Mr. Bush's Visit To Canada

Dylan Peacock
Massachusetts (PN)

On Tuesday, President Bush made his first official visit to Canada to smooth relations between America and Canada. Most other presidents have made the visit in their first or second year. However, Mr. Bush took almost four years. This angered many Canadians (he chose Mexico as his first country to visit). He conversed with Prime Minister Paul Martin. Mr. Bush tried not to look like he was being over persuasive, and Mr. Martin made sure not to look like he was bending too much towards the U.S. Bush met with Paul Martin to discuss the ban on Canadian beef (costing the Canadian cattle industry billions of dollars), tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber,  other trade issues, and security. Usually the United States adds an extra 14 pence (27¢) to every 51 pence ($1) worth of softwood lumber imported from four Canadian provinces. The World Trade Organization ruled the duties illegal. However, the United States is appealing.

Bush thanked the Canadians for supporting us during the 9/11 attacks. "Thank you for your kindness to America in an hour of need," he announced. "We have important work ahead. A new term in office is a perfect time to reach out to our friends," said he. Canada has pledged about 155 million ($300 million) for reconstruction and is helping train Iraqi police officers. They also forgave Iraqi debt, £ 235 million ($450 million). The fact that Bush is visiting our Canadian brothers so recently after his re-election proves the high precedence he bestows on reviving the relationship of the two countries.

Our Current President (Mr. Bush)

About 5,000 people, mostly from across Ontario and Quebec, rallied at Ottawa's City Hall in front of a scheduled march on Canada's Parliament buildings. Mr. Bush was received by many signs along his procession route, including a truck parked close by that was adorned with "Bush is a war criminal." Yet another poster denounced him an "assassin." One Canadian said "Canada is not against America. We're totally against Bush. He's arrogant and ignorant. We totally disdain his policies on the war and his treatment of the U.N. The administration has an imperialist attitude where he thinks he can take over countries by bombing them."
                    
Much of the anger seemed focused on Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Canada decided not to send troops into Iraq (a decision supported by more than 80 percent of Canadians). Protesters also expressed disfavour over trade issues. An Ipsos-Reid/CTV poll released Tuesday displays that 58 percent of Canadians think Bush's re-election was a "bad thing" (because when Bush lied, soldiers died), while merely 26 percent believed it was good. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.  Mr. Bush said that Americans and Canadians will always remain close.
“Beyond the words of politicians and the natural disagreements that national leaders will have,” he said.

(I'd like to comment on Bush's nice choice of clothes-NOT!)

Immigration to Canada

A Vancouver, British Columbia, immigration lawyer plans seminars in three U.S. cities (Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles) to tell Americans angry with the re-election that "The grass is greener north of the border." He said "We started last year getting a lot of calls from Americans dissatisfied with the way the country is going. Then after the election, it's been crazy up here. The Canadian immigration Web site had 115,000 hits the day after the election -- from the U.S. alone. We usually only get 20,000 hits."

WHY MOVE TO CANADA?
Motives for moving to Canada, as stated by www.canadianalternative.com:

1. Canada has universal public health care.
2. Canada has no troops in Iraq.
3. Canada signed the Kyoto Protocol environmental treaty.
4. More than half of Canada's provinces allow same-sex marriage.
5. The Canadian Senate recommends legalizing marijuana.
6. Canada has no law restricting abortion.
7. Canada has strict gun laws and relatively little violence.
8. The United Nations has ranked Canada the best country to live in for eight consecutive years.
9. Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976.
10. Canada has not run a federal deficit since 1996-97.
              Source: The Associated Press
  The main reason, though, is that they don't have a president Bush. The baseball isn't as good and taxes are higher, but one American packing his bags says "At least the taxes go toward good causes. I just like their way of life a lot better, and with everything the Bush administration has done, for the American people to give him their seal of approval, it's basically the last straw."
     A different Web-site tells Canadians, "Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism."

Bush's Deficit

Bush has turned the biggest surplus of our country's history into the biggest deficit, of over £2.5 trillion ($5 trillion), into £4 trillion ($8 trillion). That is the biggest fiscal turn-around of all time! The  regulations that once limited tax cuts and entitlement spending increases expired two years ago. The Federal Government Debt Report, which covers just the federal government debt of  well over £3.6 trillion ($7 Trillion), or £12,350($24,000) per child is just part of America's debt. The government's borrowing limit has climbed by  £1.15 trillion ($2.23 trillion) since President Bush took office: by £231.5 billion ($450 billion) in 2002, by a record £505 billion ($984 billion) in 2003 and by £412 billion ($800 billion) this year. Just the increase in the debt ceiling over the past three years is nearly 2 ½ times the entire federal debt accumulated between 1776 and 1980. The House had rejected efforts to reinforce limits on tax cuts and spending, then joined the Senate to raise the federal debt limit by £412 billion ($800 billion), to  £4.2 trillion ($8.18 trillion).
A report from February of 2003 states:
    "During the first three years of the Bush-Cheney administration, the unemployment rate increased by one-third and 2.2 million jobs were lost, and the country has gone from a £144.57 billion ($281 billion) surplus to a £268 billion ($521 billion) deficit. Debt has increased 23% from £2.93 trillion ($5.7 trillion), to £3.6 trillion ($7 trillion). Bush recently restated his pledge to create 2.6 million jobs, stating "5.6% unemployment is a good national number." However, the New York Times recently uncovered a White House report indicating that the president is considering reclassifying low-paid fast-food jobs as higher-paid manufacturing jobs to make it appear like the unemployment rate is going down."
Sources: MSNBC Transcript, Feb. 8; The New York Times
    I personally believe that if the unemployment rate goes down, it is because more people are being taken off the unemployment lists for not finding a job before their unemployment pay runs out.
    Bush showed his proposed 2004 budget, which analysts and lawmakers fear will generate larger deficits. Just two short years ago the CBO had projected a surplus of £2.88 trillion ($5.6 trillion) for this decade. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the deficit would grow to a cumulative £1.2 trillion ($2.3 trillion)  between 2005 and 2014.
The Budget Deficit.
There are different types of deficits. Here is the Budget deficit:



     There is also something called Total Debt (defined as the sum of all recognized debt of private households, local governments, state, & federal, international debt we owe, business and domestic financial sectors, including federal debt to trust funds -- but excludes the huge un-funded contingent liabilities of social security, Medicare, and government pensions). Total Debt in America is now over £19 trillion ($37 Trillion), or  £66,183($128,560) per man, woman and child!!!
  The value of the dollar is down up to 72% in the last 35 years. As I write this a United States dollar is .51446 Great British Pounds (GBP), and a pound(£), which is the worlds most valuable monetary unit right now, is worth almost double a dollar (1 GBP = 1.94379 USD).  Also 1 EURO(€) = 1.33945 USD  (United States Dollar)

"The truth of that matter is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he were the president of the United States, and the world would be a lot better off."
—George W. Bush, second presidential debate, St. Louis, Oct. 8, 2004



"We ended the rule of one of history's worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure."
—George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, May 3, 2003

"I think war is a dangerous place."
—George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003

From the computre of Dylan,
"-Pavo Perpetua-"
(Peacock Forever)
-By Making a fool of himself , Bush has made a fool of us all.-

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues,
and debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared." - Thomas Jefferson

"The decline of great powers is caused by simple economic over extension."
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Paul Kennedy


     Here is a definition from Webster's New World Dictionary:

lib-er-al (lib' er-el), adj. [<L. liber, free], 1. generous. 2. ample; abundant. 3. not literal     or strict. 4. tolerant; broad-minded. 5. favouring reform or progress; specif., [alsoL-], favouring political reforms.  n. 1. one who favours reform or progress. 2. [L-], a member of a liberal political party, esp. that of England. -lib'er-al-ism, n. -lib'er-al-ly, adv. -lib'er-al-ness, n.