Nope. You're not correct on this one either.You don't know what you're talking about.
Posted on 11/05/2005 4:33:20 AM PST by goldstategop
A federal judge proclaimed last week that in the final years of Canada's Chretien government, untold millions of dollars were channeled from the treasury into the bank accounts of the federal Liberal Party, several Liberal-friendly advertising agencies and a few senior party backroom gentry in Montreal. His report was viewed with alarm by the media, the politicians and the pundits – by everybody, it seemed, except the Canadian people.
They knew that already. They had gathered it conclusively from a report of the auditor-general three years ago, and reaffirmed it in the testimony of the sordid parade of Liberal insiders who spelled it out for days on end before Mr. Justice John Gomery's judicial inquiry. How much was effectively misspent or stolen, Gomery did not say. Unofficial estimates ran well over $50 million.
Even so, with the central facts already known, the Canadian people had returned the same Liberals to office under the new leadership of the present prime minister, Paul Martin. True, the government's majority was gone, but with the help of the socialist New Democratic Party it still clung to power by a single vote in the Commons last spring when the worst of the corruption became public.
Those disclosures briefly sank the Liberals' polled popularity down to the level of the rival Conservatives. Within two months, however, it was back up again – a full 10 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives, enough to return the Liberals to office with a safe majority.
The Gomery report does little more than officially establish what everybody already knew. So what difference is it likely to make in the election expected next February or March? The answer is none whatever, and the explanation is the political bent of the Ontario voter. He elects about one-third of the Commons, and he votes overwhelmingly Liberal. That was enough to determine the outcome of the last four Canadian general elections.
But why does he do this? Why this unfailing attachment to the Liberal Party? Most would agree that it's not his love of the Liberals. It's his fear of the Conservatives. More specifically, it's his fear of western Canada, which exerts the dominant influence in the Conservative Party.
"Time and again," said one western Tory last week, "Ontario has had to choose between the Liberal crooks and a westerner. Always they choose the crooks, and they'll do it again."
But in a way, their Liberal bent is understandable. For the Conservative Party under the leadership of the fastidious, studious and largely colorless Stephen Harper threatens sweeping structural changes in Canadian government. For instance, they would require that senators be elected rather than chosen by the prime minister. This would gradually change Canada's present pointless artifact Senate into something much closer to the American model and thereby make it a powerful body. That is, it could and no doubt would significantly amend legislation advanced by the government without bringing the government down. In so doing, Canada's legislative branch would actually legislate, rather than rubber stamp.
Moreover, the Tories would submit judicial appointments for Senate review and ratification, making it much more difficult to pack the court with ideologically driven judges. The Tories would restore to the provinces many of the functions taken over by the federal authority and thereby reduce the gargantuan federal civil service.
In short, the Conservatives would restructure Canada. And why should Ontario vote for that? All through the 20th century, Ontario has been winning the game. It has become the biggest, richest, most economically powerful province. So better the crooks than a westerner.
The first poll after the Gomery Report showed an electoral response much the same as the one that followed the disclosures of last spring – the Liberals had dropped to 31 percent and the Conservatives were at 30 percent. But the Martin government has four months to convince the public that the bad old days of "Chretienism" are gone. "The tone we must take is one of respect, one of regret," Martin told his party last week.
Thus the line: The whole Liberal Party has learned its lesson and will now abandon its errant ways. Under the guidance of the staunchly scrupulous Paul Martin – who was absolved by Gomery of any blame in the scandal – the party will now move pristinely forward.
Will Ontario buy this? You bet they will. Especially when the only other feasible option is those dangerous revolutionaries from the West. Why change the rules, when you're winning?
Can you figure out what GMMAC is foaming at the mouth about? I can't.
I can't either. Probably we have offended one of his sore points? ;-)
I won't dispute the description of Buffalo, but the people in Niagara Falls are not much different than those in Buffalo.
LOL.
You've got to be kidding!
50% of BC viewer WATCH CBC? You are surrounded by kool-aid drinkers and don't even know it.
In Ontario, during the 7 week CBC strike, no one even noticed except the left. Our viewer ship of the CBC is less than 10%.
BTW, guest speakers from Israel are protested everywhere they go, (Stupidly, IMO.) Have you perhaps not invited any speakers from Israel?
Truth and facts are what conservatives use to debate, in case you weren't aware.
I'm with GMMAC on this. And it's pretty clear what he's upset about, and he has good reason to be.
Nope. You're not correct on this one either.You don't know what you're talking about.
>and if I'm correct support of the monarchy in Canada is the >highest in Ontario.
Ontario is the only province in Canada to use the Crown on license plates and highway signs.
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