Dynasty, s3: Canadian Politics 2018

CBC calling it for the PC. This is happening fast.

Fuck.

Congrats Ontario, you are officially as stupid as America.

Not even close.

Well, at least it was over fast.

Fuck this country.

hey hey we didn’t all elect Ford

If it's any comfort, Quebec will soon follow suit by electing Legault so we can all be morons together, a fucking gaggle of them, all over the continent.

A majority government, though. For fuck's sake.

I hope Ford finds a way to keep his campaign song around. "F-o-o-o-r-r-r-r the people..." It was just so catchy.

Pom... give me my few months left.

Torch the goddamn suburbs.

Apparent low youth turnout, which is especially unsurprising in this election.

Can't argue with that. Preemptively, in our case.

And sorry VHS, it's just that I think the cue to abandon all hope was the most humane part of the Inferno.

xp

Youth deserves the bullshit happening to them imo

I don't agree.

If they don’t vote, it’s really on them.

If they don't vote, the strategies to make clear to them that there are in fact political solutions to problems they face clearly aren't working. I'm not interested in blaming them for thinking all the establishment parties are full of shit or not capable of acting in their interest. That gets us nowhere.

the provincial NDP are still seen by so many as a joke option and while they've made clear gains, a lot more work needs to be done to build their credibility.

I heard so many anecdotes from friends of people saying "really??" when they announced they were voting NDP. I heard the same from my own father. They're going to need to be a relentless, principled, and bold opposition for the entirety of Ford's term, and they're going to get little to no media support while they're at it.

I had precious little notion of where I stood politically in my late teens and early 20s so I feel for their disarray. If anything, it's the 'elderly' who should know better.

it's really frustrating that the NDP had a real albeit difficult path to victory this election

Well it's a chicken and egg situation really, but so far I do have a cliché picture in my head of a bunch of old conservative laughing in unison at the idea of 'the youth vote' while racking the suburbs. The problems they face won't solve themselves without voting for parties who have their interest at heart.

in BC I only know a couple people who grew up supporting the Liberals, they're not a party people feel a bond with. I've realized in the last few election cycles that in Ontario very few people grow up NDP.

I mean elections cycles in Canada are really: Liberals get elected for a long time, people grow to hate them, they vote PC, realize their mistakes, vote Liberal a few years later and feel good about themselves until ... etc.

NDP vote shares in the last three elections, in reverse chronological order: 22%, 16%, 16%. This time: looking like about 34%.

some interesting data for ontario

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-election-results-2018-a-map-of-the-live-results/

Howarth has done a good job building the base and recognizing that they do better when they run on a more distinctly left platform from the Liberals, but I'd like to see Ashton or someone similarly tough there to go after Ford.

Also, ffs first past the post needs to not exist anymore.

That goes without saying.

we're trying!

.@fordnation, the son of an MPP, will have a caucus with the sons of two premiers, the daughter of a prime minister, and the son of another MPP. #onpoli

— Robert Benzie (@robertbenzie) June 8, 2018

Thread title sickeningly prophetic.

Man, just when I move back too.

Are you in Sarnia, Sund4r?

Ottawa. I've never lived in Sarnia but I lived in Windsor (a real Dipper town) from 08-11.

Wrt symsymsym's point above, I've heard it said in broad terms that London, ON, is the dividing line: if you go west, the NDP becomes the main alternative to the Tories, at least federally; east of there, it's the Libs. The Liberal Party is practically a mythic force along the Laurentian corridor.

Woah the Libs have been in power for 15 years.

so i was this watching this disaster unfold at a local pub - and there's three old white dudes sitting next to our table who were just the fucking worst. i wanted to punch one of them.
on Gurratan Singh: "He's a terrorist, you know... look – he's a Sikh. They're all terrorists". my friend and i made it painfully obvious we had stopped what we were doing to glare at this guy.
another dude was apparently running as a libertarian in some other riding, who managed to get ~120 votes (good for him, seriously). he was talking loudly about what a great "man of the people" doug is - because he dropped out of school to work at the family biz and wasn't some educated "elite". like everyone out there inherits a house, a million dollar family business and extensive political connections - never has to do a job interview or worry about money. ugh.

sorry dudes

Torch the goddamn suburbs.

The election results feel a bit like class warfare (especially when I quit a good job to come back here to care for a disabled spouse). The riding map is interesting: the NDP's coalition is the mix of working class/FN mix in Northern Ontario + the urban core of most big cities, with the PCs taking the suburbs, cottage country, and rural ridings. I'm thinking that the most fruitful angle for the NDP might actually be to leave the suburbs for the Tories and Grits and try to target lower income rural voters.

On the class war tip: http://www.nsnews.com/news/west-vancouverites-revolt-as-school-tax-looms-1.23330273

breaking out my tiniest violin

Pavlov suggested that overall tax increases are hurting affordability.
“If you’re a buyer, the fact that the home price is cheaper does nothing to help you.”
Fellow panellist Seain Conover concurred, addressing the argument that homeowners were only being asked to pay “a little bit” more.
“That’s a very disingenuous argument because when you pile on a whole bunch of expenses to an asset, the asset becomes less desirable,” he said.

Some great lessons in economics right there

a friend of mine made this:

It's @swanson4council and her big box of Jeanex for mansion owners complaining about higher taxes #vanpoli #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/QU9KIPuiiN

— Michal Rozworski (@michalrozworski) June 9, 2018

https://www.straight.com/news/1087731/jean-swanson-shows-theatrical-side-announcing-her-candidacy-vancouver-city-council

The tax will create many unintended victims, according to Wood.

“It’s not going to affect me,” he said. “I know you want to get me because you don’t like me, but your fake school tax doesn’t hurt me at all. It just cost the B.C. hospitals and schools because I just cut out my charitable contributions.”

Cool philosophy brah.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/06/10/trans-mountain-spill-48-times-larger-than-bc-government-first-reported.html

The B.C. Ministry of Environment says the spill volume reported from the company’s Darfield station north of Kamloops on May 27 has been revised to 4,800 litres from 100 litres.

It says 100 litres is the minimum threshold under the company’s spill reporting obligations, so that’s why the ministry estimated 100 litres at the time.

Trans Mountain spokesperson Ali Hounsell says the company never provided an estimate of how much medium crude oil escaped, other than to confirm with regulators that it was over the reportable threshold.

“Trans Mountain had not provided an estimate of the volume spilled, other than to confirm with regulators that it was over the reportable threshold, until cleanup had sufficiently progressed to a stage where an accurate estimation could be provided,” she said in an email.

Great.

Looks like sensible taxes and landlord-tenancy regulations are actually working to cool rents in Vancouver: https://globalnews.ca/news/4267960/vancouver-rental-costs/