TOWN TALK (Aurora, ON) | Facebook - "Does no one else see the irony? Not posting it here…edited….posted below as per someone’s request (end of edit) but the mayor’s lengthy post today that starts out by saying how residents are tired of the online personal attacks. Then the remainder of his post…is a personal attack on a candidate referring back to something from 16 years ago. You can’t make this stuff up."
On Tom Mrakas
Deputy mayor’s pals given huge DEI payday by city hall | Toronto Sun - "Toronto city hall has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a DEI consulting firm with long, personal ties to both Olivia Chow’s most trusted staffer and one of her deputy mayors... Contracts, invoices and other documents, some obtained via freedom of information and some publicly available, show more than $500,000 in taxpayer money has been paid to Monumental Projects Inc. since 2022. In the fall of that year, Ausma Malik was elected the councillor for Spadina-Fort York. Malik has personal relationships going back years with Monumental’s founders, Zahra Ebrahim and Kofi Hope. Ebrahim and Hope are also listed as founding advisers by the political organization Progress Toronto. Despite that, Progress Toronto founder Michal Hay appears to have personally signed a Monumental Projects expense on behalf of Chow, while serving as chief of staff to the mayor in 2023. In a series of statements, city hall confirmed its contracts with Monumental “on two separate projects” in 2022, but did not acknowledge invoices dated from 2023 to 2025, when Chow and Malik were in power... Monumental defended its work but did not address questions about the founders’ ties to Malik and Chow... Representatives for Chow did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Progress Toronto. Monumental was paid for DEI-related consulting work, including training, speaking and public engagement, involving a range of departments at city hall, from the parks division to housing and planning all the way to the mayor’s office. Many of the contracts and invoices were provided to the Sun by the political advocacy group Integrity TO, which obtained them in a pair of freedom-of-information requests. That group was founded by Daniel Tate, a vocal critic of Chow and her allies on city council, who is running for council in a downtown ward next to Malik’s. One request contained two six-figure Monumental contracts, one of them a sole-source deal. The sole-source contract was for the planning department, with a listed delivery date of April 2023, totalling $107,563. Monumental was tasked with revising the city’s “equity tool with a gender-specific lens to support and reinforce work on the making space tool kit.”... Another contract, dating from March 2022, was for $124,116.67. That bought five months of “public engagement services for the City of Toronto’s recognition review for the economic development and culture division,” with two options to renew for one month. Article content Part of that so-called recognition review was city hall’s maligned initiative to rename public assets bearing the name of Henry Dundas. A list of invoices makes that plain, saying Monumental’s contract was for a “City of Toronto naming project.”... A search of the city’s bids portal found only one publicly posted contract won by Monumental: a 2022 public engagement deal for $121,970, which was the initial estimate for its naming project work. It’s unclear how many other deals were put through competitive processes and how many were simply offered to Monumental. It’s also possible that the records obtained by the Sun may account for individual payments more than once, given they come from an array of sources, or that other payments are unaccounted for. The Sun asked for definitive totals for payments to Monumental, both since its 2020 founding and since Malik won election in 2022, but city hall ignored that request. Article content Whatever conflict-of-interest rules were followed, Ebrahim did publicly endorse Chow for mayor in 2023 and, just recently, Malik for re-election in Spadina-Fort York. Malik’s ties to the Monumental founders go back far before her time in politics. A Toronto Star article from 2017 said she had met Hope “more than a decade” before that year, while fighting police policies in the wake of the Summer of the Gun."
This is why left wingers push DEI so much
Op-Ed: Progress Toronto is not progressive in the slightest - "I could have given him an earful about Mayor Olivia Chow’s puppeteers, whose main mission has been to get rid of conservatives on council by endorsing like-minded candidates and putting out mean-spirited attack literature and online propaganda that spreads untruths about candidates who might expose their radical agenda. They have been on the scene since 2018 — created by activist Michal Hay, who later became Chow’s chief of staff. They were largely responsible for putting Chow in office in the 2023 by-election, along with the progressive wing of council, such as Ausma Malik (I call them the Hamas caucus). Progress Toronto is, in many ways, all that’s wrong with the city and its decline. They claim to subsist on donations, but it’s dubious. They targeted my former Toronto Sun colleague Anthony Furey with hate literature alleging he was far right and racist when he ran for council in Don Valley West in 2024. The executive director, Saman Tabasinejad, subsequently gloated about it in a missive to its followers. If we needed any proof of their mission to promote a radical left agenda, their 37-question survey to pick what they call “Progressive Champions” is indeed revealing. They ask potential recruits to support throwing more money at Indigenous in Toronto, a mere .08% of the population. They push all kinds of protections for tenants, good or bad, and ask would-be candidates to vote to prevent ‘renovictions’ and do “everything in their power” to prop up affordable housing and create more expensive shelter spaces. The Progress Toronto questionnaire asks that their recruits support the use of social workers instead of police in violent situations and overdoses on the TTC or on the city’s streets (a ridiculous concept!). Not surprisingly, their recruits are asked to vote against any bylaw that restricts the “constitutional freedom” of Torontonians to protest (of course they’d be happy to let the terrorist sympathizers occupy our streets with impunity). They make it clear they want to hike the vacant home tax to 5% from 3% of the assessed value, bring outsourced services back in-house and expand safe injection services. The Progress Toronto questionnaire makes their anti-policing, pro-chaos agenda very clear: Spend with impunity on social programs, eschew policies that improve law and order, protect drug addicts and violent protesters. Mazri said when he filled out the questionnaire, it became very clear that they are an “ideological group” that wants candidates “they can steer.” He said his mission is to focus on accountability, lowering property taxes and doing what’s right for his community — not serving a special interest group’s agenda. ”They endorsed my opponent because they know (she Ala’a Adib) can be managed… they knew they couldn’t control me,” he said. ”I refuse to be anyone’s puppet.” Sadly, their puppet Olivia Chow has done just about everything they’d hoped she’d do and, in the process, has contributed to the city’s decline. With Brad Bradford gaining in the polls, Progress Toronto and its activist recruits have tried to fling as much dirt as they can before election day"
Duncan Dee 🇮🇱🇺🇦 on X - "Brad Bradford wants to be mayor for all Torontonians. He aims to fix transit, improve housing, and keep residents safe. Olivia Chow wants to use the mayor’s office to engage in global conflicts and foreign affairs (a federal matter), divide Torontonians (a moral matter), and virtue-signal (a pointless matter). Toronto voters should elect the person who actually wants to be the city’s mayor: to fix its problems, make it a better place to live and to unite the city. Enough division. Enough talk. Vote Brad Bradford. Olivia out!"
Dmitry Broytman | Facebook - "We have municipal election in Toronto on October 26. Mayor and city councillor candidates just started to put up lawn signs, so I did some statistical observations while running today. Along my route I discovered 6 signs for Brad Bradford, 4 signs for Olivia Chow, and 3 signs for Slow Down. My guess is the latter one is just an alias for Ms. Chow, because this city slowed down significantly under her watch: almost every time I take a subway—and the last time I experienced this was also today—the train would slow down or stop completely in the tunnel, and you hear the same mantra: medical emergency… works on track… police investigation… we apologize for the inconvenience… And you keep looking on your phone: will I be on time for my appointment or event. This is especially bizarre after visiting European cities with similar—in terms of lines and daily passengers—underground transit network like Budapest or Milan, where underground trains just follow schedule and are highly reliable. Why bike lane photos—another “slow down” thing—was running/walking along two bike lanes today for 5-10 minutes each. The first one was in a residential neighbourhood: two metres wide, taking probably a third of the road, and not a single bike on it, only me; the second one—on the photo—along Eglinton Avenue, taking significant part of the road again, and in 10 minutes you can count 150+ cars (it’s Sunday), 3 buses, and you already guessed… not a single bike but quite a few delivery motorcycles, and I doubt this kind of usage was on the minds of those who invented this “slow down traffic” scheme. My completely unscientific survey shows that “Slow Down” candidate currently has a lead but I hope very much that Mr. Bradford, representing dynamics, and change, and lower taxes, and safety, and just common sense will win.
Update. I wrote this half-serious but also tongue-in-cheek (Slow Down) post and never expected it to be read by more than a handful of my Facebook friends. Coming from work and seeing it getting more than 8,000 views and counting was quite a surprise. So I have to add a few words and photos.
1. I went through the comments and did my best to remove all the insults — not towards me, I do not care, but towards both candidates and other people who left comments here, as well as some of the comments provoking such behaviour. Might have missed something but did my best.
2. Some people somehow completely lack the sense of humour and seriously think I do not know the meaning of "Slow Down" signs or make electoral predictions by counting a dozen lawn signs.
3. Quite a few commented something along the lines: "Oh, it is not Olivia Chow's fault, she inherited problems from John Tory and Rob Ford". She has been the mayor for 3 years and 3 months: quite enough time to stop blaming her predecessors.
4. I attached a few additional photos to this post. This is Midtown Toronto near Yonge & Eglinton: some are from Yonge Street and most from my street. Just look at the state of the road. My street has been getting progressively worse throughout the last three years of Ms. Chow's tenure. This summer there happened to be a huge pothole in the middle of the street: they just put an orange cone in it, and it stayed like this for about three weeks until it was "repaired" — and the quality of this "repair" you can see in the photos. It is a disgrace.
5. Delivery motorcycles and electric bikes on the sidewalks and bike lanes, or moving in any direction across the road in a dangerous manner. Nobody enforces any rules on them.
6. Unfortunately, this city is dysfunctional in many ways, and we cannot allow 4 more years of the same. The only candidate representing this change is Mr. Bradford. And this change shouldn't stop with the mayor. Mr. Josh Matlow, hey, have a look at the photos, this is your constituency — hopefully not for long.
#toronto #torontoelection #ttc #bradbradford #oliviachow"
Meme - "IS THE MAYOR OF TORONTO INFLUENCED BY THE MULLAHS OF IRAN?
Iranian Canadian Congress. The ICC says Canada should remove the IRGC - the tyrannical dictatorship that mass murders its people - from the terrorist list
Saman Tabasimajad former ICC policy chair, Progress Toronto advisor, which runs Chow's campaign.
Saman Tabasimajad former ICC policy chair, now leads Progress Toronto, which runs Chow's campaign.
REJECT FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN TORONTO! TORONTONIANS DESERVE BETTER! VoteOutChow.com. DEMAND BETTER LEADERSHIP ON OCTOBER 26"
Meme - "Palestine House-Toronto: A Palestinian community organization founded by Amin El-Maoued. El-Maoued was recorded on video holding a megaphone chanting "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Muhammed is returning." The organization has publicly endorsed Chow's re-election."
Reto Baumgartner | Facebook - "Well, the BC election is over, and judging by some people's reactions, you'd think the world just ended. 😂 I actually find the whole situation almost funny. Let's look at what happened. For nearly 10 years, BC has been under NDP leadership. During that time, homelessness, drug problems, affordability and public safety have become major concerns. In my opinion, the province has been heading in the wrong direction for far too long. And then we have David Eby. The BC Conservatives were having leadership problems. Their party was divided, their leader had just resigned, and they were trying to get themselves back together. So what does Eby do? He calls an election. Two years early! Now, there's an unwritten understanding in politics that you don't take advantage of another party going through a leadership transition. Apparently, that didn't matter much to him. And his reasoning for calling an early election? Donald Trump, economic uncertainty and needing a stronger mandate to get things done. Hang on a minute. 🤔 You already have a majority government, and you're telling people you need another election to get things done? Maybe, just maybe, the problem isn't your mandate. Maybe the problem is your leadership. Well, that gamble certainly didn't work out as planned. 😂 After years of controversies, growing problems and frustrated British Columbians, the people finally had their say. And what a message they sent! Now comes the part I find even more entertaining. Some people are already complaining about how terrible this new Conservative government is going to be. Really? The NDP had nearly a decade to show what they could do. Were the last 10 years really that wonderful that you're already convinced a new government will be worse? Here's a thought. How about we give Lorne Doerkson and his team a chance to actually govern before deciding they've failed? I'm not suggesting they'll get everything right. No government ever does. They should absolutely be held accountable for their decisions, just like every other government. At least give them the opportunity to prove themselves. Personally, I'm happy for the people of British Columbia. You have an opportunity for a fresh start, a different direction and hopefully a province that can thrive again. And here's the biggest lesson I take from this election. Politicians are elected to serve the people. They aren't entitled to stay in power, and having a majority doesn't mean voters owe you another one. David Eby took a gamble, thinking an early election was his opportunity. Turns out, it was an opportunity for the people of BC instead. Funny how that works. 😂"
Thread by @jonkay on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - ".@Dave_Eby was an unmitigated disaster for BC & for Canada. He embraced every destructive progressive policy fad—drug decrim, genderwang, unmarked-graves social panic—and it is a special treat to see his arrogant election gambit end with his humiliation
(In the great tradition of trash-heap BC progressives, Eby will now get a well-paid sinecure at SFU or UBC teaching one grad seminar a month on the underappreciated awesomeness of all his policies)
He’s also the only politician of any significance in Canada who spends his time blocking critics on Twitter "
Lindsay Shepherd on X - "The BC teachers union president issued this statement today 🥴 "I recognize that with the outcome of a Conservative government, many of us may be feeling disappointed, scared, or deeply concerned about what might come next. I know these results may be particularly concerning for Indigenous, racialized, and 2SLGBTQIA+ members. You are not alone.""
Clearly only deluded right wing extremist conspiracy theories think that the teachers unions are politically biased
Kari Hollend-Wright | Facebook - "Dear progressive, left-leaning Toronto friends, I say that as someone who used to consider myself one of you. In many ways, I still am. I believe in justice, equality, human rights, social services, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and protecting marginalized communities. I also believe that most decent people, on either side of the political aisle, care about these things. But here's where I seem to have lost my political home. Just because someone doesn't share every single one of your views doesn't mean you get to diminish their humanity. I believe in democracy. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in everyone's right to vote for the person they feel best represents their values and priorities. At the moment, I feel fairly politically homeless. I don't fit neatly into the boxes I'm apparently supposed to tick. So perhaps we can just file me under decent human being. Last night, Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford both demonstrated something I wish more people would learn from. They acknowledged one another with dignity and respect, despite their political differences. When Bradford acknowledged Chow, his supporters responded respectfully. When Chow mentioned Bradford, members of her crowd booed. That contrast matters. And today, I saw a social media post attributed to a Canadian journalist and writer, someone whose work appears in mainstream publications, suggesting that Brad Bradford should kill himself. That is absolutely fucking disgraceful. And here's what I'm sick and tired of: the notion that identifying with progressive politics, social justice, or a marginalized community somehow grants you immunity from accountability. It doesn't. Your identity doesn't make you incapable of cruelty. Your politics don't automatically make you compassionate. And your belief that you're on the right side of history doesn't give you permission to dehumanize people who disagree with you. You don't get to be the bully and the victim whenever it suits you. We are constantly told that silence is complicity. That we are responsible for the company we keep. That we must call out hate, intolerance, and dangerous rhetoric wherever we see it. Fine. I agree. But those principles don't suddenly become optional when the behaviour comes from someone on your own side. You cannot demand accountability from the right while making excuses for cruelty, intimidation, and hypocrisy on the left. And when did "middle ground" get totally ruled out. You cannot champion inclusion while deciding that certain people, communities, or political opponents are undeserving of your compassion. And you certainly cannot claim the moral high ground simply because you've memorized the language of social justice. I voted for Olivia Chow in the last election. I believed in many of the things she stood for. This time, I voted to replace her. Not because I suddenly stopped caring about affordability, housing, social services, or equality, but because my humanity, my community's safety, my children's safety and my sense of belonging in this city matter too. And to those who voted for her, I respect your democratic choice. I ask that you extend that same respect to people who voted differently. But supporting a leader doesn't mean giving that leader a free pass. If you believe in the values that brought you to the ballot box, you should be willing to hold your chosen leader accountable for upholding them for everyone. Not just the communities you identify with. Not just the people who agree with you. Not just when it's politically convenient. And Mayor Olivia Chow, that responsibility now belongs to you, too. You have been elected to represent an entire city, including those who didn't vote for you. I have spent my life standing up for people whose experiences are different from my own. I don't intend to stop. But I am exhausted by the expectation that compassion must flow in only one direction. If your humanity depends on someone's politics, religion, identity, or whether they voted the same way you did, then perhaps it's time to reconsider what you actually stand for. Because justice isn't justice when it's selective. Equality isn't equality when it comes with exceptions. And compassion isn't compassion when it's reserved for people you already agree with. Pick one. Either you believe in these values for everyone, or you don't. And if we're serious about making Toronto a safer, more inclusive city, then every single one of us has a responsibility to act like it."
Left wingers are full of hate as usual
Facebook - "And so begins the winter of British Columbia's discontent. BC just experienced what the US did in 2024. It's incredible the NDP learned nothing from that, instead following the Biden-Kamala model, loathsome-maxxing right into the abyss. And now, they've created another illustrative learning moment. The BCNDP have proven once again that trying to play progressive while still remaining the handmaiden of capitalism and neoliberal hegemony will always fail and alienate everybody, and in doing handed the province of my birth to trumpistic reaction. Sadness...but they had it coming. They crushed Appadurai and their own party democracy, they let militarized police go to town on the Ada'itsx/Fairy Creek protesters, and called an election in a fit of pique and cyncism. Eby's anti-leadership will be the stuff of legend. Marginally progressive public administration coupled with letting lumber companies aggressively mow down irreplaceable old growth makes you friends with no one. Reactionaries who make it their identity to cheer on clear cuts and spit on protesters aren't going to thank you. AI-assisted right-wing cultural war brainrot has clearly seized large swathes of BC voters. They seem to have come out in droves simply out of contempt for the concept of progressivism, whatever that is meant to mean. It is pure reaction, primordial colonial white supremacy that condemns everything woke, rainbow, public, or indigenous, everything that isn't using power to punish, dominate, and exploit. Anti-science, anti-thought, anti-anything that counsels reflection or self-restraint. That is the essential character of the right-wing, that perpetual domination is the just order of the world. This is the Convoy-MAGA fascist blob, brought to us by capital, to aggressively assert the rights of power - the strong do what they will , and the weak suffer what they must - it's their fault for being weak anyways, right? Thus anti-everything, how dare anyone assert themselves, how dare the indigenous and the tree-huggers and the homeless and the transpeople exist at all, how dare temporary workers have healthcare, how dare immigrants vote, etc, etc. Droves of people showed up for this. Their mobilization speaks to the hollowness at the core of "conservative" BC society, so lacking in identity they become defined as opposite, filled with contempt for whatever those dress-wearing *progressives* are doing, etc. There's nothing much new about any of that. What is new(er) is is the extent to which AI propaganda slop and social media manipulation can produce signal-boosting, constant repetition of vitriolic right-wing agitation, driving up outrage and turnout. That is the role of social media in reactionary politics. Filling all space with noise is what propaganda has always done, but social media AI slop is particularly good at it. On the other side, those with enough internal dialogue to be immune to the above, once again learn how deadly inadequate everything is. Progressives are trapped in a system that actively militates against thoughtful, effective politics. But even without progressive vote splitting only ten or so ridings more would have gone orange, defeat still inevitable. Whatever the progressive project was, it has failed. A stunning case study. By calling the election, Eby alienated everyone, and gave the right-wing the perfect jump start ammunition to carry the momentum into a social-media fueled reactionary maelstrom - the decadent, deficit-happy lefties are at it again with a gratuitous election, wasting our money while blocking our precious precious oil, time to show them what real hard headed men can do, etc, etc. Outage begets engagement, and engagement begets advertiser revenue, so social media companies engineer the algorithm to reinforce the outrage and the biggotry that underlies it. It is an ugly cycle that utterly turfed Eby and will make all of BC suffer for his sins. Indigenous peoples will no doubt return to their communities and territories and plan resistance on the ground where they live. I have no doubts that will be ugly as they face off against a government that has already stated their intention to "conquer". The same goes for any sort of ecological protest movement against the incoming clearcuts, pipelines, and terminals extravaganza. The left needs to rebuild from scratch. Surely over the incoming 4 years of fossil-fuelled austerity terror, something can be done, surely. The Con base is block of toxic reaction and petro-chauvinism, but it doesn't make up a majority, or even plurality, of people in rid8ngs that went blue. Younger workers at the ass end of a deeply precarious economy, rural communities that perhaps today are lost to the toxic minority can be won back after they're gutted and spitted by the new regime, their hospitals and schools closed while the oligarchs extend their private airports and their local poobah lackies build their 8 or 10 car garages, all fat from untendered contracts, unfunded tax cuts, and wholesale public giveaways. The deficit will be eye-watering, to be sure. But everywhere right now the narrative framing has been captured, or perhaps rather given, entirely to reactionaries. A lot of people, neither reactionary nor pleased with government, so alienated, thus barely showed up. BC Greens and NDP need to decide what they are about and develop a modus vivendi. Against the fascist inferno, coherent left wing politics is a necessity. I know its a naive interpretation, but they both, in their essential character as social democratic and ecologist parties, are ultimately socialist, yeah? That private wealth is not the greatest good? And the right-wing is explicitly petro-chauvinist, burning fuel and consuming nature has become central to the "conservative" image, so its opposition must be ecologist. A non-ecologist leftwing is as useless and contradictory as pro-capitalist green (and not accusing current BCGreens to be guilty of the latter, to be clear). Establish some meaning in politics and vigorously defending it, would be welcome to all those who are lost. Signing a pact on electoral reform might also be a start. Once again though, unhinged electoralism has failed, and the left vanquished. They'll have a long time to pick through the ruins. BC, and perhaps Canada as a whole, appear to be behind the American cycle. Corporate progressives of liberal and liberalish NDP flavors are making themselves rankly vulnerable to well-earned progressive apathy and maple maga flavoured outrage. Funny how that works out. Attached: the conqueror, BC Con Mike Hicks, who won a progressive riding through vote splitting, sigh. Not that that actually matters, but it's still pretty cringe."
Left wing logic: the failure of far left policies means that they weren't far left enough and you need to double down
Crazy Rider Fan 🇨🇦 on X - "Canadas most woke, progressive and broken province just stunned the world by destroying the NDP (needles, drugs and poverty) party. British Columbia just annihilated David Eby and his NDP party by electing the first Conservative government in generations. This stunning victory proves a few things.
-David Eby is an idiot and so is anyone who voted for him.
-Progressives and leftists are willing to endure a horrendous amount of abuse and incompetence to defend their ideology before accepting and admitting to reality.
-Leftists and progressives do have a pain threshold.
-There were not enough immigrants, activists, criminals, communists and welfare recipients to overcome reality.
-Canadian politics is frustratingly schizophrenic. Trudeau and Carney did and continue to do to Canada what Eby did to BC. Yet Liberals are hailed as our saviours with a 3000% approval rating.
Something does not add up. Congratulations to BC for finally seeing the light. We have been pointing the flashlight at you for years. Welcome back "
Melanie Eresman on X - "I just saw a dispute between a “disabled trans” and an indigenous arguing about who has it worse now that the conservatives have won in BC. It’s like listening to satire but these humans are actually serious. What the fuck is wrong with people!!!!"
Mud-slinging Eby attempts to cancel his opposition | National Post - "As we wrap up a month of what has the potential to be one of the biggest missteps in British Columbia, or Canadian, political history, it bears examining whether David Eby’s attempt to position himself as a modern day Joseph McCarthy dedicated to rooting out thought criminals from his opposition will be ultimately effective. If Eby somehow pulls together a victory on Saturday, it will likely be a ringing endorsement that cancel culture is alive and well in Canada. In a sort of pseudo-McCarthyist attempt, the B.C. NDP has gone full throttle since the writ was dropped with attempted cancellations and censorship of B.C. Conservative candidates and staffers. The predominant narrative put forward by the B.C. NDP is the message that there are dangerous extremists that might be sitting at Lorne Doerkson’s table should the B.C. Conservatives form government. So concerned are they with a litany of old Facebook comments, X reposts and offhand remarks that they have put together a handy who’s who: “Meet Lorne Doerkson’s Team.” Like a very dull and farfetched version of Guess Who, the website conveniently lists the purported offenders and offences. Since the campaign kickoff, the B.C. NDP has been committed to attempted cancellations and censorship of prospective B.C. Conservative MLAs. When asked whether British Columbians might look past controversial comments made by MLA candidates, Eby doubled down, stating “these views are relevant to voters as they consider who will best protect them and their family.” But will this gamble pay off? While doubtless this strategy would have had a greater resonance during the 2020 “Summer of Love,” or the heyday of the “#MeToo” era, increasingly Canadians are fatigued with political correctness. A three-year-old Angus Reid poll found that over half of Canadians said the trend of cancelling public figures due to controversial statements suppresses free speech. Since 2023, public attitudes towards cancelling have arguably gotten much less supportive. In a 2024 report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Canadians rejected cancel culture, agreeing with the statement “political correctness has gone too far” by a margin of 78-22. Cancel culture fatigue has seen the rehabilitation of many previously cast aside from society, even seeing figures like persona non grata Don Cherry appointed to the Order of Ontario with minimal pushback. Highlights from the final week of the campaign included attempting to cancel Lorne Doerkson for holding private fundraisers, and claiming that holding two private maximum-donor fundraisers at “swanky downtown Vancouver hotels” was a sign that a Conservative government would sell out to “private interests.” Not to be forgotten, Conservative candidate Heather Maahs has been one of Eby’s primary punching bags over the past days, with the NDP positioning Maahs as a dangerous homophobe who does not belong in the public sphere... The NDP called for the removal of Powell River-Sunshine Coast candidate John Henderson for having a copy of Tom Flanagan’s “Grave Error” at work while he was the mayor of Sechelt. In the NDP’s framing, merely having the book and discussing it with some senior staffers meant Henderson “pushed” the book... In the 30 days of the campaign, the B.C. NDP has devoted a significant portion of its energy to the attempted censorship and cancellation of Conservative candidates, primarily based on shaky foundations of old Facebook screenshots, X reposts and Instagram stories long since expired. The results on Saturday will likely prove an interesting indicator of whether the all bark, no bite strategy of censorship and cancellation remains an effective one in Canada. Is slinging mud an effective strategy or will the consequences of reckless, largely unsubstantiated character attacks manifest in the opposite result intended? David Eby’s attempt to root out those he deems unacceptable from the B.C. Conservative ecosystem reeks of a McCarthyist ethos determined to police the bounds of discourse in a way that should send a shiver down the spine of anyone committed to free expression. Much like McCarthy, it’s doubtful that Eby has any real self-awareness of the shaky foundations many of his accusations rest upon, instead finding himself completely enveloped in his quest to root out any and all thought criminals from the B.C. Conservative tent. Playing on fear and resentment might have worked 10 years ago, but I would bet that such an approach, especially backed up with few successes and minimal policy prescriptions, will be soundly rejected at the polls."
That would explain the sudden activity among the NPCs just before the election
