Jerry J. Fortin

So why not move into the empty campus they just bought?

Sure they do! You still elect representatives, it does not eliminate partisan efforts at all.

Do we even have enough helicopters to fill a small carrier?

We could do well to look at the whole system, and decide what we can do about it. This should be the mandate of the next government.

Five billion dollars is expensive, by any standard at all. The reality here is that its the peoples money being spent by the government. On what it doesn't really matter, they are held accountable. At least they should be at the first opportunity.

For 5 billion you could build a new nuclear powered parliament building!

I read it, all 91 pages of it. Good read.

I think the whole business is very tricky. The expense is staggering, yet perhaps more importantly the ongoing costs become troublesome. Should we expect to go from one project to the next in an ongoing drain to our paychecks? Where does it stop!

The longer we leave this little piece of work to do, reforming the system, the worst it will be. We need to get on this now and slay the dragon before it eats us alive. The current system is degrading rapidly into a contest of financial support during a beauty contest, it ain't right folks. Our elected representatives are partisan hacks for the most part, the "party" calls the shots, not the electorate. That is wrong, period. Currently the citizen has no place in the political process short of participation in a general election. Those are manipulated to suit the needs of the government of the day when issues can be controlled and steered in the direction chosen by some partisan effort. Once elected they remain in place doing whatever they please until another general election is called. That is wrong. That is why there are citizens looking into alternatives. Direct Democracy is a functional alternative, all we need do is design it in a manner to suit our needs. Look folks we currently have three competing systems of government all funded from the same source, that lowlife tax paying citizens. This country is large, and our bureaucracy proves it, we need to scale things back more than a simple notch or two we need a complete renovation of delivery services for starters. Just how many ministries of education and boards of education do we really need? Can we not see the folly of the current system? Our government is a shining example of a paradigm and we seem incapable of seeing past that little piece of reality. Does anyone else think that its time for a little innovation in our politics?

North America is different. The nations of this continent can do far worse than rethink a "Fortress North America" concept. The entire business of defending a nation is a tadd out of date when you think about it. Its not really possible anymore, 9/11 should have woke folks up to that reality. The true task at hand is continental defense, nothing less. Does the F35 work for that, in a word, yes.

If after the next election he is not Prime Minister his days are literally numbered. He will face and lose a leadership review, in my opinion that is.

Another capitalistic ploy to blame taxation for everything under the sun. Look if business can't stand on its own feet then let it fail. Having the government subsidize or bailout corporate interests should make people realize just how far the concept of corporate governance has gone. Let folks know just how much debt the government has taken on and how much damage it has done to the tax paying citizens. Every dollar given to the government is one dollar less to spend in the true support of an economy. Taxation inhibits everything, yet everything depends on it. What we are looking at right now is the equivalent of economic dark ages where the entire focus of the world is on debt management. We have designed a system that has consumed us ! The great consumer society is becoming a failure because of greed and avarice. Perhaps it is time to seek fundamental change. Maybe seek a new direction...........

If Iggy really did have the balls to seek power, he would seek and find something on the order of what Trudeau sought. Trudeau mania was all about the "Just Society" and the fresh ideas of a young dynamic leader who actually sought and fought for change. Iggy always has been looking for that special issue that he can cut and run from the pack with. Unfortunately for the general public, he has yet to find that issue. Maybe he can and maybe he can't find it, but time is running out for Iggy, he may become the second Liberal leader to never sit as a PM.

All bullshit aside, we are barking up the wrong tree. WE need to think carefully about this. There has to be a way to do this, we just need to figure it our.

I wonder how the US would respond to a demand for unfettered weapons inspection access?

I think most Canadians want a visionary leader. I think Canadians just want a plan to fix health care and education and pensions. That is enough for any government to fix. Just once a leader that says we need to do this should get elected.

I personally think it failed there because it grows against a grain with those folks. They are deeply insular when you get right down to it.

I don't even like the "way" she writes but she does make points. Mallik is a person who claims to be a feminist, fine. Now lets make her a man and make the claim he is a chauvinist. What is "his" credibility now? Not that double standards and paradigms are at play here but........

There is a reason for that too! Its called the Criminal Justice System, just the thought of it breaks your brain.

No but no system actually works properly. Keep in mind this is supposed to be a "justice system", and what we have tried to turn it into is a penal system. The focus has left the crime and been centered on punishment. That is our first mistake, but not our last as this debate will soon prove.

I still think we need to rethink from sea to sea to sea, then design a force composition to DEFEND the nation. After that we can look at doing some international stuff but we have to have some freaking priorities!

Most of it......

It is time to normalize that relationship.

You want ground support, go Warthog. Fairchild A 10 all the freaking way.

No lets not bring it back. I don't trust the government enough to do that.