madmax

Yup.

Harper is a bully. He was bullied back, picked himself off the ground and is working with the LPC. Being in a minority position, it was Harpers responsibility to find at Least ONE party that would allow him to pass laws and budgets with the Confidence of the house.The LPC and CPC are working together much like the last parliment.

Chretian had Wisdom. He lead the country away from the Iraq War and not into it. I leave you with the last words above. There is nothing to debate, only agreement.

The Conservatives have destroyed an economy and they believe she can't do the job ...... Sounds like sour grapes from teh Failed Premier.

The LPC doesn't have leadership races anymore. Who should be crowned??? Regardless, it is the portrayal of Ignatief as something that he is not. About 32 Million people in Canada have great minds. Not all are arrogant enough to portray themselves as having one. Hows your mind doing??? I never mistake Education and Credentials for a "great mind"? Politics isn't about "great minds". Some would say Dion had a "Great Mind". Politics is about governing and making important decisions for the betterment of Canadians. A bad decision such as going to Iraq, shows me that this "Great Mind" lacks Wisdom. It also shows a lack of character when the going gets tough and public opinion goes against what is moral and proper. To here Progressive Tory bleed that Iggy couldn't speak out because of US popular opinion, demonstrates the lack of character of Ignatief. This is when he needed to speak out. Not be one of the sheep. This is when leadership is required. Iggy cannot apologise to the people most affected. They are dead. And he supported their death. People were tortured, innocent people were tortured. And he accepted their torture. This is a "great mind"....................... or is this a coward?

You sure seem to have alot of inside knowledge. How come most of it is wrong, and as the winds change, you shift gears with it and change your tune to sing the next rewritten phrase? One thing I am not fond of is a parrot.

You mean the NYT that supported the Iraq War. That New York Times? I don't believe the NYT had any kind words for Chretians decision NOT to go to Iraq.

I prefer this blog to the NYT blather. http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2007...a_another_e.php Iggy was weak and pathetic when he needed to be strong. Strength and principles do not come with a Harvard PHD . They are a measure of character not credentials. GWB graduated from Yale and Iggy agreed with him when many intellectuals and regular people knew better then that. The fact that Iggy choose to ride the tide of US opinion, and not challenge values of right and wrong, demonstrate to me, that Iggy could never make an important decision like J. Chretian did, in NOT going to Iraq. Iggy is the leader of the LPC who has lots of media contacts around the globe who will write a fawning story. But that doesn't change the fact that Ignatieff is both Ignorant and Arrogant.

Harper doesn't have blonde hair..... and I don't think he is going to die it blonde anytime soon.

You just described the Liberal Party.

turn turn turn is good. I was using the last line from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. and for the budget finale

He didn't turn down the budget because he SUPPORTS the budget and Supports an accident waiting to happen. It is his decision. Canadians are going to suffer this budget. There is a reason that the CPC/LPC are trying to paint the budget as ANYONE BUT THEM, when in fact it is NO ONE ELSE BUT THEM who have created this budget and passed it with the Confidence of the house. That CONFIDENCE comes from the opposition LIBERALS. Regardless, of the NDP or BQ position, I would make the case that if there were Social Credit or Reform Party members (not the current CPC sellouts), they would not be supporting this budget. Personally I believe that Harper made a Joe Clark Budget and a Joe Clark mistake, however, having the benefit of hindsight, and nearly losing government, Harper has done what Joe Clark should have done. Joe Clark should have engaged the Social Credit instead of assuming they would support him. Harper went on the pre budget update and nearly did a Joe Clark, and would have fallen if he hadn't suspended parliment to avoid the confidence vote. Clearly the CPC have worked with the LPC to create a budget that the LPC and Mr. Ignatieff have full confidence in. Your vote is your confidence. The LPC have confidence in this budget or they wouldn't support it. The LPC were ready to bring down the government in NOVEMBER because they were going to lose their funding. Now that the CPC have kept them alive by allowing the LPC to continue to take public money, the LPC are supportive and loyal lapdogs of the budget. I will be curious to see how the independents vote.

Any way the wind blows.

Back to the headline. I went to a townhall budget meeting put on by the CPC government. There were no details. Anything you have read in the papers was all that was presented to those in attendance. Virtually everyone who chose to attend were CPC backers and many were interested in getting their hands on the money. Same for the city councillors. After the 5 minute introduction the meeting was open to questions, none of which could be answered. That's right, not one question received an answer, beyond, I will have to look into that, or I will get back to you, or your absolutely right we should do it that way, but I don't know. You can count on us, trust us, etc. I didn't hear the "fiscal" Conservative voice at this meeting who might go on a tirade about balanced budgets or excessive spending. I knew then that there was no point in me asking any questions and it became apparent to the group in attendance that the meeting was premature. The media were disappointed as there was no story, good or bad to report. It turned into a social gathering, make the best of it, and have another meeting when there are some answers. Just my observations in one riding.

This is a CPC budget that is fully endorsed by the Liberal Leader. His vote will be a stamp of approval for an accident waiting to happen.

It is a CPC/LPC budget. Similar to the Mulroney/Trudeau vision of peeing in the lake to see if the water rises. However, the difference is Mulroney gave us the largest single tax hike in History (GST) which Chretian then used to pay down the deficit, combined with massive cuts to the Provinces. This time the budget has CPC/LPC tax cuts along with CPC/LPC spending increases. Thus this isn't a budget that Manning or Martin (As finance Minister) might have come up with, it is a budget that is purely Harper/Flaherty and Ignatief. It is a budget that makes no sense to any political party, but 2 parties are supporting it. Thus someone has to take responsibility for it, and that will be in the vote. This will be a budget created by the CPC and Amended and FULLY supported by the LPC. So, King Iggy, I disagree with you regarding the benefits of the budget.

If you read the polls, the polls suggest many contradictory opinions but don't explain it to the public. The last poll suggested.... and I know not why the change..... the publc supported the coalition by a majority, but didn't want the coalition to govern and preferred an election instead. The public also did not want an election. It is the reason we have government and not people making decisions by a referendum on every decision. As I am not part of government I can criticise it and praise it without responsibility for actions. However, I value my opinion as much as I value yours.

Growing pains and little greed.

It's Ok Topaz. I actually did understand you the first time, but I can say it wasn't crystal clear and it left for alot of reading between the lines and assumptions. I have no reason to believe that any changes are coming to EI. And there is an element of possibility that many people affected negatively by the economy may vote NDP if..... nothing changes. I don't expect changes to EI or the Economy. I expect more people to be on EI before the year is done and more operations to continue with their relocations if they have the capital to do so. People do not vote like they used to. Protest votes are not that strong unless there is a local issue at stake, and many people just don't vote. So, I tend to agree with Jdobbin that I cannot see the NDP growing its vote beyond its tradition levels within a 5% margin. I can see the CPC being punished in Ontario, as hundreds of thousands of people who have never collected EI now do so for the first time. Dianne Finley has a heart of stone and the compassion of a pile of rocks. She happened to get lucky in Caledonia with A large protest vote going to an independent, or she would have been toast, for hiding from the people in her riding. I expect to her to perform in a similar manner with EI. She has come out the gate essentially suggesting that people on EI are lazy and need to get a job, because the government has "no intention of paying people to stay home". SHe is entitled to her opinion, but there could be some political backlash across the Province, although I expect she will remain safe. However, Much like the CPC reduced GST, (they were the ones that punished us with this tax grab in the first place) the LPC will come out for increased EI benefits when they choose to pull the plug. It was the LPC that made all the cuts to EI and it will be the LPC that puts them back, especially if they see political capital in it. I see EI reform as a top issue for 2009/10. I don't see any kind of Federal Bob Rae bounce or freak accident as happened in Ontario for the federal NDP. Any seats they get they will have to earn as people in Ontario have remained skeptical of the NDP ever since Bob Rae ran large deficits. And you need to have Ontario if you want to find your way to official opposition or government, and 70 years suggest that the NDP will remain as it always has been. I expect the NDP to champion causes such as EI reform, and once politically popular, for the LPC to campaign on them.

I do not have a crystal ball that can tell me the future of the NDP. However, historically for 70 years or more, the CCF and NDP have been at 15% to 18% and they had a 6% result when the LPC came into power under the pretense of being fiscally responsible, while under the pressure of the Reform Party. There is no Right Wing populist movement for Fiscal responsibility. Provincially the NDP have been as fiscally responsible as any other Provincal Government, be it good, bad or Ugly. But there is no party that is prepared to do anything but make half measures that will achieve nothing economically except guarrantee we have a large deficit to swallow for years to come. I never favoured the September election. That was a complete waste of the tax payers money for CPC arrogance. A pyrric victory. I certainly do not favour an election today, as it would likely create the same results, another minority parliment and another waste of time and money.The ability to form another government is the right of any party in parliment who can demonstrate that they can govern with the confidence of the house. I have no interest in denying this option that has been used on a number of occasions both provincially and federally. THere is no such option for a coalition government at present and they are rare occurence, yet I support the right for any party to form a coalition, accord or some letter of agreement. I support the right of the Liberals to support the Conservative budget, regardless of whether I agree with it or not. It is the Liberals choice to support the government and its budget. Not with Dion at the helm. He was an idiot and lacked fiscal judgement. I expected Iggy to be more fiscally prudent, and I am shocked that this is not the case. Thus, I cannot say whether or not I would support the coalition with IGGY in charge, because, I expected he might bring a degree of fiscal responsibility to it. If he were leader of a coalition and came up with this piece of shiite budget, I would not support the coalition or its budget either. Again, one might expect the CPC to run a balanced budget with LPC support then what they have given way too. My thoughts were that an IGGY lead coalition could not produce such a shitty budget. The Conservatives as opposition would return to their fiscally responsible origins and the fangs would be out if they saw a coalition present such a piece of garbage as this is. Regardless, non of this hypothesysing is going to change anything. The CPC and LPC are going to have to ride this budget out. And we Canadians are going to pay for it for it. HUH???

I don't know to whom you speak when you refer to "we"? Who is "we"?

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1104126.html Food for thought

Just because Harper Serves up a dogs breakfast for a budget, doesn't mean the LPC get off the hook for feeding us the budget with a Liberal Amendment for Supper. Iggy and Liberals who vote for this budget will own this budget as much as the Conservatives. If the Liberals are oppossed to this budget, and oppose the CPCs fiscal management, then they should find the courage to oppose the budget or have an amendment with some fiscal responsibility built in. The Budget is SHIITE and the LPC support it.

No, it was that your Liberal Bias bleeds through on every post. It was apparent to many here from the get go, but it has been very apparent that you are a card carrying liberal shill and apologist. Oh, by the way, your sources on the coalition.... I guess they were wrong.

Unionization is larger in Alberta then Ontario. Ontario private sector Unionization is around 6% compared to nearly 31% in Alberta. The possiblity of your statement bearing any truth is remote, however, wages are one variable in the big scheme of a global operation. The High Dollar lasted for only a short period of time. Enough to cause some pain or panick, but not enough to change any operations long term plans. The same would be true if the dollar dropped back down to 70cents. If an operation is scheduled to be shut down, it will happen and the current economic circumstances will have no effect on the long term decision. The High dollar was certainly a factor in some operations depending on their US contracts and how they are set up. It all depends on who pays. Sometimes with Branch Operations it has no effect, and allows greater purchasing power for newer technologies. Energy costs had a huge impact. It is not possible to pay Engineers, Bean Counters, Management staff the wages of Mexico or China. It is not possible to pay general labour the wages of Mexico or China. As I see operations that have closed down in the past year and the wages are less then $1 over minimum wage, then wages cannot be the sole factor of an operations viability in Canada. As for EI rates, wait for this next quarters figures. Ontario has done an excellent job masking the labour problems as parttime work has accounted for 70% of job growth and that appears to be drying up. Also, the number of other enterprises downsizing or closing is now affecting regions with a more diversified economy. I was shown a job posting for General Labour. $8.75 as per collective agreement, which is minimum wage. Somebody is paying dues for a minimum wage job. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/l...lfs-epa-eng.htm Regardless of cheap and possibly more affordable goods coming from offshore, is the problem that the purchasing power of many Canadians is in decline.