oreodontist

Ya, I agree. 2 parties? the NDP has been around for 18 elections and haven't even made it to the Opposition benches. There's two principal parties because that's what Canadians vote for. I have voted Green the last two Federal elections...it's on the ballot in all ridings....even the Marxist-Lenonist is still on the ballot in some ridings. If folks don't vote then so be it. It's up to THEM to start this so-called popular party that non-voters will support. Others have done it....BQ, Reform, etc. and gained national status. Then again, if somene can't get off their ass and vote, then they sure don't have the energy to actually do something proactive. As for parliament, I like it the way it is. A minority in which any 2 of the 4 parties can bring the governmnet down at anytime. Sure beats the quasi-dictatorships of Mulroney and Chretien.

That's a good analogy. Words in common use in a culture can be co-opted. In the world of cell phone cameras everywhere and 24/7 media starved for material....it's no wonder politicians start to speak in well choreographed sound bites. The use of a common word, regardless of the intention, can be a faux-pas. Slip ups are pounced upon as a reflection of some deep dark agenda.

A pattern develops. There is a horrendous incident in society...murder, child killed by drunk driver, etc. The immediate pavlovian response is 'do something'....that 'anything' is better than doing nothing. Special interet groups and the media run around in hysterics. The special interest groups find new energy and the media is salivating for a story. Any politician who tries to be rational is labeled as 'in favour of killers' or protecting 'drunks on the road'. We already have laws against drunk driving. They need to be enforced and the offenders dealt with. I don't like the police having arbitrary powers to make decisions about me in nebulous areas. If drunk it's off to be charged, car impounded and other consequences. guyser: "if you are tired , or small in size , one beer or a glass of wine may put you over". Maybe a glass of wine (they vary more) but a beer? I'm not all that big (140 lbs) and drinking 3 beer in an hour still has me at .065 or so. You'd have to be real small to be up to .05 after one beer....perhaps a midget on a diet.

The UK is also a producer...slightly more in production than used. (that's why their price is 'as low as Norway ) War bicycle: " If Venezuela can afford to have its people fill their cars for about a buck, we can afford a domestic oil price. " Ya sure, and then we'll spend the same amount per capita as the 'Great' Chavez does on Health, Education, etc... Hint Alberta's GDP is a lot greater than that of Venezuela...Ontario's is double. And you want to reduce health and education per capita to about a nickel on the dollar to match Venezuela? Let's get this straight...take 3 bucks off of a gallon of gas and take that money out of social services? Close hospitals and schools to feed cars?

Private sector as opposed to what? sitting on his ass in a public job that requires a Masters degree to twiddle a pencil all day? Some make a lot more. Especially those who go up to Zama, Rainbow Lake, etc. You want to work 24/7 365 days a year in alberta....you can. Alberta employment is not like a car plant in Windsor or some government job in Ottawa. Young guys start at 7 AM and earn $20 as labourers...after 8hours it's time and a half.... stay till 6PM...and all the overtime you want on Saturday. Folks here work hard for their money. Take those wages and add some cash, a per diem allowance and it's easily 110 grand in the oil patch. Put 2 years under your belt and add another 50 thousand.

It's amusing how some folks will post a topic to a discussion forum and then start insulting individuals who disagree with their views. If such an insecure individual is obsessed with only reinforcement of their myopic opinions, then they should stick with sending Emails to themselves. If Orwell was to have penned '1984' today he would have included a 'Minister of the Progressive' along with 'Minister of Truth' in his book....'2054'.

Canada is not a unitary state. We had the BNA Act which produced a 'Confederation'. The Federal government is limited in jurisdiction and power. The ultimate arrangement, however well meaning, is not about 'fairness'....it's about protection of provincial and regional interets. Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick would not have entered the Confederation otherwise...and definitely Quebec would not have. It's a bit like Canada joining with Mexico and the USA in NAFTA. We joined because it's in our interest. We expect 1 seat at the table and Mexico and the USA to have 1 seat. After agreeing to the Treaty we then don't say....well Mexico should have 4 seats to reflect it's population...the USA 10 and Canada keeps 1. Formers parts of Canada did not agree to Confederation terms because of any love for Canada...they were mostly British and Nova Scotian, Catholic and Quebecers, etc. in sentiment...Canada was a hard sell than no region wanted to submit sovereignty to. There's no way that Atlantic provinces are going to agree to any arrangement that diminishes their disproportionate power....and it's a non-starter in Quebec.

Good point about Rice 'if' Hillary was the nominee, but she won't be. Obama has the Black vote locked up. I still say Romney. But it might even be a conservative who has come out against continuing the war in Iraq.(your outside the box) That way McCain can blunt some of his quotes as per '100 years', etc. and show he means to get serious in Iraq and resolve the issue. Regardless, he can't win unless he wins over Regan Democrats...he has to claim the middle ground and throw a bone to the 67% of Americans who want the troops out. This time next year Obama will likely be President and the permanent withdrawal from Iraq will have begun.

Do a search on the Net for a site called 'Babble'. It bills itself as 'the Progressive' place to meet and discuss issues. It's basically a cabal of Canadian loonies reinforcing each other and getting worked up worked up in a lather. I was banned after my first posting for calling members of the Blackfoot Tribe 'Indians'...it doesn't matter that that's the term they use for themselves and I passed a sign every day saying Plains Indian School. Whackos on the left and whackos on the right meet at the perimeter of a circle. Two sides of the same coin and they are intolerant bigots pushing 'progressive' ideology: We have the 'true way'.

Agreed. As stated it all comes down to details in the real world. Ideologues get caught up in such words and then support party labels with cultish allegience. Everything one side proposes is 'progressive' so, by default, the other side is either stupid or evil. Harper doesn't end out the troops at the first sign of flooding so the left is 'shocked and appalled'....then when he flies over the area in a helicopter 'it's a political stunt'. Fortunately 90% of Canadians don't live in a world of meaningless labels trotted out by the intellectually retarded and equally retarded political pundits. There's retardos across the political spectrum and the only ones more pathetic are the groupies who follow.

So neo-cons are progressive? Bush's war in Iraq must be one of the most progressive acts of the last hundred years. But wait...intellectual capacity to understand the challenges....gee, there sure is agreement on that 'slight' qualification... Harper to Layton: 'by golly, we both agree that you are progressive because you understand the challenges of the day....in contrast I don't understand at all and could you please enlighten me...hat's that? Sure, why not, we'll just add a dollar of tax to each liter of gas and spend the money on homeless shelters....gee, I sure wouldn't have thought of that! Charter progressive? baloney.

'Progressive' is one of those loaded words. It's meaningless without context. The forestry worker in Quebec, Alberta, B.C. and Newfoundland aren't all that different from eachother. the four of them could sit down, watch a hockey game and share a sixpack...one votes BQ, the second Conservative, the third NDP and the fourth Liberal...labels such as 'progressive' are empty until the real world meets the real pavement for real people.

1000's of pot users in jail? I doubt if the poster is a liar so they must just be stupid.... either naturally stupid or doped up on something 'stupid'.

The Green are a hodgepodge of ideas and all sounds great but the devil is in the details. I voted Green the last two elections and so have a half dozen friends. Not one of them has a clue what the Green Party policy is on anythng other than it's central plank is environmental awareness. Most folks vote Green so that the main parties sit up and pay attention. With the Libs and Cobs within a couple of % of eachother, there's votes to win over on the environmental side. No one, or lets say few, care about 'libertarian' whatevers or the negatives of capitalism. There's no desire to be a remake of a failed NDP Party that has never even made it to the Federal opposition bench in 18 elections and is fading. Here in Alberta most Green supporters I know are economic conservatives and social liberals...our Green Party has finished ahead of the NDP in my very conservative federal riding and provincially the Greens get some traction among 'Reform' rural folks. Next federal election I'll stick a Green Party sign on our lawn and like a lot of Green Party support in Calgary, then spend the day in the energy business making money via the 'evil' capitalism.... and. like most Albertans, telling the Federal governmnet to take a flying f###k if it interferes in my industry.

'The Left' ? who is 'the Left' The issue I have with most activists is they become idealogues defending positions with an almost religious zeal . This is on both the right and the left. They start to see conspiracies where there aren't any, great struggles against or for good and evil when most issues are shades of gray, etc. Problems are exaggerted and solutions simplistic. I'm quite proud to say I've voted NDP, Liberal, PC, Reform, Green in my adulthood. That there have been good leaders of the right and good leaders on the left ...and also turkeys across the political spectrum. Idiotic policies across the spectrum and good policies across the spectrum. My reason for not identifying with the NDP in the last 15 years of so is that the Party has removed itself from its roots. It 'preaches' to the working class and farmers rather than representing those groups. It's a 'we know best' approach to issues (capital punishment, drugs, gun control, etc.) whereas it's been a while (since Ed Broadbent) that the working guy or gal had 'one of us' setting policy. Layton is the latest manifestation of a party off on a tangent and the nail in the coffin was the party's endorsement of Sven Robinson as a candidate ...it hilited how removed from the lunch-bucket worker or dirty-hand farmer the NDP has strayed.

Some good points in above postings...especially about legislators, etc. In the USA since Kennedy, a 98 sitting US Senators have declared their intention to run for leadership of their party and then be elected as President. Zero have become President. 2008 will be break the trend of the last 44 years...Obama, Clinton and McCain are all sitting senators.

Traffic deaths are about a third of what they were in the 1960's when measured by deaths per mile driven. Vehicles are a lot safer. As for motorcycles? No idea. (Or should I call them by the medical term 'Organ donors') I find it amusing when motorcyclists complain about the behavior of car drivers....cutting them off, pulling out in front, etc. They are claiming that motorcycles aren't repected and given their proper place on the road ....but then keep driving one. It's saying 'there are idiots out there but I'm so stupid I'll put my fate in the hands of those idiots anyways'.

Much is more valuable. you asked what is more valuable...not what in theory is needed for survival. My wife and I earn our food budget by 8:15 every morning. That leaves about 930 dollars a day for other purchases. We could spend all 8 hours tilling the soil and feed our bellies (with quite a blah diversity) and have zero left for a house, taxes for health care, taxes for security, a car, vacation, and everything else in life. Don't confuse 'value' and 'necessity'. You can spend all your wages on hoarding canned food...but, persnally, I don't need to buy 500 cans of beans every day....it would have no 'value' to our family.

There is no 'dedicated tax'...don't be such a sucker. There is only one taxpayer pocket and one Federal government pot of money. The government can spend, or not, on the environment as desired as long as Parliament approves. You can take a dollar out of your pocket and put it in a cookie jar....but when your pocket is empty and you need to buy a litre of milk, you replace the dollar with another from elsewhere. Nothing has changed by puting a dollar in the cookie jar...it's just moving money around and fooling oneself. Tax...No. I'd rather the money stay in John Smith's pocket than wasted on another boondoggle program. The Feds are already wasting millions on enviro media ads....the pigs are at the trough squealing for more.

I agree. What puzzles me about his support of the Conservatives over and over in the H of C is that it delays an election. There is no 'silver lining' for Dion down the road. What will get better for him? Meanwhile his leadership position crumbles like some rotten log. To use the old baseball phrase: why not go down swinging rather than looking at a called strike three? Get out there and challenge the government, force an election and, if the Libs lose, well make it good fight...then resign with some dignity. Instead he looks weak...but even weaker to those in the Liberal Party who want his job.

Trust the Liberals The ratio of contributions is quite a contrast. The highest ratio of any group giving donations are farmers and in Canada they are, for the most part, in the Conservative camp. Having said that, some Conservative numbers can be a bit fuzzy. There is a donation limit for individuals and I know families in the oilpatch that make a donation to the max from each family member....Dad, Mom, grown up daughter, son-in-law, etc. All quitelegal but really all out of one pocket. Even after that, it is striking (in a good way) how the Liberals have fallen on hard times. The lack of funding means that they aren't the party of the backroom boys of Quebec and Bay Street.

We just helped our 18 year old nephew do his taxes. He arrived here last year from PEI. He earned 69,000 and change. Knowing his parent's circumstance in PEI, that's probably double what his father has ever earned...let alone what his father earned at 18 years of age. So sure, he could have stayed on the Island and earned 20 thousand or so. Might be less in buying power than his father earned at 18....BUT...there's no need for young folks to earn less if they have show some initiative and 'go where the action is'. I didn't go back to Nova Scotia after finishing university in Montreal but headed out West. My wife didn't go back to rural Ontario after university but headed out West. Canada's a nation of immigrants and those who are successful don't feel 'entitled' to the lifestyle of their parents but know they have to seek it out and earn it.

Yes, the figures are low for the Liberals but there needs to be a context. The figures are for a quarter and not the year. One has to know when the parties start their fundraising drives (mail outs, calls, etc.) I did some work for the Reform Party in the mid 90's and Reform out fundraised every other party combined in Alberta. ..but that was over a full year. A major fundraising drive was done in early summer and thousands of Albertans each donated small amounts....there was not just more money taken in by Reform but about 12 times the number of contributors as the Liberals and (at that time) the Federal PC Party. Regardless, those are low figures for the Liberals...if that repeats after the second quarter then they are strapped for cash. One difference in Canada, however, are laws pertaining to equal broadcast time, etc. In Canada the Liberals can still have a high profile and get air time yet be 'broke'.

August" "I am shocked and appalled.." Do you have problems coping in life? Hysteria is not a means of addressing an issue. Try deep breaths and put away the coffee. If you learn perspective in life it will lower your stress level. In a crisis Canada's largest military base is next door to Fredericton, in Oromocto. They are quite capable of helping when called upon. The military and other workers have no means of playing Moses and turning back the rising waters. One doesn't 'send out the troops' or any other hysterical response UNTIL there is something that can be done reasonably.

More valuble than food? Lot s of things. My wife and I work about 11 minutes a day to earn enough to pay our food budget. The rest of the time is spent producing value that can be used otherwise. One doesn't benefit from stopping the import of fruits and vegetables from other countries by growing them in Canada. The economy of Canada is more efficient by producing other goods or services to exchange for food through the market place. The farmer in Kenya grows coffee....it doesn't feed his family...BUT...he can sell the coffee to buyers and earn enough money to buy food, school supplies and perhaps a cell phone or a pair of shoes. there is nothing magical about food as a commodity.