fellowtraveller

WTF??? Neither of those have much to do with having children. The main ingredient to 'having children' is to change that mindset to "being a parent". What is required is your personal and unwavering commitment to care for that child faiithfully and well for at least a couple of decades, and to put aside selfish nonsense like owning a big house.

I see that as a fundamental misread of the situation. Nobody but nobody wants to be seen as the party that forces another election, and the Liberals simply cannot afford it in any sense of the word. Harper sees himself as having a renewed mandate, the authority to govern. The NDP and BQ can do whatever they like, it doesn't matter since the Liberals have absolutely zero reason to change anything now, they have far more pressing internal issues. You will be heartbroken if you expect Harper to turn into Paul Martin.

Chretien is a Catholic. I guess that means for 13 years the country was run from the Vatican. It is interesting how some people try and try to make a mans religion as somehow defining his actions as Prime Minister. That viewpoint is so totally American in concept......

Lets review. Dion, who is generally acknowledged as being weak on his feet in the House, decides to stay until a successor is chosen. He will continue his tradition of feeble handwringing, at best. Advantage Harper for quite some time. The guy most likely to beat Harper was IMO without a doubt McKenna. Another dragon slain without any fight at all. The Liberals can throw recycled has beens at him indefintiely and get... nowhere. But, I truly hope that the Libs think Ignatieff, Rae or both can capture the fancy of Canadians in any significant way. They made this mistake once, and looks like they cheerfully will again soon. I don't see either of the frontrunners as a significant upgrade to Dion anyway. Either will spend their initial time as Lib leader just like Dion did: pretending to oppose the govt action, then voting with the govt to avoid an election. Advantage Harper again.

Dion chooses to stay on as leader..... McKenna, a very electable guy, decides not to run. The Tories must be very pleased so far.

No doubt Rae is the most savvy, and he could have beaten Harper in 2006. But savvy does not mean he would be any good at all. Do you want effective leadership now, or glib leadership? Choose one. I must say though that the CPC will be smiling if the Liberals field essentially the same leadership candidates as they did last time.

The oddest thing is this poster actually edited the post....I wonder what was changed? Yo, craiger, if you live in fear of the piss test, why haven't you answered the question about a blood test instead?

Chreteins legacy will be unchanged: weak government, widespread systemic sanctioned corruption and came within a whisker of being on the losing side of a separation referendum. He is already in the range of Top Five Worst PMs, and could move up yet.

That would be the most foolish thing the Lioberals have done in recent memory. They'd be utterly obliterated at the next election(which would be soon) if they allied themselves formally with a separatist party, and would of course be obliged to give the nationbusters a few seats in Cabinet.

The interim leaders first order of business may be to establish a much less costly leadership election process. Either that, or somehow find a bank willing to fund their debt. I reckon Ralph Goodale would be a respected contender for leader, but his French is poor(I think). Good choice as interim leader. FRank McKenna may be a very strong contender, but only if he is sure he has solid support. He wants to be wooed for the job, not involved in a costly dogfight.

I have a different view of Quebec, I think they have done an oustanding job as a province and are a role model for all other provinces. They recognized early that voting Liberal or Tory was not going to bring maximum gravy to the province, so the Bloc was invented to focus the efforts of their MPs on a very important job: getting the very most out of Confederation possible. The threat of separation has been a great lever for opening the enormous wallet in Ottawa. Very pragmatic approach, and so far so good for them. Surely we can agree that they have done well with no real investment?

The banks do not have anything resembling 'natural caution' , and it had nothing to do with the relative stability of the Canadian banking system. The Bank Act is largely responsible, because it strictly limits the allowable legal exposure of all lenders on residential mortgages. Without that strict control, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the banks would have lost their collective minds too. Our 'cautious' banks- like banks worldwide- invested heavily in the garbage paper spewed from the mortgage crisis because of their greed and lack of any legislation that prevented it. But they could not do the same with mortgages in their own country loaned directly to Canadian homeowners.

Liberal minority or coalition with the NDP....... I'm starting to wonder if he is what is what we deserve.

That would be true if it wasn't so wrong. But, you are used to that and so are we. The only fact in your post is that "Alberta will have a Tory government now ". You must have heard the last election results to make such a bold prediction. The last decent leader the provincial Liberals had was Lawrence Decore, in the 90s. He won 32 seats and could well have won the next election if the party had not been intent on self destructing. Which they did, and Decore died a few years later. Could easily happen again, with a quality leader. For some reason, they keep electing utter muppets, one after another.

The Liberals in AB need, first, a chaismatic leader. They have had a series of blandoids and duds.

I know one hting for sure: if Stevie gets another minority he will drive it like it is stolen.

an't get the hang of this Google thing, but surely the CBC is foursquare behind Mr Haprper?

You demolish your argument when you even hint that Dion or Layton would be more suitable to lead during tough economic times.. Laytons training is as a political science student, Dions as a public admin professor, and Harper as an economist. FFS, Dion cannot get his own Party or own leadership debts resolved. His only option would be to massively increase taxes (at a time they could be least afforded) so he can go back to the Liberal Fairytale days of a 'surplus'.

No, I'm from Alberta. Harper is from Toronto. The thing I dislike about him, and it is substantiated in many photos, is that he is a Leafs fan. This reveals a serious lack of character and judgement.

Attitude? Why should I care about that? What I care about is policy and legislation. I have absolutely no need to get any kind of warm and fuzzy feeling from any politician. I vote fpor leadership, and expect whomever is elected to get on with what they said they would do. If the loyal Opposition does not agree with that course, they have a simple choice. Either dump the govt in a confidence vote, or get out of the way. Dion is now reaping the consequences of taking a third path, which is to whine about what Harper was doing, but failing to act on his stated beliefs in any kind of consistent manner. Goodbye credibility, hello jellyfish.

Harpeer will govern as if he has a clear majority and challenge the Oppopsition to play ball or vote him down. He should make every vote a confidence vote.

Harpeer will govern as if he has a clear majority and challenge the Oppopsition to play ball or vote him down. He should make every vote a confidence vote.

Not really. The NDP only want PR where it would provide direct and immediate benefit in the form of increased seats. They've had endless opportunities to implement it at their leisure in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and have not. of course, it would cost them seats there, so.....it ain't gonna happen.

Speaking as an Albertan, I see Harper as being from Toronto. Why? Because he is from Tornton.

Stop smoking pot and your paruresis will clear up immediately.