Wow!
Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux has joined the Liberal caucus, making him the third Conservative MP to break with his party since November – a move that puts the Carney government on the cusp of a majority.But what everyone is talking about tonight isn't Carney's success in (almost) achieving a majority government, but rather Pierre Poilievre's weakened leadership.
Though they now hold 169 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberals are expected to pick up two more when by-elections are called in two safe Liberal ridings.
To attain a majority government, they would still need a seat in addition to those two. They have a chance to secure one in a third by-election, set to be called in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne. But the Liberal candidate won there by just a single vote in last April’s elections. The Supreme Court recently annulled that result, making the by-election necessary.
Another path to a majority could come about if Prime Minister Mark Carney recruits another MP from a rival party to join his caucus.
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And now that Jeneroux has crossed the floor instead of just resigning as he had said he would do last fall, it makes it clear that Poilievre's leadership is not respected anymore.
That leadership vote three weeks ago was so jury-rigged that it demonstrated Poilievre has lost control of the party, and the events since have demonstrated that he has lost control of his caucus - the much-ballyhooed trip to Washington by MP Jamil Jivani should never have been allowed to happen, and Jivani himself is now insulting Canadians.View on Threads
...By so conspicuously aligning himself with Mr. Trump, Mr. Jivani was laying claim, I think, to the leadership of the MAGA wing of the Conservative Party.
That is, I am sorry to say, a sizable chunk of the party base. Polls show somewhere between one-quarter and one-half of Conservative supporters approve of Mr. Trump, notwithstanding his threats to impoverish and annex the country.
But Mr. Jivani’s positioning is not only about appealing to the populist right. A section of the Canadian business community – particularly big business, particularly in southern Ontario – views a successful renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) as existential, and is apoplectic at the thought of Canadian political leaders saying or doing anything that might conceivably put that in jeopardy.
They are not pro-Trump, so much as they are pro-appeasement – or as they might prefer, pragmatism. They want a deal at any cost, and consider anyone who stops to ask what the cost might be, or whether paying it would buy us anything but the shortest of peaces, guilty of “emotional” thinking. Mr. Jivani’s supine, blame-Canada stance will play well with them.
The post-Poilievre leadership race, in other words, is already under way. ...
The Conservative party's new leader on foreign affairs tell an extremist MAGA publication that Canadians are just having a "hissy fit" over the threat to our sovereignty and border. A hissy fit? Dipshit breitbart.com/politics/2026/02/14/jivani-says-canada-harming-itself-with-hissy-fit-on-trade/
— Charlie Angus (@charlieangus104.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 7:47 AM
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Why can’t Canada have an official opposition that is loyal? Between Javani pandering to the American far right and Poilievre unwilling to get a security clearance, who exactly owns the CPC
— Wally Kibler🇨🇦 (@wallykibler.bsky.social) February 16, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Well, duh. If you were an MP and had the choice of sitting on the same side of the House of Commons as Jumpin Jack Jamil Jivani or joining the adults across the aisle, wouldn’t you do the same? 🍁😉🍁
— David Hamer (@davidhamer1951.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 11:04 AM
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Epstein files get hotter
The UN is now working on the Epstein files. The Hill reported on Wednesday:
A panel of United Nations experts suggested that allegations detailed in the millions of documents released by the Justice Department (DOJ) connected to its probe of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could amount to some of the most serious crimes under international law.
The group of experts, appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said in a statement released Monday that the files signal “the existence of a global criminal enterprise” that engaged in the “systematic and large-scale sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation” of women and girls.
“These crimes were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption, extreme misogyny, and the commodification and [dehumanization] of women and girls from different parts of the world,” they said.
“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” the panel added....
We need investigations right NOW! #Epstein
— Deborah Lynn (@mrsdeborahlynn.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 3:26 PM
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Minneapolis is still being ICEedLes Wexner financed Jeffrey Epstein’s life for decades and when I asked if he’d been to his island, he said yes. Yet he denies having a “personal relationship” with Epstein or knowledge of wrongdoing. Wexner was under oath today and we won’t stop pushing until we get the truth.
— Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (@repyassansari.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 3:36 PM
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Don't believe those reports about how the Trump administration is pulling their ICE Gestapo out of Minneapolis.
After all, this is "Trump 2: The Revenge Tour".
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The major purpose of Trump's invasions of blue cities is always to inflict a maximum of damage to their economies. Minneapolis is a case in point.
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 3:59 PM
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A broad coalition of organizers in Minneapolis are calling for a week of action
— Margaret Killjoy (@margaret.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 5:23 PM
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This is an under-reported story too:
APTN’s Montreal reporter Savanna Craig is on the ground in Minneapolis, Minnesota this week to report on how Immigration and Custom Agents, or ICE, have been interacting with Native Americans.
— APTN News (@aptnnews.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 7:07 PM
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We are living through dark, disturbing and dangerous times, but do not despair — the cavalry is coming! Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be taking the stage this spring from Minneapolis to California to Texas to Washington, D.C. for the Land of Hope And Dreams American Tour.
— Bruce Springsteen (@brucespringsteen.net) February 17, 2026 at 11:11 AM
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Olympic Catch-upU2 just released a EP of songs about Ukraine, Iran, Gaza and Minneapolis and they sound more engaged than they have in years: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) February 18, 2026 at 6:26 PM
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Four straight days with gold for Canada, and the hockey team escaped. Pretty good.
— Bruce Arthur (@brucearthur.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Canada's Day 11 results here (sorry, I forgot to post this link last night), and our Day 12 results here. For what is coming up on Day 13, click here.
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And we won the quarter-final hockey game. What a nail-biter!
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The pressure these athletes are dealing with is extraordinary:
🇨🇦 Steven Dubois is beaming. And relieved. He just told me he hasn’t slept very well the last two nights leading to the 500m today. He was stressed and nervous. And that he bet on himself in the final. Made his move. And it paid off with gold.
— Devin Heroux (@devinheroux.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 3:30 PM
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You don't have to win to be a leader in your sport:
Mark McMorris crashed again at the Olympics and was unconscious for two minutes. He recovered and went for it again; he was banged up again, injured again, and went for the biggest jump he could, again. No wonder his younger rivals remain in awe. Wrote on an original: www.thestar.com/sports/olymp...
— Bruce Arthur (@brucearthur.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 4:14 PM
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Tomorrow is "SkiMo" day - a new event called Ski Mountaineering. No Canadians are listed for this race but it should be fun to watch anyway.
SKIMO IS HERE
— Sickos Committee (@sickoscommittee.org) February 18, 2026 at 8:15 PM
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One thing that will be remembered about these Olympics will be the controversial officiating and judging.
But now today -- too many men on the ice when Czechia scored? and the officials didn't notice?
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Almost nobody knew that Team Czechia had six players on the ice when Ondrej Palat took the lead for his team in the third period 👀 (via: x/tsnjamesduthie)
— TSN (@tsnofficial.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 2:11 PM
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On the other hand, the Czechia team wasn't happy with the officiating in the game either:
Czech HC, Radim Rulik speaks on the officiating in Team Czechia’s quarterfinal loss against Team Canada 👀 #MilanoCortina2026 (via: x/RonoAnalyst)
— TSN (@tsnofficial.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 2:52 PM
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Earlier in the figure skating competition, the United States was PISSED at how the French judge had down-voted the American dance pair, saying this lost them the gold medal to the French pair.
Then today I saw this post about the slopestyle snowboard competition, where Canadian Laurie Blouin came 5th. I didn't watch this myself, but it sounds bad:
the commentator at the women's slopestyle is in open revolt against the judging, just repeatedly yelling "WHAT?" after scores come in and just said "I won't pretend to have any idea what's going on with the scoring"
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 8:33 AM
The more I watch the Olympics, the more I agree with my brother - he says all judged sports are suspect, compared to sports where winners are determined within the sport itself (crossing a finish line, scoring a goal, sinking a basket, and so forth)
Those post-event press conferences can be pretty awful for the athletes, I think, particularly when they get asked some pretty ignorant questions:
Gu was born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother and American father - which in the opinion of the Trump administration would make her an illegitimate anchor baby who doesn't deserve American citizenship but now they're also mad at her because she skis for China instead of the US - make up your damn minds, will you?Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.
— Kim Wexler's Ponytail 🐝💛🎗 (@madisonkittay.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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In other Olympic news today, The Littlest Hobo showed up!
DOG AT THE OLYMPICS FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 7:26 AM
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Olympics Dog was chasing the motorized camera they have to capture the competitors at the finish line, then decided to chase some competitors instead
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 7:40 AM
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This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal
— WeRateDogs (@weratedogs.com) February 18, 2026 at 11:48 AM
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We were in Tesero outside the gates of the stadium when the dog owner ran after Nazgul who had no interest in being leashed. He then ran through security into the stadium with the owner chasing after him. It’s so funny to see what transpired. Nazgul is beautiful and I am sure had his best day ever.
— young007.bsky.social (@young007.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 1:55 PM
It's a Czechoslovakian WolfDog. Although it started off as a hybrid, it's more like a wolfish German Sheppard than a wolf. It's an official breed since the 80s/90s. So no, not a wolf.
— . (@daemoniumcattus.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 2:31 PM
a bunch of Canadians have posted this show in my mentions today and now i need to know more about this show where an ownerless German Shepherd wanders around Canada helping people in need
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 5:56 PM
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Since you guys seemed to appreciate this, here’s a video of the pups enjoying Nazgûl’s unscheduled participation in the cross country skiing event.
— Laura Slater (@marketrlaura.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 4:51 PM
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And because you're already thinking of it:
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