Vote for ME!

[Argus]

I'm making this up on the fly so I'm sure I'll forget a few things. In no particular priority, here is my political platform.

1) An end to party discipline except on money bills.

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

3) Establish a non-partisan board made up of religious, union, business, academic, legal, military, and "ordinary" Canadians to make recommendations for senior boards and judicial appointees. An end to using these positions for patronage.

4) Rip up the miltiary and redesign it. It has too much bureacracy (there are more HR staff than infantry soldiers), and too many senior ranks compared to enlisteds. Toss out the careerist bureacrats in uniform who currently lead the military, promote due to leadership, either eliminate the bilingual requirement or make language training much more accessible. Increase the number of active infantry regiments to 5. Buy new equipment, esp APCs and transports.

5) Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make. Give her access to all the books in all government funded agencies. Increase her budget and powers.

6)Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving. Curtail the back door entry as "refugees" without proof of persecution. Make it easier to expell immigrants who violate the law, esp with violent offenses. Slash immigration. Choose immigrants from countries which are, through a careful apolitical, social and economic study, more likely to adapt well to Canada and to contribue to it economically and socially.

7) Strengthen laws against violent offenses and allow juries to make recommendations on sentencing. Require judges to follow that sentencing unless they can justify not doing so.

8) Curtail spending on non-essential programs. Eliminate the Heritage ministry. Eliminate all grants and sponsorships of cultural events, be they fairs, sporting events, historical or cultural celebrations except for Canada Day. Close down all the various "economic diversificaton" agencies, which are little more than billion dollar patronage troughs to grant millions to this or that pet project within cabinet ministers' ridings. Close down those multi billion dollar trusts Martin established. Eliminate all advertising except under stringent guidelines to famliarize Canadians with government programs.

9) Back off on bilingualism. Stop funding minority language expansion and support in or out of Quebec. Provide services to the public where warranted but eliminate the requirement for internal bilingualism in the public service. The present policy is leading to a civil service vastly disproportionately run by Quebecers.

10) Rewrite the Canada Health Act. Look at how Europe does it and do the same as them. Yes, that means some private health care. It also means a much better system. Europeans don't pay more than us but they also don't wait 8 hours to have a broken arm set either. And their public funded systems tend to WORK.

11) Remove employer payroll taxes, esp CPP, UIC and Health care and increase general business tax to make up for it. Payroll taxes are a tax on hiring, discouraging employers from doing so. Realigning the tax system means businesses will be taxed on their profits, not on how many employees they have.

12)The savings from (8) should not only pay for increased funding for the military, and to smooth out any problems with redoing the payroll tax scheme, but also pay for a large tax cut.

13) Close embassies and high commisions in non democratic nations unless we have very strong economic reason to maintain them. Don't even officially recognize these illegal governments. Stop all foreign aid to non democratic regimes or nations which spend tons of money on their military (ie India) and concentrate on helping those governments which actually are trying to help their people.

14) Eliminate provincial laws on interprovincial trading. Free trade within Canada would be more helpful to our economy than free trade with the Americans.

15) Ban censorship, including hate speech, limits on political advertising, and pornography (except where children are involved).

16) Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

15) Vastly improve education/training for the unemployed, require those who are unemployed for too long, or too often to take training in order to qualify for pogey.

[Michael Hardner]

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

So that PEI has the same power to block legislation that Ontario has ?

Not a good idea.

I'd say abolish the senate. It's been operating largely as a lame duck for a long time anyway, so it's not needed.

[Argus]

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

So that PEI has the same power to block legislation that Ontario has ?

Not a good idea.

Well, Rhode Island has the same power as California. And I hear a lot less regional bitching in the US. I'm not saying the Senate should be able to block legislation. It can't now. But it can slow it up a lot, which means that their wishes need to be taken into consideration. In a country like Canada, where the population of the centre so outnumbers the regions, there needs to be something to balance that out.

[Michael Hardner]

Well, Rhode Island has the same power as California. And I hear a lot less regional bitching in the US. I'm not saying the Senate should be able to block legislation. It can't now. But it can slow it up a lot, which means that their wishes need to be taken into consideration. In a country like Canada, where the population of the centre so outnumbers the regions, there needs to be something to balance that out.

Uh... it's been many years since I took civics but doesn't the Canadian Senate have the power to send bills back to the House of Commons ?

I understand the question of balancing power, but equal representation by province is not the way to go. If we're going to go that way, maybe regional representation is the way to go, ie. a certain number of seats for the west, the centre and the east.

I still say that the upper house should be abolished though. If Harper wins a minority government, the Senate will give him grief if he tries to do anything substantial.

[Slavik44]

I'd say abolish the senate. It's been operating largely as a lame duck for a long time anyway, so it's not needed.

I would actually agree with you on this one, the question is would you have to get that bill to pass throguh senate?

[Michael Hardner]

I would actually agree with you on this one, the question is would you have to get that bill to pass throguh senate?

Yes, you would. You would probably have to "grandfather clause" the whole lot of sitting Senators so that they get paid anyway. You would immediately save the overhead, and eventually the whole cost.

[Argus]

Uh... it's been many years since I took civics but doesn't the Canadian Senate have the power to send bills back to the House of Commons ?

]

It does indeed. I believe it can send them back twice. If the House refuses to make the requested alterations then the bill must be approved the third time.

I understand the question of balancing power, but equal representation by province is not the way to go.  If we're going to go that way, maybe regional representation is the way to go, ie. a certain number of seats for the west, the centre and the east.

It wouldn't be equal representation in total. Remember that Ontario will still have 106 seats in the House to PEIs 4. And the House will remain the primary source of power. However, the delays involved in ignoring the wishes of the regions would, in most cases, persuade the government to be a little more expansive in taking their concerns into account.

[August1991]

What an absolutely hilarious list. I'll pick some of the more absurd:

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

Do you know what the BNA Act is? Do you know how many senators come from Quebec? Do you know why?

5) Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make.

Geez, I wonder where you got this idea. (So original!) (Have you ever thought that accountability does not start and end with the A-G? And who appointed the current A-G anyway?)

6)Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving.

Really popular measure in Quebec, that one. In fact, it'll be really popular with many Canadians of European origin.

8) Curtail spending on non-essential programs.

How do you define "non-essential"?

11) Remove employer payroll taxes, esp CPP, UIC and Health care and increase general business tax to make up for it.

"General business tax"? Huh? Are you so sure the tax incidence would be shifted? (Argus, do you know what tax incidence is?)

16) Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

OF COURSE! Argus, you must a student in a post secondary institution!

[Argus]

What an absolutely hilarious list.  I'll pick some of the more absurd:

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

Do you know what the BNA Act is? Do you know how many senators come from Quebec? Do you know why?

Are you under the impression that the BNA act can't be changed? Do you somehow think that institutions like the Senate are set in stone forevermore? If that were the case we'd still have direct rule from mother England. I think some accomodation with the regions would help make a more united Canada. I understand that there are people who don't care what the regions think or want or feel. I just don't happen to be one of them.

5) Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make.

Geez, I wonder where you got this idea. (So original!) (Have you ever thought that accountability does not start and end with the A-G? And who appointed the current A-G anyway?)

I think the more accountability the better. I dislike corruption. I think the AG's office is one which helps combat that. Do you have a problem with combating corruption? Do you think because there might be other means of accountability we should not strengthen one which evidently works somewhat well? Do you know that Paul Martin stashed billions and billions of dollars in those "trust foundations" of his, and then exempted them from both the Access to Information act and the Auditor General's oversight? Do you not wonder how much money is going out the back door from those places, and into the pockets of Paul Martin's friends?

6)Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving.

Really popular measure in Quebec, that one. In fact, it'll be really popular with many Canadians of European origin.

I think you must have noticed as you deleted it, where I pointed out that Quebec requires immigrants to that province be able to speak French. As for "Canadians of European origin" whatever that is, I highly doubt they'd be bothered. Polls at the time when it was last proposed showed a massive majority of Canadians of all walks of life, including immigrants, supported this.

8) Curtail spending on non-essential programs.

How do you define "non-essential"?

I gave some examples you chose not to address.

11) Remove employer payroll taxes, esp CPP, UIC and Health care and increase general business tax to make up for it.

"General business tax"? Huh? Are you so sure the tax incidence would be shifted? (Argus, do you know what tax incidence is?)

I know that payroll taxes are a deterent to hiring. Are you going to dispute this?

16) Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

OF COURSE! Argus, you must a student in a post secondary institution!

No, just someone who believes that a more educated people can be a more succesful people. Do you have something against education?

You know, I can't help noticing as I go through this, that you chose not to offer up anything of substance regarding your apparent dislike of these suggestions, just somewhat lame and insulting mockery. Is that the best you are capable of? Because I'm really not impressed and I doubt anyone else is either.

[d4dev]

Argus, I agree with some of your views, but I disagree with most of them. For example,

An elected senate with ten Senators from each province.

I think that the current system based on the population of each province is correct and shouldn't be changed. Why should it? Do you have a good reason?

Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make.

I would say that the position of the AG should be eliminated altogether. Instead of that, a department of Auditing and Comptrolling should be set up, which should have more power than just making recommendations.

Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving.

Immigrants are required to speak English before arriving. (Although that obviously is not the only criteria on which immigration is based, it is one of the required criteria.)

Remove employer payroll taxes, esp CPP, UIC and Health care and increase general business tax to make up for it.

Agreed 100%.

Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

Good suggestion, but not possible in practice.

[Argus]

Argus, I agree with some of your views, but I disagree with most of them. For example,

An elected senate with ten Senators from each province.

I think that the current system based on the population of each province is correct and shouldn't be changed. Why should it? Do you have a good reason?

Admittedly as a resident of Ontario the current system favours me. But I've done some travelling in this country, and seen some of the resentment directed towards Ontario and Quebec from the regions. They think nobody gives a crap what they think or want, and that they have no real say in things because their MPs are swamped by those of central Canada. That's not a healthy attitude. I just think that an elected senate could even things up a bit, give them more of a voice. Hell, if we're going to have a Senate it could at least be good for something! It sure isn't now.

Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make.

I would say that the position of the AG should be eliminated altogether. Instead of that, a department of Auditing and Comptrolling should be set up, which should have more power than just making recommendations.

Same thing by another name. The AG is, you know, a department with a number of auditors working for her. Changin the name doesn't make any difference. But her department is limited in the number of reports they can issue in a given year, and they are unable to look at certain departments. I'd like that changed.

Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving.

Immigrants are required to speak English before arriving. (Although that obviously is not the only criteria on which immigration is based, it is one of the required criteria.)

I'm sorry, but I believe you're mistaken.

Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

Good suggestion, but not possible in practice.

Why can they do it elsewhere? Ie, in Finland? In other European countries as well. I think the "economic diversification" agencies consume billions every year, most of which goes to waste or corporate welfare. Divert a smidgen of that into education, and into better universities while we're at it.

[d4dev]

Admittedly as a resident of Ontario the current system favours me. But I've done some travelling in this country, and seen some of the resentment directed towards Ontario and Quebec from the regions. They think nobody gives a crap what they think or want, and that they have no real say in things because their MPs are swamped by those of central Canada. That's not a healthy attitude. I just think that an elected senate could even things up a bit, give them more of a voice. Hell, if we're going to have a Senate it could at least be good for something! It sure isn't now.

And do you think that most Ontarians will not be offended if they have the same weight in the senate as PEI? I for one, will be. C'mon, I don't agree with your solution.

I'm sorry, but I believe you're mistaken.

All principal applicants are required to speak English. However, in case they decide to sponsor their parents after coming to Canada, their parents are probably exempt from these requirements. I'm not 100% sure, though. You should be able to get that info from Immigration Canada's site.

Why can they do it elsewhere? Ie, in Finland? In other European countries as well. I think the "economic diversification" agencies consume billions every year, most of which goes to waste or corporate welfare. Divert a smidgen of that into education, and into better universities while we're at it.

I don't know if that has indeed been implemented in Finland. However, it would be interesting to find out more about it.

[Stoker]

1) An end to party discipline except on money bills.

I agree.

2) An elected senate with ten Senators from each province

I'd like a elected senate, but I'd keep the current "distribution of seats" as is.........

3) Establish a non-partisan board made up of religious, union, business, academic, legal, military, and "ordinary" Canadians to make recommendations for senior boards and judicial appointees. An end to using these positions for patronage.

I fail to see how you could find non-partisan members from were you suggested.........maybe this could be one of the new jobs for our elected senate?

4) Rip up the miltiary and redesign it. It has too much bureacracy (there are more HR staff than infantry soldiers), and too many senior ranks compared to enlisteds. Toss out the careerist bureacrats in uniform who currently lead the military, promote due to leadership, either eliminate the bilingual requirement or make language training much more accessible. Increase the number of active infantry regiments to 5. Buy new equipment, esp APCs and transports.

One of the few things that I agree with PM PM is that we should figure out what we want our armed forces to do.....then use a scythe to cut through the chaff at the puzzle place.......then use any potentail savings to reinvest in the forces.........only then increase the budget so as to allow the forces to carry out what we ask of them with ease.

5) Expand the role of the Auditor General. Eliminate the limits on the number of reports the AG can make. Give her access to all the books in all government funded agencies. Increase her budget and powers.

Why not.

6)Require immigrants be able to speak English before arriving. Curtail the back door entry as "refugees" without proof of persecution. Make it easier to expell immigrants who violate the law, esp with violent offenses. Slash immigration. Choose immigrants from countries which are, through a careful apolitical, social and economic study, more likely to adapt well to Canada and to contribue to it economically and socially.

I agree here also.

7) Strengthen laws against violent offenses and allow juries to make recommendations on sentencing. Require judges to follow that sentencing unless they can justify not doing so.

I agree, but I'd also bring back the dealth penalty for murder in the first and the murder of a Peace officer.

8) Curtail spending on non-essential programs. Eliminate the Heritage ministry. Eliminate all grants and sponsorships of cultural events, be they fairs, sporting events, historical or cultural celebrations except for Canada Day. Close down all the various "economic diversificaton" agencies, which are little more than billion dollar patronage troughs to grant millions to this or that pet project within cabinet ministers' ridings. Close down those multi billion dollar trusts Martin established. Eliminate all advertising except under stringent guidelines to famliarize Canadians with government programs.

I wouldn't do away with the entire Heritage ministry, but I want independant oversight on the rewarding of grants and the like.......no more movies on how sand fleas screw on my dollar

9) Back off on bilingualism. Stop funding minority language expansion and support in or out of Quebec. Provide services to the public where warranted but eliminate the requirement for internal bilingualism in the public service. The present policy is leading to a civil service vastly disproportionately run by Quebecers.

I've no problem with bilingualism.......just so long as it's teaching a useful language in a given area.......do high school students in BC need to learn French? Perhaps they should be taught Manderian or Cantonese instead of French.

10) Rewrite the Canada Health Act. Look at how Europe does it and do the same as them. Yes, that means some private health care. It also means a much better system. Europeans don't pay more than us but they also don't wait 8 hours to have a broken arm set either. And their public funded systems tend to WORK.

IMHO, I'd just think to carry on with Harper's ideas.

11) Remove employer payroll taxes, esp CPP, UIC and Health care and increase general business tax to make up for it. Payroll taxes are a tax on hiring, discouraging employers from doing so. Realigning the tax system means businesses will be taxed on their profits, not on how many employees they have.

I don't know enough about tax laws etc etc to comment here

12)The savings from (8) should not only pay for increased funding for the military, and to smooth out any problems with redoing the payroll tax scheme, but also pay for a large tax cut.

Who doesn't like tax cuts?

13) Close embassies and high commisions in non democratic nations unless we have very strong economic reason to maintain them. Don't even officially recognize these illegal governments. Stop all foreign aid to non democratic regimes or nations which spend tons of money on their military (ie India) and concentrate on helping those governments which actually are trying to help their people.

I'd go a step further here.....I'd reduced all money spent on foreign aid, then put the savings into our own current social programs to help Canadians........I'd only help countires that show signs of potentail in economic development or that are resource rich.

Let Darwin take care of Africa.

14) Eliminate provincial laws on interprovincial trading. Free trade within Canada would be more helpful to our economy than free trade with the Americans.

I'd like to see increased trade within Canada and growing South American and Asian countries......but not at the expense of our bread and butter

15) Ban censorship, including hate speech, limits on political advertising, and pornography (except where children are involved).

Other then perhaps tougher laws/ increased enforcement on Child porn, I don't really care about this issue.

16) Free tuition for post secondary institutions.

Your kidding right? Perhaps lowered fees for Canadians and increased fees for forgeign students......

15) Vastly improve education/training for the unemployed, require those who are unemployed for too long, or too often to take training in order to qualify for pogey.

I tend to agree with Harper's stance......A hand up, rather then a hand out, is the better way to go.

[Argus]

I'm sorry, but I believe you're mistaken.

All principal applicants are required to speak English. However, in case they decide to sponsor their parents after coming to Canada, their parents are probably exempt from these requirements. I'm not 100% sure, though. You should be able to get that info from Immigration Canada's site.

On September 18, 2003, Canada's Immigration Minister, Dennis Cordere, announced a dramatic reduction in the required points for Independent Skilled Workers, from 75 to 67. Also, anyone who applied to immigrate prior to December 31, 2001 will have the benefit of being assessed under the old or new Immigration regulations.

The Minister had been under pressure from Immigration lawyers and community groups for over a year for unfairly imposing new Regulations on applications in process, and the 75 point pass mark. Lawyers across Canada had filed lawsuits against the government, exposing it to hundreds of millions of dollars of potential damages.

Four Implications of this change:

Easier to Qualify: As a result of the changes, the basic qualifications for an Independent Skilled Worker may be: a) 21-49 years old 10 points

Bachelors degree (or 2 year Trade Cert) 20 points

c) Fluent in English 16 points

d) 4 years Skilled Work experience 21 points

TOTAL 67 points

If you don't meet one of these criteria, and you either have a job offer in Canada, or some other connection to Canada as per the Adaptability rules, you can also pass.

[August1991]

On September 18, 2003, Canada's Immigration Minister, Dennis Cordere, announced a dramatic reduction in the required points for Independent Skilled Workers, from 75 to 67.

He did that because under the previous total, NOBODY qualified. (The bureaucracy had huge backlogs and the purpose was to stop adding to them.)

Now, some people qualify. But are the backlogs any smaller?

[Alliance Fanatic]

I think that a bigger problem is that people who want to form families here at home are having trouble doing. Back in the 50's and 60's the government had a family allowance for all families. This helped bring up the birth rate, perhaps we should all give middle class families a break from some taxes for having children.

I know the lib's give like $150 off for those with five children, but what can $150 help.

[Argus]

On September 18, 2003, Canada's Immigration Minister, Dennis Cordere, announced a dramatic reduction in the required points for Independent Skilled Workers, from 75 to 67.

He did that because under the previous total, NOBODY qualified. (The bureaucracy had huge backlogs and the purpose was to stop adding to them.)

Now, some people qualify. But are the backlogs any smaller?

This was done because Codere said we needed more people in specific skills. A lot of the claims I've seen on their requirement for skills suggest that by the time they actually add a skill which is in "shortage" to their list and start giving added points for it the skill is no longer in shortage. To say no one qualified was nonsense. More than enough people qualified. But not in the enormous numbers the Liberals had promised certain ethnic communities. As well, the backlogs I've heard of have nothing to do with skill levels. Why would they? If "no one" qualified then there'd obviously be no backlog. Instead qualified immigrants are waiting two years or more before their paperwork can be processed and they get their approval.

In any event I only posted this as an indication that while you get points for being able to speak English you can get in without speaking English. And that's for the primary entrant under the "skills" category. His family gets in without any skills or language testing, of course, as does anyone he later sponsors, as do refugees. The actual "skilled" person probably makes up about 1 in 5 immigrants.

[Argus]

Let's briefly examine these.

a)  21-49 years old  10 points 

One of the major reasons to justify immigration is our aging population. Yet apparently you get 10 points if you're 21 and the same if you're 49. Shouldn't we be giving more points if you're younger? Do we want a bunch of 50 year olds coming here? It's kind of hard to start a new career at 50 isn't it?

  Bachelors degree (or 2 year Trade Cert)  20 points 

c) Fluent in English  16 points 

Okay which is worth more to you in trying to get a job here? A bachelers degree in Ethiopian history, or the ability to speak fluent English? How many jobs can you get here with or without a degree if you don't speak English? Well, you can get jobs within the growing community of foreigners, but that's about it.

[playfullfellow]

No matter what, immigration is a very sticky topic and one many people feel very impassioned about. There needs to be guidelines on who would qualify to enter Canada. Any person wishes to enter Canada should be able to speak basic English, or at least one person of a family entering. I also feel that each family or individual should have a certain amount of money in their pockets to survive the first year or so. I also feel the family sponsorship porgram should be done away with. The only sponsorship program there should be is an employer one. If ones parents want to immigrate to Canada, then they should be able to pass the criterea. There should also be an absolute zero tolerance for immigrants who break the law. You break the law and away you go back to where you came from. Any immigrant should also be gainfully employed for at least the first 3 years they are in Canada. Since immigrating to Canada 27 years ago, not a single member of my family has been on unemployment, thats not say that immigrants should not be able to apply for EI after 3 years.