#Trudeau in trouble

[poliphoon]

What does Chrystia Freeland’s resignation mean?

Trump tariffs are creating a stir in neighbouring Canada as well. As tensions over Trump tariffs were souring ties between Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy minister-and-finance minister Chrystia Freeland, the latter resigned from the cabinet on December 16th. Exiting with sound and fury, she heaped hate over how Canada was facing ‘grave challenges’ from Mr Trump.

[banji-effect]

If you're not an American just shut the fuck up today. Take the day off.

[neonstatic]

i must be tired cus there was a yt video w the title including the phrase "jubilee's tinder" and my brain auto-read "justin trudeau"

[martian-astro10]

Arudha lagna in signs (sidereal chart, whole signs)- Part 2

- part 1 is here

AL in LIBRA - like Leo, people may see you as someone who has many secret admirers. You may also be the mediator in your friend group. People may see you as someone who is very social and charming but also clever and cunning. You guys may want to maintain a good bond with everyone and this is why your stance on a lot of things is neutral. With this, people definitely think you are beautiful. You guys can come across as really manipulative though and this may cause many people to hate you. People can perceive you as a superficial person, they might think that you care more about appearances. You may victimise yourself a lot, like, having everything that a person could ask for but still whining about little things. I have noticed that these people end up making a lot of enemies, and most of the times it's unintentional. I really don't know why though. You know those politicians who are just as bad as the others but people think they're nice because they're good looking and "sweet", (Justin Trudeau 👀) that would be you guys. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

AL in SCORPIO - my mom and my mom's younger brother who stole all the inheritance, both have this placement 😭. I feel like I've seen both the best and the worst parts of this one. People definitely see you as cunning and strategic, they may think that you'll go to any lengths to be successful. Many people don't actually know what to perceive you as, they think that your personality constantly changes, depending on who you are with. You can also be seen as a great business person, despite having many failed ventures. People may want to be your close friend so they can benefit from the power that you have. You may have trouble opening up to people and that's why you come across as secretive, but I feel like you guys actually just don't know how to be expressive, it's not intentional. You guys may have a lot of broken relationships because of your trust issues and controlling nature, but also because you have such high standards which no human being can reach because nobody is perfect. I feel like men with this placement can't keep it in their pants 😭. You can also be destructive leaders. You are also extremely adventurous, more than Aries or Sagittarius, you'll do ANYTHING as long as you think that the reward is worth it. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

AL in SAGITTARIUS - love these people tbh, you can be seen as the epitome of the "chill guy" meme. But you can also be serious when the situation calls for it. My mom's older brother has this, he's a Libra ascendant but has all the traits of a Sagittarius. People may love spending time with you because of how funny and playful you are. You come across as a very charming person but unlike leo and Libra, it's your personality rather than your face. You can be seen as kind of impulsive though, like, you know those guys who do stupid stuff like standing on a bike while riding it but still come out alive, that's you. Since it's ruled by Jupiter, you are very much seen as someone philosophical, the type of person who constantly acts like a preacher (can be annoying sometimes). You can be seen as someone who holds a grudge for a LOOONG time, a person might have said something to you when you were 10 and you'll still refuse to talk to them or let them know what they did whenever you see them. You also hate it when people call you out on your shit because in your mind, you're the most intelligent and only your views matter. People view you as extremely childish. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

AL in CAPRICORN - (I HAVE THIS), you are seen as someone who is mature for their age. People may think that you're very disciplined, responsible and like to follow a set routine. So many of my classmates have told me that they think I'm all of the above because I live alone. You can also be seen as ambitious and hardworking. People may think that you are very much focused on materialistic things and you may come across as someone who is not good at making emotional connections. Also, i don't know if it's just me but people have told me that I look sad all the time....i remember this one time a guy said "why do you always have a rainy cloud on top of your head"...yeah. You can be intolerant of others opinions and can be overly critical of others. People may also think that you are condescending (which you are not btw, everyone around you is just stupid). I feel like you may be more into tough love, and want people to be more practical and this can make them not like you because a lot of times, all that people want is a hug. You hate slow people and want everything to be done ASAP. You look annoyed all the time. People may also think that you're intimidating. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

AL in AQUARIUS - I have many friends with this and if there's one thing that I can say with complete confidence, it's that, people definitely see you as a progressive person. Everyone i know with this is so outspoken about LGBTQ, feminist, and wars and issues like these. People may think that you have a strong sense of justice and want to make this world a better place for everyone. Your actions are guided by compassion. People may love your ideas as they're always so unique and easy to implement. Similar to Capricorn, you guys can be condescending as well, and may have a "my way or the highway" attitude. It's like, you believe in things so strongly that it pisses you off when others don't do the same. You guys can be unreliable friends, you expect people to be there for you but won't do the same for others. You are also be prone to ghosting people. People may not like how overconfident you are, you think you know everything, you have certain opinions and you'll not change them no matter what happens. It's like, all your knowledge comes from books and not real life experience, so you can come across as naive, kind of like, keyboard warriors. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

AL in PISCES - I know a few people with this and they all look like pushovers, I'm sorry 😭. People see them as a creative person and then they think of ways to take advantage of that creativity. You may be perceived as someone who is always "lost", you just have this aloof expression on your face. I feel like these people need a good, strong companion so that their more positive traits come out. They look like they won't be able to function alone. Unlike Aquarius, your compassion comes from real life experiences. I honestly see these people going to dangerous areas and helping people. As much as I love them, I wouldn't want to be very close to them. People may think that you're very moody and can react in a sort of dangerous way if someone rejects you, it's like when pearl says "NO! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME IF I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG, I DON'T UNDERSTAND, I THOUGHT YOU LIKED ME!" You may be prone to overthinking as well, and then become very clingy which turns people off. You might be bad at communication and not tell people what's wrong which again leads them to see you as closed off. If it's more positively aspected then people will see the positives of the sign in you and vice versa.

© martian-astro All rights reserved, 2024

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Trudeau government authorized at least $28.5 million of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of the state’s brutal war on Gaza, data supplied to The Maple by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) shows. The total value of the new permits authorized over a two-month period exceeds the 30-year annual record high of $26 million in Canadian military exports to Israel in 2021. The information provided by GAC does not indicate the time period for which the newly authorized permits are valid for, meaning not all the goods may have been exported in 2023. Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with the arms-monitoring group Project Ploughshares, told The Maple: “It’s not only troubling that Canadian officials have continued to authorize arms transfers since the onset of Israel’s operation, but also that the value of those transfers is in the tens of millions.” “These combined values exceed that of total Canadian arms exports to Israel for any year on record.”

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada @allthegeopolitics

[coochiequeens]

Canada, WTF? Part I

By Reduxx Team November 13, 2024

The trial of a man charged with murdering his wife and two young sons has begun this week, with the accused now claiming to identify as transgender. Mohamad Al Ballouz, 38, is charged with the second-degree murder of his wife, Synthia Bussières, and the first-degree murders of their two sons, aged just 5 and 2 years old. Ballouz has now adopted the name Levana Ballouz, and has been referred to as a “woman” by Canadian press.

In September of 2022, firefighters attended Ballouz’ 12th floor condo in Brossard, Quebec in response to an apparent house fire. Inside, they found Synthia Bussières, her body riddled with stab wounds, laying on a bed next to her two children. Ballouz had lodged himself between Bussiéres and the children, and a small bonfire of household items had been lit next to the mattress.

Synthia Bussières and her two children.

All four were rushed to the hospital, but Bussières and her children died. Ballouz, who was also injured, had reportedly consumed dishwashing liquid in an apparent suicide attempt, but he was placed under arrest after being treated. Ballouz has no previous criminal history.

While the details of the case, including any potential motive, are still unclear, Bussières’ mother has come forward to reveal that her daughter appeared increasingly troubled in the two years leading up to the murder.

“She had been with this man for 12 years, but in the last two years, she had changed. I didn’t recognize her anymore,” Sylvie Guertin told Les 2 Rives in September of 2023. She also said that she had seen Bussières in the weeks before her death, and had observed that her daughter looked frail.

“In August [of 2022], I saw that something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to look like the mother who gets involved in something that doesn’t concern her,” Guertin said. “I thought she had lost weight.”

Ballouz’s trial began on Monday, but during the proceedings it was learned that he now identifies as a “woman” named Levana Ballouz. During his hearings, he appeared in court wearing a blonde, curly wig and nail polish. He is reportedly representing himself after firing his two criminal defense lawyers, both of whom were considered to be among the best in Quebec.

According to CBC, the prosecution had to “warn” the jury that several witnesses would refer to Ballouz as a man to preempt any concerns about “disrespect.” Prior to the start of the trial, no previous news coverage had documented that Ballouz was expressing a change in his self-perceived “gender identity,” suggesting his claim of being transgender was extremely recent.

Canadian media outlets are respecting Ballouz’ new identity, with multiple articles covering the trial referring to Ballouz as a “woman” or by using feminine pronouns.

While the trial is expected to last at least 10 more weeks, if Ballouz is found guilty and criminally responsible, he would be entitled to request housing in a women’s prison.

Largely due to the efforts of the governing Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau, the category of “gender identity” was made a protected characteristic after it was added to the Canadian Human Rights Act via a controversial piece of legislation known as Bill C-16. The amendments granted men access to single-sex female spaces like washrooms, changing rooms, prisons, and rape shelters on the basis of their identity.

While the Canadian government claimed the bill had been assessed for its impact on women prior to approval, it has refused to release any details of the assessment’s findings. In 2020, a copy of the assessment was given to journalist Anna Slatz via an Access To Information Request but was 96% redacted.

Since Bill C-16 was enacted in 2017, a number of violent and sexually depraved male inmates have been transferred to women’s prisons across Canada.

As previously reported by Reduxx, one egregious example includes a trans-identified male who raped an infant before being transferred to a women’s prison.

Tara Desousa, also known as Adam Laboucan, sexually assaulted a three-month-old baby boy in Quesnel, British Columbia in 1997. The infant was so brutally injured by the attack that he had to be flown to Vancouver, 410 miles away, to undergo reconstructive surgery. After declaring a transgender status, Desousa was transferred to the Fraser Valley Institution for Women, where he is one of multiple trans-identified males with a history of sexual violence at the facility. Desousa is designated a “dangerous offender” and is considered such a risk to public safety that he is serving an indeterminate prison sentence.

[brightlotusmoon]

Canada turns off all lights in hopes US will think we're not home - The Beaverton

While the bitterly contested election is decided, a majority of Canadians have indicated plans to “stay inside and watch Love Island with the sound down low”, whereas others intend to “head out entirely and go get dinner someplace, like France.”

Brian MacMurray, who lives on the border at Windsor, ON, reported upon peeking through his venetian blinds: “Aw hell, I see a bunch of Americans roaming around the streets all dressed up in camouflage and flag costumes. I can’t tell if they’re looking to start trouble, or if that’s just how they normally dress.”

Should tonight’s election devolve into a full-blown civil war, Prime Minister Trudeau has announced further plans for Canadians to put a bowl of fun-sized Snickers out on the porch in hopes that Americans will just take them and go away.

[mariacallous]

Canada PM Trudeau is likely to announce resignation, source says

OTTAWA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is increasingly likely to announce he intends to step down, though he has not made a final decision, a source familiar with Trudeau's thinking said on Sunday.

The source spoke to Reuters after the Globe and Mail reported that Trudeau was expected to announce as early as Monday that he would quit as leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party after nine years in office.

The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Trudeau's departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.

Sources told the Globe and Mail that they did not know definitely when Trudeau would announce his plans to leave but said they expect it would happen before a emergency meeting of Liberal legislators on Wednesday.

An increasing number of Liberal parliamentarians, alarmed by a series of gloomy polls, have publicly urged Trudeau to quit.

The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. The prime minister's regularly published schedule for Monday said he would participate virtually in a cabinet committee meeting on Canada-U.S. relations.

It remains unclear whether Trudeau will leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new Liberal leader is selected, the Globe and Mail report added.

CALLS TO RESIGN GROW

Trudeau took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.

If he does resign, it would likely spur fresh calls for a quick election to put in place a stable government able to deal with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump for the next four years.

The prime minister has discussed with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc whether he would be willing to step in as interim leader and prime minister, one source told the newspaper, adding that this would be unworkable if LeBlanc plans to run for the leadership.

Trudeau, 53, had been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections.

But calls for him to step aside have grown since December, when Trudeau tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.

Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of "political gimmicks" rather than focusing on what was best for the country.

Trudeau propelled the Liberals to power in 2015 promising "sunny ways" and a progressive agenda that promoted the rights of women and a promise to fight climate change.

But the everyday realities of governing gradually wore him down and like many Western leaders, the need to deal with the effects of the pandemic ate up much of his time.

Although Ottawa spent heavily to protect consumers and businesses, racking up record budget deficits, this provided little protection from public anger as prices soared.

A botched immigration policy led to hundreds of thousands of arrivals, straining an already overheated housing market.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Seth Mandel

Yet as exasperatingly counterproductive as Schumer’s remarks were, they could not hold a candle to the performance by Rep. Jerrold Nadler on Tuesday. Nadler was announcing that he would attend Bibi’s speech while also making clear he that he—as-a-Jew—despises the Israeli government that is currently embroiled in a multi-front war against enemies seeking to eliminate the Jewish people from the surface of the earth. Nadler collapsed under the pressure and tweeted what can only be described as a cry for help:

“Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago. The Prime Minister is putting the security of Israel, the lives of the hostages, the stability of the region, and longstanding Israeli democratic norms in perilous jeopardy, simply to maintain the stability of his far-right coalition and absolve him of his own legal troubles. Tomorrow’s address is the next step in a long line of manipulative bad-faith efforts by Republicans to further politicize the U.S.-Israel relationship for partisan gain and is a cynical stunt by Netanyahu aimed at aiding his own desperate political standing at home. There is no question in my mind it should not be happening.”

And yet, he said, “I have not given up on the dream of an Israel that can live in peace with its neighbors.” Therefore, he is attending the speech.

There are three things happening here, all of them deeply destructive. The first has nothing to do with the Jewish angle of this debacle. That is the diplomatic malpractice. America has a serious amount of power and lately an unserious way of wielding it.

Set aside the hysterical tone of Nadler’s post. Does anyone in Congress talk about any other ally this way? We have had a series of incompetent prime ministers in Britain over the past few years, one of whose term was outlived by a head of lettuce. We did not have members of Congress ranting about how Liz Truss was her country’s worst leader since Britain was Roman. That’s because they would look completely insane even publicly contemplating the question. If Nadler wants to retire to become a blogger at The Nation, he is more than welcome to. It’s a low bar, but more is expected of members of the United States Congress, especially those in senior positions.

Or we can turn to Canada, where the remedial-class prime minister likes to play dress-up more than think about politics, like some kind of ancient child-king. Is Schumer out on the floor ranting about how he loves Tim Hortons but the coffee will taste bitter to him until Justin Trudeau resigns to join the Ontario community theater?

[tyetknot]

We live in a world in which the GOP is spending the day before the US federal election canonizing some dude's pet squirrel that bit someone when it was confiscated and had to be put down so they could check it for rabies and it turned out that the squirrel's owner was putting squirrel videos on Tiktok to drive traffic to his gay porn OnlyFans. As an outside observer I am having trouble precisely articulating the particular combination of horror and fascination I am experiencing, and I can assure you that I am a seasoned gazer into the abyss that is American political discourse. I don't even fucking live there! I live in fucking Canada, for Gods' sakes! But we have to hear about this frankly unhinged insane shit and act as though somehow America is a sane and rational nation in spite of all this insane shit that inevitably creeps up north because Americans refuse to stop exporting their brainworms and in three week's time we'll all have to hear Pierre Pollievre Adult Milhouse beaking off about something equally insane in the House and Trudeau will once again fail to reply with "shut up, nerd" and steal Petey's lunch money.

There should be two separate Internets that can never interact. One of them should be for Americans and one of them should be for the rest of us so we don't have to engage with this nonsensical trash anymore.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dave Lawler and Ivana Saric at Axios:

Some of America's closest allies are melting down politically and sputtering economically, even before President-elect Trump takes office promising tariffs and unpredictability. The big picture: South Korea under martial law, warnings of economic crisis in Germany, an unprecedented government collapse in France — and that was just last week.

Most of the world's leading democracies are struggling with significantly slower economic growth and persistently higher inflation than the U.S.

Those economic struggles are reverberating politically. Remarkably, the German and French governments crumbled within a single month. Ruling parties also got walloped in parliamentary elections this year in the U.K., Japan and South Korea.

Breaking it down: President Biden's 37% approval rating looks stratospheric compared to some of his peers, many of whom are unlikely to last much longer.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survived one impeachment vote Sarurafter his strange and shocking declaration of martial law, but the saga is far from over.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is unlikely to survive snap elections in February.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is running on fumes ahead of elections next year.

Enter, Trump.

After years of hand-wringing around the world about his potential return — the lack of commitment to NATO and Ukraine, sweeping tariff threats — he's now hardly the biggest challenge some key allies face.

Still, his return could exacerbate the existing crises.

If Trump follows through on his promise to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, it could push all three North American trading partners close to — or even into — recession, a new analysis from Oxford Economics found.

The European Union would also struggle to absorb additional tariffs, given the already sluggish growth in its economic powerhouses, France and Germany.

With the election of Donald Trump as the “President” of the USA again, many of the US’s allies are in trouble, such as Germany, South Korea, Canada, and France.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dexter Van Zile

Somebody needs to tell the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a prominent nonprofit in the Great White North, that if you live by the witch-hunt, you die by the witch-hunt. Two years after the NCCM helped oust Collin May, a well-regarded lawyer and scholar, from his post as director of Alberta's Human Rights Commission on trumped-up charges of "Islamophobia," the organization was helpless to stop the ouster of Birju Dattani—a Muslim activist with a troubling history of promoting anti-Zionist propaganda on the internet—from his post on Canada's Human Rights Commission.

The controversy over Dattani's anti-Israel messaging began soon after the Trudeau government appointed Dattani director of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, a body charged with, among other things, investigating and sanctioning people who post mean and scary things on the internet. Soon after his appointment, which took place in late June, Dattani was accused of using X, then called Twitter, to promote an article comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and another equating the Palestinians to the Jews during the Holocaust.

Soon after the allegations came to light, Dattani apologized to Jewish organizations for the harm caused by the posts in question. It was to no avail. The revelations prompted a review of Dattani's background, announced by Canadian Justice Minister Arif Virani on July 24. Virani initiated the investigation after it became apparent that the Privy Council, the body charged with vetting Dattani's background, dropped the ball.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a prominent Islamist organization, jumped to Dattani's defense, declaring that he was the victim of a witch-hunt "based on misinformation and poorly sourced allegations."

Unfortunately for the NCCM, the allegations against Dattani were largely confirmed by outside investigators, whose findings were released in mid-August. While speaking with investigators, Dattani claimed he promoted the offensive articles not because he agreed with them, but because he wanted his Twitter followers to see them.

The investigative report stated: "Mr. Dattani advised that the reason for this was that his understanding of 'Twitter ethics' were that one didn't 'comment' on the links that one was tweeting. A tweet, for him, was the equivalent of saying 'look at this' without comment."

But the tweets were only part of the problem, with Dattani admitting to investigators that, in early 2015, he unwittingly appeared on a panel in London that included a speaker from Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). It's a troubling admission given that HT is a South Asian Islamist organization that seeks Israel's destruction as part of a larger campaign to establish a global caliphate.

To make matters worse, Dattani admitted to appearing on a panel with Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay who was once "a confirmed member of Al-Qaeda" and, according to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, "penned a book in which he freely admitted that he was a jihadist." Dattani appeared on these panels while using the pseudonym of Mujahid, which in some contexts, describes someone committed to a holy war, or jihad, on behalf of Islam.

[darkmaga-returns]

Lisa Miron (Lawyer Lisa) stopped by Mind Matters and Everything Else with Dr. Joseph Sansone to blow the whistle on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s seizing control of the Canadian government. Liss explains that while government/corporate controlled media are reporting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated his intent to resign, instead he has seized control of the Canadian government. The Governor General ( a Trudeau appointee) approved the Prime Minister's request to prorogue Parliament.

This effectively canceled parliament blocking an election to replace Trudeau. Parliament may not return till late January with possible extensions through March, and this could be extended until May. With no legislature Canada’s bureaucratic state has been implementing unpopular laws that have not passed parliament such as a 67% ocapital gains tax. It is possible that Trudeau may implement other unpopular laws that have not passed recently, such as an anti free speech bill that would allow him to arrest political opposition.

In addition to whatever whims Trudeau may seek to implement there is great concern that Dictator Trudeau will declare a public health emergency to maintain power indefinitely and further globalist goals.

Lawyer Lisa has written an open letter to the governor general speaking out against the newly created dictatorship.

Please watch and share this video. Canada is in trouble.

[fatehbaz]

There are three reasons why an international audience should care about the otherwise insignificant Canadian city of Thunder Bay, a community of 120,000 souls 100km North of the American border right in the middle of the world’s second most spacious nation-state.

The first is that, as Canada’s murder and hate-crime capital, with the vast majority of these terrors directed at Indigenous people, roughly 13-20 percent of the population, its example has a lot to teach us about the dire failure of the Canadian model of liberal capitalism, corporate multiculturalism, and half-hearted “reconciliation.”

Second, as a troubled (post-)extractive and logistics-based economy in a “first-world” country — a country that exports and finances extractive industries around the world — its patterns of racist violence reveal something profound about capitalism today.

Finally, Thunder Bay’s problems demand, and are generating, the kind of radical, grassroots solutions that point towards the kind of transformations all communities need to embrace in the years to come to overcome the dangerous intertwined orders of contemporary colonialism and capitalism [...].

---

The isolation, the economic marginality, and the history of extraction and racial resentments all contribute to, but cannot completely explain, the staggering degree of racism in the city. [...] Like many police forces in Canada, officers in the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) have been known to drive Indigenous people out to the outskirts of town, take their shoes and coats, and leave them to walk back or freeze to death. Unlike most police forces in Canada, the TBPS has recently been found to be plagued with profound “systemic racism” by two independent and high-profile reports. [...] The real reason for the investigations was the deaths of seven Indigenous youth, most from remote Northern communities, most in the city to access high school education or medical services denied to them in their communities. [...]

---

As scholars Damien Lee and Jana-Rae Yerxa note, many precedents stand behind these fears. Indigenous people end up dead in Thunder Bay at staggering rates. [...] Just before the most recent police reports were issued, the mayor (a former Police Association president), the police chief (a fool) and the city’s most successful lawyer (a convicted child molestor) were all implicated in a scandal involving a blend of sexual abuse, extortion, and breach of trust. [...]

Meanwhile, just as I moved to the city in early 2017, an Indigenous woman was fatally injured in the street when one of a gang of white teenagers out joyriding threw a heavy metal trailer hitch at her from their speeding car. It took her several agonizing months to die from her internal injuries. [...]

---

The rank, racist and reactionary hypocrisy so common in Canada and in Thunder Bay is, unfortunately, often mistaken for merely a cultural anachronism, which can be solved through better public education, greater cultural sensitivity and more opportunities to celebrate diversity. This has, for instance, been the approach to the problems of racist policing in the city: another “cultural competency” workshop [...].

In spite of a great deal of rhetoric about “nation-to-nation” negotiations by the Trudeau government, it is profoundly clear, as Mi’Kmaq lawyer and professor Pam Palmater warns, that the State does not and cannot accept the idea that Indigenous people would be allowed to say “no” to, for instance, mines, forestry, corporate fishing or pipelines [...].

---

To this day Canada is a key player in a global capitalist imperium that specializes in extractive industries and extractive forms of debt.

The Mining Association of Canada reports that “the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange accounted for 57 percent of the global mining equity raised in 2016.” As Alain Deneault and William Sacher have noted, Canada has historically structured its laws and commercial norms to empower the theft of indigenous lands to be violently transformed into “resources” for export, a specialization that is now itself exported around the world as Canadian-owned or -funded corporations are called upon to “develop” mines and extractive projects globally.

Every Canadian with savings is necessarily complicit: almost all pension funds, banks and other investment vehicles here are wrapped up in the TSX and therefore the extractive industry. Meanwhile, as Peter Hudson illustrates, Canada also has a long legacy of renovating national, municipal and personal debt into a tool of neocolonialism, notably in the Caribbean where Canadian banks have enjoyed profound influence, even monopolies. [...]

The ruling class and international capital, working hand in glove, have consistently used divide-and-conquer techniques to sew the seeds of racism that undermine solidarity. Thunder Bay is only a particularly poignant example, a place so small and marginalized that it cannot sustain the veneer of polite, civil, cheerful liberalism that is the country’s brand.

---

Text by: Max Haiven. “The colonial secrets of Canada’s most racist city.” ROAR Magazine. 13 February 2019. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

[phoebehalliwell]

Out of curiosity, (code: I want to drag someone into alt next gen hyperfixation hell with me and you are like the og alt next gen Charmed blogger, y'know?) do you have any thoughts on what kids of the following pairings would end up like? Piper/Coop, Paige/Andy, Prue/Drake, or Phoebe/Simon Marks? (110% fine if you don't wanna dream up some new kiddos, I'm just currently spinning around in circles yelling about alt next gen potential and it's been a minute since someone forcibly threw an alternative next gen thing at you, I think?)

wait omg awwwww 💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞 also yayyy fun okay okay

so i got to piper & coop and paige & andy. there's 1k words about it under the cut ❤️❤️❤️ but the long and the short of it is

piper/coop

juliet halliwell (temporal manipulation, beaming, sensing love)

esme halliwell (photokinesis, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, beaming, sensing love)

venus halliwell (empathy, beaming, sensing love

paige/andy

clementine trudeau (empathy, premonition, orbing, telekinetic orbing)

sienna trudeau (orbing, telekineis, telekinetic orbing, healing)

ruby garcia trudeau (nyehehehehehehe)

piper/coop i think would def have three kids and i feel like would maybe be named after different iconic lovers? like coop is obvi a cupid and piper canonically loves rom coms and i think also romance novels so like. i think maybe in a world where we scrap the richard intro episode which was obvs a romeo and juliet allusion and instead create an episode where the pain shared by romeo juliet and everyone else in their families so on and so forth creates a Curse the lover's curse where whenever a feud akin to that form romeo and juliet are essentially reborn, destined to fall in love, and, ultimately, die (thus triggering the end of the feud). so these two spirits just keep getting born over and over again and they keep kind of unlocking the memories blah blah blah and idk maybe coop finds them bc love is his deal and they all save the day the point is we're naming the baby juliet. why tho? like. if she's really just a one off person we helped. i mean, yes, also, juliet of romeo and juliet, but, still, only a person we met once. so let's say that in this au they were witches. or maybe just juliet was. so she cast magic that caught coop or tco's radar. and idk maybe we're very worried about piper's baby. and there's a side plot about that. something bad has happened / is happening idk. and juliet after breaking the curse is thanking piper. then! we are attacked by piper's b plot! juliet saves piper. uses her final words to thank her bc now the curse is broken and i can finally move on instead of being reborn into this cursed life. also, i'm healing ur baby. or i'm seeing into the future about her or something. then idk she turns into butterflies whoosh magical death. and piper's trying to name her firstborn she's holding her and then a little butterfly lands on the baby's nose and the baby cooes as if in recognition BOOM welcome juliet halliwell. her power's included temporal manipulation (she can slow time down "to slip in between the heartbeats" as we see cupid do in heartbreak city and she can freeze time (kind of) like her mama. she cannot move backwards in time (yet)). she can also beam and sense love. the next daughter will be from the plot from piper's favorite book she read as a child that she and coop will get sucked into for an episode (maybe one where they're experience love troubles) and it will help reconnect piper with the concept of love and the first story that really had her wishing to be in love and will help coop understand piper's point of view. the next daughter will be named esme halliwell, after the name of the main charcter in that story. she has fire/lightning/light powers, fire as displayed by p russell (and phoebe) in the line and lightning by the evil enchantress who i do headcanon as a distant ancestor of theirs bc of the whole. you know. paige. is her. thing. and then light powers we sometimes see them do. idk. she can also beam and sense love. the third daughter is gonna conincide with an astrological episode where some demon is trying to warp some astral aligning for evil but the charmed ones stop them and save the day!! look at how beautiful. what's that one star rising so brightly right there? oh, it's venus. meet venus halliwell is an empath (with the empath extension pack ability to impact other people's moods by touching them / being close enough to them) who through that power also unlocks deflection and mimicry. can also beam and sense love.

paige/andy it's not gonna be as detailed as the pipercoop one lol. [a/n: as it turns out i was lying :3] this will be the base text we're using. first born we're going to do an episode tensions have been building between paige and andy because of paige's issues with motherhood and what it means to be a mom and maybe it's a muses episode or a trapped in a painting episode the point is there's something artsy paige is trapped in and she has to create something to get herself out of there meanwhile andy is on the outside fighting to get her out and realizing that they are always stronger together and their fight is stupid blah blah blah. paige makes. a painting. she has to find The Color that is the key to getting her out. it's the color that she uses painting one of her first moments with andy (a paige/henry knockoff) their first stakeout, which is also somewhat tied to a bet. they've been waiting in the car for hours, it's sunset now and the sky is tinged orange and andy's peeled her some baby oranges bc she's complaining about being hungry so on and so forth. paige is freed. andy sees her painting. and the daughter is named clementine trudeau. empathy, premonitions, orbing, telekinetic orbing (but really only on things in her line of sight. maybe we do a color theme for this one. their next daughter is named sienna trudeau. i can't reasonably tell you why so we'll say she pulled a chris and came back from the future, giving her her name. powers are. telekinesis. orbing. telekinetic orbing. welcome back, chris halliwell. except sienna can also heal. the third daughter will be an adopted witch that paige and andy found when she was young and idk on the run kind of a la tyler michaels. she's maybe seven or so when they find her, clem's maybe three and sienna's one. plotline plotline, we take her in. she becomes a part of the family quickly and clem and sienna view her as her older sister almost immediately lol. meet ruby garcia. first name color last name i'm stealing from jerry garcia bc my parents were just at a grateful dead show or whatever call it an homage (jerry was not there, he is dead. rip.) ruby might add trudeau onto her last name as well. tbd. anyways, as it turns out, she is a demon witch (omg!!) powers are. fireballs energy balls telekinesis and flaming. i am actually going to make her zankou's daughter. just for funsies.

[nexility-sims]

For Leonor: 🌑 - what does your character think is their biggest flaw?

For Renzo: ⚡ - what is actually your character's biggest flaw?

For Beatriz: 💗 - which relationship in your character's life is the healthiest?

For Rowena: 🗽- do you think your character's story would fit into any other time period? if so, which?

CHARACTER ASK GAME  / accepting !

man, excellent choices !!! let's see ...

🌑 - what does your character think is their biggest flaw?

perhaps it's less of a flaw than a tendency, but i think leonor is really troubled by the trend of self-doubt that has emerged lately. she's never really had cause to question herself, the world, the people around her, and now it's like she can't stop ! she should probably say her biggest flaw is being a grade A bitch, but. well. it's probably something like "i'm just too dedicated 🥺"

⚡ - what is actually your character's biggest flaw?

this is hard ! my first thought was selfishness, but i feel like that's not actually true. maybe it's more to do with temperament? renzo's tempestuous and reckless in a way that causes a great deal of problems, constantly, without apparently any lessons learned. or, i dunno, maybe that's the flaw: in a sort of contradictory way, he's easygoing and rootless but, on a deeper level, gets into trouble because he's fundamentally recalcitrant, obstinate, unwilling to change for anyone or anything—even what's best for himself, clearly.

💗 - which relationship in your character's life is the healthiest?

i would say it's her marriage ! i enjoyed the scene with beatriz and matias recently because i felt like it gave a glimpse of ... maybe a softer side? or, at least, what she's like in a domestic setting. their relationship has been rocky, for sure, but they figured out in time what worked for them—why they needed each other, what they were willing to compromise. matias has made way more compromises than she has, but she listens to him and—in the same way she felt like safya offered her some kind of redemption, just by virtue of existing—she feels the same way about him. she wants him to be happy and feel empowered because he makes the world a better place, and he makes her life feel more meaningful. she can't be the person he wants her to be, but she feels like allowing him to push her anyway counts for something.

🗽- do you think your character's story would fit into any other time period? if so, which?

all of them !!!! rowena is a quintessential woman of her time, but i think she would fit well into anywhere i slotted her. still, she's definitely meant for the twentieth century. i think she'd be really great at the cusp of the 1970s/1980s, actually. disco baby. she could be like margaret trudeau, at studio 54 with no panties on while her husband runs a government or whatever :^)