Free Republic

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Paul Martin's lead in the polls evaporated as the country headed into an election campaign, according to the latest survey released on Tuesday. Three other polls released on Monday and Tuesday showed a lead of five to six percentage points for Martin's Liberals over the Conservative Party, led by Stephen Harper. But the Ipsos-Reid poll showing a tie was the most recent, taken on Monday night after the opposition parties brought down the minority government in a confidence vote over Liberal corruption, triggering a January 23 election. Taken for CanWest/Global News, the Ipsos-Reid poll put...

EDITORIAL: Fuelling the separatists' fire According to Jean Chretien, today is the day that inspired him to come up with the federal sponsorship program, otherwise known as AdScam. After all, the former prime minister has always insisted that it was the narrow defeat of the separatists exactly 10 years ago today in the second Quebec referendum that prompted him to develop the sponsorship program. His brilliant idea? To fly the Canadian flag and display the Canadian logo prominently in Quebec in order to help keep Canada united. And we all know how that turned out. On Tuesday, Judge John Gomery...

Bad water, bad leadership Once again Canadians have been left slack-jawed over the living conditions on a Native reserve. This time around the fuss is over a community called Kashechawan on the shores of James Bay. From the safety and comfort of our own homes we stare in disbelief at the newspaper pictures and television images of a community where even the most basic necessities of life can't be taken for granted. Kashechawan, where the water that flows from the taps is so filthy and contaminated it's not fit for bathing, let alone drinking. Where residents, many of whom are...

New deal needed to put unity issue to rest once and for all Divided we fall Calgary Sun October 30, 2005 One decade ago today Canadians coast-to-coast watched a cliffhanger vote on the fate of our country unfurl as Quebec separatists lost their bid for independence by just 1.2% of the vote. The nail-biting tally — 50.6% to 49.4% — shook our nation to the core. It also embittered Parti Quebecois Premier Jacques Parizeau’s supporters who came so close to fulfilling their dream to split from Canada. There were reports that had the PQ won by even the slightest margin...

Nation needs majority government: Grits Alexander Panetta Canadian Press Thursday, August 25, 2005 REGINA -- The federal Liberals have begun a sales pitch to Canadian voters that what the country really needs is a majority government. The party has recovered enough from its spring near-death experience in Parliament that it's thinking far beyond simple survival and taking that case to the public. Much of the hallway chatter at a summer Liberal retreat that ended Thursday revolved around shedding the government's minority status -- and why that would be good for Canada. Though he cautioned MPs to avoid sounding "cocky," Prime...

Canadian Government Pondering Reinstating MP Canned for Anti-Anerican Rampage OTTAWA, July 27, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Liberal Party of Canada may be reconsidering their decision to throw out Carolyn Parrish, the MP for Mississauga who made her career pandering to leftist anti-Americanism. The question remains open as to whether the party is reconsidering having also thrown out the extremism she represents. On the eve of the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003, Parrish was overheard saying she hated Americans and calling them "bastards." Then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien had little interest in improving relations with the US and dismissed demands that...

Canada Legalizes Gay Marriage Posted: July 20, 2005 at 3:10 p.m. Updated: July 20, 2005 at 3:15 p.m. TORONTO (AP) -- Canada legalized gay marriage Wednesday, becoming the world's fourth nation to grant full legal rights to same-sex couples. Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin signed the legislation making it law, hours after it was approved by the Senate late Tuesday night despite strong opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. The bill grants same-sex couples legal rights equal to those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada's 10 provinces and in...

Same-sex marriage bill passes in Commons CTV.ca News Staff Canada will become the third country in the world to officially sanction same-sex marriage. In a 158 to 133 vote, the House of Commons adopted Bill C-38 -- the controversial legislation legalizing same-sex marriage from coast to coast -- on its third and final reading Tuesday night. The Liberals had the support of almost all New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs for the vote. The bill will become official once it receives approval in the Senate. An earlier Conservative motion to send the bill back to committee was voted down 158...

Opposition pass vote in bid to topple government Last Updated Tue, 10 May 2005 18:30:32 EDT CBC News OTTAWA - Opposition MPs passed a motion Tuesday night that they claim should topple the government – but the Liberals have dismissed the vote as nothing more than a procedural matter. The motion passed by 153 votes to 150. Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs voted for the motion calling on the public accounts committee "to recommend that the government resign." The NDP and two Independents voted with the Liberals against the motion. Liberals have rejected claims by the opposition that this...

It's time for Canadians who truly love democracy to get off their butts and fight. There is a non-confidence motion in the house of commons today and if it passes then the government of Paul Martin will have to resign. As we know it, the liberals said that they will refuse to resign, I say that we the people go and demand the resignation of the government. I'm pretty sure that there will be media attention. Anyone with me??

SUSAN DELACOURT OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF OTTAWA—Prime Minister Paul Martin says he wouldn't mind fighting the next election campaign as the underdog. In an interview with the Toronto Star yesterday, Martin says he is telling Liberals not to lose hope in the face of fading poll fortunes — that the party was actually in worse shape in the middle of last year's election campaign. "This is very much a horse race," Martin said. "I don't mind going into an election, when it comes, as the underdog." Though he wouldn't reveal what his internal party polling is telling him, Martin declared authoritatively:...

WASHINGTON - Early in his first term, President Bush (news - web sites) proposed easing immigration restrictions and establishing a free trade zone throughout the hemisphere. His first two foreign trips were to Mexico and Canada, emphasizing their importance. Four years later, both initiatives are unfulfilled, not even on the agenda as Bush meets Wednesday in Texas with Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Instead, the North American leaders will sign a pact pledging to increase border security without hindering the flow of goods or the millions of people that cross the...

I was wondering if those who live in the Crawford area or know Conservative students at the university in Waco could do us Canadian conservatives a favour. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1361388/posts

Mother of Slain RCMP Officer: “It’s Time to take our Liberal Attitude to Task” RED DEER, Alberta, March 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The mother of one of the four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who were shot dead during a drug bust in Alberta Thursday, spoke to the media Saturday with a powerful message for Prime Minister Paul Martin. “It is time that our government take a stand on evil,” Colleen Myrol said Friday from in front of her home in Red Deer, Alberta. “The man who murdered our son and brother was a person who was deeply disturbed and...

Clark Supports Martin's Decision on BMD Josh Pringle Friday, March 4, 2005 Joe Clark says former Prime Minister Paul Martin did the right thing when he decided Canada would say no to participation in the U-S missile defence program. The former Conservative Prime Minister says there are too many unanswered questions about the U-S plan. Clark compared Martin's decision on Missile Defence to one former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney had to make in 1985 when he rejected a U.S. proposal to have Canada take part in its Strategic Defence Initiative.

Prime Minister Paul Martin personally offended George W. Bush with his handling of the missile defence decision, says a senior American official. And that could make it tougher for Martin to warm frosty political relations when he meets with the U.S. president in Texas this month. A U.S. State Department source told The Canadian Press that Bush is upset Martin didn't tell him personally about Canada's decision not to join the missile plan when the two met at the NATO summit in Brussels last week. The source said Bush asked Martin specifically about the matter during a brief conversation and...

Opposition hammers Liberals on missile decisionCTV.ca News Staff February 26, 2005 Opposition MPs hammered the Liberal government on Friday about why Parliament wasn't consulted in the decision to not join the U.S missile defence program. "The prime minister broke his promise to Parliament when he said there would be a vote," an angry NDP leader Jack Layton told the House of Commons during question period. "Who's going to resign over this fiasco?" Conservative Deputy Leader Peter MacKay, echoed frustrations that Paul Martin's government had acted without bringing the issue before Commons. "The minister of defence, as recently as Tuesday, said...

Ottawa – Canada's rejection of missile defence is a historic shift in its relationship with the United States and could have deep unforeseen consequences, analysts warn. This week's announcement is more significant than Canada's refusal to join fighting in Iraq or Vietnam because, some say, this time the country has rejected a domestic defence plan. One military analyst in Washington says Canada has turned its back on a 67-year-old agreement signed by then-prime minister Mackenzie King and president Franklin Roosevelt to jointly defend North America. "This is a significant policy change, and it will clearly have consequences," says a briefing...

This comes as no surprise, but our do-nothing neighbors to the North have declined participation in the missile defense shield. Apparently, the support just isn't there within the House to "risk" the Liberals losing future elections over. The fact that this issue is so charged that Canadians would vote them out of office if they supported it should give us all a little into the mindset of our "allies." I don't know how else to read it other than Canadians prefering to bind our hands when it comes to defense. Does the majority of Canada prefer to see more destruction...

Martin will reject missile defence: reportCBC News February 22, 2005 OTTAWA - Prime Minister Paul Martin will reject Canadian participation in the full U.S. missile defence program, CBC News has learned. Martin plans to announce in the House of Commons as early as Thursday that the country will not partake fully in the controversial program, the CBC's French-language network reported Tuesday. The news comes hours after Canada's next ambassador to the United States, Frank McKenna, set off a storm by saying Canada is already taking part in the program because it has agreed Norad can monitor the skies for incoming...