Canada isn’t the strong democracy we like to believe. Behind the peaceful elections and parliamentary rituals lies a system where power is concentrated in the hands of one person: the prime minister.
Since Confederation, Canada has avoided coups and revolutions. Governments have changed hands through orderly elections, a record many countries envy. On the surface, it looks like a stable democracy. But look closer, and the cracks show.
WINNIPEG – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is asking the prime minister to scrap Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in return for China lifting its tariffs on Canadian canola and pork.
Kinew says in a letter to Mark Carney on Saturday that while he believes protecting Canada’s vehicle industry is important, he says the country’s approach “has created a two-front trade war that disproportionally affects Western Canada.”
The premier says in the letter that China’s tariffs — widely seen as a response to Canada imposing the electric vehicle levy — have already caused a sharp drop in canola prices and that one vertically integrated pork producer in Manitoba is reporting a $19 million negative impact on an annual basis.
Is Carney leaning east to China?
Taiwan worried Canada may abandon trade agreement – Carney government signals reluctance to honor economic framework deal with Taipei
American spirit exports to Canada “plummeted” 85 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States calling the situation “very troubling” as consumers in key international markets opt for alternatives to U.S.-made products amid trade tensions.
The numbers come as American alcohol largely remains off Canadian shelves and unavailable in bars and restaurants as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian goods in early March.
The Waterloo Region District School Board has launched a new “Islamic Apparel Store” on its staff website, promoting shirts designed to celebrate Islamic Heritage Month under the slogan “One Ummah, One Love.”
h/t Mauser
During his visit to U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney sounded exactly like he said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre would sound had he won the federal election in April.
Not since Lester Pearson, still in Opposition, heaped praise on the crisis management talents of U.S. President John F. Kennedy after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 has any Canadian political leader showered such a torrent of compliments upon an American president as Prime Minister Mark Carney did on U.S. President Donald Trump on Oct. 7. (Admittedly, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would have been a strong contestant if he had not become almost tongue-tied in complementing U.S. President Richard Nixon on his triangulation of great power relations with his diplomatic overture to China, a field in which Trudeau fancied himself something of a pioneer.) There is nothing wrong with this, and it is almost certainly an astute diplomatic gambit as President Trump’s threshold for considering praise of himself excessive and questionably motivated is relatively high. The prime minister’s compliments were nothing but the truth: ending illegal immigration, pressuring allies to increase defence spending, generating economic growth, advancing the Middle East peace process and terminating Iran’s nuclear program. And Trump responded with gracious compliments for Carney.
I wonder where he gets his optimism from?
One of Donald Trump’s former chiefs of staff passed along a tip this week to a high-powered Canadian audience on how to deal with the president. Basically it amounted to this: Trump wants friends.
“The president’s a one-on-one guy, and he’s personable. He likes to be friends with the people that he’s talking to,” Reince Priebus, who served as Trump’s first chief of staff after his 2016 election victory, told a Canada-U.S. summit in Toronto.
How did the Star manage to get both elbows up their butt?
Is the bromance off between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford?
Carney’s soft handling of Donald Trump and concerns about the Liberals potentially abandoning the auto industry would appear to say yes.
The expectations were high for the second bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump, with Canadians seeking relief from punishing tariffs as the White House continues to wage its quixotic trade war against the world.
The love fest hit new highs as both men offered glowing compliments and bromides amid their blossoming bromance. Still, through the veil of laughter and love, deep intractable challenges that many are hoping for resolution still went unresolved.
On the world stage where tragedy is an ever-running production, hopefully the curtain is finally coming down on the war in Gaza and the remaining hostages will come home.
Israel and Hamas have accepted at least the first phase of the ceasefire deal driven by President Donald Trump. The remaining abductees, living and dead, are to be released. Rejoicing Palestinians are flooding back to the wreckage of their homes and lives.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s team arrived in Washington this week with high hopes for a trade breakthrough, but even with Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, still in talks late into the week before heading home on Friday, Canada’s bid for tariff relief appears to remain out of reach. So why is Washington insistent on a tariff-laden trade framework?
The disparity in police-reported violent crime between Canada and the United States has decreased in recent years, largely due to an uptick in major assaults recorded north of the border.
A Statistics Canada study examining crime trends from 1998 to 2023 found that the incidence of police-reported violent crimes for every 100,000 residents remains higher in the United States than in Canada. However, the violent crime rate is rising at a much quicker pace in Canada.
OTTAWA — When we held the press conference unveiling Canada Under Siege: How P.E.I. Became a Forward Operating Base for the Chinese Communist Party, we did much more than launch a book. We set down a marker: Canada has entered a new era of contestation — over influence, sovereignty, and the integrity of its democratic institutions.
Now, the question we pose to every political actor — federal, provincial, and municipal — is this: On which side of history will you stand?
The income gap in Canada remains at a “record high,” according to newly released data, which highlights the growing divide between the wealthiest groups and those struggling with affordability — especially the youngest households.
In addition, the wealthiest households continue to hold the vast majority of all wealth in Canada, and that trend continues to grow.
Canada and the North American military command it shares with the United States risk being marginalized if Ottawa fails to ensure a commanding role for NORAD in Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile-defence project, a Commons committee heard Thursday.
This week, the President announced that the United States was working with Canada on the project to combine all the U.S.’s existing missile defences and expand them, including with interceptors in outer space, to better counter ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missiles.
