Canadian breaking news and politics and hats and general sexiness
 

I really wanted us to have our own thread.

Anyway, I was fishing around on the CBC website just now and found these poll results:

Tories hold teenytiny lead, according to EKOS poll

~~~

Sometimes I wish that the Liberals, NDP, and Green Party would amalgamate, like the "Unite the Right" fiasco. It would guarantee a loss for the CPC - which would (almost) make me happy.

Thoughts on this?

Most of the time I do NOT wish to see the Liberals, NDP, and Green Party become one big happy family. That would cut us down to exactly 2 viable parties - which feels very American to me (so that would make me unhappy).

(Do not try to tell me that the Liberals and the Conservatives are currently the only viable parties in Canada - I do think that the Green party has a real future as they are so popular with people my age and younger. As more young people get old enough to vote and more of the older generations who are more likely to vote Conservative, you know, die...I think there's a pretty real possibility that we will see a Green PM at some point, although that may not be for another 30 years.)

Also - nothing good rhymes with Left. So there couldn't be a fun catchphrase to go with the movement. ;)

ALSO - I don't see the Liberal party as politically "left" by any stretch of the imagination. (Although, with the amalgamation of PC and Alliance/Reform - you saw a move toward the right for the new CPC party. Maybe joining forces with the NDP and Green Party would force a move to the left for the Liberals. That'd be nice.)

Somehow I don't think that's how it'd go down. I think instead we'd see the disappearance of the more left-leaning aspects of the NDP and Green Party, and the emergence of a larger, more powerful Liberal party with a system much closer to what the Americans have in place. Don't think anything will really change in one fell swoop, but hopefully society will continue to become less religious over time, and therefore less conservative, and the prevalence of science and human rights will eventually completely boot whatever religion contributes to politics today out beyond the fringes of society. That would be a nice start...

I thought the Green Party in Canada was fiscally right-wing, even if on a platform of environmentalism? I seem to remember a candidate in Toronto East being that (the one that ran in Cabbagetown in the early 2000s)

Well, they could always go with the United Front of Lefty Pinkos, or possibly Lefty Bicycle Riding Pinkos...name courtesy of Mr. Don Cherry, of course :p

Anyways, so I saw an article in Metro the other day and thought I'd share to see what current/former Torontonians and others thought.

Source: http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/loca...e-crime-police

Thoughts on Lester's suggestion that the Village is becoming less safe? Are Torontonians (or Canadians at large) becoming more tolerant or intolerant? How does this all fit (or does it at all?) within the backdrop of increased support for politicians representing the Christian right?

I don't know that I would say that the Gaybourhood (or anywhere else in Toronto) is "less safe" than it has been. I remember a few years (probably 6?) back there was a rash of incidents in the neighborhood - it seems to be somewhat cyclical.

I also don't think that Canadians are becoming less tolerant - but I think that those who ARE intolerant are currently feeling more angry and have more brevity than usual. The culture wars are back - thanks to the right wing in the US. Every time the culture wars get dragged to the forefront shit like this starts to happen.

Transgender protection bill approved by Commons

Reading the comments under the article has made for an interesting morning.

I was so happy yesterday when I heard the news and still am, but some of those comments can make you go from ecstatic to seeing red. I know it does little to get pissed about some of the crap that was written in there, but seriously, when exactly are trans people going to start being considered human beings by the general population? If someone equated the rights of ethnic minorities to the rights of geese, it would be an entirely different story in the eyes of the majority of the Canadian population. But it's ok to spew this kind of garbage because hey it's just about "those freaks over there." The fact that you can dehumanise someone to that degree and nobody bats an eyelash is proof enough that current laws supposedly protecting trans people leave much to be desired. It's very easy for someone whose rights are protected by law to shrug off the struggle of someone whose rights are not protected by law. "Life is easy for me, therefore anyone who tries to struggle for their own rights is just a whiney, lazy bastard."

From joemygod
 

Canada's Parliament Approves Transgender And Gender Identity Protections

By a vote of 143-135, the Canadian Parliament has narrowly approved a bill granting transgender and gender identity anti-discrimination protections nationwide. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces a tough battle.

Bill C-389 now goes to the Senate, where it must go through three readings. Readings in the Senate don’t take months-to-years as they do for Private Members Bills in Parliament. However, as far as I know, a Senator still needs to be found who is willing to bring the bill to the floor. There could be some perils in the Senate. In the past, the Senate has mostly just ratified and tweaked legislation passed by Parliament, but as Harper has packed more conservatives into the Senate (rather than reforming it to create an elected Senate, which he once campaigned on), it has been sometimes used more undemocratically. In one recent such move, he used a lack of attendance of Liberal senators to kill a climate change bill. It is also still entirely possible that an election call could kill the bill before it is enacted into law. What would happen then is that as a community, we would need to press candidates and parties to pledge to finish what was started, and also to address other glaring omissions such as the absence of sex / gender from the hate crimes provisions from the Criminal Code of Canada.

***I know you posted the story, but some of us are link challanged!***

Once again, kudos to the :canadian:s

NFB Interactive - Pine Point

This isn't news or anything.

A friend of mine forwarded this to me last night. It's an interactive project about a town in the NYT called "Pine Point" that no longer exists. It's super interesting and it made me really sad.

Because there isn't anybody who can't relate to loss.

Bill C-389 - Message Senate
 

Since it may get more views over here, thought I'd put this over here instead of the trans zone:

hey Ender, do you know where I can find a list of which MPs voted which way on the bill?

I want to see if that douchebaggleturdwad MP of mine (sorry, I really don't like her) did the right thing - which she probably didn't because she's a douchebaggleturdwad.

ETA - Found it

And no, she did not do the right thing. GOD she is so annoying!

Is she Conservative?

Ugh, honestly I don't get those who vote against this (well, actually I do "get" them, but it just pisses me off and wish they'd leave others alone to live their lives).

Fortunately my MP is decent, very gay and voted for the bill.

Yes, she's conservative and pure evil.

She tried to pull some sneaky anti-choice bullshit in 2007 so I've been on her ass ever since. She also has yet to respond to even one of my dozens of emails.

I live in a really shitty town right now.

I just emailed my MP (Patricia Davidson, AKA the devil) to let her know that I am disappointed with how she voted on Bill C-389 and reminded her that I won't be voting for her.

I know she doesn't give a shit, but it still needed doing.

I'm starting to think she's got my email address kill-filtered - I have NEVER heard back from her. I should start showing up at her office. ;)

crap wrong topic

Now, HOW is it that one secures a Visa for Canada? Guess I have to settle for visiting.... always have enjoyed your country!