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You're not answering the first question and you are defenitly not answering the second. Try this one. What would you do if a man educated with a Ph D. and had a good childhood committed a crime? Also what if a 35 year old tramp with no education and a horrible childhood committed a crime?... Both have already gone through early childhood and one is very well educated. What would you do with these people? They should both be treated the same, educated or no. The proposed law is directed at violent offenders not petty thieves. Keeping proven dangerous people off the streets. Right now people who have stolen thirty cars rarely had more than a nominal prison sentence if any at all. Teaching them that there are few if any consequences for their actions and that crime pays is not what I call early childhood development and is absolutely the wrong kind of education. How come then thieves were also on the list of violent offenders? So don't twist early childhood development to be training for crime pays or few consequences. Can you tell us the name of the person who has stolen 30 cars and received hardly any sentence at all?

Let's look at the evidence. Private health insurance is more expensive. America's private health "system" costs 50 per cent more than Canada's and delivers worse health outcomes for its population. Forty-eight million Americans have no health insurance and that number is raising. More generally, a study of industrialized countries by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found private health insurance correlates with higher health spending per capita. The study found that moving to private insurance actually increased costs for the public system in France. When looking at the Australian example, the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that adding a parallel private health insurance scheme did not even reduce public spending on health care; private premiums were so expensive that the government had to subsidize them in order to convince people to enroll. The evidence is no better on wait lists. OECD studies reveal that shorter wait lists do not correlate with countries that have private health insurance. Creating a parallel private health system siphons doctors out of the public system, worsening wait times (doctors, as skillful as they are, cannot be two places at once). And the wait times for those 48 million Americans are infinitely long. Alberta's public solutions to wait lists are working well when it moved to to a more public system, not a more private one, with clinic's set up to handle specific problems such as hip and knee replacements, greatly reducing wait times.

Based on this logic. Why have prisons/punishment at all? And do you believe having criminals roam the streets is costless? That is not a solution either. I believe early childhood development and education is one of the main answers. Not doubling the sentence or locking up a thief for life when he steals his 3rd car.

Exactly. And the April 26, 2005, Priorities for Canada and the G8 in addressing HIV/AIDS and development list that I posted was about children from all over the world. And where was Steve when the AIDS conference was going on in Toronto in 2006? Hiding in a Northern military base.

I don't know about the other promises...but this one had been highly criticized. Apparently, not a single generic pill had been delivered! At least Stevie hasn't been making empty promises and doling out false hopes. What's good to hear does not necessarily mean it's going to do any good....if that's all it is: plain lip-service. Anyway, aren't we giving any foreign aid at all? Who sez we should solve all health problems on this whole planet? This bill was not about pills being delivered. It was about amending patent laws so that Canadian generic pharmaceutical companies could maintain and proceed to export a list of defined pharmaceutical products. This bill has it's flaws but it was a start. Steve hasn't been doing anything except buying more military equipment.

The gun-related homicide rate in the country's biggest city Toronto is down 40 per cent this year largely thanks to a concerted campaign against street gangs. More police on the streets with better enforcement of current statutes, without Parliament doing a thing. The credit goes to the police, not the laws. It's got nothing to do with MPs. If someone is intent on killing someone else, it won't matter to him/her if they get 10, 15, or 25 years in prison. They will still do the crime. And the Tories are pushing for longer sentences as a magic bullet to stop crime. How wrong-headed is that? Plus their three strike law is stalled. Mainly because it has been proven in the USA that three-strikes does not work and does not lower the crime rate. The Opposition are not going to let fools clog up the justice system with laws that would mean millions spent on more prisons, housing more criminals without lowering the crime rate. Better use of that money is more funding for front-line policing. Or boost funding for social programs that aim to keep disadvantaged kids in school or offer them job training, thus keeping them from turning to crime. If Steve is clogging up the justice committee with more crimes bills in hopes of building a wedge issue, it wouldn't be hard to dispute his politics with real statistics and policy.

April 26, 2005 Priorities for Canada and the G8 in addressing HIV/AIDS and development • the passage of the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa Act (Bill C-9) enabling compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents and the export of generic pharmaceutical products to countries with insufficient domestic manufacturing capacity; • the substantial contribution to the World Health Organization “3 by 5” initiative, which aims to see 3 million people in developing countries on treatment for HIV/AIDS by 2005; • the doubling of Canada’s contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); • the contribution to the UNFPA to address the sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS among women and girls and to improve the distribution of reproductive health supplies, such as condoms; • the contribution to the International Partnership for Microbicides to support the development of new HIV prevention technologies; • the increased funding to address HIV/AIDS in Canada through the Federal Initiative on HIV/AIDS, which will support the invaluable work of community based organizations responding to HIV/AIDS in Canada; and • the participation of Honourable Minister Goodale on the Commission for Africa which recognized the centrality of resource allocation in implementing successfully the various strategies previously adopted by Canada and other members to rebuild public health and address HIV/AIDS in Africa (March 11 2005 report); and • the great opportunities opened up by Canada’s support to the upcoming XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006. Now that we know what the Liberal government was doing about global AIDS, we want to know what this "new" government is doing. We know what Steve did during the Toronto AIDS conference in 2006. He went into hiding at a Northern military base. I'll just bet that Steve has no money to fight AIDS. He needs it to buy more military equipment.

There never was a "federal/provincial child care program". It was all smoke and mirrors designed to fool simpletons. There was no national program. There were some limited agreements with specific provinces wherin the provinces agreed to take federal money but made no promise whatsoever of using it on child care. And I find it odd that you whine about canceling tax cuts on the one hand, and then about the government not spending more money. Hey, if you want the government to spend money it has to increase taxes. Is that too complicated for you to understand? Do you seriously think that people have forgotten about Ken Dryden crossing the country, signing early learning and child care agreements? No we haven't forgotten and neither have the children who have been deprived by this "new government" cancellation of their programs and replacing it with beer and popcorn money. September 29, 2005 BC signed an agreement, joining Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Alberta. Quote- "The surest measure of a forward-looking society is the effort it makes to help its youngest citizens," said Prime Minister Martin. "This Agreement in Principle between Canada and British Columbia moves us closer to a shared vision for early learning and child care. Decades ago, it was a series of such agreements that led to the creation of Medicare in Canada —a program that now helps to define us as Canadians." "We want to ensure that B.C. families have access to a sustainable, flexible, and affordable early learning and child care system that will ensure B.C. children get the support they need to thrive and succeed," said Premier Campbell. "The agreement we have signed today will help parents balance the demands of work and family, and assist child care providers with new funding opportunities. It is a critical step in achieving our goal of providing the best systems of support for British Columbians in need." This announcement follows the Government of Canada’s February 2005 budget commitment to invest $5 billion over five years to enhance and expand high-quality developmental early learning and child care in collaboration with provinces and territories. -end quote. So although Cons throw up smoke and mirrors and think parents are all simpletons, the child care program and funding really, really existed with seven provinces signed on and starting to implement the programs that the funds provided for. Since Steve Harper has replaced this program with his popcorn and beer money funds, Alberta schools have canceled after school programs and the Alberta governments search for qualified, approved homes to become day care has ended. Even some day care have closed because they cannot afford the staffing. And all this was happening, early childhood development and child care with funds allocated.... AND a personal tax cut with lowered personal exemptions too boot. All that Steve has canceled. Apparently he found it too complicated to understand how to help Canadians with child care and lower taxes. Paul Martin and Ken Dryden did not find this too complicated. So Steve........... what the f*** did you do with all that money???? The Federal Government of Canada supports health, post-secondary education, and social assistance and social services (including early childhood development and early learning and child care). Since balancing the budget, federal health funding has increased by $41.3 billion through the 10-Year Plan. Federal funding in support of post-secondary education and social assistance and social services, including early childhood development and early learning and child care was scheduled to increase by 8%. I know that Steve Harper canceled some of these transfers to the provinces for post-secondary education and early childhood development. So no, social services are not provincial responsibilities. They are shared with Federal standards applied for all provinces. I don't believe Steve's kool-aide regarding federal/provincial responsibilities. Canada has standards for things like health care, social services, education that are enforced federally. It is only right to have federal standards that cross provincial lines. I wish Steve would just shut up about his twisted view of Canada. We are not a country where everyone is on their own and better pull themselves up by the boot straps.

But having a Steve "may I call you Steve" Harper dictatorship is okay?

Aren't we all so lucky that Steve "may I call you Steve" Harper has reversed Paul Martin's tax cuts by raising the personal exemption, raising the lowest personal income tax rate and canceling the federal/provincial child care program, replacing it with beer and popcorn money that will be part of a poor families taxable income. So what if it is costing me an extra $400 per year so "Steve" can keep the job he really likes. Ba*tard.

Will you give up your car? No. I need it to go to work. I do not have any public transportation available to me. And my car is as environmentally friendly as a car can be. It is not an SUV or a dually 4X4

No, I would prefer a mature debate about policy. Unless it's about Bush policy. Got it. You are right in that it was the Liberals that deployed troops to Kandahar and the Conservatives have since supported it. However, you cannot simply turn off any resistance to NATO like a lightswitch by 2007. It's important to understand what Kandahar is. It is the stronghold and birthplace of the Taliban. Regaining territory is not the objective of Operation Baaz Tsuka. They launched an information campaign first, and it's objective is more to serve as a deterrent as well as to sort out the hard-core fighters from the rest. Here are some quick facts: - Not only military operations are extended to 2009, but also the mandate for the PRT in Kandahar for the same length of time. - In total, Canadian aid to Afghanistan will be nearly $1 billion by 2011. - Harper allocated $310 million to development on top of the $250 million that the Liberals allocated for 2004-2009. http://w3.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida...D-129153625-S6T - The battlegroup in Afghanistan makes up approximately 50% of available forces there (roughly 1200 out of about 2400). Based on those facts, how do you conclude that Canada is involved in combat at the expense of everything else? Security should be a key component of the operation however. Without it, it's pretty hard to get anything else done. I was referring to the battle that was going on this fall when Canadians went in shooting and then left the area with the Taliban moving in behind them. Right now they are moving to regain that territory and making steps to keep it. Also just recently our troops have been given some tools for reconstruction which should help to stabilize the villages and the people. And yet the Taliban is just over the border in Pakistan training with tank busters and other weaponry. Plus you better believe they are learning to make bigger bombs. What is NATO doing about Pakistan? Canada has made an agreement with the Afghanistan government to hand over prisoners to them.

It is not enough to keep on repeating that it was "liberals or the Liberal party." That is avoiding the facts that Auditor General Sheila Fraser and Justice Gomery found and wrote their reports on. AG Report in detail She found that $100 million was paid to a variety of communications agencies in the form of fees and commissions and said the program was basically designed to generate commissions for these companies rather than to produce any benefit for Canadians. Public Works officials "broke just about every rule in the book" when it came to awarding contracts to Groupaction, which was paid millions doing work for the government under the sponsorship program, Fraser said. Who are these Public Works officials? Sheila Fraser did not name any MPs or elected officials in her report. After all the testimony and papers, etc. Justice Gomery also did not accuse any MPs or elected officials. But he also pointed to officials and civil servants with his recommendations they report to Parliament instead of the PMO. Although Frasier in her report said there was $100 million missing, an amount that Tories keep repeating, and which the Canadian Auditors Association criticized Ms. Fraser’s “surprisingly unprofessional,” in the end there was only $13 million unaccounted for as per the Ernst and Young audit. At the Gomery inquiry, Chuck Guité's excuse was, "Someone "tinkered" with his program's files before auditors looked at them and found significant departures from standard government record-keeping methods." "Guité recalling a meeting with David Dingwall. "After Guité refused to describe how or whether Mulroney's Tory government had been involved in making political decisions about where federal funds were directed, Dingwall congratulated him on his discretion Guité said." The normal course of things in government is that cabinet ministers set strategic direction for a department. The deputy minister actually administers the department and its programs. As such, there is usually little one-on-one contact between a cabinet minister and a lower-level bureaucrat. Allan Cutler, a long-time civil servant who meticulously documented all the abuses and irregularities he noted while working at public works in the area of issuing advertising contracts. At the time Guite was responsible for determining which firms got the work. Cutler says he saw problems as early as November, 1994. Cutler didn't have very pleasant memories of Guite, who constantly barked at him using his last name ("he's ex-military," explained one supervisor about Guite's brusque, almost arrogant style). Guite pushed Cutler out of a job after Cutler started raising the issue of contract irregularities and other related problems. Guite hinted he was acting with ministerial authority. Cutler's union got involved and saved his job; he wound up being shunted to another area and sworn to secrecy. In September of 1997, Chretien and his Quebec lieutenant Alfonso Gagliano, created the sponsorship program to fight sovereignty by raising the federal government's profile in Quebec. But they didn't create a program in the conventional sense; they added $19 million to the public works budget for "communications priorities." The administration of this money was handled by the Communications Coordination Services Branch, headed by ... Chuck Guite! From 1997 until he retired in 1999 Guite had full signing authority over the $50 million sponsorship program. According to the Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson, one source told him Guite was known for steering work towards Tory-friendly ad firms during the Brian Mulroney years. Brault was a Tory. Chuck Guite is on page 343 of Stevie Cameron's book about the Mulroney years, ON THE TAKE. See this Link Gomery knows all this and that is why he recommends that deputy ministers be responsible to parliament and not just the PMO.

CWB employees get paid $1000 bonus which some are questioning and wondering if it is "hush" money. Link to story And the CWB is not a crown corporation. In 1998, the structure of the CWB changed from having 5 government appointed commissioners to a board of directors with 10 board members directly elected by the farmers and 5 board members appointed by the government. This changed the CWB structure from a Crown corporation to a Shared Governance Corporation.

Would you prefer praises for Bush for what he has done? You may commence........... Hardly anyone would agree with you. Please refer to what I posted. The combat Task Force was originally deployed to Kandahar to provide that security for reconstruction. Except that reconstruction has been forgot in favour of combat. The last battle this fall was ineffective because the territory gained from the Taliban was then abandoned and now another offensive has been launched to regain that territory. I may be wrong but you sound like Canada should just be a combat unit and forget the rest. I think Canada should get back to it's original intent, reconstruction with security forces. And if we don't more Afghanistans will turn to the Taliban for their needs like groceries. The other countries may have their hands full real soon as the Taliban has gone back into Kabal. Pakistan should be part of the effort to rescue Afghanistan and not part of the problem as they harbour the Taliban and wait for NATO to leave so they can move in.

Does anybody seriously think that once the CWB is gone, those US border markets will be offering more of the Canadian border farmers grain? They will laugh as they steal what they want at much lower prices. And why should farmers in the east have any say over the western wheat board? 90% of the wheat and barley is grown in the west. And what few of you understand is that the WB is a single desk selling the producers wheat and barley internationally and for domestic human consumption. If the farmer wants to sell his barley to his neighbour he may do so, as long as his neighbour is Canadian. The producer may also sell and deliver his grain across the border as long as the sale is through the WB, the single desk. Bush wants the Wheat Board gone and Stevie will do as he's told, for Cargil. Steve handed $1 billion and Canada's softwood lumber to Dubya. Next will be the Wheat Board. Then it's dairy, poultry and egg products. International Trade Minister David Emerson is sacrificing Canada's supply management system to appease the Bush administration at the expense of Canada's farmers. He told The Western Producer that producers of dairy, poultry and egg products must prepare to be open to free trade in their sectors for the "national interest." The supply-management industries in Canada are doing well compared to others and it is prized as a tool that enables producers to gain some power in the marketplace. Without supply-management, dairy, egg and poultry farmers will not be able to recover their cost of production or compete with international markets. Combined, the Canadian egg, dairy and poultry sectors generate over $6.8 billion in farm cash receipts or 20 percent of total primary agriculture, more than $39 billion of economic activity, and over 215,000 jobs in Canada. Not counting the spin off from these industries. "Compared to the rest of the world Canadians spend less on their food than just about any other country," Liberal Opposition Agriculture Critic Wayne Easter said. "This treachery is the Harper government's gift to the United States and the E.U., both of whom have attacked Canada's supply-management system and the Canadian Wheat Board at the WTO for years. The next step will be all food imported from the good old USA. I predict defeat of the treacherous Con MPs in the west in the next election. Or farmers may as well throw in the towel.

It was right to overthrow the Taliban, under a UN mandate, because that regime was exporting terrorism. It was right for Canada to have been part of that successful effort. But Canada's mission in Afghanistan has changed. In 2002 a Canadian battle group went to Kandahar. In 2003 two thousand troops went to Kabul as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. In 2004 this was reduced to a seven hundred person reconnaissance team. In 2005 Canada sent a Provincial Reconstruction team to Kandahar. Then in 2006 Canada deployed a combat Task Force to Kandahar and took command of the multinational brigade headquarters. Paul Martin's government approved the combat component for one year -until early 2007- to help ensure stability on the ground in Kandahar for reconstruction. But Steveie jammed the Parliament and has effectively tied up most of Canada's available military resources until 2009 and locked Canada into a mission geared mainly toward counter-insurgency. Harper has put Canada at war. Canada's mission was to support reconstruction, diplomacy, police training, public institution building with a major CIDA deployment. Canada should get back to that original mission. Instead we have Harper substituting political and photo ops for policy. Look at me, I'm a war-monger just like Dubya,

Are you actually saying that we are better off without any biofuels? Do provide some evidence if that is what you are saying, please. Converting agriculture crops into biofuel means no more than a half of one per cent reduction in total (greenhouse) emissions. (Dave Martin of Greenpeace said} Although no figures were presented, there is emission in the production and manufacturing of biofuels that will offset any gains in vehicle emissions. The biggest set up for failure with the Tory announcement is that "FARMERS" will be required to put up their crops or money to corporations selected to produce biofuel. So if farmers aren't willing to put out this biofuel is just another photo-op. It would make better sense to use straw or wood chips. A bi-produce of existing productions.

Who is behind this waste of food turned into fuel? Why look! It’s the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association promoting their “Climate Change Solution Made in Canada!” Their Website Members: Archer Daniels Midland, BASF, Cargill, General Motors, Monsanto, Pioneer (a biotech division of Dupont) and Sylvite (fertilizer/fuel). Quite the rogue’s gallery of corporate welfare bums. And the man in charge? One Kory Teneycke, a former Ottawa lobbyist with Prospectus Associates. Prior to that, he was a senior policy advisor to Premier Mike Harris managing the energy and environment files in the Premier’s office. And before that he spent four years in senior organization roles with Opposition leader Preston Manning. Nice how Stevie looks after his own. Not to mention that cultivation of these crops which will be converted to fuel requires huge quantities of fossil fuel for farm machinery, pesticides and fertilizer, also their mass production as practiced in North America is generally regarded as being ecologically unsustainable. Effects include massive topsoil erosion, pollution of surface and groundwater with pesticides, and fertilizer runoff.

I put my money on Ambrose not being moved. Sorry to disappoint but Bob Rae is very much involved with the next campaign. He will pull those votes from the left while Kennedy pulls the votes from the right. Win, win.

What does "leaves an opening for defeat" mean? Any budget can be defeated. I'll reply with the equally vague I'm sure the Conservatives won't leave an opening for defeat, unless they want to. Budgets are always open to debate and spend their time in committee as well. There is no choice to exclude debate or propagandize with "no opening for debate."

Misleading? Examples need to be posted.

So you are implying that any Liberal appointments were unqualified? And just cause it is Conservative appointees, they are qualified without question? What kind of argument is that? Where is the accountability with this statement? What are the ethics that label qualifications based upon political preference or party affiliate? The Con mantra of stench and corruption by Liberals is not working anymore. Voters have had the time to digest the happenings since Gomery and they know the truth..... the perps have been sued to return the funds they took and have received their punishment from the courts, including the leader, Tory Chuck Guite. It never was "Liberals" or the "Liberal Party." Won't matter how loud, how often cons scream stench, slime, corruption, the facts and the truth will never change. Time to move on or conservatives will continue to appear clue-less and out of touch with Canadians.

New Report on Energy Income Trusts Counters Federal Government Claims http://canadianenergytrusts.ca/Dec20Release.html So again we see the misinformation of Steve and Jimmie to bamboozle voters. Every lie they have told about IT is exposed.

No. Steve has never handled Intergovernmental Affairs. He had appointed Michael Chong who quit over the stupid "nations" motion, which Steve can't even explain to the unwashed, and then Harper appointed Peter Van Loan within minutes.