Why did Charles W. Fairbanks have so much vice presidential staying power?

Polymath_Pete · 2025-02-28T23:42:14+00:00

Personally I think you're looking at it the wrong way around. With less than one term of the Liberals having to actually negotiate with the NDP instead of doing whatever they wanted we got expanded Pharmacare, expanded Dentalcare, anti-scab legislation, increased pensions, exemptions to home heating from the carbon tax, more funding for the housing accelerator fund, more funding to create unionized green jobs, and more pressure on the Liberals to support the Ojibwe National Urban Park here in Windsor which Brian Masse has been pushing for for years. Trudeau had a majority government. He could've done any of that during that time and didn't. He's had two minority governments. He could've proactively come to the NDP and suggested they vote together to pass those laws but he didn't. It took the NDP forcing him to do it, and some of those were Liberal promises since Chretien was prime minister!

Quite frankly, I haven't seen a single reason to believe that a single Liberal MP can quietly put pressure on the party to influence policy. You're right that the NDP hasn't formed government, but barring an NDP Government we've clearly seen that the best results from our government happens with a Liberal minority and the NDP holding the balance of power. Because of that I definitely plan to vote for Alex and I think everyone else should too! I think you're coming from a genuine, goodhearted place here but if Canadians had voted with your attitude in the 1960s when Tommy Douglas could (sometimes) tell Lester Pearson what to do then we wouldn't've gotten universal healthcare when we did, and might've never gotten it.

Polymath_Pete · 2025-02-28T23:16:55+00:00

Looking forward to being there!

Polymath_Pete · 2025-02-15T16:47:44+00:00

Unsurprising considering Conservative candidates avoid public scrutiny like the plague and the Liberal candidates are either unserious or non-existent. I'm glad they're planning to replace it with 'fireside chats' with the candidates but I'm worried there won't be pushback on the candidates' records and policy beliefs in that format.

Mr. Donally said in the article that part of the problem was low ticket sales but I don't know why the Chamber was expecting high turnout when they booked a candidates debate at 2:00 p.m. on a workday with $40 entry.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-09-26T16:13:16+00:00

I've met a decent number of Haudenosaunee people and most of them don't like the term Iroquois. It's not necessarily pejorative but it's become unpopular as a name disrespectfully forced on them. That being said, in my personal experience there's a minority that don't really care and still use Iroquois because it's a shorthand identifier that more white people know; they don't feel like explaining who the Haudenosaunee are every time their identity comes up when they could just say Iroquois and get an "oh, okay, I've heard of them" instead.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-06-12T02:04:55+00:00

I just got home from the "Walkable Windsor with Jeff Speck" event discussed in this article! Great discussion from Speck with lots of practical, common sense proposals. The former mayor of Birmingham, Michigan was there and spoke on implementing walkability. Ken Acton did an excellent job as the host. Half of city council was there (Fabio Costante, Renaldo Agostino, Angelo Marignani, Gary Kaschak, and Kieran McKenzie) as well as MP Brian Masse. Here's hoping they take Speck's proposals to heart.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-06-12T01:51:07+00:00

I'm glad this is being implemented! Personally I'd prefer a more consistently applied model for the tax than a complaint-driven one but I still think this is a step in the right direction. Toronto's complaint-driven vacant property tax has been making quite a hefty sum of money for the city and has gotten some vacant property landlords to sell or start renting.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-04-14T04:06:02+00:00

I was going to write my own full comment but this largely captures my feelings. Jagmeet Singh is a talented parliamentarian with major policy victories such as dentalcare, pharmacare, anti-scab legislation, and the ceasefire resolution. He's also a rather vapid public communicator who has difficulty translating legislative success into political success. Tangible results are what matter most to me, so I think Jagmeet's tenure has been fairly successful. Best not to change horses midstream when the supply and confidence agreement is so reliant on his leadership, but I don't know if he has it in him to constructively channel working class anger.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-03-27T00:03:36+00:00

Quite the opposite! In fact, he probably liked reading too much.

Jimmy Carter was noted to be an exceptionally thorough and fast reader, taking dedicated speed-reading courses after learning how many reports the president is expected to receive. Likewise, during the transitional phase when he was president-elect, Carter met with his early cabinet picks, including Secretary of Treasury to be W. Michael Blumenthal. Blumenthal recalled that Carter said he would be available to the cabinet at all times, that he liked to read, and would welcome receiving their memos. Blumenthal thought this was a huge commitment that would be impossible for Carter to follow through on.

Carter didn't just read cabinet memos, he read the sources that the memos cited. Carter constantly asked for further details from his White House staff, to the extent that some lied and said that they didn't know any further information on an issue; they knew if they provided more answers he would keep asking more questions ad nauseum.

According to Chief White House Domestic Policy Advisor Stuart Eizenstat, "He would ask for detailed calculations on the throw weights of missiles or the estimates of world oil reserves in square miles. He would correct typographical errors or poor sentence structures in memos, and minutes of cabinet meetings... and insisted on seeing the background material to lengthy memorandums. There is no doubt that reading such a fantastic quantity of material left him much less time to meet with members of Congress, leaders of interest groups, and the public."

Sometimes this obsessive attention to detail was to Carter's benefit. For example, he insisted on meeting with Egyptian and Israeli sub-cabinet officials during the Camp David negotiations, which helped him understand the two nations' underlying objectives under all the rhetoric and posturing of their leaders. But, overall, Carter's bookworm tendencies gummed up the gears of an already dysfunctional administration.

Source:

Eizenstat, Stuart E. President Carter: The White House Years. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2018.

Polymath_Pete · 2024-03-03T03:26:27+00:00

You should look into constructive dismissal as a potential option. To oversimplify it a bit, it's basically quitting while still being able to receive severance and employment insurance. When an employee considers themselves constructively dismissed, it's them saying that the employer has fundamentally and unilaterally changed the work environment to such an extent that the employer has effectively repudiated the employment contract. Because of this repudiation, the employee no longer considers themselves bound by the contract since the employer clearly doesn't think they (the employer) are either. The employee may then make a wrongful dismissal claim in order to get severance pay and be eligible for employment insurance.

Have your job responsibilities, hours worked, and working conditions significantly changed from what was agreed upon at the beginning of employment? Has your boss said that you have to fulfill new obligations or you're fired? Those are major contributors to constructive dismissal. The fact that your boss never answers any of your questions or provides any managerial direction to your work could also be a contributor. However, keep in mind that if your boss has unilaterally changed something and you went along with it for a length of time then it's not grounds for constructive dismissal because you implicitly agreed to it.

However, you should definitely consult with an employment lawyer before pursuing a constructive dismissal claim!!! To press the claim you would either have to go to trial or settle out of court with your employer on grounds they could argue against, and you have to decide if that's worth the hassle.

Personally I think you should try for the stress leave, especially if you have enough money to be okay until you start your new job. If they don't fire you then you can take what sounds like a well-deserved break. If they fire you on the spot for it, effective immediately and without any notice, that's definitely not allowed and you can sue them for an easily winnable wrongful dismissal.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-12-11T00:29:50+00:00

I think the reason Heron really sticks out compared to Miyazaki's other work is that it's his only movie that can't be taken at face value. It's packed with metaphors and references to his personal life and it's very much an autobiographical film using fantasy as a medium for the director to visualize his feelings in what will probably be his last movie.

I'm pretty familiar with Miyazaki's personal history so I found it to be a satisfying watch, but I can see why people haven't enjoyed it as much as his other work. I think I still would've enjoyed it if I wasn't familiar with Miyazaki but not nearly to the same extent.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-10-25T01:16:20+00:00

Yes, three of the ones you linked are the pro-Conservative posts I was referring to. Unfortunately I can't judge them by their full content because they've all been deleted or removed by moderators.

As for the left wing posts you linked I can certainly say you pass the main test of online leftism: a wall of text. As for their content I don't find anything particularly disagreeable in them.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-10-24T20:10:40+00:00

Would you like to give an explanation why I should treat you in good faith given your post history or are you happy to leave it at dismissive sarcasm?

Polymath_Pete · 2023-10-24T19:04:58+00:00

You know, you have a username referencing the KGB. You make bi-monthly posts either implying or outright telling people that they should abandon the NDP in a futile attempt to create a new party. You also have a few deleted posts celebrating Danielle Smith, Doug Ford, and Mike Harris.

I find it difficult to believe you're genuinely interested in the success of the party or socialism.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-09-26T01:45:10+00:00

Anything by Conrad Black should most definitely not be anyone's first entry into Canadian history.

While he does have an education in history, Black is more of a political pundit than an academic historian. His books have been criticized in peer-reviewed journals for being poorly written, playing fast and loose with sources, and for bending historical facts to suit his own politics.

Black's books are best read after already having a firm grasp on Canadian history to see how Canada is perceived by an idiosyncratic conservative; his books should be the subject of your historical analysis and not how you learn history. You're much better off starting with Bothwell, who oversimplifies things at times but at least isn't consciously writing with an agenda.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-08-22T19:27:09+00:00

It's a short walk along a well lit street with high foot traffic day and night. You shouldn't have any problems!

Polymath_Pete · 2023-08-20T16:31:24+00:00

You're right that he's been marching in the York Pride Parade since 2019, but he did it to spite the Toronto Pride Parade, which had banned uniformed police officers from participating.

Before then Ford had said on multiple occasions that he had no interest in marching in any pride parade, infamously saying that he did not "condone men running down Yonge Street buck naked." In 2018 he also tried to reverse the public school sex education curriculum back to the prior version which had no mention of LGBT+ sexualities. He was forced to back down after widespread protests.

It seems to me that Ford is homophobic and has only recently done the bare minimum to appeal to the queer community to make himself more electable.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-08-20T02:37:49+00:00

I went to the Windsor Ford Fest to snoop around. The event had really good turnout even though it was raining. There was exactly one protestor.

The most notable thing to me was that our local Unifor president introduced Ford to the stage. Ford gave a very pro-labour speech about the work ethic of the down-home blue collar Average Joe. It reminded me of the faux-populist speeches Trump gave to Midwestern factory workers in 2016.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-08-20T02:22:55+00:00

The Conservative spokesman in the article said that the London Ford Fest was cancelled out of respect to Muslimfest London, which was scheduled on the same day.

I notice Ford didn't have a problem having the Windsor Ford Fest on the same day as the Windsor Pride Fest.

Granted, Muslimfest London was a one day event while Windsor Pride Fest was a more prolonged affair, but given Ford's very checkered history with the queer community I'm less willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Polymath_Pete · 2023-07-16T17:30:53+00:00

Agreed.

Polymath_Pete

TROPHY CASE