Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mises]

[supernick]

[supernick]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

Harper's 'war zone' tactics are the reason that the coalition exists. Because of this, all of his mistakes, hang ups, and obsessive-compulsive power plays are fair game.

He really did want to cut spending to the CBC because it's 'too Liberal'-- he's already started by denying public funding to any artistic expression that is deemed 'offensive' by his government, loosely defined enough so that he could, if he so desired, pick and choose what gets said and what doesn't. This is true.

He has already started informing national legislature with his archaic views on gay marriage and womens' rights-- and actually seems to actively support less pay and fewer rights for women in the workplace. A cause worth defending, of course.

He has publicly denied that Canada would ever go into a recession so that his slap-in-the-face budget might seem more acceptable. A few months later, the Bank of Canada says 'Canada is in a recession'.

He seems determined to reform or eliminate the senate, mostly due to the fact that there are so many Liberals in the senate. Before you say 'he wants to save money' or 'he wants to keep things democratic', keep in mind that he wants to either eliminate the senate completely (ie: decrease the Liberal influence) or make it a requirement that all senators be elected (elections are expensive). Given he doesn't seem to care whether it's the option that costs more money OR the option that saves money, it would seem to suggest that he is far more interested in doing WHATEVER HE CAN to increase his own power.

I'm convinced that he really would like to see Canadian political parties more dependent on big business for their campaign revenue, likely because this compliments his own ideological agenda.

Less public funding for political parties would mean all parties necessarily inviting more private interests into their decision-making processes, so that regardless of what party holds power, the way is paved for increasing privatization, looser definitions of civil rights, and huge cuts to public programs. This would seem to compliment the PC agenda perfectly, and it would force the Liberals and the NDP (also the Bloc and the Greens) to radically alter their entire political identity, so as to not scare off potential investors... and so that they may attract and romance big money as a matter of basic survival. This may come as a surprise to you, but the majority of additional campaign revenue is not from concerned voters... it comes from the wealthy elite.

Public funding for political parties isn't about 'paying' for the opposition's campaign, it's about paying for the ability to make at least a semi-informed decision between parties which are actually distinct from each other. And preserving options which aren't as corrupted by private business interests.

I'm not defending the coalition here (I do think it would work, just not now), just explaining the reasons behind its existence-- it's not an out-and-out undemocratic power grab, there is a very real justification for it. On the other hand, defending Harper is just flat-out wrong.

Ignatieff on the other hand is going to back out of the coalition. I'm all for stability, and hopefully Harper has learned his lesson.

[mises]

[supernick]

Jandor wrote:

[Kuros]

[mises]

^ That is exactly why I said it was talking shit. Canadians always do that. He could have referenced China in XingJang or Russia in any number of places, or Rwanda in Congo etc. But that would take a wider depth of knowledge than skimming the CBC headlines permits.

[Jandar]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[supernick]

[quote]How is KORUS-SOFA relevent to the Queen of Canada? Even if it were, its highly et tu quoque.

Can you justify the Queen of Canada's role in Canada without referring to the USA?

I was responding to an American, so I used a U.S. example.

[supernick]

[Jandar]

[supernick]

[Jandar]