Canadian Politics Thread

Federalized bilingualism was the failed experiment of the 70s and 80s. I considered French a natural fact of life even though I only spoke it at school or among a few friends. My parents were optimistic. My kindergarten friends were like "yo did you see smurfs last night?" And I was like "no but I watch les schtroumpfs."

There's a generation of Canadians who could not follow their closest hockey team and only followed the Montreal Canadiens because, for whatever reason, French radio covered the entire nation while English radio stopped at Winnipeg or something.

French seemed to be the thing that was going to save lower middle class whites.

Lower middle class and upper working class anglophone whites thought bilingualism was a route to class transcendence.

Joke is my parents thought institutionalized bilingualism would get me a job. I now use French as my daily language but my work is 90% English.

are you talking to somebody i've killfiled or something?

you think this lets him off the hook? really???

― we're up all night to get (s1ocki), Thursday, May 23, 2013 9:41 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, if he does resign over this he'll just get replaced by someone with equally awful policies who doesn't smoke crack and is less of a pr disaster... thing abt rob ford is he's like, the id of right-wing cdn politics let loose. even though everyone else is horrified by the shit he says in the case of other conservative politicians it's not because they disagree, it's because they know u don't ever say that shit out loud in public. like most of them agree with "If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably" and that's their implicit justification for cutting aids-prevention funding, they just don't campaign on that shit, they wait til they get elected & then cut funding along with a million other things & barely anyone notices

and seriously, any mayor who opposes treatment centres for addicts but smokes crack himself deserves EVERYTHING he is going to get

― we're up all night to get (s1ocki), Thursday, May 23, 2013 10:31 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ok yeah, i agree with this

What's a killfile? Is that like a suggest ban or are you actually threatening me?

He's not threatening you.

If the NDP keeps pushing this Senate abolition business, I really may vote LPC.

i) Reopening the Constitution (which would almost be definitely be required) at this point just seems like an unnecessary can of worms.

ii) As far as I know, most federal states have two legislative bodies, one of which represents the regions. A unicameral legislature seems wrong for a large, diverse country with strong provinces. Reforming the Senate would not be a bad idea [although i) is still an issue].

Lower middle class and upper working class anglophone whites thought bilingualism was a route to class transcendence.

Yeah, but not just because French itself would open doors. French immersion programs in Anglo neighbourhoods were popular with parents in part because they offered de facto streaming: most of the Anglo immersion kids could read at or beyond grade level in English before being enrolled, and most of their families were reasonably motivated and oriented toward education. If you couldn't afford a private school (my parents couldn't), immersion was the next best thing.

I did my last couple of years of school in a public high school that didn't offer an immersion track, and couldn't believe how much trouble most of my new classmates had writing in English. The kids in my old French immersion school were much better writers in English, despite years of doing all classes in francais aside from 60-90 minutes a day of "E.L.A."

Cdn journalists flipping out on twitter right now over supposed G&M bombshell story on Ford to drop late tonight/early tmrw

Links? I just looked at Robert Fife's, Greg Weston's, and Andrew Coyne's Twitters and didn't see anything. Fife just reported Ford's denial.

Speaking of Weston, this was pretty on-point, I thought: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/05/24/f-greg-weston-harper-duffy.html

just search "ford globe" on twitter

jeet heer suggests it has some connection to: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2012/01/11/rob_fords_sisters_exboyfriend_charged_with_threatening_death.html

alright, so it's out.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/globe-investigation-the-ford-familys-history-with-drug-dealing/article12153014/

okay, his brother and one of his aides/football coach buddies sold hash in the 80s.

surprised natpost is going so hard on harper and ford right now

lame story on dougie, no named sources, hash in the 80's... who cares

But I think this does amount to a declaration of war. The Globe fucking endorsed Rob Ford - so for them to run with a relatively thin piece on Doug means it's now about restoring credibility of the press. Rob lied and called reporters liars, so now the papers will go all in on everything they have hoping something will eventually stick or someone will come forward - and to keep forcing the Ford to issue denials that will eventually take them down when something really damning does surface.

lame story on dougie, no named sources, hash in the 80's... who cares

Yeah, I read the first page and felt a little embarrassed. Is the Globe a gossip rag now?

Yeah, I didn't think that the Globe could sink any lower. But there it is.

"I don't smoke crack and don't have a crack problem" is not the same as "I didn't smoke crack in the video."

FIFA just in time before Québec looks like a biggoted province, before the CSA suspend the FSQ, and before Marois cries for nationalism and let the situation get even more rotten.

Le nationalisme est une gangrène.

Fifa Seeks to End Quebec Soccer Turban ban

haaaaaaaaa fuck you marois

Thought someone revived this for Hazel McCallion, our 92-year-old, non-crack-smoking mayor from a neighbouring city who was cleared (on a technicality) of wrongdoing today in a conflict-of-interest case.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/14/conflict-of-interest-case-against-mississauga-mayor-hazel-mccallion-dismissed/

I don't even get how turbans would be a safety concern in the first place.

Not like wearing a Senators sweater

The ban is officialy scrapped. Sigh of relief*

Beginning of the end for Harper? Or not that bad? Far as I can tell Duffy never said that Harper knew about Wright providing the cheque. Also Harper's denials of that knowledge were pretty vague anyway.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mike-duffy-claims-harper-told-him-to-repay-expense-money-1.2158507

expenses issue is no big deal. odd that harper allowed himself to get tangled up in it.

the expenses issue is a big deal precisely because harper allowed himself to get tangled up in it! if the senators win the credibility war, which looks likely, it's stripping harper of his biggest political weapon in his heretofore unblemished leadership. 90K in and of itself isn't a big deal, sure, but it's a gigantic story for its implications, which are becoming increasingly undeniable. i do think this will have a sponsorship-scandal-like effect on the conservatives. also enjoying seeing mulcair slowly creep out of the shadows - i like dude's style.

i don't think anyone is winning a credibility war here. it more a matter of who gets covered in the shit getting thrown around.

in the long run I think it is the beginning of the end - more for internal party politics reasons than the political damage of the Wallin/Duffy stuff.

election's not for 2 more years, but Harper doesn't look like he'd win another majority at this point. Meanwhile both Trudeau and Mulcair seem to be gaining steam. Harper will lose his own party as Bernier and MacKay and Kenney start jockeying for their turn to lead... Duffy and Wallin's revolt maybe shows MP's that Harper's control isn't what it once was... so yeah - all bad signs for Harper, but could take a long time to play out

Hasn't Trudeau's gains been largely to the detriment of the NDP?

Not sure I'd say Trudeau has done any damage to the NDP yet. I think Mulcair's stepping up. Would take an election to really know, I guess... but who knows, Libs & NDP might be wise to split things up more next time and try to get people voting strategically.

what's the elsipogtog thing aboot

It's just an anti-fracking protest where the cops got heavy. A lot of people make it about First Nations colonialist stuff but I think that's being manipulative.

hmm

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/apihtawikosisan/2013/10/everything-you-need-to-know-about-elsipogtog

^that is what I was talking about manipulation. I realise it's just an opinion piece but the headline is arrogant and the choice of what "you need to know" is too one-sided for anyone outside the Rabble hivemind. It's basically dishonest.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/in-senate-hearing-supreme-court-asks-could-canada-become-dictatorship/article15411970/

ILXOR SERVERS ON THE BRINK OF LIVING UNDER AN IRON FIST

ANARCHY AND REVOLT BECKON

So this Justin Trudeau stunt is definitely a PR move but I also think the principle behind it is sound and welcome: it makes sense for a federal state to have a bicameral legislature, with a less politically driven upper house devoted to regional balance and 'sober second thought', but partisanship is a major and unnecessary obstacle here. If he is as bold about weakening the grip that parties have over MPs as well, I may well vote LPC for the first time.

Genuinely surprised about Redford's resignation. She had some pretty dodgy expenses going on and the PCs have been a bit shambolic, but others have clung on to power under far worse circumstances. I wonder who'll be in the running to take over. I also hope AB PC voters are starting to see that this party is tired and useless.

I also hope AB PC voters are starting to see that this party is tired and useless.

I don't, because I can see what's up ahead.

I'd be interested to hear what Quebec ILXors think of today's provincial election results. English media outside the province is hardly worth reading on such subjects.

Glad the xenophobes were ousted, obv. Of course, the other powerful party is back in power. The rich get richer, corruption reigns, fuck the poor, fuck the environment, business as usual.

Don't live in QC anymore, but I'm glad at least that Marois's hateful campaigning fucked her over and QS made some modest gains.

Me neither but I've never felt so good about the words "Liberal majority".