Canada is in denial, and has been for decades.

[I am Groot]

A very good column about how the political and media class have been pushing absurd ideas based on emotion, and then simply refusing to accept the evidence of their failure.

Canada is not in crisis because it is under siege from hostile foreign powers. Nor is it a victim of some unavoidable global conspiracy or historical inevitability. Canada’s predicament is far more unsettling as it is largely self‑inflicted. The country is struggling because too many of its leaders — and too many citizens — are trapped in an acute and dangerous form of denialism about the nation’s vulnerabilities, its declining institutional capacity, and the cumulative consequences of decades of misguided political, economic, and social decisions.

Denialism is not simply disagreement or optimism. It is the refusal to acknowledge evidence, trade‑offs, and limits. In Canada’s case, it has taken the form of moral certainty combined with policy recklessness, where good intentions substitute for results and dissent is dismissed as reactionary or immoral. This mindset has hollowed out the foundations of a country that was once confident, pragmatic, and capable of hard choices.

Canada’s political architecture is weakening. Parliament’s role as a forum for genuine debate and accountability has diminished as power concentrates in the Prime Minister’s Office. Members of Parliament are increasingly reduced to party functionaries rather than representatives of their constituents. The Senate, composed of political appointees, offers symbolism rather than meaningful restraint. Courts are increasingly perceived as policymakers, while access to justice is impeded by cost and delay

Overlaying all of this is a set of beliefs that, while passionately held by some, are corrosive to social order: the embrace of open borders without enforcement capacity; tolerance of rising crime; indifference to fraud and waste in government; hostility to economic self‑protection; failure to confront organized crime and drug trafficking; acceptance of overt political bias in media and universities; and the normalization of policies that undermine parental authority, women’s sports, religious freedom, and public decency. Individually debated, these issues are complex. Collectively ignored, they signal a governing class unwilling to draw boundaries.

https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/burton-canada-and-the-perils-of-denialism-are-canadians-prepared-for-the-fallout/70815

[TreeBeard]

5 hours ago, I am Groot said:

women’s sports

It’s all the trans’ fault.  It always comes down to this with these conservative weirdos. 
 

It used to be the gays, but now it’s an extreme position to blame the gays.  So the trans are the new bogey-man. 

Edited February 7 by TreeBeard

[I am Groot]

3 minutes ago, TreeBeard said:

It’s all the trans’ fault.  It always comes down to this with these conservative weirdos. 
 

It used to be the gays, but now it’s an extreme position to blame the gays.  So the trans are the new bogey-man. 

You pick out two words in a long article and your hair catches fire, as usual.

 

[herbie]

Well let's just start first that the claim 'Canada is under siege' has to be agreed with before one can take anything further seriously.
A single trade difference with a sole arsehole does not constitute a siege. Nor does the fact the majority does not agree with your social policies.

Taking the column to heart, if you agree with it then it is not Canada that's under siege, YOU are. Or truthfully you feel you are, as you cannot admit to yourself that you are wrong.

[TreeBeard]

14 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

You pick out two words in a long article

You bet. Those two words are the most important of all to weirdo conservatives who are obsessed with it.  Two weirdos can disagree on everything else in your article, but mention trans people and they will go off for hours about how the trans are ruining the world.  
 

Their hatred of all things different makes their world go ‘round.  When they lost the ability to bash the gays, it was devastating to their psyche. 

1 minute ago, herbie said:

you feel you are

This is it.  They’re losing their culture wars and it is devastating to them.  They feel they don’t matter anymore, and it’s very hard on them. 

[I am Groot]

1 hour ago, TreeBeard said:

You bet. Those two words are the most important of all to weirdo conservatives who are obsessed with it.

Sounds like they're the most important to you too.

[CdnFox]

7 hours ago, I am Groot said:

A very good column about how the political and media class have been pushing absurd ideas based on emotion, and then simply refusing to accept the evidence of their failure.

Canada is not in crisis because it is under siege from hostile foreign powers. Nor is it a victim of some unavoidable global conspiracy or historical inevitability. Canada’s predicament is far more unsettling as it is largely self‑inflicted. The country is struggling because too many of its leaders — and too many citizens — are trapped in an acute and dangerous form of denialism about the nation’s vulnerabilities, its declining institutional capacity, and the cumulative consequences of decades of misguided political, economic, and social decisions.

Denialism is not simply disagreement or optimism. It is the refusal to acknowledge evidence, trade‑offs, and limits. In Canada’s case, it has taken the form of moral certainty combined with policy recklessness, where good intentions substitute for results and dissent is dismissed as reactionary or immoral. This mindset has hollowed out the foundations of a country that was once confident, pragmatic, and capable of hard choices.

Canada’s political architecture is weakening. Parliament’s role as a forum for genuine debate and accountability has diminished as power concentrates in the Prime Minister’s Office. Members of Parliament are increasingly reduced to party functionaries rather than representatives of their constituents. The Senate, composed of political appointees, offers symbolism rather than meaningful restraint. Courts are increasingly perceived as policymakers, while access to justice is impeded by cost and delay

Overlaying all of this is a set of beliefs that, while passionately held by some, are corrosive to social order: the embrace of open borders without enforcement capacity; tolerance of rising crime; indifference to fraud and waste in government; hostility to economic self‑protection; failure to confront organized crime and drug trafficking; acceptance of overt political bias in media and universities; and the normalization of policies that undermine parental authority, women’s sports, religious freedom, and public decency. Individually debated, these issues are complex. Collectively ignored, they signal a governing class unwilling to draw boundaries.

https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/burton-canada-and-the-perils-of-denialism-are-canadians-prepared-for-the-fallout/70815

 

2 hours ago, TreeBeard said:

It’s all the trans’ fault.  It always comes down to this with these conservative weirdos. 
 

It used to be the gays, but now it’s an extreme position to blame the gays.  So the trans are the new bogey-man. 

 

Sigh .

I am groot : intelligent statement logicaly laid out for discussion and comment\

Treebeard : pointless childish dishonestly stifling debate and ingoring real issues in a flurry of partisan hatred and 'muh feels'. 

And this is why we can't have nice things. 

[TreeBeard]

58 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

Sounds like they're the most important to you too.

You brought them up! 😆 

[paxamericana]

On 2/7/2026 at 9:10 AM, I am Groot said:

Denialism is not simply disagreement or optimism. It is the refusal to acknowledge evidence, trade‑offs, and limits. In Canada’s case, it has taken the form of moral certainty combined with policy recklessness, where good intentions substitute for results and dissent is dismissed as reactionary or immoral. This mindset has hollowed out the foundations of a country that was once confident, pragmatic, and capable of hard choices.

Yes this is what happens when you try to pretend that you’re a real country and not American. The tragic truth is that this is easily solved, pick up the phone and call Orange man. Tell him you accept the terms of surrender. @herbie

Edited February 8 by paxamericana

[WestCanMan]

On 2/7/2026 at 7:10 AM, I am Groot said:

Members of Parliament are increasingly reduced to party functionaries rather than representatives of their constituents.

Dissent wasn't tolerated under ayatollah Trudeau. Everyone who didn't toe the party line was turfed.

He even fired his female aboriginal cabinet minister for not being obedient enough. 

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Dissent wasn't tolerated under ayatollah Trudeau. Everyone who didn't toe the party line was turfed.

He even fired his female aboriginal cabinet minister for not being obedient enough. 

It wasn't just Trudeau.

We've seen that kind of thing before and back benches were able to stand up and fight back. Chretien comes to mind.  His back benchers rose up and threw him out. 

But with trudeau they were worried if they went to an election they'd lose their cushy jobs. 

It wasn't just trudeau, the whole liberal bench was complicit. 

[I am Groot]

On 2/7/2026 at 7:02 PM, TreeBeard said:

You brought them up! 😆 

A thirty-two-line post, and you obsess over two words. 🙄

[John Stone]

Mediocre elected political leadership can  usually be attributed to less than mediocre opposition. 

 

 

[I am Groot]

13 minutes ago, John Stone said:

Mediocre elected political leadership can  usually be attributed to less than mediocre opposition. 

There is no logic or historical accuracy behind this statement.

[I am Groot]

An excellent takedown of Carney's new EV policies, which are very much in denial of reality.

It’s difficult to imagine a plan more untethered from the economic realities of the real-world auto industry. To summarize, the Carney plan relies on electric vehicles (EVs) that Ontario plants don’t produce, a sudden and dramatic new appetite for buying EVs and an imagined export market that doesn’t exist. To top it off, the federal government will provide $2.3 billion in EV rebates that will encourage Canadians to buy cars made elsewhere, although the new Chinese imports are excluded.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/denley-carneys-ev-plan-benefits-carney-not-canadian-carmakers

https://archive.is/ELLmV

[John Stone]

3 hours ago, I am Groot said:

There is no logic or historical accuracy behind this statement.

............... arguably Justin Trudeau would disagree ........................ ditto Biden/Harris

[WestCanMan]

8 hours ago, John Stone said:

Mediocre elected political leadership can  usually be attributed to less than mediocre opposition. 

Comments as stupid as yours only ever come from leftists.

FYI the main problem in this country's leadership isn't "a lack of leadership from the opposition", dingus, it's the complete lack of integrity in our media that resulted in a government that's accountable to no one.

In case you hadn't noticed, our country has been swirling down into the porcelain vortex for ten+ years while our MSM has never found fault with anything that the LPoC leadership has done, and yet the MSM always has time to criticize Pierre Poilievre.   

Why is that? 

How is it that our country is steadily getting worse and only the oppo-leader for the last few years is to blame?

Are all of Canada's recent hardships really Poilievre's fault? What's the matter, is he not coming up with policies for the Libs to steal fast enough? 

[WestCanMan]

7 hours ago, I am Groot said:

There is no logic or historical accuracy behind this statement.

It shifted the blame for our country's failings to the conservatives, so it didn't have to make sense to be universally accepted by leftists.

[John Stone]

13 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Comments as stupid as yours only ever come from leftists.

FYI the main problem in this country's leadership isn't "a lack of leadership from the opposition", dingus, it's the complete lack of integrity in our media that resulted in a government that's accountable to no one.

In case you hadn't noticed, our country has been swirling down into the porcelain vortex for ten+ years while our MSM has never found fault with anything that the LPoC leadership has done, and yet the MSM always has time to criticize Pierre Poilievre.   

Why is that? 

How is it that our country is steadily getting worse and only the oppo-leader for the last few years is to blame?

Are all of Canada's recent hardships really Poilievre's fault? What's the matter, is he not coming up with policies for the Libs to steal fast enough? 

 

My point is that a weak political hack in leadership will continue to result in a weak political hack in opposition. 

Harper, Sheer, O'Toole 

Today, the Conservatives have the strongest leader they've fielded in decades.

But he does not have the international stature on the international stage. 

Canada, today, needs the international  stage. ya think? 

Edited February 14 by John Stone

[I am Groot]

19 hours ago, John Stone said:

............... arguably Justin Trudeau would disagree ........................ ditto Biden/Harris

Oh I'm sure. "It's not my fault! It's the other side! Even though I'm in power!"

Carney is doing that now. The Liberals have been blaming Harper for a decade. They aren't people to take responsibility for their actions and errors. They lack the very concept of integrity.

[John Stone]

55 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

Oh I'm sure. "It's not my fault! It's the other side! Even though I'm in power!"

Carney is doing that now. The Liberals have been blaming Harper for a decade. They aren't people to take responsibility for their actions and errors. They lack the very concept of integrity.

....................... Carney facing the existential  threats facing Kanada - be  grateful it's not Trudeau.

 

 

[ironstone]

28 minutes ago, John Stone said:

....................... Carney facing the existential  threats facing Kanada - be  grateful it's not Trudeau.

 

 

New coach, same team.

[WestCanMan]

5 hours ago, John Stone said:

 

My point is that a weak political hack in leadership will continue to result in a weak political hack in opposition. 

Harper, Sheer, O'Toole 

Today, the Conservatives have the strongest leader they've fielded in decades.

But he does not have the international stature on the international stage. 

Canada, today, needs the international  stage. ya think? 

Are you saying that Harper was weak? Or that he lacked stature on the int'l stage?

Harper got 38 new trade deals signed for Canada. That's kind of a big deal internationally imo.

How have Trudeau and Carney done on the int'l trade front? They're in the negative numbers, but most importantly, they tanked our trade with the US and China. 

Are you old enough to remember what it was like to live and work in Canada back in 2014? Can you name something that improved since 2014? 

[paxamericana]

18 minutes ago, WestCanMan said:

what it was like to live and work in Canada back in 2014? Can you name something that improved since 2014? 

When you have a commodity based economy, it’s subject to supply and demand curve. It’s not like Canada did anything special to boost its own economy. It was a short term commodity demand surging prices that benefited canada. 

Edited February 14 by paxamericana

[eyeball]

21 minutes ago, WestCanMan said:

Can you name something that improved since 2014? 

The right-wing brand has continued its downhill course.

I don't credit that to Trudeau though. There's an underlying groundswell of ridicule and revulsion coming out of the south that's mostly responsible for it.

When it breaks you guys just say surf's up and ride it for all it's worth.