According to Finance, Ottawa posted a surplus of $1.69-billion for July, compared with $1.14-billion in year-ago period.

For the April to July period, Ottawa recorded a surplus of $2.9-billion.


Yet another Liberal lie exposed. Where is your defecit now Dion?

   

Well, after you pay for advertising, and golf courses, it would be -2.9 billion.

   

Surplus my ass.. Give it just 3mths and we will be bailing out our banks and as the US crumbles and takes us down with it.

   

But until then it's a surplus right?

The proof is da proof is da proof. We know it's da proof because it's proven.

   

That's fine if you are living in the now and are ignoring whats happening in the US. It's like saying good times are a constant in Canada and we simply aren't affected by international economics and foreign policy.

   

The fact taht we're leading the G8 in GDP is an insignificant detail that you missed in you're rhetoric.

   

I didn't realize Rev. Blair had a twin brother

   

Oil sands...Thats what we have and we will have them for a while but the other industries are failing fast. The US buys most of our products and resources and so if they go down we are automatically thrown in the same boat.

   

It is not so much other industries as regional economic problems. Southern Ontario will be the worst hit due to its reliance on selling goods to the US. Other areas like Saskatchewan and Manitoba will continue along quite nicely. I agree it would be better with a vibrant US economy, but they will continue to do above average in Canada. Hopefully we do not repeat past mistakes of punishing other areas of the country in attempts to cure Ontario woes.

   

I agree to a point. I think if the shit hits the fan we may need to really work our asses off on developing new technologies that can be implemented and sold world wide. That will be the key to overcoming an American market crisis. Inovation is where it is at as far as I am concerned.

   

Such as?

   

Canada has been an inovator in many areas including the oil patch. Our economy is reliant on the US mostly due to geography. The majority of our population is within 200 miles of the US border and as such it is cheaper to trade (freight) with our US neighbours than it is to trade with the ROC. Provincial trade barriers do not help either. Taking that one step further, if it is more profitable to trade with the US than the ROC what happens when the rest of the world is much farther away?

Next you do not generate a world changing plethora of products overnight. Usually they come along a few at a time and never enough to outweigh the trade in other goods. So the everyday items like resource products, food and manufactured goods will be the majority of our trade goods. Back to geography. The greatest volume of trade will be with your closest neighbours due to the economics of transportation. Currently 80% of our trade is with the US, leaving 20% for the rest of the world. I would like to see the rest of the world number grow significantly larger, but even relatively large increases like 5% is only a 1% change. It will take a long time to move us to a world trading power house.

   

I also want to hear these brilliant inventions and plans that Dion says will make us all millionares. What are these bold new changes and does this involve 30 days and a napkin?

   

Its really quite pathetic. He launches the green shift, then promptly starts making certain industries exempt. Then he changes it again. Then he stops talking about for a few days. Then he's back on the green shift bandwagon once he starts getting slack for ignoring the green shift. Now he has a 30 day plan that he pulls out of his rear. I wonder how many more times he's going to flip flop bu the 14th.

Good grief!!!