Thoughts on BC Politics and More

By Sylvain Charlebois — June 22, 2026 Under Carney, food prices have risen faster than inflation for 15 straight months -- and that is leaving Canadians facing some of the fastest-rising food prices in the G7 The latest inflation numbers from Statistics Canada should make policymakers uncomfortable. In May, overall inflation reached 3.2 per cent, while food inflation climbed to 3.8 per cent. At first glance, the difference may seem modest. But beneath the headline lies a trend that should concern anyone paying attention to Canada’s economy: food inflation has exceeded overall inflation every single month since Mark Carney became prime minister in March 2025. Not once during his tenure has food inflation fallen below the national inflation rate. That streak has now reached 15 consecutive months. For Canadians, this matters far more than many economists realize. While inflation is often discussed as a broad economic concept, consumers experience inflation through everyday purchases. They...

Time for a rant. Canadian voters are so fickle.  A year ago the number one issue was the economy (as it should have been), then it switched to Donald Trump (look a squirrel!!), now it’s back on the economy again.  I’ve noticed many Canadians like to self-congratulate themselves on being so smart, but if that is true, then we might’ve spared ourselves 10 wasted years with the Trudeau experiment. We had the strongest middle class in the G7 in 2015. The economy was booming, taxes were low, we had a balanced budget, we were poised to become the richest country in the world per capita, we had an immigration system that was the envy of the western world, we were respected (not irrelevant) on the world stage, and we could be proud. All of that was squandered ... Needlessly ... Sadly. Now voter's attention is back on the economy, with the media claiming that the government needs to create jobs.  Hey! Shocker! The government does not create jobs! The best they can do is create con...

Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled off a successful performance hosting the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., say some world leaders and foreign policy experts commenting on his perceived pragmatism and savviness. Fen Osler Hampson, international affairs professor at Carleton University, said Carney guided the G7 “through the diplomatic Rockies,” navigating “shifting weather” on the global front and avoiding “avalanches and treacherous cliffs.” This year’s summit took place amid escalating violence between Israel and Iran, which pushed U.S. President Donald Trump to leave Alberta a day early. On Monday, G7 leaders published a statement affirming that Israel “has a right to defend itself” and that Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon" ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump are putting a deadline on ironing out bilateral trade irritants and getting some sort of deal on tariffs: 30 days. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., and agreed the trade talks need to be sped up with a goal of reaching a deal sometime over the next month. This is the first time either side has put a definitive deadline on reaching a deal to bring the months-long trade war that has been disruptive to economies on both sides of the 49th parallel to a close ... CLICK HERE for the full story

In a few days time, leaders of the world's advanced democracies gather in Kananaskis for the G7 meeting. That would be France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, the US and (although increasingly as a courtesy) the economically-challenged Canada. But, this could be the last one: the G7 is a relic of a different era ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Mark Carney’s ability to balance Canada’s economic agenda while promoting its democratic values will be tested at the upcoming G7 summit after he expanded the invitation list to nations implicated in international murders. ... MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the BC riding of Surrey-Newton, says he met with Carney and told him that hundreds of people had voiced concerns that Modi was attending the G7, due to being linked to an “assassination of a Canadian on Canadian soil.” “We’re a country of human rights. A country of law and justice,” Dhaliwal said ... adding that he reminded Carney that during the public inquiry into foreign interference, Justice Marie-Josee Hogue found that China and India were the two biggest nations interfering in Canada’s democratic processes ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta just months after the RCMP accused his government of acts of murder, extortion and coercion. As this year's chair of the G7, Carney said it's important to have India at the table in Kananaskis while world leaders discuss issues including energy security and critical minerals, given the country's size and key role in the global supply chain ... CLICK HERE for the full story

The Carney government has set as “core mission” boosting Canada’s economy. And for good reason. Slow economic growth, flat-lined or declining business investment, and poor productivity have contributed to declining average living standards. Progress on these economic challenges won’t solve all of the country’s problems, but it would certainly help. Start with some facts. Between 2016 and 2023, Canada experienced a dramatic demographic shift. The country welcomed an average of more than 600,000 newcomers annually—or roughly double the intake seen in the 2000s. This surge made Canada the fastest-growing country in the G7. But while our population has been growing quickly, our economy hasn’t kept pace. Canada’s real GDP per capita has stalled—flatlining in recent quarters and showing weak growth over the longer term ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Donald Trump’s America First nationalism has forcefully yanked the world backward from its postwar consensus of interdependence and international cooperation. The G7 group of leading market economy countries will hold its  annual summit June 15-17 in Kananaskis, Alberta, under Canadian chairmanship, and under Trump’s tariff assault on all partners including G7 partners. The Summit, coming 50 years after Canada’s addition to the G6 made it the G7 in Puerto Rico in 1975, may or may not sustain the principle of mutual interest permitting the G7 to carry on. G7 members are mentally focused on the challenge the Trump administration poses to their own economic outlooks. But a preparatory meeting this week of G7 finance ministers in Banff avoided substantive discussion of the divisive and toxic US tariff assault on the global economy. Their description of the meeting as “productive” was an evasion of reality to keep the US at least partially in the consensus tent at the ministerial level ...

On the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mark Norman, the former vice-chief of defence, made a prediction that sounded overblown at the time. “I really think the Americans are going to start ignoring us because they don’t think we are credible or reliable. They are not even putting pressure on us anymore,” he said in a January 2022 National Post interview, based on his conversations with contacts in Washington ... CLICK HERE for the full commentary from John Ivison

  Here in Canada we have witnessed firsthand the challenges of COVID vaccine administration due to lack of procurement supply from the Trudeau Liberal government. To put this in perspective, Washington State between January 25-29th went from having administered over 500,000 doses of COVID vaccine to 616,589 doses. That is an increase of 116,589 doses in a matter of days. Here in B.C. , over the same time frame, we went from having administered 119,850 doses up 129,241 doses. This is an increase of just 9,391 doses by comparison. This is by no means a criticism of the Provincial Health Officer or any of the regional health authorities. Simply put, provinces cannot vaccinate citizens without sufficient vaccine supply. For these reasons Canada has now fallen to 15th place in terms of total doses of vaccine administered per country. Canada drops even further behind if factoring in the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the population. With t...

  It s eems that Justin Trudeau’s grand plan for our economic recovery has leaked out. Details are HERE .  A group of 15 unelected, self-styled experts replace our elected representatives. If their grand plans crash and burn, they pay no penalties. You and I will bear the brunt of any failure. The preliminary report of the task force is here. Typical of these minds-in-the-clouds types, they casually announce that: “ Canada will need to invest about $50 billion to be competitive with its G7 peers .”  What has G7 competitiveness got to do with recovering our economy from the deep hole it is in due to our COVID response? The G7 is not going to come to our financial rescue. Member nations have other problems to resolve. Creating a plan because others are making or promising investments that may not meet Canada’s specific needs is not acceptable. None of the green energy plans under t...

Despite the protests and the cries of doom, there is no credible, objective evidence to indicate that average Canadians have been poorly served by their federal government.   Some people earning high levels of passive income are grousing but it’s hard for the average person to feel too sorry about the tax bill on the investment income of somebody with a seven-figure bank balance.   Even at that, the tax rate for passive income of this sort is relatively low by international standards in developed countries. Unemployment?   At or near record lows.   BC’s unemployment rate dipped under 5% last month.   In this region we will have to address some of the issue related to the forest industry, but every economy will have some sectors in peaks and some sectors in valleys from time to time.   Interest rates?   Also, near record lows with low inflation. Federal Debt?    Relative to the size of our economy, Ca...

As mortal beings with a finite arc of existence it makes sense to plan for a retirement stage of life.  This generally involves ensuring we have something put aside and that we are not carrying any significant debt.  It’s natural for us to presume that our governments operate on similar rules and will one day have to pay off the debt they incur.  I often hear “ we can’t leave national debt for our children and grandchildren to pay off ”.   In fact, our children (and grandchildren) will never pay off our debt and neither with their descendants.  That’s not how government debt works. Countries are different in that, unlike you and I, they have no set expiration date.  Canada is looking pretty fit and trim for a 152-year-old and thankfully, shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.  Throughout the last century and a half Canada has carried various amounts of debt and has never paid it off.   According to the Canadian We star...