Author: Blazingcatfur

Of the many obstacles that have been strategically placed in the path of the voting public’s comprehension of where the parties situate themselves in the federal election campaign that’s just now heading into its final lap around the track, there’s nothing quite so peculiar as the cordon sanitaire Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been allowed to construct around any serious discussion of foreign policy.

The world is hurtling towards an energy crisis, one in which the demand for oil, in my opinion, will grow for at least the next decade, yet the global oil supply chain can no longer adequately respond to it due to stringent environment, social and governance regulations and pressure from investors.

It could lead to all-time high oil prices in the years ahead that could crimp global economic growth, despite the decades-long runway for oil substitutes needed to reach critical mass and achieve decarbonization.

Canada is edging closer to its federal election on Monday, with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party and Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party in a tight race for first place. But the once fringe People’s Party of Canada has emerged as a potential spoiler, riding a wave of anti-lockdown and vaccine mandate sentiment.

In 2018, after a falling out with his party and amid a backlash over statements he made about immigration and multiculturalism, then member of Parliament Maxime Bernier quit the Conservatives and formed his own federal party.

Mr Bernier, a former Canadian foreign minister, is a populist with a libertarian bent who supporters have nicknamed “Mad Max”. He has previously described his upstart party, the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), as a coalition of people “disenchanted with traditional politicians”.

OTTAWA — Canadians have chosen minority governments in four of the last six federal elections and Monday’s vote seems likely to produce a fifth.

Whether it will be a Liberal or Conservative minority is anyone’s guess.

Polls suggest the two parties are locked in a dead heat, neither within reach of winning a majority of seats in the House of Commons — much as they were in 2019 when Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won a relatively stable minority.

But that doesn’t mean this election will produce the same result.