SpankyMcFarland

‘Socialized’ gives the OP an American feel which I think is unhelpful and only serves to divide people. Let’s not catastrophize here. Canada is not a hellscape yet. A close relative of mine has had superb cancer care in Canada, giving them many extra years of life. Yes, I think we need a bigger private sector but we should implement this in an incremental fashion to make sure that the market works for patients and they are protected from exploitation.

I’m happy to listen to suggestions on how we expand our mixed system and I think Australia might offer a useful template. Like us they’re a massive country with a tiny population. By contrast, places like the Netherlands and Switzerland are micro-states where everything is close to everything else. We have to avoid the obvious pitfalls and make sure we keep a firm hand on how the markets operate. They are useful as long as they work for us. There’s a hospital in Ontario achieving truly impressive productivity on hip and knee replacements. Imagine specialized sites like this across the country. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7054389 I’d say most people would be open to various models on funding. We should explore alternatives to assist what we have already.

Any word on why he did this? It’s tough timing for the Tories.

I think it shows a chronic dissatisfaction with the status quo. That helped to get Trump elected too.

I still prefer to see my relatives finishing degrees they start whether they are going to use them directly or not. Dropping out in year three of a four year course makes no sense to me unless, for example, you’re starting a high tech firm or just got a part on Broadway. Usually, there’s no good reason given.

NL is now one quarter over 65. We lead Canada in that department too. The plan for my generation is to live it up, keel over and leave a massive debt with the youngsters. Hence the vital importance of a new hydro deal with Quebec. Unfortunately, voters in their wisdom have just thrown this into doubt by electing a new government that claims it can get a better one. Let’s hope Mr. Wakeham and his team are brighter than they look.

Mamdani should have been more generous to Cuomo in that electrifying victory speech. He’s got to bring people together, starting with Democrats. Hardly a reassuring sign of what’s to come. What an impressive orator, though. And how many other American politicians would quote Nehru, Debs and Mario Cuomo? The bar has just been set a lot higher for his peers in the party.

In the interests of balance, I enclose a link to a much more enthusiastic assessment of Wings: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/05/wings-story-band-on-the-run-paul-mccartney-book-review Which is wrong, obviously.

You’re quoting from hundreds of years ago. Some of the precedents you cite are from a time when the king could kill anybody they didn’t like the look of. There’s such a thing as progress in human affairs. And these British monarchs of yours have shown precious little enthusiasm in visiting us in recent decades. Let’s be honest here, they’re not that into us, these absentee landlords par excellence. We deserve better.

I would prefer to see the end of the filibuster…and the Senate in its current form and the presidency. The British system is better if you want to get things done. The head of government should not be the head of state either, obviously. Elect them separately. There’s no charge for any of this BTW.

I’d say the opposition parties are going to talk tough but make damn sure they don’t trigger another election. Nobody wants that and heaven help anybody who causes it.

So I thought the Sliwa crowd might go full NDP, abandon their party at the moment of truth and turn out for the lesser evil in their eyes - in this case, Randy Andy - but it didn’t happen. It’s not surprising Mamdani won with young people and renters given the grumpy geriatrics he was up against who promised them yet more of the same grim gruel. Now comes the hard part. He’s got to trim his sails and compromise if he wants to have any success running the city.

With his budget Carney confirmed he has moved into Mulroney/Chrétien territory politically. IMO that creates a real opportunity on the left for a party with the wit to take it. Not too green, not too out there on the sexual stuff. I’m not rooting for the NDP to succeed but there is a definite gap in the political market for them.

You dispute vehemently that he is a narcissist as if there is no evidence to suggest that from his entire life history of absurd self-praise and exaggerations. So do you think he is actually humble?

When they say he’s a great guy he clearly likes to hear it. As with his own party he insists on it. Look at what Starmer did and the Europeans. If they don’t do that he’s liable to lose his temper and make threats. So do you think Trump is actually a humble person?

I can’t see any opposition party wanting to be responsible for bringing down the government at this critical moment in Canadian history. It would be a serious burden to wear in the subsequent election campaign. The public certainly do not want another election now.

Nearly every foreign leader who meets Trump flatters him in a ridiculously obvious way so vanity at least is clearly a vulnerability that’s been detected.

And what about the damage we in the West have done to global climate that is showing up already in warmer countries and small island nations? The countries that have done most of that damage, that have emitted the most carbon dioxide, are not the ones already suffering the most from it.

It’s curious how often oil-producing countries provoke Trump’s ire - Canada, Venezuela and now Nigeria.

The Americans have shown us who they are by voting for an ignorant criminal goon like Trump not once but twice. The other day he was lying on tariffs yet again, claiming that Reagan loved them and Republicans remain silent about this nonsense.

You are projecting contemporary America onto Germany. The EU is a political union with a common currency, external trade policy, parliament and court. Each member country has a veto on issues like enlargement, defence and foreign policy. In other words, Germany can’t just do what it likes. By contrast NAFTA is just a free trade area, the details of which the US can tear up at any time. America prefers bilateral negotiations because it can bully the other party. Increasingly, it lacks the political maturity to cope with multilateral institutions where compromises must be made for the common good.

So you think threatening Nigeria out of the blue like this is appropriate? FYI there is nothing ‘deep leftist’ (whatever that is) about valuing diplomatic language and good manners in international affairs. That should be obvious.

We are a big enough country to deserve a head of state here, on site, meeting Canadians daily. The GG merely represents the head of state and is an appointee with no popular legitimacy under the current system unlike elected ceremonial presidents in other countries. One compromise would be to have parliament choose, or at least suggest, the GG after a series of secret ballots. It is important to be able to distinguish between the chief executive and the person who represents the nation - otherwise criticizing the government can be portrayed as disloyalty. We could belong to the Commonwealth without the king as head of state. Most commonwealth members are republics these days.

I am most assuredly not talking about the American example where head of state and head of government are combined which is a terrible idea. By contrast, many republics have a head of government and a separate ceremonial head of state, elected either directly or indirectly, and it works for them.

There’s precious little beauty in this preposterous arrangement for me. Andrew was second in line before William was born. If Charles had died before 1982 he would have been next in line. Of course, I am raising the awful Andrew situation merely as an example. The point is that fitness for this role plays no part in who gets it. If the Brits want to persist with such an antiquated system that’s their business but we shouldn’t blindly follow them any more. And imagine having a head of state of a G7 country who barely ever visits the place! Utterly ridiculous.