Open for Business: Canadian Politics 2019

Sad lol: https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/03/14/ndp-deputy-leader-wants-to-hire-unpaid-interns-but-says-he-wouldnt-have-to-if-the-liberals-banned-them.html?fbclid=IwAR213xjJ-rny0ebEV8k5oxGtekHHC3ouJC9rYIwPOJhgv7b0sjNTjTpbyGE

as an NDP member I feel exceptionally qualified to say: what a shitshow of a party

As a former member of the ndp (membership lapsed because all my credit cards are maxed out lol) I agree!

if you're not calling the NDP a shitshow then you're not a real NDP member

Has there ever been a viable left-wing alternative to the federal NDP?

Not in the sense of "could win more seats than the Greens", afaict.

The viable left-wing alternative to the current NDP is a genuinely left-wing NDP

is there a left bloc in the ndp? like a momentum uk but for canada's ndp?

http://ndpsocialists.ca/

thanks!!

they look pretty damn dead events-wise, though

http://ndpsocialists.ca/events/

SNC-Lavalin back in the news

BREAKING: PMO announces Canada’s top public servant is retiring. Michael Wernick came under heavy criticism from the opposition recently after his testimony about the SNC-Lavalin affair. pic.twitter.com/rLAnbypUdE

— Katie Simpson (@CBCKatie) March 18, 2019

MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes quits Liberal caucus

Trudeau not looking good in this

After increasing class sizes to build resiliency, we're doing this to, um, promote choice?

https://globalnews.ca/news/5106128/ontario-student-choice-initiative/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2G5qz_b2GQT8vsa-SnAgEK-fZ-9TYgu0DmmjxIllmtIQTQg0EOxIlculo

Tbc, I WOULD be in favour of removing accessibility funding from student fees but that would be if the province (or feds) would cover it. Somehow I doubt that's what is happening but I guess we'll see?

Lol, prophetic thread title: https://globalnews.ca/news/5112402/ontario-licence-plate-redesign/?fbclid=IwAR3_KSG1TyV3BjOkrC-uwEabU47B4L9nZ5dmdwLXQNyjjB2UFrS8dBJXco0

In other news, I'm so happy that François Legault and the CAQ are putting the Islamic veil back at the forefront of provincial politics. We really needed another debate about this most neglected of topics.

I'm actually curious to see how far they go with crucifixes this time.

A silver lining would be nice, I guess.

Apparently they are taking it out of the parliament.

Still bullshit. I don't give a shit about the crucifix, I care about minorities losing job opportunities.

Haven't listened yet, but I thought this thread being at the top of the board would have to do with JWR's basement tape.

Apparently they are taking it out of the parliament.

Wait, is there any confirmation on this? Everything I've read so far has been in the language of "might" and "are considering". (I do agree with your second point btw.)

Just listened to the Wilson-Raybould tape. Fascinating. I have to say, only knowing the story in broad outline, I found Wernick comes across okay. She knows the conversation is being taped, so she can choose her words very carefully and frame the conversation however she wants. He doesn't--and while he's clearly exasperated, all he says is that he's worried she and Trudeau are headed for a showdown. I don't hear that as an implied threat of reprisal, although I can see where someone might.

In case any of you are fellow Canadians abroad, you might like to know that the disenfranchisement of citizens who have been away for 5+ years has been reversed. Interestingly, voter registration gives you a lot of options for which address to use - your last lived address, a relative, or someone you'd live with if you lived in the country (but once you've chosen, you can't change it). For me, that meant options to register in conservative strongholds, liberal ridings at risk of swinging to tories, and the province's only NDP-held riding (lol alberta). Went with the last one.

Good for QS!: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/with-new-position-on-secularism-quebec-solidaire-redefines-left-wing-politics-in-the-province-1.5079087

QS is the only Quebec party we can count on these days.

QS is the only Quebec party we can count on these days.

I almost wrote that but second-guessed myself as I know too little about provincial politics beyond Quebec. Sad if true.

Yeah I'm not an expert in all parties across all provinces but I do know that acquaintances across the country are all pretty disillusioned/uninspired.

yup

Wait, is there something wrong with the BC NDP?

(I've way lost touch with the SK NDP. They're poised to win this year, right?)

bc ndp are a letdown for their base in metro van and burnaby who are broadly left, in favour of indigenous rights, and environmentally conscious.

tenants rights activists had pushed for their rental task force to tie the limit on rising rent to suites rather than tenants, preventing landlords from hiking rents when tenants move out. positing this as the best protection against affordability (i agree). they didn't do this. they did bring in protections against renovations (which i think is good) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rental-housing-task-force-recommendations-mixed-reviews-1.4944023

they're going forward with the site c dam despite sort of coming out against it, while hedging their bets, when they were in opposition. submerging native lands (including burial grounds), environmentally destructive, hugely expensive, smaller renewable projects would seem to make more sense https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/site-c-dam-bc/

they're making a small rise to income assistance rates - which were frozen for a decade by the bc liberals - but the top rate is $760 https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/03/29/Fair-Income-Assistance-Poverty-BC/ a room in an SRO in vancouver can cost $500 or $600, and a "shelter rate" studio apartment in say low-income housing or mixed-income housing in a condo development (the best case scenario in terms of quality of dwelling and rent) is $350. rent comes out of the assistance cheque.

there is more to moan about but I've kind of checked out recently

bc ndp are a letdown for their base in metro van and burnaby who are broadly left, in favour of indigenous rights, and environmentally conscious.

this should be metro van and victoria

also knowing someone who worked with john hogan before i can say he's [REDACTED AS FUCK FOR BEING TOTALLY LIBELOUS]

QS are separatists ftr

Yeah, they also do have the advantage of not being in government or being likely to form government, and thus being less likely to disappoint supporters. I am glad to see any Quebec party take a stand against this nonsense, though.

massive LNG subsidies are another point against our local Dips. still the best BC govt of my lifetime, which is the lowest bar imaginable

I want to know this scurrilous libel! (I think)

thought this thread would be lit up with JWR and Philpott getting booted, which seems like a disaster for the Liberals...maybe they think negative partisanship will be enough to get them to %35, don't know if the Trudeau trolls out in force on Twitter are indicative of larger Canadian sentiment

As I understand it, they're not rabid separatists but instead take the position of, essentially, "if we sense there's popular support for separation at this time, we'll roll with it"

That's almost weirder imo. Dividing the country into two is kind of a fundamental issue and the sort of thing I would want a political leader to have a clear position on.

From their official website:

La population québécoise forme une nation qui a de nombreuses caractéristiques spécifiques dont une langue commune – le français -, une culture, une histoire et des institutions politiques, économiques et sociales propres. Elle inclut des personnes de toutes origines auxquelles il appartient désormais de définir, ensemble, en toute égalité, son présent comme son avenir politique. Cette nation a le droit absolu de décider elle-même cet avenir, sans ingérence de l’extérieur.

La question nationale n’appartient pas à un seul parti politique, ni même à l’Assemblée nationale. Elle appartient à toute la population du Québec. C’est pourquoi notre parti propose que le débat sur l’avenir du Québec se fasse au moyen d’une vaste démarche de démocratie participative. Toute la population pourra ainsi se prononcer sur des changements politiques et constitutionnels, de même que sur les valeurs qui y seront associées. Un référendum clôturera cette démarche qui devra prendre le temps nécessaire pour favoriser la réflexion la plus large et la plus inclusive possible.

Le Québec doit disposer de tous les pouvoirs nécessaires à son plein développement aux plans social, économique, culturel et politique, ce qui lui est refusé dans le cadre fédéral. Notre parti opte donc pour la souveraineté. Sans être une garantie, la souveraineté est un moyen de fournir au Québec les outils nécessaires pour réaliser son projet de société et s’épanouir pleinement comme peuple.

Oh, and there is no English version. Hardly a coincidence…

I mean, that's better than more explicitly ethnocentric varieties of Quebec nationalism but I just don't agree with its fundamental premises.

Why? I'm personally on the fence.

I do not think that the existing federal arrangement (already highly decentralized and officially bilingual and multilingual; currently led by a PM who represents a Quebec riding and whose party represents a majority of Quebec ridings) is hindering Quebec's "social, economic, cultural, and political development" in any real way aside from making it harder to override minority rights with legislation such as the currently proposed bill that we are discussing. Whatever issues there are can generally be worked out within the context of an already fairly flexible federalism, and have been for a long time. If anything, an independent francophone country of 8 million people surrounded by larger, more powerful English-speaking countries may well have a harder time "realising its social project and flourishing as a people". The very fact that the more ethnocentric varieties of Quebec nationalism are the more popular ones should give pause to anyone who favours sovereignty for Quebec to be able to determine its own "values" and "cultural development". But also, personally, esp living 20 minutes' walking distance from Quebec, I do strongly believe in the bilingual, multicultural project, which I feel like experience daily, and do think that the country (and my own life) are stronger and richer for the presence of Quebec in Canada.

Fair points, all, and I'm mostly inclined to agree. I do sympathize with QS's underlying worry that genuinely socialist projects are unlikely to succeed within Canada, but like you said, there's no guarantee that they would outside of it either (the EU makes for an interesting point of comparison here). I do think bona fide bilingualism is bound to remain a pipe dream, however, mostly because it's a one-way street: barring a few exceptions (such as, I assume, yourself), francophones pick up English while anglophones feel embarrassed at best whenever the topic of French comes up. No wonder this state of affairs has spurred a more combative sovereignist stance in Quebec, all the more so when you consider that francophones are to be found all over the country.

Beyond the official provisions that federal services are available in both languages throughout the country, you can't really expect people to speak a language with any competence if they don't have to regularly use it with native speakers. (I teach in both languages and would still not describe myself as more than competent at best.) I don't see how Quebec sovereignty would make a difference here. There are plenty of independent European countries where people speak English far better than anglophones speak the local language.

I think Quebec has done a poor job promoting french outside of its borders and into the whole of North-America. Institutionally, it has been way more preoccupied with itself (nation building) than to truly help francophone communities thrives outside of Quebec and to help Canadians learn french and French-Canadian culture. Those communities have felt abandoned because they weren't exactly of the cause and faced much larger pressure as provincial minorities, anglophones can obviously thrive without French.

That being said I came here to say that all is forgiven if Pharmacare happens.