My first political memory was the election of #BrianMulroney in 1984. I won't claim to have followed #CanPol that closely for the next few years, but I remember in 1988, in elementary school, that we all kept journals of where the leaders were and what they were promising. That was the Free Trade election, and as I recall I decided that free trade would be good for Canada. (No, I didn't really know anything about economics at the time.)
And even later on I tended to support the Mulroney government -- let me tell you, it was lonely in Northern BC in the 1990s, backing the #MeechLakeAccord and the #CharlottetownAccord . And I defended the GST as a replacement for the Manufacturers' Sales Tax.
Mr. Mulroney swung big, sometimes hitting a home run, sometimes striking out. But I do think most of his initiatives were good for Canada and the world.
@marksibly@Miro_Collas@palestine Govts in the 5 Eyes (NZ, Australia, US, UK, Canada) are willingly complicit in the Israeli #genocide - while the vast majority of their populations oppose it. Those in these Govts do not represent their people, but are tools of an evil international cabal orchestrated by the US, trading their morality & roles as “reps of the people” for well-paid careers as loyal servants of this cabal. #nzpol#auspol#uspol#ukpol#canpol
"Chartered Professional Accountants Canada represents a membership that is easily among the greatest beneficiaries of a Byzantine tax code. But even they have said the system’s complexity has gone too far, and that many of the benefits offered through the Canadian tax system never get to low-income people due to the paperwork standing in the way."
(They don't even mention that here in #Québec we have a second, slightly different, income tax system. Who in #polqc will dare to kill this wasteful scheme?)
According to the article, the last major reform of the Canadian tax system was based on a Royal Commission report from 1966.
A survey in European countries showed 69% of people would be willing to give up 1% of their income each month to fight #ClimateChange - but most people believe they are in a minority who would.
How to do climate policy in the age of the green backlash - https://on.ft.com/3urWMxH via @FT
Margaret Atwood on the Political Landscape of Canada 🇨🇦🗳️ Explore Atwood's insights into why Canada's multi-party system lessens the danger of extreme polarization seen in other nations. Learn from her analysis of the diverse political spectrum and its impact on Canadian governance. For more of Atwood's thought-provoking views, watch the full interview: https://youtu.be/UjXMGTbd0DU#HandmaidsTale#canpol#canadianpolitics#MargaretAtwood@JaniceSelbie
Inter alia, "This is an important point to emphasize because the government continues to claim that “threat to the security of Canada” has a myriad of meanings, including economic harm [...] (which would mean the Emergencies Act could theoretically be invoked to address labour strikes, an obviously troubling thought)."
@c_9 I saw a poll recently claiming that over 60% of immigrants to Canada think #immigration is too high at present. It's hard to believe a system Canadians were pleased with has reached this point...
But the most obvious problem is the #HousingCrisis; we need to build more houses as well as to restore our immigration system.
"We’ve outsourced immigration policy to employers who couldn’t be bothered to invest in labour training, budget-hungry university administrators eager to scoop foreign-student tuition fees that are sometimes ten times as high as Canadian students pay, and shadowy storefront colleges profiting from the sale of citizenship lottery tickets."
And what about the evil practice of seizing children to assimilate them?
"As to residential schools, they existed in Canada long before Confederation and were voluntarily attended. Macdonald’s government did build 185 day schools and 20 residential schools largely in compliance with its obligations under the Western Treaties, but attendance was voluntary at both during his lifetime."
“I’m a bit surprised that the government is moving fairly slowly on this. I think there’s some urgency to bring these numbers of students and temporary workers into better balance with the arithmetic of our homebuilding strategy, because the two are working at cross-purposes.”
On Israel and Palestine, Canadian politicians frequently say antisemitism and Islamophobia have no place here.
Aside from fighting for their lives, Palestinians are fighting for freedom of movement, expression, association and assembly. Freedom from arbitrary detention and torture. Right to self determination, and right of return.
What on earth does religion have to do with any of these fundamental human rights?
@PapyrusBrigade I think what they mean is that Canadians are free to have different opinions about the war in Gaza, but that we shouldn't be harassing or threatening people here in Canada.
These photos of the late Ed Broadbent with other leaders - Joe Clark, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, John Turner, etc, makes me sad, and longing for a day when our leaders didn't seem to base everything on disrespecting the other side.
"Trudeau’s “sunny ways” and nerd-dad version of politics lost its charm slowly and then suddenly — tested year after year by scandals and predictable fracture points in Canadian politics, such as Quebec wedge issues and culture wars around energy, only to disintegrate more decisively thanks to an inflation crisis that opened the way for an Angry Man alternative."
James Mullen (@jameswmullen): "Mildly amused at the incredulity I'm seeing from people in the UK at the idea Trump might have complete immunity. Our head of state cannot be prosecuted before our courts for anything, and no eyelids have been batted..." | nitter https://nitter.net/jameswmullen/status/1744999878785106221#m
Presumably this would be as true in #CanPol as it is in #ukpol. What did the writers of the US Constitution intend?
#TashaKheiriddin proposes that the feds reverse course in several policy areas: "The irony is that these policies might help the Liberals at the polls, not hurt them. Polls show that a majority of voters in Liberal strongholds like Atlantic Canada want more carbon tax carve-outs. [62%] of Canadians born outside of the country think immigration levels are too high. And two-thirds of Canadians [...] support increasing military spending to meet NATO’s [2%] target."
"As for immigration, while Trudeau acknowledged that, “We all bear some responsibility; this is a challenge that we have to work on altogether,” he added that it isn’t the 500,000 new immigrants who are the problem, “It’s the temporary immigrants that have spiked massively over the past couple of years that is putting so much pressure on the whole system.”"
There you go, @PapyrusBrigade , the PM agrees with you. Maybe we'll see some action on the issue?
I’m getting so sick of people not understanding that Trump has been kicked off of two primary ballots and ZERO general election ballots.
Primaries aren’t even part of the constitutionally-ordained election system. They’re run by the parties by their own design. They don’t have to hold them at all, ever, and regularly choose not to.
Some youth and some Indigenous groups tried to take Canada to court for failing to address #ClimateChange.
The Federal Court said the issues aren’t "justiciable," meaning no recourse is available from the courts.
But the Federal Court of Appeal said actually there may be something to the argument under section 7 of the Charter, “life, liberty and security of the person.”
It's one of Canada's pre-eminent economists, Professor @trevortombe. As a person who was formerly involved in politics, I regularly relied on his reasoned research and revelatory insight.
Also, it was always good to see a public intellectual hold court and press for a fullness of dialogue in our shared democratic discourse.
Why are international students going to #Timmins? "Graduates of Northern and other public colleges may apply for a post-graduation work permit that could lead to permanent residence and citizenship."
Canadians have rightfully been content with a relatively high #immigration rate, because it operated according to a system we had agreed on. We have now outsourced three-quarters of our immigration system to colleges who seek to maximise the money they earn from international students.
We shouldn't blame such students for our problems, but the feds need to get the system back under their control.