nicky10013

As much as I respect smallc, he's wrong on this one so don't hide behind him on it. You had no idea what you were talking about until he coincidentally agreed with you. No, the only people looking stupid would be the people arguing that 30 is the same as 56. As in because the opposition wanted thirty, they shouldn't cry when the government pisses away 30 more. Because obviously it's their fault anyway that the CPC can't manage our finances to save their life. Moron. Then vote Liberal. No conservative in the history of conservatism has lived up to their promise. Who has? The Liberals. Oh yeah, that's right. I mentioned it before but I'll bring it up again. For Conservatives it isn't about ideology, it's about the team nature of sports. People like you can't understand the complicated nature of policy and finance, so despite whatever happens, it's the other guys fault because YOUR guy can never be wrong. They may be screwing up right now, but they REALLY believe in giving me my money back because I know how to spend it best. No, of course they're not being cynical and lying to me just to win my vote, because they're all good guys....aren't they?

Considering Canada was in positive growth until 2008, I doubt that. With growth, comes greater revenue. If the economy was slowing down that much that the receipts the government was taking in would be that negatively affected, there would've been a decline in GDP much sooner than we saw.

So what you're saying is the mafia will have access to the database? Where's the evidence behind this? What does a messy bureaucracy have to do with traffic accidents? Could've fooled me.

It's very much true. So what you're saying is that the opposition shouldn't critique an extra 30 billion tacked onto a deficit? Are you fucking nuts? The PBO disagrees. Who shall I believe, the PBO or you and a reporter? The choice is easy. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/285523

We aren't the US.

I doubt I'll even attend half the games as well. Sometimes it can get quite stale. However, at 95 bucks for 80 games, you break even after 10 games and I'll be going to more than 10. So, the package works!

Nope. You don't get a seat. Basically what they do is give you a swipe card. You go to a specific gate and you can chose any available seat in the 500s. You have to chose 45 minutes before the game starts so chances are good that you'll get a fairly decent seat. I had a friend who did this last year and routinely got seats in the first or second row of the 500 level right behind the plate. We have 6 people this year. Going to be fun. Every single game but the home opener is included in the package which works out since the home opener is against the Twins so not a horrible loss.

I'd like to know how not registering firearms makes people safer. This should be interesting. Yes it is. No it actually isn't. Have you convinced yourself that anything bureaucratic is a mess? Stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. Hahahahahaha. I mean? Hahahaha.

I'm not the biggest baseball fan but I enjoy going to games as it's a good way to enjoy friends company and it's cheap entertainment and it can be a lot of fun. I never thought I would be, but I am now a Toronto Blue Jays season ticket holder. The Toronto Star has sponsored a special deal that only lasts until this Friday the 21st of Jan. Up until then you can buy a season ticket for anywhere in the 500 level (you show up an hour before the game and they assign you a seat) for only 100 dollars. 80 games for 100 dollars. You really only have to go to 10 games just to break even. It's a really great deal if you like baseball. Couldn't keep it to myself!

Hilarious considering the source. We were in deficit before the recession so nice try. Yeah, a 30 billion dollar stimulus program and the deficits is now up to nearly 60. Even with the recession, even with the stimulus, it doesn't matter. The deficit is structural. Even before the recession, with the GST cut and the expansion in government, Ottawa was already in the red by the tune of 2-3 billion.

Bahahahahah. 99% of the complaints against Ignatieff and Dion are that they've let Harper rule like he's had a majority. Liberals have complained when saying as such, Conservatives have laughed with glee while repeating the same thing. Now it's because the CPC isn't powerful enough? Puh-lease. All the CPC needed to do to keep the fiscally responsible tag was to keep doing what the Liberals did. The opposition didn't force the CPC to slash the GST and hike spending. THe CPC cabinet is the largest in Canadian history. No one forced them to do that. No one forced them to spend millions of more on polling and borderline partisan government advertising. No, this one isn't on the opposition. This is all on the CPC. Nice try, though.

It seems a lot of Canadians feel that way. But then again they can't be trusted either. Which is why the people who don't feel that way need guns in the first place.

You're accusing him of acting like Canadian's are stupid while expecting he has to go to Tim Horton's to maintain popularity? Now, I don't think either case is true but hear me out. If he really does think Canadians are stupid (and I don't think he does) and Canadians expect their politicians to go to Tim Horton's to remain popular (and I don't think they do), then Ignatieff I think is on to something with the whole Canadians are stupid thing.

Countries in the eurozone won't pull out because the Euro failing is a far worse option than bailing nations out. Let's forget for a minute that old currencies aren't even in print anymore. Let's also forget that it took over 3 years to prepare for the introduction of the euro through the changing of the most simple things such as cash machines and registers and vending machines and the like. If the eurozone collapsed that there would be runs on banks and the financial situation would become that much weaker. Don't take my word for it, though. The Economist has been one of the biggest merchants in euroskepticism and yet, here it is in their own words. Since the article was written the EU has moved forward with binding legislation that would force member states to bail out countries in the future. Portugal (I believe) was reported in the news the other week to having no problem selling their bonds which sent markets up. Even through the sovereign debt crisis, the Euro has actually held it's value pretty well against other currencies. With the guarantee that EU members won't default from the ECB along with the high interest rates due to the fear of default (which there really isn't much of a chance of), if I had liquid cash I'd be buying Greek bonds.

What registration? Oh, let me guess...the National Post is just another lame stream media liberal elite paper...right?

I think it'll be the Euro.

So you're changing the meaning of your words when made to look like a complete idiot? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Also, Shit like this can only help Ignatieff. Polls have already shown that the coalition boogeyman effect has worn off, so please Mr. Haprer, keep going with this. People will only get tired of this cynical, mud slinging government. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tories-fire-up-their-attack-ad-machine/article1872646/ Ahahaha reading it more and more it just gets more stupid. God forbid the leader of the opposition actually want to become Prime Minister...THE HORROR!

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/01/15/terence-corcoran-tories%E2%80%99-fiscal-promises-unfulfilled/ And then there's this article from the Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/whistlin-past-the-graveyard-of-conservative-vows/article1869229/ Seems people are waking up and realizing that Conservatives merely pay lip service to their own "beliefs" just to get elected. I put that in quotations because it's clear that conservative governments have any intention of living up to their own rhetoric. Funny, in the comment section in the National Post, a poster laments that the only time Canada has seen truly fiscally conservative economic management was under Chretien.

Harper and the United Conservative Party of Canada ran in and lost against Paul Martin in 2004. So....no...you're completely wrong.

I think that's crap. Was the right divided? Sure, but the left is even more divided than the right ever was and has been since the implosion of the old PC party. Lets not forget that the LPC actually won an election against the CPC under Harper. As for the Liberals "not having a leader." I again have to challenge that. It's becoming the prevailing wisdom, but I'll yet again post an article written by Jeffrey Simpson.( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/life-cycle-of-an-opposition-leader/article1848365/ ) Every single opposition leader has faced those questions. Every single opposition leader has always been less popular than the government whether they deserve it or not. Every opposition leader is written off. Why? Because things don't significantly change until election time. Large movements in the electorate don't happen until people are forced to care. The prevailing wisdom was that summer tours and BBQ circuits don't matter because no one pays attention but the real wisdom was that outside hardcore political junkies and the operatives up on the Hill, no one cares despite what season it is, of course outside a major scandal. Ignatieff isn't popular because no one knows who he is. It seems like a stretch since he's been leader almost two years, but is it really? Outside a scrum or two picked up on a slow news day, he's never really heard from, he's never really seen except on cable news and I'd love to see their ratings. I've never seen him on my local news as we don't watch the national edition. The fact of the matter is, he'll never be known until he runs a campaign. It's just the way it goes. There really isn't anything that will make it better until a campaign. Case in point, the LPC has slowly been releasing a lot of policy over the past 6 months, but no one knows about it because no one cares. It's inconsequential until there's a fight over it and there won't be until the writ is dropped. For as horrible a leader as Ignatieff is, for being in such a split parliament, the Liberals in terms of where they are heading into an election are much better off than they were in 1993 and they're better off than the Conservatives were in 2006. We have a government that can't crack 34%. The undecided percentage of the vote is huge after most of them peeled off from the CPC after the prorogue last year and have stayed on the sidelines and whose second choice tends to be Liberal. They have a PM in power who is approval is at 26%. To foil the PM we have a still completely unknown opposition leader who contrary to popular belief is an incredibly eloquent and passionate speaker. The party is coming out with more and more policy and while I don't agree with all of it, it's good politically in that it contrasts very well with the true out of touch nature of what the CPC has done, or hasn't done over the past year and a bit. All this is to say his expectations are already so low that if he can show he knows how to tie his shoe laces he'll be blowing people away which in the political world is an incredibly valuable commodity. All people seem to care about though is the fact that the Liberals are currently under 30% without even taking the time to consider the implications of the way our party system is actually set up. It's still bad (but could be easily overcome, as I said, big moves don't happen until the writ is dropped) but it would've been much worse 20 years ago, which, invariably people look back to as a comparison which isn't fair. Is this to say that he's going to win an election? Not at all, it's going to be a really tough fight and Harper is already out there throwing mud. However, I think writing the man off before a campaign is ludicrous and the epic height of hubris. A lot of political predictions had Ignatieff backstabbed and run back to the states by the end of 2010. Not only is he still leader, he's still out there doing tours and talking to people. John Ivison made the same prediction for this year. He wasn't right last year and he won't be this year. He will without doubt, be leader going into the next campaign. This goes to the second thing, a lot of the press Ignatieff gets isn't good and it's primarily focused on bad poll numbers. Again, that won't change until there's a campaign and a comprehensive policy platform is released. Despite what you hear out there, the Liberal Party as of December 2009 had enough money to run a national campaign to the spending limit without going into debt. As I said, there's policy coming out combined with a leader who can really speak. He's not known, but come good or bad, if there's a writ on the budget, he will be. I think there's a good chance at winning.

So what? You want to hand over the keys to government and let them start? As of right now all the LPC can do is oppose and introduce private members legislation that gets turfed in the senate anyhow. The least he can do is go out and listen to people. I also have to laugh. Ignatieff is so incredibly out of touch, yet we're sitting with a PM with a 26% approval rating who would rather dump money into corporate welfare, warplanes and prisons? And Ignatieff is out of touch? I'm not sold on his ideas but at least he's TALKING about things that actually matter to Canadians. Senior care is going to be a huge issue as the baby boomers have already started to retire. There's a lot more to say about him at least trying to have a discussion regarding these issues at pressers where the questions aren't scripted. As opposed to this government that gets one single complaint that suits their ideological goals and goes on a tear as if there's a great grass roots movement behind them. Census? Canadian National Anthem? Really...please, if we're going to have a discussion on who is really out of touch, let's at least be honest about it.

You do realize the money he used to cover the TTC has been found "in theory." Ie the TTC said they hope they can find it within their budget. The rest is coming from the province not the city. The only reason why the entire budget was balanced is because rather than using it to pay down debt as is usual when there's a budgetary surplus, they used it to cover this year's budget deficits. It may seem like he's worked miracles this year but next will be one of pain. If it hasn't already. I seem to recall a no new taxes pledge but everythign BUT property tax seems like it's going up.

Ontario. Southern Ontario is a place for big gains. They also lost a couple seats in Northern Ontario to the NDP which they can win back. Despite Quebec being Bloc territory, there is room for gain there as well. The Liberals lead non seperatist Parties but the Conservatives also have 10 seats. Some seats can be poached from the Bloc, some from the Conservatives. They won't come near winning the province outright but to pick up a few seats certainly wouldn't hurt. The latest story to come out that the Conservatives have 45 seats they lost within a 10% margin they think they can win. There's a list equally as long for the LPC so it's definitely a two way street.

Absolutely. I think there's hope of winning a seat or two in Saskatchewan, a few will be won in Manitoba, Alberta is a lost cause as well as rural BC.

Yup, the Bloc nullifies Quebec. Big changes happen after the writ is dropped. As seen in the article I posted after I responded to you, PM's and their governments are always more popular than the opposition going into a campaign. It's the way it was, is and will be. The bus tour was touted as a widespread success. The few articles I saw about it, even the ones from the National Post were uniformly positive. Everyone was saying how down to Earth he was and how articulate he was and how likeable he turned out to be. The tour just got so little coverage that of course it never changed as many minds as needed. He won't get that attention until the campaign. I think there is a guarantee he will get the attention. I think it's what he does with it that'll decide how the party does and I think it'll be fairly positive. Historically no, but Dion could barely speak the language. He had real difficulty in the english debate and during speeches. If you have a hard time speaking english, you'll have a hard time getting your message across. Whereas Chretien had an accent, he had absolutely no problem with English. Dion did. As for the West, the Liberals don't really have a hope in the west until there's a greater demographic shift within the urban centres of places like Edmonton and Calgary. The west wasn't voting Liberal gun registry or no.