Yep, that one's pretty bad. I think there are actually worse ones re: homophobia, if you go further back. That being said, I don't even necessarily disagree with this one:
“providing for the poor is a provincial, not a federal responsibility.”
I'd at least be interested in a discussion on who's best suited to take on that responsibility.
Anyway, he is right that after a 20+ year political career, those being the worst quotes you can find suggests he hasn't been much of a gaffe maker. That being said, the gaffes tell you nothing about the way a party will run the country in 2015, it's just more nonsense and distraction. Same applies to Trudeau's "Quebecois > Albertans" stuff. Focus on the platforms.
I disagree
I think Harper's comments are more easily dismissed because he's had the ability to act upon those comments for several years and not done so.
Trudeau has never had the opportunity to enact legislation consistent with his comments. The jury HAS to still be out on that. Some will be convinced by his apology, some will not.
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I think Harper's comments are more easily dismissed because he's had the ability to act upon those comments for several years and not done so.
Trudeau has never had the opportunity to enact legislation consistent with his comments. The jury HAS to still be out on that. Some will be convinced by his apology, some will not.
I don't think a comment like the one I quoted can be dismissed at all. With some of the riding re-works it actually tries to give him an advantage over what he spoke about. For instance: Combining the Mount Seymour area with Burnaby. They took a riding that was notoriously white and affluent in Seymour, that has been a right-of-center stronghold for more than 20 years (the only non-conservative/reform MP since 1988 was former Mayor, and Liberal, Don Bell who was center-right) and merged it with a riding that had been orange since creation. While not a Liberal riding, it does have some of the characteristics that Harper described. Truth is these two places have next to nothing in common. In fact you can't even visit both sides of the riding without driving through two or three other ridings. It makes no sense.
A lot of this sort of "gerrymandering" is being attributed to the removal of the long form census, which was done by Harper.
Interesting, I wasn't aware the NDP gets 103 seats locked in before the election and just needs 35 more. The more desperate Mulcair looks, the more it drives his voters to the Liberals.
Of course the funniest thing about this advert is that Kirk Huesur, according to polling data, is a distant third behind Matt Grant and Len Webber. So voting Kirk Huseur actually does the opposite of what the flyer is saying.
Who ever approved of this national strategy for the NDP needs a head shake. This just seems desperate.
Votes at advanced polls today. Place was packed on three of the four polling stations there. Almost 40 minute line up. One line had like no one at all and only one or two people trickling in every few minutes. Weird
Votes at advanced polls today. Place was packed on three of the four polling stations there. Almost 40 minute line up. One line had like no one at all and only one or two people trickling in every few minutes. Weird
That was probably the 'M' line. The Mc's and Mac's. Damn Scots. They ruined Scotland.
Interesting, I wasn't aware the NDP gets 103 seats locked in before the election and just needs 35 more. The more desperate Mulcair looks, the more it drives his voters to the Liberals.
Yes, he's been pushing that "only 35 more" line pretty hard lately. Not that I blame him... his campaign has no momentum and he's down in the polls, it's just about the only argument he has left (and it's a half-arsed argument).
Before everybody goes running off in a state of Trudeaumania maybe we should look at some of the policies that differ the Liberals from the NDP such as this.
^^I'm actually a little worried about TPP, to be honest, but it's more a bigger picture concern with the overall increasing freedom and power of TNCs.
Yeah, it could compromise our democracy even more than NAFTA.
Quote:
Countries would be obliged to conform all their domestic laws and regulations to the TPP’s rules—in effect, a corporate coup d’état. The proposed pact would limit even how governments can spend their tax dollars.
I'm all for TPP, but then again I have only heard of it's perspective from over here in Japan. TPP is for the most part well received here and looked forward to.
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Before everybody goes running off in a state of Trudeaumania maybe we should look at some of the policies that differ the Liberals from the NDP such as this.
Also, hasn't Trudeau gone on the record to say that the Libs are 'pro-trade', IE: they will accept TPP? Not sure I agree with the video that 'Trudeau is not saying anything until after the election"
The TPP should be getting much more attention in this election than it is.
The TPP is really about economic containment of China and American economic influence in the Pacific. I don't even think it's a good deal for Americans, but their government is motivated by increasing their soft power in the region and setting terms to constrain Chinese economic influence. Canada is going along in order to get along rather than taking a shrewd position based on best interest of Canadians.
I believe the points made in that video are fair. Canadians will be put in competition with workers who earn much lower wages. On the other side, the global market that Canada currently has access to is more than large enough to accommodate Canadian products and is a growing market anyways, so there is no significant benefit to Canadian producers in opening larger markets.
The greatest beneficiaries of the TPP are likely to be the multinational corporations who will be able to take most advantage of the open markets for labor as well as for their products. Unfortunately, the increased success of those companies isn't going to mean increased success for Canadians. America and other countries concerned about containment of China will be the second largest beneficiaries, though again this seems like no great advantage to Canadians.
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Also, hasn't Trudeau gone on the record to say that the Libs are 'pro-trade', IE: they will accept TPP? Not sure I agree with the video that 'Trudeau is not saying anything until after the election"
Also, the text of the agreement hasn't even been released. So it is a bit hard for Trudeau to have a position on something that he hasn't actually read.
That being said, some of the leaks that are coming out do have me worried. I think that blindly accepting an agreement like this could become a major problem for Trudeau (if he takes power, of course) once the details are made public. There are a lot of information, privacy, and sovereignty concerns rolled up into this - much more than milk and cars.
Also, the text of the agreement hasn't even been released. So it is a bit hard for Trudeau to have a position on something that he hasn't actually read.
That being said, some of the leaks that are coming out do have me worried. I think that blindly accepting an agreement like this could become a major problem for Trudeau (if he takes power, of course) once the details are made public. There are a lot of information, privacy, and sovereignty concerns rolled up into this - much more than milk and cars.
If its a two horse race like it appears and they both are accepting it I can't really see it having much of an impact. If he came out against it, then it could become a bigger issue.
So just out of curiosity would people prefer that the rest of the countries go ahead with the TPP and Canada just sit this one out? I obviously don't know everything about the agreement, but that does seem like a foolish position to take.
About 45 minutes to vote last night in Calgary - Signal Hill. Our station had the second longest queue. The longest one looked as though the people would be there 90 minutes or longer, by how slow it was moving. Happy it's done now.
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We may curse our bad luck that it's sounds like its; who's sounds like whose; they're sounds like their (and there); and you're sounds like your. But if we are grown-ups who have been through full-time education, we have no excuse for muddling them up.
Trudeau is still waiting for his people to tell him what he really thinks of the agreement.
My opinion obviously, but he is the epitome of a 'style over substance' candidate. An actor reciting the lines given to him.
Even if that were true, then so be it. Trudeau and his "puppet masters" are still a better option than Harper or Muclair
And looking at it more realistically, with Trudeau actually receiving good advise from his team and acting on it, isn't that better than the Harper regime where it was his way or nothing?
