The "Asshole Canada" segment may be the best thing you've ever done.
It was clearly somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I think you're getting at something no one else has articulated. Canada has basically become the kids from Schitt's Creek: we've been able to survive being unserious because of our privileged position but suddenly shit's gotten real. It's possible Trump extracts some reasonable concessions or agrees to a mutually beneficial pact and then moves onto other things, but I'm increasingly thinking Matt's right that he's going to keep pushing and pushing.
In that case, we have three basic options: we can continue to meander along and watch our quality of life and security situation (is our new northern neighbour the US, Russia, or China?) degrade. Or we can basically give up our sovereignty in practice - even if not in name - in order to placate the Americans. Or ... Asshole Canada!
Beefing up our military to be able to defend our borders would be a must. Like our hosts, I'm getting a bit old to be an ideal soldier, but I can handle a week of mandatory weapons training for Asshole Canada's auxiliary reserve: in the US it's your right to bear arms, in Asshole Canada it's your civic obligation! And if Asshole Canada is going to rent out the Indian call centers, it can use them to actively campaign against whoever is in charge to send a message the next time India interferes in Canadian elections.
Part of me is a bleeding-heart liberal, but there's also a part of me that likes the ruthless pragmatism, so let's have Asshole Canada combine both. In Asshole Canada, our drug addicts are immediately sent to the newly built largest rehab facility in the world (humane and efficient, but not luxurious). When they're clean, they get out with no criminal record, but with job training, new clothes, transition housing, and maybe even an entry-level job in hand (but also weekly drug tests). After all, Asshole Canada supports its citizens, but Asshole Canada also expects them to get their shit together.
Granted, we may not have thought through all the wrinkles here. The inevitable sanctions could be a problem. And some of this does sound slightly authoritarian. But directionally there is some appeal here.
You & Matt are correct. He’s going to keep pushing. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. He talked about it during his inaugural speech & at Davos, at the North Carolina appearance & just about in every address he’s made. There’s a pattern. It’s not chaotic. It always seems off the cuff. BUT at every opportunity? Nah. It’s a pattern.
Canada is currently a country that doesn't even trusts citizens to own weapons for self defence. Pivoting to "you must own a rifle" is just a bridge too far for our elite to fathom. We just aren't wired that way.
You never allow the peasants to own arms after all.
Could do worse to be honest. It's like Danielle having the whole commentary class after her for "breaking ranks" on Canada for actually doing something rather than the the nothing that the left elites thought was a good idea. (Albertans support Danielle according to polling)
I realize a lot of the specific get-tough ideas are more than a little tongue in cheek. But I'll make a serious point anyway.
There's a temptation in a chest-thumping moment to embrace a bunch of specific ideas about what "we" should do economically, around AI data centers or building pre-fab housing or whatever. But an emergency doesn't make central planning and industrial policy suddenly become effective, despite all the phony analogies to war production we'll inevitably hear.
If the government is going to make a rapid change in the Canadian economy, then hard as it is, we need to discipline ourselves to focus on solutions that are structurally sound and more economically free, rather than backing into the kind of centrally directed economy that sounds great and never actually works.
Military procurement is undeniably a proper function of government. Selecting which industries should exist and grow in the private economy is not.
In the last couple of years our governments committed over $50 billion in subsidies for electric car battery manufacturing. The plants aren't even built and they already look like white elephants. Even the minister who did it says it's a bad idea to do any more.
Ontario's electricity prices are still uncompetitive in large part because Dalton McGuinty decided about six big ideas ago that Ontario would be a global windmill manufacturing powerhouse. That never happened, and the idea is long forgotten by most, but the costs are with us still (indeed, they are among the reasons we have to offer such big subsidies to battery manufacturers to get them to locate here).
There are plenty of fundamentally sound things governments can do, some mentioned on the podcast (lower tax rates, less burdensome regulation, reducing internal trade barriers, etc.), that do not represent central planning and picking winners and losers. That should be the focus, not yet another try at industrial policy.
Chatting about Alberta not getting the big threat of the US shutting off our oil is interesting but you are including an assumption that Alberta will want to remain in Canada. Based on what has transpired in our country the past 10 years where the whole country has fought against the interests of Alberta. I think there would be a huge ground swell in Alberta to decide whether it is best to fight the good fight with our “friends” or just separate and be the 51st state.
I have to disagree with our hosts on Alberta not getting how vulnerable we are to having Oil landlocked. We get it. We sell it at a discount because it’s landlocked. And it is our fellow Canadians who have landlocked it. All efforts to create access to tidewater have been opposed and almost all efforts to stop pipelines have succeeded. There is rich irony in non-Albertans calling on Alberta to take one for the team. I suspect we will if called upon but it won’t be out of guilt or indebtedness to the rest of Canada, it’ll be because it’s the right thing to do.
You mean the past 50 years: the sneering contempt, denigrated at every turn, endless interference & over-reach, ha. If it came down to a choice of staying within Team🇨🇦Canada or to have a good job in a vibrant economy as part of the USA … hand me that American passport and adios👋
Personally *I* wouldn’t like second (let’s face it fourth or fifth) class status as the citizen of a mere vassal state, but others might prefer it.
It’s not really an objective thing. I’d rather be that to the US that a citizen of Russia, but maybe others feel differently about the US.
My point is simply that some Alberta’s seem to have a fantasy that Americans will give them special treatment because they think Albertans are basically Americans when the truth is … Alberta are foreigners and no more American than Mexicans. Just foreigners. And America aren’t exactly in the mood for foreigners right now, Donald Trump’s missing with us to gain advantage not withstanding.
You are assuming Albertans have 1st class standing right Canada right now. Alberta is in the 3rd or 4th tier as it is and are already seen as illegitimate in the eyes of many of the Laurentian opinion makers.
As for the US comparing Alberta to Mexicans, you discount racism. Albertans are majority white and English speaking. They like the same things Americans like. One is not like the other.
I don’t think that DJT wants to kill Alberta oil. I think he wants Alberta, and other parts of Canada. Period. The natural resources, the minerals, the oil, the northern passage. That’s what he’s after. He doesn’t need auto parts, or Quebec’s manufacturing sector which the US has in spades, but Americans do not have the rare earth minerals / natural resources.
And don’t forget our water. Americans have had their eyes on our water since the 1960s.
Sadly the time for the big thinking was 10 years ago; but we were too busy building solar farms and cancelling pipelines. Now we are sitting at the poker table. Our opponent has a winning hand and knows it. Our leaders appear confident but they haven't looked at their cards and they don't know how the game is played. Our first objective should be to minimize our losses. So far only Premiere Smith has figured this out. A long term winning strategy should come next, but our Provincial and Federal leaders are demonstrably not up to the task. We must also deal with Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan - all of whom might view joining the US as preferrable to never-ending Canadian exploitation. A "divide and conquer" strategy is a real possibility for Trump.
Enter into defence development and production partnerships with South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Sweden, France, and anyone else who has a penchant for democracy and superior kit worth buying and using. Grant them the tax-free status you guys were discussing for setting up operations here. While we are at it, drop the F-35 and go with Typhoons and/or Gripens for the pointy end, A400's for logistics, maybe lease some Ukrainan An-124's for heavy lift. Who knows, maybe Antonov would like to set up a production line for aircraft here in Canada, far from Russia's murderous bullshit. We certainly have no shortage of land to put such a facility on or aluminum to build aircraft with.
The assumption here is that Trump's America would allow this. America has nuclear missiles parked 5 hours south of Calgary and a million man army. They will dictate what Canada can or can't do. Canada only exists as long as the US says it can exist.
I am not terribly worried about America's nuclear deterrent being used against Canada. As for conventional military action, if it comes to that then we do have quite an uneven fight on our hands. I prefer however to not run up the white flag before the fighting has even begun.
You don't match a heavyweight with a flyweight. Other than it being illegal, it isn't even sporting. That is Canada vs the US. It is such a mismatch that anyone who thinks Canada can even try to stay in for a round or two is a moron.
Much (not all) of what you advocated for in the second segment is what those of us with a strong free enterprise/libertarian (adjective, not noun) bent have been advocating for years. If it takes the presence of Trump to make it happen then his election will have been the greatest thing to happen to Canada in my lifetime.
The reason we need a Trump-induced earthquake to shake some sense into us may be best exemplified by Matt’s account of the call he was on during covid wherein the bureaucrats on the call were horrified at the thought of 50 people dying to avert a famine that wipes out 40 million people. I mean, how fucked do you have to be to think that way?! If these dumb fucks ever find out that approximately 2,000 Canadians die in car accidents every year it’s just a matter of time before automobiles are banned – or equipped with regulators limiting the maximum speed to 5 mph. As Thomas Sowell says, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. A demonstrated understanding of that basic principle ought to be mandatory for entry into all government positions having any degree of decision-making responsibility. That is clearly not the case now.
Put simply, we are a risk-averse country with a mis-guided sense of our own importance governed by Laurentian overlords with a corrupt sense of “social justice” and insane priorities. There is no shortage of Kevin Vickers-types in this country but the power brokers and their bureaucratic underlings are more interested in ensuring those types respect peoples pronouns than they are in getting out of their way to allow them to use their abilities to move the country’s economy forward. So yeah, we need to Moneyball this country pronto. But until our own Billy Beane steps forward none of the many great ideas advocated for in this podcast have a prayer of seeing the light of day.
One other thought is Matt & Jen referenced Ireland, but a lot of their vision for Canada actually makes me think of Israel (not a perfect parallel for various reasons, but their pragmatism, fierce independence, and ruthlessness all provide a potential blueprint).
Radical street food culture shift. BBQ's on front lawns. Bust up America fast food culture in this country. Pay your neighbour for your burger and beer and make a friend. Win win.
Great podcast! Love Jen’s Honey badger quip and Matt’s absolutely right about firing everyone up top because I don’t think they are capable of the mind shift required for the massive pivot this country will need to make in order to stand tall and be secure.
Started to think Trump’s goal was cutting us off instead of softening us up on trade deals after the Davos speech. Definitely pushed the boundaries but that’s good! These are the conversations that need to be had. Hats off….hope people listen.
This week Trump said that Zelensky was at fault for letting the war happen because Russia was much bigger, and more powerful, and so he should have cut a deal. That says everything we need to know about how Trump views the relationship between big powers and smaller countries.
Flat income tax 20% across the board (with carve outs for low income people). Reduce corp taxes to 5%. Slash gov't departments Milei style, 30% reductions. Incentivise tech companies to come here with immediate pathways to citizenship for their workers.
My suggestion: Build several new strategic cities, or radically expand existing smaller centres in less developed parts of the country. From a regulatory point of view make it ridiculously easy to build housing in those areas deemed strategic. Spread the population around. (And now, a message to the Laurentian Elites: Stop trying to load up all the new population in your political stongholds. For the love of God let Canada grow up! You had your run. Stop trying to keep the old order alive. The times they are 'a changing and all that.)
Create a Canadian Strategic Investment fund and put real money up to invest in projects that are in Canada's strategic interest. Stop with the foreign aid. Stop putting money into luxury belief virtue signalling projects both domestically and abroad. Reduce the size of the bureaucracy. Quit bribing corporations to build battery plants just because it fits with an unrealistic goal. Put money into projects that will actually pay. And yes, this means hydrocarbons. Quit indulging ourselves in wishful thinking about how the world will stop burning them in the next 20 years. It is not going to happen. It was NEVER going to happen. Seriously ... we need to pull our collective heads out of our ass on this.
Right off the top of my head I can see several possibilities that I think should be looked at.
1) Build an AI Data Centre tech hub somewhere in Ontario or Quebec in the Great Clay Belt. Power it with shitloads of hydro from James Bay. At the same time, take another crack at developing agriculture in that area. Maybe a beef industry would work. Maybe Dairy. Maybe potatoes. All of them can work in cooler wetter regions. Another possibility is to build gigantic greenhouses. The soil there is very fertile. The weather is bad, but not that bad. Excess heat from data centres could be used to heat water or glycol which could be piped to greenhouses for radiant in floor heat.
2) More development in the Peace River area of Alberta and BC. There is plenty of power, and the potential for plenty more. Hydro from the dams. Abundant natural gas. And of course nuclear. There is already a plan for an AI data centre up there. Make it a hub for that industry. Use the excess heat to heat buildings in the winter. Or again, to heat greenhouses where fruit and vegetables can be grown. Like the Great Clay Belt, the soil is fertile, but the growing season is short.
3) Develop southern New Brunswick in or near Sussex. Lift the insane fracking ban and develop the natural gas fields in the area. Liquefy and ship from a new terminal in Saint John. Seriously ... this is all existing and proven technology. And tidewater is close. The only thing stopping if from happening is politics.
4) Build a new port city on Hudson Bay, and build that damn energy corridor to it all the way from northern BC. I am talking highway, railroad, and pipelines for gas and oil. Build icebreakers to keep shipping open in the Bay. Ship LNG and oil to Europe. It is one of the shortest routes to Europe available. We are fools for not exploiting it.
5) Expand the navy. The River Class Destroyers look good, but maybe we need more of them. We also need more Protecteur Class supply ships. Or better yet, something similar that has icebreaking capabilities. Nuclear subs for under ice patrol. Conventional is just stupid.
6) Expand the Canadian Rangers. Have a full brigade made up of regulars, and another of reservists. Build an actual honest to God army base up there. (see #7 below) Lean heavily on indigenous command, especially in terms of developing strategies as to how to operate on the land up there. Keep them light infantry, but massively expand their drone capabilities. Bring in some Ukrainians to help develop the latter.
7) Build a combination military base, naval port, and commercial port in a strategic spot along the Northwest Passage. This port would also serve as a base for under ice capable nuclear submarines, and the Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessels.
8) Build icebreakers whose job is to clear the Northwest Passage for shipping. Start charging tolls for cleared passage. Base these icebreakers in the port mentioned in #7.
9) Build the Meridian Dam on the South Saskatchewan River. Look for other projects whereby more of Palliser's Triangle can be brought under irrigation.
10) Look for ways to expand Saskatchewan's potash industry. There are new processes for extraction which would make it easier, cheaper, and more environmentally sustainable. But they are currently stalled because nobody wants to invest in Canadian industry.
11) Develop the Ring of Fire.
There are other possibilities as well. Make these new strategic centres tax havens in order to attract investment. Bring in the best and the brightest from wherever they may be found. Go to other countries and actively recruit the expertise needed. Pillage pillage pillage!
And a message to the "Rest of Canada" BUILD ALL OF THE DAMN PIPELINES!! Seriously!! Do you get it yet?? Because if you don't get it now, then there is no hope left for Canada. And if there is no hope for Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan will inevitably end up joining the US. Not saying I want it. It is just facts.
Great points 4 to 8. Add to that, coordinate with the other 6 members of the Arctic Council - Canada, Denmark (which has its own Trump problems, currently), Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, Indigenous groups (for some real reconciliation for once), Ukrainian drone and missile expertise, the UK (because why not, assuming they also pull their finger out, eventually) . Fast procurement of military assets from Sweden and Norway particularly. Cooperate with the Americans when needed but stop buying their weapons tech as a default and relying totally on their military. But still keep an eye that Russia and China are still the primary threats in the North (as much as The Line’s Tik Tok overlords might not like seeing China mentioned in a negative light!).
The "Asshole Canada" segment may be the best thing you've ever done.
It was clearly somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I think you're getting at something no one else has articulated. Canada has basically become the kids from Schitt's Creek: we've been able to survive being unserious because of our privileged position but suddenly shit's gotten real. It's possible Trump extracts some reasonable concessions or agrees to a mutually beneficial pact and then moves onto other things, but I'm increasingly thinking Matt's right that he's going to keep pushing and pushing.
In that case, we have three basic options: we can continue to meander along and watch our quality of life and security situation (is our new northern neighbour the US, Russia, or China?) degrade. Or we can basically give up our sovereignty in practice - even if not in name - in order to placate the Americans. Or ... Asshole Canada!
Beefing up our military to be able to defend our borders would be a must. Like our hosts, I'm getting a bit old to be an ideal soldier, but I can handle a week of mandatory weapons training for Asshole Canada's auxiliary reserve: in the US it's your right to bear arms, in Asshole Canada it's your civic obligation! And if Asshole Canada is going to rent out the Indian call centers, it can use them to actively campaign against whoever is in charge to send a message the next time India interferes in Canadian elections.
Part of me is a bleeding-heart liberal, but there's also a part of me that likes the ruthless pragmatism, so let's have Asshole Canada combine both. In Asshole Canada, our drug addicts are immediately sent to the newly built largest rehab facility in the world (humane and efficient, but not luxurious). When they're clean, they get out with no criminal record, but with job training, new clothes, transition housing, and maybe even an entry-level job in hand (but also weekly drug tests). After all, Asshole Canada supports its citizens, but Asshole Canada also expects them to get their shit together.
Granted, we may not have thought through all the wrinkles here. The inevitable sanctions could be a problem. And some of this does sound slightly authoritarian. But directionally there is some appeal here.
You & Matt are correct. He’s going to keep pushing. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. He talked about it during his inaugural speech & at Davos, at the North Carolina appearance & just about in every address he’s made. There’s a pattern. It’s not chaotic. It always seems off the cuff. BUT at every opportunity? Nah. It’s a pattern.
Canada is currently a country that doesn't even trusts citizens to own weapons for self defence. Pivoting to "you must own a rifle" is just a bridge too far for our elite to fathom. We just aren't wired that way.
You never allow the peasants to own arms after all.
Oh this entire plan is basically thinking what left-leaning elites would do and then doing the opposite.
Call it the George Costanza plan for Canada.
Could do worse to be honest. It's like Danielle having the whole commentary class after her for "breaking ranks" on Canada for actually doing something rather than the the nothing that the left elites thought was a good idea. (Albertans support Danielle according to polling)
Slightly authoritarian??! What is the point in defending Canadian against Trump if we do so by becoming Trump? C-DOGE? No thanks.
I realize a lot of the specific get-tough ideas are more than a little tongue in cheek. But I'll make a serious point anyway.
There's a temptation in a chest-thumping moment to embrace a bunch of specific ideas about what "we" should do economically, around AI data centers or building pre-fab housing or whatever. But an emergency doesn't make central planning and industrial policy suddenly become effective, despite all the phony analogies to war production we'll inevitably hear.
If the government is going to make a rapid change in the Canadian economy, then hard as it is, we need to discipline ourselves to focus on solutions that are structurally sound and more economically free, rather than backing into the kind of centrally directed economy that sounds great and never actually works.
Military procurement is undeniably a proper function of government. Selecting which industries should exist and grow in the private economy is not.
In the last couple of years our governments committed over $50 billion in subsidies for electric car battery manufacturing. The plants aren't even built and they already look like white elephants. Even the minister who did it says it's a bad idea to do any more.
Ontario's electricity prices are still uncompetitive in large part because Dalton McGuinty decided about six big ideas ago that Ontario would be a global windmill manufacturing powerhouse. That never happened, and the idea is long forgotten by most, but the costs are with us still (indeed, they are among the reasons we have to offer such big subsidies to battery manufacturers to get them to locate here).
There are plenty of fundamentally sound things governments can do, some mentioned on the podcast (lower tax rates, less burdensome regulation, reducing internal trade barriers, etc.), that do not represent central planning and picking winners and losers. That should be the focus, not yet another try at industrial policy.
Chatting about Alberta not getting the big threat of the US shutting off our oil is interesting but you are including an assumption that Alberta will want to remain in Canada. Based on what has transpired in our country the past 10 years where the whole country has fought against the interests of Alberta. I think there would be a huge ground swell in Alberta to decide whether it is best to fight the good fight with our “friends” or just separate and be the 51st state.
I have to disagree with our hosts on Alberta not getting how vulnerable we are to having Oil landlocked. We get it. We sell it at a discount because it’s landlocked. And it is our fellow Canadians who have landlocked it. All efforts to create access to tidewater have been opposed and almost all efforts to stop pipelines have succeeded. There is rich irony in non-Albertans calling on Alberta to take one for the team. I suspect we will if called upon but it won’t be out of guilt or indebtedness to the rest of Canada, it’ll be because it’s the right thing to do.
Is it the right thing to do for Alberta's future generations though, or are we throwing the youth under the bus yet again?
The polling and demographics of Alberta aren't friendly to taking one for the team.
Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not pre-judging. My point was more that the rest-of-Canada has abdicated any moral high-ground. This article is funny and illustrative: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/look-who-s-come-crawling-back-the-imagined-thoughts-of-the-northern-gateway-pipeline/ar-AA1xQqyA
You mean the past 50 years: the sneering contempt, denigrated at every turn, endless interference & over-reach, ha. If it came down to a choice of staying within Team🇨🇦Canada or to have a good job in a vibrant economy as part of the USA … hand me that American passport and adios👋
Why let you be a state when they can have you as a vassal territory?
Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
You're assuming that being a vassal territory of the US is worse than being the milch cow of Central Canada.
Personally *I* wouldn’t like second (let’s face it fourth or fifth) class status as the citizen of a mere vassal state, but others might prefer it.
It’s not really an objective thing. I’d rather be that to the US that a citizen of Russia, but maybe others feel differently about the US.
My point is simply that some Alberta’s seem to have a fantasy that Americans will give them special treatment because they think Albertans are basically Americans when the truth is … Alberta are foreigners and no more American than Mexicans. Just foreigners. And America aren’t exactly in the mood for foreigners right now, Donald Trump’s missing with us to gain advantage not withstanding.
You are assuming Albertans have 1st class standing right Canada right now. Alberta is in the 3rd or 4th tier as it is and are already seen as illegitimate in the eyes of many of the Laurentian opinion makers.
As for the US comparing Alberta to Mexicans, you discount racism. Albertans are majority white and English speaking. They like the same things Americans like. One is not like the other.
I don’t think that DJT wants to kill Alberta oil. I think he wants Alberta, and other parts of Canada. Period. The natural resources, the minerals, the oil, the northern passage. That’s what he’s after. He doesn’t need auto parts, or Quebec’s manufacturing sector which the US has in spades, but Americans do not have the rare earth minerals / natural resources.
And don’t forget our water. Americans have had their eyes on our water since the 1960s.
Sadly the time for the big thinking was 10 years ago; but we were too busy building solar farms and cancelling pipelines. Now we are sitting at the poker table. Our opponent has a winning hand and knows it. Our leaders appear confident but they haven't looked at their cards and they don't know how the game is played. Our first objective should be to minimize our losses. So far only Premiere Smith has figured this out. A long term winning strategy should come next, but our Provincial and Federal leaders are demonstrably not up to the task. We must also deal with Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan - all of whom might view joining the US as preferrable to never-ending Canadian exploitation. A "divide and conquer" strategy is a real possibility for Trump.
Enter into defence development and production partnerships with South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Sweden, France, and anyone else who has a penchant for democracy and superior kit worth buying and using. Grant them the tax-free status you guys were discussing for setting up operations here. While we are at it, drop the F-35 and go with Typhoons and/or Gripens for the pointy end, A400's for logistics, maybe lease some Ukrainan An-124's for heavy lift. Who knows, maybe Antonov would like to set up a production line for aircraft here in Canada, far from Russia's murderous bullshit. We certainly have no shortage of land to put such a facility on or aluminum to build aircraft with.
The assumption here is that Trump's America would allow this. America has nuclear missiles parked 5 hours south of Calgary and a million man army. They will dictate what Canada can or can't do. Canada only exists as long as the US says it can exist.
I am not terribly worried about America's nuclear deterrent being used against Canada. As for conventional military action, if it comes to that then we do have quite an uneven fight on our hands. I prefer however to not run up the white flag before the fighting has even begun.
You don't match a heavyweight with a flyweight. Other than it being illegal, it isn't even sporting. That is Canada vs the US. It is such a mismatch that anyone who thinks Canada can even try to stay in for a round or two is a moron.
now were talkin'
This was cathartic. Thank you.
Much (not all) of what you advocated for in the second segment is what those of us with a strong free enterprise/libertarian (adjective, not noun) bent have been advocating for years. If it takes the presence of Trump to make it happen then his election will have been the greatest thing to happen to Canada in my lifetime.
The reason we need a Trump-induced earthquake to shake some sense into us may be best exemplified by Matt’s account of the call he was on during covid wherein the bureaucrats on the call were horrified at the thought of 50 people dying to avert a famine that wipes out 40 million people. I mean, how fucked do you have to be to think that way?! If these dumb fucks ever find out that approximately 2,000 Canadians die in car accidents every year it’s just a matter of time before automobiles are banned – or equipped with regulators limiting the maximum speed to 5 mph. As Thomas Sowell says, there are no solutions, only trade-offs. A demonstrated understanding of that basic principle ought to be mandatory for entry into all government positions having any degree of decision-making responsibility. That is clearly not the case now.
Put simply, we are a risk-averse country with a mis-guided sense of our own importance governed by Laurentian overlords with a corrupt sense of “social justice” and insane priorities. There is no shortage of Kevin Vickers-types in this country but the power brokers and their bureaucratic underlings are more interested in ensuring those types respect peoples pronouns than they are in getting out of their way to allow them to use their abilities to move the country’s economy forward. So yeah, we need to Moneyball this country pronto. But until our own Billy Beane steps forward none of the many great ideas advocated for in this podcast have a prayer of seeing the light of day.
Read up on Jante Law and Canada makes sense.
One other thought is Matt & Jen referenced Ireland, but a lot of their vision for Canada actually makes me think of Israel (not a perfect parallel for various reasons, but their pragmatism, fierce independence, and ruthlessness all provide a potential blueprint).
"Fierce independence"
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2024/USspendingIsrael
Radical street food culture shift. BBQ's on front lawns. Bust up America fast food culture in this country. Pay your neighbour for your burger and beer and make a friend. Win win.
I'm there for this
Absolute fire 🔥
Great podcast! Love Jen’s Honey badger quip and Matt’s absolutely right about firing everyone up top because I don’t think they are capable of the mind shift required for the massive pivot this country will need to make in order to stand tall and be secure.
Started to think Trump’s goal was cutting us off instead of softening us up on trade deals after the Davos speech. Definitely pushed the boundaries but that’s good! These are the conversations that need to be had. Hats off….hope people listen.
Make Canada scary: bring in the Israelis to train our armed forces. Think pagers!
This week Trump said that Zelensky was at fault for letting the war happen because Russia was much bigger, and more powerful, and so he should have cut a deal. That says everything we need to know about how Trump views the relationship between big powers and smaller countries.
Well, no, we were moving beyond that. What is your point? Back to feudal times as well?
Are you one of those Liberals who still insist a "rules based international order" exists? Lol
Actually, I'm a life long Conservative.
Enough.
I was kidding. But my point being that perhaps we haven't leveled up as a species in the ways the Liberals thought we did.
Flat income tax 20% across the board (with carve outs for low income people). Reduce corp taxes to 5%. Slash gov't departments Milei style, 30% reductions. Incentivise tech companies to come here with immediate pathways to citizenship for their workers.
And of course, Pipelines, pipelines, pipelines.
Love this conversation. Just love it. More!
My suggestion: Build several new strategic cities, or radically expand existing smaller centres in less developed parts of the country. From a regulatory point of view make it ridiculously easy to build housing in those areas deemed strategic. Spread the population around. (And now, a message to the Laurentian Elites: Stop trying to load up all the new population in your political stongholds. For the love of God let Canada grow up! You had your run. Stop trying to keep the old order alive. The times they are 'a changing and all that.)
Create a Canadian Strategic Investment fund and put real money up to invest in projects that are in Canada's strategic interest. Stop with the foreign aid. Stop putting money into luxury belief virtue signalling projects both domestically and abroad. Reduce the size of the bureaucracy. Quit bribing corporations to build battery plants just because it fits with an unrealistic goal. Put money into projects that will actually pay. And yes, this means hydrocarbons. Quit indulging ourselves in wishful thinking about how the world will stop burning them in the next 20 years. It is not going to happen. It was NEVER going to happen. Seriously ... we need to pull our collective heads out of our ass on this.
Right off the top of my head I can see several possibilities that I think should be looked at.
1) Build an AI Data Centre tech hub somewhere in Ontario or Quebec in the Great Clay Belt. Power it with shitloads of hydro from James Bay. At the same time, take another crack at developing agriculture in that area. Maybe a beef industry would work. Maybe Dairy. Maybe potatoes. All of them can work in cooler wetter regions. Another possibility is to build gigantic greenhouses. The soil there is very fertile. The weather is bad, but not that bad. Excess heat from data centres could be used to heat water or glycol which could be piped to greenhouses for radiant in floor heat.
2) More development in the Peace River area of Alberta and BC. There is plenty of power, and the potential for plenty more. Hydro from the dams. Abundant natural gas. And of course nuclear. There is already a plan for an AI data centre up there. Make it a hub for that industry. Use the excess heat to heat buildings in the winter. Or again, to heat greenhouses where fruit and vegetables can be grown. Like the Great Clay Belt, the soil is fertile, but the growing season is short.
3) Develop southern New Brunswick in or near Sussex. Lift the insane fracking ban and develop the natural gas fields in the area. Liquefy and ship from a new terminal in Saint John. Seriously ... this is all existing and proven technology. And tidewater is close. The only thing stopping if from happening is politics.
4) Build a new port city on Hudson Bay, and build that damn energy corridor to it all the way from northern BC. I am talking highway, railroad, and pipelines for gas and oil. Build icebreakers to keep shipping open in the Bay. Ship LNG and oil to Europe. It is one of the shortest routes to Europe available. We are fools for not exploiting it.
5) Expand the navy. The River Class Destroyers look good, but maybe we need more of them. We also need more Protecteur Class supply ships. Or better yet, something similar that has icebreaking capabilities. Nuclear subs for under ice patrol. Conventional is just stupid.
6) Expand the Canadian Rangers. Have a full brigade made up of regulars, and another of reservists. Build an actual honest to God army base up there. (see #7 below) Lean heavily on indigenous command, especially in terms of developing strategies as to how to operate on the land up there. Keep them light infantry, but massively expand their drone capabilities. Bring in some Ukrainians to help develop the latter.
7) Build a combination military base, naval port, and commercial port in a strategic spot along the Northwest Passage. This port would also serve as a base for under ice capable nuclear submarines, and the Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessels.
8) Build icebreakers whose job is to clear the Northwest Passage for shipping. Start charging tolls for cleared passage. Base these icebreakers in the port mentioned in #7.
9) Build the Meridian Dam on the South Saskatchewan River. Look for other projects whereby more of Palliser's Triangle can be brought under irrigation.
10) Look for ways to expand Saskatchewan's potash industry. There are new processes for extraction which would make it easier, cheaper, and more environmentally sustainable. But they are currently stalled because nobody wants to invest in Canadian industry.
11) Develop the Ring of Fire.
There are other possibilities as well. Make these new strategic centres tax havens in order to attract investment. Bring in the best and the brightest from wherever they may be found. Go to other countries and actively recruit the expertise needed. Pillage pillage pillage!
And a message to the "Rest of Canada" BUILD ALL OF THE DAMN PIPELINES!! Seriously!! Do you get it yet?? Because if you don't get it now, then there is no hope left for Canada. And if there is no hope for Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan will inevitably end up joining the US. Not saying I want it. It is just facts.
Great points 4 to 8. Add to that, coordinate with the other 6 members of the Arctic Council - Canada, Denmark (which has its own Trump problems, currently), Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, Indigenous groups (for some real reconciliation for once), Ukrainian drone and missile expertise, the UK (because why not, assuming they also pull their finger out, eventually) . Fast procurement of military assets from Sweden and Norway particularly. Cooperate with the Americans when needed but stop buying their weapons tech as a default and relying totally on their military. But still keep an eye that Russia and China are still the primary threats in the North (as much as The Line’s Tik Tok overlords might not like seeing China mentioned in a negative light!).
Who cares? 30 kph is enough. It's a slow train. Whatever. It'll work.
If you think of them as "land ships" 30kph is actually fairly quick.