Wild Bill

Why should I bother if I don't consider drugs and the environment to be the two most important issues of the campaign? Or for that matter, if I don't respect the other parties as alternative choices? They might suit me better about drug and environmental issues but their approaches to the economy scare the hell out of me! I'd be able to enjoy a toke in a nice park but have no job and be too poor to feed my kids! No thanks! I've got better things to do with my time. There's a rerun of the Borg Babe on TV. You know, Two of Huge!

More trade is always welcome and it's always a good idea to diversify your business. One customer's business drops but another's may increase, helping to protect the overall balance. That being said, America will ALWAYS have a huge advantage in shipping costs, being right next door instead of across an ocean. I use a lot of vacuum tubes that are made in China, Russia and Europe and the prices have gone up at least 15% in the last few months due to higher fuel costs in shipping.

Is Jack's plan "revenue neutral" or will my taxes go up? EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT! Where does the money come from?

I also think you're all wet on this one! The depth of animosity for Bob Rae here in Ontario can be downright vicious! It amazes me that Ontario NDP fans seem oblivious to it! My father-in-law is an elderly Italian gentleman who has fiercely supported the Liberals since he came to Canada in 1950. This is far from unusual in his demographic but sometimes I swore he'd vote for a Charles Manson if he were a Liberal! I learned quickly to curb my tongue at family dinners. Last week he told me he was voting Tory! You could have knocked me over with a feather! Apparently he had received a call from a Liberal fundraiser in Ottawa who made no bones about the fact that they desperately needed cash donations from folks like him. My father-in-law tore a strip off him! He told him that as long as Bob Rae was in the Liberal Party he wouldn't be giving a dime! What's more, he was going to vote Tory! He told them that Bob Rae had set Ontario back 50 years after his disastrous term in power as Ontario's premier. If such a loyal Liberal partisan as he could have such a seismic change of heart I can't help but think he's far from the only one!

I did not mean in the slightest that your conclusions were a result of hysterical faulty reasoning. I was only teasing you about being hysterical for the downturn in Liberal fortunes, considering your often avowed support! I find your analysis of the Liberal predicament to be quite logical. True, the election campaign is still early and unexpected variables may arise that could dramatically change expected outcomes. Nonetheless, that doesn't change the fact that given the factors you know today your conclusions are well thought out and deserving of respect. Lots of others are making much less informed predictions than yours!

Well, one thing's for sure. He just pulled a CLM (Career Limiting Move) with Harper. Maybe I should feel a little sorry for Ritz as we do seem to make these things into politically incorrect molehill mountains but somehow, I just can't. We already had one guy tossed from the PMO and Ritz should have known better. Ritzy's gonna get it!

Maybe this one will be useful to you: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics Your projections don't jive with this poll but it does give you a regional breakdown you might find interesting.

Same old, same old. Knocking down one guy does not raise another up. We lost the jobs under the LIberals. We lost a PILE when Bob Rae ran the province and Dalton hasn't helped either! Why dump it all on Harper? Granted Harper could have done more. So what? Why should one vote for one of the other guys? From my perspective, the other guys are much worse! As a Canadian I've become resigned to the fact that I will never have a perfect choice. I may never even have a merely good one. Canadians are lucky to be able to chose a candidate who smells a bit less than the others. Harper might need some deodorant but Dion and Layton REALLY REEK! All part of being Canadian.

I think you should pay close attention to jdobbin's reply to your post, Kimmy. Agreed, he seems a bit hysterical from shell shock but while you seem to coming from a "faith" perspective he's arguing from dollars and cents. Faith may survive but it's a LOT tougher when you're broke! The financial situation for the Liberals is much more dire than folks seem to realize. I don't think their creditors will be willing to wait for them to stage any future rebirth. They want their money NOW and bankruptcy may be the Liberals only way out.

That's WAY too simplistic to be accurate! Reform was hardly just western PC's. It stole a LOT of Liberals and NDP away as well! For many years the PC's enjoyed western support only by default. The Liberals had nuked their bridges with the National Energy Ripoff and many supporters across the ENTIRE country had come to believe that the PC's were conservative in name only. They were really just Liberals who had more trouble winning governments. There was even a term going around at the time; "disenfranchised conservative". This referred to a voter who wanted a conservative choice but there really wasn't one, just a party that had the name on their tshirts. Reformers were horrified by the growing national debt load and also were offended by the brokerage brand of politics where regions were bought off for votes with our own tax money. Quebec may have been the biggest symbol but it was hardly the only recipient. They felt that reform of the very structure of federal government was necessary, to make it self-sustaining and more truly democratic. They stumped for senate reform, where it was "elected, equal and effective". They wanted free votes in Parliament to be the norm rather than the rare exception. They wanted our MP's to represent their constituents' wishes to Ottawa and not the reverse, which is our historical status quo. The PC's losses were never their top brass. They tended to keep their generals but lost all their privates, corporals and sargeants! By this I mean that all the workers, campaigners and volunteers bailed on the PC's. These were the folks that for years had felt taken for granted. I know, for I was one of them! We were all expected to do the grunt work and raise the money but we had ZERO effective input into PC party policy! Once those "grunts" saw a party available that would allow them to sit in on policy committees that would produce BINDING party principles there was no holding them back! They couldn't leave the PC's fast enough. So no, it wasn't just grumpiness towards Quebec, although there was a widespread belief that Quebec was favoured for its votes and those in the west were taken for granted. The tipping point came with a maintenance contract for F-18's that was given to a Quebec firm when a Manitoba one had more experience, resources and the cheaper bid. That ignited the fire that sparked the western growth of Reform but it was the rest of it that accounted for several million votes across eastern Canada. Reformers were never looking to take a bigger piece of the pie by reducing Quebec's cut. They simply wanted things fair across the country! They didn't like a system where ANY region was bought by tax money bribes! Just FYI!

Hey, I'm by Hamilton where we've been losing good jobs for over 25 years, long before Harper. It's a cinch that pretty well every one at John Deere made a LOT more money than me! What makes you Welland folks so special? What makes it all Harper's fault? What could the other guys do besides bail you out by taxing guys like me MORE?

It sounds like things have improved these past few years! Glad to hear it! Meanwhile, when comparing with a waiter or a store clerk it's important to remember that such an employee does not normally expect being a target to be part of his job description. Unless he's working in Toronto, of course!

Cite, please? I've seen too many newspaper accounts of soldiers forced to go to food banks to feed their families and military trained tradesmen and pilots who bail out immediately after their hitch to private industry because of the huge difference in pay scales to believe your post. What I've heard is, the pay is crap and even when you sign up it can take a year before they can spare a cot and a training instructor to actually take you in! We've got some people on this board with personal experience who can tell us if you're right or not. I'm very interested n hearing from them.

I'd like to quote you post #16, of your very own! "The fact of the matter is that these people were willing to take the risk not knowing for certain what the consequences were going to be. And the expiriments have just begun. Just because the majority of scientists thought that this thing would cause no problems doesn't justify taking the risk." You seem to be flexible in your views.

I happen to live just west of Niagara Falls...

I think you've made this claim before. How do you figure the Liberals are NOT a regional party? Last time I looked they had a lot of Ontario, Quebec, a few seats in the Maritimes but only the odd "Landslide Annie" west of Manitoba. Or don't you think western Canada is important enough for a "national party" to have good representation?

Try sending a PM complaint to Charles Anthony. Although I too have been wondering how CR can get away with being as rude as the worst of Babble.ca. He's entitled to his wacky opinions but not his total lack of manners. Perhaps CR IS Charles Anthony!

Oh, I dunno! How much would the money spent on the Liberals gun registry bought for the military? Or what they blew with the HDRC?

Your wasting your time, I'm afraid. You will never get any sort of proof from this poster. He seems to feel he speaks "ex cathedra". Like the Pope, we are simply supposed to believe him because he says so, period and end of story. I suggest you do as I have done. Put him on your "ignore" list.

"ARTHUR: How do you do, good lady. I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who's castle is that? WOMAN: King of the who? ARTHUR: The Britons. WOMAN: Who are the Britons? ARTHUR: Well, we all are. we're all Britons and I am your king. WOMAN: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective. DENNIS: You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship. A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes-- WOMAN: Oh there you go, bringing class into it again. DENNIS: That's what it's all about if only people would-- ARTHUR: Please, please good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle? WOMAN: No one live there. ARTHUR: Then who is your lord? WOMAN: We don't have a lord. ARTHUR: What? DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week. ARTHUR: Yes. DENNIS: But all the decision of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting. ARTHUR: Yes, I see. DENNIS: By a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,-- ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: --but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more-- ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet! WOMAN: Order, eh -- who does he think he is? ARTHUR: I am your king! WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you. ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings. WOMAN: Well, 'ow did you become king then? ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, [angels sing] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king! DENNIS: Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: Well you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! ARTHUR: Shut up! DENNIS: I mean, if I went around sayin' I was an empereror just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me they'd put me away! ARTHUR: Shut up! Will you shut up! DENNIS: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system. ARTHUR: Shut up! DENNIS: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! HELP! HELP! I'm being repressed! ARTHUR: Bloody peasant! DENNIS: Oh, what a give away. Did you here that, did you here that, eh? That's what I'm on about -- did you see him repressing me, you saw it didn't you?" After reading the opening post, this quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail just seemed appropriate, somehow. Certainly the prose is very similar. Perhaps they have the same writer?

I wouldn't dismiss his platform so quickly. There is a BIG difference between how a lawyer might feel about the injunction wording and how the average Caledonia citizen may feel! McHale will be campaigning on the spirit of our Law and not the letter of it. Thinking that his political support would disappear because of the technicalities of a legal paper is simply not "real world".

It would seem that "TCCK" has gotten very quiet after my post! I guess I won't get a response. Somehow I'm not surprised...

Wrongo! The deficit really didn't get rolling until AFTER Trudeau! When Pearson was running the country I don't think we had a deficit. If we did it was "mice nuts". You must have been to young to remember, or involved in "hippy times".

Well, according to the papers in my neck of the woods, about 33% of tobacco! That's based on published estimates that 1 in 3 cigarettes smoked in Southern Ontario comes from illegal (native) channels.

We've been there and got the tshirt! Canadians of Serbian descent fought in the Kosovo war in the early 90's, often fighting against Canadians. Many of them are back in Canada now, with no repercussions. Draw your own conclusions.