That was a pretty breezy, jam-packed and exciting post.
Well done, folks.
Please name one policy initiative, strategic decision, or acute foreign policy action that indicates the Trump administration has any intent to annex Canada.
Just one.
For the last eighteen months, President Trump has dominated, guided, and unwittingly influenced Canadian politics at every level.
The worst Prime Minister in the history of our Nation went to Washington in late 2024 and proclaimed “they are serious; they want to take us over!!”.
And the usual suspects fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Canadians fell for the ruse, and bough the myth.
At no point did anyone ask “why would a Republican administration want to annex a left of centre Country that could deliver Democrats the White House for decades?”.
What happened to our critical analysis and common sense?
Have a wonderful break and a well-deserved vacation.
Trump is the kind of person to make inflammatory comments and to troll simply for the sake of getting a reaction - but he's also the kind of person who launches illegal wars and strikes unpredictably on a whim with minimal consultation of American institutions, let alone international ones.
His comments about annexation of Canada may not be best understood as serious intentions to annex us, but they are still evidence of more general animus towards our country. This point is intuitively obvious to many Canadians, even if not to a segment of the Conservative base.
"Please name one policy initiative, strategic decision, or acute foreign policy action that indicates the Trump administration has any intent to annex Canada."
It's hard to imagine, but until recently, it would have been hard to imagine the US threatening to annex Greenland.
The two-part Wall Street Journal article a few days ago, providing a behind-the-scenes look at how US allies have been responding to the second Trump administration, was quite eye-opening. The second part opens:
"Mark Carney swept to power on a backlash to President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state, which many Americans took for mere shtick. But for the new prime minister, reading intelligence reports detailing the gravity of the crisis, it was a breaking point.
"In private phone conversations with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, Trump had threatened to scrap the 1908 agreement delineating their shared border. 'I tear that up and your whole country unravels,' Trump told Trudeau in one call, according to two people familiar with the matter.
"Over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau’s envoys tried to dissuade Trump from absorbing their country. When one Trump aide pointed out Canada’s 41 million people would lean Democrat, the president came up with a neat solution: just split the northern neighbor into two states, one red, the other blue."
PM Carney is facing almost no criticism for what appears to be a massive capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe - the absolute opposite of what he promised to do if elected. On this and many other reversals he gets a pass.
Canada feels like a permanent Liberal playground - a uni-party state controlled by a small cabal of Central Canadian elites enriched through the extraction of resources from the politically powerless west. What's the country going to look like after another decade of Liberal rule?
Defended by the exact same institutions and people who swore that Justin Trudeau was the best thing to ever happen to this country, until he didn't look like he could win anymore. This is just their latest marching orders, or wireless brain software update delivered through the TV and Twitter, as the case may be.
Because three very different CPC leaders were all somehow worse? All presented by the media as dangerous far right lunatics at election time... until they lose and retire and then they are lauded by the same media as reasonable and moderate statesmen.
The media knew that none of them were somehow worse than Justin. And that for sure, Erin O Toole would have been eons better than that ego on legs, Justin Trudeau. Sometimes I despair over our incompetent media.
Andrew Scheer lost because he was so sure he'd win, he thought he could follow Doug Ford's script of not answering any questions. Then, he failed on his dual citizenship. He shot himself in the foot twice. The CPC turned on Erin and shot themselves in the foot. In 2015, I think Harper wanted to lose. It's the only logical reason for the barbaric cultural practices hotline. Pierre is Pierre. It had nothing to do with the media...at least not for me. Andrew is just another spin-doctoring asshole like Pierre, but not as angry. Again, I did not want to vote for Carney. I'm glad I did.
I did not and have no regrets. Mr. Carney is disappointing, although I really did hope for better when he won. I am not surprised that so far, he is so, so.
I never bought the media hype during the election campaign that made him seem like he was descending from the home of the gods.
The saviour to rescue our country. The media should have known better.
He is a mortal being, after all. No matter how many thought his CV would do the trick.
The central controversies around Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole were not that they were allegedly "dangerous far right lunatics". Andrew Scheer lied repeatedly and often pointlessly, like randomly accusing the Liberals and NDP of being committed to raising the GST. Erin O'Toole was criticized for having a messy and inconsistent platform that tried to both appeal to the Conservative base and to centrist Canadians.
At any rate, the media criticisms of the both of them were not actually persistent enough to stop the CPC under the leadership from getting more votes than the Liberals - or the media's role in electoral opinion is demonstrably exaggerated as a result.
Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney also both had massive flaws and weaknesses that would have been the "obvious" reason they lost... if they had lost.
You know how many news articles accused O'Toole of playing footsie with anti-vaxxers and the far right? Of outright 'taking pages from the Trump Playbook'? Scheer was constantly criticized for having what amounted to the same stance on abortion as Justin Trudeau. He also got massive flak for having dual citizenship. Nobody cared about Carney having what is it, triple citizenship?
How these leaders are presented affects a lot more than many are willing to let on. We are being led around like idiots by self-interested mouthpieces drooling over subsidies, and have been for a while.
I decided to investigate your claim by asking Google AI, "what was the biggest controversy of andrew scheer's 2019 campaign". Here is what I got:
"The biggest controversy of Andrew Scheer's 2019 federal election campaign was the revelation that he held dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. This sparked significant backlash because he had never publicly disclosed it and had previously criticized other politicians for holding dual citizenships.
"The defining details of this and other prominent campaign controversies included:
The Dual Citizenship Scandal: In October 2019, it was confirmed that Scheer held American citizenship through his U.S.-born father. Critics accused him of hypocrisy, as he had questioned the loyalty of former Governor General Michaëlle Jean in 2005 for holding dual citizenship with France.
Scheer stated he had started the process of renouncing his U.S. citizenship in August but ultimately abandoned the process after stepping down as party leader.
Exaggerated Résumé: Journalists reported that Scheer had spent years describing himself in campaign materials as a licensed "insurance broker". It was later revealed that he never held the official provincial license required to sell insurance, having only worked briefly in an insurance office."
It was the **hypocrisy** of his dual-citizenship and that he hid it that harmed his reputation, not the simple fact that it existed. The point about the exaggerated resume reconfirms my own claim about him being a serial liar.
I also ask Google AI, "what was the biggest controversy of erin o'toole's 2021 campaign"?
"The biggest controversy of Erin O’Toole’s 2021 federal campaign was his flip-flop on firearms, specifically his abrupt reversal of a campaign pledge regarding the ban on "assault-style" firearms.
Early in the election, O’Toole promised to maintain the Liberal government's ban on certain assault-style weapons. However, facing intense pressure and attacks from the Conservative base and political opponents, he reversed his position days later, stating he would instead review the classification of the weapons. This sudden shift caused major internal friction and led to severe criticism from opposing parties over his trustworthiness."
**Trustworthiness** is the problem that Erin O'Toole faced. The electorate simply felt uncertainty as to what he actually stood for.
Poilievre would get a different reaction if he were a Prime Minister engaging in the same policy as Carney did - but that's not evidence of skewed political institutions, that's just evidence that striking the right tone pays political dividends.
The Conservative Party under existing leadership has a long history of gleefully mocking and giving the middle finger to various liberals and non-conservatives from across the political spectrum, with a support base that overlaps with that of Trump's base. Because everyone expects that Conservatives would instinctively be submissive to Trump - due to their emotional need to stick it to liberals the same way that Trump does - they would not be given the benefit of the doubt on their maturity or their rationality. But because Liberals have no discernable emotional need to align with Trump, they are given the benefit of the doubt as to their motives.
That all aside, Carney may still be paying a price yet for these policies, since sometimes a long-term buildup of stories can quickly turn loose impressions into firmly negative opinions.
Also, there's evidence to suggest that the Conservatives are bleeding support to the Liberals *and* that the Liberals are bleeding support to the NDP - which is hardly indicative of a "uni-party state", just evidence that your preferred party is failing.
I agree with your criticism of the CPC, but unfortunately this is also an example of our inherent positive bias toward the Liberals. Every criticism of Carney and the Liberals quickly turns to the failings of the CPC.
The Liberals are the natural governing party of this country. A badly failed Liberal government was rewarded after a decade of rule with a minority, which they've now crowbarred into a majority, with only passing scrutiny of their tactics and intentions.
My question about the ramifications of another decade of Liberal rule is not rhetorical. I fear it means the break up of the country, starting with Alberta first.
It's identity politics. East of the Ottawa River and in Toronto the Liberals are "their people." Just like the Conservatives are "their people in Calgary and rural Canada west of the Ottawa River." There are more Liberal tribal folks than Conservative. It's pure math.
The Conservatives would have won a majority in 2025 it only West of the Ottawa River was allowed to vote.
Disproportionate political power has been granted to central and eastern Canada to the detriment of the west. The Senate, Supreme Court, Public Service Executive, Environmental Regulations, Equalization, etc. all directed in favour of the center and east. The west's population increases and economic importance hasn't led to a rebalance of political power.
It's just history. Our immigration happens up the St Lawrence.
The "specialness" of Albertans (SKers, MBers, BCers), where it's an issue, exists only in their minds, no different than the toxic identitarian special blankies some people wrap themselves in. Just more victim card stuff like the NDP.
The specialness matters when it is time to pay the bills in this country. It is shocking the differences in standard of living between Central and Eastern Canada versus Western Canada. New Brunswick reminds me of rural Eastern Europe, but with worse potholes nowadays.
A fair assessment. If the CPC had picked a leader who isn't a complete and total jackass, they'd probably be in power. A lot of us didn't want to vote for Carney. We didn't have a choice.
He's not particularly controversial or rude by global standards for politicians. People who can't look past vague perceived personality quirks they don't like and instead vote for "the same disastrous corruption and waste we were just about to reject but a little slower and with smoother messaging" are so daft I don't understand how they avoid drinking bleach.
All I am hearing from several commenters here are weak rationalizations for not changing governments.
Not particularly rude? Didn't Poilievre just the other day at the Calgary Stampede insinuate that Christine Elliot, the 49% of BC Conservatives who voted for her, Doug Ford, and the Ford strategists who backed Elliot, are somehow all Liberals?
It's hard to think of any Canadian politician in modern political history who has insulted as many other politicians as Poilievre has.
Or BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan join together and leave. I am a British Columbian and at the rate the favouritism shown the ever favoured centre of Canada and the Maritimes continues plus the 50 years of pandering to Quebec that never stops, the West may well decide to leave.
I am 76 and feeling that western separation makes a lot more sense. And always has because the unequal treatment is simply not something that we Westerners should tolerate indefinitely.
Or the scorn from Ottawa. Why not give some of that scorn to Quebec. It really does appear to be a Stockholm Syndrome thing going on with Ottawa and Quebec.
I was pretty mad when I heard about the bridge “deal” but now I’m hearing that it’s similar to a film arrangement where folks get their $ after the expenses are tallied…and in film that often means no “profit” for the folks waiting for it. So maybe not a bad deal for Canada after all? For sure that bridge needs to open. And for sure for sure the neighbours’ word is no good
Wait for the details … it ifs profits as simply stated …the debt payments to Canada will come before that . Which means Trump let his ego get played and Canada didn’t give anything up . The anti liberal partisans flood the internet with doom and gloom on everything , don’t take it without deeper more objective analysis
As you take this break from The Line, I offer you these best wishes as a loyal subscriber:
Jen, please hydrate this week after your Wild Stampeding and try to avoid people, alcohol, and X - you'll feel much better if you do .
Matt, all joking aside, I pray for only the best possible outcome for your wife as she enters this new phase of her treatment, and for patience and grace for you and your family as you help her through this awful ordeal. Be well, in all ways.
Yes, the USA we have known is gone, at least for a while. And it is of course possible that we may never be able to trust them again. But that is speculation and as many of us have been saying in this very comments section since January, 2025, focusing on Trump rather than ourselves is a total distraction – and trying to predict what he may do or the best way to “deal with him” is a fool’s game. Indeed, Trump’s clown show/bullying act actually gave this country a golden opportunity to get its shit together. He is a dangerous and unpredictable buffoon who can undoubtedly cause catastrophic consequences for us but there remains a ton within our exclusive control that can at least mitigate some of his chaos. And that is where 100% of our focus should have been, starting in January, 2025.
It is not debatable that serious and long overdue fundamental changes to this country became even more necessary 18 months ago. And Trump’s presence actually gave cover to those in power who recognize we need to make those changes but don’t have the balls to do it of their own volition. Dismantling supply management and interprovincial trade barriers, revamping the health care system via massive infusions of private delivery/administration, putting shovels in the ground to get our natural resources to market, opening up the telecommunications and airline industries to foreign competition are all the lowest of the lowest possible hanging fruit that any serious country ought to have addressed years ago. Failure to do so has been a long-standing indictment of the country. And “thanks” to Trump, if the usual suspects were to whine in response to us finally taking appropriate action on any of these files, we are now blessed in being able to reply to them with “sorry, we are facing an existential threat - we need to start doing things dramatically differently and NOW”.
But what has been our response to this glorious opportunity? Where are we 18 months later? Have we done ANYTHING on any of the aforementioned matters? Well, there is some positive talk about energy/pipelines but no actual shovels in the ground. Alberta appears to be doing something with respect to private health care. Other than that, after 18 months of alleged existential threat, our signature response remains “elbows up” bullshit - booing the US national anthem at sporting events, taking US liquor off store shelves (that we have actually already paid the Americans for; you can NOT make this shit up) and, for some number of poor misguided “patriots”, comically self-imposing a travel ban to the USA. Our response has been embarrassing. Booing the US national anthem at sporting events is the conduct of a 4 year old child. France has Liberté, égalité, fraternité as its motto but when it comes to dealing with the USA ours ought to be impotence, incompetence, petulance. It is long past time for us to get into the metaphorical gym, lose the 50 pounds of belly fat and build some muscle in the arms, legs and back, dammit. That’s how you send a message that you are an actual force to be reckoned with.
Enjoy your time off and best to you with your family’s health concerns, Matt.
As thorough as the article was when published, your comments have pointed to the Achilles Heel of pretty well all Canadian and maybe the rest of the western world's media.... TDS is rampant. Such hatred blinds all MSM and seemingly spreads to articles on Substack. As on reader asked: "What happened to our critical analysis and common sense?"...The answer, "Consumed by the fire of TDS." Terry Glavin is another journalist who just cannot be rational when writing about Donald Trump. One never thought we would see The Line Editor joining this irrational, unbalanced, unreasonable and yes...foolish gang of Trump bashers. Anyway ninety percent of the time The Line is my go to to get a reasoned summary of the daily NEWS. Enjoy your rest. Look forward to reading the Line when you return.
I would love to see those American liquor sales if Canadians in those provinces where their state owned monopolies blocked their sale allowed them. This is chip on shoulder Canadian elite culture I suspect pushing it's marching orders onto the plebes again.
It's one thing to boycott, it's another for the government to block. Besides, liquor monopolies are weird and anti-business. Alberta I'll note doesn't have an American liquor prohibition and is by far the fastest growing and highest GDP per capita province. (Even with a separatist movement boogeyman supposedly scaring business with proof never provided) That isn't mutually exclusive.
Economic and political culture matter.
As for Canada and gross versus net on the bridge, Canada has a reputation for not following the spirit of an agreement even if it follows the letter. See American dairy export quota Great if you never want to do business again, but screwing your client is awful if you want to continue the relationship.
This is all indicative of a Canadian boomer and elite problem of feelings of entitlement towards the Americans. They feel they can do things and Americans won't notice. Americans feel they are the only ones who matter in the world. If this was a marriage it would be on the rocks.
Nevertheless, I keep on asking, what is the point of Canada and other than "so we can show up the Americans" or "the whole point is to be taken care of by government in a way Americans would never allow" I don't have an answer to tell my kids.
I had a discussion the other day with someone who vociferously defended the Ontario ban on US alcohol, while they unloaded their $500 load of groceries from Costco and opened a stack of Amazon deliveries.
We all continue to buy US products and deal with US companies on a daily basis. A few people deliberately pick Canadian fruits and vegetables but that's the extent of it for most. The alcohol thing is completely absurd and makes no sense whatsoever. Fuck government telling me what I can and cannot buy. Even if we imposed tariffs I could choose to pay them; taking away my consumer agency altogether is galling. And to answer your question I think there would be little meaningful long term drop in sales of US alcohol absent the ban. Even Canadian travel to the US is picking back up. I'm going to Florida later this year.
of course not, lol. We're being tariffed and we will absolutely retaliate. I don't think you understand negotiation.
America is soft in the middle, with 0 political courage. Every country that stands up learns to win because their first response to pain is to eat their young.
This gets easier every year because their debt and deficit issues are a crisis. As of this year they're spending more on debt that they are on defence... they're financially doomed unless an unimaginable shift happens.
And their tween, ADHD president is still losing a war that's costing every American blood, treasure and their future.
They made the choices. We'll certainly make them feel it where we can.
While I concur with much of the sentiment of the article, to somehow equate Russia attacking and invading Ukraine to Trump discontinuing a trade deal with Canada is a ridiculous analogy and frankly disrespectful to the Ukrainian people.
Kind of like equating every Government overreach or policy that someone doesn't like to Hitler or Nazi's. Insulting to the people who actually lived through the living hell of war or the holocaust.
I'm going to need more than 20 months of data to decide that our relationship with the US is "over".
I have a feeling that a few years after Donald Trump is out of power, nobody will admit to ever having supported him or any of his obviously shitty policies in the first place, kind of like George W. Bush and the Iraq War.
Trump is a symptom. The GOP and Federalist Society are the cancer. November will determine if the US can be saved. I have no faith in them after 2024, and this will be harder. It will be generations before anyone trusts them again.
I don't remember Trump running on "random tariffs for everyone, threaten to annex territory from allies, rip up all our alliances, conduct foreign wars for no reason, corruption and graft at every opportunity and let's also see how badly we can antagonize Canada".
Americans were really stupid to elect the guy a second time, but none of what is happening now reflects what most of them wanted. His re-election reflected the real and perceived failures of the Biden administration and especially the cost of living crisis. Further, their hatred for open borders, woke identity politics and DEI burned so hot they were willing to vote for the fucking devil over an avatar of diversity hiring that was the perception of Kamala Harris.
His re-election confirms that Americans, on the whole, are idiots: nice people but dumb as stumps. Project 2025 was public knowledge. When questioned on anything perceived negatively, he kept lying...and they still believed him after all the lies of his first term. 80+ million couldn't be bothered to show up and vote. For all intents and purposes, Americans knowingly voted away their demcoracy to a serial-lying traitor.
Biden left them the lowest unemployment in generations, massive foreign investment and solid alliances. They didn't vote for Kamala because of racism, misogyny or stupidity. They also proved Joe Goebbels ' power of propaganda. There were 10 million illegals in the country when Biden took office. The borders were never open.
They did it to themselves. It's up to them to fix. I don't think they can, so it's good the world is moving on.
Biden's term also saw inflation that peaked at a disastrous 10% per year, and house prices jump by 50%. Watch an old pre-Covid episode of just about any house hunting show based in the US and laugh at how low the prices used to be. 5-bed 4-bath McMansion 20 minutes outside Nashville? That will be $125K please. I went down there pre and post Covid and literally everything was 50-100% more expensive. Way worse change than here, though we were coming from a higher starting point. We underestimate how fundamental a shift this was. The administration where this happened was going to have a huge fight to stay in power no matter what.
Mishandling Biden's health and picking a VP explicitly based on race and sex when she came off as a cackling and unserious charisma vacuum gave Trump the exact right circumstances to seem like the better option. And he somehow ran a better campaign. Of course it was all BS. But the Democrats share the blame. And I'm not sure they have learned their lesson.
On immigration, we can question Trump's methods but his brutal crackdown on illegals has actually reduced the number coming in. It's like the one thing he said he would do that he's actually sort of accomplished.
Biden's corpse was a disaster. The deaf, unaccountable left paved the way for a selfish unaccountable right.
The fact the left remains confused, wrong, with utterly 0 self-awareness suggests we'll enjoy more whipsawing back and forth from these equally useless, selfish administrations.
That 10% inflation came about as the economy started up after COVID. The US had one of the best inflation recoveries on the planet, but you'd never know that watching FOX News, as too many fools still do. It had one of the best economies on the planet when Joe left as well. I wonder how Americans will react if the power grid collapses in places this week.....as the West burns, and water gets scarcer.
You will get no argument from me that Joe wanting a second term was an absurd idea that he should have been talked out of; Jill should have stepped in and had an honest talk. That alone was a sign of serious mental decay. If he'd stayed in the race, he was still a better choice than Trump.
Yes, no one is going to the US border. The consequences to their economy will be felt in growing amounts as the days pass. Getting rid of your construction, agriculture, and hospitality workers isn't the flex Trump thinks it is. But tourists aren't going to the US either, so is it really an accomplishment?
I don't know if Trump ran a "better campaign". Kamala Harris probably had some of the worst name-recognition of any Democrat presidential candidate ever, and had about 100 days to make herself well known. Trump's been a name familiar to American households for decades. To the extent that swing voters judged her negatively, it was probably because of a suspicion that something was wrong with someone who appeared "hidden" from the limelight in recent history.
Trump's campaign was a disaster by multiple metrics, including clearly being off his rockers in the debates. To the extent that civil society involved itself in the campaign, it was apparently a consensus in favour of Kamala. But the campaign apparently did not matter much to the vote outcome.
Generalizations about people are lazy and invalid.
Americans are not stupid, however they are at the mercy of a system rigged against the interests of the general population, in favour of elites. The NDP has engineered the same rigged system in BC, are destroying the Province, have reached the bottom (aka "anything is better than this"), and we will hold our nose and vote for anyone but.
The politicians who oversimplify, rely on binary comparisons, reject accountability, gin up fear, paint their opponent as evil, refuse to listen, refuse any accountability, remove or ignore systems of engagement, lie about results, pay themselves first... they used and abused the system for selfish ends: "I can't do my good works unless I get elected, therefore all things are justified."
They deserve the credit for what comes after. The public's reaction is rational, and utterly predictable for anyone who's made policy decisions.
Perhaps. Americans elected Trump.....twice. Yes, their system is completely undemocratic, with state governments involved in elections they have an interest in the result of, and the Electoral College...where does one start? But Americans have allowed that system; they didn't fight back against Citizens United. Didn't fight back against the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. They kept on electing Republicans; yes, the Democrats are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they aren't out to destroy the Constitution either.... something Project 2025 makes quite clear. In the end, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
So I will not walk back my comment. Americans did something incredibly stupid ...twice. The world is paying the consequences for it. Only Americans chose it...so they're idiots. But we're all suffering the consequences of their actions. They will get no sympathy here.
"The seminal study on this topic by Princeton researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page famously demonstrated that when the preferences of economic elites and organized business interests diverge from the general public, the former get their way while the average citizen has statistically near-zero impact on public policy."
I think you're blaming the victims, as well as being a bit bigoted.
Was just thinking today “ it’s like the Americans don’t realize other people have actual agency “. Can’t get out of their own self absorbed reality show.
I got this far in the piece… “Their [provincial] liquor monopolies…” and then I went off on a tangent. Government liquor monopolies? Well, there’s one trade irritant, my Canadian pals. :-) America doesn’t have government booze monopolies. The proportionate US response would not be tariffs but rather a law banning the US sale of Canadian manufactured alcoholic beverages until provincial monopolies remove their bans on US booze. I’m surprised it hasn’t been suggested already.
You’ll find no argument from most of this publication’s readership on the insanity of government liquor monopolies, but Canada has in no way responded proportionate to the current US tariffs on Canada.
25-50% on steel, aluminum, copper and metal derivative products regardless of CUSMA. 25% on non US auto components regardless of the overall CUSMA compliance of the vehicle. 10% on softwood lumber, because why not? There are many more - but these are the headlines. Nevermind the random Truth Social posts that threaten god knows what else (and mostly don’t come to fruition) because Trump had his ego hurt. Makes it a pretty tough environment to operate in, and certainly does not breed trust. The fact Americans don’t seem to know or care about this, but fixate on a liquor ban is wild. Completely wild.
I’m a huge fan of America and Americans. Legitimately love both. Go all the time, and will continue to. Have always felt welcomed and appreciated there - all over the country (which is more than I can say about certain parts of Canada). But the lack of national self awareness here is painful.
Oh, I completely agree that Trump’s random and ever-changing-depending-on-his mood tariffs are insane, harmful to both our countries, and probably illegal.
It's easy to complain that we're getting screwed over on the bridge, and we are, but leaving it closed for a few years until the Mafia Boss is gone to open it would have been a stupid thing to do. If some creative accounting can smooth things over then so be it. I ask anyone of the sanctimonious hypocrites commenting above to explain HTF else you get the bridge open?
I'd have loved to see incoming fees on the Ambassador bridge hiked 1000% but that just hurts Canadians.
We'll see if the GH bridge is still open July 28th or whether the orange goblin changes his mind, again?
The problem has always been a Trump donor who owns the old bridge. The solution is a simple asshole Canada play. Do whatever deal we need to do to open the new bridge, then do roadwork on the way to the old bridge forever.
Enjoy your holiday! Jen just got back from a trip to BC , Lake Louise , Canmore Kanaskis and Calgary. First visit, loved it very much, stunning country. Im happy my grandson has settled out there. Matt my thoughts and prayers for your wife and family. We always need good news. Having endured the loss of 2 of my children recently i love to hear positive news. Kids need their Momma. Take care 💕
Can’t we buy used? And hindsight being 20/20,if it wasn’t for Trudeau cancelling the jets,we would have them already. But noooo! He’s dancing in a video now. Arrrgggg! Just all sad
That was a pretty breezy, jam-packed and exciting post.
Well done, folks.
Please name one policy initiative, strategic decision, or acute foreign policy action that indicates the Trump administration has any intent to annex Canada.
Just one.
For the last eighteen months, President Trump has dominated, guided, and unwittingly influenced Canadian politics at every level.
The worst Prime Minister in the history of our Nation went to Washington in late 2024 and proclaimed “they are serious; they want to take us over!!”.
And the usual suspects fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Canadians fell for the ruse, and bough the myth.
At no point did anyone ask “why would a Republican administration want to annex a left of centre Country that could deliver Democrats the White House for decades?”.
What happened to our critical analysis and common sense?
Have a wonderful break and a well-deserved vacation.
My best to you both.
Trump is the kind of person to make inflammatory comments and to troll simply for the sake of getting a reaction - but he's also the kind of person who launches illegal wars and strikes unpredictably on a whim with minimal consultation of American institutions, let alone international ones.
His comments about annexation of Canada may not be best understood as serious intentions to annex us, but they are still evidence of more general animus towards our country. This point is intuitively obvious to many Canadians, even if not to a segment of the Conservative base.
And a good number of Liberals, too.
What makes you think that an annexed Canada would have any more votes in the Electoral College, reliably blue or otherwise, than does Puerto Rico?
I would argue that an additional left-of-centre State would tilt the mix enough .
If we were to join the U.S., I am assuming we would be sharp enough to negotiate a good deal.
Maybe not.
You don't get to "make a deal" when you're annexed. They would have....or will, screw us over unimaginably.
Of course you do.
That is the whole point.
We would negotiate suitable terms to become a State or a series of States.
It is just silly to believe otherwise.
Did Austria in 1938?
Austria was invaded.
Do you see the difference?
We have 42 million citizens, and Puerto Rico has 3.5 million.
We would have more congressmen, Senators, and Electoral College votes.
I think we have 37 million citizens and 5 million non-cotizens right now.
Additionally, we would be a State while Puerto Rico is just a territory or protectorate.
"Please name one policy initiative, strategic decision, or acute foreign policy action that indicates the Trump administration has any intent to annex Canada."
It's hard to imagine, but until recently, it would have been hard to imagine the US threatening to annex Greenland.
The two-part Wall Street Journal article a few days ago, providing a behind-the-scenes look at how US allies have been responding to the second Trump administration, was quite eye-opening. The second part opens:
"Mark Carney swept to power on a backlash to President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state, which many Americans took for mere shtick. But for the new prime minister, reading intelligence reports detailing the gravity of the crisis, it was a breaking point.
"In private phone conversations with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, Trump had threatened to scrap the 1908 agreement delineating their shared border. 'I tear that up and your whole country unravels,' Trump told Trudeau in one call, according to two people familiar with the matter.
"Over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau’s envoys tried to dissuade Trump from absorbing their country. When one Trump aide pointed out Canada’s 41 million people would lean Democrat, the president came up with a neat solution: just split the northern neighbor into two states, one red, the other blue."
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/european-rupture-with-america-e3a9bb3c
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/canadian-steered-europe-away-from-u-s-83898af4
That’s the danger of Trudeau antagonizing and poking him during his first term. Amazing how few people make that connection.
PM Carney is facing almost no criticism for what appears to be a massive capitulation to Trump on the Gordie Howe - the absolute opposite of what he promised to do if elected. On this and many other reversals he gets a pass.
Canada feels like a permanent Liberal playground - a uni-party state controlled by a small cabal of Central Canadian elites enriched through the extraction of resources from the politically powerless west. What's the country going to look like after another decade of Liberal rule?
Defended by the exact same institutions and people who swore that Justin Trudeau was the best thing to ever happen to this country, until he didn't look like he could win anymore. This is just their latest marching orders, or wireless brain software update delivered through the TV and Twitter, as the case may be.
Justin Trudeau will be judged by history as the worst PM we've ever had. It's not his fault he won.
Because three very different CPC leaders were all somehow worse? All presented by the media as dangerous far right lunatics at election time... until they lose and retire and then they are lauded by the same media as reasonable and moderate statesmen.
The media knew that none of them were somehow worse than Justin. And that for sure, Erin O Toole would have been eons better than that ego on legs, Justin Trudeau. Sometimes I despair over our incompetent media.
Andrew Scheer lost because he was so sure he'd win, he thought he could follow Doug Ford's script of not answering any questions. Then, he failed on his dual citizenship. He shot himself in the foot twice. The CPC turned on Erin and shot themselves in the foot. In 2015, I think Harper wanted to lose. It's the only logical reason for the barbaric cultural practices hotline. Pierre is Pierre. It had nothing to do with the media...at least not for me. Andrew is just another spin-doctoring asshole like Pierre, but not as angry. Again, I did not want to vote for Carney. I'm glad I did.
I did not and have no regrets. Mr. Carney is disappointing, although I really did hope for better when he won. I am not surprised that so far, he is so, so.
I never bought the media hype during the election campaign that made him seem like he was descending from the home of the gods.
The saviour to rescue our country. The media should have known better.
He is a mortal being, after all. No matter how many thought his CV would do the trick.
I never saw him as some kind of "saviour". He spoke like an adult. He was the only one running who did.
The central controversies around Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole were not that they were allegedly "dangerous far right lunatics". Andrew Scheer lied repeatedly and often pointlessly, like randomly accusing the Liberals and NDP of being committed to raising the GST. Erin O'Toole was criticized for having a messy and inconsistent platform that tried to both appeal to the Conservative base and to centrist Canadians.
At any rate, the media criticisms of the both of them were not actually persistent enough to stop the CPC under the leadership from getting more votes than the Liberals - or the media's role in electoral opinion is demonstrably exaggerated as a result.
Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney also both had massive flaws and weaknesses that would have been the "obvious" reason they lost... if they had lost.
You know how many news articles accused O'Toole of playing footsie with anti-vaxxers and the far right? Of outright 'taking pages from the Trump Playbook'? Scheer was constantly criticized for having what amounted to the same stance on abortion as Justin Trudeau. He also got massive flak for having dual citizenship. Nobody cared about Carney having what is it, triple citizenship?
How these leaders are presented affects a lot more than many are willing to let on. We are being led around like idiots by self-interested mouthpieces drooling over subsidies, and have been for a while.
I decided to investigate your claim by asking Google AI, "what was the biggest controversy of andrew scheer's 2019 campaign". Here is what I got:
"The biggest controversy of Andrew Scheer's 2019 federal election campaign was the revelation that he held dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship. This sparked significant backlash because he had never publicly disclosed it and had previously criticized other politicians for holding dual citizenships.
"The defining details of this and other prominent campaign controversies included:
The Dual Citizenship Scandal: In October 2019, it was confirmed that Scheer held American citizenship through his U.S.-born father. Critics accused him of hypocrisy, as he had questioned the loyalty of former Governor General Michaëlle Jean in 2005 for holding dual citizenship with France.
Scheer stated he had started the process of renouncing his U.S. citizenship in August but ultimately abandoned the process after stepping down as party leader.
Exaggerated Résumé: Journalists reported that Scheer had spent years describing himself in campaign materials as a licensed "insurance broker". It was later revealed that he never held the official provincial license required to sell insurance, having only worked briefly in an insurance office."
It was the **hypocrisy** of his dual-citizenship and that he hid it that harmed his reputation, not the simple fact that it existed. The point about the exaggerated resume reconfirms my own claim about him being a serial liar.
I also ask Google AI, "what was the biggest controversy of erin o'toole's 2021 campaign"?
"The biggest controversy of Erin O’Toole’s 2021 federal campaign was his flip-flop on firearms, specifically his abrupt reversal of a campaign pledge regarding the ban on "assault-style" firearms.
Early in the election, O’Toole promised to maintain the Liberal government's ban on certain assault-style weapons. However, facing intense pressure and attacks from the Conservative base and political opponents, he reversed his position days later, stating he would instead review the classification of the weapons. This sudden shift caused major internal friction and led to severe criticism from opposing parties over his trustworthiness."
**Trustworthiness** is the problem that Erin O'Toole faced. The electorate simply felt uncertainty as to what he actually stood for.
Poilievre would get a different reaction if he were a Prime Minister engaging in the same policy as Carney did - but that's not evidence of skewed political institutions, that's just evidence that striking the right tone pays political dividends.
The Conservative Party under existing leadership has a long history of gleefully mocking and giving the middle finger to various liberals and non-conservatives from across the political spectrum, with a support base that overlaps with that of Trump's base. Because everyone expects that Conservatives would instinctively be submissive to Trump - due to their emotional need to stick it to liberals the same way that Trump does - they would not be given the benefit of the doubt on their maturity or their rationality. But because Liberals have no discernable emotional need to align with Trump, they are given the benefit of the doubt as to their motives.
That all aside, Carney may still be paying a price yet for these policies, since sometimes a long-term buildup of stories can quickly turn loose impressions into firmly negative opinions.
Also, there's evidence to suggest that the Conservatives are bleeding support to the Liberals *and* that the Liberals are bleeding support to the NDP - which is hardly indicative of a "uni-party state", just evidence that your preferred party is failing.
I agree with your criticism of the CPC, but unfortunately this is also an example of our inherent positive bias toward the Liberals. Every criticism of Carney and the Liberals quickly turns to the failings of the CPC.
The Liberals are the natural governing party of this country. A badly failed Liberal government was rewarded after a decade of rule with a minority, which they've now crowbarred into a majority, with only passing scrutiny of their tactics and intentions.
My question about the ramifications of another decade of Liberal rule is not rhetorical. I fear it means the break up of the country, starting with Alberta first.
It's identity politics. East of the Ottawa River and in Toronto the Liberals are "their people." Just like the Conservatives are "their people in Calgary and rural Canada west of the Ottawa River." There are more Liberal tribal folks than Conservative. It's pure math.
The Conservatives would have won a majority in 2025 it only West of the Ottawa River was allowed to vote.
Disproportionate political power has been granted to central and eastern Canada to the detriment of the west. The Senate, Supreme Court, Public Service Executive, Environmental Regulations, Equalization, etc. all directed in favour of the center and east. The west's population increases and economic importance hasn't led to a rebalance of political power.
Trevor Tombe's recent report on equalization for MLI was shocking. Imagine a country where entire regions impair their own economic growth so as to extract more wealth from the west. Unbelievable, but that's where were at. https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/rebalancing-canada-a-two-pillar-reform-of-equalization-and-federal-transfers/
Disproportionate political power...
Pop of ON = 16,100,000
Pop of AB = 5,100,000 (less than 1/3)
Pop of ON + QB = 60% of Canada.
It's just history. Our immigration happens up the St Lawrence.
The "specialness" of Albertans (SKers, MBers, BCers), where it's an issue, exists only in their minds, no different than the toxic identitarian special blankies some people wrap themselves in. Just more victim card stuff like the NDP.
The specialness matters when it is time to pay the bills in this country. It is shocking the differences in standard of living between Central and Eastern Canada versus Western Canada. New Brunswick reminds me of rural Eastern Europe, but with worse potholes nowadays.
A fair assessment. If the CPC had picked a leader who isn't a complete and total jackass, they'd probably be in power. A lot of us didn't want to vote for Carney. We didn't have a choice.
People in the Prairies for the most part don't consider him a jackass. He is blunt and performative but young men wanted that.
He's not particularly controversial or rude by global standards for politicians. People who can't look past vague perceived personality quirks they don't like and instead vote for "the same disastrous corruption and waste we were just about to reject but a little slower and with smoother messaging" are so daft I don't understand how they avoid drinking bleach.
All I am hearing from several commenters here are weak rationalizations for not changing governments.
Not particularly rude? Didn't Poilievre just the other day at the Calgary Stampede insinuate that Christine Elliot, the 49% of BC Conservatives who voted for her, Doug Ford, and the Ford strategists who backed Elliot, are somehow all Liberals?
It's hard to think of any Canadian politician in modern political history who has insulted as many other politicians as Poilievre has.
The beauty of opinions.
Or BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan join together and leave. I am a British Columbian and at the rate the favouritism shown the ever favoured centre of Canada and the Maritimes continues plus the 50 years of pandering to Quebec that never stops, the West may well decide to leave.
I am 76 and feeling that western separation makes a lot more sense. And always has because the unequal treatment is simply not something that we Westerners should tolerate indefinitely.
Or the scorn from Ottawa. Why not give some of that scorn to Quebec. It really does appear to be a Stockholm Syndrome thing going on with Ottawa and Quebec.
FWIW, I think everyone outside Quebec is tired of the pandering to Quebec.
I was pretty mad when I heard about the bridge “deal” but now I’m hearing that it’s similar to a film arrangement where folks get their $ after the expenses are tallied…and in film that often means no “profit” for the folks waiting for it. So maybe not a bad deal for Canada after all? For sure that bridge needs to open. And for sure for sure the neighbours’ word is no good
Wait for the details … it ifs profits as simply stated …the debt payments to Canada will come before that . Which means Trump let his ego get played and Canada didn’t give anything up . The anti liberal partisans flood the internet with doom and gloom on everything , don’t take it without deeper more objective analysis
mystifying comment... did you read the article?
Either you're speculating (pointlessly, or with the usual agenda) or you know the details of the deal. The latter seems unlikely, lol.
This is a BS take on what went down.
Canada had a deal, then Trump TACO’d
As usual. You neo-CONs and your lame attempts to blame our PM in the face of a psycho pedophile POTUS is ridiculous.
As you take this break from The Line, I offer you these best wishes as a loyal subscriber:
Jen, please hydrate this week after your Wild Stampeding and try to avoid people, alcohol, and X - you'll feel much better if you do .
Matt, all joking aside, I pray for only the best possible outcome for your wife as she enters this new phase of her treatment, and for patience and grace for you and your family as you help her through this awful ordeal. Be well, in all ways.
Take care, you guys - and best wishes to you and your family, Matt.
Yes, the USA we have known is gone, at least for a while. And it is of course possible that we may never be able to trust them again. But that is speculation and as many of us have been saying in this very comments section since January, 2025, focusing on Trump rather than ourselves is a total distraction – and trying to predict what he may do or the best way to “deal with him” is a fool’s game. Indeed, Trump’s clown show/bullying act actually gave this country a golden opportunity to get its shit together. He is a dangerous and unpredictable buffoon who can undoubtedly cause catastrophic consequences for us but there remains a ton within our exclusive control that can at least mitigate some of his chaos. And that is where 100% of our focus should have been, starting in January, 2025.
It is not debatable that serious and long overdue fundamental changes to this country became even more necessary 18 months ago. And Trump’s presence actually gave cover to those in power who recognize we need to make those changes but don’t have the balls to do it of their own volition. Dismantling supply management and interprovincial trade barriers, revamping the health care system via massive infusions of private delivery/administration, putting shovels in the ground to get our natural resources to market, opening up the telecommunications and airline industries to foreign competition are all the lowest of the lowest possible hanging fruit that any serious country ought to have addressed years ago. Failure to do so has been a long-standing indictment of the country. And “thanks” to Trump, if the usual suspects were to whine in response to us finally taking appropriate action on any of these files, we are now blessed in being able to reply to them with “sorry, we are facing an existential threat - we need to start doing things dramatically differently and NOW”.
But what has been our response to this glorious opportunity? Where are we 18 months later? Have we done ANYTHING on any of the aforementioned matters? Well, there is some positive talk about energy/pipelines but no actual shovels in the ground. Alberta appears to be doing something with respect to private health care. Other than that, after 18 months of alleged existential threat, our signature response remains “elbows up” bullshit - booing the US national anthem at sporting events, taking US liquor off store shelves (that we have actually already paid the Americans for; you can NOT make this shit up) and, for some number of poor misguided “patriots”, comically self-imposing a travel ban to the USA. Our response has been embarrassing. Booing the US national anthem at sporting events is the conduct of a 4 year old child. France has Liberté, égalité, fraternité as its motto but when it comes to dealing with the USA ours ought to be impotence, incompetence, petulance. It is long past time for us to get into the metaphorical gym, lose the 50 pounds of belly fat and build some muscle in the arms, legs and back, dammit. That’s how you send a message that you are an actual force to be reckoned with.
Enjoy your time off and best to you with your family’s health concerns, Matt.
As thorough as the article was when published, your comments have pointed to the Achilles Heel of pretty well all Canadian and maybe the rest of the western world's media.... TDS is rampant. Such hatred blinds all MSM and seemingly spreads to articles on Substack. As on reader asked: "What happened to our critical analysis and common sense?"...The answer, "Consumed by the fire of TDS." Terry Glavin is another journalist who just cannot be rational when writing about Donald Trump. One never thought we would see The Line Editor joining this irrational, unbalanced, unreasonable and yes...foolish gang of Trump bashers. Anyway ninety percent of the time The Line is my go to to get a reasoned summary of the daily NEWS. Enjoy your rest. Look forward to reading the Line when you return.
Agree; well said.
I would love to see those American liquor sales if Canadians in those provinces where their state owned monopolies blocked their sale allowed them. This is chip on shoulder Canadian elite culture I suspect pushing it's marching orders onto the plebes again.
It's one thing to boycott, it's another for the government to block. Besides, liquor monopolies are weird and anti-business. Alberta I'll note doesn't have an American liquor prohibition and is by far the fastest growing and highest GDP per capita province. (Even with a separatist movement boogeyman supposedly scaring business with proof never provided) That isn't mutually exclusive.
Economic and political culture matter.
As for Canada and gross versus net on the bridge, Canada has a reputation for not following the spirit of an agreement even if it follows the letter. See American dairy export quota Great if you never want to do business again, but screwing your client is awful if you want to continue the relationship.
This is all indicative of a Canadian boomer and elite problem of feelings of entitlement towards the Americans. They feel they can do things and Americans won't notice. Americans feel they are the only ones who matter in the world. If this was a marriage it would be on the rocks.
Nevertheless, I keep on asking, what is the point of Canada and other than "so we can show up the Americans" or "the whole point is to be taken care of by government in a way Americans would never allow" I don't have an answer to tell my kids.
I had a discussion the other day with someone who vociferously defended the Ontario ban on US alcohol, while they unloaded their $500 load of groceries from Costco and opened a stack of Amazon deliveries.
We all continue to buy US products and deal with US companies on a daily basis. A few people deliberately pick Canadian fruits and vegetables but that's the extent of it for most. The alcohol thing is completely absurd and makes no sense whatsoever. Fuck government telling me what I can and cannot buy. Even if we imposed tariffs I could choose to pay them; taking away my consumer agency altogether is galling. And to answer your question I think there would be little meaningful long term drop in sales of US alcohol absent the ban. Even Canadian travel to the US is picking back up. I'm going to Florida later this year.
"It's one thing to boycott, it's another for the government to block"
You mean like how Orange - Baby is blocking his people from having anything Spanish, tariffed Canadian (or global) products... and on and on?
Exactly. Wrong is wrong.
He’s not blocking by using tariffs.
The best thing to do is import the liquor and not have it sell.
Why spend the $?
Makes no sense to me.
We should absolutely retaliate.
You either believe in the free market or you don't. The consumer should choose who and why they boycott, not a government
of course not, lol. We're being tariffed and we will absolutely retaliate. I don't think you understand negotiation.
America is soft in the middle, with 0 political courage. Every country that stands up learns to win because their first response to pain is to eat their young.
This gets easier every year because their debt and deficit issues are a crisis. As of this year they're spending more on debt that they are on defence... they're financially doomed unless an unimaginable shift happens.
And their tween, ADHD president is still losing a war that's costing every American blood, treasure and their future.
They made the choices. We'll certainly make them feel it where we can.
You really think Canada is stronger than the US, eh? That's wild. No one in the world except Canadians of a certain vintage believe that.
Canada's dollar is losing value versus the US, not gaining. The markets think Canada is the weaker party, as seen by how Carney negotiates with Trump.
While I concur with much of the sentiment of the article, to somehow equate Russia attacking and invading Ukraine to Trump discontinuing a trade deal with Canada is a ridiculous analogy and frankly disrespectful to the Ukrainian people.
Kind of like equating every Government overreach or policy that someone doesn't like to Hitler or Nazi's. Insulting to the people who actually lived through the living hell of war or the holocaust.
I'm going to need more than 20 months of data to decide that our relationship with the US is "over".
I have a feeling that a few years after Donald Trump is out of power, nobody will admit to ever having supported him or any of his obviously shitty policies in the first place, kind of like George W. Bush and the Iraq War.
Trump is a symptom. The GOP and Federalist Society are the cancer. November will determine if the US can be saved. I have no faith in them after 2024, and this will be harder. It will be generations before anyone trusts them again.
I don't remember Trump running on "random tariffs for everyone, threaten to annex territory from allies, rip up all our alliances, conduct foreign wars for no reason, corruption and graft at every opportunity and let's also see how badly we can antagonize Canada".
Americans were really stupid to elect the guy a second time, but none of what is happening now reflects what most of them wanted. His re-election reflected the real and perceived failures of the Biden administration and especially the cost of living crisis. Further, their hatred for open borders, woke identity politics and DEI burned so hot they were willing to vote for the fucking devil over an avatar of diversity hiring that was the perception of Kamala Harris.
His re-election confirms that Americans, on the whole, are idiots: nice people but dumb as stumps. Project 2025 was public knowledge. When questioned on anything perceived negatively, he kept lying...and they still believed him after all the lies of his first term. 80+ million couldn't be bothered to show up and vote. For all intents and purposes, Americans knowingly voted away their demcoracy to a serial-lying traitor.
Biden left them the lowest unemployment in generations, massive foreign investment and solid alliances. They didn't vote for Kamala because of racism, misogyny or stupidity. They also proved Joe Goebbels ' power of propaganda. There were 10 million illegals in the country when Biden took office. The borders were never open.
They did it to themselves. It's up to them to fix. I don't think they can, so it's good the world is moving on.
Biden's term also saw inflation that peaked at a disastrous 10% per year, and house prices jump by 50%. Watch an old pre-Covid episode of just about any house hunting show based in the US and laugh at how low the prices used to be. 5-bed 4-bath McMansion 20 minutes outside Nashville? That will be $125K please. I went down there pre and post Covid and literally everything was 50-100% more expensive. Way worse change than here, though we were coming from a higher starting point. We underestimate how fundamental a shift this was. The administration where this happened was going to have a huge fight to stay in power no matter what.
Mishandling Biden's health and picking a VP explicitly based on race and sex when she came off as a cackling and unserious charisma vacuum gave Trump the exact right circumstances to seem like the better option. And he somehow ran a better campaign. Of course it was all BS. But the Democrats share the blame. And I'm not sure they have learned their lesson.
On immigration, we can question Trump's methods but his brutal crackdown on illegals has actually reduced the number coming in. It's like the one thing he said he would do that he's actually sort of accomplished.
Biden's corpse was a disaster. The deaf, unaccountable left paved the way for a selfish unaccountable right.
The fact the left remains confused, wrong, with utterly 0 self-awareness suggests we'll enjoy more whipsawing back and forth from these equally useless, selfish administrations.
That 10% inflation came about as the economy started up after COVID. The US had one of the best inflation recoveries on the planet, but you'd never know that watching FOX News, as too many fools still do. It had one of the best economies on the planet when Joe left as well. I wonder how Americans will react if the power grid collapses in places this week.....as the West burns, and water gets scarcer.
You will get no argument from me that Joe wanting a second term was an absurd idea that he should have been talked out of; Jill should have stepped in and had an honest talk. That alone was a sign of serious mental decay. If he'd stayed in the race, he was still a better choice than Trump.
Yes, no one is going to the US border. The consequences to their economy will be felt in growing amounts as the days pass. Getting rid of your construction, agriculture, and hospitality workers isn't the flex Trump thinks it is. But tourists aren't going to the US either, so is it really an accomplishment?
I don't know if Trump ran a "better campaign". Kamala Harris probably had some of the worst name-recognition of any Democrat presidential candidate ever, and had about 100 days to make herself well known. Trump's been a name familiar to American households for decades. To the extent that swing voters judged her negatively, it was probably because of a suspicion that something was wrong with someone who appeared "hidden" from the limelight in recent history.
Trump's campaign was a disaster by multiple metrics, including clearly being off his rockers in the debates. To the extent that civil society involved itself in the campaign, it was apparently a consensus in favour of Kamala. But the campaign apparently did not matter much to the vote outcome.
Generalizations about people are lazy and invalid.
Americans are not stupid, however they are at the mercy of a system rigged against the interests of the general population, in favour of elites. The NDP has engineered the same rigged system in BC, are destroying the Province, have reached the bottom (aka "anything is better than this"), and we will hold our nose and vote for anyone but.
The politicians who oversimplify, rely on binary comparisons, reject accountability, gin up fear, paint their opponent as evil, refuse to listen, refuse any accountability, remove or ignore systems of engagement, lie about results, pay themselves first... they used and abused the system for selfish ends: "I can't do my good works unless I get elected, therefore all things are justified."
They deserve the credit for what comes after. The public's reaction is rational, and utterly predictable for anyone who's made policy decisions.
Perhaps. Americans elected Trump.....twice. Yes, their system is completely undemocratic, with state governments involved in elections they have an interest in the result of, and the Electoral College...where does one start? But Americans have allowed that system; they didn't fight back against Citizens United. Didn't fight back against the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. They kept on electing Republicans; yes, the Democrats are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they aren't out to destroy the Constitution either.... something Project 2025 makes quite clear. In the end, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
So I will not walk back my comment. Americans did something incredibly stupid ...twice. The world is paying the consequences for it. Only Americans chose it...so they're idiots. But we're all suffering the consequences of their actions. They will get no sympathy here.
"The seminal study on this topic by Princeton researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page famously demonstrated that when the preferences of economic elites and organized business interests diverge from the general public, the former get their way while the average citizen has statistically near-zero impact on public policy."
I think you're blaming the victims, as well as being a bit bigoted.
Was just thinking today “ it’s like the Americans don’t realize other people have actual agency “. Can’t get out of their own self absorbed reality show.
Have a nice holiday. You guys need to keep your strength up to keep dealing with all this nonsense.
I got this far in the piece… “Their [provincial] liquor monopolies…” and then I went off on a tangent. Government liquor monopolies? Well, there’s one trade irritant, my Canadian pals. :-) America doesn’t have government booze monopolies. The proportionate US response would not be tariffs but rather a law banning the US sale of Canadian manufactured alcoholic beverages until provincial monopolies remove their bans on US booze. I’m surprised it hasn’t been suggested already.
It’s all nuts and self-harming of course.
You’ll find no argument from most of this publication’s readership on the insanity of government liquor monopolies, but Canada has in no way responded proportionate to the current US tariffs on Canada.
25-50% on steel, aluminum, copper and metal derivative products regardless of CUSMA. 25% on non US auto components regardless of the overall CUSMA compliance of the vehicle. 10% on softwood lumber, because why not? There are many more - but these are the headlines. Nevermind the random Truth Social posts that threaten god knows what else (and mostly don’t come to fruition) because Trump had his ego hurt. Makes it a pretty tough environment to operate in, and certainly does not breed trust. The fact Americans don’t seem to know or care about this, but fixate on a liquor ban is wild. Completely wild.
I’m a huge fan of America and Americans. Legitimately love both. Go all the time, and will continue to. Have always felt welcomed and appreciated there - all over the country (which is more than I can say about certain parts of Canada). But the lack of national self awareness here is painful.
Oh, I completely agree that Trump’s random and ever-changing-depending-on-his mood tariffs are insane, harmful to both our countries, and probably illegal.
It's easy to complain that we're getting screwed over on the bridge, and we are, but leaving it closed for a few years until the Mafia Boss is gone to open it would have been a stupid thing to do. If some creative accounting can smooth things over then so be it. I ask anyone of the sanctimonious hypocrites commenting above to explain HTF else you get the bridge open?
I'd have loved to see incoming fees on the Ambassador bridge hiked 1000% but that just hurts Canadians.
We'll see if the GH bridge is still open July 28th or whether the orange goblin changes his mind, again?
The problem has always been a Trump donor who owns the old bridge. The solution is a simple asshole Canada play. Do whatever deal we need to do to open the new bridge, then do roadwork on the way to the old bridge forever.
Enjoy your holiday! Jen just got back from a trip to BC , Lake Louise , Canmore Kanaskis and Calgary. First visit, loved it very much, stunning country. Im happy my grandson has settled out there. Matt my thoughts and prayers for your wife and family. We always need good news. Having endured the loss of 2 of my children recently i love to hear positive news. Kids need their Momma. Take care 💕
"Graham was a proponent of ... generally principled"
Reminds me of Groucho Marx: "These are my principles, and if you don't like them, well, I have others."
Can’t we buy used? And hindsight being 20/20,if it wasn’t for Trudeau cancelling the jets,we would have them already. But noooo! He’s dancing in a video now. Arrrgggg! Just all sad
Well, this post seems to me to be a lot of words that belabour the obvious to anyone with a brain who's been paying attention.
Sorry to seem so critical ...