🇨🇦 Canada folds, then demands applause

Jamieson Greer said the quiet part out loud: Ottawa does not get credit for creating trade headaches and then pretending repeal is diplomacy. Canada yanked its 3 per cent digital services tax only when U.S. firms were staring at a $2 billion bill and Trump threatened to blow up talks. Then Carney’s crew leaned on the CRTC to revisit the streaming levy after trying to triple contributions under the Online Streaming Act. Even the Americans can see this farce, as reported.

This is the Trudeau-era hangover in one snapshot: ideological tax grabs, bureaucrats freelancing culture-war regulation, then last-minute retreats dressed up as responsible statesmanship. Dominic LeBlanc says Canada is ready to do the work, which in Ottawa dialect means more concessions after months of posturing. A sovereign country does not let unelected regulators and anti-business crusaders sabotage trade with its biggest partner, then call the cleanup progress. This is not strategy. It is managed decline with a press release.

🍁 Maple Chronicles