Tuesday, July 22, 2025

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.

Friday, July 18, 2025

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.



Wednesday, July 16, 2025

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.

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

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.



Monday, July 14, 2025

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.

Friday, July 11, 2025

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Karma Bites

25+ Karma Bites Back Quotes To Reflect On (Inspiring & Funny Quotes)

 

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.