Baffled European

Category: Canada

  • RFK again, oh no

    RFK is a reliable source of lunacy and pseudoscience. Trouble is, it’s all a constant drip-drip-drip of stupidity. Every day, he comes up with something new and it just blurs together. So many small things that add up, it’s difficult to make a big issue out of each individual point.

    Take the development of a new vaccine. Moderna received a government grant last year to develop a new mRNA vaccine against pandemic flu viruses, including possible crossovers from avian flu. Early trials are looking positive and the company wants to continue work.

    RFK has stopped the funding with a set of standard anti-vaxx nonsense. OK. He’s wrong, he’s delusional, we know that. But this is at least consistent. We would expect him to do this, it fits the pattern.

    Now we get to a second story about an outbreak of avian flu in Canada. A flock of 400 ostriches are infected and are due to be culled to prevent the disease from spreading. RFK wants to “save” these birds by bringing them into the USA to “study” and “test” them.

    Let’s get this straight. RFK wants to import avian flu and incubate it. At the same time, he’s going to prevent development of a cure for the disease, should it make the jump to humans.

    Words fail me. He’s so irresponsible, so reckless. Fortunately for everybody, the Canadian authorities are unlikely to play along. They are sensible.

  • Strong and free

    King Charles opened the Canadian parliament on Monday. He did so in his capacity as King of Canada, rather than of the UK, giving his message a very Canadian flavour. He delivered his speech in English and French, speaking of a changing world, alliances with European nations and emphasising Canada’s sovereignty and independence.

    It’s not often that the British monarch goes to this trouble – the last time was 70 years ago. Despite being King, his power is strictly limited. However, he knows these limits and also knows how and when to use his power most effectively.

    Down south, in the Land of the Free, their king has abruptly realised the limits of his power. He has received a new toy from Pete Hegseth: a large golden globe where the United States covers 90% of the northern hemisphere. This is supposed to show the operation of the Golden Dome boondoggle.

    There must be some vestiges of knowledge and expertise in the US government that the regime has not yet eradicated. People who know that the Golden Dome cannot possibly work without Canadian cooperation. And so the Golden One launches into his standard 51st state routine, trying to persuade Canada to voluntarily annex itself for this idiocy.

    No problem. Canada can string this along for ever. It’ll never work anyway. All the USA is doing is frittering away its military, economic and diplomatic power. For nothing.

    “No Canada for you!” says King Charles. Quite right.

  • Make Canada Great Again

    Pierre Poilievre aligned himself with the new fascism of the USA. Despite many of his standpoints being relatively sane and normal for right-wing politics, he leaned enthusiastically into the culture wars and was viewed as a puppet of the president to the south. He even borrowed the slogan.

    In January, the Canadian Conservative party had a lead of 23% over the ruling Liberal party – a combination of them being in power for too long and a very unpopular Prime Minister. Poilievre was expected to capitalise on the coronation of his mentor in the USA and lead his party to government.

    The talk of the 51st state ended this. On the eve of the election, the dictator was making it sound so tempting, talking about the military power of the USA and how there would be zero tariffs. That being the military he is using to threaten the country, and the tariffs he raised himself. The usual insults and myopic greed, basically.

    It’s hard to get past this. Poilievre has lost not only the election, but his own seat in parliament as well. The Conservatives are already descending into civil war, with various lunatics insisting they weren’t insane enough. This party division shows they weren’t fit to rule.

    Congratulations to Mark Carney. A boring technocrat who has tapped into the real popular spirit of the Canadian electorate. It’s going to be a difficult job with the maniacs to the south, but hopefully he will pull through.