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The Need for a National Economy

President Donald Trump's threat of annexing Canada has been mostly rejected by Canadian politicians but not necessarily by the public. Depending on how the question is phrased, support for unification ranges from the  Leger Poll  result of 13 percent of the general population to 40 percent of 18-37 year-olds according to an  Ipsos Poll . Overall Canadians prefer their own country, but the country's failure to deliver opportunities has severely tested the loyalty of its younger people. The question is why has Canada failed so badly? The answer might be very simple - there is no national economy! All this talk about annexation brought back to the surface a book that was published 12 years ago -  The Merger of the Century  by business writer Diane Francis. (Below there is a 30 minute presentation by Francis who is a very entertaining speaker.)   Merger of the Century Francis who is a dual American-Canadian citizen believes that Canada has two options goin...
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Out of Touch Unions

Community Solidarity organized protests on January 18th in Toronto to protest the election of Donald Trump. The people interviewed appeared concerned that the far-right had taken over the United States and vulnerable people everywhere are under attack. There is no doubt that the people interviewed on CP24 are good and sincere people even if their fears are misplaced. Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump is a threat but not to vulnerable identity groups. He is a threat to a vulnerable nation like Canada. Trump's statements about the 51st State are his intention to vacuum out the Canadian manufacturing sector and perhaps even Alberta as a bonus. Trump is not evil but he has seen the effects of global trade on the American working class which begs the question. Why can't the unions that back Community Solidarity not see what Trump, a capitalist, has seen? The real threat is not the fictional alt-right, but governments both left and right that sell out to global oligarchs who mov...
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Power and Authority

In politics, power is the ability to effect change, and authority is the type of power that has the consent of the governed. These type of definitions don't mean much to the average person until the contrasts between the elites becomes obvious. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper went on a podcast that only drew less than 2,000 views on YouTube but was picked up by independent channels. It brought back nostalgia of a time where Canada had a Prime Minister who had power and authority. Harper shot down all of President Donald Trump's claims of trade deficits with arguments that showed the night and day difference with the man who replaced him. Standpoint with Gabe Groisman The reason there is a trade deficit, said Harper, is because the United States buys energy at bargain rates from Canada. It was a simple answer that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could not provide but chose instead to disclose to Trump the country's greatest weakness - its economic fragility. Nor could the...
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Is a Canadian a "Not American"?

When President Elect Donald Trump challenged the existence of Canada, the best that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could say on CNN was that Canadians identified themselves as "not American". Trudeau on CNN His response shows how much politics has changed in Canada that the foundational value of the country is forgotten even by the politicians. Any student of Canadian politics in the 1990s knew the foundation of Canada was Peace, Order, and Good Government (POGG). The Liberal Party doubled up on this lazy explanation by putting a map on Twitter that shows Canada under the label "Not the United States". It reveals that the party as well as the man leading it are not that far apart in the ideology and beliefs. Liberal Party Twitter Image of the North American Map What is wrong with Peace, Order and Good Government as a foundational value for a country? Perhaps looking at the origins of that belief system might provide an explanation. Peace, Order and Good Government wa...
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