Carney can't deal with Trump, his conflicts are massive and he has trouble on his left flank...

Not an easy Friday for Canada's new PM as a whole pile of issues come in at once.

Now that was a busy day.

Woke up early to start writing my column on Trump’s new tariff threat but had to jump on air with John Moore on Toronto’s Newstalk 1010 just before 8am and then with Bill Carroll on Ottawa’s 580 CFRA right after 8. Finished the column, did another radio hit with Phil Johnson on AM 1150 in Kelowna and then could finally grab a coffee and a bite to eat.

This was all before 10am, on a Friday!

From there I recorded an upcoming podcast episode with John Carpay on his book, Corrupted by Fear. It’s all about how the Charter was corrupted during COVID. One more radio interview with Amanda Galbraith around 12:30 and then I recorded a podcast episode with Ginny Roth and Warren Kinsella that will drop Monday.

We talked about Trump’s new tariffs, how Carney is handling it all, Carney’s proposed budget and staffing cuts, the dilemma Poilievre finds himself in, and more. If you haven’t subscribed to Full Comment yet, I’d recommend it, but of course, I also post the episodes here.

Suffice to say, it has not been a phone it in Friday, so just getting to the newsletter now.

So, about those tariffs...

Mark Carney got a letter from Donald Trump; it’s not the kind of letter that he would want. Trump has been writing letters to other world leaders, detailing his complaints about trade and then threatening new tariffs.

It was just after 8pm on Thursday when Trump posted his letter to Carney complaining about Canada’s lack of action on fentanyl, how bad we are on dairy, how we are just bad trading partners generally. He threatened a 35% general tariff on Canadian exports to the United States, said he’d quickly approve companies who want to set up shot int he US and said if we respond with retaliatory tariffs, he would add that amount to what we pay.

The letter and the threats therein are a huge problem, but so too has been Mark Carney’s handling of this file.

He doesn’t know whether to put his elbows up or down. He’s flapping his arms like a chicken trying to, but unable to take off.

All during the election, Carney was full of tough talk, but he isn’t backing it up. As I discussed on the Digital Services Tax, we were full of bravado and folded while getting nothing in return.

Canada is a bit like that guy on the Alberta golf course, caught on video getting beaten up by former NHL enforcer Nick Tarnasky. We’re willing to yell and scream, but we can’t back up our tough talk.

That’s why I say in my column, that we need a new tactic in dealing with Trump. Let's send in a closer, like Dominic LeBlanc, to get a quick and dirty political deal done.

If LeBlanc isn’t the guy, send in someone else, but it has to be a politician who can read a room.

In response to Trump’s post, Carney has now said he’s working towards an August 1 deadline rather than a July 21 deadline for a new trade deal. Get out of the weeds, reach a high-level deal and let Trump focus on other countries.

If Carney isn’t sure how to get that done, he should call Keir Starmer.

I keep thinking of this clip from Glenngarry Glen Ross as I think about our inability to get a deal with the Americans.

Carney’s conflicts are massive…

We heard from the Conservatives during the election campaign that the conflicts of interest that Mark Carney would face would be massive, I didn’t think it would be this big. My Postmedia colleague Christopher Nardi has the details on an ethics screen posted to the Ethics Commissioner’s website on Friday afternoon.

“This screen will prevent me from giving preferential treatment to any of the Companies while I exercise my official powers, duties, and functions as a reporting public office holder,” reads Carney’s declaration.

The screen means that Carney cannot be involved in “any official matters or decision-making processes” that would further either his or the interests of the 103 companies, many of which operate in the renewable energy and real estate sectors.

Among the companies that Carney has to recuse himself from discussions on, Brookfield Asset Management - one of the largest commercial real estate firms in Canada - Stripe, the financial payments company that Carney sat on the board of, plus firms such as Leap Green, Avaada Group and CleanMax.

Slowly she turns...

I love the old I Love Lucy sketch, Slowly I Turn and I’m thinking about that as I watch Canada’s left start turning against Carney.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the biggest union for federal government employees is gearing up to fight Carney on possible job cuts. Sure, people like myself are saying bravo as Carney talks about cutting program spending, red tape and jobs, but PSAC is upset.

Despite the federal civil service growing by at least 38% during the Trudeau years, PSAC is telling National Post that any cuts to jobs will be drastic.

“What it actually means is that you’re looking to cut jobs, which means cutting services — end of story,” DeSousa said. “It will mean longer wait times. It means that we’re not going to be able to deliver on the programs that are a priority to us, and I think everyone is going to be impacted.”

I get it; unions need to stand up for their members, and for jobs, but I’m not buying it. As I reported a few months ago, some of the biggest increases aren’t exactly in vital areas.

The departments and agencies with the biggest growth were Infrastructure Canada up by 375%, Women and Gender Equality Canada 334%, RCMP External Review Committee 229%, Elections Canada 173%, and Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada 158%. I really doubt that the level of service at a place like the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has increased by 158%, though there is no doubt that their workload is up given massive numbers of people coming into the country and declaring asylum including tens of thousands of foreign students.

I never want to see people lose their jobs, but I also don’t want to be paying for jobs that shouldn’t even exist. The federal bureaucracy is in efficient and bloated and that needs to be fixed.

Junk justice strikes again...

Joe Warmington has the outrageous story of Koushal Kasiram, a man already convicted five times of impaired driving, already facing three lifetime bans on driving. He’s facing more charges related to drunk driving after an accident over the weekend that has left a young man fighting for his life.

“Three individuals involved were transported to local hospitals,” Peel Regional Police said Thursday of last weekend’s four-vehicle crash in Brampton.

“A 21-year-old male remains in unstable, critical condition and is anticipated to have long-term life-altering injuries,” police added.

But Kasiram, meanwhile, is out on bail – again!

This is the direct result of Liberal bail policy which directs judges and justices of the peace to release perps as soon as possible under the least onerous conditions. It’s something that premiers have long called for changes on and the Trudeau Liberals made minor concessions on, but not enough.

You can’t say, “But the province’s administer justice, so it’s on them,” when federal legislation dictates how the judges and JPs must act. The Carney Liberals have talked about making further changes, but during the recording of the Full Comment Podcast, that is one issue that Ginny Roth doesn’t think Carney will act on or even really cares about.

By the way, a big supporter of these horrible bail changes is none other than former Trudeau Justice Minister and now Carney’s Principal Secretary.

We shall see, but don’t hold your breath.

What to read...

Now speaking of unions, John Stossel has a great piece for us on a union contract win that cost jobs. I’m a union member, they can serve a purpose, but sometimes, they serve the wrong purpose and in this case they got big pay raises for some that resulted in job losses for others.

Jamie Sarkonak has an interesting piece on how the CRTC is trying to use their funding of smaller TV newsrooms to push for greater diversity. Hire the right people, get more money from the government agency. Doesn’t seem like the type of thing that should be happening, but Trudeau era hangovers continue in this new Carney era.

The always readable Mark McQueen is writing in the Toronto Star – see, don’t say I never point to the Red Star – about how the Conservatives should respond to Carney’s stumbles with Trump. It relates back to what I was writing about with the grumbling about Poilievre at the Stampede. There are openings for Poilievre, but he’s in a tough spot with Carney at the moment stealing some ideas from the Conservatives, voters giving him the benefit of the doubt etc.