Conservatives blowing it

[shoop]

I think with the previous Government it was simple lack of focus. Martin had no clue what he was doing, or wanted to achieve as PM. He didn't have the foresight to ensure that his legislation was passed before hand.

Does anybody really think Harper walked into the House yesterday without knowing that his Budget was assured of passing and that he would receive support from the Bloc?

If nothing else, you have to give credit to Stephen Harper and the CPC for making decisions and following them through instead of playing the silly little PR games that we've become accustomed to.

[Rovik]

Though I was not a Conservative supporter, i still had high hopes for the Conservatives for cleaning up the government. But now it looks like the Conservatives might be just as bad (or even worse potentially) when it comes to accountibility. First it was the David Emerson and Senator Michael Fortier fiasco within the first few weeks of being elected and now it looks like Accountibilty Act that the Conservatives will push is full of holes that may make things worst than they all ready are.

It is not against the law to switch over parties, Belinda did it and many more MP's over the years since confederation have done it. It is all tradition.

Next they have gone the American way and decided to have barred media from covering fallen soldiers' return and not to have flags lowered to half mast. This to many Canadians is not respectful of what the soldier's sacrifice. One parent of a soldier who died criticized the Conservatives policy. Anyhow here is a link regarding the situation.

Why would you want to see dead soldiers being flown home, like really? No one needs to see that or has time to anyways so their should be no one complaing, now you probably don't wan't to suck up the reality of this but the flag keeping it waving high and not at half mass is a damn good idea, I think weekly a Canadian soldier is going to start dying very soon which will mean we will have to keep it at half mass all the time. I am sure the soldiers who died for Canada want us to keep our flag proudly lifted high and for our brave soldiers to keep on figting. Lets say we just stick to the tradition of lowering it on November 11th?

And now it seems that the Conservatives have made a bad deal re: softwood with the US. Sure, the US will even be able to keep 1 billion dollars of what many decisions by NAFO and WTO have said wasn't theirs and should be given back to Canada. Imagine if someone stole $50000 from you and even though the thief was told to give back all your money (continously), it was settled that he only had to give back $40000. Is this right? No.

Well what were the Liberals going to do? Sit back start a trade war and pay billions in legal fees? Money that is NOT refundable. 1 Billion is like pennies to the government and it is cheaper in the long run and now we can freely trade without being taxed making our manufacturers lose money and also our government wasting time and money on legal costs of a looming trade war. Yes

Agree?

First, it may be tradition but like any bad tradition or any bad law, it should be changed. Say it has been a tradition to throw eggs for a day at any new neighbours. Does this mean it's ok to continue to do it just because it's tradition? No. The Conservatives, after pushing improvement in govt. ethics and accountibility during the election, could have make a great start in showing that they were serious by saying no to crossovers (unlike they were willing to go to the polls in a by-election) and create a bill outlawing crossing the floor. Because let's face it. Many people are not just voting for the person but for the party and the policies of that party. Therefore, it's akin to betrayal to the constituents when these people cross the floor. It was wrong when Belinda did it but it was worse when Emerson did it shortly after the end of an election.

Second, the flag at half mast thing is just part of it. The bigger part is the media banning at these soldier's funerals. The danger is that these soldiers will have died for their country virtually nameless to the rest of us Canadians. When the media covers a fallen soldier's return, people across Canada know who these soldiers are (such as their names) and appreciate their sacrifice much more. And by not covering their return, the Canadian public risk desenitizing themselves to what is going on and the soldiers becomes a number, almost unreal...a name is real and tangible in contrast. Many argue that the military families themselves would rather not have the media cover the fallen's return but they don't mention that there are also other military families who would like to see the media's coverage and are upset with the Conservative's policy.

I wouldn't want to vote in any government who considers $1 billion dollars in taxpayers' (and therefore mine as well) money as pennies. Such a government would be wasteful in the extreme. And the 100 million sponsorship scandal brought down the Liberal govt., so I wouldn't call $1 billion dollars just pennies to the government. And in regards to the softwood deal, Canada won just about every ruling in regards to the softwood lumber conflict and what the Americans did by charging those penalties was plain wrong. Should we allow them to benefit from doing the wrong thing. There are a couple of things that should be considered. First, it's the principle...should we be penalized for going through the right procedures and protocols and being in the right which even the courts admitted Canada was in. Second, I'm concerned this could start a precedent. Who will be the next American interest group that will see this as a way to grab some extra money and claim unfair subsidies from Canada.

So I can't say I agree with you.

[shoop]

The media wasn't banned at the soldier's funerals. The Government left that up to the families to decide. There were many, many occasions for the general public to hear the names of the fallen sodiers.

Hmmm, don't see any evidence that military families were upset they couldn't watch the return of the bodies of other soldiers lost sons. Seems like they were all pretty respectful, and wanted the same respect if ever put in that horrivble position.

Second, the flag at half mast thing is just part of it. The bigger part is the media banning at these soldier's funerals. The danger is that these soldiers will have died for their country virtually nameless to the rest of us Canadians. When the media covers a fallen soldier's return, people across Canada know who these soldiers are (such as their names) and appreciate their sacrifice much more. And by not covering their return, the Canadian public risk desenitizing themselves to what is going on and the soldiers becomes a number, almost unreal...a name is real and tangible in contrast. Many argue that the military families themselves would rather not have the media cover the fallen's return but they don't mention that there are also other military families who would like to see the media's coverage and are upset with the Conservative's policy.

[Rovik]

The media wasn't banned at the soldier's funerals. The Government left that up to the families to decide. There were many, many occasions for the general public to hear the names of the fallen sodiers.

Hmmm, don't see any evidence that military families were upset they couldn't watch the return of the bodies of other soldiers lost sons. Seems like they were all pretty respectful, and wanted the same respect if ever put in that horrivble position.

My mistake, I should have reread what I had typed. I meant to say media been barred from solders's return from overseas. We hear the names now because we haven't had many soldeirs fall as of yet but in the future if casualities mount (which I hope does not happen) we may see it go the US route in which you many only hear about names in the local meda (local in where the soldier is from) or from digging into news sites for the lists such as I believe CNN does. The average Canadian won't be checking out the websites for this.

Some of these families were upset at the non-lowering of the flags at half-mast and in regards to the fallensoldier's return home, this quote from this articleFallen soldier's father criticizes Harper

The final images were of the 23-year-old's remains returning to CFB Trenton on Tuesday, footage the media were forced to shoot from behind barbed-wire fences after the Harper government banned journalists from the repatriation ceremony.

"Now I'd like to show you some of the video that Mr. Harper wouldn't let you see close up of Matthew's arrival home," said Dinning, who only weeks before his son's death penned a letter to Harper decrying the government's refusal to lower flags on Parliament Hill for fallen soldiers.

[shoop]

Dinning's father showed the video as was his right.

Still does that mean that his choice should have superceded that of the other three families?

Seems like this was the best possible solution. The family of one soldier choose to show video of the return of his body to Canadian soil. None of the other families chose to do so, their privacy was respected.

Some of these families were upset at the non-lowering of the flags at half-mast and in regards to the fallensoldier's return home, this quote from this articleFallen soldier's father criticizes Harper

[Shakeyhands]

If you are going to quote somebody like Shakeyhands you should look at his history of postings. Shakey rabidly attacks Harper "no matter what".

Shoop... I'm hurt. I am no more 'rabid' for my preference than any of you. Please to point out where you said anything positive about the former gov't?

[shoop]

Hurt?

OK, I'll play along.

I do remember saying that Paul Martin was a very good Finance Minister, who was disappointing as a Prime Minister.

Have you ever said anything that positive about *anything* Prime Minister Harper has ever done?

Shoop... I'm hurt. I am no more 'rabid' for my preference than any of you. Please to point out where you said anything positive about the former gov't?

[Wilber]

My mistake, I should have reread what I had typed. I meant to say media been barred from solders's return from overseas. We hear the names now because we haven't had many soldeirs fall as of yet but in the future if casualities mount (which I hope does not happen) we may see it go the US route in which you many only hear about names in the local meda (local in where the soldier is from) or from digging into news sites for the lists such as I believe CNN does. The average Canadian won't be checking out the websites for this.

Some of these families were upset at the non-lowering of the flags at half-mast and in regards to the fallensoldier's return home, this quote from this articleFallen soldier's father criticizes Harper

You have to decide whether this is a private function for friends and relatives or a media event. The country has to have a policy for this kind of thing and stick to it. The previous government's making it up as it went along was what started this controversy. You can't put it to a vote every time it happens.

There were four soldiers killed in this incident. If three of their relatives didn't object to the media being there but just one said, "no, I don't want to the country watching me on national TV when I see my dead son arrive home" That parent's wish trumps the other parents, the media, the PM or anyone else in my opinion. These things are between the soldier's families, friends and Regiments. IMO no one else has a right to be there unless they are invited by all the involved parties.

[Hicksey]

My mistake, I should have reread what I had typed. I meant to say media been barred from solders's return from overseas. We hear the names now because we haven't had many soldeirs fall as of yet but in the future if casualities mount (which I hope does not happen) we may see it go the US route in which you many only hear about names in the local meda (local in where the soldier is from) or from digging into news sites for the lists such as I believe CNN does. The average Canadian won't be checking out the websites for this.

Some of these families were upset at the non-lowering of the flags at half-mast and in regards to the fallensoldier's return home, this quote from this articleFallen soldier's father criticizes Harper

You have to decide whether this is a private function for friends and relatives or a media event. The country has to have a policy for this kind of thing and stick to it. The previous government's making it up as it went along was what started this controversy. You can't put it to a vote every time it happens.

There were four soldiers killed in this incident. If three of their relatives didn't object to the media being there but just one said, "no, I don't want to the country watching me on national TV when I see my dead son arrive home" That parent's wish trumps the other parents, the media, the PM or anyone else in my opinion. These things are between the soldier's families, friends and Regiments. IMO no one else has a right to be there unless they are invited by all the involved parties.

I think that the standard policy should be not to allow media to view the return of bodies. If the media want to cover the dead soldiers they are perfectly able to request permission from the families to attend the funeral.

I think having respect for the dead trumps any half-assed excuses the media have for wanting to cover such an event.