[lenaitch]

Saw/heard some guy in a mini SUV rolling down Front today with some sort of “Fuck Trudeau” rap spilling out of his windows.

There's still a few around here. They used to get together at Tim's on Sat or Sun morning but now I think they just freelance. The standard fare: pickup truck, often a loud muffler, rear window/bumper stickers, guy in a baseball hat. I saw one just walking downtown with his flag - maybe his truck was in the shop.

Beats working I guess.

 

[Richard White]

Not sure where this belongs but since the single use plastic ban is Federal I am putting it here.

Walmart is starting a limited subscription reusable bag recycling program. Sign-up is required however it is limited.

I am glad to see the issue of what to do with all the reusable bags is being brought up.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/reusable-bags-grocers-walmart-1.7178439

 

[Admiral Beez]

Saw/heard some guy in a mini SUV rolling down Front today with some sort of “Fuck Trudeau” rap spilling out of his windows.

I hope these fools are as tough on PM Poilievre next year. Trudeau's likely to be on the speaking circuit and leading some UN agency or NGO soon thereafter, so the F Trudeau signs will be obsolete.

 

[DSC]

I advocate for lots of things to be handled at the local or provincial level; as well as not handled at all.

Which is to say, I'm broadly in favour of light-touch regulation and criminal law, in which restraint is the order of the day.

Now, this is our national politics thread, as opposed to Doug Ford's Ontario or Olivia Chow's Toronto, where I discuss issues that belong at those levels.

For examples:

I would prefer the feds exit regional development as a rule, with the probable exception of the arctic as the territories have insufficient resources to carry out such work.

I would prefer the feds exit the business of tree planting other than on federal land

I would prefer the feds exit 'student aid' as this duplicates pre-existing provincial efforts.

I think federal supports for post-secondary should generally be of the funding research and post-grads variety because they are have been in that business so long it would be messy to do otherwise.

I also favour legalizing where practical, and decriminalizing where not, personal possession of drugs (personal use) though not charges related to adverse public effects, likewise sex work.

I would also like to see judicial appointments to lower courts downloaded to the provinces as I'm lost on why Ottawa is appointing purely 'local' judges to provincial courts.

To be sure I do see virtue in certain principles being applied nationally, and I also favour a single common market (a la the EU) to get read of internal trade barriers entirely.

I would generally like to see Ottawa exit the business of grants to municipal government in favour of just transferring a point of the HST and then let cities decide their own priorities.

"The federal government appoints judges to the federal courts, the superior courts of the provinces/territories, and the Supreme Court of Canada." .Though I generally agree that most things should be handled by the lowest level of government possible and thus agree that it might be better if Provinces appointed judges to provincial superior costs, we should not forget that some Provinces have politicised judicial appointments (e.g. Mr Ford) and I think the Federal system is maybe less likely to see this happen. Changing thing will be difficult as the appointment of judges is in the constitution - Section VII.

Appointment of Judges

96 The Governor General shall appoint the Judges of the Superior, District, and County Courts in each Province, except those of the Courts of Probate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Marginal note: Selection of Judges in Ontario, etc.

97 Until the Laws relative to Property and Civil Rights in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Procedure of the Courts in those Provinces, are made uniform, the Judges of the Courts of those Provinces appointed by the Governor General shall be selected from the respective Bars of those Provinces.

Marginal note: Selection of Judges in Quebec

98 The Judges of the Courts of Quebec shall be selected from the Bar of that Province.

 

[lenaitch]

Not sure where this belongs but since the single use plastic ban is Federal I am putting it here.

Walmart is starting a limited subscription reusable bag recycling program. Sign-up is required however it is limited.

I am glad to see the issue of what to do with all the reusable bags is being brought up.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/reusable-bags-grocers-walmart-1.7178439

We were taking about this just this morning. I went grocery shopping last week in my truck but forgot to grab the reusable bags out of the wife's car (I only have one or to in the truck). When I was checking out, my only option was to more reusable bags (no paper option). I'll be damned if I was going to buy more bags - we have about 20 now - so I opted to basically hand-bomb most of my groceries loose into the truck then into the house.

 

[jje1000]

No surprise that the pathological altruism shown in these 'programs' was quickly taken advantage of.

It's literally the same case of the removal of visa requirements from Mexico for 'goodwill', which apparently flew into the headwinds of reality.

Good luck trying to get these visitors to leave, especially once they claim 'asylum'. It apparently takes years to get a hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board, and neither the CBSA or IRCC are allowed to screen for validity.

Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave​

A special visa program to ease the immigration backlog has become an entryway for asylum seekers, documents obtained by the Star show.
April 23, 2024

A special program Canada brought in last year to make it easier for tourists, business travellers and those with relatives in this country to visit has led to some unexpected consequences.

Newly obtained documents show that a striking percentage of people who took advantage of the expedited visitor visas that the program offered have now applied to stay here — as asylum seekers.

Canada threw open its doors to visitors after the pandemic. Now, many don’t want to leave

A special visa program to ease the immigration backlog has become an entryway for asylum seekers, documents obtained by the Star show.

www.thestar.com

 

[kEiThZ]

I hope these fools are as tough on PM Poilievre next year. Trudeau's likely to be on the speaking circuit and leading some UN agency or NGO soon thereafter, so the F Trudeau signs will be obsolete.

This is like expecting MAGA supporters to criticize Trump. Anybody that is flag waving is a partisan culture warrior. They'll be waving those flags at the pro-Poilievre rally in 2029. In 2050, they'll still be talking about how evil Justin Trudeau secretly controls the Liberals and wants to lock them in their 15 minute communities.

 

[kEiThZ]

This could end up being Trudeau's legacy.

Geoff Russ: Why would Quebec want to stay in Trudeau's beleaguered Canada?

Having ruined the economy, vilified our history and extinguished patriotism, the PM has undermined the argument for a united Canada

nationalpost.com

 

[jje1000]

This could end up being Trudeau's legacy.

Geoff Russ: Why would Quebec want to stay in Trudeau's beleaguered Canada?

Having ruined the economy, vilified our history and extinguished patriotism, the PM has undermined the argument for a united Canada

nationalpost.com

Exactly, during a decade of global uncertainty and centrifugal forces spinning nations apart, what was needed was a leader who could lead Canada, patch up its institutions (hardly decayed through back then), and reaffirm its federal identity.

Instead, Canada and Canadians got blamed and shamed, blood libeled, and our founding history unfairly attacked (see Dundas as our local instance) endlessly through his sunny first years, and now Trudeau and the Liberals somehow flap helplessly in the wind as the crises they both fostered and created come home to roost, with the collective national morale nearly emptied at this crucial juncture in time.

If there ever is another referendum, what can the Federal government point to as being any positives of Canada beyond the image of Canada 10-20 years ago? The defeat of such a referendum may very much rely on those cohorts of aspirational immigrants and Quebeckers who still see this faded old image of Canada as a place worth staying in.

 

[afransen]

Support for independence is no where near where it would need to be to warrant a referendum, recently at 35%. I don't see a flashpoint that would trigger a substantial change in that dynamic.

Parti Quebecois remain in front, but many don't support sovereignty: Poll

A new poll shows that if a Quebec election were held today, the Parti Quebecois would come out on top with 32 per cent support, but many say they are uninterested in a sovereignty referendum.

montreal.ctvnews.ca

 

[kEiThZ]

Support for independence is no where near where it would need to be to warrant a referendum, recently at 35%.

That is what is was in 1994. And then the referendum happened a year later and we nearly lost the country.

I don't see a flashpoint that would trigger a substantial change in that dynamic.

I do. Cultural issues especially with integration of immigrants and the recent leftist deference to religious minorities is not playing well in Quebec. The Rest of Canada gave them a ton of crap for banning religious symbols including the hijab in public institutions and jobs. This is a fundamental difference with English Canada and can easily be spun to make Francophones believe they need to leave to be able to control their destiny. Trudeau's immigration policy is not helping either.

 

[kEiThZ]

Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance

Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.

www.ctvnews.ca

There's a few paras that capture this government perfectly.

1) The hypocrisy and faux concern;

There is a formula.

You emote about climate change but spend $35 billion on a pipeline to increase oil production. Show up for armed forces parades but cut their budgets year after year (until an election year when voters are becoming embarrassed by our failure to meet our NATO obligations). You say housing isn’t federal jurisdiction until younger voters are about to throw you out for failing to build houses for their generation, then you scramble and pose for the cameras.

2) The incompetence defined by faux sophistication and moral obligation (on others) without substance:

Last week the federal employees responsible for the park decided to remove the garbage cans. All of the garbage cans. Not surprisingly, people who live in the area are upset.
There’s now garbage everywhere and bags full of dog poop are being left on their lawns.The federal announcement is a masterwork of high-sounding bureaucratese. It is one for the ages. Here’s my favourite part:

"We know that actions in the field have been taken quickly and could have surprised some people. An awareness campaign is being prepared," reads a statement by Parks Canada(opens in a new tab). "This pilot project to reduce waste at the Lachine Canal NHS includes the withdrawal or relocation of garbage bins as well as potentially new types of facilities in strategic areas of the canal. It is important to remember that waste management remains everyone’s responsibility and duty."

Everyone’s, apparently, except the people who are paid to remove it. It’s just such a magnificent parable for the federal government of Justin Trudeau.
All that’s missing is a multi-million dollar contract to McKinsey to study it.

I am really curious to eventually read some kind of book on how they let things get so bad and how they lost touch with reality.

 

[kamira51]

This could end up being Trudeau's legacy.

Geoff Russ: Why would Quebec want to stay in Trudeau's beleaguered Canada?

Having ruined the economy, vilified our history and extinguished patriotism, the PM has undermined the argument for a united Canada

nationalpost.com

The article hit the nail on the head perfectly.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Biden signs Ukraine aid, Israel funding and TikTok crackdown into law

The Senate on Tuesday passed the package of foreign aid and a TikTok divest-or-ban provision in a 79-18 vote.

www.nbcnews.com

Nice!

1) The US has done exponentially more for Ukraine than Canada has.

And meanwhile Ottawa dithers on further lethal aid to Ukraine. Trudeau; please send all of our Leopard 2s and ARVs, half of our M113 APCs and LAV IIIs, every single 155mm shell in our stocks, most of our body armour, night vision and communication kits. And then there's ATGMs, SAMs, small arms, etc. Strip the cupboards bare, even if it takes us a decade to replenish.

 

[123GTA123]

Tokenism.

And won't do much when we are growing this fast:

Canada’s population hits 41M months after breaking 40M threshold | Globalnews.ca

Nine months after reaching 40 million people, Canada cracked a new threshold on Wednesday, the same day Statistics Canada released a report showing the pace of population growth.

globalnews.ca

This article goes over the fact that Millennials and Zoomers have substantially soured on this government and have moved from Liberals to Conservatives. It's going to take results (where they actual see better affordability) than simply a pledge of having a better credit score.

100%

Majority of changes won't have a real impact including that small fund for legal assistance. However, I do think creating measures where Credit Score can be increased via Rental Payments does provide benefits. Renter Bill of Rights is interesting and can provide more access to information which is always positive, but won't have any real impact since people already have an idea on what the state of the rental market is when they are looking for a property.