The rising popularity of the Conservatives is really a sight to behold. A party who just a few years ago basically only existed on paper and now have a shot at actually forming government. A party of the most smooth-brained, reactionary, anti-vaxx, culture war dipshits whose success appears to be almost entirely due to riding the coat tails of Poilievre and the seeming inability of the voting public to distinguish between Provincial and Federal politics.

Keeping them out of power should be a no-brainer, but concurrently I am so fucking pissed at the BC NDP for their arrogance and hypocrisy. Their climate / environmental policies, particularly LNG extraction / fracking / old growth forestry, make an absolute mockery of their stated cLiMaTe tArGeTs.

And, in the same way that the Democrats in the Burgerland Junta beat back a popular insurgency by ratfucking Bernie (twice), so too did the BC NDP with Anjali Appadurai. There was a movement of thousands of progressive young people who actually gave a shit about climate change who were slated to win the nomination because Eby couldn't be bothered to actually run a fucking campaign, and instead inherited his political fiefdom because it was "his turn".

Granted, I like Eby ok, certainly way more than Horgan, and his housing policies have been great. They basically declared war on Air BnB, and the fact that they've yeeted public consultations for housing developments and are forcing the most insufferable rat bastard NIMBY municipalities in this province to actually build some fucking housing is not only effective but also incites a deep sense of schadenfreude in my soul - for there are few groups of people in this world whom I despise more than NIMBYs, perhaps only antivaxxers, fascists, and religious fundamentalists.

But fuck me for "making the perfect the enemy of good", right? I just need to get in line and vote for the people who sent jack booted thugs to pepper spray and assault my fucking friends at Fairy Creek. Vote for the people speedrunning the any% climate change challenge while at the same time claiming they're doing the opposite.

Honestly, I feel like having the Greens as kingmakers such as in 2017 would be the optimal outcome. I really don't like the bike-riding capitalist party, and the Communists aren't likely going to run anybody for me to light my vote on fire with (although I hope they do, if even just to get them into the debates). Keep the socdems as administrators but punish them a little bit for their rat fuckery.

But, on the other hand: mother of god, I certainly don't want us to become another Alberta and have SOGI123 summarily executed in broad daylight.

So, in a sense, I feel like I am being held hostage because of the " other worse party ™ ".

Anyway, [/RANT]

The resident zionism inspector lasted fewer than three months before crowing about how brilliant it is to murder lots of people

Link to paywalled original article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/freeland-knew-her-grandfather-was-editor-of-nazi-newspaper/article34236881/

The Liberal Party of Canada is the latest major group to withdraw from the annual Ottawa Pride parade after organizers pledged solidarity with Palestinians in a statement earlier this month.

Not a lib

Article

I never want to hear these chucklefucks talk about human rights ever, ever again.

Bottom text

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/771584

This is the only natural consequence of allowing these to stand. If you live in Oakville or Edmonton, your cities host these.

On Sept. 26, University of Alberta VP Verna Yiu announced that a $30,000 endowment for the school’s Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) in the name of Yaroslav Hunka, the Waffen-SS veteran who earned international infamy after he received two standing ovations in Canadian Parliament, would be returned to his family.

CIUS co-founder Peter Savaryn, who served as U of A’s chancellor from 1982 to 1986, was himself a veteran of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS—the same division as Hunka, which was also known as the Galicia Division and recast as the First Ukrainian Division after the war.

In the Ukrainian language version of Peter Savaryn’s memoirs he expresses pride in his Waffen-SS past; that pride was omitted from his biography in the English language Encyclopedia of Ukraine. After being resettled here Savaryn attained significant political influence in Alberta: he was president of Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and vice-president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and received the Order of Canada upon his retirement from U of A in 1987.

In 1996, the Toronto-based Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies established the $10,000 Peter and Olya Savaryn Award, half of which was funded by Savaryn himself, “to support a range of scholarly and educational projects at CIUS,” according to the foundation.

The “Support CIUS” page on the CIUS website, where endowments are listed, has been down since the Hunka endowment was returned, but is still available via Internet Archive.

By examining this list and old issues of the annual CIUS newsletter, with assistance from concerned scholars and the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU), the Progress Report was able to identify an additional $1,424,700 in endowments and donations dedicated to 11 Waffen-SS veterans and one member of the Nazi-collaborationist Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The Alberta government under Premier Don Getty contributed the bulk of funds for two of these endowments in 1986.

U of A political scientist Laurie Adkin penned a letter to administration, noting that “there were much earlier revelations that should have caused the university to investigate the CIUS’s funding and activities.”

Adkin cited scholarship by colleagues John-Paul Himka, Karyn Ball and David Marples, as well as U of A alumnus Per Anders Rudling, into the “obfuscation of the history of the Holocaust” by Ukrainian nationalist organizations, who in turn attempted to delegitimize their work.

Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has vigorously condemned violence on the picket lines in Michigan, Massachusetts, and California—laying the blame on management for using replacement workers, or as we usually call them in the labor movement, scabs.

But replacement workers are not a phenomenon we should take for granted. In Quebec and British Columbia, legislatures have adopted laws against the use of replacement workers.

SCABS BANNED SINCE 1977

The province of Quebec was the first jurisdiction in North America to pass legislation banning replacement workers, in 1977, after significant increases in picket line violence across the province. One dispute was a 20-month-long strike involving UAW Local 510 and United Aircraft (later called Pratt & Whitney), which became one of the most violent strikes in Canadian history. In a blunt observation about replacement workers, Quebec’s Minister of Labour, Pierre-Marc Johnson, stated on the floor of the legislature that “where there are scabs there is violence.” Johnson said his government further supported a greater balance in the bargaining dynamic between labor and management.

British Columbia’s progressive New Democratic Party government passed similar legislation in 1993. Both provinces provide very narrow exceptions to the ban, including the maintenance of “essential service” agreements (like paramedics) or the maintenance of vulnerable machinery.

Canada’s federal government considered a ban on replacement workers following the most tragic lockout experience since the UAW strikes in Quebec. The city of Yellowknife was torn between pro-union and pro-employer groups during the 18-month strike that began as a lockout in May 1992. Families who had worked the mine for generations were irreparably divided. Peggy Witte, the controversial CEO of Royal Oak Mines, employed Pinkerton guards whose primary purpose was to taunt picketers and flew in a police riot squad who fired warning shots above picketers’ heads. Canadian mining employers had rarely used scabs for 50 years; by bringing them in, Witte brought the collective bargaining to an end.

In response, the federal government adopted a ban on replacement workers—but only where it could be shown that the scabs were hired to undermine the union’s “representational capacity” rather than because the employer was pursuing “legitimate bargaining objectives.” Many advocates of the ban saw the federal response as lacking.

read more: https://labornotes.org/blogs/2023/10/where-there-are-scabs-there-violence-why-scabs-are-illegal-two-canadian-provinces

archive: https://archive.ph/gGY36

Wab Kinew and the New Democratic Party take charge in Manitoba

A former rapper, on-air personality and bestselling author has been elected as Canada’s first-ever First Nations provincial premier in what was dubbed an Orange Wave with a sizeable turnout of young voters.

The historic election Tuesday, Oct. 3, made Wab Kinew the first First Nations leader of a province, similar to a state governorship in the U.S., and gave the New Democratic Party a resounding victory and majority government.

With his family by his side, the 41-year-old Kinew, Onigaming First Nation, spoke directly to Indigenous youth in the province after his victory became clear Tuesday night. Kinew had trouble with the law as a young man and had included misogynistic and anti-gay lyrics in his raps.

“I want to speak to young Neechis in particular,” Kinew began, using the Ojibway word for “friend.”

“I was given a second chance in life, and I would like to think that I've made good on that opportunity,” he said. “You can do the same. … My life became immeasurably better when I stopped making excuses and I started looking for a reason. And I found that reason in our family. I found that reason in our community. And I found that reason in our province and country.”

The historic election day in Manitoba started with a spectacular storm with thunder and lightning that left thousands of residents without power across the province by 8:20 a.m.

“Wow,” was a common refrain on social media as the election got underway.

It may have been a sign of change, because the weather did not dampen voter turnout. The New Democratic Party won 34 seats and the incumbent Progressive Conservatives were reduced to 22 seats and the Liberals to just one.

Kinew vowed to voters that he would deliver on the party’s main message to voters – to improve health care.

“We're going to build new emergency rooms. We're going to build a new cancer care headquarters, where clinician researchers bring the best quality care to you, the people of Manitoba,” Kinew told his supporters. “And so for all the people out there who work in health care we need you — the nurses, the doctors, the health care professionals, the health care aides — to work with us to build something special here in the health care system in Manitoba.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Kinew’s victory in a statement early Wednesday.

“Last night, Manitobans elected their first First Nations premier – a historic win for Indigenous Peoples and for Canadians,” Trudeau said in the statement. “I look forward to working with Premier-designate Kinew and the provincial government to deliver results on the things that matter most to Manitobans. This includes making life more affordable for families, driving economic growth, advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, building more homes, faster, strengthening our universal health care system, and accelerating climate action while putting more money back in people’s pockets.”

read more: https://ictnews.org/news/orange-wave-elects-canadas-first-ever-first-nations-provincial-premier

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2023/09/house-of-commons-speaker-relieved-japanese-veteran-who-fought-against-china-couldnt-make-it/

It was a rare, explosive allegation by the Canadian leader: That the Indian government killed a Canadian citizen who has advocated turning a part of India into an independent Sikh nation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia last June.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Trudeau said that he raised India’s involvement in the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit meeting earlier this month “in no uncertain terms.” He said the allegation was based on intelligence gathered by the Canadian government.

“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr. Trudeau told lawmakers. He said Canada would pressure India to cooperate with the investigation into the killing.

Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister, later announced that Canada had expelled an Indian diplomat whom she described as “the head” of Indian intelligence in Canada.

Mr. Trudeau said that the large community of Canadians of Indian origin had been angered by the killing and in some cases feared for their personal safety. There are an estimated 1.4 to 1.8 million Canadians of Indian heritage, many of whom are Sikhs. Their numbers include Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, which is keeping Mr. Trudeau’s minority government in power.

The allegation that India’s government was involved in a calculated killing in Canada is likely to further corrode the already strained relations between the two countries. Earlier this month, Canada suspended negotiations on a trade deal with India that were scheduled to have been concluded this year. and during the G20, Mr. Modi excluded Mr. Trudeau from the list of leaders with whom he held formal bilateral meetings.

Mr. Nijjar, 45, was shot near a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. Investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said he was ambushed by masked men, but would not reveal whether the attack appeared politically motivated.

But Mr. Nijjar was known for his advocacy of the creation of an independent Sikh nation, Khalistan, that would include parts of India’s Punjab state, and India had declared him a wanted terrorist.

“If these allegations are true, they represent an outrageous affront to Canada’s sovereignty,” said Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party. “Our citizens must be safe from extrajudicial killings of all kinds, most of all from foreign governments.”