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How Project 2025 could upend Canada-U.S. relationship under Trump

Published

2 months ago

July 14, 2024

Concerns are growing about how a far-right policy agenda known as Project 2025 could influence a second Donald Trump presidency — as well as Canada’s relationship with the United States.

Democrats have been attempting to tie Trump to the controversial initiative and convince voters its extreme conservative policies would be representative of how Trump will govern if he wins the U.S. election in November.

At the heart of Project 2025 is a plan to overhaul the U.S. government bureaucracy to make the civil service much more aligned with the political interests of the White House. That would have major implications on the day-to-day business of managing Canada-U.S. relations in important areas like trade, analysts say.

“This presents a real threat,” said Donald Abelson, a political science professor at McMaster University who studies Canada-U.S. relations and American think tanks like the conservative Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded Project 2025.

The warning is the latest to come from Canadians studying the possible effects of a second Trump administration. Economists have said Trump’s plans on immigration and trade — including a blanket 10 per cent tariff on foreign imports — would hit Canada’s economy harder than the U.S.

What could happen?

Project 2025 calls for the return of a Trump-era executive order known as Schedule F, which would reclassify tens of thousands of American civil servants as political appointees who can be easily fired and replaced.

Trump issued the order close to the end of his presidency but was unable to implement it after losing the 2020 election. U.S. President Joe Biden rescinded Schedule F upon taking office, but Trump and Project 2025 vow to reinstate it.

Unlike Canada, which has a permanent bureaucracy in place to administer government work regardless of governing party, the much larger American civil service sees regular turnover at the top level of various departments.

As it now stands, just 4,000 members of the federal workforce are considered political appointees who typically change with each administration. But reinstating Schedule F could mean an increase to 50,000.

The measure is widely criticized as a means to retaliate against civil servants and flood the federal bureaucracy with individuals willing to bend the rules in pursuit of political aims. The Heritage Foundation has developed a database of prospective civil servants with conservative credentials who would be ready to fill Schedule F vacancies on the first day of a new administration.

Those appointees may also have little regard for the history and importance of international relationships with countries like Canada.

“You can imagine how chaotic the process would become if people with years of expertise and knowledge, and institutional memory, are all of a sudden replaced by a band of sycophants who don’t have that long-term understanding of history, the importance of the relationship, and why it needs to be nurtured,” Abelson said.

Analysts note the lower-level staff that would be affected by Schedule F help form the “hidden wiring” behind the Canada-U.S. relationship, working to manage bilateral agreements worked out by public-facing heads of state and cabinet members.

Although Trump says he has nothing to do with Project 2025 and doesn’t know who is behind it, Abelson notes there is a “revolving door phenomenon” between U.S. administrations and political think tanks like the Heritage Foundation. Officials and staff who lose their jobs after an election will find work at a think tank, and those same institutions will send people to go work for future administrations.

A majority of those who helped write and edit Project 2025 served in Trump’s administration or were nominated to positions in it. Some of the architects of the sprawling manifesto also helped shape the new Republican party platform.

Within the nearly 1,000 pages of Project 2025, the authors recommend flooding the U.S. State Department with loyalists, including senior advisors on foreign policy files. All U.S. ambassadors around the world would be required to resign at the start of a new administration.

Project 2025 also calls for downsizing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which it calls “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Aaron Ettinger, a political science professor at Carleton University, says the overall mission is to make the government able to change direction more nimbly when a new administration begins.

He said implementing Schedule F and other aspects of Project 2025 means an ideologically minded Democratic president could execute just as quick of a shift in how government runs.

“The logic of all this is that personnel is policy,” he told Global News.

“That would be very difficult for Canada. And there’s nothing Canada can really do about that, because you have to bargain with your counterpart and you have no control over who the counterpart is.”

In April, the Biden administration adopted a rule making it more difficult to reclassify government employees under Schedule F. Trump would likely reverse the rule, though it would still delay implementation by several months.

Canada has been preparing since last year for the possibility of a second Trump administration, using a Team Canada approach to send ministers and diplomats to engage with American partners and shore up relations.

Several of those conversations have been at the state level. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has met with the governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland — both key trading partners — in recent weeks.

Ettinger says those engagements with states and private companies is a strategy Canada should continue and accelerate to ensure some partnerships persevere, despite actions taken in a Trump-ruled Washington.

Despite Trump’s claims otherwise, Ettinger says Project 2025 should serve as a blueprint for what a second Trump administration will do.

“When Trump said America First … at his inauguration address, nobody knew what that meant,” he said. “And now we have 900 pages of what it means. They’re telling us who they are, and we should listen.”

—

—With files from Global News reporter Kathryn Mannie

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Toronto FC downs Austin FC to pick up three much-needed points in MLS playoff push

Published

14 mins ago

September 14, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Needing three points to keep their playoff push alive, Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio and Deandre Kerr stepped up with first-half goals against Austin FC on Saturday with goalkeeper Sean Johnson doing his bit at the other end.

A 76th-minute goal by Austin’s Owen Wolff made for a nervy ending but TFC hung on for a 2-1 win.

While Toronto (11-15-3) remains on the Major League Soccer playoff bubble in eighth place in the Eastern Conference (the eighth- and ninth-place teams in each conference square off in a wild-card playoff with the winner facing the top seed in the conference), other results went their way.

Seventh-place Charlotte, 10th-place Atlanta and 11th-place Philadelphia all lost while ninth-place D.C. United tied.

Toronto midfielder Alonso Coello called it “a game we had to win.”

“It’s a big win … To see that fight tonight was important,” added coach John Herdman.

Austin (9-12-7) came into the game in 11th place in the West, two points below ninth-place Minnesota. The Texas side has won just one of its last six league games (1-4-1).

Austin outshot Toronto 7-6 (6-2 edge in shots on target) in the first half but found itself trailing 2-0 at the break as Toronto took advantage of its chances and the visitors didn’t in their first-ever visit to BMO Field, before an announced crowd of 25,538.

Toronto had a dream start, catching Austin on the counterattack in the seventh minute. A sliding Austin player dispossessed an onrushing Kerr, who had been set free by a long ball from Coello, but the ball bounced to Osorio, who beat goalkeeper Brad Stuver with a rising shot.

It was the Toronto captain’s second goal of the season in league play and his 65th for TFC in all competitions. Only Sebastian Giovinco (83) and Jozy Altidore (79) scored more in Toronto colours.

TFC went ahead on another counterattack in the 30th minute after an Austin giveaway. Osorio found Richie Laryea outpacing his marker and the wingback unselfishly sent a perfect low cross across goal for Kerr to knock home for his third of the season.

Wolff, the son of Austin head coach Josh Wolff, made it interesting with his late strike. The 19-year-old U.S. youth international, controlling a long ball, beat defender Raoul Petretta and then waited out Johnson before slotting it home for his first of the season.

Toronto survived a nervy six minutes of stoppage time as Austin pressed for the equalizer. Austin outshot Toronto 14-9 (8-3 in shots on target) and had 52.5 per cent possession.

The win evened Toronto’s home record at 7-7-0, while Austin slipped to 3-8-3 on the road.

It was a costly evening for Austin with defender Brendan Hines-Ike, midfielder Jhojan Valencia and star attacker Sebastian Driussi allpicking up cautions to miss Wednesday’s game with Los Angeles FC due to yellow-card accumulation.

Toronto defender Shane O’Neill will miss Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus for the same reason. Toronto could be short mid-week, too. The hope is veteran centre back Kevin Long, who missed Saturday’s game after tweaking his hamstring in training, will be good to go.

Toronto has five games remaining, including three more at home as it looks to return to the post-season for the first time since 2020 when it lost to Nashville after extra time at the first hurdle.

It is a challenging road.

TFC hosts Columbus, the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami while playing away at the Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire. All but Chicago are in playoff positions.

The only previous meeting between Toronto and Austin was in May 2023, when Zardes scored a 91st-minute winner to give Austin a 1-0 win over visiting Toronto, which was then mired at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. That loss prompted a post-game outburst from Italian star Federico Bernardeschi about TFC’s drab play.

Then-coach Bob Bradley benched Bernardeschi for the next game.

Current coach John Herdman made four changes to his starting 11 with Bernardeschi and Osorio returning from suspension and Coello and Kerr also slotting in. Coello, who had missed the last eight league games with a hamstring injury, was impressive in his 59-minute return.

Both Toronto and Austin suffered home losses last time out going into the international break. Toronto was beaten 3-1 by D.C. United while Austin lost 1-0 to Vancouver.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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CF Montreal finds its groove with 2-1 win over Charlotte

Published

15 mins ago

September 14, 2024

Anne Joseph

MONTREAL – CF Montreal is back in the win column after securing a 2-1 Major League Soccer win over Charlotte FC on Saturday night at Stade Saputo.

Montreal’s form had suffered of late, with just one win in MLS since July, but Laurent Courtois’ squad showed a level of poise and control over the tempo of the game that had not been seen since the beginning of the season.

“What we’ve changed in the last few weeks or months in terms of our methodology or coaching, is nothing. We did the exact thing, We had the exact same words, and we expressed them the exact same way,” said Courtois. “Today, everything just clicked.”

Caden Clark scored for the first time as a Montreal (7-12-9) player in the 23rd minute, in addition to Bryce Duke’s goal three minutes later that ended up being the winner, while Tim Ream found the back of the net for Charlotte (10-10-8).

Montreal had the first major scoring chance of the match after 15 minutes of play. With a free kick roughly 25 metres away from goal, Gabriele Corbo sent a near-perfect shot smashing off the crossbar.

Montreal would continue to dictate the tempo in the opening phase, finding first blood just seven minutes later.

Following a phenomenal triple-save from Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, the ball fell to Clark who volleyed the ball into the wide-open net, picking up his first goal for the club.

“I think you don’t lose the feeling (of scoring), everything happens for a reason, you just can’t lose yourself in the chaos,” said Clark, who had missed a full season due to injury and was briefly without a club, but was grateful for Courtois’ confidence in him.

“(To have a coach’s confidence) is huge and is something I’ve had both ends of so you just can’t take advantage of that in the wrong way. I’m going to keep my discipline with the game plan and keep my head right.”

With momentum completely on their side, the home side doubled the lead just three minutes later. Montreal continued to build up play on the left flank and found a streaking Raheem Edwards in behind the defence who cut the ball back to Duke, sending the Stade Saputo crowd into a frenzy.

Just after the half-hour mark, Charlotte pulled one back through a set piece — something Montreal has struggled defending all season — as Ream rose above everyone at the back post to score his first with his new club.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the end of the first, with Charlotte pressing high up the pitch and forcing several turnovers in dangerous areas. After surviving the pressure, Montreal began to regain control of the game near the hour mark, enjoying the lion’s share of the possession while Charlotte looked to hit back on the counterattack.

“I think when we conceded that goal we were like ‘here we go again.’ 2-1 is a tough lead before halftime … and at the beginning of the half we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and they pressed a bit more, they moved a bit more forward and that opened some gaps,” said captain Samuel Piette.

“I was happy with that, it shows character. At the end of the day, we just wanted the three points and that’s what we got.”

As the game progressed, Charlotte pushed harder to find an equalizer but to no avail. With only one shot on target conceded, the second-worst defence in the league put up an impressive front and confidently rebuffed every single Charlotte attack.

“I’m a big fan of the back five’s performance in their discipline, competitiveness, and synchronization with balls in behind,” said Courtois.

“We can’t explain sometimes in a game it’s not there, they’re capable and today they showed it. Let’s see tomorrow.”

UP NEXT

Both teams are back in action on Sept. 18 away from home as Montreal will look to avenge a 5-0 rout against the New England Revolution while Charlotte visits Orlando City SC.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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Calgary Stampeders, Montreal Alouettes battle to 19-19 tie

Published

20 mins ago

September 14, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – The Calgary Stampeders ended a four-game losing streak and the Montreal Alouettes remained unbeaten on the road this CFL season with a 19-19 tie Saturday.

The two clubs traded field goals in overtime for the game to end in a stalemate.

Quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 19 or 26 pass attempts for 204 yards and scored a rushing touchdown for Montreal (10-2-1) in his third start since he was sidelined for six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Montreal kicker Jose Maltos kicked field goals from 53 and 42 yards, and from 30 and 37 yards in overtime.

His Stampeders counterpart Rene Paredes was good from 14 and 16 yards, missed from 51 and 52 yards, and then made a pair of 42-yarders in OT in front of an announced 20,187 at McMahon Stadium.

Quarterback Jake Maier was 29-of-37 in passing for 236 yards for Calgary (4-8-1). He was restored to starter after backing up Logan Bonner in a 37-16 road loss to the Edmonton Elks.

Calgary’s Marken Michel had a touchdown catch and Dedrick Mills rushed for 122 yards.

The Stampeders led 13-10 when Paredes’ 51-yard try early in the fourth rebounded off the left upright.

The Stampeders worked the ball to Montreal’s 15-yard line with just over two minutes to go, but undid that work with two major penalties.

Paredes’ 52-yard attempt was wide right to give the ball to Montreal with just over a minute to play.

Fajardo marched the offence downfield and with a second remaining, Maltos tied the game with a 42-yard field goal.

Paredes’ 16-yard field goal gave the Stampeders a 13-7 edge, but the Alouettes continued to chase with Maltos’ 53-yarder late in the third quarter.

Calgary led 10-7 with five minutes left in the first half when backup quarterback Tommy Stevens — inserted for a short-yardage touchdown attempt — fumbled on the two-yard line and turned the ball over.

Fajardo then threw the ball out of Montreal’s end zone 50 yards to Charleston Rambo, but that drive stalled at midfield.

Montreal’s Mustafa Johnson recovered teammate Justin Sambu’s knock-down of a Maier pass and rumbled for the end zone as the clock ticked down on the half.

Stampeder running back Peyton Logan brought down the defensive tackle at the five-yard line to preserve Calgary’s three-point lead at the half.

Montreal’s Sean Thomas-Erlington blocked a Cody Grace punt and corralled the ball in the end zone early in the second quarter.

Instead of a touchdown, however, the Alouette was assessed a penalty for roughing the kicker.

But Walter Fletcher’s 55-yard dash up the middle set up Fajardo’s three-yard touchdown early in the quarter.

Maier threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Elks on Labour Day, which prompted the quarterback shuffle.

Maier threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Michel in the end zone Saturday on Calgary’s second possession.

The hosts didn’t convert Montreal’s fumble on the subsequent kickoff into a bigger lead.

James Letcher Jr. lost the ball on the Alouettes’ 23-yard line. The Stampeders settled for a 14-yard field goal by Paredes and a 10-point lead after the opening quarter.

PERPETUAL PAREDES

Calgary kicker Rene Paredes moved into a tie for second in all-time Stampeder games with his 224th on Saturday. He drew even with defensive back and kicker Larry Robinson (1961-75). Kicker Mark McLoughlin (1988-2003) is the all-time leader with 276.

INDIGENOUS NIGHT

Saturday’s Indigenous Night game was radio broadcast in the Blackfoot language by Butch Wolfleg and Jacob Leblanc, in addition to the customary English broadcast.

Stampeder players wore orange jerseys during warm-up and their helmets featured a special horse logo to honour and raise awareness of thousands of Indigenous children sent to residential schools.

UP NEXT

The Stampeders are home Friday to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Montreal Alouettes continue a run of three straight road games Saturday against the Ottawa Redblacks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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