Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

In after Baud. Damn.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The revolution will be supervised.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Celebrate the fucking wins.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Open Threads / There is a Town in North Ontario

There is a Town in North Ontario

by | 80 Comments

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Since I haven’t written a word here in months I thought I’d check in quickly just to say that I’m alive and well. We cleaned out and sold our house of 25 years during the time I’ve been away, which involved a pretty major downsizing. Anyone who’s gone through that experience will tell you that it is a real pain in the ass, and we were fully occupied for months.

Now, we’re traveling from Rochester to the Dakotas via Canada through western Ontario. The picture above is the Terry Fox statue which is on a hill just east of Thunder Bay. Terry had to stop his run across Canada a few miles east of the statue due to a recurrence of the cancer that had already taken his leg. I struggle to imagine a figure in recent US history that is as widely loved and respected as Terry Fox.

Unfortunately, Canada has its set of MAGAts — the ones here tend to sport stickers on their cars that say “Fuck Trudeau” along with stylized maple leaves giving Justin the finger. Since he’s a widely beloved icon, some of the asshole right-wingers who occupied Ottawa had to deface Terry Fox’s statue there with anti-vax propaganda. Fuck them.

Aside from those few exceptions, Canada remains the welcoming place it always has been. Thunder Bay Pride was yesterday, so we went to a drag show last night. It was, well, about what you’d expect for a drag show in a small town which only started crowing a “Miss Thunder Bay” a few years ago.

Finally, it’s not just the fires up here — winter wasn’t cold enough to kill off the black flies and mosquitoes so they’re the worst that people have experienced in years.

Reader Interactions

80Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    The Canada subreddit seems dominated by conservatives. Glad to hear most of the country is still as nice as always.

  2. 2.

    BellyCat

    Did not know black flies and mosquitoes in Canada could physically BE worse!  Ack…

  4. 4.

    Scout211

    We cleaned out and sold our house of 25 years during the time I’ve been away, which involved a pretty major downsizing.

    I am in awe of you. We are looking to do that in the near future and I cannot fathom how that will be possible. Major accomplishment!

    Enjoy your trek across Canada.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    As you pass by, wave hello to the Lake of the Woods for me. It’s been… Fuck, 47 years since last I was there. I must be getting old or something.

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    Apparently there is a conspiracy theory that Trudeau is actually the son of Fidel Castro and is the key to some long term plan to turn Canada communist.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Don’t know why links won’t work.

    Google YouTube NFB blackfly and watch/listen/enjoy. It’s 5:14 long, and every second — including the opening credits — is delightful

  15. 15.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Have fun, eh. I must have watched that Terry Fox movie on HBO 30x as a kid in the early 80s. (Waving from Rochester)

  17. 17.

    oatler

    “How I Met Your Mother” did some knowing, over-the-top caricature  with Robin’s Canadian background.

  18. 18.

    Leto

    OT: Finland elected a new far right government.

    Policy Priorities and Implications

    The government led by Petteri Orpo, who is known for his fiscal conservatism, is expected to implement a range of policies that reflect the right-leaning tendencies of the coalition partners. Key areas where changes are expected include fiscal policy, immigration, and environmental commitments.

    Orpo’s government is anticipated to focus on curbing the fiscal deficit through measures such as cutting unemployment and welfare benefits. These austerity measures are expected to be a significant deviation from the policies pursued by the previous government.

    In terms of immigration policy, the coalition is expected to tighten controls. The Finns Party, which has a prominent role in the coalition, has been known for its anti-immigration stance. Given that the party emerged as the second-largest in parliament, its influence on the government’s immigration policies will likely be substantial.

    The coalition government is also expected to loosen environmental commitments. This is noteworthy, given the global urgency surrounding climate change and environmental sustainability. However, the exact extent to which these commitments will be relaxed remains unclear, as the policy details have not been released yet.

  21. 21.

    Splitting Image

    Unfortunately, Canada has its set of MAGAts — the ones here tend to sport stickers on their cars that say “Fuck Trudeau” along with stylized maple leaves giving Justin the finger.

    The fact that these fuckers hate Trudeau as much as they do has become one of his most endearing characteristics, as far as I’m concerned.

  24. 24.

    StringOnAStick

    @MomSense: Heard that conspiracy theory of his last winter from Canadians that used to be good friends but that we hadn’t seen in years.  He went to work for the engineering side of the oil and gas industry and is now a full blown wingnut, which in my experience happens to everyone who works in that industry.  Not a huge sample size for me since I’ve been out of the geology field for decades, but my experience is batting a thousand.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MagdaInBlack: I spent a season (’76) working on my Aunt and Uncle’s fishing/hunting camp on a tiny little island close to Big Island. It was a magical 5+ months.

  26. 26.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I guess I should be happy that Canada was my last year’s vacation spot. The mosquitoes were prevalent but did not see a ton of black flies. I was in Alberta, where I was told a lot of the RWNJs of the North dwell.

  27. 27.

    cain

    @Leto: A lot of govts are turning right wing. I’m not sure what is behind the phenomena. Is it the internet? Is the right using propaganda?

    I expect it is going to get worse as they use AI and deep fakes to smear people. We;re heading into some black spaces.

    Also, I bet there are a lot of russian ex-pats coming into Finland – you can bet that could also be a cause. It seems like Russians love themselves authoritarian govts and love to take it with them. (see Israel)

  28. 28.

    Traveller

    @Baud: You will be surprised, but major downsizing will make you happy…or at least it did me. I did not relocate but I did repaint both the upstairs and downstairs of my house…as well as ripping out all the soiled carpet and refinished the old oak floor in a nice light yellow/gold.

    It was a beautiful place to move back into…and I thruway or gave away everything possible….I felt so much lighter…like walking on the invisible air.

    All the pictures are gone from the walls and back into a nice large leather artist’s portfolio….which I haven’t opened in a year or more. You’ve got to create new stuff.

    And many nick-knacks put away. Some were shameful…a beautifully bleached large piece of white coral…it was broken at the bottom of the sea, I thought I’d take it.

    But have you tried to kill coral? It is a long painful process…which may have involved killing a living thing over a very extended period of time. Like in war, for example, people don’t want to die and really are much more difficult to kill than one might imagine…same for simple celled coral.

    There are many things you don’t need…that you are better off packed away in a box placed in the garage. Let someone else deal with it.

    You will be happier with a major downsize, I am sure. That stuff was just cluttering your life. Best Wishes, Traveller (PS you can start buying stuff again to!…lol)

  36. 36.

    NorthLeft

    I live in Southern Ontario and I have not been on the North shore of Lake Superior since 1994. My wife and I are planning a camping trip up to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park next year.
    We have been to Lake Superior Provincial Park (just a couple hours north of the Soo) and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves camping, canoeing, kayaking, or hiking. Swimming is not advised.

  37. 37.

    StringOnAStick

    @Traveller: I hear you loud and clear.  We moved almost 3 years ago and did a huge downsizing.  Then we were in this much smaller house for 7 weeks with only what we could carry on two cars so we could paint and do floors without so much stuff to work around.  We found we liked the much less full look, and got rid of a lot more stuff when the moving van arrived.  We know two other couples with the same house plan and both places are stuffed to the gills, which makes us like all the open space even more, plus the cats love running and playing car toy hockey in those areas.

  39. 39.

    Leto

    @Baud: per the article it took the parties 11 weeks of negotiations to reach this coalition government. But it’s a coalition of anti-immigration and austerity.

    @cain: the world is getting more complex and people don’t want complex answers. At least the right never proposes anything but the most simplistic answers available. “Send those people back! Those people are lazy and on the government teet! Leftist policies are destroying this nation!” There’s your trifecta. Just translate into your local language and run with it. Idk, maybe the average Finn is as lazy as the average American when it comes to preserving democracy? They took for granted their stable government and I’m sure their media overlords are also telling them how everything will be ok. We need a BJ Finland outreach program.

  40. 40.

    Splitting Image

    @MomSense:

    Apparently there is a conspiracy theory that Trudeau is actually the son of Fidel Castro and is the key to some long term plan to turn Canada communist.

    This is, naturally, a lie, since the real reason most of them hate Justin Trudeau is the fact that he is the son of Pierre Trudeau, whom they hate with the fires of a million burning suns.

    As far as Canadian conservatives are concerned, Castro’s worst sin is probably that he came to Pierre’s funeral.

  42. 42.

    UncleEbeneezer

    We’ve been watching a narrow-boat show on Youtube for a couple years featuring a grumpy-but-still-kinda-likable British dude.  His videos were great because he did a lot of long, slow shots where you just get to enjoy the put-put of the boat and marvel at the scenery of the countryside.  Then in Season 7 he decided to break his “Apolitical” rule to gripe about the 2020 lockdown in England and how it was such a horrible affront to his “freedom” after also doing a mockery of Colin Kaepernick kneeling while looking for his keys (during the Summer of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor etc.)…ugh…  Unsubscribed immediately and told him off in the YT comments.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    @NorthLeft

    Sad to say the furthest north I ever made it in Minnesota was East Grand Forks.

    Sad to say because … it’s East Grand Forks.
    ;)

  46. 46.

    lowtechcyclist

    I’ll be retired in six months, and once my work stuff is out of the way (I’ve been WFH ever since March 2020, and haven’t had the option of returning to an office, so everything’s here in my guest room, swamping my tiny desk), I’m looking forward to having both the time and the space to go through stuff and see what I can get rid of. I figure it’s a good project for the winter, because once spring comes, I’ll be doing outdoors stuff – cycling of course, but also hikes and stuff.

    My wife and I spent a good deal of time over the past several years going through her late grandmother’s house. There’s stuff from her house in a 4×8 storage unit down in Plant City, but everything else has been given away or tossed, and we sold the house last November. A huge load off our minds. At least when we go through our own house, we won’t have to squeeze the project into vacation time, since (a) we don’t have to travel to get here, and (b) we’ll be retired.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Leto:

    the world is getting more complex and people don’t want complex answers.

    I wouldn’t rule out international conspiracies.  We know Putin has been funding right-wing parties throughout the democratic West, and they’ve been providing help in kind (e.g. hacking the DNC) too.

  48. 48.

    The Up and Up

    I helped out at a Terry Fox Run in Abbotsford. There are some held in the US, other countries also. September 17. Raising funds for cancer research.

  49. 49.

    S Cerevisiae

    You were up in my old stomping grounds, I know Thunder Bay well because it was the closest city when I was growing up, only about 40 miles north. The mosquitoes are indeed epic this year, I was up in Grand Marais a couple weeks ago and they were the worst I had ever seen.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    @lowtechcyclist

    When Mom moved to smaller digs one of the things no one wanted was a vintage (working!) mahogany cabinet Stromberg-Carlson radio/phonograph console I had rescued some time back and had plans for but never got around to doing anything with.

    Made it a point, in halting Spanish, to stress to the truck workers hired to haul the excess away not to blithely junk it. They actually returned several days later, thanked me, and slipped me 25 bucks for the tip.

  51. 51.

    Miss Bianca

    Am I the only one who looked at the post title and immediately concluded that something horrible had happened to Neil Young?

  52. 52.

    cain

    @Leto: I think a lot of it is an influx of refugees whether from Russia or from other countries. That influx always tends to change cultural norms and when norms change it always breeds resentment because it wasnt what it was prior.

    No culture stays still – but I think societies that had uniform populations like Finland adding a growth of diversity and going from monocultural to multicultural is going to be tough especially for older folks.

    I think India, if we saw that level of change – it would be even more stark. Some years back  for the census I remember at one point they were trying to hide the fact that the muslim population is growing – and that would have resulted in a violent reaction.

    What @Roger Moore:  said as well. China and Russia are definitely looking to destabilize the world so they can take advantage of it. So there is myriad of factors going in. I’m not sure what vision China and Russia have for the world but for some reason I dont think it’s benevolent.

    Not that the western world in charge has been great either – but it’s evolving.

  53. 53.

    Bob7094

    @NotMax:

    We used to vacation on Kenogami Lake & pass through Swastika on the way to the big city (Kirkland Lake) for shopping.  Swastika had a decent laundromat right next to the railway station.  We visited the Swastika museum once, don’t know if it’s there anymore.  I was never there in black fly seaason.

  54. 54.

    JoyceH

    I haven’t been to Canada in decades and always had the image of them as more sensible and less inclined to extremes than Americans. But then I read an article about the rotten couple at a kids track meet that accused a little girl with short hair of being trans, and was rather stunned to realize that it took place in Canada. The rot is everywhere.

  55. 55.

    brendancalling

    Open thread?

    Philly friends, bring your dad to Fergies Pub (1200 block of Sansom) for live music, 4-7pm. Lots of singer/songwriters and bands, including my own.

    Canada content: heading up to Montreal to visit the child soon.

    Fly content: black flies are awful, but my pet peeve is the green head fly in South Jersey. Vicious motherfuckers. Just vicious.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    Seems to be as good place as any to drop it.

    The bus to the town of Hel on Poland’s Baltic coast has long been popular with tourists. But some Christian conservatives have protested the number signifying the devil on a bus leading to a place that sounds like the word “hell” in English.

    The local bus operator, PKS Gdynia, announced this week that bus 666 will no longer run to Hel. It said it had flipped the last number and would now run the line under the number 669 starting on June 24. Source

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    @cain:

    I think the worst societies as far as change are ones that are already more diverse than they are willing to accept, and where new immigration forces them to confront their existing diversity.  I think this is true for a lot of European countries.  Every European country that was a major colonial power has a substantial population from their former colonies, who are very often ignored.  Many other countries have minority populations, either ethnic minorities who resisted forced assimilation (like Basques, Sami, and Romani) or people who are ethnically part of one of their neighbors (e.g. ethnic Magyars in Romania).

    Many of those countries would prefer to ignore their minority population, and they can often manage in their own way.  When they have substantial immigration from overseas, it forces them to confront diversity directly.  In that case, their existing minority population often takes advantage to try to redress their old grievances.  Those old grievances are often more politically trenchant, because the majority group feels like they’re being put upon.

  58. 58.

    cain

    since this is a mister mix open thread – let’s do some technology:

    Slashdot ponders whether Reddit is dying:

    https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/06/18/0544234/is-reddit-dying

    Our blog master might find it interesting. Once again people are looking at the fediverse as an alternative. CEO Steve Huffman has revealed himself as a clueless moron. He should be ousted. He’s made every possible wrong move in order to court investors. He seems to forget that the main product of reddit isnt reddit, it’s redditors. Pissing them off is not a great idea especially when we’ve already established that the fediverse can be a viable alternative. It also doesn’t help that he’s been quoted to admire Elon Musk.

    Elon Musk is not fancied by redditors.

    I’m ready to move on from Reddit as soon as there is something viable.

  60. 60.

    cain

    @Roger Moore: Excellent comment. Indeed you are right. France is a good example of this as they’ve managed to ignore their middle eastern  population or do not think they are ‘French’ enough.

  61. 61.

    Jay

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Blackflies are an eastern thing. They arn’t in “the West”. In “The West” we have 9 different species of mosquitos, 4 species of “horseflies”,  2 species of “mooseflies”, ( their bite leaves a scar) and of course, ticks.

    The old joke is Canadian seasons, the black flies, the horse flies, the moose flies and then the snow flies.

  62. 62.

    cain

    @NotMax: Never give into Christian conservatives – you’re signalling that you are willing to give them power and they will take it.

  64. 64.

    eclare

    @NotMax:

    The New Jersey Dept of Revenue mailing address is PO Box 666.  I worked in corporate state tax for many years and sent many returns there.

  65. 65.

    Jay

    ❗I had never cheated death so many times. The rashists blew the nova kharkova dam, then actively and knowingly shelled civilians & rescuers on VIDEO for the past 11 days. Please make sure the world sees this video, tag every news agency/journalist you know. RT/Boost❗#Kherson pic.twitter.com/7tLZNwOZn6— Front Line Kitchen 🇺🇦 (@frontlinekit) June 17, 2023

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @eclare

    The exchange for my cell phone number is 666.
    ;)

    Which reminds me, I should turn that sucker on if only to charge it.

  67. 67.

    Scott

    I just learned about Terry Fox last Thursday when we took a bike tour about Victoria, B.C. and visited his statue.  Since 1981, the Terry Fox Run has raised $800M for cancer research.  Amazing.

  69. 69.

    PIGL

    @Baud: They dominate essentially all social media in Canada. It’s an obvious coherent directed programme of subversion, and the media are either too feckless/craven to understand/stop what they are permitting (I’m talking to *you*, CBC), or are actively in the game (The Globe & Mail and the National Pest).

  71. 71.

    PIGL

    @Traveller: Don’t leave it for someone else to deal with. If you can pack it away in a box you can distro the box contents to thrift shops, landfills etc.

  72. 72.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @Baud: The alt-right has made an effort to infiltrate the moderators and membership of /r/canada and /r/metacanada and lots of similar subreddits.

    /r/onguardforthee is a better alternative.

    Edit: if you stick around reddit. If they do kill third party apps–as they almost certainly will–I’m either leaving or sticking to a browser on a PC with a good ad blocker.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    @Leto: The article describes the new Finnish government as “right wing,” which may be more accurate than “far right.” The leading member with 48 MPs is the National Coalition Party, which is generally described as center-right. The two smaller partners- Swedish People’s Party (9 MPs) and Christian Democrats (5) are more centrist. The Swedish People’s Party was a member of the previous government headed by Social Democrat Sanna Marin, and is now a key component of the 108 member majority.

    The Finns Party (43 MPs) is a far right party. It had a gain of 7 MPs from the last Parliament and is the second largest Coalition Party. It won 20.1% of the popular vote.

    Ms. Marin’s Social Democrats (40 MPs) gained 3 seats but three of her coalition partners returned 20 fewer MPs. The rural-based Center Party dropped from 31 to 23, the Greens went from 30 to 23, and the Left Alliance fell from 16 to 11 MPs.

    Mr. Orpos, the National Coalition Party leader, will be the new Prime Minister. Finn Party leader Riika Purra will be Finance Minister and will implement the new government’s austerity program. That may not help her Finns Party’s popularity, because austerity policies typically are self-defeating.

  77. 77.

    jonas

    Black flies breed and thrive in cold, snow melt-fed creeks — it actually takes a good early summer heat wave to kill them off (at least in the Adirondacks).

  78. 78.

    Denali5

    @Mistermix,

    Sorry to lose you from western New York. Hope you will continue commenting on Balloon Juice as you settle into you new home in the Dakotas.

  79. 79.

    Traveller

    @Baud: No, lol, it was to and for you. Many people agonize over downsizing…I was indicating that it can be a liberating process.

    Or, at least I found it to be so…and maybe a reminder to myself that even another go round might be in order now that a few years have passed since the last real clean up and give away.

    In an case, I hope it goes well for you and is a positive experience. Best Wishes, Traveller

  80. 80.

    NorthLeft

    @JoyceH: Agree that the hate is everywhere, but the local school board banned that couple from all school grounds and any events.
    So, they couldn’t stop the original event, but their quick response might prevent others.

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