Canadian Politics Thread

So nice to see Harper branching out from only silencing his own people.

Give the man credit: he's been silencing scientists for a while.

Ha! My bf piped up with this exact point just as I submitted post.

I thought this was a fair point btw: I had considered this line of thinking re: listening to music containing uncleared samples (like, say, on just about any hip hop mixtape); like, if you wanted to do the slippery slope argument, could someone be guilty of copyright violation in such a case?

Thanks!

If you think about the context of PT's "Just watch me"--the actual lives impacted--Justin's use of it falls somewhere between questionable and tasteless. But it does show he has his father's gift for getting under people's skin.

http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297391842494_LARGE_BOX.jpg?quality=80&size=210x&stmp=1363804950181

I was at a film and missed everything this afternoon. Sorry, but here's something I wrote almost a year ago here, the day after the last federal election:

If he fulfills a need, I don't think his qualifications will matter. (I wouldn't, but someone else might say the same of Obama.) The second Justin Trudeau entered politics, the logical endpoint was that he'd one day become Prime Minister and rekindle whatever it was that his father shared with the country. (At both ends of the spectrum--I'm sure he'd also be as hated as his father was by some percentage of the electorate.)

The reaction fell somewhere between skepticism and disbelief.

I'm not saying "I told you so." Not yet--I'm saving that for if he wins the next election (i.e., if he runs a disastrous campaign and loses, the contention that making him leader would be a dumb move will have been proven to be right).

35% support at this moment makes me skeptical that he can win an election

Is that support or approval? If it's support, where do the other two parties stand right now?--could he squeeze out a minority? (If that's approval nationwide, no, that's not good.)

I'm less sceptical of his chance of success than I used to be, though I personally still see little reason to be inspired by him. We'll have to see how he performs.

Even if the LPC were to win an election and stay the course on economics while moving back to a more traditional Canadian approach on foreign policy and showing greater respect for academic freedom, I'd see that as a significant improvement, so I guess I'm open.

https://www.facebook.com/paulinemarois/posts/10151555111481310

Ugh. Doomed to fail, though, right?

I mean, it probably says something about where we are in Canadian politics that when I read that, I don't even take it seriously as a genuine attempt at separation. I just wonder "What political angle could she be going for?"

And then think "maybe she wants to lose the next election and take up raising orchids?"

PQ is flailing imho

yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qKps7uG6eM

This worked out really well for McCain in 2008, so there's no reason it won't work again.

I'm outside of Canada currently. Did the attack ads already start?

And it's true. A lot of people were already hating Bush Jr and the Republican party more and more by the end of his term, just as people are getting tired of Harpo now. So, Justin has that in his favour. I'm sure he'll take advantage of it, just as Obama took advantage of people's hate towards Bush Jr.

Personally, I feel the Liberals will need to fight the perception that the Tories have 'provided' a better economy for the country, which, of course, they only inherited but that's not what the average Conservative voter seems to think. Or has this changed? I've been gone for about a year now.

I'm currently reading John English's other biography on Trudeau, Citizen of the World. Pretty interesting.

Cheap but I can't resist (and don't entirely disagree): http://leftistjab.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-haters-guide-to-justin-trudeau.html?m=1

the quotes in that (attack ad) are taken so wildly out of context that even the N Post is calling them out on it. i figure, with enough rope these guys are going to inevitably hit a Campbell/Chretien note so uncalled for that Canadians are united in their disgust.

xpost

so he was taking his clothes off for a liver disease charity and he was paraphrasing pierre in the quote about quebecker superiority? stay classy harper

http://ideas.time.com/letters/quebec-is-not-at-war-with-english/
i'll just paste this in here, idk why

i mean, i posted it for murican+intl ilxors ; don't really want to get into in a language debate with 5 guys.

not at war wit u guys

Unconvincing PR operation by Boisclair.

'Quebecers of all origins are proud of their unique identity'

Sorry, I am not proud of Quebec's identity and I don't think it is particulary unique.

how is it not unique? it's incredibly unique.

^^ I am also curious about this

xposts, I don't know if ppl outside of Canada really have much of a clue about or interest in our language debate to begin with. Sometimes I talk to UK ppl who are ask about Canada's languages and lots seem to assume that we all speak both English and French. One UK friend was surprised when I told her that language is a pretty divisive issue and that a lot of ppl's French knowledge/education is... well, patchy. Like in Cgy/Edm it's mandatory in some schools only from grades 4 to 6 or 7 (and even then I would guess not many of the teachers are actually fluent).

Isn't it no longer mandatory in Calgary?

Maybe that's wrong; can't find a citation with a quick Google search.

i don't think you need it at all out there?!

No, you don't, but some French is still required in almost all school systems afaik. (I seem to remember a news story about Calgary dropping this a few years ago but I could be wrong.)

Yeah, 2011:

http://cjsw.com/program/cjsw-presents/calgary-board-of-education-removes-mandatory-core-french/

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:N_TFMGYW43IJ:www.cpf.bc.ca/site3/attachments/1449_CPF%2520Asks%2520for%2520Reversal%2520of%2520CBE%2520Decision.pdf+calgary+board+of+education+removes+mandatory+core+french+requirement&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShVk1W9hoN8KuaC325xl84tq4dtGUt-BR2z6UJ0lEmYhDYhcvcwo4bN1nwKxk4gcPP6tjDJkcenLduHUhSni1yPPi3gceQM3CwuCXVO_WNRFuGweDFFdKMKH6X8tQPEXcw8MM-a&sig=AHIEtbSMr4Bg7LPD5RrZNQyNGkrlI1zT5w

It's mandatory for grades 5 to 8 in BC. But I shouldn't really say anything, because I didn't even grow up in Canada. But I did take French as a kid.

Funny thing is there is an ongoing joke in Vancouver about how the typical Vancouverite wasn't born in Vancouver/Canada, and I know/met many people who were in that situation.

French Immersion schools are jokingly refered to as "White Immersion" amongst more than a few East Vancouver parents. Also known as "that school with no music program or field trips".

Nah nobody ~needs~ French out there (in my experience even the ppl in AB's northern French communities speak English) but having a solid second language is a good thing imo! Not even necessarily French, just anything useful. I wish our education systems would push second language learning more than they do. I'm always jealous when I meet ppl from Europe who can get by comfortably in multiple languages.

But is that because most of those people have a reason to actually use those languages in their day-to-day life?

I'm certified 'bilingual' by the Ontario Ministry of Education but without having had to use French very much at all in 11 years, my spoken French is pretty embarrassing at this point.

Holy shit: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-poll-shows-trudeau-liberals-far-ahead-175730292.html

Knowing another language can be cool, but it depends on your perspective. Culturally, knowing another language (that isn't English) is great. French, Italian, German, Spanish, etc. You learn a lot about yourself, your own (English) language and cultures.

If you want practicality, French is the way to go if you'll be in Canada for most of your life. I made the mistake of becoming fluent in Spanish, and though I am a registered translator with the Translation Bureau and used to be a member of the Society of Translators and Interpreters of BC, I've gotten nothing out of it. Everyone kept telling me that the demand for French translators is ridiculously high, though -- as in, there are nowhere near enough French translators in Canada, yet the gov't is feeding all this money into that system. This was a couple of years ago.

I know people that moved to BC and since they speak French, they were preferred by many in their respective fields and got ahead quickly because of their fluency in both languages. (Seems very fair to me.)

Kinda wish I'd stuck to French, to be honest. C'est une merde. :p

I'd like to see the breakdown of the areas surveyed in that poll, but Tories losing many votes shouldn't be too surprising, no?

The NDP seems to be bleeding far more support than the CPC.

that would make more sense imho.

French Immersion schools are jokingly refered to as "White Immersion" amongst more than a few East Vancouver parents.

Oh, that's the same situation in Ottawa.

Really? I grew up in Ottawa but I don't remember hearing that. (I haven't lived there in 12 years tbf.)

(Also don't remember the French immersion student body being especially white, although I can see how that could make sense in Vancouver.)

many xposts

I am exagerating because I am bit tired of Quebec self-perception. Of course, Quebec's culture is 'unique' and an amazing place. However, we could make the argument for a lot of cultures being 'unique' in North America, even inside of Canada. I fail to see how Quebec is more unique than First Nations cultures, the Pacific Northwest, the Maritimes, New Mexico or Miami, for example. It is far from being as simple as '6 millions francophones in a sea of 300 millions anglophones'.

xpost

Yeah, Ottawa's schools have changed a lot in the past 12 years, at least inside the Greenbelt.

Oh boy

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/17/trudeaus-response-to-boston-marathon-bombing-was-unacceptable-made-excuses-for-terrorists-harper-says/

but i do find trudeau's comments unusual in the context of making a statement directly after the attacks, when he is also expressing support for the united states in general and victims of the attack in particular.

and i eagerly anticipate him doing this kind of thing over and over again.