[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Grey Fox]

Yukon had to draw lots for the last pending MP.

[viper37]

I have not spent much time looking at it, but my initial impression is there isn't much of a plan - just a lot of different programs getting more funding.  I would have preferred some strategic plan which guides the spending.

yeah, it's typical of a Liberal govt in an electoral year, give money, a lot of money, to most everyone you can think of so they will remember you favorably when the time to cast your ballot comes.  It usually works.

[Barrister]

Alberta's testing results updated to today:

[Oexmelin]

So, Todd Loewen resigned, and is asking for others to resign to, citing a leadership problem from Jason Kenney.

I am curious about your (insider) take, BB.

[Barrister]

So, Todd Loewen resigned, and is asking for others to resign to, citing a leadership problem from Jason Kenney.

I am curious about your (insider) take, BB.

I may have a membership card in the UCP but I'm no "insider".  I am closer to the situation though.

What it shows to me is that the right in Alberta has a terrible problem of eating its own leaders.  You can go through the list: Don Getty, Ralph Klein, Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, were all forced out of office (the next leader, Jim Prentice, resigned after losing an election).  And that's also in a long background of splinter right-wing parties forming (heck the PCs were originally a splinter to the long-running Social Credit government).

Loewen's letter doesn't mention Covid-19, but it's hard not to read it directly as a response to the government's handling of Covid.  There's an element of the conservative base that has very hostile to the ongoing lockdowns.  Kenney's been trying to thread the needle the whole pandemic between being safe but allowing as much freedom and  openness as possible - which has now led to Alberta being the worst jurisdiction in North America for Covid-19.

Loewen, of course, signed the open letter last month criticizing Kenney's handling of the pandemic.

[Barrister]

In better news our Covid numbers have finally started trending down.



It never fails - impose strict conditions, Covid cases fall.

Now Kenney has said repeatedly we're not striving for zero Covid cases, but I do wonder at what level he'll open things up again, and whether it will be too early.

[Oexmelin]

Official tweet from Ottawa's Public Health:

"Rappelez-vous: nous travaillons pour que nous puissions se caresser, manger sur les terrances et se rencontrer de nouveau. Nous ne sommes pas rendus là encore, et ce n'est pas le temps de relaxer, mais nous ALLONS voir le jour. "

Translation: "Remember: we are here so that we can jerk off, eat on the Terrances, and meet each other again. We are not there yet, but we WILL be born".

[Grey Fox]

Some of those are just pedantic but the jerk off one is legit funny.

[Oexmelin]

Some of those are just pedantic but the jerk off one is legit funny.

Voir le jour = naître. Nothing pedantic about it. 

[Grey Fox]

Some of those are just pedantic but the jerk off one is legit funny.

Voir le jour = naître. Nothing pedantic about it. 

No, it is.

It's probably "see the day" in english. How do you expect them to google translate that? If you go "naître" to english you get "to be born". There's no path to go "voir le jour" = "to be born".

[Valmy]

If only somebody in Ottawa spoke French

[Oexmelin]

No, it is.

It's probably "see the day" in english. How do you expect them to google translate that? If you go "naître" to english you get "to be born". There's no path to go "voir le jour" = "to be born".

I know they bloody google translated it. It gives funny results, whether it's because they translate « hug each other » to « se caresser » or « see the day » into voir le jour. Any francophone knows, or ought to know, that voir le jour either requires a complément (voir le jour où...) or else it just means being born, just like any francophone would snicker at « se caresser ».

I still don't see how it's pedantry. Funny, yes. Appallingly, certainly. It's bloody Ottawa. They shouldn't google translate things.

[crazy canuck]

Official tweet from Ottawa's Public Health:

"Rappelez-vous: nous travaillons pour que nous puissions se caresser, manger sur les terrances et se rencontrer de nouveau. Nous ne sommes pas rendus là encore, et ce n'est pas le temps de relaxer, mais nous ALLONS voir le jour. "

Translation: "Remember: we are here so that we can jerk off, eat on the Terrances, and meet each other again. We are not there yet, but we WILL be born".

Speaking for myself, I hope to transcend this existence rather than continue the cycle with another birth.  I suspect that in order to do so, I will need to try to find a better reason to be here than the one suggested by our government.

What was the English version of the tweet?

[crazy canuck]

Hey BB, is this revolt going to take down the Premier or is this just the extreme right of the party?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-alberta-mla-todd-loewen-steps-down-as-ucp-caucus-chair-calls-on-kenney/

[Oexmelin]

(I asked BB about it a few posts above)