Equalization payments

[melvill]

Alberta sends 9 Billion dollars to Ottawa annually, and gets nothing back in the way of equalization payments.

Martin headed over to Ontario last week and passed out ????? Billion, now Alberta is asking for the same deal.

Do you think that ANNE's seat in Edmonton is worth some promises of equalization payments ????? I know where I'll place my bet !!!

[cowman]

The mindset of the people in Edmonton who vote in the Annies of this world is no different than the people of Toronto who vote in the likes of Jack Layton. They are so dead against anything that smacks of individualism or free enterprize or smaller government that it would be impossible to vote for a Conservative type party. Usually, one way or the other, they rely on the government tit to feed them. Why would they kill the goose that lays the golden egg?
I can almost guarantee you that the Liberals will come out swinging at Alberta in the upcoming election? Try to get the Ontario voter scared into thinking that Ralph Klein is calling the shots for Harper and the Conservatives? The best thing Ralph could possibly do is get out some duct tape and place it firmly over his lips for the next couple of months!
Martin is going to have a battle on his hands without a doubt this time! He will have to shift the focus from the fact he leads a complete den of thieves to a scare tactic campaign about hidden agendas etc.? I suspect the rhetoric will exceed anything we have seen so far in this country and it will polarize this country like we've never seen before?
And yet even with all the scandals, the crooked ways of doing business continue? Reg Alcock's appointment of one of his top campaign workers to a $100,000 plum at the CWB illustrates just how corrupt this gang is?

[cowman]

Ralph has indicated several times that he is going to campaign vigously for Harper this time around, but as you say cowman, it might be best if he confined his campaigning to working behind the scenes. The spectacle in Parliament yesterday was disgusting. How Layton can face the voters when he has sided with the Liberals is beyond me.

[grassfarmer]

It seems to me politics is changing thanks to media manipulation. Tony Blair and his bunch of crooks got re-elected recently thanks apparently to an Australian "expert" who came in and managed the spin for the campaign. Blair won by getting 36% of the votes out of the 60% that bothered to vote. The day after the election the spin doctor was back on a plane to Oz leaving the people of the country to live with the consequences. That's not really how democracy is meant to work is it?

[grassfarmer]

grassfarmer the spindoctors are tripping over themselves in this country readying themselves for the election here if and when it happens. I cant't understand how intelligent people can vote according to what they are fed in the media vs making themselves aware of issues and voting with their own common sense.

[cropduster]

Grassfarmer.....be thankful dissenters like yourself aren`t lined up...SHOT.. and put in a ditch..that`s how an extreme option other than democracy works.When enough people get together to say "Enough`s enough"then things will change!

[cakadu]

The media spin is truly going to play a factor in the election - put the antics of the kindergartners out in front of the people and they will vote based on emotion, not on what the party will or will not be doing.

Take a look at the spectacle unfolding now in parliament. Both Martin and Harper have sunk to new lows with what they are flinging back and forth. To use illness as an excuse for anything is deplorable and shows what these so-called leaders will stoop to in order to try and gain an upper hand. Is it desperation on Harper's part - I don't know but it is a testament to how bad things have become. What a joke we must appear to be on the global stage, not to mention how fed up people are at home.

Cropduster, even though it might get me "hung for sedition" I say get rid of the whole works of them and let's start over. None of them get to try again. Look at Broadbent's here today and gone again tomorrow tactics. Sigh, I guess some things will never change.

[cakadu]

I think that Kilgore has really hit th jackpot in low antics. Why hasn't he been yelling at the top of his lungs for the past year to ensure that what he considers ample aid has been sent to the Sudan, instead of using blackmail tactics at this point in time. We need to have a foreign aid policy that clearly indicates what type of aid and how much is available and where the priorities are. The last couple of weeks Martin has been throwing money around like a drunken sailor and most of it is not in the budget.....
No Prime Minister, regardless of what party he comes from should have the ability to make deals to spend monies outside the current years budget.


Hopefully the Gov. General will force an election and get this show on the road before our credibility gets any worse .

[carebear300]

Spin doctors or no spin doctors Martin and his bunch of bums are history. Now I wish I was more confident about the replacements then I am, but then as I have been told quite often am I am just old and cynical. Harper may just be an awesome prime minister, god even an idiot like Cretien was able to be prime minister for quite a while(seemed like an eternity to me) Time will tell but like they say a new broom sweeps clean and it will have lots of sweeping to do to clean up this mess. We have to get rid of a lot of the top bureaucrats as well or before we know it will be back in the same corrupt mess as before.

[ivbinconned]

cakado you have "bin-conned" by the CBC and CTV spin doctors.

Harper was reacting to the fact that the liberals were actualy phoning around in the sick MP's ridings trying to find out just how sick these men are.

This made Harper angry and he had every right to respond the way he did. The main stream media did not tell the whole story as usual!!

[ivbinconned]

Ed Broadbent will refrain from voting on the 19th to balance out the missing Conservative MP.
The Conservatives may pick up some support in NS and Nfld, due to their attempt to amend the budget to allow the resource revenue to flow to those provinces even if the budget is defeated, but of course they were not successful in their attempt.
Harper and crew have got to walk on eggs if an election is called, they cannot afford to get bad press due to any foolish comments or conduct.
I don't think that Harper is ever going to be a great statesman, but he might make a passable PM,if he gets the chance.

[ivbinconned]

Ed Stelmach is on the hunt for money from the feds similar to the windfall that Ontario got last week. I hope he makes a lot of noise, no matter which party wins if there is an election. It is time we plugged the pipeline of money to Ottawa and started a reverse flow of dollars back to AB., where hopefully it would be spent in infrastructure to keep this province on the move.