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How much tax increases and where are the cuts (in actual budget not redistribution of assets)? You say dramatically and I say prove it. As for the physicians raise, learn a little more about our current health system and you will see that physicians did not come out that much ahead. GP's have been under pressure by the raising cost of equipment and administration. They mostly work out of their privately run clinics. So when GP's get more money, we get new equipment and staff that are adequately paid to do the appointments and billings. The health spending in BC is 40% of the provincial budget. What should we be spending? They spent $13 billion this year. 10 years ago that same budget was $5 billion. As for pressure and cuts, it is health care and education that have increased in expenses and they are putting pressure on other areas of the government. The BC Liberals did do a one time $2 billion tax cut. They also added user fees and yes taxed smokers (health tax). Put these things in context and it is a small portion of the overall picture. Net loss in revenue was around $1 billion annually in direct tax losses. BC this year is out pacing the rest of the country in economic growth. The health system has been restructured (new health regions and management plan) and will be improving in the coming years. This was a big job and it takes time to see impacts. An example of how big our health system Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has 20 000 employees. This is the largest employer in the region. When you create these large organizations it takes time and money to move them into high performance machines. BC rail was sold to CN on a 99 year lease (not a US company). BC Ferries are owned by the province but run by a private entity, like the airport. This worked well at the airport and they used the same model. Yes the CEO is an American and he is responsible to a board of directors make up of a bunch of BC residents and Canadian citizens. BChydro has not privatized anything, they outsourced some human resources functions. Many major public and private companies do this. Accenture that now runs that service is very good and efficient. Generation, transmission and distribution of power are still a crown corporation that pay dividends to the province. caesar, use facts in arguments and attach some back up. People on this board for the most part are bright and rhetoric is just annoying. I apologize to all those out east for the BC politics but as a mature individual I can say that he started it.

Harper said: http://www.conservative.ca/english/subpage...asp?t=hl&id=126 Here is the rest of the speech. When it comes to personal taxes Harper has also talked about moderate tax cuts to personal income tax for low income and middle income earners.

It took months, but we finally have consensus. Not one person on this forum has stated that it was a good idea to send out Liberal ministers with protestors into Harper rallies. I too was embarrassed for them. This was not thought through.

takeanumber, you seem to have taken this as a personal attack so I will expand on it. I was born in Alberta, and had the privilege to have medical care when I fell off my skateboard, or fell ill. I was provided education in French. The school system gave me scholarship money every year I was in high school. The schools I went to had excellent teachers who took us skiing, to museums, and had foreign exchanges. I had no problem getting my first job and even from BC I still do work in Alberta. All this said, I could have been born in Mexico and had none of these things. Why was I so lucky? I don't know, but I do want to work to protect these opportunities for those behind me and recognize that we should be thankful to be in such a great place. This is the right I was referring to. None of these thing was I derserving of, I was lucky to be born in Alberta. This was no personal attack on you. The grow up remark was, I will try and stay to ideas and policy arguments but when you make blanket statements that are false and mean spirited I took it personally. As for tax incentives, as motivators over direct subsidy, I would agree. Taxing and subsidizing takes bureaucracy to collect and distribute, incentives are more efficient as it really is the lack of action for compling to a direction.

Nothing government does will eliminate the age bubble unless you would suggest instituting mandatory euthanasia. Our national debt is under control, but we will always have limited resources and will always make trade offs. Just plain old reality. Mister Echo-sit after a week of stories about how your generation doesn't vote, I guess you will just have to live with the consequences. Next time someone says “why should we vote”,” they never talk to my issues”, realize that this is the best reason to vote. I am according to you as a Gen Xer out of touch and too old but realize I may still get CPP and your generation will be working to pay for it. Better start getting out the vote ehh. It amuses me that Klien will be elected easily in the next provincial election, and with all your rants he will still get 60+ % of votes. Gata love Alberta.

BD what do you mean by this? What does this look like in practical application? Sometimes, I don't think these concepts need to be exclusive. One can base decisions on a faith background but this does not make it exclusive of others (cultural, gender, or ideology). Example: thou shall not Murder would be a universal give me. As for CanadianPatriot, Christianity is base around choice and accepting Gods call. This is not something that can be legislated. We can work to have the right to practice our faith and should share our faith (in fact Jesus calls us to do that). You can not force morality. In a Christian context, it comes from God and not by our efforts. Legalism comes from state expressed Christianity and this is just as bad as complete relativity. The change component of our faith should take place in our churches, communities and with our personal relationships with God and our neighbors. We should look at specific applications (policy and laws) and then evaluate the roll our personal beliefs can appropriately be generalized to help our communities. BD I have to disagree with you about the “who owns morality” thing. (no surprise) With no God, what determines right or wrong. Note I am not arguing that religious people are anymore likely to keep these moral codes, or let’s call them ethics. They are basing morality on more than a personal concept of right and wrong. We have a revelation that validates what these codes are. The Big Ten is a good place to start. This is important distinction as logically with no creator the only purpose for right and wrong is what utilitarianism. What emptiness and lack of purpose.

http://politicswatch.com/VoteSelectorQuiz2004.html Fill in your choices and it will tell you who to vote for. I wasn't surprised to find out that I most closely align with Harper based on this quiz.

Don't expect the goods from Harper until week 3. The first two weeks are just repetition on what is wrong with the current state. They have a full policy book and it will be fully released before we vote.

Takeanumber, So this is the education you receive at the UofC. Glad not to be a Dino. Who told you it was your right to receive the benefits a province like Alberta provides. At UofC you have access to amazing sports facilities, state of the art technology, and a wide variety of programs. You also have access to one of the best business communities in NA, and yet you think you are hard done by. Try graduating in the Atlantic Provinces with 15% unemployment. The world is your oyster and you see nothing but #$%#. I hope every day that the NDP doesn't come to power in BC so I don't have to move to find work, but you live in an area with vast opportunity and you smite it. Hey mister I know better than the older generation. Wisdom comes with experience you should read some of the other posts more carefully. You might notice some wisdom. By the way you should thank Klien for eliminating your debt and restructuring you healthcare system to the primary care model (being implemented now with universal health records). Alberta is in a wonderful position going into the future and the rest of us can only wish we were too.

The youth vote hasn't paid taxes yet, or bought a home, or had kids. When that happens, tax cuts, jobs and healthcare become important. Hey Genius, I am 28. Good luck with the world is out to get young people thing. If you read history as much as post modern conspiracy theory, you will find out that insight into human behaviour and politics has not evolved. We have always had corruption and unfortunately we always will. Diligence is always needed and it has nothing to do with ideology. The Conservatives, Liberals and NDP have to deal with the same challenge. When we are talking about power, it attacks all types. As for you my peer, a little less vilification and a little more debate on policy and direction might bring you a more moderate point of view. Incremental change to address the issues of the day is the best we can do. Revolution has never worked out well.

takeanumber, you don't represent the youth vote but only a confused and bitter young person. The youth vote hasn't paid taxes yet, or bought a home, or had kids. When that happens, tax cuts, jobs and healthcare become important. Liberals and Conservatives have built with the support of most Canadians a brilliant country. We have freedom of expression and a justice system that allows us to keep what we work for. We have challenges, and no matter how good are politicians are we always will have challenges. I want the Liberals out of government, because they lost their way. I know the Conservatives will be good stewards and meet the challenges and trade-offs head on. Now when I told you to grow up on another thread, I guess you really need to do that. Go and travel, Europe, Africa, Asia. Then you might appreciate how truly lucky we are. As for education, you got one and you should pay for it. It is an investment and as with any investments their are risks. The risk here is you might not have learned anything. Most people by the time they get out of university don't think they know everything but finally realize they know very little.

What a pile of #$#%!!! I am a white male Conservative and in my party we have MPs from many cultural, faith backgrounds and women. Some of the party’s largest supporters in my area of the country (Vancouver) are not of European decent. They are immigrants from Hong Kong, Korea, India etc.. They are second and third generation Canadians. We are a broad based party that reflects our communities based on common value systems. This bigotry that the Liberals use against the Conservatives is damaging to our political process and to our communities. We should not aim to build parties based on gender or race but rather on common values and goals. All are welcome in the Conservative party. Shame takeanumber. Grow up.

I have seen some BC polls done in the last week. They are showing a high number of undecided. No one will be able to predict BC.

Here are a couple of thing floating around BC on reforming health care. http://www.boardoftrade.com/events/present...tesi28apr04.pdf http://www.boardoftrade.com/vbot_speech.as...et=&speechfind=

What a pile of @#@#! Universal healthcare is federal Conservative policy. They said they would uphold the Canada Health Act. They also said they would give the provinces more flexibility in fixing the system. You can hold the provincial governments responsible for what that looks like. (Provinces decide on delivery) Feds pay transfers that are right now only 16% of the total cost of healthcare. Tax reductions for low and middle income earners are now a bad thing? Need to vote them in to find out about the other issues. Today, Harper said his first act would be to have the Auditor General review all sponsorship programs ($35billion worth). http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories takeanumber, I wont expect you to change your mind.

Rob1963, I was not clear. The Conservative Party policy on official bilingualism is the status quo because they will not change it. We don't need to go there because they will not make any changes. Harper did acknowledge that if constituents made this a priority they would look at it. But it is not a priority right now. Is it your priority Rob1963 or are you just fishing for wedge issues? I want to know not just what parties think about everything but what their priorities are. Conservatives are clear: Health Care Tax reductions Military spending Provincial rights Government accountability and trust These are the areas that they plan to act on. These are the areas that they will affect my life in.

Rob1963, parties are not homogenous. This is why they have party policy that all candidates agree to support. People in the Liberal Party hold the same view as do some of the NDP. I was talking to a Conservative supporter yesterday and I would have thought he was NDP but on military spending he was clear that he supported the Conservative point of view. It comes down to where individual hot button issues are. Many Conservatives may be in favour of getting rid of bilingualism out west but it is so far down the priority list why even go there.

Conservatives aren't likely to win many seats in Quebec anyway. However; Harper has been clear that he will champion biligualism. That is party policy.

Well said.

Add up all the taxes. Income tax (provincial and federal), GST, gas, environmental (tires etc), licensing, health premiums, PST, user fees (national parks ect.), air port security, capital gains, gas tax, property and the extra costs of goods and services based on the corporate taxes business have to pay. We pay a lot more than 35 cents on the dollar. I was being low at 50 cents. I live in the house I can aford, not the one I would like. We need to balance the notion of want and need.

Black Dog, I have no error. I see the role of government differently than you. I see them there to serve the people and not the other way around. They spend my money. Fair rarely adequately explains anything in the world. The world is not fair. I ask of the government to be a good steward of my money and not paternal in nature. A social safety net can help people up or become a way of life. No one deserves to live in poverty but how you remedy that is not to forcibly remove the wealth from your own population. What is a reasonable tax rate? I have to work until late into June before I start making money. My taxes approach 50% of what I earn. If I am rich, does that mean I should pay 75% of what I earn? This is ridiculous. The very rich do pay more taxes but at what point will this be enough. Social inequity is not just a function of financial distribution; it is cultural, educational, structural, motivational, psychological, and ideological. Tax the rich and they will just move and you will have less resources to address the needs of the most venerable. Who will be left to invest in the country but the government on borrowed money? BD, and Maplesyrup when was the last time you sent extra money to Ottawa or your province. If it is so easy to spend other peoples money why not spends your own.

Maplesyrup, I was not talking about the NDP. I was referring to your statement. (The Robin Hood thing) If you break it down to the premise, it is Marxist Communism. E.g. The rich get too much; therefore we need fairness. Fair = equality Not equal opportunity but of actual resources. This is Communism. State controlled wealth distribution based on existence and not merit.

Where do you get this stuff. Cause and effect. Having money may come from birth but most of the wealthy people I know work very hard. Maplesyrup, communism doesn't work. Human behaviour is such that we are inherently selfish. Governments that created forced equality remove any incentive for achievement. Help us all if this ideology catches on. We will have equality. All of us will be poor.

A federally administered program to lend people money, our retirement money, across the country to renovate their homes. I wonder how much that would cost. This has the potential of making the gun registry and the sponsorship program look like we got off easy. I guess when you will never be in power to implement the idea it isn’t really a promise. A city councilor in Ottawa, what will he come up with next.

Out here in BC I can say that the reporters for both the Sun and the Province (both owned by the Aspers) are union members. Does that affect the way they report I don't know? My experience is that most newspapers write for those that read them. I pointed out the three I did for obvious reasons, they would be Liberal or socially progressive in view point. I do like Don Newman; for the most part he tries not to be the story. I do miss the Old National Post, now that was a Conservative newspaper.