A one year anniversary and a whole lot of gratitude...

This newsletter started one year ago today. Thank you for your support.

It was May 26, 2025 that I relaunched my website on this Substack platform. I was writing about Mark Carney finally reconvening Parliament after the House of Commons hadn’t sat for five months during what was being described as an existential crisis for the country.

Back then I was writing about how Carney needed to start delivering after making lots of promises. I’m still writing about that today, because Carney continues to make lots of promises but isn’t delivering in any meaningful ways.

I’ve been online since the mid-90s and I learned to code to build my first website from scratch in 1998. Over those 30 years online, I’ve been on plenty of platforms but none as powerful as Substack.

I’ve had this website, brianlilley.com since 2008 and used different software offerings to power it. When I decided it was time for a refresh in late 2024, I looked at a lot of different options and chose this one.

Most of you don’t care what platform I use, but I’ll explain why this matters.

Google Zero is approaching…

For the past few decades, most publishers, including my main gig at the Toronto Sun, have relied on Google to deliver traffic. People would search for a topic or go to Google News and a link to our stories would pop up.

Soon, that won’t be happening.

With the advent of AI, those who are using Google see the AI summary first and just like most didn’t click past the first few links in Google search, most don’t go past the AI summary. Others aren’t using Google anymore, they use ChatGPT, Claude or Grok to ask about issues and don’t follow the links.

Everything is changing.

This is why I ask people to subscribe.

My work at the Toronto Sun will continue. My writings here will continue.

Soon though, if you aren’t subscribed, you are unlikely to find this work unless you seek it out.

Between that and the social media platforms constantly changing their algorithms, things are pretty bleak for publishers.

Here, using Substack, I can reach you directly via email and keep in contact with you.

What started out as a small list a year ago has grown exponentially. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support.

Speaking of Carney speaking but not delivering…

The impact of Mark Carney’s Davos speech are still being felt.

Those who like it, like it a lot. Those who don’t like it, well that’s where we will feel the impact.

A friend who is smart on trade and cross border issues sent me this piece by Michael Beckley in Foreign Affairs magazine. Beckley is political science prof and think tank type guy south of the border and wasn’t impressed by Carney’s speech or the thesis of the speech.

Titled, “The Middle Power Delusion: Not Choosing Is Not an Option,” Beckley uses his words to show that Carney’s call for middle powers to unite against “hegemons” won’t work. It’s a long piece but it really grabbed me as early as the third paragraph.

But this reading mistakes anxiety for strength. Middle powers are not becoming more visible because they are more powerful. They are becoming more visible because they are more exposed. The conditions that allowed many of them to flourish in recent decades are eroding. For years, they could shelter under U.S. hegemony, exploit an expanding global economy, and trade with rival powers without choosing among them. They could reap the benefits of scale without possessing it themselves.

As I said, it’s a long piece, but worth your time. Carney’s call for a middle power counter balance is a delusion.

Carney Liberals insult those who want answers to fake refugee questions…

On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Budget Officer released another report on the Interim Federal Health Program.

I wrote about it for the Toronto Sun and you can read the column here.

This is the second report on this program this year. The report in February showed a program that had gone from costing $60 million to $1 billion in a decade due to abuse and mismanagement.

This latest report details more abuse including that 79% of the people who were receiving care through this program had come to Canada on another form of visa - think student or work visa - and then claimed asylum. More than that 74,000 people who were denied their asylum claim were still receiving health care that is better than what Canadians get from their provincial health plans.

The response to questions on this in the House of Commons from Carney’s House Leader Steve MacKinnon…ask why the Conservatives are so heartless.

“Why are conservatives against providing health care to some of the most vulnerable people on this earth?” MacKinnon asked.

It’s disgusting.

I detail more of the abuse in the column. Give it a read.

Doug Ford takes a stand for legal, licenced gun owners…

I know Ford takes a lot of flak for not being conservative enough. Sometimes, I’m the person giving him flak for his latest stance.

Not this time, Ford has come out to support the court challenge to Carney’s gun grab by the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights.

I’ve been chatting with Tracey Wilson from the CCFR about gun issues for a long time now and called her up to discuss this latest development.

Chatting with an up and coming journalist…

A few years ago I was asked to mentor a young man named Elie Cantin-Nantel. I’ll admit, I didn’t do a very good job, but he clearly has talent.

Elie has worked with Juno News and others in his still young career and is trying to make his way as an independent journalist.

He asked me to join him on his YouTube channel for a chat about news of the day.

I hope you enjoy, and give him a follow.