Round-up: Tumbler Ridge Vigil; commentaries from Coyne & Smith; observations about US-Canada relations; Olympic Catch-up

First, some posts about the Tumbler Ridge Vigil

CARNEY: "When you wake up tomorrow, and the world feels impossible, know that millions of Canadians are with you ... Because Canada is a community that relies on each other's grace. And may that grace bless us all."

- Scott Robertson

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Pierre Poilievre reads a short poem for the victims of Tumbler Ridge.

- Scott Robertson

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EBY: "Things are going to be different but there are going to be things that are familiar and one of those things is the courage and the bravery and the amazing kids, the students, the young adults, the people of Tumbler Ridge."

- Scott Robertson

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Weekly Wrap: Tumbler Ridge Strong, Minnesota is winning, the Trump administration is losing all over, and Olympics Catch-up

Tumbler Ridge Strong
Stories of courage will be coming

Stories of brave students, teachers emerging after Tumbler Ridge shooting, B.C. premier says

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— CTV News Vancouver (@ctvnewsvancouver.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM

Meanwhile, Canada's political leaders are gathering together in Tumbler Ridge.

#CanadianNews - Prime Minister Mark Carney and other federal party leaders will travel to Tumbler Ridge, B.C., to attend a vigil commemorating the victims of Tuesday's shooting. I by CBC news - via The Torontonian Magazine 🇨🇦🍁 www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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— The Torontonian🍁🇨🇦 🇪🇺 🇬🇱 🇮🇱 🇲🇽 🇺🇦 🏒⚽️ (@thetorontonian.bsky.social) February 13, 2026 at 12:14 AM

Today's News: Mourning with Tumbler Ridge, plus Olympic Catch-up

The people of Tumbler Ridge gathered to mourn together on Wednesday night.

Prime Minister Carney says "All of Canada stands by you":


The BC Government has set up a Condolence Book in the Parliament Building in Victoria, with an online form posted here.
When I was searching for news, I found that the Vancouver Sun has detailed coverage of the tragedy on its main page here ,and also that the CBC has excellent coverage on its CBC main page here.

Today's News: Carney deserves a medal for dealing with Trump, plus Tuesday Olympic catchup, and our tragedy at Tumbler Ridge

I think our Prime Minister Mark Carney deserves his own medal - gold, of course - for having to deal so often with Trump and his fantasies.

Prime Minister Carney on Trump's bridge threat: "I explained that Canada of course paid for the construction of the bridge, that the ownership is shared between the state of Michigan and the government of Canada ... This is a great example of cooperation between our countries."

- Scott Robertson

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I so wonder what Carney said to Trump on that Gordie Howe Bridge call. "No, Mr. President. Bridges go over water. Yes I'll bring you a new choo choo next time I come."

— Jaye Rich (@thesurplusjayerich.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 12:16 AM

Today's News: Olympic Catch-up, Bad Bunny and the grasses, Trump take bridge, and the Epstein Tsunami

Olympic Catch-up

Megan Oldham bronze!

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The family and friends reactions one of my favourite parts of the Olympics. They’ve been on this journey too. And they couldn’t be in Beijing for Megan Oldham’s debut. But they’re here today for her bronze medal for Canada. Outstanding.

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— Devin Heroux (@devinheroux.bsky.social) February 9, 2026 at 6:58 AM

Sunday Funday: Olympic catch-up, lots of funny posts, Carney Hat-Trick, TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers

Congratulations Valerie Maltais - Bronze Medal

Catching up with the Olympics:

So say we all.

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— Sister Golden Bear (@sistergoldenbear.bsky.social) February 7, 2026 at 4:53 PM

Friday night wrap-up: Stephen Marche on Canadians, Paul Krugman on Americans, plus Greenland, Olympic cheers & boos, ICE Gestapo, Trump racism, Minnesota brave, Ian McKellen does Shakespeare

Ken Danby - At The Crease

Starting tonight with some good news stories.

In the New York Times, Stephen Marche writes a brilliant opinion piece: We Are All Canadians Now (gift link)

...American aggression and American decline are of a piece. As Mr. Carney has announced a slew of measures aimed at boosting Canada’s electric vehicle industry, nobody has argued for a moment that American equivalents could compete. By ending E.V. tax credits, Mr. Trump may have all but ensured that the American electric vehicle will one day be a thing of the past. America has decided not to compete. It would rather pose. If you are integrating yourself into the American sphere of influence, or whatever Mr. Trump’s national security apparatus calls it, you are integrating yourself into antiquity — or worse.
At the same time, America is becoming synonymous with dangerous randomness. The constitutional system is in collapse. The legislative branch, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is missing in action. The Supreme Court debates the legal equivalent of how many angels can fit on the head of a pin, while the legal order that has held the country together for 250 years sputters toward an ignominious end. Nobody knows what America is anymore — not Americans, not their enemies, not their friends.
Coming to terms with this reality has not been easy in Canada. American exceptionalism is a hell of a drug; it’s hard to break the habit of thinking of Americans as the good guys. For Canadians, what is unfolding in Minnesota and elsewhere is happening to our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our kin — it is happening to people we love and understand better than anybody. But “the rupture,” as Mr. Carney calls
And now, the work begins. For better or for worse, what people most admire in Canada, certainly more than success, is the capacity to endure — no doubt a product of the brutality of the landscape. Atanarjuat, the hero of Inuit legend, survived a murderous plot by running through the snow naked. Terry Fox, as every Canadian schoolchild knows, ran a marathon a day for 143 days on a single leg to raise money for cancer. The idols of our national sport spit out their teeth and get back in the game. Mr. Carney’s speech offered a glimpse of that spirit, too. What liberal democracies need now, more than ever, is the sheer will to go on, without nostalgia for what once was. The West is feeling its betrayal turn into rage. The world is waking up to both its vulnerability and its value. But better late than never: We’re all Canadian now.

As the weeks go by after Carney's Davos speech, we are seeing even more clearly what an impact it is having on the world.

Crowd sings Oh Canada as Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand raises Canadian flag to officially open Canadian consulate in Nuuk, Greenland 🇨🇦🇬🇱 🎥 Credit CBCOlivia / via 𝕏 ❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️ ❤️🍁🇨🇦VIVE LE CANADA 🇨🇦🍁❤️

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— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) February 6, 2026 at 5:50 PM

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Today's News: The Olympics!!!

Canadian curler Brett Gallant (photo Carmen Mandato Getty Images)

There was lots of actual news today -- bitcoin crashing, Trump making a fool of himself at a prayer breakfast, Poilievre desperately trying to change his stripes, the CBC At Issue panel grudgingly agreeing that maybe Carney's new EV strategy actually might work, also Canada and France opening consulates in Greenland. And, of course, the continuing Epstein fallout.

But the Olympics are getting underway so that's what I'm going to post about tonight -- politics will always be with us, but the Olympics are only around for a few weeks.

First, I did get a chuckle out of this

My mom watched some news story about new sports at this year’s Olympics and said “you can’t just make up sports!” Mom, all sports are made up!

— David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 (@whysharksmatter.bsky.social) February 5, 2026 at 7:44 AM

To follow the Olympics, I joined CBC Gem so I could watch their extra coverage -- provided, of course, I can ever get their sign-in page to work!!! 

I will also be following the Canadian Olympic page, The Globe and Mail Olympics, plus glancing at the Olympic Event Calendar, and Reddit Olympics.

Updates: Our Teflon prime minister, some Epstein updates, Elon's despair, and admiring American courage

Just a random bunch of updates tonight.

I think we can call him Teflon Carney
As Canadians get to know Prime Minister Carney, we're seeing that he is becoming one of those Teflon politicians - negative news just doesn't stick to him, he just shrugs it off. 

The most recent example is that ballyhooed trip of Conservative MP Jamil Jivani to visit his BFF Vance and Washington, purportedly about the CUSMA negotiations. The initial media reaction was to make this a big problem for Carney. But Carney just pushed it right back at them:

I like that he calls out Jivani’s action for the publicity stunt it is.

- Joanne Pettis 🇨🇦

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Epstein files reveal the scum who think they can do whatever they like

In a comment on my post yesterday, Cap writes:

Three Canadian billionaires have been accused of serial rapes of young women/girls in the last couple of years: Robert Miller, Peter Nygard and Frank Stronach. How many more are revealed in the latest tranche of Epstein files?
What we know so far is that large numbers of political and business elites in the US, the UK and Israel were taking advantage of Epstein's services, raping girls, and being recorded and manipulated. We have no reason to assume Canada was immune. Why aren't Canadian media outlets doing the grunt work of finding out? Why aren't they even reporting the most vile documents uncovered so far? They're planning to let this blow over, just like the Panama Papers blew over without Canadians being prosecuted for tax fraud. It's hard to imagine a resilient economy controlled by these kind of depraved monsters.

The only recent Canadian stories I can find about Epstein concern denial of permission for Epstein to visit Canada in 2018 though apparently he did get to Vancouver in 2014 and 2016 by masking his identity; an Epstein invite to a seminar in Austria in 2014, which was supported by the foreign ministries of Canada and Norway though they weren't involved in the guest lists; and a friendly relationship in 2008-9 between Epstein and someone who worked for CBC Edmonton.
MAGA was just delighted to find Mark Carney name in the Epstein files released last Friday. 

But it was a bust....

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Today's News: Building Capacity and Resilience

1942 map

I'm reading so much lately about how Canada and other countries are building military and economic capacity and resilience to withstand hegemon pressure, so I thought I would share a few of these tonight. And then I also found this map from eight decades ago - isn't it fascinating to see what has changed and what hasn't?

Last week, Carney and the Premiers met about what is next:

TLDW: This is the press conference where Kinew and Ford joked about their Heated Rivalry. Anyway, Carney also announced a "Team Canada" trade and investment office plus monthly progress meetings about the CUSMA review and the Port of Churchill plan.. 

In other Canadian economic news:

Score one for the red and white. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

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— Charlie Angus (@charlieangus104.bsky.social) January 28, 2026 at 1:50 PM

Looks like Japanese automakers are stepping quite easily into the breach. Looking forward to other car makers signing up to do business in a stable country Report suggests Ottawa reward companies that have shown commitment to making cars in Canada #cdn www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

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— TopKat_GlassDragon (@topkatglassdragon.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 8:37 PM

Sunday Funday: Poilievre's win, Epstein's pals, Melania's movie, Trump's blather; random funny stuff; Carney hat-trick; Trump Watch; and Animal Crackers

I can't resist sharing these funny posts about Poilievre's big win this weekend:

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Today's News: Poilievre wins, Albexit disastrous, Canada needs to toughen up, plus some short takes

So we will still have Poilievre to kick around some more
Poilievre's big speech was tonight. And he won the leadership vote by 87.5 per cent.
Sigh.
I guess Canada won't be finished with him until after he loses the next election.

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Poilievre just told #CP26 "There's never been a referendum crisis or a national unity crisis when Conservatives have been in power It's an interesting coincidence isn't it" False. BQ was the product of Mulroney's time in office. Borden - WWI conscription crisis. Sir John - Louis Riel. C'mon man.

— davidakin (@davidakin.bsky.social) January 30, 2026 at 8:42 PM

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Today's News: "Albexit" sucks up to Trump, Poilievre flies to Calgary, the Premiers have a laugh, and Carney dials Heated Rivalry up to 11

Today's At Issue panel talks about Albexit and about Poilievre's leadership convention:


TLDW: They talked about how the Alberta separatists compare to Quebec separatists, and this week's revelations that some Albertans have talked to the Trump administration about 51st state. 

Hebert believes Albertans who would like to send a message to Ottawa by voting yes will shy away from this because of the possibility they would become a US state. And Coyne noted that once again Everything Trump Touches Dies.
On the CPC leadership, the panel expects Poilievre will survive as leader on Friday, but he won't win the next election because he still can't find more voters from outside his base. And once again, they express an unfounded hope that Poilievre will become more statesmanlike any day now...
Finally, the panel agrees it may be pointless to worry anymore about renegotiating CUSMA, because America isn't going to be a reliable negotiating partner anyway.

Songs of Minnesota: 'Singing through the bloody mist, We'll take our stand for this land, And the stranger in our midst"

One of the great things I remember about the 60s was the music of revolution, that opposed the Vietnam War and celebrated rebellion. 

Right now, we are again hearing music that pays tribute to the courage of the people opposing the ICE Gestapo in Minneapolis and Minnesota:

Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Minneapolis

Billy Bragg - City of Heros


Minnesota, by Chad Elliot

"Minnesota" - Marsh Family adaptation of "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)"

Green Day - Holiday (Support for Minnesota)