acargitz @ theacharnian @lemmy.ca

Posts

72

Comments

1,724

Joined

2 yr. ago

Something something safe space, something something inclusion, something something participation trophy.

Question, were you a student in Quebec?

(Not downvoting you.)

This is an article about Quebec. Do students in Quebec need this kind of tool?

It's a bit puzzling to me that we are worrying about replacing a very expensive thing that (some) students own with a very cheap thing. Like, yes of course, give everyone a damn calculator, but really, now you guys feel the sudden urge to advocate for that? If someone can't afford a 9$ calculator, they also didn't afford it last week, when phones were not banned. Where was all the concern about students who can't afford calculators last week? It's silly.

A calculator is a couple of orders of magnitude cheaper than a phone. Single vs triple digits.

This is JD Vance's bestie we're talking about. He's a fascist.

That's the same incident I thought of, too. It seems that the V for Vendetta maxim "governments should be afraid of the people" is being weaponized to paralyze democracy by turning people away from elected offices. It's as if we gave up on accountability and went straight to intimidation.

Serious question: would a progressive conservative like O'Toole have defeated Carney?

The numbers allow a continuation of a Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply arrangement. This is a good result for those of us who don't trust a banker to not sell out the working class.

In loving memory of René Lévesque, I say, let them have their day in the sun. Don't fester in the dark, air out their ideas, take their best shot. Canada will be stronger for it.

No it's not. JD Vance's buddy got elected in Oshawa. Wouldn't be surprised if he rallies the maple Maga wing of the party around him.

What do you mean "narrowly"? It's a clean victory and the trumpist conservative leader lost his own riding.

Well, judging from how Canadians usually behave, those weirdos over there are always to spit on, but we don't because they're actually kind of all right, so we keep it polite and passive aggressive. Until someone talks about Celine Dion in a hostile tone.

We need European style left populism, like Mélenchon in France, or Corbyn in the UK. The mainstream media are going to call us hippie socialists no matter how "costed" and "responsible" our platform is. We need to be going for the jugular.

Canada is not a caricature version of the US. Do better, Time.

After this is all done, we need to rebuild the left in this country. We need the NDP to be putting forth bold policy proposals to neutralize the far right populist appeal of the fucking conservative ghouls.

I think your "European" view is overlooking basically all of Eastern Europe, and some of Western Europe too. I'm 100% on board for PIIGS leftism (+Corbyn +Melenchon), but don't pretend that's what "left" means everywhere in Europe.

Wait till you hear about the percentage of Europeans voting hard right (often to the right of PP).

Not speaking for OP, but here's what I wrote in another comment:

But I would be squarely against closer political and monetary integration with the EU. We absolutely do not need the Euro or the Stability and Growth Pact, and we do not need the various Orbans, LePens and Melonis, or the various debt-phobic Germans and Dutch having any kind of veto over our policies or say over our politics. The Norwegian, Swiss and Icelandic models are good models of EU-collaboration, and we can of course develop our own. We can be very very very good friends, but just like we don’t need to be anyone’s 51st state, we also don’t need to be anyone’s 28th member state.

Excellent article.

Main points for me:

1. Horizon Europe, digital sovereignty and technology, GDPR. YES! And absolutely we should be strengthening our privacy laws. We should be moving towards GDPR and we should be pushing for right to repair, etc.
2. Green Alliance, climate collaboration, and collaboration on the Arctic. YES! But see the impacts of CETA/ISDS/ICS too.
3. Freedom of movement. Yes, but: Europe's model of immigration has the opposite values than ours. We shouldn't let European phobic attitudes to immigration hamstring us from developing further ties, e.g., with the north african and sub-saharan francophonie. But we should definitely, absolutely further develop Erasmus+ and other EU-Canada youth exchange programs. And it should become extremely fluid and frictionless to recognize European professional credentials in Canada. An Italian doctor or a Greek nurse or a Spanish engineer or a German tradesperson should be able to start practicing in Canada within weeks at worst. EDIT: Also, linked with deepening research collaboration: Canadian temporary permits (study, work) should start to be recognized as means to expedite or eliminate EU visitor visas. We welcome fantastic international students who come from places Europeans over-scrutinize (the Maghreb, Africa, Iran, India, ...) and are in a disadvantage for research collaborations and/or research visits in the EU.
4. But I would be squarely against closer political and monetary integration with the EU. We absolutely do not need the Euro or the Stability and Growth Pact, and we do not need the various Orbans, LePens and Melonis, or the various debt-phobic Germans and Dutch having any kind of veto over our policies or say over our politics. The Norwegian, Swiss and Icelandic models are good models of EU-collaboration, and we can of course develop our own. We can be very very very good friends, but just like we don’t need to be anyone’s 51st state, we also don’t need to be anyone’s 28th member state.

Finally: for that matter, we should be looking for similar degrees of integration with Japan-Korea-Australia, etc. We are uniquely positioned to unite Pacific and Atlantic. To quote Carney: "if US no longer wants to lead, Canada will".