Mark LeDuc

Evidence Based Decision Making, LTC advocate, Black Watch, Essex Scottish Regiment

[The Roy Green Show @TheRoyGreenShow]

Kelly, dammit! The no names at it again.
I always looked forward to your game assessments during intermission. You and Kevin were always great entertainment.
Will miss you.
Thank you for your support in my health battle and your unwavering
commitment to mental health.

[Mark LeDuc @leduc_mark]

@SenWhitehouse An another excellent ROI for the Big Corps that invested in the Tariff Sheriff.

[Mark LeDuc @leduc_mark]

@CraigBaird And still playing at a ridiculously high level !

[Amber Mac @ambermac]

Good morning 🌞. We are releasing new episodes of The AmberMac Show every week this summer on SiriusXM and via podcast.

We're looking for a few more guests, so let @jeffmacarthur and I know if you have any suggestions! Tag them here.

[Mark LeDuc @leduc_mark]

@JeremyRenner FYI

[Scott Robertson @sarobertson_]

Charlie Angus on Pete Hoekstra: "The problem is, Canada is too polite. We've been nice to him. We treated him like he's a proper ambassador. You know, when he was the ambassador to the Netherlands on day one, the Dutch media called him out."

[Jeff Thompson @thomjeff]

“Meet people where they are” is a compassionate starting point for addiction and homelessness policy. But where are we trying to take them? Avoiding difficult conversations has never solved difficult problems. #nbpoli #Fredericton
https://t.co/txXGNyASeZ

[PLGC @PL67712441]

Trump has bragged winning 43 golf championships.

Fact check:
He never won at a club he doesn’t own. The one time he competed at a club he doesn't own was at a club in Lake Tahoe, when he finished 67 out of more than 70 players.

[Boris Becker @TheBorisBecker]

Word

[Mark LeDuc @leduc_mark]

@TheBorisBecker Word Donovan Bailey

[Justin Wolfers @JustinWolfers]

Trade isn't magic and it isn't charity. It's specialization. You make what you're relatively better at, I do the same, and the economy produces more as a result. That's the basic economic argument for trade.⁣
⁣
https://t.co/h0VhMh6hUN

[Amber Mac @ambermac]

"OpenAI's CEO… has seen the proposed framework for implementing President Trump’s executive order on AI intelligence (&) will meet with Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, while in Washington, D.C., this week." https://t.co/BTT5Ps2FX6

[🇨🇦 Annie Dufour @anniedufour99]

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

[Amber Mac @ambermac]

Remember when OpenAI lost control of an AI model that hacked Hugging Face? @jeffmacarthur & I chat about what happened + why El*on can't stop feuding with journalists.

This week's full episode of The AmberMac Show podcast is now available everywhere. NEW this morn!

[Jen Gerson @jengerson]

False dichotomies are one of the first symptoms of partisan brain worms.

Stay safe out here.

[Amber Mac @ambermac]

We are launching Season 6 of @this_is_mining The Podcast tomorrow 👇.

https://t.co/7tF964pekG

The season premieres this Tuesday with Heather Exner-Pirot, one of Canada's leading voices on energy, natural resources, critical minerals and national competitiveness.

[Toronto Star @TorontoStar]

Opinion: Trump's tariffs on Canada first came to stop the flow in fentanyl. Now it’s forced labour. Last week, it was wildfire smoke.

When the reasons multiply until they include acts of God, the reason was never the point, writes Éric Blais. #cdnpoli https://t.co/CGfWUkQNKx

[Gordie Howe International Bridge @GordieHoweBrg]

🎊 The first personal vehicle has crossed the #GordieHoweBridge from Canada into the US! 🎊

The Howe family completed this inaugural journey in honour of Gordie Howe, the bridge’s namesake. #GoHowe 🇨🇦 🇺🇸

[Mark LeDuc @leduc_mark]

@JustinWolfers @gmacofglebe True, however, my spouses stained glass artisan biz on ETSY generated 80% of its sales in the USA until the tariff sheriff killed the de minimus and implemented tariffs on a key economic ally, damaging a Canadian small business and raising prices for her US customers. Lose/Lose

[Amber Mac @ambermac]

"Traditionally seen as a straightforward background utility, the transport layer is fast emerging as a strategic foundation for AI-driven infrastructures. It is evolving from simply moving packets to intelligently orchestrating massive data flows with deterministic performance, low-latency, and seamless scalability." https://t.co/WJAmGLtpki