NationStates Jolt Archive

So if your Canadian what do you think of the right wing Liberal party siding with Stephan Harper? Liberals becoming blue, I think so.

So if your Canadian what do you think of the right wing Liberal party siding with Stephan Harper? Liberals becoming blue, I think so.

I think the budget had to please the conservatives for the sake of preventing annouther 300 million election. I'm a firm beliver that British columbia is a microcosum of canada, and one day the conservative party will be gone or mergerd with the liberals, and it will be the center liberals against the left NDP, if there was a merger the name liberals would remian the same for the sake of having at least one confederation era party left.

errrrr,,,,, the budget was good, it took a little it gave a little.

So if your Canadian what do you think of the right wing Liberal party siding with Stephan Harper? Liberals becoming blue, I think so.

pretty good, i didnt get the corperate income tax cut, i would have rather seen a personal income tax cut beyond what we got.

At least the national day care scam doesnt seem to be that big of deal.

Needed even more money for the military though.

I still don't understand why the Liberals moved toward the right just to get Tory support. The corporate tax cut is disgusting, big corporations making billions a year should be taxed more, not less! And our military doesn't need more strength, our money could be much better spent on peacekeeping forces or foreign aid.

Martin could have just as easily raised corporate taxes, and made some concrete plans for Kyoto to gain NDP and Bloc support.

I can see this benefitting the NDP, the only major real federal left wing political party still around.

I found it nice that they're agreeing on it, we wouldn't want Paul to become another Joe Clark.

Thank God for that increased defence spending, the military is practically at the end of its tether.

So if your Canadian what do you think of the right wing Liberal party siding with Stephan Harper? Liberals becoming blue, I think so.

I thought the Budget was decent. The only thing that's bugging me is the lack of the promised "new deal for cities" and Paul Martin's dallying on the whole missile defense issue. Frank McKenna says we are, Paul Martin says "uhhhh, I erm... huh" like always, and the media says that he will announce that we are not participating. Which is it?

I still don't understand why the Liberals moved toward the right just to get Tory support. The corporate tax cut is disgusting, big corporations making billions a year should be taxed more, not less! And our military doesn't need more strength, our money could be much better spent on peacekeeping forces or foreign aid.

Martin could have just as easily raised corporate taxes, and made some concrete plans for Kyoto to gain NDP and Bloc support.

I can see this benefitting the NDP, the only major real federal left wing political party still around.


We can use our military to peace keep instead of taking the easy way out by giving that 0.7% of our GDP.

I guess aid would have stoped all the genocide in africa? We could have gone in a created a area where at least civilians could excape the carnage and war. Aid aint going to stop that. And no one wants the USA to do it, so therefore its up to countries like canada to get off its ass and do something about it.
hmmm im going to make a thread on this before i leave work, lol.

I guess aid would have stoped all the genocide in africa? We could have gone in a created a area where at least civilians could excape the carnage and war. Aid aint going to stop that. And no one wants the USA to do it, so therefore its up to countries like canada to get off its ass and do something about it.
hmmm im going to make a thread on this before i leave work, lol.
Well, the problem is that Canada isn't on the security council, and unfortunately, it is up to the beaureaucratic choked mass that is the UN to decide where forces go, or don't go. This is what's happening in Sudan. Canada wants to act, but the countries on the Security Council are dithering.

We can use our military to peace keep instead of taking the easy way out by giving that 0.7% of our GDP.
I still don't understand why the Liberals moved toward the right just to get Tory support. The corporate tax cut is disgusting, big corporations making billions a year should be taxed more, not less! And our military doesn't need more strength, our money could be much better spent on peacekeeping forces or foreign aid.
:rolleyes:

The corporate tax cut is disgusting, big corporations making billions a year should be taxed more, not less!

If you tax corporations at all, they will raise prices on your products, even if the tax is only on profits. Do you think corporations will stand to lose profit. I don't think so.

* $12.8 billion over the next five years for Canada's military, the biggest increase in defence spending in two decades. About $3 billion will go to boosting the strength of the Canadian Forces by 5,000 troops and the reserves by 3,000 soldiers and another $3.2 billion to bolster training, improve medical care, cover supply and repair shortages, and repair infrastructure.

Good, all good. I sure as hell hope infrastructure includes equipment.

* An increase in the basic personal exemption on income-from $8,012 in 2004 to $10,000 by 2009, allowing Canadians to earn more money tax-free.

Also good. If we're going to have tax cuts, I like to see them where they affect everyone - and knock a few thousand low-income Canadians off the tax list altogether. Awesome.

* Increases the annual contribution limit on registered retirement savings plans and registered pension plans to $22,000 by 2010, and eliminates the 30 per cent foreign content rule on RRSPs and pension plans immediately.

Some good some bad. Increasing annual contributions, good. Eliminating the foreign content rule, I don't like. We have increasing foreign investment in Canada, if they like our markets, why aren't we investing in ourselves? 30% was about right for diversification, in my opinion.

* Ottawa to share gas tax revenues with municipalities – 1.5 cents per litre, or $600 million in 2005, rising to 5 cents a litre or $2 billion annually by 2009-2010.

About fricking time.

* $700 million in a trust fund this year and next for national child care program, with a total commitment of $5 billion over the next five years.

I've of two minds about this one, but I think I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. We'll see.

* $170 million over five years to improve Canada's drug safety oversight.

Good step, but I've got a better idea. Maybe Health Canada should stop firing whistleblower scientists that raise the alarm about unsafe pharmaceuticals.

* A pledge to reduce the general corporate tax rate from the current 21 per cent to 20.5 per cent in 2008, 20 per cent in 2009 and 19 per cent by 2010.

Two percent isn't too bad. This one is just a bone getting tossed to the big business types. And to keep the Conservatives from doing something stupid, like bringing down the government when the parties can't afford an election.

* A promise to eliminate the corporate surtax by 2008.

This one pisses me off though. Should have just stuck with the 2% reduction offered above.

* $1 billion for a Clean Fund for projects to combat climate change.

Probably not enough, if they're going to be serious about their commitments to Kyoto. I also wish they'd get off their butts and release some detailed plans.

The 'One Tonne Challenge' is a good idea, but consumers can't do this alone. Besides, I complied with all of these suggestions years ago. Living in Victoria, we don't even turn the heat on in the winter unless there's a freak blizzard or someone is ill. We recycle and compost, cycle commute and turn out the lights. They really can't ask more from us. They've got to get businesses to get on the green wagon too.

We can use our military to peace keep instead of taking the easy way out by giving that 0.7% of our GDP.


Frankly, I'd like to see both. Keeping the peace is a hell of a start, but aid money is needed to help the people and get those economies going.

There have got to be more Canadians with opinions on this.

(bump)