Wideleft

So it's pretty much unanimous?

The only gifs I can get to work are from giphy.com.

Just happened. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2018005-eng.htm

PeePee never heard about the boy who cried wolf. The constant bitching and moaning tunes reasonable people out and will dilute any salient point (big if) he'll try to make in the future.

Pausing my "ignore you" function just long enough to correct you - David Johnston has never been on the Board of Directors of the Trudeau Foundation. Not all of us believe PeePee's lies.

Meanwhile, good things happen when you vote for progressives. Minnesota is THE prime example (and project a $17.5 Billion surplus to boot): "Minnesota Democrats entered this year’s legislative session in a similar situation. Last fall, they won control of the state’s executive branch, House and Senate — a legislative “trifecta” — but with only a one-seat majority in the upper chamber. The results were much different: The party accomplished a generation’s worth of liberal reforms in just four months, vaulting the state to the forefront of progressive policymaking. Minnesota now offers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, the opportunity for any resident to buy into Medicaid, free public college tuition for low- and middle-income families, a new child tax credit for those families, free breakfast and lunch for all public school students, driver’s licenses for all residents regardless of their immigration status, and stronger protections for workers seeking to unionize. Take a deep breath — there’s more coming. Middle-class seniors will no longer have to pay state income taxes on Social Security benefits. A law immediately restoring the voting rights of felons who have completed their prison sentences expanded the franchise to 55,000 more people. Minnesotans serving life behind bars for crimes they committed as minors are now eligible for supervised release 15 years into their sentence. Suspending gun permits for people experiencing a mental health crisis got easier. Recreational marijuana is legal. A new state law protects abortion rights. A “trans refuge” law shields transgender children who travel to Minnesota for medical transitions from legal repercussions in their home states. And Minnesota has set a goal of moving to 100% carbon-free energy by 2040. The no-holds-barred progressive lawmaking spree was even enough to get a Twitter shoutout from former President Barack Obama, who called it a “reminder that elections have consequences.” Leaders of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as the state’s Democratic Party is known, have taken to calling the flurry of legislative activity the “Minnesota Miracle 2.0.” Originally, “Minnesota Miracle” was a nickname given to reforms enacted in the early 1970s by then-Gov. Wendell “Wendy” Anderson (DFL) and liberal Republicans in the Legislature, which increased funding for public schools by raising state income taxes and reducing the education system’s reliance on regressive property taxes. (more) https://sg.news.yahoo.com/minnesota-democrats-passed-raft-progressive-120003549.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN6VJRByPPAX5jhTVjN8Mi93KRXXvD9kCbKZId_k092mxKfYjPjVYdnwWUpTXfu3EYZb8eEr8J4tE-r-EVXeo0MvHBqXgYlKI9h4xl4utLmLRiMfVAwRoyOUSMIvgRRMjGZC__3wdQGJ-v62YoxxQ-A-2j7nZ1p_ZdBtf_CSmDzO

Agudosi.

It's inevitable that there will be almost no small towns in 20 years. So many are already essentially gone and we're not going to solve that problem with 40,000 acre farms of any kind. "The actual number of farms in Manitoba continued to grow until 1941 and peaked at 58,024 when the average farm size was 291 acres. The decline in numbers has been relatively steady since 1941. In 2006, the most recent census year, there were 19,054 farms with an average size of 1,001 acres." https://www.manitobaaghalloffame.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MAHF-History-of-Ag-in-MB.pdf "Number of Farms. The 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 14,543 farms in Manitoba, a moderate decrease of 1.7 per cent from the previous census, which reported 14,791 farms in 2016. Manitoba farm numbers rank sixth in Canada and account for 7.7 per cent of Canada’s 189,874 farms in 2021. The number of farms in Canada declined by 1.9 per cent, compared to 2016. The average farm size was 1,177 acres in 2021, 1.3 per cent smaller than the 1,192 acres in 2016. Manitoba’s total farm area was 17.1 million acres in 2021 compared to 17.6 million acres in 2016, a decrease of 2.9 per cent. The number of farm operators in Manitoba declined 3.4 per cent to 19,465 people in 2021. The ratio of farm operators to the number of farms was 1.3 for Manitoba, slightly less than the Canadian average of 1.4. In 2021, 43.2 per cent of farm operators in Manitoba worked more than 40 hours a week on average on agricultural operations, compared with 44.5 per cent in 2016. At the national level, this percentage was 36.9 per cent in 2021. More farmers worked off the farm in 2021, with 46.1 per cent of farm operators in Manitoba reporting an off-farm job, compared with 42.9 per cent in 2016. https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/markets-and-statistics/ag-census/pubs/census-manitoba-profile-2021.pdf

Profit for private interests.

For 478 patients... Taxpayers paid $24M for out-of-province surgeries By: Danielle Da SilvaPosted: 6:39 PM CDT Monday, Jun. 12, 2023 Out-of-province surgeries contracted by Manitoba’s COVID-19 pandemic backlog task force have devoured about 18 per cent of its multimillion-dollar budget but account for less than one per cent of the procedures funded by the group. Diagnostic and surgical recovery task force chairman Dr. Peter MacDonald has pulled back the curtain on the cost to send patients to hospitals in northwestern Ontario, North Dakota, Ohio, and other Canadian and U.S. destinations. Approximately 18 per cent of the task force budget paid for contracts inked with surgical centres outside of Manitoba and to cover eligible travel expenses incurred by patients, he said. It had a $40-million budget in 2021-22, and a $110-million budget in 2022-23. The orthopedic surgeon was unable to provide the exact amount spent when asked by the Free Press. “We are seeing that patients have had a very high satisfaction rate — and just to reiterate that this is a short-term measure until we build in-province capacity,” MacDonald said June 7, after announcing a $1.8-million, two-year agreement with the Sleep Disorder Centre at Misericorida Health Centre in Winnipeg. “So, we don’t expect this out-of-province care to be a long-term solution to our backlogs.” The province and task force have emphasized the relatively small number of patients receiving surgery out-of-province in comparison to tens of thousands of procedures completed in Manitoba and paid for by the task force. It has paid for more than 72,300 procedures since it was struck in December 2021, including 43,600 in the public health system, the province said. Just 478 surgeries were performed on Manitobans willing to travel outside the province— or less than 0.01 per cent of all task force funded procedures — as of early June. Manitoba Health Coalition director Thomas Linner said the cost to send people away is a “staggeringly expensive and wildly inefficient use of taxpayer dollars,” at the same time, proposals by local physicians and health-care leaders languish without funding. “This needs to be a wake-up call for the government, for the task force and for Manitobans about what is being done on this issue and how much time, quite frankly, has been wasted on these efforts which should have been conducted within the public system,” Linner said. The coalition — which is chaired by Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson and has board members from various labour groups — bills itself as a non-partisan advocacy organization. It has been highly critical of the task force’s use of private, for-profit medical organizations in its efforts to eliminate pandemic backlogs, claiming the province has prioritized private corporations over the public system. The government has argued out-of-province surgery provides an option to Manitobans in need of spine, hip, knee, foot, ankle and shoulder procedures to access care faster and improve quality of life. The need for such agreements was identified by doctors to address backlogs, the government has said. Linner called the program a distraction. “Individual success stories simply cannot make up for the loss of time, the loss of money and the loss of attention to the kind of capacity that’s necessary within Manitoba,” he said. Prior to Friday, the Progressive Conservative government had refused to say how much the out-of-province surgery program has cost taxpayers. However, in response to a request for comment from Health Minister Audrey Gordon, the government changed its stance and revealed less than $24 million had been spent on out-of-province surgeries. The tab includes more than $440,000 for patients’ travel and accommodation expenses. The task force is tracking expenses and final audited numbers will be posted as part of regular Manitoba Health financial reporting, the spokesperson said. The value of contracts with hospitals in the United States — most of which were untendered — and the average cost per procedure remain unknown. Contracts with stateside hospitals are not included on the province’s proactive disclosure portal, which reports information on contracts valued at $10,000 or more. Agreements with private surgical centres located in Manitoba are disclosed. The task force has, however, acknowledged the surgeries would be more expensive than if they’d been done in Manitoba, but assured the public the province received a good deal. “The total cost of agreements with out-of-province partners… could only be reported retrospectively as we are billed for care provided to each patient,” the spokesperson said. Doctors Manitoba past-president Dr. Candace Bradshaw said out-of-province surgeries are an acceptable option only as long as they are short term and there is significant public demand and limited capacity. “This approach is not new, and was used in the early 2000s to address a short-term need for radiation therapy,” Bradshaw said in a statement. However, doctors want the primary focus to be on building surgical and diagnostic capacity in Manitoba, she said. “We continue to look for opportunities for physicians to work with the health system and the task force to develop local solutions to unreasonably long patient wait lists.” NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the approximately $24 million spent to deliver care to 478 people is an exorbitant expense. “If those dollars had been invested in improving health-care access here in Manitoba, far more Manitobans would have gotten the surgeries they need at a fraction of the cost,” the Union Station MLA said. “We’re spending more money than what is necessary and we’re not helping as many people as we should be because of the PCs’ approach.” https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/2023/06/12/taxpayers-paid-24m-for-out-of-province-surgeries

Can't trust a word PeePee says. Freeland's budget bill passes House after Poilievre pledges to block it The federal budget implementation bill passed the House of Commons on Thursday, after days of Conservative attempts to block it. By a vote of 177 to 146, Bill C-47, the Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1 as it's titled, passed the final stage in the House with support from the Liberals and NDP while the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois voted "nay." It is now off to the Senate, where a pre-study of the omnibus legislation is already underway. The 430-page bill was tabled in April following Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiling a plan of continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care, and the clean economy. ...... Poilievre said he thought his efforts this week, seeing the bill come to a vote a few days later than the Liberals had initially hoped, were "very successful." By the time the vote took place, Poilievre was not in the Chamber, opting to vote virtually, instead. ...... In criticizing the Conservatives for trying to hold up the rest of the budget this week, a number of Liberals rose in the House and posted on social media to highlight the workers benefits and housing affordability measures they said the Official Opposition was delaying seeing rolled out the door to Canadians. "Does [Poilievre] not support dental care? ... Does he not support supports for workers or students? Does he not support the vast preponderance of what's in the budget which is for health care and for changing to the new economy?" said Government House Leader Mark Holland on Thursday. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/freeland-s-budget-bill-passes-house-after-poilievre-pledges-to-block-it-1.6433195

Naive optimism? Guilty as charged.

Pat Robertson, the right-wing televangelist and former Republican presidential candidate who espoused racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, AIDSphobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic bigotry on air for decades, has died.

For those who missed it, Global is backtracking on the Han Dong story and Sam Cooper's last day at Global is Friday. He's apparently leaving for a "personal journalism project". Uh- huh. On Monday, Global News and its parent company Corus Entertainment filed a statement of defence in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice defending their reporting and denying that it was defamatory. The statement says that "certain allegations … were based on information from two or, in some cases, three confidential sources" that Global determined were "credible through rigorous investigation." The document said Global's reporting was not "presented as factual findings." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/review-independent-mp-han-dong-liberal-caucus-1.6867540?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

Today I learned that D-Day marked the BEGINNING of WWII;

False equivalence. The unions are up front about who they are and represent. WTF is the Canada Growth Council, who runs it and who funds it?

He is really young and strong. I am confident that he will be back as good as ever. Eventually.

Speaking of disgusting cults (give or swap an "L")..... Trustee makes anti-trans remarks on social media By: Maggie MacintoshPosted: 6:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 6, 2023Last Modified: 9:18 AM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 6, 2023 A St. Boniface school trustee is facing backlash for a series of anti-LGBTTQ+ social media posts published in the days leading up to Pride month. Francine Champagne, a rookie board member in Winnipeg’s Louis Riel School Division, has taken to her personal Facebook page to share conspiracy theories and sensationalistic content about the trans community. “The sexualization of our children in schools is all part of the agenda (insert angry face emoji),” the Ward 1 representative wrote in a May 25 post that links to stopworldcontrol.com — a website filled with false information that is self-described as being dedicated to “the worldwide mission for freedom.” The site makes outrageous claims, including the World Health Organization is planning to create ongoing pandemics to control humanity. It also falsely suggests both the United Nations and WHO have said “children must have sexual partners.” On May 13, Champagne published an image with text that reads: “To identify as = To live a lie.” The elected official also recently shared another user’s post that states: “Make men masculine again. Make women feminine again. Make children innocent again.” “These kinds of comments are so hurtful to those who are on their gender identity journey… Making people feel like they are unwanted or a mistake, and trying to police their bodies and health care is abuse, plain and simple,” said Larissa Sotas, a mother of a transgender student in LRSD. Champagne did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Board chairwoman Sandy Nemeth confirmed she was aware of the posts. Nemeth noted this is a personnel matter and referred a reporter to LRSD’s code of conduct for trustees. Each board member must sign a document pledging to prevent any real or perceived conflicts of interest and adhere to all internal policies at the start of their term. LRSD’s respect for human diversity documents state everyone is welcome into its facilities and a person’s self-identification is the sole measure of their gender. “All individuals have the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to their gender identity or expression,” per internal protocols. If a trustee breaches division policies, they may be subject to public censure, among other disciplinary measures. Both Sotas and Thomas Linner, a father who lives in Ward 1, want officials to take corrective action to address Champagne’s actions. Hateful attacks against trans and ***** youth take a severe toll on student mental health and contribute to disproportionately high suicide rates among these marginalized groups, said Linner, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition. “The problem here is not that we have one individual school trustee who believes in these conspiracy theories. The problem is that we are facing a movement, fuelled by these reactionary beliefs,” he added. LRSD issued a statement touting the importance of diverse library collections amid recent discussions about LGBTTQ+ books in Brandon schools. The president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society said the Winnipeg trustee’s posts are not unrelated to a recent incident during which a group of rural residents decried the availability of books with ***** characters. “What happened in Brandon sent a clear message,” said union leader Nathan Martindale, noting the mobilization of hundreds of community members in support of the LGBTTQ+ community. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/06/06/trustee-makes-anti-trans-remarks-on-social-media

Tyrrell Pigrome

"Anyway, you'll all be glad to know that I'm done with this stinking thread. Spit. I said what I wanted to say. See ya," - Speedflex27