Posted on: 28-01-06 16:07:42
I may be the odd one out, but I can’t think of any reason why the liberals approach to spending billions to create more government departments, red tape, commissions, and bureaucracy would appeal to the Desi community. Smaller and efficient government is what it is all about.
The brand of conservatism that comes from Alberta is the kind of government we need in Ottawa. As each Albertan receives a $400 cheque this week, Albertans are being rewarded for good times in the oil industry, as well as very severe cuts that were made in the 90's when their economy was suffering. Back then, the Alberta government was also facing a huge deficit, and they took their pills early by forcing pay rollbacks (YES, pay cuts) upon teachers and public servants. That kind of cost reduction scheme just would not fly in liberal Ottawa or Ontario. But arguably, the Albertans did better because they solved their deficit problems earlier and did not have to drag things out. Just as any individual would trim his expenses immediately, so should the government not waste too much time in analyzing what to do.
If Ontario had this kind of oil money, I am afraid no Ontarian would see such a $400 cheque, and further, IMO we would probably have another government agency called "Petro-Ontario", for wasting tax dollars.
Now on the issue of the legal definition of marriage, I am perplexed as to what the position of the Desi community is. Seems as if the issue did not even register in the GTA.
Quote:
Orginally posted by nicefolks20
I may be the odd one out, but I can’t think of any reason why the liberals approach to spending billions to create more government departments, red tape, commissions, and bureaucracy would appeal to the Desi community. Smaller and efficient government is what it is all about.
The brand of conservatism that comes from Alberta is the kind of government we need in Ottawa. As each Albertan receives a $400 cheque this week, Albertans are being rewarded for good times in the oil industry, as well as very severe cuts that were made in the 90's when their economy was suffering. Back then, the Alberta government was also facing a huge deficit, and they took their pills early by forcing pay rollbacks (YES, pay cuts) upon teachers and public servants. That kind of cost reduction scheme just would not fly in liberal Ottawa or Ontario. But arguably, the Albertans did better because they solved their deficit problems earlier and did not have to drag things out. Just as any individual would trim his expenses immediately, so should the government not waste too much time in analyzing what to do.
If Ontario had this kind of oil money, I am afraid no Ontarian would see such a $400 cheque, and further, IMO we would probably have another government agency called "Petro-Ontario", for wasting tax dollars.
Now on the issue of the legal definition of marriage, I am perplexed as to what the position of the Desi community is. Seems as if the issue did not even register in the GTA.
And you seem to forget Mulroney era. I may sound skeptical, but I believe MOST politicians world over are same. Some are Laloos and some are sophisticated. I do not think Conservatives are any better than Liberals. Only time will tell so please do not gloat over Conservatives.
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Orginally posted by nicefolks20
Actually, in my opinion the Desi community in GTA and Vancouver etc did themselves a disservice by not voting strategically for the Conservatives. Clearly, if they had voted in conservative candidates in these ridings, the Desi vote block alone is so large the conservatives will never make the mistake of curbing immigration. Now, what do the Conservatives have to lose, unless the next time the Desi community looks to be warming up to them. At least some folks in Quebec realized that they should vote conservative, when it was clear that the conservatives were going to at least form the government. Better to have a seat at the table than not.
Further, the conservatives are not anti-immigration or pro-US, and are not guilty of even 10% of the allegations that Paul Martin was hurling at Harper.
Based on the liberals view, the day after Harper is sworn in, we should see guns, soldiers and army tanks on the streets, ready to take over downtown Toronto, and Parliament Hill. It is ridiculous! They made it sound like it would be the darkest day in the history of this nation (or as Quebec says, "the nation within a nation"
All this only because they were playing the voters who failed to properly analyze the policy platforms of the liberals/conservatives. When there is ignorance, "fear" is very effective to convince voters to stay the course.
Hey now who is mongeing "fear"? I do not give damn whether immigration is allowed by Conservatives. After my recent visit to India, I believe that only incompetent people will migrate to ant other country. India presently offers excellent prospects for all kinds of professionals. In my opinion, main issue with Desis is recognition of professional credentials and practical experience and in that respect none o the political parties baing NDP have uttered a word of encouragement. As regards NDP also I believe it pays lip service otherwise they could have forced Liberals to do something when they had stranglehold over Liberals.
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Orginally posted by regretably canadian
And you seem to forget Mulroney era. I may sound skeptical, but I believe MOST politicians world over are same. Some are Laloos and some are sophisticated. I do not think Conservatives are any better than Liberals. Only time will tell so please do not gloat over Conservatives.
In response, I would have to say that NONE of the measures enacted by Mulroney were actually undone by the Liberals, including:
1. Free Trade, which has proven itself to be very successful in providing jobs and growth, allowing the liberals simply wait for the tax revenue and jobs to increase through parallel growth with and from the US.
2. The highly unpopular GST, still remains with us today, and in fact it was Martin who in this campaign was arguing that the GST should be left intact.
3. The helicopter contract cancellation the liberals enacted, actually ended up costing the government 2x the original contract amount due to cancellation fees etc.
4. The so called deficit reduction that Martin takes credit for, was not simply due to good financial management. As mentioned in 1, the very good performance of the US economy, free trade, very good auto sales, and overall economic boom in the last 10 years contributed to government revenues significantly. When Mulroney left us with a deficit, nearly every G7 nation was in the same predicament. Today the reverse is true, except in the case of the US which has embarked on huge deficits since 911.
5. Mulroney tried his best to at least deal with the Quebec issue through Meech Lake etc, and having failed, he suffered politically. But what did the Liberals do? Nothing. They ended up with a referendum that nearly broke up Canada, and then (mis-)spent millions trying to fix it.
Regarding the observation that MOST politicians are the same, I must disagree. I like to believe that Canada is a great place to live because we elect, very infrequently, some good people who have a vision and drive to do something right. Also, I think Canada is a great place to live to a great extent because Canada is next door to the US which consistently elects at least one great President every decade, who has some vision and guts to make tough decisions and move their nation forward, and Canada simply continues to benefit economically from the US’s wealth and open economy.
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Orginally posted by regretably canadian
Hey now who is mongeing \\\\\\\"fear\\\\\\\"? I do not give damn whether immigration is allowed by Conservatives. After my recent visit to India, I believe that only incompetent people will migrate to ant other country. India presently offers excellent prospects for all kinds of professionals. In my opinion, main issue with Desis is recognition of professional credentials and practical experience and in that respect none o the political parties baing NDP have uttered a word of encouragement. As regards NDP also I believe it pays lip service otherwise they could have forced Liberals to do something when they had stranglehold over Liberals.
Your point is valid. However, keep in mind that it is a very complicated and delicate matter. For example, do we expect the government to simply legislate the professional associations to accept credentials from India? Lets face it, Canadian universities could be graduating a lot more doctors than they do, except the medical association won't have it. They always say there is not enough training staff, but for jobs such as GP, this is simply not the case. Every year hundreds, if not thousands of deserving Canadian Science students apply to med-school only to be rejected...no one can tell me that at least some of the rejects could not have been good family doctors. Should they take a back seat to graduates from overseas? What is a reasonable solution?
Further, it still does not explain why the Desi community voted the way they did i.e. the liberals haven't been dealing with this issue effectively either.
Really, the only good way to alleviate this problem is through good economic growth, for example, during the hi-tech boom we saw acceptance of engineering credentials become more widespread...the same thing applies to other professions. I would argue that the conservatives would deliver a better result on growth. Another way is for the Desi community to continue to be politically active and associate with all political parties, so that their interests are promoted.
Regarding immigrants from India, I would have to say that no matter how advanced, the \\\"standard\\\" of living cannot ever be the same....just the over-population alone is a major hurdle affecting the quality of life in India, or even Japan for that matter. So it is understandable why many qualified Indians continue to migrate to Canada and the US.
