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1.  

   One of those countries

   

   dorpus, Nov 13th, 2006 @ 4:20pm

   
   

   Last year, Canadian voters were infuriated that a cabinet-level minister took out his employees to a $30 pizza dinner in downtown Toronto on taxpayer money, and it received extensive media coverage. They are one of those countries that fixate on small stuff and miss the bigger picture.

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2.  

   Re: One of those countries

   

   Anonymous Coward, Nov 13th, 2006 @ 4:33pm

   
   

   That sounds like a huge improvement over what we have here in the us. We gloss over the small stuff, and think the bigger picture is beyond our scope.
   
   I'd much rather live in a country that holds its elected officials accountable.

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3.  

   Re: Re: One of those countries

   

   dorpus, Nov 13th, 2006 @ 4:43pm

   
   

   So you want to live in a country where politicians score points with voters by bashing America, then kowtow to American interests behind closed doors? The media plays the same game, bashing America and glossing over Canada's domestic problems.

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4.  

   perspectives

   

   Joe Smith, Nov 13th, 2006 @ 5:17pm

   
   

   You want to remember that the dollars involved in Canadian politics are trivial compared to the US. In the last Federal election I think the national parties collectively spent about $30 Million Canadian. Each candidate was limited to something like $75,000. In most ridings only two candidates were in contention and most did not spend to the limit so the total local spending would have been about 300 ridings times $150,000 = $45 Million.
   
   In other words,the total cost of a national election (and all of the fundraising and opportunities for influence peddling associated with it) was about equal to the amount raised and spent in a single high profile Senate seat in the US.
   
   The Heritage Department in Canada is a joke anyway - its main purpose is to try to find ways to force Canadians to not watch American TV channels, not watch American movies and not listen to American music - at all of which it has failed miserably.

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5.  

   Re: perspectives

   

   dorpus, Nov 13th, 2006 @ 10:27pm

   
   

   That's because Canada's federal legislature has no real power -- Canada is a "confederacy" with a token federal government. The confederacy was designed by politicians from the American South in the wake of the Civil War, and approved by Lincoln. Incidentally, seats in Canada's federal legislature can be purchased for $70,000 each, for people who don't want to bother being elected.

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6.  

   Pizza

   

   Backroads, Nov 14th, 2006 @ 4:09am

   
   

   Actually it was a $300 pizza and the jerk deserved all the bad media coverage he could get. The entire Liberal party were hogs at the trough for so long it was unbelievable. The right wing finally got their act together enough to kick them out (barely) and now the biggest controversy is how much our Prime Minister loves to kiss George B's butt.

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