Canada's loyal opposition stabs the world in the back

Canada's parliament has narrowly voted down a Liberal proposal to set a firm date for a pullout from Afghanistan, only because the NDP thinks that two years from now isn't soon enough.

Canada's opposition parties are in a hurry to get our troops out of harms way and replaced by forces from other NATO nations. It's fair enough to reject an open-ended commitment to Afghanistan with no strings attached.

But one wonders whether they would really feel all that terrible if no other NATO ally stepped up to the plate and Afghanistan descended into the same kind of chaos that birthed the Taliban regime in the first place.

Instead of arbitrary deadlines, the opposition might instead at least propose benchmarks for Canadians and our NATO allies to measure success and logically determine the prospects for a continuing mission. But for now, all we can see from Stephane Dion's Liberals is unrealistic and cynical foreign policy on the fly and from the NDP, the appeasement of civilization's enemies.

Banks still cashing in on ATM fees

Canada's New Democratic Party continues to fight the good fight against corporate greed in the form of banking fees.

Conservatives may not like it, but hopefully the other political parties will see the light.

Banks saved millions by getting rid of many bank teller positions as ATM machines made those jobs redundant. Next, they started charging clients ATM fees, allegedly to pay for installation and maintenance of those same bank machines... which should have been paid for from the savings in staff payroll.

Banks are trying to have it both ways. Up until now, it's worked, with billion-dollar profits for the leading financial institutions. It's just gouging and it should stop.

Time to put up or shut up about Kyoto

Canada's House of Commons has voted to force the Conservative minority government to create a plan over the next 60 days for Canada to meet it's commitments to Kyoto.

This isn't a bad thing. The Conservatives have been reluctant to embrace the new environmental dogma of Kyoto for fear of putting Canadians out of work with Soviet-style economic management.

But now they can - and should.

The Conservatives ought to include in the plan draconian measures like shutting down the Albertan oil sand projects without delay and closing any factories in Ontario that don't meet newly-drafted environmental standards.

Such a plan will of course have no chance of actually being made into legislation. But it will force Canadians and our elected representatives to think about what kinds of sacrifices they truly are prepared to make. When Conservatives force Liberals and NDP partisans on to the defensive, it might just swing public policy back into realism.

It's time to get past the rhetoric and partisanship. Per capita, Canadians are the worst offenders to Mother Nature on the planet. It's time to turn ideas into action.