Curmudgeon
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There is no hair you cannot split.
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Short answer: Yes, a province can hold a referendum but must then negotiate the terms of its separation from Canada.
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Not to be argumentative, but....... (substitute Alberta for Quebec after the first sentence) Reference Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 SCR 217 is a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality, under both Canadian and international law, of a unilateral secession of Quebec from Canada. Right to secede under Canadian law The court addressed the three questions in order. First, they stated that, under the Canadian Constitution (and with Quebec being a party to it since its inception), unilateral secession was not legal. However, should a referendum decide in favour of independence, the rest of Canada "would have no basis to deny the right of the government of Quebec to pursue secession." Negotiations would have to follow to define the terms under which Quebec would gain independence, should it maintain that goal. However, should a referendum decide in favour of independence, the rest of Canada "would have no basis to deny the right of the government of Quebec to pursue secession." Negotiations would have to follow to define the terms under which Quebec would gain independence, should it maintain that goal. Rights to secede under international law and self-determination The answer to the second question, which concerned Quebec's right under international law to secede, gave the opinion that the international law on secession was not applicable to the situation of Quebec. The court pointed out that international law "does not specifically grant component parts of sovereign states the legal right to secede unilaterally from their 'parent' state." The Supreme Court of Canada's opinion stated that the right of a people to self-determination was expected to be exercised within the framework of existing states, by negotiation, for example. The Supreme Court further stated that: Quebec could not, despite a clear referendum result, purport to invoke a right of self-determination to dictate the terms of a proposed secession to the other parties to the federation. The democratic vote, by however strong a majority, would have no legal effect on its own and could not push aside the principles of federalism and the rule of law, the rights of individuals and minorities, or the operation of democracy in the other provinces or in Canada as a whole. ==================== And after that, Parliament passed the Clarity Act, making the hurdles higher and the hoops smaller. Bottom line is that Alberta can still attempt to separate, but it is going to be an awfully difficult process.
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You didn't read it all, did you.
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For years I have followed Garth Turner's blog (https://www.greaterfool.ca/). A capital-c conservative, Turner writes a daily blog about investing and real estate mostly, but with a healthy dose of real world economics thrown in for good measure. Here is his take on Alberta separating from Canada. Remember, this is a Conservative talking. "Okay, but what of this Wexit talk, this session chatter? Is it even credible? Let’s review the rules, put in place following the near-death experience of the 1995 Quebec referendum. That’s when the House of Commons framed The Clarity Act, setting out the terms under which Canada would enter into negotiations following a referendum vote in a rebel territory. Here are the conditions: • MPs have the power to decide whether a proposed referendum question is ‘clear’ and unequivocally about secession before the public vote; • The House of Commons has the power to determine whether or not a clear majority expressed itself following any referendum vote. • All provinces and First Nations must be part of the negotiations. • The House of Commons can override a referendum decision if it any of the above conditions are not met. • The secession of a province would require an amendment to the Constitution to be legal. And this is how the Canadian constitution gets amended: required is the approval of both the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assemblies of at least two thirds of all provinces representing at least 50% of the population. Good luck with that. Two conclusions: Alberta will never leave because it can’t, unless it shoots its way out. And, more immediately, our current prime minister has a crisis on his hands."
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I think the window has closed on Tryamkin. I don't believe he is quick enough and I don't think he's done anything at all remarkable in his three years back in the KHL. I also believe the KHL Isn't even close to NHL calibre so it mystifies me why some believe that he is somehow a better player now than he was when he left. Vancouver is a much better team now and they play a much faster, more uptempo game than they did. At the moment, Vancouver's starting six defencemen are playing well, moving the puck quickly and skating well. I honestly don't see Tryamkin fitting in and would not be happy to see him gifted a spot in the lineup after not having earned it. And I hate to tell him, but the smell of weed in and around Vancouver is not going away any time soon. I heard it is legal now.
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Canada Line 10th Anniversary - Underbuilt?
Curmudgeon replied to DonLever's topic in Off-Topic General
Not exactly true. From Vancouver it's pretty much four lanes all the way to Langley, and there is a lot of work in progress on the stretch from 200th to 232nd. I've lived in the Valley for eight year now and the construction has been constant. As far as I am concerned, the worst stretch is between Mt. Lehman and 200th, in both directions, virtually every day but nuts on Fridays eastbound and Sundays westbound. -
Sunday night: Chicago HEALTHY scratching Seabrook ($6.875 million, four more years after this) and Smith ($3.259 million, one more year after this)
$10.125 million, or 12.4% of Chicago's cap is sitting in the press box.
Edit: Also, Ottawa has healthy scratched Bobby Ryan ($7,250 million for two more years after this) on Sunday afternoon.
- Show previous comments 8 more
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You know the NHL will turn a blind eye to cap recapture when he gets injured in the pressbox...
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cap recapture does not apply to current contracts
it only applies to luongo type contracts
seabrook is on an 8 year deal where the lowest annual payment is 50% of the value of the highest paid year
it is not a back diving contract designed to circumvent the salary cap
all they need to do is get a doc to support an ltir claim for him
and then trade him to the leafs or sens who seem to like to hoard these sorts of medically unfit players
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Absolutely right. Who's to say that maybe Markstrom slumps a bit and Demko comes on and takes the net for awhile. Like a Binnington move. Captain Canuck is wise to advise hanging on to them all until you have to make a decision based on what they HAVE done, not what you hope the WILL do. Lotsa hockey to be played between now and the Seattle draft.
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Is Citizen Kane not the greatest movie of all time?
Curmudgeon replied to Master 112's topic in White Noise
Maybe, but you have to understand the context of the movie. It was a thinly veiled takedown of William Randolph Hearst, the veritable inventor of fake news (look it up) and the Rupert Murdoch times ten of his time. He was obscenely wealthy, scouring Europe for whole rooms of castles and ancient buildings for his castle at San Simeon. Welles movie was a searing critique of the corruption, greed and excesses of a man who grew more grasping and shrill as he aged. The Hearst papers in the US, which wielded enormous economic, social and political power, did everything in their power to shred the movie and Welles, but Welles succeeded in making certainly the one of the best films ever made TO THAT DATE. (Gone With the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath are also in that group). Really, though, it is all a matter of opinion, and yours isn't any more, nor any less, valid than mine. -
Is Citizen Kane not the greatest movie of all time?
Curmudgeon replied to Master 112's topic in White Noise
Maybe, but you have to understand the context of the movie. It was a thinly veiled takedown of William Randolph Hearst, the veritable inventor of fake news (look it up) and the Rupert Murdoch times ten of his time. He was obscenely wealthy, scouring Europe for whole rooms of castles and ancient buildings for his castle at San Simeon. Welles movie was a searing critique of the corruption, greed and excesses of a man who grew more grasping and shrill as he aged. The Hearst papers in the US, which wielded enormous economic, social and political power, did everything in their power to shred the movie and Welles, but Welles succeeded in making certainly the one of the best films ever made TO THAT DATE. (Gone With the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath are also in that group). Really, though, it is all a matter of opinion, and yours isn't any more, nor any less, valid than mine. -
And today (Friday, October 18), as Thunberg addressed an Edmonton crowd said to number in the thousands, a convoy of trucks honked their horns but apparently nobody could hear them. Imagine this scene: Child: Daddy, where are you going? Dad: I'm taking the day off work to drive my rig to the legislature. Child: Why, Daddy? Dad: There is a 16 year-old foreigner coming here to tell Albertans they have to take better care of the environment. Child: Is that bad? Dad: Sure is. Nobody has the right to tell Albertans what to do, since we have all the oil and it all belongs to us and screw Canada and especially those easterners and bad BCers. Child: Is this 16 year-old foreigner big and mean and powerful? Dad: No, but her ideas are. And we have to show the world we are like Texas toilet paper? Child: Texas toilet paper? Dad: Yeah, we don't take s*** off nobody.
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You know, maybe you shouldn't be driving at all. Why? Because you are not only wrong, but persistently so. Try to prove in a court of law that the actions of the driver in front of you "deliberately tried to cause you to crash into him". You would be laughed out of every court in the free world. Inane said it clearly and simply: Don't tailgate. Don't race up behind someone who is going slower than you and try to intimidate them into changing lanes. You are an aggressive driver who seems to believe that because you want to go faster than the traffic, that everyone should get out of your way. You are wrong, but I repeat myself.
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Imagine, for a moment, what this defence would have looked like if Benning had allowed Edler to walk.
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I don't listen to 650 much, but Dhaliwal's Twitter was my FIRST destination every morning and a few times during the day. He's been in Vancouver sports radio for a very long time. I am hopeful he'll get scooped up by TSN so he can maintain his audience. And I don't know about the rest of you out there, but with every passing game, I miss Jason Botchford more and more. Yeah, I know he was a polarizing figure, but nobody has filled his role this season and I find I have nothing to read that interests me after Canucks' games. The Provies are dead, long live the Provies. And no, Drance is not a Botchford replacement. And somebody mentioned Pratt; how can you listen to a guy who takes the Patcast, adds 2 letters and calls it the Prattcast?
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Dahlen is an undersized star player playing in a league lower in quality than the AHL but perhaps better than the ECHL. He is flourishing in his home country, with his home language, with home cooking and a cult following in Timra. Vancouver did nothing wrong in attempting to prepare him to play in the best league in the world. That he could not meet the challenge of earning his way onto an NHL roster makes it pretty clear that he lacks the tenacity and drive to play up to his obviously better than average skill set. He is likely to stay in Sweden and remain a star there. Nothing wrong with that.
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[Report] Joshua Ho-Sang requests trade
Curmudgeon replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Yep. My mistake. To make it clearer, try this: Team A has underachiever player A that it wants to move. Instead of trading, Team A picks up Ho-Sang for free on waivers. Now Team A has two underachievers. If Ho-Sang works out, you still have underachiever player A. If Ho-Sang does not work out, now you have Underachieving Player A AND Ho-Sang. Therefore, it is more advisable for Team A to trade its underachiever for Ho-Sang rather than pick him up on waivers. -
[Report] Joshua Ho-Sang requests trade
Curmudgeon replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
A team that has somebody like Ho-Sang that they want to get rid of. More and more teams are reluctant to take on more salary unless they can offload salary at the same time. A team wanting to take a chance with Ho-Sang most likely would want to dump an underachiever. If Ho-Sang works out, it's a win. If he doesn't, at least you have only one player who is underachieving instead of two. -
[Waivers] Sept 21st waiver wire
Curmudgeon replied to Ossi Vaananen's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
For the first time ever, Vancouver has more legitimate prospects in the AHL than ever. In a typical year, Ferraro would easily have earned a minor league contract, but there is simply no space in Utica. They already have too many guys fighting for jobs and a few of them will end up in Kalamazoo. I like Ferraro and am hopeful he lands a job somewhere as I believe he could well be a fringe NHLer who can give you a solid 8-10 minutes a night in a defensive role. Kudos to the Canucks for giving him a shot at attracting interest from other teams. -
Archaeology news and discussion.
Curmudgeon replied to 189lb enforcers?'s topic in Off-Topic General
In the past several years my wife and I have spent weeks and months visiting as many archaeological sites as we could find in Mexico. So far, we have visited and photographed 42 different sites and numerous museums, both local and two world class ones in Mexico City (National Museum of Anthropology) and in Xalapa (Museum of Anthropology Xalapa). For anyone going to Mexico, you can reasonably skip Chichen Itza and Tulum because of how crowded they are. Literally hundreds of people per day are there, meaning lineups and knots of people around all the most photogenic features. Here are my top five recommended sites which will be visually stunning and not very crowded at all. 1. El Tajin - in Veracruz state near the town of Papantla. A four to five hour bus trip from Mexico City, El Tajin is famous for its Pyramid of the Niches, which reportedly has 365 niches on all four sides. Absolutely stunning and probably my favourite of all. 2. Mayapan - a small but completely cleared and restored site near Merida, on the Yucatan. You will most likely be the only person(s) there. Very dramatic and well laid out. 3. Edzna - near the city of Campeche on the Yucatan. Gorgeous reconstruction, with one of the most beautiful pyramids in Mexico. Not at all crowded. 4. Monte Alban - just outside of the city of Oaxaca, in the far south of Mexico. The builders of this massive site levelled the top of a mountain, then built from huge stone blocks that were carried up from the valley below WITHOUT the use of pack animals, which did not exist in the Americas until the Spanish brought horses. Can be moderately crowded, but it is a huge site and very photogenic. 5. Yaxchilan - about two hours southeast of Palenque (which is also an awesome site but very crowded. Still very much worth the effort) Yaxchilan is reached via a 30 minute river boat ride through thick selva (jungle). All of a sudden, this ancient city appears on the banks of the Usamacinta River. You feel like you are in Apocalypse Now, travelling up a river through the jungle. Can also be intermittently crowded. If you go, arrange for a tour out of Palenque. Should be about $125-150 US, but worth it. Other sites worth visiting but likely to be crowded include Teotihuacan (near Mexico City), Palenque (in Tabasco state), Chichen Itza (no way around the crowds and hawkers), Tulum (architecture not all that interesting, but the setting is dramatic) and Uxmal (near Merida and Campeche) which is large and well restored, but can be crowded. Calakmul is a huge, confusing site, but much of it is obscured by forest and it is about 35 kilometres off the main highway down a paved road. Finally, you can visit dozens of Mayan sites on the Yucatan peninsula if you rent a car and book hotels in Valladolid, Merida, Campeche, Xpujil and/or Chetumal. Driving is easy, roads are good and there is very little traffic outside of Cancun (AVOID) and Playa del Carmen (AVOID). If you would like more detailed information, send me a private message and I can help. -
I believe Benning is done with reshaping the defence. The top six are set and you have Biega and Fantenberg as probable 7th/8th guys. I firmly believe Juolevi is close to making the team, and Brisebois will push for a call up spot. Rafferty and Teves weren't signed to be Utica drones and will also push for NHL time. In another year Woo will fight for a job and you also have Sautner, Chatfield, Eliot and possibly Rathbone all aiming for NHL time. So, to sign another defenceman would push some of the prospects further down the depth chart. IMHO Benning has assembled enough defensive depth to withstand the inevitable ton of injuries to the back end. And no to signing Hutton. Nice guy, works hard, but he has had his time in Vancouver so it is time to try another option. Really, since Benning has been here, this roster and protected list is the strongest in years. Benning went out looking for size, speed, strength and skill and seems to have succeeded in improving the player pool. One more unrelated thought: Eriksson very probably refused a move to anywhere in Alberta, so that's why he wasn't part of the musical chairs that saw Neal and Lucic trade palcces.
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Went to a game in the Saddledome many years ago. The first thing that struck me was I had always figured the ice surface ran from the high end to the high end of the dome, but it turned out that it runs perpendicular to the long axis. Because of course it does. How could it be any other way? Major facepalm moment. Glad they are getting the a new arena. The other thing that was immediately apparent was how narrow the concourse was in the Dome.
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Time for the Calgary Stampede to Evolve... ?
Curmudgeon replied to kingofsurrey's topic in Off-Topic General
Don't be so extreme. I would end the Chuckwagon race to prevent needless death to horses and potential injuries to drivers and/or riders. I have no issues with other rodeo events, but then again I don't watch rodeo, not for any sociopolitical reasons, but because it doesn't interest me. For everyone who loves it, fill your boots. -
Time for the Calgary Stampede to Evolve... ?
Curmudgeon replied to kingofsurrey's topic in Off-Topic General
All I know is that if I hear the words "Chuckwagon Race", the first image that pops into my head is dead horses. Why is that? Because EVERY YEAR horses die at the Calgary Stampede competing in a crazy dangerous pointless exercise called a chuckwagon race. But hey, I eat meat so I guess that makes me some kind of SJW hypocrite that has no right to speak about anything because reasons. Does anybody else believe the only reason we get so much coverage of the Stampede every July is because CBC has to fulfill a certain quota of Canadian content, regardless if nobody outside of Calgary is actually watching onTV? I mean, seriously, how many time have you ever heard this; "Hey, come on over every night this week and we'll have a Calgary Stampede watch party/barbecue/tailgate party." Me either.