CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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brucio: Nov 22, 2004

So does #BellLetsTalk rub anyone else the wrong way or am I just being weird about corporate piggybacking on charity?

# ¿ Jan 27, 2016 15:23

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 16:53

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Hey, here's a story about the NDPs internal review

http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/9196632

quote:

"Our balanced budget pledge was, in part, responsible for presenting us as cautious change," Blaikie's note said.

Cautious or stupid?

# ¿ Feb 10, 2016 17:49

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Do people really think legal weed is off the table because it was tucked in the back of a briefing book prepared by the public service?

# ¿ Feb 13, 2016 17:44

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Maybe you aren't familiar with Ezra Levant's "style".

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 01:56

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

No need to appear Serious right now. It's not like they're currently the government in waiting.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2016 02:20

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

https://twitter.com/robertbenzie/status/702964650439274496

# ¿ Feb 25, 2016 22:21

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Dignity and strength

Wow

# ¿ Feb 26, 2016 23:38

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Andrew Coyne is weird

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/704484423283183616

# ¿ Mar 1, 2016 02:55

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Pinterest Mom posted:

https://twitter.com/melaniejoly/status/708028249234915328
https://twitter.com/NavdeepSBains/status/708035836365832192

If it's fine for Hillary..

# ¿ Mar 10, 2016 22:39

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/canada/2016/03/17/cold-reality-awaits-new-democrats-rethinking-partys-future-hbert.html

quote:

Cold reality awaits New Democrats rethinking party’s future: Hébert

MONTREAL—As the New Democrats ponder the future of their federal party and its leadership, here are a few inconvenient truths they might have to face up to.

1. Yes, the NDP lost the last federal campaign on a fiscal and social platform that the Liberals could have written. The key planks of yearly balanced budgets and a national childcare program were lifted from outdated red books. It was a decidedly middle-of-the-road document.

But the party has also never won an election on a platform that was not centrist. That was true in Saskatchewan in the days of Alan Blakeney and Roy Romanow, and in Manitoba under Howard Pawley, Gary Doer and Greg Selinger.

Over the last decade Nova Scotia’s NDP hugged the centre all the way to a solo term in government. And Rachel Notley did not win power in Alberta last spring on the promise of a socialist revolution.

Overall, the NDP has tended to do best in provinces where it could substitute itself for a weak Liberal party. But a stronger New Democrat presence has not translated into more progressive governance in those provinces than the Canadian average.

In the big picture, the NDP’s finish last October was its second-best ever. By comparison, the last time voters had coalesced behind the Liberals to usher out the Conservatives was 1993 and the New Democrats were left with nine seats, three short of the minimum required to hold official party status in the House of Commons.

From the outside, one of the glaring weaknesses of the last NDP platform was not that it leaned too far to the right but that it was risk-adverse to the point of being eminently forgettable. But then, the same could be said of Jack Layton’s 2011 platform.

2. The next federal election is almost four years away and the prospect of a national victory for the NDP is possibly even more remote. But the party does not live or die on the sole basis of its federal performance. British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta — to name just those three — will all be going to the polls before 2019.

Some NDP activists would have the federal party adopt the so-called LEAP manifesto. It would, among things, commit a New Democrat government to reject trade deals, oppose new pipelines and ensure fossil fuels stay in the ground.

For the record, the Greens have promoted some of the LEAP ideas for a while and found only modest traction for them. And in the last British Columbia election, NDP fortunes went in decline after the party firmed up its anti-pipeline rhetoric. It was a strategic move designed to make a dent in Green support but ultimately a call that cost more votes than it attracted.

The NDP would be more likely to implode than to ever unite behind the LEAP manifesto.

3. It is an urban legend that the 2012 leadership campaign saw the federal New Democrats choose the quest for power over party principles. In fact, the winner, the runner-up and the third-place candidate in that race were all political pragmatists.

Thomas Mulcair had spent his provincial political career on the Liberal benches of the national assembly in Quebec. But Brian Topp — who finished second — had cut his teeth in the backrooms of Romanow’s centrist Saskatchewan governments and helped steer the federal NDP in the same direction under Layton. Nathan Cullen finished a strong third on a platform to seek a formal alliance with the Liberals.

When some defeated MPs opine that they no longer recognize the NDP in the party that Mulcair leads, one can only wonder what they think it would have looked like under the men who were the second and third choices of the membership three years ago.

Most New Democrats would not be terribly unhappy to see Mulcair bow out. He might not even earn enough support on a confidence vote next month to stay on. But those who believe he is all that stands in the way of a less centrist NDP are taking their dreams for reality. If the New Democrats’ choices boiled down to keeping their current leader or going hard left, my money would be on Mulcair.

If Megan Leslie didn't get swept out, I could see her leading the party. But yeah, everyone else is pretty weak.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2016 12:22

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Gettin some new senators

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-set-to-appoint-seven-new-senators/article29285218/?service=mobile

quote:

Mr. Trudeau is set to announce on Friday that he is calling on Peter Harder, a retired senior bureaucrat and high-level corporate adviser, to be the Liberal government’s leader in the Senate. In addition to Mr. Harder, the six new senators will be:

Raymonde Gagné, former president of Manitoba’s Université de Saint-Boniface;Frances Lankin, a minister in the former Ontario NDP government and a national security expert;Ratna Omidvar, an expert on migration and diversity, and executive director at Ryerson University’s Global Diversity Exchange;Chantal Petitclerc, a champion Paralympic wheelchair racer and Team Canada chef de mission at the Rio Paralympic Games;André Pratte, an award-winning editorial writer and federalist thinker from Quebec;Murray Sinclair, a retired Manitoba judge and former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools.

Mr. Harder will face the tough task of moving government legislation through a fractious Senate in which the Liberal Party has no control over any other members. Still stinging from a recent spending scandal, the institution is also set to release on Monday a final report on the expenses claims of 14 senators who challenged the Auditor-General’s call for reimbursements.

Mr. Trudeau’s six other appointees will be expected to act as independent-minded legislators, as the Prime Minister aims to eliminate partisanship in the upper chamber and improve its reputation.

The Senate is currently composed of 42 Conservative senators, 26 Liberal senators (who are not part of the Liberal caucus of MPs) and 13 non-aligned senators.

Mr. Harder oversaw the Liberal Party’s transition to power last year, acting as a liaison with the bureaucracy and helping Mr. Trudeau to quickly distance his government from its Conservative predecessor.

He worked closely with Mr. Trudeau and his closest advisers – chief of staff Katie Telford and principal secretary Gerald Butts – as well as Canada’s next ambassador to the United Nations, Marc-André Blanchard.

Mr. Harder retired from the public service in 2007 as a well-respected mandarin, having served as deputy minister at Foreign Affairs, Industry, Treasury Board and Immigration. He became a senior policy adviser at Dentons, an international law firm, and president of the Canada China Business Council.

Ms. Lankin is currently a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which is the watchdog for Canada’s spy service. She would be a choice candidate if the federal government decided to appoint at least one senator to a promised committee of parliamentarians to oversee the operations of Canada’s national security agencies.

Mr. Sinclair’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its final report in late 2015, after years of testimony from victims. It included 94 “calls to action” to improve the lives of Canada’s indigenous people – all of which the Liberal government has promised to implement.

Mr. Pratte was the lead editorial writer at Montreal newspaper La Presse from 2001 to 2015, winning three National Newspaper Awards. He is currently an emeritus editorial writer and an adviser to upper management at the Montreal media outlet. In 2009, Mr. Pratte co-founded The Federal Idea, a federalist think tank that aims to rebut the arguments put forward by Quebec sovereigntists and improve the image of federalism in the province.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2016 12:43

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Cultural Imperial posted:

If you have dual citizenship, don't bother getting in contact with the Canadian Government because the francophone rear end in a top hat working the emergency desk has got better poo poo to do than repatriate your anglo rear end

Canadian Foreign Service officers are literally human garbage and they make the CBSA appear polite

You're talking about francophones, not FSOs. And FSOs will be overwhelmingly francophones due to their bilingual advantage.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2016 17:49

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

If this had something to do with our government then maybe it would be a story but it doesn't and you're really grasping at straws here.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2016 19:26

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

I dunno, a lot of well to do families cashed in on those tuition credits. Sounds good to me.

edit:

this is cool

https://twitter.com/Bill_Morneau/status/712376206713360384

brucio fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Mar 22, 2016

# ¿ Mar 22, 2016 21:39

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Ikantski posted:

Do "well to do" families not go to national parks?

This park is in the poorest part of the country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Breton_Highlands_National_Park

$20 entry fee. I know lots of people that have never been there because of that. It would be nice for them to know their own island.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2016 21:52

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

blah_blah posted:

Tuition credits are nonrefundable tax credits and independent of your tax bracket (they essentially allow you to reduce your income tax paid, as if it was earned in the lowest tax bracket). It doesn't make a difference whether you are making $200k or $20k a year.

hence why parents with high incomes use it to make off like bandits

# ¿ Mar 23, 2016 00:42

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Outsourcing that many SSC jobs would be such a disaster, way worse than it is now

# ¿ Mar 24, 2016 14:08

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Why does anyone, CPC or not, think Peter MacKay is remotely competent? His time in every ministry he held was unremarkable at best.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2016 14:14

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Have the ONDP been in the news for anything since the last election? I don't recall hearing about one new policy plank or proposal or anything from them since 2014 but I feel like the media lets us know every time Patrick Brown farts.

God the ONDP sucks.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2016 19:36

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

jm20 posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzTNrF8ADk8

this is the worst rap battle

# ¿ Mar 29, 2016 22:07

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

So the system is not punitive enough then, got it.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2016 23:02

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Mulcair calling on Trudeau to denounce Trump right now is maybe the most desperate thing he's ever done.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2016 01:15

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

It's great when her idiot brother jumps into her self inflicted Twitter fuckups

# ¿ Apr 5, 2016 00:14

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Another barn burner from Zach Paikin

http://www.hilltimes.com/2016/04/04/the-three-questions-that-matter-when-it-comes-to-responsible-conviction/55953

quote:

First, will this guiding principle help to forge a new, bipartisan foreign policy consensus for our country, or rather will it further entrench the dialogue of the deaf between left and right that characterizes today’s discourse? Attempting to rally people from both sides of the spectrum behind a common international approach would demonstrate our understanding that all hands must be on deck if we are to transcend our country’s limited resources.

Second, will “responsible conviction” ultimately encourage us to maximize our material capabilities in the fields in which we can excel, and, over the long run, will it fundamentally redefine the way we conceive of our role in the world as Canadians? The answer to this question will go a long way in determining whether or not Canada will become a substantive builder of international order this century.

Finally, will the paradigm in question serve to promote a predictable, consistent image of Canada on the world stage? The answer to this question can be partially found in the answer to the two previous questions, and will determine whether or not our country will contribute to the underwriting of stability in an increasingly chaotic world.

The true test of “responsible conviction” has not to do with how it will influence our pronouncements today, but rather with how it will shape our national character in the years and decades to come.

Guys my POLI1011 essay is due in 2 hours, I gotta fill up this word count

quote:

Zach Paikin is a Hill Times columnist based in London, United Kingdom. He is currently pursuing a PhD in international relations at the University of Kent.

Hahahaha

# ¿ Apr 5, 2016 15:43

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

I wouldn't be surprised if cabbies did it independent of management's knowledge. Ottawa cabbies are the worst.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 01:26

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Do provincial leaders of parties with no seats in the legislature get a decent salary? That's probably why Cardy is staying home.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2016 22:57

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Check out what happens when your newsroom goes on strike for 13 weeks and you then hire first year journalism students to do your reporting for you

https://acultureofdefeat.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/the-chronicle-heralds-scab-newsroom-actually-published-this/

https://twitter.com/a_picazo/status/719090246776856576

# ¿ Apr 10, 2016 15:34

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Jan posted:

To quote Tom Mulcair on his day back in question period:

Libs gonna lib.

This would have more bite if Mulcair didn't support the sale during the election campaign.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2016 20:32

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Stop, please

E: content

https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/720638858199756804?s=09

brucio fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Apr 14, 2016

# ¿ Apr 14, 2016 18:45

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

If you are making 6 figures in the maritimes, you are the king. That's upper class there.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2016 00:29

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Funkdreamer posted:

Does anyone have the lowdown on Linda Frum ie. why she's so loving stupid

Runs in the family

# ¿ Apr 16, 2016 13:07

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

This is what happens when your opponents set a low, low bar.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2016 17:11

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Legal weed legislation coming Spring 2017, just announced

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 15:30

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Lol

https://twitter.com/bfaparsons/status/722809535560175617?s=09

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 16:51

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Frosted Flake posted:

He's a traitor, I don't know why we should be so soft on him.

Child soldier or no, he could have surrendered.

Yes, of course, the child soldier should have acted rationally

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 18:23

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

THC posted:

Looking forward to the countrywide consultation process, and the endless non-time limited debates and committees in the House and Senate, which will cause this legislation to die on the order paper in time for the 2019 election!

Why would they do that? What's the upside? They've already won the election with this as a big part of their platform. Why would they want it to go away?

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 00:58

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

THC posted:

Hey man they haven't failed to keep their promise this time, yet, so how can you say it will happen this time?! That's right you can't. I for one, am cautiously optimistic

The difference being this time, there is revenue involved.

Pros:
Regulated
Revenue
Less pressure on law enforcement

Cons:
????

I'm also in the camp that doesn't buy the libs gonna lib argument. There's no downside for them.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 12:22