Hcheh

How is she our "master"? You don't even have to bow down to her if you didn't want to bow.. If the PM becomes head of state, how is he less "master" than the queen is? Every country has a head of state. Look, the PM takes care of Canada. The fact that he is not head of state makes the prime minister more leveled with the people than a president would.

The constitution is for the people.. who do you think benefits from all those rights and freedoms we get? Us or the queen?

The queen is not our "master". She is just the head of our state, the head of the state has the responsibility of keeping our system of government in check.

So why does he stay here? To take advantages of our institutions, universal health care..etc?

Good point

The last thing we need are immigrants who come here for the work, not for the love of the country. There are way too many people who find a comfortable lifestyle and they could care less about Canadian identity, future or whatsoever.

You don't take an oath to a flag or something abstract because those can change. What he means by the "reciprocal oath" is that the people swear an oath to the crown and the crown swears the oath back for the people.

I'm getting a feeling that Trudeau shouldn't have wrote the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.. The nation deserves something better - wait till someone can come around and do it right! Now are we stuck with this? Or is anyone going to do anything about it

"We don't take oath to an abstraction or a symbol such as a flag, because those can be changed." "Except through the person of the Queen, Canada cannot take an oath to Canadians in return. It doesn't exist in the sense that it can take an oath. It is fundamental to our tradition of law and freedom that the commitments made by the people are reciprocated by the state. Reciprocal oaths are essential to our Canadian concept of government." William Lyon Mackenzie King

Attack ads don't provide much help either.. No one should use attack ads, if you were a true viable candidate, you wouldn't have to deploy such a disgraceful method of campaigning.

This has primarily been my main turn off when it comes to Harper..

Yes, there is another thread on this topic - "do we owe any allegiance to the queen?" that touched on that. The some of the participants on that thread are the same ones on this one. The "reserve" powers the monarch has are vital, it keeps our system in check.

That is why I made this thread, so people could explain themselves with factually and/or logically structured arguments.. Let's filter out the pointless slander and what people REALLY think is wrong with him.

Too sad but too true.. Something needs to be done about this On teaching history in schools.. I believe that they offer more American history and "world" history than Canadian history. What a shame! I know some disgraceful "Canadians", who originated from another country, that wouldn't even admit that they are Canadian! I guess that Canadian citizenship card doesn't mean anything anymore eh

Harper being a neo-con and/or alike bush are just some examples of what I hear usually. The thread is about any reason someone shouldn't vote for him

I said nothing baseless.. please

I agree. I don't necessarily think that the cancellation was such a bad choice. Dief took a lot of heat for something very over exaggerated..

Gee, are you reading me wrong. I never said that I disliked him for canceling the Avro Arrow, I was the one who created this thread.. I simply said that there are many people who dislike him for canceling the Avro Arrow and THEREFORE (as stated in my earlier post), it damaged his popularity. The one who posted slander against Dief because of the Avro Arrow is an example.. I was expecting that from a Diefenbaker thread.

http://www.ggower.com/dief/text/citizen4.shtml http://www.ggower.com/dief/arrow.shtml here's some interesting articles concerning the Avro Arrow cancellation.

You see what I mean? There are enough people out there who share your sentiment.. However, as I and Argus said, given the economic situation at the time, the collapse would have been inevitable.

Yes as a matter of fact, I have read books about him.. By unpopularity, I meant by the average Canadians or the ones who sit around and post on forums. I have looked around that there has been some hate for him because of his Avro Arrow cancellation. I know that JFK and Diefenbaker weren't on the best terms. Concerning the whole anti American sentiment, I think it was Diefenbaker who said, " I am not anti-American, I am just pro-Canadian".

Right on, the more I read about him, the more respect I have for him. I think the biggest factor that contributed to his unpopularity was his cancellation of the Avro Arrow.. However, to my understand, the economy was not very good at that time.. Could they really afford to keep up this costly weapon project?

In your opinion, what do you think of John Diefenbaker? Performance wise, he might not have been the best prime minister.. but I respect him for the things he stood up for, his stance on multiculturalism and the passion he had. What is your opinion about him?

Hi, I have not made up my mind about who I should vote for yet.. I have heard people call Harper a "neo-con" and he is like Bush. If you don't want me to vote for Harper, please state why he is a neo-con, alike Bush, or any reason why I shouldn't vote for him. Please don't post baseless slander or anything without logical or factual information. Thanks.

Putting other countries before Canada is a thing I see very commonly here, around Toronto.. I was hoping that it was just because I lived around Toronto, the "multiculturalism" is inevitable. However, is this happening all around Canada? If so, I really fear for the future of Canadian identity.. You are Canadian before you are anything else!! "I am the first prime minister of this country of neither altogether English or French origin. So I determined to bring about a Canadian citizenship that knew no hyphenated consideration....I'm very happy to be able to say that in the House of Commons today in my party we have members of Italian, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Chinese and Ukrainian origin -- and they are all Canadians." -- John Diefenbaker, March 29, 1958 It is this kind of multiculturalism that would make me proud. God save Canada..