I'm very happy for Jagmeet. When is his first day in parliament , and thereafter his first opportunity to question Justin?
Mweheheh
The Green
& Libertarian platforms are out.
I'll have to read the Green platform; as I refuse to vote for the NDP after some of their members endorsed the Venezuelan government and were not censured by the leadership. If the Liberals truly crossed a line with Lavlin or anything else, Green is my only other option (I'd sooner jump into the Atlantic than vote for Scheer and his Reform Party social retrogrades, and Bernier is that only worse and with a desire to destroy Canadian industry on the altar of the free market).
Edited by Rationalinsanity on Feb 27th 2019 at 1:26:05 PM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Mweheheh
I’ll probably vote Libertarian if they have a candidate in my riding, but otherwise I’ll vote Green.
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Skimming through the Green platform and fuck, they sounded mostly reasonable until they got to GE Crops, and pandered to the nutters by not just proposing regulation, but severe restrictions on experiments, etc.
And, and of course they go for an all out rejection of nuclear power.
Yeah, fuck it. If the Liberals get too toxic to vote for, I'm spoiling my ballot this time.
No surprise, their foreign policy is absolute garbage. Less commitment to NATO, push for a nuclear weapons ban (not happening and not even desirable). Though their military spending proposals weren't that bad, much better than I was fearing.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Legitimate question, what have the Liberals done that is making you look for other viable alternatives? Because in a first past the post system, doing so in a swing constituency just risks giving the seat to the right.
Perpetually Confused
Can say that for me a generally weak performance in international relations, the whole "Buying a pipeline that's going nowhere at an inflated price". A lot of their policies have been frankly... mediocre and there's the ever present ethical questions when around Liberals (Starting with the Aga Khan thing, and recently the whole SNC Lavalin affair).
Edited by Ghilz on Feb 27th 2019 at 3:00:09 PM
My riding is Liberal/NDP swing (leaning Liberal), and the Conservatives haven't been competitive in urban Nova Scotia in my lifetime (28 years). It would take a lot of upending for the right to be competitive here (partially ideological, and more than a bit of regionalism).
The Liberals haven't crossed any no-deal lines for me, yet. But I'm bracing for the possibility.
Edited by Rationalinsanity on Feb 27th 2019 at 7:37:23 AM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Voting for ANY political party the world over is always an act of balancing the bad with the good. That's why I went for my Labour MP, a man who has undermined the leadership and shown tendencies towards the right of the party, and yet has stood steadfast against nationalism of both the Scottish and Brexit varieties. I know the latter matters a great deal more to me than the former.
But yeah. Regarding my questions about Jagmeet taking his seat and opposition to Justin?
I believe that by-election winners are seated immediately, or after a few days (for the paperwork to clear Elections Canada, swearing in, etc).
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Mweheheh
Undecided voters might like this site. It gauges which party most closely reflects your beliefs (based on a quiz with over 100 questions & nuanced answers) & includes the Libertarian, Communist, Bloc Québécois & Christian Heritage parties in addition to the main four.
Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Feb 27th 2019 at 8:03:56 AM
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Perpetually Confused
I wonder how a website gauges how your beliefs match the Bloc Quebecois' when the Block Quebecois itself isn't sure what their beliefs are anymore. Beyond "Independance something something"
Maybe it's made by time travelers.
EDIT: Ah, from 2015. That explains it.
Edited by Ghilz on Feb 27th 2019 at 8:56:08 AM
Mweheheh
They’ve started work on the 2019 update (the results screen uses pictures of the current candidates).
Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Feb 27th 2019 at 9:43:09 AM
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Perpetually Confused
Speaking of SNC Lavalin, Jody Wilson-Raybould testified she faced pressure, 'veiled threats' to avoid a trial for Lavalin from the PM's office, including a meeting with Trudeau himself.
The prime minister cited potential job losses and the possible move by the company, and asked her to "help out." The clerk then made the case for a DPA and reminded her that there was an election coming in Quebec.
"At that point, the prime minister jumped in, stressing that there is an election in Quebec, and that 'I am an MP in Quebec, the MP for Papineau,'" she recounted. 'I was quite taken aback."
Edited by Ghilz on Feb 27th 2019 at 11:13:35 AM
Meng Wanzhou is heading for deportation:
From AFP:
Beijing was quick to react, saying Ottawa's action amounted to a "severe political incident."
The 47-year-old businesswoman was changing planes in Vancouver in December when she was detained at Washington's request on suspicion of violating US sanctions on Iran — sparking arrests of Canadians in China that were seen as retaliatory.
"Today, Department of Justice Canada officials issued an Authority to Proceed, formally commencing an extradition process in the case of Ms. Meng Wanzhou," the government said in a statement.
Meng, Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei, is due in court on March 6, when prosecutors will present the evidence against her and lay out detailed arguments for her extradition.
The decision, the statement said, followed a "thorough and diligent" review which found sufficient evidence to warrant putting the matter before a judge.
At the end of the process — which could last months, or even years — Canada's attorney general will have the final say on whether or not to hand Meng over.
Beijing on Saturday voiced its "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Canada, which obstinately moves forward the so-called judicial extradition process."
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement the US and Canada were "abusing their bilateral extradition treaty to apply arbitrary coercive measures against Chinese citizens, in violation of their rights and legitimate interests".
"This is a severe political incident."
China had "solemnly protested" to the Canadian authorities for Meng's release, and called on the US to drop its arrest warrant and extradition request, Lu added.
Meng has been released on bail pending the outcome of the hearings.
China is furious over the US charges against Meng, saying they are the product of "strong political motivations" and an attempt to undermine its flagship telecoms company.
Huawei has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
- Canadians detained -
Nine days after Meng's arrest, Chinese authorities detained two Canadians — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor — in what was widely seen as an act of retaliation.
A third Canadian, meanwhile, had his sentence for drug trafficking upped from 15 years in prison to death row.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has insisted on a strict hands-off approach to the issue, with his justice department stressing on Friday that "Canada is a country governed by the rule of law."
Trudeau sacked his ambassador to China for undermining that position by saying Meng had a "strong" case against extradition, and later adding that it would be "great for Canada" if the US dropped the case.
In January, the US announced 13 charges against Meng, Huawei and two affiliates.
Officials separately filed 10 charges against two Huawei affiliates for allegedly stealing technology from T-Mobile.
Prosecutors say that between 2007 and 2017, Meng, Huawei and subsidiaries sought to mask their business with Iran in violation of US and UN sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Meng in particular "repeatedly lied" to bankers about the relationships between the companies, especially with Skycom, a Huawei affiliate in Iran, according to the charges.
That broke the law, justice officials in Washington said, because the Iran business involved US dollar transactions processed by banks through the United States.
Huawei and the affiliates lied to US authorities and obstructed the investigation, court documents say.
The company is also accused of a concerted effort to steal technology related to a phone-testing robot dubbed Tappy from a T-Mobile USA lab in Washington state, and of rewarding staff for stealing competitors' technology secrets.
I’m very happy that Jagmeet won his seat - and by a wide margin!
In other good political news: Canada’s poverty rate (based on ability to afford a basket of goods and services representing a basic standard of living) is down to its lowest point in the last decade, at 9.5%.
Child poverty has seen a larger drop (from 11% to 9% in the last year). Among single mothers it’s down hugely, by ten percentage points (from about 37% to 27%, so that’s still very high). This is mainly due to the new child benefit, which really shows the difference that government programs can make.
I’m very happy that Canada now has an official poverty line, and pleased that they chose the metric they did (it’s better at measuring need than either of the other options, better at accurately determing which groups face the most risk of poverty, and easier to communicate to people).
Edited by Galadriel on Mar 2nd 2019 at 12:25:18 PM
His wishy-washy stance on some of his members defending Maduro made me write the NDP off as an option.
With the current scandals plaguing Trudeau, what are his current chances of re-election looking like?
Perpetually Confused
Too early to say.
Currently the libs and conservatives are neck and neck percent wise across the nation, but the conservative votes are too clustered in Alberta so the Liberals would probably still win. The NPD is weak but if Jagmeet manages any form of comeback or improvement, it's taking votes from the Liberals.
There's still a lot of road. Trudeau's getting pressured to have the whole Lavaling scandal get investigated.
Perpetually Confused
Two followup on the Lavalin Affair:
This is looking worse and worse for Trudeau. He may very well be on a verge of his Cabinet splitting over the affair.
Edited by Ghilz on Mar 4th 2019 at 7:13:51 AM
If we don't see some damage control soon, this country is hosed. The last thing we need is the Harper 2.0 (now featuring real hair and the ability to smile) and his gang of reactionaries back in power.
Still, its a long way to October.
Funny, after all the scandals that Mulroney, Chretien and Harper tanked, this almost appears to be minor.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Perpetually Confused
Unless Gerald Butts' testimony comes out with something shocking, I don't see how he can do damage control.
Trudeau can deny anything happened, but that's weak, and after demoting Wilson-Raybourd from Justice to Veterans' Affairs for seemingly no real reason, it's hard to claim that didn't happen.
Part of me can't help but notice that doing something stupid and not thinking of the backlash it'll generate is such a Trudeau move I've got no problem believing it did happen. That and Liberals are always cozy with corporations so that's not out of character either.
On the other hand, the public does have short memories. And it's a long way 'till October.
Perpetually Confused
Heh, not THAT long. 7 months and 3 weeks ain't that much for the Conservatives (or the NDP) to keep the scandal fresh in people's memory. Both of them stand to win from this. For Jagmeet Singh regaining some disillusioned voters from the Liberals would go a long way towards rebuilding confidence in his leadership. And for Scheer... well, frankly this can give him the Big Job.
Add a public inquiry, as is being demanded by the NDP and some former AGs (Most of whom happen to be conservatives, surprise surprise) and then it's REALLY easy for this to remain in the public mind.
Trudeau needs to come out and deny anything happened (strongly, as opposed to what he did which is sort of imply JWR got the facts right but he doesn't agree because reasons). He needs to come out, deny he put pressure and/or point out why prosecution was not a favorable reason or why JWR was wrong in wanting to prosecute.
Complementary election results.
Jagmeet Singh won his seat in Burnaby South
Liberals reclaimed Outremont (Mulcair's former ridding)
Conservatives took York-Simcoe