Newfie Canadian

$207 million for Canadian arts groups, including $25 million for the Canada Council of the Arts. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...b=Entertainment Good point Stoker. The only way for a niche force to work is for that niche to be totally self defence in nature, that is eliminate overseas deployments and operations, and limit the Armed Forces to a domestic role.

The question now becomes would this have still happened if Chicoutimi had received the same wire insulation upgrades as other subs? I still think that there were enough problems to place some blame at the feet of the British. For example, why were they repairing anything in the first place to necessitate having the hatches open?

Ooooooooooppppppppps. Brain cramp. Switched the 4 in 24 for the 6 in 6 Canadian teams Apologies. Thanks for pointing that out Stoker.

Well, which government would you get in there? Ottawa or Washington? The league offices are in New York. 26 out of 30 teams are based in the US. All transactions and salaries are in US dollars. Just a thought. I don't believe there is a place for government in forcing a resolution, and I really can't see anything for them to do. To me, at this point fault is irrelevant. Nobody wants to step up, act like adults and settle this thing. Bettman and Goodenow can't get through a 30 second sound bite without insulting each other. The thing to do is either kick them both out and get some new leadership, or lock the two of them in a room by themselves and feed them bread and water until they get something done.

I think that was well said Sweal.

Along with the ones mentioned above, Miliitary, Security, SSM, I believe Hawk touched on something with his/her Québec comment, though I wouldn't single out Québec. Instead I think what you're going to see is more confrontation between Ottawa and regions, like Atlantic Canada, the West, the Prairies and Québec, over things like revenue sharing and resource management. The provinces want more control, and Ottawa is slow to give it up. I suspect that will soon be a hot topic.

Martin has also been a little hamstrung by the minority situation in the House of Commons. I think that if he had a majority, we may well have seen some of the things that kimmy mentioned, because he would have been able to do it on his terms from a legislative standpoint. With the minority, he has to cater partly to the opposition to get the votes. Another aspect of the minority is the need for good old fashioned political goodie giving just before an election to help Martin get the majority back. It wouldn't surprise me to see Martin announce the national aycare package or money for the cities a wee or two before the election.

I haven't seen the report, but if you're asking do I believe that the Forces deserve that kind of increase, no doubt in my mind, and the sooner the better. Funny part is it should be easy enough to do with the projections of multi-billion dollar surpluses and stopping the continual waste of money in Ottawa. It is doable.

I have seen other sources that all say there was pressure on Smallwood to go with a bad deal (I mentioned that there may have been pressure from Pearson to get it done.) I confess I haven't sized up Tobin's speeches to gauge his views.

Here's what I found on the Ipsos site: I couldn't access all the info as a membership is required, so I wouldn't take it as dogma.

I would imagine Cotler has it in his back pocket, although it looks like it will be early in the new year for it. I believe there is a way to get around the judiciary. Use the "Notwithstanding Clause." I haven't seem any recent national polls on the issue of same sex marriage. Anyone out there see any lately?

The way they say it, yes. To listen to the likes of Coulter, Carlson, O'Reilly and Gibson, Canada could not exist only for the US. I think that's wrong and terribly simplistic. And despite the enormous economyand military of the US, the US needs friendly neighbours, which it has in Canada. As I said, Canada needs the US. The US needs Canada, as a supplier of certain commodities (water, electricity, etc). The US relies on the help of Canada to secure it's borders, and Canada depends on the US. The relationship is not Canada leeching off of the US like a parasite, it's more symbiotic in that each country gives and takes. Seeing as how I'm ranting against Coulter et al, isn't it funny how they always bring up our military, but never mention the good that they do? Time after time they bring it up. Never have I heard them mention the great work done in Afghanistan or Haiti. I bet O'Reilly has his shorts in a knot over the announcement of JTF2 getting a Presidential citation. I've never heard Coulter saying how Canadian snipers were awaarded or considered for Bronze Stars in Afghanistan. I wonder what she'll have to say about the SCOC decision today? Should be good for a laugh.

Nothing she said in those clips or anything I have ever heard from her has slapped me anywhere, let alone done the damage you're implying. And some of what she said hardly qualifies as anything other than complete garbage. If you believe some of the stuff she says I got a great cod farm in the middle of Wood Buffalo to sell you. I am neither naive nor stupid enough to believe that we don't need the US in our current state of affairs and practices, nor have I implied or stated such.I do believe that the relationship is more symbiotic than parasitic (on our part) than some Americans and many conservative commentators (I dare not say journalists) would have people believe. A closed minded belief that all things conservative, not necessarily American, are the way things should be around the world, brought on by what Black Dog said (not to imply that all white, rich, privileged, elitists are arrogant. ) Sure. Who here has said or implied , that Canada isn't lucky to have a democratic powerhouse next door? But tell me, doesn't it ruffle your Canadian feathers just a little when this loud mouth twit says we should be lucky they allow us to be their neighbours?

Tobin is a weasel. Here's a guy who spent so many years in opposition in Ottawa, left to be Premier of NL, served a term and a bit, left here (after saying he'd stay until the end of the term) to go back to Ottawa, didn't get what he wanted there and left like a baby who couldn't get anything in a candy store. If he told me the sun came up this morning I'd go check, I wouldn't take his word for it. Many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians hold that view though, but I suspect that it isn't based out of knowledge of the events or history, but more out of frustration with the revenue shares and Québec's unwillingness to renegotiate before the deal runs out.

With all due respect Stoker, Coulter is the shining example of American conservative arrogance and ignorance that is turning a big chunk of the world against the US. I think it's her that should be grateful that Canada is her neighbour instead of some Middle Eastern or Asian countries. If they did have those neighbours, I doubt they (conservative Americans like Coulter) would be so arrogant.

I believe it's more like Hydro-Québec buys the power at 1966 prices and sells it at conventional prices, which has fluctuated over the years. (I may be corrected on this.) I don't know why they would sign a long term deal without some kind of price adjustment or renegotiate clause, and it's a good question. Wasn't very business like.

Québec? I guess so. Smallwood et al would have had to have been a little psychic.

I'd leave the House of Commons alone and change the Senate.

I agree primarily with August on this. Another thought I would put out there from the NL side is the misunderstanding or lack of foresight on the part of Smallwood and others here in regards to how important, how much in demand and how profitable the hydro-electricty would be worth in the future. Not necessarily 5 or 10 or 15 years down the road, but 25-35 years.

I think it is just indicative of the conservative trend in the American public in the last 5 years or so. Or a better effort on the part of a conservative niche that has remained the same size. I don't remember much of an uproar when "NYPD Blue" first showing flesh, for a lot more than a split second too.

I'd like to see a provincial breakdown too August, especially since education is a provincial responsibilty. Like everything else, I suspect that some provinces do better than others, not through monetary bombardment, but through good management and good selection of criteria and cirriculum. I think if you average out the good and the not so good areas over the provinces and territories, it would work out that Canadians get a good return for the money spent in education. Speaking as a product of the NL school system, we could do better.

According to the article we do.

It should be. That's a big budget, and much of it does very little good in some places. It's a complex problem for sure. I wouldn't object to appointing a parliamentary secretary for the dept., or maybe a special assistant or advisor to the minister from outside parliament. Have an advisory panel made up of a variety of First Nations peoples that reports to cabinet on a weekly or monthly or biweekly basis, informing the cabinet of problems in the native community and some possible solutions. What do you think of the various land claims deals that have been going on now for a while, like the recent Inuit Land Claims deal in NL?

No. We should make the politicians and bureaucrats stop wasting money, which alone should be able to pay for a well manned and well equipped, modestly sized armed forces. How to make them stop wasting money is the problem. I'm all for interoperability and cooperation on mutual defence, but I'd feel a lot better knowing that if something happened here, my armed forces were there trying to deal with it instead of the armed forces of the American Commander-in-Chief.

Beautiful country, take lots of fly repellent. Smallwood was to blame. Although there is speculation that the feds strongarmed Smallwood into taking the deal. I don't know, I'm just saying what has been said here. Personally, I think Smallwood thought it was money in his pocket and that was it. Unless or until Labrador separates from Newfoundland, where's the irony? I would also suggest that if you want to go that route, Labradorians are even more miffed over the deal. Was there any coverage in Québec last year or earlier this year when Williams suggested that the Lower Churchill would be developed without using Québec as the middle man? I'm just curious. It should also be interesting when the current deal is up.