NovaScotian

Oh yeah, living in Nova Scotia, you wouldn't want to rock the socialist boat. Maybe we can hear what your idea of what Canada will look like in a short 25-30 years from now. So instead of a thoughtful rebuttal, you call me a socialist because of were I live? Oh snap!

Your ethnic scapegoating is very reminencent of the German scapegoating of Jews in the 20's and 30's.

Ok people, lets have a reality check. According to stats Canada. The nation is still 83% of 'white' decent and the population is still about 70% Christian. Only 1.9% are Muslim. So "white culture" is hardly being overwhelmed. Canada is more then race or religion anyway. It is about a set of ideals based on freedom, openness and respect for others.

^ Improving productivity is simple. Since productivity is a output over inputs(usually labour), just fire some workers and make the leftover work 60-70 hours a week. But a better solution in the long term would probably invest in the best technology available.

Partly true. For example, giving large cheques away to the unemployed is bad policy, but making sure they poor have access to medical care and especially education is certainly positive. We also see that countries with great inequality have much higher crime rates and thus can hamper development. Taxation is certainly an annoyance, but has the benefit of preventing money from accumulating on the top, also hampering development.

Interesting. Every other province receives funding roughly based on population, except Quebec.

Speaking of creating life..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6251910.stm It is actually quite a scary prospect.

Of course, because enlightened and cultured Europeans would never fight each other on racial, ethnic or cultural grounds....as long as you forget about the first and second world war, the holocaust, catholics fighting protestants in Ireland, ethnic cleansing, separatists attacks, etc, etc

There is a huge difference between what ScottAS is saying and Mikedavids00's racist rant.

Any God that sends people to hell for not believing in him/her/it is a God that I want no part of. Whether a person is atheist, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, whatever, it should not matter as long as they are a decent human being.

No, but I could see someone who was secretly gay and repressing their homosexuality doing just such a thing. Maybe that's why some people are so obsessed with being anti-homosexual... Possible, but I believe it is estimated that a maximum of 10% of the population is homosexual. So I do not believe there would be a mass exodus from 'heterosexuality'.

Just looking back to something that leafless said at the beginning of this thread. "Proof of this is the liberals fixation concerning implementing gay marriage in Canada, all part of their master plan on 'how to destroy heterosexual society'. I believe Western heterosexual society will wake up before it's to late and turf out forever all those heterosexual hating Liberals." Is "heterosexual society'(whatever that is?) so weak that it cannot exist with anything else. Is "heterosexual society" like East Germany were we have to build a wall so to keep straights from just running over to the West Germany? I am sorry but I could not imagine a straight guy seeing two gay men walking down the street and thinking "My god that looks like fun. I really should give this homosexuality thing a try!"

Judging by all the spelling mistakes in your post I don't think you are in any position to decide whether a degree is valid or not. Again, you are in no position to judge intellect So basically White European = high quality person. All others = low quality. Where do you live? Bigotville? All the immigrants i know, especially south Asians and east Asians are some of the smartest and hard working people I know. Immigrants to do not burden our society. They bring diversity, new ambitious people, who take a big risk to move to a strange country for the hope of a new life. Most studies conclude that immigrants help our economies to grow and of course, they pay taxes to adding to federal and provincial coffers. We need immigration! You sound like an extremely bitter immature person.

I believe the labor union problem was mainly a Cape Breton issue in the coal and steel industries in the 1920's. Unlike most of North America the Maritimes never experienced the 'roaring 20's. The region was much poorer then it had been 30 years earlier. So radicals gained prominence in the unions. It is hard to say what effect this had on the region as a whole. It could have played some role of discouraging investment in the 20's and 30's, but in general it would have been small compared to the lack of competitive rail service and regional capital for investment, which was pumped out of the region by the banks(illegal today).

I do not think it is the fact the they had to change lifestyles. I am guessing it has to do with genocide, centuries of racism and discrimination, broken treaties, residential schools, etc, etc.....

Now the region could have possibly gained back some of its economic loses in WW2 if is wasn't for a few politicians and business men. What happened to DOSCO after the war? Falling to modernize like its Ontario cousins. DOSCO became inefficient and struggled greatly. It was bought and created into a crown corporation and became a political hot potato, incurring create public debt to the province and Canada The result of this policy set the Maritime provinces(as well as the Praires) further behind, while Ontario and Quebec enjoyed an tremendous economic government fueled boom Down Home

The history of the Maritimes is actually quite full of examples and unfortunately it is unknown to the general population. People assume that region was always a poor, backward, economically dependent region. Anyway, here are some examples of federal policy, both positive, some mixed and others very negative. These are some snips from David Kilgour's website. He was a liberal MP for Edmonton and holds a degree in economics.I am using quotes from him because I do not think I could say it as well, nor do I have the time to write it all out. The National Policy(1878-1879) - positive beginning, negative outcome. Another was the Bank Act of 1871 Railway Policy, initially favorable quickly turned sour The region had started to face population problems because of efforts to settle the west. Of course, the forthcoming economic collapse resulted in a massive exodus from the region and further put the region into economic decline

Japan and South Korea may be natural resource poor, but they have plenty of human resources. Keep in mind Japan has 25X more people then these 5 provinces. Lack of arable land and thus lack of population has always been one of the Atlantic coast's largest obstacle.

And as for Atlantic Canada, I'm certainly not suggesting that they are the victims entirely of thier own design. My argument here has been directed at the opposite point, that 'central Canada' is not to be blamed for causing economic weakness in Atlantic Canada. I am not suggesting that the central Canadian economy itself caused the decline of the maritime economy post 1900. However, many economic historians would argue that decisions and policies passed by parliament( 75% Central Canadian MPs at the time) to help grow the central Canadian economy, damaged the maritime economy in the long run.

"Currently Atlantic Canada is in the process of ripping off the federal government" Right.......Did the Government of Canada sign an agreement that said that Newfoundland and Nova Scotia could keep 100% of its oil and gas revenues until 2012-13, no matter what equalization formula is in place??? Does our governments signature mean nothing? Anyway, this is not going to be a popular opinion and I won't be well liked after a say it, but... I hate to break up this whole Ontario pity party and yes, equalization as flaws, but I am suppose to believe Ontario, home of the national capital and its legions of highly payed bureaucrats + location of most national headquarters, huge infrastructure expenditures & investments, massive federal R&D investments, Canada's banking & financial capital, Canada's Keynesian planned manufacturing sector, not to mention the fact that Ontario has a huge influence on federal policy.....is a huge some big loser/victim in this confederation? And if you are so convinced that subsidies are the terrible, I *kindly* suggest you petition the provincial government to end the $2.8 billion in annual subsidies to Ontario related interests, not even including provincial and federal subsidies to agriculture and manufacturing ...because as you know.... subsidies breed dependencies. That's what subsidies do. They are not good for anyone.

Unless you cite a source, your data is meaningless. Opps, very true. Equalization http://www.fin.gc.ca/FEDPROV/eqpe.html And population estimate in 2008-09, medium projection. http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/91-5...591-520-XIE.pdf

Quebec is by far the largest recipient of equalisation payments in Canada - in gross dollars. Newfoundland is the largest recipient of equalisation payments in Canada - per capita. I believe all of the Maritimes exceed Quebec (but below NFLD) in the per capita receipt of equalisation payments, though I don't have any data available at hand. I'm sure it can all be found pretty easily since I've seen data tables on this topic dozens of times. I can make an estimate based on the 2008-09 estimated equalization payments and estimated population. Prince Edward Island.......$2230 New Brunswick..................$1930 Manitoba.............................$1670 Nova Scotia........................$1380 Quebec.................................$986 Newfoundland.....................$390

The Atlantic provinces don't receive money from the equalization program? Why split hairs with "business" subsidies? umm, because they are completely separate concepts and employed for different reasons. Mad_Michael said, and I quote "Interesting to note that Ontario and Alberta have the lowest corporate taxes, with economical and manageable public services and the least amount of subsidies to private business of all the provinces in Canada. In other words, half the problem with the 'poor' Provincial governments is government incompetence in those Provinces with their noted passions for high corporate taxes and public services beyond their own means and high levels of political patronage and subsidies to private business. This fits the maritimes to a 't'." I provided proof that Ontario has the highest corporate tax rate and then showed that business subsidies are not higher then the national average in Atlantic Canada...so is it perhaps, just perhaps, the economic problems that have plagued the region may not be all our own doing.

Don't think so. Anything more than a sketchy graphy with your own interpretation to support that? Do you have any proof that business subsidies are high here? You keep saying they are, but have offered no evidence. Anyway more "Aha, you're thinking: Here comes the justification for those massive subsidies that are sucking money out of the rest of Canada to keep Atlantic Canadians in seasonal work and on pogey. But wait; APEC also reports that provincial and regional subsidies to business are lower in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador than in any other province in Canada, with Nova Scotia not far behind. And regional spending by such federal departments as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is not out of line with regional subsidies in other parts of the country: farm subsidies in the West and industry and technology subsidies which tend to favour Ontario and Quebec. " http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MK...26/ai_111616455 I will have to find that article and scan it.

I believe it was the drought. But I think the fact that the subsidy is related to a serious act of nature shows how weak the comparison is. The subsidies to the Atlantic provinces are ongoing in nature and have been recurring for decades. And subsidies to business are ongoing in every province and in greater magnitude per capita. Even during the Alberta's using the earlier period 1998-2000 subsidies to business are about equal per capita to those in the Atlantic.