A brilliant essay in The Globe and Mail. Andrew Coyne has spent decades observing and writing about Canada. He has interacted with politicians of all sorts, but none like the Russian agent in the White House. Coyne sees that democracy in North America is threatened and he presents a powerful warning.
The hallmark of the fourth estate is that it scrutinizes the actions of public officials and political institutions in the interest of the public, and serves as a watchdog that holds the other three estates (the legislation, the executive and the judiciary) accountable for their actions.
Schultz, 1998, page 23
…Every time we think we have taken the measure of Mr. Trump, every time we think we have understood the depths of his depravity, the absoluteness of his nullity, the scale of the threat he represents – to American democracy, to Canada, to the peace of the world – he defeats us. He does or says something far worse than we had ever thought possible, even of him.
We need to learn from this, fast. Because Mr. Trump is metastasizing, mutating, rapidly worsening. He is on a kind of exponential spiral, his behaviour approaching levels of madness and mayhem that had never previously been imagined, let alone seen.
Our expectations of him are forever playing catchup to the reality. Which means we are forever calibrating our responses, not to where Mr. Trump is going, but to where he has been. That way lies disaster.
We need to understand that however awful Mr. Trump’s behaviour may have been until now – however callous, dictatorial, insane or dangerous, and however it may seem to have defined the limits of what is possible in each regard – it is only going to get worse, and at a rate that will itself defy all expectations.
Tariffs and threats to annex Canada are not the only problems facing Canadians. More than a few political activists in this country admire Trump and are drawn to autocracy and neofascism. They choose to undermine reality, truth, democracy, and the rule of law. They aim to impose their views on everyone and silence opposition.
Canada’s Conservative Party continues to run advertising to convince Canadians that nothing is right with our country. “Everything feels broken” say Pierre Poilievre. The American hedge fund that owns Canada’s largest newspaper chain amplifies the claim, and then Conservatives create new advertisements quoting Postmedia as evidence of widespread despair.
Former Member of Parliament Stephen Fuhr provides a more accurate description:
While Canada faces genuine challenges, like any other nation, it continues to be a pillar of the G7, a leader in global innovation and a country with one of the highest standards of living...
The United States offers a stark warning about where the “our country is broken” rhetoric can lead. Over the past decade, growing pessimism in the U.S. has fuelled political extremism, institutional distrust, and the rise of leaders who offer destruction instead of solutions...
Canada is not broken. It is evolving, as great nations always do.
Our future will not be shaped by despair or isolation. It will be built by leaders with the vision to strengthen our institutions and invest in our future.
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Categories: Democracy, Human Rights, USA
in-sights.ca 
It’s good to see that Andrew Coyne sees the light. I find it rather odd though that we as a society are always playing catch up with whatever Trump will do next.
Myself, I see where he is going and unless there is an abrupt stop in the direction we are, where we will end up.
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The only thing really broken in Canada is the Conservative Party. Not to be confused with the progressive Conservatives in the Stanfield and Clark eras, today’s Conservative Party is a collection of American style Maple MAGA’s, evangelical reformists, and again American style anti vaxers and science deniers.
The Conservative Party of Canada is supported mostly by people who have money and crave more money in the firm belief it is their god given right to be rich.
The “Wee P” is on an anti tax gig, selling porkies about taxes.
I do not like the Carbon Tax because both the provincial and federal government use it as a revenue generator period. In Norway, carbon taxes pay for the railways.
Not so in Canada, where new highway construction is going like gang busters and transit is so over engineered that it has become a slush fund for large engineering concerns such as SNC Lavalin.
Axing the tax just means the “Wee P” must find other tax sources and that means the middle class and the poor!
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“It’s the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle –
On ne peut vivre sans amour [We cannot live without love]
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