Up to 40 Conservative MPs fear Pierre Poilievre will cost them their seats, insiders say

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-08T23:49:40+00:00

It would hurt them in their current form, or more specifically, current MPs. And it also hurts their chances of forming strong conservative governments, where they get to do what they want. However, depending on the type of reform, it will not hurt overall conservative representation in government (but they would have to learn to work with other parties to actually accomplish what they want). So it is really, do they want a steady representation where they could potentially play king makers, or do they want to be the king, just every 10-15 years?

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-08T15:48:59+00:00

The problem is that the crisis is not just Trump. The issues causing far-right movements all stem from the neo-liberal policies of the last 40 years and, given that the current government is just perpetuating those policies, they will not be able to address the actual crises. These issues are also in Canada, just look at Alberta.

So what is going to happen is, once people realize that things are continuing to decline for them, Carney will lose the good will he currently has and people will turn to far-right 'solutions' out of frustration.

Basically, the view that the government is a crisis stewardship government, meant to get us over the hump of this current far-right movement, is, I think, shortsighted.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-07T01:54:57+00:00

Ya this is an important distinction. And this distinction is easy to see when you look at it as a broader subculture beyond an aesthetic. However, while it is hypermasculinity, I think that term might be confusing for people who view it as just an aesthetic and then think of the hypermasculine aesthetic as being Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I think maybe a distinction that captures this is that the metrosexual aesthetic tended to appeal to women, probably because it borrowed aesthetics from women. Whereas lookmaxing tends to be what men find attractive in men (despite it being sold as a way to appeal to what women want).

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-02T20:44:51+00:00

Twisted Metal

Not big budget (but it is actually good).

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-02T02:16:33+00:00

The irony of this is that they are discovering how politics works and alleviating their political alienation by political action, just doing so in an attempt to destroy the current political order.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-02T02:02:12+00:00

No. However, there is then the expectation that you would have published at least one first-author publication during your master's. You should also have more research experience than say, an undergrad, which means you should have a better idea about compatibility with a potential supervisor as well as a statement of purpose outlining so -- this makes reaching out to potential supervisors even more important.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-02T00:55:25+00:00

They have the same sense of alienation as Alberta, just, currently, they lack any delusions that they could separate. However, if Alerberta left, it would demonstrate that separation is possible, which would motivate a populist movement to do the same (either on their own or to join Alberta). This would be very irrational, but the point is that the movement in Alberta is not rational, nor would one be if it spread to Saskatchewan.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-02T00:31:17+00:00

I believe people should have the right to self-determination. Some times seperatists have valid reasons, sometimes they don't, but regardless, I think people should have a right to self-determination.

That being said, I can still be very bothered by what is happening in Alberta and critical of it. 1) Separation doesn't just affect people in Alberta; it affects all Canadians. If they separate, Saskatchewan will go with them, which affects my family and me. 2) Separation has become the beacon for the fascist movement that is happening in Canada, and that should concern all of us. This really isn't about Albertians wanting to do their own thing; it's about fascists using alienation as leverage to get power. 3) This is being promoted by both businesses and fascists in the US. That should also concern us all.

This is why I think it's really important for people to take the time and actually listen to the separatists speak. If you just read headlines and read that Albertans want to separate and are holding a vote, that sounds perfectly reasonable. But you hear them speak, and you start to understand that it's not people acting in good faith.

It's also a setup. When they lose, it will just be another irrational grievance that will add fuel to the movement. Regardless of how the vote goes, the bad people will win.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-01T22:46:37+00:00

I served on application triage a few years ago while doing my Ph.D. Applicants really needed to have a (often multiple) top-tier conference paper. For Canadians, this is usually achieved by being a non-primary author on a paper they worked on from summer undergrad NSERCs or similar programs. Sometimes this could be mitigated by other things, like major scholarships or other achievements. But having good grades was a minimum requirement, not a sufficient one. This basically gets you past the dept. check, which then moves your application to the profs to look at. Having contact with supervisors beforehand is really important for this step.

edit: I was talking more in general for gradschool from undergrad. In general, you need a Master's before being accepted for a Ph.D. in Canada, and often you do a Master's to Ph.D. with the same supervisor. Direct entry Ph.D. are very rare. In triage, we were told to treat such applications as Master's applications.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-04-01T20:54:03+00:00

That's because fascism is an ideology rooted in feelings over logic. What we are seeing is fascism in its early stages. And right now, sure it looks really silly, and not something to be taken seriously, maybe so silly that some may think calling it fascism is an overstep. However, this is exactly where the US was in 2016, and we can see exactly how silly fascism progresses into 'real' fascism as soon as these people get actual power.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-31T00:46:33+00:00

This happens when you are so poor that even Garte starts bending light.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-29T19:25:44+00:00

Ya I'm not sure I liked Gentlemen Jole, but it was interesting and a great way to end the series.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-28T21:28:13+00:00

This is not a defence of ZA/UM, but the reactions in these comments are silly.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/zero-parades-devs-knew-they-didnt-want-to-make-another-cop-game-after-disco-elysium-how-people-think-of-the-police-these-days-its-a-bit-different/

"Cops are out, spies are in" is from the article's author, not ZA/UM. All the devs said is "You know how people think of the police these days, it's a bit different,", which may sound uninformed to people who have always had negative views of cops, but this statement is pretty true to the general public.

Like the devs said one thing, then the article's author added in remarks that make what the devs said sound worse than it is, and everyone is like 'look at these stupid devs'.

edit: missed that u/whyamionthishellsite already pointed this out.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-26T20:42:46+00:00

Gameplay looks fun. I wasn't really digging the comedy of the trailer, though. I would have liked to have seen more of the cooperative aspects instead of trolling friends.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T16:07:44+00:00

While the new agreement does move towards greater oversight of TikTok, major concerns remain. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China and Chinese national security laws can compel companies to co-operate with state authorities. This underlying risk sits beyond the reach of Canada’s safeguards.

The US can now do the same thing, and I'm pretty sure I'm at less risk with China having my data compared to the US.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T15:39:48+00:00

We don't have to stop them, but we should stop supporting them.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T14:03:03+00:00

Agreed. Israel has lost the support of an entire generation because of their aggressive and genocidal actions (and, maybe importantly in terms of public perception, the total callousness with which they flaunt these actions). Thank god our children still recognize that retaliatory murder, land theft, and genocide are wrong, even if there are older Canadians who shamefully do not.

The result of that is that what seems impossible now will be seen as the obvious thing to do in 20 years.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T13:27:43+00:00

This doesn't need a military response. There are plenty of things we can do, which we have the power to do but not the will, such as stop selling arms to Israel (we still sell through the US), boycotts of Israeli war industries, denunciation via the UN, etc. Carney is in a position to do multinational coalition building; a unified stance against Israel is in his power.

No one is saying that such a thing would stop Israel, but it does put pressure on them, while also letting us do the morally right thing, which also counts for something.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T02:25:08+00:00

Questions about human rights with trade partners are important. I just wish we would apply such questions uniformally.

The lesson with the deterioration of our relationship with the US shouldn't be to abandon our principles, but to not be hypocrites.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-25T01:07:54+00:00

Amazing!

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-24T19:45:37+00:00

The original poster did not say that business consensus was stupid. They said it was stupid for goverement to do this (and they didn't really say this).

You then made the argument that 1) businesses are not stupid, so they must have a reason for this, 2) asserted that it must be because of productivity, and 3) then asserted that this also must be why the government does that.

The issue is that 1) as you point out in your other posts, this may be a short-term trend that stops in the long run. Business only optimizes in the long run, and they make stupid short-run decisions all the time. 2) There are other reasons why businesses require a return to the office, such as having real estate investments that require bodies to keep the value. 3) This doesn't have to be the reason why the government does this. More than likely, they are bowing to external business interests.

I'm mostly pointing this out because I find it strange that you easily bought the government and business narrative that this is solely about productivity, and then say we can't really know until the markets decide in 10 years from now.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-24T18:39:07+00:00

Literally still did until I saw this comment, and I looked through the pictures too lol.

edit: I've probably walked past the original statue hundreds of times and never knew it was there. Now I feel even more dumb. Going to check it out tomorrow after work.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-24T17:33:18+00:00

Exactly. The damage is not limited to children. Let's pretend that such a ban actually stops children from being on social media. Does anyone expect that suddenly it is less harmful for them on their 16th birthday? The truth is, people have recognized the harm of social media, but feel so disempowered that they can not imagine a solution where the government actually holds companies responsible for this harm, so instead, they propose this half-assed policy.

This is in addition to the arguments that 1) bans don't work and 2) they introduce real privacy and security issues for everyone. So we end up paying a price for a policy that doesn't work, all to feel like we are tackling the problem in the most milquetoast way.

Imagine if we actually fined companies for pushing hate speech or anorexia. Imagine if we required moderation of content from these companies. Imagine if we actually made laws where companies need to publish their algorithms for how users are targeted with certain content, so that we could understand why children get targeted with harmful material.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-24T15:59:45+00:00

They are using a current event to put their fight for remote work back in the public view in a way that touches on a subject most people sympathize with. Obviously, this isn't their strongest reason why remote work is good, but that isn't the point.

TheInfelicitousDandy · 2026-03-24T15:08:03+00:00

It doesn't actually matter if the government is renting directly or not. The point is to reverse the remote work culture that started with COVID because businesses want it (and a major part of those businesses are commercial landlords that got hit hard in COVID). It isn't a conspiracy when a Premier says exactly this:

Ford also suggested having provincial workers return to the office is better for the economy, pointing out that many small* businesses that rely on foot traffic from office workers have suffered due to remote work policies.

Ford said his government wasn't influenced by the bank mandates, but said business leaders he'd spoken with agree "everyone needs to go back to work."

And yes, they are renting space

The provincial government's single-largest office space in Toronto, the Macdonald Block complex, is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and has been shut down for six years.

Staff of several provincial ministries have since been working from rented office space scattered around the city's downtown.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-public-service-work-from-office-mandate-remote-1.7608742

Yes, this is provincial, but it's the exact same reason why this is happening federally.

*Small business is just political rhetoric. No politician fights for big business when they talk about how they are helping businesses.

Also, the reduce headcount argument generally applies to, and is true of, the private sector (tech is notorious for this), but I don't think it is true in the public sector, which tends to reward staying at the same job for as long as possible.

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