This week on Open Sources Guelph we gaze into the terrifying future. Sort of. Yes, we look ahead to maybe having an NDP leader in the House of Commons again, and what the election might look like a year from now, but there’s also plenty here in the present to be worried about. In Portland, violence seems to be the name of the game as ideologies clash in the streets, and there’s plenty of ideological clashing online too between new enemies, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Canada.
This Thursday, August 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Brawlin’ Kingdom. When Canadian Foreign Affairs tweeted that they were concerned about the arrests of activists in Saudi Arabia, including noted women’s rights activist Samar Badawi, who would have guessed that it would begin a power struggle of epic proportions. The Kingdom expelled the Canada ambassador and staff, and they recalled all Saudi students studying in Canada, and then they upped the game by posting a picture on social media that evoked 9/11 imagery on the CN Tower. So is there any real diplomatic fallout from this? Did the Saudis overplay their hand, or did Canada?
Singh for the Moment. Although he’s spent most of the last year saying that he doesn’t need a seat in Parliament to rally the NDP, it seems that leader Jagmeet Singh is having a change of heart. Burnaby MP Kennedy Stewart resigned from his seat to run for mayor of Vancouver, and apparently Singh is looking at Burnaby “very closely” as a place from which to launch himself to Parliament Hill. Sounds good, but it’s worth remembering that Singh is an Ontario politician who sat in the legislature representing a Brampton riding. Can Singh overcome the parachute, and does he need a seat to make himself more viable as leader?
Liberal Pious. This time next year, we’ll be waiting for Justin Trudeau to take that walk to Rideau Hall for the dissolution of Parliament, and the beginning of the next Federal Election. So what does the political landscape look like one year out? Well, the Liberals still have their fans, but they also have a whole lot of work to do. Some polls are indicating that the Trudeau government is vulnerable on the issue of border security, an issue that seems to favour Conservatives for those voting on it. So looking at the issues and the electoral field, who has the most work to do in the next 12 months?
Thwartlandia. Portland has long been considered one of America’s most liberal cities, safely ensconced in the very liberal Pacific Northwest, but something very wrong has been happening there lately. On Saturday, an alt-right protest including members of Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys clashed with Antifa counter-protestors. Portland has been a hotbed for such clashes since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, but this time the police took action to try and stop the violence, including pepper spray and flash grenades. What do the Portland protests tell us about the character of America in the Trump era?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.
Open Sources Guelph 