Jerry J. Fortin

It is the only democratic way to do it. Think about it for a minute ........

Interesting poll! If its accurate Stevie the wonder will surely call an election, it would be his potential majority, his holy grail. I don't think he will, I don't think the poll is accurate. I do think politics are beginning to achieve a chain reaction type of momentum in this country.

There is time for him to grow in political terms. How many politicians can that be said of these days?

I think people give Harper far to much credit. He just isn't that smart.

I am going to write a letter to the opposition leaders. The letter will suggest that they not run against each other in the next election. They should all keep what they have and draw lots for all of the 143 seats the Tories hold. Make it a simple choice for the electorate, either Steve or no Steve.

The west is going to be happy with todays events. Their ire will be raised in January. Hold onto your shorts folks, we are going for a ride.

The Governor General has spoken, there is finality in that. The result of that decision is that we effectively now have a government working behind closed doors. Policy will be revamped and the citizens of Canada have no say in what that may be. Harper has effectively thwarted the will of elected members of the House of Commons. Harper has effectively managed to keep his job, until late January, after that he is done like dinner. He knows this. The actions of the government have successfully woke up many Canadians, this may not work in his favour, and in my opinion this will cost him all his seats in Quebec and will likely cost seats in all other locations. There will be another election, sooner or later and between then and now Harper will spend millions of party dollars on an election campaign that has not been called. The Governor General may yet side against Harper when the Commons returns in January. This could cause lots of problems for the party. His leadership is at stake. This is a very strange situation, the government has dodged a confidence motion. In my mind this becomes not merely a question of the constitution but in reality the validity of our system of democracy. The law relevant to the formation of government has been applied by the Governor General, this puts a whole new dimension into play.

I think folks should relax and see how this plays out. After all, its out of our hands at the moment. We had our one vote per government a few months back and now the system has its own rules and we are not allowed to play. The left and right spin doctors are our with the knives these days. It isn't safe for the average guy to raise their head above the trench line. Politicians and their wanna be counter-parts are spraying crap in all directions.

I must disagree completely. Harper knew what he was doing when he attempted to remove political funding, he simply was mistaken in the opposition response to the matter. He has had his way for quite sometime, he played his cards often enough that there are those who sit in the Commons that have decided to call his bluff. You read yesterday that all the nonsense would be withdrawn, but that did little to provide confidence to the opposition parties. The man had a minority government, not a majority. He could have his way as long as the opposition allowed him to. They seem to have stopped doing so, and you now see the results of that decision.

Many things are likely beyond you. I'll tell you what, you can keep your economy, we will keep ours. Alberta does need to diversify, about that you are correct. I was thinking of something on the order of a small auto industry, that would be nice. When the feds start spending money to spur the economy I think Alberta should get about 10 % of that money.

So the opposition parties grew a pair! Yet I don't think they will have the spine to do what is right. What is right is dealing with the auto companies, and quickly at that. They are ripe for the pickings and if the Canadian government does not act, than America will arrange to have tens of thousands of Canadians laid off to save their companies. Watch Obama fund a bailout if they save American jobs. Our government needs to act fast and head this off at the past. If Canada lets this slide Ontario will go under. Its just that important to citizens there. Our industrial heartland is in fact based on the auto industry, lets not kid ourselves. This may be the one chance we have to act in favour of Canadians and do something right for a change.

This whole thing could blow up in his face. Having another election would be a travesty, but an understandable consequence of our parliamentary system. I think Harper is wrong, and I think it will cost him.

Alberta is not big on unions, that is true. On the other hand they are indeed big on employment.

Harper is doing the best he can, with what he has. The opposition is doing the same thing. In my mind the important point is that this is how our system works, or doesn't. There is crap being thrown everywhere, and the people are ignored. Canadians want to pay less tax. Canadians want jobs. Canadians want their health care and public education. That is the extent of the demands of the people. There are things that Canadians would like to see their government do, such as improving our military, but for the most part Canadians just want to be free of politics and government. Harper is the leader of the country, but he is not a great man. Canadians don't even want a great man to lead them. I am not convinced that Canadians want to be lead at all.

I don't think buying bank stock is a good idea at the moment , but go for if that is what you want. Those stock will likely see a correction in the next 9-12 months. Canada is about that far behind the US in our economic trends.

Building weapons in Canada makes a great deal of sense, but it is not cheap. If we are serious about this rebuilding of our forces then I side with those who would see those funds spent in Canada. Let's build what we need in Canada.

Spending 490 billion dollars on imported weapons and doubling the size of our armed forces is one way to do things, it isn't the only way ,just the most expensive..

I would suggest that the sky isn't falling. The end isn't near, and we should avoid running away at the drop of the next hat. Welcome to the new world order, organized chaos is what we have. Crap happens folks, get over it and lets not bank on the governments doing what is good or right for us. Lets start using our heads here. As long as you still have a job you can be okay, in fact you could be a whole lot worse off that is the reality here. If you are carrying debt, start looking after that little problem as quick as you can. I say this because here comes a buyers market on the order of a once in a lifetime experience. We are headed for a serious correction in the markets. Not just real estate and not just stocks, it will be everything across the board but it will be applied the harshest to luxury items. Unfortunately it won't affect food prices or utilities, it will simply affect everything else. Watch the consumer spending index, and see what happens. If you have money to spend you will be able to buy what you want at the price you want. Buy stuff, don't try to sell stuff that is the key. Of course you need the money to buy things, if you have a job and you can hold onto it you can come out of this smelling like a rose.

Things are about to get real interesting. Its high time that these folks were actually held accountable for their voting records and that is where we are now going. Vote yes and support the government or vote no and you defeat the government. There are only two choices available. Harper doesn't want an election people say, I disagree. I think he loves elections, because he always wins them. I do not think he will change his attitudes until he loses one. Then things will be different for him. I think he has one last kick at the cat, and I think he knows it. It possible that the NDP have finally figured out how relevant they are in federal politics. The Liberals fear the next election at this point, they can't afford it and don't have a leader. The Bloc is just finally figuring out the reality of regional politics, they won't be catered to much longer. The government must decide how to govern, for the people or for themselves. They can either act like a minority government or plan for the next election.

It seems to me that the article quoted was not understood by the poster commentating on it.

The Liberals need a visionary leader. But not yet. Right now they need a person with EXPERIENCE, they need Rae. After the next election they will need Trudeau to defeat the Tories, but not just yet. My personal preference would be to see Tobin drafted to deal with the issues because he would reach across party lines and get himself elected. Unfortunately I don't see that likely to happen.

There is no silver bullet. The economic silver bullet is the financial holy grail. The monetary system is beginning to collapse, and the seers who lead us to this point are dropping like flys. It needs to be said that political foresight needs to provide a social policy decision that is compliant to the desires of the public. This does not bode well for capitalism.

The current economy is driving real change in North America. The old left verses right argument is going out the window. Lines of realization are being drawn as we speak. The capitalists are screaming for handouts from the government, and the socialists are asking for handouts from the governments. The rich are taking hits and there are less people getting rich and more people becoming poor. In my mind what this boils down to is debt creation instead of wealth creation. From both ends the government is being compelled to act, and to act is to spend tax dollars. From my viewpoint, I see taxes going up and services going down. The only safe bet is to reduce or eliminate personal debt and create tax deductions.

Listen folks, we need to consider the nature of the beast. Politics have the reputation in this and other democratic nations of being at least suspected of corruption as a normal consequence of being placed in power. Knowing this do we not need to consider the impact of the facets relevant to elections and the responsibilities of public office? It is like dealing with the law. The individual with the most money has a greater opportunity of prevailing in a court of law than an individual without such means. Is it a matter of corruption of a matter of abuse of opportunity? Should an individual be allowed to subvert the will of the people or should a representative of the people be able to subvert the will of the people? Government is a fickle creature at best. It is subject to all of the fundamental human flaws inherent within the individuals in its own ranks. Elections and electoral funding is a cornerstone of representative democracies. I ask you folks a simple question; should a government have a foundation upon which any citizen may have opportunity or leverage over any other citizen?

Alberta is not in trouble. However as usual her citizens are. It isn't just the CWB, and it isn't just the oil patch. What harms our citizens the most is the equalization program which takes citizens tax dollars out of the province and gives them to other citizens in other provinces to pay for programs and services provided by the federal government. Most of the western provinces are in the "have status" whereas most of the east is in the "have not" status. This is problematic for westerners, yet not to the degree that most people in the rest of Canada may think. Alberta at least has no provincial debt to pay and is still in a surplus situation in terms of budget expenditures. We are in fact able to whether the economic storms that are currently devouring the eastern economies. The issue for Alberta to consider is economic diversification and the creation of a a value added secondary industry that is able to enhance our existing resources. What the west needs is manufacturing and mechanized productive capacity.