Canada General Discussion: Trudeau II

[DC Al Fine]

Worry about your own repressed right wing backwaters.

Uh, okay?

Social liberalism presents its superior case once again.

[DC Al Fine]

Whoa: potential caucus coup against Mulcair soon. Possible interim replacements are Julian, Rankin or Cullen.

Seems kind of pointless to me. What exactly is to be gained here besides making the lame duck leader leave three years before an election instead of two?

[DC Al Fine]

Stephen Harper has taken a job at Dentons

I never got the whole, career after politics thing. If I spent a decade as PM, I'd write my memoirs, do a few speeches for extra cash, and spend a lot of time golfing and/or sleeping

[DC Al Fine]

Quarterly CRA Atlantic Canada polls are out. Check out Newfoundland!

Nova Scotia
Liberal: 56% (-2)
Tory: 22% (+1)
NDP: 19% (+1)

New Brunswick
Liberal: 54% (+2)
Tory: 28% (+3)
NDP: 8% (-4)
Green: 8% (-1)

Newfoundland
Liberal: 34% (+7)
Tory: 34% (nc)
NDP: 32% (-6)

PEI
Liberal: 64% (+6)
Tory: 19% (-1)
NDP: 8% (+1)
Green: 9% (-6)

[DC Al Fine]

Woah,  and the Newfie grits were starting from behind after their landslide victory. I assume some oil induced austerity?

Correct. Oil royalties went from 30% of revenue to 7% and they had some pretty nasty structural issues in their economy as well. Despite drastic austerity, they still have the worst deficit as a % of GDP in the country. Glad I don't live on the Rock right now.

[DC Al Fine]

Tootoo was in a love triangle with not only his staffer but said staffer's mother.

a y y l m a o
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Bahahahaha

[DC Al Fine]

Paul Hellyer is giving a talk in Halifax next week.

Sadly he's talking about globalization and not UFOs, but I'm still planning on going.

[DC Al Fine]

Nova Scotia municipal elections are in a few weeks. They aren't nearly as interesting as last time when the inner of districts shrunk and several incumbents faced off. I'm considering not voting as my councillor and school board rep have been acclaimed and the mayor is polling at 85 percent

[DC Al Fine]

Never, ever consider not voting.

Ok Mom, you always know best.

I'll still vote. We have e-voting here, so I really don't have an excuse. And the thought of voting in my pyjamas is appealing

[DC Al Fine]

I was just doing some reading up on the NS municipals yesterday. Will probably do a thread about it soon. Anything exciting happening across the province? I see that fraudster Dave Wilson is running for a Cape Breton council seat.

Not too much going on. There's a couple of interesting council races in Halifax. Dave Wilson is running. Oh, here's another eyebrow raiser:

The Town of Amherst mayor's race has among other candidates, former NDP MLA for Cumberland North, Brian Skabar, and a city councilor who is best known for saying "I'm not your n***er" to a constituent while delivering pizzas.

[DC Al Fine]

I do feel sorry for the socons. They're probably the most manipulated political group in the country. They're desperate to vote for that one pro-life candidate so they can feel good about not supporting a 'pro-murder' candidate.

Socons, especially older ones, have an astonishing amount of faith in elected officials. It's really served us poorly.

They were either delusional or suckers if they thought Brown was gonna do that. You'd think the Harper decade would cure them of delusions. A guy whose political mentors are Mulroney and Charest, who was involved in the living dead PCPC, is not gonna be your champion.

Tory leaders take us for granted. Not showing up for them would teach them, but they serve as a useful buffer against the excesses of the social left. It's not like Premiers Howarth or Wynne would do our side much good either. It's a tough line to walk.

[DC Al Fine]

I'm sure I'll write an effortpost on what strategies socons should pursue someday, but for now I'll just note:

1) We need to accept that we are a vocal minority, not a moral majority.
2) Setting up our own cultural institutions has been much more successful than political activism.
3) Political activism isn't totally useless.

Strategy should proceed from those principles. Ultra-orthodox Jews in NYC might be a good model here.

[DC Al Fine]

Part of me thinks Trudeau/Butts is sincere about wanting electoral reform, in small part so that the so-cons in the CPC will become encouraged to break off and form their own party, and thus destroy the CPC as a united entity. It could depend on ~10% of the national vote and therefore 30ish seats, a very significant representation.

That is the reason I like PR. It would give us a lot more influence within the conservative movement, and give us some more diversity on economics instead of having to toe the Tory fiscal line. Also, the idea of threatening to bring down a government over a pet issue like the Israeli parties can do, is really appealing

[DC Al Fine]

The NDP Québec (provincial party) is holding meetings in Quebec City and Montreal this weekend to see who could be local leaders and familiiarize future volunteers with provincial electoral laws.

It is a registered party with 300 members. They say if they decide to be an active party they will be ready in time for the 2018 election.

http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/480582/un-pas-de-plus-vers-un-npd-quebecois

Is it expected that they will 'go active'? If so, how much support could they realistically get, given that they are down so much from their 2011 high?

[DC Al Fine]

When I saw that his name was trending, I thought he had entered the Conservative leadership race. As unlikely as that is...

RIP.

Funny how life is. A couple different decisions, and he could very well be Premier of Alberta, not on that plane, and a Tory leadership front runner.

[DC Al Fine]

The murderous cult of "Jehovah' Witnesses" killed someone else by denial of blood transfusion, yet no government is ready to take action.

Ok I'll bite. What is 'action' in your mind?

[DC Al Fine]

The murderous cult of "Jehovah' Witnesses" killed someone else by denial of blood transfusion, yet no government is ready to take action.

Ok I'll bite. What is 'action' in your mind?

Require written authorization for denial of blood transfusion.

You mean like this?

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[DC Al Fine]

The murderous cult of "Jehovah' Witnesses" killed someone else by denial of blood transfusion, yet no government is ready to take action.

Ok I'll bite. What is 'action' in your mind?

Require written authorization for denial of blood transfusion.

You mean like this?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There was a second case this week, where the husband pretended such paperwork was filled too, but nobody can find it.

And, in any case, representatives of religious organisations have no business in an hospital.

Of course. Prayers for the dying are sooooo passe

[DC Al Fine]

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You can't be serious.

I'm not talking of prayers or last services for dying people, but in this case, their goal is clearly is not to support the family, but to frighten people in renouncing their freedom of choice and doing as the sect decided ("do as we, or we will report on it and exclude you"). That's pure coercision and that should be clearly banned in hospitals.

What's that saying? One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

Pro-lifers often complain of pressure to abort babies with disabilities and they are relatively accepted. Jehovah's Witnesses are an unpopular minority, who take a highly unusual approach to medicine. Its quite plausible that they may feel pressure to go against their religion and would want aid to ensure their Charter rights are protected.

[DC Al Fine]

How big is Kwinter's personal vote? Would he be a decent pick for an unexpected holdout against a Tory majority if he wins again?

[DC Al Fine]

British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Trinity Western University and against the Law Society of B.C.'s attempt to deny TWU's law accreditation.

[DC Al Fine]

Econ update: financial position deteriorating, more red ink will gush.

Colour me surprised

I will now drink ruefully... well not really because it's 8am but you get my drift.

[DC Al Fine]

I just met Kellie Leitch. She took my planning to not vote for her well.

[DC Al Fine]

So I went to a Nova Scotia PC fundraiser tonight. To show you how different Maritime politics are, Jamie Baille, the Tory leader, spent a solid third of his speech attacking Stephen McNeil's "cuts to the bone". He actually used the phrase "you can't balance the budget on the backs of the poor".

[DC Al Fine]

Alberta poll

Tory: 39%
Wildrose: 25%
NDP: 14%!
Liberal: 14%