Jerry J. Fortin

I don't think he is going to join the ranks of our citizen soldiers anytime soon.

BC just has to hear someone say that we are tied to the American economy which we will follow religiously like it or not. What is bad for the USA is very bad for a lot of folks.

Fortress North America is a very near ancient concept. It has never flown because of the lack of need. Times are changing, and the "need" has always been and will always likely be defined by the big dog on the block, the United States of America.

Well here we go....its Iggy time. On Monday the Liberal Party of Canada gets the drivers seat and Mike is on trial. I am not really sure why Harper set it up this way, but he has given Iggy a shot. Harper has allowed the opposition leader to take the lime light on an agenda going where the PM does not know. This may be a tactical blunder because the Liberals are going up in the polls and the Conservatives going down. I would not think that this would be the right time to spring a trap on Iggy, but we will see.

You had better hope so Argus. If they are not Harper will have a lot of egg on his face.

Prevent crime? You cannot possibly believe that you are capable of formulating a legislative effort that can preclude or even mitigates the free will of human beings to act. They may act in a manner that will be "wrong" to you or me or somebody else, but they will indeed act. So lets get back to reality for a minute and understand that you cannot legislate morality. Whose version of morality do we use? Great crime is falling everywhere! That is good news, now why is it that the ones that slip through the cracks and become criminals are the ones with higher re-offend rates? What does that tell you? It means that they got let out too freaking soon now doesn't it? For the best interests of society to come into play we will have to consider the fact that we have a mutual responsibility to ensure the safety of that society. Allowing a criminal to leave custody and return to society where they will statistically represent a danger to society does not compute....sorry. In my view the only benefit society can realize in terms of crime is the pursuit of justice. Blame the media for crime?

The Wildrose folks have a different sort of way of looking at things. Not quite like 70's Tory attitude, but definitely to the right of where we are now.

Stock had a two edge sword in Alberta. It cut both ways, hurt the citizens and the party. Harper should know this, I think he does. Please keep in mind that the budget is the be all and end all of government spending, and Stock won't be writing that. He will have some very wide discretionary powers to mess around with and I do believe he will use them to muddy up the water to some degree.

Media event, nothing more. Harper is a very damned astute political opponent for the other leaders. I am not really very sure how Mike and Jack will respond to this but Harper is an absolute predator in the field, I don't think the other guys are even in the game yet, let alone the same league as Steve. More and more the guy seems more like King Ralph. His big claim to fame of course was the ability to find out where the band is playing, then run out in front and start swinging the stick and calling the ball! This guy is DANGEROUS...! Its a very slick move on Steve's part.

Nothing smarter than an Ontario Liberal. You could come out here and teach!

Astute observation. No doubt due to the environmental stance.

I hope you are kidding.

Albertans are headed in droves to the Wildrose tent displays. That may or may not translate into hard support but at least initially it DOES translate into a drop in PC support. Ed will remain the Premiere until the last minute of his mandate. Even he has read the writing on the wall, they are done like dinner, and we all know it. This is the end of the multi-decade cycle of Alberta politics. We will pick a new direction to travel in.

Harper is being held to account by the media right now. Without a sitting parliament, the people can't do it, so good on the media.

Yes Argus just like that.

The government took the first responsible step with this program. The courts have ruled on it and said that it can and will continue. The next step is a little more tricky and that is getting those citizens off drugs. The UK has a very damned interesting program for that, one we should be looking at. But those citizens need to want to get off the dope, and some don't. Yes the dope causes all sorts of crime and problems for society, all the more reason for the government to get off its ass and do something to if not prevent those things then mitigate them to the best of their ability.

Well Argus, if YOU had to deal with the recent fiscal issues of the nation, would you have doled out 50 billion to bail out the auto industry or would you have made mortgages interest tax deductions? What would the immediate effect of the tax deduction be? What would the long term effects to the economy be? The reason to make it deductible doesn't have a damned thing to do with home owners, it has everything to do with business and the economy. Such a move would make housing more affordable, and with that real estate more desirable. Then add to that enhanced credit availability, through a defined benefit known as equity. Now add to that the increased consumer demand for all of the things that go into new home construction from the labour to the construction materials. Now when we add all that up and compare it to what the feds will lose in their revenue stream from the tax deduction. Any accountant will give you projections of increased tax revenue realized through economic activity instead of a tax loss. Why not just call it a wash and say that it is revenue neutral for the sake of appearances. It makes loads of sense to do this because politically you are selling an enhanced disposable income to the citizens with lower taxation. The citizen is the one that votes so they are the ones you have to sell this to, but business is the big winner here, nothing gets done for free and things don't get done in business without profit.

You are right, Clark proposed to allow for the deductions of mortgage interest from taxable income.

Its difficult to say where Harper will be rated in even the next couple of weeks, let alone spring time. I fully expect there to be other issues that come to light, where governing from the PMO becomes more problematic by the moment. From there he has no cover, nobody to blame or have take the blame for what happens. Its a tough position to be in when you think about it, its all on him. I honestly think Harper needs to take two steps back and rethink what has worked in the past in terms of gaining public support. He can still cut taxes and bet on an improving economy. Provide tax relief to citizens will do wonders in gaining support. Joe Clark had a beauty, tax deductible mortgages, Trudeau kicked his ass before it could happen but it was a great idea. Mulroney dumped the manufacturers sales tax. You can work on either one side of the ledger or both, that is to say individual cuts or business cuts, just as long as the cuts stimulate the economy without borrowing money to do it. Revenues will return and the deficit will disappear, then the debt can be handled. Harper is in the drivers seat. He can take his time to formulate some long term vision for us, and if he does he will likely remain the PM. Now should Harper not do this and the opposition does, then I think Harper may well lose his job as PM.

I would suggest that anyone that says anything but claiming their ultimate belief in the Harper lines being spewed these days will find themselves in the deepest corners of the back benches. You would not get tossed from caucus, because he needs your vote.

He is not doing anything illegal. Then again he is not doing the right thing. The people seem to understand this in great numbers. Big enough numbers to cause a 33 seat slide if an election were held today. That still leaves him in power, but that is just pure speculation.

What are you talking about, this is news to me.

That is an understatement. Then again when you are a member of a Harper government, what are you going to say?

Harper is just now finding out that he has issues. Down in the polls, and derided for his choice to prorogue he is begin to see a wall of opposition. Afghan issues, infrastructure deficits,are just at the visible part of the structure there is far more to be seen yet. I must agree a coalition isn't going to happen, because Iggy has neither the balls or the brains to pull it off.

Really, I though Paul Martin did that a few times.