Yeah, obviously you're not doing a whole hell of a lot, since you still didn't answer my existing questions yet, but more then willing to focus on the trivial stuff.
Liberals and Conservatives have failed Canada
- Thread starter B00Mer
- Start date
Yeah, obviously you're not doing a whole hell of a lot, since you still didn't answer my existing questions yet, but more then willing to focus on the trivial stuff.
Stephen Harper: Bulking up Pentagon North
By Linda McQuaig
Global Research, October 8, 2008
The Toronto Star - 2008-10-07
With the prospect of a Harper majority hanging menacingly over the country, the mind inevitably turns to the question: Just what is the "secret agenda" lurking behind the friendly sweater?
Actually, I don't believe there is one. The truth is that Stephen Harper has already laid out an agenda that would fundamentally change this country - in ways most Canadians would oppose.
While this agenda is not "secret," my guess is few Canadians know about it. That's because Harper, realizing it would be unpopular, unveiled it when Canadians weren't paying attention - in fact, we were sleeping. Sometime in the dark of night last June 20, the Harper government posted a plan on the Department of National Defence's website - called Canada First Defence Strategy - to spend an eye-popping $490 billion over the next 20 years on the military.
Given all the recent buzz about the size of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in the United States, it's striking to note that Ottawa quietly announced a plan to spend nearly half a trillion dollars on the military, almost in passing.
Steven Staples, a defence analyst with the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, says that Canada's military spending is already 27 per cent higher than in 2001.
"The focus of the defence lobby now is on getting contracts signed as quickly a possible," Staples said in an interview. "They want to make it impossible for future governments to get out of these spending commitments."
It's hard to imagine an agenda with more profound consequences for Canadians, beginning with a dramatic reordering of national priorities. Public health care? Child poverty? Fighting global warming? Fine causes, to be sure, but sadly the cupboard will be bare.
The Conservatives won't even have to look mean-spirited as they say no. There just won't be any money left. It will all be sucked into bulking up Pentagon North.
Harper knows Canadians would balk at this shift in priorities, if they got wind of it. In a 2008 pre-budget survey conducted for the finance department, Canadians were asked which of 18 different issues they considered a high priority. "Increasing spending on defence" ranked last.
There's a rich irony in this ramped-up military spending. In the election campaign, Harper has accused Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion of "reckless spending" for his plan to invest $70 billion in infrastructure over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Harper claims to be a thrifty economic manager, even as he quietly plans a massive spending spree on military hardware.
Clearly governments can rack up deficits just as quickly acquiring tanks and killing insurgents in Afghanistan, as they can building public transit or a clean energy grid here in Canada.
While the election campaign has focused on economic issues, the military and its combat role in Afghanistan have actually been the centrepieces of the Harper administration.
Harper has tried to reshape the way Canadians think about Canada, weaning us off our fondness for peacekeeping (and medicare, for that matter), and getting us excited about being a war-making nation, able to swagger on the world stage in the footsteps of the Americans.
In fact, the U.S. has shown where big military spending leads. As the "defence" sector expands, jobs and economic prosperity become linked to war preparation. A bulging defence sector becomes a built-in constituency for war.
Forget trying to figure out Harper's "secret agenda." The really frightening, far-reaching agenda Harper has in mind for us is already posted on the Internet.
By Linda McQuaig
Global Research, October 8, 2008
The Toronto Star - 2008-10-07
With the prospect of a Harper majority hanging menacingly over the country, the mind inevitably turns to the question: Just what is the "secret agenda" lurking behind the friendly sweater?
Actually, I don't believe there is one. The truth is that Stephen Harper has already laid out an agenda that would fundamentally change this country - in ways most Canadians would oppose.
While this agenda is not "secret," my guess is few Canadians know about it. That's because Harper, realizing it would be unpopular, unveiled it when Canadians weren't paying attention - in fact, we were sleeping. Sometime in the dark of night last June 20, the Harper government posted a plan on the Department of National Defence's website - called Canada First Defence Strategy - to spend an eye-popping $490 billion over the next 20 years on the military.
Given all the recent buzz about the size of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout in the United States, it's striking to note that Ottawa quietly announced a plan to spend nearly half a trillion dollars on the military, almost in passing.
Steven Staples, a defence analyst with the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, says that Canada's military spending is already 27 per cent higher than in 2001.
"The focus of the defence lobby now is on getting contracts signed as quickly a possible," Staples said in an interview. "They want to make it impossible for future governments to get out of these spending commitments."
It's hard to imagine an agenda with more profound consequences for Canadians, beginning with a dramatic reordering of national priorities. Public health care? Child poverty? Fighting global warming? Fine causes, to be sure, but sadly the cupboard will be bare.
The Conservatives won't even have to look mean-spirited as they say no. There just won't be any money left. It will all be sucked into bulking up Pentagon North.
Harper knows Canadians would balk at this shift in priorities, if they got wind of it. In a 2008 pre-budget survey conducted for the finance department, Canadians were asked which of 18 different issues they considered a high priority. "Increasing spending on defence" ranked last.
There's a rich irony in this ramped-up military spending. In the election campaign, Harper has accused Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion of "reckless spending" for his plan to invest $70 billion in infrastructure over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Harper claims to be a thrifty economic manager, even as he quietly plans a massive spending spree on military hardware.
Clearly governments can rack up deficits just as quickly acquiring tanks and killing insurgents in Afghanistan, as they can building public transit or a clean energy grid here in Canada.
While the election campaign has focused on economic issues, the military and its combat role in Afghanistan have actually been the centrepieces of the Harper administration.
Harper has tried to reshape the way Canadians think about Canada, weaning us off our fondness for peacekeeping (and medicare, for that matter), and getting us excited about being a war-making nation, able to swagger on the world stage in the footsteps of the Americans.
In fact, the U.S. has shown where big military spending leads. As the "defence" sector expands, jobs and economic prosperity become linked to war preparation. A bulging defence sector becomes a built-in constituency for war.
Forget trying to figure out Harper's "secret agenda." The really frightening, far-reaching agenda Harper has in mind for us is already posted on the Internet.
Well I have no issues with putting money into the military and making it strong like it used to be...... I do have issues on how that military is used though.
Harper's spending on the military, some may not like..... but our military, it's history and the soldiers who fill those boots have been neglected for decades. Considering the amount of threats on Canadian borders from Russia, the US and other nations in the Artic area..... considering our involvments in modern day warfare, and the uncertainty of our allies' capabilities for security purposes.... .it seems pretty practical to bring us back to what we once were...... which was one of the largest militaries in the world. Perhaps not the biggest, but we used to be in the top 5 at one time...... and considering our population, that was a pretty impressive feat.
And also considering the training, experience, and drive our troops have shown in the past, as they show today, they diserve nothing but the best.
Harper's spending on the military is pretty much the only good thing going for him in my personal opinion...... but it's not enough for me to vote for him however.
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But in regards to my comment on how that military is used..... the moment our troops are sent into another stupid ass war and our troops are put into another situation where they shouldn't be...... I'll be pretty pissed, you can count on that.
As many say, the troops have to follow their orders and go where they are told...... but we as citizens should keep our government in check and make sure we protect our troops by making sure our government doesn't send them where we don't want them to...... to me, that's how you support your troops..... you don't support a war, you support them by making sure they are not abused by our government by being sent where they shouldn't be. Their honor shouldn't be something that can be thrown around to suit political causes. The Military exists to protect us..... and in turn we should protect them.
Harper's spending on the military, some may not like..... but our military, it's history and the soldiers who fill those boots have been neglected for decades. Considering the amount of threats on Canadian borders from Russia, the US and other nations in the Artic area..... considering our involvments in modern day warfare, and the uncertainty of our allies' capabilities for security purposes.... .it seems pretty practical to bring us back to what we once were...... which was one of the largest militaries in the world. Perhaps not the biggest, but we used to be in the top 5 at one time...... and considering our population, that was a pretty impressive feat.
And also considering the training, experience, and drive our troops have shown in the past, as they show today, they diserve nothing but the best.
Harper's spending on the military is pretty much the only good thing going for him in my personal opinion...... but it's not enough for me to vote for him however.
Added:
But in regards to my comment on how that military is used..... the moment our troops are sent into another stupid ass war and our troops are put into another situation where they shouldn't be...... I'll be pretty pissed, you can count on that.
As many say, the troops have to follow their orders and go where they are told...... but we as citizens should keep our government in check and make sure we protect our troops by making sure our government doesn't send them where we don't want them to...... to me, that's how you support your troops..... you don't support a war, you support them by making sure they are not abused by our government by being sent where they shouldn't be. Their honor shouldn't be something that can be thrown around to suit political causes. The Military exists to protect us..... and in turn we should protect them.
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I get it about the "knife" thingy. My husband says more shops are stocking made in China parts (e.g. plumbing connections) that either don't work or last for a very short period of time. He always makes sure that the parts he gets are either Canadian or US made. As far as he's concerned, the parts made in China shouldn't even be allowed as in some cases, a part failure can be dangerous! Yes, you pay more for the Cdn/US part but it lasts 100 times longer.
JMO
JMO
Yep Chinese crap is all over the place. But more and more, I see people buying Canadian made stuff. Eatting locally aswell, buying fruits and veggies in season as much as possible. We need to produce more finished product and leave the junk for the Chinese or who ever.
It has always been and probably always will be this way. ATTITUDES have to change, people have to get OFF their butts and ACT. Take control back. Societies were developed to serve people but this is backwards now.
Basically what happened is the government that said it had everything under control was letting the maintenance go undone. They left things status quo and expected it to stay that way even though the population was growing. And then they start to realize what was happening and tried the haywire and bandaid solutions which leads to more problems. Now we have low quality medical care for 90% of the population. Doctors who shouldn't be doctors, wonderful doctors from other parts of the world who aren't allowed to practise, huge waiting lists, and so on. Bad management.
Straight incompetence.
Weak-willed governing by some and the rest is due to straight-out apathy.
I cannot see where giving away great bundles of nifty things to others helps when your own back yard is in a pathetic state.
This started going downhill in 1968 when we voted in a Prime Minister who depleted resources for the military drastically.
People become apathetic concerning a subject when they start to realize that what they are doing has little or no effect. Why vote when nothing changes for the better?
Because administration is lazy and greedy. People love to collect millions per year as top brass in companies and then collect massive settlements when they leave even after they have screwed the company up royally. Boards of directors are becoming as competent as politicians.
This goes back to what I said about healthcare previously.
Again, this is due to mismanagement.
The gov't is simply not ensuring that the majority of its population has REASONABLE chances to earn a living. The top 10% pay more than 50% of the personal income taxes collected in Canada and they can look after themselves without help from the gov't. However, when the gov't increasingly acts to remove disposable income from the majority by adding tax, double taxing, allowing unions to force companies into overpaying wages till companies move away, taking away incentives for companies to reward good work, etc., the gap between the Paul Martins, Brian Mulroneys and the Joe Lunchbuckets gets wider and wider.
The problem with the NDP is, they keep telling the voters the cart comes before the horse........the horse being the economy....................every time the NDP had a chance to be on the driver seat Politically Federal or Provincial crashed the economy.........................History on that fact is alive and well......
The Conservatives, are the deficit Kings, they put out a carrot on a stick, and the carrot is toxic plastic not real, the voter took it up the rear...........................Billions in deficit coming up............................
The Conservatives, are the deficit Kings, they put out a carrot on a stick, and the carrot is toxic plastic not real, the voter took it up the rear...........................Billions in deficit coming up............................
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Soc I actually agree with you on the first comment about the NDP, lol, wonders will never cease. However your second comment is sure off base. The Conservatives have had many balanced budgets.
Hey Risus good day, well a record is a record and when there is a record it is hard to argue with a true record.........................
Oh there is plenty of blame to go around. Tories the Grits, the Voters the public the yankees and so on. Big deal, everyone is to blame. Now what is anyone going to do about it?
When governments display large deficits or surpluses it is only displaying its lack of competent budgeting. The ideal scenario is that it shows a balanced budget. That shows it is competent in budgeting.
The big point is that in the past few decades, it is only lately that the national DEBT has been dropping which is vastly more important than whether a surplus or deficit shows up. And just as important is whether the gov't can minimize the waste of money (the gun registry pops into mind here as the single largest waste of money in a very long time. Pretty much since the Avro Arrow debacle, I think).
The big point is that in the past few decades, it is only lately that the national DEBT has been dropping which is vastly more important than whether a surplus or deficit shows up. And just as important is whether the gov't can minimize the waste of money (the gun registry pops into mind here as the single largest waste of money in a very long time. Pretty much since the Avro Arrow debacle, I think).
The Liberals are on record paying down a huge amount of the National debt, where the Conservatives added to it................
Liberals are on record of being just as crooked and inept as the Conservatives. Both behave like the business-oriented moneymen they are ... in a place called the House of Commons. A country is NOT a business. People are NOT revenue generators. That's something they just keep forgetting.
Reality has been that it takes politicians to do the peoples business......and unfortunately some get greedy and some not as greedy, the bottom line is the 1993 Cons got obliterated because they were heavy on the take.....Brown Bags you know what I mean........Given the real shortage of good honest politicians I would pick the crooks who steal the least...................
Soc you are full of it. the Cretins record has destroyed the liberal party.
No, wrong the Liberal party after Chretien got sloppy.............................and that is what happens when the dream is not pursued.....
How about very expensive and unworkable gun control legislation that made lawbreakers of a lot of ordinarily laws-abiding citizens. See ... there is a much bigger cost than money to consider here....
Did you see the word ORDINARILY?
The fact is, many of those "ordinarily laws-abiding citizens" vote Conservative.
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