They say if you live long enough

[farmers_son]

Emrald1: I believe what I said was Stronach was not in a ministry that was particularly important to me such as Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Finance or Trade. Certainly it is a responsible duty to be in charge of implementing the Gomery recommendations but that will not happen until after the next election. Stronach would have to successfully face reelection as well as the Liberals. I would point out that 35% of Conservative delegates at last years leadership convention thought Stronach was responsible enough to be leader of their party.

Regardind spending like drunken sailors; all of that spending was to take place in the upcoming years, not before the next election. There will be an election sometime this year with a new government and a new budget. Unless we continue to have more minority governments that spending would be subject to review.

Minority governments by definition are going to have to open the purse strings to keep everyone happy no matter which government is in charge. I do not think the country will be broke by this fall if it is not broke now.

[farmers_son]

Belinda was recruited by ONTARIO Conservatives that didn't want Stephen Harper, likely because he was from the backwoods of Alberta !
As I have said before I don't think he is a strong leader but after Stronach's turncoat charade he certainly has more credibility to me.
I thought that Peter MacKay was a class act in his interview with the CBC. I haven't been a great fan of his but he is loyal to the party and Canadians, which is one heck of a lot more than I can say for Stronach.

[farmers_son]

Harper has made a point of saying he was born and spent his first nineteen years in Ontario. If Ontario Conservatives recruited Stronach to block Harper in the leadership race because he from backwoods Alberta they did themselves a disservice because they just split the vote between former Ontario health minister Tony Clement and Stronach. It more likely that Stronach supporters did not like what Harper stood for.

There is an interesting bio of Harper at http://www.answers.com/topic/stephen-harper

I do respect Peter McKay and see him as the next leader of the Conservatives. Obviously Stronach was not loyal to the Conservatives but to suggest she is not loyal to Canadians is over the top.

[cakadu]

When things like this happen, I often wonder what we don't know about a situation? Obviously the media and everyone is going to be talking about the walk across the floor - should we be looking a little deeper at what precipitated it? On the surface it looks like Belinda was doing what was right for her and maybe it is just as simple as that. I do believe that things are not always as they appear - so what are we not privy to?

[cakadu]

Anyone acting in the best interest of Canadians would surely want to rid this country of any government that has been proven to be corrupt.

[farmers_son]

I believe any proof of corruption will be made when the Gomery report is made public, apparently later this year around November. I prefer to wait until then rather than make my judgements now based upon some journalists remarks on CBC or CTV.

[farmers_son]

Well, the vote is over. Apparently a historic vote as it was the first time in Canada that the Speaker of the House broke a tie vote on a confidence motion. By tomorrow everyone will have forgotten Belinda and instead focus on the Queens visit and government will get back to work, as it should be. Enjoyed the repartee with Emrald1 on a dramatic and historic day in Federal politics. Nice break from BSE.

[farmers_son]

farmers_son, if you think that government is going to be back doing business as they should be, you must believe that pigs will fly. Jack Layton has already announced that his DEAL with Martin ends the minute the budget receives third reading.
The budget still has to go to committee, and may come back amended prior to third reading,so the country will be treated to more lies, more politicing on all sides and lord knows what else. The only good thing I saw today was Kilgour !!

[farmers_son]

True, minority governments operate differently than majority governments so it will not be business as normal. Certainly there will be more politicing on all sides and the electioneering continues as all know an election is going to happen within a year.

You mention Kilgour. What a wasted opportunity there. Kilgour spend what political capital he had, and it would have been considerable, on sending troops to Danfur. An Edmonton MP, even though not a rural MP, he could have asked for a packing plant or any of a host of other solutions needed for the BSE crisis. After all Alberta is Canada’s number one cattle producing region. There certainly was no way he was going to get a cabinet post. A total waste.

I was impressed with Chuck Cadman. I read his bio. He got involved in politics after his 16 year old son was murdered. At first an activist for better young offender legislation he joined the Reform party where he was Justice Critic. He has a private members bill incorporated into legislation which is no small feat for an opposition member. He lost the Conservative nomination in 2004 and ran as an independent becoming the only independent MP elected in the last election handily beating out the Conservative candidate. Cadman is being treated for cancer and heard about the election call from his hospital bed. I thought it was impressive he chose to vote based on his constituents views instead of personal gain or personal views like Kilgour did. Cadman is an example of the kind of person we are fortunate to have in Ottawa.

[grassfarmer]

Maybe Kilgour reckoned in the grand scheme of things that trying to prevent genocide in a foreign land was more important than trying to build beef slaughter plants domestically?
I tend to agree with him - we sometimes get carried away with the importance of agriculture or the beef industry.

[farmers_son]

Well you are certainly right. And if we could erase world hunger it would be more important than universal day care here in Canada. Some problems are hard to solve.

The Sudan did not want our help, thank you very much. But seeking made in Canada solutions to the BSE crisis was something that could have been done. Solving the crisis in the Sudan was certainly beyond the scope of what could be accomplished by Kilgour in his role as an independent MP.

Kilgour was in a position to make a difference. I do not think he did. What do you think he should have done?

Speaking of world hunger, we cannot even get our cows killed, besides feed the world. And on the same note, the Mennonite people who slaughter and can cows to donate to hunger projects overseas were just about shut down by the CFIA. Maybe off topic, maybe not. Kilgour could have made a real difference and chose to go tilting at windmills.

[farmers_son]

I should add that Stronach was at least aware that there was a BSE crisis and made token gestures to do something about it.