Always the middle

Never the side.

Okay, settle in.

There will be books about the fall of the American Empire that will eventually be written, but we are living in the midst of it. The felon Cheetoh Buffoon (fCB) down south is doing things that is sinking the economy of the United States. For a little while at the start of fCB’s administration, we, in Canada, held up hope that we could negotiate to remove irrational tariffs that were laid upon us. In Jan 2026 Canadian prime minister Mark Carney made an historic speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum that indicates that there has been a rupture in the global rules based economic order. He proposed that as a middle power, Canada could partner with other middle powers to become a third global power. In fact, he said it was necessary as the alternative is all of us middle power nations in silos where we would all be poorer.

2026 begins with nations like China, Japan and south Korea gradually selling the US bonds that as a government they had bought in the past as the US bond was the most reliable financial product out there. Now that the US economy has begun to tank, the selling of those bonds will accelerate further economic declines. Of course, with Canada’s economy so intertied with the US economy, where they go, we go, so Carney has been working quickly to get trade deals with numerous other nations. Recent deals include a strategic partnership with China, a more open trade deal with Indonesia, getting on a military industrial deal with the EU and other deals that yet young, will hopefully soon get businesses in partner nations to start to work together with our Canadian businesses, to the benefit of Canada, to decrease our reliance on the US economy.

There are some who are hopeful that once the fCB is no longer POTUS, that things can possibly return to normal, however, many of us feel that the fCB is a symptom of what has happened in the US population, that an equivalent to the MAGA movement will persist long after the Buffoon is turfed or has expired.  Many of the comments that I see on YouTube videos about this show Canadian (and other non-US country people) vowing to not ever travel to the US for tourism, and to cease buying US produced goods or services. This is yet another by product of the fCB doing what he has been doing. These video commentors will often state that irrespective of what happens next in the US politically, their personal boycott of everything US will continue in perpetuity.

Perhaps the other side

In another topic, homelessness is on the rise in Canada, and perhaps in the global western world. The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) is proposing to have the government to ‘get out of the way’ to allow the market to help solve this problem. I think this is particularly idiotic as the market won’t build social or affordable housing without government support. The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) is going to release a new Housing Initiative in the coming months with a goal of getting into the provision of social housing and affordable housing in concert with provinces and municipalities. This is good, but is slow, especially if municipal level NIMBY forces cause a ruckus.

The root cause of this homelessness crisis, as far as I am concerned, is out of control capitalism. There is too much wealth being accumulated at the very top of society, with companies well beneath that high level scooping up apartment buildings as part of real estate investment trusts (REITs) that try to extract as much value out of the properties as possible. They buy the building and raise the rents at the earliest legal opportunity by 20% to 30% which ends up pushing people out of the building with no where else that is affordable.

Additionally, our food grocery environment in Canada is an oligopoly and so the prices that the grocers are setting have also increased over the last few years. So if a person’s rent and food represent 85% of their income, and both go up by 20-30%, their rent and food could end up to be 105% of their income, or more. Being compelled to spend more than you earn never ends well.

There is a group called Patriotic Millionaires Canada that want to push forward the idea of taxing the wealthy more, for the common good of Canada. CPC supporters would be against this as any increase in taxes is anathema. I am in full support of this idea, however, as those who are at the very top ought to be compelled to pay more into the government coffers. Their involvement in capitalism has gained them a fortune at the cost of putting 100s of thousands of Canadians into the street.

The top, not the bottom

So here are my thoughts about what to do. Definitely increase the trade with other nations, develop a CANZUK free trade network since these four countries are so clearly aligned in many ways. Accelerate the development of the port of Churchill, the St. John port in NB, the container port in Contreceour QC. Improve the Trans Mountain pipeline but do not build a new pipeline to the Pacific Northwest. Expand the LNG terminal that is already being expanded on the west coast. Accelerate BitCrude to get raw bitumen out to Asia for road building and to keep our bitumen mine workers working.

Work with the CANZUK to have a tax-the-wealthy plan that we apply across all four nations. With the funds that our government raises from these wealthy capitalists, pay to improve things like healthcare, education, public transport and social housing.

With respect to social housing, have the provinces work with the municipalities to situate the locations of the social and affordable housing units and put into law that given the urgency of the issue, that local public consultation is limited and not binding. Have the federal government pay for all of the infrastructural expenses and the foundations of these new buildings. Have the province and the municipality pay for the remainder. Still collect rents from the tenants, but tied to 30% of income.

In the building of these buildings, use advanced lumber products to both embed carbon, and, to support Canadian businesses that produce the advanced lumber so as to support our lumber industry.

With respect to food prices, fortunately there is already a plan to invest in, to increase, food production in Canada, specifically with efficiencies for existing farmers, and also, expansion of greenhouses. The latter are most important given our limited growing season. We should also expand our food processing ability, so as to have our own products be produced in large volumes so as to lower their prices. And finally, change regulations, specifically one that allows a grocery store to limit how close another grocery store can be, such that new competitors can enter the market, especially small ones that carry 80% of food necessities but not dozens of versions of similar products for each type of product. These small grocery stores can be directed to be built first in the most food desert places in Canada, but eventually, to be all over.

I have more thoughts about all of this, but this is sufficient for this post.