Thursday, September 04, 2025

Today's News: Canada is wondering why Carney's Cabinet needs a primer on Trump's authoritarian Project 2025

And if they do, here's one:
 
Tonight Canada social media was absolutely furious to find out that Carney has invited US
 Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts --- AKA a fascist Trump lackey -- to speak to our Cabinet at its Thursday meeting about Trump's authoritarian Project 2025 playbook.
Now, Carney explained that Cabinet needs to know about Project 2025 in order to understand what Trump is doing. 
But anyone who wants to understand Project 2025 can just read it
And here's a website that is tracking its implementation across the US government.
Besides, does any Cabinet minister think Roberts will speak truthfully about whether Project 2025 is necessary or successful?
All in all, it is a disappointing decision by Carney, to host this man and give credibility to his vile agenda by discussing it at such a high-profile meeting.

Lots of negative reactions:

So was meeting with the author of Project 2025 part of the ‘plan’? I guess I missed that part.

[image or embed]

— careeven.bsky.social (@careeven.bsky.social) September 4, 2025 at 12:10 AM
View on Threads

I read several posts like this online too: And this reply: I saw a fascinating article from The Walrus, reprinted on Substack, about how Carney is governing. 
It was published before tonight's contretemps, but may offer some insight on Carney's apparent move away from Trudeau's "left" politics:
Mark Bourrie / The Walrus
Who Is Mark Carney, Really?
We hired the guy with the best résumé. He’s now using power in ways few other prime ministers have dared
...Why have Liberals stayed silent about Carney’s move to the right? A veteran of the last three Liberal prime ministers told me many in the party, like plenty of Canadians, were fed up with what they saw as Trudeau’s fixation on identity politics. If Trudeau’s team was winning elections, there wasn’t much they could do about it. “The Liberal Party is a big tent. Sometimes, the left dominates, sometimes the right. It changes to suit the times, and right now, people in the party and voters want a leadership that can handle Trump and deal with whatever economic changes come from what’s happening in the United States.”
Just as the federal Conservatives are splitting between western populists and eastern centrists because of Poilievre’s insistence on hanging on to the leadership, Carney’s Liberals have issues that may eventually bring them down. In the first months of his government, people saw the change in tone and policy but not the results. How do the Liberals square years of reconciliation with First Nations and Carney’s Bill C-5? What happens when Trump stops threatening Canada? Or when people realize that money spent on the military is cash that no longer goes to the things they think are important? Events could change the vibe: an environmental catastrophe, a global financial meltdown, a foreign crisis that Canadians can’t ignore, a George Floyd–style racial reckoning, another pandemic.
By mid-summer, an Abacus Data poll showed 69 percent of Canadians believed Carney is “calm and steady during uncertain times,” his most favourable attribute. Just 50 percent said the same about Poilievre— who, in a bid to claw his way back into Parliament, was preparing to fight for a seat in an Alberta by-election. On “avoiding unnecessary conflict,” Carney led Poilievre by twenty-two points. Overall, the Liberals had reversed the polling numbers of the summer of 2024. That, in itself, was a mandate for big change.
High approval ratings in a honeymoon period when your opponent is busy fighting for his political life can generate hubris. Most political careers end in tears or, at least, intense frustration. Can a prime minister remake Canada’s economy while spending so many hours dealing with Trump’s petulance? Can he remake the Canadian economy to reduce our dependence on the US?...
Yeah, well....about that "avoiding unnecessary conflict" thing? I think Canadians will conclude that inviting a fascist jerk like Roberts to speak to our Cabinet ministers sends the wrong message about Carney priorities for Canada.

3 comments:

Purple library guy said...

The bit about how getting a briefing from him will help them understand Trump better and so help them go up against him in negotiations . . . Um, this guy is Trump's staunch ally. He's not there to help you beat Trump in negotiations. He will tell you things he hopes will make you fold. If you can't figure that out, maybe we could get some negotiators who can?

Northern PoV said...

" a disappointing decision by Carney"

Sums up how I feel about almost everything Carney has done since his fantasy-based election campaign that CDNs fell for, hook, line and stinker.

Cathie from Canada said...

I'm not generally disappointed at all, but this decision was an awful mistake