August1991

Am I reading this wrong? After several lower court decisions and finally referring the question of same-sex marriage to the Supreme Court, and while waiting for an answer, it appears the Liberals have changed their mind. G&M Martin Same Sex Marriage WTF? Why didn't the Libs do this before? Do their poll standings have anything to do with this change? Is this Liberal arrogance? Or is this simply PM PM making it up as he goes along? Minor detail at the end of the same article:

Is Krusty Schizoid?

Pollsters are understanding that in Canada it's a seat game and federally, that means regional politics. (An obvious example is Quebec. With a small sample of 250 in Quebec, it is possible to overestimate the Liberals and skew the national results.) Somewhere between 2500 and 3000 offers sufficient size to account for regional votes. But agreed, sampling is a robust art. A couple of hundred gives you a good idea.

That's an admirable piece you wrote, MS. I would only add the changing moods of Paul Martin. He is now presenting himself as a left-wing Liberal. God knows what the man really wants other than to be Prime Minister and, I guess, to be young again.

I do it this way. $5 billion for helicopters. Five billion is a completely meaningless number. A car salesman once explained to me that $30,000 is a meaningless number to people. But monthly payments of $300 is comprehensible. So, $5 billion for helicopters means about $200 from me for the damn things. Or, $160 if we use the other price tag. Whatever. I'd say OK and sign off - those old helicopters don't even fly anymore.

No doubt about it. Health care delivery will change. I find ironic that the Libs want to have State day care while they look for ways to organize home health care for the elderly. The rural side is interesting because they are over-represented for seats. Finally, we will soon enter a culture of death. Parts of Europe are like this where most people are old and everyone seems to be dying.

They both in effect favour the status quo. And of all the various things to do in Canada now, from helicopters to absurd tax rules, I'm not sure making abortions available in Charlottetown is a priority - particularly if the people of PEI haven't organized this themselves. Keep the issue in perspective. I don't disagree with what you're saying all through those "So's". But I think you present a darker picture than reality since you present the worst case scenario. In any case, can (should) the federal government send in an army of social workers?

The CBC will use our tax money to say nothing about this. (Not only will they not report this but I guess they won't even comment on them.) Libs 32% CPC 31% NDP 17% Sample of 1000, survey conducted between 1 and 3 June. G&M Ipsos Reid In Ontario, it's: CPC 35% Libs 32%

In Morgentaler's mind, the Canada Health Act has nothing to do with it. He has virtually dedicated his life to ensuring that women have access to safe abortions. CMAJ Report I don't know who the CMAJ is and I have no idea if 600 abortions is a reasonable number. On a quick estimate, it should be closer to at least 5 times that number.

Imagine being locked in a room and being forced to watch that thing over and over. Heck, think how many times the producers had to watch it.

G&M on Herle Herle is the type of guy that should be kept as far from a mike as possible during a campaign. What's the old line? Never buy shares in a company if the CEO is more well known than the company.

Morgentaler is making a good point. To my knowledge, there is no MD in PEI who performs abortions. It is common for women in NB to come to Montreal for this procedure because they cannot have it done in their home province. This is not a technical issue in the sense of costly equipment. And rather speaking about this in a theoretical way, he is being very practical. Trust Morgentaler to enter into the fray.

PM PM invited all the other leaders to join him. Harper said a vet from his riding would go in his place. Duceppe said yes then the Liberals came back with all kinds of details including the fact that he would only be there for an afternoon. He then declined saying the Liberals always pull stunts like that.

Huh? The body of Parliamentary laws means nothing? If the Supreme Court declares a particular law unconstitutional, that means nothing? IOW, to use your reasoning, what happens if the voters are inconsistent. What happens if they vote for Law A, and then later, they vote for Law B (which is contrary to Law A)? Such situations arise when majority rule threatens an individual - or the power of the State is used against an individual, or a minority.

This is not a bedrock principle of democracy but rather one of its grave weaknesses. It is the reason that some countries have very specific lists of rights. That argument is extreme. I am unaware of any democratic State that does not offer guarantees of protection to individuals.Our protections against the State have been hard won. Do not assume them or dispense with them so easily.

What's this all about? G&M Cabinet Member criticizes Chretien There are so many loose cannons in this election that the ships will all sink without firing a shot.

MS, if you read the article carefully, you'd realize that Harper said nothing of the sort. He avoided the question. Yesterday, Joël-Denis Bellavance had a front page headline suggesting that Harper was going to recruit Mario Dumont to his cabinet. Only at the very end of the article was there a note saying "Mario finds this gossip amusing".

That's exactly what the constituents will do on 28 June but in a slightly more certain way than writing a letter. It was inconceivable that Harper would get through the campaign without this issue coming up. I think he has handled it well. Perhaps he should have tried to avoid the "free vote" reference and said "status quo" instead but the Liberals or other scaremongerers would have got him some other way. By the way, about 65% of Canadians believe that an abortion should be the sole choice of a woman in consultation with her doctor. Gallup on Abortion I obtained the reference to that Gallup site from this Pro-Life web site. IOW, there is a fairly strong social consensus on abortion in Canada. Elections are won and lost on a whole host of issues. Voters have to weigh, for example, financial scandals, fiscal policies, credibility and social policies. It ain't over until it's over. ------- On a related matter, La Presse is trying to suggest Harper would be a hardliner in any negotiation on Quebec independence. In fact, as the article below makes clear, he avoided the question. (Once, when repeatedly pressed, Trudeau shrugged and gave the best answer to all these types of questions: "Well, I suppose somebody would have to negotiate but it won't be me.") La Presse and Harper on Quebec Independence

Cartoonists would love it.Notice that you said Europe; not France or Germany. In a customs union, it would be North America that would retaliate against European kitchen utensils. In theory. But all this still comes down to me saying to you: "I'll stop beating my head with a hammer if you promise to stop beating your head with a hammer".

When Gorbachev flew back to Moscow from the Crimea, the world had changed.

It is not at all altruistic for the US government to agree to limit its ability to impose protectionist measures. On the contrary, the US would be perfectly selfish to have such limits. Steel tariffs and softwood lumber duties hurt the US economy in that Americans lose more than they gain. New House Prices in US and Lumber Duties It is to the advantage of Americans to make it difficult for their government to impose such policies. The past fifty years are evidence of this where US governments have accepted to limit their ability to impose barriers to trade. The FTA and NAFTA are examples of this. It would be perfectly understandable that the US government would embark on a customs union negotiation. I think the negotiation might work better if Mexico were involved. Idealist, here we go again. Consider this. There is you (1 person) and the rest of the world (5,999,999,999 other people). Do you feel overwhelmed? IOW, Canada and the US don't trade. Individual Candians trade with individual Americans. That surprised me too. It depends on the wording of the question. ISM, anything involving the words Canada, US, customs union is not going to meet with massive support in English Canada.BTW, a customs union would simply mean that US and Canada would have the same tariffs against the outside world. More critically, such an agreement would make it more difficult for the US government (and ours too) to impose harmful barriers.

This is funny to listen to. It helps if you understand spoken French but even if you don't, it will still make you laugh. Pierrette Bellefeuille - Tory Candidate in Hull Where did Harper get her? Well, she apparently was a Liberal parliamentary aide for 20 years. Local Paper with Picture

I successfully avoided engineering. I'm happy I'm not a Harper actuary. But, as languages go, I prefer math.

Meaning, I guess, that you're a small guy, cg. Do you go offshore sometimes, cg? What business are you in exactly?

I have started that Gwyn book of yours. For the rest, please wait.