This is a Flames board, lol. Might work somewhere else but...
I'm liking the love for Alberta, but the fact that it's for the oil sands, makes me concerned. Like we haven't learned any lessons yet. Even if we exploit them as best we can, what happens when it runs out.
Alberta needs infrastructure, not more drilling projects.
I read an article that said "Iggy" was Andrew Ignatieff's nickname (Michael's younger brother).
Quote:
While Michael was "God," and "everybody bowed and scraped when he passed," Andrew became known as "fatty," "piggy," "slob," "spaz," "big ass" — and "Iggy," a nickname he loathed.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
I had hopes for Ignatieff, however, he's done more to piss me off then I thought I would do. He's played the partisan game with the budget, snipping at it and threatening with the coalition instead of doing anything productive. His position on Omar Khadr is something that I cannot get on board with.
I'm hoping that the government stays in place for a while, but I have a feeling that Ignatieff is itching for an election fight, and he's going to follow through with the coalition just to trigger an election.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I had hopes for Ignatieff, however, he's done more to piss me off then I thought I would do. He's played the partisan game with the budget, snipping at it and threatening with the coalition instead of doing anything productive. His position on Omar Khadr is something that I cannot get on board with.
I'm hoping that the government stays in place for a while, but I have a feeling that Ignatieff is itching for an election fight, and he's going to follow through with the coalition just to trigger an election.
Interesting comment article:
Quote:
you have to wonder whether the new Liberal party leader knows anything at all about the organization he's in charge of.
Mr. Ignatieff continues to make pronouncements and occupy positions that utterly ignore traditional Liberal party thinking.
.....
He also appears determined to ignore the fact western Canada is a secondary member of Confederation, to be tapped for revenue but otherwise ignored as much as possible, and regularly criticized as selfish, divisive or unpatriotic when it questions the higher priority justifiably accorded to Ontario and Quebec. He now seems to have gone so far as to praise the oilsands as a crucial and desirable asset Canada can use to good effect in its relations with the U.S., a notion Conservatives have appreciated for some time but Liberals have rejected because the oilsands obviously are located in the wrong part of the country.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
I had hopes for Ignatieff, however, he's done more to piss me off then I thought I would do. He's played the partisan game with the budget, snipping at it and threatening with the coalition instead of doing anything productive. His position on Omar Khadr is something that I cannot get on board with.
I'm hoping that the government stays in place for a while, but I have a feeling that Ignatieff is itching for an election fight, and he's going to follow through with the coalition just to trigger an election.
Interesting that you say that about his attitude towards the budget. I wouldn't say he's been sniping. I'd say he's gone to great lengths to explain his and the Party's position towards the upcoming budget. I also think that his personal distaste for the coalition is well known. At this point I think he tries to use the 'threat' of that coalition bringing the government down over the budget to leverage the most 'acceptable' budget out of the Conservatives.
Quote:
As we face the budget choices next week, I’ve been clear.
Targeted help to those Canadians who need help most is absolutely essential.
Broad-based tax cuts that dig us deeper into deficit are not.
This is not about gimmicks or politically popular moves.
It is about listening to the real needs of Canadians.
It is about trust.
It is about competence.
And this is an issue of political morality.
My generation should pay its own freight. We shouldn’t burden the next generation with debts we didn’t pay off.
If the government proposes a deficit, I want to see the plan that digs us out of it quickly. And I don’t want that plan based upon some unrealistic projections made up inside the Prime Minister’s Office. Trust Canadians with the truth.
"We don't have a number as a trigger. What's really important to us is that the money is well spent ... and that there is a clearly articulated plan to deliver us out of deficit," he said.
Speaking to reporters following a joint Empire and Canadian Club luncheon at the Royal York Hotel, Ignatieff said his party would weigh many factors before voting against the Tory budget.
"It depends on how the money is dispersed, it depends how it's allocated. Will it protect the vulnerable? Will it stabilize the job losses? Will the infrastructure money go to the right places as opposed to the wrong places?"
Defeat of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget would either plunge Canada into an election or force Governor General Michaëlle Jean to ask the Liberals and New Democrats to govern as a coalition supported by the Bloc Québécois.
"It's still on the table," Ignatieff said of the coalition unveiled in December by his predecessor Stéphane Dion and NDP Leader Jack Layton, and backed by Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe.
Still, the new Liberal chief emphasized that he won't act rashly
IMO there is NO CHANCE the Liberals will bring down the government. I don't believe Ignatieff has any interest in governing in a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc (thankfully).
This is a Flames board, lol. Might work somewhere else but...
I'm liking the love for Alberta, but the fact that it's for the oil sands, makes me concerned. Like we haven't learned any lessons yet. Even if we exploit them as best we can, what happens when it runs out.
Alberta needs infrastructure, not more drilling projects.
People said the same thing about whale oil a couple hundred years ago. It won't "run out", we'll just move along to another cheaper and/or more efficient source of energy.
The Calgary Herald mentioned this awhile back, about the "Iggy" nickname. Basically there is only one Iggy around here. I agree so get rid of the title. (and the nickname at least out here)
And as of January 1st, salaried employees are now working only four days a week.
How would any of us like to have started the New Year with a 20 percent pay cut?
Although I understand what is trying to be communicated here, it was worded very horribly. Literally it reads like they get a 25% raise, since it does not say the actual salaries are reduced, just time worked. I thought the whole point of a salary is that you don't punch a clock.
Outside of that, you definitely quoted the best part of his speech (which is from the second link - I did not watch the video). The rest of the speech reads to me as a lot of empty rhetoric (normal for any politician), and a surprisingly large amount of rhetorical questions. It also seemed to me that his speechwriters are really trying to mimic the style employed by Obama.
This made me giggle a bit:
Quote:
We Liberals understand about leadership in tough times.
Canadians turn to us when times are tough.
Canadians remember.
Sound fiscal management, repeated surpluses, debt reduction, and tax cuts on profits, revenue and income. Strong financial performance and forward-looking social policies.
Canadians remember — we cleaned up the $42-billion deficit left behind by the Mulroney years.
We slayed that deficit, but at a steep cost.
Today, Mr. Harper is taking us back to those tough Tory times. Just yesterday, he signaled that we should be prepared for a $64-billion deficit in the next two years alone. He wants to get the bad news out of the way before the budget.
I asked Mr. Harper not to play games like that.I wanted him to put the facts and figures on the table, not let them slip out at his convenience.I think he just can’t help himself.He thinks it is all just some kind of game.
I hate to break it to you Mr. Ignatieff, but unfortunately parliamentary politics is a game. Mr. Harper knows and understands this (as do all of his high level advisers), and that is why he is the prime minister. Maybe the liberals need to hire some younger political scientists who have at least heard of Riker.
Edit: He could also be playing the game, but using a strategy of pretending he is not (by denouncing it). Then he can look good without appearing overly strategical (which for some reason in Canada is often frowned upon). He cannot hold that up forever though, as eventually he will have to support something outside of his party's platform for strategical reasons. Then his denunciation of the game could really backfire.
The math of politics is fun, and reading this speech really makes me want to waste hours of my time testing dominance and dispersion in the rhetoric of our current political landscape. Riker is fun!
__________________
Come on down...
...and Welcome to the Terror Dome
Flames-Flyers-Stamps-Jays
Last edited by ShaolinFlame; 01-25-2009 at 10:10 PM.
Reason: Epiphany
What pisses me off, is that when the Conservatives said "no" to running a deficit, the Liberals were yipping off about how they weren't doing enough and needed to spend more money to jump-start the economy... Yet, in true "we don't really care, we just want power" Liberal fashion, now they're upset that there's going to be a deficit and they're now saying that we're "back to the same-old Conservative, big-spending ways."
To be fair about this. Jarome "Iggy" is an icon in the Calgary community and among many NHL fans. Michael "Iggy" is fast becoming a national icon in a land of 34 million people. Ignatieff has reignited the Canadian people, similar to the effect Mr. Obama has had down in the US. 'M'Iggy is both a great leader and intellect. In the off topic forum, I feel Iggy Ignatieff deserves this nickname. At the very least. That's something I can get jiggy with.
To be fair about this. Jarome "Iggy" is an icon in the Calgary community and among many NHL fans. Michael "Iggy" is fast becoming a national icon in a land of 34 million people. Ignatieff has reignited the Canadian people, similar to the effect Mr. Obama has had down in the US. 'M'Iggy is both a great leader and intellect. In the off topic forum, I feel Iggy Ignatieff deserves this nickname. At the very least. That's something I can get jiggy with.
I can agree with that, from here on out Ignatieff will be referred to as Miggy to preserve the nickname of the real Iggy.
Last edited by Swarly; 01-26-2009 at 02:56 AM.
Reason: me fail english that's umpossible
Iggy flirts with the West
