[mentalfloss]

The new Oda stuff and Harper's Hitler comments are going to sink him even further. We could be looking at an NDP majority if he keeps this up.

[Unsound]

I doubt we'll see an NDP majority anytime soon, but the godwinning of parliament is pretty uncalled for. It just keeps getting harder and harder to support any political party. Thinking about starting my own...

[Zipperfish]

Well, just biding my time until Justion Trudeau assuems the mantle and delivers Harper his knockout blow.

[Unsound]

Hahaha, justin might assume the mantle, but if he beats Harper I suspect it'll because of harper, not because Justin ends up becaoming a political star. I think the name just has too much baggage to it.

I don't think he'd do as well in Quebec as many people think he would, and if you don't have Quebec you can't afford to lose the west. No way a Trudeau wins in the west.

[BigBri]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Curtman Curtman:

PluggyRug PluggyRug:

Thomas Mulcair's still the new kid on the block.

Can't see the NDP numbers staying up when the honeymoon is over.

That's what they said when Jack Layton brought the numbers where they are.. Wait until the new leader is chosen.. Still waiting. They represent the best option for defeating Harper at the moment, and it's very popular.

Sorry to burst your bubble but the NDP will NEVER be the ruling party.

Well with that said nobody ever expected the NDP to be head of opposition,and if unless the Liberals come up with an impressive leader I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of a NDP ruling party.

[andyt]

Meet the new liars, same as the old liars.

$1:

Canada's budget watchdog says it appears the Conservative government kept two sets of books when it came to the costs of replacing Canada's aging fleet of CF-18s with 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets.
In an interview airing on CBC Radio's The House on Saturday, parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page spoke out on the issue for the first time since Auditor General Michael Ferguson delivered a report earlier this month lambasting the government and Department of National Defence officials over estimated costs of replacing Canada's fighter jets.
Page told host Evan Solomon what bothered his office was that one set of books was available inside DND, while another "for communication purposes" was presented publicly, in which he said the government was "low-balling" the numbers.
"You do get the sense there were different books being kept," he told Solomon.
In his report, Ferguson found that the costs of acquiring 65 F-35s over 20 years was closer to $25-billion, and not the $15-billion the public had been told.
Ferguson's findings supported Page's estimates of $29-billion over 30 years tabled by the spending watchdog in March 2011, a figure for which Page was heavily criticised at the time.
When asked by Solomon whether he felt vindicated by the auditor general's findings, Page answered that his office "didn't do any victory laps."
"We are doing our jobs," said Page, who was appointed by Stephen Harper in 2008 to a four-year term, which ends next year.
In an interview also airing on The House Saturday, Conservative MP James Rajotte denied the government did anything wrong.
"From my own personal point of view, we have to separate the costs between acquisition, maintenance and operation," said Rajotte.
Rajotte, a Conservative MP who also serves as Chair of the Commons finance committee, attributes the different estimates between DND, the auditor general and the PBO in part to the fact they were "using different time periods."
"Also, it is very challenging to estimate what the operational costs of an F-35 are going to be 30 or 40 years from now," added Rajotte.
Testifying before a Commons public accounts committee on Thursday, the auditor general said "significant" items were missing from the government's estimates of the F-35s, and that cabinet would have approved the $25-billion estimate in its budget in 2008.
"What we identified was there were some significant things missing from the life-cycle costs," Ferguson told MPs on the committee.
The auditor general pointed to attrition, upgrades and the fact that these aircraft "were going to last for 36 years, not 20 years."
Page, who is now busy preparing new estimates on the full costs of acquiring F-35s, also told Solomon the pricetag could go well beyond the $25-billion estimated once the life-cycle costs are factored in.
Until now, the government has estimated the cost of each F-35 plane at $75 million. But according to Page, the government need only look south for a more "reasonable" estimate.
According to Page, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has pegged the costs for all variants of the F-35 at $137-million.
And at that price, Page says the Canadian government will not be able to purchase 65 F-35s but more like 40 or 45 fighter jets.
"That's the difficult part," said Page.
"If we spend more on these planes, what does this mean for ships, what does this mean for the armed forces, and what does this mean for Defence Department sustainability going forward, which could be a huge issue?"
Page wrote to Rob Fonberg, the deputy minister of national defence, this week asking him to adopt the same pricing used by the GAO.
"We're already encouraging (DND) officials to look at the numbers coming out of the U.S.," said Page, adding his upcoming estimates would certainly "borrow on that."
"Prices are important. Costs are important."
Rajotte said the government has accepted the auditor general's findings, and that's why it is changing the process going forward.
The changes include establishing a new secretariat under the purview of Public Works and Government Services to oversee the process of replacing Canada's aging CF-18s.

[RUEZ]

OOOh, the plot thickens.

[OnTheIce]

You want to know why our Country is run by a bunch of shit bags?

Because we and the media focus on garbage stories like this. Everything is a "scandal" every misstep is an opportunity to shit on the next guy.

Nobody gives a fuck about this but pundits and media looking to shit on Harper and McKay.

[andyt]

drip drip drip drip drip

[raydan]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

You want to know why our Country is run by a bunch of shit bags?

Because we and the media focus on garbage stories like this. Everything is a "scandal" every misstep is an opportunity to shit on the next guy.

Nobody gives a fuck about this but pundits and media looking to shit on Harper and McKay.

Only Conservative partisan hacks don't give a fuck about stories like this...


...just sayin'.

[fifeboy]

andyt andyt:

drip drip drip drip drip

The only problem Andy is that falling ice has a habit of killing people, usually innocent bystanders.

[Bodah]

It's pretty comon when it comes to accounting to have two sets of books. One is analyitical where figures change, because FACTS change, and its a project that hasn't come to a close and the other is the book for the public. Disclosure.

It's a comon practice, nothing criminal about it. But hey, keep on thrown' the shit something is bound to stick soon enough.

No money has been spent on any jets yet, or are we locked into anything. But that apparently doesn't mean a damn thing obviously.

[andyt]

fifeboy fifeboy:

andyt andyt:

drip drip drip drip drip

The only problem Andy is that falling ice has a habit of killing people, usually innocent bystanders.

I was referring to the Reformacons.

[OnTheIce]

Bodah Bodah:

It's pretty comon when it comes to accounting to have two sets of books. One is analyitical where figures change, because FACTS change, and its a project that hasn't come to a close and the other is the book for the public. Disclosure.

It's a comon practice, nothing criminal about it. But hey, keep on thrown' the shit something is bound to stick soon enough.

No money has been spent on any jets yet, or are we locked into anything. But that apparently doesn't mean a damn thing obviously.

raydan raydan:

Only Conservative partisan hacks don't give a fuck about stories like this...

...just sayin'

As mentioned above, don't let the facts get in the way at you taking a misguided dig.

Partisan hack? Time to get over comments made years ago and catch up to reality of what I've been saying on here. Funny how you never take digs at those on the left...

I love you people that take digs at me for being a "partisan hack" in a post where I refer to our government as "sacks of shit". I guess in your World, people don't change their opinions or views....ever.

The bottom line is, raydan; this is only an issue within Ottawa and within political circles. That's the truth. This wouldn't even be on the radar for 'Joe Canadian' the voter, regardless of what party was in power.

Oddly enough, the public are more interested in real issues, not a bunch of douchebags trying to score points to win the next election.

[OnTheIce]

andyt andyt:

drip drip drip drip drip

Ran out of things to cut and paste from Google?