SpankyMcFarland

Also their actual location. France has had a gentler climate than Quebec although their summers are becoming hotter.

How big is net physician migration south? I’ve heard of it but I don’t think it’s on the scale of Irish medical migration to Oz (percentage wise) or the likes of SAfrican/Egyptian//South Asian movement here (in gross numbers). As to why French nurses don’t move to Quebec, well, they live in France which is not yet the dystopian nightmare some claim it to be. French people require a big pay differential to give up on their country.

Unfortunately, political parties in the US have taken the role that religious sects used to play. There can be no middle ground. When a person changes party these days, they tend to renounce their old beliefs with a fervour that is unwarranted.

The compensation of landowners is a topic to itself. I will leave it to others closer to the action to sort out whether and how much, taking into account what similar greenbelts have done around the world and, crucially, when the land was bought. And if you want to do something different, hey, that’s fine with me. We started off on this thread with the title in the OP claiming that the entire greenbelt needs to be de-zoned and that all the people of the GTA are ‘entrapped’ in this fiendish plot, to use the colourful language of Mr. Corcoran. I suspect the majority of residents do not feel imprisoned and would like to see at least some of it retained. Is that the case or not? On what greenbelts are for, I think we will see some evolution on that. Farms and the markets they support will remain important but biodiversity and recreational opportunities for urban residents will rise even more as goals in the future. All the land so described is not sacrosanct.

Because the grants I am talking about would be to bring about a change of use on land that isn’t sold. The owners would be getting grants to change its use - and perhaps add rights of way - but would still own the land. Alternatively, they could sell it outright. Some of that land could then be used for housing and some for parks/wild areas.

Who mentioned America here so far? I certainly didn’t. It’s not a ‘model’ worth considering if it can be considered a coherent model at all. Europe, Taiwan, Australasia etc. offer better alternatives that we might learn from. Let’s see if we can agree on some changes to our system.

Absolutely. I would offer generous grants to landowners to rewild land as well.

US sentencing policy is wildly out of line with the rest of the Western world - the sentence was in line with that. And you don’t have to be anywhere near the action to direct a conspiracy.

I think we could do with less greenbelt being farmed and more rewilded to benefit wildlife and city dwellers. I don’t see why some of it couldn’t be used for housing as well as long as that process was transparent.

My impression is that UK healthcare spending is considerably lower than that of France by most measures: https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/charts-and-infographics/how-does-uk-health-spending-compare-across-europe-over-the-past-decade That Spectator article quoted in the OP is heavy on anecdotes but does concede that the French system is ‘slightly’ more expensive. Like Canada, both systems aim to provide universal health care - ultimately, the government is the main payer. However, mandatory personal health insurance seems to be a feature of many successful systems, e.g. Germany, France, the Netherlands, and it’s something we should consider here. (BTW I’m not sure our doctors would like the incomes of their French counterparts. Another day’s work.) In fairness, all these countries have advantages of population density over us. I think our best peer is Australia - similarly vast and sparsely inhabited with a federal system, high standard of living and an indigenous population. On many measures, the land down under is moving ahead of us.

You’re just a fact-based fanatic.

This thread started with an allegation about climate change and has rapidly moved on to Canadian politics. Let’s go back to the claims made in the OP. Firstly, please provide a link that names these 1600 scientists (I don’t care what an economist thinks about it ) and what their relevant areas of expertise are. Clearly, it was all Trudeau’s fault.

For a politician to knowingly endanger the lives of election workers by making false allegations against them is outrageous in a liberal democracy. I won’t say it’s as low as you can go because these guys will always go lower.

Here’s a nice graph. With any luck such mongering will reduce your gruntlement. https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/canadian-wildfires-boreal-forest-tipping-point

Terence Corcoran, the tireless apologist for our obscene telecom oligopoly? That guy? Unbelievably, he is still at it: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/terence-corcoran-absurdity-canadas-competition-131505976.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNhLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFQlnFHG1f3yy_Rf28UFWLdaJh_bOaRr3Zes0MYvMer08uHYkZHhg4Nangw-XmH7Y__OSUNurtKkSrRFazEuMHLbi17kv_4RhojQuifWRvRESfwXkF8COzK2XSx2vdyYjS5TO97zTbFov9w19RPYIn77qzdbzAsHShvlTCNqbXpj BTW millions of acres mean nothing to anybody other than farmers in their dreams. Try converting it to square miles or kms to make it intelligible.

I think a lot more fear should be mongered about forest fires in Canada. After what we’ve been through this year already, we shouldn’t need scientists to tell us something very serious is happening.

Another Napoleon? That’s such an absurd analogy on any level. For starters, he’s an utter neophyte, let’s say, on the battlefield and has done precisely zero to reform Russia or its legal system in a way that will be remembered fondly.

The European despots of 1800 feared a Napoleonic meritocracy and crushed it accordingly. Britain was more than happy to finance them so it could continue running Ireland and much of the rest of the world. This clique managed to retain that awful system in 1848. After WWII Europeans have gradually achieved a freedom and prosperity unknown in the continent’s history which the criminal regime in Moscow naturally wants to destroy. In its contest with the PRC, the world must imitate the cohesion of the Alliances against Napoleon but not their aims. This time it’s global freedom at stake, not some grubby enterprise by the East India Company and its likes.

I hope reports of an advance are true. Russian morale can’t be great these days. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-counteroffensive-gains-southeast-russia/32557460.html

They’ve invaded them and people are getting a very nasty taste of what Russian rule means. Methinks Mr. Lukashenko will find excuses to stop that happening. His regime ain’t too steady these days either.

That is disturbing. What size firebreaks are towns going to need in the future?

They have restored diplomatic relations. That is progress, yes? BTW, ‘surely’ there was intended as a term of politeness, not certainty. I am tentatively expressing an uncertain opinion, as also indicated by the question mark.

KSA has re-opened its embassy in Tehran. That is surely a material change?

Those two do seem to be working on their relationship of late and a full-on war between them looks less likely than it has for decades. China will be an ever bigger factor in their calculations. https://www.mei.edu/blog/monday-briefing-saudi-iran-rapprochement-amid-regional-and-global-shifts

They’re a diverse set of countries that have had their run-ins with the US over the years - more substance in their enmities than in their love, to paraphrase Mr. Yeats. If they were able to sink their many differences they would be a serious force in geopolitics. For the ME nations, keeping in with two of their major customers and neighbours seems like a prudent move, albeit a worrying one for the West. What will the new acronym be?