I am Groot

I'm assuming you muffed one of the dates or this doesn't make a ton of sense. Yes, you have to get it right because once hired it's extremely difficult to fire them. But also it's just that HR processes (at least for our government) are so complex and time-consuming in the interest of ensuring 'fairness' to all applicants that the whole dreary process takes over your life. The fights with HR because we want to say something and they won't let us, or they want to include something and we think that would be... unwise, to say the least, are just so damned frustrating nobody wants anything to do with a hiring process. Other than interviewing those who eventually get into the pool to find your candidate, that is. While we could we hired temp help, often sending people to particular temp agencies we had an arrangement with, then hiring them as temps to get an idea of how they'd work out and get along with everyone. Then, if we liked them, we would guide them in the application process and try to tailor our requirements to them as much as possible. "Must have experience in eating Ritz Crackers upside down underwater." Well, how many people outside our unit do that? Never hired a loser through this process. Every one was a winner. Can't say the same for grabbing people from open HR processes.

Because in those times you worked or starved.

Having been a public servant here for some years I can state with some confidence that efficiency is rarely of much concern to the upper ranks.

I can pretty sure my grandfather's grandfather worked without any oral history telling me so. But if my grandfather is telling me about a dispute his clan had with a rival clan several hundred years ago and why and how it developed I can be pretty sure the story has been shifting from generation to generation to make our clan look better and better the further from the dispute we get. That's especially so when you invade someone's land and kick them out, like the Algonquin did, or have a habit of slave raids like the Haida.

Another word for Oral history is Oral fiction. You know, they do these tests were someone is given some information. They then pass it on orally to a second person, and they to a third and so on. It doesn't take long for the information to get distorted, even when it's being passed on same day. Doing it over centuries from generation to generation is an absolute guarantee that what you wind up with bears only the most cursory relation to the truth.

No you didn't. You cited a Toronto government agency whining about having to spend thousands of hours doing them. Let's consider that a moment. Thousands? How many thousands? At least two, I guess. How long should an environmental assessment take in hours? 800 hours would be someone working for a hundred days straight on it. You'd think they'd know what they needed to know in a hundred days. But they spent over 2,000 hours so that's more like eight months of steady, non-stop, day in and day out work, all day, every day. And that's not enough to figure out what environmental damage a Walmart distribution centre might cause?

So you don't think you can do an environmental assessment in under ten years?

This government doesn't give a damn about efficiency or getting things done. Especially with regard to national resource projects. What it cares about is virtue signalling in order to let Trudeau flex and preen before the progressive mobs and draw votes away from the NDP.

When has Trudeau moved right?

You keep ignoring the fact that they are treated exactly the same in law. Forcing women to accept men in their showers and change rooms is forcing females to accept males in their showers and changing rooms.

It's difficult to have a deep conversation with someone who refuses to read more than a line or two.

Obviously. Gee, that would be hard. It's not like it happens every single day, after all. https://nypost.com/2023/03/27/megyn-kelly-slams-espn-for-feting-trans-swimmer-lia-thomas/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral

I stopped reading there.

The mentality of government and bureaucracy is that the highest priority of all they do is to never be held responsible for something going wrong. If that means spending a million dollars to ensure that you don't lose fifty thousand - and get blamed for losing it - then that's considered a good trade.

Why are you asking me? August was the one who made the claim.

No. They are temporarily making some progress on the abortion one. If you want to consider it progress. But American entertainment (and Canadian) has been veering further and further into hectoring and lecturing territory over the last couple of decades, and always from the Left. The heroes, the good guys, the smart people, the ones in charge are always on the Left, and nowadays mostly members of preferred identity groups. It is rare for a known conservative to even be permitted to work in Hollywood. The likes of Disney make every movie and every TV show about how to push forward the grand narrative of social justice. Academia is almost entirely governed, guided and controlled by the far Left. Many universities have abandoned standardized tests for entry and even dumbing down material to ensure larger numbers of preferred identity groups get in and succeed. School boards are abandoning merit and scholarship, closing down honors programs. Their programs have been twisted to push the narrative, to guide and indoctrinate to the point half of younger Americans and Canadians now support socialism over Capitalism. Eighty percent of British young believe all their programs are because of Capitalism and 67% want a socialist economic system. Why? Because they've been taught that Socialism is kinder and more egalitarian, that it supports all equally without regard to race or gender (no mention of merit or skills, of course). You seize on a temporary setback in one particular subject in the US but ignore the continued leftward movement of society as guided by academia and media. Obama rejected gay marriage until ten years ago. Now only 'dinosaurs' dare to argue against gay marriage. And doing so would get you crucified in many occupations and professions. Every large organization now indoctrinates employees with regular lectures on diversity, equity and inclusiveness and all have hiring and promotion quotas based purely on the goal of achieving perfect statistical equality, regardless of merit or effort. When some call this 'cultural marxism' it's because of the insistence on equity and not equality, on no one being better or getting further ahead than others based purely on their own effort, intelligence and skills. Everyone is a cog in the machine under Marxism, and under the Progressive Left's view everyone has to fit into a particular box. Black male, indigenous female, lesbian, transgender. You are what your membership in a given identity group says you are and must never diverge from that. And if you're a white, straight male you're an oppressor and the only group unprotected from being insulted or discriminated against. In fact, discrimination against you is encouraged. Because every authoritarian system needs an enemy. And that's you.

I think Ottawa tried that with its LRT line. Hasn't worked out very well, so far.

The issue of transgenderism has become one of fanatics browbeating the masses into obeying their absurd demands. It just seems easier for everyone to go along with a shrill, often violent group that will inundate those who express doubts with death threats and, if female, rape threats. Transgender supporters have become like religious fanatics, and reality does not intrude into the lives of such people. Most of us are pretty tolerant, so when presented with the problem of gender dysphoria most agreed such people ought to be respected. Okay, that's fine, but the fanatics insisted on more. Don't believe male-bodied individuals, including convicted rapists should be sent to women's prison? You're transphobic. Don't believe male-bodied individuals should be able to pummel females in sports? You're evil. Don't accept the idea that anyone can change their gender overnight? You deserve to die. The comments made by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling on this issue have always been respectful, thoughtful and understanding. But for opposing the fanatics she's a heretic, bombarded with hate mail, death threats, rape threats, and attempts to ban her books, her movies, her games, and to attack and drown her out everywhere she goes. For those even more blunt, well, the fury of the mob resembles screeching masses attacking accused witches in another era. If they can destroy such people, they do so. Rob them of their careers, force them out of schools, attack anyone who dares to support their right to free speech. No speech, no doubts, no questions are permitted. Only enthusiastic support is accepted. Or else.

We do not. We spend far too much time on inconsequential subjects. The last several elections have seen American style diversions into hot-button issues like abortion, guns, gay rights and 'white supremacy' instead of economic improvements. I would suggest you read the article. It's interesting in that they compare Canada to Argentina and show how Argentina was, in many ways, ahead of us a century or so ago, but a series of bad political decisions turned their economic and social fortunes downward over time. Canada seems to have been heading down lately, as well, with little in the way of economic expansion other than what's driven by immigration and the lowest productive growth in the West which is allowing other nations to surpass us one by one.

No. Lots of authoritarian types try to steal elections. This need not be facism. The culture war nonsense comes from the progressive Left.

The best that can be said about Poilievre is he hasn't demonstrated the depths of dishonest, incompetence, and unethical, unprincipled behaviour we've seen from Trudeau. Also, it appears that until we put someone else in we're never going to get rid of Trudeau. So even if Poilievre turns out to be as bad as Trudeau (unlikely) we still need him to get elected so Trudeau will go away and they have the chance to put someone better in place. It's unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be anyone better lurking in the background. Right now, the obvious successor is Freeland, who is better only in the sense she might not be quite as horrible as Trudeau.

There are a few reasons for that. Canadians have become far too placid with regard to political incompetence, far too accepting of dishonesty, of politicians who blatantly lie to them. They also seem to largely be unaware, perhaps due to a third rate media, of how other nations do things so much better, be it healthcare, public transit, law or education. They don't question why it takes so long to build anything because as far as they know that's just how long it takes. Not many have the time and inclination to devour media stories and articles from around the world. Far too many pay little to no attention to news of Canada.

I was reading a column in the Globe that kind of crystalized what I've been thinking for a while about how everything we try to build takes years, is delayed for years past when it was supposed to be completed, and is nowhere near the budget set out for it. The column is for subscribers only so I will quote more liberally than usual. But I remember when a sinkhole opened in downtown Ottawa years ago. A major intersection was closed for almost a month for repair. Not that long afterward a larger sinkhole opened in a downtown Japanese city and was fixed and repaired in three days. Bridges go up, highways are built, buildings are constructed lightning fast in other countries compared to Canada. How long did it take us to finally even agree to build new fighter planes? Ten years? Fifteen? The new frigates are going to be a decade behind schedule and cost five times what they were supposed to cost. The same huge delays and price increases are attached to new patrol ships, supply ships, and icebreakers. The centre block of parliament hill is closed and has been for years and will be for years. Renovation will take a decade and cost a billion dollars. As for the PMs residence at 24 Sussex, we're still unable to make a decision. But when we do finally decide to renovate or replace it the cost will be far and away higher than any residence ever built in Ottawa. From the article For example, this country is finding it remarkably difficult to get important things built on time and on budget, or at all. Consider the Trans Mountain pipeline, which the Trudeau government bought in 2018 to ensure its expansion, and to allow billions of dollars to be pumped back into Canada through the export of more of Alberta’s landlocked oil. It was the right move, and the expectation was that, once shovels were in the ground, the feds could sell the project back to the private sector and even turn a profit. Instead, TMX announced earlier this month that the project’s budget is now $30.9-billion – just the latest big price jump that brings it to nearly triple the original price tag. Financial analysis firm Morningstar estimates that taxpayers could be saddled with a $20-billion loss. It’s hardly an isolated case. The Site C hydro project in British Columbia is far over budget. So was Muskrat Falls in Newfoundland and Labrador; costs got so far out of control they imperilled the province’s fiscal health, necessitating a quiet federal bailout. In Montreal, the REM regional rail project was pitched as a public-private partnership to build badly needed transit on a tight budget and in a short time; it is behind schedule and over budget. Same goes for Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown subway. It didn’t open in 2020 as planned and things are so far behind schedule that the provincial agency in charge refuses to say when it might be completed. The cost of the Ontario Line, a 15-kilometre subway also being built by the province in Toronto, has nearly doubled from $10.9-billion when it was announced in 2019 to as much as $19-billion late last year. In Europe, transit is regularly built at far lower prices per kilometre. Our system for deciding what infrastructure to build, and managing it to a successful completion feels, well, kind of broken. Or consider that the United States this year will become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2016, neither the U.S. nor Canada exported any LNG despite their vast gas reserves, as both lacked the port facilities and pipelines to do so. Since then, the necessary infrastructure in the U.S. has been built – just like that – allowing its economy to benefit from huge quantities of high-priced exports to Europe and Asia. And Canada? Still working on it. Projects are in process, notably the massive LNG Canada terminal in B.C. But it won’t come onstream until at least 2025. Until then, Canada’s scorecard shows zero LNG exports in 2016, zero LNG exports today. Why? Is it just bureaucracy? Is there so much red tape, so much corruption, so much incompetence? Is it a combination of them all? It isn't just one government, though red tape has certainly multiplied under Trudeau. It's at all levels of government right down to municipalities that take forever to fix roads and almost immediately have to start repairing them. Are we degenerating into a third-world country?

Today I learned that women vote according to who has the nicer-sounding voice. Geeze, remind me why we let such shallow people vote again?

So word is getting out that the US and Canada actually signed this agreement on March 29th of 2022. The Trudeau government had simply been ignoring it until now. Apparently, they wanted to keep it secret and announce it soon before the next election, whenever that is. But with Biden coming over and the Americans refusing to not answer questions that were certain to be put to them about it they announced it this week.