Canada General Discussion 1.5: The Countdown Begins

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I get a Justin Bieber vibe from Justin Trudeau.

Is Trudeau Chapiteau as bad as Beiber Fever or are the two clowns not really comparable?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Ford has filed for reelection "Ford More Years." Chow and Tory won't declare for another month or 2, if they do.

I really don't understand the people who would still vote for Ford.

Considering that the council has effectively neutered the mayor's office, I'd be willing to vote for Ford either for the lols or simply as a protest.  That isn't to say I would vote for Ford.  I don't know if there would be a candidate I could support in eir own right.  Even if there be no such candidate, I don't know if I'd want to protest the Third York City Council. Nor do I know if I'd think Ford would be the best person to tweak the council with.  On the other hand, if I were a Canadian comedian, I'd absolutely vote for Ford.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I know the Ontario Tories have had sitting MPPs get primaried. I know Norm Sterling was primaried by a tea bagger in the last election.

No, he may have gotten primaried by a more conservative candidate, but no true Canadian, no true Empire Loyalist would consider himself a tea bagger.  Never forget that the Boston Tea Party was done by a bunch of radical rebel scum, not by conservatives.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I know the Ontario Tories have had sitting MPPs get primaried. I know Norm Sterling was primaried by a tea bagger in the last election.

No, he may have gotten primaried by a more conservative candidate, but no true Canadian, no true Empire Loyalist would consider himself a tea bagger.  Never forget that the Boston Tea Party was done by a bunch of radical rebel scum, not by conservatives.

Libertarianish suburban/rural politicians are often referred to as Tea Partiers up here. People affiliated with the Ontario Landowners Union are considered as such.  Another example is a certain mayor of a large metropolis in this country.

Then you Canadians are idiots ignorant of history.   (Or perhaps you're on your way to being assimilated into the United States.  BWAHAHAHA!)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Considering that the freight service is being abandoned on that stretch of track, it doesn't really make much sense to keep low speed passenger rail on it.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Anthony Housefather will run and be the next Grit MP from Mont-Royal. Will miss Cotler, and had the privilege of meeting him a few years ago.

Housefather may be the next Grit to stand in the riding, but isn't it a bit premature to say he'll be the next MP?  That riding has election after election gone less and less Grit under Cotler.  He got 92% of the vote in 1999, 81% in 2000, 76% in 2004, 66% in 2006, 56% in 2008, and 41% in 2011.  That can't all be due to any personal unpopularity Cotler may have earned, or even the general decline in Liberal fortunes.  Not when the decline is of that magnitude and consistent from election to election.  Clearly Mont Royal has been trending Royal Blue.  Possibly not soon enough to keep Housefeather from being the next MP, but Housefeather will definitely have to be more than a mailbox.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Quebec will raise the minimum wage from 10.15$ to 10.35$, on May 1st. Nothing really special, it happens on May 1st every year or other year.

Which is $9.14/hr to $9.32 is "real" dollars.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Well, it is a stupid waste of time, but hardly worth changing one's vote over.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Trudeau thinks Russia might invade Ukraine because they lost in hockey. In case anyone doubted he's in way over his head... but also continuing in the family foreign affairs tradition.

I for one welcome our teen popstar overlord.

So Justin Bieber is the secret leader of the Liberals?  Who knew?  Still, I think a fair share of this forum would say that Bieber would do a better job as Canadian PM than Steven Harper.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Brazeau's been arrested again for assault, cocaine and death threats.

You Canadians do seem to be going out of your way to have entertaining political collapses of late.  I can't see a movie being made of this tho.  Suspended Senator taking job as day manager of a strip club?  Too unbelievable!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Nova Scotia Barrister's Society will not accredit Trinity Western's law school unless they drop their same sex marriage covenant... because tolerance.

Test Act here we come

Good decision. Schools aren't allowed to dictate how students must act out of school.

Bad decision. It's not as if those students couldn't go elsewhere if they don't like the restriction, and I utterly fail to see how it prevents Trinity Western's students from being good lawyers.  The idea that we have to force people to be universally tolerant is one of the more intolerant ideas I have come across.  Now if one could actually show how TW's policy negatively impacts its students, I'd be supportive of the action against the school, but so far no one has.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Nova Scotia Barrister's Society will not accredit Trinity Western's law school unless they drop their same sex marriage covenant... because tolerance.

Test Act here we come

Good decision. Schools aren't allowed to dictate how students must act out of school.

Bad decision. It's not as if those students couldn't go elsewhere if they don't like the restriction, and I utterly fail to see how it prevents Trinity Western's students from being good lawyers.  The idea that we have to force people to be universally tolerant is one of the more intolerant ideas I have come across.  Now if one could actually show how TW's policy negatively impacts its students, I'd be supportive of the action against the school, but so far no one has.

In my mind, that's a violation of the Charter provision on forbidding discrimination. I doubt than Trinity Western will properly teach those notions, as it's going against their agenda.

You doubt, but have no evidence that's the case.  Sorry, but imposing sanctions because of a hunch doesn't seem very just to me.  Any evidence that TW's students have been bad in other professions such as education as a result of that policy you object to? (Their law school has yet to open as I understand it, so obviously there's no evidence for this specific program.)

Granted, I have a firmer idea of how things work under the U.S. Constitution than under the Canadian Charter, but I fail to see how things would have changed since 2001 when the Canadian Supreme Court slapped down the British Columbia College of Teachers for trying the same thing with teacher accreditation for education students at TW.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

West Nova, BC

Can't believe I missed that one

Also, West Nova & Central Nova are stupid riding names.

Yes, they are. What would you call them?

I'd combine them into one riding named Super Nova.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Scott Armstrong is running again.

Now if only we could get Neil to walk again.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Disclaimer I use OpenOffice, not Excel, so it's possible your mileage may vary.

LOOKUP requires that the vector you are searching be in ascending order, not random order, so that is probably what is giving you problems.
Anyway, the method in OpenOffice that doesn't require sorting anything first involves using the MATCH and OFFSET functions.  (IIRC, OpenOffice uses semicolons where Excel uses commas, so translate as needed.)

=OFFSET(A$1;0;MATCH(MAX(A2:C2);A2:C2;0)-1) is the formula I'd use in OpenOffice to find the winner.  You may need to adjust a few things to get them to work in Excel.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

They all look fairly insipid.  #3 is best IMO, but only because the web address is clearly visible in it.  With a lighter shade of grass, #2 would be best, but as I said they all are insipid, primarily because they are so generic.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Oh, the irony of an Islamic extremist named "Michael".

What's so ironic?  Both Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the Qur'an as angels.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

But at least Rob Ford will still be there on the Council to help ensure that Toronto will have its fair share of gits and shiggles.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Why no write-ins?  I can understand that in party primaries, but unless it's ludicrously easy to get on the ballot at the last moment, I fail to see why it shouldn't be an option.  Granted, there seldom is a need to count them.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I guess it's impossible to keep conservatives apart for very long. I imagine UKIP wont last very long in Britain, either.

Or perhaps UKIP will end up absorbing the remnants of the Tories.  Granted, not very likely, but neither is it impossible.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Libertarian Party has changed its colours to Navy and Gold

So Tim Moen is a lock for being the next PM now that they've got that settled, right?