Canada General Discussion (2019-)

[Benjamin Frank]

Just read an article about Doug Ford using the notwithstanding clause to defeat a union strike (). Is he actually doing that?

Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that. I'm not totally sure what the reason for using the notwithstanding clause is. It could be one of two things:

1.This back to work order/imposed settlement is being passed even before the union walked out.  
The union in question is not the teacher's union, but the school support workers. However, certainly teacher's unions all across Canada are regarded as one of the most militant unions, if not the most militant union, and the government believed the teacher's union was hiding behind the support workers, but would have said if the government had not imposed a settlement "we want the same percentage raise they received" even though the support workers earn a lot less (exactly how much is a matter of debate, depending on if part time workers are included.)

2.The situation for public sector strikes/back to work orders and possible imposed settlements had been clear in Canada until 2015. The public sector union had the right to strike while having, more or less, a monopoly over public service delivery. So, in this case, to use the government's language, the school support workers and the teacher's union could hold children and their parents 'hostage.' So, in return, the government had the ability to impose back to work orders and, if the situation was really bad, impose a settlement. And, the fact is, even the pro union NDP when in power in provincially have issued back to work orders and even imposed settlements. (At a minimum Dave Barrett in British Columbia in 1975 and the 'Rae days' of the Bob Rae Ontario government.)

I think, and I think many Canadians agree, though obviously I dont know for sure, this was a fair situation: the union had the right to strike, but that was balanced with the right of people to receive public services, many of which are essential, and the government could protect that right through back to work orders and, if necessary, imposed settlements.  So, for instance, when advertising its case, the teacher's union will often argue how "critical" their jobs are, but, when issued a back to work order, they will publicly state 'education is not an essential service.'

So, in 2015, the Canadian Supreme Court decided to involve itself with trying to sort out this balance of rights situation when a case brought by a public sector union came before it. The Supreme Court in its learned wisdsom decided to limit a government's ability to impose back to work orders. So, this leaves the government with the ultimate weapon of using the notwithstanding clause.

My personal view is that this is a very unfortunate situation, but the Supreme Court should have left the attempt to balance rights to the legislature/government and ultimately the voters.

Disclosures on this: I am a private school teacher, so not a member of the teacher's union here in British Columbia, and, as an economics teacher, I have a hatred of monopolies/monopoly cartels which public sector unions essentially are.

[MaxQue]

Quebec news: Grit crisis escalates as Marie-Claude Nichols, expelled from caucus last week for declining to shadow Transport after being denied a deputy Speaker slot, refused to rejoin caucus after Anglade flip-flopped and asked her to return. Nichols said she wouldn't be used to save Anglade. Several members of the party executive had said Nichols' readmission was required for them to support Anglade at the review. As for QS and PQ, the Speaker ruled that no MNA can be seated without the oath and anyone who tries will be removed by the sergeant-at-arms. Both parties have not committed to that spectacle but keep insisting they won't take the oath. Negotiations on party status have started.

There is an important part omitted there. Anglade insisted to put Franz Benjamin, city council chair under Coderre (mainly known for expelling an opposition council from the chamber for not wearing a suit despite his injury preventing him from doing so) and former Liberal caucus leader (reportedly fired for incompetence). By all reports, he's probably the most useless member of the caucus, but he's Haitian like Anglade, hence why she keeps promoting him.

[Benjamin Frank]

Latest podcast of The Backbench:

BC NDP leadership candidate Anjali Appadurai had the rug pulled out from under her. This week Mattea Roach is joined with Stuart Thomson, Jaskaran Sandhu, and Arno Kopecky to talk about how and why the BC-NDP ended up disqualifying Appadurai, leaving David Eby to be sworn in as Premier of British Columbia. Also, this week the backbenchers talk about the Federal handgun freeze that is supposedly the strongest action in a generation. We’ll see about that…

https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/50-whos-afraid-of-a-contested-election/

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Latest podcast of The Backbench:

BC NDP leadership candidate Anjali Appadurai had the rug pulled out from under her. This week Mattea Roach is joined with Stuart Thomson, Jaskaran Sandhu, and Arno Kopecky to talk about how and why the BC-NDP ended up disqualifying Appadurai, leaving David Eby to be sworn in as Premier of British Columbia. Also, this week the backbenchers talk about the Federal handgun freeze that is supposedly the strongest action in a generation. We’ll see about that…

https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/50-whos-afraid-of-a-contested-election/

Thanks for the link.

[RogueBeaver]

Quebec: Anglade "has been resigned", to paraphrase the Paul Martin wag 20 years ago. Frontrunners to replace her are Pontiac MNA André Fortin, house leader Marc Tanguay, possibly former minister Pierre Moreau. None will do better, needless to say.

[Continential]

https://twitter.com/AlainRayes/status/1589374251337125888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7C...

[mileslunn]

Using ridingbuilder.ca thought would be interesting to do comparisons between provincial and federal elections

If federal boundaries used, BC NDP would have won a majority in both 2017 and 2020 despite narrowly losing popular vote in 2017.  A lot of narrow misses for BC Liberals is main reason particularly in federal Liberal ridings in 2017 while in 2020 more solidly NDP

2017

BC NDP     23
BC Liberal  18
BC Greens  1

2020

BC NDP     30
BC Liberal  11
BC Greens  1

BC 2019 federal by provincial results

Conservative 39
NDP             23
Liberal          18
Greens         4
Independent 1

BC 2021

Conservative 31
NDP             29
Liberal          26
Green          1

So federal Conservatives got strong plurality in 2019 but in 2021 almost a perfect three way split although Liberals provincially would have come in third instead of first but still really close so no surprise.

[mileslunn]

For Alberta I get following

Alberta 2015 federal boundaries

NDP          20
Wildrose    9
PC             5

Alberta 2019

UCP         25
NDP         9

Now for provincial boundaries here they are.  Obviously much less competitive and Conservative blowouts but neither a sweep

Alberta 2019

Conservative   85
NDP               1
Liberal           1

Alberta 2021

Conservative   81
NDP               3
Liberal           3

So federally still looks a lot like Lougheed landslide of 1982.  Mind you in 2021, not so much 2019 most Tory wins in Edmonton and a few in Calgary were on vote splits on left.  However in 2019 got over 50% in vast majority.

[mileslunn]

Here is Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan 2016

Saskatchewan Party   13
NDP                          1

Saskatchewan 2020

Saskatchewan Party   12
NDP                          2

Saskatchewan 2019

Conservative            56
NDP                         4
Liberal                     1

Saskatchewan 2021

Conservative           54
NDP                        5
Liberal                    2

[Filuwaúrdjan]

https://twitter.com/backtolife_2023/status/1591506506536882177

This seems bad.

[mileslunn]

Manitoba

Manitoba 2016

PC           11
NDP         3

Manitoba 2019

PC          10
NDP        4

Manitoba 2019 (federal)

Conservative           29
Liberal                    18
NDP                       10

Manitoba 2021

Conservative          26
Liberal                   18
NDP                      13

[mileslunn]

Ontario

Only in Northern Ontario are boundaries different, Southern Ontario identical so this one is easy

Ontario 2018 - federal boundaries

PC               75
NDP             38
Liberal          7
Greens         1

Ontario 2022

PC             83
NDP           28
Liberal        8
Greens       1

Ontario 2019 (provincial boundaries)

Liberal           80
Conservative  36
NDP               8

Ontario 2021 (Provincial boundaries)

Liberal          80
Conservative 37
NDP              6
Greens          1

[mileslunn]

Quebec

2022 provincial results not up yet so will give those once ready, but probably a CAQ landslide.

2018 federal ridings

CAQ        47
PLQ         20
QS          6
PQ           5

2019 provincial ridings

BQ                 57
Liberals          51
Conservatives 15
NDP               2

2021 provincial boundaries

BQ                 56
Liberals          47
Conservatives 18
NDP               4

[mileslunn]

New Brunswick

NB 2018 federal ridings

PC                 5
Liberals          4
PANB             1

NB federal ridings 2021

PC                6
Liberals         4

NB 2019 provincial boundaries

Liberals          28
Conservatives 19
Greens           2

NB 2021

Liberals          30
Conservatives 19

[mileslunn]

Nova Scotia

2017 federal boundaries

Liberals              7
PC                     4
NDP

2021 federal boundaries

PC                 7
Liberals         3
NDP              1

2019 provincial boundaries

Liberals          44
Conservatives 10
NDP               1

2021 NS

Liberals          37
Conservatives 15
NDP               3

[mileslunn]

PEI

PEI 2015 federal boundaries

Liberals 2
PC        2

PEI 2019

PC        2
Greens  1
Liberals 1

2019 provincial boundaries

Liberals          25
Conservatives 2

2021 PEI

Liberals           26
Conservatives  1

So while PEI and Saskatchewan were sweeps federally, using provincial boundaries would have not quite been.

[mileslunn]

Newfoundland & Labrador

2015 provincial results would have been a Liberal sweep using federal boundaries.  Unfortunately 2021 results not yet up so below is 2019.

2019 provincial

Liberals    5
PC           2

2019 federal using provincial boundaries

Liberals             30           
NDP                  7
Conservatives    3

2021 NL

Liberals           32
Conservatives  7
NDP                1

[Hatman 🍁]

There will be no poll by poll results of the 2021 NL provincial election. It was completely done by mail due to COVID related incompetence.

[Benjamin Frank]

Latest episode of The Backbench, hosted by Jeopardy! champion (but not tournament of champions champion) Mattea Roach.

https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/51-lost-in-inflation/

Financial Minister Chrystia Freeland’s mini-budget is at your service to save us from inflation. Or is it Justin-flation? This week our host, Mattea Roach, is joined by Emilie Nicolas, Murad Hemmadi, and Nick-Taylor Vaisey to talk about the effectiveness of the proposed budget, the impending recession, and the “costly-coalition.” They also tackle the increasingly common use of the notwithstanding clause—what does it mean, and should we be worried?

Also: Live Event: The Backbench - A Year in Review - December 14 @ 7:30pm at The Hot Docs Cinema, Toronto

Tickets: Canadaland supporters get up to 2 FREE tickets. Go to hotdocs.ca and use the discount code SUPPORTER at checkout.

Finally, another Canadaland program is not only investigating oligopolies in Canada:

Groceries Point Blank
Canadians are getting squeezed. When it comes to phone bills, groceries, housing, entertainment, and pretty much everything, we’re paying more than ever. At the same time, the handful of companies that dominate their respective industries are reaping enormous profits.

The new season of COMMONS exposes the monopolies, oligopolies, and cartels that penetrate our lives, whether we know it or not.

For the first episode, the COMMONS crew heads to the supermarket, joined by Regs to Riches' Vass Bednar.

but, is even going to investigate the Canadian monopoly dairy cartel!!!!! 
And if you're a Canadaland supporter (on a plan that gets you all our shows, or just COMMONS, ad-free), you can already listen to next week's instalment on the dairy industry.

[Suburbia]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Liberal Party are under attack by NHL player Carey Price over Trudeau's gun laws.....Price is a staunch pro-gun activist as well and says that the laws "encroach on Canadians' freedoms"

The Montreal Canadiens organization and goalie Carey Price have issued apologies after Price posted a message on social media in support of a gun lobby group that recently used "POLY" as a promotional discount code.

The team issued a statement on Monday that Price didn't know about the 1989 Polytechnique Massacre or its upcoming anniversary.

However, Price said Tuesday said he did know about the massacre and regretted the timing of his post.

Price published his initial Instagram post on Saturday, just days ahead of the massacre's Dec. 6 anniversary. In it, Price shared his support for a lobby group, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), following amendments to the federal government's gun control legislation, Bill C-21, last week.

The amendments appeared to push the bill further by including a number of firearms used for hunting, a move that was swiftly condemned by firearm advocates and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is looking into rectifying.

Price, 35, has spoken in the past about the importance of hunting to him. He is a member of Ulkatcho First Nation — his mother is a former chief — and grew up in the small remote community of Anahim Lake in British Columbia.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/carey-price-gun-control-polytechnique-1.6674809

[MaxQue]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Liberal Party are under attack by NHL player Carey Price over Trudeau's gun laws.....Price is a staunch pro-gun activist as well and says that the laws "encroach on Canadians' freedoms"

The Montreal Canadiens organization and goalie Carey Price have issued apologies after Price posted a message on social media in support of a gun lobby group that recently used "POLY" as a promotional discount code.

The team issued a statement on Monday that Price didn't know about the 1989 Polytechnique Massacre or its upcoming anniversary.

However, Price said Tuesday said he did know about the massacre and regretted the timing of his post.

Price published his initial Instagram post on Saturday, just days ahead of the massacre's Dec. 6 anniversary. In it, Price shared his support for a lobby group, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), following amendments to the federal government's gun control legislation, Bill C-21, last week.

The amendments appeared to push the bill further by including a number of firearms used for hunting, a move that was swiftly condemned by firearm advocates and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is looking into rectifying.

Price, 35, has spoken in the past about the importance of hunting to him. He is a member of Ulkatcho First Nation — his mother is a former chief — and grew up in the small remote community of Anahim Lake in British Columbia.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/carey-price-gun-control-polytechnique-1.6674809

Also, the gun he posed with is not going to be banning, despite the confusion caused by Poilievre's lies and fearmongering that all guns are going to be banned.

[Suburbia]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Liberal Party are under attack by NHL player Carey Price over Trudeau's gun laws.....Price is a staunch pro-gun activist as well and says that the laws "encroach on Canadians' freedoms"

The Montreal Canadiens organization and goalie Carey Price have issued apologies after Price posted a message on social media in support of a gun lobby group that recently used "POLY" as a promotional discount code.

The team issued a statement on Monday that Price didn't know about the 1989 Polytechnique Massacre or its upcoming anniversary.

However, Price said Tuesday said he did know about the massacre and regretted the timing of his post.

Price published his initial Instagram post on Saturday, just days ahead of the massacre's Dec. 6 anniversary. In it, Price shared his support for a lobby group, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), following amendments to the federal government's gun control legislation, Bill C-21, last week.

The amendments appeared to push the bill further by including a number of firearms used for hunting, a move that was swiftly condemned by firearm advocates and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is looking into rectifying.

Price, 35, has spoken in the past about the importance of hunting to him. He is a member of Ulkatcho First Nation — his mother is a former chief — and grew up in the small remote community of Anahim Lake in British Columbia.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/carey-price-gun-control-polytechnique-1.6674809

Also, the gun he posed with is not going to be banning, despite the confusion caused by Poilievre's lies and fearmongering that all guns are going to be banned.

Trudeau should abandon this topic....Price is pretty influential, the last thing Trudeau needs is a hockey star mobilizing apathetic or apolitical people.

[MaxQue]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Liberal Party are under attack by NHL player Carey Price over Trudeau's gun laws.....Price is a staunch pro-gun activist as well and says that the laws "encroach on Canadians' freedoms"

The Montreal Canadiens organization and goalie Carey Price have issued apologies after Price posted a message on social media in support of a gun lobby group that recently used "POLY" as a promotional discount code.

The team issued a statement on Monday that Price didn't know about the 1989 Polytechnique Massacre or its upcoming anniversary.

However, Price said Tuesday said he did know about the massacre and regretted the timing of his post.

Price published his initial Instagram post on Saturday, just days ahead of the massacre's Dec. 6 anniversary. In it, Price shared his support for a lobby group, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR), following amendments to the federal government's gun control legislation, Bill C-21, last week.

The amendments appeared to push the bill further by including a number of firearms used for hunting, a move that was swiftly condemned by firearm advocates and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is looking into rectifying.

Price, 35, has spoken in the past about the importance of hunting to him. He is a member of Ulkatcho First Nation — his mother is a former chief — and grew up in the small remote community of Anahim Lake in British Columbia.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/carey-price-gun-control-polytechnique-1.6674809

Also, the gun he posed with is not going to be banning, despite the confusion caused by Poilievre's lies and fearmongering that all guns are going to be banned.

Trudeau should abandon this topic....Price is pretty influential, the last thing Trudeau needs is a hockey star mobilizing apathetic or apolitical people.

The general reaction here has been, OMG, Price is an idiot.

[Hatman 🍁]

lol Carey Price is not "influential"

[Suburbia]

lol Carey Price is not "influential"

The guy's a perennial All Star....come on.

Trudeau needs to remember that a lot of Canada is cold and rural, they like this stuff.