is not a big step to making the Bomb. Hell Canada's Candu reactors are the easierst of all the reactors to enriching the materials to make weapons, and we have sold these to China and many other countries. Yes Iran may well find the key to producing the bomb, and they may well stockpile the materials. But while that may well be disconcerting to many, it will be more so to Iran itself. Should any bomb made from their material ever be used on any foreign country, it would mean the complete and total decimation of Iran itself, from retaliation of the rest of the world. While everyone seems so very afraid that these people will use the bomb if they are allowed to make it, but we forget that once that race was achieved, every country was then sobered to the fact that this weapon while being mighty and strong, also means if ever used, that there country would be gone forever. In other words, you wield a mighty weapon that can cause fear, but you know if it is ever used that you and all the people in your land will die, as sure as the winds will come. The nuclear genie was let out of the bottle a long time ago. In the Colleges and universities the studends of Chemistry and Biochemistry are taught the same knowledge that if misused can and will produce a bomb. In the case of Biochemistry the very insecticidal agents are nothing other then watered down nerve agents that are part of biological warfare. Since this knowledge is taught in our higher learning facilityies because it does have other uses, it should then not came as any surprise that other countries will have the same knowledge. The world is going to have to learn that Knowledge is something that should be sharted, and build alliances on that. Instead of coveted and threats used against those who would seek such knowledge. We as humans are always seeking more knowledge daily, and even those hidden pieces of knowledge will come out in the light of open day sooner or later. If we make it so they must learn it all on their own, then we will have no say in how it is used. Bombing and attacking the facilities, will only make any retialation back against these countries justified. It is not the way to go about this and the truth be told, it is the attackers then who will be responsible for what maybe the second use of the bomb, in the history of the world.

I watched the program about this and I was shocked at the lack of responce by the RCMP and I believe that some where here in Canada, there has to be an agency or body of government that should be in charge of finding out why things have played out as they did. It is a sad day when India shows more justice then Canada, in what can only be called a total lack of will here to bring the main people behind the contract killing of their family member. I do not care whether these people are high members of the sikth relgion or not. It still does not give our police the right to ignore what is plainly evident. It is a shame that a TV show has to show all the evidence to the police and get the answer "an investigation is on going ". The fact that it has been 5 years since this all happened is appalling.

Well it seems that the out going liberals have one more scandel before they leave office tommorrow. It was about the "Dingwall case where he said he was entitled to his entitlements" It seems a third party judical review say he was fired and was due this money. Now everyone remembers Dingwal himself told parliament that he quit his job at the mint voluntarily, and so did the Martin Liberals. Now we find out that it is said he was fired and gets this severance. This also was known to Martin 3 days before the elections and he covered it up until writing the cheque last friday. Also there is one other thing of paying many millions to the harbour commission in Toronto for the Island airport, that the public does not want etc. This was also paid out last friday. I guess it is just two more reasons why the liberals need to be out of power. If the Dingwal report was not covered up, until after the election, I beleive you would have seen majority government instead of the minority. I guess this is also why the leadership race is like a game of hot potatoe and no one wants the job. It is going to be a long long time before the Liberals will be able to rebuild, and if my feelings are right on this you will see the NDP supplant the liberals in seats come the next election, but the CPC will get the majority they are looking for, as all they need to do now to get Canadians respect is live up to the promises made, and that will be all people need to again feel like they are backing an honest winner.

The whole gist behind what Pariseau said was that Harper will fail to allow Quebec the presence at the international and saring of power table, because English Canada would not allow this. It is his way of saying that even though Harper is on a trail that would address many issues Quebecers have, he does not have a majority and therefore it would be english Canada that would vote aginst this. What he does not say is that when all the counting is done the PC +Bloc would have more then enough votes to pass anything that would be needed to give Harper the ability to pass these bills. So if it did not go thru it would really be the Bloc's lack of support that would disallow it and not English Canada. But Pariseau never was very good with numbers

Thank you Sage...you are correct that that was my original point... I take exception to the statement that many Canadians would not take up arms to support this country. I believe that if this country was ever under attack by any foreign power, and they came to our soil, it would be very evident that most people would come to Canada's defence. I mean Canadian people, not foreign powers. Canada has a very large mostly quiet population of people who are proud of Canada, and what it stands for. You will not see these people here posting or otherwise making their presence known. But they are there. You find them supporting the legions thru out Canada, you will see these people giving helping hands to those less fortunate, and for many they would give up the ultimate sacrifice if called to do so. Many of these people are friends and relatives of those who have in the past stood up for Canada. It is sad that they will fight for the rights of those who think that Canada is just a pack of left wing hippies, who will always find the worst in people to dwell on, to have their say, but go on silently knowing that these are just the musings of the few and the loud, and not the musing of the many and the proud. I am 55 years old and if Canad was ever under attack, I would be the first to come to the call for arms. I am sure all of my family would do the same. Just because we are not always present to try and talk down the naysayers, does not mean we are not here. We are here and we are ready to do what ever needs to be done when the time comes. But we also are always hoping that that time never has to come, as the best war is the one that never comes about.

This election proved that about 65% of Canadians will never vote for the CPC. Even when they run a good campaign and the liberals are mired in scandal and the leader of the Libs looks like he's having a nervous breakdown halfway through the campaign, the still can't crack that 40% mark. The Libs and NDP combined got more than 52% of the vote. In this country, that would be a super-majority. I think the prospect of having majority power for a generation would compel right-leaning Libs and left-leaning NDPers to hold their nose and dance together. And CPCers who dismiss it that it could never happen seem kind of like subway-riders in the face of a terrorist threat: they don't want to think about it because it's just too horrible to contemplate. How can you say these things and still have a straight face? I was a liberal supporter in the past and then went NDP for quite some time, but this time I went CPC mostly because they are now more in line with my thought struucture then all the other parties. The Liberals are now not only rutterless but the rats are abandoning ship, as the leadership race seems like a game of hot potatoe. I smile at this implosion, even though the electorate did not show the implosion, it is now pretty clear that it really has. I guess it was the last ditch efforts of smear at the end of the election that is what shows then as not imploding. But look at their ranks, and see that no big names are coming forward, because most of those names have past affiliations with Chretien, and that is just going to be a vote killer for the next decade or so. Hell I will even predict that come the next election( which I believe will be 2 years or so away) the NDP will supplant the liberals as the official opposition. The block will still be around but will be down to 25-30 seats. The CPC will have a majority and it will have gained most of it in Quebec, and intercity Ontario. Harper will only have to live up to what he promised to do in this election, which will not be hard to do, and that will take all the scarey tactics used by the others out of play. The next election will be on the issues only. And the CPC will have the leading hand of being able top say "we showed you what we can do with a Minority government, and now is time to show you what we can do with a majority ". The CPC platform by then will be quite plain to see and there will be no scarey hidden agendas. But there will be many things then said about agendas of the Liberals and NDP etc. Boy turn about being fair play. So when you say that the CPC will never get more then 35% of the the vote is really just sour grape postering. The election is now near 10 days old and the world is still in one piece, the skies are clear and there is no doom in the air. And after next Monday we will see the start of a new time in government. I predict it will be a good time. There are many things to look forward to, but the one I think I will enjoy more then the others, will be seeing the liberal trying to finsd anyone that would want to run for leader. Hell Belinda may yet get to be the leader, which is something I must admit I never would have seen coming a year ago. Interesting times ahead, and it is going to have lots of humouristic moments. A political characturistics dream.

I do not think that anyone can say with a straight face that Saddam was a nice guy and a good leader of Iraq. I also have no doubt that he did commit many acts of violence on his people. He was a tryranrt, even though he did one time hold elections. But when only one name is on the ballot you can hardly say it was democracy. I do not believe the war in Iraq was just and I am glad Canada satyed out of it. I do believe that the war in Afghanistanwas a just war and I am glad Canada can help there in small ways. This just means that we here in Canada can make our own decisions about things and not just always be one with the USA. Our releationship with the US will probably get a little better now that Maartin is gone, but that does not mean we will now go instep with the USA in all things. We first need to bolster our army and secure our own country. We need to be able to protect our lands and be proud of our armed forces. While I am all for a good releationship with the USA, I believe first we need to have a good self image about Canada. After that we can work on other things

What is the matter with you people? Daycare whether Liberal or Conservative was never going to paid the whole amount. Both plans were to help reduce the costs of daycare. You the parent will always have the bigger slice to pay on your own. The only time Daycare would have been paid fully was if the people were in the very low income brackets. Quebec has has the model the Libs based theirs on and it still costs $300-$400 a month per child there. The conservatives plan does give the money direct to the parents. The libs to prov gov, and then some aid to daycare facilities to reduce costs. That is it.

Maybe they can ask Shelia Copps to run As Manley goes he was nothing more then a Chretien yes man, and has very little in the way of ideas unless told what ideas to have. I just can not see him even being considered, as his past ties would guarantee the liberals would soon be down to less then NDP seats. What the ;iberals need is a completely fresh face but one with personal dynamics. Also he should not come from the province of quebec but he must speak both languages. I laughed the other night when Scoot Brisson talked about having some interest show to him running, but even he did not take it seriously. I guess they will have to find someone with the want ads

I would like to think that we should see even more then that in new voters, as every year more and more people turn voting age. While many in the past just never voted, I am glad to see that more and more young voters are now making their voices heard. As far as the conservatives having the ability to be corrupt goes, yes they have the ability. But Harper is not of that same ilk, even though he learned at the feet of Mulroney and others. He does seem to have gleaned the better points of his teachers. I personally believe he will make good on all his promises, and that will make him a very hard target the Liberals next time round. No more scarey Harper, and when you think of it, if you took that out of the liberal campagne you really had nothing left, ecept corruption and over use of lobbiests.

I am all for arming the Customs People at Border crossings, as long as the proper training and phsycological testing has been done. I do not see there being a large need to use the weapons, but when the need arises it is not something you can say "oops I can not stop an armed criminal here" I guess it all stems at a growing population of city dwellers that can not see the need for firearms for any reason. Most country people know it is good to have a small caliber rifle to deal with varmints and other possible animals who could spread rabies and many other things. In the country you learn to be seld sufficient. Most child are taught hunting and fishing and general woosmanship including respect for firearms. This is where we find the biggest difference between city and rural mindsets. If border guards were armed what is it, that people would be afraid of? Do you think they will go postal one day? Or are you against guns completely. In the Bahamas they has a ban on all guns, and if you use one in a crime there are predetermined sentences. It is something like 10 years for having the gun in the commission of a crime, plus 2 years for every bullet in the gun. And they do stick to it. So you will seldom see guns used there in crimes, and if you do you seldom see a second offender. Canada could easily do the same. But person al ownership of rifles and hunting weapons should never be disallowed, as Canada is a country where wilderness is still the largest portion of our nation, and it is impossible for Police and game wardens to be there to stop some animals from attacking people. So arming border guards whose job it is to seek out the bad guys, and then ask them to deal with them with while unarmed, is not something we should be doing. Teach them how to handle weapons train them and test them, and then let them do their job.

Canada has the right to aid and support countries it feels have a real need and humane policies. We do have to recognise Hamas as the elected party by the majority of Palestinian people. It would be unjust of us not to do this, as no one is claiming that any of the ballot boxes were tampered with and it was a fair election. WE do not however, have to give aid to this government until they have proven to the world that they are not in support of terrorism, and they have no hidden agendas of destroying any of its neighbours. I find it hard to accept that such a party could ever come to power, anywhere in the world, but it has. Even I must recognise that, and so must Canada. But just as when you were growing up and learned that sometimes you have to pick your friends on the basis of their values, so must Canada do so in its choosing of who you give aid and support to. This maybe a good thing, as now we will see if certain countries walk the walk of their public talk. For Harper, I do not see this as a hard thing to handle. If certain values are not publicly denouced by the Hamas party, and lived up to, then we will not give any support or aid to that country. It seems like an easy thing to me. Since it was the Palestinian people themselves that put this party in power, I have little or no sympathy for them when the foreign aid drys up and the humanity crisis comes knocking.

I believe the public school system should have complete seperation of church from its agenda. Religion is something that should be taught by the church, not by the teachers of the public system. It probably was the misguided teachings of the old public system that started me wondering about many things different from many different religions, and while many will say that is a good thing, I will say differently, because I today do not belive in any religion. I take the scientific route of eveolution, and believe that all the different religions were nothing more then stories and fables used to try to guide people into certain standards of life. I do not think that this has harmed me, but I can not say that for the millions who take their religion so far as to take up arms and go after others who believe differently. History has taught us that religious wars never truly end, but merely go dormant for a time. It is hard then to understand how the main idea of all religions of finding a peaceful existence, has seemingly gone so wrong so many times. That is why I believe if we teach children in the public system a non-religious classes, maybe they will be the start of a new age where religious extremism is not found.

I am old enough to remember when Alberta was not seen as a large oil patch province, and it did pretty good even back then. Yes, the advent of being a rich oil producing province has really helped them in recent times. But it is also to the practice of good government that these monies have not been squndered and wasted like the federal government has in the past. So in that context, the thread starter is rightfully so, in accrediting them for this. Now just to show you how the fedral government can be a big problem, Look up just where the Federal oil reserves are located in Canada. These are known oil deposits that the Federal Gov. will not allow to be worked as they say they keep them in reserve. This may well then tell you something about just how a federal goverment can really screww things up. But I think everyone knows that by now. Alberta is a very good example of a well managed government that seeks to maximum benefit of its resources for its people. It could have really taken a masty turn otherwise if the government had decided to take other views on how to manage the money.

Harper has made it clear that he had asthma as a child and that then does predispose him to be very careful of any lung or chest malady. I know as I also had asthma as a child. I am now 55 and have not had an asthme attack since I was 15, but I did actually ask my doctor to prescribe a couple inhalers a couple summers ago, as air quality was getting bad, and I never want to go thru a sudden attack ever again. This is what I am sure Harper was doing also. Instead of people nattering about the negative things about this, why not look at the positive things he did. First he waited until 10 pm when emergency rooms are less congested. Otaawa General's does get busy after midnight. He was driven to the hospital and yes, while probably seen quicker then most he was still not taken ahead of anyone in immediate danger. He then got a prescription to be filled by his pharmacy. I am sure they gave him some antibiotics immediately to help aleave any congestion. This is exactly the same that any ordinary person gets in our public health care system. For that alone he derves cudos. Now, after a gruelling election and then the push of that pace to get ready to take over the leadership of Canada, would be more then enough to weaken ones own immune system. So to have a chest cold at this time, I am sure is not something anyone can him for. He could have easily had a private doctor come and see him and then all of this would never be given light of day. But he seems to be the only one of the party leaders that still uses the same public system that you and I do. Only the bruised egoes of the other party supporters would try to make more of this and/or try to spin it in a negative way. Shame on you. It seems you are now just part of the problem and not even close to be part of the cure. Oh and by the way, while I support Harper in this it does not mean I give him a pass any where else. I still want to see him now live up to his promises and will hold his feet to the fire if he strays or is too slow in this. But when someone does something right, it should not be used and sun to their discredit.

Shoop Why would you go off on some one that has said he would fight those who would denigrate his family. I can tell you That I would not hesitate coming down on someone who would do so in my presence. Is it that hard for you to understand. I am getting old now, but still I would never put up with those who pick fights. I have in the past stood my ground and got shot at helping to protect a disabled man in a wheel chair and his escort, in downtown Toronto back in 1980. Even though I could have lost my life that night, I still would do it again, as it was a cause worth the fight. You seem to want to pick fights. I like to prevent them went I can. So please do not paint people who have decency standards, and goad them into a fight. It is not right and shows a lot of basic immaturity on your behalf. :angry:

I also hope that the pension issue for MP's is once again visited by this government, but it would be nice to see just how all parties would act on this issue, especially now that it is a minority government. It would really be telling in other ways, as well. Let's just hope it comes up during this first part of the term.

Belinda is many things, and I must say that of the many things she is, stupid is not one of them. She has learned how to play with the boys, and yes she is not above using her womanhood to her own advantage. I can not say though, thet when it comes to politics, she is not made of the right material. She has the touch of larceny, in her support of parties goes, and that we have seen in many politicians. While she is a good looking woman, I do not think her as beautiful. It will take some time on the opposition benches to see if she is really dedicated to politics, or whether she will just tire of it all, and go on to other things. She does crave power, but then again so do most of us. She has her sites on very high goals, but I am sure she always has been that way. It will take a long time to see if she really has the will and fortitude to be in politics. It would only take one time her losing her seat, and waiting to the next election to see if she is still willing to represent her party again. I may very wrong but I get the feeling that she is not used to waiting very long for things to happen for her. If this is so then she will not be around very long

To repy to those who feel I used "thay and their " too much. It is because I am not part of the gay community that I used the words in these respects. as for myself goes, I do not care what the definition of marriage is. I lived many years common law and then was married civilly. I will say though that to many the change in the official definition of marriage would go against their religious values. I am married because I chose to do it. I am straight because I chose to be that way. I am here because I chose to be here. These are just things we choose to do and be, just as others choose to be gay. I am all for gay people being able to marry civilly, but just as I can not force a Catholic Church to marry me or for that matter any church that does not want to, then neither should gay people expect to be able. for the rest of the world to change the definition of marriage just to make one group happy is also then preferred treatment. I can pretty much say that I am now more decided that SSM is just one of semantics. I have only a few gay friends, but they pretty much are more then happy that they can now marry civilly, and could not care about the difinition of marriage. I also must say that after looking at my civil ceremony documents I have a civil union, but a signed marriage certificate. So I guess I am not officially married by religious views as well.

Steprocks You seem bitter about Harpers win. Is this because the liberal feeling of entitlement has now gone sour? I will stand and say you have a right to disagree, and opposing opiions are welcomed, just try taking some pepto to cure that acid. Martin was as dirty as all the others in the adscam affair, and now that he is gone it will not be hard to prove it. Why do you think the quick meculpa on election night, by him resigning as leader. It will be followed by a by-election for his seat quite soon as well. The biggest rats on the liberal ship make sure they have exit plans. Once Harper gets his accountability act in place and the Auditor General and Ethics Commitee have the powers to go beyond governments own books but into lobbiests books and all others having done business with the government, you will see why the Liberals are lucky they now have a chance to clean up and go out into the wilderness for a while and try to come back again all new. We saw this once before when the liberals took over from Mulroney and thwe scandals that just about killed the conservative party back then. Well turn about is fair play and now it is the liberals turn to be the ball, and not the bat. And boy have they left us with a lot of evidenceto search and destroy with. It is not that I love conservatives, as I do not. I really hated Mulroney to the point that if he was killed I would have voted for justifiable homicide. But I must admit 90% of that hate came in the last 6 months of his term. Kim Campbell was just not made of the right stuff in my own opinion. So please remember this is a chance for the liberals to rebuild without losing too much in public. ecause there is one hell of a lump of dirt under the rugs to be sweep out and looked at. You can be proud to be a liberal but lets see what you say in a year.

Yes Budget or money bills are confidence bills and I believe any bill that if failled would interfere with the running of government are also confidence bills. It really is hard to explain the rest where the opposition can introduce a bill that simply can call for a vote of confidence. I.E. the simply bill saying that "the Liberals have lost the moral authority to govern and the confidence of the people" As we all saw this was what brought Martin down. It was the first time a motion was put forth so plainly. It will be one for the history books, and you were all there to see it happen.