By the time you’re reading this, it’s 2022. Welcome to the Future.
In lieu of some New Year’s resolutions, which are doomed to failure because picking an arbitrary date to make massive life changes instead of working incremental towards a goal goes completely against human nature, let’s consider some ways we can make 2022 a little bit better over the next 12 months.
First, and I say this with all due respect, it’s been impossible to ignore that city council’s been a little bit bitchy with each other lately.
Blame the “box effect” as councillors are spending too much time siloed in their virtual meeting locations. It’s harder to fire passive aggressive barbs at colleagues if you have to look at them in their physical eyes across the council table, but so long as we’re continuing with the virtual format, I think I’m going to start keeping a running tally of “points of order.”
And it’s going to be hard to think about any council business this year without remembering that this is an election year. All but two members of council have been there for eight years, and seven of those people have been there for at least 12.
Again, I say this with all due respect, but I think some members of council need to do some deep thinking and soul searching about whether or not the time has come to open a spot for a new generation of local leadership.
This speaks to a big issue in local politics, which is the lack of engagement that results in people just checking boxes for the incumbent without any particular knowledge or insight into their voting record or stand on the issues. I’m not saying people have to think about politics every day, but maybe that’s the reason why council is, for the most part, one night a week.
And I’m going to make a push for this even though I know it’s unlikely to come to pass: We actually have two elections this year, a local one and a provincial one, and considering how many issues overlap those two levels, or how local action is sometimes stymied by a lack of action or interest on the part of Queen’s Park, this seems like an ideal time to find solutions that transcend jurisdiction.
This is not exactly a theoretical exercise either. Consider an Ontario Auditor General’s report from earlier this year that noted that while municipal councils have increased their spending on issues related to homelessness by 59 per cent on average, provincial and federal spending has only gone up by 32 and 29 per cent respectively.
This will be a great time to talk about a variety of crossover issues like getting a new hospital in Guelph, housing affordability and availability, and regional transportation. Don’t like the rate by which your taxes are going up in Guelph? We need to have a big conversation about the way we fund cities, and how little control cities have over their own purse strings.
As for who might run in the election, I’d like to lend a voice of support to Guelph’s young people, the ones who are leading the fight for social justice, climate action, and economic equality. I hope they consider formalizing their activism by running for office. Not to sound agist, but adding one person under 30 to council would increase its overall tech-savviness by a factor of 12.
As you can tell by some of these new year’s suggestions, it’s my desire to make this double-election year a time for serious discussions about serious issues with serious people. Of course, in this era of politics the word “serious” is synonymous with the term, “reality-based.” So looking ahead to 2022, can we be guaranteed that either of the coming elections will be fought on the basis of reality?
Granted, politics here in Canada is not being pulled into a rabbit hole of conspiracies, weird science, and half-truths, but we can’t ignore the trend. Ontario will have two far-right parties running candidates in the next provincial election, both notably led by politicians who traffic in vaccine hesitancy and COVID science denial.
Of course, it’s impossible to think about the new year without being reminded that we’re entering the third calendar year of the pandemic.
The hardest thing to reconcile about the COVID-19 pandemic is how it never unfolded the way we thought it would. We thought it would go away, especially after the vast majority of us got vaccinated, but now there’s this word “endemic” making the rounds. COVID is now being talked about as something we have to live with, so will we be able to find a way to live with it?
It’s a terrible thought, but New Year’s is not exclusively a time for happy thoughts, or at least it shouldn’t be. You can’t change the world in the same way that you can change a calendar on the fridge, so keep in mind that whatever change you seek in 2022 it can happen incrementally, and it probably will.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
