Jerry J. Fortin

They certainly are, you are correct. However, these big three companies have the root of their problems here. That root is the fact that their own market share has been compromised be foreign competition. The big three never did try to compete with their own brand in Japan or Korea, forget India and China for the moment. They were outsmarted in business terms and we are now expected to cover their incompetence with our money.

Not this time. This is India's 9/11, and they know damned well who did and where they are.

True enough, but what does that matter? The acquisitions of the big three in other locations does not apply to this debate. How many big three plants are there in Japan? China? Korea? India? Where are the markets? Where are the plants? How many big three vehicles were exported to Asian markets for their consumption? We are talking apples and oranges here, internal consumption and foreign export.

NEP2 is a carbon tax! Bring that dastardly tax into reality and Alberta gets beat with a stick. The hydro provinces get a break, but not here, we are coal based for electricity production. Alberta citizens are already shouldering the largest burden in terms of equalization costs per capita, include an "Alberta" tax based on carbon production and our citizens will be heard in Ottawa all the way from Alberta without the need for any sort of amplification.

North American auto manufacturers have been building cars for our own internal market since the model A. Foreign efforts are simply competing with domestic efforts. The markets in those foreign countries have never been seriously targeted by our manufacturers. if they were then there would be a lot of small economy cars being build there by our companies. The reality is that we had the money, our markets were more lucrative, and still are larger than their own. Thats why they are here, market share. The reality is that it is a level playing field here. Over there, not so much but we have never really pursued that course of action and now it is to late to do anything about it.

Actually yes. Iggy could do the smart thing and enlighten Canadians to the folly of handing over money without any security to failing corporations who will end up rationalizing their operations in radical form, prior to going into a chapter 11 phase. Please keep in mind the bailout is on, the money is going through and nobody can stop it. So Iggy can make all the right arguments about the folly with impunity. Here are some of the real drawbacks to the bailout. 1) These are loans without security 2) The money is going to the corporations, not the workers 3) The tax payer is being fleeced without recourse or public debate 4) There is no guarantee that it will work, the companies may yet fail 5) Jobs will still be lost no matter what else happens 6) The tax base will be compromised anyway 7) This opens the door to all sorts of bailouts when massive numbers of employees MAY be adversely affected Now if the bailout works and the companies don't fail, Iggy can say that the cost was excessive and was a result of the Tories getting into bed with the corporations. If the bailout doesn't work he can say I told you so. In the current political environment, Harper was elected based on the claim that our economy was on track and we should stay the course, that has now proven to be at least an error in judgment on his part if not an outright lie or a declaration of incompetence. The sad reality is that Harper has himself cornered, he has to fork over money because of the political consequences of not doing so. Iggy on the other hand can sit back and make all kinds of observations and armchair quarterback his way through this mess without any political blowback. In the greater scheme of things, now is a bad time to be at the helm because there is little that a government can do right these days to mitigate the harm that is being felt in Canada's industrial heartland. Most of the events are global impact types with spill over effects to local economies. Remember that we are locked into trade deals that are for the most part export intensive. If markets collapse, as they have, we have tough sledding ahead of us. Our economy is not geared toward internal consumption it is based on external consumption. What we have are large multinational corporate efforts, where production can be moved or transported to global locations where productions costs are lower without adversely impacting the company's ability to conduct business. In fact such moves are advantageous to corporate efforts and have become the norm for operations. In developed nations our labour costs are far high which makes us less competitive, and that in turn results in jobs being lost to lower production cost locations. A simple fact of economic reality, nothing more and nothing less. To return to the point, Harper is trapped. Without an injection of capital these corporations may fail and cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of job losses. Those affected would certainly vote against Harper if he failed to at least try to keep their jobs. Since those jobs are the industrial heartland of Canada, and represent the majority of constituents of the largest voting demographic in the nation Harper simply has no other viable politically option. The opportunity for Iggy is to layout before Canadians the cost to the tax payer, the risks to the taxpayer and the lack of any sort of plan to support the citizens that will certainly face job losses.

What does the price of oil have to do with anything?

They tell the truth? If that was true then our economy was in great shape during the election. Of course things seem to have changed since then. There is no way to hold these people accountable, they can make promises and then choose to ignore them with impunity. We elect them based upon platforms that cannot be enforced. That is little more than fraud.

The House isn't sitting, in addition the money came from the PM's office where there was no public debate. In the Commons, a new leader seeking to make a name for himself could very well question the matter. We need to wait and see how this plays out.

Whats the difference? They lie about everything anyway. Harper is no better or worse than the next guy.

Unspoken truths are the hallmarks of government, there is no doubt of that. They rarely speak truthfully to each other let alone the public. That is the reason for making them accountable, giving them some real responsibility. Lets face it folks, these trough hogs have an easy ride on the taxpayers dime. Its time to demand a little effort from them, if they can't handle the heat then they will want out of the kitchen. Give every last one of the elected officials a job, and trim the time off to that of the senior bureaucrat they displace. If we eliminate the patronage appointments, lets see how many back stabbing yes people remain to do the dirty work of the "clean" politician. This will go a long ways to combat corruption.

The we that I speak of is the citizens of this nation, and no I do not speak for them, I do speak as one of them. In my opinion, which I should not have to cite on this or any other public forum, the right of the individual to speak must be the foundation from which we derive our citizenship.

Yes Argus they all want power. That is a fact of life, those who seek power are legion. With respect to the Coalition, I would refrain from declaring anything at all about them until the Commons returns. The major stimulus budget you hope exists within the coming budget may find opposition in the House. A give away of tax dollars to failing corporations is one thing, supporting citizens is another. If the proposed budget does not focus on people but instead on business there will be trouble. The point is that there is a difference between governing with a majority and governing with a minority. Harper does not have the required skill sets to govern under the current conditions.

I understand what you are saying, and there is indeed much merit in. There is however the current situation of economic crisis hanging over our heads, and a government unable to act decisively is not what we need. We need a government able to act. Our current PM has no concept of compromise at all. Of course, I could be wrong about the PM, but I doubt it. The one thing that we have is a divided country. That isn't all the PM's fault, but that is the realiy of the event. Quebec has always been on the outside of the equation.

It is not a myth, it is a suppressed desire. Albertans tend to be a little more independent than other Canadians. We seek to do things on our own. Since you are from here, you will know this. Separatism in Alberta is not a dead issue, it will come to light with the onset of NEP2.

Would it not be more sensible to make the elected representative more accountable and reduce the number of bureaucrats altogether? It seems to me that we could start reforming politics in this nation by eliminating the number of patronage appointments. That would mean that the folks in charge of a department would actually be held to account at election time. Go over budget and face the music.

Unfortunately in our system anything but a majority is less than what is needed right now. Minority governments are subject to compromise and falling to opposition parties. What we need is a united will to do something. Lets just start with one thing and get it done.

Perhaps that can be changed...........

I will suggest the biggest problem with climate change is the finger pointing. It matters not whose fault it is, the fact of its reality is what is really important. Doing something about it is important. Climate change is probably good news for Alberta. Warmer with more moisture is not exactly bad news here in the frozen chosen. The thing to do is decide how we live with the changes. Fixing them is not really an option, weather control is a little beyond us at this point in time so the simple thing to do is adapt to the changes. Humanity has done this for thousands of years, until now. Now we want to talk about it instead of doing something, that is what the problem is.

If Swann wants to get elected, he can propose that citizens are able to deduct their mortgages from their provincial taxes. He can propose that families can deduct children from their provincial taxes. He can propose that you can deduct utilities from your provincial taxes. He can do these things and the citizens can save thousands of dollars a year. The Alberta citizens would support anyone who would reduce their tax load. The entire key in the next election is public apathy and how to combat it with public policy proposals. Give the citizen a break and the citizen will give the politicians a break. The Liberals could dominate the next election if they simply went pro-citizen. It will never be about anything else for the vast majority of citizens, its all about them. The first party to start supporting the citizens will have the opportunity to remove the PC's from power and form their own government. The PC's are all about business, and the citizens want a break.

Actually it works well for myself as well. You see, I am an Albertan who is a separatist. The opposition alliance would serve my purposes very well. I am sure that the Coalition would put forth a carbon tax, and that little gem would drive my fellow citizens absolutely crazy. It rings of NEP II, and the consequences of NEP I were a harsh lesson for us. A move in that direction would place many more Alberta citizens against the rest of Canada.

I took the test and came out as a Libertarian. No surprise there, I detest government because it is wholly inadequate to problem resolution. Our current system is inflexible and inefficient as well as out dated. The mechanism for constitutional reform is absolutely useless. What I would like is a direct democracy, based on a republican system.

If the truth were known by citizens, and they had the ability to dictate to the government a course of action, we would be pulling out of unfair trade agreements. Free trade has harmed our economy, it has harmed our citizens, it has harmed our employees. On the other hand the business sector has made millions at our expense. Thank God business can't vote!

Harper needs to take a few lessons from Ralph Klein. The band is playing, all he has to do is get out in front and direct the traffic.

I think not. The reality is that it is Harper that wants power, this is an established fact. He called an election in complete contradiction to his stated fixed election plan simply because he had the belief that he could win a majority based upon the weakness of the opposition leader. Lets look at that for a moment, he could not gain a majority with the weakest Liberal leader in decades opposing him. Who is it that seeks power? Yes the opposition fly specks tried a coup, but that is not over yet. Harper only delayed the proceedings by closing the Commons early to avoid a vote which 99% of Canadians believed he would lose. The move bought him some time. He now has to pen a throne speech, which will be subject to a confidence vote. Then he will have to propose a budget, which will also be subject to a confidence vote. Now keeping in mind that he has successfully pissed of the entire opposition, which represents some 60 plus percent of the electorate, to the point where the separatists and the leftists are now holding hands with the Liberals to remove Harper from power, the throne speech and the budget will have to contain features which the opposition parties want or it will be voted against. Then Harper finds himself back where he started, which is a long way from having a majority government and governing effectively. Folks please remember that MOST Canadians do not support this government. It is a minority government and all sorts of nuances and rules come into play. Harper has not yet shown the people that he can govern under these conditions, in fact he has shown us that he cannot.