🧵I think the main thing standing in the way of an ON NDP-Liberal merger is a lack of bold leadership & vision. Glad to see that changing …

And if we flip the question: what are the arguments AGAINST a merger?

I’ve heard 5. Let’s take them one at a time 👇 1️⃣ “We want to win on our own. Just give us a chance, and we can do it.”

I get that a merger isn’t anyone’s top choice. But it’s time for plan B. You’ve had your chance to “win on your own,” and it clearly hasn’t worked. Set your egos aside & do the right thing!

Had a great time at a @CCACANADA event today; went home & considered joining.

Then discovered their board is 100% male. 13/13 ppl!! At a 🇨🇦 org that talks nice talk abt democracy & human rights.😬

Put some women in positions of leadership, then I'll give you my $100, fellas... PS. In case you'd like to check out the "wall of men" yourself ... ccacanada.com/board-of-direc…

🧵The 🇨🇦"freedom convoy" has now raised more than USD $5.3 million. That's about CAD $6.7 million, and GiveSendGo sounds perfectly happy to disburse the funds.

A **TSUNAMI** of US-raised $$$ is abt to flow north, crashing into a political system that's ill-prepared to deal w/it.

https://twitter.com/CBCKatie/status/1490784842132475904

For context:

The culture of money & politics in Canada is completely different than in the US. There is no infrastructure of PACs, super PACs and 501(c)4s. There is no permanent advocacy machine. There are strict limits on campaign finance.

Hey friends, just FYI, you may be hearing some concerning takes from me in the media.

I think this is a really bad situation, but I just wanted to let you know we’re safe & OK. We aren’t hearing much noise at home. There’s only been a little intimidation in our immediate area. Vehicles do pass through, though, and the kids pick up on it all. The last thing they need is even more stress & instability after an already hard 2 yrs. I never imagined we’d make it (partially?) through a pandemic only to have to deal with an occupation/insurrection.

🧵 Chair of #Ottawa police services board calls this "an insurrection;" police chief Sloly says "this is a city under siege, this is a threat to democracy, this is a nationwide insurrection, this is madness." Sloly additionally says Ottawa "does not have sufficient resources" to manage the situation & there are significant legislative and bureaucratic obstacles to getting the support needed.

Very concerning, esp. b/c some participants view this as a "revolution."

💥DO💥NOT💥GO💥

➡️Are you considering going to the counter-protest in Ottawa? DON'T.

➡️Know someone going? TELL THEM NOT TO.

➡️Thinking of walking by, just to see if anything is happening? STAY AWAY.

https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1489991614676312075

I ❤️direct action & I'm big believer in standing up for what's right. On the personal side, I've attended MANY protests, organized civil disobedience & been arrested 2x (yes, while blocking roads). On the academic side, I've studied hundreds of occupations, riots, lynchings, etc.

🧵 @OttawaPolice seems to think this situation will magically de-escalate itself. 3 reasons why, unfortunately, I think they’re wrong. ⬇️

(Ps. I tweet about a lot of random stuff, but violent collective action & contentious politics are things I actually study!) 1. Who’s here. The moderates went back to work on Monday. More extreme folks stayed. And after a week of intense media coverage and social media activity, this weekend will draw a different crowd than last weekend.

Forget epidemiology. Apparently, Ontario's COVID response & re-opening plans are being decided via public opinion polls.

So, let's take a look at the polling, from the perspective of someone who does public opinion research.

Come along. It'll be wild.🧵

toronto.ctvnews.ca/mobile/how-pub… 1. Looking at these questions, the first thing that jumps to mind is, "false dilemma" (aka "false dichotomy"). This fallacy pits two options against each other, when the full range of choices is more complex.