That’s What She Said: Pipeline, political predictions for 2019
- Dawn Dumont | January 28, 2019
When I was a kid, I’d always read the psychic predictions for the new year in the Star and Enquirer Magazines – they were always helpful about giving you insight into the possibilities of the new year and also helped you to plan your schedule around that alien sighting that was going to happen in Arizona in late July.
As a former phone psychic, I’ve got a few predictions about the upcoming new year. The federal race will be incredibly ugly for two reasons: all of the commercials and adverts as the conservatives try to prop up their pony, Andrew Scheer. I’m not sure I understand the appeal of the guy, to my eyes, he looks like rice pudding come to life. The second reason is that Justin Trudeau’s policies and decisions are rather inconsistent like that boyfriend who tells you you’re beautiful but still checks out other women’s butts in front of you.
Trudeau is a rich kid who tries to tell us that he’s a regular guy. He’s an environmentalist who bought a pipeline. I’m all in favour of nationalized oil – hello, Norway! – but we cannot deny the damage that oil has done to northern Alberta, changing the landscape of that area from a dense boreal forest to a wasteland of tailings ponds and burnt trees. Who wants that to happen to any other area? Trudeau’s inconsistencies will give the conservatives plenty of room to drive a wedge between him and his supporters.
Then there’s Jagmeet Singh – who like Casper the friendly ghost has a pleasant demeanour and means well but is still, at the end of the day, invisible. And unfortunately, good looks and positive chanting is not enough to propel the NDP into a leadership position.
I predict another liberal government but the conservatives will have a strong showing.
The #MeToo movement began in 2016 and has slowed since then. The predictable backlash from the knuckle-draggers of, “So what? I can’t even do anything now?” I don’t think anyone should be concerned unless you’ve been doing things that you shouldn’t have been doing. The MeToo movement may not get as much attention but its still out there moving through social media and changing attitudes, especially among the younger generations.
Social media will continue with its confessional angle. But I predict this year that people when people start ranting to the world about their exes, sister in laws, old landlords, etc. they will actually tag that person into the conversation so that we all can see the drama unfold in real time. Or maybe people will just start making memes to describe all of their complex emotions. I feel like I know some couples who communicate entirely through passive aggressive social media posts and pictures. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen people’s selfies go from being normal looking to looking like fairy-land puppies to looking like untouchable godlike images with zero flaws and pores. I feel like all of this perfection is destined for a change. Maybe this the year people are gonna start taking selfies of themselves in less flattering lights, like under fluorescents or on the toilet. Just don’t tag me in them.
Throughout the world, projects are underway to combat our reliance of fossil fuels. There are giant solar farms across India and China. Here in Canada, we just bought another pipeline. We are a big energy user with our challenging environment – ranging from biting cold in the winter (or at least it used to be) to sweltering summers. But we have to be more proactive because fossil fuel is limited – it’s not like dinosaurs exist anymore (unless of course you count climate change deniers). I predict that this summer there will be a showdown between the oil industry and activists and Indigenous people will be caught in the middle.
America will impeach Trump in the coming year. Yes, his mandate is running out but he currently has 17 different investigations against him. And yes, I know that it’s corporate money that controls the government at this point. But those companies are made up of people. And some of them are Hispanic or black or gay or have an ounce of grace in their heart and cannot stand by as children die in cages.
As Martin Luther King Jr, not a psychic but certainly a prescient thinker, once predicted: “the arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.”