maplesyrup

Nothing like a little bit of denial. I suggested from Day One that Stronach would have been a better chioce. I think the election results speak for themselves - the Liberals will probably never be as vulnerable again. Harper has had his kick at the can but it's time for him to relinquish the reins.

If Harper decides to throw in the towel, and I think he should, he has done well, but can go no further, who apart from Stronach would be the leading choices to replace Harper?

The stop signs in Quebec have been changed, and now just say WWT, which is an abbreviation for "Woa Woa Tabernac"

Does someone have a URL that shows Canada's debt over time?

Please hand the opposition the silver bullet ... so it may finally rest in peace And on and on it goes! No kidding every country on the planet needs solid social democratic, particularly television, media outlets.

Do you really think it matters where you come from? I am not so sure about that. I think more to the point for the Conservatives is that the Alliance wing is firmly in control of the party, and with their approximatel 1/4 voter support, the Conservatives are at their maximum support level they can expect to receive from the Canadian electorate. If Conservatives chose a more moderate leader from the West I believe they would do much better than their present levels of support.

"Our polling indicates that the negative movement in Conservative support heading into voting day has continued causing a four point drop in support since that time," explained Nik Nanos, SES Research President and CEO. "This trend was particularly true in Atlantic Canada and Ontario." Regionally, the Liberals continue to dominate in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. Current polling puts the Liberals at 51% in Atlantic Canada and 49% in Ontario among decided voters. However, Quebec continues to be an Achilles heel for Paul Martin and the Liberals, as the Bloc Quebecois continues to hold a commanding lead at 53% of decided voters compared to 28% for the Liberals. "The two key battlegrounds of Ontario and Quebec continue to be a mixed bag. The Liberals gained four points in Ontario, however they have lost six points in Quebec since the federal election," said Nanos. Polling August 5th to August 11th, 2004 (Random Telephone Survey of 1,000 Canadians, MoE ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20). Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Ballot Question (857 Decided Voters, MoE ±3.4, 19 times out of 20) Liberal - 38% (up 1 from election) Conservative - 26%(down 4 from election) NDP - 17% (up 1 from election) BQ - 14% (up 2 from election, up 4 in Quebec since election) Green - 5% (up 1 from election) *14% of the 1,000 individual surveyed were undecided. On the SES website (www.sesresearch.com), you can find full questions, detailed charts, tables as well as additional commentary. Feel free to forward this e-mail. Cheers, Nik ------------------------------------- Nikita James Nanos, CMRP President & CEO SES Research T 613.234.4666 C 613.276.2731 www.sesresearch.com No suprises here as Mr "Let's Invade Iraq" Harper is deadweight, and needs to be replaced, as i have recommended all along. Every party is up, including the Greens, save for the Conservatives, who have dropped 4 percent to only 26%. At present there is only 9% difference between the Conservatives and the New Democrats, so if this trend continues, and now with Jack Layton in the House of Commons, these two parties may well be fighting it out for the second federalist place in Parliament.

That's actually a pretty good idea. Where could we put those tables up - maybe on the Jimmy Pattison bulletin boards and transit shelters. There is also another way to get more people in BC speaking French. Give them a financial incentive, like a discount on their income taxes if they can talk in French. We could have government French language testing centres set up across the province, just like the motor vehicle bureaus. Good for 5 years, and then you have to renew - be retested. Maybe it could be done in conjunction with air care, so while you are waiting for your air care results, there could a French testing machine in the waiting rooms.

From what I can tell there is little sunstance to the theory that minority government is not a constuctive time, as politicians have to really pay attention, and a lot of legislation gets passed. Another Canadian myth bites the dust! By the time these by-elections wind their way through the court system we will probably be having another general election, eh?

Martin needs activist agenda PM Martin was given sort of a second chance by the voters in the last election, but this will be his last kick at the can unless he produces. Now tell me really, is PM Martin an activist kind of guy?

Voice of the North I wonder what his version of "Oh Canada" sounds like.

Actually if I remember correctly, what Trudeau said was turn the box around and read the English side to BCers who were complaining about the French on their cereal boxes. Also think how easy that makes it to pick up additional French vocabulary: Cereal = cereale. See, that's not so bad, isn't it? Before you know it you'll be bilingual. It's a piece of cake! Do you buy cereal for the bilingual packaging to help you learn another language, or is it for the toy inside the box? Trudeau had an affinity for the West, he even married a woman from the West Coast.

Sihota and Spector's rebound relationship

Exactly. Good point. Just like the separatists in the West and in Quebec are similar as well.

That's why this whole security thing is a farce. Bush was so worried about terrorism and/or security and yet they don't even have a proper system at the airports because they don't pay decent wages and therefore don't get top notch employees. Imagine! That does not bode well for a vote of confidence in the US security system, if they don't even have people involved that know Senator Kennedy. Unfortunately that's what happens when you pay minimum wage or close to it.

Sounds like another hollow businessman's rant. Is that why he is working for Jimmy Pattison now? Where's the substance?

Sovereignty? caesar.....thanks to Mulroney and these insane trade agreements, instead of being able to supply ourselves with our own oil at a reasonable price, we now have to sell our supplies to the US. Canada can't even decide what to do with our own resources anymore. We desperately need someone like Trudeau again, especially to deal with the likes of Parizeau, Duceppe, Bush, etc. A lot of people have poo-pooed Trudeau's economic abilities, but his family controlled Champlain Oil at one time, and in hindsight, can you imagine how well off Canadians would be now if we still had our oil and could sell some of it for today's and tomorrow's prices. Our business community is so full of hot air most of the time, to the major detriment of Canadians.

What's not to like about Duplessis? The way it worked in his day was say CIL would get a contract to supply the paint to the provincial goverrnment. Now normally CIL would sell the paint for $5. a gallon, we are talking millions of gallons of paint here, but they would sell it to the government for $7 or $8. Then at election time CIL would provide money (the difference between the regular selling price for the paint and the higher price they charged the government), lots of money to the Union Nationale. Then the UN bagmen, and they actually did this, went to all the towns in Quebec just before the election, and people were offered a case of beer which cost $5 or the cash, whichever was their choice - a gift from their Premier Maurice Duplessis. Don't forget Duplessis also arrested Jehovah Witnesses on behalf of the Catholic Church. There was I believe, a Jewish restauranteur, who used to put up bail money for these JW who got arrested. Duplessis revoked his liquor license and destroyed his business. Renkarelli eventually moved to the US and opened up a restaurant there. Rekarelli's lawyer And Trudeau marched with strikers against Duplessis as well.

Canadians Tentative on Federal Liberal Government Canadians were asked to rate the performance of the federal government in eleven key policy areas. The measure was taken on a scale from one to seven where one represented strongly disapprove and seven represented strongly approve. Many of the scores were near the median (3.5) which is indicative of a wait and see attitude. The government management of tax dollars continues to be a sore spot among Canadians. On this measure, the government had an average approve/disapprove rating of 2.9 out of seven (its lowest rating). The residual fallout from the sponsorship scandal continues. Polling August 5th to August 11th, 2004 (Random Telephone Survey of 1,000 Canadians, MoE ±3.1%, 19 times out of 20). Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Policy Areas - Approval Disapproval (1= strongly disapprove, 7 strongly approve) Public Safety and Security - 4.4 out of 7 National Unity - 4.0 out of 7 Jobs and the Economy - 3.9 out of 7 Canada/US Relations - 3.8 out of 7 Agriculture - 3.8 out of 7 The Environment - 3.8 out of 7 National Defence - 3.6 out of 7 Health Care - 3.5 out of 7 Social Issues - 3.4 out of 7 Taxes - 3.3 out of 7 Managing Tax Dollars - 2.9 out of 7 So, what do ya think?

the separatists are master communicators, which creates part of the problem, for the federales. They have their act together but I am still hopeful partition can be avoided.

Why do you think the sign law in Quebec is such a big issue? No matter what one does there will always be a backlash from some small-minded provincial-type zenophobic naysayers. That's to be expected. It's time BC showed some leadership on Canada's two official languages issue anyways. BTW do you have any idea how many francophones live in BC? Do you know the statistics on the number of kids that are in French immersion in BC? Across Canada? They need reinforcement to preserve what they are learning, eh. Check it out - you may be surprised!

Just bear in mind that Josee Legault is a sovereignist so everything, and I mean everything, she says must be taken with a grain of salt, to say the least!

Trudeau hands down. Someone who had a real vision for Canada's future, was 50 years ahead of his time, though he was in the wrong party. Trudeau's low point was the War Measures Act, and his high point was the patriation of the Constitution. The Trudeau and Levesque debates were the high point of politics in Canada for me, and I liked both of them. Bourassa was the worst premier ever in my opinion, very weak, and he was partly responsible for Trudeau bringing in the War Measures Act Jean Lesage is my favourite premier - La Revolution Tranquille, where education was removed from the hands of the clergy and a lay-led Eduction Department was established in Quebec, although I do have a soft spot for some of the Jesuits like Father Malone at Loyola.

The Conservatives are Right-of-Centre. The New Democrats are Left-Of-Centre The Liberals campaign on the Left-of-Centre, and govern on the Right-of-Centre. The Liberals have shifted to the Right with Paul Martin, by how much not quite sure yet. Le Bloc Quebecois are Left-of-Centre I think.

One mandatory component , for this coming rush towards nuclear power, needs to be included as part of the deal of erecting any new nuclear plant. The Board of Directors, the CEO, and all top management, and their immediate families, are to be required to live on the plant grounds. Just a little insurance policy for the rest of the citizens in our society. In other words, let's let these fat cats put their money where their mouth is. If these plants are so safe there should be no problem with this policy, eh? It is called thinking outside the box.