You sir are truly lucky, you not only have a clear vision of where you want to go, with Max stepping up you have a prophet to follow.

Isn't Prentice straying just a little to close to the Joe Clark / Hugh Segal red tory?

FWIW, I would also give Prentice a very close look, if he made a run at the leadership.

Just to clarify…..your preference is for a social red tory, yes?

Bernard Lord, also worth a close look if he decided to give it a run. IIRC when he left politics in NB he sounded quite certain that federal politics was not in his future, much more certain than I would have thought…..

If Bernier were to become leader at some point I can see how he would widen the potential pool of CPC voters, not by a huge number, but maybe enough for a majority, and Bernier wouldn't loose too many from "the base".

Prentice and Lord would widen the pool by attracting "centrists", but at the cost of possilby loosing some "hard core" CPC voters.

Anyhoo, that's my prognostication, worth the price charged.

Ask and ye shall recieve:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/02/05…

Anders is a big behind the scenes player in the fundraising game, and I believe is close to Harper. Calgary West is unloseable for the Tories, and I think the Party higher ups are happy to have him running again.

I just don't really like the guy, and I really don't like what the CPC did regarding their nomination rules and taking over the riding association just because they wanted a race.

That's the key!

Before becoming a PM, sound like a moderate and then govern like a true fiscal conservative, instead of sounding like a far right radical fiscal conservative and then governing like a free spending, deficit loving, government expanding conservative.

Harper got it backwards.

"Apparently the facts mean nothing to you." Merely spewing nonsense doesn't make it any more logical, scf.

Before he was elected as PM, Cameron was derided by fiscal conservatives and seemed to advocate for a moderating position on fiscal matters; now he is being held out as a good example for fiscal conservatives. Do you dispute that fact?

Before he was elected as PM, Harper was considered a fiscal conservative and advocated spending cuts, fiscal restraint, opposed corporate welfare, opposed regional development agencies, opposed stimulus spending even in hard economic times, opposed deficit spending. Do you dispute those facts?

Since he was elected as PM, he has boasted about his reversals on every single one of those issues. Do you dispute that fact?

I think you're right, sbt. In the years leading up to Chretien's election in 1993, a lot of Canadians were simply in denial about the need to really do something about our debt and deficit problem (hell, some of them still are — cf. Naomi Klein, who swears to this day that the whole problem was made up by evil corporate elites).

Another example of what you're talking about was Klein in Alberta, when they had significant deficit issues. He had a strong and clear mandate to make cuts and balance the budget, and that's what he did.

Yes, I agree with you. In fact, Brown and Labour are doing everything they can to fight it, according to the article.

There's no question Brown would have done none of it.

I love projections. LOL

Says the person who projects we will be in a depression at any moment. LOL

To do what? Cut transfers to provinces and slash health care? Perhaps to raid an EI fund scammed from employees and employers alike only to take credit for "slaying the deficit" in improving economic conditions.

Some can't let the facts get in the way of a good talking point, right Bittermuch?

True….Leeds is so …..Leeds.

I'm sure he'd have a coffee at Timmies if he thought it would help him. LOL

An economy doesn't start in one data set, bud. A good solid economy takes years to build with good economic management and good fiscal policies. Without question Chretien benefitted from Mulroney, but he did actually eliminate the defiict, created a surplus, cut taxes, cut spending, implemented bank regulatory changes, paid down the debt.

In two and a half years, Harper reversed ALL of that. And THEN the recession hit.

Had Harper been in government much longer before the recession, we would be as bad off as Britain.

You are incapable of understanding the basics of an economy. If a country goes into the red, that is current fiscal policy. If the economy has not dipped nearly as much as others, that is longer term economic planning.

What Cameron shows is that your current fiscal policy is important. But decisions made over months have not born any fruits yet. In fact, they haven't even been fully implemented yet.

Partisans like you are bizarre.

if a country goes into the red, that is current fiscal policy. If the economy has not dipped nearly as much as others, that is longer term economic planning.

That is one of the dumbest things I've read today, and I've seen a lot of dumb comments. I mean, whoa, that is complete nonsense, both logically, practically, and pretty well every way you look at it.

You have a truly child like understanding of the time scales involved in large financial and political decisions.
These huge decisions are like trying reverse a super tanker at sea. You have to slow down, stop, change gear, start speed up before stuff is altered.
The measures that helped Canada fare a little better than others were things like not allowing banks in Canada to over extend themselves as did their ilk to the South. The Con/cons wanted to allow them lee-way to do this if I remember correctly.
Why anybody thinks the modern conservative is fiscally responsible is totally beyond me. The reverse has been shown to be the case in N America recently. Big spending Reagan and Bushes, big spending Harper and all the while refusing to actually find a source for the money. Those on the modern right truly like others to pay for their lifestyles.

Okay, you need the last word – you've got it.

You weren't forced to read it.

Two parts – because the "submit" wouldn't take in one part. Sorry about that.