CPC, please STFU about vaccines and lockdowns. The vast majority has moved on other than low-IQ, servant class people who are still butthurt about measures taken during covid. You need the 905, not the morons who subscribe to antivax substacks.
It seems like all of the political parties think that online discourse represents real life. Worse, they don’t even perceive that their online interactions have been curated and culled to produce friendly ideological echo chambers.
The NDP lost it first, falling off the fiscal responsibility wagon to go on a binge with the Leap Manifesto. The Liberals are high on their own farts, convinced of their own magnificence and certain any criticism or adverse facts are partisan tricks. The Conservatives seem to believe that a reviled protest movement represents a populist vanguard that’s key to their success.
Anyway, seems like we can’t expect a whole lot of change in Canadian federal politics when all of the players are committed to their preferred narratives and impervious to contrary facts.
I am not sure the NDP in opposition has ever been fiscally responsible when in opposition but man do they move to the center and fiscal responsibility fast when they get in power. I am sure it is a disappointment to their supporters.
I sure do miss the Chretien/Martin days when we paid our way and paid down the debt. It was a wonderful 8-9 yrs but all all good things come to an end.
I think we can blame Harper ( again ) for the lack of concern about fiscal responsibility. After going on for years about it when he got in power he immediately cut the GST and took us into what was at the time a structural deficit. For all the crying about fiscal responsibility everywhere, the Cons did not care but more importantly the people did not care either and they did not punish the Cons for this. Ya the Liberals were lousy at the time , and some would argue now, but still I shuddered when I saw this. We were well on our way to prosperity and paying down our debt to nothing and out the window it goes.
Who can blame the current government or any future government for saying, hey balancing the budget is hard work but the people don't care so lets take the easy road.
As for the political discourse, I really believe this is all because of the 24/7 media and social media which is a curse. It's all about the gotcha no matter what. With an environment like that who is going to give fulsome answers when they know there are 100 people waiting on the side lines with keyboard in hands to make mountains out of cups of water without even a spec of sand in it.
It is actually a wonder we can get anyone to stand for election at all in the current environment no matter what their good intentions are because we know that no matter if they are NDP, Liberal or Conservative, 100s of people are just waiting to take them down.
Anyone who still thinks vax passports were a good idea is 100% likely to vote Liberal or NDP.
The question is whether the ones who supported them at the time but now realize that they were unconscionable will be so angry at being reminded of what they approved of that they will vote Liberal out of spite.
This is, of course, 100% a live issue, because climate change is exactly the same, only in slow motion.
I do suspect that those "centrist" Canadians will come home to the Liberals in the end. With Scheer and O'Toole, the Conservatives put their faith in them with a "don't spook the herd" approach, and ended disappointed. But we shall see.
Just when the CPC is ready to look electable ... some amateur asshole somehow manages to release/OK that dumbass attack ad!
Poor Raquel Dancho ... if she wasn't made of forged steel and titanium and carbon-fibre reinforcements, she would have probably have been weeping/raging (in exasperated frustration) all ... fucking ... day!
You are right on about Minister St. Onge. Her background suggests that she is rigid, doctrinaire, and above all, uncompromising. Mind you, I don't know her personally. Perhaps I might yet be surprised.
I personally will not miss the news aggregator functions of Facebook and Google. I link directly now to the sites I want to read. And I suspect that there will be dedicated aggregators such as National Newswatch that will spring up to take on the functions that Facebook and Google will no longer offer. That is, provided Canadians demand Canadian news.
So don't be real? Hide what you are until you have fooled enough people?
I may not like PP and his gang of idiots but I will fight like hell for their right to say what they want and be what they want to be. I am not too enamoured with the PPC either but I would fight for them and for the Liberals and NDP as well.
Last I checked it is a free country and you should show your freak flag no matter its color. That is the only way we can just whether or not you are fit to be the government.
Like it or not this current government is the most representative government we have had in decades. 60% of the population voted for the Libs and NDP. We can not say same for any of Harper's wins, Chretien's, Martin's wins nor any other Justin Trudeau government except this one.
Something lost in this article is an important fact:
The NDP's moment of greatest power is RIGHT NOW. Now, when Trudeau has signalled his end-of-days cabinet and therefore final end run policy priorities, and is teeing up the next generation of influencers and campaigners to surround him. The NDP basically gave up the ship with the confidence-and-supply agreement, but right now - and only now, for not more than another few business / media relevence days - it has an opportunity to torpedo the Liberals or at least force them to acquiesce to one or two policy objectives they feel could be game changers.
So how about withholding support for government unless there is greater prominence for First Nations issues and prominence within the Cabinet? How about forcing greater priority for labour issues? How about... whatever? Just use your damn moment of power - that is, at a moment when the dominant partner in the coalition is signalling its realization of its own weakness - to get what you want?
Because it's not like this isn't a bad moment to force a confidence vote. PP is looking weaker than at any point in the last 12 months with his attempt at being sexy and absolutely pathetic response to the cabinet shuffle, and - trust me, I live in just next door to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, which means I'm surrounded with the vast majority of Quebec City's electoral rolls - the Quebecois are as calm and comfortable as they'll ever be. Either Jagmeet Singh steps up to the role of leader - no question difficult in a party that will never rule, but can always hope to force change - or else he's giving up any reason for anyone to vote NDP in the future.
"The NDP right now has the most power they’ve ever had, against a government that is the most vulnerable it has ever been. If they can’t realize that, or figure out what to do with that power, they’ve even more useless than we’ve long suspected."
They have for the first time in their federal party's *entire multi-decade existence* attained actual political power, and it is increasingly clear that they are as unto the dog who catches the car. I think that first manifested in them selling themselves far too cheaply - one legitimate policy win at the very start of the coalition (national dental, not yet even fully implemented) in exchange for five years of chaining themselves to every bad decision the Liberals make. They should have at least demanded a mid-level cabinet position.
I think it also manifests in their confusing persistence in talking like an opposition party despite technically being part of the governing coalition, as you've noted, and I think that's probably both a reflection of the sort of unserious people who accumulate in a political party destined to never form government in its own right, and also a probably a function of the pittance they traded their substantial ongoing leverage for. They're not *really* part of a coalition: they negotiated absolutely no control or input into the function of government. So they've managed to make themselves unable to take any credit for the good things the Liberals do and also completely responsible for every Liberal mistake.
The future of the NDP, to the extent it has a future (God help us, it probably does), is going to rest with the next crop of NDP politicians who join the party. They'll be aware that it's potentially a path to real political power (via minority coalition) and are therefore likely to be a more serious type of person, and to have put more thought into what they would demand for their support next time. Like maybe electoral reform that would give them *actual* political power proportionate to their 20% popular vote share.
I humbly suggest that you are missing the point about vaccine passports. A government that stoops to authoritarian methods once, without a significant pushback, will do it again at the first opportunity. And the next time it will be more extreme. I don't know about you but I'm not in favour of more government control over Canadian citizens. This in addition to the fact that the Covid vaccine passport was a useless measure, as Pfizer said from the beginning that they did not test their vaccine to see if it actually prevented transmission, which it didn't - a fact that government authorities knew from the get-go. These odious "passports" were a test-run for something bigger, like a central bank digital currency and digital IDs. Once those are in place - only to make our lives easier and safer of course - then every aspect of our daily existence can be controlled centrally. And you can kiss democracy goodbye.
I'm also not in favour of such things, but I'm not concerned about the Liberals trying to turn us into China any time soon. If they stay in power for another decade+ and make moves to erase cash, ban encryption, etc. then sure, we can protest and push against it. Right now though there are so many more pressing issues to hold them accountable for. Real issues that were here before and after the pandemic.
Yes, there are a great many issues that need addressing. However, what could be more pressing than the issue of democracy itself? The CPCs are right to address this and take a principled stand, giving us an electoral choice. CBDCs are in process now, digital IDs are in process now. We cannot let this slide until they are already implemented to rise up against them. Once we lose even more of our democratic norms, they will be hard to get back.
This one ad on vaccines and Covid in a not so widely read newspaper will not bear any impact either way for the CPC. But yes, if this is part of some strategy to emphasize vaccine or Covid related messaging, then that would be them shooting themselves in the foot.
What I don't understand is that none of the CPC MPs - including Poilievre - has even mentioned anything about vaccines or Covid in several months. So what is this garbage ad doing now?
CPC, please STFU about vaccines and lockdowns. The vast majority has moved on other than low-IQ, servant class people who are still butthurt about measures taken during covid. You need the 905, not the morons who subscribe to antivax substacks.
I like that paragraph one has the Gurney apology and the Gerson non-apology back to back
It seems like all of the political parties think that online discourse represents real life. Worse, they don’t even perceive that their online interactions have been curated and culled to produce friendly ideological echo chambers.
The NDP lost it first, falling off the fiscal responsibility wagon to go on a binge with the Leap Manifesto. The Liberals are high on their own farts, convinced of their own magnificence and certain any criticism or adverse facts are partisan tricks. The Conservatives seem to believe that a reviled protest movement represents a populist vanguard that’s key to their success.
Anyway, seems like we can’t expect a whole lot of change in Canadian federal politics when all of the players are committed to their preferred narratives and impervious to contrary facts.
I am not sure the NDP in opposition has ever been fiscally responsible when in opposition but man do they move to the center and fiscal responsibility fast when they get in power. I am sure it is a disappointment to their supporters.
I sure do miss the Chretien/Martin days when we paid our way and paid down the debt. It was a wonderful 8-9 yrs but all all good things come to an end.
I think we can blame Harper ( again ) for the lack of concern about fiscal responsibility. After going on for years about it when he got in power he immediately cut the GST and took us into what was at the time a structural deficit. For all the crying about fiscal responsibility everywhere, the Cons did not care but more importantly the people did not care either and they did not punish the Cons for this. Ya the Liberals were lousy at the time , and some would argue now, but still I shuddered when I saw this. We were well on our way to prosperity and paying down our debt to nothing and out the window it goes.
Who can blame the current government or any future government for saying, hey balancing the budget is hard work but the people don't care so lets take the easy road.
As for the political discourse, I really believe this is all because of the 24/7 media and social media which is a curse. It's all about the gotcha no matter what. With an environment like that who is going to give fulsome answers when they know there are 100 people waiting on the side lines with keyboard in hands to make mountains out of cups of water without even a spec of sand in it.
It is actually a wonder we can get anyone to stand for election at all in the current environment no matter what their good intentions are because we know that no matter if they are NDP, Liberal or Conservative, 100s of people are just waiting to take them down.
Sad.
Anyone who still thinks vax passports were a good idea is 100% likely to vote Liberal or NDP.
The question is whether the ones who supported them at the time but now realize that they were unconscionable will be so angry at being reminded of what they approved of that they will vote Liberal out of spite.
This is, of course, 100% a live issue, because climate change is exactly the same, only in slow motion.
He had the choice of getting informed, just as Ron DeSantis did.
I do suspect that those "centrist" Canadians will come home to the Liberals in the end. With Scheer and O'Toole, the Conservatives put their faith in them with a "don't spook the herd" approach, and ended disappointed. But we shall see.
Just when the CPC is ready to look electable ... some amateur asshole somehow manages to release/OK that dumbass attack ad!
Poor Raquel Dancho ... if she wasn't made of forged steel and titanium and carbon-fibre reinforcements, she would have probably have been weeping/raging (in exasperated frustration) all ... fucking ... day!
You are right on about Minister St. Onge. Her background suggests that she is rigid, doctrinaire, and above all, uncompromising. Mind you, I don't know her personally. Perhaps I might yet be surprised.
I personally will not miss the news aggregator functions of Facebook and Google. I link directly now to the sites I want to read. And I suspect that there will be dedicated aggregators such as National Newswatch that will spring up to take on the functions that Facebook and Google will no longer offer. That is, provided Canadians demand Canadian news.
Our government is dumb. The next one is likely to be dumber.
Wasn't there a movie about that?
I think that movie was about the entire population growing dumber.
𝙂𝒖𝙮𝒔, 𝙟𝒖𝙨𝒕 𝒃𝙚 𝙣𝒐𝙧𝒎𝙖𝒍 𝒇𝙤𝒓 𝒂 𝒉𝙤𝒕 𝒎𝙞𝒏𝙪𝒕𝙚. 𝑭𝙤𝒄𝙪𝒔 𝒐𝙣 𝙣𝒐𝙧𝒎𝙖𝒍 𝒕𝙝𝒊𝙣𝒈𝙨.
So don't be real? Hide what you are until you have fooled enough people?
I may not like PP and his gang of idiots but I will fight like hell for their right to say what they want and be what they want to be. I am not too enamoured with the PPC either but I would fight for them and for the Liberals and NDP as well.
Last I checked it is a free country and you should show your freak flag no matter its color. That is the only way we can just whether or not you are fit to be the government.
Like it or not this current government is the most representative government we have had in decades. 60% of the population voted for the Libs and NDP. We can not say same for any of Harper's wins, Chretien's, Martin's wins nor any other Justin Trudeau government except this one.
Something lost in this article is an important fact:
The NDP's moment of greatest power is RIGHT NOW. Now, when Trudeau has signalled his end-of-days cabinet and therefore final end run policy priorities, and is teeing up the next generation of influencers and campaigners to surround him. The NDP basically gave up the ship with the confidence-and-supply agreement, but right now - and only now, for not more than another few business / media relevence days - it has an opportunity to torpedo the Liberals or at least force them to acquiesce to one or two policy objectives they feel could be game changers.
So how about withholding support for government unless there is greater prominence for First Nations issues and prominence within the Cabinet? How about forcing greater priority for labour issues? How about... whatever? Just use your damn moment of power - that is, at a moment when the dominant partner in the coalition is signalling its realization of its own weakness - to get what you want?
Because it's not like this isn't a bad moment to force a confidence vote. PP is looking weaker than at any point in the last 12 months with his attempt at being sexy and absolutely pathetic response to the cabinet shuffle, and - trust me, I live in just next door to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, which means I'm surrounded with the vast majority of Quebec City's electoral rolls - the Quebecois are as calm and comfortable as they'll ever be. Either Jagmeet Singh steps up to the role of leader - no question difficult in a party that will never rule, but can always hope to force change - or else he's giving up any reason for anyone to vote NDP in the future.
"The NDP right now has the most power they’ve ever had, against a government that is the most vulnerable it has ever been. If they can’t realize that, or figure out what to do with that power, they’ve even more useless than we’ve long suspected."
They have for the first time in their federal party's *entire multi-decade existence* attained actual political power, and it is increasingly clear that they are as unto the dog who catches the car. I think that first manifested in them selling themselves far too cheaply - one legitimate policy win at the very start of the coalition (national dental, not yet even fully implemented) in exchange for five years of chaining themselves to every bad decision the Liberals make. They should have at least demanded a mid-level cabinet position.
I think it also manifests in their confusing persistence in talking like an opposition party despite technically being part of the governing coalition, as you've noted, and I think that's probably both a reflection of the sort of unserious people who accumulate in a political party destined to never form government in its own right, and also a probably a function of the pittance they traded their substantial ongoing leverage for. They're not *really* part of a coalition: they negotiated absolutely no control or input into the function of government. So they've managed to make themselves unable to take any credit for the good things the Liberals do and also completely responsible for every Liberal mistake.
The future of the NDP, to the extent it has a future (God help us, it probably does), is going to rest with the next crop of NDP politicians who join the party. They'll be aware that it's potentially a path to real political power (via minority coalition) and are therefore likely to be a more serious type of person, and to have put more thought into what they would demand for their support next time. Like maybe electoral reform that would give them *actual* political power proportionate to their 20% popular vote share.
I humbly suggest that you are missing the point about vaccine passports. A government that stoops to authoritarian methods once, without a significant pushback, will do it again at the first opportunity. And the next time it will be more extreme. I don't know about you but I'm not in favour of more government control over Canadian citizens. This in addition to the fact that the Covid vaccine passport was a useless measure, as Pfizer said from the beginning that they did not test their vaccine to see if it actually prevented transmission, which it didn't - a fact that government authorities knew from the get-go. These odious "passports" were a test-run for something bigger, like a central bank digital currency and digital IDs. Once those are in place - only to make our lives easier and safer of course - then every aspect of our daily existence can be controlled centrally. And you can kiss democracy goodbye.
I'm also not in favour of such things, but I'm not concerned about the Liberals trying to turn us into China any time soon. If they stay in power for another decade+ and make moves to erase cash, ban encryption, etc. then sure, we can protest and push against it. Right now though there are so many more pressing issues to hold them accountable for. Real issues that were here before and after the pandemic.
Yes, there are a great many issues that need addressing. However, what could be more pressing than the issue of democracy itself? The CPCs are right to address this and take a principled stand, giving us an electoral choice. CBDCs are in process now, digital IDs are in process now. We cannot let this slide until they are already implemented to rise up against them. Once we lose even more of our democratic norms, they will be hard to get back.
This one ad on vaccines and Covid in a not so widely read newspaper will not bear any impact either way for the CPC. But yes, if this is part of some strategy to emphasize vaccine or Covid related messaging, then that would be them shooting themselves in the foot.
What I don't understand is that none of the CPC MPs - including Poilievre - has even mentioned anything about vaccines or Covid in several months. So what is this garbage ad doing now?