overthere

Harper is lining up plan B in the event Keystone is not approved by Obama. He has said recently that if Obama does not approve it, the next President will because it makes economic sense. I seem to recall that NAFTA has language that allowed USA preferential treatment for access to Canadian energy in return for Canadian access to US markets. I wonder what happened to that? Ambassador Gary Doer has also said recently that if the pipeline isn't built, the same oil will go to the same places in the US via rail.

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson just keep raising the ante on quality acting with every episode of True Detective, And now they have gone from procedure and philosophy to hardcore action. Awesome show. Speaking of Intelligence, does anybody remember the CBC crime drama that ran several years ago? I really liked that show, which ended abruptly after 2 seasons and left the plot hanging.

They aren't "Lebanese-Canadians' under our laws, they are simply Canadian citizens who have EXACTLY the same rights and responsibilities as do natural born Canadians. You can ask what you want, but the reality is that is the law we chose and you, I and everybody else exist under the same rules. Why would they apply for citizenship? Obviously because it confers rights and privileges that benefit the holder. I don't see why that is confusing. I can't think of anybody who doesn't take what our system has to offer, and it is not much in real terms unless you are a LEGAL RESIDENT of Canada. being a resident is far more beneficial than being a citizen in terms of what is available. If you don';t like it, support change. But to criticize anybody for simply obeying our laws- as a good citizen would do- is ridiculous. Personally, I think a lot of the endless sniping about the people rescued from Lebanon relates to their brown skin. London, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong and many other places are full of Canadian expats who choose to live elsewhere. My brother is one of them,. So what? He does not pay taxes to Canada, but on the other hand he doesn't get anything much either. he doesn't get OAS, cannot get any form of Canadian health care, and pays fat fees for the one link he has- renewing his passport. If he goes to see a doctor or hospital while visiting, he pays cash for service.

I sent a complaint to Air Canada via email recently, and the autoreply was pretty funny. It went along the lines of "your issue is very important to us. Our service standards mandate that we respond to you in (something like) 3-4 weeks for service complaints, 4-5 weeks for some other category, and 5-6 weeks for lost baggage complaints." Hilarious. In fact, it took them only a couple of days to send a long email with my name on it, which was very well written and said nothing. I (and I suspect many others) were pissed with AC for cancelling a nonstop flight to London , apparently because they were going to have competition from a new airline at the airport. Bad, bad move by AC, they pissed off a lot of (former) customers. Well, OK, I was already pissed but I took that flight about once a year

I don't understand complaints about food on airlines. You're spending a limited time inside a large plastic tube, and the objective of that time is to get from A to B quickly. If you're intrerested in having something yummy to eat in that brief time, either bring your own or go to a fine restaurant instead of flying. Some airlines serve more palatable crap than others, but in the end it is all TV dinners.

I have no expectations of any airline other than these two minimum criteria: 1. cheap 2. get me there alive. Since AC only meets one of those, I don't use them unless I absolutely must. Note the new Air Canada motto: we're not happy until you're not happy! I like WestJet, at our airport their checkin is quick and polite. I fly north often enough, and my favorite is Air North. Great, casual, friendly service.

"Gilbert plays top minutes in FLA with Campbell, so you're just wrong there." Are you providing this as another example of a horrible Oilers trade? The only reason Gilbert plays minutes like that is that he's on a terrible team. He'd be #5 or #6 on an average defence corps. Maybe. "But because he's Russian, people assume he's in it for the money, he'll bolt for home etc. BTW if the Oilers din't want to give Yak the same contract Hall and RNH got, they shouldn't have created that expectation by handing out identical contracts based on potential." Yakupovs outlook is nothing like Hall, Eberle or RNH. They all know how to work, he has no clue because he's never had to do it and won't do it. He has shown zero inclination to do what all three of the other guys do. Add Gagner to that trio too. I agree that the Oilers built expectations, but they know now they just cannot pay somebody so one dimensional big bucks on a long term deal- and they won't. THat leaves them with very few options, one really- trade him. But other teams know the score too, and they won't give up much at all for him with no contract and huge, unfounded expectations. The KHL will give him all of it: money, term, stature and no backchecking. I really don't see a way out for the Oilers unless Yakupov wakes the f**k up, and starts to work on his one way game. The ebst palyers have physical skills, but what the great players have is unrelenting determination to win. Yakupov just doesn';t have that. If he isn't the center of attention, he pouts. "Now I'm not gonna argue Tambo ran things into the ground, but I don't know what you expect from a rebuild." Yeah, sick of that rebuild baloney too. The Oilers have been medicocre since 1991, and way worse than that for 10+ years. Lowe went over ten years without a #1 center on the team, since Doug Weight left FFS. Remember the glory days of Tood Marchant, Toby Petersen, Sean Horcoff. LOwe has been a disaster, and his legacy lives on with a nearly bare cupboard today. The Oilers had one great playoff run based on several guys playing way over their career norms for a few weeks. Other than that, its been rebuild rebuild rebuild for a cpuple of decades. Enough. et some people in who can evaluate pro and amateur talent, and build a team instead of decades of excuses. The metrics for success are simple: wins. Now. Or get out of the way. Nothing else will do.

"Does it make sense for the Taliban to eradicate it when in power, and yet use it as a source of funding to push back the 'infidels'. " Yes. They had other sources of income 10 and 15 years ago, sources that are not nearly so forthcoming now. It's a major source of ready cash inside a really poor place. Are you so naive to think that everybody with a gun isn't getting some of that, including the Taliban?

ah that was not clear, I was quoting "One of the new measures would require those seeking citizenship to sign a declaration confirming that they will reside in Canada. " I'm still not sure what that means. You apply for citizenship after after several years of permitted residency, not when you first arrive.

"People said the exact same thing about Tom Gilbert and he's doing great in FLA. Oilers fans overrate prospects and underrate NHL players. That's a fact." Tom Gilbert was traded(for Nick Shultz) because they thought Petry could take over the offensive potential Gilbert never quite provided, while not being a defensive liability. The Oilers were wrong about Petry on both counts, despite a promising start. Gilbert is perhaps the #5 defenseman on another very bad team. He'll drop further when a couple of their young guys mature. "But we were talking about prospects." Yes, I mentiuoned several of them. Except for some prospects (not NHL calibre players, prsopects) the Oiler cupboard is bare except for a couple of D Men. That in itself is an indictment of just how badly Lowe has done. Except for a few young forwards, we have more or less nothing. It seems incredible given how long we have had really high draft picks. "I seriously doubt that. the Oilers might be dumb enough to trade him, but there's no way Yak goes back to the KHL." it's dead easy to imagine the scenario given what has happened. Yakupov does not like playing like he is required to do in the NHL. He doesn't like to backcheck and rarely will despite two years of having that message hammered home. When he played so very poorly, he was benched. His reaction: get his agent to come and read the riot act to Oilers management. Their reaction: more ice time. Why? Because they have to. No doubnt at all that Yakupov sees himself as a very important player right now, and that the Oilers are not appreciative. So next year when its time to negotaiate a new contract with Nail, I can tell you what he'll want: the same deal that RNH, Eberle and Hall have- 6 or 7 years at $6 or $7 million per year. He won't get it from Edmonton, and Larionov knows he won't get it anywhere else in the NHL. Hello KHL, where they'll gladly pay that for a native son drafted first overall.

I've had the positive hammered out of me by reality. Kevin Lowe has set this team back in a serious way, they really have no depth anywhere. We (fans)almost always overrate our talent and prospects. For example, I agree Maricin is an upgrade on the likes of Potter and Larsen, but would he play at all on any other NHL team. Answer: no, of course not. And keep in mind that all these guys: Gernat, Nurse, Klefbom, are all maybes. The Oilers need proven NHL players, not more draft picks and prospects. And we'll have to agree to disagree about Petry. No doubt he has skill, but he has had a horrible year, his profound defensive weaknesses get exposed nearly every night. Above all, he is just entirely too soft. I can't see the Oilers being competetitive enough to even make the playoffs for a few years, and unless MacTavish pulls numerous miracles out of his ass a contending team is very far away. Oh, and you heard it here: Yakupovs next contract will be in the KHL.

Um that is 7 appearances while the Leafs have.... zero in a longer time. How is the defence going in the right direction? Maybe you have more lifetimes than me? Justin Schultz is being destroyed by the Oilers because he plays too many and the wrong kind of minutes. He should be rushing the puck with a rock solid defensive guy as his partner. Instead, he spends his days getting smashed into the boards for 25 minutes a night. He'll be gone at the first opportunity. Nick Schultz is at best a journeyman , He is UFA this year and the Oilers wont sign him. Corey Potter is demonstrating he is a career AHL player. Ference has been a stud, but is too small to make much difference. Also pretty old already. Mark Fraser, Leaf leftovers. Mark Marincin, promising kid but seriously underweight. Anton Belov: terrible disappointment. Absolutely incomprehensible that he made the Russian Olympic team. Wow! A big man who plays small in every way Jeff Petry: at one time looked like he'd be great, but he is so physically useless that teams love to beat on him because he does nothing in return. Once in a while shows some offensive flair, but.... not good enough by far. Philip Larsen: joke It's easily the worst defence squad in the league, and not really anything great on the horizon in the AHL. Fedun might become a 5/6 guy, Klefbom is not yet showing much of anything at the AHL level, Darrel Nurse looks good but is years away.... Overall- a horror show.

"•Applicants 14-65 must pass the language and knowledge test, which will be administered in English or French. Currently only applicants 18-54 must do so, and they may take the knowledge test with an interpreter. " this will result in a might hue and cry of RACISM!!! The people most affected will be the parents abd relatives on family reunification programs. They'll need to speak an official lanaguage now to get a Canuckistan passport. I agree with cybercoma that the requirement to reside in Canada is not right, there are no degrees of equality and every citizen should have equal rights.

I have no quibble with signing Scrivens if he plays OK for the rest of the season, its not like they have many options. But not as a #1 goalie, it would be utter folly. I agree that getting two top 4 D would realy help, but I was talking about what their #1 priority must be in the off season or earlier: getting a decent goalie. Without one, you cannot make the playoffs much less contend. If they could get it all, great but that won't happen. They do have a couple of promising defencemen in the system buth both are a couple years away(Klefbom and Nurse). They don't have any goalies except maybe Brossoit who is likely years from playing as a starter, if ever. You need a bit of everything to win..... Weber/Nashville is an example. Nashville had Weber and Suter, 2 of the top 5 in the league. Rinne in goal, one of the best in the league too. And every year they struggled hard to get to the playoffs, and never did anything when they got there. No offence at all.

not just approval. Lots of money, lots of staff. A communications staff to explain how and why it all went wrong.

Yep. Canada has weathered the recession in a lot better shape than many other countries. You can blame Harper for some of that if you like. I know that galls you horribly, but you'll just have to get over it. We can all look forward to the expert management of our economy by that renowned economic jeanius Justin Trudeau. Happy days ahead.

Harper should appoint him to the Senate

Any predictions on the timing of the Leafs collapse? They'll have to work hard to exceed the epic fail of last year

Clearly, you hate Canada and Canadian working people. Mercury is an Amerikkkan company that builds its small outboards in Japan and China , assembled by cadres of slogan chanting foreigners. Johnson outboard brand was acquired by Evinrude, a subsidiary of the the Mighty Bombardier Corp of Canuckistan.

Oh I see. You want the jobs to be strictly government employees. You aren't the ghost of Pierre Trudeau by any chance? Wage and price controls next? It's not potential. The resource industry in Canada has produced and continues to produce hundreds of thousands of jobs.

A single defenceman cannot have the impact of a good or even average goalie. Everybody is creaming over Scrivens because he won a game for the Oilers. Its exciting because it has been so long since that happened......It happens a few times per year for many teams. Chicago wins because they have both good defencemen and GREAT team defensive play. And Crawford is at least average. If the Oilers are going to be in any way competitive anytime in the next few years, they need a goalie that is average or better to have any chance. It might be Scrivens, but this franchise cannot afford that risk again. Unfortuntely, the stupidity of gambling on that position lingers. Lowe bet the farm on Roloson at the trade deadline in 2006. He was an old second string goalie who played blah for ther Oilers in the regular season, then caught fire in the playoiffs they barely made and carried the team to the final. The team still believes they can do that. They tried again, later with Khabibulin Their draft record for goalies is terrible, and they will be making a dreadful but predictable mistake if they try it again with Scrivens. Really, the team has so many massive gaping holes. It's incomprehensible how Lowe and cronies are still employed.

just to point out the obvious, which you have missed: natural resources are not owned or really controlled by the federal govt. in Canada. They belong to each province, according to a trifling document called the Constitution. Once the province sells the rights to extract the resources, the many billions of dollars required in capital investment come from those corporations. Hope that helps. another cleanup for your admittedly tiny fact vault: oilsands projects take many years to plan and develop, several in northern Alberta took decades. Most of the oil product being produced today had nothing to do with Harper, the projects were planned and approved before his time. Hope that helps

This is where you provide international metrics that demonstrate that Canada has a failed or failing economy. You could even compare our desperate situation with countries of roughly similar GDP/PPP like UK, France, Italy, Spain Mexico. I can wait.

Unfortunately that statement fails to address a couple of items. The creation of the huge and welathy middle class in industrialized countries is one. Far longer abd healthier human life spans is another benefit it ignores.

Looks OK to me..... "These rooms are actually better than the ones given to athletes during the summer Olympics in London in 2012. " http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/athlete-rooms-in-sochi-s-olympic-village-feature-the-bare-essentials-191708554.html