Canada

Ogdensburg [NY] Bridge and Port Authority is sounding the alarm after losing an estimated $40,000 - $50,000 in March alone due to declines in bridge traffic. [...] passenger traffic is down 43% compared to 2019 [...]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/10857620

The Great British Brexit Robbery: How our Democracy was hijacked, by Carole Cadwalladr

If you are interested in this text, you might save not only the link, but the PDF as well - apparently there are ongoing efforts to de-publish it completely. (What again was the word we were using for this in USSR times?)

And if you are interested on many more details how "social media" and most smartphone software employs a neverending stream of "brain hacks" to capture our attention by addictive design, amplifying the campaigns of Cambridge Analytica and people behind it like Bannon or Mercer, this is a book you should look into:

"Free Your Mind from Smartphone and Social Media Stress", by Imran Rashid and Søten Kenner, Johm Wiley & Sons, ISBN (print) 978-3-527-51002-3, (epub) 978-3-527-82886-9.

• title sounds like a self-help book but I think it is immensely political.

IN THE WEEKS after the twin towers in New York City fell, the Canadian government made it clear that Muslim citizens were not to be blamed for the carnage meted out on Canada’s southern neighbour. In this regard, it followed the Bush administration, which called Islam a religion of sound teachings.

The government’s actions were meant to allay national anxieties about the enemy within. In the days after 9/11, suspicion of the Muslim had intensified. Fears of divided loyalties and fifth columns emerged, compounded by a legacy of orientalist stereotypes and images of brown-skinned terrorists that became fodder for countless 1980s and ’90s action movies.

But upon closer examination, it would be more accurate to say that the state sought a monopoly over the representation of the nation and the right to defend it. The government resorted to a dual strategy of publicly positioning Muslims as allies to Western civilization while privately sanctioning pervasive state surveillance of Muslim communities. The strategy reflected the government’s aim of keeping the peace at home while avoiding overt violations of the democratic and liberal values upon which Canada’s national identity and civilizational superiority had been constructed during the Cold War.

EVEN BEFORE he took office, United States president Donald Trump was talking about annexing Canada, posting on Truth Social in mid-December, “I think it’s a great idea. 51st state!!!” Trump is funny, but only unintentionally, and as his statements have grown more threatening and frequent, even the most optimistic pundits have stopped dismissing them as jokes. The issue of sovereignty has become a unifying cause for Canadians—and the most urgent existential issue of the election.

For Indigenous nations, these threats have a familiar ring. For generations, they have been told that assimilation is in their best interests—by a nation with its hungry gaze fixed on their abundant natural resources, a capricious ally who has shown it will break treaties and agreements when convenient. There is unique potential in this moment for empathy: Canadians might finally be in a position to truly understand why Indigenous people are unwilling to give up their distinct histories, cultures, and identities, no matter the cost of fighting to preserve them.

The CorruptCare scandal is a direct product of the Alberta Surgical Initiative, which sought to double the share of procedures conducted at the private centres to 30 per cent. Former premier Jason Kenney, who promoted the scheme, later said this was intended, at least in part, to ensure surgeries wouldn’t be done in “union-run hospitals.”

Three months after the initiative was announced in December 2019, a group of anesthesiologists at the University of Alberta established the Alberta Surgical Group, which operates a chartered surgical facility in Edmonton that opened in November 2022.

While AHS typically pays $4,044 per hip, $4,036 per knee and $4,833 per shoulder surgery, Alberta Surgical Group charged $8,303 per hip, $8,510 per knee and $11,243 per shoulder surgery prior to contract renewal negotiations, according to documents obtained by the Globe and Mail.

This trend, a recent Parkland Institute report suggests, isn’t confined to Alberta Surgical Group.

60 pieces of evidence were submitted to B.C. Supreme Court for the murder of a Thomson River science professor.

A report from a Japanese news outlet that Honda is considering moving some of its production out of Canada to the U.S. is not accurate, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and a spokesperson for federal Minister of Industry Anita Anand said.

Previous title was "Honda considering moving some auto production out of Canada"

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2450773

Critical minerals and green energy: two subjects Germany’s ambassador to Canada plans to explore during his first Manitoba visit

[German Ambassador ] Matthias Lüttenberg [...] arrived ahead of 18 colleagues; a group of European ambassadors and high commissioners, part of a European Union delegation, landed in the keystone province Monday.

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The European Union delegation has [...] discussions with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and ministerial roundtables on trade, clean energy and raw materials.

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The brief trip occurs as U.S. President Donald Trump slaps tariffs on countries globally and talk of market diversification intensifies. However, the EU ambassadors’ visit was planned beforehand, Lüttenberg said.

“I think it’s just underlining the importance of that mission that we are doing,” he continued. “We feel that, with all these changes going on … (this trip is) a very strong signal to say that, yes, we hear you when you say, ‘We want to diversify our trade routes.’

“We also would like to diversify.”

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[In 2023], Canadian exports to Germany totalled $7.1 billion. German imports to Canada amounted to $24.9 billion. Agricultural products and car parts are among the items being exchanged between the two countries.

Lüttenberg believes the trade still has “huge potential” to grow.

He listed zinc, lithium and nickel as Manitoba resources Germany could be interested in. The Port of Churchill is something to seriously consider, Lüttenberg added.

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“There’s certainly an opening for other markets,” Lüttenberg said. “Our doors are wide open.”

He’ll be joined in Winnipeg by ambassadors and high commissioners from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

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Can you imagine the PM and leading political party of Canada being as deeply committed to Canadian sovereignty and Canadian identity as the BQ and particularly Jacques Parizeau is to Quebec sovereignty and identity?

Whatever your feelings towards the BQ are, it can not be doubted that they are tremendously effective in advocating for laws and legislation that protect cultural identity and sovereignty.