Booooo!
Hockey sticks for nobody.
Booooo!
Hockey sticks for some, tiny Canadian flags for others.
Yaaaay!

Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

Must be all that lumber they are dumping on the US market.

They save a lot, not having to install drinking fountains in the desert.

What are the other g7 nations?

40 acres and a moose.

you know who had a lot of budget surpluses ? Nazi Germany

no, it means more money for advertising agencies, the f'n arts, useless detox programs for aboriginals that need jobs and upgraded living conditions not cash handouts that end up getting spent on the booze that make the detox programs neede, more money for the CBC, which is just a place for the Liberal government to push their propaganda which makes one question why the ad agencies got the amount of money they did, and more money to the health care system that wouldn't need so much money if it was properly managed.

hahahaha!!! Fvck all of you who regurlay say: "America can't have socialised health care, do you know how big the Canadian deficit is because of healthcare??"

You are idiots. There is room for compassion within capitalism apparently.

*sticks tongue out at Republicans*

regularly.

Hey,
At least Canada is smart enough to realize the potential value of hemp and its resources.
I bet Canada legalizes weed countrywide before the U.S. I hat to say.
Pretty sad. That is our U.S. Government working AGAINST the populist opinion, not FOR.
Legalize weed.

AHHAHA.. HE MADE A FUNNY.. HOCKEY STICKS FOR EVERYONE, BECAUSE WE WATCH A LOT OF HOCKEY, AND WE PLAY IT A LOT, BECAUSE WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GONNA DO IN THE FROZEN TUNDRA.. ANYWAYS BACK TO MY IGLOO.. MY WHALE AND BUFFALO STEW IS READY.

RancidPlasma:
Can i go to your place tonight, cause It's the second time I burn down my Igloo this week.......

This what happens when you tax the bejesus out of your citizens.

I put in for the tax refund for about some shopping I did while on a business trip up there a while back and was SHOCKED at the amount I got back.

This is totally misleading; We're still about 1 years GDP worth in debt. The surplus is just some creative Enron-accounting.

Sirzap:
Canada is left-wing. Like really-really left wing. Socialized health care and the slackest immagration ploicy in the entire world.

despite "popular" belief, legalizing weed has nothing to do with having a budget surplus. If anyone took econ in high school, you would realize that a budget surplus is a bad thing. Dont get me wrong, frivilous spending is bad too, but the less money the government puts into the economy, the worse the economy is.

l33t_hax0r :

i am well aware canada is way left-wing...im way left-wing too. I was just trying to be funny. Saying things are like Nazi Germany is my new gimmic. I am not really sure if Nazi Germany ran a surplus or not.

Did anyone realize were only talking about 9 billion. Thats like finding twenty bucks on the street to a country, it just sounds like a lot.

I know three nice canadians.. none of them use fark. Knyuk Knyuk I think its great, budget surpluses are wonderful.. who the fark cares... another stupid article.

They're also the only one who doesn't make autos. Big deal.

I feel stupid. What's the definition of a G7 nation?
a G8? Is there a G 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5 and 6? G9 or 10?
help, please.

I'm sure Nazi Germany ran a surplus... of Nazis.

And Canada does make a lot of cars, IIRC, there are a bunch of Toyota plants and even some Ford ones in Canada. Just because they don't have thier own auto company doesn't mean much. The world doesn't need another Chevy. And even the US can't match an Infiniti or a BMW in quality.

A budget surplus will only negatively affect the GDP growth of a country which has a large reliance on the public sector. I assume though that Canada is a developed country that does not have a huge reliance on public sector spending.

Yeah, that's right.

However it will be squandered away on useless things, much like the local government of British Columbia wasted millions on 'Fast Ferry's'.

Then again, BC is the ass-end of the nation, what with the uber-high taxes, farked health system, and insane government.

Guess where I live?

Let nate007 stand as living proof that while Canada doesn't have a deep South, we try our best.

LordWatson -- you Dems need to purchase a clue about Canada. Fortunately you can buy one with $CAN...

The good news is, Canada has a federal budget surplus. The bad news is, the whole "socialized medicine" scheme is funded by the provinces. For several years now the Feds have arbitrarily cut the payments it makes to the provinces to pay for things like socialized medicine.

Faced with business shortfalls, provinces have to close hospitals and reduce the number of hospital beds available to the population. This is why people can spend entire days in an emergency room hallway, lying on a gurney. woo-hoo-frickin'-doo. That's what happens AFTER they've already waited any amount of time just waiting to be seen by a doctor.

This whole little scheme is paying off for the Feds in spades though -- they get the publicity of saying that they "balance their books", and the provinces end up looking like misers for closing health care facilities and hiking taxes.

Yes, this is the very same federal government that's been in power since, well, forever (OK, 1993). Over time it's gotten quite obvious to me that Canadians are in fact no smarter than Americans after all.

thanks spacecyote, i try to think realistically, not liberally.

It sounds spiffy to boast a surplus, but if you consider that the surplus comes directly out of the pay-checks of hard working Canadians it really seems more like over-burdened tax payers. I haven't check lately, but I know that Canadians did pay much higher tax rates than Americans several years ago when i last saw the numbers.

You know who Jean Chretien resembles? That's right, Adolf Hitler.

Sorry Sirzap, had to steal your joke just for a second.

Clevershark: You're not so clever really. I am Canadian. I live in Toronto. I follow federal politics closely because I work for one of the major parties. The one way out on the left.

This is why people can spend entire days in an emergency room hallway, lying on a gurney. woo-hoo-frickin'-doo. That's what happens AFTER they've already waited any amount of time just waiting to be seen by a doctor.


That staement above is classic right wing American rhetoric, none of which is true. My dad just tore his quadricep. He was in surgery the same day. My gf has a disease that she had surgery for within days of diagnosis. I was nearly killed in a car accident in 1995 and had top rated service immediately. Americans want to believe our system is bad and they say it all the time. Frankly, its not true.

People stealing other people's gimmicks??? What is this, Nazi, erm -- nevermind...

Lord Watson:
The fact that socialized medicine doesn't create a deficit doesn't negate the concept that stealing, or re-appropriating, money from the wealthy to the poor, no matter how ill tehy may be, is just over-glorified theivery. In effect, all taxes used for liberal programs are forced charity and do not fall within the scope of the fundamental purpose for the existance of our nation. That is the protection of freedom and the rights of the individual.

does g7 have anything to do with NATO? I know russia recently joined nato.

The federal government has actually brought it's transfer payments to the provinces back up to pre-1994 levels. However, the provincial premiers wanted it in the form on no-strings-attached cash rather than direct increased funding to medicare. So guess what the provincial governments do with the money? They cut income taxes and leave the healthcare system to fend for itself and complain that the federal government isn't paying its share while they win elections on the backs of tax cuts.

yeah, you are prob right, i thought I heard it on tv somewhere. If its on tv it must be true. But NATO does stand for north atlantic treaty organization...so Im probably wrong.

You might be thinking of Poland. I belive they recently joined.

oh yeah.. and fark the Leafs

ROBO-Jesus:
Wait 2 years :-)

FUA.. I agree totally with what you said. I have a Business Degree with majors in Financial Economics and E-Commerce.
Canada, however does rely on alot of public sector development. We have Healthcare, Education and many other services totally controlled by the provincial governments. Their budgets have been drastically reduced due to the federal government's reduction in transfer payments! Traditionally most, if not all, provinces west of quebec had positive balances and growth. However times are changing... British Colombia is going through major problems and eastern provinces[N.B. N.S.] are now balancing their budgets.
As economists, we all know that government controls lead to inefficiencies in the economy. The healthcare and eduction budgets by the provinces have been slashed, while fed government maintains a surplus is not good news at all! That surplus couldn't even cover our interest payment on our national debt!!!!!!! But to most "surplus" sounds great. that surplus needs to be reduced by increasing speading or reducing taxes!!!!
The sick thing about the feds now is that they listen to private corps in their "we will setup here if you help subsidize the employees wages!" thats SICK!
Big liberals for big government control for big kickbacks!

http://www.nato.int/pfp/partners.htm
Link to the nato hompage, and they made something called NATO-Russia. That was what I was thinking of.

Ha, ROBO-Jesus, I just abandoned a comment I was gonna post regarding Robin Hood style taxation that Eye_Power alluded to.

All I wanted to say is that disproportionate tax laws that benefit the middle/lower class are not necessarily fair even when they're only screwing the upper 2%.

Couple of facts

Beginning in 1975 as the G6 with France,
Germany Italy, Japan, U.K., and U.S.
Became G7 in 1976 with Canada joining and
Russia officially gained full membership in 1998, and the annual gathering became known as the G8.

Tax-freedom day, (when taxpayers have earned enough money to pay their total tax bill for the year) occurs about 6 weeks later in Canada than US

Eye_Power: Your country and mine are two different places. The US was founded more on the basis of the equality of men. Now ironically you find equality more in Canada than the US.

am I haluscinating or did someone actually say that reducing taxes was necessary in order to reduce the national debt? Sweet Jesus, remember kids, logic and crack don't mix.

Great headline. Larf.

Spacecoyote,
I didn't say that...if your implying i did. Personally, I think national debt is a joke!!! To reduce it, you'd have to increase revenues by increasing taxes or interest rates... thus increasing value of the currency[which is bad for canada as it is an exporting nation] thus it would inturn reduce the economy and in turn create massive joblosses and then the gov would have to do something to stop unemployment....
the cycle re-begins.. cut taxes or decrease interest rate to boom the economy again!
In the end.. death and taxes are inevitable lololol

SpaceCoyote: I will not stand for this bigotry against crack fiends!

Ranold:
you+are = you're
lololol? laugh out loud out loud out loud, is there an echo in here?

ROOFLES! A/S/L? WAN2CYBAR?