Carney hasn't said a thing about tanker traffic on the west coast, the oil and gas emissions cap, getting our LNG actually out on the market from the west coast (still stalled, until mid-year this year, supposedly), or how exactly he intends to restructure the new carbon tax on oil and gas producers, and other legislation that negatively affects Canada's biggest moneymaker, oil and gas.
Today Mark Carney cancelled the carbon tax on individual purchases. Well done. But the question remains as to the size and effects of the new carbon taxes on the producers that he plans to introduce.
Other major questions remain - not only how he will handle the tariffs issues with the US, but whether or not he is willing to tackle any of the vital things Trudeau left behind. . .the economy, immigration, the sad state of the armed forces, our tattered international reputation, living up to our NATO obligations, updating NORAD, border security, antisemitism, a vast federal civil service bloated by Trudeau but less efficient, the Doctor shortage, medical wait lists and overflowing emergency rooms, (current federal funding limits what the provinces can do) and the list goes on. It is not enough for a Prime Minister to simply be erudite and well connected - governing well takes a whole lot more.
And, incidentally, when will we have the election?
llo https://www.gfanzero.com/about/. Sounds pretty elitist because no one is as smart as the "annoyed" Of course Mark Carney is just a man of the street ;). Sadly I believe he will be worse than Trudeau on climate change rah, rah. He's smarter and has the backing of a spineless caucus as long as they poll well/win. It's the Liberals where they have policies and if you don't like those they have others. Credit to Senator Hugh Segal many years ago. Nothing has changed.
Thats not enough. If we're explaining, we're losing. Best to do it is to say "screw you Trump, let's build a pipeline to Asia to ecrew him over. You don't need our oil? We'll sell it somewhere else instead"
Carney has stated he will make Canada into a "clean energy super power". I wish media would ask him what does that means....more unreliable solar (about 15% capacity factor)....more unreliable wind (low 40% capacity factor)???? Massine subsidies??? Is his goal to make us into Germany and UK, with highest electrical rates in the world???? As you devil is in details and there has been ZERO in details.
If only there was some group of influential people, with some level of unbiased desire to inform the public, committed to asking these rather standard questions (let alone the hard ones).
It's clear the #1 issue is now "who will stand up to Trump". My worry is that politicians are now incentivised to do this with maximum theatrics but poor strategy - for emotional reasons, and because of who it will piss off. I fear that anyone who proposes something actually clever will be punished for not thumping their chest hard enough, for insufficiently performative threats of national self-harm
For instance I think retaliatory tariffs that *Canadians Pay* will hurt us more than them (the Australians have formally taken this position) but most people I talk to get big mad when I say it - "so you want to just ROLL OVER and do nothing?!" Apparently they agree with Trump that tariffs somehow make the other country pay
I also question the game theory analysis when it comes to Trump. I don't say this as a compliment to him but he is such a chaos agent that I don't think the usual game theory analysis applies. I mean, it might - again, he is sui generis and humility demands that we acknowledge that nobody can be sure of the right approach to take.
But I completely agree with you on retaliatory tariffs and like the Australian example. Of course the Australians have the advantage of not being infected by the too-common repulsive Canadian nationalism that manifests itself in smug superiority/disdain for the USA. That is an extra hazard our leaders have to navigate.
Tariffs on American imports need to be carefully tailored to hit American pain points and minimize impact on Canadians. American alcohol imports are an excellent example of how to do this, especially for industries concentrated in red states like bourbon production. Canada’s got ample domestic production, and the loss of Canadian sales is one more blow to an American industry that’s already struggling.
I don't see how a tariff that makes Canadians pay more for a potpourri of consumer products including cosmetics, ALL clothing, many meats, wood materials, appliances, etc., etc, puts pressure on Trump to back off. Most of these products are not brought into Canada from USA, they mostly come to Canada from Asia.
None of these countermeasures are nice for the weaponized fauna, so we would have to reward them adequately for their contributions - I am thinking not just put them on our stamps and money.
If not too much dilution of the brand, we might consider a team effort - Maniac Moose (tm) stands on rad to stop the bus, Looney Lynx (tm) jumps on for the inside job, Gaga Geese (tm) "patrol" from above and bomb anyone trying to escape, and Berserker Beaver (tm) - I have not forgotten them - fell trees behind the bus to block it in.
It's unfortunate that Sam Cooper's examination of the relationships that bind Carney and Trudeau together (https://www.thebureau.news/p/the-carney-trudeau-nexus-how-financial), ties that include Dominic Barton, Jin Liqun and Gerry Butts among others, seems to be largely ignored by the Canadian press. Too many people seem to suddenly be all in on Carney like he's some sort of messiah. I will believe he's a centrist when he scraps Trudeau's so-called "assault-style firearms compensation program" and the equally useless "handgun freeze". In case he hasn't noticed, they haven't done anything to reduce firearms crime in Canada, and the "program" will cost taxpayers a ton of money that we can't afford to be spending on Trudeau's anti-gun lobby pandering.
Also, didn't he just change the carbon tax rate to zero, and not actually eliminate the legislation itself? From what I understand, the law is still on the books. I guess we would need a functioning Parliament to actually get rid of it completely. I wonder if BC, QC and NWT will get rid of their own carbon taxes now?
Good point on the firearms and on the carbon law. Carney is not a centrist. Carney is feinting a turn to the centre to fool a lot of people and if he wins the election will turn to hard left, Trudeau style. Then right away he will start friggin' around with the carbon tax so it is less obvious, but will hurt ordinary people in the pocket book same as the old one, "modifying the behaviour".
That is why both bosses and their party need to be voted out resoundingly. The odour of the old boss will be lingering around far too long anyway and manifest itself in the direction given by the momentum the party has been, is and will be subjected to - crappier and crappier economy, etc.
Chinese United Front operatives were seen mobilizing support for Carney and Parm Bains in Richmond. This puts Carney, at the very least, part of Coopers reporting. I agree, I would like to see a real investigation into the information Cooper reports. Maybe if the libs are out of office we will see a new direction with the RCMP investigations.
So do Liberal partisans believe that Carney will move to the centre or do they believe that the Liberals are lying and are totally okay with that because they want the Liberals to win regardless of what it takes. And they love the spendthrift lefty Liberal Party that Justin created?
Regarding the Bureau's deep dive into China's role using Canada regarding the transnational drug trade it operates, what is apparent is that Canada plays an important role in many vital aspects. This is real and the evidence for it quite compelling. Sadly, it's bee true for decades.
Like regional manufacturing hubs for industries, Canada is very much part of the whole for this Chinese backed North American drug trade. This is where federal complicity comes into it... not by the quantity of the drugs made and shipped (only 1% is the talking point and based on a comparison of intercepted shipments) but by keeping the drug trade infrastructure safe from law enforcement! That's why complicity shows up as almost no important convictions to date, no named political actors facilitating this safety from prosecution, little if any action taken on inside information from other security services but
international investigations blown, and so on. The lack of meaningful action and general media silence about this very real problem demonstrates some measure of this official complicity.
Also, Canada plays a very important role handling all the business aspects of the drug trade (like money laundering and the role of Canadian banks to facilitate real estate investments and gambling to 'clean' the money, drug manufacturing equipment procurement, lack of federal oversight on port control for import/export of drugs and their components, creating and maintaining political safe havens for many not least of whom are directly involved liaising between the Hong Kong Triads and the cartels, etc.).
Complicity also shows up with how our allies treat Canada: with legitimate suspicion and distrust. This is very real. This is the 'security' aspect highlighted by Trump. It's a very real concern raised by real allies whether or not Canadian media wish to claim it is not compelling evidence of complicity. At the very least it's based on well founded suspicion plus the factual lack of meaningful interference with the trade by Canada.
When you throw in all the government allowances made for Chinese business (say, Huawei 5G) or research (Winnipeg lab scandal) or military procurement (ammunition) or policing of the diaspora (campus 'police stations' used to pressure immigrants without criticism or complaint by Canadian officials), or the very rare federal permits originally granted for 'mining' but withdrawn only after US complaints (Hope Bay as a deep water port in central North West Territories ostensibly to revamp a gold mine along the Northwest Passage), a pattern emerges when every commission (Hogue) and federal investigations into longstanding U.S. concerns about Chinese activities in Canada (Project Sidewinder from the 90s) we see a pattern. That pattern is very real whether one wishes to call it a 'conspiracy' or not. For federal officials in important positions having their pictures taken many times and in different locations with these Triad/Chinese/cartel liaisons demonstrates at the very least easy access to the highest levels of Canadian officialdom. That in itself shows legitimate reason for deepening suspicion for complicity. This suspected complicity is the root cause of ongoing security concerns not just with the US but with many important security allies when it comes to the illegal drug trade. And we're doing basically nothing about it. That, too, is suspicious to reasonable people.
If Poilievre want to 'stop the crime' as he likes to say, then campaigning with a plan to empower Canadian law enforcement to address these very real and ongoing security concerns and legitimate suspicions would fit the domestic bill nicely while, at the same time, gain immediate and serious US approval. And that would be a good thing.
Over the course of my life I have seen Canada's national sense of 'not American' (real Canadian history) morph into 'anti-American'. This has got to stop. We are not at war with the US; rather, we are being subjected to an unwanted but much needed intervention. If we don't handle this correctly, the country fractures and ends on our watch.
I don’t think it’s too difficult to see the future here.
The conservative lead in the polls wasn’t a lead for the party or Poilievre, it was a lead against Trudeau. PP fuel is anger and truculence that he capitalized upon with the mood of the country that was fed up with Trudeau and the progressive policies. The boogie man is gone so I agree with Jen and Matt, PP and team need to make a hard pivot to regain trust or they are going to be stuck with a dumb look on their face after a Liberal victory (majority or minority).
I would suggest that the Liberals need to focus on appeasing Alberta and not Quebec. Our equivalent ‘to build Hurricanes and Spitfires’ is to keep Alberta in Canada. Quebec realizes that their best hope to retain their culture and language is a united Canada. If Alberta gets upset with liberal policy regarding natural resource extraction including fossil fuels, it’s not hard to imagine them separating from the federation and entering into a formal alliance with the US, possibly even statehood. If that were to materialize I can see the federation splintering and entering into similar arrangements, Québécois will eventually become a language that only Quebec grandparents remember.
If Carney wants to demonstrate that he is swinging the Party back towards the centre, he would be wise to get rid of some of the more unpopular policies, regulations and legislation of the Trudeau era. A perfect example that comes to mind is the firearm file. That would be popular in Alberta and even regain lost Liberal votes from jilted firearm owners across the country. That file in particular showed it was ineffective if not counter productive and a financial waste. I’m sure there are similar files within digital media and environmental regulations.
Conservatives better wake up or the liberals are going to throw a rabid badger into your campaign bus!
RE firearms and the Liberal party, where do 80-90% of the illegal firearms come from? Virtually all police forces says from the US. Ergo the intelligent move is to get CBSA to up it's game. What have the Liberals consistently done since at least Chretien? Blame domestic firearms owners who are probably the most scrutinized group in Canada. Why? Because CBSA comes under the purview of the feds and to admit the US gun connection is to admit CBSA is shit at it's job and the Liberals are unable/unwilling to do their mandated jobs. Toss in bribed media and bob's your uncle. F#cking brutal how naive Canadians are or as the Swiss say.....apathetic....still.
Could CBSA be better at the job if Federal gov't's (of both parties) been willing to up spending for CBSA to hire/train additional staff? I think that's been the real issue, not that CBSA is shit at the job.
If CBSA started doing more searches which slowed down the process of coming into the country how long would it be before returning Canadians started bitching & moaning about delays?
Carbon Tax Butts and Telford are gone as well hopefully!! They almost ruined Ontario and gave it a good shot for the country World Socialists, now there's a good chance Carney is no different giv n his past involvement in Green anti carbon organizations
Re Justin's legacy. The constant theme is Justin did great at navigating Canada through COVID!!! My memory is he stifled Canada's drug industry such that we could not produce a domestic supply of vaccine; he threw his lot in with developing a vaccine with China and that imploded; he let the stock of PPE expire then sent planes to China to bring PPE but the planes returned empty; he tried to invoke emergency powers to suspend parliament; he called people racist for suggesting borders should be shut from China; he also called the truckers and supporters racist and a fringe minority, despite over 100,000 donating to the truckers; he carried on with CERB far to long and turned it into vote buying, with result many folks who could have worked took the summer off (including members of my family); the cash pouring into the economy added to inflation; he stoked and fanned the flames of COVID and only Justin and his cabal could save Canada; he called a needless and opportunist COVID election..........and I'm probably missing a few things. In my view Justin is no COVID hero.
He tried to get carte blanch spending without parliamentary oversight. Thank God for the opposition on that one. And the Portapique thing was also during Covid. The order in council was an opportunist move while the public was busy with other stuff, like sourdough and survival.
We should help French double their nuclear stockpiles faster. Ask for them to secretly station some nukes with their launch systems in Canada. Once we have 5 warheads, we can announce we have nukes. Announcing our intent publicly would incur DC’s wrath, doing it in secret would humiliate DC.
It would be such a crazy move that it will freak DC out that they would impeach Trump immediately. I bet $1000 on it.
A French nuclear attack submarine docked in Halifax form unannounced port visit on Thursday. Not loaded with ballistic missiles but similar to the type the RCN is looking to buy. The French are mercenaries when it comes to arms sales, ant the have Rafaele fighter jets in that could replace the F-35.
I used to work for DND and travelled to all their flying bases to do work. A F35 and F18 (ours) rubbed each other on the ground. The US impounded our jet to make sure we could never analyse the paint from the F35. Now when a F35 we buy breaks and needs repair but can't fly do we put it on a flatbed and truck it to the US? We actually need autonomy for everything we buy. Ask Ukraine what happens if you don't have 100% control of equipment.
Great podcast—lots of good points. I’ve long given up any illusions that I can predict the future, but I do think Carney wants to move the Liberal Party to the right. The fact that his cabinet largely consists of the same cast of characters doesn’t lead me to reassess this analysis. In my view, this is a "keep the lights on" cabinet in advance of an election call. While governing is significantly reduced by convention during an election, it doesn’t stop entirely—especially in this election, given the unpredictability of our southern neighbors and broader global instability. In this context I think it would be a dumb move to appoint a slate of inexperienced ministers just to make a political point. To me, this signals pragmatism rather than political showmanship, which I support. However, I acknowledge that doing the right thing, if it doesn’t play well politically, can be a fatal flaw. Time will tell if Carney’s political instincts will match his understanding of economic theory.
The Liberals and Trudeau have focused for 10 years on the upper levels of Maslow’s hierarchy while reducing Canada’s ability to meet the foundational safety and physiological needs. Can or will the “new” Liberals rebuild Canada’s foundational needs? I have serious doubts.
I have more faith that the Conservatives can do this.
The devil is always in the details.
Carney hasn't said a thing about tanker traffic on the west coast, the oil and gas emissions cap, getting our LNG actually out on the market from the west coast (still stalled, until mid-year this year, supposedly), or how exactly he intends to restructure the new carbon tax on oil and gas producers, and other legislation that negatively affects Canada's biggest moneymaker, oil and gas.
Today Mark Carney cancelled the carbon tax on individual purchases. Well done. But the question remains as to the size and effects of the new carbon taxes on the producers that he plans to introduce.
Other major questions remain - not only how he will handle the tariffs issues with the US, but whether or not he is willing to tackle any of the vital things Trudeau left behind. . .the economy, immigration, the sad state of the armed forces, our tattered international reputation, living up to our NATO obligations, updating NORAD, border security, antisemitism, a vast federal civil service bloated by Trudeau but less efficient, the Doctor shortage, medical wait lists and overflowing emergency rooms, (current federal funding limits what the provinces can do) and the list goes on. It is not enough for a Prime Minister to simply be erudite and well connected - governing well takes a whole lot more.
And, incidentally, when will we have the election?
Laurentian Parasitic Corruptocrats stealing the CPC platform brick by brick.
He's been very thin on actual policy, and he's dodged reporters. JG
You think the mainstreams will put any effort in on this one? Or just cheerlead to the subsidy *cough cough* I mean liberal victory?
llo https://www.gfanzero.com/about/. Sounds pretty elitist because no one is as smart as the "annoyed" Of course Mark Carney is just a man of the street ;). Sadly I believe he will be worse than Trudeau on climate change rah, rah. He's smarter and has the backing of a spineless caucus as long as they poll well/win. It's the Liberals where they have policies and if you don't like those they have others. Credit to Senator Hugh Segal many years ago. Nothing has changed.
Thats not enough. If we're explaining, we're losing. Best to do it is to say "screw you Trump, let's build a pipeline to Asia to ecrew him over. You don't need our oil? We'll sell it somewhere else instead"
Carney has stated he will make Canada into a "clean energy super power". I wish media would ask him what does that means....more unreliable solar (about 15% capacity factor)....more unreliable wind (low 40% capacity factor)???? Massine subsidies??? Is his goal to make us into Germany and UK, with highest electrical rates in the world???? As you devil is in details and there has been ZERO in details.
If only there was some group of influential people, with some level of unbiased desire to inform the public, committed to asking these rather standard questions (let alone the hard ones).
It's clear the #1 issue is now "who will stand up to Trump". My worry is that politicians are now incentivised to do this with maximum theatrics but poor strategy - for emotional reasons, and because of who it will piss off. I fear that anyone who proposes something actually clever will be punished for not thumping their chest hard enough, for insufficiently performative threats of national self-harm
For instance I think retaliatory tariffs that *Canadians Pay* will hurt us more than them (the Australians have formally taken this position) but most people I talk to get big mad when I say it - "so you want to just ROLL OVER and do nothing?!" Apparently they agree with Trump that tariffs somehow make the other country pay
I also question the game theory analysis when it comes to Trump. I don't say this as a compliment to him but he is such a chaos agent that I don't think the usual game theory analysis applies. I mean, it might - again, he is sui generis and humility demands that we acknowledge that nobody can be sure of the right approach to take.
But I completely agree with you on retaliatory tariffs and like the Australian example. Of course the Australians have the advantage of not being infected by the too-common repulsive Canadian nationalism that manifests itself in smug superiority/disdain for the USA. That is an extra hazard our leaders have to navigate.
Tariffs on American imports need to be carefully tailored to hit American pain points and minimize impact on Canadians. American alcohol imports are an excellent example of how to do this, especially for industries concentrated in red states like bourbon production. Canada’s got ample domestic production, and the loss of Canadian sales is one more blow to an American industry that’s already struggling.
Agree that blanket tariffs are not going to help. Where we do use tariffs it needs to be more targeted on stuff that we can source elsewhere
I don't see how a tariff that makes Canadians pay more for a potpourri of consumer products including cosmetics, ALL clothing, many meats, wood materials, appliances, etc., etc, puts pressure on Trump to back off. Most of these products are not brought into Canada from USA, they mostly come to Canada from Asia.
Too late. We either play the game, or we lose this election.
"Wild Weasel" alternatives (with Canadian native species): "Berserk(er) Beaver", "Gaga Geese", "Maniac Moose", "Lunatic Lynx"
A visual turns up serendipitously
https://www.threads.net/@susanromaine13/post/DF--jW1yjlR
Funny. A maniacal moose in a dark bus, while not fun for the moose, but devastating for the bus.
Also something not so native to Canada...we place Terrible Tribbles into our grain shipments south.
None of these countermeasures are nice for the weaponized fauna, so we would have to reward them adequately for their contributions - I am thinking not just put them on our stamps and money.
If not too much dilution of the brand, we might consider a team effort - Maniac Moose (tm) stands on rad to stop the bus, Looney Lynx (tm) jumps on for the inside job, Gaga Geese (tm) "patrol" from above and bomb anyone trying to escape, and Berserker Beaver (tm) - I have not forgotten them - fell trees behind the bus to block it in.
It's unfortunate that Sam Cooper's examination of the relationships that bind Carney and Trudeau together (https://www.thebureau.news/p/the-carney-trudeau-nexus-how-financial), ties that include Dominic Barton, Jin Liqun and Gerry Butts among others, seems to be largely ignored by the Canadian press. Too many people seem to suddenly be all in on Carney like he's some sort of messiah. I will believe he's a centrist when he scraps Trudeau's so-called "assault-style firearms compensation program" and the equally useless "handgun freeze". In case he hasn't noticed, they haven't done anything to reduce firearms crime in Canada, and the "program" will cost taxpayers a ton of money that we can't afford to be spending on Trudeau's anti-gun lobby pandering.
Also, didn't he just change the carbon tax rate to zero, and not actually eliminate the legislation itself? From what I understand, the law is still on the books. I guess we would need a functioning Parliament to actually get rid of it completely. I wonder if BC, QC and NWT will get rid of their own carbon taxes now?
Good point on the firearms and on the carbon law. Carney is not a centrist. Carney is feinting a turn to the centre to fool a lot of people and if he wins the election will turn to hard left, Trudeau style. Then right away he will start friggin' around with the carbon tax so it is less obvious, but will hurt ordinary people in the pocket book same as the old one, "modifying the behaviour".
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"...
That is why both bosses and their party need to be voted out resoundingly. The odour of the old boss will be lingering around far too long anyway and manifest itself in the direction given by the momentum the party has been, is and will be subjected to - crappier and crappier economy, etc.
Worse
Chinese United Front operatives were seen mobilizing support for Carney and Parm Bains in Richmond. This puts Carney, at the very least, part of Coopers reporting. I agree, I would like to see a real investigation into the information Cooper reports. Maybe if the libs are out of office we will see a new direction with the RCMP investigations.
So do Liberal partisans believe that Carney will move to the centre or do they believe that the Liberals are lying and are totally okay with that because they want the Liberals to win regardless of what it takes. And they love the spendthrift lefty Liberal Party that Justin created?
Re: Drugs
Was Justin Trudeau conspiring with the Chinese to enact a North American Opium addiction? No
Was he complicit about the Fentanyl crisis? Absolutely. The media shouldn’t give him a clean chit for being complicit.
Also, you folks should come down to BC to get a first hand look at the fentanyl. It definitely feels like it’s worse than you folks at the Line think.
Regarding the Bureau's deep dive into China's role using Canada regarding the transnational drug trade it operates, what is apparent is that Canada plays an important role in many vital aspects. This is real and the evidence for it quite compelling. Sadly, it's bee true for decades.
Like regional manufacturing hubs for industries, Canada is very much part of the whole for this Chinese backed North American drug trade. This is where federal complicity comes into it... not by the quantity of the drugs made and shipped (only 1% is the talking point and based on a comparison of intercepted shipments) but by keeping the drug trade infrastructure safe from law enforcement! That's why complicity shows up as almost no important convictions to date, no named political actors facilitating this safety from prosecution, little if any action taken on inside information from other security services but
international investigations blown, and so on. The lack of meaningful action and general media silence about this very real problem demonstrates some measure of this official complicity.
Also, Canada plays a very important role handling all the business aspects of the drug trade (like money laundering and the role of Canadian banks to facilitate real estate investments and gambling to 'clean' the money, drug manufacturing equipment procurement, lack of federal oversight on port control for import/export of drugs and their components, creating and maintaining political safe havens for many not least of whom are directly involved liaising between the Hong Kong Triads and the cartels, etc.).
Complicity also shows up with how our allies treat Canada: with legitimate suspicion and distrust. This is very real. This is the 'security' aspect highlighted by Trump. It's a very real concern raised by real allies whether or not Canadian media wish to claim it is not compelling evidence of complicity. At the very least it's based on well founded suspicion plus the factual lack of meaningful interference with the trade by Canada.
When you throw in all the government allowances made for Chinese business (say, Huawei 5G) or research (Winnipeg lab scandal) or military procurement (ammunition) or policing of the diaspora (campus 'police stations' used to pressure immigrants without criticism or complaint by Canadian officials), or the very rare federal permits originally granted for 'mining' but withdrawn only after US complaints (Hope Bay as a deep water port in central North West Territories ostensibly to revamp a gold mine along the Northwest Passage), a pattern emerges when every commission (Hogue) and federal investigations into longstanding U.S. concerns about Chinese activities in Canada (Project Sidewinder from the 90s) we see a pattern. That pattern is very real whether one wishes to call it a 'conspiracy' or not. For federal officials in important positions having their pictures taken many times and in different locations with these Triad/Chinese/cartel liaisons demonstrates at the very least easy access to the highest levels of Canadian officialdom. That in itself shows legitimate reason for deepening suspicion for complicity. This suspected complicity is the root cause of ongoing security concerns not just with the US but with many important security allies when it comes to the illegal drug trade. And we're doing basically nothing about it. That, too, is suspicious to reasonable people.
If Poilievre want to 'stop the crime' as he likes to say, then campaigning with a plan to empower Canadian law enforcement to address these very real and ongoing security concerns and legitimate suspicions would fit the domestic bill nicely while, at the same time, gain immediate and serious US approval. And that would be a good thing.
Over the course of my life I have seen Canada's national sense of 'not American' (real Canadian history) morph into 'anti-American'. This has got to stop. We are not at war with the US; rather, we are being subjected to an unwanted but much needed intervention. If we don't handle this correctly, the country fractures and ends on our watch.
I don’t think it’s too difficult to see the future here.
The conservative lead in the polls wasn’t a lead for the party or Poilievre, it was a lead against Trudeau. PP fuel is anger and truculence that he capitalized upon with the mood of the country that was fed up with Trudeau and the progressive policies. The boogie man is gone so I agree with Jen and Matt, PP and team need to make a hard pivot to regain trust or they are going to be stuck with a dumb look on their face after a Liberal victory (majority or minority).
I would suggest that the Liberals need to focus on appeasing Alberta and not Quebec. Our equivalent ‘to build Hurricanes and Spitfires’ is to keep Alberta in Canada. Quebec realizes that their best hope to retain their culture and language is a united Canada. If Alberta gets upset with liberal policy regarding natural resource extraction including fossil fuels, it’s not hard to imagine them separating from the federation and entering into a formal alliance with the US, possibly even statehood. If that were to materialize I can see the federation splintering and entering into similar arrangements, Québécois will eventually become a language that only Quebec grandparents remember.
If Carney wants to demonstrate that he is swinging the Party back towards the centre, he would be wise to get rid of some of the more unpopular policies, regulations and legislation of the Trudeau era. A perfect example that comes to mind is the firearm file. That would be popular in Alberta and even regain lost Liberal votes from jilted firearm owners across the country. That file in particular showed it was ineffective if not counter productive and a financial waste. I’m sure there are similar files within digital media and environmental regulations.
Conservatives better wake up or the liberals are going to throw a rabid badger into your campaign bus!
RE firearms and the Liberal party, where do 80-90% of the illegal firearms come from? Virtually all police forces says from the US. Ergo the intelligent move is to get CBSA to up it's game. What have the Liberals consistently done since at least Chretien? Blame domestic firearms owners who are probably the most scrutinized group in Canada. Why? Because CBSA comes under the purview of the feds and to admit the US gun connection is to admit CBSA is shit at it's job and the Liberals are unable/unwilling to do their mandated jobs. Toss in bribed media and bob's your uncle. F#cking brutal how naive Canadians are or as the Swiss say.....apathetic....still.
Could CBSA be better at the job if Federal gov't's (of both parties) been willing to up spending for CBSA to hire/train additional staff? I think that's been the real issue, not that CBSA is shit at the job.
If CBSA started doing more searches which slowed down the process of coming into the country how long would it be before returning Canadians started bitching & moaning about delays?
I did my part on Crackbook to up your algorithms…I hope.
Carbon Tax Butts and Telford are gone as well hopefully!! They almost ruined Ontario and gave it a good shot for the country World Socialists, now there's a good chance Carney is no different giv n his past involvement in Green anti carbon organizations
Don’t hold your breath. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Telford or Butts. They’re like a bad penny, they always turn up.
I think Butts is back.
Re Justin's legacy. The constant theme is Justin did great at navigating Canada through COVID!!! My memory is he stifled Canada's drug industry such that we could not produce a domestic supply of vaccine; he threw his lot in with developing a vaccine with China and that imploded; he let the stock of PPE expire then sent planes to China to bring PPE but the planes returned empty; he tried to invoke emergency powers to suspend parliament; he called people racist for suggesting borders should be shut from China; he also called the truckers and supporters racist and a fringe minority, despite over 100,000 donating to the truckers; he carried on with CERB far to long and turned it into vote buying, with result many folks who could have worked took the summer off (including members of my family); the cash pouring into the economy added to inflation; he stoked and fanned the flames of COVID and only Justin and his cabal could save Canada; he called a needless and opportunist COVID election..........and I'm probably missing a few things. In my view Justin is no COVID hero.
It was the partners-with-China vaccine thing that pushed me over the edge.
He tried to get carte blanch spending without parliamentary oversight. Thank God for the opposition on that one. And the Portapique thing was also during Covid. The order in council was an opportunist move while the public was busy with other stuff, like sourdough and survival.
Fuck your "nobody looks good in a hardhat". I look great in a hardhat :p
We should help French double their nuclear stockpiles faster. Ask for them to secretly station some nukes with their launch systems in Canada. Once we have 5 warheads, we can announce we have nukes. Announcing our intent publicly would incur DC’s wrath, doing it in secret would humiliate DC.
It would be such a crazy move that it will freak DC out that they would impeach Trump immediately. I bet $1000 on it.
A French nuclear attack submarine docked in Halifax form unannounced port visit on Thursday. Not loaded with ballistic missiles but similar to the type the RCN is looking to buy. The French are mercenaries when it comes to arms sales, ant the have Rafaele fighter jets in that could replace the F-35.
Rafales have a huge backorder. We won’t get them until 2040s. I think it is stupid to cancel F-35s
I used to work for DND and travelled to all their flying bases to do work. A F35 and F18 (ours) rubbed each other on the ground. The US impounded our jet to make sure we could never analyse the paint from the F35. Now when a F35 we buy breaks and needs repair but can't fly do we put it on a flatbed and truck it to the US? We actually need autonomy for everything we buy. Ask Ukraine what happens if you don't have 100% control of equipment.
You don’t get autonomy by reacting in a knee jerk manner. We can learn from the Koreans about how to build capabilities
I like your dream. It contains a substantial dose of irony.
Crash Test Carney. He was put behind the wheel of the Liberal Party of Canada and fired off into the Wall of Public Opinion. Let's see if he survives.
I respectfully suggest the term “Bedlam Weasel”.
Thanks for a really good belly laugh. I will be equally caustic once I get to it.
Great podcast—lots of good points. I’ve long given up any illusions that I can predict the future, but I do think Carney wants to move the Liberal Party to the right. The fact that his cabinet largely consists of the same cast of characters doesn’t lead me to reassess this analysis. In my view, this is a "keep the lights on" cabinet in advance of an election call. While governing is significantly reduced by convention during an election, it doesn’t stop entirely—especially in this election, given the unpredictability of our southern neighbors and broader global instability. In this context I think it would be a dumb move to appoint a slate of inexperienced ministers just to make a political point. To me, this signals pragmatism rather than political showmanship, which I support. However, I acknowledge that doing the right thing, if it doesn’t play well politically, can be a fatal flaw. Time will tell if Carney’s political instincts will match his understanding of economic theory.
The Liberals and Trudeau have focused for 10 years on the upper levels of Maslow’s hierarchy while reducing Canada’s ability to meet the foundational safety and physiological needs. Can or will the “new” Liberals rebuild Canada’s foundational needs? I have serious doubts.
I have more faith that the Conservatives can do this.