500channelsurfer

Gilbert Thibodeau is also running for mayor with his party Action Montreal. He is to the right of Soraya, who I see as also right-leaning albeit less so. If either left party would decide to keep Camilien-Houde open, this would be to their great advantage. As is, I agree Soraya has an edge.

Yes, I agree with you on all those points above. We have had governments that have for too long banana-republic-ed ourselves out to the rest of the world. This thread, regarding trade talks, highlights the short-sightedness of some Canadian leaders with regards to our place in the world. Carney, disregarding his political affiliations, is at least able to see the long game, where broadening trade is at least a step in the right direction.

You explained in layman's terms my quote, by someone who is not popular on this forum. You and I agree on that. You and I might disagree in that I think Carney is actually trying to legitimately work for the best interests of Canada on the economic front, by strengthening trade ties other than the one we have with our elephant. Doug Ford on the other hand, is playing a game he can only lose.

As Canadians, we must remember that we are "sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt" Currently, the one we are sleeping with is notoriously temperamental for the time being. While Doug Ford may be right, someone needs to stand up to him and tell him to stop poking the bear, as he is only hurting his own cause.

To learn more about Canadians' real opinions, polls should be done asking them who they would vote for if we used a 100% proportional representation system. I am surprised no polling firm does this, in addition to of course polling on their voting intentions under the current first-past-the-post system. A PR poll alone would not be useful.

I do not post from AI. But I did read the Journal de Montréal article, a publication known for sensationalism, but which also does state some facts.

The lowered credit score makes sense as Quebec has gone further and further into debt, and due to many factors including fundamental demographics, the provincial economy does not show signs of a major turnaround. Most pension plans invest in similar ways to Quebec's caisse. It is not an outlier, but maybe less conventional than most. Pension funds strictly may not be the same, strictly, as sovereign wealth funds. Alberta has one too. I am unfamiliar with if the caisse serves the same goal(s) as its Alberta and Norway counterparts, as the latter two's primary goal is to share current oil revenues with future generations. The large credit rating agencies may have many of the same interests as some of the private banks and entities they rate. In the case of rating governments, there could easily be competing geopolitical and microeconomic interests. In this particular instance, we are looking at Canadian banks and utilities, which are some of the most sound corporations in the world, as opposed to increasingly de-regulated and risk-taking US banks around 2008. One particular utility will naturally have a more variable and more risky credit risk as one particularly large instance, such as a dam failure or pylon line collapse, will more greatly affect the particular utility over the province or government in general.

What is not being widely discussed in this election is that politicians have required to win over the 905 area ridings (outer ring of Toronto) in order to win a majority government. These ridings usually vote in conformity and unison, and went Harper to give the Conservatives their last majority. Most of the rest of the country is either predictable or irrelevant: Maritimes = Liberal; Alberta = Conservative; Quebec can vote Bloc, NDP or whatever and majorities can be made entirely without them (Chrétien, Harper). British Columbia might be interesting. But the 905 is the area with the "tell" as to who will win. Also getting absolutely no coverage: Marijuana was legalized by Trudeau, and by winning over the "stoner vote" Trudeau got a big boost in his fist run for PM by those pro-legalization voters. The Liberal Party seems to like to scare people away from the Conservatives by scare-mongering about abortion, health care privatization, etc. If the Liberal Party were smart, could they not also add keeping marijuana legal to that list?

Did anyone else notice the background in the debates had five dotted stripes in the background? One for each political party including green for the Greens. CBC said they produced the debates. Maybe they were sure the Greens would be invited and it was too late to change the background, or someone wanted to remind viewers the Greens were not there throughout.

Look at this riding: https://338canada.com/24035e.htm This riding had a bi-election in September and the Bloc won, and it was 2.1% points difference separating the Bloc from the 3rd place NDP, with the Liberals in the middle, a tossup: https://www.elections.ca/res/rep/off/ovr_2024c/59/table12E.html Now the same 338canada riding profile says the Liberals are ahead by 30%. The swing away from the Bloc is not that big overall, and this riding has a stronger than normal NDP/leftist vote, even with the NDP falling sharply nationally. The methodology-results relationship therefore seems to suggest a Liberal overestimation.

Why is Carney Trump's guy? I don't think Trump is interested in a Captain Canada that is going to stand up and get concessions from the Unites States, as Trump perceives past trade deals to have been. Is it not more likely that Carney is Trump's guy because Trump believes that after the election, with a Carney win, Trump will be better able to control and extract from Canada?

I think Liberals are being overestimated in the polls. Look at this riding: https://338canada.com/24035e.htm This riding had a bi-election in September and the Bloc won, and it was 2.1% points difference separating the Bloc from the 3rd place NDP, with the Liberals in the middle, a tossup: https://www.elections.ca/res/rep/off/ovr_2024c/59/table12E.html Now we are to believe the Liberals are ahead by 30%?! People who feel strongly (both ways) about Trump and Carney may be speaking loudly to the pollsters, but those remaining silent and undecided may show up on election day and vote as they always have.

The only thing people don't learn from history is that history repeats. Past failures can be examined in order to better the future. If this Canadian Legacy mindset is engrained in Canadian businesses and causing failures like this, maybe there is a way to change this. Yes. I was not paying attention to the management of The Bay. I only assume the US owner was taking at least some advice from Bay employees in Canada. In cases like this, maybe there should be a debate on foreign ownership. We have incredible protectionism in some sectors and virtually none in others. We may need to re-balance? The Bay was founded in 1670. Canada looks stupid when a company like this fails. Personally I am not for government bailouts. Maybe Michael Hardner has identified another aspect Canadian business culture that needs to change.

But the Bay was operating in Canada, therefore it is a reflection of our economy, and our employees and customers. Even when American-owned, some of the management must be in Canada. Some businesses such as Simons have adapted with the times. I worry Canadian businesses more than others may be less willing to adapt. Donald Trump could use this type of thinking as an argument for taking over our economy. There must be a way Canada can work as a country with our own businesses. Companies like CN, CP, Gildan, Shopify, Magna do very well.

Hudson's Bay is failing. This is not the first time a major Canadian chain has ceased operations. Are Canadians bad at business? I remember shopping at Zellers and Wal-Marts in Canada, and the customer service was always terrible (long lines, lack of customer care). There is a mindset of just following procedure and no one being open to change or even suggestions. When Target briefly entered Canada, store shelves remained half empty for much of its tenure as if in a communist country. Even our national airline, Air Canada, was allowed to takeover rival Canadian Airlines, and then filed for bankruptcy three years later. Regulators continue to allow consolidation in media and telecommunications sectors despite failures like this.

To clarify, I was just making a hypothetical case of what a US takeover of Canada could involve. I support Canadian independence. I support a GG that could be more vocal but also better appointed as SpankyMcFarland explained.

Agree Disagree: The King and Governor General only do not exercise any power by convention. Of course if they did, some mechanism such as a referendum or 2/3 majority of Parliament would remove them and/or modify our constitution almost immediately to remedy that situation. To make Canada like Puerto Rico, the appointment of the Governor General could be switched from a Prime Ministerial appointment to a presidential appointment, just for example.

For the good of our country: Can Carney call the election, and then re-open parliament for limited seatings where the parties can agree to propose and pass legislation dealing only with these tariff issues and related? (no no confidence motions because the election is already called) Is there a parliamentary convention in which the election is called but parliament can still pass laws?

Have you read the list of political parties? Animal Protection Party of Canada, Communist Party of Canada, Marijuana Party, Parti Rhinocéros Party. They should all get the same amount of coverage as the Liberals and the Conservatives? Does Mark Carney favour movement of funds to tax havens more than the other Liberal contenders did? Is there some alternative way parties pick leaders that should be implemented?

Luc Rabouin will replace Valérie Plante as leader of Projet Montréal heading into the next municipal election. He seems very competent. Possibly technocratic. Hopefully other parties do not out-charisma him.

The media tend to gravitate to the most likely winners when deciding who to cover the most. This is how the media operate, this gives them the better ratings. Naturally, this can be a self fulfilling prophecy in the extreme. Democracy is not perfect. If a media firm decided to cover all the registered political parties equally, they would not be in business for long. See list of currently registered political parties, which usually increases close to elections: https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=pol&dir=par&document=index&lang=e A leadership race and an election are two different things. A leadership race requires the additional step of registering with the party before voting, which at least makes for some push toward limiting voters to those who are supposedly vested with the party. Is there some alternative way parties pick leaders that should be implemented?

There is evidence that free trade is in decline. This is not something short-term that is only attributable to Trump. Remember when Brexit occurred? Brexit was not merely a rejection of EU control over left-behind citizens of the UK; it was a an attempt by those who voted to leave the EU as a re-imposition of national control over the economy. The Brexit referendum was done by the UK's Conservative party. And what have conservative parties in western nations campaigned on in that year and since? Who have they expanded their tent to? Workers. Think Doug Ford and Pierre Poilievre, who have been marketing themselves to the working-class. Donald Trump has done the same and been successful in two elections by doing this. Of course immediately after Brexit, the UK government quickly went to work promoting and engaging in trade and trade negotiations. This was to save its economy. The fact that the Brexit referendum happened and the people voted to leave shows there is popular support for more local and nationalistic economics rather than internationalism, and that mainstream political parties can lean in this direction when their constituents continually request so. Ford and Poilievre also would very likely prefer to keep the free-trade status quo, but as Ford has shown, they are entirely willing to put up barriers when they encounter resistance.

These leadership races are not like a general election, they are only open to party members. I would hope the Liberal members were aware of the candidates, as they should be following what is going on with the party they are a member of. Nevertheless, these are often won by which candidate can sell the most party memberships leading up to the vote.

Canada has been controlled by Great Britain for the majority of our history. We are a Westminster Parliamentary Democracy, not a republic. On paper, we still are theoretically under Great Britain. Our head of state is still the King of England. All America would have to do is make some deal to replace the King or the Governor General with the President, and then the President could exert power over anything passed in our parliament (veto, call election, choose coalition, etc.).

The purpose of this project is not to replace existing car trips, or to add more cars to already congested highways. This project is for improving efficiency along this route. First, there are many who regularly fly this corridor. It will help alleviate airport congestion. It is also for those that would like to travel more often for business or leisure, which will improve and help tie the economies along its route. It is also for those who, with an aging population, will soon prefer train to driving due to becoming elderly. Only if the costs and politics are gotten right. No, part of getting the politics right is to also invest in similar projects in Western Canada. I am sure, just as examples, a high speed Calgary-Edmonton rail link would get used, or a Downtown-Vancouver - to - Downtown Victoria improved BC Ferry service would. And the rail link should indeed of course go well past Toronto, if not to Windsor then at least to Hamilton for sure.