You know what really annoys me? The ridiculous amount of time and energy so many people are having to divert from the things they would really much rather do with their lives, in order to fight conservative provincial governments who seem to care not at all about the people. 1/22
And then there is the stress and effort to fight a conservative opposition in Ottawa that seems hell-bent on toppling the Liberal government which has been acting with a duty of care for the people. 2/22
Between a crazy, unsuitable curriculum, attacking doctors and other healthcare workers, selling off our mountains, closing harm reduction sites, and bungling the whole pandemic response (here in AB, I know ON, MB, and SK have similar problems)... 3/22
And trying to fact-check every ridiculous bit of misinformation the federal and provincial conservatives come up with, we are having our time and energy stolen from us. We shouldn't be having to fight our government or the official opposition so hard. 4/22
What is the purpose of government in a democracy like Canada? It is to act on behalf of the people. It's very complex, but it is also that simple. So, when there is a global pandemic and people are struggling financially because businesses have to close their doors, 5/22
A responsible government acts to help the people get through this. And our federal government responded with quite a number of programs. Some of which provincial governments rejected. Conservative provincial governments... 6/22
And federal conservatives didn't want to help Canadians out because they feared it would make workers "lazy". 7/22
thestar.com/opinion/contri…
If you see someone who has fallen off their bike and their leg is broken, do you help them? Or do you tell them to get up and get going, and any pain they might feel builds character? This seems to be the contrast between the Liberals and Conservatives at the moment. 8/22
The conservatives want us all to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps or some such twaddle. Pay for our healthcare, pay for our children's education (which we already do, but not in a way that gives conservatives' friends any satisfactory profit margins). 9/22
How do you pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots? A government is supposed to care for and represent all, regardless of income, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender... But conservative policies clearly don't do that. 10/22
Today the House of Commons debated about a Conservative Private Members Bill, C-233, which would make it a crime for an abortion to be performed because of a fetus' genetic sex. 11/22
This is a very controversial issue. The conservatives have people with Jedi skills in poking people's outrage buttons. The hope here is to sway the feminist vote by saying such abortions are anti-female. And they are. Some people don't want a daughter, for whatever reason. 12/22
And some other people don't want a baby, for whatever reason. And some people want a baby but wind up with an ectopic pregnancy that could kill the mother, or some other life-threatening circumstance. 13/22
The point is, this is a wedge issue. The conservatives and their right-to-life power brokers want to get one tiny bit of legislation through that creates a chink in the abortion issue. 14/22
Something that can change anything that has to do with abortion from being a medical matter to being a legal matter. Because, if they can get one thing outlawed, the door is open a crack, and bills like we see in the US will come pouring in. 15/22
If Conservatives were really worried about all the reasons women choose to have abortions, they would be demanding comprehensive sex-ed, affordable and accessible birth control, funds to research male contraceptive medications, 16/22
affordable and accessible daycare, a UBI, much stricter domestic abuse laws and more support for women and children fleeing abuse, more supports for families dealing with children with handicaps, a better and more fully-funded education system, 17/22
better prenatal care and health care in general, especially in isolated communities. They would be doing their utmost to ensure that unwanted pregnancies could be avoided and people who became pregnant would know they would be able to care for the child once it is born. 18/22
Are they in favour of any of this? No. Therefore, it is clear that they are primarily just interested in imposing their will on somewhat more than half the population. That is not acting on behalf of the people. 19/22
That is acting to please a small powerful group, to follow an ideology, to exert control over the lives of the people. That is not what a democratic government is supposed to do. 20/22
It's just so tiresome, and old, and exhausting, to have to keep fighting these people and these fights over and over again. It is so draining and keeps us from using our time to do fulfilling and satisfying things with our lives. 21/22
Could we not all just agree to not vote conservative, ever, in the interest of stopping this ideological takeover attempt of our country & getting our lives and time back? Reduce them to third party, or non-party status? That would be great. 22/22 #NeverVoteConservative #cdnpoli

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More from @Norlaine

29 May
The person who wrote this also drafted the UCP social studies curriculum. In other posts, he shrugs off the 215 children's bodies buried at a residential school, blaming the deaths on TB. 1/5 #abpoli #cdnpoli #abed Image
He says it as though putting people in close quarters and malnourishing them had nothing to do with the incidence and spread of TB. 2/5 Image
He shrugs it off as though it is no big deal that those children died far from their families, alone and afraid. He suggests the parents wanted to send their children to residential schools. 3/5
cbc.ca/news/canada/mo…
Read 5 tweets
27 May
Since we moved to Alberta in 2008 I have heard many people rave about Stampede. They talk about how all the offices close & everyone starts drinking in the morning & dressing like cowboys & cowgirls & a lot of people have sex with people they don't know... 1/9
(And the stats show a big jump in STI diagnoses in the weeks that follow), and there are big parties and everyone stuffs themselves with pancakes every day at any number of pancake breakfasts going on, and the streets downtown are full of big belt buckles and big hats... 2/9
And there is the midway where every year the vendors try to outdo themselves w/ strange concoctions that optimally contain huge quantities of grease, sugar, and spice. And there's crowds and rides and people puking because they've been drinking since 8am & went on the zipper. 3/9
Read 11 tweets
26 May
I listened to the press briefing this morning. I have take-aways and I have questions.
Main take-aways:
- Kenney is sucking up big time to faith groups, probably certain faith groups
- Kenney is basing the whole plan on the opening date for Stampede, July 9.
1/10
Questions:
- What about communities with lower than average vaccination uptake? This was asked by a reporter and it's an excellent question. The answer was that they are looking at the health of the population as a whole. 2/10
But, people travel, people are going to be going all over the place with summer and, apparently, stampedes... So what stops unvaccinated people from mingling with the general population, who have mostly only had 1 shot, or no shot if under 12, and making people sick? 3/10
Read 10 tweets
25 May
Any party that seeks to form government should be subject to the exact same level of scrutiny as the sitting government. As voters, we deserve a fulsome accounting of all our choices at the polling booth. 1/9
In recent years, this has not been happening. Journalists seem to have decided that a Liberal government is the enemy. For ownership reasons discussed in a previous thread. 2/8
But, in reality, this does Canadians a grave disservice. News media cannot reasonably turn a blind eye to the behaviour of other parties just because they are not in government. They want to be in government. They want to make decisions that will affect us all. 3/8
Read 8 tweets
25 May
We are in an age of rampant journalistic malpractice. There is a reason one of the first things an invader does is seize control of the media. We can't trust that our news media is not being manipulated. See my earlier thread re: vaccine deliveries. 1/7
Our media has been seized. Harper made it possible for a conglomerate of American right-wing interests to run most of our print, radio, and online news media. 2/7
This is a quiet hostile takeover of Canadian minds & votes. When you see an opposition MP make statements & these statements are demonstrably false, but news media does not challenge, this is subversion of democracy at work. Traditionally, journalists are 1st line of defense. 3/7
Read 7 tweets
24 May
"The two pharmaceutical firms were originally scheduled to deliver two million shots in the next seven days, but shipped 1.4 million of those doses last week instead in anticipation of the May long weekend." We got them EARLY. And CTV is trying to make it sound bad. WTAF?
Here is an example of how our news media (which are mostly owned by conservative interests in the US) spin the news to affect people's perceptions. 2/7
Most people only read headlines. CTV can't actually just make stuff up and pass it off as news, but they can present information in such a way as to control what a majority of people will take away from the article. 3/7
Read 7 tweets

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