Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, announced his plans to tear down the trade barriers that exist between the provinces and territories of Canada. A response to offset the impacts from the tariffs imposed by our southern neighbors and a president who is wholly dedicated to what he sees as a plan to re-build domestic manufacturing, to balance the trade deficit and… to possibly annex Canada through economic means (seriously?). Ukraine, which has been in war with Russia for three years, is struggling to fend off Russian forces with waning military support from the U.S and an emboldened Putin (no thanks to Trumps attempts to curry favor with the dictator himself). China is exerting enormous and oftentimes forceful pressure on its neighbors with its claims on the South China Sea, disregard for Taiwan’s sovereignty and increasing sophistication of its technological and advanced manufacturing capabilities. U.S. foreign policy is shifting away from it’s western democratic allies in the name of protectionism and “fairness” – resulting in a massive surge of military spending from European nations. Tariff’s imposed by the Trump administration, by most economists prediction, will cause inflation, lower consumer confidence and inflict catastrophic economic damage to the Country’s allies. DOGE’s unhinged approach to cutting government spending and Elon Musk’s uninformed and reckless actions undermine longtime democratic institutions, process and people. So naturally, most people are not feeling that great about the immediate future – and obviously, I don’t feel that great either. Here’s a great comic by Sarah Anderson that perfectly captures what the hell is happening right now:

She wrote that back in 2020. What a genius. Really, the reason I started this blog is to maintain some semblance of sanity by sharing some thoughts on current world events and possibly commiserating with the online community and possibly inviting some perspectives who may see the other side – where the strategic objectives of insane world leaders are all of sudden made clear. Although I doubt that very much.

That being said, I believe that, as a Canadian, there is no better leader than Mark Carney to lead Canada through these incredibly difficult times ahead. With Canadian GDP project to decrease 2-2.5% from U.S tariffs and a possible looming recession, who better than the former governor of 2 national banks, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, to lead our country through economic uncertainty? I agree strongly with his stance that we cannot control the tariff policies of other countries (no matter how much of an ally we have proved ourselves to be). Rather we should be focused on how we can use Canada’s natural resources and strengths to establish new trade corridors to other nations and encourage inter-provincial trade. In fact, this is a really good opportunity for Canadians, as well as other countries deeply affected by the newly imposed tariffs, to examine our internal infrastructure, exploring new opportunities to exploit our natural resources and establish a stronger sense of Canadian pride that encourages us to keep investing into our country. Now to explain the title of my blog. I DO NOT WANT TO BE A CYNIC. I would love to believe that there is goodness in people and that self-interest is not the governing factor in our decision-making. In fact, I have met plenty of people that help me believe that this is not true. But unfortunately, world events and the insanity that seems to happen on a daily basis compels me, and I’m sure many others, to take on a cynical perspective. Like the majority of the world, I’d like to think of myself as a optimist-turned-cynic (or child-turned-adult or disney-turned-HBO etc). So this is an outlet to talk about world events and to look to other of my favorite distractions. Like watches. In any case, let’s keep tabs on how the current trade war, foreign affairs and national policy progresses and maybe – we’ll start believing that there is good out there after all… but probably not.