Canada and the United States are facing “rough patches” in their democracies as populist, authoritarian movements continue to find traction among Western countries, says the American ambassador.
But in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, David Cohen said he is ultimately optimistic that the democracies will find a way through the political turmoil of recent years.
“I am always a glass-half-full kind of a guy,” Cohen said. “I irrevocably believe that democracy will prevail.
“We may have to work through some issues. There may be some rough patches.”
“But at the end of the day, you combat these rough patches with the strength of democracy, with dialogue, with working together with other democracies.“
His comments come as the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, deadly attack on the Capitol presents its findings to the American public in televised hearings.
Cohen added that the challenges to democracy are not just happening in North America but in countries around the world where extremists are trying to use populism to subvert democratic processes and voices to further the goals of authoritarianism.
China and Russia are among the actors involved in those attempts to subvert democracy, he said, but also domestic forces including elements in the trucker convoys that blockaded the Canadian capital and border crossings for three weeks earlier this year.
“I don’t know whether it’s Donald Trump lines that have seeped into Canadian politics or whether it is this global movement that, quite frankly, predated Donald Trump,” Cohen said.
“I think the best way to combat some of the hateful rhetoric of these extremist movements is with positive speech, is with democracies getting together and talking about the benefits of democracy and the things that we can do together as democratic countries and democratic societies,” he added.
“And that’s a lot of the discussion that took place at the Summit for the Americas last week.”
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The Summit brought together not only Canada and the U.S. but countries from the hemisphere, including many from Latin America where analysts have suggested American influence has waned in the years since the U.S. withdrew from leadership on the global stage under the Trump administration.
That waning influence presents an opportunity for Canada to exercise a bigger role in hemispheric diplomacy and strategy.
“Given the U.S. position on all of this, it only makes Canada’s potential role in the hemisphere, not just materially but symbolically, really critical,” said Kenneth Frankel, chief executive of the Toronto-based Council of the Americas, in an interview last week with Global News.
“Latin Americans who are struggling for democracy and human rights — they want to know that there’s a big country in the neighbourhood that’s on their side.”
An ongoing source of criticism for Canada, though, is matching rhetoric with action — and dollars.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has continued to face questions about why he is not committing Canada to spending the NATO target of two per cent of GDP on defence amid what his defence minister, Anita Anand, has acknowledged is a “darker” and “more chaotic” world.
While the government has increased defence spending by roughly $8 billion in the most recent budget, it still falls roughly $75-billion short of hitting the NATO target, according to an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Cohen had appeared critical of that budget increase earlier this year, when he described it as “a little disappointing as matched against the rhetoric that we heard leading into the release of the budget.”
He clarified those comments to Global News.
“I think there was an impression created that there would be a larger increase in defence spending than there ended up being,” he said.
At the same time, Cohen said the U.S. acknowledges there are spending commitments such as NORAD modernization and a defence policy review that could end up seeing additional defence spending beyond what is outlined in the budget.
“I don’t think, as the United States ambassador to Canada, it’s appropriate for me to say one way or another what’s enough and what isn’t enough,” he said. “I think Canada has a firm sense of the importance of defence, particularly in light of what’s happening in Russia — Ukraine, particularly –and what you talked about earlier with China’s increasing aggressiveness.”
“Canada needs to make a judgment of what is enough to spend by way of defence and how quickly they need to move to be able to get there.”
TORONTO – Will Taylor Swift bring chaos or do we all need to calm down?
It’s a question many Torontonians are asking this week as the city braces for the massive fan base of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Hundreds of thousands of Swifties are expected to descend on downtown core for the singer’s six concerts which kick off Thursday at the Rogers Centre and run until Nov. 23.
And while their arrival will be a boon to tourism dollars, it could further clog the city’s already gridlocked streets.
Swift’s shows collide with other scheduled events at the nearby Scotiabank Arena, including a Toronto Raptors game on Friday and a Toronto Maple Leafs game on Saturday.
Some locals have already adjusted their plans to avoid the area.
Aahil Dayani says he and some friends intended to throw a birthday bash for one of their pals, until they realized it would overlap with the concerts.
“Ultimately, everybody agreed they just didn’t want to deal with that,” he said.
“Something as simple as getting together and having dinner is now thrown out the window.”
Dayani says the group rescheduled the birthday party for after Swift leaves town. In the meantime, he plans to hunker down at his Toronto residence.
“Her coming into town has kind of changed up my social life,” he added.
“We’re pretty much just not doing anything.”
Max Sinclair, chief executive and founder of A.I. technology firm Ecomtent, has suggested his employees stay away from the company’s downtown offices on concert days, since he doesn’t see the point in forcing people to endure potential traffic jams.
“It’s going to be less productive for us, and it’s going to be just a pain for everyone, so it’s easier to avoid it,” he said.
“We’re a hybrid company, so we can be flexible. It just makes sense.”
Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green says the public agency has been preparing for over a year to ease the pressure of so many Swifties in one confined area.
Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to the transit routes around the stadium, while the TTC has consulted with the city on how to handle potential emergency scenarios.
“There may be some who will say we’re over-preparing, and that’s fair,” Green said.
“But we know based on what’s happened in other places, better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Electronic Arts has incorporated the Professional Women’s Hockey League into its NHL 25 video game.
The six teams starting their second seasons Nov. 30 will be represented in “play now,” “online versus,” “shootout” and “season” modes, plus a championship Walter Cup, in the updated game scheduled for release Dec. 5, the PWHL and EA Sports announced Wednesday.
Gamers can create a virtual PWHL player.
The league and video game company have agreed to a multi-year partnership, the PWHL stated.
“Our partnership with EA SPORTS opens new doors to elevate women’s hockey across all levels,” said PWHL operations senior vice-president Amy Scheer in a statement.
“Through this alliance, we’ll develop in-game and out-of-game experiences that strengthen the bond between our teams, players, and fans, bringing the PWHL closer to the global hockey community.”
NHL 22 featured playable women’s teams for the first time through an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Toronto Sceptres forward Sarah Nurse became the first woman to appear on the video game’s cover in 2023 alongside Anaheim Ducks centre Trevor Zegras.
The Ottawa Charge, Montreal Victoire, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens round out the PWHL. The league announced team names and logos in September, and unveiled jerseys earlier this month.
“It is so meaningful that young girls will be able to see themselves in the game,” said Frost forward Taylor Heise, who grew up playing EA’s NHL games.
“It is a big milestone for inclusivity within the hockey community and shows that women’s prominence in hockey only continues to grow.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. continued to navigate weaker consumer demand in the third quarter as it looked ahead to the spinoff of its pork business in 2025.
“This environment has a particularly significant impact on a premium portfolio like ours and I want you to know that we are not sitting still waiting for the macro environment to recover on its own,” said CEO Curtis Frank on a call with analysts.
Frank said the company is working to adapt its strategies to consumer demand. As inflation has stabilized and interest rates decline, he said pressure on consumers is expected to ease.
Maple Leaf reported a third-quarter profit of $17.7 million compared with a loss of $4.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a loss of four cents per share a year earlier. Sales for the quarter totalled $1.26 billion, up from $1.24 billion a year ago.
“At a strategic level … we’re certainly seeing the transitory impacts of an inflation-stressed consumer environment play through our business,” Frank said.
“We are seeing more trade-down than we would like. And we are making more investments to grow our volume and protect our market share than we would like in the moment. But again, we believe that those impacts will prove to be transitory as they have been over the course of history.”
Financial results are improving in the segment as feed costs have stabilized, said Dennis Organ, president, pork complex.
Maple Leaf, which is working to spin off its pork business into a new, publicly traded company to be called Canada Packers Inc. and led by Organ, also said it has identified a way to implement the plan through a tax-free “butterfly reorganization.”
Frank said Wednesday that the new structure will see Maple Leaf retain slightly lower ownership than previously intended.
The company said it continues to expect to complete the transaction next year. However, the spinoff under the new structure is subject to an advance tax ruling from the Canada Revenue Agency and will take longer than first anticipated.
Maple Leaf announced the spinoff in July with a plan to become a more focused consumer packaged goods company, including its Maple Leaf and Schneiders brands.
“The prospect of executing the transaction as a tax-free spin-off is a positive development as we continue to advance our strategy to unlock value and unleash the potential of these two unique and distinct businesses,” Frank said in the news release.
He also said that Maple Leaf is set on delivering profitability for its plant protein business in mid-2025.
“This includes the recent completion of a procurement project aimed at leveraging our purchasing scale,” he said.
On an adjusted basis, Maple Leaf says it earned 18 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 13 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
The results were largely in line with expectations, said RBC analyst Irene Nattel in a note.
Maple Leaf shares were down 4.5 per cent in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at $21.49.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2024.
