Dynasty, s3: Canadian Politics 2018

Can't wait for Legault to cause a constitutional crisis when he deports immigrants using the notwithstanding clause.

let's not go crazy, this is bad but it's not Duplessis or Doug Ford bad

hmmm

I think actually it really could be

I think the distance covered in the right wing shift from Wynne to Ford is similar to Couillard to Legault, yes.

Dunno who is worse between Ford and Legault but lucky us we have 4 years to analyse that.

Yeah, what makes Legault less bad than Ford?

xp! Actually, that would be even worse than I anticipated since I think Wynne was probably well to Couillard's left to begin with.

On the local classic rock station (not one I associate with far left stances), a DJ was commenting on the QC election today. He first explained that CAQ is a right wing party on economics, then commented that their immigration stance has him scratching his head since QC businesses are 'crying out for more workers", before adding "so good luck with that Quebec" and playing a GnR song.

I really don't know where Ford stands when it comes nationalism/immigration. Is he like Legault?

I don't recall him having any strong position on that, honestly? 'Ontario nationalism' isn't really much of a thing. Anyone who wants votes in Toronto and Ottawa suburbs has to cater to POC voters a little.

I guess there's this so I wasn't entirely right: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/05/ford-government-is-ending-cooperation-with-ottawa-on-resettlement-of-asylum-seekers.html

I have the feeling lots of English-speaking media don't quite get how racism played a role in this election; or maybe they are afraid to point it out.

speaking of English media

I wrote this in the chaos of last night: Quebec's break with the old political order: https://t.co/LlRRBNb3RP

— Nora Loreto (@NoLore) October 2, 2018

Marine Le Pen just endorsed Legault's immigration platform. Tout est dit.

Yeah seeing that and I realized I'm done for at least one month with politics, here and elsewhere. I need a break.

Relevant: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kakistocracy

ok, that made me laugh

Oh damn I only just got the pun

I missed this: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/10/04/usmca-canada-china-free-trade_a_23551085/

In Ottawa, we seem to have a credible challenger to perma-mayor and former Ontario Lib cabinet minister Jim Watson (who won 76% of the vote last time) in Clive Doucet, a former councillor who actually has plans to do something about housing affordability and at least seems to care about the low-income predominantly minority communities who are facing eviction from the Heron Gate area. It's mostly relieving that our two front-runners both seem to be at least reasonable, although with the way the world is going, I should probably expect that at the last minute a previously obscure candidate will come up the middle and win on a platform of banning shawarmas and requiring forced labour for jaywalkers after Ford redistricts the city with a week to the election.

Thanks for the links. I need to actually read something about this election.

Watson is so much the most visible politician in this city that it's kind of hard to imagine him losing.

Yep, and he'd certainly be acceptable and capable. I'm glad there's a progressive alternative who's looking at these issues, though.

THE GATEWAY DRUG IS UPON US

No but really, even as someone who is quite obtusely anti-drugs I believe this is a great day.

haha

way too much coverage of cannabis in the local papers here, ranging from informative to useless knowledge that most stoners have known their whole lives
this is a great event for sure but i fear the normalization of pot will be craft beer part 2

I have never smoked so probably the comparaison is wrong but craft beer saved me from Molson Export and Heineken so I don't see why it would be a fear.

Primo quality buds going for $100/ounce on Commercial Dr. Something is happening.

Ha, I wasn't going to be the one to ask. xp

I look forward to the Heineken of cannabis, whatever that may end up being. Probably some kind of cheap, disposable vape device from China.

well there's def. the cannabis infused beer as

xp
oh it definitely will be like craft beer, but I'm not clear on what's bad about that? you mean just like annoying hipsterization? or mediocre weed with names like Indicapocalypse or bizarre hybrids you don't even want to smell let alone smoke?

there are a ton of drawbacks to Quebec's approach to this, but I have to say, the SAQ near my apt is pretty fantastic for a govt-run alcohol store (at least in terms of stock if not price), so I'm curious about the new weed stores

more seriously, glad to see that there's some activity on the amnesty/pardoning front

I never managed to get into pot, but this is something to be proud of, and it goes to show that – disclaimer: everything is relative, I know, I know – Canada remains ahead of the curve when it comes to making sensible decisions about 'moral' matters. I'd probably roll myself a celebratory joint if I weren't in the UK right now.

First thing I think about when craft beer comes to mind is SMEs brewers doing their thing and being able to be independent from the 2-3 ridiculous consortium owning everything. I'm down with that model happening in weed production.

That being said, if I recall correctly, Molson is heavily unionized and the shareholders + c-suite have a really good relationship with the union.

xpost to rob - you mean just like annoying hipsterization?

^ yeah, that and some of the attitudes i've seen by norms using it now. like one lady saying joints were bad but she would eat edibles, while in a pot store - fuck off

a very little price to pay when all things are considered

mediocre weed with names like Indicapocalypse or bizarre hybrids you don't even want to smell let alone smoke

yeah ^

problem with edibles too is they are not always properly assigned the actual mg count, so for first time users they could get really fucked up. i have a high metabolism and edibles basically make me enter green hell

Well one good thing is that now the exact composition of any product will be known to the buyers - like you see in Washington State.

well to all my fellow smokers i'll fire one up 4 ya today

In addition to $100 ounces they were selling six pre-rolled joints for tenner. Can't beat those prices.

Yeah but us 'normies' now have a dude at a store telling us the best way to make proper edibles.

xp

Amazing

so is this a celebratory move or just a move to counter the uncertainty some stores are probably feeling. Lotus for example hasn't really given a clear answer to whether they think they'll be kaput soon

no shade on normies van, just i find the anti-smoking aspect of smoking pot to be a little whack

iirc, QC won't sell edibles, so I imagine Canada Post might be busy soon

Normie here. I've smoked maybe five times and never learned how to roll a joint. I'll probably give it a try soon but expect to feel very foolish as I figure this out.

Is there an ilxor who wasn't a smoker who going to try now that's it is legal?

jmm - get the roller device for like 5 bucks, makes rolling a lot easier

@Van Horn Street

definitely way more tempted now - the idea that if i wanted to i could just walk into a store. i was never going to buy drugs from a dealer

Same with me. I doubt that I'll be doing it very often, but I at least know how to buy it now.

so is this a celebratory move or just a move to counter the uncertainty some stores are probably feeling.

Here in Vancouver we had roughly 80 stores already. Competition had already reduced prices to $5/gram. A lot of them closed yesterday and were selling everything cheap as can be and throwing in shop fittings with purchases. It's "Everything Must Go" time. Previously it was a city bylaw infraction which the city were not too keen to actively enforce. Now it's a federal crime with presumably more severe penalties.

edibles aren't actually legislated for currently iirc. are there any dispensaries in Vancouver that sell them? none of the ones i know do.

also yeah, such a weird thing that legalization is actually making the situation for buying and smoking cannabis worse in vancouver - and no doubt elsewhere, since laws differ between provinces

The ones I use sell tons of edibles. West End Medicinals on Bute St, KushKlub on Commercial the Dispensary on Thurlow Street.