gdp's Comments

Angry in the Great White North : Why is the CRTC abandoning the fee-for-carriage problem to market forces? (Maybe I should just shut

Tue, 26 May 2009 15:00:58 +0000

He's just setting us up to accept a TV tax like they have in Britain to support the BBC. Everyone pays per TV, not household and deals with it. It would be interesting to see how they would spin a TV tax to support private broadcasters. Once all OTA is digital reception is much better, almost to the point where you don't need cable or sat. Let them request a fee for carriage or remove their signal, people who really want those station will get an antenna. Personally I think that they are getting what they deserve. They over expanded, CANWest is the worst, and now can't service their debt on current revenue, provide crappy US shows 3 years too late and generally act like they have a monopoly when they don't. Who cares about them! My family barely watches network TV as it is and we wouldn't miss Global or CTV if they got dropped from the dial.

thedurhamreport.com : CAW knew of GM pension shortfall but chose daycare subsidies, scholarships and signing bonuses inste

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:54:43 +0000

Although there is a serious lack of reciprocity with some countries vis-a-vis auto imports GM and Ford were rather successful in selling their products internationally. I don't agree with a import tariff, I would prefer that we go back to old system where companies had to open a Canadian head office and perform some manufacturing/assembling here. Toyota, Honda and Nissan are examples of this. They build cars right here for this market, but I do agree with you on one thing. GM and Cerberus, Chrysler's owners, are playing the government, so us, for fools with this bailout BS. GM plants will be gone from Canada within 3 years, only parts depots and dealers will remain. I'm sure of this. All this bailout money should have been spent retraining, EI, relocation grants and a deal could have been worked out with the CAW where they take over pension administration and the Feds extend them a loan to top up the plan. If the load doesn't get paid back anytime soon its still better spent than on companies with no business plan.

thedurhamreport.com : CAW knew of GM pension shortfall but chose daycare subsidies, scholarships and signing bonuses inste

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:46:03 +0000

You're correct for GM workers, but some CAW members do contribute to their pension plan since plans are per employer and not a common plan to all CAW members. All contributions where paid by GM, the only impact on the employee was RRSP space being used up. They could have saved some of their earnings, and I'm sure many did. As much as people like to harp on teachers and civil servants, I know for a fact that they contribute along the rate of 6% to 7.5% percent of their own salary to OMERS or TPF.

Angry in the Great White North : Who concocted the Ruby Dhalla conspiracy?

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:08:54 +0000

Ah yes, the conspiracy/hidden agenda/plotting against us arguments. All parties use this argument when cornered but none so well as the Libs. What a joke!

Angry in the Great White North : Ruby Dhalla: Nanny horror stories

Tue, 5 May 2009 12:25:33 +0000

Me thinks the Honorable MP Dhalla might want to start looking for a new career, her riding association, under command from Iggy, might decide its time for a new candidate, a less news worthy candidate. Also, its nice to see the Star putting a lib on the spot.

Angry in the Great White North : Michael Ignatieff and his (mythical) learning society

Mon, 4 May 2009 12:49:37 +0000

Correct. I guess we should start booking buses now for the upcoming "We love Quebec rally" after Quebecers pushback against intrusion into their domain and elect Pauline Marois and the PQ.

Angry in the Great White North : Two very different meetings between Liberal MPs and Tamils

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:45:49 +0000

Its very reassuring to see that the old guard of the Liberals are still operating like nothing as changed. If anyone actually believes that they ever had any intention of doing anything beyond giving him an audience, get your head checked. They were simply going through the motions to appear sympathetic so that he would say something nice about them to the community. Liberal internal politics is nastier than anyone can imagine, look at the last 18 months for proof.

thedurhamreport.com : Do not question renewable energy under penalty of Smitherman

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:26:11 +0000

They back nuclear as the main source of power and the greenies will have none of that. Its a shame cause all points of view should be debated in something as important to the future of the province and its residents

Angry in the Great White North : I call it the Smitherman Hum

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:50:24 +0000

Not only will this new legislation prevent local input, nobody will be able to fight this thing based on environmental concerns. Its in black and white in the bill. Check it out

Angry in the Great White North : John McCallum: There are lies, and then there are pathetic lies

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:04:34 +0000

McCallum made the unforgivable mistake of thinking that his shit don't stink. I use to think he knew what he was talking about when he appeared for years as a scotiabank analyst before joining the Libs. Now he's nothing more than a mouth piece. Has this man had an original though in the last 3 years.

thedurhamreport.com : As Dalton McGuinty already conceded the next election?

Thu, 9 Apr 2009 18:52:55 +0000

I think it will be good for Ontario in the long run even though its going to hurt at first. The whole point of my post is not whether it will be good or bad, just that Dalton is actually doing something which is unlike him. He can't just sit back while Ontario crumble which as been his style until a few months ago.

thedurhamreport.com : Randy Hillier as kingmaker

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 17:06:49 +0000

I wrote this before he officially announced his candidacy but he's made some statements in the last weeks that will seriously harm is chances in eastern and and northeastern Ontario. He mused about revisiting the French Services legislation and that's not going to make him any friends in the aforementioned areas. Not sure what is plan is, either way its going to be interesting.

Angry in the Great White North : Did Greenpeace just cross the line with an iodine pill stunt?

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 15:22:18 +0000

No surprise here, groups such as those are continually pushing the envelope. Testing slowly just how far they can go before the public outrage backfires.

Angry in the Great White North : Watching David Suzuki get blasted by self-righteous statistic-quoting environmentalists

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 15:06:45 +0000

I realize that the clean energy produced by a dam or even a nuclear plant will outweigh by far the pollution created during construction. I just wish that they, Suzuki, Gore, etc...) didn't just gloss over it and actually debate it since it is part of the entire cycle / equation. Jim: I keep a planted aquarium so I have pressurized co2 system for the plants. I'm well aware of CO2 as a macro nutrient for plant life, same as light and potassium

Angry in the Great White North : Watching David Suzuki get blasted by self-righteous statistic-quoting environmentalists

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 01:33:34 +0000

You missed one very important pollution factor. Concrete requires portland cement as the setting agent. Creating one ton of portland cement releases 1 ton +/- of co2 into the atmosphere. The mixture to that becomes portland cement as to be heated to 1450 F. So, depending on how effecient your power source is you are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

thedurhamreport.com : The true cost of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for an average Ontario household

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 19:47:03 +0000

Thank you for the offer Mike but I don't maintain a blogroll on here and I hadn't really though about it. If I decide to I'll contact you.

thedurhamreport.com : The true cost of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for an average Ontario household

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 19:37:59 +0000

Thanks, encouragement is always appreciated.

thedurhamreport.com : What is the Larry O'Brien trial really about?

Fri, 3 Apr 2009 12:37:34 +0000

thanks, I checked it out and they've got good stuff in there. They're mostly focused on city of Ottawa politics and seems to be doing a good job of it. I'm focused more on provincial politics with a sprinkle of municipal posts when something catches my interest.

Angry in the Great White North : Battling Jason Kenney: George Galloway overcompensates

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:49:25 +0000

Jason Kenney's right to make the decision as minister was upheld by the courts but I can't help but agree with Micheal Ignatief on this. Galloway is a buffoon, not much of a threat to anybody except to his credibility. Perhaps, it would have been better to let him under strict conditions, stick a couple of csis agents on him and toss his ass out of the country the second he violated a law. The current brouhaha is exactly what he wanted. Now its about him and his views, not about Canada and out laws. Think about it. As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat.