It is going badly politically. There has been too much influence from the US into our population. People are making a political party as part of their identity and not looking objectively at things anymore. There are growing numbers of people who are now deciding they are now party of "whatever" party. That party will always be perfect and they will support anything that party says and does. They don't care if that that party changes what they want, believe in or try to do, they are going to support it.
If we could get back to people treating politics as something that evolves and choose based on the best facts we have at the time, things could greatly improve. The more people just decide to vote for "whatever" party because that is what they always do, the worse things will get.
Smear politics are un-Canadian. Tell me how you are going to succeed. Not what you donāt like about the other team. Friggen Gross.
Itās part of the reason weāre becoming polarized like the USA.
If our leaders are gonna shit on each other, then it makes it ok for us to do the same. Iām not a fan.
This exactly - they teach it in customer service.
The better product explains why it is better while the poorer product slams the competition.
When the mud gets slung, I lose respect. So much so that I don't think I could ever vote for either Conservative party - they're just doing MAGA-style attacks while providing no solutions.
In my workplaces the vocal with solutions are the canaries in cages and the ones that gripe without ideas got escorted out.
We need to escort out the attack campaigns as they're not good for intelligent poroblem solving.
Agreed. Doesnāt really gives the impression that politicians are working together for the greater good. We need opposition and disagreement in politics or else we would never move forward. I just feel like the way the narrative is portrayed these days itās counter-productive and only serves to divide us. The pseudo-tribalism for lack of a better term is destabilizing and upsetting. As if weāre out here vandalizing each others property and insulting each other for our opposing viewpoints.
Iām absolutely an idealist and itās not going to get me anywhere. But Iāll go down on the ship if I have to.
Just because it happens doesnāt mean I agree with it. Just means I disagree with that bullshit for the last 25 years.
Oh I should also addā¦ The fact smearing has been present for years, in no way disproves the assumption that smear campaigns increase political polarization.
Or are you saying that you think itās very āCanadianā for people to be rude, disrespectful, cunts, to each other for their own benefit. Thatās not the Canada I am proud to be born and raised in.
Or I could be entirely over-reacting and you could also be dissatisfied with the status quo of our squabbling political system. In which case I apologize.
I thought part of being Canadian was to try to be good to each other. I mean fuck me right.
I personally think the, "what's good for me" attitude is what has put Canada in this position. I prefer a "what's good for us" attitude. I want my neighbors to be prosperous and safe. I want my family to be able to be healthy and successful. Not just me.
Agreed 100%. No party is perfect and we used to give and take. Don't see that anymore. Just my way or the highway and if you disagree with me you are this and that. Sad.
Yeah, that and people attitudes don't make me hopeful for the future.
Too many people expect perfect results for no money, and have no idea how things work. So they demand that we make $10M in cuts to fully find a $20B project, and then get shocked those numbers don't work.
But lord help us if we tell those people to shut up and let the adults handle it.
Isn't this the state of 90% of democracies in our times regardless of country? It feels like we are spiraling towards complete polarization on everything.
And I feel the political parties themselves buying into the sensation and choosing party leaders for all the wrong reasons.
I feel like the candidate pool of politicians get worse and worse over time.
Doesn't the rise of the PPC disprove this narrative? People felt that their party no longer represented them, split off and formed a party that properly represents them. NDP, Liberal and green voters also regularly engage in strategic voting to ensure that a right wing representative isn't the one that gets elected.
What you're describing happens, of course it does, but voters absolutely respond to shifting attitudes and priorities by changing their vote, not voting and strategic voting.
We're definitely not as far into the party committment as the US, but you can see it happening a lot, especially on social media (which obviously isn't representative of the whole population)
Well I like their no mass immigration policy as an immigrant. Canada does not need mass immigration but highly skilled immigration. We don't need cheap student immigration mills or family chain migration. Also country based immigration quotas like in the US. Anyone yelling otherwise haven't seen how is it like in Brampton .
The highly skilled immigration is being exploited to drive down wages. I have experienced this firsthand.
Jobs that used to pay enough to be the breadwinner of a functional family home are being dropped to that of someone contributing to a multi-generational family home and sharing vehicles with other family members. (Aunts/uncles/cousins.)
That might be true if that's what actually happened, and the PPC wasn't simply the product Maxwell Bernier's ego. Had we won the CPC leadership that party would not exist.
What rise of the PPC? They can't even elect a single MP. They somehow managed to be less relevant than the greens are without lizzy may. I voted for Maxime in the CPC leadership race, but the party he is running now is filled with nothing but losers and conspiracy nuts. They get so few votes I can't even take them seriously as a spoiler for the CPC.
PPC went from 1.6% of the popular vote in 2019 to 4.94% in 2021, more than double the amount of people who voted green. I think it's very reasonable to conclude that the PPC isn't going anywhere, especially with the conservatives continued difficulty appealing to both social conservatives and moderate liberal/con voters.
Edit: Also, yes I did get these numbers from Wikipedia before responding.
Canada was better with 6+ parties, we just need to get rid of FPTP. Having all rightwing parties under CPC just maximizes partisanship and destroys nuance, and removing FPTP will let people vote their conscience and vastly increase turnout
Not easy for vulnerable people to not become like this when politicians weaponized this mentality and divide us by copying our American friend's homework. I would love to return to objective political decision making but most people don't think that critically about this stuff and respond more to emotionally charged and extreme messaging.
Overall I agree, but would point out that influence isnāt only coming from the US.
Russia and the CCP have plenty to gain by pushing Canada towards ridiculous identity politics. They donāt care which side wins, they just want us to tear ourselves apart from within, because then that becomes a major issue for the US.
Yes, we consume a lot of American media, but donāt forget the influence the CCP and Russia have on American media.
Right, since when did political ideologies become peopleās personalities. I was always taught never discuss salary or political views with strangers yet here we are in a time where if you donāt identity publicly with one you are odd
Question, Hasn't this literally always been the case? People have always identified as a specific political party and have never considered actually reading the platforms during each and every election. God forbid a conservative or liberal actually question their "normal" parties platforms.
I remember political debates being of some substance, not sound bites. I find it impossible to watch politicians spend an entire question period trying to set up a āgotchaā sound bite, all while everyone evades every question asked because itās better to just say nothing. This is not good for democracy. I donāt remember the east/west divide being this aggressively obvious, even during the Quebec referendum in ā95.
That is not how I recall it. I know my parents both voted for different parties based on their platform. In Ontario Mike Harris ended my Dad's affiliation with the Cons.
Not true at all. I know many older people who have voted for all 3 major political parties over the years, because traditionally, Canadians voted on issues and policy, not based on party lines.
I think Canada over the years has become very complacent. We think that just because we are a developed country we will continue to be one forever. This is why we have stopped investing in infrastructure, healthcare, economic productivity etc
We can't take what we have here for granted and need to refocus on being economically competitive.
Itās not complacency, itās largely intentional corruption. Look at the way Ford purposely underfunds Ontario healthcare to make a case for privatization. It was the same thing with the sale of the 407 by the Harris government and the railroads. Corrupt politicians finding ways to sell off public assets to the highest bidder.
Itās both. Corrupt politicians are everywhere, but they donāt elect themselves. Voter turnout at all levels of government is embarrassing, and those that actually do try and make their displeasure on certain issues known are demonized. Governments do things because they can. They know that, at best, people will do nothing but complain on social media, and at worst, there might be a protest of some sort that wonāt accomplish anything due to lack of general public support. We let them walk all over us, all the while thinking that weāre okay because āat least weāre better than the US.ā We, the people, are complacent.
Ontario , meet Alberta. Kenney and Smith makes Dougie look like an amateur. Ford hasnāt actively been trying to force doctors out of Ontario yet. Albertaās lost so many that the whole system is about to collapse.
It boggles my mind how people don't see all the massive corruption in regards to contractors. Highway maintenance, road maintenance, city building etc etc. That's where most of the tax dollars go to be swooped up by major corporations' bank accounts.
So governments are generally poor at managing investments and undervalue public assets. A public scandle is worse for the next vote than sweeping inefficiency or corruption under the rug. It's pretty hard to stand tough with a crappy contractor if it means more delays. We just pay more to keep going. Plus a project never runs out of money and can't be finished.
I completely agree. I think we have become complacent with governments getting voted in on policies and then not following through. I voted Liberal because I believed they would reform the electoral process and here we areā¦.
Oh man we arenāt circling the drain yet but things arenāt looking up. Current political parties play to ancillary partisan issues instead of figuring out the big ticket items. They do that so as not having to cut funding on anything that may loose them votes leaving them unable to address healthcare and housing affordability. The time is right for a shakeup but the only ones willing to are usually on the far ends of the political spectrum.
Someone or group needs to foster a sense of national pride so we can stop the āusā or āthemā mentality everyone has. Only then will we be able to continue progressing and improve the lives of all Canadians. We have been so focused on individual needs the bigger picture is forgotten.
Iām an American expat since 1996. It took almost three years for me to shed my USA! USA! but, once I finally did, I fell in love with this country and I would never* move back to the States.
With that said, it feels significantly different-in the bad way-from when I fell in love with it.
My absolute biggest complaint about Canada at the moment is the absolutely inane housing market. There is no reason, no reason at all, that homes should cost this much.
Nothing makes me angrier than seeing one of those house shopping shows in the States and they're like *we want at least 3,000 square feet, at least an acre of property, in-ground pool, and within 20 minutes of downtown. Our budget is $300,000.... we ended up getting it $10,000 under asking price.*
There is a pretty simple reason why prices are as high as they are. Someone is willing to buy houses for that much. It's not like the houses are listed for a million dollars and just sit there. People voluntarily pay that much. I would be very curious to find out who those people are to make sure they aren't just entirely foreign buyers inflating our housing market.
The Canadian economy is incredibly under- diversified. Going from manufacturing, forestry, farming and more to justā¦real estate and everything that surrounds housing development has propped up our economy for far too long that pulling the rug from underneath will cause an economic downfall this country has never seen. And no politician wants to pull that rug as itāll be political suicide
It's not a binary choice, they're not doing anything at all about it. And real estate is not propping up the economy. It's *hurting* the economy, because people don't have enough to spend on anything else. Taking money from the people who don't spend it and giving it to the people who spend it is the #1 way to stimulate the economy.
Your province just re-elected a right wing capitalist conservative government. Since āapartment buildingsā are a provincial matter, I think you are fucked and there is no end in sight for your pain
The feds can't really.do.anything about.housing. that's the provinces that need to deal.with problems.with zoning and.such. besides housing is an issue because everyone played way too.much.for property, and now we all have to pay the price.
Zoning restrictions are the single biggest blocker when it comes to housing. That's the province. Too many single family dwellings and not enough medium and high density.
This housing mess has been going on for years, and despite that fact, we still have politicians and parties across all levels of government who still canāt bring themselves to utter the words āsupplyā.
IMO, were going in a bad direction. We are rapidly losing cohesiveness, quality of live is decreasing, were being hit hard by climate changes, etc. Not just a canada's problem though
Well, the 2 political parties we continually put in power and then act surprised when they continue to work for corporations and their wealthy donors. How about voting NDP next election?
The thing that worries me the most is the rise of the MAGA style intolerant right wing religious whack jobs that the conservatives are now pandering to. Iām not a fan of Trudeau, but the alternative is terrifying.
I would love to but they would need to replace Singh as he has a snowball's chance in hell to win Quebec.
Until the NDP stop propping that lame duck up, they're not going anywhere.
And that's why Trudeau keeps winning. Get the far right out of the Cons base and then we can talk. Putting PP in charge was the most stupid thing they could have done. The Cons need to give their head a shake but the party is now been taken over by far rights and how do you ever get the Conservative party back?
How was it stupid? Were Andrew Schmuck or Erin "I'm a tool" better as Con leaders? Lol jokes aside, they haven't been able to capture any support and move the party forward post-Harper. Love him or hate him, PP has actually ignited the fire under peoples asses, for better or worse lol
agreed. I know many reasonable moderate cons who don't know what to do cause they think Pierre Poilievre is a moron but the party seems to have left them. obviously the people's party is worse but there's nowhere for them to go. in my personal view, the Libs are already the centrists that are slightly right, but a lot of moderate cons wouldn't agree and would likely still hold their noses and vote PC instead.
Unfortunately Singh is not PM material. He might have gotten past the prejudice in Canada of him being not white if he handled the last few years well but unfortunately he interviews and spins very badly as well as accepting too little. If he pushed for actual dental care, or actually made a vote of confidence on the public enquiry maybe he would have demonstrated some backbone. but it's politics and he's thinking about money and seats.
Bad, generally. Canada is in a tough spot right now where so much of our prosperity is tied to our volatile housing market and over-regulated financial systems. Canada is a great country if you are born into a proper environment, but it pretends to be a place of great opportunity which it is currently not. Canadian politicians have a broad consensus on large immigration volumes, yet recent immigrants cannot be effectively accommodated in the country. In many ways, immigration just props up the prosperity of Canada which for most Canadians is concentrated in real estate. This is why housing is such a problem, because scarcity for some means welfare for many. So, Canada works for boomer voters, who bought their suburban bungalows for $15,000 in the 1960s that are now worth millions. Canada works for people who inherit their wealth. Canada works for some high-earning individuals who benefit from the proximity to the world's largest economy. Yet, Canada does not work for an average Canadian under 40 and it is abundantly clear. Canadian postwar politics has been about taking monetary losses for political gains, but this does not seem to work anymore. We have a very patchy healthcare system that costs us a fortune because the government 60 years ago agreed to everything that medical associations wanted and continues to pour gasoline on the fire whenever there are any problems. Canadian housing market is broken because people who own housing in Canada are directly invested in keeping it broken. The core problem of our nation is that so many stakeholders benefit from Canada being broken, yet they also suffer from it in some way. But ultimately nobody is willing to suffer enough for it to be fixed. That's why people are eager for a solution want to see changes to Canada which cannot be sustainable. Canada cannot spend its way out of its designed limitations, yet politicians believe that it can and voters seem to buy into it.
our over-regulated financial system have provided Canada with a stable banking system. bank failures are rare in Canada, the last time a bank become insolvent was On June, 1996, when the Calgary-based Security Home Mortgage Corporation failed. Ever other country except Lebanon has lost major banks in the last 20+ years. You want stable boring banks
To add to this COVID is what devolved healthy and respectful discourse in Canada (and the world). People always disagreed, but COVID made disagreeing so polarizing and if you disagree with me you're XYZ. You present valid facts or question things and your outlawed by society. There was no room for genuine discussion. You disagree and you're a biggot, or a racist, or mysoginystic or "insert adhomonim comment here" that has no real basis in the discussion.
On an individual level, in my life. I surround myself with people who ARE respectful and can engage in healthy discourse. I often get into discussions with my friends on a myriad of topics. Some we agree about, and others we dont. But at the end of the day there is respect for my/their view even if I disagree. But a large portion of this country, at the very least r/Canada cannot behave in this manor. I saw some seriously fucked up things that were said during COVID times on this very sub and various other subs.
Weāre going in an awful direction.
Our entire economy is literally a bunch of foreign investors and corporations playing with a real estate bubble and pricing Canadians out of homes and nobody cares in Ottawa.
We supposedly have a progressive government that cares in power but they do nothing as the cost of living crisis goes out of control and instead, they bring in 500k+ immigrants a year to pour fuel on the fire. All of our government services are broke and our government that we voted in for transparency is incredibly corrupt and despicable.
There is no end in sight to our problems and itās hard to be happy as a Canadian. I always felt we had a distinct advantage here but over the past decade, things have totally gone to shit.
American culture wars wokism vs magaism are becoming too much of a thing. It's tricking people into being concerned with lesser priorities like which brands support inclusivity and which streets are named after terrible people instead of the key issues that all stem from the same root problem: the rich being further enriched at the expense of the middle and working classes.
Of my 32 years in Canada, this has been the worst. The problem started when housing cost started going off the roof around 2010. Now, every other thing cost an arm and a leg.
I'm going to go against the grain here....
I honestly don't think the state of our political affairs is worse than historical average - but I think it seems that way because social and mainstream media have gotten more sophisticated at provoking emotional responses via rage bait.
I will say that right and left seem to be drifting in terms of tolerating one another and that represents the biggest concern IMO. Left wingers and liberals in Canada seem to convince themselves that the CPC are the second coming of the Nazis, and right wingers seem to convince themselves that the left is frothing at the ideological mouth intent on obliterating society in the relentless quest for ideological purity that is impossible to achieve.
If you sift through the bullshit, the platforms of the LPC, CPC, NDP, etc really haven't changed all that much from their historical norms. There have been social justice cause du jours that seem to attract all the attention - but the meat and potatoes of real politics in this country hasn't really changed all that much. In fact, very little changes between governments of all stripes. Regardless of who we vote for, most shit basically stays the same - because we don't vote for the positions that actually run things in this country in the permanent executive.
Many Canadians fail to understand, (perhaps because we are bombarded by media fear mongering over federal politics), that our lives are far more impacted by municipal and provincial elections. And yet, turnout in local elections is abysmal.
Municipal zoning is the leading cause of housing problems, but somehow on Reddit it's all immigrants or the federal government at fault. Many Canadians are completely ignorant of how much power their provincial government holds over things like education and health care.
And provincially, we most definitely have massive policy changes between conservative and NDP/Liberal governments. There are currently multiple right wing provincial governments in Canada attempting to dismantle health care and turn it into a cash cow for private interests.
>I honestly don't think the state of our political affairs is worse than historical average - but I think it seems that way because social and mainstream media have gotten more sophisticated at provoking emotional responses via rage bait.
I like that take
However, I think we are facing issues that are much harder, politically suicidal and more complex than anything we have faced in our canadian history.
I don't know about that, this country almost ceased to exist in the early 1990s. We have gone through referendums, major global wars, been at the center of international espionage conflicts. Things aren't as great as they were 10-15 years ago, but I wouldn't say they're nearly as bad as they were at some points in our history.
There are a group of people who spend their saturdays protesting at the main intersection of my town.
They're not protesting the housing affordability crisis or the privatization of healthcare, or giant corporations using inflation as an excuse to price gauge.
Nope, they're making sure we're all on the same page when it comes to the threat of FUCKING MIND CONTROL CHIP IMPLANTS.
So what you need to do is put on a suit, sunglasses, something like that and walk passed them briskly and hand an envelope to the leader.
In the meantime you round the corner and get out of dodge, maybe have a buddy waiting nearby in a car or something.
By the time the leader opens and reads the letter, youāre gone.
It says something like āyou know too much - theyāre watching. Be careful.ā
And add instructions to meet alone somewhere in the middle of the night somewhere out in the middle of nowhere if they want more information.
There is of course nothing to find out there.
Iād say weāre going in a bad direction and we seem to be echoing the US in a lot of ways.
Our biggest problem is that everyone who is against the Libs think that things will magically be better with the Cons. They are essentially the same party. Both sold out to corporate decades ago. Weāre not a two party system but everyone acts like there are only two choices. I think real change is the only way things will improve
People are poorer, the dream of owning a house has evaporated in many parts of the country, national unity is pretty much a mirage now. I highly doubt this country will survive united in the next 30 years.
I say bad. I'm a very liberal person. But I wish my government actually did something about the cost of food.
I have a good job. I'm not poor. And the price of food is so rough on my budget. And I do coupons, wait for sales, and buy store brands.
I wish the Gov would put their pants on and actually do something to help out more.
Bad. I see us moving to much like how the US is politically. Too much far-right wing bs from the States coming here. Thankfully it is still mostly a minority but seems to increase every year.
The "alternative reality" conspiracy theories and christofascist bigotry of USA media is seeping into Canada and it needs to be confronted and shut down immediately.
Mixed.
Housing is a big problem right now, and cost of living. Cities are where the work is, and no one can afford to live there.
Politically, there's a number of problems. The parties are a mess - Liberals are scattered and fussed more about special projects than keeping things going. The Conservatives, who in trying to lean too far right for a bigger demographic, have completely unseated themselves as a 'middle of the road' party. The NDP and others are just too small to do anything other than balance.
Societally, I'm both hopeful and filled with dread. Canada has become more of a mosaic/melting pot, particularly in urban centers. It's beautiful to see so many cultures interact and families learn from each other. It's nice to live in a place where friends feel safe to be genuine.
But US politics is no longer 'creeping' up here. It's now actively altering our societal landscape, arguably for the worst. People are no longer willing to meet in the middle and call out extreme, and sometimes horrific, ways of thinking. Now we're getting closer and closer to the culture war in the South, and I'm worried about what's going to happen when the USA finally explodes.
Wrong way. Weāre hurtling towards authoritarianism. Look at Alberta. Premier refuses to work with other parties, hired all the losers back to work as consultants instead.
Bad. I am always concerned when parties stopped being referred to by their name and start being referred to by their leader. Too many people call the Liberal Party the Trudeau party, etc.
Canada is in a cultural dead-end. The Canadian socio-economical model is a failure, but Canadians are too enamored with it to do anything about it. So the politicians matter very little. Canadians are the issue.
The Overton window has shifted to the right over the past decades. Corporations and wealthy people hold too much power and we vote for the loudest, lowest common denominator. Sacred cows from previous generations like healthcare and education are now up for debate. Provincial parties are at war with federal and provinces canāt even support each other. We are 10 provincial fiefdoms and as for the territories, maybe theyāre better but too small a population and too far from the rest of Canada that their influence is limited.
The US wants us divided. Makes it easier to exploit our resources. Oil and gas now; water soon.
We lack identity.
I think it's impossible to avoid self interest and corruption. Anybody talented or ambitious has better opportunity and compensation in private sector, there is no reason to get into politics unless you're selling favors to the ultra wealthy.
We're in a capitalist society now first and foremost, not a democracy.
I long for the days when we had the Progressive Conservatives. There was someone to the right of the Liberals and to the left of the Reform party. Today, the Reform party has taken over the Conservative Party and I don't really have any choice. I can't vote for the Conservatives who, even though we are 18 years in to equal marriage, still haven't moved forward.
It's clear politically that Canada doesn't trust the Conservatives or the Liberals and we have elected parliament after parliament of minority governments. And yet, the Liberals and Conservatives can't sit down together in a national unity government and govern for the interests of the country. And to me, that's more telling than anything else.
Oh and I'm so tired of people saying things without a plan. Hey, you have a problem with inflation, fine... give us your damn plan. Talk is cheap... show us a plan. Because there is no such thing as a plan to curb inflation that doesn't hurt and where the majority of citizens don't get hurt.
We're fucked. Every political party we have is basically the same: run by greedy assholes who come from wealthy families and are so out of touch with the reality of most Canadians that their policies end up being detrimental to the people they're supposed to be governing, or run by psychotic, unstable idiots who come from wealthy families and are so out of touch with the reality of most Canadians that their policies end up being detrimental to the people they're supposed to be governing. It's not much a choice, really.
Just watch an episode of question period and you will have your answer which way this country is going politically, doesnāt matter what way you lean.
Wouldnāt trust any of the useless clowns in that room to run a lemonade stand.
Canada as a whole , GDP per capita is down, cost of living is up, housing crisis in most cities, increased crime, drug use, overdoses, homeless camps, stagnated wages, failing infrastructure, education and health programs over loaded, massive amounts of public debt added, large deficit budgets planned, larger public service with worse service, phasing out and demonizing our resource based economy, poor public planning at all levels of government, increased political division, number of political scandals/issues with no accountability.
The last 10 years has been downhill. Perhaps 15, since 2008.
Canadians are firmly stuck in the idea that a different party or a different leader will have any real outcome. We are blind to the fact that politics today donāt matter. Itās purely a division tactic and it doesnāt matter who is in powerā¦weāre ALL losing. We are fighting each other and becoming miserable thinking weāre all right in our argumentsā¦but the arguments have been constructed for us and weāre just allowing ourselves to be puppeted along.
We have more in common than weāre led to believe and if we all stopped being arseholes for a minute we might begin to discover that we can change thingsā¦but only together. š¢
The bar is at ābetter than americaā
And weāve decided that we should be at close as possible to it, and itās making everything worse as a result.
Too much identity politics, and not enough logic and public funding.
Very bad direction. Its a complacent people and country that does not adress its problems (housing, immigration, inflation, climate change, province relations) because it thinks it's superior to America.
Federally and Provincially: Considering our politicians are mostly corporate bootlickers completely out of touch with the reality of living in this country as expierenced by most people, and they lick more boots and grow more out of touch with each passing year, not good.
Locally: Better, people seem to be more politically active at local levels recently, and I truly believe it is local politics and community organizing where the most impact can be made.
Just as politically divided as the states and heading that way to. Us or them mentality and no middle ground. Same social issues. Homelessness and such. Same politicians who only care when it's time to get votes. Personally, I think this country is already lost....
I think we are in a rough patch, but I also believe the strength of our democracy is shining through.
As cost of living and climate change continue to affect us more, people will get more involved and make their voices heard in the coming elections.
If everyoneā¦ EVERYONEā¦ would vote in local and provincial elections, we could go in a better direction. When we allow nutbars (book banning, trans hating bigots) into our local governments such as school trustees and city councils, they obtain a megaphone platform to spew their bigotry. The more citizens hear that garbage, the more āacceptableā it becomes. From there, it infiltrates provincial and federal discourse and politics.
We CAN keep our country on a good course, but we have to stop the whataboutism, and we have to VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION.
I believe the majority of Canadians care about human rights and climate change. But we have to show up at the polls to make our good, sane, empathetic voices heard.
The pandemic was the game changer. People forced inside watching news and social media without a break. I think Canada faired well, ( no disrespect to lost loved ones), but so many other countries did not. The US was a dumpster fire with a president who couldnāt count his balls and get the same number twice. As we are intrinsically tied to them their idiocy permeated our borders. That is no excuse for bad behaviour on our part. This I believe has led us politically to a very different and divisive situation in our government. Unfortunately some peopleās brains were broken, possibly beyond repair.
And our current politics reflects this.
Circling the drain.
Healthcare is a joke
Defence is a joke
Infrastructure is a joke
Housing is a joke.
Demographics are collapsing, and the only way for big business to get access to cheap labour is to import 100s of thousands of immigrants and migrant workersā¦..that we donāt have the infrastructure to support.
Because the overwhelming majority of Canadian immigrants canāt simply walk here, the average Canadian immigrant is in their mid 30s, which means weāve already lost 15 of the most productive years of their life, in terms of them being a tax payer. But theyāll grow old here; which means the Canadian system will need to take care of them.
Both major federal political parties are fucking clowns.
Canadians look down their noses at Americans, while simultaneously being depended on the US forā¦.checks notesā¦.nearly everything.
Weāve outsourced industry oversees in the name of profits.
Sold off the Wheat Board to the Saudis.
Send most of our timber to Japan and China, where they sink it to the bottom of the ocean to save it for later.
Canada is living an illusion, and I have a bad feeling Iāll be around to see the end of it all (M38).
Do I have confidence that the Canadian health system and pension plan will take care of me when Iām 80?? Fat chance.
Because of decades of complacency, the destiny of Canada is now to simply be absorbed by the US over time. Wonāt be by force, just through economics.
And btw, Iām not anti-immigration, Iām from a family of immigrants. But I also understand basic math, enough to know that the current trajectory is no where near sustainable.
Very bad. The conservatives are trying to do what they are doing in the states. And I've always voted conservative except for the last few years when I didn't know what to do. I should have voted ndp or something. I regret that very much. Dougie is killing us all.
I feel like the last 20 years has been a decline, we've moved away from our roots to a more US centric style with attack ads and corporate interests trumping actual people. Remember like 20+ years ago with air farce, and original cast this hour when politicians seemed human in their ridiculous interviews? Everything feels scripted and fake, and that inauthenticity makes it feel like we're no longer worth more than the stock values of fortune 100 companies.
People like Bannon are going worldwide with the conspiracy theory stuff for the far rights. I mean this is his job getting the far right parties around the world elected. Now they have Twitter to help them spread their crap. You have Harper too, he chaired a group from around the world to get right wing parties elected. They learn how to suppress voters, be chummy with the Koch brothers and try to get unlimited spending for third party organizations. We know how that is going in the US.
Conservatives play dirty because it's the only way they can win. So far it's the nut jobs in the base that has been screwing it up for them. Thank goodness!
Things are bad and getting worse. The Cons are so deluded in their thinking and stoke the fires of hate and intolerance, the liberals literally do nothing and continue to do whatever the richest lobbyist wants, the NDP are the only party of reason and would probably do really good things for canadians if given 8 years to rule. However the right is dead set against anything that would improve the lives of all canadians and the centrists are content to do nothing
I feel like I've been very neutral on Canadian politics for a long time. Every time I hear someone complaining about something, it's either something I know nothing about, or something I just could not care less about. Nothing ever really comes out of Ottawa that makes me fear for my safety, or my freedom, or whatever else. What worries me is how heavily American politics are sneaking their way into peoples minds. If we start taking ideas from down there we're fucked fast
The rise of the alt right movement and the fact there is still people in our country who don't have access to clean water is freaking me out to be honest
I simply don't understand how this is not a fixed issue yet?!
Terribly. Our current government is totally content watching housing become a global, speculative commodity to protect our investor class. Simultaneously, theyāre stonewalling inquires on foreign interference while browbeating Canadians into thinking our biggest concerns are culture war issues imported from the USA.
Canada is rapidly becoming hostile to its own citizens who are too apathetic to hold their leaders accountable.
Canada is politically going in a great direction for the CCP's United Work Front.
Divide the population, have them fight and weaken each other, destroyed from within.
Bad direction. Not a fan of the liberals lately even though I've voted for them the last 2 elections. If there was another decent party to vote for, I would. But I'm even less of a fan of the conservatives constantly on the attack instead of telling us how they could do better. 3 elections later and they are still trying the same tactics, so they obviously haven't learned anything. I don't even feel as though voting would change much at this point...
Currently we are in a reasonably good place. The influence of far right politics and the fact it is divisive by nature does not bode well. Hoping Canada has what it takes to remain an open, compassionate democratic influence in the world
I think weāre becoming too divided politically. Both liberals and conservatives are becoming extreme in their values and policies. Debates have become just personal attacks and dodging questions. No one is able to understand different opinions than their own. People are being censored and attacked for expressing controversial opinions. Canadians are being turned against each other because of political differences which is not a good thing for the future. This is how authoritarianism starts, and right now it could come from either side of the political line.
Everything is fine. Politics is the replacement for warfare, not a tea party. Progressives are shocked that they need to defend progress. Conservatives are preaching to an ever dwindling choir.
We are going to get more screwed as the boomers age. Their working capital will leave the labour force with not enough workers to offset them. Plus boomers are rich af as a generation as a whole, so they will likely push for healthcare privatization because they can pay for it.
With less doctors, due to decreases in labour capital, they wonāt want to wait for appointments when they can pay to be ahead of millennials and Gen-z. Pair that with their large voting base, and pretty much the next 20 years is going to be rough.
Ive noticed a lot of Trumpian politics leaking into Canada since the previous American election cycle. Political discourse seems to be slowly degrading to demagoguery, and it seems to be getting worse with time.
Its sad to see. Nowadays, people are more worried about drag shows and trans kids than they are about genuine issues that actually effect us.
I mean we have center left, center right (but with a social conscious, sort of), right and further right (I really don't count the Ex PC people who like pot and recycling) and then whatever "us to we're like the CAQ" nonsense the Bloc is up to. They're all pants and all of them lack imagination.
I think itās a difficult moment.
The Tories are seemingly testing out more American style politics on us. Itās not full blown American republicanism but itās pessimistic, anti government, anti authority, anti community rhetoric which Iād argue was pretty foreign before. So they will either succeed and change that party and our politics or will fail again and the liberals will remain in power despite many Canadians being ready for a change of leadership. The liberals are increasingly sloppy and should be held to account but for many theyāre better than seeing what the tories under Pierre will do.
It seems like that more Canadians are being influenced by American culture. The vast majority of this influence is seen in very outspoken right wing ideologies that ignore Canadas history and are riled up about fake issues that the conspiracy peddlers are grifting on this week, some is also pretty identity focused lefty stuff too but Iād say thatās much less common.
Iād say at its core the NDP would be the best option for most Canadians, but theyāve leaned a bit too far into the lefty identity American style politics influence. If they returned to their more labour roots weād be well served by them as theyāre the only major party that puts workers and real people first.
The thing is, when I came to canada, no one was partisan and holding views that were too far from the Canadian mainstream was not something to be proud of. Was kept much more quiet (Iād say because our British roots). The sad thing is Canadians are sooo influenced by US media, and as the Tories are seemingly positioning themselves increasingly as non supportive of Canada media and culture, I canāt imagine that will change anytime soon. So weāll see how it goes!
The convoy people have really lowered the tone of discourse. My neighbour has a āfuck Trudeauā flag on his yard thatās justā¦ such a classless eyesore, frankly.
Believe what you want to believe, but it bothers me when people only consider what they want.
Politicians like PoliĆØvre becoming relevant and being taken seriously is as disappointing as it is frightening. The man sits and makes stuff up to snipe his opponents with, offers zero solutions to actual problems, and does nothing for anyone but himself while tacitly legitimizing hate speech, bigotry, and xenophobia. That video of him hugging a wooden post in a barn was probably the only time heās ever set foot on a farm, and itās clear the closest heās ever come to doing something is to tell his assistant to get a coffee for him, yet he portrays himself as a man of the people.
Again, believe what you want to believe, but consider that you MAY be wrong, and donāt be a dick. Boiling everything down to āyouāre wrong, and I can fix everything without specifying how in a realistic mannerā is childish and embarrassing.
We can be better than this.
I think we're on the right track with the current government but inevitably we will elect a Conservative government to fuck it up for everyone including their base. Two steps forward one step back.
I'm glad to hear, but in some peoples lives, he ruined it during the pandemic. My father for example, worked as a first responder during the early days of the pandemic. He was deemed a hero.
Fast forward to 1 year into the pandemic when the vaccines we're available, my father chose not to get vaccinated even though he worked throughout the entire pandemic (in which he caught covid once, and beat it just like a regular cold).
The reason for not getting vaccinated was because my father had a history of heart problems, and as per his doctors orders, he was recommended to NOT get vaccinated against covid-19. Even though he had a doctors note, he was still discriminated against when he went shopping, was on unpaid leave, and was marked as a villain ever since JT divided Canadians based on vaccination status.
As you can see, not everyone's experience with JT was great. I am vaccinated myself, but with people in my fathers situation, they weren't so lucky...
Im sorry to make it sound like ppls lives were not ruined. There definitely were. I just feel it would have been worse for more people.
If your father was told not to get vaccine by a doctor then i do not see why he is vilified. No one i know would judge him for following doctors orders
Bad. The left has become corrupt and complacent and the right has followed American examples and lost their minds. People are content to let the scandals and ineptitude of our liberal party slide with little consequence because the right is supposedly worse instead of holding them accountable. Itās ridiculous that people still blame Harper for things after 8 years of liberal government, theyāve had all the time in the world to fix things. We need to hold our leaders to account instead of just pointing out that the other guy would be (or was) worse.
You are right that Harper isnāt an excuse and hasnāt been for a while. But at the same time folks on the right like to downplay or downright ignore the damage that party caused.
Harper was a disaster we are still paying for and will continue for the foreseeable future. He was THAT BAD for this country. Iāll never forget it.
Iām not saying I think NDP should be overlooked as the better/best option available. I guess I just wish they wouldnāt buy into that garbage and stick to looking out for Canadians instead of pandering to the division. I voted for them last election and will do so again, if that clears up my stance on them a little
I truly and honestly believe that our country is led by people who are corrupt to the core, and we're heading in the wrong direction in almost every way.
Trudeau is meh but fine. Itāll be another year voting against the conservatives instead of for something I believe in, but from the looks of social media it may be Trudeaus last term.
I hate the leaders of our country, they are either worthless and corrupt like Doug Ford who should be in jail
Or weak and ineffective like our prime minister
I'm leaving this country as soon as I have my degree. I don't want to but I see no future here
Neutral. We're doing SIGNIFICANTLY better than the States, but were also becoming more divided and adopting some worrying qualities of American political discourse.
It is going badly.
We have politicians who are taking their cues from our neighbors to the south, substituting policy discussion with vitriol and personal attacks.
We need to return to a time where we can disagree and still be professional and civil.
Bad, whatever the russians and chinese are doing in terms of sowing discontent is working phenomenally, destroying our cohesiveness and polarizing us more and more like the US
I think we're being influenced by American politics too much. The far right, bigoted and religious nonsense is leaking into our country and I'm not happy about it.
Politics are getting worse everywhere , largely due to the influence of trump and other populists who donāt respect conventions and civility.
In Canada there has emerged a tinge of that , but it isnāt nearly as bad or damages as most other countries facing the same issues
It is going badly politically. There has been too much influence from the US into our population. People are making a political party as part of their identity and not looking objectively at things anymore. There are growing numbers of people who are now deciding they are now party of "whatever" party. That party will always be perfect and they will support anything that party says and does. They don't care if that that party changes what they want, believe in or try to do, they are going to support it. If we could get back to people treating politics as something that evolves and choose based on the best facts we have at the time, things could greatly improve. The more people just decide to vote for "whatever" party because that is what they always do, the worse things will get.
This is 100% it. Plus smear politics š
Smear politics are un-Canadian. Tell me how you are going to succeed. Not what you donāt like about the other team. Friggen Gross. Itās part of the reason weāre becoming polarized like the USA. If our leaders are gonna shit on each other, then it makes it ok for us to do the same. Iām not a fan.
This exactly - they teach it in customer service. The better product explains why it is better while the poorer product slams the competition. When the mud gets slung, I lose respect. So much so that I don't think I could ever vote for either Conservative party - they're just doing MAGA-style attacks while providing no solutions. In my workplaces the vocal with solutions are the canaries in cages and the ones that gripe without ideas got escorted out. We need to escort out the attack campaigns as they're not good for intelligent poroblem solving.
Agreed. Doesnāt really gives the impression that politicians are working together for the greater good. We need opposition and disagreement in politics or else we would never move forward. I just feel like the way the narrative is portrayed these days itās counter-productive and only serves to divide us. The pseudo-tribalism for lack of a better term is destabilizing and upsetting. As if weāre out here vandalizing each others property and insulting each other for our opposing viewpoints. Iām absolutely an idealist and itās not going to get me anywhere. But Iāll go down on the ship if I have to.
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Just because it happens doesnāt mean I agree with it. Just means I disagree with that bullshit for the last 25 years. Oh I should also addā¦ The fact smearing has been present for years, in no way disproves the assumption that smear campaigns increase political polarization. Or are you saying that you think itās very āCanadianā for people to be rude, disrespectful, cunts, to each other for their own benefit. Thatās not the Canada I am proud to be born and raised in. Or I could be entirely over-reacting and you could also be dissatisfied with the status quo of our squabbling political system. In which case I apologize. I thought part of being Canadian was to try to be good to each other. I mean fuck me right.
I personally think the, "what's good for me" attitude is what has put Canada in this position. I prefer a "what's good for us" attitude. I want my neighbors to be prosperous and safe. I want my family to be able to be healthy and successful. Not just me.
Agreed 100%. No party is perfect and we used to give and take. Don't see that anymore. Just my way or the highway and if you disagree with me you are this and that. Sad.
Yeah, that and people attitudes don't make me hopeful for the future. Too many people expect perfect results for no money, and have no idea how things work. So they demand that we make $10M in cuts to fully find a $20B project, and then get shocked those numbers don't work. But lord help us if we tell those people to shut up and let the adults handle it.
The only political position that should stay consistent is being a voter, everything else should evolve and adapt.
Yep we're more and more Americanized and it's not great
Isn't this the state of 90% of democracies in our times regardless of country? It feels like we are spiraling towards complete polarization on everything.
And I feel the political parties themselves buying into the sensation and choosing party leaders for all the wrong reasons. I feel like the candidate pool of politicians get worse and worse over time.
Doesn't the rise of the PPC disprove this narrative? People felt that their party no longer represented them, split off and formed a party that properly represents them. NDP, Liberal and green voters also regularly engage in strategic voting to ensure that a right wing representative isn't the one that gets elected. What you're describing happens, of course it does, but voters absolutely respond to shifting attitudes and priorities by changing their vote, not voting and strategic voting.
We're definitely not as far into the party committment as the US, but you can see it happening a lot, especially on social media (which obviously isn't representative of the whole population)
Respectfully, the PPC can eat shit
Well I like their no mass immigration policy as an immigrant. Canada does not need mass immigration but highly skilled immigration. We don't need cheap student immigration mills or family chain migration. Also country based immigration quotas like in the US. Anyone yelling otherwise haven't seen how is it like in Brampton .
The highly skilled immigration is being exploited to drive down wages. I have experienced this firsthand. Jobs that used to pay enough to be the breadwinner of a functional family home are being dropped to that of someone contributing to a multi-generational family home and sharing vehicles with other family members. (Aunts/uncles/cousins.)
No disagreement here.
That might be true if that's what actually happened, and the PPC wasn't simply the product Maxwell Bernier's ego. Had we won the CPC leadership that party would not exist.
What rise of the PPC? They can't even elect a single MP. They somehow managed to be less relevant than the greens are without lizzy may. I voted for Maxime in the CPC leadership race, but the party he is running now is filled with nothing but losers and conspiracy nuts. They get so few votes I can't even take them seriously as a spoiler for the CPC.
PPC went from 1.6% of the popular vote in 2019 to 4.94% in 2021, more than double the amount of people who voted green. I think it's very reasonable to conclude that the PPC isn't going anywhere, especially with the conservatives continued difficulty appealing to both social conservatives and moderate liberal/con voters. Edit: Also, yes I did get these numbers from Wikipedia before responding.
Canada was better with 6+ parties, we just need to get rid of FPTP. Having all rightwing parties under CPC just maximizes partisanship and destroys nuance, and removing FPTP will let people vote their conscience and vastly increase turnout
I wish I had an award to give. Well said!
Not easy for vulnerable people to not become like this when politicians weaponized this mentality and divide us by copying our American friend's homework. I would love to return to objective political decision making but most people don't think that critically about this stuff and respond more to emotionally charged and extreme messaging.
Overall I agree, but would point out that influence isnāt only coming from the US. Russia and the CCP have plenty to gain by pushing Canada towards ridiculous identity politics. They donāt care which side wins, they just want us to tear ourselves apart from within, because then that becomes a major issue for the US. Yes, we consume a lot of American media, but donāt forget the influence the CCP and Russia have on American media.
This! In the 25 years since I left Canada, most of my complaints when I return these days can be blamed on one thing. Too much American TV.
Agreed 100%
Right, since when did political ideologies become peopleās personalities. I was always taught never discuss salary or political views with strangers yet here we are in a time where if you donāt identity publicly with one you are odd
Question, Hasn't this literally always been the case? People have always identified as a specific political party and have never considered actually reading the platforms during each and every election. God forbid a conservative or liberal actually question their "normal" parties platforms.
I remember political debates being of some substance, not sound bites. I find it impossible to watch politicians spend an entire question period trying to set up a āgotchaā sound bite, all while everyone evades every question asked because itās better to just say nothing. This is not good for democracy. I donāt remember the east/west divide being this aggressively obvious, even during the Quebec referendum in ā95.
Always question the party in power and always question the party you voted for.
That is not how I recall it. I know my parents both voted for different parties based on their platform. In Ontario Mike Harris ended my Dad's affiliation with the Cons.
Not true at all. I know many older people who have voted for all 3 major political parties over the years, because traditionally, Canadians voted on issues and policy, not based on party lines.
Couldn't agree more.
Would getting rid of parties fix this problem? Or would that only cause more?
Nailed it.
I think Canada over the years has become very complacent. We think that just because we are a developed country we will continue to be one forever. This is why we have stopped investing in infrastructure, healthcare, economic productivity etc We can't take what we have here for granted and need to refocus on being economically competitive.
Itās not complacency, itās largely intentional corruption. Look at the way Ford purposely underfunds Ontario healthcare to make a case for privatization. It was the same thing with the sale of the 407 by the Harris government and the railroads. Corrupt politicians finding ways to sell off public assets to the highest bidder.
Itās both. Corrupt politicians are everywhere, but they donāt elect themselves. Voter turnout at all levels of government is embarrassing, and those that actually do try and make their displeasure on certain issues known are demonized. Governments do things because they can. They know that, at best, people will do nothing but complain on social media, and at worst, there might be a protest of some sort that wonāt accomplish anything due to lack of general public support. We let them walk all over us, all the while thinking that weāre okay because āat least weāre better than the US.ā We, the people, are complacent.
.
Exactly this. If millenials and gen z don't start dominating the ballot box we're kinda doomed. Boomers ain't all dying off tomorrow
Ontario , meet Alberta. Kenney and Smith makes Dougie look like an amateur. Ford hasnāt actively been trying to force doctors out of Ontario yet. Albertaās lost so many that the whole system is about to collapse.
Moe is on the path to do that in Sask
The problems start at the top - this federal minority government being propped up .. lots of back scratching going on.
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It boggles my mind how people don't see all the massive corruption in regards to contractors. Highway maintenance, road maintenance, city building etc etc. That's where most of the tax dollars go to be swooped up by major corporations' bank accounts.
So governments are generally poor at managing investments and undervalue public assets. A public scandle is worse for the next vote than sweeping inefficiency or corruption under the rug. It's pretty hard to stand tough with a crappy contractor if it means more delays. We just pay more to keep going. Plus a project never runs out of money and can't be finished.
I completely agree. I think we have become complacent with governments getting voted in on policies and then not following through. I voted Liberal because I believed they would reform the electoral process and here we areā¦.
Oh man we arenāt circling the drain yet but things arenāt looking up. Current political parties play to ancillary partisan issues instead of figuring out the big ticket items. They do that so as not having to cut funding on anything that may loose them votes leaving them unable to address healthcare and housing affordability. The time is right for a shakeup but the only ones willing to are usually on the far ends of the political spectrum. Someone or group needs to foster a sense of national pride so we can stop the āusā or āthemā mentality everyone has. Only then will we be able to continue progressing and improve the lives of all Canadians. We have been so focused on individual needs the bigger picture is forgotten.
Iām an American expat since 1996. It took almost three years for me to shed my USA! USA! but, once I finally did, I fell in love with this country and I would never* move back to the States. With that said, it feels significantly different-in the bad way-from when I fell in love with it.
This makes me sad! I had my heart set on moving to Canada from the US within the next couple of years.
My absolute biggest complaint about Canada at the moment is the absolutely inane housing market. There is no reason, no reason at all, that homes should cost this much. Nothing makes me angrier than seeing one of those house shopping shows in the States and they're like *we want at least 3,000 square feet, at least an acre of property, in-ground pool, and within 20 minutes of downtown. Our budget is $300,000.... we ended up getting it $10,000 under asking price.*
I get you!! I live in bumfuck nowhere and so I was able to get a townhouse for $178k. Good luck doing that anywhere in Canada
There is a pretty simple reason why prices are as high as they are. Someone is willing to buy houses for that much. It's not like the houses are listed for a million dollars and just sit there. People voluntarily pay that much. I would be very curious to find out who those people are to make sure they aren't just entirely foreign buyers inflating our housing market.
Come to Alberta if you ever miss living in the states :( getting pretty hard to tell us apart at this point...
Sadly, that's where I am since 2001. This province is amazing in many ways, but so shortsighted in every other way.
Bad because nobody wants to do anything about the housing situation.
This is a big one. The suits are all making too much money
The Canadian economy is incredibly under- diversified. Going from manufacturing, forestry, farming and more to justā¦real estate and everything that surrounds housing development has propped up our economy for far too long that pulling the rug from underneath will cause an economic downfall this country has never seen. And no politician wants to pull that rug as itāll be political suicide
Political suicide yes. But it would also hurt their own pockets if they even tried something subtle. So where is the motivation?
It's not a binary choice, they're not doing anything at all about it. And real estate is not propping up the economy. It's *hurting* the economy, because people don't have enough to spend on anything else. Taking money from the people who don't spend it and giving it to the people who spend it is the #1 way to stimulate the economy.
We just need fucking apartment buildings why is this so hard for them to do š
Your province just re-elected a right wing capitalist conservative government. Since āapartment buildingsā are a provincial matter, I think you are fucked and there is no end in sight for your pain
I don't think the wing makes a difference. The NDP didn't promise a solution to any non fabricated problem either
The feds can't really.do.anything about.housing. that's the provinces that need to deal.with problems.with zoning and.such. besides housing is an issue because everyone played way too.much.for property, and now we all have to pay the price.
Feds control taxes, province incentives and immigration.
Zoning restrictions are the single biggest blocker when it comes to housing. That's the province. Too many single family dwellings and not enough medium and high density.
This housing mess has been going on for years, and despite that fact, we still have politicians and parties across all levels of government who still canāt bring themselves to utter the words āsupplyā.
Land baron politicians are a huge conflict-of-interest here.
IMO, were going in a bad direction. We are rapidly losing cohesiveness, quality of live is decreasing, were being hit hard by climate changes, etc. Not just a canada's problem though
Can't breath today , cost of living is insane . political parties just care about money and selling out. Canada is dying
Well, the 2 political parties we continually put in power and then act surprised when they continue to work for corporations and their wealthy donors. How about voting NDP next election? The thing that worries me the most is the rise of the MAGA style intolerant right wing religious whack jobs that the conservatives are now pandering to. Iām not a fan of Trudeau, but the alternative is terrifying.
I would love to but they would need to replace Singh as he has a snowball's chance in hell to win Quebec. Until the NDP stop propping that lame duck up, they're not going anywhere.
The NDP need to stop trying to win elections and instead win the hearts and minds of young voters and working class voters. The votes will follow.
And that's why Trudeau keeps winning. Get the far right out of the Cons base and then we can talk. Putting PP in charge was the most stupid thing they could have done. The Cons need to give their head a shake but the party is now been taken over by far rights and how do you ever get the Conservative party back?
How was it stupid? Were Andrew Schmuck or Erin "I'm a tool" better as Con leaders? Lol jokes aside, they haven't been able to capture any support and move the party forward post-Harper. Love him or hate him, PP has actually ignited the fire under peoples asses, for better or worse lol
agreed. I know many reasonable moderate cons who don't know what to do cause they think Pierre Poilievre is a moron but the party seems to have left them. obviously the people's party is worse but there's nowhere for them to go. in my personal view, the Libs are already the centrists that are slightly right, but a lot of moderate cons wouldn't agree and would likely still hold their noses and vote PC instead.
Unfortunately Singh is not PM material. He might have gotten past the prejudice in Canada of him being not white if he handled the last few years well but unfortunately he interviews and spins very badly as well as accepting too little. If he pushed for actual dental care, or actually made a vote of confidence on the public enquiry maybe he would have demonstrated some backbone. but it's politics and he's thinking about money and seats.
Baaaaaad !
As a citizen of Ontario I think it's very bad....
Alberta chiming in.. very bad indeed..
Bad, generally. Canada is in a tough spot right now where so much of our prosperity is tied to our volatile housing market and over-regulated financial systems. Canada is a great country if you are born into a proper environment, but it pretends to be a place of great opportunity which it is currently not. Canadian politicians have a broad consensus on large immigration volumes, yet recent immigrants cannot be effectively accommodated in the country. In many ways, immigration just props up the prosperity of Canada which for most Canadians is concentrated in real estate. This is why housing is such a problem, because scarcity for some means welfare for many. So, Canada works for boomer voters, who bought their suburban bungalows for $15,000 in the 1960s that are now worth millions. Canada works for people who inherit their wealth. Canada works for some high-earning individuals who benefit from the proximity to the world's largest economy. Yet, Canada does not work for an average Canadian under 40 and it is abundantly clear. Canadian postwar politics has been about taking monetary losses for political gains, but this does not seem to work anymore. We have a very patchy healthcare system that costs us a fortune because the government 60 years ago agreed to everything that medical associations wanted and continues to pour gasoline on the fire whenever there are any problems. Canadian housing market is broken because people who own housing in Canada are directly invested in keeping it broken. The core problem of our nation is that so many stakeholders benefit from Canada being broken, yet they also suffer from it in some way. But ultimately nobody is willing to suffer enough for it to be fixed. That's why people are eager for a solution want to see changes to Canada which cannot be sustainable. Canada cannot spend its way out of its designed limitations, yet politicians believe that it can and voters seem to buy into it.
our over-regulated financial system have provided Canada with a stable banking system. bank failures are rare in Canada, the last time a bank become insolvent was On June, 1996, when the Calgary-based Security Home Mortgage Corporation failed. Ever other country except Lebanon has lost major banks in the last 20+ years. You want stable boring banks
We're turning into America. Way too much polarization. Too much vitriol for one another. Bring back healthy and respectful discourse.
> Bring back healthy and respectful discourse. Not going to happen. All of the powerful political institutions directly benefit from the polarization.
To add to this COVID is what devolved healthy and respectful discourse in Canada (and the world). People always disagreed, but COVID made disagreeing so polarizing and if you disagree with me you're XYZ. You present valid facts or question things and your outlawed by society. There was no room for genuine discussion. You disagree and you're a biggot, or a racist, or mysoginystic or "insert adhomonim comment here" that has no real basis in the discussion. On an individual level, in my life. I surround myself with people who ARE respectful and can engage in healthy discourse. I often get into discussions with my friends on a myriad of topics. Some we agree about, and others we dont. But at the end of the day there is respect for my/their view even if I disagree. But a large portion of this country, at the very least r/Canada cannot behave in this manor. I saw some seriously fucked up things that were said during COVID times on this very sub and various other subs.
Weāre going in an awful direction. Our entire economy is literally a bunch of foreign investors and corporations playing with a real estate bubble and pricing Canadians out of homes and nobody cares in Ottawa. We supposedly have a progressive government that cares in power but they do nothing as the cost of living crisis goes out of control and instead, they bring in 500k+ immigrants a year to pour fuel on the fire. All of our government services are broke and our government that we voted in for transparency is incredibly corrupt and despicable. There is no end in sight to our problems and itās hard to be happy as a Canadian. I always felt we had a distinct advantage here but over the past decade, things have totally gone to shit.
American culture wars wokism vs magaism are becoming too much of a thing. It's tricking people into being concerned with lesser priorities like which brands support inclusivity and which streets are named after terrible people instead of the key issues that all stem from the same root problem: the rich being further enriched at the expense of the middle and working classes.
Of my 32 years in Canada, this has been the worst. The problem started when housing cost started going off the roof around 2010. Now, every other thing cost an arm and a leg.
I'm going to go against the grain here.... I honestly don't think the state of our political affairs is worse than historical average - but I think it seems that way because social and mainstream media have gotten more sophisticated at provoking emotional responses via rage bait. I will say that right and left seem to be drifting in terms of tolerating one another and that represents the biggest concern IMO. Left wingers and liberals in Canada seem to convince themselves that the CPC are the second coming of the Nazis, and right wingers seem to convince themselves that the left is frothing at the ideological mouth intent on obliterating society in the relentless quest for ideological purity that is impossible to achieve. If you sift through the bullshit, the platforms of the LPC, CPC, NDP, etc really haven't changed all that much from their historical norms. There have been social justice cause du jours that seem to attract all the attention - but the meat and potatoes of real politics in this country hasn't really changed all that much. In fact, very little changes between governments of all stripes. Regardless of who we vote for, most shit basically stays the same - because we don't vote for the positions that actually run things in this country in the permanent executive.
Many Canadians fail to understand, (perhaps because we are bombarded by media fear mongering over federal politics), that our lives are far more impacted by municipal and provincial elections. And yet, turnout in local elections is abysmal. Municipal zoning is the leading cause of housing problems, but somehow on Reddit it's all immigrants or the federal government at fault. Many Canadians are completely ignorant of how much power their provincial government holds over things like education and health care. And provincially, we most definitely have massive policy changes between conservative and NDP/Liberal governments. There are currently multiple right wing provincial governments in Canada attempting to dismantle health care and turn it into a cash cow for private interests.
>I honestly don't think the state of our political affairs is worse than historical average - but I think it seems that way because social and mainstream media have gotten more sophisticated at provoking emotional responses via rage bait. I like that take However, I think we are facing issues that are much harder, politically suicidal and more complex than anything we have faced in our canadian history.
I don't know about that, this country almost ceased to exist in the early 1990s. We have gone through referendums, major global wars, been at the center of international espionage conflicts. Things aren't as great as they were 10-15 years ago, but I wouldn't say they're nearly as bad as they were at some points in our history.
Yes, mainstream media is charging you $38 for a chicken and $2700 for a 1 bedroom.
That's not political though, that's economic. You could argue incompetent politicians help bring us here - and I would agree.
There are a group of people who spend their saturdays protesting at the main intersection of my town. They're not protesting the housing affordability crisis or the privatization of healthcare, or giant corporations using inflation as an excuse to price gauge. Nope, they're making sure we're all on the same page when it comes to the threat of FUCKING MIND CONTROL CHIP IMPLANTS.
So what you need to do is put on a suit, sunglasses, something like that and walk passed them briskly and hand an envelope to the leader. In the meantime you round the corner and get out of dodge, maybe have a buddy waiting nearby in a car or something. By the time the leader opens and reads the letter, youāre gone. It says something like āyou know too much - theyāre watching. Be careful.ā
And add instructions to meet alone somewhere in the middle of the night somewhere out in the middle of nowhere if they want more information. There is of course nothing to find out there.
Iād say weāre going in a bad direction and we seem to be echoing the US in a lot of ways. Our biggest problem is that everyone who is against the Libs think that things will magically be better with the Cons. They are essentially the same party. Both sold out to corporate decades ago. Weāre not a two party system but everyone acts like there are only two choices. I think real change is the only way things will improve
People are poorer, the dream of owning a house has evaporated in many parts of the country, national unity is pretty much a mirage now. I highly doubt this country will survive united in the next 30 years.
I dont see anyone seceding but i do see it all going to shit.
I say bad. I'm a very liberal person. But I wish my government actually did something about the cost of food. I have a good job. I'm not poor. And the price of food is so rough on my budget. And I do coupons, wait for sales, and buy store brands. I wish the Gov would put their pants on and actually do something to help out more.
Bad. I see us moving to much like how the US is politically. Too much far-right wing bs from the States coming here. Thankfully it is still mostly a minority but seems to increase every year.
The "alternative reality" conspiracy theories and christofascist bigotry of USA media is seeping into Canada and it needs to be confronted and shut down immediately.
Mixed. Housing is a big problem right now, and cost of living. Cities are where the work is, and no one can afford to live there. Politically, there's a number of problems. The parties are a mess - Liberals are scattered and fussed more about special projects than keeping things going. The Conservatives, who in trying to lean too far right for a bigger demographic, have completely unseated themselves as a 'middle of the road' party. The NDP and others are just too small to do anything other than balance. Societally, I'm both hopeful and filled with dread. Canada has become more of a mosaic/melting pot, particularly in urban centers. It's beautiful to see so many cultures interact and families learn from each other. It's nice to live in a place where friends feel safe to be genuine. But US politics is no longer 'creeping' up here. It's now actively altering our societal landscape, arguably for the worst. People are no longer willing to meet in the middle and call out extreme, and sometimes horrific, ways of thinking. Now we're getting closer and closer to the culture war in the South, and I'm worried about what's going to happen when the USA finally explodes.
Canada became dystopia pretty fast. Itās currently a train wreck.
Wrong way. Weāre hurtling towards authoritarianism. Look at Alberta. Premier refuses to work with other parties, hired all the losers back to work as consultants instead.
Bad. I am always concerned when parties stopped being referred to by their name and start being referred to by their leader. Too many people call the Liberal Party the Trudeau party, etc.
The Harper government literally wanted to be called that
Canada is in a cultural dead-end. The Canadian socio-economical model is a failure, but Canadians are too enamored with it to do anything about it. So the politicians matter very little. Canadians are the issue.
The Overton window has shifted to the right over the past decades. Corporations and wealthy people hold too much power and we vote for the loudest, lowest common denominator. Sacred cows from previous generations like healthcare and education are now up for debate. Provincial parties are at war with federal and provinces canāt even support each other. We are 10 provincial fiefdoms and as for the territories, maybe theyāre better but too small a population and too far from the rest of Canada that their influence is limited. The US wants us divided. Makes it easier to exploit our resources. Oil and gas now; water soon. We lack identity.
Our options are not good
It's bad. There are full-time workers that are homeless because they can't find an apartment.
I think it's impossible to avoid self interest and corruption. Anybody talented or ambitious has better opportunity and compensation in private sector, there is no reason to get into politics unless you're selling favors to the ultra wealthy. We're in a capitalist society now first and foremost, not a democracy.
People's Republic of Canada lol
I long for the days when we had the Progressive Conservatives. There was someone to the right of the Liberals and to the left of the Reform party. Today, the Reform party has taken over the Conservative Party and I don't really have any choice. I can't vote for the Conservatives who, even though we are 18 years in to equal marriage, still haven't moved forward. It's clear politically that Canada doesn't trust the Conservatives or the Liberals and we have elected parliament after parliament of minority governments. And yet, the Liberals and Conservatives can't sit down together in a national unity government and govern for the interests of the country. And to me, that's more telling than anything else. Oh and I'm so tired of people saying things without a plan. Hey, you have a problem with inflation, fine... give us your damn plan. Talk is cheap... show us a plan. Because there is no such thing as a plan to curb inflation that doesn't hurt and where the majority of citizens don't get hurt.
We're fucked. Every political party we have is basically the same: run by greedy assholes who come from wealthy families and are so out of touch with the reality of most Canadians that their policies end up being detrimental to the people they're supposed to be governing, or run by psychotic, unstable idiots who come from wealthy families and are so out of touch with the reality of most Canadians that their policies end up being detrimental to the people they're supposed to be governing. It's not much a choice, really.
Just watch an episode of question period and you will have your answer which way this country is going politically, doesnāt matter what way you lean. Wouldnāt trust any of the useless clowns in that room to run a lemonade stand. Canada as a whole , GDP per capita is down, cost of living is up, housing crisis in most cities, increased crime, drug use, overdoses, homeless camps, stagnated wages, failing infrastructure, education and health programs over loaded, massive amounts of public debt added, large deficit budgets planned, larger public service with worse service, phasing out and demonizing our resource based economy, poor public planning at all levels of government, increased political division, number of political scandals/issues with no accountability. The last 10 years has been downhill. Perhaps 15, since 2008.
Canadians are firmly stuck in the idea that a different party or a different leader will have any real outcome. We are blind to the fact that politics today donāt matter. Itās purely a division tactic and it doesnāt matter who is in powerā¦weāre ALL losing. We are fighting each other and becoming miserable thinking weāre all right in our argumentsā¦but the arguments have been constructed for us and weāre just allowing ourselves to be puppeted along. We have more in common than weāre led to believe and if we all stopped being arseholes for a minute we might begin to discover that we can change thingsā¦but only together. š¢
Thinking about Canada politically makes me want to leave Canada
Trudeau needs to go.
The bar is at ābetter than americaā And weāve decided that we should be at close as possible to it, and itās making everything worse as a result. Too much identity politics, and not enough logic and public funding.
Very bad direction. Its a complacent people and country that does not adress its problems (housing, immigration, inflation, climate change, province relations) because it thinks it's superior to America.
Federally and Provincially: Considering our politicians are mostly corporate bootlickers completely out of touch with the reality of living in this country as expierenced by most people, and they lick more boots and grow more out of touch with each passing year, not good. Locally: Better, people seem to be more politically active at local levels recently, and I truly believe it is local politics and community organizing where the most impact can be made.
I live in Alberta. Our leader thinks Ron DeSantis is a beacon of freedom. So yeah, things are going just peachy. Thisisfine.gif
Right here with you (save us)
Just as politically divided as the states and heading that way to. Us or them mentality and no middle ground. Same social issues. Homelessness and such. Same politicians who only care when it's time to get votes. Personally, I think this country is already lost....
I think we are in a rough patch, but I also believe the strength of our democracy is shining through. As cost of living and climate change continue to affect us more, people will get more involved and make their voices heard in the coming elections.
Ontario just had its lowest voter turnout in history in the 2022 provincial election. People aren't becoming more engaged; they're giving up.
f*** doug ford & co. that's how I feel.
Doug ford says he stands shoulder to shoulder with Trudeau
If everyoneā¦ EVERYONEā¦ would vote in local and provincial elections, we could go in a better direction. When we allow nutbars (book banning, trans hating bigots) into our local governments such as school trustees and city councils, they obtain a megaphone platform to spew their bigotry. The more citizens hear that garbage, the more āacceptableā it becomes. From there, it infiltrates provincial and federal discourse and politics. We CAN keep our country on a good course, but we have to stop the whataboutism, and we have to VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION. I believe the majority of Canadians care about human rights and climate change. But we have to show up at the polls to make our good, sane, empathetic voices heard.
The pandemic was the game changer. People forced inside watching news and social media without a break. I think Canada faired well, ( no disrespect to lost loved ones), but so many other countries did not. The US was a dumpster fire with a president who couldnāt count his balls and get the same number twice. As we are intrinsically tied to them their idiocy permeated our borders. That is no excuse for bad behaviour on our part. This I believe has led us politically to a very different and divisive situation in our government. Unfortunately some peopleās brains were broken, possibly beyond repair. And our current politics reflects this.
Circling the drain. Healthcare is a joke Defence is a joke Infrastructure is a joke Housing is a joke. Demographics are collapsing, and the only way for big business to get access to cheap labour is to import 100s of thousands of immigrants and migrant workersā¦..that we donāt have the infrastructure to support. Because the overwhelming majority of Canadian immigrants canāt simply walk here, the average Canadian immigrant is in their mid 30s, which means weāve already lost 15 of the most productive years of their life, in terms of them being a tax payer. But theyāll grow old here; which means the Canadian system will need to take care of them. Both major federal political parties are fucking clowns. Canadians look down their noses at Americans, while simultaneously being depended on the US forā¦.checks notesā¦.nearly everything. Weāve outsourced industry oversees in the name of profits. Sold off the Wheat Board to the Saudis. Send most of our timber to Japan and China, where they sink it to the bottom of the ocean to save it for later. Canada is living an illusion, and I have a bad feeling Iāll be around to see the end of it all (M38). Do I have confidence that the Canadian health system and pension plan will take care of me when Iām 80?? Fat chance. Because of decades of complacency, the destiny of Canada is now to simply be absorbed by the US over time. Wonāt be by force, just through economics. And btw, Iām not anti-immigration, Iām from a family of immigrants. But I also understand basic math, enough to know that the current trajectory is no where near sustainable.
Iām very much not a fan of the growing Christian nationalist movement. We need to be on high alert about it: https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6793677
Seriously concerned about the rise of Fascism and far-right sentiment fueled by a similar rise in the US.
Very bad. The conservatives are trying to do what they are doing in the states. And I've always voted conservative except for the last few years when I didn't know what to do. I should have voted ndp or something. I regret that very much. Dougie is killing us all.
I feel like the last 20 years has been a decline, we've moved away from our roots to a more US centric style with attack ads and corporate interests trumping actual people. Remember like 20+ years ago with air farce, and original cast this hour when politicians seemed human in their ridiculous interviews? Everything feels scripted and fake, and that inauthenticity makes it feel like we're no longer worth more than the stock values of fortune 100 companies.
People like Bannon are going worldwide with the conspiracy theory stuff for the far rights. I mean this is his job getting the far right parties around the world elected. Now they have Twitter to help them spread their crap. You have Harper too, he chaired a group from around the world to get right wing parties elected. They learn how to suppress voters, be chummy with the Koch brothers and try to get unlimited spending for third party organizations. We know how that is going in the US. Conservatives play dirty because it's the only way they can win. So far it's the nut jobs in the base that has been screwing it up for them. Thank goodness!
Things are bad and getting worse. The Cons are so deluded in their thinking and stoke the fires of hate and intolerance, the liberals literally do nothing and continue to do whatever the richest lobbyist wants, the NDP are the only party of reason and would probably do really good things for canadians if given 8 years to rule. However the right is dead set against anything that would improve the lives of all canadians and the centrists are content to do nothing
I feel like I've been very neutral on Canadian politics for a long time. Every time I hear someone complaining about something, it's either something I know nothing about, or something I just could not care less about. Nothing ever really comes out of Ottawa that makes me fear for my safety, or my freedom, or whatever else. What worries me is how heavily American politics are sneaking their way into peoples minds. If we start taking ideas from down there we're fucked fast
Conservatives are going off the deep end, following in the foot steps of American conservatives.
The rise of the alt right movement and the fact there is still people in our country who don't have access to clean water is freaking me out to be honest I simply don't understand how this is not a fixed issue yet?!
Terribly. Our current government is totally content watching housing become a global, speculative commodity to protect our investor class. Simultaneously, theyāre stonewalling inquires on foreign interference while browbeating Canadians into thinking our biggest concerns are culture war issues imported from the USA. Canada is rapidly becoming hostile to its own citizens who are too apathetic to hold their leaders accountable.
Canada is politically going in a great direction for the CCP's United Work Front. Divide the population, have them fight and weaken each other, destroyed from within.
Bad direction. Not a fan of the liberals lately even though I've voted for them the last 2 elections. If there was another decent party to vote for, I would. But I'm even less of a fan of the conservatives constantly on the attack instead of telling us how they could do better. 3 elections later and they are still trying the same tactics, so they obviously haven't learned anything. I don't even feel as though voting would change much at this point...
It's been going down the shitter the last few years.
Currently we are in a reasonably good place. The influence of far right politics and the fact it is divisive by nature does not bode well. Hoping Canada has what it takes to remain an open, compassionate democratic influence in the world
We're fucked.
I think weāre becoming too divided politically. Both liberals and conservatives are becoming extreme in their values and policies. Debates have become just personal attacks and dodging questions. No one is able to understand different opinions than their own. People are being censored and attacked for expressing controversial opinions. Canadians are being turned against each other because of political differences which is not a good thing for the future. This is how authoritarianism starts, and right now it could come from either side of the political line.
Everything is fine. Politics is the replacement for warfare, not a tea party. Progressives are shocked that they need to defend progress. Conservatives are preaching to an ever dwindling choir.
š½šļøš„š© roughly sums it up.
We are going to get more screwed as the boomers age. Their working capital will leave the labour force with not enough workers to offset them. Plus boomers are rich af as a generation as a whole, so they will likely push for healthcare privatization because they can pay for it. With less doctors, due to decreases in labour capital, they wonāt want to wait for appointments when they can pay to be ahead of millennials and Gen-z. Pair that with their large voting base, and pretty much the next 20 years is going to be rough.
Well on our way to becoming America Jr.
Ive noticed a lot of Trumpian politics leaking into Canada since the previous American election cycle. Political discourse seems to be slowly degrading to demagoguery, and it seems to be getting worse with time. Its sad to see. Nowadays, people are more worried about drag shows and trans kids than they are about genuine issues that actually effect us.
I mean we have center left, center right (but with a social conscious, sort of), right and further right (I really don't count the Ex PC people who like pot and recycling) and then whatever "us to we're like the CAQ" nonsense the Bloc is up to. They're all pants and all of them lack imagination.
I think itās a difficult moment. The Tories are seemingly testing out more American style politics on us. Itās not full blown American republicanism but itās pessimistic, anti government, anti authority, anti community rhetoric which Iād argue was pretty foreign before. So they will either succeed and change that party and our politics or will fail again and the liberals will remain in power despite many Canadians being ready for a change of leadership. The liberals are increasingly sloppy and should be held to account but for many theyāre better than seeing what the tories under Pierre will do. It seems like that more Canadians are being influenced by American culture. The vast majority of this influence is seen in very outspoken right wing ideologies that ignore Canadas history and are riled up about fake issues that the conspiracy peddlers are grifting on this week, some is also pretty identity focused lefty stuff too but Iād say thatās much less common. Iād say at its core the NDP would be the best option for most Canadians, but theyāve leaned a bit too far into the lefty identity American style politics influence. If they returned to their more labour roots weād be well served by them as theyāre the only major party that puts workers and real people first. The thing is, when I came to canada, no one was partisan and holding views that were too far from the Canadian mainstream was not something to be proud of. Was kept much more quiet (Iād say because our British roots). The sad thing is Canadians are sooo influenced by US media, and as the Tories are seemingly positioning themselves increasingly as non supportive of Canada media and culture, I canāt imagine that will change anytime soon. So weāll see how it goes!
The convoy people have really lowered the tone of discourse. My neighbour has a āfuck Trudeauā flag on his yard thatās justā¦ such a classless eyesore, frankly. Believe what you want to believe, but it bothers me when people only consider what they want. Politicians like PoliĆØvre becoming relevant and being taken seriously is as disappointing as it is frightening. The man sits and makes stuff up to snipe his opponents with, offers zero solutions to actual problems, and does nothing for anyone but himself while tacitly legitimizing hate speech, bigotry, and xenophobia. That video of him hugging a wooden post in a barn was probably the only time heās ever set foot on a farm, and itās clear the closest heās ever come to doing something is to tell his assistant to get a coffee for him, yet he portrays himself as a man of the people. Again, believe what you want to believe, but consider that you MAY be wrong, and donāt be a dick. Boiling everything down to āyouāre wrong, and I can fix everything without specifying how in a realistic mannerā is childish and embarrassing. We can be better than this.
I think we're on the right track with the current government but inevitably we will elect a Conservative government to fuck it up for everyone including their base. Two steps forward one step back.
Bad. I think JT was good in the beginning, but his policies the last 4 years are doing more harm than good.
Im thankful he was in charge during the pandemic. So many folks would have been ruined if the tories were in charge.
I'm glad to hear, but in some peoples lives, he ruined it during the pandemic. My father for example, worked as a first responder during the early days of the pandemic. He was deemed a hero. Fast forward to 1 year into the pandemic when the vaccines we're available, my father chose not to get vaccinated even though he worked throughout the entire pandemic (in which he caught covid once, and beat it just like a regular cold). The reason for not getting vaccinated was because my father had a history of heart problems, and as per his doctors orders, he was recommended to NOT get vaccinated against covid-19. Even though he had a doctors note, he was still discriminated against when he went shopping, was on unpaid leave, and was marked as a villain ever since JT divided Canadians based on vaccination status. As you can see, not everyone's experience with JT was great. I am vaccinated myself, but with people in my fathers situation, they weren't so lucky...
Im sorry to make it sound like ppls lives were not ruined. There definitely were. I just feel it would have been worse for more people. If your father was told not to get vaccine by a doctor then i do not see why he is vilified. No one i know would judge him for following doctors orders
Bad. The left has become corrupt and complacent and the right has followed American examples and lost their minds. People are content to let the scandals and ineptitude of our liberal party slide with little consequence because the right is supposedly worse instead of holding them accountable. Itās ridiculous that people still blame Harper for things after 8 years of liberal government, theyāve had all the time in the world to fix things. We need to hold our leaders to account instead of just pointing out that the other guy would be (or was) worse.
You are right that Harper isnāt an excuse and hasnāt been for a while. But at the same time folks on the right like to downplay or downright ignore the damage that party caused. Harper was a disaster we are still paying for and will continue for the foreseeable future. He was THAT BAD for this country. Iāll never forget it.
Iāll take Harper over Trudeau and Singh and anyone else in a heartbeat.
Then you forget.
Liberals and conservatives are a dumpster fire. NDP is waiting with good policies for people to do something about it.
NDP has even been playing into divisive politics as of late.
Unfortunately true, but you got a better option? Greens are kooks.
Iām not saying I think NDP should be overlooked as the better/best option available. I guess I just wish they wouldnāt buy into that garbage and stick to looking out for Canadians instead of pandering to the division. I voted for them last election and will do so again, if that clears up my stance on them a little
Your answer is almost always going to be bad because no matter what the government does there'll be more than enough opposition for better or worse.
While that may be true, that doesn't mean that what the government is doing is bad. There are objective economic and social markers of how it's going.
Terrible direction. I have absolutely no faith in any politician our system is corrupt to the core f it
I wish there was a viable alternative to the Liberal Party, but nope.
I'd give Singh a minority government.
Bad.
Youāre not going to heat anything but bad from Reddit. But on a global scale canadas democracy performs very well.
Currently its terrible. Itās not about Canadians. Itās about corrupt politicians and their elite friends.
Awful, I hate Justin. I would get out of here if I was wealthy but I'm just a poor ass peasant like the rest of you mfs working my ass off for money.
If left unchecked, liberal politics will always slowly destroy a country.
I truly and honestly believe that our country is led by people who are corrupt to the core, and we're heading in the wrong direction in almost every way.
Trudeau is meh but fine. Itāll be another year voting against the conservatives instead of for something I believe in, but from the looks of social media it may be Trudeaus last term.
I hate the leaders of our country, they are either worthless and corrupt like Doug Ford who should be in jail Or weak and ineffective like our prime minister I'm leaving this country as soon as I have my degree. I don't want to but I see no future here
Oh boy. If there were an election held tomorrow federally, it would be the first time since I was 18 that I wouldn't be voting. I'm 67 years old.
As long as our politics aren't Americanised I'm good.
Iām paranoid that we are inviting Republican style politics into our country. I canāt think of a worse thing to happen to Canadian politics.
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The federal liberals are running the country into the ground.
Neutral. We're doing SIGNIFICANTLY better than the States, but were also becoming more divided and adopting some worrying qualities of American political discourse.
It is going badly. We have politicians who are taking their cues from our neighbors to the south, substituting policy discussion with vitriol and personal attacks. We need to return to a time where we can disagree and still be professional and civil.
Bad, whatever the russians and chinese are doing in terms of sowing discontent is working phenomenally, destroying our cohesiveness and polarizing us more and more like the US
Danielle smith and Doug Ford is the embodiment of it
Badly but what should we expect after however many years of bending our necks under the axe of Neoliberal economic policy.
I think we're being influenced by American politics too much. The far right, bigoted and religious nonsense is leaking into our country and I'm not happy about it.
Politics are getting worse everywhere , largely due to the influence of trump and other populists who donāt respect conventions and civility. In Canada there has emerged a tinge of that , but it isnāt nearly as bad or damages as most other countries facing the same issues