Dynasty, s3: Canadian Politics 2018

Similarly pathetic turnout to last time it looks like

CAQ majority. For fuck's sakes.

ugh, was hoping that it least wouldn't be a majority government

me too.

At least: Good results for QS so far!!!

Like CAQ is any different than the Bouchard/Parizeau tandem.

Nonsense. On secularism/immigration, maybe - but the CAQ are center-right and (essentially) non-sovereignist.

lol Bouchard introduced hard austerity and must I have to remind Parizeau's ideas about 'the ethnic vote'. CAQ are nationalists, and sovereignists-in-the-future.

Bouchard even wrote the pamphlet Pour un quebec lucide which is kind of a CAQ modus operandi.

Weaponized fear of the muslim is the worst fuckin political tool of the past 30 years.

'Distinct society' my ass

Legault's closet dream of becoming the new Duplessis will finally become a reality.

let's not go crazy, this is bad but it's not Duplessis or Doug Ford bad

What's the Muslim pop of QC? I'm guessing around 3%?

Apparently so. Outside of Montreal, it's less than 1%. Quebecers assume it's 17%.

Of course.

I wonder how common this type of voter is:

Maybe not piss off young white men so much as a matter of course on the left? I used to vote left (QS) before I got all these white privilege checks, but now... pic.twitter.com/AE9umj0pds

— CRM-114 (@DISCRIMINATR114) October 2, 2018

Incidentally, 2/3 of Québécois Muslims are non-practising.

xp

A bit of levity: https://www.thebeaverton.com/2018/10/update-quebec-not-distinct-from-ontario-and-usa/

goddamn i just saw back to back posts from a facebook friend of mine, one celebrating the caq getting in (i'm kinda shocked he didn't seem the type) and the next saying "wtf, i make nowhere near (salary amount that is not... crazy high?) like this article says is average for my field" and i'm just sitting here like yeah hmmmmm considering you definitely started in qa at minimum wage you might be closer to that if you had, uh, started at a higher minimum wage, but cool voting for the party least likely to raise it

Watching Legault and Ford, I don't think we are immune to Maxime Bernier becoming PM, probably not in 2019 but beyond that.

All over the western world the right wing has cracked the code and Bernier is going to run on that.

Pom otm on Duplessis

CBC News
1 hr ·
Quebec premier-designate François Legault says he's ready to invoke the notwithstanding clause to ban people in authority positions from wearing religious symbols, such as the hijab.

Can't wait for Legault to cause a constitutional crisis when he deports immigrants using the notwithstanding clause.

let's not go crazy, this is bad but it's not Duplessis or Doug Ford bad

hmmm

I think actually it really could be

I think the distance covered in the right wing shift from Wynne to Ford is similar to Couillard to Legault, yes.

Dunno who is worse between Ford and Legault but lucky us we have 4 years to analyse that.

Yeah, what makes Legault less bad than Ford?

xp! Actually, that would be even worse than I anticipated since I think Wynne was probably well to Couillard's left to begin with.

On the local classic rock station (not one I associate with far left stances), a DJ was commenting on the QC election today. He first explained that CAQ is a right wing party on economics, then commented that their immigration stance has him scratching his head since QC businesses are 'crying out for more workers", before adding "so good luck with that Quebec" and playing a GnR song.

I really don't know where Ford stands when it comes nationalism/immigration. Is he like Legault?

I don't recall him having any strong position on that, honestly? 'Ontario nationalism' isn't really much of a thing. Anyone who wants votes in Toronto and Ottawa suburbs has to cater to POC voters a little.

I guess there's this so I wasn't entirely right: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/05/ford-government-is-ending-cooperation-with-ottawa-on-resettlement-of-asylum-seekers.html

I have the feeling lots of English-speaking media don't quite get how racism played a role in this election; or maybe they are afraid to point it out.

speaking of English media

I wrote this in the chaos of last night: Quebec's break with the old political order: https://t.co/LlRRBNb3RP

— Nora Loreto (@NoLore) October 2, 2018

Marine Le Pen just endorsed Legault's immigration platform. Tout est dit.

Yeah seeing that and I realized I'm done for at least one month with politics, here and elsewhere. I need a break.

Relevant: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kakistocracy

ok, that made me laugh

Oh damn I only just got the pun

I missed this: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/10/04/usmca-canada-china-free-trade_a_23551085/

In Ottawa, we seem to have a credible challenger to perma-mayor and former Ontario Lib cabinet minister Jim Watson (who won 76% of the vote last time) in Clive Doucet, a former councillor who actually has plans to do something about housing affordability and at least seems to care about the low-income predominantly minority communities who are facing eviction from the Heron Gate area. It's mostly relieving that our two front-runners both seem to be at least reasonable, although with the way the world is going, I should probably expect that at the last minute a previously obscure candidate will come up the middle and win on a platform of banning shawarmas and requiring forced labour for jaywalkers after Ford redistricts the city with a week to the election.

Thanks for the links. I need to actually read something about this election.

Watson is so much the most visible politician in this city that it's kind of hard to imagine him losing.

Yep, and he'd certainly be acceptable and capable. I'm glad there's a progressive alternative who's looking at these issues, though.

THE GATEWAY DRUG IS UPON US

No but really, even as someone who is quite obtusely anti-drugs I believe this is a great day.

haha

way too much coverage of cannabis in the local papers here, ranging from informative to useless knowledge that most stoners have known their whole lives
this is a great event for sure but i fear the normalization of pot will be craft beer part 2

I have never smoked so probably the comparaison is wrong but craft beer saved me from Molson Export and Heineken so I don't see why it would be a fear.

Primo quality buds going for $100/ounce on Commercial Dr. Something is happening.

Ha, I wasn't going to be the one to ask. xp

I look forward to the Heineken of cannabis, whatever that may end up being. Probably some kind of cheap, disposable vape device from China.

well there's def. the cannabis infused beer as

xp
oh it definitely will be like craft beer, but I'm not clear on what's bad about that? you mean just like annoying hipsterization? or mediocre weed with names like Indicapocalypse or bizarre hybrids you don't even want to smell let alone smoke?

there are a ton of drawbacks to Quebec's approach to this, but I have to say, the SAQ near my apt is pretty fantastic for a govt-run alcohol store (at least in terms of stock if not price), so I'm curious about the new weed stores

more seriously, glad to see that there's some activity on the amnesty/pardoning front

I never managed to get into pot, but this is something to be proud of, and it goes to show that – disclaimer: everything is relative, I know, I know – Canada remains ahead of the curve when it comes to making sensible decisions about 'moral' matters. I'd probably roll myself a celebratory joint if I weren't in the UK right now.

First thing I think about when craft beer comes to mind is SMEs brewers doing their thing and being able to be independent from the 2-3 ridiculous consortium owning everything. I'm down with that model happening in weed production.

That being said, if I recall correctly, Molson is heavily unionized and the shareholders + c-suite have a really good relationship with the union.