SpankyMcFarland

I don’t condone violence at all but Musk has chosen to become an extremely controversial political figure and consumers can decide not to buy products associated with him. He has certainly been no friend of Canada.

Go back in time and ask any nation resisting Hitler why it’s being unreasonable and prolonging the slaughter. We live in a topsy-turvy world where those who saw reds under every bed want to sleep with them instead.

I mean patients or companies directly paying somebody to provide care without government in between. I came to this conclusion after having to scramble for a GP for several years.

Any Albertans here? What’s the local reaction to the RCMP getting involved in the health care kerfuffle? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ahs-rcmp-investigation-1.7476869

Sweet music to mine ears. At last I can utter the words “Churchill Falls” without risking a stroke. I have bolded the worst and best bits. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-hydroquebec-says-newfoundland-and-labrador-power-deal-is-clean-break/?login=true#comments

I think it’s prudent to assume that Trumpism isn’t going away and will be part of their make-up going forward. Leftist and socialist are losing their meaning as adjectives. The MAGA movement isn’t libertarian, for example. Most of its supporters like the benefits big government provides. If Musk and his oligarch friends actually go ahead with radical cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and social security, for example, they will split Trump’s coalition.

America has to manage its external relations better if it intends to keep willing allies in the world which it will certainly need as China’s critical mass of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs really gets going. If it retreats to a Fortress North America policy we may be doomed but the rest of the world will have more options.

I would suggest there is a middle way between being an enemy and a colony. We still want good relations with them but we are separate countries with different worldviews and interests.

The forces that impelled Trump to the WH and empowered similar populists across the West aren’t going away any time soon. He may not be a blip. It is prudent to start thinking about the possibility of a grim new reality becoming permanent. Yes, military procurement happens on a glacial scale in Canada but there is no harm in starting the discussion about what we should do if the US has changed permanently.

So what are you advocating here? No change at all? I would say that as in everything else we have to diversify over time and move away from complete dependence on one foreign country whose policies have just changed radically.

Everybody has baggage. If Trump keeps his economic war on us going, or even talk of it, I don’t think it will be as important as usual. Carney’s work experience is relevant to the moment at hand. He can’t be dismissed as an out of touch academic like Ignatieff.

Trumpism looks like it will outlast the Trump presidency. There’s no guarantee the US will ever be quite the same again.

Winning may be defined differently for the two sides. Ukraine is achieving something highly significant every day any part of its territory stays free of Russian tyranny, and the survival of any Ukrainian resistance anywhere will ultimately doom Russia to defeat. Ukrainians aren’t going to give up on the idea of an independent nation when they know how awful rule from Moscow is.

We have to start somewhere and we now know we can’t trust them.

The direction of the polls favours Carney at the moment. His party is still behind but heading upwards at a good clip. Why not try to capitalize on that, look prime ministerial for a few months while sparring with an incredibly unpopular foreign adversary and then go?