And the energy minister, a political newbie and pal of the PM’s, seems to be taking a lead role.
He’s keen on LNG, or liquid natural gas, and he’s keenly interested in an Arctic port, such as Churchill, Manitoba. And this week, Tim Hodgson was pumping both during a big trip to Europe and Germany specifically. He wasn’t shy about proclaiming energy as the centrepiece of the new government’s plans, and that’s where the shots at how Justin Trudeau ran things when he was in charge came through, as Brian Platt of Bloomberg News reported:
🔒 Carney's Energy Chief Rebukes Trudeau Over LNG Policy in Europe
Wab Kinew isn’t stopping with just the Port of Churchill upgrade in pressuring Ottawa for more.
The Manitoba premier is advocating for a different kind of corridor north through Churchill. The National Post’s Catherine Levesque wrote about it:
🔒 After the Port of Churchill, Manitoba premier is eyeing another major project going north
Full disclosure here, I’m a big booster of Churchill, claiming it as one of my hometowns, having started my journalistic career there in the late 1960s. And secondly, I did some work a few years ago in promoting the idea of the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link.
As I mentioned earlier, it looks like Mark Carney is starting to put some shape on his plans for the fall through statements like Hodgson’s and through his own speeches.
The budget is well into the planning stages, and it’s clear there are going to be cuts, though where and how much is still a safely guarded secret. We already have a good sense of where new spending will go—major nation-building projects like Churchill, and costly defence purchases such as submarines, with the Prime Minister narrowing down the options just this week. Murray Brewster of the CBC knows this file as well as anyone:
Canada narrows choices for new submarines to German and South Korean bidders
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Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre is back in Ottawa trying to figure out his game plan now that he has the chance to directly confront the government when Parliament resumes in a few weeks.
So, what should that plan look like? He might want to take some advice from someone who knows the Ottawa ropes, someone like Andrew MacDougall, who used to advise Stephen Harper. Here’s what Andrew wrote in the Toronto Star:
🔒 Opinion: For Poilievre to succeed, he must understand what the job is
The final summer special of Good Talk with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson dealt with some of these issues. It aired yesterday and is available for screening on our YouTube version. You can find it here.
And a reminder that a new season of the daily Bridge podcast starts up again on Monday, Labour Day. The University of Toronto’s Munk School director, Dr Janice Stein, joins me for another of her regular Monday commentaries on the things that make our world so challenging these days. Tuesday marks the latest of our Moore-Butts conversations, which this year will be every second Tuesday. Hope you join us daily on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel 167, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The fight for independence is, at times, a Canadian tradition. Think Quebec. Think Alberta.
But also think of Saskatchewan’s “Peter Chapman First Nation”. This is a classic Canadian story worth reading. Over to the CBC’s Alexandre Silberman:
'It's our right': This Sask. Cree community is fighting to become newest First Nation in Canada
One of the stories I’ve followed for years, in fact for as long as I can remember, is the attempt to recover fine art looted by the Nazis during the Second World War—looted, for the most part, from Jewish homes and Jewish art galleries.
Even now, more than eighty years later, pieces of artwork that can be traced back to that time keep turning up, sometimes in surprising places. Here's the latest example, from the BBC:
Painting looted by Nazis has vanished again, say Argentine police
I’ve been trying to get at least one piece a week on AI into the Buzz.
This week’s piece grabbed my attention, and hopefully it will yours, too. It’s from Elruma Dixon in Policy Options:
The AI literacy gap facing Gen Alpha
People who get upset about the right-wing influence in the US media usually point to Fox News, and for good reason.
Their evening lineup of shows must, at times, even make Donald Trump embarrassed. But be careful with the broad sweep, even on Fox. Check this out from the Washington Post:
Jacqui Heinrich is drawing attention at Fox News
My house-buying days are long over. I hope. But that doesn’t stop me from watching real estate news and real estate ideas.
I saw this one this week in the NY Post, and I think it’s quite something:
More homebuyers are pushing for sleepovers before buying a property: ‘Try it before you buy it’
