Manning Not running for Alberta PC leadership
All I can say to this is good riddance. He may be popular now in Alberta, but I know many Albertans who voted Reform in the 90s and most of them would not be so supportive if they found out all his extreme right wing views. The Reform Party was only popular in Alberta since they played up the Western Alienation card, which understandably runs quite strong in Alberta and the other Western provinces too. However, Manning's views on health care, immigration, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canadian federalism likely wouldn't sit to well with the average Albertan. The health care reforms he advocates are far more radical than anything Klein ever proposed (which I generally support) and when you consider how many Albertans opposed Klein's Plans, you can just imagine who many more would oppose Manning's plans. Anyways it looks more likely Jim Dinning will be the next premier, who I think would be a far better choice since he is fiscally conservative, but socially progressive and forward looking.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 10:42 PM
7 Comments:
No, GOOD RIDDANCE to this scumbag.
That self-serving coward didn't even have the guts to show up and vote on the Afghan mission.
I think its time for him to go home to his money and end his days of disgracing our Parliament with his presence, once and for all.
Liberal Fortunes - I think it was probably his ideas more so than him himself that wouldn't go over well. Also he is 63 so he would be in his 70's if he served two full terms.
Brandon - Martin might have had a legitimate reason for not being at the vote. It was held at 10:00 at night with only a weeks notice and done quickly purely as political opportunism. I read the transcripts of the debate and boy was Harper arrogant in his attitude to those with different views. The reason many Liberals voted against it was due to the fact there wasn't a proper debate. On something as serious as war, we need more than 6 hours of debate. Even the Dutch and the British had a proper debate. Also Martin brought forward a private members bill yesterday to honour the Kelowna Accord, something I strongly support and so does Gordon Campbell. I am glad he is still an MP and wish he was still PM.
A couple of things:
First of all, Manning didn't run for the same reasons that Harris will not run: They are making a significant amount of money on the speaking tour, without all the hassles that come with politics.
On health care, his proposals were only taking Canada in line with most other western democracies - they weren't even close to the US system! As someone who has lived in Canada, the U.S., and Europe, believe me when I tell you that Canada's system is the ONLY one that gives you ZERO choice. Not only that, it is by far the worst system in terms of the quality and expediency of care.
Anonymous - As I have posted elsewhere I support a parallel private system as they have in Europe. In Canada paying for private health care is not totally illegal, but rather a see of provincial and federal laws have made it unprofitable. As long as the doctor works exclusively in the private system and gets no public money and doesn't use any publicly financed facilities or equipment, they can bill the patient, but the patient must pay in cash, they cannot take out private health insurance.
However, Manning has in the past advocated an American, not European system. Ralph Klein advocated a European system.
Also anonymous - it is not totally true that all European nations offer choice. In Germany and the Netherlands, one can use the private system but only if they use it for all health care procedures. Otherwise it is illegal to have some health procedures done in the public system and others in the private system. In France, the private system is still publicly funded, they just charge higher co-payments than in the public system, but both systems you pay out of pocket unless you are below a certain income, in which case you can use either system for free. In Japan, they charge co-payments, but only for certain procedures can one use the private system. In most Eastern European countries the private system is legal, but doesn't exist other than in the form of tipping doctors.
In Canada 10% of all diagnostic services are performed at private clinics, while in the province of Quebec 100 doctors have opted out of medicare and you can get a whole variety of procedures such as orthopedics, cataract surgery done for a payment. You can also travel to another province and pay to go to a private clinic since the ban on treating people is provincial legislation so only applies to residents of that province.
Hi!
Obviously off-topic here, but Stéphane Dion would like to do an interview with you for your blog. If you're interested, give me an e mail: r_edger@hotmail.com
Cheers,
Rob Edger
Stephane Dion E-communications Co-chair
Robedger - Great to see my blog is being noticed. I am active in the Liberal Party, so next time Stephane Dion comes out to Vancouver, I could speak with him for a few minutes. I've already attended events for Michael Ignatieff and Maurizio Bevilacqua. I shall e-mail you shortly on this.
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