Harper Government In Contempt of Parliament

[The Green Barbarian]

I think we all got it after the first couple dozen times you said it though. .

?? Exagerate much? Couple dozen? Taliban Jack. Taliban Jack. Taliban Jack. Still not even close.

have you not seen the spamming of the s__harperdid.com website on here? Methinks you are being a bit deliberately obtuse if you haven't seen the anti-Harper spamming on every thread.

[UnknownResident]

Well I've seen people distorting issues about Harper's governing, but not deliberate name calling.

[Logitack]

someone has been drinking too much conservative/harper koolaid, me thinks...

[The Green Barbarian]

someone has been drinking too much conservative/harper koolaid, me thinks...

unfortunately, it's better described as a "lack of any alternative" kool-aid. Seriously - I would consider moving to Afghanistan rather than voting for Taliban Jack. Because that's where Canada would be headed if that clown ever became Prime Minister.

[UnknownResident]

someone has been drinking too much conservative/harper koolaid, me thinks...

unfortunately, it's better described as a "lack of any alternative" kool-aid. Seriously - I would consider moving to Afghanistan rather than voting for Taliban Jack. Because that's where Canada would be headed if that clown ever became Prime Minister.

Is your only reason in voting Conservative because there's no other acceptable alternatives? If that's the reason, I mean jeez, that's not a good one. But judging from your posts you're a Con supporter, you haven't really agreed that they've done anything wrong, only jumped to defend them. So which is it, are you a Con supporter, or are you merely voting for 'the lesser of three evils'?

[The Green Barbarian]

Is your only reason in voting Conservative because there's no other acceptable alternatives? If that's the reason, I mean jeez, that's not a good one.

what was that again about opinions and rectums?

[UnknownResident]

Is your only reason in voting Conservative because there's no other acceptable alternatives? If that's the reason, I mean jeez, that's not a good one.

what was that again about opinions and rectums?

Answer dodging a bit, eh?

[Tacklewasher]

But what is Harper's nickname? Or what are the insults directed at him?

Pop over to any comment section on a political issue at the Globe and Mail if you want to see Harper's nicknames.

Some really inventive ones there. Oh, and Taliban Jack is used there as well.

[The Green Barbarian]

Is your only reason in voting Conservative because there's no other acceptable alternatives? If that's the reason, I mean jeez, that's not a good one.

what was that again about opinions and rectums?

Answer dodging a bit, eh?

nope - just trying to avoid Castanet jail, and your comment about it "not being a good one" requires a response that isn't very polite. So check your PM.

It's not about lesser evils - you essentially have the far far loony toon left wing represented in the NDP and Green Party. Those two parties would destroy this country and its economy. If you can't get that I can't help you and please don't bother asking for an explanation - read a book. Then you have the Liberals, who used to be centrist, but now have adopted the disastrous strategy of appealing to an already over-burdened left voter, and who have come out with a platform that is a carbon copy of the NDP. So that leaves the Conservatives. They have flaws, but at the very least, aren't out to destroy our country with their platform. So that's it, in a nutshell.

[UnknownResident]

Is your only reason in voting Conservative because there's no other acceptable alternatives? If that's the reason, I mean jeez, that's not a good one.

what was that again about opinions and rectums?

Answer dodging a bit, eh?

nope - just trying to avoid Castanet jail, and your comment about it "not being a good one" requires a response that isn't very polite. So check your PM.

It's not about lesser evils - you essentially have the far far loony toon left wing represented in the NDP and Green Party. Those two parties would destroy this country and its economy. If you can't get that I can't help you and please don't bother asking for an explanation - read a book. Then you have the Liberals, who used to be centrist, but now have adopted the disastrous strategy of appealing to an already over-burdened left voter, and who have come out with a platform that is a carbon copy of the NDP. So that leaves the Conservatives. They have flaws, but at the very least, aren't out to destroy our country with their platform. So that's it, in a nutshell.

There's more parties then the big three or four. Perhaps that's what we need, a real middle of the road party. Something we're desperately lacking, but it'll never happen if you don't vote for someone other then the main ones.

[steven lloyd]

Regrettably Gramma is right when she says that global influences have a far greater impact on our economy than anything our own government may do. However, it is how our government reacts to those global influences that may make the difference. At least, I hope that's the case, because I'd hate to think we had no control whatsoever over our own economic future. I like to think that our government has at least SOME control in that area.

So if we allow for the fact that we do have the power to influence the direction our country takes, albeit in a somewhat limited way, we then have to decide not only what direction we want to go, but also who we want to lead us there. And a party that has shown itself to be arrogant, with a blatant disregard for the rules and a noticable lack of respect for their fellow parliamentarians, do not appear to be a wise choice.

And even though I am attracted to the idea of a balanced budget a few years down the road, given the uncertain global economic future these days, is it realistic for a party to make such a promise? I tend to think not. So I'm afraid I don't put too much faith in that particular party platform.

I want to see a return to honesty and integrity in politics. I want a Parliament which follows its own rules. I want a fair and just society which cares about all of its members, not just the financially successful. I want a government which listens to its constituents, but then makes decisions which are for the good of all, not just the influential few. And it seems to me that successive governments over the past several years have each got further and further away from all those high ideals. It is my hope that a strong NDP opposition will make the government more accountable, and help foster a return to the type of behaviour I've outlined above. I don't believe Iggy and the Liberals can do the job, because they're far too divided within their own ranks. Besides which, many Canadians have no faith in Iggy because they will never see him as more than an opportunist whose heart is really in the States.

I have no doubt that the Conservatives will win this election. So the question we must decide is do we want a splintered, and therefore weak opposition, or a strong one that will be in a better position to hold the government to account? I vote for the latter, which is why I'll be voting NDP.

I think that is a good post Merry, and I agree that a strong opposition can provide some balance in parliament and work to make a majority government more accountable. In my riding (Skeena), I suspect the NDP incumbent will be a shoe-in, and will probably win by a landslide just like the last election. I voted for him last time for much the reasons as you outlined – that is; to provide some balance in parliament and work to make the government more accountable. If he hadn’t introduced a bill to ban tanker traffic from our west coast (is he freaking insane???) essentially cutting off all opportunity for increased exports of our most valuable resource to the Pacific Rim (estimated to potentially increase our GDP by $270 billion annually), I’d probably vote for him again – again, just to provide some check and balance. However, balance and caution is one thing – recklessly promoting the ruin our economic potential is quite another (perhaps he hasn’t noticed the extent of unemployment and poverty in his riding in northwestern rural BC). I suspect my vote will not have much sway as I expect he will win quite easily again. Maybe, just maybe, however; enough people up here will vote for the Conservative candidate and send Mr. Cullen the message that not everyone up here wants to have to grow or hunt their own food and live in log cabins heated by wood stoves.

[NAB]

Regrettably Gramma is right when she says that global influences have a far greater impact on our economy than anything our own government may do. However, it is how our government reacts to those global influences that may make the difference. At least, I hope that's the case, because I'd hate to think we had no control whatsoever over our own economic future. I like to think that our government has at least SOME control in that area.

So if we allow for the fact that we do have the power to influence the direction our country takes, albeit in a somewhat limited way, we then have to decide not only what direction we want to go, but also who we want to lead us there. And a party that has shown itself to be arrogant, with a blatant disregard for the rules and a noticable lack of respect for their fellow parliamentarians, do not appear to be a wise choice.

And even though I am attracted to the idea of a balanced budget a few years down the road, given the uncertain global economic future these days, is it realistic for a party to make such a promise? I tend to think not. So I'm afraid I don't put too much faith in that particular party platform.

I want to see a return to honesty and integrity in politics. I want a Parliament which follows its own rules. I want a fair and just society which cares about all of its members, not just the financially successful. I want a government which listens to its constituents, but then makes decisions which are for the good of all, not just the influential few. And it seems to me that successive governments over the past several years have each got further and further away from all those high ideals. It is my hope that a strong NDP opposition will make the government more accountable, and help foster a return to the type of behaviour I've outlined above. I don't believe Iggy and the Liberals can do the job, because they're far too divided within their own ranks. Besides which, many Canadians have no faith in Iggy because they will never see him as more than an opportunist whose heart is really in the States.

I have no doubt that the Conservatives will win this election. So the question we must decide is do we want a splintered, and therefore weak opposition, or a strong one that will be in a better position to hold the government to account? I vote for the latter, which is why I'll be voting NDP.

I think that is a good post Merry, and I agree that a strong opposition can provide some balance in parliament and work to make a majority government more accountable. In my riding (Skeena), I suspect the NDP incumbent will be a shoe-in, and will probably win by a landslide just like the last election. I voted for him last time for much the reasons as you outlined – that is; to provide some balance in parliament and work to make the government more accountable. If he hadn’t introduced a bill to ban tanker traffic from our west coast (is he freaking insane???) essentially cutting off all opportunity for increased exports of our most valuable resource to the Pacific Rim (estimated to potentially increase our GDP by $270 billion annually), I’d probably vote for him again – again, just to provide some check and balance. However, balance and caution is one thing – recklessly promoting the ruin our economic potential is quite another (perhaps he hasn’t noticed the extent of unemployment and poverty in his riding in northwestern rural BC). I suspect my vote will not have much sway as I expect he will win quite easily again. Maybe, just maybe, however; enough people up here will vote for the Conservative candidate and send Mr. Cullen the message that not everyone up here wants to have to grow or hunt their own food and live in log cabins heated by wood stoves.

Ya know steven, it seems to me that the problem in your riding is everyone sits back, does very little, and expects people to keep doing the same old thing over and over. Is there no one there with the gonads to get off their a$$ and get out and campaign publicly against the incumbent and show him up for the fool he is?

Nab

[steven lloyd]

Ya know steven, it seems to me that the problem in your riding is everyone sits back, does very little, and expects people to keep doing the same old thing over and over.

Ya know Nabs, it seems to me you should maybe come up here and see what people are actually doing before you stick your other foot in your mouth (so to speak).

[I Think]

Dunno, he is being called harpy in a number of places, mostly by people who dont want to wind up on harpy's Sh!+ list for slagging him on the interweb. He is after all webcrawling to keep folks that think he is a jerk, out of the loop, and out of meetings.

[NAB]

Ya know steven, it seems to me that the problem in your riding is everyone sits back, does very little, and expects people to keep doing the same old thing over and over.

Ya know Nabs, it seems to me you should maybe come up here and see what people are actually doing before you stick your other foot in your mouth (so to speak).

LOL, seems to me that based on what you are saying they are doing very little other than continually re-electing the same old NDP status quo ;-).

Nab