Political Musings

Collaboration – NOT Confrontation!

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I just hung up from a long conversation with a good friend. A day has passed since the Canadian federal election. She wanted to know what my take was on the outcome. I’ve had a couple of days to think about that.

My first takeaway is that the Ottawa riding of Carleton said to Poiliever – no thank you. We saw the real you at the “freedom” convoy in Jan/Feb 2022! We remember; not fooled by your election persona. Poilievre lost his seat in Parliament.

The Conservatives didn’t win the most seats. While they gained 24 they fell short of any kind of win. Enough Canadians didn’t trust Poilievre to take the helm. Enough Canadians wanted nothing to do with his confrontational politics – his constantly blaming everybody else for what he called a failed Canada. Enough Canadians couldn’t imagine this one-song candidate as Prime Minister of the country. Enough Canadians sent a message to Poilievre and his Conservative party – we don’t like how you play this game.

You refuse to acknowledge the global climate crisis.
You are blind to our country’s need to find a path toward a fossil-fuel-free future. We need to build energy independence across Canada – using fossil fuels for now perhaps, but simultaneously and collectively we must build a cross country non-carbon energy network.
You don’t seem to understand that going forward any consideration of natural resource extraction/development will have to include Indigenous peoples in any decision-making.
You seem more than willing to jettison foreign aid as an extravagance, yet foreign aid builds friends and allies; helping less fortunate nations provide medical, agricultural, educational resources for their population benefits us, too.
You totally don’t get the important role the CBC plays in our cultural landscape – it can’t be defunded without great cost, particularly to our rural and northern communities.
You say nothing about supporting Ukraine – a beacon in the fight for national freedom from which Canada could learn a lot (we could easily be in the same position were trump to make good on his insistence that Canada become the 51st state!).
You tout “the biggest crackdown on crime” – but ignore the difficult circumstances that nurture criminal activity.
Your view of immigration is blind to the realities that force people to seek refuge from the political violence and climate driven changes where they live.

Fortunately, enough Canadians voted against this Canada.

Enough Canadians supported Carney for the Liberal Party to win the largest number of seats in Parliament – 169 (three short of a majority); but there was skepticism, too. There was enough support for him to become PM, but not enough for the Liberal Party to work unencumbered!

What I think the electorate has said to Parliament is,

“Hey folks! It’s time to collaborate!”

The economic, social and political threats to Canada are great.
We can’t afford the luxury of the constant negative harping about what the government is doing wrong now and in the past.
We’ve drawn a line and said “Work with one another!”

We all agree on the problems we face –
the economic challenges wrought by trump’s tariffs
his threat to our sovereignty
our housing shortage
pathways to a renewable energy future
our healthcare chaos
income inequalities
a balance in immigration
sustainable cities
a stronger federal/provincial working relationship…

We’ve said: “Work together to solve these and other problems.”

And do it as quickly as you possibly can – the future will be upon us before we realize it!



I Am Canadian!

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I wrote this piece on Oct 19/24 – after reading Lozada’s piece. I thought I’d share it today because the excerpt from Obasan is even more relevant than it was in October!

This is my own my native land.

I wonder whether others are feeling the same ambiguity I am about what being Canadian involves, particularly as election day draws closer and we are facing perhaps a life-shaping decision between the divisive, trumpish, anger of PP and the well informed, experienced, financial expert to lead our government. We don’t vote for a Prime Minister, which makes the decision more complicated but ultimately that’s the decision influencing how I will mark my ballot. As things stand, I can’t vote Conservative no matter how capable my local candidate may be.

An immigrant from Peru, Lozada details the conundrums he faces daily regarding his immigrant identity. I was deeply moved by his writing. Moved enough to write a personal note to him at his email address at the NYT. (I don’t expect him to answer.)

His opinion piece evoked a memory of what Joy Kogawa had to say in Obasan, her novel written in 1981. I felt compelled to find those words again and share them with Lozada.

Here is the letter I wrote him:

Carlos, 

As I was reading your piece, I can’t tell you how it resonated for me.  What’s interesting is I was born here in Canada, my mother was born in Canada, my father was an immigrant as were all my grandparents; I personally feel more “immigrant” these days than at any other time in my life (I’m heading toward 82!). In today’s actively antisemitic world I feel my token “jewishness” separating me from my “christian” friends and neighbours. The conundrums you describe are present in my life in such subtle ways but they are there.

I feel my “immigrantness” weekly when I visit two young Afghan families recently come to Canada. I spend a couple of hours a week with each family chatting in English, reading children’s books in English, to help them learn a language they are working so hard to learn. I visit weekly for these young women to help them overcome the isolation a lack of common language forces upon them. These new permanent residents to Canada have become like grandchildren/great-grandchildren in the almost two years I’ve known them. 

I can’t imagine their decision to leave Afghanistan and their families behind. I know the facts of their escapes through Iran, arriving in Turkey as illegals, the unimaginable luck of making contact with a Canadian citizen sponsorship group who helped bring them to Canada. I’m not an official part of that group (my youngest sister is), but through my investment of time these past two years, I have come to feel a small bit of what my grandparents must have experienced, who knew they would never see those they left behind, many of whom a few decades later would have ended in Nazi crematoria. Both sets of grandparents left Lithuania and Poland/Ukraine respectively and arrived in Canada in the early 1900s. I have no names of those left behind but I am absolutely certain many relatives did not survive WWII.

Canada, like the USA, is a nation of immigrants, yet so many people seem disconnected from that reality. In Canada, we’re a bit more aware of our crimes against the First Nations people – our halting attempts at reconciliation keep reminding us that we displaced them, disenfranchised them, demeaned them and that everybody else has immigrant origins from all over the world. 

We are experiencing in Canada a growing sentiment that we don’t want more immigrants, we need to keep “these people” out – they’re taking “our” jobs (in spite of the fact that Canadians don’t want to do the jobs they are willing to do), making housing impossible to find (that’s really the fault of those of us who made development decisions fifty years ago), overrunning our healthcare system (who actually made the decisions to cut back spending on medicine, education, dentistry, social work, … forty  years ago?). We need these new people for their willingness to work hard, for the cultural diversity they bring to us, for their talents and skills which enrich our community.

Shortly after it was published (1981) I read Joy Kogawa’s novel “Obasan” – there’s a passage in it that has stayed with me these 40+  years – written words of the Aunt (Obasan) who had been born in Canada but sent with her family to a Japanese internment camp during WWII:

—————————————

“The entire manuscript was sixty pages long, I skimmed over the pages till I came across a statement underlined and circled in red: I am Canadian. The circle was drawn so hard the paper was torn. Three lines of a poem were at the top of the page.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said:
This is my own, my native land!

The tanned brown edges of the page crumbled like autumn leaves as I straightened out the manuscript.

The exact moment when I first felt the stirrings of identification with this country occurred when I was twelve years old, memorizing a Canto of “The Lay of the Last Minstrel.”

So many times after that I repeated the lines: sadly desperately, and bitterly. But at first I was proud, knowing that I belonged.

This is my own, my native land.

Then as I grew older and joined the Nisei group taking a leading part in the struggle for liberty, I waved those lines around like a banner in the wind:

This is my own, my native land.

When war struck this country, when neither pride nor belligerence nor grief had availed us anything, when we were uprooted, and scattered to the four winds, I clung desperately to those immortal lines:

This is my own, my native land.

Later still, after our former homes had been sold over our vigorous protests, after having been re-registered, fingerprinted, card-indexed, roped and restricted, I cry out the question:

Is this my own, my native land?

The answer cannot be changed. Yes. It is. For better or worse, I am Canadian.”

—————————————

Securely Canadian having been born here myself, I still feel Obasan’s struggle as somehow my own.

Your NYT piece has evoked all those same feelings about country and belonging that I found those many years ago in Kogawa’s writing,

Thanks for such a passionate piece.

Judith Newman

I finally made it back to my sewing machine. This week I finished a housecoat (no photo since I’m wearing it!) Today I made an iPhone case for a friend – she asked me to make her a new one since her new phone is too large for the old one. I just finished it:

Now to make another for myself.

Substack!

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Over the last couple of months I’ve been sucked into that giant whirlpool called Substack. It began when trump first announced impending tariffs on Canada, ridiculing our Prime Minister (“governor”), and declaring Canada would become the 51st state. I couldn’t tear myself away from the train wreck happening in real time.

I found it impossible not to become glued to the “news’ and since the US media (both TV and print) have largely stopped covering and analyzing the “real” news (those institutions have fallen on their faces to accommodate trump) I turned to Substack – the independent writing platform that has drawn many wonderful, serious political writers. Many good Canadian writers have found a home on Substack, as well. I can’t pull myself away from their analyses of what’s going on.

I found myself reading and responding several times a day. I even contributed to the raging discourse. I realized my life has slowly been taken over by the pull of what is very good writing and opinions I feel compelled to respond to.

I have done almost no sewing/quilting/making for the past six weeks! (I have continued knitting most evenings.) I suppose you could say my “creative” energy has gone into writing, but I’m not sure there is anything creative in my commentary.

Let me share some writing I think has merit.

At the top of my list is Charlie Angus. I don’t know how he manages it, but every day there’s a new, interesting, piece about the reality Canada is facing.

His (trump’s) rhetoric towards Canada and his attacks on our national economy have intensified, and the consequences are very real.

What surprised trump is that Canadians don’t take kindly to being treated as the chump who gets thrown into the turnbuckle. We are fighting back hard, and trump didn’t see it coming

Angus has become a prominent cheerleader for Canadian sovereignty.

Next on my list is Timothy Snyder (currently at Yale University but moving to U of T soon).

Take today’s piece – excerpts from his book On Tyranny read by John Lithgow.

1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.

Lithgow is a wonderful actor. His reading of Snyder’s text is powerful. These lessons are relevant for Canadians, too!

Then there’s John Pavlovitz – a former southern Baptist preacher who’s left the fold. What drew me to him was his rejection of what Christianity in the US has become for so many people. His “Dear Jesus, Do I really have to love my Enemies? is a wrenching plea to his god to help him understand his Christian responsibilities.

It was a lot easier to aspire to loving my enemies when they didn’t seem so close, so loud, and so prevalent; when I didn’t have so many daily reminders of just how much loving I’m now required to do.

I now have to love my enemy across the table at family gatherings.
I have to love my enemy on my dear friend’s social media profiles.
I have to love my enemy in my neighbor’s driveway.
I have to love my enemy in the carpool line.
I have to love my enemy at the gym who interrupts my workout with unsolicited opinions.
I have to love my enemy at restaurants who I can overhear in the booth next to me.
I have to love my enemy driving in front of me on the highway.
I have to love my enemy at my former church.
I have to love my enemy at my current church.

Loving my enemies now seems a lot more labor intensive and a lot more complicated than it used to. To be honest, when I see some of the things these people are saying, the hatred they’re perpetuating, and the damage they’re inflicting—I’m not that interested in loving them.

It’s the lists that grab me. As an avowed Jewish atheist I’m an outsider – I’m not party to his Christian angst, but his expression of that angst fascinates me and strengthens my atheist core.

I follow Elizabeth Rybak (A Letter From A Maritimer) – she lives in New Brunswick. I haven’t gone back to her earlier writing, but lately she’s offering an interesting perspective on Canada and the world.

There have always been more kind people than unkind people. There have always been more people who choose to help, who build things, who take care of others, and who work to heal and protect. More people who want to make the world better, safer, and fairer for everyone. And just as meanness and cruelty may spread from one person to another, kindness spreads too. A single act of kindness can set off a ripple that touches so many lives in ways you may never see. And kindness is more powerful than meanness because kindness creates, while cruelty only destroys. Every time you choose kindness, you add something good to the world.

Every single person matters. No matter how small, no matter how quiet, no matter where they come from, every person has something special to offer the world.

Heather Cox Richardson is an historian – her Letters from an American offers a very thoughtful analysis of the latest craziness of the trump regime.

…if we’re going to actually really effect real change in the country, it will require us completely replacing the existing ruling class with another ruling class…. I don’t think there’s sort of a compromise that we’re going to come with the people who currently actually control the country. Unless we overthrow them in some way, we’re going to keep losing.” “We really need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power,” he said….

Last month, journalist Gil Duran of The Nerd Reich noted that Curtis Yarvin, a thinker popular with the technological elite currently aligned with the religious extremists at Project 2025, laid out a plan in 2022 to gut the U.S. government and replace it with a dictatorship. This would be a “reboot” of the country, Yarvin wrote, and it would require a “full power start,” a reference to restarting a stalled starship by jumping to full power, which risks destroying the ship.

Sure looks like what’s going on!

I’ll end with Postcards From Canada. An idea of Alice Goldbloom – vignettes about Canadians and life in Canada to share with the larger world. Paula Halpern wrote:

I’m not a flag-waving patriot arrogantly declaring Canada to be the best of all countries on Earth. There is no such place. Perhaps it was former Member of Parliament Jack Layton who described this country best, without the hyperbole. In a farewell letter to Canadians just before he died, he wrote simply that “Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world.”

About sums it up.

I encourage you to dip your toes into Substack, but be careful, you can find yourself drowning.

Protest!

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There is a national protest happening in Canada this Monday, March 24!
https://truenorthhq.ca/events/

Halifax Poster (each city has its own)

About

True North HQ is a grassroots movement based in Canada, formed in response to the actions of the current U.S. administration.

The group started on social media in February 2025 and later grew when a few additional members met while gathering outside the US consulate in Toronto on March 4, 2025.  Realizing there was a lack of coordinated action, we decided to team up and fill the gap.

Our goal is to organize and promote events that unite people in peaceful, non-violent protest during this challenging time. We also aim to support others in promoting and organizing similar events in their own communities.

We are a collective of individuals and not affiliated with any political party or other organization.

Guiding Principles

Our movement stands as a unified expression of solidarity and hope, rooted in the shared values of equality, justice and fundamental human rights. As Canadians, we rise to affirm our role as global leaders and defenders of democracy, freedom and unity. 

Together, we transcend opposition and focus on supporting human rights across the globe. We gather not in anger, but in courage and commitment to a brighter and more equitable future. 

Guided by our shared principles, we stand against oppression and authoritarianism. In the face of challenges we remain steadfast in our vision; to be a beacon of unity, freedom and hope for all. 

For folks in the US – a protest is planned for April 5th!

https://handsoff2025.com

WHY WE’RE MOBILIZING

We are facing a national crisis. Our democracy, our livelihoods, and our rights are all on the line as Trump and Musk execute their illegal takeover.

  • They’re dismantling Social Security and Medicare—forcing seniors and disabled Americans to jump through hoops to access the benefits they’ve already paid into.
  • They’re handing trillions to billionaires—while forcing the rest of us to pay higher prices for food, rent, and healthcare.
  • They’re gutting protections for working people—so payday lenders, banks, and credit card companies can scam Americans with zero consequences.
  • They’re assaulting our communities and our rights—targeting veterans, kids, seniors, farmers, immigrants, transgender people, and political opponents.
  • They won’t stop there.

This is not just corruption. This is not just mismanagement. This is a hostile takeover.

So the RESISTANCE is mobilizing! 

We’re past the point where each person can turn away. We can’t just complain. We can’t say “We didn’t think he’d do THIS!”

The time is NOW to show you’re ready to fight back.

I’ve just spent the past hour scrolling through my Substack feed and posting a comment on every entry that had 1K or more viewers! My comment to Canadians:

March on March 24! With a link to the True North website!

My comment to US folks:

March on April 5! With a link to the Hands Off! website!

I will do that again tomorrow and maybe the day after. My role, I think is likely to be to inform people – to make sure people understand what’s at stake; who’s writing stuff we all should read and understand; where and how we can take action. 

Today: I’m letting you know about the national protests.

Tomorrow I’ll write my synopsis of where I think we are and what we can do about it. There are lots of terrific writers sharing their thoughts. I’ll link you to that information and that writing so you, too, understand what’s going on!

Welcome to the RESISTANCE – in Canada and in the US.

trump Isn’t Joking About Wanting To Annex Canada!

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Here in Canada, we know trump’s threat isn’t a joke. We’re fully aware of what’s at stake. I’ve got my fingers crossed Canadians have the stamina to keep our “Elbows Up” and sustain the boycott on US food and goods for as long as necessary, taking on the hardship the tariffs bring and supporting one another so everybody can stand against trump! 

People in Canada are beginning to realize Canada = Ukraine now – a bully pushing to take us over for spurious reasons to enlarge their territory and steal our resources and water! To eradicate our culture and social values (which by the way are a threat to theirs, as is the case with Ukraine and Russia).

I’m raging about this, have been for the better part of a year. I’m 82 – born at the end of WWII – while my personal memories are more than vague, I do remember the immediate post-war period and I carry the stories of my parents and grandparents about what happened in the years immediately before my birth. I need to be passing on those stories so younger people who shrug at the political situation, want to turn away and let things slide, understand how they will pay for this for the rest of their lives and their children’s lives and their grandchildren’s lives until the 7th generation!

In Canada some of us do understand what’s at stake! Now we need to help the rest of us understand the costs.

Just so we’re clear, this is not a Trump-only phenomenon. Yesterday, when asked if the U.S. still considers Canada a “close ally,” White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt said that Canada would “benefit greatly” from joining the United States and pointed to its high cost of living as a reason for surrendering sovereignty. 

“Benefit greatly!” – at what cost? We completely lose our values, our identity, our freedom! Canadians don’t see any benefit to being cast into this trump chaos where the privileged few get the goodies and the rest of us are left to fight over the dregs! That’s “benefit greatly”?

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sounded a similar theme, noting that “Canada is gonna have to work with us to really integrate their economy, and as the president said, they should consider the amazing advantages of being the 51st state.”

“Amazing advantages of being the 51st state!” Really! Here’s where I take out my piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and put the headings “Advantages” and “Disadvantages” at the top on each side. I haven’t done that exercise yet. I’ll share it when I do. I welcome any suggestions for what should be on each list!

I can’t begin to tell you how angry I am. I’m tired of being the “mouse” in this “cat-and-mouse” game. I hate this feeling of powerlessness. I have power – I’ve begun using it by boycotting US goods when I’m shopping. But NOW is the time to take on the education of my fellow Canadians. I need to take back my power by shouting from the rooftops about what’s we’d be “buying” were we to succumb to trump’s inducements to become part of the US.

We need to face the fact that WE ARE AT WAR right now. This is what it looks like – the threats, the escalating tariffs, the attacks on our economy…

We need to look to Ukraine for moral support, for the example of resistance and independence we’re going to need going forward.

I’m a RAGING GRANNY!

Please join me by helping your friends and neighbours understand what’s at stake.

What’s At Stake

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Yesterday, an article in the New York Times by Matina Stevie-Gridneff lays out what’s been transpiring over the past two months. To see the extent of the “demands” and the timeline is informative. We all know bits and pieces of the bullying but this piece is a good synopsis; I recommend reading it! (A gift article)

Today is International Women’s Day! Women in Canada have an important role to play in this absurd war we’re engaged in. In a great many families it’s we women who decide how the bulk of our $$$ are spent. We’re in a position to impact the US economy in a significant way based on our purchasing power.

For example, yesterday, I automatically went to Amazon.ca to make a small purchase – I stopped myself. I am refusing to buy from Amazon! I dropped my Washington Post subscription when Bezos kissed trump’s ass. For the moment, I’m hanging on to my subscription to The Atlantic because the reporting/journalism in that publication has substance and refuses to kowtow to the administration. I’m on the fence regarding The New York Times – their opinion writers are still reporting with information that’s important for people to have, but a lot of the other stuff isn’t worth my time; they’re definitely not contributing to the resistance in a significant way.

I was looking for a couple of bras the other day – there are Canadian companies that source their manufacturing from other than the US (it’s pretty difficult finding ones that manage to produce goods in this country). And of course, I check country of origin when grocery shopping. My boycott list is still pretty short, but I know I’ll be adding companies to my “stay-away” list over the next months (maybe years) as I need to shop for other commodities.

Fabric – that’s in interesting category! I’ve been checking country of origin on the fabrics I’ve looked at, as well as whether they come directly to Canada bypassing the US completely. At my local shop, down the street, the fabrics are woven and printed in Asia and come directly into Vancouver (although it’s likely the cotton used is grown in the US). I don’t have to feel guilty making purchases there. Same with the sewing machines and notions – for the most part they bypass the US.

Truth is, I hate shopping! I’ve been an online shopper for a relatively long time. But I can see my shopping habits will have to change as this conflict continues/escalates. Even if the tariffs prove to be short-lived – I don’t believe that’s going to be the case, however – I feel committed to shopping Canadian going forward! I hope you do, too.

From Another Canadian

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It seems more and more of us are using our blogs to express what we’re experiencing these days. Here’s another piece of writing with some good links to why each of us needs to be reading labels and speaking out with our $$$!

Serious “Food” for Thought

What If…

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I happened across a chilling analysis of trump’s threats to build an empire! https://substack.com/home/post/p-156454364

donald trump has been talking a lot about re-taking the Panama Canal, buying Greenland (while not ruling out an invasion), and making Canada the 51st State. He looks as though he will make good on his promise to take military action in Mexico after he signed an executive order designating certain cartels as terrorist organisations. Many outlets and pundits have declared that these talking points are either bluster, impossible, or mere diversions. My assessment is that they are not.

trump doesn’t really joke; he says outlandish things to see what sort of reaction he gets. In this case, with all of these proposals, Republicans responded with support and the American public barely noticed because “that’s just trump being trump.” In truth, trump rarely drops an idea, even a bad one. He was intent on buying Greenland during his first term and never let the idea go. Thus, when he talks about acquiring new territory for the US, or using military force in Mexico, he is serious.

…he is clearly laying the groundwork for, and removing barriers to an aggressive expansionistic policy over the next two years. What comes next is likely to be a mix of four strategies: Lebensraum, Anschluss, the hybrid Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and “Wag the Dog” (but with a distinctly internet age twist). The following is a brief discussion of what each of these four operations would look like.

The rest of the analysis lays out four goals that trump has already floated: a major military incursion into Mexico on the pretext of curtailing the flow of drugs into the US, as well as stopping the flow of migrants from Central and South America; the takeover of the Panama Canal either through coercion or outright military means; the annexation of Greenland either by purchase or military means; and finally the annexation of Canada either by “persuasion” or a military incursion.

Then the article lays out how each of these four goals could be accomplished – the threats, the cyber disinformation attacks (which would create chaos in each jurisdiction), the showcasing of “Quislings” who are solidly behind the idea of annexation and stand before the world proclaiming how much better off the subjugated citizens would be and their desire to be subsumed by the US. And finally the military actions if the “voluntary” tactics don’t work.

By the time we get here, Trump would have already taken back the Panama Canal and found a way to annex Greenland. Trump has long set his sights on making Canada a part of the US. The Republican Party would prefer it to be a territory, with no say in the US government. “The Canadians, they are going to elect two Democrat senators; we don’t want that. Territory status isn’t too bad,” according to Representative Byron Donalds.

Canadian support for being a part of the US runs around 20% at best, and triggered increased feelings of nationalism in the other 78%. Most Canadian leaders (outside of Alberta) are taking a “F*** You” attitude towards Trump’s threats of tariffs. Politicians there are engaged in competitive outbidding to see who can be the most hostile to Trump, his tariffs, and attempts to make the Canada part of the US. Only Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has shown receptiveness to treating the Trump administration, and its punitive tariffs, with kid gloves.

If Trump has successfully acquired the Panama Canal and Greenland via some combination of threats, coercion, or military force, his eye will turn to bringing Canada into the fold. By this time, the US has discarded NATO, Congress has been cowed, the military brass tamed and staffed with yes men. He believes that he is coming from a position of military strength: Canada and NATO cannot possibly hope to stop a US invasion.

Sounds crazy, right? But it’s not unimaginable given the shameful display of “power” that happened in the Oval Office yesterday (Mar 1 2025), the attempted humiliation of President Zelenskyy in front of a televised international audience. We got to see “the real” trump and vance on display!

(Reuters: Ukraine July 21 2022) This is Ukraine – can Canada be next?

At this point, if Canada has failed to give in to demands and economic blackmail, they and NATO will be given an ultimatum presented as a fait accompli: you will let US troops in. You cannot stop us by conventional means. The three options to NATO at this point are to allow us to annex Canada, fight a conventional war they cannot hope to win, or to use nuclear weapons against the United States and engage in mutually assured destruction. At the same time, the public in NATO countries will have been subjected to a barrage of disinformation for months, and support for a futile (and bloody) conventional war or a nuclear exchange will be low.

This will likely be the thought process of the Trump administration if they have made it this far. The problem with this thinking is that like most historical US leaders, they’re not prepared to deal with an insurgency. And Canada is no exception.

Imagine a country with the population and GDP of California, with a land area larger than the United States, having no say in its own governance. Now imagine it has been invaded, and that getting military-style weapons from the country that invaded them is ridiculously easy. Imagine that the country doing the invading doesn’t have the troops or the resources to lock things down adequately.

On top of that, unlike Iraq, there is a clear and mostly coherent sense of nationalism in Canada (they’re still very proud of burning the White House down in the War of 1812.) There’s also the matter of people who would come from other countries, including the US, to participate in an insurgency in Canada.

Russia assured their people in 2022 that Ukrainians were just like them and wanted to re-join the old Soviet Empire. It didn’t work out like that. If anything, Canadians are less enthusiastic about being a part of the US than Ukrainians were about being part of Russia. It’s hard to see this turning out well for the US in the long run.

My immediate reaction – Fantasyland! But I have a niggling feeling that these scenarios are not impossible. My anger at trump and his cat-and-mouse nonsense over “tariffs” has grown because I can sense what’s described in this Substack piece becoming a reality. I’m not fear-mongering here. I’m just trying to increase awareness of the bigger agenda that for the moment is obscured by the tariffs. The tariffs are the opening salvo in trump’s game. What I don’t think he understands is the extent the tariffs themselves will be detrimental to the US economy. Nor has he figured in the impact individual Canadian’s boycotting US goods can have overall.

We need to be serious in our efforts to buy Canadian, to work hard at buying local, to refuse to spend our $$$ with US companies as much as we can to make the lives of Americans, who are also pawns in this game, as difficult as possible. Our best hope for side-stepping an impending onslaught is for the American people to fight back themselves. For them (especially Republican supporters of trump) to become so angry they take action to curtail his (and musk’s) power. Our best allies are those disaffected American’s who wrench back control for themselves.

In the meantime, there are difficult days and weeks and months ahead. We can overcome dismay and despair by reaching out to one another, by supporting one another, and by taking those small personal actions that collectively can have an impact. Stand strong!

Houston Update

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Today’s editorial from The Coast

It appears premier Tim Houston is about to do something he’s had quite a bit of practice with recently: walk back sweeping changes that his government sought to pass. First, Houston withdrew widely-panned changes to the Auditor General Act that would have given the province the power to fire Nova Scotia’s top watchdog without cause and keep her reports out of the public eye. (The Coast’s Lauren Phillips dove into the story last week—take the time to read her report if you haven’t already.) Yesterday, Houston relented on his government’s plan to limit access to reporters at Province House by scrapping scrums in favour of pre-vetted interviews across the street. After pressure from CBC News, AllNovaScotia and other outlets, the premier will now scrum without a moderator, at the legislature and with opposition members present.
The main thing I’ll be keeping my eye on, though, is a comment Houston made during question period this week. Last week, the governing Tories tabled a massive bill that would, among other things, amend the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The changes would allow departments to refuse access requests from the public that they deemed “trivial, frivolous or vexatious,” and require applicants to include “sufficient particulars” in their requests—changes that Nova Scotia’s outgoing freedom of information commissioner, Tricia Ralph, said “poses risk to access rights to Nova Scotians.” She’s right.
https://newsletter.thecoast.ca/p/black-on-screen?_bhlid=c06439d43308ecc090df5e6e5f68e6d6401a70e3&utm_campaign=black-on-screen&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=newsletter.thecoast.ca

So it looks like when we fight back against these authoritarian moves of The Honourable Tim Houston, he caves. That means we need to keep alert to these autocratic decisions, the obfuscation of detail necessary for the public to understand the basis for his decisions, and openly express our opposition to what it is he’s proposing. We need to be loud enough to force a walk-back!

How Autocracy Creeps In

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Last week I wrote the following (I “published” it – you may have received it before I deleted it, I could not get the formatting right!):

For many months I’ve been more and more uncomfortable with the decisions being made by NS Premier Tim Houston. I was not, I am not, a Houston supporter, but I was willing to give him an opportunity to “fix” health care, while believing it was difficult, if not impossible, given the complexity of the problems. There are other aspects of NS life also needing serious government decision-making besides health care – housing, for example, unban development, transportation, the economy, interprovincial trade…. The list goes on and on.

Nova Scotia is no different than other provinces. These are the problems facing every Canadian province and likely every US state! So it’s been interesting watching Houston as he “tackles” these problems. What’s become more and more worrisome is the secrecy, the lack of transparency, that’s becoming the norm over the decisions being made in my province. We’re also seeing executive overreach in some of the moves being made by Houston!

My concerns were confirmed today in an article by Michael MacDonald: ‘Control-mania’: Nova Scotia premier accused of executive overreach with new bill in the Canadian Press.

Attempts by governments to reduce public scrutiny and stifle criticism are becoming increasingly common, said Tom Urbaniak, a political science professor at Cape Breton University. “This populist movement that we’re seeing across the democratic world weakens institutions that can provide objective information in favour of spin and propaganda,” he said in an interview.

“We’re seeing a significant scaling back of the access to information regime in Nova Scotia,” he said. “It will make it much easier for the executive, the cabinet, to decide whether a request is too broad or frivolous or vexatious.”

Last week Houston refused to respond to questions from the press. He’s curtailed full debate of many issues in the legislature.

Slowly, but surely, in many small, often unnoticed ways, the pubic right to accurate information about decisions being made by our provincial government are being limited.

Our auditor general has called out the current Conservative government over a variety of spending decisions and indiscretions. Houston’s latest move has been to include a provision in a new omnibus bill that allows the firing of the auditor general without cause effectively undermining that important oversight should information detrimental or embarrassing to the government be made public!

“The ability to remove the auditor general without cause, combined with the ability to control our public reporting, impacts the independence, integrity and objectivity of the office,” Adair (our current auditor general) told a news conference.

“These changes could mean any report the government doesn’t like wouldn’t be made public.”

Such secrecy ensures the NS public doesn’t learn about what could be a growing number of questionable, perhaps detrimental, decisions this government is planning – we simply won’t know what’s really happening as our government moves forward.

This is how autocracy creeps up on us.

A few days ago pubic response forced Houston to rescind the bill which included unilaterally being able to get rid of the Auditor General without cause!

Today, in The Coast Daily, Julie, the editor echoes what’s been rattling around in my head!

Good morning Halifax,

The PC Party of Nova Scotia’s latest message to its supporters asking for money is bone-chilling—and if you were slightly concerned that this government is trying to uproot democracy, clearly your concerns are valid. 

In a fundraising letter last week, MLA Leah Martin—obviously towing the party line—wrote to supporters:

“Will you pitch in here right now to help us withstand NDP attacks, overpower the special interests and professional protesters, bypass the media when we need to and stay on track with our plan to make it happen for Nova Scotia?” 

Ummm, make what happen for Nova Scotia? Fascism?

This narrative that the media is the enemy is untrue, cowardly and a kick in the teeth to voters. Citizens have a right to know the policies and activities of their government, and the media has the right to ask tough questions about those policies and activities. 

But premier Tim Houston has completely limited the media’s access to elected officials, allowing them to only answer questions during times organized by the government in a room they control across the street from the legislature. It gives big “we’re scared of scrums” energy to me—bitching out of the way politicians in Nova Scotia have answered questions for literally ever.

So, to review: This government was elected based on YOUR votes and now they want YOU to pay for them to ensure YOU don’t know what they’re doing.

I don’t know where Houston is getting his audacity. It can’t be from the confidence people have in him, because most people voted for nobody. It can’t be from feeling powerful, because his trips to meet with Trump’s underlings had zero impact on tariff decisions. It can’t be from feeling popular, because he had to walk back his auditor general bill after being so unanimously publicly criticized. 

Where then? 🕵️

Hope your day makes more sense than all of this!

– Julie

I have no idea what I can do about this personally, except to copy this post and send it along to the premier! He needs to know people are watching and aren’t happy with his attempts to hide what he’s doing. He needs to understand the citizens of NS deserve to be informed about the basis for decisions he’s putting forth.

I sure don’t like how this is beginning to look – small potatoes in comparison to what’s going on in the US, but hints of Autocracy are here, nevertheless!

Feb 27 2025

I sent a note with a copy of this blog entry to The Honourable Tim Houston, last evening. I’ll eventually get a form reply. No guarantee any actual person will read the piece. JMN