Block Quebecois Wants to Submit their Own IIHF Hockey Teams

Here out west, we just cannot figure out WTF is up with the french seperatists that are out there in Quebec and as such we always get a good laugh when we hear of some zany hair brained scheme that they have created and the latest is one that I laughed pretty good at. The Block (as we call them) feel that they should be entitled to field their own Ice Hockey team to IIHF events like the World Cup or the Olympics. Why? Well simply because they think they are a seperate country within Canada and because there are so many god dammed great Hockey players that come from Quebec.

Thank you once again for reminding us why English and French speaking Canada just don't get along, could it be because most of the political leaders out there spend most of their time brain washing their citizens? Or maybe its just something funny in the water?

Edit: I forgot to mention that on a lark, the Canadian Press decided to go and dream up their fantasy Quebec IIHF hockey roster.

Cut the GST to 5% ?

It seems like every time we have a Federal election here in Canada one party always seems to go forth and make some promise (which has always ended up being an empty one) about the GST. For those of you not from Canada the GST is the Goods & Services Tax and is a 7% levy put on most goods that we buy aside from food. It is also a much hated tax that has been despised and challenged ever since it was brought in in 1990 by the ruling Conservative party at the time as a method to generate extra tax dollars to counteract what was at the time a poor Canadian economy and a debt ridden country.

Back in 1992 when the Liberal party first came into power, they made a very empty campaign promise ot scrap the GST entirely, which they soon realized was somewhat impossible since the revenue that it brings in helps shore up the books and benefits a lot of other areas that the Federal government controls like Health Care and EI. Every year since then a particular political party has decided that its worth trying to get a few extra votes by making some sort of promise to either scrap it or reduce the tax rate on the GST.

This years luckily winner of "Playing the GST Card" is the Conservative Party and Stephen Harper. Oddly enough no one is Canada is holding their breathe that Stephen Harper would actually live up to this campaign promise if he was voted into power... go figure?

Destroying Canadian Rights, One Minority At A Time...

Canada is known world wide for being a pretty tolerable place with a great track record on ensuring that basic rights, freedoms and privledges are given to anyone irregardless of their race, religion or sexual orientation.

Unfortunately though if Canada becomes ruled by the Conservative party, who right now can be best summed up as a bunch of up-tight prudes that are so out of touch with the average Canadian they should be in the Bible Belt in the USA, the first right that they want to throw out is an equal rights bill that was recently passed for gays and lesbians (which makes Canada one of only 3 countries in the world that recognizes this). Now I am not gay, I do not have any gay friends (to my knowledge, unless they are still in the closet) and I don't really care to see this sort of stuff when I am out in public, but I do think that people have a right to do what they want to do in the privacy of their own home as long as its legal and not hurting anyone.

I have to wonder who Stephen Harper thinks he is representing if he thinks Canadians are all wigged out or bothered by Gay rights. Honestly, this is like saying that we should remove all rights against anyone who doesn't write with their right hand because they are some sort of mutant freaks. No one is going to take you first son or daughter and force them to be Gay or Lesbian just because Canada decided to do what is write and put in a law saying "Gay/Lesbian couples have the same rights as same sex couples".

As such I have to wonder how on Earth a guy like Stephen Harper, who is the leader of the Federal Conservative party, ever got voted into power or as a leader and if he is going to get freaked out by something as minor as giving Gays and Lesbians equal rights, what right he has even being considered to rule this nation? I also have to wonder what will the next set of rights, laws or freedoms that will be given up next by Mr Harper on the campaign trail, but I suspect we will find this out in the coming weeks.

Edit: I forgot to post a couple of links to the corresponding news stories related to this...
Harper misjudging Canadians on gay marriage question: gay spokeswoman (Edmonton Journal)
Harper resurrects controversial gay marriage debate

Attn: Harper, Layton & Ducepe

I highly doubt that you guys take the time to read this, but I think the first move that any of you do on the election trail should be to give every Canadian citizen 120 million reasons why you needed to call an election at this time. That's one reason for each tax dollar that will be spent on your grandstanding and I think its only fair don't you?

Election 2006 - Why?

I have decided to start this blog to poke a little fun at the 1 ring circus that is Federal Politics here in Canada, or more specificly our upcoming Federal Election.

For those of you who are unaware (or possibly care), we here in Canada have a new federal election coming to us on January 23rd, 2006. The reason for this is pretty simple, unlike in the USA, here in Canada our elected officials stay in power until really one of two things happen: A) The party in power (i.e. Majority of seats) decides to call an election or B) The party in power loses a non confidence vote in parliament and in theory this is supposed to be a sign of disfavor that the people have for the current government and as such a new election must be held.

Well last monday, option B happened when governing Liberals (who held a minority government, meaning they had enough seats to be the ruling party but not enough to worry about what the other parties could do) were defeated in a non-confidence by the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois (A Frenche seperation party from Quebec) and the NDP (Socialists).

I would like to say that this non-confidence motion comes from a little political scandle that we had known as the "Sponsorship Scandle" and the fallout from that (which we call "the Gomery Report), but in reality, it really comes down to a bunch of politicians feeling that they are tough guys and thinking that they can do a better job, further their own political careers and stoke their own egos by bringing forth their own politcial agendas. Never mind the fact that this latest episode of what can best be described as a pre-pubescent spat on the playground will cost Canadian tax payers like me $120 million.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am just *thrilled* that my tax money is going to further the agendas of a bunch of politicians who are so out of touch with what the average Canadian citzen needs and wants such as better Education, affordabe (but sustained) Health Care or ensuring that the Canadian economy stays strong and can continue to compete in a global workplace. Worse yet I think you would be hard pressed to find 5% of the population (that's 1.6 million people if you are curious) who even wanted an election in the first place :)