PhilosopherKing

I find this odd, to say the least. The wheat board is clearly a monopolistic and anti-competitive agency which is, I believe, against a number of world treaties Canada is a signatory of. I know of no rule or law in this country which cannot be changed without a plebiscite. I know of no law which can stop the government from changing it, or doing away with it, other than the constitution. No matter what that law says, another law can do away with it. That is the way parliaments operate.

I saw Rex Murphy's comment on this particular 'award' the other day. He was speaking on the whole Oil Sands and "canada is a horrible global warming laggard' thing. I thought his comments were quite cogent and reasonable. And is it not then bizarre that at Durban whole countries, like China and India, with massive populations and absolutely huge industrial and manufacturing enterprises, developing more and more electricity plants and coal generating stations -- are let off the hook by the campaigners. The production of those countries dwarfs into nearly total insignificance whatever the oil sands may represent. The Middle East, Venezuela, Russia -- everyone, by comparison gets a pass. Rex Murphy

The statement was, I understand "Turn your backs on Canada". Going to an international forum and doing that can hardly be termed patriotic.

In other words, you do benefit from services provided by those public service members, and that service will be adversely affected by job cuts. Surely you don't believe large job cuts will not result in cuts to services and programs? I don't think you are any more aware than I of what staff are required for new programs like the Child Tax Benefit, as an example. But regardless, one presumes all those civil servants are doing work. Now it may be that some of this work doesn't need doing. But in most cases I think it safe to assume that whatever work is being done is required by the red tape, by the procedures and policies in place in a public service where oversight has grown steadily since the Chretien adscam days. You might tell yourself that much of the work done by civil servants is wasteful and inefficient, brought about by incompetent policies and procedures. But it's highly unlikely those policies and procedures will be reformed. Oversight in the public service has become a mantra, growing more stringent each year since the Chretien adscam days, and enthusiastically supported by the current party in power.

And yet, they earn enormous salaries regardless.

It does? May I presume you live far out in rural Canada, grow your own food, and make no use of any services either provided by or overseen/supervised by the federal government? You get no pension, no child tax benefits, no GST rebates or any other money from the federal government? You do not travel across the border, and eat no food and purchase no good which does so?

What jobs aren't necessary any more? Are you suggesting there has been a large increase in productivity in the public service which would allow for the release of thousands of workers and yet still get the work done in a timely fashion? My own understanding is that productivity in the public service is governed by management ability and the efficiency of processes and policies under which the employees work. I do not believe management in the public service is of a generally high caliber. As to the policies and procedures. These appear to be largely in the nature of a stifling, suffocating level of oversight. To whit: A private sector employee needs a widget. The private sector employee gets a widget, or buys a widget. The public sector employee needs a widget. They must fill out a form seeking management approval. The need for the widget will be brought up at a management meeting. A business case will be called for. Then that will be discussed at a followup meeting. The matter will be referred for consultation to the Finance Branch, where more meetings will be held. More forms and studies will be undertaken. Perhaps a year or so later, after labourious effort, a Request For Proposal will be offered up to private sector organizations to supply the widget. Gross inefficiency? Indeed. But like many, you appear to be blaming the employee, when in fact, the problem is the process and policy designed by higher authority. If you eliminate the employees, that is not going to make the remaining ones get the job done faster. If you want more efficiency in the public service, you remake the policies and procedures. Unfortunately, that would remove the micromanaging oversight which the senior civil service as well as the politicians cherish. So that is unlikely to happen.

If you lay off thousands of people, does that not presume that the work those people were doing will not longer be done? What programs or services are Canadians prepared to do without? My own estimation is that Canadians like government services and don't want to give any of them up. Or are you presuming these thousands of workers are sitting around drinking wine all day?

No. It wouldn't. Not even a little bit.

Seriously, how many people try to grow their own tobacco? It can be done, but why bother when you can buy them at the store? The same will happen if you can buy pot at the store. Maybe a few farmers in the boonies might do it, but most people will just buy it from the store.

These ones won't be guaranteed, including Quebec's new ones. In a further round, if the population showed it was overrepresented, the new seats could be taken away from Quebec without a constitutional amendment.

I agree, but I don't see how she can blame it on Harper. And I have no idea why she thinks a 'financial transaction' tax would deter speculators.

I don't understand. It passed the congress. It was set for unanimous support in the senate. Then one senator says no and... and that's it? How did you people ever manage to become leaders of the free world anyway? Your government is ridiculous.

I think anyone who likes math is irrational.

None of the former Soviet republics are stable. None are doing well. Putin wants the empire back together and oil is giving him the money to bribe or blackmail a lot of weak countries back into the fold.

I don't like market volatility! I don't like seeing that I've lost $2000 in one day! I put a lot of money into bond funds and bond ETFs to try to counter balance stock losses, but the last few days they've been useless. I thought bonds went up when the stocks went down? Last few days every single bond fund and ETF has been down along with most stocks. WTH? You can't even rely on gold to counter balance a bad day anymore as it's always down too.

I wonder how much we could make by selling and taxing marihuana in the same way Ontario sells and taxes alcohol. If we licensed the growers, that would end all the grow-ups that are in cities. If we sold them from special stores, that would put all the dealers who sell grass out of business. There would be huge profit in that. Maybe pay down the deficit a little, hmm?