Great article!

My one critique would be with when FI is making a comparison between the US on some metric (eg, per capita income 2022)… The argument of “keep in mind Canada was enduring a global pandemic at that time” isn’t a very sound counter-point. It was a global pandemic. If you want to say it depressed that number for Canada you have to explain why it didn’t depress that number in the USA.

The rest are pretty good. The FI is a fucking joke.

I’m torn if there should be a “voting day” stat at some point during early voting, or to directly make election day a stat.

I voted Monday. Love advanced voting. Didn’t have to even wait in any line for even a single second. The dude there said it never was “busy”, but always “steady”.

On the flip side, anything worth doing is worth doing imperfectly.

100% of the population boycotting at 50% efficacy is much better than 1% of the population doing it PERFECTLY.

Never ever ever alienate or talk down to (or about) people who are acting in a way that is directionally correct, even if it doesn’t meet your personal standard.

Should I get a small drone (below 250 g) and practice?

Yes. Turn the hypothetical into a reality with 1 simple trick.

It’s for sure better to start imperfectly than to just dream perfectly

It’s possible that transient voters helped push the needle, but the “deconservativeing” of AB may also be a result of the less exciting explanation of urbanization. In general, urban populations trend “left”, and simply put, the share of the total voters (and seats) in urban areas has grown meaningfully since Klien.

Could be a lil’ of both, too.

A point I don’t often see you make is that FPTP is actually a voter suppression mechanic.

You live in a riding with 65% support for Candidate A, but you support candidate B? When it’s all-or-nothing with a foregone conclusion why bother? But this skews the result: you didn’t bother to vote, so it gives the illusion Candidate A had higher support than they actually do. Maybe the 65% support wasn’t even accurate to begin with.

Maybe a better system gets 200,000 more voters into the booth, rather than praying that the winds of FPTP are in your favour.

I agree with proportional representation, I think it’s imperative.

But, to be fair, with FPTP 1380 flipped votes would have kept her from power in the 2023 provincial election.

With straight PR it’d be like 100,000.

So, again, PR is critical for the overall health of a democracy. Especially in AB it would probably result in much greater turnout.

But, strictly speaking, FPTP is actually a thorn for this specific extremist.

Imagine pivoting from accusations of behind-closed-doors corruption investigation by the RCMP with respect to AHS contracts… To full-on election interference in broad fucking daylight for anyone who can (checks notes) listen to a podcast to hear for themselves.

8D chess?

Thanks, I had paywall remover scanning just waiting for someone to archive it

Post to remember to come back once there is a non paywall link so I can comment beyond the content of the headline

Edit:

Holy shit the guy in this article has got to be the stupidest person ever interviewed.

The Albertans who want to be the 51st state can consider themselves met, I guess.

I’m an old guy so I get it. Also there is a narrative about AB at a national level that’s hard to shake.

Flipping (the ideally located) 1380 votes in AB in 2023 would have produced an NDP majority. I don’t think Canada really understands the razors Edge that AB sits on.

This is the data from the 2023 provincial election, so I guess that depends on what exodus you’re referring to.

Considering the NDP only needs to flip 6 ridings for an AB majority, and there are at least 6 to flip in Calgary, and that Nenshi is the leader of the NDP now… I think AB will likely see an NDP government next time based on that math alone. Smith being a fucking national embarrassment is just the icing on the cake.

Statistically speaking, Albertans are as likely to vote NDP in a provincial election as people from BC are.

Is the obvious answer so he can feign ignorance of the support, or that there is a reason he wouldn’t pass the security check?

PP doesn’t even trust PP to have security clearance, apparently

Closer to France than Hungary is, and they’re in the EU already.

Anytime literally anything happens, they’re there to spin it to a PR pitch.

Like, I don’t disagree that it’s critical. I want it. FPTP is idiotic.

But the relentless single-mindedness is to the point where I don’t even need to check the username anymore. The fediverse is a small enough space that one person (or small group sharing an account?) can really saturate a channel.

Just to head the idea off at the pass: there is no material version of “90 day fiance” permanent residency for Canada.

If there is one thing I can promise you, it’s that you don’t have to tell Canadians not to fall for it. Annexation is a non starter, there is literally no argument that could be given regardless of validity. The fact that any promises are obvious lies is wholly irrelevant.

I think what people don’t understand is how incredibly petty Canadians can be.

The Canadian population will accept things getting 25% worse for themselves personally if it means things get 5% worse for the people that inflicted it. With these terriffs, there is an asymmetry of effect… But there is also an asymmetry in the amount of pain that can be stomached by the populations as well.

If the two countries find themselves dragged into an “economic winter”, there is one population significantly more familiar and comfortable with the idea of riding out the winter.