AGM

I've thought since Alberta separatism was first mentioned in the oval office that the idea would be to make Alberta be to Canada what Crimea is to Ukraine. The groundwork had been laid and the danger from the US is real. Thankfully, I believe Carney understands how real the US threats are.

How much of this do we see in Alberta this year?

• Pro-US & Pro-secession information campaigns
• Pro-secession protests & rallies
• US, MAGA, & secessionist flags & slogans
• Violence between pro-🇺🇸 & pro-🇨🇦 groups
• Support from US-based groups
• Staged referendum
• Little green men

I think he'll have a great legacy in hindsight. The important policy accomplishments of the NDP while he was leader will hopefully last for generations.

For comparison, what policy accomplishments have the official opposition had in the last ten years, and what accomplishments will they have under a Carney government? The CPC has more than 10× the number of seats the NDP does now, but as a party they have had a lost decade in terms of policy impact whereas the NDP has scored big wins.

The NDP will hopefully have a comeback next election. I would guess they will.

In this case, Liberals did not understand the assignment. NDP voters did.

As a former Albertan, there's still a lot I like about the province, such as lots of people who are educated, principled, and hard working.

Of course, that's not everyone, and even among the well-educated are many engineers who think in black and white and lack much of the education from the humanities that would give perspective on history. The oil industry is also very powerful, full of arrogance about the industry, dominated by US business, and tends to celebrate good times from high oil prices as a sign of their own excellence while blaming hard times from low oil prices on the rest of Canada and "liberal policies".

Calgary and Edmonton are also both much more politically diverse than the rest of the province and are pretty socially conscious and have a lot of people who dislike that about the province's politics.

I just worry about Albertans being specifically targeted from outside Canada via US social platforms and oil industry professional networks to undermine unity and foment separatism.

Yep. That's more or less how I feel.

I don't want Canada under the EU governance system, and I don't think it's necessary to join the EU as a member just to have close and mutually supportive relations. Unless the Conservatives win today, we're still quite aligned with the EU in terms of values and commitment to similar international standards and goals, so I think we can form many trade agreements, cooperate on defense, and support similar international institutions, but just doing it with Canada as country that is a friend of the EU and not a member of the EU.

I have no interest in Canada joining the EU, which I see as having a bunch of governance problems of their own, but being close allies with well-integrated and mutually supportive economies via trade and other agreements sounds good to me.

Honestly, the idea floated that Canada would form a bloc with the UK, other commonwealth countries, and the EU, then have that bloc negotiate trade agreements with China sounds absolutely ideal to me. That's apparently already been raised by Carney in private talks on his visits to Europe and the UK. It would unite most of the world and cut the US off unless they changed course on their insane path. That's the foundation for a much more positive world order

The guy was allowed to enter the street as it was the end of the event and cars were coming in to pack up. He reportedly bumped one person with the side of his car at a relatively low speed and then suddenly hit the accelerator hard and went straight into the crowd. Video of him being held by people waiting for the police to arrive shows him looking like he's also in shock and he apologizes for what he did. The guy's brother was also murdered (not by a Filipino) and then his mom attempted suicide in recent years and he's had a bunch of mental health issues and run ins with police, but seems to have no criminal record. I have no idea what was going on in his head. I don't understand why he did what he did. It's an awful thing to do. It just doesn't seem like a terrorist attack.

Edit: He has now been charged with 8 counts of second degree murder, not first degree murder. Second degree murder is not premeditated, so not an act of terrorism. It suggests a decision made in the moment.

No kidding. Social issues aren't off the table in this election. It's just a matter of trying to save progress made on them rather than having them clawed back to mid last century.

The main reason China has had worsening relations with Canada and has been threatening to Canada at all is because we have been so closely allied with the US, and the US overtly wants to hamper China's development and even to overthrow their system of government.

The Meng Wanzhou thing was Canada purely going along with a brash US attack on a leading Chinese company, and it did tremendous and needless damage to Canada-China relations. China didn't start that. The US did, and Canada helped them do it.

Now, while the US has started acting towards Canada in a way a little more like it has treated countries throughout the Global South for decades, China is offering to partner with Canada to oppose the US abuses of the whole global system of trade. China isn't devastating Canada's economy. They've started buying our oil, which is good for our economy. They've been suggesting more open trade with us, and would no-doubt drop tarrifs on our agricultural products if we lowered our ridiculous tarrifs on their EVs, which we imposed at 100% just to please the US even though it's worse for the Canadian consumer and has been primarily beneficial to Tesla and Elon Musk, an overt fascist enabler of our biggest threat who also says we're not even a real country.

The US is the primary aggressor to worry about. They're holding military exercises this week with the Philippines on simulating all-out war with China and Trump appointed a bunch of guys who have years of advocating for war with China. He is waging economic war against China right now.

I support Carney wanting increased economic ties with Europe and more pivoting away from US dependence, but to treat China as an enemy and speak more harshly about them than even the US is something I really dislike. Opposing the foreign interference, asserting sovereignty in the Arctic, protecting Canadian markets to an extent that is reasonable and fair, these are all good things, but they can be done without making an enemy of China, especially while China is actually offering to work with us and to help us out in dealing with our biggest immediate threat.

I find it interesting, and concerning, that in more MAGA-friendly corners of the internet it seems pretty common to see Canadians who are convinced the polls are all fake and manipulated and that Poilievre is headed for a sure majority, just based off of rally attendance and anecdotal observations of lawn signs.

It's a completely different reality from anyone who's not in that bubble of conservative social media.

Nobody cares if your want to go your own direction. It's only an issue to anyone if you're a dick about it.