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nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
Betting everything on oil is not stupid policy? Canada is suffering because of that policy. And don't blame the NDP for the failures of the CON government in Alberta. Alberta has a Heritage Fund that was supposed to be like the Norwegian sovereign fund. The former has accumulated little while the latter has made every Norwegian a millionaire.
You and your kind can get Alberta out of Canada. I think that will be a wonderful. Since you like right-wing government, why the hell did you leave sinkapore? Sinkapore is the bastion of right-wing bs.You could have made so much money in sinkapore instead of working in a single payer system of healthcare. You left it for a country that right-wing have to battle progressive government.

I went to Alberta because it is the right wing capital of Canada and has the best economy in Canada. I was shocked to hear that despite the troubles in Alberta, the unemployment rate here is 7% which is the same as in Ontario for god knows how many years! Geez Ontario must be the shits.

I'm a right winger no doubt about it. Contrary to what people think there is no money in healthcare in Sinkapore. It's all in finance. If you don't believe me, just talk to the successful bankers and doctors and see who has made more money. The bankers win hands down and won at a way earlier age than their doctor counterparts. On the other hand because of the left wingers supporting single payer universal healthcare in Canada I get paid way better here than I would have if I stayed in Singapore. Coupled with the current slide in the economy and looming property market crash this is bliss. So yes, thank you left wingers. And what a wonderful time to be moving SGD from my CPF accounts to Canada too. I am absolutely elated right now. But it's the future that needs to be addressed. We need to get a handle on spending. Liberal government just know how to spend without giving much thought to how to generate the money. Some policies to help the Canadian economy would be good. All Trudeau has done is bring in refugees, promise to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes for the middle class and to spend on infrastructure and budget for a deficit. I agree with spending on infrastructure but that's about it. Bank of Canada will be cutting rates next week that's pretty sure. Now that the dollar is low and oil has collapsed, which is what the Liberals had been hoping for all these years, please show us what they are going to do with this situation to their advantage. Go ahead. But don't tell me you have no money to spend.

Winnipegjets, if you are so against the right, why did you move back to Singapore? At least you can understand why I am in Alberta. Winnipegjets, are you Canadian? Got Canadian PR? You can always come back to the left loving Eastern Canada.
 
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winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I went to Alberta because it is the right wing capital of Canada and has the best economy in Canada. I was shocked to hear that despite the troubles in Alberta, the unemployment rate here is 7% which is the same as in Ontario for god knows how many years! Geez Ontario must be the shits.
Alberta is a boom and bust economy because of its overdependence on oil.
So, you now sneer at Ontario too? Damn, you are so like the PAP. You are in the wrong country, doctor.

I'm a right winger no doubt about it. There is no money in healthcare in Sinkapore. It's all in finance. On the other hand because of the left wingers supporting single payer universal healthcare in Canada I get paid way better here. So yes, thank you left wingers.
You are in the wrong camp if you support single-payer system. Time for you to read up more from Fraser Institute.

Winnipegjets, if you are so against the right, why did you move back to Singapore? At least you can understand why I am in Alberta. Winnipegjets, are you Canadian? Got Canadian PR? You can always come back to the left loving Eastern Canada.
Canada didn't want me. I am no doctor mah.
I am against right-wing ideology because it is all about self-interest. Damn to everyone else and everything, just focus on making money for oneself. That to me is the recipe to disaster. So, do you deny climate change, treat the unemployed and homeless as scums and blame them for their misery, squeeze employees as much as possible and brag about your wealth?
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I went to Alberta because it is the right wing capital of Canada and has the best economy in Canada. I was shocked to hear that despite the troubles in Alberta, the unemployment rate here is 7% which is the same as in Ontario for god knows how many years! Geez Ontario must be the shits.

I'm a right winger no doubt about it. Contrary to what people think there is no money in healthcare in Sinkapore. It's all in finance. If you don't believe me, just talk to the successful bankers and doctors and see who has made more money. The bankers win hands down and won at a way earlier age than their doctor counterparts. On the other hand because of the left wingers supporting single payer universal healthcare in Canada I get paid way better here than I would have if I stayed in Singapore. Coupled with the current slide in the economy and looming property market crash this is bliss. So yes, thank you left wingers. And what a wonderful time to be moving SGD from my CPF accounts to Canada too. I am absolutely elated.

Winnipegjets, if you are so against the right, why did you move back to Singapore? At least you can understand why I am in Alberta. Winnipegjets, are you Canadian? Got Canadian PR? You can always come back to the left loving Eastern Canada.

so ur best economy in canada is now in the doldrums because of low oil prices?those huge oil profits not feeding your doctor's paycheck anymore?and a doctor supporting right wing politics thats hilarious,they should cut minimum wage to nothing and take a leaf from PAP's book and import a shit load of doctors from Mumbai and Kolkatta and Manila and see what happens to your right wing ass.capitalism only when it suits u and not others,thats the right wing way.u and PAP are the same,living in your own cocoon and safe and sound in ur own delusions and illusions on how the real world and economy works as long as ur own ass is covered.up in their ivory tower they can spout all the garbage about how left wing is bad,liberal is bad,gini is bad,tripartism is good.fucking pussy cowards PAP,they are afraid of real competition,they are afraid of real businessmen and entrepreneurs like Richard branson,genuine ruthless cutthroat competition.if i was Li Ka shing or any real billionaire i will tear their ass up and their companies,crush them into the dirt.
 
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nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
Alberta is a boom and bust economy because of its overdependence on oil.
So, you now sneer at Ontario too? Damn, you are so like the PAP. You are in the wrong country, doctor.


You are in the wrong camp if you support single-payer system. Time for you to read up more from Fraser Institute.


Canada didn't want me. I am no doctor mah.
I am against right-wing ideology because it is all about self-interest. Damn to everyone else and everything, just focus on making money for oneself. That to me is the recipe to disaster. So, do you deny climate change, treat the unemployed and homeless as scums and blame them for their misery, squeeze employees as much as possible and brag about your wealth?

Well at least Alberta has its booms. I have been saying this for years. I never left Singapore because I was unhappy with the PAP. It is not PAP which is the problem in Singapore. It is Singapore itself and Singaporeans. A small tiny state with no more room for expansion and a country of people who are all deep down right wingers but have no guts to be right wingers. Without PAP Singapore will probably implode and I would love to see that during my lifetime.

The only are where I support left wing policies is in healthcare. People do not choose to be sick. And having a universal healthcare system let's me do my job easier and with less moral dilemmas.

In my 5.5 years here I have met Mexicans who smuggled themselves into Canada and are now PRs. I have met other Singaporeans and Malaysians who are not doctors but are now citizens. It has less to do with what you are but more to do with your resolve and desire to move to Canada. All else are excuses.

Right wing is what has made the world it is today. Even China had to be right in its economic policies to progress.

Left wing? Winnipegjets, do you do volunteer work? Do you go out at night to help the poor? Buy them food? Donate your time and energy to work with drug addicts? Welcome homeless people into your home and give them food and shelter? It is easy to talk. But actions determine which group you really belong to.

In Singapore all I have seen is deep down right wingers, kiasu kiasee, taking good care of themselves. In any competitive society it is right wing. Otherwise people just bend over for everyone. To be honest Canadians are kind of left wing, which is why it is so easy for the Chinese to trump on the workforce and businesses.
 

nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
so ur best economy in canada is now in the doldrums because of low oil prices?those huge oil profits not feeding your doctor's paycheck anymore?and a doctor supporting right wing politics thats hilarious,they should cut minimum wage to nothing and take a leaf from PAP's book and import a shit load of doctors from Mumbai and Kolkatta and Manila and see what happens to your right wing ass.capitalism only when it suits u and not others,thats the right wing way.u and PAP are the same,living in your own cocoon and safe and sound in ur own delusions and illusions on how the real world and economy works as long as ur own ass is covered.up in their ivory tower they can spout all the garbage about how left wing is bad,liberal is bad,gini is bad,tripartism is good.fucking pussy cowards PAP,they are afraid of real competition,they are afraid of real businessmen and entrepreneurs like Richard branson,genuine ruthless cutthroat competition.

Hmm I was following you till you talked about PAP.....

It is precisely the left wingers who will prevent the doctors from India and China practising. They are already here. Those shit loads of them. They just can't get into the system.
 

eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Is medicine or prescription drugs cheaper in Canada?

americans are crossing the border in droves everyday to buy medication and pharmaceutical products that are way cheaper in canada. some of the drugs sold in the u.s. have names that are different but they are essentially made of the same compound as those in canada. in the u.s. prices of both off the shelf and prescription drugs are highly inflated as the entire system is rigged via collusion between the fda and big pharma. for example, there's no "panadol" in u.s. pharmacies but they are sold as tylenol and a host of other brands at very high prices on the shelves. on u.s. spellchecks you can't even find "panadol", just like on my iphone when i make this entry. it keeps correcting me.

http://www.bmj.com/content/333/7573/824.4
http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/prescriptiondrugs/a/foreign_pharmacies.htm

prior to relaxation of laws in u.s. in 2006, visitors going across to canada and mexico to buy cheaper prescription drugs could go to jail. big pharma is truly powerful in the u.s. to lobby gov to enact laws favorable to them.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-08-12-prescription-drugs_x.htm

before 2006, city, county, and state govs were ignoring federal agencies' warnings to go to canada to buy drugs for their city, county, and state health institutions.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/16/canada.drugs/

it became a political and presidential re-election issue in 2010 for the 2012 general election.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...promise/71/allow-imported-prescription-drugs/
 
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winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
But it's the future that needs to be addressed. We need to get a handle on spending.
After reducing 2 percent of GST and giving business $60 billion in annual tax cuts, there isn't a lot of money left to run a country. Corporate taxes used to make up of 70 percent of federal revenue, now it is like 20 percent. Thanks the right-wingers. Who benefits when the right-wingers run the show? The top 20 percent.
Don't worry, your single payer system health care system will be gone in a few years without government investment. And US-style health care will come. Then you may want to come back to sinkapore.

Liberal government just know how to spend without giving much thought to how to generate the money.
If you bother to read up instead of listening to folklores from your Albertan buddies, you will know how silly your claim is.
It was a Liberal government under Jean Chrieten that slayed the deficit that was created by a CON government led by Brian Mulroney. Disputing that?
It was a Liberal government under Paul Martin that handed a government with surplus to Harper. And Harper blew it all by giving $60 billion in corporate tax cuts. It is not a one-time loss but perpetual.
How can essential services not be affected when $60 billion in corporate tax revenues and $14 billion in HST revenues are lost annually?

Some policies to help the Canadian economy would be good.
And the government has not even deliver a first budget and you are hammering it like you know this government.

All Trudeau has done is bring in refugees, promise to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes for the middle class and to spend on infrastructure and budget for a deficit.
If that is not policy, what is?
What is wrong about raising taxes of the top 10 percent and benefiting the broad 50 percent?
If business are not spending despite the generous tax savings it had gotten, how is the economy going to weather through? People need jobs.
Harper didn't realize that low tax rates do NOT spur business investment. It is demand. When there is weak demand, there is little profit to gain. Demand drives supply, not vice versa. Right-wingers (aka supply-sider) think that supply creates demand. Time to relearn economics or just observe reality.

Bank of Canada will be cutting rates next week that's pretty sure.
This is not going to help. Business is not going to borrow more to invest if there is NO demand. Monetary policies can't fix a demand problem.

Now that the dollar is low and oil has collapsed, which is what the Liberals had been hoping for all these years, please show us what they are going to do with this situation to their advantage. Go ahead. But don't tell me you have no money to spend.
You think foreign manufacturers can set up show in a few months? The emptying of manufacturing happen over a few years and you expect manufacturing to return like flash? Please lah, some common sense.
 

winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Hmm I was following you till you talked about PAP.....

It is precisely the left wingers who will prevent the doctors from India and China practising. They are already here. Those shit loads of them. They just can't get into the system.

There are more Indian doctors than you realize. Just because you have gotten in, you don't need to be so snotty.
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Well at least Alberta has its booms. I have been saying this for years. I never left Singapore because I was unhappy with the PAP. It is not PAP which is the problem in Singapore. It is Singapore itself and Singaporeans. A small tiny state with no more room for expansion and a country of people who are all deep down right wingers but have no guts to be right wingers. Without PAP Singapore will probably implode and I would love to see that during my lifetime.

The only are where I support left wing policies is in healthcare. People do not choose to be sick. And having a universal healthcare system let's me do my job easier and with less moral dilemmas.

In my 5.5 years here I have met Mexicans who smuggled themselves into Canada and are now PRs. I have met other Singaporeans and Malaysians who are not doctors but are now citizens. It has less to do with what you are but more to do with your resolve and desire to move to Canada. All else are excuses.

Right wing is what has made the world it is today. Even China had to be right in its economic policies to progress.

Left wing? Winnipegjets, do you do volunteer work? Do you go out at night to help the poor? Buy them food? Donate your time and energy to work with drug addicts? Welcome homeless people into your home and give them food and shelter? It is easy to talk. But actions determine which group you really belong to.

In Singapore all I have seen is deep down right wingers, kiasu kiasee, taking good care of themselves. In any competitive society it is right wing. Otherwise people just bend over for everyone. To be honest Canadians are kind of left wing, which is why it is so easy for the Chinese to trump on the workforce and businesses.

there was a super left wing sinkie once his name was Tan Kah Kee.and he was the richest overseas chinese industrialist/businessmen in his time,networth of 800 mil in today's dollar term at his peak in the 1920s......and as left wing as they come.there used to be many left wing heros in singapore before PAP came to power.believe it or not,singapore existed before the PAP.the world could have been a better place without the PAP.

my only goal in life is to become a super successful left wing socialist capitalist,super industrialist......and witness the fall and destruction of PAP and rise of a new nationalist pro left Sinkieland....to be a country even Hongkies and taiwanese could be jealous of.i think at the end revolutionary force alone is not enough to bring about change,sometimes u have to back it up with financial and industrial might and capital,maybe even war.
 
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nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
I agree that it will take time. Deep down, I hope that I am wrong and that the Liberals and the NDP can indeed show that they can produce a thriving economy. You have to understand that I grew up in Singapore, a very right wing country. Financial security had been ingrained in me from a very young age. Which is why the moment I set foot in Canada I took up any job. I am no dreamer and idealist. I will do whatever it takes to keep the family secure and finances stable. Over the past 6 years which province was doing well? Alberta and Saskatchewan. Which is why we settled there. Coincidentally they are also right wing heartlands. So I have never seen anything but right wingers in a successful thriving economy.

Just so happens that with the downturn, the left are in power now. I agree they have nothing to do with the low price of oil. But I certainly haven't seen them doing anything to help the situation. It was encouraging to see Trudeau open the new Google offices in Canada.

We shall see how the Liberals do. This is my first experience with left wingers as government in a place where I live. So I am hoping they do well too. Just that it's been bad. And in politics, politicians are easy scapegoats.

Time will tell.
 

winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Well at least Alberta has its booms. I have been saying this for years. I never left Singapore because I was unhappy with the PAP. It is not PAP which is the problem in Singapore. It is Singapore itself and Singaporeans. A small tiny state with no more room for expansion and a country of people who are all deep down right wingers but have no guts to be right wingers. Without PAP Singapore will probably implode and I would love to see that during my lifetime.

When are you going to spread PAP BS in Alberta? It is fertile ground for that. Right-wingers don't think ...they just follow blindly.

The only are where I support left wing policies is in healthcare. People do not choose to be sick. And having a universal healthcare system let's me do my job easier and with less moral dilemmas.
You know that right-wingers have been trying to killing public healthcare. And Harper has been doing a good job at that by reducing federal tax revenues through givebacks to his corporate buddies. There is no more federal money for healthcare. As people gets frustrated with the system due to lack of investment, support for private health care will grow. In your lifetime, if the current federal fiscal situation holds, you can bet a two-tier system like that of sinkapore will emerge.


In my 5.5 years here I have met Mexicans who smuggled themselves into Canada and are now PRs. I have met other Singaporeans and Malaysians who are not doctors but are now citizens. It has less to do with what you are but more to do with your resolve and desire to move to Canada. All else are excuses.
And do they sneer at the less fortunate, like you do?

Right wing is what has made the world it is today. Even China had to be right in its economic policies to progress.
Heard of how the US help Europe and Japan rebuild? That wasn't right-wing.
Embracing capitalism is not right-wing ...you are pretty muddle up in your understanding of economics.

Left wing? Winnipegjets, do you do volunteer work? Do you go out at night to help the poor? Buy them food? Donate your time and energy to work with drug addicts? Welcome homeless people into your home and give them food and shelter? It is easy to talk. But actions determine which group you really belong to.
Your point?
In Singapore all I have seen is deep down right wingers, kiasu kiasee, taking good care of themselves. In any competitive society it is right wing. Otherwise people just bend over for everyone. To be honest Canadians are kind of left wing, which is why it is so easy for the Chinese to trump on the workforce and businesses.
It is thanks to Canadian generosity that you got in. If you applied during the Harper's years, your application would still be lingering or probably cancelled.
 

nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
There are more Indian doctors than you realize. Just because you have gotten in, you don't need to be so snotty.

I'm not being snotty. If I had my way, I would let many more of these foreign doctors into the system to lower costs and improve wait times and access etc. Spread the pie around. And my post was not directed against Indians. I wrote "doctors from India and China".

I am guessing you are ethnically Indian? Chill bud.
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Heard of how the US help Europe and Japan rebuild? That wasn't right-wing.
Embracing capitalism is not right-wing ...you are pretty muddle up in your understanding of economics.

it was US that destroyed Japan's economy actually in the lates 80s and 90s,after the Japanese was experiencing the greatest growth ever.it was US that corrupted their finance ministry,their monetary policies,in order to "liberalise" it and turn it into a debt/finance based economy like the USA,it caused the Japan real estate and stock market boom and bust and Japan never recovered.

US is another example of right wing capitalism evil.
 

winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
I agree that it will take time. Deep down, I hope that I am wrong and that the Liberals and the NDP can indeed show that they can produce a thriving economy. You have to understand that I grew up in Singapore, a very right wing country. Financial security had been ingrained in me from a very young age. Which is why the moment I set foot in Canada I took up any job. I am no dreamer and idealist. I will do whatever it takes to keep the family secure and finances stable.
Now, you sound more down to earth.
Over the past 6 years which province was doing well? Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The two provinces and Newfoundland did well because of resources.
Sasketchewan was a basketcase until the NDP took over and balanced the budget. Then Brad Wall took over. Credit is due to the progressive parties, not to right-wingers.

Which is why we settled there. Coincidentally they are also right wing heartlands. So I have never seen anything but right wingers in a successful thriving economy.
And when economy turns sour, the people see the progressives to right the ship.

Just so happens that with the downturn, the left are in power now. I agree they have nothing to do with the low price of oil. But I certainly haven't seen them doing anything to help the situation. It was encouraging to see Trudeau open the new Google offices in Canada.
What kind of miracle do you expect? They have inherited a huge deficit; the right-wing government did not save for a rainy day. The rain has come and there is no umbrella available.
But the NDP is determined to correct matters like pricing pollution to account for the true cost of producing tar oil, garnishing more from oil companies for the province's resources, put more money away in the heritage fund, maintain services to the people...sounds totally reasonable to me. It is prudent management, not extreme left-wing.

We shall see how the Liberals do. This is my first experience with left wingers as government in a place where I live. So I am hoping they do well too. Just that it's been bad. And in politics, politicians are easy scapegoats.
Liberal governments are known for its centrism policies ...neither right nor left. And in the Liberal Party there is right-wing and left-wing factions. At the end of the day, they still hold to the Liberal values of belief in a role for government to better the lives of people. A country cannot be built based on profit-driven policies.
Time will tell.[/QUOTE]
 

nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
Thanks for some of the insights Winnipegjets. Honestly I am very new to Canadian and Alberta politics. And I am taking an open view on this. However I am certainly leaning to the right. I did the CBC questionnaire thingy and I found myself agreeing with most of Harper's policies. I did not agree with Canada's involvement in Syria though.

There is no right or wrong in politics. Which is why we have elections. I believe it is good to have change when needed. It brings checks and balances.

You know so much about Canada! How long did you live in Canada, Winnipegjets? Pity you're not here among us. I hope that one day you will change your mind and move back here.
 

winnipegjets

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Thanks for some of the insights Winnipegjets. Honestly I am very new to Canadian and Alberta politics. And I am taking an open view on this. However I am certainly leaning to the right. I did the CBC questionnaire thingy and I found myself agreeing with most of Harper's policies. I did not agree with Canada's involvement in Syria though.

I remember my first encounter in a Canadian bank when I came here to study. I was so annoyed that the teller was spending a long time with each customer. Why couldn't they be as efficient as the Sinkapore bank, I asked. Then, I started to appreciate the humanness in a commercial transaction; the teller was be personable to the customer.

I believe in fiscal soundness (not carrying debt) in a home budget but running a country is different. To equate management of country with management of household is ludicrous. The country has resources that households do not. The country has a perpetual lifespan and thus could spread investment over a much longer horizon. So, balanced budget is not necessary all the time and is a bad thing when business are not spending.

Most immigrants tend to be right-wing in their leanings because they come from an environment where self-reliance and self-preservation is the norm. There are little social programmes back in their home countries. Yet, many are attracted to Canada because of the public programmes. There is a disconnect here. They want to pay little tax and yet want the generous public programmes. That is not going to happen, something will have to give.

I suspect at some point, Canadians will have to decide if they want to invest in their social programmes again or let them die a slow death.

My favourite society is the Scandinavian countries; I think they got it right. It is truly middle class society (socialism as the right-wing would term them) as the government using taxes provide for the more expensive items in life - healthcare, education, unemployment insurance, childcare and retirement pension. Those are the things to live decently. Everyone can live a middle class existence with the government playing a role.

The after tax dollars in Scandinavia are truly for one to spend as one wishes. I have no problem paying 50 percent tax to cover all those expenses in my life.

There is no right or wrong in politics. Which is why we have elections. I believe it is good to have change when needed. It brings checks and balances.

That's why a centrist platform seems to be favoured in Canada. After 10 years of Harper, Canadians had enough of extreme right-wing ideology. Harper's brand of Conservatism is very much like that of the PAP. He went after his critics with a vengeance - using the tax department to go after NGOs that were critical of his policies, labelling environmental groups as terrorists, employed wedge politics, refusing to work with the Liberal government of Ontario and then passing electoral changes that would give his party an advantage. Harper even went after the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court had ruled against his laws on a few occasion. And Harper's Government was the most secretive in Canadian history. Guess what, Harper was a huge admirer of sinkapore. So, all these observations reminded me of the PAP government.

What Harper did was a first. No Canadian Prime Minister with a majority had crossed those boundaries that Harper did. The democracy thrive only when leaders did not push the limits. Harper didn't have any limits ...his majority government was a licence for him to rule like a dictator. Five more years of Harper would have killed Canada. The progressive voters were determined to toss Harper out; 30 percent of Canadians are die hard Conservatives and 30 percents are left-wingers, leaving the middle ground to decide the outcome. The middle ground could lean either side. When Harper became more right-wing, he alienated the middle ground that had propelled him to majority government. Aside, even the head of editorial for the right-wing National Post, Andrew Coyne, quit when he was told to write an endorsement of the Harper government during the election. The ethnic voters that supported him went back to support the Liberals after seeing how under Harper, the doors to immigration was closing. Harper was from the Reform Party which was anti-immigration.
Even in right-wing Calgary, the Liberals managed to win two seats. For the longest time, the Liberals have been shut out of Calgary and have only won ONE seat in Edmonton.

You know so much about Canada! How long did you live in Canada, Winnipegjets? Pity you're not here among us. I hope that one day you will change your mind and move back here.

I find Canadian politics fascinating and thus continue to follow it even when I am in distant sinkapore. Someday, I will come back if I don't go to the Scandinavian countries.


Here's a recent article that you may have missed:


Seeking a political scapegoat for plunging oil: Don Pittis

As oil tumbles conservatives in the energy sector have political opponents in their sights to take the blame
By Don Pittis, CBC News Posted: Jan 13, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 13, 2016 5:00 AM ET

Do you remember when oil prices were strong? In those days, Conservatives ruled in both Ottawa and Edmonton.

Now that Rachel Notley's NDP has taken power in Alberta, things have gone off the rails. And Trudeau! Surely everyone knows his dad's National Energy Program was the reason for the last oil crash.

Absurd as those statements may appear to those who understand the workings of global markets, there are already signs that right-leaning supporters of the oil and gas industry are busy seeking political scapegoats. It may be in vain, but Canada's current political leaders must tread carefully if they wish to avoid taking the blame.

My erstwhile CBC colleague Kevin O'Leary, who spent many years on the public broadcaster's payroll, fired a shot at the Alberta premier this week, asking Notley to resign before he would put money into the province.

Blame Notley

"I'll invest $1 million in Canadian energy companies if out of grace and for the absolute good of Canada, the premier of Alberta resigns," he said on a radio talk show.

"O'Leary attributed layoffs and the plummeting dollar on the inexperience of Notley's government and poor policy choices, specifically, hikes in corporate tax rate and uncertainty about royalties," said the Toronto Star article that reported the comments.

The idea that the falling loonie has anything to do with Notley and her NDP government is clearly absurd. It is less clear whether planned changes to oil royalties and taxes have any effect at all on Alberta's slumping economy, but if so, it is certainly microscopic compared to the continuing collapse of oil prices from over $100 US a barrel in 2014 to around $30 US today.

O'Leary is not alone of course. Conservatives in the oil industry are watching for any opportunity to point fingers at policy by Notley or Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the reason for the dire troubles the sector is currently suffering. If nothing else, their scrutiny diverts attention from their own failure to foresee the crash in oil prices, now so obvious to everyone.

For anyone who remembers back that far, in some ways it is like a rerun of the 1980s global oil crash. That was the last time the Alberta economy was shattered by a drop in the world price of energy.

Folk wisdom

Even today, in the folk wisdom of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Justin's father, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and his National Energy Program are still blamed for the debacle. There is no question that the NEP created a real rift between Alberta and the federal Liberals that has never really healed.

As the CBC host Barbara Frum said at the time, recorded in this archived radio interview: "One of those arguments [Premier Peter Lougheed] makes, of course, is that you're just grabbing at his wealth to make up for your deficit."

Provisions of the NEP did cut into Alberta's share of oil revenue, but it is a stretch to say that it was the main cause of the subsequent crash in oil, jobs and house prices.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley didn't make the policies that led us into the current economic mess, but that doesn't mean they won't take the blame. (Reuters)

The idea, misremembered to this day, is that the NEP killed the Alberta economy. Just like today, the real damage was done by the world price of oil that in 1980 had hit a peak of $35 US a barrel (over $100 in today's money) but then began a long fairly steady decline to about $10 by 1986. That sounds familiar.

Norway's nestegg

In retrospect, some of the provisions of the NEP might have helped us in our current mess. One, to build a national oil company like Norway's Statoil, could have left us with a multibillion-dollar dollar nestegg.

And if Canada had paid slightly lower prices for oil during the boom of the last 10 years, and slightly higher prices now, there is a possibility Canada's non-resource exports would not have been so badly damaged by Dutch disease.

As Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz has warned, even with the low loonie, it could take years for Canada's industrial economy to rebound. Perhaps even Alberta would be better off now if its Conservative government had raised taxes and royalties, sharing the wealth and becoming less of a one-industry province.

Trusting the free market to build a capitalist paradise where Canada is an energy superpower doesn't seem like such a great idea when the world price of oil dips below $30 US.

As is often the case in Canadian politics, governments are pitched out not when things are going great but when something has gone sour. Both in Alberta and in Canada, new governments must deal with a series of economic crises that can quite fairly be attributed to the policy of their Conservative predecessors.

But in the world of politics, not being at fault doesn't mean you won't take the blame.
 

nayr69sg

Super Moderator
Staff member
SuperMod
Thanks Winnipegjets. I did read that article on CBC news. Hindsight is 20/20. I do recall Dalton Mcguinty blaming Alberta for Ontario's woes back when oil was $100 a barrel. Well, was Alberta to blame for $100 oil? A plan to build Canada as an energy superpower when oil was $100 seemed plausible of course. What should have we have done? Dismantle the Alberta Oil Industry?

Anyway, I am sure oil will come back again. It is a matter of when and not if. The big if is whether there will still be a oil industry here in Alberta and how long this slump will last for. Oil will still be around. It is just that there might be consolidation in the industry. Big players become bigger after eating up smaller players.

Being in Canada I do not worry as much with the economic downturn compared to living in Singapore. Trust me if the Singapore currency fell the way the loonie has, it means the end of Singapore for sure.

Canada is a big tanker caught in a huge storm now. It has stopped. It can't move. Singapore is the high class, sophisticated highly mobile yacht that tries to sail its way to avoid storms. But if it ever got caught in one it would sink.

I have had my blessings and I am thankful for them. The timing has been good for me thus far.
 

frenchbriefs

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
this a classic example of looney right wing logic,guy goes to canada,claims hes more than happy leeching off thousands and tens of thousands of left wingers taxpayers healthcare dollars to pay for his ridiculous doctors fees every year and enriching himself and turns around spites the hand that feeds him by claiming hes right wing,elitist anti liberal what not from all the talking points and propaganda bullshit he sees on right wing media and corporate paid sponsored content.says he shouldnt pay taxes just like every high income earner and give back to society,because thats left wing,communist,liberal,hippie,lazy poor people propaganda.....forgetting who are the ones who pay his paychecks in the first place.

its like a farmer who goes out into the field,chops every tree down,harvest every stalk,uproots every vegetable and fruits and refuses to spare 30 percent of his crops and seeds to replant the fields again so he can have a bountiful harvest next year,u wonder how long is that ecosystem going to last.
 
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