fellowtraveller

This is certainly not true. The oilpatch in general has far more extensive compulsory drug testing than just about any other industry. No doubt there are pot smokers in the biz, but they have to be careful not to get caught with a mandatory pee test or they are done like dinner and looking for a job.

Alberta took the approach(mid 90s) that if you were single and employable, no welfare. Period. The welfare rolls were cut in half abruptly. No reports of people dying in the gutters. I think the popualtion of Vancouver had a sudden increase though.

and about 9% of the seats. if there were an election today, they'd get around 12% of the vote. I have this sneaky feeling that Jack won't claim to be running for PM again.

Brodfie should have moved to Manitoba and gone on welfare like everybody else.

When those Liberal economists were reveiwing the Govt books, did they happen to come across any of that $200 million that went missing from Adscam?

I'm not the one whining about the legal and constitutional actions of all parties. You are.

The election of October 2008 was also legal and constitutional. The proroguing of Parliament is legal and constitutional. The confidence vote and election that will follow, and the election of a CPC majority will also be entirley legal and constiututional. I'm sure the Harper govt takes comfort from your support.

Umm, none of these Liberals have any interest in Harpers survival, they are thinking of their own survival. The Libs have really painted themselves into a corner, Harper wants an election now, the Liberals do not.

You are right, OP, no handouts to Alberta. Of course, you won't mind then when the equalization tap runs dry?

How do you figure that? The House and the Opposition are not involved in the Prime Ministers decisions to appoint Senators, if he chooses to do that.

There are 18 vacant Senate seats now, and there will be 30 by the end of 2009. He wants provincial elections, and senator-in-waiting lists from which he will appoint them. But... he'll lose that opportuinity if the coalition turfs him next month, and he must know that one of the very first things they;ll do is restock the place full of new Liberal, NDP and Bloc hacks. What will he do?

How do you define success? All Harper has to do is demonstrate to the GG that he has publicly done his best to consult those pesky Bloc Torontois members on the budget, and if they still insist on kciking him out.... Then as First MNinister and prime advisor to the GG, he'll regretfully report back to her that as per their conversations there is nothing left but an election. And according to you, that is what Harper wants all along. Sounds like success all righty. Poor Iggy may be reduced to some really poor options... either several months or years of eating the same diet of sh*t sandwiches that were Dions favorites, or going to an election with limited support and no money. Do you think the Bloc Torontois has handed the CPC at least one majority?

You can stay, but only if you develop a sense of humour. And a sense of fiscal responsibility.

The West continually provokes Quebec by hurling billions and billions of dollars at them with no expectation of anything in return. It is outrageous. One small change to your plan to kick out the West: please keep Manitoba. They are used to your welfare mentality and quite comfy with it. Plus the Blue Bombers already play in the East. Ta.

from the link It is Orwellian, the way these idiots pretend that the coalition is anything but a deal with the Bloc, who remain a separatist party. Letters were signed, hands were shaken, pictures were taken. Are they now pretending all that did not happen? As for Leblanc, I expect promises have been made to Junior to get out of the way for now. Next up: Rae and Ignatieff will announce some kind of Blair/Brown deal where they take turns on the throne. They'll have to do something, Dion has to go Asap and they cannot wait until May. The Libs are betting everything on their coaltion surviving until January, and the GG denying Harper an election when they bring him down. Desperate times, desperate measures.

He also has excellent hair, a prerequisite for cult status.

I admit that I have noticed that Manitoba has developed and continues to derive a significant chunk of its operating budget by leeching off other provinces.. That wasn't sarcasm, it was fact.

It is not enough to have tax incentives, there must be punitive duties on anything built outside the US, and that will apply to Canada in a big way. And Canada will have to bite the bullet and eat a very large sh*t sandwich, since we have little to bargain with other than oil, which is hardly in demand.

Italy has had about 60 coalition governments since World War II, so they must be wonderful. Our children are taught that anybody can grow up to be the leader of our country. Italy goes one step further and gives every adult their turn.

Obama can please a lot of people by bringing policies that reward Americans for buying vehicles that are made in America, and I expect that is exactly what we'll see early next year. It may piss off a lot of people in Canada, but so what? Ummm, the #1 reason the EU was created was to protect their own industries and their own jobs, at any cost. What other reason could there possibly be for building Citroens or Renaults? They have zero interest in opening their markets to our products, and know that they cannot compete with China or the US in supplying our markets. All the baloney about this serves the PR and optics for both Canadian govt and the EU, but that is as far as it will go.

Looks like Harper miscalculated, the Liberals will destroy themselves without his assistance. Looks like the Liberals are in a gong show now instead of an orderly choice of new leader. Gonna blame Harper for that too? All the Libs had to do was roll over and play dead as they did for a couple of years and their survival was assured. But... they know they are Gods choice to lead us, and failed to note that Canada did not get that memo.

Maybe it is because of the reality that the Manitoba NDP govt has ensured that the province is an eternal leech on equalization payments? The rest is just window dressing. Follow the money.

The flags are not relevant. What will be remembered are the three 'leaders' shaking hands, and the smirk on Duceppes face. He cannot believe his good fortune, he looks like a three year old on Christmas morning. The reason that little scene will be remembered is that the Tories will reproduce it over and over and over, it will be indelibly burned into the brains of Canadians. It alone is worth perhaps 15 seats for Harper.

Dumbest poll question ever.

Howzat? Many trades and professions find it very difficult to work in other prpovinces. Teachers, for example, and nearly anything that needs accreditaion in Quebec. Outsiders are most defintiely not welcome.