Canadian politics

Politics and religion
181

We haven’t talked much, if at all, about the ongoing protests in Quebec. What started as a fairly straightforward student protest about tuition hikes has since been transformed into a much bigger protest against the law drafted by the Charest Liberals to curtail the students’ efforts.

And today, there was an Internet-meme friendly twist, specifically meant to draw attention to a new Montreal bylaw that is banning masked protestors.

I’ve never seen Montreal more divided. I find the vast majority of the older, Anglophone community amongst whom I live is staunchly anti-student and anti-protest. Many of the young, educated Francophones I work with are strong supporters, even to the point of actively participating in street marches, something they’ve never done before. And by talking to both sides, I’ve learned that underlying this all is a typical Conservative / Social Democratic schism. The students fundamentally believe education should be provided by the state to all those who can qualify for entry, and even the exceptionally low fees currently paid are barely tolerated. The older crowd is saying, “You’re whiny, entitled kids. Get a job!”

And the Charest government has just been continuously throwing gas on the fire. No mediator. Just fumbling attempts by hapless ministers to get the students to agree to something… anything. And then the law that is most definitely going to get challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court. At this point, factoring inevitable government lawyer fees, all of the police overtime, and all of the lost tourism revenue, these hikes will have resulted in a net loss for the foreseeable future.

What a mess.

182

Eh, I know lots of people of a social democratic bent who support the student side in a vague saw-the-protests-on-the-news way, but most people who’ve followed the story facepalm pretty hard at CLASSE et al, however much of a useless conservative Charest may be.

Both sides have been blazing away at their own feet and it’s a question of who bleeds out first. Meanwhile as a social-democrat-ish person myself I’m anxious that left-of-centre politics doesn’t get too associated with turtlenecked revolutionaries in the public mind. The students leaders should have accepted the Beauchamp deal with very public warnings to hold the government to the principle of 100% offsets and a promise to resume the fight otherwise.

Turning that deal down would have sunk them if Bill 78 hadn’t become a cause célèbre - a bit randomly, given the number of jurisdictions with stricter requirements - and if there hadn’t been a fair amount of well-publicized police misbehaviour.

183

So the Conservatives tried to hide a $10 billion dollar overcharge on some military aircraft and now they’re attempting to shut down the committee that’s looking into the matter.

The Conservatives have moved a motion during a recent closed-door public accounts committee meeting to end the panel’s inquiry into Auditor-General Michael Ferguson’s damning report on the procurement process to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet.
Every single day I see new evidence that this is the worst government Canada has had in my lifetime.

184

We’re about a week away from the Ontario election and I’m on the edge of my seat. Doug Ford looked like a shoe-in but now it looks like the NDP has a chance to actually pull this out of the fire. I watched the last televised debate and Ford was promising everyone rainbows and unicorns. He still hasn’t even come up with a fiscal plan yet and he expects people to vote for him. I don’t understand how anyone could, no matter what your political leanings. Mini-Trump indeed.

185

This fucker is my new minister of agriculture:

186

Trumpian dumbfuck JAQing off is now the new normal in Alberta politics where the minister of mental health is JUST ASKING QUESTIONS:

This, in a province (with a self-hating repressed homosexual premier whose brother ran a conversion therapy business) won’t ban conversion therapy and wants to focus on important issues like outing LGBT kids to their parents.

187

So, federal election is officially in full swing. I am ashamed to admit I know a lot more about the US election where the start of the primaries is 4x further away than the election I will actually be able to vote in.

Anyone care to do some prognosticating? Current projections seem to favour the liberals, despite the Conservatives having a slight edge in the poll averages.

However, it wouldn’t take much change in the polls to change the projected outcome a fair bit, I think.

188

So apparently a picture of Trudeau in brown face has appeared. Sigh.

189
190

Shave a couple percent off liberal support and I’m thinking it changes the outcome.

I would not be surprised if a teacher at my high school did this in 1991. In 2001 I would think a lot more people were aware it was bad.

191

Oh dear…

192

What the actual fuck, Trudeau?

Two photos and a video of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing racist makeup have emerged amid an escalating scandal for the liberal politician.

Unless I’m mistaken, this is three different incidents.

I was in college in the 90s. I never once thought about going to a party in blackface. None of my friends ever wore blackface, and I’m almost certain I never saw anyone at any party in blackface. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

193

Not that it overly matters much, but I think they were implying the photos were from the same incident. Had to tell my son I’ve never appeared in any-face (my mom once tried to get clown makeup on me for Halloween, but 1) I’ve always hated clowns and 2) I couldn’t stand the feel of grease on my skin).

194

I’m still voting for the Liberals as opposed to Scheer who will allow his party members to table regressive anti-LGBT anti-abortion motions and won’t go on the record if he believes in equal rights for gays.

195

Also a 90s college grad ('91). I’ve seen all of that, albeit, I went to a school in the South along with a bunch of idiots spanning from Virginia to Florida. We had a guy show up as a, “rapper,” for a party in blackface and gold chains. Said person who did it was told that wasn’t right, yet showed up to another party, again in blackface, but the second time saying, “but I’m dressed as a Jamaican, that’s okay right?”

That doesn’t excuse anything, Trudeau was an idiot. So was the person I saw do it in college. I wouldn’t doubt he’s probably a Trump voter at this point in time.

196

Does anyone think that Trudeau is currently a racist?

197

Loaded question. My opinion on it doesn’t matter though.

Would a person working for him think differently?
Would a person in his party think of him differently?
Would a voter pressing a button think of him differently?

It can affect him in a tight election, for sure.

The much smarter person in the NYT piece that @Gordon_Cameron linked says it this way:

“Most people, even people who hate Trudeau, are not going to look at this and say ‘Justin Trudeau is an absolute racist’,” Lori Turnbull, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia said on Thursday. “But people are going to look at this and ask: ‘Is this a serious person.’ And that’s a bigger problem for him”

In many ways Mr. Trudeau has a strong hand as the Oct. 21 national election approaches. Canada’s economy is vibrant, with unemployment at historic lows. His move to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees was widely acclaimed and his government introduced several pioneering policies, including legalizing recreational marijuana and assisted dying.

Half of his cabinet is women. It also includes four Sikhs and a Somali-born immigration minister, reflecting the multiculturalism and inclusiveness on which Canada prides itself.

But in Canada, he is a deeply polarizing figure. Some, especially in the western parts of the country, have long seen him as too showy and sanctimonious, an elitist do-gooder who was never up to the job.

198

I don’t think JT is racist.

I’m wondering why the private school he attended felt that the photo was appropriate for their yearbook and website for the past 20 years.

199

On some level, his status as a racist isn’t really based upon actions he did a long time ago, but is rather based upon what his actions today are.

That is, even if one were to believe that he was previously a racist, that wouldn’t mean that he is currently a racist, unless one is to believe that a racist can never change their views.

Seems like he’s handled this correctly. He owned it, and apologized. There’s not really any more that anyone could ask for. He can’t go back in time.

If doing bad and stupid things in the past preclude someone from service, regardless of what they do, then you aren’t going to find anyone to serve in government.

200

Understand that everything you just wrote is a judgement. You’ve weighed his current actions, his apology, etc, and made a judgement. Other voters will do the same. Their leeway for forgiveness or ranking of what he did might be different.

I’ll peel a U.S. example. What if we took Trump’s 2005 Access Hollywood taped comments out into a vacuum (and assume he had not said or done things that were sexist since then.) That was when he was younger, 11 years or so before his election. Many people would draw the line on those comments and judge him harshly, evermore. Some would forgive him. Some might say, “it was just locker room talk.” Here’s a tidbit, he actually apologized after a little back and forth. I’ll copy it because it’s important:

I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me, know these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize. … I’ve said some foolish things, but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.

Now I would ask you, do you still judge him as a sexist person? Did everything else that happened after that tape just compound your judgement of the initial event? Does it make you want to vote for him more or less?

I realize Trump has a shitload of other foul factors that take him into the nonredeemable, but for that one event, you can see the issue. I’m also picking this just as an American example, I don’t necessarily equate the two as equal at all.

Also, Timex, to put my cards on the table. No I do not think he currently is racist (Trudeau.) I’m not a Canadian voter though, nor someone who may be particularly bothered by that kind of thing. I do think it was stupid of him to do.

EDIT: marked that I was talking about Trudeau on that last tidbit.