Mr Ignatieff would do well to read Jeffery Simpsons book The Friendly Dictator - I watch Harper manipulate the voting public and it appears he is using this for his playbook. Having said that we as voters and canadians need to look less at the Leader we elect than the team behind the Leader - I think our future depends more on a good plan rather than a strong and controlling leader like we have now - Harper is not known for his listening skills or his ability to handle dissent well. Mr Ignatieff has had lots of practice lately and I think that is a good thing. People are becoming more active atleast cyber-wise in politics - CAPP is a good example. People Power is what the leader of the British Conservatives is pushing. We do not need expensive Nannying by the government and NIMBY's are losing their edge. If you do the math on Harper's Conservatism you will find that being a neo-con stops at his chequebook - There is room for the Libs to move to the right - Harper has vacated that field
Every timeI see those two with their thumbs in the air - I think they are saying - Sit on it and rotate - Harper - Not a leader!
What spending cuts? Iggy is smart to leave an election until after their planning conference - Harper doesn't do well in parliament or debates so I expect he will be looking for more opportunities to leave the country - Photo opps in Chile?
If Khadr comes back to Canada I hope it is a different prime minister in charge and will instruct Khadr that if he wishes to sue that he sue the executive currently in charge of denying human rights in Canada.
Harper was all too happy to give Maher Arar $10 million plus legal fees - He denied Richard Colvin's lawyer fees but paid $800,000 for Mulroney and then set aside 1.25 million more for him AND gave Mulroney a tax break by only making him pay taxes for only half the $225,000 Mulroney neglected to claim.
Well atleast we have strong banks that pushed their subprime mortgages back to the government
Oh - And they got a stern letter from Mr Flaherty that we must have 30 days notice before they jack up our fees - That's nice
A $21 billion sacred cow- and we still do not have Arctic Icebreakers or Navy Frigates
PM Harper likes to strike fear in to voters - warning against the tax and spend policies of the left - Seems Harpers tax cut and spend policies are not working either. Bush liked those too!
With the average government wage at a 17.3% premium to the private sector according to the CFIB I think some work towards narrowing that gap is in order. Maybe cut out a few billion dollars of consultant work and get these highly paid administrators to do some investigating on their own using their knowledge and skills that they are paid for can help. This is a phenomenom in all 3 layers of government. I am not talking about doing a Mike Harris style slash and burn and dump on the lower tier what's left action but rather a concerted realization by all levels of government that there is only one pocket to pick and we taxpayers like to pay our way but not one penny more than is necessary!
I knew that our government was politicizing this as soon as they announced we were sending journalists on the first relief flights - There were some on the ships too. I'm guessing CBC had to take the long way down. CTV had first crack at the TV.
Haiti is not a photo opp!
Something the Media has missed but Harper and his MP's know is the thousands of emails they got from this group - The common mindset that appeared amongst a dysfunctional group with a demographic that would send any economist or pollster running for the bottle. Divergent political views focusing on something we did not even have to think about until now - Democracy. Imagine that for one day Canadians in small cities and towns got their wollies out and gave the Prime Minister of this great country a wedgie!
Paul Martin tried to bring in corporate tax cuts but the NDP wouldn't support it and harper wouldn't support the Liberals - Paul Martin did get a chance to cut income tax but Harper pulled the plug before it could make it thru the house. Our First GST cut was paid for by reversing the Martin income tax cut - Good for high earners - not so for the middle class. Harper complained about Liberal Spending and then outspent them - said we would not have a recession - a deficit - a technical deficit - a structural deficit - a tax and spend budget (if we elected Liberals apparently) - tax increases or spending cuts - Now Harper is saying we need more economic action but no tax increase (Don't count the extra $44 EI payments for many Canadians) Flaherty was saying no spending cuts or tax increases and now he is talking spending cuts - What is next? A Carbon tax?
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