[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Well no matter who was suing whom, what I mean is Canadas policy has to diversify.

Canadians have always been bitching about Quebec language laws and their obligations to translate everything in French, and have websites in French.

Can't wait to see their reactions they learn about the realities of European trade.

If they thought it was generating massive, unbearable expense to have a website translated in French(!), it's got to run in the tens of millions $ ( ) to service all European languages.

We've got items that do indeed carry about 2 dozen languages, but likewise we have products that carry only a select amount, or even 2 or 1.
Just observation (and some personal experience from when I made labels for animal feeds), don't ask me for the laws though. So it seems you don't need to put the languages of countries you're not selling your product in on the package or on the manuals...

[Bauer]

Can't AI do translation now a days?

[viper37]

Can't AI do translation now a days?

Partially.  It's better at translating some languages into English than anything from English to another language.

It will get better over time.  I kinda suspect English language models won't be the next priority though.

[viper37]

Poilievre Stop in Fish Plant Smells


More MAGA stuff by Poilièvre's team.

The day started with Poilievre landing in St John's and giving a closed news conference in a nearby construction company warehouse. There were more reporters and staffers than the few candidates and employees they rounded up to act as a backdrop for the cameras. They were late. Poilievre gave a long, awkward, stumbling speech, first in French and repeated in English. And then they were running very late.

When they arrived in Petty Harbour a staffer they had hired had already pissed off a number of reporters who arrived early, by telling them to sit in their cars until they were called. That didn't go over very well and set the tone for the next hour.

The location was on a public wharf for the arrival, and then inside the local fisherman's co-op fish plant for the speech.

When the staffers had the six young No Place For Hate protesters kicked off the wharf with threats, they ordered the media present inside the fish plant before Poilievre's bus arrived. All declined the staffer's commands. The staff got very aggressive, and insisted reporters do as they said, presumably so reporters could not photograph or record the arrival. It's obvious that Poilievre's people only want the media to record the speech for TV, not get anything else, and leave.

One local photographer met some old Petty Harbour friends who were looking on, and was catching up with them when another Conservative Party staffer in a Conservative Party tour jacket and radio head pieces interrupted their private conversation and told the photographer to get inside the fish plant. The photographer replied firmly that the young man should mind his own business and go away.
He took the hint and went down the wharf organizing what seemed to be 30 people brought in for the event into a line to greet Poilievre before he went inside to make his speech. The few bystanders who were not a part of that group were kept out of this designated area.

This was all before Poilievre's bus arrived.

The bus arrived and reporters were told to go stand on a doorstep 50 feet away. When they refused a staffer attempted to block their way, to the point he raised his arms and pushed one photographer back. He was about to grab the photographer when others intervened. One witness said it looked like he was about to throw the photographer on the ground.

Beside the assault and aggression, what is happening here is a carefully contrived and controlled scene in a public space, stage-managed for the party photographer and video crew to get content for their ad campaigns. 

They don't want any real media present to ask questions or record anything off-script. This is also why the Conservative Party does not allow news media to travel with them on their plane or buses. They don't want to answer questions from journalists or have any photos or video made that they cannot control or manipulate. NOTE: The Liberal Party and the NDP do allow journalists to travel with them, and the news agencies pay their share of the expenses.

Yes, all political parties do this, try to control the scene and the environment. But most are not physically aggressive or threatening. After many years of covering election campaigns in Canada, USA and Europe, the Conservative Party of Canada is the most outwardly aggressive and uncivilized that I've witnessed. It's on par with Viktor Orbán in Hungary and the Republican Party in the USA.

This behaviour by the Conservatives is not new for this election. In Canada, it started with Stephen Harper. I remember on this same wharf in the 2006 election campaign where Harper had a staffer threaten reporters with arrest when they were shut out of the local hall where Harper was giving a speech. Harper won that election and it was the beginning of the Conservative Party's animosity towards the news media. Especially the CBC.

Which was denied their questions at Poilievre's stops in St John's and Petty Harbour.

Outside of a few seconds on local TV, Canadians will not see the spectacle from the wharf in Petty Harbour. Complaints will be filed. Nothing will be done. All "inside baseball," people will say.

It is my wish that Canadians could see what reporters and photographers really see on a daily basis. The Behind-The-Scenes. The stuff that doesn't make it to the two-minute hit on the national news of the carefully manipulated events and machinations of political operators.

I wish they could see the ignorance and incivility of the people who work for the political parties.
If they did, they might get a better idea of how a party leader, their party staff and supporters act during an election. Because if they act like that when they need to make people like them, then we can easily predict how they will act if they are elected to power.

[Jacob]

Well no matter who was suing whom, what I mean is Canadas policy has to diversify.

Canadians have always been bitching about Quebec language laws and their obligations to translate everything in French, and have websites in French.

Can't wait to see their reactions they learn about the realities of European trade.

If they thought it was generating massive, unbearable expense to have a website translated in French(!), it's got to run in the tens of millions $ ( ) to service all European languages.

Personally I'm embracing our French language laws as part of our Canadian identity.

French everything up, across the board! 

[HVC]

The language laws make sense, and I've never heard anyone bitch about the labeling stuff (except for trump I guess). Although, to be fair, some of the stuff seems super petty to me when it goes to weird levels like the double size text for French text


*edit* I think I also took exception to hospital stuff mentioned here a while back about anglos not getting service, but I can't recall if I misunderstood or not.

*edit 2* on further reflection I'm way against the monetary penalties against the Anglo universities which we discussed a while back, which I guess falls under language laws?

[Jacob]

Vancouver is having a civic by-election today, for two city counselors.

Last time a billionaire funded "common sense", "the city should invest in bitcoin", "more police will solve the fentanyl and homeless crises" guy won and mostly swept council. The two new counselors won't affect the mayor's majority, so by some measures the election is mostly pointless.

I'm in the line up to vote right now and it's massive. Reports are that they're big across the city. The early voting lines were big too.

People seem a bit fired up about democracy right now.

[crazy canuck]

Can't AI do translation now a days?

About as well as it figures out how to impose tariffs.

[Jacob]

Three and half hours in the lineup to vote. A big part, apparently, because there just weren't enough polling places and ballot counting machines. I'd estimate that the folks at the end of the lineup when I left will have about a four hour wait.

Looking forward to the results.

[Bauer]

You really went through all that trouble just for a couple city councillors?  I don't think I've ever even voted for a councillor before, never knew much about any of them beyond a brief bio to make any kind of decision.

I'd really like to see cities amalgamate and make civic elections more meaningful. In my town the last election featured there Mayor of 20ish years vs the retired navy guy who said his friends convinced him to run since there was nobody else running against the mayor.  And he won, and the old mayor is now a councillor.

[viper37]

*edit* I think I also took exception to hospital stuff mentioned here a while back about anglos not getting service, but I can't recall if I misunderstood or not.


*edit 2* on further reflection I'm way against the monetary penalties against the Anglo universities which we discussed a while back, which I guess falls under language laws?

1) Anglos are getting services in their language.  No one is denied service for not speaking English.  Although there are bitchy people in call centers (811) when you call, and English is one of the reason why they can be bitchy.  It happens when you speak French too.  You have to waste your time and try to call back a few days later to get someone nicer.  That's why I prefer to use the internet service and wait for someone to call me back when they are better disposed.

2) This applies to out of Quebec students.  It's not a penalty for university, it's higher tuition fees.  As always, English universities were supposed to be devastated, but they weren't.  Foreign and Canadian students still come to study in these universities, and often go back to their province and/or country of origin.  We just don't subsidize their education anymore.

[viper37]

Can't AI do translation now a days?

About as well as it figures out how to impose tariffs.

[viper37]

You really went through all that trouble just for a couple city councillors?  I don't think I've ever even voted for a councillor before

I've never voted for a city councillor either.
Neither have I voted for a mayor.

I could have voted while I was living in an apartment in the city, but didn't feel too concerned by this for the few years I was there in my 20s.

Once I moved back here, there has been no election for the city councillor, it's still the same councillor as when I was a kid (my neighbour - well, now, my 3rd neighbour), and there has never been a mayoral election since I before I had the right the vote, there's never been a challenger to any of the candidates.

[crazy canuck]

You really went through all that trouble just for a couple city councillors?  I don't think I've ever even voted for a councillor before, never knew much about any of them beyond a brief bio to make any kind of decision.

I'd really like to see cities amalgamate and make civic elections more meaningful. In my town the last election featured there Mayor of 20ish years vs the retired navy guy who said his friends convinced him to run since there was nobody else running against the mayor.  And he won, and the old mayor is now a councillor.

I don't vote in the city of Vancouver but my impression is the electorate their have realized they made a mistake in the last general municipal election.

[Grey Fox]

I vote for everything. I was part of the 3% that voted in the school board elections.