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[Apathy]

I'm really liking how fast the Basic Income idea is picking up steam. Hopefully the trial comes out as a success and nobody messes with it. Unfortunately however, I have a feeling that the PCs are going to cancel this so fast when they get in after the next election.

I just shake my head at every idiot who thinks this sort of thing makes for lazy society.

Like it's not for you to live off if you are expecting to have a new tv and game system and have a nice car. It's supposed to be so those that need it most don't end up on the street and can have some sort of basic needs fulfilled. Conservatives and selfish people always go for "just going to be lazy"

 

[killer rin]

I just shake my head at every idiot who thinks this sort of thing makes for lazy society.

Like it's not for you to live off if you are expecting to have a new tv and game system and have a nice car. It's supposed to be so those that need it most don't end up on the street and can have some sort of basic needs fulfilled. Conservatives and selfish people always go for "just going to be lazy"

It really is annoying when I read people try to make those stupid arguments. The only thing you can reply with is "All current studies show people don't just laze around" and "The amount you get is just above poverty level. Its for the necessities of Food, Water, Energy and Shelter. Maybe a partly entertainment budget of $20"

Of course, they always come back claiming the studies are biased or go the more annoying route of pulling out anecdotal "evidence" #592 of Imaginary Person #486 who has abused the system for years while sitting at home all day on welfare purchasing a new car every week and rubbing it in their faces.

 

[Apathy]

It really is annoying when I read people try to make those stupid arguments. The only thing you can reply with is "All current studies show people don't just laze around" and "The amount you get is just above poverty level. Its for the necessities of Food, Water, Energy and Shelter. Maybe a partly entertainment budget of $20"

Of course, they always come back claiming the studies are biased or go the more annoying route of pulling out anecdotal "evidence" #592 of Imaginary Person #486 who has abused the system for years while sitting at home all day on welfare purchasing a new car every week and rubbing it in their faces.

Like it's nice and all, but I like things, in fact most people like things. They like going out from time to time, they like buying stuff that entertains them and they like living in expensive places. People are not suddenly going to go live in government housing and drop all the fun stuff in their life because they got 17k in basic income. The argument people against this have makes no sense.

 

[maharg]

Since part of the point of basic income is to act as a bulwark against the probable end of full productive employment, the fact that some people will just sit at home and do things not traditionally considered productive is a feature, not a bug, anyways.

Puritanical ideas about work are fundamentally flawed imo.

 

[Tapejara]

Really excited to see basic income gaining traction as well! Are the Ontario NDP in favour of Wynne's plan? I'd hate to see the idea scrapped if the Liberals are voted out, but hopefully if the NDP were to get in we could see it continue.

I just shake my head at every idiot who thinks this sort of thing makes for lazy society.

Like it's not for you to live off if you are expecting to have a new tv and game system and have a nice car. It's supposed to be so those that need it most don't end up on the street and can have some sort of basic needs fulfilled. Conservatives and selfish people always go for "just going to be lazy"

Yep, I've had discussions with people who think that basic income would mean every one will stop working/"be lazy", but I don't think people realize just how little $17K a year actually is. Like you said, you can just afford the basic necessities; a roof over your head, food to eat, etc. Living off just $17K you wouldn't be able to afford the latest smartphone, an expensive phone plan, cable/satellite, high speed internet, a car, or purchase multiple video games/movies/albums/etc. Fulfilling people's basic needs doesn't mean they're going to suddenly stop wanting more.

 

[Parch]

It might be difficult in expensive cities, but living a minimalist lifestyle would not be difficult in affordable areas.
Four people rent a house and live a basic lifestyle. You think that's not possible with 68K per year? Plenty of families already survive on that income.
I can see plenty of people adjusting their lifestyle to not work and live a simple life of leisure on 17K per person.

 

[Apathy]

It might be difficult in expensive cities, but living a minimalist lifestyle would not be difficult in affordable areas.
Four people rent a house and live a basic lifestyle. You think that's not possible with 68K per year? Plenty of families already survive on that income.
I can see plenty of people adjusting their lifestyle to not work and live a simple life of leisure on 17K per person.

keep telling yourself that. the adults in the room will discuss the realities of the matter.

 

[CazTGG]

Really excited to see basic income gaining traction as well! Are the Ontario NDP in favour of Wynne's plan? I'd hate to see the idea scrapped if the Liberals are voted out, but hopefully if the NDP were to get in we could see it continue.

So far as I can tell, the NDP are in favor of a form of basic income to be set at the poverty line so they would be a guaranteed better option for the program to be sustained rather than handing the PCs another program to screw up and/or let it slowly wither away. Then again, anything would be better than the PCs coming back to power.

Speaking of the Ontario NDP, their leader, Andrea Horwrath, pledged to "start building universal pharmacare right here in Ontario (including birth control)" if elected in 2018. It's a good proposal that will hopefully sway voters over to them rather than the PCs.

 

[Tapejara]

It might be difficult in expensive cities, but living a minimalist lifestyle would not be difficult in affordable areas.
Four people rent a house and live a basic lifestyle. You think that's not possible with 68K per year? Plenty of families already survive on that income.
I can see plenty of people adjusting their lifestyle to not work and live a simple life of leisure on 17K per person.

I don't know how feasible that is for four adults though.

If this group of four adults makes $68 000 per year off basic income alone, each month that comes to around $5667 for the entire household. I don't know what we're considering affordable rent here, or what cities you have in mind, but let's assume a flat rate of $1500 per month for this house.

Now let's look at expenditures:

Groceries - Ontario households on average spent about $706/mo on food in 2015, a number which could rise even higher this year.
Internet & TV - Bell has a promotion for TV + 25Mbps Internet for $112.94 (incl tax)/mo
Mobile Phone - $231.65 (incl tax)/mo for four people (based off Bell's share plan)

So

$5667 minus rent and expenditures leaves the entire household with $3116.41/mo to spend. If we divide that by each person, that leaves us with $779.10 a month per person to spend on everything else. Now take into account each person's possible individual spending habits; car payments, bus fare, new electronics (phone, TV, computer, game consoles), video games, movie tickets, books, concert tickets, clothes, etc. Is $779.10/mo really going to be enough to live comfortably?

So far as I can tell, the NDP are in favor of a form of basic income to be set at the poverty line so they would be a guaranteed better option for the program to be sustained rather than handing the PCs another program to screw up and/or let it slowly wither away. Then again, anything would be better than the PCs coming back to power.

Speaking of the Ontario NDP, their leader, Andrea Horwrath, pledged to "start building universal pharmacare right here in Ontario (including birth control)" if elected in 2018. It's a good proposal that will hopefully sway voters over to them rather than the PCs.

That's good news. I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming provincial election, and I'm personally not sure where my vote should go between the NDP and the Liberals.

 

[Sean C]

Here we go again. It's been a while since the US experienced a sweet, sweet loss at the WTO over softwood lumber, and they're eager to relive it.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Via Macleans:

Some Canadians who’ve worked with both the Obama and Trump administrations on the softwood lumber dispute believes that until this week, the discussions were more substantive with the current administration than with its predecessor.

So what happened? Two things, perhaps. First, Trump has been having a lousy time on trade, which was one of the two or three top issues that got him elected. He can’t get his nominee for chief trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, confirmed. He hasn’t been able to formally start the 90-day process toward a NAFTA renegotiation. He’s backed down on a trade fight with China, which is the fight some Trump aides entered politics to wage (if you have some time, check out this astonishing documentary by Peter Navarro, now a trade advisor to Trump).

What’s left? I’m told that at 1:46 p.m. on Monday, Fox News carried an interview with a Wisconsin dairy farmer who has hit hard times and blames Canada. The President was watching, and was greatly displeased. Coming as it did on the heels of Trump’s visit last week to the Snap-On Tools plant in Kenosha, the Fox News story egged the President on in his growing suspicion that Canada, far from being cuddly and Ivanka-friendly, is actually a marauding border-squatting trade succubus.

The relationship has come so far, so fast. Only three days after Trump’s inauguration, his informal economic advisor Stephen Schwarzman was in Calgary briefing the Trudeau cabinet on bilateral affairs. In remarks to reporters, Schwarzman was full of sunshine. “One of the important things is the unusually positive view that’s held of Canada,” he said. “Canada’s been a great partner of the United States for as long as anybody can remember.” Trump’s arrival might portend “a changed climate, maybe some modifications,” Schwarzman said. But “basically things should go well for Canada.”

And now? The 20 per cent tariff that seems about to hit Canadian lumber exports to the U.S. is neither unexpected, I’m told, nor out of line with earlier U.S. tactics during this interminable dispute. And Canadian officials continue to talk regularly with their U.S. counterparts at senior levels. It’s not inconceivable there could be an agreement within weeks, the Canadians believe.

But Canadian officials cannot discern any consistency in the Trump administration’s tone from day to day.

Policy whims being based on Fox News puff pieces, in other words. That's a totally sane, reasonable way to manage the largest trading relationship in the world.

 

[CazTGG]

By the time Trump begins NAFTA talks, assuming he isn't impeached by then, Mexico will have chosen its new president (likely a more anti-American president) and the U.S.'s economy will be in the toilet due to Trump's tremendous tendency to ruin everything he touches.

What i'm saying is that this is an example of him not knowing how to business if this is his approach to Canada-US relations.

 

[gabbo]

By the time Trump begins NAFTA talks, assuming he isn't impeached by then, Mexico will have chosen its new president (likely a more anti-American president) and the U.S.'s economy will be in the toilet due to Trump's tremendous tendency to ruin everything he touches.

What i'm saying is that this is an example of him not knowing how to business if this is his approach to Canada-US relations.

Maybe he'll have the US file for bankruptcy? He seems to be pretty good at that

 

[matthewwhatever]

Kevin O'Leary apparently dropping out of the CPC leadership race! Press conference to come at 4:30.

EDIT: Dropping out to endorse Maxime Bernier, apparently, since he realizes he can't win Quebec.

 

[Zombie James]

Bullet dodged.

 

[imBask]

Well there goes my prediction

SAVED

 

[Pedrito]

Couldnt take the L like a man. Truely Canada's Trump.

Can you believe that goldbug Maxime Bernier is about to become the CPC leader?!? What a time to be alive.

 

[AuthenticM]

Kevin O'Leary apparently dropping out of the CPC leadership race! Press conference to come at 4:30.

EDIT: Dropping out to endorse Maxime Bernier, apparently, since he realizes he can't win Quebec.

good

 

[Kyuur]

Thank god.

As someone who has been paying minimal attention to the CPC leadership race, a quick google suggests that Bernier is a more moderate option with good stances on civil liberties and rights? If I'm not incorrect he seems like a good choice.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Thank god.

As someone who has been paying minimal attention to the CPC leadership race, a quick google suggests that Bernier is a more moderate option with good stances on civil liberties and rights? If I'm not incorrect he seems like a good choice.

Goodness, no. He's a "libertarian" who's against gay rights and is now waffling on his support for legalized pot. He wants to call in the army to stop immigration, bring back the gold standard, and end the social safety net. He was fired from Harper's cabinet because he left classified documents at his ex-girlfriend's house (and that story had the added bonus of the ex-girlfriend being a member of Hell's Angels). He's also profoundly stupid, and he has a reputation for being a total sleazebag around women.

Couldnt take the L like a man. Truely Canada's Trump.

Can you believe that goldbug Maxime Bernier is about to become the CPC leader?!? What a time to be alive.

Assuming Bernier wins, 2019 is going to be interesting. I can picture the campaign against him already: the CPC wants to kill the family farm, end healthcare, take away your pensions...it's going to be ugly. Very, very ugly.

 

[Tapejara]

Good riddance!

Thank god.

As someone who has been paying minimal attention to the CPC leadership race, a quick google suggests that Bernier is a more moderate option with good stances on civil liberties and rights? If I'm not incorrect he seems like a good choice.

Here's his policy page. I don't know where you land on these issues, but for me personally some of these are still cause for concern; such as wanting to cutting down immigration numbers, cutting the carbon tax, culling the CRTC's influence, his love of the free market, etc.

Edit: Oh God he's against gay rights too? Yeah, definitely bad news.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Edit: Oh God he's against gay rights too? Yeah, definitely bad news.

Yep. He was in favour of C-16 (which added gender identity as a protected class under the Charter), and then reversed his stance when he realized his alt-right supporters were against it.

 

[gutter_trash]

Kevin O'Leary dropping out of leadership race: source

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/kevin-o-leary-dropping-out-of-leadership-race-source-1.3386019

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/p...ateur-kevin-oleary-se-retire-de-la-course.php

Mister Wonderful pulls out....endorses Mad Max

 

[diaspora]

Bernier wants to go back to the fuckin gold standard iirc.

 

[Kyuur]

Goodness, no. He's a "libertarian" who's against gay rights and is now waffling on his support for legalized pot. He wants to call in the army to stop immigration, bring back the gold standard, and end the social safety net. He was fired from Harper's cabinet because he left classified documents at his ex-girlfriend's house (and that story had the added bonus of the ex-girlfriend being a member of Hell's Angels). He's also profoundly stupid, and he has a reputation for being a total sleazebag around women.

I can't seem to find anything about his opposition to gay rights right now; is it the "religious people should be able to discriminate" type that you see from some libertarians? He seems to have supported redefining marriage in favor of LGBTQ and participates in the pride parade. I don't see his comments that article about legalizing pot as anything too alarming compared to other candidates. Reasonable stance, although I could be missing background info/comments.

The rest warrants some looking into; gold standard / social safety seem like libertarian pipe dreams that wouldn't see the light of day but immigration does seem a bit troubling (just saw on the site that he wants to reduce immigration, eh) as does personal ethics and how scandal-prone you're making him seem :lol:

Good riddance!

Here's his policy page. I don't know where you land on these issues, but for me personally some of these are still cause for concern; such as wanting to cutting down immigration numbers, cutting the carbon tax, culling the CRTC's influence, his love of the free market, etc.

Edit: Oh God he's against gay rights too? Yeah, definitely bad news.

Thanks for the links! It seems like his winning is a no-brainer now, so will have to see how these develop as we draw closer to actual elections.

 

[diaspora]

I can't seem to find anything about his opposition to gay rights right now; is it the "religious people should be able to discriminate" type that you see from some libertarians? He seems to have supported redefining marriage in favor of LGBTQ and participates in the pride parade. I don't see his comments that article about legalizing pot as anything too alarming compared to other candidates. Reasonable stance, although I could be missing background info/comments.

The rest warrants some looking into; gold standard / social safety seem like libertarian pipe dreams that wouldn't see the light of day but immigration does seem a bit troubling (just saw on the site that he wants to reduce immigration, eh) as does personal ethics and how scandal-prone you're making him seem :lol:



Thanks for the links! It seems like his winning is a no-brainer now, so will have to see how these develop as we draw closer to actual elections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWb7BkA6Edg

 

[Apathy]

Kevin O'Leary dropping out of leadership race: source

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/kevin-o-leary-dropping-out-of-leadership-race-source-1.3386019

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/p...ateur-kevin-oleary-se-retire-de-la-course.php

Mister Wonderful pulls out....endorses Mad Max

Canada + 1

 

[Silexx]

I honestly think that the Liberals are more excited at the prospect of Bernier winning than O'Leary. Tories are basically conceding the next election at this point.

 

[UberTag]

Man, I was really looking forward to putting O'Leary at the bottom of my ballot next month too.

Is there any chance that O'Toole can rally enough support to win now that the O'Leary camp has thrown in their lot with Bernier? I've already come to terms with the fact that Raitt is going nowhere.
Or is this just the PCs throwing in the towel completely?

 

[Clov]

Kevin O'Leary dropping out of leadership race: source

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/kevin-o-leary-dropping-out-of-leadership-race-source-1.3386019

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/p...ateur-kevin-oleary-se-retire-de-la-course.php

Mister Wonderful pulls out....endorses Mad Max

Good! Makes me much less worried about the next election.

 

[matthewwhatever]

I can't seem to find anything about his opposition to gay rights right now; is it the "religious people should be able to discriminate" type that you see from some libertarians? He seems to have supported redefining marriage in favor of LGBTQ and participates in the pride parade. I don't see his comments that article about legalizing pot as anything too alarming compared to other candidates. Reasonable stance, although I could be missing background info/comments.

The rest warrants some looking into; gold standard / social safety seem like libertarian pipe dreams that wouldn't see the light of day but immigration does seem a bit troubling (just saw on the site that he wants to reduce immigration, eh) as does personal ethics and how scandal-prone you're making him seem :lol:

On LGBT rights, he was in favour of same-sex marriage, and in the fall he voted in favour of adding gender identity to the Charter. He hasn't said anything more about same-sex marriage, but he reversed himself on gender identity in February, because of some nonsense about "freedom of expression". He also tied in his opposition to the Islamophobia motion there, because even if he likes to fashion himself as an iconoclast, he didn't want to be the only CPC candidate who wasn't proclaiming a non-binding Parliamentary motion to be the end of freedom of speech in Canada.

Diaspora addressed his love of the gold standard. On ethics and scandals, he was put in Harper's cabinet early on in the CPC's time in government, and then removed after the Hell's Angels gaffe. The fact he was never put back in cabinet, even when they were desperate to have someone from Quebec in there, should tell you a lot. I've also heard from many, many Hill staffers and CPCers that he's a little...overly familiar, to put it lightly, when it comes to the way he interacts with women.

I honestly think that the Liberals are more excited at the prospect of Bernier winning than O'Leary. Tories are basically conceding the next election at this point.

O'Leary would've been unpredictable, which would've made him a bit of a challenge. Bernier will have more of a chance to win seats in Quebec, but like I said upthread, the lines of attack against him are pretty obvious, and the number of things the Liberals will be able to throw at the Conservatives with Bernier as leader will put the CPC on the defensive throughout the campaign.

Man, I was really looking forward to putting O'Leary at the bottom of my ballot next month too.

Is there any chance that O'Toole can rally enough support to win now that the O'Leary camp has thrown in their lot with Bernier? I've already come to terms with the fact that Raitt is going nowhere.
Or is this just the PCs throwing in the towel completely?

O'Toole's chances are definitely lessened, but I don't think Bernier has it in the bag yet. Bernier tied himself to Trump on dairy just a few days ago, which doesn't seem like the smartest play (which makes sense when you think about it, because Bernier's not the smartest guy). On top of that, Quebec was already going to play an outsized role in the voting, and O'Toole has the party's most powerful Quebec politician/organizer backing him in Gerard Deltell. Bernier's odds just went way up, but he's still very beatable, particularly if CPC members don't relish the thought of spending the next two years explaining why they aren't secretly going to privatize healthcare and end the CPP.

 

[Pedrito]

It's really surprising how that race went. It's like they were all waiting for a savior who never came. Well he came, was a dud, and left. Now the first guy in the race will probably win, or a completely vanilla candidate that no one care about, in a good or bad way.

 

[Silexx]

Man, I was really looking forward to putting O'Leary at the bottom of my ballot next month too.

Is there any chance that O'Toole can rally enough support to win now that the O'Leary camp has thrown in their lot with Bernier? I've already come to terms with the fact that Raitt is going nowhere.
Or is this just the PCs throwing in the towel completely?

Bernier has the definite edge now.

 

[gutter_trash]

Bernier not being a Social Conservative nutter + being a Quebecer could cause the Liberals most harm in the Province of Quebec.

We all know that Quebec City Radio Poubelle will all fall into line behind Max

 

[killer rin]

Kevin O'Leary dropping out of leadership race: source

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/kevin-o-leary-dropping-out-of-leadership-race-source-1.3386019

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/p...ateur-kevin-oleary-se-retire-de-la-course.php

Mister Wonderful pulls out....endorses Mad Max

Thank fucking god. Now we just have to make sure Leitch doesn't win and we are set

 

[PudieRSC]

Hey guys.

I've been a resident for years now, but am getting to the point of being able to get my citizenship(hopefully before an election) and I figured I should pay more attention to Canadian politics.

Is there good Politics 101 resources? Wikis, blogs, podcasts, books, etc? I wanna learn the difference between the parties(especially NDP/Liberal), Candian issues, etc.

Thanks!

 

[matthewwhatever]

It's really surprising how that race went. It's like they were all waiting for a savior who never came. Well he came, was a dud, and left. Now the first guy in the race will probably win, or a completely vanilla candidate that no one care about, in a good or bad way.

Consider who their saviors were going to be: Peter Mackay, Jason Kenney, or maybe James Moore.

If anything, this whole leadership race is an indictment of Stephen Harper's failure to grow the party beyond himself. When your party spends a decade in government, there should be at least a couple of cabinet ministers waiting in the wings who seem capable of stepping in. The Liberals had that in 2006 (even after a decade of Paul Martin trying to kill any and all other leadership aspirants). The PCs has it when Mulroney stepped down in 1993, as did the Liberals in 1984. The CPCers, by contrast, were smacked down by Harper any time they showed any signs of one day, maybe, outshining him, and it meant that there wasn't anyone who could step up once he left.

Obviously, you don't want to have one person towering over the rest of the field, because that leads to Martin/Ignatieff-type leadership races that hurt the party in the long run, but still -- considering they were in power from 2006 to 2015, they should have someone more impressive than these 13 candidates.

 

[MikeRahl]

As someone who sometimes has to develop web sites as part of my job, Maxime Bernier's website is atrocious.

It looks like most of the angular/bootstrap websites out there, but pretty much everything you click on is a post-back and loads an entirely new page. It is maddening.

 

[Tapejara]

Yep. He was in favour of C-16 (which added gender identity as a protected class under the Charter), and then reversed his stance when he realized his alt-right supporters were against it.

Seeing left-leaning people I know fall for this as a "freedom of speech issue" was maddening.

Hey guys.

I've been a resident for years now, but am getting to the point of being able to get my citizenship(hopefully before an election) and I figured I should pay more attention to Canadian politics.

Is there good Politics 101 resources? Wikis, blogs, podcasts, books, etc? I wanna learn the difference between the parties(especially NDP/Liberal), Candian issues, etc.

Thanks!

If you're interested in territories/Nunavut/arctic indigenous politics, give Madeleine Redfern (@madinuk) a follow.

 

[Silexx]

Hey guys.

I've been a resident for years now, but am getting to the point of being able to get my citizenship(hopefully before an election) and I figured I should pay more attention to Canadian politics.

Is there good Politics 101 resources? Wikis, blogs, podcasts, books, etc? I wanna learn the difference between the parties(especially NDP/Liberal), Candian issues, etc.

Thanks!

My basic recommendations are:

- Follow Kady O'Malley, a Hill reporter who is a great source of knowledge when it comes to the 'nuts and bolts' of Canada's Parliamentary system.

- The CBC's The National At Issue panel is a good watch for a breakdown of the news events of the day. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvntPLkd9IMdQ15d846WkdNgHHuUISVDe

- Other pundits I like to follow/keep up with: Andrew Coyne, Paul Wells, Justin Ling and Chantal Hébert.

 

[firehawk12]

That reminds me. Did Chantal Hebert quit the Toronto Star? I randomly picked up a copy of Metro and saw her column in there.

 

[Silexx]

That reminds me. Did Chantal Hebert quit the Toronto Star? I randomly picked up a copy of Metro and saw her column in there.

Nope. Though she may freelance for time to time?

 

[killer rin]

Hey guys.

I've been a resident for years now, but am getting to the point of being able to get my citizenship(hopefully before an election) and I figured I should pay more attention to Canadian politics.

Is there good Politics 101 resources? Wikis, blogs, podcasts, books, etc? I wanna learn the difference between the parties(especially NDP/Liberal), Candian issues, etc.

Thanks!

I won't be able to help out much with these question, but figured I would mention this. If you use Reddit and want a good subreddit, follow /r/CanadaPolitics. Its a little left-leaning and it focusses on Federal Politics (with some provincial stuff thrown in here and there), but for the most part anything that happens politically within Canada will get posted there. So it's a good place to just browse for an aggregate of all the news.

 

[AuthenticM]

My gut tells me Bernier will win the nomination.

I hope not though.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Interestingly, the latest Mainstreet Poll has O'Leary gaining and Bernier falling behind Scheer.

Their explanation of the poll also has why I'm not convinced the race is over: they said that O'Leary and Bernier share a lot of the same voters. If you combine their numbers, they're still only at 40% -- well short of the 50%+1 needed to win. That's a pretty imprecise way of looking at things, and it doesn't take into account the fact that Quebec can't possibly be measured properly, but I think the race is a lot more complex that it looks.

 

[Sean C]

The fact he was never put back in cabinet, even when they were desperate to have someone from Quebec in there, should tell you a lot.

Minor point, but Bernier actually was back in Cabinet. He was Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism for the entirety of Harper's final term.

A junior portfolio, and entirely motivated by the party's need for Quebec ministers, but still.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Minor point, but Bernier actually was back in Cabinet. He was Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism for the entirety of Harper's final term.

A junior portfolio, and entirely motivated by the party's need for Quebec ministers, but still.

I stand corrected! I'd forgotten how many people Harper was stuffing in as Ministers of State by the end.


Anyway, in more serious news: White House readies order on withdrawing from NAFTA

The Trump administration is considering an executive order on withdrawing the U.S. from NAFTA, according to two White House officials.

A draft order has been submitted for the final stages of review and could be unveiled late this week or early next week, the officials said. The effort, which still could change in the coming days as more officials weigh in, would indicate the administration’s intent to withdraw from the sweeping pact by triggering the timeline set forth in the deal.

It's far from a sure thing, since things change so quickly with this White House, and it's not *as* dramatic as it sounds, since it just triggers the six-month review...but if it happens, it's still the nuclear option, as far as trade goes.

 

[AuthenticM]

Anyway, in more serious news: White House readies order on withdrawing from NAFTA



It's far from a sure thing, since things change so quickly with this White House, and it's not *as* dramatic as it sounds, since it just triggers the six-month review...but if it happens, it's still the nuclear option, as far as trade goes.

Just saw this. If they went for it, would it affect video games in any way?

 

[Sean C]

It's far from a sure thing, since things change so quickly with this White House, and it's not *as* dramatic as it sounds, since it just triggers the six-month review...but if it happens, it's still the nuclear option, as far as trade goes.

We should negotiate in good faith here, but at a certain point Canada and Mexico should take a firm line and put the onus on the US business lobby to rein in the baby-man president.

You can be sure the Chamber of Commerce and Trump's billionaire buddies will be screaming at the tops of their lungs about the idea of NAFTA ending, which would cause a recession.

 

[Silexx]

I stand corrected! I'd forgotten how many people Harper was stuffing in as Ministers of State by the end.


Anyway, in more serious news: White House readies order on withdrawing from NAFTA



It's far from a sure thing, since things change so quickly with this White House, and it's not *as* dramatic as it sounds, since it just triggers the six-month review...but if it happens, it's still the nuclear option, as far as trade goes.

I'm seeing a lot of reporters saying that they don't believe the US will actually pull out of NAFTA and even if they do, this White House is so inept at negotiating that we may end up with an even better deal at the end.