Trudeau fires Ambassador to China after he lets the cat out of the bag in extradition

[applegrove]

dispute with China.

Link to tweet

[True Dough]

1. I remember when he was previously minister of defence

under Chretien or Marin. He never struck me as a star performer.

[applegrove]

2. I always thought he was level headed. Can't figure out why he did what he did. Twice.

[True Dough]

3. I can't answer that, of course

I'm just glad we don't have to worry about someone like Kellie Leitch becoming Canada's next ambassador to China.

[applegrove]

4. Yes. I agree to a pipeline through the Rockies too keep Alberta

partially in the fold and the Conservatives out of power nationally. I compromise myself by doing this but console myself by saying if the Conservatives get power they will roll back alternative energy and reasonable public policy on climate change. And some point, when the public runs the climate change agenda and not the industry, I will be against the pipeline. All that matters is that the Liberals run and win again. It is the only chance the middle class has.

[True Dough]

5. Agreed

100%

That's two votes (three, including my wife's) that will make your wish come true.

[applegrove]

6. And all the big car companies are restructuring to the changing car industry:

electric and self driving and uber and car sharing, which will tank the oil industry even more.

[True Dough]

7. Yes, but while that is happening

there are some indications that the cart may be getting ahead of the horse. I just bumped into this article earlier today...


https://qz.com/1533976/automakers-may-overproduce-14-million-electric-cars-by-2030/

[applegrove]

8. But tech makes uber or car sharing or driverless more likely. I take taxis

some of the time. I walk some of the time and i take public transportation some of the time. I don't need a car and what I spend is cheaper than a car. I can't drive anyway. But I spend $200 or a bit more to get groceries by taxi or to go to the hardware store a few times a month. And when the weather is bad I take taxis too. Families are smaller. People don't have homes as much. So you don't need a car so much. There are so many other things than electric. I know a single mother who is part of a car sharing club and she uses it for not just shopping but to go camping or other fun stuff. So even if oil does not disappear cars themselves are
going to be rarer. IMHO

I don't know if online shopping is more or less a user of gasoline. If I was a betting man I would invest in a making box company.

[True Dough]

9. You live in Toronto, right?

What you wrote applies to a booming metropolis like Toronto and Vancouver. I don't believe it does as much in Regina or Thunder Bay or Halifax. Definitely not in rural Canada. There are still a lot of people living in suburbs who are fully dependent on cars for commuting. Many of them would very reluctantly give up the luxury of being able to hop in their cars and go on a little road trip or take a vacation. Car sharing is growing in popularity, particularly among the younger generation, but it's still a long way from becoming commonplace, IMO.

[applegrove]

10. I'm in Ottawa. Point is the market is changing. And hopefully that will

mean big dirty fossil fuel will not run the show anymore.

[applegrove]

11. Look at this right wing wedging. Disgusting. Yellow vests in canada.

Link to tweet

[True Dough]

12. Yeah, that's not good

The economy slides and some narrow-minded individuals race to point fingers at immigrants.

This isn't encouraging either:

https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/01/25/wolves-of-odin-visit-to-edmonton-mosque-prompts-police-investigation.html

[applegrove]

13. Oh that's bad. I'm reading a book called "Enchanted America". About people

who vote rational vs. those that vote on a feeling (like racism). Financial insecurity is a greater predictor of people voting intuitively rather than rationally much, much more than level of income. If you put the squeeze on people financially you can get them to vote against their own interests. Why I think Doug Ford is changing low income university students to loans vs. grants. So that they will have financial anxiety for years and years and will blame some 'other'. Fact is Canada is getting lots of ambitious Muslim students because of Trump in the USA. We need all the computer geeks and doctors we can get. But these people under long term financial anxiety will not think of their cardiologist. They will think of sharia law and vote for conservatives.