Dynasty, s3: Canadian Politics 2018

Moved the discussion to a new thread: Mass Shooting in Toronto

Any takes from ilx Torontonians on the Doug Ford cuts to the Toronto Council? Seems absolutely nuts to me and don't know how he has such a mandate.

Exactly what I posted on Facebook today. Sund4r says that city councils are indeed the domain of Queen's Park.

Isn't that insane? I can see where they'd have some oversight, if one side started gerrymandering in a really obvious way, but cities ought to be able to organize themselves as they choose. Ford's motivations aren't hard to figure out.

I am beyond enraged over this.

It's horrible and it's going to work.

I honestly don’t see how this is do-able without pushing the election back. The province still needs to vote on it and then that leaves very little time to basically reorganize a massive bureaucracy. People - who have already started campaigning and taking donations, will be out that money and everyone will have to re-register etc.
the timing alone makes the logistics impossible - and I’m sure if it comes to it, a court might have to weigh in.

Then there’s the fact these new boundaries contravene a recent Supreme Court rulling that Toronto has to have even representation (ford’s plan would skew too heavily to the suburbs). So even long term, his thing could get killed before ford is voted out of office.

Do you have a link about that Supreme Court ruling?

i can't seem to find anything, sorry.

I think it's time we revisit the governmental dichotomy of province/federation and let cities decide a little more for themselves.

Also I felt that was otm:

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-secret-no-government-wants-you-to-know-no-leader-has-a-mandate/

Whether the leaders’ ideas are good or bad in these cases is moot—it’s the mechanisms by which powerful politicians turn their ideas into policies that is troubling. Citing a mandate and leaving it at that is simply inconsistent with how we do democracy, which is why mandates are sneaky tools for manipulation. Governments should be accountable and responsive to all the people they serve. Merely citing a mandate chosen by some mythical voter runs counter to this democratic imperative. Instead of offering an open, responsive, inclusive politics, when a politician like Ford cites a “mandate,” he is preparing to steamroll through some policy or law by citing some fabricated moral authority. As voters, if we dislike what the premier and his cabinet are doing, we can protest. We can write scathing opinion pieces. We can write to our representatives to voice our displeasure. We can launch court challenges. We can run for office ourselves. We can vote for another party in the next election. We can dedicate ourselves to reforming the system. That is what we can do. And before we start, we can understand how our system works so that we are prepared to counter the sophistry or ignorance of cynical or lazy politicians who dare wield the wobbly sword of the “mandate.”

If anything, this should be a case--clearly Ford's driven by personal vindictiveness on two or three different fronts--where the federal government steps in and says, "Whoa--back it up, guy."

Section 92 of the 1867 Constitution Act:

EXCLUSIVE POWERS OF PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES

Subjects of exclusive Provincial Legislation 92. In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to Matters coming within the Classes of Subjects next hereinafter enumerated; that is to say,
...
8. Municipal Institutions in the Province.

So if there was a SCC ruling concerning municipal-level representation of Toronto city districts, that seems like it would be U&K.

(It's a terrible idea that should be fought, though, tbc.)

I just read the Moscrop piece from Maclean's, which is very good and summarizes my point about the constitution, I see now.

Don't think I've ever done this, don't think I'll ever do it again, but a link to NOW

http://nowtoronto.com/news/doug-ford-toronto-council/

Disallowance, that's the way to go.

Trudeau would never have the balls use it. he'd get destroyed the next election for "meddling" despite the epic amount of irony, in that he would be stepping in to stop anti-democratic meddling.

http://pressprogress.ca/doug-fords-north-korean-style-news-broadcasts-are-being-funded-with-your-tax-dollars/

I watched that last night! We've got our very own Kayleigh McEnany in Lyndsey Vanstone.

Are taxpayer dollars funding naked propaganda?

http://pressprogress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/vanstone-dougtv.jpg

Finally read that and, wow, that's infuriating.

So apparently we're in a diplomatic battle and trade war with Saudi Arabia over Freeland's criticisms of their punishment of political activisits, which was itself somewhat half-assed but at least a step in the direction. Funniest consequence so far: https://newrepublic.com/minutes/150408/saudi-arabia-threatens-support-quebecs-secession-canada . They might need to take some trolling tips from the Russians.

SA threatening to do 9/11 Pt. 2 to Canada is the funniest thing to happen in a long time.

This is actually kind of nuts: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-saudi-arabia-to-withdraw-all-saudi-students-studying-at-canadian/

I liked the explanation for this whole thing here https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-saudi-arabias-bold-move-has-nothing-to-do-with-canada/

The timing of the Saudi announcement is also meant to deflect public and regional criticism from another of the Crown Prince’s foreign policy blunders: Jerusalem and the so-called Kushner peace plan. A few weeks ago, the Saudis signalled that they might support Donald Trump’s son in-law Jared Kushner’s so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which included recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Reportedly, Mr. Kushner and the Crown Prince have an amicable relationship, and the Saudis were using their economic and political muscle in the region to push the proposal through with reluctant Arab governments, particularly that of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. While the Crown Prince has had a long leash from his father, King Salman, the regional and public heat was apparently too much for the older monarch, and in an unexpected move, the King overturned his son’s foreign policy proposal and reaffirmed the long-standing Saudi position on the matter.

For a leader who is used to the nationalist support of his young and energized followers, it was time for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to get the Saudi people riled up again. Enter Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland – a woman, no less. Ms. Freeland’s tweet was easy fodder for the macho Saudi Twittersphere. The resulting poke to the eye of the feminist Trudeau government is a perceived win in the Saudi foreign policy community and a helpful distraction from a few weeks of domestic embarrassment for the Crown Prince over his father’s rebuke.

This is basically the same kind of thing as Trump distracting the media by making a big deal out of the NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem.

disrupting your students' educations to own the libs

They might need to take some trolling tips from the Russians.

Looks like they have, at least if we assume that the Russian and 4chan schools of trolling are one and the same: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/saudi-arabia-canada-toronto-cn-tower-9-11-photo-apology

Spent 1-2 hours in the car today, and it was buck-a-beer, buck-a-beer all over 680. Utterly ridiculous.

Lol

It looks like a lot of breweries are basically saying take a hike, son.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/08/08/analysis/kinder-morgan-just-told-its-shareholders-how-it-persuaded-trudeau-government-pay

A lawyer for one of the directly affected nations, the Tsleil-Waututh, has said it could use evidence uncovered by National Observer that the government had made a decision to approve the project before concluding its consultations with First Nations as grounds for an appeal to the Supreme Court, as part of its case to terminate the project. The case is currently under review at the Federal Court of Appeal, which rejected the news articles as "hearsay."

so kinder morgan gave us an ultimatum and we took the bait

oh and there's also this

https://www.wsj.com/articles/canada-comes-under-fire-for-money-laundering-lapses-1533729600

if you're blocked: https://pastebin.com/Ar7XdGud

god I hate this dumbass country

Eh, I just moved to the UK for work after spending some time in France and Romania and there's nothing I want more right now than to find a job back in Montreal so I can properly settle there. Not that it's going to happen given the vicissitudes of the academic job market but really, in terms of overall dumbfuckery there's far worse out there.

I do share your exasperation regarding this particular piece of news though.

Four dead in a shooting in Fredericton, NB

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/10/fredericton-shooting_a_23499817

To hell with guns, Trudeau can partly win me back if he passes stronger regulations.

I don't passionately care about the sex-ed issue for reasons I won't get into here, but I of course think Ford's being ridiculous and meddlesome. Just got an e-mail saying that ETFO's basically telling us to pay no mind.

"ETFO strongly denounces the government's decision and advises members to continue to exercise their professional judgement when it comes to teaching all sections of the 2015 curriculum...ETFO will vigorously defend members who continue to follow the 2015 Health Curriculum."

Pretty sure teachers will also ignore him when it comes to the social studies curriculum. Love it--take a hike, son.

Quebec's election season starts on August 23rd.

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/canada-is-one-of-the-most-socially-mobile-countries-in-the-world-heres-why/

It says more about the 34 other countries than Canada.

That's interesting. I didn't expect that, to be honest, but it's good to know. Hope this Premier isn't able to foul that up too badly. I'm looking forward to reading more of the OECD study.

I'm not surprised. Let's check in again after the next global recession - the one we don't dodge.

who is going to win the quebec election? god we are so fucked

http://blog.qc125.com/ for polls might be one of your best sources Sym.

And it sounds like it's going to be abhorrent CAQ. But the Liberals are very very good at elections.

took me an embarrassingly long time to parse the Liberal logo as an L

But the Liberals are very very good at elections.

literally the only thing

Well they just might be the only party with 5+ seats that gives a damn about immigrants.

But the Liberals are very very good at elections.

What I still thought going into the lasr ON election

*last

Ontario liberals don't have the weaponized referendum boogeyman.

Well they just might be the only party with 5+ seats that gives a damn about immigrants.

iirc the # of immigrants we take in is pretty minor compared to many other countries? (not disputing that the Tories are worse on this)