maplesyrup

Because they have chosen to pay down the debt. Case closed pal!

A lot about a high Canadian dollar is psychological, with a higher dollar you ask the average Canadian and they will say they feel better. Well what's wrong with feelin' good! It can do wonders for health, productivity, relationships, etc. Often significant factors are frequently left out the equation. For example when David Suziki first enrolled in an economics course in university he asked what the costs were for the damage to the environment for an economic project. Suzuki was told by the economics professor that environmental costs were not assessed, that they did not enter into the equation. You do know what Suzuki's next step was, don't you? Suzuki withdrew from the economics course. Canada's business schools have failed us, and shame on them!

Actually governments are there to spend money, not save money. Seriously.

Stoker.....there is only so much money available, and we had to make choices debt vs military. Somehow you are completely missing the point.

August1991.....some of the American universities I am sure are right up there with the best ones in the world like Oxford, LSE, Cambridge, etc., The Ivy League Schools and a few others. But Canada has a marvelous education system, and similar to our health care system, it should not be denegrated as both are far superior to the American way! Sure Canada's system has problems but you sound so down on our country, it seems you would be much happier in the US.

August1991.....the problem with those statistics is that probably half the American College Degrees are worthless (I.E. basketweaving in Florida). And why do universities always have to be efficient? Since when has efficiency become a university's madate?

Ottawa strengthens bill covering whistle-blowers This is quite a switch, so Jack Layton really is bending Paul Martin's ear. Interestin'

Guys....I hate to break it to you, but we are not at war. When Canada is at war we'll get our act together militarily. Untill then we will continue to pay down the debt. You can't do it all. We made decisions about 10 years ago to seriously begin paying down our debt, which forced all government departments, including our Armed Forces, to cut back on expenditures. Money doesn't grow on trees, and even if it did, there are not too many good sized trees left in Canada. It is a question of priorities, n'est pas?

PFF.....I agree. The less party poltics are involved the better off Canadians will all be. Now the trick is how do we get people to abolish their roles and functions, and just represent their constituents, as most of the time they want to grow and grow.

Well with the price of oil holding its head above $US50. a barrel, Alberta should have lots of jobs in their debt-free society.

NC.....excellent sentiments. Newfoundland and Labrador is spectactorily beautiful as well and I especially enjoy the N & L culture, (I.E. its people).

PFF.....thanks. Of course family and friends. I was just listing a few of the uniquely Canadian perks. Family and friends are universal. And also in Canada can work at pretty much whatever we desire as long as we are prepared to apply the learning curve.

Now we're rockin'. Canuk dolla traded at $US80.03 yesterday. This is lookin' mighty fine to me. Loonie trades above 80 cents US

Let each of us list the ways that have significance for us: We are at least attempting to have a true democracy English and French are both official languages in this great land. Even though your white male is still in a prilileged position in our society, women are almost on parity in the highest court of the land, as four out of nine members are female on the current Supreme Court of Canada. Visible minorities are accepted probably moreso here in Canada, than any other society due to our constantly addressing toleran ce in our schools. The less privileged in our society have a small but important social service network to help them through the tough times. I have been told it is arrogant to say this, but BC is really a beautiful province. We have an abundance of all material things. We have been at peace for close to 60 years, I think, apart from a few separatists shenanigans in the late sixties, early seventies in Quebec. We used to have good hockey (joke!)

Undaunted, Liberals push legislative agenda Well all of Canada knows who backed down, who blinked first, don't we!

Clarkson follows tense Commons vote I am looking forward to the time wher the government is defeated, and Adrienne will wield the power, and she will say to Stephen, sorry pal, you are not going to become pm, I am calling a Canadawide general election.

Plots and rumours enveloped the Hill Intesestin' to see the Liberals mistake a legitimate family medical emergency for disloyality. Typical Liberal arrogance.

Kenyan Environmentalist Wins Peace Prize Contrast this Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai works for both the: Environment and the Poor and this Canada's Green Party works for the: Environment Do you see the difference? Now we can see why the Green Party will take votes from the Conservatives in the next election.

Get a grip guys. What percentage of the Vancouver Police Force is women? Visible minorities? Aboriginals?

cgarrett....good topic. I remember back in my university days a couple of conflicting, at least for me, thoughts: 1 How conservative our academic instutions really are (so I don't think our university problems originated with free trade). 2 How privileged I was to be attending a Canadian university, so we need to protect them as much as we possibly can, and I agree that education needs to be rescinded and/or excluded from any trade agreements.

House pulls back from brink The only one coming out of this with a clean bill of health is Jack Layton. The other three leaders have egg all over their face. Duceppe for trying to engineer the Conservatives into government with no Quebec MPs, an ideal Bloc situation, Harper for his desparate attempt to grab power for the Conservatives, unsupoported by the electorate, and Martin for his arrogance for acting like he has a majority. It looks like Layton's 20 years experience in municipal politics is already paying off in spades. Whose brilliant idea was it to make Tony Valeri the House Leader?

New Farm Worker Abuses Uncovered I hope the voters in Surrey Panarama Ridge will reflect on the impact of the Campbell Liberal policies when they go to the polls in less than 3 weeks.

Scrambling for the pole position This Canadian Arctic sovereignty is one area one would think that political parties of all persuasions could put aside their silly macho jockeying, and work on together for the good of all Canadians.

Premiers exasperated at Bloc's tactics It is obvious that Harper's days are numbered, he can't even get the Cons premiers on board. Which a Micky Mouse operation this new Cons party is. Martin brought on the problem but Harper's solution a raw unsupoported attempt to grab power has backfired on him. These 2 clowns deserve each other.

As I suspected. The sooner Canada pulls out of any military dealings with Britain or the US the better off we will be They are just another bunch of dirty scumbag businessmen: Brits 'hoodwinked' us over rusty boats: official