Bell: Doug Ford warns Carney — Ontario premier can be an 800-pound gorilla
Bury the last 10 years of the Liberals under Trudeau. Canada has to stop sabotaging its own economy. That's the chorus.
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'It's time to end excuses. It's time to start building and we need to start building now,' says Ford.
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'I almost jumped over the table and hugged the guy,' says Ford, who says what is on his mind in a political world where thin gruel is often the special of the day.
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Ford, like Premier Smith, gets pumped up talking about getting Canadian goods to the rest of the world.
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Both premiers loathe laws and regulations standing in the way of getting the economy firing on all cylinders, including the oil and gas business.
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When Ford mentions the tanker ban off the B.C. coast he says it's the craziest thing he's heard.
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And do not get him started on Ottawa pushing new electric vehicles on Canadians over the next 10 years.
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Ford talks about 'great Alberta oil' and critical minerals from Ontario.
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The Ontario premier says Ottawa 'has to start showing respect to the good folks in the West, especially Saskatchewan and Alberta.'
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Every part of Canada must be respected.
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'We have the governor of Michigan constantly threatening to close down the pipeline. Do you know what a disaster that would create in Ontario?'
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He says prices would go through the roof, Toronto Pearson Airport would shut down.
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'I'm tired of relying on the United States. The days of relying on the United States, 100 per cent, they're done, they're gone.'
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Alberta's Premier Smith says politicians, such as Carney, visiting during the Calgary Stampede are hearing the facts without any sugar coating.
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The oilpatch is frustrated and though we hear it is very likely a pipeline will be on the list of projects getting fast-tracked for approval we are not there yet.
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'There will be a moment where the rubber meets the road. You can only talk the talk for so long,' says Smith.
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Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
Opinion: Ireland provides a blueprint to boost Canadian productivity
In June, a delegation of 27 Canadian business, labour and post-secondary leaders travelled to Ireland to study how the nation secured its position as the European Union's leader in workforce development and skills training. Ireland's success in establishing co-ordinated, industry-driven training programs has delivered substantial economic benefits for workers and the broader economy. With 5.5 million residents — similar to B.C.'s population — this dynamic country provides important insights for Canada as Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to establish Canada as the G7's fastest-growing economy. Ireland's extraordinary productivity achievements — ranking first in the OECD while Canada is 18th — stand in sharp contrast to our stagnant and marginally declining wealth creation per worker. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Ireland has emerged as a global productivity leader, securing substantial foreign investment and maintaining full employment. The nation has successfully diversified its economy, establishing itself as a major exporter of technology services while building a sophisticated biopharmaceutical industry. Currently, it is applying these strategies to construction, addressing housing affordability challenges similar to Canada's. These accomplishments result from deliberate strategic investments in worker up-skilling and re-skilling, led by organizations such as Skillnet Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. Canada has long lamented its relatively poor labour productivity performance among developed nations, at US$71.90 PPP (purchasing power parity) compared to Ireland's US$162.50 PPP in 2022). We cannot continue accepting this underperformance. Our productivity challenges stem largely from Canada's long-standing practice of disconnecting training from industry and actual workplaces, including small- and medium-sized enterprises — the foundation of Canada's economy and employment. Canada's skills training faces frequent criticism for being fragmented and overly jurisdictional, with provincial barriers that struggle to recognize equivalent domestic credentials and inadequate systems for evaluating the international qualifications of newcomers. Despite some recent improvements, we must adopt smarter and more ambitious approaches to achieve substantial, rapid progress in wealth generation through strategic 'nation building' investments from both public and private sectors. Skillnet Ireland demonstrates how public-private collaboration can create responsive, industry-led training systems. The Irish approach ensures workers develop skills that employers actually require, promoting both individual career advancement and national economic competitiveness. While Canada provides young people with solid foundations in literacy, numeracy, and interpersonal skills through high school, the country often fails to align post-secondary and skills training systems with labour market demands. This disconnect has been especially pronounced in sectors like construction, where skilled trades shortages threaten our capacity to complete major transportation, energy, and institutional infrastructure projects while hampering efforts to build affordable housing quickly. British Columbia's construction industry, trade unions, and post-secondary institutions should adopt Ireland's collaborative training model. Their tripartite system receives government support while maintaining greater industry-led decision making and independence through direct, sustainable funding through national payroll contributions. If Canadians collaborated more effectively to recruit, train and up-skill workers in high-demand trades, we could finally address the persistent labour shortages we have discussed for years. This would enable Canada's major employers and governments to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects more reliably and cost-effectively. Canada has failed to adequately replace retiring construction workers, with insufficient numbers entering relatively rigid, traditional trades training programs. Meanwhile, Ireland's government, industry associations, and unions are embracing technologies associated with modern methods of construction through substantial capacity-building investments. Canada's recent throne speech committed our manufacturing sector to producing new building technologies, including scaled production of modular building components. Strategic investments in lifelong learning, targeted re-skilling, and industry-education partnerships could dramatically improve our labour productivity. Ireland, known as the 'night course capital of Europe,' has cultivated a culture of continuous, industry-supported learning, proving that sustained workforce investment yields significant returns. This represents Canada's most pressing challenge — better preparing young people and current workers for future demands while facing potential major tariff barriers from our primary trading partner. Ireland's dedication to workforce development and skills training offers valuable lessons. Rather than resisting more direct industry-led approaches, we should embrace training that meets actual needs while positioning people for well-paid and fulfilling careers. To achieve G7 leadership in economic growth, workforce productivity must become central to our national strategy. Ireland's example is unmistakable: a skilled, adaptable workforce committed to continuous learning and up-skilling represents more than an economic advantage — it is the cornerstone of enhanced prosperity. Chris Atchison is president of the B.C. Construction Association. Rob Fleming is former B.C. minister of transportation and infrastructure. Matt Pitcairn is president of the B.C. Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association. Chris Wasilenchuk is president of the Construction, Maintenance and Allied Workers of Canada. Colin Ewart is former president of B.C. Colleges.
Canada Standard
an hour ago
- Canada Standard
Cancellations at Canadian film festivals raise questions about accountability
Film festivals are unique cultural institutions, spaces to see diverse films by local and global filmmakers and an important market for distributors. These films are often difficult to see, or even know about, outside of festival circuits. Festivals are also answerable to funders and to different stakeholders' interests. Cancellations of planned films raise questions about festivals' roles and accountability to community groups who find certain films objectionable, the wider public, politicians, festival sponsors, audiences, filmmakers and the films themselves. In September 2024, The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) faced a backlash from pro-Ukrainian groups - and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent - when the documentary Russians at War was included in the program. Read more: 'Russians at War' documentary: From the Crimean to the Iraq War, soldier images pose questions about propaganda The Ukrainian Canadian Congress and other advocates called on TIFF to cancel the film, directed by Russian Canadian Anastasia Trofimova, which they accused of being Russian propaganda. TIFF did cancel festival screenings after it was "made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety," but once the festival was over, showed Russians at the TIFF Lightbox Theatre. In November, the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) cancelled the Canadian premiere of Rule of Stone , directed by Israeli Canadian director Danae Elon. As a film and media professor, I supervised Elon's research for the film while she pursued a master's degree at Queen's University. RIDM acknowledged Elon's "personal commitment to criticizing and questioning the state of Israel" through her story about the stone that, by Israeli law, has to be used on the exterior of every new building in Jerusalem. In the film, Elon examines how, in post-1967 Jerusalem, "architecture and stone are the main weapons in a silent, but extraordinarily effective colonization and dispossession process" of Palestinians. As a documentarist and a researcher in Israeli and Palestinian media representations of fighters, I have analyzed both films and followed the controversies. Each focuses on contemporary political issues relevant to our understanding of current affairs. While the reasons for the cancellations are different, in both cases the festivals responded to pressures from community groups, placing the public right to a robust debate at the festival and beyond as secondary. Director Anastasia Trifamova embedded herself in a Russian supply unit, and later a medical team, eventually making her way to the front lines in occupied Ukraine. Trifamova comes across as a naive filmmaker, using an observational, non-judgmental form of filmmaking common in 21st-century war documentaries, as seen in films like Armadillo and Restrepo (respectively following Danish and U.S. troops in Afghanistan). As noted by TIFF, Russians was "an official Canada-France co-production with funding from several Canadian agencies," and Trifamova said she did not seek or receive official permission from the Russian army to film. The film documents the machination of war, where soldiers are both perpetrators of violence and its victims. It humanizes the soldiers, which understandably can be upsetting to Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian publics. But should emotions of one group, outraged and incensed as they may be, prevent the public from having the difficult conversations promoted by the film? Early in the film, Trifamova confronts the soldiers about why they are fighting and they respond with Russian propaganda (fighting Nazism, defending the borders). Later, soldiers approach Trifamova - on camera - to express doubts about the justification of the war and their presence in Ukraine. The film provides an unflattering view of Russia's attack on Ukraine, emphasizing the futility of the war and the incredible toll on soldiers and civilians (including some Ukrainian civilians). Russian troops appear untrained and poorly equipped to fight in chaotically managed battles. Like Armadillo and Restrepo , Russians at War represents the soldiers without judgment and contributes to necessary conversations about war. In my analysis, while Trifamova refrains - in her sporadic voice-over - from condemning the war outright, it is difficult to read the film as Russian propaganda. While TIFF cited security concerns as the reason for cancellation, security was in place for another film that attracted controversy, Bliss . A cancellation from such an established festival likely has an effect on how a film is able to circulate. For example, TVO, one of the funders of Russians at War , cancelled its scheduled broadcast days after the TIFF cancellation. Rule of Stone , as noted by RDIM, "critically examines the colonialist project of East Jerusalem following its conquest by Israeli forces in 1967." The title references a colonial bylaw to clad building with stone, first introduced by the British, which still exists today. The film, which examines architecture's role in creating modern Jerusalem, is led by Elon's voice-over. It mixes her memories of growing up in 1970s Jerusalem and her reckoning with the "frenzy of building," which included projects by architect Moshe Safdie, a citizen of Israel, Canada and the United States. Elon recounts that her father, journalist and author Amos Elon, was a close friend of Safdie, as well as legendary Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kolek. Safdie is among the Israeli architects, architectural historians and planners who Elon interviews. The expansion of Jewish neighbourhoods is contrasted with the restrictions on and disposession of Palestinians in Jerusalem. Multiple scenes show the demolition of Palestinian homes or the aftermath. In intervwoven segments, Izzat Ziadah, a Palestinian stonemason who lives in a stone quarry, gives a tour of what is left of his destroyed home. Viewers hear how the planning, expansion and building of Jewish neighbourhoods, post-1967, were designed to evoke biblical times. As architectural historian Zvi Efrat notes, the new neighbourhoods look like, or attempt to look like, they were there forever. As reported by La Presse , the RIDM cancellation came after the festival received information about the documentary's partial Israeli financing, something that "embarrassed" them with some of the festival's partners. Funding for the development of the film came from the Makor Foundation for Israeli Films, which receives support from Israel's Ministry of Culture and Sport. Two organizations, the Palestinian Film Institute and Regards Palestiniens, opposed the film's showing on the basis of their commitment to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). In the organizations' logic, Israel state funding means a film should be subject to boycott as "PACBI specifically targets Israeli institutional funding in the arts which serves to culturally whitewash and legitimize the Israeli state." In my view, this position differs from the PACBI guidelines, which state: "As a general overriding rule, Israeli cultural institutions, unless proven otherwise, are complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and denial of basic Palestinian rights, whether through their silence or actual involvement in justifying, whitewashing or otherwise deliberately diverting attention from Israel's violations of international law and human rights." Makor should be exempted since it regularly funds films that draw attention to Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. In 2024 alone, the list includes The Governor , The Village League and Death in Um al hiran . RIDM's website does not disclose support for a boycott. In the end, RIDM announced that Elon withdrew her film. She stated: "Screening my film at RIDM does not serve the long-term purpose of the festival, nor is it possible now to address the nuances in our common fight for justice for Palestine. I am deeply saddened and distressed by [what] has brought it to this point." To date, the film has not found a cinema in Montreal willing to screen it. The two festivals' mission statements promise high-quality films that transform or renew audiences' relationships to the world. It is clear why programmers chose both films, since they're cinematically innovative and provoke important conversations. However, both festivals silenced these films and signalled to other filmmakers that these festivals are not brave spaces to have difficult and necessary conversations.
Vancouver Sun
2 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
More than half of Canadians now see U.S. as a top threat: poll
WASHINGTON — As U.S. President Donald Trump pursues his global trade war and talk of annexation, a new poll suggests the percentage of Canadians who view the United States as a top threat has tripled since 2019. While this year's survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that 55 per cent of Canadians still say the U.S. remains this country's most important ally, it also says that 59 per cent now see the U.S. as a threat — up from 20 per cent in the 2019 poll. 'Canada sort of stands out as one place where views of the U.S. have changed significantly and substantially,' said Janell Fetterolf, a senior researcher at the centre. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Pew polled people in 25 countries and the United States was cited as the most important ally in 12. It was the most commonly named threat in eight countries — including America's closest neighbours, Canada and Mexico. Canada was an early target of Trump's tariffs and taunts. He repeatedly called former prime minister Justin Trudeau 'governor' and said he wanted to make Canada a U.S. state. Trump hit Canada and Mexico with duties he linked to fentanyl trafficking in March, only to walk back the tariffs for goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade a few days later. Both countries are also being targeted by Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles. The Pew Research Center said many people polled in Europe named Russia as a top threat, while China was more commonly named among those in the Asia-Pacific region. Poll respondents were more likely to name the United States as an economic threat, while Russia was more likely to be considered a threat to national security and China was commonly cited as a mix of both. But at least half of the people polled in Mexico, France and Canada who said the United States was a threat also said the U.S. posed 'a great deal of a threat' to national security. In Canada, roughly three-quarters of respondents said the U.S. poses an economic threat and 53 per cent said it poses a national security threat. Pew, a Washington-based non-partisan think tank, surveyed 28,333 adults across 24 countries — not including the United States _ from Jan. 8 to April 26 by phone, online and in person. The centre also surveyed 3,605 Americans from March 24 to March 30 by phone, online and in person. Israelis were particularly likely to name the U.S. as their country's most important ally. Israelis also stood out for their particularly positive ratings of the U.S. and its president. Most Israelis polled named Iran as the top threat. Japanese and South Koreans polled also overwhelmingly stated that the U.S. was their most important ally. Despite Canadians' increasingly negative views of the U.S., Americans remain positive about Canada. Fetterolf said Canada is one of the allies most commonly named by Americans, just behind the United Kingdom. She said a poll earlier this year suggested 74 per cent of Americans have a favourable opinion of Canada. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
