Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 3:34:17 AM

the answer is that we need to use more electricity. the policy assumed we'd be driving electric cars and running high speed rails up and down the detroit-quebec city corridor, by now.

our electricity is clean. you're not he;ping the environment by using less of it. rather, you'd be helping the environment by using more of it - and less fossil fuels.

i would support a renationalizing of the grid, and a system run at cost.

but it's backwards logic to blame the problem on the green energy act. the green energy act was massively successful - it created a large surplus of clean energy, which was going to be required to help us get off of carbon. this exists. it's in place. what has failed has been the slow adoption of electric vehicles.

...and that's been a failure, largely, at the federal level.

wynne needs to call trudeau up and get him to push some serious tax cuts for electric cars. that's the piece of policy that has been a failure. and, for obvious reasons - we just got out of ten years of petrostate politics.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/electricity-ontario-1.3538157

Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 9:30:52 AM

it was always about the price of oil. the criticism was that they tied themselves too strongly to the price of oil, thereby reducing the country's fiscal situation to the whim of global investors. so, when the price of oil comes down, you get huge deficits - and when it comes up, you get huge surpluses. you fix this by recreating a stable tax base, so the country can better deal with the volatility in oil prices.

oil was expected to stay low this year. it hasn't - it has risen. so, we're getting surpluses instead of deficits. it was largely agreed that the liberals low-balled the projections, but it was also largely agreed that the price would stay low.

this is not the point. it's a red herring. it's the situation of relying on oil prices that is the problem that needs to be resolved. and, the fact that we're in this situation cannot be spun out of - it is flat fiscal incompetence. if the government decides to hold to it, it's just carrying on the incompetence. an advanced nation requires an actual tax base.

(of course, i don't particularly care, anyways. i only care about keeping the imf vultures away. i'm just saying.)

www.cbc.ca/news/business/ottawa-federal-surplus-deficit-1.3559175

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 6:49:51 PM

i agree with council, and would add that this is an abuse of power. he has no mandate to tax people and send it out of the city as a political gimmick. that $300,000 could and should certainly go to helping the disadvantaged in sarnia.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/sarnia-mayor-s-proposal-to-send-25k-to-fort-mcmurray-falls-flat-1.3575075


Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 8:49:50 AM
Mollybloom: As if -- Canadian comments on U.S. politics matter a damn to anyone south-of-us. Nevertheless, this collective purgative does have momentary solace as we stop crapping in our own backyard.
But for gawd's sake Bernie, remember Ralph and ponder whether you guys would have got anywhere near Iraq with Gore.

Me: i am absolutely certain that gore would have bombed iraq. in fact, he'd probably have also avoided the protests.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/clinton-sanders-sound-bite-trump-1.3576362


Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 9:18:36 AM

this media narrative is going to fall flat. the vast majority of sanders supporters don't see any material difference between clinton and trump, anyways - and may even lean a little closer to trump on foreign policy and trade. the really interesting question is whether jill stein can get these supporters, not if clinton can. but, the warped truth is that she'll probably win anyways, because republican support for trump is even lower.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/clinton-sanders-sound-bite-trump-1.3576362

Friday, May 13, 2016 at 2:51:59 AM

who is going to do a better job fulfilling the unstated role - an by all accounts capable woman who just happens to be the prime minister's wife, or people that have some training and legitimate interest in the topic? who will be more accountable?

it's kind of a broader issue. what is more efficient: private charity (which is what she's being expected to do...) that is accountable to nobody or public servants that are accountable in the traditional manners? i vote for public sector services over private sector charity.

...which means that she should have an office, it should be accountable to the house and it should be handed over to the next wife or husband

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sophie-gregoire-trudeau-overwhelmed-1.3580164


Friday, May 13, 2016 at 3:02:28 AM

you have to expect the conservatives to yell and scream and have a temper tantrum over this, because the process will rightly have the end result of removing their ability to win majorities with a minority of support (and, you can't compare the liberal's 40% to the conservatives' 40% due to the way the spectrum aligns - it's just yet another dishonest argument from tom mulcair). but, that's too bad - the liberals have a majority, here, and should use it to plow through the av as quick as possible, so that voters have time to understand it.

the worst thing that can happen is for this to drag on until a month before the election, as the backlash could push them out. they want to push it through quickly so that people have time to calm down and realize it's a net benefit to the stability of the country.

and, that's going to mean ignoring the temper tantrums, until the opposition tires itself out and goes to sleep.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-liberals-electoral-reform-1.3579651


Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 9:52:26 AM

PshyeahV2.0 : Didn't they already have equal rights?
Me: it's actually a contentious point. the previous government made the argument that gender identity came under sexual orientation, but that was actually obviously wrong. however, i've long argued that it should be covered under 'analogous grounds' - the issue has apparently never been tested in court. now it's explicit, anyways.

May 17, 2016 at 8:59:36 PM

these studies often lack a discussion of any kind of mechanism - it's just straight correlations with no attempts at explanation. as such, you don't actually learn anything.

what are potatoes? they're highly concentrated sugar. so one should expect that high potato consumption with low exercise would certainly lead to excess weight and high blood pressure. one would also expect that high potato consumption with high activity levels would lead to increased muscle mass, as your body converts the excess sugar into muscle.

you should neither be shocked nor particularly enlightened by any this.


www.cbc.ca/news/health/potato-consumption-hypertension-1.3586370

June 02, 2016 at 5:49:45 AM

this argument is actually particularly egregious given the circumstances, which is itself an argument to re-engineer society to abolish markets.

the general way to prevent scalping is to prevent people from exceeding their ticket quotas. but, i have no problem with sending cops out to arrest them, confiscating their tickets and distributing them on a needs basis.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/tragically-hip-scalper-outrage-1.3610489


June 06, 2016 at 2:09:20 PM

the government could get a majority in the senate with a stroke of a pen. there is absolutely no excuse for having their legislation gutted, and they should be loudly called out for incompetence should that be something that actually happens. there's an easy answer to avoid this: fill the senate with liberal senators immediately. it's just incompetence to leave the senate open, then complain that they can't pass legislation.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/philpott-assisted-dying-monday-1.3617856


June 06, 2016 at 2:32:45 PM

when, i voted for the liberals it was because i wanted them to pass legislation - not because i wanted them to create a mess in the senate that would prevent them from passing legislation. it's really a comically absurd situation; he's obstructing his own agenda. the media should really be taking him to task for it. it doesn't matter what you think of the senate; this is the worst possible outcome from any perspective.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/philpott-assisted-dying-monday-1.3617856


June 07, 2016 at 1:40:29 AM

the email scandal promises better ratings.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/sanders-clinton-nominaton-report-1.3619679

June 07, 2016 at 1:52:45 AM

if you want to put him in jail for 20 years, might i suggest contributing funds? 'cause i really don't want to pay to house, feed and entertain the guy for the second third of his life - and then repeat for the last third, because he can't find a job due to the fact that he's a convict.

listen. nobody doubts that this is a problem. but vengeance isn't an answer. deterrence doesn't work - it's just a waste of resources that could be better spent on things that actually work.

you could have a bake sale to raise money to pay for food & shelter for rapists.

www.cbc.ca/news/trending/stanford-swimmer-brock-turner-sexual-assault-father-reacts-1.3618571

June 08, 2016 at 3:02:00 AM

i'm kind of glad you posted this the way you did, so i can respond contextually in an appropriate way. you need to think of hillary like the liberals and sanders like the ndp, and then place them in a minority government - as we saw in the 60s, 70s and 00s. it worked out well in the 60s and 70s. especially the 60s. lots of people think it was our greatest parliament.....

the ndp would never just let the liberals pass whatever they want. they always demanded some influence, and when they didn't get it? they'd vote down the budget.

it's a hard game of difficult negotiations. but, it's how the parliament works.

the american punditry is going to have a hard time with this because the three-party system is foreign to most living americans. it shouldn't be, though. it happened in the 30s, when the socialist parties forced a set of concessions from fdr that is now called the new deal.

they could call a history prof and get them to explain it. or they could call a canadian. but, what we're seeing unfold in the united states right now has not happened for a century. this isn't politics as usual. this is very different. our media is uniquely positioned to understand and explain it and should take the opportunity to.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-california-primary-1.3621301

June 08, 2016 at 11:44:00 AM

"losing patience"

yeah. right. what are you going to do, hill? not get voted for?
sanders has incredible leverage, here. and, he's been pretty patient, himself. if i was him, i'd be launching an independent run right now and laying out arguments that hillary is truly no better than trump. i'd be threatening to split the democrats in half unless i got what i wanted.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/california-primary-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-1.3621007

June 15, 2016 at 3:18:43 AM

when will thomas mulcair endorse justin trudeau?

www.cbc.ca/news/world/hillary-wins-dc-primary-1.3635688

June 20, 2016 at 10:34:12 PM

the reason we have a cbs is that the red cross screwed up the blood supply. we nationalized it in response to market failure. if something happens, and it's tied to a shift in policy...

i expect the government will eventually lift the ban, but it's going to need to protect *itself* first. this is more about the history of blood services in canada than it is about homophobia. you have to understand *that* history to realize why there's push back againt anything that modifies a system that has worked well up to this point.

when the changes happen, they're going to be broader than this, too - because, as mentioned, this is symptomatic of broader, underlying systemic issues.

they should be applauded for not kneejerking, really, and holding to the script rather than being affected by political pressure.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gay-men-blood-donations-1.3643761

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 7:10:16 AM

this has been solved, from my understanding - it's a combination of the industry on the island with the salt mines under windsor. what's happening is that the vibrations are sending sound waves through the old mines, which is literally shaking the whole ground.

i'm on the other side of oullette, and i've never heard anything over here. but if i was living around lasalle, i might be more concerned about sink holes swallowing my house....

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-hum-discussion-goes-to-washington-1.3645376

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 5:15:25 PM
i think that the balance of evidence admits waukesha as a very limited special case. i haven't read the case, but if it limits the situation to the very limited special conditions then this is actually a positive precedent.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/waukesha-water-leamington-mayor-1.3646880


July 26, 2016 at 11:33:30 AM

yeah. he's got some 'splainin' to do, alright.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/bill-clinton-speech-hillary-clinton-democrats-1.3695087

August 02, 2016 at 9:52:00 AM

why does he keep appointing conservatives?

the election results were not ambiguous. it's kind of counter to his mandate to keep stacking all these reform bodies with conservatives.


if we wanted conservatives, we would have voted for them. we voted against them. so, why is he doing this?

Lori Cameron: Did you mean, why does he keep appointing those whom he believes are the best qualified for the given positions?
me: i'm not sure how anybody comes to the conclusion that kim campbell is best qualified for anything, besides a lecture on how to preside over the worst electoral defeat in canadian history.

a supreme court advisory is not a meritocratic position, it's a partisan position. i really don't want a conservative body determining the composition of the next supreme court, and it's frankly downright enraging to see a liberal prime minister put such a thing in motion.

ironically, i don't think that this is constitutional.

Tim Saucier: What disqualifies Kim Campbell from the job, aside from being "Conservative"?

Me: considering that we elected an overwhelming liberal majority, i think that's enough.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 10:24:55 AM

what, exactly, was wrong with a partisan process?

Taylor Sutherland: bias.

Me: it's a court process. bias is the whole point. i don't even...

if you remove bias, what are the ruling on? corporate expediency? objective truth?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 10:29:00 AM

let me try this another way.

a part of the responsibility of the prime minister is to appoint the supreme court justices. this is a political process, meaning it's a part of the prime minister's mandate. not only is this process obviously unconstitutional, but it's a rejection of one of the prime minister's core job functions: to determine the justice in such a way that reflects the popular will, which is necessarily a partisan process.

the previous election was about wiping the conservatives out of power. where did all this bipartisan or nonpartisan stuff come from? there's no mandate for this.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 10:30:23 AM

when you remove partisanship, you remove democracy.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779


August 02, 2016 at 10:32:29 AM

i voted for a liberal prime minister. so, i want a liberal prime minister to appoint a liberal judge.

Cindy Fordyce: I want a Liberal gov't to appoint the best person who meets the qualifications to be appointed.

Politics is not an Olympic sport and should never be made so.

Me: you're incoherent. you say you want a competition over who's "the best", then you say it's not a competition. but, you can't possibly define what "the best person" who has "the best" qualifications even *is*.

all politics is bias. and all law is politics. it's basic critical legal theory.

there is no meritocracy. there's simply a party apparatus. and, you can appoint somebody that upholds your biases or somebody that upholds somebody else's.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 10:32:55 AM
dale mcrobie : This is unfair to unilingual Canadian! Just because one only speaks one language they should not be penalized!
Me: how do you expect a unilingual judge to hear a case in french? this is a common sense requirement.

Michael Chong: first off they do not individually sit as judges for each case,it's a group sitting. Also why not just get language translators. If ambassadors who are sitting at the UN have them why not Canada.?

Me: so, the fiscal conservatives want to hire translators instead of just appointing a bilingual judge. curious.

with something like the supreme court, i'd suggest that we don't want translators getting in the way in the interpretation of language. rulings can turn on interpretations. so, i think it's a functional requirement that the court can understand a ruling out of quebec natively, and be able to translate it independently.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 10:38:07 AM

could you imagine hillary clinton making george w. bush the head of a committee to determine the next supreme court nominee?

wait. don't answer that...

it's absurd.

i'm really not opposed to a committee, but i would expect him to stack the committee with liberals - because the liberals won the election and therefore get to stack the court. that's why we had an election!

the supreme court - ironically - won't let him do this, though. the constitution is pretty clear that the prime minister has to pick the justices.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779


August 02, 2016 at 10:46:19 AM

i voted for the liberals. i want them to replace every judge with a liberal. i want them to replace the conservative judges with liberals. i want them to replace the liberal judges with even more liberal judges, and the extremely liberal judges with exceedingly liberal judges. i want the court to have exactly zero conservative justices on it. that's why i voted for the liberals. what's the use in having an election, when the liberals appoint conservative judges?
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779


August 02, 2016 at 10:52:07 AM

i mean, what's really going on here? was picking a court justice interfering with his canoe time, or what?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779

August 02, 2016 at 12:06:16 PM

it's very weird. a lot of times he seems like he doesn't want to govern.

mr. prime minister. you're the person that's supposed to govern. that means picking supreme court justices. and, you're supposed to pick the person that most accurately uphold and reflects your partisan agenda.

i don't understand where he's coming from. some kind of dark age buddhist "wisdom", or something?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779


Tuesday, August 02, 2016 at 12:17:26 PM

shouldn't this be one of his biggest legacies? something he's jumping all over? he's delegating it...does he want this job?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-canada-justices-selection-1.3703779


August 05, 2016 at 3:43:25 AM

criminal negligence revolves around the concept of reasonable precaution. what is at question here is ultimately not whether he carried out an act or not, or even if he did so on purpose, but whether he took the proper precautions to ensure it didn't happen. the legal question will likely revolve around the discussion he had with the person that actual prepared the food. did he point out the allergy clearly enough on the order?

the article is poorly written - it does not provide any facts. but, if the waiter expressed the allergies with a sufficient level of force, then it falls upon the cook.

it is very difficult to see how any judge in any liberal democracy could legally fault the victim for forgetting their epipen.

a lot of how you react to this is going to depend on what kind of social contract you feel is best applied. i'm an advocate of the proudhonian social contract, but less so of the one promoted by rousseau. i do consequently think that the waiter has a moral, legal and social responsibility to ensure that he does not poison anybody, and that he should face collective punitive action by society should he not uphold that social contract.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sherbrooke-waiter-arrested-salmon-allergic-customer-negligence-1.3707667

August 06, 2016 at 8:50:53 AM

that's no fair! why can they get rid of trump, when the democrats can't get rid of hillary? just more proof that the country is slanted to monied interests....

www.cbc.ca/news/world/donald-trump-campaign-republicans-1.3708729

August 15, 2016 at 12:27:08 AM

wait. when did the election get overturned? i thought we elected the liberals in a landslide in order to undo what the conservatives have done over the last ten years. where does the media get off in pretending the election never happened?

this was a populist issue. unlike what he's dong to the senate and supreme court, this is something he has a mandate for. he should stay the course.

if rona ambrose wants to govern, she's going to need to win an election, first.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-trudeau-terrorism-1.3718743


August 15, 2016 at 12:28:58 AM

is trudeau as much of a fake as obama?
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-trudeau-terrorism-1.3718743
August 15, 2016 at 8:04:30 PM

frankly, i don't think the prime minister actually has a choice, here. a pattern is developing of contempt for the constitution, and for constitutional norms, that can't be tolerated. so, i hope that somebody challenges the nomination.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-supreme-court-judge-atlantic-canada-1.3721255

August 16, 2016 at 4:37:38 PM

i'm confused. what does this "terrorist attack" have to do with the constitutionality of the legislation?

if it was unconstitutional last year, surely it remains unconstitutional today.

??

i mean, unless the constitution was changed at some point when we weren't paying attention.....!?

forget the ndp. the only way anything gets done in this country is through the courts. let's get a constitutional challenge, please.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-c51-terrorism-balance-rights-security-1.3723167

August 25, 2016 at 4:16:13 PM

nobody cares about $500. please report on substantive issues.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-caucus-fall-session-1.3735744

August 30, 2016 at 9:58:54 AM

my view on this is that the opposition to the changes merely demonstrate their necessity. we need to be teaching these kids secular values over the opposition of their parents - and the more the parents yell that it offends their religious values, the more necessary it is to teach their kids secular values. this should really be made clear in the immigration process, so that people are not settling here under false pretenses

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/patrick-brown-sex-ed-mistake-1.3740877

September 06, 2016 at 6:19:58 PM

i think the point is that canadians should spend more time pressuring their own government, and less time buying into deflecting tactics in an attempt to work up anti-chinese sentiment. i agree with that, actually. we have a lot of work to do in cleaning up our mining industry, too.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-hong-kong-cemetery-war-dead-1.3749280


September 06, 2016 at 7:01:48 PM

well, if you're going to listen to your loudness-wars compressed master through your 128 kbit mp3 and your software playback replay gain limiter, why not degrade the signal that much further by going wireless and introducing every kind of interference into the signal you can imagine, all while boosting the frequency at 100 hz so loud that all you can hear is the thud, anyways? no, listen. i'm a sound design artist. and i'm making a valid point. nobody cares about sound quality anymore.

www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apple-iphone-headphone-jack-1.3750086

September 16, 2016 at 9:17:03 AM

why? so we can vote with the americans on every issue? and, think about what might happen if we don't. we should be avoiding this....there's better ways to have influence than to baldly challenge the hegemon.

also, it would be useful to acknowledge that the rise of all of this xenophobia is a consequence of the failure of the free trade regime, rather than pretend the answer is more of the problem.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-united-nations-security-council-1.3764441

October 03, 2016 at 7:36:10 PM

his platform didn't talk about carbon pricing, it talked about an investment bank for green infrastructure. if you care about something that will be *effective* in reducing emissions, the infrastructure bank in the platform was a far superior approach. in fact, it's the primary reason i voted for the liberals.

the truth is that this isn't a serious discussion. the science is in: carbon pricing doesn't work in reducing emissions. rather, this is smoke and mirrors for political purposes.

but, i'm frankly not opposed to that, if it has the effect of keeping the conservatives out of power. i don't care if they do this or not. what i want to see is that infrastructure bank set up and put in motion in actually converting infrastructure.

put another way: i don't care who pays for this. i'm tired of stalling over budgets. i want to see shovels in the ground.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-trudeau-climate-change-1.3788825

October 07, 2016 at 1:49:05 AM


how about this, guys?

it doesn't make any difference at all. it's just politics. the government is pretending it's doing something about the problem, while the opposition is pretending that it's going to be a catastrophe.

if you have a lot of wealth and use a lot of energy then your taxes will go up (you're supposed to use less energy, not complain about your taxes). if you're poor and use minimal energy then you'll get a rebate. if you're in the middle, it will truly be revenue neutral. the right answer is that lisa's friends will probably get a check at the end of the month at the expense of trudeau's family, which will get a tax increase.

the media has a responsibility to explain this. but, they'll sell far more papers scare-mongering about tax increases. which is why it's essential that the government implements the policy immediately so the checks are already out by the next writ drop. which, of course, they're not doing.

so, that's the money question: as wealth is strongly correlated with energy use, the policy will redistribute wealth from the top to the bottom through the intermediary of taxation. those that are legitimately concerned about the poor should look at the policy more carefully and understand that it is in their benefit. beware of demagogues that try and take advantage of the ignorant and uneducated in order to scare them.

but, what about emissions? will it reduce them?

the answer is that this doesn't work as an emissions reduction plan. the rich eat the costs because they can afford it, anyways. again: it's going to offset with the middle classes. and, the poor (who don't use much energy...) will get checks in the mail from it.

i'm poor. i don't have a car. most of the food here is imported. i couldn't do much more to reduce emissions if i wanted to. but, i'm likely to get a nice check in the mail. to me, this is just money from the sky. it's not going to change my behaviour...

if i was in the middle class, it would balance out. i need to be clear: i don't expect this to drive inflation and nobody else does, either. you won't find a working economist that thinks prices are going up. it's just scare mongering, really. but, they'll spend a little more on energy and then get it back through tax cuts. how does that change behaviour if it comes out in the wash?

if i was rich, i'd spend a lot of money on energy and i wouldn't care if taxes go up because i have a lot of money, anyways. they don't change behaviour, either, then.

so, if nobody has a meaningful incentive to reduce their use, how do emissions reduce?

here's the thing, then - do you want some wealth redistribution? are you down with that? do you think it's a good idea to tax the rich a little more and give it to the poor? well, this is a good way to do that. it *will* work in accomplishing *this* task.

but, do you really want emissions to come down, too? are you concerned that we're not meeting our international obligations? well, you might want to push for a different policy, like direct investment in converting infrastructure.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-climate-change-trudeau-raitt-1.3792865


October 13, 2016 at 7:16:30 AM

hillary is at best a teenager. but, trump is a screaming toddler.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-ohio-voters-1.3801038

November 15, 2016 at 9:52:04 PM

i'd rather follow sarkozy's lead, pull out of nafta and put a carbon tariff up. there's more than one way to even the playing field.

the world needs to show some backbone in dealing with trump.

they don't make anything anymore, anyways.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-trump-climate-change-1.3850223

November 24, 2016 at 3:55:23 PM

due to our universal health care system, obtaining voter id in canada is not the same kind of problem that is for some low income people in the united states. but, anything that makes it easier to vote is a step forwards and should be applauded.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-liberals-voting-rules-1.3863896


November 24, 2016 at 3:56:50 PM

i'd actually like to see them omnibus everything harper ever did into a giant "undo" button and then set it on fire in a public ceremony.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-liberals-voting-rules-1.3863896
November 28, 2016 at 1:59:30 PM

didn't they actually buy a drone company for delivery?

my best guess is that they just came to the startling conclusion that the most cost-effective way to deliver the product was to convert warehouses into store fronts.

i'd kinda still like to see drone mail delivery. more likely is that they're going to slowly lose market share, online.

and i'll stick with the second hand book stores, myself.

www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/amazon-offline-1.3868891

December 01, 2016 at 5:59:00 PM

it was an error to let the opposition members into committee, as they just obstructed it. they should have just immediately gone to work in pushing through the irv. there's still time to ram it through.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-electoral-reform-committee-1.3866879

December 18, 2016 at 6:29:50 AM

as a transit user, i'd just like to see consistency: if you're going to charge to get on the bus, you should charge tolls to use the highways, too. if you don't want tolls on the highways, let's remove tolls on public transit, too.

January 04, 2017 at 4:21:08 PM

it's not a very complicated problem - we simply need to socialize the ownership of the machines, and stop enslaving ourselves to capitalism. we can do that now, or we can wait a little while and do it later, or we can wait a little longer and have a revolution. that's the real choice in front of the bourgeois class, which includes both liberals and conservatives.

we should not be scrounging everywhere, looking for jobs to do. we should be enjoying the abundance that technology is providing us with, and embracing a future where working is a choice rather than an obligation.

the unemployment that automation is providing is an opportunity. it's a step forwards towards freedom. it's progress. it's a wonderful thing. we just have to leave the calvinism in the past, which is where it belongs, anyways.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-progressive-trudeau-1.3919211

Wednesday, January 04, 2017 at 4:06:42 PM
Jay Dean: I'm not sure why they say that "Many Political Leaders are still trying to figure out how Trump won".
Simple really.
He Lied over 90% of the time and the simple ate it up.

Me: he didn't actually win.

...unless you call getting about 20% of the vote amidst massive voter suppression "winning".

the answer is that his opponent was unable to rally her base, and he coasted into office by default.

it had nothing to do with anything that he did or did not do. it had everything to do with apathy around clinton.

if people elsewhere want to emulate the victory, they're going to need to find a way to take control of their opponents and install a candidate that is not just uninspiring but is ideologically opposed to the crux of their party's vision. in canada, that might mean asking trudeau to step down to make way for the return of michael ignatieff.

short of that absurdity, it won't repeat itself here.

and all the democrats need to do to reverse the results is run an actual democrat.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-progressive-trudeau-1.3919211


January 10, 2017 at 5:59:04 AM

Irv Millar: The trades now have a platform by which unqualified skilled tradespeople will be performing certified work against the law. For years there was a concerted effort in Canada to end the underground economy. Now we have these platforms that are a detriment to the economy. Lost revenue to pay for the maintenance of our democracy.
The target market appears to be Gen Y. By enabling these platforms is a predatory practise whereby the laws are usurped. Who, at a young age would think about savings, a pension, benefits when they are paying off a student debt or are a senior who has little or no pension/benefits and requires medicines. Convenience costs our whole society. Just look at all the plastic water bottles blowing around.

Me: but, see, there's a twist here: this is the reason why i wouldn't use this platform - and the reason that it will probably never exit the niche market that it currently appeals to. there's lots of reasons why i'd rather call a taxi, and lots of reasons why i'd rather book a room in a hotel.

it's much to do about nothing. there's no oncoming dystopia. it's just a fad, with a long term niche market.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/uber-airbnb-mowsnowpros-tradepros-mindsea-1.3923447

January 10, 2017 at 6:10:36 AM

William Ben: A race to the bottom and tax avoidance there is an app for that!

This is a very slippery slope unless it can be regulated as it will cause a black market explosion of tax avoidance and dodgy uninsured workmanship.

Me: no it won't. consumers will never go for this in large enough numbers for it to exit it's niche appeal.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/uber-airbnb-mowsnowpros-tradepros-mindsea-1.3923447

January 10, 2017 at 6:51:53 AM

Neil Gregory: The biggest problem I see here is in determining that the person you hire is qualified and licensed to do the job. Do you really want an unqualified and/or unlicensed person working on your electrical service or plumbing or messing with the structure of you house, for example? We already have more than enough problems in that area without making it easier for more unqualified people to get in on the act.

Me: no, i don't want an unqualified person working on my electrical - which is why i wouldn't hire one. the fact that i can contact some hack for half the price on my phone doesn't mean i'm ever going to want to.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/uber-airbnb-mowsnowpros-tradepros-mindsea-1.3923447

January 10, 2017 at 9:26:13 AM

the idea that there's some kind of future in this is absolute nonsense; it's just a bourgeois layer for the elite, and will not be able to exist without a strong real economy underlying it.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/uber-airbnb-mowsnowpros-tradepros-mindsea-1.3923447

January 10, 2017 at 9:56:09 AM

the economic error underlying the analysis here and in the comments is in treating the service economy like the manufacturing economy. in manufacturing, it's just all about minimizing costs. you can literally hire anybody, including a robot, to do the work. the savings in labour will probably not have an effect on the quality of the resulting product. but, the service economy requires a different standard. yeah, maybe you could rent somebody's leaky attic for $10, but the savings in "producing" this good are going to be reflected in the quality of the good, itself. in the long run, what we will find is that this process of uberization is actually not cost effective at all, and that large amounts of resources are being pumped into services that cannot compete with the higher quality that comes with standardization.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/uber-airbnb-mowsnowpros-tradepros-mindsea-1.3923447

January 12, 2017 at 12:30:58 PM

this wouldn't bother me much if it was posted at a right-wing rag like the national post, but it's a very poor use of state media, which should be focused on disseminating objective facts and holding the government to account with investigative journalism, rather than perpetuating vacuous partisan bickering. why are we giving this person this kind of platform to present this kind of opinion with?

i mean, if you want to talk about getting rid of capitalism, i'm willing to listen. but, this is the normal state in which the system functions.

and, no - he didn't win on a platform of transparency. that was the guy he replaced. he won on a platform of social liberalism.

it's a slow point in the news cycle. but, i hope that the cbc moves on to more pressing issues in the upcoming weeks.

www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/trudeau-bahamas-vacation-1.3931267

January 14, 2017 at 12:50:54 PM

i think that the author needs a reality check in understanding whether phasing out the tar sands is in line with public opinion across the country or not.

phasing out the tar sands *is* a populist position.

and, supporting pipelines is deeply unpopular, too. the last poll i saw had 78% of liberal voters opposed to pipeline expansions.

unfortunately, the canadian media exists in a right-wing bubble of constant old tory confirmation bias. all of the media says the same thing, so they convince themselves of it. then, the polling comes in and they don't get it, because they didn't listen to what anybody outside of their echo chamber was saying.

we saw this in the last election with the question of deficits. for years, the media pushed a message of the importance of balanced budgets. then, as a hail mary, and in the face of sagging poll numbers, the liberals went against the conventional wisdom and promised deficit spending. the numbers came in, and it was found that canadians have an overwhelming support for deficit spending. the media expressed shock, and even outrage. but, if they had taken the time to do some basic research instead of sitting on their thumbs in their echo chamber, they would have realized that we never cared about balanced budgets in the first place - we were just told that we should by the tory media establishment, who assumed we'd just repeat it because we were told it.

consult the research. please. it's not obscure. and it's very clear.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-trudeau-town-halls-1.3934742

January 15, 2017 at 6:20:07 PM

the framing here is disgusting. but, it indeed demonstrates what everybody already knows: what is good for alberta, is (really) ugly for the rest of the world.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/oilsands-future-tertzakian-carbon-bitumen-1.3735773


January 16, 2017 at 7:29:02 PM

my honest opinion is that they should repeal the line in the law. it's a little draconian, don't you think?

Pat Ferraro: Sarcasm I hope? We should give them carte Blanc because well he's just so darn cute. This is your money, this is my money! We should ask and then ask again.

Me: no. i think that a total ban on air travel without request from the ethics commissioner is over-reaching the bounds of the ethics office. and, i think that addressing this point is the more concerning issue.

in the long run, i don't think that canadians are going to find the issue particularly concerning. rather, i think it's going to rub off rather poorly on the opposition. but, the liberals should take steps to address the issue, rather than let it run it's course.

i don't want to ever see another prime minister get nailed by the media for getting in a helicopter.

there is perhaps an underlying issue here that the tory media is missing in it's rush to judgement. yes: conservatives value rules and order, even when we don't like the rules or think they're silly. but, liberals see rules as subject to democratic oversight, and ultimately see them as negotiable. i'm not going to accept the authority of the "ethics office" on it's face; if i don't see a problem in the behaviour, i'm going to argue that the rules should be changed to accommodate it, rather than demand that the rules should be blindly enforced.

Mario Doucet: Why stop at one line, rewrite or just cancel all accountability or responsibility so Trudeau can do whatever he wants with our tax money, which pretty much sums up his first year in office.

Me: i hardly think that a blanket ban on air travel does much to increase accountability measures, or that many voters will frame the issue in such absurd terms. i'd be happy with an audit, myself.

to clarify: when i say that it's an overreach, what i mean is that there is no logical or otherwise causal connection between a blanket ban on air travel and financial or ethical responsibility or accountability. it's just unnecessary government interference in a personal decision that should be up to the prime minister's discretion. in the end, if voters don't like those decisions, we can vote the prime minister out. but, that's not what we're seeing in front of us. what we're seeing is the media grasping at straws, and the law giving them far too much space to grasp at them in.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/justin-trudeau-nova-scotia-ethics-concerns-1.3938433

January 28, 2017 at 12:18:09 PM

you know who was right about nafta?

pierre trudeau, jean chretien, john turner, ed broadbent....

it's scandalous how the contemporary canadian left has completely swallowed itself on this issue. they were right in the 80s and the 90s. history has proven this, clearly. they should be gloating about how right they were, and jumping at the opportunity to fix the errors of the mulroney government. instead, they've both embraced the legacy of the progressive conservative party.

if the conservatives are able to realign on this, justin trudeau and the liberals (and mulcair and the ndp) will have nobody to blame but themselves. they were right all along. all they have to do is remind people of it, and start acting like it

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-ambrose-renegotiation-caucus-friday-1.3955714

February 03, 2017 at 7:34:51 PM

this is nonsense. american law applies in us customs enclaves, including but not limited to embassies and border checkpoints.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pre-clearance-trump-ban-1.3965666


February 10, 2017 at 9:12:49 AM
Glen robert: So does this mean Trudeau thinks Canadians are not smart enough to keep a fringe party out.
Maybe next time we vote the liberals out and see this issue come back in his campaign platform.

Me: in 1979, the balance of power was briefly held by the social credit party in a minority parliament led by the conservatives under joe clark. they were widely accused of deep anti-semitism. joe clark was unable to pass a budget because he refused to adhere to their demands, forcing an election. trudeau won the subsequent election.

clark did the right thing in forcing an election instead of listening to their demands. but, there's no guarantee that that had to happen.

fwiw, the liberals won the popular vote that election but had less seats because the conservatives dominated in the west

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/electoral-reform-trudeau-leitch-1.3975354


February 10, 2017 at 9:15:51 AM
it's probably good news that he's gotten the message that he didn't make the argument for ranked ballots loudly enough. there was a broken promise, here, but i think it's important to get the point across that the broken promise was about ranked ballots.


Darby Boon: The promise was electoral reform, not ranked ballots. The phony union accounts posting in favour of ranked ballots tells us what they want. Liberals and unions sitting on the same side of the bargaining table with no one representing the people. That's how it works in Liberal Ontario with the government handing the unions millions for coming to the table.

Me: ranked ballots had been in the liberal platform since 2006. i guess you never read it, did you?

it was stephane dion that first put ranked ballots in the platform, and it was designed to appeal to green party voters.

i don't remember hearing ignatieff say anything about ranked ballots, but dion campaigned heavily on it. it's been the official liberal party position for over a decade, and i'm actually glad to hear that it is still favoured by the prime minister. i guess i don't have any option but to hope that they come back to it in the future.

i'm sorry if you were misinformed on this fact. but, it is very important that voters take the time to understand what they are voting for. and, the platform was absolutely clear: a vote for trudeau was a vote for ranked ballots.

perhaps voters that were misinformed should take the time to analyze their sources and question if they are trustworthy, moving into the future.

https://sdion.liberal.ca/en/news-nouvelles/p3-voting-system-canada/


February 21, 2017 at 6:29:22 PM

mulroney is the biggest loser of all time - and this policy is stupid. they're not running for re-election in california they should throw mexico under the bus.

no. it's true. mulroney is the biggest loser of all time, due to the 1993 election.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-mulroney-guajardo-freeland-1.3992043


February 25, 2017 at 11:29:58 AM

the conservatives will be the third party within ten years.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/millennials-manning-conference-1.3998207

February 26, 2017 at 11:36:24 AM

"populism" on the right is always just a bunch of bankers telling voters what they want to hear in order to trick them into voting for them, then stabbing them in the back at the earliest opportunity (see: trump). it's not a movement by the people, it's a tactic by the elites. it's hegemony. that said, i have little fear that canadians are going to fall for this in large numbers. the greater issue, as always, relates to the split on the left. and, i'll be blunt: i'm not so afraid of these demagogues that i'll vote for pipeline trudeau in order to stop them.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wherry-conservatives-populism-1.3998318

February 26, 2017 at 11:56:05 AM

i moved from ottawa to windsor for similar reasons, after calculating that it was the best way to maximize use of an odsp "income". i'm living in a two bedroom basement apartment for less than the cost of a closet in ottawa. no, seriously - you can't even find a room in ottawa for what i'm paying, here. and, it's left me with significant disposal income....

at the end of the day, the prices will come down if they can't rent the units. and, if they *can* rent the units then they won't.

just realize this: for every person like me that is escaping the high rents of the wealthier cities for the luxury of greater disposable income, there's somebody that want to buy into it for reasons of status and class. we'll all vote with our wallets as to what society we want.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/high-rent-could-make-toronto-a-generational-ghost-town-1.3999022

February 26, 2017 at 12:41:59 PM

the entire premise that ivanka trump is a strong or independent woman is a joke. what she does is sell her name for use in product placement, just like her dad. she doesn't run anything. she doesn't organize anything. she was just lucky enough to be born with a name she can sell...

so, these shoes with her name on it. what did ivanka do with these shoes. she didn't design the shoes. she didn't raise the capital to bring the shoes to market. she just accepted a check from the company, in exchange for allowing them to put her name on them. then, the product gets marked up because it has a branding attached to it. that is all.

...and that's not anything that's being assigned to her. it's not "independence". it's not "strength". it's not "entrepreneurialism". it's parasitic, rentier capitalism and deserves a protest in and of itself for pointlessly raising costs and directing profits away from workers.

she's not a successful feminist executive, she's a princess with a revenue stream that she doesn't deserve. so, the premise that a feminist is being attacked, here, is preposterous.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/ivanka-trump-grabyourwallet-boycott-feminism-1.3998601

February 27, 2017 at 6:50:38 PM

awwww. the poor landlords.

awwwww.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/go-public-medical-marijuana-landlord-tenant-insurance-pulled-1.3985875

March 02, 2017 at 11:20:56 AM

see, i'd like to see them buy out the *generation*. it's not the hydro one sale that's boosting the prices, and the sad truth is that the ndp *does* know that - they're just not willing to actually take on the electricity generators.

as frustrating as this truth is, the liberals are going to remain the better option, here, until i see a serious proposal from the ndp about taking public control of the actual generation.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-hydro-price-plan-kathleen-wynne-1.4006021


March 28, 2017 at 5:09:25 AM

that's because the right time to talk about men is international women's day.

this is gutter politics, neil. every word of it. all of it meant to distract from real issues.

you're just doing exactly what they want you to.

no one had taken the bait. we should be proud of ourselves for that - we saw through it, and we ignored it. and, we should just put this article away and continue not taking the bait and continue seeing through it and continue ignoring it.

leave the gender war debates for facebook.

just remember this, kids: while you're sitting here arguing about gender, the government is laying pipelines across the country.

www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/gender-based-analysis-1.4043312

April 01, 2017 at 11:17:19 AM

banks are dime a dozen and mostly the same. so, if you switch to a different bank that hires here, the increased work volume will recreate those jobs.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/cibc-ceo-outsourcing-india-1.4050248


April 04, 2017 at 2:24:00 PM

these seats weren't in play.

when turnout is very low, conservatives always do unexpectedly well. and, yes, everybody should have expected low turnout. but, should they have expected such extremely low turnout? that's what they need to analyze, and none of us have that data accessible to us.

i mean, they're going to get the breakdown and determine whether turnout amongst millennial east asians with a university degree was lower than expected, at a statistically significant level. grenier surely isn't claiming he worked that out.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-byelections-2017-1.4054337


April 07, 2017 at 2:39:01 PM

Marshall Black: I seriously question the origin of the chemical weapons attack coming from assad. Why jeopardize his position, especially when he is under microscope.

He is either really stupid, which I highly doubt.... or he is not behind the chemical attacks.

Me: assad was always a powerless figurehead. but, the russians have been making the strategic decisions there for years. so, it's not even about assad's intelligence, or even putin's intelligence. the actual question you have to ask yourself is if the russian military would launch a sarin attack, given the other tools it has at it's disposal - and this is so absurd as to not bother contemplating. but, according to the article, that's what is next.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-u-s-response-syria-attack-1.4060817


April 07, 2017 at 3:16:00 PM

so, instead of concluding that this claim of a chemical attack is nearly impossible because the russians are operating the military in syria, they're suggesting the russians are complicit in the chemical attack. how much further down the rabbit hole are we going with this?

www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-u-s-response-syria-attack-1.4060817

April 07, 2017 at 3:25:35 PM

so, apparently we're supposed to sympathize with the "army of islam" (cited in the article...) in their fight against secularism, and see trump's reckless attack as "raising expectations" in our solidarity with their cause.

what planet was this article written on?

www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-syria-attacks-stoffel-1.4060525


April 07, 2017 at 3:27:37 PM

hopefully, the russians react by escalating their campaign to wipe out groups like the army of islam. and, history will have to scold us for picking the wrong side.

www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-syria-attacks-stoffel-1.4060525

April 09, 2017 at 12:53:19 AM

this is propaganda.
www.cbc.ca/news/world/syria-russia-civil-war-1.4052376


April 09, 2017 at 12:55:34 AM

the idea that russia is going to be removed from syria is delusional. but, i suppose we should not have expected different in the "post-truth" reality, although it's truly pathetic to see how quickly the media swallowed itself.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/syria-russia-civil-war-1.4052376


April 09, 2017 at 11:46:17 PM

this monarchist propaganda is tiring.

the reality is that the british imperialists used us as cannon fodder, to protect their own troops from being in the worst positions. our lives were worthless to them. this is why our casualties were so high.

in better times, the cbc has properly explained this to younger viewers. today, it wants to push shallow jingoism to rev kids up for war.

there is no celebration, here - nothing to be proud of, nothing to elevate. the war was senseless. and, the only thing good thing that came out of it was the resistance movement in quebec, and later on in winnipeg.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vimy-anniversary-trudeau-borden-comparison-1.4062553

April 23, 2017 at 11:51:40 AM

if this manifests itself in dessert bars, you could see it replace the after work margarita, and it would be a positive twist for public health. admit it: you know somebody that would jump at the opportunity to get a spiked piece of delicious cake after work.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-legalization-marijuana-edibles-1.4079341


May 13, 2017 at 2:10:17 AM

we have no reason to station troops in latvia and should immediately withdraw.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/russia-latvia-exercise-1.4111285


May 13, 2017 at 4:06:54 PM

we used to just print money for infrastructure projects.

i was initially under the impression that this was the purpose of the bank.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/the-house-sohi-infrastructure-bank-1.4113681

May 18, 2017 at 4:56:27 PM

johnny Wilkes: Why are taxpayers constantly asked to support artists and art? If there is a demand for it, people will pay for it. If there isn't, then why should taxpayers be forced to subsidize it?

me: because history teaches us that the market is almost never able to pick out good art from bad art. artists generally have a very difficult time in market economies, and need ways to escape the tyranny of market forces in order to be creative.

unfortunately, though, your premise is wrong. ideally, the state would step in and shield important artists from market forces, allowing them the freedom to be artists. in reality, these arts grants are largely just another type of corporate welfare.

www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/canadian-music-videos-much-fact-1.4120454

May 18, 2017 at 6:15:39 PM

the premise of the state providing funding for artists is a positive one, but the government has this whole thing backwards. what the state should be doing is stepping in to help serious artists that are producing historically valuable art, but cannot find a market in the present - as so much historically valuable art in fact cannot. what the state does, instead, is act as a kind of taxpayer-funded venture capital to help get profitable entertainers a foot into existing markets. this is something that should be done by record labels, not by taxpayers.

and, see, i wouldn't even have a problem funding pop "artists" if real artists were equally funded, but they simply aren't. all of the money goes to incubating these poorly talented but potentially profitable entertainers, instead - with the focus being on putting the most resources into the entertainers that have the highest potential for large profits. that functionally takes money away from real arts funding. and, it's backwards, because it's not where state funds are required.

the artists that really need the funds are the ones with no commercial potential at all! that's what the artist grants are supposed to be about: giving actually important artists the ability to create art without being subject to the whims of the market.

so, sure: let's have more money for artists. i'm all for that. but, let's drop the corporate welfare disguised as arts grants, too.

Matt Helm: hard to know what art will be later seen as "historically valuable."

Me: that's a cop-out. it really isn't.

but i can be concrete: funding a silver mt zion and do make say think is funding art. but, funding cadence weapon and shawn mendes is just corporate welfare.

www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/canadian-music-videos-much-fact-1.4120454


June 14, 2017 at 7:47:22 PM

Tim Bitz: "the Trudeau government's representative in the Senate"

Is this code for "Liberal senator", since Trudeau made a huge deal out of not referring to Liberal appointed senators as Liberal Senators?

Me: peter harder is a progressive/conservative, actually - as is much of trudeau's intelligentsia.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peter-harder-point-order-infrastructure-bank-1.4161101

June 14, 2017 at 8:07:50 PM

if they can't pass a budget, shouldn't that trigger an election?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-budget-alcohol-duty-senate-1.4160211

June 14, 2017 at 8:18:51 PM

if they can't pass a budget, shouldn't that trigger an election?

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peter-harder-point-order-infrastructure-bank-1.4161101

June 20, 2017 at 10:32:37 AM

just sell it in the spice rack at the grocery store. no taxes on groceries, right?

i'm serious: the only way this is going to work is if they sell it in existing stores. there's no reason to create a new store. you can sell it in grocery stores, corner stores, pharmacies, the lcbo, the beer store, smoke shops, head shops - whatever. but, the store has to already exist, or the overhead will be impossible.

forget taxes. dealers don't have to pay rent. they don't have to pay salaries. they don't have to pay benefits.

the infrastructure of an existing store is imperative.

but, you put the herb in the herb section. obviously.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/provincial-marijuana-sales-retail-1.4167735

June 22, 2017 at 7:34:20 AM

how does don pittis remain employed? this is characteristic junk from him. he's reading the official unemployment rate, rather than the real one, which is still over 10%. removing workers from the market because they can't find a job doesn't mean that there's a deficit of them, it actually means that there's a tremendous surplus of them. in the current economy, you would actually expect that the pressures on wages would be downwards, which is what we're seeing.

www.cbc.ca/news/business/inflation-canada-outlook-1.4167888

on third thought.

if i'm moving machines, i'm going to have to do some archiving.

yeah.

the review process is just the front end of it.

hopefully, that's quick enough.

on second thought, i'm actually going to get back to the concert reviews - finally.

i'll be taking this machine offline within a few weeks. i'm going to export when i sleep, so i'll set it all up. but, i'm going to focus mostly on the reviews.

i could hopefully even be finished it by the time the new machine gets here.

i honestly haven't had a phone in ten years.

should i get a new ring tone, or go back to my old one?

skip to 4:11.

it seems obvious to me that they should have asked him to move.

in the end, it's perhaps a functionally trivial difference regarding who moves and who does not, but shifting the prerogative to the religious person places the burden of the social stigma on the person that is behaving in an anti-social manner, which is where it belongs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/world/middleeast/israeli-woman-who-sued-el-al-for-sexism-wins-landmark-ruling.html

i think we should absolutely be treating faith as a mental health issue.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/how-do-you-distinguish-between-religious-fervor-and-mental-illness/

but, trying to set the issue up as religion v mental health is also missing the point.

i actually think that scientology makes a kind of deep observation in it's cynicism about the relationship between religion and mental health: religion is dangerous precisely because it exploits those of poor mental health. it's a control mechanism, after all. the difference is that the christian church has evolved from an instrument of conquest, as it certainly was, into a capitalist institution that seeks to use it's control to exploit the vulnerable into raising capital, while the muslim church remains an instrument of conquest for an elite in the arabian peninsula, who continue to spread the ideology in order to dominate resources.

that's what you can't separate: religion and mental health. religion requires a disaffected population, or disaffected members of a population, in order to thrive. and, those disaffected members of the population seek out religion as an escape from reality.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-flint-couillard-muslisms-1.4173300

this is remarkably stupid.

liberal voters do not want an independent senate that is going to obstruct the agenda of a liberal majority, they want hyper-partisan senators that are going to rubber stamp the parliament's initiatives. i would hope that the government is appointing liberal senators. i'd be rather upset if it turned out it wasn't.

but, who thinks that liberal senators are going to block a budget over tax increases? what so-called liberals are these? sounds pretty conservative, if you ask me.

i have no support for the government's changes in the senate, and expect that the next government will make it an immediate priority to return to a partisan senate.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-backs-down-budget-bill-1.4173090

actually, i think that individuals going to north korea should assume their own risks.

going to north korea to "spread the gospel" and getting killed is in darwin award territory.

reminds me of the guy that wanted to preach to the lions and got mauled.

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/22/trudeau-must-step-up-to-the-plate-for-pastor-jailed-in-north-korea