mikedavid00

Well getting the immigrant vote is probably as hard as getting an Alberat vote. Immigrants need absolute assurance that their loved ones will get to be sponsored over. They need complete certainty because immigration of relatives are their #1 issue. Paul Martin and Volpe delivered and wanted to raise the bar to a destructive 500,000 poeple a year. Wow it's very rare to meet a swing voter on a forum. Do you really want someone who has been out of the country for 30 years as our leader? I don't want a deep thinking ideoligist running things. The way I see it is, as long as we have fellow Canadians dying on medical waiting lists, I don't think putting billions of our tax dollars into.. thin air.. is a wise investment in our time and money. I think the environment is actually a waste of time and moot point becase policy cannot change emissions. In soon enough time, cars will be emmission free, and we'll have clean nuclear generation. Focusing billions internationally and raising taxes is just playing politics and Dion will never have my vote if he's goign to make that his number 1 issue. Not MY #1 issue as he likes to profess to us, it's HIS #1 issue. Well I mean Harper does go back a long ways behind the scenes. Even back to the 70's. I just don't support Ignatieff and the nation stuff. I don't like the professor ideological types like him. Even in the house of commons he doesn't seem to know how to handle himself. He's supposedly very rude as a person and not very 'personable'. Guess that's why no one backed him at the convention. He wants to play ruler of Canada. I feel we need someone who will bring gov't back to the people. YES. Finally someone else realizes this. Try telling some people here that. They think that Dion is NOT part of the old establishment. Lol.. things could be farther from the truth. The real outsiders were ignatieff and Rae and that's it. The fix was in for the anti-establishemtn to lose, and Kennedy\Dion to win.

I agree. That's the right attitude to have. The country belongs to us the citizens.

Well I type fast. I should slow down and watch my spelling true. My grammar is something that will triple my posting time if I have to constantly correct it. (improper grammar on that last sentace see?) Also, I'm finding out more about him. It turns out that he was only a computer 'technician' with computers. He lived in an aparment building, and his wife spent most of her time in school. He improperly claimed refugee status. I want to chat with my Syrian friend and record the conversation and you'll see what people in his community think about him. More stuff I'm learnign about Arar: "In August of 2001, truck driver Ahmad Abou El-Maati is stopped at the U.S.-Canada border. Guards find in his 18 wheeler "a schematic map of Ottawa marking government buildings and nuclear research facilities." He is interrogated for eight hours, and denies owning the map--but he later showed it to a friend: “He showed me the map. And the map had literally all kinds of government installations,” ((Globe and Mail, 1/16/04) "Connection to Maher Arar: a. Arar has said through a spokeswoman that he "once bumped into Mr. El-Maati in a mechanic's garage in Ottawa. (Source: Globe and Mail, 12/31/03)."

I disagree. I'll change that to South Asian or Jamaican or whatever else. Italians, Greeks, Polish, German, Spanish, Portrugeuse, Lebanese, seem to be very accepting of outside cultures coming into their families. Hindu's are allowed to marry ourside their 'religion'. My ex's grandmother didn't like me though becuase of my skin color. Oh well. I guess no one here has experienced it. Maybe the majority of people here are living in small towns.

True. I was just mentioning that it's really big in the US. Almost each work building has a daycare in it. That sounds perfect to me because you can see the kids at lunch etc. The World Trade Center even had a daycare. Why don't we have there here in Canada? Ah yes.. the Canadian attitude is to not look after ourselves. Instead, we promote a refugee with known ties to terrorists and hope he gets $37 million of our taxes. Take a look at how Idaho does it (I just randomly picked a US state): "Idaho Child Care Program: The Department also provides child care assistance to low-income, working families through the Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP). ICCP is based on family income, and subsidizes child care payments on a sliding fee scale. Learn more about the program here." Sample Name of Parent: Jones Name of Provider: Happy Days Day Care Month: May People in Household: 4 Monthly Income: $850 Child in Care: Judy Judy's Child Care Amount for May: $250 Child in Care: James James' Child Care Amount for May: $200 Total Child Care for May: $450 Total ICCP Payment: $400 Parent Co-Payment: $50 Also you can pick your own provider. Idaho will give you payments. They base how much money you get by this schedule. I like this system.. http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Desk...version=Staging They also have a daycare recognition program! Wow that's such good coverage! =) http://idahostars.org/ Wow! I also checked out Alabama and they'll give you almost $100 a week for a daycare spot of your choice! But that's only if you meet their sliding income scale like the above. I feel that these are the best systems. It's unreal how strong the US social systems are.

We'll just have to disagree on that, Charles. Have you read my posts? It is the working poor that need child care the most - they can't afford to pay the costs of child care to start with, but need good care in order to work. They should be given a subsidy based on their income. It makes much more sense to direct tax money to the people who need it than to those who don't, which is what the Tory "Choices" in child care does now. That's funny. The law says that the mother is the primary care giver. And the kids are with the parents the majority of the time. When sleeping doesn't that count for anything? There is a family unity happening subconcsiously. I think everyone should get it becuase rich families are very rare in Canada to be honest. We're talking 1% of Canadians. Also, people who get paid more get taxed more. I feel that our country shoudl have quality, learning style daycare with the best teachers. Unfortunately, it's not financially feasable and especially with 300,000 people a year coming here that have not paid into these services. As far as the torries $100, I don't feel it's the gov't roll to be doing this. However, I think a lot of people are over estimating how many wealthy there are in Canada. Eveyrone can use $100.

People are having less kids becasue they are too expensive to raise. That's factual. I would love to have my wife stay at home and cook in our 5600 sq ft. house. I would love a Mercede's SUV also. I would love if money was no issue. I think it's ludacris that anyone would condem a working mother for putting her kids into daycare. Doing this is crazy. It's not that they want to do it, it's that they have to do it in order to make ends meet. Immigrants are to blame for higher global warming in Canada. fact. Immigrants actually have higher rates of breast cancer when they come to Canada so yes there is more breast cancer. fact. (this goes for US too. They don't know why cancer rates are higher here. Maybe it's something in our water?) Immigrants are extrememly poor new drivers and thus they pay higher insurance rates. fact.

Source? The first few points are pure conjecture. Why did he claim refugee status? Why did he marry? Your post assumes the worst without any proof. "The scam of producing a baby"? I probably should have stopped reading there since the author seems to be on the fringe. In fact, I'll stop my criticism there & wait for any info about the source of this post. I appreciate the bigger font, but feel free to use normal size from now on; I think we can all read it just fine. Shortly after Maher Arar was returned to Canada but before he spoke to the press, Canadian officials told CTV News that: while in custody in Syria for almost a year, Canadian Maher Arar provided information to the Syrians about al Qaeda cells operating in Canada. They say Arar also provided information about the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group linked to Osama bin Laden, and information about four other Canadians: Arwad al-Bushi, a Syrian-born Canadian being held in a Syrian jail; Abdullah al Malki, another Syrian-born Canadian being held in Syria; Ahmad Abou-el-Maati, an Eyptian Canadian in custody in Egypt; and Mohamed Harkat, born in Algeria, who is being held under an anti-terrorism security certificate at the Ottawa Detention Centre.... Sources told CTV News the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has received the transcripts of the Syrian interrogation of Arar. (Source: CTV transcript, 10/24/03.

You have no idea what you're talking about. You have confused Arar with the Khadr family. -k Lol.. you are just being taken for a ride. The Syrian community is extrememly small and tight knit in Ottawa. I'm from Ottawa and my best friend growing up immigrated from Syria. He's trying to get rich now and is taking you all for a ride. Plain and simple. Read below on the truth. "family members who had been jailed for alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood," "Shortly after Maher Arar was returned to Canada but before he spoke to the press, Canadian officials told CTV News that: while in custody in Syria for almost a year, Canadian Maher Arar provided information to the Syrians about al Qaeda cells operating in Canada. They say Arar also provided information about the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group linked to Osama bin Laden, and information about four other Canadians: Arwad al-Bushi, a Syrian-born Canadian being held in a Syrian jail; Abdullah al Malki, another Syrian-born Canadian being held in Syria; Ahmad Abou-el-Maati, an Eyptian Canadian in custody in Egypt; and Mohamed Harkat, born in Algeria, who is being held under an anti-terrorism security certificate at the Ottawa Detention Centre.... Sources told CTV News the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has received the transcripts of the Syrian interrogation of Arar. (Source: CTV transcript, 10/24/03." Now everyone can take their fingers out of their ears and go back to making him into some hero.

By all means, please give us a quick summary of what happened to Mr. Arar. And please tell us why you feel that when a Canadian citizen is detained and then wrongly sent to and detained in a foreign country in part because of mistakes made by the Canadian government there shouldn't be some form of compensation and request for an inquiry? NEW EVIDENCE REGARDING ARAR. WAS GOING TO POST IN NEW THREAD CAIR-Canada has repeated the "Big-Lie" for so long now that the story is being accepted as the truth when dealing with the Mehar Arar deportation from N.Y. to the middle east. Here's the FACTS that CAIR is hiding: Arar came to Canada when he was 17 and claimed "Refugee" status as a victim of oppression and a threat to his life in the Middle East where he was born. He did this to aviod the military which is not sufficient grounds for refugee status in the USA. Arar has gone back to the Middle East before since Refugee's only need to wait up to 6 months after the claim to return to the Country of oppression. Arar quickly married to assure his stay in Canada which is the normal practice by refugee's along with the scam of producing a baby in Canada for the calim of it being Canadian. (an American wrote all this btw) Arar visited Tunisia with his wife and two kids but upon return his trail was different from his wifes return,he showed up in N.Y. to connect to a flight to Canada and was questioned about this odd vacation where he abandoned his kids and traveled along. Arar stated in a TV special that he was well treated by the FBI and got a comfortable private jets and excellent food on his deportation flight out od the USA. Arar was sent to "JORDAN" and not the "SYRIA" claim made by CAIR-Canada,blind-folded,he said he was taken in a SUV and put in a Syrian jail where he now "ALLEGES" he was tortured. Arar has not produced one shread of evidence that he suffered from the torture and his Public Press-Releases with his Lawyer appeared "Scripted" and very vivid and detailed for someone having PTSD. Arar's Lawyer launched a $400 Million dollar suit against Canadians for his ordeal even though the USA sent him to Jordan and they sent him to his Native Country which he still held a Citizenship while now proclaiming to be a loyal Canadian wanting his kids to be proud Canadians too.

Yup. Not "not guilty." innocent. No indictment, no charge, no trial. 'sfunny: here we have what appears to be a perfect example of an immigrant success story: guy comes to Canada to escape an authoritarian regime, and makes something of himself. Gets an education, gets a job, marries (his wife Monia, IIRC, has a PhD), has kids, pays taxes. But then his own government sells him down the river by virtue of some very dodgy evidence and the same people who holler that we should only be allowing people just like Maher Arar into the country are very quick to find him guilty in the court of public opinion for quite literally nothing more than his being born in the wrong country. Sad. Worse: stupid. He used services. His wife has spent more time in shcool than actually working. He has not even spent a lot of time working and does nothing now but spend his life on his damn legal cases with his 10 lawyers. His wife got into politics. And not only this, his family has ties to Al-Queda. Do you think him taking out loans and going to school impresses me? Lol.. WHat impresses me is how much he's snowballing all you guys. It's impressive how much his giving all Canadians the finger and is taking us for a ride. He's laughing in his sleep and is surely planning his trips to Mecca when he gets his money. And he's an activist. He'll use the money to promote his greater cause. I was speaking to my ex-co worker from Syria himself and do you know what he said about Arar today on MSN when I asked him about this whole thing? "He's a lying peice of sh***" That came from a Syrian that I used to work with that is well versed on his case. If anythign, the immigrants know what he's doing. It's YOU guys that play the fiddle for him and promote him as being some hero. He said some other things too. I should see if I have my log enabled on my other computer so I can paste the conversation from a real Syrian. He see's through him becuase he's also from the old country. You don't have any idea about the opertunistic nature of some of these people. Him and his wife need to leave the country immediatly.

When I say reform I mean a complete reform. Giving powers back to the provinces and the people. Fedaral issue are for the army and internation things. I feel that we should move to the US system almost completley. We also need electoral colleges to stop one province from running the whole country. So if 9 provinces vote Liberal, and Quebec votes Bloc, they will not get 30% of all seats in the house. This would also filter out the NDP and basically push us into a 2 party system. But it wouldn't matter because most of our issues would be at the provincial level. The public would vote on propositions so we can educate ourselves on issues and vote for the best one.

Most people would at least do a little homework before forming an opinion on something they, by their own admission, have no knowledge of. But.... I know the story now and it's almost a farse.. it's a political game of wealth and politics in one. We need to get our country back on track and get him and his family OUT!

Yeah but then you'd be robbing a minority of his freedom to practice religion. Or we could just not allow muslims into Canada and these issues won't be an issue any longer. -- Shariah Law quote: "As to those women on whom part you fear disloyalty and ill conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat her." Q: Under Sharia law, how would you punish someone who criticised Islam or the Prophet? A: "To the people who insult the Prophet, they should be first corrected. If the person is a Muslim, he or she should be given advice, so that they'll ask forgiveness. Otherwise he will be considered an apostate, and in Islam he should be sentenced to death if he doesn't ask forgiveness and insults the Prophet." This is my 'vision' of Canada. Here is Arar's wife: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/03/10/..._ndp040310.html

Exactly, among many other cultures. So what is a Canadian culture? An immigrant arrives from Japan. We tell him he doesn't have to change anything to be a Canadian. An immigrant arrives from Italy. We tell him he doesn't have to change anything to be a Canadian. An immigrant arrives from Nicaragua. We tell him he doesn't have to change anything to be a Canadian, etc., etc., etc., The obvious question is, what the hell is a Canadian? We can tell them anything we want but the matter of fact is that people become Canadian anyway. One sure sign is that they don't normally rant about the Greeks or the Burmese but they rant about the lazy easterners, the self-centered Ontarians, the greedy Albertans and so on. Multiculturalism means diversity and variety. If everyone was the same, we would be a bunch of boring narrow-minded rednecks living near the north pole. But seriously, if you look at the stats, one generation and bang - all immigrants' children have the same profile as the rest of us. Lol.. go try to get romantically involved with a Sikh girl and see what happens if we're all equal. you will see a form of reverse racism that you never thought was possible in this country. And yes, i've bee through it several times. They don't want a 'Canadian' in their family. I'm sure there's got to be at least one person here who's experienced this.

Someone who puts a minorities rights above a majorities rights. That's what I learned from this forum on this last week. That's what it truly means to be a Canadian.

I totally agree. Finally someone who is logical and in the real world. However I still do support daycare for Canadians. I just don't support it under our policital system at this point in time. (Americans have daycare in the workplace which is very popular over there).

Well it gets votes and will be brought up in the election. You have to realize that all families with children are getting this and the Liberals don't want it. Harper needs to focus an a 'New Canadian' handoout for all Canadians that have been here less than 10 years or 5 years of something. That will hopefully get him some votes.

I haven't read that staement in many years.

Hey Leafless, Can you tell me what a 'volunteer army' is? My google isn't working.

Well it seems to be a shift from NDP support. Who knows why. NDP is a vote splitting party that really doesn't do anyone any good. Conservatives will not gain a majority unless they pander big time.

Well if these polls continue, I think that you might see the Liberals fighting the NDP because there is a shift from NDP support over to Liberal. I don't think the Liberals are anywhere near a position to get CPC votes. However I think they can get NDP votes. The Libs need to gain more Quebec seats and go after NDP votes. The conservatives need to pander hard core to immigrants. Even offering maybe $200 a month in payments to buy votes. "Today we will anounce that all new Canadians will recieve a $200 per family help care benefit." That is the only way I think the Conservatives will get a majority.

I place you as far more worthy than someone who came here 10 years ago and holds dual citizenship. A piece of paper doesn't dictate absolute equality amongst citizens of this country. That's my opinion of course.

None of these evolved in isolation, they are a result of many cultures assimilating over centuries of migrations and conquests. They will evolve and spawn new cultures regardless of whatever politicians and special interests try to engineer through legislation. We criticize religious fundamentalists when they try to turn the clock back. The concept of multiculturalism tries to stop the clock. Equally as bizarre. I find that Trudeaus 'vision' of how Canadians should act and think has actually worked and has proved succsesful and a culture was born for anglo Canadians.

. Well if we are making a list of Canadians we want out........ Well I respect your opinion that you want me out. I don't messege moderators or press ignore buttons. It's your right to an opinion. But that's a sign of the bigger picture, you would EASILY throw out a Canadian who paid into services all his life. Who helped build this country, who's grandfather served in World War 2... all becuase you don't agree with my nationalistic stance on our country. Instead, you give your preferance to an oppertunist who has come here to live his dreams, use our studen loan services, has family ties with Al-Quada, sue our own Gov't an obsurd amount to become a multi-millionair, and someone who has still not denounced his Syrian citizenship.