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The US is pretty much the bottom of the barrel for western 1st world countries, being better than them is meaningless.

The Cons put us in a deficit in boom times, I don't care how small it was.

I don't get the Cons, they seem deathly afraid to state their honest position on issue such as abortion...

What you say would be true if the upper class was in the same boat. No, our society as a whole is getting richer, but all that gain is being funneled into a small fraction of the population's pockets.

As demonstrated by the recent election, Canadians are more concerned with rhetoric than with facts.

Yep. I'm grateful that the constitution is so hard to change, it's pretty much the only thing protecting us from the radical government that Canadians just elected.

Treading water isn't succeeding, it's just barely adequate to keep from drowning. It's glaringly obvious that the economic policies employed by the various conservative and liberal governments have done nothing for the average Canadian. I wouldn't be surprised if they were worse off now, after this recession. Simply put, 30 years of economically right wing have failed to do anything but make the rich richer. Ah well, we all knew the trickle down theory was bullshit anyways.

Succeeding? Everyone but the rich is either falling behind or stagnant...

The Cons put us into deficit before the recession hit actually...

I'm talking about the north.

Why does a nation of 33 million need to piss away billions on military bases in far off lands? We don't even have our own country covered in terms of bases...

Have they been increasing at a rate that exceeds inflation? Simply put, if you get a 2% raise when inflation is say 2.5% you're really taking a ~0.5% wage cut. My apologies then, I have mistaken you for someone else.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2008/05/01/f-cp-census-income.html "B..B..But Teh Communist Broadcasting Corporation...' No wonder Conservatives scum like yourself want the census gone.

Cry me a river. If the job is so easy why don't you apply for a position. Oh and in many other countries, the job you do would likely come with the benefits Canada Post employees receive. You can probably chalk that up to the fact that they don't vote for Conservative hacks, like some Canadians.

For everyone but the rich Canada has been pretty much stagnant for more than two decades.

Think you got it backward. Private sector employees are currently underpaid, but that's what happens when you allow companies to use 3rd world labour.

I don't see your point. Transporting mail there is expensive, and the cost is currently subsidized. Should Canada post be gutted, as you Cons want, the cost to transport a letter/parcel/ will skyrocket. Blind speculation... Care to back up your wild assertions with a shred of data? I know you'll spew some semantic BS but I might as well ask. Canada's postage rates, in comparisons America (I choose America as you idolize them) have a difference of about ~15 cents for first class mail... Just think! For every 10 letters you send you could buy another double double with all you'd save by taking the Conservatives 'death to well paying jobs' route. Oh unless you live even a slight distance from a population centre. Oh yeah those kind private corporations are going to take a loss to get mail to the rural communities I don't know what your smoking, but I'd like to buy some. Red herring alert!!

There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.

If you understand that Shady thinks of the unionized middleclass as the enemy, and the corporate upperclass as gods who walk the earth his statement makes more sense.

I don't think you know what your talking about, if you think a regulated market is a free market. and parts of the public service have been cut on numerous occasions...

People actually believe this shit? Free market competition leads directly to monopolization and massive price hikes. And seeing as the public sector live or die on the whims of those who are elected, i'd say there is indeed a minimizing force.

An open market would have anyone in a rural community paying many times more for any postal service. Essentially what would happen is private enterprise would come in, take over the urban areas, and leave the rural areas to fend for themselves. Now either you'd have to increase subsidies massively to Canada Post to maintain service, or you'd give a good old 'fuck you' and let rural areas do without any affordable postage/shipping. If you took the former option I doubt any money would be saved by 'opening the market'.

You quite clearly implied that the opinion of the majority has little meaning.

So you're saying the population doesn't deserve to be consulted about sweeping changes to the constitution?

So much for Canada being taken seriously on the Palestine issue. Actually, so much for Canada being taken seriously at all. We're a joke on the international stage.