Defenestrate Them All: Canadian Politics 2021

Yeah, don't know what to make of it. It seems weird that someone would hack an account to have that conversation but also seems weird that someone who wasn't hacked would do so - why this random comedienne in Chicago? Why just bring up the sexual harassment investigation in the conversation? Would a suburban city councillor even have the power to hire someone like that for a trip to Europe (on what business grounds?) and bill the city?

New Liberal attack ad - turning around O'Toole's "take Canada back" slogan seems like a good move, as is recalling how right-wing his ideas were before this election campaign.

We can’t let Erin O’Toole take Canada backward.

Now is the time to move forward. For everyone. pic.twitter.com/LkV3VzNQiM

— Liberal Party (@liberal_party) September 4, 2021

Wtf: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-protestors-gravel-1.6166378

Suspicious death in Truro NS being treated as homicide; possible hate crime
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/we-feel-very-unsafe-indian-canadians-in-shock-over-truro-killing-1.6166038

French debate tonight, English debate tomorrow

As initially reported by Radio-Canada:

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/book-burning-at-ontario-francophone-schools-as-gesture-of-reconciliation-denounced

From the Radio-Canada piece (https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1817537/livres-autochtones-bibliotheques-ecoles-tintin-asterix-ontario-canada), it seemed that scholarly books were even destroyed because they were not written by FN people, regardless of how accurate the information or how progressive the pov was. I can understand removing problem books from curricula but really can't get behind a mass book-burning on the part of a school board and library; O'Toole and Noël both OTM, sadly.

why is this event that took place in 2019 a story in 2021? why is it an election issue?

Aiui, Radio-Canada only learned of it now, though I'm not sure why since it doesn't seem that the school board tried to keep it a secret at all; on the contrary, they wanted people to know about it. The actions of a Catholic school board in Ontario are definitely not a federal election issue, though; I wasn't thinking of it that way.

yeah I find the framing in the NP story very weird...like there's not even an attempt to explain why this story is news

book burning is always going to be news, I just don't get why this wasn't news in 2019

Obv an attempt to gin up outrage over the “left” stifling free speech.

I received a big flyer in the mail from my conservative MP (incumbent and sadly not unseatable) with an eye-catching fear-inducing graphic saying “DON’T LET TRUDEAU CENSOR YOUR SPEECH”

ugh

Really disheartened by this whole election, it just seems hopeless on every front.

Like there is obv a huge RW info (disinfo) campaign that paints a Trudeau victory (and it’s always a Trudeau victory, not a Liberal one, capitalizing on people’s distaste for JT personally and ignoring the fact that powers in Canada is not concentrated in the executive) as a doomsday scenario. The number of comments I’ve seen on social media specifically using the word “doomed” makes me think it’s a targeted, coordinated effort.

right wing parties have been taking their fight online in a much more coordinated effort for a while now. identifying their targets and grooming them with escalating levels of misinformation has worked exceptionally well. i remember nick kouvalis bragging about astroturfing efforts helping to get rob ford elected and the entire "ontario/canada proud" groups being started by a conservative staffer, with dumptrucks of cash from developers. the centre/left parties haven't been nearly as effective at this. maybe they're running on the mistaken assumption that things like facts and compassion are more effective... i dunno. likely, they don't have nearly the amount of wealthy, dubious actors from around the world acting on their behalf.
i've seen a few, otherwise ok, people light-radicalized by these things lately. one previously nice-enough (maybe not the brightest) coworker comes to mind who just shares shit about how much she hates trudeau. no facts or rationales or anything. just pure, seething hatred. seemed totally out of the blue from the person i knew three years ago.

He is very dislikable for reasons that have nothing to do with how the right frame him.

Sure. But he hasnt done anything to warrant having rocks thrown at him.

He has grown on me tbh. I am actually a little baffled as to what it is that people hate.

He is very dislikable for reasons that have nothing to do with how the right frame him.

― everything, Wednesday, September 8, 2021 12:03 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this was my initial reaction. i don't keep up with ontario/liberal politics, but there are a lot of non-right wingers in vancouver that do not like trudeau at all. by the looks of it, the ones i know will vote ndp or green.

in my riding, the same liberal MP has won for decades. i have no idea why aside from people voting for the liberal party/federal libs. okay. i mean, sure. whatever happened to thinking locally? at any rate, she sounds like a despicable human being.

he's actually been better then i expected at doing his job (it was a low bar). but there were people at there frothing at the mouth about him long before he'd ever even had the chance to govern.

i meant to write ontario/ontario liberal politics

also, yes, if i recall correctly those early critics were mostly conservatives

am covering the debates tonight/tomorrow

PPC protesters out in full force

Are you at the Museum of Civilisation rn?

I, too, am baffled by the vitriol. I’m not thrilled with some very high-profile broken promises, specifically electoral reform and drinkable water on remote reserves, but the scandals have been pretty mild and I thought he’s done a good job leading through the pandemic. Much, much better than our provincial leaders here in the West, obv.

Not sure “he is personally dislikable” is a great reason to go back to letting a party that’s still v much in the thrall of Harper (and leavened with a soupçon of Trump) govern again.

Are you at the Museum of Civilisation rn?

ya!

have now done more recon and see MAK advocates nearly outnumber the Bernieristes.

frankly more distressing to find five TERF protesters on the third street corner!

You will have to explain MAK and TERF

O'Toole really seems to be aiming for some kind of alliance with the Bloc.

haha, all i know of the MAK is their wikipedia page

but TERFs are anti-trans "feminist" activists

O'Toole has so little to say on the environment I briefly forgot he was in the debate.

The actions of a Catholic school board in Ontario are definitely not a federal election issue, though

OK, apparently, this is an issue at a federal leaders' debate.

I missed the debate, but I just saw this from Trudeau's post debate press conference and thought it was pretty good:

Here is the Trudeau vs. Rebel exchange at the scrum: #debatdeschefs pic.twitter.com/wMFJTsU1AD

— Ben Parsons (@Ben_Parsons__) September 9, 2021

I'm wondering if Legault coming out in support of the conservative party will have any real impact

https://globalnews.ca/news/8177660/election-debate-quebec-premier-reaction/

Considering that the election is likely going to be close, a couple of extra seats going to the conservatives in quebec might make a difference. On the other hand, this might make some potential Bloc voters vote Conservative instead, splitting the vote and allowing the Liberals to make some gains. We'll see soon enough I guess.

Ugh but yeah, that's totally the angle O'Toole was pushing last night.

Phrasing everything in the BQ-style "Canada et Québec", stressing how he would leave health decisions up to Quebec "and the provinces", emphasizing transfers with no conditions.

curious what blanchet will say about those legault comments tonight

I heard on the radio tonight that he said voting BQ is the best way to ensure a minority govt but yeah not sure if he'll address it at the English debate.

here we go again.

blanchet skipped in late to the museum bc he didn't want to have to hang around miked up with the others

Lol. Just tuned in.

ya, so did i. "lol" is exactly what i was going to post.

i'm glad i have the tennis game in the background while these clowns throw shade at each other

Blanchet answering every question on First Nations reconciliation with a reference to Quebec's own nationhood is lol, although randomly throwing in a defence of secularism in the last one was next level.

i liked that he didn't know the english term for "gouverneur général"

Or "pension". I don't remember him having any struggles with English too years ago?!

doubt he's spoken much english during this campaign season (compared to working at the House of Commons)

Makes sense. I thought Singh was pretty weak this time around, pretty fuzzy on concrete plans and seeming to go after Trudeau as much as O'Toole, even though the Liberals have only been able to govern for the past two years with NDP support. (Not to mention that he can't really argue against the need for an election and also act like Trudeau's Liberals don't have his confidence.) I feel like he'd make a much stronger case if he gave (and shared in) credit for what was accomplished and explained how the NDP would accelerate progress in the next Parliament. Paul exceeded my expectations. I thought Trudeau was strong in both debates and will likely gain support. O'Toole seems to know what he's doing.

By which I mean he dodges a lot and seems to want to position himself as a moderate for English Canada and a decentralist for Quebec, which may work. Trudeau is obv the most bilingual and a comfortable speaker and sold his record fairly convincingly, I thought.

it's amazing the hall was large enough to fit Blanchet's ego

trudeau is talking so fast

Something weird happening at UNB, hopefully false alarm.

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/evacuation-underway-at-multiple-n-b-universities-police-on-scene-at-unb-investigating-a-file-1.5580384

This is one of the more despicable things I've seen in a major Canadian paper in a while - and it's not even the National Post or Sun: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-the-peoples-party-is-far-outside-the-mainstream-of-canadian-politics/

The original version left out "This is racist, but it is how they feel" in this paragraph:

There could be plenty of reasons why so many people are drawn to the People’s Party. They have become resentful and untrusting over the loss of manufacturing jobs. They are stressed by the pandemic. Some of them resent the increasing number of non-European immigrants. This is racist, but it is how they feel. And they enjoy the self-empowerment that comes from rejecting authority.

and included "And you may not like their methods" as the final sentence here:

Mr. Bernier seeks to be their voice. If their voice is silenced – if PPC members fail to break through in Parliament, just as Mr. Bernier was unfairly denied representation in the leaders’ debates last week – they will find another way to be heard.

The edits don't improve anything. If he really wants to make an argument for electoral reform (has he done so before?), there's no need to focus on this one party at all.