Open for Business: Canadian Politics 2019

Yeah, I don't know why that stuff is in a budget bill at all tbh but it is taking attention away from e.g. a 2.1% per year cut to the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services, the reversal of the gas tax transfer to municipalities, and the absence of much to do anything about housing costs. I have no idea wtf tying university funding to "performance outcomes" even means in practice.

Clearly academics aren't working hard enough. Except for Jordan Peterson, maybe.

Sour kidding aside, I'm still fucking livid at Canada's inability (and this appears to be a transprovincial issue) to veer towards the left instead of the most boneheaded, self-parodic right whenever the Liberals glaringly mess up.

I asked myself the same question after the last Quebec elections. If you're fed up with the two party system and the PLQ in particular, why the hell would you vote for Legault? Especially when there's more money to go around than usual (mais poser la question, c'est y répondre…).

Yeah, I guess BC is the exception there (if the QC Liberals count as Liberals, the BC Liberals probably should too)? I still don't even know what it is that the OLP glaringly messed up (Hydro prices I guess??).

Through the next round of SMAs, Ontario will become a national leader in outcomes-based funding by tying 60 per cent to performance by the 2024–25 academic year. The first year of these new agreements will tie 25 per cent of funding to performance outcomes, and this proportion will increase annually by increments of 10 per cent for three years and 5 per cent in the last year until it reaches a steady state of 60 per cent in 2024–25.

How are we supposed to know what this means if they don't define what the 'tie' is?

I guess so. I have no idea why Wynne was universally loathed but then again I know very little about Ontario politics.

xp

Sour kidding aside, I'm still fucking livid at Canada's inability (and this appears to be a transprovincial issue) to veer towards the left instead of the most boneheaded, self-parodic right whenever the Liberals glaringly mess up.

Complacency and (unearned) superiority is a helluva drug, is my totally unscientific analysis

Also less fun than drinking in parks:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ontario-legal-aid-funding-cut-1.5095058?fbclid=IwAR2TYJAGhfSGTjFdTfcxTpwTosvI85BMCCi4D0BTW4NAFeaNopc9V1rEf4Y

Gotta make sure those hoi polloi don't have access to a fair legal defence.

I guess so. I have no idea why Wynne was universally loathed but then again I know very little about Ontario politics.

A simple possibility might just be that she and the OLP didn't make disastrous errors but were too far left ideologically for too many comfortable middle class voters, which might be what Simon is getting at. If the left can make inroads with lower-income rural voters, that might be their ticket.

Gas stations that fail to display the Ford government's carbon tax propaganda face a fine of up to $10,000 PER DAY https://t.co/ox7X20IxuC #onpoli pic.twitter.com/BVP39FqXr8

— John Bowker (@bowker_john) April 12, 2019

What a fucking disgrace. Is this even legal?

Can't find it now, but I saw a tweet looking for a willing gas station owner to take them to court over this.

"Yeah, I guess BC is the exception there (if the QC Liberals count as Liberals, the BC Liberals probably should too)? "

They most certainly should not

For so many Canadians, Liberals are already 'the left'. Canada does not veer left after the liberals mess up because most Canadians don't care about the left.

Something about small string instruments comes to mind: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/chinese-tycoon-s-complains-about-b-c-taxes-on-purchase-of-5m-supercar-1.4378611?fbclid=IwAR29JMZ3vfTYtfN7SX6gHqIHR1xTI4RMLgso49i-BiHC8B_rXdeKA229KoA

This is really disappointing, especially coming as part of an omnibus budget bill, and frankly a betrayal of what the Liberals were supposed to stand for when they campaigned: https://canoe.com/news/national/liberals-propose-immigration-changes-in-budget-bill-that-would-deny-refugee-claims-at-unofficial-crossings

Coyne OTM on how cynical and hypocritical this is: https://r-login.wordpress.com/remote-login.php?action=auth&host=nationalpost.com&id=37979189&back=https%3A%2F%2Fnationalpost.com%2Fopinion%2Fandrew-coyne-in-two-years-liberals-go-from-welcometocanada-to-deportations-without-hearings&h=

Urgh

voting in the AB election is underway.

not much drama in that race surely. good showing by ndp would be to come within, i dunno, 8 points of UCP?

next, alberta turns off bc's oil

It's another case where, while Notley has been a baffling disappointment to the left wrt the pipeline, I honestly don't know why she is so bad and hated vs the UCP for AB voters.

because they're albertans and she's a "left-wing" woman

very anomalous situation ndp coming to power there purely due to conservative infighting. back to decades of conservative rule surely?

welp

The NDP are actually doing a little less badly than I expected but yeah, no. Are almost all of their seats in Edmonton?

I mean, how could one not be impressed with Jason Kenney's tenure as minister of citizenship and immigration? I, too, would want my province to be run by a man who understands that most foreigners want nothing more than to 'cheapen' our Canadian values, as he so elegantly put it.

i'll never forget his fake citizenship ceremony: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-bureaucrats-pose-as-new-citizens-on-sun-news-1.1271079

not much drama in that race surely. good showing by ndp would be to come within, i dunno, 8 points of UCP?

― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, April 16, 2019 9:32 AM (yesterday) Bookmark

lol this was optimistic. 23 points or something in actuality

PEI election results are definitely interesting: PC minority with Greens as Official Opposition. Genuinely curious to look into more of what the PEI Greens are about. I gather their PCs are in the Maritime Red Tory vein?

Still processing both of these (from a week ago):

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ontario-library-service-funding-pc-doug-ford-1.5102406

http://shorttakes.canadianmusician.com/ford-government-budget-slashes-ontario-music-fund-by-more-than-half/

I like music. I like books.

― clemenza, Thursday, April 18, 2019 6:31 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

remember a while ago when I said things were deteriorating? I'm sticking to that.

General strike against Ford on May 1

The only protest I can find in Ottawa takes place when I am working this evening, which is probably part of the point of a general strike but I, uh, also don't get paid if I don't work and, strictly speaking, don't have an employer anyway.

The bloodbath continues (hyperlink to similar freeze in Otrawa at the end): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/paramedics-funding-shortfall-1.5129154

Although this is somewhat reassuring, wtf were these people anticipating when they elected a Ford-led PC government less than a year ago??: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/poll-suggests-support-for-pcs-has-collapsed-ford-now-less-popular-than-wynne-1.4435061?fbclid=IwAR2eeX8iQPjeIv2J8qmltIk9rmOThdcSmkkYEVbOSB_vd4OTpbaOK-8dLCY

The proposed changes to ODSP have been actually frightening to us: https://rnao.ca/policy/action-alerts/stop-changes-odsp-definition-disability?fbclid=IwAR0NWKmNF7zqDBCJac1YLBXgAuuCw2GazeVs6b9mhyrWWTuyspjmQN3djMQ

Also, less than a year after voters delivered the Ontario Liberals a bloody rout, they are the most popular party in the province now that they have an interim leader? (Quick: name him.)

Ford is going to fuck everything up so hard. Ontario is doomed

Also, less than a year after voters delivered the Ontario Liberals a bloody rout, they are the most popular party in the province now that they have an interim leader? (Quick: name him.)

For more reasons why this seems insane, afaict, the NDP has been doing all the work of opposing the PC government, and often well. I honestly don't know what the Liberals (who were fine imo) have done to improve the public's opinion of them, other than not having a lesbian leader anymore.

why are the NDP so bad and hated (in Ontario)

Ppl hated Bob Rae as premier because he uh... Idk what he did or didn't do. He created pd days for teachers? Dude like immediately joined the federal libs which doesn't exactly support the "ndp is its own thing" theory the ndp says sometimes

Anyone itt familiar with the courage coalition?

Tbf, Rae joined the LPC 11 years after his term as Premier ended! I'm usually a defender of his Premiership. Really, though, the ONDP's 74 seats from 1990-1995 were an anomaly. Their electoral success after that time has not been any worse than it was before that time.

I don't have an exact answer to symsymsym's question. I will note, though, that I'm not sure that many NDP provincial governments of the past few decades have been much further to the left than the last Ontario Liberal government, which might be the point Will was getting at.

Yeah AFAICT NDP gvmnts have not been terribly bold for some time now

wtf were these people anticipating when they elected a Ford-led PC government less than a year ago?

Canada is supposedly one of the most educated countries in the world. You'd think that would make a difference in terms of political literacy.

getting a masters degree in 1982 does not grant you media literacy in 2019. media literacy in 2019 is p much a full time job. education has nothing to do with the sophistication of global rightist propaganda.

and yeah re: bob rae i have no real opinion, i'm just saying what i vaguely remember people saying about it in retrospect. usually people during the mike harris reign being like "at least it isn't bob rae!" i did live in rural-ass ontario, and not the cool union-y type of rural either. the "half of em work for bruce A and the other half farm" type which = a lot of "i got mine"

There was a nationwide recession as the ONDP came to power in 1990. They spent a lot on stimulus in their first budget (which became generally accepted as the correct response to a recession in the 00s). To reduce the deficit afterwards, they came up with the idea of the 'Social Contract', where all public employees would get 12 unpaid days off per year (the fabled 'Rae Days'), in order to spread the pain around harmlessly and avoid having to lay anyone off. The unions didn't agree to this, negotiations broke down, and the government went ahead with the plan anyway. Afaik, it actually worked as intended but the union leaders felt totally betrayed by this disregard for collective bargaining and abandoned the ONDP, who had previously been able to count on union support. The unions, and the rest of us, got to deal with Mike Harris's PCs instead. To listen to some people, you would think Ontario was plunged into famine and plague the instant Rae was sworn into office but I saw no evidence of that. I know I'm in the minority but this is mostly how I see it: https://www.tvo.org/article/bob-rae-was-right-but-before-his-time

(Not that I think collective bargaining principles should be disregarded but I don't think the Social Contract was a bad idea.)

And here is our Premier Douglas Robert Ford (@fordnation).

I'm sorry but this sounds really threatening, I'm not clear what I've done that could constitute a threat since it's pretty demonstrable that there is something very corrupt in QP, none the less.https://t.co/culpbINhP5

— Michael Cole 🇨🇦 (@michaeljacole) May 24, 2019

Wow @ that.

Equally wtf: https://pressprogress.ca/bc-liberal-mla-says-child-labour-is-needed-to-prevent-south-asian-kids-from-joining-street-gangs/?fbclid=IwAR2fa0TnkRyWDkElc5yr83x8-n03Wkg4GtIKXZDbo1hGzD72NTvygnN7bg4