Stephen Lautens

What is it with dictators and models of cities?

Six In Ten Canadians (58%) Approve of the Liberal Government’s Performance Under PM Carney Liberals (43%) Remain Ahead of Conservatives (39%) as Parliament Resumes, Poilievre Takes His Seat in the Commons

www.ipsos.com/en-ca/six-te...

Please enjoy my cartoon for Wednesday's Toronto Star

As if they have a solution. Diplomacy and successful negotiation doesn't include virtuous posturing designed only to make you feel better about yourself. That is perhaps why electoral success eludes the NDP.

For example, werewolves.

Watching the inevitable critics of Carney's performance with Trump today, I am reminded of the two bits of advice I used to give clients: Don't antagonize people who can inflict serious harm on you. Don't start fights with crazy people. There are other routes to success than confrontation. #cdnpoli

YouTube video by thejuicemedia Honest Government Ad | Democracy™ [Blocked in 🇮🇳]

Sadly accurate. #Democracy youtu.be/QCphS4_Rp3w?...

“He’s a world class leader. He’s a man who knows what he wants. I’m not surprised he won substantially and he’s probably more popular now. He’s a good man. He does a great job but he’s a tough negotiator.”

I think I just heard Pierre Poilievre’s heart break. #Cdnpoli 🇨🇦

Stop bashing 🇨🇦 PM Carney because he won't start a war with the demented guy in the White House. The PM is being diplomatic and handling him with kid gloves because the madman could make matters far worse for Canada on a whim. If anyone doesn't understand that, I'm glad they're not in government.

1/7
🇨🇦 LIBERALS TO TABLE NEW BORDER BILL, STRIPPING OUT CONTROVERSIAL CLAUSES 🇨🇦

Facing united opposition & concerns from civil liberties groups, the federal government is set to introduce a new version of its #BorderSecurity #legislation this week.

Kate McKenna, CBC News
#CdnPoli #ParlVu

He's just mad they spend slightly more for food than he does at Stornoway.

For sure, this is the party I want to take on Donald Trump....#cdnpoli

Poilievre tells Carney he's willing to meet with the Americans to help move trade talks along. He can speak to Trump as one petulant child to another. #cdnpoli

There's a whole section of the Department of Justice whose job it is to look at legislation and tell the government that it violates the Charter before presenting it to Parliament. Conservatives hated them.

Stricter bail laws (which may violate the Charter and that whole "presumption of innocence" thing) require the provinces to hire a lot more judges to process them and build a lot more jails to house them. Our low-tax, small govt (mostly Conservative) provinces won't. Jails are already overcrowded.

PP was called out

He wants the PM to violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by enacting bail laws that are almost identical to laws that were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Entire video:
vm.tiktok.com/ZMAHmVGLY/

Or that the union is grandstanding for leverage and making an unsubstantiated ("we feel...") correlation when the larger workforce pool is already fairly diverse to begin with...

Getting rid of someone in the civil service for whom there is an accommodation is so fraught with labour relations pitfalls, they are the last HR wants to let go, whether you embrace DEI or not.

Likely a holdover from the backlog (now cleared) of unprocessed passport applications created by Covid.

Is it a Ruth Bader Ginsberg thing? Traditional lawyer robes were always a wing collar and tabs for both sexes.

Passport service cuts target minorities and people with disabilities, union says | CBC News The Union of National Employees believes minorities are being disproportionately targeted by cuts to the passport service.

OK. This is a union grabbing headline because they are unhappy about contract employee layoffs. The claim of discrimination is unproved and doesn't pass any smell test of credibility given the culture of the civil service. And there is no chance the PM is remotely involved www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Boo! I like the Santa suits. #cdnpoli

Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.

And now we know why Ford made speed cameras illegal.

The Bank of Canada has been replying to this lie for years. #cdnpoli

Canadian cottage sunset.

A much needed sunset on a warm October evening to remind me that there is still beauty and serenity in the world.

Yup. Helped that it was made a mandatory gift at weddings and every household needed a copy “just in case the Gestapo or nosy neighbours” came knocking

Nazi stamps with Hitler’s face.

Even Hitler didn’t put his face on German money. He did put it on stamps, and charged the German government a royalty for it, which made him rich.

'There is no B.C. coast. It's Canada's coast': Sask. premier supports Alta. pipeline proposal | CBC News Sask. Premier Scott Moe repeated his support for the proposed pipeline between Alberta and the northern B.C. coast earlier this week by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Funny how she’s a nationalist when it’s someone else’s province. #cdnpoli #ableg www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Looking out over the Berlin Wall.

Stephen Lautens at the Berlin Wall, 1971.

Today (Oct. 3rd) is German Unity Day that commemorates German reunification in 1990. In 1971 I visited East Berlin. Here I am with my father and sister on one of the lookouts in West Berlin where families split up by the Berlin Wall hoped to get a glimpse of their relatives on the other side.

It’s a bad look.