Past issues Subscribe

Jul 14 2025

The Roundup: Economic focus. Khanna's push. Michael's message.

MON JUL 14 2025
David Akin's Roundup
Economic focus. Khanna's push. Michael's message. 
Canada
Anand says Indo-Pacific strategy will have economic focus but maintain values
Anand was in Japan and Malaysia this week for her first trip to the region since taking over as foreign minister in May. Her message coming out of that trip was that Canada's foreign policy is shifting — though not abandoning — the priorities set by the previous Liberal government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau. [CP]

Matthew Green, the former Hamilton Centre MP, said on Friday that he won’t be running, but hopes to offer advice and support to leadership prospects. “I consider myself young relative to politics and still, with some things to learn, including a deep fluency in French, which I don’t have,” Mr. Green said in an interview. Also Friday, Guy Caron, the former NDP House leader, said he would not be seeking the leadership despite appeals to enter the race. He said that he is focused on being re-elected as the mayor of the Quebec city of Rimouski, a position he won in 2021 after his career in federal politics. [Globe and Mail]
The Conservative ‘movement is bigger, stronger and more energized than ever’ under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, says Conservative MP Arpan Khanna. [Hill Times] 🔐
Don Braid: Conservatives back the Liberals on Bill C-5, which gives the federal cabinet more power. They spent the whole Justin Trudeau era complaining about every Liberal power grab. Now they support a significant centralization, because it promises a result they want. The New Democrats and Greens, great lovers of central power, suddenly don’t want it at all.  [Calgary Herald]

Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, Michael Sabia, shares his vision for the public service and the path forward for Canada. Missed this when it was published on July 7. Probably a must-read for anyone working for, reporting on, or trying to figure out Mark Carney's govrernment. [Government of Canada]
The Provinces

Ontario's environment minister has apologized to First Nation chiefs for any "confusion" his letter caused when he asked the federal government to not reintroduce a bill that would enshrine clean drinking water rights in law. But many First Nations are not accepting what they call a meaningless apology and still want Todd McCarthy fired. [CP]
Aurora
Elsewhere
Japan, after 101 tough days, learns a hard lesson about U.S. alliance
Japan thought it had a special relationship with the U.S. Now, Tokyo is finding that its security alliance counts for little as it struggles to cut a trade deal. [WaPo] (🎁 link)
Investors feel free to continue bidding up stock prices because they assume Trump will always back down from his most costly tariff plans, market analysts said. But the president views stocks’ steady rise as a license to intensify his trade threats, acting out the economic policy equivalent of his 2016 quip that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without paying a price. [WaPo] (🎁 link)

'We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. [Global]
Shiro Armstrong: Further weakening or collapse of the global trading system and a world of might is right is not inevitable. How the rest of the world responds will be key to whether Trump’s trade war spreads around the world. Those that have most to lose — small and medium economies that are open and rely on trade (like Canada!!) — have an incentive to coordinate to hold the line against protectionist contagion. The author is Professor and Director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. [East Asia Forum]
Note to Readers
A big thank you to the readers who responded to my request for some financial help on Friday and joined the dozens of others already supporting the continued free publication of this seven-day-a-week roundup. Your contribution really makes a difference.

And if you can help chip in as little as $3 or  $5 a month, click through to my Patreon account to commit to that small monthly contribution. If you prefer to make a one-time donation — great!  — send an e-transfer to jda@davidakin.com
Media
Nine-in-ten teens say they use YouTube, while majorities also use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Despite the popularity of social media, about half of teens (48%) say it has a mostly negative effect on people their age. Growing shares also believe it hurts rather than helps their sleep, productivity, grades and mental health. [Pew Research Center]

There are three critiques here: 1) That NPR overcovered its own point of view; 2) That NPR underrepresented the view of local stations; 3) That NPR did not sufficiently include voices of those who want to eliminate government funding for public media. [NPR]
Science and Technology
 The space agency released a timelapse of observations made using Parker's Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) while it passed through the sun's corona (the outer atmosphere) on December 25, 2024, revealing up close how solar wind acts soon after it's released. The probe captured these images at just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface. To put that into perspective, a NASA video explains, "If Earth and the sun were one foot apart, Parker Solar Probe was about half an inch from the sun." [Endgadget]
The Calendar
  • 1000 ET : Burlington, ON - Environment Min Julie Dabrusin makes a funding announcement.
Issued this day ...
… in 1995. Sc 1562. Manitoba. Design: Steven Rosenberg and Terry Gallagher. 

Previous Issues

Load More