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Seven Canadians Charged in U.S. Transnational Drug Probe Linked to Fugitive Ex-Olympian
U.S. authorities have charged seven Canadian citizens in a sweeping cross-border investigation tied to Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder now accused of running a violent, cartel-connected drug-trafficking empire stretching from Colombia to Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The arrests were announced Tuesday as part of Operation Giant Slalom, a multi-agency U.S. probe targeting what officials describe as a “multi-million-dollar narcotics and money-laundering network” allegedly overseen by Wedding, who remains a fugitive. The U.S. State Department has raised its reward for information leading to his capture to US$15 million, calling him one of North America’s most dangerous wanted criminals.
According to U.S. prosecutors, the seven Canadians played various supporting roles in the network — from logistics and drug-distribution assistance to alleged financial and legal facilitation. Among them is a GTA-based lawyer, accused by U.S. authorities of laundering money, coordinating drug transactions, and arranging bribes tied to the enterprise.
Wedding, once a B.C. Olympic hopeful, is now the target of an Interpol Red Notice and multiple U.S. federal indictments, including allegations of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to traffic cocaine at scale, weapons offences, and obstruction of justice. Investigators say he used his athletic background as cover while building a criminal network that allegedly moved multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine shipments into North America.
The RCMP is cooperating directly with American agencies, including the FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme stood alongside U.S. officials at the announcement, underscoring that the Canadian arrests are part of a broader strategy to dismantle Wedding’s network across borders.
U.S. officials said the operation reveals how major transnational crime groups increasingly rely on Canadian support networks — from money-handlers to professional intermediaries — to move drugs, launder profits, and evade detection. Canadian suspects now await extradition proceedings.
Authorities emphasize that the investigation is ongoing. Wedding remains at large.
#Canada #USA #Mexico #Columbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
U.S. authorities have charged seven Canadian citizens in a sweeping cross-border investigation tied to Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder now accused of running a violent, cartel-connected drug-trafficking empire stretching from Colombia to Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The arrests were announced Tuesday as part of Operation Giant Slalom, a multi-agency U.S. probe targeting what officials describe as a “multi-million-dollar narcotics and money-laundering network” allegedly overseen by Wedding, who remains a fugitive. The U.S. State Department has raised its reward for information leading to his capture to US$15 million, calling him one of North America’s most dangerous wanted criminals.
According to U.S. prosecutors, the seven Canadians played various supporting roles in the network — from logistics and drug-distribution assistance to alleged financial and legal facilitation. Among them is a GTA-based lawyer, accused by U.S. authorities of laundering money, coordinating drug transactions, and arranging bribes tied to the enterprise.
Wedding, once a B.C. Olympic hopeful, is now the target of an Interpol Red Notice and multiple U.S. federal indictments, including allegations of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to traffic cocaine at scale, weapons offences, and obstruction of justice. Investigators say he used his athletic background as cover while building a criminal network that allegedly moved multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine shipments into North America.
The RCMP is cooperating directly with American agencies, including the FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations. RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme stood alongside U.S. officials at the announcement, underscoring that the Canadian arrests are part of a broader strategy to dismantle Wedding’s network across borders.
U.S. officials said the operation reveals how major transnational crime groups increasingly rely on Canadian support networks — from money-handlers to professional intermediaries — to move drugs, launder profits, and evade detection. Canadian suspects now await extradition proceedings.
Authorities emphasize that the investigation is ongoing. Wedding remains at large.
#Canada #USA #Mexico #Columbia
🍁 Maple Chronicles
❤3👍2🔥2
Carney’s Top Aide Quietly Dumps Brookfield Shares to Avoid Conflict Headaches
Clerk of the Privy Council reveals he sold off holdings within minutes of being alerted by ethics watchdog
OTTAWA — Michael Sabia, Canada’s most senior public servant and one of two officials empowered to enforce Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sprawling conflict-of-interest screen, told MPs Wednesday he immediately divested his Brookfield shares after the Ethics Commissioner alerted him he owned them.
Sabia, who became Clerk of the Privy Council in July, said he was informed on Sept. 24 that he held investments connected to Brookfield — the same corporate empire at the centre of Carney’s own conflict-of-interest scrutiny. He testified he sold the assets “within about 15 minutes” to better manage the prime minister’s screen and avoid even the perception of impropriety.
Carney, by contrast, has placed his Brookfield and Stripe holdings in a blind trust. The prime minister has rejected calls for full divestment, despite the more than 100 entities included in his official conflict screen. Conservatives argue the scale of Carney’s entanglements is unprecedented for a sitting PM.
Sabia insisted the blind-trust model remains “rigorous,” and that refusing to divest personally would have undermined his ability to administer Carney’s conflicts. His testimony comes as the ethics committee continues its review of the Conflict of Interest Act, triggered by concerns over the prime minister’s former roles as Brookfield chair and Stripe board member.
According to Sabia, Carney has been flagged for potential conflicts only 13 times since July — a number critics say is implausibly low given Brookfield’s vast footprint. Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher called the testimony “an admission of massive loopholes,” noting the law does not prevent a prime minister from taking decisions that incidentally benefit companies they hold stakes in.
The committee will hear next from Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard — the second official authorized to police the PM’s conflict screen.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Clerk of the Privy Council reveals he sold off holdings within minutes of being alerted by ethics watchdog
OTTAWA — Michael Sabia, Canada’s most senior public servant and one of two officials empowered to enforce Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sprawling conflict-of-interest screen, told MPs Wednesday he immediately divested his Brookfield shares after the Ethics Commissioner alerted him he owned them.
Sabia, who became Clerk of the Privy Council in July, said he was informed on Sept. 24 that he held investments connected to Brookfield — the same corporate empire at the centre of Carney’s own conflict-of-interest scrutiny. He testified he sold the assets “within about 15 minutes” to better manage the prime minister’s screen and avoid even the perception of impropriety.
Carney, by contrast, has placed his Brookfield and Stripe holdings in a blind trust. The prime minister has rejected calls for full divestment, despite the more than 100 entities included in his official conflict screen. Conservatives argue the scale of Carney’s entanglements is unprecedented for a sitting PM.
Sabia insisted the blind-trust model remains “rigorous,” and that refusing to divest personally would have undermined his ability to administer Carney’s conflicts. His testimony comes as the ethics committee continues its review of the Conflict of Interest Act, triggered by concerns over the prime minister’s former roles as Brookfield chair and Stripe board member.
According to Sabia, Carney has been flagged for potential conflicts only 13 times since July — a number critics say is implausibly low given Brookfield’s vast footprint. Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher called the testimony “an admission of massive loopholes,” noting the law does not prevent a prime minister from taking decisions that incidentally benefit companies they hold stakes in.
The committee will hear next from Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard — the second official authorized to police the PM’s conflict screen.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
❤2😁2🤬1👀1
Ottawa Signals “National Debate” on Lifting Tanker Ban as Alberta Pushes for Pipeline Access: Critics Say Canadian Energy Still Being Held Hostage
The fight over Canada’s northern B.C. tanker ban is erupting again — and even Liberal MPs admit the debate will be “contentious.” As Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith negotiate the final terms of a new energy relationship, a central question hangs over Ottawa: Will the federal government finally lift the moratorium blocking Alberta’s access to global markets?
Liberal MP Karina Gould said Wednesday the ban was imposed under Trudeau “out of huge public demand,” and warned that amending it now requires a “national conversation” — with priority given not to Alberta or national economic interests, but to coastal communities and B.C.’s political class.
Translation: Ottawa is preparing Canadians for a battle, and the Carney government knows it is walking into sacred Trudeau-era territory.
But Alberta’s position is unmistakable. Smith wants the tanker ban removed, rewritten, or carved out to allow a bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s northwest coast — the only route capable of cracking open access to Asian markets and ending the U.S. monopoly over Canadian oil exports.
Her spokesman says the province wants an agreement “to work towards ultimate approval of a bitumen pipeline to Asian markets.”
Ottawa says those talks are in the “final stages.”
Yet B.C.’s political line remains unmoved. Premier David Eby is still opposed. B.C. Liberal MPs insist Indigenous consent and provincial agreement are non-negotiable. Coastal First Nations groups are already warning Carney to hold the line. And Green Leader Elizabeth May says any attempt to lift the ban is “barking up the wrong forest.”
Meanwhile, Alberta and Saskatchewan — the backbone of Canada’s energy wealth — remain landlocked by federal design.
Western frustration is boiling over:
• Trudeau rejected Northern Gateway in 2016
• Ottawa legislated the tanker moratorium in 2019
• B.C. expanded LNG with federal blessing
• Alberta’s access to tidewater remains frozen
Even Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed conceded the ban aligns with the identity of his riding — and that B.C. caucus members intend to defend it.
Conservatives say this is exactly the problem: a federal government willing to negotiate with Alberta on carbon pricing and emissions caps while refusing to give the West what it actually needs — unrestricted access to global energy markets.
As one Alberta voice put it: “Canada can’t be an energy superpower if we keep our energy trapped behind our own laws.”
With Carney promising a Canada that “leads on energy,” Western premiers now want to see if that promise survives its first real test.
Because after a decade of federal vetoes, moratoriums, and political choke points, many in the West say what’s unfolding isn’t a national conversation at all — it’s the latest chapter in holding Canadian energy hostage to preserve B.C. politics and Ottawa ideology.
#BC #Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
The fight over Canada’s northern B.C. tanker ban is erupting again — and even Liberal MPs admit the debate will be “contentious.” As Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith negotiate the final terms of a new energy relationship, a central question hangs over Ottawa: Will the federal government finally lift the moratorium blocking Alberta’s access to global markets?
Liberal MP Karina Gould said Wednesday the ban was imposed under Trudeau “out of huge public demand,” and warned that amending it now requires a “national conversation” — with priority given not to Alberta or national economic interests, but to coastal communities and B.C.’s political class.
Translation: Ottawa is preparing Canadians for a battle, and the Carney government knows it is walking into sacred Trudeau-era territory.
But Alberta’s position is unmistakable. Smith wants the tanker ban removed, rewritten, or carved out to allow a bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s northwest coast — the only route capable of cracking open access to Asian markets and ending the U.S. monopoly over Canadian oil exports.
Her spokesman says the province wants an agreement “to work towards ultimate approval of a bitumen pipeline to Asian markets.”
Ottawa says those talks are in the “final stages.”
Yet B.C.’s political line remains unmoved. Premier David Eby is still opposed. B.C. Liberal MPs insist Indigenous consent and provincial agreement are non-negotiable. Coastal First Nations groups are already warning Carney to hold the line. And Green Leader Elizabeth May says any attempt to lift the ban is “barking up the wrong forest.”
Meanwhile, Alberta and Saskatchewan — the backbone of Canada’s energy wealth — remain landlocked by federal design.
Western frustration is boiling over:
• Trudeau rejected Northern Gateway in 2016
• Ottawa legislated the tanker moratorium in 2019
• B.C. expanded LNG with federal blessing
• Alberta’s access to tidewater remains frozen
Even Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed conceded the ban aligns with the identity of his riding — and that B.C. caucus members intend to defend it.
Conservatives say this is exactly the problem: a federal government willing to negotiate with Alberta on carbon pricing and emissions caps while refusing to give the West what it actually needs — unrestricted access to global energy markets.
As one Alberta voice put it: “Canada can’t be an energy superpower if we keep our energy trapped behind our own laws.”
With Carney promising a Canada that “leads on energy,” Western premiers now want to see if that promise survives its first real test.
Because after a decade of federal vetoes, moratoriums, and political choke points, many in the West say what’s unfolding isn’t a national conversation at all — it’s the latest chapter in holding Canadian energy hostage to preserve B.C. politics and Ottawa ideology.
#BC #Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
💯5❤3🙏1
🇨🇦 Ottawa and Provinces Sign New Internal Trade Pact, But Critics Say It’s Absurd Canada Still Doesn’t Have Full Free Trade Within Its Own Borders
Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments have signed a new Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement, a deal set to take effect this December that will finally allow most goods approved in one province to be sold in any other — except food.
Officials are calling it a breakthrough. Business groups are calling it progress. But the real story is this: Canada still does not have true internal free trade in 2025 — and that remains one of the country’s most ridiculous, self-inflicted economic barriers.
Ontario’s economic development minister Vic Fedeli touted the agreement as “common sense,” noting that if a safety vest or construction product is approved in one province, it should be accepted everywhere. He estimates Ontario alone stands to gain $23 billion from the changes.
Economists say the potential national upside is massive — up to $200 billion in added economic output, though some studies put the real-world lift closer to 4% of GDP. Even then, the gains dwarf many federal stimulus programs.
But the limitations of the new pact are already clear:
• Food is excluded
• Services are excluded
• Alcohol is excluded until at least 2026
• Provinces are still clinging to carve-outs
And while Canada fights a messy trade war with the United States, internal trade as a share of Canada’s overall commerce is shrinking — down to 35% today from 52% in the early 1980s.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business welcomed the agreement but said what every frustrated entrepreneur already knows: there is no economic justification for barriers within a single country.
Prime Minister Mark Carney likes to say there should be “one Canadian economy, not 13.” But until food, services, alcohol, licensing, and professional certifications move freely from coast to coast, Canada will remain a country that trades more easily with America and Mexico than with itself.
A new deal is fine — but the simple truth remains: It is absurd that Canada still hasn’t achieved complete internal free trade.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial governments have signed a new Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement, a deal set to take effect this December that will finally allow most goods approved in one province to be sold in any other — except food.
Officials are calling it a breakthrough. Business groups are calling it progress. But the real story is this: Canada still does not have true internal free trade in 2025 — and that remains one of the country’s most ridiculous, self-inflicted economic barriers.
Ontario’s economic development minister Vic Fedeli touted the agreement as “common sense,” noting that if a safety vest or construction product is approved in one province, it should be accepted everywhere. He estimates Ontario alone stands to gain $23 billion from the changes.
Economists say the potential national upside is massive — up to $200 billion in added economic output, though some studies put the real-world lift closer to 4% of GDP. Even then, the gains dwarf many federal stimulus programs.
But the limitations of the new pact are already clear:
• Food is excluded
• Services are excluded
• Alcohol is excluded until at least 2026
• Provinces are still clinging to carve-outs
And while Canada fights a messy trade war with the United States, internal trade as a share of Canada’s overall commerce is shrinking — down to 35% today from 52% in the early 1980s.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business welcomed the agreement but said what every frustrated entrepreneur already knows: there is no economic justification for barriers within a single country.
Prime Minister Mark Carney likes to say there should be “one Canadian economy, not 13.” But until food, services, alcohol, licensing, and professional certifications move freely from coast to coast, Canada will remain a country that trades more easily with America and Mexico than with itself.
A new deal is fine — but the simple truth remains: It is absurd that Canada still hasn’t achieved complete internal free trade.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
❤7💯3🤯2
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🇨🇦🤨 Canada Border Services agent says they allow refugees free entry due to staff shortage
'We're short-staffed, so we let them into the country without doing a security screening'
'Wait, hold on...'
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
'We're short-staffed, so we let them into the country without doing a security screening'
'Wait, hold on...'
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡15🤬7😢7🤯4🤔1
🇨🇦 Carney’s Chief of Staff Sparks Backlash After Comparing PM’s Ethics Problems to Nigel Wright
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sprawling conflict-of-interest screen — already one of the largest in Canadian history — set off a political firestorm today after his chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, compared Carney’s situation to that of Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff.
Blanchard made the remarks while testifying before the House of Commons ethics committee, where MPs are reviewing the Conflict of Interest Act. His defence of Carney’s entanglements came just a day after clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia revealed the PM’s ethics screen has already been triggered 13 times since July.
Blanchard argued that Canadians chose Carney because of his extensive private-sector background — including his years at Brookfield Asset Management, a global behemoth with over US$1 trillion in assets — and insisted the PM’s conflicts are no different from Wright’s when he entered Harper’s office.
Conservatives immediately pushed back.
MP Michael Barrett said the comparison was “absurd,” noting that Wright wasn’t the head of government, nor did he oversee files that could directly influence his former employer’s interests across dozens of sectors.
MP Shuv Majumdar added that Onex — the company tied to Wright — was far narrower in scope than Brookfield, a firm with tentacles in energy, infrastructure, real estate, finance, private equity, and clean tech. “This is a different standard entirely,” he said.
Sabia, meanwhile, defended the internal process. Of the 13 files flagged so far, six required applying the ethics screen — meaning Carney cannot be briefed on or participate in those decisions. Several remain active, and details cannot be disclosed without violating the screen itself.
But the committee zeroed in on a deeper issue:
Does the ethics screen even work when the prime minister’s former company holds positions in more than 100 entities across the economy?
Bloc MP Luc Thériault raised the example of new tax credits for small modular nuclear reactors — a technology dominated in Canada by Westinghouse, a company owned majority-stake by Brookfield. According to Blanchard, because the credit is of “general application,” the ethics screen didn’t need to be triggered.
That loophole — where massive corporate interests can still benefit from government policy so long as it’s framed as broadly applicable — is now drawing scrutiny.
Blanchard insisted Carney applies “strict ethical rules” to himself, including on informal communications such as late-night texts from U.S. President Donald Trump. But critics say the entire system relies on discretion rather than clear, enforceable divestment requirements.
As Democracy Watch warned earlier this month, the current rules allow politicians to participate in decisions from which they could indirectly benefit — a flaw the group says leaves “huge loopholes” in the law.
The ethics committee continues its hearings Thursday, with Blanchard back on the hot seat.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sprawling conflict-of-interest screen — already one of the largest in Canadian history — set off a political firestorm today after his chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, compared Carney’s situation to that of Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff.
Blanchard made the remarks while testifying before the House of Commons ethics committee, where MPs are reviewing the Conflict of Interest Act. His defence of Carney’s entanglements came just a day after clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia revealed the PM’s ethics screen has already been triggered 13 times since July.
Blanchard argued that Canadians chose Carney because of his extensive private-sector background — including his years at Brookfield Asset Management, a global behemoth with over US$1 trillion in assets — and insisted the PM’s conflicts are no different from Wright’s when he entered Harper’s office.
Conservatives immediately pushed back.
MP Michael Barrett said the comparison was “absurd,” noting that Wright wasn’t the head of government, nor did he oversee files that could directly influence his former employer’s interests across dozens of sectors.
MP Shuv Majumdar added that Onex — the company tied to Wright — was far narrower in scope than Brookfield, a firm with tentacles in energy, infrastructure, real estate, finance, private equity, and clean tech. “This is a different standard entirely,” he said.
Sabia, meanwhile, defended the internal process. Of the 13 files flagged so far, six required applying the ethics screen — meaning Carney cannot be briefed on or participate in those decisions. Several remain active, and details cannot be disclosed without violating the screen itself.
But the committee zeroed in on a deeper issue:
Does the ethics screen even work when the prime minister’s former company holds positions in more than 100 entities across the economy?
Bloc MP Luc Thériault raised the example of new tax credits for small modular nuclear reactors — a technology dominated in Canada by Westinghouse, a company owned majority-stake by Brookfield. According to Blanchard, because the credit is of “general application,” the ethics screen didn’t need to be triggered.
That loophole — where massive corporate interests can still benefit from government policy so long as it’s framed as broadly applicable — is now drawing scrutiny.
Blanchard insisted Carney applies “strict ethical rules” to himself, including on informal communications such as late-night texts from U.S. President Donald Trump. But critics say the entire system relies on discretion rather than clear, enforceable divestment requirements.
As Democracy Watch warned earlier this month, the current rules allow politicians to participate in decisions from which they could indirectly benefit — a flaw the group says leaves “huge loopholes” in the law.
The ethics committee continues its hearings Thursday, with Blanchard back on the hot seat.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤬2❤1😁1
🇺🇸🇨🇦 U.S. Ambassador Hoekstra Warns Canada on ‘Meddling,’ Says He Doesn’t Get Why Canadians Are Angry About the ‘51st State’ Talk
U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra sparked a fresh round of outrage on both sides of the border after accusing Canada of interfering in American politics — while simultaneously insisting he “doesn’t understand” why Canadians are furious about Donald Trump’s repeated suggestion that Canada could become the 51st state.
Speaking at the National Manufacturing Conference in Ottawa, Hoekstra claimed Ontario’s pro–free trade ads — which aired in U.S. markets ahead of local elections and a critical Supreme Court case on Trump’s tariff powers — crossed a line.
“You do not come into America and start running political ads — government-funded political ads — and expect there will be no consequences,” Hoekstra said, calling the tactic unprecedented and warning Canada that there would be “reaction from the Trump administration.”
He was referring to provincial ads that criticized U.S. tariffs and urged Americans to defend free trade — a move Washington interpreted as political messaging aimed directly at the president during an electoral cycle.
But his next line landed hardest in Ottawa:
“I go around the country and people will say, ‘Pete, you just don’t understand why we’re so mad about the 51st state.’ Yeah, you’re right. I don’t.”
The remark reignited a long-simmering tension: Canada’s anger at Trump’s off-hand annexation jokes, and the growing frustration over a trade war that has hit Canadian workers, exporters, and consumers at a scale not seen since the 1930s.
Hoekstra insisted the real issue wasn’t American rhetoric — it was that Canadians “don’t understand” the depth of U.S. anger over the ads, which were aired less than two weeks before key U.S. elections and a Supreme Court hearing on Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
For context, the ambassador also made light of Canada’s national emergency alert test, quipping:
“It is so nice of them to put out a national emergency that the U.S. ambassador is again speaking. Watch out!”
Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington remain frozen. Hoekstra suggested negotiations “will restart,” but offered no timeline.
Behind the scenes, U.S. officials continue to insist that Canada “inserted itself” into domestic American politics — while many Canadians argue that Trump’s own rhetoric, tariffs, and the “51st state” narrative represent a political intrusion of a different kind.
The diplomatic rift shows no signs of cooling.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra sparked a fresh round of outrage on both sides of the border after accusing Canada of interfering in American politics — while simultaneously insisting he “doesn’t understand” why Canadians are furious about Donald Trump’s repeated suggestion that Canada could become the 51st state.
Speaking at the National Manufacturing Conference in Ottawa, Hoekstra claimed Ontario’s pro–free trade ads — which aired in U.S. markets ahead of local elections and a critical Supreme Court case on Trump’s tariff powers — crossed a line.
“You do not come into America and start running political ads — government-funded political ads — and expect there will be no consequences,” Hoekstra said, calling the tactic unprecedented and warning Canada that there would be “reaction from the Trump administration.”
He was referring to provincial ads that criticized U.S. tariffs and urged Americans to defend free trade — a move Washington interpreted as political messaging aimed directly at the president during an electoral cycle.
But his next line landed hardest in Ottawa:
“I go around the country and people will say, ‘Pete, you just don’t understand why we’re so mad about the 51st state.’ Yeah, you’re right. I don’t.”
The remark reignited a long-simmering tension: Canada’s anger at Trump’s off-hand annexation jokes, and the growing frustration over a trade war that has hit Canadian workers, exporters, and consumers at a scale not seen since the 1930s.
Hoekstra insisted the real issue wasn’t American rhetoric — it was that Canadians “don’t understand” the depth of U.S. anger over the ads, which were aired less than two weeks before key U.S. elections and a Supreme Court hearing on Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
For context, the ambassador also made light of Canada’s national emergency alert test, quipping:
“It is so nice of them to put out a national emergency that the U.S. ambassador is again speaking. Watch out!”
Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington remain frozen. Hoekstra suggested negotiations “will restart,” but offered no timeline.
Behind the scenes, U.S. officials continue to insist that Canada “inserted itself” into domestic American politics — while many Canadians argue that Trump’s own rhetoric, tariffs, and the “51st state” narrative represent a political intrusion of a different kind.
The diplomatic rift shows no signs of cooling.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡9❤2👍1👏1💩1🫡1
🇨🇦💸 Budget Watchdog Says Carney Has a 7.5% Chance of Hitting His Own Fiscal Targets
Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer delivered a blunt verdict today: the Carney government is almost certain to miss the fiscal “anchors” it set for itself just months ago.
Appearing before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee, interim PBO Jason Jacques said there is only a 7.5% probability Ottawa will manage even one of its core commitments — reducing the deficit-to-GDP ratio over the next several years.
The government originally announced three long-term fiscal goals:
• balance the operating budget within three years
• push the deficit-to-GDP ratio downward
• lower Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio
One of those has already quietly been abandoned. The government dropped the debt-to-GDP target in its Nov. 4 budget because meeting it was mathematically impossible in the face of a $78.3B deficit — the largest in Canadian history outside the pandemic.
Jacques has not minced words since taking over as PBO this fall. He’s called the government’s trajectory “stupefying,” “shocking,” and “unsustainable.” His office also flagged that Ottawa has shifted $94 billion in regular operational spending to the capital ledger — effectively re-labelling day-to-day expenses as “investments” to make the books look cleaner.
Under that reclassification, corporate tax expenditures, investment tax credits, and operating subsidies are all being counted as capital — a definition Jacques called “too broad” and outside international norms.
The broader picture is stark:
• Canada’s deficit is projected to average $64B annually until 2030 — double last year’s estimate
• the national debt now stands at $1.27 trillion, with nearly half accumulated in just five years
• by the end of the decade, Ottawa will have added another $320B in new debt
Finance officials argue the spending is necessary to fund “pro-growth” initiatives in energy, AI, critical minerals, and infrastructure. But the PBO’s numbers suggest the government’s own benchmarks — its promised guardrails for accountability — are unlikely to be met under current policy.
A permanent Parliamentary Budget Officer is expected to be appointed soon. Jason Jacques, who has served in the role on an interim basis since September, is continuing to press for more transparent fiscal reporting as Parliament wrestles with a rapidly expanding federal balance sheet.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer delivered a blunt verdict today: the Carney government is almost certain to miss the fiscal “anchors” it set for itself just months ago.
Appearing before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee, interim PBO Jason Jacques said there is only a 7.5% probability Ottawa will manage even one of its core commitments — reducing the deficit-to-GDP ratio over the next several years.
The government originally announced three long-term fiscal goals:
• balance the operating budget within three years
• push the deficit-to-GDP ratio downward
• lower Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio
One of those has already quietly been abandoned. The government dropped the debt-to-GDP target in its Nov. 4 budget because meeting it was mathematically impossible in the face of a $78.3B deficit — the largest in Canadian history outside the pandemic.
Jacques has not minced words since taking over as PBO this fall. He’s called the government’s trajectory “stupefying,” “shocking,” and “unsustainable.” His office also flagged that Ottawa has shifted $94 billion in regular operational spending to the capital ledger — effectively re-labelling day-to-day expenses as “investments” to make the books look cleaner.
Under that reclassification, corporate tax expenditures, investment tax credits, and operating subsidies are all being counted as capital — a definition Jacques called “too broad” and outside international norms.
The broader picture is stark:
• Canada’s deficit is projected to average $64B annually until 2030 — double last year’s estimate
• the national debt now stands at $1.27 trillion, with nearly half accumulated in just five years
• by the end of the decade, Ottawa will have added another $320B in new debt
Finance officials argue the spending is necessary to fund “pro-growth” initiatives in energy, AI, critical minerals, and infrastructure. But the PBO’s numbers suggest the government’s own benchmarks — its promised guardrails for accountability — are unlikely to be met under current policy.
A permanent Parliamentary Budget Officer is expected to be appointed soon. Jason Jacques, who has served in the role on an interim basis since September, is continuing to press for more transparent fiscal reporting as Parliament wrestles with a rapidly expanding federal balance sheet.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
😁4🤯2💯1
🇨🇦⚖️ One in Seven Sexual-Assault Cases in Canada Collapse Before Trial Due to Delays, New Report Warns
Canada’s justice system is now failing victims at a scale most politicians refuse to acknowledge. A new report from the federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime reveals a staggering figure: one in seven sexual-assault cases in adult courts never make it to a verdict. Not because the evidence is weak. Not because the accused is acquitted. But because the courts cannot bring cases to trial in time.
Under the Supreme Court’s R v. Jordan ruling, provincial courts must try criminal cases within 18 months. Canada is blowing past that deadline with shocking frequency. Between 2022 and 2023, 30.4% of all sexual-assault cases exceeded the Jordan limit, and nearly half of those were simply stayed or withdrawn — erased by procedural failure, not justice.
That translates to roughly 500 sexual-assault cases a year thrown out because the system can’t function. Victims prepare, testify, wait — only to watch their case collapse because a Crown couldn’t get disclosures done, a courtroom wasn’t available, or police took months to turn over key evidence.
The report includes disturbing examples:
— In northern Manitoba, cases were abandoned after RCMP delays of up to four months on digital evidence.
— In Fort Frances, Ont., a victim arrived ready to testify, only to discover the courtroom had been “double-booked.” Her case was delayed seven months — then dropped entirely under the Jordan clock.
— Even in Ontario’s new billion-dollar Toronto courthouse, cases — including sexual assaults — were tossed because the very building built to increase efficiency only amplified the backlog.
This is happening everywhere, including in provinces where premiers campaign loudly about getting “tough on crime.” The reality: no premier, no attorney general, no level of government has fixed the basic bottleneck that lets serious offenders walk free because the system ran out of time.
Politicians are debating mandatory minimums, registries, three-strikes laws, and constitutional showdowns — while the justice system can’t even reliably bring a case to trial.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” isn’t a slogan. It’s now the lived experience of thousands of Canadians — victims, families, accused, and communities left with no closure and no accountability.
Canada doesn’t need more podium rhetoric. It needs courts, prosecutors, judges, and resources that function.
If Canadians ever fully grasp how deeply the rot extends, the political class will wish delayed trials were their biggest problem.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Canada’s justice system is now failing victims at a scale most politicians refuse to acknowledge. A new report from the federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime reveals a staggering figure: one in seven sexual-assault cases in adult courts never make it to a verdict. Not because the evidence is weak. Not because the accused is acquitted. But because the courts cannot bring cases to trial in time.
Under the Supreme Court’s R v. Jordan ruling, provincial courts must try criminal cases within 18 months. Canada is blowing past that deadline with shocking frequency. Between 2022 and 2023, 30.4% of all sexual-assault cases exceeded the Jordan limit, and nearly half of those were simply stayed or withdrawn — erased by procedural failure, not justice.
That translates to roughly 500 sexual-assault cases a year thrown out because the system can’t function. Victims prepare, testify, wait — only to watch their case collapse because a Crown couldn’t get disclosures done, a courtroom wasn’t available, or police took months to turn over key evidence.
The report includes disturbing examples:
— In northern Manitoba, cases were abandoned after RCMP delays of up to four months on digital evidence.
— In Fort Frances, Ont., a victim arrived ready to testify, only to discover the courtroom had been “double-booked.” Her case was delayed seven months — then dropped entirely under the Jordan clock.
— Even in Ontario’s new billion-dollar Toronto courthouse, cases — including sexual assaults — were tossed because the very building built to increase efficiency only amplified the backlog.
This is happening everywhere, including in provinces where premiers campaign loudly about getting “tough on crime.” The reality: no premier, no attorney general, no level of government has fixed the basic bottleneck that lets serious offenders walk free because the system ran out of time.
Politicians are debating mandatory minimums, registries, three-strikes laws, and constitutional showdowns — while the justice system can’t even reliably bring a case to trial.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” isn’t a slogan. It’s now the lived experience of thousands of Canadians — victims, families, accused, and communities left with no closure and no accountability.
Canada doesn’t need more podium rhetoric. It needs courts, prosecutors, judges, and resources that function.
If Canadians ever fully grasp how deeply the rot extends, the political class will wish delayed trials were their biggest problem.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤬11👍2💩1
🇨🇦 Carney Wraps U.A.E. Visit With $70B Pledge — But Serious Questions Remain
Prime Minister Mark Carney closed his Abu Dhabi trip with a headline-grabbing announcement: a $70-billion investment commitment from the United Arab Emirates, tied to a new bilateral investment framework and a push to accelerate Canadian projects in critical minerals, AI, logistics, and energy.
Standing alongside Emirati officials — including Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the powerful ADNOC chief — Carney also unveiled a $1-billion Canadian project aimed at massively expanding domestic critical-minerals processing capacity. Ottawa says it will “boost long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies,” though exact details are still to come.
Carney went a step further, personally inviting U.A.E. investors to Canada:
“I will personally host them,” he said, pitching the country as a future hub for AI, quantum, life sciences, and next-gen manufacturing.
But behind the polished language, the gaps are glaring:
• The U.A.E. itself has not publicly announced the deal.
No notice appears on their foreign ministry site.
• Ottawa has not released a timeline for when — or how — $70B would actually flow.
• Media reporting suggests the investments span everything from mining to energy logistics, but none of it has been officially itemized.
Carney’s office calls the money a “vote of confidence” in Canada’s struggling economy — one rocked by declining productivity, the U.S. trade war, and collapsing living standards.
He insists bilateral trade can be more than doubled in under a decade, calling Canada and the Emirates “aligned as trading nations and energy superpowers going green.”
Sudan Shadows the Trip
Carney also confirmed he raised the Sudan civil war with U.A.E. President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Human-rights groups accuse the U.A.E. of helping arm the RSF militia, which has been implicated in ethnic massacres.
Carney wouldn’t say whether he believes the Emirati denials or the human-rights reports — only that the conversation focused on the U.S.-led Quad framework (U.S., U.A.E., Egypt, Saudi Arabia) seeking a ceasefire under President Trump’s diplomatic push.
The timing is delicate: Canada is deepening economic ties with a state whose regional activities are under intense scrutiny.
G20 Next — Without the U.S.
Carney was then off to Johannesburg for the G20, where the U.S. will send no senior officials, accusing South Africa of turning a blind eye to anti-white violence — a claim Pretoria flatly rejects.
Canada’s listed G20 priorities:
• Securing critical minerals
• AI for sustainable development
• Wildfire/disaster prevention
• Debt & development-funding reform
• Advancing gender equality through growth
#Canada #UAE
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Prime Minister Mark Carney closed his Abu Dhabi trip with a headline-grabbing announcement: a $70-billion investment commitment from the United Arab Emirates, tied to a new bilateral investment framework and a push to accelerate Canadian projects in critical minerals, AI, logistics, and energy.
Standing alongside Emirati officials — including Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the powerful ADNOC chief — Carney also unveiled a $1-billion Canadian project aimed at massively expanding domestic critical-minerals processing capacity. Ottawa says it will “boost long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies,” though exact details are still to come.
Carney went a step further, personally inviting U.A.E. investors to Canada:
“I will personally host them,” he said, pitching the country as a future hub for AI, quantum, life sciences, and next-gen manufacturing.
But behind the polished language, the gaps are glaring:
• The U.A.E. itself has not publicly announced the deal.
No notice appears on their foreign ministry site.
• Ottawa has not released a timeline for when — or how — $70B would actually flow.
• Media reporting suggests the investments span everything from mining to energy logistics, but none of it has been officially itemized.
Carney’s office calls the money a “vote of confidence” in Canada’s struggling economy — one rocked by declining productivity, the U.S. trade war, and collapsing living standards.
He insists bilateral trade can be more than doubled in under a decade, calling Canada and the Emirates “aligned as trading nations and energy superpowers going green.”
Sudan Shadows the Trip
Carney also confirmed he raised the Sudan civil war with U.A.E. President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Human-rights groups accuse the U.A.E. of helping arm the RSF militia, which has been implicated in ethnic massacres.
Carney wouldn’t say whether he believes the Emirati denials or the human-rights reports — only that the conversation focused on the U.S.-led Quad framework (U.S., U.A.E., Egypt, Saudi Arabia) seeking a ceasefire under President Trump’s diplomatic push.
The timing is delicate: Canada is deepening economic ties with a state whose regional activities are under intense scrutiny.
G20 Next — Without the U.S.
Carney was then off to Johannesburg for the G20, where the U.S. will send no senior officials, accusing South Africa of turning a blind eye to anti-white violence — a claim Pretoria flatly rejects.
Canada’s listed G20 priorities:
• Securing critical minerals
• AI for sustainable development
• Wildfire/disaster prevention
• Debt & development-funding reform
• Advancing gender equality through growth
#Canada #UAE
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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🇨🇦 Seven Canadians Arrested in FBI Takedown of Alleged Ryan Wedding Drug Empire
A Calgary man accused of helping fugitive Canadian drug lord Ryan Wedding arrange the murder of an FBI informant appeared in court Friday, days after his arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Allistair Chapman, 33, is one of seven Canadian residents arrested this week as part of a sweeping FBI operation targeting what authorities describe as a billion-dollar transnational cocaine network allegedly run by Wedding — a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder now on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and believed to be hiding in Mexico.
The joint announcement was made Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme unveiled an unsealed federal indictment outlining the scale of the alleged “Wedding Criminal Enterprise,” said to operate across Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Canada.
Authorities also raised the reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture to US$15 million, underscoring the scope of the case.
Chapman, brought into a Calgary courtroom shackled and wearing a blue jumpsuit, faces charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, and retaliation against a federal witness. The indictment alleges Chapman facilitated the killing of “Victim A” by providing a photograph to Gursewak Singh Bal, operator of the crime-focused site The Dirty News. Police say Bal was paid $10,000 to publish the image.
Three months later, the informant was shot five times in the head inside a restaurant in Colombia.
Chapman, a former Alberta Junior Hockey League player, is no stranger to law enforcement. He was previously charged in 2018 in a major cross-border drug and firearms investigation, though those charges were stayed in 2020 due to delays.
Of the 10 people arrested this week, seven are in Canada, and extradition hearings will follow before any prosecution in California. Chapman’s next court appearance is scheduled for December 5, with no date yet set for a full extradition hearing.
The case marks one of the most significant joint Canada–U.S. organized crime operations in recent years, and investigators say additional arrests are possible as the probe continues.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
A Calgary man accused of helping fugitive Canadian drug lord Ryan Wedding arrange the murder of an FBI informant appeared in court Friday, days after his arrest on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Allistair Chapman, 33, is one of seven Canadian residents arrested this week as part of a sweeping FBI operation targeting what authorities describe as a billion-dollar transnational cocaine network allegedly run by Wedding — a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder now on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list and believed to be hiding in Mexico.
The joint announcement was made Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme unveiled an unsealed federal indictment outlining the scale of the alleged “Wedding Criminal Enterprise,” said to operate across Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Canada.
Authorities also raised the reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture to US$15 million, underscoring the scope of the case.
Chapman, brought into a Calgary courtroom shackled and wearing a blue jumpsuit, faces charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder, and retaliation against a federal witness. The indictment alleges Chapman facilitated the killing of “Victim A” by providing a photograph to Gursewak Singh Bal, operator of the crime-focused site The Dirty News. Police say Bal was paid $10,000 to publish the image.
Three months later, the informant was shot five times in the head inside a restaurant in Colombia.
Chapman, a former Alberta Junior Hockey League player, is no stranger to law enforcement. He was previously charged in 2018 in a major cross-border drug and firearms investigation, though those charges were stayed in 2020 due to delays.
Of the 10 people arrested this week, seven are in Canada, and extradition hearings will follow before any prosecution in California. Chapman’s next court appearance is scheduled for December 5, with no date yet set for a full extradition hearing.
The case marks one of the most significant joint Canada–U.S. organized crime operations in recent years, and investigators say additional arrests are possible as the probe continues.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
❤6👍2
🇨🇦 Canada Quietly Wins the Tourism War as U.S. Travel Industry Slides
While the trade war with Washington continues to batter key sectors of the Canadian economy — from aluminum to steel — there is one front where Canada is quietly and decisively winning: tourism.
New data shows a record-breaking surge in both domestic and international tourism in Canada throughout 2025, driven by global perceptions of Canada as safe, stable, and friendly, and by a sharp backlash against the Trump Administration’s border crackdowns, political volatility, and deteriorating travel experience.
U.S. tourism, meanwhile, is now in contraction.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadian travel to the United States collapsed between February and October:
• Air travel down 21%
• Land crossings down 33.5%
The U.S. Travel Association now forecasts a 3.2% drop in international tourism spending for 2025 — a hit of US$5.7 billion — and lays the blame directly on the disappearance of Canadian visitors, who historically make up the single largest share of all U.S. international tourists.
Border communities in Washington, New York, and Michigan report being “decimated” by the collapse in Canadian traffic — another shock on top of the post-pandemic tourism crash.
Meanwhile, Canada’s numbers tell a very different story.
Destination Canada reports a $3.3 billion increase in tourism revenue from May to August — an unprecedented 6% surge. Domestic travel rose 7%, driven in part by Canadians cancelling or postponing U.S. trips out of concern for safety, political tension, or simply to “stand up for Canada” during the trade war, according to Angus Reid polling.
International tourism to Canada also spiked:
• Overseas arrivals up 2.4%
• Overseas spending up 10.4%
Surveys from the U.K., Germany, and France show more than 50% of Europeans are now choosing Canada over the U.S., citing safety, political stability, and friendlier border experiences.
U.S. border policy — particularly increased detentions, fingerprinting of Canadian snowbirds, and viral images of ICE raids — appears to be accelerating the shift. Experts note that tourism is fundamentally a “safety-based industry,” and the U.S. under Trump is being perceived globally as a riskier, more volatile destination.
Even Mexico, a major source of U.S. tourism, is expected to be hit next year when a new US$250 “visa integrity fee” comes into effect for non-citizens requiring a travel visa — effectively a new tariff on inbound travel.
Canada is expected to benefit further in 2026 when both countries host FIFA World Cup games. But with American politics entering yet another turbulent cycle — and Canadian tourism revenue already at an all-time high — the strategic advantage has shifted north of the 49th parallel.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
While the trade war with Washington continues to batter key sectors of the Canadian economy — from aluminum to steel — there is one front where Canada is quietly and decisively winning: tourism.
New data shows a record-breaking surge in both domestic and international tourism in Canada throughout 2025, driven by global perceptions of Canada as safe, stable, and friendly, and by a sharp backlash against the Trump Administration’s border crackdowns, political volatility, and deteriorating travel experience.
U.S. tourism, meanwhile, is now in contraction.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadian travel to the United States collapsed between February and October:
• Air travel down 21%
• Land crossings down 33.5%
The U.S. Travel Association now forecasts a 3.2% drop in international tourism spending for 2025 — a hit of US$5.7 billion — and lays the blame directly on the disappearance of Canadian visitors, who historically make up the single largest share of all U.S. international tourists.
Border communities in Washington, New York, and Michigan report being “decimated” by the collapse in Canadian traffic — another shock on top of the post-pandemic tourism crash.
Meanwhile, Canada’s numbers tell a very different story.
Destination Canada reports a $3.3 billion increase in tourism revenue from May to August — an unprecedented 6% surge. Domestic travel rose 7%, driven in part by Canadians cancelling or postponing U.S. trips out of concern for safety, political tension, or simply to “stand up for Canada” during the trade war, according to Angus Reid polling.
International tourism to Canada also spiked:
• Overseas arrivals up 2.4%
• Overseas spending up 10.4%
Surveys from the U.K., Germany, and France show more than 50% of Europeans are now choosing Canada over the U.S., citing safety, political stability, and friendlier border experiences.
U.S. border policy — particularly increased detentions, fingerprinting of Canadian snowbirds, and viral images of ICE raids — appears to be accelerating the shift. Experts note that tourism is fundamentally a “safety-based industry,” and the U.S. under Trump is being perceived globally as a riskier, more volatile destination.
Even Mexico, a major source of U.S. tourism, is expected to be hit next year when a new US$250 “visa integrity fee” comes into effect for non-citizens requiring a travel visa — effectively a new tariff on inbound travel.
Canada is expected to benefit further in 2026 when both countries host FIFA World Cup games. But with American politics entering yet another turbulent cycle — and Canadian tourism revenue already at an all-time high — the strategic advantage has shifted north of the 49th parallel.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
❤5🤡4😁3
🇨🇦🇺🇸 JD Vance Takes Aim at CBC, Carney, and Canada’s “Immigration Insanity”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance has waded directly into Canada’s political debate — and he isn’t mincing words. Responding to a chart showing Canada’s collapsing GDP per capita compared to the U.S. and U.K., Vance argued that no G7 nation “leaned harder” into mass immigration than Canada, and that the economic fallout is now impossible to ignore.
“Canada has the highest foreign-born share in the entire G7, and its living standards have stagnated,” Vance wrote on X, taking a pointed swing at the CBC for blaming “bogeymen” like Donald Trump instead of Ottawa’s own policies. He added that Canada’s political class “focuses obsessively on the United States,” while refusing to take responsibility for the pressures they created at home.
The data backs the scale of Canada’s demographic shift: 23% of the population is now foreign-born — the highest level in 150 years. Meanwhile, GDP per capita has been flatlining despite historically high immigration levels, fueling a national debate over housing, wages, productivity, and affordability.
While the federal government frames immigration as “central to our future,” the Trump administration has taken the opposite path. Under its revived enforcement agenda, DHS says hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants have been removed, and “over 2 million” more have self-deported due to tightened protocols. U.S. officials have restored aggressive screening, visa vetting, and border enforcement — a stark contrast to Canada’s liberal approach.
Vance’s comments land at a tense moment in Canada-U.S. relations. Trade talks stalled after Ontario ran anti-tariff ads in American markets, drawing fury from Washington. That dispute has since cooled, but friction remains — especially with President Trump repeatedly referring to Canada as the “51st state.” Carney and Trump have struggled to find common ground.
At home, Pierre Poilievre has already seized on the same GDP-per-capita data, accusing Mark Carney of “importing the same financial disaster he caused in the U.K.” Poilievre argues that wherever Carney goes, “inflation goes up, paycheques shrink, and living standards collapse.”
Vance’s message to Canadians was blunt: don’t blame Trump; blame your own leadership. And for a country already wrestling with affordability, housing shortages, and sliding economic performance, it’s a criticism Ottawa can’t easily ignore.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
U.S. Vice President JD Vance has waded directly into Canada’s political debate — and he isn’t mincing words. Responding to a chart showing Canada’s collapsing GDP per capita compared to the U.S. and U.K., Vance argued that no G7 nation “leaned harder” into mass immigration than Canada, and that the economic fallout is now impossible to ignore.
“Canada has the highest foreign-born share in the entire G7, and its living standards have stagnated,” Vance wrote on X, taking a pointed swing at the CBC for blaming “bogeymen” like Donald Trump instead of Ottawa’s own policies. He added that Canada’s political class “focuses obsessively on the United States,” while refusing to take responsibility for the pressures they created at home.
The data backs the scale of Canada’s demographic shift: 23% of the population is now foreign-born — the highest level in 150 years. Meanwhile, GDP per capita has been flatlining despite historically high immigration levels, fueling a national debate over housing, wages, productivity, and affordability.
While the federal government frames immigration as “central to our future,” the Trump administration has taken the opposite path. Under its revived enforcement agenda, DHS says hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants have been removed, and “over 2 million” more have self-deported due to tightened protocols. U.S. officials have restored aggressive screening, visa vetting, and border enforcement — a stark contrast to Canada’s liberal approach.
Vance’s comments land at a tense moment in Canada-U.S. relations. Trade talks stalled after Ontario ran anti-tariff ads in American markets, drawing fury from Washington. That dispute has since cooled, but friction remains — especially with President Trump repeatedly referring to Canada as the “51st state.” Carney and Trump have struggled to find common ground.
At home, Pierre Poilievre has already seized on the same GDP-per-capita data, accusing Mark Carney of “importing the same financial disaster he caused in the U.K.” Poilievre argues that wherever Carney goes, “inflation goes up, paycheques shrink, and living standards collapse.”
Vance’s message to Canadians was blunt: don’t blame Trump; blame your own leadership. And for a country already wrestling with affordability, housing shortages, and sliding economic performance, it’s a criticism Ottawa can’t easily ignore.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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🇨🇦 Ottawa & Alberta Poised to Sign Breakthrough Energy Deal — Pipeline Back on the Table
After a decade of Ottawa slamming the door on West Coast pipeline access, the political ground has shifted. A senior federal source confirms Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are expected to sign a new energy sector memorandum of understanding this Thursday — a deal that, for the first time since Northern Gateway’s death, explicitly includes language about a path forward for a northwest B.C. oil pipeline.
This is the project Alberta has demanded for years: a corridor that would finally give landlocked Canadian crude direct access to Asian markets. And unlike the Trudeau era, Carney is now open to considering it, provided Alberta leads the Indigenous consultations, negotiates terms directly with British Columbia, and satisfies federal regulatory triggers.
But the politics are already explosive.
B.C. Premier David Eby says he “almost fell out of his seat” when he learned Saskatchewan had been brought into pipeline conversations with Ottawa and Alberta — conversations, he insists, B.C. was never informed about. He’s made it clear he opposes any pipeline to the northern coast and wants Ottawa to uphold the Trudeau-era tanker moratorium.
Yet the federal government is now openly exploring limited exemptions to that ban — and may even use its sweeping powers under the One Canadian Economy Act (C-5) to allow tankers tied to this proposed pipeline to legally bypass the moratorium altogether.
That would be a seismic shift in national energy policy.
At present, no private company has stepped forward to build such a pipeline. Alberta is trying to solve that problem by going first: Smith has already announced her government will draft and submit a full application to the federal Major Projects Office to jump-start the process and draw private capital into the fold.
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
A pipeline to the Pacific would reshape Canadian energy sovereignty, rewire Alberta–Ottawa relations, and challenge B.C.’s veto power over national infrastructure. It would also signal a major reversal of Liberal policy and re-ignite the debate over whether Canada should remain a country whose energy wealth is landlocked — or finally behave like an energy superpower.
More details expected Thursday.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
After a decade of Ottawa slamming the door on West Coast pipeline access, the political ground has shifted. A senior federal source confirms Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are expected to sign a new energy sector memorandum of understanding this Thursday — a deal that, for the first time since Northern Gateway’s death, explicitly includes language about a path forward for a northwest B.C. oil pipeline.
This is the project Alberta has demanded for years: a corridor that would finally give landlocked Canadian crude direct access to Asian markets. And unlike the Trudeau era, Carney is now open to considering it, provided Alberta leads the Indigenous consultations, negotiates terms directly with British Columbia, and satisfies federal regulatory triggers.
But the politics are already explosive.
B.C. Premier David Eby says he “almost fell out of his seat” when he learned Saskatchewan had been brought into pipeline conversations with Ottawa and Alberta — conversations, he insists, B.C. was never informed about. He’s made it clear he opposes any pipeline to the northern coast and wants Ottawa to uphold the Trudeau-era tanker moratorium.
Yet the federal government is now openly exploring limited exemptions to that ban — and may even use its sweeping powers under the One Canadian Economy Act (C-5) to allow tankers tied to this proposed pipeline to legally bypass the moratorium altogether.
That would be a seismic shift in national energy policy.
At present, no private company has stepped forward to build such a pipeline. Alberta is trying to solve that problem by going first: Smith has already announced her government will draft and submit a full application to the federal Major Projects Office to jump-start the process and draw private capital into the fold.
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
A pipeline to the Pacific would reshape Canadian energy sovereignty, rewire Alberta–Ottawa relations, and challenge B.C.’s veto power over national infrastructure. It would also signal a major reversal of Liberal policy and re-ignite the debate over whether Canada should remain a country whose energy wealth is landlocked — or finally behave like an energy superpower.
More details expected Thursday.
#Alberta
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡14👏3🤔2
🇨🇦 Another Alleged Accomplice of Fugitive Ryan Wedding Arrested in Vancouver: FBI
A second associate of fugitive Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been arrested on Canadian soil, according to the FBI.
Rasheed Pascua Hossain, 32, of Vancouver — who investigators say operated under the alias “JP Morgan” — was taken into custody Friday by the RCMP. He now faces U.S. charges related to cocaine trafficking and multimillion-dollar money laundering, detailed in a newly unsealed federal grand jury indictment.
Hossain is described by prosecutors as a key figure inside Wedding’s international laundering network, which allegedly moved cartel-linked cocaine and criminal proceeds across Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and the United States.
The arrest comes as court documents reveal the FBI secured a new cooperating informant — a former Wedding associate who admits to having trafficked drugs with him and assisted with “multiple murders.” That informant is now central to the U.S. case, including the investigation into the January 2025 assassination of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a Canadian-Colombian trafficker and FBI source.
Acebedo-Garcia was shot five times in the head inside a Medellín restaurant, in what prosecutors describe as a retaliation killing ordered to protect Wedding’s billion-dollar organization. The newly unsealed indictment alleges Wedding arranged payments, surveillance attempts, and overseas travel to hunt down the witness. Investigators say he even paid to have the victim’s photo posted on a Canadian crime-themed website to crowd-source his location.
According to U.S. filings, Wedding communicated through encrypted apps with the cooperating informant and a Toronto lawyer, discussing whether eliminating the witness could derail the federal indictment. Prosecutors say Wedding openly stated he was willing to spend up to $5 million USD to murder the FBI source.
Ten people were arrested this week across Canada and the U.S. in connection with the sweeping investigation, though Wedding himself remains at large, believed to be protected by powerful criminal groups in Mexico. The FBI has raised the reward for information leading to his capture to $15 million USD, calling him one of the most significant international fugitives linked to the North American cocaine trade.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
A second associate of fugitive Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been arrested on Canadian soil, according to the FBI.
Rasheed Pascua Hossain, 32, of Vancouver — who investigators say operated under the alias “JP Morgan” — was taken into custody Friday by the RCMP. He now faces U.S. charges related to cocaine trafficking and multimillion-dollar money laundering, detailed in a newly unsealed federal grand jury indictment.
Hossain is described by prosecutors as a key figure inside Wedding’s international laundering network, which allegedly moved cartel-linked cocaine and criminal proceeds across Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and the United States.
The arrest comes as court documents reveal the FBI secured a new cooperating informant — a former Wedding associate who admits to having trafficked drugs with him and assisted with “multiple murders.” That informant is now central to the U.S. case, including the investigation into the January 2025 assassination of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a Canadian-Colombian trafficker and FBI source.
Acebedo-Garcia was shot five times in the head inside a Medellín restaurant, in what prosecutors describe as a retaliation killing ordered to protect Wedding’s billion-dollar organization. The newly unsealed indictment alleges Wedding arranged payments, surveillance attempts, and overseas travel to hunt down the witness. Investigators say he even paid to have the victim’s photo posted on a Canadian crime-themed website to crowd-source his location.
According to U.S. filings, Wedding communicated through encrypted apps with the cooperating informant and a Toronto lawyer, discussing whether eliminating the witness could derail the federal indictment. Prosecutors say Wedding openly stated he was willing to spend up to $5 million USD to murder the FBI source.
Ten people were arrested this week across Canada and the U.S. in connection with the sweeping investigation, though Wedding himself remains at large, believed to be protected by powerful criminal groups in Mexico. The FBI has raised the reward for information leading to his capture to $15 million USD, calling him one of the most significant international fugitives linked to the North American cocaine trade.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤬2❤1🍌1
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🇨🇦 Mark Carney at the G20 on Saturday said AI data centres must be carbon neutral, by paying carbon credits, "We need a price on carbon, I salute my neighbor, the European Union, in pricing carbon and putting in place a CBAM."
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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🇨🇦 Canada Post Reports Record $541M Loss — Over $1B Lost So Far This Year
Canada Post has confirmed the worst financial quarter in its history, posting a $541-million loss before tax in Q3, pushing its total operating losses for 2025 to more than $1 billion.
The Crown corporation says its financial position has “deteriorated” sharply, with losses rising 71.7% over the same period last year. Revenues plunged 18% in the third quarter alone, driven primarily by customers shifting to private competitors during the months-long labour disruption.
Canada Post blames “labour uncertainty” — a two-week national strike in 2024 followed by nearly a year of rotating strikes — for a collapse in its parcel business. Parcel revenues are down roughly 40%, a devastating hit in a market already dominated by Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and Canada Post’s own subsidiary, Purolator.
Despite the collapse in parcels, transaction mail saw a temporary bump due to stamp price increases, election mailings, and a surge in letter mail after last year’s national strike — but nowhere near enough to offset the losses.
CUPW, representing 55,000 postal workers, has been without a contract all year, with negotiations now dragging into their 23rd month. The union says Canada Post must “win back and expand its share of the parcel market” — even as its strike actions have driven many former customers to competing couriers permanently.
Purolator (owned by Canada Post), by contrast, posted a $59-million profit in the same quarter, underscoring Canada Post’s structural challenges as the parcel sector shifts decisively toward private carriers.
Canada Post warns its financial situation is now the most severe in its history, with no clear path to recovering market share lost during the labour disruptions.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Canada Post has confirmed the worst financial quarter in its history, posting a $541-million loss before tax in Q3, pushing its total operating losses for 2025 to more than $1 billion.
The Crown corporation says its financial position has “deteriorated” sharply, with losses rising 71.7% over the same period last year. Revenues plunged 18% in the third quarter alone, driven primarily by customers shifting to private competitors during the months-long labour disruption.
Canada Post blames “labour uncertainty” — a two-week national strike in 2024 followed by nearly a year of rotating strikes — for a collapse in its parcel business. Parcel revenues are down roughly 40%, a devastating hit in a market already dominated by Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and Canada Post’s own subsidiary, Purolator.
Despite the collapse in parcels, transaction mail saw a temporary bump due to stamp price increases, election mailings, and a surge in letter mail after last year’s national strike — but nowhere near enough to offset the losses.
CUPW, representing 55,000 postal workers, has been without a contract all year, with negotiations now dragging into their 23rd month. The union says Canada Post must “win back and expand its share of the parcel market” — even as its strike actions have driven many former customers to competing couriers permanently.
Purolator (owned by Canada Post), by contrast, posted a $59-million profit in the same quarter, underscoring Canada Post’s structural challenges as the parcel sector shifts decisively toward private carriers.
Canada Post warns its financial situation is now the most severe in its history, with no clear path to recovering market share lost during the labour disruptions.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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🇨🇦 IDF Soldiers Touring Canada Spark Calls for War-Crimes Scrutiny After Toronto Clash
A Toronto event featuring Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers has ignited a national debate over whether Israeli military personnel should be allowed into Canada without investigation — especially as international bodies probe Israel for genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
The incident occurred earlier this month at a Toronto Metropolitan University–affiliated event hosted by Students Supporting Israel (SSI). Police arrested six protesters, while video shows chaotic scenes at the venue — including protesters pounding on doors and an IDF soldier grabbing and shoving demonstrators.
The soldiers are part of the Triggered: From Combat to Campus speaking tour now traveling across Canada.
NDP MP Heather McPherson said she was “outraged” that IDF soldiers are touring Canadian campuses and argued that every IDF member entering Canada should be investigated under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
Advocacy groups — including Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims — echoed the call, citing ongoing investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes by the UN, International Criminal Court (ICC), and International Court of Justice (ICJ).
A UN investigative commission reported in September that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, citing mass civilian deaths, attacks on medical infrastructure, widespread targeting of aid workers, and allegations of torture and sexualized violence against detainees.
Canadian legal experts say Ottawa does have a responsibility under international law to screen, investigate, or bar individuals suspected of involvement in atrocities.
Toronto lawyer James Yap says that Canada’s obligations under the Genocide Convention and ICC rulings mean it should investigate any IDF member suspected of violations — and that mere membership in the IDF could be legally relevant for admissibility decisions.
Yap noted that Canada has previously barred foreign nationals for participating in other state militaries implicated in atrocities.
The ICC, meanwhile, has already issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
SSI defended the tour, accusing protesters of violently disrupting the event. The organization argues the soldiers came “to share their first-hand experiences” and accused critics of “catering to extremists.”
Other experts caution that investigations must be evidence-based. University of the Fraser Valley criminologist Mark Kersten said Canada should apply the same standards it uses for individuals arriving from other war zones: interviewing those who served in armed forces involved in alleged atrocities.
“This is not about singling out the IDF,” Kersten said. “This should apply in any conflict where mass atrocities are suspected.”
The RCMP previously announced a structural investigation into potential war crimes under the Israel–Hamas war, but CBC News reports no sign that IDF soldiers arriving in Canada are being questioned.
Meanwhile, some Israelis — including Canadians who serve in the IDF — have told Israeli media they fear returning to Canada due to the rising likelihood of detentions or legal scrutiny abroad.
#Canada #Israel
🍁 Maple Chronicles
A Toronto event featuring Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers has ignited a national debate over whether Israeli military personnel should be allowed into Canada without investigation — especially as international bodies probe Israel for genocide and war crimes in Gaza.
The incident occurred earlier this month at a Toronto Metropolitan University–affiliated event hosted by Students Supporting Israel (SSI). Police arrested six protesters, while video shows chaotic scenes at the venue — including protesters pounding on doors and an IDF soldier grabbing and shoving demonstrators.
The soldiers are part of the Triggered: From Combat to Campus speaking tour now traveling across Canada.
NDP MP Heather McPherson said she was “outraged” that IDF soldiers are touring Canadian campuses and argued that every IDF member entering Canada should be investigated under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
Advocacy groups — including Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices, and the National Council of Canadian Muslims — echoed the call, citing ongoing investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes by the UN, International Criminal Court (ICC), and International Court of Justice (ICJ).
A UN investigative commission reported in September that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, citing mass civilian deaths, attacks on medical infrastructure, widespread targeting of aid workers, and allegations of torture and sexualized violence against detainees.
Canadian legal experts say Ottawa does have a responsibility under international law to screen, investigate, or bar individuals suspected of involvement in atrocities.
Toronto lawyer James Yap says that Canada’s obligations under the Genocide Convention and ICC rulings mean it should investigate any IDF member suspected of violations — and that mere membership in the IDF could be legally relevant for admissibility decisions.
Yap noted that Canada has previously barred foreign nationals for participating in other state militaries implicated in atrocities.
The ICC, meanwhile, has already issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
SSI defended the tour, accusing protesters of violently disrupting the event. The organization argues the soldiers came “to share their first-hand experiences” and accused critics of “catering to extremists.”
Other experts caution that investigations must be evidence-based. University of the Fraser Valley criminologist Mark Kersten said Canada should apply the same standards it uses for individuals arriving from other war zones: interviewing those who served in armed forces involved in alleged atrocities.
“This is not about singling out the IDF,” Kersten said. “This should apply in any conflict where mass atrocities are suspected.”
The RCMP previously announced a structural investigation into potential war crimes under the Israel–Hamas war, but CBC News reports no sign that IDF soldiers arriving in Canada are being questioned.
Meanwhile, some Israelis — including Canadians who serve in the IDF — have told Israeli media they fear returning to Canada due to the rising likelihood of detentions or legal scrutiny abroad.
#Canada #Israel
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤬10❤8🤮4🤡1
🇨🇦 Investigation Reopens Debate Over Canada’s Lack of Abortion Limits
Canada is the only Western democracy with no legal gestational limit on abortion, and new undercover videos are now forcing a national conversation Ottawa has avoided for decades.
A series of secretly recorded clips — filmed in 2023 across clinics in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver — show staff telling an undercover patient that no medical reason is required for a late-term abortion, including procedures well beyond 24 weeks. In one recording, a Toronto provider allegedly says hospitals “sometimes go up to 32 weeks,” and that “there does not have to be a specific medical concern named.” Another staff member in Vancouver allegedly tells the patient: “There doesn’t have to be a reason… it could just be ‘I don’t want to be pregnant.’”
These revelations directly contradict long-standing political claims — including a 2013 letter by former Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett asserting that no doctor in Canada would terminate a pregnancy past 24 weeks without serious risk to the mother or fetus.
Abortion Care Canada, however, now acknowledges openly that there is no legal boundary and that late-term procedures do not require a medical justification under Canadian law. Canada’s regulatory framework — or lack thereof — leaves limits entirely to individual providers, hospitals, or clinics.
The footage has triggered fresh scrutiny because:
• There is no legislation at all governing gestational age in Canada.
• Canadian hospitals have referred patients for late-third-trimester procedures in the U.S. at public expense.
• Polling consistently shows strong public discomfort: 70% of Canadians say abortions in the final trimester should be generally illegal.
• Clinics acknowledge they may perform or refer for abortions past 24 weeks without requiring medical documentation.
Pro-choice organizations argue the videos are selectively edited and risk “demonizing” providers. But they also concede that Canada’s system relies entirely on clinical discretion — not statutory limits.
Data remains opaque. CIHI no longer publishes gestational-age tables due to low reporting coverage. The most recent numbers (2020) show at least 652 abortions after 21 weeks — though officials admit the real national count is unknown.
The timing has political consequences: Alberta’s governing party votes this month on whether to stop public funding for third-trimester abortions “except to protect the mother’s physical health.” Federal officials, meanwhile, maintain that abortion is solely a health-care matter and that Ottawa will not consider legal limits of any kind.
The core issue is no longer theoretical. The undercover footage, the clinic statements, and the absence of statutory guardrails have collided — reopening a debate Canada has not meaningfully confronted since 1988.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Canada is the only Western democracy with no legal gestational limit on abortion, and new undercover videos are now forcing a national conversation Ottawa has avoided for decades.
A series of secretly recorded clips — filmed in 2023 across clinics in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver — show staff telling an undercover patient that no medical reason is required for a late-term abortion, including procedures well beyond 24 weeks. In one recording, a Toronto provider allegedly says hospitals “sometimes go up to 32 weeks,” and that “there does not have to be a specific medical concern named.” Another staff member in Vancouver allegedly tells the patient: “There doesn’t have to be a reason… it could just be ‘I don’t want to be pregnant.’”
These revelations directly contradict long-standing political claims — including a 2013 letter by former Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett asserting that no doctor in Canada would terminate a pregnancy past 24 weeks without serious risk to the mother or fetus.
Abortion Care Canada, however, now acknowledges openly that there is no legal boundary and that late-term procedures do not require a medical justification under Canadian law. Canada’s regulatory framework — or lack thereof — leaves limits entirely to individual providers, hospitals, or clinics.
The footage has triggered fresh scrutiny because:
• There is no legislation at all governing gestational age in Canada.
• Canadian hospitals have referred patients for late-third-trimester procedures in the U.S. at public expense.
• Polling consistently shows strong public discomfort: 70% of Canadians say abortions in the final trimester should be generally illegal.
• Clinics acknowledge they may perform or refer for abortions past 24 weeks without requiring medical documentation.
Pro-choice organizations argue the videos are selectively edited and risk “demonizing” providers. But they also concede that Canada’s system relies entirely on clinical discretion — not statutory limits.
Data remains opaque. CIHI no longer publishes gestational-age tables due to low reporting coverage. The most recent numbers (2020) show at least 652 abortions after 21 weeks — though officials admit the real national count is unknown.
The timing has political consequences: Alberta’s governing party votes this month on whether to stop public funding for third-trimester abortions “except to protect the mother’s physical health.” Federal officials, meanwhile, maintain that abortion is solely a health-care matter and that Ottawa will not consider legal limits of any kind.
The core issue is no longer theoretical. The undercover footage, the clinic statements, and the absence of statutory guardrails have collided — reopening a debate Canada has not meaningfully confronted since 1988.
#Canada
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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🇨🇦🇺🇸 PM Mark Carney has ‘no burning’ desire ‘to speak with’ Trump — Reuters
Says he’ll resume trade talks with the US ‘when it's appropriate’
‘When America wants to come back and have discussions, we’ll have those discussions’.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Says he’ll resume trade talks with the US ‘when it's appropriate’
‘When America wants to come back and have discussions, we’ll have those discussions’.
#Canada #USA
🍁 Maple Chronicles
🤡10👍7💩4🤔1
🇨🇦 Carney Ends Trudeau’s “Feminist Foreign Policy,” Signals Major Shift in Canada’s Global Posture
Prime Minister Mark Carney formally closed the door on Canada’s so-called “feminist foreign policy” on Sunday, marking a clear break from the Trudeau-era doctrine that dominated Ottawa’s international branding for nearly a decade.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, Carney was pressed on whether Canada still applies a feminist lens when pursuing economic partnerships with countries whose laws restrict women and LGBTQ citizens. His answer was unequivocal: the terminology is gone.
“We have that aspect to our foreign policy, but I wouldn’t describe our foreign policy as feminist foreign policy,” he said, adding that gender equality remains a priority — but not the framework through which Canada engages the world.
Carney pointed to South Africa’s focus on combating gender-based violence and said Canada must also do more. But he drew a firm line on how the issue fits into Canada’s foreign agenda.
“It is an issue of justice… not an economic one,” he said, directly contradicting the Trudeau government’s long-standing argument that gender-focused policy is a driver of economic growth.
The move represents a significant departure from the Trudeau doctrine, which wove feminism into nearly every international file — from foreign aid to trade negotiations. While Trudeau pledged gender parity, launched the MMIWG inquiry, and rolled out the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), Ottawa never actually published a formal “feminist foreign policy” document. Despite that, ministers routinely touted the label as a centrepiece of Canadian identity abroad.
Carney’s comments also undercut remarks made just weeks ago by his own secretary of state for international development, Randeep Sarai, who insisted Canada still applies a feminist lens because it “makes economic sense.”
Former foreign ministers Mélanie Joly and François-Philippe Champagne repeatedly framed the feminist approach as core to Canada’s global reputation, arguing it produced “tangible and measurable results.” Carney’s public shift suggests that era — at least in name and framing — is over.
With the Liberal government now navigating a trade war with Washington, global instability, and declining domestic approval, Carney appears intent on refocusing Canada’s foreign policy around geopolitical and economic priorities rather than ideological branding.
#Canada #Israel
🍁 Maple Chronicles
Prime Minister Mark Carney formally closed the door on Canada’s so-called “feminist foreign policy” on Sunday, marking a clear break from the Trudeau-era doctrine that dominated Ottawa’s international branding for nearly a decade.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, Carney was pressed on whether Canada still applies a feminist lens when pursuing economic partnerships with countries whose laws restrict women and LGBTQ citizens. His answer was unequivocal: the terminology is gone.
“We have that aspect to our foreign policy, but I wouldn’t describe our foreign policy as feminist foreign policy,” he said, adding that gender equality remains a priority — but not the framework through which Canada engages the world.
Carney pointed to South Africa’s focus on combating gender-based violence and said Canada must also do more. But he drew a firm line on how the issue fits into Canada’s foreign agenda.
“It is an issue of justice… not an economic one,” he said, directly contradicting the Trudeau government’s long-standing argument that gender-focused policy is a driver of economic growth.
The move represents a significant departure from the Trudeau doctrine, which wove feminism into nearly every international file — from foreign aid to trade negotiations. While Trudeau pledged gender parity, launched the MMIWG inquiry, and rolled out the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), Ottawa never actually published a formal “feminist foreign policy” document. Despite that, ministers routinely touted the label as a centrepiece of Canadian identity abroad.
Carney’s comments also undercut remarks made just weeks ago by his own secretary of state for international development, Randeep Sarai, who insisted Canada still applies a feminist lens because it “makes economic sense.”
Former foreign ministers Mélanie Joly and François-Philippe Champagne repeatedly framed the feminist approach as core to Canada’s global reputation, arguing it produced “tangible and measurable results.” Carney’s public shift suggests that era — at least in name and framing — is over.
With the Liberal government now navigating a trade war with Washington, global instability, and declining domestic approval, Carney appears intent on refocusing Canada’s foreign policy around geopolitical and economic priorities rather than ideological branding.
#Canada #Israel
🍁 Maple Chronicles
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