Patrick Gossage Insider Political Views

Well-meaning Assault Weapons Ban and Buyback victim of poor timing and major opposition

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:00:29 GMT

In contrast to US inaction after almost weekly mass killings, it took one horrible shooting rampage at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, in 1980, to start the drive for public policy changes around gun control. But years delays between the mass shooting outrage and actual policy to rid the country of assault rifles doomed the eventual gun buyback program.

The polytechnique horror was huge news in our relatively massacre-free nation. That December day, 25-year-old Marc Lépine stalked the hallways and classrooms of the École Polytechnique de Montréal with a semi-automatic rifle and murdered 14 women and injured another 13 people before killing himself.

A year later, the Coalition for Gun Control was formed to push for stricter gun laws, led by survivors of the Montreal massacre. Later that year, the federal government passed Bill C-17, which imposed safety training and a mandatory waiting period to get a firearms licence-- not an effective means of controlling automatic rifles.

Much later, in1996, Parliament passed the Firearms Act, Bill C-68, driven in part by a push for stricter gun laws following the Montreal massacre. The act created a national firearms registry and imposed new rules for obtaining a gun licence, including background checks. The former Conservative government, under prime minister Stephen Harper, abolished the long-gun registry, which it said placed an unnecessary burden on law-abiding gun owners. Quebec subsequently created its own provincial registry to replace it.

It took another horrific killing nine years later in Nova Scotia to force Ottawa to take real action on miliary-style guns. On April 18 and 19, 2020, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at 16 locations, killing 22 people before he was killed by the RCMP. On May 1, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following through on a 2019 campaign promise, announced an immediate ban on some 1,500 makes and models of assault weapons..

The Canadian government sought to follow New Zealand's lead when at the same time it announced the ban it promised a plan to force gun owners to surrender military-style firearms. But while New Zealand acted quickly, in 2019, Ottawa only launched a long awaited buyback program in 2026. In contrast, the government of then New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda announced its firearms buyback program shortly after a white supremacist killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch in March, 2019.

In order to move quickly, New Zealand set up mobile units where firearm owners could get refunds in exchange for their firearms. They worked hard to get co-operation from gun owners. Meanwhile, here, the firearms industry and individual gun owners vigorously opposed the project, and it was delayed for years.

The program was finally initiated this year with little of the sense of urgency it could have had right after the Nova Scotia killings. It has not been going well. In April, the federal public safety minister's office said more than 67,000 assault-style firearms have been declared by 37,869 firearm owners across Canada. That's just under half of the 136,000 firearms the government had budgeted for when it set aside aside $248.6 million for the program. The precise number of banned firearms in Canada is unknown due to the end of the long-gun registry in 2012.

There are other deeper problems. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have indicated they will not assist with the program, meaning police are not co-operating as in New Zealand. Conservative MPs and firearm owners say the buyback is a wasteful exercise that targets law-abiding citizens. The original gun-control advocacy group, PolySeSouvient, blames “weak political leadership” for what it calls “poor participation” in the compensation program.

It looks like Ottawa - to put it mildly - has blown the opportunity to really reduce the number of people-killing guns in this country.

Two Opposites – Mark Carney and Donald Trump

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:10:01 GMT

One of the major differences between these two men is that Carney understands the value of well-thought-out strategy, abundantly clear in his Davos speech, which laid out one for middle powers to deal with the end of a rules-based international order and the rise of hegemony.

Trump's lack of strategic understanding is clear in his bumbling attempts to justify the billion-dollar-a-day Iran war. His overall tactic of “flooding the zone” – mounting a new initiative or major announcement every day, or even several times a day to ensure press and opposition can never catch up. This tactic has served him well – confusing the world and his would-be opponents into submission under a valley of activity and harsh opinions from the leader of the world.

Contrast this approach to leadership from Carney. He is systematically building a nation less dependent on US trade by travelling the world building new alliances and trading partners. And in the scare of Australia giving substance to his idea of alliances with middle powers. All laid out in the Davos speech.

It is instructive to appreciate how much Trump was irritated by the Davos speech. Carney got a standing ovation; Trump’s rambling lengthy diatribe did not. He won’t soon forget being so upstaged. He surely recognized an intellectual power he could never match.

Carney is a realist and pragmatic when he stated recently “We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.” He is dealing with the world that is being reshaped by an irrational power-mad president, a world the powerful Stephen Miller said “that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.”

Does Carney sometimes err on the side of supporting Trump likely to ensure that critical talks on free trade and tariffs have some chance of finding a sympathetic ear? Yes; first he seemed to fully support Trump’s war with Iran. He later made his support more nuanced, saying Trump’s actions were against the rules-based international order. He now says we will not get involved unless a NATO ally is threatened.

But generally, Carney is highly rational in contrast to Trump’s self-centered irrationality. Take Trump’s bizarre ill-informed letter to the Prime Minister of Norway, who had no role in deciding if he got the Nobel Peace Prize: “I no longer feel obligated to think purely of Peace (he subsequently engaged in an ever expanding war against Iran). He then reiterated his demand for “complete and Total Control, of Greenland. Thank you!”.

His late-night rants, complete with caps, on social media show a mind out of control. Thay are dutifully reported on US news media and often astonish with their non sequiturs and nastiness.

One of his more unpresidential quotes came as he fingered White House drapes: “I chose these myself. I always liked gold."

The big question for Canadians who are more and more disillusioned with the antics of the President: could these two opposite ever sit down and do a deal that works for Canada. The two do text, and Carney has admitted that in private Trump does listen.

But there is also evidence that the trade people in the White House do not like Canada, and as Trump has said, we owe our very existence to the US. And we are “difficult”. They have said that the current trade deal is not good for the US and could be trashed entirely and -deals with Mexico and Canada could be separate and the current trilateral deal may be dead.

Canada was at the brink of reducing the heavy sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, and lumber when Premier Ford’s unfortunate ads during the Rose Bowl that featured President Reagan speaking against the usefulness of Tariffs led To Trump suspending talks. They only recently resumed.

So can our world-renowned businessman and banker hope to sit down with the unpredictable and unstable President and cut a deal? Some hope that if we extend talks, the President, weakened by the midterms, the bad economic fallout from an unpopular war, and the fragmentation of the MAGA movement may be easier to deal with. On the other hand he may badly need a “win,” bullying big concessions out of Canada and reaping so-cabled benefits from a weaker free trade deal.

There is a scenario where Trump gets a black eye if Carney simply walks away with the conviction, perhaps easily shared with an increasingly nationalistic and confident Canada that “no deal is better than a bad deal.”

In any case, what a decisive and challenging future we face with Canada at play. Can Carney win for Canada against his opposite by losing a deal?"

A New Canada to Fight for Our Survival

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:31:22 GMT

There has been nothing like the mobilization of our country since we went to war against Hitler “for King and Country.” Now we are mobilizing in a new war against Trump’s depredations with renewed patriotic fervour. Our building a resilient sovereignty against the word’s most irrational and powerful regime - who believe we have no right to exist - will require an enormous

dedicated and concentrated effort to redefine our nation. .

Make no mistake. We are not seen as important in Washington, a lesson I learned as the Minister of Information at our embassy in the Reagan years. Like Trump’s disparaging attitude to Justin Trudeau, Reagan had little use for his crusading father, Pierre Ytudeau. The difference is that with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney r Reagan actually became a key figure in establishing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in 1988.

Ironically, it is precisely the success of this pact that led to 75% of our trade going to the US, a dangerous dependence which is now under extreme threat. The future of the successor to the FTA is at dtake. The US Canada Mexico Agreement (USMCA) is about to be renegotiated and is by no means secure.

Bilateral trade discussions on the sectorial tariffs that are destroying our steel, automobile, aluminum and lumber industries were going well but were cancelled on October 23 after Trump, in a fit of pique was annoyed by Ontario TV ads using a Reagan clip to decry tariffs. Prime Minister Carney clings to the hope that these issues will be addressed in the context of the USMCA talks. They are supposed to begin in January. We live in hope.

Make no mistake. Trump recently suggested that USMCA’s future was not certain. His strong belief that Canada would be better as a US state _ “and there would be no tariffs” – seems unshakeable.

Perhaps the most striking evidence of what low repute Canada is held in the White House comes from Vice President Vance. He has publicly criticized Canada's our generous immigration policies, blaming them for the country's "stagnating" living standards and referring to our approach as "immigration insanity". Vance pointed to a chart from IceCap Asset Management showing that Canada's GDP per capita growth has fallen behind that of the U.S. and the U.K. in recent years. He argues this stagnation is a direct result of Canada's approach to immigration and not U.S. trade policies. He specifically targeted Canada's multiculturalism model, contrasting it with the U.S. "melting pot". Vance claimed that "no nation has leaned more into 'diversity is our strength’... immigration insanity “ than Canada".

The White House recently released National Security Strategy (NSS) which also note how immigrants can destroy our democracies. Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist signaled this: “It cites activities by our sister European democracies that “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence. “‘Should present trends continue,” it goes on, “the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” These views are totally inimical to Canadian values.

As is this, Trump’s most outrageous recent anti- immigrant outburst as reported by NBC : “For a second day in a row, President Donald Trump launched into a hate-filled rant against Somalia and Somali immigrants living in the US, saying they’ve “destroyed Minnesota” and “our country.” Minnesota, Trump said, is “a hellhole” right now. “The Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country.“

The NSC also can affect Canada in its focus on the Western hemisphere. an area to be dominated by US interests. The US will secure critical supply chains in its own interests; and insists on the right of the US to have access to “strategically important locations.” The US National Security Council is to identify strategic points and resources in the Western hemisphere with a view to their protection and joint development with regional partners. Obviously, Canada as a source of critical minerals, will be under US scrutiny.

Some observers fear that Trump wants Canada to become a “vassal state”. A December Toronto Star editorial states coldly that “Thanks to Donald Trump, we know that nothing about our country is guaranteed anymore, not our sovereignty, our democracy, our prosperity.”

We now know the Canadian policies standing in the way of a new USMCA agreement. US Trade representative Jamieson Greer said our online Streaming Act, which will make profitable US streaming services support Canadian programming is a major irritant as is our sacrosanct supply management regime for dairy and poultry products. These both are very difficult bargaining chips for Canada to play.

Trump’s love affair with tariffs is unlikely to subside so Canadian products may continue to be frozen out of the US. Prime Minister Carney’s ambitious strategy of finding alternate markets for these may work. And his new policy framework for rebuilding a successful economy, major infrastructure projects and attracting important foreign investment is a significant redefinition of our national political priorities. He enjoys wide public support for his strategy which also receives good business and media support.

There is already some optimism about the economy in 2026 - take Bank of Montreal’s recent outlook paper: “We’re looking for a stronger economy in 2026 than 2025. Consumer spending has helped prop up the economy. The “Buy Canadian” campaign has helped, and more people are travelling closer to home. Also, there’s no question that federal government spending has also supported economic growth. As we move into the latter part of the year—boosted by firmer economic growth and lower population growth—we expect the unemployment rate to fall in the second half.

“Canada’s position in the trade dispute isn’t as bad as it appeared earlier in the year. The average Us tariff rate on imports of Canadian goods is between 6% and 7%, compared to the 17% rate the U.S. charges the rest of the world on average. (these rates are goods under the existing CUSMA) Sectorial tariffs are heavily focused on certain targeted industries, such as steel and aluminum, lumber, and auto imports and non-USMCA auto parts. These are important sectors, but they represent a relatively narrow slice of the economy. “

In addition there is good news on the overall trade front. Canada’s trade swung to a surplus of C$0.15 billion in September 2025 from a C$6.3 billion deficit the month before and well above expectations for a C$4.5 billion deficit, Exports rose 6.3 C$ 64.231 billion, the largest monthly increase since February. Nine of 11 product sections posted gains. Metal and non-metallic mineral product exports jumped 22.7% driven by a 30.2% surge in unwrought gold; aircraft and other transportation equipment rose 23.4% and crude oil exports climbed 5.8%. We just may have a more resilient economy than we thought.

Nevertheless, we cannot count on Trump agreeing to a new trade regime that is as good as the original NAFTA – and the cost of reducing tariffs on key sectors may be too high, Trump’s love for tariffs and distain for us won’t change. We can only hope that a smart, well connected and determined Prime Minister can rebuild an economy that will be immune to the vagaries of our neighbour.

Immigration – Too much of a Good Thing

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:17:39 GMT

Welcoming newcomers, especially those fleeing wars, has been a widely accepted Canadian virtue. Now, after 25 years of a very open door. there is increasing evidence that we have too much of a good thing. And admittedly, it has been pre-PM Carney Liberal policies which have us in this situation. Where we are now was exemplified by PM Carney recently at the caucus retreat in Edmonton where said recent levels have not been "sustainable" and a more "focused" approach is required. "It's clear that we must improve our overall immigration policies," he said.

It had been easy to be caught up in Justin Trudeau’s unabashed enthusiasm for high immigration levels exemplified by his warm personal welcome of the first Syrian refugees in December, 2015. On the fifth anniversary of his memorable event he happily announced: “In the years since, the Government of Canada has worked closely with Canadians, the business community, and civil society to resettle nearly 73,000 Syrian refugees in more than 350 communities across the country.” Few questioned our generosity and thousands of ordinary Canadians sponsored families.

But opening our doors wide soon got out of control. In 2021, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had been, a landed immigrant. Canada’s population grew from 38 million to 41.5 million, representing the highest annual population growth rate since the post-war boom of 1957. Immigration now accounts for virtually all of Canada’s net labour force growth.

It then became of public concern that temporary residents, including record numbers of temporary workers and foreign students accounted for 3 million of that number. In total, since 2015 we admitted 15 million temporary foreign workers in agriculture, hospitality and some manufacturing and processing jobs. They were seen to be exploited with lower wages and few rights. Foreign students with limits on hours they could work swelled these huge numbers.

Inevitably, public support for high immigration levels dramatically flipped, where 58% of Canadians now believe there are too many immigrants being admitted to Canada. An Environics Poll in 2024 showed that f or the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration, with this view strengthening considerably for the second consecutive year . Canadians’ express concerns about the arrival of so many newcomers contributing to the country’s problems with housing availability and affordability; this view is much more prominent than a year ago. Immigrants placing pressure on public finances, taking jobs from other Canadians, over-population, and insufficient screening are less prominent. Along with rising concerns about immigration levels, an increasing number of Canadians are expressing doubts about who is being admitted to the country and how well they are integrating into Canadian society.

The new Carney government took action, gradually reducing permanent resident admissions to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027; introducing caps for temporary residents, including students and workers at 673,650 in 2025, a notable decrease in new international student admissions with only 163,000 new study permits projected for early 2025. This has led to serious financial shortfalls in many post-secondary institutions. There will be a decline in the overall Canadian population in 2025 and 2026 due to the projected outflows of temporary residents.The number of new temporary residents arriving in the country — made up of international students, foreign workers and refugee claimants — declined in the first six months of 2025, compared to the same period last year. These immigration statistics have been closely watched, with critics arguing the Liberal government’s high immigration intake has contributed to Canada’s runaway population growth and is straining the housing market and health-care system. In response, the government slashed the 2025 intakes of new permanent residents by 21 per cent to 395,000; new study permit holders by 10 per cent to 305,900; and new work permit holders by 16 per cent to 367,750.

Accommodating the needs of refugees for resettlement and shelter has become a major issue and embarrassment. In the summer of 2023 many asylum seekers in Toronto ended up sleeping on the street. What a way to welcome them to Canada! Since September 2021, the number of refugee claimants housed in Toronto shelters has increased more than tenfold, from 530 per night to a peak of almost 6,500 per night by August 2024. Recently there were about 3,500 refugee claimants in the system, about 40 per cent of all clients. The mayor recently wrote a letter warning that Carney’s government had agreed to cover only 26 per cent of Toronto’s estimated costs for housing asylum seekers in its shelter system this year. Refugees are a federal responsibility, yet reduction in federal support leaves the municipality $107 million short. We still welcome asylum claimants unreservedly. From January-June 2015 over 57,000.

The leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, is now determined to make immigration a major political issue. He is calling for a tougher stance, saying he wants to see "very hard caps" on the number of newcomers allowed into the country. Poilievre says the country has struggled to integrate newcomers and he wants to see more people leaving than coming in "while we catch up." "We have millions of people whose permits will expire over the next couple of years, and many of them will leave," he said. "We need more people leaving than coming for the next couple of years. He would scrap the Temporary Foreign workers program altogether.

BC Premier David Eby also calls for the end of Canada's temporary foreign worker program — blaming Ottawa's flawed immigration policies for filling up homeless shelters and food banks. "The temporary foreign worker program is not working. It should be cancelled or significantly reformed," Eby said. "We can't have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks. We can't have an immigration system that outpaces our ability to build schools and housing. And we can't have an immigration program that results in high youth unemployment,“

Despite these concerns, there is a bedrock of strong support for immigration which was manifested recently in Torontonians where over 150 teachers,.labour union members and families organized a noisy counter demonstration against about 50 right wing flag waving Canada Fist anti-immigrant demonstrators. They chanted “there is no space for hate at Christie Pits”, the site of the clash which led to many arrests.

Torontonians enjoy the benefits of living, the world’s most multicultural city with its amazing variety of foods and cultures, and daily evidence from immigrants that their children are doing very well, thank you. But we await the end of the hopelessness that is apparently part of the lives of so many new arrivals, particularly refugees, and the needless exploitation of many other newcomers in menial and low paying jobs..

Deciphering the Canada/US tariff wars

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 13:30:13 GMT

1. Negatives - The sad truth about missing the August 1 deadline:

Trump on July 31, 2025: ”We haven’t spoken to Canada today. He’s called.” Carney could not get through! Obviously, the President of Mexico did and got a 90 day reprieve. He may speak with Carney this week but clearly the PM’s relationship isn’t what we thought.

Trump:: ”(Canda} has been very poorly led….Canda has treated US farmers “very badly” (our apparently untouchable dairy and poultry supply management regime remains a major irritant.). He still believes there is a “huge flow of fentanyl from Canada to the US that has to be stopped.” Trump said earlier he hasn’t “had “a lot of luck with Canada,” and reaching a deal wasn’t a priority for his administration. In addition, Trump intensified his trade war with Canada with A35% tariff just ahead of the August 1 deadline for an agreement, saying it would be "very hard" to make a deal with Canada after it gave its support to Palestinian statehood. “

Ford among others has called all along for a tougher approach and dollar for dollar reciprocal tariffs on US goods coming to Canda – which the White House dislikes claiming only Canada and China are imposing these tariffs. A recent Angus Reid poll suggests the proportion of those advising the PM and his team to “play hardball” has increased, from 63 to 69 per cent of the population compared to mid-July.

Recently Carney has prepared us to accept there will be no deal without tariffs. In March he predicted “It is clear that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that, with comprehensive negotiations, we will be able to restore some trust, but there will be no turning back,”

On August 5 he said the focus now will be to preserve and reinforce CUSMA ahead of next year’s negotiations, adding “There’s a bigger picture there. Sounds like buying time?

One journalist’s – Matt Guerny’sjudgment on Carney’s performance: “…the central conceit of the federal election three months ago was that we faced an unprecedented crisis requiring an unprecedented response…The Liberals made the case — and voters agreed — that Carney was the man to lead Canada’s emergency effort….But I will blame Carney for not doing the things that he can do, as fast as he can do them, and that very much includes moving fast enough to harden this country so that we can better withstand geopolitical and economic threats … threats like an erratic and unpredictable U.S. president.”.

2. Positives

Government’s plan B: Carney - “Canada, we are in charge of our future. We can build a strong economy that doesn't depend on the United States. We can be masters in our own house.” Bill C5 envisions huge national infrastructure projects: “It’s time to unite this country and invest in nation-building infrastructure on a scale not seen in generations. Major nation-building projects will connect Canada and grow the economy in ways that last for generations, such as the Port of Churchill, hydrogen production in Edmonton, seizing vast solar potential in Cowessess, high-speed rail that starts with Windsor to Québec City, and a trade corridor to Grays Bay in Nunavut, amongst others.” However, we are still wiring for a major project to be green lit under the Build Canada Act.

50% Steel and Aluminum tariffs backfiring: GM and Ford announced billion-dollar losses and Ford’s best-selling aluminum body F150 pickup severely affected by aluminum tariffs. This noted by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bissent: “We will be negotiating with Canada on those.”

Canadians deciding to not travel to US -and US alcohol being taken off Liquor Board shelves in provinces (except Sask and Alberta having an impact. This is "worse than tariffs", the boss of Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman says. Statistics Canada reporting a "steep decline" in Canadian travel to the U.S., particularly by land, and a -notable, drop in air travel. Big US coverage of impact on business in affected states.

Leverage of Canadian rare earths and energy: Canada is a major energy exporter to the United States, particularly for oil, natural gas, and electricity. Canada supplies a significant portion of the US's crude oil, natural gas, and electricity imports. Specifically, Canada provides 60% of the crude oil and close to 100% of the natural gas imported by the U.S. Additionally, Canada supplies 85% of the electricity imported by the U.S.

Canadian reciprocal counter tariffs: On March 3 2025 Trudeau announced a slew of retaliatory tariffs on US consumer and other goods entering Canada: Outlining the tiny amounts of Fentanyl crossing the border and investments in enhancing border security, he added : “Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered. Should American tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective tomorrow, respond with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion of American goods – starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products in 21 days’ time. Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn.” August 4 ^th Carney said he may consider removing some. They have had an immediate impact on Canadian households.

Tariffs hitting US consumers Proctor and Gamble announced last week it would raise prices on a wide range of consumer goods. Other manufacturers, from Porsche to Nestle to Adidas have announced the same thing. As have Walmart and Amazon which has raised prices on over 1200 items.

Andrew Coyne on one sector Trump cannot control: “The Markets may be nevertheless prove to be Mr. Trump’s most implacable opponents.”

Canadian Patriotism Then and Now

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 13:52:02 GMT

When I was at university in the sixties, it was easy to love being Canadian. Patriotism was easy in the era of Pearson, peacekeeping and his Nobel Prize. He introduced defining landmark social programs like the Canada Pension Plan and universal health care. He also was crucial in launching the new Canadian flag, promoting bilingualism, and fostering a more inclusive immigration policy. His government got into the business of Canadian cultural promotion with the establishment of Telefilm Canada in 1967 to fund Canadian filmmakers. (The crown corporation, the National Film Board, was established in 1939.) The Pearson era went out with a proud Canadian bang at Expo67.

Canada was prosperous, our identities, either largely British and French, were secure. The writer and philosopher George Grant, put it this way: “English speaking Canadians have been called a dull and costive lot. In these dynamic days, such qualities are particularly unattractive to the chic. Yet our stodginess has made us a society of greater simplicity, formality, and perhaps even innocence than the people to the south.” This is the society in which most anglo seniors today grew up. Not chic, looking with some envy at the glamour of Hollywood and Broadway, but modest and content. But the seeds of change were there. In Toronto. Italian and Portuguese laborers were being brought in to build subways and suburbs. Canada was about to add to the core French and English culture, and value assumptions far more diverse, and multicultural influences.

Multiculturalism became official government policy in 1988. In his speech to the House of Commons, Trudeau stated that no singular culture could define Canada, and that the government accepted “the contention of other cultural communities that they, too, are essential elements in Canada.”

A policy of multiculturalism was implemented to promote and respect cultural diversity, and to in fact fund ethnic efforts to preserve and develop their cultures within Canadian society, the opposite of the US “melting pot” objective. Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms officially recognizes multiculturalism as a Canadian value.

In a 1971 speech in Winnipeg to a Ukrainian audience, Trudeau said: “What could be more absurd than the concept of an “all Canadian boy or girl! “ Trudeau greatly enlarged the makeup of the body of immigrants by expanding the ‘family class’. In 1978 immigration act changes allowed new Canadians to sponsor their parents of any age. Those from less-developed nations found this particularly appealing.

Trudeau senior’s major accomplishment which ensured the protection of all minority rights was the repatriation of our constitution woth the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Now In Canada, approximately 23.0% of the population are first-generation immigrants, meaning they were born outside of Canada. This figure represents the highest proportion of immigrants in Canada in 150 years and is the highest among G7 countries. Over half of our population are either of English or French heritage.

The torch of openness to refugees and immigrants and “diversity is our strength” has been taken up by Justin Trudeau in a big way. He told the New York Times Magazine in October 2014 that Canada could be the “first post national state”. He added: “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada.”

Many would argue that, yes, there is a core set of Canadian values. Often not recognized, they are regularly reflected in government policies. They set us apart from the United States, form part of our identity, and enrich our life experiences.

Pearson and the Trudeaus have been instrumental in implementing Liberal values, ensuring equality of opportunity across the country and that no minority is trampled on. Foremost is universal publicly funded health care, whatever its problems. His son will be remembered for the Canadian Child benefit which today grants parents up to over $6,000 per child, which greatly reduced child poverty and $10 a day daycare. Justin Trudeau also launched publicly funded denticare and started a pharmacare program. Recipients of these programs obviously see them as essential parts of being Canadian.

The generally shared values of Canadians include the importance of collective wellbeing, co-operation and social equality and a belief that active governments can improve our lives. Justin Trudeau’s self-declared “feminism” and his making cabinet one half women showed a dedication to equal rights for women which he tirelessly promoted. He was forever promoting the value of “diversity is our strength”.

We genuinely welcome immigrants and show a high degree of tolerance for differences. Perhaps the best indication of this is the late seventies welcoming of over 60,000 Vietnamese boat people. As well, after 2015, over 44,000 government and privately sponsored Syrian refugees were settled and helped to establish themselves in Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau personally welcomed the first arrival in Toronto.

While seemingly uncontrolled immigration of foreign students and refugees has become more controversial recently, it is accepted that we need immigrants, and the flow is now more rationally controlled.

His father also ruled over a Canada that was very pro-Canadian and even anti American – not hard when the United States was immersed in the nightmare of Vietnam. He was well aware of the dangers signaled by George Grant in Lament for a Nation, which predicted the virtual integration of the Canadian and US economies. He established the Foreign Investment Review Agency to break the wholesale takeover of Canadian businesses by US firms. He established Petro Canada to get a window into the largely foreign owned oil and gas sector. And his government was very active in supporting and encouraging Canadian culture. The CRTC mandated Canadian content on our airwaves, spawning a healthy music industry. His son substantially increased funding for the public broadcaster CBC.

Then in 1988 came a major shift in our identity and sovereignty. Prime Minister Mulroney wanted a free trade deal with the US and John Turner, the defeated Liberal leader, finally found his voice: “I will not let Brian Mulroney sell out our sovereignty. I will not let this great nation surrender its birthright. I will not let Brian Mulroney destroy a 120-year-old dream called Canada, and neither will Canadians”.

But Turner lost, and a new deal sealed the situation we are in today with over 70% of our exports going stateside and Trump determined to wage economic warfare with a country he feels does not have a right to exist and should be the 51 ^st state: “Economically we have such power over Canada.” In fact, we have inadvertently given him “all the cards” as Trump likes to say. Turner might well say from the grave, “I told you so!”

Sovereignty means more than building our own economy more independent of the United States. It means rebuilding the pride we have as Canadians and actually knowing and cherishing its values so different from those south of us.

And this seems to be happening ironically, thanks to Trump’s trumpeting us as a 51 ^st state. Flags are everywhere and as we celebrate our 158 ^th birthday there is a new patriotism bursting out across the nation. The national anthem is being enthusiastically sung by audiences at all sorts of gatherings and performances.

And worry as we may about the diverse cultures and beliefs of the hundreds and thousands of immigrant adults from every corner of the Globe, we know their children going to public schools will become knowledgeable, committed Canadians. There is a Canadian soul which will not be destroyed.

Would the Real Doug Ford Please Stand Up

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 13:47:11 GMT

Who is the is the real Doug Ford? Is it the smiling man walking beside Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith into the meeting of the Premiers with the PM intoning “love is in the air”(!) or the inept initiator of the Green Belt scandal which sold protected land to his developer friends – for which he apologized while reversing the order?

Who is he? The skilled leader of the Council of the Federation, who on national TV characterized the meeting with the PM as the best in his seven years attending such meetings, or the Premier who starves the public health system and according to the Ontario Nurses Association “is trying bring in American-style health care by systematically increasing the role of private, for-profit corporations at the expense of our public system.”

He rode his posture as Captain Canada “protecting Ontario” from Trump tariffs and demanding a new bigger mandate to an election victory in February, even though he has no formal role in the federal campaign to negotiate a new trade and security agreement with Trump. He relishes this posture, even travelling to Washington on February 13 with other Premiers and somehow getting the chance to deliver an anti-tariff message to two senior White House staff. This doubtless helped his re-election bid.

In October, prior to the much-anticipated election call, Ford announced a $200 “rebate” cheque for all Ontarians to help defray the high cost of living. Buying votes?

Ford is a businessman and street-smart – he is no diplomat. His more confrontational approach to fully punish the US for what they are doing to Canada has begun to clash with the calmer more strategic approach of the more seasoned negotiator Carney. There’s a history of these different approaches:

As soon as Trump announced his tariffs Ford put a 25% tariff on Ontario electricity to 1.5 million US homes. The White House was so annoyed and threatening that he had to withdraw it. More recently, Canadian negotiators decided to ignore the urgings of Ford and industry people to immediately slap on reciprocal tariffs on US steel in response to Trump’s devastating doubling of his tariffs. Diplomacy is too delicate to be upset by hard swinging fighters.

Ford has had a good run at being cooperative with the federal Liberal government -- loudly touting a “good friendship” with former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, which doubtless helped get federal grants for transit and other projects.

Ford’s lack of negotiation skills was on display with the agreement with The Austrian company Therme. It is building a spa where Ontario Place used to sit and will be spending $700 million to construct its new facilities on Toronto's waterfront. A New York Times investigation into the company found it only had one spa to its name, and some $1.1 million in equity at the time the Ontario Place deal was struck, operating with what the writers call "shaky" finances. The way that the company came to acquire its whopping 95-year lease of the Toronto lands was also "unusual," the article notes, positioning Ford and his team as naive for placing such faith in the brand without doing due diligence.

Nevertheless Ford’s Captain Canada positioning has helped make him the most popular premier in Canada, and there is no doubt that his friendly folksy manner helped bring unity to the usually disputatious gang of premiers.

Many believe he is well positioned to take over the federal Conservative party should the position become vacant. He would certainly become a different kind of federal leader, and his rough edges might be smoothed over in the more demanding federal scene.

Fighting Trump’s Alternate Reality

Sat, 17 May 2025 21:43:29 GMT

The last weeks have shown that there are a few leaders who can stand up to Trump’s destructive world views. One leader with huge international clout and the other who is important to the survival of Canada. There is also a rejuvenated Cabinet in Ottawa that will hopefully lead the defense and rebuilding of Canada.

The new Pope Leo with his words of inclusion and love starkly contrast with Trump’s message of exclusion and revenge. Michael Higgins, a Toronto Catholic theologian put it this way in the Globe: “By choosing an American with international exposure, a refined social justice sensitivity, the priorities of Francis regarding…inequality, global migration and the evils of ethno- nationalism, the cardinals have set up on the Tiber an antidote to the insularity and intolerance on the Potomac.” The President is anxious to meet him, but he has been critical of Trump’s deportation policies and is unlikely to moderate his criticisms in such a meeting.

Important to our survival as a sovereign nation is having a leader who can not only stand up to Trump but gain his respect. This occurred to almost universal praise from all sides in the first meeting of Prime Minister Carney with the President on May 6, 2025. A question about Canada becoming the 51st state in a Carney’s first White House meeting prompted a lengthy Trump answer underling how better Canada would be as a state and his usual musings on the “artificial” Canada/US border. Carney listened patiently then delivered his well-rehearsed repost: “If I may," Carney said, "as you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.”

"That's true," Trump said, seemingly charmed by Carney's appeal to his previous career. Carney continued: "And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign, the last several months, it's not for sale, won't be for sale ever." Trump replied, “Never say never”. Amid the noisy cacophony of questions that followed, you could see Carney say “never” five times. This has become the most quoted exchange from the meeting by far. A brilliant foray from a very well-prepared Carney. He had the words to flatter and yet be very firm.

Trudeau had much earlier warned to take Trump’s 51st state musings seriously saying Trump wanted “to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us.” These warnings were repeated often by Carney in the election campaign.

Trump’s expansionist dreams which include “strategic” Greenland were described in the New York Times by eminent columnist David French: “In foreign policy, his actions appear…to be a revival of Manifest Destiny, the belief that God had destined the United States to spread across the continental United States and the rest of North America, and the Monroe Doctrine, a declaration to the European powers that the United States was the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere.”

Later in the Oval office circus, Trump repeated his catalogue of objections to an independent Canada he made at length a few days before the meeting: “Canada only works as a state. We don’t need anything they have. As a state, it would be one of the great states anywhere. This would be the most incredible country, visually. If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it, between Canada and the U.S. Just a straight, artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many many decades ago. Makes no sense. It’s so perfect as a great and cherished state.""But why should we subsidize another country for $200 billion?" Trump continued, adding, "And again, we don’t need their lumber, we don’t need their energy. We have more than they do. We don’t need anything. We don’t need their cars. I’d much rather make cars here. And there’s not a thing that we need. Now, there will be a little disruption, but it won’t be very long. But they need us. We really don’t need them. And we have to do this. I’m sorry." This is his credo on us. And it’s etched in his mind. Carney had to repeat in the private part of the meeting that it would never happen. Yet the private meeting was “constructive”, and there is no doubt that Trump respects Carney even if his basic views on us gave not changed.

Carney’s detailed plan to build up our economy relatively free of reliance on the US market is now a challenging alternative should negotiations to end tariffs fail. It could be the only way we can prosper given Trump’s entrenched view that we shouldn’t even exist as an independent nation. There will be more meetings, but we must be prepared for them to fail. In this critical match we must build our own strength to take on the world superpower. And hope Trump’s exaggerated ambitions are throttled by domestic backlash.

This is how Carney predicted facing the dying Canada-US relation in his acceptance speech at the Convention that made him PM:

“When I sit down with Donald Trump, it will be with the full knowledge that we have many many other options than the US to build prosperity for Canada.” He said that negotiations would be based on strength and the use of “overwhelming force”, a strategy he had used in other crisis situations.

We saw a flash of this toughness in the last meeting. But if the next one hits a wall, we can expect him to take a more aggressive strategy as he indicated in that speech. We have the cards in energy and a determination to make it on our own. I think we’ll start to see them being played soon.

The success of this strategy is now in the hands of a new cabinet with 14 old faces and 13 new. In Canada US relations, veteran Dominic Leblanc who has deep contacts in the White House since attending the original Mar del Lago dinner, is now in charge of the whole file and internal trade. Carney is determined to make Canada one economy not 13 and LeBlanc will a key role in that too. Melanie Jolie, also a White House vet, is off to Industry, replaced at Foreign Affairs by a novice in the file, the smart and reliable Anita Anand. New faces like Gary Anandasangaree as Minister of Public Safety responsible for the border, Rebecca Chartrand, Minister for the Artic (which Trump has his eye on) have to get up to speed quickly. David McGuinty, a veteran of the White House is now in charge of the very demanding National Defense portfolio due for massive increases in spending.

For Plan B, the rebuilding of our economy into the “strongest economy in the G7” there is strength with ebullient Francois-Phillipe Champagne as Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freland at Transport and Internal Trade, Tim Hodgson a friend of Carney from Goldman Sachs and Finance at Energy, Jolie at Industry, and newcomers Lena Metlege Diab former Nova Scotia Minister of Immigration, Marjorie Michael, a Trudeau office veteran at Health and former Mayor of Vancouver Greg Robinson at Housing.

If Carney keeps his promise to “empower” and not over-control them - as was the problem with the Trudeau PMO - and run a true “Cabinet government,” this is the group that must execute the urgent program Carney envisions. It will depend on him and the way he inspires and motivates a real sense of teamwork in his grand plan to transform our economy.

What Has Carney Got That Poises Him To Win

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 16:02:19 GMT

I’ve seen a lot of Mark Carneys in the last few weeks and the very fact that he is not your typical pumped up politician has made him more and more likeable and trusted by me and apparently enough Canadians to position him to win the election.

In fact, his thoughtful, informed calm speaking style and the authentic way he interacts with the public reminds me very much of my old boss Pierre Trudeau, himself also not a natural politician but a thoughtful genuine leader. I so remember his quietly making a key point in a speech rather than loudly emphasizing it – a technique Carney uses to effect. In a time of crisis what we need above all is believable competence in economic policy and deep experience in high level decision making in Canada and internationally. This in a very Canadian unflashy way is what he

demonstrates.

His quiet demeanor masks a deep determination to turn the crisis we face into an opportunity to rebuild a strong Canada. He is proposing further spending arguing that in a crisis the private sector pulls back and government has to step in with what he calls an “overwhelming force”, a strategy he used here in the 2008-09 financial crisis and in post Brexit England where he was also Governor of its Bank. His strategy is is very convincing he is

the man to execute it.

He also has convinced us that he is the mature skilled negotiator that can get Canada a new deal from the mercurial Trump who obviously was impressed by him. Strength recognizes strength. He was also the first to sell off US bonds and urged other countries to follow which spooked Trump into revisiting his tariff policies.

I think we can see the impressive Oxford hockey player in him. He is married to the equally notable goal scorer from the women’s Oxford team (where they met) his athletic wife, the economist Diana Fox. Three smart girls make up their treasured family.

Carney, the son of two activist teachers, grew up in Edmonton, earned a bachelor’s degree (1988) from Harvard University, where his interest in economics was kindled by the lectures of another Canadian-born economist, John Kenneth Galbraith. He then studied economics at the University of Oxford (M.Phil., 1993; D.Phil., 1995). Prior to and following his studies at Oxford, Carney worked for Goldman Sachs in New York, rising to become

managing director of investment banking.

He is a practicing Catholic and meditates for 20 minutes a day. His eulogy to the Pope was a masterpiece – he called him, “a voice of moral clarity and boundless compassion. He was in many respect’s the world’s conscience never hesitating to challenge the powerful on behalf of the vulnerable.” Obviously like PET a man of considerable depth. We need such a leader.

His calm under relentless attacks in two debates ensured that his positive polling numbers remained almost unchanged. Nationally poll tracker shows Liberals at 43.1%, Conservative at 38.4% and NDP at 8.3%. The two-way race shows NDP support bleeding to the Liberals. The provincial data in vote rich provinces is even more convincing. Liberals are way ahead in the Maritimes and Urban Ontario and enjoy a comfortable 40.4% lead in Quebec.

As far as how Canadians feel on issues that matter Angus Read Institute reported: “Carney holds advantages on nearly all top issues for Canadians, though he and Poilievre are tied on ‘reducing the cost of living’ with 37 per cent of Canadians choosing each. Carney is preferred by 24 points on handling the U.S. trade relationship, 26 points on growing non-U.S. trade, 15 points on growing the economy, and 13 points on improving

health care. Carney’s overfall favourability holds at 54 per cent (the second last week of April), while Poilievre’s ticks upward to 38 per cent.

It would take a world shaking Liberal gaff or a “bozo eruption” from a Liberal candidate to spoil what looks like and inevitable Carney majority. Then the big test for him begins.

What if – Some Speculative Riffs on Canada – US

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 22:16:04 GMT

Trump has upended decades of globalization and efforts to have freer trade among nations worldwide, slamming dozens of “friendly countries" with major tariffs of goods destined for the US. Canadian goods under the USMCA are exempted, but hugely damaging tariffs on Canada-made cars, aluminum and steel remain.

The hope that a new, civilized, even polite White House attitude to Canada, and their dropping references to us as the 51st state, might bode well for negotiations following the results of the federal election. In any case, in this chaotic situation a whole new raft of speculations are fair game.

For instance, what if the much touted new comprehensive economic and security agreement with Canada could be worked out with the US? Including a free trade in automobiles and the taking down of other tariffs? Not impossible - obviously costly in terms of a likely requirement to substantially increase defense spending (already being considered by both major parties). Limits imposed on US imports of dairy products have not been met – so we may be able to retain these controls - a major US irritant. We may have to swallow others. A noisy reaction to rising prices, and the predicted Democratic re-control of Congress after the 2026 midterms may usher in a more normal White House and make it easier to re-establish more positive and cordial relations with the US overall. What a dream!

The obverse of this is that Carney – assuming he wins- will not swallow the concessions Trump requires to take off tariffs and restore auto free trade. This roadblock would hit weeks into May when the full effects of auto tariffs and other tariffs throw Canada into a recession and effectively destroy our 100-year-old auto industry. The dollar tumbles further. Our patriotism is wearing thin, and Carney’s promise of a Canada strong will be slow in coming. The promise to find alternate export markets is not bearing fruit. Ford threatens to cut his electrical exports to the US. Alberta is urged to slow oil delivery. Huge unemployment. A pall hangs over the nation. Are we really at a dead end?

A third “what if” involves a real coalition of like-minded nations against Trump’s tariffs and threats against sovereign nations. This could take the form of major international meeting of heads of state with unanimous resolutions. It might involve the UN, and obviously the World Trade Organization, whose very reason for existence as a promoter of reducing barriers to trade is threatened. Interestingly, China’s President Xi recently gathered an impressive list of global CEO’s to discuss protecting supply chains and reacting to US tariffs. High-level international business diplomacy will undoubtedly be activated against Trump’s international tariffs. Canada is president of the G7 meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta, on June 17. Can they avoid isolating Trump in his demolition of the international trading order? Could be an important moment. Could it lead to a Trump backdown?

Canada could have an important role to play in the leaderships of an international movement even before the G7. It might just be effective after the midterms, could even lead to Trump’s becoming the laughingstock of the international community. An energized Europe, with a population bigger than the US, is key. A real Dream On? Maybe not.

There is a bit of sunshine for us in the huge 54-per-cent tariff being placed on Chinese imports to the US, as these goods will continue to enter Canada at a much lower rate. This means that Canadian Tire, for so much of its stock, and electronics stores like Best Buy will still sell much cheaper goods than available in the US. This is likely to create a boom in cross- border shopping in Canada for Americans.

Finally, and already visible in early signs, Congress may just start to fulfill its constitutional duty as a check to executive power. Again, particularly after the midterms, or even before. The dictatorial and authoritarian bent of the Trump administration is starting to arouse the basic fair-minded citizens of the US. Huge demonstrations in early April in all States may just be the beginning. Seeing students being arrested by black-hooded ICE agents, not charged and incarcerated with no due process to be deported is a blot on US democracy. US Congress people still rely on the popular vote of citizens who may distrust traditional media but still watch TV. They will also see prices of everyday goods going up. No new car this year.

As David Brooks wrote in the New York Times: “People will be outraged by the useless economic pain they (the tariffs) are causing and, more subtly, revolted by the cowardly values they represent.” And the fallacy of Trump’s actions is well expressed by Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: “The president…is a careless person, smashing up things and creatures and leaving others, eventually, to clean up the mess that he has made.” American citizens are noticing this.

These historic days are just the start. A revolution is underway defining a new and dangerous role for the US in a world order he seems determined to destroy. Canada is no longer alone in baring the brunt of his disdain and economic warfare. There are dozens of nations considering how their economies will be damaged and how the world order is threatened. There will be strength in numbers.

Two Speeches - Carney Replaces Trudeau, Who Sets Stage for US battle

cpatrick.gossage@mediaprofile.com (Patrick Gossage) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 18:30:22 GMT

Two speeches, barely a week apart, show a contrast in impact between the outgoing and incoming PM. Mark Carney’s lackluster acceptance speech, following his landslide victory in the Liberal leadership race, contrasts with probably one of the best speeches

Justin Trudeau has ever given.

This is how Justin Trudeau opened his memorable agenda-setting speech against tariffs the day after they were imposed: “Today the

United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia. Appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense.”

This was his last important speech as Prime Minister. It was televised live on Canadian and many US channels. It was a barnburner and harked back to the days when he spoke with authority and heart. It proved he could still rise to the occasion – this time a real threat posed by Trump on our very sovereignty. It set the tone for a whole country already rallying with a level of patriotic fervour not seen since the last war. This fervour and fighting spirit was captured in lines that followed: “Canadians are reasonable and we are polite but we will not back down from a fight — not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake.”

He then addressed Americans directly: “They've chosen to launch a trade war that will first and foremost harm American families..“ And then proceeded to demolish with facts the alleged reason for the tariffs – the insecurity of the Canada-US border against the

flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants. Then the most requoted line in the speech: “Now, it's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.” He used “Donald” twice in the speech, a familiarity in response to Trump insulting him as Governor endlessly saying he wanted Canada to become the 51st state. Trudeau had earlier

warned that Trump was using the border issue as a “pretext” and that his real intention was to use “economic warfare” to weaken

the country and that his 51st state threat was real. This revelation fired up Canadian patriotism.

Trudeau has skillfully redrawn and expanded a US threat which now appears to have permanently altered our US relations. He has set a high bar for coming to terms with Trump’s tariffs. He stated Canada’s own wide tariff response will remain in effect until all US tariffs have been withdrawn. This very uncompromising approach was followed by Trudeau’s successor. By contrast Carney in his acceptance speech did not name Trump. He calmly repeated the strategy launched by Trudeau: “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”

Since Trump has no bones about his dislike of Trudeau, there is hope that a different interlocutor might have greater success dealing with his unpredictability. However, if Pierre Polievre wins the federal election, he staked his position saying: “Trump stabbed America’s best friend in the back.” Trump has complained that Poilievre is not MAGA enough. He has had nothing to say about the incoming PM, Mark Carney, and it would

appear that Carney has no interest in alienating him. Ironically, it turns out that the script for the ongoing battle has been written by the unpopular outgoing leader. Whatever, Justin Trudeau’s speech marks an almost heroic moment. Carney in his speech emphasized he is a practical man, focused on making Canada strong - a campaign slogan. “It’s not about money it’s about people” he said in an attempt to humanize his message. He saved the strongest language in a fairly routine speech for his rival in what is expected to be an early election. This is the very strong language he used in characterizing Poliviere: “A person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him.” His acceptance speech could, like Trudeau's, have set a bold agenda for the fight with Trump and a Canadian economy he hopes to make the envy of the world. It did not. Nor did it make the obvious appeal to Canadians to “fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a rough ride”.

The pumped-up partisan crowd of Liberals applauded his mostly calmly delivered lines. In a rare moment, he almost shouted: “Who is ready to stand up for Canada?” It got a roaring response. I feel his victory was more about the resume than the man, a background that said “you can trust me.” It remains to be seen if he catches on with the wider public and whether Trump will treat him as a credible and persuasive adversary. With the

announcement of 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and threats on our supply-managed dairy industry, he obviously feels he has all the cards. The deadly game continues, and we anxiously await any indication that our new leader may be able to play a winning game. He is certainly better equipped than the sloganeering Poilievre.

Finally, we may yet regret the disappearance of Justin Trudeau, who certainly had a knack for rising to the most challenging occasions, whether a pandemic or a nation-threatening US President.

How do we Ensure Canada is Important to Americans

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:40:00 GMT

I was Canada’s PR guy at our Washington Embassy during the Reagan years. In doing my rounds with media and influential think tanks, I soon realized the frightening lack of knowledge that even well-educated Americans had of Canada. We also knew that Canada was well behind countries like Sweden in profile in the capital of the world. Our ambassador - Alan Gotlieb - was determined to change that. Our first strategy for putting Canada on the map was to host parties at the Gotlieb residence which would be must-attends by the elite of Washington.

By having cool dinners honouring famous Canadians like the late Peter Jennings, Norman Jewison, and Donald Sutherland we attracted senior White House staff, Cabinet Secretaries and even members of Congress. I made sure the parties were covered in the social pages of the Washington Post and voila - we were the talk of the town. We were on the map and Gotlieb was soon writing op-eds in the Wall Street Journal.

It worked – a classic PR strategy of using celebrities to attract attention. It is amazing to me that classic media relations and marketing play almost no role in Canada’s need to reach the hearts and minds of Americans.

In this daunting situation of threatened Trump tariffs, this role is largely being fulfilled by the provinces and by the leading candidates to replace Trudeau. Ontario ads are ubiquitous on CNN, and Chrystia Freeland has had a good interview with Dana Bash on CNN as well as a strong interview on Bloomberg. Her views have appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Her rival candidate, Mark Carney, has been on late night TV, on FOX news and in the Economist. The Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford has done several US TV shows.

It's ironic that these players are reaching out to Americans and the active existing Liberal government under Justin Trudeau is not. Why is he not giving interviews to major US media and making better use of his social media outlets? Why is the government not investing in hard-hitting factual TV ads about the integrated North American manufacturing and energy sectors and the value of the two-way trade? And the fact, much promoted by Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs that tariffs mean higher prices for US consumers when Trump promised to reduce them.

This pitch should be garnering widespread US media coverage.

The Trump gang pays far more attention to public opinion than in what the established business elites, or even Democrats think of the new regime. We could make a determined effort to influence it.

But we need to speak in one voice to Americans. Regional self- interests, especially from Alberta, cloud our messaging. Most Canadians know that the only way to impress a bully like Trump is to show strength. Slowly the gang of provinces and the federal government are buying this playbook.

Canadians are coming together with new nationalistic fervour to fight the threat of Trump wanting to make us the 51st state. This has produced an impressive and reassuring rise in patriotic sentiment everywhere. If only the US media could be convinced to pay attention to this growing movement among us normally calm restrained citizens. Again, a classic PR challenge which could be tackled and easily achieved. The New York Times has staff here, who have already covered our plans to tackle the fentanyl crisis.

Making fun of this unCanadian phenomenon which manifests itself in a “buy Canadian” movement has produced some hilarious comedy. A recent This Hour has 22 Minutes skit sees Mark Critch abusing a shopper for nor buying Canadian ketchup even cheezies. “We are in a trade war” you traitor!

The humour in the 51 st state scenario was well exploited by US late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel: “But let’s just imagine for a second that somehow… (that) Canada does become a state. Do they think it would be a red state? There are forty-one million people living in Canada. They’re about the same number we have in California. California has fifty-four electoral votes. If Canada also had fifty-four electoral votes, forget MAGA — our next president will be a kindhearted lesbian moose. “I’m trying to say, I’m for it. Save us, Canada — you’re our only hope.” Obviously,

he sees a residue of pro-Canadian sentiment in America. We should be exploiting it!

Goodbye Justin – Why is he not Connecting to Canadians

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:00:48 GMT

The Liberals liked to tell us that the problems they have are not with the wonderful programs they have delivered for Canadians but that they had been unable to communicate them effectively. What if the real problem was the communicator-in-chief, Justin Trudeau, ever more repetitive and tightly scripted, was simply not connecting with the public anymore? In fact, he’s been alienating them?

Why did Trudeau stop connecting with Canadians? In recent months, no matter how much he spent on programs to entice the including dental care and pharmacare and a raft of programs to increase the supply of rental and new housing, his approval remained at the lowest level of any Prime Minister ever. Let’s try and give this a professional analysis.

Certainly, he was visible enough. Appearing daily on TV domestically fronting every new program in the fall. Plus, landing regularly at head of government meetings and conferences all over the world and getting clips on TV.

So, the first conclusion is a serious problem well known to political strategists: he has been terribly overexposed. The public simply has become tired of the daily Justin face on TV trying to reach out to them always using the same words like “continuing to” invest in Canadians. And we’ve grown wary of his self-conscious, self-satisfied smirks when he thinks he’s answered a question effectively when in fact he almost never addresses a question directly. And the profuse use of “uhs” which simply annoy.

Many who dislike him call him a “phony.” One hears that a lot. Also “inauthentic,” it’s hard to see that he believes in what he says – a basic quality of good communication is for the speaker to believe what he or she says and show it. A “showman” who’s all performance - which has been related to his time as a drama teacher. Shannon Proudfoot of the Globe and Mail wrote about the real emotion he finally displayed in his resignation: “…it has been a long time since Mr. Trudeau betrayed anything that seemed like a real reaction that responded directly to the moment.”

Also, he has almost no humor. A key element in any effective communication. Especially for social media. As is spontaneity which is now very rare as Justin repeats worn talking points at nauseum.

One may well ask what happened to his ability to communicate after he did such a credible job day after day informing us during the Covid crisis. Perhaps his own fatigue and lack of enthusiasm being such a target of unrelenting attacks and nastiness. He is human and also suffered the departure of his wife. At times like this one tends to fall back on comfortable and familiar ways of expressing oneself.

There is also the tendency in his speaking to say the obvious as if it was a revelation. “Captain Obvious” some might say. The writer and critic Bob Ramsay put it this way: “Trudeau is also a heavy user of the phrase “hard-working,” as in ‘hard-working Canadians.’ This flattery is so tired and fake that it’s cringe-worthy. When we hear him say it, are we really meant to connect more with him, to believe he understands us, that we’re a bunch of hard-working folks bonding over our common cause?” He also repeatedly says when dealing with a serious issue “ We are working round the clock on this.” As if…

Finally, there is the ill-defined motivation for the overall Liberal program. The obsessive purpose to work for the “middle-class and people working hard to join it.” This was the spine of the Liberal platform in 2015 and has been endlessly repeated. Note this statement made going into the Charlottetown Cabinet retreat in 2013: “We made a commitment to stand up for the middle class, and we will not stop fighting until everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. As we head into a new Parliamentary session next week, we remain focused on the things that matter most to Canadians: making life more affordable and creating good, middle-class jobs now and into the future.”

This verbose promise to create a “chance to succeed for everyone” and “good middle-class jobs” is so vague as to mean nothing. It is belied by the fact that it is the middle-class that has been hit hard by inflation, and the rising cost of groceries and housing. It is also typical of the Liberals tendency to overpromise and underdeliver, an ironclad rule of political “not to do’s.” And of course, the not stop fighting juvenile description of the Liberal’s unflagging dedication! It’s worth noting that none of these placebos are goes for social media clips so important for so many

Finally, there is the question of who comes to the strong defense of Canada when it is threatened. Certainly not Justin Trudeau, on holiday when Trump launched his bombastic threats to our sovereignty and economy. Bullies need strong resistance, or they keep bullying. Justin has yet to articulate the kind of national pride that Jean Chretien did so masterfully in the Star on January 11, as addressed to Trump: “ What could make you think would ever give up the best country in the world – and make no mistake we are – to join the United States…If you think that threatening and insulting us is going to win us over don’t know a thing about us.” He then lists the key values we all share, like tolerance, and the generous social safety nets we have built. It’s one of the best defenses of our nation I have seen in years. It could have been a memorable part of Trudeau’s farewell. It wasn’t.

In conclusion, the style, content, and mode of expression of Justin Trudeau has steadily led to the increasing lack of trustworthiness of this government ‘s chief communicator. As a former PMO script and media release writer I can only say that his staff have allowed him to fall into a groove which has reduced his authority and credibility.

What new leadership should look like for Failing Liberals

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:13:13 GMT

Most Ottawa watchers have thrown up their arms in disgust with the all too obvious leadership mismanagement in the appalling chaos of the last few days: the dismissal of one of Canada’s most respected Ministers and deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland

over basic disagreement over economic policy, then her resignation. The shameless offer of the Finance post to Mark Carney – obviously turned down. Then her very damaging resignation letter the day she was supposed to unveil her economic update. And an invisible Prime Minister now considering his future with his caucus support imploding. His future is now the issue, as parliament adjourns with the government’s future in severe jeopardy.

This unprecedented weakness in the Trudeau minority government, and the base and angry polarized political discourse, makes one wonder what kind of Canada we have become, and what do we have a government for? It clearly has not served our economy or its anxiety ridden citizens, or given them hope or confidence for many months. We also face the nastiest election ever in Canadian history with apparently deep divisions about the kind of nation we should have. And a severe threat to a divided weakened nation from the incoming President. This without a clear path to change and renewal of the Liberal party, and a disliked and feckless opposition leader showing few signs of strength to seize important national and international policies.

For the first time there are signs that Trudeau may make way for a leadership change. There are strong contenders, not the last, Freedland herself, who will run again and has shown a taste for the big job. It’s predictable that Carney has no desire to join what seems to be the failing party. And given the wide public distaste for the Liberals, it would take a major new powerful leader to reverse its fortunes. Perhaps the Trudeau pal, the very politically sage Dominic LeBlanc.

What might a totally renewed Liberal leadership look like? One thing is certain. Canadians need a new and robust belief in the country. Pride in Canada dropped from a high of 78 per cent in 1984 to just 34 per cent this year, according to a recent Angus Reid poll. Little surprise, given that Trudeau once said that Canada had no national identity, and played to the country’s particularisms. This lack of belief in one’s country is particularly evident among young people. And much is due to the inability of the government to speak to their needs and concerns. It is the

young who celebrate our evident sports and music accomplishments, not our leaders.

Is there a politician capable of reigniting national pride and confidence? One might also ask if Trudeau decided to stay, if he has the rhetorical chops to reinspire Canadians? Unlikely, but something he may be considering. In any case, it’s a tall order, but perhaps the only way the country could be lifted to trust that a new and strong nation could be rebuilt; that there is a politician who puts the nation, not himself, or herself, first. I really believe we are tired of being told our country is broken, and that we have to keep apologizing for past errors and have little in our past to be proud of. The world outside is indeed a fearful one, and some of our most cherished values are being questioned in many countries. Trump’s insanities contrast with our relative stability, and respect for law and order and the caring society we have built. The Canadian spirit is cautious, observant and critical, where the American is assertive. One reason is that many are turned off by the constant negativity of Poiliviere. We celebrate and value diversity and welcome immigrants. Reducing their numbers does not reduce the value we put on our multicultural society. And however difficult it becomes, we are committed to reducing the number of assault weapons that produce such regular horror south of the border.

We may be more politically divided than ever, in a partisan sense, but if someone can rally us to the values we share and show us that Canada’s most valued institutions like universal health care can be improved, he or she will be listened to. Trudeau might look at the lines at the bottom of the his father’s Charter document for inspiration: “We must now establish the basic principles, the basic values and beliefs which hold us together as Canadians so that beyond our regional loyalties there is a way of life and a system of values which make us proud of the country that has given us such freedom and such immeasurable joy.” This is a worthwhile strategy for some leader to consider. There are positive signs. Our indigenous people, especially their leaders and creators, are being appreciated and heard as never before. And this should be celebrated. We are acutely aware of racial issues and working hard so that the egalitarianism promised by the Charter is evident in all our dealings with each other. This all sounds like some sort of dream of a latter-day Canadian Roosevelt, I know. But surely anyone who wants to lead this country must be fundamentally committed to its core values that unify us all, and commit to new ways of institutionalizing them. Hope springs eternal, and out of the recent chaos new leadership and a strong new Canada might just emerge.

Was Trudeau’s Friendly Warm Social Dinner with Trump a Breakthrough?

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 20:06:55 GMT

Let’s get real. Indeed, most agree that Trudeau’s taking up Trump’s invite to a Friday dinner invite to Mar a Lago made during his Monday phone call with the incoming President was a coup. It made Poilievre’s day-after nasty criticisms seem foolish. This is certain: there is no world leader that does not envy Justin and his gang spending over three hours at dinner with the incoming president and a few appointed heavies. Only weeks before his inauguration.

A table setting to be envious of indeed. Trudeau was seated next Trump, surrounded by new Trump appointees important to the US- Canada relationship including Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump's pick to lead the Interior Department, Mike Waltz and his wife, Trump';s choice to be his national security adviser.

Also, Senator David McCormick and his wife, Dina Powell, a former deputy national security adviser under Trump, as well as Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, responsible for border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff. All smiling! Let’s hope they all knew which fork to use for the salad course. And his mother’s meat loaf was on the menu – a must order for our people!

Our US Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, at an adjacent table, said the atmosphere was “warm," that Trump and Trudeau "get along well" and the dinner was also a chance to socialize. She said Trump used his iPad to play music and she said Trump told Trudeau he is a big fan of Canadian singer Celine Dion. There were no briefing papers and no agenda – not a real working dinner. Clearly Trump enjoyed being the generous host in the crowded main dining room of his Florida palace. Personal relationships are so important - clearly this event worked for Canada. LeBlanc said Trump accompanied his Canadian guests to the door with a warm “keep in touch – we’ll talk soon.”

Trudeau had the floor early on to make his pitch. And knowing the rules for Canadian diplomacy vis-a-vis the most powerful man in the world, you can be sure he emphasized that he was on the same page when it came to the border and fentanyl – two focuses of Trump signaled in his Nov. 25 social media post. There he threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border. Trudeau called Trump the evening it landed and assuredly made his case that the southern and northern borders are entirely different. It was on that call Trump invited his to his Florida mansion for dinner the following Friday as long as it was kept secret.

Notably Trump sought out Trudeau’s views on world leaders who had changed since he was last President. Trudeau is now the senior member of the Group of Seven western leaders. Part of the better relations between the two men can be traced to an earlier personal call from Trudeau to Trump the day after the attempted assassination on July 13, 2024. In addition, Trudeau still has some star power and would be recognizable to Trump’s Florida crowd.

Dominic Leblanc’s read out in several interviews paints an incredibly positive picture of the launch of very strategic high-level lobbying of Trump and his people to find an exemption to the punishing tariff threat. He made a good impression on Lutnick, the incoming Commerce Secretary. He was able to recount the major BC takedown of a huge fentanyl lab. He was very interested in the Chinese source of many chemicals used in its manufacture. Leblanc found Burgum from North Dakota picked to run the interior department who is well briefed on Canada and shared concerns.

The lighthearted nature of the dinner was on display one point when Trump joked that if Canada can't handle the economic

effects of a punishing 25 per cent tariff on its goods, it should become the 51st state of the U.S.!

The Canadians left the Americans with detailed promises to buy more helicopters and drones to provide better surveillance of the large swaths of the undefended border. LeBlanc has invitations to phone the two he talked to most. These kinds of contacts made in a friendly social circumstance are gold. The next day the PM-in-waiting Piere Poilievre was behind a podium branded Fix the Broken Border. He was anything but a Team player for Canada calling the PM “a weak prime minister who’s lost control of our borders, lost control of immigration, lost control of crime and drugs, and lost control of our economy.”

Let’s hope Trudeau is a smart and strong PM, taking the right approach to protect us against Trump’s threats. The Mar a Lago dinner was a great occasion to set out on the right foot.

Indications of Some Hope For a Trudeau Revival

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:07:33 GMT

In a new lengthy video a friendly Trudeau admits that he “made some mistakes” in ballooning immigration. He did an about-face and greatly reduced numbers especially for temporary workers and students. This type of turnaround and admission is an effective political ploy as it’s almost impossible to have a leader admit an error, let alone and fix it. It’s very human and appealing.

It would be nice to think that this sincere video portends a realization and not just a way to find new ways of appealing to voters. A good tactic was to speak to voters real concerns as he did almost every day during the pandemic. His announcement of a temporary GST tax holiday on a whole list of goods including groceries is being seen as a possible way of boosting his popularity. He’ll certainly have lots of new opportunities to show new leadership with the re-election of Trump and the reemergence of separatism in Quebec as a real threat.

Momal-Vanian, the Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF) defines political leadership as “politics is the art of making possible what is necessary.” The necessity for Trudeau in the coming months will be engaging with, and even standing up to, Trump and speaking for Canada with its unity once again threatened.

This means facing a populist threat with real accomplishment and new sensitivity to the real needs of Canadians. Bálint Magyar, author and Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest pits the challenge Trudeau faces in reforming his approach to politics this way: “Liberal democracy offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.”

Perhaps Trump’s revenge focused first days and crue immigration policies will provide a positive contrast to a very human and caring Trudeau. And if he manages to escape the worst of Trump’s love affair with tariffs, he’ll be a hero indeed. If it comes to standing up to a bully, a lot of Canadians might admire that.

His archrival Polievre also can be seen as a sort of “Trump-lite,” especially his demonizing of the press, his overblown and heavy-handed speaking style and unrelenting negativity about his country. Blaming all the country’s woes on Trudeau will inevitably wear thin. As weeks go by, and Conservative negativism and obstructionism continue Canadians might start reconsidering their support for Polievre and wonder if they really like what they could get if he were to be PM.

There is also Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, the young leader of the Parti Québécois in Quebec to consider. Polling suggests a solid PQ majority in the next Provincial election. The PQ leader would be under strong pressure to call a referendum on Quebec’s secession from Canada. Consider then the old Pierre Trudeau line “who speaks for Canada?” that suddenly becomes terribly important. And the money will be back on Justin, not Polievre who has low levels of support in la belle province. Being his father’s son in dealing with Canadian unity and being unafraid to face it head on might suddenly be an advantage. And a future campaign will be waged not with posters and speeches but on social media where Trudeau can shine.

On this regard Trudeau might play a nationalist, patriotic card which our beaten up, fragmented nation sorely needs. As Jeffrey Simpson pointed out in a long pieced in the Globe, Trudeau had once said Canada had no national identity and instead was a country of “particularisms rather than some sort of organic whole.” This echoes his father’s preference for what he called “patriotic nationalism,” a collection of ethnic nationalisms while governing on behalf of all, not as groups but as individuals. This would seem to be an attractive and valid position that Trudeau could amplify

while celebrating the contribution of many ethnicities. This kind of generous reflection on who we are is surely one to be welcomed and Trudeau is better situated to explore it than Polievre. In addition, Simpson points out that Canada’s cultural elites have painted Canada’s past in “unrelievedly dark colours” and our history shaded by “shame”. We have all had enough of guilt and any politician who starts fueling our pride would get a good

hearing.

I realize that all this is wishful thinking. But the gloom spread by Trump and Polievre is starting to wear thin. I know many who have stopped consuming news completely. Indeed, we are barely solving the economic crisis faced by so many. Taking small bites is insufficient work and nobody can significantly lower grocery prices or build rental or owner homes fast enough or cheaply enough to relieve our housing crisis. But at least we may be able to have a leader who gives us some pride and hope. We should not underestimate Justin. It could be him.

Why Trudeau is Staying No Matter What

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 00:03:45 GMT

Inexplicable times for sad Liberals. An almost universally disliked Prime Minister who is convinced he alone can save Canada from the dangerous Pierre Poilievre and nobody is going to convince him otherwise. Not the pathetic group of 24 anonymous MP’s who penned a letter urging him to resign, not His former campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst or a few cabinet friends who suggested to him it was time. Not anyone in his loyal Cabinet. The Polls show a vast majority of Canadians want him to resign, yet he is still PM.

The reasons for this suicidal loyalty are simple. As former CBC Ottawa Bureau Chief Rob Russo said recently on CBC TV’s Power and Politics: “He made a bunch of nobodies into somebodies.” Of the 39 current cabinet ministers the vast majority came out of relative obscurity to the first Trudeau cabinet of 2015, and only Bill Blair and perhaps Steven Guilbeault had major public profiles, Blair as Toronto’s police chief and Guilbeault as a well-known Quebec environmental activist. Chrystia Freeland was a high-profile journalist and editor here and abroad.

The huge Prime Minister's Office of course owe their jobs to Justin and enjoy a power far beyond that of previous PMO’s. Hard to give up. They even appoint the key players, the chiefs of staff in Cabinet Ministers offices. Imagine a Minister who knows the loyalty of his key staffer is divided between the Minister and the PMO! This PMO muscle flexing was unknown in my time at the PMO and its effects on delaying or killing the flow of ideas is serious.

Lloyd Axworthy a powerful cabinet Minister in the Chretien government bewailed this practice in a recent Toronto Star piece: “Bill Blair at the inquiry into foreign interference inquiry revealed that he was unaware his chief of staff, appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), had been holding a high-priority request from CSIS for his signature for weeks. Blair further admitted he wasn’t troubled by this clear lapse in ministerial responsibility. This shocking revelation underscored how the role of a minister has been undermined in recent years.” We might even assume that the chief of staff was acting after consulting the PMO.

Most of us are unaware of how much power is concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office. A 2007 study of 22 OECD countries found that Prime Ministers in Canada held more power than in any other country.

Andrew Coyne in a wonderful column recently described the inability of MP's to strongly urge the PM to reign this way: “Here they are too terrified in their desperation to rid themselves of a leader who has taken the party to the brink of annihilation, to so much as say their own names, lest the wrath of His Awful Majesty or his Most Awful Chief of Staff come down upon them.”

The chief referred to is of course Katie Telford a tactician whose early work was largely in Ontario politics. She takes credit for her organizational role in the 2015 election victory and has managed to outlive any previous Chief or Principal secretary to a PM by many years. She runs an office of hundreds who are credited by Ministers of running an effective bottleneck for approvals of new policies or initiatives by Cabinet members that are forced to pass through her bureaucracy.

She also runs an effective screening of calls to the PM. Few get through to an increasingly isolated introverted PM. There is story that even former PM jean Chretien could not get through the gatekeepers. Certainly, face to face or telephone calls with MP’s are very rare.

Her huge “communications” section pumps out floods of daily releases occasionally of important appointments but more often vacuous tomes celebrating days like United Nations Day, Small Business Week, Persons Day or International Day of the Girl. The senior people in this office keep every MP and cabinet Minister “on message”. The PMO ever adjusting mantra focuses on the well worn Trudeau promise to help the “middle class and those working hard to join” it, and “continuing” such endlessly repeated initiatives as child care, housing construction, dental care, school food programs etc. “Investing in Canadians rather than cutting programs as promised by the Conservatives” Is the pitch falling on deaf ears.

Interestingly the few dissident MP’s who spoke on record all bemoaned the lack of a new “plan” to win back support for the Liberals. A few days ago, one of the daily pitches for money from the Liberals landed in my e-mail, this one from Andrew Bevan , the newly appointed National Campaign Director: “I couldn’t be more excited to join the only team with a real plan to make life more affordable, strengthen our public health care, take bold climate action, and grow the middle class.” It appears that more of the same is the “plan”! His first TV ad reflects this.

I’ve pointed out before that we should not shy from looking into Trudeau’s private life to see why there has been so little positive convincing action to show real concern for suffering Canadians in the past year. Why the PMO has been largely reactionary. Truth could be that Trudeau could hardly not be affected by his marriage breakup and the effect it has had on his kids. He is human.

Pundits have asked why there should not be a change at the top if Canadians have spoken loudly for the need for change. Fresh blood in the PMO seems unlikely, however needed. Trudeau is very loyal to those who brought him to where he is, even if he feels the loss of his more policy oriented Principal Secretary Gerald Butts who was a victim of the SNC Lavalin affair.

The largest exempt staff army in Canadian history is unlikely to birth new ideas. They have been appointed by the PMO and are largely young loyal Liberals. They and their Ministers rely increasingly on consultants to produce policy papers. Little chance of breakthrough ideas here.

So, what do we have going forward. A PM whose “intoxication” with power won’t give it up and a supine Cabinet and caucus afraid to challenge him and a paucity of new thinking or plans to win back Canadians who have already made up their minds about the PM and the Liberals. The captain goes down fighting with his ship. The contrast with the renewal of the democrats in the US is depressing indeed.

Get Ready: Unhappy Years Ahead

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 14:45:35 GMT

If you think the childish behavior of our politicians, lack of respect the world has for Canada, the huge gulf that yawns between progressives and right-wing believers, the polarizing hate and anger that infect political discourse here and the unheard-of disconnect between the national government and the people is a passing phenomenon, think again. Canada is in for a period of political and social disruption for the long haul.

First and foremost is the unbelievable spectacle of parliament, reduced to nonstop slogan shouting and personal mudslinging as never before. Facing an empty policy opposition determined to force an “Axe the Tax” election, and a dangerously unpopular Prime Minister fighting back for the runway to save his political life, our democracy has degenerated into a kindergarten of brawling kids that, as one observer pointed out, could only be tamed by a good kindergarten teacher. An anticipated early election would simply amplify this behavior. The deep antipathy the parties have for each other will make this the meanest election ever.

It is predictable that we will remain in an era of very deep divisions for some time to come. A recent Angus Reid Institute poll showed that ‘Extremism’ and ‘polarization’ have become common terms framing the discussion of Canada’s political scene. Many right-leaning Canadians see this as a fight between good and evil. As federal political parties take turns labelling the other as extremists, there is widespread belief that political options are abandoning the middle. The Angus Reid study found one-in-three (36%) Canadians believe “all the political parties are too extreme

in their views”. Approaching half (47%) of those who place themselves in the middle of the political spectrum say they “feel like a political orphan”, making them the most likely to hold this view.

Meanwhile, the government bravely tries to eke out modest policy solutions to help economically challenged Canadians, such as recently extending mortgage payback to 30 years. Its Ministers harp back to accomplishments such as the Canada Child benefit which has lifted 450,000 kids out of poverty and $10 a day childcare, and the more recent Canadian Dental Care Plan. These positive Liberal measures fall on deaf ears, as does the fact that 80% of Canadians make more in rebates than the national carbon pricing regime costs them. The PM puts on a good face while he and his party slip below the NDP in voter intention in English Canada, and the Bloc threatens the Liberals in Quebec. We have never seen the level of vitriol directed at our unpopular PM with trucks bearing the f____ Trudeau often seen and shouting crowds dogging his appearances, to the extent his public plans are kept secret until the last moment. This is unprecedented.

Now, with regular Conservative non-confidence motions being proposed, it seems only a matter of time before we have an earlier election than expected, when the NDP had an agreement not to defeat the government. Captain Trudeau will then sink with the Liberal ship, which has hit a rock and is going down, unwilling to make the big changes which alone might revive their fortunes. Also there will unlikely be time for him to gracefully bow out and for the Liberals to elect a new leader. In any case, as one former speechwriter of his said, he could hear him saying “we’re not

changing course at the 11 th hour just because of some really bad polls.”

So, one likely result is that Trudeau resigns only after a defeat at the polls, and a subsequent convention produces a new leader who does not wear the defeat. This is probably more desirable for rebuilding the Liberal brand than having a new leader coming out of a bad electoral defeat. But what kind of a political situation under Poliviere with a weakened Liberal opposition can we expect? The major issues that beset Canada are unlikely to go away. If, as the conservatives constantly claim, all Canada’s woes land at the door of Trudeau, will getting rid of him miraculously turn things

around? Come on.

“Axe the carbon tax” is the rallying cry for an election, with it being claimed that its further imposition will cause an economic “nuclear winter”. Getting rid of it will not solve anything but will make Canada look like a climate-change chump in the eyes on many of our allies. “Axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, stop the crime and bring it home” are the “common sense” slogans he will operate on. Closer to an election – which could be a few weeks away – we are promised some meat on these bare bones. Nothing yet.

We remain an embarrassment to NATO in staying so far from our commitments at a time when the war in Ukraine’s stalemate haunts us all. We have no clear idea whether a Conservative government would invest more in defense beyond his office saying they would “work toward” meeting the NATO commitment. So, the damage to our international reputation will continue for many years.

As will our inability to meet the huge increase in demand for housing. CHMC estimates that nearly 3.5 million homes need to be added between 2021 and and 2031. Dream on. Desjardins’ economists concluded in a recent paper that the “fire hose” of Liberal government measures to boost home-building will not really have a major impact on the supply of homes – and therefore home prices – for three or four years. “What Canadians

want are policies that will increase incomes or make it easier to buy a home”, Greg Lyle president of Innovative Research Group recently told the CBC. “None of those things get solved in four months or maybe even four years.” A CIBC report released last spring found 76 per cent of Canadians who aren’t homeowners feel entry into the housing market is out of reach. A grim outlook, for young people especially. Poliviere announced his plan to increase housing last fall by making cities responsible for increasing the number of homes built by 15 per cent each year — a rate that he said might alleviate the housing crunch. Local governments that failed to meet that target would see their federal grants withheld. The plan

was immediately slammed by Canada’s mayors.

Meanwhile new housing starts have slowed despite new government funding. In spite of Canada's growing population, the CMHC confirmed that housing starts decreased by 9 per cent in June, 2024. On top of this, when compared to June of 2023, housing starts last month had decreased by 13 percent. Lower supply for higher demand. Not good. As for affordable housing the 2023 budget failed to address a crisis that is leading to more homelessness than Canadian communities have ever experienced.

There is little good news when we look at Canada’s overall economic prospects. Our low productivity has been called an “emergency” by the Bank of Canada. According to the latest data available from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada ranks 29 th among 38 OECD countries in labor productivity. despite being one of the best countries in the world to live in. Canada's workforce is among the most educated in the world but quarterly data published by StatsCan in June 2024 confirms Canadian workers are continuing to underperform compared to our neighbors to the south. "If we don't address productivity and start doing it very quickly ...our living standards — in relative terms to some of the more successful countries in the world — will continue to decline," Derek Holt, vice president and head of capital markets

economics at Scotiabank told CBC recently. Lower productivity also diminishes Canada's competitiveness and makes it more difficult to bring inflation under control, "because essentially workers are getting paid more for producing less," he said. So far no federal party has seen fit to address this basic issue facing the Canadian economy.

A polarized disputatious country with little ability to solve our most serious economic issues in the medium term. Unhappy days ahead indeed.

Two Amazing Pieces of Poetry

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 23:29:26 GMT

Two amazing pieces of poetry from very different centuries that are thought provoking:

W.B. Yeats

The Second Coming

1919

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Tear for Fears Love

Sowing the Seeds of love

1989

High time we made a stand

And shook up the views of the common man

And the love train rides from coast to coast

DJ's the man we love the most

Could you be, could you be squeaky clean

And smash any hope of democracy?

As the headline says, you're free to choose

There's egg on your face and mud on your shoes

One of these days, they're gonna call it the blues

Yeah, yeah

Sowing the seeds of love (anything is possible)

Seeds of love (when you're sowing the seeds of love)

Sowing the seeds of love

Sowing the seeds of love (anything is possible)

Seeds of love (sowing the seeds of love)

Sowing the seeds

I spy tears in their eyes

They look to the skies for some kind of divine intervention

Food goes to waste

So nice to eat, so nice to taste

Politician granny with your high ideals

Have you no idea how the majority feels?

So without love and a promised land

We're fools to the rules of a government plan

Kick out the style, bring back the jam.

First Nations People were Appreciated by Early Settlers What Happened?

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 21:44:50 GMT

Susanna Moodie wrote Roughing it in the Bush. a very observant account of her family settling in a loghouse in the 1830’s Their pioneer home was in the middle of the forest near the present town of Lakefield, Ontario. Upper Canada was then a British colony welcoming many American loyalists. The Moodies, mother, father, a retired British army officer, and daughter immigrated in 1832, and shortly after their log cabin was built started having warm relations with the local first nations people who were of the Mississauga tribe.

She wrote: “It was not long before we received visits from the Indians…Their honesty and love of truth are the finest traits in their characters... These are two God-like attributes, and from them spring all that is generous an ennobling among them There never was a people more sensible of kindness, or more grateful for any little act of benevolence …We met them with confidence, our dealings with them were conducted with the strictness integrity and they became attached to our persons, and no single instance ever destroyed the good opinion we entertained of them.”

In an introduction to the 1913 edition of The Moccasin Maker by the famous biracial indigenous performer and writer Pauline Johnson, Charles Mair wrote: “Impartial history not seldom leans to the red man's side; for, in his ordinary and peaceful intercourse with the whites, he was, as a rule, both helpful and humane. In the records of early explorers we are told of savages who possessed estimable qualities lamentably lacking in many so- called civilized men. The Illinois, an inland tribe, exhibited such tact, courtesy and self-restraint, in a word, such good manners, that the Jesuit Fathers described them as a community of gentlemen. Such traits, indeed, were natural to the primitive Indian, and gave rise, no doubt, to the much-derided phrase—"The Noble Red Man.’”

In a short story called “A Red Girl’s Reasoning” in the same book, Johnson writes of a trader who had long ago married an Indian girl: “The country was all backwoods, and the Post miles and miles from even the semblance of civilization, and the lonely young Englishman's heart had gone out to the girl who, apart from speaking a very few words of English, was utterly uncivilized and uncultured, but had withal that marvelously innate refinement so universally possessed by the higher tribes of North American Indians.”

First nations peoples under the French and in the earlier years of British rule were vital to our first major industry, the fur trade – providing the furs and powering the transportation system that brought the commodity to Montreal. They had been treated as partners under the French regime, and as we have seen were treated as neighbours and friends by the early settlers in Upper Canada. The diary of Mrs., Simcoe, the wife of the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada in the late 1700’s John Graves Simcoe makes many references to her interest in the local natives in then York and in her and her husband’s’ travels. On a trip to what is now London, Ontario the governor found his native guides very useful: “The Governor rose early on the march and walked till five o'clock. A party of the Indians went on an hour before, to cut down wood for a fire and make huts of trees, which they cover with bark so dexterously that no rain can penetrate, and this they do very expeditiously; when the Governor came to the spot the Indians had fixed upon the lodge for the night, the provisions were cooked; after supper the officers sung "God Save the King"; and

went to sleep with their feet close to an immense fire, which was kept up all night.”

This benign and friendly interest in the first nations who vastly outnumbered white settlers in the early years of Upper Canada was soon to end as the need for more land for incoming settlers from the US and Europe started to encroach on indigenous lands. This led to treaty making with First Nation’s bands in which they signed away traditional lands in return for small compensation, gifts, and annual monetary awards. This was an unfortunate change from earlier agreements.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 confirmed First Nations’ sovereignty over their lands and prevented anyone, other than the Crown, from purchasing that land. The Crown, needing First Nations’ land for military purposes or for settlement, would first have to purchase it from its indigenous occupants. 50 years before Mrs. Moodie was meeting her Mississauga neighbours it became clear to colonial administrators that

agreements on who controlled lands had to be made with this tribe who dominated huge areas north of Lake Ontario.

50 years before Mrs. Moodie was meeting her Mississauga neighbours it became clear to colonial administrators that agreements on who controlled lands had to be made with this tribe who dominated huge areas north of Lake Ontario.

This is how a long saga of misunderstood botched agreements and misrepresentation of intent started leading finally to an actual sizeable purchase by the federal government’s purchase of land on which Toronto sits from the Mississauga in 2010.

Sir John Johnston, Superintendent General of the Indian Department, met in 1787 with a number of chiefs in which the they purportedly sold the lands in the Toronto Purchase agreement. The Misissauga readily agreed to share land because of Sir William Johnson’s promise that they could pull the Covenant Chain whenever they were in need and would never live in poverty, and could continue to hunt and fish on the land. A long list of gifts were given including 96 gallons of rum for a land mass.of 250,808 acres extending to Lake Simcoe. The Mississauga thought it was a rental agreement in which they would receive gifts of an ongoing basis.

A supposed deed documenting the sale of the lands was found years later and raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the deal .The deed was found blank and had no description of the land “purchased” by the Crown. Also of concern was that the marks of the chiefs were written on separate pieces of paper affixed to the blank deed. Consequently, a second sale was negotiated in 1805 with a tribe much reduced by poverty and disease. Ten shillings was given for this huge area.

The First Nation initiated new claims in the early 20th century, and finally in 2010, Canada agreed to pay CA$145 million for the lands, based on its historic value. The basis of the claims was that Canada did not provide the First Nation with adequate compensation for the land at the time of the purchases in 1787 and 1905. The settlement brought closure to these longstanding claims once and for all.

So, in some ways, the respect the Moodies had with their Mississauga neighbors was somewhat restored even if their descendants were reduced to living in a small reservation near Hagersville, Ontario and had been nearly decimated earlier.

It is worth remembering that Canada and its many communities and cities only exists because of the treaties First Nations made with newcomers. And as we have seen with the various badly executed agreements with the Mississauga, most have not been honoured and in general the first nations had a poor understanding of what they were giving up.

The many treaties that cover the vast territory of Canada were signed with ceremonies because they meant making relatives and making peace. Treaties were seen by indigenous leaders as binding covenants between native nations and the crown or monarch.

Raymond Aldred a Cree professor and priest, writing in the remarkable book Our Home and Treaty Land writes that the “treaty relationship is a shared narrative in which we are sacredly bound. Promises were made between your family and mine and the creator… what was supposed to be a respectful code of conduct degenerated into one in which government policies led to cultural genocide, assimilation, theft of land, denial of treaty and constitutional rights, racism and increasingly punitive laws to control every aspect of the lives and deaths of the original inhabitants of what is now Canadian territory.”

It is true that many tribes have been enriched by generous land claims settlements, and much effort has been given by governments and civil society to meet the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. But can we ever regain the friendship and respect early settlers had for First Nations people? That should at least be our goal.

Why We Refrain From Calling Out the Evil That Surrounds Us

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:48:31 GMT

It was unusual and instructive to hear the outgoing chief of the Canadian chief of the Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre quoted in his outgoing speech urging Canada to prepare for war and saying: “The implications of the outcome of this war are momentous for our global future. Evil walks the face of the Earth, and it must be stopped.”

It is now seen as ineffective to characterize modern conflicts as battles between good and evil. It’s been many years since George W. Bush used

the “axis of evil” to describe the bellicose tendencies of Iran, North Korea and Iraq in the early 21 st century.

Yet Eyre correctly said that “evil” walks the face of the earth. It is interesting to note that both the Gospels and the writings of Paul often refer to the

ubiquity of evil. The first epistle of John makes an even more sweeping claim than Eyre: “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole

world is under the control of the evil one.”

Currently in the United States, and to a less degree in Canada, the degree of polarization in political beliefs has led to a liberal conservative gulf where each side increasingly hates and distrusts the other. Survey data reveals that more than half of Republicans and Democrats view the other party as “a threat,” and nearly as many agree with the description of the other party as “evil,” Lillian Mason of John Hopkins University said.

Yet it has been remarkable that Democrats resist calling Trump evil even if he shows so many evil characteristics. Listen to no less an authority than

Jesus himself quoted in Marks’ gospel: ‘‘ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality,…adultery,

greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.” A pretty comprehensive list of Trum sins. Many believe that Trump has taken cues from dictators, and we have had no problem calling them evil. He takes the same road as the Nazis in demeaning a common enemy – in this case immigrants who he calls savages and backs his statements by threatening to deport the millions of the undocumented.

It is interesting to discover that science studying evil comes to much the same conclusion that the Judeo-Christian teaching of original sin - claiming we all have the capacity to be evil. Paul puts it this way in his epistle to the Romans: “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me. So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”

Recent scientific studies of evil come a similar conclusion - that we all have evil thoughts and desires, yet most people don’t act on them. It follows

what we call “evil” will be associated primarily with failures of inhibition. In other words, it’s all about self-control. The apparent normal behaviour

exhibited by many killers would seem to fit with people like the young man who tried to assassinate Trump who suddenly became a crazed assassin.

In a celebrated exchange of letters Sigmund Freud had with Albert Einstein in 1931-32. Einstein asked: “Is it possible to control man’s mental evolution so as to make him proof against the psychosis of hate and destructiveness?” Freud replied that “there is no likelihood of our being able

to suppress humanity’s aggressive tendencies” It has been pointed out that conservatives are so suspicious of people who look for “root causes” of

crime, and why they describe sociology as “the science of excuses.”

However the difficulty of ridding individuals of evil tendencies may be, the collectivity surely has moral standards that should apply to collective action. So, in a broader context, are we reaching a stage in our politics where we must call out the evil of systematic lying and inflated vitriolic hate both conservatives and liberals display for each other in the USA and to a lesser extend in Canada? The much-published US author Arthur C Brooks thinks so. In a 2019 excerpt from a lecture he gave in Australia in the New York Times he wrote: ”It may be true that all humans, all societies, are capable of becoming so corrupted as to come to see destroying others’ lives, outside of open combat, as a needed or heroic thing. (as was the case in Nazi Germany) But societies cannot typically survive undamaged, let alone flourish, if a culture of systematic lying is fostered and allowed to grow.”

This is a stark warning for us all. Even our noble politicians pay the price for outright lies, particularly when it comes to election promises, as is the case of Juston Trudeau who promised in the 2015 federal election to reform the first past the post electoral system. This lie, or the inability to action, has dogged him for nine years.

I feel strongly that calling out evil behavior in our politicians is a civic duty. Freud might be right and curing the individual violence in our society is

extremely challenging, as is bringing peace to Gaza or Ukraine where both sides are convinced they are fighting for good versus evil. But we can

influence our politicians with our votes and ensure that wild rhetoric and lying are not allowed to lead to dangerous actions.

Leave the Sinking Ship Or Go Down with It : Two Leaders Face this choice

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 18:32:40 GMT

US President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau are both facing the agonizing decision of either quitting their positions or seeing their parties and legacies obliterated in electoral defeat.

The pressure is enormous on both and is consuming all media. Speculation is rife as to who might replace these leaders, with both of them making absolute commitments to stay on, and as Trudeau says endlessly, to “continue to deliver for Canadians.” Both feel they have been traditionally underestimated; have shown they can get up and fight again - and are simply very resilient. There is a shared inability by both leaders’ offices to admit that there is any fatal weakness in their leaders.

In Biden’s case, despite millions observing his stumbling early in the recent Biden-trump debate, the ever-weakening defense is it was a one due to a cold and fatigue from overseas travel and not to be compared with the accomplishments of his productive three years in office. This is paralleled by Trudeau’s defaulting to his child care, dental care and housing initiatives when asked why he should stay on given his long lasting unpopularity in the polls.

In addition, he has explained at length that he is in a virtuous battle against the ascent of a virulent right wing threat on democracy, a claim destroyed by a recent long commentary by Andrew Coyne in the Globe and Mail. He pointed to the huge win of the left-wing labour party in Britain and the dispatching of the populist party in Poland (and now the left wing ascendancy in France). “It is more than a stretch for the Prime Minister to pretend his own troubles are part of some worldwide trend to instability, or to insinuate that democracy is on the ballot in the next election,” he writes. Or to suggest that Poliviere is the same threat to democracy as Trump.

In addition, both leaders are personally convinced that they alone are qualified to take on their more popular rivals. Trudeau, in particular, has characterized the coming electoral fight with rival Poliviere as one he could never back away from.

Interestingly both have had their characters assassinated by their rivals. This is the constantly repeated refrain from Poliviere on Justin Trudeau: “Trudeau is not worth the cost. After nine years he’s doubled the debt, doubled housing costs, increased debt by 80%...Canada now has the worst per person income growth in the entire G7, worst mortgage debt growth in all those countries, when will he realize that the more, he spends the worse things get?”

Trump’s attacks on Biden are even worse: “They're (the Biden administration) are just destroying our country, and if we don't take it back — if we don't take it back in '24, I really believe we're not going to have a country left."

Are we to believe that this kind of savage and bitter attacking of your opponent (Polivere was banished from the House for calling Trudeau’s policies “wacko”) actually is effective in maintaining your popularity? Apparently, it does. Our politics has come to this. Personal vendettas over policy.

Trudeau recently argued fruitlessly that his policy approach was admired by other world leaders, citing the Japanese prime minister, Trudeau reported as saying “he looks to what we're doing to build an economy that leaves no one behind.” The German chancellor he said, “talked at length about our values of compassion and diversity.” This in answer to Poliviere’s repeatedly calling Canada “broken”.

Both clearly will resist to the bitter end any call to resign. I have lived the basic truism of all national leaders – it is the hardest thing in the world to admit you have lost popularity and the time has come to quit. The staff around you whose lives depend on your staying argue that you can do it to the bitter end. And you believe you can. For Trudeau belling the cat will take major party figures or would be candidates to go public which is only beginning to happen.

And what can we speculate will be the nail in the coffin for either? In Trudeau’s case, a couple more months of disastrous polling showing a Liberal rout in an election a year away. I believe in the principle that no leaders go into an election sure to lose will play. For Biden one more public demonstration that his age makes him confused and incompetent will seal his fate.

Only then can come the crowning of new leaders that might just result in the continuation of progressive leadership in both countries.

Justin Should Leave, But Probably Won’t

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 16:14:59 GMT

Before I join the raft of pundits calling for Trudeau to abandon the Liberal ship and let another leader hopefully prevent it from sinking, I feel it is worth remembering that politicians are human beings with genuine feelings. These emotions may play a larger role in his ultimate decision than we think.

I had a unique and very moving personal glimpse of his normally controlled father’s feelings bursting forth as we walked together to his final news conference following his 1979 defeat. I looked over and he was crying! Clearly facing the end of the position that had been so important to him for so long deeply affected him.

This must be the kind of reflection that keeps his son awake at night. The part of the job he loves and is good at - retail politics, glad-handing, charming a crowd – he can still do it. Like his dad, he loves the perks of traveling abroad in his own plane and hob knobbing with other world leaders. He is now a senior member of the club. Give up all that? Plus, he loves a good fight and is convinced he can beat Poliviere and prove everyone wrong who thinks he is past his prime.

On the other hand, he must be deeply affected by the constant bombardment of criticism and blatant hate that rains on him in the digital age from a gazillion negative voices, not to mention the ferocity of protests that dog his public appearances.

The intense polarization between the parties and its manifestation in the disgusting accusatory tone in the House to which Justin himself contributes his share can’t be shrugged off. Dead are the “sunny days” of the year or two after the 2015 election, and he must regret that deeply. They are not coming back.

Nor is the convincing Trudeau of the daily TV appearances during the pandemic. He is now overexposed, fronting unconvincingly the slew of policies which attempt unsuccessfully to boost the Liberal’s popularity. He seems to be unable to face his own overstatement of his endless claims to be working for the middle class and his defaulting to “we are continuing to…” in answer to just about any question about helping Canadians cope with dire economic times. He must know that his government cannot really significantly improve the sad economic situation that so many face. His real accomplishments, like the generous child benefit, are far behind him. Boasting about things done many years ago simply does not fly.

The other facet of his life that must cause him sadness is his marriage. It certainly affected his father after we announced the separation from Margaret in 1977, his funk lasted many months. There is some evidence that Justin too was in funk in the slowness of he and his people addressing the economic situation affecting so many Canadians in the very time after his wife left him and took up with somebody else. The talented opinion columnist Andrew Phillips in the Star recently wrote, “…maybe the ‘boss’ lost focus at exactly the wrong moment for the future of his government and party.”

So, the “I’ve had enough and need to focus on my kids” argument must weigh on him. And as I wrote some time ago, the worst scenario for any politician is to go into an election knowing you will lose. Is that really to be the end of Justin Trudeau? And the serious downsizing of the Liberal party with him. Or will his self-confidence, hubris and conviction he is doing the right

thing for Canada convince him to fight to the end. Moreover, many Liberals still think he is the best one to beat Pierre Poliviere. Will these factors trump all the evidence I have advanced that could have him make way for a new leader. Whatever, the decision will be an emotional not a rational one.

Stay tuned, time is running out.

What if seniors were in charge?

Tue, 14 May 2024 00:26:11 GMT

I write poetry as well as commentary, and penned this for my older friends who remember a time when Ottawa politics was much more civilized. Could we bring reasonable discourse back to Ottawa?

What if seniors were in charge?

If elders ran things what a world we’d enjoy,

More for the poor and less for the hoi polloi.

Respect and collaborate with political foes,

And see how much better politics goes.

Wise policies, not personal attacks

Absolute equality for indigenous and blacks.

A Canada returned to good manners and politesse,

That cherishes a strong and successful free press.

Governments where politians feel valued and secure,

Where one can be proud of one’s candidature.

A culture where the focus on electoral winning,

Goes and good for the country is just the beginning.

Imagine the oldies surveying the land,

And deciding to make changes that are grand.

Anger and polarization out the window,

Finding common ground a whole new lingo.

Rival parties getting together to find solution,

Now that would be a real revolution.

Let’s take to heart Tennyson’s great lines,

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

Justin and PMO Never Lost Much Sleep Over Threats of Chinese Political Interference

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 22:04:37 GMT

The rather dismissive attitude shown by the Prime Minister and his staff towards Chinese interference in our democracy at their appearance before the ongoing public inquiry at least is consistent with his dismissive attitude over the years. Fourteen years ago the warnings by of the then new head of CSIS Richard Fadden were ignored.

In a speech and then a CBC interview Fadden alerted that China was aggressively recruiting allies through universities, “funding university clubs that are managed by people operating out of the embassy or consulates.” Chinese authorities also organize demonstrations against the Canadian government in respect to some of Canada's policies concerning China”, Fadden said.

Threats have been in the wind for many years. In 2019, the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, an oversight body of MPs and Senators reported that Canada was “vulnerable to foreign actors seeking to interfere with its political and economic processes.” A year later, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warned that Beijing’s military and intelligence services were also intimidating and threatening critics in Chinese immigrant populations.

Then on Global on November 7 2022 – Sam Cooper on Global made a sensational charge The PRC Gave $250,000 to 11 Political Candidates for the 2019 Election.

In 2023 and Cooper, and Robert Fife of the Globe and Mail were major players in giving Chinese interference major public profile thanks to leaks from CSIS.

The groundbreaking Fife story appeared on Feb. 17, 2023: headlined, CSIS documents reveal Chinese strategy to influence 2021 election “China employed a sophisticated strategy to disrupt Canada’s democracy in the 2021 federal election campaign as Chinese diplomats and their proxies

backed the re-election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and worked to defeat Conservative politicians considered to be unfriendly to Beijing.” It detailed that China employed disinformation campaigns and proxies connected to Chinese-Canadian organizations in Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area, which have large mainland Chinese immigrant communities, to voice opposition to the Conservatives and favour the Trudeau Liberals. In several subsequent articles it even exposed the Trudeau Foundation funding activities of a Chinese businessman. Trudeau was quite dismissive, his security advisor quoted as later saying we will find the leaker.

The Globe’s findings did provoke action by the government when the story of a much-respected Conservative MP surfaced. Foreign Affairs Minister Joly expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei after The Globe reported Beijing targeted Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong to gain leverage over the MP. Mr. Chong had upset China by sponsoring a parliamentary motion to condemn China’s repression of Uyghurs. The Opposition demanded an Inquiry which was forestalled by Trudeau appointing former Governor General David Johnston as special adviser to him on foreign interference. He tabled his report in June 2023. He simultaneously resigned amidst Opposition outcries about his close ties to the PM. Responding to intense pressure, On September 7, 2023 the Government of Canada established the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions. Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, a judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal, was appointed Commissioner.

The Prime Minister’s recent performance as witness to the Inquiry was a textbook on deniability, that secure protection often sought by leaders who do not want to be forced to take positions they do not agree with – in this case that foreign interference is a major problem. His staff provided him a perfect out. Jeremy Broadhurst, who had been briefing the PM on national security said flatly that a warning CSIS briefing memo tabled at the inquiry in February 2023 had not been seen by the PM and that he had never read this kind of note.

It’s tabling made news earlier because of its strong language: "We know the PRC clandestinely and deceptively interfered both in the 2019 and 2021 general elections. In both cases, [foreign interference ... was] pragmatic in nature and focused primarily in supporting those viewed to be either

'pro-PRC' or 'neutral' on issues of interest to the PRC government."

The CSIS document warns that protecting Canadian democratic institutions against foreign interference "will require a shift in the government's perspective and a willingness to take decisive action and impose consequences on perpetrators." It said foreign interference

will persist until it "is viewed as an existential threat to Canadian democracy and governments should forcefully and actively respond."

In his own testimony the next day Trudeau denied any knowledge of the note. In fact he went on to make an extraordinary statement that he does not read all intelligence briefings but relies on his staff to tell him what is important. Clearly he did not want to endorse CSIS’s call to be more

forceful in responding to allegations of interference. The next day in a scrum he said he did read all briefing notes! So is our Prime Minister simply skeptical of the work of our intelligence agency and in fact taking the advice of experts like their retired Fadden himself who said on CBC”s Power

and Politics to remember that “intelligence is not evidence”. Trudeau later said it was his job to question intelligence. He did earlier and was unconvinced when briefed that Don Valley North MP Han Dong at his nominating convention had bused in students allegedly “paid by the Chinese.” Not proven the PM decided. One thinks back to the US intelligence claiming the discovery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq

which proved wrong. WMD remained a key justification for the second gulf war.

This is not to say that Chinese interference in particular is not present. Several members of the diaspora made dramatic statements at the inquiry of the threats and harassment by Chinese agents they had experienced. These stories had been well covered by the media. Little sympathy

was forthcoming from the government, except in the case of Chong.

So, are there valid ways to control foreign influence? Kenny Chiu, former Conservative MP for the British Columbia riding of Steveston—Richmond East introduced a private members bill to establish the Foreign Influence Registry in November 2021. It would require people to log any activities

undertaken in Canada on behalf of a foreign state. Failing to do so would bring penalties, including prison time. It languished and we’ll see if the idea will surface in the Inquiry’s report.

The registry is frequently seen as a minimum way of controlling foreign influence in Canada. The threat, as we have seen, had been long standing.

Some time ago, the US human rights group Safeguard Defender identified scores of Chinese “police stations” around the world, including in Canada. It alleges they were being used to “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for persecution.” The American

registry—in place since 1938 enabled Federal Bureau of Investigation to lay charges.

In Canada, where secret stations were identified in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Trudeau said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was “following up on it.” Chiu’s bill went nowhere and we will see if the registry idea resurfaces in the inquiry.

In the end we are left with Trudeau’s oft repeated blanket denial that foreign influence had any impact on the last two elections. “Nothing we have seen and heard despite, yes, attempts by foreign states to interfere, those elections held in their integrity. They were decided by Canadians,” This appears to be his prime motivator for inaction after years of revelations.

The Thousands of Volunteers who Serve the Needy in Toronto

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 20:22:01 GMT

Many Torontonians feel a sense of responsibility to our fellow citizens who suffer from homelessness. They make and serve them meals, give them clothing, and often just talk to them and make them feel less ignored and misunderstood. They also discover that those who don’t have a roof over their heads and carry all they own in a knapsack are not druggies, losers or mad people but a cross section of ordinary folks who have fallen on hard times. For them the housing crisis is a joke. They just want food and a bed in a room with a toilet and shower nearby.

Helping them and getting to know them personally is a life changing experience for these volunteers. It was for me on Monday March 18, my first morning giving out meals and supplies in the basement of Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer whose “Common Table” program was serving its usual 140 meals to a variety of marginalized and homeless men and women.

It’s embarrassing how many people are not housed in this benighted city and meeting them on Bloor Street’s “mink mile” was a revelation. In its tracking of the use of publicly-run shelters, the city calculated that on this cold night over 9,642 individuals used the shelter system – and likely 400 were turned away. That total number does not include beds in organizations like the Scott Mission the Salvation Army or Dixon Hall’s three locations, or those sleeping rough on the street, in TTC vehicles, stairwells or tents. These folk could bring the total of unhoused to over 13,000 – a good sized town. Of that total it’s important you know that over 7,000 are in shelters where men or women sleep tightly packed row-on-row on the floor on mattresses clutching their belongings. It’s a scary and demeaning situation, if only marginally better than sleeping on the street. Little wonder that so many prefer sleeping rough or in tents.

One of my early encounters giving out socks and warm clothing was to a skinny sharp-featured indigenous man who told me proudly that he was off to pitch his tent in a secret but very desirable and “very sunny” location. He also showed me a stump of a pinky finger lost to frostbite. Homelessness takes its toll. An average of 45 under- or unhoused people die each year.

It was a red-letter day for a beaming young indigenous man who had scored a room in a native-run project. Two other strong looking older men were arguing about lawyers in a corner. Another was on his computer which he admitted he had trouble hanging on to in the shelters.

The crowd that day was typical, polite except for one raving man, and thankful for the excellent soup, food-to-go and various items we offered at the clothing room. It was like a restaurant and general store, except everything is free. There even are feminine hygiene products I offered to a sad woman along with deodorant and body cream. Toothpaste and a toothbrush for another guy. And Tylenol in a little plastic envelope for another man. New pants for several men and a used pin striped jacket for another who had a job interview that day. We gave a wide range of items to 29 people that morning.

It’s not just the generosity of volunteers, all 70 off them on rotation that keep this show on the road, but of individuals and companies who donate for the “general store. Clothing and personal items come from the congregation, local clothing drives and individuals dropping off their excess. Church of the Redeemer also get a bi-monthly shipment of new clothing from an organization called Brands for Canada. Proctor and Gamble gave a big donation last fall. The church does purchase some items like underwear, razors, soap and shampoo in the individual hotel-sized packaging. It’s an eye opener to realize that our clientele simply hasn’t the money to buy socks or toiletries. Many are on Ontario’s meagre welfare and those not having an address to receive cheques are able to use the church’s address.

Volunteerism attracts staff from 17 different businesses who come in groups to make the scores of sandwiches which are given out on Thursdays and Fridays. The Common Table is unique in sending out two carts those days with sandwiches and other snacks who deliver directly to homeless on the street or in tents. The Common Table also offers, limited nursing care, legal advice, phone and computer service, a book club and hair cuts. There is a dark room available for people who have been up all night and need a place to catch up on sleep.

The grandaddy of organizations that help the needy and homeless in Toronto is also faith based – the Scott Mission which has been serving Toronto’s most needy for over 80 years. They serve breakfast and lunch (over 300,000 meals last year) and provide overnight accommodation as well as a clothing bank that had over 28,000 visits last year. The Mission also offers laundry and showers. Every year over 1,000 volunteers help deliver these services.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Dixon Hall’s Meals on Wheels which is entirely volunteers driven, all 700 of them who drive around in their own cars delivering meals to isolated seniors - 67,000 meals a year. Many are corporate volunteers from banks and other companies. To be eligible seniors must be living with a disability, a chronic or terminal illness or convalescing. Often the arrival of a meal seven days a week is the nearly the only contact the senior has with another person.

And of course, very much in the news and the provider of needed food to families and individuals is the major national charitable organization – Second Harvest which uses 3,000 volunteers in its Toronto warehouse. The crisis in the GTA for people who cannot afford food and rely on food banks is tragic. One person in ten in Toronto used a food bank in 2023 – a shocking number.

It is reassuring that where there is social need there are volunteers to meet it. I have highlighted the role of people freely giving their time to help lessen food insecurity because it is so widespread and because nobody can be a functioning member of society who is hungry. And we are not a third-world country who cannot produce enough food for our population. In fact, there is a sad irony in how much we waste – to the extent that some homeless men take throwaway food from dumpsters behind restaurants.

There are dozens of organizations who rely on volunteers to make the lives of those who are really needy more livable. They bring hope and dignity where most treat those who have fallen out with scorn and silence. It would be good if more people would consider it a moral duty to offer their time to serving those who are on the margins of society.

Humility is not seen as desirable any longer. But you have to show some to do this kind of work. It may be unfashionable to quote Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark but they are appropriate when it comes to the volunteerism these organizations need: “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”

Churchill had this to say about serving others: “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Justin – Has He Built A Sufficient Legacy To Justify Resignation?

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 23:04:56 GMT

This is the real question to examine for those many Liberals that wish he would have his own “walk in the snow” and resign like his father did almost 50 years to the day – February 28, 1984. Pierre Trudeau told a confidante the day of that fateful moment: “I don't have the energy anymore for the job." His close staff also felt he was convinced he had done what he set out to do. The list was long: He had repatriated the constitution with a charter of rights and freedoms, beaten Quebec separatism, and established his Peace Mission on the hot button nuclear issue. He felt there was no new agenda to inspire him to stay on.

Justin is surely starting to think about his own legacy – has he done enough to change and modernize Canada in a progressive and inclusive way to say he had accomplished enough to step away? Unlike his feather at age 65 there is no question that Justin should have lots of energy. Leslie Church, a well-connected would-be Liberal candidate for St. Paul’s riding in Toronto, in a recent speech gave a very articulate resume of Trudeau’s accomplishments – including the child benefit which has lifted 300,000 children out of poverty, $10 a day daycare and gender equity. She could have added his role in huge investments in Canada by international companies like Volkswagen and Stellantis for battery plants in St.Thomas and Windsor, Ontario, and a $20-billion investment in rental housing; taking the GST off rental housing construction plus big housing accelerator grants in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and other Canadian cities. Not to mention most recently with dental care and promised pharmacare.

Yet despite these populist moves, the Trudeau Jr brand has tanked among the electorate. A recent Abacus poll shows the Conservatives with 19-point lead, the largest the company has ever given the party. Only 14 percent of respondents thought that the Liberals deserved to be re-elected. Worse, Justin Trudeau, the sunny ways hero of 2015 now has favorability rating at minus 33, while Poilievre scored a plus two. The government’s approval rating is a mere 24 percent. As for Trudeau, 59 per cent of respondents disapproved of his job performance.

Can Justin make a comeback? It will be very hard for him to recapture his easy-going popularity now as an overexposed divorced dad who constantly gives us a correct lecturing about how Liberals are “continuing” (uttered ad infinitum when challenged) to invest in the middle class - whatever that is. Then there is his love of being on camera, his preference for the symbolic photo op over the substantive deed as one commentator noted. These tightly scripted predictable smug performances on camera are strangely unconvincing when you compare them to his genuine daily reports to Canadians outside his home during the pandemic. The hair remains good, but the rest needs a very challenging makeover.

Add to the serious problem with his personal appeal the Arrivecan App scandal which is being compared justifiably to the sponsorship scandal which brought down the Martin government, and tone-deaf evidence of privilege in his Jamaica holiday and his Prime Ministerial career could appear to be heading to its close. But when? Does he wait to be defeated in 2015, or take his own walk in the snow?

Many believe him when he says repeatedly he is staying on, and relishes beating the smart communicator Poliviere whom he despises for his angry and divisive Trumpian ways. He was most convincing in a year-end radio interview with his old friend Terry DiMonte who he asked, “do you actually think I could walk away from this fight right now?” There seems no successor and little caucus unrest.

Some months ago in my blog I argued that politicians were human beings too. While Trudeau remains plucky and confident and enjoys his travels as a senior member of the Group of 7, he is also endlessly attacked by the opposition and cannot do events in Canada without facing angry crowds. It is tough to see the opposition endlessly accuse him alone of being responsible to just about everything that ails Canadians. Surely his poor personal popularity must grate on him. The long slide into a public that is simply tired of him and the Liberals. His accomplishments, however important and durable seem to make no difference to public attitudes.

I leave you with the sad predictions of a very smart friend who is convinced he will be gone by June and of two commentators. The first - Michael Harris in the Tyee simply says at the end of a long insightful article: “For Justin Trudeau, the options at the moment are the stuff of which political nightmares are made. He must either go, or go down with the ship.” The veteran Globe pundit John Ivison put it more bluntly in a recent podcast: “The electorate has made up its mind and there is nothing Trudeau can do to change them…they’re done. They want him gone. ”

Fake News And Politicians’ Lies Find Believers In Ill-Informed Public

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:55:15 GMT

The rise of social media as an unreliable news source and the precipitous decline of traditional news media serves as an answer to the question: How is it possible that so many people believe the outright lies of politicians and the frightening spread of disinformation?

To be presumptuous, if the New York Times and other major authoritative media were the only source of information for the vast majority of Americans, the ongoing lies of Donald Trump would have little currency. The same might be said for our own Pierre Poilievre who disdains regular, “mainstream” media, and relies heavily on social media channels and YouTube to disseminate his message. Consider if Canadians relied on the Globe and Mail and other major other national “traditional” media who analyze economic trends and causes independently, Poilievre would not have the power or willing audience to blame Justin Trudeau for the current unaffordability crisis.

Andrew MacDougal, Prime Minister Harper’s director of Communications put it this way in an insightful article for The Line: “The House (the mega social media sites) actually prefers and privileges the crank’s counterfeit currency. It’s cheaper to make, it goes viral more often, it keeps more people engaged for longer on their platforms…Quality doesn’t count in the online information casino… Why stay hemmed in by truth when you can invent a vastly more entertaining “Pope endorses Trump” fiction ? Whatever keeps us stuck in the casino. We stay, they sell ads, we go broke. Say it with me: the House always wins.” This is how it is in the information age we now live in.“ Not news but Clickbait and controversy.

Perhaps the most horrific inflation of a fake story occurred in 2016, when it was alleged that Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton and her chief of staff, John Podesta, were operating a child sex ring out of a pizza parlour’s basement in Washington, DC. What started as internet rumour quickly became a social media trend. The hashtag #pizzagate went viral as thousands of accounts tweeted “evidence” both for and against the story.

Political lies may be appealing because they deliver a moral narrative or confirm sentiments that people already hold. A study in Social Psychological and Personality Science+

suggests people have more leniency for politicians' lies when they bolster a shared belief that a specific political stance is morally right. “It appears to be because those lies are perceived by supporters as an acceptable and perhaps necessary means to achieve a higher moral end,” says the lead author of the study. “A troubling and timely implication of these findings is that political figures may be able to act in corrupt ways without damaging their images, at least in the eyes of their supporters.”

The other fact worth noting about the amplification on social media of the most controversial and startling stories including fake ones is that once you pull up a few of these on your phone or computer an algorithm kicks in that makes sure you get more like it. Unwillingly and likely unknowingly you become a target for political lies and fake news.

In a prescient Policy Magazine in 2017 Andrew Potter described the transformation of news consumption this way: “A journalist was someone who worked for a media organization that had formal and effective procedures for ensuring transparency, accuracy, correction of errors and basic accountability, and this fact alone provided a considerable degree of what we might as well call consumer protection. Then along came the internet, blogging platforms, social media, smart phones with cameras and video and editing and publishing apps, and suddenly anyone on the street has more publication power, in terms of platform diversity and potential audience reach, than the entire New York Times newsroom of just 25 years ago. Add to this the cult of the ‘citizen journalist’ and the now-discredited late-1990s cant about the democratizing power of the internet, and you get people seriously claiming that ‘everyone is a journalist.’ Journalism has been effectively de-institutionalized because those consumer protections are no longer in place. There is no longer any way of ensuring that we can trust the news.”

Canada is not immune from the power of an untrue story which now passes as the truth given its widespread amplification in alternate media. This is evident in the claim by Pierre Poilievre that the Carbon Tax imposes major costs on all Canadians. In Winnipeg last month he made his case on the cost of the tax standing near two trucks: "Everything transported in these trucks becomes more expensive because of the Trudeau tax on carbon and on diesel." His endless “Axe the Tax” campaign ignores the fact that numerous analyses over the years have shown that most households receive more in rebates than they pay in direct and indirect carbon-tax costs. He promises that there will be a carbon tax election. One run on a false premise. Something to look forward to!

Those few of us who do relay on traditional media are not as exposed to the outrageous fiction which can dominate conservative news outlets, many open line programs and alternate news sources. A recent event in Alberta featuring the discredited Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the Premier treated the audience to the most egregious views on immigration of the far right. Carlson said: “Canada has the highest immigration rate per capita in the world…If you change the population of the country you change the country and you dilute the voting power of the people who are invested in that country.” This “replacement theory” so prominent in far-right circles claims that white people are being replaced by nonwhites to further the ideology of leftists.

And of course, there is Trump who empowers conspiracy theorists everywhere. He uses his own social media to pump out his own fictional version of what’s wrong with America, and what will make it right including sending all millions of illegal immigrants out of the country. Responsible TV Media like the US networks and CNN wrestle daily with how much of his vitriol to carry live.

To make matters worse CNN’s fact checking by the Canadian Daniel Dale doesn’t have the prominence it once did – but he is still on the case – witness this CNN report: “Trump Tuesday night (in New Hampshire) said, ‘Do they hate our country? They must hate our country. Because there’s no other reason that they can be doing the things they do. Take a look – the taxes, they want to raise your taxes times four.’ Facts First: This is false. Neither Biden nor other top Democrats are proposing anything close to quadrupling people’s taxes. ” Think how revealing this kind of treatment would be if given to Poilievre's or Doug Ford’s or Danielle Smith’s regular bending of the truth.

In a New York Times recent editorial Maureen Dowd made an interesting suggestion: “Maybe we should just run a Chryon (subtitle) under Trump at all times: No your opponents are not vermin, no immigrants are not poisoning the blood of our nation, no January 6 was not a beautiful day, no Presidents should not have total immunity because crooks can be President.”

There is a rule of thumb when hearing politicians distort the truth. If it sounds too simplistic or too good to be true for the source it probably is not true. And this from a career PR man.

I would be remiss if I did not examine the use of exaggeration, spin or near lies which is so much part of just about any utterance by any politician. Our PM Justin Trudeau is no exception as I listened intently to his rosy speech to the troops at a recent caucus meeting. He went through a recounting of his greatest hits – the child tax benefit that has lifted hundreds of thousands out of poverty. He reiterated the success of Liberals “working hard to strengthen the middle class and support those working hard to join it” which means nothing to the millions dreading the renewal of their mortgages in the next two years. Then he closed with a strange line that took him further into some fantasy world of good intentions: “As we build the prosperous future that everyone is looking for in this country, we have remembered that the economy is not numbers. The economy is people.” Really? A new value with which to confuse a worried public.

This refurbishing of reality is very Canadian. It’s a long way from the arrogance, hate and basic deception of Trump, but it is worrisome click bait nonetheless.

Can a Government review of CBC mandate save English TV so it matters to us again?

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:00:01 GMT

CBC English TV mattered a lot to anyone alive in the sixties and seventies when comedy programs like Wayne and Shuster were must watches in households in Canada and on the Ed Sullivan program in the US. The 11:00 pm news anchored by hosts like Eral Cameron and Stanley Burke dominated the airwaves. The seventies brought the popular The Beachcombers which enjoyed a lifetime of heavily watched 350 episodes. No longer.

CBC TV seems to enjoy the same much diminished popularity as its chief benefactor, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who drastically increased CBC’s government funding now at $1.3 billion a year. Viewing numbers for English TV are grim. In the last five years, its prime time viewing audience dropped to only 4.4% meaning most Canadians don’t tune in at all. Pierre Poilievre hits a nerve when he promises to defund CBC English. Some ask if it is beyond saving.

CBC does have strengths. It knows how to do popular and high-quality radio and the results speak for themselves - English radio has 14.1 per

cent of Canadians listening with CBC morning radio is regularly at or near the top of their markets: CBC Toronto enjoys a 12.3 per cent; Montreal, 14.9 per cent; and Vancouver, 10.9 per cent. How can TV too find a way to produce quality programming that people want to watch?

Political Will

With Olivier threatening its very existence, it has now dawned on the government in the form of its Heritage Minister Pascale St. Onge who in a New Year’s interview said now’s the time for the Liberal government to begin working with Canadians and experts to define what the CBC should like over the next year and decade. “Canada’s news and cultural sectors would be at serious risk should the Conservatives form government under leader Pierre Poilievre,” she said. “(Conservatives) have shown they think that the arts and cultural sector should be left to the free market… “ And we know that with foreign companies and foreign entities that take so much space online, it means that we would basically abandon our cultural sector in Canada.” Now a relevant CBC English is a political issue.

It is interesting that St. Onge’s preoccupation with preserving a strong Canadian presence amidst the deluge of high quality largely US movies and programs on streaming services echoes the 1928 Air Commission’s findings that led to the CBC’s creation. Then private Canadian radio stations were not only beginning to fall into American hands but were unable to offer a popular Canadian alternative to programming that was flooding across the border from the US. We face a similar situation today. With the added challenge that a well-funded CBC English service with the exception of radio seems challenged to make high quality programs that appeal to Canadians.

It’s not that in the not-too-distant past CBC has proven it could to just that. Programs like Little Mosque on the Prairie, Kim’s Convenience and

especially Schitt’s Creek have been huge successes with audiences here and in the US as well as breaking new ground in the way only the CBC

can.

More funding not less?

However, if CBC is to retain its very broad mandate of virtually being everything to everyone - i.e. its age-old mission to “inform, enlighten and entertain” as well as maintaining French services across Canada, a northern service with indigenous languages, five discretionary television channels and four Canada-wide radio networks, it is going to require more public funding not less. This need falls precisely at the time CBC is in dire financial troubles with a $125 million budget shortfall. This forced a recent announcement of a 10 per cent cut in its workforce and a reduction of its English and French programming budgets for the next fiscal year. About $40 million was cut from independent production commissions and program acquisitions. CBC programming will take a $25 million hit and Radio-Canada will see a $15 million reduction.

It’s well known that CBC Radio Canada’s programming is hugely well received in Quebec – it does not have a popularity problem. Perhaps

this is due to a little-known imbalance in funding between the two networks, English and French. Richard Stursberg, who was the executive vice president of English Services from 2004 to 2010, wrote revealingly last March in the HUB: “Given that Canada’s population is roughly 38 million people, {this means that the} 8 million French- speaking Canadians receive a per capita public broadcasting subsidy of almost 70 dollars, while the rest of the country receives 23 dollars. In effect, this makes Radio-Canada one of the better-financed public broadcasters in the world and CBC one of the worst”. Follow the money but given Quebec’s cultural sensitivities, no federal government would dare change this unfair formula.

Digital CBC

Canadians are increasingly choosing digital platforms for their viewing and listening needs, and CBC English cannot be faulted for not keeping

up with the digital and streaming revolution. Its long-established digital news service performs amazingly at times of enhanced national news

interest such as elections. At the last CRTC CBC hearing the Commission recognized, for the first time ever, the significant contribution of our

digital streaming services – CBC Gem, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Listen and Radio- Canada OHdio – to the Canadian regulated system. More streaming

services are coming: the 24/7 streaming channels CBC Comedy and CBC News BC will land this fall, following last November’s launch of CBC News Explore, and will be followed by more local news channels. Indeed, CBC in this department seems prepared for the future.

The CBC has proven that it can do what no commercial network could and attract huge audiences when it behaves as a true Canadian public

broadcaster. The huge production with both English and French networks Canada: A People's History with 17- fully produced episode, on the history of Canada attracted an audience in its first seasons of over two million per episode and still enjoys an impressive afterlife in school use. This is the kind of ambitious Canadian project could win the hearts and minds of Canadians again.

There is general agreement that CBC TV English News - its unrivalled reach and staff including the almost the only Canadian international correspondents - should be the go-to news service for Canadians. It is not, and if it was there would be less talk of defunding CBC English. The CBC ombudsman in the most recent CBC Annual Report shone a revealing light on a tone in CBC news that turns off many Canadians. Here is his finding: “The prevailing theme of complaints is that reporters and editors are not making editorial decisions based on public interest, but rather to serve a social or political agenda. This comes up frequently in stories relating to the pandemic. But it comes up as well for stories that relate to partisan politics, race, gender, and other subjects related to equity and justice.” Clearly there are major changes needed to bring audiences back to CBC TV news.

What kind of review will fix it?

The question remains – can some sort of yet to be defined CBC “review” as foreseen by the Heritage Minister save CBC English. Bringing back lost audiences to CBC English productions and CBC news is a huge challenge given budget cuts and strong ongoing US streaming competition. But It’s not impossible. We also need public pressure to lobby for the importance of the CBC as a national cultural and information institution. This is a challenge. Unfortunately, there is no longer a robust Friends of Canadian Broadcasting which in the past when CBC faced drastic budget cuts mounted national campaigns supported by labour unions. The historic arguments for public broadcasting are very relevant today. Graham Spry of the Canadian Radio League which was responsible for the launch public of broadcasting under PM R.B. Bennet’s Conservative government are still pertinent: "It is a choice between commercial interests and the people's interest. It is a choice between the state and the United States," Spry said. The same argument works today. The Canadian public interest, particularly the interest of millions of new Canadians welcomed in the last decades is the same: who will tell our stories and explain what is happening in our country? Will US streaming services or mega US social networks increase our knowledge of ourselves and tell our stories.. Unlikely. That is why we will always need the CBC – it’s that simple. At least the federal government understands this. Hopefully a review, faced with the Conservative threat to the CBC, will continue to lead it to strategies that will make it more indispensable to Canadian audiences.

Between Heaven and Earth: Soul-searching for a New Year

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 18:41:46 GMT

These days many Canadians are soul-searching, anxious about wars that don’t feel so far away, people dying daily, hate, political polarization and worry of those among us who are financially unstable, unable to pay bills or feed their families. At this time of year, many of us are in a kind of limbo, a confusing space between the heaven of seasonal family love, abundance and gifts and an earth that seems horribly dark and foreboding. For Christians, the celebrations of the humble birth of a prophet whose arrival was going to change the world, the angel’s announcement of the event “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” seem like a hopeless wish.

We are left with wondering if we can still eke some optimism out of holidays that were originally “holy-days”. It seems a simple solution, but why don’t we consider preparing for a new year where every one of us is actually contributing to an improved society? Making goodwill a real part of our lives? We may not be able to contribute to solving the war in Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas conflict, but we can ensure that our own communities build bridges of understanding between Jews and Palestinian supporters, that we support new Ukrainian immigrants fleeing the war, and that we find the spiritual support wherever we can to inspire us to kindness and service to our fellow Canadians.

Having a religious belief helps. Studies over the years demonstrate that people with religious convictions are more philanthropic and more involved in helping the disadvantaged. Christian or not, are we up for challenges that are actually achievable?

It is the ongoing evidence of ordinary Canadians acting out their concerns for those less fortunate that should give us the kind of hope that infuses the experience of Christmas for believers. Giving is evidenced everywhere in the GTA and across Canada. Since homelessness and hunger top our major community concerns, our generosity and volunteerism often center around feeding the hungry.

For example, CBC did a great job of covering a very innovative program at restaurants in Kentville, NS . Patrons are encouraged to join the pay forward meal program by paying for a meal and the receipt is pinned on the window and can be exchanged by anyone picking it up. Hundreds of meals have been given to the mostly homeless people. A great program to emulate anywhere.

North of Toronto, the local online newspaper Newmarket Today continued its fifth annual tradition of marking the giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels — the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make the town a good one to live in. This time it was a remarkably active Patricia Hawke who despite a long-term disability, has helped organize the annual fundraising holiday dinner for the Ladies Supper Club, and maintained regular volunteer shifts for the Newmarket Food Pantry, Rose of Sharon and Community Living.

Speaking of volunteers, it takes over 70 to make sandwiches, prepare and serve hundreds of the homeless and needy weekdays for coffee, breakfast and lunch at the “Common Table” at the Church of the Redeemer on Bloor Street in Toronto. They have gone above and beyond to serve people experiencing homelessness and twice a week send out carts with sandwiches to serve those people where they need it most.

The Star did an inspiring story of Edmonton’s Kora-Lee Vidal, who was a victim of domestic violence who has experienced homelessness and now gives back as only someone who has been there can. She fills her car with donations and distributes it to those in need. In 2021 she helped a man living behind a dumpster from the cold by giving him a jacket pillow and blanket. Her act of kindness garnered her video 2 million views.

Charity Intelligence is a Toronto based research firm that ranks charities by their impact and return of a donor’s investment. In its top ten last year we find a food bank, the Cambridge Food Bank. CFB distributes over 2,500 emergency food hampers each month. In 2022, CFB helped to distribute 1,087,175 pounds of food. It also provided 31,932 meals. For clients in immediate need of food, CFB’s Community Pantry program offers emergency food hampers with a five-day supply of food, provided up to 12 times per year. The Mobile Food Market sells vegetables and fruits at affordable prices and has received almost 8,000 visits. Like many food banks, CFB also runs community gardens to grow fresh, organic produce. It is efficient in terms of overhead – for every dollar donated to the charity, 92 cents go to the cause. Donations hard at work.

The real Christmas story does inspire generosity and volunteerism, but also has a strange way of seeping into popular culture even as church attendance declines. Carols and Christmas hymns are backgrounds in manly stores and malls, but perhaps the most impactful is offered in the ever-popular 1965 “A Charlie Brown Christmas." My former priest in King City used the story in her Christmas eve sermon. “What always brings me back into the Spirit of Christmas is Linus from Charlie Brown. A Charlie Brown Christmas brings me back into the actual spiritual spirit of Christmas. There’s a part when everyone is bickering about the Christmas play and Charlie Brown throws his hands up and yells ‘isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?’ and Linus says, “sure, I can tell you… then he goes to the center of the stage and reads from the Gospel of Luke. He tells the story of Jesus’ birth. When Linus quotes St. Luke: “and the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold , I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people,’ he lets go of his security blanket, the one he never ever lets go of…because there is something about the angel’s proclamation that gave him the courage to stand alone, without fear, without the need for security, to proclaim to others that Jesus’ birth was a moment of great joy before finally picking up his blanket again and saying to Charlie Brown ‘that’s what Christmas is all about.’ Charles Schulz’s producers were convinced that putting the Bible on TV would be a disaster. It was not.”

I believe hope resides in the good we do for others, and as Mayor Olivia Chow insists - in our working together for a better future for all. The true worth of a country, someone once said, is not in its wealth but in the way it treats the least fortunate in its communities. By this measure, if you look around, we are not doing so badly. Anyone who works for a charity or not-for-profit will tell you that if you ask for help or funds where there is a real need help is always forthcoming. We are generous people. This is what we should ponder on as we end the holy-days and embrace a new year.

Olivia Chow – Hope and A New Kind of Politics

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:39:53 GMT

Recently I watched a bold Bonnie Crombie accept the leadership of the sad Ontario Liberal Party. I’d been catching up on the winning ways of new Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and listening to her interviews and speeches, and I could not imagine two more contrasting political styles.

Crombie used every classic speech trick to drum up applause from the partisan crowd. Pointing out forcefully she repeated “it’s you who will rebuild the party. We’ll do it together” – and together was used many times. This was addressed to partisans and was light on policy. No mention of the real concerns of Ontarians – especially housing. Brash, loud, she is considered a real threat to Ford – a strong “retail politician”. She accused Ford of not being in touch with the people of Ontario (without saying why she was).

What a contrast with the calm, authentic, more connected and emotional Chow in her first speech after becoming mayor: “Toronto’s story is my story…imagine a young family arriving here today with the same dreams (as my family had) for their children, for a better future. I think we all know what they’re up against. So, let’s imagine what could be possible, when we meet our challenges with the boundless potential of our ideas and the strength of our collective action. Let us imagine, a newcomer family has just moved into a nice, affordable, secure apartment in a friendly neighbourhood with trees and parks, schools and libraries, restaurants, galleries, and shops. They can rely on the TTC to get to work on time.”

“On a hot evening, even in May, they can enjoy the local swimming pool. On a winter’s evening they can go to their local skating rink or local park and their daughter feels safe riding her bike to school or taking the subway and has many after school activities — mostly very, very affordable. And when one of her friends is having a mental health issue, she knows the number to call to get the care and support.”

“It’s a good life. A better life in a city where they feel they belong. Right here. Toronto. That’s a city worth imagining. A city worth building together, all of us.”

This is not a speech of honest hope, heart and understanding of real people that John Tory could ever have made. Or few politicians for that matter. Much of her recent campaign strategy to sell Olivia’s own immigrant story and its message of change and hope was built on her role founding the Institute for Change Leadership (ICL) at then Ryerson University in 2016. In this strategy of political organizing, power is not a thing you wield. It’s created through relationships, when people with different but overlapping goals marshal their talents towards a common purpose. And these relationships are built by sharing your “public narrative” with others—why are you doing what you’re doing, and why should I join you? The narrative is what binds. Platforms and policies are secondary. Chow's campaign used this strategy and mobilized more than 2,500 volunteers on election day. They used the story telling technique at the door. "Organizing is bringing people together, building strong relationships with each other, looking at what we have in common. And that strong relationship is really what power is all about," Olivia said.

This is how it worked on the campaign trail. Chow would tell the story of her mother returning from the hospital after being beaten up by her father. A way of illustrating a policy issue: “Because I had a basement apartment (in Kensington market), she was able to stay with me,” she said. So there you have it: affordable housing is needed, for cases just like these, and she would be the one to make sure it was built. Or, as in ICL teaching, she turns the personal story into a “story of us.” And her deep immigrant story resonated in a city where more than half of all residents were born abroad and many more grew up with immigrant parents.

I worked on Olivia’s 2014 losing mayoral campaign. In that campaign she started strong and lost support as it marched on and she came in third. This time, she again began as a front runner, but her support grew. A lot had to do with her unique approach to politics for sure but also with her finding her own true voice, which was pretty well absent in 2014. I and others produced well-intentioned speeches she had trouble delivering authentically. As she told a reporter this time: “I just want to say what I want to say and do what I want to do, and trust my 30 years of experience.”

How many times have I worked for candidates, including those running for Premier, and found them over scripted and inauthentic. “Let so and so be her or himself,” I’d say. You must believe in what you are telling the electorate and if you don’t, it shows. This is a problem the over-scripted Justin Trudeau appears to be suffering from right now. Not Olivia. She was seen giving aides material back before stepping on stage and instead going from her gut, or more likely, her heart.

The hyper partisanship and polarization that is threatening democracy in Ottawa was pretty well eschewed by Chow during the campaign. She did not go after Premier Ford or her opponents personally, but instead talked about contrast of ideas.

Her planks were based on principles. Those with established interests – from Premier Ford to former Mayor John Tory – did all they could to try to defeat her. They attacked her and tried to bait her into arguments. Premier Ford even stated that a Chow victory would be “an unmitigated disaster.” The John Tory establishment tried to paint a tax and spend picture of her, and they divided their support to the candidates that would support the status quo he so fiercely defended.

Fast forward to today. Just a few months since being elected, she has arguably accomplished more in getting a better deal for Toronto than John Tory did in his almost nine years in office. She has made a mutually beneficial deal with Premier Ford that included some compromises of her own promises. She gave up the small municipally owned land adjacent to Ontario Place, ending the City’s only legal potential roadblock. In doing so, she secured a wider agreement for Toronto and was honest in accepting that it is Ontario Place, and that the fight belonged in the Ontario legislature, not at City Hall. As part of this deal, Premier Ford agreed to upload the expensive Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway – something he outright rejected when one of Olivia’s opponents raised it during the election.

To me, what was most notable was the tone and the friendly atmosphere when the two emerged to announce Toronto’s new deal. The two beaming unlikely friends met the media and “focusing on what unites us” (as Ford said) did the deal which could save the cash strapped city $7.6 billion as well as $1.2 billion in next two years for priorities Chow ran on like fighting homelessness and building housing among other things – things that her opponents said could never happen because of cost. At that press conference, Chow opened her remarks starkly describing high food bank usage and the underinvestment in Toronto, the gaping budget hole she inherited, and the fact that there was so little hope until today. She then quickly shared the spotlight, thanking the Premier for partnering in providing hope for so many families that were having a hard time getting by. Also saying that the federal government must join the Province and the City in this. “We are stronger together – to build a city more affordable, more caring and safe for everyone.” Classic Chow.

Her newest target for relationship building is Hon. Sean Fraser, the Federal Minister of Housing. She readily accepted the conditions attached to his $500 million Housing Accelerator Fund grant that is in final negotiation with the city.

The Mayor’s ambitious housing strategy calls for Toronto to build 65,000 affordable rental units by 2030. Doing so will require tens of billions of dollars. Ottawa and the Ontario government would need to provide low-cost loans, as well as between $500 million and $800 million each, in each of those seven years. Chow knows that building housing must involve an engaged and cooperative federal government. Already, the City has inked several deals under federal programs to build affordable and rent geared to income housing. Leveraging existing programs, the City is partnering Indigenous and not-for-profit organizations to broaden the mix and deliver housing first to those who need it most. is off to a good start, and we can expect to see her form more strong and positive relationships with the federal government.

Olivia has been called shrewd by several observers because of this early success. But she is more than that. She has a lifetime of service to the disadvantaged and misunderstood, and years teaching groups how to organize to achieve their political ends. This formed a suite of beliefs that would be well for all politicians to study. She believes in empathy and recognizes that division and polarization leads to anger and hate. She advocates for taking the time to hear each other out. The Canadian trait to say you’re sorry when someone jostles us is a good start. She reflects on a Toronto with so many different nationalities and beliefs. “We have to find the common ground among our differences. But we have so many people living in harmony we should be a beacon of hope,” she says.

“During the campaign she synthesized her beliefs this way to a reporter: “What Jack (Layton, her late husband) wanted, what I want, is an engaged society. Anything with the words ‘community-based’ in front of it is bound to be good. With engaged citizens, you get better decisions. When there is common purpose, a deadline and a good facilitator, democracy works fine. Lately I see a drift towards less participation—in part because families have less money, less time, more debt. Together, this means that there’s less time to participate. Some people in power want that, but it’s not healthy.”

More participation in democracy is a big ask after decades of the city being run by businessmen and the establishment. Change is happening all around. She’s holding very public pre-budget consultations and only then will she decide to raise taxes by how much to whom, and for what purpose - an illustration of how tough and practical she can be..

I believe she has the guts to bring the changes that are needed as well as the dedication to listening to those affected by city policies. A good combination. And if there was ever an approachable mayor, it is the small but mighty Olivia Chow. If Bonnie Crombie really wants to connect with the issues that concern average Ontarians, she might borrow a little heart from Olivia.

Who are we as “Canadians”? Immigrants and Our Values

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 15:34:38 GMT

Justin Trudeau, when he is speaking emotionally about acts of racism, misogyny or recently antisemitism, is given to using the following formulation: “We're seeing right now a rise in antisemitism that is terrifying. Molotov cocktails thrown at Synagogues. This is not who we are as Canadians. This is something that is not acceptable in Canada, period."

It’s been tough for the Prime Minister to find the right words about a hugely domestically divisive Israeli Hamas conflict. Perhaps it’s time to deconstruct his favorite phrasing and explore who we are if - as he suggests - there are virtuous characteristics that we all share.

The most prevalent and traditional attitude held by multi-generational Canadians is that we are a welcoming society, our arms are open to all kinds of newcomers that have made Canada one of the most diverse “tossed salad” societies in the world. Yes, “diversity is our strength” is a watchword of the Liberal government. But is this really shared as an article of faith by the majority of Canadians? Is that an important facet of who we are?

The faith in immigration producing a unique diverse society has deep roots. The 1988 Canadian Multiculturalism Act institutionalized a growing political sense that the huge influx of postwar immigrants produced unity in diversity and promoted integration and accommodation rather than the melting pot found south of the border in the USA. Multiculturalism replaced the French-English duality of the country and became a defining and desirable national characteristic. For many years there was a Minister who doled out modest sums to immigrant communities to maintain their cultural celebrations.

The benefits of a diverse multicultural society were perhaps best expressed by Pierre Trudeau who clearly influenced his son:

“Uniformity is neither desirable nor possible in a country the size of Canada. We should not even be able to agree upon the kind of Canadian to choose as a model, let alone persuade most people to emulate it. There are few policies potentially more disastrous for Canada than to tell all Canadians that they must be alike. There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be more absurd than the concept of an ‘all-Canada’ boy or girl? A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.”

If there is general agreement with these sentiments, is there equal faith in the economic and social benefits of continuing to support increased immigration? The current affordability and housing crisis runs into strong new arguments that current rates of immigration (running to 500,000 a year in 2025, double the level of 2015) will put severe pressure on our health care and ability to house these newcomers. Add to these numbers over 800,000 foreign students and 2.2 million temporary foreign workers and our wide-open door policies that seem to lack back-up plans are rightfully in question. These two latter groups have fueled population growth, particularly in Ontario where, some economists say, it stokes the housing crisis.

Recent polls suggest that a plurality of Canadians want lower levels of immigration. The most important of this data is from Environics who state from recent polls: “Canadians are now significantly more likely than a year ago to say there is too much immigration to the country, dramatically reversing a trend dating back decades. For the first time, a growing number of Canadians are questioning how many immigrants are arriving, rather than who they are and where they are coming from.”

The other unfortunate finding of our current immigration policies is that a large number of immigrants are not tradespeople or professionals but workers who end up in low paying jobs. Or most troubling, refugees who cannot be housed in overcrowded shelters in Toronto and end up on the street or in church basements. This is a serious failure of our governments.

The other dark side of our multicultural society is that some diaspora communities bring their very traditional cultural racial history and prejudices with them. This is what is fueling violence against Jews by the Palestinian diaspora and the very difficult situation with Canadian Sikhs who want an independent homeland in India. This is where the idea of maintaining the culture of immigrants breaks down when the least attractive features of that culture offend Canadian values. Politicians who seek the vote of these communities are sometimes reluctant to be too openly critical. Justin Trudeau is caught in this no man’s land as he tries to balance support of Israel with the very real toll the Hamas war is causing on Palestinian civilians.

Nevertheless, tolerating and even celebrating differences that don’t impinge on others’ rights to be free and live safely remains desirable characteristics of our immigrant society – apart from the indigenous population - we are all immigrants. And all of us are actively responsible for calling out racial hate and violence, which can be a by-product of our very open immigration policies. We must not let falsehoods and hate go unchallenged; we must enforce anti-hate laws, value the differences in others and support those who act to bridge cultural divides.

Poliviere’s Distaste for traditional media: Will it work in the long run?

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 14:45:12 GMT

The Leader of His Majesty’s loyal opposition, Pierre Poilievre is well known for avoiding traditional print, radio and TV media represented by the Parliamentary Press gallery. In fact, the most durable part of this national platform which gets cheering support whenever he speaks is a promise to defund the best staffed media group of them all, the CBC – not Radio Canada but CBC English. At times he has even refused to take questions from CBC reporters. His preferred direct-to-Canadians avenue for his well-developed anti-Trudeau views is his finely produced YouTube mini documentaries and social media feeds.

Yet, Angus Reid Institute polled our news consumption habits in July showed an ongoing decline in use of traditional media, but nevertheless showed its ongoing influence: “…as recently as 2016, two-in-five (42%) Canadians said they read a print publication daily for their news. Now that figure has halved (19%). Television (71% to 52%) and radio news (57% to 45%) have also declined in prominence, though they remain important sources of information for majorities of Canadians over the age of 54. In their place, nearly all (89%) Canadians turn to the internet for news.”

So, TV and online is where it is at despite the threats from Google and Facebook to block Canadian news as a response to the government’s attempt to force them to pay news outlets for using their material. Fear not, Poilievre's powerful well-crafted clips always make the evening and national TV news even if he rarely scrums with reporters. Admittedly the clarity and force of his TV personality contrasts with Trudeau’s more complex and diffuse manner of answering questions or performing in the house.

Questions remain about the long-term effectiveness of this strategy. The first relates to which news organizations actually can set the political agenda. There is no doubt that the veteran, well-staffed bureaus of the Globe and Mail, Star, Canadian Press and CBC and CTV wield an out-of-proportion influence in setting the political agenda, whether the breaking of the SNC Lavalin affair or the influence of the Chinese. It is also their reporters who comment on widely watched daily political broadcasts. For Poilievre's office to ignore this fact is to cede to the Liberal’s their strategic use of these influencers. When I was in the Prime Minister's Office, I quickly became aware of the enormous national reach of Canadian Press (CP) into every newsroom in Canada. We advantaged them whenever we could, ensuring they were well briefed or even got valuable interview opportunities. Poilievre ignores CP.

Another question relates to how Poilievre interacts with journalists when he in his irregular media availabilities. It goes without saying that Ottawa journalists don’t particularly like him, or Trudeau for that matter. But in Poilievre's case their distrust has a lot to do with his ill thought out and outspoken views, and thin policy solutions, not the least of which is endless blaming the Bank of Canada and Trudeau’s overspending for the crisis in affordability. Not only that, he has engaged in direct media baiting. This is the recent subject of a whole opinion article by the influential Globe and Mail columnist and television commentator Andrew Cohen. The video of him nonchalantly eating an apple while a local reporter stumbles through accusatory questions such as, “people say you are taking a page out of Trump’s book” to which Poilievre retorts “which people?” and so on, thereby demolishing the journalist. It has gone viral. The poor journalist becomes a “media baiting prop” as Cohen says.

It’s a given that in political media relations which I practiced, a government has an advantage in denying the opposition – the government can actually announce new policies that affect people’s lives like the three year moratorium on heating fuel carbon tax. Nevertheless, there are proven ways of turning confrontational interviews to one’s advantage without demeaning the questioner. I had notable success with the grouchy BC TV personality the late Jack Webster. The gruff Scotsman’s morning TV show had a huge audience and I persuaded Pierre Trudeau that it could be a good experience if he set out to enjoy it and humour him. It worked and my boss’s bemused asking of Jack’s first tough parry “Jack do you really believe that?” set the tone. He became a regular whenever we were out west.

The elder Trudeau became a patient professor when asked a tough question, taking the journalist into his thinking. This would be a good lesson for his son, who is regularly nontransparent and vague in his answers. I tried to teach his father to have respect for the serious journalists of which there are always several. And in years of training politicians and businessmen for media appearances, I always advised them to listen seriously to the question and respect where it was coming from, even if I also advised them to bridge to key messages.

I was also convinced that if you did not treat the Ottawa press gallery with respect, the gang mentality could turn against you and help defeat you – which it did in its mockery of Joe Clark. If I was advising Poilievre I would take seriously veteran Star columnist Robin Sears who said that his media bashing and CBC threats “…is a very dark hole that Poilievre is taking his party down…Attacks on Canadian journalists so far are mainly restricted to insults and death threats on social media. Inciting hate for the media makes it a small step for an enraged partisan to act on those threats.” In June, National Post’s Michael Taube compared coverage by major media of the four by-elections that split between Liberals and Conservatives and concluded that the media couldn‘t wait for Poilievre to fail. Poilievre is unlikely to get many breaks from influential national media and over time this could affect public perceptions.

Radio and television producers still are influenced in their choices of guests and news lineups by what the national print and TV are featuring. You either are attuned to their world or you’re not. Poilievre is not and in the end it could cost him. His distaste for traditional media signals a major change in how a would-be PM interacts with them, and in the long run could benefit Trudeau.

More and More Canadians Struggling to Get By

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 14:31:12 GMT

You know that the number of Canadians crushed by rising costs is becoming a national crisis when both military families and auto workers complain of living pay cheque to pay cheque, and when 40 percent of post-secondary graduates are leaving high-cost Toronto in large numbers because they can’t afford to live there. The phenomenon of the graduate living in his or her parent’s basement because they can’t afford rent is used regularly by the federal opposition to shame the federal government who are finally trying to do something about unaffordability that affects nearly everyone.

Unaffected of course are the wealthiest households (top 20 percent) who account for more than two-thirds (67.9 percent) of net worth at the end of 2022. These are the corporate titans who are the constant butt of the NDP who continue to call for a wealth tax to even out glaring inequality. It was interesting to hear UNIFOR auto workers leadership and strikers refer to the huge salaries of automobile executives as a reason to give workers more. And up to present the union has been successful in bringing workers back to middle class wages.

The huge profits of the major grocery chains and the over generous salaries of their executives has been a recurring theme in recent federal politics. And recently a large survey on grocery buying habits in a high price scenario has nearly half sacrificing nutritional value for price. Sixty-three percent are “worried that compromising on nutrition due to high prices may have adverse long-term effects of their health”. This is a shocking finding indeed.

Canadians appear to be sacrificing a lot of extras to keep their mortgages out of arrears as many monthly payments have doubled with rising interest rates. Power of sale rates in Toronto are up marginally. But both renters and mortgage holders are struggling to meet higher costs. One Angus Reid survey showed that a year ago last June one-in-five (19 percent) renters reported it was very difficult to meet rising costs, now one-quarter (24 percent) say the same. The proportion of homeowners who find their mortgage difficult to manage has risen from one-third (34 percent) to 45 percent!

As costs of basics have risen, many Canadians have used credit to keep up. Overall consumer debt has hit a record high in Canada , and any further rate increases from the Bank of Canada would put pressure on Canadians holding credit card balances and other loans. Already, one-quarter (26 percent) say their debt is a major source of stress for them. Two-in-five (42 percent) worry about their debt in a more minor way. This figure is higher among mortgage holders who 30 percent say is a major source of stress.

The most recent Bank of Canada rate hike to 5 percent means more bad news according to a July Angus Reid survey: “Currently, two-in-five (37 percent) mortgage holders are having a difficult time making their payments. Among this group, nine-in-ten say this latest rate increase will further exacerbate this. Further, among those who say their payments are currently “manageable”, a majority (60 percent) say that this decision will negatively affect their ability to keep payments in this comfortable zone going forward.

In October a Leger poll of young Canadians painted a bleak picture of their particular struggles. The situation is getting worse with each passing year: Generation Z (born 1997 onwards) and millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) lack confidence in the future,” the report stated. It found half of these young Canadians living pay cheque to pay cheque. The rising cost of living is pressing on young Canadians’ minds even more than last year: 48 percent said they feel the added costs on the regular payment of their credit card or bills, compared to 40 percent in 2022. Around 72 percent of renters said their rent takes up too much of their expenses and 81 percent said they’re renting because they’re “unable to buy property.” Another 67 percent said they don’t think they’ll be able to buy property in the next few years, with 68 percent of youth living with family stating the same.

Young people generally find themselves completely priced out of homes in the GTA. Wages have remained relatively stagnant while house prices have doubled since the 1990’s. Rental prices have more than doubled in the same time period. A, one-bedroom units in Toronto are hitting the market for more than $2,600, while two-bedroom apartments command more than $3,400 and three-bedroom units cost about $3,800, according to a report by rentals.ca and Urbanation . As of September 23 the average annual salary in Toronto is $57,550, which works out to be approximately $27.67 an hour. This is equivalent to $1,106 a week or $4,795 a month. Is it any wonder that the city is simply unaffordable for so many.

The affordability crisis may be most exaggerated in Toronto, but it is felt nationally. According to a survey conducted by Abacus Data in July, the rising cost of living is far and away the top concern for Canadians , while housing affordability now rivals health care as a priority. Recent data from Environics also shows that Canadians are markedly more worried about household debt than they were a decade ago — with the biggest spike in debt anxiety reported among those aged 18 to 44.

In 2012, Justin Trudeau mused on a theme which helped carry him to victory three years later and is still a touchstone of Liberal strategy. "Those who think the middle class is thriving in this country should spend more time with their fellow citizens," Trudeau wrote in October 2012 , shortly after launching his bid for the Liberal leadership. "[The] squeezing of the Canadian middle class does not need to be explained to those who live it every day." Clearly the kind of anxiety revealed is hardest on the so-called middle class who have the highest consumption rates most affected by rising prices. And at the lower end many still have mortgages. When Trudeau or ministers talk about the middle class and “those working hard to join it” the slogane becomes more age inclusive There is now a powerful Cabinet Committee chaired by the Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland which targets Canada’s principal ailments. It is a, “Ministerial Working Group on the Middle Class, Economy and Housing - Provides strategic leadership in considering measures to support the middle class and those working hard to join it, to make life more affordable, and to remove barriers to building more homes, faster to drive down the cost of housing”. An old wrapping for new critical problems.

All this anxiety which more and more Canadians feel about the economy is a major challenge for the solution-minded Liberal team. The leader of the Opposition has many Canadians believing that unaffordability is all Trudeau’s doing with rising interest rates (not under the government’s control) and the Liberal gas tax. The die is cast for the next election for sure and the government will be survive or fall on how successfully it addresses what is a widespread and deeply felt economic crisis.

Can the government make housing, groceries more affordable? Don’t hold your breath

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:34:50 GMT

Pierre Poilievre, who is always good for a catchy line, recently commented on the Liberal cabinet ministers’ meeting with grocery titans to try and persuade them to reduce prices:

“It’s an act and what we need is action.”

I would argue that so much political crowing about attacking high costs of living like housing and groceries particularly is just that – an act that is unlikely to produce reliable results for weary cash-strapped Canadians.

The Liberals calling grocery chain titans to shame them has been called pure political theatre. An ebullient fast-talking Minister of Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, emerged announcing the members of the group had agreed to make plans that would “stabilize” prices by Thanksgiving. In several interviews his boss, Justin Truedeau was led to say it would be nice if they lowered prices, but clearly cheaper turkeys are not in the cards.

The PM hinted that tax measures could be the punishment for them not showing this minimum action on rising food price, an idea he had rejected earlier since he assumed new taxes would be passed on to consumers. He also announced measures for the Competition Burau so it could act against measures that stifled competition and consumer choice, in particular situations where large grocers prevent smaller competitors from establishing operations nearby. These may be effective but lower prices don’t necessarily follow.

We can expect gushing full-page ads from the grocery chains explaining all they are doing to ensure customer value and the difficulty in dealing with suppliers who have been raising prices that they cannot control. In any event , “stabilizing” prices will be easier given the already lower price increases month over month announced the day after the meeting by Stats Canada.

The Liberal government was at least being seen to do something that answered the public revulsion over the over grocery chains’ $100-billion plus profits while their prices rose substantially, and many had to access overburdened food banks for the first time to keep eating. Lower prices? Unlikely.

The Liberal government, newly found inspiration to tackle the affordability issues that are actually distressing Canadians, announced their detailed intentions in a flourishing news release on September 14 which opened as follows: The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced a suite of new measures to support the middle class and people working hard to join it. This includes action to build more rental housing, …and drive down the cost of groceries.

There it is - the big promises and a seeming return to the badly defined middle-class Liberal focus. The “build more housing” promise was made the week before with a big announcement in London, Ontario. Justin Trudeau promises funding to build more than 2,000 new housing units there over the next three years. It is the first city in the country to sign a deal under the misnamed national housing accelerator fund, a $4-billion program first announced in the spring 2022 federal budget. Promises were made to negotiate similar deals with other cities – the qualification being local governments have to end exclusionary zoning and encourage building housing near public transit.

Rental housing construction will get a much lobbied for boost with the removal of the GST for purpose-built rentals. This move was applauded by the apartment building industry and should show increases in that sector. The changes to the Competition Bureau’s powers and the GST announcement were re-announced on Sept. 21st as proposed legislation.

So for new housing, there will be a lengthy rollout for the “accelerator” fund’s benefits to be felt since cities have to have projects ready and be signed on one by one. No fast fix here. The need is challenging with major immigration numbers already straining the system. The government’s estimates the need of an additional 3.5 million more housing units over the coming decade. This will require doubling the number of homes built over that period. The industry’s current performance is lackluster due to high interest charges and manpower problems. It is unlikely that it can meet these targets.

Let’s remember that in politics it’s an ironclad rule that you don’t promise more than you can deliver. It appears that in grocery prices and housing the government has bitten off more than it can chew. The Leader of the Opposition will closely watch to see if there is any improvement in these two sectors and will pounce if predictably in the medium-term results are poor. They will have to show good results if the public’s attitude to the Liberals, now at an all-time low, is to improve in the next two years before an election.

More announcements are on the horizon from the young, dynamic housing Minister Sean Fraser. We can hope they have more optimistic timelines. The hard truth is that to bring housing affordability down requires prices to stabilize to allow earnings to catch up. Either this happens or the bubble owners have been enjoying really bursts. Neither is predictable. Inflation is up at four per cent indicating the possibility of more damaging interest rate hikes. Getting young people into homes and out of basements seems a long distant hope.

There is little possibility of major new supply of affordable homes, or relief from high grocery prices. And supporters of the Conservative party await sensible plans from their leader. Canada waits and watches. Electoral success depends on real action where Canadians hurt most.

Governments Failed Refugees Being Sheltered by Churches

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 14:14:35 GMT

A month ago Refugees camping outside in downtown Toronto because there was no shelter in the Toronto system for them found themselves being bused to Revivaltime Tabernacle Church in North York where beds were set up for nearly 250 in their basement. They were able to have showers for the first time in days.

The stunning generosity of this church, two others and dozens of volunteers, as well as black-led social agencies for immigrants meant asylum seekers were fed, got clothing looked after while the government argued about who was responsible and Toronto lobbied the federal government for funds. A few days later a shamed federal government pledged $97 million but the city said this was not enough. However plans were made to offer refugees hotel rooms.

Pastor Judith James from Revivalism showed a remarkable dedication to the refugees, most of whom are from Africa: “We are not going to stop ensuring that our people see that even when Canada turns their back on them our community will always fight for our community.”

She is shocked that when black activists and volunteers have taken the refugees off the street apparently the government thought the issue was solved. It was not. Expenses looking after scores of refugees still not housed ran into the thousands. They waited to see something from the $97 million pledged which appeared to be caught up in the bureaucracy. James said, “The Church stepped in because the state checked out.”

So, volunteers continued to cook and look after the refugees and expenses mounted. It was only on August 25 that finally the city got the funds. A day later the church said goodbye to the last refugees who now had hotel rooms.

For weeks the federal government indifference to real need was shameful and the actions of the black church community a powerful example of faith in action that we see all too little of from the established churches. But as James insists, they should not have had to do government’s work in the first place..

This untenable situation can be seen as the sharp end of the endlessly debated “housing crisis”. The 5.8 Million housing deficit enumerated by CHMC somehow seems disconnected from the homeless on the mean streets of Toronto and all over the GTA . All there people want is a room with a room that locks. Charities, not developers have been trying to humanize how they are looked after for decades. Now we have churches saving hundreds of people we have allegedly welcomed to Canada but were relegated to camping on the street. Toronto shelters over 10,000 homeless most nights. Can’t we do better?

It’s ironic that while Justin Trudeau stood proudly in front of his cabinet following the recent retreat in PEI and admitted there was no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis but how seriously they were taking it, This while these churches in Toronto continued to shelter the refugees waiting for support or housing for them.

Tommy Douglas once said: “We are all in this world together and the only test of our character that matters is how we look after the least fortunate among us.“ Indeed.

Canada will be judged not by how many houses we build for the middle class but whether or not we can house and rehabilitate the most needy – those with no home at all. This is a moral imperative, as well as a social imperative for our big cities. It is one that was answered by black church members in Toronto, but must be answered by governments.

Looking for change in the Trudeau Cabinet Shuffle

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 16:59:28 GMT

Like many avid Trudeau watchers, I am puzzled by his recent cabinet shuffle purporting to represent an energized team that will propel Canada forward and is designed to win the next election against increasing odds. This while the polls show that all the public wants is real change. For me it shows a very self-confident, even cocky Prime Minister convinced that continuing his activist positive social spending agenda will prove persuasive to voters in the next election.

When a former PMO heavy like Brooke Malinoski weighs in on the shuffle as she did recently in The Star, I pay attention since clearly the PMO election-ready staff had a key role in picking the seven new Ministers. Here is her take: “ Recent polling suggests that Canadians are starting to see the Conservatives as the party best suited to address issues of affordability , a topic that was Trudeau’s bread-and-butter in 2015 when he won his majority, as we heard over the course of the campaign, with the support of the ‘middle class and those working hard to join it.’” This is typical PMO – never give up a good slogan however worn.

In this excerpt, she reveals what is obviously the PMO strategy in the shuffle: “He and his team know what it takes to win campaigns, and this is an election-ready cabinet. If it was not clear that the Prime Minister was gearing up for a fight in the next election, it certainly is now.”

With the PM promoting the same major policy approaches and major economic Ministers including the Finance Minister remain unchanged, it is difficult to see where the kind of change will come that Canadians are demanding.

Much rests on the young shoulders of Maritimer Sean Fraser, the new Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. In early interviews he talked about introducing new models of affordable housing in his own riding. If he were to get the feds back in the housing business in a meaningful way like in the seventies, it would be dramatic and impactful. That Infrastructure is also his responsibility may herald a more comprehensive approach to the housing issue that most troubles Canadians. But that would seem to be it for the possibility of change in the redesign.

Trudeau showed his toughness in this shuffle, ditching well-performing Ministers like Justice Minister and Attorney General David Lametti, and moving high profile Defence Minister Anita Anand to the low-profile Treasury Board.

One can also see the hand of the highly centralized and powerful PMO staff in the choice of the junior newcomers more likely to tow the line than to step out and innovate on their own. There had been rumors that Anand early in her defense role dared independently suggest that military spending would rise to 2% of GDP which thoroughly annoyed the PMO. The PMO is very surprise averse, even change averse.

When I was at the PMO in the pre-1979 election runup, caucus started to become restless about the apparent inordinate power of Jim Coutts and our then PMO. I assure you that the degree of control over Ministers was nothing compared to now when Ministers’ Chiefs of Staff are appointed by the PMO, blurring lines of responsibility and allowing breakdowns in communication, like the Bernardo debacle. With this shuffle leaving out many who could be considered more suitable caucus candidates, similar rumblings were inevitable. This was duly reported by The Star who had one MP saying tongue in cheek that the shuffle should have removed Trudeau’s Chief of Staff, Katie Telford.

So, we will watch as a generous Trudeau government continues “to have the back” of Canadians doling out huge grocery rebates to eleven million citizens, increasing child and GST tax credits, increasing the scope of dental care coverage, and adding to the list the potential of pharma care. Recently, the Minister of Finance announced new worker benefits which could mean up to $2,616 for eligible families. This received almost no coverage. An earlier $500 payment for low-income earners for rent did. This seemingly endless largesse will hopefully win our attention and voters’ support.

This is Trudeau’s continuing strategy, and he and his people are counting on the Leader of the Opposition being a foil to all this active help for economically pressed households. Very few political observers doubt that in an election campaign, and particularly in debates, Trudeau can take down the easily quoted Poilievre.

It remains to be seen if Trudeau can upgrade his own style and image which attract such negative reactions from so many Canadians. Short of dramatic new policies which now appear unlikely, real change may have to come from the man himself. This is awfully hard to foresee.

Justin’s Father Refreshed His Image and Beat Stanfield in 1974 Election

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 22:16:46 GMT

This is a story with some relevance to the situation Justin Trudeau faces today. He seems to have lost the energy and spontaneity of his 2015 victory campaign, just as his father, Pierre Trudeau’s remoteness had been a factor in his 1972 near defeat.

Justin is being beaten in the polls by his Conservative rival Poliviere just as Stanfield was being projected to form a minority government should the Liberal minority government fall. And Pierre Trudeau’s shaky government faced inflation and the energy crisis brought on by the middle east embargo. Two days after introducing a budget, Liberals finally got the hook they had been hoping for on May 8, 1974, courtesy of a non-confidence motion backed by two opposition parties.

They were ready. The Liberal party, with the urging of veteran Liberal operative Jerry Grafstein saw that major changes had to be made – in short, the PM needed to be reinvented. To do this they brought in two of the most experienced political pros of the era, Jim Coutts, who had worked in Pearson’s office, and the ebullient Keith Davy, a veteran of Pearson campaigns. Both of whom were to guide politics for the PM for over half a decade.

Advertising and the communications strategy were to be run by a new agency – Red Leaf – staffed by the best-known names in the marketing business. It worked out of Toronto’s Vickers and Benson. Leadership was the new watchword.

The strategy also included new speechwriters, among them Paul Manning, a talented writer and former journalist. He, Coutts and others tuned up a more aggressive, positive message and great lines that ridiculed Stanfield’s unpopular platform focus - wage and price controls. “Zap, you’re frozen,” was one of the more memorable ones.

The new Trudeau performed flawlessly – he was fighting for his life. I saw him in 1980 told he could win if he ran again after the 1979 defeat. He agreed to let the pros run the messages and the campaign.

His 1974 performance was remarkable. There is a story about a new basic campaign speech opening the campaign in Toronto, then he committed it to memory for Vancouver, repeating it in French the next day without notes.

As Trudeau biographer John English observed, “Trudeau was ’a transformed leader, one whose speeches brimmed with emotion, wit, sarcasm, eloquence, and a welcome thirst for power. The insouciant, even lackluster Trudeau who had feigned disregard for political emotion was buried in the rubble of that previous campaign.’”

While Trudeau had no enthusiasm for using his family in 1972, his wife Margaret insisted on being on the 1974 campaign and turned into an asset, occasionally speaking and definitely humanizing her husband.

The Globe put the refreshed Trudeau this way: “He went to the country this time did not as in 1972 wait to the country to come to him.”

Stanfield did provide the Liberals with one big break – he became a national embarrassment when he “dropped the football” in a famous Doug Ball photo that was front page news across the country.

Clearly the Justin Trudeau that is now so widely disliked needs the kind of makeover that talented campaign leaders executed on his willing father in 1974. We know he can do it, his disciplined and convincing performance before the Inquiry into the Emergency Powers Act showed a Trudeau far more impressive than his seemingly acted out normal style and wishy washy messages. Just as the Liberal campaign did with Stanfield, there will be lots to work with from the abrasive and nasty Poilievre. Justin has his father’s fighting instincts and will be offered humor and good attack material that he can enjoy.

Poilievre has less substance to work with. Most Liberal missteps that have dogged the government’s last months are not of major consequence for the country and are of his own and his staff’s making. A new open and friendly Trudeau would go a long way to defusing his privileged image. Perhaps he can even consider using his wife as his dad did in 1974.

The PM is facing unprecedented economic anxiety and a deep loss of hope, especially among the young and disadvantaged. Inequality is rising between the rich and poor at a record rate. The extremely wealthy, especially those tsars of grocery chains that are seen as gouging Canadians are especially unpopular. The NDP has suggested taxes on their wealth or unseemly profits.

Cost of living and housing issues seem intractable. People are weary and anxious about their ever-worsening economic situation, and appalled by the homeless crisis affecting all cities. Their votes will depend on which leader they believe can best approach these problems and provide some optimism. The PM has been effective at attracting commitments from auto manufacturers with huge tax subsidies. Such big thinking needs to be applied to the issues that affect our pocketbooks and our future prospects by a believable and effective leader. That just might be a winning combo for the Trudeau government.

And dare I say that political smarts in the PMO such as displayed by the late Davey and Coutts need to be found and listened to. In a situation where the biggest issues do not lend themselves to silver bullet fixes, image and believability are going to play a big role in attracting votes. This means a refreshed Trudeau and exploiting the best marketing brains in the country.

Let’s have a bit of modesty in Government’s ability to solve major problems

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 20:45:35 GMT

There is a yearning in the hearts of Canadians that major issues confronting us will find solutions in our lifetimes. We hope housing may be once again more affordable, food prices will come down, indigenous peoples will be reconciled, and the world will reduce its carbon emissions so that extreme weather will cease to drench us or heat up our forests and feed wildfires.

Politicians certainly are attempting to tackle these problems, and must continue to, in a quest to make our lives better. You can’t tell a political leader that they actually may be unable to fix these huge problems. They have to continue to try. But it’s important to be realistic and ask if we have the resources in a faltering economy under the shadow of huge debt to succeed in launching a new era of widely shared prosperity. But whatever the reality, the next election will certainly be fought on promises to achieve this kind of turnaround.

Let’s take a hard look at the realities at achieving real solutions to these problems.

Housing - Nobody doubts there is a crisis. In a recent Literary review of Canada article David Jones put it bluntly: “Canada has some of the highest housing prices, compared to income in the G7 and leading OECD countries. This has created an affordability crisis that has been negatively affecting the nation's quality of life and its most vulnerable households.”

Well, we have the Liberal’s National Housing Strategy (NHS). This is a sobering review of its performance from The Parliamentary Budget Office in 2022: NHS showed $37 billion in actual and planned budgetary expenditures over 10 years starting in 2018/19, compared to $75 billion in headline commitments. Only one-third ($25 billion) of the claimed $75 billion headline number represents new federal spending.

It is almost impossible to envision any policy which would see a supply of new, particularly affordable homes being built to satisfy the ballooning demands in any foreseeable future. CMHC posits this demand at 5.8 million housing units to restore housing affordability by the end of 2030. This is 3.5 million units over and above the current pace of new home construction.

Where are our welcomed one million immigrants every year going to live, you may well ask. Certainly, the professionals we are seeking, especially health care staff won’t be able to afford the much ballyhooed 1.5 million homes the Ontario provincial government promises to build.

Claudie Hepburn of the Globe reported recently. “A Scotiabank Economics report showed two-thirds of immigrants arrive with university degrees, whereas only one-third of Canadians hold them. Yet two-thirds of native-born, university-educated Canadians are in jobs that require a degree, whereas only one-third of immigrants with degrees are in jobs that require one. In health care, the numbers are almost as bad: More than 60 percent of internationally trained doctors and nurses are not working in their profession.” So maybe we should moderate our hopes here.Already foreign trained professionals are living in tents in Toronto.

Food prices – an issue which parliamentarians in committee have gamely tried to address with little success. This may be one of those intractable post pandemic trends.

Listen to this expert: Mike Von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, said “the committee's questioning of grocery executives amounted to political theatre”. I think there's almost no evidence that the grocers are taking excessive margins right now," he said. "It's easy to blame the grocers because that's where we're feeling the pinch." Trying to solve this one is not a political winner and prices would best be left to the marketplace.

Will there be any major breakthroughs in our relationships with an increasingly demanding and powerful indigenous population? I suggest if we look at the action taken on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission changes are many years from coming.

Eight years after the tabling of the recommendations, AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has said that, “if we were in a chapter of a book on reconciliation — we are, today, on the first sentence of that book.” At the rate the government is acting we are estimated to be 42 years from completing action on all recommendations.

In addition and not much talked about a truly material change in the relationship would involve the oft-repeated reference by indigenous peoples to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which remains for them the official recognition of Indigenous self-government. To really implement what indigenous people want in this regard would mean major changes or even the end of the Indian Act. This kind of radical change is not a vote getter. Unlikely to happen. But our indigenous brethren will continue to \win the PR battle with governments.

So the final big problem we are all focused on is climate change . Will leaders respond to Greta Thunberg’s pleading to take the issue seriously? Will Canada achieve net zero by 2050. And will the world meet the Paris Agreement’s target of less that 1.5 degree increase in temperature and net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the same periods? So far there is little evidence that either Canada or the Agreement’s signatories will reach those goals. We have to keep trying however.

A new report by the University of Oxford says that we could blow well past the 1.5 degree goal in a decade and that the achievement of Paris goals in carbon reduction of capture will be extremely difficult to meet. As for Canada’s ambitious net zero goal, the Climate Action Tracker reports: “The government’s own Environment Commissioner released a damning report in November 2021 outlining 30 years of the government’s failure to meet its targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” One only has to look at the Alberta Government’s and the oil patch’s reluctance to address its major contribution to Canadian emissions to know how challenging future adherence to national climate goals will be.

My advice to political leaders. It would be truly amazing if leaders showed a little modesty when making promises to solve these major problems I have analyzed. Perhaps it’s time to tell Canadians that they simply may have to get used to reduced expectations, and adopt a more modest and realistic approach to what governments can accomplish in improving citizen’s lives and the world’s climate. However, it’s not in the nature of politics to play down what can at least be hoped for. Speeches trumpeting efforts and new policies to tackle these problems will continue. Count on it.

Justin Facing a Wall of Troubles. Can he Surmount Them?

Fri, 26 May 2023 22:37:03 GMT

The wonderful gentleman and ex-Governor General Donald Johnston, rather than providing Justin Trudeau with a clear credible path to unravelling the critical questions of China’s long term organized interference in our democracy, has instead handed him a cauldron of new troubles, not the least of which is whether the PM made a major mistake in nominating a man he knew well for decades to unravel the China mess in the first place.

This is how bad politics has become in Canada. The future of the universally desired Public Inquiry has hit a brick wall. The PM’s complete trust in Johnston’s judgment that to hold a Public Inquiry would be useless, has been rejected, perhaps unfairly, by all opposition parties and goes against the clear desire of the House.

Who will blink? Certainly not the leader of the Opposition who has simply repeated ad nauseam that he has no confidence in Trudeau’s

conflicted “ski buddy”. The other two opposition parties are equally firm in their preference for a public inquiry.

Certainly Johnston’s report appears in its exoneration of the government’s failure to act decisively on the China threats, as a “whitewash”. It does give credence to the claim by the PM and Ministers that they did not see some of the more damaging briefings that were leaked since he found the system for briefing he found to be seriously flawed. But there is still uncertainty about which PMO Security advisor to the PM did or did not brief him on several key threats to MP’s. These are the kind of questions that could be answered under oath in an inquiry. They are not unimportant.

In any case it is clear through many detailed reviews of the longstanding threats that the Chinese represented. The most thorough was by Andrew Coyne in late May before the release of Johnston’s report. He reminded us of the past love affair with doing business and making money in China. Justin was promoting a trade agreement with China up until the two Michael were incarcerated in response to our decision to extradite Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on behalf of the US.

“Few could claim to be genuinely surprised,” he wrote “by what has emerged over the past few months of reporting by The Globe and Mail and Global News even if it was based on top-secret intelligence. What was shocking was rather the scale and scope of it: a broad, deep and unrelenting campaign of interference in Canada’s political, economic and social life, going back years.” And one of the leakers in a Globe piece wrote of his absolute amazement at the lack of action on these revelations by the government.

Justin was full of answers concerning the two committees he set up to examine foreign interference, but it is demonstrable that in fact little was done – through ignorance? We are to believe the PM and Ministers did not see key briefing notes? An inquiry could get to the bottom of this serious gap in responding to real interference by a well-organized foreign power.

Johnston was quick to criticize the leakers and the media who broadcast sometimes “incomplete” and sometimes inaccurate readings of secret briefing materials. This tactic is a major misjudgment on Johnston’s part and will only and inevitably prompt further -enthusiastic coverage and new angles.

As for Justin facing up to a Johnston suspected as having a conflict of interest continuing an unpopular course with public hearings, he may be forced to find a way to mount an inquiry which would exclude Johnston. Perhaps Johnston will resign, opening the way for Justin to rejig a situation which could be very damaging to him in the long run.

This ongoing issue and the somewhat smug way it was handled does not improve the PM’s likeability, nor the trust of many Canadians in his basic judgment. Too bad. An inquiry could still sweep this issue away for months while we all got bored by the myriad intricacies of intelligence gathering and distribution. It could include a look into the widespread fear of the Chinese diaspora of the Communist regime – this would be good and an aspect worth retaining from Johnston’s proposed public hearings.

It is worth noting that Poliviere’s rabid personal attacks on Johnston have done him little good. Johnston’s long relationship with the family might have raised red flags in the PMO before he was appointed. The appearance of conflict given his conclusions is enough to make his future involvement in the issue a continuing problem for the government.

As for its impact on the next election, there is a quote used by Biden that could apply to Trudeau: “Don’t compare me with the almighty, compare me with the alternative.”

Should He Stay or Should He Go? Justin Trudeau's Political Future

Wed, 03 May 2023 02:24:55 GMT

Justin Trudeau faces two more years of tough sledding with every

week bringing a new reputational challenge.

Recently trying to live down the latest demeaning revelation - whether about his father’s foundation, admitting he will never meet the 2% NATO promise of military spending, or the looming necessity of addressing Chinese election and political interference. Add to this the unrelenting attacks by Pierre Poliviere who assigns blame directly to Trudeau for anything “broken” in Canada, neatly blasted out in well-produced videos and daily in the House at high volume. One pundit said Trudeau suffers from being the “overexposed lightning rod” for everything going wrong in this country.

The question for the next two years is how this negativity will weigh on the now 50-year-old leader and have him considering whether or not to run for a fourth term.

Coronation week has not only seen Charles III crowned but at the concurrent Liberal Convention Justin Trudeau won’t be re-crowned but there will not be a whisper of opposition to his ongoing expensive prosperity, sustainability and inclusionary agenda.

Not a sigh about the fact he is quoted as saying Canada will not meet its NATO military funding objectives and is unlikely to meet its ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Nor will there be much probing about leaving a popular Conservative MP Michael Chong uninformed when a leaked CSIS document showed his Hong Kong family targeted by the Chinese government.

No, all is well in Liberal-land and the fact that defeated Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was interviewed by possible Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland and other possibilities are relatively rookie Cabinet Ministers hardly constitutes a reason for Justin Trudeau to lose much sleep.

It has been said by every known pundit that the Liberal party is his party now. In his image and his values. He is still the best retail politician in Canada with (unlike his father) a genuine ability to connect to anyone.

And yet he is more than aware of his unpopularity with a large segment of the population, growing out originally from his tough vaccine mandates, and intolerance for the Ottawa convoy and what it stood for. And he is officially reviled in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

My close female colleague did media relations through David Peterson’s 1990 campaign in Ontario when he lost to the NDP. There were protests at nearly every stop, forcing Peterson to sneak in back doors and up service elevators. It was very stressful for her and police, and damaging to the campaign. On TV, the rowdy protesters made him look uncomfortable and unpopular – which he was.

Trudeau experienced the same challenges in the last campaign. Campaign planners were unable to publicize events to keep gangs from following the tour. The famous stone thrower is just now going to court. It is inevitable that he will face the same demonstrations whenever we go to the polls again.

It is important to remember that politicians are human and much as leaders like the perks, the constant nastiness, attacks and criticisms do get to them. I was with his father when he resigned after the 1979 defeat. He actually teared up on the way to the press theater where he told the gallery that they would not have him to kick around anymore.

Justin’s family is still relatively young, his daughter is 14 and his younger son is 9. How many powerful leaders have I told to say they are retiring to spend more time with their family? It’s a tried and true line and you never know if a beleaguered Justin Trudeau may be tempted to use it one day. Particularly if he felt he was the issue in ensuring a Liberal victory in the next election.

Yes - he has said he will stay and fight the next election, and no doubt relishes clobbering the outrageous Poliviere. The latter’s video collection of ridiculous outbursts will make amazing negative ads. But remember, no leader would make himself a lame duck by even hinting at thinking about retirement months and months before a possible election.

I know it’s possible the “coalition “ with the NDP may break down forcing an earlier election than currently expected. In this case he would have no choice but to run. But the expected election in October 2025 on the other hand does give Justin a chance to think of his future and perhaps take a walk in the snow like his dad that winter. Have he and his family had enough? That’s the question and while we don’t know we can speculate on conversations between Justin and his wife as the latest horror for him or his government breaks in the media, and Poliviere continues to blame all the country’s woes on him.

He does talk a good talk about long term goals which could take another term to see through. They rolled off his tongue with ease in a recent interview at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He said that despite the weight of uncertainty in the world, we were at an “inflection point’… there is a good path forward that can create good middle class jobs.” He used the VW battery plant as an example of how the strength of Canadian workers and activist governments working together could build a better future.

We all yearn for the economy and our individual fortunes to turn around. They may slowly as we approach 2025. Can Justin and his government muster the industrial housing and health polices to give us hope? If he is sure he can, he will likely run again. He knows that the Canada we are looking at now is no legacy.

Homelessness: Our Shame

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 14:56:05 GMT

What could be more hopeless for a person in the GTA than having nothing – no home, no shelter, nothing to eat, no family or friends?

While, any night in this urban area, most of us live in comfort, over 11500 of our fellow citizens are homeless. Last winter hundreds were turned away from overcrowded shelters every night. Nearly 200 homeless people die either in city facilities, living rough outside or in makeshift tents. Now Toronto is turning homeless youth out of hotel rooms into the street and its budget problems threaten to find shelters further reduced next winter. In the wider GTA, housing for the homeless is so overcrowded or unavailable that they go downtown where at least they can get a meal if not a bed.

One seventy-year-old man, recently turned out of his apartment, wandered the streets downtown. Nowhere to go, getting colder. he went into the emergency department at St. Michael’s hospital and amazingly a social worker greeted him and found him a bed and a meal. They see hundreds of homeless people every year. Emergency departments are last resorts as are riding on all-night streetcars, staying in all-night coffee shops if allowed, subway stations, stairwells. It is hard to fathom how desperate these sad people are.

One only has to consider the grim situation of shelters with unwashed men lined up close together in rows of cots with no privacy to understand why many homeless people prefer living rough or in tents. Only the best run shelter facilities welcome couples or women. Only 13% of shelters in Canada welcome women who are often victims of partner abuse.

In York region dozens of homeless people out of the approximately 1,500 who are homeless on any night, live in tents in its many woodlands. Surveys have shown that these people, living outdoors or in encampments tend to have a greater degree of mental illness or addiction than those in shelters. They are looked after by LOFT which operates an outreach van providing a range of urgent-care services seven days a week for the homeless in the York Region.

Toronto has been much less welcoming and used police to clear three park encampments in the summer of 2021 with what was seen as unnecessary force. Former Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam, whose ward encompasses Moss Park where another encampment feared being cleared violently, said the City needs to rely on less police officers and more social workers with future encampment operations. One of the sad effects of forced removal is that residents often lose what few possessions they have.

A recent Court ruling in Kitchener showed that for the first time homeless people occupying public land have rights too. Justice Michael J. Valente of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario found the encampment bylaws covering Kitchener, Ontario, violated people’s constitutional right to “life, liberty, and security of the person.” The bylaw violated the Charter rights of the residents in the absence of sufficient shelter spaces.” The Kitchener decision affirmed it’s not just about how many spaces are available in the city, but also about whether those spaces truly accommodate the needs of people experiencing homelessness. Mayors, including Tom Taylor of Newmarket, who is openly anti-tent, would do well to look at this ruling.

The homeless crisis is really an affordable housing crisis that was not even mentioned in the recent Ontario and federal budgets. In the recent inflation, interest rate and affordability crisis, policy makers have focused on making homes more affordable for middle class people and virtually ignored the real plight of low-income would-be owners and renters. Premier Doug Ford’s promise to build 1.5 million new homes in the $800,00 price range will do little for the underhoused. Leilani Farha, the global director of Make The Shift, an international group that promotes the right to housing, told the New York Times Ian Austen that Canada has one of the worst records globally when it comes to homelessness.

Curiously the most devastating cuts in federal funding for affordable housing came when the Jean Chrétien Liberal undertook a substantial welfare state restructuring, with the 1995 federal budget under then Finance Minister, Paul Martin. By 1993, the federal government completely withdrew financial support for building new social or public housing. Investments were made in public housing beginning from the late 1940s, peaking in the 1960s. These involved cost-sharing arrangements between the federal and provincial governments. Between 1973 and 1992, the federal government partnered to create approximately 236,000 non-profit and co-operative units were created over those two decades. This golden age has not returned.

The Current National Housing Strategy (NHS) is an ambitious, 10-year plan to invest over $72 billion to give more Canadians a place to call home. Since its launch in 2017, the government has committed over $26.5 billion to support the creation of over 106,100 units of affordable and the repair of over 254,600. We await the evidence of this major increase in truly affordable housing.

That homelessness is a much-ignored housing issue is undeniable. A 2021 York Region homelessness survey found unsurprisingly that one quarter (22%) of people reported being unable to pay rent/mortgage as one of the reasons for their homelessness in 2021 compared to 14% in 2018.

Few municipalities have tackled homelessness head on as well as Ottawa. The city’s street outreach services and shelter services have both shifted to a robust housing-focused approach, resulting in a 19% reduction in chronic homelessness. Ottawa’s 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan, updated in 2020, requires that 10% of new affordable housing units are supportive housing units. The City’s shift over the past decade from a traditional shelter model to the creation of more supportive housing units to address chronic homelessness has led to the creation of close to 800 supportive units across the city since 2006. Ottawa’s Built for Zero chronic homelessness baseline was set in January 2020. Since then three supportive housing buildings and several scattered units have been built, adding a total of 95 units to Ottawa’s supportive housing inventory. The success is based on the formation of Housing First teams.

Many of the public who do not understand that homeless people could be their neighbours oppose new projects to house the growing numbers of homeless in the GTA. Aurora residents came out in force to a public planning meeting last month to oppose a Housing York proposal to build a new 55-unit transitional and emergency facility at 14452 Yonge St., meant to replace Blue Door’s aging Porter Place. This is one of the rare new purpose-built projects for the homeless in the GTA.

It is a shocking over 10 years wait for the 83,000 individuals and families needing rent geared to income housing in Toronto. Solving the homeless problem with new housing will not answer the growing crisis in any reasonable time period.

There is one organization with breakthrough thinking on a policy that could get homeless and vulnerable people into housing. In January, a press release made dramatic suggestions: the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) called on the federal government to take urgent action to support low-income Canadians with a new proposal for a Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit (HPHB) . The benefit would provide immediate rental relief to up to 385,000 households at imminent risk of homelessness, help over 50,000 people leave homelessness, and reduce pressure on Canada’s overwhelmed homeless systems while saving all levels of government money by reducing demand on public systems like health care. This is a potential solution that does not rely on a long wait for grand new affordable housing construction plans. It should be looked at.

As we enjoy warmer weather and the homeless can once again be more comfortable under bridges and in the ravines and woods, we still have not as a society come to terms with the social and health costs of these thousands of human beings for which we seem to have so little sympathy. It is a shame.

Chinese Election Interference Story Shows Enduring Power of the Press

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 16:16:17 GMT

Recently the entire nation became seized by the threat of the organized interference in our elections by the Chinese government. It’s time to recognize that this frightening issue was put on the map last month by the work of two journalists from the Globe and Mail, namely veteran reporters Robert Fife and Steven Chase. Much earlier, in November 2022, Sam Cooper of Global news revealed many of the same details of Chinese election interference from CSIS sources and said that the PMO had been briefed.

Both were able to tap into unnamed sources in the national security establishment and were given access to secret documents which detailed the Chinese government's sophisticated attempts to sway voters in several ridings towards Liberal candidates seen as more friendly to China.

This is the playing out of an ongoing story of Chinese covert actions against Canada and Chinese Canadians. In November 2022 CP reported that RCMP is investigating reports of criminal activity related to so-called Chinese “police” stations in Canada after a human rights group reported China is operating more than 50 such venues overseas, including three in the Greater Toronto Area . The RCMP has concluded its investigation and the “stations” have closed. As far back as October 2022 Seven Chase warned about -these “police” stations in Canada. He elaborated that “a Spain-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders alleged three of China’s more than 50 overseas police stations are operating in Toronto.” He quoted Akshay Singh, a research associate for the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies, who said the U.S. indictment documents showing China successfully forced someone to leave Canada and return to China. “This is clearly foreign interference. We’re talking about a foreign government threatening somebody based in Canada.”

Last November the PM gave a fulsome answer about Chinese activities in Canada in the House: “We’ve known for many years that there are consistent engagements by representatives of the Chinese government into Canadian communities, with local media reports of illicit Chinese police stations. These are all things that we continue to be concerned about, that our officials stay active on and that we will continue to be vigilant around to keep Canadians safe.” Good intentions but little evidence of action.

Unfortunately when the media released more detailed accounts of Chinese attempts to influence election activities during the 2019 and 2021 campaigns including about CSIS warning Trudeau about Toronto-area politician’s alleged ties to Chinese diplomats his stock reply was no more revealing. It highlighted a denial that overall election results were affected. Nor was the testimony of his security advisor Jody Thomas at a parliamentary Committee when she simply said that the real issue was the “unlawful sharing of information” from CSIS which “is a real threat to national security “ - a talking point used by the PM determined to find out who talked to the press in the first place. CSIS is now fully investigating. There is a vacuum of information beyond what the Globe reported with “national security” the reason no government sources would speak to the details of the story.

One former Conservative BC MP Kenny Chiu who had presented a bill before the last election proposing a registry for foreign governments, an idea by no means dead, found himself the target of unrelenting Chinese media attack and seemingly organized social media hate. In television interviews he has told of voters being threatened if they did not vote against him. Other Chinese candidates have denied interference. The story keeps getting fed.

Denying media stories that embarrass the government usually backfires. Four years ago in February 2019, after the same Bob Fife broke the Judy Wilson Raybould SNC Lavalin story we got similar denials and attempts to redefine the issue: Reports said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied wrongdoing after he tried to shield one of the country's biggest firms from a corruption trial. He said any lobbying by him or his inner circle for engineering giant SNC-Lavalin was done to protect jobs. We know how that ended.

In the current case, Turns out the media have done such a good job exposing the horrors of the autocratic Xi regimen from genocide against minorities to the squashing of democracy in Hong to the detention of the two Michaels, that a recent Angus Reid poll found two-in-three Canadians believe Beijing did attempt election interference , Other findings: Seven-in-ten (69%) Canadians believe “the federal government is afraid to stand up to China.” And playing into a PM talking point trying to give a Trump-like gloss to opposition demands, one-quarter (23%) of Canadians believe the 2021 federal election was “’stolen’ because of Chinese interference.” Even this level of breakdown of trust in our democracy is very worrying.

The national media will fill the ongoing vacuum of real information. This pot will boil until we have a reliable nonpartisan probing of what the true facts are. The media will continue to set this disturbing national agenda. The government will not be able to get ahead of the story and our public's trust in our democracy may continue to seep away. But, we can continue to celebrate our good old traditional print (and in this case TV – ie Global) journalists who put out the breaking news that matters.

Love Can Conquer All - Inspiring Stories for the New Year

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 18:08:52 GMT

In 1955 Frank Sinatra recorded Love and Marriage – go together like a horse and carriage . It took the popular music stoked yearnings for permanent love of the 50’s into new generations when it became the theme song for the American 1987-1997 TV series Married With Children . Unlike many non-human pairings including urban coyotes, bald eagles, sand cranes and grey and Algonquin wolves, human marriages are less successful in being monogamous with nearly three million marriages ending in divorce last year.

One of the reasons is perhaps that really successful love-soaked marriages are very seldom honored, talked about or featured in popular fiction, TV series or films. Hallmark films often feature love torn stories, but fail to picture true lasting love. It does not take much research to find marriages whereas Virgil wrote in the 5 ^th century BC, love conquers all and is the glue of successful relationships that continue for better and for worse.

I, for one, feel that the six-part TV series Harry and Meghan was a convincing display of real love, deep affection and respect between two people facing horrific public challenges and in fact the opposite of normal family support. It is seldom that a documentary lets us see and share really intimate and loving moments. They were very moving.

The New York Times recently let us see another couple with this time a royal princess marrying a commoner and having to relinquish all royal privileges to be with him. Princess Mako of Japan fell in love with Kei Komuro who was brought up by a single mother. Both desperately wanted to escape their very different backgrounds and got engaged which unleashed a barrage of vicious media attacks and they found their relationship and a few family difficulties becoming a very public spectacle. But they persisted and got married and secretly escaped the New York where they lived a quiet and modest existence. Unlike Harry and Meghan were silent on the way they had been treated. The Princess is now an intern at the Museum of Modern Art and he is working at a New York law firm. Love indeed conquered all.

It also worked for the ongoing wonderful relationship enjoyed by former President Obama and his wife Michelle. They are open about the love that carried them through many vicissitudes. Here is what Michele said about their extended courtship: “As soon as I allowed myself to feel anything for Barack, the feelings came rushing—a toppling blast of lust, gratitude, fulfillment, wonder." He said, "I love this woman. We've had our rough patches...There were many..." Now "We are finding each other again," Michelle told People . "We have dinners alone and chunks of time where it's just us—what we were when we started this thing: no kids, no publicity, no nothing. Just us and our dreams." We all have seen them so often hugging and holding hands – and we are inspired.

Not to be outdone by an American Presidential pair, there is one Canadian political couple who match the mutual devotion and love of the Obamas, the Chretien’s. Isabelle Metcalfe a well-known Ottawa Liberal insider who worked for him summarized their relationship this way: “I think the love affair that they had defined them. They were lucky in love,” Ms. Metcalfe said. “He was kind of wild, but she could handle him. … She guided him and disciplined him and loved him.” She saw her main job was to be the partner of the man she fell in love with as a teenager. She did not seek the limelight but was a powerful force behind the scenes. She famously saved him from a knife-wielding intruder who broke into the Prime Minister’s Ottawa residence in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 1995. Chretien said this in parliament after her passing in September 2020: “She has been by my side since 1963, through very difficult political battles and tense moments in this life, which we love so much but which is so fraught with pitfalls,” I met them many times and their love and respect for each other shone through.

In the music business there is one stand out long loving couple. Johnny Cash and June Carter. They first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Touring, they fell in love, and married in 1968. Cash openly credited her with helping him recover from drug addiction. The couple died within four months of each other. This was true love. Cash’s definition of paradise was simple, “this morning, with her, having coffee.” Two other quotes from Cash: “Loneliness is emptiness, but happiness is you… Life and love go on, let the music play.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning are both famous as literary figures but are also well known for their love story, a real Victorian romance with hundreds of love letter, an elopement which resulted in her being disowned by her father. Her most famous love poem How do I love ends this way: I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

In my romance novel Slow Love I weave a tale of love that shows that love can continue after death, and that there is presence of the loved one after he or she passes. Can love conquer death? Some who are lucky enough to have a sustained and powerful love relationship will find out.

Where are the Politicians Who Put the Public Interest first?

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 19:55:07 GMT

We are clearly entering an era where our confidence in the integrity and ethics our leaders at every level is being severely shaken.

Whether it is the stupid use of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause by Ontario Premier Doug Ford to deny collective bargaining to CUPE workers and legislate them back to work, or his blatant promise breaking to open up thousands of acres of protected land for his home building buddies, or the ganging up of the Premiers demanding huge new health care funding with no indication of how it would be spent, or the constitutional recklessness of the Ottawa hating sovereigntist Alberta Premier Daniel Smith, or the embracing of the anti-democratic strong mayor powers by Toronto mayor John Tory, we are clearly entering an era where our confidence in the integrity and ethics our leaders at every level is being severely shaken.

A well-functioning democracy is built on the trust of the public that politicians will act ethically in the public interest. And in Canada that means not just keeping promises but respecting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and Freedoms. The infamous notwithstanding clause 33, sometimes rereferred to as the nuclear option, was put in by Premiers as a condition to signing off on Pierre Trudeau’s full package. It shields politicians from legal challenges to legislation that strips Canadians of certain rights, by blithely overriding key sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I was there when a very reluctant PM Trudeau the had to agree to this weakening of his life’s work. It is now being used more often than was ever dreamt of.

It's unchallenged use by Quebec to in fact rewrite parts of the constitution to declare itself a nation with only one language and Bill 21 to stop religious minorities wearing distinguishing garb to work in public jobs, or Bill 96’s extraordinary prohibitions of the use of the English language and its strict, intrusive enforcement which goes directly against the Constitution. All these bills to allegedly protect Quebec’s unique language and culture would likely not survive a court challenge as unconstitutional. But so far, the federal government has been mute. No less a commentator than Andrew Coyne in the Globe has written, “Doing nothing, saying nothing in the face of this multi province campaign to turn the constitution to mush is the (federal government’s) preferred course.” My former boss, Pierre Trudeau who like Jean Chretien favoured a strong and active central government, one that was certainly in evidence during the Covid pandemic, once mused after Joe Clark had proposed that Canada should be a “community of Communities” that he was never going to be the “head waiter to the provinces”.

But this is precisely what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith would prefer the federal PM to be. Her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act according to her statement, “ “will be used as a constitutional shield to protect Albertans from federal overreach that is costing Alberta’s economy billions of dollars each year in lost investment, and is costing Alberta families untold jobs and opportunities.” This from the richest province in the country that still has no sales tax and enjoys a huge budgetary surplus. And she has stated clearly that she wants Alberta to be treated like Quebec which has routinely opted out of federal programs. But she would go further not permitting public entities like the police to enforce federal laws – a federal gun control law would be a test. How closely power-hungry other premiers like Doug Ford and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe must be following this power crab. Scapegoating Trudeau and the federal government, even blaming him for “Justinflation” as Conservative leader Pierre Poliviere has done is hardly advancing public discourse or the public interest.

Perhaps happily much of the non-rural Alberta public while perhaps thinking Trudeau hates them doesn’t like Smith’s nation threatening solution. A recent Leger-Postmedia poll found that fewer than one-third of Albertans see the sovereignty act as “necessary to stand up for Alberta against the federal government.”

Doug Ford threatened to use the notwithstanding clause in 2018 to unnecessarily chop the number of councilors in Toronto. It is a weapon he obviously likes deploying to get his way even if it threatens rights using it again in 2021 — for the first time in the province's history — to restore parts of the Election Finances Act that had previously been declared unconstitutional, enforcing a rule that third parties could only spend $600,000 on advertising in the 12 months before and election.

Then more recently he used it to force CUPE education workers back to work denying them the right to collective bargaining. The support of other unions threatening a general strike forced him to back down. But be sure when he needs it he will unholster it again.

Ford has severely shaken the public’s trust in another area. He is selling 7,400 acres or protected Greenbelt land to developer friends in order to open it for 50,000 new homes. It is well to remember what this incursion represents a dangerous precedent for this 7300 km band of rural and agricultural land created to restrict urban sprawl in 2008. This Greenbelt surrounds the Greater Toronto Area and Niagara Peninsula, and parts of the Bruce Peninsula. Much of the land is in the Oak Ridges Moraine, an environmentally sensitive area, the major aquifer for the region, and the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Private interests have trumped the public interest here. And Ontarians love their Greenbelt, its woods and trails. York region had a plan to turn some of the Greenbelt lands into recreational areas. Now overtaken by Ford’s grab. This weekend Ford announced his ambitious housing plans that allegedly need Greenbelt land; he blamed Trudeau’s immigration policies for creating huge new demand. At least 20 protests against opening the Greenbelt were held across the province, with hundreds of Ontarians turning out to demand the government reconsider.

There is one glimmer of hope since one of the development parcels is adjacent to the Rouge National Urban Park, which borders a portion of the Greenbelt in Pickering, Ont., called the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. The preserve is among the areas set to be removed from the Greenbelt. Parks Canada wrote a strong letter to the province demanding consultation and saying: “there is a probable risk of irreversible harm to wildlife, natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes within (the park).” An environmental assessment could follow.

Moving to the Premiers’ incessant demands for greater healthcare funding which climaxed recently with a joint news conference demanding a face-to-face meeting with the PM. Trudeau has said Ottawa will come forward with more funding, but it must be accompanied by “results.” Throwing money into a “broken system” isn’t the answer, Trudeau told reporters last month, but rather provinces need to embrace changes to improve the health services available to Canadians. Other than asking for money, the provinces have provided no plans to tackle what is obviously a system under terrible strain. This is politicians playing high stakes poker while children and adults wait endlessly in emergency departments.

One wonders what goes on in the offices of our leaders who increasingly play their power games with our lives and livelihoods. Governments at all levels are often accused of being out of touch with the real concerns of real people. This seems to be a cancer affecting politicians everywhere. They threaten our rights, refuse to protect the environments we value, are mute while other politicians attack the very structure of our nation. Chretien once said he liked being PM because he could do good. And my old boss often asked as provinces tried to get more money and power, “who speaks for Canada?” Who indeed, and who speaks for us? Who puts our interests first?

Crazy on the Decline. Alberta a Possible Exception

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 21:27:38 GMT

Despite Donald Trump madly clinging to the hope of a return to the White House, his election denying candidates in the midterms were widely defeated and a red wave did not break. It would seem that the crazies are on the decline in US politics.

Recently on the Daily Show, former President Obama said what many hope: “I like to think that part of what happened in this election is people said, ‘OK, you know what, some of this stuff is getting a little too crazy, It turns out that there is a majority of the country that does prefer normal, not crazy. And that’s a basis for hope.”

Now unless we think Canada was immune to the craziness and polarization that infected politics to the south, think again. The ongoing televised inquiry into the use of the emergency act more than reminded us of how ridiculous and irrational were the beliefs held by the people who led the freedom convoy.

Take James Bauder, the founder of Canada Unity and author of a wild missive demanding the governor general and Senate work around the elected government to lift COVID-19 health measures. He told the Inquiry that he was told by “God” to start the convoy and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “treason.” In tears he told about how he believes the convoy was a worldwide beacon of “love and unity.”

Then there is the admittedly charismatic “mother hen” of the freedom convoy, Tamara Lich. She was the chief fundraiser and voice of the protest. She called the occupation “the biggest lovefest I’ve ever participated in.” She denied that it was never intended to disturb Ottawa and complained that everyone wanted hugs and money from her. Pat King is a darker character who was the social media guru of the convoy that many wanted out of the leadership because of videos he posted threatening Trudeau’s life. Both he and Lich insisted that the whole thing was one big emotional bouncy castle. “I’ve never seen anything more loving and peaceful in my life,” Mr. King said at the inquiry. “It was Woodstock.”

At the time it was some of this widely reported more threatening and fanciful convoy demands that likely led to the growing impatience of Canadians with the anti-vaccine protests. An Angus Reid poll released on Feb. 14, 2022, showed the public increasingly fed up with anti-vaccine mandate protests. Of those polled, 72 per cent said it’s time for the protesters to go home as they had made their point, and most supported police stepping in to deal with the situation. Interestingly, given the lively discussion about whether the government overstepped in using the emergency act, those who supported some form of action (93% of Canadians) to remove protesters are largely supportive of arrests if demonstrators refuse to leave. Three-in-five (62%) say this should happen.

A recent CBC Opinion piece by freelancer Rahim Mohamed makes an interesting argument about the similarities between the new Premier, Danielle Smith and the defeated election denier for Arizona governor, Keri Lake, a Republican who also was a high profile broadcaster. He argues that demographically Arizona and Alberta are similar with growing large multi-ethnic populations against a past history of being reliably conservative. Both are now more competitive in the ballot box. Alberta went from 44 straight years of Progressive Conservative rule to a single term of New Democrat government (2015-2019).

He says Smith should take Lake's fate as a cue to address her own credibility problem. Smith has invited criticism for dubious statements about Russia's invasion of Ukraine (since apologized for), an argument that cancer is within a patient's control before it reaches Stage 4, and alternative COVID treatments . She is clear that under her there will be no vaccine or mask mandates. Shades of the freedom convoy. She also continues to plan a bizarre “Alberta Sovereignty Act” which would give Alberta power to not enforce federal laws which were not in the interests of the province.

She has somewhat stepped down from her more egregious polices and views top broaden her appeal. This was evident in a televised speech which announced a series of new financial relief measures including a $600 payment over the next six months for each child under 18 in families with lower incomes, rebates electricity and natural gas and killing the provincial gas tax. Shades “Ralph Bucks”, former Premier Klein’s 2006 vote buying strategy. Easy to see this kind of spending for what it is.

The speech ended with exaggerated rhetoric against the federal government. Her unworkable “Sovereignty Act” has no appeal to the Albertans not in her base, who will remember her wacky ideas. Today’s Alberta is a far cry from the province she knew a decade ago as leader of the right-wing Wildrose Party. Alberta voters are no longer automatically conservative, and in NDP leader Rachel Notley she faces a formidable and believable opponent. Smith has odd ideas that are offside to the average middle of the road voter. She’ll be under continuing close scrutiny.

As will the chief pretender to the federal prime ministership, Conservative leader Pierre Poliviere, known for his hard to explain support for the freedom convoy. He has explained in detail that “I support those peaceful and law-abiding protesters who demonstrated for their livelihoods and liberties, while condemning any individual who broke laws, behaved badly or blockaded critical infrastructure…I think it’s possible to support the overall cause of personal free choice in vaccination and the overall cause of respecting the truckers’ ability to earn an income, while holding individually responsible anyone who behaved badly, broke laws, or blockaded key infrastructure.”

Hard to make a convincing clip of this and his overall ambiguity and the fact of his open support during the occupation will be a sharp arrow in the Liberal election quiver come the next federal campaign. Again, a cloud of craziness shadows him.

Our own Conrad Black is one person who was probably the most eloquent and consistent supporter of Trump in all his craziness. Trump pardoned him, resulting in a glowing tome A President Like No Other that Black published in 2018 .

In a recent detailed piece in the Star on Black’s Trump sycophancy historian Andrew Cohen penned: “Days after this month’s midterm elections, Black did the unthinkable: he broke with Trump. No longer was Trump presumptive president, as Black predicted — now he was past president. In a betrayal for the ages, Black has turned on Trump.”

As Obama intoned – there may just be an end to craziness and hope for moderation, even from Conrad Black.

by Patrick Gossage

Women of Today Smarter Than Man in Every Way

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 18:28:51 GMT

In 1956, five years before the liberating publication of Betty Freidan’s feminist landmark The Feminine Mystique, calypso star Harry Belafonte released a song whose premise is just now showing signs of being fulfilled: “And not me but the people they say, That the man are leading the women astray. But I say, that the women of today smarter than the man in every way.”

I'd say more than simply smarter as I found out in 2005 when I withdraw as President of the successful PR company I had founded and named my longtime female colleague and vice president to succeed me. The decision was universally applauded by the staff and launched a long period of continued growth and success, and continued embedding of the values I had built of teamwork and respect for differing talents. It was clear that as a senior woman she was able to combine business smarts with compassion and care for staff and a pronounced creative flair. No doubt she was smarter than me and more.

I was recently blown away by a Toronto Star op-ed “Boys and Men are in Trouble” in which Andrew Phillips uses a new book by Richard Reeves Of Boys and Men to explore the ascendancy of women and corresponding descent of men to the point where their role as breadwinner in the US has been upended with women bringing in more money in middle class families. Reeves cites a Canadian study showing boys raised poor are more likely to stay poor than girls.

This squares with recent Canadian data which shows 64.8 per cent of working-age women now have a post-secondary education, compared with 63.4 per cent of men. It's the first-time females have surpassed males in overall educational attainment. And the gender gap grows by leaps and bounds as the level of education increases. Moreover In 2020, the overall school dropout rate was higher for male 16- to 24-year-olds than for female 16- to 24-year-olds (6.2 vs. 4.4 percent ).

There are larger political issues raised by the relative success of women and the fact blue collar wages for men have stagnated. As Phillips says: “Men who feel abandoned by the system and by parties that fail to even acknowledge their problems will turn to anyone who does.”

Young men with few good job prospects increasingly feel alienated from traditional politics. A recent Angus Reid survey found two-thirds of Canadians (64%) say they don’t believe they can influence political decisions that influence their life. This sentiment is much more common among men aged 18 to 34 (77%) than other demographics.

Women are outperforming men in unexpected fields. It’s observable that women are more patient than men and this turns out to result in many studies showing higher performance for women investors than men. A Vanguard US 2022 study How America Saves report puts this disparity down to the fact that women tend to trade 50% less than men. In other words, men are moving in and out of positions at a 50% higher rate than women. A 2021 Fidelity investment study showed that patient investing women achieved positive returns and surpassed men by 40 basis points, based on an analysis of annual performance across 5.2 million accounts from January 2011 to December 2020.

While women still lag men in executive positions of major companies, those companies with greater levels of gender ethnic and cultural diversity are more likely to outperform their less diverse peers on profitability according to a 2020 McKinsey report Diversity wins: How Inclusion Matters.

In an earlier blog “It’s Arguable that Women make Better Political leaders” I wrote ’’the smarts and decisiveness of women leaders comes from the amazing record of women political leaders in facing up to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Angela Merkel’s performance was notable as was “the female leadership of Taiwan, Iceland and of course New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern made an international name for herself in the unrelenting way she handled the pandemic.’

The old boys club may appear to still run most of our institutions, with the notable exception of the federal Liberal government, but there are certainly signs that the dominance of men is on the wane. I think it’s s very good thing and more female leadership would herald more compassionate, understanding and peaceful societies that would liberate all talents.

by Patrick Gossage

We All Witnessed the Failure of Police to Control the Freedom Convoy

Tue, 25 Oct 2022 20:07:44 GMT

When thousands of angry, Trudeau hating anti-vaccine truckers and their raging hangers on from across the country occupied our capital for over three weeks Canadians watched blanket TV coverage with horror and wondered what kind of country is this that allows the lawless terrorizing of its national capital by these “yahoos” as the mayor of Ottawa called them.

Talking to a TV journalist who was our eyes and ears during these weeks it is clear that they reported “repeatedly” that the policed were not enforcing the law, showing illegal jerry cans of gasoline being toted to waiting trucks, including on the day the Ottawa police chief said tickets were being issued. One journalist recalled Police issuing parking tickets outside that downtown but not on the hill. Network TV showed us plywood storage structures being built, organized deliveries from a distant supply center, major online funding, singing and bonfires and fireworks at night, and incessant honking. They had difficulty talking to protestors who preferred social media to get their message out to appearing on camera. And telling the story of the occupation was very difficult even dangerous as TV reporters were swarmed and harassed.

Daily briefings by police did not provide much reassurance to Ottawacitizens. Tough questions on law enforcement were not answered with any satisfaction. It took a 21-year-old downtown resident, Zexi Li to launch an injunction to make horn honking illegal on February 8. The same week the police chief called for major reinforcements to help

beleaguered Ottawa police and the mayor called the occupation an “insurrection”. The public agreed. A debate in the Commons on the situation found everyone making the right noises but no real action plan to end the unprecedented complete breakdown of order in a major city. We watched amazed. By the last week only s few OPP

officer showed the result of pleading for more support. It was widely reported that tow truck operators refused to be involved.

Turns out the under resourced Ottawa Police and governments had been warned about the dangerous convoy by an OPP intelligence report distributed as it was being organized across the country. OPP Superintendent Pat Morris told the Inquiry into use of the Emergency Act that their intelligence warned there would be a “significant” event

that would involve large groups of motivated people, commercial vehicles with the intent of impeding government business with no exit plan. Protesters travelling to Ottawa showed an incredible motivation and would follow through on what they were saying, Morris tools the Inquiry. The OPP also warned of “ideologically motivated extremists who espouse sovereign=citizen ideals”. These warning were not taken seriously by Ottawa police who initially thought the demonstrations would only last a few days.

The political ins and outs of the use of the emergency powers and the suspension of some normal civic rights is dominating the news as is speculation as to what parties would be winners and losers coming out of its findings. The inquiry will hear over 60 witnesses including the Prime Minister and Ministers who will defend the use of the Act as the only way to clear Ottawa streets. And we will all be reminded of how several senior Conservatives openly and inexplicably supported the truckers – the new leader in act being inspired by the convoy’s blatant use of the freedom slogan and adopting it for his own.

Legalities aside, the use of the Act did succeed in ending the occupation and we applauded watching serried ranks of over 2,000 police push protestors back and clear Ottawa’s streets while tow trucks, forced to comply, towed rigs away.

I am reminded, as are many older Canadians of Pierre Trudeau’s “Just watch me” confrontation with CBC’s Tim Raife after invoking the War Measures Act during the FLQ driven October Crisis in 1970. He was clear he had no time for “bleeding hearts” who did not like the sight of the military who were called in. “Let them go on bleeding” he said. While the wholesale arrest of suspected separatists in Quebec left an enduring black spot on Trudeau’s reputation there, his decisiveness in dealing with an organized threat to government was well received in

the rest of Canada. The “freedom convoy” started as a revolt against vaccine mandates which were preventing unvaccinated truckers form entering the US. It morphed into a coalition of angry Justin haters and right-wing

extremists and malcontents with wider if unrealistic ambitions to form a parallel government – an ambition of the FLQ in 1970 as well.

Some will say in the end the anti-vaccers won – for example a new government in Alberta is dedicated to never again imposing vaccine mandates. But the “insurrection” on Ottawa’s streets went well beyond that, and many feel government finally had to show resolve and strong action to end the biggest demonstration of lawlessness Canada has seen for generations . The fact the Justin like his dad was decisive and did end the occupation may win the battle for hearts and minds, even if he did overplay his hand. Our distaste for images of lawlessness we saw

endlessly on TV over more than three weeks may help that.

by Patrick Gossage

Are We Facing a Nuclear War Crisis Similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 19:59:56 GMT

On October 22, 1962 President John Kennedy made a scary TV address which showed the world aerial photos of Soviet nuclear missile installations in Cuba. He explained that a naval blockade around Cuba would be enforced, and said ominously that the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this threat to national security. Following this news, we were all fearful that the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

At the time I was the young wire editor at the Guelph Mercury and watched the chugging Canadian Press machine spew out hourly news of the escalating and threatening situation developing between the Soviet Union and the United States. Nuclear armed B52’s were airborne and the Russian leader was Sabre rattling like his successor today.

But in contrast to today there was direct negotiation between Khrushchev and Kennedy. Finally, on October 28 Krushchev capitulated. Work on the missile sites was stopped and the missiles would be returned to the Soviet Union. In return, Kennedy committed the United States would never invade Cuba.

So in a situation where Russian President Putin is watching predominantly US armed Ukrainian troops driving his forces out of larger and larger areas of territory he had coincidentally annexed as part of Russia, he is continually threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons. President Biden and the Pentagon warn of “catastrophic consequences” should the Russians make good their threat. The various scenarios that are possible would all likely-involve major US military attacks on Russian positions in the Ukraine. This kind of escalation could lead to more nuclear deployment.

Learned opinion on what will happen goes this way: Ukrainian forces just retook Lyman, a crucial rail and transport hub, and this could unhinge much of the Russian defense of northern Donbas. Thus Russia is backed into a tight corner. Having just upped the ante with staged referendums, proclaimed annexations, and televised fanfare in Moscow, Putin may just do something more drastic to demonstrate real strength by making good on his threat to use tactical nuclear weapons.

Or, facing further defeats, much has been written on Russia’s non military strategic powers which he may use: radical warfare including cyber, communications, undersea cable sabotage, satellite, and pipeline sabotage, and other "unconventional" methods. Equally horrific for the west.

Are we already seeing early signs of escalation, just as in the cold war 60 years ago the photos of missiles in Cuba was the trigger for a huge crisis, photos were posted on the Telegraph World New recently showing a train operated by the secretive Russian nuclear division and linked to the 12th main directorate of the Russian ministry of defense heading towards the front line in Ukraine. There will be more.

There would also appear to be no viable contact between NATO, the US administration and the leadership in Moscow. And no ongoing talks between Ukraine and Russia. No lines for negotiation, and no reason to believe Putin has any desire to engage.

We would all do well to listen to Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the President's Office in Ukraine, quoted from an interview with Wirtualna Polska: "A big agreement on war and peace is impossible as Russia is not interested in it. The Kremlin believes that Ukraine should be wiped off the face of the earth by military means. They also have intentions regarding Moldova, Georgia and Kazakhstan. They want to dictate the rules of the game to Europe. There is no peace in these plans."

It is clear that even a truce allowing Russia to retain borders of previously occupied territory would be totally unacceptable to the Ukrainian leader. And Putin’s desire to keep the annexed territories is also non-negotiable.

Consider the very different situation which led to the de-escalation of the missile crisis 60 years ago. Kennedy and Khrushchev made real efforts throughout the crisis to clearly understand each others’ intentions, while all the world hung on the brink of possible nuclear war. No such desire exists today. Putin is a pariah and terrorist in the midst of western leaders. French President Macron alone has maintained direct contact with Putin but nothing has come of their conversations.

Most observers agree that avoiding a serious nuclear escalation in the next months will depend on the ability of Putin to remain in power as his nation is being depopulated of draft age men and increasingly restless with his war, for which he is at last being openly criticized for.

By Patrick Gossage

Note, this article ran in the Ottawa Life Magazine (OLM)

Canadian Politics Facing Double Whammy

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 14:17:50 GMT

Canadian Politics Facing Double Whammy: A CPC leader who mistrusts journalists and believes in conspiracy theories, and a growing distrust and reduced influence of journalists.

The degradation of Canadian politics continues with the convincing crowning of Pierre Poiliviere as the undisputed king of Canadian Conservatives. We now have a charismatic populist politician well qualified to take on Justin Trudeau who has a few years to attempt to rebuild his popularity in challenging economic times. It will be a nasty battle of the self-proclaimed ordinary adopted son of hard-working parents and his talented political immigrant wife against the privileged Prime Minister. Question Period will be a battleground like never before with Poiliviere excoriating Trudeau as responsible for and indifferent to impoverished common Canadians and Trudeau ridiculing his reckless ideas. Not a pretty sight, and it will dominate the airwaves.

Our politics have been an ugly sight in other ways that continue to degrade the public’s perception of how we are ruled. It started during the last election. Here is how Fatima Syed, a MacLean’s write, summed up the increasingly violent demonstrations plaguing the Trudeau campaign in September 2021: “Many of the protests following Justin Trudeau have been marked by the kind of extreme rage that became familiar in the U.S. during Donald Trump’s presidency. Protesters have yelled “Lock him up,” “Traitor,” and “piece of s–t.” They have called for Trudeau to be hanged. They have verbally attacked members of his team…using racist and misogynistic language .”

Our politics will take another hit with Poiliviere taking his position as Leader of his majesty’s loyal opposition. The Freedom Convoy which occupied Ottawa, provided him with his freedom war cry and empowered his demonizing of Justin Trudeau and the “gatekeepers” who are apparently denying basic rights to Canadians and sending the country into ruinous inflation. Interestingly it was also the launch of increased aggressive attacks on “mainstream media - MSM”.

Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists said the Association was shocked by the level of antagonism, and Brodie Fenlon, editor in chief and executive director of daily news for CBC News recounted multiple examples of violent confrontations all over Canada: “….disturbing abuse has appeared in our inboxes and social media feeds, threatening our staff with arrest, graphic violence and extra-judicial trials. References to Nuremberg and treason are common. The dialogue is rife with allegations of conspiracy and ‘fake news.’

Clearly the Trump strategy of discounting the validity of news that a leader doesn’t like has been adopted by Poiliviere who openly supported the Freedom Convoy. Aside from saying he will defund the CBC, the largest news gathering organization in Canada, he goes out of his way to discredit journalists who take a run at him. In a particularly egregious example attacking a reporter who criticized his consorting with a well-known anti-vaccer, he put out a fulsome media release which referred to “one of Global news’s so-called journalists” and said – “Canadian’s trust in news media has reached an all-time low. And when we look at your coverage of these issues it is easy to understand why. Instead of covering the news, unprofessional journalists like you try to set disingenuous traps to attack your opponents.”

Poiliviere has paraded his messages on social media and in convincing professionally-produced You Tube videos. Using the media of information preferred by younger Canadians and appealing directly to their needs and frustrations in his rallies has resulted in some polls showing him more popular with younger Canadians than Justin Trudeau or NDP’s Jagmeet Singh. Some observers contend that Poilievre’s momentum with youth could be a factor in the next election. *

Meanwhile the Ottawa press gallery who we rely on for perspective and context have paid little attention to Poiliviere. Former Maclean’s columnist Paul Wells did do a long piece on his economic policies, the only serious one as far as I know on his paid subscription website. Others have tended to follow an early piece by the Globe’s Campbell Clark which takes the then candidate to task for blaming inflation on The Bank of Canada’s money printing and the Trudeau government’s spending habits. His promise to fire the head of the Bank of Canada has garnered him much negative press.

All this is to remind those of us who have lived in another era that informed coverage that seems to have let Poilivere’s campaign go largely un-analyzed, has been greatly diminished by the loss of so many seasoned journalists locally and in Ottawa. The outcry over the dismissal of Lisa Laflamme, the last of the real authority figures on the most watched national TV newscast is merely the apogee of replacement of seasoned veterans in our journalist’s world by cheaper less experienced reporters. Salaries have been cut and bureaus reduced. There are fewer reporters chasing fewer stories and news outlets, whether TV, radio or print with falling advertising revenue have undergone large cutbacks in staff. Bell Media which owns many radio stations and CTV news channel and CP24 News has shed hundreds to regain profitability. The Ottawa bureaus of large regional papers like

the Vancouver Sun, Halifax Chronicle Herald and Winnipeg Free Press, and sizeable radio networks like CHUM and the former Newsradio all had Ottawa bureaus which are now gone.

TV news, which does little analysis, remains an important source for news with the internet a close second. A study by the Canadian Media Research Consortium found that 38 per cent said that television is the format they prefer for news and information; and 30 per cent said they preferred the internet. When asked where they find the most interesting news items, more than 50 per cent said they find the best stuff on the net. Only 15 per cent and six per cent chose newspapers and radio, respectively. This is good news for the Poilivere’s of this world, bad news for Canadians who need informed analysis of what is really happening in Ottawa.

There are still strong journalistic and columnist voices like Robert Fife and Chantal Hebert, John Ivison, Andrew Coyne, Althia Raj and John Ibbitson. However, the majority of this deep journalistic talent is found in major print media, the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail and National Post. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Canadians, and especially young Canadians, get their news from these sources and even a cursory scan of TV Ottawa coverage reveals mainly much younger reporters covering the nation’s business.

Thus, we are entering perhaps the most divisive and contentious period in Canadian political history with an angry population deeply worried about their ability to survive a punishing economy, with a popular young leader of the opposition who speaks to them with wild policy solutions, and an unpopular Prime Minister seemingly out of touch with the electorate with few convincing new policies. Exacerbating this is a less robust and influential Ottawa press gallery to provide serious context and coverage. The result is our politics is diminished for sure.

In the conclusion to his excellent review of the history of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Power Prime Ministers and the Press, Bob Lewis says: “An informed media, can in Byron’s metaphor cause ‘a small drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought’ to make millions think…reporters chasing sensation, the horse race over policies, contribute to declining faith in the legitimacy of government. One might add – and one senior politician and a segment of the public questioning the very legitimacy of mainstream journalism

We must take Poiliviere seriously, watch his trajectory very closely, inform ourselves from journalists who seriously watch the evolving Ottawa scene, ignore the unfact checked bits and pieces on the internet, talk and speak openly about where this country is going and dialogue with our MP’s who will be in a listening mood. We are in the kind of fluid and unpredictable political situation where being a seriously informed electorate can save us from real political decline.

*See excellent National Post article - Analysis: Why does Pierre Poilievre appeal to young Canadians? Sam Routley, Western University, Sept 04, 2022

Sermon Summary

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 15:20:30 GMT

Summary of a sermon by Patrick Gossage at All Saints Anglican Church, King City on August 28, 2022 on Luke 14

“All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Christ warns. Paul puts it even more bluntly in Philippians: ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.‘ This is good advice, and isn’t this the way you become a better more effective person yourself – to be with people who are better, who inspire and guide. Listen to James 3: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” Wise people don’t boast they act.

Humility was rarely considered a virtue in Greco-Roman moral discourse. It still is not today. So how are we to behave given the pride we have of the success many of us have experienced.

We must not be complacent and boastful; it’s what we do with that success that counts. Does being humble mean we have to be meek and avoid speaking out when we see injustice, or when we are attacked. That is not what Jesus meant. Listen to the story of Jesus enraged by what he considered the commercialization of a holy place in Mark 11: “ Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons…” A wonderful image of a justifiably angry Jesus.

There is another aspect to humility. The fact that the glory of God’s creation humbles us. It does. I know that the rich beauty of the woodland trails in King and York region humble me. As does my still early morning lake in the canoe. And there’s a wonderful hymn we often sing that says it so well: ”When thro’ the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great thou art! How great thou art!” The creator has given us an awe-inspiring creation. We should be humbled by it.

So let’s not be boastful, but ready to speak and act against injustice and evil when we meet it. And let’s trust in God’s grace and the power of Jesus to make us stronger to do his will.

Can Justin Rebuild his Popularity?

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 00:13:04 GMT

Politicians don’t go in elections to lose. It’s possible in three years that current low poll standings for Liberals against Conservatives and Justin’s personal popularity remain low. If Poliviere wins as CPC leader and finds a way to appeal to urban and suburban Canadians, then Justin Trudeau may not want to drag his party to defeat. This would lead to a leadership race and a new face for the party top take on Poliviere.

This scenario is by no means certain, but it will be talked about as will a PM tired of being blamed for every ill to beset Canada, a recession, and the endless threats and attacks coming at him from so many quarters in the era of social media. His all may just wear him down and lead to the understandable “time to spend more time with family” familiar explanation.

A big caveat is that this will not happen if Justin finds his way to rebuild the popularity he enjoyed in the 2015 election and the “sunny ways” that followed his victory. Part of this popularity related to the ease with which he related to Canadians.

It was an attractive image which we saw again recently when he attended events at the Calgary Stampede. Coverage offered photos that captured a politician who always seems to draw genuine joy from talking to ordinary Canadians. It felt like the Trudeau of the 2015 campaign when he was casual and straight. Accessibility was so important to his appeal and the contrast with the hard, unapproachable Stephen Harper played greatly to his advantage. His communication style, in that campaign and particularly in the debates, was relaxed and relatable.

Unfortunately, we have become inured to a more formal rehearsed style since the last election. Perhaps a decision was made that serious pandemic and serious economic times demanded serious delivery. Even the “I feel your pain” messages seemed, at times, to lack authenticity or a genuine sense of connection that was Trudeau’s strength. There’s a gulf between that stiff overly formal style, which is at odds with his more natural casual communication style. At times, he sounds as if he is giving instructions to a school assembly rather than informing, updating, and relating to Canadians. If style trumps message, then those communications fail.

The opposition is ramping up its attacks using Trump style tactics, a grass roots, casual and direct approach unfiltered by traditional media to engage with populist ideas that aren’t always based on fact. Attention spans are short. People are listening and not checking their facts, or are deeply suspicious of conventional media sources. In the mass anxiety of inflation, they want politicians to talk to them on their media about their concerns in their language.

But surely, he’s also been Prime Minister for long enough to initiate real dialogue with the country. He would do well to consider shifting away from his overly formal style and find one that allows him to talk directly about the serious issues we all face.

This would involve a technical fix not beyond the skill set he and his team possess. A more likeable PM that doesn’t sound like an elite would find a response for sure, and it would be noticed.

The other strategy which is very hard for politicians to adopt but shows honesty with the public is to admit that there is no quick fix to some of the huge issues which beset Canada and much of the world. There are simply hills that are not worth dying on. Inflation may indeed be one of them.

Finally, there are now polling indications that Trudeau is seen as a more desirable Prime Minister than Poliviere. The latter with nothing to lose at this point is a glib performer who has provided Liberal election campaign planners with a treasure trove of bizarre video material which, negatively presented, can turn off many Canadians.

These are the factors weighing even now in the PM0 that make the earlier scenarios we put forward somewhat less likely. But beware, the current political climate is more polarized and fraught than ever thanks to social media, the influence of Trump style politics and other factors. Canadian politics is on a downward spiral. There will be more potential candidates looking at politics in horror and not putting their names forward, and many Liberals will decide not to run again. It’s too nasty and even dangerous. Ask former Liberal Minister Catherine McKenna who decided not to run again to spend time with her family. She was bullied in the House and her riding office vandalized.

To review, there are many question marks and several viable scenarios for Justin Trudeau leading to the next election. We feel his communication style needs a remake. That could rebuild his popularity as well as Canadians taking a closer look at Poliviere and perhaps with the help of negative Liberal ads seeing Justin as a more desirable mainstream leader. All we voters can do is stay tuned - it will be a bumpy ride.

Written by Patrick Gossage and Karen Gordon. Patrick Gossage is a veteran political commentator and former Press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Karen Gordon is a well-known critic, writer, broadcaster, media strategist and trainer.

What to do About Inhuman Treatment of our Neighbours

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:58:39 GMT

Deep moral questions assail us all. The story of the good Samaritan and what Christ said about who is our neighbour is as good a guide to what to think and do about these truly troubling situations which drown our lives.

Our neighbour in the story is a man who has been beaten by thieves and left by the side of the road and needs help. Several good folk pass by him and the Samaritan alone stops and helps. Surely we have to be active in our concern for those who society has beaten up.

Recently for me it is the Indigenous women who for years, as a racialized group, have undergone forced sterilization. First, they were overrepresented when the eugenics movement argued for sterilization of unfit or mentally defective women to enhance the creation of a more desirable white society. This led to legalized sterilization in BC (1933) following Alberta (1928). These acts and the federal Sexual Sterilization Act of 1928 led to the sterilizations, both compulsory and optional of nearly 3000 individuals until these acts were terminated in the early 1970’s. Professor Karen Stote told the Senate committee about coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in federally operated “Indian hospitals” as well. Her research reveals that approximately 1,150 Indigenous women had been sterilized in these hospitals over a 10-year period up until the early 1970s.

The senate committee has been studying the disgusting practice since 2019. The committee learned that it persists despite legislative changes and significant media attention. The committee learned that cases of forced or coerced sterilization continued to be reported as recently as 2018. Its current prevalence is underreported and underestimated. The committee ‘s report states that this “horrific practice” disproportionately affects vulnerable and marginalized groups including Indigenous women, black and racialized women and people with disabilities. Their report says there is no sign that doctors face consequences for acts of coerced sterilization. This could change if a specific criminal offence is created. While forced sterilization could fall under the category of assault in the Criminal Code, the committee said it wants it codified as a crime in law through the passage of its Bill S-250, which would make it an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Indeed, there is no reason the government should not see this Bill through.

Clearly this is a historic wrong that can be righted with a simple solution. Unless there is public pressure, which all of us can apply through our MP’s, I fear it is likely to disappear with more study.

Let’s look at the historic enslavement and gruesome slave trade of Africans to the Americas which I would argue still is a current moral issue which affects deeply a wider slice of Canada’s population than we would like to admit. At the height of the transatlantic trade which saw up to 600 chained captured Africans stacked in rows on three levels of ships barely able to move on a three-month crossing where up to a third died of dysentery and other disease. Three million blacks were shipped to the Americas this way to be sold like chattel to work in the plantations in the southern United States and the West Indies.

We can’t comfort ourselves by saying this in a problem that bedevils only the US. We did have slavery in British North America and New France before it was abolished in 1834 in Britain and its colonies. The same belief was accepted that blacks were subhuman and hence were property.

Aside from hundreds of black and Indigenous slaves in New France, around 3,000 black enslaved men, women, and children were brought into British North America largely by loyalists after the US revolutionary war. By the 1790s, the number of enslaved black people in the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) ranged from 1,200 to 2,000. There were about 300 in Lower Canada (Québec), and between 500 and 700 in Upper Canada (Ontario). So there will still be descendants of this group as there will be from the underground railroad which flourished in the 1850s and 1860s when British North America became a popular refuge for slaves fleeing the horrors of plantation life in the American South. In all 30,000 slaves fled to Canada.

Unlike the open armed welcome offered Caucasian refugees, evident now with Ukrainians, sympathy for freed slaves in the Maritimes and those arriving later by the underground railroad in central Canada uncovered very racist attitudes among white colonists in Upper Canada. For every meeting favouring freed slaves there was another demanding an end to black immigration. Some citizens even demanded slaves be sent back. "... let (them)... be free in their own country; let us not countenance their further introduction among us; in a word, let the people of the United States bear the burden of their sins," wrote one colonist.

Freed slaves who had been shipped from New York to the Maritimes following the revolutionary war’s end in 1783, as a reward for their loyalty to Britain in the war found little support and open sometimes violent racism from white loyalists who got better land and supplies.

Over 3,000 freed black refugees who had been loyal to Britain during the war of 1812 were shipped to Nova Scotia from the US. They were settled in an area near Halifax. The sad story of the black community Africville on the outskirts of Halifax goes back to 1848. For over 150 years hundreds of families lived there and built a thriving, close‐knit community. There were stores, a school, a post office and the Seaview United Baptist Church, which was Africville’s spiritual and social centre.

The community was denied normal city services and in 1964 the city decided to relocate its residents, claiming this would improve their living conditions but in fact dispersing the community forced many into becoming wards of the state. The last home was destroyed in 1970 and the many who had no title to their property were granted only $500. An apology for razing the community was finally given by the city and a settlement helped pay for a new Seaview church. But this brutal treatment of blacks in Nova Scotia remains a dark memory for hundreds of black Nova Scotians and their descendants.

We should also consider that until after World War II Canada was a markedly racist nation which affected the lives of the thousands of black people already here. In the early 20th century American segregation and Jim Crow laws and European colonial rule which controlled most of the world’s non-white population affected Canadian attitudes. Blacks were stereotyped as lazy, sexually overactive and genetically inferior. Immigration policies excluded non-European people. This affected immigration from the Caribbean which almost ceased after a small influx of black West Indians were admitted to mine in Cape Breton. After World War I many moved to Montreal and Toronto and became railway porters, bellhops and maids.

Blatant discriminatory practices against blacks were commonplace until the late ‘40’s in restaurants, theatres, on public transportation, public recreational facilities and in housing. Canada had no civil rights movement to fight these practices relying on the brave campaigns mounted by black individuals and organizations.

Finally in 1962 the federal government ended racial discrimination as a feature of the immigration system. This led to a major increase in immigrants from the West Indies resulting in greatly increased numbers of blacks in major cities. In 20 years, the black population has doubled in size, going from 573,860 persons in 1996 to 1,198,540 persons in 2016. Ethnic diversity numbers from the 2021 census will be available in October and will doubtless show a big increase in the black population. Remember that West Indian sugar plantations were infamous for the most brutal treatment of slave workers. Rebellion or misbehaviour was punished at times by whipping to death.

We are a more open and tolerant society today but black discrimination is still fought against by advocates who have been more active than ever in attacking the systemic racism that still exists. More visible campaigns mirrored the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.

Discriminatory treatment by our justice system remains a flashpoint. Amnesty International paints a bleak picture tying this form of racism to historical attitudes and policies: “The way that racism is institutionalized in the justice system, as well as in broader society, is connected to Canada’s long, sordid legacy of perpetrating anti-black racism throughout history with enslavement, exclusionary immigration, and more.” One does not have to look far for examples: That black people accounted for 7.2% of federal offenders in 2018/2019 while comprising 3.5% of Canada's population is a clear demonstration of how our justice system treats blacks. A recent study showed in Toronto that black people are nearly four times more likely to be arrested by police for drug possession compared to their representation in the general population according to arrest data from 2015-2021. A similar situation was found in Ottawa where black people were nearly three times more likely to be arrested for drug possession than their representation in the city’s population.

Then there is the highly controversial issue of police street checks of suspicious individuals, checking identity when no crime is suspected, or “carding”. This became a major media and political issue in Toronto largely fed by a Toronto Star investigation which found that between 2008 and 2012, 1.8 million contact cards were filled out by the Toronto Police Service, involving more than a million individuals, and almost one-quarter of the individuals documented were black. The practice was abolished in Ontario in 2017. But the legal system still shows marked racist tendencies. Amnesty International again: “The 2020 Ontario Human Rights Commission interim report on anti-black racism in policing states that ‘ black people in Toronto are up to 20 times more likely to be shot dead by police than white people.’ If you’re black in Halifax, you are six times more likely to be carded by police , compared to white counterparts. In Vancouver statistics currently show that in 2017, 5 % of street checks involved black individuals, who make up only 1 % of the city’s population. Ottawa is no different, where black drivers are stopped 2.3 times more than the dominant population.”

Black History month is over and black students everywhere are becoming more familiar with continuing legacy of slavery which is still affecting their lives, and is present in the continuing and lingering negative attitudes of Canada’s privileged white class. There is much to be done to finally erase all traces of that legacy, in our justice system especially and in the hearts of the white population. Many blacks feel figuratively speaking they are beaten up and in the ditch waiting for a real hand up. All Canadians must work harder to understand the worth and respect this population deserves.

The story of slavery in the US and Canada is a long sad one that has been masterfully told in the Book of Negroes by Canadian Lawrence Hill. The book is a rich powerful and distressing education on the truth of the slave experience in the 1700’s while exposing the themes of racism, sexism, mental health, trauma, and loss. It is personalized as the story of one young girl who is captured in Africa, transported, and works on a plantation, then is taken to New York where she works for the British and becomes one of the thousands of Blacks resettled in Nova Scotia. She ends up as a witness in the British House of Commons in the debate over ending the slave trade. We owe it to the millions of our black brothers and sisters in this country whose ancestors lived those experiences to at least read it and try and understand the depth of this historic wrong.

Another Renewal for CBC News. Will this be the One that Works?

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 19:43:32 GMT

In the past its flagship nightly news program The National enjoyed good ratings when helmed by national news figures like Knowlton Nash and Peter Mansbridge. No longer, as for years its ratings have paled beside CTV’s nightly National News.

Critics use this fact as a reason to question the very relevance of CBC. The Corporation recently took step to answer this charge by planning to offer more news to more Canadians on more digital platforms and by reverting to a single authoritative journalist anchor for the national, Adrienne Arsenault.

Digital news distribution for CBC news is not new. Over two decades ago CBC news started to go digital and now the results are impressive. CBCNews.ca is used by over 10 million Canadians monthly, and news is now more heavily into digital distribution. It is a little-known fact that over a year The National is seen by 180 million views on channels such as You Tube, Facebook, and CBC Gem. Weekly the program’s You Tube channel is watched by 1.7 million viewers.

Yet Conservatives hate the CBC and for years have focused on dwindling audience support, even as taxpayer subsidies balloon. An easy target for Pierre Poliviere, the leading Conservative candidate in September’s leadership race. He is calling for “defunding” of the CBC, building on Conservative threats of a similar nature going back years. Unlike in years before when Mulroney was cutting CBC drastically, there is little overt public support for CBC now, especially since it enjoyed a major new infusion of over $600 million from the current Liberal government. In the Liberal platform in the last election even more money was promised to bolster CBC’s national and local news. $400 million over four years is earmarked for this topping the total $1.4 billion budget for the CBC last year. The scale of this generous support from the Liberal government underpins the view in the right wing in Canada that the CBC as an arm of the Liberals.

Yet there has never been more discussion about the importance of a healthy news industry in guaranteeing a healthy democracy at a time when literally thousands of jobs have been cut from newsrooms across the country. CBC has the largest, most diverse, local and national army of news gatherers in Canada by far. The CBC is working on how its output could be better used.

It is important that CBC succeed in its latest new strategy for news. Canada so needs a popular national forum for the professional airing and debate of major issues. Can we count on this new strategy providing that and reinstating The National as a true news flagship?

This latest transformation of The National jettisons the former awkward multi-host format of The National, and the most seasoned journalist among them, Adrienne Arsenault, is being made Chief Correspondent, replacing the long retired Mansbridge in the role as sole anchor. Her authority may translate into greater viewing, and may herald other changes which will save The National.

The same June 20 announcement from CBC revealed more sweeping plans for news: “ CBC News today announced a new strategic approach to better serve audiences across Canada on both television and digital platforms through an enhanced news offering in the year ahead, including the launch of a free streaming channel… Andrew Chang is to play a central role on the new streaming channel, hosting a new daily show that will be the centrepiece of each weekday.” Streaming is a good idea and one that has boosted audiences for three major US networks. Chang seems a natural for this role.

Much of the new strategy to make CBC news a central source for us all is in development, and there has been a lack of media coverage– with the notable exception of John Doyle of the Globe and Mail who asks “how much CBC news does the world need?” This attests to the fact that further tinkering with CBC’s news operations is not big news. It should be.

The huge nationwide and diverse coverage capabilities of CBC news are needed now more than ever as regional fragmentation becomes more pronounced and national unity seems threatened by Alberta, Saskatchewan and increasing nationalist Quebec. This is what is being worked on. A multi-platform streaming service that would draw down feature video from across the country and promote understanding.

The critical national issues of racial intolerance, gun control, remaining injustices to indigenous peoples and yes even fear of immigrants need exposing and sound analysis from different points of view regionally on a new national platform. Digital has worked for the CBC for a decade and going deeper into more popular streaming platforms seems a good call. It is being done by the three US national networks with great effect, and 1/3 of their offerings is news or current affair oriented.

The news operation at CBC absorbs most of the money, and for once top management is engaged and supports the new strategy. A new group lead by Brodie Fenlon, Editor In Chief, Executive Director of Programs and Standards is embracing the opportunity offered by streaming and doing a “deeper dive” into current issues which the service will provide. Like a Netflix it will also allow viewers to choose which items they want to see when it is convenient.

There are fresh new ideas, and they are being worked on. Let’s hope this is not another fruitless attempt at being “relevant”. We can hope these ideas will be well executed and will find bigger audiences and on new digital platforms attract the elusive younger population and face them with the critical public issues which will shape their future.

Previewing a Trudeau-Poliviere Fight to the Finish

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 14:20:46 GMT

If Poliviere wins the Conservative leadership race in September, and it looks like he might, we’ll be treated to a three-year war between him and Justin Trudeau before the next election.

Despite the traditional media’s ridiculing of Poilievre’s more outlandish policies and claims, something is happening with this charismatic performer that will ensure the battle is not the unequal one progressives assume it will be.

For starters he is consistently bypassing media and communicating directly with his growing numbers of supporters through social media and especially using well-crafted videos on Facebook and YouTube. He is a natural talking without notes directly to camera making clear points and more often than not strongly expressing the concerns of cash strapped Canadians and putting the blame squarely on Trudeau and his policies. He has the authentic voice of a fed-up Canadian.

Shrewd political observers see Poilievre as a talented communicator who has run a highly effective campaign filling venues everywhere across the country. His signing up of 311,958 new members to the party, if true, is the highest number of memberships signed up by any leadership candidate for any political party in Canada ever.

So a strong ground game and a very powerful social media game. And no reliance on traditional media support to get his message out. Their relative impotence is on display and one well known veteran pundit, Don Newman, even acknowledged in Policy Magazine: “Initially, it seemed the reporting on Poilievre’s rhetoric, his support for the blockaders, his promotion of cryptocurrencies and his conspiracy theories would begin to be reflected in opinion polls. But like Donald Trump, Poilievre seems to exist within a polling zone of permanently suspended disbelief.”

And conspiracy theories of different sorts do have some appeal to Canadians as a recent Abacus poll showed. Amazingly, for example, 37% (or 11 million) think “there is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native born Canadians with immigrants who agree with their political views.” This is what is commonly referred to as replacement theory.

Poliviere is simply not fighting for hearts and minds in the same way and in the same media as his opponents, both Liberals and NDP, and Conservative Party people. He is opening up a new style of politics that is evident to anyone who watches his videos.

I just watched an amazing three-minute one take continuous tracking video of Pierre Poilievre walking through Toronto’s Pearson airport – “this God-forsaken place” – articulately blaming the congestion and huge lineups on what he says are vaccine mandates of a power tripping Prime Minister that most countries have ditched some time ago. It’s one of the most convincing political videos I have ever seen. His voice is strong and unhalting. He speaks with a mask on in the main concourse and doffs it in a great gesture as he walks outside. As it turns out, mandates for domestic travel are now canceled while onerous ones for arriving international travelers are still in effect. The accusation stands and his commitment to never impose such mandates as PM certainly has a following.

Scott Reid, former senior communications guy for Prime Minister Paul Martin and a respected CTV commentator was quoted in a recent John Ibbitson column in the Globe as saying this video is “proof of the threat Mr. Poilievre poses to the Liberal Party.”

“If anyone doubts how much game this guy is packing, just check this out – a three minute, one-take tracking shot that comes with a metal-jacketed message,” he posted on Twitter.

I agree, and to get back to the potential Trudeau-Poilievre battle, we have seen hours of Trudeau on camera daily during the pandemic. His somewhat dour-scripted, carefully-worded outings have the air of lectures with none of the broad appeal, hard work and sunny ways that the 2015 campaign had. Now it’s all “we have your back” with not a lot to back it up. This was proven in his Deputy Prime Minister’s recent speech in Toronto rehashing already announced policies as an answer to dealing with inflation. Again, Liberals seemed to not be sensitive to the real problems of ordinary Canadians. The Globe’s Campbell Clark wrote in a recent column: “(Trudeau’s) government doesn’t have a compelling policy response to inflation. It also doesn’t seem to understand the angst ordinary Canadians feel about it. “

A friend of mine got it right when it comes to who and how is being targeted: – he wrote: ”As an NDP person recently said, ‘We gave up the working class for the chattering class.’ Well, they and the Liberals have most of the chattering classes. But the cost may possibly be much too high. The same mistake Hillary made with her ‘deplorables’ attitude.”

This class totally disdains the truckers that Poliviere embraced for their dedication to his loose focus on “freedom”. A recent article in the New Statesman reviewing two books about the rise of authoritarianism in western politics made telling point about ignoring the cries of the angry and dispossessed: who are seduced by simplistic messages: “Too often the response of political mainstreams has been to belittle such voters for their faith in obviously illusory answers, rather than asking themselves what causes the sense of dislocation in the first place.” Indeed. The mainstream parties have not been paying attention.

In the last Ontario election Doug Ford heard these voters and the Liberals did not. His common person demeanor worked, and he understood that they did not want fancy social policies and that building new highways, subways and infrastructure and the new jobs that came with these investments was just fine.

Pollsters seem to agree that voter fatigue is the Liberals biggest enemy going forward. If this is the case, Poliviere has the advantage of moving quickly and being sharp and original. And relentless in fastening people’s anger and frustration on the current government.

There will be an ongoing fight, perhaps not to the finish since what Trudeau’s father called the good common sense of Canadians with a major push by the Liberal ad machine that could redefine Poliviere and eat away at his credibility. But never since his father and Rene Levesque squared off have we had such polar opposites in such gladiatorial political combat.

Is Justin’s PMO Out of Touch in its Bubble?

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 21:08:51 GMT

Campbell Clark wrote this in his Globe column on Monday June 12. It is a very critical take on Justin Trudeau’s PMO and its disconnection from what the public certainly think is a priority.

“The political inertia inside Mr. Trudeau’s seven-year-old government is so heavy that the Prime Minister and the people around him don’t even seem to feel the nudges of MPs in their own party – the folks in touch with constituents – who are telling them it is time for those (vaccine) mandates for arriving air travelers to go.”

How classic. As a former PMO staffer I know how easy it is to miss the real issues that plague the lives of ordinary people – in this case beleaguered travelers in lineups made even more unbearable because of vaccine mandates. The PM and his staff are very celibately NOT ordinary people.

When they travel their bags are taken from them and they don’t see them again until they are put in their hotel rooms at their destination. They board a jet plane directly on arrival at the airport. Driven up to the bottom of the stairs. At the destination, cars await them at the bottom of the stairs and they are whisked to their destination – even sirens blazing if traffic is bad. No delays with pesky traffic jams. Keys await them at the hotel and are distributed. Then off to your room where your bags await. The ultimate no fuss travel experience.

I’m not saying this is why it seems so difficult for them to lift vaccine mandates. But the fact they don’t experience what Mr. and Mrs. average air traveler experiences can reduce the issue as a straight political priority. Maybe they can imagine the added anguish this causes air travelers. But then the test is, is it harming the reputation of the PM? Their principal concern. Is he being blamed for airport chaos? I heard a poor cabinet Minister dodging the question of responsibility recently by saying this chaos is a worldwide phenomenon. A classic.

The other factor that may militate against taking quick action on obvious solutions to obvious problems is that this PM, like his father, likes to think big. This is the kind of tone he likes to strike. A few lines from his speech at the recent Summit of the Americas: “…we must keep working together. Especially now at a moment when our world is facing many challenges like a global pandemic, climate change, and threats to democracy and the rules-based order. We need to deliver for people, and make sure they see themselves in the progress we make. For that, we must ensure we have strong institutions, and take action to strengthen them further.”

Where does reducing wait times in airports for ordinary travelers fit into these grand aspirations? It is a problem for all leaders, and it is exacerbated, I believe, by the protected bubble they move in, removed from the ordinary concerns of ordinary people.

The Lackluster Campaign that Returned Doug Ford

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 16:52:13 GMT

There is general agreement that a boring campaign pitched to a tired and worried post pandemic electorate gave Doug Ford in his positive slogan laced, disciplined campaign a smooth ride to a resounding second majority.

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Anglicans Extend Welcome to the LGBTQ Community

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 18:32:09 GMT

After years of discussion, Anglican priests in Canada can now perform gay marriages. It’s been a long road that ended in recognizing that the love of Christ extends to the LBGTQ community.

My church has been slow in opening the door wide to the gay community but is making as good start with our new priest Canon Erin Martin who ran a regular meeting with LBGTQ people in Newmarket, at her last posting in Sharon. They were widely attended pre-Covid. Now All Saints door in King city is wide open. Canon Erin- is holding an information session for our admittedly older congregation at All Saints King City to set the stage for more active

programs. I know the spirit will open all our hearts to complete loving acceptance of all with different sexual orientations.

There is absolutely no evidence that Jesus had anything to say about this community. Oft quoted references in Paul’s Epistles refer to the problem of men having relations with boys, not to loving couples. Jesus showed his love for prostitutes and others on the margins of his society. There is no reason for Christians not to accept LBGTQ

worshippers.

How things have changed. I remember vividly one day when I was the public affairs counselor at our embassy in Washington a clean suited young man arrived and announced himself as an RCMP officer. He

warned me that my new cultural officer was a “homosexual” – pronounced with distaste – and that while he was “in the closet”, I should be vigilant because he might be subject to blackmail by untrustworthy nations. I was gob smacked. Gays were in a box in those days. My officer, like many, had a girlfriend as cover. Afraid to show his

sexual preference openly. No longer. We’ve come a long way.

I look forward to Canon Erin officiating at our church’s first gay marriage. It’s about time.

The Joy of writing a Romance Novel

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 17:26:18 GMT

I am not alone, being a retired ex-journalist, political hanger on and PR guy, in that writing has been the backbone of my career.

How the tools of the trade have changed. I am old enough that my days writing various screeds go back to handwritten essays tapping on a portable Olivetti, to old Underwoods at the first paper I worked at, to the queen of mechanical typewriters the IBM Electric, to clunky desktops with Word Perfect to a series of laptops to my present HP Zbook. Always hunting and pecking I hate to admit.

Writing, writing, and more writing

But the output! Ponderous, overly wordy University essays, then local stories for the late Guelph Mercury under the inspiring tutelage of my Scottish city editor Vick who scrubbed my prose clean of all unnecessary blandishments, to scripts for TV shows at CBC and CTV, speeches for Pierre Juneau at the CRTC, to notes for Prime Minister Trudeau and press releases at the PMO, to talking notes and news releases for Ambassador Alan Gotlieb in Washington, to my first published political commentaries for the Star and Ottawa papers when I returned to Ottawa. Then to endless materials and news releases, speeches and coaching lessons for executives, and other material for clients when I ran my own PR firm. I admit some of this stuff bordered on fiction since PR firms, while defending reputations, are really in the good news business. But I learned about convincing prose and the impact the spoken word can have. I did write deliberate short punchy quotes bound to make it into TV clips.

Meaningful Diaries

Then my wife and I had a child and I decided this was such a major event that I started writing a diary a few days after she was born – a full literary work which described the early days of her life, the Gatineau countryside where we lived for several years, our dogs and friends. My daughter, now a successful career woman over 50, loves to hear the account of the harrowing trip in a snowstorm to the hospital for her birth. It will be her treasure. Then, every Saturday in Ottawa while I was at the PMO I followed the advice of a good friend who had told me to write a diary when I worked in the PMO. So, I spent a couple of hours handwriting as good a description of what had happened that week as I could. When I returned to Toronto I told an editor friend of mine about it and asked him to look at parts I’d typed up. He allowed, as there was a book in it, and I found a publisher and away we went. Close to the Charisma (McClelland and Stewart, 1986) was well-received and I made enough money from it to buy a fine French-Canadian armoire with some to spare.

A New Venture

My first venture into real fiction took me from 1994 to 1996 to unravel what I hoped was a thoughtful series of yarns about a good man, an Anglican priest, Father Pat, as he deals with the world, the flesh and the devil in a very secular world. In a way I was writing about a life I almost had since I was to be a priest, went to seminary for a year and left it to be a journalist feeling my voice would be heard more effectively in that pursuit. The Father Pat Stories (Dundurn 1997) came out when I was President of my PR company. My Rogers client threw a fine party. But neither I nor the family was thrilled with this fairly self-indulgent work.

Retired, and felt I had to try another book. I certainly had time. It struck me during my daily walks with other dog people through a wonderful woodlot in South Aurora (yes, I had become a suburbanite) that this might be a great location and theme for a romantic novel. Something so full of love, dogs and positive emotions that it would be a real tonic to distract from the horrors of the daily news and Donald Trump. Almost no politics, the cast of my book would be vaguely leftish, but it would never come up. Loving sex only. Lots of dog stories and interaction. Cottage life where everyone is happy and there are no rules. This was inspired by the neat caring people with dogs I met daily in the woods. I even have dogs walking up the aisle with my two main characters who fall in love walking their dogs and get married.

Good Therapy

Just think about pecking away at happy stories for days on end. New wife of a widowed man with a grown-up daughter becoming best friends with her. I highly recommend it as a life affirming activity. And if what ends up between covers is not much more than a Hallmark movie, so be it. Watching them makes millions of people feel better. There is an end story which sets this book apart from regular romance novel fare. I discovered that alpha Wolves mate for life and that there are documented stories of one losing a mate and like elephants suffering real bereavement and showing it with pitiful howling. Hollie, the book’s chief character is a book illustrator and reads an Ernest Thomson Seaton book about a wolf called Lobo who dies of a broken heart when his mate Bianca is killed. She finds an Algonquin Park naturalist study of the Algonquin wolf who has written about a similar scene. That’s it. She decides to go to the park and spend time watching wolves and photographing them to be the basis for her own drawings for a story that follows a fictional pair who lose a mate. Love never dies becomes a theme, and the subsequent wolf story proves it for wolves and characters in the book. Slow Love which I self-published turned out to be the most satisfying piece of writing I have ever done. Try it. Best therapy ever. Write and imagine good things happening to your characters. What a thought! A total change from a lifetime of writing more “meaningful” stuff.

When will the west really stand up to Putin?

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:46:03 GMT

Adolf Hitler, a madman intent on expanding his empire, and wanting to retrieve a part of Poland, the Danzig corridor which was predominantly German, mounted a full-scale invasion of that country on September 1, 1939.

Britain had entered a formal military alliance pact with Poland that August following Hitlers’ non-aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, enhancing a promise to guarantee Polish independence made by Britain and France in March 1939. British PM Neville Chamberlain’s attempts at appeasement after the invasion came to naught and war with Germany was declared by Britain on September 3, 1939. Britain went to war to defend the balance of power in Europe and to safeguard its position in the world. France followed hours after Britain.

So, what has changed with Russia invading Ukraine? In 2022, there is no pact to guarantee the independence of that country although we knew it was threatened by Russia whose ambitions were made clear by Putin. So we have stood by and watched while a similar madman intent on rebuilding his country’s empire, and smarting from alleged western insults invades an unthreatening sovereign nation. Today we cower in fear of nuclear holocaust and real threats from Putin, who put his huge nuclear arsenal on standby early after his invasion of Ukraine. Otherwise, the scenario is eerily similar. Putin’s claim to “liberate” Ukraine, and now more particularly its minority Russian-speaking population in the south, and his promise to return Russia to international prominence, all mirror Hitler’s ambitions to some extent.

The big difference is that there is no Britain to really stand up to him. The United States, the more logical defender of the free world, seems unwilling to call Putin’s nuclear bluff, or to escalate the war in any way beyond spending billions on arms to make sure that its proxy, the Ukrainian army, beats Russia on the battlefield, and imposing with its allies ever more potent sanctions. According to U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, the United States now seeks to “weaken Russia” to the point that it can no longer threaten its neighbours. This is a big claim and in the short run does not seem to be working as planned. According to reports, the Russian economy has emerged surprisingly resilient; its currency has bounced back and this week Russia has found a way to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt. However, the worst is yet to come. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has projected a 10% shrinkage in the Russian economy, which would constitute the country’s deepest recession in almost 30 years, with GDP then flatlining in 2023 and entering a prolonged period of negligible growth. Is this likely to weaken Putin’s position domestically or alter his dedication to the war? Unlikely.

Much hope is now pinned on the EU’s readiness to reduce purchase of Russian oil and gas on which many European nations are dependent. Inflated prices are benefiting Russia, sustaining its war effort. Several EU nations have already stated they cannot go along with this. It remains to be seen if this will really be the weapon that will hammer the Russian economy.

Increasingly, military experts are predicting a long-extended war with no clear victory for either side. For the Russians, increasingly it is a war of attrition and killing of civilians. Can the carpet bombing of Ukrainian cities weaken the will of Ukraine’s admittedly effective fighters? Unlikely. Bomber Harris whose tactics levelled so many German cities during the second world war would be proud of Putin.

It’s these nightly videos of destroyed Ukrainian cities and their pummeled populations that spark the moral outrage of the west’s citizens which politically could force the hand of NATO to, at the very least, somehow get aircraft to the Ukrainians so they have a chance of getting control of their airspace and reduce the bombing. At a March news conference, President Zelensky asked how many more had to die in Russian bombing and implored, “If you don’t have the strength to close the sky, give us planes.” There are few European capitals where a resolute move of this nature has not been talked of.

You can be sure the White House has the Pentagon looking into various forms of intervention, short of putting US boots on the ground. Perhaps Biden will hear out his generals...who I am sure are telling him that they have the airpower in Europe to take control of the skies. Surely these long kilometers of Russian supply vehicles are hard for them to look at when they know how easy it would be to destroy them from the air. If indeed either closing the skies or getting plans happened, the war would turn in days. NATO and the US know this. Would Putin push the button and be responsible for nuclear mass destruction? I doubt it. This is the precipitous bet some leader in the west has to initiate.

In the meantime, we take comfort in the fact we are identifying and getting the goods on “war criminals” and calling Russian killing of civilians and children “genocide”. As if Putin cares, or this will have any effect whatsoever on his prosecution of the war. I think as Canadians we are all getting a bit tired of the grand statements by Trudeau of our strong commitment to Ukraine, “standing with them in their defense of democracy”, when we are way down the list on per capital spending on lethal aide.

It’s worthwhile to look at brave Britain and France who stood up to a bully in those tense days of 1939 and guaranteed that after years of horror our way of life would survive. Who will stand up to Putin? Western leaders may have to face up to the fact that the longer the war continues, the harder it will be for either side to keep the fighting from escalating into a broader conflict. Surely we have to prevent this by acting more decisively to ensure a Ukrainian victory.

Shame on Ottawa for Inadequate Help for Those Afghans Who Helped Us

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 23:55:26 GMT

Canadian media has done a terrific job in advocating for those Afghan interpreters, drivers, guards and others who were so valuable to Canadian diplomats and journalists before the Taliban took over and are now being hunted by them. They regularly are interviewed from Afghanistan where they hide, and their fear, and the apparent indifference of their plight trying to get them or their families to Canada is palpable.

The government’s grand promises made to this group and their families have not been kept. Recently, an interpreter, lucky enough to be in Canada who was before a Parliamentary Committee on Afghanistan, described many of the promises made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) related to bringing their families over as misleading. He said that Afghan interpreters were once heroes to the government of Canada, but that today, “they are zeroes because they are stressed, depressed, panicking and mentally unstable due to the lives of their families and their loved ones.”

One hundred former interpreters rallied in March in Toronto and recently staged a hunger strike in Ottawa to pressure the government to move on family reunification under a new policy announced in December. Over 300 families are waiting to flee, and have filed applications, but none have heard from Immigration Canada.

Sean Fraser, the young earnest immigration and refugee Minister, wore a lot of egg on his face recently when Vassy Kapelos of CBC’s Power and Politics told him of the dire situation of an interpreter’s family then read a heartless bureaucratic letter he received. Fraser was somewhat sympathetic but simply repeated the government’s mantra that they were committed to resettling 40,000 Afghans, of which nearly 11,000 were already here.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, more than 50 former Canadian embassy security guards received an auto reply acknowledging their application in early August, but have heard nothing since. Veterans writing letters of reference for Afghans have had the same experience. And now a major advocacy organization, the Veteran’s Transition network, announced recently it is giving up its efforts to help this group, given onerous paperwork and the difficulty the government was having helping them get out of the country.

It took a former MP and retired general, Andrew Leslie to really bell the cat. In a Globe article he blames the visa delays and bureaucratic roadblocks on Justin Trudeau. He said the Prime Minister has failed to step in and order the process streamlined, as he did for Ukrainian nationals.

As a former PMO staffer, I know that a call from a senior aide of the PM to the Minister to solve this issue would get things moving. It likely has not been made.

“Trumpification” of Conservative race gift to Liberals

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 21:08:19 GMT

There is nothing like rancorous divisions in Conservative ranks and accusations of Trump-like politics to warm the hearts of Liberals who now have three years to plan and execute negative advertising about whoever wins the upcoming Conservative leadership battle.

No less a Conservative than a former Cabinet Minister and anchor of The National, Peter Kent nicely put the cat among the pigeons recently in a tough tweet on the performance of front runner Pierre Poilievre:

“…Still plenty of time in the leadership campaign for moderate conservatives to resist the Trumpification of the Conservative Party of Canada.”

At the height of the Freedom Convoy horrors, I wrote:

“But the future danger is more in right wing ideologues connected with and encouraged by their US counterparts who have proven they can delude large numbers of particularly young citizens angry at government for ignoring their sense of hopelessness and a shrinking future into mounting other mass demonstrations.”

Poilievre, known for shouting “Freedom, not fear. Truckers, not Trudeau,” as the convoy rolled into Ottawa, is tapping into this anger and seems to be drawing large crowds of the disaffected who will shout freedom on cue. Some wait for him to appear on Fox News. And the fact that he openly supported the freedom convoy disqualifies him from office according to his principal rival for leadership of the Conservatives, Jean Charest . To which Poilievre quickly replied that Charest’s work for the controversial Chinese telecom giant Huawei disqualifies him – which then Charest said he would ban in Canada!

The Liberals are feasting on these kinds of deep divisions which the ongoing leadership race will only exacerbate. Whoever wins, clips from open warfare between candidates which may break out in televised debates will provide material down the road for campaign ads.

The interesting political dramas to watch comes if Liberal fortunes continue strong in three years, providing Justin Trudeau the excuse to resign at the peak of his career to “spend more time with family”. They will be very much on his case after the endless crises he has survived. This will open the door for a strong female successor in the form of Chrystia Freeland. Make no mistake a weakened and fragmented Conservative party is a real possibility, and this more than anything else could ensure the future of the “natural governing party”!

Are We Losing our Reputation for Welcoming Refugees?

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 21:54:51 GMT

Canada has a hard-won reputation as being the most welcoming country in the world when it comes to refugees and those fleeing war and civil unrest.

It is now being sorely tested with what appears to be unnecessary roadblocks to facilitating the emigration of threatened -Afghan refugees and Ukrainian families fleeing war. Our young immigration Minister, Seam Fraser appears tongue tied trying to explain inexplicable delays facing worthy candidates for resettlement.

We’ve gone a long way from the efficient resettlement of many thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia in the late 1970s and early 1980’s. Over 100,000 Vietnamese were welcomed and now make a very visible and major contribution to our nation. Operation Lifeline mobilized community groups to sponsor Vietnamese refugees. This private sponsorship with government support was the first of its kind in the world. It continued with Syrian refugees.

We all remember the video of Justin Trudeau happily welcoming the first Syrian refugees at Toronto’s Airport in December 2015. Operation Syrian Refugees was our response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Over the span of 100 days, Canadians from coast to coast to coast, private sponsors, non-governmental organizations and provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, and international partners -welcomed more than 25,000 Syrian refugees.

How times have changed. There is now a two year wait time and groups are increasingly frustrated by painfully slow or no movement for Syrian families already designated for sponsorship. It seems that the pandemic, bureaucracy and understaffed foreign offices is hurting a very innovative and promising program.

Things are no better for so many of Canada’s 1.3 million citizens of Ukrainian origin ready to welcome families feeling from war. They find them facing major difficulties getting a visa under a new allegedly fast track program. One of the stumbling blocks, unheard of in earlier programs, is getting biometrics which involve going to a Canadian Embassy for fingerprinting and background checks, after filling in multiple online forms in a foreign language. Surely a passport should be enough in this dire situation for mothers and children.

Canadian TV coverage of crowds of Ukrainian families escaping into Poland and other neighboring countries always feature interviews with mothers trying to get a visa for Canada and complaining how difficult it is. Currently, less than one third of 112,000 applications had been approved. As of Mid-March about 3,400 had arrived. There is no limit to the number we will welcome. But no PM welcoming arrivals this time. Just Ukrainian Canadians complaining about bottlenecks getting fellow countrymen over here.

How sad. There is no lack of public support for bringing over more Afghans where we have a moral duty to help those who helped us. No lack of public desire to welcome Ukrainian mothers and kids. The arms of the huge Canadian population of Ukrainian origin are open. Where is the political will that was so evident in the case of boat people and Syrian refugees?

Putting aside partisanship for the public good

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 14:00:04 GMT

The normal hateful political partisanship that has poisoned US politics and threatens to poison ours was happily put aside twice recently and the public benefitted.

First, in what was a magnanimous gesture by Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader signed with the Liberals on October 22 a confidence-and-supply agreement. This basically guaranteed a functioning minority Parliament until 2025. In announcing the agreement, Justin Trudeau said: “the deal is aimed at acting on key policy areas where we share similar objectives” including taxing financial institutions, acting on climate change and reconciliation, pharma care and dental care. These last two have been major planks in NDP platforms for many years. Now with this agreement they will be put on the government’s legislative calendar.

It has been pointed out that these arrangements, where a third party sees part of its policies enacted in return for support of a minority government, often do not result in their electoral gain as the governing party takes credit at the next election. So, it can be said that Singh gave up electoral advantage for the needs of the people. Rare and laudable.

The second time the extension of friendship across party lines was evident was in the signing of the Liberal childcare plan in Ontario on October 30. Ford and Trudeau were gushing. Trudeau said, “It is always great to be making announcements for Ontario families alongside Premier Ford. Doug, it’s so good we are together again today.” To which Ford replied that it shows what can be accomplished “when we work together”.

What a good model for a more successful country. Parties actually co-operating to make good things happen at all levels of government.

Singh Sets an Enviable Example

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 14:42:06 GMT

With his agreement to support the Liberal minority through to 2025, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has shown a remarkable and rare example of a politician choosing public interest over partisan advantage. He knows full well that these arrangements to allow the governing party to adopt progressive measures that are part of the other party’s platform usually allow the governing party to take credit. The other party that made bringing forward these projects a condition of their support often does not benefit in the next election. Hence, Singh is sacrificing political advantage to ensure initiation of polices that “people need”. Good on him. Maybe his example will reduce the US style polarizing partisanship which seemed to be engulfing our national politics. Thanks Jagmeet.

Women are Better

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:39:11 GMT

It’s Arguable that Women Make Better Political Leaders

I’ve had a lifetime being challenged by and eventually saved by strong women both as a person, a political follower, and the leader of a company. I noted this on my 70th birthday as I listed those that had contributed so much to my own success. At every rung on my ladder to success there was a woman helping me. I now firmly believe that in my granddaughter’s lifetime women will end up running everything. For that I am profoundly glad, even relieved. The more they are in charge of, the better the world will be.

Strangely, Irving Berlin’s wonderful song from the 1940's in Annie Get Your Gun will be true. “Everything you can do I can do better”, she sings to Frank, and on it goes from shooting to dressing. Annie’s conviction and belief in herself is what pushes women on and on, to the top of their professions and callings.

The most recent proof of the smarts and decisiveness of women leaders comes from the amazing record of women political leaders in facing up to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here is what Forbes said about model leader, Angela Merkel:

The German Chancellor stood up early and calmly told her countrymen that this was a serious bug that would infect up to 70% of the population. “It’s serious,” she said, “take it seriously.” She did, so they did too. Testing began right from the get-go. Germany jumped right over the phases of denial, anger and disingenuousness we’ve seen elsewhere. The country’s numbers are far below its European neighbors.

The same goes for the female leadership of Taiwan, Iceland and of course New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern made an international name for herself in the unrelenting way she handled the pandemic. The young, charismatic Prime Minister’s handling of the disease was described by Forbes in this way:

Ardern was early to lockdown and crystal clear on the maximum level of alert she was putting the country under—and why. She imposed self-isolation on people entering New Zealand astonishingly early, when there were just 6 cases in the whole country, and banned foreigners entirely from entering soon after. Clarity and decisiveness are saving New Zealand from the storm. As of mid-April they have suffered only four deaths, and where other countries talk of lifting restrictions, Ardern is adding to them, making all returning New Zealanders quarantine in designated locations for 14 days.

Contrast this with the politically expediency and dithering of so many our male leaders. Don’t forget Adhern is a feminist and social democrat, the weaker sex indeed!

Iceland’s Prime Minister also set the standard for other nations in a science-based approach to the pandemic, as reported by Forbes:

Iceland, under the leadership of Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, is offering free coronavirus testing to all its citizens, and will become a key case study in the true spread and fatality rates of COVID-19. Most countries have limited testing to people with active symptoms. Iceland is going whole hog. In proportion to its population the country has already screened five times as many people as South Korea has, and instituted a thorough tracking system that means they haven’t had to lock down or shut schools.

While much bemoaning continues about the lack of women in high corporate positions and on boards where they do cause changes for the better to occur, this is a story focused on women achieving Federal Cabinet positions, formally reserved for men. There is little doubt that the appointment of Anita Anand moves the long simmering issue of sexual misconduct in the military to the front burner. She tweeted this as one of her first acts:

I have accepted in full ,Madame Arbour's recommendations to move the investigation & prosecution of sexual misconduct cases to the civilian system.

Experts who study Canada's military culture say the move is an important step toward rebuilding trust in the military and making it easier for victims to come forward.

We all have examples of the wisdom and care women exercise in leadership roles. This is evident in the wonderful woman who succeeded me in the company I founded. Sailing countries and companies will be smoother with women at the helm.

The Freedom Movement

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 22:46:57 GMT

Clever Ideologues Delude the Demonstrators

There is little doubt we have found out that the ideological leadership for the Ottawa Freedom Convoy was well-organized and funded and bent on challenging the government’s legitimacy to enact vaccine regulations that controlled their lives. Their deluded stated purpose was to force the removal of all the covid restrictions applied by a tyrannical Government led by the hated Justin Trudeau – even though most of them were instituted by the provinces. The other irony of the Ottawa occupation as it developed into a completely equipped village installed in front of the Parliament buildings is that the majority of the demonstrators there in it were pretty ordinary, mostly young people and families, deluded into believing they were part of a larger patriotic freedom movement.

As days turned into weeks and friendly police left laws they were breaking unenforced, their leadership had told them they could not be arrested and made sure copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were widely distributed. When Saskatchewan lifted many restrictions, they felt they were winning. This belief that encouraged them to have dance parties, put up hot tubs and toilets and food stations and kids play areas with impunity seems to have been the result of a misguided city policy to not provoke them and to keep the city calm. It was so successful that when police were reinforced and started to methodically break up demonstrators and remove their trucks and facilities, many still held the deluded belief they could not be arrested and that the police were still their friends. They also were encouraged by a certain level of support from Conservative federal politicians and by the Official Opposition claiming the government’s unwillingness to hear their views contributed to the occupation.

They were of course horrified when 170 of them were arrested. Many still have not been charged in a police action that faced almost no violent push back. This disproportionate use of Emergency powers will continue to haunt the government. As will the criminalization of so many who believed they were patriotic freedom fighters. This will strengthen, not weaken, the movement as will the positive reinforcement of it becoming a cause celebrated in the powerful US world of Trumpian right wing politics and media. Of course, governments are slowly dismantling Covid restrictions, so they can claim eventual victory.

The larger group of demonstrators may remain deluded that they are free to disobey any future health or other restrictions they do not agree with. But the future danger is more in right wing idealogues connected with and encouraged by their US counterparts who have proven they can delude large numbers of particularly young citizens angry at the government for ignoring their sense of hopelessness and a shrinking future into mounting other mass demonstrations. Another Freedom Convoy will never be allowed to settle in and put down roots. The police have learned their lesson. But the strategy to mobilize discontent in this country is waiting to be used by clever ideologues again.

Is the Ukraine Situation Dire?

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 16:45:47 GMT

A well-informed friend posted this pessimistic view of what the future holds:

P utin's war machine seems bogged down, so he will resort to much more deadly forms of warfare (massive bombing, bombardments). Putin will get Belarus (perhaps) to invade Ukraine, thus enlarging the war. Putin already got from Belarus the ability to station nukes in Belarus. Sanctions this time have teeth and immediate effect (watch the ruble and the Russian economy). Putin will face increasing financial and possible social and political chaos inside Russia. Putin will clamp down in Russia - where and how will this end? The war risks spilling over as neighboring countries, Germany, France, and the EU, rightly, send weapons and financial aid to Ukraine. The war, ratcheting up, step by step, will edge - unless Putin backs down or wins a quick "victory" - towards a more general war in Europe. A more general war in Europe will ratchet up, given Putin's choices, towards the threat or reality of some sort of nuclear threat or exchange. If Putin were a statesman, he would go for a cease-fire, and for a settlement (he will need something, a figleaf in return) but I doubt he has the strength of character or the political vision - or maybe the political capital - to overcome the momentum he has created. Even if he wanted to reverse course, he is now trapped by his past actions and his past rhetoric. So almost certainly - aside from a tiny, tiny, thin chance of a deal - Putin will ratchet up the brutality, massively. He thought this would be a "policing action", that is, he thought the forces he deployed could do it. He thought Ukraine would be a pushover, and he thought he could "decapitate" Ukrainian society - kill the government - but, it seems - seems his army is not up to it. It is clear Ukrainian resistance is much more determined and skillful and widespread than he expected, and it is clear too that "decapitating" the political system will not work even if he were able to carry it off. Therefore, he will desperately strike out, with all means, in all directions. Russia will be a pariah as long as Putin is in charge, and Putin now is excluded from all those clubs he yearned to join. So far, in Russia, there appears to be no group or individual or mechanism that could overthrow Putin. The outlook is dire.

Let’s hope he is wrong.

Freedom – Some Considerations

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 09:05:11 GMT

The trucker freedom bullies believe that governments do not have the authority to impose vaccine mandates, this seen as a threat to personal freedom.

The “Nobody is going to tell me what to do” syndrome. This drives the raucous demonstrations that destabilize our country and threaten our democracy. Most Canadians accept directives to battle the Covid 19 disease and happily get vaccinated to a degree beyond most western nations. This is a tribute to our commitment to the collective solution of issues like the availability of health care and buttresses our support for our universal system.

A different American belief system underlies right wing and Trumpian extremism and has been imported by the Trucker movement which gets a lot of oxygen and money from US right wing groups, media and individuals, including Trump and his son themselves. This is the belief that the demands of individual liberty exceed that of the state as a whole. This is not a Canadian value and has been dredged up from their aged Constitution. Anyone in Canada who believes that their individual liberty trumps (no pun intended) that of the interests of body politic as a whole has confused the Canadian with the American experiment.

We have been asleep while these American, highly individualistic extreme beliefs have seeped into our political discourse and have even found a home in the pro-trucker statements of major Conservative leaders. The President of the Angus Reid Institute, Shachi Kurl, put it well: “Those who were caught off guard by the intensity, passion and determination of the protesters have clearly not been paying attention to the creeping extremism in this country’s political discourse, fertilized in recent years by American political rhetoric, misinformation online and a sense of alienation a mong a significant segment of the population.” Just to show how serious this infiltration of US belief is, a recent Abacus poll showed that the truckers enjoyed the support of almost one third of tired and Covid-frustrated Canadians. A long term concern indeed.