Queenmandy85

Just to add, changing Liberal leaders won't change anything either. Remember, they were in decline before the 2015 election.

Canada 338 puts the CPC at 208 seats this week to the Liberals 64. Prime Minister Trudeau may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but even he has to be resigned to his fate. The only thing he has control over is the timing of his resignation or the election. Either way, he is doomed. M. Blanchet is probably already measuring the curtains at Stornaway.

So, Mr. Poilievre gets 213 seats instead of 208. That doesn't change the Liberals future.

I'm sorry, but you can't offer a straight line like that and not expect some one to use it. "All the spectacularly dumb things he has said and done already, haven't hurt him yet." Sorry, I couldn't pass that up

His path to victory doesn't exist. But if the scenery is pleasent on the path to defat, why not enjoy it for as long as possible. If he is as self serving as our honourable correspondent Mr. Banana says, that would be what he would do. However, a few months ago, I circled February 29 on my calendar, "JT takes a walk in the snow." It is the 40th anniversary when his dad did that. I don't think he will, but who knows. Actually Mr. Fox knows.👍

Like partnering up with the government of BC to create more housing?

If the NDP vote against the grits, the Bloc will support the government. A party should always be ready. In the Liberals case, while the ship is going down, they want to at least save a couple of life boats. The NDP will have to make do with any life jackets they can scrounge. The Bloc will be fine though.

That can apply to Mr. Poilievre, me, and, I hazard a guess, you. Do you get paid or accept payment for your work? Do you not serve yourself? Do you get paid for not working? How many hours a week do you work? How many bosses do you have? Do they give you contradictory instructions? While he was serving himself, he also assembled multi-partisan teams that saved NAFTA from a hostile American Congress, and assembled another group that included all premiers and political parties except the PPC, to respond to a deadly pandemic. He was self serving, just like the rest of us, but he worked well with others. Let's hope Mr. Poilievre will do the same when he is appointed in a year and a half.

So working 80 hours a week with little time off, serving 40 million bosses who have contradictory orders, being away from family, is not work? I don't think you have a grasp on what life as an MP, let alone a Prime Minister, is like?

I have a different view, of course. I think Prime Minister Trudeau will stay put until the end. He has no incentive to go early because no matter when the ballots are counted, he will lose. Mr. Poilieve has such a big lead, it would be almost impossible for him to lose. The result is not an indication of how much voters want Mr. Poilievre, but rather how much they want a change. In Canada, we do not vote for someone. We vote against someone. Prime Minister Trudeau has nothing to lose by staying on as long as possible and get his 10 years in. The only opposition party that would benifit from an election is the CPC. If the NDP jetison the agreement, either they, or the Bloc, will continue to keep the grits in power. They will want to delay the CPC from forming a government as long as possible. Mr. Poilievre should savour these last few months in opposition. The fun ends when he receives the instruments of office and a tsunami of reality lands on him. Mr. Trudeau, on the other hand, can begin to relax and prepare for retirement.

A few months ago, I laid out my view of a viable Defence policy that would give Canada the ability to defend itsself. I am trying to remember if you supported it.

Article 5. When the USA was attacked on Sept. 11th, we went to war as part of NATO.

1. We need to preserve our petroleum reserves so future generations of Canadians will have lubricating oil. Without that, nothing moves. 2. There is a reason Ukrainians saw the Germans as liberators. Holodomor. That is why Ukrainians hate the prospect Russian domination ever again. Former Warsaw Pact vassal states begged NATO for membership as soon as they threw off the Russian yoke. The Ukrainians are suffering now, but they know better than anyone what will happen to any Ukrainians taken by the Russians. One word tells you all you need to know about why Ukraine needs all the help we can give them. Holodomor. Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Sixty years ago, the proudest boast was "Ice bin bin Berliner."Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is I am a Ukrainian. There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Russian world. Let them come to Kyiv. There are some who say that Putin is the wave of the future. Let them come to Kyiv. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Russians. Let them come to Kyiv. And there are even a few who say that it is true that Russia is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Kyiv kommen. Let them come to Kyiv. 3. Words fail me. You might want to run that by someone in your family or circle of friends who belongs to the LGBTQ community. 4. Every country has a public broadcaster. France, Norway Germany Britain and the USA and a hundred others. The CBC is one of the most under funded in the world. If the CBC is a spokes person to the Liberals, (which it isn't) the Poilievre government will be their paymaster and it will be the CPC propoganda arm. A politician has to be truly nuts to go out of his way to alienate himself to the press. The way things are going, we are going to lose private broadcasting. The CBC is a lot more than politics and news. It provides comedy, drama and best of all, educational programming such as the "Nature of Things" and "Quirks and Quarks." 5. I agree it is a pipe dream. The 2050 population decline may happen, but for how long?

My premise is based on the geographical fact we live in a fire proof duplex.The only nation that can logistically invade us is the US. They have invaded us twice and we have kicked them out both times, but it required assistance from Britain. As for the little bits idea, yes, Russia may try to take our Arctic territory. Their ships patrolling is no different from US ships patrolling in our waters. If they set up a mining exploration site, send in the RCMP. If the Russians resist with violence, invoke article 5. We are members of NATO and NORAD and it is vital to maintain that membership, particularly since the US will likely quit NATO in the next 5 years. However, if we had sufficiant strategic nuclear forces, then we can deter the Russians and the Americans from messing with us. My theory that little would change if we were invaded, is based on the unlikely (for the next 10 months) event we are going to be invaded by the United States. A compact but well structured military that's well trained and equipped would be overrun very quickly. Granted, the only war the US has ever won without foreign assistance was the civil war and the wars against Spain / Mexico, but if I were a betting man, in a conventional war between the US and Canada, my money would be on the USA. Life under the Yankee tyrant would not be that different from now, except I can keep my guns. When I was attending U-Vic, I learned about Colonel J. Sutherland Brown. After the Great War, Colonel J. Sutherland "Buster" Brown was the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence. He was tasked with developing Canada's next war plan and Defence Scheme Number One was born. It was an inspiration. It was Canada's only war plan from 1920 to 1930. They said Brown was a bit la la. Then a grad student in 1970 was doing research in the US Army archives and discovered the US Army's Plan 1919, the plan to invade Canada. Brown was right all along. God, I love history!

1. Most people get back more than they pay and it is vital to get people to reduce the consumption of petroleum products, not just to combat the greenhouse effect, but also to preserve our reserves for future generations. 2. If Russia over runs the Ukraine, not only will there be a second holodomor, but it will give Russia the mistaken idea that NATO will not respond to an attack on NATO countries. ie. WW3. 3. Same as # 1. We need to preserve our coal and petroleum reserves for future generations and at the same time, try to prevent our future decendents from being barbecued. 4. What programs for the millions of Canadians who are members of the LGBTQ community would you scrap, and why? 5. The suggestion has been made that the CBC is a propaganda arm of the Liberal Party. If I were Pierre I would tell the CBC to keep doing what they are doing. If they are boosting the grits, why has Trudeau been boosted in the polls from 189 seats all the way up to 64 seats? If the CBC had it's funding increased they could probably increase Trudeau all the way up to 12 seats. If you believe that Federal government financial support for the media means the media will lean towards supporting the party in power, then Mr. Poilievre should increase the subsidies when he takes office in a few months. 6. The essence of Canada is our wilderness. We need to reduce our population so we don't destroy what's left of the country. If we reduce our population back down to 15 million. that frees up a lot of existing housing. It has to be done slowly but the first step is to stop immigration.

The primary role of Canadian defence is to defend the nation from invasion. Four scenarios come to mind. 1. Conventional war. For that you require things like air superiority, armour, infantry and superior naval assets. In addition, you need a reliable source of re-supply. As we see in the war in Europe, a small but strong force is not sufficient without a constant flow of replacements and ammunition. 2. Irregular war. This is the most likely scenario for our position. We do not have the capacity for conventional war on the level required. The classic method of dealing with an occupying force is to let them settle in, then ramp up attacks against the enemy's soft targets in order to provoke an over reaction. Killing the families of enemy soldiers is an efficient way to cause an over reaction. The more you can draw the occupation forces into harsher responses, the more you can stir the population into resistance. Over time, the occupation forces will find them selves bogged down and bleeding out. It takes years to accomplish this. It is the most terrible way to fight a war, but it does work in the end. Unfortunately, the country would never be the same. 3. Deterence. The cheapest way to defend the country is to assure any and all potential enemies that they will be completely and permanently destroyed if they move against us. (MAD). All you need for that is enough nuclear weapons to turn the enemy territory into a glass plate, and the message that we would rather die than submit. 4. Surrender. I've read most of Barbara Tuchman's work and some of Margaret MacMillan's books. In the last 800 years, war has accomplished very little in the way of positive outcomes. The Hundred years War, the Seven years War, the American revolution, the War of 1812 (North American theatre), and the Great War accomplished nothig that could not have been attained at the conference table. The Great War killed twenty five million people, and gave us Hitler, Stalin and Mao and World War Two. If Canada is invaded, life would change very little for us. If the war in Europe spreads to include NATO, there is nothing Canada can do to affect the outcome. Deterence is thinly thing we could provide, but that is already in place with France, the UK and the US. In the summer of 1939, the entire Canadian Armed Forces consisted of 4500 all ranks. The CAF is best suited to peacekeeping and aid to the civil power. (Natural disasters). This goes against my life time of banging on about how we need conscription and the most powerful armed forces in the western hemisphere, but the reality is, the CAF is well below its current personnel requirements because people do not want to enlist. The lack of funding is a result of taxpayer resistance. The military is preparing for a war that we are unlikely to have, at a time when healthcare and education are in urgent need for more funding now. That is the reality governments face.

In 1967, I was on track to become an MP, then Minister of Defence and finally Prime Minister (in my head). Canadians should all get down on their knees and give thanks I never made it. 🤪The second best advice my dad ever gave me was to "get out of politics."

Exactly. I want Canada to have a Swiss style Defence policy. I want the population of Canada reduced to 15 million or less and permanently capped at 15 million. I want Canada to build nuclear power plants all over Canada and re-build and electrify the rail system. I want Canada to build nuclear power plants all over the world and start on thorium reactors. I can want all I want, but it ain't gonna happen. We are not going to have a viable defence policy.

I have always advocated for a viable Defence Policy. If you cannot defend the nation independently, you are wasting the money. Canadians not only refuse to enlist in sufficiant numbers, no politician will commit to sufficient funding because Canadian taxpayers don't want to pay for it. When you factor in the cost of responding to the global warming crisis that is bearing down on us by accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to nuclear power globally, there isn't much room to increase defence spending, let alone cutting taxes.

Well, I walked right into that one. Thank you for setting me straight.

Bookmarked and noted. However, I'm 76 years old. If you don't hear from me regarding this, I'll be suiting up in my parka in hell. The skiing should be good because when Isreal bombs Iran, hell will be frozen over. 😉 Cheers

You still haven't elaborated on what they are.

1. We are not Americans. I believe the life of a black Canadian matters. Don't you? 2. I agree. The problems are, that just to reach 2% of GDP will cost 18 billion dollars more than we pay now. How does Mr. Polievre intend to square that with tax cuts. He will also have to deal with the increasing underfunding of healthcare and education. 3. He will repeal the carbon tax, but then there is the problem of all of those Canadian taxpayers who are going to still want the rebate. What is he going to replace the carbon tax with? Rationing would be the obvious tactic but that leads to things like black markets and corruption. Also, rationing is a lot more expensive to administer. Regardless of how he handles it, he needs to do something to cut emissions. Like the great man said, "Future generations won't care what we say, they will live with the consequences of what we do." If the US fails to support the Ukraine, Canada and our allies will have to step up and fill the void. Just like we did for most of the Great War and half of the Second World War. That is going to force Mr. Poilievre to ramp up our assistance to Ukraine in the fight against tyranny. There is no way he is going to be able to reduce the defict and not raise taxes. Pierre is going to be appointed Prime Minister in a year and a half. We need to buckle up. It is going to be an expensive ride for the next few years.

When did BLM cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in Canada? What fraudulent work did they do in Canada? I'm not saying you are incorrect, just that I do not recall that. My concern with Pierre is that his promises are all contradictory. He will cut the deficit but will increase spending on the military. There are also the financial commitments he hasn't mentioned such as repairing the healthcare system after the damage done by the pandemic. He has promised to end the carbon tax but has been reticent to say what he would replace it with.

The last Christian (One True Faith) Prime Minister of Canada was Kim Campbell. The last one before that was Borden. If you include the United Church (since it is an off-shoot of the Christian Faith), Harper was raised a Christian but converted to the dissenter heresy.