Scotty

What makes you think most Quebecers care about Canada as opposed to only caring about Quebec?

If you don't now that you really have no business participating on this conversation. In fact, your participation in discussions of federal politics is pretty questionable.

The systems are close, the cultures are not so close. I think that if the Liberals had mentioned a coalition prior to the last election it would not have gone over as poorly. But the sudden emergence of one weeks after the election, with a very unpopular, weak, and totally rejected Stephan Dion at the helm seems to have had an overwhelmingly negative cultural impact on Canadians' thinking about coalitions. And quite aside from that, Canadians outside Quebec can't stomach the thought of the BQ as a formal part of any government. Another thought. Exempting French Quebec, the Tories got a massive majority in the last election. As such, I think it's fair to assume that a substantial number of people outside French Quebec feel the Tories are their legitimate representatives. Having the separatist Bloc Quebecois, who openly say they care nothing for Canada, but only for Quebec, change that will infuriate many.

I don't have the necessary knowledge to dispute what you write above. All I do know, and that from doing some brief research, is that there are a lot of water filtration plants on native reserves, and that they're operated, very poorly and irresponsibly, by local government, local government which is very highly paid. And how much money are your chief and councilors making? Look, I don't mean to seem unsympathetic. I'm not. It's just that you came into this site with a lot of stupid insulting stuff, and like others I didn't take you very seriously because of that. The problem of natives and reserves is an ongoing tragedy. Unfortunately, there are a collection of interests involved here that are quite happy to see it remain as it is. And among those interests are many of the national native chiefs and their councils who appear to be profiting quite handsomely off the current situation. From what I can see, many native reserves are simply not economically viable. That's not a racial thing. You take a thousand white people and plunk them down in the bush and what the hell are they going to do there? I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that just giving money to natives does not seem to be a solution, and even if it was, I don't think Canadian taxpayers are prepared to fork out the kind of money all the natives have demanded, which probably goes up to something like a trillion dollars. The best thing for natives to do is join the twenty first century and come and live in the cities.

How about those high paid native Councillors and chiefs pay a little attention to their freaking jobs, hire people who aren't idiots, and get them trained? Is that too much to ask of natives? Why? It's not their jobs! It's the job of municipalities. Do you think the federal government has any real input into how the water treatment plants in say Ottawa is operated, or who works there, or how they're trained?

Unless Jack Layton becomes PM the fighters will be bought. The Liberal party entered into an agreement to start funding them years ago, and their only real objection to them now is that the Tories didn't spend a couple of more years in red tape, studies and bidding before agreeing to buy them.

You forgot Canada wasn't in the U.K. too.

As much as you keep playing it it's not working.

Considering they have double the Liberals' seat count and are up fifteen points or more in the polls I think that's whistling past the graveyard.

Oh we could get it faster than that. All we'd have to do is have the federal government take over all those water treatment plants and put non-natives in to run them.

That's one take on it. Another is it wouldn't have happened if the idiot Mayor of Walkerton had done his job instead of hiring his idiot brother in law to run their water treatment plant.

The government build a dyke to keep them from being flooded again. And natives operate the water treatment plants on all reserves. They just don't, for the most part, operate them very well. Then I would suppose the answer would be for natives to address the corruption of their local leadership.

That's not corruption. Corruption as in Jean Chretien stealing a quarter million dollars from a Canadian government bank to give to an ex-con business partner. That's corruption.

Jean Chretien ordered the president of the government run Business Development Bank to uhm 'loan' a quarter million bucks to an ex-con business partner of Chretien's, then when the president tried to call in the loan for non-payment, he fired the guy. And when the guy complained, Chretien tried to have him railroaded into prison. Now suppose you tell me what Harper's done that comes ANYWHERE NEAR that, Jack.

Although Canadian taxpayers foot almost the entire bill, natives own and operate their own water facilities. The Office of the Auditor General of Canada explained the areas of native responsibility just this September in its Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the House of Commons. "First Nations are responsible for the construction, upgrade and day-to-day management of water systems." The federal government funds all design and construction costs, and 80% of the operating costs, a mere 20% expected to come from user fees. The federal government entirely funds the sampling and testing of water. Yet although the safety of their water system is predominantly within native control, native leaders hire incompetents to run their plants – the Auditor General's report found most lack the needed knowledge and skill, and only 10% of operators met provincial certification requirements. Although federal guidelines call for testing that averages at least once a week, the report found that "regular tests of drinking water are not carried out in most First Nations. . . . In some cases, First Nations failed to carry out water tests for periods as long as seven months." You'd think with band Councillors and chiefs making more money than premiers or the prime minister they'd at least look after little things like water.

As I recall, it was the municipality of Walkerton who hired them, because they were friends and relatives of the mayor, I believe.

Texas is the northernmost state of Mexico, right? Well, soon maybe.

I mean drunk like those two morons at Walkerton.

Water problems Natives fault

They've never had one so I don't think they put that much importance on it.

Uhm..... okay.

I seem to recall the Canadian government provided good water filtration plants and then drunken indians and corrupt indian chiefs didn't maintain them properly.

I understand perfectly. Its about making the best of poor choices. And Harper seems like a far better choice than Ignatieff, with or without his coalition. Ignatieff reminds me more and more of Pierre Trudeau, only without the charisma and moxie.

Yawn

Maybe because he didn't propose a formal coalition, with cabinet seats exchanged and all. And maybe because the times were different. And maybe because people aren't worried about Harper having the BQ in his cabinet or at his right hand now. They ARE worried about the idea of a weak liberal leader being the sock puppet of Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton.