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May 7 2023

Liberal policies. Alberta emergency. Taco tech.

May 7, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Liberals reject balanced budget and mandatory voting as official policy
The federal Liberal party embraced an expansion of affordable housing, building high-speed rail between Ontario and Quebec, and a basic guaranteed income as their three-day policy convention wrapped. [CP]
Michael Geist: I don’t know what else to say other than this feels like uncharted territory. It must stop.
The Conservative Party parltly faulted their hawkish line on Beijing for alienating Chinese Canadian voters in 2021 general election. [Global]
The government is still investigating why warnings that a Conservative member of Parliament was being threatened by the Chinese government never made it to the desk of any cabinet minister. [CP]
The image of King Charles will eventually replace the queen on Canada's $20 bill and its coins, the federal government announced during Saturday's coronation events. [CP]
From the provinces
Alberta declares state of emergency as wildfires rage
Premier Danielle Smith and the Government of Alberta declared a provincial state of emergency Saturday in response to raging wildfires. [Global]
Residents near Entwistle, Alta. question what the province is doing to help stop the spread of wildfire in their area. [Global]
Quebec public security officials say 89 municipalities are dealing with spring flooding with more than 660 people across the province forced to leave their homes. [CP]

If you can't wait for this fall's provincial election, you're in luck: Manitoba's two most popular political parties are already taking aim at each other in attack ads. [CBC]
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Elsewhere
Russia Getting Beaten by Hackers
Jason Jay Smart: Russia has long prided itself as having the world's "second greatest army" and the world's "best" hackers with a large number of hacks against the United States, Europe, and in Ukraine. However, in the past few weeks, it appears that Russia's reputation was judged too highly, as it has faced one disastrous hack after another by anti-Putin or pro-Ukraine hacking groups. [Kyiv Post]
Foreign ministers from Arab League member states in Cairo are poised to vote on restoring Syria’s membership to the organization after it was suspended over a decade ago. The meeting in the Egyptian capital Sunday took place ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19, where many expect to see a partial or full return of Syria following a rapid rapprochement with regional governments since February. Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended 12 years ago, early in the uprising. It turned into a conflict, which has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. [AP]
Media
Election administrators across the United States say they’re concerned their offices will be targeted for fake Twitter accounts that'll confuse or mislead voters after the social media platform changed its long-standing verification service. Some election officials are trying to take steps to ensure that voters can tell the difference between the official election office account and any impostors that might pop up in elections this year or during the 2024 cycle. Twitter’s uneven response is causing concern about the potential for a flood of social media misinformation around voting and elections. [AP]
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Tech
Taco Bell’s Innovation Kitchen, the Front Line in the Stunt-Food Wars
How did the chain outdo Burger King’s Bacon Sundae, Pizza Hut’s hot-dog-stuffed crust, Cinnabon’s Pizzabon, and KFC’s fried-chicken-flavored nail polish? Fascinating food-tech piece! A good Sunday long read. [New Yorker]
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Issued this day ...
... in 1971: Scott # 539: Louis-Joseph Papineau. Design: Laurent Marquart. Drawing by Robert Auchmuty Sproule. 
This stamp was issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Papineau (1786-1871). The stamp features the drawing “Louis-Joseph Papineau” (1832) by Robert Auchmuty Sproule (1799-1845), a drawing purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1992.

Canada Post’s press release at the time of release said this: “Louis Joseph Papineau, a great but enigmatic figure in Canadian history, is remembered as a leading spokesman of French Canadian aspirations. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1809, Papineau early took a prominent role, becoming Speaker in 1815, a post which he held for the greater part of the next twenty years.

He led the parti canadien in a battle of constitutional reform that was to last until the Rebellions of 1837. To Louis Joseph Papineau politics was a painful duty, a burden that separated him from his family and seclusion at Montebello, his seigniory. 

Born in 1786, he chose to become a lawyer but soon left the profession and was at loose ends until asked to run for the legislature. Papineau inspired the famous Ninety-Two Resolution of 1834, an extreme presentation of grievances coupled with the demand for elective institutions. The Resolutions were Papineau's last attempts to gain reform constitutionally before 1837. That year he began a tour of the rural counties to drum up popular support and to promote a boycott of imported products. 

Events moved too rapidly for the boycott to work and the ensuing armed rebellion failed. His effective political career was over, although he did return to public life in 1847. Encouraged by his wife and former supporters he entered the assembly and sat as an isolated oppositionist until retirement in 1854. He died in 1871, having fathered a tradition of political leadership that was carried on by his grandson Henri Bourassa.”

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