McGavin posted:

MAID should be expanded to people who get brutally owned online.

New Coke posted:

Sorry, but I have to add this: a child preferring to talk to a friend or teacher about their gender identity or sexual orientation first doesn't necessarily mean a bad parent. Even when they trust that their parent will be supportive, it's an emotional conversation, and it's not uncommon for people to prefer to prefer to start by talking things through in a context where the stakes are lower.

This is all the more reason that this notion of "parental rights" is bullshit, of course. If my child were to go through a lot of thought and preparation, and someone else denied both of us the opportunity for her to do that on her own terms, then I'd be absolutely furious.

McGavin posted:

Ford is corrupt and stupid, but he will reverse course at the slightest pushback. Smith is a true believer in her bullshit.

Maneck posted:

She's not a true believer in anything except how her being in power is. She's pandering to wackjobs who spend their days watching Fox News and wish Canada was more like the imaginary version of the US that gets talked about on there.

Lassitude posted:

That Alberta anti-trans law feels like something that must be highly susceptible to appeal. Mature minors with adult capacity have been able to give informed consent for everything up to refusing blood transfusions and dying as a consequence. Limiting the ability to consent to treatments related to gender identity/expression, which are a protected right otherwise, feels like it's way too arbitrary.

COPE 27 posted:

Weird that a Canadian politician said a place was uninhabited except for all the indigineous people living there.

Glimpse posted:

Happy to be wrong.

Dreylad posted:

As for ford and culture war stuff, he'll do whatever he thinks is popular. in the US a lot of this stuff ends up being electoral poison in the long run, but you can never predict if someone figures out the right mix of cruelty and think-of-the-children to turn into a policy people will vote for.

quote:

'Pierre is going to win': PC insiders privately fear more MPPs will abandon Doug Ford for Team Poilievre

Blindsided by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre poaching one of his provincial cabinet ministers to run federally, Premier Doug Ford is girding for more departures.

As the premier gathers with Progressive Conservatives for a policy convention in Niagara Falls this weekend, he is mindful that Poilievre may pilfer more of his caucus for a federal election expected next year.

Ford's turf is fertile ground for the federal Conservatives because PC MPPs represent dozens of ridings that are also held by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals.

That means veterans who have won back-to-back provincial elections — and have local name recognition — could help the rookie federal Tory leader topple Liberal incumbents, especially in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that is crucial to a Poilievre victory.

"I wouldn't say they're jumping ship," Ford insisted Wednesday in Aurora when asked about the surprise departure of former minister of red tape reduction Parm Gill on Jan. 25 and the potential for others to leave.

"I think the world of Parm, I wish him all the best. He was a federal MP before," he said, referring to Gill's service in the caucus of prime minister Stephen Harper between 2011 and 2015.

Asked what he would say to any of his caucus thinking about departing for federal pastures, Ford said, "My message is to anyone — no matter when I ran my private company or run the government — no one has a handcuff on anyone."

Hours after the premier's comments — and nearly a week after Gill bolted — Poilievre issued a statement.
"Parm will be an asset to our common sense Conservative team in our mission to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime," said the federal leader.

Poilievre's enthusiasm for Gill's arrival isn't shared broadly by others within the party, some of whom deride the Ford Tories as "conservative-lite."
Several federal Conservatives admitted to the Star some confusion as to why Gill was brought on since they don't see the ideological stars aligning between the national party and its Ontario cousin.

The unexpected resignation of the Milton MPP, who only won his seat in June 2022 by 1,680 votes, has sent a jolt through Queen's Park.

Sources told the Star the provincial Tories are worried that MPPs representing ridings in Toronto, Peel, Halton and York Region, as well as some in northern Ontario, may jump to Poilievre's surging federal Conservatives.

Public opinion polls show they have a healthy lead over Trudeau's three-term Liberal government with an election scheduled to be held by October 2025.

"Why wouldn't they think about it? Pierre is going to win and they can make a lot more money" as federal representatives, said one concerned Ford Tory, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations.

Indeed, there was grumbling in PC ranks after the Star reported on Jan. 17 that the premier would keep MPPs' salaries frozen at the same level they have been since 2008.

The base salary for an MPP is $116,550, while Tory parliamentary assistants earn $133,799 and cabinet ministers make $165,851. The MPPs' pension plan was eliminated in 1996.

In contrast, MPs, who receive annual raises in April and have a pension, had base pay of $194,600 last year while federal ministers made $287,400 and Liberal MPs who serve as parliamentary secretaries earn $213,400.

Publicly at least, Ford stresses he is not worried about an exodus, emphasizing his party's resilience.
"I believe that the people of Ontario have a lot of confidence in us — all you have to do is look at the polls," the premier said at Wednesday's crime-fighting announcement with federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

That was an apparent reference to the Star's monthly tracking poll conducted by Abacus Data.

The most recent survey, released last week, had Ford's Tories holding steady at 38 per cent support, with Bonnie Crombie's Liberals at 27 per cent, Marit Stiles's New Democrats at 23 per cent and Mike Schreiner's Greens at five per cent.

Using online panels based on the Lucid exchange platform, Abacus surveyed 995 Ontarians Jan. 18 to 23. Although opt-in polls cannot be assigned a margin of error, for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have one of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Another high-ranking provincial Tory said fears of the federal party raiding their benches are "overblown" and the premier isn't concerned about a brain drain.
While Ford, who works closely with the Trudeau Liberals and counts Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as a personal friend, has only met Poilievre briefly, some of his cabinet ministers are supporters of the federal party.

According to Elections Canada disclosures, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Education Minister Stephen Lecce, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford each donated money to the federal Tories last year.

Bethlenfalvy (Pickering-Uxbridge), Calandra (Markham-Stouffville) and Sarkaria (Brampton South) have Liberal MPs as their federal counterparts. Lecce (King-Vaughan) has a Tory MP in his riding.

Rickford's Kenora-Rainy River seat has slightly different boundaries, with part of his riding represented by a Tory and part by a Liberal MP. He was a minister in the Harper government.

Poilievre's inner circle is populated by people who once worked for Ford but are no longer close to the premier, including the federal leader's most influential adviser, Jenni Byrne, deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, chief of staff Ian Todd, party executive director Mike Crase, lawyer Michael Wilson and press secretary Sebastian Skamski, among others.

Despite — or perhaps because of — those long-standing relationships, there are tensions between the federal and provincial parties.
In part, that's because those around Ford and Poilievre are well aware of their political history: Ontario voters traditionally opt for different parties to be in power at Queen's Park and Ottawa at the same time.

The phenomenon even has a name: Underhill's balance theory, named for the famed Canadian political scientist Frank Underhill, who also wrote the Regina Manifesto that led to the modern-day New Democratic Party.

Over the past 80 years, for example, different parties have been in power federally and in Ontario 85 per cent of the time.

That suggests when the Tories are in the ascendance in Ottawa, the Liberals or the New Democrats do better at Queen's Park and vice versa.

Time — and the next federal and provincial elections — will tell if that trend continues.

Mr. Apollo posted:

Speaking of Ford and Poilievre: https://apple.news/Aqx7uDlywRKW_690oQg2gtQ

apatheticman posted:

If only the libs spent the last year or so building up a leader from within to hand the reigns off to rather than Trudeau loving around.

infernal machines posted:

There's something amusing about the caucus being so mercenary and power hungry that the party fears enough of them will jump ship midterm that it'll cause a problem.

Nice party you've got there.

Furnaceface posted:

I know it seems stupid but I swear they want to lose. Maybe to force Trudeau out since he wont go on his own. Maybe the numbers behind the curtain show bad times ahead and they would prefer the Cons be at the helm when the ship goes down. Maybe they are losing control of their own party and they see this as their only way to hit a reset button.

Or maybe they are just incompetent dingbats high on their own supply.

Either way, unless its a Con minority we are in for some rough loving times ahead.

Albino Squirrel posted:

I take some comfort in the fact that most of the power in this country rests in the hands of the premiers, so Poilievre's potential damage is mitigated.

Except I live in Alberta godDAMMIT-

Pleads posted:

*I don't actually know if there are any good premiers

Pleads posted:

Manitoba's hasn't had time to be a shitter, I guess?

apatheticman posted:

If only the libs spent the last year or so building up a leader from within to hand the reigns off to rather than Trudeau loving around.

Furnaceface posted:

I know it seems stupid but I swear they want to lose. Maybe to force Trudeau out since he wont go on his own. Maybe the numbers behind the curtain show bad times ahead and they would prefer the Cons be at the helm when the ship goes down.

Willatron posted:

Fidelitious posted:

I went to go look at the list of premiers and it is indeed pretty depressing.

I don't know a single thing about Andrew Furey, does he suck or what?

TheKingofSprings posted:

Damecca Lounge, it was amazing

COPE 27 posted:

You will still be able to get an abortion in Ontario, but only if you have at least 25,000 optimum points

Mr. Apollo posted:

https://x.com/khelsilem/status/1753510821467230699?s=46&t=eYnb6uC9Nqku2TRAz1AKtQ

Fart Amplifier posted:

https://twitter.com/ABDanielleSmith/status/1752814944716734935

Puberty blockers and hormone therapy to be banned for minors 15 and under.

Parental consent required for name changes for 15 and under and notification required for name change for 16 and 17 year olds