2006 Canadian Federal Election - who will you vote for?

[Lionut]

Parliament will begin sitting in about mid-March, according to the buzz in Ottawa. Harper wants to deliver a budget right away, and get busy passing his Accountability Act. He realizes that he has a limited window to get some things done while the Liberals are obsessing over leadership issues, so he will seize whatever momentum he has to his advantage.

[hexx]

TAX THE PROFITS, NOT THE PEOPLE

Our business and personal income tax rates are too high, accordingly both should be lowered. With a minority government, however, Harper won't be able to do much about either.

given the way the tax burden has shifted the last few decades, and the record profits being achieved, the column makes a decent case that the last thing we should be doing is cutting corporate taxes.

i'm all for cutting personal taxes. hell, i'm all for eliminating them. what party is that again? :lol:

[Lions_Fan_4_Life]

WTH is the Federal Accountability act? I went to the Harper Rally in Surrey on the 22nd wanting to find out but never heard an answer!!! Anyone else know?

[Rammer]

Parliament will begin sitting in about mid-March, according to the buzz in Ottawa. Harper wants to deliver a budget right away, and get busy passing his Accountability Act. He realizes that he has a limited window to get some things done while the Liberals are obsessing over leadership issues, so he will seize whatever momentum he has to his advantage.

I see the early attempt at passing his platform promises as his only way of succeeding with them passing alright. "Be nice to see a minority government be able to accomplish somehting while in power.

[hexx]

Completely different systems. Our Prime Minister is a Member of Parliament, and speaks to the nation virtually daily via Question Period. In the United States, OTOH, the Executive Branch is separated from the Legislative Branch, necessitating an occasional visit by the Head of the Executive Branch (the President).

interesting bit from wikipedia:

George Washington gave the first state of the union address on January 8, 1790 in New York City, then the provisional U.S. capital. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchial (similar to the Queen's Speech). Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice despite some initial controversy. However, there have been exceptions to this rule. Presidents during the latter half of the 20th Century have sent written State of the Union addresses. The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter in 1981. [1].

For many years, the speech was referred to as "the President's Annual Message to Congress." The actual term "State of the Union" did not become widely used until after 1935 when Franklin D. Roosevelt began using the phrase.

[MacNews]

i'm all for cutting personal taxes. hell, i'm all for eliminating them. what party is that again? :lol:

A good start is a flat-tax, which Alberta instituted to great effect.

[Robbie]

In the United States, OTOH, the Executive Branch is separated from the Legislative Branch, necessitating an occasional visit by the Head of the Executive Branch (the President).

That's a good point. The President has to go to Congress to ask for money and funding, as indicated by the article below. Also, Congress has the power to impeach the President, as has been done on two previous occasions.

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Bush Request Would Push War Total to $440B
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 3, 8:32 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Thursday it will ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and $18 billion more for hurricane relief this year.

The White House acknowledges the upcoming requests would cause total spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, to soar well past the $400 billion mark, while spending for hurricane relief would top $100 billion.

Details of the requests are not final, but the 2007 budget proposal that President Bush is to submit next week will reflect the totals for planning purposes. The president also will ask Congress to devote another $2.3 billion to prepare for a bird flu epidemic, congressional aides said.

About $70 billion of the new war money will be requested for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, bringing total spending on the two campaigns to $120 billion for the current budget year. The other $50 billion in new war money will be set aside in the 2007 budget for the first few months of the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. More money will likely be needed in 2007.

The bulk of the funding will go toward military operations, officials said, but the money will also replace damaged, destroyed or worn out equipment. Another part of the request would provide aid to train Iraqi security forces and otherwise combat the insurgency in Iraq.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that $320 billion has been spent on Iraq and Afghanistan since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including $50 billion that Congress sent Bush in December.

Administration officials said the new figures were estimates and the totals could change slightly before they are officially presented to Congress.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the requests reflect the president's desire to "commit the resources that are necessary to fight and win the war on terrorism."

The requested money would cover troop salaries and benefits, repairing and replacing equipment, supporting U.S. embassies in the two countries and taking on the insurgency. It would cover the costs of continuing to train Iraqi and Afghan security forces and to protect U.S. troops.

Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the $50 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan for 2007 is a placeholder. He suggested the combined costs of the two campaigns could be different.

"We're still in the process of working out the details," Kaplan said.

According to senior Pentagon officials and documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, next week Bush will request a $439.3 billion Defense Department budget for 2007, a nearly 5 percent increase over this year. That request does not include the $50 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meantime, Donald Powell, the coordinator for rebuilding the Gulf Coast, confirmed that the administration would request $18 billion for that effort.

The money would push the total federal commitment for rebuilding the hurricane ravaged coast to more than $100 billion, according to administration tallies. That reflects about $68 billion in emergency appropriations, $18.5 billion in available flood insurance funds and the latest $18 billion figure.

The upcoming request is likely to create tensions between Gulf Coast lawmakers pressing to add to it and conservatives insisting that is be at least partially paid for with spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

Powell said it probably would be the last such spending request for the current budget year and that next year's budget would not contain Katrina relief funds. He said a detailed request would go to Congress within 30 days.

Powell said he does not anticipate additional money for the region in the 2007 budget Bush plans to announce Monday.

Powell provided little detail about specifically what the money would be used for, saying it would include money for housing, roads and levees.

"That's a lot of money," he said, referring to the $100 billion.

Gulf Coast lawmakers, as they did in December, are likely to try to add on to the request and push for more aid for flood control and housing.

"We certainly welcome additional federal assistance," said Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record), D-La. "But I am highly concerned that the administration's proposal, which lacks details, will put more money into dysfunctional federal bureaucracies like FEMA and won't adequately address urgent needs such as housing, levees and flood protection."

In December, Congress dedicated $29 billion of previously appropriated funds for such purposes as levee repair and construction, emergency funds to compensate homeowners whose hurricane insurance does not cover flood losses, and child care, mental health and other social services.

At that time, Congress exceeded Bush's request by $10.4 billion, mostly by approving $11.5 billion in flexible Community Development Block Grants.

The latest request is also likely to include funding for federal facilities such as military bases and veterans hospitals damaged by the September storm. Congress failed to fully fund several comparable requests last year.

[crburrows]

That's a good point. The President has to go to Congress to ask for money and funding, as indicated by the article below. Also, Congress has the power to impeach the President, as has been done on two previous occasions.

Impeached twice, convicted, never.

The House of Representatives has the power to impeach, with a majority vote.

In this context, impeachment means "to charge."

The Senate has the power to convict, with a two-thirds vote, which has never happened. However, on President Clinton's impeachment, one of the charges did receive 51/100 Senate votes.

The other president impeached was Johnson (Democrat) who had been Lincoln's Vice-President when he was assasonated. The Republicans were pissed that their first ever President had had his term ended (and the Democrats take-over) in such a way.