Canada Oh Canada
They ain’t no 51st state, eh?!
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Just a couple month ago, it appeared that the conservative, Trump-lite politician, Pierre Poilievre would glide to victory in the election of Canada’s next Prime Minister. Then Donald Trump got back into office and started blustering about Canada having nothing the U.S. needs and threatening about making Canada the 51st U.S. state. Then came the huge tariffs so beloved by the person currently occupying the White House.
Not surprisingly, Canadians didn’t take to kindly this arrogance and insult. They launched a strong and growing movement of Canadian businesses refusing to do business with American companies and citizens changing travel plans so as not to spend tourism dollars in the U.S. Almost overnight the political climate swung toward the liberal party leader, Mark Carney. Carney was very strong in stating that the old days were over, the U.S. was no longer a friendly neighbor, and Canada would not roll over.
Last night, the citizens of the not-51st-state rejected Trump and their own conservative candidate and elected Mark Carney. In a powerful victory speech, Carney said, “As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,” Carney said, as he hailed a remarkable reversal in fortune for his party. “That will never ever happen.” He went on, “We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves. And above all we have to take care of each other,” he said.
Not only is this a great development in halting the spread of autocratic regimes across the globe, but Carney has also been a strong and outspoken advocate for action on climate change. For at least fifteen years he has been speaking about the need for real action. At a World Bank panel in 2014 he noted that, based on the science, we would need to leave the “vast majority” of fossil fuel reserves in the ground to have any hope holding the increase in the temperature of the planet below two degrees. At the time it was extremely unusual for public figures to acknowledge this challenging reality. Carney has been consistent in advocating for action on the climate crisis.
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It will be interesting, and hopefully inspirational, watching his actions now that he is at the helm of the nation. On the one hand Canada is being hard-hit by climate change, from the melt of the Arctic, which is the fastest-heating part of the earth to its boreal forests burning at never-seen before rates. On the other hand, Carney now leads a nation that contains the Alberta tarsands, one of the biggest carbon deposits on planet earth. I’m affirming that bold-speaking Carney will be up to navigating this complicated task.
The Regime’s Approval Ratings continue to plummet
While Canadian voters backed the guy who stood up to Trump, American voters are also pulling back support for the regime. Trump’s approval ratings after 100 days in office are at an abysmal 42%, which is 12 points lower than Joe Biden at the same stage in his presidency. This is in fact, the lowest approval rating for any president since approval ratings started being calculated. This is particularly noteworthy because Presidents often enjoy their greatest support early in their term.
Approval numbers for Musk are even lower.
The push for a much better way forward is gaining momentum, from the courts stepping up to block the regime’s illegal actions and executive orders, to a few Republicans beginning to oppose, to we the people keeping pressure on through rallies, marches, and protests.
The next big national day of action is May 1st taking place in cities and communities all across the country. See map above and you can also find events in your area at Indivisible.org.
Olive and I will be throwing a little love and business to Canada this summer.
Olive and I will travelling to British Columbia in August for the UKI Canadian Open agility competition. I am looking forward not only to trying our skills at a very high level of competition but also to travelling through a country that feels a lot saner and kinder than my own just now.
Here’s a vid of our recent winning UKI Speedstakes run.
Right after this, two weeks ago, I got hit with some sort of chronic fatigue and headache type bug and Olive seemed flat and off. I’m not sure if she was just reacting to me obviously not feeling well or if she was a bit burned out. So, I decided to give her two weeks off trialing and practice and just do hiking and swimming with her.
We’re both feeling better and we’re off to a trial in Eugene, Oregon this weekend. I’m already excited for it.
I'm so glad that the majority of Canadians know that it is time to flip off the Donald by getting their act together to act in opposition. Colour me a fan!