Political Posts

[Sweet]

1 hour ago, Spekulatius said:

@SharperDingaan Is the resurgence of the liberal party a good or a bad thing for Canada though? After all, they deserve a lot of blame for Canada lagging behind. Poilievre seems less polished than Carney but perhaps he and his party have more substance?

I would be inclined to think that change is better than assuming that the same party who caused the problem can solve it now after exchanging a few people on top.

 

Canada really needs to expand their trade to the EU. It is in a way and ideal partner fo the EU as it supplements many thing (energy, resources, some agricultural goods) that the EU needs. I could also see more trade with Mexico directly than with the US as a hub and spoke in between.

I can’t believe that Canada seems to be on the verge of electing the liberals again.

 

Regarding which party has more substance…. The liberals are copying the Conservative playbook, axing the carbon tax, reducing inter province trade barriers, cancelling capital gains tax - probably more too.

 

[Ulti]

11 hours ago, SharperDingaan said:

is.

 

Summer airline travel to the US is down 70%, and a great many snow birds are now actively looking at wintering in either Mexico or the Caribbean versus the US. The US being felt so uncomfortable, that many now refuse to either overfly US airspace or even use a US port. 

 

A buddy was just in Costa Rica and said the place was “ chock full “ of Canadians… They were one of a very few Americans 

[SharperDingaan]

2 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

@SharperDingaan Is the resurgence of the liberal party a good or a bad thing for Canada though? After all, they deserve a lot of blame for Canada lagging behind. Poilievre seems less polished than Carney but perhaps he and his party have more substance?

I would be inclined to think that change is better than assuming that the same party who caused the problem can solve it now after exchanging a few people on top.

 

Canada really needs to expand their trade to the EU. It is in a way and ideal partner fo the EU as it supplements many thing (energy, resources, some agricultural goods) that the EU needs. I could also see more trade with Mexico directly than with the US as a hub and spoke in between.

 

It really comes down to who is best to deal with Trump; Mr Carney or Mr Poilievre. Mr Poilievre wants to fight the election against Justin Trudeau, whereas both his main rivals have to continually point out that Justin isn't here anymore. So far, that inability to adapt to change has cost the Conservatives a majority rule, and it very much looks like another 4 years in opposition. Should that occur, it is highly likely that Mr Poilievre will be gone by the end of summer.

 

Today, with the resignation of Trudeau, the business wing of the liberals is doing the driving; can't distribute what you don't have, big thinking for the extraordinary times, and a lot more focus on results; the 35% change in polling being one of them. Policy wise, there is actually little daylight between the conservatives and liberals, re pipelines, etc.  

 

Change is coming in a big way; inter-provincial barriers are coming down, pipelines and infrastructure upgrades are highly likely, trade is shifting east-west, northern development is opening up (Iqualuit, Churchill), house building is going back to what it was immediately following WWII, and US involvement will be minimised in response to tariffs. Canada could do very well, and it may well be future USD trading at a discount to the petro CAD. Vision, stability, and good governance being key.

 

Views change over time, but most businesses today are doing everything they can to re-jig supply lines to avoid anything US. Where practical, components between Canada and Mexico travelling by either sea or air to avoid tariffs. Produce imported from everywhere else EXCEPT the US where possible. Grocery isles lined with Made-in-Canada labels, otherwise the product just will not sell. Change that will subsequently take years to unwind, if it occurs at all; and all at the expense of the US.   

 

We will all have a better idea, Apr-28, end-of-day. 

 

SD 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2025 by SharperDingaan

[james22]

Funny, all the claims of betrayal.

 

Five decades ago, historian Frank Underhill wrote that the Canadian is "the first anti-American, the model anti-American, the archetypal anti-American, the ideal anti-American as he exists in the mind of God."

 

In a sense this isn't really true. Philosophically and politically, the New Soviet Man was a superior anti-American: He not only hated America but had a blueprint for its replacement. After all, the perfect anti-American must be pro-something else; he must offer a viable alternative to that which he detests.

 

Canadian anti-Americanism does none of this. It is anti-American by reflex, which is to say that when America goes about its business, Canada flinches and calls this tic "the Canadian way."

 

https://www.nationalreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Bomb-Canada.pdf

 

Admit it — as Canadians, we love to tweak the feathers on Uncle Sam’s eagle. In fact, anti-Americanism has been so prevalent throughout the centuries that scholars refer to Canadians as the world’s oldest anti-Americans.

 

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2009/10/18/bomb-canada

[thowed]

24 minutes ago, SharperDingaan said:

Policy wise, there is actually little daylight between the conservatives and liberals

 

I feel that this is the political sweet spot - more collaboration to push things through, and less crazy extremists.  Also I firmly believe that you should always wish for a strong opposition, as it keeps the governing party on their toes.

 

It is a shame that this is a rarity around the world rn.

[Pelagic]

For those of us without access to the levers of policy sometimes the best course is to just sit back and laugh at what a circus it can be sometimes. Bessent and Lutnick snuck into the Whitehouse and got Trump to send out a tweet on Truth social pausing the tariffs when they knew Navarro was down the hall in a meeting and wouldn't be able to pushback on their proposal.

 

I guess the upside to the pause occurring this way is that it's unlikely anyone in the White House had time to load up on calls as a lot of people have speculated since the proposed pause seems to have been a surprise to all except Bessent and Lutnick. 

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-tariff-pause-navarro-bessent-lutnick-b9e864fb?mod=hp_lead_pos4

 

Quote

The two men convinced Trump of the strategy to pause some of the tariffs and to announce it immediately to calm the markets. They stayed until Trump tapped out a Truth Social post, which surprised Navarro, according to one of the people familiar with the episode. Bessent and press secretary Karoline Leavitt almost immediately went to the cameras outside the White House to make a public announcement.

 

Edited April 19, 2025 by Pelagic

[Xerxes]

1 hour ago, Sweet said:

I can’t believe that Canada seems to be on the verge of electing the liberals again.

 

Regarding which party has more substance…. The liberals are copying the Conservative playbook, axing the carbon tax, reducing inter province trade barriers, cancelling capital gains tax - probably more too.

 

If Mike Carney was conservative, I would gladly vote for conservative. I vote for the person and not the party.  
 

Today’s Canadian conservatives are not the good old cold fiscally responsible party. They are ideologically driven Trump timbits wanting to let loose their inner Maoist.

 

I saw a clip of Trump’s staff meeting, how everyone in the cabinet had to kowtow to the get Great Leader and tell him how amazing this. We don’t want that Pyongyang-style shit North of the border.  

Edited April 19, 2025 by Xerxes

[John Hjorth]

Reuters - World, Europe [April 19^th 2025] : Russia's Putin declares unilateral Easter ceasefire in Ukraine.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Finally, Putin is giving in, just a bit, an inch. At least that's better than nothing, likely because of hard negotiation pressure by USA. We must just hope that Ukraine follows suit.

[Sweet]

42 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

If Mike Carney was conservative, I would gladly vote for conservative. I vote for the person and not the party.  
 

Today’s Canadian conservatives are not the good old cold fiscally responsible party. They are ideologically driven Trump timbits wanting to let loose their inner Maoist.

 

I saw a clip of Trump’s staff meeting, how everyone in the cabinet had to kowtow to the get Great Leader and tell him how amazing this. We don’t want that Pyongyang-style shit North of the border.  

I don’t think the Canadian conservatives are anything remotely like Trump.

 

You say you like Carney, but what do you like?

 

He’s been an economic adviser to Trudeau for a years so you’ve already had his policies.

[John Hjorth]

50 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

... We don’t want that Pyongyang-style shit North of the border.  

 

 Political opponents and other bad guys getting cannoned down in public?

[cubsfan]

4 hours ago, cwericb said:

Seems to be a lot of love between Canada and Mexico these days as the US isolates itself from the rest of the world.

 

Wish you were on Mexico's border. Being the neighbor of a narco-state and human smuggling and sex-trafficking country is no picnic. Mexico has brought much death, destruction and misery to the USA.  Would love to change places with you.

 

We now have the right President, as the southern border is sealed tight as a drum. 

[cubsfan]

1 hour ago, Xerxes said:

I saw a clip of Trump’s staff meeting, how everyone in the cabinet had to kowtow to the get Great Leader and tell him how amazing this. We don’t want that Pyongyang-style shit North of the border.  

 

Yeah, ya know - transparency was not Biden's thing. I think he went over a year without a single press conference.  It's very refreshing to see the amazing transparency of the Trump government almost every day. Citizens love it.

 

As for the great leader of North Korea - there are similarities to Biden. Kim Jong Un likes to kill his opponents, Biden only uses the power of the state to jail them.  Close enough.

 

At least the US furiously rejected outlawing opposition parties.

Edited April 19, 2025 by cubsfan

[Xerxes]

43 minutes ago, Sweet said:

I don’t think the Canadian conservatives are anything remotely like Trump.

 

You say you like Carney, but what do you like?

 

He’s been an economic adviser to Trudeau for a years so you’ve already had his policies.

yeap. Guess what. American conservatives were also nothing like the MAGA movement. But here we are. Things can change really fast. Next thing you know they all going to carry their Maoist Little Red Book describing the Leader Thoughts so that they have it handy. 
 

Carney is the right person to reorient Canada to Europe. Not Pierre who will just hug United States even closer. Could I be wrong about Pierre ? Maybe. But that is his problem. He should learn to be himself next time and not acting like an idiot. Branding matters. 
 

 

Do conservatives have good ideas. Of

course. I like the conservative when it comes trade, fiscal policies etc. That is huge plus over the Liberals. 

 

Unfortunately nowadays fiscally responsible conservatives come with extra package of being socially retard. 
 

I yearn for the day that we will have a party that has the best of the two extremes. 

Edited April 19, 2025 by Xerxes

[cubsfan]

14 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Ukraine war may just move into the too hard pile. Trump initially  claimed that the war would end before he even took office but I guess that didn’t happen. Now Putin is dragging his feet on any even initial ceasefire talks because he seas himself in a favorable position due to slow gains on territory and the US going soft on him. He also got another 160k in new recruits for his meat waves that sure are going to occur ins summer. I think he wants to see if they can do something on the frontlines.

 

Putin will need to fall in line, or it's going to be Europe's problem. 

 

Look for oil embargos and asset freezing against Russia for Trump's next move.

 

Europe better hope so.

[Xerxes]

2 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

Yeah, ya know - transparency was not Biden's thing. I think he went over a year without a single press conference.  It's very refreshing to see the amazing transparency of the Trump government almost every day. Citizens love it.

 

As for the great leader of North Korea - there are similarities to Biden. Kim Jong Un likes to kill his opponents, Biden only uses the power of the state to jail them.  Close enough.

 

At least the US furiously rejected outlawing opposition parties.

 

I was (and perhaps able to still be) on Trump camp, but he lost me when he started attacking Canada. 
 

Putting my own selfish Canadian interests aside, I just hope (for you) the pillars of your Republic are strong enough to withstand the wrecking ball that is swinging from extreme left to extreme right and back again, every four years. 

[cubsfan]

Just now, Xerxes said:

 

I was (and perhaps able to still be) on Trump camp, but he lost me when he started attacking Canada. 
 

Putting my own selfish Canadian interests aside, I just hope (for you) the pillars of your Republic are strong enough to withstand the wrecking ball that is swinging from extreme left to extreme right and back again, every four years. 

 

No problem. We all know Canada is perfect, so no big deal.

 

The wrecking ball is swinging back to the center, right where it belongs. Other than this little tariff tiff, you need to be able to tell me what exactly is extreme right.

 

Closing borders, enforcing existing laws, protecting citizens from crimes, banning men from women's private spaces, enforcing parent's rights, protecting minorities at places like Harvard.

 

All of that is what the country looked like 15 years ago before the radicals took over the opposition party. It's a breath of fresh air.

[Xerxes]

9 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Closing borders, enforcing existing laws, protecting citizens from crimes, banning men from women's private spaces, enforcing parent's rights, protecting minorities at places like Harvard.

These seem to be reasonable.

so what with all the noise coming out of your media ?  

[Sweet]

26 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

yeap. Guess what. American conservatives were also nothing like the MAGA movement. But here we are. Things can change really fast. Next thing you know they all going to carry their Maoist Little Red Book describing the Leader Thoughts so that they have it handy. 
 

Carney is the right person to reorient Canada to Europe. Not Pierre who will just hug United States even closer. Could I be wrong about Pierre ? Maybe. But that is his problem. He should learn to be himself next time and not acting like an idiot. Branding matters. 
 

 

Do conservatives have good ideas. Of

course. I like the conservative when it comes trade, fiscal policies etc. That is huge plus over the Liberals. 

 

Unfortunately nowadays fiscally responsible conservatives come with extra package of being socially retard. 
 

I yearn for the day that we will have a party that has the best of the two extremes. 

Pierre has made clear that he won’t hug America closer.

 

I don’t understand what point you are making by posting that video.

 

The reporter asked several loaded questions saying things like ‘populist’, ‘taking a page out of Donald Trump’s book’.

 

It’s entirely right he pushed back against labels used by his political opponents if he believes they are unfair.

 

Is branding your only issue?

 

What policy do you support of Carney or dislike of Pierre?

[james22]

Canadian culture confuses its quirks with its character. Feeling swamped by U.S. culture, Canadians have stitched together a national identity from whatever's lying around.

 

They try to plug leaks by restricting foreign ownership of bookstores and mandating huge quotas for homegrown cultural products. Canadians cling to this barely seaworthy raft, and are loath to untie a single plank from it.

 

This explains the famous Canadian radio survey which asked listeners to complete the phrase, "as Canadian as ..." (looking for something like "as American as apple pie"). The winning response was: "as Canadian as possible, under the circumstances."

 

Consider, also, the rant of Molson Joe:

 

”I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader. I don’t live in an igloo, eat blubber, or own a dogsled. i don’t know Jimmy, Suzie, or Sally from Canada, although I’m certain they’re very nice. I have a prime minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American. And i pronounce it ‘about,’ not ‘a-boot.’ i can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack. I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity not assimilation. And that the beaver is a proud and noble animal. A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch. And it’s pronounced zed. Okay? Not zee. Zed. Canada is the second-largest land mass, the first nation of hockey, and the best part of North Americas. My name is Joe and I am Canadian.”

 

This is the text from a Molson beer commercial that first appeared in movie theaters two years ago. It made “Molson Joe” a figure of Paul Bunyanesque stature in Canadian life. The public reacted to the ad as if it announced V-J Day: Schoolkids quoted it; parents loved it; Sheila Copps, Canada’s heritage minister, even showed it at an international conference on American cultural imperialism.

 

This national bout of St. Vitus’s Dance over a mildly amusing beer commercial is a manifestation of Canada’s obsession with its own inferiority complex.

 

Canadian Bookshelves groan with self-help books for the Canadian soul: Why I Hate Canadians; Nationalism Without Walls: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Canadian; Lament for a Nation; and many dozens of others.

 

The Washington Post’s former Canada bureau chief, Steven Pearlstein — an American — set off a firestorm with an essay noting that Canadian identity is being threatened by America’s overwhelming cultural and economic influence.

 

This point has, of course, been made by one Canadian journalist or another pretty much every day for the last century; but for some reason, when it appeared in an American paper it was considered an outrage.

 

Pearlstein wrote: “Over the years, Canadians might have coalesced around a shared sense of history but for the fact that they have little of it they consider worth remembering. The country never fought a revolution or a civil war, pioneered no great social or political movement, produced no great world leader, and committed no memorable atrocities — as one writer put it, Canada has no Lincolns, no Gettysburgs, and no Gettysburg addresses.”

 

Victoria Dickenson, director of Montreal’s McCord Museum of Canadian history, mouthed the typical reaction when she sarcastically exclaimed: “Gosh, if we could just massacre some people!”

 

Journalists swarmed famous Canadian historians asking them to preen about Canada’s morally-superior history — which, Canadians boast, is an evolution not a revolution. They noted that America — what with slavery and war and all that — had no right to judge Canada.

 

Given all of the above, it's not surprising that when you talk to ordinary Canadians — who are, by and large, a wonderfully decent and friendly bunch — they have a ready vocabulary to explain the U.S.-Canada relationship.

 

They talk about how America is Canada's "big brother" and how, like any younger sibling, Canada is naturally inclined to find fault with its more accomplished elders.

 

But this metaphor leaves out an important part of the dynamic: Kid brothers normally express their objections not to their big brothers, but to their parents. "He failed his report card!" "He's guilty of 400 years of racism and oppression!" And so on.

 

For much of Canada's history, its parents could be found in the British Empire. Canada was founded largely by loyalists who rejected America's rebelliousness toward King George; it was never the prodigal son to England, but rather the good son who never left home.

 

With independence, the Canadians were left without a parent to suck up to and with a resented brother who was now their only real protector.

 

Indeed, the U.S. has supplanted dear old Dad as the most important player on the world stage; this new circumstance has prompted Canadians to find a surrogate parent in the United Nations.

 

And that's a real problem, for both Canada and the U.S.

[73 Reds]

12 minutes ago, james22 said:

Canadian culture confuses its quirks with its character. Feeling swamped by U.S. culture, Canadians have stitched together a national identity from whatever's lying around.

 

They try to plug leaks by restricting foreign ownership of bookstores and mandating huge quotas for homegrown cultural products. Canadians cling to this barely seaworthy raft, and are loath to untie a single plank from it.

 

This explains the famous Canadian radio survey which asked listeners to complete the phrase, "as Canadian as ..." (looking for something like "as American as apple pie"). The winning response was: "as Canadian as possible, under the circumstances."

 

Consider, also, the rant of Molson Joe:

 

”I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader. I don’t live in an igloo, eat blubber, or own a dogsled. i don’t know Jimmy, Suzie, or Sally from Canada, although I’m certain they’re very nice. I have a prime minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American. And i pronounce it ‘about,’ not ‘a-boot.’ i can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack. I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity not assimilation. And that the beaver is a proud and noble animal. A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch. And it’s pronounced zed. Okay? Not zee. Zed. Canada is the second-largest land mass, the first nation of hockey, and the best part of North Americas. My name is Joe and I am Canadian.”

 

This is the text from a Molson beer commercial that first appeared in movie theaters two years ago. It made “Molson Joe” a figure of Paul Bunyanesque stature in Canadian life. The public reacted to the ad as if it announced V-J Day: Schoolkids quoted it; parents loved it; Sheila Copps, Canada’s heritage minister, even showed it at an international conference on American cultural imperialism.

 

This national bout of St. Vitus’s Dance over a mildly amusing beer commercial is a manifestation of Canada’s obsession with its own inferiority complex.

 

Canadian Bookshelves groan with self-help books for the Canadian soul: Why I Hate Canadians; Nationalism Without Walls: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Canadian; Lament for a Nation; and many dozens of others.

 

The Washington Post’s former Canada bureau chief, Steven Pearlstein — an American — set off a firestorm with an essay noting that Canadian identity is being threatened by America’s overwhelming cultural and economic influence.

 

This point has, of course, been made by one Canadian journalist or another pretty much every day for the last century; but for some reason, when it appeared in an American paper it was considered an outrage.

 

Pearlstein wrote: “Over the years, Canadians might have coalesced around a shared sense of history but for the fact that they have little of it they consider worth remembering. The country never fought a revolution or a civil war, pioneered no great social or political movement, produced no great world leader, and committed no memorable atrocities — as one writer put it, Canada has no Lincolns, no Gettysburgs, and no Gettysburg addresses.”

 

Victoria Dickenson, director of Montreal’s McCord Museum of Canadian history, mouthed the typical reaction when she sarcastically exclaimed: “Gosh, if we could just massacre some people!”

 

Journalists swarmed famous Canadian historians asking them to preen about Canada’s morally-superior history — which, Canadians boast, is an evolution not a revolution. They noted that America — what with slavery and war and all that — had no right to judge Canada.

 

Given all of the above, it's not surprising that when you talk to ordinary Canadians — who are, by and large, a wonderfully decent and friendly bunch — they have a ready vocabulary to explain the U.S.-Canada relationship.

 

They talk about how America is Canada's "big brother" and how, like any younger sibling, Canada is naturally inclined to find fault with its more accomplished elders.

 

But this metaphor leaves out an important part of the dynamic: Kid brothers normally express their objections not to their big brothers, but to their parents. "He failed his report card!" "He's guilty of 400 years of racism and oppression!" And so on.

 

For much of Canada's history, its parents could be found in the British Empire. Canada was founded largely by loyalists who rejected America's rebelliousness toward King George; it was never the prodigal son to England, but rather the good son who never left home.

 

With independence, the Canadians were left without a parent to suck up to and with a resented brother who was now their only real protector.

 

Indeed, the U.S. has supplanted dear old Dad as the most important player on the world stage; this new circumstance has prompted Canadians to find a surrogate parent in the United Nations.

 

And that's a real problem, for both Canada and the U.S.

Interesting rant.  I've often wondered what North America might look like if the pilgrims had landed in Labrador or Nova Scotia rather than Plymouth Rock and the rebels who later founded Canada had gone south, rather than north.

[cubsfan]

38 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

These seem to be reasonable.

so what with all the noise coming out of your media ?  

 

Pretty simple actually. The media is still resisting anything Trump. But that is being somewhat offset by Trump adminstration allowing bloggers, podcasters and "new media" access to Presidential press briefings. 

 

You can easily see in the polls that the dems are on the wrong side of these 80/20 or 70/30 issues.

Trump has them all, but the dems only position is "we hate Trump", irrespective of the issue.

 

 

[Gregmal]

Idk my friends and I view Canada the same…it’s basically a better version of America without scale. All the shit I love about America they do better, and all the shit I don’t care for with the exception of abusive taxation, they seem to have less of. People are friendly, great outdoor emphasis, sport, very safe, no gun problems, etc. 

 

But so is Providence, Rhode Island…a watered down version of Boston…beautiful, friendly, less crime, but no scale. Totally dependent on somebody bigger, uglier, and more versatile to feed it what it needs to be unique.

[cubsfan]

47 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

These seem to be reasonable.

so what with all the noise coming out of your media ?  

 

And your point is well taken. The American media is extemely powerful, always has been. And has done great damage to the country for a number of years.  Until this period the last decade or so - I really never realized how important free speech was...  I remember Tucker Carlson yapping back in 2016 about the "collusion" between big tech social media and the government and the legacy media - and I thought, this seems really extreme - as I always trusted "the news" as "objective".

 

How wrong I was.

[Xerxes]

42 minutes ago, Sweet said:

Pierre has made clear that he won’t hug America closer.

 

I don’t understand what point you are making by posting that video.

 

The reporter asked several loaded questions saying things like ‘populist’, ‘taking a page out of Donald Trump’s book’.

 

It’s entirely right he pushed back against labels used by his political opponents if he believes they are unfair.

 

Is branding your only issue?

 

What policy do you support of Carney or dislike of Pierre?

 

Poilievre is career politician whereas Carney is not. Sure the latter served for the government as governor of the central bank. But I value his experience, network, far more than Poilievre when it comes to reorienting the Canadian economy. 
 

I am not a fan of globalist, part of the reason why I did like Trump, but globalist is what Canada needs, not backward we-will-unban-plastic-straw conservative. 

 

What does Pierre got ? Trumpism (until backfired); Carbon tax (no longer an issue), Trudeau (no longer there). What exactly he got to offer to push Canada more toward Europe. 

[Xerxes]

17 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Idk my friends and I view Canada the same…it’s basically a better version of America without scale. All the shit I love about America they do better, and all the shit I don’t care for with the exception of abusive taxation, they seem to have less of. People are friendly, great outdoor emphasis, sport, very safe, no gun problems, etc. 

 

But so is Providence, Rhode Island…a watered down version of Boston…beautiful, friendly, less crime, but no scale. Totally dependent on somebody bigger, uglier, and more versatile to feed it what it needs to be unique.

I am glad you enjoyed your trip to Montreal. I lived here for +30 years. 
 

Come back again in summer. It just gets better.