blueblood

Harper has outspent Martin by far already. It's funny how Harper screamed for every single thing the Liberals did and now he's doing the same - just more of it. From massive spending and patronage appointments, to no bidding for multi-billion $ contracts and appointing friends to Cabinet and the Senate, Harper outliberaled the Liberals in one short year. Biggest harpercrite I've ever seen. The budget doesn't help much with the economy either ctv You make a good point there and I don't think it can be disputed. I'm curious at what you think the money should be spent on.

I disagree, a larger population means more people lining up to the trough. Our social programs would even be more half assed than ever. If everyone was working and we didn't have as much expensive government programs more people would work, but the people want all these programs that we can't really afford.

If you want to encourage more employers to rural areas, send out manufacturing out there and drop the taxes.

No this is the replacement rate, not the fertility rate. If you include immigration, then the fertility rate can be much lower than 2.1, Even at our current 1.5 rate, the population continues to grow. -------------------- People seem to take as a given that unending and continual population growth is a good thing. I have to ask why. It would seem to me that there are as many good arguments for population stability, or decrease as for growth. I don't see how 1.5 can result in growth unless immigration is factored in as it takes 2 kids per couple just to replace the parents. For your last question I think the answer is the same one as why immigration is encouraged.

The sentence was not lowered from 15 years to 9 years because the sentence was too harsh. Quote-the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled in a 2-1 decision this wasn't among the worst sexual assaults that have ever been committed,... Instead, the Crown asked that the accused be declared a long-term offender, meaning he will be monitored for the maximum 10 years after his sentence has been served. -end quote So the guy still gets 19 years in and out of jail. cbc link Umm yes it was that's why it was reduced. 10 years of "monitoring" is a joke, it's not even house arrest, he's still in the community, how close is the monitoring?

What's to say a defense attorney wouldn't corrupt the process? Is a attorney who represents organized crime on a regular basis more qualified than a police officer? This is outright scary. There has to be checks and balances on the judges and the police forces can provide one angle of doing it. The police officers are just picking judges, not judging cases themselves. There is stiff legislation passed, the vast majority of left minded judges don't choose to enact it. Good grief a left minded judge in Quebec REDUCED a pedophiles sentance claiming it was too harsh.

Two elections ago, but who's counting. In any event, he was right that the Liberals are not willing to allow police input into the Judge selection process. That shows a certain bias towards predators, does it not? No, it does not. Police input into selecting judges is ridiculous. Judges are there to make unbiased findings of law and fact between litigants. Satisfaction of police interests is contrary to that concept. It's horrifying to me how conservatives can't grasp the very simplest notion of how undue influence impairs impartiality. What is it about conservatives that wants to encourage more wrongful convictions? Is it just viciousness? ????? Why the hell can't police decide judges? They're the ones who are on the front lines of criminal matters, they have every right to be on a selection committee. It's not like they have 100% input, they have a say. Who's to say that they don't deserve one. Maybe with police input, we might hire judges who might issue stiffer sentances to repeat offenders so that the police don't have to deal with those clowns more than once. You tell the forum who should pick judges, defense attorneys???

1. About 2.1 kids per mother. At present, we're at about 1.5. (No one ever mentions who is having these 1.5 kids.) 2. Dunno. ---- I hate to say this but it's true. It's cheaper for Canadians to import people than to make them themselves. In a global sense, it's probably better that we do too. But many Canadians are about to enter a society of death, where people die. And the fewer young people around them will be very different from the people they have known. BTW, a society of death is not a bad thing. It's quiet and calm. And older people have always viewed the young as immigrants. Canada is already a society of death. Take a drive around rural Canada to confirm this.

But at what cost? Do you actually enjoy 4 hours in an emergency waiting room, ridiculous parking at Foothills in Calgary (thanks to 1 Hospital closure and 1 demolished), schools with leaking roofs, not to mention infrastructure nightmares? But hey, Ralphie saved the day. That happens all over Canada, I haven't seen anyone coming in on an ambulance being forced to wait 4 hours in an emergency room. The infrastructure problem is most likely due to people coming in at a faster rate than the province can naturally accomodate them. That's due to a very good economy. People in Alberta are much richer than other people in Canada, Ralphie did save the day.

Not as many as Alberta conservatives who believe in their provincial, actually-based-in-reality version. Well what do you expect, the right wing way of doing things has proven successful for Alberta, why mess with a good thing? If the Libs want to get in in Alberta, they might have to accomodate the majority of Albertans needs, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Oh come now, it's been a policy for federal governments many many years ago to concentrate manufacturing in Ontario. It's nice that Ontario and Alberta are ahead, why bicker over that. It's also nice that B.C., NFLD, and Saskatchewan are now out of the woods. The real question is not which province contributes the best, but which province takes the most?

I must be trolling right behind you today Sir dobbin. Barrie- One hour north of Toronto. Fairly easy commute to the industrial areas north of the city (TO) , the 407 allows for easier commuting. Low house prices relative to TO or Newmarket/Aurora/King City . Close to ski areas, cottage country is a quick jaunt up the road, Lake Simcoe offers a ton for the outdoorsman. Oh and they have the Barrie Colts . As for me? Barrie has always held little appeal to me. Might be I could be stuck in the past as Barrie had a deplorable reputation as a town of hoodlums and drunks . I insure a group of apartments that are all inhabited by welfare recipients and the hassles that come from that. To relate, all my winnipeg friends say the same about Brandon. Does that help you ? And the city was laid out by a planner that smoked waaaaaaaay too much crack. He put this here and that there and none of it made sense. But I shall not belittle Barrie anymore....they have improved a lot in the past ten years. Brandon isn't too bad for hoodlums and drunks. Most of the skids there I hate to say come from the reserves and live in the "downtown" part. Essentially Brandon is pretty much a real real big "small town". It has a real big small town atmosphere, it's nice to go to a place with the services of a big city and not get the attitude or crap that goes with a big city.

Sounds like you have an good MP. Populist MPs are hard to come by. If you open of the market, you won't have a wheat board, which will be a market fact. Regardless of the spin, farmers voting do understand that you can only have one or the other and not both. They will have market choice or the wheat board and live with whatever the majority chooses. It is interesting to read that your riding doesn't take evangelicals seriously. So are you voting for the MP or the Party? The reason I ask this, is that Inky doesn't like some of the things the Party is promoting, which are things you favour such as position their on the wheat board. Yet there are a significant number of things that the CPC is doing that which you do not support. And so while I am aware you state their are no other political choices, is it the party or the member? There are much more other christian churches in the area and the evangelicals rub a lot of people the wrong way. The vast majority of rural Canadians don't attend evangelical church, just that they are the most vocal form of christianity. If the market opens, the board will have to evolve rapidly, if done right with the amount of support it already receives it can be done. I'm voting for both. When the natives pulled the treaty card a few years ago fishing out the lakes in the area, he got on a podium and publicly slammed them. Since he is asian, they couldn't cry out "white boy racism" it was priceless. Most political parties don't 100% appeal to all Canadians, we just pick one which most suits us, (I hope) Personally we should get rid of the whole party system.

Exactly, if China likes to play hardball, lets take our business elsewhere, India has a billion people, investing in there will create another Ireland, another market for our products, making us richer. I'd even suggest our government set up crown corporations to invest in there. We need to get some Canadian owned companies investing to send money over here and help out our economy.

Well, I don't know. The tobacco boys want an unsustainable amt. of money to fix their problem. We can't cherrypick which farmers get money and which don't. I don't know enough about tobacco farming to give an opinion. Try telling that to the states and europeans. "Walmart" buying everyone out will just make everyone poorer. So your against employing people and investing into a region? No wonder western Canada is succeeding. Drop small business taxes and enable more biofuel and we'll have another successful industry in Canada.

Or he could have went to Petro-Can and NFLD, here's 1 billion dollars, pop up an oil rig in the Hibernia field or the other one nearby. 1. The gov't saves money by doling out less welfare cheques 2. The gov't gets money from income taxes from workers and the revenues. But no instead of investing money, they'd rather give it away on welfare type of things, it's ridiculous.

I know, Well it's the lesser of two evils. You could always vote Green in protest. Hah!! Green my ass, the Green candidate in my area is the biggest joke ever. Hog barns are evil, big companies investing is evil. That clown just about cost us a hog barn facility that employs 10 unskilled people. This guy wanted to take us back to the 1800's as far as farming went, much worse than the Libs or NDP. Okay the lesser of 4 evils then. The tories have other policies and they were the ones who are kickstarting the biofuels program.

True. I think most farmers vote that way anyway though, at least in Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba where most of them live. I suppose you can still convince the Ontario and Quebec farmers. If you seen the socialist paradise the Quebec farmers live in you'd pull your hair out.

And yet you already said you will still vote for these guys again. By still giving them your support you are in effect condoning their actions. I know, Well it's the lesser of two evils.

The poor economy of farmers is due to market glut caused by ridiculous policy of governments as of late to keep producing more to make money, well we've produced too much and have a demand problem. Biofuels is correcting this little problem. I do not approve of the handing out of these welfare style cheques, it helps nothing. At least invest it in something where they can get their money back (i.e. biofuels, energy, etc.). This also divides the country up more by pitting people against each other, this reeks of LPOC style politics.

Nope, sorry just the product, copying a logo or brand name gets me nowhere.

This is why I don't like Harper making announcments like that, it creates problems.

Welcome to how I feel about the entertainment industry.

This should work , it damn well better. OK...take all your canola seeds to the town square tomorrow morning, get other canola growers to do same. Throw it all in a big goddamned pile. Now go and pick yours out. Seed by seed. At the same time, musicians will do the same, thousands of their CD's , numerous artist. They too will throw their goddamned CD's in a pile. Do you think they will be able to recognize their music, the CD's ? Yes they will . Will you pick your canola seeds out of the pile? No you wont. Now you see the folly of your arguement???? It would work, I'm just looking at it at a completely different angle than you are, and I tried explaining it earlier.

Believe me as an adamant supporter of Harper and being a part of the ag industry, I don't agree with this at all. One cannot cherrypick complaining about a group getting welfare when there are others getting some and more, I merely pointed that out.