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Pardon my French [Canadian Politics Thread]

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    LordSolarMachariusLordSolarMacharius Red wine with fish Registered User regular
    edited December 2020
    Frostwood wrote: »
    The vaccine rollout in Ontario has been a complete disaster. Our Home got assigned 27 doses of the vaccine, which most of the staff signed up for.

    However, once the staff said yes, it was revealed that they would have to go to RVH to get the vaccine(another city), and provide driver's license or similar ID.

    The problem is most workers as minimum wage workers and a fair bit don't have a car or id, so they had to reject the vaccine doses even if they wanted to. I'm the only one getting vaccinated out of 20 staff(compared to 90% saying yes before)(in our department), because of these rules.

    Most people thought it would be done at our local hospital.

    I don't drive so I'll have to try to find a ride.

    A friend I used to work with is getting it at her place tomorrow, meanwhile my Home (~15 minutes away) hasn't even asked us to sign up yet.

    (Sadly, a bunch of my co-workers don't want it.)

    LordSolarMacharius on
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    oldmankenoldmanken Registered User regular
    Yeah, it has a lot to do with the storage for the Pfizer vaccine. Once the Moderna one starts hitting in numbers I would expect the distribution points to expand.

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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    Moderna vaccine approved just now. Will make distribution of vaccines much easier

    :so_raven:
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    CanadianWolverineCanadianWolverine Registered User regular
    edited December 2020
    Phyphor wrote: »
    Vaccinations are currently only being distributed at central sites around the country. Unless your local hospital is one of the 14 sites you'll have to travel. That's not actually ontario's fault

    So... Ontario is providing at the very least safe drivers/pilots and clean public transportation to the central site, let alone paid time off, meal allowances, and a place to stay for the really long trips?

    CanadianWolverine on
    steam_sig.png
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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    I doubt it. Here in BC the initial roll out was two sites only, and people were lined up around VGH. My family member who got vaccinated stood in line for hours on their day off.

    The initial roll out was always going to be a bit messy, because of the speed needed and the limited logistics due to the storage requirements. Government, probably especially health, isn’t always good at doing things smoothly and quickly, and I say that as someone who has worked in the public sector my whole career.

    But, in the space of a week they’ve rolled out to have sites in all the regions of the province, and with moderna on the way in days they can probably have everyone get vaccinated where they work.

    :so_raven:
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    Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    That sounds like it's asking for compliance problems. How many people are going to go "Eh good enough" and skip the second dose?

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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    The point is that the first days of the program Were always going to be messy and that it will get better organized and more widely available as it scales up.

    It’s not going to stay at multiple hour wait for healthcare staff lined up around a hospital.

    :so_raven:
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    ComahawkComahawk Registered User regular
    Getting a new CDS and it is finally an Admiral: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/art-mcdonald-chief-defence-staff-1.5853182

    Makes me happy, especially with this coming up: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/navy-frigates-cost-1.5851912

    I really hope the Navy is actually able to get cutting edge technology this time around. It would be a nice change of pace in military procurement. That said, my hopes are not high. The way we do cost estimates are insane and seem designed to kill large capital projects before they get off the ground.

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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    What in the actual fuck was going on with politicians going on international vacations over Xmas during a pandemic. This shit had made me so angry and As far as I known none of them are even from my province.

    :so_raven:
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    BionicPenguinBionicPenguin Registered User regular
    It seemed like every politician in Alberta decided to leave the country.

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    ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    It seemed like every politician in Alberta decided to leave the country.
    Which would have been fine had they not also decided to come back.

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    BlarghyBlarghy Registered User regular
    It seems like a bit of a witch hunt now, though. For the travel that was purely vacation, I get it, but the NDP MP who got fucked over for visiting a dying relative, seems a bit harsh. Yeah, it would have been better if she didn't go, but it wasn't hidden and there was no indication she didn't follow all the quarantine rules.

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    darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    Blarghy wrote: »
    It seems like a bit of a witch hunt now, though. For the travel that was purely vacation, I get it, but the NDP MP who got fucked over for visiting a dying relative, seems a bit harsh. Yeah, it would have been better if she didn't go, but it wasn't hidden and there was no indication she didn't follow all the quarantine rules.

    For the NDP MP they didnt let the party know they were going, right?

    I have two coworkers (who largely work from home now) who fucked off to Maui with their fam for the holidays. They aren't politicians but I do think less of them for going, not that it surprised me much at the time, while I like them as people they certainly "Albertans"

    darkmayo on
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    BlarghyBlarghy Registered User regular
    None of the parties had rules that required MPs to vet their movements during recesses. Punishing them for failure to report when no reporting system existed is ex post facto punishment.

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    darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Blarghy wrote: »
    None of the parties had rules that required MPs to vet their movements during recesses. Punishing them for failure to report when no reporting system existed is ex post facto punishment.

    true, but during a Pandemic where any travel is discouraged I personally would have covered my ass and let someone know. I think out of all the MP/MLA who were travelling theirs is a valid reason and the punishment is likely more optics than actual punishment.

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    FrostwoodFrostwood Registered User regular
    Got my first dose of the vaccine.

    With all the vaccine misinformation flying around I was a little nervous, but to be honest it felt like taking the flu shot.

    They’ve also moved the vaccination place from the hospital to a separate, hastily setup clinic. The process was pretty smooth.

    In sadder news someone I knew died after transferring to another home of COVID. He was in the home not because of age, but because he was mentally disabled and needed someone to help take care of him.

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    BlarghyBlarghy Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Blarghy wrote: »
    None of the parties had rules that required MPs to vet their movements during recesses. Punishing them for failure to report when no reporting system existed is ex post facto punishment.

    true, but during a Pandemic where any travel is discouraged I personally would have covered my ass and let someone know. I think out of all the MP/MLA who were travelling theirs is a valid reason and the punishment is likely more optics than actual punishment.

    She tweeted out where and why she was going before she left. In most of these cases, I'm fairly certain that the MPs did in fact informally "let someone know". That they didn't do it by registered letter is more of a dodge by party leadership to toss the offending MPs overboard for something they almost certainly winked at.

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    darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    Blarghy wrote: »
    darkmayo wrote: »
    Blarghy wrote: »
    None of the parties had rules that required MPs to vet their movements during recesses. Punishing them for failure to report when no reporting system existed is ex post facto punishment.

    true, but during a Pandemic where any travel is discouraged I personally would have covered my ass and let someone know. I think out of all the MP/MLA who were travelling theirs is a valid reason and the punishment is likely more optics than actual punishment.

    She tweeted out where and why she was going before she left. In most of these cases, I'm fairly certain that the MPs did in fact informally "let someone know". That they didn't do it by registered letter is more of a dodge by party leadership to toss the offending MPs overboard for something they almost certainly winked at.

    Oh in that case it wasn’t a secret and it’s kinda lame that the person is being punished for it. Hopefully it’s more show than substance

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    OmnomnomPancakeOmnomnomPancake Registered User regular
    Ontario was in full lockdown. That scum bag finance minister should have resigned entirely, but modern political shame only goes so far.

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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    BC Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma sums this up succinctly.



    It doesn't matter that travel wasn't illegal, or that they told people before hand. If you are elected to office you have chosen to be a leader and have to model the behavior your government or party is asking of the populace. To do otherwise is to undermine the confidence of the public in government, politics, etc. And we'd seen how well that is going around the world!

    Also, as a career public servant, this garbage is enraging to me because I know that staff people doing this would get in deep shit!

    :so_raven:
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    Disco11Disco11 Registered User regular
    Corvus wrote: »
    BC Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma sums this up succinctly.



    It doesn't matter that travel wasn't illegal, or that they told people before hand. If you are elected to office you have chosen to be a leader and have to model the behavior your government or party is asking of the populace. To do otherwise is to undermine the confidence of the public in government, politics, etc. And we'd seen how well that is going around the world!

    Also, as a career public servant, this garbage is enraging to me because I know that staff people doing this would get in deep shit!

    You lose ALL moral authority. It's entitled, hypocritical, and just plain stupid.

    Kenney defending his minister's traveling is extra infuriating. We are super behind vaccine roll out.... and our COVID panel members are all having Mai tai's.

    PSN: Canadian_llama
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    BlarghyBlarghy Registered User regular
    Corvus wrote: »
    BC Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma sums this up succinctly.



    It doesn't matter that travel wasn't illegal, or that they told people before hand. If you are elected to office you have chosen to be a leader and have to model the behavior your government or party is asking of the populace. To do otherwise is to undermine the confidence of the public in government, politics, etc. And we'd seen how well that is going around the world!

    Also, as a career public servant, this garbage is enraging to me because I know that staff people doing this would get in deep shit!

    No, but the travel advisory is against all non-essential travel. You can still travel for essential reasons, which include business and compassionate reasons. People going on vacation definitely deserve being knocked for it. My knock against this response is particular to Niki Ashton (Manitoba NDP MP), who travelled to Greece to see her ailing grandmother. She applied for and received an essential visit waiver from the Greek government (who also forbid non-essential travel) and there is no indication that she didn't follow quarantine procedures. She still got stripped of her critic position because general outrage, not because of any evidence that she broke any rules or even moral guidelines.

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    BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    There is a big disconnect between different people's perception of essential. There are lots of people out there who aren't seeing ailing grandparents in their own community because of covid. The sucker's payoff perception here is shitty. Politicians should be held to higher standards.

    Also, I don't put much stock on the Greek government opinion on this stuff. Greece is notorious for corruption and who-you-know.

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    CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    I get it, but going to physically see your sick grandma on another continent is not essential . I mean, thousands of people have died alone without loved ones allowed in the room during the pandemic. It sucks to not be there when someone you love is sick or going to die, but any travel right now is irresponsible.

    :so_raven:
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    BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    Also, I call bullshit on following quarantine guidelines. Her tweet said she spent Christmas with her family at home and now (Jan 2) she is with her grandmother. Is it not still 2 weeks quarantine?

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    BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    Corvus wrote: »
    I get it, but going to physically see your sick grandma on another continent is not essential . I mean, thousands of people have died alone without loved ones allowed in the room during the pandemic. It sucks to not be there when someone you love is sick or going to die, but any travel right now is irresponsible.

    I wouldn't be as upset if an MLA left for that reason, made clear the purpose of their trip beforehand, and properly isolated on their return.

    I think the biggest disconnect here is that the Alberta Government has been preaching "personal responsibility" for way too long now. They leave it up to the public to decide what is and is not responsible, but will (apparently) enforce fines for people who gather. Travel of all kinds is discouraged, but not explicitly prohibited, but the implication from government officials has been "if we can all delay seeing and spending time with our loved ones over Christmas and New Years, maybe we can ease restrictions in January some time". So for our MLA's to be scheduling tweets and posts thanking the public for making these sacrifices while they are boots on the ground in Hawaii/Mexico/USA is a fucking bad look all around.

    To be clear, this is the messaging for AB around non-essential travel.
    ombs64zfie2g.jpg

    Seems pretty clear to me, but what the hell do I know.

    #FireKenney and #KenneyResign have been trending for a solid 24 hours now, Allard (the first MLA to be discovered) is resigning her minister position as Minister of Municipal Affairs, but I doubt she'll resign as MLA. I'm just hoping the rumors are true of my MLA fucking off over New Years so I can lay into him via letter (more so than I've already done).

    BouwsT on
    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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    darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    BouwsT wrote: »
    Corvus wrote: »
    I get it, but going to physically see your sick grandma on another continent is not essential . I mean, thousands of people have died alone without loved ones allowed in the room during the pandemic. It sucks to not be there when someone you love is sick or going to die, but any travel right now is irresponsible.

    I wouldn't be as upset if an MLA left for that reason, made clear the purpose of their trip beforehand, and properly isolated on their return.

    I think the biggest disconnect here is that the Alberta Government has been preaching "personal responsibility" for way too long now. They leave it up to the public to decide what is and is not responsible, but will (apparently) enforce fines for people who gather. Travel of all kinds is discouraged, but not explicitly prohibited, but the implication from government officials has been "if we can all delay seeing and spending time with our loved ones over Christmas and New Years, maybe we can ease restrictions in January some time". So for our MLA's to be scheduling tweets and posts thanking the public for making these sacrifices while they are boots on the ground in Hawaii/Mexico/USA is a fucking bad look all around.

    To be clear, this is the messaging for AB around non-essential travel.
    ombs64zfie2g.jpg

    Seems pretty clear to me, but what the hell do I know.

    #FireKenney and #KenneyResign have been trending for a solid 24 hours now, Allard (the first MLA to be discovered) is resigning her minister position as Minister of Municipal Affairs, but I doubt she'll resign as MLA. I'm just hoping the rumors are true of my MLA fucking off over New Years so I can lay into him via letter (more so than I've already done).

    I will be very surprised if the UCP do anything to their members who were off gallivanting around the world beyond a "don't do that again" they follow the Republican playbook, don't admit wrong doing, don't punish your own, being a hypocrite doesn't matter because your base is stupid and as long as they hate the Feds and the opposition you will still get voted back in.

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    AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    First time ever today I've had someone respond to me talking about EI by asking, "What's EI?"

    Legitimately my brain stopped and had to process for several moments the steps backward I needed to take to restart the conversation. Like the mental equivalent of skipping gears.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
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    darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    darkmayo wrote: »

    I will be very surprised if the UCP do anything to their members who were off gallivanting around the world beyond a "don't do that again" they follow the Republican playbook, don't admit wrong doing, don't punish your own, being a hypocrite doesn't matter because your base is stupid and as long as they hate the Feds and the opposition you will still get voted back in.

    Well.... I guess I get to eat crow.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-cabinet-minister-chief-resign-1.5860869

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    BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    darkmayo wrote: »
    BouwsT wrote: »
    Corvus wrote: »
    I get it, but going to physically see your sick grandma on another continent is not essential . I mean, thousands of people have died alone without loved ones allowed in the room during the pandemic. It sucks to not be there when someone you love is sick or going to die, but any travel right now is irresponsible.

    I wouldn't be as upset if an MLA left for that reason, made clear the purpose of their trip beforehand, and properly isolated on their return.

    I think the biggest disconnect here is that the Alberta Government has been preaching "personal responsibility" for way too long now. They leave it up to the public to decide what is and is not responsible, but will (apparently) enforce fines for people who gather. Travel of all kinds is discouraged, but not explicitly prohibited, but the implication from government officials has been "if we can all delay seeing and spending time with our loved ones over Christmas and New Years, maybe we can ease restrictions in January some time". So for our MLA's to be scheduling tweets and posts thanking the public for making these sacrifices while they are boots on the ground in Hawaii/Mexico/USA is a fucking bad look all around.

    To be clear, this is the messaging for AB around non-essential travel.
    ombs64zfie2g.jpg

    Seems pretty clear to me, but what the hell do I know.

    #FireKenney and #KenneyResign have been trending for a solid 24 hours now, Allard (the first MLA to be discovered) is resigning her minister position as Minister of Municipal Affairs, but I doubt she'll resign as MLA. I'm just hoping the rumors are true of my MLA fucking off over New Years so I can lay into him via letter (more so than I've already done).

    I will be very surprised if the UCP do anything to their members who were off gallivanting around the world beyond a "don't do that again" they follow the Republican playbook, don't admit wrong doing, don't punish your own, being a hypocrite doesn't matter because your base is stupid and as long as they hate the Feds and the opposition you will still get voted back in.

    Well they aren't sweeping it under the rug completely, as CBC is reporting demotions amongst most (or maybe all?) MLA's who left the country.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-cabinet-minister-chief-resign-1.5860869

    Edit: As darkmayo already pointed out, I was just late posting.

    But lets be clear, these are demotions from their extra curricular committees and nothing more.

    The next drum to bang is the fact that the UCP has scrubbed all mention of their proposed recall legislation which would allow Albertans to vote with a 40% threshold to recall their MLA's and force a local election to replace or reinstate them. Their website now 404's where the page used to exist, but it's still on their party YouTube Channel!



    Who wants to join me in bombarding Kenney in calling them hypocrites! Keep that #FireKenney going...

    BouwsT on
    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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    AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Notwithstanding the merits of recall legislation, but wtf, a 40% threshold?

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
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    BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    Aegis wrote: »
    Notwithstanding the merits of recall legislation, but wtf, a 40% threshold?

    I don't know, I think that's not an unreasonable threshold to begin a plebiscite and possible re-election. Is your concern that the number is too low, or too high?

    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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    Space PickleSpace Pickle Registered User regular
    Too low. It should be at least 50% IMO.

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    BouwsTBouwsT Wanna come to a super soft birthday party? Registered User regular
    I don't know why but I assumed Aegis thought that number was too low... But it's all a moot point, because it sounded good during an election, but now it's not politically convenient. :shrug:

    Between you and me, Peggy, I smoked this Juul and it did UNTHINKABLE things to my mind and body...
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    RichyRichy Registered User regular
    Are we talking about 40% of people who voted or 40% of eligible voters? Because the former is ridiculous, but given voting rates the latter is a reasonable (and I'd even say high) threshold.

    sig.gif
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    AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Yea, 40% seemed too low to me.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
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    NosfNosf Registered User regular
    What if you get 50%, do you get to hang them after kicking them out?

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    RichyRichy Registered User regular
    Nosf wrote: »
    What if you get 50%, do you get to hang them after kicking them out?

    I'd be ok with that.

    sig.gif
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    RichyRichy Registered User regular
    So I did a quick google search, and while details are sketchy since, you know, the UCP has been hard at work scrubbing every detail and mention of the proposal from their website and documents, the elevator pitch was to have a recall law similar to that in place in BC, which allows a recall and new byelection if a petition is signed by 40% of eligible voters in a riding.

    At a quick glance, turnout in Alberta ridings in the 2019 provincial election seems high (above 60%), but also polarized (with most winners getting a majority, not a plurality, of votes, and many being above 60% of voters in their riding), so it doesn't seem like it'd make much of a difference.

    sig.gif
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    Disco11Disco11 Registered User regular
    Blarghy wrote: »
    Corvus wrote: »
    BC Minister of State for Infrastructure Bowinn Ma sums this up succinctly.



    It doesn't matter that travel wasn't illegal, or that they told people before hand. If you are elected to office you have chosen to be a leader and have to model the behavior your government or party is asking of the populace. To do otherwise is to undermine the confidence of the public in government, politics, etc. And we'd seen how well that is going around the world!

    Also, as a career public servant, this garbage is enraging to me because I know that staff people doing this would get in deep shit!

    No, but the travel advisory is against all non-essential travel. You can still travel for essential reasons, which include business and compassionate reasons. People going on vacation definitely deserve being knocked for it. My knock against this response is particular to Niki Ashton (Manitoba NDP MP), who travelled to Greece to see her ailing grandmother. She applied for and received an essential visit waiver from the Greek government (who also forbid non-essential travel) and there is no indication that she didn't follow quarantine procedures. She still got stripped of her critic position because general outrage, not because of any evidence that she broke any rules or even moral guidelines.

    My aunt and mother both got COVID in the spring. My aunt died and my mother was hospitalized on a ventilator.... I did not travel to visit them because our government asked me to. All in this together, right? I have friends that parents passed and they did not even get to say goodbye because of restrictions.

    So Nikki Ashton can go right to hell. She literally hid it from her own party did she not?

    PSN: Canadian_llama
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