Jerry J. Fortin

I don't think so Oleg. There have always been wealthy folks, and there has always been poor folks. Some folks work hard and get nowhere, some never work at all. The important consideration is the freedom to choose. The basis of all that we do in this nation and around the entire world is that we are free to choose. The key is decision making which is education dependent. Making good choices provides greater benefit to the individual. Would you rather be the richest guy in a city that was to poor to provide any sort of service or would you rather be a guy that had much in common with the rest of the citizens and you all had access to great services. Yes it is all about money, not the possession of it you understand but the lack of it. The hope that citizens can find exists within their own purview. We can participate in the political process to the extent that we are capable of and interact within our society to agitate for beneficial change or we can hide our heads in the sand.

Free trade is at the heart of the problem. The government is no longer able to protect our jobs and our companies from foreign influence. We are subject to the whims of the international market and that means we cannot control what happens in economic terms. That being the case, jobs will continue to disappear and corporations will continue to move to locations with lower labour costs. There is not thing one that can be done about this problem at this point short of withdrawing from these trade agreements.

In Alberta was faced deregulation and privatization. The net cost to the citizen was very high because at the time we were in debt and were having services cut to reduce our operating deficit. However, today the government in Alberta is debt free. Actually we are still paying down a liability that was recently found in our Alberta Teachers Pension Plan, but for all intents and purposes we are without debt. The point being wherever there was room to reduce bureaucratic effort and expense, where ever there was the potential to reduce public expenditures, the government took the bull by the horns and dealt with the problem. Our problems started with the NEP and continued for decades until the politicians finally decided to act. Even then it was years of heart ache before the goal was realized. My point is that with a specific goal in mind, a government can legislate and reform its internal operations to achieve that goal. The thing of it is that you have to know what you want, then make the tough calls to get there.

That message was underpinned with a suggestion that our expectations for the year need to be rethought. Things are going to be tough everywhere. Strangely no hope was offered by means of government efforts with solutions to our problems. It would have bee the perfect time to illustrate a course of action. At least a general direction of viable effort would have been nice to hear.

Argus, why should the tax payer be burdened with the cost of corporate welfare? If the business cannot turn a profit it should not be in business. Once again I must state that operations and production are the responsibility of the corporate effort. How those companies are managed and how their managers are compensated are the business of the corporation. As a matter of government regulation I can see where there is the possibility that corporate governance could be legislated to prevent some of the problems, but not very many.

Which goes toward my point that his own party could well break out the long knives. The Governor General will have another say not very far into the future. If she decides not to hold an election, then Harper's goose may well be cooked if he does not bring a majority to the Commons.

Nor do we have a purely socialistic system, and I hope we never do. Not all folks are wage slaves to massive corporations, in fact there is likely more people working for small business than large business.

So you support the rise of corporatism. Good for you ! I for one am just about ready to start thinking about retirement, 6 more years to go. I will not have to worry about the problems you and folks like you are creating. I will move to someplace where I would have to pay to see a snowflake, so you can believe I will save a lot of money. Corporatism may be a good thing, it will depend on who is in control. From my perspective, the folks running the auto industry are not the right kinda guys to do the job. I can see that many folks choose not to learn from the mistakes of others. From Enron forward there has been writing on the wall, but we need to take the time to read it. The "Big Three" are leading folks down the path, Stevie the Wonder Economist too.

What the big three do is their business. Loaning them money when the banks would not was our business. Now after all is said and done, they will rationalize their operations. Union members will lose their jobs and the ones that don't will lose benefits and wages. In the end the tax payer is the one that loses out. When these companies pull a chapter 11 down south, the Canadian divisions will as well. The CEO's will get paid off and bought out. The workers will lose jobs and pensions. The investors will lose their money. The tax paying citizen will pick up the tab for all the loans that will not be repaid.

Or a successful coup by the coalition. The stand down of government was only a reprieve, not an end to the troubles he has created. After the throne speech we will have an opportunity for Iggy to make himself known. Does anyone really think that he will sit in the weeds?

Please make no mistake in what I am saying. The failing corporations are their own problem, inside our capitalistic system this is the basic economic law. What has happened is that our government as well as the American government have made the failure of the industry our problem. That is simply wrong. A forward thinking government and Prime Minister would support the citizens, not the corporations. The government is fully capable of providing unemployment insurance and retraining programs for citizens who have lost their jobs. We have an entire social infrastructure designed to do this. We also have student loans, which are repaid by students on graduation. Our entire system of governance is based upon a capitalistic structure, and what governments have now done is abandon this course of action. This was our way of life and we are going to change this to support corporate efforts at creating profits. The citizen is what matters, not the corporation. I would have no problem funding citizens to find other work.

Merry Christmas to all ! Jerry J. Fortin

Harper will be held to account from within his own party before the end of January. After that it will be up to the opposition to determine whether or not the public gets a chance to pass judgment on him. That will happen, the only question is when it will be. When it does come to pass, I think that Harper will find himself behind the eight ball.

The net transfer of wealth from the public treasury to corporate accounts is a travesty of justice. It simply is not the function of government to support business. I understand the human tragedy of employment loss, but that is not the fault of tax paying citizens and it is not the fault of government. Giving that it is not our fault it should not be our responsibility, nor our burden to address. All of the blame, the fault, and the responsibility lays with the industry. We have let the cat out of the bag and the demise of what was once our way of life will be very clear and it will very soon. This nation cannot sustain its own social policies without going into deficit, let alone creating a corporate welfare system. We are about to add insult to injury, watch what the next budget has in store for us. There will be nothing for the tax paying private citizen.

I don't want to burst any bubbles here folks but, we just spend 4 billion and will likely cough up another 17 to 30 billion for the auto sector. Harper committed us to that tab, 20 % of the total cost as spent by the USA. Here is the rub, I am willing to bet we lose at least 75000 jobs anyway, perhaps as many as 150000. Discussing what to do after the horse left the barn is good hindsight yet not very productive. Harper did this and we simply let him be accountable for it. Perhaps we will learn, or should I say our government will learn a little lesson in capitalist economies. Welcome to the "New World Order" the rise of corporatism, expect more taxes and reduced services as we create a corporate welfare revenue stream.

This nation was based on Christian ideals, that is the center of politics in Canada. There is a left and a right, but the center is for Christians.

Iggy will go where no Canadian politician has gone before. He has to if he wants a job.

To what end? One bunch is as bad as another. What we need to do is just stop voting for any of the big three, they are about as good as the "Big Three" in the auto industry. They all need to be reduced to love seat status just like our first female PM.

Its a little late for that don't you think? Or is it too early? The fact remains that Harper is the Prime Minister and he alone has the responsibility to run this government. Not only the lies, but the actions of party members as well as the actions of public sector employees all fall on his doorstep. You want to take on Harper, then set the table in the right way first. The man is no fool. We cannot simply play out the rope and wait for him to hang himself, he will not walk into the loop. Lay the facts down before him and let him try to change reality. Don't simply say that he lied, declare that he is in control and responsible.

Foolish poll for starters, no place for me to vote. I must add that part of the problem with the public sector is the patronage appointments made by governments, and the lack of accountability in government for actions of the public sector. I would suggest that each member of government be given responsibility for a government department and have them replace the top bureaucrat doing the job currently. Next step is to begin to eliminate the middle management positions within government to trim back on senior level bureaucrats. Only then can we even begin to hope to start cutting back on the people actually preforming services to the public. There are no doubt many positions which can be contracted out to the private sector to save money, this should be done next. The entire key to running a government is to maintain levels of public services while managing the costs of doing so. There are indeed ways of reducing government spending as I have already stated, but to cut into services without trimming the fat first is a very common mistake.

Everyone in federal politics kisses Quebec butts, with the possible exception of the Green Party.

Perhaps that is the key, the reality of business and personal financing, and taxing their separate identities. Perhaps the flaw is income taxes period. Perhaps the answer is to eliminate income taxes both personal and business and convert to a straight away consumption taxation system where everyone pays the same. The more you spend the more tax you pay.

Lets wait and see how this plays out. These appointments were made with the doors to the Commons closed during a Christmas break. That break was early, at the whim of the government. The opposition parties will be silent until after Christmas, but there will be action in the bullpen before New Years Day, bet on it. I am willing to bet that the Coalition was just given the breath of live from Harper, there is no going back now. Harper has called the game, parliamentary tricks for the fools who would seek to go against him. The rules are not exactly clear, but the fact remains that as long as he retains power these things will continue. Iggy has his work cut out for him, he must outsmart Harper. If he cannot do this very quickly he will loose a vast opportunity. The public is willing to wait and see what happens. If Iggy can make Harper look bad, Harper is done like dinner.

Harper will suffer for this and other decisions in another month. My question is how will Iggy respond? If Iggy and the Liberals continue on the Dion path it means carbon taxes, that will keep the west in the Harper fold for sure. If he doesn't he will lose the Quebec and Ontario vote, lets make the assumption that a carbon tax is in the wings. For Iggy to come out against a bailout of the auto industry he can start writing his own epitaph, unless he proposes somethings that Harper would not agree to and that the public wants. In that manner I expect we can see him come out against Harper. He needs a way to mark the differences between his party and Harper.

Infrastructure programs that are designed to turn a profit on the public dime is a very wise concept. At least by design the project would have the potential to pay for itself. Public transit expenditures would make sense if the cities would restrict traffic in downtown areas to public transit, but otherwise, the return on the fed dollar is nil. High speed rail makes sense if you impose tolls on the hiways, otherwise not. Perhaps more importantly, given that our economy is energy dependent public infrastructure investment makes good sense as well. We could tap tidal power in the Bay of Fundy, wind power around all our coastlines, hydro power and canals/irrigation on the interior waterways, geothermal on all of the hot springs, solar across the norther latitudes where sunlight is intensive in the summer. Should the government get get real smart we would start a massive crown corporation effort to start mining methane ice all through the arctic and at least be able to lay claim to the lands now in dispute. The reality of the event is that it is time to get off our collective asses and get to work. Especially now with global economic conditions being what they are. We can choose to lead or to follow, the choice is ours. If we lead we control the direction of movement, if we follow we do not. A vast majority of the suggestions that I propose are technologically advanced and will support maximum effort of universities and engineering folks at the design stages. During the construction phase, less skilled folks from around the country will find employment. During the implementation process many inside office type jobs will be created. All to produce energy, and provide energy self sufficiency. Going this way you can power up mass transit and high speed transit working toward a greener environment. Meanwhile, using existing waterways in the interior we can grade and create irrigation systems and control water levels while producing power. The irrigation efforts will provide higher production for agricultural products. At the same time water treatment could be included and recycled into the irrigation system. Wind power production on coastal lands also provides defensive positions and aqua-cultural opportunities as well. Solar in the arctic seems foolish at first glance, however it can provide massive power during summer months. As well it provides technological advancements and employment opportunities for northern citizens. We have the choices to make, which ones will we make is the question.