Down With the Sickness: Canadian Politics 2022

Last night I had a triple generation encounter with my least-favourite family: while walking by Douglas B. F*** Park in Etobicoke, I received a phone call from Premier Doug F*** asking me to put a sign for Michael F*** on my lawn. The PCs regularly come third in my riding, I hope splitting between the NDP and Liberals doesn't let this guy win.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/woman-with-disabilities-nears-medically-assisted-death-after-futile-bid-for-affordable-housing-1.5882202

A 31-year-old Toronto woman who uses a wheelchair is nearing final approval for a medically assisted death request after a fruitless bid to secure an affordable apartment that doesn't worsen her chronic illnesses.

The looming approval for death surprisingly, makes her grateful. "Relieved and elated," Denise said in an interview with CTV News. "I was scared that they weren't going to say ‘yes’," she said...

...Her story is disturbingly similar to one reported by CTV earlier in April. Sophia also suffered from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. She received a medically assisted death in February, after fruitless attempts to get an apartment away from smoke and chemicals in her building. Denise said she started the paperwork on her request for MAiD in the summer of 2021, long before Sophia's story went public...

The larger issue of the purpose of medically assisted death in Canada also comes into play, say disability rights advocates. Initially approved by the Senate as a way of alleviating the suffering of those near death, it was expanded in March 2021 to those with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

"We've now gone on to basically solving the deficiencies in our social safety net through this horrific backdoor, not that anybody meant it that way, but that's what it's turned into," said David Lepofsky, disability advocate and Visiting Professor of Disability Rights at the Osgoode Hall Law School.

"With the right support, I have no doubt people with disabilities can live well in society. We all want people with disabilities to know that their lives have value," said Kobluk.

Voted

Yup.

Harden was good during the protest, imo. Felt like an easy vote.

Didn't realize there was a Nate Silver-type site that tracks this:

https://338canada.com/ontario/

God, not even close.

Yeah, we’re fucked.

Fuck

My wife is working at a poll tonight on behalf of the NDP, who are the incumbents here.

I usually think of Eric Grenier as the Canadian Nate Silver: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/ontario/

PCs are probably cruising to a win provincially but Harden is also going to win this riding easily. We've been volunteering with his campaign as he actually got results for our own concerns during the pandemic and I agree he was great during the occupation. More effective in Opposition than a lot of MP/Ps are in government (including Naqvi federally). Horwath herself a major disappointment, though.

And why are the Liberals running on bringing back Grade 13?? Every other province and state functions fine without it.

I expected a Tory win. I didn't expect them to gain seats. As the little local victories go, Harden won by a wide margin and the NDP flipped the suburban riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, which had been held by a Tory and which is the kind of seat they need to start winning if they're going to have a chance at winning an election. Grits still don't have official party status.

This isn’t just the lowest turnout in Ontario history. It’s close to being the lowest in Canadian history — behind only Alberta in 2008 (40.6%). https://t.co/1GEfCtYRKW

— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦 (@acoyne) June 3, 2022

Heard that on the radio. He got 40% of the 42% of the province that voted--a big majority with 16-17% support. It's not like he's actually popular.

Harden was good during the protest, imo. Felt like an easy vote.

So he actually won the most votes of any candidate (and apparently a higher share of the riding vote in any federal or provincial election since 1968).

.@JoelHardenONDP was the ONLY candidate across Ontario to break 30,000 votes this election.

This is what a grassroots, democratic model of organizing can do.

Time to bring that model to every NDP riding association across the province.

— Sam Hersh (@SamHersh01) June 3, 2022

This made me wonder if he's planning on a leadership bid:

Shortly before NDP leader Andrea Horwath announced she would step down as leader of the party, Harden said it was time for new leadership.

"I want to congratulate Andrea for leading us four times into four election campaigns. I was asked in French if I think we need a change in leadership, I do!" Harden said.

I think everyone (including Horwath) thought they needed a change in leadership tbf but yeah, it seems natural that the thought would at least arise now. Some discussion of it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/v422f5/joel_harden_was_the_only_candidate_across_ontario/

Tbh, his constituency work has been so strong and I would worry a bit about losing that if he became leader.

After killing his mother, Ryan Grantham started driving to Ottawa with guns, Molotov cocktails and camping supplies to assassinate Trudeau before he had a change of heart and turned around. Definitely one of the stranger episodes in Canadian political history: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/barbara-waite-ryan-grantham-squamish-bc-homicide-guilty-sentencing-1.6486914

Not really politics, but the entire country's semi-paralyzed at the moment by a nationwide Rogers outage. I'm posting from a library that uses a different local provider--at home, no internet/phone/TV.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-outage-cell-mobile-wifi-1.6514373

Internet is working for me, but no phone or texts at the moment.

Videotron is fine -- have we seceded and I missed it?

also, I ofc get what you mean clemenza, but I know a few people who would vehemently disagree that this isn't really politics!

Definitely political from a monopoly standpoint, isn't it? This really shouldn't be allowed to happen. (Says the guy whose internet/phone/TV is provided by Rogers.)

Quadro is pretty common where I live, so there are least three places in town where I'll have Wi-Fi access until this is resolved, including, I discovered today for the first time since I moved here, a park at the end of my street.

Heard on the radio that the communications minister (or whatever--might have even been an opposition critic) is calling for refunds. "Dream on" is my first reaction. Businesses should definitely get some compensation--the local restaurant I went to for dinner had closed down for the day. (Not really sure why they couldn't deal in cash; everywhere else seems to be open on a cash basis.)

Yeah we lost all Internet and mobile service on Friday. Seems ludicrous that so much of the country, including essential public services, depends on this shitty private company. Why are telecommunications and media so monopolistic/oligopolistic in this country? We're switching our mobile service away (to a different corporate oligarch).

Why are telecommunications and media so monopolistic/oligopolistic in this country?

usual answer is big country + low population requires large fixed costs for poor unit economics so it's only worth it for a few large firms to enter

but it does seem like things could be significantly less shitty with the given constraints

Yeah, or at least, if that's the case, that there should be a public utility in the market as well. This is the case in Saskatchewan, where it seems to work OK. Are the US companies prohibited by law from entering the market or does it not seem worth it to them? Seems like that would shift the unit economics if we're talking about a US/Canada market, as opposed to just Canada.

I found myself reading about both Anne Frank white privilege discourse and the KHive this morning and realized I probably need another Internet outage already.

As far as politics goes, has anyone seen any movement on anything the Liberal-NDP accord promised?

solidarity with this brave bee:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-swallows-bee-1.6549613

yeesh

Yeah, at least we have three more years before a general election. Poilievre's acceptance speech was dishearteningly effective imo, striking all the right notes for his audience: starting off with a couple of minutes on the Queen (who, paraphrasing, was the "most powerful woman in the world, though she might have recoiled from the title") culminating in a "God save the King"; hammering home how his victory is a victory for YOU and your ability to hold on to YOUR paycheque vs "Liberal inflation" and the dishonest claim that Trudeau has doubled the debt, adding more than every previous government combined; and, in French, saying that Quebec should be a model for the rest of the country in how it "stands up to wokism" and unapologetically fights to preserve its heritage and culture (at a time when Legault has been talking about restricting immigration in order to protect Quebec's culture from "violence and extremism").

I thought this, from a couple of weeks ago, was pretty thorough on some of the issues with the looseness of Canada's euthanasia/MAiD laws, with a number of disturbing examples: https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-toronto-7c631558a457188d2bd2b5cfd360a867

— Unlike Belgium and the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal for two decades, Canada doesn’t have monthly commissions to review potentially troubling cases, although it does publish yearly reports of euthanasia trends.

— Canada is the only country that allows nurse practitioners, not just doctors, to end patients’ lives. Medical authorities in its two largest provinces, Ontario and Quebec, explicitly instruct doctors not to indicate on death certificates if people died from euthanasia.

— Belgian doctors are advised to avoid mentioning euthanasia to patients since it could be misinterpreted as medical advice. The Australian state of Victoria forbids doctors from raising euthanasia with patients. There are no such restrictions in Canada. The association of Canadian health professionals who provide euthanasia tells physicians and nurses to inform patients if they might qualify to be killed, as one of their possible “clinical care options.”

— Canadian patients are not required to have exhausted all treatment alternatives before seeking euthanasia, as is the case in Belgium and the Netherlands.

La déprime.

Yeah what I gathered of the CAQ campaign this time was despicable anti-immigrant scapegoating. That it's paying off so well is depressing, as you say. I'm a bit shocked they're even leading in Hull.

Jmm, have you been following the Ottawa municipal campaign? Catherine McKenney, my leftist nonbinary councillor who has been v good at hammering Watson's crowd for their terrible handling of the convoy occupation and the transit fiasco, actually has a pretty solid lead in the polls for the mayoral race but the many undecided voters could shift things:

Our newest polling in the Ottawa mayoral race has McKenney sitting 14-points ahead of Sutcliffe

But a quarter of voters are still undecided!https://t.co/bu9mXmKEMC

— Mainstreet Research (@MainStResearch) September 15, 2022

Greg 'Jreg' Guevara, a Youtube comedian I already enjoyed, has been running a hilarious satirical campaign to separate from Canada, build a wall around the city and declare Frenglish the national language. It still manages to be less of a shitpost than the actual governance of the city has been for the last four years. Really enjoying his debate contributions.

Yesterday's Quebec election result was expected but nevertheless depressing.

It's also crazy that we now have five different parties with 13% or more of the vote. I would have thought this was maybe the PQs last election, but they somehow managed to get the most charismatic party leader I've seen in a long time and somehow ran a nearly flawless campaign and all of a sudden they are back in the mix. I could totally see them winning the next election in 4 years with this guy once everyone is tired of the CAQ/François Legault.

so this notwithstanding business is some bullshit.
i would expect the province run by cons to fuck with the union and daring them to strike etc. i don't like it – but expected.
but busting out section 33 at the drop of a hat is fucking insane. i am worried too many parents will start blaming teachers and believing the dishonest bs making the rounds.
but my naive hope is these really shitty, heavy handed measures will have more blowback for that piece shit ford and his clowns than they anticipated

I wish there were a better name for it than the notwithstanding clause.

The Fuck Your Rights and Freedoms Clause maybe.

^d'accord

might be my Toronto bubble speaking but from what i see, most parents see it for what it is (Ford and Lecce's fault)

I drove past the picket lines in Sarnia yesterday and it seemed most everyone was honking in support. Pretty sure everyone knows it’s Ford (not that things like this ever stop him getting re-elected)

i am worried too many parents will start blaming teachers

Started under Mike Harris, and I don't know that it's ever stopped. I always say that parents like their own school and their child's teacher, but broadly speaking, most say (or vote like) they don't like teachers. Just my impression.

Afaik this strike doesn't have anything to do with teachers? At least locally, it's support staff, such as custodians, who are striking. Kids still have some online classes.

OK yep:

Many schools are closed as a result of the job action by the union, which represents custodians, administrative staff, education assistants, bus drivers and librarians.

d'accord

While I strongly dislike Quebec's use of the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights, I can recognize that they do it on issues of principle, such as secularism or protecting the French language, that are important to those leaders and their constituents and that extend beyond a current dispute. Ford's use of this for, essentially, the sake of convenience in steamrolling over contract negotiations is both incredible and vmic for a leader who has demonstrated few principles other than expediency. Coyne suggested a fairly radical solution for the feds that I am tempted to agree with in this case: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-what-ottawa-should-say-to-the-provinces-see-your-notwithstanding/

Nothing to do with teachers, no. But I've heard people on call-in shows say that the teachers are using this showdown for their own nefarious ends later in the year.

Strange, but the board I supply for now, none of the support staff is CUPE. So we're not affected at all. The boards that have brought back online, that really puts those teachers in an awkward spot; they're essentially undermining all the support staff by teaching online. I know they don't want to, but they have to.

Well, that was quick. I honestly think Ford would nationalize the banks and convert all schools to kibbutzim if the polls and his donors appeared to favour it. (Now if only we can get the public and donors to mobilize for health care and home care...)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cupe-strike-labour-board-ruling-expected-1.6642824

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/11/07/an-enormous-embarrassment-for-stephen-lecce-and-doug-ford.html

i'm not going to call this a "victory" until there's a fair deal in place

Last-minute deal: surprised.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-education-worker-negotiations-1.6658097

Amazing!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-mayor-john-tory-statement-1.6745144

(No posts in two months? Was Canada shut down?)

"Tory will also be remembered as a mayor on the move." lol.

The scandal no one could have predicted.