[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[viper37]

A judge wearing a turban or a Yamaha* doesn't oppress you or force you to worship.

Me?  No, not at this moment.
Members of their own etchnic communities who are then led to believe they're not "real" if they're not like them?  Absolutetly.  And it happens.

And then we're one stop away from having people whose decisions are guided by their faith, not by the law.  If you can't live 8hrs in a day without showing your cross to everyone at work, it means you are a religious integrist, and I can't trust you to make the right decisions in every case.  All I'm left with, is trusting someone like Amy Coney Barret to make the right decision while in authority.  Imho, showing you political and/or religious symbols 24/24 7/7 is a bad start if you want me to believe in your neutrality, as a representative of the State.

Now if they start expressing judgements counter to the law based on religious beliefs fire their ass.

By then it's too late.  And some people will try to invote the same bullshit as in the US: "oh, that was before".  And they won't write it in their judgement, or spell it out in their arguments, but it'll be there.  Just like it was in the 50s in Quebec, before we kicked out religion of our public institutions.  Religion is making a come back in force, much more extremist than it was before and if you read anything about Quebec prior to the 60s, it wasn't exactly the mild catholicism we have today where everyone knows it place.

But that hold true if they were being racists or sexist or any other occurrence where prejudice affects their judgement.

And again, when you start invoking your religious priviledge, it's basically a get-out-of-jail free card for any of this.  Discrimination against LGBT+ is pretty much legalized under Trump in the US, since there's no penalty for it.  It's illegal, but not sanctionned.  Racism is quite fine in many govt agencies, because it's a religious thing and religious freedom is sacred.

We've had honour crimes, more than once resulting in death, more often in severe injuries or trauma.  These things were widely tolerated.  When a govt tried to act against it, it was labeled as racist since it's so much ingrained in Canada's modern DNA.

I don't want to be in a society like that, in a society when we simply shrug as people's freedom become more&more restricted under penalty of exclusion or worst.

I ain't forcing people to abandon their beliefs.  I ain't forcing them to live by my values.  But I'm asking for a compromise: no extremism on my turf.  All over the country, employers are able to enact strict clothing rules.  But not the government of Quebec...  That's just silly.

A judge can't wear a MAGA cap, even if he says it does not influence his decisions.  But he can wear a kippa, a turban, anything he wants so long as he claims it is a sincerly held religious belief.  Yet, both are exactly the same.

BB couldn't work if he had a Conservative Party of Canada pin on his chest.  He wouldn't appear neutral, he would be considered untrustwhorty for his position.  He represents the State, not his political affiliation.  But when it comes to religion, it becomes fine.  You can believe whatever you want, but you can't express it publicly at work.  Except if it's religious in nature.

That's just hypocrisy from English Canada.

*Yakama is automatically capitalizes by Apple? Nefarious jews!    

Don't know about yakama, but Yamaha sure is

[Josephus]

Not sure why they're giving O'toole air time now. He's giving a partisan speech. This isn't a debate. Are they going to allow Trudeau to comment back?

Equal time by the networks.  The parties can use it as they wish.

Why? This wasn't a partisan campaign speech, but an address to the nation.
They didn't give the opposition equal time after JT's daily COVID briefings. I thought that was odd.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure why they're giving O'toole air time now. He's giving a partisan speech. This isn't a debate. Are they going to allow Trudeau to comment back?

Equal time by the networks.  The parties can use it as they wish.

Why? This wasn't a partisan campaign speech, but an address to the nation.
They didn't give the opposition equal time after JT's daily COVID briefings. I thought that was odd.

Its the difference between a press conference (the COVID briefings where he took questions) and a formal address to a nation and on the day of the Throne Speech.  The Canadian networks have always given the opposition equal time for those addresses.  No reason to depart from that now.

It is interesting that the way we consume news these days has changed our perception of this.  Back in the day a national address was a big deal because it pre-empted what we would normally be watching during prime time.  But the notion of watching TV during prime time is an antiquated notion so it sort of looks like just another press statement being covered by whatever medium we consume content.

Also, I think it is important to recognize that each of the leaders gave addresses which they thought would best serve their own partisan purposes.  Trudeau desperately wants to turn the page on all the reasons he prorogated Parliament by attempting to go back to the COVID messaging - that is why his address was focused on that issue.  O'Toole wants to focus attention on the government shortcomings and the Bloc wants to draw attention to their successes in promoting their Quebec first agenda.   

[Barrister]

I meant to post about this the other day... Trump approves a $22 billion dollar proposed railway from Alberta to Alaska.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/a2a-railway-1.5740678

I mean - we'll see if it happens.  That's almost crazy - a 2000km+ railway through in some places total wilderness.  Who does that any more?

But here's the former Yukoner (and northern Albertan) coming out in me.  Checking out the route, this railway will go through several old stomping grounds of mine.  It'll pass through High Level, AB, Watson Lake and Ross River YT (all towns I've done court in many, many times).  Those are all towns that could seriously use the economic boost something like this could provide.

[Duque de Bragança]

What's next? Behring Strait railway crossing?

[Grey Fox]

It's a good idea.

[viper37]

I meant to post about this the other day... Trump approves a $22 billion dollar proposed railway from Alberta to Alaska.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/a2a-railway-1.5740678

I mean - we'll see if it happens.  That's almost crazy - a 2000km+ railway through in some places total wilderness.  Who does that any more?

But here's the former Yukoner (and northern Albertan) coming out in me.  Checking out the route, this railway will go through several old stomping grounds of mine.  It'll pass through High Level, AB, Watson Lake and Ross River YT (all towns I've done court in many, many times).  Those are all towns that could seriously use the economic boost something like this could provide.

if there is sufficient demand for such a service, why not?

[Barrister]

I meant to post about this the other day... Trump approves a $22 billion dollar proposed railway from Alberta to Alaska.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/a2a-railway-1.5740678

I mean - we'll see if it happens.  That's almost crazy - a 2000km+ railway through in some places total wilderness.  Who does that any more?

But here's the former Yukoner (and northern Albertan) coming out in me.  Checking out the route, this railway will go through several old stomping grounds of mine.  It'll pass through High Level, AB, Watson Lake and Ross River YT (all towns I've done court in many, many times).  Those are all towns that could seriously use the economic boost something like this could provide.

if there is sufficient demand for such a service, why not?

Well the big driver of this, of course, would be shipping Alaska oil down south.

But (coming back to Yukon of course) that could be a huge game-changer for developing more mines.  The cost to get ore out of Yukon was always a huge obstacle - a train would change the costs dramatically.

[viper37]

I should have known about the oil.  I thought it was more economical to use ships though and have it refined on the west coast. Guess I was wrong in my assumption.

[Barrister]

I did not know that the Washington Post employs a once-a-week columnist to write about Canadian politics (and apparently from a right-of-centre view), but now I know better.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/30/trudeau-says-he-wants-tackle-systemic-racism-he-should-start-with-reforming-bilingualism/?arc404=true

The writer goes through and lists (with pictures) a whole bunch of important public servants in Canada: the Justices of the Supreme Court, officers of Parliament, heads of the Canadian Forces, board of the Bank of Canada, and federal Deputy Ministers.  A total of 68 people - every single one white.

I won't post the whole article, but here's the conclusion:

It's always been curious how otherwise impeccably woke Canadians can turn into rigidly ideological meritocrats whenever the obviously discriminatory aspects of official bilingualism are raised. No less a wokester than Trudeau himself once declared Canadians who aren't multilingual simply "lazy," and this seems to be a popular rationalization. The fact that "anyone" can, in theory, learn to speak any language is often bluntly asserted as the reason why requiring French fluency can't possibly be discriminatory — a logic many of these same people would surely find faulty if used to defend, say, exclusively hiring Ivy League grads or imposing a literacy test on voters.

Even more distressing, however, is when those with the most to lose from this system rush to defend it. Noted political celebrity Leslyn Lewis, for instance, is a Black immigrant from Jamaica who rose from humble beginnings to achieve an impressive legal career and came close to winning the leadership of the Conservative Party. Yet she embarrassed herself during her campaign by awkwardly and unsuccessfully attempting to gain overnight fluency in French, simply because that's what Canadian received wisdom says you have to do to be taken seriously as a federal politician.

Canada can have a government that at least attempts to resemble the elaborately diverse nation it governs, or it can have one where the most important jobs are hogged by a small White subculture because 50 years ago we decided the most important issue of inclusion was accommodating the country's French Canadian minority without English skills — a group that is now just 12 percent of the population.

But it cannot have both.

[crazy canuck]

That is an odd conclusion that somehow it is not possible for people of colour to learn French.  It also ignores entirely that we had a Black GG of Haitian heritage who spoke fluent French.

I agree that Trudeau does not walk the talk.  But the rest of the points are cherry picking at best.

[Barrister]

That is an odd conclusion that somehow it is not possible for people of colour to learn French.  It also ignores entirely that we had a Black GG of Haitian heritage who spoke fluent French.

It's not that people of colour can't learn French - it's that it's very difficult to learn a second language as an adult, never mind a third.  How many immigrants to Canada do you know that even after years or decades in the country still haven't mastered English?

I started typing out how someone from Haiti is the exception that proves the rule, since French is an official language of that country.  But it sounds like Michaelle Jean is just a language freak - she is fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Haitian Creole.  Which is great for her, but expecting our civil servants to all have that kind of ability with language is unrealistic.

[Grey Fox]

Leslyn Lewis didn't fail because she doesn't speak french.

Yeah, it's hard to learn a new language has an adult. If you can't do it, it might be proof that you are not fit to be a top civil servant in the, apparently, 68 categories.

For fuck sake, if our different language pisses you all so much the next time it comes up, let us leave this dumb racist country.

[crazy canuck]

That is an odd conclusion that somehow it is not possible for people of colour to learn French.  It also ignores entirely that we had a Black GG of Haitian heritage who spoke fluent French.

It's not that people of colour can't learn French - it's that it's very difficult to learn a second language as an adult, never mind a third.  How many immigrants to Canada do you know that even after years or decades in the country still haven't mastered English?

I started typing out how someone from Haiti is the exception that proves the rule, since French is an official language of that country.  But it sounds like Michaelle Jean is just a language freak - she is fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Haitian Creole.  Which is great for her, but expecting our civil servants to all have that kind of ability with language is unrealistic.

It is not "very difficult" within Federal institutions. There are lots of examples of adults learning French so they can progress within Federal public service.  The Federal government provides language training for this very purpose.

The main problem with Conservative politicians is they leave learning French way too late.  If someone has any ambition to climb the heights of public service (including politicians), learning the two official languages should be part of their plan, not an after thought.

 

[Barrister]

It is not "very difficult" within Federal institutions. There are lots of examples of adults learning French so they can progress within Federal public service.  The Federal government provides language training for this very purpose.

The main problem with Conservative politicians is they leave learning French way too late.  If someone has any ambition to climb the heights of public service (including politicians), learning the two official languages should be part of their plan, not an after thought.

Which is why the article talks about "systemic barriers".  French language training within the government involves going to French language training in Quebec for a number of months.  Yes you're still paid to do so, but being able up uproot your life for a number of months (while you probably have a number of obligations at home) requires a certain degree of privilege.  Similarly being able to plan for your peak career goals early on also requires some privilege.