maplesyrup

What has to be done, that has not already been done? Not who, but how? How does it get solved?

Western ranchers poising to pack This seems like a good approach on the surface but not sure I completely understand the stakes. I have a question though about Martin's strategy. When he attacks the US about their beef cattle policies, who brings the note to George Bush for Martin explaining to Bush that this is just to get Canadian voter's support and that he, Martin, doesn't really mean it? I'm serious about this question BTW.

Bloc diversifies sovereignty pool What do you think the next referedum question will be? What exactly does one mean by sovereignty-association?

Bloc diversifies sovereignty pool What exactly is sovereignty-association? What will the question be on the next refereendum ballot? I don't understand what you mean by the fact that the feds lied about the successful child care program in Quebec - what do you think the federales should have said?

Canada's Crime

Is the real worl too painful for us to accept? Maybe it's time to lose some of our denial, eh? Article

Our Canadian business community is very sick. Every day brings new stories of theft, corruption, white collar crime. Where have we gone wrong as a society? Is it in our families? Is it in our schools? How did we go so terribly wrong? Article

This is all right-wing fear mongering, whether it is the school system, the health care system, the military, whatever. Our institutions are doing quite fine thank you. You seem so unhappy here in Canada. Why don't you move to where you would be happier? And why in the world would we want closer relations with the US? We need to move away from them as much as possible. Haven't the softwood lumber industry or the cattle industry crisises taught you anything.

Why in the world would you compare Canada's military spending with the UK or the US, the two biggest war mongering nations on the planet? Please don't let anyone stop you. Go join the armed forces if you like it so much!

Current Operations

To anyone who is concerned about Canada's weakened military position, I recommend that you go and sign up. And if you are distressed that Canada does not have troops in Iraq, by all means go down to the US and sign up. There is way too much fearmongering in our society these days, and some people are trying to use it as an excuse to turn Canada into a police state. If we get into some kind of a national crisis, like we always have in the past, Canadians will rise to the occasion. Think of it like a neighbour's house catching on fire. We have firepeople, neighbours, community groups, and governments to help out. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 movie has shown us what fearmongering can lead to. Thank goodness there are people like him around to challenge the nonsense permeating from South of the border.

pff.....any group, whether it is a family, a school, a busineess, or a government, works best for the people involved, where all the parties work together for the good of the person, student, client, etc. Had some involvement in a school breakfast program in a poor area, when I lived in Toronto. At that school, everyone worked together for the good of the students, and teachers were lined up around the block to work there. It was a very motivating atmosphere.

A lot of people take about the advantages of a decentralized system, i.e. from federal to provincial gov't. But why stop there? Why not decentralize the employees? Let's remove a lot of this abusive power that doctors have, and turn it over to the nursing profession, who often have a much better assessment of the situation. This "DOCTOR IS GOD" mentality is the main reason for our financial health care woes and has got to end. First and foremost: "PUT THE DOCTORS ON SALARY".

Well that does cedrtainly does not sound like like a very healthy situation. Perhaps a large part of the problem is that a huge amount of the public resources that ought to go to the public school system, are being drained off by the private school system. My understanding is that regular private schools were not very supportive of special needs children, and often refused to accept them, but that the public system accepted them all. Anyone who has awareness of special needs people I'm sure, realizes the importance of having a highly educated and tolerant society.

That is another part of the "BIG LIE" Of course we had troops, what do you think we have in Alghanastan? Robots? What's this nonsense that Canada's military is in trouble? When there is a legitimate need Canada has proven itself to be there. The idea that going into Iraq was going to in some way deal with the perpetrators of 9/11 is a crook, you now know it, I now know it, and most everyone knows it now. Even most Americans now realize that this Bush excursion was a huge mistake. So when someone makes such a serious error in judgement, they need to be removed from position of power or influence, so as to not cause further irreputable harm.

Nothing is perfect but I too like PBS news reporting. Usually they do a quick rundown of the day's news, and then they take two or three issues and provide an in depth analysis. I wish though that PBS would have more variety in their news analysts. The commercial or private networks, and unfortunately including the CBC are mainly propaganda, at least when politics is being discussed.

Are Private Schools Really Better? Have no objections to private schools as long as not one cent of public money, either in grants, subsidies, or tax breaks, goes towards their support.

People need to take more responsibility for their own personal lifestyle habits, but not quite sure how that would be measured. It has been proven that smoking is bad both for the smoker and those around the smoker. Maybe smokers need to be quarantined.

stoker........Canadians are not morons. "Shoulder to shoulder" with American troops in Iraq cannot be any more clearer. Get out Harper's letter to the WSJ. For supporting the invasion of Iraq that was a collosal blunder, confirmed by the exposure of all the lies and deceit, that has been documented over the past year. It takes courage for someone to admit they were wrong. It is time for Harper to do the right thing.

As far as I know the Georgia Straight is still independent, but the new kid on the block in BC is the online "The Tyee": http://www.thetyee.ca/index.htm

After seeing Fahrenheit 9/11 the Canadian reaction is: Canadians were so very fortunate to have had such a wise Prime Minister in Jean Chretien, when it came time to make a decision about Iraq. And it is incredible how so very wrong Stephen Harper's position was, wanting to send Canadian troops to Iraq. Stephen Harper should get down on his knees and beg Canadians' forgiveness for such a major blunder.

The US farmers are laughing all the way to the bank. How is the cattle industy regulated? Is it impacted in any way by our trade agreements, such as Expensive (Free) Trade Agreement, NAFTA, etc. It is a waste of time to just whine. If there is a complaint about the feds: 1 what specifically is the complaint based on, which unfair practice, which trade agreement has jurisdiction, etc.? 2 what is the proposed solution, that the feds are not already doing?

Vilified CRTC caught in the Act A little dose of reality, instead of a lot of the hot air being heard like, for example, the CRTC legislation is Conservative legislation.

Finally. Osama bin Laden Surrenders to Saudi Authorities (101)

Ontario to buy private clinics Now you're talking - brilliant strategy!!!