fellowtraveller

Not to the degree that Spain is experiencing in the EU. They did a great job of finagling billions of Euros out of the EU a while back, but now that the crunch has come they are in trouble, real trouble.

I think you meant 'govern as a minority' and that is looking more likely all the time. Harpers dream situation is to have any or all of the Opposition force an election on a budget nonconfidence motion. He'd end up with a majority or at worst another minority. What stops the Opposition is not the continuation Harper as PM, but other considerations. Of the three, the Bloc is the one with little or nothing to lose from an election. They will dominate Quebec again, and that reality lets them freewheel in Parliament. The Liberals have a big decision ahead with their leadership, they are surely asking the question 'can we ever win with Ignatieff?' and the answer to that is pretty obvious now. Do they wait until after giving Harper a majority, or let him carry on and try to replace the leader quickly and carry that momentum forward to an election? And who is in the wings that can beat Harper? The NDP also have some problems, their support seems to be dwindling and Layton will surely be in trouble without a strong showing, an increase in seats. He has had five years of opportunity with Harper and accomplished little in advancing the NDP brand, especially considering how weak the Liberals have been. Maybe he sees the chop coming and does not want a medicore showing at an election quite yet.

True, but Spain is also in very serious financial trouble right now.

Aunt Tillie has far more in common with an Orthodox Jew in Canada than a fellow Christian in backqwoods Egypt. One is from her culture, the other from her religion. In the context of your meaningless question punctuated by a smiley face? No.

Agree with the above, as a citizen he deserves whatever offical help we can offer, whcih may be very little. The passport office can revoke or refuse to issue a passport, having and holding one is not an automatic right of citizenship. I don't know the circumnstance of this poor guy, but I wish him well.

My wife is a Grade 3 teacher, and as far as I know she offers no classroom comparisons at all of Marx vs Rockefeller. The cocial studies curriculum in her grade mostly covers investigating the cultures of Peru, Tunisia and India. Everybody in the class is required to wear a red beret and never reveal the name of their cell leader. The main subjects she teaches to her class are math, science, language arts and she teaches French to the whole grade. Her grade partners etach music and phys ed to the whole grade in turn. This is likely when the indoctrination takes place. She follows a specific provincial curriculum, and provides much of her own lessons and resources. Sonme of these statements may not be true. I challenge the OP to identify them without Googling.

Wow, your first sentence is the most backward thing I have seen here in some time. The individual is not so easily dismissed in democracy as you would hope. Ever hear of one man, one vote? Ever hear of the Charter of Rights and Freedioms? It does not address the rights of the collective, its main purpose is to describe the rights of individuals, it is the foundation of democracy in our society. The exercise of power is done by your collective but it must be done without contravening any of the rights of inidviduals, except in the most extreme circumstances. THat is the basis of democracy in Canada, like it or not. That is what the governments in this country and all the courts have in the background of what they do. They are obliged to operate within the parameters of the Charter. The Constitution describes the operation of governments and institutions, but the indivudual rights described in the Charter trump it.

Incorrect. Religious symbols are not the same as cultural symbols. There are often many religions within a culture, and symbols do not cross those lines readily. An Egytpian Coptic Christian has nothing to do culturally with my aunt Tillie attending the United Church in Brandon, nothing at all culturally but they do share one religious symbol every Sunday. I have no beef with Christianity, I do have a beef with ignorance wherever it is found.Review the thread, I did not introduce the niqab to the discussion, I pointed out that it is not a religious symbol. I did that because it is not one, women are not wearing it because of any requirement of Islam. You are welcome, glad to help anytime.

pot, meet kettle. I defer to your personal knowledge of bigotry, with every post your loathing for anybody not like yourself rings loud. You really have not been anywhere, have you? The international language of business and commerce is without question English. Speaking French won't get you anywhere except in France, Quebec and parts of Africa. France does not like anybody but French people to profict from their society, a fact my self employed brother has learned from a couple decades living there. They haven't noticed yet, but their international clout is withering while their goofy economy stagnates. People marvel at them, but in reality what most French young people want is go somewhere they can get a job. Quebec does not want Anglo business in any way within their borders: they want and get and officially back homegrown(Quebecois) business within their borders, and speak English when they export their business. West Africa is 40 years from being an emerging market. When they eventually do enter the marketplace, they will speak English. Mandarin. Hindi. Not French. Next.

I don't think Gary Mar rolls that way, he has a family. Maybe on the weekends. I also like him, and Jim Dinning would be OK too. Need to read up on Redford more, she has a pretty strong bio and has that essential magic ingredient of being from Calgary.

A cross is not a culural symbol, it is the prime religious symbol of Christianity. You may have heard the story, this guy called Jesus was nailed to a .... oh, you have heard of it. Kirpans are most definitely religious symbols for Sikhs. The hypocrisy is Quebec being fiercely secular in banning one religious symbol while having another religious symbol hang in the legislature, sorry the National Assembly. No. you can't have it both ways. The niqab is not a religious symbol, it is not mentioned in the holy Koran and is thus a cultural expression. Many Muslim women do not cover their heads or faces because they do not have to.

I have no intention of defending her hono(u)r, she is quite capable of same at this stage and has a much higher perch for doing so. No, I was more interested in your intentions with that first link. Linking her personal life in Iraq as somehow connected to being sexually assaulted a thousand Kms and a couple years away? Wow. Nice.

Because they do have French communities, places founded by French settlers and where French is widely spoken today. Off the top of my head in SK I can think of Bellevue, near Batoche where I met older folks who did not speak English at all really. Gravelbourg is also eavily French for more than a century.Alberta has more, the corridor area of Legal, Morinville, Villeneuve, Riviere - qui- Barre, St Albert are all French communities, though St Albert has outgrown all of them. St Albert also has a Francophone school (not French immersion, Francophone) in acknowledgement of the reality. Lots of old French families in that area. Falher is another predominantly Francophone town and there are quite a few others.

No, pretty homely all around.Buses: of curse, trains, taxis, rickshaws airplanes and many kms on foot. Marketplaces> Of course, and stayed in or near many too- cheap hotels cluster around markets and transport hubs. Rude: Life for women on the street looked very normal. In some Muslim countries, you rarely see women on the street. You knew that India has many religions, and Islam is a minority, right? Then ask somebody you do know that has travelled in India, they will help clear up any misunderstandings. I would much rather walk down a darkened street in India(and did so many times in Dec and Jan, and on previous trips) than many streets in North America. Mumbai is far safer than say, Detroit. Or you could email my wife or daughter, both of whom have been and feel the same way. Amazing Race is 99.9% scripted and 100% storyboarded . Try again. And the city has been called Mumbai for quite some time now.

That would be the site you posted, along with a snide implication that she is a slut, as if that were true or matters.Why did you post that link and comment?

You need more spirit in your defense of the indefensible. The Duplessis cross hanging in the National Assembly is an example of the blithe hypocrisy defended by Quebec nationailists. A blatantly religous symbol is permitted to hang in the centre of government, while at the same time kirpans are declared weapons and the niqab is assumed to be a symbol of degradation. Hypocrites.

I'm a Westerner and have no objection to bilingualism, or did you mean learn French? We do very little business with Quebec, and the future is in the Pacific- not the Laurentians. So yeah, I'd like my kids to be bilingual;- in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi or even Spanish. French won't make them a dime. I love my kids way too much to hope they get jobs pushing paper in Hull, what a horrible prospect.

It wasn't much of a fight to stay though, once his wife claimed her citizenship. It is barely possible that he could be extradited, but likely the charges may not be serious enough. Really though, he is just goofy enough to belong in Vancouver. Maybe he could get into provincial politics.

No. it was not a trick question and of course the answer is very simple: no, Quebec is not tolerant of other cultures. Do you see this example in Saguenay as being a good example of cynical secularism? It makes me laugh actuallu, here we are having a sincere discussion on this Godbothering mayor when if this had happened in AB or SK he'd have been dismissed as a redneck and forgotten.

She did not need extra protection, she needed some common sense to avoid a situation where she was a specific target. Not because she was a woman, but because she is a western journalist and therefore- based on immediate, local deaths and beatings- at serious risk to be there at that time. And she knew it. Why would you post a gossipy link that implies she is a slut? For you, her gender and prociliities have some meaning or you would not have thought that link worthwhile. Care to explain why you linked that story? Nasty stuff.

I don't know what legisation you are referring to.... most provinces have a Dower Act or equivalent , it provides legal protection on real estate but only for legally married couples. At present, common law partners must fight for property rights which come automatically to married persons. I don't agree with Molly that no presumption of joint venture will come, it is inevitable in my opinion and not just for real estate. It is a can of worms, and the lawyers shall feast.

just got an update from NZ from my SIL in Auckland. 38 confirmed dead, 100+ missing.

Like I said, this judgement will be a major bonanza for family law/divoprce lawyers. When you are married and in the abscence of a pre-nuptial there is the presumtion of joint venture, it is the default position. From here on in, one side in common law relationships will argue there was presumption, the other will argue there wasn't, and every hour is billable. The Dower Act is most if not all provinces protects property interests in marriages, there will be a presumption and soon there will be case law to apply the same standard to common laws. Big impact. Its gonna take the love out of a lot of loving.

Oh, and she could not possibly have not known the extreme danger, numerous reporters and camera crews had been assualted, there were serious injuries and death. They were specific targets for the pro-Mubarak crowd who blamed Western media for inciting the uprising. At best her presence was wilfully stupid.

Her sexual history is completely irrelevant and I find it really nasty that you would suggest it has any bearing on the events in Cairo.