CTV put together this first-rate look back at Lloyd’s career:
Former CTV News chief anchor Lloyd Robertson dies at 92
I don't know how your summer has been, but mine has been pretty good. No real complaints. Topped off last weekend by another spectacular five days on the waters off British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. The time was spent fishing and, during the evenings, in conversation with some great friends from across the country. The fishing obeyed all the rules of conservation, and all limits were adhered to; the conversation dealt with opinion and debate on many of the issues facing the country these days.
Now, we were lucky in the sense that the weather, for the most part, was just fine, and the location was far away from the wildfires that are devastating certain areas of BC. Flying out to Vancouver gave us a firsthand account from the air of just how massive some of these fires are, and the smoke that seems to upset a certain orange-faced U.S. leader who looks for ways to tariff whatever he can. To be fair, it also upsets some Washington state residents when the smoke blows their way, understandably so, just as when fires in Washington state, there are some big ones, blow smoke our way. So far though, we’ve kept our cool on retaliatory tariffs.
These pictures were taken from the window of our Air Canada flight on July 23rd.
One of these days, no matter which side of the border we live on, we are going to have to come to grips with what has become a serious annual problem. This isn’t some amateur camper leaving his cooking fire abandoned, or some vandal deliberately lighting up the forest. Sure, some of that happens, but mostly these start in remote areas because of lightning or other climate-related issues. Raking a forest in some faraway region, if you can even get at it, is not only not going to happen, it's also debatable, no matter what a certain world leader thinks, that it would do anything. It's going to take a much bigger discussion by people who actually know what they’re talking about to accomplish something to crack this case.
Okay, onward to the week’s other issues and stories that made an impression on me:
Donald Trump pulled out a new word from his impressive vocabulary this week to describe us Canadians. Now he says we’re “nasty”. Ooooo. Scary.
So how serious is all this as our two countries get back to the nitty gritty of trade negotiations with time running out on the latest deadline? My good friend and colleague Bruce Anderson has his latest Substack offering focused on that subject:
Patient, firm and focused. The (not nasty) Canadian mood as August 19 approaches.
Now to those good cop bad cop boys, Mark Carney and Doug Ford.
They’ve had quite the tag team in the past year, seemingly the best of buds in their continuing fight with Washington. But is the relationship veering off the rails? Kelly McParland of the National Post had this assessment:
Kelly McParland: Strains appear in Ford-Carney bromance
But maybe, at least on the Billy Bishop airport issue, things are not quite what they seem.
The Toronto Star offered up this take:
🔒 Carney doesn’t rule out jets at Billy Bishop airport, a move welcomed by Ford officials
In a little over two months, Albertans will have their chance to vote on the referendum question.
The question on October 19th is, wait for it, whether they want to hold a referendum. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. You’re also not alone if you think there’s been some shenanigans around how this has all unfolded. Check this out from the National Observer’s opinion writer Max Fawcett:
Opinion | Danielle Smith wants Canada to surrender
This referendum stuff must make Donald Trump happy.
The 51st state man probably enjoys picking up his Wall Street Journal and reading stories like this – the chaos in Canada, well at least in Alberta, over the issue of separation.
🔒 A Vote on Leaving Canada Is the Gamble of a Lifetime for Alberta’s Leader
Usually in the Buzz we promote our YouTube podcasts, but seeing as the weeklies are on summer hiatus, that’s not possible. Except this. Last week we did a special Smoke, Mirrors and The Truth with Bruce Anderson. If you missed it, you can watch now right here.
What’s going to happen to Europe?
Nothing seems to be going right for the continent. The most maddening thing for leaders there must be the fact that so many of the things that are going wrong are out of their control. The New York Times’ Michael Shear has this analysis piece:
🔒 Wars, Wildfires and Migrants Leave Europe Straining for Control
Have you been following the discussion about what to do with 24 Sussex Drive?
It’s been going on for years, while for the past decade it’s been sitting empty. One way to formulate your thinking on the issue is to first understand the history of Canada’s home for prime ministers. The Globe and Mail had a good piece on that this week:
