Stephen Harper < George W. Bush

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Yes, I can elaborate:

 

As you may know, four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan this weekend.

 

Stephen Harper's response was to leave the flags at half-mast. He will also not be allowing media at their funerals. I've tried to do that as non-biased as possible.

 

Discuss. There's a veritable tonne of controversy over this North of the 49th.

 

Now for the blame game:

 

He also seems indifferent to Caledonia, and will not put a cap on GST on gasoline, which differs from his former campaign promise of "No GST if gas hits 85 a litre."

[CanadianChris 0]

I can actually see where he's coming from on the flag issue. Where do you draw the line? Do you lower the flag only for those killed by enemy fire? What about by friendly fire? How about if they weren't killed in combat, but a training accident here at home? I'm OK with honouring all fallen soldiers on Remembrance Day.

 

As for the media thing...well, unless it's a state funeral, isn't a funeral supposed to be a private mourning? I know if I was attending such a funeral, I'd probably kick the ass of any photographer that happened to get in my way.

 

And what do you want the feds to do about Caledonia? The protest itself is a provincial matter. The feds are part of the negotiating team as it relates to the land claim, but handling the protest is in the hands of the OPP.

 

The GST thing sucks, and it is a backtrack, but the Tories are finding out what every party that's transitioned from Opposition to government is finding out: It's a million times easier to say something in Opposition than it is to do it in government.

[dubq 0]

Yes, I can elaborate:

 

As you may know, four Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan this weekend.

 

Stephen Harper's response was to leave the flags at half-mast. He will also not be allowing media at their funerals. I've tried to do those decisions as non-biased as possible.

 

I fully support Harper's decision on this, and I really think that anyone trying to take the gov't down a notch based on that is really grasping at straws.

 

Without bothering to re-type the sentiment, let's just say that I agree 100% with what Chris stated above.

[The Thread Killer 0]

I agree. The media SHOULD be barred from military funerals. I wouldn't want them barging into my familiy's private grief. What the hell do the media need access to a funeral for? That's pathetic that would even want it, it's not needed at all. Nothing good can come from media coverage of a family's private moments.

 

As far as the flag, when our country is involved in such a large operation as Afghanistan, the flags would be lowered to half mast at all times. So long as we show respect to the military, the flags won't be an issue. Harper is showing respect where it COUNTS, he has plans to address the military funding crisis, unlike the liberals.

 

I am torn on the gas issue. I don't like government interference in private business, but I don't like getting gouged at the pumps either. If the government can clearly identify (with proof) that the oil companies are adjusting prices with no reason, then they should be the ones to pay for it, not the tax programs getting cut. That's just robbing Peter to pay Paul...because the shortage will have to be filled elsewhere. It's easy for people to sit around and claim oil companies are gouging us, and I suspect they are...but there must be documented proof before the goverment can act.

 

So yeah...so far so good for Harper. It's WAY too soon to start being all melodramatic about him. We gave the liberals a 12 year pass to fuck up Canada...Harper is a leader of a minority government, and he just started to try and implement his agenda. He's going to have the Bloc, NDP, and Libs looking over his shoulder the whole time, and we all know he'll need some of their votes to do anything big. Taking that into account, I honestly feel people need to relax and tone down the rhetoric a bit. Comparing him to Bush at this point is just non-sensical.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Ok, I've read these all and been a bit more rational.

 

I know this sounds like I'm hopping on a bandwagon, but I don't hoenstly have a problem with no media at the funeral. You did raise an intersting point, but I still think ultimately for now that the flag should be lowered.

 

Everything else, yeah, I overstepped my bounds, I'd say. My bad.

[The Thread Killer 0]

The one thing about a minority government you can all guarantee is this:

 

1) Nothing radical will get done.

 

2) The rhetoric between parties will get amped up as high as it can go, so each party can try and convince the voters that THEY are the ONLY party that knows what they're doing, so they MUST have a majority mandate.

 

I honestly don't think Harpo is going to get away with doing anything major duing his term. He's not going to have the parlimentary support. However, all of the opposition parties will try and make things look like he's the antichrist, because the last thing they want is the public thinking is that he's doing a good job.

 

Therefore, I expect much ado about nothing during this government, and the only legislation that will pass is centerist stuff that everybody can agree on.