#cndpoli

Like, the tariff thing got us mad, but the 51st state thing? It's got us seething.

Liberals, progressives, even most of the Conservatives are all united on this.

We're sharing lists of Canadian-owned alternatives to American brands.

We're cancelling tourist trips to the US (one lady in a news story said she cancelled a trip to Florida for six and doesn't regret losing $1,300 due to the cancellation).

And if we have to go to the US, such as the couple who's selling their California home? We're taking Canadian flights instead.

Some travel agencies have seen as much as a 40% decrease in bookings of flights from Canada to the US, and it's estimated it'll affect at least $2.1 billion dollars of the travel industry alone (not counting the tourism side of things like Disney trips and hotel bookings).

All their examples of sexually explicit material is related to queer stories.

You can see their press release on the topic here.

Albertans have the opportunity to provide feedback until June 6, 2025 via a survey that can be found here.

If you're Albertan, please tell them that this idea is horrendous and that you do not stand behind them on this.

If you're not Albertan, please signal boost this so Albertans who haven't heard about this can have their say.

Some points worth making that you can use:

Book banning takes away parent choice of what their kids are allowed to read by restricting the books available to kids. It should be the job of the parent, not the government, to decide what a kid can read.

Instead of banning books, parents should talk to their kids (and if they want, the kids' librarian) about what they believe is appropriate vs inappropriate for their specific child/children. It's their job to monitor what their kids are reading, not the government's job.

Librarians are trained professionals who literally attend semester-long classes on how to choose books to purchase for their library. Are they saying that their training/professional judgement can't be trusted? If so, what are they employed for?

Thanks in advance,

A non-profit group that abruptly lost its contract with the province to run two shelters in the Halifax area says it was caught off guard and is left speculating about the reasons why. Eric Jonsson, vice-chair of the board for Out of the Cold Community Association, said he and two others with the group were called to a meeting with provincial staffers Tuesday morning where they were handed a letter that said Out of the Cold would no longer be involved in operating two modular supportive housing sites. One is on Cogswell Street in Halifax and the other on Church Street in Dartmouth. Together they house more than 60 people. Jonsson said they were given 30 minutes to leave the property, escorted by security personnel — an experience he described as surreal and insulting. "It is my job as a board member to kind of oversee the big picture. And we didn't see this coming," Jonsson said in an interview Thursday.  He said he feels some responsibility for not anticipating the move, although he does not fully understand the province's decision or the way it carried it out. "I've heard of places being, you know, service providers being replaced, but it's never within like a half-hour notice. You give people a month or two to kind of tidy things up to ensure a smooth transition." Scott Armstrong, the minister of opportunities and social development, said the contract with Out of the Cold was coming up for renewal in early August, and his department decided to end it early and change service providers because of concerns that he said had been brewing for several years. The group has run the two shelters since they opened in 2022 in response to surging rates of homelessness, rising rents and a low vacancy rate.

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So a harm reduction shelter group in my city has been running two module shelter sites that the province set up for the past three years, this past Tuesday members of their board were called into a meeting where they were told they were being replaced as service providers and had 30 minutes for staff and volunteers to leave the properties (with security)

The province is claiming that it's over concerns regarding how Out of the Cold was running the sites and says it's not the harm reduction practices but has declined to say what it is or why it was so time sensitive to give no notice to staff or residents.

Protesters blocking the Brady Road landfill in south Winnipeg say their resolve is even stronger after a man shovelled a truckload of soil and debris onto an MMIWG mural near the blockade Sunday.

The blockade went up last week after the province refused to fund a search of Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of two Indigenous women. The city ordered those blocking the roadway to vacate by noon Monday.

"Screw it. Who cares what they have to say? Who cares what they want? I'm not going to take no for an answer anymore," said Cambria Harris, whose mother's remains are believed to be at another landfill outside the city.

She said Camp Morgan — which has been at the Brady Road landfill since December— originally erected the blockade to "send a message," not to entirely block the landfill, which has two entrances.

But after the man's act on Sunday, she and others issued a call on social media for more "warriors" to join those on site, who said they're ready to keep rallying for change.

Harris said she wasn't at the blockade Sunday when the man in a black pickup truck dumped soil on the mural, but she saw the video of it happen, which she posted on social media.

In the video, the man is seen shovelling soil and debris from the back of his truck onto the mural, while telling protesters to "Take care of your own people." After someone responds [“we are, you fucking dumbass”], he asks, "Then why are they dead?"

Harris questions how he got past the security on site.

"Why are you so angry to feel like you have to take that extreme of a measure of a hate crime?" she asked.

"You don't realize that you're talking to an entire group of people who have been pulverized their entire life through systemic oppression."

"I'm outraged. I'm enraged. I'm infuriated," said supporter Melissa Morrisseau, who said she was at the landfill Sunday to help give a voice to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and their families.

"I'm here till the very end," she said.

Florance Smith was also there to take a stand with the families.

"They need to dig for our women," Smith said. "They just think that we belong in the garbage."

Harris said she believes the province's decision to not support a landfill search shows that the government doesn't care, and she now feels she's been disrespected by all three levels of government. She said it shouldn't have come to measures like the letter sent by the city, telling protesters to shut down the blockade.

"I've never ever understood it, why this kind of trauma is our fault," Harris said.

The mural, a red dress with the words "for our sisters" written on the skirt, was painted on the entrance road to the landfill, Ethan Boyer Way.

(…)

But after they realized the soil the man dumped contained cedar wood chippings, supporters decided to put them to use by sweeping the woodchips in a circle around the mural, she said.

"Cedar's our protection medicine, and we decided that we were going to include it into our art piece and circle her in protection," Bousquet said.

"We turned an ugly into a beautiful here. That's what our people are known for doing."

For Bousquet, it shows how resilient her community is.