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Cake day: Jul 18, 2023

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By Andrew Coyne, published in The Globe and Mail December 14, 2024.

It was a good primer on this topic. I think the point that the LPC vacancy in these turbulent times - Dump as POTUS - reveals weaknesses in our political system with respect the PM’s power, and should perhaps be cause for reflection, is a valid one.

Less interestingly, it’s been ages since I read an article in The Globe and Mail. I basically had to hold my nose through the paragraphs about Trudeau - 2 to start - that were obnoxiously uncivil. Mr. Coyne wasn’t that complimentary of the CPC, but he certainly wasn’t as vitriolic. It was so icky to read in parts, which perplexes me


I think we also need more strategies to keep the trains moving, especially during rush hours. I think the most common reason I hear for unplanned subway downtime is “security incident” and “medical incident”. I think the (increasing number it seems of) fare enforcement officers is bad spending. As a TTC user they’re of no benefit to me, and I don’t think they effectively reduce fare evasion either - I think the value is crap. I’d rather see security and medical/nursing personnel on trains or at stations to intervene sooner (security and medical incidents, respectively) and keep the trains running.

The crowding at St. George station is getting nuts


Yup they’re all pre-rolled joint tubes from a gov-regulated weed store in Ontario




There are people who have to work for there money, and there are people who passively make money (and basically don’t pay taxes on that passive income)


The parallels between the republican/democrat and conservative/liberal parties in that dems/libs are to some degree better than the more right-wing parties but still bent of @#$%ing the working class is tough to stomach


globe and mail editorial endorsement of Freeland to follow 🤦‍ (facepalm)


First off, this move is antithetical to the idea of making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Second, if you’re making $1M on capital gains in a year, you’re not upper middle class or lower upper class - or whatever ‘they’re not that rich’ argument you intend. Third, and most importantly, the upper middle class/lower upper class (to use dated terminology) being taxed on their capital gains is a by-product. These taxes also catch, probably as they are intended to, people making 10 million or 100 million (I can’t imagine lol). And let’s not forget, they didn’t work an hour to make that money.

How come only those of us with jobs should pay income taxes?


Yes. There are so many different specialized kinds of nurses, nurses are highly skilled, and not every procedure needs an MD anesthesiologist. A healthy adolescent or young adult getting wisdom teeth extracted is very different from a medically complex older adult undergoing hip replacement


This is conjecture, but I think it’s protectionism by strong Canadian physicians’ unions. More physicians in the job pool means less job security and earnings potential for those already in it. There are many ways we could get more physicians in the workforce and/or in rural/remote communities that domestic MDs may not want to work in



https://mastodon.world/@BrianJopek/113816404576409938
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‘Fire Weather’ Is Hitting the North the Hardest, Study Says
> In the worst region, bordering BC and the Yukon, extreme conditions increased by 1.8 days every year over two decades.
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> Journalism in Canada is at its lowest ebb in decades, as evidenced by the cancellation or pausing of several post-secondary programs in the subject due to the dismal job market. > Postmedia Network, Canada’s largest newspaper chain by far, is 98 per cent owned by U.S. hedge funds and has had to sell assets and lay off workers to make payments on the hundreds of millions in company debt the vulture capitalists also hold. The corporation has steadily tightened its grip on Canadian newspapers since its creation in 2010, buying: Sun Media, Canada’s second-largest chain at the time, in 2015; Brunswick News, the chain that monopolizes New Brunswick, in 2022; and SaltWire, the chain that dominates the rest of the Maritimes, earlier this year. > Canada’s current second-largest chain, Torstar, was taken over in 2020 by private equity firm NordStar Capital, which has been stripping its assets and eviscerating its workforce. Last year, it converted 71 Ontario community newspapers published by its Metroland subsidiary to online-only publications, laying off more than 600 workers in the process. It then cheated them out of the severance pay they were owed by taking advantage of our bankruptcy laws. > Our broadcasting industry isn’t in much better shape,...
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The Billionaire Who Bored a Hole in Alberta’s Laws
> Gina Rinehart, an Australian worth $30 billion and an avid Donald Trump supporter, has changed Alberta’s politics in her relentless pursuit of mined coal. > The saga offers more evidence on how the wealthy exercise their raw financial power to engineer democracy for their own economic benefit. Political scientists call the oversized influence of billionaires “the wealthification” of politics. Witness how billionaires dominated the U.S. presidential election. > In the last three years she has repeatedly sued the Alberta and federal governments and challenged regulatory processes. And even though three separate courts have found her arguments baseless and without merit, she continues to sue. > Two outstanding lawsuits, for example, contend the Alberta government owes her billions because her mining plans were stymied. Overwhelming public opposition to coal mining forced the government to impose a coal moratorium in the Rockies to protect critical watersheds. > Outside of provincial and federal courts, Rinehart has hired two lobby firms with ties to the United Conservative Party government to actively promote her open-pit mining project. > When it became clear that citizens living in the municipal district of Ranchland, where Rinehart wants to build the mega-mine, were overwhelmingly opposed to its construction, Rinehart actively participated in a dubious referendum sanctioned by Smith in the neighbouring community of Crowsnest Pass. Rinehart’s company even drove voters to the polls.
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The Angus Reid poll suggests a connection between income level and Canadian pride. People with incomes below $25,000 were less likely to be proud of Canada (48 per cent), while those with income above $200,000 were more likely (65 per cent), according to the poll.

Westlake is not surprised that one’s finances might influence their love of country. “Cost of living is up, access to health care and access to doctors is something a lot of people are struggling with. Housing prices are up,” Westlake said. “We’re coming out of a period of quite significant inflation. So you have a bunch of these things that hit people in their pocketbooks that tend to shape public opinion in all types of situations that probably reflect poorly on incumbent governments.”



There’s a consumer industry that Canadians are getting screwed in?! /s


The longer I spend in the Fediverse the more obviously fake reddit is when I occasionally look at it (through an anonymous front-end)



I think it’s still under- stated/recognized how much COVID spread was (and is?) an urban phenomenon. In Toronto, on subways, I’d say at least 10% of people mask. It’s a pretty large group. I feel like there’s pretty widespread acceptance of masking here too, in recognition that the city is close quarters at times (eg, subways). I would be really surprised if I saw someone critiquing another person for wearing a COVID mask in public - and I might even approach the aggressor lol. From Senator Simons’ article, it sounds like there are more mask trolls - a euphemism ‘mask troll’ to be sure’ - in Alberta. Shame.

I don’t mask regularly in public places currently, but I think about it. I sometimes mask if I “can’t get sick” for something coming up in the next few days. I also mask when I’m transitioning from sick to healthy and out of isolation when I’ve had a respiratory sickness.

Thankfully, I haven’t been sick for a while, which I credit partly to keeping up with my flu and COVID vaccinations better this year or two. I’m a bigger believer in the shots being a good personal investment than I was years ago (they are also a very good investment for public health - but I always knew that :)


Editorial on (still) wearing a COVID mask By Senator Paula Simons. Good read
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Bloc as official opposition would be pretty wild, but it sure is in the realm of possibilities.

I have a pet theory that Quebec plays a larger than recognized role in determining the balance of power federally between Conservatives and Liberals, because Quebec will elect some number of Liberals but practically no Conservatives (against AB, SK and the Maritimes which lean Conservative).

At the risk of sounding like the densest person you’ve encountered today, what’s your pet theory? That Quebec voters hold LPC’s feet to the fire with the threat that they’ll leave the Liberals and doom the Liberals as a result?


I appreciate the explanation, thank you! That’s an interesting outcome to think about. As an Ontarian/Canadian, I selfishly hope Québec doesn’t leave because Canada would be much more CPC-heavy without Québec


I don’t understand (like who’s PSPP?) but I’d like to, if you feel like paraphrasing more plainly


In 2027, when the people of Canada are weary after a few years of PP’s ‘leadership’, an early 2020s CPC “Fuck Trudeau” sign will hit hard


Mississauga joins program to improve transit for people with hidden disabilities
> Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program also includes Pearson Airport, Air Canada and Metrolinx > It's a simple concept: transit riders in Mississauga with a hidden disability wear a sunflower lanyard — but the hope is that it makes a big difference for people living with a disability. > "You wear something that doesn't point out that you are different or that you have special needs, it isn't obvious," explains Doris Cooper, a member of Mississauga's transit advisory committee and a participant in the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program. > The City of Mississauga recently joined the program, making it Canada's first municipal transit provider to become a member. > The lanyard is meant to discreetly inform transit staff that the rider may need more help or time. It also aims to support and improve the travel experience of riders with hidden disabilities, making their trips smooth, seamless and respectful.
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Warming climate, wacky weather create skating trail trials and tribulations
> Canadian cities, towns forced to adapt, or abandon outdoor skating trails and rinks > In 2023, it wasn't cold enough in Ottawa to skate on the Rideau Canal. In 2024, it was only cold enough in Winnipeg to allow skating on its rivers for nine days. > What used to be taken for granted in Canada — winter weather cold enough to allow skating on rivers and ponds — has become a meteorological throw of the dice, thanks to the long-term effects of climate change coupled with the natural variability of weather from year to year. > David Phillips, a climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said winters have warmed in Canada by an average of 4 C over the past 77 years. Over the past decade alone, he said, Canada has lost an average of two to three weeks of sub-zero temperatures. > "The result of that is that you can't grow ice," Phillips said in an interview on Monday from his home in Barrie, Ont. "That's why people are seeing things they haven't seen when they were youths, when it would be automatic by a certain date that you'd go skating on the Rideau Canal or on the Red River."
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> The three-time Grand Slam doubles champion shared her story on social media, disclosing that she played through her diagnosis in a year she won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. > "I know this will come as a shock to many, but I am OK and I will be OK," Dabrowski wrote in an Instagram post. "Early detection saves lives. I can wholeheartedly agree with this."
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> Food bank use across Ontario has reached record highs, with Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank reporting its largest increase in the 41 years since it opened. > According to the Who’s Hungry 2024 report, there were 3.49 million client visits to Toronto food banks like the Daily Bread and North York Harvest — a 32 per cent increase from the 2.6 million visits recorded the previous year. > According to the report, one in 10 Torontonians are using food banks to make ends meet and more than 120,000 people accessed food banks for the first time this year. Over half of these new clients come from households with at least one working member. > In Toronto, food bank visits have increased every year since 2019, with 935,000 visits recorded that year. Numbers have almost tripled since then, a trend the report describes as “a grim harsh reality.”
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[Theo Moudakis: Bring on 2025!](https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/theo-moudakis-bring-on-2025/article_ddb53322-bf11-11ef-b87e-73d10baea475.html) ![](https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/0870ac07-490c-4453-9308-a04fd098b876.webp)
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Melting snow dampens winter enthusiasm as temperature records set in N.B.
> Despite much of New Brunswick getting a white Christmas, hopes are starting to fade for a snowy winter. > Just as the province's winter activities usually get started, the outlook is bleak — for snowmobiling in particular. > As of New Year's Eve, all of the province's 8,000 kilometres of trails are completely shut down. > The mild end of December is not only disappointing, it's record-setting. > McBride, who's been snowmobiling since the 1980s, said he hasn't seen a winter as poor as this one since the 1990s. > With events planned for February and March, and tourism outfitters dependent on snowmobilers, McBride said everyone's in a tough spot.
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Your points are very much in line with the author of the article.

It’s supposed to be a steering tax. It should be progressive (i.e., if you’re wealthier you pay more) and the focus should be on steering the behaviours of the rich and of industry, not Joe Canadian

We should be looking at (disincentivizing) plane trips, cruise ship trips, gas plants, etc - not fixating on the price at the gas pumps. We have PP and other bad actors to thank for that malicious association


> The carbon tax is a so-called steering tax. Its goal is to change people’s behaviour, not to raise revenue for the government. However, the current version of the carbon tax in place in Canada and many other countries does not change people’s behaviour as effectively as it could and should. To see why, we consider two frequently ignored facts. > First, rich people emit considerably more than the average person. Studies on socioenvironmental inequality estimate that the top 10 per cent of emitters are responsible for about 50 per cent of individual carbon emissions. Think of private jets, which emit up to 4.5 tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per hour. That is three times as much as the average human on the planet can emit per year if we want to meet our climate targets. > Second, someone in the top 10 per cent of incomes in Canada, that is someone who in 2022 made more than $106,300 after tax, will not even bat an eye at the current carbon price of $80 per tCO2e, let alone change their consumption habits. For context, $80 per tCO2e translates into under 18 cents per litre of gasoline at the pump. > Put simply, by its very nature a flat carbon tax that ignores socioenvironmental inequality and charges everyone the same is both unequal and ineffective climate policy. A progressive carbon tax would change that. > When communities have a common goal, it matters for members of the community to feel that everyone is pulling their weight to achieve that goal. Today’s carbon tax fails this test. The burden of adjustment in terms of reducing emissions falls squarely on low-income Canadians, whereas the wealthy just shrug it off and pay the tax. Moreover, the fact that some portion of today’s income and wealth inequalities are perceived as unjust to begin with adds insult to injury.
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