Martin pledges to remove immigration landing fee

[Canucklehead]

RE: Martin pledges to rem

Was it not Dear Mr Harper a few months back who said he wanted to revisit NAFTA. As I recall it was a conservative government that screwed us with that lil gem. Of course, that was then and the sheeple have long since forgotten it.

 

[Jersay]

Exactly. Nice mess.

 

[Hank C]

Re: RE: Martin pledges to rem

Was it not Dear Mr Harper a few months back who said he wanted to revisit NAFTA. As I recall it was a conservative government that screwed us with that lil gem. Of course, that was then and the sheeple have long since forgotten it.

ummm.. are you saying Harper is running against NAFTA.... so what he made a comment a while back about free trade but if you think he is going to throw out the agreement like a NDP govt would then you are way off target. Secondly what is wrong with NAFTA, it dosen't "screw us", in fact Canada becuase of the agreement comes out on top with a multibillion dollar surplus yearly. Once the agreement was sighned trade took off, and we greatly benefit from it.

....Can you honestly tell me the Libs could of balanced the budget without NAFTA and the GST? Now that our economy is doing well it is time to lower the GST.

 

[Canucklehead]

RE: Martin pledges to rem

No, I am just saying that attacking Martin over repealing a head tax is no different than Harper saying he would go revisit NAFTA. They were both used for political gains and the fact that Martin chose to do so during a campaign is irrelevant to facts. They both have re-thought previous decisions made by their party while in power.

I agree the GST should be reduced or eliminated if at all possible in light of the fact that they haven't placed the surpluses gained through it towards social programs.
NAFTA has not worked entirely, our government was open to some wild-ass lawsuit by a private firm due to NAFTA rules for crissake. I don't have details or link so don't ask but... it was over some additive for fuel as I recall. Sorry, that's not exactly a fair deal when we have lost the control, if even in a single case, to enforce our own sovereignty as it pertains to our assessment of domestic well being and self interest. Never mind the softwood dispute, or oil and beef being largely owned by foreign firms.


edit: manual spellcheck

 

[zoofer]

Martin balanced the budgets on the backs of the taxpayers. He downloaded the federal share of Medicare costs onto the Provinces. From 50% to as low as 14%.
He made sure his Shipping Company escaped Canadian taxes and wages.
Not even the NDP would scrap Nafta if they were in power. It would be a case of cutting off their nose to spite their face.

 

[Hank C]

No, I am just saying that attacking Martin over repealing a head tax is no different than Harper saying he would go revisit NAFTA. They were both used for political gains and the fact that Martin chose to do so during a campaign is irrelevant to facts. They both have re-thought previous decisions made by their party while in power.

no its not the same.....Harper just made a comment about NAFTA, while Paul Martin has actually announced that he would scrap the immigrant tax he introduced. secondly it was not Harper who brought in NAFTA so it is not one of his policies, and moreover that was 13 years ago...this is a completely different Conservative Party put together by merging two parties. So to clarify one just made comments (everyone makes dumb comments) while the other has taken action against his own party policy.

 

[FiveParadox]

Revision of Policy

:arrow: Revising Party Policies

Any party has the right to amend its policies, from time to time; perceptions change and, if the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin determines that it would now be appropriate to enact changes to a policy of either his party, or the party of his predecessor(s), then so be it; the Hon. Stephen Harper has certainly done the same thing.

Mr. Harper now states that he would never have sent Canadian forces to Iraq, whereas when the Government of Canada had chosen not to send forces, he apologized to the United States on behalf of Canada as the Leader of the Opposition. In my opinion, no Opposition Leader has the right to represent Canada abroad.

Contrary to what he may claim, Stephen Harper, in my opinion, was quite in fact in favour of sending forces to Iraq. On March 20, 2003, Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Québecois, moved "[t]hat this House call upon the government not to participate in the military intervention initiated by the United States in Iraq."

Mr. Harper stated that "[t]herefore, we [his party] will not merely vote against this motion today, we will tell the Americans and the British that we are with them." His entire speech was recorded into the Hansard, Number 074; for the record, Mr. Harper voted against the motion, essentially advocating for the participation by Canada in the intervention in Iraq. This is cold, hard, Hansard-supported Parliamentary evidence.

:arrow: The Government Sales Tax

My opinion, as many of you who have browsed other forums on this topic should know, is that the G.S.T. should not be reduced, and that in fact it should be increased as soon as possible, in order to accomodate the rapid payment of Canada's federal debt.

Our debt right now stands at $499.9 billion, and $35.8 billion of the Budget was spent last year solely on making interest payments on the debt. Due to this fact, my position is that we should not be seeing any significant tax decreases or eliminations until we have little or no debt.

:?: Sources
Budget information courtesy of the Ministry of Finance.

 

[JomZ]

You must have been a huge Chretien fan FivePara.

I am for keeping the GST tax the same (Ontario pays the highest sales tax of 15% on every dollar sold 7%Gst and 8% PST).

I'm all for the elimination of debt before massive spending increases, but increasing my sales and services tax will only cause me to spend less of my already taxed income on everything but the essentials and focus on paying my overly high property taxes..... Gotta love this country sometimes.

 

[FiveParadox]

Fan of Chrétien

I'm not quite sure what you mean; what leads you to believe that I was a "huge ... fan" of the Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien? I thought he was "okay." Kind of average, in terms of a Prime Minister of this country.

 

[bluealberta]

What I have not seen mentioned here is the panel Harper would set up to review qualifications for immigrants.

For example, I know of a qualified surgeon who came to Canada from South Africa. He is Caucasian if that makes any difference to anyone (not to me). POint is, he cannot practice surgery and has to pass some sort of qualifying board to become a surgeon again, but in the meantime, he is locked into a contract as a General Practictioner, in a small town, all the while trying to pass the required boards.

Meanwhile, we decry the lack of doctors, where this fellow is more than qualified. The panel Harper proposes would, IMO, review this doctors qualifications and speed up the process of him being able to proceed in his area of expertise.

 

[Hank C]

I support the CPC plan!

 

[Canucklehead]

no its not the same.....Harper just made a comment about NAFTA, while Paul Martin has actually announced that he would scrap the immigrant tax he introduced. secondly it was not Harper who brought in NAFTA so it is not one of his policies, and moreover that was 13 years ago...this is a completely different Conservative Party put together by merging two parties. So to clarify one just made comments (everyone makes dumb comments) while the other has taken action against his own party policy.

Sure it is. Martin was Minister of Finance, not Immigration 'back in the day' and you can't seriously expect me to believe that the Liberals post-Chretien are the same beast as when Chretien ran the show. The left in that party was purged like chocolate cake from the stomach of a bulimic. That Harper merely spoke out as to what he would do does not negate the fact he said it and led the populace to believe, through such comments, that he would revist it 'if only he were our Prime Minister'.

 

[zoofer]

Yeah the first heart transplant was done in S Africa by heart surgeon Christian Barnard. Many western countries have similar medical qualifications and some panel should be set up to evaluate them. Then a doctor from Scotland or Germany should be able to be recognized here and the USA without any hassle. Canadian doctors have to write exams to practice in the USA.