Reply By: J.E.Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005Harper will never get the keys to 24 Sussex. He’s too, well, Albertan. Let’s face it, ever since the Bloc québécois was formed, the conservatives have absolutely no chance of winning Quebec. And without a solid control of Quebec, it’s VERY hard to get a majority government. Their only chance would be to get Ontario. However, most Ontarians are scared of Harper (just look at what happened during the last election). Stronach is a viable option, she’s just young. Give her a couple years. The only other hope for the Conservative party would be Bernard Lord, but he doesn’t seem to have any plans of running for the federal government.All in All, you can expect see another decade of Liberals dominating the House in Canada (you should be scared of Martin’s successor if you think he’s “too liberal”)

hey this is really great, you canadians talking politic here, if i only knew who all these people are, i could comment.

but blog on yer all welcome to stay and do what ya do, even if i never comment.

JE, do you think Canada would prefer another Quebec PM? Hey, they've only had the job since 1968 Haper - who was born in Ontario and speaks french better than Martin - does not need a majority or Quebec to get the keys to 24 Sussex, so your logic fails. Do you think with the Adscam enquiry moving to Montreal that the Liberals are gonna do better there next election? I don't.

Ontario is getting screwed really, really badly by the federal Liberals via equalization and immigration payments, and even the finance minister admits that. I think Ontario voters are going to clue in next election and ask themselves if they want another Liberal PM who will cut fat cheques with Ontario tax dollars to Quebec and the East purely for vote buying purposes. Harper is no dummy and you can count on him to make this a major campaign issue. McGuinty hurts the Liberals badly in Ontario, I can assure you. So if Adscam lowers Liberal support in Quebec, and McGuinty and equalization lowers Liberal support in Ontario, where do the Liberals expect to win enough seats to form a government?

You state your opinions on Stronach, Lord et al as fact when they are highly debatable at best. One more point to note: separatism. Albertans are becoming increasingly unahppy with confederation and I don't blame them. Believe it or not, some Albertans and Ontarians don't like the fact that they get substantial money taken off their paycheque to be given to another province. Some Albertans and Ontarians resent the fact that they can't grow up to be Prime Minister because they belong to the wrong ethnic group and province. What I'm saying is that there are a lot of issues at play that aren't on the front page of the Globe and Mail that need to be taken into consideration when prognosticating politically. And if the choice is 10 more years of Liberal policies or separation, don't discount the latter as a better and viable alternative for many Canadians.

David St. Hubbins

All the world sees of America is what their press and “news” stations want them to see.

Ever read any Noam Chomsky? You don't know the half of it.

He's a trained economist, not another %@!*#! lawyer, and unlike Jack (my dad was a Tory cabinet minister) Layton and Paul (so was my dad, only Liberal) Martin

First, Jack Layton was never a lawyer.

it was damn close,

Well, it was prety close, but that was right after the sponsorship scandal, and Paul Martin ran a horrible campaign. I don't think the Conseratives will get that lucky again. Unless, of course, they fight an election over same-sex marriage against a man who supports it, but can't say the words "I support gay marriage." In that case, the NDP would make serious gains in mostly liberal (small l) urban areas, especially when by voting Liberal, you have about a 1 in 3 chance of supporting someone who agrees with Stephen Harper.

Go ahead and vote for the best haircut if you want, I'll be voting for the best man for the job and the best policies.

How can I be voting by haircut when I support a bald man? I'll be voting for the man with the best policies. Lets face it: Liberal policies are what makes Canada great, but most of those are just stolen from the NDP (ie: medicare)

JE, do you think Canada would prefer another Quebec PM? Hey, they've only had the job since 1968

Turner and Campbel weren’t from Quebec. It's not Quebec's fault if they were incompetent and lost the power in their first year

Haper - who was born in Ontario and speaks french better than Martin

Martin’s French is much much much much better than Harper’s. Martin’s coherent, at least. What are you basing yourself on to say that; do you even speak French?

Ontario is getting screwed really, really badly by the federal Liberals via equalization and immigration payments, and even the finance minister admits that. I think Ontario voters are going to clue in next election and ask themselves if they want another Liberal PM who will cut fat cheques with Ontario tax dollars to Quebec and the East purely for vote buying purposes. Harper is no dummy and you can count on him to make this a major campaign issue. McGuinty hurts the Liberals badly in Ontario, I can assure you. So if Adscam lowers Liberal support in Quebec, and McGuinty and equalization lowers Liberal support in Ontario, where do the Liberals expect to win enough seats to form a government?

Harper still embodies the Alliance. The Alliance was perceived in Ontario as a Western regional party. As long as he’s there, the Conservative party will have problems.

Quebecers are really getting tired of the Sponsorship scandal. They just don’t care anymore (well, not as much). It’s pretty impossible for the Liberals to do any worse in Quebec in the next election.

And if the choice is 10 more years of Liberal policies or separation, don't discount the latter as a better and viable alternative for many Canadians.

Albertan “separatism” is laughable. It’s not based on national identity of anything remotely like in Quebec. They just want more money and power.

Reply By: latour999Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005All the world sees of America is what their press and “news” stations want them to see.Ever read any Noam Chomsky? You don't know the half of it.

nope I am depressed enough, altho I will look up his works, now.

Reply By: latour999Posted: Sunday, March 06, 2005

I'll be voting for the man with the best policies. Lets face it: Liberal policies are what makes Canada great, but most of those are just stolen from the NDP (ie: medicare)

too many liberal policies ie: entitlements. are what is destroying america, canada too, takes away a persons will to do for themselves.

When you speak of "old fart conservatives", who and what policies are you speaking of?

And liberal wing of the Democratic Party shrieking? What about Zell Miller?

You also called some people liars but gave no evidence of that.

And also, why is it that people you (not you personally, I mean people in general) politically disagree with always hate their country. Did it ever cross people's minds that they didn't hate the US, but that they love their country and just have a different (Whether its right or wrong is irrelevant in my point) idea of how to make it better?

Also, removing "God" from the pledge of allegience is not going to demoralize America. Think about it. Seriously.

You also speak of the liberal wing of the Dem Party destroying America. What a second! Who's in the power? I'm pretty sure it ain't the Democrats, let alone the Far Left. Last time I checked, Republicans hold the White House, the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court (yeah, you got O'Connor tipping everything, but, okay). The Democrats seem only able to check the Republicans. They're not in a position to cause this trouble you claim that the are doing right now.

JE - Alberta separatism is very real and is based on legitimate concerns with Confederation I've listed above and you've chosen to ignore. And when Ontarians clue into how badly they are getting scammed by the Liberals it's reasonable to suggest that they will consider alternative confederal arrangements. My french is OK, my impression of PM Dithers' and Harpers' french is based on hearing them speak it and has been echoed in the media. If you believe Quebeckers don't care about Adscam, that Alberta separatism is a joke, or that Belinda S is a viable - in any sense - candidate to lead the Conservatives then I have to question some of your beliefs.

Latour - I didn't mean to imply he was a lawyer (I wonder if that's grounds for libel?), the sentence could've been better written. I kinda like Jumpin' Jack Layton, I just hate his policies, which he stole from Mao, Pol Pot, and Satan. It's Canadian PEOPLE, not Liberal policies, that make Canada great. Legislation doesn't hold the door open for strangers; policy does not say please and thank you.

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to the Conservative policy convention. I abhor the hollow 'beer commercial' patriotism in our country; I aspire for my country to be more than a health insurance plan. Here is a good example of how Liberal policy works: the Liberals want to spend billions on state run child care. The conservatives want to give parents a tax credit instead, so they can either stay home with their kids or buy their own daycare. Polls show that Canadians would prefer to raise their kids at home.

When confronted with this poll, Social Development Minister Ken Dryden suggested that Candians were being dishonest in responding to the poll. Yeah, that's right: the Liberals are so arrogant that when Canadians don't agree with their Orwellian child rearing policies, they assume Canadians are lying. Nice. Even if state run childcare was a good idea, which it is not, the Liberals have proven with the gun registry and adscam that they are unable to deliver services in an efficient and equitable manner, and that's a good a reason as any to vote Conservative.

A majority of Canadians are against gay marriage, so the Liberals call a majority of Canadians bigoted (not in so many words, but that's the angle they are playing). Now, it's a human right and a Charter right all of a sudden, despite the fact that gay marriage has never been defined by any court or tribunal in any country in the world or the UN as a human right. I don't have much problem with gay marriage, but I don't like having leftist agendas rammed down my throat via fake claims of bigotry.

Eighty six percent of Canadians are against an increase in immigration, yet the Liberals want to increase immigration, which is already the highest in the world. Try arguing that maybe, just maybe, we should cut down on immigration and you're racist. These are just a few examples of how Liberals are destroying Canada.

David St. Hubbins

David, where are you from exactly? Let me guess, some small town in the Prairies?

Even if Alberta “separatism” is “very real”, like you say, it would take them many decades to organise anything substantial. It took Quebec more than 30 years to have a real chance of seceding. All this separation talk isn’t new either. The Canadian confederation is an artificial one that has been forcibly made. During the first election in 1867, 18 out of the 19 MPs from Nova Scotia were from the Anti-Confederate party who’s only goal was the separate from Canada. But guess what, it’s still there. To believe that Alberta separatism is “real”, is, well, unrealistic.

And forget what the National Post or any other whacked out conservative newspaper told you, Harper’s French is horrible.

The sponsorship scandal wouldn’t have the same effect on the next election in Quebec. It isn’t fresh anymore. It was so devastating during the last election only because it was new and because Martin was totally incompetent in managing it.

A majority of Canadians are against gay marriage, so the Liberals call a majority of Canadians bigoted (not in so many words, but that's the angle they are playing). Now, it's a human right and a Charter right all of a sudden, despite the fact that gay marriage has never been defined by any court or tribunal in any country in the world or the UN as a human right. I don't have much problem with gay marriage, but I don't like having leftist agendas rammed down my throat via fake claims of bigotry.

Actually, most polls say that a slight majority of Canadians are for gay marriages. But this is about more than gay marriages. It’s about having a uniformed definition of the Charter of Rights. 7 of the 10 provinces and 1 territory have ruled that it was against the Charter not to allow gay marriages. Therefore, you cannot, for the unity of the country, allow 3 provinces to have a different definition of the fundamental rights.

Even if, by some miracle, Harper was in power with a majority, he could never ban gay marriages in those provinces. The courts would throw any legislation out. All he could do is use the Notwithstanding clause, but that would inevitably ruin his career. Interfering in provincial rights is very risky.

JE: 'avid, where are you from exactly? Let me guess, some small town in the Prairies?'

Now I've seen some sleazy debate tactics here at JoeUser, but suggesting my opinion is invalid because you (very wrongly) assume I'm some kind of hick that just fell off the turnip truck is a new one. It speaks volumes about how badly you misunderstand your fellow Canadians; believe it or not, many people who think the Liberals suck don't live in West Bumfuck, Saskatchewan.

Harper doesn't need to use the Notwithstanding clause. "Fundamental Rights" are not rabbits you pull out of a hat; gay marriage has never been considered a fundamental right anywhere by any judicial body. The poll where a majority of Canadians "supported" gay marriage? That question was more loaded than Ralph Klein on a Saturday night and if you don't believe me then google it. Most of the rest of the stuff you wrote is wrong, too, but I don't have time to refute it. You have proven to be unworthy of The St. Hubbins Experience and I request that you exit this thread at once. Have a nice day.

David St. Hubbins

He's a trained economist, not another %@!*#! lawyer, and unlike Jack (my dad was a Tory cabinet minister) Layton and Paul (so was my dad, only Liberal) Martin First, Jack Layton was never a lawyer.

Sorry dude but he never claimed he was a lawyer

Aren’t you cute David. Don’t be so touchy, I’m just playing

But may I suggest you look into how gay marriage got legalised in Ontario, Quebec or British Columbia? Maybe you’d get a better understanding of it.

Liberals are the modern day Communists. Need proof? Look at Kerry during the Vietnam War. He was concidered a communist sympathiser and today, gee, he ran for president!!!! Sorry folks but we need to really think about who we elect. Don't vote for someone because you like their tie or their hair. Or, because they can play the sax on SNL!!! There are alot of special interest groups, foreign supporters, and others that would love to seat a president that "owes" them a favor. I can almost guarantee you that if Bush lost, North Korea's nuclear program would be moving ahead full steam and Kerry would be turning the other cheek just like Clinton did on Iran, Iraq, Afganistan, and Syria. Liberals today are a very small part of the elected officials in this country that only care about their own interests and not the interests of the United States Citizens. Unfortunately, the stick out above the legitimate democratic leaders and overshadow them. Today's liberal thinking only represents less than 1% of what people believe. Gee, doesn't that sound alot like Stalin?????

New Zealand is looking better and better all the time.

Trust me on this one little thing - you would never, ever be happy living in New Zealand. If you think the Democrats are liberals, you'd be incapable of dealing with the policies of the most conservative NZ party - they'd be too leftist.

It's a beautiful country, but I reckon they'd be too progressive socialist for your tastes.

I agree wholeheartedly - New Zealand does look better all the time!!!!!!!!

The grass is always greener on the other side.  Actually, New Zealand has a bunch of problems of its own, and some loonier politicians than either Canada or the US.

You can run, but you cannot hide.  Before heading for the hills of NZ, check it out.  This continent may have its idiots, but that island has them just as bad.