Canada Bungles Response to Blackout / Chretien nowhere in sight WANNA RANT

[manofire2]

Originally posted by Smoke20286
You've hit the nail on the head Scoop, The Aliance or Reform party or whatever will never be a viable alternative for Eastern Canada, and to you guys out West I do mean Eastern, NOT Ontario The PC's have no real national base anymore( Mulroney saw to that), that leaves us with the Liberals or the NDP (who cannot attract strong enough candidates to win a national election. So guess who will form the next government in Ottawa, and the next, and probably the next after that. It gets monotonous doesnt it.

How can you say there is no alternative unles you are willing to vote for change. The problem is that any party proposing decentralizing Government cannot win in Ontario. Why give up a good thing. It really is a Catch 22, if you tell the truth Ontario won't vote for you and if you lie you compromise your principles. Liberals don't seem to have a problem with this (neither for that matter did Mulroney but I've always said he was a liberal in tory clothing).

[Smoke20286]

manofire, you have answered your own question, I'm presuming you support the Aliance party, but if it stands no chance in Ontario, and no chance in Quebec, and no chance in Eastern Canada even though its small representation will do little to change the balance of power then it is doomed to defeat

[RspctFrmCalgary]

nooooooo noooooooo noooooooooo say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!!

I heard a VICIOUS VICIOUS RUMOUR on the radio this morning that Chretien wants to go to some stupid thing in Mexico which has been moved up from November to January and now he WANTS TO STAY ON LONGER!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[manofire2]

Originally posted by Smoke20286
manofire, you have answered your own question, I'm presuming you support the Aliance party, but if it stands no chance in Ontario, and no chance in Quebec, and no chance in Eastern Canada even though its small representation will do little to change the balance of power then it is doomed to defeat

Therein lies the rub. How does one in vote for a party which does not represent the wishes of the constituents or worse in the case of the liberals MISrepresents the wishes of the constituents. I would rather vote for a party or candidate which is doomed to defeat than to comprimise my pricipals and vote for a party which has repeatedly shown a distain for me and my part of the country.

The question of whom I support is a difficult one. I support the ideals of the Reform Party which were comprimised to form the Alliance Party (a move which I am not totally in agreement with). The principals of equal voices for all Canadians in my view is still a vision which can and should be attained. The liberals continue a policy of pitting regions of the county against one another in order to attain their agenda which is to Govern the country to fulfill the needs of the core and not the needs of the whole. Hyphenated Canadianism and classes of Canadianism (I call it the Upper Canada Syndrome) will continue to drive wedges between the regions until we elect a leader or a party with the guts to say that Canada needs to change the way we govern. A government that governs for all Canadians not just the needs of one or two provinces. A government that does not pit region against region, person against person.

If there was such a leader or party, I would vote for them no matter what party label they are attached to. Unfortunately not much has changed with the liberals since Trudeau waved his third finger salute at BC.

[Scoop422]

manofire2

It sounds like you're the one pitting region against region.

[ThNozzleman]

Wow...it's sort of nice to sit back and watch someone besides the donkeys and the elephants hash it out for a change!

[manofire2]

Originally posted by Scoop422
manofire2

It sounds like you're the one pitting region against region.

If expecting all persons to be treated with equality regardless of what part of the country they live in is pitting region against region.

I guess I am guilty.

If expecting honesty and impartiality from our elected officials is pitting region against region.

I guess I am guilty.

If expecting people left homeless in BC to get the same level of response from Ottawa as those affected by the ice storm in Quebec is pitting region against region.

I guess I am guilty.

Will I stop expecting these things from my government....Never!

Will I stop believing that Ontario voters need to vote with the brain and not their heart (or whatever body part they use).

I hope some day I can.

[manofire2]

Originally posted by ThNozzleman
Wow...it's sort of nice to sit back and watch someone besides the donkeys and the elephants hash it out for a change!

The United States does not have a monopoly on morons in government or the idiots who vote them in. It is somehow appropriate that half your politicians are donkeys and half of ours are ***es.

[ThNozzleman]

I'll have to admit; I've learned a lot about Canada by reading this forum. I used to date a girl from Canada, what province she lived in, I don't recall. I remember that she thought the healthcare system there was the best thing since sliced bread, though. Keep it up, guys; this is pretty interesting to me.

[Smoke20286]

Originally posted by Scoop422
manofire2

It sounds like you're the one pitting region against region.

But Scoop, he does have a point, there is a real feeling in Western Canada particularly that all of Canada's power base is in "Central Canada" (i.e. Ontario and Quebec) sure it can be argued that the majority of the population live in those regions, but that does nothing to relieve the feeling of lack of representation felt by those in Western and Eastern Canada

[Smoke20286]

Originally posted by ThNozzleman
Wow...it's sort of nice to sit back and watch someone besides the donkeys and the elephants hash it out for a change!

Oh don't worry Robert, there are plenty of idiots in politics on both sides of the border to keep us all well entertained.

[Smoke20286]

Originally posted by ThNozzleman
I'll have to admit; I've learned a lot about Canada by reading this forum. I used to date a girl from Canada, what province she lived in, I don't recall. I remember that she thought the healthcare system there was the best thing since sliced bread, though. Keep it up, guys; this is pretty interesting to me.

BTW he was wrong, the best thing since sliced bread is Canadian women

[Scoop422]

Should we move parliament out West or out East or Quebec. Would that shift the power base? Does Ontario get special treatment? Ask the nurses who haven't paid for all the O.T. they worked during SARS. Ask the tourism workers in Toronto who have no jobs. Do the B.C. homeless get more Federal dollars than the ones in Toronto? No, almost all of the homeless costs have been downloaded to the city. Where do the majority of immigrants come? Ontario. Do the Feds help out with housing costs and such for them? Ontario gives the Feds more than 5 billion that doesn't come back. I'm not saying that we should get more, I'm saying that it should be even also. Coming down on Ontario for our bone head PM is wrong. We are all Canadian and no matter how bad any of us think we have it we live in the best country in the world. Not because of our government but because of our people.

[manofire2]

Saying Ontarians voting patterns need work does not mean that the people aren't great. Yes Ontario supports the Country as a whole, as does Alberta and it should be this way, the strong must spport the weak. Next Century the roles could be reversed.

Yes I am bitter towards the liberal government. In 1981, I was one of very many Albertans who lost our jobs because of the single most damaging and regressive pieces of legislation in Canadian History (NEP). I will never forget nor will I forgive. Jean C. as finance minister played a major role in Creating the NEP, despite his efforts to play down his role.

That being said, as the bumper sticker says, "I love my Country, it's the Government I don't trust".

[mcaldwell]

My only real pet peeve with our politicians lately is that our leadership choices over the last few elections have been uninspiring and boring.

Regardless of which party you support, all the recent leaders have been morons (some of them right up there with ole Dubya). Chretien has clearly been in power too long, but I almost hate to see him go because he has just become interesting in the last few years (with his pepper spraying antics and recent outspokenness in regards to the War, etc). The recent batch of Alliance leaders have all had the personality of a retarded sloth. I was very interested in the old Reform party back in the early nineties, but when it came time to vote, the candidates were far too inexperienced and often just plain insane. You might as well vote green!

I used to vote PC until they jumped of the parlimentary bridge. I wouldn't mind seeing them gain a few seats back this time, but I fear they have been without power so long that they will have to learn how to play on the big stage again.

I was indifferent to Chretien for the first two terms, but his recent antics are quite entertaining. I have also seen the range of good and bad economic times, and the other parties could not have played the last decade any better. I know a few would have made it worse as well (cough-NDP-cough).