Carney's capers in India overshadowed by war in Iran...
And does anyone in the Vancouver area own their home anymore after the Musqueam deal.
If you are looking for coverage of the war in Iran, there has been no shortage of coverage on that front.
There was my front page column in the Toronto Sun on Sunday saying that no one should be mourning the demise of a tyrant.
Of course, I was doing plenty of interviews as well and posting them here including Canada’s former ambassador to Israel Vivian Bercovici, Canada’s former chief of defence staff General Rick Hillier, freelance journalist and National Post contributor Adam Zivo and former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy.
This morning I posted the latest episode of the Full Comment Podcast with all of those voices along with former intelligence Jonathan Panikoff and Ambassador John Bolton. During our chat Friday before the strikes began, Bolton told me what would need to happen for the regime to topple.
So far, that hasn’t happened.
Yes, the Supreme Leader is dead and that’s a good thing, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp appears to still be in charge. We have to hope there is a split there or with the main standing army, which is a separate group, and the people of Iran are able to take back their country from this oppressive regime.
In the meantime, I’m writing in the Toronto Sun today about the possibility that we could see terror attacks or what analysts call asymmetrical attacks here in Canada, in the Untied States or in Europe as a result of these strikes.
Carney’s capers in India…
Prime Minister Mark Carney has been to India, he’s signed agreements that are quite frankly the best we’ve seen since Stephen Harper signed a major agreement with India’s PM Modi back in April 2015.
I’ll have more to say on the details in coming days and you can read some details here, but it’s a step in the right direction. Carney is, as the headline on my Sun column on this the other day said, cleaning up Trudeau’s mess.
For the most part, I don’t think Carney needs to be going around the world signing new trade deals with other countries. Thanks mostly to Stephen Harper, we have deals that cover some 51 countries.
What we need to be doing, and as Pierre Poilievre was saying last week, is working the agreements we already have. Despite going from deals with six countries to 51 over the last two decades, most of our trade still goes to the United States.
The exception that I will make is a deal with India.
In 2015, Harper and Modi set our two countries on the right path for a deeper trade relationship. Justin Trudeau then spent nearly a decade ruining the relationship between Canada and India.
Carney is cleaning that up.
One thing Carney didn’t do while in India was take any questions from the media travelling with him. That’s an unusual situation for a PM on a foreign trip and it’s starting to irritate the journalists on his plane.
This could bite him if he isn’t careful.
Does anyone in Vancouver own their homes anymore…
This story has been bubbling up for several weeks now after the Carney government signed an agreement with the Musqueam Indian Band. Don’t get upset, that is their name, it’s right in the news release on the federal government website.
The part of the news release that is making people take notice states, “Recognizes that Musqueam has Aboriginal rights including title within their traditional territory.”
What exactly does that mean?
Normally having right and title to land means you own it. This news release, which references several agreements signed between the federal government and the Musqueam, essentially covers all of Vancouver.
There is much that isn’t known about these three agreements or the agreement signed to share revenue from the Vancouver Airport with the Musqueam.
Now the Conservatives are speaking up and saying there needs to be transparency.
Here is the news release that they put out earlier today.
Conservatives Demand Transparency
March 2, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa, ON — Jamie Schmale, Conservative Shadow Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, released the following statement calling on the government to immediately release the full text of their recent agreements with the Musqueam Indian Band:
“Last month, the government signed what they called ‘historic’ agreements with Musqueam, recognizing - among other things - their ‘Aboriginal rights including title within their traditional territory’.
“It sounds positive, but the public has reason to be concerned. After last year’s BC Supreme Court decision in Cowichan Tribes v Canada, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on the Attorney General to fight to overturn the ruling, which ‘threatens the property rights of Canadians’.
“To date, the government has failed to defend these cherished liberties in court. Now, Canadians are left guessing how property rights, land use, fisheries and local governance - issues that affect millions of British Columbians - will be impacted by these still-secret agreements.
“That is why today, Conservatives are calling for the immediate release of the full text of the agreements signed with the Musqueam Indian Band, so that Canadians can know what commitments their government has made behind closed doors.
“His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition believes that reconciliation can only proceed through transparency and public trust, not through secret agreements. When property rights are on the table, full transparency is the minimum standard.”
Given what happened with the court ruling in Cowichan Tribes V. Canada decision, there are plenty of people worried about the ownership of their own homes and land.
If the courts and federal government are going to change land ownership and title in the name of reconciliation, I’d say they should be be open and up front with the Canadian people.
Right now, no one knows anything.
"If the courts and federal government are going to change land ownership and title in the name of reconciliation, I’d say they should be be open and up front with the Canadian people."
This is the sleeper national unity issue that nobody is taking about. Everyone is focused on Alberta or Quebec but you can not have a functioning democracy/economy without well defined private property rights.
The BCNDP and federal Liberals are playing with fire and this issue will not end well for BC or Canada as a whole.
“One thing Carney didn’t do while in India was take any questions from the media travelling with him.” When was the last time anyone from the Liberals were asked or responded to an unscripted question from any journalist, or opposition MP? I was home and down with the flu the past few weeks, and made the mistake of tuning into question period from parliament on CPAC. Conservatives and other opposition MPs asked specific questions with facts on the broken immigration system to the minister and other Liberals, and what was the plan to fix the damage. These are all points that affect Canadians in terms of safety, health care, and affordability. Liberal after Liberal rose in the house insulting every person asking questions with a pathetic word salad that never came close to an acceptable response on anything. This cannot continue. Canadians need to start pushing for answers and lobbying their MPs for a non-confidence vote ASAP. Canada cannot go on with an incompetent unaccountable government much longer.