Evening Star

I kind of hated him, actually, which might disprove Philosopher King's thesis.

Totally.

Well, Obama's health care policy is pretty different from Republican policy, for one thing. Clinton and Bush Jr had appreciably different policies on tax rates whereas the CPC has basically just continued trends initiated by the LPC. If you compare the different states' policies on things like abortion, gay marriage, or teaching religious dogma in public schools, there are some pretty stark differences. I definitely think there was a big difference from Eisenhower/Kennedy-era policies on taxes and social programmes (to say nothing of LBJ!) to Reagan-era policies.

Olp1fan, what does it mean for someone to participate 50% or 25% or 73% in a war? Either you're actively part of, you know, killing people for a cause or you're not part of it at all. If anything, half-assedly participating in a war - if that's what you're claiming Canada did - seems less respectable than openly and wholeheartedly engaging in it.

I think I can actually see more difference between Democrats and Republicans than between the LPC and CPC.

Transfers to the provinces are a major portion of federal expenditure. If the feds are going to slash spending, those are going to be cut. I'll give you that they managed to do it in such a way that provincial leaders got to take the blame for it and even well-informed people still call the LPC a 'centre-left' party.

It's still a little half-assed to talk about the importance of international law etc if you're still going to participate "just a little".

When I lived there, I once had a friend (a Democrat at that) tell me that the only two alternatives are American capitalism and Khmer Rouge-style communism.

The Chretien-era Liberals

If that information is correct, then they were even more cynical than I thought (and I thought they were plenty cynical). I will say, though, that I'm more convinced by the reports of actual troops, warships, and officers being involved than by e.g. the export of uranium or the testing of missiles over Canadian space. [edit: Seems like most of this can be substantiated.]

Different how? Did we send troops? Provide funding?

They "discussed Canada's involvement"? We ended up staying out, right?

If we're going back to the Trudeau years, it's worth mentioning Canada's support for Indonesia when they invaded and committed mass murder in East Timor. The Chretien Liberals did almost nothing to change the relationship. Mulroney/Clark might have been better when it comes to international human rights, although I'll give Axworthy credit for the landmines treaty (and I'll give Chretien's Liberals credit for staying out of Iraq). Chretien's attitude towards protesters was appalling as well, most obviously in the case of the 'Shawinigan Handshake'. They heartlessly slashed health and education transfers, beyond anything the PCs or CPC have attempted, and somehow still managed to receive the label 'centre-left'. To their credit, though, they really did at least manage to balance the budget and turn economic growth around at the end of it: they were true fiscal conservatives, unlike most political parties that carry the name. The 1995 referendum came much closer than it had any right to.

!!! One of those two things is standard procedure in Parliamentary democracy; it's a part of how the system actually functions as, you know, a democracy. The other one is blatant dishonesty and manipulation. I don't see the slightest equivalence. Uh, what? I don't think anyone claimed the confidence motion itself was a scandal.

And they're not even Official Opposition, rendering the rest of his post moot.

Two examples of more egalitarian, non-Communist societies were given just in the OP.

I like how people who are referring to something that has actually been documented are the sheep as opposed to someone who assumes that 'the other guys' must have done it too because they ... just must have (and they're the other guys).

East of MB, right?

Tbf, what the government wants to scrap is the requirement to sell to the wheat board. They want the board to remain as an option if I'm not mistaken.

I don't know much about the wheat board or agricultural issues, generally. I am actually curious why only wheat and barley farmers in AB, SK, MB, and part of BC are required to sell to the wheat board. If it's a national institution, why does it not apply to farmers in the rest of the country? And why only those grains?

Saying some good things here: (By the same token, wyly, I wonder if we could say that the Conservatives would be really liberal by Euro standards when it comes to immigration and multiculturalism?)

Thought part of the issue was exactly that China was willing to restrict its emissions if developed countries, including Canada, would meet our commitments? And then Canada bailed anyway?

Well, yeah.

I'd be surprised if this were the case with Cotler.

I actually agree that the NDP can be bit flighty this way at times. While they were far more effective as an opposition than the Liberals were in the last Parliament, the Grits have been outperforming them in this one so far. I'm not even all that crazy about their ideas on democratic reform. I just thought it was odd for g_bambino to single Cullen out when his policies in that area are not that different from the rest of the party's. (That said, 'taxing rich folks' is certainly a much more substantial policy proposal than 'making bike lanes mandatory'.)