I ran into a neighbour while out walking yesterday and asked him about my coffee question above. Which I know seems utterly insignificant, but, as I explained to him, it has next to nothing to do with coffee--obviously, I can make that at home. It’s much more about simply going in there; if you’re on your own during one of these lockdowns, many days that’ll be the only interaction you have with anyone that doesn’t take place on a computer screen. To that end, I thought his idea for what I should say if I ever got questioned was pretty sensible, seeing as “essential” has been deemed to vary from person to person: call it a mental-health issue.
Turns out be nothing anyway. The only two cops here come in from Stratford; they work out of the municipal building that’s a few dozen steps around the corner from Tim’s. There’s usually a car parked outside, so last night I just asked the guy. I don’t think he answered immediately--there was a slight pause, like he wasn’t sure either--but he said it was fine. Which means, for me, there’s no change at all that I can think of between now and what was already in place as of Boxing Day. And I don’t see that there will be, for me, until and unless schools reopen.
― clemenza, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:44 (three years ago) link
What do we make of Blanchet's comments on Alghabra? "His ties to the political Islamic movement raise questions" is vague and almost seems like innuendo, although I wonder if there's some context I'm missing.
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/01/15/nouveau-ministre-trudeau-qualifie-les-propos-du-chef-bloquiste-dinacceptables-1https://globalnews.ca/news/7574235/bloc-quebecois-omar-alghabra-criticism/
On Twitter, he mostly also seems to be avoiding saying anything direct but shares articles like this, which, despite its, uh, questionable take, does at least specify what he might be taking issue with (the group's, acc to the author, anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian leanings and ostensible support of Hamas): https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/593416/bonne-semaine-pour-l-islam
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Sunday, 17 January 2021 03:35 (three years ago) link
I wonder if there's some context I'm missing.
The context is dogwhistling. Blanchet is said to have taken his cue from 'Rebel News', as it's now called:
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/2021-01-15/propos-sur-le-nouveau-ministre-omar-alghabra/blanchet-seme-l-intolerance-dit-trudeau.php
― pomenitul, Sunday, 17 January 2021 03:51 (three years ago) link
Really, though, it's just a racist procès d'intention and Lisée is now trying to put some flesh on it.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 17 January 2021 03:56 (three years ago) link
Huh, "Biden indicates plans to cancel Keystone XL pipeline permit on 1st day in office, sources confirm": https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/biden-keystone-xl-1.5877038
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Monday, 18 January 2021 18:23 (three years ago) link
My wife's very happy about that.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 18 January 2021 18:43 (three years ago) link
i remember obama delaying it. good on biden
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Monday, 18 January 2021 18:44 (three years ago) link
I’m very much an environmentalist, so ultimately feel like it’s the right move, but I do have concerns about the economic realities. I sometimes wonder if the average Canadian just thinks of the energy sector as just one of many similar big Canadian resources? Because I think I did, until I worked over a decade in banking - in a central admin centre. We had branches and large clients from coast to coast, but the small handful of Alberta transits, by quantity, a tiny fraction of all accounts nationally - in terms of actual dollars, they absolutely dwarfed everything else combined. It did change my perspective a bit.
― Kim, Monday, 18 January 2021 19:31 (three years ago) link
yes, canada is a petro-state. it needs a kick in the arse to move away from it as it is a dying industry afaict
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Monday, 18 January 2021 19:32 (three years ago) link
Along those lines, some good news (economic and environmental) out of Ingersoll they were talking about on the radio this morning.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/gm-canada-announces-tentative-deal-for-1-billion-electric-vehicle-plant-in-ontario-1.5269550
― clemenza, Monday, 18 January 2021 19:38 (three years ago) link
Good:
Racism has no place in the Conservative Party of Canada. My statement: pic.twitter.com/TP6uATWOi3— Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole) January 18, 2021
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 19 January 2021 02:19 (three years ago) link
good excuse for them to get rid of a headache, but I'll take it
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 02:33 (three years ago) link
Am I the only person in the country that thinks this is overblown? Like, how is someone supposed to vet every donation? This guy gave Sloan like $100, he’s supposed to have his people research every donation, recognize the name of this Nazi? Maybe that’s a good idea, I don’t know, but is that kind of deep dive SOP?I’m glad Sloan’s gone, he is a human cancer, but it feels like a weird scandal.
― Guys don’t @ me because I tazed my own balls alright? (hardcore dilettante), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 03:38 (three years ago) link
Can you even donate to an individual MP without it going through the party in the first place? I don't think there's a way for me to donate directly to Catherine McKenna or Joel Harden but not to the Liberals or NDP?
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 03:44 (three years ago) link
the donation was for sloan's leadership campaign
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 04:03 (three years ago) link
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/white-nationalist-donation-derek-sloan-1.5878070
sloan claims he had no idea who the guy was and is returning the money, but no denunciation of white supremacism in his statements either. there's a long history of denouncing and returning embarrassing political donations, and I agree politicians probably can't vet everything. O'Toole is just taking the opportunity to get rid of a headache.
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 04:07 (three years ago) link
It’s not that he accepted the donation. It’s that his specific policies attracted it.
― Kim, Tuesday, 19 January 2021 04:59 (three years ago) link
definitely o’toole using a good opportunity. agreed it’s overblown, but part of the reason is that it’s the kind of thing that goes with the rest of what sloan represents. this is the guy who said he’d designate antifa as a terrorist group, after all.
the best part is that it’ll damage cpc as well, and deservingly so. they had many opportunities to get rid of sloan before.
in any case, i’ll celebrate derek finally getting what he deserved. too bad he blocked me on fb/twitter.
― scanner darkly, Tuesday, 19 January 2021 05:00 (three years ago) link
sloan is so disingenuous about the shit he propagates, justifying his antivax petition with the "any constituent can write a petition" defence. he's done and said a ton of things that merit getting the boot.
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 05:48 (three years ago) link
Oh I see, so the donation was given through the party but meant for Sloan's leadership campaign per se and, even while the party did take a cut, the issue is that Sloan attracted that element in the first place?
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 06:42 (three years ago) link
seems like you can give up to $1500 directly to a leadership contestant (but yeah the conservatives took a 10% cut). and you can give to electoral district associations or party-endorsed candidates, not just to parties.
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=ces&document=part6&lang=e
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 06:59 (three years ago) link
Reportedly a glitch in the reporting, but cases do seem to be coming down. In London, their 5-day average is down ~35%.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-january-19-2021-vaccine-update-1.5878789
― clemenza, Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:09 (three years ago) link
lol, why do Canadians do this?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsMp0HAXMAE0EwX?format=png&name=240x240
― jmm, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 19:17 (three years ago) link
Annoying, but I accept it. Vague moral superiority is pretty gentle as far as nationalism goes. If we don’t have social cohesion, we lose our social programs.
― Kim, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 20:40 (three years ago) link
Oh hey,
Not sure this should have been the event that triggered it, but Sloan is booted. Well deserved.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/01/20/conservatives-mps-eject-derek-sloan-in-a-secret-ballot-vote.html
― Kim, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 21:05 (three years ago) link
I'm not really up on this guy, so yes, you guessed it, first reaction: "Huh? Far from great, but a couple of songs weren't bad."
― clemenza, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 21:09 (three years ago) link
it's nice to see o'toole jumping on this so quickly and decisively - harper would've likely doubled down in a similar scenario,but i have a feeling this will be seen as a weakness by his caucus.
― scanner darkly, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 21:32 (three years ago) link
Yeah I'm underwhelmed by how O'Toole demanded that his caucus had to "coax me" into ejecting Sloan
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 22:03 (three years ago) link
poorly formed joeks aside, I thought this Andrew Coyne article was excellent:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-conservatives-have-a-hypocrisy-problem-that-goes-beyond-derek/
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 22:05 (three years ago) link
"Derek Sloan is right. It is hypocritical for the Conservative Party to kick him out of caucus for unwittingly accepting a donation from the notorious neo-Nazi – and party member – Paul Fromm, when the party had done the same. Like Mr. Sloan, the party failed to screen out either Mr. Fromm’s donation or membership application – forgivably, perhaps, as he gave his name as Frederick P. Fromm. But only Mr. Sloan is paying the price for it.
Not that he deserves any better. There are worse things than hypocrisy, and one of them is the party’s willingness to tolerate Mr. Sloan’s presence in caucus as long as it has. If Mr. Sloan is being scapegoated in the present case, he had already earned his ticket out of caucus several times over: for suggesting homosexuality was a choice, for insinuating that Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Theresa Tam, was in the pay of the Chinese government, for other public statements that were at best reckless and at worst outright bigoted."
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 22:06 (three years ago) link
From that article (which was very good indeed):
Is it any wonder that more than 40 per cent of Conservative voters, according to a Leger poll, would have voted for Donald Trump in the recent election? Or that a similar number believe he actually won?
Err, really? That's worse than I thought.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 22:08 (three years ago) link
I guess it's only 40% of 30% of all Canadian voters, if you want to look at the glass as being 12% full
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 22:13 (three years ago) link
this is a minor thing but i'm curious: i wonder what happens to sloan's blue check twitter account now, since it's got "cpc" in the name.does he lose the right to use it?
― scanner darkly, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 23:07 (three years ago) link
Sloan is paying the price for everything he's done wrong, obv.
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 23:57 (three years ago) link
I'd say he lost California but he was actually a student union president down there. Hunh.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 21 January 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
lol sund4r
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Thursday, 21 January 2021 00:21 (three years ago) link
lol
― Kim, Thursday, 21 January 2021 00:57 (three years ago) link
It’s not real until he does his time
― Guys don’t @ me because I tazed my own balls alright? (hardcore dilettante), Thursday, 21 January 2021 01:15 (three years ago) link
And it's official: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/biden-revokes-keystone-xl-permit-in-blow-to-canada-s-oil-sector-1.5275343
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Thursday, 21 January 2021 02:30 (three years ago) link
kenney big mad
Kenney says if the U.S. administration refuses to discuss Keystone, the Canadian government must impose trade and economic sanctions, he says. "Not doing so would create a dangerous precedent," Kenney says. #ableg— Janet French (@Jantafrench) January 20, 2021
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 21 January 2021 02:49 (three years ago) link
hard to see any downsides to that plan
― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Thursday, 21 January 2021 02:51 (three years ago) link
Tough guy
― Guys don’t @ me because I tazed my own balls alright? (hardcore dilettante), Thursday, 21 January 2021 03:00 (three years ago) link
Not sure I completely understand this: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mobile/man-freezes-to-death-steps-from-montreal-shelter-after-public-health-makes-beds-off-limits-1.5271305
Why does a curfew mean that homeless shelters need to close? If anything, wouldn't it keep people from being out and violating the curfew if they could be inside a shelter at night?
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Thursday, 21 January 2021 03:59 (three years ago) link
Watch your back, pom. You've got some real polyglot competition now:
No matter what language you speak — or in my case try to — all of us need to stay home.Stay home. Stay safe. Save lives. pic.twitter.com/zy3qeqUA43— Doug Ford (@fordnation) January 21, 2021
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Thursday, 21 January 2021 17:26 (three years ago) link
I had to listen back to the Tamil one a couple of times to work out what words he was even trying to say.
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Thursday, 21 January 2021 17:27 (three years ago) link
Hahaha, that's genuinely amazing. No Romanian, though – tsk, tsk.
I know it's all PR, but it saddens me to think that Legault would never so much as consider doing such a video.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 21 January 2021 18:35 (three years ago) link
Oh wow, haha
― Kim, Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:32 (three years ago) link
Damn, that was quick:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/governor-general-payette-step-down-1.5882675
― pomenitul, Thursday, 21 January 2021 21:06 (three years ago) link
At the beginning of her mandate, sources said, Payette also put staff on the spot by quizzing them about outer space — asking them to name all the planets in the solar system, for example, or to state the distance between the sun and the moon.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rideau-hall-governor-general-payette-1.5861952
― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Thursday, 21 January 2021 21:45 (three years ago) link
she sounds like a real scumbag
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 21 January 2021 21:46 (three years ago) link
I haven't really processed the Ontario changes yet; I keep getting e-mails or FB posts about this or that closing. It really is going to feel like April 2020 for at least a couple of weeks, probably longer.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 04:06 (two years ago) link
Today's COVID-19 briefing in B.C. marks a significant shift in the province's fight against the virus.Businesses and people know what to do to prevent spread.Health orders are not the long term solution. #bcpoli— Richard Zussman (@richardzussman) January 4, 2022
― symsymsym, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 03:32 (two years ago) link
we're on our own, baby!
the pacific wild west
https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/01/04/BC-FOI-Missing-COVID-19-Data/
funny enough, before the pandemic, i requested copies of some forms from the ministry of health i had personally filled out. i needed them to figure out some personal information i had written but had forgotten what i had put down. i was actually given the option to request this information and i took them up on it. what a mistake that was. i was transferred to some weird department (i guess it must've been the privacy department?) and they asked me why i wanted that information. after i explained why, they told me they couldn't release it to me. i told them i was entitled to it under the privacy act and that they had even told me i could request the forms. the lady on the phone gave me the strangest runaround and weirdest excuse. i don't even remember what she said but she was trying to dissuade me from requesting it.
in the end, she budged. she quoted a delivery time that was ridiculously long. i think it was more than 30 days or something. i finally received the copies of the forms i filled out maybe 30 days later or so. the kicker: the information i needed from the form had been blocked out with black squares.
so, yes, i'm not surprised. we're all just sheep and do as the government says because we have no other choice. we're left in the dark about a lot of stuff through bureaucracy. they know they can get away with it. keeping us ignorant of the real details is how they control all of us. honestly, fuck the dumb provincial and federal governments.
― Punster McPunisher, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 04:44 (two years ago) link
yeah this policy was pretty much bullshit: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-government-brings-in-10-application-fee-for-freedom-of-information-requests-1.6264020
― symsymsym, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 05:27 (two years ago) link
New thread: Down With the Sickness: Canadian Politics 2022
― treat the gelignite tenderly for me (Sund4r), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 15:31 (two years ago) link