scribblet

Neither do I and obviously neither does Harper, repeating the same old lie often enough doesn't make it the truth.

There's nothing to get to the bottom of, what more can anyone say, he promised he'd do it to satisfy those who wanted it - it won't pass - case closed.

My question too, and why should they go to jail for not obeying the monopolistic autocratic Wheat board.

I don't know that it was totally against his will but he is doing it only to keep a promise to the few anti SSM people many of whom felt that as shown, Martin fasttracked the previous bill. It serves to fulfil the promise and to close the issue. Nothing more to it.

There will always be a perception, rightly or wrongly, that Dion has divided loyalties, he should give up the French citizenship as the issue will not go away although I'm sure is loyalty is to the Liberal party more than a country. And really, just how and why should a Prime Minister be a citizen of another country? I believe that a person holding public office in France cannot hold dual citizenship. http://www.editorialtimes.ca/

Agreed, it seems to me that all this (among other issues) is much ado about nothing. It is partisan politics thats all.

The farmers should have a choice, and have indicated in discussion s and consultations with the gov't that they would like to choose how they market their product, and why should they have to go to jail for doing so. The way I see it, and I'm no expert on this, the Wheat board wants to retain the monopoly at any cost and - there will be a a plebicite in January when famers will vote on whether to allow Barley to be marketed through other means than the Wheat Board. This will not exclude the Wheat Board - it just opens the market. It sounds to me that the CPC is actually listening to farmers and giving them a voice and the right to choose.

The 'zeal' (actually foot dragging it was later coming than anticipated) as you know is to fulfill a promise and to put the issue to bed once and for all. Considering how Paul Martin fast tracked the previous bill and limited debate it was felt by many that it should be revisited. Pat O'Brien (Lib) left theLiberal caucus to sit as an independent because Paul Martin had gone back on his promise to give adequate public consultation on the SSM legislation. O'Brien also said the PM had gone on his word and that the process to legislate same-sex marriage was “unfolding to be a farce.” "Witnesses are given too short a notice to testify, he said, and then, when they appear, they are berated and lectured by MPs on both sides of the table. He called the committee's June 16 deadline to report back an artificial timeline and said there is not need to rush.Pat O'Brien (Lib) Even the Star at that time reported that "Liberals plan to fast-track debate on gay-wedding bill," 2005-FEB-02, Page A6. “Gay bill fast-tracked Same-sex nuptials law by summer, Liberals say Tim Naumetz; with files from Scott Stinson CanWest News Service, June 2, 2005″

Why can't I argue that - and I am in fact, arguing that many European (or other) doctors have training which is below Canadian standards. Why should we allow doctors to practice here if they don't meet our standards? I would agree that within the provinces licensing should be standardized. It is my understanding that most doctors from the U.S. and the U.K. can practice here with the exception of a one or two colleges.

I find it best not to answer the continual repetition and insertion of 'harper and etc." into threads, it becomes tiresome and boring. Repeating the same assertion continually doesn't make it so.... I think I'll put him on 'ignore', after all its the same old same old.

This is true, it won't pass of course as even some Liberals who voted against SSM the first time . are voting against this motion tomorrow - to get rid of it once and for all. Dion voted against same sex marriage about 6 years ago but I don't think the Charter and rights has somehow changed. Oh well, Que Serra....

Errr, hate to break it to you there certainly is a lot to be denied about a 'social conservative shadow' whatever that means. There are people in all parties opposed to SSM, so free vote on the issue should clarify it.

That's garbage, the reason they can't practice here is because they don't meet Canadian medical educational standards, depending on where the immigrant comes from, their foreign education may be of lower quality than education obtained in Canada. The title degree of an educational program mighjt be the same, but is worth less in Canada. I don't agree with lowering our standards in order to accommodate foreign medical workers. I wouldn't be averse to a program which allows an MD from another country to retrain or work as an intern for a year so, prior to sitting an exam. Possibly free of charge if they promise to practice in remote areas for a min. period of time. In fact, I think the Ontario gov't was talking about such a program at one time. They also need to increase the spots in Universities for Canadian students.

The main difference is that we do not have to pay scads of money to other countries while they keep on polluting. Kyoto is strictly a socialist spread the money around document.

ClimateLiberal.ca is the website of Canadian Liberals Acting Against The Climate Crisis ("CLAACC"). CLAACC is non-profit, independent network of federal Liberal and climate change activists dedicated to making the management of the global climate crisis the number one policy priority of the Liberal Party of Canada and a federal Liberal government in Canada. If they are Liberals, then they should come under the rules of third party advertising should they not?

From the NCC Electoral Bias Chief Electoral Officer Jean Pierre Kingsley seems to have two sets of rules; one for the National Citizens Coalition and one for everyone else. A group called Canadian Liberals Acting Against The Climate Crisis, is raising funds on a site --- www.climateliberal.ca --- that features the Liberal Party logo and that seems to operate outside of Canada’s election financing rules. If the NCC, or some other group Kingsley didn’t like, did something similar you better believe the election police would be dispatched in a hurry. Recall Elections Canada once charged the NCC with violating Canada’s election gag laws. Kingsley dragged us through a costly and lengthy criminal trial on charges which were a sham. Kingsley should either enforce election laws equally or resign. Hmmmmm

I haven't read the bill won't make its timetable of late January. You think an election will come before that? No, I figure an election for the spring, maybe April, I just heard from a couple of sources that it might not make it back from Justice.... who knows I guess. I know my riding is gearing up for the spring, if its before April they are out of luck, I'm in Florida for the winter....sigh...last year I got lucky, a friend of ours in the park had her Bell satellite with her so I got to watch the results.

Conservatives tend to get more negative reporting because of preconcieved biases According to Macleans, http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/artic...3_117742_117742 Analysis of newspaper reports on the campaign's earliest days shows Stephen Harper fighting the same old image problems JOAN BRYDEN Just because the Conservatives are paranoid about reporters doesn't mean the media isn't out to get them. An analysis of newspaper coverage in the opening days of this campaign concludes Stephen Harper received the most negative coverage of the four main party leaders, even more negative than the coverage he got in the disastrous final week of the 2004 election. Initial coverage of Paul Martin was not only less negative, it was more positive than the waning days of the last campaign, when the Prime Minister rebounded to pull out his narrow victory. "The findings are rather striking," said Stuart Soroka, co-director of McGill University's Observatory on Media and Public Policy (OMPP), which conducted the analysis. "Martin has been doing progressively better in the media over time and Harper has been doing progressively worse." Liberal bias? It's not just the CBC http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/...29/1240075.html By LORRIE GOLDSTEN Here's something you may find interesting regarding the ongoing controversy over liberal media bias in Canada. According to a recent study by two Ryerson University journalism professors: * Almost half of all Canadian television news directors, the individuals who have the most influence in determining what political news is covered on your favourite nightly newscast and how it is reported, vote Liberal. * A TV news director working at the tax-funded CBC is almost three times more likely to vote for the NDP in federal elections, compared to his or her counterpart in the private sector. * When this research was compiled in 2002, just over one in 10 (11.4%) of all private sector news directors said they would vote for the Canadian Alliance. However, not one news director at the CBC described himself (or herself) as an Alliance voter. These findings are contained in "The Canadian News Directors Study", an informative survey of the political leanings and demographics of TV news directors, conducted by Marsha Barber and Ann Rauhala. The results were published in the May 2005 issue of the Canadian Journal of Communication. Two-thirds of all potential respondents (67 of the 99 people who held this job in Canada in 2002) replied to their study, including 44 from the private sector and 23 from the CBC. I was alerted to it by Global TV's Peter Kent, now the federal Conservative candidate in the Toronto riding of St Paul's. Last month, Kent alleged most Canadian journalists are small "L" liberals and that as a result, Conservatives face the constant hurdle of "getting past the filter of liberal media apologists", particularly in the all-important Toronto market. Kent has since written to Canada's journalism schools, which he also considers hotbeds of liberal bias, challenging them to study this issue in the next election. Barber wrote to him informing him that she is planning a study along these lines and sent him a copy of her research. It found that 45.8% of all Canadian television news directors surveyed in 2002 said they were Liberal voters. By contrast, only 14.6% said they were Progressive Conservative voters, 10.4% Canadian Alliance, 10.4% NDP. This put the news directors at the high end of overall public support for the Liberals during that period (40-46% according to the polls) and at the low end for the PCs (15-18%), Alliance (14-18%) and NDP (13-16%). -snip- But even the CBC believes media bias is a huge issue (except, apparently, for its own), given its recent exposes of what it calls the alarming right-wing bias of Fox News in the U.S. Perhaps we just should declare the CBC an irony-free zone.

What havn't you read, that the justice committee is busy or the bill would die? Isn't that normal for any bill if the gov't dies before it passes final reading?

I hear the Justice Committee has a lot of other work before it can get to the Age of Consent bill, if the gov't should fall before it leaves Justice the bill will die. Another good reason to make sure the CPC gets a majority.

Toronto is by far more than 30% visible minority, in fact, City of Toronto website, says "43% of Toronto's population (1,051,125 people) reported themselves as being part of a visible minority." So if we factor in other "ethnics" which would include for instance Portuguese, Italian, Greek or Polish people, then the percentage would be around 70%. In otherwords anyone not Anglo, French or Aboriginal. I wouldn't consider the CPC centre left, but they have definity under Harper, moved towards the centre, in fact they are more like Liberal lite now. The few social conservatives are not too happy with the leftward move, but have no options really unless they go to the Christian Heritage party. Economic issue are far more important to Harper than any 'so-con' issues, thats for sure. To Jdobbin: it is my understanding the CPC will not make it a whipped vote, but if the other parties are (NDP are too) I'm not sure what might happen. It is not a money issues so not a confidence matter.

I'm not sure how many people, including Liberals have underestimated how far left Dion is. I believe he would like to get rid of any liberals who might tend to be socially conservative on some issues e.g. SSM and doesn't tolerate different opinions. He has said that the upcoming vote on SSM will be a whipped vote, which means some of his MPs have to decide whether or not to vote their concience or be 'whipped' into submission. If they do vote for the motion will he kick them out of the party I wonder?

I think the Liberals got the award in a previous year, but I don't have time to verify that.

How do you manage each day knowing you're just the funniest person alive? It must be a huge burden. How do you manage to stay on the board when you make so many personal comments and attacks. Try to keep a lid on it, but I know its hard for you to stay civilized.

Nah, his mother got it for him actually, just in case he needed a job opportunity with EU. What might come up in the next campaign is his separatist past although we know he is a federalist now. The MSM will just gloss over it as being a youthful mistake.