Harper has broken trust of Canadians, says Dion

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

That's business as usual for any party in opposition, though. Don't think for one second that the Conservatives did anything other than attack the Liberals prior to the 2006 election. It's just the nature of parliamentary politics; the party(ies) in opposition attack the ruling party. Indeed, that's the very role of being an opposition party. All parties at all levels of government do this.

That being said, I would like to see some more cooperation amongst the parties, especially since we have a minority government and all polls show that neither Harper nor Dion are capable of winning a majority, so we really ought to demand less attacking and more working together from our MPs on both sides of the aisle.

ON the contrary, one of the strongest items the conservatives had running for them in 2006 was the fact they didn't attack the liberals on a personal level. They only criticized the facts - like the sponsorship scandal and 14 years of nothing but broken promises. The thing the conservatives did best was they never once criticized the liberals on a personal level. ALthough it was easy they left the name calling to the liberals because for 14 years, they showed it was the only thing they were good at.

[alltherage]

I'll vote however you want, Dion, just don't destroy me.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

That's business as usual for any party in opposition, though. Don't think for one second that the Conservatives did anything other than attack the Liberals prior to the 2006 election. It's just the nature of parliamentary politics; the party(ies) in opposition attack the ruling party. Indeed, that's the very role of being an opposition party. All parties at all levels of government do this.

That being said, I would like to see some more cooperation amongst the parties, especially since we have a minority government and all polls show that neither Harper nor Dion are capable of winning a majority, so we really ought to demand less attacking and more working together from our MPs on both sides of the aisle.

Thats strange because in the last election the Liberal's dedicated most of thier advertising budget to baseless attack ads while Paul Martin talked about secret agenda's and the Conservatives dangerous relationship with neocons.

I guess the Libs knew that they were destined to become the not so loyal oppossition and were getting a jump on the game plan right?

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by peter12

Canadians are totally comfortable with this minority government.

I dont know if I would say that. Right now alot of Canadians dont have anything to worry about that directly affects their quality of life. Thats a great time to be apatheitc about politics.

A look on some of the more Canadian political orientated boards find that alot of Libs hate Harper where as Conservatives dont hate Dion - they just think he's a joke.

For the Conservatives to get a majority they need to:

1) Table a motion to pull out of Afghanistan before the Liberals do. They wouldnt even lose that much Conservative support because they could use the fact that the Euros do none of the heaving lifting over there so if Germany and France arent doing their part, why should a country like Canada. To be hones I think that is the only thing they have to do which might get them enough soft seats in QC to squeek out a Majority.

2) Find a way to counteract Williams in NFL. He is like a Mexican built grenade - can go off without any notice and has no allegiance to anything or anyone outside of NFL. And while you would be hard pressed to beat him within NFL - with respect the seats NFL provides arent worth the hassle. They need to clear the position about the Atlantic accords. I would suggest McKay, Harper, or Flahrity (Harper would be the best but he might get pelted in the head by foreign objects thrown by the CBC crowd) go on a program like Strombo's on the CBC and explain the governments position clearly and then challenege Willams to come one and give the legal position why it should be the way he says it should.

3) Kyoto - likely put up some more smoke screens to lessen the blow of the issue since its a lose lose-less situation for the Cons. No matter what they do they wont gain votes for it.

The election will be interesting whenever it happens which might not be for a long time - liekly the Libs are still putting Dion through the leadership training programs they have for debating and the such. Just from an outward look, Dion looks like he would do horribly in the debates.

MYK

[Resolute 14]

Add me to the pile of people laughing at the Liberals arguing that someone else doesn't deserve our trust.

Perhaps Dion and his merry band of fools should work on rebuilding trust in their own party? Not that the Liberals have managed to come up with a positive vision or message in a decade or longer now.

[MarchHare]

Thats strange because in the last election the Liberal's dedicated most of thier advertising budget to baseless attack ads while Paul Martin talked about secret agenda's and the Conservatives dangerous relationship with neocons.

I guess the Libs knew that they were destined to become the not so loyal oppossition and were getting a jump on the game plan right?

Your memory is selective. Around half-way through the campaign, neither party had run any attack ads. On December 30, 2005, the Conservatives fired a pre-emptive salvo with an ad ("They'll go neg") accusing the Liberals of having to resort to negative attack ads before the Liberals had, in fact, done so.

It's ridiculous that some of you are holding up the CPC to be paragons of positive campaigning using only their own platform and vision for the country when the very basis of their electioneering in 2004 and 2006 was to attack the Liberals on accountability and scandals. I'm not saying it wasn't without some merit, but it was a far cry from sunshine and flowers coming from the CPC camp in the last few elections. I understand that people support their party, but let's try to keep some perspective.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Slava

I second that point. But it makes me wonder....if no one is noticing these things then what scandals are brewing/festering behind closed doors. I don't say this in a pointed/partisan way either....for years everything seemed about the same with the Liberals and we know how that came to bear!

Well that's an interesting piece of reasoning.
Yes, I realize that the lack of a scandal us usally the first sign that something is going on behind closed doors that will really shock us.
It's also the first sign that nothing is going on.

Implying that it seems likely that the Conservatives are up to no good, becasue there isn't any indication of major scandal, is a bit like trying to sell your rock that keeps tigers away.

And no, I would not like to buy your rock.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Well that's an interesting piece of reasoning.
Yes, I realize that the lack of a scandal us usally the first sign that something is going on behind closed doors that will really shock us.
It's also the first sign that nothing is going on.

Implying that it seems likely that the Conservatives are up to no good, becasue there isn't any indication of major scandal, is a bit like trying to sell your rock that keeps tigers away.

And no, I would not like to buy your rock.

Well, there have been scandals with the Conservatives. People in Alberta just generally don't bother to pay attention.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Well, there have been scandals with the Conservatives. People in Alberta just generally don't bother to pay attention.

Well that's certainly a fair point, but to imply that there are some crazy things going on that we don't know about, simply because so far this government hasn't been scandal ridden is at best a bit of stretch.

[FireFly]

Does anyone here actually know what the questions are regarding the advertising scandal? While Harper was running a campaign on honesty, oppenness and trust, he was allegedly funnelling in extra ad dollars for his election campaign. Sounds to me like he was saying one thing and doing another. Certainly not on the same level as adscam, but still a bit underhanded nonetheless, no?

[FireFly]

Here are some links to what has been going on, thanks to Flash.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...7-2330c9cb7063

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...6-7d9962911f06

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Well that's certainly a fair point, but to imply that there are some crazy things going on that we don't know about, simply because so far this government hasn't been scandal ridden is at best a bit of stretch.

I think any government is likely to have a scandal brewing somewhere within, it is all about whether the public ever finds out about them... and I admit it is not a certainty that bad things are going on, just a liklihood.

Good example of a scandal with the Conservatives was the handling of Income Trusts.

Also, the ridiculously quick defection of a Liberal MP to the Conservatives when the Cons won the minority government.

[Stormchaser]

Yeah well what does Phaneuf know about politics anyways!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Your memory is selective. Around half-way through the campaign, neither party had run any attack ads. On December 30, 2005, the Conservatives fired a pre-emptive salvo with an ad ("They'll go neg") accusing the Liberals of having to resort to negative attack ads before the Liberals had, in fact, done so.

It's ridiculous that some of you are holding up the CPC to be paragons of positive campaigning using only their own platform and vision for the country when the very basis of their electioneering in 2004 and 2006 was to attack the Liberals on accountability and scandals. I'm not saying it wasn't without some merit, but it was a far cry from sunshine and flowers coming from the CPC camp in the last few elections. I understand that people support their party, but let's try to keep some perspective.

I also remember as the Liberal's got more desparate they came up with the positive ads about the Conservatives putting troops on the street in Canadian cities, ads comparing Harper to Mike Harris, An ad accusing Harper of working with the seperatists to not only bring the government down but destroy Canada, discussions about Harper's secret agenda, Ads stating that Harper would run a deficit if elected or he'd increase taxation. The Liberal campaign was nothing but negative attack plans because the Liberal's failed to create any kind of platform in the last election.

The Conservatives did go after the Liberal's on the results and thier corruption scandals but at least the Conservative ads were based in reality, whereas the Liberal ads were straight fear mongering with nothing to back them up.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by stormchaser

Yeah well what does Phaneuf know about politics anyways!

For your sake, I hope he didn't hear that.

[Dogbert]

Am I the only one who laughs wholeheartedly every time a politician accuses another politician of being untrustworthy? Of COURSE he's untrustworthy. He's a POLITICIAN. Lies and deceit are the game he's in.