The Epstein files are forcing a lot of Fleabag dinners right now. That moment where the table goes quiet because someone finally calls a pedophile a pedophile.

Doug Ford claimed US geopolitical risk was so urgent it required an early election. Explain how that same urgency now allows a two-month pause in the legislature.

@davidwcochrane.bsky.social with Fred DeLorey on how managing a difficult top trading partner in the US is shaping Canada’s foreign policy posture. Source: CBC Power & Politics

On Power & Politics tonight, @davidwcochrane.bsky.social asked what to make of Conservative leadership results arriving after midnight in the east. @gregmaceachern.bsky.social and Fred DeLorey disagreed.

Source: Good Talk @petermansbridge.bsky.social | @chebert18.bsky.social Why Greenland matters more to Canada than Venezuela. If NATO territory can be taken without consent, the alliance stops meaning anything. This isn’t abstract geopolitics. It sets the limits of Canada’s security environment.

@chebert18.bsky.social situates the PM’s China visit as both necessary and politically loaded. — Radio-Canada OHdio, Tout un matin with Patrick Masbourian

State-level epistemic manipulation by Kristi Noem. “Sexual predators” is a red herring, used to provoke moral panic, deflect scrutiny, and cover state culpability in the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. One is left wondering where such actors belong in Dante’s moral geography.

Hannah Arendt’s 1964 reflections on impartiality, flattering homage to leaders, and patriotism feel sharply relevant now. Their clarity has not faded with time.

Very French. Protesters set fire to an American flag today in response to the invasion of Venezuela. Over the past few months, I’ve often thought about what would be happening in France if many of the same events unfolding in the US were happening there instead.

Power without law is authoritarianism. Poilievre applauds it. That should end the conversation about him as Prime Minister. Ever.

Speaking with @petermansbridge.bsky.social before Christmas, @bobbyrae48.bsky.social drew on his own experiences with PM Mark Carney to assess his approach to policy and what distinguishes him as a governing leader.

I’m a mostly lapsed cradle Catholic. To my surprise, my person of 2025 might be Pope Leo XIV.

@ctvottawa.bsky.social spotted Prime Minister Mark Carney out for a skate at today’s opening of the Rideau Canal season. Few things are more Canadian than this. The mythos alone helps stave off the cold. It feels like a fitting Happy New Year.

Looking back to the 2000 leaders’ debate: Joe Clark challenged Jean Chrétien on cooperative federalism. More than two decades later, Mark Carney draws from both Pearson and Clark, a Liberal architect and a Conservative leader. That convergence helps contextualize the Red Tory reading of Carney.

Czars are a tell. When systems can’t be fixed quickly, authority gets staged in language. Toronto’s “traffic czar” doesn’t solve congestion so much as make it look managed.

Might “carrying water for [X],” be the phrase of 2026?

There may be an easier life available, but P&P named Mark Carney the year’s top political newsmaker. @davidwcochrane.bsky.social noted the easier, more lucrative paths he passed up. Leichnitz argued his early acumen and governing position pose a real problem for Conservatives.

The eve of Christmas Eve does make one wonder whether political ‘before’ moments feel like this: everything arranged, nothing decided, and the opposition a bit like the in-laws arriving tomorrow.

Some moments from CBC’s At Issue 2015 year-ender with @petermansbridge.bsky.social, @chebert18.bsky.social, @andrewcoyne.bsky.social, @althiaraj.bsky.social, and @jenditchburn.bsky.social. A glance back on how much Canadian politics has changed and how much has not.

A deserved honourable mention today to Indigenous Services Minister @mandygull-mastymp.bsky.social. Asked about Poilievre’s claim that a pipeline could be built without Indigenous consent, she answered with quiet authority, grounding her response in law and Indigenous sovereignty.

The Prime Minister sets out what he believes are the defining challenges of 2026, framing the year ahead on his terms.

Prime Minister announces next Ambassador of Canada to the United States.

Losing an election and your own seat is when reflection should be unavoidable. Poilievre refuses it. Asked by Global’s Dawna Friesen to acknowledge the loss, he deflected, calling it “a blow” to voters instead of naming the reality. Pundits across the spectrum say this hurts his favourability.

Much has been made of PM Carney’s management style, often on impression and innuendo. This segment from Rosemary Barton’s end-of-year CBC interview offers a rarer, more candid view and adds concrete context, including new insight into Guilbeault’s exit from cabinet.

Square this circle. Much was made of PM Carney’s MOU with Danielle Smith. Doug Ford signed an MOU with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and you could hear a pin drop. One involved a federal–provincial ‘understanding’ inside Canada.

Karina Roman on P&P poses the question of whether it’s “fair game to actively try to tempt MPs to cross the floor?” @gregmaceachern.bsky.social shared his thoughts.

Anyone who has been subjected to violent crime by a man is not surprised by the familiar fig leaf of redaction and omission. #EpsteinFiles

On power’s doorstep, deliberately positioned to be seen, where wealth secures access, legitimacy is inferred, silence is enforced, and harm passes the threshold. #EpsteinFiles

Two appointments in PM Carney’s senior public service shuffle stand out for me today. They’re not flashy. They’re structural.

@chebert18.bsky.social on At Issue, asked for the best political play of 2025:

Tim Powers and Tonda MacCharles on Power & Politics dismantle Poilievre’s attempt to brand welcoming floor crossers as “dirty backroom deals,” noting that party switching is a long-standing practice used by both political blocks, including by figures as central as Winston Churchill, twice.

Seven horsemen of the apocalypse. @vanityfair.com

1 year ago today, Chrystia Freeland resigned. @katietelford.bsky.social on Beyond a Ballot explains the structure underneath moments like that. “He’s the public figure. He has to answer for the decision that he makes.” Full episode: bit.ly/4q4mbo0

Different year. You decide what’s changed.

Pierre Poillievre steamrolled Rosie Barton the way he steamrolls his caucus. The inability to modulate, to pause, to listen was fully on display this morning. Rosie asked if he’s reflecting on how he speaks to Canadians. As if the way he spoke to her didn’t answer that question.

Close Conservative-held ridings with CPC–LPC margins under 5 percent. These seats aren’t “safe” so much as structurally cross-pressured. Recent floor crossings came from ridings like this.

Canada’s polarization isn’t American. It’s structural. Affective division in Canada grows from stable voting blocks, regional patterns, and the incentives that shape how emotion moves through the system. When you look at the structure rather than the headlines, the pattern becomes clearer.

AI isn’t the objectionable problem. Prof. Myrna Dawson shows the real issue is structural avoidance. “in a 1,000-page report, you don’t have ways to move forward?”

Is it “iberal immigration” or “Liberal immigration”? Are we to take from that Poillievre means Liberals are immigrating here or immigration policies are liberal? Or does he really mean, liberal Liberal immigration? Someone let Andrew Scheer know that his leader is speaking in a “confusing” manner.

Driving in Toronto rush hour just got a little more stessful. Angry Torontonians when you accidentally get stranded in a crosswalk was a deterrent but $615 just cranked the pressure up! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Canada’s polarization follows its own structural logic, not an imported one. The emotional patterns are more stable than they appear from the surface turbulence. New Substack piece out this morning. Full analysis here: open.substack.com/pub/patterns...

We remember: Geneviève Bergeron Hélène Colgan Nathalie Croteau Barbara Daigneault Anne-Marie Edward Maud Haviernick Maryse Laganière Maryse Leclair Anne-Marie Lemay Sonia Pelletier Michèle Richard Annie St-Arneault Annie Turcotte Barbara Klueznick Remembrance is not symbolic. #RememberThe14

Friday gem heard on Good Talk. @chebert18.bsky.social on why politicians are staying quiet about Trump’s latest tariff threat: “Let’s not poke bears needlessly while we’re picking berries.” #cdnpoli #goodtalk

CPAC says it’s at a breaking point after the CRTC delayed a small funding increase. This isn’t niche. CPAC is one of the only sources of bilingual, non-partisan coverage of fed and prov politics without an editorial lens. If it falters, so does public visibility into how governments actually work.

“Rage bait” is Oxford’s word of the year. The PM was on message Saturday night at the Parliamentary Press Dinner. #cdnpoli #MarkCarney

American journalists need bystander training. Everyone stayed quiet while this happened. That silence normalizes the hostility and signals it’s permitted, especially when the target stands alone. Speaking up wouldn’t just defend her. It would draw the line on what journalism refuses to tolerate.

Steven Guilbeault quitting cabinet following pipeline deal nationalnewswatch.com/2025/11/27/c...

A little holiday cheer—from ten years ago. CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes aired “A Very Chantal Noël,” a satire of Chantal Hébert. Even then, her influence on Canadian politics was big enough to spoof. #ChantalHébert #22Minutes #CBCArchive #OttPoli @chebert18.bsky.social

Listen to the language: “faster, quicker, immediate…we can’t get caught up in red tape…we’re in a fight.” This isn’t style. It’s strategy. Fast becomes good, and any delay becomes obstruction. Once “red tape” replaces scrutiny, normal checks can be dismissed as interference. #onpoli #dougford

You be the judge. Pierre Poilievre claims CBC printed “falsehoods.” David Cochrane addresses the claim directly. #CBC #PierrePoilievre #DavidCochrane #PnP #PowerandPolitics #Accountability