From another nation in Canada

I doubt if the voters of her riding will rethink their decision after witnessing the performance of the NDP rookies in parliament. Plus, IMO, some Quebec voters bet on a Tory minority so that their voice will be heard through NDP opposition or even a NDP-led coalition. Since Conservative is on Majority, voting for Bloc or NDP will make no much difference for them.

check this out: Questions raised about rookie NDP MP's papers http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/05/04/pol-ndp-brosseau.html

Me too. This reminds me of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

I was just wondering as the mentor of these new rookies, which topic Jack Layton will preside in the first training session? Maybe French 101?

My understanding is that if GG authorizes Duceppe to form the government after the Tory is shot down, Harper will challenge his decision to Queen Elizabeth, who is the head of state of Canada and can overthrow the decision of GG. GG is merely a representative of the Queen.

This entry records the cumulative total of all government borrowings less repayments that are denominated in a country's home currency. I believe the US has numerous loans (bad loans) to other countries in the Cold War. All bailout packages are counted as repayments as well. Plus, the debt includes ALL government (Federal/Provincial/Municipal) debt in the country.

"Subsidize some industries in special regions" from taxes means every Canadian, either EI contributors or not, share the burden. Quiting job without just causes and applying for EI benefit is considered to be the manipulation of the EI system and that is why the application is declined. Based on the same reason, the EI application of the seasonal worker who repeatedly in-and-out for the SAME COMPANY should be refused as well. Or at least, their premium should go up, as our auto insurance companies always do.

Seaonal workers can apply for EI benefit every year when there is no work to do. Then they can be rehired/recalled by the same company during work season next year. For a road worker, he can enjoy the NHL when road work is finished in the winter with EI benefit and the next year, he can be rehired/recalled by the same company again and re-collect benefit later that year. My understanding is: EI is a kind of insurance, not government warefare. The insurance is used for a rainy day when something unexpected/unprepared happens, such as car accident. If the accident is pre-meditated, then that is called insurance fraud. This rule should be applied to seasonal worker who work for the same company for years, which has been applied for those who quit their job without just cause. If the government wants to subsidize some industries in special regions, such as fishing, then they should use money from other sources, not from EI fund.

Hard hit in manufacturing sector

I agree with you on "Scheduling the summer Olympics in the dog days of summer is like scheduling the winter olympics in May". Unfortunately, IOC does not allow Summer Olympics to be held in October, even in Sydney, which is located in South Hemisphere.

Tibetan was semi-independent from China since around 1911, when the Last Dynasty of China - Qing dynasty transferred power to its successor - Republic of China. Under Qing dynasty, Tibet was a distinct region under Central Government, who presided the religious ritual of selecting reborn Dalai Lama, deployed army in Tibet and appointed Federal Government Official in Tibet. Tibetans had autonomy on interior affaris. In 1911, the Emperor of Qing Dynasty resigned and the republicans took the control of China. After that, China had experienced years of internal wars between warlords and invasion from Japan. During this time, the Central government had virtual no power on Tibet. Tibetans then gained control of Tiibet and China had only symbolic sovereignty over Tibet. In 1949, the ruling KMT was ousted to Taiwan by Chinese Communist Party, who then defeated the local Tibetan army and Dalai Lama surrendered to Chinese army in 1951. Ever since then, China regain control to Tibet.

Most of the minimum wage earners are teens or newcomers. The minimum wage job should be only considered as a temporary entry job and is not supposed to be taken as all life long. I understand that some people have to take it for a long time and stay in "work-poor". Then it is government's responsibility to subsidize them a little bit, such as tax break, or education credit which will help them to find higher pay jobs. Raising hourly wage to 8.75 per hour is a very bad idea and raise to $11 will be a disaster to our economy. The minimum wage is designed to make people survive with food and shelter (just beyond survive level), so that they have chance to improve skills and find a decent job. It does not bring luxury to the earners, as you mentioned "Is it wrong for this generation to think they can have everything their parents have?"

My schedule 1 shows 15% is the lowest tax rate, why yours is different? check the following: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/5000-s1/5000-s1-07e.pdf

I can't agree with you more. The income tax is based on individual income, not family income; while benefit is based on Family income, not individual income. THAT is ABSURD AND SUTPID.

While the wages are a concern, I think the size of the civil service increasing rapidly is a very large concern as well. Moreover, around 40% of the federal civil service lives in Ottawa whereas less than 20% of American civil servants live in Washington D.C. The influence of the civil service in Ottawa to increase their numbers cannot be underestimated. The Conservatives have shown under Harper they are prepared to spend and spend. The Liberals cut only so long as to clear the deficit. The growing civil service does not serve Canada's long term social or economic needs. It needs to be pared down. If Harper can begin cutting back on that growth, it could do a lot of good in restoring faith in their ability to be fiscally responsible and run an efficient government. If Harper does so, MPs from Liberal and NDP will cry "we don't want to Americanize Canada" and definitely they will block the budget by uniting Bloc Quebecois.

Yes I obviously know what productivity is, but please explain to me how this is a Canadian specific problem and how to fix it. How are we falling behind other countries in specific?? How are we to imporve? AH yes. You don't know, the Toronto Star doesn't know, the talking heads on TV don't know, and the CBC doesn't know. But just like Global Warming, we're going to take this as profacy and use this as an excuse as to why we're failing. The problem is: our work force is shifting from high paying jobs (such as auto) to low paying jobs (selling shoes in WalMart), which results in the living standard going down. Our high productivity industry is shrinking because of the elite fly south and closing/bankruptcy of automobile/telecom companies, etc. So even the economy is up and unemployment rate is down, this growth is unsustainable.

No way. The routine is: American/Israel starts war, then UN security council appeals for cease file, and then blue helmit from other countries involves in Peacekeeping.

Bottom line, the OLG should compensate all the lottery winnings claimed by retailers to all buyers/players, provided that they have evidence of purchase.