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

It's great for the whole world, really, barring Russia, China, Brazil, North Korea, the Philippines, etc.

― pomenitul, Saturday, November 7, 2020 12:44 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's actually good for china

Biden isn't going to be trying to trade war with Beijing

Yes, but its main antagonist will also be committing fewer acts of nihilistic self-sabotage.

Ha, wow, I haven't seen a "Dominion" store in almost 20 years, I think.

They all became Metro stores in Ontario.

It's great for the whole world, really, barring Russia, China, Brazil, North Korea, the Philippines, etc.

― pomenitul, Saturday, November 7, 2020 3:44 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

when you say the names of these countries, does that refer to the people who live in them or their authoritarian leaders?

im not sure how much Trump being broskis with Duterte benefitted the average person in the Philippines

Their leaders, obv.

We seem to be plateauing around 1100 new cases per day in Quebec. Hotspot has moved away from Montreal and is now wreaking havoc in the Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean region. Still, with 1162 new cases and 38 deaths today – i.e. 3.27% – despite the ongoing semi-lockdown, I can't help but feel like we could and should be doing better.

still climbing in ON too

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-november-10-update-1.5796429

As long as schools are open, these Quebec numbers won’t decrease.

Yep, exactly.

I've got a supply day Wednesday, and possibly Friday too. After that, because of students migrating online, class sizes are scheduled to go up (from 12 to 21 in one of them). I hate doing this, but I may shut it down at that point.

BC is forbidding all social gatherings and non-essential travel for two weeks...but I also don't see how we flatten the curve if schools and workplaces stay open

Short of a spring-like lockdown--which I just can't see happening--I think, until this vaccine gets distributed (next spring?), everyone is basically on their own (wear a mask, be careful of what situations you place yourself in; tricky when your that overlaps with your job). I don't see government tinkering slowing anything down.

That's basically what we did in Quebec and while it helped flatten the curve, it's not going to plummet as long as schools remain open. Nor is Legault going to make such a call any time soon – lockdown fatigue is already taking its toll on the population and murmurs of discontent are reportedly sweeping across the province.

xp

I absolutely detest that an university teacher from Tunisia was called to the bar to protest against the islamic veil in schools. First, it’s a complete tokenisation of the arab women, she only represents herself in the debate, not all arab women. Second, her testimony invites comparisons between the religious situation in Tunisia and Quebec and it’s so different it can’t be useful. The woman means well, she argues for some feminist values I agree with, but she offers no solutions or clear path for muslims women who have the veil to enter society while a ban is active. The problem is that in some muslims state, when the govt ban the veil, it signals to men that imposing the veil will facd consequences because men in these countries are already seen as deciders. In Quebec, the dynamic is so different (muslims are a minority, women already have more choices) it just going to isolate muslim women more.

I know 99.9% of the board agree on this but I had to vent.

her testimony invites comparisons between the religious situation in Tunisia and Quebec and it’s so different it can’t be useful

This argument is lost on the hardcore universalists. They fail to grasp that the veil can mean completely different things depending on where you happen to be in the world.

That said, I do sympathize with openly feminist ex-muslim women who emigrated to Quebec or France to escape persecution, and their voices deserve to be heard as well, even though I think the veil 'ban' will do more harm than good in the long run.

Ensaf Haidar testified as well and her stance is perfectly understandable, given the circumstances, regardless of whether you agree with it or not.

Is there a court case taking place about Bill 21?

I don’t disagree with any testimony, diverse voices need to be heard, but that includes the voices of quebecoise wearing the veil.

Is there a court case taking place about Bill 21?

Yes at the Quebec Superior Court.

I don’t disagree with any testimony, diverse voices need to be heard, but that includes the voices of quebecoise wearing the veil.

Of course – that's how it began, even. And just to be clear, I think Bill 21 is a step in the wrong direction.

This study has been bouncing around in my head a lot. Lots of resonance with “Trump is dead but trumpism lives” & understanding how to combat RW populism seems super important in the age of populist premiers & a likely conservative Sussex Drive next election

https://www.policyschool.ca/publications/northern-populism-causes-and-consequences-of-the-new-ordered-outlook/

We need to be vigilant, but I was pleasantly surprised by Derek Sloan's low score in this year's CPC leadership election.

I know things like that do get weaponized by xenophobes, I think bans are problematic, but a friend of mine who worked for many years as a 911 operator, opened my eyes a bit to the pressures that are still on some women at home. They might call asking for help, but their families can obstruct things and the woman suffers more than if she had done nothing. I can’t imagine the anger I would feel to be in a country like Canada that makes obvious effort to afford full rights and protections to white women, to then not be assisted out of respect for a culture I originated in. We should be very careful not to silence or repress the “choices” of those who only wish to live with the same freedoms that come more easily to others. I don’t think the fact that people misuse that concept and tokenize as a wedge makes it actually invalid. I have known several such conflicted women personally as well, and maybe don’t be so secure in the idea that they always have practical access to options?

how do you see bill 21 helping the women in those situations?

I think Canada needs to institute a mask mandate for all Canadians except for Muslim women, who must be forced to display their faces at all times

don’t be so secure in the idea that they always have practical access to options

how do you see bill 21 helping the women in those situations?

Both true as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, I doubt it is helpful at all.

The veil and wearing religious garments should be enshrined in law as a personal choice, meaning that if a women doesn't want to wear but face familial repercussions, she can have a legal recourse. Extreme examples like life-threatening situations should also be thought of in the same vein (although from what I understand the good samaritan law can be used). Blanket ban for public work doesn't help at all, it makes the situation worse by further isolating the women.

otm

Stay safe, clemenza. I finally broke my social isolation for mental and physical health reasons and began hiking with a consistent pair of friends, but it’s sometimes hard to handle the loss of exposure control that comes with it. I don’t blame anyone for feeling anxious in the schools.

Ha, it occurred to me this morning that the BQ were totally trolling Trudeau with this: https://canadalive.news/2020/11/02/commons-refuse-to-demand-apology-from-trudeau-for-october-crisis/

Thanks, Kim. When it's 12 kids, I've felt pretty safe--no worse than the supermarket, anyway. When it jumps over 20, though, I think I'd start to feel some anxiety, and then there's no point going in.

Toronto reverting to earlier restrictions - no indoor dining or gyms, no gatherings with people you don't live with.

Criticisms of Ontario's system: https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/epidemiologists-call-ontario-s-new-covid-19-restrictions-gibberish-and-scientifically-illiterate-1.5177630

Happy Remembrance Day btw

Welp, between that, the way teachers were left to sink or swim, and this story, any surprise goodwill I had beginning for Ford is waning fast.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/11/the-developers-are-all-in-control-new-rules-by-doug-fords-provincial-government-will-limit-the-power-of-conservation-authorities-sparking-fears-for-the-environment.html

My wife is aghast at how Ford has pushed this change through under the guise of helping the (post-)pandemic era economy. She is in a couple of environmental groups that are fighting it.

Oh wow

Saskatoon ICUs stop accepting out-of-town patients, with reports of being at 126-133% capacity this month.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/icus-maxed-out-because-of-covid-19-1.5801785

Winter’s gonna be hard.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pipelines-enbridge-easement-idUSKBN27T2M0

This pipeline has been a massive ecological disaster waiting to happen for ages now, so it’s understandable. Unfortunately expect a good bit of Canadian hardship as fallout from a shutdown.

I'm not a parent, and I do understand the problems that would be created, but the decision not to extend Christmas break seems very wrong to me. A one-week extension is an obvious way to mitigate major problems coming out of all the family gatherings that will of course take place. And on the same day that New York closes schools, and--the first I think--a COVID-related death in Toronto.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-school-staff-member-dies-after-reportedly-contracting-covid-19-1.5194304

I get an e-mail every morning with between 5-15 new LTOs (long-term occasional) in Peel. At some point, keeping schools open will be untenable because of the lack of supply teachers.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-november-18-update-1.5806310

Not sure if Ford means it or if he's just stalling.

Plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050; no concrete proposals or penalties involved aiui
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/net-zero-emissions-1.5807877

I found this piece, from about a week ago, interesting. The authors, both scholars in law as well as public health or epidemiology, argue that, legally, Medical Officers have far greater powers than they are using - they can, apparently, "take whatever steps the medical officer of health considers necessary", including e.g. independently ordering closures without requiring governmental approval. Interesting to see Ottawa's Vera Etches (whom I usually only see praised) criticized for even taking things like business considerations into account when they are completely outside her purview. (Having said that, Ottawa's new cases numbers seem overall to be on the decline, while aiui the province as a whole is doing worse.)

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/politicians-are-failing-canadas-chief-medical-officers-need-to-step-in/

28 day lockdown for Toronto and Peel. We've moved into "orange" where I am, which is still pretty slack. I'm going to make a concerted effort to get my shopping done next week. Don't want to count on the mail, don't want to risk malls closing, and don't want to face busy malls, either.

i think canada’s dealing well with the second wave and expect they will continue to. i dont think lockdowns of the form we saw in the first wave (widespread closure of all non-essential businesses, mass school closures) are gonna happen.

not long until vaccines are available. i think we’ll come out of the whole thing with a p enviably low death to pop rate and in very good shape economically. from my pov, canada has a really good CDC and politicians mostly let them take the reins on this and pushed a shit lot of money out

in the first wave the cases were way more concentrated geographically since the virus had just seeded. at the same time, testing capacity barely existed and we were getting high positivity rates and hospitalizations while being totally in the dark. that’s why lockdowns of that form were necessary. now that the virus has had time to spread around more evenly we’re seeing a more widespread increase in cases, and it’s happening just about everywhere. mostly caused by weather and the accompanying move indoors