Now that the Election is real, who will you vote for?

[Mr. Jones]

Democaracy (it's participatory, remember?)

We will always have bad apples in ANY government formed by ANY political party. I ask you to vote for the ONLY party that is sure to change the way we are governed - by moving to fixed election dates, holding a referendum to determine the majority wishes on the form of representation we have (proportional representation, first past the post, etc.), changing to an elected and effective senate, and plenty more. Some of you already know who that is. For those who haven't been paying attention, their leader is a very un-charismatic guy who grew up in Ontario but saw the error of his ways and moved to Calgary .........

 

[Makhno]

And you thought Chretien talked out of both sides of his mouth...

Prime Minister Paul Martin today unveiled "A Fix for a Generation", a detailed, comprehensive plan to preserve and enhance health care for Canadians.

“Canada’s healthcare system is an expression of our values as a nation – a belief that care must be based on need and not income,” said Paul Martin. “The task before us is to uphold those values by preserving and enhancing our publicly funded and administered system of health care. Canadians do not want another round of ideological debate over the basic structure of medicare. They just want the parts that aren’t working fixed. This plan will let us move from band aid solutions to a sustainable fix that can last for a generation.”

What a hoot!

This is the same Paul Martin who as finance minister enacted the deepest cuts to Medicare in history - all without any consultation whatsoever with the provinces. As for keeping it public, in the wake of his 1995 budget Martin quietly took a clause out of the Canada Health Act that protected the public delivery of key services like homecare. And when sitting on the biggest surplus in history with Canadians saying Medicare was their priority, did he use that money then to build a modern, innovative system? Nope. Spend $100 billion on tax cuts instead. The Liberal record includes $25 billion cuts in health care funding, a 1997 broken promise for a pharmacare program and allowing private delivery of health services.

This is not to say that Martin is better or worse than any other party politician.
THEY ALL LIE TO US.
The lies just become more blatant during elections.
Its what they do to get your vote.

 

[spaceghost]

The best and most efficient form of government is a benavolent dictatorship... We have no good and wise kings, like of old. But we don't have any mad emperors either. Till we find a better way, it's a fair trade off.

"Andrea: Unhappy the land that has no heroes.
Galileo: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes."

- Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo

 

[Makhno]

The only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions.

 

[wolverine]

In Alberta we vote a party in.

I hope that's not the case in the next election. Ralph Klein is now a few Fruit Loops short of a full box, and that box seems to get emptier with each passing day. Perhaps he should become an alcoholic again.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Taxes !!!

Check this am's Globe and Mail headline ("Martin's big pledge: $ 9 billion for health") .........

And he's going to do that without raising taxes (big time) ??? Can you say hypocrite kiddies ??? D'oh ..........

 

[qwerty]

Mr. Jones, your post makes no sense. If Martin can put 9 billion into health care without raising taxes, how does that make him a hypoctite. I'm sure he can get the 9 billion from the monies usually alloted to 'friends of the liberals'.

 

[wolverine]

Yeah, but before the election call, Goodale was pledging poverty about no new money for health care.

 

[James]

Yup, two more stats.

I wonder who's going to cover the massive cost of those?

Anybody else have employees who work stats? How about those who don't work stats, but get paid anyways? Wonder how many business operators can afford two more days of staff and facilities costs without revenue?

Typical NDP. Promise to tax the rich, give to the poor, and totally screw those of us who are somewhere in the middle.

 

[Makhno]

As for the $9 billion........................uh huh

 

[Mr. Jones]

the next Prime Minister ...

Good morning, perbs and perbettes! Sorry to keep "Harpering" on this topic (well, actually, I'm not sorry at all). Brialliant article in the Financial Post this am - Diane Francis has come up with a couple of genuinely new perspectives - please give the link below a read ..........

http://www.canada.com/national/nati....html?id=8092c066-4d95-46ef-950a-b62dd0d9b065

 

[Cock Throppled]

People, please take note of how our country is being pilaged by repeated Liberal crooks. We keep rewarding them for stealing from us. We know Ontario will probaly still vote for them because they keep getting their poles waxed by Liberals (although McGuinty will cost them plenty) and maybe Atlantic Canada will keep voting for them because successive Liberal governments have made them dependent on Federal money, but the rest of us CANNOT reward them for being thiveing, arrogant pigs. We tossd the BC NDP because they had to be punished for their behaviour, why so forgiving to the Martinites? I urge people to vote for ABL - Anybody but Liberal. Kick the bastards in the nads and show them there is a price to pay for fucking with us. Don't take the easy way out and say they are the lesser of two evils.

 

[Makhno]

 

[Curley]

I have enough problems with voting ... I'm an American! November won't come here fast enough! Time for Bozo the Clown to be sent home!

 

[wilde]

As of 5:00 pm today, the Conservatives leads the Liberals by 2 votes (24 to 22) and the Weed party leads the Green party by 6 votes (7 to 1) in our Perb poll. If this is indicative of the real results, we are in deep shit.

I am going to vote for the Liberials come election time. Sponsorship scandals you say, I say that this is nothing new except that we finally have an auditor general with enough guts to expose them. Call me a shill.

NDP should come up with something other than their "Robinhood" platform. I don't think people in this country, especially this province, can stomach any more big union /labour movement.

The Conservatives seems to be a viable option. But the reality is that they are so desperate they merged with the Red Neck, sorry, Reform party. Right now they are one big happy compromise. Can you imagine the power struggle if they are elected?

You can call the Liberials whatever you want, but I do know this. Compared to 10 years ago, most people get to keep a lot more of what they earned in their pockets. The top marginal personal tax rate back then was about 54% for BC. Now it is at 43.7%. They also prevented this country from becoming Argentina. They tackled the massive national debt left behind by the Tories.

The real choices for this election comes down to this, the party that created the GST or the party that broke their promise to eliminate the GST. If you are not sure who to vote for, vote with your wallet not your head.

 

[Mr. Jones]

Taxes - and other musings ...

A couple of points you don't seem to be aware of, "Oscar" old boy (well - maybe 3 or 4):

1.) Where do you get the idea that there any rednecks (if there ever really were) in The Alliance - now Conservatives? The real losers have (thankfully) left of their own volition - i.e. the idiot Joe Who, the infidel Scott Brison, et. al.

2.) The federal debt WAS admittedly reduced by Cretin / Martin - but only because of pressure from the Manning Reform movement. This was accomplished by "downloading" a lot of services on to the provinces (who, in turn, downloaded them on to the municipalities). Have you checked out the # of homeless in any major Cdn city lately? I don't credit the NDP with much at all, but Layton is right to blame this phenomenon on P. Martin.

3.) Further to your concern re the federal debt - in actual fact it WAS reduced by the Mulroney / Michael Wilson administration. The debt as a ratio of GDP went from 9% to 5% over the 8 years they were in (because the economy grew so much). Can't resist either in pointing out that there were no 3-year terms with election dates of convenience on the Mulroney Tory watch.

4.) So, the Tories gave you the GST - so what? You always did pay Federal Sales Tax. Now, your tax is visible, that's all. If you don't like taxes (impact on your wallet, Wilde?) then it seems awfully logical that you would vote for the party that will reduce them, NO? (See my earlier posting on this thread).

Enjoying the debate, PERB's. Let's do what we must to keep the "right" party in the lead on this poll - AND in the only poll that matters - on 28 June! ..........

 

[HaywoodJabloemy]

Would any party tend to be more in favour of reforming the outdated laws that concern the sex trade?

Libby Davies of the NDP seems to be the only one who is outspoken about the subject. I think Jack Layton voted for the Toronto City Council motion that asked the federal government to decriminalize prostitution in 1995.

Sometime in the last couple of years John Crosbie, who is unretiring to run as a Conservative, said on a History's Courtroom TV program that he had thought the laws should be liberalized like Holland (or "Halland" as he pronounced it). And apparently Conservatives have been told to avoid answering questions on 'morality' issues, and Harper may have said he would allow free votes on those type of issues. Probably safe to assume most of them would be against decriminalization though.

Real Menard and at least one other BQ MP have voiced opinions in favour of decriminalization, and I think they tend to be more like the NDP on social issues.

There was a Liberal MP, Mac Harb, now a senator, who said something about decriminalization sometime in the last few years. Other than that I think they all seem to be afraid of having an opinion and would ignore the subject as long they could, and make no changes and not acknowledge that anything is wrong.

 

[wilde]

Re: Taxes - and other musings ...

Mr. Jones, your post makes no sense. If Martin can put 9 billion into health care without raising taxes, how does that make him a hypoctite. I'm sure he can get the 9 billion from the monies usually alloted to 'friends of the liberals'.

I guess not, but I do agree with qwerty though.

It seems that I touched somebody's Red...Reform nerve.

 

[Makhno]

 

[qwerty]

In a way I hope the Conservatives win this time. It would ensure a strong Liberal majority next time around. First off they would have such a small minority that they wouldn't get anything done. This would probably lead to in-fighting and an eventual split in the 'party' if you can even call it that. With the writing on the wall they'd start lining their pockets with out tax dollars at a pace that would make the Liberals scandals look like pocket change and everyone would realize why the Liberals have been in power for so long despite all of their flaws.


The real problem with my theory is that I believe Canadians in general are too smart to vote in a conservative party, no matter what they call themselves:Þ