“Being mad at the contractor who has delays in his plans because he finds asbestos in the walls” is something we don’t often accept as reasonable. We are so damn impatient. Here’s a man we can all agree is pretty smart, a man with significant expertise in business, negotiations, and politics (yes, we disagree on this; I think he has had to manipulate politicians and policy a hell of a lot more than we give him credit for). He takes control of government and faces a crazed leader of the most powerful and influential nation in the world (that just happens to most dominant in our neighbourhood); he inherits an economy that has been allowed to be dependent on that nation, and a crew of mistrustful premiers, many of whom have spent the recent past discrediting the federal government he now has to remake in order to meet serious, very serious, challenges. And after five months, we wonder what’s taking so long. Bullshit! If progressives - and I count myself as very left - cannot accept that serious compromises have to be made to dig ourselves out of this mess, we’re doomed. I love your dedication and I agree with much of your vision, but I despair at your impatience or when you take a fairly minor event and blow it up into bad policy. With 25-plus cabinet ministers and a huge bureaucracy, there are going to multiple fuck-ups. But as long as they’re minor, I need to keep my eyes on the bigger picture. As Charlie Angus would say…the survival of my country as a democratic entity that does not cede control, economic or otherwise, to our insatiable neighbour.
Way too soon and WAY too many guys in the myriad of subcultures, guys fortified by having a platform or a podcast (like Charlie Kirk), including Charlie Angus btw, who is old enough to know better. Nonetheless, he's revisiting his activist youth by leading a "resistance" as if progressives didn't just quite masterfully pull off an unexpected win, displaying yet again the NDP trademark "narcissism of small differences," emphasis on the NARCISSISM in all stated examples.
And the fact that Carney pulls rank and simply will NOT take the bullshit social media bait driving us all insane shows actual leadership. Bring it on we mature people with a basis of comparison say.
You talk about "comms" a lot Evan, even in the context of the con crap, as if anyone can reason with them, and anyone who STILL doesn't know that would probably STILL notice who sounds like the responsible adults in charge, especially when contrasted with the openly peevish, churlish and ultimately wholly JUVENILE whiners in the Convoy Party.
MC himself said that DJT was an existential crisis and that he [i.e. MC] would operate on a "war time footing" but .... nope. No budget, none of the promised actions/reactions (whether sensible or not is quite another thing) that he promised.
Oh, and he was quite, quite the "advisor" to the previous incumbent and had been running a shadow leadership campaign for some years. In other words, none of the issues that you propose as excuses were news to him when he was making his promises during the campaign and even afterward.
So, no, I don't give him any quarter. In fact, I wouldn't give him a nickel.
As usual Ken, you seem to be blissfully and defiantly unaware of JUST how algorithmed/misinformed/malinformed you are. Tribal much?
Trump's Maga consequences are just starting to roll out for real, so I guess all you con guys really are going for broke like the juvenile delinquents you actually are, ages notwithstanding.
Putin could use guys like you who mainly just want to fight and break everything....
MC non performance update: After just three days of our long awaited parliament - PM Mark Carney is off to Mexico for a photo-op meeting, leaving Patty Hajdu to provide word salad responses in the House of Commons to legitimate Canadian concerns.
First, Carney should treat Canadian as adults. It is time for a serious conversation as the US goes into a recession and/or hyperinflation. Explain to Canadians that the economies are linked, and that if the US goes into a recession, Canada will likely go as well and mostly likely first. I believe we are already seeing this when the US is buying less from Canada, not because of tariffs, but because production is going down in the US and fewer input goods are needed.
Second, Carney needs to take velvet gloves off when it comes to provinces. Bail reform is fine, but if the provinces do not have the jail capacity, nothing is going to happen. Housing starts are up in most provinces, Ontario is falling behind. Why is this happening? Why does Doug Ford get a pass? Call it out, in a professional way. Because if you don’t, the federal government will get the blame.
No, it is not about treating each other with respect. That should be the standard. It is about making clear who has what responsibility. Make it clear that when it comes to bail and jail, the ball is 90% with the provinces (providing jail capacity, fast trials, court house capacity etc.). Same with housing.
Dan, don't forget that the provinces operate jails (or, gaols, to be pedantic) that house folks who are sentenced to less than two years and all sentences of two years and longer belong in federal penitentiaries. That means that the feds need to start building a lot of pens.
As for Ontario housing starts, I will leave that to you in Ontario as you are the folk that re-elected Dougie.
The overcrowding in jails/prisons is predominantly on provincial level. It is mostly the provinces that should be worried, but for now the public thinks it is the prime minister himself that incarcerates people with 3 months sentences.
Thinking a bit more about the biggest threats in the coming let’s say 12 months, I believe we are missing the most obvious one.
If we look how fast democratic values are eroding in the US, how fast the NATO alliance is being hollowed out (and exposed by Putin trying to test this) and how the US economy is going to crater, the biggest threat for Canada is external. Right now I think that the chance for fair and free midterm elections is less than 50% with a real possibility of no elections at all.
In these circumstances, can we negotiate a new CUSMA? Do we need to get ready for 100,000s of refugees from the US? How do we respond to a NATO article 5 situation without the US? What if ICE moves onto incarcerating 100s of Canadians on a tourist visa because they said something mean about Kirk?
All these scenarios are no longer wild imagination and we need to be prepared.
All this aside, and valid points, but how is it right that a sitting MP, less than 5 months of the most consequential election in Canada’s history can be assigned to work for the Ukraine, and remain a voting MP?
Canada should not have sitting MPs working for another country. Full stop. No democratic, sovereign nation would allow this. There needs to be a by-election to democratically elect her replacement, and virtual parliament needs to end immediately. Canadians voted April 28th for a minority Liberal government. The government needs to work with all parties, and ensure that the needs of Canadians are met first and foremost, if not they fall to a vote of non-confidence, which is how a parliamentary democracy should work.
Imagine if an MP running for election said “I’m going to be working for another country, while maintaining my MP status here in Canada” How many votes would they get? We have more than our share of problems at home, requiring all hands on deck, or move aside and let another Canadian take their place. WTF Canada??
Chrystia Freeland will not be working for Ukraine. That is not true.
Her official title after leaving Cabinet will be "Canada's Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine". From what I can gather, this is a diplomatic and advisory role. The federal government also has a "Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia", which advises the government on that issue. If this role is anything similar, Chrystia Freeland will be advising the government on Ukraine and Ukraine War issues and perhaps supporting Canadian diplomacy in Ukraine.
Chrystia Freeland is not in any sense working for the government of Ukraine.
Way off the “Mark.” As usual your analysis is shallow. Canada is in the midst of global upheaval. Carney is working his way through geopolitical minefields. The landscape is constantly changing. Be honest, you are a political neophyte and certainly not grasping international finance and alliances. You criticize where we are at in the last nine months. You whine about funding cuts when our nation is under attack from the US. Russia. China. You live in a vortex of stupidity and smallness. You are to journalism as PP is to politics. Get over the Air Canada strike. Air Canada and its employees are not a typical “business”. They defy business principles because they have been continually bailed out at the taxpayers expense because of the need for a “national airline “. Your schilling for CUPE is pitiful. Your limited ability at analysis is all over your opinion piece. As if there are “rules” around what a gov’t must never do. You need to get your head out of your own ass. Go back to clown school.
“Being mad at the contractor who has delays in his plans because he finds asbestos in the walls” is something we don’t often accept as reasonable. We are so damn impatient. Here’s a man we can all agree is pretty smart, a man with significant expertise in business, negotiations, and politics (yes, we disagree on this; I think he has had to manipulate politicians and policy a hell of a lot more than we give him credit for). He takes control of government and faces a crazed leader of the most powerful and influential nation in the world (that just happens to most dominant in our neighbourhood); he inherits an economy that has been allowed to be dependent on that nation, and a crew of mistrustful premiers, many of whom have spent the recent past discrediting the federal government he now has to remake in order to meet serious, very serious, challenges. And after five months, we wonder what’s taking so long. Bullshit! If progressives - and I count myself as very left - cannot accept that serious compromises have to be made to dig ourselves out of this mess, we’re doomed. I love your dedication and I agree with much of your vision, but I despair at your impatience or when you take a fairly minor event and blow it up into bad policy. With 25-plus cabinet ministers and a huge bureaucracy, there are going to multiple fuck-ups. But as long as they’re minor, I need to keep my eyes on the bigger picture. As Charlie Angus would say…the survival of my country as a democratic entity that does not cede control, economic or otherwise, to our insatiable neighbour.
Agreed on the BS.
Way too soon and WAY too many guys in the myriad of subcultures, guys fortified by having a platform or a podcast (like Charlie Kirk), including Charlie Angus btw, who is old enough to know better. Nonetheless, he's revisiting his activist youth by leading a "resistance" as if progressives didn't just quite masterfully pull off an unexpected win, displaying yet again the NDP trademark "narcissism of small differences," emphasis on the NARCISSISM in all stated examples.
And the fact that Carney pulls rank and simply will NOT take the bullshit social media bait driving us all insane shows actual leadership. Bring it on we mature people with a basis of comparison say.
You talk about "comms" a lot Evan, even in the context of the con crap, as if anyone can reason with them, and anyone who STILL doesn't know that would probably STILL notice who sounds like the responsible adults in charge, especially when contrasted with the openly peevish, churlish and ultimately wholly JUVENILE whiners in the Convoy Party.
Well, Ray ....
MC himself said that DJT was an existential crisis and that he [i.e. MC] would operate on a "war time footing" but .... nope. No budget, none of the promised actions/reactions (whether sensible or not is quite another thing) that he promised.
Oh, and he was quite, quite the "advisor" to the previous incumbent and had been running a shadow leadership campaign for some years. In other words, none of the issues that you propose as excuses were news to him when he was making his promises during the campaign and even afterward.
So, no, I don't give him any quarter. In fact, I wouldn't give him a nickel.
As usual Ken, you seem to be blissfully and defiantly unaware of JUST how algorithmed/misinformed/malinformed you are. Tribal much?
Trump's Maga consequences are just starting to roll out for real, so I guess all you con guys really are going for broke like the juvenile delinquents you actually are, ages notwithstanding.
Putin could use guys like you who mainly just want to fight and break everything....
Legitimate criticisms of our PM makes a Canadian “MAGA, and a supporter of Putin” ??? 🤔
Tris, it is so wonderful to have someone who can diagnose me without ever meeting me.
I retain my grip on my disdain for the (non) performance of MC.
Oh, and the issue of Maga, etc.? I think DJT's "performance" (and he is assuredly performative) is simply stupid, dreadful, awful, non-sensical, etc.
MC non performance update: After just three days of our long awaited parliament - PM Mark Carney is off to Mexico for a photo-op meeting, leaving Patty Hajdu to provide word salad responses in the House of Commons to legitimate Canadian concerns.
I would add two things to this sound advice.
First, Carney should treat Canadian as adults. It is time for a serious conversation as the US goes into a recession and/or hyperinflation. Explain to Canadians that the economies are linked, and that if the US goes into a recession, Canada will likely go as well and mostly likely first. I believe we are already seeing this when the US is buying less from Canada, not because of tariffs, but because production is going down in the US and fewer input goods are needed.
Second, Carney needs to take velvet gloves off when it comes to provinces. Bail reform is fine, but if the provinces do not have the jail capacity, nothing is going to happen. Housing starts are up in most provinces, Ontario is falling behind. Why is this happening? Why does Doug Ford get a pass? Call it out, in a professional way. Because if you don’t, the federal government will get the blame.
Give him time.
When I hear Scott Moe speak respectfully, along with Ford and Tim Huston, seems he's "handling" them just fine.
No, it is not about treating each other with respect. That should be the standard. It is about making clear who has what responsibility. Make it clear that when it comes to bail and jail, the ball is 90% with the provinces (providing jail capacity, fast trials, court house capacity etc.). Same with housing.
Dan, don't forget that the provinces operate jails (or, gaols, to be pedantic) that house folks who are sentenced to less than two years and all sentences of two years and longer belong in federal penitentiaries. That means that the feds need to start building a lot of pens.
As for Ontario housing starts, I will leave that to you in Ontario as you are the folk that re-elected Dougie.
The overcrowding in jails/prisons is predominantly on provincial level. It is mostly the provinces that should be worried, but for now the public thinks it is the prime minister himself that incarcerates people with 3 months sentences.
Thinking a bit more about the biggest threats in the coming let’s say 12 months, I believe we are missing the most obvious one.
If we look how fast democratic values are eroding in the US, how fast the NATO alliance is being hollowed out (and exposed by Putin trying to test this) and how the US economy is going to crater, the biggest threat for Canada is external. Right now I think that the chance for fair and free midterm elections is less than 50% with a real possibility of no elections at all.
In these circumstances, can we negotiate a new CUSMA? Do we need to get ready for 100,000s of refugees from the US? How do we respond to a NATO article 5 situation without the US? What if ICE moves onto incarcerating 100s of Canadians on a tourist visa because they said something mean about Kirk?
All these scenarios are no longer wild imagination and we need to be prepared.
All this aside, and valid points, but how is it right that a sitting MP, less than 5 months of the most consequential election in Canada’s history can be assigned to work for the Ukraine, and remain a voting MP?
Canada should not have sitting MPs working for another country. Full stop. No democratic, sovereign nation would allow this. There needs to be a by-election to democratically elect her replacement, and virtual parliament needs to end immediately. Canadians voted April 28th for a minority Liberal government. The government needs to work with all parties, and ensure that the needs of Canadians are met first and foremost, if not they fall to a vote of non-confidence, which is how a parliamentary democracy should work.
Imagine if an MP running for election said “I’m going to be working for another country, while maintaining my MP status here in Canada” How many votes would they get? We have more than our share of problems at home, requiring all hands on deck, or move aside and let another Canadian take their place. WTF Canada??
Mike,
Chrystia Freeland will not be working for Ukraine. That is not true.
Her official title after leaving Cabinet will be "Canada's Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine". From what I can gather, this is a diplomatic and advisory role. The federal government also has a "Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia", which advises the government on that issue. If this role is anything similar, Chrystia Freeland will be advising the government on Ukraine and Ukraine War issues and perhaps supporting Canadian diplomacy in Ukraine.
Chrystia Freeland is not in any sense working for the government of Ukraine.
Special representative for the rebuilding of Ukraine, is working for Ukraine, and is not in an MPs scope of responsibilities.
I don’t give a damn how Liberal partisans spin this. This is not what Canadians voted for.
Okay, prove she's working for Ukraine. It's your assertion. Where's your evidence?
How, you ask, Mike?
Why, this is Canada. Promises are simply not expected to be kept, didn't you know?
Way off the “Mark.” As usual your analysis is shallow. Canada is in the midst of global upheaval. Carney is working his way through geopolitical minefields. The landscape is constantly changing. Be honest, you are a political neophyte and certainly not grasping international finance and alliances. You criticize where we are at in the last nine months. You whine about funding cuts when our nation is under attack from the US. Russia. China. You live in a vortex of stupidity and smallness. You are to journalism as PP is to politics. Get over the Air Canada strike. Air Canada and its employees are not a typical “business”. They defy business principles because they have been continually bailed out at the taxpayers expense because of the need for a “national airline “. Your schilling for CUPE is pitiful. Your limited ability at analysis is all over your opinion piece. As if there are “rules” around what a gov’t must never do. You need to get your head out of your own ass. Go back to clown school.