David Puddicombe @dpudd

Trump has done the service of making other Canadians see our energy and resources in the same light that I do: magnificent tools for revenues, jobs, investment, soft power and alliances. It is therefore a cruel twist of fate that my fellow Canadians’ inclination for exercising this leverage is to 𝘵𝘢𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳. Some people want to take this moment to fantasize about potash export taxes and oil production curtailment. They are willing to inflict pain on Canada’s producers, reduce our exports revenues, and jeopardize our reputation as a reliable trading partner in order to experience some short lived schadenfreude. The stakes and the prize are so much bigger. Canada has an opportunity to shine in this commodity cycle if we choose ambition over pettiness. Let’s focus on the good we can do for ourselves, not the harm we can inflict on others. nationalpost.com/opinion/heathe…

They just invited 5,000 French speakers at a human capital score of 382. The day before, people already working in Canada needed a 523. IRCC invited only 1,000 of them. 382 is also an inflated score because anyone in that category automatically gets a 25 pt handicap. So more like 357. I keep asking myself what the point of these consultations is if the government has already decided what it wants to do. Every year IRCC sends surveys to thousands of organizations asking what Canada actually needs. Which categories are a “great need”? Should we prioritize people already working in Canada? Should Francophone immigration remain an economic priority? They hold consultations, collect submissions, pay people to analyze the results, write the reports, translate them, publish them, and call the whole exercise “What We Heard.” Then they ignore what they heard. I sat in the committee room on February 9 with the brief in front of me. I’ve read these reports. These are their numbers. In 2024, when IRCC asked which categories represented a “great need,” healthcare came back at 55.8%. Trades were 38.8%. STEM was 32.4%. French was last at 14.6%. About half said prioritize skilled workers already in Canada. Only a small minority preferred new workers from overseas. Only 19% gave Francophone immigration a lot of support as an economic priority. More than half gave it little or no support. Canadians answered the questions. Then 2025 happened and now 2026 is shaping up to be even worse. We’re not even done the year and the French category has blown past the 2025 numbers. In 2025, French-language candidates received 49.2% of all Express Entry invitations. 78% of them were overseas. STEM went from 28.7% of the system in 2023 to 5.8%. There has not been a dedicated STEM draw since April 2024. Healthcare, the thing respondents said Canada needed most, got 18.6%. Trades got 4.4%. And this is not even Quebec. Quebec runs its own system. The only distinctly French province is not in these numbers. This is Ottawa stuffing overseas French speakers into the rest of the country, while hollowing out the high-skilled pathway Express Entry was supposed to be. The message to candidates is getting absurdly simple: We don’t care what you do. We don’t care what you earn. We don’t care how long you’ve been here. We don’t care whether your occupation is supposedly one of the ones Canada desperately needs. Just learn French. And you’ll get a 50 pt handicap if you can speak basic English. Apparently this is the economic class? That is the precedent we are setting. Meanwhile someone who has spent years building a career here, paying taxes, and getting Canadian work experience can look at a 523 and be told they are not competitive enough. An overseas candidate gets in at 382 because the French-language target matters more. Pay public servants and consultants to run the process, write the PDF, and put “What We Heard” on a government website. Then do what you were going to do anyway. That is consultation theatre and a government grift. Not because somebody is stuffing cash in their pocket. Because we have built a taxpayer-funded machine around pretending to ask. Salaries. Contracts. Meetings. Reports. God knows how many hours of public-service time. All of that costs money. What are Canadians getting for it if the answer cannot change the policy? Makers and builders get a 500+ score and a closed door. The people running the survey get another report, another budget line, and another year of doing whatever they already decided. If Ottawa has already decided that Francophone targets override labour-market demand, Canadian work experience, earnings, and the answers in its own consultations, then have the courage to say that. Just say it’s performative, admit you are liars, thieves and grifters. Stop hiding behind “What We Heard.” Now we’re in 2026, and they still are not listening and it’s getting worse. The charts are their numbers.

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PUT IT IN THE LOUVRE

What The Hell Happened To All The EV Battery Plants? How Much Money Did Canada Lose? Because out of 10 or 12 huge announcements adding up to over $50B its all collapsed to 1 single plant that may or may not open How did this happen? How can we stop this insanity continuing? 2/

$13 BILLION Of Taxpayer's Money Thrown On The Bonfire Of Build Canada Homes Let's be clear on why this is such a bad idea It's NOT about building homes for anyone to BUY It's Subsidized Social Housing & Rentals Which are good things but we currently have too many Rentals 2/

In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history. By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.

@DriveBC update for the Whistler to Pemberton stretch of highway?

Hang it in the Louvre

@RafaelNadal @rogerfederer Scores? (Course & tees?)

Perhaps the single most reckless economic policy in Canadian history —tripling population growth via immigration without a thought of where to house them or the knock-on effects on society —is finally coming to an end. The Young & Working Class will keep paying the price.

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🇨🇦’s immigration plan is more predatory than most can imagine. Politicians, & the boomers supporting them, want more taxpayers w/o spending to raise them. The taxes you pay to support healthy family-oriented communities can now be looted. 🇨🇦’s medium-term outlook is bleak.

@ParkBoard please fix the stairs at the 2nd beach pool playground. 100s of families use this every day & it has been broken for months.

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🇨🇦’s efficiency of government spending ranked 29 out of 32 out of countries in the Americas. 🇨🇦’s election is about economic freedom, but we already score the highest in the Americas. We’re ignoring an actual problem—our gov wastes a buttload on insider contracts.

Did injuries caused by childbirth (e.g., #perinealtear) impact your #breastfeeding experience or decisions? Our team is exploring these experiences, and we’re looking for participants willing to share their stories. Click below for our eligibility survey: hughesp.mcmaster.ca/surveys/?s=FLD…

Why does Pierre Poilievre want to be Prime Minister Canada and how does he plan on breaking through to undecided voters? I asked him in our long-form Interview. youtube.com/live/6bnFyXl_y… @PierrePoilievre

fyi 🇨🇦, this isn’t for housing affordability—it’s to raise prices. Supply & demand applies to all parts of building. This is called a demand inducement scheme, used to prevent price corrections & drive builder costs higher. Similar scheme caused 🇺🇸 bubble in 2006.

CPAC @CPAC_TV

a year ago

Earlier, Liberal Leader Mark Carney proposed a housing plan that would increase the construction of housing to nearly 500,000 new homes a year, "flipping the script on housing with a new approach to build faster, build smarter, and to build more affordably." #cdnpoli #elxn2025

733 78 368 173K 14

Polling in 🇨🇦 is wild. They literally tell you nothing but sets the narrative for discussion. Just 1k people interviewed, 67% aged 50 or older. No worries, the small sample of young adults will be projected, creating a 50% margin of error—like flipping a coin,

The Liberal Party is 24 hours away from appointing a private citizen with three passports, who has never been elected to any position, as Prime Minister. This follows their suspension of democracy by proroguing parliament.