I do think what happend was horrible and iam waiting for them to get to the bottom of it. But just because a couple of Liberal members were stealing doesnt mean it was the whole party doing it. And if it was, then get rid of them. I think that people shouldnt jump to conclusions about it, but see what the outcome is. I would love to see Chretien get tossed in jail if he had something to do with it. That would be agreat scene, seeing him lead away in cuffs. You have to give the current government credit for looking into this and trying to do something about it. We all know if Chretien was still in office he wouldnt have done anything.
I personally dont want the conservatives in. I dont think they will do much good for the country. Having us closer with the USA and their agenda and policies is not what we need. We are an independant country with our own laws, if we want to decriminalize pot thats up to us not the Americans. Giving same sex marrigae isnt a bad thing either, all people deserve to have the same rights regardless of sexual orientation.
Come on Troy. You can do better than this. Stop thinking in a manner reflective of a “first-year Canadian poli-sci” student. Do you think a sucessful Quebec businessman-turned-politician such as Paul Martin was completely unaware of these dealings? This was a man who flew “Panama and Liberia” flags when he was CEO of Canadian Steamship lines to avoid paying Canadian taxes. I refuse to believe a politician as controlling and domineering as Martin was completely ignorant of the “sleaze” that was going on. After all, he was Finance Minister at the time, and many of his loyalists were in various ministries of the Federal Government. My own opinion is he put his party loyalties ahead of the country. And for this he should suffer. With such a display of Liberal waste and mismanagement coming out of the Gomery inquiry, there is no way I would ever pay taxes to Canada again.
The sponsorship scandal makes Canada resemble a “northern banana republic.” Chretien’s brother has affairs with Chirac’s family members, while his other family members steal our tax money. I hope this crook gets put in jail.
If the CBC and Globe journalists weren’t such pawns of the Liberal Party they would have found many more “smoking guns.”
Parti Quebecois leader Bernard Landry is spot on when he says: “Jean Chretien and other federalist Liberals from Quebec are dishonouring our high standard of ethics.”
The Liberal apologists on this board are damn quiet.
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Well if they are guilty than it will come out at the Gomrey inquiry. Untill then we have to let the justice system take its time. Its no different than any kind of court case, all the facts have to come out. Maybe he didnt know, after all as leader of the finance department he couldnt be expected to know everything that was going on.
Ill admit it all sounds bad, but before i rush to condemn all i want everything to come out and not skip out on the facts and judge prematurely.
snds like an election will be held in June judging from rumours, but realistically i doubt things will change, the country is too far split, frankly as someone from Ontario, I will vote Green party 
naturally conservatives are to Westernized, Liberals corrupt, NDP unrealistic (but than so is GReen) but NDP also extremely corrupt, Bloc I like but they really only care about Quebec…perhaps Ontario should have the same kind of party formed…LOLz.
sadly we have no good parties to lead the country. Perhaps time to form a new party? The clean party? the “canadian” party? bloc Canada/ien?
peter gabriel once sang:
[quote]I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything at all.[/quote]
cbc.ca/story/canada/national … 50414.html
blah blah blah … i can’t remember what i spent the money on either.
Things are starting to get very interesting. Who are the two mysterious high-ranking U.N. officials fingered in one of the latest indictments of the oil-for-food scandal? At the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his staff responded to questions about the identities of the mystery officials by saying they have received no information on this from federal prosecutors and are as much in the dark as anyone else. On Friday, Mr. Annan’s spokesman, Fred Eckhard, told the press: “I wish I knew. I don’t think anyone in this building knows.”
Maybe Mr. Annan should ask a longtime United Nations undersecretary general, Maurice Strong (who is from rural Manitoba by the way), special adviser to the secretary-general since 1999 and currently Mr. Annan’s personal envoy to the Korean Peninsula.
acepilots.com/unscam/archives/001890.html
The hypocrisy of the Canadian left amazes me with regards to the above-mentioned articles. Imagine if Jenna Bush married the chairman of Halliburton
[quote=“Chewycorns”]Why aren
The Liberal Party is starting to implode from within :bravo:
[i]
From the Toronto (Red 
) Star (Leftist)
Martin could presumably have buried the whole thing," said Toronto MP John McKay.
“But he chose not to and it may even cost him his prime ministership.”
If all that wasn’t enough, former Liberal cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano - an apparent lynchpin in the sponsorship program - was quoted today saying Martin’s actions will lead to the break-up of Canada.
Gagliano, the former Public Works minister, Chr
…and don’t mention the Stanley Cup!…
here we go:
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … olitics_dc
boy, when you have options as to how to bring down a govt., something must be wrong …
theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ … /National/
[i]Mr. Martin found himself in the thick of a revived national unity debate after a poll placed support for independence at 54 per cent
When I was taking a course in Soviet Studies in university, I remember looking at pictures of Bukharin, Stalin, Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev and laughing at the outragous poses these “gangsters” and “thugs” used. Canada’s “Libranos” are giving me the same pleasure.
[quote=“xtrain_01”]here we go:
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … olitics_dc
boy, when you have options as to how to bring down a govt., something must be wrong …[/quote]
It’s called a minority government and it’s characterized by compromise between the parties. Minority governments are frequently suceptible to being brought down, however, if everyone acts decently and places the wants of their constituents ahead of the quest for personal power, it can be a very balanced form of democracy.
As far as China owning Canada, so what? European countries have had foreign-born kings and queens and nearly half the US debt is held by other countries. Mazda owns Ford or vice versa, and American flags are made in China.
Nationalism is just another tool that those in power use to manipulate the peasants. And most of the peasants love it.
I don’t usually read the Toronto Star (mockingly called the Red Star by righties like me), but this is the best letter I’ve read in a while.
Sick and tired and ready to pack
This 20-something-year-old, well educated, currently unemployed, black, immigrant Canadian drowning in student loan payments and a series of short-term jobs that provide absolutely no benefits is sick and tired of the constant bad news from the Gomery inquiry and the whole Canadian political scene.
Sick of politicians who cater to their needs and not my own. Tired of political parties that bicker among themselves about stuff that has nothing to do with me, or ignore the things that do, while constantly finding creative ways to take what few pennies I’ve got.
I suppose I could be happy about having the government’s hand in my pocket if I could just see where my money goes. Instead I get to hear about AdScam, bad subs, a weak army, a crappy transit system (if you think TTC is bad, try taking Markham transit … the buses come every 30 minutes), immigrants with PhDs who drive cabs, marijuana grow ops in my community, an unfair immigration system, Canadians dying in hospital emergency rooms while waiting for a doctor, and how good we are compared with those evil Americans.
Who cares about the “evil” Americans when I am unhappy with my own government? Are we so preoccupied with the rest of the world and the Americans that we have failed to notice how much trouble we have in our own backyard?
Our government has done good things for our country, but it has also left me scratching my head at times. What I am looking for (and I’m pretty sure you are, too) is a government that cares deeply about the average Joe. People like you and me. I want leaders who understand that we work hard and want our taxes to do great things for our nation. I am hoping and praying for leaders who can inspire me and make me proud to be a Canadian. I want leaders who inspire me to the point where I would stand in rain, sleet or snow just to shake their hands. I have heard about our great Canadian leaders of the past, now I am waiting for greatness while I’m still breathing.
Lately and sadly I have been asking my parents why they chose to bring me to Canada. I, for one, am dumbfounded. Please don’t bore me with the usual Canadian pat-ourselves-on-the-back phrases. You know those lines, don’t you? They usually go something like this: “Canada is a multicultural, free, democratic country. We have the best, free (it’s not really free … it’s called high taxes) health-care system (unlike those poor Americans). We also are really blessed because we are very tolerant, generous and blah, blah, blah …” Enough already! I am Canadian. I know what the benefits of living in this country are. But who are we kidding? We have some serious problems.
When I, like most immigrants am struggling to make my way in this country, hear how our hard-earned dollars are wasted I become infuriated. How can I feel good about a country that allows its citizens to sleep on the streets, its children to starve because their parents can’t make a decent wage, or that allows its black youth to drop out of its public school system at an alarming rate? How can I feel proud under the Maple Leaf when I know that the guy who is driving me down to Union Station in his cab is really a family doctor who came to this country because he was duped into thinking that he was really wanted? Why should I feel that my government is doing right when I must step over homeless people to get to my destination in downtown Toronto? Why should I feel good about a country that allows criminals to roam the streets shooting innocent women and children?
How can I feel great about a country where statistics show that, because I am black, I am more likely to earn a lower wage or be unemployed despite having all the education in the world? Come on, Canada! It’s time to live up to your ideals. Or have we set our ideals so high that we cannot live up to them?
When we speak of multiculturalism, do we mean the kind that only exists on the map but not in positions of power? If so, I reject that type of multiculturalism. When we speak of equal opportunity, are we talking about the kind of opportunity that exists only if you have the right skin colour, religion, language, political friends or the right amount of money in the bank? If that’s your idea of equality of opportunity, I don’t want it. When we say that all Canadians are equal under the law, I hope that’s true because it saddens me to hear people of colour bring complaints of racism (call it racial profiling if you wish) against police, teachers, employers and border officials.
It is time that we practise what we preach. If we truly are a nation that values democracy, equality, transparency, honesty, fairness, peace and social justice, then let us demand the same from our leaders and ourselves.
If not, I’m packing.
Keron Cato is a member of the Star’s community editorial board.
I saw that letter. There have been some interesting responses posted to it. My first reaction was: so…where are you gonna go, Ms. Cato? It’s not like Canadians can emigrate to The States (or Americans to Canada for that matter). Is she gonna come on over to TAIWAN? HMMMM? Does she have some secret European passport that we don’t know about? Hm? Like many Canadians, Ms. Cato is full of empty threats.// You know what? I think this whole sponsorship scandal in Canada is HEALTHY. It’s waking people up. Next thing you know, there might be participatory democracy in the works…once they stop threatening to emigrate and start thinking of ways to improve upon what they once so flippantly called ‘the best country in the world to live.’
Indeed. In Ontario support for the Liberals rises with each new revelation from Gomery.
theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ … /National/
I have to give it to the Liberals on this one. What a masterful political move. In a backroom deal, Martin offer a cabinet position to a “red Tory.” I think we will have to put up with Liberal party arrogance for another three years 
I think Belinda is the perfect Liberal because she obviously doesn’t care about integrity or values enough to stop her from grabbing as much power as she can. For heaven’s sake, she ran for the leadership of the Conservative party and now she is leaving it for her own personal benefit – that is not leadership, that is despicable 
This particular move will not go down well in the West. Alberta in particular is getting very, very tired of the antics of Eastern politicians and their cavalier use of our tax dollars.
Poor Mackay…
[i]After that meeting, she called deputy Tory Leader Peter MacKay, to whom she had been romantically linked, and told him what had happened.
Mr. MacKay was gobsmacked, said one of his confidants. He picked up the phone and broke the news to Mr. Harper on Tuesday morning. [/i]
Like it or not, her statements seem to confirm what voters had always thought about the Conservative Party - they are glossing over a regressive social agenda. Moreover, failing to pass the budget would not be in the interest of the fine people of Newmarket (her riding) nor the rest of the country. The Conservatives need to understand that the rebranding of Reform’s social policies will not lead to electoral victory in Eastern Canada. People in the East expect and deserve a more inclusive party, not one dominated by the far right. It’s a damn shame Canadian’s killed off the only viable alternative to Liberal rule - the Progressive Conservative Party!
I haven’t followed Canadian politics for a long time- Taiwan, yes; China, yes; the USA- of course.
I consider myself in the same position as a Pict from beyond Hadrian’s Wall who somehow ended up in Mesopotamia during the 2nd Century AD.
While what’s happening in my tribe might have some nostalgic interest, the important decisions are happening in Rome and Parthia.
It’s still nice to see the Liberals giving the KMT a run for their money as ‘Slimiest Political Party Ever- non-Boiling -Your-Opponents-in-Oil-Division’