Perhaps the ascendancy of Trump back into the White House (and Republican Party control of Congress) is the wake up call for Canada to reject its drift towards mediocrity and reestablish a common ground between us to get things done. The days of “social licence” need to yield to national aspirations that lead to productivity, jobs and projects that are undertaken and completed on time and on budget.
If Trump is a threat, bellyaching about it won’t get us far but demonstrating that we have resources and resolve to deploy them will.
He likes tough-guy dictators and wants them to like him. Not an ideal basis for foreign policy. Law enforcement was after him because he broke a lot of laws. We're about to see what real politicized law enforcement looks like. He is likely to pardon all the January 6th rioters. The mafia is about to take over the FBI from the inside. What could go wrong?
Expect him to come after our fresh water. Who's going to stop them?
I don't want him taking the water. If it's only me stopping him from doing it, I'll try. MOST citizens of Canada would not want this to happen either. Also, no one really owns the water in Canada, honestly. If someone does own it, it's the indigenous people.
So Canada will finally have to start pulling its own weight on the world stage, instead of cowering behind the might of the US military. It is about time! Time for Canada to proactively chart its own course, on a more equal footing with the United States. No one respects a nation that refuses to take its own sovereignty, borders, intelligence-gathering and defence seriously. Either that, or we continue to be relegated to the international "kid's table."
indeed, and it’s why one needs to read Sam Cooper‘s wilful blindness to better understand this government and people who have supported our failed policing and intelligence apparatus as an instrument of the political class in our country.
Good men and good women need leadership and effective national security mandates to protect us from, criminals and death from malign State nations.
I'm not saying you're wrong but who's willing to pay the massive tax increases it's going to take to bolster our security situation? Trudeau's not going to institute that and neither is PP. We and the American people have been sleepwalking into the abyss. Having a Putin operative in the Oval office is not a good thing.
It'll take a while but the opposite will be true. Elon Musk will have a big say in it and his idea of free speech is speech HE likes and that's about it. Don't forget how he helped Modi get reelected in India by throttling tweets by the opposition.
The answer is clear: our Supreme Court. And the question may well be asked in respect of the on-line harms bill; and perhaps related legislation. Moreover, one of the interesting extra-territorial impacts of Trump's election may be US disapproval of how our regulation impacts on very profitable and influential US media corporations. .
I don't want to be tendentious,here, but it doesn't matter what the Criminal Code says ...about anything. It is what the SCC says, the Charter says, that matters. Even if they are just plain "making it up", or they said something very different just a few years ago.
You will recall, for example, that the Criminal Code once restricted abortions, too, and now it doesn't. But not because of the handiwork of Parliamant. In fact the more recent intererations of the SCC have made quite a habit of over-turning laws that were passed by parliament.
Accordingly one of the ironical impacts of the US elections could be to reduce protectionist forces HERE, increase competition HERE and lower food prices.
Or suppose an angry Trump were to say that more oil development in Alberta was in its interest and should be done, do we really think Guilbeault's green theology will stand in the way?
Thank you Wesley for a sobering and shockingly realistic assessment of what is in store -- not just Canada but the world -- come these next four years. In terms of issues of concern to the American electorate for this election, it was first the economy and (surprisingly even for Trump voters) secondly, it was "democracy". Foreign affairs was of little concern to Trump voters with only 4% showing any inkling of it being an issue of concern. After the January inauguration, so much for the future of NATO, or any other meaningful US Pacific or western European alliance. On the immediate horizon, Trump's victory likely spells a swift end of Ukraine remaining a free nation state unless Canada and the Western alliance -- minus the US now -- stands up to Russian aggression.
American democracy is very robust (more so than ours I am sorry to say), so we'll be okay. Trump is a realist and his election is a statement on the current state of the American voter, who have been lied to and screwed over for too long. Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine fame (and a PhD) has said it best: relax. I strongly recommend his video on YouTube about the election.
The US has never had a president so determinedly against the checks and balances of the political system or has even had such utter disdain for its democratic history.
In actual votes cast, this election is whisker close. According to the BBC this morning it is less than 4%.
This is an extremely divided country and it would be a massive surprise if Trump recognizes that screaming fact. He won’t.
Well according to CNN, his victory was a "landslide". It says something that he not only won the presidential election, he also won the popular vote. The Republicans also won the House and the Senate. If that isn't a repudiation of the status quo, I don't know what is. I am a Canadian, I didn't care who won, and personally speaking, Trump isn't the type of Conservative I would support. The Dems however need to look in the mirror and do some serious soul searching, as this was an election they should have ben able to win.
Trump is a realist? Well if being a realist makes you the greatest con man who may have ever lived then I guess he's a realist. I've always enjoyed Michael Shermer so I went and watched his piece. I find him to be shockingly naive. He seems unaware of the creeping nature of corporate oligarchy since the Powell memo. No, America wasn't destroyed by Ronald Reagan but there has been gradual weakening of all the guardrails since then. Shermer mentions the Supreme Court like he is unaware that there are now six corrupt stooges on there who have declared that Presidents have immunity from the law. It's a complete reversal of the whole point of America in the first place - no kings!. Trump is a very useful tool on the way to corporate rule. Hmmm. Maybe I could be a rapper. ;)
Trump is a "realist" in the political sense, like Professor John Mearsheimer. Professor Mearsheimer recently stated (prior to last night's election results) that the only difference in foreign policy will be a long overdue decision to try and end the pointless war in Ukraine. There will be no difference in the current relationship with Israel or China. If anything, Trump will be more hawkish. There was one group that was conspicuous by its absence at his big MSG rally, and that was Hamas. I suspect he will give Bibi all the weapons he wants, and won't be too squeamish about how they're used.
A shocking awful choice by US voters. To my mind, another democracy threatened and undermined by its failures to manage its borders effectively. As you point out Wesley, it's going to be a rough ride for Canada for the next four years.
‘’…Canada…will have to pursue a determined course of greater sovereignty, greater capacity to defend itself, greater intelligence capacity to see the world through its own eyes.” If we can rise to the occasion, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us.
The often mis quoted axiom “The Chinese symbol for Crisis, is also that of opportunity“ is appropriate in addressing your take of the Trump mandate given to him by the American people.
Rather than complain, perhaps you should look to change your stripes and join the forces of freedom and democracy and what it means to be a patriot to our great country rather than pushing the CCP’s talking points.
don't agree with you on this issue Wesley but also bow to the distinct possibility of your greater knowledge. Trudeau and Trump will not be a mixture to watch with any expectation that Canada will benefit. Trump needs to be 'backed' by the people he works with and Trudeau is just too catty to be able to hide his distaste. Diplomacy will be needed. I am quite shocked that Trump won, but I hold out always for a hopeful future.
Just how many black and Hispanic men voted for Trump? This election was whisker close in the vote count. The polls prior to the election, indicated many of them, were going to switch their votes from Democrat to the Trump party aka, Republican.
The possibility that these men’s embrace of Trump helped him win, is a nasty punch to all American women. Unforgivable.
Perhaps the ascendancy of Trump back into the White House (and Republican Party control of Congress) is the wake up call for Canada to reject its drift towards mediocrity and reestablish a common ground between us to get things done. The days of “social licence” need to yield to national aspirations that lead to productivity, jobs and projects that are undertaken and completed on time and on budget.
If Trump is a threat, bellyaching about it won’t get us far but demonstrating that we have resources and resolve to deploy them will.
He is a threat. Xie, Putin et al will be celebrating today.
Because of his bellicose nature and fly by the seat of his pants ways, it’s hard to know what the international objectives will be.
The treats internally shouldn’t be discounted. The politicized law enforcement and justice system that has ganged up against him should be concerned.
He likes tough-guy dictators and wants them to like him. Not an ideal basis for foreign policy. Law enforcement was after him because he broke a lot of laws. We're about to see what real politicized law enforcement looks like. He is likely to pardon all the January 6th rioters. The mafia is about to take over the FBI from the inside. What could go wrong?
Expect him to come after our fresh water. Who's going to stop them?
I don't want him taking the water. If it's only me stopping him from doing it, I'll try. MOST citizens of Canada would not want this to happen either. Also, no one really owns the water in Canada, honestly. If someone does own it, it's the indigenous people.
So Canada will finally have to start pulling its own weight on the world stage, instead of cowering behind the might of the US military. It is about time! Time for Canada to proactively chart its own course, on a more equal footing with the United States. No one respects a nation that refuses to take its own sovereignty, borders, intelligence-gathering and defence seriously. Either that, or we continue to be relegated to the international "kid's table."
indeed, and it’s why one needs to read Sam Cooper‘s wilful blindness to better understand this government and people who have supported our failed policing and intelligence apparatus as an instrument of the political class in our country.
Good men and good women need leadership and effective national security mandates to protect us from, criminals and death from malign State nations.
I'm not saying you're wrong but who's willing to pay the massive tax increases it's going to take to bolster our security situation? Trudeau's not going to institute that and neither is PP. We and the American people have been sleepwalking into the abyss. Having a Putin operative in the Oval office is not a good thing.
There will be more free speech in the USA under Trump.
The biased elitists, including too much of the media, do not like this.
It'll take a while but the opposite will be true. Elon Musk will have a big say in it and his idea of free speech is speech HE likes and that's about it. Don't forget how he helped Modi get reelected in India by throttling tweets by the opposition.
You must always understand that free speech has limits, and those limits must be persecuted under the full extent of the law.
And who decides on these limits of free speech?
For some 'hate speech' = all opinions different than their opinion.
The answer is clear: our Supreme Court. And the question may well be asked in respect of the on-line harms bill; and perhaps related legislation. Moreover, one of the interesting extra-territorial impacts of Trump's election may be US disapproval of how our regulation impacts on very profitable and influential US media corporations. .
The Criminal Code of Canada has a legal definition of hate speech or hate propaganda.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/page-45.html
I don't want to be tendentious,here, but it doesn't matter what the Criminal Code says ...about anything. It is what the SCC says, the Charter says, that matters. Even if they are just plain "making it up", or they said something very different just a few years ago.
You will recall, for example, that the Criminal Code once restricted abortions, too, and now it doesn't. But not because of the handiwork of Parliamant. In fact the more recent intererations of the SCC have made quite a habit of over-turning laws that were passed by parliament.
Accordingly one of the ironical impacts of the US elections could be to reduce protectionist forces HERE, increase competition HERE and lower food prices.
Or suppose an angry Trump were to say that more oil development in Alberta was in its interest and should be done, do we really think Guilbeault's green theology will stand in the way?
We are about to plunge into interesting times.
Thank you Wesley for a sobering and shockingly realistic assessment of what is in store -- not just Canada but the world -- come these next four years. In terms of issues of concern to the American electorate for this election, it was first the economy and (surprisingly even for Trump voters) secondly, it was "democracy". Foreign affairs was of little concern to Trump voters with only 4% showing any inkling of it being an issue of concern. After the January inauguration, so much for the future of NATO, or any other meaningful US Pacific or western European alliance. On the immediate horizon, Trump's victory likely spells a swift end of Ukraine remaining a free nation state unless Canada and the Western alliance -- minus the US now -- stands up to Russian aggression.
R. Bruce Craig
American democracy is very robust (more so than ours I am sorry to say), so we'll be okay. Trump is a realist and his election is a statement on the current state of the American voter, who have been lied to and screwed over for too long. Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine fame (and a PhD) has said it best: relax. I strongly recommend his video on YouTube about the election.
The US has never had a president so determinedly against the checks and balances of the political system or has even had such utter disdain for its democratic history.
In actual votes cast, this election is whisker close. According to the BBC this morning it is less than 4%.
This is an extremely divided country and it would be a massive surprise if Trump recognizes that screaming fact. He won’t.
Well according to CNN, his victory was a "landslide". It says something that he not only won the presidential election, he also won the popular vote. The Republicans also won the House and the Senate. If that isn't a repudiation of the status quo, I don't know what is. I am a Canadian, I didn't care who won, and personally speaking, Trump isn't the type of Conservative I would support. The Dems however need to look in the mirror and do some serious soul searching, as this was an election they should have ben able to win.
Trump is a realist? Well if being a realist makes you the greatest con man who may have ever lived then I guess he's a realist. I've always enjoyed Michael Shermer so I went and watched his piece. I find him to be shockingly naive. He seems unaware of the creeping nature of corporate oligarchy since the Powell memo. No, America wasn't destroyed by Ronald Reagan but there has been gradual weakening of all the guardrails since then. Shermer mentions the Supreme Court like he is unaware that there are now six corrupt stooges on there who have declared that Presidents have immunity from the law. It's a complete reversal of the whole point of America in the first place - no kings!. Trump is a very useful tool on the way to corporate rule. Hmmm. Maybe I could be a rapper. ;)
Trump is a "realist" in the political sense, like Professor John Mearsheimer. Professor Mearsheimer recently stated (prior to last night's election results) that the only difference in foreign policy will be a long overdue decision to try and end the pointless war in Ukraine. There will be no difference in the current relationship with Israel or China. If anything, Trump will be more hawkish. There was one group that was conspicuous by its absence at his big MSG rally, and that was Hamas. I suspect he will give Bibi all the weapons he wants, and won't be too squeamish about how they're used.
A shocking awful choice by US voters. To my mind, another democracy threatened and undermined by its failures to manage its borders effectively. As you point out Wesley, it's going to be a rough ride for Canada for the next four years.
“… greater sovereignty, greater capacity to defend itself, greater intelligence capacity to see the world through its own eyes.”
A silver lining and inflection point.
‘’…Canada…will have to pursue a determined course of greater sovereignty, greater capacity to defend itself, greater intelligence capacity to see the world through its own eyes.” If we can rise to the occasion, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us.
The often mis quoted axiom “The Chinese symbol for Crisis, is also that of opportunity“ is appropriate in addressing your take of the Trump mandate given to him by the American people.
Rather than complain, perhaps you should look to change your stripes and join the forces of freedom and democracy and what it means to be a patriot to our great country rather than pushing the CCP’s talking points.
Concerned about integrity of 5 Eyes. Trump will give Putin whatever he wants. Are there any institutional checks against this?
don't agree with you on this issue Wesley but also bow to the distinct possibility of your greater knowledge. Trudeau and Trump will not be a mixture to watch with any expectation that Canada will benefit. Trump needs to be 'backed' by the people he works with and Trudeau is just too catty to be able to hide his distaste. Diplomacy will be needed. I am quite shocked that Trump won, but I hold out always for a hopeful future.
Just how many black and Hispanic men voted for Trump? This election was whisker close in the vote count. The polls prior to the election, indicated many of them, were going to switch their votes from Democrat to the Trump party aka, Republican.
The possibility that these men’s embrace of Trump helped him win, is a nasty punch to all American women. Unforgivable.