KeyStone

I dislike the Conservatives as much as anyone, but you have to be living in a cave not to realize that the economy isn't doing all that great right now, and the premier of Manitoba probably isn't completely responsible for the downward economy.

George Smitherman and Karen Stintz are the two that are frequently mentioned. After Tory's sound defeat last election, he may want to take a break from politics for a few years.

Well, first of all Iran has not threatened to take Israel out, despite Israel-friendly mistranslations. Ahmadinejad has said that it will happen, but he has not said how. For instance, I have said that the US economy will collapse, this does not mean that I am planning or in any way associated with it. As for question 4, I don't live in the 'hood', like you do, so perhaps it is more difficult for me to fathom, but I would think that shooting someone whom I suspect might shoot me, if they got a guy, would probably land me in jail. I would think that a better approach would be to report the threat to the local authorities. Then again, you might know better, from all your 'gangsta' experience.

I don't think getting into a game of chicken with the NDP is a great idea, given that it now appears that neither party wants an election. Perhaps the two parties could sit and come to some sort of agreement rather than the perpetual accusations of propping up the Conservatives.

OK, WildBill. Let's go through this and see what are reasonable conclusions to come to: "As it is known today is the day planes were flown into the twin towers killing more than 3000 people. This event has led to countless Canadian and Nato forces deaths in Afganistan and Iraq. I made a comment about this being September 11th and it happens I am working with a guy who came from Iraq. This guy called me racists and went and complained to the supervisor. This supervisor called me in I guess to hear my side but it was obvious to me this supervisor was probably angling to make something of this." At this point, all we know is that he made some comment about Sept 11, which one fellow employee was offended by. He then complained to the supervisor and accused the poster of being racist. "This supervisor tried to put me on an English pedastle saying I have more speaking ability and therefore more venomous with my comments and I should be held to a higher standard in what I say. However, I elaborated and said I have had to work with all kinds of immigrants since the 1990s I have been expoesed to all kinds of religious beliefs and limited english skills. I asked this supervisor what about my mental health?" The supervisor simply asks him to have a higher standard and the poster insinuates that working with people of other religions and other language skills is not good for his mental health? So, if the supervisor needs any evidence of this individual being a racist, a good rant about how having to work with people with different religions and limited English is affecting his mental health ought to do it. I'm sure the US will invade Canada as soon as Congress gets a look at those letters. Imagine, not purging all those damned immigrants who can't speak English. Clearly, a terrorist haven.

With electronic voting, I think that we could see over 100 million Canadians vote on Election Day. What an achievement.

OMG. Iran has a rocket that can reach Israel? That's horrible. Israel should get out all of their top scientists to work on a rocket that should reach Iran so that it's fair.

Being obsequious to two masters is tricky. He can't contradict Obama, but at the same time, he can't go against the Jewish lobby. He'll just stay quiet on this whole thing, and back up Obama every time he says something pro-Israeli.

"So nobody wants to buy these products yet the EU alone imported 5.5 million worth of seal products? Something doesn’t add up. " Dave, I think that you are under the mistaken impression that the EU is the Borg collective. They do not all think and act with the same mind. Just as their are Canadians here who would buy tiger penises for their alleged aphrodisiac properties, the majority of Canadians, think that this is a wrongful act. The EU is banning seal products because the seal hunt stands out as being particularly brutal - given the way in which the animals are killed, the understanding of how smart seals are, and the fact that the vast majority are less than 3 months old when killed. They are banning their own member countries from trading seal products as well so I highly doubt that they have some protectionist agenda. Seals eat a lot of fish. So do people. In fact, the seals eat a tiny fraction of what people eat of the fish, but in our arrogance, we want to kill another species, because we claim the right to all the fish? Not to mention the fact that not even the DFO makes the claim that seals hurt the cod industry, because seals also eat predators of the cod. "If the products aren't sold the killing will still have to continue, the only difference will be the carcasses will be left to rot rather than be put to use. " Your false logic aside, the carcasses are currently left to rot - the only difference is that the pelts are removed. "All the EU ban will really achieve is to create a rather lucrative black market for seal products. Of course the legitimate seal hunters won't profit from this and the current regulations of not killing baby seals will be ignored because likely the baby pelts would sell for a higher price. When will the world learn that prohibition in its various and sundry forms do not work, it only creates an underground economy. All in all this only serves to further damage an already battered Atlantic economy, I seriously doubt our government will do anything to rectify the situation." Fairly unlikely. You're really just grabbing at every straw you can think of. Do you really think that the general European populous is going to go to some underground market to buy their sealskins? And then when they get it, they'll wear them around? Hardly. I think Canada should ban shark fin soup - not in retaliation - but simply because it is a very cruel practice. Incidentally, it will also send the message that it is fine to ban things that they are passionate about, but don't think about banning things for protectionist measures, because it will force us to take a closer look.

I find it interesting that Stelmach is going to raise taxes to help against the shortfall. What about the standard Conservative practice of lowering taxes, which makes businesses spring out of nowhere, and pay more taxes. Surely, that will get the government coffers flowing again. And if that doesn't work, surely another cash giveaway will boost the Albertan economy and fill the government coffers. I love how the province with the lowest tax rates, and no PST says that unless the government helps them, they may have to raise taxes!

This is terrible news. How will they ever hope to maintain the incredibly high standard of journalism that they've set. I hope they don't have to resort to getting ugly sunshine girls.

I guess it's all in how we define the terms. Firstly, if they are immigrants who have become Canadians citizens, then absolutely not. Once they become citizens, they are as Canadian as anyone else. By supporting, if you mean supplying money, information or equipment to the terrorists, then OK. If you mean, arguing on the side of the terrorists - then no. People should have the right to debate, protest etc for anything that they want. That is how legitimate change occurs. Without being able to do that, then you give people little chance to effect change other than through terrorism. Then of course, there is how you define terrorism, which is the subject of far too many books.

I seem to recall that the US wasn't a big fan of trying to force South Africa to end apartheid either. But regardless of Ahmadinejad's agenda, it seems foolish for everyone to boycott the entire conference based on the fact that some countries are going to say some negative things about Israel. It's a big conference, with a lot to achieve, but it seems that some countries are so desperate to silence any criticism of Israel (legitimate or otherwise), that they'll go to any lengths to deny critics of Israel a voice.

No there isn't. In our pathetic FPTP system, real Conservatives are forced to compromise with Stephen Harper's power hungry policy-shifting Conservatives Having a significant number of disgruntled Conservatives vote for him would split the vote on the right and send the Liberals back into power.

While one can make a case that we should use better quality flags, I don't think the NDP generally second guesses the quality of all government purchased products. Therefore, the real issue here is that the government is buying a product from China that it could be buying in Canada (albeit for more money). Essentially, if the government just handed this company $5 for every flag it bought from China, it would have the same effect. So, the NDP wants us to prop up Canadian businesses that can't compete with Chinese companies. Should we prop up all Canadian businesses or just those that manufacture Canadian iconic products?

Hello Mr Klein, During your leadership, Alberta experienced unprecedented growth and success. One of the factors attributed to that surge was the business-friendly environment that you created. My question for you is: Of the growth that Alberta experienced how much of it, do you feel was the result of: a) Increases in the price of oil. New companies being created in Alberta and/or existing companies expanding. c) Companies from other provinces relocating to Alberta. d) Companies from other countries relocating to Alberta. I am asking this because I am interested to know how much of the growth was real growth vs merely taking from other provinces. Thanks very much, KeyStone

Interesting observation, and while I don't have scientific analysis to back it up, I suspect that you are right that there are more people in Canada that are crazy, than people in Burma. However, let's look at the real reasons: 1) 'Crazy' people don't survive long in Burma such that their numbers go down much faster. 2) 'Crazy' don't get diagnosed in Burma. There are no doctors to tell people they are bipolar, schizo etc - if your life isn't in immediate jeopardy from entrails hanging out of your stomach, you aren't high priority. 3) I think that people that have a clear focus and clear goal, are less likely to be crazy. When your goal is survival then you don't really have time to ponder the universe, existentialism, the cosmos etc. - I think perhaps this is the part that you are getting at. The truth is that we simply don't know how many crazy people are in the 3rd world because it isn't diagnosed properly or recorded. Now, if you were to compare a relatively poor society with good medical (Cuba for instance) to a country like ours, then you might be able to draw some meaningful conclusions.

Obviously, there was more than a single rocket. My point is that you don't seem to acknowledge that eliminating 98% of the rocket fire is a significant step, so where do you draw that line. Is one rocket enough to justify killing hundreds? Five? Twenty? It seems that anything short of perfection is justification enough. Please tell me who HAS killed more civilians - Israel or Palestine? Please tell me who HAS killed more children - Israel or Palestine? Repeating the mantra that Israel isn't TRYING to kill civilians doesn't mean much when they kill hundreds of them, including children. Even if their prime intention is to kill Hamas members, the sheer number of civilians being killed suggests a cruel indifference to the lives of the Palestinians. Hamas denies Israel's right to exist. Israel denies Palestine's right to exist. Hamas doesn't arrest Hamas soldiers who kill Israeli civilians, Israel doesn't arrest IDF soldiers who kill Palestinian civilians. Given the number of Hamas prisoners 'kidnapped', kidnapping IDF soldiers seems fair. Didn't you say that they should be targeting military? I agree that the TV show is blatant anti-semitism and that free-speech should be curtailed in this instance, but it is not as if Israel and Jewish supporters do not engage in massive campaigns to discredit Muslims and Arabs. They are just far more clever about it. Both sides are culpable. There is no question in my mind. Your willingness to defend the death of hundreds of civilians and suggest that it was the only or best alternative, is ludicrous, particularly in the face of the progress made during the ceasefire, which you now disregard. Well, it is an interesting analogy, but dangerous if Israel thinks it can get its way through violence, and murder. The difference is that Israel does not control Lebanon in the same way that it controls Palestine. Lebanon is independent. They can trade, they have their own country. They can move on and focus on other things. Palestine can not. They have nothing else. So long as the ruling party of Israel does not intend to recognize Palestine, I see no reason why the ruling party of Palestine needs to recognize Israel. You don't seem to understand progress. If we lower maternal mortality rates, and life expectancy in Canada, we can say that we have made progress on health care, even if there is still a shortage of MRI machines. You do not have to make progress on each element of the peace process, in order for their to be progress. Do you not think that a 98% reduction in rocket fire is progress? Yeah, how dare those dirty Israelis make any attempts to stop the kidnapping of Israelis. Yes, that's right. Because we all know the only way to fight fair is to wear uniforms and stand in a field where no civilians are so that Israel can bomb the shit out of them with their billion dollar warplanes. Well, let's ignore your ridiculous baby carriages comment for a moment and consider how Hamas could only attack military targets. That worked out pretty well when Lebanon captured a couple of IDF soliders, didn't it? It seems that even though they were military targets, Israel had no problem justifying killing numerous civilians. What military targets do you think they should attack and how should they go about it? Perhaps they should only attack the unmanned drones that hover overhead firing missiles? I'm sure Israel would like that. Perhaps they should get dressed up in uniforms and march towards the Israeli border? That should last about ten minutes before the billion dollar warplanes blow the sh!t out of them? They don't have the technology to accurately target military operations from Palestine (neither does Israel apparently) Oh, unpopulated areas? That's totally different than fields. How long do you think they could maintain operations in these unpopulated areas before Israel used their superior weaponry to annihilate them? Listen, any time Israel wants to show how brave they are, i guarantee you, that you would have no problem finding Hamas fighters willing to fight unarmed, or with daggers, as long as the fight is fair. Calling them cowardly because they don't want to stand in the middle of a field to shoot at unmanned missle-firing drones with a pistol and a pitchfork, is a little absurd. I'll get back to the rest later.

While I agree that FPTP is an archaic system, a straight PR system has its own problems. There are many other forms of electoral reform that would be a huge improvement over FPTP while not inheriting the many flaws of straight PR.

In principal, this makes sense. Let's say that Leonard Asper lends Ignatieff 5 million dollars for his campaign. If he gets elected, do we really think that Asper won't hold some influence over Ignatieff? However, given the previous bill that the Conservatives tried to pass,. when they mistakenly thought they had a majority, we know that the Conservatives ambitions is not to eliminate influence peddling. Rather - their goal is to exploit the fact that they have a well-oiled fund raising machine capable of generating far more than the other parties. Therefore, by removing all other sources of funding, they can ensure a substantial advantage over the other parties. Allowing only banks to make these loans, essentially means that only the wealthy will have the money to launch a campaign, since even putting the fundraising machine in place takes substantial capital. Banks will lend to the rich, but not the poor. Convenient for Conservatives, to be sure. I have to agree with the previous posters who suggested that all the taps be turned off. The Conservatives are cherry picking the funding which benefits the other parties in greater proportion. If you want to get rid of taxpayers subsidies to political parties, then get rid of all of it, not just the $1.95 If you want to get rid of influence-peddling, get rid of all of it, not just the loans to leadership candidates.

I don't think that there was much question that parliament would be prorogued. The alternative was an unstable Coalition government with Dion as leader, with a new leader set to come when the Liberal leadership happened. It really wasn't what Canada needed at a time like this. However, there were some things that the GG could have done differently, because the decisions she made couldn't have been any more fortuitous for Harper if he was the GG himself. 1) The length - did it really need to be that long? 2) Forbidding any political propaganda during that time. Essentially, Harper was able to spread his deceitful message about the coalition being undemocratic for six weeks thus destroying any chance the Coalition had. Regardless, it looks like it doesn't matter now, as Harper is now doing whatever the opposition wants in a desperate bid to stay in power, even though it is destroying a full decade of debt repayment by the Liberals.

Well, given that he decapitated another person for no reason, ate the eyeballs, and begged police to kill him - I think it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he would be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The real question is whether or not Li will be released into the public. 'Guilty' or not, given what he has done, he is clearly a danger to the public given his actions. I see no reason why this individual should be given his freedom anytime soon, not because he is a criminal, but simply because he is a danger to society, much like a bear that has become accustomed to eating from urban garbages.

Well, in terms of Iceland being socialist. They ranked 14th globally in terms of economic freedoms. Corporate tax was relatively low at 15% They have a flat tax of around 35% on personal income. So, I hardly think that Iceland going bankrupt is an example of why socialism is wrong. Buying up the banks was something they did after the fact, in an attempt to save itself. Imagine that there is a leak in the damn. People try to plug the leak, but another leak breaks out and the damn crumbles. This is not an example of why you shouldn't try to plug the leak, but that is pretty much how your logic is working. In fact, Iceland just completed privatizing their banks in 2000. The privately held banks (with little government interference) then went about acquiring substantial international assets. When the bottom fell through on those assets, the banks essentially went belly up. So, actually, this is the exact reverse of an example of socialism not working. This is an example of the free market laissez-faire strategy being a dismal failure.

Well, it certainly makes it easy for you to call anyone who disparages any of the above groups for any reason, an anti-semite.

You seem to be under the impression that Zionist is a codeword for Jew, used by anti-semites to cloud their hatred of Jews. By using Zionist instead of Jew, anti-semites can secretly say that they hate Jews. In fact, Zionist is used so that we can differentiate between Jews, and those with an agenda of expanding Israel's borders at the expense of the Palestinians. There are those Jews that believe they are biblically entitled to the occupied lands. No one is calling Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky zionists. I know it's a lot of fun to rebut every criticism of Israel, by yelling anti-semite, but surely you can do better.