Many Canadians may think that the floor-crossing bonanza in the House of Commons these days is not unusual and just a routine part of Canadian politics. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. What is currently happening, with MPs who were elected as Conservatives now crossing the floor to the Liberals, is very unique in Canadian history for a number of reasons. 

Last weekend saw both the federal NDP leadership convention take place, and the Juno awards. It was an amazing confluence of wokeness at both of these events, and both attracted a considerable amount of attention within Canada but also internationally because of their wokeness. Despite the fact that woke sensibilities seem to be reaching the end of their lifespan in many places around the world, this past weekend showed we still have a way to go in Canada to shake off our woke yoke. 

Our current global instability, most recently driven by the Iran war and what it has done to energy markets, has again cast the entire issue of “Net Zero” into question. For the last few years, there have been many countries and organizations backing off on net zero goals they established in the past. Most of this has taken place because, after a few years of attempting to implement policies advocated by environmental advocates and sympathetic politicians in many countries, it became painfully clear that these policies were lowering standards of living, making life much more difficult for average citizens and accomplishing little if anything for the environment. 

The Canadian housing market seems set for a sluggish year in 2026. There is certainly some stabilizing going on in most regions, with prices coming down somewhat but not enough to significantly increase demand. This gradual change is much preferable to a housing market crash, which has been so destructive to families and economies in past business cycles. Most analysts are expecting a slight increase in sales in some parts of Canada over the next year, but a slow market overall. 

Back in 2005, The Economist magazine dubbed then-prime minister Paul Martin “Mr. Dithers” for Martin’s indecisive leadership during his first 14 months in office. Despite the fact that Martin had been a solid minister of finance under Jean Chrétien’s leadership, he had a history being indecisive and changing his mind on a regular basis. Considering the record of Mark Carney in his first year as prime minister, it seems he has overtaken Martin to become the new Mr. Dithers.

It is often said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. In Canada currently, one of the things that is contributing in a big way to our economic demise is our tax system.

Most Canadians are at least vaguely aware that there are some pretty big issues taking place in British Columbia right now regarding First Nations’ land claims and private property rights. This author recently spoke with Bruce Pardy, a Professor of Law at Queen’s University and Executive Director of Rights Probe, who has become somewhat of an expert on the B.C. property rights issue.

For the first time in almost 20 years, Canada does not have a Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO). This role was first created in 2006 by the Harper Conservative government with the passage of the Federal Accountability Act. The office was established to provide independent financial and economic analysis to Parliament and increase budget transparency. The first PBO was appointed in 2008. 

A number of recent news stories, combined with some things I have heard from several business owners, has all led to the same conclusion – Canada is on a very problematic path at present. The stories from business owners are interesting but disturbing.