Trump forces Canada to grow up in more ways than one...

Between defence demands and changing trade, Canada needs to act.

Like it or not, Donald Trump is forcing Canada to act like a grown up instead of a kid living in mom and dad’s basement while refusing to get a job. We are seeing the latest example of this as leaders from NATO countries meet in the Netherlands.

“Carney says Canada will meet new NATO spending target by developing critical minerals,” screams the headline from CTV.

We learn in the piece that Prime Minister Mark Carney will agree to take Canada’s defence spending to 5% of GDP in the coming years. He will achieve that goal by building the infrastructure needed to mine critical minerals, mostly found in Canada’s north.

“Some of the spending for that counts towards that five per cent. In fact, a lot of it will count toward that five per cent because of infrastructure spending — it’s ports and railroads and other ways to get these minerals out,” Carney said.

“So that’s something that benefits the Canadian economy but is also part of our NATO, our new NATO responsibilities.”

In typical Carney fashion, he made the statement above to an American news outlet, not a Canadian one. The man who launched his bid to become Liberal leader and Canada’s PM in New York City on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show really does prefer foreign media to Canadian.

Not surprising given that just the other day Carney was insulting the food in Ottawa and in 2022 he told the Financial Times, of London, that what he liked about living in Ottawa is that he gets to travel a lot.

But I digress...so back to defence.

I’ve been hearing about Canada developing critical minerals and mining projects like Ontario’s Ring of Fire for more than 20 years and it hasn’t happened. Same with northern ports or trade routes, it’s something Canadian politicians talk about but don’t act on.

Between Trump’s demands for increased defence spending and his changes to the global economic and trading order, Canadians will finally need to act.

Instead of just coasting by with trade to the U.S. we will finally need to build the infrastructure we need, authorize the mines and projects that should have been approved years ago.

Kissing up to Trump...

Seems that a lot of world leaders who used to be dismissive of Trump are really trying to kiss up to him, and it’s not just Mark Carney.

Trump posted a text sent to him by NATO Secretary-General and former PM of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. The Associated Press described the text as Rutte fawning over Trump.

“Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe, and the world. You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done,” Rutte wrote. “Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”

That’s just part of the text which gushing with praise for Trump.

Meanwhile, Carney is describing himself as a Trump “whisperer” in his CNN interview with Christiane Amanpour and finally admitted that Trump doesn’t want to annex Canada. Mr. Elbows Up has admitted that his whole campaign message from the election was a false one.

Liberals promise to make bail tougher to get...

Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser says a bill to fix problems with bail and sentencing will come this fall. The Liberals passed legislation making bail the default for judges and justices of the peace in 2019 and it has been a disaster ever since.

Under pressure from every single provincial premier including Liberals and New Democrats, the Liberals brought in some changes in 2023, but it was incredibly limited. Repeat offenders for crimes like auto theft and carjacking were still given bail.

In one infamous incident, a man was arrested after trying to conduct a carjacking just after getting bail for auto theft, he then stole a truck.

Despite all of this, the Liberals refused to go further, now they say they will with a new bill this fall. In an interview with the Canadian Press, Fraser denied that the Liberals were admitting the Conservatives, who have been calling for these changes, were right.

“We hear from Canadians more broadly that there is a challenge with the criminal justice system,” he said. “There is a challenge with the bail system.”

Fraser said that while he takes issue with what he called the Conservatives’ “simplistic” slogans, Canadians across the country have “real concerns” that can’t be dismissed “just because it’s being raised in the House of Commons in a way that some may find inconvenient.”

New York Democrats go full socialist...

Looks like the Democrats in New York have opted to make socialist Zohran Mamdani their candidate for mayor. Mamdani has promised city owned and run grocery stores, a $30 per hour minimum wage, free bus service, rent freezes and of course taxing the rich as just part of his unrealistic platform.

The move saw Fox & Friends interviewing Democrat Mayor Eric Adams, who will run as an independent and showing Adams a lot of support. Adams told Fox that Mamdani has no record and beat disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who he said was running for his record.

Cuomo may also run as an independent in the election which takes place this November.

Maybe people in New York should talk to folks in Toronto how well having a socialist mayor is going. Olivia Chow isn’t proposing anything as radical as what Mamdani is proposing, but watch for them to push further left if the socialist wins NYC’s top job this fall.