[Bakunin]

I think Bernard lord would be the best choice, first he his from the maritimes so he would steal liberal vote in the maritimes, i think he his the only guy that could shake up quebec political world and maybe win a few seats, He could prolly get good result in ontario.As for the west, well they are going to vote for the conservative anyway...

[August1991]

Bakunin, on May 21 2005, 04:24 AM, said:

I think Bernard lord would be the best choice, first he his from the maritimes so he would steal liberal vote in the maritimes, i think he his the only guy that could shake up quebec political world and maybe win a few seats, He could prolly get good result in ontario.As for the west, well they are going to vote for the conservative anyway...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, maybe true, Bakunin. But it would be another "patch". The problems in Canada are much more serious than who is the leader of the Conservative Party.

Bakunin, your "solution" is Liberal in style: it's about image, PR, perception.

----

For 40 years, English Canada has not had its own leader. Bakunin, imagine if Quebec's PM had come from Westmount for 40 years (!).

I think Harper is honest but English Canada really needs to get its house in order and choose two or three people, Left and Right, who can speak honestly in its name.

[ScottBrison]

I am a Liberal supporter but I'll tell you right now I doubt you'd want Lord. I can see why you think you would but he handled the last New Brunswick election horribly. he went from a nice big lead in the polls to just barely keeping majority.

http://en.wikipedia....lection%2C_2003

Starting out as a predicted landslide for Bernard Lord's Progressive Conservatives, the New Brunswick general election, 2003 quickly turned around when Shawn Graham, leader of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick, took on auto insurance rates as a cause....

...Lord and his PC Party faced a number of problems, especially with their position on the key issue of auto insurance which changed several times during the 30 day campaign.

Although I suppose if they got a chimpanzee it'd get more votes than Harper.

[Newfie Canadian]

Lord's appeal, to me at least, is that he's young, appears intelligent (as evidenced by him not wanting the job last time) and he's from an area of the country that would help shed some of the Atlantic Canadian defeatism attitude that has dogged the CPC since Harper's remarks of a couple of years ago. They tried to get rid of that with Mckay as deputy leader, but it still lingers. Add to that he's had some experience at running a government.

I would submit August, that someone like Lord, (Bernard not the Almighty), would be a step in the right direction.

August1991 said:

I think Harper is honest but English Canada really needs to get its house in order and choose two or three people, Left and Right, who can speak honestly in its name.

Ah August, you say that like politicians in Québec have it all figured out.
But you're right. Politics, politicians and parties all need to evaluate where they are and where they need to go.

[Bakunin]

Harper did a good job to structure and merge the 2 conservative party but its clear to me that he his not the good man anymore or he must change strategy. Just look at the bloc and how well they surfed on the sponsorship scandal, the conservative should have been able to surf like that, even if they would have done half as good as the bloc, at least they would get a majority government.

The problem reside in the fact that they arent thinking about what they need to do to win like the liberal are doing. The conservative must understand that they need the progressive vote and therefore they need to make change... not wait and hope the liberal will go deeper in the dirt.

[willy]

Bakunin,

So share with us what they must do. Who is the progressive vote? What do they stand for and how will the Conservatives communicate to them that they represent those views?

Remember the second the Conservatives stop talking about sponsorship and start talking policy the policy will then become the issue.

I would argue that the policy that came out of Montreal is mainstream, effective and progressive.

[Bakunin]

well IMO only have a progressive leader would be good. Stop the abortion and gay marriage topic would be great too.

They should start talking about economic issue.

[willy]

Quote

Stop the abortion and gay marriage topic would be great too.

Stuff like this is junk. The party decided not to change the status quo on abortion.

As for gay marriage, the stance is as progressive as any nation in Europe. Extend all rights just not the name.

As for economics, they do talk about it.

As for other areas, justice should be a big winner for the Conservatives.

No one will agree with any party 100% of the time.

The fact is Harper is a moderate. Aside from gay marriage, name one other that Harper is extreem on. There are not any.

[geoffrey]

Bakunin, on May 21 2005, 01:23 PM, said:

well IMO only have a progressive leader would be good. Stop the abortion and gay marriage topic would be great too.

They should start talking about economic issue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why should the conservative party need a progressive leader? The reason to have opposition parties is too rein each other in. Too much liberalism and the nation collapses, to much conservatism and we never get anywhere. Thats why we have two parties (ya ya the NDP and PQ but serious parties is what I'm talking about) that replace each other when one becomes too extreme. Turning the conservatives into a liberal party just to get elected doesn't solve absolutely anything.

[mcqueen625]

It is quite obvious to me that none of the people posting on this thread happen to live in New Brunswick. I can tell you from experience, as a New Brunswicker, and as one who has supported Bernard Lord in the past that you do not want this individual to run you local animal shelter let onlne your country. You think Canada has problems now, a government run by Bernard Lord would be far worse.

Examples of Bernard's ineptitude are:

Taxes: All taxes and fees have increased substantially during the rein of King Bernie.

Healthcare: Our level of healthcare has deteriorated through funding cutbacks instituted under Bernie's leadership. Many hospital have either been closed outright or downgraded to Community Health Centres, that are only accessible during certain hours.

Power rates: These have gone up substantially and are expected to go up much higher partially due to improper management of this wholly owned entity. NB Power is owned 100% by the taxpayer's of New Brunswick yet a decision was made by Bernie and team to spend in excess of $750 million to refit a plant to burn a fuel called orimulsion, obtainable only from one source, Venezuela. No contract was ever signed prior to this expenditurte and now we find out this fuel is not going to be supplied by Venezuela. Ratepayer's are now expected by Bernie to just pay up, and shut up. As he put it; New Brunswicker's can afford a 12% increase in their power rates.

Gas tax rebates for municipalities: This is an item included in the latest federal budget from the Martin Liberal's, and is meant to be spent on crumbling municipal infrastructure, yet Bernie now wants to only give 63% of this money to the municipalities, 35 % he wants to keep in reserve for unincorporated (rural) areas of the Province, even though the Province now collects 100% of the Property Taxes from these unincorporated areas and won't even be accountable to these areas as to where the money they do pay is going. The last 2% bernie wants to keep as an administration fee. The Province is entitled to none of this revenue and yet his Finance Minister has also not ruled out reducing the transfer payments to the municipalities by the exact amount they will receive from this rebate program.

Tax deals for billionaires: I saved the best for last. Ever hear of the Irving Family? Well in case you haven't they are in the Forbes Books are some of the richest people in the world. They in conjunction with Rapsol of Spain are proposing to build an LNG Terminal in Saint John, NB. Now a similar proposal in a Nova Scotia town is going to be very financially beneficial for that town, but in backwater New Brunswick, money rules. Money rules by not having to share any of it. In Nova Scotia the town will receive about $5 million annually in tax revenue and it is tagged to inflation, plus the company making the proposal is willing to build a sportsplex, and establish a fund of $10 million US, to assist anyone interested in opening a business with interest-free loans. In New Brunswick the City Council brokered a deal with Jack Irving whereby the Irving LNG Project would pay only $500,000.00 per year for 25 years, with no inflation clause. The City of Saint John is already $91 million in debt, and has one of the highest porperty tax rates in the Maritimes. Besides being a bad deal for the City and the citizen's alike, this is a deal that the City of Saint John had no authority under either the Municipalities Act, the Assessment Act, or the Real Property Tax Act, but right out of the gate Bernie stated he was willing to apporve any changes required to make this deal happen. Now I have to ask you people, just who is in charge in New Brunswick, our elected representatives, or the Irving's?

I am not against the deal per se but it needs to have a dose of reality inserted into it. Certain questions need to be asked and answered, but that has not happened. Even the experts employed by the Cith of Saint John were not consulted, as to whether this deal was financially advantageous to the citizens of Saint John. One area of particular concern is the fact that the location for this proposed LNG Terminal is quite a ways out a narrow two lane raos along the Bay of Fundy. This road over time has eroded to the point that a couple of homes have been undermined and the homes have tumbled into the Bay,. Other homes have been abandoned due to erosion right up to their back doors, and many ot these homes are very close to the road that leads to this site. Irving says they will limit the amount of heavy equipment on this raod, but I don't see how that promise could be kept simply because it is the only road to or from this site. For Bernie to jump right onto this bandwagon without all of these questions being answered out in the open, it shows just how incompetent Bernie and his hand-picked team really are.

Would I want Bernard Lord for Prime Minister? I'll answer my own question this way. I have supported the PC in the past, and yes I have voted for Bernard Lord, BUT I never again. I have never voted Liberal in my life but as soon as we can get to the polls in New Brunswick I will put my mark beside the Liberal candidate's name. Federally I will vote Conservative, not because I have always voted Conservative, but because they are the only party at this time that speaks for my values, both family and religious values.

[Canuck E Stan]

Mcqueen625, I had to read your post again. I thought your were talking about Paul Martin.

[Bakunin]

mcqueen625:

I don't know the man but i tought he was a good politician, if you tell me he isnt then maybe i misjudged him, thks for the post.

[August1991]

Quote

Just look at the bloc and how well they surfed on the sponsorship scandal, the conservative should have been able to surf like that, even if they would have done half as good as the bloc, at least they would get a majority government.

You are basically right Bakunin except...

Quote

The problem reside in the fact that they arent thinking about what they need to do to win like the liberal are doing.

The PQ has learned this lesson also. Call me naive, but I think something earned honestly is worth more than something earned by subterfuge.

Quote

The fact is Harper is a moderate. Aside from gay marriage, name one other that Harper is extreem on. There are not any.

Willy, you are right too. Harper and the Tories have done everything necessary. It doesn't seem to work.

Is it because Harper is from Calgary? Would Lord do better? (Think of what that means!) Is it a personality thing?

----

I have argued here that the federal Liberals are now the Ontario/anglo-Quebec party. The BQ are a Quebec party. And the Tories are a western party.

By that logic, the only thing missing is a Maritime/Newfie party. At present, the Liberals sort of do that with some exceptions.

----

I tend to think that many Canadians sense that something is wrong. When people, particularly in Ontario, say they don't want an election, what they really mean to say is that they don't want to know. They would prefer to have things the way they are and they don't understand why there seems to be all these problems.

[ScottBrison]

mcqueen625, on May 22 2005, 02:58 PM, said:

It is quite obvious to me that none of the people posting on this thread happen to live in New Brunswick. I can tell you from experience, as a New Brunswicker, and as one who has supported Bernard Lord in the past that you do not want this individual to run you local animal shelter let onlne your country. You think Canada has problems now, a government run by Bernard Lord would be far worse.

God, if he's that bad he'd be perfect for the leadership of this flawed party.

[PocketRocket]

Quote

Although I suppose if they got a chimpanzee it'd get more votes than Harper.

Not to mention that it would raise the average IQ level in Parliament.