The All-Canadian Thread

That's not the RCMP you're going for is it, Beer Nut? That would be v cool IMO - used to be a fan of "Due South" 🙂

I read what you guys are saying about local and national government and I think you could've easily been talking about the UK. It obviously holds true for you guys as well: "No matter which lot you vote for, the Bloody government always gets in..."😉
 
Jenny said:
He has said it's not part of his platform...the abortion issue, the gay rights issue and a few other things have bothered me about Harper.
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Don't let the Liberal disinformation fool you, darlin'! His exact words were "introducing abortion legislation is not part of the Conservative platform." He said he would allow introduction of a private members' bill, but the chances of it actually making it into law are about 50,000:1, since there has NEVER been a successful private members' bill on a controversial topic ever passed. (We got the Flag Bill, but so what...it was so Sheila Copps could spend money...).

With respect to Gay Rights and marriage, I heard an interesting lady on a local talk radio show on this very topic. She is gay, and has been married, and she is voting for Harpur. She says that she has the right to marry now, and she's not afraid that it will be revoked...and that doing that would be nearly impossible in our system...BTW, she is a lawyer too, so she knows what she's talking about, I guess. If she's not worried, why are all the apologists screaming that the Conservatives are gonna kill it?

Readers' Digest version: don't let the side issues sidetrack your train of thought. Voting Liberal just because of one issue that may or may not be changed is losing sight of the reasons that the Liberals don't deserve to be in power. If they get back in, we'll see arrogance and graft that makes the Sponsorship Scandal, the HDRC boondoggle and the firearm fiasco look like cheating in a penny-ante poker game.

Beer Nut: My dad was a cop. Noble profession, and I've got a soft spot for it...good luck, amigo! Hey, apply to London...our new chief is a good guy...used to play baseball with him!
 
Mr. Pointy said:
That's not the RCMP you're going for is it, Beer Nut? That would be v cool IMO - used to be a fan of "Due South" 🙂

I read what you guys are saying about local and national government and I think you could've easily been talking about the UK. It obviously holds true for you guys as well: "No matter which lot you vote for, the Bloody government always gets in..."😉
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No it's not the RCMP its the Toronto Police Service I'm trying for. I can't deal with the RCMP hats (I don't mind the red jacket or the pants, but the hat... c'mon now).

You are definitely right about our situation being the same as the UK, especially since our system was developed from yours. Then overall we end up facing the same d*mned problems. Fr*ggin' governments (not directed at you Jenny...lol).
 
Here's an all-Canadian voting issue for you.

File-sharing music is legal in Canada. It was decided in a recent court decision.

What happens is we pay a tax on blank CDs and probably in the future, other hardware designed to copy files. The money gathered from these taxes goes to the section of the entertainment industry that has managed to extort most of the copyrights away from the artists. But we don't really care where the money goes. As we see the law, if you pay for it once, you shouldn't have to pay twice.

Both the Liberal and Conservative parties have been making these vague little comments that seem to be a nudge to the Entertainment industry saying "Support our campaign, and we'll change the law when we get in. You'll still get the tax money, plus it will be illegal to share files in Canada".

To me this specific expample of the willingness of Liberal or Conservative governments to sell out Canadian law, indicates a general untrustworthiness in either party.

To me Liberal vs Conservative is just the young Nazi vs the old Nazi. I'm going NDP or Green.
 
n4h I agree with you, to a point. However I feel that the government should make the laws, not the courts. One idiot judge can ruin things for millions of Canadians. Laws should be made by the elected officials, not by appointed ones. If we were voting for our supreme court members it would be a different story. We do not vote for them, therefore I don't want them making decisions about my life. I would rather have officials elected by the population make the decisions, even if I disagree with some of them. We cannot divest too much power into people that Canadians do not know.
 
Well yeah. The judge should interpret the law as it stands. This is what Finklestein (which, believe it or not, is the name of the judge in the filesharing case) did.

On the other hand it is within the power of parties in power to change the law. They don't always do that based on the will of those who voted them in.

When the Liberal or Consertives get it in, and we wake up to discover filesharing is now illegal as a result of lobbying (ie financial contributions) from the entertainment industry, I don't think the 3 million Canadian filesharers facing lawsuits (as they do in America), or jail-time (as they do in Italy or Japan), are going to think, "Hey, good idea. That's what I voted for".
 
nerd4hire said:
When the Liberal or Consertives get it in, and we wake up to discover filesharing is now illegal as a result of lobbying (ie financial contributions) from the entertainment industry, I don't think the 3 million Canadian filesharers facing lawsuits (as they do in America), or jail-time (as they do in Italy or Japan), are going to think, "Hey, good idea. That's what I voted for".
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Very true, but I still hang to the right side of the political spectrum, especially on issues of economics. I'm happy that I can download files from the net, however I can't allow that to be my only issue in the election. Furthermore while the Conservatives and Liberals may be in the "pockets" of the entertainment industry the NDP are completely dependant on unions for their support. They are all on different sides of the same coin. I'm so sick of having noone "speak" for me and that is the same in this election across all of the parties.

The best thing that could happen is a minority government because the only laws that can be passed are those that cross party lines and are beneficial to the majority of Canadians.
 
I'm with you man. Go minority. Too bad there wasn't a box on the ballot to check for that.

The problem with parties that are willing to sell out to big business is, first they're making back-room deals with big music, next they're giving the rivers away for hydro, then the off-shore oil disappears, and so on.

The rivers are a big thing out west here. We'd like to keep them Canadian, but we're not optimistic.
 
OK Just got caught up with this thread. I've got to tell you all how it went at the Harper rally on Friday.

I've been working on Alan Riddell's campaign, he's the candidate for Ottawa South (not where I live but used to for many years).

So turns out that when hubby, my best friend Cathy and her hubby Ryan (also working on the campaign) and I arrive, we are handed shirts. We are to be part of Harper's entourage.

So there's about a thousand people inside the room. They have the TV cameras set-up and a giant flag behind the podium and about 10 Cons. Candidates (including Riddell).

So there's about 20 of us in blue Harper shirts and we flank the entrance in a V formation.

Harper comes in and starts shaking our hands, we have giant flags and the cameras are there. They are running Harper's newest media commercial inside the room.

So then we are directed to follow Harper through the room and chant after him (Harper, Harper) and clap and wave the flags and they have this super hard upbeat music playing. I'm telling you, you would have thought this guy was a superstar or something! Like a boxer going into the ring to win some title! It was MADNESS!

Then we go right to the front, Harper takes the stage and we have plackards with his name on it, which one of Harper's people has informed us that we are to wave in front of media cameras should a fight break out again.

So there we are surrounded by media, not 3 feet away from him at the podium. And let me tell you, his speech was the single-most awe inspiring thing I have EVER heard. Now I know why I love him as a candidate. And KD you are dead right about that not being part of his platform. He says he doesn't want the courts to be able to choose who should marry whom.

So anyways after it's over, we follow him out doing the same thing..which takes forevor cause he's sigining autographs and shaking hands.

Then outside we are helping Alan Riddell get interviews and such..and there are protestors there of course, about 12 Liberal supporters with weird signs and such. There's about 20 mins of back and forth and then Cessus (sp?) breaks it up. So yes I must say it was a wonderful evening!
 
Jenny said:
There's about 20 mins of back and forth and then Cessus (sp?) breaks it up.
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Canadian special forces??? If so then it is CSIS (I know cause I was gonna apply for a job with them...lol). Sounds like the rally would've been fun, except for the waiting part. Like a concert, but not 😛 .
 
There's this neat little chunk of Canadiana developing by me, over on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

It involves this killer whale they've named Luna.

What happened was Luna was separated from her pod a while ago, and took up residence in this remote bay called Nootka Sound. There's a little fishing community there, and an Indian village nearby.

The problem with Luna is he's friendly, too friendly. He has no fear of people. He swims up, and plays with the boats. He came close to being hit by a float plane recently. Then there's human idiocy. Some drunken hoser tried to pour a beer down Luna's blow-hole.

The story started to get press. The Canadian Government decided to get involved, and those of us who are familiar with the Canadian Government and the bureaucracy that drives it, went "Oh oh".

They sent out a team from the fisheries department. They came up with this plan of feeding the whale, then sucking it into following them out to a trap they had set up, where they planned to capture Luna, put him on a truck, and send him down the island to where they thought his pod was hanging out; the idea being, they were going to try to reunite Luna with his pod.

Everything was going good. They had the media on their side. They had the public convinced they were working in the orca's interest.

This morning they put their scheme into effect, and a wild card turned up.

A group of Indians paddled up to Luna in 2 war canoes, as the whale was being led away. Luna chose to follow them rather than the group of scientists that had been pouring hundreds of thousand of tax payer dollars into their publicity gimmick, photo shoot, idea of making friends with the whale.

The Indians led Luna 23 kilometres away from the whale trap.

Here's the thing. The Indians believe when an elder of importance dies, his spirit connects with a killer whale. On the day Luna showed up, their chief died. They believe Luna is to some extent their chief.

They also say this story the department of fisheries is telling the public that the danger to Luna is motivating the action of trapping him, is rubbish. They say Luna is in more danger if you take him down the island to the more populated areas. There's no guarantee he'll reconnect with his pod, and too much can go wrong on the way there. Also even if he does stay down in Victoria where they want him (probably as a tourist attraction), he'll still be a people-friendly whale, and he'll still do all the things that were getting him into trouble in Nootka. He'll just have more of an opportunity. They say things happen in nature for a reason, and they think Luna was given to them so they could watch over each other.

The Fisheries guys are going out to try to catch Luna again tomorrow.
 
Whew! I don't even know where to start on this one. I think that whatever happens it should be in the whale's best interest. Not in the interest of the government, the media or the Indians (Haida, I'm assuming).

On another note I have never heard that myth about the chief's turning into whale's with the Haida, but it could be another tribe that I don't know about. I did study North American archaeology in university, but my west coast stuff is a little rusty.

All in all, I feel sorry for "Luna." Ideally I think it would be best if she was reunited with her pod, but again my knowledge of whales is limited.

I hope that Luna gets what he/she needs, whatever that may be.
 
Hey, just to move the thread up, the election is getting closer, and the polls are all over the place...any predictions? I kinda know where some of y'all stand, but put partisan stuff aside and look into your crystal balls and make a prediction!

I say: Conservative majority (slim). Anne MacLennan loses in Edmonton, and the NDP and Conservatives take Ontario away from the Liberals...the Bloc cleans up in Quebec, and less than 3 Liberals survive west of Ontario.

Your turn...
 
Okay, my crystal ball is telling me a Conservative minority. But I'd like to see a conservative majority (if only marginal). It really depends on us here in Ontario. As long as it's not the Liberals again I'm happy. I'm so sick of having my money wasted. I'd like to see the conservative measures put in place against crime, also some money for our decrepit (sp?) military. I never get polled so maybe my vote will count...lol. Generally my area votes conservative, so we'll see what happens.

BTW KD good call on keeping the thread alive, I just click on new posts normally and don't think of the others.
 
Hey, what happens under the Canadian system if something similar happens this election to what happened in the American one, where the final decision came down to a single district in Florida, and the count was disputed?

My riding is supposed to go Independent. If the vote comes down to that one, will they have to go back to the previouse riding in the voting? What if that one's NDP? What if the one before that is Bloc? They could know who the winner is long before the night is over, even though it's virtually deadlocked. Controversy over counting could happen in all ridings, because you wouldn't know which one actually broke the deadlock.

Plus voting on issues in the upcoming term could come down to the Independent guy in my riding. That would be interesting, because he used to be Conservative, but he went Independent after controversy in the riding-leader selection process.

This could all conceivably happen, because everything is so tight, and under the Canadian system there are so many spoiler parties. It could get interesting.
 
In this election it certainly could come down to any independants that get elected.

In terms of what would happen in the Canadian system should there be a situation like the American one is that Canadian's probably wouldn't care. Some of us would but the majority is notoriously complacent and uncaring. If a US government was accused of half the things that the Liberals have done in office they would be hung, drawn and quartered. But in Canada we let it slide with a few raised voices.

A minority would be very interesting since the only other time I can think of a minority government was with Diefenbaker in 1962 (SOURCE ).

I guess we'll see what happens, but it could be an interesting night on June 28th (I'll be at a bar...lol).
 
Not sure what happens in that situation KD - I have to say I'm more than annoyed about the blackout being lifted..they'll be televising poll results from the west before any of us on the east has voted..I'm scared it'll cause a rush to the polls to adjust the percentages.

I want a minority Conservative gov't. I never think a majority gov't is a good thing.

The candidate for Ottawa South (where my fam lives, where friends were on his executive campaign) has just had some serious allegations leaked to the press from the inside of their HQ (DUI license suspensions, proof of involvement of the defacing of a synagogue..) he was the frontrunner and we'll see how things like the effect the outcome!
 
I don't think a minority will be the cure-all everyone thinks it will be. If it's a Liberal/NDP, watch your pocketbooks, 'cause our already high taxes are going thru the roof. I can't see the NDP supporting the Conservatives, and the Bloc would be political suicide to make a coalition with. Nope, the Conservatives have got to win it outright...otherwise, the Liberals will figure they have carte blanche to steal the country blind. I remember other minorities, and they sucked...nothing got done, 'cause the bigger party was afraid to piss off their coalition partners. I think the polls showing the Libs gaining are a bit specious...the same thing happened when the Consevatives first got in here in Ontario...Lynn McLeod lost a huge lead, and the polls showed it to be a dead heat right up until the day of the election, and Mike Harris won a huge majority...and, funny enough, no one would admit to voting for him! I think some of this is happening here...and I really hope I'm right!
 
Hold the Presses: Moore Disagrees with KD.

I would never disagree with you myself, of course, KD 😉 , but apparently American filmmaker Michael Moore does:

TORONTO - Controversial American filmmaker Michael Moore -- whose new movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a diatribe against George W. Bush and the Bush family connections to Saudi Arabia -- has a message for Canada: Don't try to become Americans.

"Your election comes before ours, and it will be such a blow to those of us trying to get rid of Bush" if Canada elects the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper, Moore told a Toronto audience at a special premiere of Fahrenheit 9/11.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to convince Americans that Canadians are smart people, and you're going to make me look really bad. I really need you to make sure that Mr. Harper does not take over.

"Why you want to be like us?"

Moore said Harper "has a big pair of scissors in his hands and wants to snip away at the social safety net that distinguishes you from us. The primary difference between Canadians and Americans is that you have a general basic ethic that says, 'We're all Canadians. We're all in the same boat, and if one of us doesn't have health care, we all suffer as a result of that. If one of us isn't helped when we hit upon hard times, then we all hurt as a result of that.' "

The American ethic, he said, is "every man for himself. Me me me me me. To let people in your country to have that ethic take over and destroy that thing that makes you wonderfully Canadian is something that must be resisted on [election day] June 28."
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More Moore here
 
Yeah, I expect Mr. Moore would run screaming from the room if we started to have a philosophical/political discussion...I'm just a bit right-of-centre...😉

The lefties like to scream that the end of the world as we know it will occur if the Conservatives get in...get a grip people! Medicare is already on life support...Mrs. D works in the local hospital, and in the last 10 years, it's gone from bad to worse. The only thing we all have a right to in the medical system is the right to wait for treatment. That's all we do...unless we're Paul Martin, who has a whole clinic for him and his Liberal buddies, that no one here could attend, even with a court order. Mr. Harpur will allow private members' bills to proceed with respect to gay marriage and abortion...to my knowledge, there has NEVER been a private members' bill that has become law...and that will probably continue, due to the ability of the opposition to defeat them. And as for those two issues, the Liberals yell about supporting those rights...well, two of our three local members are staunch Catholics, and both have opposed abortion and gay marriage in the House, and openly on the campaign trail. Are they protecting those rights by openly opposing them? Don't think so...

And the most delicious irony about Mr. Moore is this...he has benefitted fabulously from the American system by...wait for it...being out for himself. Now he decries the same system that allowed him to prosper. He benefitted from lower tax rates and a free market system to sell his wares, but it's an evil system, so we shouldn't use it...it's easy to be a sociallist when you have enough money to avoid the draconian system that socialism ultimately brings.

And n4h...I know you'd never disagree with me...😉...but even if you do, you're still a good guy...and we are still fellow Canuckleheads...
 
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