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US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

bbc.com

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Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#111

Post by totony »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #100
totony wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada DoS'd its own healthcare. I'm mostly familiar with Quebec but the overextended healthcare system is mainly our own doing, so is housing shortage.

Well the structural issues have been present for some time but the influx of newcomers during COVID did not help the situation. Not saying it is right, but these newcomers have become a scapegoat and it's stoked the flames of xenophobia which was previously never an issue in this country. Also QC for all it's local issues has largely been insulated from "over-immigration" due to the language requirements. If your onl…

It has not been insulated at all, there are tons of federal immigration pathways made easier for french speaking immigrants. According to this https://www.statista.com/statistics/444906/number-of-immigra..., Ontario does seem over-represented.

I'm not saying over-immigration has no downsides, clearly it did not help our overstrained system, but to say it caused it is to willfully blind ourselves to the structural issues that lead to these issues in the first place. i.e. they will never be fixed

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#112

Post by mindslight »

bluGill wrote: post #101
GJim wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That fatalistic attitude is why your democracy is in peril. Get off your arse and take lessons on protesting from the French.

That is a problem, but the larger problem is people don't have an informed vote. They vote for a party straight down without considering what they really support, or what the unintended consequences of those things are.

The other half of this is there is so little choice that a voter does have. On the national level it's just over one bit of information per year. Over 12 years - 3 presidential races, 6 congressional reps, 4 senators. I'm not counting primaries because while they can shape policy, they can just as well unshape policy from people voting strategically ("electable"). And a voter can only vote in half of the primaries, so primaries are already part of the dynamic ushering people into these packaged sports teams of the major parties.

In addition to the obvious fixes like Ranked Pairs voting, I'd say we need a Constitutional amendment bringing back independent agencies with their heads being directly elected rather than merely picked by whomever wins the presidential race. For example you shouldn't have to balance your guess of how you think one president will treat the ATF vs the NSF. Or the President shouldn't have any power over the Attorney General, as it's the Attorney General who should be prosecuting a criminal President, rather than merely being a lapdog in the criminal conspiracy. A race for each agency would also create focus on each agency head's actual results, rather than how the current guy is using a round-robin of all these different departments to create a tough-looking spectacle in one area, only to move on to another one when the actual results start becoming apparent.

We also need the right to recall for all national politicians, for obvious reasons.

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#113

Post by BobaFloutist »

stuxnet79 wrote: post #49
josefritzishere wrote: post #43

All of North America should have open borders like a Schengen zone. This xenophobia is bad for the economy.

Believe me an open border would do nothing but increase xenophobia. Canada is dealing with its own immigration crisis with a ton of newcomers DDoSing the overextended healthcare system and real estate market.

I don't understand, why have some of the newcomers become builders and doctors?

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#114

Post by BobaFloutist »

mothballed wrote: post #60
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, so. We're not anti-gun. Just anti the "only used explicitly for killing people " kind of gun. I grew up and live in rural Canada. Rifles for hunting or farming are just part of life. Though the long gun registry did make them more of a hassle. Why do you need a killing-person gun? What's that for?

I'm not yielding to your premise but I'll entertain it for a moment. Massive biological differences aside, the rough composition and weight of a deer isn't so much different than a human. An AR chambered in something like 6.5 is one of the most ergonomic and effective deer killing machines you could possibly use. Very light, able to make follow up shots easily, swappable magazines, insane aftermarket availability and…

How many deer are you trying to kill in one go??

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#115

Post by mrguyorama »

josefritzishere wrote: post #43

All of North America should have open borders like a Schengen zone. This xenophobia is bad for the economy.

We had literally that until 9/11

In the 90s, it was the norm for people in northern maine to cross into canada and vice versa, like weekly, to do certain shopping. We regularly took advantage of the low value of the Canadian dollar back then, and every grocery store in the US had daily Canadian customers.

Crossing the border was pretty much just agreeing that you weren't trafficking any specific produce. That's it.

Fort Kent, Maine is literally across a river from Canada. The bridge and border crossing is basically part of the town, and it was a normal daily thing to drive to the other side of the river and do something in Canada, like eat at the nice Chinese restaurant, "The Maple Leaf".

Every northern maine school had regular field trips across the border.

The two communities were basically one. There was no border. It was just a line on a map and a nod to your local friend who worked in the booth.

The southern border used to be similarly uncontrolled. The "Immigrants" and migrant workers who pick your produce have been a normal thing in US history forever. They wouldn't stay in the US, because the border was so lax they didn't expect any trouble coming back in the next time they need the paycheck.

The reaction to 9/11 was atrocious. All it did was kill already struggling communities in rural areas, hurt hardworking Americans, waste billions of taxpayer dollars on "Super duper important" airport scanners sold by a friend of the Bush admin, which then sat unused in a warehouse and we stopped using them entirely shortly after.

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#116

Post by cmrdporcupine »

kashunstva wrote: post #108
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a given, but what is the excuse for Bessent and so on, who are clearly very smart. Just in a really bad way.

Bessent is really smart? It’s possible he may be; but he communicates so poorly, that unless you knew anything of his background (I do not.) then it would be hard to assess. If he understands anything about monetary policy, apart from personal enrichment - which of course is a given in this administration, one couldn’t discern that from his public utterances.

I'd say it's not ... smart about economics. No, he clearly is not. He's a blunt ideological tool for a kleptocracy.

More smart about politics and power in the Machiavellian sense.

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#117

Post by slater »

mschuster91 wrote: post #87
nubinetwork wrote: post #28

Not the first time something like this has happened either. A small road in Montana/Alberta is being sectioned off because it sits on the border... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly7gl95nnpo

Truly, Trump is an inverse Midas - everything he touched turns to shit. Even if the Trump/MAGA administration goes peacefully (the fact that one has to state this as a possibility instead of a certainty is shocking enough), the Canadian road will remain, a permanent reminder of the idiocy.

> the fact that one has to state this as a possibility instead of a certainty is shocking enough

yeah.. i get the feeling they learned from J6, and won't make those same mistakes again :(

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#118

Post by Beannation »

bluGill wrote: post #99
asteroidburger wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nice thing about having a rep that supports my ideals is I don't really see the need to. It won't change anything, and I don't need to convince them.

It is important because they need to decide priority. And if they are not strong supporters they may even change their opinion to get votes next fall if they see the political winds. (I don't know your representative, some are more swayed by the winds that others)

mid terms will be fun, and scary to watch. Consequential times....

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#119

Post by throwaway27448 »

bluGill wrote: post #47
throwaway27448 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If congress decides the people care things will change Hah

Midterm elections are coming up.

When you figure out how to leverage a vote to get something, let me know. Last time I tried this I was screamed at for electing a fascist for withholding it.

Re: US-Canada border library gets new Quebec-only entrance

#120

Post by DFHippie »

mrguyorama wrote: post #110
embedding-shape wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, meaning things need to get worse before they get better... The video games part reminds me of "Opium of the masses", probably some truth in that.

To get the basics of welfare the US has now, it took 25% of the country being unemployed,, everyone seeing their hard working grandparents dying in the ditch at the end of their life with nothing, and constant bread lines everywhere. Oh, and massive organization of voters and rabid progressive populist support. President Trump, above all, is the clearest and most direct example of how you absolutely can get what you…

There's also a propaganda feedback loop. It's not like Trump's voters are innocent, though. They want to be told lies.
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