Also: war crimes abroad. Protests at home, and the limits of free speech. A defence of Sarah Jama's rights to speak, and advice for the CBC (and all media) on handling Poilievre.
I’m listening to the podcast. I strongly disagree with Jen’s comments re the pro-Hamas mobs. Sorry, not sorry, while some of the mobs didn’t overtly invite violence, the sheer number of ppl screaming & shouting is extremely threatening. Don’t tell me that a Hasidic Jew wd feel safe walking on a public sidewalk where this is happening.
Crikey, Ottawa was moaning about the trucker presence & residents feeling ‘unsafe’ ‘threatened’ ‘unable to use public sidewalks’ & msm was WTF is going on here, omg??!! This? Right now? Is waaay beyond any of that protest.
As for your take, Jen, on police presence/responsibility is a just tad naive, at best. Didn’t everyone notice that there aren’t enough cops ANYWHERE to deal with immediate problems. They had to fly them in to SAVE OTTAWA for heavens sake. If Canada ever had to deal with multiple violent protests in multiple jurisdictions - we’re screwed, baby.
This is on all of us. Everyone in this country can trace their genes to somewhere else. We would do well to remember that every now and then and remind ourselves why we or each ancestor came here. Everyone. Why? The most common answer is probably to have a better life and a better future.
Living in a functioning society with peace, order and good government can be expressed very simply. Many hands make light work, and provide security.
It is human and noble to care about the rest of humanity and to show that through peaceful protest. Though it perplexes me that we would forget our history and repeat here what that history encouraged our genes to leave behind.
Please, by all means protest in favour of what you have logically determined to be the way forward. Please do it respectfully and peacefully; which doesn’t mean you can’t be loud or creative. Your protest will fail if it isn’t creative, or doesn't have sufficient numbers, and should most definitely fail if it is rude or way over the top.
Thank you Jen for your comments on Sarah Jama. It is speech that we loathe that we must defend most strongly. I need to constantly remind myself of this; it's so easy to slip into a mindset of hating back. But that is totally counterproductive. It hurts society, it hurts the speaker, and most importantly, it hurts me.
Sarah Jama should not have been censured. It was fine to kick her out of caucus.
I don't think law enforcement or more specifically politicians have a clue where to stand on the calamity...that's about to get much much worse in Israel. There are three sides, but 2 are intertwined. It's an impossible fence to walk, not to mention the worst case implications.
I wish all reporters would refuse to accept the non-answers from all of them, "That doesn't answer the question", or "This isn't Question Period" seem like reasonable responses. I say that having never done the job, a definitely not being quick enough on my feet to even contemplate it. I'm just really tired of being served a steady diet of BS.
The fact that Atlantic Canada is still dependent on heating oil instead of natural gas speaks to a failure in federal energy policies. Most areas using natural gas switched decades ago because it was cheaper and cleaner. It’s also the low-hanging fruit of carbon emission reduction, as you emit 10% less CO2 per unit of energy. Gas pipelines to Atlantic Canada could’ve supported this transition, plus supplied LNG export terminals. Natural gas could also have accelerated transition away from coal-fired power plants, which is an even more significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
Finally, heating oil is an environmental problem. Heating oil was widely used in my BC city until the 1970s. One of the recurring nightmares for homeowners is finding out they have to clean up the mess from an old heating oil tank in their backyard. At minimum, it’s $5,000-$10,000 to get an inspection and remove an old buried tank. In cases where there’s been leakage of oil into the surrounding ground, I’ve heard of cleanup operations costing up to $250,000. People fixate on carbon emissions, but they forget that there are a lot of other environmental problems associated with liquid hydrocarbon fuels too.
Political cowardice on carbon taxes is to be expected, I guess. The logic of the tax is to make people feel the pinch and reduce their carbon emissions. If they don’t notice it, it doesn’t work. When people do notice it, they’re upset and politicians get worried.
I think many politicians and activists have gotten sucked into magical thinking regarding how quickly and easily less carbon-emitting technologies can be deployed. For most people, replacing a furnace or a car is a major expense that’s done on a cycle of a decade or longer. The new technologies are still much more expensive: the cheapest electric car is 50% more than a comparable gas-powered economy car like a Toyota Corolla. Heat pumps are not only expensive, but they’re far more expensive to run because they use electricity as an input. My company looked at switching from natural gas heating to heat pumps a few years ago as part of our net zero carbon emission initiative- it would’ve increased heating costs by a factor of 4 or 5 times. Finally, there’s a lot of people who are not going to be able to easily reduce their carbon footprint, notably people in rural areas. Anybody who’s decided to trade a long commute for housing affordability is likewise in a tough spot.
None of these things are insoluble, but they’re going to take a long time to change and settle out. Politicians need to do the hard work of forging a political consensus across the spectrum before they can implement something tough and effective that can survive longer than a typical electoral mandate.
Climate activists are in a hurry and kneecapping working Canadians with expensive and possibly poorer electricity infrastructure and transportation is poor public policy. Trudeau is at least admitting that heat pumps are too expensive, but by doling them out for free is eliminating choice and imposing technology that may be have serious deficiencies for some users.
The first generation geo thermal installations in my neighbourhood have enough years of service in to say that they can be costly to purchase, install and maintain. Having a $25,000 installation bill sold on the premise of long term savings has been undermined in many situations by costly compressor failures and inability to locate parts.
Sometimes it pays to improve efficiency in natural gas furnaces and wait for something better to come along.
Living in a Jewish neighbourhood, I can say the police presence here has been very evident and reassuring as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone feels that way. And if I wander out of my neighbourhood, downtown say, where the hip Israel-haters live or into a Muslim neighbourhood wearing my IDF hoodie, how safe am I? Not at all.
I generally agreed with Jen's assessment (and Matt's worries) on the high bar for hate-speech laws, but on the other hand: this is the country who went after a comedian for a dumb joke (granted eventually let off by a 5-4 supreme court decision), so I'm a little confused where that bar actually is.
And minor point, but I think Matt may have made a small mistake on the carbon tax exemption applying only to Atlantic provinces. My understanding is people are saying that because those are the only provinces using heating oil in any substantial numbers versus it literally only applying to them (e.g. https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/10/26/liberals-to-pause-carbon-pricing-on-heating-oil-beef-up-heat-pump-incentives/ says "While the adjustments to that policy are to apply across the country ...").
I live in small-town BC. A lot of my neighbours use oil for heat, but they won't get anything unless the BC gov follows suit. But you are right. The tax exemption does apply to most other provinces as well, I think.
Yes, I'm aware of that ;-) Still, it will irk a lot of people in my community, I'm sure. But there are few Liberals here. It's an NDP riding with a fair number of conservative-leaning people. I have yet to meet someone who openly admits to being Liberal. haha
Living in a Jewish neighbourhood, I can say the police presence here has been very evident and reassuring as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone feels reassured around here. And if I wander out of my neighbourhood, downtown say, where the hip Israel-haters live or into a Muslim neighbourhood wearing my IDF hoodie, how safe am I? Not at all.
Interesting re Sarah Jama - her many supporters don't care about her being silenced in the legislature; their many loud objections are against her being kicked out of the caucus. As far as most of them are concerned, Sarah Jama represents the party: pro-Hamas is the way to go.
Just fact checking as that tank in the photo doesn't look like any that my furnace oil consuming friends here in the Maritimes have. Pretty sure it's for propane
As someone who strongly believes that Gaza should be repurposed as arable land, I also strongly sign on to your position re: NDP Sarah Jamma not being "cudgeled". "Free speech" MUST allow speech that is "offensive".
It is imperative however, that individuals accept the RESPONSIBILITY for evaluating what they hear. No amount of personal laziness permits acceptance of stupid stuff. We need to "up our game" at rejecting much of what we hear.
I’m listening to the podcast. I strongly disagree with Jen’s comments re the pro-Hamas mobs. Sorry, not sorry, while some of the mobs didn’t overtly invite violence, the sheer number of ppl screaming & shouting is extremely threatening. Don’t tell me that a Hasidic Jew wd feel safe walking on a public sidewalk where this is happening.
Crikey, Ottawa was moaning about the trucker presence & residents feeling ‘unsafe’ ‘threatened’ ‘unable to use public sidewalks’ & msm was WTF is going on here, omg??!! This? Right now? Is waaay beyond any of that protest.
As for your take, Jen, on police presence/responsibility is a just tad naive, at best. Didn’t everyone notice that there aren’t enough cops ANYWHERE to deal with immediate problems. They had to fly them in to SAVE OTTAWA for heavens sake. If Canada ever had to deal with multiple violent protests in multiple jurisdictions - we’re screwed, baby.
This is on all of us. Everyone in this country can trace their genes to somewhere else. We would do well to remember that every now and then and remind ourselves why we or each ancestor came here. Everyone. Why? The most common answer is probably to have a better life and a better future.
Living in a functioning society with peace, order and good government can be expressed very simply. Many hands make light work, and provide security.
It is human and noble to care about the rest of humanity and to show that through peaceful protest. Though it perplexes me that we would forget our history and repeat here what that history encouraged our genes to leave behind.
Please, by all means protest in favour of what you have logically determined to be the way forward. Please do it respectfully and peacefully; which doesn’t mean you can’t be loud or creative. Your protest will fail if it isn’t creative, or doesn't have sufficient numbers, and should most definitely fail if it is rude or way over the top.
Thank you Jen for your comments on Sarah Jama. It is speech that we loathe that we must defend most strongly. I need to constantly remind myself of this; it's so easy to slip into a mindset of hating back. But that is totally counterproductive. It hurts society, it hurts the speaker, and most importantly, it hurts me.
Agreed, also bad on the Ford govt for censuring her. As Matt said, “We need to hear and know who these people are”.
Sarah Jama should not have been censured. It was fine to kick her out of caucus.
I don't think law enforcement or more specifically politicians have a clue where to stand on the calamity...that's about to get much much worse in Israel. There are three sides, but 2 are intertwined. It's an impossible fence to walk, not to mention the worst case implications.
I wish all reporters would refuse to accept the non-answers from all of them, "That doesn't answer the question", or "This isn't Question Period" seem like reasonable responses. I say that having never done the job, a definitely not being quick enough on my feet to even contemplate it. I'm just really tired of being served a steady diet of BS.
The fact that Atlantic Canada is still dependent on heating oil instead of natural gas speaks to a failure in federal energy policies. Most areas using natural gas switched decades ago because it was cheaper and cleaner. It’s also the low-hanging fruit of carbon emission reduction, as you emit 10% less CO2 per unit of energy. Gas pipelines to Atlantic Canada could’ve supported this transition, plus supplied LNG export terminals. Natural gas could also have accelerated transition away from coal-fired power plants, which is an even more significant reduction in CO2 emissions.
Finally, heating oil is an environmental problem. Heating oil was widely used in my BC city until the 1970s. One of the recurring nightmares for homeowners is finding out they have to clean up the mess from an old heating oil tank in their backyard. At minimum, it’s $5,000-$10,000 to get an inspection and remove an old buried tank. In cases where there’s been leakage of oil into the surrounding ground, I’ve heard of cleanup operations costing up to $250,000. People fixate on carbon emissions, but they forget that there are a lot of other environmental problems associated with liquid hydrocarbon fuels too.
Very well said!
Political cowardice on carbon taxes is to be expected, I guess. The logic of the tax is to make people feel the pinch and reduce their carbon emissions. If they don’t notice it, it doesn’t work. When people do notice it, they’re upset and politicians get worried.
I think many politicians and activists have gotten sucked into magical thinking regarding how quickly and easily less carbon-emitting technologies can be deployed. For most people, replacing a furnace or a car is a major expense that’s done on a cycle of a decade or longer. The new technologies are still much more expensive: the cheapest electric car is 50% more than a comparable gas-powered economy car like a Toyota Corolla. Heat pumps are not only expensive, but they’re far more expensive to run because they use electricity as an input. My company looked at switching from natural gas heating to heat pumps a few years ago as part of our net zero carbon emission initiative- it would’ve increased heating costs by a factor of 4 or 5 times. Finally, there’s a lot of people who are not going to be able to easily reduce their carbon footprint, notably people in rural areas. Anybody who’s decided to trade a long commute for housing affordability is likewise in a tough spot.
None of these things are insoluble, but they’re going to take a long time to change and settle out. Politicians need to do the hard work of forging a political consensus across the spectrum before they can implement something tough and effective that can survive longer than a typical electoral mandate.
Excellent and well articulated.
Climate activists are in a hurry and kneecapping working Canadians with expensive and possibly poorer electricity infrastructure and transportation is poor public policy. Trudeau is at least admitting that heat pumps are too expensive, but by doling them out for free is eliminating choice and imposing technology that may be have serious deficiencies for some users.
The first generation geo thermal installations in my neighbourhood have enough years of service in to say that they can be costly to purchase, install and maintain. Having a $25,000 installation bill sold on the premise of long term savings has been undermined in many situations by costly compressor failures and inability to locate parts.
Sometimes it pays to improve efficiency in natural gas furnaces and wait for something better to come along.
Living in a Jewish neighbourhood, I can say the police presence here has been very evident and reassuring as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone feels that way. And if I wander out of my neighbourhood, downtown say, where the hip Israel-haters live or into a Muslim neighbourhood wearing my IDF hoodie, how safe am I? Not at all.
“A sorting exercise”. I love that!
So how is this going to play out during the next election campaign?
Liberals: Vote for us and we'll bring back the carbon tax in a year?
CPC: Vote for us and we'll get rid of the tax for everyone?
Huh?
Good episode.
I generally agreed with Jen's assessment (and Matt's worries) on the high bar for hate-speech laws, but on the other hand: this is the country who went after a comedian for a dumb joke (granted eventually let off by a 5-4 supreme court decision), so I'm a little confused where that bar actually is.
And minor point, but I think Matt may have made a small mistake on the carbon tax exemption applying only to Atlantic provinces. My understanding is people are saying that because those are the only provinces using heating oil in any substantial numbers versus it literally only applying to them (e.g. https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/10/26/liberals-to-pause-carbon-pricing-on-heating-oil-beef-up-heat-pump-incentives/ says "While the adjustments to that policy are to apply across the country ...").
I live in small-town BC. A lot of my neighbours use oil for heat, but they won't get anything unless the BC gov follows suit. But you are right. The tax exemption does apply to most other provinces as well, I think.
Good point, although that's due to federal carbon tax not applying here rather than anything about this policy.
Yes, I'm aware of that ;-) Still, it will irk a lot of people in my community, I'm sure. But there are few Liberals here. It's an NDP riding with a fair number of conservative-leaning people. I have yet to meet someone who openly admits to being Liberal. haha
Living in a Jewish neighbourhood, I can say the police presence here has been very evident and reassuring as far as I'm concerned. Not everyone feels reassured around here. And if I wander out of my neighbourhood, downtown say, where the hip Israel-haters live or into a Muslim neighbourhood wearing my IDF hoodie, how safe am I? Not at all.
Interesting re Sarah Jama - her many supporters don't care about her being silenced in the legislature; their many loud objections are against her being kicked out of the caucus. As far as most of them are concerned, Sarah Jama represents the party: pro-Hamas is the way to go.
Also a fair response on the baby beheadings. Still feel it is being used to dehumanize resistance, but if true some of the resistance is not human.
Just fact checking as that tank in the photo doesn't look like any that my furnace oil consuming friends here in the Maritimes have. Pretty sure it's for propane
As someone who strongly believes that Gaza should be repurposed as arable land, I also strongly sign on to your position re: NDP Sarah Jamma not being "cudgeled". "Free speech" MUST allow speech that is "offensive".
It is imperative however, that individuals accept the RESPONSIBILITY for evaluating what they hear. No amount of personal laziness permits acceptance of stupid stuff. We need to "up our game" at rejecting much of what we hear.
Good for you for standing up for Sara Jama