thom_PC

I'm 21 and given the quote, "if your not a socialist in your 20s, you have no heart", than I must not have a heart. But I do. Socialists will argue that we need to increase benefits for welfare recepients, help the poor (more than we already do), and a whole mess of things that cost taxpayers money. I believe that helping the poor is not by giving them more money, but by helping them to help themselves. Same with welfare. We cannot create social-programs that would benefit individuals better than working, or no one would work for minimum wage. My views come out of my experience. I was 19 when I had my first child, 20 when I had my second and am now 21. When I was 16 or 17, I suppose I would've been more socialist. But between 18-21, I have managed to stay off social assistance, obtain my grade XII, purchase a home and learn a trade. Granted, I am not a big fan of my trade (drywall), and anyone who likes doing drywall must be absolutely nuts, but I work to further my skills through volunteerism in hopes of changing careers in the future. Anyone who says that having children at a young age limits your options is quite right, but saying that they are destined to a poor quality of life is not. And then there are those that I was friends in my past but not so now. Many of them had children young as well. Unfortunately they do not see the "big picture". They believe that nothing is their fault, society is unfair, nobody will hire them, and on and on they go. Many are recepients of Ontario Works. Some have obtained employment in the past but simply did not have any work-ethic to keep it. The problem with them is that they refuse responsibility and lack the motivation to further themselves. If we create a society of opportunity (as I hope future Conservative governments will do either provincially or federally), than this is in the better interest of those that are willing to seize that opportunity. If we create more social programs, give better welfare cheques, etc. we are are giving money to those people who may not be willing to further themselves in the first place. I live with this simple philosophy, "If certain aspects of your life aren't working for you, than change it. If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll just stay where you are." I know that this is a very simple response to the question at hand, focusing more on life than politics, but I can assure you that I understand the policies of all the parties and have found that the CPC is closest to that of my beliefs.

No problem, Blue Tories are the righter than what the Conservative party is right now. Or think of original Reform Party. Red Tories are the left of the new Conservative Party. Think of Brian Mulroney as a Red Tory, Belinda Stronach, and John Tory. RED TORY- Joe Clark, Robert Stanfield BLUE TORY- Brian Mulroney, Peter MacKay NEO CON- Stephen Harper, Preston Manning

As a young male (21) with 1/4 aboriginal heritage, I feel I should offer my opinion. I am not considered to be part of any minority as I appear predominantly white and I do not normally identify myself as an aboriginal nor do I hold a status card. Having said that, I suppose that in relation to this discussion I too would be a "white-male" although I do have other options. I agree with the idea of reverse racism. I have heard recently that the OPP, among other government organizations actually prefer to hire those of minorities. I believe the concerns with "reverse-racism" are more than valid. I am more than positive that if I chose to get my status card and willingly identified myself as a "minority", I would have an easier time obtaining employment. The reason I will not do this is because it is my belief that I was born in Canada and am thus a Canadian. It is my belief that I am entitled to all the benefits of being a Canadian, and feel that receiving these benefits requires paying all of the taxes associated with them.

I can think of several important differences. During the 2006 election campaign we were the only party that were willing to campaign on no tax cuts. Canada has a debt to pay of nearly $650 billion and all of the front-running parties were saying that we should cut taxes. The new Conservative plan only commits $3 billion a year to "paying down" this debt. I'll let you do the math. Cutting taxes now are simply deferring these taxes to later generations. The Progressive Canadian Plan exists to pay down this debt and then give a REAL tax-cut instead of phony election gimmicks. Our plan also exists to address the concern with student debt. What was the Lib/CPC plan toward student debt? If memory serves, the Conservative policy toward student debt was the same as all of of their other policies of such nature. A tax-cut. The Liberal plan was a 50% subsidy of a students first-year and graduating year tuition. To address why this is a concern as well as what our plan is, I quote from our Education Platform release: “As Progressive Canadians (Conservatives), we have a responsibility to ensure that every dollar we invest has a long term, measurable payback,” states President Jim Love. “Studies have shown that our lagging productivity is the greatest threat to our standard of living and our ability to compete in the world. One estimate puts the productivity gap between us and the US at a value of 90 billion dollars a year. Even a small portion of that will pay for these program many times over.” "The party announced a four point plan aimed at making Canada’s post secondary education system accessible to all Canadians. A cornerstone of the plan is a revamped student assistance program which will cover tuition, books and living expenses for students. While the assistance would take the form of a loan, it would be forgiven over a period of years if the student graduates and remains a resident of Canada." As for your comment, "You really just sound like sore losers that lost authority when the CPC was formed". I offer comment in my personal defence. Given the fact that I had just turned 18 when the CPC party was formed, I sincerely doubt that I would have had any sort of "authority" within the former PC. Truth be told, I was not a member of any federal party at that time. I joined the Progressive Canadians only recently as I feel that there is a need for a party of this sort. I find it a shame that many voters are no longer voting FOR anyone, but rather voting AGAINST another. As for your question about SSM, I echo our leader Tracy Parsons, "Neither human rights nor matters of faith are popularity contests."

Officially, the Progressive Conservative Party existed from 1867-2003, and ceased to exist after 2003. You can read about this here. It was initially known as the Liberal-Conservative Party until 1873, at which point it became known as the Conservative Party, although many candidates still referred to them as the Liberal-Conservatives. Later, as a result of WWI and the conscription crisis of 1917, they joined with pro-conscription Liberals to become the "Unionist Party" from 1917-1920 and then the "National Liberal and Conservative Party" until 1922. Then they returned to the name of Liberal-Conservative Party until 1938. Many agree that the Progressive Conservative Party, as it was before the merger was much different than the new Conservative Party. It is our goal to rebuild the Progressive Conservatives as they were before 2003. Thom Beeston

I have to disagree with you. Our party has adopted the name of "Progressive Canadian" in order to remain as the PC Party of Canada. We are guided by the aims, principles and policies of the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, as it was before the merger with the Canadian Alliance. I read the article on "Progressive Canadianism" and find that the description of "Progressive Canadianism" given is far from that of our party. In truth we are the "PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY" as it was. The party of Sir John A. MacDonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier. We are the PC Party of Canada and are working to rebuild the Progressive Conservative movement.

We are the PC Party of Canada and are continuing the progressive-conservative tradition of Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier. We are following the precept of Edmund Burke that the most statesmanlike path to follow is "the propensity to preserve" (Conservative) coupled with "the ability to improve" (Progressive). We are guided by the Constitution and Policies of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada as they were at the time it was removed from the registry of Elections Canada on December 7, 2003. Our purpose is returning the PC Party to its proper place in Canadian political life as a moderate, centrist option for the electorate You are invited to make telephone and/or e-mail contact and join with those already engaged in offering Canadians the option of supporting "PC (Progressive Canadian) Party" on their ballot on election day. There is a lot of work to do but as more and more Canadians realise who we are and what we stand for, we truly believe they will turn to us in rejection of the Conservatives and the Liberals! Help us rebuild the Progressive Conservative tradition. Thom Beeston Membership Coordinator PC Youth Email: [email protected] Website: www.progressivecanadian.org