Q&A: Why Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sided with Trump about border issues in trade spat

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s 2024 was a year of following through on her promises — from health-care reforms to support for the oil and gas industry — even as her opponents fought her ideas.

In a year-end interview at the legislature in early December, Smith reflected on a few pressing issues.

The Alberta government’s next steps, she said, will be revealed in the provincial budget, set to be tabled on Feb. 27.

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ONLINE STREAMING ACT: What is Bill C-11 and why should Canadians care?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals’ amendment of the Broadcasting Act attempts to classify podcasters and musicians as “broadcasters” and subject them to national broadcast rules.

Bill C-11, or the Online Streaming Act, which has passed through both the House and the Senate and gained Royal Assent on February 2, 2023, will control what content search engines like Google and YouTube recommends to Canadian users.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation in an in-depth analysis on the legislation earlier compared Bill C-11’s censorship to “authoritarian nations like China and North Korea.”

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Manifest Destiny 2.0? Trump wants Greenland, threatens Panama, chides Canada

While president-elect Donald Trump hasn’t declared Manifest Destiny as his rationale for wishing to expand American territory beyond its present boundaries, he very well might.

Readers with even a basic understanding of U.S. history will know about Manifest Destiny — the doctrine that the democratic administration of President James Polk relied on to expand continental U.S. beyond the 26 states of the early 1800s. The rationale marked America’s belief in itself as exceptional — a republic, no longer colonies of a monarchy — destined to expand across the North American continent.

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As Trudeau battles political crisis, Canada’s regional leaders court Trump to avert trade war

Although Canada faces a major trade war with the US as soon as president-elect Donald Trump enters office in less than a month, Justin Trudeau has been distracted by a leadership crisis that could topple him as prime minister.

The situation has Canada’s regional leaders hopping on flights to influence the incoming Trump administration themselves.

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Donald Trump makes astonishing offer to people of Canada in strongest bid yet to ‘take over’

Donald Trump has made his strongest bid yet to take over Canada, offering the Canadian people a 60 percent tax cut if they agree to join the US and become the 51st US state.

The president-elect has in recent days suggested a territorial expansion into Canada, Greenland and Panama, and has mocked prime minister Justin Trudeau by calling him ‘governor.’

More Trump on Panama

Awesome! h/t XC

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Terry Newman: Poilievre’s plan to ‘defund’ woke antisemitism can’t come soon enough

This week marks the 10th Christmas Canadians have endured under Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government — 10 years of our Dec. 25-born prime minister acting as if he’s our very own personal Jesus, without the humility, common sense, or moral clarity his birthday might suggest. From the get-go, Trudeau’s been a means to an end for Liberal party power — a famous name, flowing hair, a convenient professionally-good-looking object many lonely Canadian wives cast their adoring gazes upon — but otherwise, intellectually and morally vacuous. Thankfully, there is a solution. Pierre Poilievre will bring the common sense and moral clarity Canada so desperately needs.

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Canadian federal leaders struggle with low approval ratings

As Canadians reflect on 2024, new data reveals none of the country’s three major federal leaders have successfully connected with the public, with all facing negative perceptions from a majority of Canadians.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who must decide whether to lead the Liberals into an expected election next year, ends the year with an approval rating of just 28%, according to the Angus Reid Institute.

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Trudeau could stay or go. Either way, Canadians should brace for a spring election

OTTAWA — Canada appears to be barrelling toward a spring election now that the NDP is vowing to vote down the government early next year — whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stays on or not.

Political watchers are abuzz over the possible scenarios that could play out in the coming year following last week’s drama that rocked Trudeau’s government, and a springtime national campaign is the one that’s solidifying the fastest.

The exact timing is very much up in the air, but the best bet is for the government to fall by late March, and then a general election day would fall in April or May, said Yaroslav Baran, co-founder of the Pendulum Group and former chief of staff to Conservative house leader Jay Hill.

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Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since Trudeau was elected

The prevalence of fentanyl in Canada has drawn additional attention after incoming US president Donald Trump cited the drug as part of his justification to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports.

Trump has accused Ottawa of not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States and said his promised 25 percent tariff would remain in place until Canadian authorities address the problem.

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Tougher Canadian border security may not appease Trump’s tariff threat, John Bolton says

Cracking down on border security may not spare Canada from Donald Trump’s promised 25-per-cent tariffs, his former White House national security adviser says.

John Bolton warns that Mr. Trump is serious about the tariffs because he sees them as good economic policy and not just a negotiating tactic. Last month, the president-elect threatened to impose the taxes against Canada and Mexico until the two countries stop migrants and fentanyl from crossing into the U.S.

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Why Does Trump Continue His ‘51st State’ Taunt of Canada?

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has continually referred to Canada as the 51st state while calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “governor” since their meeting at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 29.

“Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!” Trump wrote on social media on Dec. 18, one of his latest comments repeating the taunt.

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