The Buzz March 30th 2024: Global elections, the carbon tax, separatism, and more.
Welcome to the Easter weekend edition of The Buzz.
Hope you have a chance to relax and spend time with family and friends. But first, read this!
Half the world will experience one of the great things about democracy this year… free and fair elections. Interestingly, the pollsters say that incumbents, from all parties, will face a tough time.
The numbers show most of them losing.
Why? What’s going on that suggests most are facing the end of the line?
There are a lot of issues facing Justin Trudeau in the re-election bid he seems to want, and one of the most obvious is the so-called “carbon tax”.
It has the political landscape in flames. I mean, look at these facts:
Hundreds of economists say Canada needs carbon pricing and it’s working.
Pierre Poilievre says they don’t know what they’re talking about and should be ignored.
Justin Trudeau says Poilievre, and his premier buddies, are lying.
Who to believe? Every week there are arguments and counterarguments put forward. We’ve highlighted some of them on both sides in weeks past. Here’s one for this week found in the Globe and Mail:
The future economy will suffer if Canada axes the carbon tax 🔒
In this week’s Good Talk with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson, I ask why Trudeau doesn’t call a face-to-face, on-camera, public first minister’s conference to argue this out. Why not? The public has a right to see these arguments played out in front of them, and if they are all so sure of their positions, why don’t they show us? You have to go back more than thirty years to see something like this and why should we be deprived of it? Anyway, I’m rambling – catch Good Talk on our YouTube edition which you can find at nationalnewswatch.com.
It was a special edition taped in front of a live audience at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, organized by Carleton University’s Masters of Political Management Program.
How many times have you heard the phrase “separatism is dead”?
Every few years it pops up in conversation about the political dialogue in Quebec. And then, of course, you know what happens – it’s back again as a live issue. Are we about to see that same movie again? Some are warning, the signals are there that it could very well happen. Andrew Caddell has this scenario in the Hill Times:
Are we sleepwalking to another national unity crisis? 🔒
Deniers won’t like it, while believers will find it shocking and worrying. Count me in the latter group.
Warmer weather and reduced rainfall have more and more cities around the world worrying about water supply, and for some, it's beyond worry. They're now dealing with a crisis.
Like Mexico City, where Patrick McDonnell of the Los Angeles Times reported this week on the dilemma in a city of 22 million people:
This mega-city is running out of water. What will 22 million people do when the taps run dry?
It’s a relationship that has had people wondering ever since he first ran for President in 2016. This week they wondered again when he announced he was going to start selling Bibles. Seriously. Read this in Axios:
Trump's Bibles and the evolution of his messianic message
To ensure I had proper communications technology when we began using our Scottish retirement location a few years ago, I reached out for a satellite connection.
I needed it for my daily podcast and for a research tool for the books I write. Because our location was a bit remote, I didn’t want to take any chances. Friends suggested I check out Starlink, which is part of the Elon Musk empire. So, I did, and it worked great. But it soon became clear that 1) I didn’t need it as regular connectivity became available and 2) Starlink is expensive. So, I punted Starlink and sold the equipment on the second-hand market.
Why am I telling you this? Seems some of those second-hand Starlinks are falling into the wrong hands. Bloomberg has a team of reporters working on this:
Elon Musk’s Starlink Terminals Are Falling Into the Wrong Hands
