RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025. This past Monday Carleton Place, Ontario journalist David Krayden posted a Twitter/X piece on “Why was Mark Carney Booed at Canada’s Grey Cup?”

I have not myself delved into any TV or other footage that shows this booing taking place. I take the word of Mr Krayden and others that it did in some degree happen!

I am most persuaded myself by a response from my counterweights editors colleagues :

“And then there’s (maybe more relevant) history. No one, it has been said, ever admitted to voting for William Lyon Mackenzie King (who had a PhD from Harvard). And yet he remains by some distance the longest serving Canadian PM — 1921–1926, 1926–1930, 1935–1948.”

(1) Mackenzie King in the 1920s 1930s, and 1940s and Mark Carney in the 2020s (and 2030s and 2040s ??)

There are, it seems to me, a number of apt comparisons between PM Mackenzie King in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and PM Mark Carney in the 2020s.

I’m not entirely alone in this opinion. Last night on TV I heard Andrew Coyne raise the celebrated (if not quite exact) Mackenzie King quotation “conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription,” to describe PM Carney’s recent political maneuvering (especially on oil pipelines).

Like Carney, Mackenzie King was well educated. He attended the University of Toronto and the University of Chicago, and finally earned a PhD from Harvard. There is also arguably some quite vague half-similarity between the family backgrounds of the two men.

William Lyon Mackenzie King was more famously the maternal grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, first mayor of the modern City of Toronto and a key leader of the 1837 Rebellion in the old British North American province of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario).

PM Carney’s father, Robert Carney, was a school principal in the Northwest Territories, a Catholic education executive in Alberta, an education professor at the University of Alberta, and an unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Edmonton South in the 1980 federal election that saw Pierre Trudeau return to power in Ottawa.

In the 2020s the greatest blot on Mackenzie King’s career (not shared by Mark Carney) may well be his 1909 PhD thesis on “Oriental Immigration to Canada.” He was an old-school upper middle class white male of his time and place, and did not foresee (or understand and accept) the multicultural global migrations that would do so much to shape the Canada of the 21st century.

(2) The good, the bad, and the ugly in Mackenzie King’s Liberal Party of Canada

Ironically enough, the Liberal Party of Canada that Mackenzie King did so much to shape in the first half of the 20th century did, after the Second World War, go on to warmly embrace the multicultural global migrations that started seriously in the 1960s and began to put down deep roots in the 1980s and 1990s.

Under Mackenzie King’s successors as Liberal leaders (and Canadian prime ministers, starting especially with Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau and very much including Mark Carney today), Canadian Liberalism became a welcoming presence for new migrations from virtually every corner of Masrshall McLuhan’s global village.

In just one of many results, in Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census : “Aside from English and French, Mandarin and Punjabi were the country’s most widely spoken languages. 4.6 million Canadians (12.7%) speak a language other than English or French predominantly at home. Mandarin and Punjabi are spoken predominantly at home by more than half a million Canadians each … More than a hundred thousand people each speak Yue (Cantonese), Spanish, Arabic, Tagalog, Persian languages, Urdu, Russian and Korean at home.”

Mackenzie King’s more enduring connection to Canada today is what also connects him with current Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney. Looking back from the 2020s at least, he can appear as someone with a deft and effective (if also infintely complex) understanding of the unique Canadian federal political culture, that finally accommodates the diverse linguistic and regional communities of modern ”northern North America” (Harold Innis).

Something of Mackenzie King’s complex and often subtle approach to bridging many if not all Canadian streams of division is arguably part of the legacy that PM Carney seems to be bringing to his work as a Canadian prime minister in challenging times.

The (apparently) Toronto Star editorial summary of the Mackenzie King message “conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription” is one very short summary of the larger complex approach. The poet Frank Scott’s lines about how Mackenzie King “never let his on the one hand / Know what his on the other hand was doing” is another.

(3) Learning more about Mackenzie King (and Mark Carney)

There is now an almost vast specialist literature on Mackenzie King’s political and economic (if not not cultural and social) legacy to the Canadian scene that dominated his public and private life. In my old age I prefer two starting points from his own time and place.

The single best popular biographical introduction to Mackenzie King, I think, is still Bruce Hutchison’s The Incredible Canadian: A Candid Portrait of Mackenzie King, first published in 1952 in the immediate wake of King’s death in the summer of 1950. It was most recently republished in 2010, with an introduction by BC-based journalist Vaughn Palmer.

(Mr Hutchison himself was “educated in public schools in Victoria, British Columbia” and a subsequent editor of the Victoria Daily Times, and then editorial director of The Vancouver Sun. He also spent much time in Ottawa where he acquired first-hand impressions of the incredible Canadian : still an apt characterization in various senses, including “beyond belief”!)

The most striking account of King’s political talents in his time, I think, is the progressive historian Frank Underhill’s August 1948 tribute as PM Mackenzie King finally retired.

Underhill was a former King critic, who had helped write the first Canadian socialist party’s “Regina Manifesto” in the 1930s. By the late 1940s the progressive historian had acquired at least fresh respect for the talents shown in an unusually long democratic political career.

King’s “statesmanship,” Underhill wrote in the Canadian Forum, “has been a more subtly accurate, a more flexibly adjustable Gallup poll of Canadian public opinion than statisticians will ever be able to devise. He has been the representative Canadian, the typical Canadian, the essential Canadian, the ideal Canadian, the Canadian as he exists in the mind of God.”

(4) On the inherent mysticism of Canadian politics?

The cultural and social side of Mackenzie King’s Canadianism has now drifted away, as history does suggest it should. (Even if it remains in some current versions of right-wing conservative political thought.) The political and economic side has nonetheless hung on. And in more than a few ways it makes even more sense today that it did in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

With almost seven months of PM Mark Carney under our Canadian belts in the closing weeks of 2025 it does strike me that he is carrying on with a substantial chunk of Mackenzie King’s political and economic legacy. And on balance I think this has to be a good thing!

It is true as well, of course, that Mackenzie King had his more obviously bizarre personal sides, such as his consultations with female psychics in Canada and the United Kingdom, on both the wishes of his dead mother and various political problems in Ottawa.

(Or so it seems.)

PM Carney does not have such truly bizarre personal sides. Unlike Mackenzie King he is a married man with children.

But I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to learn that there is also a certain mysticism to at least some of Mark Carney’s views on Canadian politics. That too is part of what William Lyon Mackenzie King long ago called Canada’s “too much geography.”

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2025. We have had an early almost sudden and surprisingly serious snowstorm in these parts. It somehow seems to fit these several days in early-mid November.

Through such events as Indigenous Veterans Day (November 8) and Remembrance Day (November 11), our official public life still tries to remember and show suitable gratitude to all those who have given their lives, so we Canadian people can live safely in our “free and democratic society.”

(As finally legally enshrined in the Constitution Act, 1982, by agreement of nine provincial legislatures and the federal parliament.)

Other years I have sometimes gone to the neighbourhood commemoration ceremony, presided over by the executive of the local Canadian Legion (“Baron Byng” branch of the Ontario Command in this case). The sudden surprisingly deep early snowfall — albeit quickly enough melting with the more seasonal and warmer actual Remembrance Day 2025 — made this an unattractive option for an aging body.

I was nonetheless well enough served by my 65 inch TV, in a comfortable warm room whose only window is on an alley that doesn’t really show the snow.

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RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025. Up here in the Canadian northern wilderness Tuesday, November 4, 2025 was a double-edged sword.

The main evening political entertainment on TV in Canada as in the United States was the first wave of US state and local elections since President Trump took office for his second term. Inevitably they were seen in many if not all minds as the first democratic electoral (as opposed to mere opinion polling) evidence on how well Trump II is doing, domestically.

At the same time, the 4PM ET (1PM PT etc) presentation of the (at last) 2025 Canadian federal budget in Parliament at Ottawa by The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal Minister of Finance and National Revenue, was a suitable prelude to the subsequent evening burst of Democratic party victories in the USA, USA — especially but by no means exclusively in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, and California.

As far as this particular bi-coastal quartet goes (V/NJ/NYC/CAL), the Trump press secretary response that it wasn’t surprising to see Democrats doing well in blue states and cities does bear some serious enough weight. On the other hand, the results in these (and even it becomes clearer many other non-blue) cases were more strongly Democratic than was widely expected.

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COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2025.Back some two and a half weeks ago Canadian labour economist Jim Stanford noted a rising trend that has only moderately abated since, at best.

Stanford wrote : “The new McCarthyism is spreading into Canada. And it will have a group of very happy cheerleaders here. Worse than the 50s: back then you had to belong to something (a Communist Party). Antifa doesn’t even exist, making it easier today to target anyone they want.”|

We counterweights editors have noticed similar incursions on our Twitter/X account. And we have perhaps somewhat foolishly but often enough joined in the growing political wars (online and strictly in words of course), over what in Canada is finally the future of Canada, now (almost) engulfing social media in the fall of 2025.

The extreme right Trumpian position in this debate (apparently actually endorsed by some who live in Canada but do not seem to be having a very good time) is “Canada as the 51st State.” It is very clear that this is what Presidewnt Trump would like to see. (And if in doubt see the online video confirmation from his Secretary of State.)

At the same time, it also seems clear enough (so far) that even President Donald J. Trump II is not quite crazy enough (yet?) to actually invade Canada with military force. Or try to. We have long embraced the view of University of Toronto political science professor Aisha Ahmad, that any US military conquest of Canada would only initiate a long period of political violence and “guerilla warfare” on the northern US border, against some new US imperialist regime. So as Trump has actually acknowledged in public himself : “It takes two to tango.” And the Canadian people don’t want to dance!

At the same time again, the destruction of a substantial chunk of the White House, to make room for an absurdly large ballroom on a different and more grandiose model from the more democratic White House proper (the part of it still standing at any rate), can only symbolize just how much destruction of the old free and democratic American government President Donald J. Trump II has managed to get away with so far.

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RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025. To start with on this particular date, best wishes to all those next door, standing up for the Democracy in America that Alexis de Tocqueville brought to the wider world’s attention in the 1830s — the ultimate brilliant blossom of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.

(As the historian Jill Lepore has recently urged, the final US Constitution of 1787-89 was of course imperfect, like all other mere human creations, and especially in its tacit acceptance of Indigenous repression and African slavery. The United States of Amerca was intended from the start to evolve towards an ever “More Perfect Union” — as in the 14th Amendment of 1868 on birthright citizenship, and the broader Civil Rights Act of 1964.)

Meanwhile, up here in what the Canadian fur-trade historian Harold Innis liked to call “northern North America” more than a few media and related voices have been raised in concern over such headlines as : “BREAKING NEWS : Stellantis moves Jeep production from Ontario to Illinois.” (President Donald Trump is apparently serious about the hardcore 19th century proposition that all automobiles sold in the USA must be exclusively manufactured in the USA.)

Gus Carlson, “New York-based communications and marketing consultant” who writes for the Globe and Mail (“Toronto’s national newspaper with a Vancouver edition”) has recently urged that “Canadian leaders are naive to be shocked over Stellantis pulling Jeeps from Brampton.”

(1) Manufacturing down from 23.8% of Ontario labour force in 1980 to 9.9% in 2024 (and today’s auto sector only 1.9%)

The day before Gus Carlson’s piece appeared, my counterweights editors brethren had reacted to a social media post on “BREAKING NEWS : Stellantis moves” from Alberta Memes (“Oh wow, poor Canada. Glad I live in Alberta”). Somewhat like Carlson the editors urged : “Plain truth is this has very little impact on most of us in Ontario in 2025 … Canada is a great country with a great future in all its vast geography.”

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RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2025. This past Saturday I came across a social media thread on the country of Poland today. The thread master is called “Culture Explorer.”

Mr. Explorer begins his own message up front with two sentences : “Poland just became a $1 trillion economy without open borders, without giving up religion, and without tearing down its traditions … What did Poland do that the West won’t?”

(1) The Polish conservative miracle since the end of communism in 1989 and 1990

The message has a strong right-wing tilt. It also embraces what some would see as such current progressive values as “You can build prosperity without destroying beauty.”

But Culture Explorer’s unmistakable right-wing roots show clearly in pronouncements like : “While others erase their roots, Poland crowns its faith … Literally … In 2016, Poland officially named Jesus Christ as its King.”

In fact this last proposition about King Jesus turns out to be not exactly correct.

In the most illuminating “replies” part of the thread — following the up-front message on the Polish miracle since the end of the communist regime in 1989 and 1990 — a widely followed native of the country called rzep explains : “No, Poland DID NOT do this … The polish catholic church did it … Poland is a secular country, as stated in its constitution.”

Yet even without Jesus as a secular King, Poland probably can stand as a current economic success that preserves a conservative society, controlled borders, high ethnic homogeneity, and strong traditional culture (including the Christian religion).

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RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2025. When the now daily tragedy of contemporary American history next door just gets too much to digest I walk to the foot of my street and sit on a bench at the edge of the boardwalk.

From the bench I am about 15 yards from the northwest shore of the smallest North American Great Lake. (In surface area at least. Cold Lake Ontario is much deeper than adjacent Lake Erie and even Lake Huron.)

For years now I have found that the lake and its infinitely changing beach, birds, boats, breezes, clouds, skies, sunshine, temperatures, and related human and animal activity quietly lifts my spirits, regardless of all current troubles of politics, economics, culture (religion), and sports — public life at large.

And these troubles seem increasingly worrisome in late September 2025 — south of the border at any rate. (Meanwhile PM Carney has been traveling abroad, drumming up new business for Canada as best he can. Who could ask for anything more in our adjacent vast geography with not-that- many people, up in the wilderness of “northern North America”?)

(1) Robert Reich on awakening the slumbering giant of Democracy in America

There are a number of increasingly troubling issues in the air at the moment — starting with the USA but then moving to various European (and Asian) old colonial mother countries.

There is arguably at least the beginnings of a silver lining to all the Trumpian troubles in the USA. As Robert Reich’s Sunday thought from Berkeley, CA explains : “It was an extraordinary week. The slumbering giant of America is awakening.”

The details Mr Reich offers are, as usual, illuminating : “Americans forced Disney to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air … assailing Trump’s attempt to censor him.

“Trump’s dictatorial narcissism revealed itself nearly as dramatically in the criminal indictment of former FBI director James Comey, coming immediately after Trump fired the U.S. attorney who refused to indict him.

“As did Trump’s demand that prosecutors go after philanthropist George Soros, Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and other perceived enemies …

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RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2025. It is true enough that the Canadian people are not as divided as the American people at this point in time. And like many other Canadians I’m grateful for that.

A recent article by David Beers and Jen St. Denis at The Tyee in BC, however, has shown that living right next door to the USA does continue to have an impact. It’s headlined “The Dangerous Targeting of a Canadian Journalist … After the murder of Charlie Kirk, conservatives piled on Rachel Gilmore for expressing a well-founded fear. Then came violent threats.”

A short quotation from the Beers-St. Denis piece captures the main thrust of Ms Gilmore’s current troubles : “Kirk’s assassination was an alarming development … Rachel Gilmore took to social media to share insights based on years of reporting, writing that she was concerned some fans of Kirk on the far right who are ‘aching for more violence, could turn this into an even more radicalizing moment.

“‘Will they now believe their fears have been proven right and they have a right to “retaliate,” no matter who was behind the actual shooting?’

“Conservative MP Andrew Scheer swiftly reposted Gilmore’s comments, saying she was ‘twisted’ and had ‘so much hate in her.’ Other Canadian Conservatives also weighed in or reposted Scheer’s comment while … another post Gilmore made was circulated by right-wing influencers …

“Hours later, Gilmore’s name was the first to appear on a website called ‘Expose Charlie’s Murderers’ … Gilmore then received death and rape threats, including threats that say, ‘We know where you live.’”

(1) “Half of Canadian conservatives love the guy who is threatening to crush our economy and annex us”

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RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025. I’m personally embarrassed when local TV reports on the Toronto International Film Festival ask visiting foreign (albeit usually just US) celebrities : “What is your favourite thing about Canada?”

(I should quickly note that the countervailing logic has been voiced by my wife : “I like it when they ask that question.” And the media pay much more attention to her.)

My embarrassment, however, was recently redeemed by the answer of the actress from Connecticut, Glenn Close, at TIFF 2025 : “My favourite thing about Canada … [said with a friendly smile] … They stood up to you know who. I shouldn’t say that but I will anyway.”

And I think to myself that if Glenn Close thinks Canada has stood up to the insanity of Donald Trump’s still oh-so-young second federal administration in the USA today, others outside Canada must have some similar thoughts. And for we Canadians that is of course a good thing!

On some similar wave of current popular thought the Oscar-winning director from Mexico, Guillermo del Toro, “known for his love of … our city and country,” has offered an even stronger Canadian assessment during a speech at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which will end this coming Sunday, September 14, 2025.

“Canadians,” Mr. del Toro has pronounced, “are modest and shy except on traffic and hockey …So it takes a Mexican to tell you that Canada is a bastion of hope in the world right now.”

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RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 (LABOUR DAY) 2025. Canadian pundit Andrew Coyne’s recent column in the Toronto Globe and Mail — “Donald Trump is on the brink of becoming a dictator. Can he be stopped?” — has its alarming moments.

The “defenders” of “democracy in America,” it urges, “are running out of options, and out of time.”

Inside the USA some of the defenders themselves have lately been sounding at least somewhat more optimistic.

In the midst of the often bizarre instincts of Trumpian health policy czar RFK Jr (strange son of the original “right-wing-new-left liberal” RFK), health officials from the eight Northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont recently “met … to consider coordinating their own vaccine recommendations, separate from the federal government.”

[UPDATE: On Sep 3 it was further reported that on the Pacific coast “California, Oregon, and Washington just announced they are forming an alliance to coordinate vaccine recommendations in direct defiance of RFK Jr.”

Or as officially reported by the Golden State: “As Trump & RFK Jr. destroy the CDC’s credibility,@CAGovernor Gavin Newsom just announced California is teaming up with Oregon & Washington to launch a new ‘West Coast Health Alliance’ to uphold scientific integrity in public health” …

And on Sep 4 Bob Ferguson, Governor of Washington, announced : “Welcome, Hawaii, to the West Coast Health Alliance.”]

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