Canada General Discussion: Trudeau II

[Linus Van Pelt]

I finally got around to reading the "leap manifesto". It's actually less radical than I expected from media depictions: higher, more progressive taxes, no new pipelines, public transit, indigenous rights, etc. But it's not really anti-capitalist, at least in its specific proposals.

But I guess it fits a certain narrative about the NDP to have a bunch of radical leftists fighting the leadership.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Whoa: Tootoo is leaving Cabinet and the Grit caucus to seek addiction treatment. Best of luck to him.

Stepping down from cabinet I understand - but leaving the caucus, to sit as an independent, for addiction treatment? That seems weird. I would not be surprised at all if there turns out to be more to this than has been announced.

[Linus Van Pelt]

Looking through old results, I noticed that the Greens put up great results federally and provincially in Dufferin-Caledon and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the mid 2000's. What was going there? Rural Ontario is not the sort of place where you'd think the Greens would do well.

There is a bit of a hippy scene in this part of the province, (or post-hippy, like organic farming, "artisanal" shops, you know what I mean), even if it's a minority under the surface of typical rural conservatism. Mind you, the way the Greens briefly became the "strategic" progressive party in Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound was still kind of weird and I don't entirely understand it; the area isn't that green.

A lot of it has to do with the hilly terrain along the Niagara escarpment which is pretty for tourists but not that great for commercial farming: you can see the idea on a topographic map:

[Linus Van Pelt]

Weir is now listed as a Cooperative Commonwealth Federation member in the House of Commons.

Haha

[Linus Van Pelt]

The issue that might lead such a party to take off is immigration. On economic issues, there's little appetite for a party to the right of Scheer's Conservatives. Most normal people don't care about supply management. But a large slice of the population is more hostile to immigration and multiculturalism than the leadership of all the political parties. Bernier is speaking for a lot of people who have felt unrepresented on these issues.