Meanwhile, in Canada...

[robkelk]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants to attract tourism to Niagara Falls

Because apparently Niagara Falls isn't getting enough tourists.

[robkelk]

Supreme Court rules lawyers can breach solicitor-client privilege to defend themselves

Writing for the majority, Justice Mahmud Jamal said that while solicitor-client privilege is a cornerstone of the justice system, lawyers are not "prodigal sons or daughters" of the law, and do not have to sacrifice their own freedom to protect a client's secrets.

[Labster]

Trump Says China Will ‘Eliminate The Stanley Cup’ In Rant Against Canada

I was wondering how the Stanley Cup got lost in Undocumented Features.  Life imitates art, poorly.

[robkelk]

PM Carney taps former head of public service to spearhead CUSMA negotiations

We're ready to deal, having appointed somebody who ran the entire civil service under both Conservative and Liberal governments to lead the negotiations.

Is the USA ready to deal?

[Labster]

PM Carney taps former head of public service to spearhead CUSMA negotiations

We're ready to deal, having appointed somebody who ran the entire civil service under both Conservative and Liberal governments to lead the negotiations.

Is the USA ready to deal?

The USA may not be ready to deal.  It looks like Trump has interpreted the Supreme Court ruling to mean he can only impose tariffs on the entire world at once.

Or maybe if Canada doesn't come to the table, the U.S. will be forced to increase tariffs on China and the EU to 80%!  How long do you think you can stand the pressure from all of your other trading partners to give in to the U.S.?  It's our new negotiating tactic: for every deal you refuse, we shoot ourselves in one additional body part.  How long can you live with that, eh hosers?

[robkelk]

How long can you live with that, eh hosers?

Just watch us.

[classicdrogn]

The Trump administration has clearly and repeatedly shown that you cannot make a deal with them, because they will abandon it as soon as it appeals to the wild hair across his royall hineyness today, and/or it looks like they can spin talking points to get away with it.

[robkelk]

Ottawa puts $200M into space launch pad in Nova Scotia

Announced by the Minister of Defence, so the Sovereign Space Launch program is part of our increased military spending.

He added that Ottawa does not want to be entirely dependent on third parties to launch rockets into space, but he did not name any specifically.

McGuinty also announced Canada plans to become a full member of the NATO Starlift initiative, a project to create a space-launch network to allow allies to send payloads into space on short notice.

The Halifax-based company Maritime Launch Services, which is building Spaceport Nova Scotia, will set up the site near Canso, N.S.

We could use a bit more infrastructure in Nova Scotia, though. while we could put launchers and satellites on barges and ship them from Halifax (the closest seaport with rail access) to Canso, it would probably be faster to put them on trains... which means they're going to have to replace some track that was pulled up a couple of decades ago. But that's an issue for when Spaceport Nova Scotia (yes, that's what Maritime Launch Services has named it) is closer to completion.

[robkelk]

Canada falls off the top twenty list of countries on the World Happiness Report.

This has never happened before.

Worse, we're trailing the USA. I don't remember that happening before, either.

Finland's at number 1. (This has happened before; it's their ninth year in a row at the top of the list, IIRC.)

[robkelk]

Avi Lewis wins NDP leadership race in decisive first-ballot victory

To which I thought, "The New Democratic Party had a leadership election this weekend?"

Anyway. The NDP is our left-wing party, and by left-wing I mean "Bernie Saunders would be comfortable there". Avi Lewis is the grandson of David Lewis, who lead the party in the 1970s. Now to find out whether he can make the party relevant again.

[robkelk]

How the Middle East war is already impacting mortgage rates in Canada

tl;dr: Roughly a quarter of Canadian mortgage-payers have to renew their mortgages this year. (Ever since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, banks have not been allowed to offer anything longer than a five-year mortgage in Canada.) The market's instability because of mixed signals about the current war has driven up lending rates.