Federal Government & Politics II

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

She is going to be blamed for the Border mess with some justification.

I know the Republican talking point is "border czar" but her actual task was to get Latin American countries to reduce the flow, which she actually did reasonably well.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...ear-rcna146821

She was never in charge of enforcement of the border.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Nobody not already certain to vote Democrat cares about what DEI category she checks off. A lot of swing voters know that's why she was chosen as VP. A lot of sexist though partially true crap about her sleeping her way to the top. She got absolutely zero traction when she ran for president. Normally that is indicative that she isn't ready for the big leagues but lots of failed primary candidates have roared back next round so it's all about the moment.

I was listening to the Bulwark podcast at the gym yesterday. They covered all your points amazingly. They even predicted that Republicans are going to go hard on calling her the DEI candidate and it's going to backfire spectacularly, both because she's actually qualified, and because a lot of key constituencies (women and African Americans) will see these attacks as exactly the kind they faced through their lives and careers. In a year after taking an axe to abortion rights? They actually hope right wing media does that, because in their calculation nothing is going to fire these groups up more than these racists and misogynists thinking nobody understands their supposedly coded language. And indeed the way you're regurgitating right wing media talking points is proving them right. They also talked about the whole, she didn't do well the first time. They pointed out that so many good candidates who don't intend to win the first time they run do that. And her quitting early is part of the reason she is the VP today. She didn't get into a bruising fight with the nominee.

Originally Posted by YOWetal

The Tech bros are already coming out againsther after claiming they were only for Trump because Biden was senile and they'd happily vote for any younger candidate. I wonder if we will see the same with a lot of voters who were only pretending to be for Trump because Biden is old when really they want his anti immigration and other policies but are embarrassed to admit it.

I don't think the techbros are reflective of mainstream or swing voter opinion. They are rich guys who don't want to face social consequences for voting their interests, so they come up with excuses. They clearly aren't even reflective of most of their employees. This captured the sentiment:

• Video Link

There's a lot of people who try and make this somev complicated political decision. It's not. It's going to be a clear choice between Trump and everything he stands for, and the exact opposite in just about every way. No idea what Americans will pick, but the choice will be stark and clear.

[Justanothermember]

Shouldn't all this US talk be in the Foreign Policy thread? This thread is for Canadian Federal Government talk. The US is not part of Canada, contrary to what some people may want to believe. Maybe the mods can shift this discussion over to that thread?

[kwoldtimer]

I wish Buttigieg would immigrate to Canada and become leader of the Liberal Party.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I wish Buttigieg would immigrate to Canada and become leader of the Liberal Party.

None of his virtues would really be appreciated in Canada. Military service. Finance career. Ivy League education. These might actually be held against him in today's LPC. We actually do have people like this in Canada. You should be asking why they almost never run for office.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by casper

Assuming the Democrats with another term and the Liberals win another term, North America is well positioned for another five years of prosperity.

Surely this is sarcasm...? The current Liberal government isn't exactly screaming "prosperity" for Canadians.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Surely this is sarcasm...? The current Liberal government isn't exactly screaming "prosperity" for Canadians.

Casper is half right. The Americans have been doing okay. Not great. But they avoided the worst of the post-pandemic doldrums. Canada would be in a recession without population growth.

[Marshsparrow]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

None of his virtues would really be appreciated in Canada. Military service. Finance career. Ivy League education. These might actually be held against him in today's LPC. We actually do have people like this in Canada. You should be asking why they almost never run for office.

We do - the Conservatives had this in Erin O'Toole and thanks to the convoy we get Pierre no experience at anything Polievre.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Canada would be in a recession without population growth.

I wish we had a recession and the government had dealt with it directly, rather than papering it over with population growth.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

We do - the Conservatives had this in Erin O'Toole and thanks to the convoy we get Pierre no experience at anything Polievre.

We were talking about the LPC.

When was the last time the LPC had a leader who served?

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

We were talking about the LPC.

When was the last time the LPC had a leader who served?

It’s a pretty sad reflection on the state of our electorate and electoral process that an unaccomplished leader like Trudeau was rewarded for a cynical and unnecessary election call in the midst of a global pandemic with a win over a candidate like O Toole.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by theman23

It’s a pretty sad reflection on the state of our electorate and electoral process that a proven charlatan like Trudeau was rewarded for a cynical and unnecessary election call in the midst of a global pandemic with a win over a candidate like O Toole.

We're a country that thinks like a colony. Not like an actual G7 country. If we were an adult country thinks like foreign policy and industrial strategy (beyond condos and oil) would matter a lot more.

[Acajack]

It's like Canada as a country never came out of adolescence. That's why we hugely prefer style over substance. There is a big difference between who you long for as a boyfriend or girlfriend in high school versus who you choose to settle down with to build a life in adulthood.

[Truenorth00]

There's a certain irony in some here labelling Kamala Harris as a DEI pick. Look at her resume. I struggle to think of a high level politician in Canada who comes close.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

There's a certain irony in some here labelling Kamala Harris as a DEI pick. Look at her resume. I struggle to think of a high level politician in Canada who comes close.

I've always been completely blind regarding her ethnicity. Same thing with Nikki Haley. It just doesn't register with me that they are south Asian +/- black. This is the way it should be.

It's a bit harder to ignore Jagmeet's ethnicity (and religion) - thanks turban.........

I dislike Jagmeet for many reasons, but, the turban is far, far down the list though.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by theman23

It’s a pretty sad reflection on the state of our electorate and electoral process that an unaccomplished leader like Trudeau was rewarded for a cynical and unnecessary election call in the midst of a global pandemic with a win over a candidate like O Toole.

That's a bit of revisionist history. The Conservative party was split and thus pretty much in the let it rip camp. I think that we would have saved a lot of money and lost very few extra lives as those that wanted to already were vaccinated but that was not the public opinion at the time who still imagined we could avoid every getting Covid in Canada by maintaining some restrictions. O'Toole tried to straddle the line, probably his only choice, but decisevely enough of the tired of Trudeau but scared of Covid suburban voters stuck with Trudeau.

Serving in the military is of no consequence in Canadian politics because unlike the US the militray is not a significant factor in Canadian life. The US laments it is becoming a rural and family tradition only thing there too but that happened at least 30 years ago in Canada.

[P'tit Renard]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Canada would be in a recession without population growth.

No wonder Trudeau's Liberals are misleading Canadians saying that they're going to cap International Student numbers, and yet in reality record student visas were issued YTD 2024:

Foreign student permits are already outpacing 2023's record numbers
https://nationalpost.com/news/politi...record-numbers

According to numbers curated online by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada handed out 216,620 international study permits in the first five months of 2024. Just 200,205 study permits were handed out during the same time period in 2023.

During the first five months of 2024, Indian students were granted 91,510 permits, more than the 85,805 granted over the same period last year.

In January, Immigration Marc Miller announced he was putting an intake cap on international student permit applications that he expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35 per cent from 2023.

The issue came to a head last summer after reports of international students, unable to secure housing, were living rough on the streets and in homeless shelters — including a Conestoga College student from India found sleeping under a bridge in east-end Toronto.

Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec blamed the last nine years of the Trudeau government for the problem of too many temporary residents for the system to handle.

“It is so bad that the current Liberal immigration minister himself said the broken system is ‘out of control’. The previous immigration minister admitted that the system is a ‘complete mess’. Even Trudeau acknowledged their shared failure, calling the system ‘broken,'” he said.

“The Liberal government first allowed corrupt consultants and phoney educational institutions to bring students here under false pretences. Then they promised to fix the mess and bring it under control only to see things become worse amid a growing housing crisis of their making.”

[Acajack]

People. The numbers are NOT going to be coming down. It's also almost certain they won't be coming down significantly under a CPC government. The course has been definitely set and is unlikely to be altered. There is too much at stake.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by P'tit Renard

No wonder Trudeau's Liberals are misleading Canadians saying that they're going to cap International Student numbers, and yet in reality record student visas were issued YTD 2024:

Foreign student permits are already outpacing 2023's record numbers

According to numbers curated online by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada handed out 216,620 international study permits in the first five months of 2024. Just 200,205 study permits were handed out during the same time period in 2023.

During the first five months of 2024, Indian students were granted 91,510 permits, more than the 85,805 granted over the same period last year.

In January, Immigration Marc Miller announced he was putting an intake cap on international student permit applications that he expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35 per cent from 2023.

The issue came to a head last summer after reports of international students, unable to secure housing, were living rough on the streets and in homeless shelters — including a Conestoga College student from India found sleeping under a bridge in east-end Toronto.

Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec blamed the last nine years of the Trudeau government for the problem of too many temporary residents for the system to handle.

“It is so bad that the current Liberal immigration minister himself said the broken system is ‘out of control’. The previous immigration minister admitted that the system is a ‘complete mess’. Even Trudeau acknowledged their shared failure, calling the system ‘broken,'” he said.

“The Liberal government first allowed corrupt consultants and phoney educational institutions to bring students here under false pretences. Then they promised to fix the mess and bring it under control only to see things become worse amid a growing housing crisis of their making.”

If they can't respect the cap they set they are truly incompetent. I think it's too early to be so pessimistic though. There is a race to get applications because the cap is coming so this is possibly/probbaly just front loading. Let's see how the year plays out. I can't see how they could fail to meet what was a specific cap and was allocated between provinces. But this government has failed in a lot of applications.

[Truenorth00]

I'm not sure one can judge based on first 6 months data. The question is whether they stick to the 360k cap. We know that applications have fallen substantially and there's actually projections that enrollment might actually below targets.