Short work week, life goes better. Go Habs!. Fuck Rebel News and their instigations. Manitoba redirects the juice.
In life:
No major financial hits this week! Got a lot of work-work done including debugging a knotty Python script. There’s been some sunshine. It’s light out till after 8pm. I have had multiple pain-free days. It’s a long weekend and I have no obligations. Sweetie and I are provisioned and settling into power lounging. I have no complaints. I’m grateful.</p
In politics:
The days left until the April 28 federal election are ticking by. This week we’ve had candidate debates in both official languages. The French language debate got rescheduled to an earlier time so it wouldn’t conflict with the 8pm start time for the Montreal Canadiens NHL game.
I have a running series of social media observations about “What makes us Canadian?” Rescheduling for hockey has to be the most Canadian of Canadianisms. It’s not even the first time hockey has taken precedence over the debate. See also 2011 debates.
The Habs had their last chance at the playoffs so it seemed especially important. Keep in mind that the Bloc Quebecois has to keep their base. Without French speaking Quebecois they are in a tough spot since the Liberals are leading in the polls there. The Habs (short for Habitants, the poor French folk who initially colonized Quebect) are a religion in Quebec. And they won the spot. Go Habs!
The great Canadian traditional post-debate scrum was cancelled because the Debate Commission couldn’t guarantee it would be a safe event. Scrums are our Parlimentary thing!. We literally got training on how to do them well when I was in J-school at Calreton University. This should have been higher up in the news than it was. It’s an erosion of democracy. And it can be blamed on bad actors.
Rebel “News” – the maple maggat disinformation engine – broke protocol and got agressive pushing for the head of the line up before the practice of waiting until the debate finished. Some journalists got into a heated debate in the reporter’s observation gallery. Lots of cops outside the venue.
Canada is where the U.S. was earlier in the 2010s. We’re pushing back against the extreme right elements and the implict threats of violence in our midst. We’re not relying on the polls indicating the Liberals have a wide lead. Harris and Walz had numbers and yet lost. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. It’s tempting however. I’d feel better if we could add election shenanigans to the litany of criminal behaviour of Nazis.
We’re well aware our fash wing has a playbook akin to Project 2025.
The premier of Manitoba is going to be redirecting their electricity to the North instead of exporting to the States. Wab Kinew is taking a page out of the Doug Ford play book in Ontario. The contract with Minnesota was ending and will not be renewed. Govenor Tim Walz has been understanding. Everybody knows why Canada is removing itself from any U.S. obligations, especially when a cessation of services is good media. Kinew is the first premier from First Nations, btw. The power is being directed far North to bring Nunavut into the Manitoba grid. This will reduce reliance on diesel. Good for Indigenous Peoples, good for the environment.
Elbows up!