flashman

Blame it on the "B.C. Bud"!

willmore

Ah, if only I could.....unfortunately I wouldn't know to get my hands on any if my life depended on it.....Marsden probably has much better connections even living in Toronto

DanMarsden

I don't smoke weed.

iaink

Ontario recently passed a law preventing the importation of toxic garbage, so it seems everyone is now keen to stop people dumping there garbage in places thousands of miles away.

For the record if anyone cares, Bush is the one who put a stop to Americans reimporting drugs from Canada at lower prices than they can get them in the states. It was funny, he said something in a debate about them potentially coming from a third world country :scared: Not sure he didnt mean Canada. Bush also opposed Government medicare programs being allowed to negotiate a bulk discount form the drug companies! Kerry actually favours fastracking drugs from canada as a way to cut healthcare costs.

Kerry voted to allow the president to go to war, as a last resort, after all other alternatives had been exhausted, which is how the deal was sold to the senate. Bush then turned around and launched an attack before the weapons inspectors were done, without any backing or justification under international law, and apparantly with no plan what to do when the military operation was over, and that is what Kerry objected to funding later on. Its amazing how you can spin the electorate to believe whatever you want with a few catchy soundbites and hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on advertising, not to mention a mostly republican press to propagate whatever message you want to put out there. Politics no longer seems to be about ideas to improve things, but just negative slurs on the other guys character. I almost spilled my beer when Kerry in the last debate complimented Bush on his leadership after 911, maybe it was a tactic to throw W of gaurd, but he seemed genuinely sincere? Confused me anyway!

Factcheck.org is always good for a look at how out of control the campaigning and spin has got.

Glaswegian

I can't remember it being anything but a slagging match ...

Stupid guy

thought this might be of interest........

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

lee2

In a Macleans magazine poll more than 85 per cent of Canadians said if they had the vote in the U.S they would not vote for Bush.

That's quite startling given that Canada has a reasonably large right-wing of its own. The Conservative Party in the last election received a good chunk of the popular vote, yet even among Canadian conservatives it seems that George Bush's brand of conservatism is beyond the pale.

Part of it is due to the fact that Bush has snubbed Canada. He visited Mexico within days of taking office, yet has still to make a state visit here, even though Canada (in fact the province of Ontario alone) is America's largest trading partner. Clinton had done so by this point in his presidency.

There is actually a long history of Canada having better relations with Democrat presidents than Republican ones (although not always. Lyndon Johnson accused Pierre Trudeau of "pissing on my rug..")

Some of it I think is due to general suspicion about Bush's born again Christianity and his neo-con vision of spreading freedom and democracy. Canada feels particularly stung by Bush's attacks on the U.N. Canada has always been a popular and active member of the U.N

The current U.S administration is also completely at odds with Canada over several pieces of social legislation including moves to legalise gay marriage and decriminalise marijuana.

But Democrats have often proven more protectionist than Republicans, One of Kerry's pledges is to send the garbage Toronto has been sending down to Michigan, back to Canada.

Glaswegian

I think the real issue is that most Canadians believe that GWB really THINKS he's been to Canada already ... although he did wonder why it was quite so warm and everyone was speaking Mexican instead of French ... we're not entirely sure he knows where we are (most US maps end at the border and there's a big empty space until you get to Alaska, might be a damn big undiscovered ocean, you can never tell), but we're very relieved that he hasn't had the urge to liberate us again (last time the US tried to liberate Canada in 1812, the white house got burned down) ... unfortunately they might succeed this time ... alternatively they might just try real hard to liberate Alaska (see the note on US maps above).

lonsdale

the u.s. is bloody conservative regardless of who is president. the election results shouldnt be any surprise because it reflects the attitudes and worldview of the citizens that americans have always had.
the two most progressive regions in the u.s. are california and new york, both of them have republican(conservative party) governors. this means that even the progressives are conservative. so imagine what the less progressive regions are like.
its probably not a good idea for most americans to go to canada because they will only bring with them their conservative ideas and contaminate canada.

Glaswegian

Doesn't work that way ... I know plenty of US born people who have come here ... they're immigrants just like everyone else and they have to adapt to survive just like everyone else.

The war of 1812 ... the US tried to "liberate" Canada from British colonialism ... the burning down of the White House was their reward.

When the US was the last country to outlaw slavery, Canada accepted a steady stream of runaway slaves as new immigrants.

When the US invaded Vietnam and imposed a draft ... Canada accepted the draft dodgers.

When the US invaded Iraq and virtually destroyed the country in order to "liberate" it ... Canada said no.

Given how long the countries have coexisted and how similar they are in so many ways, Canada has managed to remain a very different country from its southern neighbour.

I've always said the US couldn't invade Canada ... most of their maps show empty space between the rest of the states and Alaska

lonsdale

the contamination i speak of doesnt happen straight away or cant necesarily be seen at the surface level. And, just because a person escaping to canada dodging war doesnt necesarily mean he doesnt hold other conservative views about issues. he may be anti war, but also anti gay, anti minority, anti womens rights. these are all big issues in the u.s. although these ideas may seem backward to a canadian or scotsman, it is not too unusual in the u.s. in fact, its unusual to be progressive in the u.s.
my point is, just because someone is trying to get away from bush in the u.s. and wants to escape to canada doesnt mean he is necesarily trying to change his or her views and adapt to canada. the american way of thinking is their way is right and yours is wrong. eventhough theyre in another country, they still hold strongly to their views. americans arent the type to adapt and change according to the local settings. for example, americans overseas will frequently refuse to accept the metric system eventhough it is used worldwide. instead they will stick to the english system, refering to distances in miles and weight by pounds. this is only one example of how americans refuse to adapt to local customs. there are hundreds of other examples. lets look at michael fay, the american teenager who was caned in singapore. he expected to get away with spray painting peoples cars because he was an american and local rules didnt apply to him. although his physical body was in singapore, his mind was in the u.s. and continued to think like an american living in america. he didnt "adapt to survive" as you said. this has been a long lasting trend among u.s. expatriates to live among u.s. standards while overseas. american military personel convicted of crimes in the republic of korea are tried under american courts. these kinds of methods of handling crimes allow americans to continue acting and thinking as if they were still in the u.s., eventhough they are actually overseas, essentially spoiling them. americans are notorious for not respecting local customs and pushing their own agenda on others.

although all the things you say are true about slavery, and antiwar; ive heard people talk about canada's move in a conservative direction. what are your thoughts on this?

Glaswegian

Don't have any ....

iaink

Of course it wasnt the "White House" then, it was only whitewashed after it was burned down by the Brits to hide the scorch marks!

And "The rockets red glare, and bombs burtsting in air" of the US anthem were british munitions as the same fleet laid siege to Boston a few days later on the way up to Halifax Always handy to know these things when addresssing uppity yanks

Very confusing all these old threads reappearing

My view is that personal politics is a really bad reason to move anywhere. People are people, and party politics has little impact on day to day life or the behavour of individuals.

lonsdale

lf party politics have little impact on day to day lives, why are there refugees?

Rete

They are appearing because of the newbie lonsdale who likes it appears to dig up controversial topics and replay them for his point of view

Rete
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