Police are investigating a suspicious overnight fire at Nöam, a kosher restaurant in Montreal&#8217;s Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as local leaders and community members urge authorities to treat the incident as a hate crime.
The blaze broke out around 3:15 a.m. on Saturday. While no injuries were reported, the building sustained major physical damage.
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A kosher restaurant in Montreal, Canada, was burned to the ground in a suspected arson attack in the early hours of Saturday morning. Emergency services were called to Nöam restaurant at around 3:15 a.m. after a man was seen on video apparently starting the fire before fleeing… <a href="https://t.co/8abdyivkBt">pic.twitter.com/8abdyivkBt</a>
&mdash; StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) <a href="https://x.com/StandWithUs/status/2083885987046854934?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) spokesperson Raphael Bergeron confirmed investigators possess security video showing an individual in a white T-shirt setting the fire before fleeing. Building owner Howard Szalavetz expressed heartbreak over the destruction, sharing fears that the business was intentionally targeted due to its Jewish identity. Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather and Provincial Representative Elisabeth Prass both visited the site, condemning the attack and demanding a thorough hate-crime investigation, CBC <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/police-fire-kosher-restaurant-9.7293777#:~:text=(%20St%C3%A9phane%20Gr%C3%A9goire%2FRadio%2DCanada)%20Social%20Sharing.%20Police%20are,Ville%20de%20Montr%C3%A9al%20(SPVM)%20spokesperson%20Raphael%20Bergeron.">reported</a>.
The arson attack reflects a wider, escalation of hostility directed at Canada&#8217;s 400,000-strong Jewish population. Over recent months, cities including Toronto and Montreal have experienced a noticeable surge in violent incidents: A Toronto Jewish girls&#8217; school was targeted by overnight gunfire on three separate occasions; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bagels-and-bullets-antisemitic-terror-wave-hits-jewish-bakery-chain">shots were fired</a> at Kiva’s Bagel Bar in Toronto, two Montreal Jewish institutions faced firebombings, and multiple synagogues in Nova Scotia were defaced with hate-filled graffiti.
Other reported incidents include attempted abductions and the assault of a Jewish man in front of his children in Montreal.
Community advocates note that these events put 2026 on track to be one of the most violent years on record for the Canadian Jewish community.
Meanwhile, only hours after the fire, the hostility extended into professional sports during a Major League Soccer match at Stade Saputo. Israeli international forward Dor Turgeman, playing for the visiting New England Revolution against CF Montréal, was subjected to hostile chants including &#8220;Death to Israel&#8221; and &#8220;Free Palestine&#8221; from sections of the crowd throughout the game.
Turgeman answered on the field in the 36th minute, scoring to give New England a 2–0 lead. He  celebrated by running toward the stands with his arms outstretched, pointing to his ears as if to say he couldn’t hear the hostility.
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That was quick ⚡️
Dor Turgeman makes it 2-0 for <a href="https://x.com/NERevolution?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NERevolution</a>!
📺 Apple TV: <a href="https://t.co/OHJW1JrVDJ">https://t.co/OHJW1JrVDJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/kgA8Z8TpUC">pic.twitter.com/kgA8Z8TpUC</a>
&mdash; Major League Soccer (@MLS) <a href="https://x.com/MLS/status/2083709603888455830?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Spectators reportedly <a href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/artc-targeted-by-chants-of-death-to-israel-dor-turgeman-responds-with-a-goal#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20match%2C%20some%20Montreal%20supporters%20chanted,allegedly%20behind%20recent%20antisemitic%20attacks%20in%20Canada.">hurled beer bottles</a> onto the pitch in response, and Montréal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza shoved Turgeman, triggering a brief altercation between players on both teams.

Views Of Quebec’s Largest City As Home Sales Rise

Montreal Kosher Restaurant Torched In Arson Attack As Anti-Semitic Hostility Spills Across Canada

Canada

Fire

Montreal

Restaurant

Soccer

Americans often picture Canada as a vast northern forest — an endless expanse of pristine wilderness. But the truth is far more complex and increasingly relevant to U.S.–Canada policy debates. Eighty‑nine percent of Canada is Crown land, owned by federal or provincial governments. Yet only about 10–12% of that land receives detailed ecological monitoring.
This matters because U.S. trade policy, Canadian conservation policy, and federal herbicide permitting are now combining to reshape North America’s forests in ways few Americans recognize.
Over the past 20 years, Canada’s sawmill and pulp‑and‑paper sectors have entered a steep decline. Statistics Canada and industry reports show that mill closures have accelerated, especially in western Canada, where over 30% of softwood lumber capacity has disappeared. Employment has dropped sharply. Entire forestry towns have hollowed out.
And while multiple factors contribute — mountain pine beetle damage, wildfire losses, transportation bottlenecks — the most overlooked driver is the federal government’s long‑standing approval of spraying Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide across millions of hectares of Crown forests. For decades, glyphosate has been used to kill broadleaf species — birch, aspen, poplar — so that commercially valuable conifers can dominate.
But this practice has consequences. Roundup creates monoculture conifer stands, which are more resin‑rich and significantly more flammable than mixed‑species forests. Instead of diverse, moisture‑retaining ecosystems, Canada is producing vast tracts of single‑age, single‑species pine and spruce — exactly the kind of forests that burn explosively under extreme fire weather.
The result is a continental paradox: Policies meant to “manage” forests have instead created more combustible landscapes, contributing to the anomalous rise in total annual area burned.
The deterioration of Canada’s forests is also being accelerated by domestic policy. Rising carbon taxes on diesel and gasoline — critical fuels for logging, hauling, and mill operations — have increased costs across the supply chain. New layers of regulation slow approvals and reduce harvest flexibility. And when pulp mills close, sawmills lose buyers for residual chips and sawdust, further undermining their economics.
But the most consequential impact of this industrial contraction is ecological. Canada’s parklands — where monitoring exists — show a clear trend of rapidly aging boreal forests, with large stands now reaching 70 to 120 years old.
In Alberta’s eastern foothills, provincial parks contain dense, overmature, fuel‑loaded forests primed for high‑intensity wildfire. Decades of fire suppression, beetle kill, drought, and heavy recreational pressure have created extreme fire risk. As Parks Canada itself warns, “the reduction or exclusion of fire as a natural process … leads to increased risk of wildfires.”
The consequences are here. Alberta’s Jasper National Park recently nearly burned to the ground when extreme fire weather collided with decades of fuel accumulation, beetle‑killed forests, a highly vulnerable townsite, and infrastructure failures.
Nonetheless, long‑term fire data tell a more nuanced story.
According to Canada’s National Burned Area Composite and Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre wildfire statistics, forest‑fire frequency has declined since the 1980s. Canada is experiencing fewer fires overall.
What has changed is the total area burned, which had remained relatively moderate for decades but then spiked dramatically in 2023 and again in 2025, producing two of the worst years for fires in modern Canadian history.
These spikes reflect the dangerous combination of aging forests, heavy fuel loads, glyphosate‑driven monoculture, and extreme fire weather — not an increase in ignition frequency.
Meanwhile, federal biodiversity reports show that parks are not experiencing net improvement. Most ecosystems are stable, but among those changing, declines outnumber gains. And crucially, non‑park Crown lands are not monitored at all, meaning there is no empirical basis to claim that conservation designations improve biodiversity.
Yet Ottawa is moving ahead with its flagship 30&#215;30 agenda — a plan to place 30% of Canada’s land and water under conservation status by 2030.
In practice, this means restricting forestry across vast areas as forests age, become fuel‑loaded, and become increasingly prone to extreme fire behavior. By limiting private‑sector utilization, 30&#215;30 will increase fuel loading, exacerbate forest aging, and reduce thinning and harvesting activities that mitigate catastrophic wildfire risk.
For Americans concerned about lumber prices or wildfire smoke drifting south, the lesson is simple. Canada’s forests are increasingly unmanaged, aging, and burning, not because Canadians don’t care, but because the economic and policy frameworks governing those forests are pushing the country toward less active management.
North America needs forestry — not just parks — to remain resilient.
***
Joseph Fournier, Ph.D., has worked in the energy industry and environmental sciences and is a member of the <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___http:/co2coalition.org/___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6NDViOWU2YTJiM2QyMGE4ZmU0OWYwMjA3NTc3NTY1MWQ6Nzo1ZWY5OjM4YWIxNTk1N2I0MmJhMzFkYTJiNjEzZjcxNzAwNTJhNzEwOTczNTdjOGYwNmEwZWNlZWRhYTVlYjg5OTcwZGI6cDpUOkY">CO2 Coalition</a>, Fairfax, Virginia. He writes from his family’s ranch east of Calgary.

Wildfire Smoke From Canada Arrives in New York City

Blame Canada’s Terrible Regulations For Wildfires Ruining America’s Summer

Crown land

DW Opinion

Forest Managment

National Burned Area Composite

Roundup (glyphosate)

Wildfires

A tribal member living in Canada pleaded guilty Thursday to her role in planning a cross-border smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of a family with two children who were under the age of three, The Daily Wire has learned.
Stephanie Square, 53, a dual Canadian-American citizen from the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Territory in Canada, ran a smuggling organization that brought illegal immigrants across the northern border via the Indian reservation, according to the Justice Department.
In March 2023, Square was contacted by &#8220;a prolific Canadian smuggler&#8221; who asked her to bring a Romanian family of four across the St. Lawrence River and into New York. Square then recruited several others to help sneak the family across.
One of the individuals Square tried to recruit refused to assist in the scheme, citing high winds on the St. Lawrence River that night. Still, Square looked for other smugglers.
Square disregarded the high winds, freezing temperatures, and limited visibility, insisting that she get paid.
“Aliens attempting to enter the United States illegally across the U.S.-Canada border are exposed to a range of dangers at the hands of human smugglers trying to capitalize on the misfortunes and misplaced hopes of others,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
“Here, in the face of known dangers, the defendant directed her co-conspirators to smuggle a family with young children across the St. Lawrence River on a cold, windy night with limited visibility. The dangers materialized into a preventable and tragic loss of life,&#8221; Duva said.
Dakota Montour, one of Square&#8217;s &#8220;regular&#8221; smuggling drivers, agreed to drive the family to Timothy Oakes&#8217; home on Cornwall Island, a well-known staging area used by smugglers.
The family arrived at Oakes&#8217; home around 3:35 a.m. on March 29, 2023, and left that evening. Oakes&#8217; car was seen hauling a light blue boat toward a public boat launch.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service began a search, recovering the bodies of the four family members between March 30 and March 31, 2023. They also recovered the smuggling boat.
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<div id="attachment_1141715" style="width: 646px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1141715" class="wp-image-1141715 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Untitled-design-2026-07-23T092929.434.jpg" alt="" width="636" height="379" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Untitled-design-2026-07-23T092929.434.jpg 636w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Untitled-design-2026-07-23T092929.434-300x179.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px" />DOJ</div>
Authorities found the body of the boat captain, Casey Oakes, eight months later, according to the DOJ, though some reports say three months.
Square pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for financial gain, and four counts of alien smuggling resulting in death. She faces a minimum prison sentence of five years and a maximum punishment of life behind bars.
&#8220;This defendant and their co-conspirators showed a blatant disregard for human life, our laws, and the safety of our communities. We remain unwavering in our commitment to working with our law enforcement partners to protect and secure our northern border,&#8221; First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John A. Sarcone III said.
Four of Square&#8217;s co-conspirators entered guilty pleas earlier.
Square and co-conspirator Rahsontanohstha Delormier, also known as &#8220;Storm,&#8221; 31, of the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Territory in Canada, were extradited to the United States from Canada in 2025. Delormier entered a guilty plea on June 26.

Untitled design – 2026-07-23T092622.453

EXCLUSIVE: Member Of Indian Tribe Admits To Orchestrating Deadly Border Smuggling Scheme

Border

Crime

Department of Justice

New York

Smuggling

A Catholic priest says he was offered Canada&#8217;s state-sanctioned euthanasia program not once, but twice while recovering from a fractured hip.
The incident is fueling renewed criticism of Canada&#8217;s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program, which has expanded dramatically since it was legalized in 2016. Government figures now put the total number of assisted deaths at roughly 100,000.
Father Larry Holland says a doctor raised the possibility of assisted death shortly after his admission to the hospital, according to <a href="https://bccatholic.ca/news/catholic-van/maid-raised-vancouver-priest-hospital-care-twice">reporting</a> from The B.C. Catholic. The option was later discussed again by a nurse. Both medical professionals knew Holland was a priest. The Catholic Church unequivocally rejects euthanasia in all its forms.
Holland said that when he told the doctor he was morally opposed to euthanasia, the doctor said “he just wanted to make sure that, if a [terminal] diagnosis came up or not &#8230; I knew of the different services I had access to,” according to the report.
Holland said the nurse seemed uncomfortable talking to him about the MAiD program but likely did so because he was suffering badly. “It’s a false compassion, really,” he said.
Vancouver Coastal Health told The B.C. Catholic that healthcare providers can discuss the MAiD program “based on their clinical judgment.”
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/movement-barrels-forward-to-euthanize-12-year-old-children-in-canada">The Daily Wire</a> reported last year, MAiD started back in 2016 for people whose natural death was “reasonably foreseeable” and who wanted to end their lives. Expansion of the program has led to an explosion of state-sanctioned suicides in recent years.
Holland&#8217;s experience echoes several other widely reported cases involving MAiD.
Last year, Miriam Lancaster, a British Columbia woman, said she went to a hospital in severe pain and was offered MAiD before doctors had even identified the source of her suffering. It turned out that Lancaster was suffering from a treatable pelvic fracture caused by osteoporosis and fully recovered.
The case of Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old disabled veteran, sent similar shockwaves about the MAID program. When she requested a wheelchair ramp for her home, Canada’s Veterans Affairs department offered to send her a MAiD kit that would help her to end her own life, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disabled-veteran-and-paralympian-asked-for-a-wheelchair-ramp-canadas-va-offered-to-help-her-commit-suicide-instead">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
There&#8217;s also Roger Foley, an Ontario man with a neurological condition, who says he was offered death-by-MAiD while he was fighting to get proper long-term care.
Not only are adults with hip fractures or disabilities being offered the death &#8220;solution,&#8221; but prominent groups are calling for minors as young as 12 years old to be included in MAiD. One advocacy group, called “Dying With Dignity Canada,” recommends minors as young as 12 be included in the program, and goes as far as to suggest 16 and 17-year-olds shouldn’t even need parental consent to be killed by a doctor if they fit broad criteria.
&#8220;There is a kind of gruesome, relentless logic at work here, and this is why the logical ‘slippery slope’ argument is a valid argument,” Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatrist and director at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told The Daily Wire at the time. “Once you cross the line of allowing doctors to kill patients, once you cross the line of accepting the basic premise of the euthanasia movement — which is that some lives are not worth living and therefore these people should be killed by the medical profession, then it’s very hard to argue that there should be any limitations.”
Moreover, as the MAiD expansion continues, a recent internal British Columbia <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/b-c-found-hundreds-of-maid-compliance-concerns-in-2024-the-province-wont-say-what-happened">government report</a> found 2,807 cases requiring follow-up and 353 compliance concerns in 2024 alone. The findings have raised questions about whether the program&#8217;s safeguards are being effectively enforced, particularly given the lack of public information about how many of the flagged cases resulted in corrective action or discipline.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/movement-barrels-forward-to-euthanize-12-year-old-children-in-canada">Movement Barrels Forward To Euthanize 12 Year Old Children In Canada</a>

A Catholic Priest Walks Into A Canadian Hospital. They Offer To Kill Him, Twice. 

Euthanasia

Health

Priest

President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Canada for sending wildfire smoke into the United States and said the costs associated with the pollution &#8220;must of necessity be added&#8221; to tariffs on Canadian imports.
In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Canada of &#8220;willful negligence,&#8221; saying America is &#8220;being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air.&#8221; The president said he planned to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney later Friday to figure out a solution.
&#8220;Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal, knowing that such refusal will lead to exactly this result,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116936952365066409">wrote</a>. &#8220;This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s post comes as hundreds of Canadian wildfires sent smoke south, leading to air quality advisories for more than 100 million Americans in 18 states and Washington, D.C. Images of hazy, gray skies across much of the Midwest and Northeast flooded social media, blurring skylines, reducing visibility, and triggering some outdoor cancellations.
Nearly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/canada-wildfire-smoke-response-d0d3613a">900 wildfires</a> are burning across Canada, forcing evacuations and threatening remote communities after a major wave of blazes erupted over the past two weeks.
The hardest-hit U.S. cities have been in the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, including Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Cleveland, where Major League Baseball <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-pirates-guardians-0a1b831efa3f58d79e560a4e867d83dd?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">postponed</a> Friday night&#8217;s Guardians-Pittsburgh Pirates game after the air quality reached the &#8220;very unhealthy&#8221; category. The smoke has also raised questions about Sunday&#8217;s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
&#8220;We want to be safe for our players,&#8221; Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. &#8220;We want to make sure that it&#8217;s not too smoky and obviously for the fans as well. It&#8217;s just not safe to be out in that environment if it&#8217;s not playable.&#8221;
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Where did Lake Erie go? <a href="https://t.co/C1y4rFLYVg">pic.twitter.com/C1y4rFLYVg</a>
— News 5 Cleveland (@WEWS) <a href="https://x.com/WEWS/status/2078096444032987502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
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As of Friday evening, Prime Minister Carney had not publicly responded to Trump&#8217;s comments or tariff threat. Canada is already subject to multiple rounds of tariffs from the Trump administration. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has pushed back against Trump&#8217;s trade agenda, fired back.
&#8220;If there&#8217;s some politicians out there chirping away, well maybe what you should do rather than complain, is send support, send help, because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/us-complaints-trump-widlfire-smoke-9.7274466">said</a>.

Chicago, July 17, 2026

Trump Says America Is Being ‘Unnecessarily Invaded’ By Canadian Wildfire Smoke

Donald Trump

Environment

Executive

Mark Carney

Tariffs

When President Donald Trump floated the idea of Canada becoming our 51st state, the Left lost its collective mind on both sides of the border.
A group of Democratic House members <a href="https://democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=C44F2297-5A45-49AB-806B-D587082D0739&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com">warned</a> that the president’s rhetoric threatens to leave us alone to face other challenges we cannot overcome on our own. U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) <a href="https://lindasanchez.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/sanchez-delivers-remarks-house-floor-canada-tariffs-vote">denounced</a> the “childish threats” as “certainly not strategic.&#8221; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/world/canada/carney-trump-canada-speech.html">declared,</a> “Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Fast forward to the present day, and hazardous smoke from over 800 Canadian wildfires is billowing across American skies. As of Friday, air quality alerts were in effect <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/at-least-17-states-under-air-quality-alerts-as-canadian-wildfire-smoke-spreads-in-the-midwest-and-northeast-raising-questions-about-the-world-cup-final-184707666.html">across at least 17 states,</a> imperiling the health of more than 125 million Americans. On a scale of 0 to 500, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/weather/what-to-know-canada-wildfires-smoke.html">the air quality rating eclipsed 800</a> in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night.
Funny, the chorus of warnings from the Left about reckless behavior has gone quiet. So much for “challenges we cannot overcome on our own.”
These fires are not new, and neither are the consequences. In 2023, Canadian wildfires <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c703nzl25ypo">emitted more carbon</a> (647 million metric tons) than the annual output of all but three countries worldwide.
How does this keep happening, and who is to blame?
The Left, as they are wont to do for almost anything, points the finger at climate change. In 2023, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer <a href="https://x.com/SenSchumer/status/1666534710720315392">declared</a>, “These Canadian wildfires are truly unprecedented, and climate change continues to make these disasters worse. We passed the Inflation Reduction Act to fight climate change, and we must do more to speed our transition to cleaner energy and reduce carbon in the atmosphere.”
In early 2025, while fires in California <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Los-Angeles-wildfires-of-2025">were claiming 30 lives</a>, forcing more than 180,000 people to flee their homes and costing an estimated $100 billion in damage, California Governor Gavin Newsom <a href="https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/1882904964403511556">told</a> his constituents that “climate change is here and it is real.”
Schumer and Newsom are right. Climate change is the cause of these fires. Only not in the way they are suggesting.
Just as the threat of “carbon emissions” has been used to justify sweeping changes to the American way of life (Barack Obama’s attempt to ban coal, Newsom’s efforts to eliminate gas-powered vehicles, Biden’s IRA boondoggle), the Canadians have used it to mismanage their forests. <a href="https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/forestry">Roughly 38%</a> of Canada’s land consists of forest, significantly more than the U.S, and <a href="https://natural-resources.canada.ca/forests-forestry/sustainable-forest-management/forest-land-ownership">94%</a> of those forests are publicly owned.
On its <a href="https://natural-resources.canada.ca/forests-forestry/sustainable-forest-management/canada-s-forest-laws?utm_source=chatgpt.com">government website</a>, Canada proudly declares its “forest laws are among the strictest in the world,” adding, “by law, forest management plans must be approved before harvesting starts.”
For the last decade-plus, Canada’s government has been run by leftists, first Justin Trudeau, who was succeeded by Carney in 2025. During his tenure, Trudeau repeatedly downplayed forest management, denouncing an “attack on experts, and on science” in favor of his preferred villain of the climate polluters.
In one 2024 House of Commons debate over <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/House/441/Debates/347/HAN347-E.PDF?utm_source=chatgpt.com">forest management</a>, Trudeau intoned that, “if we do not act in fighting against climate change with everything we have, then there will be no economy of the future.”
Forget about the economy of the future. These fires threaten Canada’s very existence today.
When the government fails to manage the forests, the consequences are steep. When forests are unmanaged and unattended, they burn.
Long after these fires are extinguished and the air returns to normal, the dangerous mentality of the climate cult will persist on both sides of the border.
Even after all his state has been through, Newsom, one of the Democratic Party’s wannabe standard-bearers, <a href="https://usclimatealliance.org/press-releases/alliance-statement-on-epa-endangerment-finding-repeal-feb-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">is still claiming</a>, “greenhouse gases cause climate change and endanger our communities and our health.”
Never mind the children, pregnant women, and those with respiratory conditions in our country today, who are worried about the air they are breathing.
Climate change is the linchpin excuse for failed government. Remember that the next time Gavin Newsom comes after your gas car. Or New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urges you to set your air conditioning at 78 degrees during a heatwave. Or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that <a href="https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-cortez-presses-epa-assistant-administrator-kramer-jeopardizing-clean">data centers are dirty</a>.
The real threat is the failure of leadership. That failure can be deadly, and the symptoms manifest themselves in different ways, but the cause is rooted in climate politics. Given their current plight, perhaps it’s a blessing that Canada did not become our 51st state after all.
***
Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. He also runs a sheep and cattle farm in rural Virginia.  Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF

“Extreme” Santa Ana Winds Spark New Wildfires In Southern California

Blame Canada For Their Dumb Hot Wildfires

Climate Change

Justin Trudeau

Millions of Americans face apocalyptic skies as wind blows heavy smoke from Canadian wildfires into the United States. 
Impact from the smoke could be felt Friday across major cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. The smoke originated from roughly 800 wildfires that blazed in recent weeks in Ontario, Canada and is expected to continue impacting American&#8217;s air quality for the next several days. 
The conditions have prompted air quality warnings from officials who have encouraged residents in some areas to stay inside. Milwaukee saw its worst air quality on record while alerts were issued in over a dozen states — mianly throughout the Midwest and Northeast — urging people to be cautious. 
Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency <a href="https://x.com/OhioEPA/status/2077826905974149601/photo/1">told</a> people to “avoid strenuous outdoor activities when possible, especially if you have heart or respiratory conditions. Watch for symptoms like wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, dizziness, or irritation in your nose, throat, or eyes.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GovGretchenWhitmer/posts/a-statewide-air-quality-alert-remains-in-place-today-with-air-quality-ranging-fr/1558742538934998/">said</a> people across her state should “stay indoors whenever possible.”
The smoke could be seen in the nation&#8217;s capital on Friday, with residents noting the eerie look of the smoke floating around the iconic city.
“The sky and the air in DC looks apocalyptic — as if things can&#8217;t get weirder,” <a href="https://x.com/MeghanMcCain/status/2078086173025603685">said</a> commentator Meghan McCain.
The fallout from the fires has led some lawmakers to call for action, including Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno who said he plans to file legislation that would sanction Canada over the wildfires. 
“Canada’s government failed to invest in wildfire prevention methods including forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and stronger enforcement against arson,” Moreno’s <a href="https://www.13abc.com/2026/07/16/sen-bernie-moreno-looks-hold-canadian-government-responsible-wildfire-smoke/">office said</a>. 
Four Michigan Congressional Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate John James, <a href="https://bergman.house.gov/uploadedfiles/canadian_wildfires_summer_2026.pdf">wrote</a> a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to critique Canada’s handling of its wildfires.  
&#8220;The season has come around again, and nothing has changed except that our patience has run out,” the GOP lawmakers wrote. &#8220;Our constituents in Michigan are once again under air quality alerts. Our hospitals are once again treating children, dialysis patients, and older residents for the effects of smoke that did not originate anywhere near them.&#8221;
&#8220;This is the third consecutive year we have had to write to Canadian officials about a crisis that Canada has the tools to prevent and has chosen not to,” they added. “We were told last year that this would be treated with urgency. It was not.&#8221;
Earlier this week, Carney said that thousands of people across Canada had been forced to evacuate due to the fires.

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A Canadian national learned the hard way that political rage can carry a hefty price tag — including a possible one-way ticket out of the country.
Kaitlyn Tracey, a 33-year-old living in Asbury Park, allegedly lost her cool on the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk on Jersey Shore over the Fourth of July weekend and is accused of <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/15/us-news/canadian-woman-kaitlyn-tracey-detained-by-ice-after-allegedly-assaulting-teen-girl-wearing-trump-clothing-at-jersey-shore/">unleashing a physical assault</a> on a teenager whose only crime was her wardrobe choice.
According to authorities, Tracey filmed herself confronting a group of four young girls on July 3. The trigger? Two of the minors were wearing patriotic sweatpants emblazoned with the words &#8220;Trump&#8221; and &#8220;ICE.&#8221; Tempers flared, and Tracey allegedly smacked one of the young girls across the face and body. While the teenager escaped physical injury, Tracey couldn’t escape the law.
Cops used security footage to track down the angry Canadian. She was hit with a laundry list of charges, including endangering the welfare of a child, assault, harassment, and obstruction.
But her troubles didn&#8217;t stop there. On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents snatched Tracey up and threw her into the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark.
Her husband, Matthew Geroni — who calls himself the &#8220;Clown of Asbury Park&#8221; and regularly mocks conservatives — scrambled to TikTok to beg his 140,000 followers for help, conveniently leaving out the part where his wife allegedly slapped a kid. A GoFundMe page he promoted for her legal fees was quickly yanked down after angry MAGA supporters reported it.
The leftist&#8217;s boardwalk tantrum is just the latest flashpoint in a years-long wave of violent outbursts targeting everyday Americans for wearing red hats or flying conservative flags.
Just two months ago, the hatred turned lethal. Kerry Sheron, a 69-year-old Army veteran known for his patriotic &#8220;Trump House&#8221; in Escondido, California, was brutally beaten in his own front yard. The elderly veteran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/army-vet-dies-after-hes-beaten-outside-his-famed-trump-house">died of his injuries</a> days later.
The rage extends to even the most mundane settings. Back in July 2018, a Texas teenager sitting in a San Antonio Whataburger had his MAGA hat ripped off and soda thrown in his face by an angry patron. In August 2019, a man was jumped outside a Portland, Oregon bar by two thugs simply because he was <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/maga-hat-trump-portland-oregon-assault/#:~:text=By%20Rob%20Manning%20(OPB)%20Portland%2C%20Ore.%20Aug.,to%20the%20Multnomah%20County%20District%20Attorney's%20office.">wearing the signature red hat</a>.
Even law enforcement has been caught in the middle of the madness. A federal appeals court previously ruled that Trump supporters attacked at a 2016 campaign rally in San Jose could sue local police. Officers allegedly funneled attendees right into a hostile mob of anti-Trump protesters and stood by while they were pummeled and pelted with garbage.
For Tracey, her next date in court is on August 4 if Uncle Sam doesn&#8217;t deport her back to the Great White North first.

Nation’s Capital Prepares For President-Elect Donald Trump’s Second Inauguration

ICE Takes Action After Canadian Lefty Accused Of Slapping American Teen Over Trump Pants

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A gay couple is suing a single mother for an estimated $600,000 because she refused abortion after potential minor birth defects were discovered by ultrasound.
A surrogate in Canada says a gay couple told her to abort the baby she was carrying — which was created using a donor egg and one of the men&#8217;s sperm — at nearly six months pregnant over a possible cleft palate and a potential minor heart issue. A lawsuit obtained by the National Post says the couple is suing the woman for causing them emotional distress and not keeping them informed in a timely manner.
After the woman, who is not being named, refused to kill the child, the couple allegedly stiffed her on reimbursement for pregnancy-related expenses, lost income, and other costs, which were supposed to be paid per agreement. When the woman tried to take them to small claims court to try to get the $10,000, the couple hit her with an estimated $600,000 lawsuit.
“You know I’m a single mom, you know I have a daughter, and you’re basically suing me for my house. It seems very sh*tty, it’s just awful,&#8221; the woman said. “I just feel used … They didn’t get the perfect child they wanted and they threw me away.”
In Canada, women are not paid enormous sums for surrogacy as they are in America; instead, they&#8217;re only allowed reimbursement for pregnancy-related expenses. The woman in this case said she decided to become a surrogate to help others. She said she was inundated with dozens of requests for surrogacy after she announced her intentions. She added that she chose the gay couple after much consideration.
After the woman told the partners about possible birth defects, which were a cleft lip, a potential cleft palate, and a possible minor heart defect, the couple said in a letter that they wanted their surrogate to kill the child.
“Considering that medical tests indicate that the fetus has, or is likely to have, a genetic, chromosomal or other abnormality or defect, and in accordance with article 8.5 (a) of our surrogacy agreement … we want to inform you of our wish that the pregnancy be terminated,” the gay couple reportedly said. “Although very difficult, this decision is free and informed.”
The request left the woman feeling &#8220;devastated” and a “mess,&#8221; she said.
She ended up delivering a baby boy through an at-home birth, which further upset the gay couple, who reportedly wanted the baby delivered in a hospital because of the suspected birth defects. The at-home birth was agreed upon in their original surrogacy plan.
Surrogacy has become increasingly controversial, with critics arguing that the process turns motherhood into a transaction, preys on the poor, and treats children like a product.
Pro-life activist Lila Rose <a href="https://x.com/LilaGraceRose/status/2077207953451692129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">posted</a> about the lawsuit on Tuesday, writing, &#8220;A same-sex couple is suing their surrogate for $600K after she refused to abort their baby at 22 weeks in Canada. Scans indicated the child had a cleft lip and a possible heart defect,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The little boy was born healthy.&#8221;
&#8220;That child is alive today not because of the men who purchased his life, but because the woman who carried him in her womb protected him. Children are not commodities,&#8221; Rose added. &#8220;Ban surrogacy now.&#8221;
The gay couple declined to comment on the matter, according to the Post.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/surrogacy-is-the-worst-outcome-of-throwaway-culture">Surrogacy Is The Worst Outcome Of Throwaway Culture</a>

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Politics, in its original understanding, is the art of securing the happiness of a people through reasoned deliberation about justice and the common good. In modern democracies, however, it is increasingly the art of manipulating passions that obliterate reason and obscure the common good. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is a striking example of this degeneration. He has ascended to power by pandering to his citizenry’s lowest and most convenient resentment: anti-Americanism.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Gordie Howe Bridge affair, which lays bare the contradiction at the heart of his rule. Having ridden this wave to victory last year, Carney now discovers that the very passion he inflamed has become a tyrant over his own judgment. He confronts a hard truth: his personal electoral interest is now at war with the national interest, even the self-preservation, of Canada itself.
To understand the gravity of the problem, one must begin with first principles. No political order can endure if it deliberately miseducates its citizens to hate the very conditions of its existence. Canada’s geography, economy, and security are inseparable from its friendship with the United States. To pretend that Canada can flourish while treating the United States as a permanent enemy, a perpetual object of contempt, is to deny the truths upon which Canadian peace and prosperity rest. Yet Carney’s political genius has been to transform that denial into a badge of national honor.
Any prudent statesman might criticize particular American policies that conflict with Canadian interests. But this is not what transpired. Rather, Carney’s campaign invited Canadians to define themselves against America. He courted and inflamed a virulent anti-Americanism that treats the United States as a principle of corruption: culturally vulgar, economically rapacious, politically decadent. Canada, by contrast, was painted as the purer North American nation, morally superior, more compassionate, more enlightened. It was a flattering tale, and flattery is the great solvent of good judgment in democracies.
The teaching implicit in this rhetoric is simple: whatever comes from the United States is suspect; whatever separates Canada from the United States must be inherently virtuous. Having accepted such a teaching, the electorate is now predisposed to see any close cooperation, any agreement, any “deal” with the United States as a betrayal.
But a nation cannot sustain itself on the proposition, “We are what we are not.” Canada does not become more truly itself by hollowing out its own material foundations in order to maintain a heightened sense of moral indignation. Pride is not a substitute for prosperity, and contempt is not policy.
The Gordie Howe Bridge episode crystallizes the danger. The bridge represents a critical artery of trade and supply between Windsor and Detroit: an embodiment of cross-border integration. Millions of jobs, billions of dollars in commerce, and the daily lives of citizens on both sides depend upon it. It is a standing refutation of the delusion that Canada can seal itself off from the United States and flourish in isolation.
But Carney is, by his own design, the tribune of an anti-American demos. He has indoctrinated his supporters to believe that American “demands” are, by their nature, insulting, and that any accommodation is proof of weakness. He has courted commentators and activists who treat every bilateral agreement as another chapter in the supposed story of Canadian victimhood.
Thus, when the bridge crisis emerged, he found himself caught between truth and the passions he had stoked. Business leaders, economists, and provincial officials could see the stakes: disruption of a vital trade corridor, damage to supply chains, risk to investment and employment. Every rational argument pointed toward a negotiated deal. But these considerations had to confront a public teaching: that to bend in any way to American insistence is to forfeit Canadian dignity.
The path he chose was characteristic of a politician who fears the electorate he has miseducated. Outwardly, he postured as the defender of Canadian sovereignty, drawing “red lines,” using the rhetoric of defiance, promising no compromise. Inwardly, his government scrambled to find a formula that would prevent another economic calamity. The eventual resolution gave the United States much of what it had sought from the beginning, but it came late, obscured by semantic evasions and half-acknowledged concessions.
The results satisfied no one. Those Canadians most committed to the anti-American line saw only capitulation under the cloak of empty bravado. More sober observers, who understand that Canada cannot risk a trade war with its indispensable neighbor, saw a prime minister incapable of saying in public what he was compelled to admit in private: that Canadian survival requires cooperation with the American colossus.
The bridge incident, therefore, reveals that Canada is being habituated to a fatal confusion: the belief that to do what is necessary for national self-preservation is somehow ignoble, while to indulge sterile defiance is virtuous. A political order that teaches such a lesson to its citizens corrodes the very faculty of judgment on which self-government depends.
In its classical understanding, prudence is the chief political virtue by which a statesman discerns and pursues the true good. Prudence does not mean timidity or surrender; it means seeing things as they are and acting accordingly. For a Canadian prime minister, prudence must begin with the acknowledgment that Canada’s fate is entwined with that of the United States. Geography and power are not nullified by rhetoric. The question is not whether Canada will deal with the United States, but on what terms, with what clarity, and in what spirit.
Anti-Americanism, as Carney has wielded it, is the enemy of prudence. It does not permit a calm weighing of advantages and risks. It insists that the very act of dealing with the United States is suspect. It inverts the moral order: necessary compromise becomes shameful, and theatrical defiance becomes noble. Under such conditions, the statesman who seeks the true good of his nation must either defy the prejudices he has helped create or surrender to them and preside over a long decline.
The question, then, “Is it in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s interest to secure any deals with the United States?” must be answered on two levels. If by “interest” we mean his interest as a seeker of re-election, then a comprehensive rational agreement with the United States may well be contrary. Every sensible concession will be denounced as treason by those whom he taught to equate dignity with defiance.
But if by “interest” we mean the preservation and flourishing of Canada as a free and prosperous nation, then such a deal is indispensable. To jeopardize crucial economic and security arrangements for the sake of indulging national vanity is to prefer shadow to substance. It is to sacrifice the future for the intoxication of the present moment.
Carney’s predicament is thus emblematic of a deeper crisis in demagogic leadership. The statesman worthy of the name seeks to elevate opinion toward truth, to discipline and educate passion so that the people can recognize their true interests. The demagogue does the opposite: he magnifies passion against reason and then becomes its captive.
Nations can die more subtly than by invasion, bankruptcy, or demographic collapse. That is, by losing the capacity to recognize their own good when it conflicts with their favorite resentments. Canada now stands at such a crossroads. It can have its cathartic anti-Americanism, or it can have a serious future in which its prosperity and security are guarded with adult sobriety. What it cannot have, no matter how skilled its prime minister, is both.
***
Dimpee Brar currently serves as the Director of Engagement for Allies for a Strong Canada. She is a writer whose work can be found in the Federalist, American Spectator, the Western Standard, and the Toronto Sun. She appears frequently on various podcasts and radio shows. You can follow her on X: @isthisdimpeeb

Gordie Howe International Bridge Nearly Ready to Open

The Gordie Howe Bridge Affair And The Costs Of Canada’s Anti-Americanism

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Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has officially traded his cabinet meetings for choreography, hitting a humiliating new low as a backup dancer in a Katy Perry music video.
It’s quite the pivot for a politician who once ran a major Western G7 nation and now finds himself playing second fiddle to a pop princess.
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Katy Perry is 41 years old. She&#39;s dressed like a child while Justin Trudeau jumps around with her like a child with ADHD. <a href="https://t.co/pTBB4FAYeN">pic.twitter.com/pTBB4FAYeN</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) <a href="https://x.com/ianmiles/status/2075556151484432624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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At age 54, Justin Trudeau finally gets his big break in the entertainment industry with a bit-part playing a mexican jumping-bean in a Katy Perry video. <a href="https://t.co/vJgYPiKkpp">https://t.co/vJgYPiKkpp</a>
&mdash; Josh Ryan 🍁 (@joshryanjames) <a href="https://x.com/joshryanjames/status/2075535664787964252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Trudeau, 54, and Perry, 41, first sparked romance rumors in the summer of 2025 after getting cozy in Montreal and locking lips on her yacht. By October, they made it official, holding hands at a cabaret show at Crazy Horse Paris while celebrating her birthday.
In April, the duo was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-canadian-prime-minister-goes-all-in-on-coachella-boyfriend-vibe?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Former+Canadian+Prime+Minister+Goes+All-In+On+Coachella+Boyfriend+Vibe">roasted</a> for acting like aged-out frat boys at Coachella. While Justin Bieber phoned in a sleepy performance, Trudeau paced the festival grounds in a backward cap, clutching a red Solo cup like a middle-aged dad trying to crash a college rager.
Should we be surprised? Trudeau’s embarrassing pivot from head of state to boy toy is just the natural evolution for Canada’s ultimate &#8220;woke&#8221; poster boy.
During his decade in power, Trudeau became a global laughingstock for prioritizing virtue-signaling over actual leadership. He infamously pushed gender identity laws that led to a father <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/canadian-father-jailed-after-misgendering-daughter-lands-win-in-appeal-court">being jailed</a> for misgendering his child, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JustinPJTrudeau/posts/when-women-and-girls-are-empowered-entire-families-communities-and-societies-suc/759160075566385/">declared</a> that &#8220;trans women are women&#8221; on International Women’s Day.
When Ottawa truckers protested for basic medical freedom in 2022, the hypersensitive PM fled.
And while anti-Israel rioters burned cars in Montreal, Trudeau was spotted dancing his worries away at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto.
After driving Canada into the ground with high costs of living and mass immigration, Trudeau finally resigned in early 2025.
It didn&#8217;t take long for him to find a new gig. While his ex-wife, Sophie Grégoire, and Perry’s ex, Orlando Bloom, move on with their lives, Trudeau is busy trying to stay relevant under the stage lights.
From running Canada to dancing for Katy, Justin Trudeau has finally found the role he was always born to play: a harmless, self-absorbed theatrical extra.

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Justin Trudeau Makes Surprise Debut as Katy Perry Backup Dancer

Dancing For Katy: Trudeau Finds New Career As Backup Dancer

Katy Perry

My Dearest America,
From across your northern border, from a nation that has enjoyed the serene luxury of your shadow and your shelter, I write to you on the occasion of your 250th birthday — as a grateful beloved and not some moralistic scold or resentful neighbor. For I am acutely aware that the liberties I enjoy, and the clarity with which I know myself free, are gifts of your thought, your daring, and your existence. I am a Canadian woman, yes, but in the profoundest sense that matters — one which appeals to nature and not to passports — I am your daughter.
Others will say you are a “propositional nation,” while some still cling to the hope that you are a “heritage nation.” Both miss the point, because each misunderstands the revolution behind what you really did and who you really are. The radicalism of your proposition lies in its claim to be true by nature. In brief, you are and will be true in all times and places. You did something unprecedented: you took equality and liberty out of the realm of myth, custom, and historical accident, and you wrote them on the tablet of nature itself. “All men are created equal.” You said that what you claim depends not on particular English habits, Protestant temperament, or colonial grievances; it depends on the soul.
That is why I, a foreigner, can claim you with gratitude and seriousness. The moment you say “created equal,” you obliterate the boundary between your citizens and the rest of mankind — not politically, but philosophically. You announce that the standard by which regimes are to be judged is man’s eternal nature and not tradition, blood, or geography. And if that is true, any regime — yours, mine, or any other — that repudiates that standard becomes an enemy not merely of Americans, but of humanity itself. This is why your existence is more than a political fact; it is a philosophical revolution.
You are called arrogant for speaking of yourselves as a “city on a hill.” But your most profound audacity is your humility before nature. You dared to assert that the truths upon which you rest are not yours. They do not belong to Boston or Philadelphia. They are not an American custom; they are a human truth. You did not create the equality of men; you discovered it. You did not grant inalienable rights; you recognized them. That is why you are, and must be, a light to other nations.
The light you bear is not the sentimental glow of humanitarian feeling, which rises and falls with fashion. It is the light of nature—a light that flattens false hierarchies and exposes tyrannies as both false and unjust. It is the light by which a peasant in China, a dissident in Iran, and a woman in Canada can quietly measure her rulers and know whether they are legitimate. It whispers to the soul: You were not born to be a subject. You were not born to be a means. That whisper is your greatest weapon.
You are the New Zion and its new chosen people. This is not to say God prefers your soil or your accents, but rather that you have been chosen for a specific task. You are chosen to live with the burden of having declared to the world that there is a standard above tribe, throne, party, and epoch. The burden is that you cannot retreat into the consolations of relativism without betraying your foundation. You cannot comfortably say, “Well, every culture has its own truths,” without also sawing off the branch on which you sit. If equality and liberty are not true by nature, then your founding is a magnificent illusion, and you are only one more tribe defending its prejudices. But if they are true by nature, then their reach is universal, their demand inescapable. You carry that demand. You carry it in your institutions, but more profoundly, you carry it in your self-understanding. You are condemned, by your own first principles, to care about the fate of liberty everywhere — out of philosophic consistency and not of imperial ambition. This is the burden of being New Zion. You cannot hide your light under a bushel without ceasing to be yourselves.
From my vantage point, in a nation that has grown accustomed to retreat — to the modest comfort of thinking we can live as if history has ended and geography will protect us — I see you for what you are: the keystone of Western civilization. Remove you, and the arch collapses. Your military power is the result of this reason. The real keystone is that in you, the philosophy of natural rights did not remain an abstraction in a book or a lecture, but took the frightening step into reality. You wagered that men, understood as by nature free and equal, must govern themselves. The West’s greatest achievement — the union of reason and liberty—has its most concrete home in you.
That is why your crises are never local matters. When you grow weary of yourself, when you tire of the old words and regard them as empty slogans, it is not only you who are endangered. A world already suspicious about reason looks on and concludes that even the noblest attempt to found politics on nature is a failure. Your decadence is offered as proof that the longing for liberty must submit at last to some new form of gentle despotism, administrative and “scientific,” tidy and soulless. The world is always looking for an excuse to give up on the demand that regimes justify themselves by appealing to something higher than power. Your failure would be that excuse.
This is why — on this 250th anniversary — I write to thank you, not simply to flatter. You are tempted today by two opposite forms of forgetfulness. One is the temptation of heritage idolatry: to imagine that what makes you is a mere continuity of blood and custom, an ethnic story dressed up as philosophy. The other is the temptation of pure proceduralism: to see yourself as nothing but an empty framework in which any “culture”, any “values,” any “identity” may be poured.
Both are evasions. The first reduces you to a tribe among tribes and abandons the universality at your essence. The second strips you of all substantive claims and abandons the truth by nature that gave you birth. Between these lies the hard road of self-knowledge: to remember that you are, in origin, argument and not blood — the argument that there are truths about man and justice that are true everywhere and always.
As a Canadian, I have been spared many of your struggles. But I have not been spared the consequences of your ideas. I live in a world fundamentally shaped by the fact that, in 1776, a group of men on the eastern edge of a vast continent dared to write that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that when any form of government becomes destructive of the ends of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it may be altered or abolished. Whether my own nation remembers it or not, I know, because you taught me, that any regime which denies the equal natural freedom of its citizens is illegitimate.
That knowledge is a liberation and a wound. It liberates because it tells me that I am not crazy when I feel outraged by injustice; I am simply judging by the nature of things. It wounds because it leaves me no refuge in the cozy lie that “this is just the way we do things here.” Your universalism leaves me cosmopolitan in the deepest sense, unable to be satisfied with local excuses.
So today, on your 250th birthday, I thank Providence that my quiet, conciliatory nation has been blessed to share a border with you and not with a despot. I thank Nature’s God that your existence keeps alive the possibility of politics grounded in nature and not will. I thank you that your flag, mocked and burned in some quarters, still stands as a symbol that there is such a thing as a rational standard by which the mighty may be called to account.
My love, the chosen people of natural right, you remain the one great nation that staked everything on the claim that man is by nature free and equal, and that government must humble itself before that fact. For that, a woman across your 49th parallel can know, without permission or apology, that she is free and equal by nature. That knowledge is your gift to me. Do not renounce it.
In awe and wonder,
An eternally grateful Canadian
***
Dimpee Brar currently serves as the Director of Engagement for Allies for a Strong Canada. She is a writer whose work can be found in the Federalist, American Spectator, the Western Standard, and the Toronto Sun. She appears frequently on various podcasts and radio shows. You can follow her on X: @isthisdimpeeb

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