I have mixed emotions today. I grieved for a few days after tRump was elected in 2024, processing the state and direction of the US. I’ve never had such a powerful reaction to election results before. I’m guarding myself for the possibility that PP forms a minority government. Improbable but possible. I would hurt and be worried, like I was after tRump last fall.

I voted in the advance polls over Easter weekend, when 7.2 million Canadians turned out iirc. I felt a greater than usual sense of civic duty amongst voters in the voting station - like people felt it especially important to have their voice heard in this election.

Voting typically inspires some pride in me about this country we are fortunate to call home. And although I’ve nervously been checking CBC News today for issues at polling stations, I also take pride in our voting process. The shit that goes on in the States in and around voting stations is obscene and very undemocratic. Thankfully I’ve read about no voting-related issues so far. (Our thoughts though are with the Filipino community and everyone affected by the tragedy in BC.)

Ideally, I’d like to have a Liberal minority with an NDP coalition. Second best would be a Liberal majority. I think that’s the most likely outcome. For ABC reasons (especially now that C is MAGA-lite), I’d accept it.

tRump’s comments today - presumably undermining PP’s votes more than anything - surprised me. As did some comments DoFo made about PP and Carney over the weekend. It made me realize that the Conservative party leaders (Marlaina, schMoe, DoFo, PP) in this country have quite different relationships with the other adjacent political forces (i.e., Carney and tRump).

I’m looking forward to election coverage tonight! And I hope to breathe a sigh of relief soon. Don’t @#$% this one up, Canada!

It seems to me like this physician may be exploiting harm reduction practices for personal financial gain and tarnishing the reputation of safer supply clinics. Year after year he’s amongst the highest physician billers in the province; has something like 15 practice locations. He seems to only do virtual care appointments. I question the appropriateness of mainly/ exclusively virtual care appointments for this population. People accessing safer supply services often have many under-treated medical and social needs. Responsible providers seek to assess and address those needs during appointments centred around accessing safer drug supplies. This isn’t just compassionate care; it’s fiscally prudent by reducing urgent and acute care needs down the road - it’s all the same health system. I doubt much of that is included in what seem to be as quick as possible virtual care appointments. It seems like profiteering off a vulnerable population and a significant social issue given a lack of oversight

Jays fan here. I miss Teo but I’m very happy for him and the success he’s found with the Dodgers. I hope to see him again in the HR Derby!

I’m glad you had a great time! Thanks for sharing. I think I got some vicarious euphoria reading it 😊

the rhetoric gets pretty noticeably “anti-woke” in the full text

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn’t notice the comments about BC’s history curriculum - where I completely agree with your assessment - or know what the author meant by “post-national” in my first skim. If I’d read this more carefully I probably wouldn’t have posted it. Thanks for the insights!

One would hope so, but I think people who find Trump alluring tend to vote (and think about politics) like sports fans as opposed to rational or self-interested actors. For them, feelings and fiction are more important than policy, facts, etc.

Your doubt is welcome. The history I was taught in ON in the aughts was terrible. Completely pro-colonialism when I was too young (and uninformed [by my education]) to know what that meant. Whether history curricula could be improved though is a separate topic.

It unclear why that would inspire 21st century resistance.

For one, the author highlights specific Canada vs US events, as found in the body of this post (last paragraph)

The article cited also doesn’t mention how significant this trend is.

Description is a useful precursor to quantification

This appears to be a thinly veiled attempt at making us into the US a different way by the kind of author that cries for statues.

I’m not sure what you mean. Care to explain? I think part of it is you think the author would (not) cry for the tearing down of confederate statues (or anyone with a bad ethical record by today’s standards)

My goodness that comment is getting a lot of airplay. Again, the article provides data.

The first Canadian History Report Card, published in June 2009 by the Dominion Institute, found that only four provinces – Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Nova Scotia – required all high school students to take a mandatory Canadian history course. Most provinces and territories simply offered courses in social studies.

Co-authors of the report, Mark Chalifoux and J.D.M. Stewart, delivered a stern message. “As a country, we are letting our students down when it comes to educate them about Canada’s past,” they wrote in 2009 in The Globe and Mail. “ That remains true today.

I’m in Ontario, graduated high school in 2007. And my compulsory grade 10 history class was probably the least serious class in my whole high school curriculum. We watched the original Saw movie. In class. Don’t ask me what it has to do with history, because I don’t know either

Agreed, corporate social media carries a fair share of the blame. It’s not just privileging right-wing view points over left-wing ones, but it’s all about rage-farming, which is what right-wing politics has become. It’s a double-whammy to push people right, especially young and/or under-informed people

We have analogues of Trump voters here too. They’re unthinking, ignorant, and proud of it

This is why we complement anecdotal experience with polls. To be fair, most of these polls were conducted back in January

https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/43-percent-canadians-would-vote-be-american-if-citizenship-and-conversion-assets-usd-guaranteed

I’m not sure what word you’re looking for but it probably isn’t presupposition when the claim is backed by multiple polls. Care to expand?

While most polls suggest the vast majority of Canadian adults are resolute in resisting any such takeover, the younger generation (18-35) is much more inclined

👍

Fixed, thank you! Note to self: add image and then URL, if image doesn’t auto-load with URL

Thanks. I’ll give the rest of that BRICS Wikipedia page a glance over to find out more

Thanks for sharing your perspective :). I think Canada needs to pick options of strategic value, and in that sense I’d guess EU > BRICS for Canada but idk. Bolivia and Cuba are pretty nearby to Canada but otherwise I don’t see the geographic argument so much

But why join BRICS over the EU? (asking because I don’t know)

Care to explain that a bit? I’m not that familiar with BRICS beyond the first paragraph of its Wiki page

https://imgur.com/gallery/bugs-bunny-sawing-off-us-from-canada-x0hZLvF

As someone in their 30s who went back to university, I am seeing a lot of students use AI to summarize papers they were supposed to read for class or to write papers they were supposed to write for class. This is in addition to using the AI summary feature of a popular search engine as their default, if not only, means of looking up something they’re unsure about.

It’s often talked about by those that do it with a coolness about successfully skirting dumb rules. For one reason or another, it seems very reasonable to them. Maybe they see it as helping them with the onerous parts of school/ academia. Maybe they see it as the future, and current protests against it as silly.

More specifically, I’m seeing people use AI for things that are an area of weakness for them. By doing that, I think they’re missing opportunities to develop those skills, and they will continue to ‘miss milestones’ so to speak.

I think, in general, people’s reading, writing, and critical thinking abilities will go down over decades due to this behaviour. And that scares me. I think those skills are key to a rational electorate. E.g., Lack of such skills = Trump