Canada

Mark Carney never much liked Brexit. As the Bank of England’s governor during the 2016 referendum, Carney was limited in how political he could be but he still managed to brand a Leave vote the ‘biggest domestic risk to financial stability’ Britain faced, one that would leave us relying on the ‘kindness of strangers’. Since returning to Canada as its Prime Minister, he has not become more complimentary. The referendum, he said in May, had been a ‘dangerous bluff’; the UK was still trying to undo what people didn’t think they were voting for, but which they ended up having. Yet for someone so antipathetic, Carney is performing a remarkable Brexiteer tribute act.

The Irish Rovers sang about the biggest mixup that you have ever seen: he was christened David Anthony, but still in spite of that, his father called him William while his mother called him Pat. Picture the feelings of Lake Ontario this morning. It was christened Lac Saint-Louis by Samuel de Champlain, but it's woken up to Canada calling it William and the US calling it Pat – or rather, Lake America (without the “of,” as Trump helpfully specified in his video on Truth Social). Do you really need two Dakotas? Although Lac Saint-Louis is surely a better and more historically founded name than Lake America, one can sympathize with the American compulsion to rename things. After all, what would Texas be without a little American intervention? (Mexico, as it happens.

The latest incursion into American airspace is forest fire smoke from Canada. An invasion, according to President Trump. And the man with a tariff for every occasion does not disappoint “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable! I will call the Prime Minister,” promised Trump. “(…) 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.

Mark Carney is swaggering about Canada with his new majority government, acting as if he’d just received a landslide mandate from the electorate. The truth is he acquired his precious majority not by climbing up on his soapbox and convincing voters, but by whispering sweet nothings to five MPs from other parties, upon which they mysteriously lost their political principles and crossed the floor. Does Carney believe in democracy? It’s hard to be sure. Yes, his party did just win three special elections. But only one of those counted (the other two were held by Liberals already and in safe Liberal ridings, so made no difference to the number of seats the party held). Without the floor-crossings, Carney would be stuck with the minority he won last April.

Albertans are very good at keeping things that damage their prosperity out of their province. Take rats, for instance. The vermin were designated an agricultural menace in the1950s and after 18 months of chemical warfare Alberta – which is the same size as Texas – was declared rat-free. Today a poison-laced buffer zone with Saskatchewan province and a vigilant population stops their return.The leaders of the resurgent Alberta independence campaign have identified a new set of damaging pests to keep out: the federal government in Ottawa and its new ally the Chinese government.

The Epstein files, while they still haven’t harpooned their biggest whales, continue to destroy reputations on the side. One of the most unusual scalps claimed last week was that of celebrity doctor and “longevity expert” Peter Attia, creator of the “Outlive” brand. Last month, CBS News named Attia one of 19 new essential contributors. Now it’s cutting ties with him. And they’re not the only ones.   Attia was born in Canada but graduated from Stanford University Medical School in 2001. He spent five years as a general surgery resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was named "Resident of the Year," followed by a surgical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute focusing on melanoma.