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Joined 12 days ago
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Cake day: February 11th, 2025

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  • A key problem humanity seems to have, which is exploited by politicians everywhere, is the affinity for black and white thinking.

    Capitalism and even neoliberalism are not necessarily categorically terrible. Unregulated versions of these certainly are terrible and unsustainable. And some versions and implementations of ideologies or frameworks are net worse than others.

    Absolute austerity, unregulated neoliberalism, unregulated capitalism, unopposed communism, etc, are all terrible, damaging and unsustainable. Unfortunately finding sustainable solutions is difficult and requires thought, time and dedication. And it requires vision and unifying leadership to sell it to the people.








  • Yeah, a carbon tax that results in perhaps a percent of price inflation is just nowhere near as serious - neither in kind nor degree - as 25% across the board tariffs. And if we need to have emission reduction measures in place to trade with the EU, and trading with the EU is now an existential priority, then frankly he can sit down and shut up. The adults are talking.

    (the above assumes all the talk of economic annexation is bluster, which is no longer a foregone conclusion)


  • both leaders here keep talking about how we Canadians fought hand in hand in <insert war>, took in Americans in 9/11 etc.

    I agree they are all saying this, but I sense a difference in intent between Poilievre and the rest.

    Maybe it’s my bias, but I feel that Poilievre is saying these things with the intent to convince the Americans - i.e., it’s for the American audience. By contrast, Carney and others are saying these things more for the Canadian audience - to explain why it’s justified to be angry at the Americans and we need to grow up and kick them to the curb.

    For Carney and others, it’s a rallying cry; for Poilievre it’s an attempt at appeasement.


  • This is a good observation. He wants to change his messaging because he sees the writing on the wall. Running around yelling about how shitty the country is, insulting his fellow countrymen, riding a wave of animosity towards minorities, etc. - this is the opposite of unifying. It’s reinforcing the teams. He sees it’s failing now, but he can’t bring himself to actually attack Trump or the GOP. He has to lean into platitudes and empty shows of strength. At the end of the day, it makes him look like he’s not angry enough at the US…probably because he’s not. He doesn’t have an affinity or an understanding of this country beyond narrow political gain, because he’s never spent a day of his adult life outside of politics.



  • Poilievre has an incredibly lucky moment right now. Never has a Canadian leader had a moment like this, in the last century, maybe ever. He has a fantastically weak Liberal leader that has dragged his party down, and a disastrous US leader who threatens Canada. All Poilievre has to do is step in front of all of this and present a unifying vision. But he can’t do it. He’s incapable of being a leader. He can’t seem to put his petty politics of anger aside and face the reality that the country has an existential threat and that the priorities have changed. Even when he proposes something reasonable (Arctic defense) he has to borrow a Trump move to get there (decimate foreign aid, even though soft power and diplomacy is the reason we have any friends at all right now). He is the very epitome of short term, ideological thinking. Ultimately he represents the populist right wing that will exacerbate wealth inequality and the resulting oligarchy…and we can all see the endgame of this movement playing out to the south of us.

    No fucking thank you.