Mar 22 2023 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — When American presidents visit Canada, there’s a recurring pattern to their oratory. They deliver spoonfuls of sugar — sweet, syrupy odes to one of the happier nation-to-nation relationships in a troubled world. Then comes the dose of medicine — a shot of tough love along with the sucrose in the form of a request for […]
Mar 18 2023 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — The United States ran a secret probe into national-security threats posed by Chinese overseas operations that drew alarming conclusions about Canada, alleges a new book co-authored by a former RCMP officer. The book says the project, code-named Operation Dragon Lord, led to an unnerving takeaway: that Beijing’s activities in Canada represented a security threat to […]
Feb 24 2023 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — The premier of Quebec wants a new migration deal with the U.S. He wants it urgently. He wants the prime minister of Canada to negotiate it. The prime minister? He wants it too. It’s become a pressing political priority and major federal-provincial irritant, with Canada eager to slow the flow of migrants entering on foot […]
Dec 16 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — A Uyghur activist raised a concern during an event in Washington, D.C., this month. It came during a discussion about a new U.S. law targeting modern slave labour. At that think-tank gathering, people were evaluating how the law has worked and how it hasn’t since it took effect six months ago. During the discussion, Omer […]
Nov 25 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — The Canadian government has an unequivocal position on what it intends to say regarding the just-announced political comeback of Donald Trump: nothing. Two years after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed the then-U.S. president for inciting a riot in an effort to cling to power, the Canadian government intends to keep mum. Conversations with Canadian officials […]
Nov 13 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — The United States military has been quietly soliciting applications for Canadian mining projects that want American public funding through a major national security initiative. It’s part of an increasingly urgent priority of the U.S. government: lessening dependence on China for critical minerals that are vital in everything from civilian goods such as electronics, cars and […]
Nov 9 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Republicans – and Trump – emerge from election with unexpected bruises in surprisingly close fight. Joe Biden might someday look back fondly on the first two years of his presidency as a carefree ride in his beloved convertible Corvette. Because the next two could be painful. His party’s potential loss of the U.S. House of […]
Nov 5 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Canada’s long-awaited strategy for dealing with China and the broader Indo-Pacific region might finally be released within days. It’s taken a while. But two sources say the Trudeau government hopes to have the paper completed and out in public before the prime minister heads to Asia later this month. Advance clues of some of its […]
Oct 31 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Let’s try imagining what the next U.S. presidential election might look like. It’s 2024. It’s been a bitter, hard-fought campaign. Votes are being counted. Now consider a scenario where these are the people in charge of administering elections: the people who set rules, issue guidance to poll workers, or confirm the winner. In Arizona, imagine […]
Oct 5 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — One of the most controversial politicians in the United States is causing a stir far north of the campaign trail: at a Canadian university that once granted him a doctorate. Students at the University of New Brunswick are pushing their university for details about its role in granting Doug Mastriano the crowning academic achievement on […]
Aug 20 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Trump son-in-law offers peek into historic talks. As for Jan. 6, that’s another matter. Members of the Trump administration would rant at their Canadian counterparts during the renegotiation of NAFTA about the frequency of leaks that appeared in the press. The Americans insisted those trade talks be allowed to unfold discreetly at the negotiating table. […]
May 10 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — A U.S. senator derided Canada as a freeloader on defence during a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday in Washington — and suggested he’s getting fed up with it. It happened during an exchange about the anticipated $40 billion US in additional help for Ukraine that the U.S. Congress is expected to imminently pass. Alaska’s Dan Sullivan […]
Feb 19 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Canada’s diplomats in the United States have a recurring fear: that our country might become ensnared in America’s bitter partisan wars. Take oil pipelines as an example: Democrats win power and cancel a project, Republicans get back power and reverse the policy, Democrats replace them, and on and on it goes, ad infinitum. It’s what […]
Feb 18 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — American politicians are demanding details from Facebook about how many fake online accounts created by foreign actors helped promote Canada’s convoy protests. The chair of the most powerful investigative body in the U.S. House of Representatives this week sent a letter to company founder Mark Zuckerberg seeking information about inauthentic activity.
Feb 15 2022 — Alexander Panetta — CBC — Canada’s economy has billions of reasons to hope that recent border blockades get quickly forgotten as a fleeting phenomenon by decision-makers in the United States. This country’s second-most valuable export industry, automobiles, depends even in normal times on being perceived as reliable by its main customer and not as some incident-prone flake. And these aren’t […]