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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.