- One noteworthy thing about the far-right orientation of the American countryside - it wasn't always this bad. In 2000, Republicans only had a five point lead over Democrats in rural America - but today they lead by 25 points. How much difference the folksiness of Tim Walz will make in that regard is doubtful, though the Democrats are hoping that it will help in places like Nebraska which doesn't use a winner-takes-all system for their electoral votes. One wonders how much longer this will matter; the shift of the population towards large cities may not be as pronounced in the US as in a lot of countries, but it's still happening there, and the more that happens, the more irrelevant rural voters will become. Of course they will also become even angrier than they already are as that happens.
- The Manitoba government is putting $10 million into the Collaborative Housing Alliance Real Estate Investment Trust. The trust is being created by the Business Council of Manitoba and will assist community groups in the creation of affordable housing; Housing Minister Bernadette Smith hopes to have three projects going within a year.
- The Mountain View School Division in western Manitoba, which recently passed a motion banning all flags except the Canadian, Manitoban, and school flags despite not having a quorum, says that the motion was meant to "foster inclusivity" and "promote unity". An employee of the school division believes otherwise, though, saying that this is a veiled attack on the LGBT* community. I suspect that the employee is right.
- The BC Conservatives are vowing to "end tent cities" in the province; they plan to achieve this via policing to eliminate encampments, and involuntary treatment in secure facilities. Party leader John Rustad was evasive when asked about how they plan to get around recent court decisions such as the one last year which ruled that municipalities cannot evict encampments if they don't have sufficient shelter space for the residents; the folks in this Reddit thread suspect the notwithstanding clause will likely be used if deemed necessary.
- A new Leger poll in BC has the NDP up 5 points over the BC Conservatives; perhaps the Cons' extreme positions are starting to worry voters. Let's hope so.
- The Halifax Chronicle-Herald has fired award-winning editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder, who had worked for the paper for almost 30 years. The paper's parent company was recently taken over by Postmedia, and maybe the new owners didn't like cartoons like this one.
- The Ontario government's move to allow alcohol sales in convenience stores includes fortified wine. So you'll be able to pick up a bottle of Westminster at your local 7-11 to drink under a bridge. Ain't that grand?
- A Republican candidate for the US Senate has some awkward questions to answer about a social media post from a couple of years ago in which he said that "the bad guys won" in WWII.
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