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Jan 7 2024

Tracking wrong. Happiness ballot. Boeing blowout. The Roundup

Jan 7, 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 final chart based on the most recent Privy Council Office polling data released under federal access-to-information laws. (This data set ends Oct 1 as that is as fast as the ATI system works. I expect I'll get November 2023 data by the end of this month) The PCO polling program is a live-agent to landline/cell program that surveys 1,000 people every single week. While it is technically the PCO's polling program, every question is vetted by the prime minister's director of research. And while, by law, public opinion research paid for by taxpayers, like this, cannot ask a respondent about voting intentions or any other politically partisan topic, the second question asked each and every week is: Is the federal government on the right track or wrong track? This chart is built out of the responses from that question. Some takeaways:
  • Throughout 2023, fewer and fewer Canadians thought the government was on the right track and more thought it was on the wrong track.
  • There is no region of the country where this trend does not exist. Antipathy towards the government obviously greatest in Alberta (wrong track = +/-60%) but is at or approaching +/-50% in BC and ON. 
  • Quebec had been the only region where "right track" was better than "wrong track" -- until late summer. Now, even Quebec is turning sour on the government.
- DA 

As 81 per cent of Canada's farmland experiences dry conditions, farmers remain hopeful that winter will still bring some snow to help keep the ground moist for spring. [Global]

Canada is having a productivity problem. Economists explain that with growing wages, there's a risk of refuelling inflation if Canadian workers aren't more productive. [Global]
Warren Kinsella: Jean Chretien is turning 90 this week. And what a life he has had. [Toronto Sun]
From the provinces
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says that his province has a "credible path" to a net-zero future and so he wants to revisit the role of the federal carbon price.  [Global]
Elsewhere
Bhutan holds general election as economic crisis hits ‘national happiness’
Both parties in fray committed to constitutionally enshrined philosophy of government measuring success by ‘happiness’. [Al Jazeera]
The European Union should form its own combined army that could play a role in peacekeeping and preventing conflict, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said. [Reuters]
Media
Jane Ferguson: Life on the frontlines of war reporting
Covering global war stories can be hard and thankless — but it's critical work if the rest of us are to understand what's really going on in the world. For nearly two decades, journalist Jane Ferguson has reported on hostilities across Africa and the Middle East, and she's witnessed firsthand the changing face of her profession. Via stories of her own experiences at the heart of complex conflicts, she shares fascinating details of how she and other female colleagues have changed the way that news is captured, shared — and understood. [TED]
"... we found that the Toronto Star used sensational narrative structures/emotional appeals significantly more than the Postmedia newspapers (39.4 per cent to 29.8 per cent) and presented conflict in a sensationalized manner roughly equally frequently to the Postmedia newspapers (38.4 per cent to 40.1 per cent)."  [Canadian Journal of Political Science]
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Sci/Tech
Spirit Aero made blowout part but Boeing has key role
Investigators may examine whether flaws occurred at Spirit's fuselage plant or at the Boeing factory. Regulators grounded most 737 MAX 9s after an Alaska Airlines plane lost a door-replacement panel and landed with a gaping hole in its side. [Reuters]
Clive Thompson: I'm a nervous flyer to begin with, so the news that Boeing is putting its crash-prone Max 737 jet back into service fills me with Lovecraftian dread. I would rather ride a goddamn burro across the continental United States than get on one of those things. "Don't worry, we updated the software." There is no modern statement less reassuring. But, how can you tell if you've been slated to fly on one? [Boing Boing]
The Minister of Transport’s office confirmed with Global News Saturday that Canadians operators are not at all implicated with the Alaska Airlines incident. [Global]

A new experimental antibiotic can handily knock off one of the world's most notoriously drug-resistant and deadly bacteria —in lab dishes and mice, at least. It does so with a never-before-seen method, cracking open an entirely new class of drugs that could yield more desperately needed new therapies for fighting drug-resistant infections. [Ars Technica]
Issued this day ...
... in 2011: Sc 2417 - souvenir sheet: Lunar New Year (Series 2) — 3 — Year of the Rabbit. Design: Paul Haslip, Lauren Rand.

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