Conservatives

[maplesyrup]

Harper promises auditor more power

The federal Conservatives are promising to give the auditor general more power to monitor government spending in a bid to avoid controversies such as the sponsorship scandal.

"We would increase funding for the internal audit functions by about $50 million a year," Harper told a business audience Friday. "And we will ensure all granting programs are reviewed every five years on an ongoing basis." Harper also promised a Conservative government would give the auditor general more power to probe federal Crown corporations.

[maplesyrup]

Les défis de Stephen Harper

[maplesyrup]

Wise words, bad timing

What silly folks we have at the National Post.

Someone needs to tell them Canada is a country not a business.

[playfullfellow]

Someone needs to tell them Canada is a country not a business

I read through the article, didn't see any relation to them stating the country should be run like a business. I think that if put to a referendum, official bilingualism would be phased out. Let each individual province decide which or any other language would best suit their needs. I do not see this as an attack on the French but rather diversifying each regions needs. Let's let the reguar Canadian Joe decide whether we should spend a sack full of money on official bilingualism.

[Slavik44]

yea so lets all shoot up on herione and let God take care of everything.

Get real, this whole canada is not a buisness thing is getting old and frankly it is annoying. Obviuosly canada is not a buisness, if it were we would have ceased to exist years ago, so thank god for that. honestly there is nothign wrogn with being smart about how we run thsi country, and if we are wasting money, thats not smart. If were losing money, thats not smart. If inflation is troubling are buisness, thats not smart. If 7% of our workers don't work, thats not smart. If the value of are products fluctiate constantly, thats not smart. Maybe Canada isn't a buisness, but that is no reason for us to be stupid. If it takes making caanda more like a buisness to be smarter and more efficient so be it. I don't care if we have to run Canada like a zoo as long as it works, but whats going on right now doesn't work, and hoenstly the current system of billangualism doesn't work.

[takeanumber]

Let's let the reguar Canadian Joe decide whether we should spend a sack full of money on official bilingualism.

Let's not.

This statement really reminds me what Conservatism is all about.

Let a white man decide how the country should be run.

Despite what Conservatives think, women and minorities count.

And they pay taxes too. (Which I know some Conservatives hard a time with that idea, because according to some here, all immigrants are welfare bums.)

[Slavik44]

Let's let the reguar Canadian Joe decide whether we should spend a sack full of money on official bilingualism.

Let's not.

This statement really reminds me what Conservatism is all about.

Let a white man decide how the country should be run.

Despite what Conservatives think, women and minorities count.

And they pay taxes too. (Which I know some Conservatives hard a time with that idea, because according to some here, all immigrants are welfare bums.)

nice pathetic stereotypes, look at the situation.

You assume that official billiangualism is working right now, i belive canada is considered one of the biggest French speaking nations in the world. However it isn't, sure i know how to say lowers cholesterol in french..but that doesn't make me French. Every oen in Canada has the right to service in French and English, however there is a huge difference between being able to recieve service in english and French, and forcing public servants to learn french is redundant. As long as there is some one available and on hand in French who can help you, you can offer service in both French and English. Look at the Canadian foriegn service, you msut speak both official languages fluently, if oyu don't they will give you 80% of your starting salary as a living allowance while you learn to speak English/French fluently. Again over the top there, as long as there is a suficient amount fo peopel on hand to keep operations running smoothley in both official languages...there is nothign to worry about.

Next thing I want to discuss are these comments:

1.Let a white man decide how the country should be run.

2.Despite what Conservatives think, women and minorities count.

3.according to some here, all immigrants are welfare bums.

I think that if put to a referendum

I think that if put to a referendum

I think that if put to a referendum

I think that if put to a referendum

I think that if put to a referendum

refurendum:The submission of a proposed public measure or actual statute to a direct popular vote.

No where do i see the statement that only white men can vote in referendums. Is democracy not the rule of the people, not jsut certain people but all people. However what you propose is for archaic, in that you wish to exclude the average Joe from decision making, you said it yourself in response to letting the Average joe run canada..you said lets not. Seeing as how the AVERAGE Joe, is average, he woudl be a proportional representation of this country, make about $30,000, have a family, face every day problems, it wouldn;t really matter what colour his skin is, it wouldn;t really matter what his gender is perhaps we could call this person average Jane if you like. Of course you flat out deny the rule of the average Joe/Jane/Lee/Gill/pierre so the question is what is your alternative, the rule of just jane? the rule of just gill? youll find that when looked at this way, that the one being exclusive is infact you, the one infact ignoring the average tax payer is in fact you, and the one being hipocrtical is, yes, in fact YOU.

[willy]

Despite what Conservatives think, women and minorities count.

And they pay taxes too. (Which I know some Conservatives hard a time with that idea, because according to some here, all immigrants are welfare bums.)

What a pile of #$#%!!!

I am a white male Conservative and in my party we have MPs from many cultural, faith backgrounds and women.

Some of the party’s largest supporters in my area of the country (Vancouver) are not of European decent. They are immigrants from Hong Kong, Korea, India etc.. They are second and third generation Canadians. We are a broad based party that reflects our communities based on common value systems.

This bigotry that the Liberals use against the Conservatives is damaging to our political process and to our communities. We should not aim to build parties based on gender or race but rather on common values and goals. All are welcome in the Conservative party.

Shame takeanumber. Grow up.

[Kiraly]

Willy:

I wonder if the poster you quoted isn't part of the Martin campaign team....

...would explain some of the horrible polling numbers for the Lieberals.

People aren't that naive and attempts to paint the Conservatives as baby eating monsters hurts the credibility of those that make such ludicrous allegations. The Lieberals already have a serious credibility problem. Comments like this only help the Conservatives.

[takeanumber]

QUOTE

Despite what Conservatives think, women and minorities count.

And they pay taxes too. (Which I know some Conservatives hard a time with that idea, because according to some here, all immigrants are welfare bums.)

I absolutely love how when I'm at a party with male Conservatives, they make all sorts racist, bigotted statements about immigrants, women, the French, and the especially the gays. (It's alright for white heterosexual men to be well-educated and elite, but "queers have simply gone too far".)

ON THESE BOARDS such statements have been made more or less directly, especially about immigrants and attempts by the French to assimilate Anglo-Canada.

But then, when you throw their own bigotry back at them, Conservatives by and large get angry and proceed to nail themselves to the cross of 'reverse racism'.

Gosh darnit.

Shall we turn to the typical Conservative woman's view of immigrants and of other women now?

According to the data (Blais et al, Anatomy of a Liberal Victory), we know that Conservative women tend to be married, older, and in an upper income bracket. They tend to be Conservative because they see money flowing out of their household and into society.

Amazingly enough, a Conservative woman is extremely likely to turn Liberal after a divorce. Why? Because these woman often need the programs that they previously railed against. (Suddenly, big government looks pretty good.)

I'll posit that if the Conservatives in this forum don't want to get lumped in together with the Conservatives that I know in real life, then stop making statements that are identical to the bigots I know.

You may be able to argue that just because you repeat these statements almost to the letter, that it doesn't imply that you're a bigot inside, yet, oddly enough, this is the same thing Conservatives at parties say after a healthy night of black-bashing, queer-bashing and immigrant-bashing.

[Argus]

Let's let the reguar Canadian Joe decide whether we should spend a sack full of money on official bilingualism.

Let's not.

And there, in a nutshell, is the reason why so many people distrust the socialists of the NDP.

They know what's best for us. Don't question them. Don't argue with them. Don't even consider saying no. They're doing what's right, damnit! Ask the people? Ask the people!? sputter-sputter! "But," they'll sputter, "WE are the people!" And in many ways that's the royal "we". If the people disagree they're either misinformed or or ignorant, so there's no point listening to them.

[Argus]

I absolutely love how when I'm at a party with male Conservatives, they make all sorts racist, bigotted statements about immigrants, women, the French, and the especially the gays.  (It's alright for white heterosexual men to be well-educated and elite, but "queers have simply gone too far".)

Why do I doubt you get out to many parties? :-) Such a cliched view of life you have here. You know who I've heard the most racist, bigoted things from? Immigrants. Oh no! African guys, particularly Ethiopians and Eritrians tell me they simply cannot believe why we keep letting dirty Muslims into Canada, that they're thieves and liars, and religious crazies. They don't think much of Carribean blacks either, who they describe as lazy criminals. Meanwhile, Muslims make veiled and sometimes not very veiled references to how the Jews run everything in Canada, and can't understand why we put up with it. Don't we know that Jews hate us? As for gays - brother, you don't wanna know what either group thinks of them.

Argus - whose riding profile in the news last week said he was living in the riding with the largest number of Arabic speakers in Ontario.

ON THESE BOARDS such statements have been made more or less directly, especially about immigrants and attempts by the French to assimilate Anglo-Canada.

Really? Okay, let's have a quote. Oh, you can't find any. Riiiight.

[idealisttotheend]

Don't question them. Don't argue with them. Don't even consider saying no. They're doing what's right, damnit!

There is a reason we have a constitution in this country and it's to ensure that minorities are protected. It may be that a majority vote is not the best way to determine the rights of french minorities (or english minorities in Quebec) ought to recieve services in their native tounge. This is a bilingual country and to argue against providing services in both languages is to disrespect the french minority even if there are other minorities who could also use language status.

A counrty with minorities is hard, but do-able so long as we all respect them.

[Argus]

Don't question them. Don't argue with them. Don't even consider saying no. They're doing what's right, damnit!

There is a reason we have a constitution in this country and it's to ensure that minorities are protected. It may be that a majority vote is not the best way to determine the rights of french minorities (or english minorities in Quebec) ought to recieve services in their native tounge.

I hate to tell you this, my friend, but that glittery piece of paper protects no one and no thing without the will of the majority. If the majority wants to put Jews in ovens that constitution will get chucked right out the window.

  This is a bilingual country and to argue against providing services in both languages is to disrespect the french minority

And can you tell me who, if anyone, has made such an argument? Nope. Because no one has. All people have suggested is that Official Bilingualism as it is presently constituted is immensely wasteful and unneccesary in certain areas, as well as being terribly unfair and discriminatory in others.

I support providing bilingual services to the public. That does not mean I support the requirement that every last single solitary executive in the Public Service in Ottawa, every high ranking member of the military, every senior member of the RCMP and all crown corporations must be absolutely fluent in both languages.

[takeanumber]

You know who I've heard the most racist, bigoted things from? Immigrants. Oh no! African guys, particularly Ethiopians and Eritrians tell me they simply cannot believe why we keep letting dirty Muslims into Canada, that they're thieves and liars, and religious crazies. They don't think much of Carribean blacks either, who they describe as lazy criminals. Meanwhile, Muslims make veiled and sometimes not very veiled references to how the Jews run everything in Canada, and can't understand why we put up with it. Don't we know that Jews hate us? As for gays - brother, you don't wanna know what either group thinks of them.

So just because some immigrants are bigots gives YOU carte blanche to be a bigot?

So just because some muslims and islamists hate gays, that gives YOU the right to bash'em?

BOTH sides are WRONG. Them doing something repugnant doesn't make it RIGHT for YOU to do it. Jeebus, it's like I'm teaching you basic ethics.

This is why I think you're just like all the other bigotted Conservatives I know -- you say the exact things they say, using the same justification. Sick. It's just sick.

And can you tell me who, if anyone, has made such an argument? Nope. Because no one has. All people have suggested is that Official Bilingualism as it is presently constituted is immensely wasteful and unneccesary in certain areas, as well as being terribly unfair and discriminatory in others.

YOU AND/OR ALLIANCE FANATIC Er.... see that delightful little thread we had going about francophones in Kelowna.

If the majority wants to put Jews in ovens that constitution will get chucked right out the window.

That's why we have a constitution and a strong court. Just in case you Conservative bastards try to repeat past attrocities.

And I swear to God, if the Conservative MINORITY (The 15% or so twatwaffle Stockwell Day-Loving-Jew-Hating Old Anti-Liberals) EVER, EVER, EVER try to repeat those past attrocities (Church abuse scandal, Japanese Internment, Aboriginal abuse) the Echo generation will mobilize so quickly your head will spin.

HISTORY WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO REPEAT

If there is one thing this generation has learned, it's that we're all prisoners of our time, and we will NOT TOLERATE a discraceful repitition, in SPITE of all of your attempts to put gays and jews into the ovens. Got it?

[maplesyrup]

Language grievances not gone

Conservatives' approach flawed

GRAHAM FRASER

MONTREAL—Language has always been an underlying tension in Canadian politics.

In 1983, as soon as Brian Mulroney entered the House of Commons as leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Pierre Trudeau tossed him a hand grenade: a motion reaffirming the principles of bilingualism.

Mulroney told his caucus that anyone who voted against it would be expelled, and committed his party to language equality.

Last week, Stephen Harper was handed a similar explosive — but Paul Martin had not pulled the pin. Harper's official languages critic Scott Reid said the Conservatives would overhaul the legislation so that bilingual services would not be provided in Atlantic Canada or the West, and that senior public servants would no longer need to be bilingual.

That's not Conservative policy, Harper said quickly, adding it would only be changed when there was "a consensus." Wink wink, nudge nudge: in other words, a majority consensus to undermine minority rights.

Official bilingualism took the form it did because Trudeau insisted French should not be limited to Quebec, and wanted both languages available and visible across the country — to the deep resentment of many in Western Canada, who see Canada as a multicultural but English-speaking country.

Canadian political philosopher Will Kymlicka describes this tension as "the dialectic of state nation-building and minority rights."

In playing to old grievances, Reid avoided a simple fact. In a country with two language groups, someone has to bear the burden of bilingualism. Trudeau decided it should be public servants, not ordinary citizens

Too bad.

Is this going to end up being the rogue issue that bits the Conservatives in the ass?

[maplesyrup]

Lighten Up!

How uncomfortable is the Conservatives' Stephen Harper at a political gathering? It's like watching a small child approach a plate of spinach

PAUL WELLS

WHAT DOES a man say when he stands at the edge of a continent and on the brink, perhaps, of electoral history? Apparently not much.

Wednesday morning, Stephen Harper stood at a panoramic window in the Cabot Club at the Fairmont Newfoundland. Through that window is a stunning view of St. John's harbour. Legend has it that John Cabot sailed through these narrows in 1497. Fishing fleets sailed in and out of St. John's for nearly five centuries. Nearby is Signal Hill, where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal.

So there's a lot to discuss and think about when you're standing in St. John's. Yet as he perched there, with an entire nation before him and the whole world behind, Harper preferred to fix his attention, fitfully, on a big fake cheque.

Photographers travelling with the Conservative leader had started to complain his every event was the same: walk into legion hall or local candidate's headquarters; stand in front of blue backdrop; make fun of Paul Martin. (A favourite line from his stump speech: "Last week the weather in Ottawa was so cold, I saw a federal Liberal with his hands in his own pockets!") So Harper was offering a grudging photo-op of sorts.

The cheque was perched on an easel. It was made out to "Liberal Friendly Ad Agencies" in the amount of $100 million and signed by "Paul Martin." Another iteration of the sponsorship-scandal story, then.

Harper obviously wondered why he had let himself get talked into this damn-fool stunt. He fingered the fake cheque tentatively, as if it might be booby-trapped. He defused the gimmick by advertising it as a gimmick. Fingers on fake cheque: "This is only a symbol."

Great. Thanks. What struck reporters about the whole event is that it could not possibly have had less to do with where Harper was standing. He could have made the same point just as clumsily in Calgary, or Buenos Aires, or on the surface of the moon.

Moments like the fake-cheque stunt in St. John's go a long way toward illustrating Harper's quirky, deceptive charm. It's actually a relief to find a politician who is no more fooled by the show business of politics than the rest of us are.

But Harper's weirdly ahistorical campaign also betrays the weakness and vulnerability that may yet -- who knows? -- see him falling short of the big prize, which is power. The Tory leader can't say much about his past views because they often contradict the policies of the Progressive Conservatives with whom he now shares a party. He is extraordinarily leery about describing a Conservative future: he'll be the last federal leader to unveil his platform because he's afraid to give the Liberals a target

How many of you when looking for intellectual challenges from Canada's journalists get so discouraged by a particular jounalist, because you know almost every compliment or attack they are going to make, before you even read their article. Like Lorne Gunthier of the Edmonton Journal, or Larry Zolf of the CBC, for example. How many other broken records do we have in Canada's media?

What makes Wells refreshing, and a bit unique amongst Canadian political writers, is that he is not married to one political party. He really mixes it up and dishes it out to all of them. I find Wells is intellectually honest, which is a rare feat these days.

[Alliance Fanatic]

And I swear to God, if the Conservative MINORITY (The 15% or so twatwaffle Stockwell Day-Loving-Jew-Hating Old Anti-Liberals) EVER, EVER, EVER try to repeat those past attrocities (Church abuse scandal, Japanese Internment, Aboriginal abuse) the Echo generation will mobilize so quickly your head will spin.

If there is one thing this generation has learned, it's that we're all prisoners of our time, and we will NOT TOLERATE a discraceful repitition, in SPITE of all of your attempts to put gays and jews into the ovens. Got it?

Alright I can't contain my anger over what this bastard is trying to say.

Once I went to a veteran's hall, and the majority were pro-alliance, and conservative. The majority of senior citizens have conservative beliefs regarding traditional values, and have strongly supported social justice while maintaining traditional institutions.

So I guess you want to send them to the gas chamber because they don't support your views. Your no better than a nazi, you spread lies, and have defamed a person's character. While I have made a mistake's with defaming a person on this forum you have went over the line.

Relatives of my family fought for this country, and some even saw the horror's of the concentration camps. They are supportive of traditional values, so they should be sent to the gas chambers eh.

The fact is that 100,000 Canadian's died fighting even though this country did'nt have Pierre Trudeau's constitution.

Oh yeah was'nt Pierre Trudeau the one that refused to fight for this country in world war 2, and mock Jew's joining the army to fight the nazi's.

Takeanumber you seem like the type of person that would laugh in the passion while Jesus was being tortured, after all you probably think that jesus was "evil" too.

How is it that jew's, and gay's, were'nt sent to the gas chambers before we had a constitution in 1982, so you obviously think that Canada was a nazi like nation before Trudeau came in.

Oh yeah and just because Conservative's want to live in a beautiful nation were the family and traditional values are valued does not mean were nazi's. Not every Canadian wants all of Canada turn into Vancouver's east side which is obviously your vision of Canada.

In Conclusion

SHUT UP

[takeanumber]

You're the one who said that you wanted to send jews to the ovens, not me.

I merely told you that if you ever tried to do so, you'd have a massive fight on your hands, because we won't allow the errors of the past to repeated.

Now let's talk about what those 15% or so twatwaffle Stockwell Day-Loving-Jew-Hating Old Anti-Liberals are responsible for, shall we?

1. Church abuse scandal. (Remember, the cultural genocide centres you guys set up?)

2. Japanese internment camps. (Remember those? Set up at the insistence of conservative Liberals? Yeh, you must remember those!)

3. Aboriginal abuse. (They just got the vote when, 1968 or 1972? Gosh. Sounds enlightened to me.)

The past 5 generations of my family have served in the armed forces. My brother will probably carry the flag (he's heading that way), so you have no authority to haul yourself up on that cross. I lost several members of my family for long periods of time because of all the peacekeeping and war. You have no right to deny me my freedom of speech on the grounds of 'service' and 'sacrifice'. Try living on a private's salary.

How is it that jew's, and gay's, were'nt sent to the gas chambers before we had a constitution in 1982, so you obviously think that Canada was a nazi like nation before Trudeau came in.

Canada prior to 1982. Alberta had eugenics. Aboriginals didn't have the vote until 1968 or 1972. Why don't you check out how Quebec treated Jehovas witnesses.

I'm not saying Canadians prior to 1972 were Nazis. I'm saying they were prisoners of their time.

And that the Charter era is better than the previous one.

The court protects the minority, like the people that view pedophilia as art.

Surely you're not saying that all minorities are pedos, are you?

That wouldn't be like the AF I know.

I guess you think that the only bigots in Canada are white people, thats a racist notion, their are scumbags from each ethnic group you idiot.

My great grandmother was a member of the greatest generation. She once told me that "black people and Frenchmen are just like white people, there's good people and there are bad people".

I still hold that view.

Immigrants who hate other ethnic groups are bad people.

White people who hate other ethnic groups are bad people.

You seem to ignore this fact repeatedly, that hatred, whichever direction it flows, is wrong, yet you persist and persist in stating that your hatred is justified because everybody else is hating you.

And you're wrong. I challenge you to quote this and to address it.

but when a person starts to say that any person that disagree's with them is a nazi who executes jews, that were I get pissed off. Especially since a few friends of mine are Jew's, and their grandparents lived through the concentration camp.

You said it, not me. You said that if your group wanted to, you could easily send the jews right into the ovens.

And I told you that we, as a generation, wern't going to let you 15% who would absolutely LOVE to get back at the Jews, do that.

And you're not going to touch the gays, or the Tutsis or the Hutus or the Bosnians or the French either.

We will NOT allow past mistakes to be repeated.

Takeanumber why don't you complain about what happened at Concordia, they spat on jew's there, and guess what it was the radical left you idiot.

Wasn't there.

Actually, I'm a true small 'l' liberal in the Borovoy tradition. He's jewish. Try reading "The New Anti-Liberals" to get a perspective on the angle I'm comming from. I suspect that you're angry because you don't know where I'm comming from.

So takeanumber I guess you when do you wanna start up those concentration camps for veterans who believe in democracy, and basically anybody that believes that the people should decide their fate instead of a dictator.

Hmmmmmm. No.

If I recall, during WWII, it wasn't the warrior veterans who started the concentration camps, it was the coward pussies who stayed behind who did. (see: Japanese internment camp.)

Our troops were wicked. It's a damn shame that Conservatives in Alberta won't treat our veterans with more respect and dignity, especially when you look at our veterans hospitals. Another shining beacon of Conservative policy right there. Stand and be PROUD Mr. Alliance Fanatic at your fabulous Veteran Policy.

So Takeanumber you want Canada to become a dictatorship were all your left wing nut friends decides what is wrong and what is right. Anybody that disagrees with you should be shot.

I never implied that. I never said that.

What you said though is that the majority can shove people into the ovens.

You'll just have to live with those words, won't you?

In Conclusion

SHUT UP

That's your right to tell me that.

It's my right to reply though.

I am more pro-freedom, pro-Libertarian, pro-free market than you.

You're just like any other Old-Anti-Liberal, a defender of Injustice, a defender of the pre-1982 world where such other Old-Anti-Liberals drove the Anglophones from Quebec, locked up Jehova's witnesses (such a WONDERFUL record you old Conservatives have on religious freedom!) and of such glittering economic edifices as the Diefendollar.

There will be no return to the pre-1982 world. Those days are gone forever.

The mighty Old-Anti-Liberal Conservatives, once 55% of the population, now reduced to 15%, will never be able to bring those days back.

If you have any other problems with me,

Takeanumber.

(There's a long line behind you.)

[playfullfellow]

And I swear to God, if the Conservative MINORITY (The 15% or so twatwaffle Stockwell Day-Loving-Jew-Hating Old Anti-Liberals) EVER, EVER, EVER try to repeat those past attrocities (Church abuse scandal, Japanese Internment, Aboriginal abuse) the Echo generation will mobilize so quickly your head will spin.

WTF, all I ever said was let the people decide and now we are talking about genocide. Where the hell did the common sense go? Right out the bloody window from the looks of it. And WTF is the ECHO generation, something that just keeps repeating the same words over and over I guess. Yeah I am white, conservative and an immigrant. I have seen the ovens and concentration camps and that is a part of history that should never be repeated again. I couldn't give a flying fig what colour a person is, it is what's in the heart that counts and what a person does with their heart. The kind of rhetoric you are spewing is right along the same lines as the hatred you seem to be speaking out against. Give your head a shake, Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in because we have freedom of choice and to be a voice.

[takeanumber]

Echo's= Born between 1980 and 2000.

And WTF is the ECHO generation, something that just keeps repeating the same words over and over I guess. Yeah I am white, conservative and an immigrant. I have seen the ovens and concentration camps and that is a part of history that should never be repeated again. I couldn't give a flying fig what colour a person is, it is what's in the heart that counts and what a person does with their heart. The kind of rhetoric you are spewing is right along the same lines as the hatred you seem to be speaking out against. Give your head a shake, Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in because we have freedom of choice and to be a voice.

Amen.

My rhetoric is directed at the bigots who have been running their gums about French assimilation and blatant disregard for minority rights. It WAS said that if the majority in this country wanted to, they could shove the jews right into the ovens.

Which drew my ire.

Even if this country wanted to, (more specifically, even if the 15% wanted to), the would not be allowed to go through with it. History will not be allowed to repeat.

[August1991]

The past 5 generations of my family have served in the armed forces. My brother will probably carry the flag (he's heading that way), so you have no authority to haul yourself up on that cross. I lost several members of my family for long periods of time because of all the peacekeeping and war. You have no right to deny me my freedom of speech on the grounds of 'service' and 'sacrifice'. Try living on a private's salary.

I don't doubt this. But is it the whole truth?

[takeanumber]

Father (Francophone):

Haiti, Iraq, Somolia, Bosnia, Haiti.

Uncle (Mother's side):

Iraq.

Mother(Anglophone):

No combat experience.

Grandfather(Mother side):

(served in mail room, lol. No combat)

Great Grandfather(Mother side):

World War II. (Italian front.)

Great Great Grandfather(Father side):

World War I. (Vimy.)

Great Great Grandfather(Mother side):

World War I. (Mariner.)

(Nobody in the Boer War)

Great x 3or4 Grandfather(Mother side):

Aroostook War. (Member of the Westmorland Rifles).

And why not me?

I'm opinionated, and opinionated people don't belong in the army.

Thankfully the men in my family reproduced early in life.

So yes, it is true.

PM me about life in the armed forces during the 1990's.

Think I'm angry with tories? I'm harsher on the Liberals.

[maplesyrup]

Harper plans for transition

Stephen Harper has dug deep in Red Tory ranks for the transition team he is putting in place to deal with a possible Conservative election victory.

The word in Tory circles is that Harper has given Hugh Segal, a former chief-of-staff to both Ontario premier Bill Davis and prime minister Brian Mulroney, a key role in planning the potential installation of a new Conservative government. Segal is both a logical and a very political choice. He is unique in the experience he brings to the task as his background includes the successful day-to-day running of a minority government at Queen's Park in the late '70s.

Given the lack of a strong Conservative presence in Quebec, the odds are that any Tory government resulting from this election would be a minority one.

Segal also boasts impeccable Ontario connections and up-to-date knowledge of Quebec's political networks, a combination that could be essential if Harper had to put in place a government that had little or no Quebec representation. But while Segal's appointment speaks to the Tory leader's determination to put a moderate face that is national in scope on a possible Conservative government, it also addresses some of his more immediate needs.

[Argus]

So just because some immigrants are bigots gives YOU carte blanche to be a bigot?

So just because some muslims and islamists hate gays, that gives YOU the right to bash'em?

So just because some conservatives are bigots that gives YOU carte blanche to be a bigot?

Just because some conservatives hate gays that gives YOU the right to bash `em?

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. It's okay to desparage an entire group based on a few people if it's people you don't like. If not, then it's terrible!

And can you tell me who, if anyone, has made such an argument? Nope. Because no one has. All people have suggested is that Official Bilingualism as it is presently constituted is immensely wasteful and unneccesary in certain areas, as well as being terribly unfair and discriminatory in others.

YOU AND/OR ALLIANCE FANATIC Er.... see that delightful little thread we had going about francophones in Kelowna.

Quotes, boy, I want quotes. Don't give me any BS accusations about my saying we should do away with Official Bilingualism because I never said it.

If the majority wants to put Jews in ovens that constitution will get chucked right out the window.

That's why we have a constitution and a strong court. Just in case you Conservative bastards try to repeat past attrocities.

Yeesh, what a simpleton. That's the problem with the NDP; all emotion and jealousy and bitterness, no brains, no thinking. Did a conservative girl(or boy) turn you down for a date once, little boy? Is that why you're so angry?

And I swear to God, if the Conservative MINORITY (The 15% or so twatwaffle Stockwell Day-Loving-Jew-Hating Old Anti-Liberals) EVER, EVER, EVER try to repeat those past attrocities (Church abuse scandal, Japanese Internment,  Aboriginal abuse) the Echo generation will mobilize so quickly your head will spin. :lol

OH yeah, they'll rush out to their video games and start shooting people like mad! They'll go to chat rooms and bitch and whine! They'll refuse to buy any more clothes at the GAP until they do something about the problem! The "echo" generation are a bunch of slackers and losers who can't even be bothered to vote. Moreover, they rarely read newspapers or watch the news, so they probably won't even hear about it.

HISTORY WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO REPEAT

The echo generation don't know anything about history! They stopped teaching it after my generation! And you guys don't read so... maybe if someone figures a way to put history into comic books or videos games...

LOWER the voting age? Gads, they need to raise it or put in a knowledge or IQ test or something to screen out losers and simpletons.