Canada

Iconoclastic economist Jeff Rubin argues Canada might need to ally with Russia or China as the US turns away. A Tyee Q&A.

Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist for CIBC World Markets and is the bestselling author of a number of popular economics books that have tried to explain how the world is changing and departing from the norms of the 20th century to a more unsettled era of scarcity, inequality, natural disasters and war.

His previous books have warned about the end of cheap oil and explained how the middle class “got screwed” by globalization.

Rubin’s latest book is called The Map of the New Normal: How Inflation, War, and Sanctions Will Change Your World Forever, and it tackles the rapid inflation that hit economies across the globe in the wake of pandemic measures. The author is unapologetically realpolitik in his world view. At a book event last summer, he described his outlook as “more Game of Thrones than biblical good and evil.”

We decided to call Rubin up to ask him for his take on Donald Trump’s bellicose tariff threats against Canada and the American president’s repeated urging for Canada to join the United States.

Worth a follow: https://bsky.app/profile/charlieangus104.bsky.social

The intent, Carney said during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live, is to invest in Canada's economy "at a time when we absolutely have to build as a country."

The taxpayer dollars would "catalyze many multiples of private dollars" to build homes, energy infrastructure, AI systems and trade corridors — "all of which are fundamentally necessary if we are going to grow this economy, irrespective of how President Trump is feeling on one day or another," Carney said.

Carney also said a federal government led by him would balance its operational spending — such as government-run programs, federal transfers to provinces and territories and debt service charges — over the course of the next three years.

"Whether or not they ever be put into place, the damage is done," said Greig Mordue, a former auto industry executive and associate professor at the W. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology at McMaster University.

He says Trump's threats have already changed the landscape. Whether he goes ahead with the tariffs or not, or whether he carves out specific exemptions, the threat alone will drive investment out of Canada and into the U.S.

"For at least the next four years, there will be no serious investment in the Canadian automotive industry," said Mordue.

Has anyone told him that tariffs require willing trade partners?

Being charitable... I'm not sure this is the best messaging he can go with. He doesn't seem to realize it's over. Most of us are finished with the US and we can't trust them at this point. He needs to start standing up for Canada and presenting a message of strength, independence and unity... Not continuing to offer platitudes and extending olive branches. Frankly, it looks weak, and it doesn't instill any trust that he will do what's necessary when the time comes.

He finishes off with a show of strength that hits all the right notes, but when it comes after the weaselly opening it just seems like too little, too late.

Whenever we talk about NATO it's usually in the context of money — or the famous all-for-one, one-for-all treaty clause known as Article 5.

The provision is the bedrock of the Western military alliance, allowing leaders from Latvia to London to Ottawa to sleep better at night knowing more than two dozen other like-minded nations have their backs.

What often doesn't get much attention is the preceding paragraph: Article 4.

European defence experts sometimes call it the "neglected younger sibling" of the alliance. The provision commits NATO members to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened."

In response to another user making a comment on accessibility, I have transcribed the image into a post.

Treebeard:

The Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we have always done.

Merry Brandybuck:

How can that be your decision?!

Treebeard:

This is not our war.

Merry Brandybuck:

But you're part of this world! Aren't you? You must help! Please! You must do something.

Treebeard:

You are young and brave, Master Merry. But your part in this tale is over. Go back to your home.

Pippin Took:

Maybe Treebeard's right. We don't belong here, Merry. It's too big for us. What can we do in the end? We've got the Shire. Maybe we should go home.

Merry Brandybuck:

The fires of Isengard will spread. And the woods of Tuckborough and Buckland will burn. And all that was once green and good in this world will be gone. There won't be a Shire, Pippin.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/32822426

The discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school in Canada in 2021 was just the catalyst for “Sugarcane.”

Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the filmmakers behind the Oscar-nominated documentary, spent years investigating the truth behind just one of the institutions. “Sugarcane,” now streaming on Hulu, paints a horrifying picture of the systemic abuses inflicted by the state-funded school and exposes for the first time a pattern of infanticide and babies born to Indigenous girls and fathered by priests.

While (NoiseCat) was mulling (Kassie's offer to make the documentary together), she went looking for a group to focus on and landed on St. Joseph’s Mission near the Sugarcane Reservation of Williams Lake in British Columbia. Unbeknownst to her, that was the school NoiseCat’s family attended. He’d heard stories about his father being born nearby and found in a dumpster. Over the course of making the film they’d discover that he was actually born in a dormitory and found in the school’s incinerator.

They must be those cool folks from r/onguardforthee and r/fredericton! Lets get off those american Reddit servers eh!

Update: there’s a thread on r/buycanadian with 93 upvotes, promoting the platform! Open the floodgates baby!

Jagmeet Singh should get ready for a resignation.