"Endurance" means "tolerate more Liberal inaction and let the gravy train of benefits to our clients continue undisturbed". The reality is that the Carney Liberals have done nothing useful and intended to do nothing useful. Canada is in crisis, and many of the needed changes are both obvious and easy, simply because of how big a mess the Liberals have made.
We should just all buy Tristin Hopper's "Don't be Canada", and start not being that Canada.
They sure have announced some things that people have been desperately calling for, and been given seemingly unlimited credit for doing so despite the timeline being always just slightly out of reach in the future.
But they continue to benefit from very high levels of faith and high marks by the media outlets who owe their continued existence to maintaining a perpetual unbroken line of Liberal governments in power until the end of time.
Seriously, like what? They reversed or postponed a few of Trudeau's most egregious tax increases and planned policy changes, and created an official, although still quite nebulous, "break the laws for Liberal friends" option for hypothetical major projects. But that's it - no serious fixes to any of our problems. Because any real fixes offend their client groups. So they can truthfully say "in many areas, we have stopped actively making thngs worse". That's nowhere near good enough.
Housing, major projects and the pipeline MOU, off the top of my head. Military pay increases and vague promises to increase the size of the military if they ever decide which equipment to buy. Shell game on immigration that combined actual reduction in absurd stratospheric student visas with over-optimistic counting of expired permits as people who have actually left, without any way to verify.
Don't confuse this with me thinking any of this is real or will ever go anywhere, but these are some of the much lauded announcements we keep hearing about as though they have already accomplished their stated goals.
Our friends in the MSM were practically popping champagne and flying a "Mission Accomplished" banner for like two weeks when that memorandum of understanding with Alberta happened. Apparently announcements are enough.
Our friends in the MSM are heavily influenced by their need to vigorously agree with anything Carney does. (Nodding along is financially lucrative.)
In fact, a lot of the commentary on that MOU revolved around how deftly he had "handled" Smith and put her in her place, by giving her busy work to do rather than giving any firm commitments.
This is NOT how one builds "at speeds not seen in a generation".
No matter who delivers it, I believe we need much more focused & basic government. No frills essentially. Here on Prince Edward Island we have way, way too much government. 4 Senators, 4 MPs, 26 MLAs and 59 municipalities. All to "govern" 180,000 people. It's completely bizarre. We are the size of a small city.
Agree with your idea of a no frills government. Not only PEI but NS and NB as well. One Premier and one government for the three Atlantic provinces would certainly be more efficient, probably more effective and cost competitive and carry more weight politically.
The Maritime provinces would consider this kind of proposal to be an existential attack as it would mean less subsidy and well paying jobs created by inefficiency and duplication. And think of the heavily protected French speaking minority in NB!
It's deeply messed up that we have so many places that would literally starve to death without constant government subsidy. Half of the Atlantic region. Most of the reserves. Almost the entire North.
Unfortunately our Constitution protects the status quo as well as a guarantee Quebec getting one quarter of the seats in Parliament, even with their shrinking share of the population of Canada.
This is a pretty good assessment of direction and tasks. Now, at the risk of incurring the wrath of readers, the person most likely to get this done is:
1. Someone who recognizes this assessment as urgent
2. Someone who COMMITS to applying the urgency and accepts expectation timing of months instead of years
3. Is given the power to overcome all the bitching and whining that real change will bring.
With all due respect, this makes me think of the “day of rapture” aka the New Jerusalem. ( No wonder the Christian churches are suddenly seeing a lot of Gen Zers at their services). Doug Ford might make a good Messiah to lead Canada out of the American Wilderness - if he only could speak French🙄😁😁😁
The big obstacle for Canadians is going to be letting go of sacred cows and cherished notions in order to make broader gains.
One example is that increased military spending is required to protect Canadian sovereignty, but that's going to mean cuts to other spending and almost certainly increased taxes. Building more housing is going to require an end to zoning restrictions, cutting a lot of aspirational regulation aimed at the environment and accessibility, and yes, that will impact property values.
In some cases, we're literally talking about sacred cows in the form of supply management to improve competitiveness and support trade. In other cases, it's a psychological recalibration like realizing that Canada *does* have security threats and the Canadian Forces must be aimed fighting wars, not social work with guns.
The current problem is a bit like Homer Simpson getting his arm stuck in a vending machine:
"Repairman 1#:
Homer, there's no easy way to tell you this: I'm afraid I'm gonna have to saw your arms off.
Homer:
They'll grow back, right?
Repairman 1#:
Oh... yeah.
[He cranks up the rotary saw and moves it toward Homer's arm... ]
Repairman 2#:
Wait a minute. Homer, are you just holding on to the can?
Homer:
Your point being...?"
Canadians, particularly a lot of the wealthier and elite, understand they have a problem. They haven't quite reconciled themselves to the fact that they've got to let go of things that they want if they're to avoid a much more painful fix to resolve the problem.
Mass immigration and the idea of "once here, never leaving" are the biggest sacred cows of all. Sending home the vast majority of the temporary residents who came in the last 10 years and tightly restricting numbers going forward will help solve all of our problems.
Canadian decline designed and manufactured by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
Canadian decline pushed by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
Canadian decline maintained downward by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
The current PM Carney installed as a "Liberal" leader by a black-box gangster style process conducted by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
And now you "Liberals" want a majority so that the plagiarizing lying sac of es h ai tee PM can shaft Canadians even more ?? Go to hell.
You "Liberals" NDPers Greens are racists, at the very least racist-adjacent and support a bunch of terrorist groups including sadistic murderous Islamists with public tax money. You stink worse than a ton of rotten fish.
And you want a majority ?? Fuck off to hell, permanently.
Hundred cheers to the Western Canadian separatists, may they win.
Tolerate!?! For the last 10 plus years we’ve tolerated! We still hear grand speeches that don’t say anything. A taxpayer funded commercial that starts with “In 1950 we built something…”
"Suck it up, buttercup" is an unlikely slogan for any party hoping to win an election. Everything should be on the table because having uncomfortable discussions is always better when voluntary than when under duress. And Confederation is about to be stressed.
Still, no solutions other than the unattainable; reducing provincial trade barriers, fast tracking environmental and indigenous "approvals", judicial moderation. Do we are in a "do" loop, though for this place it is more like a "don't" loop.
I think that your article did a reasonable job of highlighting long-festering problems. To me, the biggest are:
* the increasing burden of rising prices, particularly for young people,
* the failure of businesses and governments to foster more investments, more quickly, in productivity enhancing equipment, production methods and education,
* a reluctance on the part of governments to rethink how we manage social welfare schemes (particularly but not exclusively those designed to support older Canadians), and
* the lack of sustained and coordinated action by provincial governments to harmonize regulatory frameworks, education and job training, and to improve health care outcomes.
Indeed, some of this points to a broader failure on the part of the provinces and the federal government to get rid of barriers to internal trade in goods AND services (I'm looking in particular at you, Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Bar Associations and local construction firms).
Yes, all players (the federal government, its provincial counterparts and the opposition parties) have talked up the importance of doing this. But it seems like they've succumbed, in recent months, to the pressure put on them by vociferous local lobbies to protect certain interests from a general removal of internal trade barriers...
Most important, however, is the need to acknowledge that all of these shortcomings have been greatly complicated by the brutal hostility we now face from the Americans under Donald Trump.
The benefits of our tripartite trade pact in North America have now become HUGE liabilities.
This American pressure will drain much of what vitality there is left in the Canadian economy over the coming year.
I think it is worth noting, in this context, that immigration is going to remain important to Canada, particularly immigration that is tuned to fill jobs that we cannot find candidates for here, in various fields, including health care.
"A 2026 election would likely be counterproductive anyway. It would delay progress on the structural changes Canada clearly needs."
...unless, of course, we were to do something completely crazy like elect a government who would actually DO the things we need done - rather than just spend all their energy repeatedly announcing new committees and new bureaucracies, etc.
But nah, why would we want that?
Better to stick with the clown car that got us in this mess. Surely they will accidentally get something right sooner or later.
The kids are screwed. The kids know they're screwed. They were in trouble before the collapse of the world order as we knew it ( Thanks, America, great fucking choice. Hopefully, long term, you suffer the most). Governments across the country need to quickly figure out that appeasing their donors is no longer as important as actually leading. It means making decisions in the best interest of the nation as a whole. We have several Premiers, Doug and Danielle, as examples, don't give a crap about the taxpayers of their provinces, and need a rapid attitude adjustment before they do any more damage. This is a time for leadership and actions. I have yet to see a sign that we're up to the task.
I am not a politician. I will never be a politician. My opinion has been stated here many times. Start with a tax code that reflects the ability to pay. Cut programs that don't benefit the entire country, like bilingualism. Subsidies to businesses are loans, so the taxpayer gets paid back. Extraction industries have to put a share of profits aside for cleanup when they're done. Get rid of the dental plan. We can't afford it right now.
Basically, stop worrying about staying in power and start doing what is best for the country. That takes us down the rabbit hole of what's best for the country, which is all opinion. I'm one of those people who don't think another pipeline is needed. I think it should all ship by rail because dilbit doesn't explode like Bakken crude. It's also because no province gets to dictate what travels on trains. I'd rather move oil today than wait 10 years. You can lay down a second set of tracks a hell of a lot faster than you can build a pipeline. And I think you have to piss off business. VIA Rail is all but dead. The HST plan, as laid out, is stupid...see? opinions!! I think between Toronto and Montreal, CN freight rides on CP, and CN's tracks are given to VIA, upgraded to 150+ mph, and a real service is provided....not like the underfunded disaster we have now. I think to immigrate, you have to have use of one official language and a skill. I think there should be a law that ties executive compensation to the lowest-paid employee. I think there should be another law that requires 80% of employees to be full-time. I could bore you more.....
Now, I'm going to climb on my flying pig and take a trip to Tahiti.......one more reason I'm not a politician.
"Endurance" means "tolerate more Liberal inaction and let the gravy train of benefits to our clients continue undisturbed". The reality is that the Carney Liberals have done nothing useful and intended to do nothing useful. Canada is in crisis, and many of the needed changes are both obvious and easy, simply because of how big a mess the Liberals have made.
We should just all buy Tristin Hopper's "Don't be Canada", and start not being that Canada.
They sure have announced some things that people have been desperately calling for, and been given seemingly unlimited credit for doing so despite the timeline being always just slightly out of reach in the future.
But they continue to benefit from very high levels of faith and high marks by the media outlets who owe their continued existence to maintaining a perpetual unbroken line of Liberal governments in power until the end of time.
Seriously, like what? They reversed or postponed a few of Trudeau's most egregious tax increases and planned policy changes, and created an official, although still quite nebulous, "break the laws for Liberal friends" option for hypothetical major projects. But that's it - no serious fixes to any of our problems. Because any real fixes offend their client groups. So they can truthfully say "in many areas, we have stopped actively making thngs worse". That's nowhere near good enough.
Housing, major projects and the pipeline MOU, off the top of my head. Military pay increases and vague promises to increase the size of the military if they ever decide which equipment to buy. Shell game on immigration that combined actual reduction in absurd stratospheric student visas with over-optimistic counting of expired permits as people who have actually left, without any way to verify.
Don't confuse this with me thinking any of this is real or will ever go anywhere, but these are some of the much lauded announcements we keep hearing about as though they have already accomplished their stated goals.
Oooo, announcements.
That'll fix things.
Our friends in the MSM were practically popping champagne and flying a "Mission Accomplished" banner for like two weeks when that memorandum of understanding with Alberta happened. Apparently announcements are enough.
Our friends in the MSM are heavily influenced by their need to vigorously agree with anything Carney does. (Nodding along is financially lucrative.)
In fact, a lot of the commentary on that MOU revolved around how deftly he had "handled" Smith and put her in her place, by giving her busy work to do rather than giving any firm commitments.
This is NOT how one builds "at speeds not seen in a generation".
And it will be all Danielle Smith's fault when 2029 rolls around and not a single shovel has touched the ground.
No matter who delivers it, I believe we need much more focused & basic government. No frills essentially. Here on Prince Edward Island we have way, way too much government. 4 Senators, 4 MPs, 26 MLAs and 59 municipalities. All to "govern" 180,000 people. It's completely bizarre. We are the size of a small city.
PEI truly has a small nation's worth of government for a population and economy the size of some Toronto neighbourhoods.
Agree with your idea of a no frills government. Not only PEI but NS and NB as well. One Premier and one government for the three Atlantic provinces would certainly be more efficient, probably more effective and cost competitive and carry more weight politically.
The Maritime provinces would consider this kind of proposal to be an existential attack as it would mean less subsidy and well paying jobs created by inefficiency and duplication. And think of the heavily protected French speaking minority in NB!
It's deeply messed up that we have so many places that would literally starve to death without constant government subsidy. Half of the Atlantic region. Most of the reserves. Almost the entire North.
Bullshit. I have lived in the Maritimes all my life and would welcome amalgamation. We are not all sucking at the government teat.
Unfortunately our Constitution protects the status quo as well as a guarantee Quebec getting one quarter of the seats in Parliament, even with their shrinking share of the population of Canada.
Consider the resentment that will follow when the LPC become a majority government, kept afloat by the disproportionate representation in PEI.
The straw that breaks the camels back.
I think our beloved media are downplaying the unpredictable and destabilizing effects that will occur when this illegitimate majority happens.
Canada in a nutshell....
How many civil servants and broader govt employees are there in PEI? The legislators aren't the problem.
This is a pretty good assessment of direction and tasks. Now, at the risk of incurring the wrath of readers, the person most likely to get this done is:
1. Someone who recognizes this assessment as urgent
2. Someone who COMMITS to applying the urgency and accepts expectation timing of months instead of years
3. Is given the power to overcome all the bitching and whining that real change will bring.
With all due respect, this makes me think of the “day of rapture” aka the New Jerusalem. ( No wonder the Christian churches are suddenly seeing a lot of Gen Zers at their services). Doug Ford might make a good Messiah to lead Canada out of the American Wilderness - if he only could speak French🙄😁😁😁
Sadly, from my perspective, he misses on all 3 requirements.
Yep. Plus the French!
At least the military pay increase is real - but nobody ever doubted the Libs can spend money. Actual results are another matter.
The big obstacle for Canadians is going to be letting go of sacred cows and cherished notions in order to make broader gains.
One example is that increased military spending is required to protect Canadian sovereignty, but that's going to mean cuts to other spending and almost certainly increased taxes. Building more housing is going to require an end to zoning restrictions, cutting a lot of aspirational regulation aimed at the environment and accessibility, and yes, that will impact property values.
In some cases, we're literally talking about sacred cows in the form of supply management to improve competitiveness and support trade. In other cases, it's a psychological recalibration like realizing that Canada *does* have security threats and the Canadian Forces must be aimed fighting wars, not social work with guns.
The current problem is a bit like Homer Simpson getting his arm stuck in a vending machine:
"Repairman 1#:
Homer, there's no easy way to tell you this: I'm afraid I'm gonna have to saw your arms off.
Homer:
They'll grow back, right?
Repairman 1#:
Oh... yeah.
[He cranks up the rotary saw and moves it toward Homer's arm... ]
Repairman 2#:
Wait a minute. Homer, are you just holding on to the can?
Homer:
Your point being...?"
Canadians, particularly a lot of the wealthier and elite, understand they have a problem. They haven't quite reconciled themselves to the fact that they've got to let go of things that they want if they're to avoid a much more painful fix to resolve the problem.
Mass immigration and the idea of "once here, never leaving" are the biggest sacred cows of all. Sending home the vast majority of the temporary residents who came in the last 10 years and tightly restricting numbers going forward will help solve all of our problems.
Canadian decline designed and manufactured by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
Canadian decline pushed by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
Canadian decline maintained downward by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
The current PM Carney installed as a "Liberal" leader by a black-box gangster style process conducted by Laurentian corrupt oligarchy.
And now you "Liberals" want a majority so that the plagiarizing lying sac of es h ai tee PM can shaft Canadians even more ?? Go to hell.
You "Liberals" NDPers Greens are racists, at the very least racist-adjacent and support a bunch of terrorist groups including sadistic murderous Islamists with public tax money. You stink worse than a ton of rotten fish.
And you want a majority ?? Fuck off to hell, permanently.
Hundred cheers to the Western Canadian separatists, may they win.
Build baby build. Anyone who wants to get in the way, Carney should bulldoze them with his pretend elbows. He has the authority, use it, damn it!!
The expression "pretend elbows" get an upvote.
Carney is the sac of financial crap who's policies contributed in major ways to the decline of Canada.
Shoresy for Prime Minister.
Sadly, it is also pretend "building".
Maybe Canadians should stop electing out of touch, elitist liberal politicians... just a thought.
Tolerate!?! For the last 10 plus years we’ve tolerated! We still hear grand speeches that don’t say anything. A taxpayer funded commercial that starts with “In 1950 we built something…”
"Suck it up, buttercup" is an unlikely slogan for any party hoping to win an election. Everything should be on the table because having uncomfortable discussions is always better when voluntary than when under duress. And Confederation is about to be stressed.
Still, no solutions other than the unattainable; reducing provincial trade barriers, fast tracking environmental and indigenous "approvals", judicial moderation. Do we are in a "do" loop, though for this place it is more like a "don't" loop.
I think that your article did a reasonable job of highlighting long-festering problems. To me, the biggest are:
* the increasing burden of rising prices, particularly for young people,
* the failure of businesses and governments to foster more investments, more quickly, in productivity enhancing equipment, production methods and education,
* a reluctance on the part of governments to rethink how we manage social welfare schemes (particularly but not exclusively those designed to support older Canadians), and
* the lack of sustained and coordinated action by provincial governments to harmonize regulatory frameworks, education and job training, and to improve health care outcomes.
Indeed, some of this points to a broader failure on the part of the provinces and the federal government to get rid of barriers to internal trade in goods AND services (I'm looking in particular at you, Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Bar Associations and local construction firms).
Yes, all players (the federal government, its provincial counterparts and the opposition parties) have talked up the importance of doing this. But it seems like they've succumbed, in recent months, to the pressure put on them by vociferous local lobbies to protect certain interests from a general removal of internal trade barriers...
Most important, however, is the need to acknowledge that all of these shortcomings have been greatly complicated by the brutal hostility we now face from the Americans under Donald Trump.
The benefits of our tripartite trade pact in North America have now become HUGE liabilities.
This American pressure will drain much of what vitality there is left in the Canadian economy over the coming year.
All of the problems you list are greatly exaggerated by mass immigration.
The numbers are already down about 20 percent relative to 2022, the peak of the post-COVID surge:
C.f.: Tony Keller, Canada’s falling population is exactly what the doctor ordered, The Globe and Mail, 19 December 2025, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-canada-falling-population-immigration-temporary-residents/
I think it is worth noting, in this context, that immigration is going to remain important to Canada, particularly immigration that is tuned to fill jobs that we cannot find candidates for here, in various fields, including health care.
"A 2026 election would likely be counterproductive anyway. It would delay progress on the structural changes Canada clearly needs."
...unless, of course, we were to do something completely crazy like elect a government who would actually DO the things we need done - rather than just spend all their energy repeatedly announcing new committees and new bureaucracies, etc.
But nah, why would we want that?
Better to stick with the clown car that got us in this mess. Surely they will accidentally get something right sooner or later.
Great writing and an accurate description in my view.
The kids are screwed. The kids know they're screwed. They were in trouble before the collapse of the world order as we knew it ( Thanks, America, great fucking choice. Hopefully, long term, you suffer the most). Governments across the country need to quickly figure out that appeasing their donors is no longer as important as actually leading. It means making decisions in the best interest of the nation as a whole. We have several Premiers, Doug and Danielle, as examples, don't give a crap about the taxpayers of their provinces, and need a rapid attitude adjustment before they do any more damage. This is a time for leadership and actions. I have yet to see a sign that we're up to the task.
What would you consider as “giving a crap about tax payers” ?
I am not a politician. I will never be a politician. My opinion has been stated here many times. Start with a tax code that reflects the ability to pay. Cut programs that don't benefit the entire country, like bilingualism. Subsidies to businesses are loans, so the taxpayer gets paid back. Extraction industries have to put a share of profits aside for cleanup when they're done. Get rid of the dental plan. We can't afford it right now.
Basically, stop worrying about staying in power and start doing what is best for the country. That takes us down the rabbit hole of what's best for the country, which is all opinion. I'm one of those people who don't think another pipeline is needed. I think it should all ship by rail because dilbit doesn't explode like Bakken crude. It's also because no province gets to dictate what travels on trains. I'd rather move oil today than wait 10 years. You can lay down a second set of tracks a hell of a lot faster than you can build a pipeline. And I think you have to piss off business. VIA Rail is all but dead. The HST plan, as laid out, is stupid...see? opinions!! I think between Toronto and Montreal, CN freight rides on CP, and CN's tracks are given to VIA, upgraded to 150+ mph, and a real service is provided....not like the underfunded disaster we have now. I think to immigrate, you have to have use of one official language and a skill. I think there should be a law that ties executive compensation to the lowest-paid employee. I think there should be another law that requires 80% of employees to be full-time. I could bore you more.....
Now, I'm going to climb on my flying pig and take a trip to Tahiti.......one more reason I'm not a politician.