The latest in "Elbows Up!"

I've been collecting more "Elbows Up" posts - Canadians are so inventive, so funny, everyone loved it when Trump said in a recent interview that Canada is "nasty" because it gave us something else to laugh about:

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Oops! Poilievre just shot himself in the foot.

Well now.

For the last week, the Conservatives have been trying to gin up a scandal about Carney's stock portfolio, hoping Canadian media will follow Rosemary Barton's lead and adopt a hectoring, suspicious "But her emails!" tone about Carney's blind trust - they seemed to want to burst Carney's rising balloon and bring him down to earth, make him look uncomfortable and sneaky, ducking and weaving -- and that was starting to happen, I was reading more posts and seeing more commentary and news stories about how Carney "needed to say something", with the usual "poor optics" complaints when there wasn't anything else to criticize.

   

So today I'm watching Power and Politics, and David Cochrane is interviewing several guest pundit types about the latest federal polls and other stories, of course including Carney's stock portfolio blind trust and maybe it was suspicious etc etc. 
Because there wasn't really anything else to talk about this afternoon anyway -- Carney had already completed his European and Iqaluit press conferences, the polls have been turning around for the Liberals but everybody already knew that, and there hadn't been any new tariff news. The only big news of the day seemed to be those astronauts coming home from the space station.
It did seem to me that maybe the whole "Carney is sneaky" smear from the CPC might just be gaining some media traction, with pundits discussing whether Carney was hiding conflicts of interest in his stock portfolio and why wouldn't he just tell everyone what he owned and what was he maybe hiding and lets talk about it some more and interview some more people while we're at it...
Then, at about the 30-minute mark, kaboom....
Cochrane announced he had just received an email from CPC's Jenni Byrne announcing that "there will be no media contingent on the Conservative plane" during the election campaign.
And then it just hit the fan!
All of a sudden, Canadian media had something to talk about.
And so did dozens of columnists across the country, and hundreds of posters on social media.
Now, I don't know why Poilievre and the Conservatives decided to kick reporters off his campaign plane -- Poilievre has always had a prickly relationship with many Canadian reporters, he doesn't like them, he doesn't respect what they do, and the feeling is mutual. It seems to be very hard for Poilievre to talk easily to reporters - or anybody, really - in that breezy, friendly, off-the-cuff way that reporters love and politicians cultivate. And Poilievre obviously feels more comfortable with the media right-wingers who like him. So maybe it was everything, everywhere, all at once, who knows.
But what amazed me about this today was - why NOW?
I could not believe it...for heaven's sake, why would CPC announce this right now, this afternoon, on the very day that its smear campaign against Carney might finally be bearing some fruit, so to speak.
Talk about stepping on a rake, knocking yourself out, distracting from your agenda and sabotaging your own message.
Of course, when Byrne sent her email, Carney's stock portfolio immediately became old news, and reporters started speculating about Poilievre's fear of reporters,  and rehashing those many many Poilievre media clunkers.

How do you like THEM apples?

Today's News: Carney will not put up with disrespect. Not from Trump, and not from Canadian media either!

At a press conference in England, Carney made it clear he isn't going to put up with disrespect from anyone.

Not from Trump:

NEW: Canadian PM Mark Carney says Trump has to stop his “51st state” talk before he is willing to sit down with him. He calls Trump’s comments disrespectful & says: “They will have to stop before we sit down and have a conversation about our broader partnership with the US.” 🇨🇦 #elbowsup

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— News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) March 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM

As Lorne Warrick at Politics and Their Discontents says:

At a time when countries seem increasingly timid for fear of offending Don Trump, it is refreshing and invigorating to see our Prime Minister setting his own course.

And Carney isn't putting up with any disrespect from anyone else either. 

Weekend Funnies: some good posts, Craig Baird's Canadian border history lessons, a bit of staring into the abyss, and of course, Animal Crackers

Well, come to think of it, fuck yeah!

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Next, if you find this post a little confusing, just remember that March 15 is the Ides of March:

Happy March 15 to the President of the United States and all his team.

— Domestic Enemy Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 10:37 AM

I'm seeing posts from US media noticing that Canada isn't going gentle into Trump's night:

We've managed to get Canada into a posture of militant, solidaristic nationalism. I can only say, congrats everyone. Great work. Really, great work.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 16, 2025

Trump's one achievement so far has been to Make Canada Great Again.

— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 12:00 PM

Today's News: Trudeau says farewell; Carney says hello; commentary from Scrimshaw on Gould, and from Mérand and Ling on Europe; and another great Canadian video

It was Pi Day (3.14) and a day of calculated change for Canada - Trudeau resigned, Carney was sworn in:

First, Trudeau says goodbye 

"Justin, we hardly knew ye..."

Whoa! This photo is really tugging at the strings today. Phew! 🥺❤️🥺 pic.twitter.com/5egHIDEdAh

— Crystal 🇨🇦 (@BluenoserGalNS) March 14, 2025

Thank you #PrimeMinister #JustinTrudeau. No govt is w/o errors but you guided us through #CERB & #FreedumbConvoy, gave middle-class tax cuts & programs to benefit working families w/$10 daycare & lifted so many kids out of poverty. History will be kinder than the present moment.

— Ed the Sock (@EdtheSock) March 15, 2025

Next, Carney says hello, and dishes it out:

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I already love Mark Carney…

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— Dutchy Patrick (@dutchiepatrick.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 11:12 PM

Today's commentary: fast tweet roundup; Emmett Macfarlane and Dale Smith laugh at Ford; Dan Gardner and David Moscrop think deep thoughts about Canada

There is so much going on right now, its hard to keep track of all of it. 

I check various opinion columns just about every day and usually I find some interesting ones. Remembering, of course, this:  things can always get stupider

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Yeah, they should be like those handmaids: eyes down, hands folded, voices soft. jfc, what kind of idiots are occupying our government?

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— calamity jim (@calamityjim.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM

Mid-week update: patriotic videos; funny posts and observations; today in the War of 2025

Credit: Brian McFadden, as posted on Daily Kos

I am so impressed that people are making their own patriotic tributes to Canada:

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Preparing for whatever comes

I think the world is already adopting the "Gargle My Balls" slogan in dealing with the United States.

Preparations to fight Trump, with his annexation agenda and his pro-dictator policies, now seem to be underway around the world -- in Europe, in Asia, even here in Canada.

Basically, the democracies of the world are moving on without the United States. 

Just a week ago, Black Cloud Six wrote: 

For months, I’ve been calling for decisive action to improve our defence capabilities and disentangle Canada from the U.S. It seems—finally—our leadership has realized this too. We may reach a point where the West makes a clear break with Trump and his regime in Washington, but we’re not there yet. Europe (along with Canada and the UK) will try almost anything to prevent such a break. I just hope it doesn’t come at the cost of our sovereignty and honour.

I dare to believe that already the clear break is happening. 

Last week, the European Union met in London with Trudeau and everyone carried on without the US.

Europe is seeking to lead peace negotiations in the Russian- Ukrainian War-

The West is at a “crossroads in history,” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told European leaders at a pivotal summit in London, as the continent sought to wrestle control of negotiations over the… pic.twitter.com/Bl5jvkFS7v

— Thomas (@Thomas984634784) March 9, 2025

Timing is everything

Justin Trudeau always did have great timing.

You know, when you think about it, perhaps one of the greatest services Trudeau ever did for Canada was to resign at exactly the right time. 

If Trudeau had been trying to save his leadership over the last two months, I expect a significant number of Canadians would have written off his warnings about Trump as just outlandish and self-serving hype - "oh, it can't be serious, Trudeau is just trying to scare us to get us to support him, Trump couldn't possibly be so stupid...." while the Conservatives would have howled about another Justin lie... 

But as of January 6, we knew Trudeau was resigning - and we knew there was no political future in Canada for him anymore. 

Later in January, when Trudeau started to talk about Trump's goal of economic destruction and annexation, Canadians almost immediately took him seriously.  

Also, because he was resigning, Trudeau was unleashed - he didn't have to worry anymore about future prime-ministerial calculations or advantages. Canadians quickly accepted that Trudeau had no reason to obfuscate or mislead about Trump, and we started serious discussions about what our next steps should be.

Even when Trump tried to undermine Trudeau's rising popularity by posting that Trudeau was manoeuvring to save his leadership (which is, of course, exactly what Trump himself would do) Canada didn't take the bait -- we immediately saw this for what it was, just another Trump lie.

So the warnings from Trudeau and Joly and LeBlanc were believed and taken seriously by most Canadians - a unexpected but magnificent surge of unity and patriotism and solidarity has been the result. 

Here are some of the imspiring cartoons and posts I have seen in the last month:

It's Carney!

Mark Carney is the new Liberal leader and Prime Minister designate - we will find out soon what the schedule will be for Trudeau resigning and Carney being sworn in.

 

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Carney's acceptance speech was basically his introduction to the Canadian electorate. I thought he did a good job and hit the right notes - his good humour was evident, along with his opposition to Trump and Poilievre.  

I really hope he has the time and energy to travel across the country over the next few weeks - yes, he did a lot of travelling as a candidate, but he wasn't introducing himself to ordinary Canadians, who need to meet him as soon as they can.

Yes, the Annexing Canada talk is serious now. Deadly serious.

People have been chatting about this sotto voce for weeks, but also saying "it's so paranoid, I don't really believe it, not really..." 

We will look back on March 7 as the weekend people finally believed it -- that Trump and his crazy administration actually do want to take over Canada - by referendum, or by annexation, or by war.

Trudeau and Joli already knew this and they've been sounding the alarm.

Now, we're all listening.

Canada Bureau Chief Matina Stevis-Gridneff / New York Times

How Trump’s ‘51st State’ Canada Talk Came to Be Seen as Deadly Serious

President Trump, in an early February call, challenged the border treaty between the two countries and told Justin Trudeau he didn’t like their shared water agreements.

After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an extraordinary statement that was largely lost in the fray of the moment.

“The excuse that he’s giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,” Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa.

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he added.

This is the story of how Mr. Trudeau went from thinking Mr. Trump was joking when he referred to him as “governor” and Canada as “the 51st state” in early December to publicly stating that Canada’s closest ally and neighbor was implementing a strategy of crushing the country in order to take it over.

...Mr. Lutnick called Mr. LeBlanc after the leaders had spoken on Feb. 3, and issued a devastating message, according to several people familiar with the call: Mr. Trump, he said, had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon.

Mr. Trump was interested in doing just that, Mr. Lutnick said.

He wanted to eject Canada out of an intelligence-sharing group known as the Five Eyes that also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

He wanted to tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two nations that lay out how they share and manage Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.

And he is also reviewing military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

...In subsequent communications between senior Canadian officials and Trump advisers, this list of topics has come up again and again, making it hard for the Canadian government to dismiss them.

The only soothing of nerves has come from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the four people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Rubio has refrained from delivering threats, and recently dismissed the idea that the United States was looking at scrapping military cooperation.

But Canada’s politicians across the spectrum, and Canadian society at large, are frayed and deeply concerned. Officials do not see the Trump administration’s threats as empty; they see a new normal when it comes to the United States....

Weekend funnies: Jim Cuddy's song, some funny posts from Mark Hamill, the Beaverton, Trudeau and more; and Animal Crackers

 

 ...Oh no What went wrong

Used to be the singers in a two part song 

Guess all good things come to an end 

But we used to be the best of friends 

Lately there’s been a storm on high 

Things got bad and god knows why 

Give us a call when the fever ends 

Used to be the best of friends 

Yeah we used to be the best of friends 

Ah maybe we could be best friends again 

 ...let's hope. 

 Well, its been another one of those weeks, hasn't it. The crazy has been unrelenting and exhausting:

💤

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— Mark Hamill (@markhamillofficial.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM

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Today's Memes: Trudeau Take Thursday, Musk Lose Sky, Trump Drop Trou, and today in "Elbows Up"

Following along with the "Trump Take Egg" meme, I think we need to title this one "Trudeau Take Thursday"

Q: “The foreign affairs minister called all of this a psychodrama - how do you characterize it?” TRUDEAU: “Thursday.” 🔥

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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 8:21 PM

Elbows Up -- and laughing

Scrolling through social media today, the anger was unrelenting and the patriotism palpable. 

But nothing can stop Canadians being funny -- here's some good stuff from today: 

First, a word on terminology:

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I am Canadian!

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"We will fight and we will win" - Inspiration from Justin Trudeau, comments from Wesley Wark, Charlie Angus, Evan Scrimshaw, Paul Krugman, Jeff Tiedrich. And in late news, US now saying "never mind"?

My illustration today was posted by CdnHistoryEhx - it shows the Battle of Queenston Heights, Oct 13 1812 by John David Kelly. Despite being outnumbered by three to one, the Canadians and the British won against the United States. 

It seemed appropriate because once again Canada finds itself fighting an unwanted battle against a much stronger bully.

 

Trudeau gave a brilliant speech today, and held a brilliant press conference. 

"We will fight, and we will win. ... We're going to make sure nobody goes hungry, and everyone carries their share."

Yes, I agree this was the most remarkable part - Trudeau is not pussyfooting around:

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us." This is the most extraordinary statement by a Canadian prime minister in the history of this country. The Trump administration is at war with Canada.

— John Ibbitson (@johnibbitson.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 11:39 AM

If you can't listen to all of it, read Wesley Wark's excellent analysis:

Wesley Wark / Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter

Trudeau comes out swinging

Or, he gets three big punches in, but shadow boxing

... This was Trudeau the boxer, on his toes....

He aimed three big roundhouses.

The very first, right off the top, was aimed at the Trump administration as a whole, that bizarre coterie of loyalists, weirdos, and the under-qualified...

The second punch was aimed at the gut of the American people. Canadian counter-tariffs, Trudeau indicated, was never a shot we wanted to take....

The third swing was to the chin of the Donald. Trudeau didn’t refer to him as The President or Mr. President, just “Donald.” Lese majeste! Cue up howls from the rabid right wing media in the US. This was almost a worse afront than failing to wear a suit. Trudeau reminded Donald that over the course of their respective political careers, “we have done great things together.” Note to Trudeau speech writers—Donald’s memory and grasp of history is not the best (but it doesn’t matter). The PM then went on to really power it in, quoting and agreeing with the Wall Street Journal--that “Donald—this is a very dumb thing to do.”

Then finally, he turned to the Canadian people, not with a punch, but a promise, hopefully not a fairy-tale. American tariffs will be tough, he said, no sugar-coating, but the government will be there to support you.

Probably the most unscripted thing that Trudeau had to say, which came out in the brief Q and A with the media, was that what Trump wants to see with the tariffs is a total collapse of the Canadian economy, which would make it easier for Trump to annex us. Not going to happen, he said.

It was inspiring for everyone: