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

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.

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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

Canada-UK trade agreement:

Good news for Canadians today!

🇨🇦 and the 🇬🇧 have successfully concluded trade talks and agreed to the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement.

This agreement will provide continuity and stability for Canadian businesses and workers across the country. https://t.co/JoJyY7kBTq pic.twitter.com/o6pPk3q0Nl

— Canada Trade (@CanadaTrade) November 21, 2020

(xpost) I'm not sure, but I think the Toronto/Peel lockdown is basically what was in place last spring, with the exception of schools.

I suspect teachers won't be happy, but if it essentially came down to stores or schools, I think they made the right decision.

It is, mind you, outrageous that Wal-Mart gets to stay open while independents don't. Is it just that Wal-Mart qualifies as a grocery store, or is there more to that?

hadn’t seen that. still pretty geographically targeted (although obv a lot of people live there) and yeah no schools

closing schools is terrible imo

some wal marts have entire grocery stores in them and are probably an essential service to nearby communities

Only post-secondary is going 100% online in Toronto/Peel; elementary and high schools are staying open.

I noticed that where I am, Perth, is one level stricter than London-Middlesex right now; pretty sure they have more cases, so it must come down to positivity rate.

We're ordering groceries from Wal-Mart every week rn tbh.

Yeah, I don't know about Canada, but I can presume that it is similar to the US in that many more rural communities depend on the Wallyworld for many basic necessities.

I always thought the opposite was true, that a rural area would be far less likely to have a Wal-Mart around. (I'm in a town of 6,000; there are Wal-Marts 40 minutes west and 20 minutes east, with farmland on either side of town, and two grocery stores in-town.) If that's true, though, then for sure, I'd want them to remain open.

I guess from my experience is that in many rural parts of the US, the largest town in a given radius has the Wal-Mart, and people come from all over to shop there once or twice a month. It was certainly true when I lived in mountain California-- I had to drive 40 minutes on the interstate to get to the Wal-Mart, because all the smaller businesses marked everything up to an insane degree

Listened to about 30 minutes on the CBC over this subject this afternoon. The guest was a representative from the small-business association. There were good points on all sides--the callers definitely came down in favour of smaller businesses--but what surprised me was the host. You would have come away thinking she either a) works for the government (which I guess, in a sense, she does), or b) has major holdings in Wal-Mart.

I actually do think it’s pretty stupid to destroy small businesses that aren’t statistically significant vectors if infection. Restaurants to curbside and closed gyms etc, yes. But independents whose business is just going to the big boxes instead (who actually are proven vectors) have a legit complaint here - many of them are more than willing to set up capacity limits and other precautions and it’s awful that on a second wave of restrictions, the competitive unfairness wasn’t addressed at all. Speaking strictly of the Ontario approach anyway. I know they are doing things like segregating non essential products from instore shopping in Manitoba, but people are complaining about that too. That probably is the best way to handle the large retailers, but small footprint places should get to operate with a bit more logical discretion - like if half essential/half non essential stock in there, don’t make them deliver just that one half for curbside. It makes no sense at small scale. A capacity limit and hygiene protocol should suffice. jmo.

Any thoughts on the Grimes/Factor grant scandal? To me it seems mainly a manifestation of the shitty public view that arts funding = charity.

Apropos of nothing, I recalled this morning how, federally, the Liberals won every seat but 1 in Ontario in 93 (when I was in high school), every ON seat but two in 97 (when I was finishing hs), and every ON seat but three in 2000 (when I was in my third year of undergrad). It was a little startling, considering that everyone I know seems to take as a given that rural ridings in non-Northern Ontario are assumed to be guaranteed Tory territory these days by most people I know (if you run a blue cow...).

Wow, that last sentence was mangled. I came back to the computer after stepping away, ha, and missed that I had already said the same thing at another part of the sentence.