Fixing Canada

[mikedavid00]

Hello,

These are my steps to fixing our country. That's of course if you believe there is a problem to begin with.

I'm going to list the problemed area and then give a brief solution. I would really like to hear other peoples solutions for the same problem.

Immigration - Canada will no longer be taking in immigrants. We will only offer work permits where a company will sponsor and must prove that he could not hire a Canadian. This is how most of the world deals with immigration. There will be a very rapid, efficient system where companies can sponsor people very fast. Workers will have a max of 8 years to stay in which they can plead their case for citizenship. They cannot use services and will be sent home if they lose employment.

Refugee - Canada must take refugee's, but shall do as the US does and only accept refugees from a select number of countries. Also, like the US, a judge will be present at the air port and be able to hear your case on the spot in order to make a descision. Refugees will be in detention and not allowed to enter the general population of Canada until the judge has granted them a stay. Methinks a lot less people will be trying to come to Canada. Maybe less than 50 people a year who are true vicitms. They shall get the best care.

Wasteful spending - eliminate central control of the gov't. The federal gov't has too much power and has far, far overstepped it's bounds in governance of the country. The frederal gov't should become drastically less powerful and handle duties such as the high courts, federal laws, and military. For instance, our federal gov't gets involved when building a bridge in Saskatoon. This federal overhead causes waste and a whole layer of beurocracy.

Poor provinces - many Canadian provinces are welfare provinces that are poor. There is not a valid reason for this. Many provinces have goten used to living a life of seasonal work and the rest of the pogie. This is not valid. New Brunswick has industry and large unemployment rates. The federal gov't should impose these areas as tax free zones for all of Canada or US business who would like to setup shop. If within 5 years they move their business to our poorer provinces, they will pay no property tax for 10 years. Thus, there will be jobs for the people. They will then pay taxes - see next:

Fully province managed services - Currenty, the feds collect taxes and payout back to the provinces. A solution would be for the provinces to collect all the taxes and pay only a small amount 3% or so to the feds. Thus, each province will FULLY be in control of their finances. SOME PROVINCES will realize that that they have been miss-spenind this whole time and won't be able to function. TOUGH. They'll have to go through hardships and learn the tough lessons of being a responsible adult who is elected to manage money. You'll most likely see the first Conservative Quebec party.

Healthcare - The feds will allow Hosptial Corperations and insurance into Canada. The provinces will NOT be able to stop private clinics and insurance. This will drastically redeuce waiting times. Also, the federal gov't shall pass law ordering waiting times of no longer than 10 days for the public system. If this happens, the feds have the right to oust the current provincial gov't and the opposition shall procede. The federal gov't will not be in a financial position to help out any province in trouble. Why all this works is when provinces know they are being held to a standard, they will realize that having cash cows like Health Canada in Ottawa with HUGE buildings filled with thousands of people who do absoltuley nothing but collect white collar welfare is bankrupting their system and will cause them to lose their jobs. These people can work privately, but not on our tax dollars.

Unions - The Federal gov't of Canada shall set ligislation that would not allow a union of any sort to be formed if funds for that company are coming from public tax dollars. This would go for crown corporations, energy companies, CN rail, you name it. GM can keep their union.

Dictating\Lack Of Democrocy - The Federal gov't will not allow politicians to dictate unto it's citizens. Instead, government will merely govern. Legislation will be proposed to the public, and voted on with 100% participation by the voters each november. All voters must vote as a civic duty. Thus, ensuring complete democracy for the poeple of Canada.

Economy - Ok. How can I say this quickly without going to deep. If you remember, the Feds only got 3% from the province. Well the feds would hit any American franchise or business that hires the majority of it's associated staff at a poverty level of income a 10% 'your not helping us' tax. Thus, a starbucks pays 10% more on their tax, a second cup coffee does not. This tax is to drive up prices on American franchasis so the 'little' guy in Canada can compete. The American franchises will swallow the cost easy and just pass if off to the consumer. Tim Hortons would be exempt becuase it's Canadian owned. This is basically for minimum wage businesses. We do not want to deter white collar or lower middling income jobs in any way. To avoid that 10% tax, Canadians will purchase Canadian Franchises and consumers will begine to shop at Canadian owned business again. The business will hire Canadian marketing, shippers, food supply, etc. etc. American minimum wage franchises and hogs like Wal-Mart, Costco, Starbucks, Halmark, and on and on do NOTHING for Canada except shut out the Canadian owned business. They get all the white collar jobs, we get nothing. Thanks Mr. Mulrouney. They key to our economy is white collar jobs coming from the US, a new private hospital industry, and our own Canadian businesses. Then after years, suprise suprise, we'll need legitamate immigrants to come work jobs because the economy will be so good and the standard of living so high, that there wil be employers who simply can't fill posiitons. Even factories. That's fine, they can immediatly bring over skilled or unskilled workers. I told you immigration works.

Jobs - There is a job crisis in Canada. There are no shortages, on the contrair, there are too many people looking for one job. Education is also devalued. There will be a complete, overhaul of the immigration system. Only if an employer can't find a Canadian to work, he may bring someone over on a work permit that expires in 4 years. For this to happen, there would have to be an EXTREMEMLY low unemployment rate or in a very remote location where a Canadian didn't want to work.

Education - Education has become violently devalued the last 10 years due to mass immigration and international students. If 'everyone has a degree', then the degree is worth nothing. There will no longer be an international student program unless faculties have a grade cutoff at 60% and still can't fill their classes (which wont happen anytime soon). This will drive entrance grades lower, students will now be able to freely enroll into higher education and choose any program they like, and there will be less degrees and diplomas in circulation. Medical elitism will stop because private hospitals will build new medical schools so they can turn out more doctors. The days of recognizing foreign credentials is over because we will turn out our own.

The province will handle student loans.

ChildCare - The province shall handle child care. Each elementry school shall have a small edition added to it for childcare. Since there will no longer be a mass of people using this system that haven't paid into it, we can no afford to have universal, free, childcare. There will be standards for teachers and little abuse. There will also be a focus on learning. Each elementary will recieve a mere 10% increase in budget for this program to cover the few employees and overhead.

Equality - There will be equality in Canada. Real equality. There will be no status quo for the gov't. No hiring based off skin color, no special funding due to race, religion, ethnicity, etc. There will be no recognition of cultures, colour, or distinct society. That is for the people to determine and not the roll of the gov't. Hate laws will also be removed. Canada promotes true equality and shall be a country of equality amongst all citizens. Quebec will be it's own province and no longer a federal issue of culture and special interest.

Security - Like most countries, dual Citizenship will no longer be recognized. All Canadians living abroad who were not paying taxes in the last 2 years will not be allowed back into the country. If they have paid taxes, then they will be given the ultimatum to begin a new life in Canada, or stay where they are becuase we will no longer be offering dual citizenships. We won't expect many to come back. People from terrorist recognized countries will not be allowed to Canada at all. Not to work, not to play, not to even visit. People are welcome to come from China to visit. Residents from Pakistan will not be able to enter Canada and shall be detained upon arival.

[geoffrey]

Immigration - Canada will no longer be taking in immigrants. We will only offer work permits where a company will sponsor and must prove that he could not hire a Canadian. This is how most of the world deals with immigration. There will be a very rapid, efficient system where companies can sponsor people very fast. Workers will have a max of 8 years to stay in which they can plead their case for citizenship. They cannot use services and will be sent home if they lose employment.

If you can set a definite criteria for citizenship, and the process is indeed very rapid to get workers in (which I doubt it will be, being government run), I'd agree. They also should be able to bring their immediate families.

Refugee - Canada must take refugee's, but shall do as the US does and only accept refugees from a select number of countries. Also, like the US, a judge will be present at the air port and be able to hear your case on the spot in order to make a descision. Refugees will be in detention and not allowed to enter the general population of Canada until the judge has granted them a stay. Methinks a lot less people will be trying to come to Canada. Maybe less than 50 people a year who are true vicitms. They shall get the best care.

There is a refugee issue, yes. But instant deportation? What if they will be killed upon return?

Wasteful spending - eliminate central control of the gov't. The federal gov't has too much power and has far, far overstepped it's bounds in governance of the country. The frederal gov't should become drastically less powerful and handle duties such as the high courts, federal laws, and military. For instance, our federal gov't gets involved when building a bridge in Saskatoon. This federal overhead causes waste and a whole layer of beurocracy.

The Federal government has way too much power, agreed. It causes much waste. Our Constitution isn't flawed though, it's the lack of enforcement really. The Federal government for example, has no ability to influence the management of a hospital... but in reality they can shut things down if it violates the Canada Health Act.

Poor provinces - many Canadian provinces are welfare provinces that are poor. There is not a valid reason for this. Many provinces have goten used to living a life of seasonal work and the rest of the pogie. This is not valid. New Brunswick has industry and large unemployment rates. The federal gov't should impose these areas as tax free zones for all of Canada or US business who would like to setup shop. If within 5 years they move their business to our poorer provinces, they will pay no property tax for 10 years. Thus, there will be jobs for the people. They will then pay taxes - see next:

I say cut transfers and watch the growth. They have become too reliant on other's money. The Maritimes are next to the richest area of the US, why aren't they rich themselves? If there is no welfare, they'll have to perform, there is no choice... I'm sure they will.

Fully province managed services - Currenty, the feds collect taxes and payout back to the provinces. A solution would be for the provinces to collect all the taxes and pay only a small amount 3% or so to the feds. Thus, each province will FULLY be in control of their finances. SOME PROVINCES will realize that that they have been miss-spenind this whole time and won't be able to function. TOUGH. They'll have to go through hardships and learn the tough lessons of being a responsible adult who is elected to manage money. You'll most likely see the first Conservative Quebec party.

Ed Stelmach is making moves on this... By the way, the Liberals in Quebec are more conservative than elsewhere (perhaps a similar example is BC, but not quite right), their leader is Jean Charest.

Healthcare - The feds will allow Hosptial Corperations and insurance into Canada. The provinces will NOT be able to stop private clinics and insurance. This will drastically redeuce waiting times. Also, the federal gov't shall pass law ordering waiting times of no longer than 10 days for the public system. If this happens, the feds have the right to oust the current provincial gov't and the opposition shall procede. The federal gov't will not be in a financial position to help out any province in trouble. Why all this works is when provinces know they are being held to a standard, they will realize that having cash cows like Health Canada in Ottawa with HUGE buildings filled with thousands of people who do absoltuley nothing but collect white collar welfare is bankrupting their system and will cause them to lose their jobs. These people can work privately, but not on our tax dollars.

Not a Federal issue, Health Care is provincial jurisdiction. I don't think it's the provinces stopping private insurance, it's Health Canada.

I thought you were against more Federal power, but here you want them to oust a government for having their now private hospitals not meet a Federally set wait time? Hypocracy is rank with this concept.

Unions - The Federal gov't of Canada shall set ligislation that would not allow a union of any sort to be formed if funds for that company are coming from public tax dollars. This would go for crown corporations, energy companies, CN rail, you name it. GM can keep their union.

That'd be a major difficulty. Unions are in fact, suprisingly, a mechanism of the free market. Companies need to ensure that they have employees that feel their worth is compensated... otherwise they'll form a union. Unions do cause more trouble than good, but a ban isn't a solution. We need to work on ways to prevent their formation under the current legal framework.

[geoffrey]

I passed the quote max:

Dictating\Lack Of Democrocy - The Federal gov't will not allow politicians to dictate unto it's citizens. Instead, government will merely govern. Legislation will be proposed to the public, and voted on with 100% participation by the voters each november. All voters must vote as a civic duty. Thus, ensuring complete democracy for the poeple of Canada.

That's ridiculous. 99% of Canadians would have no freakin idea what the technical language of a ways and means bill means. What does farmer Fred or teacher Bob know about taxation and international competitveness?

I could easily pass a qualifed judgement on a tax change or debt paydown or something like that. Most people couldn't, not a chance. I couldn't pass judgement on a complex environmental act either, I know nothing on the topic. MP's are in general don't get it, the average person won't get it even more.

Direct democracy on every piece of legislation is nearing the worse idea I've ever heard.

Forcing people to vote is a violation of their personal freedom. I shouldn't have to do anything, really, especially if it has no impact on others.

Economy - Ok. How can I say this quickly without going to deep. If you remember, the Feds only got 3% from the province. Well the feds would hit any American franchise or business that hires the majority of it's associated staff at a poverty level of income a 10% 'your not helping us' tax. Thus, a starbucks pays 10% more on their tax, a second cup coffee does not. This tax is to drive up prices on American franchasis so the 'little' guy in Canada can compete.

Pure interventionist. Allow free trade, it'll make us more competitive long term.

The American franchises will swallow the cost easy and just pass if off to the consumer. Tim Hortons would be exempt becuase it's Canadian owned.

No it's not Canadian owned.

They key to our economy is white collar jobs coming from the US, a new private hospital industry, and our own Canadian businesses.

No, it's oil. Outside of that, Canada is doing very poorly right now.

Jobs - There is a job crisis in Canada. There are no shortages, on the contrair, there are too many people looking for one job. Education is also devalued. There will be a complete, overhaul of the immigration system. Only if an employer can't find a Canadian to work, he may bring someone over on a work permit that expires in 4 years. For this to happen, there would have to be an EXTREMEMLY low unemployment rate or in a very remote location where a Canadian didn't want to work.

No shortages?!?! You obviously aren't from Alberta. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. Shortages/unemployment are created by ridiculous welfare and equalisation arrangements, not because of immigration alone... though that may contribute.

Education - Education has become violently devalued the last 10 years due to mass immigration and international students. If 'everyone has a degree', then the degree is worth nothing. There will no longer be an international student program unless faculties have a grade cutoff at 60% and still can't fill their classes (which wont happen anytime soon). This will drive entrance grades lower, students will now be able to freely enroll into higher education and choose any program they like, and there will be less degrees and diplomas in circulation. Medical elitism will stop because private hospitals will build new medical schools so they can turn out more doctors. The days of recognizing foreign credentials is over because we will turn out our own.

The province will handle student loans.

Students will be able to get into school cheaper and easier, and there will be less degrees? What exactly are you talking about, your logic doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever here.

School needs to be way harder to get into, and cost considerably more. Only allow those that really want it to get it.

There is no possibility that in the near future we can stop worrying about bringing in foreign trained engineers and doctors... the shortage is just too great.

ChildCare - The province shall handle child care. Each elementry school shall have a small edition added to it for childcare. Since there will no longer be a mass of people using this system that haven't paid into it, we can no afford to have universal, free, childcare. There will be standards for teachers and little abuse. There will also be a focus on learning. Each elementary will recieve a mere 10% increase in budget for this program to cover the few employees and overhead.

10% increase in budget for doubling their student population? Ages 0-5 (childcare) compared to 5-11 (elementary) would be a very similar population. In poor neighbourhoods, I'd imagine most stay at home mom's would jump at this chance. You numbers are flawed. Any childcare program is too expensive to consider.

Equality - There will be equality in Canada. Real equality. There will be no status quo for the gov't. No hiring based off skin color, no special funding due to race, religion, ethnicity, etc. There will be no recognition of cultures, colour, or distinct society. That is for the people to determine and not the roll of the gov't. Hate laws will also be removed. Canada promotes true equality and shall be a country of equality amongst all citizens. Quebec will be it's own province and no longer a federal issue of culture and special interest.

Affirmative action is a real problem, I agree with you there.

Security - Like most countries, dual Citizenship will no longer be recognized. All Canadians living abroad who were not paying taxes in the last 2 years will not be allowed back into the country. If they have paid taxes, then they will be given the ultimatum to begin a new life in Canada, or stay where they are becuase we will no longer be offering dual citizenships. We won't expect many to come back. People from terrorist recognized countries will not be allowed to Canada at all. Not to work, not to play, not to even visit. People are welcome to come from China to visit. Residents from Pakistan will not be able to enter Canada and shall be detained upon arival.

Where else in the world is dual citizenship not recognized? 'Most' other countries? What about in comparison to Western nations?

Your grouping entire nations as terrorists is very regressive and we'd certainly miss out on some valuable immigrants. Personally, I think immigration should be dealt with based upon set personal criteria (how well you speak English/French, your skills/education, money, ect.) and not based upon country of origin.

[blueblood]

I'm too biased in agriculture to offer much of an opinion. I'd say some interventionist methods are a good thing if it nets us more money like the entertainment/recording industry and with Monsanto's little plant breeders act. The big corporations have their benefits such as providing infrastructure with the Alberta oil industry, but the thing is to keep their power in check otherwise we end up with something similar to feudalism and that I believe that will hurt everyone.

I suggest getting rural industries back on line, I believe it will take some of the pressure off of the cities, and generate a stronger rural economy. I think we should try and diversify our economy away from oil with our newfound oil money. The more money that stays here the better.

I'd like to suggest that the feds try and pass a law making student loans interest free from financial institutions operating in Canada, but the business community would skin the feds alive and there are problems I can't foresee with that.

Also I'd say that we should bring in a two tier system, but it should be heavily regulated by the gov't. (Standard wages for both, heavy penalties for getting your training in Canada and then going to the states) But that's borderline communism and won't fly with the Medical association.

Childcare, I don't think we can afford a program like that. If we could slow down inflation in BC and Alberta and drop those house values, both parents wouldn't have to work, but I haven't a clue how to fix that.

I think that the corporate tax rate should be lowered like they are in Alberta, I think they can make the money lost through cuts with a booming economy.

For crime, I'd say harsher sentances, and make our jails profitable. Why should we have sweat shops in indonesia when we have perfectly good prisoners here that will work the same hours for the same wage. Plus the savings on shipping would be huge.

The poor, oh boy I don't know that one, there are some that just refuse to work and some that don't have the opportunity. I'd spend the money to provide the opportunity instead of nursing the cycle of dependancy. For the whole reserve thing, rip up the treaties and say get with the program or starve.

Immigration, I'd say tighten up the controls on it so we get the best immigrants to our country and put them straight to work, People shouldn't be coming in to form gangs and the like.

For voting, I'd say make it mandatory like the census, but in the mail send out a ballot and the platforms of all the canditadates/parties in the riding so that the person has a chance at making an informed choice. This can be abused, but hell any voting system can be.

The best way to fix Canada is for every Canadian to smarten up and realize that the gov't cant fix all of their problems and that there are things we can do for ourselves, and for all people to be less greedy.

[Leafless]

IMO Canada can't be fixed.

Proof of this is the total lack of infrastructure to accommodate governments policy pertaining to 'on going mass immigration' and literally dumping all the problems associated with this twisted policy, onto the laps and lifestyles of Canadians.

What this mass immigration policy does is deceiving, but in reality and one way or another, simply takes from everyone's pocket to subsidize business and satisfy their companies shareholders and help keep people employed. Even wealthier immigrants do not supply the type of industry that is required to keep the country viable.

That industry is MANUFACTURING and not boutiques or businesses related to supplying yet MORE services that only further strain the economy. To be successful we need to eat other countries dollars NOT our own.

Supporting solitudes is another area Canada cannot afford along with certain areas of charter rights and is destroying the country.

Canada is simply to big and to cold with high labour and housing and shelter cost.

Keeping Canada small is the answer thanks to our national resources but probably would not sufficiently satisfy or support big business and would be a matter of time, before the country collapses, even with higher taxes to subsidize social programs.

[August1991]

Flipping through this quickly, I read...

.... Tim Hortons would be exempt becuase it's Canadian owned....

Tim Horton's is American owned company although many Canadians may be shareholders.

The same basic ignorance informs most of your proposals. Maybe if you were more disciplined in your spelling and grammar, your knowledge would also be more accurate.

[mikedavid00]

Flipping through this quickly, I read...

.... Tim Hortons would be exempt becuase it's Canadian owned....

Tim Horton's is American owned company although many Canadians may be shareholders.

The same basic ignorance informs most of your proposals. Maybe if you were more disciplined in your spelling and grammar, your knowledge would also be more accurate.

I agree. I still consider it a Canadian company regardless of the trading technicalities. It trades on our market and is basically a Canadian dominated chain with Canadian advertiising and industry backing it. You can not say the same about Starbucks.

Technically you are right though if that's what you like to hear.

Realistically, I am right.

[August1991]

I agree. I still consider it a Canadian company regardless of the trading technicalities. It trades on our market and is basically a Canadian dominated chain with Canadian advertiising and industry backing it. You can not say the same about Starbucks.

Technically you are right though if that's what you like to hear.

Realistically, I am right.

I honestly don't know what you are talking about and frankly, I think that you don't either.

Wendy's International (a US based company) holds a majority position in Tim Hortons. Under pressure from an American shareholder (Pershing), Wendy's spun off Tim Hortons and created a separate entity with minority shareholders (Wendy's has kept over 80% control). The 20% remaining share in Tim Hortons now trades on the NYSE and the TSE. Most shareholders of Wendy's (and Tim Hortons) are American.

Tim Hortons is Canadian in the same way Starbucks is a Seattle coffee shop.

MikeDavid, I have gone into some detail on one, apparently minor point because it is so typical. You arrive at many of your ideas through glib, superficial perceptions. If you paid more attention to detail, including speling and grammar, you might avoid the nonsense you post here.

[Higgly]

Immigration - Canada will no longer be taking in immigrants. We will only offer work permits where a company will sponsor and must prove that he could not hire a Canadian.

Population is power. We have the space. We have the resources.

Refugee - Canada must take refugee's...

You can't spell it right, you don't get an opinion. That's my opinion.

Wasteful spending - eliminate central control of the gov't. The federal gov't has too much power and... layer of beurocracy.

Ditto the refugee comment.

Poor provinces - many Canadian provinces are welfare provinces that are poor. There is not a valid reason for this.

Alberta was pretty poor not too long ago. Territory is territory. Defend it or lose it.

Healthcare - The feds will allow Hosptial Corperations...

Three strikes, you're out. Come back when you learn how to spell.

[mikedavid00]

Three strikes, you're out. Come back when you learn how to spell.

Yeah man. True.

I can't have an opion unless i know how to spel.

Ur smarter than me.

[Saturn]

Your Canada sounds like some weird mix of the Soviet Union and 18th century US.

You want people imported from overseas who work for food and a bed and have zero rights. Hmm, that sounds familiar - oh, I know, it's slavery.

You want every village to elect to run its own affairs. Set up 13 education administrations, 13 health administrations and 13 administrations of this and that, so that the 4 Atlantic administrations have to argue over how to divide up the one brain surgeon among them and how to get him licensed in all 4 villages. Last time I checked 1 administration is sufficient for 32 million people, 13 non-competing parallel administrations are a huge waste.

You want the 2% of special interests on every issue to make all decisions (hijack the outcome) or do you seriously expect all Canadians to vote on every issue and to be capable of making an even remotely informed decision on every issue? What's your informed decision on solving the PEI beat industry's problems?

You want Canadians to drop out of school and compete with the developing world in the unskilled jobs market. Are you under the impression that Canada is very competitive in that market or are you planning for a closed economy here?

You are going to ban unions in the public sector? I take it you really want the most incompetent people to run government (in other words those the private sector won't take). It's not enough that the politicians are incompetent. There is quite a bit of that happening already but you want even more incompetent losers in the public service.

Overall, you want some mix of tall barriers interlaced with anarchism. Not in this world.

[Higgly]

Your Canada sounds like some weird mix of the Soviet Union and 18th century US.

You want people imported from overseas who work for food and a bed and have zero rights. Hmm, that sounds familiar - oh, I know, it's slavery.

And then there's the spelling thing.

[guyser]

Bravo !!

Do all these and this country will be in a dump on no time. And then, you will have some real fun trying to blame the immigrants for the downfall of our country. Beautiful.

You want to strip people of their rights, bring in people and give them NO rights, create more services all the while ranting about the ones we have,and if people that we bring start to get sick at the airport we pack 'em up before they die. What a wonderful country.

"Welfare provinces"....so nice that you think so highly of some of our provinces. Hey go stand at the border of some of these welfare provinces and tease them with a steak. Tell them to quit drinking at the govt teat, of course when they try and explain why this is (mismanaged resources by those outside the welfare province etc etc) you can just go nyah nyah nyah to them.

And of course lets have equality. But first, we have to UN-equal tons of thing...oh I dunno...oh yeah, give tax breaks to Canadian co's, charge no prop taxes to some industries but not others, boot the savage american firms that canucks line up to support (and we can have third rate Canuck co's look after our needs) treat immigrants like chattel ...shall I go on?

You actually had some germs of ideas, but , well let me just say , after digging in manure all day, I am not happy to find a quarter.

[jbg]

Three strikes, you're out. Come back when you learn how to spell.

His spelling is not good in English. However, in Canadian he spells just fine.

[Slavik44]

Your Canada sounds like some weird mix of the Soviet Union and 18th century US.

You want people imported from overseas who work for food and a bed and have zero rights. Hmm, that sounds familiar - oh, I know, it's slavery.

And then there's the spelling thing.

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[geoffrey]

You want every village to elect to run its own affairs. Set up 13 education administrations, 13 health administrations and 13 administrations of this and that, so that the 4 Atlantic administrations have to argue over how to divide up the one brain surgeon among them and how to get him licensed in all 4 villages. Last time I checked 1 administration is sufficient for 32 million people, 13 non-competing parallel administrations are a huge waste.

John. A. Macdonald made your argument went originally proposing confederation. With the Maritimes on board though, a one-government state was pretty much unanimously dismissed as impossible. Canada is too big, and too culturally divisive to be governed from one location. Sharing resources, like a brain surgeon, is one thing. But you can't make a bill that appeases Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland culture all at once. It's impossible. And that is why Canada will never work if it's being run top down. The provinces need to hold the power in order for Canadians to feel they have a voice, and for their voice to make a difference in their well being.

[mikedavid00]

But you can't make a bill that appeases Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland culture all at once. It's impossible. And that is why Canada will never work if it's being run top down. The provinces need to hold the power in order for Canadians to feel they have a voice, and for their voice to make a difference in their well being.

I agree.

Especially when a single province gets greater representation than all the rest in the functinoing of our top level gov't.

There is a movement for an Ontario Party of Canada. Actually a lot of people called the radio in support and open to this idea. There's already a BC Seperatist party.

You know.. maybe if every province had it's own party, it would be a way to get representation for each province into the house. The problem is, Ontario would always have majority.

Now what if we just sent 2 people to represent the provinces. Ah yes, then it would be a US style sentate with even representation.

I don't feel the Parlimenatry system works. We need to give full control to the provinces.

I guess the question becomes - who does Alberta's oil belong to???