Federal Government & Politics II

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Yes, but provided by who?

Forum rules do not specify that someone who expresses the desirability of something needs to provide a solution or plan for it!

(Plus, other countries do way better at this. It's not a pie-in-the-sky.)

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Opinions on climate change have shifted in recent months/years with the cost of living crisis. Fewer voters think it's a top issue and almost half of 2021 Liberal and NDP voters believe that affordability policies should be top priority even if that means sacrificing climate goals:





If climate activists want to not see all of our progress get blown up in smoke, we need to address the cost of living crisis. Nobody cares about broader social or environmental goals if they can't afford to make rent or buy groceries.

I read an article the other day specifically discussing this topic but can't recall the source. It said that the real problem with carbon pricing is that it evenly disperses the burden which disproportionately impacts the poor. The real issue that needs to be addressed is income inequality and to levy higher taxes on the rich who can much more easily shoulder the burden than the poor. It also applauded Canada's rebate program but said it needs more clarity for the average Canadian.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

If climate activists want to not see all of our progress get blown up in smoke, we need to address the cost of living crisis. Nobody cares about broader social or environmental goals if they can't afford to make rent or buy groceries.

A simple model for this is that if you want successful lasting changes you have to make sure the hierarchy of needs is met and you need broad support in society. Otherwise you get voted out and somebody else is voted in to do something else.

Pushing through changes with major quality of life side-effects because you happened to temporarily achieve 50% + 1 support is a recipe for setbacks and failure of a long-term political plan.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Agreed on the last point, though we're still convincing ourselves that democracy is in fact the best.

Democracy has several durable advantages, but always making the 'right choice' is not one of them.

The advantages are its theoretical self-correcting nature. Elect a shit leader, and eventually you get another chance to elect a non-shit leader.

It acts as a pressure valve for public discontent, or a reality smack for those who get too in their own bubbles. The pulse of the public is taken and everyone gets the same say, for those who give enough effort to participate.

It (seemingly less so today) gives politicians a pass for their actions in government if they are legal within the bounds of law in the country. Generally democracies don't vindictively prosecute the former leader, lest the current leader find themselves in front of the very same firing squad at the end of their mandate. The people giveth and the people taketh away, but the unstated caveat is that one isn't going to be criminally prosecuted at the end of their term if they're unpopular.

Everyone loves the concept of the philosopher king. It's just more the exception in human society than the rule, and the safety line of being able to turf bad leadership generally outweighs the advantage of having authoritarian vision. Regardless of how noble its long-term planning intentions. Even better, if one does find a philosopher king in 21st century Canada, you can just keep voting that person into office for as long as ones feels they're doing a good job.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I don't think that every Summer would be hot and dry. There would be many wet Summers. While we did have the most number of days with smoke by far that I've experienced I don't see it being an annual thing.

Whatever comforts you. Fire smoke has become a season all its own from Spring to Fall now out West.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Whatever comforts you. Fire smoke has become a season all its own from Spring to Fall now out West.

It’s worth noting that the majority of forest fires in Alberta are human caused. While this doesn’t negate the climate change aspect. People are mostly responsible for the destructive fires we’re seeing today. A large part of that is because of decades of forestry mismanagement. This country really needs to start taking forestry management seriously and protecting communities to prevent massive destruction and evacuations like we’ve seen in the past. It’ll be better for the forests too.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Hecate

It’s worth noting that the majority of forest fires in Alberta are human caused. While this doesn’t negate the climate change aspect. People are mostly responsible for the destructive fires we’re seeing today. A large part of that is because of decades of forestry mismanagement. This country really needs to start taking forestry management seriously and protecting communities to prevent massive destruction and evacuations like we’ve seen in the past. It’ll be better for the forests too.

Climate change makes the fires that start (regardless of cause) far worse.

For BC anyway, humans only cause 40% of fires:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/s...auses-wildfire

Lightning (and a rare chance of other natural causes) causes approximately 60% of wildfires
Human activity causes approximately 40% of wildfires

[thurmas]

Too little in resources and time by levels of government is spent on climate change mitigation. Need more Duff Roblin types from back in the day committing to things like floodways ect..

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Opinions on climate change have shifted in recent months/years with the cost of living crisis. Fewer voters think it's a top issue and almost half of 2021 Liberal and NDP voters believe that affordability policies should be top priority even if that means sacrificing climate goals:





If climate activists want to not see all of our progress get blown up in smoke, we need to address the cost of living crisis. Nobody cares about broader social or environmental goals if they can't afford to make rent or buy groceries.

The Housing Crisis has been called the "Everything Crisis" for this reason.

• Video Link

There's almost no progressive goal that can be attained without first solving housing. But somehow, the LPC seems to have forgotten this. Even today's commitment on housing are already being called out as vastly insufficient by experts like Prof. Mike Moffat (the very guy the LPC invited to their convention to talk about housing policy) given the government's desired population growth.

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Democracy sometimes gives us this:

I also believe that democracy is ill-suited to tackling climate change. People want their F-150s and Timmy Drive-thrus; the ecology be damned!

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." (Or the fact that numbskulls cause society-disdaining and-destroying psychopaths to get elected.)

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

There's almost no progressive goal that can be attained without first solving housing. But somehow, the LPC seems to have forgotten this.

That GDP loss estimate is higher than I would have guessed but I'm not surprised that it's had a major negative impact in the UK and I expect it will be similar in Canada. Not as bad historically since most of Canada was somewhat affordable until recently, but with a major impact in the past couple of years. One aspect is that small differences in growth compound over time.

It impacts just about everything like how stable people's lives are, where they can work, whether they can comfortably have kids, or their net worth. Personally, I have owned a place for a while so it's very easy for me to stay put. If it hadn't played out that way I wonder if I'd even still be in Canada.

[Marshsparrow]

Did the Liberals just take all of Pierre's main points and put them into their fall economic statement with new $ and programs - stuff Pierre has been asking about and now he is mad at how much it will cost? This guy... what a moron.

[ssiguy]

The reality is that there is no way, in hell, that Canada is ever going to meet any of it's climate goals whether that be in the long or short term. Much of this is directly due to Trudeau's own policies. I have always found it amusing that left-wing people tend to be the biggest advocates for reducing our GHG emissions while simultaneously being the biggest supporters of high immigration and if you don't agree with them then you are labelled a racist. Somehow, they think being a racial/ethnic minority means they don't create GHG emissions.

As I stated earlier, if Canada drops it's per-capita GHG emissions by a whopping 40% over the next decade, our total emissions won't reduce at all due to this is our expected population growth over that time. The most efficient, easiest, and least costly way we can reduce our emissions is by stopping all immigration. No matter how strongly you support climate change indicatives or which policies are best, the reality is that under Trudeau's immigration policies, our emissions are going nowhere but up.

There are so many negatives about high immigration rates it's hard to know where to start. From our housing crisis, suppressing of wages, overburdened healthcare, stresses on our infrastructure, higher rates of inflation..........the list is truly endless. However, one of the biggest items on that list is its impact on our GHG emissions and how our goal of net-zero by 2050 under such high growth rates is nothing short of farcical.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

So funny to hear Conservatives conveniently use Democracy as their argument to oppose lockdowns when the Convoy was full on fascist and wanted to overthrow democracy and impose its own unelected government. It was also opposed by the majority of Canadians. Alberta’s new Premier has already had an ethics violation attempting to interfere with the Courts to overturn a charge against Artur Pawlowski and is now announcing her plans to destroy AHS as revenge for the pandemic.

You also seem to have this belief that the majority of people opposed lockdowns, when the reality was the opposite. Quit with the strawman arguments or I’ll have to elaborate on the fact that your position advocates for the unnecessary deaths of thousands if not millions of people.

Wait, the convoy was full of fascists and wanted to overthrow the government?

You make it sounds like the convoy protestors was the equivalent of Jan 6 Capitol.

Let’s talk about facsim, where the f is the elected government now when we have terrorists rallying the masses for the genocide of Jews, in the streets of major Canadian cities.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Wait, the convoy was full of fascists and wanted to overthrow the government?

You make it sounds like the convoy protestors was the equivalent of Jan 6 Capitol.

Let’s talk about facsim, where the f is the elected government now when we have terrorists rallying the masses for the genocide of Jews, in the streets of major Canadian cities.

Exactly, you have actual terrorist supporters on the streets, with thousands cheering an imam calling for the death of Jews, they surrounded the prime minister in Vancouver, harassing him, even though he supports them, and nothing from our government. Why no freezing bank accounts of those people? They could be directly funding Hamas and actual terrorist actions, but nothing. These “pro Palestine” protests should have been banned after that lady in Toronto got punched in the face after they stole and tore up the picture of her daughter’s missing friend.

BuT tHe kKkOnvOy duhhh!

[theman23]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

It's amazing how many people try to essentially argue for technocratic authoritarianism and claim it's "democracy".

I'd have a lot more respect for people like Molson, O-Tac, and Casper if they just took the mask off and argued for the abolition of democracy in favour of dictatorship by an unelected Council of Experts because it seems like that's what they really want.

I'm not sure we could even call it a technocracy. A lot of our federal service is composed of people who lack any real technical background but are in leadership positions because they've convinced the right people that they're just really good at making decisions. It's not uncommon to see someone parachuted in from say, Health Canada to OSFI despite not having any relevant background for either position. This doesn't just happen at the executive level either.

A lot of our COVID policies for example did not have any sound scientific basis to them. We had fairly strict border controls, even while COVID had become well established as endemic in this country. The infamous trucker convoy began after we suddenly decided to enforce a policy near the tail end of the pandemic that had little benefit in curbing transmission but had tremendous political pressure behind it on both sides of the border.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

It’s a bit digressive, but I was shocked to find vineyards in Wawa (near the 17), of all places.

I believe it's a blueberry farm and they make wine from blueberries, not from grapes.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Whatever comforts you. Fire smoke has become a season all its own from Spring to Fall now out West.

Northern Ontario doesn't get the long hot dry spells that you see in parts of Alberta and especially in BC. We normally have a fair amount of rain throughout the Summer whether it's a hot or cool Summer.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Northern Ontario doesn't get the long hot dry spells that you see in parts of Alberta and especially in BC. We normally have a fair amount of rain throughout the Summer whether it's a hot or cool Summer.

Sure. But the question is what happens when a region ends up in a different climate band?

There's a great simulator that was discussed in the journal Nature that shows how cities shift in climate by 2080.

https://fitzlab.shinyapps.io/cityapp/

There's a few Canadian cities listed. And the changes vary substantially. Under the high emissions scenario, Quebec City ends up with the climate of Chatham, ON, while Vancouver ends up with the climate of Seattle.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I believe it's a blueberry farm and they make wine from blueberries, not from grapes.

Still, it’s impressive that small-scale agriculture is possible in Wawa.
I was driving through some deforested land to get to the high scenic falls of Magpie River, but I couldn’t figure out what the land was used for. It didn’t look agricultural. Any idea??