Provincial election goings on today... According to polls, Quebec's citizenry consumers are going to replace one set of corrupt pro-business mediocrities by a new set of slightly less corrupt pro-business mediocrities.
But the small left wing party I vote for, and occasionally give money to, and volunteer for, is set to win a few more members of parlement! Huzzah!
Hopefully, we will get a minority government that dependent on the good will of other parties. That should help curb the rapacious tendencies of the new bunch. Maybe.
Well, bittersweet electoral results. The party I vote for (Québec Solidaire) went from 3 MPs to 10, managed to elect four new MPs outside Montreal, and defeated the leader of one of the old big parties in my riding.
However, unfortunately, the new bunch of pro-business mediocrities (Coalition Avenir Québec) got a majority, promising "change", less immigrants, cuts to public administration and more public services with less taxes... I'm sure the spiel is familiar to you by now. Thanks to our shitty first-past-the-post system, inherited from the days Canada was a british colony, they've managed to get a majority of seats with only 38% of the vote. The voter turnout was about 68%. :-&
The old parties, The Parti Québecois and the Parti Libéral du Québec, who have alternated governing this province for the last 50 years or so, got a severe beating. The liberal party got down to about 25%, they've basically only managed to survive thanks to the support of the english minority and first generation immigrants. They were practically wiped-out outside west Montreal.
The Parti Québecois were demolished, which I think is a shame. I don't vote for them, but they used to be a contender, and modern Québec owes them a lot. But decades of centre right schmiberalism and the decision to put on hold the main justification for the party (the independence of Québec) for supposedly electoral reasons made them bleed voters. They won less seats than Québec Solidaire!
So, basically, Québec followed the rest of the developed world: voters wanted "change", and they voted in a bunch of creeps probably even worse than the old creeps. Eh. Same old shit.
Ah, thanks but don't worry, we'll survive. The new bunch are basically a loose coalition of opportunists from the old parties mixed in with libertarian-type idiots. Their dear leader, a rich businessman (of course!), used to be a minister of the economy under a previous Parti Québecois government. They have no militant base, and their support will probably melt away as soon as they start trying to ram their shit down people's throats.
But it was fun seeing the candidate in my old riding finally get elected! It was his third attempt. I know him, I've volunteered for him in the past, and he's a good kid.
On the one hand, the new office is ridiculously nice. I can even see the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower from my desk.
On the other hand, the commute is pretty damn long.
Actually my least fave thing is the bathrooms. They're super nice-looking, but they're dead silent and acoustically weird such that I hear every grunt and flex and plop from every dude in there.
Ha. It's funny, after our recent refurb, the bathrooms were very quiet like you desribe. About two weeks later, suddenly the exhaust fans got twice as loud. I suspected that somebody actually requested this.
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Allan Sherman - When I Was A Lad
citizenryconsumers are going to replace one set of corrupt pro-business mediocrities by a new set of slightly less corrupt pro-business mediocrities.But the small left wing party I vote for, and occasionally give money to, and volunteer for, is set to win a few more members of parlement! Huzzah!
Hopefully, we will get a minority government that dependent on the good will of other parties. That should help curb the rapacious tendencies of the new bunch. Maybe.
However, unfortunately, the new bunch of pro-business mediocrities (Coalition Avenir Québec) got a majority, promising "change", less immigrants, cuts to public administration and more public services with less taxes... I'm sure the spiel is familiar to you by now. Thanks to our shitty first-past-the-post system, inherited from the days Canada was a british colony, they've managed to get a majority of seats with only 38% of the vote. The voter turnout was about 68%. :-&
The old parties, The Parti Québecois and the Parti Libéral du Québec, who have alternated governing this province for the last 50 years or so, got a severe beating. The liberal party got down to about 25%, they've basically only managed to survive thanks to the support of the english minority and first generation immigrants. They were practically wiped-out outside west Montreal.
The Parti Québecois were demolished, which I think is a shame. I don't vote for them, but they used to be a contender, and modern Québec owes them a lot. But decades of centre right schmiberalism and the decision to put on hold the main justification for the party (the independence of Québec) for supposedly electoral reasons made them bleed voters. They won less seats than Québec Solidaire!
So, basically, Québec followed the rest of the developed world: voters wanted "change", and they voted in a bunch of creeps probably even worse than the old creeps. Eh. Same old shit.
Trump administration halts visas for same-sex partners of diplomats, UN employees
On the other hand, the commute is pretty damn long.
Actually my least fave thing is the bathrooms. They're super nice-looking, but they're dead silent and acoustically weird such that I hear every grunt and flex and plop from every dude in there.
I AM REA. DY. TO. GO.