fellowtraveller

What? I don't know how you could misunderstand so completely. In the case I cited, the target would most certainly not be the train, but the Chunnel. Do you know what the Chunnel is, and its symbolic and real importance to the economy?

The security at Biritsh airports for flights to and from the rest of Europe is the same as if it was between the UK and non-European country. Airports like Heathrow have had heightened levels of security for over 30 years. The purpose of a terrorist blowing up a train in this region would be a) the Chunnel the Chunnel c) the Chunnel d) a major station in Paris or London. The destruction or damage to the Chunnel would be a 9/11 level act of terrorism. I think St Pancras is now the Eurostar terminus in London.

Sometimes I wonder if the people of BC and Alberta would be best served by quietly packing up their toys and leaving the current federation. They are badly unrepresented in the Senate, which is not so bad in that it is a joke. But surely they have every right to be disturbed at being greatly underrepresented in the Commons?

Farming and ranching are irrevocably changed already in Alberta. Mostly, it has been a consolidation of farms into larger operations, still run by local families. But how is it important if it cannot support itself, as in your example of fishing in Nfld. May I respectfully suggest that the province do what most everybody else has done when the local industry fails: move on, forego the government teat and if necessary move yourself.

Not quite. There are extensive checks coming and going from the UK to France or vice versa, on British soil. They search, check papers, have dogs and sniffer technology, but what they really looking for are people smuggling themselves into Britain. The French make little effort to prevent illegals from leaving France and entering the UK. What a surprise there......Going the other way, they are trying to prevent people from blowing up the Chunnel or ferries.

and those with quotas and artificially inflated domestic prices, all paid for needlessly by consumers. Quebecs dairy industry would collapse overnight if Canadians were allowed to produce milk products as they chose, rather than as they were directed for political reasons.

You may have noticed that our climate precludes the availability and domestic production of many of the things we eat, such as fruit vegetables, rice and so on. In your next homework assigment, perhaps you could address how we can subsidize local production of mangos and Kiwi fruit in January in Moose Jaw. Before we even address the glaobaloiztion issues, perhaps Canada should address the supply side economic polices of our agricultural system, where it is more difficult and expensive to do business between provinces than between countries.

Can't he truthfully claim to not know anything about Schreibers dealings with Mulroney, and to have had no contact with Schreiber himself? Obviously Harper has met Mulroney many times, though I doubt they are very tight. Harper was born out of Reform, the backlash against Mulroney and the main reason the PCs went from a majority to 3 seats in 1993.........

No problem. Stephane Dion has a plan to eliminate child poverty.

The whole passage strikes me as meaningless and largely irrelevant. If CCRA suspected Mulroney of any wrongdoing or evasion at all, they would have charged him without compunction. I have 2 friends that are CCRA auditors and they would be on this like flies on a fresh turd if they though there was any way to collect. So, if it is a 'retainer', and Mulroney did not do any work for the money, surely Schreiber has filed grievance with the Law Society long ago? Is it possible that the money is in trust? If it is, a very large number of people are going to look very foolish and Mulroney will likely win some more in lawsuits.

Do me a favour and write this down: Mulroney has not broken any law regarding taxes on the $300K. CCRA has no issues with what happened. It is not relevant to this discussion. Do you now understand that? Before you lock him up, could you explain what 'this' is?What do you think he did? What exactly? I wonder if he just took the $300k and stiffed Schreiber, didn't do anything for the money.

That is not corroboration or evidence of a crime. Cash is and was legal tender in Canada. Mulroney declared the income and paid tax on it. Coffee is a legal drug. The onl interesting thing there is that the secreatry may have something to add, and that would be corroboration for one of them. Mulroney left office to practice law. If he claims that Schreiber gave him the money to represent him as a lawyer, then privilege applies. Mulroney cannot explain what it was specifically for unless Schreiber allows him to, and Mulroney can then make up anything to cover his ass if it needs covering. It comes down to "I said, he said" so far......... Is that really the basis for a fullblown inquiry?

Pro: absolutely guaranteed that taxes won't go up.........

where i'd believe a single word that comes out of KarlHeinz Schreibers face...... he is 77 years old He is in a Canadian prison awaiting extradition after a very lengthy legal battle to stay here. If he is extradited, he will very likely end up dead of old age in a German prison eventually, convicted of a 'lying cime', namely fraud. He has repeatedly given completely contradictory versions of his relationship with Mulroney. His 'evidence', as far as I know, is completely uncorroborated. He claims he won't give evidence at all to a Canadian inquiry from Germany. Without his 'evidence', what is there to talk about? I'm wondering why Mulroney is so eager to get a full scale inquiry going too..... I'm starting to wonder why Harper called the inquiry at all, this has every sign of becoming a massive, pointless and expensive cluster****. But Harper is no fool, perhaps he(and perhaps Mulroney) knows something we don't. I do know one thing: if I was a Canadian public figure, a reporter or an editor, I'd be very careful what I said or printed about Mulroney right now.

The irony is the very large number of people who ignored the registry before this legislation will continue to ignore it now. I know of communities where a single person buys ammunition for 40 to 50 hunters. It won't change, nobody trusts the govt and won't be popping up now.

Schreiber has said he will not testify from Germany, which casts serious doubt - for me at least- on every word that he speaks. What is this really about? Scriber had exhausted all appeals before this inquiry was called. Are his claims the act of a desperate man who will say or do anything to avoid prolonged jail term in Germany? He has contradicted himself numerous times in the last 15 years, and has no reason to tell the truth under oath in this country. This will all end in tears.

nonsense. Tasers and mace were developed/deployed in the recognition that cops were severely damaging and/or killing too many people with conventional means:clubbing them unconscious or employing the dangerous sleeper/choke hold. Tasers/mace also made it safer for the cop, they didn't have to get too close to a dangerous and violent person. Another benefit was that society was calling for more women in police forces and conventional methods of subduing people were much more dangerous for physically weaker female police.

cops should: 1. ensure their personal safety 2. ensure the safety of the public 3. limit the damage to the crook/nutjob, but never at the expense of 1 and 2 above.

I'll bet these guys will bring all the gold in their Party coffers too... That makes $1.78 the Libs have to blow. Time for an election.

Nobody will miss the registry, for obvious reasosn: 1) the cops know it is wholly unreliable in predicting the presence of weapons in a household 2) criminals, oddly enough, have pretty much unanimously failed to register their weapons 3) a very large number of normally law abiding citizens have chosen to not register a very large number of legal weapons. None of those three would be altered by eliminating the registry. It is a law widely flouted and will continue to be useless no matter what the federal govt does. The recent decision to abandon the long gun registry is more than symbolic, since it will hopefully drag the hapless Dion kicking and screaming to the polls. If nothing else, it will allow him to leave politics with a small shred of personal dignity remaining. I hope the Liberals can raise enough to buy poor Stephane a spine.

I wonder if Harper might know a little something something that Dion does not. The testimony about the Liberal payoff of the $2.1 settlement with Mulroney may contain some things the Libs might not want public. he did nothing of the sort, his inquiry fell far, far short of the level of scrutiny that should have been brought to bear on the Liberal ridings and bagmen- and politicians. Are we supposed to believe that the Liberals laundered a couple of hundred million through the books of ad agencies and came out with .005%? Me either. Add Jean Corriveau, the entire Quebec caucus and numerous unnamed co-conspirators to that list.

Of course it will be, why not? Every opportunity to cram another turd sandwich down Dions craw wil be taken, and taken with relish.

Only 29? I thought there would be more. Still, that should bring many millions of "conscientious objectors' in from all over the world. Followed by their families, naturally. And all on welfare to begin, since of course refugees are not required to have skills or languages. I wonder if other groups would be welcome, since the legal basis for allowing draft dodgers is that they have not broken any laws in this country, and we do not have anything resembling conscrioption at the moment? For example, our 'age of consent' is still 14 years. That means that a sexual pradator of age 40 can have consensual sex with a child of 14 without legal problems. Most other Western countries are 16 for age of consent. So, given that the foreign sexual predator hasn't broken any laws here, and will be jailed and harassed for breaking a law that isn't illegal here.... couldn't they apply for refugee status too?

The Edmonton Public School Board has many 'centric' schools, all fully funded and fully within the public umbrella. They don't have a 'black' school, likely because the community is too small. But.. if there was sufficient interest, they'd do it. There are several First Nations schools, girls only schools, schools for smart kids, religious based schools, sports schools, ballet schools,a military academy, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish,Ukranian and Arabic immersion, huge arts school and so on. All in the public system. And , of course, the availability of choice has limited private and charter schools to a very few. Choice also has another less obvious benefit - more parents are more involved in the schools. Parents can send there kid to any school anywhere in Alberta, provided there is space. All schools must teach the Alberta curriculum, no exceptions, to receive public funding. After that, they can more or less do what the parents and adminstration choose. And that has led to the point of it all: achievement. Alberta consistently ranks tops in scholastic achievement in core subjects in Canada, and ranks well worldwide in some. The results speak for themselves.

Of course, you'd have to extend this offer of refuge to any "conscientious objectors and illegal draft dodgers " who applied as refugees - not just Americans. It would only be fair, after all. The implications are interesting. I wonder how many Turks, who are just one of many countries with mandatory military service, would come to Canada. They have until age 38 to complete their mandatory service. I wonder how many would opt to move to the open doors of the Canada you envision, simply by showing up and saying "I am persecuted". They'd have a slam dunk, de facto case for residency. Is that your intention?