Friday, February 28, 2020

Tweet of the Day

Here's a Friday palate cleanser for ya:



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Saturday, February 22, 2020

Wet'suwet'en update

He waited as long as he could, too long in the opinion of many.
He was obviously hoping that peaceful negotiation could bring down the rail barricades, in the best Canadian tradition.
But at last Justin Trudeau's patience was exhausted.The negotiations were going nowhere, because there were none.
"We can’t have dialogue when only one party is coming to the table. For this reason, we have no choice but to stop making the same overtures."
And for that the blame must go to these old men, the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.
Like Montreal Simon, I could not believe how lackadaisical and disrespectful the hereditary chiefs were being in refusing to respond to Trudeau's obvious respect.
They didn't seem to realize that the time to make progress was NOW, this week, when they had Canada's attention and a great deal of support across the country. 
What they cannot do is keep raising the ante.
While the story earlier this week was that the Wet'suwet'en had worked out a deal for RCMP to move back to Houston BC, the story today was that they wanted both the RCMP AND the pipeline company to leave, and then "nation-to-nation discussions with Canada and BC" should start.
And the tactic of leisurely visiting Mohawk reserves in Eastern Canada and holding news conferences instead of talking to the prime minister doesn't make any sense.
"We are waiting for Indigenous leadership to show that it understands," [Trudeau] said in a news conference. "The onus is on them."
Injunctions to clear tracks must be obeyed and the law must be upheld, he said, adding that it is pointless to continue making overtures to Indigenous leaders if they aren't accepted.
"Let us be clear: all Canadians are paying the price. Some people can't get to work, others have lost their jobs," Trudeau said. "Essential goods … cannot get where they need to go."
The situation "is unacceptable and untenable," he said.
Canadian support has started to evaporate when the chiefs could not seem to articulate what they wanted to achieve - no pipeline at all? a pipeline but on a different route? more negotiations for the existing route?  -- and when thousands of Canadians were being increasingly affected, losing jobs and fearing for their heating oil supplies. 
Also as predicted earlier this week, Canadian support for Trudeau's whole reconciliation agenda was disintegrating as the railway disruptions continued with no end in sight.
Trudeau appeared to realize this too, after talking to the Premiers on Thursday and to Cabinet today.
On Twitter, the usual suspects were berating Trudeau for not acting first and thinking later. But Trudeau tried to resolve the blockades with dialogue instead of immediately turning the dispute into a dick-measuring contest like Scheer and McKay wanted.
At least the Mohawks are clear about what they want -- the Mohawks have an agreement with Indigenous Services minister Marc Miller that the Ontario trains will run as soon as RCMP have withdrawn to Houston from Wet’suwet’en territory. 
As Manitoba Premier Palliser said today, no individual or group has an absolute veto on natural resource projects.
“Public opinion matters on these things,” he said. “This federal Liberal government has said that reconciliation is a priority. But if you want real reconciliation, then you have to do the real work of achieving it. And you have to establish some parameters. You have to put a fence around the discussion to some degree. And you don't do that if you don't make it clear that everyone does not have a veto.”
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Sunday, February 16, 2020

Wetsuweten protests- we don't get to choose the battle; we can only choose our side

Once again, I think we have reached the point in Canada where we don't get to choose the battle. We can only choose our side.
I can't say I understand the #Wetsuweten protests, but I am coming to realize that if Canada's usual suspects are against them, then the side I must choose is to support them.
I cannot yet see what the resolution will be acceptable to this impasse -- no pipeline at all? a pipeline in a different place? some kind of a joint economic development consortium between Wetsuweten and the government and the gas companies? I just don't know.
But I do know that I simply cannot support this kind of attitude:
Or this kind of frightening, provocative and unacceptable behaviour:
At least there is still a little humour to be found, too:
Montreal Simon is concerned that the blockade protests risk annoying and inconveniencing so many people in Eastern Canada who have no voice or choice in the matter, that support for reconciliation will be threatened -- and this is not an unlikely concern. Susan Delacourt also writes about how complicated the reconciliation issues have now become:
This is where Trudeau’s “most important relationship” gets complicated, maybe hopelessly so. It is not just about historic reconciliation. It’s also about economic circumstances, resource development versus the environment, and the populism arising from economic inequality — some of the most vexing, conflict-laden issues facing the federal government. Throw in contempt for the law and it’s easy to see why what looked important in 2015 can look impossible in 2020.
Here are some good tweet threads with more info:

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Thursday, February 13, 2020

Great tweets: politics or animals or maybe both

Here's some tweets I enjoyed this week.
And doesn't it always seem that January DRAGGGGS while February goes so FAST?
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Tuesday, February 04, 2020

Best moment at #SOTU

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