Soooooeeeeey! soooooeeeeey!!! Oink! Oink! So much for King Harpers promises on the senate.

He's laughing all the way to the bank and he couldn't care less what anybody else thought.

I think I heard the salary was $130K a year for life. There's nobody anywhere who wouldn't accept an offer like that.

Now he'll be able to say that he appointed Liberals as well as Conservatives. Only in B.C. will it be known that the Liberals here are more Conservative than they are Liberals.

the coalition declared war...Harper should stack the senate!!!

If nothing else,Harper and company have shown canadians just how corrupt and self-serving our political system really is!
We already knew that,but they are working very hard a proving it once and for all!
Our political system here in Canada needs a complete re-make!
Worst case of pork-barreling I have ever seen!
And now they tell the RCMP they don't get their raises??
I say wage rollbacks for politicians!

Gravy!!! Gravy Train!!!! Duffy and Wallin join Jean and Clarkson.... $130K to 75 if you have it good it only gets better.

They have to do a lot of thinking for that $130K. This country would go to hell in a hand basket without a senate.

Maybe they should take some guidance from the Senate in the USA and see the type of work they do in their various committees. How often do we hear about senators in Canada compared to those in the USA?

Who are the Senators from Manitoba? New Brunswick? Even BC? Not rolling off anyone's tongues, are they?

I am sure that now that Neufeld is on the Senate, he will be able to work in concert with Harris to get $300 million additional dollars to this area over the next 3 years to four lane HWY 97 North right through to Fort St. John. I realize it is not a federal hwy. So?

Give it a break boys. The Senate seats were empty. Harper couldnt get any changes to the Senate through Parliment because of his Minority Government.

What would you ex[pect him to do. Leave the Seats empty until the Liberals were elected to Government (God Forbid) and have them fill the seats??????

Until you reform the Senate or abolish it, this is a normal function of Government in Canada, and has been for 100 years. Get used to the idea.

Its not as if Harper was the first Prime Minister to make appointments to the Senate.

Voters in Canada cannot name 10 members of Parliment, let alone 10 members of the Senate. This is because of an acute case of voter apathy in this Country.

We should have a Senate Committe in charge of bitching, bellyaching, and complaining, Im sure everyone would remember the name of the Senator in charge of that committee.

18 new senators @ $130,000.00 plus benefits and expense accounts each.....you do the math! Do we, the taxpayers, get value for our money?

Palopu: "Its not as if Harper was the first Prime Minister to make appointments to the Senate."

With all due respect THAT is really not the issue! He promised that he would NOT appoint senators! In fact he bemoaned the fact that they were previously always appointed and that they should be ELECTED from now on and that anything else would not be democratic.

That promise has been broken. Politics as usual. Cynical, disrespectful of promises made and disrespectful of the voters.

One of these days people will say we have had enough.

I have noticed that everything Harper stood for seems to be in flux. Fixed election dates, Triple EEE Senate, soft money politics and it goes on and on... it makes one wonder when he says he stands for something if he really does.. and probably answers why he didn't come out with an official platform to run on in the last election.....

Off topic I know...but it is an example of what is wrong with the big picture.
This is why a bail-out to the automakers anger so many people and it is also why people have no faith in the pork barrel senate and those who feed at the public trough!
Why is the government handing our tax dollars to these people?
For those who haven't seen this...it is worth a read.
We really ARE in a lot of trouble!

According to Forbes Magazine:
Labor cost per hour, wages and benefits for hourly workers.
Ford: $70.51 ($141,020 per year)
GM: $73.26 ($146,520 per year)
Chrysler: $75.86 ($151,720 per year)
Toyota, Honda, Nissan (in U.S.): $48.00 ($96,000 per year)
According to AAUP and IES, the average annual compensation for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973 (average salary nationally of $73,207 + 27% benefits).
Bottom Line: The average UAW worker with a high school degree earns 57.6% more compensation than the average university professor with a Ph.D., and 52.6% more than the average worker at Toyota, Honda or Nissan.
Many industry analysts say the Detroit Three, must be on par with Toyota and Honda to survive. This year's contract, they say, must be "transformational" in reducing pension and health care costs.
What would "transformational" mean? One way to think about "transformational" would mean that UAW workers, most with a high school diploma, would have to accept compensation equal to that of the average university professor with a PhD.

Then there's the "Job Bank"
When a D3 (Detroit 3 carmaker) lays an employee off, that employee continues to receive all benefits - medical, retirement, etc., etc., PLUS an hourly wage of $31/hour.
Here's a typical story....
Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.
"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I just sit."
Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers as demanded by the United Auto Workers Union - UAW - as part of an extraordinary job security agreement.





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We may be on the other side of the border but they are all in bed together!
When it comes to the UAW,the CAW here in Canada are cut from the same cloth.

Who pays the salaries for these senators for life? And what these LORDS really
they do in Ottawa? Thanks God we don't have provincial senate bodies.

Compared to the systems in the UK and the US, the political system in Canada has turned into a bad joke and needs urgent reform. No wonder there are so many cases of corruption cases at the federal and provincial levels. What happened to Malroney; Harper forgot to nominate him for a seat in the senate this time.

Perhaps getting rid of the senate is one of the first steps.

Andyfreeze, if the vehicles that are made by the Big Three were of the best quality in the world, made from top notch components and flawlessly assembled I couldn't care less how much the workers and managers and share holders are being paid.

However, that is not the case. In my past experience they have been below average in initial quality and longevity. By the time the warranty runs out it's time to consider trading them in.

My last brand new domestic brand sedan had a great design, but the quality was abysmal. I could write a book about the poor quality and service.

Therefore, I wonder if it is a good idea to buy from any manufacturer who must skimp on quality of components and assembly because the company is deeply in debt and basically just fighting to stay afloat.

And it is NOT the workers' fault.