Lady Churchill told Olive that when Sir Winston heard the Canadian election results “he was so excited he danced.” And when Olive remarked that everyone seemed interested in the outcome, Churchill shook his jowls: “Interested? …Why shouldn’t they be? It is the most important event since the end of the war.”
The above is in reference to John Diefenbaker winning the June 1957 election in Canada, defeating the Liberal government of Louis St Laurent. That said, Churchill was vehemently opposed to tariffs his entire life.
Today’s #ClassicCartoon pic.twitter.com/frAwTMvTWi
— Theo Moudakis (@TheoMoudakis) August 26, 2026
Cultural Imperialism
Were the latest CRTC mandates, and justifiable American opposition to them, the excuse for claiming a supposed threat to Quebecois culture and ending the trade talks? None of that would surprise me. In any case, it’s an incredibly stupid hill to die on and it sickens me that Canadians seem happy to go along with that.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the U.S. put pressure on Canada to adjust its position on rules around discoverability of content online, and that U.S. demands would have affected Canada’s ability to protect its culture, including the French language.
As Fate Would Have It….
Fever Pitching
Given what I know about the Canadian political classes, I didn’t expect any of them to call out Blubber Dougie on his renewed advocacy of economic suicide for Canada. But who put duct tape over the mouths of our captains of industry? Any miner that shut off legally contracted mineral exports to the US would be successfully sued in a matter of hours and go bankrupt within days.
“He underestimates Canada. We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at a fever pitch, everyone’s in for an economic war. They know they’re going to have to sacrifice.”
Ford said “everything is on the table” if the dispute worsens, including cutting off electricity and critical minerals from Ontario. He also called for Canada to consider using oil and potash as leverage.
“I’ll cut them off,” Ford said of critical minerals. “You won’t get a grain of sand out of Ontario.”
If Wishes Were Horses…
As of yesterday social media has been chock full of posts from Carney’s water carriers desperately trying to rationalize a defeat into victory. Good luck with that. All that remains now is to declare than any trade deal is a good deal so that the remaining provinces can safely lift the ban on American booze while hoping that no one remembers their idiocy.
“If I were leading the country, I’d fight. I think we should fight this guy,” he told the station.
Kinew said Manitoba still has to see some details, but if the booze goes back on shelves, his government reserves the right to pull it back off again if U.S. President Donald Trump changes terms.
Canadian Exceptionalism
Looks like most Canadian positively thirst for economic suicide. Given the results of the last election, I’m not shocked.
Three in four respondents supported the idea of a special tax on electricity sold to the United States. Almost as many — 70 per cent — supported a special tax on all oil and natural gas exports to the United States and 63 per cent want a tax on potash exports.
The poll shows 64 per cent of respondents support banning the sale of all U.S. liquor in Canada…
Le Syndrome De Stockholm
As a Manitoban, sometimes I console myself with the knowledge that at least I don’t live in Quebec. Over there, the party that champions the cause of government inspectors telling you how to spell hamburger is trying to assure Anglophones that there’s really nothing to worry about if you vote for them.
“Underneath that pledge is also the fact the anglos don’t fear the PQ any more since anglos and francos share the same realities and concerns. Public discourse has too often encouraged the mistaken belief that the concerns of French-speaking and English-speaking Quebecers are fundamentally at odds.
Unintended Consequences?
Can someone make this make sense? With the Carney government having raised tariffs on imported steel, some Western Canadian users of steel now find that they’re uncompetitive. Rather than instantly resolve the problem by dropping the tariffs, taxpayers will instead be forced to cover half the shipping costs of steel orders from mills in the east.
Under a new Commodities Sectoral Support Program announced on Monday, steel shippers can apply for a rebate that will offset 50 per cent of the costs to ship domestic steel by rail or marine transport across provinces and territories.
“There’s no rebar business in B.C. that’s flourishing right now,” Michaud said. “Everybody is doing the work, just at a massively reduced profit margin. Shipping it from the East is just not very good financially.”
Awash With Idiocy
Faced with widespread backpedaling on the most useless aspects of the climate science cult, hacks like Gwynne Dyer just double down: since we can’t jettison fossil fuels fast enough, let’s just embark on an attempt to do nothing less than geoengineer the weather as if the earth were connected to a house thermostat. What could possibly go wrong?
Cutting our carbon dioxide and methane emissions, while it is still vital, cannot act fast enough….
What can act fast enough is Solar Radiation Management (SRM for short). That includes any technique that reflects some incoming sunlight back into space and cools the planet, but the most promising one involves putting some reflective substance into the stratosphere.
Define “Everything”
Well, maybe everything except for an end to supply mismanagement and the US booze ban. It never occurs to our political masters that concessions on those items would actually be a win/win for everyone. David Eby needs to be reminded that Canada is like the guy at the poker table holding deuce-seven off suit. An all-in bet probably wouldn’t be a wise choice.
Ford called for tit-for-tat tariffs on Tuesday and suggested the provinces could “dismantle the U.S. if we wanted to” by exerting pressure through energy exports.
“If you need cards to get the agreement that we need on softwood lumber, to get the agreement that we need on growing prosperity for Americans and for Canadians again … then British Columbia will be there,” Eby said.
Manitoba Grifters
What’s the phrase “I’m willing to entertain…” supposed to mean anyway? That he’s going to hold the project ransom at some point? It would be nice to hear “I enthusiastically endorse…” instead, but that would probably land him in hot water with the greenies.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he’s open to a west-east pipeline being pitched by his counterparts in Alberta and Ontario.
But he says major projects like pipelines need to be built the right way, by addressing environmental concerns and bringing Indigenous governments on board.
Is Canada A Suicide Pact?
Apparently most provincial premiers cannot grasp that these tactics have the same chance of success as an economy sedan playing chicken with a bus. Wiser leaders would know enough to concede before it’s too late.
British Columbia Premier David Eby delivered the starkest message: “There is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on the shelves in British Columbia.”
Canadian Exceptionalism
If opposition to concrete buildings full of computers is this intense, that leads me to believe that a pipeline from Alberta to Sarnia is never going to happen. It beggars belief that Wab Kinew would kill the idea of a data center in Manitoba, yet propose a pipeline to Churchill. The bad economics of that aside, does he think that the greenies will sign off on a pipeline crossing the tundra?
Olds residents have been rallying against a proposal for a 10-building campus with a total of 1.4 gigawatts of gas-fired power generation. In June, opponents held a protest in Vancouver to demonstrate against the opening of AI data centres. In Hamilton, a proposal to put a data centre campus on the harbourfront has sparked fierce pushback.
Strangled Assets
I can identify another problem with supply mismanagement: if it were to end, your assets may suddenly be worth a lot less than they used to be, maybe even less than your debts.
A company that earns guaranteed margins because a regulation, exclusive contract or closed market keeps competitors out tends to stop doing the things that keep a business sharp. It stops scrutinizing its cost structure, investing in efficiency or asking how it would cope or what it would charge if its customers had somewhere else to go. The protection may feel like a moat. In practice, it is closer to an anaesthetic.
False Alarm!
I see the court economists are at it again, carrying water as they do for the new PM. They need to understand that massive spending on money losing, capital consuming circuses like FIFA does not add to GDP; that should actually be counted as a subtraction.
While CIBC was already expecting a “healthy rebound” in the second quarter, Grantham said the period was also “flattered somewhat by a rebound in mining, oil and gas, as well as potentially a boost from FIFA World Cup spending and preparations.”
Hard Pass On The Low Hanging Fruit
The Liberals could make some easy, win/win concessions to the US on trade if they really wanted to. They are the only party that could afford to dismantle supply mismanagement, electorally speaking. And Blubber Dougie would fold like a cheap tent on the booze ban if Carney insisted. But Canadians seem to prefer the passive aggressive route instead.
The U.S. has also complained about Canada’s administration of dairy import quotas created under USMCA and raised concerns over milk pricing policies and market access for U.S. dairy products. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has said previously supply management will not be on the negotiating table.
The Extremist Boogeyman
If you follow the mainstream media, ever notice how conservatives seem to be the only group that is ever criticized for being “divisive”? Margaret Thatcher had a great label for politicians like Amelia Boultbee: wets.
She said in a social media post that Findlay’s election had left a void in the political landscape for those who are looking for an alternative to “NDP incompetence.”
“I feel strongly that British Columbian is best served, when it is represented by a government that values broad perspectives and stays away from polarizing extremes,” the post said. “I believe that the majority of British Columbians feel the same.”
Small Victories
I’d rather that the Supreme Court ruled that aboriginal title doesn’t apply to government land either, since the acceptance of that precedent has already saddled taxpayers with billions of dollars in undeserved payouts, but at least someone finally drew a line in the sand.
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a ruling that Aboriginal title cannot be declared over private land, in a decision the federal government says will have an impact on the Cowichan Tribes case in British Columbia.
Falling On Deaf Ears
It’s not just the federal government that isn’t that interested in Balsillie’s advice. Most provincial governments couldn’t care less either.
Balsillie said those who thrive in today’s economy own and control intangible assets such as data, AI and IP, and the U.S. has “turbocharged their capture,” but Canada’s economic game plan has stayed stuck in the decades-old “tangible production economy era,” while the new assets of the new economy require different strategies.
Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish
These days I’ll take any sign of improvement within the Federal government as a victory. The by-election, being in Montreal, will be a slam dunk for the Libs nonetheless.
Earlier in the day, Carney said he wishes Guilbeault “all the best” in whatever he chooses to do with his career next.
Carney said he understands that “things change.”