AvocadoBreath

Her face told me everything I needed to know. Her fixed, neutral expression showed flickers of the disdain and anger she struggled to contain as I spoke. I recounted experiences of harm that I’ve lived through as a trans woman living in Toronto. When I described being accosted in a public washroom by a cis woman and being physically assaulted on the street, my voice wavered briefly, but no one on the Toronto Public Library (TPL) Board seemed to notice. Vickery Bowles, Toronto City Librarian, stared blankly ahead into the space above my head.

I continued speaking—calmly explaining why freedom of expression must be reasonably balanced against the need to protect vulnerable communities—knowing that my words and expertise as a community-based scholar and writer would be ignored because I am a trans woman. I asked Bowles if she thought I should use a men’s washroom. Her face briefly showed a flash of rage and alarm before she carefully adjusted her expression back to its lifeless blank stare. She never answered. Then I asked the entire board if they would say trans women are women. Again there was silence. I finished with the words “May history hold you accountable” and walked out of the library and into the night.

A few minutes later, the board announced its decision to rent the publicly funded space to Meghan Murphy, a “gender critical” activist who has stated that trans rights impinge on the rights of women. We—my community of trans and cis allies and I—discovered that the board’s decision had already been made before they even heard anyone speak; they were releasing public statements on Twitter while they sat listening to us and eating their catered Chick-fil-A sandwiches.

Continue Reading.

Who is being elected?

Members of Parliament

Prime Minister

What is a ballot and what does it look like?

The ballot is a list of names of all the candidates in your riding. The ballot will have a white circle beside each candidate's name. The candidates' political parties will be on the ballot next to their names.

To make sure your vote counts - be careful not to spoil your ballot:

Do not sign your name on the ballot.

You can only make 1 "X" on your ballot.

Do not write anything else on your ballot.

If you make a mistake while marking your ballot, you can get a new one. Take your ballot back to the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO). Say you have made a mistake. The DRO will give you a new ballot.

Are you eligible to vote?

To vote in the federal election, you must:

be a Canadian citizen

be at least 18 years old on election day, October 21

prove your identity and address

Accepted ID for voting

Where to vote:

If you vote on election day or advance polling days, you will vote at an assigned polling station in your riding.

After the election is called, you can find out where your assigned polling station is located:

check your voter information card

enter your postal code into the Voter Information Service

call Elections Canada at 1-800-463-6868 or 1-800-361-8935 (TTY)

You can also vote at any Elections Canada office across Canada until the Tuesday before election day or on select campuses about two weeks before election day.

Accessibility

After the election is called, you will be able to make sure your assigned polling stations meet your accessibility needs by:

checking your voter information card

entering your postal code into the Voter Information Service

call Elections Canada at 1-800-463-6868 or 1-800-361-8935 (TTY)

Advance Voting

1. At any Elections Canada office across Canada

We will have over 500 offices open seven days a week from the time the election is called until the election. Vote at any one of them before the Tuesday before election day, 6:00 p.m. You will vote using the special ballot process.

2. At advance polls

Your assigned polling station will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday the week before election day.

3. On campus

Vote at select campuses across the country (open for five days) about two weeks before election day. You don't need to be a student to vote on campus.

4. By mail

To vote by mail during the election, apply online or at any Elections Canada offices across Canada before the Tuesday before election day, 6:00 p.m.

Voting Abroad

Joining a political party

How Our Electoral System Works

Which party best matches my values?

A new documentary featuring two Grande Prairie men is exploring the topic of mental health and suicide rates in people working in the oilfield. Digging in the Dirt looks at the conditions workers are under and the need to put mental health first.

10 years ago, Glenn Bielech lost a friend to suicide and later went into counselling to help deal with the loss as well as his own depression.

He says when men work in the oil industry and even in the trades there’s a mentality that they need to be strong but says that shouldn’t be the case.

“People don’t want to admit they have a problem. Same as not going to doctors we think we’re strong enough, it’s just a minor thing and a lot of times by the time we diagnose it, it’s too late. It’s the same with mental health.”

Bielech adds that of the suicides in Alberta, 80 per cent are men. Dennis Shinski also lost a friend to suicide 11 years ago. As a recovering addict, he ended up getting out of the field and decided to start a new career in social work. He says the best advice he can give people is to talk to someone.

No. The only party with a wealth tax is the NDP:

https://twitter.com/jmcassels/status/1173669751224176640?s=21

So the Green Party’s Universal Basic Income is the Neoliberal kind.

Instead of using it to help prop up vulnerable people by adding to the social services that they depend on its going to be used to get rid of the social services like disability payments/social assistance/etc:

https://twitter.com/mdjohnsto/status/1173632503829204992?s=21

I say this to remind people that this shit has human consequences, and will hurt thousands and thousands of others like me

—

Lets say the Greens are elected, they institute a Universal Basic Income, they get rid of all the existing programs (disability/social assistance/EI/etc) to fund it.

Now the next election the Conservatives are elected and get rid of the UBI, and then they don’t restore any of the social programs that it replaced (why would they? The Conservatives always have been opposed to things like social assistance anyways). A program like this gives Conservatives a way to get rid of all social assistance by wiping out 1 program.

Now marginalized people are fucked.

If a universal basic income happens it needs to add to current services, not replace them entirely, because if you replace it entirely you are putting the fates of tens of thousands to millions of people on the line in case anything happens with that 1 single program. Far from all of Canada’s parties support a basic income, so this is really putting all your eggs in one basket and just hoping nothing goes wrong.

Christo Aivalis: Federal Election 2019: Don’t Count Out Jagmeet Singh

Many pundits and analysts have been counting Jagmeet Singh and the NDP out in the 2019 Canadian Federal Election. But this video explores how Jagmeet Singh and the NDP are the only alternative to both Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives 

Patreon: https://patreon.com/ChristoAivalis 

Political Compass has released their party ideology grid for the 2019 Canadian election.

Reminder that only the NDP and Bloc Quebecois are left of Centre, politically, and the NDP is Canada’s most left major party in Canada. 

The Greens, Liberals, Conservatives and People’s Party are all right of Centre.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the Canadian Government to pause free trade negotiations with Brazil and other South American nations until Jair Bolsonaro’s government stops torching the Amazon.

For non-Canadians, the NDP (New Democratic Party) is one of Canada’s 3 major political parties, and is also the most left major party in Canada.

https://twitter.com/theJagmeetSingh/status/1165018296195960833

UPDATE: Also NDP MP Charlie Angus is also calling for condemnation from Justin Trudeau:

This time, he described a CAMH patient as a “nutcase”:

As someone with lived experience of mental illness, and who is autistic (another group that Ford has publicly and viciously attacked), it is unacceptable for the leader of our province to refer to an individual with a mental health diagnosis this way.

I don’t give a shit what Doug Ford personally thinks about me, because he’s the very embodiment of ignorant white male privilege, but it is completely irresponsible for Ontario’s Premier to set this example of using stigmatizing language.

For my part, I don’t use the words “crazy”, “insane” or “retarded” to describe annoying or infuriating situations or experiences, because I know how dehumanizing it is to have your illness and life experience reduced to those words.

I will be telling the people in my life that come October, a vote for anyone but the NDP is a conscious choice to continue to make life more difficult for disabled Ontarians like me. I want them to think about what Ford’s Conservatives have done in Ontario, and the very real impact it is having on the poorest and most socially excluded of us. I want them to put a face to the people they are hurting by voting Liberal or Conservative.

“National Geographic called me and asked me to write the feminist facts about how The Lion King gets lion pride dynamics all wrong. I happily complied. Lions are matrilineal!! 

When I contacted Craig Packer, one of the world’s leading lion researchers, to talk  about this story he was IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE. He Skyped me almost instantly from a camp in Kenya and said he’s been waiting for someone to ask him this question since the original film came out.

Anyway, if The Lion King were real, Nala would be the star, Sarabi would be holding her up saying everything the light touches is our kingdom, Simba would have left and never come back, and when Nala got old enough Sarabi would have carved out a territory for her to rule.”

- Erin Biba‏ 

In real life, Simba’s mom would be running the pride

“Reasons men gave for lecturing me on lion pride social structure and telling me one of the world’s leading lion researchers is wrong (I am not kidding these are real): -Watched The Lion King DVD extras -Read a textbook 25 years ago -Has been to the zoo -Everyone just knows

If you ever wondered what it’s like to be a woman that communicates science, this is what it’s like. Any expertise you or your sources may have gained over decades of hard work are null and void because someone watched a DVD extra 25 years ago.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and NDP MP Tracey Ramsey today called out Donald Trump’s racist remarks towards US democratic Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib:

https://twitter.com/theJagmeetSingh/status/1150526061442211840

https://twitter.com/traceyram/status/1150429466772029442

Context:

‘Why Don’t They Go Back’: President Trump Tweets at Congresswomen of Color

I’m happy to breakdown the facts from the stereotypes.

Don’t get me wrong some of those stereotypes about Canada are true, and some of the good things that Canada gets praised for are good…but its an unfair portrayal of this country when the only thing the rest of the world learns about are like Justin Trudeau’s socks, and maple syrup memes while ignoring Indigenous genocide, income inequality, and all the same bigotry that exists in America. 

Canada entered WWII years before the US did, and thousands died entering in some of the deadliest battles in both wars. Canada played a major role in D-Day.

(The Vimy Ridge memorial, unsurprisingly, at Vimy Ridge, just outside of Arras, France)

(Juno Beach Center convoy prepping for departure from Halifax)

I don’t know everything, or very much at all really, about the bad shit Canada did during WWI and WWII, because guess what, they like to gloss over and ignore it in school, but I can tell you from my personal family’s history that Canada also did all the same anti-Japanese that the USA did during WWII.

I’m talking internment camps, basically stripping Japanese-Canadians of their citizenship and shipping them to Japan, regardless of how long they had been in Canada, sometimes without regard for whether they had been born Canada, stealing and mismanaging property, banning the entire Japanese ethnic community from living on the West Coast after the war, etc.

I had a childhood friend who lived in the house right across the street from the house my Bachan and her family used to live in before they were sent to an internment camp. They never got to return to that house, it (and essentially all their possessions that they were unable to carry as they were sent to the camps) were sold off by the government while they were in the camps, and then they were banned from living on the West Coast and ended up moving to Hamilton because there was the only nursing school in Canada that would allow my Bachan to finish the nursing degree that she had been in the middle of completing before the war started.

(Amherst Interment Camp for POWs post-WWII, where Trotsky was famously held briefly before he fled to Mexico)

(Upon return to their businesses and homes, many families found they had either been sold to white Canadians, looted, or worst yet, vandalized with hateful messaging) 

(Order of notice for prohibited areas, Parliament would eventually rule that no person of Japanese decent would be allowed within 50km of the west coast for the duration of the war if I remember correctly)

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he rejects Liberal claims that his party’s new platform isn’t realistic.

The NDP unveiled a plan Sunday that promises, among other things, to reform Canada’s health-care system to include universal pharmacare as well as coverage for vision, dental, mental health and long-term care.

Singh spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about his party’s platform heading into the October federal election. Here is part of their conversation.

I am asking about the pharmacare coverage … because, at the same time the Liberals say they’re going to do something quite similar. How do you distinguish yourself from the Liberals on what seems to be their central plank of their platform?

Actually, the Liberals have no plan. They have not released any plan whatsoever to indicate that they’re going to bring in universal pharmacare. At most, the finance minister has alluded to a patchwork system, which is not at all what our plan is. Our plan is a plan to cover every single person in our country.

But I think [Finance Minister Bill] Morneau is saying that he is looking to be fiscally responsible and if there is going to be something, it has to be within reason. … What you’re offering is pretty expensive, don’t you think?

I think that Finance Minister Morneau’s claim is ridiculous. He’s prepared to spend $15 billion on a pipeline. He gave $14 billion way to the largest corporations last year in the fall economic statement. And we’ve just heard from the Parliamentary Budget Office that billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars, have not been contributed because the CRA under this Liberal government has not done its job to ensure that the wealthiest, the richest corporations aren’t paying their fair share.

So I reject that assertion that Canadians are told that they can’t have something like universal pharmacare when every other country in the world that has a universal health-care system also has medication included.

We can do it, and we’ve laid out a plan to do it. We’re going to ask the richest of the one per cent — those who have $20 million or more in personal fortunes — we’re going to ask them to contribute one per cent. And with that, we will absolutely cover the cost of this plan.

There’s so much benefit from the system and I reject any assertion that it’s not achievable. It is achievable.

You’ve also promised that your pharmacare coverage will be available next year. The Liberal health minister says that’s simply not realistic. What do you say to that and to the Liberals saying that you can’t possibly deliver this next year?

The Liberals are going to say that because they don’t have the courage to deliver it and they want Canadians to just settle for substandard service. We have all the infrastructure in place right now. The federal government purchases medication already. Each provincial government purchases medication, because when you go to a hospital your medication is covered. 

There’s already systems in place. What we’re saying is that we can actually combine the existing structures, use what we already have, and build it better — and we can deliver the system for all.

You’re pledging $15 billion over four years for a climate plan. But at the same time, we can’t seem to find out where you sit on the natural gas development in British Columbia,the liquefied natural gas. What is your view on that? Are you supportive of that project?

British Columbia has a plan, and they have a plan that incorporates all of their measures into their plan to reduce emissions. So I’m confident in the fact that they’ve got a plan.

My problem is that the federal government does not have a plan. They don’t have a plan and now they’ve approved a pipeline, which will dramatically increase our emissions. They’ve got no plan to incorporate this massive increase in emissions into a national climate change plan.

I’m pretty sure that everyone noticed you didn’t answer the question there, so I’ll ask again. Will you go ahead with …

I said very clearly that British Columbia has a plan.

But no, would you go ahead with a liquefied natural gas development in B.C.?

No, let’s not let the viewers be misled. I said very clearly British Columbia has a plan that incorporates all of their emissions into a reductions plan. 

If in an election, the possibility that there will be a Conservative minority … what willingness might you have to go into some kind of left coalition with other parties?

I’m absolutely open to working with anyone who wants to support my plan to bring in universal pharmacare, anyone that’s willing to work with me to bring in our climate action plan that protects jobs and reduces emissions. I’m willing to work with any progressive partner that wants to work with me to implement things like proportional representation and our expansion of the health-care system.

So anyone who’s willing to work with me on these progressive values, I’m ready to sit down work and with them. I strongly doubt that that’s going to be anyone that’s in the Conservative Party.

Could you see yourself in a coalition with Justin Trudeau?

I don’t want to presuppose the outcome of an election that’s four months away. I think Canadians expect that a leader of a national party is running to become prime minister and that’s what I’m going to do.

But, as I said before, I would be willing to work with anyone who wants to work with me to implement these important changes that Canadians want to see happen.

Just finally, I want to ask you about campaigning in Quebec, because Quebec has been very important. [Late NDP leader] Jack Layton was so successful there. It has been an important base of new support for the NDP. At the same time, the government has passed a law that would make it illegal for you to be a policeman or a teacher if you were wearing your turban.

Or a judge.

Or a judge, yes. So how do you campaign in that province, given the popularity of a law that would actually make it difficult for you to work there?

It’s not something that’s unanimous. There’s many Quebecers that … shared the sadness I had when Bill 21 was passed. There’s many Quebecers that shared my sadness that young people who dreamed of becoming a teacher now can no longer become a teacher. Or young people that wanted to serve their communities, to serve their cities by protecting them, can no longer do that. Or people that dreamed of being a judge one day can’t do that.

A significant number of Quebecers elected representatives who voted against this bill and parties have come out against it, municipal parties and provincial parties in Quebec.

This doesn’t speak to the openness of Quebec, the history of Quebec being a progressive place that has solidarity with fellow citizens that results in some of the best social programs in any province.

“British Columbia has a plan.” “You didn’t answer the question.” “I did.” “But what about British Columbia?” “Stop playing with me.”

Justin Trudeau is dead to me.

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of Liberal votes evaporating in B.C. and Environmentslists, and Indigenous people who have been betrayed again.

Justin Trudeau approved an oil pipeline one day after their government passed a Climate Emergency Motion.

What a spineless neoliberal fraud.

Premier François Legault has suggested that the passage of Bill 21 by the National Assembly will restore Quebecers’ pride.

That’s an astounding statement, on many levels.

To start with, Legault couldn’t have been thinking of the Quebecers whose religious freedoms his government has just constrained needlessly. Few among them will be feeling a pride in their province today. More likely, they will be feeling deep sadness and disappointment, even a sense of betrayal. No longer is speaking French enough to be able to participate fully in this society. Nor will acquitting one’s professional duties with proper neutrality be sufficient. Now, conformity in appearance will also be required. Those whose practice of religion includes the wearing of so-called religious symbols will effectively be barred from certain public-sector jobs.

And, what exactly does Legault think Quebecers should be proud of?

Of his government’s passage of a law whose use of the notwithstanding clause to override federal and Quebec charter rights testifies to its abusive nature?

Of its invoking closure to ram this bill through the National Assembly Sunday, along with his deeply flawed immigration bill?

Of its passing a “religious neutrality” law that is anything but religiously neutral?

Of its plowing ahead over the objections of the province’s largest city, its largest women’s group, teachers’ unions, and an array of other civil society groups?

Of succumbing to unfounded fears that Muslims will impose their religion on other Quebecers? (Let’s not pretend otherwise: This law may apply to all religious symbols, but it is aimed squarely at hijabs.)

No, there is no reason for pride, neither in Bill 21, nor in the high-handed way in which it was adopted.

Rather, this toxic new law brings only shame and apprehension.