Buckdog

If I had a billion dollars,
...If I had a billion dollars,

I'd buy me a Pride Parade,
...2,500, that's for sure.

If I had a billion dollars,
...If I had a billion dollars,

I'd buy me some Whoop-Up Days,
...12,570 Whoop-Up Days...

NICE!
You're a poet ...
and I didn't even
know it!

Sorry, gentlemen, but I must disconcur with you.

Canadian leadership on the global stage is more important than Gay Pride parades or whoop-up days.

If you break down a lot of these billion dollar costs, a lot of them boil down to a change in ground conditions following the recent Bank bombing in Ottawa, and the costs of deploying Canadian forces personell to help secure the events.

(In the latter case, this is money the government would have been spending regardless, but is now being budgeted under the task for whcih it will be put to use.)

Patrick ... the Billion that $tephen Harper spent on this is his 'gun registry'. No two ways about it. In a naked attempt to boost his profile on the international stage for political gain at home, he is spending the same amount as the registry his party has so severely criticized. Harper is toast.

Not really, no.

When one considers the security costs of previous G8 conferences alone -- $380 million in Japan last year, $400 million in Italy the year before, it becomes clear that the government isn't overspending on security.

When the G20 summit follows, the costs will increase -- after all, the government will have to protect more than twice as many world leaders for the duration of that event.

I'm sorry to tell you that this story is actually rather meaningless, and as the polls indicate, Harper is far from toast.

I just decided my tone in that past comment may have been far more terse than called for. Scuzzi.

But.

I think the facts stated speak for themselves.

Hmmm ... Harper has been stuck in the polls at the mid 30's % over four and a half years. He has hardly moved. The Conservatives are stuck in minority status at best for the forseeable future.

He is not going to win a majority and at some point Conservatives are going to start realizing that. Former Conservative cabinet minister Maxime Bernier is well aware that Harper's 'best before date' is nearing its end. That's reality.

Harper has always maintained that he 'won' the last 2 elections and has demanded the same rights and perks of a majority government for his minority caucus. But .. his complete inability to compromise on his ideological positions keep him from any kind of growing popularity.

Canadians don't need a G8/G20 conference. The $Billion dollar price tag IS outrageous & is triple the example you give of former events. G8/G20 is all about Stephen Harper desperately hoping to move his stagnant numbers in the polls. Cost over runs have now left him with crap on his shoes.

Oh, I see what you mean.

You may very well be right.

But, at the same time, that's a decision that will be made by Conservative Party members.

Personally, Harper has a better record than any conservative leader of the past nearly fifty years.

I will personally oppose any attempt to remove him as party leader -- although he may not necessarily be the candidate I would support in a leadership campaign right now.

(I'm more of a Bernard Lord person.)

Ahhh ... Bernard Lord ... that is very interesting ... he is certainly well respected both in the East and West. Conservatives could do a lot worse.

UPDATE:
Here's Tom Flanagan, Harper's former campaign director .. spilling the beans.