Canada General Discussion: Trudeau II

[Vega]

Yeah, I like how all the sexist things that used to be said about women and were thankfully addressed decades ago are given a pass when used to attack a man.

[DC Al Fine]

Hopefully Brown refuses to sign this asshole's nomination papers. Problem solved.

PC can't afford to upset the Ontario Landowners Association. They are the reason John Tory lost his by-election and they are quite powerful in rural Eastern Ontario.

Such a thing exists? Sounds like a 19th century throwback.

The funny thing is that it only came into existence in 2006

[RogueBeaver]

Pot will be legalized next year.

Harper will co-author a history book.

[Pragmatic Conservative]

Mike Duffy cleared on all 31 charges
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mike-duffy-trial-live-blog-63-1.3545326

[Antonio the Sixth]

Harper will co-author a history book.

More ridiculous propaganda about the 1812 war, I presume.

[2952-0-0]

Maybe Harper wants to maintain a public profile because he sees himself pulling off another Diefenbaker or Trudeau Sr.

[DC Al Fine]

Maybe Harper wants to maintain a public profile because he sees himself pulling off another Diefenbaker or Trudeau Sr.

What public profile? As a few media members have pointed out, the guy has been a ghost. Besides, Harper has already written a book about historical hockey, so I'd surmise he just likes writing books.

[Simfan34]

Pot will be legalized next year.

He's turning into a parody of an American liberal's dream leader.

[Blue3]

If Canada was warmer than the US instead of colder I would probably be looking into dual citizenship

[Hatman 🍁]

If Canada was warmer than the US instead of colder I would probably be looking into dual citizenship

It's called a coat.

[Blue3]

If Canada was warmer than the US instead of colder I would probably be looking into dual citizenship

It's called a coat.

I'm talking about sunshine and being able to sunbathe on a hammock in your backyard and never deal with shoveling snow or driving in snow

[DC Al Fine]

If Canada was warmer than the US instead of colder I would probably be looking into dual citizenship

It's called a coat.

I'm talking about sunshine and being able to sunbathe on a hammock in your backyard and never deal with shoveling snow or driving in snow

*is from New England

[Hatman 🍁]

If Canada was warmer than the US instead of colder I would probably be looking into dual citizenship

It's called a coat.

I'm talking about sunshine and being able to sunbathe on a hammock in your backyard and never deal with shoveling snow or driving in snow

You know, it does get hot here too.

As for the snow, yeah, you live in New England. It's not much worse in Canada. Plus, we have Vancouver.

[Blue3]

I'm seriously thinking of moving to Florida for the weather It just has sucky politics

[RogueBeaver]

The PQ had to squash their splinter parties 9-10 years ago. Too late now.

[RogueBeaver]

Food for thought on energy policy.

[Simfan34]

The least Trudeau could do, if he is so intent on acting like an American progressive's dream leader, is advance high speed rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor. That is one thing of which I would highly approve.

[Poirot]

It will not be high speed. Via Rail is proposing a high frequency train. Slower, less costly and with some stops. They would use dedicated tracks for passengers trains and it would be electric hybrid.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/via-rail-quebec-ontario-1.3537019

There could be 15 daily departures from Quebec City to Montreal instead of 5 at the moment. It would take 2 hours 10 minutes. It would run north of the St. Lawrence with a stop in Trois-Rivières.

Montreal-Toronto would take 3 hours 45 minutes (4 hours 30 now)
Ottawa-Toronto in 2 hours 30 min.
Montreal-Ottawa 1 hour 20 min.

And since it's the new popular thing, pension funds would be involved in financing this infrastructure project.

[Simfan34]

That is unfortunate. The corridor is far less built up with sprawl than the Northeast Corridor, which should mean it'd be possible to build a sufficienly straight right of way for relatively little cost. Canada even already has a manufacturer of high speed trains!

[Citizen Hats]

That is unfortunate. The corridor is far less built up with sprawl than the Northeast Corridor, which should mean it'd be possible to build a sufficienly straight right of way for relatively little cost. Canada even already has a manufacturer of high speed trains!

VIA's position on full-fat HSR is that it would cost 2.5-3 x as much as their 110 mph proposal, while only attracting 1.4 x more ridership. 

It's worth noting that the existing diesel-powered, 90-95 mph tops Montreal-Toronto expresses run faster average speeds than any Amtrak route save New York - Washington Acela Express trains. The problems are that there's not enough track capacity to do that frequently and reliably, and that it takes just somewhat too long to be practically competitive over the distance.  The old Turbos ran the route in just under four hours. 

Post modernization, Montreal-Toronto trains would be the fastest average speed trains in the Western Hemisphere without breaking 110

[Hatman 🍁]

So the Libs in Newfoundland are planning to shut down half of the province's libraries and are putting a tax on books. Lord tunderin' jesus b'y.

[RogueBeaver]

$7.5B surplus as the FY ends.

[DC Al Fine]

So the Libs in Newfoundland are planning to shut down half of the province's libraries and are putting a tax on books. Lord tunderin' jesus b'y.

The Newfoundland government was relying on oil roughly to the same extent as Alberta was, but without Alberta's strong starting position. The budget was about as nasty as required and had both cuts and tax hikes, but I don't know what they are going to do without another oil boom. Newfoundland's fiscal and demographic position is awful even by Atlantic Canadian standards.

Anyways, the result of all this is the first good news poll for the NDP in a long time. Brackets indicate change from last election.

Lib: 37% (-20)
NDP: 32% (+20)
PC: 30% (nc)

[DC Al Fine]

Oh, there's a few rumours going around that Stephen McNeil is going to call a snap election this spring. Nova Scotia loves to speculate on this topic with every premier because John Buchanan won back to back re-elections off of snap elections in the 1980's. I personally doubt McNeil calls an election.

[Poirot]

Jean Rousseau, ex-NDP MP for Compton-Stanstead is joining the Green Party. He thinks the environment should be the top priority.

http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/estrie/2016/04/29/005-rousseau-vert-transition-estrie.shtml