Jerry J. Fortin

Well its their province, let them speak what they want to. Perhaps an inch goes a mile after all.

Dude, I was there in Edmonton when the rednecks eggs the train during a massive heckling session. There was a lot of fingers being tossed around his was in response, he returned the salute is what he did.

Okay I will go along with that if you can get the Conservatives to bring back AVRO and rebuild the Arrow...................

I will suggest that it is how the federation is BEING run now, look at the reality of Quebec. How many bureaucratic jobs are there in that province in federal service. How many dollars of budget go toward Quebec and its citizens in total? I will suggest that the answer will surprise you. Equalization is a federal program true. Yet the provinces are supposed to be equal partners in confederation. Should the provinces determine that changes should be made, the reality is that Ottawa MUST comply with the requests. The feds have one vote and each province has a vote, they are outnumbered, its plain and simple. Our problem lays with gaining a majority of support. The feds use a divide and conquer strategy, it has worked so far to preserve their power.

The government has a very poor pair of glasses for looking into the future. They were wrong about the recession and they were wrong about the deficit. They can neither recognize reality or plan for the future, bad leadership.

Good luck with that!

The PM, our first female, went down hard in utter defeat. It was an exercise in Canadian politics where we come out in droves to vote against something. I don't think that will be Harpers fate though. I would venture to say that he has lost Quebec, and is losing Ontario. The Atlantic provinces will likely not support him in anything more than minority numbers. The west will continue to support him, but it will not be enough to sustain him. He will retain his seat, but resign as leader, then resign as an MP to pursue more lucrative efforts.

Weasel talk, he intended that there would be no election called until the mandate expired 5 years hence.

According to the Government of Canada http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/...f_govt_01-e.asp"The provincial legislatures have power over direct taxation in the province for provincial purposes, natural resources, prisons (except penitentiaries), charitable institutions, hospitals (except marine hospitals), municipal institutions, licences for provincial and municipal revenue purposes, local works and undertakings (with certain exceptions), incorporation of provincial companies, solemnization of marriage, property and civil rights in the province, the creation of courts and the administration of justice, fines and penalties for breaking provincial laws, matters of a merely local or private nature in the province, and education (subject to certain rights of the Protestant and Roman Catholic minorities in some provinces)." Further to this, "Subject to the limitations imposed by the Constitution Act, 1982, the provinces can amend their own constitutions by an ordinary Act of the legislature." So in answer to your point write a provincial constitution taking advantage of every single angle and loophole. Opt out of everything you can, charge back everything you can and take over everything you can.

I can only hope that the story is accurate. That would give me much pleasure.

Really? I think the discussion is about the cost of oil/gasoline. Given that the greatest consumer of the commodity is the USA, and considering that Alberta/Canada is the largest importer of that commodity to the USA, I thought that the comment was indeed relevant. Working with the USA would better serve both their interests and ours providing mutual benefit. As such, this provides Alberta/Canada with at least an ear in the court so to speak, if not in fact a voice. The USA is a if not the superpower of the world, being friends with them is functionally beneficial if nothing else. Canada has the resources that the USA needs, from minerals to foods, from water to oil we have everything, and enough to spare and profit from at that.....

The way around the problem is simply to exercise the powers vested in the provinces as determined by the constitution. That document makes the provinces equal partners in confederation. That concept of equality, or perhaps the definition of equality needs to be brought before the highest court in the land and determined once and for all. From my perspective, the provinces should have as much say as the federal government. In other words the provinces working in cooperation should be able to tell the federal government what to do. I think we merely need to get off the dime and do something.

The Conservative Party of Canada?

Yeah, its good that the Conservatives have never done that before. That would make them as bad as the Liberals would it not?

The futures market is driven by supply and demand, or at least projected supplies and demands. That said, it is not Alberta that has anything to say about this. The folks that do have a say are a four letter word, OPEC. These folks raise and lower "ADVERTISED" rates of production on a regular basis in order to manipulate the futures and spot markets. In fact that was the real reason behind the formation of the group. Is there really any question why the USA wanted to involve itself in the middle east? Set aside the fact that Canada is the number one exporter of oil to the good old USA, we are politically stable and right next door. There is a lot of oil there that needs to be outside of the control of OPEC to serve the best interests of the USA. The cold hard truth of the matter is that the US is an energy intensive economy and culture. They must have a secure supply of oil or their economy will crumble overnight. The threat of a supply issue creates a specter of demand that drives the markets upward on nothing more than speculation. Is it any real wonder that a factual supply issue does the same thing? Folks we need to wake the hell up and see that our best interests are served by working with the USA, not against them.

I have a question about the impartiality of the equalization formulas, why doesn't Hydro-Quebec revenue translate into the sum totals for Quebec? I must stand for my province in terms of equalization. On the other hand I certainly don't agree with the PC Government of Alberta seeking funds from the feds just because they are too incompetent to balance their check books. Hell we still have royalty rebates going on to the poor oil companies. We have enough worries of our own to start dealing with the feds on any level at all. The level of expensive bureaucracy that goes down that path is simply a waste of tax dollars, and when so many provinces are having difficulty it seems to me to that it would simply harm someone else to pursue the matter. The money comes from citizens, they are due some measure of respect.

An echo that will heard for some time into the future I think.

I will answer that for you. No he cannot and will not resist the temptation.

Which is why he ended up where he is now. Even so, I do not believe him to be a traitor, just a criminal who needs to find his justice where he committed his crime.

I would rather they simply not promise us anything at all.

What I meant to suggest was that the largest demographic in Canada is the apathetic voter. All others stacked up are still a minority in comparison.

That is simply not true. The funding is already an issue, and the that they have failed to address the issue even though they have known about it for the last three decades doesn't exactly speak toward an honest public disclosure. I already stated that the health care issue is looming. These problems are not in reality political ones since the funding and policies are already in place, they have since begun to be economic problems instead. Talking about it hasn't served them very well. Reseting the game it likely less harmful than continuing the present course of action don't you think?

Well said, the citizens have much to account for. WE let them do it, therefore we must accept at least some of the blame.

A generous pension to say the least. Yet is seems to do little to prevent the corruption of officials, look at what happened to Brian.