Jerry J. Fortin

I am not sure that anyone thought that in the first place. I am sure that where I work, we all want out, and as soon as possible at that. There might be as may as 2% of employees who stay beyond 55 years of age.

The bailout is a done deal, that is true. Yet the pain has not yet been felt. Lets wait and see what happens next, because all indications are that this is far from over. You understand that governments now have major portions of private business in their pocket right?? You will also know that along with that ownership comes liability and responsibility right? Governments have acted in the corporate interest just the way they were desired to.

That goes for a lot of citizens.

Well Molly just what is so different about Calgary?

I can't believe you are blaming the Californian system for its fiscal problems. You don't think the elected representatives have had anything at all to do with their problems? You suggest that the people are at fault, okay, now how do you back that up???

WE live in a perfect world in Canada. There are simply no problems that our perfect system cannot resolve. The Quebec issue, the First Nations, health care, public debt, government fiscal accountability, the political integrity of our representatives, our trade agreements, the very nature of Canadian government. WE are in great shape living in Canada.

Raise the retirement age or qualification for an existing program and you will see whips alright. Figure on chains and maybe the odd pitchfork too. I for one would not stand for it willingly myself.

Direct democracy is not governance by polls, but instead referendums. There is a very real difference, and you need to look at the Swiss system before you say that it doesn't or can't work. They have lived with this system for the last century or so.

Dude all provinces receive transfer payments, equalization is another story and different program altogether.

Harper wants power and will do and has done anything he believes to be necessary to achieve and retain that power which he desires. That is his track record, never having worked a real job for any length of time, he has instead no real concept of what it is to be the average working class kinda guy.

Am I to understand you are a Palestinian supporter? You openly side with terrorists?

Judges have unlimited discretion at their finger tips. They have little more than guidelines.

Calgary radical? Pray tell, in what possible way? What Calgary is a a bastion of corporate profit seekers. The city is home to numerous large corporations and a majority of Canadian energy companies. Virtually all of these corporate interests have little concern for social issues or the environment. Their concern is for their business interests and profit. They dislike unions, thumb their noses at the tree-hugging socialists and focus on tax breaks and incentives for business. Nothing new in that city. They vote conservative at the drop of a hat pin on a regular basis. It is a fallacy to portray these corporate interests as libertarian by any stretch of the imagination. They want and desire cooperative governments to do business with and they do not want less government or legislation but instead more friendly bureaucrats and destitute politicians to put on the payroll to legislate in their best interests. Calgary probably funds as many lobbyists' as the entire province of Ontario. They do desire less regulations because those are viewed as an impediment to the pursuit of profit, but to attribute the term libertarian to an non-living legal entity is nothing less than an ideological tribute to the demons of capitalism. Don't get me wrong, capitalism is THE ONLY way to go, but unchecked and under-regulated industries have in the past sometimes proven to be detrimental to the best interests of the public. The price of oil is a real question mark, being basically controlled by the OPEC nations of the middle-east. Oil is a real issue for Albertans because the new Obama government may well compel Alberta to seek alternative markets for increased production being brought on line in the oil sands. Saskatchewan is about to step into the same effort, and those numbers have yet to be accurately set, but you can figure at least 1 million bpd within the next decade. That will take us to roughly 4 million bpd between the two provinces. While the Americans need the oil, and we all the largest importer to that nation, the tree huggers may end up having a say after all and we may be discussing the NAFTA issue regarding cuts to the supply.

I think America will be reacting to outside pressures. For instance, removing the greenback as the benchmark and going to the EURO for bulk oil payments. That happens then the T-Bills get sold off and the dollar crashes. Right now energy is the limiting factor in economic growth and therefore the determining factor. It follows that nations with energy exports will have stronger valued currencies.The fly in the ointment is the treehugger gaining political influence. These folks will do our economy much harm unless properly dealt with.

Of course! Just remember that there is an awful lot of foreign investment in China. There are lots of western companies over there building factories and employing the lower paid folks who live there. There is a lot of capital tied up over there aside from the trade imbalance and the status of current accounts. In short what we have done is to facilitate the means of our own demise. There is no normal way out of this one folks. We are tied to the Americans six ways from Sunday with NAFTA, and they are 80% of our export market. We have bet the farm on the USA, and we can see where it is going. WE have one slim hope, and that is to rethink NAFTA and our trade relationships with all other nations. The WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, are all lined up to act against us. In order to actually address this issue it means we will have to make some very brave and potentially dangerous steps in our own defense. Western nations outside of the EEC face very real and imminent fiscal danger.

Gutter politics, nothing more and nothing less. Politicians are usually in charge of spinning an issue this way or that to suit their needs, nothing new there. Yet the optics of this little stunt will not bode well for Harper at all. I guess the next poll will tell, but I don't think it will swing the way Steve wants it to.

You folks can call them truth ads or attack ads or whatever the hell you want, but when you sink down to that level it is a long climb up to the light. Canadians do indeed have short memories, that is why we keep this ancient system we have, because it plays upon that single issue. I think that Canadians need to be reminded that we can do things, not just the government but the people can do things. We need to be reminded of the achievements of the nation and the people. We need to be reminded that a positive vision draws support and attention to the same degree a negative one does. Canadians need to be reminded that we have the freedom to choose. Canadians need to be reminded that the citizens are not sheeple but people! They need to be reminded that government is a servant of the people, not the master of the sheeple. Any leader, can stand up and attract attention, but there are few that inspire. Inspiration is what Canadians need, especially in these times of trouble.

Lets dig up the dirt on politicians, its there to find no doubt. That way we can all ignore the issues and fixate on the partisan leaders boyfriend and girlfriends, yeah that makes sense..........

Taking jobs away from the young? What, the job they had for the last 35 years? Give me a break, you want to raise the retirement age and deny people who have paid taxes for three or four decades a pension and at the same time think they are taking jobs from young folks?

Steal the land? You are kidding right? The Palestinians were invited to stay when the Jews formed a nation, they elected to leave. The death and destruction you speak of is a direct result of the actions of the terrorists, who also hide in those homes you speak of. What I mean is that the Jews are not going to lay down and take it ever again. I count the terrorists luck to still live. I will suggest that electing a group of terrorists to form a government does nothing to calm the citizens of Israel at all. As long as the Palestinian people support terrorism I for one do not wish them well.

That needs to get nipped in the bud. Time to toss NAFTA or find new customers.

Are you folks goofy? Raising the old age to 70 means that the entire workforce who were spending their lives paying taxes while find themselves with a change that would FORCE them to stay working?!!! Now if thatg only applied to Old Age Pensions and not Canada Pension Plan then perhaps it would be accepted. Just maybe, no garauntees.

What are you going to say if Harper loses the next election? That is a very real possibility, some may say it is a great likelihood.

Gutter politics, that is what the result of this add has been. If nothing else and for no other reason this kind of thing should be stopped. This may in fact be where the Harper folks want to go with politics. Maybe they want to get down and dirty, who knows. I suppose on the one hand all is fair unless it is false but it gives me no great pleasure to see what direction is being chosen.

Show me one single piece of evidence to support that.