White Doors

When did Syncrude, Suncor, Nexen, CNR Ltd, etc etc etc.......become foriegn? ....never mind.....your ability to plainly show that you haven't a clue on any aubject in every thread you participate in leaves my somewhat bored..... Lets just take Syncrude for example They are a join venture owned in part by ConocoPhillips and Imperial oil (exxon). These are all publicly traded companies where the majority of shareholders live and spend there money outside of this country. Are you suggesting that few jobs that benefit an extreme minority of Canadian, with most of the money going outside of the country, very little in the way of royalties, incompetent governance and planning, ecological destruction, lack of infrastructure and services, a transient workforce, and housing market priced out of middle class range, a booming criminal culture, and so on... is worth producing a few rich canadians. And you think replicating all this in the Arctic is glorious and full of wonderful benefits??? You are being quite foolish and naive Andrew Socialism is fun!

Kingston class patrol boats do 15 knots. Canada's heavy icebreaker does 20 knots. Canada's frigates and destroyers do 29 knots but have to slow down for ice. Which Navy experts are you referring to? I have cited one expert already in this thread who said the need for heavy icebreakers is still there. This is not a full-time commitment to the north. I supported the Tory proposal for heavy icebreakers because it was year round coverage of the north. I have criticized Liberal policy of not proposing anything for the north except a tax deduction. The heaviest ice breaker there is - cannot operate there year round. I cited the experts that I could find who were calling for this before it was announced. Must have missed yours, I'll check and have a look. Checked from your cbc link. One was a northern resident... And another was from the UofC whose skepticism seemed to centre around the need to replace the aging coast guard ice breakers and the fact that he wants to see them actually start to build them before he celebrates. The coast guard icebreakers that we currently have are not capable of operating year round up north either and neither would their replacements. I;m sure they will be replacing the coast guard's vessels as well. I don't see him expressing negativity about this announcement however.

Norway's Coast Guard is part of its Navy. What we have seen over recent years is a fight between Canada's Navy and Coast Guard. The Navy has won but the Arctic has lost full year round heavy icebreakers. We will only get seasonal coverage from this decision. The Canadian Navy has long disliked the unionized Coast Guard. The Navy lobbied for more patrol vessels in principle. Harper had to fulfill a promise and a need for Arctic icebreakers. This was the compromise. It falls short of what was promised and what is needed in the North. Look, even a class 8 ice breaker would only be 'seasonal' and the navy experts were arguing that a class 8 icebreaker is useless for any enforcement issue as they are ploddingly slow. The only person who doesn't like this is Denis Coderre, and you. Of course the navy should get these vessels.

Jesus.. I thought pot was supposed to make you mellow.. KO2 has enough anger in him.. maybe we should all be thankful that he smokes instead of drinks. holy anger issues batman..

All I know is what I have read in the last year. 1) I believe they will be a patrol class, lightly armed with a helicopter bay. 2)They are ice hardened....which means they won;t be able to operate in the arctic in winter, early spring or late fall.... 3) In today's nomenclature, what defines a corvette? Many nations use Fast Patrol Boats or Fact Attack Craft.....and these aren't either....I think a corvette would be a slightly smaller class of frigate, capable of engaging long range targets and assisting in anti sub work.... These are supposed to be modelled off of Norway's patrol boats which are by all accounts superb vessels. Norwegian CG Arctic Patrol Vessel Svalbard for one. Link: http://naval.review.cfps.dal.ca/forum/topic2.php Naval experts were calling for these type in advance of the announcement. They didn't like the icebreaker idea. Seems we changed course for the better from what I am reading. Another link: http://www.sfu.ca/casr/bg-icebreaker-svalbard.htm

Shit! We're doomed? DOOMED???

Not sure about that. Most of Russia's capability is rusting away. Maybe not match, but we should be credible.

Don't think Canadian "might" in the arctic will ever be much competition for Russian power there ;p I'm not sure that is reason enough for us not to have a good level of competence in the north as a country with alot of territory there?

I am a libertarian. The only difference between my view of libertarianism and that of US libertarianism is that I believe in liberty for individuals is a goal in itself. US libertarians generally believe in liberty for capital, and only incidentially support liberty for individuals - though only when it doesn't conflict with liberty for capital. Btw, the term 'Orwellian' is all about reversing the meanings of words to convey opposite meanings to what the words themselves mean. It has NOTHING to do with authoritarianism itself. Many can be authoritarian without being Orwellian. Indeed, many can be Orwellian without being authoritarian (though this is likely to be rare). But fact is the US is the freest country in the world in regards to individual liberties. Odd.

I think you just earned your right to be totally ignored by me henceforth. My so sensitive.

I think your response speaks for itself.

It's all a farce anyways. the Arab neighbours (with a few notable exceptions) don't want peace anyways. They want Israel to be ruled by Sharia and for the Jews to pay tribute to their muslim masters again. That's it. A state where Muslims are a minority and beholden to jews is alien to them and will not be tolerated - especially in the middle easy and especially more-so in their fictitious 3rd most holy place. ( a complete fabrication btw).

How about a white history month? White appreciation day? LOL

Why would you say that? GB is the closest thing to the future dictated by Orwell in 1984 and it has been under labour rule. please do explain. The OP was a critique of the left - accusing the left of being 'Orwellian' regarding environmentalism. Thus, it is a 'rightwing' critique and thus, my amusement, given that it is the rightwing that has such a long history of actualy acting Orwellian. The right wing acting Orweillian? Why is it that left wing countries have governments that creep further into individual lives than do right wing governments? I think your pre-conceived notion of the right wing being closer to orwellian needs to be re-examined. Ask a libertarian.

Why would you say that? GB is the closest thing to the future dictated by Orwell in 1984 and it has been under labour rule. please do explain.

Well that shows the 'depths' that your multi-cultural love in goes.. not very deep apparently. Mohammed isn't a god, he is their prophet. Allah is their god. same as the Jews. Seems you superficalliy love multi culturamism too as Kimmy correctly observed.

A dollar short and 50 years too late.

oh nice a death threat.

I have not argued or suggested in this thread that European colonialism had nothng to do with the problems of the Middle East. I have only argued here that all of the 'problems' in the Middle East that make it famously complex and violent are all pre-existing the arrival of the European colonial powers. And yes, western colonial power has had a huge effect on the Middle East, magnifying, complicating and entrenching many of those issues. And the reason I'm making this argument is because if western colonialism is blamed for all of the problems in the Middle East (as myata wants to do) we can never improve the situation in the Middle East since that view of the 'problem' ignores the Arabic & Muslim contribution to their own problems. For example, when two kids are fighting, picking out one of them and blaming them entirely for the fight does not resolve the issue they were fighting about - indeed, it tends to make the fight-problem worse when you are not watching. The problems in the Middle East are manifold and complex. The western European powers are part of those problems, but not entirely the cause. And I unequivically deny the idea that Islamic terrorism is driven by jealousy or envy of our western technology. I certainly have never suggested anything so outrageous and facile. Thanks for your balanced views on the situation in the ME. I enjoyed learning from your posts.

LinkOther provinces will soon follow. I would ban cell phone use while driving on all roads, not just highways. I'm not sure about the effectiveness of photo radar. I saw recently that based on US data, 80% of accidents are caused by driver distraction. handsfree would still be allowed or no? Why don't they just cut to the chase and ban bad drivers? Can we also ban, murders and robberies at the same time? I think that would be nice.

Are we to remake Afghanistan into Canada? Sharia law is the law of the land in Afghanistan right now. You may not like it but most Afghans do. The severity of that law will no doubt form part of the negotiations. Thats what negotiations means...haha Fine. I agree. Wether the Taliban continues to exist or not, or wether Evil Islam continues to exist or not, or wether AQ continues to exist or not...once the Afghan government is able to take care of itself NATO's job will be done. But that has nothing to do with negotiations/surrender. In fact negotiations between Kharzai and the Taliban are inevitable and the sooner they get down to it the better. Distastefull or not, they do have common ground considering that Kharzai was once an influential member of the Taliban himself. Negotiations may be a haha joke to unimaginative Canadians, but it ain't no joke to Afghans. Laugh it up. Afghan's voted in the current government - not the taliban. The taliban are attempting to unsurp the current regime - we are there to make sure that they do not until the afghan government can defend itself. It's quite simple really. I'm not invoking any western standards on this. I am invoking the Afghan's wishes, which you seem to have a problem with - ironically so do the taliban who you think we should negotiate with. haha

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Wow. OK, now lets move beyond grade six history class... and maybe start to understand the world and its people in a little bit more detail. Whatever, you are just a waste of time. Andrew I know. Don't you just hate it when you don't have a good rebuttal? Try again later if you like. Oh, btw - here is a little tidbit for ya - proof that the best advice received is often the same as the advice that you give. from wikipedia btw - no need to pick up a heavy heavy bookie wookie with your little tired limp wrists..

Nonsense. The people the brits and the soviets fought are the aame people that live in afghanistan today. They were not the same people in the 13the century and they certainly were not the same poeple in alexanders time. (there was no such thing as afghanistan in either of those periods, BTW). We are talking islamic insurgency, a deep hatred and distrust of the west, modern western soldiers who are ignorant, and the fact that we have already been there 6 years and the rhetoric we use makes us sound like the russians.... "ifonly we build that highway, everybody will love us" gimme a fuckin break. Andrew There were no Pashtuns in Afghanistan in the 13th century? Really? If they were not there, where were they? On vacation? Modern western soldiers are ignorant? Seems to me they did a good job in Kosovo? no? No Pastuns there eh? wait - no this is a religious thing.. Wait, not it's the difficult terrain.. wait.. wait a minute.. The karzai regime is corrupt... no wait.. we are murdering innocent civilians.... I think you are at the end of your talking points list now. ta ta

Be thankful you are not living in Virginia. A 20 mph speeding ticket (read =reckless driving) will cost $2500 + a $350 non negotiable tax for 3 years. Lots of other nightmares. But not if you are not a resident. IOW, every Virginian will get out of state licences I guess. Wow....just wow. And here I am fighting against photo radar. Oh, since misery loves company, I am fighting my $380 ticket from last fall......on my way to the hospital for emergency care. Hope I get a sympathetic judge. If you had your hazard lights on I'd say it's slam dunk for you.