caesar

An honest farmer, rancher, or hunter should have no reluctance to have his gun registered. This is simply a register to trace guns. I would like to see that responsible gun ownership should be proven before one can own one. Guns should be stored in a safe secure location. We have daily shootings here in Vancouver in the past few years. This has increased; since our provincial government decided it would be a good idea to allow some clubs to stay open and serve liquor until 4 am. Police should be able to confiscate a non registered gun BEFORE someone commits a crime; not after. Long guns should not be exempt. We have all heard of sawed off shot guns. We do not want to have our upset children picking up guns and shooting up schools. We lived on a farm, where everyone had guns for hunting ducks and pheasants. Two brothers were having a fight; one ran into the house; grabbed a handy gun and shot his brother. He immediately had regrets and called the police himself but it was too late for his brother. They were both very nice, likeable boys. Neither were troublemakers. It was a spur of the moment, hot headed youth with too easy access to a gun.

Media bias; Of course there is. Can West owns most of the newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations. Papers are required to publish editorials that they send to them. These editorials; the local paper is not allowed to publish letters to the editor with a credible opposing view. Have you not noticed; much news is no longer in our papers. Yes, I did notice that they referred to the Liberal ad as mud slinging. The ad is not mud slinging. They only remind people of previous stands that Harper has made that he now tries to deny. Mud slinging is vague personal attacks usually from their past; like the one on the NDP candidate that had made some remarks about Jews 10 years, ago.

Fortunately, if a Conservative/Bloc coalition is a reality; which I doubt. It will be short lived. We will be paying for another election within 6 months at the longest. It looks like our vote in BC will count this time. Hopefully, the idea of the Bloc being a part of our federal government will be enough to make people vote Liberal. I was leaning towards the NDP, myself; but now I do believe that I will vote Liberal. I don't particularly like or trust Paul Martin but the thought of Stephen Harper being Prime Minister scares me. He could destroy Canada and our good reputation around the world.

Fraud against the Quebec people????? Why do we have to keep bribing the French in Quebec. If there was any money being misspent; it was money that belong to ALL Canadians. I don't know what French Quebecer have to whine about. We all have to pay the bills to accomodate them throughout this country; they do not show us the same respect in Quebec when they do not allow English signs.

Maple; perhaps it is because women are better judges of men. The big issues; I believe are the Iraq issue; which basically boils down to Harper's readiness to follow Bush and Co. down any road. Harper seems to support any issue that will make the USA government happy. Any attempt, at this time, to repair the relationship with the American government would be seen as weakness and acceptance of the American actions. Trade relations with the USA have often been difficult but have escalated to an extremely unfair and vindictive level under Bush. Health Care is the other big issue. His hints of allowing private clinics will lead to the disintegration of equal health care. What exactly are people finding in his platform to vote FOR. I believe most are voting against the Liberals due to their misdeeds. However, if they do not know the platform and intentions of the Conservatives; they may well find themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire. We, In BC; do this time and time again; only to be upset with what we get. The ruling party in BC call themselves Liberals but their ideas are much the same as Harpers. It has caused much distress here in BC. Our record on women's and children's rights here in BC have been downgraded by the UN several times in the past 2 years. We are paying much more for Health Care in medicare payments and seniors prescriptions; waiting lists are getting longer; many services have been delisted; regular eye exams, chiropractors, and physiotherapy are no longer covered by medicare.

Is anyone on this forum old enough to vote? Many of you sound like children.

I am against the Hate crimes laws that specifically protect Jews or homosexuals. Every group, every individual should be protected from hate crimes that are commited because of someone's race, country of origin, sexual preference . Why should it be against the law to attack someone for being Jewish? Does that mean that it is different or acceptable to commit these crimes if the person is being attacked because he is an Iraqi, an Iran, or a Palestinian or even an American. Why do we need a specific law to protect only the Jewish race/religion. All groups or individuals should be equally protected from hate crimes. It stifles discussion regarding issues in Israel. I am tired of being called a racist whenever I criticize any Israeli government action. I don't like being called anti American for criticizing Bush. Bush may be president but he does not represent all Americans. Much of the American support of Bush initiatives were founded on lies and propaganda. We are too complacent here in North America. We believe that as we are a democracies and such civilized countries that our governments would not lie or feed us propaganda. Many tend to believe that only the other guys do that.

And just what values and freedoms are the Conservatives offering that you think are so great. Just what are they offering?

We do not have more viable choices in our ridings. One of those two parties WILL be in power. We need to really start looking at our choices. Neither is really great for the ordinary citizen. Changing governing bodies for the sake of change without finding out the true nature of this other ruling party is an irrresponsible and dangerous thing to do. Look at us in BC. Always voting out the ruling party. Always finding something worse. Paying these outgoing politicians generous severence pay and pensions; Then we do the same for all their patronage appointees. Appointees, whose onlyuresume requirement is that the ruling party owes them a favour. Harper seems to have no agenda other than to mimic and follow the American lead. This at a time that the USA has been headed down to trouble. A liberal/ New Democrat coalition government would probably be our best choice. IMO

so, instead, they killed a whole bunch of innocent Iraq civillians; and maimed and torture others. The UN has been hampered to a great degree by the permanent 5 and their misuse of their veto. The biggest problem being the vetoes from the USA protecting the present Israeli government from taking responsibilities for its over aggression and human rights violations. Most nations have signed onto these human rights and world laws; unfortunately, the USA under Bush does not think these laws should apply to him or the USA. Reuters; Former Officials to criticize Bush foreign policy. Read this article. Former Reagan diplomats and military appointees are asking the Americans to vote out Bush. This is a mix or Democrats and REPUBLICANS.

Sorry if you cannot think with your head. The issues to be decided need us to be informed and fair to all. You may care but you do need to know the facts; otherwise you may be in for a big shock. The issues are too important to leave to the heart. We must face reality; the costs and what is do able. I can think of many scenarios of a perfect world; but unfortunately, we need to be able to pay for these things.

It doesn't depend on who wins the most seats between the NDP and the Bloc. It will be which combination is the largest. It seems the Conservatives will tie up with the Bloc. The Liberals would go with the NDP. The NDP would be a much better choice for anyone outside of Quebec. The Liberals would be the choice of those who wish to protect our Health Care system and our independence from the USA.

I am confident; that it will be the NDP holding a balance of power. Canadians would not like to see our Health Care furthur disintegrated. Canadians would not want to see Canada become America's "yes" country. The Liberals for all their faults ( I do know that there has been many) are still our only viable choice. Joe Clark had it right. Better, the devil we know. There is too much about Harper's agenda; that remains hidden. If people knew; they would not support him; otherwise he would be more open. Harper wants to down load more responsibilities to the Provinces. We know how that goes. Any program that is too costly to administer; hand it down to the next lower government with generous transfer payments; then slowly cut the amount of the transfer payment. Important national programs; such as the Health Ministry; should be administered by the federal government and allow all Canadians equal access to the Health Care that we DO all pay for. Every time, we change a government; we pay generous severance pay and pensions. Patronage positions are changed with the outgoing appointee being given generous buy out severance packages. Then they appoint some other person to the position with the only important qualification on his resume is his past favours or position in the governing party.

If you want to make a point and a good impression; then read what you wrote before posting. Proper spelling and good grammar; indicates that you care about what you write and have taken the time to research your ideas. A spell check would be very helpful in correcting typing errors. If you don't check your posts before sending; it tends to indicate you are speaking from your heart and may not have done the background work. I am sometimes guilty of rushing out a reply and not checking exactly what I wrote. If I get a serious poster; with a serious view; I would be more diligent.

Slavik; your poor spelling and grammar indicates a poor education. Why not ask the moderator to add a spell check. Personal attacks; of course, should not be allowed; So far, I have found this forum to be fairly civil. However; it seems a little desperate to refer to others as left wing , right wing, etc everytime they disagree with you. Some of us are neither.

What is your problem Alliance; What is to debate when everyone holds the same opinion. Sound like you were happy because it was full of a bunch of right wing zealots. Many of us are neither right or left; we like a balance. Helping those who need help; keeping and improving our HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. Building our country to be strong and independent. Not to sell off our ideals for the almighty American dollar. With Harper type of conservative government; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the middle income earner join the poor ranks.

Where did people get the idea one can demand an abortion any time during their pregnancy. I believe it is cut off at 4 or 5 months unless their is a serious risk to the parent. Perhaps if the fetus has very extreme problems; it could still be done.

Argus; You claimed there was no money to be made in Iraq. I do believe, that the USA decided that Iraq's oil and strategic middle eastern spot to place a US military base were one of the reasons the USA did attack Iraq. Note how quickly a new government was formed in the terrorist fill Afghanistan; nothing there for the USA. As things have turned out not to be the cake walk that the USA envisioned; I do believe that the costs far out weigh any gain. I do not want our country to pay the bills to undo the damage wrought by the USA actions. Canada did back the invasion of Afghanistan and therefore we are on the hook to assist in paying for the rebuilding of that country.

Re; the abortion issue. No one forces anyone who does not believe in abortion to have such a procedure. For those who feel an abortion is the only answer that should be their choice. Pro choice does not force their ideas on others. Anti abortion backers do. Remember: we do not want to regress to the time when people had to rish their lives with illegal unsanitary abortions. Nor do we want more girls to hide their condition then kill or abandon their child to die.

He did not think; He screamed wwhined and yelled; we should be there with our American friends. Why should we not develop a closer relationship with the most hated nation on earth, at this time. Why should we condone their aggressive arrogant actions and their vindictive trade retaliations. The USA does not abide my international agreements. Bush is like the little boy; who when he doesn't get his own way; takes the ball and does home. Many of Harper's ideas are simply a mimic of the USA ways. I am quite satisfied to keep our country as separate from the USA as possible. We need to be in a position to disentangle our decisions and international relations from those of the USA. One should never put all their eggs in one basket. Bush and his vindictive ways may not be in power much longer; but he may not be the worst president that they will have in the future. To tie our defense and foreign decisions to the USA would be very dangerous. As with Bush; they could dictate our Canadian decisions without our votes or input. I think relations with the USA should be friendly and cordial but never subservient nor controlled by USA decisions. We need to seek more and varied trading partners that will respect Canada and trade in good faith. By the way; rgus what made you think that I am a male. Anyone with ties to Mulroney makes me very nervous and wary. He sold out a lot of Canada's independence and control of our resources to his American buddies; that was NOT in Canada's interest. He should crawl back under that rock he slithered back out of.

Willy; Softwood lumber does come under NAFTA. Read some headlines once in a while. CBC: US trade panel defies NAFTA. rules Canadian lumber injures US producers The USA thinks it can over rule NAFTA whenever the decision does not come down in their favour.

Harper is too pro American/ Bush. For him to now deny that he supported the Invasion of Iraq is ludicrous. His ideas are all too pro American for me. I want Canada to remain independent from the USA as much as possible. Mulroney already tied us too closely to them for comfort. The NAFTA agreement is all tipped in favour of the USA. When the USA loses a ruling from NAFTA; they just ignore it like the recent softwood dispute that Canada won. The present USA leadership believes that the USA is above international laws and agreements. The torture of prisoners in Iraq and Cuba is against Geneva Conventions. There is evidence that approval of torture came from the White House. Note that Bush said the treatment of these prisoners comes within USA law not international law.

Canada get sued for not selling our resources but the USA completely ignores NAFTA rulings on softwood lumber. I say we opt out of the free trade agreement with the USA which uses strong armed tactics to get what it wants and ignores rulings against the USA

Any one who disagrees with the USA governments aggressive actions are labelled anti-American. We do NOT need nor want to be linked and subservient to the USA. Many USA policies are arrogant and unfair and do not meet international law standards. The USA does not abide by the agreements it has signed. At this present time: Canada won another NAFTA agreement on softwood that the USA is just ignoring. The Canadian Beef industry is suffering because of American protectionism; our industries are too intertwined to claim our beef is unsafe and theirs is not. They are using strong armed tactics on Japan to force that country (that does have higher standards than Canada or the USA to protect consumers - 100% testing for BSE) The invasion of Iraq was pre emptive and not necessary. It was a diversion from the war on terrorism. What it has done is too spread terrorism and to anger Muslims and Arabs and to bring more recruits for the terrorist groups. Even the first Gulf War may not have been necessary. There is evidence that this situation was manipulated by the USA. This evidence comes from former USA Attorney General / assistant attorney general to JFK and Johnston (Ramsey Clark). There is evidence that the USA used Napalm on retreating Iraqis (Highway of Death) AFTER the cease fire was signed. The widely touted claims of Saddam gassing his own people (Kurds) is refuted by the American War College (where Bush gave a recent speech). The War College claims that Iraq and Iran were both using gases to attack each other; the Kurds were accidently caught between the two. Plus the symptons suffered by the Kurds indicated that they were suffering from the type of poisonous gas used by Iran.

By the way Slavic; We ARE a bilingual country. We don't ALL have to speak both languages to make it so. It is officially recognized whether us westerners like it or not. Harper claims he can do all the spending he plans while cutting taxes for the rich because the government surplus is probably much larger than the government claims. Gee, usually the governing party exaggerates their financial stability. Obviously: Harper thinks the Liberals have managed our tax money extremely well if they have an even larger surplus. However we do still have a deficit; that needs to keep shrinking as it has been under the present government. Yes, Canada will lose world respect if Harper makes the regressive changes to our social and environmental programs. We will be downgraded and lose world respect. We have already been there done that in BC under Gordon Campbell. I believe there have been three notices of our downgraded position from the UN. His party may call themselves Liberals but they are right wing Conservatives. They share many of the same ideas as Harper and co.