Yeah...

But, if you think of it, Martin was in office when the conservatives were as well, and he was Liberal. The last Conservative budget was a defecit budget IIRC.

If you apply that idea, he's probably the best balance between the ideals of Liberal and Conservative. Now if only they could bump up the Canada Savings bonds interest rate a little.. It's only 2.65%? that's not even beating inflation!



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Isn't that Dave Dodge's job? Bank of Canada is not really under the governments's control. I thought those rates were determined by market factors like prime lending rates etc. The only way to get the rates up would be to cause inflation and while some inflation can be good (is you are in the right business) it usually ends up with recession, we don't need that.

The Markets are returning between 10% and 15% on average so instead of bonds try a good solid fund, both would be long term so what the heck. The only down side is that Canada Savings bonds help out the country and regular funds help out private companies, but hey is my couple bucks really gonna help get helicopters to the forces? Not likely.

PAX

BOC, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) sets the prime lending rate... I think they also set the Bond return rate, but I may be wrong.. either way, there are ways that the Government can influence the Bond return rate (ie, begin more infrastructure renewal/expansion, or military revitalization (Oh, were it possible)).

Either way, I don't use Bonds to back up my investments, Currently I've got precious metals as a hedge and Bonds as my fallback to stock performance.

Until the Gov't wants to start committing money to non-interested parties (ie, a Desk General that starts a company, retires from the military, and within 2-3 years bids on a requirement that he made necessary because of dragging his heels 5 years before instead of anticipating the requirement... I have a lot of friends in the military) to re-outfitting the military, I think Bonds are going to be a waste of money.



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The bank of Canada lends the money out to the chartered banks (CIBC,TD,etc) at the prime lending rate. The bank of Canada is sort of a part of the government it can change the interest rates to influence spending...
ex. low interest ---> leads to more people spending --> therefore leads to inflation,
high interest rate ---> leads to more people saving -->therefore more unemployement

I studied this stuff this year but we didn't get into too much detail about gov't intereference with the bank of Canada.

^^^ Thanks!

Question: if people started saving more, how would that reduce inflation? I know in the 80's there was a LOT of spending, and inflation was rampant, but I'm not entirely sure as to why that relationship works..

Anyhow, I gotta say that for better or worse, the Liberal Government's budgets have arrested inflation and the defecit, even though it forced a lot of people to hand over their shirts.


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Inflation is the raising of prices due to increased demand. Pretty much that simple. If people are not spending then products go on sale and combat inflation. The major factors are usually housing markets and automobiles but simple things like the price of fuel can have big impacts (increased delivery cost on everything). In an effort to curb spending prime rate will be raised, thereby increasing mortgage rates and other lending rates, slowing spending. As rate increase savings look more and more attractive and debt load should be reduced (didn't really work in the 80 because the tech boom was just too strong, rates hit 20. If the rates get high enough (see 80s) then the debt load actually increase because of accrued interest, and the system bites itself in the butt. On comes the recession.


PAX

Just curious how will everyone vote if theres gonna be an election here in Canada? I'm undecided between Harper and Martin, I guess i need to look at what they stand for if there is an election. Other than that Jack Layton can go to hell, hes not fit to be prime minister . I still think Harper is power hungry though.

Martin isn't as bad as he's getting painted as IMHO... He was the one that loosened the reigns on the auditor General, where other prime ministers (whom I did NOT vote for) would have told her to clam up.

I don't think Leyton nor Harper have the political chops or clout to govern. They're both realising that they stand to lose as much as they could gain, and really not win anything. Harper MAY do well as a PM, but not yet. He's still a little too green in the horns, and a little too eager... He's got to learn to be really treacherous before he gets hamstrung by more experienced Shysters.

The only one that COULD stand to gain in the long term as well as in the short term is Duceppe, and no one wants to deal with the Bloc.



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Keep in mind the the Auditor General's report came out while Chretien was still in office, so Martin didn't loosen the reigns.

Harper has potential, I'll agree. Martin could have been a good PM (but a much better finance minister), but now he's had his legs cut out from under him and may never recover. Leyton who? NDP will never hold federal power, I hope.

Harper is too green, I think he might have to learn the hard way. We have no leaders right now, is anyone surprised?

PAX

Send in Mike the knife and get the job done.. Too fast and without consultation!

On the upside, he was effective, and he wasn't afraid to make tough, unpopular choices. He knew what had to be done, he did not comprimise and he got it done.

PAX

Mike?? Harris?

Umm.. when was the last time you needed a bed in a hospital? Or had to wait 16 hours in an emergency room, or wait 3 years for an MRI, or hip-replacement...

Well, that's old slash'n Burn Mikey for ya... Do I remember correctly, or did he also not precipitate the biggest annual shortfall year-over year since Bob Rae?

Anyhow...

What I meant by my comment about Martin is that he actually convened the Gomery inquiry. I'm under the impression that the Aud.Gen's office is responsible for the outcome, and thereby, Martin hasn't yet shut it down, I think that says something for his credibility, and yeah, he was cut off at the knees before he could really do anything.

If Harper tries something it'll be political suicide because the C.R.A.P. ers won't have enough seats to do any more than the liberals can, and if they foul up once, they're toast.

People prefer the devil they know... ya know?



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I voted for Martin last election not sure if i'll vote for him again, personally i just hate some things about him, ex. Same Sex Marriage (I only support it if its between 2 hot chicks), dithering, and his stand with the Missle defense program (first yes, then no). But if he will support the relationship between Canada and the US, i will probably still vote for him because he looks like the best one for the job.

As it stands, I wouldn't vote for any of the rest of them quite frankly, and the last person that ran as a CRAPper in my area was a "pardoned" felon.

What's with the dither thing?

Same Sex Marriage or whatever you want to say is something about equality, and I say go for it... I'm not gay, and Hetero's have debased the "institution" of marriage to the point that it doesn't matter anyway.

The Missile Defense program, I'm not really big on, Mainly because the Technology required is big, expensive, unproven, and at best it's hit or miss. Idealogically, I think it'll embolden the US further... the whole idea of being a nuclear state is that you CAN use them, but once you do, everyone else will. Nothing better to keep a motley crew of beligerant states in line like loaded guns to their temples.

The thing about the Canada/US relationship is that the work has to come from BOTH sides, and at this point, Canada is doing all the sacrificing. At some point George has got to learn who his friends actually are. Softwood, Wheat, Mad Cow... all these issues are making the road ahead very difficult, and frankly, US beef farmers are put out by mad cow as Canadian farmers are... Softwood, we don't artificially lower prices, we just have more at lower cost... and Wheat, well, the UN and several Trade commission studies (IIRC, there's been 18) say that we haven't been dumping lower priced Co-op grown wheat, but every year, there's more and more protectionist tarriffs... These issues have to be put to bed soon, because festering issues like this are a reminder that we're better together than at each other's throats.



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about the missle defense we kind of have something like that setup right now (NORAD) but it needs to be upgraded, those missles that they want to fire to intercept the nukes are just missles with no explosives, just flying projectiles that hit the nuke if its coming towards us.

Dithering is just being undecided all the time and going back and forth (ex.no or yes)

NORAD is purely informative and retaliatory... There would have to be a new arm charged with stopping inbound birds.

Either way, they're proposing using older 747's with gas-charged lasers and ballistics or microwaves.

The lasers are great at about 500 yards, but over that, you're just warming up the skin of the missile, the multiple ballistic packages are a nice idea, but the proposal is for them to detonate in the vicinity of the missile, and that's fine, but if there's multiple re-entry vehicles on the inbound missile, it's not going to work unless you catch it while it's still one vehicle. Microwaves would be nice if most russian and chinese ICBMs didn't use titanium/Aluminum alloy skins, and didn't have a fail-safe device aboard that would trip an explosion even if it wasn't on target.

I've read a good bit of literature, and as of last week it's a lot of ideas, but nothing that could emerge from the ether as a viable and usable shield.

China can rain down about 1400 ICBM's, Russia can still muster about 2000 declared missiles, and who knows what North Korea has cooked up in the official state's secret areas that they blocked the UN from. This is also academic, assuming a STATE would use land-based intercontinental nuclear devices, a GROUP will use a series of small devices (look up Spetznaz sleeper troops, Russian Navy IIRC), and the missile shiled doesn't help if Russia decides to park one of the northern fleet's subs in the grand banks, or China delivers one of its submarines on KOTL's doorstep. It'd make Colorado a pretty low real-estate sales volume area for the next 5000 years.

And as for dithering, weighing options and re-considering in a public forum is a bad idea, certainly... it's not as though he's the first or last.

BTW, Belinda Stronach seems to have picked her horse for the election... if that can be considered a good thing. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/05/17/stronach-liberals050517.html"> Linky</a>



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I've personally been impressed with Jack Layton's performance as of late. An NDP with a decent leader is always a good thing in the house in my opinion. The NDP tends to support things that the other parties forget about. Also, I think Harper has proved himself to be just as unscrupulous and opportunistic as he painted his rival to be.

At least the current situation makes good political theater.

Hey I pull up a bowl of popcorn, a double-large diet pepsi and flip on CPAC for a night of fun...



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Diet pepsi?

EWWWW!!!!!! Diet sodas suck the smegma off of Dr. Larua's clit!

have something better, like a Jones Soda

But really, when it comes to a political circus, you canadians have nothing on the states--i swear, Capitol hill is run by PT Barnum.


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

Jones soda is awsome.. I really like the sour apple flavour. Cause hey, we all have to make a living somehow.

PAX

Sour apple, vanilla, and bubble gum are my faves


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

Quote:

The thing about the Canada/US relationship is that the work has to come from BOTH sides, and at this point, Canada is doing all the sacrificing. At some point George has got to learn who his friends actually are. Softwood, Wheat, Mad Cow... all these issues are making the road ahead very difficult, and frankly, US beef farmers are put out by mad cow as Canadian farmers are... Softwood, we don't artificially lower prices, we just have more at lower cost... and Wheat, well, the UN and several Trade commission studies (IIRC, there's been 18) say that we haven't been dumping lower priced Co-op grown wheat, but every year, there's more and more protectionist tarriffs... These issues have to be put to bed soon, because festering issues like this are a reminder that we're better together than at each other's throats.

I have to bring this one up because it is a very touchy subject for us Western Canadians. Frankly... our own government isn't pushing these issues near enough. They aren't being pushed because when it comes to electing a government, Western Canada has very little say. We don't have the numbers to get a PM into power who will actually care about anything west of the Ontario / Manitoba border.

We're the ones who work these resources and depend on them for the stregnth of our economy, but when push comes to shove our own government doesn't even have the balls to stand up for us. Why? who knows. They more or less don't give a $hit because Western Canada doesn't matter to Ottawa until the endless amounts of Grain, Timber and Beef stop flowing.





I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, thats as good as they are going to feel all day. ~ Dean Martin

Timber also is harvested in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Food stocks are a big problem, because we're just out gunned by the factory farms in the US.

There isn't parity across the country, and yes.. that really really bites. If it were under my perview, Electoral boundaries would be re-drawn by population density, no riding with more than 50,000, and no less than 40,000. That way, you wouldn't see whatever party was in vogue in Quebec controlling the opposition.

To be fair though, Ontario and Quebec are the economic heart of Canada. Wheat and Beef futures are traded in Toronto are they not?
\


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Quote:

Timber also is harvested in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Food stocks are a big problem, because we're just out gunned by the factory farms in the US.

I am not oblivious to the fact that a large amount of timber is also harvested in the eastern canadian provinces. With an aprox $15,000 annual household income related to our forest products, BC's economy depends more heavily on our forests than any other province. We're just sick and tired of politicians being elected who aren't proactive when it comes to these issues. Most of the "softwood" comes from out west.

Quote:

To be fair though, Ontario and Quebec are the economic heart of Canada. Wheat and Beef futures are traded in Toronto are they not?

Fair enough, Ontario and Quebec are the economic heart only because of population.
Alberta and British Columbia's GDP is on average higher than those of Ontario and Quebec.












I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, thats as good as they are going to feel all day. ~ Dean Martin

Combined vs/ one on one?

Alberta and BC rely on Gas/oil and softwood/tourism respectively.

Ontario has mineral development, Manufacturing and electrical generation, and Quebec the same, just TONS more electric generation.

Either way, at this point, Canada has done as much as it can to get the US to drop protectionist levies on CDN softwood and wheat exports, as well as power and oil and food stuffs (live animal and processed) to no avail, Canada has put forward 18 motions to the appropriate UN bureaus (I don't remember which one presently) and has won the challenge 18 times, but still, nothing is done on the US side. Beef isn't getting through.. etc. etc. etc... Soft wood is still subject to a $4000 per ton unilateral levy..

They have to start the fair practices.. we've done EVERYTHING we can do.

I suspect if Quebec switched off the lights to the north-eastern Seaboard, that'd get their attention.



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Let's not forget that BC has lots of Hydro Dams, a decent film industry and technology sector(i.e. Electronic Arts, Radical ...).