Canada

Despite having nearly identical parliamentary systems, Canada has avoided the kind of prime ministerial parade that has befallen the U.K. in the past decade.

Political watchers point to the Brexit vote as the key moment that led to half a dozen leaders occupying 10 Downing Street in the 10 years since — but there are underlying factors that make it easier for U.K. MPs to ditch a leader than their Canadian counterparts.

“I think it’s more difficult to govern the country now and that there’s a lot of unrest about this decision,” Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University, said of the U.K.’s decision to walk away from the European Union.

The glittering images the World Cup is rolling out of Vancouver are likely to induce envy.

The visions that TV is spreading around the world spotlight the green trees of Stanley Park, the blue waters of Burrard Inlet, the silver highrises of Vancouver and the North Shore, and the sunshine-drenched Coastal Mountains.

No wonder so many from afar yearn to move to this province, as they have in the past. The problem is the pictures are no longer worth a thousand words: The alluring images fail to tell the more ominous, inside story of this province and country.

Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on June 12, his fortune crossing the line as SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq. Lost in the noise was a fact most Canadians would rather not dwell on.

Elon Musk is Canadian.

Musk acquired his citizenship in 1989 through his mother, Maye, born in Saskatchewan. He cleaned a boiler room near Vancouver, laboured on a cousin’s farm, and spent two years at Queen’s University in Kingston before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania and never moving back.

Was the Canadian Pacific Railway built by Chinese labourers? The short answer is yes, some of it was. But all 4,800 kilometres of it? Certainly not. Why, then, do some people say, “The Chinese built the Canadian Pacific Railway” or even that “Canada was literally built by Chinese.” It’s not just posting and trolling. The Canadian Labour Congress states, “Over 17,000 Chinese immigrants built the Canadian Pacific Railway.” And B.C.’s NDP Parliamentary Secretary, Mable Elmore, said in 2023: “Between 1881 and 1884, more than 17,000 Chinese railroad workers came to build the Canadian Pacific Railway.”

Sixty-one percent of Canadians say the country’s economy is performing poorly and 43 percent anticipate economic decline in the next six months, a new survey suggests.

Just 33 percent of Canadians surveyed in the Leger poll released this week rated the national economy as “good” or “very good” and only 15 percent said they expect it to improve this year.