Canada

A company largely owned by the French and U.K. governments is pitching Canada on a roughly $250-million plan to provide the military with secure satellite broadband coverage in the Arctic, CBC News has learned.

Eutelsat, a rival to tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink, already provides some services to the Canadian military, but wants to deepen the partnership as Canada looks to diversify defence contracts away from suppliers in the United States.

A proposal for Canada's Department of National Defence to join a French Ministry of Defence initiative involving Eutelsat was apparently raised by French President Emmanuel Macron with Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of last year's G7 summit in Alberta.

"We also give them the ability to not be under the control of a singular individual who could decide to disconnect the service for political or other reasons."

What van Dyke is referencing, more than anything else, are reports that Musk ordered Starlink switched off in Ukraine during a pivotal push by the Eastern European country to retake territory from Russia in late September 2022.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney should make human rights a key focus of his visit to China from January 13 to 17, 2026, Human Rights Watch said today. Carney’s trip to China is the first by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years. Canada-China relations have been strained in recent years as Chinese President Xi Jinping has intensified repression both inside China and abroad. The Chinese government unlawfully detained two Canadians as hostages between 2018 and 2021 to pressure the Canadian government to free an executive of the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

“Prime Minister Carney should recognize that the Chinese government’s deepening repression threatens not just the rights of people in China but, increasingly, Canada’s core interests and values,” said Maya Wang, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Carney should ensure that engagements with the Chinese government on trade and security are consistent with Canada’s values, which includes the promotion of human rights.”

...

Key issues Carney should raise include

• links between the Chinese government’s forced labor and imports to Canada;
• the persecution and imprisonment of human rights defenders; and
• China’s targeting of critics abroad, including in Canada.

Carney should also raise concerns about drones produced by China-based companies being sold to Russia and then used to attack civilians in Ukraine.

...

Canadian law prohibits importing products produced wholly or in part by forced labor. There is extensive and consistent documentation of Chinese state-imposed forced labor involving ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities in China’s cotton, automotive, solar, and critical mineral supply chains. There is evidence that some firms linked to forced labor in Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region, ship products to Canada. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations have for several years reported on crimes against humanity by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang.

...

Opinion piece by Isaac Odoom, Assistant Professor for Political Science, Carleton University.

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Canada’s Africa Strategy articulates a necessary vision, but follow-through remains limited. That gap is visible in Canada’s broader policy signals.

Even after the launch of the strategy, Africa remains marginal in Canada’s trade and economic planning. The 2025 federal budget identified priority trade markets in Europe and Asia, but not Africa, despite stated support for the AfCFTA. Such inconsistencies suggest lingering hesitation in committing political capital to Africa.

Diplomatic choices reinforce this impression. Limiting Carney’s G20 trip to South Africa alone missed an opportunity to signal a continentwide vision.

A short stop in another regional hub would have underscored Canada’s recognition of Africa’s diversity and strategic importance. Instead, the narrow itinerary conveyed a constrained reading of Africa’s geopolitical and economic landscape. African governments notice these signals, especially at a time when they are actively diversifying external partnerships.

None of this means Canada lacks opportunities. The nuclear co-operation agreement with South Africa signed at the G20 has real potential. A future FIPA could offer greater certainty for Canadian investors in South Africa. And although tentative, the reference to AfCFTA engagement at the G20 is significant.

But for these opportunities to lead to real outcomes, Canada needs a more deliberate and sustained approach backed by resources and political commitment.

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Africa’s expanding consumer market

Why does this matter for Canadians? Africa has a young and fast-growing population, a burgeoning middle class and an expanding consumer market. Canadian firms, from clean technology and education to agribusiness and services, can benefit if supported at the right time with the right tools ... For the first time, the G20 in South Africa was a reminder that Africa is no longer peripheral to global politics. African markets are diverse, fast-changing and increasingly central to the global economy.

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Despite the strategy’s imperfections, Canada now has a plan for engaging with Africa. But a plan is only as good as its implementation.

The Senate report is timely and calls for committing real resources, expanding diplomatic and trade support structures and elevating Africa in Canada’s foreign policy narrative well beyond occasional summits. It means sustained leadership attention from the prime minister and senior ministers.

If Canada seizes this moment with purpose, resources and political will, it can build genuine partnerships that benefit both Canadians and African partners. The Senate’s report aligns with the view that Africa is not a charity case; it is a strategic frontier for trade, innovation and geopolitical influence. Delivery must be the priority going forward, or Canada will be left behind.

The Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, or CIPPIC, is described as “Canada‘s first and only public interest technology law clinic” and is operated out of University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law

Peter Nowak is also covering this at his substack.

A federal Conservative member of Parliament from Manitoba says Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn't have "all the facts in front of him" when he doubled down on threats to pull Crown Royal off shelves.

MP James Bezan, who represents the Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman riding north of Winnipeg, where the whisky is distilled, said Thursday he spoke with Ford on the matter after the premier once again said he would remove Crown Royal from Liquor Control Board of Ontario listings.

"I had to present some of those facts that Crown Royal is proudly made-in-Manitoba whisky. It's Canada's number 1 export spirit," Bezan said.

"I just think the premier is misinformed, and hopefully that he's going to change his mind if he has all the proper information in front of him."

inb4: yes, I know you can say, "Fuck!" on the 'net: it's OG headline

source paywalled

"The U.S. approach toward Greenland is not constructive. There are ways to bolster co-operation and partnership without threats," Bayoumi told CBC News.

To counter Russia and China, he says the administration should instead be working with Canada, Greenland and Denmark to build an allied approach to Arctic security and defence, including by scaling up U.S. presence and economic activity in the region.

One day the Canadian political braintrust will get a clue. Here is a paint by numbers support for those still struggling.

1. US says it wants Greenland and Canada among others to deter geopolitical expansionism by Russia and China. It's a matter of national security.

2. NATO says you already have full access and collaboration on all those fronts. Why would you also need to attack NATO members sovereignty? This makes ZERO sense.

3. Here is the hard part, so pay close attention - THE US IS LYING. This is naked American empirialism.

The rules based order born out of WWII is dead. Ecological overshoot, of which climate change is only one part of, puts human civilization on a collision course with unsustainability. Russia, China and America know this.

If you want to understand the next 200 years of geopolitics, play a late era game of Sid Meier's Civilization when growth is done and the game isn't won yet and time is running out where you have a few large powerful countries and a smattering of smaller ones. It's a mad dash by the major powers to conquer lesser powers for a quick boost in points before time is up.

Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out.

According to data compiled by the LSC, charges against pro-Palestine protesters rarely result in convictions. The organization says that approximately 170 people have been arrested as a result of Palestine solidarity actions since October 2023. Of those 170 arrested, 16 received trespass tickets and 154 received criminal charges. Of the 96 people who have had their charges resolved so far, only two have been convicted, while the rest have had their charges withdrawn, stayed or received discharges.

“The trend we have seen in the last two years is that the Toronto Police overarrest, brutalize, and surveil Palestine solidarity protesters,” LSC’s Dalia Awwad said in a statement. “The police attempt to show their ‘effectiveness’ through press releases — advertising arrests in order to justify an ever-increasing, inflated budget. When, in reality, the vast majority of charges have no merit and are ultimately withdrawn.”

If it isn't already clear, this is satire.

I am sharing here because He IS Canadian.