The Buzz April 4th 2026: Go For Launch

The Buzz April 4th 2026: Go For Launch

Welcome to the holiday weekend and welcome to The Buzz.

I’m old enough to remember May 5th, 1961. It was one of those early weekday mornings in the sixties when I would get up, turn on our living room black-and-white television, wait endless moments for it to warm up and settle down, and then watch Walter Cronkite.

The most trusted man in America was there, telling us whether a manned spacecraft would launch from U.S. soil that morning. That had never happened before. So often the launches were delayed. T-minus-whatever would hit, and because of mechanical reasons or weather or whatever, the launch would be scrubbed.

But not that day in May, when history was made. The first American in space, and his name was Alan Shepherd. He was my hero. For 15 minutes and 28 seconds, the world held its breath. Freedom 7, his spaceship, went up and then quickly back down. They’d done it. Shepherd, with the “right stuff”, just two weeks after Yuri Gagarin did the same for the Soviets, allowed us to believe we could reach for the stars. Following came a series of fellow astronauts, and the horizons kept expanding. Fourteen years after his first flight, Shepherd got one more, landing on the moon with Apollo 14, swinging a golf club and hitting his iron so far the ball is probably still travelling.

That was the seventies. By the eighties and nineties, I was at that same launch spot, the Cape Kennedy Space Centre, reporting on a variety of Shuttle launches, including those of our own heroes, Marc Garneau and Roberta Bondar.

**With Marc Garneau in January 1992, watching Roberta Bondar lift off into space.**

I remembered those early morning adventures this week as I watched our latest entry into the astronaut books, London, Ontario’s own Jeremy Hansen, heading off on his grand adventure. A journey towards the moon and back in what is hoped will be an exercise to ready NASA for another moon landing in a few years – its first in more than half a century. This week’s launch, even with a few very minor technical delays, went off without a hitch. It looked, as all launches often do, spectacular. It was also emotional; having witnessed accidents before, one can’t help but feel for the astronauts and their families in those countdown seconds before the giant engines fire them into space and then hold your breath for the first few moments after launch, waiting for the clear signal that all is well and the journey has begun.

There are going to be anxious moments ahead, but exciting ones too. And then what? Once the exploration is all over, what’s the plan? There are lots of theories. This piece in this week’s Guardian explores one of them:

Lunar prospectors: the businesses looking to mine the moon

A couple of hours after the launch, Donald Trump spoke to his nation and, by extension, to the world.

A lot of people around the globe were anxiously awaiting what he was going to say, but as so often happens with Trump, he didn’t meet the moment. It was disjointed, at times seemingly unhinged, where one thought was often followed by another that contradicted the first.

Time’s senior correspondent Philip Elliott put it this way:

Unbothered by Reality, Trump Gives Disjointed Update on Iran War

As most of us know, Maureen Dowd has a way with words, especially when it comes to Trump.

The New York Times columnist was at it again this week:

🔒 Trump Does Anything He Wants — and More

Meanwhile, the world’s economy is going to hell in a handbasket, and no one seems to realize this more than Britain’s prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, but, and it’s a big but, what’s he doing about it?

Check this out from the BBC:

Starmer holds off from emergency measures but warns storm is coming

One of Canada’s strategies to try to shore up the economy is to shore up trade, especially with China.

More on that this week from one of the country’s top ministers. CBC News’ Lisa Xing wrote about that this week:

Canada's finance minister aims to shore up support, investment in China

While Lisa was doing that piece, the CBC’s Chris Brown was also in China, and he used the time to get great access into China’s EV industry.

He wanted to see what impact it could have in Canada. This is about eight minutes long, but it’s very good:

China’s EV success formula — and Canada’s dilemma

Given the Good Friday holiday, Good Talk got the week off, but on Tuesday, there was a really well-received Moore-Butts conversation on immigration—how did it become such a dirty word? And then, a segment on polling.

You can connect to the YouTube link right here.

The Conservatives like to say the Liberals keep stealing their ideas.

Well, it's a fair comment because Liberals do grab ideas from other parties and then take the credit. That’s nothing new. But they don’t take them all, although this might be one a lot of Canadians would say, “okay, do it”:

Conservatives call for lower gas tax and cuts to 'wasteful spending' to pay for it

A tax cut would be nice, but how about a tax hike?

Like with the GST? You can thank the CD Howe Institute for that idea. CTV News’ new Ottawa Bureau Chief, Graham Richardson (congrats Graham!) wrote about that this week:

Canadians could face tax hikes as Ottawa scrambles to fund defence target: report

Do you like stories about “lists”?

You know, the top ten this or that? Or when you’re really lucky, a top 100! If so, feel lucky, because here’s a top 100 about Canadians:

🔒 The Hill Times’ 100 Most Influential People in Politics and Government in 2026

So have a great holiday weekend, and if you’re so inclined, enjoy the chocolate. But be careful, don’t eat too much!

The Buzz will be back in seven days.

The Buzz is a weekly publication from National Newswatch that shares insights and commentary on the week’s developments in politics, news and current affairs.