fellowtraveller

I am having some diffucluty understanding the selective oppositon to the Gateway Pipeline. Are the same opponents also lining up to shut down the massive, daily tanker traffic that has existed for decades on the East Coast, feeding oil from the Middle East/Venezuela refineries in Montreal and Saint JOnh New Brunswick? Are they opposing the pipelines that exist between Quebec and Ontario that supply crude to Central Canada and the nmassive gas pipelines that bring natural gas to Toronto from Alberta? Are they boycotting and blockading the existing enormous tanker trafffic through the iNland Paasge from Valdez Alaska to the West Coast? How is the East Coast of Canada now entirely different environmentally from the West Coast?

Refresh my memory, is Quebec that province where all the money goes that is increasingly irrelevant in the national political arena?

and in the same vein, Ralph Klein was widely considered by people outside Alberta as an idiot yet Chretien and Martin adopted his chainsaw approach to the civil service. Chretien is lauded weekly here for that for stealing the reform ideas that were actually acted upon first by Klein , while Klein comsidered an assclown by the ideologues. The major difference between the two is that Klein did not download all the costs to subordinate govts and claim credit for some deep economic thinking, which is what Martin and Chretien did do.Go figure. If Tommy Douglas were alive today people like you would be howling about his fervent belief that God created the earth in 7 days.

It is a toll free number in Ottawa but it is hard to get hold of Harper himself.

Here is a place to start: the Prime Minister should request that the First Nations leaders nominate a federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and that nomineee shall be appointed. There is no need for any constitutional change or provinical agreement, cabinet ministers serve at the pleasure of the PM and do not have to be elected. First Nations need a place at The Big Table, because with that comes both reward and responsibility.

Danny Michel is very good, Dan Mangan not bad either. FYI, Fred Eaglesmith has worked literally every corner of Canada for decades now. He could start a second career as a comedian.

meaningless, since the strength and weakness of teams shifts.What is unfair is that only four out of 8 teams make the playoffs from two conferences, while 4 out of 7 make it from the other two. Wrong all the way.

this thread puzzld me since the prices of LCD equipment has plummetted, until I noteiced in the link that the time period covered is 1999-2006

I cannot imagine what they would share, since the Occupiers have some real problems in specifying exactly what their concerns are and what can be done about it. I doubt a longshoremen prevented from earning a days wages would be interested in that sort of vague ideological discussion on the way to work. Unions exist to gain advantage and particularly financial for their members, first and foremost. How is that different from shareholders in companies, those evil corporations? In recent decades, that reality has been dressed i na veneer of social justice, for causes that their predecessors have already won. It is all about the money, like it or not. I hope the Occupiers don't get hurt badly by their brothers.

Note that Pakistan- an Islamic state with some major and harcore fundamentalist influences- forbids the covering of womens faces for drivers licence and passport photos, and for official checks of those documents like court appearance, traffic stops or aircraft security screening. No accomodation is made for female officers looking at the documents or the face. If further physical inspection is required, it is done by the same gender, same as in Canada. I don't know what they do for female immigrants to Pakistan, I suspect there are not many of those. Perhaps we should follow the Pakistani example, follow their lead in terms of cultural sensitivity.

Oh-oh. I hope the Occupiers don't get hurt too badly by the truckers and longshoremen

No, I dislike the pretence/fiction that the Liberals exercised fiscal responsibility through program review and made decisions to reduce the deficit by acting responsibly. That didn't happen. For much of their savings, they simply downloaded costs to the provinces. The Tories could cut some of the existing deficit simply by chopping the bloated civil service they themselves created and by minor program cuts. But that is not enough, they need to examine every penny and act accordingly. Obviously we are coming into some lean times globally and your suggestion that the Tories will be making cuts and still going into debt is probably accurate. Doing nothing will be worse.

They pretended to balance the budget by cutting transfer payments and gutting the provinces/municipalities of funds in the 90s. But being the fair and balanced person that I am, I have to point out one significant achievement: the Libs gave hope and encouragement to developmentally disabled persons across the land with their relentless employment of Sheila Copps. She proved that an ambitious moron can rise to be Deputy PM and Cabinet Minsiter

I'll make it simple for you, though I regret I cannot use words of less than one syllable. Let's say there are 40,000 cod fishermen in Nfld. The cod fishery collapses. All are unemployed. 20,000 move to AB and find work. 20,000 remain unemployed. Hibernia happens, and needs 20,000 workers. There are 20,000 workers available, not 40,000 (notice what happened there) and NFLD enjoys near full employment in good jobs for everybody. Just not in Nfld. Oh, and the cod fishery was in deep shit for decades before 1992, the exodus used to be to the wasteland of Toronto until that ship sailed. And of course, the work in AB has now attracted successive generations from the Maritimes, not just the 70s generation.

Let me explain a little factoid that might help disperse the disquieting fog that is your ignorance. There is a vast difference between a Canadian citizen and a Canadian resident. Please stop confusing the two, you are embarassoing yourself repeatedly. People can be either, or both. Canadian citizens in general are not required to pay Canadian taxes as part of their citizenship. In general, Canadian residents are required to pay taxes. Candian citizens have no right to health care, welfare or any of the handouts you are raving about this time. Only Canadian residents are eligible for these things, which are typically provided by each province, all with residency requirements. You do not have to be a citizen to get them, you do have to be resident and that generally means that yes you are paying taxes and have earned those benefits. Candian citizens have no such rights, and there are about half a million Candian citizens living outside Canada, most of them working and living in other countries. Serving in the armed forces is not a requirement of citzenship in this country nor is it mandated by any law. This applies to white and brown people alike. Resding in Canad is not a requiremnt of being a citizen either, once you have your passport any of us can come and fgo from this counhtry as we please, without restiction. That is called equality, somehting you do not seem to support. Why do you hate freedom?

Tell us more about the 'salami thumping.'

I don't know if they sent money home, but they earned and spent a lot in AB. I live in Alberta and used to live in Fort MacMurray, and both are full of Newfies and other Maritimers. Their stories are the same as all the many others who came here from all over: need a job. There were so many that they started direct jet flights daily for worker commuters from the small and otherwise unconnected communities of Fort Mac and St Johns NFLD. The Maritime Club in FM used to be infamous for having the best parties evah. Anybody who has lived in FM or AB can tell you how noticeable their presence is, a welcome presence too as they come to work. Last year there were reports of rising real estate prices in NFLD, and the reason was demand from Alberta. Many Newfs moved here in the 70s/80s and are now retiring back home, caused a mini-boom there.

The most disturbing thing about the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon was the disgusting racist vitriol that erupted in Canada which was based on the premise that there are different degrees of equality for citizens. There are not. If you hold a Canadian passport and have brown skin and live somewhere else, you have exactly the same rights and responsibilities as a native born white Canadian. I thought it was over, but here we go again.

there are two kinds of insurance here: CMHC insures the portion of your loan between 80% and 95% and charges a big fat premium for doing it. This is inescapable for many homebuyers, but without it the vast majority of homeowners would still be renters. It is an example of social engineering that has benfitted millions while costing taxpayers others nothing really.. The payments are built into the total loan amount, so you pay big gobs of interest on the premium too.The other kind is the one under discussion, life nsurance on the whole laon, so if you aor your spouse croaks the mnortgage is paid off. The kind the banks offer is a ripoff, much cheaper just to buy a regular life insurance policy and do it that way.

That is the spirit. I hope you had a hell of a good time in the middle.

Newfoundland got back on its feet by moving a big chunk of its skilled workforce to Alberta to work in Fort MacMurray.

The drop would have happened with Layton in charge too.

??? Neither the govt or the banks require you to have life or disability insurance on any resdiential mortgage at any loan-to-value ratio. It is true that the banks push hard for simpletons to buy this insurance from them, but only because they make so much money off the insurance. Note that as the value insured drops over time because you are paying down the mortgage, the premiums you pay on a declining insured amount do not decline correspondingly. Bank-provided mortgage insurance is a very poor deal for consumers.It may be prudent to insure your loved ones against being homeless, but don't buy the crap sold by a bank,, just get cheaper and better coverage through straight life insurance. And you are completely and utterly wrong abouyt banks being able to provide high ratio loans to really bad crdit risks. It simply does not happen in Canada, because the Bank Act restricts all banks ability to lend mortgages at 80%. After that, every borrower must meet strict and inflexible credit worthiness rules from CMHC. That fact, not opinion, is a major reason why Canada has done relatively well in the subprime mortgage horror show: because we have very few subprime loans relative to the US nightmare.

fifty to one hundred years of extractable oil with current technology. Ask your grandchildren about their plans for those jobs. Maybe the buggy whip or typewriter manufacturers will need help. On the service side, there may be a shortage of elevator operators. Really, who knows?

Ah yes, the 'available' money in Europe. Nearly all the infrsstructure money spent in Spain for decades, including subway lines, came via extremely favourable credit terms from EU banks. Not just favourable, they were nearly miraculous terms. Even on those terms, everybody was dismayed and surprised when the money had to be paid back. We can see now how that is working out for everybody there and globally, with Spain one of several nations on the very brink of financial catstrophe as a result of these policies. Maybe France or Germany would give Toronto similar terms for the TTC. They too need 'continual program of expansion'.