There was a time, not long ago, when Canada handled disagreements with steel in its spine and clarity in its speech, when travel advisories were reserved for unstable regimes, war zones, or viral outbreaks. Now? Canadians are being told that the United States, their neighbor, ally, and trading partner, might detain them for crossing the border with a suitcase and a hotel reservation.
Canadians know that we need less America in our lives. In a recent poll for CNN, ninety one per cent of Canadians agreed that they wanted “to reduce their reliance on the U.S. as a trading partner.” In polling terms, that’s as close as you’ll ever find to unanimity. Later this month, we are promised, insofar as promises mean anything in the second Trump administration, a restored trade and security arrangement with the United States. But any such arrangement will, inevitably, be unstable and temporary. American chaos is deepening, and the questions that face us are bigger than tariffs and trade agreements: What does it mean to reset, not just away from the current American government, but away from America altogether, away from the American system?
Amid a protracted trade war, Canadian exports to the United States are at one of the lowest proportions on record, while exports to other countries have reached a record high, according to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada.
Data show Canadian exports to the U.S. have decreased for the fourth consecutive month, seeing a 0.9 per cent drop in May. The average share of total Canadian exports to the U.S. is also down, from 75.9 per cent last year, to 68.3 per cent in May, a near-record low.
Imports from the U.S. have also been on the decrease for the third consecutive month.
On June 25, a 33-year-old Marxist Muslim named Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. Over the following week, broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS ran nearly an hour of coverage about the self-described democratic socialist, but spent less than two minutes on his numerous radical positions and scandals.
WTF? @fancypants_s https://t.co/rEkE2ltFu9
— Patti Jo (@TheSupeHero) July 4, 2025
h/t Patti Jo
The conversation about how divided we are here in the United States of America is a never ending one now. Twenty or thirty years ago, talk about “two Americas” was about economic status. Now it is about the great Red/Blue divide. It’s a bit much when people blather on about us being more divided than ever before, but that’s what you get when public schools stop teaching real American history.
Keep dreaming, California.
When the feds nabbed a Chinese illegal immigrant who was wanted in Monterey Park, California, for assault with a deadly weapon they refused to release him back to the sanctuary Golden State to stand trial.
The risk, one Border Patrol leader said, is that he’ll just be released back onto the streets.
h/t PA Cat
Now that Canada’s trade war with America has surged back into public consciousness like a blast from the recent past, a new poll suggests Canadian frustration with and mistrust of the U.S. remains high, despite a slight easing.
In March, for example, polling showed a dramatic realignment of Canadian attitudes toward its southern neighbour. Europe and Britain were suddenly the countries Canadians felt best about, and Canadians were starting to feel about America the way they felt about Russia.
A new law meant to protect supply management might not be enough to shield the system in trade talks with a Trump administration bent on eliminating it, trade experts say.
“It’s certainly more difficult to strike a deal with the United States now with the passage of this bill that basically forces Canada to negotiate with one hand tied behind its back,” said William Pellerin, a trade lawyer and partner at the firm McMillan LLP.
“Now that we’ve removed the digital service tax, dairy and supply management is probably the No. 1 trade irritant that we have with the United States. That remains very much unresolved.”
The Canadian government has made electric vehicles (EV) a priority over the last few years, with sizable funding for battery factories, a rebate program to improve affordability, and a mandate to phase out the purchase of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
But with the U.S. government signing resolutions blocking a similar EV mandate in California and some 17 other states, coupled with continued issues related to affordability, Ottawa’s plan could be facing increasing obstacles.
Zohran Mamdani is probably going to be the mayor of New York.
Mamdani was born in Uganda to a Marxist academic, becoming a US citizen only in 2018. He effortlessly switches between a bobblehead Indian accent, a multiculti South-African Ali G, and the flat respectable Broadcast American that he now campaigns on. He got married this year so he can be Definitely Officially Not Gay for the 0.5% of over-65 New York Democrats for whom that still matters.
After climbing down on the digital services tax, Canada is back at the table with the U.S. to negotiate the two countries’ trade relationship. Unfortunately, Canadian negotiators have a fresh problem to deal with: the recent passage of a bill through Parliament that protects supply management.
The family of the Colorado terror suspect who injured 8 Israeli hostage supporters with homemade firebombs last month can be deported, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
US District Court Judge Orlando Garcia dismissed Mohamed Sabry Soliman family’s legal challenge to their deportation — stating that the Trump administration has conducted normal and legal removal proceedings.
Auto sector chief executives urged Prime Minister Mark Carney Wednesday during a meeting on the Canada-U.S. trade war to repeal federal regulations that require one in five vehicles sold starting in 2026 to be zero-emission models.
The CEOs of Ford Motor Company of Canada, General Motors of Canada Co. and Stellantis Canada met with Mr. Carney in Ottawa as the Canadian and U.S. governments try to reach a trade deal by July 21 that might end Washington’s tariffs on Canadian-made automobiles, among other levies.
OTTAWA – Former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy is accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of taking a “bootlicking” approach to U.S. President Donald Trump at the expense of Canadian values.
“You have to be principled, you have to be tactical, you have to be pragmatic. But you also have to be tough and know what you stand for,” Axworthy said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“Flattery is always part of the game, but you can take it to the point where you actually become unctuous.”
