Nobody Cares About Canada

[Beebo Brink]

I can't think of a better introduction to a thread on Canada than the story of Mirror Falls, BC, as narrated by Tod Maffin.

Spotify: Mirror Falls - Episode 0 (Introduction)
YouTube:

 

[Isabeau]

Thanks! Just went and subscribed to his podcast. Tod Maffin is pretty cool, too.
As others mentioned in the comments, reminds me of the Vinyl Cafe from a while back. Used to love listening to Stuart McLean every Sunday.

 

[Beebo Brink]

This reminds me of Prairie Home Companion's tales, which was already pretty Canadian in feel.

Also, this is from Maffin:

BREAKING NEWS: Tariffs now determined by Pantone code

BREAKING NEWS: Tariffs now determined by Pantone code✅ Get my free newsletter: newsletter.todmaffin.com☕ Help support my work: support.todmaffin.com🎙️ Liste...

www.youtube.com

 

[Isabeau]

Were really getting under his diseased skin.

Jeff Stringer (@blooms-ghost.bsky.social)

I think it is now inarguable that the king is quite mad.

bsky.app

 

[Free]

Were really getting under his diseased skin.

It's a place you really shouldn't have to find yourselves, but we appreciate you getting under there all the same.

 

[Isabeau]

Gah… spelling mistake. 🫢

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Were really getting under his diseased skin.

Jeff Stringer (@blooms-ghost.bsky.social)

I think it is now inarguable that the king is quite mad.

bsky.app

Good.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Taco Bridge.

 

[Free]

Taco Bridge.

I played Taco Bridge once. It was weird playing a card game with tortillas instead of a normal deck.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump tries and fails to extort Canada

It's Bridgegate 2.0, only much dumber.

www.publicnotice.co

The president controls the border and could certainly scuttle the deal if he wanted to expend the political capital. But everyone in the US and Canada knows that he won’t do it. Just the way everyone knew that he wouldn’t yank every Canadian-made Bombardier plane out of the sky two weeks ago.

It’s more than the general acknowledgement that TACO Trump will always chicken out. He no longer has the bandwidth — mental or political — to enforce his own edicts. His popularity is in free fall, Democrats are massively over-performing in every off-year race, and, while he can certainly punish Republicans who fail to parrot his increasingly unhinged narratives, he can’t make them commit political suicide.

Trump can’t shut down the bridge because it will blow back on Republican candidates in Michigan. He can’t ground Bombardier planes when the company employs thousand of workers in Dallas, Tucson, Hartford, Wichita, and Opa-locka. And he can’t impose an erratic scheme of tariffs that causes the price of every consumer good in America to go through the roof as they head to the polls.

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Isabeau]

I’m sure Trump keeps making jabs about hockey because Carney’s used to play in the minors and at Harvard. As of to goad him, ha ha So ridiculous.

 

[Isabeau]

in much sadder news:

Global condolences come in for B.C. community of Tumbler Ridge after mass shooting kills 9

• Nine people were killed and at least 25 more were injured after a mass shooting in the community of Tumbler Ridge, B.C., on Tuesday.
• Six victims were found dead inside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and another died on the way to the hospital. Two more people were found dead in a home, which police believed to be connected to the school shooting.
• The only suspect was found dead inside the school from "a self-inflicted injury."

 

[Essence Lumin]

My mom was raised in Bolton, Ontario, later legally absorbed by Caledon. We would visit my grandparents up there before they had both died by the time I was 12, so a long, long time ago.

'Prince Andrew Island' in Canada to be renamed after royal's arrest

An island in Canada named after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will be renamed.

www.express.co.uk

Several streets in Canada are also named after the former prince, including Prince Andrew Drive, a winding street in a semi-rural neighbourhood in Caledon, in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Town of Caledon said in a statement: "While we are aware of the recent arrest of former Prince Andrew and the concerns it may raise within the community, any reconsideration of a municipal street name would require a formal review process and public feedback."

 

[Beebo Brink]

Flesh-eating screwworm: Canada bans Texas over US outbreak

Canada's food inspection agency has announced a temporary ban on livestock from the US state of Texas after flesh-eating screwworms were discovered in calves this week.

Cows and horses that were in Texas anytime within 21 days before crossing the border into Canada would not be accepted into the country, an agency news release said.

 

[Pancake]

I signed up to work the upcoming referendum, not because I want Alberta to leave Canada, but because I want no reason for the separatists to have cause for complaint when they lose.

Our provincial government got rid of ballot counting machines a little while ago and I worked the last municipal elections to help with hand counting. It’s a shit show so hopefully by volunteering I can make a small difference.

“With ten ballot questions, Elections Alberta will print 45 million ballots, far exceeding the 1.8 million ballots cast in Alberta’s 2023 provincial general election and the 19.8 million ballots cast in Canada’s 2025 federal general election.
To achieve the 48-hour deadline to complete the unofficial ballot count, a minimum of 60,000 workers will be required.”

Elections Alberta Launches Largest Recruitment Drive in Alberta’s History - Elections Alberta

EDMONTON – Today, Elections Alberta is launching the largest electoral event worker recruitment campaign in Alberta’s history and one of the largest referendum recruitment efforts ever undertaken in Canada ahead of the province’s upcoming referendum on October 19, 2026. With ten ballot...

www.elections.ab.ca

 

[Beebo Brink]

I'm torn on the issue of machines in voting. They are so much more accurate and efficient, but people don't trust them and that reduces confidence in the system.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

I'm torn on the issue of machines in voting. They are so much more accurate and efficient, but people don't trust them and that reduces confidence in the system.

As long as this remains the truth nobody will win me over for voting machines, ever. Good voting machines need transparent software and mandatory paper trail.

 

[Govi]

I signed up to work the upcoming referendum, not because I want Alberta to leave Canada, but because I want no reason for the separatists to have cause for complaint when they lose.

Our provincial government got rid of ballot counting machines a little while ago and I worked the last municipal elections to help with hand counting. It’s a shit show so hopefully by volunteering I can make a small difference.

“With ten ballot questions, Elections Alberta will print 45 million ballots, far exceeding the 1.8 million ballots cast in Alberta’s 2023 provincial general election and the 19.8 million ballots cast in Canada’s 2025 federal general election.
To achieve the 48-hour deadline to complete the unofficial ballot count, a minimum of 60,000 workers will be required.”

Elections Alberta Launches Largest Recruitment Drive in Alberta’s History - Elections Alberta

EDMONTON – Today, Elections Alberta is launching the largest electoral event worker recruitment campaign in Alberta’s history and one of the largest referendum recruitment efforts ever undertaken in Canada ahead of the province’s upcoming referendum on October 19, 2026. With ten ballot...

www.elections.ab.ca

I hope there are decimal points misplaced in that article. Alberta has an estimated population of 5.05 million, therefore "45 million ballots" and "19.8 million ballots" would seem to be 10X too large. I hope. Sorry to nitpick, but in a discussion of elections, numbers count.

 

[Pancake]

I hope there are decimal points misplaced in that article. Alberta has an estimated population of 5.05 million, therefore "45 million ballots" and "19.8 million ballots" would seem to be 10X too large. I hope. Sorry to nitpick, but in a discussion of elections, numbers count.

I thought the same but there are 10 referendum questions so maybe they are individual ballots? Sounds crazy but that’s how they did municipal as well. Voters got 3 ballot cards, mayor, councillors, and trustees so 3x the amount of ballots to print and count.