Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Today's News: Liberal leadership debate, night one; and Trudeau in Ukraine


My photo is by "PoliLEGO" on tonight's Liberal leadership debate from @polilego.bsky.social -it shows @markjcarney.bsky.social @chrystia-freeland.bsky.social @karinagould.bsky.social and Frank Baylis.

So tonight I went spinning through X, Threads, Bluesky and the news, and here are some of the opinions about the French debate for the Liberal leadership. 

First, I saw many comments like these:

I’m watching the French Liberal debate and can I just say how reassuring it is to hear four multilingual adults with sane ideas debate each other on a stage. #Cdnpoli 🇨🇦

— Holly Hoye 🇨🇦 (@hollyhoye.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
View on Threads

Covering what was said, here are some excerpts from the Toronto Star story about the debate - it is a lengthy article so I'm just focusing on frontrunners Carney and Freeland, though I think Gould did herself some good tonight too:

Donald Trump and his threats are the dominant topic at federal Liberal leadership candidates’ debate
The first direct faceoff of the leadership race also included discussions that ranged from how to beef up Canada’s military, to whether to build east-west pipelines, to whether candidates support a planned high speed rail super-project.
The federal government must not deal with Donald Trump the way it did before, agreed Liberal candidates vying to replace Justin Trudeau, as they sparred over who is best suited to deal with the biggest threat to Canada’s economic security.
The U.S. president was not on stage, but he was front and centre throughout the two-hour, French-language confrontation between the four remaining Liberal candidates, as they took occasional aim at the Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre but directed most of their barbs at Trump and his aggression towards Canada.
The first direct faceoff of the leadership race also included discussions that ranged from how to beef up Canada’s military, to whether to build east-west pipelines, to whether candidates support a planned high-speed rail super-project.
And it was a test of French capabilities for the candidates vying to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with perceived front-runner Mark Carney stumbling at times to get points across and find the right words, while his opponents conversed in a more fluid though accented French.
...Carney, the former central banker who navigated the 2008-09 global financial turmoil and Britain’s exit from the European Union, presented himself as a crisis manager fit for this moment, while former finance minister Chrystia Freeland claimed to be the best defender of Canada’s interests based on her track record during the NAFTA renegotiations and in staring down Trump when the Trudeau government retaliated against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Yet her opponents were quick to argue that Trump has evolved into a more menacing threat.
“Trump today is not the same as before,” Carney said. “He is more unilateralist, more isolationist, and more aggressive than before. He wants part of our markets. Now he wants our country.”
Later, in suggesting he would support an East-West oil pipeline if provinces agreed, Carney called the U.S. “our neighbour, no longer our friend.”
...nearly all topics came down to what was best for the economy in these troubled times, including high-speed rail. Carney did not clearly commit funds, saying he did not have Trudeau’s “figures” at hand. But he speculated it would likely require public and private funds, saying “If the project is correct, probably the government would support the project a little.”
The others voiced fuller support.
Carney's ability to speak French was in itself a news topic:
View on Threads

Tonight's Big Oopsie!

the Liberal debate almost threatened to be interesting when Mark Carney said he "agrees with HAMAS" instead of "agrees with the other candidates [about never working with HAMAS]" but it's just that his french is about as bad as mine

— Savage Glitter (@savage-glitter.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM

Speaking to the press after the debate, Carney said "Hamas has no place, ever in any future discussions. Point finale." He also added in French that Hamas is a terrorist organization. Yeah, very brutal flub. You gotta feel for him. Hard to imagine a worse way to fuck up your words.

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— Rachel Gilmore (@rachelgilmore.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Interesting that Freeland helped Carney out a couple of times:
During a discussion on the future of Israel and the Palestinians, Mr. Baylis said that although he supports recognizing the Palestinian state, “that has nothing to do with Hamas. It is all about the people and helping them rebuild their society. It is absolutely not that we’d work with Hamas.”
The former central banker interjected to agree but misspoke, saying instead: “We agree with Hamas.” Ms. Freeland jumped on the mic to say that “we are absolutely not in agreement with Hamas,” after which Mr. Carney clarified his statement, saying he is “against Hamas and for a two-state solution.”
In a scrum with reporters afterwards, Mr. Carney was asked about his gaffe and whether his command of French isn’t strong enough, and said he looks forward to debating other political leaders in French if he wins the Liberal leadership.
Ms. Freeland was asked after the debate about her interjection to clarify Mr. Carney’s comment on Hamas. She said she knows where Mr. Carney stands and felt it was important to clarify what could have been a “dangerous moment.”
Ms. Freeland said French is her fifth language and she has been working hard to improve since entering federal politics. ”Let me say, as an anglophone, French is hard,” she said.
Ms. Freeland also interjected at another point in the debate to complete Mr. Carney’s sentence as he struggled to find the French term for supply management....
As much as I could tell, the questions I wanted to hear about didn't get asked -- abortion, dis-information, foreign interference, Elon Musk's citizenship - oh well, there's always Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Trudeau was in Ukraine today, being Prime Minister. It is the third anniversary of the Russian invasion that began the Russia-Ukraine War -- the war that Russia thought it would win in three days:

PROUD TO BE CANADIAN: Only Trudeau & EC Pres Ursula von der Leyen are attending G7 summit in Ukraine in person, rest virtually. Audible air-defence sirens rang in background during statements. #cdnpoli #ukraine #nato #commongood #ftrump #russia www.ctvnews.ca/politics/art...

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— Kimberly (@narrowka.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 7:31 AM

Ironically, Trudeau may be the best person in Canada to face the moment we're in, except for [waves arms] everything else involving Trudeau www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

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— Bruce Arthur (@brucearthur.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 11:05 AM
I found this to be a very interesting map showing just what Russia has actually achieved in Ukraine in the last year -- like, almost nothing:

Key Takeaways: Russia's 2024 Military Campaigns Russian forces seized the theater-wide initiative following the culmination of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in late 2023 and held it throughout 2024. (1/3) isw.pub/RussiaRetros...

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— Institute for the Study of War (@thestudyofwar.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
And Macron was in Washington sparring with Trump - some weird handsey stuff went on, while Macron also fact-checked Trump's Ukraine lies:  Trump repeated his "Governor Trudeau" jibe today -- getting sorta tired, isn't it? More and more, Trump is reminding me of a servile Biff waxing cars in Back to the Future:

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