Today's News: Comments about Avi, more Danielle Smith grievance theatre, some AI madness, and Brittlestar's Sucker-Punch Spring

A random batch of news tonight:

Comments about Avi

Avi Lewis won the federal NDP leadership this weekend:

You know, I grew up in a CCF family. So part of me still wants the NDP to succeed.
But a much larger part wants Canada to survive as the United States falls into fascism. To do that, Canada needs Carney to be our Prime Minister, likely until at least 2035.
So if the NDP must fail for that to happen, then so be it.
Avi Lewis is a nice guy with a particularly solid back-story. But I think his leadership is not going to be strong enough to help Canada. He doesn't even have a seat, FFS. 

He has never even won an election - municipal, provincial, or federal.
And he says he won't be running for a federal seat any time soon - traditionally, when a seatless leader is selected, one of the party's elected members falls on their sword so the new leader can run in a safe seat.

It doesn't surprise me that Lewis can't ask any of his six remaining MPs to do that for him. I wonder if there are any safe NDP seats left in Canada now?
His policies are progressive, yes, and some are worthy of support I think. But many also strike me as insular, trite, parochial. I shake my head at his stubborn negativity toward Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with his apparent inability to appreciate how Canada's priorities have changed now because of our risky situation with Trump, with NATO, and with the Iran War.

Tom Mulcair responds to Avi Lewis’ criticism: "Mr. Lewis seems to be more intent on convincing other people that he's right and getting them to see his point of view than in dealing with the real differences that exist across Canada and he doesn't even want to run in a byelection."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

James Moore: "I think Mark Carney is one of the luckiest political leaders that we've seen in this country in a long time in the fact the New Democrats keep tripping over themselves and electing people who are not electable to the broader Canadian public."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Sunday Funday: Canadians being Canadians, 'No Kings' signs, good videos, good posts, getting old(er), Trump gets trolled by Iran, Carney Hat Trick, Trump Watch, and Animal Crackers

Canadians being Canadians

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People doing good - Kinew, Carney, Mamdani, Zelenskyy, Tumbler Ridge, Minneapolis, Forest and Gunther, Joe Biden and the Blue Jays

Global Village collage by Juliet O'Neill

So many times we put our focus on the people and politicians we are criticizing -- and there's a lot to criticize so much of the time, yes indeed. But today I saw a number of stories about good stuff being done, so I thought it might be worthwhile to give everyone some credit.

Wab Kinew 

Telling it like it is

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Wab Kinew: "We're never gonna be the 51st state. We will always be the true North, strong and free."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Today's News: Greenland might be back on Trump's agenda

I am a little amused at how startled Americans are now, to learn that Greenland and Europe, plus Canada, was ready to fight back in January, to defend Greenland against Trump.

What did they think the North would do? Just roll over? 

This is truly insane, and it should be front page news across America. Denmark secretly deployed soldiers to Greenland prepared to blow up airport runways to stop a U.S. invasion.

— Mike Levin (@mikelevin.org) March 25, 2026 at 9:42 AM

Rachel Maddow reported on this in her Monday MSNOW show:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Pk... U.S. ally prepares to defend itself against ...the United States Rachel Maddow looks at the news stories we would have trouble believing including Denmark, a U.S. ally, making preparations to defend itself and Greenland against the U.S

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— Canadian Curmudgeon 🍁 (@cdncurmudgeon.bsky.social) March 24, 2026 at 3:58 PM

Doom-scrolling updates: the LaGuardia crash, the predatory economy, Ayla Lucas is still in ICE jail, the Iran War

As I was doom-scrolling today, I seemed to find a lot of crazy or sad or angry stuff, or all three! This Canada Goose reference seemed apt:

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About the LaGuardia crash
The two pilots who died are being remembered as heroes, because their handling of the immanent collision ensured that the plane didn't pinwheel or crash off the runway. They died so everyone else could live.
When I first heard about the controversy over Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau's condolence video being in English, I thought it was overblown, just a distraction. But I can understand it now -- this guy has had years to improve his French but apparently hasn't done the work, and he didn't even seem to realize that the grieving Montreal Air Canada staff and families were disrespected. They needed to hear from Rousseau in their own language, the language they speak every day.

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Thinking About: Canada joining the European Union? Poilievre circling the drain? The Iran War as tragedy and farce?

What about Canada joining the European union?
Politico Europe reported last week Canada could join EU, French foreign minister says Half-joking comments about Canada joining the bloc have become common as Ottawa adapts to its fraying relationship with the United States.

France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has floated the idea that Canada could one day join the European Union, using the transatlantic ally as a striking example of the bloc’s global appeal.
Speaking at the Europe 2026 conference in Berlin alongside his German counterpart Johann Wadephul, Barrot argued that the EU is increasingly attracting partners far beyond its borders as geopolitical tensions soar.
“Nine countries are formally candidates to EU accession today. Others might join them,” Barrot said. “Iceland in a few weeks or months. And maybe Canada at some point.”
Barrot’s Canada remark was not presented as a concrete policy proposal, but rather as part of a broader argument that the EU is emerging as a “third superpower” capable of balancing the rivalry between the United States and China.
Earlier on Tuesday, Finnish President Alexander Stubb suggested to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney while the pair were out running that he should “think about” joining the EU as well.
The comments come as European leaders push to strengthen the bloc’s geopolitical role amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and the U.S. war in the Middle East....
Canada has already pushed back on any suggestion of EU membership, with Carney stating there are no plans to join the bloc. “The short answer is no,” the Canadian PM said when asked about the idea at the NATO summit earlier this year. “That’s not the intent. That’s not the pathway we’re on.”
Instead, Ottawa has been pursuing closer ties short of membership, including a new strategic defense and security partnership with the EU aimed at deepening cooperation across trade, supply chains and security.
While full EU membership for Canada is unlikely in the short term, and no concrete plans to realize it are yet known to be in motion, given the increasing geopolitical turbulence it is not impossible.

Today's News: Some "what the hell?" moments, plus updates on Epstein Scandal-Gate and the Iran War

Some "What the Hell?" moments
When I saw this, I wondered what the hell had gotten into Tom Mulcair?

Tom Mulcair on Pierre Poilievre's Joe Rogan appearance: "I thought it was an outstanding piece of political communication, and it was bookended by ... frankly one of the best political speeches I've heard any Canadian political leader give on Canada-US relations in a long time."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Today I found out:

Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair's lavish public praise for Poilievre's appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast seems unlikely until you remember Mulcair joined Stephen Harper's lobby firm Wellington Advocacy in January.

— Alison Creekside (@alisoncreekside.bsky.social) March 23, 2026 at 2:47 AM

Sunday Funday: Actual Canadian news and tips on how to be Canadian, plus other funny stuff, Carney Hat Tricks, TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers

First, some Canadian Actual News from Brittlestar:


Next, did you know that the Canadian citizenship rules have now changed, so that people whose grandparent was Canadian can apply for Canadian citizenship now?
We're getting lots of interest too:

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Plus I'm reading about hundreds of health care workers now moving to Canada.
I think that's great -- welcome to all, and hey, I found some good tips on becoming more Canadian:

Canadian Insults #1

Today's News: Back at it, folks - Poilievre, Ayla Lucas, the Iran War, the Coalition of the Unwilling, and Cuba

Ok, lets get back to it -- some updates and oddball posts about this week's news stories.

I thought this was pretty good -- its Trump's map of the world, as drawn by Julian Fiebach for Der Spiegel

Catching up on this week's news:

Reactions to Poilievre on Joe Rogan

While many in the Canadian media were swooning about Poilievre's appearance, some wiser heads also prevailed.

Pierre Poilievre will not rest until he has secured the support of all 75 Maxime Bernier voters.

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— Tabatha Southey🇨🇦 (@tabathasouthey.bsky.social) March 19, 2026 at 6:07 PM

Tonight, a short respite from politics

I must say, I am feeling discouraged tonight:

- Poilievre went on Joe Rogan and Canadian media just ate it up. Then Poilievre gave a tone-deaf statement about what a great time he had in the United States! Christ, what an asshole!
- on Thursday we found out that Ayla Lucas, a seven-year-old autistic Canadian girl, is trapped, with her mother at the ICE Gestapo facility called Ursula- the Rio Grande Valley Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas, where she is "wrapped in a mylar space blanket, sleeping on a floor mat, subjected to 24-hour lights, noise, overcrowding" No word on what Canada might be doing to get her out.
- Danielle Smith is trying to turn MAID into Alberta's next anti-Ottawa controversy.
- Carney posted a joint statement today from Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan about "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait", so I am worried now about whether Trump and Israel and the Gulf states are going to drag us all into their damned Iran War. On Thursday evening's The Rest Of the World post, Martinez says

...Seven nations signed Thursday. None committed forces. The joint statement is being presented in Washington as progress. Internationally, it is being read as the strongest form of “not yet” that diplomatic language allows...

So its time to take a little breather:

We don’t appreciate trees enough.

- The Culturist

Read on Substack

The Iran War is getting hotter, and Cuba is getting help: "The United States may retain its power, but its moral authority and its claim to lead the free world are gone."

The whole world is realizing that the United States is just a paper tiger now.

And we know that Trump and Hegseth and their gang of idiots: 

1. Don't know what they're doing, so they're basing their war plans on wishful thinking, and 

2. In the unlikely chance that somebody in the Pentagon actually does know what he or she is doing, there is no one in the Trump administration who is willing to listen to them. 

A Round-up of Opinion: On Carney, On Poilievre, On Canada, and On Trump

This is just a miscellaneous roundup of various comments and opinions.

On Carney:
Just for a second, I thought maybe this was true:

Carney eyes Bloc MP to complete his collection

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— The Beaverton (@thebeaverton.com) March 12, 2026 at 3:56 PM

This actually is true:

Éric Grenier: "The Liberals are now enjoying lead of about 11-12 points over the Conservatives -- just as a reminder they won by just about two and a half points in the last election."

- Scott Robertson

Read on Substack

Today's News: The Carney Rebellion, plus my Final Paralympics Catch-up

Its "The Carney Rebellion"!

Now that Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping - except for ships whose country has made its own deal and is paying in Yuan - it means the US stock market is going to react. So Trump is terrified. But now the NATO countries and everyone else have found their spines - they are refusing to join Trump's inept and illegal war, and no one is even apologizing for it.
In honour of Prime Minister Carney's Davos speech, maybe we should be calling this moment The Carney Rebellion!

What a paragraph. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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— Duncan Weldon (@duncanweldon.bsky.social) March 16, 2026 at 4:11 AM

Europeans when being asked to unblock the Strait of Hormuz

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— Witty Librarian Resistance (@paulwartenberg.bsky.social) March 16, 2026 at 1:38 PM

Sunday Funday: "We are all wearing Florsheims now", plus other funny posts, Paralympic Catch-up, Carney Hat Trick, TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers

US/Israel/Iran War update
First, its time for some FAFO - I don't know if a war can ever be funny, but this one is getting ridiculous.

In FRESH HELL Diary, Tina Brown writes Trump's Wild War Game

...I dream of the cabinet meeting when Trump is finally pelted with Florsheims, like that glorious moment in 2008 when the Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at President Bush during a joint press conference with Iraqi puppet PM al-Maliki in Baghdad. “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog!” shouted Muntadhar, before he was wrestled to the ground and thrown into jail. (“I don’t know what his beef is,” commented Bush, who lacked imagination at the best of times.)
The unsettling thing is, we are all wearing Florsheims now. Not because we lack raucous expressions of dissent at the manner in which America lurched into a war of choice with Iran, but because we all keep pretending there is a functioning alternative reality in which norms, policy, think tanks, and geopolitical game plans still play their traditional roles. Pundits speak sonorously about “regime modification” (shorthand for a next-gen, turban-charged Islamic republic) and the “extension of presidential power,” as if this were the long-ago world of institutional gravitas and coequal branches of government, instead of an inescapable escape room, in which we are trapped with a berserk brontosaurus peddling vehement ignorance.
We nod away as former military brass with their flat procedural voices outline the latest wheeze from the White House about special ops forces extracting canisters of enriched uranium from the rubble of Iran’s nuclear facilities without getting blown up. The sudden notion of resurgent Kurds has already come and gone from the news cycle. Trump, who hasn’t even flown commercial since circa 1988, is contemptuous of mariners and shipping companies who are hesitant to set sail on the perilous Strait of Hormuz, now seething with mines and drones. “These ships should go through…and show some guts. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Trump bloviated to Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade on the phone, not long before three international cargo ships were hit by fiery Iranian projectiles. The truth is Trump’s Iran high is already wearing off. He all but yawned to reporters on Monday, “We want a system that can lead to many years of peace, and if we can’t have that, we might as well get it over with right now.” On to Cuba...

The only solace I take some days is that he's as miserable about how this presidency is going as the rest of us are 🇺🇸

— Paul Meek (@paulmeekperth.bsky.social) March 14, 2026 at 6:56 AM

This post reminded me of my favorite Threads post of all time:

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Our Carney year: "Thank Fuck For Him". Plus some other political news, the US/Israel/Iran War update, and Paralympics Catch-up

Now that Carney has been Prime Minister for a year, I'm seeing some "anniversary" pieces analyzing what he is accomplishing:

Evan Scrimshaw writes One Year Of Carney: Thank Fuck For Him

...the truth that is self-evident to me watching Carney - even at his most angering - is that it is so much better having an imperfect Liberal government than any flavour of a Conservative one. We want a perfect government, and we want to defend the one we support to make it seem like it’s perfect, but it’s not. But at the end of the day this government is far far better than the alternatives, because it is a government that will at least listen to the left and respond to criticism. And that, even more than a government that is closer to my ideological project, is what we need to be grateful for.
Carney’s government has fixed a lot of Canada’s problems - we’re moving away from a bail system that’s not working, we’ve stabilized an economy that was expected to be in recession, we’ve achieved real progress in expanding our export markets, and we’re doing it all in a set of circumstances that are far harder than anything Trudeau dealt with outside of COVID. It’s also happened while making the Liberals the strongest they’ve been in any of our lives in the trio of Prairie provinces and defusing the looming national unity crisis of a recalcitrant Alberta with another Liberal PM.
Carney’s done all of this without a Parliamentary majority and a crazy person leading the US, two facts that need to be understood as constraints on his position. And despite those constraints, he’s been remarkably effective. Carney has to be judged through the strain that he was and is under, and by that test he’s been about as good a PM as he could have been....