Jerry J. Fortin

That is nice! I can no longer speak French, even though my mother was French. Too many years in Alberta I guess.........

An excellent move on the part of the Canadian government. Increasing economic activity with India may become as much needed source of revenue. Now if we can do the same with China.

I agree. Yet then there is Duffy, richly reward for his efforts.

Harper was an author of the Alberta Firewall letter, when he changed his position, so did I.

I have been saying that for a long time. I don't care who forms a government, as long as the people are heard.

Much colonization was conducted by "black sheep" that is true.

I must say that JBG does have some game in him.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/28/news/comme...dex.htm?cnn=yes If this is happening in the USA, can it or will it happen here?

I will suggest that doing anything in this nation to this individual will have major political implications. I think the safest thing to do is send for trial in Afghanistan.

August that is a good thing. We are in a far different position than other nations, and that stems from the already well regulated financial system here. What was a once a source of complaint by other nations, our attempt to control our own financial sector, has become a source of benefit to us. I hate to say it, but in this specific case regulations were beneficial to us.

Those people need the same thing the politicians need a little oversight and discipline.

If that irritates them, they are a tadd thin skinned.

Valid and legal point, one very realistic in its approach. The problem is there is no real representation going on under the current system. The only thing represented is the party leaders desires. Even the party bows to the will of the leader and the representatives carry that message to Ottawa and vote according to the whim of the leader. That is the major flaw in the system we use, no free votes. The way to fix that is with a direct democracy. That way when the elected representative votes against the will of the citizens they can recall them., and discipline them. The citizens deserve to be heard. I will take that a step further, the citizens have a democratic right to be heard.

Indeed it would, and as a matter of fact this form of direct democracy makes a great deal of sense. It reduces the bureaucracy of the event to a large degree. Now if you plan to take that a step further and have all matters of legislative effort first ratified by the people at the constituency level you will have accomplished something. What needs to happen is that the representative is provided with the direction and information at the local level, they would then be able to actually "REPRESENT" the views of the local citizens and carry a single democratic vote to the House of Commons.

I am not a Conservative, but I still view things as broken. I am not a Liberal but I still support social programs. I am a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. I stand on the side of right, not the side of wrong. Justice is a key principle in any society and yet we can only afford so much justice. Strange but true. I love that word justice, it has so many meanings and so many applications. All subject to the perspective of the reader, or more accurately the educational level of the citizen. The poor have one sense of justice the rich another. This nation, such as it is, attempts to be all things to all people. Such a thing simply cannot be yet we seem to believe that it can be. Politics is the study of "grey" areas and partisan policy is an essay in black and white, the two things are divergent by nature. Strangely enough one side supports the other in a concentrated effort to acquire and retain power and control within the nation. Using the ruse of a perceived democracy, the most affluent and most influent of society rise to seize the reigns of power. Yet things are changing. As the level of education and public awareness rises, the power and control of governments fades and flickers into the democratic mirage that it truly is. Not very far away is the day when governments will no longer be able to tell citizens what to do. On that day we will end wars and poverty. There is more than a sufficient amount of resources for all, given the proper and functional use of governance. Unfortunately for us, it is corporate governance that is rising instead of public governance and direct democracy.

Referendums are not enough. They have no current value in the House. What we need is a direct democracy from a new constitution to a peoples ratification. Let the politicians propose and let the people choose.

Your spin is decidedly partisan, while we do not fault you for it. We accept it as your opinion.

Negative perspective? Was any of it inaccurate? Because if it was then the statements would simply be false, if they are accurate they are then truthful.

Any government that cuts taxes has my attention, and potential support. Of course there are other considerations such as the retention of existing program spending.

That is what happens when you gamble, there is a potential to lose.

The government can be either of the right or left, in boom or bust, and still be held as responsible whether right or wrong. Luck of the draw is what I will suggest. My point is that once a government is formed, the public agenda or party platform goes out the door at the drop of a hat in favour of the day to day operation of a real time administration. We can point fingers and scream faulty ideology but the reality is such that the administration and the politics of government are two different things.

Sounds as logical as the entire Christian crusade of the new world. How very beneficial for the savages...............

This speaks volumes about patronage appointments does it not?

Tweak the system, interesting concept. I would scrap the damned thing myself, but I know I am on the minority side of that equation. Wait times are unacceptable, costs are spiraling out of control in health care. The military is under funded and poorly equipped to the point of being unable to defend the nation. Public education is always under budget constraints and the specter of cuts. The number of repeat offenders keeps going up, and the available space in the jails seems to be decreasing, the rates of crime are not coming down fast enough. Our foreign policy has no relationship to our domestic policy so it will constantly be at odds with our best interests.The system simply isn't working as well as it could. Tweak ? Overhaul at least.

I will suggest that the world is better for the efforts of America, things could have been far worse. To watch the collapse of this dynasty leaves many wondering who will fill the vacuum left behind. What direction may we expect to head off into?