Perpetually Confused
I am pretty sure the Liberals would want him to lose. They stand the most to lose to a strong NDP - Trudeau won last election by basically passing them on the Left. The NPD stuck with a leader who can't win a local election that should be a formality is a much better deal for the Liberals than hoping that Singh's parliamentary performance will be low - Mulcair was infamously good debater in Parliament and he still lost terribly at the election.
Re Canada Post strike: Considering Ebay had openly called Ottawa to force the end of the strike to "save" Black Friday and Cyber Monday... I can't help but see the Government buckling to corporate overlords.
Edited by Ghilz on Nov 22nd 2018 at 1:40:20 PM
Its partly that, and partly not wanting to be responsible for the strike extending into the holiday season.
Frankly, they should chuck the talks into binding arbitration (which IIRC is what the union wants) and just accept the result.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Someone wrote an editorial on what could happen if someone took weed in Canadian soil, but was picked up on it in Japan by airport police or by another agency.
Perpetually Confused
BC's Housing Market was used by Chinese Fentanyl Drug Lords to Launder 5 Billion Dollars
It stands as another example of how the deregulation of BC's housing market has lead to Canadians unable to buy homes, but hey, at least foreign Drug Lords can launder their cash.
Hits close to my heart because there's a lot of fear (Not at all unfounded) that Montreal is heading down the same path.
Planeswalker
Back-to-work legislation passed to stop Canada Post strikes.
Sounds like Canada Post and the union will go into mediation again.
Oissu!
3 days before NAFTA 2.0 is supposed to be signed, the Americans got caught changing the language.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Perpetually Confused
Amanda Simard leaves Ontario Conservatives to sit as independent in opposition to her former party's Fancophone Policies. For background Ford's government has been wanting to cut the French language services commissioner, a move they cancelled over the backlash.
The PCs are moving ahead with the cancellation of funding for a new French-language university.
It's so weird to see this stuff in another Province than mine.
Edited by Ghilz on Nov 29th 2018 at 12:46:16 PM
Perpetually Confused
Servant of the Omnissiah
So what are the chances of Trudeau Jr. actually winning the next general election? From what I hear, people hate the everloving fuck out of him outside of his core ridings.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Chances are good, at least according to history (last time a federal government lost after a 1st term majority government was during the Great Depression) and the polls as they stand. It remains to be seen whether or not its a majority or a minority though.
The current weakness of the NDP (this is the big one in my eyes, I don't see many scenarios that have the NDP getting 20-40 seats where the Liberals aren't at least getting a minority, barring a major political shift towards the Tories), relative strength of the economy, and the fact that the Conservatives haven't done much but criticize them without offering anything of substance helps. And if Bernier's renegades take even a few more percentage points from the Conservatives, a Liberal win is all but guaranteed.
Trudeau having foils in the form of Ford and Trump doesn't hurt either, especially with Ford becoming risky for the federal Conservatives getting too close (what with pissing over francophone voters that Scheer really needs).
Here's the current polling average and seat projections: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poll-tracker-federal-poll-averages-and-seat-projections-1.4171977
Oh, bother.
I guess the idea of Prime Minister Doug Ford would make a lot of people go "Eh, Trudeau isn't so bad."
Disgusted, but not surprised
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I mean, Ford isn't on that path yet, and he may have totally screwed his chances of ever getting elected by fucking with French language programs. His political honeymoon was short-lived, and it may be hurting Scheer in Ontario (hard to tell at this point).
Aside from his die-hard opponents, most people are meh on Trudeau, and meh on his opponents. Which probably secures him a 2nd term at least.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Perpetually Confused
Scheer's not helped by the fact that he's barely established a presence across much of the country. He's "That guy". Especially in Quebec where Harper had managed to secure a bunch of key seats.
Scheer reminds me of the Liberal leaders between Martin and Trudeau; a guy filling an empty seat that inspires nobody. It probably won't be as devastating to the Conservatives though, unless the PPC picks up steam.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
I'm a tabletop gamer. Trust me, you don't want to be known as "That Guy."
Posting here to say that Ottawa is delaying a trade mission to Beijing, as support of Meng Wanzhou rally outside a courthouse while she's trying to apply for bail after she got arrested for violating sanctions against Iran.
As confirmed by AFP, an ex-diplomat from Canada's been arrested. Analysts are suspicious about the timing:
Michael Korvig, a former diplomat who served in Beijing, was reported as having been detained as Meng Wanzhou was due in court for a bail hearing on US charges of violating Iran sanctions.
"We are aware of the situation of a Canadian detained in China," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding to concerns voiced by the International Crisis Group think tank, Korvig's employer, which first raised the alarm.
China has expressed outrage over Meng's arrest in Vancouver and warned of "grave consequences" if she was not immediately released, although Canada said no link between the two cases had been established.
Washington, which requested Meng's detention to have her extradited to US soil, called on Beijing to abide by its commitments to human rights.
"We urge China to end all forms of arbitrary detentions and to respect the protections and freedom of all individuals under China's international human rights and consular commitments," deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters.
The Huawei chief financial officer was arrested on December 1 on US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking dealings with Iran.
A third day of court deliberations focused on her proposed release plan, with a judge expected to come to a decision in the afternoon on whether to free her on bail.
- Electronic monitoring -
Meng has agreed to surrender her passports and submit to electronic monitoring if she is released, pending the outcome of the extradition case.
"Given her unique profile as the face of a Chinese corporate national champion, if she were to flee or breach her order in any way in these very unique circumstances, it does not overstate to say she would embarrass China itself," Meng's lawyer David Martin told the court on Monday.
Meng also said in a 55-page affidavit that she'd suffered numerous health problems, including surgery for thyroid cancer in 2011, and has been treated in a Vancouver hospital for hypertension since her arrest.
"I continue to feel unwell and I am worried about my health deteriorating while I am incarcerated," the affidavit read.
"I wish to remain in Vancouver to contest my extradition and I will contest the allegations at trial in the US if I am ultimately surrendered," she said.
Canadian Crown prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley has asked for bail to be denied, saying Meng faces serious criminal accusations of fraud and poses a flight risk.
Meng is accused of lying to bankers about the use of a covert subsidiary to sell to Iran in breach of sanctions. If convicted, she faces more than 30 years in prison.
The extradition process could take months, even years, if appeals are made in the case.
Meng's husband Liu Xiaozong has offered two Vancouver homes and Can$1 million in cash — for a total value of Can$15 million — as a surety for his wife's release.
But Gibb-Carsley took issue with Liu being appointed her custodian as he is not a legal resident of Canada, and flew in only last week on a tourist visa.
On Tuesday, four more custodians were proposed — a local realtor, an insurance agent, a homemaker whose husband once worked for Huawei and her Vancouver neighbour.
- Trade war -
Meng's detention has raised tensions following a truce in the US-China trade war, with Beijing summoning both the Canadian and US ambassadors over the weekend.
In a sign that the criminal case may not have derailed the detente, however, top Chinese and US negotiators spoke by telephone Tuesday to discuss the timetable of trade talks, the Chinese commerce ministry said.
It said in a statement that Vice Premier Liu He spoke with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned in a speech in Beijing against the "bullying" of its citizens, however.
"We will fully safeguard the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens and return fairness and justice to the world," he said at the opening of a diplomatic symposium, without directly referring to the Huawei case.
There was no official word from China about Kovrig.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-missing-person-questioned-1.4943591
Global Affairs Canada has reported that a Canadian who tried to reach out to embassy reps was not heard from again.
This broke out nearly after Korvig was arrested in Beijing.
National Post mentions a third Canadian detained. This time, it appears that he’s just an ordinary citizen.
At this point, this entire thing is obviously just retaliation. Not like it is not obvious from the first, though. The CCP being a self-serving petty group is pretty much the usual business for them.
I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
Servant of the Omnissiah
I'm surprised the Canadian Government isn't retaliating even more harshly to Chinese bullying. It's not like Canada has much to lose by angering the Chinese.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Perpetually Confused
They are our third largest trading partner. So yeah, there is plenty to lose.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46645710
Beijing insists that Korvig’s rights are safe, but analysts report that he can’t see a lawyer and keep the lights to his cell off when he needs to sleep.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-blasts-trudeau-remarks-canadian-death-sentence-1.4978443
Not sure if the link's working, but Beijing's raising an eyebrow on Ottawa condemning a Canadian's death sentence for drug trafficking after the initial 15 years in prison was deemed to be not that strict.
Ottawa is preparing to order Canada Post back to work if the dispute isn't resolved within the next few days.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-post-strike-trudeau-1.4913042
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]")
Some news sites have quoted (anonymous) Liberals as saying that the party is conflicted on if they want to Singh to win (and assume that he will be ineffective in the Commons) or lose (a body blow to an already struggling party).
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.