Mayors Warn Against Conservative Victory

Gee this seems like a no brainer, the Liberals will give $ .05 in 5 years, the NDP 5cents now,the Cons 3 cents...to municipalities from the gas tax....which would you choose?? But no it's about the majors picking on Harper...so they say...

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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?

The cons will ruin more than just municipalities.

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Dave Ruston

The best ideas I have read so far for municipalities have been from Jack Layton. He talks allot about more power to municipalities. He gives allot of examples of city projects (without government) have worked. Projects such as transportation, enviromental and child car programs.

Jack has big ideas to see these proven municipalitie initiatives happen across Canada. Of course the only problem is "small minds are the first to condemn big ideas".

Kevin

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"Love actually, is all around us" --From the movie Love Actually.

Kevin, I was just watching CPAC and apparently the Trucking industry is peeved at Layton's remarks about getting rid of trucks because of the pollution and damage to roads etc and replace them with trains; while I realize it is an industry, it is also a problem, and trains are a better way to go for the future...to me this is just more corporations looking after number one in spite of the risk to the majority of Canadians. Maybe a tax to trucking corporations to improve roads would help them see the light. And I don't mean a tax to the truckers income, I mean directly out of the corporations profit margin.

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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?

Jack didn't do jack here in Toronto, except get face time on TV shouting about whatever. These Mayors are all either NDP or Liberal supporters so of course this is just a partisan attack against the Conservatives. The Mayors should read the Constitution for themselves and so they can explain it to their Provincial bosses - municipalities are a Provincial creation and responsibility. The Provincial Premiers should be going to Ottawa for their municipalities. Direct Federal-municipal relations will only create a whole new bureaucracy and tangled web of political irresponsibility that will suck up lots of otherwise useful cash.

Anon I could be assuming wrong when i say your probably a conservative supporter. If that's the case maybe you should know that the role model of the conservative party (United States) gives more power to municipalities then what Canada does.

It does actually produce more results then depending on the government to pay the provinces, and for the provinces to pay the municipalities. There's already cities like Vancouver, Winnipeg and Quebec who have already done projects without the provincial and federal help. Projects such as child car, enviromental and public transportation.

Kevin

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"Love actually, is all around us" --From the movie Love Actually.

There is a city that has about 1500 miles of streets.

They are cleaned and swept at least once per day, sometimes more.

That city is Paris, France.

Where do you think the money comes from for that ?

Perhaps it's time the cities are allowed to become a level of government unto themselves, since at the time this country was being formed, there were no cities, therefore there was no consideration for such an entity.

Perhaps we were a little shortsighted back then, but let's fix it now.

If they are the responsibility of the province, then the province needs to pass along more money to the cities.

Many cities in the US have their own sales tax, so perhaps that is what's needed.

The cities need money, I don't care where it comes from.

It ultimately comes from some form of taxation.

BTW, in Denmark, the sales taxes amount to 25%.

Perhaps that's what we need. Another consumption tax.



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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca

In Jack Layton's book he suggest all municipalities large and small should have more power. He explains how we can create more interest in voting if people feel more connected to the political process. He also explains how municipal politicians are held more accountable for what they do when they are directly dealing with the people in their city.

CPAC campiagn coverage show's allot of people voting not for the party itself, but for the person runing as a candidate. People will vote for someone who is known in the community no matter what party they are with. That's happening here where the race is between the Liberal candidate who is well known and the NDP candidate who is well known. Luckyly for this riding the conservatives don't stand a chance.

Kevin

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"Love actually, is all around us" --From the movie Love Actually.

This is all well and good, but what of our concerns for further decentralization? Canada is a big country, and as some of you have stated before, we need a strong central government.I`m for what you guys propose as long as it doesn`t weaken the central government. When the provinces were whining (and still whining) about having more power, i can remember Pierre Trudeau asking," Well, what do you want the federal government to be? Someone to just come along and cut ribbons?"

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Dave Ruston

Well Dave, Jack Layton in his book explains how municipal initiatives with municipal power can still be done in a National focus. He uses examples of where other cities have done some good things for enviroment, child care and public transportation. He say's its municipalities that come up with the real solutions to small and big problems in their city. The solutions they come up with can be spread across Canada. Allot of times however municipalities have solutions they can't implement cause of a lack of federal help. Some cities find ways which all credit goes out to them. But in order to see more results in more cities they do need help.

I don't think Jack is suggested giving complete power to the municipalities. His suggesting giving them more power then they already have. Our federal government needs to have more close relationships with the grassroots of municipal politics.

Kevin

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"Love actually, is all around us" --From the movie Love Actually.

I am wondering if we should not be discussing the role of provinces. I have lived in three provinces, (BC, AB and Ont) and in all of them there are really two consituents, one rural and one urban. The gap between the two is huge and due to electoral boundry issues the urban group has less power or influence than the rural. Cities like Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto get the tight nozzel of the budget. As well people like Harris, Campbell and Klien are completely out of step with the urban population.

Giving Klien the power to change education and medical coverage is asking for chaos and that is what is happening.

I think the provinces have outlived there purpose.

Sorry I did not mean to post anonymously. I wrote the last post about provinces. My name is Kevan, I am from Calgary.

Canoe picked this joke up from Dailyhog.com. I got a real good laugh out of it. <br><br> One recent headline, capitalizing on public outrage over the sponsorship scandal, reported that hockey equipment disappeared after Martin and his Liberals dropped in on the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League in their dressing room to wish the team luck during the Stanley Cup playoffs. <br><br> The ersatz report added that Martin not only denied lifting skates, sticks and pucks but "later denied he was ever in the dressing room." <br><br> <a href="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/CanadaVotes/2004/06/13/498237-cp.html">link to the article</a> <br><br> <a href="http://www.dailyhog.com">link to Dailyhog</a> <br><br> Another item: "Harper also promised to remove the Queen from the Canadian currency and replace her with, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Klein...." <br><br> <a href="http://www.dailyhog.com/harper_05242004_6221.asp">Stephen Harper Promises To Return Healthcare Spending to 1912 Levels</a> <br><br> :)

I realise I'm a little out of order here. Sorry; I just wanted you all to have a laugh in the middle of all this seriousness. If an editor wants to remove the previous message and this, I don't mind.