Canadian Politics: Boring beyond Belief, or just Dull and Tedious?


caroljane

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Already the calls in western Canada to say fuckitall and separate are larger, now more than ever.  If we can’t build pipelines east or west and are going to be landlocked anyways we might as well keep our 50billion+/year and spend it on ourselves and not enable those who not only are fiscally irresponsible due to our enabling of them but act out completely against us as if we are the “enemy”.  

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20 hours ago, william.scherk said:

I listened to the Styx...

William,

While you were busy trying to slay the Styx dragon and defend the honor of King Trudeau, you left out one thing that underlies almost everything Styx talks about.

It's the pendulum of ideas. He doesn't use that phrase, but he talks about this all the time. Societies swing back and forth idea-wise and this swing can be measured by moral panics. There are Christian moral panics and there are social justice moral panics, just to name two.

So the magic sword you pulled out of the stone was a gotcha prop, not a weapon lethal to dragons. In all your Styx slaying, you assume the Canadian people are going to think the way they think today. They won't. That's not how humans work.

Right now, there's a swing of the pendulum going in the nationalist direction. It's not going to suddenly stop to allow Trudeau to play catch-up because of his poor election showing, nor does any maneuvering by a smaller party (in teaming up with Trudeau) to go in the opposite direction obliterate the swing. 

It's there. 

Also, there's another STRONG element that I predict will happen. Have you noticed that President Trump does not trash talk Trudeau? On the contrary, Trudeau has been caught trash talking Trump in public and in highly visible venues. With this election Trudeau got a very encouraging congratulations from the US President.

So here's the situation. Trudeau is not much of a deal maker. But deal making is all President Trump does. Who do you think is going to influence who when they get together?

I predict that Trudeau will take his place as decoration to be wrapped around Trump's little finger and, without knowing what hit him, he will be doing pro-nationalist stuff that is good for Canada despite his elitist ruling class cravings. Oh, he will keep a few crappy things around for show to the ruling class, but I think his administration, through no fault of his own, will be a fairly good one for average Canadians. Sometimes there is great value in being window dressing on the world stage.

But in the end, I agree with Styx that parliament will be gridlocked for most things during his administration and the people--feeling an ironically egalitarian distribution of frustration on all sides--will blame it on Trudeau and punish him for it.

Michael

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The premier of Alberta responds to a question about 'separatism' and national unity ...

 

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Well if Kenney can somehow force the issue byyyyy holding  Alberta’s money ransom then maybe that will bring the feds (and Quebec) to the bargaining table.  13-18 billion/year all of the sudden not being sent to Quebec?  perhaps our “Pétrole” will be seen a little less dirty eh?

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2 hours ago, Jules Troy said:

Well if Kenney can somehow force the issue byyyyy holding  Alberta’s money ransom then maybe that will bring the feds (and Quebec) to the bargaining table.  13-18 billion/year all of the sudden not being sent to Quebec?  perhaps our “Pétrole” will be seen a little less dirty eh?

You are welcome to become America's 51st state. What will you be called?

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Alberta? You will want an outlet to the ocean, so only if BC agrees. And since you are on top of Montana, you will undoubtedly have connections with that state including the shared Rocky Mountains.  Alberta has a lot of oil too. Chinook winds warm up your winters though Wiki said it is still pretty cold in the winter. That’s great. This will take a 99.9 percent Yea vote to make this idea work. Will Queen Elizabeth agree? We wouldn’t want the British Navy on our tails. Now if you promise to vote for Trump in 2020 it’s a done deal. You’ll get to have Congressmen and Senators too, which to me sounds like a much simpler system. Of course you will have The Bill of Rights to protect you too. You're just kidding right? Peter

Notes. After Saskatchewan, Alberta experiences the most tornadoes in Canada with an average of 15 verified per year.

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Green Party hater JJ McCullough gives a post-election analysis. The biggest question? -- does JJ fake his Canadian accent?

Secondary questions include "Will PM Blackface's Government Be Paralyzed By The Opposition?" and "How Did The Bloc Quebecois Deny The Liberals A Majority?" and "How Much Do Ontarians Hate Doug Ford?" (paraphrased for your enjoyment) ...



 

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4 hours ago, Jules Troy said:

Encana just pulled the Pin as a fuck you to Trudeau, is renaming itself and moving to the states.  Rednexit is gaining traction, who knows we may become North Texas sooner than we think.

And you would be welcome. Down here in the lower fifty we voted a REAL MAN into office. And by "we" I meant male and female Americans. We are close enough to reach out and touch, Jules. Go for it or stay where you are and change for the better. Peter  

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Good one, Brant. A political cartoon today showed President Trump standing on a map of the states that showed the mountainous regions of California on fire and President Trump says something like, "Nothing to worry about. The rising sea levels will soon put the fire out." 

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  • 10 months later...

British Columbia is having a 'snap' election.  Our premier received the 'writ' dissolving the legislature on September 21.

We vote October 24.

Does that seem like a pretty short season for an election?

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On 10/23/2019 at 8:34 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

I predict that Trudeau will take his place as decoration to be wrapped around Trump's little finger and, without knowing what hit him, he will be doing pro-nationalist stuff that is good for Canada despite his elitist ruling class cravings. Oh, he will keep a few crappy things around for show to the ruling class, but I think his administration, through no fault of his own, will be a fairly good one for average Canadians. Sometimes there is great value in being window dressing on the world stage.

The government presented its new Throne Speech setting out its parliamentary year ahead. It seems to be the usual Spend Like Drunken Sailor approach. National Child Care, Pharmacare, moar socialism.

On 10/23/2019 at 8:34 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

But in the end, I agree with Styx that parliament will be gridlocked for most things during his administration and the people--feeling an ironically egalitarian distribution of frustration on all sides--will blame it on Trudeau and punish him for it.

Although all polls are wrong, they are not offering any surprises at the moment, regionally. If an election were to happen today, the next Parliament would look an awful lot like the present one..

13 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

BC is where the rich folks in Canada live, too, isn't it?

It may depend on what definition of "the rich folks in Canada' you would accept. I'd suggest that the rich folks are often rich in real estate, so every major city will have its "Park Avenue" ... and the municipalities comprising metropolitan regions will often have a Westmount or West Vancouver and so on ... where the land and house upon it are the most expensive in the nation.

You could also cut the deck by GDP per capita by province, but it is going to aggregate every producer/individual into a metric that may not be useful. 

A better way to look at it could be "The Rich People in Canada" live relatively close to the coast to coast border.

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On 9/26/2020 at 10:46 AM, william.scherk said:

British Columbia is having a 'snap' election.  Our premier received the 'writ' dissolving the legislature on September 21.

We vote October 24.

I bought a mail-order ballot on the open market. We are so far ahead of you guys on the riggings it's not even funny.

voterigging.png

Not shown are the reverse sides, nor the giant folded poster-sized guide, nor the sixteen-page booklet that announces the election and all the various ways to get your vote to Elections BC. 

At this rate, it seems fifteen times more complicated than showing up in person. Check in at the right place, get ballot, use pencil, hand in ballot, done.  This is more like what I imagine the ChiComs are doing in American elections, printing up phonies and trying to confuse the issue -- not to mention that your ballots are likely to be sprawling questionnaires compared to ballots from single-vote/single riding systems like in Canadian provinces.

If anyone requests an actual mail-in package -- and/or is delivered a 'mass ChiCom mailing' or otherwise hinky mailer purporting to be from your county or state or secretary of state or board of elections or what have you ... it would be interesting to see the steps you need to take. Is your ballot as big as a Farrah Fawcett poster?  

arts-fawcett-poster-221.webp

-- our ballots are hand-counted under scrutineers. Do you know how your giant Farrah ballots get tallied? Verified Voting probably tells those thousand and one nights tales. 

In my mailer, this is all the Ballot Harvester gets for choices:

voterigging3.png

-- I asked for the Write-in ballot, as I have a secret plan.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/6/2020 at 2:23 PM, william.scherk said:

British Columbia is having a 'snap' election.  Our premier received the 'writ' dissolving the legislature on September 21.

We vote October 24.

This election was unlike the last one -- the main difference being that mail-in ballot numbers this time are relatively huge and unprecedented. So, there are preliminary totals from Election Day and Advance Polls (early voting), but the counting will not be completed until about three weeks from now.

It seems so far -- barring major swings -- that the current government has won a strong majority of seats in the provincial legislature. The standings at the moment are 55 seats for the New Democratic Party and around 30 for the Liberals.

For a brief opinion on "Why," 10 reasons why the B.C. NDP had its most successful election ever.

Edited by william.scherk
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/27/2019 at 4:09 PM, Peter said:

"Gloriana, oh Victoria!" as the theme song goes. It is odd looking at Victorian England on PBS and seeing how, in many ways, England was a very good place to be, perhaps second only to America. They were very civilized and free.   

I see that another season of "Victoria" is filming and it should air between March and August of 2021. We started watching "The Crown" about Elizabeth II again and I thought there would only be one episode available on Netflix but we watched two in a row. 

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Yes, Canadian politics can be a dreadful bore in its details, especially when viewed from outside. Although planning for the evacuation of a third of a million citizens from Hong Kong has reportedly been undertaken.

On 10/23/2019 at 8:34 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

I predict that Trudeau will take his place as decoration to be wrapped around Trump's little finger and, without knowing what hit him, he will be doing pro-nationalist stuff that is good for Canada despite his elitist ruling class cravings. [...]

Here's something that showed up via the Guardian, the latest snapshot from a long-running survey instrument that asks Canadians about "incoming."

Canadians increasingly open to welcoming immigrants and refugees – study

Quote

Despite a global pandemic that has destroyed economies and fanned nationalism around the world, Canadians say they are increasingly open to welcoming immigrants and refugees.

A new study from the polling firm Environics Institute found that attitudes among Canadians have become increasingly positive, even as millions remain out of work and the country faces grim economic projections.

 

“These views are not a blip. They’re not chance. They seem to be deeply rooted and widely spread,” said Andrew Parkin, executive director at Environics.

[...]

Researchers were curious to see if recent world events had dramatically shifted opinion, said Parkin.

“At first, we thought maybe Donald Trump would knock these positive trends. Maybe Canadians would catch the vibe of what’s going on in the States and start pulling back. That didn’t happen,” he said.

The emergence in 2019 of the anti-immigration People’s Party of Canada also failed to shift opinions.

Even the pandemic, which has so far millions of jobs and left Canadians in precarious financial situations, has not turned residents negative towards newcomers.

“If these views are not going to get knocked back by politics in the United States or a major health or an economic crisis, they’re probably not going to get knocked back,” he said.

The shifting attitudes are not found just in heavily populated and diverse cities like Toronto. Pollsters recorded increasing openness among older residents aligned with conservative political parties and in regions that have faced economic devastation.

Parkin pointed to Atlantic Canada, often compared to the US rust belt or northern England – rural areas where industry has left, the population is poorer and residents are older.

“In other countries, this all correlates with less openness to immigration. But in Atlantic Canada, they’ve realized that the more immigrants they have, the more businesses that are going to get started there.”

Part of this is probably the geographical realities of immigration to Canada. “For years, we’ve essentially had the luxury of being able to choose our immigrants because of where we’re located,” said Parkin, noting that Canada has largely favoured skilled immigrants.

[...]

I noticed something when Pierre Elliott Trudeau died.  There was an outpouring of 'patriotic/fond feeling' from generations of Canadian immigrants post-1965 -- especially Charter-era, who felt that it was Trudeau who 'designed' the welcoming framework for them and subsequent newcomers. 

I am not sure that the latest iteration of the Environics survey instrument represents a "moment" or a watershed, but it seems like this could be more or less true, from Parkin: “Increasingly, people see this not as an issue, but a question of identity,” he said. “And Canadians often see themselves as welcoming to people from all over the world.”

National identity gels around "national values," perhaps. We've been listening to our own PR bullshit for so long that we have finally come to believe it.  

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  • 4 months later...

Exciting new contest

(disclaimer)  Some conditions apply.. Any mentions of a Secret Plan are entirely in your own mind as such an entity does not exist and never did, and nobody in Canada ever even heard of it.

The Conservative party in Canada,familiarly the Tories,are traditionally the Blues, while the Grits are the reds, I know not why except that the slogan Better Red than Dead always made sense to me.

Our Conservative Party were known as the Progressive Conservatives until seventeen years ago, when they decided that enough progress had been made already and it was time for it to stop, especially as they had lost the last two elections, so they dropped the offensive adjective, and became plain conservatives again.

The voters agreed and they returned to power with Harper . But now they are out again with another election coming up. Leader Erin (affectionately called "Girly-man") OToole has hopes of singing   "WhenIrish Eyes are Smiling" with Biden and making him cry, like Mulroney did with Reagan.

So maybe another name change might be the charm again. I thought of Stop the Slippery Slope to Satan Conservatives, the 4 SS party, because the design possibilities are endless - double dollar signs for just a start. But of course I can't enter the name because I am rigging the naming contest, I mean impartiallyjudging it,

Fabulous valuable donated prizes will be awarded , and ALL , yes all, entrants will be given free, luxury transportation to the polling booth of your choice at the upcoming election, with unlimited rides guaranteed!

So don't delay ...enter early and often... in case the owner/operator oligarchy of Canadian Boring changes their minds!

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On 10/22/2019 at 12:30 PM, william.scherk said:

Styx further suggests that Trudeau will "get tossed" next time out. I think that is quite as likely as not. He then says what "you'll see [with the newly-elected House of Commons] is a situation [...] like a Boehner Congress situation where Trudeau is hamstrung and can't really get anything done." Emphasis added.

This shows that Styx didn't do much if any research on the composition of the new Commons. He seems to assume that the 3rd and 4th parties (NDP and the Bloc Quebecois) are going to hobble any federal initiatives promised during the campaign, thwarting Trudeau and boxing in the new government -- if not paralyzing it.

If Styx had dug in a bit he would have realized that it is the NDP who is going to most influence the order paper.  The NDP is most likely going to pull the government towards the left, being (with the Bloc) the leftmost party (when Lester Pearson had a minority in Parliament it was the NDP who forced a leftward bent and ushered in a nation-wide universal Medicare).

So, if Trudeau was, for example, liable to introduce some new socialist measure like subsidized dental care or expanded Pharmacare, will he be hobbled by the NDP, will he be stymied by his minority position?  Nope.  The NDP leader is going to try to push the government to the left. Not that there won't be a huge and fraught debate over any expansion of the welfare state ...

A real Red hot Liberal budget just dropped. The all-giving government drives its finances deeper in the hole. 

On 10/22/2019 at 12:30 PM, william.scherk said:

The biggest issue that Styx missed was a deepened regional split between 'conservative' and 'liberal' politics. The prairie provinces went almost fully red, while Quebec crushed out conservatives in favour of the liberal/left in the Bloc and Liberals. The Bloc wisely campaigned on 'increased autonomy' from Ottawa rather than a pure separatist platform.

I will check to see if Styx has revisited Canadian autocracy lately. I've enjoyed his broadcasts on Dutch issues ... as he lives in the Netherlands at the moment.

It's always interesting to be given a lesson on Canadian politics. If I had a one sentence/three second lesson on Red Autocratic Socialism in Canada to give stubborn pupil Karel O'Ligark,  I'd say "The autocratic socialist bent in our country came out of the Dirty Thirties in the prairie province of Saskatchewan."

If asked for a metaphor or example, I'd utter a terse "Doctor's strike. 1962." And maybe gaze off up the slippery slopes ...

sebestyen_f379_445text.jpg

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