The world order has changed. Now comes the hard part

The world order has changed. Now comes the hard part

It is now commonplace to say that the international rules-based order is dead. Indeed, in his speech at Davos in January, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney not only pronounced its death but outlined a strategy for middle powers to adopt in response.

There are two elements of the rules-based order that have been challenged by recent events. The first is that there can be no changes to borders through the forcible annexation of territory or unilateral secession. This is one of the main pieces of the international order that appears to have fallen. The first serious brick in the wall was removed in 2014, with general acquiescence to Russia’s takeover of Crimea and eastern Donbass. It was also challenged more recently by the United States’ stated desire to purchase Greenland, as if it was a piece of real estate, and against the wishes of both Greenlanders and Denmark.


Carney does not “matter” in the old or new world order.

Share

‘We have a lot to lose’: Will Trump’s visit to China threaten Carney’s diversification?

‘We have a lot to lose’: Will Trump’s visit to China threaten Carney’s diversification?

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Donald Trump is in Beijing this week for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping — their first meeting of 2026 after a year of tariff escalation and just months after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own trip to China.

The talks begin on Thursday on issues ranging from Iran and Taiwan to trade.

Share

NDP’s Jenny Kwan Demands Ottawa Release Secret Police Deal With Beijing, Calling Continued Secrecy a Threat to Diaspora Safety

NDP’s Jenny Kwan Demands Ottawa Release Secret Police Deal With Beijing, Calling Continued Secrecy a Threat to Diaspora Safety

OTTAWA — A senior New Democratic Party parliamentarian has formally demanded that the Carney government release the full text of its secret law enforcement agreement with China’s Ministry of Public Security, echoing a set of facts The Bureau has been reporting for months, while warning that Ottawa’s continued refusal to disclose the deal is fueling legitimate fear among diaspora communities who have experienced or fear transnational repression by the Chinese state.

Share

Fentanyl ingredients entering Canada via Vancouver en route to cartel-run drug labs, U.S. DEA boss says

Fentanyl ingredients entering Canada via Vancouver en route to cartel-run drug labs, U.S. DEA boss says

Chemicals used to make fentanyl are streaming into the Port of Vancouver on their way to drug labs run by Mexican cartels on Canadian soil, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration told senators in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

DEA administrator Terrance Cole said U.S. law enforcement officials are “very conscious” of fentanyl being manufactured in Canada for export across the border and there have been “significant seizures” of the drug in Canada over the past two months.

Share

Tasha Kheiriddin: Will Carney really risk his majority over Alberta?

Tasha Kheiriddin: Will Carney really risk his majority over Alberta?

Prime Minister Mark Carney is avidly wooing the west — but will his own caucus trip him up? Last Friday, Carney met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to reassure her that Ottawa’s got her back on a second bitumen pipeline from Alberta to Canada’s West Coast. After the tête-à-tête Smith said, “This morning I said ‘if’ a deal gets signed, and afterwards I said ‘when’ a deal gets signed,” describing it as “an indication of my improved level of confidence.”

Share

Expert Says Migrant Tidal Wave Makes Insolvency Rate Look Better Than Peak Year Of 2009

Expert Says Migrant Tidal Wave Makes Insolvency Rate Look Better Than Peak Year Of 2009

Are Canadians reaching their ‘breaking point’? New data shows more people filing for insolvency

More Canadians are filing for insolvency according to the latest data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, as rising costs stretch consumers to their limits.

Some 37,121 Canadians filed for insolvency in the first quarter of 2026 — the highest number of consumer insolvencies since 2009, when North America was reeling from the financial crisis.

Compared to the same time period last year, insolvencies are up 8.5 per cent.

However, the population now is higher than it was in 2009. Insolvency trustee Doug Hoyes says when that population growth is factored in, the rates of insolvency are much lower than 2009 levels.


Hmmm … Brampton Leads Canada in Mortgage Delinquencies

Share

Canada is fast-tracking citizenship certificates for trans Americans

Canada is fast-tracking citizenship certificates for trans Americans

Trans Americans with Canadian ancestry have been receiving expedited processing of their applications for Canadian citizenship certificates.

Proof of Canadian citizenship certificates, which are provided to individuals who qualify as Canadian citizens on the basis of their ancestry, have become a hot commodity this year in the United States, following changes to Canada’s Citizenship Act last December that removed the generational limit on inheritance.

h/t JL

Share

The Enemy Is Already Inside the Gates. Mark Carney Just Opened Them Wider.

The Enemy Is Already Inside the Gates. Mark Carney Just Opened Them Wider.

OTTAWA — When the Chinese consulate in Houston was ordered closed in July 2020, it did not go quietly. Within an hour of being told they had 72 hours to vacate, the staff set the building on fire.

What followed was, in the account of the man who ordered it done, a revelation. “Within two days,” former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Canada Strong and Free conference in Ottawa, “we had identified hundreds of Chinese agents operating in the United States, most of which we were unaware of. They started getting tickets to fly out. You could just see the network light up.”

Share

John Ivison: Carney may finally be unhitching Liberals from Guilbeault’s hardcore eco-activism

John Ivison: Carney may finally be unhitching Liberals from Guilbeault’s hardcore eco-activism

Building at speeds not seen in generations, as per Mark Carney’s oft-repeated election pledge, has been less hypersonic than the prime minister might have wished.

As the new parliamentary budget officer pointed out last week in an analysis of the spring fiscal update, only two of 15 projects being overseen by Carney’s Major Projects Office are actually under construction, and the two largest have yet to reach a final investment decision.

Part of the problem remains regulatory uncertainty, and that was the subject of a discussion paper issued by the government on Friday. That sounds of little consequence, but it could prove seismic.

Share

Human rights advocates sound alarm as court documents reveal extent Chinese police harassed Canadian residents

Human rights advocates sound alarm as court documents reveal extent Chinese police harassed Canadian residents

OTTAWA – Security experts and human rights advocates are sounding the alarm about the renewal of a co-operation agreement between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and China’s Ministry of Public Security as troubling details surface at a foreign interference trial.

Court documents filed at the trial of alleged double agent William Majcher reveals that at least 25 Canadian residents were targeted by Chinese police under an anti-corruption program, which doubled as a tool of transnational repression. The affidavit shows that the Chinese nationals may have been forced to return to their homeland against their will to face punishment for alleged financial crimes.

Some of them would have faced life imprisonment, or even a death sentence.

h/t Patti Jo

Share

Bryan Brulotte: Europe wants our energy. Ottawa must act now

Bryan Brulotte: Europe wants our energy. Ottawa must act now

In a 2022 news conference, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there wasn’t a clear business case for building liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals to export to Europe. This past week, Mark Carney suggested in a media interview that the first thing European authorities are interested in when they sit down with Canada is not our energy. He went on to say that energy is something Canada raises as being part of the solution in respect to nuclear and LNG.


Carney will talk big but nothing will get done.

Share

Ontario Liberal Party stands by results in Scarborough Southwest nomination, as Erskine-Smith weighs options

Ontario Liberal Party stands by results in Scarborough Southwest nomination, as Erskine-Smith weighs options

The Ontario Liberal Party is standing by the results of its nomination contest in Scarborough Southwest as losing candidate Nate Erskine-Smith met with his team to discuss next steps after raising concerns about the race.

On Saturday, Liberal members in the east Toronto riding chose businessman Ahsanul Hafiz as their next provincial candidate in a yet-to-be-announced by-election, beating Mr. Erskine-Smith in a close contest. The nomination was seen as a critical step in Mr. Erskine-Smith’s plan to run for leader of the Ontario Liberal party. He is currently a federal MP for the neighbouring riding of Beaches-East York.


I am lovin it. The pandering pol got what he deserved.

(more…)

Share

Liberals fund $180M World Bank climate initiative focused on clean energy, gender equality on small islands

Liberals fund $180M World Bank climate initiative focused on clean energy, gender equality on small islands

CALGARY — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has committed $180 million in taxpayer money to a World Bank climate initiative aimed at accelerating the global transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy and addressing “gender equality gaps” in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

According to the federal government’s grants and contributions website, the funding was provided to the World Bank through the “World Bank Clean Energy and SIDS Resilience Facility (CESR).”

(Incognito)

Share

‘Pathetic’: How the people behind Canada’s Afghan war memorial lost many vets

‘Pathetic’: How the people behind Canada’s Afghan war memorial lost many vets

Canada’s proposed Afghanistan war memorial is having trouble connecting with the people it’s designed to honour: The Canadians who fought in the 12-year war.

Ground was officially broken on the future site of the National Monument to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan in Lebreton Flats, near Ottawa’s Canadian War Museum, last Monday. But some vets felt overlooked in a ceremony that focused on the project and not the onetime warriors, and showcased an Indigenous-inspired “Medicine Wheel” design.

Share