This week has been a lot and for the first time in far too long, most of it happened outside of the province. It was kind of a nice break from our gaslighting Premier, even if it did come with some unfortunate escalations.
Au revoir, Nutlick
The first time I heard Howard Lutnick’s name mispronounced like that, it took me at least ten minutes to remember what his actual name was. A Canadian reporter accidentally said it at a Doug Ford presser (but she caught herself immediately) in a clip that of course went viral. Turns out, the guys from the Bulwark took credit saying “Nutlick has arrived in Canada”. Just some background.
Trade negotiations failed at the eleventh hour last week, with Prime Minister Mark Carney recalling the Canadian negotiators back home. In the days since, clarity has followed on some of the items that caused it, with a lot of fingers pointing at Trump sycophant Lutnick. If not for the latter’s truly ignoble attempts Thursday to embed himself in the former’s rectal cavity, I would have thought the president himself sent Lutnick into the room to do exactly that. However, Lutnick’s performance was so debasing, so utterly devoid of any dignity, that I think someone got yelled at— a lot.
And speaking of being yelled at, Premier Doug Ford initially came out swinging and told the President to “kiss my ass” during a radio interview. He toned it down as the day went on.
Prime Minister Carney spoke directly to Canadians on Saturday, and the federal government imposed targeted 50 per cent tariffs on a few hundred imports as of Monday.
Two of the demands that crossed the line appear to have been getting rid of the requirement for labeling in both official languages, and that Canada require approval from the U.S. Administration on trade deals… with other countries.
According to polling, a clear majority of Canadians were behind the decision even before they knew the details, but after… even some of the most ardent Alberta separatists were shaken out of their walking daydreams and into the harsh reality of a very real threat to Canada that would probably extend to a fledgling province that wants to “go its own way” in this political economy.
The thing that bothered me most about this one person’s comment is that I have met them, talked at length with them, and even though I know them as a bit of a rabblerouser, they are not intellectually deficient; but they are unapologetically partisan. This person was shocked that the U.S. Administration would have sought to undermine Canadian sovereignty in this way. It’s scary to think that an otherwise intelligent person hasn’t noticed what’s been happening over the past 18 months. Donald Trump is not partisan problem— he’s legitimately just a problem.
On the positive side, something finally broke through the self-imposed bubble. My hope is that it won’t be the last.
Trump was hugely unimpressed with Premier Ford’s response and decided to sign an Executive Order to relive the glory days of his first few weeks as 47 when he “renamed” the Gulf of Mexico; by demanding everyone now call Lake Ontario “Lake America”.
Hydronyms. Such a brilliant smackdown. If you’re a person who ever had to educated-guess your way through a bio-chem final (cough) by picking out root words, you already know that -nym is name, and hydro is water. If you were a person in the Washington D.C. area, you googled it more than people in any other state. Snicker.
While much fun was had online, it’s a reminder that the blob of cholesterol and poor self esteem in the oval office is unpredictable, unreasonable, and unfriendly. It’s also not likely to change overmuch with a new administration.
Citizens of the U.S. are not happy with the current direction of the administration, it’s true, but being “better than” the morally and intellectually defunct group they have now is by no means indicative of a return to the higher standard that once existed; the bar is legitimately under their feet right now.
The United States didn’t become a superpower over a single term, nor was it the work of a single party, let alone person. The U.S. built its reputation and influence up over many generations. You know what they say about trust— it takes a lifetime to build and only a moment to lose.
Canada had its pivotal election in 2025. It was the election that required a change from the status quo. Some might be quick to say “but the Liberals aren’t a change from the status quo!” If all they can see is the banner, then maybe nothing did change for them. My take on it has always been that if 2025 had been a regular old election requiring nothing but that new banner, Pierre Poilievre would have won in a landslide. The only reason he didn’t is because Trump turned our closest ally and trading partner into a threat that a bare majority of Canadians took seriously at the time. Slowly, a greater majority of Canadians have realized the same.
I don’t know if citizens of the U.S. fully comprehend what it will take to fix what Trump has done. I’m not sure the next person who wants to run for the presidency will either. Pierre Poilievre still doesn’t comprehend why he lost. His team doesn’t comprehend why he lost. Two thirds of his own support doesn’t comprehend why he lost (updated from a mistaken “third”).
I’m just saying; there’s no guarantee that anything will change in the U.S. anytime soon. Not with midterms, not with the next election, and maybe not even in the next generation. The U.S. didn’t build itself up in a single generation the first time. They won’t even be starting at the beginning— they’ll be starting from a place of mistrust. And that’s much harder to overcome than a simple reset.
I feel awful leaving that so dark so here’s a little silver lining: as the person who will probably become known as the absolute worst president in the history of the United States, the Trump name— something he desperately wanted to build a legacy for— will carry little more than shame with it after he’s gone.
We can rename stuff too, you demented fool
I’m also not opposed to “25th A Avenue”, just for the record. The fact that not everyone will get the slight is actually the point. Hopefully, some day, we will no longer think of that pompous turd and it would be unfortunate to rename a street in our amazing country in anger. I wrote to Mr. Tierney and suggested that in addition to some of the amazing options, they consider naming it after the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which can be used to remove a sitting president. Watergate was enough to invoke the 25th to remove Nixon— which now seems incredibly quaint in comparison, but is a reminder that Republicans once cared about their reputation.
The disaster that is the B.C. Conservative Party (with some Poilievre and Alberta thrown into the clown show)
Why is the implosion of the B.C. Conservative party related in any way to Pierre Poilievre, or Alberta? It wouldn’t be if he’d kept his mouth shut and the worst of Alberta conservatism is just trying to get their hands on everything right now. Ready?
The short version is: after almost forming government in 2024, it all started to fall apart. Three caucus members left to form their own “principled” (see: really racist) party, staffers were fired for racist remarks, party leader John Rustad stepped down, the party had a leadership race, and the winner of that, praised by Poilievre for beating the “Liberal lobbyists from out east”, has lost six caucus members in 12 days.
Kerry-Lynne Findlay eked out a win in a very close race against contender Caroline Elliott (who doesn’t appear to be a complete nutbar) for the B.C. Conservative leadership. Ms. Elliott’s campaign team for her leadership bid consisted of some Ontario-area Conservatives, some who were on Mr. Poilievre’s leadership campaign, and in his corner during the 2025 general election, as well as some who have been as critical as I (and those who have been infinitely more savage). At Stampede, Mr. Poilievre made a flippant remark welcoming Ms. Findlay to the (literal) Conservative tent by denigrating fellow conservatives who had helped out on Ms. Elliott’s campaign team, calling them “Liberal lobbyists from out east”.
Fast forward to today and the BCCP is literally being torn apart.
Within the past 12 days, the B.C. Conservative party has lost 6 MLAs. Former (very blue) B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark is encouraging more to find the door. Their month and a half-tenured Caucus Operations lead, Apollo Chung (who was directly tied to out-of-province donations to the Alberta Republicans, and yes, the same party that sold Alberta’s voter data) was allegedly recorded claiming that the purpose of forming government was to basically steal from the Treasury (sounds… eerily familiar) and was fired.
Now, Ms. Clark was a very blue Liberal. The entire BC Liberal party was basically a PC party that Conservatives could hide behind because they couldn’t get elected in the province. In 2024, former BCCP leader John Rustad proved that was no longer the case, after many shenanigans with party names leading up to that election.
The absolute worst people are running for office. And they can win; just ask Premier Danielle “cause a national unity crisis” Smith.
Wakey, wakey.
Final thoughts
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Totally agree. I don't think anything will change no matter who is in power. Americans may consider Democrats left wing but compared to the world's democracies, they are right wing. They need the tariff revenue. They will continue to try to force their world view on other countries- that seems to be entrenched in their culture of exceptionalism.
I have signed an Executive Order designating that MaraLago shall henceforth be known as Asshole Centralia!