Harper pledges.......

[Colpy]

]

I swore if the silly "censored" won the CPC leadership race, I would quit voting.

You should quit voting anyway, you know, in protest.

Ah, hope springs eternal.

It's about time someone that didn't understand Quebec led this country. I am SOOOOO tired of this entire nation having its lips securely attached to Quebecois arse that a crowbar couldn't loose them.

I've been tempted, in the past, to propose a referendum in the ROC on separating from Quebec.

See? This is a perfect example of why the Conservaitves are incapable of dealing with any issue having to do with Quebec.

I only wish my attitude was Conservative Party policy.

It isn't.

 

[pastafarian]

"I liked when his heart was two sizes too small"

:laughing5:

That's a classic, Jo C!

 

[Reverend Blair]

Here's a calmer question.

Why haven't the NDP done anything in Quebec?

Ideologically speaking, they are a perfect fit with the BQ (if you leave out the independence thing), and Quebec as a province is MUCH more left than Canada as a whole.

So how come Federalists in Quebec don't go NDP?

I mean, they even went PC with Mulroney.

Sorry, Colpy...missed this post before.

The NDP occupies approximately the same place on the political spectrum as the BQ, so the BQ gets most of those votes. The safe Liberal ridings tend to be the centre-right ridings, so the Liberals get those votes. That squeezes the NDP out...they've never really been able to build any momentum in Quebec.

The real question is why the Conservatives, if they are centre-right as they claim to be, cannot capture the Liberal vote. They used to have a base in Quebec. They should be able to capture the Liberal vote and combine it with a further-right conservative vote and take seats from both the Liberals and the BQ in some ridings. They've been unable to do so.

 

[DasFX]

The NDP occupies approximately the same place on the political spectrum as the BQ, so the BQ gets most of those votes. The safe Liberal ridings tend to be the centre-right ridings, so the Liberals get those votes. That squeezes the NDP out...they've never really been able to build any momentum in Quebec.

Last I checked the BQ has only been around since 1990, I don't recall any strong NDP numbers in leftist Quebec before the BQ arrived on the scene.

 

[Colpy]

The real question is why the Conservatives, if they are centre-right as they claim to be, cannot capture the Liberal vote. They used to have a base in Quebec. They should be able to capture the Liberal vote and combine it with a further-right conservative vote and take seats from both the Liberals and the BQ in some ridings. They've been unable to do so.

Good question, and I'm not really sure of the answer.

But, I've never been afraid of the tough ones.

I think that real conservative voters are as rare as hound's teeth in Quebec.

Also, the Liberals' leaders have always been from Quebec. Mulroney won against Turner, not from Quebec. And Mulroney is from Quebec.

In the present case, with the Liberals so discredited, I really don't quite get it. Perhaps it is just that Conventional Wisdom has it framed as a BQ-Lib fight, and the other alternatives haven't penetrated the majority Quebec conciousness.

Martin is still from Quebec.

And I think the smear that the CPC is just Reform in a blue suit has sunk in. Sooner or later, Canadians have got to get over this silliness.

And, maybe, just maybe, the CPC will do better than we thought in Quebec.........but I'm not taking any bets.

 

[Jay]

Bouchard was a Tory turned separatist.....that's where the Quebec tory vote went.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Last I checked the BQ has only been around since 1990, I don't recall any strong NDP numbers in leftist Quebec before the BQ arrived on the scene.

The separatist movement has been left-leaning since at least the 60's though. The NDP has always supported federalism, so there's a clash there.

 

[no1important]

Stephen Harper, the Tories, and the GST;
Perhaps It Is Time for a Revival of the Reform Party

A teaser:

Stephen Harper seems to be drifting increasingly away from sensible economic policies. This drift is both disappointing and depressing.

His latest pronouncement is to promise to lower the GST from 7% to 5%. For those of you outside Canada, the GST is the Goods and Services Tax, something like a national sales tax or value-added tax. Lowering it would not be a great economic policy.

1. Keep in mind that the GST was implemented to replace the hidden and onerous manufacturers' excise tax (see here for details). As Alan Adamson points out in that link, after-tax prices, for the most part, declined after the implementation of the GST. [/teaser]

A very good read. Seems his fellow neoconservatives are not all happy about his economic outlook.

 

[Reverend Blair]

This is the second election in a row that Harper has been in trouble with the economists. He claims to be an economist by training and has been a policy wonk by trade. One thing he certainly isn't, no matter how you look at it, is competent.

 

[DasFX]

Martin is still from Quebec.

Martin is Ontarian, just like Harper.

 

[Colpy]

Martin is still from Quebec.

Martin is Ontarian, just like Harper.

You are correct.

My apologies.

 

[MMMike]

This is the second election in a row that Harper has been in trouble with the economists. He claims to be an economist by training and has been a policy wonk by trade. One thing he certainly isn't, no matter how you look at it, is competent.

I'd certainly trust the Conservatives with the economy long before the NDP. With their tax and spend policies, they will quickly undermine our fiscal position and drive investment from the country. The 'export tax' is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[DasFX]

The only thing they did reasonably is pass the Clarity Act, almost too late.

No, actually it wasn't a very good act. It is too vague

What this country needs (and, unfortunately, I don't think the CPC would do it) is a government that very clearly marks out the lines in the sand for Quebec separation.

I agree

- a 60% or higher majority.

Based on what? 50% + 1 is a majority, we use it to elect our politicians? I would love it if the bar was set at 90%, but I really have nothing to support changing it from 50% + 1. So it should stay that way.

- a question agreed upon by the Quebec and Federal governments.

Umm, nope. If the Quebec government calls a referendum, the question is at their discretion. Again, it would be nice if they both agreed on the question, but there is no legal requirement to do so. The Canadian government could run its own referendum and then set the question themselves.

- in the case of a "yes" vote, negotiations to establish boundaries, debt repayment, access to the St. Lawrence Seaway, trade agreements, etc.

Yes, nobody disputes this.

- a UDI would be considered a declaration of war.

Act of war, no. But the sepratist certainly do not want to go down this road and probably wouldn't.

A yes vote simply would not happen in such a case.

This is an emotional topic, the reason to separate are not based on logic and are not rational. A yes vote could still happen.

Even if it did, it would be the safest way to go, as both sides know the rules, and slipping accidentally into armed conflict would be unlikely.

Agreed.

 

[Colpy]

Stephen Harper, the Tories, and the GST;
Perhaps It Is Time for a Revival of the Reform Party

A teaser:

Stephen Harper seems to be drifting increasingly away from sensible economic policies. This drift is both disappointing and depressing.

His latest pronouncement is to promise to lower the GST from 7% to 5%. For those of you outside Canada, the GST is the Goods and Services Tax, something like a national sales tax or value-added tax. Lowering it would not be a great economic policy.

1. Keep in mind that the GST was implemented to replace the hidden and onerous manufacturers' excise tax (see here for details). As Alan Adamson points out in that link, after-tax prices, for the most part, declined after the implementation of the GST. [/teaser]

A very good read. Seems his fellow neoconservatives are not all happy about his economic outlook.

This from a supporter of the NDP.

Jack Layton has been running around promising the sky, and refusing to put a price tag on it.

Even the useless Liberals reluctantly admit Harper's GST cut is affordable.

And yes Rev, Harper and the CPC are a moderate party. Radical neo-cons are not happy with him.

 

[Reverend Blair]

I'd certainly trust the Conservatives with the economy long before the NDP. With their tax and spend policies, they will quickly undermine our fiscal position and drive investment from the country. The 'export tax' is just the tip of the iceberg.

Do they not have TVs where you are? Layton said there would be no new taxes.

The export tax he has proposed, as anybody who actually listens to what is said instead of just pulling things out of their asses knows, is a retaliatory trade measure designed to make the US live up to agreement they have signed. It would not cost Canadians or any of the oil-producing provinces anything at all.

The Conservatives are sounding more than a little desperate with their scare mongering. Could it be that they are unhappy with the polls once again?

This from a supporter of the NDP.

It's from an economics professor.

Jack Layton has been running around promising the sky, and refusing to put a price tag on it.

No, he offered to make sure we could see the sky and breathe the air in the sky. Since that would require new technologies and save Canadian money, it would also increase economic activity. Jack Layton is offering you the chance to make a profit.

And yes Rev, Harper and the CPC are a moderate party. Radical neo-cons are not happy with him.

Except for their stance on same-sex marriage, their wish to remove a woman's right to choose, their insistence that we privatise everything, their plan to turn Canadian peacekeepers into cannon fodder in American military adventures, their hatred of the United Nations, their wish to reduce our gun laws to the same mass the US has, their plans to privatise medicare, their complete lack of compassion for the poor, and Stephen Harper's habit of wearing eyeliner, you mean.

 

[MMMike]

Do they not have TVs where you are? Layton said there would be no new taxes.

Yep, uh-huh. This is the NDP's 'hidden agenda'. Everyone with a brain nows they'll introduce tax increases.

 

[Jay]

They aren't going to win the election anyways, so who cares what he says......

 

[Reverend Blair]

No hidden agenda in the NDP, MMMikey, just solid policy. You obviously can't come up with a cogent argument so you make false claims. I guess you've decided to make this an ugly election.

Harper's plans...increased spending and tax cuts targeted mostly at his corporate pals and American friends...would throw us back into a deficit situation.

 

[missile]

I laugh at harper's Cuts :lol: Most of his plans will take 5 years to implement..and where will they be in 5 years? Not in power!

 

[Jay]

Re: RE: Harper pledges.......

No hidden agenda in the NDP, MMMikey, just solid policy. You obviously can't come up with a cogent argument so you make false claims. I guess you've decided to make this an ugly election.

Harper's plans...increased spending and tax cuts targeted mostly at his corporate pals and American friends...would throw us back into a deficit situation.

Oh ya, I forgot. The hidden adenda thing only works against the conservatives.