Open for Business: Canadian Politics 2019

Ashton?

She'd be my pick obv

I half-wondered whether there's a way this might actually help him in Quebec, to be seen to have fought so hard to save a homegrown giant and all those jobs.

That's already the way it's being spun here and I think there's a decent chance it might work. It doesn't seem like people here like Scheer or Singh much so might just end up voting Liberal by default. Unless they decide to go back to voting Bloc? It's not a very predictable electorate

What about Mad Max? Is he still in the race?

Unless they decide to go back to voting Bloc?

This would probably guarantee a Tory government if it happened.

What about Mad Max? Is he still in the race?

I think he has a shot of winning his own seat (which would mean, per current rules, that he would be at the debate for the election following this one)

This would probably guarantee a Tory government if it happened.

Agreed. I hope it doesn't happen.

The Liberal position on the whole SNC Lavalin thing is basically the same one as the provincial government here (i.e. even though they are corrupt, it is important that they be allowed to continue to do business with the government because of jobs) so possibly this will have no effect on Liberals vote turnout at all in Quebec.

Lol, just checked what the editorial board of Le Devoir had to say and yep, they're just throwing these questions out there: https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/editoriaux/560653/affaire-snc-lavalin-dans-quel-interet

Haha, seems about right. Le Devoir gonna (do its) devoir.

Hottest take of the year goes to: https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/joe-oliver-heres-a-truth-few-dare-to-utter-canada-will-benefit-from-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR25zQwxGqUkM7ahFc74sqARbgqf3UrGVCsDwQSZSymwlLqPiwd38dmQ0II#comments-area

extreme weather bad, climate change good

Insofar as conservatism is just tribalism, that sweltering take is probably more widespread than we think.

Oh, I used to participate in a Canadian politics forum with plenty of small- and large-C conservatives on it and you definitely came across this viewpoint. A former cabinet minister writing this in a major newspaper is ... something, though.

The cynicism is just breathtaking. Fuck that article.

I kept waiting for him to baldly suggest that we accelerate the process.

Naturally, no mention that Canada has among the highest per capita emissions.

Ah, there he is:

https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/560699/les-candidats-de-maxime-bernier-et-l-avortement

Because curbing late-term abortions should be our top priority.

Tbh, I had no idea he was running candidates outside of Quebec.

Non-paywalled site for a Toronto Star story about more brilliant work by Ford's govt: https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/news-story/9553856-ford-government-s-streamlining-delays-funding-for-agencies-that-help-the-disabled/ . Seriously worried about what's going on here; we have a very good support system in the province now.

This seems really confused. An identical message can be legal for a non-third-party-registered charity in one election and not in another, depending on what the worst party happens to be advocating?

Because of that, Elections Canada is warning that any third party that promotes information about carbon dioxide as a pollutant or climate change as an emergency could be considered to be indirectly advocating against Mr. Bernier and his party. Activities can be considered partisan by Elections Canada even if they don’t mention a candidate or party by name, the agency’s rules say.

An Elections Canada spokesman confirmed “such a recommendation would be something we would give.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-environment-groups-warned-saying-climate-is-real-could-be-seen-as/

Wtf? Can we block every bank from advertising since they probably oppose the stance of the Communist Party? Oil industry ads might be indirectly opposing the Green Party?

Oh, I guess it only affects charity tax status. Still weird. That is not a partisan message.

Exactly. This is a case of the very 'feels over reals' that the right routinely ascribes to its opponents.

I guess it only affects charity tax status

although maybe those corporations should still have to register as third parties

What about the anti-carbon tax stickers that Ford is mandating at gas stations?

Interprovincial drama: https://r-login.wordpress.com/remote-login.php?action=auth&host=montrealgazette.com&id=72587893&back=https%3A%2F%2Fmontrealgazette.com%2Fnews%2Fquebec%2Fequalization-is-part-of-the-original-deal-and-quebec-will-fight-to-keep-it-says-premier-legault&h=

Kenney's stance, tying support for equalization payments to the building of pipelines, seems ridiculous and tbh troll-y, while Legault seems to want to rewrite constitutional history, although I do think he's right to want to retain the equalization system.

Nantel might... have a point?: https://r-login.wordpress.com/remote-login.php?action=auth&host=ottawacitizen.com&id=66829272&back=https%3A%2F%2Fottawacitizen.com%2Fnews%2Flocal-news%2Fousted-from-the-ndp-longueuil-mp-nantel-to-run-for-the-green-party%2Fwcm%2F25c664d7-9e23-4203-835f-793fe31ecc27%3Futm_term%3DAutofeed%26utm_medium%3DSocial%26utm_source%3DTwitter&h=%23Echobox%3D1566259754

It's a sad day when one has to choose between Legault and Kenney (la peste et le choléra).

https://pagesix.com/2019/08/29/kevin-oleary-wife-should-do-the-time-if-guilty-in-boat-crash-says-brother-of-man-killed/

hey remember when this guy was on a short list of potential Conservative party leaders

Hm, interesting to see what happens with that.

This is a bizarre policy that seems to serve no real purpose other than to justify cuts to teaching hires: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-teachers-score-70-per-cent-math-test-1.5261201

I could see the point if this test was being given only to teachers who are, you know, going to teach math, and if elementary school and high school teachers were tested differently, but why require every teacher to write this test? Do the Fords have shares in Kaplan or something?

Equalization is great but one thing I never understood is why Newfoundland & Labrador is considered a ‘have’ province and yet are always on the verge of bankruptcy. If anything it’s them not Alberta that is getting a raw deal.

To take a stab at it, according to this article at the Library of Parliament, the equalization formula is based on the following:

On a per capita basis, Equalization assesses a province’s ability to generate own-source revenues and compares that fiscal capacity to the average fiscal capacity for all provinces. With the exception of user fees (fees for the use of public services), all provincial government revenue sources are allocated to one of five categories: personal income taxes, business income taxes, consumption taxes, property taxes and natural resource revenues.

Save for natural resource revenues, the Equalization formula estimates fiscal capacity in each of the four remaining revenue categories by determining the amount of per capita revenue that each province could generate if all provinces had identical tax rates. Because of the wide range of natural resources and royalty structures across the provinces, actual resource revenues are used to measure fiscal capacity instead of creating a national average tax rate.

Newfoundland has had a huge boom in natural resource revenues over the last 10 years. Their tax rates don't appear exceptionally low but I believe that their governments have spent a lot over this same period, running deficits, and they have a lot of accumulated debt - two things that the equalization formula does not make accommodations for. They also suffer when oil prices drop.

I think it’s the ‘save for natural ressources’ part that screws NF up and is a baked-in advantage for Quebec with Hydro.

Somewhere between lol and O_O @ American right-wingers describing Kim Campbell as a "Canadian leftist" or "hateful liberal" after her Mar-a-Lago tweet:

Sick & twisted-fmr Canadian PM wishes hurricane to hit Mar-A-Lago. @realDonaldTrump won't be there to get hurt, but many ppl, including service workers, families, etc would be hurt and property destroyed. Are liberals this hateful? https://t.co/5CyDsDmKrj

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 30, 2019

IT IS UNBELIEVABLE KIM CAMPBELL FORMER CANADAS PM WISHES HURRICANE DORIAN DESTROYS TRUMP MAR A LAGO HOME. I LIVE IN MIAMI AND I KNOW THE DESTRUCTION OF A HURRICANE. THIS LEFT WING MONSTERS LIKE MS CAMPBELL, HAVE A BLACK EVIL SOUL. MAGA 2020 ALL THE WAY!!!

— Miguel Diaz (@MiguelD97851742) August 30, 2019

Former progressive PM, Kim Campbell, leads a bad example for women in politics. #lunatic pic.twitter.com/IfiLFZnnvP

— Poletical (@Poletical) August 29, 2019

Kim Campbell has a Mental Disorder and it is called
TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
This syndrome can also be found as the mental illness inflicting
Democrat Socialists in the USA 🇺🇸 and
NDP & Liberal Socialists in Canada 🇨🇦

— Liberty (@i776rreks) August 29, 2019

This is the Canadian Left. Because they don’t like Trump, it’s okay for the glutton nutjob failed politician that is Kim Campbell to wish death and destruction on Americans in Florida? Watch her cohorts like her tweet. The scum you scrape off your shoe. Reaffirms everything Lol! https://t.co/AZP7mY5BZu

— WallStPete (@WallStPete) August 29, 2019

(Campbell was a Tory PM for anyone who doesn't recall 1993.)

More serious issue wrt Canada-US relations:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-canadian-muslims-us-border-crossing-1.5264218

Newest Patriot Act is about Trudeau and the upcoming Canadian election. It wasn't perfect, and fawned at times, but I do think Minhaj went a lot more in depth and did more research than American journalists or commentators (let alone comedians) typically do when covering Canada, while still being funny; far better than John Oliver's bit about the 2015 election, for example. He actually pressed Trudeau pretty hard on selling LAVs to Saudi Arabia, asking him to promise on air not to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Trudeau seemed to squirm a bit when Minhaj pushed him on the contradiction between his climate change commitments and his dedication to building the Trans Mountain pipeline ("like trying to lose weight by eating more Kit Kats"). He discussed SNC-Lavalin and Bill 21 reasonably well. (Referring to Quebec as "the Boston of Canada" is p weird, though.)

Trudeau seemingly kinda maybe issuing a threat(????) was super weird

Yeah, I lolled, then thought afterwards that it was a little weird for an actual world leader to do that. Hopefully, it was scripted.

I really don't think so!

Quebec absolutely the Boston of Canada in that we are insufferable snobs with an inferiority complex who whine all the time and don’t realize how fortunate we are.

Also we think we are the shinning example of the nation’s progressivism but in reality the society is closeted racist.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree…

Western Canada: "Hold my beer."

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/mark-hecht-ethnic-diversity-harms-a-countrys-social-trust-economic-well-being-argues-professor/amp

MB election results to come in tonight. PCs probably on track for another win.

Depressing to see Tory blue federal lawn signs all over the west end suburbs whenever I'm there.

Yep, PC majority. NDP did pick up some seats.

Depressing to see Tory blue federal lawn signs all over the west end suburbs whenever I'm there.

(That was re: Ottawa, not MB)

Sad as it is to say, I still tend to assume that the Prairies are unredeemable.

The NDP governed MB from 1999-2016!

What did they achieve in the way of social policies? Genuinely curious.

Doer gov was a pretty meat and potatoes balanced budget type of thing, not scaring the small c conservatives too much. His replacement,who's name I cant remember,went against a promise not to increase provincial sales tax and that was the end of that