Canada

Currently the PM doesn't have a seat in the house. If he visited the house, he'd have to go to the visitor's gallery.

It's an interesting situation. The PM is the leader of the federal liberal party, but he's not a member of parliament. But, does he need to be? Is the PM sitting in the house of commons just a tradition that nobody has challenged yet? Could the PM delegate things inside the house of commons to their deputy-PM and then do things like give speeches, attend diplomatic functions, etc.?

The US has a very different system where the president isn't part of the legislative branch at all. But, typically presidents don't twiddle their thumbs waiting for something to do. Being the head of state keeps most presidents busy. It makes me wonder if technically Carney could choose not to run for office, and just spend his time doing head-of-state things rather than legislative things.

Will Arnett’s animated comedy Super Team Canada is set to bow May 16 on Canadian streamer Crave, just in time to ride a surge in Canadian nationalism amid an escalating cross-border tariffs war with the United States.

The series about six Canadian superheroes saving the world from giant evil robots has an all-Canadian cast that includes Cobie Smulders voicing the role of Niagara Falls, Kevin McDonald as the Canadian prime minister and Charles Demers as Poutine, a French Canadian crime fighter.

Arnett voices the role of Breakaway, a former minor league hockey player who uses his skates, stick and special pucks to fight crime as the unofficial leader of Super Team Canada. The ensemble voice cast also has Brian Drummond, Ceara Morgana, Veena Sood and guest star Jay Baruchel.

In January, Canadian pollsters and political pundits struggled to find fresh ways to describe the bleak prospects of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, musing whether it would be a wipeout of existential proportions, or merely a catastrophic blowout.

But fresh polling released by three companies this week shows a stunning reversal of fortunes for the party: newly minted prime minister Mark Carney’s Liberals are projected to secure a majority government.

The outcome has little precedent in Canadian history, reflecting the outsized role played by an unpredictable US president, and it underscores the incentives for Carney to call a snap election in the coming days.

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What do all these products have in common ?

Sugar and products with more than 65% sugar content, Tobaccco, Peanuts and peanut butter, powdered milk, baby formula, Cotton, Beef, Animal feed, Anchovies.

These products have all been subject to huge quota tariffs imposed by the US, even before Trump started the tariff wars. These products and crops are subject to over 160% and higher tariffs if a certain quota threshold is met in the US. The US does this to protect their farmers and producers from having a market flooded with foreign alternatives and driving the local costs in order to compete down and possible push local producers out of the market. This is a form of protectionism that the US is doing.

So what exactly does this have to do with the infamous dairy tariffs that Trump keeps talking about ? Canada in turn, imposes a dairy quota tariff on dairy products up to 230% to do exactly the same thing as the US quota tariffs. Interestingly enough, the US have never come close to the quota, so the dairy products have aways fallen into the free trade agreement and NOT SUBJECT TO THE TARIFF.

So my question is why the lies and why the hypocrisy ?

If you follow Trump's logic, it was all about fentanyl, but when it was proven that a fraction of 1% has historically flowed from Canada, that argument was shelved.

Then came the arguments about illegal aliens, but when it was proven that there is no illegal alien movement from Canada of any significance at all, that argument was also shelved.

So that leaves us with the only playing card that Trump has that is difficult to dispute. A 230% tariff on dairy that was negotiated as part of the international rules and regulations concerning trade and tariffs. AS I stated this tariff has never been enacted because the quota was never met.

His other argument was the 200 billion dollar surplus in trade, however, anyone that has studies 2nd grade math will note that the surplus is only around 90 billion dollars, and if you exclude the HIGHLY DISCOUNTED crude Oil that the US buys from Canada, the surplus on Canada is only around 40 billion. If you factor in the travel south and US commerce that number shrinks even further.

So that brings me to my original point and question. Why does the mainstream media continue to buy into the lies and hypocrisies Trump continues to spew regarding trade with Canada ? Some will say that they aren't promoting the lies, just reporting on it. However, if they do not correct the lie, then they are contributing to the lie by omission.

This is a long note, but there needs to be some truth injected into the whole trade wars with the US. specifically for our US friends who are seeking to understand the truth.

With that I leave this to be discussed ?

While politicians tout the benefits of reducing interprovincial trade barriers to unlock prosperity amid escalating trade tensions, our most precious health-care resources — fully qualified doctors — remain shackled. Physicians face a maze of regulations when attempting to practise beyond their home province. We must break these chains.

See articles for full details

Authors:

• Anthony Sanfilippo - professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Queen's University, Ontario
• Neil Seeman - Senior Fellow, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, and Adjunct Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

“Opening up interprovincial trade of alcohol would have a very detrimental effect on the breweries that are here in Newfoundland and Labrador,” Mr. Farrell said in an interview Friday. “There’s no upside. You’d flood the market with trucked-in beer.”

In his first major move as Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney eliminated roughly a third of all cabinet positions, including the crucially important Minister of Women and Gender Equality. This decision marks a major setback for women’s rights in Canada at a time when these rights are under threat around the world.

Carney, sworn in as prime minister on Friday, has justified the trimmed-down cabinet as a “smaller, experienced cabinet” positioned to move fast and secure Canada’s economy in the face of US President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada and other threats.

But deprioritizing gender equality does not help Canada’s economy, and risks entrenching serious gendered harms. The gender wage gap and gendered poverty and inequality persist in Canada. Women and gender diverse workers also face disproportionately high levels of harassment and violence at work. Much work also remains for Canada to ensure and support sexual and reproductive health rights at home and abroad.

Toronto is no longer providing financial incentives for Tesla vehicles purchased as taxis or ride shares due to trade tensions with the United States, the city's mayor, Olivia Chow, said on Monday.

OTTAWA, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump must stop making “disrespectful” comments about Canada before the two countries can start serious talks about future ties, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday.

"We've called out those comments. They're disrespectful, they're not helpful, and they ... will have to stop before we sit down and have a conversation about our broader partnership with the United States," Carney told reporters in London.

Bombardier CEO Eric Martel said on Monday he was concerned Washington could target the private planemaker's U.S. contracts if Canada cancels a C$19 billion ($13.30 billion) deal for 88 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.

"Effectively, we could be targeted. This is my concern," Martel told reporters in Montreal after a speech hosted by the Canadian Club.

In October, Montreal-based Bombardier announced the delivery of an eighth jet to the United States Air Force as part of a deal with a potential value of $465 million. The aircraft carry specialized communications platforms.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31222804

[...]

Along with NATO allies, there are currently over 1,700 Canadian troops and aircrew dug in as part of a Western commitment to defend Latvia. More are planned and others are on standby should there be a crisis.

[Recently], Canadian, Danish, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Swedish and Latvian troops conducted a major exercise at the Adazi training range, on the outskirts of the Latvian capital of Riga. The scenario they were rehearsing for was stark.

[...]

"Latvia has been the target of Russian cyber operations since their very beginning," said Varis Teivans, deputy manager and a senior technical expert at CERT.LV, located at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Latvia.

When Teivans says the very beginning, he's referring to the 2006-07 timeframe when proxy groups affiliated with Russia's security service — the FSB — launched denial-of-service attacks against public infrastructure in neighbouring Estonia.

[...]

He said Russian targets have expanded from government institutions, such as border controls, power grids, defence and foreign relations, to deep into the country's private sector — aiming at companies that are part of the national security supply chain.

[...]

They work side-by-side at the university, which is housed in a dimly lit, old Soviet-style building. Behind banks of computer screens and with a giant, open-source, worldwide cyberattack threat monitor streaming in the background, Canadians working with the Latvians conduct what's known as threat-hunting operations.

[...]

[Canadian officer aiding CERT.LV Maj. Kiernan] Broda-Milian also said their hosts "are capable of performing this work. But there are not enough cybersecurity professionals in Latvia, and then we both learn from each other."

The Canadian team has been engaged in digital forensics in cases where intrusions have been detected. They essentially examine the techniques for telltale signs of who may have conducted the attack.

Teivans said they look for little mistakes. For example, one Russian hacker left behind signs because it was clear they were using a keyboard with cyrillic letters.

Both Teivans and Broda-Milian said an important side benefit of the Canadian presence is that the cyberhunting and forensics operations give a glimpse into Russian tactics that gets fed back to Ottawa in the form of threat intelligence.

[...]