I think you have the timing reversed. Meech Lake came first. Also, I think that Meech was a better accord.red said:and thank god for them. Meech lake was just a repeat of the charlottetown accord which Canadians rejected
I think you have the timing reversed. Meech Lake came first. Also, I think that Meech was a better accord.red said:and thank god for them. Meech lake was just a repeat of the charlottetown accord which Canadians rejected
Wrong pal! It takes Large balls, to say to the electorate,: "Woops, my party, may or may not have been run by criminals, I would like to stand on my record, and get a new mandate from Canada"red said:- but you like me don't know shit about who is responsible. its not about balls, - how much balls does it take to run away, versus taking the shit every day
Sure Red...Wait, wait, wait...red said:While I think he may be lying, your choices are not the only ones. It is not clear to me that the MOF does more than set the general financial framework for the gov't, but I don't have a fuckin clue. I am interested in reading the gomery report before I make up my mind based on all of the evidence presented
I couldn't have said it better myself.slowpoke said:As if that wasn't enough, Harper has also been unable to sell himself as an alternative to the Liberals. His sole contribution to Canada lately has been to drone on grimly and endlessly about adscam but to offer no clear vision of where he would take us if he was behind the wheel. Those who suspected he had a hidden agenda before could be forgiven for wondering if he has ANY agenda now, other than to highjack parliament, trying unsuccessfully to force an unnecessary election.
Agreed. (Lang and I agree on something! Quick! Write this down!)langeweile said:Having lived in the USA for quiet a while I have a hard time calling the Conservatives..well conservative.
Everytime the Liberals come out with a new entitlement plan, like daycare,or take a position on any issue like gay marriage. Harper usually comes out and says "Yeah i am for that too, but I would do it different".
There must be a lot of people like me they ask themselves "Why should I vote fo him?"
IMHO he doesnt represent a true allternative. In many ways the NDP represents a much stronger alternative than him.
His reluctance to openly speak about a truly conservative agenda. Keeps many conservative voters away from the polls and gives the liberals the "hidden agenda" card.
The"R's" in the USA didn't get elected because they were fighting for the middle ground with the "D's", they got elected because at the time they managed to distinguish themselves as a true alternative. I don't get the same vibes from Harper.
By constantly moving to the left he pushes the whole spectrum even more to the left.
I think the Conservatives need to do some soul searching. Maybe they will loose a few % points in the short run, but I think in the long run they can seperate themselves as a true alternative.
Looking at voter participation in the past election, there is a big chunk of people that haven't voted.
Certainly in the last election in the USA the higher turnout has benefited the Republicans.
The simple fact of the matter is that there aren't enough hardcore, rightwing conservatives in Canada for them to elect a Government. I'm sure the Liberals would be salivating at the idea that the Conservatives make themselves more conservative; can you say, Liberal hegemony for another decade?langeweile said:Having lived in the USA for quiet a while I have a hard time calling the Conservatives..well conservative.
No, Canada is so far left that moderate conservative positions seem extreme to you.Keebler Elf said:Canada isn't the USA. Canada is more centrist
HAHA! That's such a funny, um, "outlook" on things you have there...Pete Graves said:No, Canada is so far left that moderate conservative positions seem extreme to you.
Arguable. Very arguable...Truncador said:...and enjoys more freedom and better administration than any nation in history
I used to think that until I actually lived in the U.S. Their infringements on freedom often come in different forms but they are there and in some ways worse.Truncador said:A country veers as far to the left as its citizens are willing to allow themselves to be pushed. Contrast America at one end of the spectrum- whose population is wealthier and enjoys more freedom
That certainly is not true of the current American Administration.and better administration than any nation in history-
Provincial politicians rarely do well federally. They carry to much baggage.with England, whose citizens have been reduced to little more than slaves, at the other. For some time, Canada has been drifting farther and farther towards the edge of the English abyss. I agree that Harper just doesn't have what it takes to stop that drift. Both Mike Harris and Ralph Klein do; either one could save this country from a miserable, slow, and painful descent.
The problem with a common I.D. like Europe is that the U.S. would expect far too much to make it happen. When I got my british passport, it was just before the european union, once i had my british passport i was considered to be verified by the british and as such acceptable to the rest of the european union. I don't think that the U.S would just readily accept that people who have canadian or mexican passports are verified according to their standards and would still require other checks that could include finger prints and other personal data that as a Canadian I don't even really want my own government to have let alone a foreign one like the U.S.langeweile said:I agree on this.Cooperation shouldn't mean, that one side is loosing it's identity.
The border is more of a symbol, than it is a border in it's true sense. Any attempt to make it in to a "real" border is expensive and stupid.
A coordinated immigration and security policy makes a lot more sense.How about a "common I.D."? Similiar to the European passport?
I actually don't think that the U.S really does enjoy more freedom than we do. From what i have seen of the U.S population, they totally buy in to whatever propaganda is fed to them without much argument, now many canadians do the same thing but at least most canadians can look beyond their own media for second or differing opinions. I think some of freedoms afforded by the U.S constitution are nothing more than words on paper and the spirit behind them has long since been removed from the governmentTruncador said:A country veers as far to the left as its citizens are willing to allow themselves to be pushed. Contrast America at one end of the spectrum- whose population is wealthier and enjoys more freedom and better administration than any nation in history- with England, whose citizens have been reduced to little more than slaves, at the other. For some time, Canada has been drifting farther and farther towards the edge of the English abyss. I agree that Harper just doesn't have what it takes to stop that drift. Both Mike Harris and Ralph Klein do; either one could save this country from a miserable, slow, and painful descent.
I take it that you never read the Meech Lake Accord or ever had any idea what it was about, for the Accord would have done none of the things you suggest. The sheer ignorance of many Canadians about the precise terms and conditions of this agreement was appalling.Truncador said:The Meech Lake accord was downright criminal. I would rather see Canada Balkanized than make Quebec a Constitutional elector and aristocracy within Confederation . Brian Mulroney was a great man in many ways, but he was really more of a businessman than a Statesman, totally cynical, and as such was willing to casually use the rights and freedoms of the people as so many bargaining chips.
One of the reasons for this is that the USA has a unique and rather peculiar definition of the word "conservative". We have a rather strange notion of the concept ourselves.langeweile said:Having lived in the USA for quiet a while I have a hard time calling the Conservatives..well conservative.
Not the case anymore. It was certainly the situation when I was there, during the height of the Thatcher/Major years, but life and the economy in the UK is about as good now as it has ever been.Truncador said:...England, whose citizens have been reduced to little more than slaves...
Harris drove the economy into a $6Billion+ deficit, and then lied about it to make the McGuinty Liberals look bad. Fortunately the Ontario Auditor General saw through it and placed the blame where it belonged. As for Klein, Alberta just happens to be sitting on top of some monumental oil and gas reserves. To hear Klein and Rod Love and the other Tory cronies talk, you'd think that they actually did something to deserve this peculair quirk of geological fate! They remind me a bit of the son born into a rich family, gloating all his life that he hit a triple, when in fact he was born on third base.Truncador said:Both Mike Harris and Ralph Klein do; either one could save this country from a miserable, slow, and painful descent...