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christyceeck.bsky.social
My IRL friends call me Chris
@christyceeck.bsky.social
9.2K followers 4.1K following 15K posts
Gardener. Current: flower mixologist. Former: flack. Fluent in spin. I media scan, therefore I am. Mister Rogers/Mary Oliver stan. Born at 326 ppm. Old married broad. Mom. Dogs' person. Canadian. Ferenge. she/her #BlackLivesMatter #LFC #ElbowsUp
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christyceeck.bsky.social
Ford and the dentist. Carney and...everything.

I spent the day at floral wholesalers. Catching up on the news now, I would like to go back and just *be* with the flowers.
Bouquets of blue, purple and white lisianthus rest against red mini carnations.
November 27, 2025 at 9:18 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Oh look, there's the dentist with Ford at a PC fundraiser.

"A company that received millions of Ontario taxpayer dollars from the Skills Development Fund is run by a dentist whose clinic’s clientele has included members of Premier Doug Ford’s family, according to eight well-placed sources" #OnPoli
The eight sources — including two who’ve worked in Progressive Conservative politics, four who’ve worked with Maggirias, and two from the dental sector more broadly — said Maggirias often boasted about his connections to the Ford family. His clinic’s website does too. “We want you to feel as comfortable and relaxed as the Ford family has during their visits with us,” it says.
November 27, 2025 at 8:46 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
So the pattern appears to be that PM Goldman Sachs caves to far right bullies who don't have Canada's best interests at heart. First Trump and now Danielle Smith. Got it.
A third Liberal MP told the Star Thursday that the government was making a political “mistake” that could be the first significant strain on Carney’s hold over the party’s voter base since he took office in March. The MP said the deal with Alberta will make the public believe the federal government is going to build a new oil pipeline, and will place the Carney Liberals in the position of defending one if the current proposal ends up going forward against the objections of B.C. and First Nations. “It’s leading us to conflict,” the MP said. “It’s now on our plate. And it didn’t have to be this way.” Smith boasted in a news conference that she won an end to seven out of nine so-called “bad laws” she’d long identified to Ottawa.
November 27, 2025 at 8:42 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Is alienating lots of your caucus and a big chunk of your voter base a 4-D chess strategy?

And Energy Minister Tim Hodgson scolded members of the B.C. caucus not to be “naive,” saying they should stop being “boy scouts” on energy? Really?

#GiftLink 🎁 #CdnPoli

www.thestar.com/politics/mar...
“There’s zero political win in this for us federally,” said a Liberal MP on Thursday who told the Star the deal gives Alberta everything it wants, even without a realistic private sector pipeline proposal on the table right now, and although it has the potential to alienate voters who supported the Liberal party because of its climate actions and commitment to reconcile Indigenous rights and concerns. The MP said it is not clear if Carney wants to get to “yes” on a pipeline, or to “no,” and said while Carney is a very smart man, he is also able to do politically “really dumb” things.
November 27, 2025 at 8:39 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
I know I've said that PM Goldman Sachs thinks he's a CEO. Frankly, he doesn't seem competent enough to run a Fortune 500 organization.

And the Liberal caucus worried about their careers when they should probably worry more about their de facto Conservative PM.

Carney, again stepping on rakes.
Bill Tieleman, an NDP strategist and communications consultant in B.C., argued federal backing for such a new pipeline — and the possibility of lifting the tanker ban — could cost the Liberals seats in B.C., since the party’s 20 MPs from the province represent areas where environmental issues are most prominent. “From a purely political standpoint, I’m mystified,” said Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications and a former adviser to the provincial NDP in B.C. “It doesn’t make sense to me as a strategist.”
November 27, 2025 at 11:35 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
So PM Goldman Sachs excluded an experienced environment minister under Trudeau, Steven Guilbeault, from deliberations on the pipeline agreement with Alberta? And the MPs who are upset are worried about their seats but climate collapse, not so much?

#GiftLink 🎁

www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
But news that the deal will outline how a new pipeline could get backing from the federal government has sparked anxiety within the Liberal caucus, according to four sources. One of them has described some MPs from the party’s British Columbia caucus as “hopping mad” over their exclusion from talks about the Alberta accord. A second source said some are worried a deal to help pave the way for a new pipeline — which Smith wants built through northern B.C., requiring Ottawa to lift or partially remove a long-standing ban on large oil tanker traffic — could jeopardize their re-election. The Star agreed not to identify the sources so they could speak freely about internal party dynamics.
November 27, 2025 at 11:29 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
"One B.C. MP inside the room, however, described the meeting with the minister as quite candid & at times tense, saying Hodgson seemed dismissive of the possible political consequences for Liberal MPs in B.C.

Hodgson used words like "naive" & "ideological" when responding to MP concerns"
With Prime Minister Mark Carney expected to lay out a path forward for an oil pipeline to northwest B.C. on Thursday, senior people around him have had to assuage skittish MPs and at least one cabinet minister about the virtues of the forthcoming "grand bargain" with Alberta. One dynamic at play in this discussion is the future of Steven Guilbeault, the minister of Canadian identity and culture. Sources told CBC News there have been ongoing conversations between Guilbeault and the Prime Minister's Office, with the lifelong environmental activist expressing concern about the compromises being made on the government's climate policies to get to a deal with Alberta.
November 27, 2025 at 2:11 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Deloitte doesn't get it.

"While Deloitte Canada said its corrections won’t impact the findings of its report, the head of the Registered Nurses Union in Newfoundland & Labrador said in a statement that the provincial government’s continued use of Deloitte consultants “raises significant concern.”
The false citations were first unearthed by The Independent, an online news publication covering Newfoundland and Labrador. The publication reported three examples of citations of journal papers that do not exist. “When you hire professional organizations to prepare reports then you don’t expect to get this type of thing happening in those reports,” Premier Tony Wakeham told reporters on Tuesday. The Premier’s Office said Wednesday that it would seek to create guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence tools in public service.
November 27, 2025 at 12:25 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
“You’re locking yourself into a position where everybody’s mad."

Again, I will ask where Carney's issues management staffers were? Again I suspect the new politician is doing his own issues management (and comms too).

This isn't 4-D chess, it's a mess.

#GiftLink 🎁

www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
But the prospect of federal backing for an as-yet hypothetical new oil pipeline is already sparking objections from British Columbia, some First Nations and environmental groups, while prompting concerns inside Carney’s own caucus. One Liberal source, who spoke on condition they aren’t named, said MPs from B.C. are “hopping mad” over a lack of communication from Carney’s office over what’s going on with the talks.
November 26, 2025 at 11:08 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
How has Piccini not been Steve Clarked yet?

She wants integrity commissioner to look at “sections pertaining to conflict of interest, improper use of influence, & the obligation to avoid actions that place private or partisan interests above the public good" of the Members’ Integrity Act" #OnPoli
In a sworn affidavit tabled in the legislature late on Monday, Stiles cited reporting by The Trillium and CTV to make her case for an investigation. “We believe there are credible allegations of preferential treatment regarding the approval, oversight, and distribution of SDF grants,” Stiles wrote in an accompanying letter. “The disproportionate number of low-scoring applicants with close political ties to the government has undermined public confidence.”
November 25, 2025 at 12:04 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
"Inequality is a choice. There are policies that can reduce it. These include more progressive taxation, debt relief, rewriting global trade rules and curbing monopolies."
Our report looked at the research on the state of inequality – and the conclusion should alarm us all. Wealth inequality is far worse than income inequality and has intensified in most countries over the last 40 years. The global increase in income and wealth at the upper end of the scale is particularly worrying. The very richest people are amassing fortunes while ordinary people’s lives stagnate. For every dollar of wealth created since the year 2000, 41 cents have gone to the richest 1% of people, while just one cent has gone to the bottom 50%. This wealth brings huge influence over economies and politics, threatening economic performance and the very foundations of democracy.
November 25, 2025 at 10:55 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
"Advocates for greater safeguards online say Ottawa should legislate to make tech giants stop artificial-intelligence chatbots from posing as real people and giving harmful advice, including to vulnerable adults."
Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at California-based advocacy group Common Sense Media, said that “AI chatbots can expose children to sexual content and dangerous advice.” “They can’t handle mental health topics safely. Governments need to set safety standards for AI that include age assurance, working crisis intervention, and real accountability when products cause harm.” He said their testing had found chatbots giving teens sexual content and weapons instructions, and a failure to spot suicide warning signs. “These systems are designed to agree with everything users say, which can reinforce harmful thinking and prevent teens from building real friendships,” he said in an e-mail.
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
#CdnPoli
VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier David Eby says he told Prime Minister Mark Carney “how unacceptable” it was for Alberta and Saskatchewan to talk with the federal government about a potential pipeline without input from his province. Eby says such treatment would not happen to any other province, adding that he expects Ottawa to include B.C. and Coastal First Nations as full participants in any future talks.
November 24, 2025 at 10:32 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
PM Goldman Sachs excels at stepping on rakes.

Mona Fortier, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, tried to clean up for him -- as did Liberal MP Karina Gould, a young woman leader he shanked. Both women inadvertently made it sound like maybe Carney maybe just dislikes the word 'feminist'?
“Prime Minister Carney is making it very clear he is no friend to women and he is no friend to gender equality in this country,” NDP MP Leah Gazan told reporters Monday. Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet asked in Monday’s question period whether Carney’s comments mean the federal government will continue to promote gender equality, which he described as a “Quebec value.”
November 24, 2025 at 10:30 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
"What really matters for federal Conservatives is that they aren’t winning as broad a set of supporters in Ontario as Mr. Ford’s party, which now hovers near the 50%-mark in most opinion polls. The federal Conservatives are at 41.7% in Ontario"
It’s not as simple as the federal Conservatives losing Progressives to a more-centrist Liberal Party under Mr. Carney. Mr. Poilievre built a lead among voters under 40 frustrated by the cost of living and high price of homes. But the Conservatives are losing among voters over 50. Mr. Ford isn’t. Polling for Mr. Ford’s party has found that a quarter or more of Ontario PC supporters lean to Mr. Carney’s Liberals.
November 24, 2025 at 9:25 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
With pharmacare, progress starts — or stops — on the prime minister’s desk. Around 80 per cent of the people in Canada support pharmacare, but the insurance industry and American pharmaceutical companies profiting from the current bloated system do not. Pharmacare is a test of who is driving, and what we really mean by, nation building.
November 23, 2025 at 10:12 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
An op-ed from Dr. Navindra Persaud who chaired the National Pharmacare Committee of Experts and is the Canada Research Chair in Health Justice and Professor at the University of Toronto, as well as a family physician.

#CdnPoli #GiftLink 🎁

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
One nation-building project that could move faster than the high-speed railway planned between Quebec City and Toronto, as soon as it is green lit by the prime minister, is pharmacare. It could reach more Canadians than any pipeline, last longer than any copper mine and meet health needs more critical than any mineral. Millions of people in Canada do not take medicines because of the out-of-pocket cost — they can’t afford it. This includes people who indirectly pay private insurance premiums through deductions from their paycheques and have to pay copayments or deductibles at the pharmacy. Canada overspends on medicines by around $10 billion per year based on per capita spending, when compared to countries with universal pharmacare like Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, because we do not access medicines using government issued health cards.
November 23, 2025 at 10:11 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
#CdnPoli
The reality is that other countries have shorter wait times and better access overall not because they have more private payment and delivery, but because they manage personnel and spending more effectively and efficiently than we do in Canada. As always, context matters. What Alberta is proposing may sound good superficially, but it makes no sense in the Canadian context. Rather, it is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem.
November 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
No PM, who swept to power as women abandoned his main opponent, should want this headline.

PM Goldman Sachs has very bad political instincts.

"Mark Carney, backing away from a key international priority of his Liberal predecessors, says his government does not have a feminist foreign policy."
Mr. Carney, however, has placed less emphasis on feminist policies. In his mandate letters to his post-election cabinet ministers this year, he did not make any reference to feminism or gender equality. He has not named a successor to Canada’s first ambassador on women, peace and security, Jacqueline O’Neill, whose term ended in March, six years after Mr. Trudeau appointed her to the post.
November 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
In which the Globe and Mail editorial board sees only one solution to problems with the healthcare system: letting private players make more money while the country's elite, instead of being appropriately taxed, can simply cut in line.
The phantasmic principle of equality cannot be compromised, even if that means wait lists grow and grow. Better that Canadians suffer together than contemplate any reform that would benefit everyone, but some more than others.
November 23, 2025 at 1:06 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Now I have to go and listen to Abbey Road. (And that final bit is right up there with my favourite ending to a song ever.)
A raucous Helter Skelter was followed by the Abbey Road medley of Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight (with McCartney, Anderson and Ray wildly trading guitar licks) and The End. McCartney’s send-off math, “The love you take is equal to the love you make,” is as fine an equation as Einstein ever managed.
November 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Getting caught up on this week's news & it's not okay that taxpayers will be footing the bill for an ad campaign that is about reputation management for the Ford govt because of an unpopular Ontario Place plan. (Private polling must be really bad.) They've done it before.

#OnPoli
November 22, 2025 at 12:41 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
So PM Goldman Sachs is having secret meetings with two right-wing premiers about pipelines through BC and breaking the oil tanker ban and cutting Premier Eby and Indigenous people out?

Carney only seems to go elbows up for fossil fuels and shareholder value.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday that his counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan are jeopardizing major economic development by engaging in what he called “secret” talks with Ottawa on oil pipelines through his province. The pipeline fight escalated earlier in the day after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe revealed he is involved in Alberta’s negotiations with Ottawa about a potential oil pipeline across northern B.C., which would mean allowing oil tankers to ply the waters off B.C.’s north coast, where they are currently banned.
November 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Star Editorial Board:

"What’s disturbing about the scandal at the Skills Development Fund, though, is how blatant it is. Political appointees are handing out hundreds of millions of dollars from a public slush fund..."

#OnPoli #GiftLink 🎁

www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
There is no evidence that anyone involved broke any rules, let alone laws, but the pattern is nonetheless deeply disturbing. It suggests Ford has established what amounts to a modern-day spoils system in his government, where public money is being handed out not based on need or merit but on who you know or who you pay. At the very least, this creates an appearance of conflict that undermines precious public trust. This is not a new criticism of Ford. The Star has written before about his government’s near symbiotic relationship with certain lobbyists. The early days of his government were marked by a troubling trend of cronyism and patronage appointments. What’s disturbing about the scandal at the Skills Development Fund, though, is how blatant it is. Political appointees are handing out hundreds of millions of dollars from a public slush fund to organizations that are either close to the government or that hire the right political insiders.
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 PM
christyceeck.bsky.social
Insightful.

"...you can see how Trump and Vance might conclude that Americans are gullible and that all things are possible.

...You do not grasp that your grift actually depends upon something larger, something better, which it is sapping, weakening, bringing to ruin."
The effort to create authoritarianism is more likely to lead to a breakup of the state than to a total regime change. This end of the United States is possible, in part, because our president and vice-president think that it is impossible. Because they are inside a grift bubble, they push for authoritarianism in their own interest, without reckoning with the possibility that their actions can wreck the country. For them, America is a limitless passive resource. Your perspective is probably different than theirs. To help us understand this risk, it helps to try to see the world from inside a grift bubble.
November 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM