Opinion
Liberal leadership race guarantees Canadian voters will be guided by a clown show for a while yet

Excuse me if I have to take a break every now and then while I write this to you. I keep getting a taste of last night’s dinner and I can assure you it doesn’t taste as good coming up as it did going down. What’s the matter you ask? Thanks for asking. It’s not like I feel sick or anything. It’s just that every time I think about what is happening in Canada I get this automatic gag reflex.
Have you noticed what’s happening lately? Elections all over the western world are swinging away from the dolts who’ve held power almost everywhere for a decade or longer. I call them dolts because its WAY more polite than what they deserve and I am a polite Canadian.
Now the dolts are managing to hold on by a thread in some countries and by trickery in others, but in the most important country of all they’ve been exposed as the people who still believe their emotional genders matter more than their biological gender, and what does it matter anyway? because they also still believe the world is going to melt from underneath their electric vehicles. In short, the US has left behind climate alarmism and woke progressivism. In fact the US is running away from the rest of us with increasing velocity.
While China (we’ll come back to China because we can’t talk about Canadian politics without mentioning our Chinese benefactors) adds a couple more coal fired power plants a week, the new/old US President has once again thrown the Paris Accords to the historical trash heap. This time he’s promising to leave it so far behind that even the most frightened climate doomsayer will not be able to see it in the rearview mirror. Instead the US will produce as much energy as possible by most any means possible.
Now as the lambs sleeping next to the lions, let’s get a few things straight about that President. Because I’m a polite Canadian, FORMERLY I was never be able to mention him without first saying what an a-hole he is. But now my preamble is this.. nothing. It matters not at all what I or you or the CPP think of the President. All that matters is what the President is doing. What’s he doing? He’s charging ahead at a speed no one has ever seen before. Everyday he makes the US a bit leaner, faster and more resilient. Everyday he rips off the Band-Aids of bureaucracy by the hundreds or by the thousands. While we watch and scorn and deride and forestall the inevitable, he’s showing us the new path that we will inevitably have to follow if we want to live in a first world country called Canada.
But not so fast you say! In Canada we will do things our own way. We will be stronger by imagining we can change the weather by paying more for groceries. When that doesn’t work we will offer to pay more for everything else too. We may even change THE WAY we pay more for everything. We just might bring in Mark Carnival to operate the PMO / WEF / CPP / Ottawa thing where we keep sending more money. It should be easy enough as long as we can convince Mr Carnival to live in Canada long enough to vote here legally. And being a self proclaimed World Progressive Elitist (dolt for short), Mark Carnival will save the world by changing the consumer facing carbon tax into a corporate facing carbon tax. That will surely move the higher prices around and in all the confusion we’ll suddenly cool the world off and live happily ever after. Please don’t ask me to explain how that will work.
You know it’s funny how the people taking the shots for Team Canada keep reminding us that the new/old President is more dangerous than anything else we’ve faced since they invented/discovered global warming /climate change. When we look back from this as Americans in a few years from now, some will wonder if perhaps we could have saved the finest country in the world. Maybe if we wouldn’t have taught our children that early settlers and early educators were racist murderers and instead taught about those who left everything and everyone behind to risk their lives and battle incredible difficulties to build one of the best nations in history. Maybe if we would have focused on building our economy and recognized that affordable energy (hello Chinese coal plants) is the foundational building block of modern society instead of finding ways to move carbon taxes from one sector to another. Maybe, just maybe we could have saved Canada.
One day all us Yanks will look back and remember how our first unelected Prime Minister, Mark Carnival promised to fight climate change and bash the new/old President instead of cutting bureaucratic costs and taxes and deficits and debt. Some will realize that was actually a clown show, a distraction. Maybe we could have saved Canada if we would only have focused on reality. But then again, the clown show did appear like a serious thing, until it wasn’t.
In hockey, you take care of the front of your net first. If you lose focus there you could lose everything. Just ask a certain American Maple Leaf who momentarily took his eye off what was most important to follow something that caught his eye. In the real world when we pay attention to the Carnival and pretend the clown show is what it really important we leave the front of the net to pursue climate change, and genders, and everything that doesn’t really matter. Meanwhile the US waits for the pass alone in front of the net. When we pay attention to the clown show and they score the inevitable go ahead goal, we better hope the game isn’t in overtime.
Excuse me. I need a stiff drink of something. I’ve got a brutal taste in my mouth.
2025 Federal Election
Will Four More Years Of Liberals Prove The West’s Tipping Point?

The 1997 political comedy Wag The Dog featured a ruling president far behind in the polls engaging Hollywood to rescue his failing ratings. By inventing a fake war against Albania and a left-behind “hero”— nicknamed Shoe— the Hollywood producer creates a narrative that sweeps the nation.
The meme of hanging old shoes from the branches of trees and power lines catches on and re-elects the president. In a plot kicker, the vain producer is killed by the president’s handlers when he refuses to stay quiet about his handiwork. The movie’s cynicism over political spin made it a big hit in the Bill Clinton/ Monica Lewinsky days.

In the recent 2024 election the Democrats thought they’d resurrect the WTD formula to spin off senile Joe Biden at the last minute in favour of Kamala Harris. Americans saw through the obvious charade and installed Donald Trump instead.
You’d think that would be enough to dissuade Canadians who pride themselves on their hip, postmodern humour. But you’d be wrong, they don’t get the joke. Wag The Carney is the current political theatre as Liberals bury the reviled Justin Trudeau and pivot to Mark Carney. If you believe the polling it might just be working on a public besotted by ex-pat Mike Myers and “Canada’s Not For Sale”.
As opposed to Wag The Dog, few are laughing about this performative theatre, however. There are still two debates (English/ French) and over three more weeks of campaign where anything— hello Paul Chiang—can happen. But with Laurentian media bribed by the Libs— Carney is threatening those who stray— people are already projecting what another four years of Liberals in office will mean.
As the most prominent outlier to Team Canada’s “we will fight them on the beaches…” Alberta’s premier Danielle Smith is already steering a course for her province that doesn’t include going to war with America on energy. She asked Trump to delay his tariffs until Canadians had a chance to speak on the subject in an election April 28. Naturally the howler monkeys of the Left accused her of treason. She got her wish Wednesday when Canada was spared any new tariffs for the time being.

Clearly, she (and Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe) have no illusions about Carney not using their energy industry as a whipping post for his EU climate schemes. They’ve seen the cynical flip in polls as former Trudeau loyalists hurry back to the same Liberal party they abandoned in 2024. They know Carney can manipulate the Boomer demographic just as he did when he called for draconian financial methods against the peaceful Truckers Convoy in 2022.
Former Reform leader Preston Manning is unequivocal: “’Large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it.’“ So how does the West respond within Confederation to protect itself from a predatory Ottawa elite?
Clearly, the emissions cap— part of Carney’s radical environmental plans— will keep Alberta’s treasure in the ground. With Carney repeating no cancellation of Bill C-69 that precludes building pipelines in the future, the momentum for a referendum in Alberta will only grow. The NDP will howl, but there will be enough push among from the rest of Albertans for a new approach within Canada.
In this vein Smith even wants to approach Quebec. While it seems like odd bedfellows the two provinces most at odds with the status quo have much in common . “This is an area where our two provinces may be able to coordinate an approach,” Smith wrote this week. That could include referendums by the middle of 2026.
Perhaps the best recipe for keeping the increasingly fractious union together is a devolution of power, not unlike that governing the United Kingdom. While Westminster remains the central power since 1997, there are now separate parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that put power closer to the citizen, so that local factors are better recognized in decision making.
With so little uniting the regions of the country any longer, devolution might provide a solution. What form could decentralization take within Canada? A Western Canada Parliament could blunt predatory federal energy policies while countering the imbalances of Canada’s equalization process. Similar parliaments representing Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, Ontario and B.C. would protect their own special interests within Canada. Ottawa could handle Canada’s international obligations to defence, trade and international cooperation.
While the idea is fraught with pitfalls it nonetheless remains preferable to a breakup of the nation, which four more years of Liberals rule under Mark Carney and the same Trudeau characters will likely precipitate. Smith’s outreach case would be the beginning of such a process.
None of this would be necessary were the populations of Eastern Canada and B.C.’s lower mainland remotely serious after snoozing through the Trudeau decade. The OECD shows Canada’s 1.4% GDP barely ahead of Luxembourg and behind the rest of the industrialized world from 2015-2025. As we’ve said before the Boomers sitting on their $1 million-plus homes are re-staging Woodstock on the Canada Pension and OAS. As with Wag The Dog, they’re not getting the joke.

When the Boomers award themselves another four years of taxapalooza and Mike Myers and the other “Canada Not For For Sale” celebs head south to their tax-avoidance schemes how will the Boomers say they’ve left Canada better off for anyone under 60? We’ll hang up and listen to your answer on the TV.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
2025 Federal Election
Highly touted policies the Liberal government didn’t actually implement

From The Audit
State capacity is the measure of a government’s ability to get stuff done that benefits its population. There are many ways to quantify state capacity, including GDP per capita spent on health, education, and infrastructure versus outcomes; the tax-to-GDP ratio; judicial independence; enforcement of contracts; and crime rates.
But a government’s ability to actually implement its own policies has got to rank pretty high here, too. All the best intentions are worthless if, as I wrote in the context of the Liberal’s 2023 national action plan to end gender-based violence, your legislation just won’t work in the real world.
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So I thought I’d take a look at some examples of federal legislation from the past ten years that passed through Parliament but, for one reason or another, failed to do its job. We may agree or disagree with goals driving the various initiatives, but government’s failure to get the work done over and over again speaks to a striking lack of state capacity.
The 2018 Cannabis Act (Bill C-45). C-45 legalized recreational cannabis in Canada, with a larger goal of regulating production, distribution, and consumption while reducing illegal markets and protecting public health. However, research has shown that illegal sales persisted post-legalization due to high legal prices and taxation. Studies have also shown continued use among children despite regulations. And there are troubling indicators about the overall impact on public health.
The 2021 Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act (Bill C-12). The legislation aimed to ensure Canada achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by setting five-year targets and requiring emissions reduction plans. However, critics argue it lacks enforceable mechanisms to guarantee results. A much-delayed progress report highlighted a lack of action and actual emissions reductions lagging far behind projections.
The First Nations Clean Water Act (Bill C-61) was introduced in late 2024 but, as of the recent dissolution of Parliament, not yet passed. This should be seen in the context of the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act (2013), which was repealed in 2021 after failing to deliver promised improvements in water quality due to inadequate funding and enforcement. The new bill aimed to address these shortcomings, but a decade and a half of inaction speaks to a special level of public impotence.
The 2019 Impact Assessment Act (Bill C-69). Passed in 2019, this legislation reformed environmental assessment processes for major projects. Many argue it failed to achieve its dual goals of streamlining approvals while enhancing environmental protection. Industry groups claim it created regulatory uncertainty (to put it mildly), while environmental groups argue it hasn’t adequately protected ecosystems. No one seems happy with this one.
The 2019 Firearms Act (Bill C-71). Parts of this firearms legislation were delayed in implementation, particularly the point-of-sale record keeping requirements for non-restricted firearms. Some provisions weren’t fully implemented until years after passage.
The 2013 First Nations Financial Transparency Act. – This legislation, while technically implemented, was not fully enforced after 2015 when the Liberal government stopped penalizing First Nations that didn’t comply with its financial disclosure requirements.
The 2019 National Housing Strategy Act. From the historical perspective of six years of hindsight, the law has manifestly failed to meaningfully address Canada’s housing affordability crisis. Housing prices and homelessness have continued their rise in major urban centers.
The 2019 Indigenous Languages Act (Bill C-91). Many Indigenous advocates have argued the funding and mechanisms have been insufficient to achieve its goal of revitalizing endangered Indigenous languages.
The 2007 Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA). Designed to protect whistleblowers within the federal public service, the PSDPA has been criticized for its ineffectiveness. During its first three years, the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (OPSIC) astonishingly reported no findings of wrongdoing or reprisal, despite numerous submissions. A 2017 review by the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates recommended significant reforms, but there’s been no visible progress.
There were, of course, many bills from the past ten years that were fully implemented.¹ But the failure rate is high enough that I’d argue it should be taken into account when measuring our state capacity.
Still, as a friend once noted, there’s a silver lining to all this: the one thing more frightening than an inefficient and ineffective government is an efficient and effective government. So there’s that.
The fact that we’re still living through the tail end of a massive bout of inflation provides clear testimony that Bill C-13 (COVID-19 Emergency Response Act) had an impact.
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