Freehold, Canadian election

[nenya_kanadka]

So we went to see Freehold tonight, the movie about the New Jersey lesbian couple fighting for partner benefits. Which, a) was of course very sad because (as you know going into it) Laurel dies in the end, and the movie does a pretty good job of getting us invested in the relationship before the discovery that, shit, cancer, but on the other hand b) omg, ELLEN PAGE IS THE MOST ADORABLE. The most. <3 Also c), the last splash screen says something like "On June 26, 2015, the US supreme court ruled that all Americans have equal rights to marriage" and yup, it's months later and I still can't quite believe that's an actual thing that happened and the movie didn't skew off into science fiction for the last 30 seconds. Man.

In other news, I guess I better find out more about Justin Trudeau than "He has great hair"? I wish the man well, and hope he's going to be good in the job. I did want the NDP to win, even though I have no great feelings about Mulcair. That said, our local NDP MP was indeed returned to office, and also fuck yeah, no more Harper!

So, on balance, \o/?

Comments

[amazon_syren]

Re: Ellen Page. God, I know, right? I look at her (or, well, her character) and see someone who moves and dresses and body-languages an awful lot like my Archivist and I kind of get All The Feelings.
Moop.

Re: Prince Curly-Locks... Yeah...
:-\
I feel pretty much the same way you do and, yeah. On balance: \o/
I'll take it.
Not lying down, but I'll take it.

[nenya_kanadka]

Awww, you have a real-life Ellen Page? :D <3

And gosh. SO CUTE.

Prince Curly-Locks

*snort*

It's kind of like electing Obama, really, in that, vastly better than the alternative but still probably needs a serious kick in the pants to get where we need him to go. Well, at least JT is making good noises about climate and the G20 summit coming up? If "I am totally not Harper" gets him doing some good stuff, then yay.

But yeah. Sigh. Well.

[amazon_syren]

Well, I have a real-life 27-year-old sweetheart who wears a lot of plaid (which I suspect is more Stacie-character than Ellen-actual-person) and went to NSCAD for sculpture, so... sort of?
She is, indeed, SO CUTE.

I got "Prince Curly-Locks" from @Random, some time ago. ;-)
And, yeah, pretty-much.
I'm sad that my Excellent MP got voted out in favour of the Liberal candidate. Now I have to learn something about my new MP. I'm hoping that she's not the kind of White Lady Feminist whose feminism stops at "More Women in Politics = Good" and tends to be a rescue-industry type otherwise. :-/

[nenya_kanadka]

I'm sorry about your MP! We at least got to keep our NDP guy (who took over from the previous female NDP MP a while back, and has made it through a couple of elections). Though the Greens were in second place by I think 15,000 votes to the NDP's 19,000. Which I thought was pretty awesome. (Now I feel bad for not voting Green! I just wanted to be sure that at least the NDP got in.)

[kore]

I almost don't want to see the movie because I know I will CRY BUCKETS, but I also want to see it in the theatre to support it and I am sure everyone else will be crying buckets too.

June 26, holy shit. It feels like it was yesterday.

I guess I better find out more about Justin Trudeau than "He has great hair"

This was about all I knew, and I fulfilled the stereotype of the Ugly American which horrifies me by knowing DIDDLY about the NDP. //facepalm of shame

-- Altho apparently Trudeau Jr is possibly seen as emblematic of the Trudeau Era which Harper was trying his best to dismantle? Or was that CBC broadcaster lying to me? (God, I know diddlysquat about Trudeau pere, come to think of it. Bilingualism and "Just watch me" and fuck you separatism/yay federalism and the Canada Act and that's it, wow that's pitiful, aside from the personal shit like meeting John Lennon. And sadly that's probably more than the rest of the people in my apartment building, say, would remember.)

[nenya_kanadka]

Trudeau pere was just before my time (the first prime minister I personally remember was Mulroney in the late eighties, I think?) and honestly the biggest thing I remember from high school history classes was the bit about "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." So you may be slightly ahead of me, heh.

The NDP are, like, on the more actual-left-wing side of the left-wing parties. Liberals are kind of left-centrist? Like the NDP is your environmentalist, pro-gay, do something about student loans and minimum wage, sort of thing, though not as hipppie green as the Greens. (I tend to dither between the Greens and the NDP and usually go with the NDP as more electable, as in, one Green member of parliament now and the NDP often have dozens.) IIRC the provincial NDP in Saskatchewan was the first to bring us what eventually became national socialized healthcare--Tommy Douglas of story and song. :) And Jack Layton, the best prime minister we never had because he died just as his party was gathering steam a few years ago...also NDP, see icon. :)

The last time the Liberals were in (from around 1993 to the early 00s) they ended up embroiled in a bunch of financial scandals, which pissed people off. Hopefully they've sorted their shit out by now; guess we'll see. I read a similar news article to the one you heard, saying that Harper's entire career has basically been dedicated to tearing down everything Pierre Trudeau believed in, so this must really sting a lot. Which, you know, can't say I mind. :D

(Mucca is the Canadian politics expert in this house. I fell headlong into US politics during the Bush/early Obama years, and have thus confused myself a lot. :P)

[seascribble]

Congrats on your new leadership! I gotta drag somebody to see Freeheld with me down here.

[nenya_kanadka]

Thank you! And hopefully some of your queer posse will want to go with you. :)

[queenof1000days]

I had an f-lister tell me that JT looks like a Disney prince.

[nenya_kanadka]

Haha, basically. :D

My sisters are both living in the US right now and admiring him from afar.

[queenof1000days]

...wow. I thought I replied to this ages ago. Sorry!

I think it's his hair.

Oh really now? Interesting...

[vortexae.livejournal.com]

it's months later and I still can't quite believe that's an actual thing that happened and the movie didn't skew off into science fiction

That's how I felt when I first read Elizabeth Bear's Hammered shortly after it first came out. "Oh, of course; this is a science fiction novel after all -- wait, whats-his-bucket talking about his husband isn't because it's SF, it's because it's Canada!" Followed by a little happy glowing over how the world surprised me by being a little nicer than I was accustomed to thinking it was.

[nenya_kanadka]

Oh wow, you're right! I completely missed that at the time. I mean I think it was also set in the future as well as being Canadian, but still. Retroactive squee. :D

[biting_moopie]

I am happy that Harper is out because he is trash. Like you, I'm cautious about Trudeau because of all the 'at least he's not Harper' commentary. People might have very high hopes of him and then be disappointed when he doesn't live up to them. Of course, I'm not Canadian and my perspective will likely be skewed.

I first heard about Jack Layton when he died and regret that being my introduction to him. He was an amazing human being and there's no doubt that if he were alive, he would be PM.

[nenya_kanadka]

Pretty much, yup. I'm in the lucky (?) position of having wanted the further-left-than-his party to win, which was actually pretty possible as of a couple weeks before the election. So my instinct towards "anybody but Harper" is tempered a little in that I already expect Trudeau to be less awesome than I want. Which wasn't an...emotional buffer I had with Obama, even though intellectually I was prepared for it. If that makes any sense.

I remember being vaguely aware of Layton for years, but only started paying attention during that last campaign before he died. And then kicked myself a lot. Best prime minister we never had, as they say.

[biting_moopie]

It makes complete sense. I felt the same way about Obama. I knew he wasn't perfect, that he was just one person and that he had a really tough job ahead of him. But it still hurt.

Jack Layton's letter to Canadians remains one the of most uplifting yet heartbreaking pieces I've ever read.