CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Ikantski posted:

The guy entered the political spotlight by punching a native in the face for 15 minutes and now he's tripling our boots on the ground in Syria and appointed the ex-chair of CD Howe as Minister of Finance.

Obama's actions in office (like the actions of every post war president) easily pass the bar for exactly the actions that we executed the Nazis for at Nuremburg. Trudeau is a lovely politician but at least so far he isn't a serial war criminal, which you basically have to become on day one if you become President. I don't think Trudeau would be any better than Obama if he had the same amount of power but the two positions just aren't comparable. It's like saying Rob Ford is worse than Kathleen Wynne or something -- the amount of damage they can do is on such a different scale that you can barely discuss them in the same context.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:12

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# ? May 15, 2024 05:30

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

PK loving SUBBAN posted:

Yeah but they're outflanking the NDP from the left!!!1!

This is both upsetting and true.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:14

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Helsing posted:

Obama's actions in office (like the actions of every post war president) easily pass the bar for exactly the actions that we executed the Nazis for at Nuremburg. Trudeau is a lovely politician but at least so far he isn't a serial war criminal, which you basically have to become on day one if you become President. I don't think Trudeau would be any better than Obama if he had the same amount of power but the two positions just aren't comparable. It's like saying Rob Ford is worse than Kathleen Wynne or something -- the amount of damage they can do is on such a different scale that you can barely discuss them in the same context.

Yeah but how bad would it be if Trudeau became president?

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:19

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

quote:

http://www.macleans.ca/economy/can-anything-save-new-brunswick/

Can anything save New Brunswick?

The province�s economy is in free fall, it has more deaths than births and an ugly language war to rival Quebec�s

Katherine McDonnell, aged 104, moved to the Mount Saint Joseph Nursing Home in Miramichi, N.B., four months ago. She was born in Rogersville, a mostly francophone town 50 km south of where she sits now, and lived most her life in nearby Nelson, in a home overlooking the river. She�d still be there were it not for an accident. �I fell on the floor and never walked again,� she says, chuckling in her wheelchair. She and her husband, John Dolan, had three children; a great-grandmother several times over, she has outlived John by a quarter-century and counting.

Along with her demeanour, McDonnell�s age has made her something of a legend in Miramichi�and for good reason. She is among the oldest people in the province, and her memories stretch back to when New Brunswick was an economic powerhouse driven in no small part by what was cut down, dug up and fished out of Miramichi.

Today, Miramichi is a microcosm of New Brunswick�s myriad social and demographic challenges. The closure of most of its mines, lumber and pulp and paper mills, along with the air force base in 1996, spurred an out-migration of its younger residents. The average age of the residents of the region of Campbellton�Miramichi, encompassing roughly a third of the province, is 49.4�the second-highest amongst Atlantic Canada�s 15 economic regions, according to Statistics Canada.

One of the few growth industries in the area is the housing and caring for those, like McDonnell, who have stayed behind. Last May, the government announced Miramichi would be the site for a 240-bed nursing home, which will add to the 4,500 existing nursing home beds in the province. The home, which will be the largest of its kind in the province, �will achieve our goals of creating jobs, growing our economy and supporting families,� Premier Brian Gallant said at the time. He said roughly the same thing a few days earlier about a government investment in a shipyard. Wood, metals and fish used to be New Brunswick�s economic staples; now, more and more, it is old age.

Present-day New Brunswick is testament to the well-worn adage that the story of Atlantic Canada is one of leaving for other places. Nearly 21,000 New Brunswickers�about the population of Dieppe, the province�s fourth-largest city�have left the province since 2005. Though Maritimers often yearn to come home, increasingly more New Brunswickers won�t do so in this lifetime. 2014 marked the first time in its history that there were more deaths than births in the province, a dubious honour shared by Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Nova Scotia.

It doesn�t help that New Brunswick is more drive-through than fly-over; thanks to successive governments and their vote-friendly promises of building roads, it is now possible to drive from the border of Quebec to Nova Scotia on a single tank of gas. The current Liberal government briefly considered installing tolls on its borders; a cynic would say it was to capitalize from the steady outflow of its residents. (The government eventually reneged on the idea.)

Those who stay are faced with these hardening economic and demographic realities, along with a burgeoning language war and a political culture steeped in linguistic tribalism arguably rivalling even that of Quebec. As a result, governing New Brunswick often means pitting north against south, French against English and urban against rural, amidst a stumbling economy and crippling debt, projected to hit $13.5 billion at the end of the fiscal year. (Other provinces like Quebec and Ontario may carry more debt per capita, but they�re better positioned to manage that debt.)

Meanwhile, Brian Gallant�s Liberal government has cut the number of days for debate in the legislature to historic lows, and limited media access to the premier and his caucus. (Despite repeated attempts, Maclean�s was unable to secure an interview with Gallant for this article.)

�You�d think small would be simple, but New Brunswick is the classic example of how that really isn�t true,� says Robert Campbell, president of Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. �For a little province like this, we just can�t get our act together.�

Twenty years ago, New Brunswick was in enviable financial shape. Former premier Frank McKenna�s government produced successive surplus budgets and made a significant dent in the province�s debt. �A lot was done to restructure the province during the McKenna years,� says federal auditor-general Michael Ferguson, who held the same position in New Brunswick from 2005 to 2010.

Fast forward to 2015, when economist Richard Saillant published Over A Cliff?, a compendium of New Brunswick�s various economic and social ailments. As the title suggests, the picture isn�t pretty. Saillant invokes the possibility of outright bankruptcy for the province, which has posted five straight budget deficits. An aging population, out-migration, diminished economic opportunities and at times profligate governments put New Brunswick in the dubious company of Greece, Portugal and Italy, only with more trees and less Old World charm.

�I�d say that New Brunswick, and Atlantic Canada more generally, have missed the urbanization boat,� Saillant says. �While there are individual successes in the Maritimes, world-first innovation is disproportionately concentrated in large urban areas.�

About half of New Brunswick�s population lives in rural areas, more than double the number in neighbouring Quebec, according to Statistics Canada. For the government, it means services are more expensive, particularly in the areas of health and education, which together make up 60 per cent of the provincial budget. It also means fewer higher-paying jobs and more reliance on an extraction economy and the federal government. Federal cash transfers make up about 36 per cent of the province�s budget, the second-highest percentage in the country, behind Prince Edward Island.

It also means rural areas have outsized political clout. Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton, the province�s three largest urban centres representing a total of about 188,000 people, have a combined 16 seats. The remaining 33 are mostly rural ridings, which tend to jealously guard their services and institutions even as their populations diminish.

The result, according to former provincial Liberal cabinet minister Kelly Lamrock, is a continuation of New Brunswick�s unsustainable status quo. �We�ve targeted our policies on just getting re-elected and so we prop up failing industries and we bail out failing companies. Atlantic Yarns went under and lost an $80-million loan. The government I was a part of lent $70 million to [Miramichi-based] Atcon, a failing construction company that went under a year later. The Marriott call centre closed. It turns out they were subsidized to the tune of $20,000 a job and just left when the subsidies ran out. And the list goes on. We have generally been about keeping the majority of people comfortable rather than attracting new people.�

New Brunswick�s electoral map reveals another latter-day truth about the province. Following the 2014 elections, with a few exceptions, it is divided between Liberal red in the north part of the province and Progressive Conservative blue in the south. Not coincidentally, this is the rough divide between New Brunswick�s French and English populations. There are 10 sitting anglophone MLAs amongst the Liberals government�s 27 members. The Progressive Conservatives have exactly one francophone MLA in their ranks.

As the country�s sole officially bilingual province, New Brunswick is often held up as the closest thing to that hoary Canadian ideal of compromise and compassion, with the two solitudes living in harmony on the same chunk of rock. Certainly, operating in both French and English has had economic benefits. In the mid-1990s, attracted by the bilingual workforce and government subsidies, call centres and office-support operations began to set up in the province. Today, these industries employ roughly 15,000 people, according to a 2015 government report. It also says bilingualism has helped foster business with Quebec, to the tune of $3.9 billion in yearly export revenues between 2007 and 2011.

But New Brunswick has also seemingly imported some of Quebec�s language woes, complete with sign laws, absurdist legal battles and doomsday-style rhetoric from linguistic camps. The most recent kerfuffle involves the busing of school children.

Last spring, New Brunswick NDP Leader Dominic Cardy suggested French and English students should be allowed to take buses together, if only to save on costs. (French and English schools are operated separately from each other, but in a few cases, one bus was able to serve both schools). Education Minister Serge Rousselle expressed his anger at such a thing, and was further angered when he learned that a handful of francophone students in Richibucto (pop. 1,965) were being bused to school on English rolling stock. In a statement to the National Post, Rousselle promised to rid his department of what he called an �administrative anomaly.� The issue of whether being bused in one�s mother tongue is a Charter right is currently before New Brunswick Court of Appeal.

In actual fact, busing children according to the language they speak doesn�t appear to be more expensive. According to its 2015-16 budget, the province spends about $57 million a year to bus nearly 98,000 students, or roughly $580 a student. In contrast, Nova Scotia spends about $910 a student.

For English-language advocates, the issue is less about cost than what they see as favouritism of French New Brunswickers. According to Statistics Canada, 71 per cent of French New Brunswickers are bilingual, while only about 15 per cent of the province�s English can speak French. �More than 70 per cent of the province is disqualified from a majority of government positions, and a growing number of private sector positions,� says Sharon Buchanan, the president of the Anglophone Rights Association of New Brunswick (ARANB).

There are other insidious effects of French in New Brunswick, Buchanan says. The city of Dieppe has issued fines to businesses that neglected to put French first in their bilingual signage, and an attempt was made to change the name of Moncton�s Robinson Court to honour Acadian poet G�rald Leblanc.

Buchanan, 47, herself a unilingual English manager at a call centre, says her kids can�t get work beyond Tim Hortons because they don�t speak French well enough. She says she�s been threatened. �One of our members was spit on while passing out ARA flyers in front of Wal-Mart in Moncton,� she says.

Language issues aren�t particularly new in the province. There was once a fledgling separatist Acadian party, Parti Acadien, which had similar goals and socialist sensibilities as the Parti Qu�b�cois in Quebec. There was also the Confederation of Regions Party, an anti-bilingualism party that sent several elected members to the legislature in 1991 before the party self-imploded four years later.

�I think [tension over language] is at a level not seen since the 1980s,� says Christian Michaud, a constitutional lawyer who has worked for the New Brunswick government on language cases in the past. Part of the blame falls on the francophone minority, he says. �We put too much weight on the court system. As francophones, we�ve evolved through the courts, and we�ve won. But we�ve lost touch with the population. We seem to think the way to get things moving is to attack it in the public sphere.�

At the same time, �everything in government happens in English. There needs to be more francophone spaces within government.�

Michaud sips his cortado and looks out at downtown Moncton. It�s a bustling place, with the traffic jams to prove it. Moncton is the fastest-growing region in Atlantic Canada, thanks in large part to the francophone migration from the north. For English rights groups, it�s another sore point. Moncton is booming largely because it is bilingual, and therefore home to many of the call-centre and public sector jobs. �Yeah, nobody is happy here,� Michaud says, laughing. He�s joking, of course.

For the last decade, New Brunswick has had two successive one-term governments�an anomaly in a province known for political dynasties. Premier Louis J. Robichaud served for 10 years. His successor, Richard Hatfield, was in power for nearly 17. McKenna also served for 10 years; he came to power in 1987, when his Liberal government won every seat in the legislature.

Former minister Kelly Lamrock says the recent, quick-change governments are a result of poor leadership. �We�ve had a lot of premiers who don�t meet the basic test of, �If you are not scripted by your advisers, can you explain why you�ve decided what you�ve decided?� As a result we�re getting them out of any situation where they might be unscripted,� Lamrock says.

Coincidence or not, the Gallant government has reduced the number of days in which he and his caucus would be forced to face such scrutiny. In February, the government shut down the legislature, which will allow the provincial budget to move through committee without daily opposition questions. Media access to the premier, meanwhile, �is becoming increasingly scarce,� says New Brunswick press gallery president Adam Huras. Limiting access is old hat, if only because it�s so successful�just ask Stephen Harper. The downside, as Lamrock sees it, is a general erosion of the regard for the political class, exactly when New Brunswick needs strong political leadership.

�We�ve got some incredibly creative people doing some very good things. But there�s a sense that politics isn�t where you make a difference. You make a film, you start a small business. You don�t go to the legislature,� Lamrock says.

Greg Hemmings has done both, 115 km south of the legislature in Fredericton. In 2007, Hemmings set up his film production studio in Saint John. The gritty counterpoint to Fredericton�s staid bureaucracy, Saint John�s mix of cheap rent and industrial decrepitude has sparked an East Coast artistic mini-renaissance�like Detroit, albeit with a heartier social safety net.

Hemmings House, the film studio, has produced documentaries about computer coders in Estonia and youth orchestras in Venezuela, among others, from its offices in the city�s uptown district. He is relentlessly bullish about the city. �I dare say, it�s thriving,� Hemmings says. He feels about the same about New Brunswick in general. �There�s a scrappy entrepreneurialism here,� says the usually bearded and always smiling 39-year-old. Today, Hemmings House employs 10 people. �In 2002, Enterprise Saint John [a government-funded entrepreneurial initiative] gave me a loan, an apprenticeship and then an award. It was like a hot knife through butter to get interest in what I was doing.�

Hemmings�s optimism for his home province is heart-warming. Given the state of New Brunswick, hopefully it�s contagious as well.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:20

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

It is utterly astonishing (well, maybe not from Macleans) that someone could write even a survey article about NB's troubles and not even briefly mention the Irvings, who fill in the first few rows on that eye chart on their own.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:27

BallsFalls: Oct 18, 2013

Ikantski posted:

The guy entered the political spotlight by punching a native in the face for 15 minutes and now he's tripling our boots on the ground in Syria and appointed the ex-chair of CD Howe as Minister of Finance.

And weed

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:33

Eox: Jun 20, 2010; by Fluffdaddy

PT6A posted:

Admittedly, it did raise awareness for their cause, because now I know that the Ethiopian government is trying to take land from the Oromo, and apparently doing so violently, whereas before I'd never heard of it. Whereas I know all about Falun Gong and I just really, really don't loving care.

the best part about Falun Gong is how hard the Epoch Times denies being funded by them. And related to that, the time the epoch times blamed China for Anonymous getting access to Stuxnet

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:42

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

BallsFalls posted:

And weed

I just stick to the things he's actually done tyvm

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:54

heehee: Sep 5, 2012; haha wow i cant believe how lucky we got to win

Dallan Invictus posted:

It is utterly astonishing (well, maybe not from Macleans) that someone could write even a survey article about NB's troubles and not even briefly mention the Irvings, who fill in the first few rows on that eye chart on their own.

Do you happen to have this article still in your history or saved anywhere? It got deleted.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 22:59

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Dallan Invictus posted:

It is utterly astonishing (well, maybe not from Macleans) that someone could write even a survey article about NB's troubles and not even briefly mention the Irvings, who fill in the first few rows on that eye chart on their own.

Media jobs are precarious and Canada is a very small country in the grand scheme of things, with an insular elite. There's a reason that we have no equivalent to the muckracking journalism that you see in the USA, or even any real media criticism at all. Everyone goes-along-to-get-along in Canada and it would be highly irrational from a career perspective to get on the bad side of the Irvings or any other powerful family or interest group. I'm impressed to see this Bruce Livesey fellow you linked to is actually taking a swing at the Irvings, we could use more of that in this country.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 23:03

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

heeheex2 posted:

Do you happen to have this article still in your history or saved anywhere? It got deleted.

Sorry, I read it a couple of days ago and hadn't noticed that it got blanked in the meantime. Google Cache isn't turning up the version I read either so I guess wait until May?

Helsing posted:

Media jobs are precarious and Canada is a very small country in the grand scheme of things, with an insular elite.

I chalk up most of Canada's problems, such as they are, to being too small and too spread out to put together the required critical mass of people in proximity to sustain much of real import, whether it's political movements or think tanks or cultural organs or media outlets.

# ? Mar 11, 2016 23:20

David Corbett: Feb 6, 2008; Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.

Nice to see Miramichi coming up. My great-great-great-great grandfather moved to Canada there. :canada:

# ? Mar 11, 2016 23:24

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Dallan Invictus posted:

I chalk up most of Canada's problems, such as they are, to being too small and too spread out to put together the required critical mass of people in proximity to sustain much of real import, whether it's political movements or think tanks or cultural organs or media outlets.

We sustain think-tanks, political movements and media outlets just fine. It's just that they are a reflection of the Canadian public in general, which is to say they're horrid.

The CFIB and the Fraser Institute and that sort of rubbish seems to have no problem existing, nor any of our media conglomerates.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 00:00

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

This is why I said "much" rather than "any", because a) a handful of examples don't make a sustainable ecosystem, especially if said system is supposed to be competitive or even just avoid being as incestuous and insular as Helsing describes, and b) none of those examples are much more than "big fish in a small pond" and this is precisely what makes them mediocre at best - the markets/economies that fund them and the populace that staffs them are insufficient to support doing what they need to do in any sort of excellent way, particularly when "what they need to do" needs to interact with the rather vast physical stretch of this country and the fixed costs that imposes, and/or needs to make a profit while doing so.

Dallan Invictus fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Mar 12, 2016

# ? Mar 12, 2016 00:17

unlimited shrimp: Aug 30, 2008

David Corbett posted:

Nice to see Miramichi coming up. My great-great-great-great grandfather moved to Canada there.

hi5 miramichi ancestor buddy

Mine came over as a German mercenary to fight the Murricans in their Revolution and then decided to stay because eh why not.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 01:15

David Corbett: Feb 6, 2008; Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.

In less happy news, it seems that either three or four people have been taken to the hospital following a shooting at a Muslim cemetery near Cochrane. ~~Fortunately, thus far, it seems that no one has been killed.~~ ~~As of this point, at least one of the victims has died.~~ Apparently everyone is still alive.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/up-to-four-people-suffering-from-gunshot-wounds-being-treated-at-foothills

A massive police presence has surrounded the hospital, with heavily-armed Calgary police tactical units guarding the front door. This leads me to believe that it was probably gang-related, perhaps involving the Somali community.

Edit: Apparently a skirmish erupted at the end of a funeral and everyone was gone by the time the cops showed up. The victims were apparently transported to the hospital by fellow funeral-goers. A relative, who is currently at the Foothills Hospital on a totally unrelated matter, mentioned that the place was suddenly swarmed by police, who came running in with great urgency.

Edit 2: The police don't think that a suspect is presently at large, which suggests to me that there were multiple gunmen and that all of them are now at the hospital. (Or that there was a single gunman and he was subdued by others there.)

David Corbett fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Mar 12, 2016

# ? Mar 12, 2016 01:42

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

David Corbett posted:

In less happy news, it seems that four people have been taken to the hospital following a shooting at a Muslim cemetery near Cochrane. Fortunately, thus far, it seems that no one has been killed.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/up-to-four-people-suffering-from-gunshot-wounds-being-treated-at-foothills

A massive police presence has surrounded the hospital, with heavily-armed Calgary police tactical units guarding the front door. This leads me to believe that it was probably gang-related, perhaps involving the Somali community.

Oh Christ, I heard about the shootings, but I thought it might be hate-crime related. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than Somali gang violence, or if it really makes a difference when three (I heard a correction that said three people got shot, I could be wrong) people have been shot :smith:

# ? Mar 12, 2016 01:45

Chicken: Apr 23, 2014

It's election time in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and you know what that means! Candidates' social media accounts are being mined for misogyny, racism, homophobia, and anything else incriminating, immoral, unethical, or just weird.

First, to Saskatchewan, where two NDP candidates have already stepped down. Some choice quotes:

quote:

In response to a story about the RU-486 abortion pill arriving in Canada, a post on the Facebook page of Mark Jeworski on Aug. 8, 2015 read: �Brad Wall�s mother should have taken the abortion pill!!!�

quote:

On the night of the federal election, following Justin Trudeau�s victory on Oct. 19, 2015, a post from the account of Jeworski read: �On the bright side with pot going to be legal I can be high as f� when Canada falls apart, but I�ll be high and not care.� Later in that same thread, a post from Jeworski read: �Well I�m pulling out in the spring, why put myself through s�!!! F� it.�

In a Dec. 17, 2014 Facebook post, Jeworski posted that Saskatchewan Party MLA �Bob Bjornerud is a penis,� and that �you Sask. Party guys can�t stand anything that doesn�t suck Brad Walls a�.� Later in that same post, after stating that talk-radio host John Gormley and political columnist Murray Mandryk both �suck Brad Walls a�,� Jeworski posted, �Be f�ed if somebody else has an opinion.�

The social media stir comes one day after Saskatoon Northwest candidate Clayton Wilson was taken off the ballot by the party. Wilson was removed for what Broten said was a post in which Wilson was making �light of domestic violence.� Broten acknowledged that Wilson�s social media post � which has since been deleted � was made �many years ago,� but said he has a zero-tolerance policy on the issue. One 2013 post circulated to media by the governing Saskatchewan Party showed a photo with the words: �A true gentleman holds the door for his woman then smacks her rear end.� A day earlier, social media posts from Wilson were made public in which he referred to �stupid farmers.�

A left-winger who smokes weed and calls Conservatives penises? Somebody buy this guy an account!

In Manitoba, a Liberal candidate has stepped down and NDPer Wab Kinew is under fire. Some more quotes:

quote:

For example, one of Hall's tweets from 2012 asks, "If a whore screams in the bedroom and no one is around to hear it, is she really a whore?"

Another tweet from 2011 says, "Killin' them with kindness doesn't work if they're born bitches."

Critics also pointed to 7 Deadly Women, a novel Hall wrote in 2011.

In a YouTube video promoting the book, the main character describes "seven types of women that I have found to have taken control of my story," including "the slut," the "good girl," "the virgin" and "the crazy bitch." In the novel, he compares explicit sex acts by women to driving a race car.

quote:

Selected tweets from Wab Kinew:
"Riding in my limo back to my king sized sweet feeling really bad for those kids in Attawapiskat #haha #terrible #inative" � Oct. 17, 2009
"Is going to wrestling class� Because jiu-jitsu wasn't gay enough" � June 2, 2009
"Nothin better than grappling with other large sweaty men for two hours. Wait, no� I meant to say p----! There's nothing better than p----" � July 7, 2009
"F---, I just ran over a cat. Animal is remarkably calm. I'd be screaming like a lol bitch if my hindlegs were just crushed" � Aug. 13, 2009
"Is it true you can get (H1N1) from kissing fat chicks?" � Oct. 9, 2009
"Just got into a shouting match on Selkirk avenue with some young punk who insisted CTV > CBC. Time to get the gat" � Sept. 20, 2010
"No UFC this weekend, but I did see a 300-pound chick working some nice GnP last night." � March 13, 2011

It makes me wonder how shoddy the background checks are for candidates. We've just been through the federal election where several candidates were found out to be racist or peeing in sinks and subsequently dropped out of the race. I'd think that negative publicity would be enough that parties would really be going over candidates' social media with a fine toothed comb. The Wab Kinew one is a little different because several years ago he owned up to his past, admitted he wasn't a very nice person, and then strove to become a better person. Some of those tweets are pretty bad (I laughed at the CTV>CBC one), but if he's apologized and hasn't tweeted homophobia or misogyny for 6 years, I guess that's ok? This is something that's only going to become more of a problem as people who have been on social media since they were children become old enough to run for office, so I guess we can all look forward to seeing a bunch of lovely Facebook posts and edgy tweets every time an election rolls around.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 04:23

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Chicken posted:

"F---, I just ran over a cat. Animal is remarkably calm. I'd be screaming like a lol bitch if my hindlegs were just crushed" � Aug. 13, 2009

Chicken posted:

I guess that's ok?

Nope. Maybe if it was a beagle.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 04:35

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brock-university-sexual-harrassment-1.3485814

quote:

Brock University in southern Ontario says a professor who was found to have sexually harassed one of his students late one night in his office is no longer "assigned to a class and is not on campus."

The statement follows a CBC News investigation that revealed this morning that Brock had warned a former student to keep quiet about an internal investigation that determined her professor gave her alcohol and tried to force himself on her sexually.

Brock U. still garbage in 2016.

edit:

lol

namaste friends fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Mar 12, 2016

# ? Mar 12, 2016 05:37

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

Wab Kinew owned a lot of the lovely things he said.

I have a problem with calling people out for things they won't defend.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 05:49

a primate: Jun 2, 2010

These social media witch hunts are certainly going to narrow the playing field as more and more people are part of online communities. Honestly some of those things are pretty bad, and obviously some of those candidates shouldn't be running, but it's kind of worrying since even intelligent candidates are likely to have said or done something stupid when they were younger.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 06:50

McGavin: Sep 18, 2012

a primate posted:

These social media witch hunts are certainly going to narrow the playing field as more and more people are part of online communities. Honestly some of those things are pretty bad, and obviously some of those candidates shouldn't be running, but it's kind of worrying since even intelligent candidates are likely to have said or done something stupid when they were younger.

Maybe people should stop being such lovely assholes in the first place. Or if you're a lovely rear end in a top hat maybe you shouldn't run for public office.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 06:57

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Imagine if Hedy fry or jenny kwan or loving svend Robinson had Twitter in the 90s

loving lol

Oh man I forgot about bill vanderzalm

# ? Mar 12, 2016 06:59

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

would follow WAC Bennett

# ? Mar 12, 2016 07:18

Chicken: Apr 23, 2014

Amor de Cosmos tweeting sick burns at a drunken rambling racist Sir John would be cool.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 07:20

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

I bet King's tweets would have had a major Losethos vibe to them

# ? Mar 12, 2016 07:24

A Typical Goon: Feb 25, 2011

a primate posted:

These social media witch hunts are certainly going to narrow the playing field as more and more people are part of online communities. Honestly some of those things are pretty bad, and obviously some of those candidates shouldn't be running, but it's kind of worrying since even intelligent candidates are likely to have said or done something stupid when they were younger.

If you're running for public office, delete the Twitter account that you used to call women whores with. It's really loving easy

# ? Mar 12, 2016 10:48

HackensackBackpack: Aug 20, 2007; Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?

A Typical Goon posted:

If you're running for public office, delete the Twitter account that you used to call women whores with. It's really loving easy

No, convert it into your campaign Twitter. That is much easier and better. @Vote_WeedlordBonerhitler69.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 14:19

MA-Horus: Dec 3, 2006; I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Bill Aberhart's twitter would be something for posterity to record for sure. Alternating between "100 DOLLARS PER MONTH FOR EVERY ALBERTAN", stuff about how awesome hitler and mussolini are, and bible quotes.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 15:16

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

I'm secretly Justin Trudeau but nobody ever figured out how SA works when they were vetting me.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 15:25

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Liberals are shocked that what the NDP told everyone in September is true

quote:

The Liberal government says much of the funding it was counting on for First Nations education was quietly removed from the books by the previous Conservative government, leaving them to scramble ahead of their first budget on March 22.

Also this http://aptn.ca/news/2015/09/30/trudeau-responds-to-ndp-fire-over-first-nation-education-funding-discrepancy/

# ? Mar 12, 2016 15:31

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Mar 12, 2016 19:03

St. Dogbert: Mar 17, 2011

Cultural Imperial posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brock-university-sexual-harrassment-1.3485814

Brock U. still garbage in 2016.

edit:

lol

I'm a student at Brock, and the student body is rightfully pissed about what's happened. The administration won't be able to sweep this under the rug.

The irony of it is that Brock's always trumpeting how progressive it is regarding campus sexual violence - there's a dedicated support centre for victims, posters and signage promoting consent slapped everywhere, etc. Gonna be a lot harder to spread that message, now that we know it doesn't apply equally to the faculty.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 20:12

Furnaceface: Oct 21, 2004

The best thing about the Something Awful Forums is that it prevents everyone that posts here from ever running in politics. :v:

# ? Mar 12, 2016 20:18

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Mar 12, 2016 20:19

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

St. Dogbert posted:

I'm a student at Brock, and the student body is rightfully pissed about what's happened. The administration won't be able to sweep this under the rug.

The irony of it is that Brock's always trumpeting how progressive it is regarding campus sexual violence - there's a dedicated support centre for victims, posters and signage promoting consent slapped everywhere, etc. Gonna be a lot harder to spread that message, now that we know it doesn't apply equally to the faculty.

The government should really just pass a loving law forbidding universities or other private entities from "investigating" sexual assault. If there's evidence that something may have happened then call the police.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 20:22

Furnaceface: Oct 21, 2004

Im going to run for the NDP in Barrie North next election and put my entire posting history at the front so that everyone knows my horrible opinions on games, music and hockey.

Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Mar 12, 2016 20:53

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

If Ford and Trump can do as well as they have then maybe its time to put Cultural Imperial's name on the ballot.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 21:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 15, 2024 05:30

Furnaceface: Oct 21, 2004

Helsing posted:

If Ford and Trump can do as well as they have then maybe its time to put Cultural Imperial's name on the ballot.

Only works if youre white and wealthy.

PT6A its your time to shine.

# ? Mar 12, 2016 21:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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