fellowtraveller

'Remaining stuck' is a position they will happily take again: remaining a minority government while governing as if they had a majority while the Opposition sits on their thumbs and fumes impotently for 4 more years. It is better than being Dion, by any measure. Excellent question, and one that I predict normie will not address.

They'll be doing handsprings in the manufacturing heartland of Ontario with a declining dollar. None of the artifices you mention: Cadman, Mulroney or Nafta- will have any impact on the electorate.

Edmonton had some pretty sound fiscal management for a while, mainly due to a mayor called Lawrence Decore from the 1980s. In tough fiscal times, he introduced a bylaw that restricted civic borrowing to a fixed percentage of operating costs, debt repayment costs could not exceed that amount. That meant- imagine this if you can- that the cty could not borrow money unless it could repay it! This bylaw restricted future councils from some of the pork barrelling and fantasy projects, and kept the debt load (and taxes) manageable. It worked quite well until the late 90s, when boom times make it an albatross, rapid expansion needs money and that means capital spending. It has since been rescinded, allowing councillors to get back to the time honoured pastimes of raising property taxes and pissing away money in large chunks.

Unproven? Provide a credible reason then, instead of doing what the relatively few Lib and NDP supporters do: whine when they have their asses handed to them. Does it not stand to reason that energized, angry, discontented, politically motivated, interrested,upset, Klein-hating voters would put down the remote and get out there and vote out these Tory scum. See, I think that is exactly what happened- those people did just that. The engaged voters did vote. And the results were clear, except to the ignorant who refuse to acknowledge simple reality.

Since when was selling drugs legal in Canada? What has been vague is Canadian enforcement of pot laws. Possession, intent, distribution are all Criminal Code offences in Canada as well as the US. What has differed is the willingness of the Candian authorities to prosecute. It isn't even the feds really, since each province can pick and choose how vigorously they pursue this, to a large extent. But extradition issues are federal. Of course. Painting Emery as a victim of anything but his own greed is ridiculous. Nobody forced him to enter the US market. The man is an idiot and deserves no sympathy. If he had sent drugs to Singapore he'd be facing the death penalty.

There is a more plausible explanation for the change in tenor in Sakatchewan: rejection of socialism. It is a wave that we see in the rejection pof the NDP nearly everywhere, nationally and provincially, despite the obvious and numerous excellent opportunities for Layton in the last few years. That leaves only Manitoba on the dumb end of the stick.

To vote in the PC leadership race, you had to join the PC, which cost five bucks and you were then handed a ballot. Nobody cared what your politvwl affiliation was. Name any party anywhere that allows that kind of access. All the opposition has to do is present a credible program, same as anywhere else. There are no Tory Gestapo or KGB operatives. People voted for the Tories for the most obvious and simple reason: they are relatively content. I don't know why supposedly intelligent people refuse to acknowledge what is right in front of them. Same reason for the low turnout.

You're contradicting yourself. People won't be buying Hondas when the prices skyrocket because of punitve duties. I see no reason whatsoever for giving any nation access to our markets, when we are denied access to theirs. Period. And our auto sector is quickly on its way to being unemployed anyway.

So what if Harper or anybody else was pressing Cadman? It is not illegal and wholly expected in the circumstances. I think Harper heard that the Libs got a few million on a line of credit for an election sometime, and he wants to tap that.

I hope Svend Robbingstores overcome the stress that led him to stealing. Like all others that experience stress, it was not his fault that caused him to become a criminal. I blame society.

Charge tariffs and duites on all vehicles that do not manufacture those vehicles in Canada and ship their profits offshore, outside North America. Like Japan does to our auto manufacturers.

The suggestion that Emery is some sort of heroic and tragic figure is a joke. He sells dope for a living, or rather sells seeds to people so they can grow dope, which is a crime in both Canada and USA. he was allowed by an ambivalent Canadaian govt to get away with it, but made a serious mistake when he expanded his business into a country that treats drug dealing seriously. He is a victim only of his own greed and stupidity. he could have toddled along forever selling seeds to canadians, but crossed a major line by getting greedy.

Neither ticket will happen, of course. My view is that a Clinton candidacy will beat McCain handily. Obama would lose to McCain. The reason is simple. Despite all the blah blah about change, what Americans really want is not change, but stability that looks different from Geo Bush. Both McCain and Clinton represent that, but Clinton is just different enough, yet familiar- to carry an election. McCain would Hhammer hammer hammer at Obama to define every aspect of his breathless 'change' message, to delineate every detail. And of course in politics to commit is to perish. Obama would not survive that experience. It is truly astonishing, but the Democrats are slowly but surely wrenching defeat from the jaws of certain victory.

Say, whatever became of old Svend Robbingstores?

My cousin the farmer said plenty of canola acreage in Eastern Alberta and western Sask will be in biofuel crops this year.

People keep raising the idiotic strawman of low voter participation, over and over. And it is idiotic. Here are the two reasons why people do not vote: 1) they do not care. They likely will never care. Since they invest nothing in getting knowledgable about the candidates or issues, it's just as well they don't go to the polls and put their 'X' inside the little square , since it would be a completely random choice. 2) they do care, but are content with whoever gets elected or conmtent with the staus quo. This is a large group of people, 'the contented'. You see jerry, if people are engaged, active, interested- they vote. If they are unhappy, they vote. if they want change, they vote. A whole bunch of Albertans were not engeaged, were not discontented,were not unhappy, did not want change - so they stayed home. Those that did vote, voted very strongly to endorse the PCs and the current Premier. The Tories win over and over because they appeal to the center. The opposition and whiners here keep parroting some halfassed concept that the democratioc process is on death row in Alberta. Hardly - this Premier was chosen in the most open leadership program imaginable where anybopdy with $5 from any partisan background could and did vote. He just got more of the popular vote than all the parties combined. What the Oppostiion needs to do is clear and simple- come p with leaders , ideas and programs that have some semblance of interest and appeal to Albertans. So far, it is they who have failed to represent or engage Albertans.

I'd welcome 'Ted' having a shot again, particularly if he repeats the grievous error of welcoming the fundies aboard his campaign. He got slapped down once, an encore would be welcome. Ted Morton was rejected not just by Tories, but by all Albertans since thousands of non-Tories joined the Party to make sure Morton had no chance of winning. A modern democracy has no place for idiocrats like Morton.

Well, you'd be wrong, and saying the same thing over and over doesn't make it so.

Your post misses a very major point. The Tories are a centrist party, that is how they are elected time and time again. People with little actual knowledge of Alberta like to refer to it as a clump of rednecks, but the middle is as powerful here as anywhere in Canada, the only difference being they vote the center. The Tories. Proof? The 'fundies' took another savage beating when Stelmach was elected. They are seeking a home, perhaps with the Wild Rose, who will be fortunate to keep their only seat. There is no reason at all to invent any centrist party, it runs the place now.

None of that rationalization will matter to a Quebec national government flushed with success. They will move from a successful referendum to a declaration of soveriegnty in a matter of days. The Clarity Act will be useless in preventing any of it. The international recognition will come when the international community recognizes that the referendum was conducted demcratically. Some jumped -up federal law from a country that no longer includes Quebec will be irrelevant, as will all the other laws and institutions of a country that no longer includes Quebec. Depending on the Clarity Act to have an influence on the outcome is folly, though classically Canadian.

Sorry to bring you the bad news, but todays polls have the Liberals at 18% and the NDP at 5%.

There is a very simple metric for judging the success or faliure of the United Nations approved mission by some 37 countries in Afghanistan. Measure the flow of refugees into or out of the country, and the direction they travel. Why? Because the women and children travel away from peril, not toward it. Some estimates have nearly four million Afghans returing to their homeland since 2002. When they start heading the other direction, I'll start listening to those who wish to abandon them.

Having plenty of money does not oblige the AB government to follow these socilist tenets so fiercely and loyally. In fact, the opposite is true. Money always means more options are available. So why would this far right wing' govt do that? Unless of course the 'far right 'label is a big pile of steaming turds invented by those a lot further left?

The Clarity Act will be ignored by any Quebec government who feels they have a strong mandate to separate. Their attitude will be: we are not bound by the laws of a country we do not belong to any more. It would be very unwise indeed for the federal govt to believe anything else.

Is it really that far right? Our government spends more per capita on such socialist mainstays as universal healthcare than any other province. Alberta has far less privatization of health care than BC, Quebec or Ontario. Similar situation for education , where the public system is strong, very strong. The two together account for 80% of the total budget. How right wing is that?