I don’t have time to read the article right now unfortunately, and have only glanced at it, but anyone not concerned about the global rise of authoritarianism isn’t paying attention. Based on my glances, I thought the commenters disparaging the Tyee read less of the article than me. I think we’re seeing a post-election uptick in US commenters making US-centric comments on Canadian news article posts on lemmy.ca. When they’re relevant or thoughtful, I don’t mind. I hope to read this slightly dated, but perhaps more relevant now than before, article later

I don’t see where the article says PP is a threat to democracy…

It’s not just about the bike lanes. The bike lanes removal is part of a bill ford is using to build a highway. I’m not sure how much the bike lanes bit is a distraction from him circumventing opposition to a highway he wants to build. I definitely think the bike lanes removal is an issue, but it’s not the full picture of ford’s latest effort to @#$ the people of Ontario over, which we shouldn’t lose site of.

https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-highway-413-bill-explainer/ (bold mine):

If built, Highway 413 would run through Ontario’s Greenbelt, prime farmland, wetlands, woodlands and waterways, connecting suburbs north and west of Toronto. Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have been trying to build it since 2018, and won re-election in 2022 on promises to deliver on the highway. But the process has been bogged down by intervention from the federal government — plus backlash over the 413’s environmental impact and the well-connected developers that stand to benefit from its construction.

Six years later, with shovels not yet in the ground and the premier hinting at an early election, the government is now making another attempt to hit the gas pedal. It’s selling the new legislation — which also includes measures to restrict bike lanes — as a way to solve the Greater Toronto Area’s traffic woes, despite years of evidence showing new highways don’t relieve congestion and bike lanes don’t cause it.

The COP conferences nowadays are O&G industries cosplaying social responsibility as a self-serving delay tactic

The privacy violations seem egregious to me. Then there’s the fact that this bill will secure pensions for 80 politicians by pushing the next election back a week. Why doesn’t the electorate trust politicians more? /s

I think political parties love where politics is at. It’s become about data collection and copious personalized advertising to ‘key voters’ (ie, small groups of voters that heavily and unfairly sway overall results in first-past-the-post style elections). Policy and party identity are passé and not as easy to game the system and be reactionary with. It’s easier to buy votes (via personalized advertising) than it ever was before this era of social media saturation, I think.

I’m in my 30s and I reject these sort of privacy violations (and freedom of reach), in part because I remember how much ownership and privacy consumers used to enjoy. Now, we can’t access many services without handing over gobs of our data, and because we often pay for licenses versus actual goods (eg, netflix) we are at the whims of companies when they want to change their services, increase fees (eg, surge pricing), or change end-user agreements.

I make a point of my age, because when I talk to people in their 20s and younger, they often don’t see things like I do; my privacy-centric views seem strange to them. For people who’ve experienced puberty and onwards with multiple mainstream social media platforms, they seem to regard this relationship with products and companies as completely normal. Good news for the oligarchs.

Why do you think a union would be involved in moving stolen vehicles, especially in any sort of decision-making capacity (ie, deciding to support this type of crime)? Is there any evidence to support your allegations of criminal activity?

In a very superficial way, yes; in a meaningful way, not at all imo. In response to Black Lives Matter, “all lives matter” was a way of delegitimizing a marginalized group’s fight for justice and equality. Recognizing all victims of war and not strictly NATO soldiers (ie the red poppy) is about including more marginalized people in our memorializing, not fewer. It’s quite opposite to “all lives matter” actually

This happened in Canada, not the US, but I agree with the US healthcare issues you mentioned

“This doctor billed the Ministry for over 23,000 vaccines over 5 days, incorrectly billing the Ministry for $630,000, 21 times their eligible payments.”

Those vaccines were not administered by her or her staff, but by local medical students, and not in her office, both of which apparently go against billing codes.

I’m not sure I agree with seizure of all funds here, and the vaccine clinics did good, but I think the doctor intended to misuse billing codes and I understand why the Ministry wants some money back. There should have been more communication and compromise earlier on. Like, if a doctor bills the province for $100,000 for a day’s services that should raise a flag

Great insights!

Shocked, saddened here.

I can’t believe Trump did so well. He’ll be the first Republican to win the popular vote since 2004. He’s a racist, sexist, transphobic, fascist, anti-science rapist, convicted felon, climate change-denier, and champion of the uber wealthy.

I guess there are many more deeply racist and sexist people than I wish to believe. It’s BS how first-past-the-post and the electoral college systems work - it’s so very easy to manipulate the system when you know the precious few key areas in advance to try to influence. Control of mainstream news and social media by the billionaire gives dis-, misinformation, and other bias so much reach to undermine democracy and voters’ rational self-interest.

I hope the Liberals and NDP learn from Trump’s surprisingly good results. Populism is really big right now and any party not embracing that as a means of staying relevant will not stand a chance of forming a government imo. (See the carbon rebate debacle, for example. I don’t like this, but it’s how I see things in the era of most people getting their news on billionaire-run social media platforms). Unfortunately, I do not foresee Trudeau stepping aside or acting with any ‘shape up or ship out’ pressure to adapt

I think that following the passage of sensible legislation preventing fossil fuel companies from lying in advertisements about how green they are, they are now using new tactics.

I saw a similar billboard to the one in the Narwhal article in Toronto this week. It said some bullshit like “A strong oil and gas sector means more for all Canadians”. LMFAO

(I added the bold)

Civil society, human rights groups, and faculty associations broadly oppose the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (known as “IHRA”) because it purposefully conflates criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism and is frequently deployed by supporters of Israel to unfairly shut down Palestinians perspectives.

All across the country our political leaders are getting behind coercive intervention

Has Singh called for this? Trudeau? Nah, this is a right-wing “blame, project, dehumanize, and profiteer off of victims” initiative.

Involuntary treatment (of already marginalized people) in for-profit ‘health care centres,’ backed by venture capitalists. This is some dystopian AF shit

You’re not allowed to say that without prefacing it with “scientists suspect” or something similar /s

Would you be that bold in a parallel universe where the acronym was LBT+? I’m taking the piss. I appreciate hearing your perspective

Is that a belief you have as a self-identifying member of the LGBT+ community yourself?

This one has already stuck for a while, and it works. It is quite inclusive, whereas LGBT was less so. It would go against the principle of an inclusive acronym for “+” to stand in for many not explicitly recognized groups.

I note you’re not a .ca user. Idk if you’re Canadian or not, or it this is what’s driving your comment, but 2S refers to an Indigenous identity of Two-Spirited. It’s a local variation of the acronym, reflecting local culture. If you’re not in Canada/US/Turtle Island, it’s unlikely you’ll see 2S in your local version

I don’t know anything about Samidoun but events over the last year sure have made an impression on me. Among Western governments and legacy media, the criminalization of people and ideas opposing the Palestinian genocide is the most Orwellian thing I have noticed in my relatively young and privileged life.

Samidoun describes themselves as a Palestinian prisoners’ rights organization. The opening words of NatPo’s article describes them as: “Samidoun, the anti-Israel advocacy group based in Vancouver.” Switch this to any other issue or identity and that level of editorial rebranding would be almost unthinkable, and probably legally actionable.

I can’t say I disagree with this

“The Liberals cannot legislate away our right to free speech. If they contend we are terrorists, let them prove it in court,” said Charlotte Kates, one of Samidoun’s founding members, in a statement.