Canadian Politics Thread

here's hoping...so, is this racist? http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/17/ron-leech-wildrose/

WTF?

It's just an ignorant comment I think - totally out of touch with how that might look to most Canadians. I have a suspicion that the Wildrose Party is going to flop quite marvelously next week. Easy come, easy go.

....though that might be wishful thinking, I admit.

I've heard one person predict that NDP and Liberal supporters will strategically vote PC, which says something if it's remotely plausible.

I don't buy that one. More likely this kind of crap will cause a dip popularity a bit and that will signal a significant turn in the polls. A "better the devil you know" scenario. Again, wishful thinking possibly. I don't know much about AB politics but surging new political parties often have their support surge in the opposite direction as polling day nears. And these guys don't seem to smart.

i'm curious about what the context of the interview was...i don't know why a candidate would just start spitballing about the advantages of whiteness. are his opponents in the riding not caucasian? pretty remarkable stupidity in any case.

Some brief googling has revealed that this guy is a frickin maniac. Practically unelectable I would have thought.
"http://www.faithandmedia.org/articles/show/233";

yeesh

They're not. The PC incumbent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manmeet_Bhullar
The Liberal candidate: http://www.electawan.com/

2xpost

Btw, the Liberal leader's background is South Asian. He was born in India.

the Liberal's website needs some copy editing

A bit more context here - the journalist kinda reads out a more complete version of his quote. Still quite stupid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INM0ZhMXWGY

That said, non-Dravidian South Asian people are 'Caucasian', although most people don't seem to realize that these days.

xpost to myself
Audio of the quote: http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/04/17/audio-ron-leech-as-a-caucasian-i-have-an-advantage/
(OTM re copy editing)

so leech's message was that as a white person he can speak to people of all communities better than his minority opponents? what a piece of shit.

so leech's message was that as a white person he can speak to people of all communities better than his minority opponents? what a piece of shit.

Yep.

unfair to ambush smith with tough questions about race while she's standing in front of a bunch of signs saying ADOLPH tho.

Kind of a tangent but I have to say that it blows my mind when people use "Caucasian" as a presumably PC (?) substitute for "white". Do people really not know where the terminology comes from?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race

Sorry for killing the thread.

I don't buy that one. More likely this kind of crap will cause a dip popularity a bit and that will signal a significant turn in the polls. A "better the devil you know" scenario. Again, wishful thinking possibly. I don't know much about AB politics but surging new political parties often have their support surge in the opposite direction as polling day nears. And these guys don't seem to smart.

― everything, Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:33 AM (3 hours ago)

It's just sort of exasperating cos the WR has a lot of nutjobs among its candidates. In addition to Ron Leech's moronic comments, in 2011 another WR candidate wrote a blog post about how gay people are all going to burn in hell (more crazies can be read about here). Neither of these things seems to have had a huge effect on the most recent projection polls taken, so either people aren't aware of these stories or they simply don't care (though I'm sure the PCs have their share of scary candidates too). Sometimes I get the feeling that a lot of AB voters don't really care about anything other than having a balanced budget.

Yeah sorry for long post, WR are a threat but I like to think that the end results won't be as extreme as the current election almanac projections say. I'll be surprised if WR actually pulls off a majority but I won't be shocked if they grab a significant number of seats.

http://www.thestar.com/iphone/news/canada/politics/article/1166541--federal-budget-2012-details-show-how-canadian-pm-stephen-harper-changing-government

WTF @ "Stephen Harper’s move to quietly give himself the power to approve major energy projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline, even if regulatory bodies turn them down on environmental grounds". Like, just shutting down most environmental review departments wasn't enough.

Harper's facebook should give some insight on what's guiding his decisions on that one:
http://www.weshouldbefriends.ca/timeline.html

Hahahahahaha @ the Wildrose Party plus all pollsters and media pundits, right?

except Warren Kinsella, yes.

so congrats, i guess, to Alberta for electing their corrupt right-wing party over their lunatic right-wing party.

yeah I kind of died a little inside when I woke up and checked the results and actually felt relief at seeing another PC government in charge. what a world. it's probably time I just stop caring; it's not like I plan on ever living in Alberta again.

well - with Alberta - what they do can affect all of Canada. from denying climate change to wriggling out of equalization payments; the decisions that province makes can have repercussions nation-wide.

you're right, of course. I couldn't follow through on that threat anyway. my love/hate for Alberta is too strong to stop caring about it.

Harper breaks Godwin's Law:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/26/stephen-harper-shouted-down-for-saying-ndp-didnt-support-fight-against-hitler/

is that breaking Goodwin's law or proving our Parliament isn't above it?

also strange that the National Vote Conservative Post is the one pointing that out!

is that breaking Goodwin's law or proving our Parliament isn't above it?

Oh, fair point, I guess I'd misremembered what exactly Godwin's Law was. I thought it was something along the lines that an argument is lost once a Hitler/Nazi comparison is made instead of just that the probability of someone making such a comparison approaches one as a debate grows in length.

ya - that's what i thought it meant too until i googled it!

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/27/harpers-ndp-didnt-support-war-against-hitler-prompts-twitter-history-lesson/

ugh i'm so sickened by the direction of this government. every fucking day there's something new and rotten. it's an erosion of Canadian democracy.

I feel the opposite. It's a comedy show.

e.g., today there's this - http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1168905--two-tiered-wage-system-announced-by-tories - which bothers me in that it creates a second class of people in the country whose work is literally worth less - obv saving a few bucks is better for business than recognizing equality in being human.

meanwhile, here in Quebec, protests against tuition hikes are being construed by mainstream media and provincial govt (no chiming in as of yet from the feds bc education is a provincial issue) as student-only and even middle-class selfish, whereas everyone i know is protesting in the name of democracy and equality, as in this article http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/27/quebec-student-protests-not-just-about-tuition-but-battle-against-greedy-elites/

reading this article about public opinion of the feds makes me feel only slightly better, bc polls are polls and this one doesn't seem to have taken off as it is, but still, points out that the majority of Canadians didn't want this govt: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/04/26/pol-ndp-tories-statistically-tied-nanos.html

i find nothing funny about it
xp

I'd refer you to the NDP history lesson and/or the Wildrose party.

distractions from the dismantling of the country in the name of money-making above all else

The Wildrose fail is so hilarious. Canadian pollsters really are the worst.

“CCF, NDP, same difference,” Harper responded curtly.

“I guess we can start talking about Reform Party policies,” Mulcair replied, to the delight of the opposition benches.

lol

Considering that Harper actually was a prominent Reform MP, that would be much more fair and justified than this. Btw, even in 1939, the CCF's party policy was in favour of going to war. It was only J. S. Woodsworth who voted against it because of his personal convictions - arising from his Christian views, something Conservatives might want to note.

big lol. @ rrrobyn, I can't feel "sickened" by this stuff, on a global scale it's such small potatoes. (I'm sickened that the government is giving tax breaks to tar sands companies, but the NDP haven't officially said they'll stop them if elected.) I'm looking forward to the next election.

Isn't that what Layton did promise during the last election campaign?: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110331/ndp-layton-110331/

As far as I know, party policy hasn't changed since then.

The CBC Music online service is being challenged by private broadcasters. It's an exceptional service. People can submit an intervention/comment by May 17:

http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2012/5/Love-CBC-Music-Make-sure-your-voice-is-heard

Also, I might as well be the one to post this precociousness here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iLxtO9u2zs

Feeling angry about this:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/16/pol-nrtee-david-mclaughlin-carbon-tax.html
Not only did John Baird openly state that the RTEE was being shut down because it didn't agree with government policy but apparently he didn't even get right what its recommendations were.

Also, very unhappy both about this and the government's reaction:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/16/pol-un-canada-food-security.html

I have to admit that I also have some doubts about Mulcair's 'Dutch disease' thesis, that the success of the resource sector is driving up the dollar and collapsing the manufacturing sector in Central Canada. It makes sense in general terms but there seem to be other factors involved: the manufacturing sector has been declining for a long time and is also very tied to US industry. Like, even if oil profits went down, I'm not sure that manufacturing would be revived.

Not that I think the oilsands are being handled really well now or anything.

Ha, it does appear that government-funded research can back Mulcair up: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-government-funded-study-arguing-canada-suffers-from-dutch-disease/article2437617/