donvonbra

Mme. Jean has dual citizenship, like many Canadians, including myself. I would hope my British citizenship will not disqualify me from becoming GG one day.

And our friend Stephen Harper has learned the perils of compromise on these hot-button social issues. He is proposing civil unions with the same legal status as hetero married folks. As a result he has got the gays pissed off at him who say the proposal is demeaning and also the religious right is mad because that don't want gays to have any rights at all. don

Laughing stock? I'm not sure I would go that far. If there is a top candidate for laughing stock-designate I would nominate Stephen Harper. The Church of Rome has become irrelevant. Part of that is a normal process of secularization that has been on-going since the Reformation and more recently by the efforts of several of the hierarchy to cover-up crimes committed by priests. The stature of the RC Church has not of course been helped by some bizarre attacks on the Harry Potter books and the novel "The Da Vinci Code". The church does not seem to be aware that these are not theological treatises but in fact works of fiction. don

I don't care about the monarchy. It's totally irrelevant to me and doesn't affect me in way. But for important posts like SC justices it can't be just left up to the head of government to make the decision. There needs to be some form of legislative oversight before such an appointment is finalized.

Appointing a SC justice IS part of the political process. The objective is to make it open, fair, allowing public input without turning the process into a circus. Right now it is a purely closed procedure.

What, an open process to appoint a Supreme Court justice like they do in the US? Gadzooks, what next? Elected senators!

He said that in the last election too - during the leaders' debate The official position of the party is: That being said I agree that if (and it's a big if) the tories win the next election abortion restrictions could come about through a priavte members bill, if there are enough CPC'ers elected. don

If you check the CPC website you will see that at the party policy conference in Montreal in March this year they passed a resolution that if elected they will not introduce legislation to restrict abortion. don

A nightmare? O'Brien and the rest of the anti-SSM Liberal whackjobs force an election on the budget vote. We then have the Liberals fighting on the lost budget and the irresponsibility of the election before the Gomery Report is finished. The Tories will have to placate the right-wingers who brought down the government and will fight the election on SSM. The BQ will be looking for someone to replace Duceppe who takes over the PQ job. Nightmare? Or farce?

Who knows -- "independence" might be just a way-station en route to Torydom? Did not 30 or more Libs vote against C-38 at 2nd reading? In fact, Martin has said all long that they could vote as they wished on SSM.

Good riddance, really. I don't think O'Brien sold out, however, but deserves credit for standing by his beliefs (no matter how mule-ignorant I think they are). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why now? Martin has been pro-SSM ever since he became PM. O'Brien is not in the cabinet so he is free to vote on this issue any way he wants. He's vocal about it. I have never heard him criticized by the Lib Party elite becuse of his views. He has no hope of advancement of course in the Grit ranks. Does he expect to be welcomed into Tory ranks with the hope of getting into the Cabinet if the CPC wins the next election, as slim as that looks like right now?

But this has to the most poetic of justice. The so-cons in the CPC have been calling her a Liberal for over a year now. And now she is -- but the cost is that the Cons are not going to overthrow the governmemt. Don't ya got to love it. don

We are a society of vested interests. Groups will look at the BC proposal only within the context of how it helps them, not what is does for democracy. don

To be fair to Bishop Henry he was talking to his parishioners and the press caught hold of it. Of course, since the matter pertained to Paul Martin's relationship with his church, Henry should have simply written a private letter to him.

When Chretien left the Bloc were a spent force. The sponsorship scandal gave them a new life. Save the country? He has saved the Bloc? dvb