IntenseDebate - Moe

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Conservative staffer s... · 1 reply · +7 points

Just to clarify - Ted Opitz is the CPC candidate for Etobicoke Centre. Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj is the incumbent MP.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Nothing to fear but Wi... · 1 reply · +2 points

Thanks for adding this. One minor quibble - your article link refers to the Bluewater School Board near Owen Sound, but the original uproar took place in nearby Simcoe County around Barrie. Here's a link regarding to that Board: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/08/16...

Good background and summary on the whole sorry episode at http://www.skepticnorth.com/.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Whipsawed by WikiLeaks... · 0 replies · +2 points

Dan Gardner nicely (and depressingly) nailed some our national psychosis in this 2009 article. http://www2.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story...

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Canada has never offer... · 0 replies · +3 points

He didn't quit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltej_Singh_Dhillon.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - One school's native in... · 0 replies · +3 points

Looks like other schools are at least thinking about this - the article below describes some initiatives underway in northern Ontario.
http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Industry-N...

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Promises, promises · 0 replies · +1 points

Seems to me to be more of a Mulroney thing (http://bit.ly/9n7HRn), but they all made bigger promises a few short decades ago.

But then, as Pete Tong points out below, Obama promised 'hope,' which is even more encompassing, intangible and harder to measure than 'jobs jobs jobs,' so maybe they haven't shaken that impulse to promise to change the world after all.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Promises, promises · 3 replies · +9 points

I keep thinking of Mulroney's "jobs jobs jobs" promise back in 1984. I have a hard time picturing any politician making such a general and all-encompassing promise like that now - at most, they might say 'we'll create an economic environment more conducive to job creation' or we'll launch program X which we believe will create Y number of jobs. Maybe you could make the argument that more specific promises show more respect for a discerning public? Notwithstanding the actual follow through on those promises, of course.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Burning down the house · 0 replies · +1 points

Interesting points. I don't know much about Nazi / fascist economic policies, but can you give some examples of the collectivism? As far as I know, they didn't collectivize agriculture as did the Soviets and did deal with private companies as Bor points out.

It's a bit tricky to place all of this on a spectrum, not that placing ideologies on a simple left/right line really works anyway. If you have a spectrum with collectivism on one end and libertarianism on the other, I'd be inclined to agree with you and put Nazis / fascists toward the collectivist end, if for no other reason that they're dictatorships. But within the context of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, would it not be fair to say that they were on the (far?) right and the communists on the (far?) left?

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Burning down the house · 0 replies · +6 points

I don't fault the fire department for their actions. That's the model for their area and they could have been disciplined or sued if they fought the fire. That said, I don't agree with this service model - automatic coverage under a property tax model is preferable. The houses in my neighbourhood are close enough together that they would have to put out my neighbour's fire anyway to avoid damaging my house.

Lee_JD is right - there are some rural areas in Canada with no municipal government or no fire department. But there, the community / government has made a decision to not form a fire department or contract out. I've never heard of a contract setup in Canada, but I could be wrong.

And what if there was someone trapped in the building? Sure, fie on the homeowner for trying to save $75, but you'd have to be pretty callous to say 'too bad' if someone lost their life. And emergency personnel might not be so willing to stand by in that situation.

13 years ago @ Macleans.ca - Insecure counsel · 0 replies · +5 points

(Part II) - I firmly disagree with some of our recent foreign policy decisions and stances, but to try and tie it all together and create a cause & effect over this one vote is too much. The Portuguese were probably just better lobbyists. And unlike other government decisions I could point to, this one was ultimately in the hands of others. We tried, it didn't work. We move on and try again next time.

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