maldon_road
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Posts posted by maldon_road
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Surely you can see a difference between keeping your job with fewer hours and losing your job altogether?
That's an issue that has received a lot of debate in the labor movement - do you put a lot of people on part-time work or layoff junior employees? I don't think there is a right answer.
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That's what I was referring to as the "social contract". My understanding of Rae Days has always been that they were mandatory days of unpaid leave for public servants who made over $30k, with the specific intention of cutting costs without laying people off.
I hope the Liberals never try to distinguish between a "layoff" and "mandatory days of unpaid leave".
What the Liberals do not need is an old-timer as a new leader. Rae belongs to the dinosaurs - John McCallum, Anita Neville, Marlene Jennings, Ralph Goodale etc. If they have to ditch Iggy, which seems likely, at least put a new face in there, not someone from another era.
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Let's not forget Rae Days - enforced layoffs of public servants. By the time the Tories had done a job on Rae's record the Liberals would have trouble getting 50 seats.
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I always wonder how much of a role this will play. By the time of the next election, we will have first-time voters who were born after Rae's term as premier ended.
Leblanc or perhaps Kennedy would be much stronger choices (for the reasons you give).
Politicians' sins always seem to have a habit of coming back to haunt them.
Kennedy would be okay. Leblanc's a lightweight. And of course there is Martha Hall Findlay
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There is a real possibility that Iggy will get the boot unless the Libs gain a significant number of new seats, which is not likely. Bob Rae? Controversial figure. Few will remember how divisive he was as Ontario premier as I do - I still have scars over the Bill 40 wars to prove it. But you can be sure the Tories and NDP will let the public know.
The presumptive leader in waiting is Justin Trudeau, a man with a shadow of his father's intellect and someone who cannot point to any achievements in his term as an MP. Of course he is young - maybe the plan is to let Rae fail as Dion and Iggy have done and then crown Trudeau.
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I agree I was pointing out Layton did very well.
And I do too. On another thread I opined that Layton was the best of the three anglo leaders in the debate. I just don't think his increased votes will result in any more seats than the one he has already in Quebec.
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I don't think there is any doubt that among the Anglos Iggy and Layton gained at the expense of Harper.
Economy: Michael Ignatieff (30%, +5), Stephen Harper (26%, -1), Jack Layton (20%, +2), Gilles Duceppe (16%, +2), don’t know (9%, -7).Healthcare: Jack Layton (33%, unchanged), Michael Ignatieff (27%, +4), Gilles Duceppe (21%, +3), Stephen Harper (9%, +1), don’t know (10%, -7).
Taxes: Michael Ignatieff (28%, +1), Stephen Harper (25%, +5), Jack Layton (24%, unchanged), Gilles Duceppe (15%, +2), don’t know (8%, -8).
Environment: Jack Layton (50%, +3), Gilles Duceppe (19%, +4), Michael Ignatieff (12%, -3), Stephen Harper (4%, -1), don’t know (15%, -3).
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I watched the debate and to the extent that debates mean anything,
Duceppe will keep about the same number of seats as before. Might pick up Papineau thus denying the Libs a new leader.
Layton was the best of the others - that means more votes, not more seats.
Ignatieff was better than in English but not enough to do the Libs any good.
Harper was robotic. He'll have to get his majority elsewhere.
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If there was a winner it was Layton who performed well. But we have to ask ourselves - do debates really matter? If they do the NDP should be the beneficiary of any Bloc supporters looking for a new home. The Tories might have expected some more seats in Quebec but that was never really in the cards. I don't think a majority is out of the question but looking bleaker each day as the polls start to tighten up.
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And he didn't help himself in the debate either. He was less emotional than in English and addressed policy but still let Layton get under his skin. He needed a really good performance which he didn't give.
And while Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff appeared more at ease in Wednesday’s French-language debate, just 15% of those polled thought he was the best compared to 21% who thought he won the English debate.http://www.ottawasun.com/news/decision2011/2011/04/13/17986856.html
Only issues left are whether Harper can get a majority and whether Iggy can get enough seats to keep his job.
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I don't care whether people walk down the street with their faces covered, be it an Islamic veil or a Joe Clark mask, so long as they remove them when they need to, which could be in a bank, airport or government office.
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What I suspect StatsCan will do if it remains a voluntary form - as I expect - is to take the returns they have and create the largest possible sample to reflect the country as a whole and that will be the 2011 census. And it will be completely accurate.
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I see a man of personal principles and professional integrity putting the job ahead of himself.
Harper tried to make this change quietly. Boy, did that backfire on him!
Will we see another Lawrence Cannon moment?
I watched the Question Period where Cannon valiantly defended the decision not to finance birth control in their maternal health plan. Two hours later Harper says, "Oh, yeah, we'll pay for birth control".
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So what. I'm sure many qualified individuals are waiting in line at Statistics Canada to take his place.
What they need is an individual whose first words will be: "A voluntary census will be just as accurate as a mandatory one".
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What the Liberal Party needs is a leader who doesn't sound like a condescending academic. Of course with four parties (Libs, NDP, BLOC, Greens) essentially all going after the same vote the Tories start every election with an edge.
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It doesn't send the message that Layton wants to try and work with the government does it? Pouting like a child was last session. Canadians don't want brinkmanship this time around. He must have thought that he was posting on the rabble forum again.
When you head up a party with the likes of Pat Martin and Libby Davies in it all you have to offer is arrogance and superciliousness.
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No fear of an election. Both the Bloc and the NDP know the Libs will prop up the government until their leadership convention. Dion has already said he will not defeat the government over the Speech from the Throne.
What Layton was doing was that mainstay of politics - "a meaningless gesture".
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Chretien is a Catholic.
I guess that means for 13 years the country was run from the Vatican.
It is interesting how some people try and try to make a mans religion as somehow defining his actions as Prime Minister. That viewpoint is so totally American in concept......
No more than Harper allows his religious beliefs to seep into his politics. Ever since he became leader of the CPC he has made it clear that he will not try to restrict abortion. He's keeping politics and religion separate.
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This writer thinks that McCain might help his chances of winning if he appoints a "shadow cabinet".
...For the McCain campaign, for example, announcing Steve Forbes as Treasury secretary would increase confidence in team’s economic expertise and pro-growth philosophy. Tapping Joe Lieberman as secretary of defense and U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as secretary of state would frame McCain’s foreign policy as an evolutionary step beyond the days of Dick Cheney. No doubt that Sen. Lindsay Graham would play a senior role in a McCain administration as well. Energy secretary might be filled by former Clinton CIA Director (and McCain supporter) James Woolsey, who understands the national security overlap of this challenge. Woolsey could work alongside Environmental Protection Agency director Arnold Schwarzenegger. Voucher-supporting Washington schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee could be announced as education secretary. John Kaisch could restore credibility with fiscal conservatives as OMB director, while Rudy Giuliani would make a natural attorney general or homeland security secretary.These appointments would create a vivid sense of what a McCain administration would be like — a decidedly centrist, energetic and forward-looking administration that would attract independents and win over undecided voters.
Obama could name Warren Buffett, Paul Volcker or Larry Summers as Treasury secretary and immediately calm markets, making the accusation that he is a closet socialist self-evidently absurd. Announcing intentions to name Republicans Dick Lugar as secretary of state and Chuck Hegel as secretary of defense would ease national security concerns and give evidence to his centrist instincts (John F. Kennedy made similar Republican appointments after his narrow 1960 win). Corey Booker or Mike Bloomberg might be convinced to leave their respective mayoralties to serve as secretary of education. The positions of energy and environmental secretary could be combined to coax Al Gore out of retirement for a time. Bill Richardson, Katherine Sebelius, and Wes Clark could be announced for senior positions, while Eric Holder or Deval Patrick might be attorney general. And now that Colin Powell has endorsed him, he could fill any number of positions in an Obama administration....
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Osama's Obama's lead has already dropped to 7 points.
If you go to RealClearPolitics you can see a downward trend in Obama's lead. Currently it's an Obama lead of 4.9pp.
Of course the war won't be won at the national level. It will be what happens state-by-state.
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Obama will not win the election. That is my opinion and prediction. I may be wrong and have to eat crow on that but if I understand America and Americans at all they will not bend to the lib-left, politically correct, share-the- wealth mentality of the socialist.
I don't like McCain's overzealous approach to bipartisan ship. He is right about bipartisanship being a stumbling block to progress but he should recognize the direction of the Democrats with Obama in the lead is heading into enemy territory.
I'm not sure who will win but I think a lot of people will have second thoughts about Obama (limited experience, too liberal) and by the time November 4th rolls around it will be too close to call.
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I think this is the gotcha moments that I referring to in another post. The split screen reactions of each person is like a permanent gotcha moment. If you remain frozen faced or Buddha-like, you can be accused of being aloof, bored and disengaged like Obama was and if your eyes dart around, you stick out your tongue, turn purple in the face, have spittle on your chin, grit your teeth and look like you are about to explode, you are accused of being erratic and a danger to the free world like McCain.
It doesn't help either that McCain is starting to look and sound like a tired old man, right in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades.
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The US appears likely to send its Bob Rae to the White House. And as with Bob Rae in 1990 in Ontario, there will be a long line of people with bowls extended who expect payback - and as Rae faced in Ontario in teh early 1990s, Obama will soon face a recession (if the economic pundits are to be believed).
How will Obama pay out to his constituents in the face of falling tax revenues? At present, US federal debt is a manageable 50% of GDP. This could easily rise to 70% or 80% and Obama's economic advisors will likely tell him not to worry.
I'm not ready to call it quits. The race seems to be tightening up, based on polls over the last couple of days. The states declared as "solid" for Obama are those that Kerry took - and he lost. The others are still up for grabs.
Or is that light I see not the one at the end of the tunnel but an on-coming freight train?
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I thought McCain won the first 20 minutes of the debate, his attacks were more effective and made a real impression, especially the "I am not George Bush" comment that is being played over and over today. Then McCain appeared to get tired or frustrated, and Obama's cool disposition ended up giving him the win.
This is worrying to me on two levels. First off, those viewing the debate might not sit through the whole thing, so if you just tuned in for the first 20 minutes, then you might give the advantage to McCain.
Given that the polls and focus groups seem to favor Obama one might be led to believe that a lot of people stayed for the whole show.
Layton's NPD Surging in Quebec
in Federal Politics in Canada
Posted
They have one seat, Outremont, originally won in a by-election. With this upsurge in polls Gatineau looks good for them and, maybe, Hull-Aylmer and Westmount-Ville-Marie.