Canadian Election: Closer Or Weaker US Econ Ties

[verrip1]

With the elections in Canada about 5 weeks away, the issue of closer or weaker economic ties with the US can be discussed.

Will the more conservative west (wild card - the People's Republic of British Columbia) hold strong? Hasn't Harper got the reputation as someone who wants even better economic ties to the US? The strong Loonie might be upheld by the Conservatives. The strength of Canadian banks is more likely to be maintained by Conservatives, as well. It wouldn't hurt US banks to be more like Canadian banks, quite frankly. But, nobody's going to forget the cavalier way Harper 'dealt' with the oil royalties. Nor his other gaffes.

Then there's the Liberal and NDP coalition. Doesn't look like there's a majority with just these two. Where do they go? The Bloc again? How much would the Bloc want? Certainly, there's no apparent desire for any of these three to work jointly with their neighbor to the south. Nor has fiscal restraint or support of the nation's banks been a characteristic of these parties. With the possible exception of the Bloc, who just loooooove money. All money. Doesn't matter to the Bloc where it came from, just as long as they get it. And, unlike the Greens, the Bloc understands power and knows how to use it to advantage. Perhaps the Bloc might support closer economic ties to the US, but only if they knew they would get the best of the deal.

Anybody got a dog in this fight?

[Virgil Showlion]

We're going to end up with a third conservative minority government. The Grits won't form a coalition. They know it'd be political suicide.

I heard Layton speaking on CP24 this morning. He's using his "When I'm Prime Minister..." rhetoric again. Apparently Electrolux shipped 1,300 jobs from Oshawa to Memphis. Looks like the NDP has made a list of any corporation that has outsourced jobs to the US and is planning on taking away their tax incentives. Classic Cracker Jack.

[verrip1]

Taliban Jack has to overcome the 12-1-08 MOU between the NDP and the Liberals, in which he personally agreed that the Prime Minister will be a Liberal, not an NDPer. I'd have thought that Iggy would have brought that to his attention. Once or twice. ;D

[verrip1]

Oops! Just saw this from yesterday. Greens out of the Party leaders' TV debate. Canada IS becoming more Usian.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/03/29/cv-may-greens-debates.html

I'd be pissed off if I were a Green.

[dumdeedoe]

I have a question for u kanucks,, recently I have seen a warning from some of the companies I deal with on American goods going to Canada that there is a large tariff being imposed on them..What is that aboot?
I think it is internet purchases and I can't find anything about it..

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Come on Virgil you can't talk like that, there is a good chance that the conservatives can pull this off....

Vman if I were in the green party I would be embarrassed to be on TV anyway, LOL. I agree with Virgil on the bloc point though. Not something that is likely to happen, especially with; "lets sit down with the Taliban Jack" leading the NDP.

It's cool because I was reading a little while ago that some Liberal party members wanted an election so that the conservative had a possibility of winning the majority; they want Iggy out so that they can rebuilt the party.

As far as the economies, the policies that Harper and Obama signed this last while ensure a more closely connected NA. The bottom line there, IMO, is that both parties are on board with a more economically unified NA. It makes sense, apparently there is an oil field around Nipawin, Sask, that is the size of the current Fort Mac deposit in Alberta, shh don't tell anyone..

Doe, I know that we have to pay duty on products coming in from the states, if they are over a certain amount. Aside from that, I'm not sure what your are referring to, sorry.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Here is what the leader of the NDP would do to the economy if he was elected PM.

Layton would slash oilsands subsidies:
www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/03/31/cv-election-layton-oilsands-1252.html

[Virgil Showlion]

Can you imagine what Canada would look like with Jack Layton at the helm?

The man truly lives in another dimension. They're papering Toronto with ads that read 'I gave up safety pads to pay for corporate tax breaks.' or 'I gave up daycare to pay for corporate tax breaks.' The ads show a smiling guy getting bludgeoned by hockey pucks, or a mom giving a hearty thumbs up as her uncontrollable child hits her with a plastic hammer.

Jack's lackeys must think the unwashed masses will relate to the smiling dumbos in the posters. Personally, I walk away thinking "Thank goodness my tax dollars are paying for business incentives rather than buying some dumbo's hockey gear."

[rovo]

Apr 3, 2011 0:34:52 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Can you imagine what Canada would look like with Jack Layton at the helm?

Jack's lackeys must think the unwashed masses will relate to the smiling dumbos in the posters.

I think it would be a good idea for Canada to switch to "green energy" as have many European coutries. Those of us in the USA would benefit greatly from a non-competitive Canada. Just think of all those jobs coming back into the USA. ;D

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Virgil thanks for making my Sunday morning! Taliban Jack is the source of many hours of entertainment. Anyway that you can get a pic of those ads?? I tried searching a bit but no luck. I want to show them to a couple of people!

Rovo this is what green energy looks like in my province. Just remember that all Native funds come from taxes

Power deals with Sask. First Nations sought:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/03/29/sk-power-first-nations-110329.html

[verrip1]

Here you go, Aman. Just go to this link and get yourself a yard sign.

jack.ndp.ca/take-a-sign

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Get enough signs and you could start a nice bonfire.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Sweet thanks V! At least some people around here have some courtesy..

I'll let you know what I do with those in a safer location.

Did you see the liberals new platform??

[verrip1]

Well, I did read an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun that ripped the Liberals a new one over their platform statement.

The gist of it was that the Liberals were 'stealing' the ideas of the NDP in order to get a leg up on them, rather than to defeat the evil Conservatives. "Get votes from the left, then govern from the right". It sounds like the major conflict up there is Libs vs. NDP, rather than anybody vs. Conservatives.

But, that's what I get for reading the Vancouver Sun, eh.?

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

LOL, good point.

They are going to up Corperate Tax, that should help our competitiveness.

[verrip1]

Breaking news!!!! Taliban Jack eats baby!!!!!

[verrip1]

It must be true. It was in the Globe & Mail.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Notice how his jaw just unhinges. Just like a snake... Hmmm.... It's all starting to make sense.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

I think we are getting closer.

Canadian Oil For U.S. Prosperity: Why Not?:
www.forbes.com/2011/04/08/oil-canada-energy-opinions-robert-l-bradley-jr.html

The existing Keystone Pipeline extends from Hardisty, Alberta, to Cushing, Okla.; Keystone XL has the same origin but would stretch past Cushing into Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. Once up and running, the $7 billion expansion is estimated to nearly double the pipeline's oil flow to 1.1 million barrels per day.

To put that figure in perspective, 1.1 million barrels is approximately two-thirds what the U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf every day.

[/size]

Poll shows strong U.S. support for Canadian oil supply:
www.digitaljournal.com/pr/275755

California to Join Canada Provinces in Carbon Market, Group Says:
www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/california-to-join-canada-provinces-in-carbon-market-group-says.html

[verrip1]

California, British Columbia and Quebec.

What do you bet they call it 'The Peoples' Carbon Market'?

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

LOL, no doubt V, have a little K for that one. My pops emailed me this story I thought I would post it here, I know you will dig it V..

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Liberal Party has released new TV ads featuring Michael Ignatieff talking about his family.

It's heartwarming stuff : Ignatieff describes his dad as an immigrant who "came off a boat in 1928 without anything" and worked his way "up the ladder one rung at a time."

"Nothing is ever given to you, everything has to be earned."

Ignatieff told CTV his "family lost everything in the Russian revolution. They started over again in Canada . They came here with nothing."
But according to Ignatieff's own book about his family, The Russian Album, that's just not true. Ignatieff's family weren't regular Russians. They were high-ranking ministers in the government of the czar. They're aristocracy, actually -- Michael Ignatieff himself is a count, a title he will pass on to his son,Theo, and so on.

The Ignatieffs were powerful players in the czar's dictatorship. When the Russian revolution succeeded, the Ignatieffs fled the country.
But like so many, they were able to squirrel away money. The Ignatieffs fled to London in 1919, where they had £25,000 waiting for them in a bank. That's worth more than $2 million in today's currency. The Ignatieffs lived there for nine years before moving to Canada in 1928.
Why is Ignatieff trying to revise his family's history to make them sound like poor working class shlubs?Why did he say his dad came herewith nothing -- when in fact his family were the equivalent of multi-millionaires?

Ignatieff is desperate to come across as a regular Joe. But did he really think no one would notice the contradiction between the new airbrushed story, and the one he described in his family autobiography?

Last year Ignatieff went further, telling reporters "you're looking at a guy whose dad was a political refugee."
A refugee? Really?

Earlier this year, the brother-in-law of the deposed Tunisian dictator applied for refugee status here in Canada -- and was laughed out of town.
Technically, perhaps, he is a refugee -- he'd face persecution back in Tunisia . But to call an aristocratic dictator a "refugee" is to stretch the definition of the term.

Same thing for Ignatieff 's family. Ignatieff's great-grandfather, Nicholas, was personally responsible for some of the most brutal laws inflicted by the Russian czars.

He drafted Russia 's May Laws one history book described as "forbidding Jews to move into the countryside, to acquire land, or to open their shops on Sundays."

"When the Jewish leaders asked why they were not entitled to the same protection by the police as other Russian subjects, Ignatieff replied they were not like other Russian subjects ... Jewish shops were smashed and burned ..... Delegations of Jewish leaders came to see Ignatieff at the Ministry of the Interior. They told him they were in bondage as under Pharaoh. 'So when is your Exodus, and where is your Moses,' he is supposed to have said in reply."

That history book was written by Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff is not responsible for the anti-Semitism of his greatgrandfather or the tyranny of czars. He's his own man.

It's just strange he would throwhis family's history down the memory hole to win a few votes. And it's stranger still that, having chosen to use his family as a campaign theme, he is surprised and outraged his opponents would correct the record

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Your right on all accounts sunrnr. I wish the people that are voting liberal just to vote liberal, because they obviously don't like iggy. Would vote conservative this time. Give the liberals a chance to get a good leader and give us a break as people from having to hear about the threat of election.

[verrip1]

Aman re the Iggy story:

I think it's the nature of all politicians to frame themselves in line with their ideology. They have to rationalize and overemphasize their ideology so much that they get quite protective of it and come to believe that much of their life and their parents' lives were all part of a path to their own political success.

Hillary Clinton made herself believe her story that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary who made the famous Everest climb. Even though the climb occurred when she was 6. It wasn't really a lie to her, it was something she came to believe in. Same with her anecdote that she was under sniper fire at a Balkan airport; when she said it, she believed it.

Unfortunately, politicians' own self-rationalizations are not just quaint and humorous foibles. It shows how little these political types are grounded in reality. Let's face it, in addition to being character flaws, they are mental flaws. Flaws which can cause them to react incorrectly at times requiring critical, immediate decision.

Not picking on Iggy. I'm sure an in depth review of Jack or Harper would likely find the same thing. That's because this is a common trait of professional politicians. It's like they are inbred or something. Whatever the cause, it is quite a disturbing trait for people in whom we give authority and power over us.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Good points V. I guess it's a human nature thing. It's great that we have the power now. We can keep pushing. It's time for real change.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

An interesting take on the topic.

Tim Harper: Canada-U.S. relations out of sight, out of mind:
www.thestar.com/article/978554--tim-harper-canada-u-s-relations-out-of-sight-out-of-mind

Big box stores battling for retail space:
www.thestar.com/business/smallbusiness/article/978809--big-box-stores-battling-for-retail-space

[tyfighter3]

Politics, Makes me want to turn on the old Boob Tube and watch a few episodes of South Park. LOL

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Well here is some K4U, mmmkay.

This will probably be one of the lowest voter turnouts ever..

[Virgil Showlion]

"...and you're gonna grow up. And you're gonna vote New Democrat. And you're gonna help Unkie Jack spend Canada into the poorhouse, aren't you? Aren't you, you widdle snoogums?"

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

LOL, that's how people end up voting NDP alright, brainwashed since birth...

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

This sums up to a degree what politics and business is like in Canada.. Views of the editor the Calgary Herald.

Quebec and the Fairy Godmother

Today, let's have some fun and play Fairy Godmother to Quebec . Let's grant the province the wish it articulated in Copenhagen . Wave the magic wand and poof, wish granted. Shut down Alberta 's oil sands, except,since it's Quebec making the wish, we have to call it tarsands, even thoughit's not tar they use to run their Bombardier planes, trains and Skidoos.

Ah, at last! The blight on Canada 's reputation shut down.All those dastardly workers from across Canada living in Fort McMurray ,Calgary and Edmonton out of jobs, including those waitresses, truck drivers,nurses, teachers, doctors, pilots, engineers etc. They can all go on Employment insurance like Ontario auto workers and Quebec parts makers! Closing down Alberta 's oil industry would immediately stop the production of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. Supply and demand being what it is, oil prices will go up and therefore the cost at the pump will go up, too, increasing the cost of everything else.

But lost jobs in Alberta and across the country along with higher gas prices are a small price to pay to save the world and not"embarrass" Quebecers on the world stage. Not to worry though, Saudi Arabia ,Libya and Nigeria can come to the rescue. You know, the guys who pump money into al-Qaida and help Osama bin Laden target those Van Doos fighting in Afghanistan . Bloody oil is so much nicer than dirty tarsands oil.

Shutting down the oilsands will reduce Canada 's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 38.4 Mt (mega tonnes). Hooray! It's so fun to be a Fairy Godmother! While that sounds like a lot, Canada only produces two percent of the world's man-made GHGs and the oilsands only produce five percent of Canada 's total emissions or 0.1 per cent of the world's emissions.By comparison, the U.S. produces 20.2 per cent of the world's GHG emissions, 27 per cent of which comes from coal-fired electricity.

The 530-square-kilometre piece of land currently disturbed by the oilsands (which is smaller than the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral , Fla. at 570 square kilometres) must be reclaimed by law and will return to Alberta 's 381,000 square kilometres of boreal forest, a huge carbon sink. Quebec , of course, has clean hydro power, but more than13,000 square kilometres were drowned for the James Bay hydroelectric project, permanently removing that forest from acting as a carbon sink. But Fairy Godmother is digressing all over the place.

While the oilsands only produce five per cent of Canada 's GHGs, it contributes much more to Canada 's economy. After all, oil and gas make up one-quarter of the value on the TSX alone. Alberta is also the largest net contributor per capita by far to Confederation and there are only two more -- B.C. and Ontario .

Quebec hasn't made a net contribution to the rest of Canada for a very long time. This is not to be critical (after all, Fairy Godmothers never criticize), it's just a fact.

In 2009, Albertans paid$40.46 billion in income, corporate and other taxes to the federal government and received back just $19.35 billion in services and goods from the feds. That means the rest of Canada got $21.1 billion from Albert's or$5,742 for each and every Alberta man, woman and child. In 2007 (the last year national figures are available), Alberta sent a net contribution of$19.49 billion to the ROC or $5,553 per Albert an -- more than three times what every Ontario contributes at $1,757. Quebecers, on the other hand,each received $627 net or a total of $8 billion, money which was designed to help "equalize" social programs across the country.

Except, that's not what is happening. Quebec has more generous social programs like (nearly) free university tuition (paid for mostly by Albertans) and cheap provincial daycare (paid for mostly by Albertans).But in this Fairy Godmother world, poof, those delightful unequal programs have now disappeared! Quel dommage!The July 2009 Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI)report states that between 2008 and 2032, the oilsands will account for172,000 person-years of employment in Ontario during the construction phase,plus 640,000 for operations over the 25-year period. For Quebec , the oilsands will account for 84,000 person-years of employment during the construction phase, plus 292,000 for operations over the 25-year period. In total, the oilsands are expected to add $1.7 trillion to Canada 's GDP over the next 25 years. Wave wand and Poof, Jobs, gone!

So, now that the oil industry has shut down and left Alberta , Alberta has become a have-not province and so has every other province. Equality at last! Hugo Chavez will be so pleased. Meeting our Copenhagen targets suddenly looks possible, as most of us can't afford to drive our cars or buy anything but necessities,so manufacturers have closed their doors and emissions are way down. The dream of many Quebecers to form their own nation and separate from Canada has died at last. Alas, in Alberta , separatist sentiment has risen dramatically, citizens vote to separate and the oil and gas industry returns. Albertans start to pocket that almost $6,000 for each person that used to get sent elsewhere and now their kids get free tuition. Fairy Godmother's work is done. Wish granted. Quebecers must now sign up for a foreign worker visas to work in Alberta to send their cheques back home so junior can start saving up to pay for college.

Licia Corbella is editorial page editor of The Calgary Herald

[verrip1]

A lot of leftist Canadians are beating the drums of the Liberal Party, but no one wants to mention Iggy. He seems to have become an outcast in his own Party. Mostly there are dreamers who expect Conservatives to flock in droves to the Lib Side of the Force. They must be sampling some prime BC bud to believe that crock.

Well, the race is in the stretch and it looks to sane people that the Conservatives will get the majority.