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Jan 6 2024

Petition record. Harpauer’s record. Drug deal. The Roundup

Jan 6, 2024
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
A record number of people signed e-petitions last year — do they make a difference?
A call for the House of Commons to vote no confidence in the Liberal government is now the most-signed e-petition ever to be launched in Canada — another sign of the increasing popularity of online petitions. [CBC]
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis is backing a petition for Canada to pull out of the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations like the World Health Organization. [Global]
The Department of National Defence said the issue with the CC-144 Challenger aircraft was discovered during an inspection this week before Trudeau's scheduled departure. [Global]

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh representing South Burnaby BC said he doesn't support luxury condos built on federal land, but he does support TransLink's funding plan. [Burnaby Now]

Overall, the results suggest that the use of household signs is an effective form of political campaigning in Canada for nongoverning parties. Analyses suggest that every sign placed per 100 registered electors is associated with an increase of 0.5–1.5 per cent vote share. The presence of household signs was associated with an increase of 1.5–3.4 per cent vote share. Further, preliminary evidence also suggests a possible diminishing returns trend: the per-sign rate of increase in vote share may slow down at higher densities. [Cdn Journal of Political Science]
From the provinces
Could regular skiing in southwestern B.C. be a thing of the past by 2050?
"By 2085, if we continue with climate change, you won't be able to ski on a reliable basis at Whistler," said UBC's Michael Pidwirny. [Global]

Donna Harpauer, who served 25 years in politics,16 years in cabinet, reflects on her accomplishments and hardships. [Global]
Elsewhere
F.D.A. to Issue First Approval for Mass Drug Imports to States from Canada
The agency authorized Florida to purchase medicines directly from wholesalers in Canada, where prices are far cheaper. Pharmaceutical companies oppose the plan. [NYT]
A major shift in U.S. policy about buying medication from Canada has caused fears north of the border about a potential supply crunch. [CP]
...it was the conservative media ecosystem, not Stefanik, that struck the crowning blow leading to Gay’s resignation. Gay managed at first to escape Magill’s fate with the support of the Harvard Corporation, the smaller and more powerful of Harvard’s two governing boards. But a sustained pressure campaign that focused on allegations of plagiarism in her scholarship ultimately led to her downfall. It began Dec. 10, when conservative activists Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet published a newsletter on Substack titled “Is Claudine Gay a Plagiarist?” [Politico]
Amid opposition boycott, ruling party accused of fielding ‘dummies’ and threatening people to show up on voting day. [Al Jazeera]
Media
Newsletter writers with thousands of subscribers threaten to leave platform, which says banning extremists makes things worse. [The Guardian]
Why Substack is at a crossroads
Casey Newton: Until Substack, I was not aware of any major US consumer internet platform that stated it would not remove or even demonetize Nazi accounts. Even in a polarized world, there remains broad agreement that the slaughter of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust was an atrocity. The Nazis did not commit the only atrocity in history, but a platform that declines to remove their supporters is telling you something important about itself. If it won’t remove the Nazis, why should we expect the platform to remove any other harm? [Platformer]
Berrow’s Worcester Journal is one of several papers owned by the UK’s second biggest regional news publisher to hire ‘AI-assisted’ reporters. [The Guardian]
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Sci/Tech
A Brief But Spectacular take on the future of the internet
Vint Cerf is known for his pioneering work as one of the fathers of the internet. He now serves as the vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google where he furthers global policy development and accessibility of the internet. He shares his Brief But Spectacular take on the future of the internet. [PBS]
Issued this day ...
... in 2006: Sc 2141 - souvenir sheet: Lunar New Year - 10 — Year of the Dog. Design: Joseph Gault.

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