Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Today's news: Moving On!!!

Groan! Moving on from the election: So finally today, Alberta sent a letter to the federal government to ask for help dealing with the Covid crisis in their hospitals. When asked if they had deliberately waited until after the election -- to save Kenney the embarassment of asking Trudeau for help, even though this caused even more misery to Alberta people -- the province perished the thought - it was, they said, just because they didn't know who they should address the letter to. I guess nobody thought of sending it "To Whom It May Concern"? And Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe held a bizarre press conference about this today: Here's some random funny stuff:
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Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #30: it's over (almost)

Well, its all over except the shouting. 
As Gerry Butts pointed out on CBC, there may well be a few changes yet as the mail-in ballots and recounts get finished -- there seem to be at least a dozen seats where tonight's result may change. 
Overall, I'm very glad that Trudeau will remain our Prime Minister - I hope his Liberal government will last until 2025. Twitter has been commenting on the concession speeches. Paul went first, but CBC actually cut away from her during her speech = she wasn't saying anything particularly interesting, and considering how poorly she did even in her own seat, she's not going to be around Canadian politics very long anyway. Then I think O'Toole was next: Blanchet was after that, another odd one: Finally Singh spoke, and his speech was actually very good. He simply congratulated Trudeau on winning the election, and talked positively about the future. How refreshing! Lastly Trudeau spoke - somewhat chastened, I thought, but upbeat even though he didn't get the majority he had wanted. He thanked the people who voted for him, but more importantly he also vowed to work for the people who hadn't voted for him too. I sense a little grumpiness among the pundits: And what's next? One thing we can count on - there won't be another election for years, because the opposition parties cannot ask for a do-over again: Finally, I just loved this: I hope she frames it.
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Monday, September 20, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #29: decision day

Well, that's the ball game: I am still hoping that Trudeau might be able to pull out a few more seat flips and end up with a majority -- but as usual, it will all come down to who can get their vote out. 
Here's a last minute reminder of what's at stake: In a nutshell, this cartoon summarizes why O'Toole won't be elected Prime Minister - when the going gets tough, he can't figure out how to be a leader:
Jasmeet Singh may gain some seats tomorrow, but his relentless and bitter negativity toward Trudeau combined a poorly articulated NDP platform have really put me off. Singh followed up his airport skateboarding yesterday with a bizarre TicTok shower video today, and Twitter wasn't impressed: I definitely agree with this - I hope the Justice Minister will investigate because people died! Alberta Conservatives are upset with Kenney and signing letters asking for leadership reviews. And I suspect this is what will happen now with O'Toole: I thought this was sort of funny:
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Sunday, September 19, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #28: Covid Critical Care Stage Fuck!

Here's today's good news about the election: But then again, there's this: So I think we can agree that the pollsters are all agreeing that it will be a Liberal Minority government. But the Majority question is going to go right down to the wire -- depends what happens in the Maritimes. And in Quebec. And in Ontario. And on the Prairies. And in BC. Here's perhaps the final word on media endorsements: And now for the really important stuff, the terrifying Covid news here in Saskatchewan.
Our hospital system has reached what they call Critical Care Stage 2, but what I call Critical Care Stage Fuck! 
Here's a thread from Canadian Press reporter Mickey Djuric, talking to Sask Health Authority chief medical officer Dr. Susan Shaw (see the article, too): Abandoning the old on the ice floe to save the rest of the tribe is called Senicide, and it looks like we have reached that point with Covid now. 
As I have already told my family, if it comes to Critical Care Stage Fuck! then just let me go. 
I'm 72 and I have had a great life, with people I love.  So I would be willing to give up my ICU bed to a child, or to a parent of young children. 
I'm calling this Senicide Choice and I just hope its never going to be a choice that anyone has to make.

And on that happy note, see you tomorrow for my last Election Follies post. Here's a palate cleanser for ya:
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Saturday, September 18, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #27: Endorsement-paloosa

First Trudeau gets two high-profile endorsements: Then Singh gets one as well: And even O'Toole gets the pardonned felon nod: Some reactions: The Beaverton gets it again: Except for the Manitoba chiefs endorsing Liberal candidate Shirley Robinson (in front of Singh, at that priceless press conference!) I think Canada's First Nations leadership has been walking a fine line, I think to avoid problems with provincial issues across the country. Former AFN chief Phil Fontaine does endorse Trudeau today: Work is continuing on lifting the boil water orders as the most intractable problems are getting resolved one by one: Here are some priorities that Canadian Aboriginal organizations want to discuss with the next government. New AFN chief RoseAnne Archibald tweeted this priorities document on its priorities for the next government: And the BC chiefs are sending this Open Letter: Here's a few more tweets from today: Canadians are starting to try to evaluate this whole election experience, to figure out what it all means, too: Late news tonight -- from Frank Graves at EKOS - A call to arms: Here's a thread for strategic voting:
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Friday, September 17, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #26: Did Kenney and O'Toole make a deal?

Tonight's question is whether O'Toole and Kenney had a deal that Kenney would delay imposing yesterday's Covid health measures until after the Monday vote. 
In other words, did Conservative electioneering cost Albertans their lives? I don't know whether we will ever know for sure, but certainly O'Toole wasn't able to answer reporters' questions today. But of course, Singh still thinks his job is to figure out a way to blame Alberta on Trudeau: Here are some of today's poll results - and these won't even include the Alberta and Saskatchewan health announcements: The Covid situation here on the Prairies is getting more terrible by the day. 
Hundreds of new cases every day, hospitalizations rising, ICU beds filled -- we're now talking about "ethical triage" AKA denying someone an ICU bed or a ventilator if their chances of living aren't very good anyway. 
I looked up the terminology for abandoning the elderly on an ice floe and its called Senicide. If worst comes to worst, I would be OK with that. I'm starting to think about what is going to happen after Monday, if the Liberals cannot get enough seats to form a majority government. 
It seems clear now that the Liberals would win one or two dozen more seats than the CPC anyway, but the NDP and/or the Bloc could again hold the balance of power. 
This campaign has shown that Jagmeet Singh has both a vitriolic dislike of Trudeau and a naΓ―ve belief that he could work with O'Toole - to the point where I really wonder if Singh would try to get his NDP MPs to agree to tell the Governor-General that it is the Conservatives, not the Liberals, that would have enough support in the Commons to form the government.. 
And if that's what he tries to do, then it will really hit the fan - NDP leadership and voters across Canada would be absolutely furious and would not tolerate an attempt by Singh to make an alliance with a party that will not ever support any NDP priorities - which would, in fact, actively dismantle progressive initiatives.  But Singh is a stubborn man, and a brand-new Governor-General might feel she had no choice except to let the Conservatives try to form a government. And then we would be in for months of chaos.
Now, I have no idea whether such a thing might happen, but I'm beginning to be concerned.
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Thursday, September 16, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #25: Mulroney's turn

Chretien was at a Liberal event last night, so they got Mulroney at one tonight, and he started talking about O'Toole making "deep structural changes" in Canada - maybe so Conservatives will win elections more easily in the future? Oh but nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along: O'Toole is having a lot of trouble maintaining any kind of consistency in his policies - gun control, abortion, vaccinations, carbon pricing, pick anything and O'Toole will flip it around as he tries to appeal to everyone all the time. But things are catching up to him and he can't duck and weave forever The Beaverton gets it about right: And The Globe and Mail seems to be going full frontal fascist about those supposedly awful "non-European immigrants" who are giving the PPC the vapours: But O'Toole is trying his best to keep on pandering: So today, after cancelled surgeries and patients being airlifted out, Jason Kenney finally apologized to Alberta for getting Covid so wrong. Sounds like it took a caucus revolt before Kenney would act: Saskatchewan had another 450 cases today. Again. I expect sometime tomorrow or Friday Scott Moe will finally be dragged kicking and screaming into the same types of restrictions Alberta is implementing. We really should be trying to do a better job in managing Covid than Alabama. When thinking about the importance of maintaining gun control in Canada here's something to consider: And the Marijuana Party is still toking:
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Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #24: Chretien is back!

Rosemary Barton at the CBC has been doing lengthy interviews with the leaders - O'Toole on Monday night, Trudeau on Tuesday night, and now Singh tonight - worth listening to, I think. But here's one of the funniest takes: Liberals are entering majority territory, though who knows if it will hold up: This is why the former Green leader is endorsing the Liberals climate plan now: Another outstanding video: Remembering O'Toole's greatest hits: And here's one we need to get trending:
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Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #23: some of the good stuff

The polls continue to look positive for the Liberals. But for tonight, I wanted to lead off with this: There were stupid protests today at hospitals across the country, and my only hope for these people is that somehow they will realize how ridiculous they are. Twitter is back to doing what it does best: Back to the campaign:
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Monday, September 13, 2021

Election Follies and Funnies #22: Trudeau's remarkable speech

So here they are - first, Trudeau's remarkable speech: Singh's egotistical tweet: A reminder -- Pierre Trudeau said this when he was implementing the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, one of the most terrifying times in the history of the country. 
Singh is repeating the phrase to flex at Justin Trudeau about raising tax revenues.  
And O'Toole's word salad:
Latest polling: On Monday, a bunch of all-Canadian jerks are going to protest vaccines at hospitals. Again. The mayor of Ottawa says "I won't have it!" and I don't doubt that every other mayor feels the same way. I'm seeing tweets from some of the people who have voted in the Advance Polls this weekend: Some lane-switching also going on: And here's another one: Canadian right-wing pundits are salivating over the Jody Wilson-Raybould book:
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