Newfie Canadian

If the economy ever goes bust though, all that privatization is going to come back to bite the citizenry. Not that I'm against privatization of certain areas, there are just some areas that government should have no part in. I'm happy for Alberta, and I hope my province can learn from Alberta and become more of a success. My point was there are a lot of great Canadians that didn't make the list, and it may be because I'm from the other end of the country, but Klein's absence didn't surprise me. Nor did the absence of Joey Smallwood, or Robert Bourassa, good and in the case of Smallwood, long time, premiers.

I don't know stamps. Granted I'm not an expert on Alberta or Ralph Klein, but it seems to me that his success coincides too much with the boom in oil prices in the last few years. I don't recall hearing about Alberta's tremendous success in the early 1990's (Klein came in around 1992 if I remember correctly). I would suggest that he is a good premier to be able to stand up against the feds and keep Alberta going, but I don't think he is a great leader. Klein appears to be aloof and confrontational, which gives him a bad look outside Alberta. As an outsider, he strikes me as the type of person to get us into a war if he was PM.

Well August, I may be left leaning in many matters, but I believe that government is way too big. I do believe that the bureaucracy is too big, that senior bureaucrats have a lot more power than we think, and that in the age of government agencies, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Committees, government has gotten so overblown that the left hand can't possibly know what the right hand is doing.

Interesting how you use the Maritimes, which is a region itself. Where would that leave my beloved Newfoundland and Labrador? Out all alone by ourselves? I could see the Atlantic provinces doing OK under such a system, but I don't think it would solve many of the problems that are being put forth these days. No matter what system replaces what we have now, if it's replaced at all, anglophones in Quebec will still argue with the francophones, the Prairies and BC will still complain about Alberta, the Atlantic region will still bicker amongst themselves, the North will still be relatively desolate, and Ontario will still be arrogant.

Well the CBC site has the top 100 now. Some notable names are: 99) Sam Steele 98) Moredcai Richler 97) Louise Arbour 91) Preston Manning 87) Henry Morgentaler 80) Chief Dan George 76) John McCRae 74) Emily Murphy 69) René Lévesque 64) Brian Mulroney 57) Lucy Maude Montgomery 54) William Stephenson Top 100

Here comes the heat. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...2031?hub=Canada

The most recent Conservative PM's were Campbell, Mulroney, Clark and Diefenbaker. The Chief made the top 50. A sign of the times?

Trying to win the next election. Could Harper be cozying up the West as well?

False no. Harm, it could be considered traumatic for individuals to witness. Against the law, not as I understand it. So I agree that censoring that is unnecessry and wrong. False no. But it is a crime in Canada to incite hate against an individual or group of individuals. But in the context in which we are discussing this matter, I have discovered that even unnder the Hate Crimes law, it would not be illegal. I was arguing that even if it was the truth and incited hatred against a group, it would be illegal under the law and subject to a form of cesorship. I have come to realize that the law says, among other things: So my argument flies out the window.

It's too bad, and I'm guilty of it, that the thing that gets the attention in this story is the fact that Campbell was MIA when the bill was tabled. It looks like a good bill, from a distance. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...3_37?hub=Canada

The list says a few things. 1) It was partly a popularity contest as evidenced by the selection of recent songsters, hockey players and a radio host. 2) A couple of selections were the worl of groups, like the founder of the Kinsmen and May Maxwell. 3) Shamefully, there are a lot of people out there that know very little about the history of this country.

If you believe we (mankind) put a man on the moon. It's the next logical step isn't it?

But what if you not only didn't screw up your country, but you also made a significant contribution on the world stage, as my man Pearson did. He did great things inside Canada, and all of them with a minority government, but put Canada in a signifacant role in the world through the UN. He helped solve the Suez Crisis and set the stage for keeping Canada out of Vietnam. He wasn't just a politician; he was a diplomat and statesman.

But do it cover beheadings and inciting hate crimes?

Well it just keeps getting better about our poor military. It now seems troops in Haiti lacked essential equipment. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...8_37?hub=Canada

With the price of oil these days, perhaps a home heating rebate would be nice.

It could have been worse. there are some legitimate names on that list. It's hard to argue the likes of Arthur Curry, Rick Hansen, Billy Bishop, Frederick Banting, Lester Pearson and Terry Fox. I think we should be proud of all these Canadians. A couple people could be Agnes McPhail, Emily Murphy, Jean Sauvé, Emily Stowe and Lewis MacKenzie. It did turn out to be of a poppularity contest than I had hoped, as evidenced by Twain, Myers, Dion, Lavigne and Gretzky, but you take the good with the bad.

Like I said, I think a lot of it depends on domestic politics. The US has slammed the door shut on beef, which gets the Alberta (primarily) beef producer ticked off. Alberta is the cradle of the Conservative party, so Martin has to do what he can to appease them. The US slapped punitive duties on softwood lumber, ticking off BC lumber producers, as well as producers in Quebec. BC is too close to the cradle of the Conservative party to not take seriously, and well, Quebec is Quebec. The US constanly tries to down the wheat industry, ticking off the Prairie provinces. Then there is the matter of these subs, where outcry has been universal from the public and the opposition. The government may well be responsible, the navy may have rushed them into service, or the Brits may have pulled the woll over the governments eyes. If you were Paul Martin, which would you spin?

There are a few that made the list that surprised me. Shania Twain (18), Avril Lavigne (40), Hal Anderson (34) for example. I'm still betting on Pearson. As Paul Gross said, he brought about the things that Canadians are known for: the Maple Leaf, Peacekeeping, Universal Healthcare (his government brought it in) and the Canada Pension Plan. Oh, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Suez Crisis.

Oh I didin't mean to imply that they have changed in that regard. De Gaulle's spirit won't rest until it happens. I was just saying that in today's context France appears to be more of a buddy (I hesitate to say friend) than some other nations. I somewhat agree with what you're saying on trade with the US. However, it is the US that continues to pursue illegitimate duties in softwood lumber, refusal to open the border to beef, now a notice to impose duties on live hogs, and the constant atack on Canadian wheat. Following your logic a little, the US government must be pretty dense as well. They continue to annoy Canada in spite of the fact that we are a contributor or future contributor of oil, natural gas, electricty and fresh water to name a few.

I was truly amazed and delighted that The Unknown Soldier and Romeo Dallaire made the list at nubers 21 and 16 respectively. That was nice and deserved. The guy I voted for was in the top ten, PM Lester B. Pearson. Out of the ten I could vote for either of six or seven. I couldn't bring myself to vote for Gretzky or Cherry, and I didn't consider Bell a Canadian.

Well he took a civillian job with a regional airline and was a supervisor within a couple of months, with a pretty hefty pay check and benefits out the wazoo, which is good as one of his 3 kids has a lot of medical problems.

Well a cousin of mine was an aircraft mechanic in the Forces and ended up taking early retirement not long after the cuts started in the early 1990's. Overworked and underpaid.

I don't know. Chirac gave Chrétien a grand send off (maybe he was just happy to see him go) and Martin's meeting seemed to go well with Chirac the other day. Maybe it's more of a matter of Canada standing by itself and other nations standing against us in a lot of matters.

France, apparently. I agree that the government of Canada hasn't been the most cooperative lately with a lot of countries, but some of it is justified.