# The Canadope Café 2016: The North Awakens **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883 "2016-01-01T05:04:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 47
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/921 "2016-12-12T17:28:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’ve never heard of her, but I’ve certainly heard of Rosa Parks. Anyway, I was surprised to even hear that we had segregated sections in movie theatres in Canada. I thought we were above that nonsense. > > Sent from my adequate mobile device using Tapatalk. Canada has a shoddy history of racial, ethnic and religious bigotry - but it wasn’t specifically targeted at Blacks; probably because outside of Nova Scotia, the Black communities were pretty small. Where they existed, there was discrimination, usually taking the form of segregated schooling - but not everywhere. Such discrimination was highly regional. [http://www.blackhistorycanada.ca/events.php?themeid=7&id=9](http://www.blackhistorycanada.ca/events.php?themeid=7&id=9) The difference is that in Canada, Blacks were just another disapproved-of minority, and not of much significance in that category besides the Chinese, the Sikhs, the Jews, etc. The primary groups whose suffering of discrimination really shaped the country is, above all, Native Canadians, and Francophone minorities living outside of Quebec (within Quebec is of course a whole other issue …). Besides these much greater concerns, greater in that they involve more people and worse injustices, the Black experience in Canada would be considered pretty minor and unremarkable … were it not for the fact that specifically anti-Black racism is the single overwhelming preoccupation of the colossus to the south. For this reason, Canadians tend to give their experience in this regard more prominence, if only because the Americans are so focused on that concern. It is natural for Canadians to ask themselves “if anti-Black racism is such a big deal in the US, what was it like in Canada?” ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/922 "2016-12-13T04:55:48Z")
Another Guardian here. And that happened four times! Each time I did the survey, I tried to answer it differently, different sex, different age, different postal code, but it kept calling me a Guardian. What a joke if someone can take this survey multiple times. Which to me says the government doesn’t give a dam about what the final results are. They will give us what is best for us. Yeah sure! As for First Past The Post or whatever system we end up with, we will still have the same quality of politicians elected. They will not change because the voters will still be the same. There will be a line-up of wannabe politicians hoping to get on the pension gravy train. Of all the changes proposed or suggested, I really hope we stick with a paper ballot. On-line voting is not and never will be secure. Some pimply faced, overweight kid sitting in his bedroom in his parents house will hack into the system one day and we will find we have elected his sexy history teacher. But hey, that could be better than a ski instructor. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/923 "2016-12-13T19:55:10Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > This reads more like the results of a Myers-Briggs personality test, than a way to electoral reform. What concrete ideas does the government hope to find with this? To comment on your first point, that is in fact exactly what it’s like, and probably has about as much scientific use, which is to say none at all. As to your questions, the government plans to find no concrete ideas with this. It’s a public relations move, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/924 "2016-12-14T02:12:55Z")
I’m an ‘Innovator’ Innovators are generally among the most open to new ideas to improve the way Parliament works. Innovators tend to favour cooperation over competition when it comes to politics and to prefer governments that seek compromise with other parties. They typically support the idea of parties working together and sharing responsibility for decisions. > [@](#): > > Innovators are commonly interested in new ways to increase diversity of Parliament. They tend to prefer that Members of Parliament, as a whole, better reflect Canada’s diverse population, which includes having more women and candidates from visible minority groups elected. > > Of all the groups, Innovators are most likely to welcome having a greater diversity of ideas and political viewpoints expressed and represented in Parliament. They also tend to believe that voters should have more options or additional ways to express their choices on the ballot during an election. > > Innovators are generally quite concerned about voter turnout in Canada. They are the most open to the possibility of online voting as a means to increase electoral participation. Innovators are also the most likely to support the idea of mandatory voting as they tend to see voting as a democratic duty. 1st Paragraph. I could care less about who is the MP as long as they are qualified to do the job. Qualifications have nothing to do with skin color, sex, nice hair, who their parents were, or culture. 2nd Paragraph. Yeah, that fits. 3rd Paragraph. Pretty much. But if there is mandatory voting there has to be a ‘None of the above’ choice on the ballot. > [@](#): > > A ballot should be easy to understand, even if it means voters have fewer options to express their preferences. Easy to understand? Does this mean less questions or that government can’t find someone to write intelligibly? > [@](#): > > Voters should be able to express multiple preferences on the ballot, even if this means that it takes longer to count the ballots and announce the election result. If done online, then it would be easy to count the ballots. Almost instantaneous actually. Assuming monkeys didn’t write the program, of course. > [@](#): > > It should always be clear which party is accountable for decisions made by government, even if this means that decisions are only made by one party. > One party governs and is solely accountable for policy outcomes OR several parties must cooperate to govern and they share accountability for policy outcomes? What does ‘Accountable’ mean here? Can we sue the government for doing stupid things? Is there an oversight group that punishes them? I would assume that if individual parties had less power or meaning that people would focus more on their local representative’s qualifications, capabilities and actions rather than their party. They would be the responsible ones and would get replaced in the next elections if they screwed up. > [@](#): > > Canadians should have the option to cast their ballot online in federal elections, even if this increases the cost of elections. Why would this increase the cost? Build a system that scales during peak times using cloud resources and contracts during idle times. Bonus: Online registry of people can then be used by banks and other institutions to do Due Diligence compliance process ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/925 "2016-12-14T04:01:20Z")
> [@bb49](#): > > …What a joke if someone can take this survey multiple times. Which to me says the government doesn’t give a dam about what the final results are… That’s obstructionist thinking, right there. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/926 "2016-12-14T18:47:40Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > Why would this increase the cost? Even if it did, would that actually be a real issue? Elections don’t cost that much, do they? According to such sources as I can find, the total cost to hold the 2015 general election was $400 to $500 million. That’s not chump change, but if you’re going to have the government spend money on anything, surely to God _actually conducting elections_ is something we shouldn’t mind spending a couple of bucks on, is it? That’s something we do wanna get right. ---
**Author:** ![bb49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b38774/32.png) [@bb49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bb49)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/927 "2016-12-14T22:35:11Z")
I agree with pretty much everything you say except for this: > [@Uzi](#): > > If done online, then it would be easy to count the ballots. Almost instantaneous actually. Assuming monkeys didn’t write the program, of course. Are you not concerned about the online ballot system being hacked, whether it’s by a nerdy school kid, a member of a political party of someone from another country’s government? Paper ballots may not be completely foolproof, but I would be surprised if there is a online voting system that can’t be hacked into. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/928 "2016-12-15T01:19:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > That’s not chump change, but if you’re going to have the government spend money on anything, surely to God _actually conducting elections_ is something we shouldn’t mind spending a couple of bucks on, is it? That’s something we do wanna get right. Correct. There have been discussions on this in other threads. Looking at the processes (I’m just making this shit up, btw): Voter Identification - Voting - Vote count and validation Each process has input, output, procedures, etc., that needs to be managed so that the next process can proceed with the final output being a vote counted for a specific candidate. Automation can be applied to any of the processes to make them more efficient. The negative side, or positive, is that they don’t allow much room for flexibility. > [@bb49](#): > > Are you not concerned about the online ballot system being hacked, whether it’s by a nerdy school kid, a member of a political party of someone from another country’s government? There are checks that can be built into the system or external systems to monitor for unusual activity. Random samples can be taken to confirm the results. It can all be done with tokens and keys that expire immediately after use to ensure confidentiality and only 1 access per issued key. And if the Green Party all of a sudden gains a majority across the country, it pretty much indicate a)people are stupid or b)the system was hacked. It’d be a toss up as to which:p ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/929 "2016-12-17T17:02:33Z")
A co-worker of mine pointed out that tickets to World Junior games that don’t involve Canada can be picked up very cheaply on the secondary market (the organizers only sell ticket packages and people are eager to offload individual tickets they aren’t interested in). Any suggestions which game(s) would be worth watching? My co-worker saw a Switzerland vs. Czech Republic game and he said it was fairly entertaining (Switzerland won). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/930 "2016-12-25T20:30:10Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > A co-worker of mine pointed out that tickets to World Junior games that don’t involve Canada can be picked up very cheaply on the secondary market (the organizers only sell ticket packages and people are eager to offload individual tickets they aren’t interested in). Any suggestions which game(s) would be worth watching? My co-worker saw a Switzerland vs. Czech Republic game and he said it was fairly entertaining (Switzerland won). In Toronto the best game would be Dec. 29 - Russia vs USA 3:00 PM. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/931 "2016-12-25T20:32:49Z")
Merry Christmas fellow Canucks. I wish everyone all the best in 2017! I’ll be off-line till the 29th. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/932 "2016-12-30T23:18:31Z")
Hi, everyone. I just dropped by to say a quick “Happy New Year” to all of you, and to catch up a bit before a new thread gets started… How’s everyone doing? It has been a big year for me - I’m retiring from singing at the end of June, 2017, and I have a new job as a ‘Church Communicator’ at a United church in north Toronto. I’m really enjoying the new challenges, and it’s fun that people are expressing their appreciation of my work. Other than the new job, 2016 has been hard - lots of family and friends struggling with major illnesses, in addition to the deaths of a number of artists who were very dear to me. Yes, I know - many people I admire are getting up into a demographic where that’s more likely to happen; it still doesn’t make it any fun. And you, Canadoper friends? What’s up? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/933 "2016-12-31T06:43:33Z")
Got married Dec 10. 2016 was a great year for me, bad though it might have seemed in other ways. Our house renovation disaster finally got fixed. We pulled off a terrific wedding. I got a new, better job. Kids are great. I hope 2017 is as good and Trump doesn’t wreck our economy or start a war. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/934 "2016-12-31T07:07:23Z")
I can honestly say that 2016 was the worst year of my life. I’ll leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/935 "2016-12-31T11:03:26Z")
Made three very good friends. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/936 "2016-12-31T11:42:58Z")
Missing you, **Le Ministre**. Which United Church will you be working at? I recall a few in north Toronto. Maybe I know the one you’ll be at. You are retiring from singing? Can you not make one more farewell swing through the west? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/937 "2016-12-31T18:04:40Z")
No, I have one more gig coming up and that’s it - “Louis Riel” for the Canadian Opera Company, running in late April/early May, and then briefly touring to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The next time I come out west, it will be entirely for pleasure, which is fine by me. Performing has taken a real toll on my love of travel… Oh, Fairlawn Avenue United Church is the name of the place - it used to be ‘Fairlawn Heights’, but most people just call it ‘Fairlawn’ and be done with it. 2015 was the church’s 100th anniversary as a congregation. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/938 "2017-01-01T06:28:25Z")
It’s tradition that the poster with the most posts in the CanaDoper thread starts the annual thread. And a look at the post counts indicates that **Northern Piper** will be taking us into the New Year. Happy New Year, all; and we’ll look forward to the new thread, **Northern Piper**! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/939 "2017-01-01T14:45:13Z")
Belated New Year’s greetings to one and all! May the New Year bless us all. New thread is now open: [CanaDope 2017: Celebrating the Sesquicentennial - “…and loving it!”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=815145) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883/940 "2017-09-09T21:47:44Z")
Well, to “awaken” this thread once again: > [@Malthus](#): > > …The primary groups whose suffering of discrimination really shaped the country is, above all, **Native Canadians** , and Francophone minorities living outside of Quebec (within Quebec is of course a whole other issue …)… My bold. A disgraceful legacy that us Canadians have inherited is the treatment of indigenous peoples in the [Indian Residential Schools System.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system) > [@](#): > > The residential school system harmed Indigenous children significantly by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, exposing many of them to physical and sexual abuse, and forcibly enfranchising them. Disconnected from their families and culture and forced to speak English or French, students who attended the residential school system often graduated unable to fit into either their communities or Canadian society. It ultimately proved successful in disrupting the transmission of Indigenous practices and beliefs across generations. The legacy of the system has been linked to an increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress, alcoholism, substance abuse, and suicide, which persist within Indigenous communities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadope-cafe-2016-the-north-awakens/741883.md?page=48)