The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Owain Taggart]

So, something a bit different. This showed up in my feed a few days ago and I thought it was really interesting. Now, I knew that construction was being done with the Parliament building, but I didn't realize the extent of it. It's a really massive engineering project!

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[Marc]

So, something a bit different. This showed up in my feed a few days ago and I thought it was really interesting. Now, I knew that construction was being done with the Parliament building, but I didn't realize the extent of it. It's a really massive engineering project!

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didn't realise it was 5 years since the work started.

there was some coverage in the media at the time (but don't recall it ever approaching anything like the detail which I'm sure could have been outline quickly in a news report) but I guess nothing really news worthy since.

Not going to be as big and probably no bangs but the Queens Park is also going to be undergoing a major renovation but not sure on the status there. Last I heard they were looking at office space etc for but not much was said in case it influenced prices etc.

Apart from getting rid of the nasties (century old electrical wiring, abestos etc). should also see a major improvement in accessibility. It's improved since my wife had to stay on the bus during a school trip but it's still now brilliant as my wife continues to find out).

 

[Timewalker]

Municipal elections in Alberta today. Holy crap, what a mess. Some polling stations don't have wi-fi so they're still using the binder-and-ruler method of looking people up on the voters' list.

Social media (I belong to a group that's anti-UCP) is ballistic about a form that some people had to fill out even though they were already on the voters' list. I had to fill it out because I don't have any of the required photo IDs (even though I'm on the list). What annoys some people is that everything was fine until it came to the school board ballot. We have two systems here, public and Catholic. People normally vote for whichever system they've directed the education portion of their property tax toward. So you can vote one or the other, or decline both. You can't vote for both.

I can't believe that after 40 years since I was a DRO in the 1980s, there are STILL people who don't understand this. It's not rocket science. I get why some people were freaking out about signing a form they shouldn't have had to (if they were already on the voters' list AND had photo ID). But the form itself doesn't ask anything especially sinister - just to verify the voter's name, address, age, a declaration of eligibility and that they haven't voted before in this election, plus the specific ballots they asked for.

Either the DRO manual is clear as mud, or the training wasn't very good. The DRO (Deputy Returning Officer) I had to deal with didn't understand the concept of voters who don't have photo ID. I provided two perfectly acceptable ones with my name and address and he still had to call his supervisor and ask.

Whereupon she looked at me and asked, "Have you ever had a drivers' license?"

That is so none of her fucking business. It's an absolutely unacceptable question to ask. And then the DRO decided to make a comment about the amount I get as my monthly disability benefit: "You're rich! You have a lot of money!"

I guess the training didn't mention that they weren't supposed to make personal remarks to the voters. Actually, I still have one of my old training manuals, and they just assumed that we were grown-ups and civil enough that we didn't have to be told.

Somehow one of the council candidates blocked me on FB. I have no idea why, since we might have spoken once, 45 years ago, in high school and I haven't had any reason to speak to him since (either in person or online).

 

[Timewalker]

There's a YT channel I watch by a guy named Strac. He does reaction videos to Canadian culture, news, the current political situation, etc. He's genuinely interested in Canada and will often say, "I need to look that up" and will do so right then and there.

In this video he noticed a skit from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and decided to react to it. It's a whole Canadian twist to the border situation...

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[Owain Taggart]

Oh yep, you mean this clip. I was going to share it. Anyhow, I think it's brilliant.

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[Marc]

well that's chance we'll be back to the polls before years end if the govt can't it's budget through.

the tories are being typical in demanding the govt do what they say and if they don't they'll vote against it. the bloc is being the bloc and has a list of demands (raise the pension age, increase health transfers and if they're no negotiable) and the ndp has no idea what it's doing.

poilievre is demanding the removal of taxes he claims are forcing up food prices in the typical conservative manner but when was the last time prices came down because taxes were removed? Any savings on costs will simply be taken as business profits.

The price dropped for gas and diesel which helps with transport reducing costs but that's merely slowed the rate of growth.

then you've go other factors such the impact of climate change (coffee and coco beans are one good example), droughh, international prices and the retails who aren't losing money by a long shot.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-house-leader-budget-votes-9.6953599

Looking at the numbers from 338Canada.com we'd pretty much be where were are now if an election where held now. Both the libs and tories would lose a a few seats each which would be picked up by the bloc and ndp.

But that wouldn't factor in possible voter anger at having another election. We saw that in 2011 when a no confidence motion brought down harper's minority govt. The liberals were relegated to 3rd place and the tories got a majority

 

[Avro Arrow]

The NDP are in absolutely no position to go to the polls right now. They may not agree with the budget, but all they have to do is abstain, and the budget passes.

 

[Marc]

The NDP are in absolutely no position to go to the polls right now. They may not agree with the budget, but all they have to do is abstain, and the budget passes.

And while they might object to cutting (or should that be gutting?) the public service which has grown but seemingly to little benefit the Tories will be much much worse.

/* late edit */
Wouldn't put it pass the ndp to try and make it's self relevant with it's own set of demands.

 

[Timewalker]

well that's chance we'll be back to the polls before years end if the govt can't it's budget through.

the tories are being typical in demanding the govt do what they say and if they don't they'll vote against it. the bloc is being the bloc and has a list of demands (raise the pension age, increase health transfers and if they're no negotiable) and the ndp has no idea what it's doing.

poilievre is demanding the removal of taxes he claims are forcing up food prices in the typical conservative manner but when was the last time prices came down because taxes were removed? Any savings on costs will simply be taken as business profits.

The price dropped for gas and diesel which helps with transport reducing costs but that's merely slowed the rate of growth.

then you've go other factors such the impact of climate change (coffee and coco beans are one good example), droughh, international prices and the retails who aren't losing money by a long shot.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-house-leader-budget-votes-9.6953599

Looking at the numbers from 338Canada.com we'd pretty much be where were are now if an election where held now. Both the libs and tories would lose a a few seats each which would be picked up by the bloc and ndp.

But that wouldn't factor in possible voter anger at having another election. We saw that in 2011 when a no confidence motion brought down harper's minority govt. The liberals were relegated to 3rd place and the tories got a majority

Was Jack Layton still alive then? As I recall, 2011 was the year he could have become Prime Minister, if enough people hadn't split the left vote.

 

[Ovation]

The NDP are in absolutely no position to go to the polls right now. They may not agree with the budget, but all they have to do is abstain, and the budget passes.

This. Of course, there’s a non-zero chance the NDP makes a catastrophic decision here. Guess we’ll find out.

 

[DEWLine]

Which will leave a lot of us rank-and-file members face-palming again.

 

[Timewalker]

The NDP would have to be certifiably insane to risk an election now. They don't even have an official leader.

Mind you, that wasn't a problem for the Liberals in the election of 1980. Trudeau lost to Clark in 1979, stepped down as leader (as party leaders are expected to do when they lose, not behave like the child PP is), Clark's government fell in 1980 due to a non-confidence vote over the budget, and the Liberals hadn't had a chance yet to hold a leadership race.

They asked Trudeau to please come back, and he agreed on the condition that they work on the agenda he'd put forth. So they said yes, he returned, won the leadership, won the election, he and Chretien got to work on the agenda, and that's why our Constitution was repatriated and we now have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.


I doubt the NDP could pull off anything remotely approaching that (might have if Jack Layton hadn't died, but if he hadn't, I think he'd have become PM in 2015 instead of Trudeau). And I doubt that anyone would be begging Jagmeet Singh to come back.

Plenty of people are begging Charlie Angus to run for NDP leader, though. Not that he would, since he's already done 20 years in Parliament and while he's doing his Meidas Canada/Resistance Tour thing, he can say whatever he wants, without being constrained by Parliamentary rules.

 

[Ovation]

A Machiavellian would counsel the NDP to “encourage” just enough of their current MPs to cross the floor and join the Liberals to give them a majority (would not be a strong one, so can’t get too carried away). This would allow the NDP time to properly revamp their party while also keeping Poilievre away from the PM seat—a goal that should be sufficient to motivate the NDP. It’s far from ideal from their POV but it has to be preferable to even a three month long Poilievre government.

Won’t happen, of course. But it would certainly go a long way towards ending Poilievre and, perhaps, getting a saner Conservative leader as well as allowing the NDP to rebuild and become a more relevant force in Parliament.

At the very least, as suggested in an earlier post, the NDP should simply abstain.

 

[camdudetenger2018]

crazy how there are different strikes in almost every provience

 

[Avro Arrow]

This would allow the NDP time to properly revamp their party while also keeping Poilievre away from the PM seat—a goal that should be sufficient to motivate the NDP.

The way the NDP withdrew their support from the last Liberal government when the CPC was riding super high in the polls leads me to believe that "keeping Poilievre away from the PM seat" isn't maybe as much of a motivating factor for them as it should be.

 

[Ovation]

The way the NDP withdrew their support from the last Liberal government when the CPC was riding super high in the polls leads me to believe that "keeping Poilievre away from the PM seat" isn't maybe as much of a motivating factor for them as it should be.

Jagmeet is not a genius level political strategist. At least he’s no longer in charge.

 

[Timewalker]

crazy how there are different strikes in almost every provience

Smith used the notwithstanding clause to end the teachers' strike in Alberta. She overrode their constitutional rights.

 

[Marc]

The way the NDP withdrew their support from the last Liberal government when the CPC was riding super high in the polls leads me to believe that "keeping Poilievre away from the PM seat" isn't maybe as much of a motivating factor for them as it should be.

singh was obviously deluded enough to think that with the unpopularity of trudeau they could at least become the offical opposition but they have as much chance of becoming the govt as I do being elected U.S president.

secondly the polls were indicating it would be a tory majority which would all they'd pushed the liberals for would be gone with months if not weeks.

to borrow from a short trek, the man was an idiot.