Bryan

This is one of the issues where the CPC has gone way too far to the left for my liking. If there were still a real conservative choice available, I would not be holding my nose and voting CPC as just the least bad out of nothing but poor choices. If anything, the CPC should have your support considering their environmental policies go further than what the Liberals accomplished in the last 12 years they were in power. The Liberals are fond of making grand announcements but delivering little more than vapor, only to vilify the opposition when they get into power and actually act. Don't think Harper is not going to enjoy rubbing that into Dion's face every chance he gets if he forces an election.

Looks like it worked, considering the problem does not exist.

**** I hope not. I'm pretty much praying for the CDN dollar to crash back down to 65-70 cents US. All my clients are in the US and I get paid in US funds. This stronger dollar is killing me.

Kids are mean, always have been. Just because they use a text message now instead of passing a note changes nothing.

Bingo. Push polls are designed to steer public opinion, not reveal it. If the CPC was actually anywhere near as unpopular as the LPC claims, Dion would actually be standing up to Harper. He backs down continuously because he knows the LPC would lose. Seriously, Harper has a minority govt that could be toppled at any time, but he governs stronger than most majorities. There is no more accurate indicator of the real fears of the opposition than that.

Sounds like something you could integrate into things like the penal system and enforcing work expectations for welfare recipients.

I haven't read the book (nor do I have any plans to), so I can't say if there is anything specifically libelous in it. Media and political parties are notorious for making claims that books and articles say things that they clearly do not, especially if the claim can be twisted to sound especially inflammatory. The recent 'vindication' of Chretien is a perfect example. Chretien was not exhonorated in any way by Judge Teitelbaum, but that didn't stop the media and the Liberals from proclaiming it. Likewise, Harper's focus is probably on the Liberals specifically because what they were proclaiming on their web site misrepresents both what is on the tapes and in the book.

One thing at a time. I'm sure he will. Lets see how the book sells first so we know how much to clean him out for.

Your arguments are beginning to have more in common with a standup comedy routine than a rational discussion. It's not out of nothing. The resource already contains the energy or potential energy. It's rarely a one to one relationship. In most cases, the energy required to harness and put to use that energy that is naturally already there is fraction of the energy that one can actually extract from the resource.

I'm all for the freedom to cross into other markets in various ways, what I oppose is restriction on what we can and can't do inside our own country. Yes, you MAY buy our resources if you want them and we want to sell them, but NO you don't have any right to them nor do you have the right to dictate what price we will charge you for them. That's a lot different than how these trade pacts usually end up.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with Zionism, just that the award is not a human rights award.

The B'nai B'rith "Presidential Gold Medallion" is not a human rights award. B'nai B'rith, for that matter, is not a human rights organization. The Presidential Gold Medallion award is very specifically an award that recognizes people who have shown a commitment to Zionism.

That's because it can if they want it to. Yes, policy changes will be required, but there is no reason to believe anyone who claims it must end. It's simply not a credible claim.

If the CPC had a majority, it perhaps would have happened by now. With united opposition to such a plan in a minority government, it makes no sense to press every issue all at once. You have to pick your spots. For a minority govt, the CPC has been remarkably effective in getting done what they have. I think they are going to get bolder still in the next session. It looks like Dion will fold on virtually any issue. That being the case, (again as minority, you can be bounced at any time), it's just smart strategy to keep forcing Dion to go back on his word as often as possible as priority one, while going forward with the "actual" plan only where it fits in easily.

That is a substantially softer stance than what you were promoting earlier in this thead. If the CWB was worried that the WTO would hammer them in the event of farmers being allowed freedom of their own property, they'd be saying so. LOUDLY. Do you think you know more about what the WTO means to the CWB than the CWB itself?

WTO agreements do get renegotiated as situations change. What someone agreed to last year may simply no longer be possible. Besides, the wording of most areas of such agreements usually have enough wiggle room built in to them to allow for situations to change without needing WTO rulings every time. Perhaps you can point us to the exact clause of the WTO that distinctly says the CWB will cease to exist in any form the moment farmers are allowed any degree of market freedom.

The CWB (and the media) are not trumpetting that point because they know that complex trade agreements are never as black and white as Dobbin is trying to make them out to be.

The private option is still there, and those people who use it get better care that the garbage that passes for subsidized daycare. There are lots of private spots available. It's just the lazy failures as parents who sit around with their hands out who have gotten the rude awakening that they just might have to get off their butts and actually do something for themselves instead of expecting the government to take care of their kids. I call that a resounding success.

Conservative Party 2006 election platform: http://www.conservative.ca/EN/2590/ Page 31: (bold is mine)In other words, If you get off your ass and build it, we'll help. But if you just sit around and cry about funding, no soup for you. Again, this is just good management. Why would you just hand over money with no specific expectations? Obviously the people doing all the public whining are not as serious about creating childcare spaces as they claim, and it's a damn good thing they DID NOT hand the money over without expectations.

Notice that part is NOT quoted? CPC did not promise 125,000 new spaces. They offered a tax credit to those who wanted to take the initiative to create the spaces themselves. What they estimated (and yes, they very clearly used the word ESTIMATE), was that the $250 million they were offering in tax credits had the potential of creating up to 125,000 new spaces over five years if those taking the credit used it to their full advantage. The $250 Million was what was promised. They delivered on that promise. The Liberals voted AGAINST giving that $250 million. That those organizations did not use those available credits to their advantage is a damnation on the daycare system, not the government. Like most left wing social policies, no matter what you give them, they just light the money on fire, hold their hands out for more, and blame the government for their lack of resources. Just further proof that government involvement in daycare should be cut altogether.

I think Oliver is most likely lying.

They didn't.

Name them. With quotes.

Do you actually watch question period, or just read the recap from the official Liberal newsletter? I see CPC cabinet ministers getting up and answering direct questions all the time. They are far less evasive than Liberal ministers typically have been. Not having the PMO in tighter control of what individual departments are doing is why the Liberals ended up out on their ear.

The Tories cancelled the other guys program. They were well aware that it was financially unworkable, so they got out while they could, BEFORE it became a problem. That's good management. And they made getting out a promise in the election. People knew the Liberal plan was going to be cancelled, and voted for the CPC anyway. Don't forget, the Liberals voted against BOTH the Universal Child Care Benefit, and the $250 Million tax credit for people who create new spaces. This is what Liberals do, they promise the moon, and never deliver. All the while they vilify their opposition for actually doing something, only because it's less than what their pie-in-the-sky-never-delivered policy promised. Even signed agreements have rarely meant anything as far as the Liberals ever delivering on a promise. Less in reality is always better than more as a fantasy. CPC in reality did more for daycare in their first year, than the Liberals did in 13. I understand why Liberals wanted institutionalized daycare funded, seeing themselves as Big Brother and all, but why did they want to take the UCCB away from people who it was helping so much? Unlike government sanctioned kiddie warehouses, at least the UCCB benefits everyone equally. If their issue is that it's not enough, why not propose to make the benefit larger rather than taking it away? THE CPC plan is the only one that actually gives choices to Canadian parents, the Liberal one is dead set against people having options.