NowDefeatPoverty

Mulroney brought us to the brink of bankruptcy in 1993. We would have had to sell off most of our natural resources ala Africa if not for Chretein and Martin. Our tax base today is bolstered by mining and oil companies appreciating and being taken over. This wouldn't be the case if Mulroney remained in power for literally one or two more years.

The Senate as it stands now seems visionary, if not impotent. They have written reports advising decriminalizing marijuana and getting rid of the penny. The former would increase police and judicuary budget enormously, decreasing drastically the # of violent crimes such as rapes and murders. I'll go out on a limb and say 1/5 of all rapes would not have happened if weed was legal and police departments had the extra resources. Yeah Harper is really for women... Killing the penny would save Canada $150 million annually. Its not the Senate's fault Canadians are stupid enough to vote in a Conservative government after the Liberals stole around $25 million (by my math). That's 1/12 the cost of a federal election BTW.

I see the Harper's new environment policy is being implemented quickly. CTV providing good spin as per usual...

You can't play the derivatives market in Canada unless you have somewhere between a $75000 and $200000 in liquid assets. Plus you have to pass an arbitrary test from some brokerage guy in Toronto containing all sorts of esoteric strategies you would never in your life play. Even if you intent to trade limited liability options contracts and even if you intent to play well in the money LEAPs, you can't unless you already have cash. You can't get a mortgage or business loan without cash. Basically the only people who don't need capital, are given a free ticket. Nice system if you are part of the club. How is China "playing" oil? There Yuan is mostly pegged to limit consumer spending and make their exports cheaper. It is a successful development model followed by Europe post-WWII and South Korea. It is unlike Latin America's right-wing "free market" evolution (much of Africa too) that has left most of that continent truamatized while dictators and NY/London/Swiss bankers laugh all the way to the... bank. Maybe you know something I don't? lol, yeah right, you are a Conservative. Oil is primarily USD denominated. If anything, China might trigger a run on the USD by withdrawing foreign investments and USD currency reserves. This would raise oil prices. But I'm sure Harper is more concerned about going hunting with Cheney and getting shot up the ass, than any of this subject matter.

Chinese slave labour is still more humane than that carried out in American prisons, and soon Canadian prisons too if Harper stays in power long enough. Most of the nations quoted have functioning democracies. Chavez may have a Stalinist streak, but he has demonstrated he cares about his own poor more than say, Dubya does for poor Americans. We don't have time for another Chretien to come along and bail out another Conservative government spending-us-to-bankruptcy; the boomers are retiring this coming decade. China "playing" the oil market? Do you know how commodities work? There presently isn't much difference in Crude spot prices and derivative contracts (a few dollars) and no one can store more than a few months of oil. This is typical Conservative craponomics. Hmm... paying down debt, a return on public Canadian dollars of over 7-8%, or building prisons, a *negative* return on dollars; the Canadian eqivalent of Haliburton contracts... it looks like Harper's budget will do everything but pay down debt (in the form of eroding the tax-base for future PMs and killing future surpluses). Maybe Canadians deserve a decades long depression along with all the dead seniors that entails? I sure as hell feel like I live in Texas instead of Canada. I'll be laughing when they start sending the parents of Canada's middle-class to homeless shelters instead of care homes.

Immigration is economic lifeblood. If Quebec wants to vote a separatist (PQ) or borderline fascist (ADQ) party in power, Quebecer's health care and trade will suffer. The land of daycare unfortunately has a fascist streak. There is a town in Quebec where a Muslim woman can't cover her face. There are fucking language police?! Welcome to the 20th century, Eastern Quebec.

The age of consent is 14 in Canada. Please, enough with the personal attacks.

Harper's most trusted foreign affairs advisor. He was the one who councelled Harper to support invading and bombing Iraq and Lebanon. Howey also makes fridge drawings for Steven and Dubya (have to wipe off the drool 1st). Now Howey has 2% more income. Too bad instead of daycare, Johnny will have to go get raped by his friend's sick father, after school. At least Harper is building Johnny some prisons for adulthood.

If you don't capitalize the words "defeat" and "poverty", it is no longer a pun. Idiot. How intelligent is it to vote in the only party whose policy position is not to decriminalize THC and subsequently will not increase RCMP rape murder and organized crime fighting resources by 50% (the amount of police resources devoted to petty narcotics)? How intelligent is it not to fund daycare for children with dumb parents, and instead fund negative ROI prisons along with lining the pockets of people who already have 5 figure annual discretionary incomes? As far as I can tell there are a bunch of spoiled middle class brats in this country, 36% to be precise, who are happy seeing our long-term social fabric hacked for plasma TVs and stuff. The Conservative prohibition position results in more women getting raped and murdered. They would have caught Pickton much earlier if weed was legal. How many women are being raped tonight because Conservatives are NARCS? I bet five. And one of them could be you, Canadian Blue.

Not suicide, but I hope she bring plenty of water. And plenty of backhand bitchslaps for any lippy little Conservative kids she meets along her jog.

I can't wait until the boomers retire. I wonder if this reduced tax-base will yields seniors freezing and starving to death on the streets, like what will inevitably happen to some of our American brethren? That's okay, as long as Howey the retarded cowboy can afford another SUhorse. Who will pay to truck water to Calgary when the Bow dries up? Who will pay producers and manufacturers to diversify their exports?

I agree with you for the most part, but it is basically a few minor crisis combined with no refinery capacity that jacked up oil from $10 barrel in the late 90's to $58 today. Even something as simple as a US political decision not to fund expensive nuclear reactors, or a sudden Iraq withdrawal, or a scientific paper that links stronger El-Ninos with warming winter temps...talking about a non-linear system here. Battery advances don't have to be industrially implemented for hedge funds to take note. A new deflationary oil refining technology could drop oil prices. But maybe Conservatives have higher supreme economic info sources than Earthly Liberals and NDPers? If god says oil will not drop below $40 I withdraw this post.

Oil could drop to 40% (25% below now) if China unpegs their currency and fails to increase oil consumption (oil is USD denominated primarily). Oil could drop if the USA economy implode even more, than we inevitably expect it too. Oil could drop if harsh carbon caps are initiated in key nations. Oil could drop if battery or hydrogen technology advances are made. Alberta would be $8-9 billion in deficit annually, if not for oil. I think AB's trust fund is only about $35 billion. So five years without oil and without cutting expenditures or raising taxes, and AB is cap in hand again. It says so in the Bible.

Harper is trying to figure out if Dion swings his way. That's all.

No it's not. That would mean 50% of voters are Conservative parasites sucking the life out of daycare and building more prisons in place. The organs of Conservative voters should be exorcised, harvested, and fed to endangered animals.