It might have been helpful for context to add that the the member heckling Carney belongs to AfD, the alt right Russia-sympathetic party that has met officially with CPC on CDN soil. https://t.co/Yngqnu3Lcs
@CecileShaw Hanson, a Trump and MAGA apologist, criticizes Canada for "the invective, the cheap booing" but in a 2019 book (The Case for Trump) praised Trump for his "incendiary language" against his opponents & his skill at trolling them. Not a neutral commentator by any means.
Former Canada Prime Minister Jean Chrétien: "I have message for American friends...never mistake our generosity for weakness. Never mistake our tolerance for lack of determination. And never, never mistake our kindness for softness...We bow to no one."
@LBC@IainDale Guess Pataki no longer believes in the 6th Amendment to the US Constitution: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to...have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."
Jean Chrétien is, like many other without noticing it, making my case for being patient. In negotiations with intransigent parties, the strategically superior (and dominant) strategy is to signal to the other that you can wait it out. Everything that the Trump administration is doing is signaling that it cannot wait. If Canadian governments at all levels adopt measures that mitigate the immediate damages and push up productivity growth, then the signal is that Canadian governments can wait longer. Much longer.
Remember that here we are losing sight of what I am trying to dub the Margaret-Thatcher-Sun-Tzu strategy. Thatcher said: I am extraordinaly patient provided I get what I want in the end. Sun Tzu, for his part, said: He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
Patience is a weapon. Refusing to wield it is refusing the most powerful strategy.
@DrNeilStone I haven't a single regret about the 10 Covid shots I've had so far and am still alive, looking forward to getting my 11th shot, along with my flu shot, later in the fall.
Apparently, talking to China’s military is now controversial.
It shouldn’t be.
Canada is not remotely alone. In fact, some of our closest allies maintain formal defence and military-to-military channels with Beijing precisely because communication reduces the risk of miscalculation, escalation and conflict.
Here’s what our allies actually do:
🇨🇦 Canada — has resumed its Defence Coordination Dialogue with China, allowing defence officials to discuss bilateral, regional and international security issues.
🇺🇸 United States — holds formal U.S.-China Defense Policy Coordination Talks with the People’s Liberation Army. In December 2025, Washington held the 19th annual round. The United States explicitly said these military-to-military communications are intended to support strategic stability, crisis deconfliction and de-escalation.
🇦🇺 Australia — has both a Defence Coordination Dialogue and a senior Defence Strategic Dialogue with China. The discussions cover regional security, military transparency, communication and preventing dangerous misunderstandings between their armed forces.
🇳🇿 New Zealand — holds an annual Strategic Defence Dialogue with China. The 13th round took place in Shanghai in June 2026 and covered bilateral relations as well as regional and global security.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom — maintains military-to-military communication with China. Britain’s own defence policy says these channels should be maintained to deepen mutual understanding and avoid miscalculation and inadvertent escalation during a crisis.
That means:
Five Eyes countries maintaining defence or military communication with China:
🇨🇦 Canada
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇦🇺 Australia
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Five out of five.
And it doesn’t stop with the Five Eyes.
🇯🇵 Japan — holds repeated defence-ministerial and military-to-military talks with China and has established a direct hotline between Japanese and Chinese defence authorities to help prevent contingencies at sea and in the air.
🇫🇷 France — conducts formal strategic discussions with China involving senior defence and military officials, including discussions on defence policy, regional security and the bilateral defence relationship.
So let’s keep some perspective.
Talking is not capitulating.
Dialogue is not an alliance.
Communication with China does not mean agreeing with China.
In fact, the greater the disagreement between two military powers, the greater the reason to maintain a telephone line.
You can be extremely tough on Beijing over foreign interference, Taiwan, the South China Sea, human rights, cyberattacks and economic coercion — and still believe that Canadian and Chinese military officials should be able to pick up the phone before an incident becomes a crisis.
That’s what serious countries do.
And apparently, so do all of our Five Eyes partners.
@Annie__Bee@CraigBaird Alex might be interesting in knowing that his brother, William, enlisted in Sept 1939, serving in N Africa & later commanded the 2nd Division, Royal Canadian Artillery, in Italy and NW Europe. My Dad, a captain in the RCA, served under him and thought extremely highly of him.
Kirsten Hillman: "Our entire negotiating team signed confidentiality agreements, and so did the U.S. team. So all the people that are involved in those negotiations have commitments not to release the text that was being shared back and forth."
(there goes another talking point)
What would happen if Xi Jinping posted a map where 🇨🇳 has taken over all of East Asia, and Putin one of 🇷🇺 having absorbed all of Western Europe? It would have been seen as either insane or dangerous - or both.