Trump’s tariff threats have provoked an existential crisis along with a cacophony of reactions from coast-to-coast on how best to deal with it. Aside from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (and now Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe), the assumption that retaliatory action is required is going unchallenged among politicians. This consensus view draws from the successes of Canada’s approach last time around – but the problem is that the approach that worked the last time likely won’t work today.
… In another case, Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad v. Canada, a convicted terrorist managed to drag out his deportation battle 26 years. Mohammad – a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) convicted of taking part in a deadly attack on an Israeli plane at Athens airport in the 1960s – lied about his identity, his criminal past, as well as his ties to terrorist organizations. Kenney told reporters at the time “This case is almost a comedy of errors, with delays, with a system that was so bogged down in redundant process and endless appeals that it seemed to some that we would never be able to enforce the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and deport this terrorist killer.” Authorities cited Mohammad for misrepresentation on multiple grounds, yet he still managed to remain in Canada for decades. The threat of misrepresentation is a significant security concern. Thorough screening is crucial to ensure that those admitted do not pose security risks, given their possible affiliation with groups involved in violence or other activities that threaten national safety.
Laughing stock nation.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, said on Wednesday that Canada and Mexico can avoid Trump’s threatened 25-per-cent import tariffs if they swiftly act to stop allowing fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the U.S.
Lutnick told a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing that the tariffs were separate from a broad effort by the Commerce Department, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the U.S. Treasury to review trading relationships and tariffs by April 1.
The U.S. is threatening a two-stage tariff plan in which Canada and Mexico could get hit with initial trade penalties within days then face broader penalties this spring.
In summary it’s: Maybe tariffs now, and maybe more tariffs later.
The details emerged Wednesday at the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for the person chosen to lead President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, Howard Lutnick.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is not backing down.
She will defend Alberta.
She is asked again and again and again.
Smith’s latest answer?
No way. No how. You can call her traitor, often and louder each time you accuse her of treason.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is rejecting the terms of a briefing from Canada’s spy agency regarding foreign interference because it won’t enable him to act on the information, his office says.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said in December that it was looking to share “some information to the leader of the Official Opposition through a threat reduction measure.”
But a spokesperson for Poilievre said Tuesday that the Conservative leader wouldn’t be able to act upon the information he received from the CSIS briefing.
The official rate of Canadians 65 and older living in poverty is six per cent.
But the number could be more than double that, new research warns.
Fourteen per cent of Canadians in that age demographic are living in “poverty-level conditions,” according to the “Ageing in Canada” survey released today by the National Institute on Ageing and Environics Institute for Survey Research.
The National Institute on Ageing (NIA) surveyed 5,875 Canadians over the age of 50 on their social well-being, health and financial security.
Quebec’s immigration minister says newcomers to the province need to embrace the “common culture,” as the government looks to put Quebec identity back at the forefront of the political agenda.
The Quebec government will table a new bill Thursday on the integration of immigrants, which will require newcomers to adhere to Quebec values like gender equality and secularism.
“We will be pretty clear. We are a nation, we have a culture, we have democratic values,” Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge told reporters in Quebec City as the provincial legislature resumed Tuesday following the holiday break. “And people coming here must accept that.”
With both sides entrenched in their positions, Canada Post management is blaming its problems on delivery staff leaving early. At the same time, its union says the Crown corporation’s problems stem from its own financial management.
Canada Post bosses and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) squared off in a downtown Ottawa hotel on Monday, the first day of hearings at the industrial inquiry commission convened by the labour minister.
Time to go.
After years of acrimony over the obvious, the Liberals and the NDP are finally embracing natural resources as a key prong of Canada’s economic future. BC Premier David Eby now unabashedly lauds LNG as crucial, while Liberal leadership contender Chrystia Freeland mentions natural resources as essential to strengthening the economy.
This was overdue, but one major roadblock stands in the way of a renaissance in the resource sector; Bill C-69, also known as the Impact Assessment Act (IAA).
There is little doubt that one Donald J. Trump has truly and effectively rattled his northern neighbour’s chains. Aren’t the Americans our friends — and vice versa? Is the president serious in his desire to make Canada the 51st state? He certainly seemed serious enough when discussing his proposed takeover of Greenland with the Danish prime minister last week. Such intensity and unpredictability of purpose has sent the leaders of that country, reminiscent of the Canadian Liberals in their political orientation, into a tizzy — one that has extended to their socialist and globalist European compatriots. Who is this horrible orange-haired man, they wonder, and what does he want?
During a press conference in Ottawa, according to Ukrinform, the minister stressed that among Ukrainians who came to Canada after the invasion, many would like to stay in the country. However, mass granting of permanent residence is not part of the government’s plans:
‘Many Ukrainians want to stay. Given the ongoing war in Ukraine, there are some geostrategic concerns, but I am not ready to grant full permanent residence to all 300,000 Ukrainians,’ said Miller.
According to him, such a step could ‘send a defeatist message about the war in Ukraine’, i.e. demonstrate that Canada accepts the long-term impossibility of people returning to their homeland.
h/t Mauser
Singh suggests NDP could help Liberals pass Trump tariff relief
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Tuesday he is open to working with the Liberal government to pass relief measures for workers if U.S. President Donald Trump moves ahead with devastating tariffs on Canadian goods.
Singh has said for weeks he and his MPs will vote to bring down the government and send Canadians to an election at the earliest opportunity when Parliament reconvenes after prorogation in March.
Singh said that commitment still stands — but he’s opening the door to an option that doesn’t result in the Liberals’ immediate defeat.
No way, no how. That’s the message from Canadians to Donald Trump’s taunts about becoming the 51st state. At least that’s what the opinion polls show, isn’t it?
Yes, if you look at the overall findings. Support for joining the U.S. of A. is down around 13 per cent (Leger Marketing) or 10 per cent (Angus Reid Institute). Those are the kind of numbers that support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s confident statement that “there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell” of Canada becoming an American state.
Trudeau is right about that, but the top lines in those polls don’t show the whole picture. Inside a more recent survey is a story with more troubling implications for the future of this country.
Ross McCredie’s parents immigrated from Ireland to London, Ont., established professions, bought a farm, became deeply involved in their community, and along the way paid their fair share of taxes.
They created a good southern Ontario life for young McCredie, who is now the CEO of Sutton Group, one of the largest real estate firms in the country. Still, at age 15, when McCredie saw the West Coast mountains for the first time, he thought he had discovered one of the most amazing places on Earth.
