US losing faith in Canada

[KrazyHorse]

Bring back Manning!

[Willem]

Originally posted by obiwan18


cinch:

I always wondered, why are people afraid of a creationist being the PM of Canada?

If someone wants to ignore science on that issue, how can he/she be expected to lead us into a technological age? At least that's how I see it. We can't afford a leader who's going to hold us back scientifically.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Frogger


Bring back Manning!

Yes, Royal Canadian Air Farce misses him!

[cinch]

Obi:

I always wondered, why are people afraid of a creationist being the PM of Canada?

Well, first of all, Day's not just creationist... I mean, it's one thing to dispute evolution and say that God created everything, but Day said that man walked the earth with dinosaurs! 4500 years ago! That flies in the face of cold, hard, scientific fact. I, personally, would want my Prime Minister to be a little better at interpreting data.

But, I should say, if a creationist can keep his religion our of his politics, then I support his right to Prime Minister-ship (?) just as much as a Catholic/Presbyterian/Hindu/Muslim/Unitarian/etc..

But it'll be a cold day in hell before I let a goddamn Seventh Day Adventist rise to the top!

(That last part was a joke. I swear.)

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Let me guess, the Canadian alliance is a bunch of Albertans only wishing to be part of the US ?

Not quite. They do draw most support from Alberta and represent a much more American style of attack-dog conservatism that doesn't go over well with most voters here.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by obiwan18


cinch:

I always wondered, why are people afraid of a creationist being the PM of Canada?

For the same reason that we didn't elect the Yogic Flyers

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
This whole debate is just handbags at twenty paces fanned by the laughing stock Harper and his merry men the joke party the (Anti-)Canadian Alliance.

That's just as bad as people in America calling socialists "Anti-American".

Grow up.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
For the same reason that we didn't elect the Yogic Flyers

You have them too ?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by RedFred
Sadly due to the Liberals, far too much of our military protection comes from the Americans, not ourselves. We owe a lot to our neighbours.

From whom you want this protection? The only country in the world that has the biggest chance of invading Canada is the US. But if the US decides to invade Canada, it doesn't matter how much $ Canada puts towards defense spending.

The Libs aren't stupid, they are smart.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Spiffor

You have them too ?

Yes, we have our lunatic fringe here as well.

[Kontiki]

UR, you're right about the "protection" part of our military - that's really a moot point. Still, it is sad to see the state out miltary has fallen in to. Given our committment to peace keeping etc, we do need better funding for the military.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger




From whom you want this protection? The only country in the world that has the biggest chance of invading Canada is the US. But if the US decides to invade Canada, it doesn't matter how much $ Canada puts towards defense spending.

The Libs aren't stupid, they are smart.

Yes... logically, Canada should spend its defence budget on a small number of nuke-tipped missiles. Even if we increased the size of our conventional military fivefold, it wouldn't deter or slow down the US if they really wanted to invade... nothing short of nukes could, really.

[Asher]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Urban Ranger


From whom you want this protection? The only country in the world that has the biggest chance of invading Canada is the US. But if the US decides to invade Canada, it doesn't matter how much $ Canada puts towards defense spending.

The Libs aren't stupid, they are smart.

Oh, please, the Libs aren't smart -- if they were smart we wouldn't have had about half a dozen scandals in the last 12 months.

It's not as simple as "well no one wants to invade us, so we don't need any protection!".

Canada has committments to the UN and NATO for peacekeeping operations -- committments we can't, by and large, complete properly due to inadequate funding by the Liberal government.

Not only that, but it's simply not a valid excuse to not have protection because you don't think you need it. I don't think I have to explain why.

This "smart" Liberal government constantly and regularly makes PR/diplomatic gaffes (calling heads of states morons, promising aid and assistance to both sides of a conflict, etc). They spent over a billion dollars on a gun registry in Canada that still doesn't work properly ($1B is ridiculous for Canada). They canceled helicopter orders for 40-year old copters falling apart, costing us $500M to give us literally nothing, only to reorder worse helicopters for the same price a decade later. They've made the political decision not to campaign in a province where alienation feelings are rising pretty rapidly, only to make the problem worse. When a province elected some senators, he ignored the people's opinions and put one of his Liberal cronies in instead of the senator-elect.

Smart? No, they certainly are not. They're lucky: Both in that the Canadian people don't know any better, and that Chretien has such a firm control over the media.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Agathon


Not quite. They do draw most support from Alberta and represent a much more American style of attack-dog conservatism that doesn't go over well with most voters here.

Geez, seems they polled over 1 million votes in Ontario last go around. 1 051 209, to be exact.

The Liberals did a little better than double that. 2 292 075 in Ontario in 2000.

Due to the method of deciding seats, that translated into... 2 seats for the CA and 100 for the Liberals. Nope! Nothing broke. Nothin needs fixin.

Must be good to have that archaic system kicking around, so that uprighteous folks can claim that the loons are confined to Red Neck country.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher

That's just as bad as people in America calling socialists "Anti-American".

Don't take yourself too seriously.

On a more sombre note, the Canadian Alliance are getting to be a bit of a joke. It is wishful thinking that the party in its present form could ever become the government of Canada. They have, as I said, an attack-dog style of conservatism in which they attempt to score as many cheap points from the Liberals as they can. In my view, and in the view of Canadians I know, this detracts from their message.

It doesn't have to be this way. Look at Joe Clark. Now there's a guy who I disagree with on almost everything, but I have a lot of respect for him because he tends to play fair and realises that parliamentary activities have to have some form of dignity and decorum. I imagine that when he retires he will be applauded sincerely by almost everyone in the house because from what I've seen he's a good politician (although not as effective as some). He is also big enough to agree with the government when he thinks they are right. Alliance members seem to try to find fault with everything and this makes them look like chronic whiners.

The Alliance seem to me to come on too hard and come across as really hating the Liberals' guts. This doesn't look good to the public either. The right needs to sort itself out and move away from this extremist stuff if it hopes to get elected.

But I agree with them on one thing - having effective one party rule is bad for democracy. But it's the fault of the right for not being able to compromise and present a credible alternative.