We Can't Afford To Look Away

As much as the world might wish to, none of us can afford to look away from the horror of Gaza, the man-made genocidal starvation underway, orchestrated by Israel. While the majority of us feel helpless in the face of such abject suffering, the widespread knowledge of it is forcing governments to act. Right now it may be only with words, but one hopes that will soon escalate into concrete actions, including sanctions against the rogue nation.

Already, that knowledge has forced Israel to loosen its death grip on aid;  it is clearly in response to worldwide condemnation, condemnation that is fueled by all of us bearing witness to the atrocities happening in Gaza. Whether this miniscule increase in aid will save lives remains to be seen.

You may wish to skip the following video; the first few minutes graphically show the toll starvation is taking on Gazans. After the video, I am reproducing some letters to the editor about the situation.

And these letters attest to the widespread moral repugnance the world is feeling:

What I know about the situation in Gaza: Israel should not be presiding over the starvation of defenceless civilians, July 25

The images of starving Palestinian children and the stories of those who were killed or maimed trying to secure food for their families recalls the inhumanity perpetrated on the Jewish people during the Second World War. While leaders of powerful nations greet one another with handshakes and smiles as if they were buddies meeting up at a bar, children in Palestine are experiencing the same sort of fear that Anne Frank once did. That people who were once oppressed could become the oppressors leaves me questioning my faith in humanity.

Giselle Déziel, Cornwall, PE

For weeks, we have witnessed civilians being shot as they’ve tried to access food. And it’s not only the health ministry in Gaza that’s listing the casualties. Palestinian and international doctors serving in the region have been reporting on the casualties that arrive daily at their hospitals. As of July 13, the United Nations confirmed that 875 Palestinians were killed seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the others at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured.

Israel has been blocking humanitarian aid, bombing supply convoys and shooting civilians waiting for food. Canada must now take action by imposing a two-way arms embargo on Israel, sanctioning Israeli political and military leaders and refusing to do business with companies complicit in the illegal occupation. Unless the international community acts, Palestinians living in Gaza will continue to be trapped in a cycle of hope, heartbreak and hunger, waiting for assistance and praying for a ceasefire.

Debbie Hubbard, Kelowna, BC

On Monday, July 21, Canada joined Japan, New Zealand, and 23 European allies in calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, and stating they were prepared to take “further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.”

These are just empty words. What “action’ are you going to take and when are you going to take it? Now is not the time for words, but for action — while there are still people alive in Gaza.

There can be no further delay. For  thousands  in Gaza  it is already too late.  

 Our leaders are far from powerless if they act together. They must tell the Israeli government what it has to do, when it has to do it, and what sanctions they will impose  if it doesn’t.

Clearly, we cannot depend on the U.S.A. President Donald Trump, whose evident contempt for human life and for the rule of law knows no bounds, has already stated that he wants the Palestinians out of Gaza, and is providing the Israeli government with everything it needs .

 It’s up to the leaders of the democratic world to  end this. 

Robert Burns McDonald, Montreal QC

We all have a role to play in helping end the Gazans' suffering, whether it be by bearing witness to it or taking actions we deem efficacious. To do anything other is a grave disservice to both the people of Gaza and our collective humanity.

The Door Is Slamming Shut

I have been retired from teaching high-school English for almost 20 years. When I look back, I realize how fortunate I was to have been able to spend the bulk of my career free from too much interference from administrators and public sentiment. For me, teaching literature was the gateway to helping create analytic skills, reading appreciation and, perhaps most importantly, critical thinking skills. Honest inquiry was sacred in my classroom, and nothing was ever really off-topic, given the range of human experience that literature encompasses: human dignity, cruelty, exploitation, savage monopolistic business practices (read The Grapes of Wrath for a full display of those qualities) among them. 

Alas, that is no longer the case. I doubt that I could thrive or even survive in today's atmosphere, an atmosphere that sees increasing restrictions on what can be discussed in the classroom. 

A temporary ban on students sharing their family’s culture in class. A parent-organized Pride event moved outside school hours. Teachers afraid to answer students’ questions around the Israel-Hamas war.

Over the past academic year, Toronto parents and teachers say activities and discussions that would typically be normal to have in the classroom have suddenly become a source of fear and confusion — and they pin the blame on an edict dropped by the Ontario government last September.

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, then-education minister Jill Dunlop issued a memo to Ontario school boards to keep “political biases” out of the classroom to ensure these spaces remain “safe, inclusive and welcoming for all students and staff.”

Given the risk-averse nature of today's school administrators, that memo is having a chilling effect, even though the directive is vague as to what constitutes political biases.

Can civic lessons on who is prime minister continue as normal? What about sex-ed lessons on different genders and sexualities? Class discussions around race?

“Nothing is neutral,” said Carl James, a professor and the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora at York University. “The curriculum cannot be seen as outside of providing and producing a way of seeing things.”

The Star spoke to a number of Toronto teachers and parent, many of whom do not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal.

When a public speaking competition was coming up at the elementary school of Zoë Wool’s child this past year, the west-end parent said students were invited to write a short speech on an important issue.

But when Wool’s child wanted to talk about Palestine, she said they were told it was “not a good idea.”

Wool said the incident came around the same time the school’s principal allegedly put a blanket ban on students sharing their culture in class — but that the ban was later lifted after the principal met with parents.

Neither Wool nor her child is Palestinian (they are Jewish), but she worries about the impact the ministry’s memo will have on those who are.

“Palestinian families are being given the message by the Ministry of Education that there is something wrong or dangerous or problematic about their very identity and history and that acknowledging their existence puts other kids at risk,” Wool said.

The Palestinian issue has presented a problem for many. 

Palestinian teachers who spoke to the Star said they, too, felt constrained by the province’s edict, even when students ask them questions about their heritage. 

“I’m too scared,” said a Palestinian TDSB elementary teacher, who explained how she doesn’t answer her young students’ questions on what the Palestinian flag and watermelon pins attached to her fanny pack represent.

Amongst the other casualties of the memo are Pride events, now being forced to take place outside of school hours. Indigenous issues may also be sidelined.

Unfortunately, some of the public (and they are usually a loud minority) conflate discussion and information with indoctrination, preferring that children learn in a sterile and contextless environment.

However, we have already seen where that has taken Americans, further down the road of prejudice, intolerance and ignorance. If we allow the door of critical inquiry to slam shut here in Canada, will we not follow the same trajectory?

 

Trump Gets Fact-Checked

I'm not sure about the prospects of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell keeping his head attached to the rest of his body after this brutal fact check of Trump.

President Donald Trump’s attempt to shame Federal Reserve Board of Governors chair Jerome Powell over the cost of a long-running renovation to the central bank’s Washington headquarters went horribly wrong on Thursday when Powell had a ready response for the president’s accusations during a tour of the construction site.

 Trump said the cost of the years-long project was now “about $3.1 billion” rather than the $2.7 billion previously stated by Powell.

“So we're taking a look, and it looks like it's about 3.1 billion went up a little bit or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1 it just came out,” he said reading from a piece of paper, as Powell looked on and shook his head in the negative before interjecting.

The chairman replied: “I haven’t heard that from anybody” and asked if the paper Trump was reading from came from the central bank.

At that point, Trump handed him the paper and continued talking while Powell pulled out his reading glasses to look.

He then told the president that the higher number he was claiming included a separate project that wasn’t part of the renovation at issue.

“You just added in a third building,” he said.

He told Trump that he was mistakenly counting long-completed renovations to a building named for William Martin Jr., who served as Fed chair from 1951–1970, as part of the renovation of the Fed’s main headquarters.

 

Lese majeste, eh? The Don never forgets a slight.

Stay tuned for the decapitation.

Look Over There! - Nothing To See Here

With all the troubles in the world, and all of the evil things that Trump and his henchmen have done, it almost beggars belief that the only thing the MAGATS obsess about is the release of the Epstein files. While there is nothing to suggest that Trump himself is implicated in the notorious pedophilia of the late Epstein, I suspect the thing Don worries most about is the probability possibility that he was fully aware of what the 'financier' was up to with underage girls, perhaps even expressing admiration for his depraved appetites.

Be that as it may, Trump is doing everything in his power to divert scrutiny. The first diversion is the release, two years ahead of schedule, of all the files on Martin Luther King, most of them compiled by the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, a racist who saw the rise of Black people as a threat to American social stability. (If you want a very comprehensive portrait of the longtime head of the FBI, I highly recommend the meticulously researched G -Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage.)

"Trump releasing the MLK assassination files is not about transparency or justice," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unravelling of his credibility among the MAGA base."

The King Center, founded by King's widow and now led by Bernice King, reacted separately from what Bernice said jointly with her brother. The King Center statement framed the release as a distraction — but from more than short-term political controversy.

"It is unfortunate and ill-timed, given the myriad of pressing issues and injustices affecting the United States and the global society," the King Center said, linking those challenges to MLK's efforts. "This righteous work should be our collective response to renewed attention on the assassination of a great purveyor of true peace."

King, despite his heroic battles on behalf of Black people, was no saint. He was quite the womanizer.  I suspect it is that titillating aspect of the files, essentially the Hoover-orchestrated illegal invasion of King's privacy through bugging devices and wiretaps, that Don hopes will deflect from the Epstein controversy.

Then there is the lame attempt to get the release of grand jury testimony that led to Epstein's indictment. Even if it is released (highly unusual given the secret nature of grand jury testimony), it likely would have no reference to Trump. 

As well, there is the sideshow of Trump's attorney-general, Pam Bondi, sending her deputy, Todd Blanche, (Trump's former personal attorney) to interview Ghislane Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year sentence for her part in procuring young girls for Epstein's vile pleasures.

"President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say," Blanche said in the statement posted by Bondi on X.

Does anyone with half a brain (admittedly, that excludes the MAGATS) believe that Maxwell, who is trying to appeal her sentence and perhaps hopes for a presidential pardon, will say anything bad about her potential saviour?

Finally, there is the preposterous and profoundly hypocritical behaviour of Mike Johnson, the Republican Speak of the House. You may recall that only recently he was calling for the full-disclosure of all files relating to Epstein. That sudden whiff of spine quickly transmogrified into his usual craven subservience to Trump.  

 House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ground the House of Representatives to a screeching halt in order to block Democrats from bringing up amendments calling for the release of files related to sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The speaker’s decision to virtually shut down procedure in the House of Representatives — a week before Congress’ summer break — comes as President Donald Trump continues to receive criticism from all sides for his handling of the promised release of all government files related to Epstein. 

The move to halt the action of the House Rules committee came after Democrats repeatedly tried to introduce amendments to force the disclosure of files related to Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York prison cell in 2019.

I was going to end the post here, but I've decided to leave you with something even more outlandish (except, again, to the MAGATS): an A.I. generated fake video of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. 

Can things get any worse in Amerika? That is, of course, merely a rhetorical question.

 

A Note About Progressive Bloggers

Just a brief note: I was in recent contact with Scott Tribe, who operates the Progressive Bloggers aggregator. It appears that, owing to financial considerations, the website is down for the count. The only thing I can suggest is to do what I have done: bookmark your favourite bloggers and check regularly for new posts.

I'd like to thank Scott for all the years he has put into the site. I know that it has made a real impact on my blog in driving traffic to Politics and its Discontents, and I shall miss it a great deal.

A Timely Warning

I think all of us are aware of the multitude of scams being practised at any given time, be it the granny scam ("Hi Gramma, I was in an accident and am in jail. Please send money for my bail"), computer phishing scams, romance scams, etc. Most of the time, we assume they target the elderly or the lonely, and we are certain we would never fall for such deceptions.

However, as the following item makes clear, the scams have reached a new level of sophistication that even young people are falling victim to them. I present this only as a public service, the message being we can never let our guard down these days. The particular bank involved here, Scotia Bank, will accept no responsibility here, even though there should have been red flag protocols in place before this man lost $25,000.

Prelude To Capitulation: Mr. Carney Blinks Again

 

It was not so long ago, during the election campaign, that I remember Mr. Carney's soaring rhetoric, his stout orders calling for  "Elbows Up, Canada!" and all that it implied in our 'battle' with the United States. We were told a new reality was upon us, and our former 'trusted partner' could no longer be depended upon. Lo, a total reordering of the trade world was drawing nigh, and we had to seek and support our real friends in the larger world, as well as respond to America's bullying with punishing counter-tariffs.

Well, that was enough for the Liberals to secure a strong minority, and truth to tell, I voted with some enthusiasm for Carney, arms akimbo, his opponents offering nothing credible. That said, I know that many, both online and offline, do not agree with my recent criticisms of the prime minister over how he dealt with the DST. The feeling seems to be to wait and see, and not to rush to judgement. Surely there is a strategy at work here.

Well, now comes another sign that my Carney carping was not out of line.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he sees little evidence that it’s possible to strike a deal with President Donald Trump that removes all U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

This is the first time the Prime Minister has acknowledged that a pact to end the Canada-U.S. trade war would likely leave some of Mr. Trump’s protectionist tariffs in place.

“There is not much evidence at this moment of agreements, arrangements, or negotiations with the Americans for any country, any jurisdiction, to have a tariff-free deal,” Mr. Carney said.

Probably a realistic assessment, but what is the purpose of publically surrendering a vital negotiating position before those negotiations are complete?

The only reason I can think of is to prepare the public to start forgetting that bellicose campaign rhetoric. 

William Pellerin, a partner with McMillan LLP’s international trade group, said Mr. Carney may be lowering expectations for what Canadians and Canadian businesses can anticipate from a trade deal with Mr. Trump.

He said he and his clients must now prepare for the possibility that U.S. tariffs are here to stay for the long term and that any Canadian business which made a short-term decision to “eat the tariffs rather than passing them on” to U.S. buyers may have to rethink that.

Mr. Carney’s comments “could also be a trial balloon that he’s floating to Canadians and to the markets to see how people react,” Mr. Pellerin said.

My reaction is the same as it was when I voted for Carney. I expect Canada to put up a real fight, a fight he cultivated during the campaign. A fight that would include strong counter-tariffs. Our pride was at new levels, and it was predicated on a defiance of the American trade madness.

And I am not alone in disdain for Carney's pending capitulation. People remember his caving earlier on the Digital Service Tax:

... to those pushing for a more hawkish approach to Trump’s trade war, it was an unacceptable concession after Canada already repealed its digital services tax and ramped up its defence and border security spending in response to Trump’s concerns.

“We should call this what it is. It’s extortion by the United States,” said Unifor president Lana Payne, who said normalizing the idea of tariffs could result in Trump pushing things even further, and urged Canada to push back with every tool at its disposal.

“The challenge we have is that we’re dealing with someone who continues to change the goalposts,” Payne said. “Giving things away up front has not worked for us.

And while it pains me to say this, I find I have to agree with little P.P.'s acerbic assessment.

“The Prime Minister is now conceding that American tariffs on Canada will be part of an eventual deal,” Mr. Poilievre said in a post on X.

“Another unilateral concession from a man who said he would never back down to the U.S. President.”

Mr. Carney seems to have perfected the art of making good speeches. Sadly, backing up those speeches with real action is proving to be something else entirely.

 

Here's A Political Voice People Can Respect

Now that Naheed Nenshi has been sworn in as an Alberta MLA, it looks like he is bringing an intelligence to the job that many will respect and some will fear.

What Day Of The Week Is It?

Depending on many known and unknown variables, including what day of the week it is, one never knows what unhinged version of Donald Trump will make his appearance on any given occasion. Consistent, however, is the fact that no version of the mad king can be trusted. We would be well-advised to keep that in mind when attempting to 'negotiate' with him, as these letters attest.

Our move

So dropping the digital services tax without gaining any concessions, rather than appeasing the bully, just encourages him to demand more – as just about everyone expected, except perhaps our Prime Minister.

Any “deal” with Donald Trump likely won’t be worth the price of the Sharpie he signs it with. So if we are going to get hurt, let’s at least keep our self-respect and pride. China kept their dignity and retaliated, and he backed down.

Canada should immediately reinstate the digital services tax. We are going to get hit economically no matter what we do.

We might as well maintain our pride, dignity and sovereignty.

David Ross Canmore, Alta.

In attempting to negotiate with the United States, we are dealing with people who act capriciously and break formal agreements on a whim. It seems they don’t keep their word and don’t respect us.

I believe it’s time to treat the U.S. as unreliable. Stop thinking we can negotiate with them and trying to appease them. Move on to other trading partners.

Bill Hollings Toronto

Donald Trump’s latest 35-per-cent tariff threat should put an end to any illusions: Canada can no longer treat the United States as a steady trade partner.

Tying economic penalties to false claims about fentanyl isn’t policy – it’s posturing. It leaves Canadian businesses and workers in a constant state of uncertainty.

We can’t keep waiting for the U.S. to return to normal. I don’t think it’s coming back.

Mark Carney is right to delay the trade deadline and consult the premiers. But we need more than reaction. We need a shift in strategy: diversified trade, domestic investment and clear-eyed recognition that stability isn’t something we can import.

This isn’t a dramatic breakup. It’s a long-overdue adjustment to reality.

Rodney Beatty Sarnia, Ont.

Re “The U.S. is not our friend any more. Has anyone told Mark Carney?” (Report on Business, July 9): Beginning with the election campaign, Mark Carney has been delivering the message loudly and clearly that this U.S. administration is now an enemy of Canada. That he has so far wisely chosen not to poke the bear does not mean he has “completely misread the nature of the threat facing Canada.”

While the idea of any negotiation is rejected here as a waste of time and effort, Mr. Carney has chosen to try. Not even trying to mitigate the threat would be to accept dominance of and damage to our economy.

Failing a satisfactory agreement, Canada can walk away saying that it tried. I think Canadians will appreciate the effort.

After that, we can take the gloves off and raise our elbows again.

Jon Baird Uxbridge, Ont.

One ardently hopes that the prime minister and his team will get this message soon.  We've wasted enough time already.

Another Home Run

 If you remember Brian Mulroney, you'll get this. 

Another home run for Theo Moudakis.

Karma Bites

 

One of the many unfortunate aspects of the Trump reign is that it has me more meanspirited. I find I take special delight when something bad happens to any of his supporters who, of course, are legion. This is obviously bad for the soul, but I nonetheless revel in such occurrences.

Take, for example, the case of Cynthia Olivera, a Canadian living in the United States and married to an American. To hear Cynthia's version, she has been ill-used, having been brought to the U.S. by her parents "without permission" when she was 10 years old. She married an American and has three children, and both she and husband Francisco were cheerful advocates of Trump's deportation policies until they affected Cynthia.

The family of a Canadian national who supported Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants say they are feeling betrayed after federal agents recently detained the woman in California while she interviewed for permanent US residency – and began working to expel her from the country.

“We feel totally blindsided,” Cynthia Olivera’s husband – US citizen and self-identified Trump voter Francisco Olivera – told the California news station KGTV. “I want my vote back.”

By 1999, when she was about 19, US immigration officials at the Buffalo border crossing had determined Olivera was living in the country without legal status and obtained an expedited order to deport her. But, after being removed, she was able to return to the US by driving to San Diego from Mexico within a few months.

In 2024, toward the end of his presidency, Joe Biden’s administration granted her a permit allowing her to work legally in the US. She had also been navigating the process to obtain legal permanent US residency, colloquially referred to as a green card, for years.

Apparently, the generosity of the Biden presidency was not appreciated, the family putting their full support behind Trump. Despite living and working for 25 years in the United States, Cynthia was soon to fall victim to the very policy she ardently supported, a spokesperson saying in a statement that Cynthia was “an illegal alien from Canada”.

Olivera had been “previously deported and chose to ignore our law and again illegally entered the country”, said the spokesperson’s statement, as reported by Newsweek. The statement noted that re-entering the US without permission after being deported is a felony, and it said Olivera would remain in Ice’s custody “pending removal to Canada”. 

For some it is a sobering experience when they learn they are not so special, and the rules they thought applied only to others come knocking on their door. 

Karma does, indeed, bite.

Please Be Advised

Those who have a reflexive aversion to criticism of Prime Minister Mark Carney might wish to skip over to another blog, as this one contains yet more criticisms of his efforts to appease Trump. 

Opinion | Mark Carney, we expected more from you

Killing the Digital Services Tax is a step backwards, July 3

Contributor Kean Birch points out the revenues gained by the owners of social media sites as they collect and sell data collected from their users. But this is only a fraction of the wealth to be generated by the many uses of artificial intelligence. It’s time we took seriously the need to use this wealth for the benefit of more than a few dozen oligarchs. Millions will lose their livelihoods as it becomes possible to do many kinds of work with AI. How can we prevent both the likely catastrophic drop in incomes and the loss of identity and sense of value that come from joblessness? The technology will provide the resources that could be used to avoid such harms — but we will have to be bold and creative enough to take strong measures to use them. If our leaders don’t have the guts to implement even such a small measure as a digital services tax, how can we make them do what’s going to be needed in the next few years?

Our new prime minister wants to transform our economy. Let’s hope he will do so in ways that benefit all of us, not just the few who own the technology.

Julie Beddoes, Toronto

Carney is not what a lot of Liberals hoped for

The ascension of Mark Carney to Prime Minister was probably based on enough voters thinking that years as a top-tier finance guy would provide the knowledge and smarts to right the Canadian economic ship in light of current threats. However, the disappointments are coming fast and furious. The cancellation of the digital services tax was a capitulation, pure and simple. The digital giants like Alphabet have grabbed all the advertising revenue and collect our data without contributing their fair share of taxes. This makes a mockery of Carney’s “elbows up” rhetoric. The middle-class tax cut looks like Carney putting on his best Doug Ford impersonation. Is this wise when our public services are crumbling, especially in Ontario? The cosying up to Alberta and the seeming openness to reinforcing Canada as a Petrostate is disturbing in light of alarming global heating happening here and now. The NATO spending commitment to five per cent of GDP is another head scratching move since not even the U.S.A. spends five per cent of their GDP on defence. The cancellation of the increase in the capital gains inclusion rate is another disappointment given that adjusting the capital gains regime is the low hanging fruit of tax fairness. At this point, we can say that Canada has a “Progressive Conservative” Liberal government. While this is better than the alternative of a snarly, fear mongering, Conservative government, it is not what a lot of Liberals and progressive voters hoped for.

Peter Bertollo, Brampton

PM gave up his best bargaining chip

It’s my opinion Prime Minister Mark Carney gave up his best bargaining chip with U.S. President Donald Trump. I feel Trump should have been told the federal government’s digital service tax was a concession, but only after Trump returned to the table and a mutually agreeable trade deal had been worked out between Canada and America.

Al Brackley, Oshawa

Grovelling only encourages abuse

Paramount settled an absurd lawsuit brought by Mad King Donald Trump — it’s a blistering betrayal of all media, July 2

Thank you Vinay Menon for pointing out the betrayal of some news media companies to appease the corrupt and greedy U.S. president. But even our own prime minister has shown his willingness to walk back his big words and promises and caved in to U.S. President Donald Trump. When are certain politicians, corporations and individuals going to understand that grovelling only encourages a bully to continue his abuse?

Raphael Vigod, Toronto 

To be fair, however, one reader's opinion differs from the above:

Let the prime minister do his job

Critics of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s policy on U.S. trade may not have their job, mortgage, and family finances on the line. Our prime minister is acutely aware of what it means for families to lose their jobs. The shear stress can cause mental illness and destroy one’s desire to keep trying. The desire to win has no place in negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump. It will only give Trump the desire to inflict greater pain on Canadians which will result in more unemployment, increased social costs, and less revenues in the government’s coffers. Who wants that? Let the prime minister do his job and give him the support he needs to get a deal done.

Ken Stock, Port Hope

 That's all for now from the peanut gallery.

More Discontent Over Appeasement Efforts

Continuing with a theme, the discontent over Mark Carney's appeasement efforts continues. One prominent Canadian who is especially displeased is Lloyd Axworthy, who knows a thing or two about politics.

Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy is accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of taking a "bootlicking" approach to U.S. President Donald Trump at the expense of Canadian values.

"You have to be principled, you have to be tactical, you have to be pragmatic. But you also have to be tough and know what you stand for," Axworthy said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"Flattery is always part of the game, but you can take it to the point where you actually become unctuous."

Writing primarily about his disappointment in the recent NATO summit, Axworthy also turned his sights on Carney's DST capitulation. 

...his concerns have been further bolstered by Carney's decision to rescind the digital services tax that targeted American tech giants, as the prime minister and Trump undertake what he calls "secret" trade negotiations with no parliamentary scrutiny.

"When do we stop pretending it's all part of some clever negotiating strategy that justifies bootlicking in hopes of tariff concessions?" he wrote in the blog post.

"We find ourselves in a situation where our values are being tested by attacks on democracy and freedoms -- attacks that we must resist," Carney said in his Canada Day remarks.

Meanwhile, letters continue to pour into The Globe and Mail.

Whither the DST?

Re “What is behind Carney walking back the DST?” (Report on Business, July 1): Like Taylor C. Noakes, I am sorely disappointed in Mark Carney for cancelling the digital services tax. In fact, I’m kind of in a rage.

All I can think of to do is to “tax” those big American companies myself, by boycotting them. I’m cancelling my Amazon membership, forgoing Prime, using local taxi companies instead of Uber. I urge all Canadians to consider hitting back at those American transnationals that won’t even pay a paltry 3 per cent in taxes to the Canadians who pay them billions.

Carney may have caved, but the rest of us don’t have to.

Audrey Samson Halifax

Prime Minister Mark Carney has shown regrettable weakness in cancelling the digital services tax – and he may be disappointed if he thinks that concession will be enough to get trade talks back on track. As Taylor C. Noakes argues, there is a perfectly good policy basis for taxing the enormous profits that American tech giants make in Canada. Now what will happen when President Donald Trump goes after our dairy and poultry supply management system, about which he has quite legitimate grounds for complaint, given its protectionist and market-distorting nature? Will that become the hill the Prime Minister chooses to die on?

Peter Maitland Lindsay, Ont.

A show of elbows, please

Re “Carney ‘caved’ on DST, according to U.S.” (July 1): It pains me to find myself in agreement with both the White House and Pierre Poilievre that the Carney Liberals “caved” on the digital services tax.

We’ve just watched the spectacle of tech oligarch Jeff Bezos essentially buying Venice for his multimillion-dollar wedding extravaganza, but we don’t have the stomach to insist that he pay a 3-per-cent tax on the business he does in Canada? Those tax dollars are needed to finance all kinds of public infrastructure and services that support Amazon’s success. Bezos and his tech bros need to pay their fair share.

What happened to the promise of “elbows up” – standing our ground and defending our values?

Susan Watson Guelph, Ont.

And these two from The Star:

I am a strong supporter of Prime Minister Mark Carney and believe he is doing the best possible job given the circumstances he is facing with that irrational, impulsive U.S. President Donald Trump. However, Carney made a mistake by not insisting the tax on the internet companies of America be paid. Probably they would have not paid the tax, choosing a legal battle instead. But his step back from a tariff war with Trump looks like appeasement.

Know thy enemy. Trump is determined to assimilate Canada and Carney must, despite his best instincts to reach a compromise, bite the bullet and against all odds, like Britain in World War II, take him on and refuse to make any more concessions.

If the Canada Day celebrations are any indication, Canadians are ready for the battle and the sacrifices that we are going to suffer. It is difficult to appreciate the hardships we are going to face, combined with the internal dissension from Alberta, to survive as a nation but for loyal Canadians there is no other answer.

David Gladstone, Toronto

If the situation were reversed, Trump would be demanding more

It’s bad enough that U.S. President Donald Trump trash talks all the time, but officials of his administration should know better. I hope Prime Minister Mark Carney will walk back our position to scrap the tax on tech. U.S. tech companies are making millions in Canada; a small per cent of tax is nothing to them. If the situation were the reverse, Trump would be demanding more. 

“It’s very simple. Prime Minister Carney and Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday afternoon. The quote from the article in the Star is beneath contempt. We should double the price of aluminum right now.

It is time Trump learned what it is to have co-operative trading partner.

Tom McElroy, Toronto 

As I wrote earlier, I find it hard to see how Mark Carney's appeasement of Trump will result in anything good.  Clearly, I am not alone in that sentiment.