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

Clemenza's link raises good questions I didn't want to think about.

that will be the response of the vast majority of canadians who read that story I think

Yikes Hajdu does not come out of that piece looking great

I guess their response will be "look at the data," how much better we are in terms of caseload and deaths as a percentage. Which is not unfair.

But yeah, questions you don't want to think about. Not only that they may not have been honest, but that they may have been following Trump's lead in the early stages.

Our numbers are better than the US or UK but nothing exceptional by global standards.

tbf how much better would they be if it weren't for our pesky southern neighbors

Fuck everything about this:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/billionaire-covid-quarantine-exemption-1.5726050

c;mon it's well known that COVID can't enter the rarefied respiratory systems of the wealthy

Complementary information:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/mexican-governor-miguel-barbosa-prompts-outrage-with-claim-poor-are-immune-to-covid-19

Proof that solely the mythical middle class has grounds to fear covid.

Disturbing sentence from this CBC piece: "The data suggests that many Ontarians are currently contracting COVID-19 through unmemorable interactions with others in the course of their daily lives."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-cases-data-1.5726687

Unmemorable interactions without masks, I hope.

Strange. Here in Quebec Legault is about to crack down on big parties, weddings and the like, since those (and schools) appear to be the main vectors at this point in time. The likelihood of getting it at the hardware store or whatever remains extremely low.

Either way, brace yourselves for more protests. The tyranny narrative is about to get a massive boost.

Big parties and weddings in Ontario, too, we're told--but that's why that sentence unsettles me.

on the bright side that gives me a reason to actually look forward to winter (added to the usual relief from the constant sounds of construction, which will be particularly sweet this year)

added to the usual relief from the constant sounds of construction, which will be particularly sweet this year

otfm

It's driving me up the wall as we speak.

I have to actively resist ranting about it to everyone I talk to

The mark of a true Montrealer tbh.

295 new cases today… doesn't seem so bad for a province of 8.5 million, it's in line with previous days…

…wait, it's 295 new cases in Montreal alone?

Fuck.

Yeah, that's awful. Ontario's alarmed over two days of 300+, but that's province-wide. Toronto's been peaking around 60-70 as of late.

Toronto lags far behind Montreal in major cultural trends as usual

Montreal is reporting 295 new #COVID19 cases today, but 222 of those infections occurred over the last week.

If anyone else is using the covid alert app, it’s worth noting that in the “how it works” explanation, it says it will only register an “exposure” if you were within 2 metres of a person reporting positive AND it was for a duration of more than 15 minutes. I think the 15 minute criteria would apply to only two or three of the hundreds of people I’ve been near while shopping and appointments etc, so I do wonder how actually useful it is for tracking community spread.

Montreal is reporting 295 new #COVID19 cases today, but 222 of those infections occurred over the last week.

Ok, that makes more sense. So I suppose we've been seeing 80-90 new cases a day on average, which is fine-ish.

https://ricochet.media/en/3286/covid-sucks-unless-youre-a-billionaire-canadas-richest-rake-in-37-billion-since-march

The time has come to vote for the alternative aka the CPC.

400 cases in Ontario today, also the Bloc Québécois leader.

we had 165 in BC yesterday, which considered we have about a third of Ontario's population isn't great.

Have to believe that there'll be another lockdown in Ontario soon (or at least for Toronto/Peel/Ottawa).

O'Toole tested positive, Legault in quarantine.

This story is a little strange. I was told I had to take an English proficiency test when I applied to a US doctoral program but a five-minute phone conversation fixed that. Also striking that she apparently left Toronto for Vancouver because of PC cuts to education.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/09/18/bc-wants-this-veteran-english-teacher-to-prove-she-knows-the-language-she-feels-targeted-because-of-her-african-ancestry.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The coffee shop TV was talking about 400+ cases in Ontario--was hoping that meant yesterday, but no, second straight day. Does it ever happen that you get a two-day blip, or do the immutable laws of viruses automatically portend that we're looking at double this within a few days?

28 or so from one social group at Western U is skewing things a bit?

From what I’m seeing, the reception to Ford expanding the backrolled gathering restrictions seems pretty hostile. Doesn’t affect anything we’ve been doing tho - are this many people freaking out about it really having large parties?

(xpost) Could be, but even without, it's still almost 400 cases...I was in London earlier today getting my windshield fixed and we were talking about the Western outbreak.

Checked in on some of my most repellant federal con supporter acquaintance rantings, and it seems they suspect Trudeau is secretly plotting to have an election ASAP “while he is riding high on free handouts” and before the WE fallout and financial repercussions of covid aid manifest. An election which they also do not even actually want to even win (!!) because the new con govt could likely be a minority and would fall quickly due to having to take on same financial burden. Not a shred of the integrity or will to do the tough work they insist they’d be better at. They just want to play hot potato and poke sharp sticks.

586 new cases in Qc today. Not looking good at all.

US-focused but I thought this was somewhat interesting as an anti-lockdown perspective from a left pov. Not sure what to think yet: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/09/covid-19-pandemic-economy-us-response-inequality

It does seem a little disingenuous that MK defends Sweden's approach by saying its deaths per million is lower than the US's (the two are close) and then responds that deaths/1M pop is an unreliable metric when pressed on the vast difference between Sweden and its Nordic neighbours on that metric.

BC election time baby

feels like an epic Theresa May-esque miscalculation

Interesting:

A recent poll from the Angus Reid Institute suggests if an election were held right now, the NDP would win a massive victory.

The survey suggests 48 per cent of decided voters would choose the NDP, 29 per cent would vote Liberal, and 14 per cent would opt for the Greens.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7344215/british-columbians-heading-to-the-polls-on-october-24-in-fall-election/

xp Why would this be a miscalculation?

gut says they'll do well

lots of reasons...I think their support is soft, Adrian Dix had similar giant polling leads in 2013 that evaporated by election day. The NDP have never won 48 pct before, they've formed govt by winning around 41 pct and having the other parties split their vote.

Horgan's current popularity is due to a rally-round-the-flag effect and a perception of the NDP's competence in handling Covid. But the people who are most concerned about the pandemic are the ones who are likely to turn on them for calling an unnecessary election during a pandemic.

Children have gone back to school in the last couple weeks, the teachers who make up NDP's voting and financial base are feeling extremely unsupported by the govt. And there are already many exposures at schools: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-19-exposures-bc-schools-1.5732050

I also think people are underestimating the leaders of the Liberal and Green party...if the Liberals are good at anything, it's stoking media outrage about bullshit, and that's all they really need to do this campaign. The Greens just elected Sonia Furstenau, who is a much more genuine progressive than their previous leader and is a good home for voters pissed off about the NDP's stances on indigenous sovereignty and resource extraction.

on the other hand, they start with the advantage in money, organization, and they've been announcing big name MPs in many important swing ridings the last couple weeks. They've come up with a smart strategy to take over the majority, I just somehow doubt that voters will co-operate.

They are losing a lot of quite high-profile MLAs including numerous cabinet ministers who are stepping down, including my own MLA. I'm in a safe NDP seat but not sure about the others. Also, there are seats that could be competitive but there is such a short time for the NDP to even select a candidate for some of them let alone put together a decent enough campaign to unseat the incumbents.

afaik they are all fairly solid NDP seats. the question for me is why are so many ministers not standing for reelection, but I've heard less than glowing things about Horgan from people who have worked with him

The point is they have to win all the ones they won before, plus a few more. What are the ones they could possibly win from the Liberals right now? - the one in Coquitlam, Vancouver-False Creek, one or two in North Van or Vancouver Island? These ridings don't even have candidates yet. And the Liberal strongholds in the interior all seem safe as houses.

Sorry, I see Finn Donnely is running in Coquitlam Burke Mountain.

I'm assuming they've done some polling and this isn't just a roll of the dice

And Murray Rankin is running in Oak Bay. Wow, a lot happened in the last week.

Oh, it's only been three years since the last election?