Ian Coutts

@FiveWoke @My_Marig0ld @Sean_Speer We were talking the "flows," almost entirely imaginary, of fentanyl from Canada into the United States. A Trump invention. Yes, many, many drugs and guns flow into Canada from the USA each year, but that was not under discussion.

@ircoutts @My_Marig0ld @Sean_Speer Seriously? Check out all the fentanyl busts in the last year alone by the RCMP with the name "Singh" involved.

Canada’s future isn’t European This week, Prime Minister Carney announced that he’ll soon travel to Europe to attend a major continental summit as its first ever non-European attendee. The trip is occurring against a backdrop of growing discussion about Canada reorienting its trade and security relations towards Europe or even considering some form of formal integration with the European Union. Notwithstanding our ongoing challenges with the Trump administration, the notion that Canada’s future rests with Europe is flawed to say the least. Start with the sociology. Canada isn’t a European country that drifted west. It’s a North American country built, in large part, by people who self-selected out of Europe. They exited rigid class structures, slower growth, and limited opportunity in search of something more dynamic and meritocratic. They were in short North American egalitarians. It’s not a big surprise, then, that over time, Canada has converged far more with the United States than with Europe in its economic structure, labour markets, and entrepreneurial culture. The results are visible in the data: Canada’s per capita income is materially closer to the United States than to the European Union average—and higher than most major European economies. Why would we want to go back? The second problem is economic. Europe’s model of high taxes, heavy regulation, and expansive welfare states has come with trade-offs in growth, investment, and innovation. Over the past two decades, Europe has lagged the U.S. in productivity and technological leadership. There’s a reason the world’s leading technology firms are overwhelmingly American. The same pattern is emerging in artificial intelligence: frontier firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind are setting the pace, while Europe has largely positioned itself as a regulatory player—writing rules for technologies it doesn’t lead. Two things can be true at once. President Trump has been belligerent and counterproductive in his approach to Canada. Canadians are right to be angry. But we cannot let emotion cause us to lose who we are. The answer to a difficult American partner isn’t to abandon the North American economic model that has underpinned Canada’s own prosperity. Put bluntly: Canada’s long-term interests lie in growth, openness, and integration, not in retreating toward a slower-growing, more statist European model that’s already failing to deliver wealth and opportunity for its citizens.

@dpmont0407 @Sean_Speer And anyone thinks he's a one-time phenom should get over that idea. He's an extremist but the change he represents has been decades in the making and won't disappear with him.

@Sean_Speer Too many Canadians lose sight of the future. Donald Trump will be gone at the end of 2028.

@My_Marig0ld @Sean_Speer @FiveWoke There was no "insane flow" of fentanyl. That was just Trump's excuse to circumvent Congress and bring in his first wave of tariffs. He's not to be trusted, and he lies whenever it suits him.

Agree, but with the caveat that Canada has also been a petulant child…uncompromising in its own tariffs and trade protocols, being indifferent to the needs of America to secure its borders and stop the insane flow of fentanyl, and restore some of its industry. In addition, just being smug as hell… booing and over all being a jackass neighbor. Trump is Trump, he won’t be there forever, but we’ve shown the neighbor that has protected and made us economically stable for decades axes that we can’t deal with challenges without running to the arms of some other daddy- like China or the EU. Grow up already. I find it alarming that so many Canadians bought Carneys fear and division propaganda so that he could win the election.

@stephenRB4 I've been corrected by women on technique. And as they seemed to know what they were talking about, I took their advice.

If I lived to be a million trillion years old, I would never walk up to a stranger in a gym and ‘correct’ them on their technique. And, let’s be honest, 99.9% of the time this is men approaching woman they don’t know. Incredibly weird behaviour. Who are these creeps who walk amongst us?

@GaullistTory Well said.

The contrast between the instincts of Mark Carney and the Conservatives is that I expect politicians to omit the truth when it’s inconvenient. Carney doesn’t deny reality he often refuses to name it. The Conservatives at this point are doing something different altogether they’re trying to manufacture reality. It’s insulting and unsustainable.

@noclador This just makes it harder for the United States to deploy its forces.

Europeans bitching about the US withdrawing the 2nd Cavalry Regiment from Germany and not basing a long range fires battalion in Germany... Well, if Europe had started investing in defence in 2014 (AS I KEPT DEMANDING) then this would not be a problem for Europe. Alas... 1/2

@mapleblooded In fact, his approval ratings keep going up. But then consider the alternative!

Mark Carney could have probably gone a full term as a scrappy minority PM. But he chose to fly close too the Sun. He’s only going to become more unpopular as time goes on. Eventually he’ll just run away,

@ChadimirPoutine How many have you experienced?

Canada is the most toxic, soul crushing conformist society I have ever experienced. It’s actually frightening.

@ageofartifacts @thereds8 Ether gets overlooked a lot, too.

@thereds8 Who is our liquid ally? Do we have any gaseous allies? What about Plasma?!? 😤

The United States is our solid ally. Don’t let media confuse you.

@Gentleman_Ways Character

Serious question… What’s the most important aspect of being a gentleman? -Etiquette -Manners -Presence -Character -Discipline -Something else? You can only choose one. What is it?

@egogene No, it's not. If we had a president, whe'd still need to pay of the upkeep of government house, for banquets, security details honour guards, you name it. Tell you what: I am a reasonable guy. Just paste in two or three links that back up your assertion, and I'll look at them.

@ircoutts Oops did I exaggerate? Well there are a lot of moving parts around that relationship with the UK. Expenses we don’t even know about including much of Carney’s party plane travels, royal visits, commonwealth expenses. God knows the final no. But it’s a lot more than you think.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, NOT Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, TIE Buchanan, Lincoln, you see where I'm going with this...

@BuzzPatterson Trump was supposed to visit the American ceremony at Belleau Wood in 2018, but he cancelled because it was raining. The same day, the Queen visited British war graves in the same weather. Perhaps Trump could have learned something.

King Charles showing respects at the grave of the Unknown Soldier. It’s sad that a royal monarch from overseas has more reverence for our military than sitting Democrat politicians. Perhaps Democrats can learn something.

@YoungStreete Surely you must be dimly aware, the negotiations don't start until this month. Why haven't you paid attention?

Mark Carney says it’s his job to get a trade deal with Trump, not the Conservatives. Well, Mr. Carney. It’s been a year. Do your f*cking job.

@atensnut Melania doesn't do anything. Also, if you think Trump hasn't lined his pockets, you're crazy.

Huge UPGRADE! Huge!!

@shouq_al90149 If he is one of their students, then certainly.

Do you think

@SWOConservative @Watchdog_MP Try a local reserve unit then . If you're in southwestern Ontario, there are several: The Windsor Regiment and the Essex and Kent Scottish, 1st Hussars, 4th Battalion RCR, and 31 Combat Engineer Regiment, to name but five. All easy to find.

@ircoutts @Watchdog_MP The reason I didn’t go was at the time they were cutting funding. Now they are increasing spending and increasing failure rates + increased foreigners.

🚨 Canada’s military recruiting crisis. Internal CAF report just leaked: Basic training success rate plunged to 77% (from 85%). Nearly 20% of new recruits are permanent residents, some in Canada just 3 months. One French platoon (83% PRs) had only 48% graduate amid culture clashes & infighting. Standards lowered. Readiness at risk. When will Liberals stop playing games with National Defence? #CAF #RecruitmentFail

@MichelleMaxwell Yes. You're it.

Am I the only one who doesn’t give a crap about the Royals?

@SWOConservative @Watchdog_MP I call BS.

@Watchdog_MP I was going to enlist a while back but I cannot support our military when it is more of an international disaster!

@madderral @Watchdog_MP Pretty sure Epstein ahs squat to do with recruiting.

@Watchdog_MP I guess people don’t want to fight for a country that is no longer ours. I don’t blame any of them. My daughter said a lot of kids in her high school have started talking about these kinds of things. Epstein, immigration, foreign aid, housing, jobs. They know 🙌🏻

@TrueNorthTakes @Watchdog_MP Because that's a shrinking demographic. And If you look at the parts of the Maritimes and Nfld. that historically provided recruits, they are emptying out in terms of population. The people you want literally aren't there.

I'll never understand why the CAF wants to pander to immigrants and women instead of the demographic that historically has made up nearly all of every military in world history. Young men. Make young men proud of the country they inhabit. Give them something worth defending, and they will sign up in droves (compared to what we have now at least).