Populist conservatives have lost the plot of value pluralism and are tending to fascism. "There are innumerable differences which obviously add to the interest of life, and without which it would be unendurably dull. Again, there are differences which can neither be left unsettled nor be settled without a struggle, and a real one, but in regard to which the struggle is rather between inconsistent forms of good than between good and evil.

The Arctic amplification is heating the north 2-4X faster than the rest of the planet. The Boreal forests are burning and south of it is in drought. Quebec is currently importing more electricity than usual and is in a net importer position to prudently manage its water reservoirs, which are at low levels due to persistent drought conditions since 2023. 2025 is on track to be a "record year" for imports.

Conservative journalists and sundry hacks are lauding PM Carney's turn to the centre of politics with his MOU signed with Alberta, but the understanding that still holds is that any expansion of oil & gas production without a commensurate plan to abate carbon emissions is absurd. Numerous plans can do it, but carbon capture is a poor technology to rely on. Hastening the transition to EVs is a better one, and one hopes that Canadians will be able to buy relatively inexpensive Chinese ones when the tariff is lifted.

A modern industrial state is uniquely defined as having advanced manufacturing capacity, especially in complex machinery like cars, trucks, planes and trains. Canada's transition from a mainly rural economy to an industrial one was forced by the Second World War when Canadian manufacturing capacity was augmented to meet the demands of Allied campaign. C.D. Howe was the key minister in McKenzie King's wartime government who oversaw it.

What is shaping up in political discourse is a Conservative Party willingness to give up Canada’s auto industry. Doug Ford is no longer recognized as one of theirs. Subsidies result in a net loss in this industry, they say. What’s left in the Conservative imagination is to go all in on oil and gas, climate science be damned…but O & G is also heavily subsidized and if you add up attendant costs associated with this industry, it is a bad bet and it is only getting worse.

Gallium is a byproduct of aluminum production in Canada, with companies like Rio Tinto actively developing processes to extract it from their alumina refinery in Quebec. While historically not a significant source, this is changing as global demand for gallium increases and supply chains diversify.

That Conservatives are trying to resurrect the SNC/Lavalin “scandal” is a measure of their desperation. It was always contended on a weak deontological argument that SNC should be punished for their sins. In fact the OECD who formulated the rules meant to eliminate the use of bribery in international business, promoted the use of deferred prosecution agreements in national courts,

The turn to religion instead of communicative rationality as the path to hope for human progress is the most damning feature of this fascist turn in American history, ...not because of the religiosity per se, but because it overturns the constitutional criterion of the separation of church and state. "Alexis de Tocqueville observed that religion was indispensable to American democracy,

Religion, eh? I always wondered when the religious alliance of Evangelicals and Catholics would split in MAGA. In the private Christian academies in Saskatchewan — which are well subsidized from the public trough — They teach a secondary school curriculum from Bob Jones University. I've read parts of it which openly accuse Catholics of being heretics.

On 31 January 1933, Schmitt remarked that with Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor, "one can say that 'Hegel died."

A base model DYD sells in China for $9,000 US, but there is a lot of government subsidy in that price. It's not inconceivable that BYD could be enticed to manufacture in Canada with a good deal on our aluminum and sell a model for $20,000 Cdn. Trigger the substitution effect. With an EV, owners will look to rooftop solar and sodium-ion storage batteries in the home to keep them charged. Trigger the energy transition now!

The decline and fall of mainstream media is decried by its supporters and applauded those who dissent from what they regard as an instrument of the univocal standard bearers of the established order…or what is left of it at this point. This should not be considered unusual in these tumultuous times. During the French Revolution, the number of newspapers in Paris dramatically increased. While only a handful of official newspapers existed before the Revolution,

thebatteryshow.asia/sodium-ion-bat… Saskatchewan produces 10% of the world's high quality sodium. The upshot of this technological development is that creating a bi-directional electrical grid that accommodates distributed electricity production is entirely feasible.

Says Google AI: "In 2021, 53.3% of Canada's population identified as Christian, according to the census. This represents a decrease from 67.3% in 2011 and 77.1% in 2001, according to Statistics Canada." I grew up in a Christian household, but Christianity does not dominate my world view. Its ethical teachings remain indelible though. The most compelling parable of my childhood was the Good Samaritan.

The Alberta government is being criticized for tardiness in fighting the Jasper fires. A public inquiry would be a learning experience. The Boreal won't stop burning...not by expanding oil & gas production....not without carbon restrictions. Supply side management of an economy is coercive and does not necessarily yield the best results. The fastest route to climate redemption is to diminish the market for oil by promoting cheap EVs and letting the substitution effect crush the market for gas burning ICE vehicles.

The Alberta government is being criticized for tardiness in fighting the Jasper fires. A public inquiry would be a learning experience. The Boreal won't stop burning...not by expanding oil & gas production....not without carbon restrictions. Supply side management of an economy is coercive and does not necessarily yield the best results. The fastest route to climate redemption is to diminish the market for oil by promoting cheap EVs and letting the substitution effect crush the market for gas burning ICE vehicles.

Says Google AI: "Recent data indicates that the tropical Pacific has warmed up, ending the recent La Niña event. This has transitioned the region into a neutral state according to Climate Prediction Center." La Niña brings a surplus of precipitation to the plains of the northern ...hemisphere, and indeed its appearance last year saved a number of Saskatchewan farmers from bankruptcy. We've had lots of the expected rain in Saskatoon this summer, but wildfires have gotten worse nonetheless. Soon we will be into the drought ridden El Niño cycle. What then?

"The NYT included the illustrative figure below, which draws simple ordinary least squares trends over three time periods: 1880-1970, 1970-2010, and 2010-present (May 2025). It appears to show a notable acceleration over the past 15 years compared to the rate of warming that characterized the post-1970 “modern warm period” when climate change began to notably take off (with) human emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases." open.substack.com/pub/theclimate…

"At Bretton Woods, John Maynard Keynes proposed a system where both surplus and deficit countries would share responsibility for balancing trade, rather than placing the entire burden on deficit countries.
📷 He advocated for a global central bank, the Clearing Union, which would issue a new international currency, the "bancor," to settle imbalances.

There is opportunity in the crisis. Canadian automobile manufacturing has been declining for over a decade and Trump has sealed its fate, however the Canadian automobile parts industry has conversely expanded and is embedded in North American supply chains. BYD is now the world's most prolific manufacturer of EVs. Their base model sells for less than the equivalent of $10,000 US.