Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

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

On the radio, they were saying this is the first time US politicians have made this many endorsements in a Cdn election since the 95 referendum: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-election-2021/obama-and-clinton-back-trudeau-in-election-sanders-endorses-singh-1.5588186

aukus doesn't bother me, as a canadian. the cold war mentality is pretty disconcerting, but i think the decision to form this defence agreement is most likely because there's rumours that the next world war may be due to china trying to overthrow the taiwanese government. if that is the case, nuclear subs would help australia go to taiwan's aide faster. short of creating a defence agreement with taiwan, a lot of countries are trying to build stronger ties with it, as they produce around 23% (if memory serves) of the semiconductor chips in the world, the second largest producer. the first...yep, china! at around 25%, i believe. i think the US sharing nuclear sub intel with australia is a necessary evil, honestly

to circle back to canadian politics, the liberals (and heck, canada, as a whole, you can say) has a tight relationship with china. the conservatives are really the only ones trying to break the ties to china, especially with bill c-315, submitted to the house of commons by conservative mp michael cooper earlier this year

it's going to be interesting to see how canada tries to break away from china as the US starts to do the same

also, i will add that there is absolutely no doubt there are a lot of chinese spies in canada. involving canada in aukus would most likely compromise US intelligence

yeah the conservatives would never sell us out to China https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/canada-ratifies-investment-deal-with-china-despite-misgivings-1.2004295

I want OToole to have to mention this deal every single time he talks about China

wonder what the Parliamentary Secretary for International Trade thought about it at the time:

Canada has free trade agreements with countries that we have strong relationships with, but we are also signing trade protection agreements with developing countries or some nations that pose unique risks for our exporters. Our government recently moved forward with such an agreement – known as a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements or FIPA for short – with China. We have almost 30 FIPAs in place with countries around the world. These were negotiated over the last two decades and most came into force with no coverage at all, but a lot of misinformation is circulating about the FIPA with China, based on fears or uncertainty related to China. China is now the world’s second largest economy and our exporters are trading with China and they want more protection in that market. China’s legal system is not as fair and developed as Canada’s so the FIPA allows for a fair and impartial way to deal with disputes that Canadian companies might have in that country. In many ways it simply levels the playing field because Chinese companies operating or trading in Canada already have access to our courts, which are some of the most fair and sophisticated in the world. Canadian exporters – like those here in Durham – need the certainty and protection in China that the FIPA provides, so that they can continue to grow the jobs that rely on trade.

https://erinotoolemp.com/2014/09/18/protection-for-canadian-jobs/

I can't believe it's still up on his website!

the tories are definitely also working with china, which is why i said it's more of a "canada as a whole" problem. it's hard to break ties. which is why i say it'll be interesting times for the country

my comment about the conservatives doing more was in direct reference to bill c-315, which may not even get very far, but it shouldn't be disregarded

Michael Cooper sounds like a real friend to human rights

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/scheer-michael-cooper-justice-committee-kicked-out-christchurch-1.5159082

my local NDP MP was firmly against a trade deal with China, ftr:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/delayed-china-trade-deal-reflects-tory-dissent-ndp-says-1.1307131

for those with paywall-peeking access, here's my piece on the debates/hunting down the leaders for a few weeks:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-scenes-from-a-campaign/

Nice piece

is it also published in the print edition?

yup! near the back of the Opinion section
(and thanks!)

yes, lovely piece! reminded me a little of joan didion's campaign writing

wow- thanks!!

A day before the election, Grenier has a 75% chance of Liberals winning the most seats. These leads in ON and QC would seem to augur well.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/

AB crisis scaring people, I'm guessing.

If there’s a silver lining to Kenney’s democide

Just voted here (only 4th in line in my poll station so maybe they were just getting going) but it seemed rather disorganized compared to previous years. Is it normal for them to not instruct what kind of mark to put on the ballot? I asked if I should use an x or a check mark, and was told it didn’t matter, just not to make it ambiguous. Also the setup was a definite fail on social distancing. Good luck today, Canada.

Is it normal for them to not instruct what kind of mark to put on the ballot? I asked if I should use an x or a check mark, and was told it didn’t matter, just not to make it ambiguous.

This sounds right:

https://www.elections.ca/emp/trng/droop/man/images/figure14_e.jpg

Sorry to hear about the social distancing fail. Heading out after lunch.