U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented Thursday on the separatist movement in Alberta — making him the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to weigh in on the province's politics. While appearing on the right-wing TV station Real America's Voice, Bessent claimed Canada won't let Alberta build a pipeline to the Pacific. "I think we should let them come down...
First, Mark Carney said the rupture is real and our days tied to the US are over. Twenty four hours later, Donald Trump implies "You better be careful Mark". More Trumpian insults directed at Canada followed So now, its game on, the fight is real and who knows just where it will all end up. So while Carney and his...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet are using their second day of meetings in Quebec City to discuss safeguarding Canada's sovereignty, says a minister at the retreat. Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said ministers are focused on creating good jobs for Canadians and investing in key sectors to build "a...
U.S. President Donald Trump has rescinded an invitation to Prime Minister Mark Carney to join his new "Board of Peace" — marking the latest upheaval in the relationship between Canada and the United States as a critical trade agreement is set to be reviewed. In a post on social media Thursday night, Trump did not give details about why he...
Almost 10,000 federal public servants have received notices in the past week warning them that their jobs may be cut, say the unions representing them. The Public Service Alliance of Canada says more than 5,000 of its members received what are called "workforce adjustment notices" this week. They include staff working at Global Affairs Canada, Transport Canada, Innovation, Science and...
Between January 12 and 16, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 2,008 Canadian adults as part of a polling series with the Toronto Star examining public opinion about the Conservative Party of Canada and its leader, Pierre Poilievre. This second installment explores the composition and values of the Conservative coalition, with particular focus on the party’s base: the 23 percent of Canadians...
New Liaison Strategies tracking data shows the Progressive Conservatives continue to lead province-wide, but the political environment is increasingly defined by broad dissatisfaction: nearly two-thirds of Ontarians say the province is headed in the wrong direction and Premier Doug Ford’s job approval remains sharply negative. The PCs have lost 5 points since a high of 47% in October.
The War of the Greenlandic Accession appears to have ended before it began, the President of the United States having supposedly negotiated a deal on the island’s future with the Secretary-General of NATO, a deal that a) no one can describe in any detail, b) neither of them has any mandate to negotiate and c) appears to amount to a...
My goodness, how the world — or at least the anti-Trump part of it — has fallen in love with Mark Carney’s Davos speech. A fairly typical example: in the New York Times, columnist David French hails what he calls the “Carney Doctrine” and says his speech “might be the most important address of Trump’s second term so far.”
https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/01/23/public-service-job-cuts-will-be-minimal-in-procurement-and-contracting-roles-says-pspc/488839/#:~:text=As%20workforce%20adjustment,government%20spending%20review.
Despite falling out of the news spotlight, affordable housing continues to be a priority for the Liberal government, says Shaun Cathcart, director and senior economist at the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). “We’ve gone from our housing agency saying ‘we need to double construction, but there’s no way to do it’ to ‘we’re actually going to try to do it...
Today Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum which rightly named the hard realities of a fractured geopolitical system, and the urgent need for middle powers like Canada to step up with resolve and realism.
Mark Carney’s now-legendary speech at the World Economic Forum inspired thousands of Canadians, impressed his fellow world leaders, and triggered an entirely predictable temper tantrum from Donald Trump. But maybe the most impressive thing it did was shut Pierre Poilievre up for a couple of days.
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a great campaign speech Thursday. The only thing missing was the election. Might a snap federal vote be coming? Probably not, but it must be tempting for the Liberals. One symptom is obvious. They’re already road-testing their campaign pitch. At the start of a cabinet retreat in Quebec City, Carney gave a long pep talk...
The cognitive decline of former U.S. president Joe Biden was undeniable, minutes into his 2024 debate with Donald Trump. He looked confused, bewildered, and couldn’t complete a thought. The people around Mr. Biden had clearly been aware that he was losing his faculties, which is why, for months prior, he had largely been hidden from public view. But that decision...
Jamil Jivani, the Conservative MP, and American Vice-President JD Vance are close friends. A Black guy from Toronto and a white guy from Appalachia, they bonded at Yale Law School where, as Mr. Jivani recalls, they felt like “fish out of water” at elitist wine-and-cheese liberal gatherings. At Mr. Vance’s 2014 wedding, Mr. Jivani read a Bible passage. He helped...
At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney gave an address that will go down in history as one of the most important and impactful ever delivered by a Canadian leader to the world. At Quebec City’s historic Citadelle on Thursday, he followed it up with a speech to Canadians which, for both its timing...
“The international rules-based order is dead; long live the international rules-based order.” Article content Those weren’t the words used by Prime Minister Mark Carney in his historic speech to Davos this week, but they might as well have been. The Canadian leader climbed onto the stage at the yearly conclave of financiers and political leaders (and David Beckham) to declare...
It was a tale of two speeches. Prime Minister Mark Carney quoted Greek historian Thucydides, cited Czech democratic hero Václav Havel and outlined how the old systems of the liberal order were over.
Prime Minister Mark Carney sought to insulate himself from criticism in a speech to the World Economic Forum this week, that was praised for being cleared eyed about the shifting world order, but that also signalled a shift away from an era of principled foreign policy.
Prime Minister Mark Carney chose the Davos World Economic Forum as the moment to deliver a speech that will now define the response of the world to the erratic excesses of the “hegemons” — the big powers who guided the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 and all the other key elements of the “rules-based order” we have been...
Louis XIV, the Sun King. What if, in the ruins of the liberal international order, the world is spiraling back, not to the fascist 1930’s, not to the gunboat imperialism of the late 19th century, but all the way back to the rule of warrior princes and their predatory cliques in early modern Europe? That’s where two American political scientists...
Well, that got their attention. Since the Prime Minister’s visit to China, the American media – and social media – have been filled with expressions of shock and amazement. For critics of Donald Trump, it was payback for his bullying and abusive treatment of America’s nearest neighbour and historic ally. For the President’s supporters, it was a sign of Canadian...
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a good speech at the World Economic Forum, but the PM himself said in May that Canadians will judge his leadership “by their experience at the grocery store, when they are paying their electricity bill, when they or their children are looking for a place to live.”
One of the most sage voices on social media in these nebulous days is that of Polish academic Slawomir Debski. To those lamenting that NATO is dead as a result of Donald Trump’s intrigues over Greenland, and the imposition of tariffs on allies that deployed troops to Greenland, he pointed out that the alliance has survived worse. He cited the...
For months, Mark Carney’s critics have dismissed him as bloodless; a central banker fluent in basis points but deaf to the anxieties of the average Canadian; a technocrat who lives in spreadsheets rather than the hearts of voters. But on Tuesday, on the world stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney demonstrated that what his opposition views as...
Mark Carney’s stark warnings are by now central to his politics. In April, he told Canadians the old relationship was over. For many months, he has been saying that the world is in a period of “rupture, not transition.” On Tuesday, he pointed to the danger of a new world of rapacious great powers and called for middle powers to...
For all of its great prime ministers, Canada has never had one who was known for their ability to deliver stirring speeches, much less ones with global import and impact. In a remarkable 16-minute-long speech delivered in front of the world’s most powerful political and business leaders in Davos, Mark Carney just changed that. It will almost certainly go down...
While you were sleeping – and when he should have been – the President of the United States posted an image of a doctored map of the U.S. that included Greenland, Venezuela and Canada. It was the type of thing that your great uncle, having just discovered AI, posts while sitting in his underwear at 1 a.m., after his wife...
In Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered the most important foreign policy speech by a Canadian politician since Lester Pearson proposed the first United Nations Peacekeeping force at the UN in November of 1956. Seventy years ago, Pearson proposed a formula for bringing the Suez crisis between Egypt, France and Great Britain to an end. It won him...
Whatever you think of the wisdom of Mark Carney’s trade deal with China, it’s not a big vote of confidence for the future of Canada’s auto industry. At least, not the auto industry we have known. It was a move to jump-start trade with the world’s second-largest economy, opening the big Chinese market to Canadian canola, peas and seafood. Yet...
Back when I was in law school there were two second-year classes taught by a beloved professor that basically every student wanted to get into. One focused on international armed conflict and the other focused on maritime law. The international armed conflict class came with a much heavier reading list, so along with a few friends of mine, we opted...
If there was any doubt that U.S. President Donald Trump is operating outside all norms of law and common sense, he put it to rest this week with a letter to the prime minister of Norway. “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation...
Canada will be marking the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration, like many other nations, wondering where this country fits in the president’s wildly escalating ambitions on the world stage. Trump’s threats to take over Greenland are forcing Canada to consider sending troops to the Arctic island, while Prime Minister Mark Carney is simultaneously weighing what it will mean...
QUEBEC POLLS IN RECENT years—decades, even—have consistently shown that if a referendum on sovereignty were held today, a clear majority of voters would vote against it.
Canada’s two main political party leaders won’t boast about the connection, but they have at least one important thing in common these days: As a new session of Parliament opens Monday, they’re both sitting on hot seats. Facing upcoming periods that may well determine their political fates, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are both approaching hurdles...
QUEBEC -- Economy Minister Christine Frechette will officially enter the race to succeed Francois Legault as Quebec premier and Coalition Avenir Quebec leader on Sunday.
Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Friday.
More than 1,000 employees at Global Affairs Canada have been notified their jobs may be at risk as part of the federal government’s move to cut 28,000 jobs from the federal public service over the next four years. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) says 1,171 of its members at Global Affairs received affected notices, one of five departments...
NDP leadership candidate Avi Lewis is calling for a moratorium on data centres along with other measures in a bid to rein in emerging generative artificial intelligence (AI) companies that he says are stealing private data, threatening jobs and harming the environment. Lewis, one of the frontrunners in the leadership race, dropped another platform plank on Thursday that called for...
Several First Nations are warning their members to be wary of crossing the border into the United States in response to immigration enforcement raids and the detention of some U.S. tribal citizens. The Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario -- which was forced to evacuate earlier this month when local water and sewage systems failed -- posted on social media...
U.S. President Donald Trump is facing backlash from Canadian veterans after suggesting NATO allies did little during the war in Afghanistan, comments veterans say ignore their painful sacrifices. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said the United States had “never needed” its NATO partners and characterized allied contributions in Afghanistan as minor, saying they “stayed a little...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre offered some rare praise for the prime minister’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week, calling it "well-crafted and eloquently delivered" — but in a six-page statement released Thursday, he also criticized Mark Carney’s record on reducing Canada's reliance on the United States. Poilievre said Carney is right to restate that Canada must become more self-reliant...
Chinese car company Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. is laying the groundwork to sell its electric vehicles in Canada, after last week’s announcement that Prime Minister Mark Carney had struck a deal with Beijing under which Canada will reduce tariffs on a limited number of Chinese-made EVs.
More than 1,000 employees at Health Canada have been notified their jobs may be affected as federal departments continue to issue notices about possible layoffs in the public service. Health Canada is the latest department to notify employees of possible job cuts, as the federal government looks to cut 28,000 jobs over the next four years.
Canada's 'values must be fought for' in a moment of democratic decline, says prime minister. For the second time this week Prime Minister Mark Carney took aim at Donald Trump — this time directly biting back at the U.S. president's "Canada lives because of the United States" comments. On Wednesday Trump addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where...
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum "political noise" and criticized Canada's recent deal with China today. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Lutnick said Canada has "the second-best deal in the world" and accused Carney of complaining.
China's ambassador in Ottawa says Prime Minister Mark Carney's claim that Beijing is about to lift its visa requirement for Canadians is not yet official, suggesting the move is still under consideration. "I did notice that Prime Minister Carney made it public that the Chinese side told him that China is actively considering giving unilateral visa-free treatment to Canadian citizens,"...
The Inuit government in northern Labrador is standing in solidarity with Greenland as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to take control of the Danish territory. Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe says the people of Greenland, the majority of whom are Inuit, have a right to determine their own future.
As the first woman to serve as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman has been described as a powerhouse of a diplomat by business, political, and diplomatic leaders from both sides of the aisle. Before being appointed acting ambassador in 2019 and getting the top job in 2020, Hillman served as deputy ambassador from 2017 to 2019, contributing...
Mexican lawmakers reflect on prime minister's words ahead of Canadian trade mission, CUSMA negotiations. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, resonated in Mexico, a country which, much like Canada, has also been forced to grapple with the mercurial temperament of its much larger and powerful U.S. neighbour.
It’s weeks into a new year and U.S. President Donald Trump is everywhere, again. Not just everywhere, but on stage at a gathering of world elites, where he reinforced to the crowd of political leaders and the investor class that had descended on the Swiss town of Davos of his desires to make Greenland his own.
Treasurer joins former PM Malcom Turnbull in praising Mark Carney’s comments at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos. Jim Chalmers has described the Canadian prime minister’s passionate denunciation of Donald Trump’s assault on the global rules-based order as a “stunning speech” that was being “widely shared and discussed” inside the government.
Denmark’s prime minister insisted that her country can’t negotiate on its sovereignty on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with the head of NATO. Trump said the outcome would be “all the military access we want” to Greenland. Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had...
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Mark Carney is not "grateful" after the prime minister warned an international audience that the world has entered a dangerous new age of great power rivalries. During a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said he heard Carney's Tuesday speech, which was widely praised around the world. The president...
A group representing Turkish earthquake survivors in Canada is calling on the federal government to launch a “reasonable” path to permanent residency and to ease stringent eligibility criteria as many would be forced to return to their disaster-hit country when their special visas expire this year.
Federal officials have drawn up plans to include a ban on social media for children under the age of 14 in the government’s coming online harms bill, part of a suite of possible measures aimed at protecting young people in the digital space, three sources told The Globe and Mail.
Some First Nations chiefs are demanding answers from Ottawa after the federal government signed a pipeline agreement with Alberta that failed to make any mention of fresh water. The memorandum of understanding -- which opens a door to building a pipeline to transport bitumen from Alberta to the B.C. coast -- does not touch on the high level of water...
China's ambassador to Canada is urging the government to move fast and make progress on areas of collaboration both countries agreed to during Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Beijing last week. "As long as both China and Canada have adequate sincerity, both sides will be able to translate the important outcomes into reality," Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet are gathering in Quebec City Thursday for two days of meetings focused on the economy, affordability and security. The cabinet retreat is beginning just a day after Carney's return from a nine-day overseas trip to drum up new investment for Canada. It also comes just ahead of the return of Parliament on Monday.
U.S. president's capitulation, along with contradictions in his Davos speech, revealed holes in his arguments. In a whiplash-inducing U-turn, U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly dropped his insistence on taking control of Greenland, mere hours after laying out at great length his rationale for ownership of the Arctic island. For weeks, Trump stuck firmly to a take-it-or-leave-it position on Greenland, insisting...
TikTok will live to scroll another day in Canada. A Federal Court judge has set aside a government order for the social media company to wind down operations in Canada, meaning it can keep running its offices here while the industry minister takes another look at the file. In 2024, the Liberal government ordered TikTok to close its Canadian offices...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he had reached a “framework” with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for “a future deal with respect to Greenland” and “the entire Arctic region.” Trump added he would no longer impose threatened tariffs on eight European nations over their support for the Danish territory next month as part of the deal framework, which he...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says that U.S. President Donald Trump “remains relentless in his campaign to create a more unstable, unsafe and uncertain world.” Ford made the comment during a news conference alongside auto sector leaders at Queen’s Park on Wednesday morning. The comment comes after Trump delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he reiterated...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is headed to Quebec City on Thursday for two days of private meetings with his cabinet before Parliament resumes next week. In a news release the Prime Minister's Office says the two days of meetings will focus on the economy, affordability and security. The news release says cabinet ministers and secretaries of state will discuss progress...
A federal judge hearing arguments Thursday over President Donald Trump's use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan gang members had a question: Could a president use the same law against a "British invasion" that was corrupting young minds?
President Donald Trump's budget office this week ordered most government agencies to compile data on the federal money that is sent to 14 mostly Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia in what it describes as a tool to "reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds."
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday challenged federal immigration officials to provide arrest warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in a sweeping enforcement operation in Maine, saying the state has been left largely in the dark as fear spreads through immigrant communities.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday inaugurated his " Board of Peace " to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, insisting that "everyone wants to be a part" of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations -- despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.
Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Friday.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum "political noise" and criticized Canada's recent deal with China today. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Lutnick said Canada has "the second-best deal in the world" and accused Carney of complaining.
China's ambassador in Ottawa says Prime Minister Mark Carney's claim that Beijing is about to lift its visa requirement for Canadians is not yet official, suggesting the move is still under consideration. "I did notice that Prime Minister Carney made it public that the Chinese side told him that China is actively considering giving unilateral visa-free treatment to Canadian citizens,"...
As the first woman to serve as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman has been described as a powerhouse of a diplomat by business, political, and diplomatic leaders from both sides of the aisle. Before being appointed acting ambassador in 2019 and getting the top job in 2020, Hillman served as deputy ambassador from 2017 to 2019, contributing...
Treasurer joins former PM Malcom Turnbull in praising Mark Carney’s comments at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos. Jim Chalmers has described the Canadian prime minister’s passionate denunciation of Donald Trump’s assault on the global rules-based order as a “stunning speech” that was being “widely shared and discussed” inside the government.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China will stand as one of the most consequential moments in Canada’s foreign policy. It not only reframed Canada’s relationship with China but also signalled a fundamentally new approach to how Ottawa intends to navigate a more fragmented, contested and uncertain world. On the bilateral front, the trip produced three tangible outcomes: a new...
Prime Minister Carney can be pleased with the results of his first official visit to China. Through a temporary trade truce, and a list of political, economic and cultural MOUs, the federal government has effectively reset relations with China to where they were in 2016, before the arrest of Meng Wanzhou at the request of the first Trump administration. The...
Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Beijing from January 13 to 17, marking the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China since 2017. The trip comes amid mounting economic and political pressure from the Trump administration and reflects the Carney government’s stated objective to diversify Canada’s economic partnerships and double non-U.S. trade over the next decade. At...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) gets a lot of flak for its processing of Access to Information Act (ATIA) requests, especially for its long delays to respond. But lately they’ve been doing a few things right.
A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.
You may want to dust off your Bescherelles, Canadian politicos: the battle for the future of Québec is where things are going to happen in 2026. In case you missed it, today the new leader of the Québec Liberal Party, Pablo Rodriguez, announced his resignation. His resignation was precipitated by a terrible, scandalous month for the QLP — one that...
At Issue this week: Prime Minister Mark Carney outlines a new era of global politics in an address to the World Economic Forum, but can he deliver on his vision? And Ontario Premier Doug Ford fires back at the Canada-China EV deal.
Peter Donolo joins the Everything Political panel with former MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Tony Clement to discuss Carney’s deal with China. They explore why Tony thinks it’s a terrible decision for Canada, the need to chart a new path away from America, China’s history of foreign influence in Canada, and the future of Canada’s auto industry...
Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ says it has a plan for the future of Gaza. Critics say that strategy is full of holes, and that the true intention of the board extends far beyond the war ravaged territory. Today we look at how a U.S. 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza evolved into a body that some fear could undermine...
More, in fact a lot more, of your questions in our latest attempt at an Ask Me Anything program. Again I try to get to as many of your questions about country, politics and career, but there are still lots left to go through. Plus the Random Ranter and Trump and Carney at Davos.
