On the ICC warrants, I note that the first accusation, and so probably the main one, is use of starvation as a weapon of war. While it is true that some organizations warned of potential starvation some six or seven months ago, there are no more accusations, or indeed any reports of anyone starving. Great hardship, yes. But deaths are all the result of bombs or other weapons. I also not that, at first at least, Israel would warn the civilian population of imminent risks, giving them some chance to get out, while incurring the cost of also warning Hamas. I gather that this has stopped, but it does show some concern for civilian lives.
There is a war on, between Israel and Hamas-governed Gaza. Civilian lives can be saved if Hamas surrenders, frees hostages, and negotiates safe passage for its leaders to a third country. But as long as the war continues, as asymmetric as it is, civilians are "collateral damage". I feel deep sympathy for these civilians. But it is inevitable that wars cause civilian casualties. I don't see what more Israel can do to save civilian lives, as long as the war continues.
Hamas is deliberately causing the suffering of Gaza civilians, to use it for propaganda purposes. Hamas was always planning to use Gaza civilians as human shields. I will never forget how Gaza civilians spat on, hit and beat and tormented the Israeli hostages as they were dragged into Gaza.
Nice episode. The Liberals seem to be in full "live to fight another day" mode at this point: there's no real plan, but if they can just kick the can down the road then who knows? What I think they're underestimating is the long-term damage things like the Boissonnault saga, the Green Slush Fund, and just their general flailing around is doing to the Liberal brand: the next leader will have an increasingly hard time shaking the Etch-A-Sketch in voters minds.
The one saving grace for the Liberals is Singh has inexplicably allowed the NDP to get dragged down with them, which should give the Liberals a chance at being the alternative when people inevitably tire of the Conservatives.
In any case, I really hope this handout signals a spring election, it's hard to picture another 10 months of this. We're at potentially a really critical time in our history and our parliament and government are basically non-functional.
My theory on Singh's inexplicable behavior: Singh is wealthy enough to not need the MP pension. His plan is to direct his MP pension monies in support of Khalistani separatist. Over time, the amount will be substantial.
Canada has cursed itself with a sac of foul amoral garbage for a Prime Minister since 2015, I can easily see another year of this. Spring election, that would be great.
I don’t think Canada can afford to keep Justin Trudeau as prime minister anymore. The GST pause is not even an attempt to bribe Canadians with their own money - it’s all borrowed money, so it’s effectively getting the nation further in debt to offer something that nobody particularly asked for or will even find especially useful. In addition to the accounting headaches it’ll cause for Canadian retailers, I wonder how much potential harm it will do to their bottom lines by changing holiday spending patterns? “Black Friday” came by the name because even in Canada, that’s when retailers find that the holiday spending finally tips them into profitability for the year. Trudeau has now set an incentive to delay that spending for another 2 weeks, which I suspect is going to create a bit of a rush for retailers that will end up decreasing overall spending because of crowds and difficulties fulfilling an even bigger rush of orders.
On the security and international relations front, Trudeau has embodied a set of boutique progressive theories about an international order that has never quite existed or ever quite worked. The halcyon days of this approach were the “end of history”days of the 1990s. There’s been increasing evidence those hopes were fatally flawed, but Trudeau won’t admit that he needs to change. One of the great hopes of that era was the Oslo agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, which rapidly turned to garbage when Arafat walked away from Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David a few years later and launched the 2nd intifada instead.
This is going to sound rhetorical, but I mean it earnestly. Can two countries be considered allies when one is committed to arresting the head of government of the other over state actions?
If India said they would arrest Trudeau if given the opportunity, would we still consider India an ally?
You certainly cannot be a friend to a personality-cult state regime and be committed to the arrest of its head of government. But it gets more complicated when the head of government is obviously divisive within their own country and if there are other factions within said state that would eagerly stand to gain from said arrest.
I was just listening to Tara Henley’s podcast with Ruy Texeira on the downfall of the US Democrats in the recent election. It seems to me the Canadian Liberals are in much the same position in representing the views and perspectives of a small faction of the Canadian electorate. You might find it interesting. It matches perfectly your view of the situation the federal Liberals are in.
‘Plan for the worst. Hope for the Best.’ Always has been my motto. I do not not see any planning,and that starts from the top. I don’t blame the US for calling us out on Canadas lack of military spending (investing! lol). In Halifax what we hear is how the Navy is rethinking the lyrics to an old song! Please!! What’s next? Tear down our old forts because they might make someone (who?) uncomfortable? Meanwhile. Minister Jolie comes across like she is only as deep as a spoon! (Silver) An election in Canada can’t come soon enough.
I caught a glimpse of our PM fielding a reporter's question on a newscast a couple weeks ago and thought he looked ill. What he said also sounded strange--even more so than usual--as if he were on drugs. The man isn't exactly a sympathetic victim: he's too much of a virtue posturing bully for that, and quite unbearable when gloating. But in that moment I did feel a bit sorry for him. From his point of view it must seem the world and his career are falling apart; his wife is gone, and he's doubtless under immense strain.
True, JT has a sufficiently robust ego to rebound from the almost certain electoral defeat facing him at some point, and I don't think he'll be down for long. All the same, it can't be much fun being him these days.
He very much looks like someone who is burned out and cracking under stress & pressure. That's understandable, but I wish people in that position could just set their ego aside and step down. The irony is he'll almost certainly be much happier after he's been out of office for a few months, but for whatever reason - like a lot politicians and leaders - he feels the need to hang on to a job that is clearly causing him nothing but misery at this point.
My theory is that there is shit on him that he doesn’t want us discovering. That’s why he’s both intent on controlling the media and staying in a position that allows him to (attempt to) control the media.
Trudeau is not "intent on controlling the media". Yes the government subsidies and other regulated cookie jars he has gifted legacy media are of negative impact in affecting, but though his policies have been harmful in changing the national discourse at the margins they are not serious efforts at state-controlled media.
Canadian political culture has created an expectation that either leading a political party or becoming a Prime Minister is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can never be regained. As such, anyone who becomes a party leader or PM will tend to cling for dear life onto the position as long as possible - even though they inevitably burn out as a result of that very mentality.
Meanwhile, the government is giving away $6 + billion dollars of borrowed money on Christmas goodies and vote-buying, funds that could be much better applied elsewhere (defence?).
I listened to the podcast early this morning. It was great and really informative, as always. There was nothing that I could object or disagree with and Matt and Jen, you explain things so well.
We are in territory that has changed a great deal as you said, I do hope that Poilievre has a far better understanding of this than Trudeau has been capable of.
Yes, this silly Trudeau Claus is pathetic and desperate.
The money could have been so well spent elsewhere, indeed.
There's the direct pandering angle, but there's also clearly going to be some impulse to cushion the potential of an 'actual' recession when new policies are curtailing population growth and we've had years of per-capita decline.
Part trying to avoid rage about affordability, part pre-emptive stimulus. Hard to say if it's well timed, but lots of things (housing costs, mortgage renewal cliff, population growth) are likely to blow up at once and a cynic might think they, past any real hope of a turnaround, want just enough time for it to blow up on Poilievre's watch.
Perhaps you are correct; what we have learned since 2015 is to never underestimate the sliminess and destructiveness of Trudeau and Liberals/NDP. Poilievre will simply point at the record of sliminess and destructiveness of Trudeau and Liberals/NDP. If the blowup does any damage to him and the Cons, it will be minor.
Keep using unapologetically the long format. You provide good, thorough and down-to-earth information and commentary.
On the ICC warrants, I note that the first accusation, and so probably the main one, is use of starvation as a weapon of war. While it is true that some organizations warned of potential starvation some six or seven months ago, there are no more accusations, or indeed any reports of anyone starving. Great hardship, yes. But deaths are all the result of bombs or other weapons. I also not that, at first at least, Israel would warn the civilian population of imminent risks, giving them some chance to get out, while incurring the cost of also warning Hamas. I gather that this has stopped, but it does show some concern for civilian lives.
There is a war on, between Israel and Hamas-governed Gaza. Civilian lives can be saved if Hamas surrenders, frees hostages, and negotiates safe passage for its leaders to a third country. But as long as the war continues, as asymmetric as it is, civilians are "collateral damage". I feel deep sympathy for these civilians. But it is inevitable that wars cause civilian casualties. I don't see what more Israel can do to save civilian lives, as long as the war continues.
Hamas is deliberately causing the suffering of Gaza civilians, to use it for propaganda purposes. Hamas was always planning to use Gaza civilians as human shields. I will never forget how Gaza civilians spat on, hit and beat and tormented the Israeli hostages as they were dragged into Gaza.
Nice episode. The Liberals seem to be in full "live to fight another day" mode at this point: there's no real plan, but if they can just kick the can down the road then who knows? What I think they're underestimating is the long-term damage things like the Boissonnault saga, the Green Slush Fund, and just their general flailing around is doing to the Liberal brand: the next leader will have an increasingly hard time shaking the Etch-A-Sketch in voters minds.
The one saving grace for the Liberals is Singh has inexplicably allowed the NDP to get dragged down with them, which should give the Liberals a chance at being the alternative when people inevitably tire of the Conservatives.
In any case, I really hope this handout signals a spring election, it's hard to picture another 10 months of this. We're at potentially a really critical time in our history and our parliament and government are basically non-functional.
My theory on Singh's inexplicable behavior: Singh is wealthy enough to not need the MP pension. His plan is to direct his MP pension monies in support of Khalistani separatist. Over time, the amount will be substantial.
Canada has cursed itself with a sac of foul amoral garbage for a Prime Minister since 2015, I can easily see another year of this. Spring election, that would be great.
The weirdest part of the GST break is that it's mostly on junk food. Nutritious food was always free from GST.
I don’t think Canada can afford to keep Justin Trudeau as prime minister anymore. The GST pause is not even an attempt to bribe Canadians with their own money - it’s all borrowed money, so it’s effectively getting the nation further in debt to offer something that nobody particularly asked for or will even find especially useful. In addition to the accounting headaches it’ll cause for Canadian retailers, I wonder how much potential harm it will do to their bottom lines by changing holiday spending patterns? “Black Friday” came by the name because even in Canada, that’s when retailers find that the holiday spending finally tips them into profitability for the year. Trudeau has now set an incentive to delay that spending for another 2 weeks, which I suspect is going to create a bit of a rush for retailers that will end up decreasing overall spending because of crowds and difficulties fulfilling an even bigger rush of orders.
On the security and international relations front, Trudeau has embodied a set of boutique progressive theories about an international order that has never quite existed or ever quite worked. The halcyon days of this approach were the “end of history”days of the 1990s. There’s been increasing evidence those hopes were fatally flawed, but Trudeau won’t admit that he needs to change. One of the great hopes of that era was the Oslo agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, which rapidly turned to garbage when Arafat walked away from Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David a few years later and launched the 2nd intifada instead.
This is going to sound rhetorical, but I mean it earnestly. Can two countries be considered allies when one is committed to arresting the head of government of the other over state actions?
If India said they would arrest Trudeau if given the opportunity, would we still consider India an ally?
You certainly cannot be a friend to a personality-cult state regime and be committed to the arrest of its head of government. But it gets more complicated when the head of government is obviously divisive within their own country and if there are other factions within said state that would eagerly stand to gain from said arrest.
Nicely put statement that could apply to both Canada and India.
I was just listening to Tara Henley’s podcast with Ruy Texeira on the downfall of the US Democrats in the recent election. It seems to me the Canadian Liberals are in much the same position in representing the views and perspectives of a small faction of the Canadian electorate. You might find it interesting. It matches perfectly your view of the situation the federal Liberals are in.
https://open.substack.com/pub/tarahenley/p/ruy-texeira-the-progressive-moment?r=15k8xx&utm_medium=ios
Regarding the Liberals' holiday GST cut and vote buying, Gerry Butts summed it up best: "people do weird things when they're losing."
‘Plan for the worst. Hope for the Best.’ Always has been my motto. I do not not see any planning,and that starts from the top. I don’t blame the US for calling us out on Canadas lack of military spending (investing! lol). In Halifax what we hear is how the Navy is rethinking the lyrics to an old song! Please!! What’s next? Tear down our old forts because they might make someone (who?) uncomfortable? Meanwhile. Minister Jolie comes across like she is only as deep as a spoon! (Silver) An election in Canada can’t come soon enough.
I suspect the federal Liberal’s hired Dalton McGuinty’s PR guy and he told them about the time they bought an election with a new provincial holiday.
McGunity's backroom people got Trudeau elected, so leading him to defeat would be a fitting end.
Trump Bump Liberal hope. Hope is what you cling to when reality leaves you nothing else!
I caught a glimpse of our PM fielding a reporter's question on a newscast a couple weeks ago and thought he looked ill. What he said also sounded strange--even more so than usual--as if he were on drugs. The man isn't exactly a sympathetic victim: he's too much of a virtue posturing bully for that, and quite unbearable when gloating. But in that moment I did feel a bit sorry for him. From his point of view it must seem the world and his career are falling apart; his wife is gone, and he's doubtless under immense strain.
True, JT has a sufficiently robust ego to rebound from the almost certain electoral defeat facing him at some point, and I don't think he'll be down for long. All the same, it can't be much fun being him these days.
I have no sympathy for him. He brought a lot of this on himself.
He very much looks like someone who is burned out and cracking under stress & pressure. That's understandable, but I wish people in that position could just set their ego aside and step down. The irony is he'll almost certainly be much happier after he's been out of office for a few months, but for whatever reason - like a lot politicians and leaders - he feels the need to hang on to a job that is clearly causing him nothing but misery at this point.
My theory is that there is shit on him that he doesn’t want us discovering. That’s why he’s both intent on controlling the media and staying in a position that allows him to (attempt to) control the media.
Trudeau is not "intent on controlling the media". Yes the government subsidies and other regulated cookie jars he has gifted legacy media are of negative impact in affecting, but though his policies have been harmful in changing the national discourse at the margins they are not serious efforts at state-controlled media.
Canadian political culture has created an expectation that either leading a political party or becoming a Prime Minister is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can never be regained. As such, anyone who becomes a party leader or PM will tend to cling for dear life onto the position as long as possible - even though they inevitably burn out as a result of that very mentality.
I would not be surprised if he ran again, just because his MO is often just “do what dad did.” It’s not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Jen's brave attempts to fight off tears of righteous indignation at the 46:00 mark made for one of the most powerful segments I have ever witnessed.
Thank you for this wellness check.
I must've completely misread her facial expressions, because I thought the tears were from barely being able to keep from cracking up laughing.
C'mon man. Don't make me explain the joke.
Tone is completely missing over text. :)
It’s fine. We are still all very upset.
Meanwhile, the government is giving away $6 + billion dollars of borrowed money on Christmas goodies and vote-buying, funds that could be much better applied elsewhere (defence?).
I listened to the podcast early this morning. It was great and really informative, as always. There was nothing that I could object or disagree with and Matt and Jen, you explain things so well.
We are in territory that has changed a great deal as you said, I do hope that Poilievre has a far better understanding of this than Trudeau has been capable of.
Yes, this silly Trudeau Claus is pathetic and desperate.
The money could have been so well spent elsewhere, indeed.
There's the direct pandering angle, but there's also clearly going to be some impulse to cushion the potential of an 'actual' recession when new policies are curtailing population growth and we've had years of per-capita decline.
Part trying to avoid rage about affordability, part pre-emptive stimulus. Hard to say if it's well timed, but lots of things (housing costs, mortgage renewal cliff, population growth) are likely to blow up at once and a cynic might think they, past any real hope of a turnaround, want just enough time for it to blow up on Poilievre's watch.
Perhaps you are correct; what we have learned since 2015 is to never underestimate the sliminess and destructiveness of Trudeau and Liberals/NDP. Poilievre will simply point at the record of sliminess and destructiveness of Trudeau and Liberals/NDP. If the blowup does any damage to him and the Cons, it will be minor.