The Official Canadian PS Politics Thread

[lynxamania]

Since the US PS Forums have it I decided we should start a thread discussing politics here in Canada and abroad. Let me know if we can keep this thread going!

[rd1000]

hehe...well I watch the daily show, and they enjoy ALL politicians equally. They even had some fun with ours. Can you imagine that?

Rob

[alero0]

They can make a whole comedy series about my provence (QC.) We've got Language Police, Separatists, Referendums and all sorts of fun issues. Now Montreal is going through the One Island One City crap which is really quite comical....actually not because it's costing us lots of tax $. Well if we can't laugh about ourselves we may as well just hide under a rock.

[shoplineca]

The best thing about GWB?,

He lives in another country.

Malcolm

[shoplineca]

Second best thing about GWB?

He doesnt know where Canada is.

Malcolm

[lynxamania]

Thanks for your input, again my apologies for any remark that was inconvenient to anyone, I think this thread doesn't have to be just about debating, it can be leading to what can be done better in politics, in our government, how can we improve on programs etc but hey thats just my opinion.

Or maybe it can be about eBay politics! (Kidding)

Oh your right Malcolm, GWB has no idea where Canada is or anything about us... here is an example, I'm sure many of you have watched 22 Minutes documentary called "Ric Mercer's Talking with Americans (2000)" which was during the 2000 US elections, alot of hilarious stuff but he even ended up speaking to GWB, letting him know that he was from Canada (not in the exact words but it goes something like this) he says to GWB "Prime Minister Jean POUTINE respects both candidates in the race, however he has already stated that he favours you and hopes you win"... GWB replies "Oh is that right? Well thats great!", Ric then asks him a question GWB replies "Well you know I think free trade is important and continuing our relationship is important you know... " well I know its sounds kinda silly but if you've seen it, it would make you laugh, guess he didn't know who our Prime Minister was 🙂

Anyway just my "toonie".

[rd1000]

The best thing about Paul Martin...he spends most of his time in another country.

The second best thing about Paul Martin...he spends most of his time in another country.

Rob

[ospreylinks]

The sad thing is that to win the US election, GWB never had to know who our Prime Minister is or was.... His ignorance on the matter is the same as most of the citizens and they don't give a rats a$$ who our PM might be, nor do they expect their President or leading candidate to know either....

In terms of the Rick Mercer show, the Americians still don't get the joke.... Jean, Paul or Jean-Paul, they don't give a damn!

Jeff

[muminlaw]

Exactly right Jeff. They don't seem to see any need to know anything about anyone except themselves. That kind of insular thinking can only lead downhill. Sometimes I worry about it ... other times I just think they're going to get what they've earned and if we "don't give a damn, Scarlet" well ... turnabout, etc. ...

By the way, this is another thread that's gone far too long without a mention of golf!!!! When are you coming West for a golfing visit??!!! (Better wait a week or two until the monsoon season is over!)

Glenda

[rd1000]

You are right...they do not give a damn. But I think we have to take some blame for that.

Ronald Regan certainly knew who our PM was, and Bill Clinton was a Democrat so we loved him. It wasn't until the Creton came on the scene that our relations took a severe nose dive. The esteemed Canadian Ambassador, who happened to be his dimwit nephew (we all know his qualifications surely extended beyond his last name), publicly endorsed Bill Clinton. That with all the name name calling and personal attecks by Liberal Ministers, and I wouldn't give Canada a second glance either. We reap what we sow.

I will give Paul Martin credit for extending a hand to the US. As a business man, I guess he can put money ahead of personal values. I am not crazy about the Liberals newfound allies and partners such as China, France and Russia, but if it means economic benfit to this country, I say go for it.

I guess what I am saying is that you can only hurl insults for so long before the recipients decide that maybe you don't like them.

Rob

[ospreylinks]

And GWB doesn't play golf very well.....

There Glenda, got it in!

Jeff

[ospreylinks]

They don't give a damn and we are to blame? The Presidents you named knew who the Canadian PM was due to personal interest, however even during their terms, the vast majority of the US population did not (and still do not) know who our PM was.....

They didn't care then, they don't care now and they won't care tomorrow and it had nothing to do about past members of our government hurling discourteous comments in their direction (they don't know about that either).

Although Chretiens nephew probably did little to enhance Canada US relations, he didn't single handedly destroy them either.

I am sorry, but I take no responsibility for current or recent past Canada US relations, nor should any Canadian. I also do not take any responsibility for the general US lack of understanding or interest in our country.

Jeff

[rd1000]

At minus 40 in the wind chill every day here in Ottawa, I don't think even the most die-hard golfer is polishing his clubs just yet. X-)

[ospreylinks]

Actually, unless travelling to a warmer clime, probably the only thing golfers are doing in all provinces except BC (Glenda) is polishing their clubs...

Jeff

[rd1000]

hehe well I am not a golfer so I guess I would not know what they do. I golfed twice and decided that if I want to walk in the woods, I could save myself $20.00 bucks and go the park.

Rob

[muminlaw]

Rob, I'm not a golfer either by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy whacking that little white ball and I seem to need an excuse to get out for a 2 or 3 hour walk on a regular basis. Right now, with the rains we've been getting for a couple of weeks, the courses that aren't closed are so swampy they're not any fun anyhow, so we're haunting the driving range trying to improve our control. I guess monsoon season can't last forever! Jeff, I got a 13 wood for Christmas, so I've been playing with that trying to find out just how to use it to best advantage. I think I'm gonna like it!

Back to the OT, I hate to generalize 'cause I know a lot of Americans, in fact I'm related to quite a few of them, and the ones I know well are quite knowledgeable about the rest of the world, but when you talk to some others you can only wonder how anyone can live for a half century or more and not know ANYTHING about life beyond their own small part of the country. They don't even know about other states let alone other countries! Seems their education system needs a lot of work!

Glenda

[shoplineca]

I lived in Georgia for 3 years and I lived in Nevada for a year or so. I have travelled extensively throughout the US for over 30 years on business and for pleasure and while that in itself doesnt make me an expert on the US however I have accumulated thousands of stories of how little is known about us. What is sometimes funnier however are some of what they think they know about us.

At the same time, I wish that our schools did a little more in teaching us more about Canada in a way that it creates an equal sense of pride that the Americans have about their country.

It often takes talking to new Canadians to realize what we have here, that we dont see it because we are too close to home.

Rob, you may not believe this but I never supported Jean C and his antics because I am not born of any one party (some people vote the way their parents did, a typical US tradition).

While its true that I probably share more Liberal beliefs than, well, I dont know of any current Conservative ones except to just disagree, but certainly never the NDPs' beliefs, I never support corrpution, greed, or bad management of a government.

Chretien and his cronies masterminded the defeat of John Turner, nearly at the expensive of the Liberal Party and I had worked with Turner through many of his elections in his local riding and I and my family knew him well.

As I said before I have no difficulty in a political thread, having a previously active background in politics but just caution everyone that (a) if you cant debate a particular issue, ignore commenting rather than calling someone a name or generallizing them and (b) keep some humour in the topic to lighten it up every once in a while.

PS on the golf issue. I used to play at company tournaments (when I used to hold a real job) and maybe get out for one or two practices a year. With 3 games top per year, I averaged 89-93, much of which I credit our scantily-clad female caddies toting the booze wagon around.

I lived in Georgia where you could golf all year and I never picked up a club and even turned down VIP tickets from a supplier to the Masters because I was too busy running my company.

Dont hate me Jeff and Glenda, just feel sorry for me.

Malcolm

[alero0]

Malcolm,
I agree with you about our schools should teach more about Canada but to create a sense of pride like the Americans???
I would rather our sense of pride be more genuine. The American sense of pride seems to revolve around mostly their military, fighter jets, large marching bands, and Super Sizing everything.
Unfortunately I feel that most of the american pride is brainwashed into them. They have TV commercials about the guy rock climbing and then reaches the top and is suddenly standing proudly in a military uniform. What american parent wouldn't feel proud if that were their son? What's not shown on these brainwashing campaigns is the fact that their sons or daughters may be killed in action fighting in another country in the name of the All Powerful USA.
These campaigns are aimed at the poor. THE ARMY WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. They will feed you, cloth you and educate you. All you have to do is be a proud American and be willing to fight (DIE) for your country without questioning anything.
Maybe the American military is a necessary evil but I don't think a peoples pride should revolve around it.

Maybe it's because the Canadian government hasn't brainwashed me to be proud of Canada like the Americans, but I would NOT be proud to die for my country. I would not be proud to see one of my kids marching down the street in a uniform unless they absolutely knew what they were getting into.

I'm not quite sure what we Canadians should base our pride on. We have a beautiful country, we could be proud of that. We have great acceptance and tolerance of others (after all we border the USA and still put up with them) I, as a single parent am proud of the way my kids turned out. They're not perfect but I'm proud of them more than I could ever be in a flag blowing in the wind.

I'd like to know what some of you think our Canadian pride should be based on.

[shoplineca]

On the other hand how can we have any pride in Canada when our government barely clothes and feeds our own military? Therein lies part of our problem with Canadian pride.

I see Canadians whose families have lived here for several generations question our country and often accept a defeatest's attitude that we are 2nd or 3rd rate.

The pride best found in Canadians is that which is exemplified by the people who come here from other lands, who leave family and sometimes even more wealth than they will enjoy here because this is a place where many people from other countries would love to live.

You see it in Doctors who give up their status and now work in convenience stores but prefer that lifestyle in Canada over what they had before (although they would prefer practising medicine here).

We often look at our immigrants who come here to live on welfare and assume those are the only people coming to Canada when in fact we have many, many professionals who give up so many personal things they had in their homelands to enjoy some of the most basic things and values that we take for granted.

Sometimes it is our very system that prevents those people from working or doing anything else and they are forced to sit around for at least 2-years pulling in welfare money, living in subsidized housing when that contradicts how they were raised.

Certainly alero0 you are correct about American propoganda being the driving force behind their sense of pride and patriotism. That is why for many decades, Mexico would not allow US TV into their country, similar to how te CRTC had been active restricting our watching their programs over Canadian content.

Canada has carved out an interesting position for itself in the world. One of tollerance and debate over retaliation, hate and killing.

I believe that there is a happy medium behind how we run our country and how the US runs theirs and so long as each of us strives to be so different, it will be another hundred years before we see a closer assimilation than we already have and enjoy the best of both cultures.

From medicare to education, we do so much to be so different that neither of us has the preferrable system and wont until we take advantage of the good between what both systems offer and throuw the rest out as experience.

In the mean time, the Americans have launched so many trade disuptes against Canada, contrary to NAFTA and even contrary to lost appeals through GATT, that we are forced to strengthen relationships with some other countries in order to preserve our future as a nation.

As Rob said, if that means going to China or ... and it helps us, that is what we have to do.

The cowboy running the US right now lacks International knowledge and tact and has set them back at least 100 years.

I feel sorry for those caught on the ride down the rollercoaster and will be more than happy to be there to help push them back up again once they get the guy that's currenlty running the ride out of the amussement park.

They had a chance last November yet they showed the world that they are happy with the direction they are going, so as GWB said, "they will do it alone!"

Malcolm

[alero0]

Sorry, I forget to sign my name at the end of my last post. (#56)

Harvey

[rd1000]

Now there is another really good point Malcolm. We keep hearing that we need immigrants to maintain the growth in Canada, yet when they come here we don't accept their skills. When my wife was in the hospital having our second child, there was a nurse there that was a doctor in his native country. I understand that we have to be careful in the medical profession, but given the state of doctor's in this country, we had better soon start recruiting them.

Rob