Dispatch From the Front Lines: We ain't no vassal yet
But we don't like the trendline ...
Welcome one, welcome all, to the latest Line dispatch Before we get into it, please check out last week’s The Line Podcast. Also check out last week’s On The Line with Jen and Chris Ragan from the Max Bell School of Public Policy, where they discuss what central bank independence in the age of Trump.
And with that, let’s get to the dispatch.
Well, we all had to live through another week of borderline collective insanity. We hope you’re all doing well. Where to start?
In America, ICE agents are now shooting protestors; Donald Trump’s Greenland ambitions appear to have been effectively constrained by European leaders. Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a speech heralding the end of the liberal world order — which seems to have prompted at least the threat of 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods should we even consider a trade deal with China.
Oh, and we now have several U.S. Republican lawmakers, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, weighing in on Alberta independence, as separatists in that province begin their campaign to generate enough signatures on a petition to force a separation referendum.
Which — for those watching — strikes us as no worse an example of foreign interference into a sovereign nation’s democratic process than anything China ever attempted.
So, let’s try to eat this whale of a news week one bite at a time.