Another #@%$ing election!!! Really Canada?!?

[Kickerz]

I am from Calgary, and I can not vote. However, I will make sure my wife doesn't vote conservative...

Now, what I wanted to ask you... One of the big reasons this recession is happening/has happened, is because Harper has turned the healthy surplus into a ridiculous deficit in a matter of couple years... Or what do you think about that?

A couple of observations:

It seems that a couple years of writing and ranting have dramatically improved your writing ability.

The recession is happening due to greed/fraud. Look up "Sub-Prime" Mortgages.

The Canadian Goverment is extremly frustrating. Despite the many benefits, I find the "Party system" extremely frustrating and at times meaningless. I think that MP votes should be anonymous and that the voting record should only be made available to public after the term. That could relieve some of the "strong-arm" tactics parties have when enforcing MP tow the party-line on issues.

At the end of the day, I would vote for a representative that supported taxation dollars to few but essential things.

Improved Health Care. Roads and Maintenance. Improved Nation Wide School education. (I am aware that is a provincial concern, but that bothers me too) arts, music, and sport development (amature), and a revamped school debt model. Supporting Gov't expenses. But I want detailed expenditures receipts made public for every tax dollar that is used to cover this. For example... I want to it to be public knowledge that the Gov't used $156 to purchase dinner for our P.M. and Obama on Tuesday November 12th, 2012. And that 27 of that was spend on Coors light, 30$ on a bottle of wine, 80 for a steak, and a pasta dish and a $19 tip....


I don't want to see Federal dollars applied to big buisnesses tax breaks, fundings private ventures, funding public infrastructe and than giving it to the the public sector.I don't want to see politicians earning a pension that supports them through life. If they put in 4 years, than their pention contributions should be equal to four years service in any other job type. I don't want to see any politician earning a cent more than twice the national average income.
Working as a politician should be seen as a career but as a modestlly compensated service to the nation.

[Chuk]

See thats exactly what he wants everyone to believe. From the Economist last May. He was handed a country in great financial shape.

The praise for Canada's economic performance does not go directly to the Prime Minister, though.

Much of the country's resilience stems from policies such as bank regulation and sound public finances which predate Mr. Harper. The Bank of Canada can share some of the credit too."

YES!! Wendel, I was waiting for this.......

So to use a hockey analogy:

You can not blame a coach for losing with a roster he inherited if you are not willing to give him credit for winning with a roster he inherited.

Harper was at the helm and navigated the world economic crisis using all the tools he had available. As Ultrawhiteness alluded to, most or Harpers "spending" was done in a misguided (my opinion) to appease the opposition parties.

Unlike others, I believe you run a minority like a majority and force the opposition to prove, through public opinion or fact that you policy should be changed. When you are elected to lead, you lead. It is as simple as that.

Anyone can appease, tax and spend and cave to special interests. I want the guy that says what he thinks is best and then does it. Judge people on their action not on their promises. (Maybe I have been tainted by Mcguinty and his string of false promises.)

[ultrawhiteness]

I think that MP votes should be anonymous and that the voting record should only be made available to public after the term. That could relieve some of the "strong-arm" tactics parties have when enforcing MP tow the party-line on issues.

brilliant. completely agree. the long-gun registy vote was a great example.

one thing i will say about the spending on private stuff though... i suppose it is a way to maintain some jobs. after all, some kid with a "creative" degree is making hay on all these attack ads.

[Dutch]

Dutch, you may be thinking of the provincial Conservatives. Alberta had an $8 billion surplus in 2005, down to a $3 billion surplus in 2008 and this year its projected to be close to a $6 billion deficit. I honestly don't understand how money can be managed so poorly.

not entirely... The federal deficit is just as much a gongshow as the provincial one is.

However, we ain't fixing a federal deficit by lowering corporate tax cuts. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard, and it comes from the mouth of Mr. Harper...

[wendelclark17]

YES!! Wendel, I was waiting for this.......

So to use a hockey analogy:

You can not blame a coach for losing with a roster he inherited if you are not willing to give him credit for winning with a roster he inherited. Ya but you have to give credit to the people who built the team, ie Dave Tallon getting a Stanley Cup ring

Harper was at the helm and navigated the world economic crisis using all the tools he had available. As Ultrawhiteness alluded to, most or Harpers "spending" was done in a misguided (my opinion) to appease the opposition parties. or more importantly voters that would usually side with the opposition

Unlike others, I believe you run a minority like a majority and force the opposition to prove, through public opinion or fact that you policy should be changed. When you are elected to lead, you lead. It is as simple as that. I cant agree with this but you are entitled to your opinion, I think that when you are voted in as a minority you must reflect that in your governance and at least try and work with the other parties

Anyone can appease, tax and spend and cave to special interests. I want the guy that says what he thinks is best and then does it. Judge people on their action not on their promises. (Maybe I have been tainted by Mcguinty and his string of false promises.)

totally agree that McGuinty does not help peoples view of he federal liberals with his antics

good discussion. And dobber I share your feelings, it sucks when you dont really want to vote for anyone. Maybe we should start a new party Dobber's Democrats!!! how many visitors do you get? we could swing a couple of seats for sure!!!!

[Dutch]

A couple of observations:

It seems that a couple years of writing and ranting have dramatically improved your writing ability.

appreciate the compliment ! I try, occasionally I just don't care tho ha ha...

As for the rest of your comments (deleted to keep it clean in the forums)

I agree

[wendelclark17]

A couple of observations:

It seems that a couple years of writing and ranting have dramatically improved your writing ability.

The recession is happening due to greed/fraud. Look up "Sub-Prime" Mortgages.

The Canadian Goverment is extremly frustrating. Despite the many benefits, I find the "Party system" extremely frustrating and at times meaningless. I think that MP votes should be anonymous and that the voting record should only be made available to public after the term. That could relieve some of the "strong-arm" tactics parties have when enforcing MP tow the party-line on issues.

At the end of the day, I would vote for a representative that supported taxation dollars to few but essential things.

Improved Health Care. Roads and Maintenance. Improved Nation Wide School education. (I am aware that is a provincial concern, but that bothers me too) arts, music, and sport development (amature), and a revamped school debt model. Supporting Gov't expenses. But I want detailed expenditures receipts made public for every tax dollar that is used to cover this. For example... I want to it to be public knowledge that the Gov't used $156 to purchase dinner for our P.M. and Obama on Tuesday November 12th, 2012. And that 27 of that was spend on Coors light, 30$ on a bottle of wine, 80 for a steak, and a pasta dish and a $19 tip....


I don't want to see Federal dollars applied to big buisnesses tax breaks, fundings private ventures, funding public infrastructe and than giving it to the the public sector.I don't want to see politicians earning a pension that supports them through life. If they put in 4 years, than their pention contributions should be equal to four years service in any other job type. I don't want to see any politician earning a cent more than twice the national average income.
Working as a politician should be seen as a career but as a modestlly compensated service to the nation.

great post .... gotta leave work so i wont comment in depth but I like your thinking.

[Dutch]

we need new jets. ask anyone in the armed forces. and there aren't a whole lot of options, especially ones that we can leverage to use some canadian content.

health care... provincial. don't know why you think the feds should be involved.

stelmach is/was a joke, Dutch. there is very little "conservative" about anything he has done. get your wife to vote Wildrose this summer.

also, you seem confused about corporations. Stelmach hurting corporations = bad... so Harper helping corporations = also bad?

corp tax breaks = more companies sticking their offices in our great country = places for Dutch juniors to find work when the oil industry gets ****ed over by environmentalists.

I actually think Wildrose may end up the winners around here, relatively speaking.

Not really confused, I think Stelmach hurt the oilcompanies very much. I think that had a domino effect on the economy. The fact that Harper wants to help companies, is a good idea, but not when we got this deficit we need to get rid of first. I see how this can come over as agreeing with 2 opposite things, but it really isn't that way.

As for environmentalist, I do think that the oilcompanies need to change their ways of doing business so that it is more environment friendly. I still believe tho, once change has happened the oilbusinness will be as booming as ever.

[lockedge]

I'm in Baird's riding(Nepean-Carleton), so my vote won't likely mean anything, since Canada fails hard at proper representation in Parliament.

I think the Cons will get a majority, and it will be really depressing. Even after the Census/StatsCan issue, the attack ads, the backdoor dealings, the wasteful spending, the blatant election vote-grab tactics used at the expense of the country's future, the uncooperative partisan antics in parliament, the proroguing parliament, the lies about coalitions even though he planned one half a dozen years back, etc. etc.I think the Cons will win due to their loyal voterbase.

Liberals sure haven't helped themselves in Ontario and BC, and with Ignatieff at the helm, they're not going to win any more seats. I have a feeling this is Iggy and the Liberals wanting to waste an election to hand it over to Trudeau, or best case scenario wind up with a few more seats.

I'll be voting NDP as always. Not because I would ever trust them to run the country, but because I find they're effective with the seats they manage, and that all their hardcore crap is tamed down into digestible, reasonable legislation that gets passed.

[Thieving Giraffe]

Well that's nice he cut GST, but gas went up by a good 25 c a liter the last 2 years, so we are still not saving.

Hahahahaha... liters. Oh, you Canadians...

[fantasyhockeygeek]

There is one theme that has happened under Harper's watch and it is absolutely unforgivable in my mind.

Dude has destroyed Canada's international reputation for being an honest broker and for multilateralism. Every past government, be it grit or tory, has maintained Canada's place in the world based on doing what was morally imperative on a global scale -- you name a PM for the last 30 years, they have been engaged internationally. Harper has been obsessed with domestic policy (after all, nobody votes from outside Canada!) and shied away from this important role, instead cozying up to whatever the US has done and more-or-less abandoning Canadian interests in international organisations. This culminated in two incidents that were an absolute embarrassment to Canada, yet strangely have received little press in the election thusfar:

1. Getting Canada's strategic military base (the launching point for Afghanistan) booted from the UAE because Harper was too stubborn to negotiate a couple extra commercial flights a week.
2. Losing a seat on the UN security council (for many years an "autopick" for Canada) to freakin' Portugal. No disrespect to Portugal, but this really illustrates how far Canada's int'l reputation has fallen.

Canadians like to think of ourselves as respected/liked internationally. Harper has done enormous damage to that perception.

Besides that, Harper has a stupid haircut. Nobody can deny that!

[ultrawhiteness]

the UAE thing was bizarre, but i'm one who responds badly when people try to coerce me into doing things.

as for the UN... we lost it because our leadership supported Israel (my/your stance may differ), because a bloc of nations in Africa thought we should be giving more money to them, and because the EU voted together to get another one of their member states involved. what are you going to do?

like other things, majority rules in the UN.

[fantasyhockeygeek]

UW, that's the micro picture on both those issues, and indicative of a much broader trend.

In the case of the UAE base, they had been doing Canada a solid, then asked for a little consideration in return. Pretty silly that Harper stepped over MacKay and removed his latitude to negotiate.

As for the UN, there was a time when that simply wouldn't have happened -- Canada's indifference/inadequacy on the international scene over the past 5+ years opened up the space for events to go down as they did.

[Loch]

like other things, majority rules in the UN.

Unlike Canadian elections....

The 2008 vote had 59% voter turnout with the Conservatives getting 37.65%... and thus forming a government with the support of about 22% of eligible voters... That isn't even half of a majority.

There are some... let's say undesirable... quirks to the election processes in Canada (like the fact that the Libs and NDP combined for 46% of popular vote and less seats than the Cons) The fix on this is by no means obvious or easy... and low voter turnout should be expected to continue until people either: a) are forced to vote, or b) have a lively expectation that their vote will be reflected in the governing of the country...

Oh, and I'm pretty sure most of us would be happier if the politicians would shut up and try working together... when none of you have the support of more than 16% of the population (eligible voters and not) it is hardly a strong mandate to do what ever you want and act like you are the real voice of Canadians... *ahem, Harper, Layton, Ignawhateverthehell

[Chuk]

So much to respond too... I was tied up last night so here we go...

Dude has destroyed Canada's international reputation for being an honest broker and for multilateralism.

1. Getting Canada's strategic military base (the launching point for Afghanistan) booted from the UAE because Harper was too stubborn to negotiate a couple extra commercial flights a week. I think this is far too simplistic an idea as the economic threat of an unlimited subsidized airline being allowed to enter Canada was far too large. Plus leveraging a military and global security favor to force a private economic agreement is not the type of coercion i would want my government bowing to.
2. Losing a seat on the UN security council (for many years an "autopick" for Canada) to freakin' Portugal. No disrespect to Portugal, but this really illustrates how far Canada's int'l reputation has fallen. Some would argue the stance which resulted in our lost seat actually increased our reputation, especially amoungst our "partners". When it comes to the UN, if you bend to appease the majority, you might as well sell your soul.

Canadians like to think of ourselves as respected/liked internationally. Harper has done enormous damage to that perception. As i said above I guess it depends on whose perception you are interested in valuing.

Besides that, Harper has a stupid haircut. Nobody can deny that!Touche!

the UAE thing was bizarre, but i'm one who responds badly when people try to coerce me into doing things.

as for the UN... we lost it because our leadership supported Israel (my/your stance may differ), because a bloc of nations in Africa thought we should be giving more money to them, and because the EU voted together to get another one of their member states involved. what are you going to do?

This sounds about right. If you look at the members of the various committees and councils at the UN you have to realize that the credibility and the usefulness of the organization has outlived itself. I have no issues being a country that stands by its morals and ideals globally and does not attempt to appease its so called allies, especially when it comes to democratic and human rights issues. You do what is right, not what is easy and definitely not what gains you popularity at the UN. If more countries followed Canada's lead the UN might be relevant again.

UW, that's the micro picture on both those issues, and indicative of a much broader trend.

In the case of the UAE base, they had been doing Canada a solid, then asked for a little consideration in return. Pretty silly that Harper stepped over MacKay and removed his latitude to negotiate. Harper ended the conversation instead of falsely negotiating. My understanding was the experts withing the Canadian industry said the suggested deal would cripple them.

As for the UN, there was a time when that simply wouldn't have happened -- Canada's indifference/inadequacy on the international scene over the past 5+ years opened up the space for events to go down as they did.

This is 100% true. The question that begs asking is: Has Canadian ideology shifted that much over the last 5 years or has the International scene shifted and galvanized to a point that Canada's democratic views and actions are diametrically opposed the the majority of the members of the UN?
When I look at individual citizens, immigrants and refugees who come to Canada from these countries that constantly badmouth and discredit Canada, it seems they come here for a better life for their families to escape dictatorships, oppression and atrocities. It is their decision to "escape" their homeland to find a better life hear that i trust more than any political diatribe from the UN. I know we Canadians complain about our country, but I think we all know that we live in the best country in the world and so does everyone else.