Federal update as Carney majority looms. Thoughts on life under the missiles. On when history becomes a fetish, and breaking news from Toronto leaves Matt annoyed.
Pierre should have reached out to the Trump camp? Sorry but no. This would have backfired a million percent. Even Danielle Smith (who as a premier, has much better cause to do these trips than an opposition leader), got raked over the coals for her efforts.
The Liberals would have torn him apart. And so too, I expect, would Canadians, who still (unfairly IMO) view him as too Trump-adjacent.
Remember, a year ago everyone was saying Pierre had to come out more forcefully AGAINST Trump. Suppose instead he'd gone and had a nice little chat with MAGA types at Mar-a-Lago. Suicide.
Richard Nixon could go to China. George McGovern could not.
He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. It's like with the Conservatives and just about everything related to Donald Trump. Every word out of Trump's mouth, every action he takes, no matter what it is, helps Mark Carney and the Liberals.
I'm increasingly accepting that it's going to be impossible to change governments here while Trump remains in power. His election has undone an entire generation of progress for the Canadian Conservative movement. Too many brains are broken because of the psychological trauma and betrayal of a semi-hostile US. The arrogant low-level anti-Americanism that has always persisted in a lot of Canadians has been fully weaponized, especially among the old and those of low-information. The question now is whether or not we also have to wait until everyone currently over 70 has literally died off.
Of course none of this makes even a tiny bit of sense, but you know what they say about trying to reason people out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
(Edit: Amazingly, it was accepted wisdom in 2024 that it didn't matter to the Liberal/Conservative dynamic if Trump was re-elected, or at least didn't matter much. It was so obvious that Poilievre wasn't Trump, that the issues were different, and that it was a tired, ridiculous and desperate move to try to associate the two. This is what Pierre's 'apple encounter' was about if you remember. Hur dur "Trump Playbook". That narrative looked so done. But no, it just plowed ahead and became the narrative anyway. I guess nobody anticipated how fucking psycho Trump would be this time around though.)
conservatives as a party keep being stubborn and sticking with Pierre. They can blame every external force they want,but ultimately they keep tripling down on a guy who just isn't going to get them over the finish line. If going from the lead he had, to losing the seat count, to now at a point where they would be lucky to get 90 seats, isn't enough to change leadership, what is? True success comes from looking in the mirror and making changes based on the hand you are being dealt. The party will keep eroding until they come to grips with the man at the top. Period.
Pierre's biggest mistake was not propping up the NDP to split the left vote.
As long as Quebec is part of Canada the majority of Canadians will be left leaning. The only way Conservatives win is by splitting the left vote in Ontario and BC.
Danielle Smith going to visit Trump didn't hurt her in the slightest. The polls show the UCP up by 12 points over the NDP.
Perhaps Alberta, being private sector heavy, understands that visiting your best customer when there is a problem is what must be done in business?
Nevertheless, Trump didn't create the undercurrent of anti-Americanism in Canada. It's been here since the United Empire Loyalists were on the wrong side of the US Revolution.
And yet they miss the most obvious thing: almost nobody on earth right now can go against Carney. Carney does conservative policy →he gains vote from the left. Canada's political spectrum is now from Values Carney to Davos Carney. Be ready to see Canada's political map become like Singapore.
Did I just listen to 9 minutes of Gerson pontificating about what would constitute an appropriate context for owning a signed copy of mein kampf? This is neither smart nor thoughtful, it’s intellectual cowardice disguised as smarminess.
1. Owning an artifact does not constitute endorsement unless proof of the contrary
2. Are we so afraid of our own shadow that we can’t confront history’s worst episodes?
3. Is cancel culture still a thing? He should have told them to pound sand and that what he owned was none of their business.
This is why I think Canada is cooked: we can’t engage in good faith with difficult and challenging ideas, and instead prefer acting like ostriches, pretending everything is fine while issues are ignored.
I genuinely ask you this Jen: how could you possibly justify the cancellation of that guy for owning a signed artifact, short of incontrovertible proof that he’s a nazi supporter? I genuinely want to know.
Bob Gale was a collector. He had 1859 letter from anti-slavery advocate John Brown, as well as letters from George Washington, Winston Churchill and Vatican archives. That does not mean he endorses everything those people ever said or believed.
Ironically, the person who complained about Bob's book collection was a communist. How many people did communists kill since Karl Marx? Could Bob had a signed copy of "The Communist Manifesto"?
It had always been fairly apparent what Stalin was but he was sanitized when Hitler attacked Russia. The he became good old Uncle Joe. Before WW2 the American journalists who were Communists lied about they saw.
Many visited Ukraine and pretended that they did not see the corpses or even the skeletal , begging children. On return to the US they lied again and said Russia truly was a workers paradise.
But yes, the full stories about the gulag, torture in Lubyanka prison and the sheer numbers of those who disappeared became really known into 1970s and into the 1980s.
The discussion about having to establish yourself as a sufficiently diversified collector before it's appropriate to own Nazi items is ridiculous nonsense.
My grandfather brought a pristine SA knife back from the war. I ended up with it. It looks impressive and menacing, while representing an ideology that any sane person will agree is comic-book level demented and evil. Am I not allowed to have that?
Are we going to be like Australia and ban private ownership of any "scary" historical artifacts? (Australia is actually far more authoritarian than Canada and loves a good ban)
I'm sorry I'm a fucking grownup and I will own whatever I want.
That whole affair is a fantastic example of people getting "technically offended" by something superficially somewhat difficult to defend in a single sentence soundbite and using it to disingenuously cancel someone. I thought we were past this kind of stupidity.
Trump inviting Canadian Jews to seek asylum is genuinely funny and brilliant!
On a more serious note, Canadian Jews are pretty much all counting their passports. I've got dual American citizenship. Michigan's a big No!!!! But we hear Alaska's friendly to Jews. Lots of other states are good candidates, too.
My wife has British citizenship. It's even worse over there, of course, but just in case, it's nice to have that card in our hand.
And of course there's Israel. Yeah, the Ayatollahs and all the terrorist organizations they fund and train are doing their best to wipe the Jews off the map, but (a) they're losing and (b) the Israeli government's actually on our side.
Not so here. Do you see Carney spending any political capital to come to our defence? Nope, me neither.
Brian, I agree that the idea of DJT et al inviting Canadian Jews to the US or, even, applying for status as refugees is quite amusing. On the other hand, perhaps that is about the only thing that might - I stress, MIGHT - get Canada to take seriously the situation here with respect to anti-Semitism.
Therefore, the US Embassy in Ottawa should forward the suggestion to the White House.
Matt: "When was the last time that a floor crosser became influential?
Jen: "Belinda Stronach."
That was my initial thought as well but then I thought about it for about 30 seconds and remembered David Emerson, elected as a Liberal in the 2004 election, after which he was Minister of Industry under Paul Martin, but was included as Minister of International Trade in Stephen Harper's first cabinet after the 2006 federal election.
I recall that there was no announcement of Emerson's defection to the Conservatives and there was no announcement of the new cabinet before it was sworn in. It was only as reporters were standing outside Rideau Hall waiting for that announcement that it became obvious as Emerson simply walked up and into Rideau Hall, leaving the various reporters absolutely gob smacked.
She dragged out the Martin government for like 10 months longer when her floor crossing let their budget pass in 2005. After that she did essentially nothing. She had a high profile before this due to her famous name, her run for CPC leadership, and the fact that she was an attractive and relatively young woman in politics which was rarer at the time. She got re-elected despite the LPC meltdown in 2006 but decided she was done a year later.
James Moore (technically didn't cross the floor, but after retiring from Parliament in 2015 he immediately went to schilling for the Desmarais family and their Chinese business interests in the extremely Liberal body known as the Canada China Business Council, which is essentially part of the Trudeau-Carney Global Affairs Department)
Jen Gerson's comment on how Canadians celebrate people who go abroad is why I am very skeptical of all these comments that "Canada's relationship with US is now ruptured and will never be the same".
When our best people can only make it big by going south, Canada will forever be the CHL while US be the NHL (and ironically no Canadian teams have won Stanley Cup in over 3 decades). Who is the most iconic Canadian? Sidney Crosby or Celine Dion, and both of them have not resided in Canada for decades.
When Canadian institutions won't even invest in the country what does that tell our own people? Kids are smart, they see that actions speak louder than words.
Half my high school graduating class doesn't live in Canada anymore. Canada is a better place to raise a family, it's a nice place to grow up, but when even your elites don't believe in the place why should I?
As with every nation, Canada must decide what it intends to be in this new world order we are living in. I think that process is happening now with a referendum in Alberta this year and Quebec will be having one unless the PQ self destructs. It looks to me like a great opportunity to update confederation. I'd say Ottawa might be interested but since the Prime Minster doesn't visit Canada very often........(cough)
Watch what people do, not what they say. Canada has become a hotel for the cashed up denizens of the 3rd world, for good or bad. Immigration bankrolls a country that revolves around boomers and their wants and needs.
Canada was supposed to get its economic act together, but that was a bust.
A wise man once told me, most economic issues in Canada start and end with Quebec Inc. and he wasn't wrong.
That's true, the numbers don't lie. We also need the dynamism of immigrants. They are the folks who far beyond our numbers start new businesses, invest money in the economy, etc.
People in small town Canada continuously complain about how a certain ethnic group is very visible in buying up businesses in Canada. I just tell them, they are the ones who believe in the country with their money, unlike the old stock Bay St types.
Enjoyed this episode, especially the last segment, had a few chuckles. I was a little excited it started off with some review of Carney finally. Its been a year. But then Jen went right back i to the negativity of Pierre. Just one episode please no Pierre lol. Besides the fact Carney hasn't accomplished anything why aren't we mentioning the economy? Thats my wheelhouse. I know the upper middle class aren't affected by it, but millions of Canadians are. I deal with the pain of it in my work. inflation, especially food, jobs, wow look at Fri report, carbon tax upon carbon tax. Apr 1 won't be pretty. also our Jewish community? action not all talk.
There is so much local good work Carney could do but he is oblivious to what's on the ground at home. Sad. Good podcast though.
It wasn't that long ago where those of us criticizing Trudeau before it was trendy to criticize Trudeau were accused of Trudeau derangement syndrome by G&G. But at least Trudeau was PM and was making some really bad political decisions. This whackadoo obsession Jen has with Pollievre, a lowly opposition leader who's damned if he does damned if he doesn't really is next level. I do miss the old Line.
For a guy who "can't win" the Liberals and the media sure seem to want him gone. The disappointment among them was palpable after his confirmation at the CPC convention and the attacks reached a new pitch.
The polls right now are the product of Trump's attack on Venezuela, rhetoric about annexing Greenland (gee remember that?) and the current war in Iran. They are unlikely to get better until Trump is gone, or maybe seriously constrained and facing perpetual indictments if the Democrats re-take both houses in November. If we are looking at an election called for two days before the US mid-terms, we will know the Liberals share my thinking.
I remember that when the very good Erin O Toole became the leader the media were briefly fair to him, then it seemed that he could nothing right. Yet it was only near the end of the ten year reign of the smug, vacuous , divisive and incompetent Justin Trudeau that the media began to go after him.
O'Toole was the test case that proved to Conservatives that no matter how "acceptable" a candidate they ran, no matter how moderate, reasonable, polite, contrite, willing to cooperate with the media the candidate was, they would still get painted with all the usual bullshit about how unacceptably right wing whatever their positions were.
This was one of the things that led directly to the election of Poilievre as leader. If you're going to face all the same criticisms anyway, might as well get someone who will actually follow through on policy changes.
But O'Toole would have won if not for Covid. I believe this 100%. The Liberals have been absurdly lucky. Trudeau could have been a 1.5 term PM and we could have averted a lot of problems. I think Erin would have been broadly popular and would likely still be PM today.
A good opposition leader does not guarantee a good governor. A great individual producer is not de facto a great leader. A great player is not necessarily a good coach. And so on…
I said he’s a great opposition leader, and now you’ve moved the goalposts. I engaged with you against my better judgement and now regret it. Enjoy your evening.
Agree. Even as Jen was explaining that Carney's Free Pass is because he doesn't appear as a clown, my thoughts were the opposite. There is no Free Pass as the substance of Policies and initiatives to get our economy healthy is what's important.
When I lived in Toronto in the 3rd quarter of the last century (Pronounced “Tronna” by those who didn’t have to follow the CBC style guide to keep their jobs) the police had an acronym governing racial/ethnic/ religious conflicts - “FIDO” which stood for “F@@k it, drive on”. Our neighbors to the south I notice use “FAFO”. As a result a Muslim terrorist driving a pickup full of explosives in a Jewish children’s school in Michigan was shot by private security and burned to death in his vehicle. And another Muslim terrorist who shot 3 people at a ROTC group at a Virginia university was “subdued” by ROTC students with at least one knife and is now with his fellow martyrs. And there were no clutched pearls in evidence among the respective politicians.
It would be nice if Canadian police would suspend the FIDO rule or at least only use it when FAFO is taking place…
It's a telling commentary on Canadian politics when MP floor crossers (AKA MP floor lamps) have become acceptable. As Jen notes that is the only 'power' these nobody MP's have left. Yes, if you have rationalized 'power' as what we used to call 'pork barrel politics' at best or 'naked corruption' at worst. I'm with you on a lot of things, Jen, but not on this one. Floor crossers who move to simply enrich themselves are lower than whale puke, in my opinion. That's not representative government, that's reprehensible government.
Oh well. As Metallica sings, 'and nothin' else matters'.
Matt early in the pod says 'I just don't think the country's changed all that much in 12 months' and then shortly afterward 'I'm not saying I would say it's gotten worse'. Then, for the rest of the podcast (save the segment on the Middle East), both Matt and Jen note several examples how things have gotten worse. Getting worse, I expect, will continue. My expectations may be a problem, unless you think my expectations are for things to stay the same, or improve. Those are not my expectations.
Oh well. As Freddy Mercury used to sing, 'nothin really matters......to meeeeeeeeee.'
Jen nails it when she says Canadians are in self-delusion, putting all their national pride on the fact that Mr. Carney seems well received outside Canada with 'important people'. This is true, and the same thing happened for the first year and a half or so of He Who Shall Not Be Named. National self-delusion - we are important because our leader is popular outside of Canada. I also think Matt nails it when he says Mr. Carney looks good considering his predecessor HWSNBN.
“The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”― Voltaire
“It's funny, in a human kind of way, how we can convince ourselves that we're in control at the very moment we are beginning to lose it.”
― William C. Moyers
“Even an obvious fabrication is some comfort when you have few others.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
“We protect our minds by an elaborate system of abstractions, ambiguities, metaphors and similes from the reality we do not wish to know too clearly; we lie to ourselves, in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes”
The majority of Canadians equate the Liberal Parry with Canada. The region where the Liberals are the lowest is also considered the most "unCanadian" region. (Alberta) Conservatives just have to accept it and work to change the structure of that fact.
IMHO, it's time for a separate English and French Conservative Party that doesn't compete with each other. The two cultures are on different planets on so much. Fun fact: if you discount Quebec and francophone ridings in Ontario and New Brunswick, the Conservatives would have won a strong majority.
"The police will be enforcing the law this weekend" signals the abdication of the duty of the police to apply the law consistently and righteously throughout society. Protecting civil society is the prime directive of every lawful society. To fulfill this duty demands that even the most liberal of societies must wield the sword of justice. Failure to do so invites individuals to take the law into their own hands.
I feel like my takeaway from this podcast is that I should buy myself a signed copy of Mein Kampf and then offer to resell it to a TMU history undergrad at a meeting place directly in front of the U.S. consulate. Only from The Line could I discover this ultimate blueprint for maximum chaos!
Interesting discussion. A couple of observations. Firstly, living in the Emirates when missiles are flying and falling is quite different from living in the Emirates when they are not. Secondly, I am certain that a significant percentage of Carney's support is directly attributable to people's recognition that he is just not his predecessor. And p.s. With respect to the much vaunted MOU between the Feds and Alberta, I forecast that TMX will be expanded, Keystone XL will be completed albeit under a different name, and a new pipeline to the Pacific will not be built during Carney's watch, if ever. The sum of these two pipeline capacity expansions will be portrayed as meeting any additional capacity required by industry. Meanwhile, Alberta will increase its industrial carbon tax as per Carney's wishes while very little additional pipeline capacity to the west coast to serve the Asian market will occur.
Bob, add into your calculus that David Eby and the NDP are about to be obliterated. The CP of BC has a lead, with no leader. He just passed arguably the worst budget in BCs history.
I voted for John Horgan, a Premier who was far better at the job than Eby but obviously he didn’t walk on water, either. I foolishly voted for Eby because provincially I have usually voted NDP . Premier Eby is just plain incompetent in nearly every file , even worse he has become secretive in too many matters and will lie/make excuses when caught.
I think I read that it was the worst budget according to economists.
Yes, of course it is. Every non-radical economist will prioritize good stewardship so we have resources to look after people. Eby may be clever but he’s neither smart, nor wise. Just selfish. He’s fucked us royally, (along with reconciliation, housing, productivity, public safety.) worst human I can remember in the job.
Matt, you said back in the day there were stories that brought the newsroom to a stop and everyone gathered around TVs to watch the coverage but now would not even be covered. Can you give an example? I just want to understand your point.
It's not just that the war in Iran isn't seen as shocking, I find that it's barely being covered in Canadian news. I remember the early days of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and it was wall-to-wall, for weeks on end.
I just checked all the major Canadian papers to make sure I'm not crazy. For stories on the top screen of the main page, even tangentially related, there are 2 in the G&M, 1 in the Toronto Star, 1 in the NP, and zero in the Sun. All the top stories in the New York Times are Iran-related. Here this is getting bumped for stuff like human interest stories and sports.
Jerry, we did not. I'm fine with disagreement but this statement is false. Jen laid out a hypothetical in which she's fine with someone crossing the floor, which included if you're an MP and you conclude that your leader is trash. The transcript is available for all to see.
I could do a lot of things. I’m bright. I also read the transcript. Your claim is false. You can just admit an error and apologize instead of getting sulky.
Pierre should have reached out to the Trump camp? Sorry but no. This would have backfired a million percent. Even Danielle Smith (who as a premier, has much better cause to do these trips than an opposition leader), got raked over the coals for her efforts.
The Liberals would have torn him apart. And so too, I expect, would Canadians, who still (unfairly IMO) view him as too Trump-adjacent.
Remember, a year ago everyone was saying Pierre had to come out more forcefully AGAINST Trump. Suppose instead he'd gone and had a nice little chat with MAGA types at Mar-a-Lago. Suicide.
Richard Nixon could go to China. George McGovern could not.
He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. It's like with the Conservatives and just about everything related to Donald Trump. Every word out of Trump's mouth, every action he takes, no matter what it is, helps Mark Carney and the Liberals.
I'm increasingly accepting that it's going to be impossible to change governments here while Trump remains in power. His election has undone an entire generation of progress for the Canadian Conservative movement. Too many brains are broken because of the psychological trauma and betrayal of a semi-hostile US. The arrogant low-level anti-Americanism that has always persisted in a lot of Canadians has been fully weaponized, especially among the old and those of low-information. The question now is whether or not we also have to wait until everyone currently over 70 has literally died off.
Of course none of this makes even a tiny bit of sense, but you know what they say about trying to reason people out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
(Edit: Amazingly, it was accepted wisdom in 2024 that it didn't matter to the Liberal/Conservative dynamic if Trump was re-elected, or at least didn't matter much. It was so obvious that Poilievre wasn't Trump, that the issues were different, and that it was a tired, ridiculous and desperate move to try to associate the two. This is what Pierre's 'apple encounter' was about if you remember. Hur dur "Trump Playbook". That narrative looked so done. But no, it just plowed ahead and became the narrative anyway. I guess nobody anticipated how fucking psycho Trump would be this time around though.)
conservatives as a party keep being stubborn and sticking with Pierre. They can blame every external force they want,but ultimately they keep tripling down on a guy who just isn't going to get them over the finish line. If going from the lead he had, to losing the seat count, to now at a point where they would be lucky to get 90 seats, isn't enough to change leadership, what is? True success comes from looking in the mirror and making changes based on the hand you are being dealt. The party will keep eroding until they come to grips with the man at the top. Period.
I'm sure you were super eager to vote for Harper, Scheer, and O'Toole. All painted as unacceptable by our oh-so-unbiased mainstream news media.
The same was said about Harper.
Pierre's biggest mistake was not propping up the NDP to split the left vote.
As long as Quebec is part of Canada the majority of Canadians will be left leaning. The only way Conservatives win is by splitting the left vote in Ontario and BC.
Danielle Smith going to visit Trump didn't hurt her in the slightest. The polls show the UCP up by 12 points over the NDP.
Perhaps Alberta, being private sector heavy, understands that visiting your best customer when there is a problem is what must be done in business?
Nevertheless, Trump didn't create the undercurrent of anti-Americanism in Canada. It's been here since the United Empire Loyalists were on the wrong side of the US Revolution.
No offense guys, but your pollievre analysis is really getting tired.
And yet they miss the most obvious thing: almost nobody on earth right now can go against Carney. Carney does conservative policy →he gains vote from the left. Canada's political spectrum is now from Values Carney to Davos Carney. Be ready to see Canada's political map become like Singapore.
I've never seen a politician so richly rewarded for doing so little.
Is that what it's about? Thanks for letting me know. I'll pass on giving it a listen. I got tired of their Pierre analysis eons ago.
Did I just listen to 9 minutes of Gerson pontificating about what would constitute an appropriate context for owning a signed copy of mein kampf? This is neither smart nor thoughtful, it’s intellectual cowardice disguised as smarminess.
1. Owning an artifact does not constitute endorsement unless proof of the contrary
2. Are we so afraid of our own shadow that we can’t confront history’s worst episodes?
3. Is cancel culture still a thing? He should have told them to pound sand and that what he owned was none of their business.
This is why I think Canada is cooked: we can’t engage in good faith with difficult and challenging ideas, and instead prefer acting like ostriches, pretending everything is fine while issues are ignored.
I genuinely ask you this Jen: how could you possibly justify the cancellation of that guy for owning a signed artifact, short of incontrovertible proof that he’s a nazi supporter? I genuinely want to know.
Bob Gale was a collector. He had 1859 letter from anti-slavery advocate John Brown, as well as letters from George Washington, Winston Churchill and Vatican archives. That does not mean he endorses everything those people ever said or believed.
Ironically, the person who complained about Bob's book collection was a communist. How many people did communists kill since Karl Marx? Could Bob had a signed copy of "The Communist Manifesto"?
Exactly. Nobody would bat an eye to a signed copy of the Commie Manifesto or Stalin's correspondence, because communism never had its nuremberg trial.
The hypocrisy is sickening. We tolerate people who are openly communists, but a poor sucker with a signed copy of Mein Kampf? Oh that's going too far.
Gimme a break.
I think there are plenty of people who'd bat an eye at Stalin's correspondence. He is, slowly but thoroughly, being seen as the man he really was.
It had always been fairly apparent what Stalin was but he was sanitized when Hitler attacked Russia. The he became good old Uncle Joe. Before WW2 the American journalists who were Communists lied about they saw.
Many visited Ukraine and pretended that they did not see the corpses or even the skeletal , begging children. On return to the US they lied again and said Russia truly was a workers paradise.
But yes, the full stories about the gulag, torture in Lubyanka prison and the sheer numbers of those who disappeared became really known into 1970s and into the 1980s.
The discussion about having to establish yourself as a sufficiently diversified collector before it's appropriate to own Nazi items is ridiculous nonsense.
My grandfather brought a pristine SA knife back from the war. I ended up with it. It looks impressive and menacing, while representing an ideology that any sane person will agree is comic-book level demented and evil. Am I not allowed to have that?
Are we going to be like Australia and ban private ownership of any "scary" historical artifacts? (Australia is actually far more authoritarian than Canada and loves a good ban)
I'm sorry I'm a fucking grownup and I will own whatever I want.
That whole affair is a fantastic example of people getting "technically offended" by something superficially somewhat difficult to defend in a single sentence soundbite and using it to disingenuously cancel someone. I thought we were past this kind of stupidity.
I know this one:
common sense, lol
Trump inviting Canadian Jews to seek asylum is genuinely funny and brilliant!
On a more serious note, Canadian Jews are pretty much all counting their passports. I've got dual American citizenship. Michigan's a big No!!!! But we hear Alaska's friendly to Jews. Lots of other states are good candidates, too.
My wife has British citizenship. It's even worse over there, of course, but just in case, it's nice to have that card in our hand.
And of course there's Israel. Yeah, the Ayatollahs and all the terrorist organizations they fund and train are doing their best to wipe the Jews off the map, but (a) they're losing and (b) the Israeli government's actually on our side.
Not so here. Do you see Carney spending any political capital to come to our defence? Nope, me neither.
Brian, I agree that the idea of DJT et al inviting Canadian Jews to the US or, even, applying for status as refugees is quite amusing. On the other hand, perhaps that is about the only thing that might - I stress, MIGHT - get Canada to take seriously the situation here with respect to anti-Semitism.
Therefore, the US Embassy in Ottawa should forward the suggestion to the White House.
Trump is at his best when he trolls. I'm here for it.
His trolling is so repetitive and forumulaic, its amazing so many people still get triggered by it. Its entertaining without question though!
Matt: "When was the last time that a floor crosser became influential?
Jen: "Belinda Stronach."
That was my initial thought as well but then I thought about it for about 30 seconds and remembered David Emerson, elected as a Liberal in the 2004 election, after which he was Minister of Industry under Paul Martin, but was included as Minister of International Trade in Stephen Harper's first cabinet after the 2006 federal election.
I recall that there was no announcement of Emerson's defection to the Conservatives and there was no announcement of the new cabinet before it was sworn in. It was only as reporters were standing outside Rideau Hall waiting for that announcement that it became obvious as Emerson simply walked up and into Rideau Hall, leaving the various reporters absolutely gob smacked.
She dragged out the Martin government for like 10 months longer when her floor crossing let their budget pass in 2005. After that she did essentially nothing. She had a high profile before this due to her famous name, her run for CPC leadership, and the fact that she was an attractive and relatively young woman in politics which was rarer at the time. She got re-elected despite the LPC meltdown in 2006 but decided she was done a year later.
Scott Brison.
James Moore (technically didn't cross the floor, but after retiring from Parliament in 2015 he immediately went to schilling for the Desmarais family and their Chinese business interests in the extremely Liberal body known as the Canada China Business Council, which is essentially part of the Trudeau-Carney Global Affairs Department)
That's how I remember
Jen Gerson's comment on how Canadians celebrate people who go abroad is why I am very skeptical of all these comments that "Canada's relationship with US is now ruptured and will never be the same".
When our best people can only make it big by going south, Canada will forever be the CHL while US be the NHL (and ironically no Canadian teams have won Stanley Cup in over 3 decades). Who is the most iconic Canadian? Sidney Crosby or Celine Dion, and both of them have not resided in Canada for decades.
Canadians do not support people who get too successful for their own good. Too uppity.
It goes against the equality fetish that so many Canadians have.
They ignore the fact you can't have dynamism, ambition and equality at the same time.
That's where the money is.
When Canadian institutions won't even invest in the country what does that tell our own people? Kids are smart, they see that actions speak louder than words.
Half my high school graduating class doesn't live in Canada anymore. Canada is a better place to raise a family, it's a nice place to grow up, but when even your elites don't believe in the place why should I?
As with every nation, Canada must decide what it intends to be in this new world order we are living in. I think that process is happening now with a referendum in Alberta this year and Quebec will be having one unless the PQ self destructs. It looks to me like a great opportunity to update confederation. I'd say Ottawa might be interested but since the Prime Minster doesn't visit Canada very often........(cough)
Watch what people do, not what they say. Canada has become a hotel for the cashed up denizens of the 3rd world, for good or bad. Immigration bankrolls a country that revolves around boomers and their wants and needs.
Canada was supposed to get its economic act together, but that was a bust.
A wise man once told me, most economic issues in Canada start and end with Quebec Inc. and he wasn't wrong.
We have a declining birthrate so we need immigrants or we can pay more taxes.
That's true, the numbers don't lie. We also need the dynamism of immigrants. They are the folks who far beyond our numbers start new businesses, invest money in the economy, etc.
People in small town Canada continuously complain about how a certain ethnic group is very visible in buying up businesses in Canada. I just tell them, they are the ones who believe in the country with their money, unlike the old stock Bay St types.
Some people believe what they want to believe
Enjoyed this episode, especially the last segment, had a few chuckles. I was a little excited it started off with some review of Carney finally. Its been a year. But then Jen went right back i to the negativity of Pierre. Just one episode please no Pierre lol. Besides the fact Carney hasn't accomplished anything why aren't we mentioning the economy? Thats my wheelhouse. I know the upper middle class aren't affected by it, but millions of Canadians are. I deal with the pain of it in my work. inflation, especially food, jobs, wow look at Fri report, carbon tax upon carbon tax. Apr 1 won't be pretty. also our Jewish community? action not all talk.
There is so much local good work Carney could do but he is oblivious to what's on the ground at home. Sad. Good podcast though.
It wasn't that long ago where those of us criticizing Trudeau before it was trendy to criticize Trudeau were accused of Trudeau derangement syndrome by G&G. But at least Trudeau was PM and was making some really bad political decisions. This whackadoo obsession Jen has with Pollievre, a lowly opposition leader who's damned if he does damned if he doesn't really is next level. I do miss the old Line.
He's damned because he can't win, btw.
That’s okay. If he is destined to be the best opposition leader we’ve had in a long time, so be it. He sure scares the Liberal Party, though.
For a guy who "can't win" the Liberals and the media sure seem to want him gone. The disappointment among them was palpable after his confirmation at the CPC convention and the attacks reached a new pitch.
The polls right now are the product of Trump's attack on Venezuela, rhetoric about annexing Greenland (gee remember that?) and the current war in Iran. They are unlikely to get better until Trump is gone, or maybe seriously constrained and facing perpetual indictments if the Democrats re-take both houses in November. If we are looking at an election called for two days before the US mid-terms, we will know the Liberals share my thinking.
I remember that when the very good Erin O Toole became the leader the media were briefly fair to him, then it seemed that he could nothing right. Yet it was only near the end of the ten year reign of the smug, vacuous , divisive and incompetent Justin Trudeau that the media began to go after him.
O'Toole was the test case that proved to Conservatives that no matter how "acceptable" a candidate they ran, no matter how moderate, reasonable, polite, contrite, willing to cooperate with the media the candidate was, they would still get painted with all the usual bullshit about how unacceptably right wing whatever their positions were.
This was one of the things that led directly to the election of Poilievre as leader. If you're going to face all the same criticisms anyway, might as well get someone who will actually follow through on policy changes.
But O'Toole would have won if not for Covid. I believe this 100%. The Liberals have been absurdly lucky. Trudeau could have been a 1.5 term PM and we could have averted a lot of problems. I think Erin would have been broadly popular and would likely still be PM today.
A good opposition leader does not guarantee a good governor. A great individual producer is not de facto a great leader. A great player is not necessarily a good coach. And so on…
I said he’s a great opposition leader, and now you’ve moved the goalposts. I engaged with you against my better judgement and now regret it. Enjoy your evening.
Agree. Even as Jen was explaining that Carney's Free Pass is because he doesn't appear as a clown, my thoughts were the opposite. There is no Free Pass as the substance of Policies and initiatives to get our economy healthy is what's important.
When I lived in Toronto in the 3rd quarter of the last century (Pronounced “Tronna” by those who didn’t have to follow the CBC style guide to keep their jobs) the police had an acronym governing racial/ethnic/ religious conflicts - “FIDO” which stood for “F@@k it, drive on”. Our neighbors to the south I notice use “FAFO”. As a result a Muslim terrorist driving a pickup full of explosives in a Jewish children’s school in Michigan was shot by private security and burned to death in his vehicle. And another Muslim terrorist who shot 3 people at a ROTC group at a Virginia university was “subdued” by ROTC students with at least one knife and is now with his fellow martyrs. And there were no clutched pearls in evidence among the respective politicians.
It would be nice if Canadian police would suspend the FIDO rule or at least only use it when FAFO is taking place…
It's a telling commentary on Canadian politics when MP floor crossers (AKA MP floor lamps) have become acceptable. As Jen notes that is the only 'power' these nobody MP's have left. Yes, if you have rationalized 'power' as what we used to call 'pork barrel politics' at best or 'naked corruption' at worst. I'm with you on a lot of things, Jen, but not on this one. Floor crossers who move to simply enrich themselves are lower than whale puke, in my opinion. That's not representative government, that's reprehensible government.
Oh well. As Metallica sings, 'and nothin' else matters'.
Matt early in the pod says 'I just don't think the country's changed all that much in 12 months' and then shortly afterward 'I'm not saying I would say it's gotten worse'. Then, for the rest of the podcast (save the segment on the Middle East), both Matt and Jen note several examples how things have gotten worse. Getting worse, I expect, will continue. My expectations may be a problem, unless you think my expectations are for things to stay the same, or improve. Those are not my expectations.
Oh well. As Freddy Mercury used to sing, 'nothin really matters......to meeeeeeeeee.'
Jen nails it when she says Canadians are in self-delusion, putting all their national pride on the fact that Mr. Carney seems well received outside Canada with 'important people'. This is true, and the same thing happened for the first year and a half or so of He Who Shall Not Be Named. National self-delusion - we are important because our leader is popular outside of Canada. I also think Matt nails it when he says Mr. Carney looks good considering his predecessor HWSNBN.
“The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”― Voltaire
“It's funny, in a human kind of way, how we can convince ourselves that we're in control at the very moment we are beginning to lose it.”
― William C. Moyers
“Even an obvious fabrication is some comfort when you have few others.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
“We protect our minds by an elaborate system of abstractions, ambiguities, metaphors and similes from the reality we do not wish to know too clearly; we lie to ourselves, in order that we may still have the excuse of ignorance, the alibi of stupidity and incomprehension, possessing which we can continue with a good conscience to commit and tolerate the most monstrous crimes”
― Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree and other essays
The majority of Canadians equate the Liberal Parry with Canada. The region where the Liberals are the lowest is also considered the most "unCanadian" region. (Alberta) Conservatives just have to accept it and work to change the structure of that fact.
IMHO, it's time for a separate English and French Conservative Party that doesn't compete with each other. The two cultures are on different planets on so much. Fun fact: if you discount Quebec and francophone ridings in Ontario and New Brunswick, the Conservatives would have won a strong majority.
When Matt asked about any floor crossers being consequential? Danniile Smith from Wildrose to Conservative
"The police will be enforcing the law this weekend" signals the abdication of the duty of the police to apply the law consistently and righteously throughout society. Protecting civil society is the prime directive of every lawful society. To fulfill this duty demands that even the most liberal of societies must wield the sword of justice. Failure to do so invites individuals to take the law into their own hands.
I feel like my takeaway from this podcast is that I should buy myself a signed copy of Mein Kampf and then offer to resell it to a TMU history undergrad at a meeting place directly in front of the U.S. consulate. Only from The Line could I discover this ultimate blueprint for maximum chaos!
Interesting discussion. A couple of observations. Firstly, living in the Emirates when missiles are flying and falling is quite different from living in the Emirates when they are not. Secondly, I am certain that a significant percentage of Carney's support is directly attributable to people's recognition that he is just not his predecessor. And p.s. With respect to the much vaunted MOU between the Feds and Alberta, I forecast that TMX will be expanded, Keystone XL will be completed albeit under a different name, and a new pipeline to the Pacific will not be built during Carney's watch, if ever. The sum of these two pipeline capacity expansions will be portrayed as meeting any additional capacity required by industry. Meanwhile, Alberta will increase its industrial carbon tax as per Carney's wishes while very little additional pipeline capacity to the west coast to serve the Asian market will occur.
Bob, add into your calculus that David Eby and the NDP are about to be obliterated. The CP of BC has a lead, with no leader. He just passed arguably the worst budget in BCs history.
I voted for John Horgan, a Premier who was far better at the job than Eby but obviously he didn’t walk on water, either. I foolishly voted for Eby because provincially I have usually voted NDP . Premier Eby is just plain incompetent in nearly every file , even worse he has become secretive in too many matters and will lie/make excuses when caught.
I think I read that it was the worst budget according to economists.
Yes, of course it is. Every non-radical economist will prioritize good stewardship so we have resources to look after people. Eby may be clever but he’s neither smart, nor wise. Just selfish. He’s fucked us royally, (along with reconciliation, housing, productivity, public safety.) worst human I can remember in the job.
Matt, you said back in the day there were stories that brought the newsroom to a stop and everyone gathered around TVs to watch the coverage but now would not even be covered. Can you give an example? I just want to understand your point.
Mass shootings.
It's not just that the war in Iran isn't seen as shocking, I find that it's barely being covered in Canadian news. I remember the early days of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and it was wall-to-wall, for weeks on end.
I just checked all the major Canadian papers to make sure I'm not crazy. For stories on the top screen of the main page, even tangentially related, there are 2 in the G&M, 1 in the Toronto Star, 1 in the NP, and zero in the Sun. All the top stories in the New York Times are Iran-related. Here this is getting bumped for stuff like human interest stories and sports.
Thank you.
Holy shit. You just called Poilievre trash.
Have you lost the ability to discuss politics without insulting those you disagree with?
Jerry, we did not. I'm fine with disagreement but this statement is false. Jen laid out a hypothetical in which she's fine with someone crossing the floor, which included if you're an MP and you conclude that your leader is trash. The transcript is available for all to see.
I could do a lot of things. I’m bright. I also read the transcript. Your claim is false. You can just admit an error and apologize instead of getting sulky.
The other readers will note this is all so that Jerry can avoid admitting an error.
well established by now lol
Do not point out your vulnerability? So, like, Trudeau going to Trump to say Tarrifs would crush Canada was not smart?