A Hope For Rational Government

So the Conservatives now have a majority here in Canada, and wonder of wonders, the NDP are the official opposition.

On the other hand, the Conservatives only got about 40% of the popular vote, and with the vote splitting in many of the ridings, the NDP didn't get all that much in the way of popular vote either.

I can only hope that somehow, rational thought goes into governing us for the next 4-5 years rather than ideological dogma. I can also hope that the history of Canadian governments in general and the Conservatives in specific with respect to allowing themselves to be swayed by pressure from the US government and big business toward what I can only say appear to be bad policies/laws/purchases from a Canadian standpoint, will stop.

Mr. Harper - Canada is a separate country from the United States. Canada does not have the US contstitution, nor does it have several other legal and political aspects of the U.S. We have our own, different in subtle but critical ways, legal and constitutional system; and therefore importing laws directly from the U.S. can have consequences that are far beyond what does and has happened with the same laws in the U.S.

Same thing with economic policies. Same thing with purchasing policies. Same thing with security policies; and the laws that back them up.

You/We have to look at all such matters in light of our own culture and legal systems - and, if necessary, push back against such lobbying by U.S. interests.

We are no longer 100% economically in the back pocket of the U.S. - we have a life of our own and we should be able to lead it.

Think about this when you contemplate Copyright reform

Think about this when you contemplate medical reform

Think about this when you contemplate patent reform

Think about this when you contemplate privacy-invasive "security" policies and laws.

Just THINK ABOUT IT - we're not the U.S. - and until we come under their specific laws and structure, we can't try to emulate them by direct copying of their "fixes" for their problems that they think we have. We don't have the same problems because we don't have the same legal and cultural structure they do! Close, but not identical, and that should give you pause to think things through a lot more than has been evidenced by past actions.

richard