Moonbox

Why's that?

Look at that we agree on something. Personally I sympathize with nurses. They go through a lot of schooling to work terrible hours in an emotionally taxing, stressful and sometimes dangerous environment. Teachers on the other hand? Yeah. Union gone mad.

Ukraine has been pushing to join NATO for ages. It's not hard to see why. On the one hand they see modern democratic institutions and free participation in the EU and global economy. On the other side of their border they see an old-school dictator overseeing a crumbling economy, fading demographics whilst waving his weapons around pretending that Russia is still a global power. Regardless, NATO rebuffed them so as not to provoke a war.

Yes I know, but I believe their may be a few among them with some common sense. Not this particular one. I may as well just block him.

Is it the UK press, or the UK tabloids and fringe websites you get from your 4dchan links? I follow British news constantly and haven't seen anything of the sort. Other than some losers complaining that he met the Queen without wearing the mask (I'm sure the protocol was 100% up to the Queen and her staff), there's not much news about him at all. They acknowledge his popularity tanked with the Emergencies Act, but that's hardly news. How many thousands of protesters were arrested in Ottawa, btw?

Great, but they're still paid better than they need to be to work 9 months a year, especially considering the massive backlog of young (and better educated) teachers trying to find employment with the Boards. I'm curious how you reconcile this position with the fact that the Teacher's Unions endorse, fundraise and advertise for the Liberal or NDP party in every election. In addition to being overpaid for their hours, training and education, are they also woke totalitarian fascists? ?

What a conservative really means is a silly notion to begin with - a carry over from Trump's RINO foolishness and exactly the sort of thing that turns away most Canadians. If you don't care about votes in the centre, then by all means elect Pierre Poilievre. He'll do a great job whipping up the base and might even pull a lot of the PPC voters towards him. He just won't ever win an election. You'll just be the Western alternative to the Bloc. I'm not talking about you specifically, that was the proverbial you. You're more thoughtful and curious and open to ideas than most of the goobers yelling in here. As for Pierre Poilievre, he IS embracing those politics - the rabid hyperbole, the conspiracy fringe, the Trump-style anger etc... It's up to them to assure Canadians they won't mess around with Human Rights issues, and they won't unequivocally stand up for them. They sort of look down at their feet and mumble some stuff that satisfies nobody. It's a line in the sand for most Canadians That the CPC keeps faceplanting on these issues is one of the oldest jokes in Canadian politics. The Liberal strategiss just sort of snicker and nudge each other and say, "Just ask them how strongly they believe in a woman's right to choose." On these specific issues, I at least understand Pierre won't make any changes, but that's not the case for most of Canada. Where Pierre the worm loses me is in his embracing of the Freedom Convoy, conspiracy theorists and Trump-style hyperbole. Whatever benefit of the doubt Canadians might have given him on abortion or gay rights is lost here. I have described it numerous times, and once again in the paragraphs above.

https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/11/25/canadian-teachers-among-top-paid-worldwide-study-finds.html OECD finds us fourth highest of developed nations, according to new report on the state of education around the world. Your conservative friends are aghast. ?

and the abject stupidity of saying that, immediately after saying this about the conservatives: is completely lost on you.

Teachers especially. Ours are already amongst the highest paid in the world. If I wanted to compare how hard a teacher's job is to a nurse's, I don't even know where I'd begin. It just makes me giggle. You're obviously not a "real conservative" if you can't see the problems here. ?

Correction: Old political categories aren't relevant in the modern day. You frame your arguments based on the current reality, rather than outdated bygone attitudes that nobody cares about anymore. They're fighting divisive rhetoric with Pierre Poilievre, by supporting the freedom convoy and their "fuck trudeau" signs, and by appealing to idiots who call their critics fascist woke totalitarians?

I already listed all the things that have changed. I'll give you bullet points this time: 1) Hospitalizations trending downward (I even provided a chart) 2) Vaccination rates are high 3) Proven treatments are available 4) Omicron is relatively mild BONUS 5) The weather is improving and flu season is ending, with open windows and outdoor activities being far less of a risk. If things turn bad again, the mandates could be re-implemented. They've made that clear. Right now they're trending positively, and that's what Ontario's top doctors, health authorities and data are confirming. Here's that chart again, incase you want to look at it again: Can't really comment on Alberta, SK or MB. They're in their own little world out there.

There's a good point. I would bet that any number of Liberal alternatives would have handled the situation better.

You may be right, but that's a clear path to election defeat. The CPC is in denial. They think O'Toole lost because he wasn't "conservative" enough, but that's not true at all. He lost because he played coy with the most extreme elements of the party and in so doing scared away any chance of getting centrist votes. Before you say anything, nobody cares what you think a centrist vote is. All that matters is that it's in and around the middle of the Canadian political spectrum. I don't share your wild exaggerations on "what Justin has done", nor do the majority of Canadians. I think he's a terrible Prime Minister and I'd vote for any number of the Conservative candidates happily. I just wouldn't vote for someone like Poilievre or Leslyn Lewis. I don't agree that Justin should be removed at all costs. Embracing Trump-style politics north of the border, with the conspiracy theories, anti-science, ignorance and inflammatory hyperbole isn't worth it, and most Canadians will agree with that sentiment. There are plenty of alternatives that can make the CPC a big-tent group - candidates who would abandon bad energy policy, trim the public sector waste, chill out on woke-overreach etc. The insistence on packaging that all with the fringe retards is self-defeating. If that's what you're looking for, go join Maxime's clownshow. No. They haven't. They can't run on those issues because they're complete non-starters. Not committing overt political suicide is hardly a compromise. Their problem is they cannot appropriately assure the majority of Canada they'll emphatically uphold these rights. Harper silenced this debate by muzzling the idiots who wanted to bring it up. His successors haven't had the courage to do so and that's not good enough for Canadians.

Inflation is a wonderful rebalancing of public sector compensation. They're already grossly overpaid across the board.

That would be great. If the conspiracy goofs would all join up with Maxime's clown parade, then maybe we could form a realistic, adult opposition to Trudeau Liberalism. Meanwhile you guys lose all your elections with little/no seats but can still high-five each other about how "conservative" you are. ?

Honestly I think Ford did a way better job than Trudeau, especially at the start. 1) He made the information he had public from the very beginning, not sitting on it and prevaricating like Trudeau and Pam did. 2) He didn't go out of his way to make it a political issue, trying to score points amidst a health crisis. As things wore on he lost coherence and became less consistent, so 1) was ended up less a factor, but at least he never really succumbed to 2).

I don't think conservatives in general, just the freedumb convoy clowns and the Poilievre boosting crowd. Even Doug Ford did an okay job in Ontario.

My god. You guys are a joke. While you were crying and peeing your pants over the "MSM fake media" crucifying the freedom convoy, you were here proving exactly why most of what they said was right. That Poilievre has you clowns on his side is exactly why he won't ever win an election. Angry losers belong together. The CPC has two option now. They can go with Poilievre and become the defacto People's Party of Canada (a clownshow) or they can participate in reality and say goodbye to the sulking babies Poilievre is courting - they can go join the People's Party, or the Mavericks, or whatever the next loser parade is.

I'm scared that we're effectively running a one-party system in Canada, where the Liberals win by default and then a handful of loser parties yap loudly but accomplish nothing else. Jean Charest was a previous federal conservative leader. Peter McKay was a Harper cabinet minister. Patrick Brown was the Provincial PC leader. They were "conservative" before you clowns decided that the word meant being a Trump-style moron. If that's what being "conservative" means, then have fun sulking after another lost election and then spending the next 10 years bitching and moaning about there being no "true conservatives" anymore. Coping 101.

I don't fear him because I know he can't win an election. The minute he hitched his wagon to the Freedom Convoy he made clear the type of politician he is, though it wasn't exactly a mystery before that. He's a demagogue. That's why I don't like him.

If you say so. If only you knew what that term meant.

Yeah it would be interesting to see if that gets temporarily suspended or reverted. I think it will for a lot of people. Realistically the cost of fuel is not going to be a big factor for most people's vacations, with it being a relatively small portion of the overall budget. What's more problematic is the trickle-down from everything else. Everything gets more expensive when fuel prices are high, so people's vacation plans are going to be more affected by their dollar not going as far in general before they even factor-in the extra travel cost. Sure, but I don't think that's what's really important. It's more how this affects the average Canadian, or even the less-fortunate.

Based on science and best medical guesses, yeah. That's about the best we can do. Risks with COVID-19 remain high, but they're trending downwards and hospitals and health experts are in a better position to deal with them. The hospitals remain disproportionately burdened with anti-vax morons, but at this point it's too much to ask that they wise up. It was already explained to you. Your inability or unwillingness to understand/accept the science is pretty irrelevant. It's a pretty screwy contradiction for you to spend all this time bitching and arguing about the mandates and the science behind them, but then when they finally start getting lifted you're bitching about the science behind them being lifted. ?

and you're proposing Pierre Poilievre as the solution...HE'S the one who's going to heal the divide. My freaking god man.. ? but the rest of Canada wants nothing to do with these goofs. The trucker protest, the conspiracy clowns, the trump-wannabes...You don't have to be a Trudeau supporter to be revolted by these loud, mal-adjusted idiot babies. It's how democracy works. It's about choosing. I think this Trudeau is the worst PM we've ever had, and the only one who could contend with him is his late father. That being said, there are always worse options. If the Conservative Party decides that cozying up with the Freedom Convoy, the anti-science crowd, the Pat Kings and Tamara Lichs', that hyperbole and ignorance is what they want to be about and the attitudes they decide to validate - I'd vote for almost anyone against them. The Conservative Party hasn't compromised. That's the problem. They've just found themselves on the wrong side of the issues over and over and over again. For gay marriage or abortion or anything like that, the best they've been able to accomplish is Harper muzzling the evangelical loudmouths and whipping the Party into submission. Pierre can't even do that.