I'm a bit put off by our rating now placing behind Brazil as I'm pretty sure in practical terms Canada is still more Democratic in many aspects. Does it mean we're not sliding? I'm certain we are,but I think methodology might be flawed and as a result we've got sensational-ish content.

TBF - yes democracy is sliding in Canada, just look at recent government moves i Quebec and Alberta as a sample. Meaning we have to fight for it at the polls and on the streets. It's far from "game over" but it could be at some point.

[–] wpb@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I’m pretty sure in practical terms Canada is still more Democratic in many aspects

I'm not as familiar with either system as you seem to be. What is it about Brazilian politics that makes you feel Canada is more democratic?

[–] droopy4096@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

we can start with favellas which have no equivalent in Canada (treatment of indigenous people is a separate issue and looks to be similarly bad in both cases). Then we can look at Brazilian latest election scandals etc. which have no equivalents in modern Canadian elections. Then we can look at corruption levels in politics.

[–] wpb@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

So the favelas are bad, obviously, but I don't quite see the relation to democracy. They're certainly an indicator of poverty, but I'm not entirely sure what they indicate regarding democracy.

Then we can look at Brazilian latest election scandals etc.

I don't really know about these scandals, but when I think about other scandals surrounding elections, they're not necessarily an indictment of the democratic system itself, right? I mean, Trump clearly disputed the election results of the 2020 election, but does that mean the election was unfair? But in all honesty, I haven't looked at their latest election scandals, and you seem to have looked at it, so maybe you know better. What was the latest election scandal?

Then we can look at corruption levels in politics.

I suppose we could. Did you? Is it worse in Brazil?

[–] droopy4096@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 days ago

favella dwellers are people with virtually no rights, i.e. no "democracy" for them, fact that someone would weaponize democratic processes to get rid of democracy is the problem with latest scandals. In terms of corruption, anecdotally I hear stories from (ex)Brazilians that I cannot draw parallels to in Canada

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca -4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The tipping point has been reached. It's time to usher in the next phase of human existence with a universally global benevolent dictatorship. Democracy was good to a certain point but now we are a world of dangerous fools electing dangerous fools to "lead" us. We need a serious thinking adult in the room again.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

After 10 years of Trump and barely a year of Carney, anyone who says 'we need a businessman and not a politician' should be locked up in solitary confinement for 20 years minimum.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Fuck business, I'm more for humanity and ecology.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Exactly. This whole 'we need a businessman' line was originally started by Ross Perot in the 90s. To be honest, it only would make sense if you know nothing about public vs. private infrastructure and profit vs. 'this is lossy, but critical'.

For example healthcare... I hate to say it, you cannot make money off healthcare without being extremely predatory and evil. this isn't me being idealistic and somehow refusing to believe you can be 'good' while maintaining a for-profit model. YOU CANNOT MAKE HEALTHCARE PROFITABLE WITHOUT BEING EVIL!

The reason? Despite it being absolutely critical, healthcare and insurance is going to need a ton of money to maintain, and unless you're denying healthcare most of the time (and only partially covering the other) you will lose money. You know the private for-profit healthcare clinics that have been popping up in Canada over the past few decades? They deliver less results and cost more public money than public clinics do. Yes, they're getting taxpayer dollars, a lot of them, and STILL can't turn a profit.

If you said 'no more public healthcare, all private now, but they need to stand up on their own two feet' most of them would collapse within a few years. Because no matter how important this shit is, they can't be profitable. So they are given public money that they pocket themselves while still failing to provide the services demanded.

when I was more naive I would ask 'but why not just make it all public? It'll be cheaper? and make it easier to be a doctor and give more grants to medical students and learning?' But now I know the reason answer... because it would benefit a few people (double digit numbers at the most) over the millions below. That's it. It is such an intensely simple way to look at it.

This is why Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire is one of the worst things to happen so far, because he is far from the first. The others are racing for trillionaire spots. What this means is basically they don't just control the economy of entire countries and can fully bypass any government they want, but they basically control the entire world.

[–] Addv4@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

You mean like a billionaire, who is thus uninterested in money, is anti establishment, pledges to get rid of the corruption of politics, seems to be closer to understanding poor people and getting along with them? We have one, and he's absolutely the worst president ever.

Edit: I also think that mostly applies to Germany in the past on führer contemplation.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

If you're a billionaire, you ain't benevolent.

[–] Soup@lemmy.world 105 points 1 week ago (5 children)

It doesn’t help my hope for things that, every time Carney clearly represents the owner class over the working class, I see people in comment sections talking about they “don’t like it but you gotta get things done!”. No, this is bad and should not be excused, and why do we always have to have excuses and patience for centrist and right-wing bullshit, which has still yet to show any real functionality, but we won’t even try being progressive despite the innumerable examples of progressive policy working all over the world? Even Mamdani is making it work in the US and we act like Carney needs to allow unreviewed distruction of our environment to benefit O&G companies or the whole country will up and die in only a couple years’ time.

I’m so tired of this crap. I’m so tired of us willfully throwing away our rights and self-respect just to get leaders who will ignore us at every possible turn. I’m sick of people saying that the left will be like Soviet Russia while everything they describe as guaranteed with progressivism is literally happening, openly, in front of them under conservative governments(like our current one, too). Degrading our democracy almost feels like it’s still democratic because so much of the population seems perfectly happy to watch it happen.

[–] TheAgeOfSuperboredom@lemmy.ca 40 points 1 week ago

Exactly this! A great example is when the Alberta UCP flat out told renewable energy companies that they just were not allowed to do business in Alberta. Straight up, in your face central planning. Free market indeed...

[–] Reannlegge@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 week ago

I am not far left enough to say communism is the right goal, yet, but I am further left than saying we need socialist reforms. I am from Saskatchewan so I can see the benefits of psuedo-socialized markets (think phone and internet with Sasktel sticking it to the big 3) I just wish the rest of the province could see it to. If Saskatchewan can see it and really start celebrating it maybe the rest of Canada could as well.

[–] ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm 100% behind you with this.

And every time I mentioned how it was a bad idea to vote for Carney and how bad he is, I kept being downvoted and then people comment "yeah but we would've has Poilievre otherwise."

No we wouldn't. A lot of NDP ridings turned red because of this. But people should have voted for the NDP. With them as a strong opposition, we would still be in a better position in a minority big C Conservative government than we are right now with a majority small c conservative government.

Carney is a corporatist. He knows how to sweet talk investors to gain their trust like any CEO can bullshit people into buying their stock. And he's done that with all of Canada.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Be careful what you wish for...

we would still be in a better position in a minority big C Conservative government than we are right now with a majority small c conservative governent.

You might not have been aware of the full stakes and nuances of the situation in late 2024, early 2025. At around December 2024, Trudeau was so unpopular that Poilievre was in clear majority territory, not minority if an election were held then.

This is more a matter of opinion, and I agree what we have is not a great situation, but do you really think that having Pierre in charge, with a cabinet of emboldened racists and a coalition of a group of conservative Liberals would be better than this? Metaphorically I see it as having Pierre in the driver's seat with Liberals with them in the front and the NDP backseat driving in the opposition, versus Mark in the front, with the NDP and the Cons together in the back with PP unable to find a compelling message.

Plus, getting Lewis to unapologetically push left-wing ideas for us I think is a better strategy than Singh's centre-left conciliatory approach that had exhausted its usefulness. The orange wipeout was, rightfully IMO, a wakeup call for the Canadian left.

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[–] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 54 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

Trudeau's failure to bring in proportional representation will be a missed opportunity with severe consequences that most don't fully appreciate.

[–] TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This this this. So much this. Canadians do not understand just how catastrophic of a fuckup that was. The consequences of that have not yet been truly felt but it will be horrendous when they are. Canada's electoral system is a goddamn joke and, in my opinion, is barely even a democracy at all because of it.

Just like the US, we are one 51% vote away from a bad actor gaining absolute power and tearing down everything Canadians have known and loved. Hell, even right now we have a majority government that the people did not vote for.

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[–] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 13 points 1 week ago

Yeah he might've fucked the whole country on that one, but now he's exclusive with Katy Perry so I guess he learned his lesson. /s

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

Democracy in the entire west is eroding.

[–] justlemmyin@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (17 children)

And Canadians don't have the same excuses to not do anything about it unlike the muricans. Their healthcare is not tied to their jobs.

[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

Their healthcare is not tied to their jobs.

sure, if you dont care about your teeth, eyes, mental health, physiotherapy....

All tied to employment...

And before anyone jumps in here with "at least not as bad as america!!!".... thats exactly the kind of low bar thinking that landed us in this situation..

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"Every crisis is an opportunity"

-- Every single slimy "liberal" politician who is really just a posh autoritarian with a toolbox of Identity Politics slogans.

[–] OldCrow@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago

Actually, this is not about Canada, this is about the world. And it’s frightening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Fd-_VDYit3U&ra=m

[–] BillCheddar@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Democracy IS THE COMPROMISE.

The alternative is a nonstop threat of violence that makes the "Wild West" look like a monk's retreat.

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