Wild Bill

I'd be glad to see him go if he was replaced by a real conservative! John is such a pink Tory that he is no real alternative to Dalton. Dalton may be a little dumber but his values and philosophy seem much the same.

Gee, that would have been a smart move! It's hard enough for the Tories to attract votes from factory workers. You're suggesting they should REALLY tick them off? Besides, are you implying it was only a Tory sin? That the others are blameless?

I've never understood how some are so quick to believe that Mulroney is not only Harper's buddy but also pulling Harper's strings. Harper helped to almost destroy Mulroney's party! With fiendish glee! Reformers looked on the Tories as not much different from the Liberals. That's why they felt the need for a new party. Must have been a lot of folks who agreed with them. In elections before the merger they received over a million votes here in Ontario alone. No, Mulroney and Harper may have forged an accommodation but it is a huge stretch to paint Mulroney as Geppeto to Harper's Pinnochio.

Yeah, it smells but that's the way of the world! Anybody in Hamilton/Niagara has always known that when factories gave out summer jobs preference always went to those with relatives in the plant. 'Course, those were the days when there were summer jobs to give out! Anyhow, never heard a peep from any NDP or good ol' union boys about the practice. Or Liberals, for that matter. Hamilton has always been a strong union town. Guess it's only a sin if a Tory does it. Has anyone checked to see if any fathers from the other parties have done the same thing? It would be quite hypocritical if they were found to also be guilty but not surprising - they ARE all politicians after all!

Oh, I'm fine with overspending! It's a sin of ALL parties! The argument comes over what they define as necessities and what others may call waste. I admit that I don't see Harper's crew as quite as bad as some Liberal governments over the years but his crew are FAR from blameless! After all, they ARE politicians, you know!

You may have missed the point! Those against Miller's proposal are offended because it does nothing to reduce the number of ILLEGAL handguns used in CRIME! It's a mere photo-op, nothing more. So why waste our time and attention instead of actually DOING something??!! That's why some call for harsher sentences on the actual criminal use of firearms. You have to wonder, is Miller actually so stupid he thinks his proposal would do something positive about getting guns off the street or is he on the take to some gangstas who want to be sure their victims don't have guns to protect themselves? It just seems so obvious that criminals will ignore a handgun ban.

Sorry. I thought we were talking about hydro as an alternative. What are the chances that transmission lines running to coal generators are conveniently close to hydro sources? That's what could make hydro a more expensive choice than some might think.

It's not just the hydroelectric plant. It's the dam and its effect on the local environment. Many if not most of the developed sites are on First Nation land and they often resist making any deal at any price. It's also the transmission lines. Hundreds if not thousands of miles of towers and high tension cables. Often over poor or wet soil that causes problems with stability. Maintenance men might have to fly in! Those of us who haven't much or any technical experience often don't realize the extra complications. Like championing electric cars without considering that this will mean far greater demands on our electricity grid. Details, details. As Gilda Radner used to say: "It's always something!"

Ohmigod, now they're killing companies in over 30 countries! Sorry, I couldn't resist! I came from the high tech world of electronics. I was there selling the first micoprocessor chips. It was in the late 70's/early 80's when all the MBA's started to appear. As I had said, they killed two companies I had worked for and there were many others in my industry. Mind you, that was back in the late Pleistocene Era and perhaps things are different today. The problems that I experienced with formally trained business managers was that they would pay no attention to the specific and unique details of your business. Rather, they assumed that their textbook examples were universal. This led to some very inappropriate decisions to my specific industry. For instance, most textbooks at the time used the automotive industry as their example. In that field sole source relationships with suppliers were a positive venue. In the electronics manufacturing industry it was the kiss of death! In fact, licensing agreements on new parts were mandatory between manufacturers as most customers would refuse to spec in any part that did not have drop-in industry alternatives available. One distributor I worked for had a common problem that the incredible growth in the electronics industry of the time meant that it was easy for sales to outstrip receivables. In effect, you had sold so much you had a problem getting your payments back fast enough to pay your suppliers for your inventory. One spankin' new MBA consulted his textbooks and announced that we were going to reduce our inventory level to get things back in line. We were to do this by no longer buying items for stock but only for customer orders. He told us that this would mean that the customers would buy the items on the shelf and by not replacing them our inventory dollar level would then drop to a more reasonable level. Of course, if he had understood our distribution industry he would have realized that nothing of the kind was going to occur. What happened was that the in-demand fast moving items were not replaced on the shelves so when customers called for price and delivery we had no stock and lost the order. We ended up with an inventory that was at the desired dollar level but was made up of slow moving items only. Without the common in-demand items many customers just no longer bothered to check with us at all! I'll agree that my perspective may not be broad enough to justify my opinions Michael and that you need more points to draw a curve but after my personal experiences I'm afraid I'm rather jaded about what is taught in business schools. As you might imagine, I read the "Dilbert" comic strip faithfully every day in my morning paper and collect the author's books. If you are familiar with the strip you may know that the author swears he does not make up any of his themes but uses real case histories sent to him by readers who work in offices as the basis of his humour. Many times I recognize situations that actually happened at some places I had worked!

Ad hominem, ad hominem. <yawn> You misunderstand. It's like when you see an item at a yard sale and you prepare to dicker with the owner but he cites a price so ridiculously high that you don't bother with a counter offer. You just walk away. After reading your arguments I find them so spiteful and contrived that getting involved in rebuttals seems a waste of time. If Harris discovered a cure for cancer I would expect you to claim that he was just gleefully putting doctors out of work! The "DangerMouse2" label was a reference to another user who shows up in native american threads. Debate with him seems similarly futile, at least to me, for essentially the same reasons. The only difference is degree. Don't be concerned. You have no need to care if I don't respond to your posts. There seem to be a lot of others who will play with you. I just have only so much spare time and I don't want to waste it. You probably find little value in my posts, since I don't always agree with you.

I think some folks are so busy being partisan in attacking Harper that they are missing the more likely explanation, that Harper just wanted to dump Bernier! After all, he was becoming an embarrassment. So we get the story of Bernier leaving secret documents at his girlfriend's home. Doesn't anyone else find it interesting that SHE was the one supposedly concerned over the security aspects when she found the documents that Bernier had left? That she immediately turned them in? It makes her look more responsible than Bernier! This was not Bernier's only indiscretion. I think it more likely that this is a story contrived by Harper and his PMO to get rid of Bernier for the time being. Since he's from Quebec it's more of a knuckle-rapping. He'll be back after an appropriate time-out. There's some ironic justice in making the girlfriend the one who did the right thing, as compensation for her being dragged through the mud by those attacking Bernier and Harper. Or maybe I'm just too suspicious of politics...

You cite a lot of non sequiturs! I've been around a number of corporate boards and rarely does ANY director have "hands-on" experience with the product or service. Directors are chosen for their connections and influence. If you need someone who knows how to build the widget you hire him! Harris would have the connections and influence in spades. Actually, you've pushed one of my buttons. I've lived through two companies that were driven out of business by non hands-on management. It got so that if I saw too many MBA's coming on board I would send out my resume! I've read that Canada, America and Britain are the only countries in the world with specific education programs for business management. Everyone else prefers managers to come up from the ranks, preferably starting on the floor. Not surprisingly, our 3 countries have the reputation as having the poorest management! No, Harris is sought after for his salesmanship, which is a skillset that schools can only enhance but never create. Once again, it looks like just because you don't like the man you stretch your argument to fit your hand-picked facts. I'm not defending the man. I'll never forgive him for amalgamating Hamilton with its suburbs. There's not a single blessed instance where my taxes have gone down or my service levels gone up. It's been a total hardship. I voted for him for the usual Canadian reason: he didn't smell quite as bad as the other guys! I just think your argument is more emotional than rational. I'd even defend Dalton from the same sort of attack.

We simply refuse to pay it! How on earth did they ever expect to enforce it? Only a sap country like Canada would have ever intended to pay a fine anyway.

Margrace, you've gone over the hill, I'm afraid. Hereafter I shall refer to you as "DangerMouse2".

There are no such things as surpluses in this context. The correct term is "overtaxation".

I have no problem with any media outlet having a leftwing bias. It's just that they are usually so arrogant, rude and snarky about it! They seem to think that they have a monopoly on human kindness and if anyone disagrees with their methods then they must be against their goals. The goals are often noble but the proposed methods of getting there are usually impractical at best and at worst totally loopy!

He'd be a total fool! Given Hillary's personality, she'd likely constantly try to exceed her station and attempt to run the country! Every day would be a fight.

"In the Beginning, there were hot lumps! Whirling noiselessly through the vast reaches of...SPACE!" - Firesign Theater

Ok, I'll give you that one but DON'T try to tell me that Ralph was cool!

Right away it says in that article that Harper did NOT name anybody! Although if Rae fits let him wear the shoe... I may not be the best googler but at least I can read...

I have to wonder about some folks' definition of bias. Is it not possible that the reason MacLeans doesn't run pro-Muslim articles is because in the context of tolerance or politics they simply don't have any reports to base them on? I mean really, we all know that the vast majority of Muslims in western countries are no different in tolerance than the rest of us. So what? They're not the ones we need to worry about. After MacLeans runs an article on mom's apple pie, what else could they write? Maclean's is not "The Family Circus". We read it mainly for the politics. How many incidents occur where a Muslim community expels an Imam for advocating violence against non-muslims? How many terrorist wannabes are turned in to police by their own Muslim community? Tell it to Rushdie! When I read Steyn's book I got no sense at all that he was attacking Muslims as individuals. He clearly mentions that most are law-abiding folks. However, many are NOT and those are the ones we must deal with! Incidents like the HRC attacks on MacLeans and Steyn only reinforce Steyn's premise that perhaps western society no longer has the intestinal fortitude to defend or promote its own values and thus deserves its own fate. When Iran becomes a champion of free speech then and only then will I accept their values as equivalent to our own.

By my yardstick we still owe you! If you're ever in my part of the woods remind me that I owe you a couple of beer! I think my Dad would forgive me, even though he was Navy...

Aren't you stretching things a mite? I recall the issue to be one of Rae against Israeli foreign policy. Rae seemed to feel that Israel "should turn the other cheek" instead of retaliating when some Palestinian group lobbed a few rockets onto their homes and schools. Being against Israeli defending itself doesn't make you an anti-semite. Just stupid!

can you give a link or two? My understanding was that they had not even been delivered yet! The problem was that the minister promised the aid without checking if we actually had the planes... If this is true it's obviously wrong to say something is wrong with a plane we've never flown...

i don't follow your math. My point was that a tax on a tax increases the net with increases in the price. You seem to be describing a new fixed excise tax as equivalent. That's where I get confused. A fixed tax is subject to federal and provincial budgets. Theoretically they can be stopped or at least amended. With a tax on a tax the government's take just automatically goes up. I also don't understand why you see no problem with the GST on gas prices being unique. Should I therefore assume you support the idea of the same situation being extended to anything else that is taxed? As for the corner gas station raising and lowering his prices by 1 cent, perhaps you've never examined the situation. He may not have 1 cent of profit margin to play with! His refinery dictates his cost, often with a cost above the resale price and then kicks back with volume rebates. Even an independent must play ball or risk losing his supply. There are other factors of course, just enough to legally confuse the situation so that it would be difficult if not impossible to make a price-fixing charge stick. In reality of course that's exactly the way it is. BTW, in my part of the country Petro Canada was always the first to raise their price and the last to lower it. That's why I've always refused to buy from them.