Jerry J. Fortin

I think we should make it a national day of mourning and respect. Let business decide what it wants to do, don't legislate that but it should be a national holiday.

The same way that the PC's had to do it after bringing in NAFTA. Starting with nothing and building something. You will recall there was all of two representatives left in Ottawa following NAFTA and the GST. I will also say those were the two worst things ever done to the citizens of this land.

Smart political move? Expensive without doubt, yet worth every penny.

The tree huggers can do as they please, but they will be paying more either way. This could very well force an entire economic paradigm shift. I will venture to say that a resource based economy is just around the corner.

It would seem to me that whether or not "Peak Oil" is here, that no matter who is counting what; be it coal, oil or any other source of energy production, population and consumption projections leave no doubt the all forms of energy will become more expensive very soon.

In my view the Liberals are going through some radical changes. When this process began some time ago with the rise of Iggy, I wasn't sure what was going on. Now however, it has become clear that there is a great deal of house cleaning going on. I may have underestimated this person to a large extent. He has turned the party 180 degrees to the point where most of us see it standing on its head and spitting nickels. Fair enough he is the leader and it is his responsibility to chart the course for the party. Yet it seems to most of us that the current path is largely undefined and we know not where in the hell the political winds blow from let alone where in the hell we are now. This new leader is keeping a very close hand in this game. He has some time before the next election if Harper is to be believed.

Get a grip.

Really! I like the way you said "and prove it". There is no way that can be done now is there? What do you suggest then my friend? Let me guess, just leave it alone?

I understand very well what democracy is. I also understand the system we have. In addition I as well as a very great many citizens see the veritable plethora of flaws inherent within the current system. All the spin in the world will not convince me that we have the best possible system. That system in my mind has yet to be devised let alone experienced. There are too many mob rule detractors and communist sympathizers standing in opposition to the fascists and capitalists. They can all suck eggs in my view! Even the Swiss direct democracy system has its drawbacks. We need something else.

Really, and here I thought dmocracy was the way to go. You seem to like the empire approach.

Actually confederation was designed to make all of the provinces and the federal government equal partners in confederation. That little fact seems to have evaded most folks. The Premiers have a lot of clout, but most folks don't know that.

I wouldn't count the eggs let alone the chickens during this house cleaning.

So why not just have the provinces elect candidates and then have Harper rubber stamp the choice of the people. You don't need to open the can of worms to know that there are in fact worms in there, just read the freaking label.

If and I do mean "if" these folks would work harder and spend more time and less money at out expense than I would be happy with the result we get. That is not the case though. If I was allowed to make some rules for these folks it would go something like this. Once elected the taxpayers would pay to fly them to Ottawa for day one, and the taxpayer would pay to send them back to their constituency one a month. The taxpayer will provide a residence for them, instead of an allowance. The representative would attend to the business of government 5 days a week, 20 weeks a year. Doors to the House of Commons to open at 0845 then close by 0900. Coffee break at 1115 until 1130. Lunch to begin at 1330 and end at 1430. Doors would open at 1700 to let representatives out for the day. Anyone not in attendance at 0900 to be docked a days pay. Representatives to be granted 6 weeks annual vacation. Representatives to be paid pensions based upon contributions at a rate determined by the representatives.

The only "say" that really matter is yours and mine and all of the rest of the voters in this nation. It is well past high time to change the way things are done in this nation. My suggestion is to tell everybody I meet to vote against the current representatives. Fire the entire batch of them and make the point that these people are indeed accountable to us. Forget the partisan makeup of government, forget about what party anybody wants in power and simply fire them all and start with a fresh slate of people who got the message during the election process. The only reason they got elected was to be accountable to the citizens.

No the tax payers would never use the word smart to describe the situation, I agree with you completely on that. However these are programs and services available to politicians in the employ of the people of Canada. Using available resources is the name of the game, especially when considering the use of the available funds to attain power.

Multiply those numbers by 413, and you will get to see the nature of the beast we a dealing with. That is like 53 million dollars. That is just advertising available to members of government. In 2007 the government itself spent another 86 million dollars on its pet campaigns. For that much money you could build a research hospital, or a university. Look at the cost to tyhe tax payer in salaries alone. MP's cost 48 million. Senators cost 13.36 million. Those numbers don't even scratch the surface with all the little perks they get, not to mention the cost of the staff to support the MP's and Senators. We really do need to think about how and what the government really does, that is to say how they spend out money.

Canadians are indeed un-American. We have our own nation and they have theirs. We are different from them and have no desire to be like them.

Duffy is a lightweight trying to make a big splash in a small pool. I think he is a goof. I don't have much use for the unelected Senate and even less use for the appointed yes people that preside within that chamber. Party hacks with a apple box are using air that the rest of us could use.

Does this mean that some folks will now agree that we could be better off with an accountable judicial system? Elect the judges to do the right thing and fire the judges for doing the wrong thing!

I simply cannot believe that what partisan politics is doing to our government and our nation. Surely it is clear to all of those representatives that the days of majority governments are all but over. From the day the BLOC was created with its taking such a high percentage of votes with it, the days were numbered. What is needed is a multi-partisan approach, or coalition to get anything done. In the court of public opinion the jury is in. They want government to get off its collective ass and do their jobs.

Its about smart politics. The Conservatives are proving themselves better than the rest of the representatives. Sooner or later they will get hold of email addresses and then join up with some marketing firm and begin the real pounding. This is the communication age, but we have just arrived there and much is to be learned. The best possible move on the part of a party that wishes to make a dent in the apathetic demographic is to tap the internet, not just TV. TV is much more expensive and reaches smaller audiences.

Good! Then we can quite whining about it and I can hope for no more 40 below winters.

You have hit the nail on the head. It is an entire generation of entitled citizens always demanding tax dollars to be spent on them. I never collect my Ralph bucks, there was 2k the government never gave me.

Not sure about that. A lot of my American friends have accents that would betray them. Two of them are from Texas, and one from West Virginia, killer accents!