The Canadian Compass: Charting a Path Though Geopolitical Chaos

According to a recent CBC article our economic relationship with the United States is undergoing a substantial shift. There has been up to 30% reductions in a variety of means of travel to and from the US, approximately $5 billion in additional costs to American consumers as a direct result of  Trump's tariffs as well as a substantial shift in Canadian consumer's preferences for Canadian products over those made in America - all of which is making a noticeable impact on those firms selling their goods and services Canada.  (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-big-step-back-from-us-data-1.7637651) Most importantly for our GDP, businesses are finally seeking contacts in other markets and making sales, which is now showing up in exports to countries other than the United States. The latter has been a featured recommendation in previous blogs along with an explanation of how to effect that transition. This is the way it should be going forward. Travel may rebound eventual...

While the present geo-political environment spirals rapidly downward, the US administration, once a moderator and mediator of consequence, flounders domestically, mired in a fixation with its extreme politics and internationally, in a contradiction of purpose. The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk is being used to put every person, group and organization to the left of its extremities on the right in its crosshairs. Kirk is a convenient distraction. To his supporters he was a debater and proponent of free thought. To his detractors he was a fascist. By virtue of what he said and how he said it, he was neither. It would be more appropriate to call him an "influencer" with views that lay well to the right of the political spectrum with the subversive intent to convert those with whom he "debated" to his Christian and Republican causes. The preoccupation with his assassination, among other domestic issues, is distracting this scatterbrained US administration from wh...