[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[HVC]

Don't you folks get mandatory French classes in school? Why is French proficiency so terrible in anglocanada?

In English Canada, they begin French classes only in high school (Lycée), and or 5 years.

Anything else is optional.

That new? I started in elementary school.

[Josephus]

Don't you folks get mandatory French classes in school? Why is French proficiency so terrible in anglocanada?

In English Canada, they begin French classes only in high school (Lycée), and or 5 years.

Anything else is optional.

No. They do teach basic French starting at Grade 3 or 4. At least in Ontario

here it is:

"Core French is the mandatory program for all Ontario students who are in English programs. This program begins in Grade 4 and is offered through elementary school to Grade 8. It offers one period of French instruction per day."

[viper37]

Don't you folks get mandatory French classes in school? Why is French proficiency so terrible in anglocanada?

In English Canada, they begin French classes only in high school (Lycée), and or 5 years.

Anything else is optional.

No. They do teach basic French starting at Grade 3 or 4. At least in Ontario

here it is:

"Core French is the mandatory program for all Ontario students who are in English programs. This program begins in Grade 4 and is offered through elementary school to Grade 8. It offers one period of French instruction per day."

I was mistaken then.
When I did my exchange, the students had just begun their classes.
We began in grade 4 back in my days, now they begin in grade 1, but with less hours.
There are some public schools with optional intensive programs in English, something non existent in my days though.

[Grey Fox]

Once a day?!

That's more french than what English we teach in our primary schools.

[Admiral Yi]

I think I already told the story about the Canadians I knew in Korea.  They said one year the French language class was PE.  The teacher would say bonjour, throw them a ball and that was it.

[viper37]

I think I already told the story about the Canadians I knew in Korea.  They said one year the French language class was PE.  The teacher would say bonjour, throw them a ball and that was it.

First time I heard the story.


But I told my story of how nightmarish my Spanish class was.  Beginner's class for Spanish, supposedly for people who never spoke Spanish before.  There was me an another dude who never spoke Spanish before, the others all came from international schools or had traveled extensively through Mexico and/or South America before. 

And of course, the teacher only spoke French during the first class and for a little bit before the exams.   All the classes were in Spanish.  Made us listen to songs about the Che and Fidel Castro. 

[viper37]

Free article:
NDP open to waiving end-of-year deadline for pharmacare legislation

NDP is in a tough spot.

They could retract their support and go for an election.  And the Conservatives win.  And not get anything.  Or wait one more year to negotiate with the Libs.

But it's going to displease their fans.

[crazy canuck]

The NDP are like the BC Greens.  They made themselves irrelevant rather than using the legislative tools available to them to pressure the government to make the legislative changes they required.  Which is the traditional role of the NDP.

Having made themselves irrelevant it's going to be hard for them to explain why anyone  should vote for them on the next election.

[viper37]

Agree.  Signing a long term deal with the Liberal Party and cautioning them on everything thereafter was the worst possible deal they could have made.

[viper37]

Pierre Poilievre's lousy week of leadership

The editorial is free.

At some point in the life of the official opposition in the House of Commons, the party – and especially its leader – need to start auditioning for the role of government.

A good time to do that is when you're leading by miles in the polls and an election could come any time in the next two years. And a good way to do it is to demonstrate that you have the judgment and temperament for the serious job of running a G7 nation.

By that score, the Conservatives and their leader, Pierre Poilievre, just had a lousy week. Given opportunities to demonstrate leadership, they instead showed themselves to be petty, partisan and disingenuous.

[...]

[Jacob]

The NDP are like the BC Greens.  They made themselves irrelevant rather than using the legislative tools available to them to pressure the government to make the legislative changes they required.  Which is the traditional role of the NDP.

Having made themselves irrelevant it's going to be hard for them to explain why anyone  should vote for them on the next election.

I guess if you are seriously sick of Trudeau and find Poillievre appalling, Singh can be a reasonable protest vote even if the NDP haven't played their cards ideally.

I'm not saying YOU should vote for the NDP, but that could be a reason someone else does.

[viper37]

The NDP are like the BC Greens.  They made themselves irrelevant rather than using the legislative tools available to them to pressure the government to make the legislative changes they required.  Which is the traditional role of the NDP.

Having made themselves irrelevant it's going to be hard for them to explain why anyone  should vote for them on the next election.

I guess if you are seriously sick of Trudeau and find Poillievre appalling, Singh can be a reasonable protest vote even if the NDP haven't played their cards ideally.

I'm not saying YOU should vote for the NDP, but that could be a reason someone else does.

When you look at the polls, you have young people, people you would expect to vote left, and people who are usually voting left deserting the NPD for the Cons.  That is a bad sign for Singh.

[crazy canuck]

The NDP are like the BC Greens.  They made themselves irrelevant rather than using the legislative tools available to them to pressure the government to make the legislative changes they required.  Which is the traditional role of the NDP.

Having made themselves irrelevant it's going to be hard for them to explain why anyone  should vote for them on the next election.

I guess if you are seriously sick of Trudeau and find Poillievre appalling, Singh can be a reasonable protest vote even if the NDP haven't played their cards ideally.

I'm not saying YOU should vote for the NDP, but that could be a reason someone else does.

That would be the logic if the NDP had not essentially become a subsidiary of the liberal party.

But it's not really a protest vote if you were voting for the party that will prop up the liberals.


I suspect that is why the conservatives are enjoying so much support by people who would probably ordinarily vote NDP.

[crazy canuck]

Pierre Poilievre's lousy week of leadership

The editorial is free.

At some point in the life of the official opposition in the House of Commons, the party – and especially its leader – need to start auditioning for the role of government.

A good time to do that is when you're leading by miles in the polls and an election could come any time in the next two years. And a good way to do it is to demonstrate that you have the judgment and temperament for the serious job of running a G7 nation.

By that score, the Conservatives and their leader, Pierre Poilievre, just had a lousy week. Given opportunities to demonstrate leadership, they instead showed themselves to be petty, partisan and disingenuous.

[...]

Yeah at some point PP has to stop just playing to his cheerleading base. He already has them.


But from his perspective is polling results are rewarding him for this sort of behavior.  So why change?


Hopefully, he has some advisors, who are not simply true believers, and will point out to him that his popularity is in direct proportion to Trudeau's collapse of popularity.

At some point the liberals might just decide to get rid of Trudeau and then where does that leave PP?  If at that point he is just a right wing attack dog, I don't think he will have much electoral success.

[Barrister]

I guess if you are seriously sick of Trudeau and find Poillievre appalling, Singh can be a reasonable protest vote even if the NDP haven't played their cards ideally.

I'm not saying YOU should vote for the NDP, but that could be a reason someone else does.

I mean obviously some people are going to find the NDP palatable.  The following isn't to specifically run down the NDP.

I also feel like I can criticize the NDP as an NDP voter. 

But really, entering into a coalition government (or even just a "confidence and supply" agreement") is almost inevitably a lose-lose for the minor party.  The dilemma is always thus: if people like what the government is doing, they are going to give credit to the major party.  If people dislike what the government is doing, they are going to dislike any party involved in the government.

This isn't just a Canadian phenomenon - we've seen this in Europe as well.

So anyways - I think Singh's signing the confidence and supply agreement with Trudeau was a huge mistake.

Let's take the principle promise extracted by the NDP to enter into the agreement - a national dental program.  I mean - I haven't noticed it yet.  Looking at it, it covers 1. kids under 12 2. families earning under $90k 3. who aren't otherwise covered for dental programs and 4. you have to apply and are granted a rebate afterwards.  This is to say - it doesn't actually affect most people in Canada (most people don't have kids under 12, many of those who do have dental coverage, and if you're really poor you don't have the money to pay and then get a rebate anyways).

And if you do benefit from the dental program you're going to go "great!  Thank you Justin Trudeau!"  You have to be deeply invested in politics to go "oh wait - they only did this because of the NDP".

So yes, while the NDP can still pick up some protest votes, I don't think they are well-placed in an upcoming election.