500channelsurfer

The surprise is that Trudeau pushes an extremely expensive project that benefits only Eastern Canada as one of his last moves as PM. He could have won many more votes in Ontario and Quebec had he made this an election issue in one of his previous campaigns for PM. Perhaps he did not do that because he knows it will further alienate the West.

Merz seems to believe Europe can stand as a power on its own. Perhaps this is why Zelensky is not hurrying into any agreement yet.

https://apnews.com/article/canada-trudeau-highspeed-rail-network-4c50007bc8e9bf5bbec9a4add9ac88fe Trudeau is trying to push forward a high speed rail link connecting Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. It is an odd time, at the very end of his tenure, to do so. This might be Trudeau trying to leave a legacy to Canadians. But what kind of legacy will this be seen as in 20 or 50 years? This is clearly going to be extremely expensive if it goes through. There is also no equivalent spending in public transit or similar for Western Canada. This proposal will increase western alienation for the Liberal party. It may also quickly be axed following the appointment of the next Liberal leader and/or upcoming general election. Perhaps Trudeau is thinking better links between Ontario and Quebec is worth the political gamble of western alienation, in order to attempt to reduce Quebec separatism?

When I was younger and more idealistic, I hoped Canada would change to proportional representation. Since then I have become better acquainted with PR's drawbacks vs FPTP: more frequent elections with less predictable election dates, increased control of parties from party top brass, increased disconnect of parties from local riding associations, splintered governments beholden to multiple parties and interests in order to remain in confidence, etc. myata, what are you advocating for in your original post?

EU is very fractured and does not have a good record of efficiency. Its governments are often coalitions due to their electoral systems, and prone to collapses and crises. Its members are many and of widely varying political ideologies. The US is continuing the trend of ending the previous global order, which began with Putin annexing pieces of Ukraine, by diverging from recent Western foreign policies. When the US becomes more isolationist and more and more intricate and overlapping alliances develop, the world becomes more unstable. Should Europe manage to get itself together into a formidable force, this would result in a tri-axis world, among the most dangerous of international situations.

fghj Thank you for making this point. Canada should have better invested and managed our domestic production, ownership and value-added to our economy. When Trump and people like him look at Canada, they can easily see a banana republic, just like some of the Caribbean and Central American countries that the US used to exhort control and influence over. In my view, this is what Trump is thinking when he is calling Canada a 51st state. Trump is not interested in any talk about adding Canadians or our Premiers to Congress or any formal arrangement like that. He is simply exhorting control, at least for now.

This has not really been the norm for most governments for the last 40 years or so. But a return to this Keynesian school in governments should be welcomed. There is evidence it is growing as can be evidenced from Trump's sovereign wealth funds proposal. In the meantime, as you say, we will unfortunately likely be spending. Since that will be the case, it should make sense to funnel some of that spending into crown corporations to make up for the businesses leaving and closing as betsy mentioned, as well as to maintain consumer supplies, which may diminish as tariffs increase, and have some assets that could either be sold off when more "normal" economic times return, or used to generate some income to pay off some of this spending debt. Canada has a long history of successful crown corporations which has diminished over the last 40 or so years.

Could crown corporations be an answer to any of the sectors of the economy that may experience decline, as described in betsy's original post?

Most of the complaints in the video apply to Trudeau and his entourage just as much as any other group.

It would have been simpler for all parties if we had just let 30 days of tariffs happen. That way all the real grievances would have come out, and none of this all-day-on-the-phone drama between the three heads of state, while the majority of the can is just being kicked down the road. What a waste of time. Plus all the investment people (including honest retirees worried about their savings/investments) going into anxiety overdrive all day.

It would make sense that Nevada trades with Switzerland as gambling profits would fit very nicely with Switzerland's banking sector, but it is noted that Switzerland is the world's largest gold refiner, and Nevada is the US's larger miner of gold.

The Anglo vote should decide maybe 15 ridings at most, provincially. This can be decisive if the regions and Francophone vote is evenly divided. I think Pablo has a chance.

Then a smart Canadian policy would be to prepare policy to assist our ports and pipeline companies for expansion to reach alternate markets than the US.

I wonder if the cost of shipping Canadian goods to alternate trading partners than the United States (EU, UK, Mexico and Central and South America, Southeast Asia, etc.) amounts to 25%.

Dénis is not popular outside of Montreal except in a few circles of old Liberal friends. He also lost the last two elections he ran in, to Valérie Plante. He might be a good fundraiser, so he does have a chance at winning the PLQ nomination, but would not make a good candidate for PM of Quebec. It was demonstrated in a poll https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/new-poll-in-favour-of-pablo-rodriguez-plq-says-it-senses-a-groundswell-of-support-for-the-party/ that Pablo Rodriguez would make a good candidate for LPQ leader.

Actually Yes. I went to an Anglophone school, but back in the 80s we did sing the Canadian national anthem, although I think it may have only been on Mondays and Fridays. There was some schedule whereby sometimes it was sung in English and sometimes it was sung in French. We also prayed in school. Not all schools did, but my elementary school was Catholic, and we sometimes recited the Hail Mary and sometimes the Lord's Prayer.

Any "accomplishments" Hitler made must have been the result of innovative economic and monetary planning and innovation?

Actually, I was born in Montreal, and am a Quebecer.

I agree with you here. I just think it is very difficult to get traditional Liberal voters in the Montreal area to vote for other parties. In this bi-election, just enough Liberal vote loss occurred and enough gain to Bloc and NDP to put the Bloc on top and make the NDP competitive. This Verdun riding has been changing demographically, and the new demographics favour more progressive and more independence-leaning electorate. The Liberals are very down in the polls. The last time they were this low more closely resembles Mulroney's 1984 win than any other recent Federal election. That election was the exception where Conservatives won a few Montreal-area traditional Liberal ridings.

In much of western Montreal and the West Island, it is said you could run a pig as a Liberal candidate and it will still win. The results follow the polls overall when applied to the ridings. I saw no surprises.

Yes, Bridge. The land around it is mostly flat. The only real impediment to bicycles is on the west side of the mountain (Cote-des-Neiges and Westmount). Winter biking in Montreal is not so much impeded by the terrain as it is the precipitation (and state of the roads!).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaSalle—Émard—Verdun The Liberal vote loss in Verdun was split quite evenly between the Bloc, NDP and Conservatives. The Bloc just have the most historic support in this riding and its predecessors, where they normally come in 2nd, giving them a higher starting point. Also big Liberal drop in the Manitoba riding, where traditional NDP support held. Can be seen as good news for everyone except the Liberals.

I see two completely separate issues: Money supply increases resulting from Covid (whether you blame Biden and Trudeau, or the Central Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve, is irrelevant here) caused the 2021-2022 inflation rise. This will be remembered historically as a blip. The reason why families that used to be able to live on 1 income now need 2 incomes to maintain a similar standard of living (e.i. buying a house) is the result of a generational and decades long type rise of inflation, caused by increase in demand via population growth and supply getting close to maxed out due to resource depletion. The world's supply of readily available energy, arable farmland and other large-scale inputs such as timber and limestone are no longer increasing as population is, and in terms of cost-per unit of input are sometimes decreasing depending on jurisdiction.

Drapeau was a doer-would accept and overcome obstacles, sometimes (and famously!) no matter the cost. Brought Montreal Expo67 and the Olympics. However, Drapeau wanted 2 expressways, one on the east of the mountain (Papineau) and one on the west of the mountain (Decarie). He only got Decarie. Maybe Davis was like Drapeau, got Don Valley but not Spadina?

It is often concluded in studies that housing the homeless is cheaper than leaving them on the streets, with housing increasing employment opportunities while decreasing law enforcement and health care costs, among many, of having homeless. Yet there has been no one-size-fits all solution. Homeless solution requires mental health, drug addiction, and many other expertises, while also funding the housing itself.