Paige

The two lobby groups (Build Canada and Canada Spends) are quite different from each other and completely different from DOGE (the former United States Digital Service). It’s like comparing Habitat for Humanity to the CMHC or something. If I met someone who thought that these things were “all the same”, I’d assume they’re pretty basic and one of those Canadians who watches too much US news. Like here is Build Canada advocating for Building rental housing stock and High Speed Rail We are luckily to live in a different country with our own lobby groups, government structures and problems. We can actually make decisions about what we think of them based on better information than if we think they’re like some weird government department that a billionaire in a neighbouring country hijacked.

The hospitable thing is true, kind of happens automatically if you’re new to activities. You’re often pretty bad so being nice is a good way to offer something back to the group while you’re learning. There’s a language barrier where I live that makes relaxed chit-chat with strangers extremely difficult. At the moment I’m just not thinking about it, always seems like things work out if you’re in an environment where you’re meeting lots of people each week.

I agreed with this until I started doing lots of “go outside” stuff and realized there was a bit of nuance. Decided pretty quickly that I’d keep the dating separate from sports/activities because I really enjoy them and things get weird if you treat it like a dating pool. Now I somehow have to work up the courage to talk to someone without a contrived activity bringing us together.