mikedavid00

BRAVO!!!! Can we say... 'Arar'?? Yes. And I refure to let that ero of time 'shape me' or 'engineer me' or 'brainwash me'. He will not tell me how I will act towards others that are not from here or how I will view my country. I have to say, what you quoted is almost a communist way of governing. Sounds like something out of Cuba or North Korea. How dare he profess our national attitude to us. I can see that it's worked very well for the party. Many here have drunken the Liberal Kool-Aid and don't realize they have miss-managed our programs to the point that our own citizens are dying. They don't understand that a opertunistic foreign national with a citizenship elsewhere is trying a third time to sue for money and Canadians are going to give him $37,000,000 of our tax dollars when organs can be purchased and Canadian lives can be saved. They don't understand that citizenship isn't just this peice of paper that entitles you to social benefits of a country. It's much, much more than that. The Liberal party and it's social engineering has created an almost 'self hating' generation of people who pay homage to outside things like the environment and Arar, but little to its own people who are dying in their own country. I guess it could, but it wouldn't be a good political move. Beleive it or not, the Liberal party in Quebec if very hardcore. This one lady said that immigrants were welcome to come to Quebec and settle into their culture and if they weren't interested, then they can 'go back where they came from'. I think the charter of rights and freedoms should be abolished all together. When you pay higher auto-insurance becaue of age, you are being discriminated against which is a violation of the charter of rights and feedoms. There is no free country on earth. Canada is CERTAINLY NOT A FREE COUNTRY. On the contrary, it's very much a dictatorship.

I woudln't say that. Our rates co-inside with the US rates much of the time which is independant from gov't. The mortgage rates are backed by a base interest rate that affects all loans. This is why you are no longer seing 0% financing or leasing for new vehicles.. the rates are just too high now.

You beat Harper for this instantaneous flip-flop. It's not ok for the teachers' unions to negotiate a $50K salary for their members but it's ok of the medical associations to negotiate $300K salaries for their members. The only conclusion here is that you've either had a change of hart or the teachers are asking too little. The healthcare system is already far, far past being ruined. We have a fresh start with child care. Do we want another Health Canada on our hands with load of beurocracy and teachers unions? I certainly don't. Phillipino live-in nannie's are affordable. Just don't expect a mothers love. And you don't know what immigration case you might get dragged into so be careful. I feel that the gov't subsidies work fine the way they are. I feel that the average Canadian should stay at home with their child for 4 years until they reach kindegarten. Of course, it's also not 1973. People now have mortgage debt which is eating them alive. It's becoming such a problem now that families don't have extra money to invist for retirement. The standard of living has taken a nose dive here in Canada since... since.... hmmm.. when did all this start happening... hmmmm... could it be.... I... Imm...

Well muslims all over the world practice polygamy. Mostly it's done through purchases of wives, but none the less it's polygamy with the Quaran endorses. Bangladesh is a huge exporter of wives. Many get them at 13 years old. This is how it's done in these countries. My best friend growing up had his step brother come from Samolia with this woman. They lived together. Then a year later, he said 'my mother's coming too'. Then there were 4 people in the house, all collecting cheques, one had a baby. Then when I was older my mother told me that the other woman was really his second wife (my mom was friendly with that family). He was muslim and would pray towards mecca 3 times a day. for 30 min each session. It was his right as a minority to marry many wives but he had to keep it hush hush becasue it's against the law here. THe 'act' of sadamy is illegal, not being in a male/make relationship. Marriage is different. Of course they aren't. It's my body and my right to take diet pills to lose weight. However the Dr. wont let me despite the fact that I qualify. The laws are not protecting my induvidual rights. But there's no country where the laws are perfect. Honestly, the closest you'll get is probably the US to the ideal personal laws and freedoms. That's what makes the US what it is. And neither is the minority. I feel there is no perfect answer, but it's best left out of the hands of politicians and into the hands of the voter. This is the fundemental difference between your Canadian style viewpoint where you want an intellectual elite controlling you, and a US viewpoint like mine that beleives the countries path is in the hands of its citizens - not judges and elites. (all they've done is ruin our security, economy, and healthcare). I agree. So lets let muslims have the freedom to practice their religion and marry as many wives as they want in their personal lives. They can sponsor into Canada an unilimted amount of women for their households and have children with each. Also FWIW, there were 10 children living in this house when we bought it. The owner was Palistinian and I noticed these two women there. One looked to be the wife, adn the other was possibly an older daughter but looked to close to age to the husband. It also looked to be another wife. With the 10 children and wives, we estimed well over $6000 in social assistance they were getting each month. (we got some letters from the social services). I don't know about that. When it comes to rights and feedoms there is always hypocracy at play. There is no true thing as absolute rights or freedoms. Well lets just say that in Nevada, they almost won legalization of pot by a thin vote. They said that they could have one if the people that actually used pot went out and voted. It was actually the majority protecting the rights of the minority. I personally would vote against SSM if it meant that it could be used as an immigration loophool. There are already phony marriages of family members even with fake wedding photos. So allowing men in the country wouldn't be too good. However I do support gay Canadian men marrying each other if that's what they want to do. But more, I support the descision to come from Canadians. You might be suprised how they vote. Wow! I saved this quote too. This is truly what makes a Canadian. Not myself. I don't beleive in putting people into groups and seperating them. People are Canadian or not. Each person shall get treated as an induvidual and will take part in making large decisions for the country.

Geoffery, I know this will sound condescending, but it is not intended to be. You are young, and are not yet a parent. When you are, you will see that as a parent, you see your kid differently than any one else. People who work in child care develop strong relationships with the children in their care, but they are not the same as the relationship between a parent and their child, nor should they be. Parents choose the way they raise their children, and influence them in ways their caregivers can't and shouldn't. Working parents are just trying to provide for their families, which is not an abdication of responsibilities, but rather an acceptance of them. If I was a woman I would want a man to be an investment banker so he could provide for me and my family and I wouldn't have to work so I can raise the kids. But we are Canadians. We are poor and working poor. We have to work. Daycare is not a choice, but a must for most people. I notice that stay at home mom thing is still super big in the US.

Ok this was argued in Ottawa for the longest time when I lived there. If you are talking about the daycare program where we build 'schools' and have trained teacher/daycare workers looking after the kids, then it's not feasible. I think they estimed it would almost be the cost of running the school system. So that would be 80 Billion dollars federally. The reason why is because the teachers union claimed they would be part and help up a daycar teachers union thus the daycare workers would be over staffed, and getting paid $50k each a year with loads of benefits. Basically it was never well thought out and it's not feasible and the country is not 'rich' enough to afford it. Keeping a PRIVATE HMO HEALTHCARE style system would be the best way. Actually I think that's the current way isn't it? Basically you own a private daycare center and bill the gov't. The employees are thus paid reasonably and everyone is happy. If there is more daycare needed, then stop letting in people into the country who use these services. =)

Yes it's called Islam. There is a small lobby for polygamy rumored to be for another immigration loop hole to get many, many over. and yes it's against the law and Martin said that he would not open this up for discussion. In Islam you are allowed to. It's granted to do so in the Quran. Thus, we are opressing a religious freedom of Muslims. SHAME ON US! (lol) See above. No it's not abusive. But the point is that there is no such things as a true 'right' or true 'freedom'. Everything in this world is almost a privilage or can be taken from you. All we have to do as citizens of our border and country is make sure we protect ourselves so we can have an easy and happy life with one another. The politicians are elites, many of which have never experienced the real world. They are interested in power. Preston Manning was the last of the Canadians who had a legitimate concern about Canada and giving the gov't back to the people.

And poeple were smart enough to do the right thing. Yes I do. People are stupid in groups, but smart by themselves. Voting on propositions allows people to educated themselves on issues and talk about politics. For instance, If I had a proposal that would reform our immigration system to people could only come in on work permits sponsored by employers, then people would ask 'why' and the answers would be healthcare, and then the discussions from normal Canadians would start and people might learn a thing or two about their own country. In the past week, you can't deny that a lot of people learned something new about their own country. But that's only because i put the debate forward. Don't you see? 2. Dictatorship 5 up, 2 down Dictatorship is a form of government where the leader of the country owns all of its citizens and their souls. Actually, I wonder how much the house prices are in Arizona?

What about poligamy? See your argument eventually fails. This is one politicians viewpoint and idealism. Not realism. He said "We can't let minority rights be decided by the majority of the people. There is a moral right or wrong here, it's not up to what the majority wants." And I think that it is up to what the majority wants. Just me opinion. The courts and elites have no rite to decide the climate and conditions of our country. We have just opened a *major* immigration loop hole now.

I saved the above quoute.. i don't know when or if I'll ever use it, but I guess that qoute is fundamental thing that makes him a 'Canadian'; the feeling that a minority should over rule a majority. A minority of elites dictates what is right or wrong for the greater masses. To me that's just a dictatorship. Unlike the US where they vote on propositions so the gov't and state rules belong to the people. The voters send out a messege to their elected officials and they did the same with Bush. Now Bush is reacting. Canadians sit on their hands hoping and waiting for the Harvard elite who's been out of Canada for 30 years to march in and tell them what to think, say, and believe. I couldn't care less for that charter which was made on the back of a napkin from a tipsy politician in a resturaunt.. that doesn't impress me. Guess i'm 'too American'... or maybe I haven't been 'socially engineered' enough to agree with this way of thinking.

I don't care what a peice of paper says. The Brits knew how to deal with these situations. You are only looking at one side of the story, there is another side. Also, there is NO burden of proof he was torchured. There is only his world which is not good enough to hold up in courty. I feel our PM should take control of this situation and do the right thing: "Today we are announcing that with the powers invested in me, the right honorable Prime Minister of Canada, we are revoking the citizenship of Maher Arar and his family. They are being detained now and will be expelled to the country of their choice tommorow. In the future, Mehar will also not be allowed to enter Canadian waters, air space, or land. Arar may persue his legal endevor from over seas if he choses. Thank you." The UK did this to like what.. 2 dozen people when they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the london train bombings. Only a small minority of people were crrying that it 'wasn't fair'.

You are attacking a Canadian citizen. You have decided this man is guilty, and are slandering him. There are rules against insults/slanders against third parties. I haven't reported you yet...too much of that goes on around here (reporting), but if you choose to keep it up I will. The hateful attacks you've levelled against Arar in this topic and the cavalier way you decide to invalidate his citizenship are putting you in a sordid class by yourself. lol.. go report me. I'm not making any attacks against him, i just want him the hell out of my country.

I think it might be more effective if you put on your white hood first. Grab cross on the way out of the house. See that's the reason why I can't protest or make my feelings known outside this forum - I get labelled a racist. It's the Canadian way after all. It's not because I have a problem with his skin color or where he came from, I feel that his case is symptematic of a larger problem that's eating us alive. We are not a rich country. We are not a powerbroker, we don't have the jobs and services waiting for all these immigrants coming. They do not exist. We don't have even enough to fix our healthcare crisis. Over time, this begins to affect the average Canadian such as myself. My quality of life is going down because of this policy. Not him in specific. You can't blame immigrants for taking advantage of the most easy system in the world. If I was living where they were, I would want to leave also. But the role of our country is not to provide servies and political assylum to the world. It's not help everyone out. Our country is meant for you and me. It's a private club that should have a membership only given out to special people that can help us out, NOT THEM. We don't owe anybody anything. We need to be selfish in our ways. After all, that's why we are a nation with borders. Our country is to provide it's citizens a rich and easy life. When something begins to threaten that, we need to clean house and look after our best interest. The Chinese head tax. Yes I agree that was unjust and they should be given their money back. But Arar? Come on. His case needs to be taken as a sign of what is happening to our country and what is to come. He needs to be expelled and his citizenship revoked witht no explanation needed. He is not going to waste our tax payers money, our courts time, and our way of life in this country. And he can sit in the UK and whine about how it's 'not fair'. GOOD ARAR, YOU DO THAT, JUST GET OUT. We need to look after our own citizens and that starts with healthcare. Basic fundamentals. IT doesn't start with the ideals from some Harvard elite who has not been living here for the last 30 years. There is Starbucks in Canada. When you buy coffee from them, you are sending the money back to the US. All StarBucks does is offer minimum wage employment to Canadians. The white collar head office jobs and distribution are in the US. Thus, it's of no use to Canadians becuase it provides nothing to us but good coffee. However, Tim Horton's bennefits us. Canada is franchised and instatutionalised. It's 75% service industry, low paying jobs. That's what Canada has. THere is no job for Mr. Singh and his credentials when he arrives at pearson airport. Sorry Mr. Singh. But please, do vote Liberal and maybe we can do somethign for ya. Ontop of this, the white collar jobs now don't pay anything becuase we are saturating our own job market with people from other countries who have better paper qualifications than most Canadians. Thus, the Canadian dream of going to school and picking and choosing a job is dead. It's a 'take what you can get' market place. The dream of getting quality, 'free' healtchare is dead. Forget about Dion and his 'visions'. Forget about Harper pandering for votes on a false dream of a majority gov't. Forget about Left vs. Right. I'm tryign to say that we are seriously in a state of crisis that is beginning to take place in Canada and we have to start to get into protection mode. It starts with Arar. It starts with Arar leaving Canada as a symbol of our new direction in Canada.

And the government is challenging them. It doesn't matter. They are getting free healthcare services right now which we are all paying for at least a year. What don't you understand about that?

It's not surprising. The alternative would be for them to acknowledge that Stephen Harper is not the person to lead CPC into the next election. Personally I hope that Stephen Harper does lead CPC into the next election since replacing him with a social moderate might actually help the CPC defeat Dion. Don't you know the voting demographics of Canada? Our politcs do not work like American politics.

No he's not. I'm a Canadian citizen. He is a naturalized dual citizen. If anything, he's someone who votes Liberal. Leave it at that. He should leave for the same reason why the British expelled the imams and other families after their train bombings when they 'didn't do anything'. I am making sense, for the good of the country and taxpayers, he needs to get out of here. I'm going to call up the radio station and officially offer to pay for him and his family to leave our country and renounce his citizenship.

Here we go. Listen. He is a citizen of Syria. It's his country. And we have NO PROOF at all that he was tortured. Our gov't does leave us to die. That is why you cannot call our country 'great'. A great country does not leave it's own citizens to die in their own country. You intillectualls really, really miss the bigger picture of why one is a member of a country.

You aren't understanding the fact that we have no proof of this. It's only his word and the cards do not stack up in his favor. Oh so the US sent him to Syria where he is a citizen of that country. I see. Sure. If your family had ties to terrorist organizations than surely it could happen to you too. There would be nothing I could do because Canada is my own country. Just like Syria is his own country. That's if you believe he was tortured. Everyone knows that the first step of becoming free when you are being held captive is to claim tortured. ,Poor Arar. Poor Arar. Forget about the true Canadians who are dying on hospital/organ waiting lists. Nah.. foget about them. Let's pitty some foreign national with family ties to Al-Queda and throw 37,000,000 his way. He's tried twice to sue the US and they brushed him aside like a strong country should. They've tried to join a political party in order to gain power. Now they are launching a suit at Canada because they've been unsucsfull in all their endevors of getting rich and powerful. If I was PM, I would revoke his families citizenship and expell them from Canada out of the gull of him trying to sue the tax payers of the country. The UK did this to many people after the train bombings of people who weren't charged for anything and I feel we should do the same. Leave the country Arar, just leave and I'll pay for you also.

Sorry Mike but you're wrong. The man is Canadian. He was tortured and ignored by the Canadian Liberal government at the time of his imprisonment. How would you feel if it was you? He deserves every penny of the money he's asking for. The government screwed up and they must pay for the consequences of their actiions. Sorry but your wrong. He's a Syrian Citizen. It's his own country that beat him. There is no burden of proof that needs to be provided that he was beaten, only his claims after 7 visits thus he loses that portion of the law suit. Or at best, get's re-embursed for the 10.5 months he was being held by the Syrian gov't. Maybe $45,000. As far as 37 million of our tax dollars making him and his family rich, he can take the next plane back to Syria or go claim refugee status in the UK. Just God please leave this country and get out.

You'll have no argument from me that illegitimate refugees need to be screened out. Refugees have always fallen outside the provisions. However, the government is challenging people who claim refugee status because of HIV/AIDs. I have never heard of anyone allowed to immigrate with the aim of becoming a citizen getting an exemption if they had AIDs. I guess you haven't heard: "One hundred and thirty-seven delegates to last month's International AIDS Conference in Toronto have claimed refugee status in Canada." This was big news here at the time. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/09/01/aids-refugee.html

This boy is after power and money. You have to pay homage to the Americans for being so vigil in not letting some foreign national take advantage of their court system. Go home Arar! -"He had some visits from diplomatic officials, but he did not tell them that he was being tortured until their seventh visit" -"Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, ran unsuccessfully as the NDP candidate in the Ottawa South riding in the 2004 federal election" -"In January 2004, Arar announced that he would be suing then American Attorney-General John Ashcroft over his treatment, but the US government invoked the rarely-used State Secrets Privilege in a motion to dismiss the suit" -"On February 16, 2006, Brooklyn District Court Judge David Trager dismissed Arar's lawsuit against members of the George W. Bush administration." PLEASE LEAVE ARAR!

Well it's fastest to milk the easiest cow (Canada) and that's what he's doing. My priminister is playing to Islamic votes now which sicken me to be frank. I don't think I've heard one person on the radio (not CBC radio btw) play any violins for Arar. Can I personally pay to get him out of our country? I will personally pay $1000 to get him out of Canada. Why is his family here in the first place?

Call me crazy, but I wonder if the loss in NDP support is from David Miller? I can't figure out why they dived in popularity. I hope all this isn't over the lebanon issue that happened in the summer. I think that's when things went downhill poll-wise for the CPC. Could be wrong.

We should have propositions when we vote each two years over issues like immigration, drug laws, unions, same sex marriage, etc. This works well in the US so I don't know why we don't bring democracy here. The country belongs to the people, not elites.

Whaaat?? All I know is that NOW, we no longer have a free eye check-up....but we can have a free sex change! And all I know is that Then, everyone has a family doctor....and Now, you're lucky if you find one! And all I know is that there's tons of money that got squandered on scams and corruptions...money that could've injected life into our troubled healthcare system! Yeah your right. But I think the debt is paid off and taxes are lower now. I cold be wrong. I feel the medical problem is due to immigration over time and no parties did anything about it.