Wednesday News: Stelco update, some thoughts about likeable politicians, and "Shove that ballroom up your fat ass!"

Stelco Update
The news of the day was when Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves told CBC's David Cochrane that he had actually bought Hamilton's Stelco Steel two years ago to stop it from competing with his US steel businesses.
Oops!

He's basically daring governments to expropriate at this point.

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— John Michael McGrath (@jm-mcgrath.bsky.social) October 27, 2026 at 4:32 PM

Catching up with the news: Signs of the Apocalypse, Trade War Update, and some World Series comments

Turned out to be a busy weekend, didn't it.

Flavio Bolsonaro has been ordered to surrender his passport. Russia no longer has an ally in Serbia. The Milwaukee Brewers might win the World Series. Maybe the Universe is trying to turn itself rightside up again. BUT there's work to be done. Get some rest. Gnight, little Earth.

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— Spike Page🌋 (@spikepage.wsocial.eu) October 26, 2026 at 10:33 PM

Signs of the Apocalypse - a regular round-up of the crazy stuff happening down south
The closer the Mid-Terms get, the nuttier Trump is getting.
He wrote a 1,300 word post on Sunday about Bill Maher, FFS. 

Now he's furious about Obama calling his White House decor a Cheesecake Factory. 

Way to stick to the point, guy.

Sunday Funday: BC Gloom, US Election Funnies, Interesting Posts, Funny Posts, Getting Old(er), Trumpwatch, and Animal Crackers

BC Doom and Gloom

I guess BC premier David Eby got his wish for a majority government.
Unfortunately, its Conservative.
Basically, I think Eby took his voters for granted, and they punished that disrespect. 

What will happen now? Lots of performative bullshit, I expect, along with some poor economic and social policies, and some cruel and unnecessary conflicts with First Nations.

Dear BC Voters… I know you were angry at the NDP, but voting for the Shoot-BC-in-the-Foot Party is as unforgivably stupid as @davidebybc.bsky.social calling the election in the first place. Enjoy your reduced services, higher instance, and racist, Trump-friendly government, you brainless assholes.

— CrankyCanucksFan 🇨🇦🏒 (@crankycanucksfan.bsky.social) October 24, 2026 at 10:43 PM

Wow, what a map. I took this screenshot at about 11 pm BC time.

 

And with 91% of the vote now in

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— Polling Canada (@canadianpolling.bsky.social) October 24, 2026 at 11:33 PM

Holding the cards

It's beem 18 months since I first saw this great Dave Whamond cartoon.

At that time, when Trump talked about how Canada "didn't have the cards", defying him felt sort of like whistling past the graveyard - we hated him but we didn't know what would happen to us.

But now, Canada is more confident. We know what we're doing, we have a leader who keeps calm and carries on, and we can't be intimidated anymore.

So when I heard Trump say again on Friday that Canada didn't have the cards, I just thought "Wrong!" and changed the channel.

But now that I have listened to it again, it struck me how scared Trump really is.

Trump: "Canada is working very hard to make a deal with us, and I hate to say this, but we have all the cards. We have all the cards, just like I told Zelenskyy, we have all the cards."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Look who blinked first. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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— Andrew Kurjata (@akurjata.ca) October 23, 2026 at 7:40 PM

TACO indeed:

TACO Tuesday comes early. He's terrified. www.youtube.com/shorts/NDTKa...

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— Cbaboween (@cbab.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 11:33 PM

Comments on the passing scene: Staying together, Ending homelessness, Hating Canada because it works, That Notwithstanding clause, Trump rallies, Selling winter

Taking a step back to catch up on some interesting comments and views that have been flying under the radar lately, if my metaphors aren't getting too mixed up. 

We're all in this together

First, cartoonist Graeme MacKay makes a valid point:

Tariffs Don’t Stop at Provincial Borders Ontario has clearly felt the brunt of Trump’s attacks, especially in auto and steel. Alberta has its own legitimate grievances and hasn’t been untouched by tariffs, but it has had the nation’s attention for weeks and remains one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces. Meanwhile, other regions are taking serious economic hits too. So it’s hard to read comments dismissing support for Ontario’s workers as “corporate welfare,” especially when the western oil sector has also benefited from major public support, including subsidies and pipeline deals. We can debate how governments help industries, but let’s apply the same standard everywhere and not leave Ontario’s auto and steel sectors to fend for themselves. This isn’t a regional contest. Alberta’s concerns deserve a hearing, and so do the workers and communities facing the brunt of Trump’s trade war elsewhere. At a time when Canada’s sovereignty and economic security are under pressure, we need less scorekeeping and more solidarity. My rough sketch for the Oct 23 edition of The Hamilton Spectator:

- The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Thingummy Thursday: some good cartoons and posts about the news

A thingummy is when you can't think of what to call something. So that's what I'm calling this column, because its just a random collection of good cartoons and good posts about recent events.

First, some final clips and comments on the Alberta referendum:

David Herle: "Turnout in Quebec in 1995 was 95%. Turnout on the Alberta separation question is going to hit 70%. The nine, I think the turnout's in the 30s. This was a fucking nothingburger. This was an internal UCP party management exercise."

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 11:20 AM

Talking about Alberta: The separatists lost but the racists won

I thought it might be useful to do a roundup about the Alberta votes. So here are some comments from inside Alberta and from outside it, plus the terrible impact of the anti-immigrant support.

First, what Albertans are saying.

We Rocked the Indigenous Vote on Separation. Alberta Is Indian Land. indigenousinsider.substack.com/p/we-rocked-... "None of this came out of nowhere. First Nations leaders have stood against the separatists, and the provincial government that enabled them, all year long."

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— tikabean.bsky.social (@tikabean.bsky.social) October 20, 2026 at 9:13 PM

Naheed Nenshi on Indigenous turnout in the Alberta referendum: "The very people who've been hurt more by the mistakes of Canada than anybody else, stood up as the proudest champions of Canada."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Catching up with the news: Are we finally done with that damned referendum? Plus some Wainwright updates

From Theo Moudakis

That lengthy and confusing damned Alberta referendum is finally over. But likely never to be forgotten. I just hope it will never be repeated.

Here is the Poliwave vote page for all of the Alberta referendum questions.
With half the vote counted, Alberta is showing a Remain landslide of 76+ per cent - hopefully that will hold up.
Here is the Poliwave map showing the Remain/Leave vote so far - the red colour shows which answer leads in each riding. Deeper colour, bigger lead. (The only place showing majority support for Leave is that blue patch around Grande Prairie but its misleading because less than 4 per cent of that vote had actually been counted so far.)

Sunday Funday: Some good cartoons plus Interesting Posts, Funny Posts, Getting Old(er), Carney Hat-trick, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers

Today was another "No Kings" day in the US. I've seen some criticism that these protests aren't happening often enough, but maybe this is as much as Americans can manage for the time being - after all, they also have to be ready to mobilize against ICE on a moment's notice too.  

Anyway, here are a few good cartoons:

Wrapping up the week: rallies to get out the Alberta vote, plus the story behind the story of Alberta separatism

We had our Covid and flu shots today, so I'm feeling a little punk tonight. This won't be lengthy but I hope it will be interesting.

The Alberta referundum is coming up on Monday so I thought I would focus on it in this post. And I found some interesting posts and comments about Carney's events in Alberta on Thursday and Friday, plus some analysis of how this Alberta separatism movement echoes far-right rabble rousing across the world.
On Thursday PM Carney spoke to a big rally in Calgary and on Friday to Edmonton

Alberta's separatist ballot is dangerous for Canada & Canadian sovereignty. Many questions are designed to weaken Canada, move AB to extreme right & give US full access to H2O, power, oil, etc in exchange for $$$. In fact, many want to become a state. This is serious! www.youtube.com/shorts/RAmur...

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— Dan 🇨🇦 (@bc-coastal.bsky.social) October 16, 2026 at 11:29 PM

Blame Canada? Sounds like Trump is going to target us when he loses the Mid-Terms

Since Canada walked away from the trade negotiations in August, I think we've been mostly focused on our own Canadian affairs - the provincial elections in Quebec and in BC, the referendum vote in Alberta, the mayoral races here and there, the Pacific Link pipe line, port and infrastructure project  developments, the bike lanes in Toronto, legislation debates in parliament, whether the Jays could make it to the post-season.

So it was startling for me to realize this week that Canada might well end up playing a starring role in the US Mid-Term elections. And not in a good way.
We're being set up to be the bad guys!

Just when things can’t get anymore stupid, the US ambassador says he is monitoring Canada for election interference. Are we going to get blamed if there is a blue wave in the midterms? If they lose the Midterms get ready for them blame it on Canada.

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— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) October 15, 2026 at 6:29 AM

Lyin' Pete Hoekstra has actively undermined in our nation to destroy our sovereignty. But Canadian officials never called him out. So now he is claiming we are somehow interfering in Trump land. He is setting the stage to blame Canada for the shit show at the mid-terms. youtube.com/shorts/b_B3M...

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— Charlie Angus (@charlieangus104.bsky.social) October 15, 2026 at 11:28 AM

Some funny cartoons plus today's news: Signs of the Apocalypse, Canada-Us Trade War, Updates about Alberta and BC

Some great cartoons about the week's news. They mostly skewer Trump, and deservedly so:

Trump Chaos

Comments about the passing scene - Mark Carney, Ukraine, Stelco, Chrystia Freeland, Evan Scrimshaw, Mark Jacob, Keith Law

Here are a few useful posts and interesting comments about the issues of the day. 

From Mark Carney
"the most low-key troll I have ever seen. 🤣"

October 13 is the anniversary of the The Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812 and PM Carney highlighted Major General Isaac Brock and that Battle during his first Forward Guidance video address to Canadians in April.

And yes, the subtlety of this post is outstanding.

Catching up with the news: Canada is worth fighting for. Plus Trade War Dispatches and Signs of the Apocalypse

First, a Thanksgiving message from PM Carney - "Canada is worth fighting for"

Dispatches from the Canada-US Trade War
Wow!

We learn that Howard Lutnick threatened to send US troops across the Canadian border "by sundown" if we didn't back down. The threat was made over the plan to retaliate over arbitrary tariff with an energy surcharge. Canada must be ready for all threats from the USA. youtube.com/shorts/EKjjV...

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— Charlie Angus (@charlieangus104.bsky.social) October 12, 2026 at 12:47 PM

I believe this is true

@mark-carney.bsky.social Mark Carney is psycho-engineering a whole country to build a cohesive fighting unit to take back Canada from the US. Creating a new patriotism for a country that hasn't existed for many years.

— Gerry Dunn (@ballydunn.bsky.social) October 10, 2026 at 9:51 AM

Sunday Funday: Thanks for Thanksgiving, Winter is Coming, Interesting Posts, Funny Posts, Getting Old(er), Carney Hat-Trick, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers

I'm feeling very Canadian this Thanksgiving