We Still Have a Government, Right?: Canadian Politics 2020

Hoping Ford follows through on being the bastard he's threatening to be.

http://www.narcity.com/news/ca/on/ontario-landlords-are-greedy-by-not-wanting-to-give-up-25-of-their-rent-says-ford

The bit that mystifies me is who do those guys think is going to lease their units if their current tenants go under? Commercial properties are bound to become a half vacant wasteland very soon, even in a good case scenario.

ok who's been converting Ford to Maoism

Not that I'll ever be able to afford a house, but:

https://thinkpol.ca/2020/05/19/canada-looking-to-increase-minimum-mortgage-payments-5-10-covid-19-sends-history-household-debt-levels-even-higher/

I was recently thinking I may be able to but yeah I'm not going to be able to afford a downpayment that's 10% of the value of an apartment in Vancouver

We are so thankful now that we bought ten years ago when the market was down, and we bought small. Even so we worry! I have no idea how people who got in high and big are going to manage. I think affordable rentals are finally expected to open up some though, if there’s a silver lining.

Just 10 cases in Halton Hills, where I grew up.

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/9991867-halton-reports-no-new-covid-19-cases-as-recoveries-climb-in-burlington-oakville-and-milton/

This continues to astound me: there were two cases in St. Marys right at the beginning, around March 12; two months later, according to the local paper today, there hasn't been a single case added.

Semi-pointless update, but I’m noticing a willful return to normal here. The mom sphere is polling each other on whether it’s ok to let their 12 year olds bike to their friends’ houses and the consensus is yes. Saw several neighbours down the street crossing the street to another backyard with booze, so that’s happening too. People are openly complaining about not being able to take small children into garden centres and newly opened stores too (mama bears offended by seeing kids listed on the same line as pets in “no x pls” signs.)

Also took a peek through my fingers at the vitriol soaked conservative relatives online presence and they seem to have no problem simultaneously bitching about planes still landing while also declaring the virus not dangerous enough to have ever required a lockdown.

mama bears offended by seeing kids listed on the same line as pets in “no x pls” signs

This reminded me of my favourite exchange in Albert Brooks' Lost in America, just after Julie Hagerty loses all their money.

Hagerty: "Why are you treating me like an animal?"
Brooks: "I'll explain it to you later."

lol yeah I should add that it was also a *self described* mama “bear” objecting to the implication that her child could be in any way like an animal. I feel truly bad for the retail workers having to deal with such a gauntlet of entitlement.

This isn’t good.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-canadian-forces-long-term-care-1.5578948

Wu Tang's collaboration with Jim Watson continues: https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wu-tang_clan_and_the_city_of_ottawa_are_building_a_better_tomorrow

Posts on Trinity Bellwoods Park--packed--have shown up on my FB feed four or five times today. I'm just so far removed from that, thankfully.

http://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/05/23/trinity-bellwoods-packed-coronavirus/

I mean, a lineup of four people outside Canadian Tire yesterday--spaced six feet apart--is about the most shocking thing I've seen here all week.

over two weeks without a new positive in Newfoundland. It is very strange watching places reopen quicker than us. We've just been lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nloH_akwNWc&feature=youtu.be

Probably inevitable:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid19-ontario-gta-coronavirus-new-infections-1.5584693

That's a hard call I wouldn't want to have to make. I wouldn't want tell a store owner where I am--maybe somebody on the verge of going under--that you can't reopen for another month even though there are only two cases in your town. Neither would I want to tell a store owner in Toronto--maybe somebody on the verge of going under--that we're letting the rest of the province reopen, but you've got to stay closed for another month.

Not sure why Canada had such a dramatic spike in deaths yesterday--maybe a delay in reporting? Doesn't really jibe with the fairly consistent decline in cases.

http://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/canada/

completely not shocked by the toronto numbers. I've been all over the city these last few weeks and some areas/hoods are just not bothering with distancing at all now that it's nice out. (my harebrained theory is the arrival of warm weather, especially so long delayed and following a period of quarantine, sets off good feelings that are easy for the brain to mistake as the end of danger.)

maybe a delay in reporting?

Here in Quebec, yes, they added 165 non-tallied deaths that occurred between mid-April and mid-May.

Yeah, in Quebec things are still looking up day by day - we'll see in a week or two what effect the opening up/summer hjiinks/protests have had, though.

I know Trudeau has to walk a tightrope with Trump, but this is disappointing--you can't duck criticism right now.

http://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protests-06-02-20/h_a127cd3ad18fbe85f37c10d0e30efbbd

Unless he is actually going to do something, I don't really know what 'criticism' would accomplish in itself? Is the idea that he should take leadership to influence more of the global community? Something to be said for turning the focus to racism in Canada itself, although he did so in the vaguest way.

That second part was good, but I just think there's a line where you speak up, consequences or realpolitik or whatever regardless. I think I'm pretty forgiving in most instances, but this is on the other side of that line for me. Or in another words, I don't think it matters if nothing concrete is accomplished.

I actually watched the clip here.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-trump-george-floyd-1.5594918

Watching it, the pause is so wildly exaggerated, I think something clear is conveyed, a reminder that I'm dealing with an infantile powderkeg here and I have to watch my words carefully. So maybe I was a little quick to condemn there.

that's some primo Canadian passive aggressiveness right there

His body language there is my favourite 21s of video.

Incidentally, an American colleague once told me that the deadpan 'Canadian pause' was something she had to get used to.

All that theatrical training paid off in spades.

It got on Cuomo's show tonight, where they basically commended him for finding a way to convey how speechless everyone is. So in the end, I guess it worked.

Can we have 21 seconds of silence for the fallen pls

As a cousin just pointed out to me on Facebook, if Biden had paused 21 seconds answering that question, big trouble!

Well, yeah.

Yeah, an opposing politician within the same country definitely needs to respond differently than the leader of a less-powerful neighbouring country.

I meant more the questions surrounding Biden specifically.

Ha, OK, yeah, that too.

So... Desmond's a friend and all but this interview is so profoundly simple, succinct and convincing, and it's been making the rounds the last couple days and I continue to be really moved by it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIkOG2vtE1g&fbclid

"If you give someone a license to kill, it’s because you want them to use it sometimes. There is no ending the violence until we take away the license to kill, and the weapons that the police use to do it. And if that makes people afraid, just ask yourself, why are you more afraid of police not being able to hurt us, than you are about police killing us? Because that’s what’s at stake here."

Try again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIkOG2vtE1g&fbclid=IwAR1vmAogkwtP_Gx3YLjUhqZTp6mTweeiKDScUWkCr02v5A9kpfxJJRUSYd4

OK

hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIkOG2vtE1g&fbclid

(That happens to me a lot--I think it has something to do with linking to a video with a time-stamp according to your own YouTube account.)

A friend sent me this.

To be clear, PM would have been briefed on this or should have seen it in the media. This question should not have been a surprise. If you cannot immediately say, “Everyone should be concerned by what is happening in the USA & the response of the POTUS...” or

— Celina Caesar-Chavannes (@iamcelinacc) June 3, 2020

Which, again, was my immediate reaction too.

The last few days have been exhausting. Even got into like my third Facebook argument ever this afternoon--with a cousin in his 70s!

Thanks for the link, fgti. I think the 'xx' (heh) in 'hxxps' is the culprit. If you replace 'xx' with 'tt', it should work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIkOG2vtE1g

No I did it right the first couple times but it wasn't working; replaced the tt wit xx myself just so people could get it

Thanks for getting the embed right

It's a really amazing moment imo

Without minimizing the importance of incendiary rhetoric, it is very useful to have such convincing and succinct arguments stated like this, sharing this video created positive dialogue and support from several unlikely relatives

Oh right, that makes more sense. I also removed the '&fbclid' at the end, so maybe that's what did it. Quality content either way!

xp

I believe it's https vs http !

I was initially taken aback by the photos of Trudeau so immersed in the crowd, thinking of COVID (with mask, yes). Thinking back to Sophie Trudeau, is there a possibility he actually tested positive while in quarantine, never developed any symptoms, and just never reported it? I don't know. Anyway, other than possible risk, good for him.

http://globalnews.ca/news/7031781/peaceful-march-solidarity-black-community-ottawa/

For anyone looking for resources to donate to that are either Canada-specific or include Canada

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y86oteEjJ2lSXAedcwJxVk9atwyjtOMMbWggejmrttY

Pretty interesting how "Phase 2" is going ahead: like I suggested (and then immediately second-guessed) a few weeks ago, with parts of the province going forward while Toronto and a few other regions on hold. I don't know if this works. Guelph opens up, Halton doesn't; they're about a 20-30 minute drive apart. Not sure how long that's workable.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/restaurants-hair-salons-and-malls-can-reopen-in-parts-of-ontario-on-friday-gta-excluded-1.4973956

Is this making something of nothing?

http://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-s-health-minister-shopped-at-toronto-lcbo-while-awaiting-covid-19-test-results-1.4979909

If I'm reading it correctly, she had to be tested because of contact with someone (Lecce) who was exposed. She waited until his results came back negative, then went shopping (with a mask). Doesn't look great, but was there an actual risk?

yeah no one will care about this in a week

anyone wanna help the Toronto Autonomous Zone get started