geoffrey

He had an asthma condition and says he outgrew it. If his health is not affecting his business to lead the country, its none of our business. The media has already begun trying to paint him as incompetent, I worry this could be another Joe (though he kind of was incompetent).

I really hope they don't try to pass that stuff of as journalism. There is critical review yes, but that is just shooting in the dark. Speculation that Harper held a press conference on the other side of the road to imply to the Canadian people that he's not right wing?? Someone's fighting desperately for a pay cheque.

Uh huh...

It is a likely scenario that this is exactly true. The he had nothing, and was trying to hide the fact. 'Blustering' (telling the inspectors to vamoose) plays well at home, it shows he's 'tough'. By not revealing that he actually had nothing keeps his enemy guessing. If you were at the beach, and stuffed a sock down your trunks to impress the ladies, would you welcome a 'close inspection', or even offer a peek to someone that was curious? Hardly. Good analogy. If someone put a gun to my head and said lets see the goods... thats another story. I think Saddam had some stockpiles left over. It'd be impossible to find if they were even in Iraq. Search Southern Ontario and find 50 specific bottles that could be either in a house, warehouse, anywhere.... No doubt he had WMD's. No doubt this is still not a reason to go to war. Liberating Iraqi's from a dictator is though.

I'm a redneck cowboy.... Alberta's success is completely due to the economic environment here, and the fact that our lack of social weflare crutches scares off those that just want to freeload. Minimum wage is a joke anyways, in an economy like Alberta, you can make a doubt digit wage working cashier in a Superstore. Flat tax is a great idea. If I work harder, the government doesn't take an increasing chunk of my cash. I don't know much about Edmonton, but Calgary has no ghetto areas where I'd fear walking at night. Alberta, Calgary in particular, is a testament to what a long time under conservative rule gets you, widespread prosperity and a hard working devoted population. Sure we have issues in our health system, but not suprisingly that the only thing in Alberta that is struggling is controlled mainly by a few thousand paper pushers in Ottawa.

Yes, but our politics seem to be going this way anyways. The bloc in Quebec and the Conservatives in Alberta. The Liberals in major cities. I read that the three worst run economies in Canadian history occured under majority governments. The Conservatives aren't just in Alberta. They are the only party that won in every Province that counts remember... The Liberals can't win in the major city of Calgary, the economic powerhouse of Canada right now. Anyways, enough of correcting your misinformation... so because our politics are going this way anyways we should kick it further down the path. It's like those that argue for SSM by saying marriage is already dead, lets shoot it once more...

I don't know about telling the poor guy to piss off Monty... Chomsky is a complete idiot though, you shouldn't insult your intelligence by reading him. I have four books by him and they have all made me less intelligent by the page. I kept searching for what makes people believe and like this guy but I simply couldn't find it. This guys a linguist, he plays with words for a living. No suprise he can BS so well. His views are most definitely anti-semetic. His hatred of Americans is appauling. The man is an utter failure and I wish people would stop egging him on by actually supporting him and his work.

Don't worry Wilbur, I still have faith in you. You make too long of posts arif buddy. I can't refute everything you say when its a mile and a half long. Let me explain some of my own non-anti-American beliefs for you. 1) You don't have to be pro-American to be tolerant. I'm not saying you should go run through the streets with the stars and stripes singing God bless America. You don't have to be in favour of everything they do, in fact, you don't have to be in favour of anything they do. You must, however, treat them with respect. 2) Just because it's American doesn't mean its bad. The US has done many good things for the world, even when sometimes it was in their own best interest. Just because something is American, doesn't mean its the end of the world for Canada. We can learn some things from the Americans, as they can learn alot from us. 3) Personally I prefer Canada anyday, I'm not an American nor do I wish to be. 4) You can't blame America for 3rd world poverty in Africa. Remember, at the end of the day, you are responsible for your situation. I completely understand that people born poor are at a natural disadvantage. I do not under any situation though accept that all Africa needs to be poor. Botswana, South Africa, Ghana and Eygpt are all African nations that have come out on top from colonial rule. The Americans have never owned a colony. If you blame colonialism, you must look at the British and French as the true problems in 3rd world poverty. Personally I don't buy this though. If we never got involved in the first place, they'd be just as poor or poorer. It's like they want all of our luxuries but don't want to do anything that got us here... remember, Canada was colony too. The race card can be legitamately played here, but in todays world, if you can produce a product or service at a better rate, your going to make money. Corrupt governments and dictatorial rule has stunted this growth (even though Real GDP grew 4.4% last year on average in Africa, more than Canada). Freedom is an important element in market success. I personally believe if they are going to be set on having these thugs and hooligans running their nations they ought to switch to communism because its the only thing thats going to work in that situation. Liberation and good government are the only way free market is going to succeed in Africa, and it will one day. 5) I don't appreciate these people, such as this little anti-American possie here, being so critical but not offering any solutions. "Don't you wish you could live in a world..." is a statement of convienence, you offer no pragmatic solutions to these problems. People are trying their best. More money so that Mugabe can buy more Rolls-Royces isn't going to fill any starving stomachs. The most success has been seen though NGO's. How are you going to fix world hunger? Reduce consumerism in North America? Sure, go sell your car and house and clothes and shoes tomorrow then talk to me about it, you might be able to convince me then. 6) The American people are some of the largest charitable donors in the west, higher than Canadians in private donations. 7) International Law is a joke. People expect the Americans to play by the rules against enemies that don't. When do we start policing those that break the law, people like Saddam and Osama? I respect your dedication to world equity, which is not something I personally believe in, but its a noble idea none the less. I also respect your moving speech there against the status quo. The status quo isn't acceptable to me either!! I'm not happy that people are dying in Darfur and all Canada does is 'condemn the action.' What a cop out! I don't subscribe to any of these theories that the US wants the world poor. Believe it or not, it isn't in their economic best interest. The US is an exporter of finished goods, and more consumers, means more target markets. Poor people can't consume. Maybe the US doesn't see this (I'm sure someone does if I do), but its the way they have to act. I believe in capitalism, and I believe in the end it will result in the success of Africa. But it takes time. I'll finish with this, a bit of tough love. You can't make people stronger by building a better crutch. We have to create situations where business can thrive in these areas (many of which are resource rich) and let people work out the kinks. Let them go back to their ways of tribal living (in Canada too if they so desire), substanance farming and fishing. But dont' cry when they can't have gameboys and electricity. If they want to modernize, they can only do it through trade with the west and the US in particular. The "white man's burden" has only created problems. Lets stop it completely and let these people build their own lives.

Sparhawk is right.

Kimmy, that couldn't have been better said. As a relatively recent Alberta (I moved from Ontario not so long ago, but long enough to consider myself a Calgarian and not a Torontonian) my family doesn't have long ties here, but in the more traditional settlement grounds of Northern Ontario and Quebec. Nonetheless, I have no question that Albertans are different then the rest of Canadians, and I like this lifestyle much better. But Albertans are not 'Americans' like those from the East think (and I know because I was one of them). Albertans are proud to be Canadians, and proud of our contributions to the country. We just want a little respect. There is no doubt that Canada needs electoral and democratic reform. Albertans want to feel like, to borrow from the Quebec boy himself, "masters of our own house." It's sad when we see people from central Canada make decisions for Albertans. Though we have a strong belief in the value, culturally, socially and economically, in Canada as a nation, provinces do need more autonomy is making choices that are best for their citizens. Kimmy raises the point about Calgary, and people in the Southwest getting new highways (which I resent because we really really need new highways down here Kimmy, our traffic sucks!) and people in the North East, who generally are less fortunate, get upset about sidewalks in disarray. This essientially is true for Albertans and Ontario. The problem is people in the North East don't feel like they are in control of their hard earned money, and this is greatly compounded when you can't even see where your money is being spent without taking a 5 hour plane ride. Kimmy, you've got alot of awesome points in that post you've made, and I applaude you for it. Kimmy for Premier!

I don't think anyone's trying to make a second-tier. In fact, I've only seen this as privately provided, publically paid for care. I don't think anyone is trying to do differently...

If it came from Chomsky I do.

Just need to bust the dealers. No pot, no pot smokers. Or very little pot and the price gets impossibly high.

I agree 100%. That is why we need a system that ensures that people are not emotionally blackmailed into killing themselves by ungrateful children. This can be done by providing counciling and getting the opinion of a least two doctors and probably by requiring the person involved to make a personal appeal before a judge. What I don't agree with is an outright ban on assisted suicide. I don't know, why can't they do it themself? If someone can't pull their own trigger, I really have a reasonable doubt to believe they don't know what they are doing. We are in agreement over our concerns with exploiting this.

No, law enforcement has been so underfunded that they don't have the resources to combat the problem, which actually wouldn't be that hard to deal with if they could have a dedicated unit in each major city.

Not me, this was Leafless that raised the concerns. I was saying his concerns were reasonable. My polling place was completely accurate of the make-up of my community.

2 I believe...the Liberal leadership campaign was in 1990, Martin got elected in 1988. I was a delegate!!! I thought you were a Conservative... Read a good bit on Kevin Taft today challenging Harper to attack Klein. Let's see where that goes because it is going to be interesting to see if Harper follows up on his provincial rights pledge. If Harper attacks him he is going to the Supreme Court no doubt. Kevin Taft has absolutely no political power in Alberta, so I would say its even less in Canada overall. We see him on the 5:00 about once a year complaining that because our hospitals have no bed, its evidence that more money will fix all society's problems. Other than that, you don't see anything of him. Harper won't attack Klein on it. In fact, I'm looking forward to not waiting hours to go to emerg or years to see specialists. Or more places like that beautiful diagnostic centre thats got cookies for me to eat while waiting...

One of the reasons I save money is to ensure my kids have opportunities in life. Spending my savings to keep me alive a few months longer is like flushing it down the toilet. I see no nobility in clinging to life for the sake of life. If faced with a certain, prolonged and painful death I feel I have a right to put my affairs in order and end my life on my terms. The gov't has no right to interfer. Ok, I see your point, very fair. Though I wouldn't agree to have you get one of your kids to kill you, if you don't have the physical capacity to kill yourself, then do you really have the judgement capacity to ask for it? How can we be sure? I'm not implying anything personal with my next point, so please don't take it that way. There are probably more than a handful of kids out there that'd love to kill off their sick parents and say it was assisted suicide, just in order to get at the will. This raises real concerns over how and where do we draw the line?

Or just get the 14 year old hookers off the street... legalising problems doesn't end the problem.

No no no, I encourage you and your husband to both go and vote and volunteer there and everything. My concern isn't having people of non-majority descent around, they need to be there to make other people in the community feel secure too!! I just feel in democratic processes, those that work at these places ought to make up a cross-section of the community. Argus obviously feels there was a higher rate of ethinic minorities there than exist in his community. This would concern me as well as I'd like to know a) why elections Canada didn't do due diligence in hiring a cross-section of his community, and if there was indeed any of this riding assocation crowding (which does happen I'm sorry to say). I have nothing at all against ethnic minorities or immigrants working at polling stations, as long as its a reasonably accurate portrail of our communities. That way everyone will feel comfortable. How do you suppose they should do that? Shotgun? How ridiculous. I made a completely fair comment and you turn it into that. I meant by exclusion and public condemnation of their activities. These ethnic minorities often have associations and the such. For example, if a unusually high number of minority X is involved in a certain type of crime, I think the X community association or whatever represents that group should come out and say look this is wrong, lets fix this problem, these people aren't what we stand for. They do this sometimes, but not enough. I don't look at every asian as a gang member, but many people do here, because the community here hasn't really stepped up and said look these people aren't what we represent. Tougher immigration controls would help too, people with criminal backgrounds should be discluded from being part of Canada. With less criminals in these segments of the population, these ethnic communities would have more "majority" community support and be looked upon much more favourably. Immigrants and ethnic minorities are easy targets, sadly. This can be prevented though by tougher laws and immigration practices so that these communities are instead an example for the majority segement of the population to look up to.

I watch CBC news all the time and I'm definitely no Liberal. I like learning about things that you don't see on other channels, like how crazy and oppressive those freaks are at Bountiful (just watching now). I'm ok with the CBC for now... but I am not ok with government paying for media. Privatize the CBC and I'll be a happy camper.

You have no concept of how the obligations to care for a loved can destroy another person's life - emotionally and financially. If you are terminally ill and require extraordinary care then it is extremely selfish to cling to life for the sake of living. Obviously, this is a complex issue and sanctioning assisted suicide will encourage some people to choose that option even though they do have a chance of recovery. However, I have no patience for the 'all life is sacred' arguement - I feel every person has a right to choose when and how they will die and the state should support people who want to make that choice. If your considering financial concerns to the point of making a whether or not to live judgement, then there is seriously something much more deeply wrong than I originally thought on this topic.

Killing someone can never be legal because your always acting in their ultimate worst interest. I figure if they want to suicide it, we can't make this illegal (not much can be done when they are dead). But for anyone to help is most definitely murder. This lady thought about it, and then killed her son (yes, she put the bag over his head and tied it up). Didn't go seek help, didn't go seek legal advice, nothing. Just killed him. How do we really know he wanted to die, I'm sure he was on tons of meds for the pain and stuff.

Nah I still believe everyone has equal rights, no argument there. I like the 'dovetails nicely.' Very eligant. I think its fair to say that if there is hypocracy on one side, its on the other too. My argument against PR isn't about equal value votes. I definitely mark that in the 'pros', it's just the long list of cons that follow that troubles me. I don't like the lack of accountabilitiy, and the ability for such radical groups to gain support. PR elected Hitler, and no, I'm not making a PR people=Nazi reference. PR just has the ability for people to twist ideals and form coalitions that work in no one's benifet. It's a dangerous system, if its more equal yay, but I don't like the other trouble it has the potential to cause. PR lacks accountability. If our government had reasonable checks and balances, then ok, but it doesn't, so no... I've thought about the feasability of a PR Senate, but again, I don't know if that accomplishes anything. If it was EEE then it would fall to a very close representation anyways. Or perhaps PR within a Province. For example, Alberta gets 5 Senators under a new EEE Senate reform. So we have a vote for who these 5 will be and the results come up like: Conservatives 60%, Liberals 20%, NDP 20%. So then we'd put 3 Conservatives, 1 Liberal and 1 NDP in those seats. This could be reasonable, though I'll have to give it more thought and see how things break down. Well there must be some sense out there, Ontario has elected Conservatives before. And Quebec did like Mulroney once upon a time... I'll give ya guys credit for that.

What's questionable about it? Territorial waters extend 22kms from the shoreline from each island that is under the Canadian flag. When those islands are less than 44kms apart, all the water between them is Canadian territory, as Argus said. Thats true, but only if we assert soverignty over it. If you don't protect it, its not yours. So lets get some boats up there and start sinking things that float on by. Or just big cannons like on that WWII movie, you know, where the commandos go and blow up the big cannons in Spain or something? Someone help me out here, I want to go rent this now and I don't remember what its called? Either way, ships, cannons, whatever. Defend our water and people will respect it in a hurry. We need to start sinking those Portuguese fisherman that wander on over too. Sink one and they'll all stop in a hurry.