Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

he's actually been better then i expected at doing his job (it was a low bar). but there were people at there frothing at the mouth about him long before he'd ever even had the chance to govern.

i meant to write ontario/ontario liberal politics

also, yes, if i recall correctly those early critics were mostly conservatives

am covering the debates tonight/tomorrow

PPC protesters out in full force

Are you at the Museum of Civilisation rn?

I, too, am baffled by the vitriol. I’m not thrilled with some very high-profile broken promises, specifically electoral reform and drinkable water on remote reserves, but the scandals have been pretty mild and I thought he’s done a good job leading through the pandemic. Much, much better than our provincial leaders here in the West, obv.

Not sure “he is personally dislikable” is a great reason to go back to letting a party that’s still v much in the thrall of Harper (and leavened with a soupçon of Trump) govern again.

Are you at the Museum of Civilisation rn?

ya!

have now done more recon and see MAK advocates nearly outnumber the Bernieristes.

frankly more distressing to find five TERF protesters on the third street corner!

You will have to explain MAK and TERF

O'Toole really seems to be aiming for some kind of alliance with the Bloc.

haha, all i know of the MAK is their wikipedia page

but TERFs are anti-trans "feminist" activists

O'Toole has so little to say on the environment I briefly forgot he was in the debate.

The actions of a Catholic school board in Ontario are definitely not a federal election issue, though

OK, apparently, this is an issue at a federal leaders' debate.

I missed the debate, but I just saw this from Trudeau's post debate press conference and thought it was pretty good:

Here is the Trudeau vs. Rebel exchange at the scrum: #debatdeschefs pic.twitter.com/wMFJTsU1AD

— Ben Parsons (@Ben_Parsons__) September 9, 2021

I'm wondering if Legault coming out in support of the conservative party will have any real impact

https://globalnews.ca/news/8177660/election-debate-quebec-premier-reaction/

Considering that the election is likely going to be close, a couple of extra seats going to the conservatives in quebec might make a difference. On the other hand, this might make some potential Bloc voters vote Conservative instead, splitting the vote and allowing the Liberals to make some gains. We'll see soon enough I guess.

Ugh but yeah, that's totally the angle O'Toole was pushing last night.

Phrasing everything in the BQ-style "Canada et Québec", stressing how he would leave health decisions up to Quebec "and the provinces", emphasizing transfers with no conditions.

curious what blanchet will say about those legault comments tonight

I heard on the radio tonight that he said voting BQ is the best way to ensure a minority govt but yeah not sure if he'll address it at the English debate.

here we go again.

blanchet skipped in late to the museum bc he didn't want to have to hang around miked up with the others

Lol. Just tuned in.

ya, so did i. "lol" is exactly what i was going to post.

i'm glad i have the tennis game in the background while these clowns throw shade at each other

Blanchet answering every question on First Nations reconciliation with a reference to Quebec's own nationhood is lol, although randomly throwing in a defence of secularism in the last one was next level.

i liked that he didn't know the english term for "gouverneur général"

Or "pension". I don't remember him having any struggles with English too years ago?!

doubt he's spoken much english during this campaign season (compared to working at the House of Commons)

Makes sense. I thought Singh was pretty weak this time around, pretty fuzzy on concrete plans and seeming to go after Trudeau as much as O'Toole, even though the Liberals have only been able to govern for the past two years with NDP support. (Not to mention that he can't really argue against the need for an election and also act like Trudeau's Liberals don't have his confidence.) I feel like he'd make a much stronger case if he gave (and shared in) credit for what was accomplished and explained how the NDP would accelerate progress in the next Parliament. Paul exceeded my expectations. I thought Trudeau was strong in both debates and will likely gain support. O'Toole seems to know what he's doing.

By which I mean he dodges a lot and seems to want to position himself as a moderate for English Canada and a decentralist for Quebec, which may work. Trudeau is obv the most bilingual and a comfortable speaker and sold his record fairly convincingly, I thought.

it's amazing the hall was large enough to fit Blanchet's ego

trudeau is talking so fast

Something weird happening at UNB, hopefully false alarm.

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/evacuation-underway-at-multiple-n-b-universities-police-on-scene-at-unb-investigating-a-file-1.5580384

This is one of the more despicable things I've seen in a major Canadian paper in a while - and it's not even the National Post or Sun: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-the-peoples-party-is-far-outside-the-mainstream-of-canadian-politics/

The original version left out "This is racist, but it is how they feel" in this paragraph:

There could be plenty of reasons why so many people are drawn to the People’s Party. They have become resentful and untrusting over the loss of manufacturing jobs. They are stressed by the pandemic. Some of them resent the increasing number of non-European immigrants. This is racist, but it is how they feel. And they enjoy the self-empowerment that comes from rejecting authority.

and included "And you may not like their methods" as the final sentence here:

Mr. Bernier seeks to be their voice. If their voice is silenced – if PPC members fail to break through in Parliament, just as Mr. Bernier was unfairly denied representation in the leaders’ debates last week – they will find another way to be heard.

The edits don't improve anything. If he really wants to make an argument for electoral reform (has he done so before?), there's no need to focus on this one party at all.

Not my cup of tea – and then some. But similar policies have been implemented at one time or another in the United States and some European countries. In other countries, populist right-wing parties are prominently represented in legislatures.

"Other countries have racist parties, so why shouldn't we?" This is the argument?

does Ibbitson feel there are any policies that have been implemented at one time or another in some European countries that we should be trying to avoid?

disgusting stuff. the ppc vote share is a legit argument against proportional representation, which I generally advocate for. I don't know how much worse a hypothetical 15 elected PPC MPs would be than the worst 15 CPC members, who they presumably would be replacing. But the media circus that would immediately ensue around any elected PPC MP would be a disaster.

#Breaking Alberta Premier Kenney says his government was wrong on approach to COVID and apologizes. Kenney has been under immense pressure and criticism as Alberta COVID rates have surged. #ABPoli #Cdnpoli

— Mercedes Stephenson (@MercedesGlobal) September 16, 2021

jesus what a moron

https://www.straight.com/news/politicians-exploit-phrasing-of-shachi-kurls-question-to-avoid-very-real-issue-of-racism-in

You heard it here first: Kenney won’t step down until just before the next AB election, and we’ll fuckin vote his successor in cuz “the dipshit is gone, let’s give the new guy a chance.”

A friend in QC brought up the debate question kerfuffle. While the tl;dr version of my initial feeling on it is that the question was fine and the reaction is white fragility, he made a convincing point that the outraged reaction and the unfortunate side effect of increasing Bloc support might have been avoided if the question were phrased more neutrally.

Is this in reference to the drinking water question?

Yeah, the way the question was asked is allowing the Bloc to spin it as Quebec-bashing from the ROC. I like the alternate phrasing proposed here: https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/why-the-english-election-debate-tripped-the-quebec-campaign/

During last week’s English-language debate, the moderator could have asked: “Mr. Blanchet, what do you say to Quebec Superior Court Marc-André Blanchard who has described Bill 21 as discriminatory? And if you believe it not to be discriminatory, why do you support the preemptive use of the notwithstanding clause?” If the question had been phrased as such, the English Debate Commission would not have become the main story in the Quebec campaign, overshadowing actual candidates.

It's crazy that a question asked by a moderator in the English debate is going to give the bloc extra seats in parliament, but that seems pretty likely at this point.

it's still crazy to me that our parties give big long speeches about the evils of anti-semitism, and in Quebec Jews are literally denied jobs because of their religion. the pandering by all the party leaders is pathetic. I give annamie paul credit for attacking the bill in the debate, but she's the only Jewish party leader and she didn't call bill 21 anti-semitic.

Liberals are exploting anti-semitism for this kind of bad faith bullshit but ignoring bill 21:

Note to the Van-Gran NDP on why calling Israel a colonial state is antisemitic.

You can stand up for Palestinians without delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist.

Calling for an end to violence & 2-state solution is the answer for a just & equal peace-not her antisemitic one. pic.twitter.com/pvDnXAoqMq

— Ya'ara Saks יערה זקס (@YaaraSaks) September 15, 2021

Trudeau has still not ruled out federal intervention in Law 21, saying he's waiting to see what comes of current court cases: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2021/09/12/loi-21-une-intervention-federale-nest-pas-ecartee-par-justin-trudeau-1

https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/8184334/feds-intervene-bill-21-trudeau/amp/

Original version (non-Amp): https://globalnews.ca/news/8184334/feds-intervene-bill-21-trudeau/

I think the Liberals approach to this is the correct one, let bill 21 be challenged from within Quebec first.

I know Trudeau's stance, but he's spent more time on the campaign trail getting angry about the debate question than about the law

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-debate-blanchet-bill21-1.6171124

Uh, not that the news is covering it proportionally, it’s probably a big development that the Five Eyes is now suddenly the Three Eyes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58564837.amp