"Incumbent Dick Harris included in his remarks, the line that it was the Liberals and NDP who voted down the federal budget."

What an extremely ill informed remark! The combined votes of all three opposition parties (Mr. Harris, have you heard of Mr. Duceppe and his party???) on the Contempt of Parliament non-confidence motion defeated your government!

Surprised?

If I resided in your riding I would vote for The Rhinos!

Jordan Turner of the Rhinos was fantastic! He easily outperformed all the other candidates in both ridings.

I am disappointed I live in the wrong riding.

Maybe more people should join the Rhinos, seems they at least have a sense of humour.

We all know that the Government was defeated on a vote of contempt. We also know that the coalition opposition parties went the **contempt** route, because it would have the same effect as voting against the budget, without having to do so.

In other words the lily livered Liberals, NDP, and Bloc, did not have the **gonads** to take on the Government on the basis of the budget, and chose to hide behind the **contempt** ploy. So whats new????

Seems like Ignatieff is continuing to fall in the polls insofar as his popularity is concerned. Layton has overtaken him, and I suspect Duceppe is not far behind. Who is this guy anyway?? Where did he come from?? Where is he going??? Does he know??? I doubt it. I can gaurantee you that within one or two years after the election he will no longer be living in this Country. He will be long gone. Perhaps back to the old USofA or back to Britian. Either way is just fine with me.

Probably fine with him too Palopu.Maybe he can take Stephen Harper with him and drop him out of the plane with a parachute,oh lets say over Libya!

When a government falls on a budget vote it does not get a place in Canadian history, but when it falls on a Contempt of Parliament vote - it does! It's a First, something to be either ashamed of, to be proud of, to ignore or to put a spin on as if it is just a joke or some "words on a document cooked up by a reckless coalition."

Jakeadoo, maybe Steve can become a cowboy on a certain Texas ranch!

It's too bad that any candidate would consider our democratic process a laughing, joking matter. The concerns, the needs,and sometimes the real suffering of the Canadian populace, grandfathers, moms, children,entire communities are no laughing matter. It is by the political process that I can vote for someone who I feel represents the needs and concerns of my familoy, my community, my province, and my country.

"brought down by an "ethics" motion. Palopu is right, the cowards in opposition didnt have the guts to defeat the Tory govt. on a Budget vote. So they just proceeded to implement part 2 or 3? of their coalition plan.

What most people dont consider is that in a minority government, the opposition can bring the government down simply because they dont like the way he or she dresses, how? because they have the majority if they make a plan to stick together. So the "fab 3" coalition conjured up the "ethics" route because they hold a majority in both the committees and the Parliament. Easily done, however cowardly.

Where was the Liberal candidate? Or does the country really end just out side of Toronto?

Nobody "conjured" up an "ethics route." Harper refused to give access to documents which the other MPs were (according to the rules of parliament) entitled to see. All Harper had to do was to come across with the information. He didn't.

Do you prefer to have and support a government which defies the parliament and frustrates our democratic process?

Well...that is how dictatorships get started.

This has nothing to do with gonads, being lily livered or hiding behind a contempt ploy.

It's not hard to understand.

Harper did not have a majority of the seats in parliament. The other parties put together had the majority of seats. Harper's party did not represent the majority of Canadians. The other three parties put together represented the majority of the Canadian people.

A minority government (having a minority of the seats and representing only a minority of voters) must govern in a spirit of Co-Operation with the other parties in order to survive. It must do so also in order to listen to what the real majority of the voters wants, together with what the voters wanted who voted for it.

A minority government is playing with fire when it presents itself to the others as un-cooperative, heavy handed, abusive, arrogant, deceptive and unwilling to change its agenda to allow for some input from the others.

When a minority government rules as if it had a majority all kinds of things may happen.

Like a non-confidence motion. And an election.

Perhaps our politicians need some intensive training in how to get along and how to cooperate for the good of all people.

Other parties may get elected to parliament (like the Greens) and it will become even more necessary for everybody to refrain from dictator-like behaviour and ratchet down the confrontational attitudes.

So I guess what Im hearing is that we should govern in a spirit of co-operation with the Bloc, and listen to their concerns, and I suppose support them on a motion to succede from Canada.

I think that the Conservatives did a pretty good job of working with the other parties with their minority Government, however it was to no avail. Lets not overlook the fact that the coalition voted the Government out. It matters little if they did it using the **bogus** contempt of Parliment procedure, or if they did it by voting against the Budget.

No matter how you cut it the oppostion parties scuttled the Government, and we are now into another election.

I predict a Conservative majority with the possibility of the NDP being the official opposition party. If the NDP becomes the opposition, you can rest assured they will hang in there with the Conservatives, because their long term plan is to replace the Liberals, as the official opposition, they will not be interested in working with the Bloc, or the Liberals.

Ignatieff certainly wouldnt want to be part of a coalition that had Jack Layton as Prime Minister, Giles Duceppe, as Minister of Immigration, and Iggy as Minister of **failed political schemes**

So remember if you play with snakes, you could get snake bit. Which is what is going to happen to this phoney coalition.

Have a nice day.

Thank you for wishing that I have a nice day!

There is NO coalition. The coalition bogey man was raised by Harper on the very first day of the election campaign to scare the people. Since then there has been enough time for people (if they are interested) to inform themselves about what the term *coalition* means in the context of parliamentary law and procedures.

A coalition is formed with the consent of the Governor General. If Ignatieff, Duceppe and Layton would form an OFFICIAL coalition there would be representatives from each party in cabinet. Layton - Prime Minister, Ignatieff - Minister of Finance and Deputy PM, Duceppe - Minister of Justice, etc, just to give an example.

None of this has happened, in any shape or form whatsoever.

If the three parties had approached the Governal General right after the collapse of the Harper government and informed her that they intended to form an official coalition she would have had the option to give them an opportunity to try it. They did NOT - so there is NO coalition!

Look at the coalition governments in Britain and in Germany, for instance.

Harper has hijacked the term *reckless coalition* for political spin and gain.

There is NO coalition. Plain and simple. If people are smart enough they will understand that it is a Harper smoke screen and totally fictitious.

One thing is for sure even if you do like Ignatieff (which I do) he is in contempt of the BC voter and I would argue likely the voters of Alberta as well... as such he doesn't deserve a single liberal vote in these provinces.. and as such he doesn't deserve to be Canada's next Prime Minister.

To appoint a liberal party insider from Vancouver to represent the party to the rural riding shows contempt for the idea of an MP representing the grass roots of the region. The liberals will never deserve to be considered a party that stands for democracy and the will of the people as long as they put forward candidates like liberal no-show candidate Sangeeta Lalli... it shows contempt for the riding and says loud and clear that the liberals do not see this riding as in play for their agenda... to not have the candidate make the trip up north for the all candidates forum is active contempt for the voter and worthy of not a single vote IMO.

I for one would like to know the candidates position on how they feel the carbon markets will relate to exports of oil and gas to foreign countries like China that have no interest at all in participating in carbon reducing policies or the costs to those policies.

Why should our economy be handicapped paying a carbon tax or trade, when our foreign economic competitors like China will have an advantage of energy affordability against us with our resources we sell to them?

Probably the biggest question of the election with 2012 carbon markets just around the corner, and the massive implications this will have to our carbon based economy here in Canada....

IMO I think we should tax carbon at the international rate of $30 a ton for all carbon exports. Put that into a fund to mitigate Canada's carbon reliance and it would transform Canada's economy to a sustainable economy built by the responsible taxation of irresponsible foreign nations, while also leveling the playing field economically for the use of those resources... fair trade... and not the free trade that undermines our national standards and competitiveness seems appropriate to most real working middle class Canadians.

Is it possible that no other candidate came forward to express a desire to run in the riding and Sangeeta Lalli was appointed in order to have a candidate in every riding across the country?

What are the chances of unseating Dick Harris or somebody other than a Conservative taking Hill's riding?

The carbon tax thing is a very problematic one in Canada, where the government has stubbornly refused to give it any attention because the tarsands industries are one of the biggest single producers of GG gases in the entire world.

The tarsands are held up by global environmental activists as the number one example of Canada's dinosaur attitude together with its scuttled promises to the Kyoto agreement.

The danger is we get sucked into the Kyoto agreement mandates for carbon taxes and yet export to others who want no part in that, and so we subsidize their consumption at our national handicap. Its a huge issue, but I guess money talks and the oil and gas industry can make more money squeezing the domestic market while making it compete for our own resources with the foreign opportunities who will always be willing to pay more, especially if they aren't hindered by carbon taxes like we are.....

I think the Sangeeta Lalli situation is an example of how the party is to be represented to us in these parts. I'm sure had national politics stayed out of it and they asked around a local could have been found. One is right though when one claims these riding's in PG are not in play at the national level as exampled by the liberal policy for candidate selection here.