POUBELLE - (Projets - Projects)

[Malek]

The only way I'm voting harper again is if there is deeper tax cuts (or tax points transfers to provinces)... sinon c'est le Bloc.

[Cataclaw]

I'll be voting for Harper, again.

 

Canada is headed in the right direction under Harper, and Harper himself is a respectable leader in his own right.

 

Although on an idealogical level it pains me to vote for a right-wing party (being myself a staunch liberal) i have to admit the Conservative Party of Canada is nothing like the Republican Party in the U.S. I hope to someday cast my vote for the Liberal Party once again, but i feel they're not quite ready yet, especially not with M. Dion at the helm. Although i admire him enormously for his noble anti-separatist work, he just doesn't have the qualities of a good leader..

 

The Bloc... i won't even get into it, lest i spark an endless debate on separation. Needless to say, they won't get my vote. Ever.

 

The NDP would be my second choice at this moment. I may yet vote for them, it's still early and my opinion can change according to the newest information.

 

Taken from http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=080232cb-c349-4d9b-8dbd-c4d5fe31936c

 

Federally, the Bloc Québécois has been steadily losing ground, with the Conservatives holding their own as the competitive federalist alternative, while the Liberals are going nowhere under a leader who has no standing in his own province.

 

 

On the federal side, the story is that the Liberals, at 15 per cent, have now fallen to fourth place among the federal parties, behind the Bloc at 31 per cent, the Conservatives at 28 per cent, and the NDP at 16 per cent.

 

This has never happened before.

 

The real news is that the Liberals have also fallen to third place on the island of Montreal.

 

This has never happened before, either. Ever.

 

According to CROP, the Bloc narrowly leads the Conservatives 26 to 24 per cent on the island, with the Liberals at 19 per cent and the NDP at 18 per cent. All those NDP votes can't be in Outremont, supporting Tom Mulcair. And all those Conservative votes can't be in the East End. Something weird is going on in the West Island ridings, something that isn't being detected anecdotally.

 

When you look at the breakout of the non-francophone vote, the Conservatives are at 34 per cent, the Liberals at 28 per cent and the NDP at 21 per cent. This is hard to credit overall, because it isn't observable on the ground. Perhaps this is the one wonky poll in 20 that pollsters always warn about in their disclaimers.

 

In the last half century, the Conservatives have scored minor breakthroughs in the Liberal strongholds of the West Island, in the 1958 Diefenbaker landslide, the 1984 Mulroney sweep, and the free-trade campaign of 1988. These were beachheads of two or three seats.

 

But the Conservatives have never led the Liberals overall on the island of Montreal. This five-point spread is outside the margin of error. Perhaps it's a rogue poll. It was certainly taken before last week, a very bad one for the Conservatives, with the Maxime Bernier fiasco.

 

The Liberals should hope so. Because these numbers are saying that non-francophones are coming to the same conclusion as francophones - that the Liberal leader, Stéphane Dion, doesn't have it.

 

And on a side note:

 

For the last three months, CROP's provincial and federal trend lines have been clear. Provincially, Jean Charest's Liberals have regained their mojo, while Mario Dumont and the ADQ have fallen back to a bad third place behind the Parti Québécois.

[MTLskyline]

Honestly the Liberals have not had a good leader since Chrétien. Martin and Dion have both been especially weak. None of the other leadership hopefuls impressed me either, especially not Bob Rae (who did significant damage to Ontario's economy in the early 90s).

 

The Bloc, unlike the PQ, is very much a pointless party (they will never win government, and very rarely influence anything). However, Duceppe is a strong leader. I could see him uniting Quebecers moreso than Marois or Boisclair (and certainly much more than that country bumpkin Bernard Landry).

 

The Tories have done a good job at running this country and deserve a majority. [sarcasm]Once that is achieved, we can unleash our hidden agenda for a North American Union, and eventual World Government. [/sarcasm]

[ToxiK]

I agree that the Conservative Party is nothing like the Republican Party in the US. But we know that there are a few religious fanatics/ideologists in that party. I dont consider Harper as a fanatic but the problem is that we dont really know how many of those are in the party (both MPs and voting members of the party). What scares me is that if the Conservative are elected, the fanatics will take over and impose their ideology. The fact that Harper tries to control everything in his party might be seen as he is affraid that religious fanatics may say what they really want and destroy the chances of the Conservative to win a majority. I hope I am just a little paranoid.

[Malek]

The bloc has no influence in the house of commons?? come on, read a bit, get some news, and not from the "national" post.

 

They are very avant garde and influence the other parties there... anyways, let's not start a debate.

[MTLskyline]

^ alright I'll change the subject.

 

Harper is coming to Greenfield Park on the 24th to celebrate St. Jean Baptiste. Awesome!

[Cataclaw]

Awesome indeed! He doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk.

 

Welcome mr. Harper!

[peekay]

Awesome indeed! He doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk.

 

Welcome mr. Harper!

 

I like him but I think he is a snake..I doubt he will go if he has a full power in Ottawa

[MTLskyline]

He's the President in the best interest of Canada.

 

John McCain goes to Ottawa, defends NAFTA

Updated Fri. Jun. 20 2008 2:25 PM ET

 

CTV.ca News Staff

 

U.S. Senator John McCain delivered a strong defence of the North American Free Trade Agreement before some of Canada's most influential political and business people Friday.

 

He took a detour from his presidential campaign and went to Ottawa to address the Economic Club of Canada.

 

"There aren't any votes to be won up here," he told the audience before setting out on a speech outlining the importance of Canada and U.S. relations, particularly in the economic sphere.

 

Although he did not refer directly to his presidential rival Barack Obama, McCain alluded to the Democrat's criticism of NAFTA.

 

"Demanding unilateral changes and threatening to abrogate an agreement that has increased trade and prosperity is nothing more than retreating behind protectionist walls," he said.

 

McCain said if he is elected president, he will respect international agreements. Obama criticized the economic pact during his Democratic primary battles with vanquished leadership contender Hillary Clinton. Both the presumptive presidential nominee and the former first lady campaigned promising they would seek changes in the pact.

 

McCain said NAFTA has helped American and Canadian businesses and workers.

"Since the agreement was signed, the United States has added 25 million jobs and Canada more than four million," he said.

 

"We have established North America as the world's largest economic market and the integration of our economies has led to greater competitiveness of American and Canadian businesses. Because of our common market, our workers are better able to compete, and to find opportunities of their own in the global economy."

 

The audience applauded McCain when he said the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a "liability" and that he would shut it down if elected. The prison holds non-American terrorism suspects and Afghan Taliban fighters. It also holds Canadian Omar Khadr, who was captured in 2002 allegedly fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan. At the time, he was just 15.

 

Asked about Khadr in a question-and-answer session after his speech, McCain began his answer by noting that Canada's Conservative government has not asked for the former child soldier's return.

 

He then said he hoped that "we can comply with whatever is agreed to by the Canadian government and then I think is the time to move forward."

 

McCain also thanked Canadians for helping Americans after the September 11 attacks and for sending troops to Afghanistan. In a speech that touched on the long history of Canadian-U.S. cooperation, McCain noted the common values the two countries share.

 

"What a blessing it is for the United States to have in Canada a neighbour we fear only on ice rinks and baseball diamonds," he said.

[Cataclaw]

Because 4 more years of crap would better?