watching&waiting

I am very sorry that the small amounts in this seem to offend some people. I believethat what it shows is just how entrenched spending can be and how it is misued by some. The position that this person was supposed to be in charge of, just never seemed to over looked by anyone and that is why there were many such desprepanies. The audit was over just 6 years but as she stated we should now look at the full 16 yeras that he held this position. The missing of 319 days is also something that needs to have been watched more closely. The obvious grey cup trips and other things should heva set off alarms that were never attended to. This is just one small tip of what will be coming next. The Liberal senate had best get ready to pass the accountability legislation, as to further hold it up will only make all this once again become a liberal thing. There only hope now is to be shown giving as much support they can in cleaning this stuff out of government. To be seen as holding up any bills on this will be seen as supporting the spending. Not a wise position to be taking. This will probably grow into something very large by the spring and that is when most will agree there will be an election. If the liberal are going to be able to even have a chance they will need to distance themselves from this very tpe of thing, but with all their petty bickering leading to the leadership vote, I am not sure that they will not tie themselves to this permanently.

To me it is real simple once a person reaches the age of majority, they have one vote that is no greater or lesser then anyone else's vote. It does not matter their present situation of being in jail or on welfare. They all still have one vote for each person. To do any less is to spit in the face of what democracy really means.

The opening of the constitution for a small ammendent to limit the spending procedures of future governments, is no where the same as it was for the past efforst for Meech Lake etc.. To even say that it is is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, by those who want to stall this for their own political purposes. WE as a nation should never fear opening our constitution for ammendments. This was and is to be expected by the people who know that you can never write a bill that will never need to be ammended over time. We should add unwarranted and partisan spending to this as it really goes to serve only the party in power at the time, at the expense of the parties not in power. This should be something that all parties should recognize and they all should be willing supporters of it. The whole idea of using scare tatctics for this ammendment, is once again what thwe Liberals are doing. When will the people see them for what they really are? Just one more week and we will then be able to see who they have picked to represent the Liberal party, and then we will see an election. I personally believe that the CPC will win a majority, and then you will see the new leader for the Liberals, sit in opposition for quite some time.

The fastest route to seperation for any province would be : 1 the unfair or unrecogmized representation by the federal government. 2 The shifting of the core beliefs and family values away from federal government. 3 The loading of the burden of debt upon the people of one province over another. To me we have seen some of these already play out, but we are still here as a country. If many have their own way that will not be for very long. It seems that Canada just has too many large provinces that can not represent all the people in their areas, at the same time. It would seem to me that in order for things to be better served, we will need to split each province, with the exception of PEI, Nova Scotia, and Newbrunswick, into four seperate provinces. This way it will be easier for the governments to be more representative of the people that make up their territories.

I used my debit card at 4:30 pm to pay for gas and I also used it at the bank to take out cash. I had not problems with either of these transactions. I deal with the Scotia Bank. There did not seem to be a problem att eh gas station as many others were there also using their cards as well. Now I must also say we live in a small community and the Scotia Bank is the only bank there, so it it more then possible that all the people used Scotia Cards, for paying. I heard on the news that it was the RBC tnhat was having the problems, but I must admit I was only half listening while driving.

Probably the average voter does not. But the average voter probably does not need to be reminded how so-cons, given the opportunity, would be peeping through keyholes into people's bedrooms to regulate sex. State regulation of sex is common in Islamic countries but not too popular in Canada. This is only in your own mind. You see social conservatives around every corner it seems. There needs to be laws that have teeth to protect the young from sexual predators while allowing them the freedom to grow through that period of time without being made to feel chaep or freakish. Of course the parents will be able to teachtheir children and that would never be an issue and you know that.

Personally I think that there are still many things to be considered when it comes to sodomy. In many cases for criminal rape there is a high benefit toward the vitim in cases where they were sodomized and the sentences are that much more harsh. So since we already have in law diffeneces between certain sexual acts, I then see no problem with making age of consent higher for these acts. It would not only be for gays but for hetrosexuals who also experiment with that as well. It does though seem that it is the gay community that has the toughest time with that, and it then poses the question of is sex with minors so crucial to the gay way of life? Does this mean that Gays are more likely to prey on the young then those within their own age bracket? I would like to think that gays have no more pedophile leans then the rest of the population, but their preoccupation with all this age of consent and their vocal opposition to it, makes me think that we have an even bigger problem going on here, and one that needs to be addressed. Why is it that gay men seem to seek out young lovers, more then hetrosexuals. Is this part of the make up of being gay. Is it that it is riskier for them, therefore excites them more? I personally think that the close in age is the right thing to have and the age of consent should be 16. It is time we let our young experiment among themselves, without adults being in their roles. There should be a law that prohibits any adult from sexually leading a person until they are 18 years old. I know the gays will scream murder but I am not liking what I see from them so far, as they always appear to be wanting to have the age lower and lower. There has to be a reason for that, and I am pretty sure it is not a good one.

It changes the dynamics of course, and that is why aI said that this was a good political move on Harpers part and that yes it seems that he has made up his mind to get ready for spring elections. It may well be Harper himself that will make the call on that. The Liberals have gone too far in many things and I believe that they will not even be close to being ready by spring for an election. But what we all forget Harper is also quite capable to force that call, and he will not be waiting for the timing to be on the oppositions side. It is just politics that are played and Harper knows that game, as dor the rest.

It really depends on what the incomes are. If bothe spouses make over $60,000.00 then there would be little difference for them. But if one spouse has little or know income and the other has high income then yes it will benefit that couple. The biggest case would be the family with $80,000.00 income with the wife a stay at home mom. She could declare $40,000 and so could he. This way they would pay tax at a lower tax rate plus the wife would also have her basic personal exemption. The husband would lose the wife as a dependent, but the gain on her basic exemption would be greater then that. The lower you can drop your tax rate to the more it would benefit, but yes there would be a point where it would still be better to make more money if possible. If your wife works and is in a low paying job then it still will be ok. But if both work and make pretty much the same then it really is not a saving. I would call this a tax benefit for the mid to lower income earners and stay at home moms families.

I think that the position of Harper and the Quebec is a nation thing is just what it appears to be and that is politicing at its very grass roots level. Yes it will be seen as throwing Quebec a bone, but as long as that bone does not have a price tag to it, then so what. It is not what I would have hoped for but politically speaking it was a very estude move on Harper's part. I suppose that Harper will be now seing that an election will be coming in the spring and he will of course position himself toward the best stance to defend his party. That will get the Liberal all upset as they are used to being the ones who have that power and now they do not have it, they will cry foul. I look forward to seeing just what of the many things will creep out as being an issue in this election, but you can pretty much count on CPC showing that they need a majority if they are to get the job done. They will be pointing to all the foot dragging by the Liberal senate on the bills that most Canadians wanted passed long ago, and the many other things that show just how still corrupt the Liberals really are. Withinthe next two weeks we will also see the Liberal party themselves feeding on each other and trying to destroy their opponents. There will also be plenty of dirt slung around there, for election fodder next spring as well. I do not think it will matter who becomes party leader as the party is so fractured that there will be little time to organize and plan for an election.

If Harper was to push the Chinese over the illegal extrdition of one of our Citizens to China from Uzbekistan, and gain his freedom, which would be not that hard to do, then I would say that Harper would not only get just about all the Oriental voters vots but a lot of the rest of the voters. You just do not understand that China will sell things to anyone, even if Canada was threatening war, they would still sell to us. They will buy our raw materials because we have the most easily accessed raw materials and we are probably the most politically stable country, for that supply. So yes they are very much interested in buying as much as they can. They will not let any political arguements change that. So we have nothing to lose and everything to gain with being frank and honest with the chinese on Human rights, and the treatment of one of our citizens in thei custody, by illegal means. You just do nto like it because Harper is doing for this person what Chretien should have done for Arar, and he will get all the cudos for doing so. At least Harper is standing like a man and not a quivering fool.

Here is where I and many others will be at opposite sides. I will fight to the death to give Quebec equal status in Canada, but I also will fight to the death to make sure they do not get extra status within Canada. I really do not care about them declaring Quebec a country, if they leave Canada. They would have to take their share of the national debt and leave with the lands they came into confderation with. All the lands given to them after confederation will have to be returned and then either used to make a new province or divided up among the remaining provinces. But to be recognized as a country before that, I do not think so. I am opposed to any such thing being done, and I will make sure that my MP knows this and hopefully the majority of the voters in my area will do the same. That way we can assure ourselves that one MP will not vote for this.

Why is this thread started when we already have a thread about family tax splitting already going on. This should just be merged with that thread.

Over the last 100 years there has been global warming tothe tune of 2 degrees celcius. For those that need to feel what this is like, put your fingers about 2 inches from your lips and blow. That sudden feeling in temperature drop would be approximately twice that of which the average temperatures has risen over the last 100 years. Now if we continue to do nothing for the next 100 years it will be about equal to that temperature difference that you felt but it would be that amount warmer not colder. So even with what the science has said about global warming it is not something that is pending doom on us or our children. Probably not even our great grand children. There are many warming and cooloing cycles in our earths history and we are not sure of just how much we affect the climate change. The science has put Canada's contribution at 2% of the global warming. That really is not a big number. What we need to address long before we spend on global warming is the particuate material pollution that we do know what when where and how it got there. This will affect health of the people here and now, not some centuries away. The whole issue about global warming is more political today then practical. The Liberals made deals and the emmissions rose even higher and they never would have made their targets and would have then had to make purchases of credits from third world countries to saty within Kyoto. The CPC stance is they will take themselves out of mandatory goals and achieve greater results but over a fifty year period. Now this way money stays right here in Canada and a 50 year solution to a 200 years problem is not that big a thing. I say 200 year because the science that is being used says that if we do nothing global temperatures will increase by 2- 4 degress in the next century, and I just can not picture that as a big deal, here in Canada. So if anyone is treating the people like idiots, it would be the fear mongers that shout this out, and they know nothing about science but still have the nerve to push this without knowing what it is .

Why was this not included in the threads already about this very same subject? Once again it just goes to show that this appraoch is nothing more then trying to gain points and is a kin to throwing something against a wall and see what sticks. If this is what the Liberals are endorsing then they are even more pathetic then most people think them be be so far. I am not surprised by the person doing this as everyone here has seen the same over and over again. But why are we even giving this guy an audience and replying to this crap? The vast majority of voters will not be swayed by this type of thing and since this has been played this way here I believe it has only hardened those who were not sure to go more and more with the CPC. You can see that by the numebr of recent nicks that have recently came here with the exact same tactics. The liberal are a bunch of corrupt losers who want nothing more then to be able to liken the CPC to be the same as them. They are not trying to say they have changed, because we all can see they have not changed, and probably never will. The tactics used here prove that again and again. Since we as the memebrs here can not stop these from coming here spewing their bile, and misinformation, then we should ignore all the posts from them and maybe then they will go away.

Income splitting as far as I am concerned is only about leveling the field for couples who are what this country is about, that struggle everyday to make do. It does not matter what their level of money is and for those who make really big money this will not really make that big a difference. The couple where one stays home will get the biggest benefit, but if the husband makes more then $120,000.00 it will make no difference at all. For the average couple this will allow them to pay tax at a rate that is equal to their combined income, and will save the the lower income people a higher percentage then the higher ones. This is one tax break that the benefits will be more in terms of percentage of income, for the poor. I think it is a good idea. Especially since I am retired and the wife still works. This will give use a good tax break, and we are in the average grouping of people's incomes. Of course the Liberals and NDP will call this vote buying, even though this has been talked about even by them when they were in power. But yes it finally take the CPC to do something for the people and not the usual party elite getting the most from it. It timing is what I would say is good, and yes I do think it was planned that way. Did not all the other parties do the same? The differenc is this is actually good for the majority of the people.

I am glad by what I finally see being said in the editorials about all of this. Finally the people are seeing that Harper took the right stand with China and they are even writing to the editors to have their say. For me it was easy to see that Harper was far better at dealing with the Chinese then the Liberals ever were. As for business goes they are not seeing any problems because pf the stronger stance. It should not take any real genius to see that Canada is China's best bet when it comes to a stable supply of raw material for their factories. We are also the easier nation when it comes to also buying their finished products. So yes they need us, as much as we need them. That relationship will not be undone by talking tough about human rights, for a canadian citizen being held illegally in thier jails. Harper is doing what people would expect the PM to do. He is finally getting credit for it from the people as well. As far as the opposition goes, well they are too busy trying to kill each other in the leadership race, to be of any consequence, and the NDP...... well Layton speaks for them. Need I say more?

Has got to be a slow news day. This is just once again the media trying to find something to fill the pages so they can sell a product. I am about as sick of hearing about what Quebec wants and sees as cuase of the day, and really this would cause me only a cursory skim reading of the article. It is almost as bad as the uninformed news about Afghanistan that gets onto pages ever day. It would be nice if slow news days were not seen as something to print lesser news but rather just make it so the paper is smaller and that way it would be more believable.

The issue of human rights should always be brought up when there has been a citizen of our country brought to charges in another country. Especially when they are extradided there by a third country, not reccognizing our passport and citizenship. I am not saying you tie this to trade or anything else, but you do have to take a stand on the issues as they occur. The fact that many believe that China would make trade an issue over the human rights complaint, is nothing more then conjecture by those who are just trying to find anything at all possible to throw at Harper and his goverment. I myself do not think China will be in anyway slighted by our pushing for the human rights and the improper extradition of one of our citizens to there country. To me these are seperate issues and yes while they can be address during trade meetings, they can also be done thru dipolmatic channels as well. Trade with China is a seperate issue and one where China buys raw materials from us and we buy finished good from them. This is the only way China has to support what is probably the worlds largest army. Chine can not exist without materials from outside interests. The many chnages that have been made in China over the last half century, are becoming more and more in keeping with the fact that China knows it has a place in the present world, but to keep that place they also need to be more forth coming in some of their own issues, especially when they are at cross purposes to other countries they do business with. I think that a much stronger stand on the human rights, and especially those towards one of our citizens, is something China will respect more then the bow to capitulate that has been the past from Canada.

Why on earth are these people still in Newfoundland? Just like anyone else does when they are in an area where there are no jobs, you move to the areas that has jobs. They can take their families there and live in Mobile homes if need be. This way they can work 12 months of the year. I just can not fathom where these people are getting aways with this. Since they have employment out in Alberta and are there, they should not be allowed to then collect unemployment in Newfoundland for the rest of the year. Four months even at 12 hours a day would only qualify for six months of regular ful time work and if they were to apply for EI in Alberta they would not qualify, but they do when in Newfoundland. This is palin wrong and it is only because the government saw the troubled time in the fiseries that they have easy qualifications in Newfoundland. This is just plain abuse of the system, and needs to be stopped.

This thread is by and of itself an issue that does involve the political views of Muslim's and the way we look at them. Politically speaking we have seen the extremist view towards the Muslim Religion and to most people, that is not the only view. It seems that this is now being understood by Muslims in general and they are now seeing that they need to correct the views and be more open to the people so they can understand. This makes this thread more politically relavent, then the vast majority of threads that have been started by GH. I do not want this to start to be a muslim bashing thread anymore then a GH bashing thread, but GH's position is really just stealling away from this topic, the value that it has added to the debate. I for one believe that a more open view and understanding of the modern Muslim way of life is key to being to understand their political views as well.

To tell you the truth, I find that the way Harper stood up for the Human Rights issues for China were good for the majority of Canadians. The opposition will of course always take the negative side. Where Chretien did absolutely nothing for Arar when pretty much the same thing happened to him and even tried to have it swept under the rug, this new approach by Harper to these things is better and supported by the majority of Canadians. The Liberal were pathetic when it came to China and pretty much begged for everything we got from them. That is not what I want my Canada to be like. We have standards now and we shpould actively make other countries aware just what and how far we will go in making sure our standards are kept. China now knows that we are going to be a tougher nation when it comes to Human Rights, especially when it is about one of our citizens. Once they carry a Canadian passport they are protected by our rules and laws. For this person to be extradited to China was wrong, and we need to make that very clear to all nations in the world. The opposition are nothing more then whiners whose only quest is to make political points at the expense of a Canadian citizen. But that is what we have come to expect from the Liberals.

The nuclear alternative is not just a simple thing of building and getting it running. The costs of building neclear power plants are very high and the costs associated with running them properly are also very high. The risk for a bad environmental impact increases with every one of these that is operating, and that may be why they have a lot of opposition to them. I am more then willing to support nuclear but I also make sure I am aware of the risks involved. I would like though to see what could be done with geo-thermal hydro generation. We all have beneath our feet the eraths crust and there are some place where that crust is much thinner then others. If we could drill or dig down far enough to where the temperature will then allow the conversion of water to steam and then to power the generator, and back to steam again, that would be very safe and very cheap. This is how Iceland generates power because they are on the north end of the Atlantic fault line. Technology should be done to seek out ways and methods of being able to tap the earths own power in its mantle, and we would then have cheap safe and almost limitless hydro-power. I would not know what the costs would be to maintain a very deep hole, but I would assume it would be safer and less costly. Since people are looking for ways to make safe clean power this to me would be the much better route then nuclear.

Norman you keep repeating this about the laws of Islam. Do you know what the leaws of Islam are. Do you know there is nowear int he Koran that it says women must wear burquas. Since you keep using this phrase, it then is upon you to study just what the laws of Islam are. I am not sure of all laws that claim to be Islam are even in the Koran, but I remember an Iman onTv a while back that described the laws that the Koran laid out and his interpetation was not so bad similar to what we would have seen late 18-19 century Europe etc. So I think you would be better saying extremist Islam, because I think from what little I have seen, Islam itself is not that far behind our own times.

GH I can really say it is you who are wishing for things that will not happen.You see there were war protesters back since the beginning of time. the hippy times I lived it and yes it did cause a country to rethink a war that they could never win, but that was my not yours. When a country becomes a bunch of pacifists, that is when other countries just take them over. Look what happened to the Axtec and Mayans, and then the Incas thought we will welcome them in peace. That went over great right? Utopia not a place or way of life. It is in the mind. Hell we have not even settled our own lands here in Canada. There are vast stretches where wilderness will bring you to the survival of the strongest. Canada has one of the smallest armies for the population. Even poorer countries have larger armies, and sadly some even better equiped. But that will change soon. You seem to have never anything good to say about Canada, its traditions and anyone who is not Liberal. You never seem to have answers to your posts, only short comings. Maybe you should tell us what you picture the future Canada as. I suggest it be realistic or it would be a waste of time. You see I have lived to see a lot of change, and not all for the good. I draw on the past that you ridicule to see what the future may hold. You obviously are much younger and seem to have very little life experience. Maybe if you had a more open look at things people would not ignore you so much. But maybe that is what you want