[Captain Kwok]

Some counterpoints:

- Our military is in mostly bad shape, but I wouldn't say our navy is pathetic. It's actually fairly decent and up to date. A bit more funding and better use of it would go a long way for the rest of our forces. It's important to at least be able to enforce out territorial claims, especially up north.

- Space based weapons is certainly silly for us to consider. Agreeing to participate in any US missile shield just makes us more of a target, plus how likely will someone actually target a ballistic missile at us? Anyways, it's super expensive and not proven to be effective.

- Many people have a misconception that marriage is solely a religious ceremony. Back in the early middle ages, marriage was simply a vow between two people before some witnesses. Religion didn't really step in until later on. Anyways, marriage for anyone is fine by me as it doesn't affect my happiness nor does it affect the commitment I have made in my marriage. I do agree that churches shouldn't be forced to conduct cerimonies if they don't want to, that's something people seem to mention a lot.

- Abortion. This is a must. Of course, you'd want to restrict it to early term pregnancies unless there were mitigating medical circumstances. Better sex ed and more available contraception could go along ways here, plus the RU-486. Abortion should never be nor is intended as an after-the-fact contraception method.

- The environment is a major concern. In B.C., it's improving with more emphasis on sustainable logging activities and such. However, alternatives to fossil fuels need to pushed ahead. We're way behind Europe and Japan here!

- The conservative party is not a western based party, they're just enjoying greater support there at the moment. It's the underlying elements of the old alliance/reform party that a lot of us dislike in Ontario.