Gary Doer: Canada's new man in Washington

Who ever said the CPC was completely partisan, this should make Taliban Jack happy!!!

A good move.

Gets Doer outs of even thinking of Federal NDP, Jacko will be happy.



An NDPer in Washington ?

He'll be investigated, charged as a Communist and deported PDQ

It's a smart political move, as it keeps him from kicking out Layton, who looks more and more like he's going to get replaced.

I agree that it is a good move too after the close friends he put in Senate yesterday. Being ambassador to the US must be much more thrilling than Premier of Manitoba

Doer's contacts with various state governors that Manitoba made to work together on the water basin issues will come in very handy to diffuse a lot of the anti-Canada sentiment in Washington right now. It's nice to see an NDP'er step up for the national interest and move out of the box of Jack Layton's outdated class warfare and personal hatred of Stephen Harper. Very refreshing indeed. Two beers each for Doer and for good ol' common sense Manitoba values!

I will say this much about Manitoba, it's always been a rather positively progressive province, for the most part.

Ive never understood why we should give a shit.

Because, even in their current weakened state, the Americans could crush our economy like a bug if they felt like it. Canadian participation and influence in the United States is critical towards deflecting and diffusing unthinking and dangerous American economic hyper-nationalism that all too easily can be turned against us.

First of all no they couldnt. It doesnt work that way. There are too many intertwined interests. Its not one mass "them" against another mass "us". Yes America in general ticked at Canada in general could cool things off here and there but nothing we couldnt find alternatives for if our governments(all of them liberal, conservative) werent such lapdog bitches. Ive never really bought into the idea that our close proximity somehow trumps the fact that we have very similar climates, minerals and general raw materials. Reminds me of the joke about two trailers carrying logs passing each other at the border...

Diversifying our trading partners would be better for us in the long run anyway. If we do get crushed it'll be our own fault for being comfortable as someones bitch.

I wonder (and I'm purely speculating) whether Obama, grappling with the issue of Health Care reform in the USA, specifically asked Harper for someone like Doer? Doer could be a great asset to Obama on this issue, should he choose to take advantage.

oooooo good question Lemmy

Look at the birdie... lookit the birdie... Lookit the birdie...
Pay no attention to those people behind the curtain, lookit the fuckin' birdie!

We've tried in the past to shift our dependence on the US to other nations but it's never worked. In the 70s we tried Europe and in the 80s we tried Asia (hell we're still trying in Asia).

The combination of culture, language, proximity and wealth are simply too tough to beat.