Well, you certainly do make good points about the evils of socialism, and I appreciate that you stick to your convictions. That is an excellent quality in a person.
As for living here, well, I married a Canadian man and after we lived in Denver for ten years, he got a job offer with the federal government. He’s from Quebec and he wanted our children to appreciate the culture and language. Both our children are fluently bilingual, which is a good thing as they live near Ottawa and will be able to get jobs. We live in an English part of Gatineau and the kids who can speak only English are at a disadvantage.
Interesting, my husband couldn’t speak a word of English when we met; when we lived in the States, though he had a college degree, all he could do was work as a file clerk. He got an MBA in Denver and eventually was writing briefs for the FCC. Now he works for the CRTC, the Canadian equivalent of the FCC.
Sorry for getting so off-topic!
Back on topic, Jack Layton was responsible for this massive “orange wave”, particularly in Quebec. We lost a great Liberal member of Parliament, Marcel Proulx, to the acting leader, Nycole Turmel. I work at the local newspaper and Mr. Proulx was very good.
Unfortunately, there’s no chance this riding will ever go Conservative.
The system is strange here—you can only vote for the MP, not the prime minister or senator. You don’t get three votes, like we do in the states.
I’m married to a Canuck as well. Fortunately, we live in a rural part of Renfrew County, about two hours west of Ottawa, which is the Ontario equivalent of rural Alabama. The conservative candidate here (Gallant) ran an awful campaign last time round, so she only pulled about 53% of the vote and beat her closes competitor by about 30 points.
Hear tell it’s a beautiful country up there. Lots of wild and wilderness to get lost and live free in...never been to Canada.
“...I appreciate that you stick to your convictions....”
I’ve got no quarrel with you folks. Just saying that people that espouse that murderous philosophy get very little sympathy or compassion from me. I have dead and maimed relatives because of that ideology - many. I’m rough around the edges - yeah, a bit. Like I said. It rumples feathers, but hey, we’re all different.
“...ex-pat...”
Why ex-pat, Hieronymus, if you don’t mind my asking? You still a US citizen?
That's not exactly something to be proud of.
Canada was given responsible government by Britain in 1848 and that meant a Cabinet responsible to an elected House. The Fathers Of Confederation modeled Canada’s federal government after that of the UK. It means the government is chosen from the House Of Commons and must maintain its confidence to remain in office and they cannot ever be opposed on any matter for any length of time. This means voters get what they want every time there is an election in Canada. Divided government is an impossibility in a parliamentary system of government.