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Canadian Politics: Revenge of the small minds


maarsen

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One really has to wonder at the long term prospects of Ontario's Conservative government. Not a day passes but the Conservative government manages to irritate yet another group. First the working poor were hit with a rollback of labour legislation that protected them when doing precarious work, and a freeze on the minimum wage. Then they went after the green energy producers and users by ending cap and trade. People who live in the City of Toronto were also hit by having the number of council seats cut in half just as the election was starting. Next was child protection. Then came French language services in our province.  I have to wonder who exactly supports the Conservatives at all now that they have managed to anger so many groups. Everything they do seems to be driven by revenge and anger. 

They have dropped in the polls to the point where they are at the same level as the Liberals that were ousted in June. How soon till the members revolt?

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I know exactly zero about Canadian politics, but it recently occurred to me, watching the news, that there are more and more politicians (sometimes entire political formations) that do not care that much about reelection, or think they will be able to compensate for their unpopularity with enough rebranding and demagogery when the time to vote comes again.
Because the only thing they care about is implementing their agenda. Sometimes, just very specific items of their agenda that may matter far more than what one may think at a glance.
And if you think I'm beeing paranoid, you haven't been paying attention. ;)

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6 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Unfortunately they have such a big majority it’s going to be a very miserable 5 years in Ontario. I expect they will hang on to power until the very last moment.

Maybe. Recall Rob Ford spent more than a year of his term under censure with essentially no authority...

Doug will no doubt have a different fate, but it's only a matter of what exactly the scandal will be. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, Canadian law enforcement picks up Meng at the request of their US counterparts, pissing China right the fuck off. China makes demands and threats. Canada responds with we're a country that abides by the rule of law [yadda yadda] so China grabs one of our former diplomats on charges of espionage [apparently] while decreasing tariffs on US autos from 45 to 15%, and then [takes a deeps breath] yesterday Trump, bumbling cockeyed idiot that he is, fucks it all up by stating he'd be willing to trade Meng back to China for trade concessions and shit. 

I think that's enough to just cut her loose then, hmn? Or should we go through the motion first, then deny the extradition? 

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Mmn.... probably doing it properly and at length our judicial system deciding the US didn't make their case and deny extradition on said grounds.

I suspect the chances of this are actually higher than I might've initially thought. We're judging her alleged crimes based on ours and not US law, after all. I'd have to do some reading.   

What a clusterfuck though.

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Doug Ford seems to have a talent for stepping in the doodoo. First by appointing family friend Taverner to head the OPP even though he was not qualified,  and then asking for a customized camper to be bought and kept off the government's books.

Now he has tried to circumvent the contract arbitration for Ontario doctors by firing the government nominee to the arbitration board. The arbitrator, William Kaplan is not the kind of guy to be pushed around by someone like Ford. I have dealt with him a few times during arbitration hearings and he really is a no bullshit type of guy. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Well, good job Canada.

 

The Saudi teen who fled her family has been granted asylum in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Friday that the country has accepted the UN’s request to grant Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun asylum.

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/11/18178621/saudi-teen-canada-asylum-rahaf-mohammed-alqunun
 

Quote

 

The Saudi teen whose pleas for asylum went viral after she fled from her family and escaped to Thailand earlier this week has been granted asylum in Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Friday that the country had accepted the United Nations request to give asylum to 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun.

“We have accepted the UN’s request that we grant her asylum,” Trudeau told reporters. “That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world.”

A top Thai immigration official said earlier Friday that Alqunun had been granted asylum in Canada, and had boarded a flight for Toronto with a “smiling face.”

 

 

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Glad to have her.

----

Meanwhile, a Canadian previously tried in China on drug trafficking charges [found guilty and sentenced] was retried and sentenced to death.

Fucking China, man. Vindictive.

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On 1/12/2019 at 8:38 PM, Martell Spy said:

Well, good job Canada.

 

The Saudi teen who fled her family has been granted asylum in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Friday that the country has accepted the UN’s request to grant Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun asylum.

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/11/18178621/saudi-teen-canada-asylum-rahaf-mohammed-alqunun
 

 

After the way the Saudis went apeshit over a tweet about women's rights, a good thumb in the eye seemed to be an appropriate response. I mean what else can they do to Canada now?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Canada's ambassador has resigned after making a series of unfortunate remarks regarding the arrest and extradition request by the US for a Huawei exec. 

All western intelligence agencies are in an uproar because Huawei is selling loads of telecommunications equipment all over the world, including Canada, and those intelligence agencies believe that the Chinese government has a backdoor into said equipment. I personally find the hypocrisy appalling. Has everyone forgotten Edward Snowden? Does anyone think Intel or Cisco or IBM do not have backdoors into their chips and switches? 

I guess it all comes down to who do you want reading your email or checking out the porn you consume.

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  • 2 months later...

Time to resuscitate this thread. 

Doug Ford is coming across as sillier and sillier each day. He now wants to change Ontario's license plate slogan to Open For Business. He also wants to change our  trillium logo. I  can just see both on our new license plate, with the trillium looking like an anus. 

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To be fair, I believe the cut as proposed will be to anesthetic fees for endoscopy sedations (i.e. when there's an actual anesthesiologist present). That wouldn't necessarily be typical and definitely isn't the cheapest way of delivering procedural association. But I'd say it's more reasonable to have available than, say, new license plate mottos or $10m for horse racing.

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  • 1 month later...

Isn't there a stipulation that when being pardoned that one has to admit wrongdoing? 

I guess in Conrad's case the fact that the wrongdoing was caught on tape makes it so much simpler. 

Just as an aside Conrad Black has the same magic touch with money that Trump has. He took a million dollar inheritance and turned it into a string of losses also while touting his own financial acumen. 

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36 minutes ago, maarsen said:

Isn't there a stipulation that when being pardoned that one has to admit wrongdoing? 

I guess in Conrad's case the fact that the wrongdoing was caught on tape makes it so much simpler. 

Just as an aside Conrad Black has the same magic touch with money that Trump has. He took a million dollar inheritance and turned it into a string of losses also while touting his own financial acumen. 

Nope, no such stipulation. What you are thinking of is there is an implication of admitting guilt if you accept a pardon. However, in Trump's twisted universe, people are saying pardons are being given because they were unjustly prosecuted.

Or perhaps you are thinking about the fact you can't take the 5th anymore, because once you've been pardoned there's no self-incrimination protection required anymore.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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