U.S. Welcomes Clean Slate With Harper

>The polite but restrained expression of goodwill toward Harper reflects a recognition within the White House that Harper's ability to build closer ties to the U.S. may be limited because of his failure to win a majority government, say analysts and former administration officials.

Translation: Thanks to not having given Harper all of the marbles, the selling of Canada will take place at a slower rate. (...and this is not to imply that the selling of Canada did not take place under the Liberals!)

Rico AB.

For sure the Gringos are happy. They have their very own Quisling in power. Just wait till they attack Iran in March, Anus Lips will be busting a gut trying to get us into that war. Too bad for the Evil Empire that its only a minority government though.

They can have showers togeather now. No soap on the rope needed. Harper will wash Georges back and George will let Harper was George's back.

Listen I never voted for Harper of any of the others, but I will put him to the test. If he looks into this corrupt Liberal Party, look into these trust funds Martin set up, add accountability to our system, put in place a real whistleblower legislation , give more power to the Auditor General and funding to set up a real watchdog office, open up the public tendering process, open up the Freedom of Information Act, find out where the $40 million went they cannot find the Liberal lost, cut some fat out of the public service and look into the pensions, perks, and the waste, look into the bureaucracy in the Federal Health Department and maybe get rid of it and put those dollars into the provinces Health care, then he will have convinced me that their is honour in some politicians. But for now I will not hold my breath.

He has the seat, there is not one dam thing you can do about it so wait and see. Please keep in mind how bad everyone maligned former Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae, well now he a good liberal and he might want to take a shot at the liberal leadership. Like I said many times before, same pile of shit , different stink, these parties all have an incestuous relationship. Just look at the ones who have traded from one party to the other, it all about power and money, it is not about “you” the voter.

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Good government is not a party government

Hi, new user.
Look. I am amazed that firstly, as Canadians we have allowed such a weak governmental system come in. With such weak minority in place, we are on the way to being like countries like Italy, that have an election every 2 years. Or less. The 24th of January was the start of the next election campaign.

And all I read is how everyone talks of the States like they are the end all of politics in Canada. Myself, I do watch the south a bit, but I do not let it control the way I live my life, or vote.

Everyone talks about, Oh..Herper..he would have sold us out to the Yanks to go to Iraq, and now it is how our leader will be told by "Anus Lips" that we need to go to Iran to prove our friendship. Give it a rest.

Anyone know the EXACT number of troops Canada (That was under the crooked tax evading BASTARD) is sending to Afghanistan????

Look into that. Why are they there? Because the war on terror in Afghanistan is so different than the war on terror in Iraq? PLEASE!!!!!

If we had any balls up here, we would have put a majority government in, and let them work their policies, and tossed them in 4 years if they were bad. But no..we have the weakest government in 80 plus years now, that will be handcuffed to do anything, and we will be off to another hate and fear campaign in 18 months.

Yeah, that is what I wanted to spend my tax dollars on.

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A good answer is the one you think of later.

Grizz:
Where have you been, we have been putting in the same two old parties since christ was a lance jack. One crook in , one crook out, same old shit , different smell.

Nothing wrong with minority governments, it slows down the stealing.

Nothing wrong with slowing down how this place is governed, what the rush , life is short and maybe if we take our time thing will get put right.

Like I said I am not Harper fan, but since he is in power at least check him out, we let the party I use to belong to the Liberal in power for 12 frigging years and never question them even when they were ripping us off.

You see there are people who think voting a party out is holding them accountable, not so, we the Canadian tax payers should have the Liberal Party in court and seeing their ass off for mismanaging our tax dollar, then we should have them hung upside down by their testicles , that is the one who have such jewellery.

Scotland has a new style of government worth studying , instead of accepting this old corrupt one , consider something better. The only people I find that like this present one are people who are entrenched in the parasitic system the party system provides, you know they are involved in a big love in, that focuses on that culture of entitlement. The party hacks have been mooching off the tax payers for such along time they know take it as one of their rights.

No Grizz.. Canada deserves much better.
Lets just watch Harper for a while, keep in mind he is walking a fine line and if I were him, I would want to prove that I am a better person than some are saying.

Let him have some time to get to the bottom of how the Liberal party got away with so much for so long.


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Good government is not a party government

I totally agree with you. I do agree with a system of checks and balances, and hope that harper can really clean it up as he has promised. I do hope though, that there isn't complete failure in the Con's finding that balance with another party to do some good for us all.

I am so fed up with the ways things have gone since I toom an interest in politics, that many things seem very pointless.

I had an argument with a good friend over the NDP, that yes, they have a wonderful vision, BUT..that vision comes with a pricetag that could never be paid., without extreme things happening to the very group he stands for.

It makes no sense how someone with a socialist vision, can truly stand up for the guy that works hard and creates the tax dollar that is so needed to fund a socialist platform.

The Libs..well I am not going there. too many things to say, and it has all been said. this last election, I did not vote for the Con's, to take a vote away from another party. I truly want to see change, and if it has to be done in negotiation with another party, to keep checks and balances there..I can live with it. I just hope it is not a gov't that gets nothing done, and a non-cofidence vote in 2007, sending us back to the polls.

I remember years ago, when Margaret Thatcher gained power, and when journalists asked the spokesman for the opposition if they were upset, they said.."No, tomorrow begins the next election campaign..."

Seems really worthless, and costly for us hard working Canadians.

Cheers

Gizz: I think that we are all tired of the way we have been treated as citizens by all political parties, I have never voted for the Conservative Party before , but I must admit I belonged to the Liberal Party for 20 plus years. I gave up my Liberal card when Peter Stoffer decided to run for the NDP, I though what to hell , I give them a shot, it took just two election to learn that they were no different than the liberal ‘s when it came to using or I should say abusing members trust .

Those two experiences pretty much sickened me of all parties, mainly because all parties tend to look out for the upper crust business or union types. I really am not afraid of Harper or the minority government, sure it will move a little slower, but that could be god for the tax payers. I will put it to you this way, if he can clean up the bureaucracy , bring in accountability laws that will give power to the people to sue these parties who mismanage our taxes , he will be on his way to building trust in Canadians who really care.

One thing that will united this country is good government for all the people, I do not care if I get it from the Conservatives , NDP or Liberal, but right now Harper is in power. The Liberal missed the boat, they took advantage of good economic times and instead of managing our taxes , they were busy running scams, building trust funds and burying taxes in hidden foundation funds.

I live here in Nova Scotia and I always said what is the use of Ottawa sending money into here, if the government and the unions are going to blow it on government union salaries and business friends of government. All I have seen here is a race to the bottom , who can grab what first, before thing like health, highways and education.

Taxes are to be used for the public infrastructure and I do not mean every time a buck come into Nova Scotia hire some useless political hack , buy a frigging MRI , open a hospital bed or fill a pot hole .

As far as East and West goes , if it were not for people leaving the East the West would never been found and Toronto would never be the great city it is. There is little cowboy in all of us.

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Good government is not a party government

No question, the liberals were crooks who sold Canada out to the US and the corporations. But so did Mulroney`s conservatives, and Mulroney still runs the conservatives by proxy. Harper will indeed, be a bigger puppet of Washington!

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Dave Ruston

Dave if you are right and Harper does not clean up this sewer in Ottawa, then he will pay the political price. But for the time he has in Office, he is a minority government and the other parties are partners, they can pull the plug , but if they are happy with the way things are going government will stand.

No use bitching about it, lets see what he will do, keep in mind Dave I do not support the same political system you do.

Speaking of democracies and the democratic process of voting, well the Palestinian people have spoken, they voted and elected Hamas. So the big question is, will the rest of the world or will they define a democracy as one like they are working on in Iraq?

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Good government is not a party government

Has anyone any thoughts about US Ambassador, David Wilkins, immediately taking Harper to task for his policy with regard to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic? Wilkins has expressed US claims that the Arctic as "neutral" territory.

Is this a strategy to help Harper try to establish his Canadian credentials or an attempt by the Americans to intimidate Harper into giving in to US demands before he even takes office?

You would think that if the Americans would hold off on making such a statement at least until Harper got his feet wet in office.

Interesting thought. I had a similar one with the Softwood lumber dispute, and the report that the US is now willing to look at renegotiating... will that be Bush's way of patting his new conservative buddy on the back? Will he make Harper look like a hero for resolving this long running battle?<br />
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A lot of people in Canada would be grateful to Harper if he swung a deal with the US to finally resolve this -- which could translate into allowing more power and more cooperation between parties. An interesting time for sure.<br />
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I may be wrong but didn't Pearson have a minority government, and during his term/s, did he not give us Employment Insurance and the (at the time) ground-breaking medicare system, plus CPP? -- despite being a minority gov't? AHA... yes, I just found this very interesting web page, that reads:<br />
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What Have Minority Governments Accomplished?<br />
Minority governments in Canada have passed groundbreaking legislation. There have been several cases of minority governments in Canadian history and, in some instances, these governments have passed important and controversial pieces of legislation.<br />
<br />
In 1925, Mackenzie King’s Liberal minority government agreed to implement old age pension legislation to keep the support of Progressive and Labour party MPs. The legislation was implemented in 1927. Throughout the 1960s, Lester Pearson’s Liberal minority governments implemented several key social programs, including the Canada Pension Plan, government loads for university students, and universal medicare. The Pearson minority government also negotiated the 1965 Canada-United States Automotive Agreement (Auto Pact) and gave Canada its present-day national flag (the red and white maple leaf). <br />
Between 1972 and 1974, the Liberal minority government under Pierre Trudeau introduced a program of economic nationalism that included the creation of PetroCanada. <br />
In 2005, Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government passed legislation that legalized same-sex marriages across Canada. The legislation was passed with the support of the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party of Canada. <br />
<a href="http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/democracy/minority/accomplished.html">http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/democracy/minority/accomplished.html</a><br />
<br />
Depending on where you stand on those various issues, that's nothing to scoff at...<br />
<br />
<p>---<br>"Wow! Brazil is big." —George W. Bush, after being shown a map of Brazil by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Nov. 6, 2005<br />
<br />

In spite of losing their case under the NAFTA dispute mechanism the Americans are looking to "negotiate" a settlement. This means that they do not respect NAFTA and the treaty they signed. The reason Canada signed NAFTA was to prevent this unilateral action by the US.

If Harper agrees to negotiate he is admitting that NAFTA has failed to achieve the purpose for which it was signed.

For a minority government to succeed a party has to be willing to work towards a consensus. The reason the progressives were unwelcome in the new Conservative Party is that it would require the party to be willing to compromise on their right wing agenda. Although some right wing supporters in the party and in the media claim the party has "moderated" it is hard to see where the movement has taken place. The Conservatives are saying that certain policies are not open for negotiation. If they maintain that rigid stand they will not get much accomplished or to face defeat.

It looks like we are all going to have to wait and see what Harper will do. Who would have ever guessed the Liberals were steal us blind?

Harper is not a lawyer like the last lot of Prime Ministers were and he is not out of Quebec. He is not associated to Power Corporation of Canada and Paul Desmarais, like those past Prime Minister.

He just might fool alot of people and clean up the sewer politics we have lived with for the past 30 years. I have noticed that a lot of people are worried and I don't think its about the possible relationship with the USA either.

It seems to be people who feathered their own nest thanks to the Liberals who are really worried , could it have something to do with getting caught?

I see nothing in Harpers policies to worry about, keep in mind this is a minority government and it will work, finding consensus will work in the best interest of Canada. Now there is something many fear, to think that we have in place a consensus government.



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Good government is not a party government