I watched both debates, and of all the sound bites and got you moments, this is the one comment that stuck in my mind all day and all night. It was the defining moment of both debates.
A classy answer from our Prime Minister. Every other leader gave a quick I like you, but... response, and went on to slam their opponent. Only PM Harper gave a positive and meaningful response, without any but. Look at his body language, and you can clearly see that he is sincere. A PM with class.
Let the opposition squawk, and chase their tails, but none of the opposition parties gave Canadians a clear reason to change the government. That is what Canadians are going to base their vote on, not got you moments. There were no got you moments. There is no reason to change this government.
The opposition states all the time that the 2% reduction of the GST is only benefiting the rich, that is an out right lie. My son is out growing his jeans faster than I can keep up, so every penny I can save means an extra penny in my son's jeans.
The English debate was clearly won by PM Harper, the opposition tried to gang up on him again, but this time he fought back, and he made his points. Duceppe was a disgrace, he couldn't keep his mouth from running off, he kept on bashing Alberta and tried to link PM Harper with Bush. This might have worked in the French debate, but the 80% of English speakers in Canada, if they are like me, thought he looked weak, and he only reinforced our distrust of Quebec here in the ROC.
I understand that Quebec is unique, my son loved his visit there, he found all Quebecer's very helpful and willing to speak English to him. Quebec is a part of our country that we want to keep, but by voting for a separatist party, they send us the message that they do not love our country. I don't care if it is a protest vote, the ROC sees it as Quebec turning it's back on Canada.
In this uncertain economy, do you really want Dion or Layton at the helm?
38 comments:
Hi Hunter. I agree about the GST observation. The rich do, indeed, benefit more from a GST reduction because they have the financial means to buy more. A reduction is more important to a low income person because every penny counts. For example, the GST on natural gas and hydro - any reduction, however, small in the amount paid for these essential utilities counts a great deal. I know this because I am one of those people who, unfortunately, lives from pay cheque to pay cheque. As for my union - hah. Traditionally, more than a year goes by without a contract and before my union gets serious about our cost of living raises. So, in the meantime, we have to tighten our belts even more. As for Dion's carbon tax - sure, raise the price of my heating, lighting, eating, etc.
The reduction in the GST was strictly for the rich. I don't care if my TimHorton's coffee cost me 2 cents less. It does however make a difference when you are buying a Porsche. If Dear Leader had left the GST as it was, we would still have a surplus. And yes, Bush=Harper.
"If Dear Leader had left the GST as it was, we would still have a surplus".
If Dear Leader had a surplus, he would use it to pay down the debt like he did before.
What is the purpose of having money sitting in a surplus when we have debt adding on interest.
Surplus means one of three things: good financial management, over-taxation, or programs underfunded. Good financial management would not have kept that amount in the bank while our health care system suffered (as it is suffering right now). Over-taxation: yes, we pay too much tax. That is even indicated in the Lib platform. Programs underfunded: some good programs, like our health care system are underfunded while others which affect so few Canadians are overfunded or the money is not going to the people for whom the funding is intended.
I was not aware that Tim's had diminished in price because...I cannot afford a Tim's coffee. I make my own at home and that's all I can afford. So, this particular Canadian appreciates paying a little less tax.
Besides, did Chretien not run on a promise to scrap the GST? Did Mulroney not get defeated, in large part, due to the hated GST? Why, suddenly, is the GST a good thing? Does it depend on the partisan view or on the individual, independent Canadian's view?
This independent, and struggling, Canadian wants to pay less tax and any decrease is highly appreciated. Given that a GST reduction applies to all Canadians, it cannot be viewed as being strictly for the rich. As I said in my previous pose, the wealthy spend more money because they have the finances so to do. People like myself need to save every penny we can in order to keep our heads above water. If I had my way, the GST would be removed from my energy, telephone, and water bills. That would help.
Hey Southern Quebec - last time I checked (yesterday) we DID have a surplus.
Why are you lying?
Good catch, AG. I had forgotten that. I suppose I assume far too often that the other side is playing fair. My bad. Thanks for being there to catch my omissions.
God Bless Stephen Harper
We need to call these liars out - for too long we have sat back and let them walk all over us with their false facts and outright lies.
If we want to take over the running of this country with a majority, we have to fight back when they come out with their talking points. We have played second class citizen for too long and by letting them get away with spreading their anti Harper crap, we fail the Conservative party.
The next 10 days are going to be nasty - I am sure the liberals will be fighting with every little dirty smear they can come up with - time to fight crap with the truth.
How come, when gas at the pump goes up 2 cents a litre we all yell, and when it goes down 2 cents we cheer. Look at the gst as a 2 cent permanent cut on a liter of gas. Rich and poor buy gas for their cars, cities buy for their vehicles and transportation systems, truckers buy it to deliver our goods. That 2 cent saving is lots of money in pockets and treasurys.
Look at your grocery bill and see the gst you pay, or your utility bills, clothing, school supplies and everything else. The poor pay gst. How we allowed the farce that only the rich pay is beyond me.
By jumping on the arts funding cut Layton has probably ruined his chance to be opposition leader and put Gilles in that position.
It had been rumored he would resign after this election but if he is opposition leader he wont.
We will be back at the polls within another 2 years. PMSH will be in charge during that time and liberals will support him. They need to rebuild and can't afford to go to the polls so soon.
May suggested a coalition govt with Dion as PM, does anyone think that would work.
Dion saying he would do all this or that, or Layton saying the first thing he would do is reverse corporate tax cuts, I think they have all forgotten, they need a throne speech and a budget, they will not have a majority, and will need help to pass any of their pie in the sky plans.
We need a majority in these troubling times, to keep things on an even keel. Too bad voters in Quebec hate canada so much and so does the media. Their gotcha politics will end up getting Canada into real trouble.
Very true words Mary, very true words.
You know, I don't see why the left is hollering about the surplus. Sure, in a perfect world, a surplus is a good thing. But...the Libs made funding cuts to the most vital service - health care - to bring down the deficit. Okay, we bit the bullet. The deficit was slain (by whose accounting, I'd like to know) and that was good. But...to keep on underfunding health care and overtaxing Canadians was NOT a good thing. It was, in fact, a VERY BAD thing.
So, this bragging about the Lib surplus is actually ludicrous - it means that I paid far too much tax and suffered from an underfunded health care system for far too long. And...don't even get me started on the EI account or McGuinty's health tax - a health tax necessary because the federal Libs decimated our health care system.
Reduce my GST again and again, please. God Bless Stephen Harper.
To those posters who use Harper=Bush, Harper=Hitler etc., you lose me the second that phrase is used.
It is patently false and juvenile.I would direct those who use such words to speak with my next door neighbours who fled real oppression in 1968 Czechoslovakia.
Kursk - well said. My sister had a friend who was born in a concentration camp. Her family was Polish Catholic and, although I don't know the reasons for their incarceraton, it is possible that her father was a political activist. She would be disgusted with the use of Heil Harper. I had a neighbour who literally had to walk away from his home in Czechoslovakia when the commies rolled in. I worked with a lady who, with her husband, literally walked out of Siberia and out of the Soviet Union to escape.
You are so right - this Bush-Harper and the Heil-Harper is juvenile and patently beyond the pale and disconnected with reality.
Posted on Garth's blog, today. I life my hat to Lisa Raitt. She is one impressive lady.
As requested, here is my opponent’s entire media release of yesterday: — Garth
GARTH TURNER’S HYPOCRITICAL ATTACKS
“Blog Talk” Puts Spotlight on Turner’s Foul Website
Halton, October 2, 2008 – Garth Turner’s increasingly desperate attacks on his Conservative opponent show that he knows he’s trailing in Halton. His latest attempt to smear his rival sets a new standard for election hypocrisy, since it involves allegations of insults on internet web logs. Mr. Turner issued a news release falsely accusing Conservative Lisa Raitt of being responsible for some deplorable comments made on an anonymous blog. But he makes no apologies for years of disgusting vitriol for which he is personally responsible.
Mr. Turner has repeatedly called the Prime Minister of Canada a “whore”. He has called Liberal John McCallum, Conservative Peter Van Loan and the London Free Press newspaper “pricks”.
When he was a Conservative, he called Liberals “lying bastards”. As a Liberal, he has told commenters on his blog with whom he did not agree, “Bite me,” and has referred to women as “chicks” and “femi-nazis”.
“Garth Turner knows that neither I, nor the Halton Conservative Association have anything to do with any nasty internet comments about him,” said Lisa Raitt. “But that doesn’t stop him from pulling the trigger on his drive-by smear campaign.”
“Garth Turner is an embarrassment to Halton”, added Ms. Raitt. “He pollutes the internet with a rated-X website that our children can visit and read. His behaviour is unbefitting a Member of Canada’s Parliament. He has to go, and on Election Day Halton voters will show him the door.”
Turner personally responsible for vile blog comments
Whereas Mr. Turner has assaulted Ms. Raitt for internet talk over which she has no control, he does not mention his total control over the vile material he personally posts on his blog. Mr. Turner personally reviews and approves the comments he posts on his website. He adds, “I accept responsibility for content on this site and do not hide behind a protective veil of anonymity.”
Mr. Turner is therefore directly responsible for posting comments that compared Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Adolf Hitler, and called the Prime Minister a “s**t-head” and an “a**hole”.
Mr. Turner is directly responsible for posting a graphic on his website advertising a “Lisa Raitt Deathwatch” – which was seen online by Ms. Raitt’s seven year-old son.
Mr. Turner is directly responsible for his own - and his supporters’ - foul language and potentially libelous commentary.
Since the 2008 election campaign has started, Mr. Turner has spent his time throwing mud at his opponent – something Ms. Raitt has not reciprocated. Mr. Turner can’t win on the issues, and he can’t catch up to Lisa Raitt legitimately, so he is trying desperate measures to bring Ms. Raitt down into the mud with him.
“I won’t let Garth Turner distract from what’s most important in this election,” said Ms. Raitt. “I will focus on the things we and our neighbours in Halton care about: the economy, lower taxes, support for families and seniors, and a fair deal for entrepreneurs. But I will also hold him accountable for his unacceptable, childish behaviour.”
-30-
For more information, please contact:
Cam Battley
Lisa Raitt Campaign communications
o: (905) 878-5525
m: (905) 864-5525
I should have written that I lift my hat to Lisa Raitt, not life my hat. My bad.
Wonder how many in Ont or Que watched CPAC today with Dave Rutherford. His interview the green lady was hillarious. Legalize marijuana, lower the dollar to .60 cents etc. But his next guest gave some true facts on where the money from the oilsands go.
Who knew that Ontario gets 102 BILLION dollars/yr, or Quebec gets 8 BILLION/yr. The federal govt gets 51 BILLION/yr.
Think of the cuts to culture if that money is lost by shutting down the oilsands. There will also be 2.5 MILLION new jobs within the next 20 years.
Maybe we in Alberta should take our money and go it alone.
Hey Dalton, tell us what Ont would do without our 102 Billion going into your coffers. Wonder how many of those dollars going to the Feds was passed around in brown paper bags in Quebec to elect liberals.
MaryT, Alberta Girl and Hunter.
Alberta Girl's "the pretty one."
Maybe we in Alberta should take our money and go it alone.
Good luck with that, if the oilsands areas vote to separate from Alberta and stay in Canada.
Yes, if Canada is divisible, then Quebec (or Alberta!) is divisible.
That is thanks to Stephane Dion.
LS, maybe you should come to Alberta and see the oilsands area. It is a landmass, with a lot of reclamation projects either completed or in the works. People work there, don't live there. The voters involved are from NFLD and the Atlantic area mostly. They don't call Fort Mc the capital of NFLD for nothing. Only residents can vote in any election. But of course I can't tell where the animal vote will go.
Hey AG and Hunter, little boys will play, but having met AG, I will agree, she is good looking.
It has taken several months but finally he told the truth. Must be the prayers I am offering for his salvation at Sunday Mass.
Ha Ha - thanks Mary - I didn't want to open that because you never know WHAT could be popping up, eh?
Alberta Girl's "the pretty one."
Well, from what I've seen you ladies write, I think you are all "the pretty one". Don't let this Ti-Guy (I seriously think this is a woman) upset you. Just look at Ti-Guy's style of writing and the nature of her insults - sounds like nothing a man would say to a woman but her insults do sound like something one woman would say to another.
Ooops, KevCon is going to be all over me, now.
LS, maybe you should come to Alberta and see the oilsands area.
maryt, I've been there. In fact I worked there for a time, back when it was still called the tar sands. Once you move out of camp into Fort McMurray, you are in fact a resident.
Could you post a link for this "$102 Billion a year" going to Ontario? Considering our budget is $96 Billion a year, why am I still paying taxes here? Missed decimal point perhaps?
I got that figure from the Dave Rutherford exchange on CPAC this am. I listened on the radio, and Dave said he wanted to get the truth out about where the money goes. He was talking to the head of an org that is made up of numerous companies etc from the oil industry. New figures from his report will be out shortly. Try getting the info from QP 770, archives. I don't know how to do it, but Dave did stress the amount, 102 Billion. That probably includes jobs, orders and other things, payroll etc. Anyhow you look at it the oilsands is worth that amount of money to Ont. I never said it was sent in one lump sum. If you did not know that how many others don't know it, and think the sands should be shut down. That would really hurt the que artists, poor guys/gals.
Hubby and I just got back from voting. In our small area they are averaging about 10 an hour. Considering I have sat at these polls in the past and we were lucky to get 10 a day at the advance poll.
Now when a pollster calls I can honestly tell them I wont vote Oct 14.
A few years ago we had a green candidate named ING. My hubby had great fun telling everyone he was going voting.
"I didn't want to open that because you never know WHAT could be popping up, eh?"
I'm sure nothing ever pops up when you're around.
Friday Night Funnies featuring ti-guy the booger-ing liberal troll
Poor orphan Ti-guy, has to spend it's time on Conservative blogs. What's wrong Ti-guy don't the lefties like you? I thought they were the "progressives", and that they allowed anyone into their parties.
I think Ti-guy has a crush on us ladies. AWWWWW, isn't that special!!
Now run along home, I hear your god CC calling for you, he/she must have linked to someone else's blog and needs to give you instructions, like it did one time it linked to my blog. It actually had to post orders for you lefties here, pathetic really.
Hunter@4:03, such a fitting comment for a post called "A PM With Class!"
Ha ha ha ha ha!
I wonder if someone has to get in lots of instant starch. And it wouldn't be AG, MaryT or Hunter.
If anyone opened that please let us know what it is.
"I wonder if someone has to get in lots of instant starch. And it wouldn't be AG, MaryT or Hunter".
Oh, good one. Ti-Guy: BAM. She blowed you up real good.
I still say that Ti-Guy is a woman - the dialogue and sexual content are something that a woman would say to another woman. No man worth his salt would say such things to a woman. Of course, if Ti-Guy is remotely male, he'd never say it to your face.
East of Eden, he might be a metrosexual. You know, those urban, confused purse carrying males, self loving individuals, that would not be caught dead driving a tractor and wearing coveralls. Probably shrieks like a woman when he breaks a nail.
No wonder he doesn't like me, I have driven tractors and wore coveralls. I have also been in the pig barn helping deliver the little things, and using a shovel in there. Never did learn to milk the cows, had kids do that. Nothing like working in the barn, and having a lovely smell and have your mother-in-law show up for coffee.
Hey Mary - I have done all that too - back when I was growing up on the Farm. Now I will bet my bottom dollar that ti-guy would pass out if he had to shovel manure - oh, maybe not since that's what he does whenever he comments - hee hee.
Hunter, you're probably right on the money. Bet he also plucks his eyebrows. MaryT - love the crack about the MiL showing up when you smell so "earthy". I have learned to NOT have liquid or food in my mouth when reading the comments on this blog - Hunter cracked me up with that video a while back and I learned to expect to guffaw.
Oh - go to Steve's blog - Garth posted a comment asking for an apology to Dan. Alberta Girl - I mentioned in my comment back to him that he owed you an apology. The guy is something else. Someday, I may just figure out what that something else is.
And, now, I'm heading off to meet some friends to go hiking through the woods. It's not quite as 'earthy' as shoveling cow poop but it's still a thrill. I love fall.
God Bless Canada and Stephen Harper.
Moi je suis Québécois et j'aime pas le Canada. Pas que j'ai quelque chose contre les Canadiens, mais je ne suis pas Canadiens et je déteste le pays et ce qu'il représente.
Faque je vais voter BLOC, comme toujours.
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