Canada

Donald Trump says that smart people don't like him. Smart people and those with lots of life experience don't like Pierre Polievre and the Conservatives, either.

Three downtown Las Vegas hotels have begun accepting the Canadian dollar at par with the American dollar in an effort to spur Canuck travel.

Circa Resort and Casino, the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Hotel and Casino have launched the “At Par Program,” which runs until Aug. 31.

“Everybody (in Las Vegas) is talking about really the same thing,” CEO Derek Stevens tells CTV News. “There’s clearly something missing, and that’s the lack of Canadian tourism.”

“We miss our best friends.”

The hotels will all offer on par accommodation and drink prices.

They’ll also allow Canadian guests to redeem up to $500 CAD in slot play, treated at full USD value.

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The promos will require a valid Canadian passport or government-issued ID.

Stevens says he understands the deal still won’t be enough for many travellers but he hopes some rethink their American boycott.

“Canadian tourism, on a monthly basis, has been down anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent,” he said. “And I realize sometimes when best friends or allies have a spat — yes, they have a spat, but it doesn’t mean everybody wants to fight.“

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Stevens’ plea comes amidst a massive downturn for the Nevada city.

Data from the Harry Reid International Airport shows ten straight months of declines — with the biggest culprit being flights out of Canada. The country typically makes up Vegas’ largest international market by a wide margin.

The slowing travel demand can be linked directly back to the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump and the trade war he started.

Recent Abacus Data figures show among those Canadians who have not travelled south in the past year, 34 per cent “thought about going but ultimately decided against it because of their feelings about Trump or about how the U.S. is treating Canada.”

Abacus says that works out to roughly 23 per cent of Canadian adults overall.

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When Prime Minister Mark Carney touched down in Beijing last week, he carried with him the hopes of western Canadian farmers crushed under Chinese tariffs — as well as the frustrations of a nation battered by President Trump’s economic nationalism. The visit, hailed by some as the “Carney Doctrine” and lauded as nuanced diplomacy, offered immediate relief. China signaled flexibility on agricultural restrictions. Trade delegations exchanged pleasantries. For a country bruised by its southern neighbor’s “51st state” rhetoric and Greenland ambitions, the embrace felt validating.

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Beijing understands this dynamic intimately. As this Atlantic Council report documents, China’s economic inducements are strategically designed to align with “the specific needs of recipient countries and their leaders.” The offers are not overwhelming financial packages or corrupt dealings; rather, Beijing “strategically cultivated political and sectoral interests to incentivize” alignment with its objectives. Western Canadian farmers desperate for canola market access represent precisely the targeted constituency China knows how to exploit.

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The immediate appeal is understandable ... Yet China’s track record demands extreme caution. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute documented 152 cases of Chinese coercive diplomacy between 2010 and 2020, with sharp escalation after 2018. Trade restrictions, tourism bans, arbitrary detentions, and state-issued threats constitute Beijing’s preferred toolkit. The pattern is unmistakable: countries that deepen economic dependence without maintaining leverage become vulnerable to punishment when their policies diverge from Chinese preferences.

Lithuania discovered this when it opened a Taiwanese representative office; imports collapsed by ninety percent within months. Norway endured years of diplomatic freeze and salmon export restrictions after awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. South Korea suffered $15 billion in tourism losses over THAAD deployment. In each case, the asymmetric dependence China cultivated became the weapon China wielded.

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A Hybrid CoE study of Southeast Asian dynamics reveals this strategy operating at regional scale: China simultaneously employs “carrots and sticks,” rewarding cooperative states while punishing resisters, creating divisions that prevent collective responses to Chinese assertiveness. The Philippines and Vietnam learned that economic inducements came bundled with coercive capacity — tourism restrictions, trade barriers, and maritime harassment deployed tactically against any deviation from Beijing’s preferences.

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A comprehensive economic security framework with Japan, the European Union, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian partners would require patient diplomacy and genuine compromise. It would mean forging agreements harder to negotiate than a Beijing handshake but infinitely more durable. It would demand maintaining American ties despite Trump’s provocations, recognizing that administrations change but geographic realities endure.

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The question now is whether it can recognize the strategic error before the second treat becomes permanently unavailable — before dependence on Chinese markets becomes leverage Beijing deploys at will, and before the coalition of democracies that could have offered genuine security moves forward without Ottawa at the table.

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Pixelfed link: https://pixelfed.ca/p/reef/920250065482405129

A photo from the VanDusen Festival of Lights (Vancouver)

@canada@lemmy.ca

#vancouver #canada #maple #thenightfeeling

Trump launched the new initiative at the World Economic Forum earlier this week

U.S. President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he is withdrawing an invitation for Prime Minister Mark Carney to join his "Board of Peace" initiative for Gaza.

Trump launched the new initiative at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Its stated aim is to rebuild the war-ravaged territory.

Some 35 countries have signed up to join the board, but Carney had not yet said if Canada would accept Trump's invitation. The prime minister was not at the official launch in Davos and instead was attending the first day of a cabinet retreat in Quebec City.

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Packed venues with lines stretched down the block. Smashed fundraising records, fuelled by small donors in every part of the country. And as excitement has grown, so have the attacks by the corporate media—from open hostility to studied erasure.

The Canadian left is in desperate need of a victory and a boost, and signs are emerging that one may be within reach: Avi Lewis’s campaign for the leadership of the federal NDP.

On the heels of the party’s recent collapse, it has a once-in-a-generation opportunity—not merely to recover lost ground, but to remake itself entirely. A revitalized NDP could inject bold climate, anti-war, and socialist policies into mainstream Canadian politics, super-charge the reach of social movements, and ensure a distinctly progressive electoral option roars back to relevance. There’s less than a week left to buy a party membership to help make that possible.

Imagine: instead of cautious politics most attuned to Ottawa pundits, the party could unapologetically champion the causes of movements, trade unions, and a multi-racial working class. Instead of a fixation on a leader’s personality and single-minded electoralism, it could broaden its focus to include year-round education and campaigning. And instead of top-down control by a consultant class that rotates between party headquarters and corporate lobbying firms, it could empower and unleash the energy of a grassroots base.

For the second time in a year, a former Calgary teacher, who is now in his 80s, is facing sexual assault charges dating back decades.

Court records show Fred Archer, 81, faces two new charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation in relation to one male complainant between 1985 and 1986.

The latest charges come as a $15-million class-action lawsuit is in its final stages of settling for about 40 people who allege they were abused by Archer or another former teacher who worked at John Ware Junior High School.

Archer has already served a three-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting former students.

In January 2025, police announced five (more) criminal charges against Archer.

The offences included sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching from incidents alleged to have taken place at John Ware involving two 12-year-old students.

It was a moment of global clarity. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech to the world’s political and economic elite gathered in Davos this week described global realities, past and present, with a candour and nuance rarely heard from a serving politician.

The message was twofold.

First, Carney made clear that the world has changed, and the old comfortable ways of global politics are not coming back. Those who wait for sanity to return are waiting in vain. We are in a world increasingly shaped by the threat and the use of hard power. All states must accept that reality.

Despite this, Carney’s second and more hopeful message was that while the globally powerful may act unilaterally, others — notably “middle powers” like Canada — are not helpless.

By finding ways to co-operate on areas of shared interest, states like Canada can pool their limited resources to build what amounts to a flexible network of co-operative ties. Taken together they can provide an alternative to simply rolling over and taking whatever great powers like the United States dole out.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/hOoeb ]

First, in today’s decision, the CRTC approved a request to provide Canadians with more detailed data on the service providers, technologies, and speeds available in their area. This will make it easier for Canadians to compare options and make informed decisions, and will support future investments to improve connectivity across Canada.

Second, the CRTC is launching a public consultation to improve how cellphone coverage data is collected and reported. This will help service providers, governments, public safety organizations, and Canadians better identify where coverage is strong and where improvements are needed. These improvements will also make it more efficient for service providers to submit data. The CRTC is accepting comments until March 16, 2026.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/world/p/468083/canada-lives-because-of-the-u-s-trump-says-while-jabbing-carney

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday Canada owes its continued existence to the United States while calling out Prime Minister Mark Carney for delivering a speech that condemned coercion by great powers.

Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, where he made the case for a U.S. acquisition of Greenland, Trump said he needs the Danish territory for his proposed "golden dome," a missile defence system that could cover North America.

Trump said the dome will protect Canada due to geography and the country isn't grateful enough that such a system is in the works. Carney has been non-committal in the past about Canada participating in or paying for what Trump is floating.