Liberal budget overtaken by interest obligation The sad case of Canada’s finances continues.  The Trudeau Liberals need to borrow $8.9 billion more than already budgeted by March 31, with the biggest need of $3.2 billion extra over previous estimates, to pay rising interest on the federal debt. The government had previously denied parliamentarians these numbers, but they now show in Treasury Board President Anita Anand's Supplementary Estimates.  Apart from the finance charges — the single largest item — the extra money goes to indigenous health care and some military expens ..read more

  Canada is a big NATO 'fail' Julianne Smith, US Ambassador to NATO, calls out Canada's Trudeau government for not only not reaching its NATO spending commitment, but not even having a plan to do so. Canada is the only NATO member without a timeline to reach the alliance's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense.  This, according to the US ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Julianne Smith calls out Trudeau and says Canada needs to step up and get serious about reaching the spending goal that we promised, of 2% of GDP for general military spending, to ensur ..read more

Somebody needs to resign Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc got the prime Ministerial hug when he was sworn in as House Leader.  That Minister or Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister, must accept responsibility for the ArriveCAN debacle and resign their position. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it was obvious that contracting rules were not followed for the ArriveCan online application.  His well-rehearsed lines about the scandal tried to explain and rationalize that in the early days of the government’s COVID-19 panic, everything was in question. It's easy for him to say that n ..read more

  Outlook 2024: The Culture Wars Will Go On What does 2024 hold for Canadians?  There is the economy.  For most of us, that means, "Do I have a job?" and "Does it pay enough?".  Seniors on fixed incomes struggle with rising costs. There is tax.  We pay a lot of it.  We despair as we know our government does not wisely and fairly manage our tax dollars.  There will be no tax cuts in 2024. Young people at the stage of leaving home don't imagine owning a home or having a family, as did their parents' generation, because we have entered the new economy of 2024 ..read more

  At Christmas, a Christian spiritual viewpoint about war Christmas is a season that may not have much joy or optimism for some.  There seems to be war everywhere.  But our angst and internal turmoil over present wars is a spiritual issue.  Let us consider the big picture. God created the universe and then gradually began creating Earth as a special place for his ultimate creation, the human race.  Humanity was made to have some God-like qualities in His image, of free choice and morality, created right in front of God’s adversary. The fallen Lucifer has always been ..read more

In the Middle East - A time for moral clarity Gaza-Israel.  That tip of land called Gaza south of Israel has been controlled by many peoples.  In ancient times it was an Egyptian base, then a royal city for the Philistines, and also the place where the Bible story of Samson, betrayed by Delilah, met his death. It was part of the Ottoman Empire for most of the period from the 16th Century up to the end of World War 1, when Britain took temporary control over Gaza and other territories of the region. The coastal region is named for its historical centre: The word Gaza comes from the ..read more

Diversity, equity, inclusion and the sleep of reason Our social community in Canada is deeply divided.  One can’t understand how intelligent, educated people swallow the NDP-Liberal political narratives, especially over the long term.  Sensible people know, given what they see around them, that those on the 'other side' are very wrong about the economy, environmental policy, community safety and social behaviour. Many Canadians rightly complain about our federal government.  But, then they actually do little about it.  They may even let the horribilia roll right over them ..read more

Why is Danielle Smith even talking about net-zero? We hear politicians blithely repeat the “Net Zero in 2050” mantra. Groupthink is upon us. If one dares to question, one is labelled a climate denier or even worse shaming epithets. We need a national leader who will trumpet on the international stage what millions of average taxpayers want to hear  — some climate change truth. This emperor has no clothes. Science does not say killing our economy and hurting the prospects of our next generation will alter climate trends. Much of the discussion over climate policy is based on information ..read more

Ron DeSantis joins 2024 presidential race (May 2023) Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis filed the official paperwork declaring his candidacy, setting up the daunting long road to overcoming the present polling lead of GOP supporters of Donald Trump. In the Western Standard, I previously reviewed the DeSantis book “The Courage to be Free”. The pugnacious governor of Florida who has championed conservative causes has been successful against a sometimes-hostile media and the political left. He officially entered the presidential race to give Donald Trump the most formidable Republican riv ..read more

David Johnson's surprising blunder Special Rapporteur David Johnson did not recommend a proper inquiry into illegal and unethical election interference. Despite Parliament expressing its will to have one, and every-party leader calling for such a review, the prime minister ducked behind the political cover provided by his special rapporteur. It is sad to see a prominent and gifted Canadian fall from grace. Former Governor General Johnson did his job with a fog of distracting issues to protect the Liberal Party. He did not recommend an inquiry, but rather imposed himself into the middle of th ..read more