Jerry J. Fortin

Now here is an interesting approach. CBC News

Of course. While we are at it we will increase employment in our own nation and from what I understand be able to step into a vast growth market, that of alternative energy devices for export.

Politicians are fools. They have the opportunity to put people to work in a fight to increase alternative energy production. The government could setup a nice little crown corporations to build wind turbines, solar panels and tidal productions systems. The provinces could set up provincial crown corporations to buy these things and install them to reduce their own and the municipal costs of our existing infrastructure. All that without stepping on the toes of existing business or existing markets. Public transportation can cut into carbon foot prints in a large way, so the government can make a big difference just by switching over to some degree. Eliminate some downtown corridors to anything but public transportation for instance. Build LRT's to join bedroom communities to the major cities. There are many ways to do these things.

This problem is getting pretty damned difficult to deal with. I will suggest the smartest move is to simply leave it alone and start spending money on alternative energy. Go with tax cuts to do it and dump some money into research and development at the federal and provincial levels. Leave global warming alone! Let the science settle out, but don't jump on ANY bandwagons that will see this nation involved in carbon taxes or cap and trade or anything like that at all.

The genie isn't going back into the bottle folks. Its out there and we need to understand what that means. It means that anyone with enough money can make one. The only way that I can see the damned things being eliminated is to have a nuclear engagement that has some survivors. Those survivors may and I do mean may be able to do the right thing and leave this technology behind.

Iggy has problems, that is for sure. Then again so do the other leaders.

They pay what they have to pay and not a penny more. Just like the consumer does. People do work there because they accept the wages and conditions of employment, they were not conscripted. Wal-Mart sells junk, and people buy it.

All I really have to say about the rich folks is ....so what? Those rich people and business's don't pay the lions share of taxes, there are to few of them. Its the little guys and the mom and pop operations that pay all the taxes because there are so many of them. If our society was serious about increasing the net worth of citizens it would not look the way it does now. Its not as if you raise taxes on the top 1 percent that it will make any real difference. There have always been kings and queens and there a;ways will be. There has always been poor folks and there always will be. Any real gains for our society can only mean one thing, and that is to raise the standard of living for all.

SmallC having watched five decades of events in this nation I can assure you that those things of which I am speaking are in fact needed.

The Governor General serves no functional purpose other than t represent the crown...at what expense? The Senate serves no functional purpose other than to duplicate the efforts of elected representatives, in addition they are appointed which is contrary to democratic doctrine. Lack of recall legislation allows elected representatives of the people to the ability to ignore the needs,wants and desires of those people that elected them and gives them the ability to act against the interests of constituents for partisan cause. Not having fixed election dates allows governments to manipulate political situations to either avoid or force elections upon citizens. The absence of term limits provides for the entrenchment of elected individuals within the political system and allows them to grow fat on the public dime. In a democracy the will of the people is expressed through legislative efforts and subverting that will defies any logical explanation in defense of democracy.

Every elected representative should be docked a days pay for every damned absence from the Commons. Ther laws passed by this government say that your employer can do it to you, its merely sauce for the goose.

I think the entire world has gone crazy over the climate change issue. Adapt or die. We have about as much chance of changing the climate as we do of controlling weather and that amounts or equates to almost the same damn thing. We need to gain a dose of reality.

Is it really that surprising that they have taken the American model of economics and tweaked it to their own needs? If this nation wants to interact with the rest of the world to capitalize on opportunities and advantages found within free trade then we need to go back to the drawing board and consider carefully how to achieve that goal.

The GG needs to go, along with the Senate and the concept of the Queen being our sovereign. We need to elect the PM, have fixed election dates, recall legislation and term limits to office. We also need citizen initiatives and a citizen ratified constitution. All that just to modernize our political system.

It lacks the checks and balances because it is based on an 800 year old model. The US designed a constitution based on fixing the problems with the parliamentary system when they formed their own country.

Canada sells them everything they can because they are buying.

That is my point. Get it done and get it over with, then bet that there will be something to take your mind off of the pain.

Hey CR I am all for change. Change for the better of all citizens. That means resolving the differences. That means compromising during a negotiation process. It also means having reasonable expectations going into those discussions. It can be done, we just need the political will to do it.

Wow...on the ball guys. Can you tell I was too lazy to check myself!

Its all good then.....NOT. All this will do is slow down the process of peer reviews.

Hey good one dude!

Because the tax grab is huge and the public pain will be felt from the date of its implementation well past the next provincial or federal election. The thinking is to get it over and done with hoping that the next big thing will dwarf it. That begs the question of whats the next big thing!

Now that I can agree with. Yet even so it does not address the reality of the media and their responsibility either.

Canada is not a melting pot like the US. Here we all hang on to our heritage and are all distinct societies because of it. Just like the French, the Metis and the First Nations are indeed distinct, but so are the Poles, the Ukrainians etc. Somehow we have learned to respect each other enough to live next door to each other without rancor or remorse. That is the Canadian reality and most likely the definition we are all seeking of our unique identity.

I am not sure that Dubai actually defaulted, it was a December payment that was at issue wasn't it? Perhaps more to the point I think you are mixing apples with oranges, or dollars with nukes. I am not sure that the two equate in any way shape or form, but I can see many folks may think they do. After all the American economy is rather defense based. However in this case I am not sure that the reasoning involved is financial as much as it is security. Iran has said several times that Israel should not exist, that is problematic. I will suggest that if things continue along these lines then Israel will have no choice to act in a fashion to protect themselves. It would be in the interests of America to stay as far away from this as possible, yet since they have Israels back they are glued to the issue one way or another. This smells of a trap. Messing around with oil production in Iran is a direct threat to the economic viability of China since Iran is their main importer. This is a very complicated situation in which the potential for an unfortunate incident is written in bold letters. Everybody needs to take a step back, especially Iran because they are the ones who stand to lose the most.