First, on a side note, I'm going to try not to use Instagram and Threads embeds anymore because they aren't working on Blogger for some readers - thanks for your patience everyone. I will use Bluesky and Substack plus Threads screenshots - and my own inimitable ramblings! At some point, I might switch to Word Press or post on Substack myself, provided my blogging style can be used there.
Cartoon by David Parkins / The Globe and MailParliament returns
This is the kind of fire I want to see every day from the Liberals:
Steven MacKinnon “I hope this session of Parliament, Mr. Speaker, we won’t see this pattern re-emerge - call it the ‘blame Canada pattern,’ the ‘hissy-fit brigade.’ We are in a trade war. We did not provoke this trade war.”
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— Liberals🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@saynotobs.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 8:18 PM
The
Building Canada Strong act, Bill C-39 was introduced on Monday
Feds move to fast-track approvals across entire regions, not just single projects #cdnpoli #ipolitics
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— iPolitics (@ipolitics.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 5:25 PM
A substack called
Maple Strategic Brief provides a useful summary of the legislation, which is bound to be very controversial because of the labour negotiation changes it is proposing:
....C-39 is not simply a promise to process permits faster.
It would reorganize parts of the federal system around major projects.
The government proposes a one-year federal review and decision timeline, greater coordination between federal processes, and a more streamlined approach for projects considered nationally important. It also proposes a framework for identifying Regions of National Interest...
The government proposes formally designated strategic trade corridors, a Transportation Projects Office to coordinate federal approvals for priority transportation projects, and changes to port governance and trade digitalization.
And then there is labour.
C-39 proposes changes to the Canada Labour Code, including a special-mediator process intended to help federally regulated employers and unions resolve disputes before they become prolonged disruptions. The government says the changes will protect the right to strike while strengthening collective bargaining.
So the bill is really doing three things:
build faster, move goods faster, and reduce disruptions to the systems that move them.
...the strategic logic is clear:
Canada is treating ports, railways, aviation and other federally regulated sectors as part of national economic resilience.
That is a significant shift in how infrastructure is being viewed.
...Canada’s historical problem has not simply been that projects take too long.
It is that the country has often struggled to connect resource policy, infrastructure policy, industrial policy and trade policy into one coherent system.
C-39 starts moving in that direction.
...The question after C-39 is therefore not:
“Can Canada build faster?”
It is:
“Can Canada finally build with a strategy?”
That is the test.
Meanwhile, in Brantford...
🔴 Waahaa!! 🤣🤣🤣
I bet this is exactly how the conversation went...
.
🔳 ADVISOR: You’re sunk deep in the mud. You’re polling at 15% and Mark Carney is polling at over 70%, and RISING. Canadians are passionately rallying around his leadership, and so is the entire world.
🔳 PIERRE: What do you suggest? What if I do a few more fitness videos? The base seemed to like those.
🔳 ADVISOR: You dropped in the polls after the last fitness video. You looked unserious to the majority of Canadians...
And … Don’t do any more where you’re walking and talking in a park, either.
🔳 PIERRE: That doesn’t leave us many options. What if I do another speech in front of a non-existent audience and compare Mark Carney to George Costanza from Seinfeld, and accuse him of doing nothing.
🔳 ADVISOR: No.
🔳 PIERRE: But Canadians are starting to view me as irrelevant. And I hear some members of my caucus are starting to whisper about crossing over to the Liberals, again. I need a revival strategy!
You know what - I think I’ll start by organizing some rallies so we can get some photo ops of me looking like a leader.
I must bathe in the loving light of my remaining followers. Show them I’m still standing. I’m still strong… despite what the media says.
Maybe I can recapture the old magic.
🔳 ADVISOR: That makes no sense. Rallies about what?? What are you campaigning for? The next election is in 2029! You’ll look silly.
Canadians will see right through that. Conservative Party members will view you as a pathetic money-waster.
🔳 PIERRE: Do you have a better idea? We’ve tried everything else, and I just keep dropping in the polls.
🔳 ADVISOR: I don’t know, man.
Is it … do you think it’s maybe time to think about RESIGNING, in order to save the Party?
🔳 PIERRE: F-off. You’re fired. I'll never leave Stonehenge. They'll have to claw it from my cold, dead hands.
🔳 ADVISOR: Don't you mean Stornoway?
🔳 PIERRE: Whatever it's called. I don't care! It's MINE.
Now get the hell outta here, you idealess Debbie Downer.
🔳 ADVISOR: Technically, when referring to a male, it's "Gloomy Gus".
🔳 PIERRE: Get out!!
🔳 ADVISOR: Good luck.
🔳 PIERRE: I'm the Prime Minister in waiting!
🔳 A FEW DAYS LATER:
- Fun Tom
Read on SubstackMacron, Carney hail new chapter in France-Canada ties at symbolic archipelago meeting • FRANCE 24 share.google/lYVYqQmODFMS...
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— Never again (@neveragain.wsocial.eu) September 21, 2026 at 2:47 PM
JFK's address to Canada's parliament: "Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies." www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ad...
Significant that this is being used now with the Canada-France relationship.
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— Robert Jago (@rjjago.bsky.social) September 20, 2026 at 11:43 PM
PM Carney reception in Europe and the meeting with Macron and the Norwegian Prime Minister must be driving the Felon crazy. He needs victories real or not, hence the Greenland false deal, he pressured the Norwegian Prime Minister for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Potash false deal is the same.
— Bernard Leclair (@bernardleclair.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Space, the final frontier...
Canada and France Just Teamed Up on Space Launches: Is Mark Carney Officially Ditching America for Europe? Read more..https://whatsbuzzn.com/canada-and-france-just-teamed-up-on-space-launches-is-mark-carney-officially-ditching-america-for-europe/
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— whatsbuzznglobal.bsky.social (@whatsbuzznglobal.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 6:18 AM
And, at the other coast:
Just another BC train-wreck
So in May, Kerry-Lynne Findlay narrowly won the BC Conservative party leadership over Caroline Elliott.
Then in July Poilievre visited the Stampede where he
needlessly dissed Elliott as a tool of “liberal lobbyists from out east” (ie, her campaign manager was Kory Teneycke) and Elliott noted he should have been working to unify the BC party instead of issuing divisive insults.
In her first and last 113 days, Findlay shattered her party, lost a third of its MLAs, and now has been forced to resign as leader - five days before the Abbotsford-Mission byelection vote next Saturday, which it wouldn't be surprising if she loses, even though
the incumbent MLA had only resigned to open up a seat for her.
For Poilievre, this whole debacle will once again demonstrate to Canadians the thoughtful unifying leadership and nuanced decision-making that Canada has come to expect from Poilievre and his dwindling caucus.
Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigns to spend more time expelling family members
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— The Beaverton (@thebeaverton.com) September 21, 2026 at 12:52 PM
And this year's Liz Truss Award goes to ... Kerry-Lynne Findlay!
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— Douglas Ogg (@dougogg.bsky.social) September 20, 2026 at 6:01 PM
I haven't followed BC politics since we moved back to Saskatchewan 35 years ago, but it was always very polarized. And still is, according to this useful summary of the Findlay leadership blip by UBC business lecturer Adam Pankratz:
Adam Pankratz: The Kerry-Lynne Findlay nightmare is over, her disaster is ongoing
“Findlay’s wounds, which finally became fatal on Sunday, were entirely self-inflicted and deserve little pity.”
…
“Loyalty was rewarded over competence. Former leader John Rustad and former interim Leader Trevor Halford were marginalized in caucus and eventually removed just a few days ago, along with Skeena Claire Rattée.
“Findlay’s chosen chief of staff was Chris Delaney. A former B.C. SoCred, Delaney had had stints with Reform B.C., B.C. First and the Unity Party, an anti-abortion party Delaney lead in the 2001 Provincial election. None of those parties were ever mainstream and always represented a fringe element on the right of B.C. politics. This was not the signal to send if Findlay had any intention of widening the net of who could feel the B.C. Conservatives offered them a political home.
“Then, as her director of operations, she hired Apollo Chung. Chung was a former member of the Republican Party of Alberta, which advocates for Alberta’s separation from Canada. Again, not exactly the hire which screams broad tent conservatism.”
…
“Amidst all this turmoil, those who had built the party were systematically removed as Findlay set about purifying the party. Angelo Isidorou, the party’s former executive director left at the end of July and Party President Aisha Estey resigned in August, posting on X ‘Can’t wait for conservatives to start electing respectful, kind, and ethical human beings again.’ The situation clearly has not improved since then.
“In fact, things seemed to keep getting worse. Elaine Allan, who was appointed executive director in August before also being ousted, is alleged to have hired a private investigator to spy on no fewer than seven current and former Conservative MLAs, four former party staffers, including Isidorou and Estey, veteran journalist Rob Shaw, as well other targets.”
…
“It remains to be seen if the survivors of Findlay’s disastrous tenure can rebuild the party from the ashes and rubble of her political vandalism.” https://nationalpost.com/opinion/adam-pankratz-the-kerry-lynne-findlay-nightmare-is-over-her-disaster-is-ongoing
- Ben Atkinson, PhD
Read on Substack
Apparently the media is expecting Premier Eby to call a snap election soon. It wouldn't be surprising.
Snowbirds spread their wings and fly away
Finally, its sad to see the Snowbirds completing their last performances
The Snowbirds in a 9 jet fly past in the evening at the Aero Gatineau Air Show. This air show was bittersweet as it was the last time The Snowbirds performed on Canadian soil before they permantely stand down. Photo taken September 18th, 2026 #aerogatineau #cfsnowbirds #thesnowbirds #ct114tutor
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— YULspotter (@yulspotter.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 5:34 PM
But this was good news:
This is pretty cool - we saw the new plane at the Gatineau air show this past weekend.
This is the plane that the Snowbirds will also be using - it flew a few passes with the current Snowbird fleet.
(And my daughter has been working on this project at Skyaylne for a few years now … so nice to have it finally be officially announced.).
- Anne Ward
Read on Substack - a regular round-up of the crazy stuff happening down south
Most of America's TV media supported Trump's re-election and many of the bosses groveled at his inauguration and in the months since they have twisted their newsrooms into knots to avoid making Trump angry. All because Trump would approve their mergers and
give them lots of content and lots of clicks.
So Trump kicked CNN, MSNOW and Politico out of the White House last week and on Monday the press pool hit back by refusing to broadcast his events.
In spite of all the pandering, the media have found themselves demonized and cut off cold turkey -- really, I can't help laughing 🤣🤣🤣
Trump's White House press ban is already backfiring on him especially over at Fox. Francis Maxwell reports.
youtu.be/9kkpgPhfT6Y?...
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— JeffTrnka (@jefftrnka.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Trump says he has now set up his own TV station - though I expect it will follow his usual pattern combining incompetence and grift into a balled-up mess within a few weeks:
How is this real, and how many copyright violations can you rack up in one clip?
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— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) September 21, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Mamdani met with Trump on Monday at Gracie Mansion in New York and this was the funniest result:
Remind me never to accept an invitation to play poker with Mamdani. The man’s a fucking rock!
Not a wince. Not an eye roll. Not even a stifled laugh.
Maybe the blinking is Morse code?
- Meaghan Wilson Anastasios
Read on Substack
An interesting summary here of the new tax rate on business investment. And yes, it reduces business taxes. But I would think Canada and the provinces will also collect more income taxes from the new construction and operation employees, and from spin-off companies too.
🇨🇦 Canada just became the cheapest G7 country to invest in.
And this isn't Ottawa grading its own homework.
Scotiabank Economics has now examined Canada's new Productivity Mega Deduction, and the numbers are rather remarkable. Canada's effective tax rate on new business investment is expected to fall from 13% to just 6.4%.
The U.S. is at 16.9%. The G7 average excluding Canada is 26%.
That is not a small competitive advantage.
The change allows businesses to immediately write off roughly two-thirds of eligible capital investment, up from about 15% under the previous rules. That includes machinery, equipment, computers, data network infrastructure, and many clean-energy investments.
In plain English, Ottawa has just made it considerably cheaper for companies to build and expand here.
And there's something else happening in the background.
The Scotia Growth Institute has identified more than $1 trillion in major Canadian projects either underway or awaiting construction. Mines. Energy. Infrastructure. Manufacturing. Data centres. Ports.
Now we're beginning to connect the tax system to the buildout.
Ottawa estimates the deduction could support about $8.5 billion in additional investment annually, eventually generating as much as $22 billion a year in additional economic activity.
Scotiabank isn't giving the government a free pass. Its economists caution that taxes alone don't build anything. Canada still needs demand, workers, faster permitting and the industrial capacity to supply the machinery these projects require.
That's actually what makes this interesting.
Canada isn't suddenly guaranteed an investment boom.
But we're quietly assembling many of the pieces required to create one.
And while everyone is busy watching the daily political food fight, Canada just became a much cheaper place to build the future.
- Bo Kauffmann 🇨🇦 Sanity Project
Read on Substack
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