Cameron

Justin Trudeau shouldn't have said that, and Peter Kent should have said nothing about Leslie not being at the conference. Both are in the wrong. If anyone in opposition had any sense, they would have set up Kent with a question on why the government didn't allow OP MP's to attend.

Did this come from the national level, or was it initiated from the local riding?

Well that was fun while it lasted. When does Apple release their next iPhone?

I meant to say traditionally. After the 1993 election you saw PC's in the East and Reformers in the west.

They benefited from GST, NAFTA and good relations with the U.S. They balanced the budget by cutting services moving health to the provinces and robbing EI, if I'm not mistaken. I was young back then and wasn't involved in politics.

Not the Liberals in the form of policy, but in their 10+ years as running this country in the 90's/00's and how they because lathargic in how they governed.

The big thing for me is his lack of compromise and inability to punish people who do wrong within the party. The omnibus crime bill has good provisions, but it's all not good. Marijuana laws should be dealt with by the Provinces, for example. Other "items of interest" are the fact that he ran on being different from the Liberals and is slowly becoming what they were, bloated and filled with double-talk. I don't like the lack of communication from the PM or the party. I HATE talking points and PR people making statements vs. the PM. He is acting like a closed-door manager that only speaks to people when it benefits him. The lack of discipline is another area where I'm getting annoyed. Clement is a nice guy, but he should be sitting in the back. There are a lot of decent MP's that should have cabinet positions. They promised to be open and accountable but they seemed to have forgotten that platform promise.

I find it interesting that Harper is heading down the same road as past leaders. You plateau and then fall fast. People get bored of you throw out out and the members in the party begin to look for another leader. I think there is a lot of quiet turmoil under the surface in the CPC. Here in the east, we are all red Tories while out west you have ex-reformers. It doesn't mesh all that well (McKay vs. Harper are an example). For the most part I think MP's go along with the crowd so they don't rock the boat, until the leader becomes undesirable, then they either run for the position, or throw their support behind someone they like. Then you see the lines within the party drawn out (You will see this in the NDP leadership race). I get the feeling Harper is starting to play like Air Canada. Keeping just enough people happy to ensure their survival and not really doing anything ground breaking or revolutionary.

It's an interesting predicament. I remember someone telling me (don't know if it's true or not) that Trudeau, after he won a majority, would ram everything in a budget (example) in the first year so by the time the end of the term came, it was forgotten. The problem with Tony is that this isn't going away and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. If things stay on this path, then the fate of the CPC is sealed. History shows you will eventually become stale and the voters will throw you out. Examples are easy: PET, Mulroney, the Chretien/Martin government's. They all started off strong but slowly lost ground over the years until they were defeated.

I'm using the US as an example of pork-barreling to the extreme.

Probably hard to get, but not impossible. You'd have to be very charismatic and know your stuff. I've been a CP member for 12 years and I can tell you the process to become leader of a party is an uphill battle strife with strategic political maneuvering and all sorts of fun stuff. I guess it's the dream you try to keep alive with a party membership, in hopes you get someone really good. But you have to be good out of the gates. If you're too over the top people will see you as phony. If you're too boring, well you'd better hope the other party candidates have some major faults or just suck. When it comes to politics, you're either inside or outside. I'll add something as well. You need friends in the party to help you to the top. Loyal friends. Watch the NDP leadership race and you'll see people backing certain candidates while others wither away to nothing and throw their support behind someone else. Sometimes loyalty is a burden you have to swallow in the future (I think we are seeing this today). It will be interesting to see who throws their support behind who and if that person wins if they get a kick-back later on.

Stop using that stupid quote. The NDP or the Liberals didn't get more votes. They are two separate parties, not one party.

Oh Topaz, I love the third party quotes. A friend of a friend told me.... This is pork-barreling. Tony would be laughed at in the US. Doesn't make it right, but minor stuff in the grand scheme of things. If this is the most that comes out of Ottawa from the CP, then it will be smooth sailing for four years. The public will forget or doesn't care. Tony should be reprimanded but he won't because it's trivial in the grand scheme of things. When you turn on your TV the CP looks like Boy Scouts compared to other governments of the world. This is in no way a justification if his actions. The system is hard to change. No politician will cut off the hand that feeds him. Every party has an agenda they want to pursue, so it becomes murky when you have all the kings horses at your disposal.

What a goat show this has become.

I was wondering who came up with the format of the business cards? Also, wasn't it PET that pushed for the "Canada" logo branding. It seems like previous governments make rules based on ideological reasons, or what have you, then the next governments break them and makes up new rules (hypothetically pertaining to business cards, etc.).

In the HOC he said he had "Canada" on then and they were in both official languages. What I can't figure out is why even bother. You expend so much political capital on trivial things, it's not even worth it to do them in the first place.

For years the purchasing public has wanted more abundant and cheaper products. They aren't willing to buy products made in Canada, or the US (en mass), so companies look for countries that can produce them cheaply. Not to mention that these countries set up shop and entice companies to do business with them. So, we play a chess game. If we slap on import taxes, those will be passed down to the consumer and that slows down our economy, and it becomes a domino effect. So we set up trade deals and smile nervously while shaking hands and getting our picture taken.

We didn't go to the one in 2008, where was the outrage then?

It's the price companies want to pay for a plane. Canadian employees are expensive to employ and with people wanting to pay nothing for airfare, companies bid furiously for low prices. So they make the parts elsewhere and assemble in Canada (essentially the Q400 out of Toronto). When you pay your $300 plane ticket to Toronto, you are just adding to the problem. You say Westjet. Westjet doesn't hire ground staff (baggage handlers). They contract it out at super low prices (In some cases $500 or less for a 30 min turn). Most of those companies (I used to work for one) are crap. Their wages are just slightly above minimum wage. They offer a life of sadness and disparity. That is one of their aces up their sleeve.

Are there any investigations or documents to prove that he was engaged in criminal activity while working for the PMO?

+1

I agree.

Something is amiss here. From the article. The way I read it is that Global Vision selected the questions and sent them on to the PMO. Ok. .... Wouldn't they youths take that up with Global Vision then, since they chose the questions and sent them into the PMO?

There is a good documentary on house music on Youtube. Made in 2000. Part 1: Click on the user and all the other 7 parts should show up. Worth watching to see how a genre is born.

Agree. Why dump bags of rice into a country when you could send people over to teach the local population to grow it year after year. Hint! World Vision...