Canadian Blue

Yes, as we all know NAFTA and the GST did absolutely nothing to help alleviate the deficit. If only Brian Mulroney had maintained the fiscal discipline shown by the wunderkind Pierre Trudeau. Likely because they couldn't keep any of their promises on cutting the GST, and maintained most of the Tory initiatives at the time such as NAFTA. I'll give credit to Chretien and Martin for cutting the deficit, but don't act like the upsurge in the global economy at the time had no effect on getting rid of the deficit.

No... What you seem to fail to grasp is that this war was started due to two jets flying into skyscrappers in New York City. Keep in mind that Bush was elected in 2000 based partially on his belief that the US had to have a humble foriegn policy. Bin Laden is likely in Pakistan, that being said his activities have been greatly diminished since he no longer has a base to operate out of like Afghanistan. To withdraw would simply leave us in the same situation we faced pre-9/11/2001. Save the tug at the heart strings for another day. I quite frankly don't care if a pipeline is being built in Afghanistan, especially if the extra money that comes from it goes into the Afghan governments coffers. We're not their as colonial oppressors, once the Afghans have the ability to defend themselves from aggression and have some semblance of stability we'll leave. What you're suggesting is that we leave immediately with absolutely no concern about what'll happen afterwards, and no concern about the possible reprucussions of having a nation where terrorists can operate freely with the sanction of the government. BTW: Don't attempt to twist the last point by arguing the west are akin to terrorists.

Moonbox in general I agree with you, however I think one point that many people miss is that it was largely initiatives taken during Mulroney's time in power that helped lead to more economic growth. He got rid of a large share of crown corporations, brought in Free Trade, and also put in place the GST, all of these would later help our economy grow and develop. While Mulroney was far from the best PM we ever had, he certainly isn't as bad as many in the Liberal camp make him out to be. Let me say this, if John Turner had won the 1988 election our economy would still be the same mindset as that of the 1970's.

Which was to put in place a hefty tax on consumers which would cure all of our economic ills?

Topaz, how do you think Canada could have become an island in this GLOBAL financial crisis? Not necessarily, look at Ontario under Dalton McGuinty. Difference is that the Conservatives take action during such times to put in place common sense economic policies like NAFTA.

Imagine that, someone who's deserted his fellow soldiers is against the war in Afghanistan. I'm shocked, but not as shocked to see that he's just as ignorant about what Canadian soldiers actually do [i thought they were all peacekeepers] as he is about why we're in Afghanistan. Quite frankly he was a coward for abandoning his unit and not even facing a military trial for refusing an order. No, a 20 year old Private who's deserted his unit and doesn't have the cajones to face his punishment is not an example of evidence. All you have is ridiculous rhetoric about how this was all staged for a pipeline, despite the fact that we're losing billions trying to stabilize the country.

No, it's called economic development. Most things that happen in the economy are spontaneous, we don't all live in a conspiracy filled fantasy world.

I blame the League of Assassins.

If it's a 9/11 truther then it's a lost cause. Whatever happened to Polynewbie anyways, I recall he had a thread that went to 120 pages on this board.

That's called putting together two disparate facts and then coming to a faulty conclusion. What you're essentially arguing is that the only reason the west is in Afghanistan is because a pipeline just happens to be in the stages of construction there. Now what you're doing is ignoring everything that happened on 9/11 and refusing to recognize at all what would happen if the west were to leave Afghanistan altogether.

Did somebody just say something? Yes, because no innocents died in the utopic land of Taliban dominated Afghanistan, where all the children played under the rainbow with gumdrop smiles in the streets paved with gold and lamp posts made of the finest chocolate. We went their because two jets were flown into skyscrapers full of innocent people. The difference is that after invading Afghanistan we recognized that we needed to help rebuild the country and ensure it was never used as a base for terrorism again. Most soldiers would likely tell you that they're proud of the work they've done over in Afghanistan. That's been the case so far with most members I've known who have gone overseas. It's called economic development, read up on it sometime. No, that's an example of you spinning facts and turning it into a mangled abortion. Yes we are better than them, we follow ROE's and do everything in our power to limit civilian casaulties. The same can't be said for the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan who purposely target civilians. No, we're arrogant reckless dicks, the Taliban are assholes, and you're a pussy. [Moderators, that quote comes from Team America]

Perhaps we should differentiate fundamentalist Islam as it's practiced in Saudi Arabia and Iran, and secular Islam as it's practiced in Turkey and Albania. At the moment fundamentalist Islam is a threat, and we should take preventative actions to ensure that ideology does not seep into the western world. We've already seen the effects of being weak kneed on this issue in both Great Britian and the Netherlands. I would support a values test for new immigrants, just to ensure that those who come here will be able to fully accept our traditions of individual liberty and democracy. Even in Canada we've seen some Muslim organizations which are considered "moderate" throw their full support behind Hezbollah and Hamas.

Scriblett, it's common knowledge that despite Canada's rather strong economic health as compared to the rest of the developed world that Stephen Harper was the person responsible for the entire GLOBAL economic downturn. You can't trust a rabid sociopathic version of Darth Vader.

Oh Jdobbin, I love how you were once one of the more intelligent posters here, now you just come off as a shrill Liberal Party version of Shavluk.

You should first learn about the history of Alberta, look at the Socreds in 67, and then compare that to the Socred election results in 71. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_general_election,_1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_general_election,_1971 If Albertan's are given a strong pro-free market alternative they'll go to it. Unfortunately both of the opposition parties are too far to the left to make any real dent in our political culture.

Looks like an ABLC campaign in the next election, no? As I said before, I'm a libertarian conservative and I really wouldn't mind an Ignatieff government. He seems to be far more conservative than most previous Liberal leaders.

I'm glad I didn't vote for the PC's in the last election. They haven't shown any fiscal restraint and have been throwing money around like drunken sailors at a whorehouse. Needless to say in the next election I'll be voting for the Wildrose Alliance or another pro-free market party.

Great minds think alike.

Have you ever seen the British Parliament? They have far more MP's yet they seem to get by just fine.

He lived in the Soviet Republics of Harvard and London. That's the first sign that he's been working against the country's interests. As well I heard Ignatieff trained in the mountains of Nepal with the League of Assassins. In fact his original name wasn't even Michael Ignatieff, it was Ra's al Ghul.

If this system was modeled after the one I prefer then it might cost more for some of us in insurance premiums, however we'll get a higher quality of care. As well if their was a growth in the healthcare industry in this nation then their would be more benefits as well when it comes to R&D.

I'm personally against a salary cap, if a business is willing to pay alot of money for a doctor, then that doctor should be able to earn every penny they earn. That being said, I don't really know what you propose smallc, it seems that you want us to simply throw more money into the system and that's about it. As well we already have a defacto salary cap with our current system.

Hate to embarrass you Topaz, actually on second thought I love to embarrass you!

I'll be honest, if Michael Ignatieff was the head of the Liberals I would honestly consider voting for the party in the last election. However I'm still awaiting a platform, so far he's actually impressed me with the amount of maturity he has shown when dealing with the Conservatives, and I think we've actually seen a better relationship developing between the two parties since Dion was dumped. If Michael Ignatieff were to lead as a classical liberal instead of a welfare liberal, I would throw my support behind him.

Once again, it depends. I think that alot of the public school's have been failing in many areas, and if given a choice between sending their kids to public schools or charter schools I think many would go with the latter.