Brunopolis

Alberta is in deep trouble with the current recession. It's economy is heavily based on the oil sands and for that to be worthwhile oil has to be relatively expensive. If you look closely you'll see the Canadian dollar goes up and down based on the price of oil. When oil was at it's peak so was the dollar. I really hope Alberta starts diversifying it's economy a little more. Being so reliant on these "oil booms" is a recipe for disaster.

Why are so many people happy that Ontario is having trouble? If Ontario goes down the tubes so does the rest of Canada. The Federal government's pot to draw money from will be limited to the west and this means that the government will have to claw even more money out of the west to make sure the east gets comparative services. Everyone ends up losing. Also, remember that we are one country. If Ontario does poorly people will flee from that area to a more prosperous one. Enjoy Alberta being flooded by Ontarians. You'll be Liberal one day whether you like it or not. 8)

Why should the Canadian government spend any money on nationalized daycare? They just increase the country's population through immigration. This way some other country gets to spend the money raising and educating those soon-to-be Canadian citizens. Isn't life grand?

That was a pretty well thought out response. I'll reply to each section individually. I agree with you in general on this point. However, their are a few issues with your comments Firstly, Canada has a lot less agricultural land than most people imagine. Can Canada support more people? Definitely. It's just that the vast proportion of our territory is more or less useless. http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps...ustries/mcr4022 Secondly, allowing immigration until we reach a "resource threshold" wouldn't be a pretty picture for Canada. It would work and immigration would eventually cease for the most part but our standard of living would drop immensely. Look at India, Bangladesh, and China for examples of those that more or less reached there "resource thresholds". If we have strong border security to be able to control this then I definitely agree. As long as we have the housing and jobs for them. Currently we do but if we're to increase immigration then this should become a top government priority. I also agree with incentives for people moving to underpopulated areas. My solution would be changing the equalization formula to simply be tax breaks for those that live in small towns. The more remote the higher the tax break. As for this last part I'll speak about a very personal experience regarding emigration and immigration. My family originally came from Uruguay. During the Uruguayan dictatorship everybody was barred from leaving the country. Those that would try to leave risked jail or worse. Even with these "incentives" not to leave the country thousands of people left anyways and my family was among them. Here's a short little blurb about the dictatorship mentioning how tons of people left during that time. http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Uruguay.html Now in this situation a military dictatorship wasn't able to prevent people from leaving. You think a democratic government can manage to do this? The solution isn't simple but all I'm trying to say is that it's difficult for developing nations to protect their skilled workers from being snatched by more developed economies. Particularly when developed nations take advantage of the sacrifices that poorer nations do to train their work force. I'd love to see Canada concentrate on the education of it's own people rather than rely on skilled immigration. If you look at that brain drain link I gave you you would see that the countries that experience it the worst are the ones that actually provide free university and college education to its citizens. Why cannot Canada do the same?

If Canada had no borders it would be flooded by immigrants from every nook and corner in the world. So that is why Canada regularly denies immigration requests. Also countries with limited resources cannot draft laws to stop skilled workers from emigrating. What are you going to do? Hold a gun to their head telling them not to leave? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_drain How can a third world nation possibly pay even close to what first world nations do? How can a third world nation pick itself up off it's feet if its best and brightest are specifically targetted by first world nations for immigration?

I completely agree. I immigrated from Uruguay at a young age and have spent a large portion of my life here in Canada and I can tell people here don't know how poverty affects everybody. When someone is poor/uneducated and not helped in any way the situation usually does not get better the following generation. Also these poor and uneducated people do not simply "disappear". They will remain in society and lower the standard of living for all of us. One thing that has always surprised me about Uruguay is that it offers free education(university, college, etc) to all. Not only that but non-Uruguayans who come here also get free education. Also Uruguay is the first nation to apply the OLPC program in the world. If a country so lacking in resources can manage these programs I don't understand why Canada cannot either.

"We let in too many immigrants people, too fast, and we allowed too much easy education which dilutes the degree. If everyone had a degree, it would be worth nothing in the market place. What makes it special is that not everyone has it. But if 98% of people had one, it would be required even to work at Tim Hortons. " This part of your comment really bothers me. Canada specifically target's educated citizens from third world countries because we we can't find enough workers here. Then you complain that their are too many "skilled" immigrants taking your jobs at the same time deriding the education system for making it too easy to get an education. So, essentially what I gather from your post is that Canada should reduce both the education and immigration levels of our country so you are more valuable and thus make more money. http://www.workpermit.com/news/2008-10-27/...immigration.htm http://www.migrationexpert.com/Canada/visa...skilled_workers http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration...skilled-workers http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/09/3...hewan-jobs.html http://www.globalvisas.com/news/canada_nee...igrants544.html http://www.conservative.ca/?section_id=109...;tpid=3171& http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/524429 http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/work/article/131459

It's so easy to solve our health care problems. Just open the doors to medical schools and reduce the requirements severely to enter. If someone can pass the exam requirements then they deserve to be in that position. Plain and simple. Completely ignore those complaining about too much medical staff being around. We have an excess of lawyers, teachers, and many many other professions. Why not doctors and nurses? In Uruguay(where I am from originally) anybody that graduates High School can attempt to become a doctor or nurse. Some can make it and some can't. Uruguay has a surplus of medical staff and doesn't have to pay them obscene salaries. Those that don't like it leave to other countries and the quality of the professionals here is pretty much the same. I've been to hospitals in Uruguay and the wait time is even less than those in Canada.

I voted NDP(a waste in Ottawa South with McGuinty's brother there) but John Tory's defeat was based on one poor policy plan(religious education...man that was dumb) which ended it for him right there. As for John Tory losing his seat well that's because he chose to run in a highly contested riding against another very skilled candidate(Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne) rather taking the safe route and pick a guaranteed win. 8P I wouldn't say John Tory did as badly as Dion. Some conservatives were actually considering keeping him on. Compare that to Dion. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Liberal that doesn't want Dion out....now.

Ah yes. Saying "Red Neck" is perfectly acceptable and "Nigger" isn't? The PC attitudes of this nation sometimes drive me crazy. I have nothing against rural folk. I just hope the reason for voting conservative is a fiscal one and not religious in nature. Look where that religious right got the US.

Normally I'd be against art and cultural spending, however, their is a rather big problem. Canada is a country that is next to a country that is not only very similar but also incredibly powerful both culturally and economically. Promoting some kind of national identity is important if you want Canadian's to actually care about their own nation. Not to mention the problem involving Canada's huge size. We are becoming divided and if we have no culture to unite us we'll split up. The only thing that is preventing this from happening is the immigration we are experiencing in all of the provinces.

It wasn't even a matter of moving left. The Liberal "Green Shift" plan had possibly the worst timing I've ever seen(massive increases in oil prices) so that gave the Conservatives lots of ammunition to use against the Liberals. In addition, Dion, to the populace, seems to be a rather weak leader so he wasn't really able to defend against the Conservative attacks very well. And finally, to top it all off people still are a little sour from the sponsorship scandal and aren't all that keen to give the Liberals another chance yet. I don't think it's very surprising that the Liberals had their worst showing ever. They just need a relatively reliable leader with a fairly safe platform and just wait it out. In 4-5 years they will probably win again by playing it "safe".

I don't think Harper is necessarily to blame for this since the crisis the US is facing is affecting us rather dramatically. I just wish Harper didn't blow must of our surplus on, in my opinion, poorly thought out tax breaks. Raising the minimum income tax bracket would be a tax break for everybody but it would especially help the poor, encouraging them to work, and reducing the burden of the social services we spend on them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Accountability_Act

Unfortunately, their democratic choices are taking more money than their fair share from the government pot. In addition, anything that is in the federal culture and arts budget tends to disproportionately go to Quebec. Sure it benefits them but it creates discontent among the rest of Canada. Particularly the two money makers(Ontario and Alberta). A real solution would be either reducing equalization payments to zero over a period of a few years or at least make sure the money we are sending to them isn't going to services above and beyond our own. This way Quebec can claim self-sufficiency and people won't have a reason to dislike them.

With the amount of sovereignty and special laws and rules Quebec has right now they should really just seperate. Their wouldn't really be too much of a change from right now. I've seen some nations where it's easier to move from one country to the other than going from any other province in Canada to Quebec.

Even though I voted NDP I completely agree with the donation limit that Conservatives put in place. The last thing we need is unions and corporations pulling the strings of our elected officials like our neighbours to the south. As for the party of the common citizen? Unfortunately, Canada doesn't really have a "common citizen" party because we're so fractured overall. Canada will never really be "united" due to it's size and this also applies to politics with parties tending to congregate in particular areas. So it's a little hard to say one party represents the "common citizen".

The only problem with Bob Rae is that it gives the conservatives a lot of ammunition to use against the Liberal party. A former NDP premier now the leader of the Liberal party? Then again the Liberal's always claim NDP-like policies during elections then convert to a more conservative governing style. So overall it seems to be a toss up. Still I think it's best to go with a safer choice than Bob Rae.

Canada does everything possible to make people not vote so what do you expect. I'm surprised the voter turnout is as high as it is with an average of 50-60% of all voters being completely discredited with the current system. Not to mention the elections are often on weekdays. Seriously....weekdays. If that doesn't show you the system is messed up then I don't know what will. If you work from 9 to 5, get home, prepare supper, and eat it's already 7-8 o'clock. Then you have to wait 45 minutes in line with everyone else to vote. It's a hefty hassle and for many who already think their vote will be useless any ways(if they live in a Liberal or Conservative stronghold) the chance of them not voting is significantly higher. At the very least every election should be on a Sunday and be considered a holiday so work does not get in the way for people.

Why do people think that proportional represention leads to control by fringe parties? This is hardly the case by my experience. I've been living in Uruguay for the past few months and I see a total of 4 parties with PR. "Blancos" = Rural conservatives, "Colorados" = Urban conservatives, "Frente Amplio" = Leftist party, "Independiente" = a fringe party with only 1 seat(out of 99 total). I would hardly call any of them fringe parties besides the the "Independiente" one. Even this party is rather reasonable. I don't understand how so many fellow Canadians are against a more fair and even democracy.

This actually works. I've been living here in Uruguay for the past few months and that is exactly the system here. The only difference is that their is a second round after the first where people vote for either of the top 2 candidates. This makes sure the party favoured by most gets elected and prevents fringe parties from holding any power. Personally I think it's a great system.

It works well for the rest of the first world. If you dont like to pay taxes you can always move to Dubai. As for spending your money. Im sure you do know how to spend it. Unfortunately, not everyone does and safety nets are their to protect those that stumble(whether it be a job loss, health problems, etc). Sure this may not be your problem but just letting people fall with no help isnt always the best solution. Homeless and jobless people dont just ¨disappear¨. Go ask Detroit and Houston that.

I dont think Canada should slow down immigration. Instead it should simply be more picky about where it takes people from. Accepting thousands of poor immigrants from poor nations can be problematic but their are many nations were the vast bulk of the population make excellent candidates for immigration. Countries that come to mind are Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. My cousin that has a university degree in agronomy and can speak English isnt allowed to immigrate(or even visit) to Canada yet entire poor Somalian families with barely any English skiills are? The problem isnt immigration into Canada. The problem is the kind of immigrants we accept.

It is pretty obvious that Canadas close proximity to the United States makes people think Canada is ¨tax heavy¨. If you actually compare Canada to the rest of the first world you would see this is pretty far from the truth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_around_the_world It would be nice if people would actually compare their nation to the rest of the world before coming to ludicrous conclusions. Canada is one of the most capitalist nations on the earth and people should realize that reducing taxes more and more is not always the answer.

Watch out folks! Voting for anybody but the conservatives equals a slippery slope to communism. Nevermind that Canada is one of the most capitalistic countries in the entire world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_Econ...rical_Rankings) Canada has been shifting right for many many years and something needs to be done soon. Education costs are sky rocketing, infrastructure is being ignored, and health care is degrading. Ive just moved from Canada to Uruguay to live here and I see some beautiful things that make me ashamed when I look at Canada. Free actually decent education, proportional representation with mandatory votes(I have never seen a country with people so interested in politics), and higher accessibility to technology( first country to actually implement the OLPC project).