Yes, Doug Ford, of course. Sorry.
Might I suggest those of you who don’t have a PAL and a firearm look into it?
I do. It’s a fucking joke and disgustingly timed. We need our leaders preparing for conflict with the USA, not running unnecessary elections.
I believe Doug Ford would sell out Canada, to be Governor of Canada, in a heartbeat.
He has literally Americanized everything he touches; liquor/beer in variety stores? A solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist, but hey, just like American it must be great! Pharmaceuticals being advertised on tv? Check! Hard sell on line gambling, advertising, in dire financial times!)? Check! He’s choking money out of schools, hoping to monetize them in future. He hates teachers and nurses because they have unions. It worked with healthcare, he put the thin wedge in, ‘for profit’ clinics to help with wait times he created by cutting funding. He swore he wouldn’t develop the green belt, let his buddies buy up the property early, then set about to develop it. Only retracting when called out. Teachers and Drs and Nurses are burning out and leaving their jobs, he’s made the working conditions impossible. He gave a mil$ to Mulroney, and a medal, for being on the board at Chartwell nursing homes. You remember them? When the Covid crisis was so bad in care homes, they sent in army medics, it was Chartwell homes they felt they had to speak out about how bad the conditions were.
He sold a public park with waterfront access, enjoyed for decades by families in the city, a 99yr lease to high end American spa and an expensive waterpark. Tried to calm everyone down saying it would help with parking problems, there’d be a big structure. Indeed, come to find out, tax payers pay for the structure, spa gets the profits. Does it get more American than that?
Anyone considering voting for Doug needs to stop by their nearest urgent care facility and check how things look. Or talk to a teacher, or a nurse. Everyone talked a good game during Covid about supporting nurses and teachers. But will they vote to save them, or stand by and watch the show. Ugh.
I honestly don’t think either conservative leader PP or Ford or even premier of Alberta, can really be trusted. They are all just milder versions. We can see PP taking things straight from their playbook. His language, his attack style, all of it. Doug Ford? You want to trust the guy wearing a look alike red hat? It’s ‘not for sale’ is a pretty limp thing to say really, but it won’t offend Trump, will it?
Much of what you say is true but stated rather hyperbolically. What you perhaps mean to say is that Ford is conservative and promotes conservative policies, which is not a secret. In terms of corruption, Kathleen Wynne was just as bad and Dalton McGuinty was worse. The Ontario Conservative Party isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue, but the Liberal Party during and after McGuinty acquired a stench that you could smell a mile away.
Ford is not “American”, Ford is conservative. Is it “American” to resolutely stand up to Trump and threaten sanctions? To actually go on Fox News with your anti-tariff anti-Trump position? Was it “American” to properly manage COVID; while Americans suffered thousands of unnecessary deaths, Ford set up mass vaccination clinics in Ontario and supported a mask mandate and limited gatherings. Was it “American” to cancel the useless emissions testing program when many states still have them? Was it “American” to cancel private automobile license renewal fees when AFAIK all American states annually gouge their citizens as a form of tax grab?
I don’t like everything Ford has done - the greenbelt, waterfront and Science Centre are concerning. All the above comments are true. But I know he is loved by his constituents, that he generally reconsiders when shown to be wrong, that he does speak for Canada and Ontario, and did so reasonably when it counted during COVID and in present times. I don’t like the idea of a self-serving election now at all. But he will rewin his majority. The other parties rarely appear in the papers and seem in disarray. Which is really why he is doing this.
Plus I think his widely publicized aggressive stance against the Trump tariffs has given him a popularity boost that is undoubtedly part of the political calculus. That’s just politics, and always has been, unfortunately.
What pisses me off is his cheap excuse. “Oh, I need a strong majority to deal with Trump!” He’s already got 67% of the seats, how much more of a mandate does he need? This is nothing more than a cynical attempt to get a two year extension to his current term.
This is a terrible read of the guy. Like, sensationally awful. Beer in corner stores is your rationale? There’s beer in corner stores everywhere else in Canada. It’s as typical of the United Kingdom or Germany as it is the USA.
Ford is a dummy, corrupt as hell and a conservative but he is… REALLY Canadian. Sensationally, wildly Canadian. Comically so, almost. He’s a patriot to his bones, albeit in a simplistic, gung-ho way. There’s a reason he’s leading the charge against the Trumpist threats. It’s politically savvy, of course, but it matters to him personally.
No one in Ontario politics who isn’t PC thinks he’s a good premier, but no one doubts his loyalty. I do not like him either - I am still hopping mad over the OSC - but there is no serious question of his patriotism. Danielle Smith I don’t know about. Ford I do.
I think it fair to say that every excuse a majority government has for an early election is bullshit. We do not need an early election.
I’m not certain the best way for me to protest against Trump’s protectionist policies is to buy something manufactured by a U.S. company that I’ll never use.
Indeed!
Well, here in Alberta, there isn’t. Thankfully, there’s a liquor store next door to most corner stores anyway.
It will cost us anywhere up to $1,000,000,000.00 for Ford’s Conservatives to have broken a deal that was set to expire later this year anyway.
And as a result of the wording of the law, convenience stores in gas stations are selling beer and wine. Clerks have reported customers who buy a case, and crack one before they’ve even pulled out of the parking lot, but an increase in drinking and driving is the price we pay for convenience. Or something…
If we’re going to go that way, we need a program to increase the number of classes available. I looked into this a few years back, and classes in my area are few and far between, and booked full a long time in advance.
And what to my wandering eye should appear this morning but this little tidbit -
The Ford government’s push to get beer, wine and ready-made cocktails into convenience stores ahead of its original schedule will cost taxpayers more than $600 million, the province’s budget watchdog says.
The finding was included in a new report Monday by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) that comes just one day before Premier Doug Ford is set to trigger an early election in the province.
In all, liberalized alcohol sales are expected to cost the province roughly $1.4 billion by 2030, the FAO said.
Full article at this link - Ford's push to expand alcohol sales early to cost province $612M, budget watchdog says | CBC News
I’m curious - if the waiting list for the course to get your PAL is too long, could you get it by enlisting in the armed forces as a reservist or a cadet? (I’m pretty sure I’ve aged out of being a cadet - I was thinking for those we might know under the age of 20.)
Despite my family’s military background, my generation did not enlist or serve in any capacity. As a result, my knowledge of how the Canadian Armed Forces work is restricted to those friends of mine who have played in the Ceremonial Guard band. Again, I’m pretty sure there’s an upper age limit, but if you can take the basic training and marching in full uniform, it’s a pretty good summer job. Oh, your liver has to be prepared for some serious workouts as well… 
It’s not easy to find broccoli that isn’t from the USA right now. Harrumph.
The US produce at Fortino’s was piling up. After I got mine I lingered and watched people… they were looking at the labels.
Yeah, boycotts are hard. It’s like any major change to your diet - you have to stick to it until it just becomes a habit. Most folks can take giving up their favourite US made things for a couple of weeks. It’ll be interesting to see if the general public has the determination to go through with Buy Canadian for long, or whether they turn into that failed vegetarian walking past a McDonald’s in the second week of Lent.
And amusingly, grocery politics is the subject of a This Hour Has 22 Minutes sketch - https://youtu.be/oYUI4hu950w?si=a1tsz9SHemFu3VPd
Two stories from when the US was blocking Canadian beef because a single case of Mad Cow Disease had been traced to Canada - this was under Bush the Second.
My sister and her rancher husband were having a brutal time of it, but they were getting by. She told me about being in Canadian Tire and saying “We’ve done without that screwdriver this long; we can buy it when we’ve got the money to spare.”. Meanwhile, my Loblaw’s down the street put up signs all over the store about how they were proudly selling only US beef. When I saw the signs, I demanded to speak to the manager and berated him and his company in my opera voice, until they called security and forcibly removed me from the store. I then shopped at Fiesta Farms for the rest of my time in that neighbourhood.
And when George Bush visited Canada, Jean Chrétien made certain that every meal Bush was served featured products that were banned in the US, including Canadian beef, PEI potatoes (banned for some kind of potato blight for a couple of years), and the list went on…
An option I hadn’t considered - the link is probably paywalled; I got to read it because someone shared it on FB.
Tariffs, which the U.S. president has constantly said he would introduce, are a threat to Canada’s national economic security. If Donald Trump follows through, Canada must respond with all economic weapons at its disposal, a key armament of which is intellectual property such as patents. This country has the right, under both Canadian and international law, to effectively suspend patent rights held by U.S.-controlled companies in key sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence. Doing so would put tremendous pressure on the Trump administration.
The author, Richard Gold, is the director of McGill University’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy, chief policy and partnerships officer at Conscience – an independent organization building open science drug discovery to address unmet health needs – and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
https: //www theglobeandmail .com/business/commentary/article-canada-must-hit-the-us-where-it-hurts-most-its-lucrative-patents/
I’m waiting for some evidence that someone in government is thinking about MILITARY security.
What’s to stop the Americans from responding to something like that with invasion?