[best]

...I can tell you that every Conservative voter I know(really that's just my family as I don't talk a lot of politics with friends), is embarrassed by Ford and concerned about O'Toole. I can tell you that I didn't vote O'Toole in the past election. Nor do I think he's the right person for the job. It's concerning when the party you've been voting for has wandered off into an area you don't agree with. I don't necessarily agree with Liberal or NDP policies. Now we find ourselves not agreeing with Conservative policies(or methods) either.

In a case like that you have two (or perhaps three) choices.

Strip away the party labels and your past voting history, look at the platforms, and vote for whoever you feel will do the best job for you and for Canadians in general. No one party will ever have the "perfect" platform so go with the one that most closely reflects your priorities. That can change, year to year and leader to leader so don't concern yourself about identifying with a party/tribe...just go with whoever seems most likely to do the most good in the next 4-5 years.

If you prefer, and identify strongly with being a Conservative but are uncomfortable with the direction your party is taking, make sure you let your MP and MPP know in no uncertain terms how you're feeling. Write a letter (yes, those actually work because a letter from 1 person usually means there are hundreds of others who share that person's concerns who are silent). And then if you can't stomach your party's leadership or current trends, spend one election cycle voting strategically to send a message, and when the Conservative campaign people come knocking at your door tell them who you're voting for a why, and tell them that if they want your vote back in future elections they need to reconsider (as a party) who they're putting into leadership roles.

I've been a Liberal voter all my life but I've been increasingly concerned that they've been too slow to move on what I consider to be extremely urgent environmental concerns, so for the last federal and provincial elections I voted for the Green Party candidate in my riding and made sure my Liberal MP and MPP were aware of it. I don't agree with many of the other Green Party platform items, but in this one thing I really wanted to send a message. Who knows...maybe my one little vote helped convince Trudeau it was worth tabling that new environmental legislation last week. Next election cycle I'll almost certainly go back to voting Liberal but we'll see.

(For what it's worth, O'Toole scares me and I think would take the country down a very bad road so I will almost certainly vote strategically for whoever appears to be the front-running non-Conservative party. Normally I've been reasonably content during times of Conservative governments so I've never had this level of anti-Conservative angst before and have been just as content when they've won. Not this time.)

This is just mind-blowingly insane (and sad)

https://www.facebook.com/2135760943412438/videos/1641557552714180/

Denying covid exists as you take your dying breath... It's just so sad.

It really does make me wonder whether "freedom of speech" is such a good thing. It should *not* be legal to lie your ass off on TV, particularly as a public figure, and condemn tens or hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths just for being dumb enough to believe you.

(Yes, I know trying to legislate any sort of limits on Freedom of Speech/Expression would be opening up a whole impossible can of worms but I kind of wish public figures were required to speak as though "under oath" when making public statements.)

Maybe it's about time that the U.S. recognizes that maybe, just maybe, the framers weren't clairvoyant gods who created an unshakable democracy based on the rule of law vs. the rule of norms.

I get what you're saying but let's be real, nobody really thinks that. The vast majority of Democrats know there's huge problems with the constitution with how it relates to the electoral process and they want to change it. Republicans aren't labouring under the assumption the founders were right about everything, they just see that the inequities are balanced way in their favour and care more about clinging to power than they do democracy or social cohesion and so will never look to change things.

To wit...the notion of proportional representation in Canada always seems to be a promised priority when trying to overcome whichever party is in power but suddenly seems to fade away again as soon as that happens.

It's really not surprising. Those in power rapidly lose interest in making it easier for others to usurp them, as evidenced by ~10,000 years of history (and counting)

My earliest and most lasting memories of HNIC were Saturday intermissions with Peter Puck and Howie Meeker. A great teacher and ambassador for the game.

Over/under on the length of his State of the Nation speech next spring? Based on tonight's acceptance speech I think he should be able to blister through it in no more than 20 minutes.

So anyone else kind of happy to be living in a country whose craziest political scandal is about what sort of symbolic decorations are allowed to be worn by employees of overpriced grocery stores?

I guess that's the advantage of a 3-party system...they jostle for position around what they perceive as the middle of Canadians' views rather than edge further and further towards the extremes.

In the grand scheme of things does it even matter?

Not to get too Aaron Sorkin-y about it, yes, it does matter. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that America is a perfect nation but I think making a strong and powerful statement that nobody is above the law, even a President, needs to be made when one breaks the law as consistently and flagrantly as Trump does. If Trump fanatics want to camp out underneath his prison window, fine. But he should be in jail not because I think his politics are repellent but because he's a criminal and that can't be laundered through political popularity.

Don't you think the ship sailed on this a long time ago? It's not like there hasn't already been a litany of illegal activity perpetrated both overtly and covertly by Trump. The mechanisms in place in the USA for bringing a rogue President to heel failed because the people entrusted to do so deliberately chose not to.

The DoJ refused to do its job because the Attorney General (duly appointed by a duly elected president) took the stance that the president is above the law and answerable only to the people via election or via repudiation by the House and Senate.

The House did finally do its job but the sham of a "trial" conducted by the Senate -- again, duly elected representatives of the people -- decided not to. These are extensions of/expressions of The People...

So really Now The People have had their chance to respond resoundingly to the last 4 years' shenanigans and nearly 50% have stood up to say loudly that they don't give a [pile of manure] and are perfectly happy to have another 4 years of it. That feels kind of like all bets are off....

Can you even get a pardon if you haven't been tried and convicted?

That?s a major legal question that will need to be addressed if he does try to pardon himself - can you pardon someone who has officially been charged with a crime (never tried and convicted, he hasn?t even been indicted at this point - he?s being investigated and he?s being sued, but no charges have been officially laid at this point)?

When Ford pardoned Nixon:

...
Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9,1974.
...

https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/speeches/740061.asp

That's basically a blanket pardon for anything and everything, whether it was known about or not.

Trump could do the same for himself (although yes, that is subject to some debate so maybe he'd have to hand off the presidency to Pence first and then have Pence do it) but I've read a number of legal scholars suggest that he could try it. Yes, as Nik says that could be challenged to the Supreme Court but I'm not as confident as he is that they wouldn't side with him. All three of the justices he's nominated have been strong proponents of the President having nearly absolute rights. They don't seem concerned with consistency either so they can just make up some sort of exceptional rule as to why no Democrat President would enjoy the same rights.

In the grand scheme of things does it even matter? It's not like America repudiated Trump's presidency. Very nearly 50% of the public supports Trump and everything he stands for to the hilt. Having Biden as the nominal head of the nation doesn't change that.

Personally, for me, that speech did it. I could have bought the argument that you shouldn't go after Trump legally because of what it could do to the country but now, after the way he attacked not just the Democratic system but other Americans and specifically, the race-baiting of "Detroit" and "Philadelphia" being full of corruption I think Trump needs to be pursued for the, let's be fair, probably many crimes he's committed.

Good luck with that. His last act as president will be to pardon himself for all of the crimes he has committed, whether they're under investigation yet or not. The only way he can be brought to any justice at all will be for NY State on state-level crimes that aren't subject to presidential pardon.

There's no real contrition here. No apology. No demonstration of remorse. This sounds like a great big warning flag that no lessons were learned and Miller hasn't really grown as a person. So it's not really defending him in the way I think would be productive. Again, I get it that she's a kid trying to defend her brother but I really think this is just digging deeper.

I think one could argue that it's even worse than that...she's giving him a permission structure to feel unfairly treated by society which is even less likely to push him down any remedial paths. A chronic abuser cannot turn the corner until having confronted the monster he/she is and accepting responsibility for it. It would appear questionable (at best) that he's done this, so her now giving him an "out" would seem pretty counterproductive.

Is anyone a bit surprised by the interest in the flu shot this year? I mean, I figured since COVID and the flu are different things that people would just stick to doing what they've been doing. I guess maybe they're hedging their bets against getting flu as it could weaken you if you get covid or vice versa?

In NB they've been begging us to get a flu shot (and an early one!) this year. They pitched it less as as self-protection motive and more to help keep the load on medical professionals from "other stuff" to a minimum. They also rolled it out to most of the pharmacies so we can easily get our shot anywhere, not just from our GP.

I have a really hard time with Bobby Orr supporting Trump. He was a great hockey player but this will tarnish him forever in my eyes. It's going to become part of my impression of him, and I'll now always feel conflicted about admiring the hockey player (much as I feel conflicted about listening to Michael Jackson songs or some of those classic Bill Cosby routines).

Endorsing Trump means endorsing pathological lying, endorsing his treatment of women, endorsing his rampant racism and abdominal handling of refugees, endorsing his rejection of the science of climate change, endorsing his inaction towards Covid that will end up costing hundreds of thousands of unnecessary lives, etc.

It's a sad day. Bobby was one of my childhood idols. No more.

Very classy of Spezza to contact and offer him the #19 sweater. Just as classy of Joe to decline the offer and take #97 (which he'd worn before in international completion) instead.

Habs extend Jake Allen for another 2 years at $2.875 M...added to Price's $10.5M that's nearly $15M for next season and more than $13M for the following to just for their goaltending. That seems like...um..a LOT  :o

Season is due to start 1st January, right? Full 82 game schedule?

The way the infection/transmission rates are trending at the moment I wouldn't cling to that as being even remotely a firm date.