fellowtraveller

Yes, it does in legal terms. If you are party to a conversation, even passively, you may record it and publish that recording. If you are invited to listen, what the NDP agrees to means nothing after that.

\The people who want to vote for him are people that want Quebec out ASAP. Duh.

And how does the Opposition prove that they are stable, that they are able to pass legislation? Only by presenting all members of the coalition, or letters of agreement of same, to the GG. Liberals plus NDP does not represent a stable govt, they are many seats short of a majority and many seats short of the total of the govt they propose to replace. The GG will not accept vague promises of assistance from the Bloc as evidence of stability, so either they formally include the Bloc or they can take their toys and go home. I cannot believe that the NDP and Liberals are so stupid as to formally align with the Bloc, it would be suicidal. The 'coalition' cannot form a govt, and they cannot afford an election. We are in midgame still, and all sides still have options.

I thought Layton was proud of his historic alignment with a separatist party, soon to be his master in a coalition. Has soemthing changed?

Help? They have been invited to hold the balance of power. Invited

Dates and times that the Bloc has formed a coalation with other parties? Count: zero. Until now. Times that the Bloc has voted with the Liberals? Numerous. With the Tories?: a few

That is the problem with the Liberal idiocracy: they believe all will be forgiven(Adscam for example). A formal alignment, a coalition with separatists will never be forgiven, never be forgotten by some members of your own party, and many citizens in general. And simply doing the math (try harder, it is just addition) means that yes, the Bloc will have a stranglehold on the govt, their votes are absolutely essential to the passage of anything. What part of that don't you get? I don't see Quebec jumping anywhere but on the bandwagon, why would they go anywhere now when the country is suddenly, unexpectedly and gloriously available for wholesale looting? Or are you one of those that believe the Bloc will support the NDP and Liberals out of goodwill, no thanks no need to pay ? It is insulting to the Candian population when these two parties try to pretend they are not including the Bloc in the coalition.

Utter nonsense. Both the NDP and Liberals deny that the Bloc will share any power in their coalition, and expect Canadians to believe it. Unlike you, they know that to admit to their constituents and fellow citizens that they have not only stood by, but have offered the separatists effective control of the country - they will be vilified and scorned. Only idiots believe that Canadians of every ideology and party membership won't be disgusted and repelled at the actions of some 'leaders' sharing the control of this country with separatists. For that reason, I hope that the coalition is formed and brings down the governemnt. It will ensure a minimum of two Tory majorities, and utterly ruin the careers of Layton, Dion and anybody else associaited with this disgrace. A legion of former PMs would roll over in their graves if Duceppe is invited to hold the balance of power.

Speak for yourself. Immigrants are the lifeblood of my Canada and are welcome in my country and in my home. Social housing is a provincial/municpal responsibilyt. Nothing stops any province from dismantling or building whatever they choose. Kimmy, you would hardly recognize the city now.... More accurately , it is so screwed up by major infrastriucture projects you cannot get anywhere to see the city. The South Side in particular is a bog, with major projects on 23rd /Gateway, 114th street all the way from 23rd Ave to the University, endless building around the Uni Hospital and campus, major work on the Quesnel bridge area.........and elsewhere the massive $1.4 billion northern loop of the Henday freeway. You are right that the river valley provides a major traffic problem, but so far the City has avoided paving the entire thing like Calgary, and left the beauty of an enormous urban park. As I said , there is a very positive flip side to what you term bad planning....and that is a relatively low level of civic debt, and relatibvely low proerty taxes. And the traffic is not so bad, consdiering and comparing- so the road system is managing...... The most annoying daily thing is the battle lost on potholes......

Blame? I think 'credit' is the better word. The Liberals can't afford much, and anonymous websites are cheap to set up and run. Well done to your colleagues for getting some bang for their buck. Sorry, I meant bang for our buck since the taxpayers fund it all .

I don't agree with much, if any, of that. You're stuck on stereotypes that are long past. For example, Abertas govt spends massive amounts on social programs like education and health care, and is socially progressive. What part of that is 'conservative'? BC is not socialist, after the ruinous NDP years they have apparently seen the light. I do agree that the country has devolved into a bunch of intensely self centered regions, but of coursse this has little to do wiuth culture and a lot to do with getting money for themselves. We've now had a couple of generations of politicians giving Quebec a disproportionate share of the gravy, so it can hardly come as a surprise that every other province sees the wisdom of this approach and vigorously puts forward their selfish self interest front and center, ahead of the common good. It is our tradition, after all. And that is what makes this current situation so compelling. The Bloc has thrived on the utter stupidity and weakness of our leadership to the disproportionate benefit of Quebec, and now is poised to essentially take control of Parliament with a fraction of the seats normally required, no investment of any kind suince their entire existence is eagerly suppported by those they have vowed to dismantle, and not a shot fired. It is all quite civilized, and all entirely ludicrous.

That will make a huge difference when you add all their seats to those held by the Bloc, NDP and Liberals. Oh wait, our resident Liberal apologist is still pretending that the Bloc are not a part of the coalition. Why does jdobbin insist on this obvious fiction? Because he knows the consequences for the Liberals if Canadians perceive them as spreading their legs for the separatists. The biggest job ahead for Dion and Layton is promoting the utterly nonsensical premise that the Bloc is a benign force that wants nothing for propping them up.

Actually, you are incorrect. It is within the GGs discretion to accept a coalition or not. She would not accept any arrangement that adds up to a minority, such as NDP + Liberal, for the obvious reasons that a) it would be more fragile than the existing govt and b.) the balance of power would be held by separatists. The two options remaining are a coalition formally involving the Bloc, which woyuld be wonderful news for the Tories, or an election. It is hard to imagine Layton not recognizing the complete peril of those optics. It is easy to imahgine the Liberals doing it. We'll be voting soon. I wonder how the Liberals will explain triggering a $300 million election in the middle of an economic crisis, to save their $7 million in fundiung? Maybe they could get one of those friendly Montreal ad agencies to help them with that explanation.

'Infrastructure' Isn't that a French word meaning 'send billions to Quebec'?

Officially, you mean. Ther math is simple, the NDP/Liberals do not have more seats than the CPC alone, so the GG will not approve a colaition without the Bloc. There'd be no point, as the first vote in the new House could bring down the coalition. And promises of support are not enough, the leaders of the coalition parties are obliged to present themselves to the GG and if the numbers don't add up to a majority, she'll allow an election to proceeed. It won';t natter that the Bloc agrees to support the coalition when it feels magnanimous. I sincerely hope the CPC is defeated, it is an easy route to multiple majorities for them. I also look forward to the packaging and marketing of Bob Rae as Finance Minister.

I wonder who will be Deputy PM, Layton or Duceppe? PM Dion will have some tough choices. Both Dion and Layton will have to invest in some kneepads though, because the price of Duceppes support will be for those leaders to figuratively fellate him regularly at primetime in the middle of St Catharines street. We already know that Dion will do it and willingly, not sure about Layton. Any federal leader who actively seeks a governi g coalition that includes the Bloc is dead, dead, dead.

Neither of you are correct. The issue of infrastructure in the city comes from the actions of Mayor Lawrence Decore. Aft6er the crash of the early Eighties, Decore impelented a program of strict debt control, the main plank of which was a bylaw that forced the city to restrict the amount of annual operating expenditures dedicated to interest to a small and specific percentgae. This effectively limited the ability of the city to borrow money for projects, something city councils everywhere are very fond of doing - borrowing too much for pet projects. The problem is that by the mid ninetyies the city was growing again- and there was still no borrowing power available to address the situation. It was repealed, but now the city is catching up, and you'd know if you'd actually been to Edmnonton recently that the amount of infrastructure now and for the foreseeable future is immense. Freeways, roads, bridges, sewer mains, major light rail system construction- many, many billions and all happening right now. Oh, and th oilsands are not teaering up topsoil, I suspect this joker has never been there. It is boreal forest, thin stands of crap trees that are not useful for anything. There is no forest industry, no farmland. Never was, never will be, because the soil is almost nonexistent.

Dumb, dumb, dumb- but no surprise to see an idiotic, incorrect and nauseatingly partisan post like this.. Harper and the govt knew about this from the start, and were proactive in keeping the lid on this so as to keep Ms Fung alive. It worked. Props to Harper, Foreign Affairs, the Canadian military command, the Afghan govt, Fungs family, the CBC. other news organizations for collectively keeping their mouths shut and eventually getting her out.

So you don't know anything about what they do, but it must be good..... Do you happen to own a Montreal ad agency by any chance?

You think that is worth $3 billion + per year? Federal involvement is limited to enforcement of the Canada Health Act, " the Canada Health Act provides national guidelines for healthcare, the provinces have exclusive jurisdiction over health under the constitution" $3 billion + per annum.........

The best appointment is Leona Aglukkaq to Health. Although the Department overall is a waste of money seeing as how Health is a provincial responsibility, it is tasked with First Nations health care. Since that community faces enormous health issues, this is an appropriate posting. I'd rather see her in DIAND though.

I don't believe much of it. One thing that has changed is that police groups everywhere are increasingly aware of what it takes to get more money and more cops and bigger budgets. Like any big bureaucracy in a large industry, they are expert at making numbers sit up and bark on command.

The real basis of this is politics, not nationalism. Mr Charest has taken a lot of the wind out of the sails of both the PQ and ADQ with this action.

Maybe Brian Tobin will run too. I hear he has finally perfected his hair and is ready to rock. I look forward to Dion turtling time after time after time. That has become a Liberal tradition.

Confident that Harper can do it, or will do it. Yes to both. Dion/Liberals force fed themselves a steady diet of s**t sandwiches for two+ years and seemed to enjoy it. What has changed, other than a new and larger mandate for the CPC?