[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[HVC]

I am not sure if this is still accurate - but it used to be said there are three levels of understanding.

The first level is if you understand enough to make a note of what has been said*

I trained a guy, great guy mind you, but his note taking was the bane of my existence. I was training him as a replacement. And his notes were so damn detailed, in my view to a detrimental level. I gave a months notice so it's not like he was in a rush to note everything. Anyway, I digress, my main point of contention was that instead of understanding why or what he was doing he was so focused on writing that he wasn't catching on. I tried several times to gently guide him into focusing on why we were doing things but it was in vain. If he ever misplaced that notebook he'd be screwed

It could be just because I learn differently so I find it baffling, but I don't get people that learn by rote. One little change and they get flustered and screw everything up. And I know a lot of people that learn that way.

[Bauer]

A lot of people get focused on work procedure rather than grasping the conceptual level, unfortunately.

[crazy canuck]

I am not sure if this is still accurate - but it used to be said there are three levels of understanding.

The first level is if you understand enough to make a note of what has been said*

I trained a guy, great guy mind you, but his note taking was the bane of my existence. I was training him as a replacement. And his notes were so damn detailed, in my view to a detrimental level. I gave a months notice so it's not like he was in a rush to note everything. Anyway, I digress, my main point of contention was that instead of understanding why or what he was doing he was so focused on writing that he wasn't catching on. I tried several times to gently guide him into focusing on why we were doing things but it was in vain. If he ever misplaced that notebook he'd be screwed

It could be just because I learn differently so I find it baffling, but I don't get people that learn by rote. One little change and they get flustered and screw everything up. And I know a lot of people that learn that way.

Yeah, exactly - same concept.  Not understanding what is being said, just recording what is being said to read later, and hopefully understand.

[Bauer]

So Trump is now talking of military action on Mexican cartels.  If that does come to pass I think that's a major escalation and destabilizing event on this continent.

If America ever uses military coercion on Canada what does that look like?  My guess would be in the arctic where we have limited ability to respond.

[Jacob]

What are the US' arctic capabilities?

In any case, what the hypothetical military action would be depends on what bullshit reason Trump might cook up for using force against Canada and what he'd be aiming to get out of it. Who knows what it could be... kidnap Carney, blow up a bridge, patrol Vancouver for illegal immigrants and shoot random people in cars, shoot some cruise missiles at a purported FLQ base in Quebec? Could be anything really.

[Josephus]

Personally I have found that notes I take on a computer do basically nothing for my learning, while notes taking with pen and paper help cement the learning.

I'm pretty sure there's  hard evidence to back that up.

[Bauer]

What are the US' arctic capabilities?

In any case, what the hypothetical military action would be depends on what bullshit reason Trump might cook up for using force against Canada and what he'd be aiming to get out of it. Who knows what it could be... kidnap Carney, blow up a bridge, patrol Vancouver for illegal immigrants and shoot random people in cars, shoot some cruise missiles at a purported FLQ base in Quebec? Could be anything really.

Well they do have a lot of submarines which are the most ice capable vessels of all.  Not sure what kind of operational capacity / experience Americans have in arctic.

For Canada, The Harry de wolf class is fortunately operational now, which I think should be an important part of asserting canadas sovereignty up there. 

I believe the Nunavut refueling base is finally operational but it took forever to build.  They have plans for a couple more arctic bases.

[Oexmelin]

Francois Legault is resigning.

[HVC]

Wonder what dirts coming out?

[Oexmelin]

I'm not sure it's a lot of dirt. Only a lot of unpopularity, and a chance for another leader to, perhaps, retain something for the CAQ during the elections next fall.

[HVC]

I was hoping he had a unilingual anglo love child or something

[Grey Fox]

He's old, he's deeply unpopular and the polls are leaning towards 0 MPs from a Ultramajority. Hopefully, their next is leader is young and not another boomer or an X.

[HVC]

I know why some segments would find him distasteful, but why have his voters turned against him? Since Oex mentions a chance of saving the party I assume the people haven't turned against the party itself?

[viper37]

I know why some segments would find him distasteful, but why have his voters turned against him? Since Oex mentions a chance of saving the party I assume the people haven't turned against the party itself?

He makes one step forward and two steps back.

Things haven't gone to shit, but they haven't really improved either.  Too many compromised, not enough of an hard stance against certain groups, too many half measures.

As usual, the left is against everything, so it's really no surprise they despise him.  The populist right hate him because of the pandemic.  He's squeezed in the middle, no clear position on anything.

The immigration issues have hurt us a lot, and while a lot came from the Federal mismanagement, the Provincial inaction has left to be desired.  A lot could have been done before.

The healthcare reform was half hassed. They had time to prepare for it, but it's like the healthcare minister was left alone on such an important project.

Economically, a lot of unwise decision were early on, pursuing the age old tradition of subsidizing large projects for a next to nothing gain.  Nothing new, it's what we always do.  But people hate his guts for this.

The modernization project of the SAAQ went to shit, again nothing new, no big project at government level has ever went well, especially anything related to computer systems.  We have long lost the expertise, all thanks to the over unionization of the sector and their insistance on stupid criterias for pay scales instead of pure competence.  People aren't paid adequately and they left for the private sector.  You got people from social science or basic accounting degree managing large scale infrastructure projects with no questions asked for extras.  It's not working.  It was the same problem with large construction projection two decades ago, I'm not sure it has changed.

The rent reforms were pretty good.  It might slightly increase rent prices, but it'll facilitate tansparency of the increases, therefore giving leverage to tenants to contest and at the same time give incentive to landlords to renovate their building, which is a big problem over here, older building lacking renovations.

Education is a weak sport.  Until recently, we had some dimwit as an education minister.  Former PQ guy from Pauline Marois era.  Hopefully, he goes back there, or to some Montreal radio station.
I think things got worst under him.  Some schools were renovated early on, but aside that not much.
I can't think of any big change, any big improvements.

Generally, it's like Legault forgot to govern after their 2nd election and he press the panic button last fall trying to achieve all at once, and lots wasn't right.

[Razgovory]

The next massacre of Jews is likely to occur in Canada | Opinion

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-next-massacre-of-jews-is-likely-to-occur-in-canada-opinion/ar-AA1UhRBA?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=69691759b871457badef3eba2c1bc2a6&ei=12

A disturbing pattern is emerging when it comes to violent acts of Jew-hatred around the world. A few days after the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach, and a few months after the Yom Kippur synagogue attack in Manchester, Canadian police announced that three armed men had been hunting down and sexually assaulting Jewish women on the streets of Toronto.

One of the men was charged with conspiring with ISIS to commit murder, as the Bondi Beach killers had done.

This incident was not an outlier. Since October 7, 2023, there have been seven extremist murder plots against Jews by Canadian residents.

The common thread between Britain, Australia and Canada is that in all three nations, virulent anti-Zionist rhetoric that demonizes anyone connected to Israel has not only become normal, but it has become popular.

Meanwhile, concern for Jews has become decidedly unfashionable—even for the police.

The most disturbing aspect of the sexual assaults in Toronto is that authorities made their first arrest in the case four months before alerting the public. The Jewish community had no idea that armed, hate-motivated extremists were roaming the suburbs of Toronto in a luxury SUV, allegedly sexually assaulting women and attempting to kidnap and murder them.

This is but one example of how authorities have failed the Jewish community in Canada and left us vulnerable to hatred and harm.

Toronto police have apologized to the Jewish community twice, once for delivering refreshments to anti-Zionist protesters occupying an overpass in what the protesters called "a Zionist-infested area," and again for releasing a podcast in which two Muslim police officers spoke approvingly of how October 7 inspired many "reverts" to Islam.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's sole policy initiative so far has been to propose new anti-hate legislation, despite the fact that current hate speech laws remain largely unenforced, even when violations happen in plain sight. Canada had a "Federal Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism," but she resigned last summer, citing daily frustration and literal "despair." Her role has yet to be filled.


Statistics confirm the extent of the crisis. Though Jews comprise less than 1 percent of Canada's population, we are now the number one target of police-reported hate crimes targeting religion. A comparison of Statistics Canada data against FBI data shows that a Jew in Canada is significantly more likely to be the target of a police-reported hate crime than a Jew in America.

The weak responses from Canadian leaders to antisemitism stand in stark contrast to their forceful condemnations of Israel. Carney has even promised to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu should he ever set foot on Canadian soil. The protesters are emboldened by these high-level validations and have shifted their targets from elected officials to their Jewish neighbors.

Crowds of angry protesters have taken to marching into Jewish neighborhoods under the watchful eye of police officers instructed to practice "de-escalation" rather than make arrests or redirect masked and aggressive extremists as they demand that Canadian Jews "go back to Europe."

In the immediate aftermath of the Bondi massacre, an intelligence report from Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre leaked to the press, warning that Canada faces the same anti-Jewish extremism as Australia, and that "the Jewish community in Canada could be targeted by a violent extremist actor or actors."

It was a bizarre warning, considering the threats that had already taken place:

Two Ottawa teenagers face terrorism and explosives charges for plotting to kill a large crowd of Jews who assembled together at the nation's capital in the fall of 2023.
A father and son, Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi, were arrested in 2024 in a hotel room, where they were found shooting a video while wielding a machete and an ax, and "in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack," according to federal law enforcement. A member of Parliament later confirmed that the Eldidis were plotting to murder Jews.
A 20-year-old student named Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was arrested in Quebec, also in 2024. He was driving to New York, where he planned "to use automatic weapons to kill as many members of our Jewish community as possible," according to U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.
In Canada, the anti-Zionist movement is not constrained to downtown marches or college encampments. It targets Jews where we live, where we worship and where we send our kids.

An Orthodox father in Montreal was beaten in front of his kids. A Jewish grandmother was stabbed at an Ottawa supermarket by a man later discovered to have a virulently antisemitic online presence.

Synagogues are routinely vandalized (one was hit 10 times), a Jewish deli was burned down, and a Jewish girls' school was shot at three times. Recently, someone tore mezuzah prayer scrolls off every doorframe in a building housing elderly Jewish residents, including Holocaust survivors.

Canada prides itself on its diversity and tolerance. So how did this situation come to be? Theories abound.

Some blame the rise of DEI training within policing. Some blame the "woke" ideology of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Some blame the rapid influx of Muslim immigrants; Canada's Muslim population has almost tripled over a 20-year period.

After months of investigating this crisis for a new podcast series, What Is Happening Here, I can offer this point of understanding: nearly every demand that anti-Zionist protesters have made of the Canadian government has been met. Canada has recognized a Palestinian state, denounced the Israeli government, cut arms exports to Israel and seen Palestinian flags flown at city halls nationwide.

And the harm toward Canada's Jews just gets worse.

So here's my conclusion: it's not worse here despite anti-Zionist protesters getting what they demanded; it's worse here because of it.

Jesse Brown is the founder and editor of the news podcast company Canadaland and the host of the podcast What Is Happening Here. He won the Hillman Prize for Investigative reporting and a Canadian Screen Award for Best Factual Series for the television documentary Thunder Bay. His journalism and commentary have been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Maclean's, and many others. He is a Globe and Mail #1 bestselling author.