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I had 2 of their 45s, including the studio version of this one.

Side note... is that a regulation military haircut?

   

Sure they did. Read my posts with respect to Duffy.

   

in some of the European militaries it is I actuallyprefer Joan Jett's remake



besides she's nicer to look at

   

Me too. I use a plex-drive setting a lot. Great guitar sound.

   

A majority of one is not a majority, buddy.

Did the knife extend to the PMO?

   

One or 20, the knives did come out despite your assertion that they didn't.

The knife extends as far as to cut off this most recent cancer. With Duffy, that's one big-ass tumor.

   

When they set up their country, the Americans created a full, brand-new and internally consistent framework. As the U.S. expanded, it fit new territories into this framework.

Canada, on the other hand, has largely been built by a series of ongoing compromises and tradeoffs. The Canadian Senate was one of these many compromises-in part, it was meant as a way to ensure regional interests were represented in Ottawa and also put a check on excessive democracy. The "sober second thought" of appointed elites could prevent the demands of the rabble from getting out of hand. There was no rhyme or reason to expanding it as new provinces or territories joined Confederation, which explains why Alberta and B.C. have only six Senate seats while New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have 10. As each new part joined up, it was given an arbitrary number of senators. The result, as Alberta political scientist Roger Gibbins called it, was a "dog's breakfast" of seats and regions with no real rhyme or reason behind it.

One problem was our Prime Ministers using it as a patronage trough, but the other was the fact that it was un-elected. As democracy became more entrenched in Canada, the idea of an unelected upper house overriding the will of the democratically elected House of Commons became unpopular, and so the Senate became increasingly unwilling to use its powers. Now, one of the Senate's primary purposes is out of date, while the other has been neutered by the first purpose and also by patronage.

Senate reform became popular out here in Alberta because we thought it could serve as a useful check against a House of Commons overwhelmingly dominated by one region whose policies might end up causing problems for regions that didn't have much voice in government. Think of Pierre Trudeau, whose base was in Ontario and Quebec, and whose policies gave Albertans and other Westerners headaches for years.

Unfortunately, the Senate was left untouched when Trudeau patriated the Constitution. The failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords left the Senate intact, and the scars from that era are still so sore that the kind of constitutional change needed to actually reform the Senate are all but impossible at this point. Stephen Harper's plans for "reforming" the Senate will likely only make things worse-Tom Flanagan openly admitted that he was "scared" by Harper's reform plans. At the same time, Stéphane Dion raised a whole bunch of red flags with Harper's plan, including how my own province of Alberta would be screwed over.

All this said, I think a reformed Senate could still play a key role in making Confederation work. It used to be that Western Canadians were frustrated by an Ottawa that catered to Ontario and Quebec, while now Stephen Harper is accused of catering to Alberta in his policies. A Senate that provided for stronger regional voices to be heard, and one that wasn't dependent on the Prime Minister, could promote more positive dialogue between different parts of Canada and give parts of the country that aren't well represented in the governing party a voice in policy that affects their interests. It would also act as a nice check to avoid too much decentralization and balkanization-we're one of the most decentralized countries in the world, after all.

This is my own personal, probably harebrained vision, but I like the idea of a Senate of about a hundred members or so, with numbers distributed on an equitable basis of multiples of, say, 3 or 4. A province like Ontario or Quebec might have 24 seats, each of the Western provinces could have 12, and each Atlantic province 6. That makes Ontario and Quebec equal to the West, or one of them equal to two Western provinces, or to the Atlantic provinces. Two Atlantic provinces would be equal to one Western province, and all of them equal to two Western ones.

Is it perfect? Hell no, but it might be a worthwhile balance between regions and population, which can shrink or grow in the House of Commons as provincial populations change.

   

...And in all the fuss, I forgot to write about Justin Trudeau.

My first thought is that he's trying to build up his cred in his home province, given how Pierre's legacy is a rather sore spot with many Franco-Quebecois. Of course, if that was his goal he achieved it in an extremely clumsy fashion that left him wide open to criticisms from the Conservatives and Canadians outside Quebec in general.

While Justin Trudeau obviously has his father's charisma and charm, so far he hasn't shown as much of his father's tactical brilliance. He struck the right note on Northern Gateway with his opposition to the current route (even many Conservative British Columbians don't like it), and his excellent response to the initial Conservative attack ads. On the other hand, his talk about how he'd think about wanting to form his own country if we went too far in a way he didn't like and his complaining that we're worse off with Albertans in charge, even if those weren't the intent of what he said, show that he really needs to work on his skills in phrasing and expressing things. It's stuff like this that is red meat for his critics and the skeptics who still have bad memories of Pierre Trudeau's time in office.

   

New bill to be released by the Canadian Mint:

   

The provinces seem to do an okay job of working together when it is in everyone's interests. Perhaps they can be brought together to deal with the senate in a way that benifits everyone. The house of commons should be nationally focused, parties like the Bloc and anyone like them shouldn't be allowed to exist. In the senate, however the focus should be regional, and it should be every senators job to effectively look out for their region, the way the bloc currently does in the house.

Honestly, I'd like to see a senate with two senators from each province, one appointed by the ruling party of the province, the other by the official opposition in the province.

   

No bill for Harb? Oh wait, you Libs don't want to discuss that.

   

Did someone give $90,000 to Harb... I must have missed that?

   

Try and keep up ray.

Harb was also caught with false expenses. Over 50k. Not really newsworthy though. His name doesn't start with a D and and with uffy.

   

Oh come now, you sure it wasn't because the PM's Chief of Staff didn't cut him a cheque?

   

But..but...but...THE LIBERALS!!!!!

   

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