Sunday Funday: Sports Update, Wrapping up the Royal Visit, a bunch of good and funny posts. Plus NSFW, Getting Old(er), Carney Hat-Trick, TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers

Go Habs!  Go Raptors!

But win or lose, you both do Canada proud.

Sports Update

Outstanding!

RJ BARRETT "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?"

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— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) May 1, 2026 at 8:29 PM

Canadians were really touched on Tuesday night when the Buffalo crowd sang our national anthem.

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Good reads: Dale Smith, John Ivison, Maggie Helwig, Tod Maffin, Paul Krugman, IFLOZ, James, Katharine Wilkinson, Sherman Alexie, Cole Haddon

Norman Rockwell's tribute to Carl Spitzweg's The Bookworm

Good reads about politics

Now that Carney has a majority, the Liberals were able to take control of Parliamentary Committees for the first time in seven years. And they immediately took away a platform for opposition grandstanding by moving the Ethics committee and the Health committee to closed-door sessions. From the reaction of opposition parties, you would think the sky had fallen:

Chantal Hébert on Liberals moving to go in camera in four committees: "Of all of the things you can think that were smart to do this week, getting a majority and using it to do this is probably one of the dumbest moves that one has seen in a long long time."

- Scott Robertson

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In Routine Proceedings, journalist Dale Smith writes:

....the two committees in question have been in the throes of attempted witch hunt studies that the Conservatives have been trying to orchestrate (with the gleeful assistance of the Bloc, who are happy to embarrass the government any day of the week)...
...Suffice to say, I’m not convinced that moving procedural wrangling in camera is a sign that democracy is under threat, and there was a whole lot of this very same thing when the Conservatives had a majority on committees (and they turned those committees into branch plants of ministers’ offices). They may try to cast themselves as heroes for inventing scandals, but I remain unconvinced that this is a danger to parliamentary democracy just yet.

Just a series of events - both unfortunate and fortunate: Alberta separatism, Jamel Jivani, Avi Lewis, Trump, Charles and Camilla, the DSRB, and Mr. Rogers

Today I found news all from all over.

To begin, here are some pretty unfortunate events.

First, Alberta separatists have just shown us all that their basic nature is deceit and underhandedness.

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The response from the Alberta Separatists was...well, unfortunate.

Zingers - from Carney, from Jeremy Hansen, from Calgarians, from Charlotte Clymer, from King Charles, from Gavin Newsom, and the 8647 meme

The news today was pretty grim - Iran War blockages until summer so the world economy is toast. But there were some pretty good "zingers" today too!

Carney in the House
"a premier who picks up my phone call" Ouch!

Pierre Poilievre: This Liberal PM has been wrong about every major economic issue of the last decade Mark Carney: Wrong on crypto, wrong on Brexit ... You know what this government is right on? Cooperative federalism. It's about working with Ontario -- a Premier that picks up my phone call

- Scott Robertson

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Today's News: King Charles' US Visit, Carney's Spring Economic Update. And hooray for the Buffalo Sabres!

King Charles' US Visit

Irony dies as King Charles speaks to Congress:

TL,DW: It was a good speech, apparently written at least partly by Charles himself. And both Democrats and Republicans enthusiastically applauded its themes of democracy, rule of law, diversity, integration, respect for all religions, service to the world, the importance of peace over war, and concern for the environment. In other words, everything Trump and all the Congressional Republicans have denied, trivialized, downgraded or trashed.

🔴 God Save the King. 👑 EPIC. 👌🏼 After spending an entire speech throwing subtle jabs at them, in that suave, diplomatic British style ... they cluelessly gave him multiple standing ovations. 😄

- Fun Tom

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Today's News: Carney's anniversary, Canada Strong Fund, Iran War update, Funny responses to the WHCA dinner, and some Canada Good News. Plus a quip

Carney's anniversary
Its been a year since Carney was elected, so he is doing interviews and here's a good one:


TL,DW (too long, didn't watch): Its a good interview covering a wide range of topics - the Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Iran War, the need to strengthen our military and alliances with other northern countries, and to broaden our relationships with countries around the world. Regarding CUSMA, we need a good deal in the right time, but we don't need to chase a smaller deal that would hamper our larger interests, and remembering that unless the deal is aligned with the interests of the United States, its not clear that they would respect it. Canada needs to be clear about what it stands for, and where there are opportunities; President Trump can see through obsequiousness. A lot of countries rushed into deals and aren't pleased now with their deals.
I thought this was the most interesting part:

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And this was said right at the end:

CARNEY: A lot of countries rushed into deals with the US -- they weren't really worth the paper they were written on ARSENAULT: You don't think there are any [countries pleased with their deal]? CARNEY: Certainly not in private

- Scott Robertson

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Sunday Funday: Catching up with the news about Iran and Ukraine, plus lots of fun posts, Getting Old(er), NSFW, Carney Hat Trick, TrumpWatch, and Animal Crackers

We had quite a year this week.  

Sunny and warm, then windy, then a foot of snow!  

Anyway, it looks like its all over now - we might actually get some Spring around here soon -- so here are my Sunday Funday posts.

Noted in passing: Maritimer and Arlene Dickinson on Poilievre; Andrew Coyne and IFLOZ on America; Black Cloud Six, Philippe Lagassé, and Shankar Narayan on Canadian defense

I have said for years the secret of Trump's appeal is that his followers worship him as The Golden Calf - because he has no philosophy of his own, he can just reflect his followers' own grandiose autocracy combined with racist superiority. And they love him for it.

Now I think Poilievre has decided to model his behaviour after what worked so well for Trump - lying, boasting, promising, pandering.
Poilievre doesn't have Trump's projected charm and bombastic hail-fellow-well-met insouciance, but the rest of it he can do!
First, Poilievre is now lying about Carney all the time:

Pierre Poilievre: "I think the Prime Minister should get away from all of the theatrics, the YouTube videos, and the distractions and tell us how he's going to achieve [tariff free trade]." (Pierre's posted six YouTube videos this week to Mark Carney's one...)

- Scott Robertson

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Today's News: Watching the Dunning-Kruger Effect in real time. Plus an Epstein-gate Update

The Dunning-Kruger effect is when incompetent people do not have enough knowledge to know that they are incompetent, nor do they recognize competency in others. They don’t know what they don’t know.

Right now, we're seeing the Dunning-Kruger Effect in real time.
Now basically, it usually doesn't matter what someone like this believes.
But because they can talk a good game, and aren't tethered to inconvenient realities, people like this can get themselves elected to public office.
And then, its a problem for all of us.
Here is Poilievre taking a leaf from Trump's book and just blatantly lying about how he can easily give Canadians what we want - a good deal with the US and no tarrifs on anything:

“Poilievre claims he can get a trade deal with the US with no tariffs” One had to wonder just what kind of hallucinogens he’s been taking.

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— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) April 23, 2026 at 10:32 AM

Yeah, sure, PP -- its the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

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Today's News: Thinking about Canada beyond CUSMA. Plus some Canada Good News

I think Canada needs to understand that the CUSMA negotiations are likely doomed.

Trump no longer has the mental capacity to handle "the art of the deal" - as Iran and the rest of the world are now finding out. 

And Trump will always blame his victims, as his erratic meltdowns tank any agreements or understandings that anyone might have thought he might agree to.
So I think we're stuck with the existing CUSMA agreement, plus those additional tariffs not turfed by SCOTUS (35% on steel and aluminum, 25% on autos and furniture, plus 10% more on energy/potash, lumber and steel.)
As I said in a comment on my previous post, I fully expect Trump will announce he is "ending" CUSMA, even though it will actually stay in effect until 2036.

But such an announcement will threaten to destabilize long-term corporate investment in Canadian business, and that's going to be a problem -- I think Carney's Advisory Committee is actually intended to help the government maintain investor confidence in Canada.

On Wednesday, Radio-Canada broke a major story about the upcoming CUSMA negotiations. Reporters Laurence Martin, Fannie Olivier and Daniel Thibeault reported that the US wants an "entry fee" bribe to start talks:

..."[U.S. President Donald] Trump wants us to make a lot of concessions before we sit down at the table," Charest told Radio-Canada. "Meanwhile, he wouldn’t make any."
On the U.S. side, there are suggestions that Canada should try to get Trump’s attention by making an immediate concession, especially since the president is juggling several major issues right now.
However, Canadian sources said they have twice offered concessions to the U.S. administration without receiving anything in return.
...Last spring, Ottawa dropped a significant portion of the reciprocal counter-tariffs it had put forward as a retaliatory measure against the tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by Washington.
At the end of June, Canada also scrapped the digital services tax, which would have imposed a three per cent levy on the Canadian revenues of digital giants such as Amazon, Apple and Meta.
"The repeal of the digital services tax will significantly advance negotiations on a new economic and security partnership with the United States," Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said at the time.
More than nine months later however, negotiations do not appear to have made any progress...

But nine months ago was way back in 2025 -- in the good old days when Trump was talking all the time about all the trade deals he wanted to make, and when the world still believed that maybe Trump could "be reasonable".
Now, we all understand that just ain't gonna happen.

Today's News: Renewing CUSMA without losing our minds or our souls

Its getting real now, isn't it.

I mean Canada's attempt to renew CUSMA so we don't lose our minds or our souls doing it, so Trump will get a win without Canada getting a loss. And Mexico, too.
Carney has now set up an Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations and included in it some excellent people.
The CBC reports:

...The list includes experts, industry and union leaders and retired high-profile politicians such as former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole and former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt....
The committee, which will meet for the first time on Monday, will be led by Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade. ..
The members of the committee include:
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Darryl White, CEO of the Bank of Montreal.
Lisa Raitt, former Conservative cabinet minister.
Tracy Robinson, president and CEO of the Canadian National Railway.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.
Ron Bedard, president and CEO of steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Dofasco.
Ken Seitz, president and CEO of fertilizer giant Nutrien.
Dennis Darby, president and CEO at Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.
Lana Payne, national president of Unifor.
François Poirier, president and CEO of Calgary-based TC Energy.
Émile Cordeau, CEO of Agropur, the largest dairy co-operative in Canada.
Luc Thériault, CEO of Pulp and Wood Products, and president of Domtar Canada.
Magali Picard, president of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec.
Jonathan Price, president and CEO at Teck Resources Ltd., a mining and resource company based in B.C.
Susan Yurkovich, president and CEO of Canfor, a large forest products company based in B.C.
Michael Harvey, executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.
Tabatha Bull, president and CEO of Canadian Council for Indigenous Business.
Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Valérie Beaudoin, expert in U.S. policy and politics at the University of Quebec.
Erin O’Toole, former federal Conservative leader.
Jean Charest, former Progressive Conservative leader and Liberal premier of Quebec.
P.J. Akeeagok, former premier of Nunavut.
Ralph Goodale, former Liberal finance minister and high commissioner to the U.K.

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Today's News: Carney is playing power forward now

I expect anyone who follows Canadian politics - and, hopefully, even some who don't - have watched Mark Carney's Forward Guidance video released on Sunday:

The video has had more than 430,000 views on YouTube, and 7,000 comments - no wonder Carney released it online rather than just doing a speech in the House of Commons as Dale Smith suggested .
But if 10 minutes is too long for you to watch, here are some good excerpts:

PM Carney on forward guidance: "I promise you, I will never sugarcoat our challenges. Instead, I will talk with you directly and regularly about our plan, why we're doing what we're doing, what's working, what isn't, and what we're going to do next."

- Scott Robertson

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Sunday Funday: Schrodinger's Blockade, Trump v Pope, plus other posts, sports stuff, musical notes, getting old(er), Carney hat trick, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers

It's being called Schrodinger's Blockade tonight, because nobody knows anymore whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed or both at once.

"You put your blockade in You pull your blockade out You put your blockade in and you sail it all about Do the Hokey Trumpy cuz your brain is full of doubt That's what he's all about"

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— Wayne Exclaims (@waynesbrain.bsky.social) April 18, 2026 at 12:10 PM

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Noted in passing: comments about Poilievre v reality, the Canadian economy, and the Iran War

Comments about Poilievre v reality

Chantal Hébert: "The issue is not if the old Pierre Poilievre would be back, but when the old Pierre Poilievre would be back, and that is basically what everyone was watching this week."

- Scott Robertson

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Pierre Poilievre and Yankie Doodle Andy keep whining about Carney backroom deals to get a majority. Most conservatives are probably whining on how their leadership was so bad that 4 MPs were so unhappy that they took a deal. This majority is thanks to PP and nothing else.

— Dale Burnay (@daleburnay.bsky.social) April 17, 2026 at 4:00 PM

Today's News: Getting a grip - on the scattered complexity of US wars now, and on the impact of the Liberal majority

From Phillips's Newsletter 

Getting a Grip on all of Trump's Wars?

Our son follows a "This Week in World War 2" podcast and when I hear it I am struck by the scattered complexity of that war - events going on simultaneously in theatres in Europe, Ukraine, Greece, the Baltics, Libya, Africa, Europe, the Philippines, India-Burma, Hong-Kong, on the Atlantic and Pacific.
I'm feeling like that now -- we seem to be reaching a level of scattered complexity in today's conflicts too, where I find it all too nonsensical and its increasingly hard to keep track of how they affect Canada in some manner or that Canada is dealing with-- we have the Russia-Ukraine War, Israel-Hamas/Gaza War, Trump's tariff wars, US-Venezuela War, the US-Israel-Iran War, Lebanon-Israel War, and the US blockade of Cuba. 

I also think that America's ICE Gestapo are making war on the American people, with raids, arrests with no warrants, disappearances, and concentration camps now being built across the United States.

And Trump seems to be declaring war against the Pope now too.
So maybe its just me, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to get a grip on what is going on with all of Trump's wars -- I don't spend all day on social media, so when I open it up I often see that he has announced something, or lied about doing something else, then I realize it already got changed, or everybody just ignored it, or something just fell apart again.

When it comes to the Iran War, I can't follow whether Hormuz is open, or closed, or partly open, or closed for some countries, or open only for China, or something else. And I don't know if the Houthis are also blocking Red Sea shipping. According to Phillips P. OBrien - see the illustration above - the financial markets aren't taking Trump very seriously anymore.

Apparently Europe is due to run out of aviation fuel in six weeks. So what happens next?
Is Venezuela OK? Is anyone helping Gaza now? Is Cuba getting any supplies? Will American concentration camps be operational before the midterms or can individual communities stop them? Will American immigrants try to escape to Canada, and will the Carney government be merciful or cruel?
I just read in the New York Times that there is going to be a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon (gift link) and maybe also Hezbollah. And talks are on-going between the US and Iran, I guess, though Hegseth is still blustering about bombing.
I'm pretty sure Trump or Hegseth can screw this up somehow:

Via REUTERS: “A Pakistani security source told Reuters: A deal between the US and Iran is close, with talks in their final phase. Backchannel diplomacy via Pakistan is ongoing, alongside direct contact between technical teams. He said that next round will be more of a deal signing ceremony.”

- Yashar Ali

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And about those financial markets:

Apparently the dudes behind the biggest financial institutions in the world follow absolutely no news except the few Truth Social posts that make it to Fox.

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— 🗽LOLGOP🗽 (@thefarce.org) April 16, 2026 at 7:33 PM

Stock markets represent the combined judgements of millions of investors with a fearsome interest in being right. My judgement is just stuff I think. It is obvious that I should be extremely cautious in dismissing the judgements of markets. Which is why I say the following only a soft mutter not intended to be heard by others: The markets have lost their flipping minds.

- Dan Gardner

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