GCn20

You gotta hand it to Putin, he achieved a level of thievery in 20 years that our politicians have been striving to do for 200 years now.

He's not entirely wrong. There is much debate about the effectiveness of carbon taxes and other green energy policies around the world. Not that green energy policies shouldn't exist but how they should be done and what should happen first. Reality is that the world as a whole is not ready to stop using fossil fuels in any meaningful way and little is being done to advance the infrastructures necessary to do so, and most green energy experts suggest that should be the first step of any green energy policy. The United Nations council for climate change, which is an international think tank of the world's most foremost green energy experts, has suggested that most of the industrialized world is going about it all wrong right now.

I agree. You take a look at a team like the RIders who will be rolling out 4 pretty unremarkable NAT OLs and it is quite likely going to be a main reason they will lose in the first round of the playoffs AGAIN. They could easily have passed on the expensive but really quite average NAT OT but chose to take him anyway and kill any chance they have of improving a very poor OL. If they go with a good IMP OT instead they might be able to hide some of the deficiencies of their 3 NAT OL and allow their OTs to play on an island so that Clark can double team and help out hapless Ferland or Johnson who is vastly overmatched against guys like Richardson, or Micah. Instead they will ask Dan Clark to actually block one on one and have to get Johnson to help out his shiny new NAT OT if possible. All in the name of ratio. What really baffles me is that they have enough NAT talent in their roster that they could make ratio without going 4 NAT OL and choose to do so anyway. Weird.

I am lucky. I don't look aboriginal so don't face it nearly as much, but my wife is aboriginal and the treatment she gets when we go out is deplorable. When I show my treaty card or declare my status for various reasons my treatment changes drastically as well. There is a massive undercurrent of racism that exists towards natives, particularly in the city of Winnipeg, and I see it most in what I would think are very key demographics for NDP success. The South of Winnipeg is a no fly zone for most native people as the racism we encounter there is staggering.

I agree. I just think that given the state of the leaders of the big two parties in our province that the Liberals could see a dead cat bounce, much like when Sharon Carstairs benefitted from some underwhelming choices put forward by the NDP and PCs back in the day.

Wab is not well liked at all except by those who already vote NDP. Many swing voters will not support him and when the inevitable smear campaign that will come against him starts, many people will swing back to the PCs or place their vote elsewhere. I have no doubt that this is likely to be a majority NDP victory next election, my prediction is simply that Wab does not have the personal appeal to make it a huge majority. I, also, hate to say it but there will be a fair amount of racism against him due to his ethnicity. That saddens me as an indigenous person myself, but if you guys only knew what we hear and overhear on a daily basis from people who pretend not to be racist you would understand. I quite frankly think that there is a fair number of people who do not like this government but will not vote for an indigenous premier. When given the option there is certain amount of the NDP support that likely just doesn't show up to vote. Probably not enough to swing an election but surely enough to keep the NDP seat count down despite what the polls say. I hope that Manitoba is better than that, but based on my life experiences I am skeptical, and the very worst of it is in the CIty of Winnipeg.

The rural support is still enormous and will ensure that even if these numbers hold, which they are highly unlikely to do so, that a small majority is the most likely outcome if the NDP can hold the lead. The problem for the NDP remains the fact that during an election campaign Kinew is more likely to lose the NDP votes than gain them. There are a ton of people who really want this current government out, myself included, but just can't plug their noses and vote for Kinew knowing what we all know about him. The Liberals might be the biggest benefactors of two parties that stink right now. That is, of course, if they can keep Lamont from going off on the weird tangents he can go on sometimes, and they can generate enough money to actually campaign. If Lamont can up his game it is quite possible that the Liberals take some seats next election.

Looks like another good prospect for sure. I like the fact he is a cold weather receiver out of Buffalo as well so fall ball shouldn't bother him.

Alberta politics is a gong show compared to the rest of the country really. The oil industry has really made Alberta an outlier. I mean in every other province Notley would be seen as a Conservative. About the closest she can get to the left is small C. Alberta is not a province that a centrist or left of centre party by everyone else's standards could ever get elected.

Absolutely there is no comparison in cost per mile from a purely operational aspect. I would love to see what the difference is when price of vehicle difference/maintenance factors are worked in. I saw one done between a Tesla Model 3 and some other car one time on a year to year total cost analysis and the Tesla edged out the gas vehicle but it wasn't by a huge margin. This was a Canadian study side by side of two brand new vehicles of the same class and comps. I would imagine the electric would run away with it now given the absurd gas prices. I don't think there is any argument from anyone that electric cars are cheaper to run than gas cars. I think any reluctance towards electric vehicles now will be the lack of infrastructure, battery capacity, and high cost to buy. Once these obstacles are overcome, one would be foolish, (especially here in Canada where hydro is cheap) to not own electric. I could understand other areas of the world where hydro is very expensive and there are caps on usage and huge infrastructure and generating shortcomings being more problematic though.

Yea...the last thing Canada needs is more wingnut politics from Alberta but I think you are right. No, it's not. How can the provinces be expected to agree to pharmacare and dental care without knowing what increase in medical transfers would occur,

Absolutely, the provinces are guilty of that as well.

I am aware that the transfer payments were cut by the Cons and then not addressed in any way by the Liberals and both parties are guilty here. However, there has been no tangible discussion on pharma or dental care funding increases at all with the provinces. Why on god's green earth would they ever agree to taking on these behemoth health care costs without any idea of what the compensation structure would look like. You can't blame the provinces for this. This was simply virtue signalling and flag waving by a federal party with absolutely zero serious intention of meaningful discussion with their provincial counterparts about an actual implementation plan. It is a hallmark of our current federal government unfortunately.

Maybe...but at this point I would think that anyone not named Kenney would massively benefit the UCP party of Alberta.

More for developing a quicker release I would think.

And so they should imo. The feds have been underfunding health care transfer payments for many years now. Add pharma and dental and offloading the costs on the provinces is not going to get anyone to agree to it.

Sure, Of course there are star IMPs that make just as much as NATs. The comparable is a low/mid tier IMP to a low/mid tier NAT. The difference in salary is pretty staggering. If Bryant was a NAT he is likely 50-60k a year richer than he is now too. That being said, supply vs demand and that's why the NATs get the money compared to an IMP of equal calibre. I think some of the players resent getting beat out of jobs by players based on their passports, and they may not like that NAT ham n' eggers get paid as much as many quality IMP starters but that's not a dressing room issue imo. It is something that very likely many IMPs dislike about our league rules but almost certainly don't have hard feelings towards the NATs in their dressing rooms that sign the best contract they can get. Pretty sure that every IMP in the Winnipeg dressing room is pretty happy for Demski, or Wolitarsky, (eg) when they sign new contracts. Just as, I am sure, our NATs are quite happy for the IMPs when they get new contracts with big raises.

I guess one has to ask what part of the federal plan was so odious to everyone asked to administer it. The NDP's best shot is against a Kenney led UPC.

I would be careful what I wish for. You are quite likely to have Premier Brian Jean next and those Wild Rose guys are further right then Kenney.

Same in Manitoba. The level of POed is not that high amongst players towards NATs in the locker room. To a man, every IMP is gonna dislike the NAT content rule but they aren't going to beef about the team mates that benefit from it in the locker room. Lalji is out to lunch on that one. The players know full well no one in the locker room makes the rules, and they won't blame any player for squeezing out as much salary as they possibly can.

IF Trudeau decides he's had enough. That may be the biggest problem facing the Liberals right now. Convincing Trudeau to leave may become problematic, although indications are he may step aside. Freeland is no magic bullet for the Liberals, she is the front runner though no doubt about it but whenever a leader leaves there is jockeying within the rank and file and it can get quite nasty. I would think that if Trudeau reads the tea leaves and retires gracefully before the next election that the Liberals chances of getting Freeland entrenched within the ranks goes up exponentially. If it's an ugly divorce after an election loss or 3rd consecutive underperformance then things could blow up real good. Like it or not, Freeland is tied pretty tight to the Trudeau brand as his hand picked successor.

I agree. Everything goes through the PMs office in Liberal cabinet. I don't know how that could even be disputed. I would think most parties operate in this manner to some extent. The message has to be controlled. When a leader is ousted it is messy business. Very few leadership transitions go smoothly if the leader has overstayed his welcome. Trudeau is rapidly approaching that point.

Wab is still disliked by a lot of people who are unhappy about the current government and voted for them before. If this comes down to a referendum on Wab then the NDP may lose steam. I suspect they know this though and will run a campaign where he is not as outfront as many leaders are during a campaign. If they hide the Wab factor people will vote NDP again, if they don't many will plug their nose shut and vote PC again if the PCs can rally back to simply not shooting themselves in the foot continually. Wab isn't even particularly popular amongst us native voters, and we really would love to see a native premier....just not Wab.

The only hope the PCs have for the next election is if the NDP shoot themselves in the foot somehow, or if the Liberals really pick up steam in the city of Winnipeg. I can see the former happening but not the latter. There is a lot of discomfort with Wab Kinew amongst swing voters as well but Heather would have to run a perfect campaign and gain a lot of points between now and the next election. You won't see that kind of infighting. Might have happened if Pallister stuck around but it won't happen before the next election.

I'm not sure they have enough time to turn things around, nor a leader that can take over an election campaign.