[DrCaleb]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Hurting should just die already. Disrespectful leftist piece of shit.

How is it disrespectful to call a 'spade a spade'? All these things he says and more; Bill C-51, using CSEC to spy on Canadians, muzzling scientists, negotiating trade deals in secret, naming simple innocuous decisions as 'cabinet privileged', retroactively changing laws to make illegal acts legal - they have all occurred and are documented.

It's not disrespectful to show that this government has a pattern of doing things not in the interest of it's citizens. It's disrespectful to ignore that they are happening and to deride someone for speaking the truth. If Harpers actions manage to get Harper 'Prenticized', then he has no one to blame but himself.

$1:

Hurtig, a Liberal in the 1970s era of Pierre Trudeau, says Justin Trudeau will likely not do well in the federal TV debate — which will be a critical moment.

The truth hurts.

[Freakinoldguy]

Unless Hurtig's book vaults to #1 on the Canadian Best sellers list and garners unwarranted interest, I seriously doubt it'll make much of a difference in unseating the Prime Minister.

Especially since, the only people who'll read it without a jaundiced eye will be cloaked in red and already have made their minds up about voting against the Conservatives.................. 2 terms ago.

[OnTheIce]

Thanos Thanos:

I'm the Thanos that finally grew up in the last few months and found out the hard way that my years of supporting the angry conservative politics of my parents and grandparents has literally left me with almost nothing. I'm certainly no lefty but I'll be fucked if I ever support this kind of disconcerned and disinterested conservatism ever again. Jim Prentice found out what an angry backlash looks like. Stephen Harper can find out what it looks like again if he thinks what's going on is acceptable. If all I can do to hurt them is to use my vote against them then, goddammit, I'm going to do it.

What's funny about your situation is you think that anyone else would have done anything differently. Clearly, you haven't grown up enough.

[Zipperfish]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Unless Hurtig's book vaults to #1 on the Canadian Best sellers list and garners unwarranted interest, I seriously doubt it'll make much of a difference in unseating the Prime Minister.

Especially since, the only people who'll read it without a jaundiced eye will be cloaked in red and already have made their minds up about voting against the Conservatives.................. 2 terms ago.

Hard to say. In the US, there was a book that came out about John Kerry during the run -up to the lection, and it did a lot of damage to him. The same author tried the same thing with Obama, but it had virtually no effect.

If there were one party to the left of the Conservatives, there wouldn't be too much doubt the COns would be on their way out. The real dynamic in this election is between the Liberals and the NDP.

[2Cdo]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Unless Hurtig's book vaults to #1 on the Canadian Best sellers list and garners unwarranted interest, I seriously doubt it'll make much of a difference in unseating the Prime Minister.

Especially since, the only people who'll read it without a jaundiced eye will be cloaked in red and already have made their minds up about voting against the Conservatives.................. 2 terms ago.

Hard to say. In the US, there was a book that came out about John Kerry during the run -up to the lection, and it did a lot of damage to him. The same author tried the same thing with Obama, but it had virtually no effect.

If there were one party to the left of the Conservatives, there wouldn't be too much doubt the COns would be on their way out. The real dynamic in this election is between the Liberals and the NDP.

If it comes down to a left of centre party winning I truly hope it isn't the NDP. I still think there is bit of sanity in the Federal Liberals to keep a short leash on young Trudeau.

[DrCaleb]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Unless Hurtig's book vaults to #1 on the Canadian Best sellers list and garners unwarranted interest, I seriously doubt it'll make much of a difference in unseating the Prime Minister.

Especially since, the only people who'll read it without a jaundiced eye will be cloaked in red and already have made their minds up about voting against the Conservatives.................. 2 terms ago.

Hard to say. In the US, there was a book that came out about John Kerry during the run -up to the lection, and it did a lot of damage to him. The same author tried the same thing with Obama, but it had virtually no effect.

If there were one party to the left of the Conservatives, there wouldn't be too much doubt the COns would be on their way out. The real dynamic in this election is between the Liberals and the NDP.

If it comes down to a left of centre party winning I truly hope it isn't the NDP. I still think there is bit of sanity in the Federal Liberals to keep a short leash on young Trudeau.

I'll never vote Liberal, especially for a Trudeau. But I also really dislike Mulcair. May isn't my style. Can I haz Joe back?

[Zipperfish]

I don't care as long as the current batch is gone.

[ShepherdsDog]

Well if Harper wins a minority government and the NDP makes a strong showing, and retains official opposition status, I'm hoping the LPC will hold another leadership convention and oust that vapid little twit Sponge Justin. They need someone leading them who can straddle the center, seizing the slightly left and the slightly right vote....someone more like Paul Martin in his economic outlook.

[martin14]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

I'll never vote Liberal, especially for a Trudeau. But I also really dislike Mulcair. May isn't my style. Can I haz Joe back?

No, but you might get another Kim Campbell try.

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Well if Harper wins a minority government and the NDP makes a strong showing, and retains official opposition status, I'm hoping the LPC will hold another leadership convention and oust that vapid little twit Sponge Justin. They need someone leading them who can straddle the center, seizing the slightly left and the slightly right vote....someone more like Paul Martin in his economic outlook.

Don't know, there was some talking after the UK election that Labour was either too left wing for England, and not left wing enough for Scotland.
The center isn't easy to find these days.


But Justine is not Ed Milliband, so I'm not hopeful.

[DrCaleb]

martin14 martin14:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

I'll never vote Liberal, especially for a Trudeau. But I also really dislike Mulcair. May isn't my style. Can I haz Joe back?

No, but you might get another Kim Campbell try.

I'd rather be homosexual.

[Zipperfish]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Well if Harper wins a minority government and the NDP makes a strong showing, and retains official opposition status, I'm hoping the LPC will hold another leadership convention and oust that vapid little twit Sponge Justin. They need someone leading them who can straddle the center, seizing the slightly left and the slightly right vote....someone more like Paul Martin in his economic outlook.

Won't matter. The next contender will be similarly villified.

[Freakinoldguy]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Well if Harper wins a minority government and the NDP makes a strong showing, and retains official opposition status, I'm hoping the LPC will hold another leadership convention and oust that vapid little twit Sponge Justin. They need someone leading them who can straddle the center, seizing the slightly left and the slightly right vote....someone more like Paul Martin in his economic outlook.

Won't matter. The next contender will be similarly villified.

Yup and until one of these can't miss candidates wins the big one the LPoC back room boys will continue to heap all the blame on them and ignore the facts that without sound policies and voter enticing promises they had less chance of winning than the proverbial snowball in hell.

The only way the Liberals can win is if by some strange turn of events the Conservatives and NDP are all spirited off to Rigel VII by Kang and Kodos.

[Zipperfish]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Yup and until one of these can't miss candidates wins the big one the LPoC back room boys will continue to heap all the blame on them and ignore the facts that without sound policies and voter enticing promises they had less chance of winning than the proverbial snowball in hell.

The only way the Liberals can win is if by some strange turn of events the Conservatives and NDP are all spirited off to Rigel VII by Kang and Kodos.

That's not what the polls are showing. Although the trend is that the Liberals are falling at the expense of the NDP. Nothing too drastic to date, though.

Still, you've never been one to let facts stand in the wauy of a good rant.

[JaredMilne]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Hurting should just die already. Disrespectful leftist piece of shit. No doubt Andy would like him.

It's not necessarily disrespectful to use a politician's title. How many of us on these forums have referred to Stephen Harper without necessarily naming him as the PM when everybody already knows who he is?

And when exactly did Hurtig not do this, anyway?

Now, if you'd criticized Hurtig for accusing people who disagree with him of being traitors, sellouts or quislings, then I'd agree with you.

I'm not only a fan of Mel Hurtig, but I've also conversed with him one on one and I've come to consider him a personal friend of mine. The thing that drives me nuts about him is the way some of his vitriol has likely alienated God knows how many potential friends and allies. He doesn't even need to say that crap anyway, not when his arguments and research is powerful enough as it is.

My archives are increasingly full of articles by conservative politicians, pundits, academics and businesspeople expressing concern about everything from foreign ownership to increasing inequality and the concentration of wealth. None of these people can credibly be accused of being leftists or hating capitalism, and yet they're now saying many of the same things that Mel Hurtig was talking about a good decade ago and more. Jonathan Kay, Peter Lougheed, Diane Francis...and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Besides, all of the above aside, Hurtig is still a class act compared to a guy like Ezra Levant, who paraded around in an orange wig shortly after Jack Layton died of cancer, went on a rambling tirade about the Trudeau family's sex lives after Justin was invited to kiss a bride at a wedding with the groom's permission, told a foreign banana executive to commit incest after the latter criticized Canadian oil, and even said that when Ralph Klein stopped being Premier, his Métis wife would be "just another Indian".

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

How is it disrespectful to call a 'spade a spade'? All these things he says and more; Bill C-51, using CSEC to spy on Canadians, muzzling scientists, negotiating trade deals in secret, naming simple innocuous decisions as 'cabinet privileged', retroactively changing laws to make illegal acts legal - they have all occurred and are documented.

It's not disrespectful to show that this government has a pattern of doing things not in the interest of it's citizens. It's disrespectful to ignore that they are happening and to deride someone for speaking the truth. If Harpers actions manage to get Harper 'Prenticized', then he has no one to blame but himself.

This.

And forget about things like income inequality, Aboriginal rights, or other issues more usually associated with the left for a moment. Even when it comes to many issues that are more usually associated with the right, Harper has done a pretty crummy job:

-Conservatives prize fiscal responsibility, but Harper has only managed to balance the budget by looting the EI fund the way that he used to criticize the Liberals for;

-Conservatives are strong supporters of the military, but Harper has royally screwed up the military procurement process and continues to treat our veterans like yesterday's garbage;

-Conservatives support a reduction of government involvement in our lives, but Harper is enacting "security" legislation that even has many conservatives alarmed and is far more intrusive than any census Statistics Canada ever came up with;

-Conservatives support the oil and gas industry, but Harper has botched the Northern Gateway sales job so badly that public opinion in B.C., including among many Tory supporters like Gunnair, is pretty much solidly against it;

-Conservatives support consistency and clarity in regulations, especially when it comes to business, but Harper has been back-and-forth so many times on climate and carbon regulations that he doesn't seem to have any idea where the hell he's going. And if he doesn't, how is the energy industry supposed to know?

Look, I support the changes Harper's made in quite a few areas, such as his changes to the Criminal Code, his fixing the holes in the Liberals' gay marriage legislation, his arming our border guards, his work on bread-and-butter stuff like identity theft, the Tax-Free Savings Accounts, and so forth. I'd love for the next government to keep all of these things in place.

But the problem is that Harper has bungled so many other high-profile issues. I would likely vote Conservative if Preston Manning, James Rajotte or Brent Rathgeber were leading the party, but I cannot in good conscience vote for him.

Mel Hurtig is simply doing what he feels is his duty in making people aware of Harper's mistakes, just like Brent Rathgeber did. And more power to them both-these are things we need to be aware of.

[Freakinoldguy]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Yup and until one of these can't miss candidates wins the big one the LPoC back room boys will continue to heap all the blame on them and ignore the facts that without sound policies and voter enticing promises they had less chance of winning than the proverbial snowball in hell.

The only way the Liberals can win is if by some strange turn of events the Conservatives and NDP are all spirited off to Rigel VII by Kang and Kodos.

That's not what the polls are showing. Although the trend is that the Liberals are falling at the expense of the NDP. Nothing too drastic to date, though.

Still, you've never been one to let facts stand in the wauy of a good rant.

If you consider that a rant you haven't been reading my posts.

But, just because The Dauphine is scoring higher doesn't negate the fact that the LPoC back room boys sent two candidates to an untimely demise because of a definite lack of direction, good policy and failure to convince anyone but themselves that people should vote for their candidate.