I'm a little late in the game to be talking about the website dominating the Canadians Blogosphere, that site being republicansforignatieff.com of course. But regardless I'll toss in my two cents, with a possible raise to a dime.
There are lots of newsworthy events happening in Canada right now.
-The economy is in recession, with some voicing concerns about a possible depression.
-A shortage of radioactive isotopes, delaying treatment for Canadian cancer patients.
-The federal treasury that's gone from a forecasted surplus to a projected $50 billion deficit
-Ever increasing casualties for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
What Canadians need to be asking themselves right now is this...How is our elected government handling these challenges?
On the recession the Harper Conservatives are proudly announcing that 80% of their "plan" is already being implemented. "Already being implemented"??? I'm still not 100% sure exactly what that means. Does it mean that 80% has been implemented? Or that 80% is 'in the process of' being implemented? Perhaps I'm expecting too much of the Harper Tories, plain talk after all is hardly any politician's forte. I do know that a lot of Conservative supporters were not happy with Toronto's Gay Pride festivities receiving something like $400,000 in stimulus money. But does that really matter?
What does matter is that the government needs to be working at setting a course for getting the nation's economy back on the rails. Are the governing Conservatives doing a good job of managing this nation's economy during this difficult time? You can argue they are, or you can say that they're not...but it is something that merits attention.
The shortage of medical isotopes is of grave concern to many cancer patients and their families. Stephen Harper recently announced that Canada is going to stop producing them. This is a big news story but the underlying issues are incredibly complex. Still, this is something that Canadians should be thinking about while judging the current government's performance.
Then there is the matter of Canada's fiscal well being. In less than a year we've gone from a projected surplus to a massive deficit. The latest figures being punted put the shortfall in the neighbourhood of $50 billion for this year, with continuing deficits for years to come. Canadians made a lot of sacrifices over the past 15-20 years, and those sacrifices enabled Ottawa to eliminate annual deficits, and to begin paying down the accumulated debt. Again, this is something Canadians should be talking about and mulling over when formulating an opinion on the current government of the land.
And then there's Afghanistan, with a recent spate of Canadian casualties. Our mission is slated to end in 2011, but many are anticipating that Canada will be asked to remain well beyond that date. How firm is the current government about sticking to the withdraw date? Should we be scaling back our troop levels as we move closer to 2011? A difficult issue to be sure, but something of importance to all Canadians, and certainly to our brave men and women and their families.
That's what we should be talking about. That's what the Harper government and its supporters should be discussing. Instead we're being inundated about an anonymous website and wondering at its impact.
Conservatives like Stephen Taylor, the creator of bloggingtories.ca thinks this is great, he's practically giggling over all the attention RFI.com is receiving, and the fact that Liberals like Warren Kinsella are talking about it. And frankly, I can't blame him.
Seriously, if you're Stephen Harper and/or one of his supporters, would you rather be talking about the economy, or a website who's owner is too ashamed to take credit for it?
There are lots of newsworthy events happening in Canada right now.
-The economy is in recession, with some voicing concerns about a possible depression.
-A shortage of radioactive isotopes, delaying treatment for Canadian cancer patients.
-The federal treasury that's gone from a forecasted surplus to a projected $50 billion deficit
-Ever increasing casualties for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
What Canadians need to be asking themselves right now is this...How is our elected government handling these challenges?
On the recession the Harper Conservatives are proudly announcing that 80% of their "plan" is already being implemented. "Already being implemented"??? I'm still not 100% sure exactly what that means. Does it mean that 80% has been implemented? Or that 80% is 'in the process of' being implemented? Perhaps I'm expecting too much of the Harper Tories, plain talk after all is hardly any politician's forte. I do know that a lot of Conservative supporters were not happy with Toronto's Gay Pride festivities receiving something like $400,000 in stimulus money. But does that really matter?
What does matter is that the government needs to be working at setting a course for getting the nation's economy back on the rails. Are the governing Conservatives doing a good job of managing this nation's economy during this difficult time? You can argue they are, or you can say that they're not...but it is something that merits attention.
The shortage of medical isotopes is of grave concern to many cancer patients and their families. Stephen Harper recently announced that Canada is going to stop producing them. This is a big news story but the underlying issues are incredibly complex. Still, this is something that Canadians should be thinking about while judging the current government's performance.
Then there is the matter of Canada's fiscal well being. In less than a year we've gone from a projected surplus to a massive deficit. The latest figures being punted put the shortfall in the neighbourhood of $50 billion for this year, with continuing deficits for years to come. Canadians made a lot of sacrifices over the past 15-20 years, and those sacrifices enabled Ottawa to eliminate annual deficits, and to begin paying down the accumulated debt. Again, this is something Canadians should be talking about and mulling over when formulating an opinion on the current government of the land.
And then there's Afghanistan, with a recent spate of Canadian casualties. Our mission is slated to end in 2011, but many are anticipating that Canada will be asked to remain well beyond that date. How firm is the current government about sticking to the withdraw date? Should we be scaling back our troop levels as we move closer to 2011? A difficult issue to be sure, but something of importance to all Canadians, and certainly to our brave men and women and their families.
That's what we should be talking about. That's what the Harper government and its supporters should be discussing. Instead we're being inundated about an anonymous website and wondering at its impact.
Conservatives like Stephen Taylor, the creator of bloggingtories.ca thinks this is great, he's practically giggling over all the attention RFI.com is receiving, and the fact that Liberals like Warren Kinsella are talking about it. And frankly, I can't blame him.
Seriously, if you're Stephen Harper and/or one of his supporters, would you rather be talking about the economy, or a website who's owner is too ashamed to take credit for it?
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