Bionic Antboy

Harper just wants us to add a new "john" to our list.

Is okay to criticise American foreign policy if we also criticise Canadian foreign policy? I agree that we shouldn't be so quick to hop into bed with countries that trample human rights and freedoms. Just because we may be wrong in some areas DOESN'T mean that US foreign policy is okay. It's not an either/or situation. Canada may be a whore, but the US is a thug. A match made in heaven?

Well said ... allthough I don't think it was fear of reprisal that keep us from joining in the illegal invasion, nor should it be fear that dictates our foreign policy in the future. We had plenty of legitimate reasons to stay out of Iraq.

Last time I checked there was more freedom in the US. More importantly, there was far more unity, far more pride to be American among immigrants who are eager to fit in and take part in the American experience. What exactly is Canadian thinking, hmm? Does it arise from some kind of shared sense of cultural values and traditions? But you seem happy to have millions of people who share none of that with you, and can't even speak your language. How do you know your thinking is the same as their thinking? Oh, that doesn't matter, right? And yet, I can't utter thoughts you consider "un-Canadian" because uh... help me out here. Obviously, you're not paying attention to the news. Right now, the political climate in the US is probably more polarized than it has been since the Civil War. As for immigrants in Canada, I know quite a few, from China, Egypt, and Trinidad, and although they all have close ties to their ancestral heritage, they are all proud to be Canadian, and all take part in the Canadian "experience". As for what is "Canadian thinking", I would hope includes not spouting off xenophobic racist comments. In regards to not being able to say them, well, you have, and no one has censored your words.

I think it's a little of column A and a little of column B. Another comment I remember Harper mentioning a week or so ago was that he liked the whole "3 strikes" law that the States adopted. Said law has led to the long term incarceration (25 to life) of people who have been convicted of nothing more than possession of a "personal amount" of marijuana, which strikes me as not only a HUGE waste of taxpayer's dollars, but injust as well.

Your kind of Canada is a Canada where immigrants can come here and learn nothing about Canada, can stay in their own Chinese communities, read Chinese language papers and magazines, watch Chinese language TV, listen to Chinese language radio, work in Chinese businesses which cater to Chinese customers. And call themselves Canadians. And have political weasels make promises to them which are in their interests but not in the interest of the country as a whole. Lovely. I'd consider them more Canadian than someone who holds such xenophobic attitudes. As for saying this....work in Chinese businesses which cater to Chinese customers As an Anglo in downtown Toronto, I've NEVER been refused service in any Chinese establishment, be it a restaurant (that serves REAL Chinese food), clothing store, fresh food grocer or whatever. Sounds like you have some issues. I agree with maplesyrup that it's great that at least one party is making the effort to get their message heard more clearly by more Canadians. I doubt we'll see the Conservative party doing that.

heheh... There needs to be a new balance. Harper's opinion on the subject is that the status quo is just fine, when it's not. It sure doesn't seem that way in Toronto. Then again, that's probably because we've had a decade of anti-Torontoism sitting in Queen's Park (not sure if the McGuinty era is going to be much better... we'll have to wait and see).

That's not what the Constitution says. Municipal affairs, like education, are local matters best governed in a country like Canada at the provincial level. Harper is dead right on this one. Martin and Layton are the ones grandstanding. You can guess Duceppe's position. That's why amending the Constitution wouldn't be such a bad idea. Nothing wrong with a little political reform.

Now a little dose of reality. How refreshing! Although not a fan of minority gov't in principle, it may be appropriate this time round, to smack the Liberals and raise fundamental issues. At the same time, it could get really messy.

Harper had absolutely nothing to gain by attending and being lambasted by a bunch of liberal and ndp mayors who are salivating at the prospect of getting direct, no strings attached, federal money. (snip) The tories have promised money, too, but they would give it to the provinces to disperse, and that's not what these money grubbing, power hungry mayors want. If they have personal control of the money they can use it to reward supporters, to improve things THEY want to improve, not what the cities actually need. Actually, I think city mayors have a pretty good idea on what needs to improve. By rethinking the current "trickle down" method of getting money back to the municipalities and finding a better way is an improvement, regardless of political stripe. As for your comment about "free fed money", where the heck does that money come from, hmmm? That's right, the taxpayers, many of whom live in urban centres. Cities should be able to appeal to the feds. For example, Toronto could fairly easily become it's own city-province, and probably manage itself much better than what happened under the aegis of the provincial Tory gov't. Not that I necessarily support the notion... it smacks me as unCanadian There's a reason why the mayors are looking for a new deal, because the status quo is ungainly.

I bring this up because caesar mentioned media bias in another thread, and figured that it would be topic worth discussing on it's own. The following was posted in the Attack Ads thread and has been edited On June 10th, City-TV, Global and CTV all ran some kind of piece about how the Liberals were coming out with their new attack ad, and Harper's response, in which he suggested that isn't a route that his party would go. I had just seen the Conservative ad moments before (on the CBC IIRC) with a Martin-like figure throwing money in the garbage, which clearly contradicts the reporting of each of these media outlets. The reporting suggested that the Liberals (and NDP) were sinking into the negative campaigning, and the Conservatives were above it all, which is only half true at the most. Shoddy journalism or deliberate bias? Either way, it was inaccurate reporting.

I don't have a problem with attack ads, as long as they're not mudslinging. I was more expanding on what caesar mentioned about media bias. City-TV, Global and CTV all ran some kind of piece about how the Liberals were coming out with their new attack ad, and Harper's response, in which he suggested that isn't a route that his party would go. Meanwhile, I had just seen the Conservative ad moments before (on the CBC IIRC) with a Martin-like figure throwing money in the garbage. The reporting suggested that the Liberals were sinking into the negative campaigning, and the Conservatives were above it all, which is only half true at the most. Shoddy journalism or deliberate bias? Either way, it was inaccurate reporting. Maybe I'll move this to another thread, so it doesn't interfere with the poll reporting.

I haven't seen anybody bring up the Conservative ad showing someone who's supposed to be Martin crumpling up money and throwing it in the garbage. Why the media isn't saying the Conservatives aren't going negative is beyond me, as that ad doesn't strike me as a positive one.