Summary

Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister on March 14, declaring “We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US,” rejecting Donald Trump’s annexation threats.

Carney won the Liberal leadership with 85.9% of the vote despite having no elected experience.

He called US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s suggestion that Canada would be better as “the 51st state” simply “crazy.”

Carney is expected to call an election soon as he faces the challenge of managing Trump’s trade war that threatens to push Canada into recession.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    21 hours ago

    Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister on March 14, declaring “We will never, in any shape or form, be part of the US,” rejecting Donald Trump’s annexation threats.

    Carney won the Liberal leadership with 85.9% of the vote despite having no elected experience.

    In recent weeks, the Liberals have reversed a political freefall, sharply rebounding to such a degree that a previously expected Conservative majority in the next general election looks increasingly unlikely. The shift in the polls has been so dramatic that pollsters have struggled to find any historical precedent.

    A newly released poll from Abacus Data showed the Conservative support had shrunk to 38%, with 34% going to the incumbent Liberals.

    I don’t know what impact the Trump administration is having on the likelihood of conservatives having political power in the US in the future, but it sure isn’t having a positive effect on conservatives in Canada.

    • Godort@lemm.ee
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      20 hours ago

      It’s because their playbook has been the same populist “get the elite out of politics” nonsense that the GOP have been pushing since 2015.

      Turns out that wanting to be like MAGA really backfired once they wanted to make an enemy out of Canada. We have plenty of fascists up here too, but even they still want to be Canadian.

      • tal@lemmy.today
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        19 hours ago

        since 2015

        Honestly, I’d say that a lot of Trumpism’s stuff is more-or-less in line with the stuff that the John Birch Society has promoted, and that goes waaaaay back. I mean, Trump talking about annexing Canada/Panama/whatever, no — in fact, that’s one of the few cases that I think that they’d take a dead-opposite position on, since they’ve a horror of the North American Union. But there’s a lot of overlap outside that.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society

        The John Birch Society from its start opposed collectivism as a “cancer” and by extension communism and big government.[29][30] JBS publications referred to the fight against Communism as a spiritual war against the devil.[25]: iv, 156–157  Allegations that so-called “Insiders” have conspired to control the United States through communism and world government are a recurring theme of JBS publications.[31] The organization and its founder, Robert W. Welch Jr., promoted Americanism as “the philosophical antithesis of Communism.”[32] It contended that the United States is a republic, not a democracy, and argued that states’ rights should supersede those of the federal government.[33] Welch infused constitutionalist and classical liberal principles, in addition to his conspiracy theories, into the JBS’s ideology and rhetoric.[34] In 1983, Congressman Larry McDonald, then the society’s newly appointed chairman, characterized the JBS as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.[35] The society opposes “one world government”, the United Nations (UN),[36] the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. It argues the U.S. Constitution has been devalued in favor of political and economic globalization. It has cited the existence of the former Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union.[37][38] The JBS has sought immigration reduction.

        The JBS opposed the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.[16][39][40] It has campaigned for state nullification.[41][42] It opposes efforts to call an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution,[43][44] and it has been influential at promoting opposition to it among Republican legislators.[45] The JBS also supports auditing and eventually dismantling the Federal Reserve System.[46][non-primary source needed] The JBS holds that the United States Constitution gives only Congress the ability to coin money, and does not permit it to delegate this power, or to transform the dollar into a fiat currency not backed by gold or silver.[non-primary source needed]

    • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      20 hours ago

      Probably a stupid question but how would conservatives differentiate from the liberals on the question of US annexation?

      I’m so used to seeing conservatives play opposites with liberal positions just to be contrarian, the natural assumption is that if liberals are vehemently opposed to US encroachment then the conservatives will be more receptive… but in this case that seems antithetical to a sovereign government?

      Presumably… their message would be something along the lines of strengthening the relationship with US govt while retaining sovereignty and reducing the impact of tariffs.

      • Godort@lemm.ee
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        20 hours ago

        That’s one issue where they both agree. The conservatives want to be more like the US with lower taxes and fewer regulations, but they still want to be Canadian.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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          2 hours ago

          Then why won’t Pollievre even look at the intel on who in the CPC may be a foreign asset?

          It took weeks for Pollievre to come out as being on Canada’s side in this trade war. It’s only when his chances of winning an election started evaporating he did that.

          Pollievre is only Canadian when there’s no other option for him to get power. That dude has collaborator written all over him. He’s only for Vichy Canada.

      • vividspecter@lemm.ee
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        18 hours ago

        There’s also an election coming up in Australia and the position of the conservative opposition is to give Trump whatever he wants. So contarianism is alive and well there.

    • NotLemming@lemm.ee
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      19 hours ago

      Canadian conservatives can be magas. I know one of them. Absolutely delusional. A dozen excuses for everything trump does and says, up to and including annexing their country FFS.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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        16 hours ago

        There were Ontarians running around with Trump stickers and Fuck Trudeau flags on their trucks. There were dumbasses talking about their first amendment rights as if they were American already. Canada has its share of Trumpist traitors who would be only too glad to submit their country to the emperor’s rule.