Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Prime Minister Mark Carney is scrambling to save his country’s relationship with Mexico after it disintegrated late last year when Canadian officials suggested they’d be better off negotiating a trade deal with the Trump administration alone. Carney attempted to break the ice in a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in July by complimenting an indigenous-made soccer ball she had gifted him at their last meeting and saying he hoped to visit Mexico soon. The warm overture, relayed to Reuters by three people familiar with the call, highlights Canada’s attempt to repair the damage after a string of public slights by Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said in November that any comparison of Canada to Mexico was “the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard" ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

The fact that Donald Trump’s rapacious musings about Canada becoming “the 51st state” overlapped with the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week had some pundits looking for a link. Several settled on the notion that Trudeau had in some way invited the annexation overtures; that the prime minister’s supposedly “postnational” Liberal administration had created a country so devoid of identity and pride that it was all but inviting foreign conquest. Such editorializing inevitably winds up back at the most consistently over-cited and overblown quote of Trudeau’s tenure, the one he gave to the New York Times Magazine’s Guy Lawson in 2015 about Canada being a “postnational state” with no “core identity.” On the one hand, Trudeau is making a rather banal point here: diverse democracies by definition struggle to define what’s “mainstream” beyond common civic values. On the other, he is obviously lying ... CLICK HERE for the full story

You need to be angrier. Of course, anger is most often not a good thing. It clouds judgment, it leads to rashness and poor decision-making. Anger in politics is worse still: it is the food of charlatans and demagogues; it encourages us to see our fellow citizens as enemies rather than just rivals or opponents in the political sphere; it produces bad policies. And yet a deficiency of anger produces its own problems. This is the condition that presently characterizes too much of the Canadian electorate. With Prime Minister Trudeau announcing his resignation this week, even as his party maneuvers to stay in power, one cannot help wondering at the lack of anger over the years of misrule ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

"There is a lack of understanding in Canada of Taiwan as a democracy, and there’s even more lack of knowledge of what China is about,” Tseng said. “This is going to backfire on you. If you are hoping to cooperate with China, just how many lessons do you need to see?” CLICK HERE for the full story

Withdrawing from the United Nations, as a petition created by Doug Porter of Burnaby, B.C. and publicized by Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis calls for, is a step too far. But it is time to stop worshiping at the very tainted shrine that is the modern-day UN ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Calling Canada a “failed state” would be a stretch in most areas, to put it mildly, even for me. But in terms of defence and our commitment to our allies? The shoe fits. National Defence Minister Bill Blair said some variation of “Canada knows it must do more” about a billion times over the course of that rainy Halifax weekend, and okay, but, like, when? Later? CLICK HERE for the full commentary

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

Imagine if Alberta was famous not for its prodigious oil reserves, but for its banana plantations. It’s a bit difficult to picture banana trees carpeting our northern prairie, but it might have been possible once.  Forty million years ago Alberta was a tropical paradise, rich in ferns and fauna.  Giant sequoia trees stood watch as dinosaurs roamed. Then the climate changed. Imagine, for the purposes of this essay, if it had not.  Imagine that modern-day enterprising Albertans took advantage of the fertile environment to grow bananas.  Not just ordinary bananas, but the most succulent and delicious of fruits, and organic to boot. Imagine, further, that this new industry sprouted in a world hopelessly addicted to bananas, global production spiraling ever upward to satisfy the insatiable appetites of banana-mad earthlings. Imagine that, with time, the output of Alberta’s wondrous plantations swelled to 5% of global banana p...

Canada’s deteriorating relationship with China takes its toll on farmers, ranchers Carrie Tait ~~ Globe and Mail ~~ June 30, 2019 Graham Friesen is sitting in a comfy leather office chair in the front row of a cattle auction in rural Alberta, bidding on bulls and heifers with subtle head nods and fist shakes. He’s a cattle broker, making him a regular fixture at sales like this one last week in Strathmore, Alta., where about 30 others have gathered for the auction or to just gossip over pancakes and coffee in the lobby. China banned Canadian beef and pork imports two days prior, injecting confusion, frustration and anger into conversations with those in the livestock industry who say that they are, once again, coming under unjust pressure because of frayed diplomatic relationships around the globe. “World politics is dirty,” Mr. Friesen says as cattle plod through the sale ring. “We’re losing at that game.” CLICK HERE to read the full story ...

Yesterday, a friend of mine took a moment to wish everyone a Happy Canada Day, along with the comment, ‘ I have to say I love our beautiful country’ . He also included a story, he’d come across, entitled: Canada Has Officially Ranked #1 In the World for Best Quality Of Life ... o ur second year in a row of being the best ! An individual commented on this post, and stated, “ We were at one time. Trudeau is working on making us last. ” Dave disagreed saying ... Funny thing about that. Most politicians just want to get elected, so truth doesn't matter . They will tell you whatever they think you are willing you believe. And, that the other candidate / party is sending us to hell in hand-basket is exactly what they want you to believe , he continued. The truth is, if we spent less time listening to and believing the political venom, they all spout about each other, we’d be able to spend more time getting to know our neighbours and working to...