Wednesday Night #2069

The Royal Canadian Legion marks 100 years of the poppy in Canada
A French woman, Anna Guerin, started making cloth poppies to raise money for war-torn France. Later, she pitched the poppy pin to Britain and Canada.
“She presented that idea to the precursor to the Royal Canadian Legion in 1921, the Great War Veterans Association, and that idea was accepted,” explained Nujma Bond, spokesperson for the Legion. “Here we are 100 years later with the poppy that remains a striking symbol of remembrance in Canada.”

While many of us have been consumed by the all-politics-is-local bug (municipal elections, murmurs from Ottawa -and Glasgow, fallout from the comment by hapless Michael Rousseau could not have come at a worse time for opponents of Bill 96); COP26 continues; turmoil in the U.S.Congress increases in the wake of the off-year elections; and the Infrastructure Bill is passed.

Municipal elections
Headline of the day “Valérie plante Coderre”. With 50% of a 36% turnout she will be governing thanks to the support of 18% of the population. Hardly a ringing endorsement. Some very tight races across Quebec and quite a few surprises including the defeat of Lionel Perez in NDG by Gracia Kasoki Katahwa. More than half Of Quebec’s 8 biggest cities have elected women mayors as Two young women voted mayors of Longueuil, Sherbrooke; [but] Quebec City race ends in upset.
Congratulations to Andrew Caddell and to Matt A

Quebec v general practitioners
The Quebec government is set to introduce a bill aimed at increasing the level of services provided by general practitioners, but already overworked doctors say they’re concerned it will do little to improve access for patients. We do not see how this can end well.

Hanes: Air Canada hitting turbulence that should have been avoided. Will this Air Canada CEO hires private tutor to learn French after ‘insulting’ comment leads to language uproar cool everyone’s jets? (Sorry, could not resist).

Recent news from COP26has been less than encouraging, however, late on Wednesday the U.S. and China unveiled an emissions deal in bid to save UN climate talks
Securing the deal [is] a political victory for U.S. President Joe Biden, who sought to restore Washington’s leadership on climate after former President Donald Trump withdrew from a global pact to combat it. To land the agreement, Washington sidelined some disputes with Beijing, including humanitarian issues like treatment of China’s ethnic Uighurs.

Biden’s infrastructure bill, explained by Ian Bremmer
Here’s what’s in it, why it matters, and what comes next for the president’s agenda. (See also long reads below)
Heather Cox Richardson devotes her 9 November Letter (Tuesday) to the increasing turmoil in the Republican Party and as always supplies a wealth of links to relevant news stories
While President Joe Biden quietly tried to fix the congestion at ports that is causing supply chain issues, the news today has been consumed by one story after another showing the increasing radicalization of those Republicans in charge of the national party.

Although directed at an American audience, this is easily applicable to Canada.
It’s Official: The Era of Cheap Everything Is Over
Not since George H.W. Bush’s administration has your paycheck been pummeled by inflation like this. People are seeing, for the first time in years, a real breakdown in the economy — bare shelves in supermarkets, weeks-long waits for household goods to get delivered, pricier checks at restaurants. At the same time, there’s something wild going on with the stock market. Historically, inflation has been terrible for the Dow Jones and stocks generally. But not this time. The S&P 500 has been acting like one of Elon Musk’s space-bound rockets, going up and up and up. Is it a momentary blip as the market decides how real the inflation threat is? Or is something unusual going on this time?

The Three Amigos ride again
Canada, the United States and Mexico are getting the band back together.
U.S. President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House on 18 November, the first gathering of the so-called Three Amigos since 2016. And Canada has a lot of issues.

Ethiopia ‘descending into widening civil war’: UN
more than seven million people needed humanitarian assistance in northern Ethiopia alone, with an estimated 400,000 people in Tigray living in famine-like conditions.

Migrants face ‘desperate situation’ at Poland-Belarus border
According to Poland, Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, is deliberately provoking a new refugee crisis in Europe by organising the movement of migrants from the Middle East to Minsk and promising them a safe passage to the EU in revenge for the sanctions Brussels has imposed on his authoritarian regime.

Varia
Missing Girl Is Rescued After Using Hand Signal From TikTok
The girl, 16, was using a new distress signal, tucking her thumb into her palm before closing her fingers over it, according to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office. The signal, created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation for people to indicate that they are at risk of abuse and need help, has spread largely through TikTok in the past year.
Too little, too late? The devastating consequences of natural disasters must inform building codes
Building codes are not retroactive, which means that buildings need only comply with the codes that were in effect at the time of their design and construction
Steady population growth and the accompanying rise in urban density increases the risk to human life and damage to property caused by natural disasters. In 2017, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated the annual cost of earthquake damage in the United States was US$6.1 billion.
How UN staff are reshaping African cities
Expensive lunch menus, high-end car washes and imported nibbles are some of the signs
A SPECIAL ECONOMY emerges around any big UN office in the developing world. Other international bodies cluster around it. Expatriates move into the safe, pleasant neighbourhood where it is located. Local suppliers vie for contracts to sell fresh produce, stationery and other staples to all these organisations. Unskilled workers get jobs as cleaners, gardeners and security guards. And small businesses, such as posh cafés and dry cleaners, thrive serving the expats and well-paid local staff.
The reason there is so much economic activity around UN hubs is simple: the UN has a lot of staff with a lot of money to spend.
From Vincent Massey to Ed Rogers: Canada’s history of family firm feuds rivals Succession
Club Med Québec Charlevoix – Ouverture le 3 décembre 2021

CIC events
Le Canada à la recherche d’une identité internationale
Wednesday’s conversation with Jocelyn Coulon, ably moderated by Marie Lamensch, was a treat – we only wish we could benefit from his insights on a regular basis. For those who missed it, we urge you to view the recording
We wish we had viewed Advice for the new Foreign Minister, Colin Robertson’s conversation with The Honourable John Manley and The Honourable Peter MacKay as they outline what Canada’s Foreign Minister, Mélanie Joly, should expect from her new role.
Next up is
Mon, November 15, 2021
12:00 PM – 12:45 PM EST
Former ambassador to China David Mulroney
Should Canada take a different approach in dealing with a rising authoritarian China?
and on
Mon, November 29, 2021
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
The next Trudeau Government and Foreign Policy
Senator Peter Boehm will discuss key foreign policy issues facing the Trudeau Government

Long reads
America has an infrastructure bill. What happens next?
The United States finally has a generation-defining infrastructure bill. What comes next? Adie Tomer, Caroline George, Joseph Kane, and Andrew Bourne provide an overview of the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the programs it funds, and the implementation tasks ahead for Washington and the nation at large.
Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology – Even in a polarized era, deep divisions in both partisan coalitions
Pew Research Center’s new political typology provides a road map to today’s fractured political landscape. It segments the public into nine distinct groups, based on an analysis of their attitudes and values.
Trump didn’t invent racism; racism invented Trump and other elected hopefuls
When Keeping It ‘Woke’ Gets Racist, Liberals Should Say So
… None of this validates the right’s panic over “critical race theory.” America’s schoolchildren are not being indoctrinated into Tema Okun thought. But a decent number of progressive groups and well-intentioned school districts do seem to be hiring quack consultants to dispense laughable race malarkey and recipes for organizational self-sabotage. Which is bad.