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[gutter_trash]

I will never understand Conservatives' hard-on for the Monarchy.

Trudeau and Chretien were the best at making spoofs and jokes in front of the Queen without giving a fuck.

Harper on the other hand seems ready to get on his knees and waste more our tax dollars for their trips and vacations to Canada

Oh god, anyone watch Power and Politics today?
Carolyn Bennett debating Jim Karygiannis over the Liberal party position on abortion. This is why I don't want the Liberals to represent the Left, because the crazies in the Liberal party are saying how Justin Trudeau has turned them into "second class citizens".

Why can't the NDP be a serious opposition party? Why do I have to choose between a shitty party and a shittier party?

(Also, why can't an atheist ever be a political leader so we can move beyond this stupid shit and solve real issues?)

It's lefty guys like you that allow Conservatives to get re-elected back into government

 

[Azih]

It's lefty guys like you that allow Conservatives to get re-elected back into government

Why don't you blame corrupt Liberals and inadequate Liberal leadership instead?

And Paul Martin was a full on fiscal conservative. Massive surpluses while pollution and child poverty shot up in the country. You know Liberals have a sad history of campaigning on the left and then turning around and governing on the right.

 

[gutter_trash]

Why don't you blame corrupt Liberals and inadequate Liberal leadership instead?

And Paul Martin was a full on fiscal conservative. Massive surpluses while pollution and child poverty shot up in the country. You know Liberals have a sad history of campaigning on the left and then turning around and governing on the right.

the NDP will never win Federally, like ever. Accept it

 

[Azih]

the NDP will never win Federally, like ever. Accept it

What's that got to do with what I said? Seriously you're so hellbent on partisan nonsense that it's incredibly difficult to have a conversation with you.

 

[Fuzzy]

Is the wage actually regulated, as in, the employer must give a raise when the apprentice become journeyman? This is like if an accountant clerk get a CGA destination, I don't think the boss is obligated to give a raise (thus there is no need to fire anyone, but the new CGA is free to find a better job).

I am not a huge fan of those self regulated industry college. I know someone who is forced to join one. She needs to pay $250 annual fee, gets 0 benefit (not even a bone like discounted cell phone plan or cheaper group insurance) and absolutely nothing in return. Salary is the same. Meanwhile there is no financial information about the college - it looks like all the member fee went to those fat cats.

Yes.

1st term apprentice - 40%
2nd term - 50%
3rd term - 60%
4th term - 70%
5th term - 80%
Licensed - 100%

That's all assuming you're a registered apprentice (lots of people don't know they have to be registered). What the company pays their licensed workers isn't regulated however. Shitty companies pay shitty wages and you have to fight for your raise every year because they don't want to give them.

 

[Silexx]

I will never understand Conservatives' hard-on for the Monarchy.

Trudeau and Chretien were the best at making spoofs and jokes in front of the Queen without giving a fuck.

Harper on the other hand seems ready to get on his knees and waste more our tax dollars for their trips and vacations to Canada


It's lefty guys like you that allow Conservatives to get re-elected back into government

What? Harper has taken any opportunity to devalue the monarchy. He would kneecap the Queen if he thought it get him a couple of points in the polls.

 

[firehawk12]

What? Harper has taken any opportunity to devalue the monarchy. He would kneecap the Queen if he thought it get him a couple of points in the polls.

I think Royalists probably run the gamut politically. Hell, the fact that people still give a shit about royal weddings and babies is a sign of that. I mean, there's a magazine in Canada devoted to pictures of the royal family for Pete's sake.

It's lefty guys like you that allow Conservatives to get re-elected back into government

Well, it's funny, I voted in Jack Layton's riding last time but I almost should have voted in Guelph because of the robocall thing. Either way, pretty safe lefty seats. This time around, I'm probably going to vote NDP again.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Haha guess what was on the ad wrap on the Toronto Sun today

Re; monarchy. I like the monarchy, it's better than the alternative (an elected president). A job like that is not meant to be a popularity contest.

 

[firehawk12]

Haha, how convenient.

I shift around on the idea of a head of state. On the one hand, it was the only way an Asian Canadian would be put in charge of the country (thank you Adrian Clarkson), but on the other hand, I do like the idea of an elected executive. Because then at least a Liberal in Alberta and a Conservative in Toronto wouldn't feel like they were wasting their vote in their riding.

It'll never happen for the same reason why senate reform will never happen, so it's all academic anyway.

Well, actually, I suppose if England ceases to exist and the Commonwealth dies, then we won't have a Queen or King of Canada any more... but at that point, we're probably all speaking Russian or Chinese or are in the Matrix.

 

[maharg]

Well, actually, I suppose if England ceases to exist and the Commonwealth dies, then we won't have a Queen or King of Canada any more... but at that point, we're probably all speaking Russian or Chinese or are in the Matrix.

Only if we chose not to. If England removed the monarchy and/or the organization of the Commonwealth were dissolved the next in line would still be heir to the throne of the other/former commonwealth nations separately and individually.

Nothing about Elizabeth being Queen of Canada has anything to do with her being Queen of England, legally speaking. They are independent roles (to the point that if the Queen were to act on behalf of Canada to England, she would be doing it as the monarch of Canada) and independent (but identical) lines of succession.

 

[firehawk12]

Only if we chose not to. If England removed the monarchy and/or the organization of the Commonwealth were dissolved the next in line would still be heir to the throne of the other/former commonwealth nations separately and individually.

Nothing about Elizabeth being Queen of Canada has anything to do with her being Queen of England, legally speaking. They are independent roles (to the point that if the Queen were to act on behalf of Canada to England, she would be doing it as the monarch of Canada) and independent (but identical) lines of succession.

Well, I'm just assuming that if such an event were to happen, Canada would probably be occupied by the Americans or Russian or someone else at that point and the whole world would be burning. The Monarchy of Canada would probably be the least of our concerns. But now I'm just Tom Clancy-ing. lol

I didn't know that they were separate though. I thought the point of the GG was that they acted on the Queen's behalf. But if say, 28 Days Later happened and England turned into a zombie hellhole, the royal family could just move over and become the royal family of Canada?

 

[Mr.Mike]

I didn't know that they were separate though. I thought the point of the GG was that they acted on the Queen's behalf. But if say, 28 Days Later happened and England turned into a zombie hellhole, the royal family could just move over and become the royal family of Canada?

Well, they are the royal family of Canada. They just happen to live over there.

Although I suppose if they did come to live here full time we'd have to build them a palace or something. (At this point we might drop them).

 

[maharg]

Well, I'm just assuming that if such an event were to happen, Canada would probably be occupied by the Americans or Russian or someone else at that point and the whole world would be burning. The Monarchy of Canada would probably be the least of our concerns. But now I'm just Tom Clancy-ing. lol

I didn't know that they were separate though. I thought the point of the GG was that they acted on the Queen's behalf. But if say, 28 Days Later happened and England turned into a zombie hellhole, the royal family could just move over and become the royal family of Canada?

I don't think it'd take anything quite that dramatic to cause the commonwealth to destruct or England to reject the monarchy. Assuming there was a government of Canada left, though, it'd take a dramatic constitutional amendment to remove the monarchy.

The Governor General is appointed by and acts on behalf of the Queen of Canada, who also happens to be the Queen of England, Scotland, and Wales. When she's visiting, or when she is abroad on business for Canada (which may have never happened for all I know), she is our Queen.

The main thing that ties the commonwealth together is an agreement to update the line of succession in lockstep, only with the consent of all the Commonwealth governments. It would be possible to remove ourselves from that agreement without removing the monarchy (and probably easier to do), though obviously the royal family itself might have something to say about it.

However, the royal family outside the Queen, afaik, only has meaningful title in the UK. Here they're just on the line of succession and foreign nobility.

And yes, they could switch their home to any commonwealth country in theory. In practice I doubt any country but the UK would host them in the manner to which they are accustomed.

 

[firehawk12]

So say, in some unlikely event, England democratically decides to become a Republic and rejects the Monarchy. The Commonwealth would still exist, just without England as being part of it?

And then they could just set up shop in Australia and then rule what remains of the Commonwealth from there?

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Australia will get rid of them before the UK.

 

[maharg]

So say, in some unlikely event, England democratically decides to become a Republic and rejects the Monarchy. The Commonwealth would still exist, just without England as being part of it?

And then they could just set up shop in Australia and then rule what remains of the Commonwealth from there?

Other than the various implausible things involved, yes, this is theoretically possible. The person who is the monarch of the commonwealth countries is also, again independently, the head of the commonwealth.

 

[firehawk12]

The Commonwealth feels more and more like some kind of elaborate pyramid scheme. lol

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Macleans: [The Liberal] Ontario pension plan could ultimately mean that Ottawa gets to spend less on Ontario seniors, while the province’s poorest workers pay more.

It's quite clear that Liberals didn't think this through. Throw another one into the promise first think later box.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Tim Hudak’s ‘pet rock’ a chunk of rubble from scrapped gas plant

OTTAWA—Meet Tim Hudak’s pet rock.

The 1970s craze lives on for the Progressive Conservative leader, who brought “Billy” to a news conference Thursday in the nation’s capital to highlight his long-standing promise for a judicial inquiry into the $1.1 billion gas plants scandal.

“It was an extraordinary betrayal of the trust taxpayers have,” Hudak said of the cancellations of plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election.

“Billy” is a hefty chunk of rubble from the derelict Misssissauga plant that was under construction near Sherway Gardens. The rock’s name is short for Billionaire, a reference to the cost of scrapping the two power plants, and is the subject of a spoof TV shopping channel infomercial Hudak staffers created for fun.

LOL I can't remember the last time I laughed at a political joke

 

[BigJonsson]

New forum poll has the Liberals at 41 percent

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

New forum poll has the Liberals at 41 percent

PC/NDP need to step their game up. If the Liberals get a majority then Ontario will become a welfare case like New Brunswick. I think I've heard the Liberals mention McGuinty more often than the PCs have.

 

[Azih]

I like Wynne, I really do. The Liberals just have to do something to get y'know competent. The sheer number of spending scandals that have come out of their P3 plans is mind boggling and they want to double down on the strategy. ORGNE, eHealth, Gas plant... Either they get dazzled by slick CEOs like Dr.Chris Mazza and don't do their due diligence or they're just plain corrupt and throwing public money at corporate friends. I just cannot tell which.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

It's not even about scandals anymore as it is sheer economic incompetence. If Liberals get into power that's a definite credit downgrade. That's not look pretty next to a $13 billion deficit. Spending will spiral out of control and what will we have to show for it? Scarborough subways and premium-priced noon-time daycare? People will be out of work and the poor will go starving while Club Liberal gets 7-figure salary jobs at OPG and that $3 billion "jobs and prosperity fund" (corporate welfare) for the generous donors.

To top it off, if Liberals are actually honest (lol) about balancing the budget by 2017-18, that would actually make them more austere than the Conservatives. They made the deficit so high this year that it will actually take more cuts to balance than the Conservatives or NDP are proposing! This is the voodoo economics of Ms. Wynne. It relies entirely on Trudeau getting elected in 2015 and handing some money under the table.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Speak of the devil, Moody's threatens to downgrade Ontario's credit rating. Pure irresponsibility from the Wynne Liberals. They will indebt Ontario to win an election.

 

[gutter_trash]

just print 20 foot posters of Mike Harris' face. That's all Wynne needs to do

 

[SRG01]

New forum poll has the Liberals at 41 percent

What the hell, how is this even possible? I'm no fan of Ontario politics, bu it takes a massive screw up on the opposition's side for the Liberals to be at 41 percent.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

What the hell, how is this even possible? I'm no fan of Ontario politics, bu it takes a massive screw up on the opposition's side for the Liberals to be at 41 percent.

Well, the Abacus poll which polled on the same day had them and Conservatives at 33, NDP at 26. Everything is still all over the place. I guess we shall see on election day. I'm more inclined to believe in Abacus not only because it has my preferred results (hehe) but they have realistic numbers for the Liberals in SW and Northern Ontario (if you compare to 2011).

Ipsos says they'll release their numbers in about 30 minutes. Hopefully it clears the muddy waters a bit, but it probably won't lol

 

[maharg]

There hasn't even been a debate yet, has there? Pretty much everything until at least one debate is like throwing darts at a barn. Even in this age of lack of engagement, that tends to be the thing that focuses people's attention on the election.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Ipsos: 35% PCs, 31% Liberals, 28% NDP, 6% Greens. Yep, I agree with maharg. No one paying attention = numbers all over the place.

Edit: heh, it looks like at least someone is looking worried at these numbers. Wynne going on the attack against Horwath right now (standing beside Trudeau no less), after saying she was "irrelevant" yesterday :lol

 

[equippedwithtowel]

It's not even about scandals anymore as it is sheer economic incompetence. If Liberals get into power that's a definite credit downgrade. That's not look pretty next to a $13 billion deficit. Spending will spiral out of control and what will we have to show for it? Scarborough subways and premium-priced noon-time daycare? People will be out of work and the poor will go starving while Club Liberal gets 7-figure salary jobs at OPG and that $3 billion "jobs and prosperity fund" (corporate welfare) for the generous donors.

To top it off, if Liberals are actually honest (lol) about balancing the budget by 2017-18, that would actually make them more austere than the Conservatives. They made the deficit so high this year that it will actually take more cuts to balance than the Conservatives or NDP are proposing! This is the voodoo economics of Ms. Wynne. It relies entirely on Trudeau getting elected in 2015 and handing some money under the table.

Ill give you one thing, the last paragraph kept my eyebrows from getting bored

 

[Silexx]

Holy shit, this PM.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-secret-short-list-that-caused-a-rift-between-chief-justice-and-pmo/article18823392/?service=mobile

Harper basically abused the privileges of confidentiality to smear the Chief Justice.

Wish I could post some excerpts but I find it a bit tough on my phone, but you should read the whole thing anyways. Harper wanted a puppet on the Supreme Court at any cost.

 

[firehawk12]

And at the end of it all, Justice Nadon finds himself back on the Federal Court of Appeal, trying to put the ordeal behind him.

“He’s one of the nicest men in the world, the nicest, kindest, most honest person you can ever hope to meet,” said a senior Quebec lawyer. “Nobody in Quebec would have put his name at the level of the Supreme Court. He’s been sacrificed. It’s profoundly terrible – a perfectly honest, happy man and this happens to him.”

You know, I never thought of it, but I guess his career is basically ruined assuming he had any aspirations toward the supreme court.

 

[SRG01]

You know, I never thought of it, but I guess his career is basically ruined assuming he had any aspirations toward the supreme court.

The thing is that he is perfectly eligible for any other seat other than a Quebec seat.

 

[killer rin]

Holy shit, this PM.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-secret-short-list-that-caused-a-rift-between-chief-justice-and-pmo/article18823392/?service=mobile

Harper basically abused the privileges of confidentiality to smear the Chief Justice.

Wish I could post some excerpts but I find it a bit tough on my phone, but you should read the whole thing anyways. Harper wanted a puppet on the Supreme Court at any cost.

That was completely disappointing to read. You'd think that elected officials wouldn't resort to such childish nature. What are the chances of the Conservatives losing the next election again? It seems like they are doing everything possible to brew bad blood.

 

[Ether_Snake]

It's not even about scandals anymore as it is sheer economic incompetence. If Liberals get into power that's a definite credit downgrade. That's not look pretty next to a $13 billion deficit. Spending will spiral out of control and what will we have to show for it? Scarborough subways and premium-priced noon-time daycare? People will be out of work and the poor will go starving while Club Liberal gets 7-figure salary jobs at OPG and that $3 billion "jobs and prosperity fund" (corporate welfare) for the generous donors.

To top it off, if Liberals are actually honest (lol) about balancing the budget by 2017-18, that would actually make them more austere than the Conservatives. They made the deficit so high this year that it will actually take more cuts to balance than the Conservatives or NDP are proposing! This is the voodoo economics of Ms. Wynne. It relies entirely on Trudeau getting elected in 2015 and handing some money under the table.

It's the same plan Bush followed and all neocons follow around the world. They grow the deficit until they are close to exiting, claim they are about to balance the budget, then leave the mess to a "liberal" government that is stuck either falling for their bullshit and having to take conservative measures, or doesn't fall for it but keeps getting attacked for not doing so. It's like that in the US, Australia, UK, etc.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

The Liberal platform came out today and they're promising an LRT in Cambridge and a GO train to Dufferin and the HSR is there too. They'll promise a subway in Wawa if it wins them a seat, this is beyond desperate!

It's the same plan Bush followed and all neocons follow around the world. They grow the deficit until they are close to exiting, claim they are about to balance the budget, then leave the mess to a "liberal" government that is stuck either falling for their bullshit and having to take conservative measures, or doesn't fall for it but keeps getting attacked for not doing so. It's like that in the US, Australia, UK, etc.

The worst part is while the Liberals were making Ontario go through austerity, they cut corporate taxes and imposed the HST (higher sales tax for residents, but 0% sales tax for corporations). And what do we have to show for it? Ontario has the highest youth unemployment rate by far west of the Maritimes (17% in Ontario, 13% in Quebec) and is still rising under Wynne thanks to her reckless spending on stuff that doesn't matter (https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/young-and-jobless).

 

[Mr.Mike]

http://ontarioliberalplan.ca/making-government-work/

Give municipalities the option of using ranked ballots as an alternative to first-past-the-post in their own elections

That's neat. I wonder how many municipalities would take them up on it. Would there have to be a referendum in each municipality?

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...th-province-as-islands-premier-visits-ottawa/

Turks and Caicos Premier Rufus Ewing met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other parliamentarians Monday in Ottawa to promote tourism and trade connections with Canada, before heading to Toronto to officially open a new tourism office.

Ewing didn’t exactly say the Turks and Caicos, an archipelago of 40 islands located east of Cuba, was gunning to join Canada.

But “I’m not closing the door completely,” he told reporters after the meeting on Parliament Hill.

...

Goldring has been the head cheerleader over the last decade in calling for Turks and Caicos to join Canada, and he notes Ottawa is actually closer to the islands (in kilometres) than his Edmonton riding.

“Canada really needs a Hawaii. The United States has a Hawaii. Why can’t Canada have a Hawaii?” Goldring said Sunday in a telephone interview from Ukraine, where’s he’s helping election observers.

Let's empire?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bra...nd-caicos-debate-with-tweeted-offer-1.2654621

 

[Sibylus]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...th-province-as-islands-premier-visits-ottawa/



Let's empire?

Us? Why us?

 

[Mr.Mike]

Us? Why us?

“Canada really needs a Hawaii. The United States has a Hawaii. Why can’t Canada have a Hawaii?”

 

[Sibylus]

Is the annexation of Hawaii supposed to be an aspirational event or something?

 

[Mr.Mike]

Is the annexation of Hawaii supposed to be an aspirational event or something?

Think of it like buying property in Florida, but for countries.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Personally, I'm not troubled by the idea of additional areas joining Canada, provided that the joining is both fiscal and cultural and full in nature (no creating tax exempt hellholes that we can use to profit from while not extending full rights to its citizens); that laws and culture are already or can be easily homogenized with Canada's (off the top of my head, no death penalty, respect for rule of law, lengthy democratic transition, basic concepts of human rights, POGG); that the joining party does not present a claim that challenges the status of Canada's founding cultures (ie that an additional "nation" is not added to Canada, so preferably that the joining nation is majority English or French by language); that the joining does not have severe electoral impacts (California could not join Canada); that travel between the joining area and Canada is feasible (for example, St. Pierre or Alaska could easily join Canada; Greenland or Iceland could; I'm not sure I'd be ok with Sri Lanka joining Canada); and that all citizens of the joining area are extended full Canadian citizenship in an orderly process.

Insofar as foreign countries, regions, or groups seek to join Canada, I think the Canadian government should have an open mind and proceed with empathy and humanity towards others rather than being coldly rational (is this a net fiscal positive?!). I do not think the Canadian government should attempt to peacefully conquer foreign regions by trying to bully them into joining.

I'm not familiar with the Turks and Caicos case in general.

 

[Sibylus]

I agree with Stump *Stump4PM*

 

[Mr.Mike]

I agree with Stump *Stump4PM*

#OneTrueKing

As far as I know the annexation of Turks and Caicos has never really been a serious proposal, save for one Conservative MP from Edmonton who has been pushing it for a while now. The recent visit to Canada of the Premeir of Turks and Caicos has reignited the "debate", with a few premiers jokingly offering to accept Turks and Caicos into their province, and Minister Baird joking about having to administer the riding of Nepean-Turks and Caicos. The only serious work towards this seems to be that Nova Scotia in 2004 unanimously passed legislation that would allow Turks and Caicos to join Nova Scotia, which I think might have been mostly a joke, but passing legislation seems like a pretty serious move to me.

I can't really imagine a situation where Canadian territorial expansion might actually happen, besides our present claiming of enormous swaths of the Arctic, and maybe a some point it might make more sense for Greenland to be with Canada than Denmark. Although I do agree with Stump's ideas on how to go about something like this.

 

[maharg]

http://ontarioliberalplan.ca/making-government-work/



That's neat. I wonder how many municipalities would take them up on it. Would there have to be a referendum in each municipality?

Do they not have this right already? At least some small towns in Alberta use a ranked ballot for their local election. Eg. in Red Deer the top N candidates get council seats for the whole city. Edmonton used multiple member wards with ranked ballots until a few elections ago as well.

 

[gabbo]

In stump I trust.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Sounds like a nice place to move to if Ontario Liberals get a majority.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, I do find it amusing that there's an island off the east coast of Canada that is still part of France. Why not?

Although really, this has been a thing that's been going for almost a decade now. It keeps coming up but nothing ever comes of it.

 

[Mr.Mike]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...r-ring-of-fire-during-feisty-debate-1.2653994

This is the first debate for this election as far as I know. Hudak didn't even show up.

In short, both promised to spend a billion dollars on infrastructure in the north, for the sake of developing the Ring of Fire.

There will be another debate in Toronto on June 3rd.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

It was a good debate by Horwath. I don't think it changes much since NDP already dominates the North, but hopefully she can take the momentum in to the June 3rd province-wide debate. Feeling hopeful.