Yet another Xing librarian.
Joined April 2008
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Nah, this is better…send in the Shawinigan Scrapper! Still one of the best orators in Canada…
cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundl…
Jason Hammond retweeted
We referred the McIlvenna Bay Mine to the Major Projects Office in September last year.
It’s now producing Saskatchewan’s first copper in more than two decades — ramping up to get more Canadian critical minerals to market.
ALT Screenshot of an article from CBC News. The headline reads: Copper-zinc mine in Sask. nearing commercial production, says Eldorado Gold
Ha ha ha - amaZING!
21,675 days since a Cup.
2,386 days since losing to an AHL Zamboni driver.
0 days since getting dunked on by the Prime Minister.
#LeafsForever
Rename Trump Lake to Lake Canada - Sign the Petition! c.org/Hs8gPHQMw7 via @CdnChange
Jason Hammond retweeted
Has Blue Rodeo's 'Hasn't Hit Me Yet' become our latest Canadian anthem?
Love it when the crowd goes all out on the 'Lake Ontario' lyric at a concert this week.
Jason Hammond retweeted
In Ojibwe our word for lake is zaagigan. i just love Blue Rodeo lyrics #LakeOntario
Jason Hammond retweeted
Honey. Hey honey.
We have 15,430 beekeepers in Canada. We export about $60 million of honey a year, $40 million of that to the USA. That honey now has a 50% tariff and our farmers are going to have a tough time selling it.
Canada imports a lot of honey, about $73 million of it. Some of it isn’t even real honey (seriously it’s faked with rice and cane syrups eww).
Check the labels. As a country we are spending $73 million on imported honey and looking at loosing $40 million in exported honey to the USA. It’s kinda simple math. Buy Canadian honey.
Little things from many people will make a difference.
Trump wants to rename Lake Ontario?
Canada says why stop at one? Let's rename all five.
tHaNk YoU fOr YoUr AtTeNtIoN tO tHiS bLaThEr!
#GreatLakes
#GrifterLakes
#CanPoli
🤖 Made with AI
Didn't vote for the dude but the right man for the moment in many ways.
Trump Blinked at Midnight: How Banker PM Carney’s Quiet $436 Billion Weapon and America’s $40 Trillion Debt Trap Might Have Influenced His Decision
The guillotine—a 50% tariff hike on a host of new products—was set to drop at midnight on Tuesday.
Donald Trump backed down, and events related to U.S. sovereign debt may have influenced his decision.
Let’s look at the timeline of events in the financial and bond markets on Tuesday, August 18—the day before the deadline.
U.S. debt officially crossed the $40 trillion threshold (more on that later).
Yields on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds surged to a 19-year high, matching levels seen prior to the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
A few hours later, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a surprise, massive buyback of the government's own debt (!) to prevent a collapse of the U.S. bond market.
That evening, Trump announced he was suspending the tariff hike. The bond market reacted with immediate relief, marking the link between the the two events.
SHORT-TERM DEBT TRAP
Why and how sovereign debt (Treasury securities, the bond market) and its financing are linked to our negotiations.
On Tuesday, Scott Bessent executed the following financial maneuver to stop bond yields from climbing (to 5.3%!!!).
Using U.S. Treasury funds, he bought back long-term Treasury bonds while simultaneously issuing short-term Treasury bills.
His goal: to prevent long-term sovereign debt from being locked in at a 5.3% rate and to drive that rate down. Otherwise, the government would have been forced to pay that rate to its debt holders for decades—potentially ruining the budget—while consumers would have paid that same rate through their home mortgages and auto loans.
However, the risk taken in doing so is considerable: all this debt is now short-term (spanning weeks or months), and its interest rate is subject to the usual risks—inflation, exchange rates, geopolitics, and so on.
Simply put, the "short-term debt trap" is akin to the U.S. government choosing a high-risk variable-rate mortgage over a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.
That day, letting massive tariffs hikes fall at midnight, causing rates to spike, was certainly on Trump and Co's minds....
Just listen to Trump in video worrying about interest rates Wednesday..
HOW PM MARK CARNEY CAN (and likely has) LEVERAGE THIS
As the former head of two central banks, PM Carney understands these issues better than anyone. It is reasonable to assume that, behind the scenes, he is exploiting this U.S. vulnerability. Here are a few cards he could play:
Threats of inflationary retaliation: As we have seen, the U.S. cannot afford a significant rise in inflation given its debt, which is now largely short-term and variable-rate. By imposing counter-tariffs on key sectors of the U.S. economy (steel, agriculture, energy, autos), Canada could drive up prices—and thus inflation—in the United States.
Faced with this inflation, a hamstrung Federal Reserve would be forced to keep interest rates very high to douse the flames. This is where the massive debt comes into play: the U.S. must refinance $40 trillion in short-term debt on a weekly basis; even the slightest rate hike instantly costs them hundreds of billions of dollars. Ultimately, the revenue generated by the tariffs they impose on Canada would be less than the money lost due to rising interest rates.
“Trump” card, Canada
Using our holdings of U.S. sovereign debt as a deterrent: It is worth noting that, under our "banker Prime Minister," Canada has made massive purchases of U.S. sovereign debt since he took office. Our holdings have surged by $110 billion over the past two years, reaching nearly $436 billion. While it is standard practice for governments to buy U.S. debt (it retains its status as a liquid, safe-haven asset, albeit to a lesser degree), it is interesting to note that this trend runs counter to that of other G7 nations, which are either reducing their U.S. debt holdings, keeping them stable, or increasing them only marginally.
What, then, distinguishes Canada from the other G7 countries?
The United States wants to annex it and is waging a ruthless trade war against it. While not certain, one might hypothesize that there is a strategy behind this staggering accumulation of debt. By holding $436 billion in U.S. debt, Canada has reached a threshold where it could influence interest rates and inflation if it decided to sell off its holdings. We know just how sensitive U.S. debt is to such factors now. Prime Minister Carney—an accomplished banker—surely has these calculations in mind. He does not even need to carry out the threat; merely possessing the weapon is enough.
“Trump” card, Canada
In short, within this trade war, U.S. finances represent a vulnerability that works to Canada’s advantage—one that Prime Minister Carney can surely exploit.
What about you? Do you think Prime Minister Carney had the vulnerability of U.S. finances in mind throughout the negotiations?
#cdnpoli #polqc #cdnecon
Workers across the country are coming together to protect our jobs, protect our rights, and protect our power to fight for a fair deal. Are you in? share.canadianlabour.ca/s/PQ…
Jason Hammond retweeted
America, the Gordie Howe Bridge benefits you as much as Canada, if not more.
Canada just gave you a $6.4 Billion Gift — And most of you seem to have no idea.
One private family controlled the busiest trade corridor between the United States and Canada for decades — and spent years fighting to keep it that way.
That private control came at a genuine cost to American companies and consumers.
Why and How
For years, the Ambassador Bridge functioned as a near-monopoly on commercial truck traffic through Detroit-Windsor. Tolls climbed higher than at comparable public crossings at double the amount.
Traffic capacity stayed constrained.
Delays became routine.
Every extra dollar in tolls and every hour stuck in congestion was money and time taken directly out of American manufacturers, retailers, trucking firms, car drivers and ultimately... consumers
Those higher costs did not stay with the trucking companies.
They flowed downstream into the price of goods on American shelves and the competitiveness of American factories.
This is what happens when critical infrastructure is left in the hands of a private owner whose primary duty is to its own profits, not to the efficiency of the North American economy.
Enter Canada to save the day
Canada refused to accept that arrangement forever.
Canadian taxpayers financed the entire $6.4 billion cost of the new Gordie Howe Bridge.
Michigan contributed nothing to construction.
The result is a modern, six-lane, highway-to-highway crossing that opens a genuine competitive alternative for the first time in generations.
What this means for the American side:
• Commercial tolls are dramatically lower — in many cases roughly half of what the old private bridge was charging, both for trucks and cars.
• Official projections say the new span will take more than 40 percent of the commercial traffic in the corridor
• Truckers are expected to save around 850,000 hours every year in reduced delays.
• Individual trucking companies are already calculating monthly savings in the tens of thousands of dollars.
A lowering of prices for Americans and Canadians
That is not a small adjustment.
That is a structural reduction in the cost of doing business across one of the most important trade arteries in North America.
American factories that rely on just-in-time parts just became more competitive. American retailers just got a quieter, ongoing cost advantage.
American consumers will ultimately feel it in the price of goods that cross this border every single day.
Yet, almost none of them will know the reason.
The free market is powerful. But it is not magic. When a single private player can strangle an essential crossing and then spend decades blocking any rival, the market has failed. Higher costs and weaker reliability are the predictable result.
The Gordie Howe Bridge is the correction
Americans who care about efficient supply chains, lower logistics costs, and stronger industrial competitiveness should see this clearly: Canada just built and paid for a major upgrade to one of the most important trade arteries serving the American economy.
It is one of the largest, most tangible gifts the United States has received in cross-border infrastructure in a generation.
Most Americans still don’t realize it.
@ChadLivengood
@Acosta
Jason Hammond retweeted
Taking 🇺🇸 booze off Liquor Mart shelves is having an impact. If Trump wants to negotiate an end to the trade war he started, we’re happy to get a fair deal. Until then, the US booze stays off the shelves. Thank you for buying 🇨🇦 and thank you for your attention to this message!!!
Jason Hammond retweeted
Climate change.
Canada’s boreal forest is far north.
Most parts of it only reach 64F (18C) averages in the heat of the summer.
Its density and climate also means it gets very little evaporation compared to its rainfall, and is subject to frost 9 months of the year, and heavy fog the rest of the time.
This kept this biome very humid, kept soil damp, and left most of the low level foliage coated in dew all day long.
Some parts of the forest even had thick levels of permafrost beneath the topsoil that on rare hot days would seep water back into the ecosystem.
Just as many wildfires started by lightning strike in previous decades as now.
The difference is they struggled to catch and spread in this damp environment.
Now extreme dry weather, record breaking heat, northern thaw, erode that protective moisture barrier, leaving the boreal forest vulnerable especially in the more southern parts.
Boreal forests previously went through this process naturally when an over density caused a drier environment you’d get high-intensity crown fires that were cyclical. Every 50-200 years depending on region.
Now we get them annually.
Boreal forest fires are much more severe than others too. The long history of cyclical burns means the soil contains charcoal, the thick multi-layer foliage adds fodder and causes the fire to spread quickly, and pine, spruce, and aspens are all some of the trees with both the most density and the best for wood burning.
It results in towering forest fires of immense heat and rapid spread.
These forests are denser than anything else in North America or Europe, and the current fire in Ontario alone, is the same square mileage as the entire state of Delaware.
From the time it ignited, to covering that size, took less than 20 hours.
While some in the US still think climate change is a hoax, we are all going to deal with the consequences of it, as we’ve turned the largest forest in the world into a tinder box, and fires in less than 0.01% of it drowns the entire continent in smoke.
Jason Hammond retweeted
I just want to thank Americans. I was getting lazy on my boycott of US brands and businesses. I needed the wakeup call.
Remember when flying WestJet actually felt different? That airline is gone. WestJet’s flight attendants are fighting to bring back the airline you deserve. They need public support to stop the race to the bottom. endunpaidwork.ca
