While I agree with you, it’s tough to get most people to click beyond a headline or open a statistics database for a bunch of easily disprovable commonly held beliefs (aka “common sense”); even if it’s to just start thinking about this stuff (and hopefully eventually apply and cross-check), I still view tools like these as a boon.

I think you both have a valid point. There definitely would have been a hard pivot in the rhetoric and dissonance had it been more deadly.

There’d also be a lot fewer MAGA just because licking spittle off the ground became political.

As the article points out, this is a sanctionable offense in Canada (that the AHJ generally aggressively pursue). He certainly will be given notice, and if he doesn’t comply they just start ramping up fines aggressively until he does ($25k to $50k each, eventually into court orders and injunctions). These are legally enforceable.

It’s even more aggressive in other provinces - the professions strictly regulate title usage. Most people voluntarily comply immediately.

If you’re in a battleground, like some of Alberta’s municipalities this year, make it count.

https://smartvoting.ca/

https://smartvoting.ca/

Just gonna drop this here

Frankly super accurate - co-assistant manager to (F)elon

A big part of it was Lil PP was drawing the comparisons himself - he’s been drawing from Trump’s populist playbook since the Free Dumb Convoy. Even now, he still has his “Canada First” signs up, a nod to MAGA and the populism that fucked things up for our closest ally and once greatest friend.

MPs are the (single) representatives of Canada’s Electoral Districts - generally members of parliament all have seats they win through the general (or interim) elections representing fixed regions. Whichever party wins a majority of seats makes up the government, and when a minority is formed generally some form of coalition is formed.

The party nominates a leader for their party - it is not mandatory for the leader to have a seat (even as PM), but you can imagine the media frenzy if that were the case. We don’t pick the leader (unless you’re a registered Lib/Con/etc), although it certainly has a major impact on Canadian politics in our FPTP system (as most people don’t even really know who their MPs are, as they’re generally voting for the party itself and inferring their candidate will act in accordance).

So they’re really just saying which seat Carney will be participating in for the general election, usually a safe riding.

The irony that the guy still has Canada First signs up, a direct nod to MAGA, as has been all of his playbook since the Free Dumb Convoy.

Well said. As an Albertan who has spent a considerable amount of energy explaining what’s happened here politically (both in and out of the province), you’re right we’re not a monolith.

Alberta’s most recent election reflects this - many rural regions had 1:2 and 2:3 vote turnouts the UCP won in their ridings that have been traditionally 1:5 or 1:6 (the least blue they’ve been in decades). Municipalities have been overwhelming anything BUT blue. Fewer than ~130 votes spread out across a handful of ridings ultimately could have changed the outcome (which is why pollsters had such a hard time predicting the outcome).

When talking with people, most of them aren’t even aware what the real issues are (so much as rhetoric on sovereignty, trans people, wokeness, and carbon tax, etc.); many folks aren’t even aware that the Progressive Conservatives aren’t a thing anymore, provincially in Alberta or Federally. I know many who were largely uninformed right up to the election who were on the fence, and in the end differed to what trusted parties (relatives, friends, etc.) told them. Some still tell me their biggest grievance with Trudeau was his dad literally flipping the bird at Albertans in 1982, or rather, the media frenzy that followed.

These are gettable voters. Consider that a lot of people made their final choice in the polls because of the federal conservative party’s last minute endorsement of Danielle Smith, having tried to keep their distance from her crazy as much as possible (and because long-term PCs (and not CPs) were aggressively speaking out against her); would it have changed anything? Probably actually, given how narrow the margins were, and unless you believe the federal conservative endorsement drove more voters away from the UCP than towards, it very likely changed the outcome.

I agree a real strategy needs to be looked at, and telling them it’s their fault because more people voted one way or another and implying they don’t care only drives a wedge - it doesn’t foster any real inroads.

As a start, I’d suggest people spread the word on this tool: https://smartvoting.ca/federaldashboard . Look at places like Calgary (3 regions currently polling Liberal (with others close), something unheard of in ages, and the more blue of the two major municipalities). These are battlegrounds, and the disinformation machine will work hard to steer those votes back.

PP no doubt begging DS to keep her mouth shut.

E: Dropping This here for anyone interested in learning most about Chatham/PostMedia and their American influence on our media.

Lol. Let’s ban accountability, refactoring, and debugging, never work alone, never coordinate, avoid productivity, and refuse ownership—then scream when things break, don’t integrate, and fall behind schedule.

“This is all your fault!” built-in. Why didn’t you intuitively know what myX is supposed to do and how it’s used?

Provocation just for “engagement” really. 102 comments so, to some degree, it works.

E: Guys, it’s satire. Lol.

Nah, they do it now where Trump and friends go on a sympathy circuit talking about how great Musk is while Musk pretends he doesn’t care, and then Musk and Trump switch roles for Trump’s pity party.

For some reason, it’s the authoritarian oligarch corporatocracy that’s pounding everyone right now that needs the sympathy.

conservative meme machine

Seems to grossly and deliberately understate what Canada Proud, Canada Unity, Take Back Alberta, etc. etc. etc. really are.

One of the problems with being valueless is reaching them with facts and proof is almost pointless, because they can heel toe their way into the next cudgel their favorite political reality-tv identity pivots to.

Being lied to is met with a shrug, so long as it’s from their “champion.” The fact PP stands where he does today despite a deluge of factual untruths and deep ties to massive conflicts of interest and American media conglomerates is indicative that you’re right - we are just as susceptible to Trump’s playbook, which is entirely what PP has built his entire campaign thus far around.

The degree of traffic that happens in online discourse hits an 11 during these events; some are engaged in good faith, some are actors and useful stooges, but most are LLMs (and sometimes legacy low effort bots that are much easier to spot, great for confirmation bias); the technology for drive-by commentary has never been “better” than now, and a dozen or so unique system prompts and not even a dozen RTX-4090s is more than enough to create a false consensus across the entirety of a platform.

Musk has 200,000 of even higher end ones (H100s). Get ready for this to be on all the time.

LLMs will yell into the void. It’s never been simpler.

Look, you keep debating step 3 while ignoring steps 1 and 2. My point remains it never even gets that far under historical context; pragmatically, there are many hurdles beyond just the legal framework.

I think we can at least agree that a major root cause of our electoral issues is FPTP, same with OP, so I’ll leave it at that.

E: Just wow. Wow. What a waste of time - textbook strawman sealion debate; nothing has nuance, everything is easy. Definitely not wasting more time on this.

It’s not really a party problem specifically - they’re more of a symptom. In reality, the FPTP winner-takes-all (with questionable SCOTUS and congression checks and balances), high risk, expensive break down then rebuild then break down then rebuild full pendulum swing incentivizes these mechanisms that result in no one winning, and a generation of setbacks every time you take a step forward.

In fairness, Trump is trying to “fix” this - you just may not agree that an authoritarian corporatocracy with him as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic is the right solution (and, frankly, most wouldn’t).

It’s kind of burying the lede to just remark PP is likened to “Trump light.” He has likened himself by exclusively pulling from Trump’s playbook, with the divisive rhetoric, outright untruths, dog-whistling, name calling, verb the noun slogans, and quite literally “Canada First” signs he still hangs in his speeches.

In Alberta he’s repeatedly espoused support for Danielle Smith’s insane policies, her personal hero and inspiration being the real “Trump light,” Ron DeSantis. Nevermind they have openly acknowledged (before the craziness) they’d rather work with Poiliviere, and he’s been heralded in the MAGA circles as Canada’s Trump moment (with a complete absence of the irony).

If he put on 200 lbs and lost all natural skin color, he’d be a slightly more articulate Trump impersonation.

Especially online - detection becomes possible over sustained interactions for only the most critical (at best), but you don’t get that online, and especially not on drive-by commenting, which is the norm for media/social media.

Phony consensus and bad rhetoric are one system prompt away, and the only thing I’d argue is there probably is no escaping it, even for the most civic minded and informed people. Your best bet in the coming months is an awareness it’s happening largely undetected, that we’ve all fallen for it, and explaining it to as many people as possible.

The big problem will be the vast majority thinks they can tell, that they’re uninfluenced, and that they have the inside line.