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Here is a post from an EXCELLENT Canadian

Blog .. enjoy the Garth Turner comments.

You GO, Garth!

(as anybody with a problem with Harper is a pal o mine)

Questions and Answers with Garth Turner In Victoria

September 8th, 2007 in Federal Conservatives, Federal Liberals, Security Prosperity Partnership, Economy, arctic, Turner, housing, voting sytems, Dion, Vancouver Island, Water, American-Politics, Canadian-Politics, Global Warming, Victoria, income trusts, Quebec, British Columbia, Media |

I posted on Garth Turner’s presentation on Friday morning, but decided to include some of the question and answer discussion threads in a separate post. As audience members posed questions, Garth answered, but he also allowed attendees to contribute and make links to the overall discussion flow. Some of the questions/comments/concerns were similar, so I have compiled the information as main topic areas.

Q: What are your thoughts on foreign ownership?

A: Dion and McCallum have called for a core review of foreign takeovers of Canadian companies worth more than a billion dollars. We believe debating it is the way to go. We have to be careful though because we do not want to discourage foreign investment either. There is a distinction between foreign ownership and investment. We don’t want to restrict investment but we want to ensure foreign governments are not able to buy the entire Canadian steel industry. E.g. Dofasco and Stelco

Q:The US is running short of water and they continue to build/expand in areas with acute water shortages. The Rio Grande has slowed to a trickle at the end. What if SPP puts in the same kind of detrimental regulations like the kind that have eroded Canadian control over our oil industry? We have to sell oil to the Americans now even if we have shortages in our own country (e.g. in the east).

A: The Liberals are trying hard to learn what SPP is all about while Harper is trying hard to say it’s all about the jelly beans. Bottom line, we don’t want water diversions. Water will be worth more than oil in the future. We don’t want this.

Q: In the latest Angus Reid poll, Stephane Dion is still not doing well. We are worried about this.

A: Stephane Dion has tremendously positive qualities. In the Conservative caucus they are not allowed to talk. In the Liberal caucus it’s a free for all of ideas. Why is he not doing better? Remember Harper in his 1st year, or Chretien? It seems people almost want to eat them alive when they first hit that stage. Stephane Dion is working his butt off, visiting 100 ridings in 90 days this summer. I believe Dion will be hugely competitive. We have not released our policies either. We have a new leader since the last election. The Cons have thrown 25 billion more in spending at Canadians and it is not moving their #’s. Harper has no one but himself to blame. The editorials in the Globe and Mail and the Star on the Liberal stance on income trusts is harsh. Don’t listen to them. Income trusts are deeply problematic. Their are 2 ways to look at the issue. The mainstream media doesn’t care about those who lost their shirts in the income trust deception. They think its just a bunch of greedy old people and they don’t care. But they don’t realize that if even half of the 2.2 million people who were affected by Con income trust flip flop move their vote over to the Liberals, that would be a huge positive for us. But they really need to stop looking at it as just a bunch of rich people who lost some money and so who cares? The kids and the grandkids care very much. When asked to prove that their would be a loss why did the media let the Conservatives get away without proving it? Its a complex issue for Canadians to understand, but many have condemned the government for this. Harper and Flaherty thought they could power their way through this, but we are not going to let them.

Q: What do we need to do to change our election system to be more representative?

A: Well only 1/3 of Canadians voted for this government and there is still no collaboration or concession. Our system doesn’t work now. We need to reform how we vote electorally.

Q: I bought Bell Canada Enterprises and Telus. I believed Harper/Flaherty. I trusted them. Just before Halloween the Cons said the IT market was very efficient. Trusts are efficient because it shifts the tax on to the consumer. Why would they do this? Its low. How can we reverse this?

A: We need to demand accountability and the only hope is the next election. If this problem goes past and the Cons are in to 2011, many investments will be worthless. Some will be worthless… but some could still be worthwhile. We have to remember and mobilize. What can you do? The Internet is a great way to get our your message. All MP’s should have interactive blogs.

Audience response: But I get replies from MP’s stating that they would prefer I send a letter if I send an email. An appropriate response to an email is to say “write me a letter”? What is that?

A: Well that is getting rid of you, that’s what it is.

Q: I don’t understand the Liberal 10% solution can you explain?Why do we need any tax on income trust?

A: Well when it is foreign investors, not Canadians, we believe some corralling needs to be done. The Cons have just created a bigger problem and Harper is wrong.

Q: Is it possible for SPP to happen without the say so of Canadians?

A: As a member of parliament I have never been briefed on SPP. No one knows what is on the table after Montebello. It’s possible Stephane Dion may have seen more than I have but I have not heard this. Harper has indicated this will never go to a vote in a parliament. However I don’t believe it can be done without a ramification vote. We should be aware that there is now a broad movement in 15 US states against the SPP. A common currency is unlikely to happen. Do not assume the Liberals know what is in SPP because we actually don’t know. We do not have that information. Stephane Dion may know more but I don’t think we have any sophisticated specifics. We don’t have the info, but we have now published our position on SPP.

Q: I would like to buy an electric car. Why does Canadian regulation not allow us to buy pure electric cars. Must be hybrids?

A: Canada is slow. California is way ahead. People will buy these cars when they become competitive.

Q: Why don’t we help manufacturers to produce these vehicles?

A: I think we need subsidies and government needs to be a partner in this process. It’s hot and we are talking about the end of the world as we know it. Our tax base is stable with the possible exception that we cannot continue to run spending up at this rate at double the rate of inflation. We have to get spending back down and I think we can get back on track. I can’t say for sure that a Liberal government will make these cars affordable, but I will talk with Dion about it.

Q: Garth how would you see this thing? Just how much do do are we in? Given the recession in the US.

A: I don’t think the future needs to be bleak. 13 years ago we had a deficit and massive debt and the Liberals did an excellent job in bringing those numbers down. Demographics are an issue. Government has to be a partner with people to help them help themselves. Right now many Canadians have no pensions. The average Canadian family is spending more than they earn. Housing is the reason and we need to bring mortgage rates and interest rates down and ease the burden on the real estate market. Real estate will not continue to go up over 15 years. The market is overvalued and the market will eventually correct and then real estate will go down. We have the same problem here with housing as in the US. We allow people to buy with 5% down 40 or even 50 year mortgages, also called the a lifetime or a mortgage that will never be paid off.

Q: When will we see the Liberals policies?

A: We have been waiting on releasing our comprehensive policy. We don’t want to give it away. We cant scoop ourselves by giving it away.

Q: You mentioned demographics and not enough young people what about helping people to afford to have families? Then another audience member chimed in stating that he thought it was morally incomprehensible for people to have more children we should be relying solely on immigration.

A: I think it’s pretty harsh to condemn our young people to build lives without families. It’s true our world does not need more people, but Canadians society is desperately short of young people. If we didn’t have immigration bringing in 250,000 per year our population would be decreasing. We know that the first six years are critical. Our future is dependent on early childhood education and child care. We will bring back child care and early learning policy when we form the government. Today Canadians are deciding between buying a house and having kids. Income splitting is one answer to alleviating some of these problems.

Q: What about the Confidence vote? How will that happen?

A: There will be a Throne speech debate and 7 days later a confidence vote. For the Liberals the big issues are the economy, Afghanistan and the environment. The by- elections will take place on the 17th of September and there is a general election in Ontario on the 10th of October. There are a lot of ball in the air right now. It will come down to the Bloc Quebecois.

Q: Flaherty won’t answer our questions. Flaherty’s ministers won’t answer questions. Who runs the government?

A: Well Michael Chong was their first Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Harper never even bothered to inform him in advance that he was orchestrating a vote on the Quebec Nation issue. As a result Michael quit. That says a lot about how things are running right now.

Thanks everyone.

Note: The information in this post is not transcribed from a recording. It’s based on quick note taking on the fly. Therefore it is my interpretation/impression of the Q and A session only. My partner from AM Fresh provided the picture.