Canadian politics

Proroguing is like no fixed election dates - as long as something is within the discretion of a political party, it’s going to be used by that party when when advantageous to do so. It’s just hypocritical to complain about it only when the political party you’re ideologically opposed to does it and no other time - it’s even more ridiculous for the Liberals to complain, since they made it a practice.

I’m more upset about the opposition party being ineffective in keeping the minority government in line. The one time they had the balls to form a coalition government (which is perfectly legal despite the propaganda) Harper disbanded Parliament.

Actually the Liberals were pretty damn effective - they got a Liberal budget passed despite being the opposition party, which was unprecedented. The coalition didn’t collapse because of the prorogue - it was abandoned by the Liberals because they got the budget that they had asked for.

It’s too bad the rest of Canada got it too, as although Canada has done quite well at weathering the recession (and far better than most Western countries) because it didn’t have direct exposure to the fallout of the US Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac US subprime mortgage program, we’d certainly be even better off if the Conservatives had been allowed by the opposition to pass the budget they proposed, without incurring the ridiculous and needless spending of the opposition-imposed budget. Of course the Liberals are now criticizing the budget and spending increases that were only passed due to Liberal insistence. Hypocrisy ain’t new for the Liberals, that’s for sure.

Canadian politics needs an overhaul. Like, a complete overhaul. I mean it.

We need to have elected Senators. Now if only we had a government that had promised to overhaul the federal Senate…

As you know, we do - and the Conservative party has campaigned for an elected Senate since the party’s inception, and it has specifically required all of the Senators who have been appointed during its government to agree to only be “conditionally appointed.” Appointees are obligated to resign in favor of an elected Senate.

Unfortunately, the Liberals and the other political parties aren’t interested in an elected Senate. Reforming the Senate would also require a Constitutional Amendment, and any constitutional amendment would also require the support of provincial governments, and the Liberal governments of Ontario and Quebec have already indicated that they will not support that amendment. In fact, they’ve indicated that if the Federal Government tries to implement an elected Senate without a constitutional amendment (which likely isn’t possible, but some lesser reforms could be implemented solely with Federal approval) they will contest and prevent those reforms.

So the Liberal and NDP parties are preventing the creation of the elected Senate you’re seeking. Which party do you support again, heh?

None. Again, I have no love for either the Liberals or the Conservatives. Like the Charles has mentioned before, Canadians tend to vote out governments rather than voting them in. The Liberals deserved their spanking back in 2006. The Liberals deserve to be the opposition party for their weak leadership.

I actually did wish Harper would try to get Senate reform because I knew the Liberals have no such intentions with their majority in that house.

Most Canadians wouldn’t need this poster.

Honestly why should we even bother giving a damn about getting an elected Senate. From what I can tell it serves little real substantive legislative purpose, it seems to me to just be a method by which the governing party can dispense patronage. But that’s all moot because we can’t make it elected without a costitutional amendment which as Desslock notes won’t happen. Much better just to quickly legislate it towards further irrelevance by decreasing pay, slashing benefits like free trips, and increasing the penalties for missing days in session - doing so would likely decrease the value of the senate as a source of political patronage.

But that won’t happen because patronage is fun.

Also I was under the impression that the NDP just wanted to abolish the Senate. Yeah, it’s here…

PM Harper is going to name five new senators, giving the Conservative government control of both houses of Parliament.

Why don’t we just get rid of the unelected Senate (yes I know it’ll require all provinces’ approval). A six-figure salary job until the age of 75? No penalties for not showing up for work.

Since I am mostly neutral on the Senate I am a perfect candidate to be appointed to it. This way I can study it from the inside while I work on a report. My findings will be published on my 76th birthday.

Remember when Canadian politics was all about arguing what part of the country was Central? Oh how I long for those happy times.

PM Harper was criticized at the World Economic Forum for refusing to get Canada to reduce carbon emissions. His excuse is that such reductions would hurt the economy.

“It is very difficult to significantly lower emissions growth,” said Harper, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“They simply cannot be reduced by declaring a target and saying they will be met by power of will, because that isn’t going to happen.”

Other leaders, however, swiftly contradicted Harper.

South African President Jacob Zuma said that attacking the problem of climate change is of the utmost importance.

“On climate change, we need to solve the problem so that we don’t perish,” he said.

That concern was echoed by both Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mexican President Felipe Calderone.

It was also reported that Albertans heard a loud asskissing sound from Switzerland.

Awesome. So proud of Harper for standing up for reason, despite the political fallout he’ll get from the chattering classes for this.

What reason would that be? Of course the targets won’t be met because Harper has never had the political will to try to enforce those (Kyoto Accord) targets.

The manufacturing industry in Ontario is all but dead. Coal is a minute source of power generation in Canada.

Hell, let’s just get rid of all environmental regulations because those impede the growth of industries too.

Exaggeration FTW, just because one position isn’t favored must mean that the opposite far extreme position is the way to go.

More evidence of the greatness of Canada’s public health care system. I’m so happy I get to pay $40,000/year for health insurance for services our liberal leaders escape from.


Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States. [LEFT]
[/LEFT]
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2510700

US governments spends more per capita on health care than Canadian governments, so all else being equal, you would still pay the $40k and have to buy more private insurance on top of that. I expect your taxes would be lower though as Americans don’t tax the rich as much and they have higher per capita deficits.

I thought Canadian health care was funded via taxes paid to the government? Is the 40k in premiums for additional services above and beyond what the national system is providing?

Yes. I think what he’s saying is that he makes so much that $40k is the portion of his taxes that could be attributed to health-care.

Edit: People in Canada often get additional insurance for stuff that’s not covered, like optical and dental coverage. But that’s relatively cheap.

Completely untrue. The per capita spending may be higher (a meaningless statistic, ditto % of nation’s GDP), but the percentage of government budgets spent on health care is much higher in Canada.

Here’s what matters:

My aggregate taxes paid in Canada = much higher than the aggregate taxes paid by an American.

% of those aggregate taxes collected that go to pay for healthcare in Canada = much higher than the % of those aggregate taxes that go to pay for healthcare in the US.

Bottom line: personally pay almost 4 times as much for healthcare in Canada that an American would, and the American would get far better coverage and service, since I have to wait months longer to get debilitating injuries diagnosed (8 months for an MRI recently), years longer for elective surgery, hours longer for emergency room service…and ultimately, the quality of care is such that a Provincial Premier (State Governor in the U.S) who has been a rigorous defender of the Canadian system, would rather look like an utter hypocrite and flee to the U.S. for care (while in office!) than risk Canadian hospitals.

I know that I pay more than 2x the dollars in taxes in Canada than I would pay in the U.S. (before deductions!) and I have to pay for supplemental insurance as well. My Canadian healthcare experience has been long on delays and expensive compared to my experiences down South.

Don’t mean to derail the politics thread and, yes, the U.S. needs an overhaul badly. Just don’t go all Canadian on us.