Carney Cobbles Together a Liberal Majority Government Nearly a Year After Canadian Federal Election

Tonight, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has gone from a Liberal minority to a Liberal majority government.

Thus far the Liberals have earned two by-election victories in the Toronto area - one in the riding of University-Rosedale which is in downtown Toronto and the other in Scarborough Southwest which is situated east of downtown. The latter riding was won by Dolly Begum who began 2026 as the Deputy Leader of the Ontario NDP before she jumped from provincial to federal politics and in the process jumped ship to the Liberals. 

The Liberals could win one more byelection in Quebec having pulled ahead of the Bloc Quebecois in the constituency of Terrebonne, a north shore suburb of Montreal. In last year's election, the BQ won the seat, but a recount gave it to the Liberals by a single vote until the Supreme Court of Canada annulled the result in February and ordered the by-election. If the Liberals sweep that will give them 174 seats - a two-seat majority but a majority just the same.

But the journey from minority to majority has been months in the making. Nearly a year ago, the Liberals hung onto a minority parliament under Carney's leadership. President Trump's jingoistic gave the Liberals a lifeline with Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

In the year since the election, the Liberals have cobbled together a majority government primarily through defections from both the Conservatives and the NDP. Between November 2025 and February 2026, three Tory MPs jumped ship to the Liberals - Chris d'Entremont from Nova Scotia, Michael Ma from Markham, just northeast of Toronto and Edmonton area MP Matt Jeneroux.

Last month, the Liberals earned a defection from the NDP in Lori Idlout, who is an MP from the Nunavut territory. Then last week, another Conservative MP joined the Liberal ranks. Marilyn Gladu, an MP from Sarnia, Ontario situated on the bottom of Lake Huron about three hours southwest of Toronto, became the latest and most surprising defection. A former federal leadership candidate for the Tories, Gladu is known for her socially conservative views on LGBTQ issues.

There are those who question the legitimacy of the Liberals getting to a majority government primarily by floor crossings. Many moons ago there was a NDP MP from Nova Scotia named Peter Stoffer who vigorously opposed floor crossings and proposed a private members bill which would not permit floor crossings. Any MP who left his or her party would either have to sit as an independent or if they wished to join another party, resign their seat and run in a by-election under their new party affiliation.

On a personal note, I twice interviewed with Stoffer for job in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Needless to say, I was not selected but found him to be an affable fellow. 

While I am not unsympathetic to Stoffer's argument, as Michael Barone has long argued, "All process arguments are insincere." 

Poilievre rails against floor crossings. But if Poilievre had the chance to lure Liberal, NDP and maybe even a Bloc Quebecois MP into the Tory fold so he could become Prime Minister, does anyone honestly think he would pass up the opportunity?

The fact is that Mark Carney is better than Pierre Poilievre at politics. If Poilievre had done a better job of building relationships within his caucus, then perhaps there would not be a Liberal majority today. Meanwhile, the NDP is a sinking ship at the federal level. Avi Lewis might excite the far-left grassroots, but he literally accepted his party's leadership in front of a Palestinian flag, not a Canadian one. 

The Liberals under Carney want to govern while the Tories and NDP want to appeal to their lunatic fringes. So long as this is the case coupled with Donald Trump's presence in the White House then the Liberal majority is staying put for the foreseeable future.

This isn't to say that I don't have concerns about Carney. I am deeply concerned about Carney's priorities where it concerns Israel and Canadian Jews and their institutions being expelled from civil society. Alas, the NDP is even worse when it comes to Israel and the status of Canadian Jews while I'm afraid the Tories are merely paying lip service.

As it stands, Carney gets the Liberals back into the majority government column. We'll see if Canadians will want to keep this Liberal majority in 2029. If Trump decides to create a constitutional crisis and run for a third term or if we choose another Republican President hostile to Canada, then Mark Carney will call 24 Sussex Drive home for years to come.

Orban Concedes After Being Ousted by Hungarian Voters; Trump Would Never Do The Same

After ruling Hungary with an iron fist for more than 15 years, its voters have decidedly ousted Viktor Orban's Fidesz Party in favor of Peter Magyar, a one-time ally of Orban who broke with him a couple of years ago.

Most crucially Orban, an ally of both Vladimir Putin and President Trump, conceded defeat. Considering the amount of control Orban had in Hungary and his alliance with both Putin and Trump, this is a remarkable development. If nothing else, it demonstrates that Hungarians can still choose their own destiny and that the will of the people counts for something.

Of course, it is entirely possible that Magyar will prove to be every bit as autocratic as Orban. And who can say Orban, who is only 62 (but looks decades older) won't be returned to power in a few short years as we in America chose to return Trump to power despite his incompetence and corrupt ways.

Nevertheless, I cannot emphasize Orban's concession enough. Because this is the crucial difference between Trump and Orban. Trump will never publicly accept the results of the 2020 election much less acknowledge that Joe Biden was the President of the United States. Indeed, Trump will never accept the result of any election which he does not win. What complicates matters is Trump may very well contest the 2028 presidential election despite the 22nd Amendment. And even if he doesn't run, should we elect a Republican President then Trump will be the defacto President much in the way Putin was when he held the position of "Prime Minister" when Dmitri Medvedev held the title of Russian Federation President.

For many years, the MAGA crowd has held Orban with deep affection. Indeed, Orban was warmly received at CPAC in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Both Vice-President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio gave what amounted to campaign speeches for Orban during this election not to mention Trump's full-throated support on Truth Social. 

Given today's results, it is clear their intervention did Orban more harm than good. The Hungarian people simply had enough and Orban could not reject their verdict much less suggest it was fraudulent in any way. 

The same cannot be said for Trump who by tomorrow might tell us he didn't know Orban very well. It is inconceivable that Trump would utter the words Orban spoke when he said, “The responsibility and possibility of governing was not given to us.” Such words are not part of Trump's vocabulary, nor would they be a part of any Republican seeking the White House in Trump's stead should he choose not to run. Trump has never let the facts or truth get in the way of what he says or posts on social media. Why would he start now?

Unfortunately, a plurality of the American people has never let the facts and truth get in the way of their support for Trump and probably never will.

Phil Garner Lived Up to His Scrap Iron Nickname as a Player & Manager

Yesterday, former MLB player and manager Phil Garner passed away of pancreatic cancer. He was 76.

A native of Jefferson City, Tennessee, Garner would play collegiate baseball at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The Montreal Expos would pick Garner in the 8th round of the 1970 MLB draft, but he opted to remain in Tennessee. The following year, Garner would sign with the Oakland A's after being selected third overall in the draft.

Garner would have cups of coffee with the A's in 1973 & 1974 although he would not share in the team's World Series glory. Nicknamed Scrap Iron for his hard-nosed play, Garner would become the team's everyday second baseman in 1975 and would earn an AL All-Star selection in 1976.

Prior to the 1977 season, amid Charlie Finley's deconstruction of the A's, Garner was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 9-player deal. This was a positive development for Garner as he would follow manager Chuck Tanner to the Steel City. Several months earlier, Finley had traded Tanner to the Pirates in exchange for catcher Manny Sanguillen in a rare manager for player trade. Garner was part of the "We Are Fam-a-lee" Pirates team which won the 1979 World Series splitting his time at second, third and short. While in a Bucs uniform, Garner earned back-to-back NL All-Star Team selections in 1980 & 1981.

Late in the strike-shortened '81 season, Garner would be dealt to the Houston Astros where he would spend the bulk of his career making post-season appearances with the club in both 1981 and 1986. Garner also had brief stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the 1987 and 1988 seasons. In 1,860 games over 16 seasons, Garner collected 1,594 hits for a lifetime batting average of .260 with 109 HR and 738 RBI along with 225 stolen bases.

Garner would return to the Astros in 1989 as a member of Art Howe's coaching staff where he would remain for three seasons before being named manager of the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 1992 season. Garner would lead the Brew Crew to a 92-win season finishing only 4 games behind the eventual World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. Garner would remain in the Brewers dugout for the rest of the decade but would post seven consecutive losing seasons before being dismissed late in the 1999 season. Despite not earning any post-season appearances during his 8 seasons in Milwaukee, his 563 wins as Brewers' skipper is second most in franchise history with only Craig Counsell topping Garner with 707 wins.

In 2000, Garner took over the helm of the Detroit Tigers but had no further success in the Motor City through two more losing seasons before being dismissed 6 games into the 2002 season. 

Garner's managerial career appeared to be over, but the Astros would unexpectedly hire him to replace Jimy Williams in the middle of the 2004 season. Garner would lead the team to a NL Wild Card berth and came within a heartbeat of besting the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. In 2005, the Astros would struggle out of the gate with a 15-30 record before surging to another NL Wild Card berth. They would face the Redbirds in the NLCS yet again but would prevail in second games winning their first and only NL pennant before their move to the AL. Unfortunately for the Astros, they would be swept by the Chicago White Sox who won their first World Series title in 88 years.

Garner's managerial career ended in late in the 2007 season when the team dismissed him in favor of Cecil Cooper. In 15 seasons as a big-league manager, Garner had a record of 985-1054. Aside from a tenure as a special advisor for the Oakland A's in the early 2010s, Garner's baseball days were behind him as he pursued other interests in the oil & gas, agriculture and cattle ranching.

I remember Garner's distinctive mustache although late in his playing career, he sported a clean-shaven look which rendered him almost unrecognizable. The mustache would return during his managerial career.

Garner's passing comes only 72 hours after the death of former MLB player and manager Davey Lopes. The pair were both part of the 1986 NL West champion Houston Astros. Of further note, it was Lopes who succeeded Garner as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 2000 season.

Phil Garner lived up to his Scrap Iron moniker as both a player and a manager. R.I.P.

MI Dem Senate Candidate El-Sayed Says There's No Justification for Temple Israel Attack & Then Justifies It

Abdul El-Sayed, who is vying to be the Democratic Party nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, has excused the terrorist attack which took place last month against Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan under the guise of stating nothing justified the violence:

Nothing justifies the heinous attack that we saw on Temple Israel. I also think it’s just critical for us to understand that hurt people do hurt people, and the circumstances happening 6,000 miles away can affect the lives that we live here, and if we stand against violence, we’ve got to stand against violence, all violence. 

Of further note:

When a reporter from The Free Press pressed El-Sayed on his claim, asking whether a similar argument would have allowed sympathy for a Jewish person attacking a mosque after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, he suggested the circumstances were not the same. 

“After Oct. 7, there was a whole genocide against Palestinians,” El-Sayed said. 

If El-Sayed truly deplored anti-Semitic violence, then he would have simply stated, "Nothing justifies the heinous attack that we saw on Temple Israel." Full stop. 

But he didn't stop there. Hurt people hurt people? No, most people who lose loved one managed to go through life without killing anyone. 

Then El-Sayed went further in justifying the attack on Temple Israel by effectively saying synagogues are legitimate targets for violence because of "genocide against Palestinians."

Never mind that the attacker's family was Lebanese, not Palestinian. Of course, El-Sayed neglects to mention that the attacker's brother was a Hezbollah commander. I suppose in El-Sayed's eyes members of Hezbollah are honorary Palestinians as they joined Hamas attack against Israel on October 8th.

It must be further mentioned that El-Sayed made these comments while campaigning with Hasan Piker, who can be best described as Nick Fuentes without the intellectual pretensions. Piker is someone who has praised Hamas, said he does not care if Hamas committed rape while claiming Orthodox Jews are inbred. El-Sayed tells me a great deal about himself when he excuses violence against Jews attack while campaigning with someone who publicly supports Hamas and promotes hatred against Jews. Furthermore, El-Sayed wants Democrats to publicly embrace Piker and many young Democratic activists are doing exactly that.

El-Sayed is in a three-way race in the Democratic primary with Congresswoman Haley Stevens and State Senator Mallory McMorrow. The winner of that race would face Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in this November's mid-terms. El-Sayed has not previously held public office although he previously made an unsuccessful bid for Governor in 2018 in a race which Gretchen Whitmer prevailed. 

If El-Sayed wins the Democratic Party nomination, it will demonstrate how deeply entrenched anti-Semitism has become in the party. If El-Sayed wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, then it will demonstrate how mainstream anti-Semitism has become in the United States. This neither bodes well for the future of either American Jewry or American democracy.

Davey Lopes Spent 50 Years in Baseball; Will Be Best Remembered as Part of Dodgers Infield with Garvey, Cey & Russell

 

Former MLB player, coach and manager Davey Lopes passed away today of complications of Parkinson's Disease. He was 80.

Lopes will be best remembered as being part of a four-man Los Angeles Dodgers infield which stayed together for 8½ seasons. Joining Lopes at second base was Steve Garvey at first, Bill Russell at shortstop and Ron Cey at third. The foursome played in four NL pennant winners (1974, 1977, 1978 & 1981) earning a World Series ring in 1981.

Born and raised in East Providence, Rhode Island's tight knit Cape Verdean community, Lopes would play collegiate baseball at both at Iowa Wesleyan University and later at Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. Lopes opted to remain at Washburn after the San Francisco Giants made him their 8th round draft pick in 1967. But he would sign with the Dodgers when they made him their second-round draft pick the following year.

Originally an outfielder, Lopes converted to second base under the tutelage of his manager Tommy Lasorda when he was a member of Triple AAA Spokane Indians in 1970. Lopes would his make big-league debut with the Dodgers late in the 1972 season. In 1973, Lopes would finish 6th in NL Rookie of the Year balloting.

Lopes' greatest strength on the diamond was his baserunning as he would lead the NL in stolen bases in back-to-back seasons in 1975 and 1976 with 77 and 63, respectively. Between 1978 and 1981, Lopes was selected to four consecutive NL All-Star Teams giving Joe Morgan a run for his money as the best second baseman on the Senior Circuit. In 1978, Lopes would earn his lone Gold Glove. Lopes would also be named team captain,

After earning a World Series ring with the Dodgers in 1981, Lopes would be traded to the Oakland A's where he would spend nearly three seasons before being dealt to the Chicago Cubs late in the 1984 season. Lopes would be reunited with Cey as the Cubs would win their first NL East title. The Cubs would fall to the San Diego Padres in the NLCS led by the former infield mate Garvey. The Cubs would send Lopes to the Houston Astros during the 1986 season and would enjoy one more post-season as a player as the Astros earned the NL West title.

Lopes' playing career ended following the 1987 season. Over 16 seasons, Lopes appeared in 1,812 games collecting 1,671 hits for a lifetime batting average of .263 with 155 HR and 614 RBI along with 557 stolen bases. Those 557 stolen bases put him 26th on MLB's all-time list. To put that number into perspective, no active MLB player is in the Top 100 in stolen bases with Starling Marte of the Kansas City Royals tied for 102nd with 361 career steals - nearly 200 fewer than Lopes.

Following his playing career, Lopes spent nearly 30 years as a big-league coach and manager. Lopes had stints as a coach with the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres (twice), Washington Nationals (twice), Philadelphia Phillies as well as five seasons back with the Los Angeles Dodgers as their first base coach between 2011 and 2015. 

In 2000, the Milwaukee Brewers hired Lopes as their manager. Following back-to-back losing seasons, the Brew Crew fired Lopes early in the 2002 season replacing him with Jerry Royster. It was probably just as well because Lopes loved teaching the art of baserunning and stolen bases. 

In his capacity as a coach, Lopes would return to the World Series thrice. First with the San Diego Padres in 1998 and with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 & 2009 with Lopes earning his second World Series ring in 2008. Lopes would retire from baseball after the 2017 season when he coached under his former Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker with the Nats. It is not known if Lopes had been diagnosed with Parkinson's at this point. 

What is clear is that Davey Lopes spent half a century of his life in baseball - 20 as a player at both minor and major league level and nearly three more decades as a coach and manager. Lopes will also be remembered in Providence where he had a sports and recreation center named after him following his retirement as a player.

While Lopes' career fell short of Cooperstown, he enjoyed a solid playing career and built an even deeper legacy as a mentor. R.I.P.

Hours After Claiming "A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight", Trump Gives the Iranian Regime Yet Another Lifeline

This morning, President Trump proclaimed "a whole civilization will die tonight."

By this evening, some 10½ hours later, Trump had given the Iranian regime yet another lifeline and accepted their 10-point proposal as "a workable basis on which to negotiate" via Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir. In the meantime, there is to be a 2-week ceasefire.

Portions of this 10-point plan include giving Iran $2 million for every ship which passes through the Strait of Hormuz, ending all sanctions against the Iranian regime and all military action against Iran's allies in the Middle East including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. 

This is every bit as deranged as telling the whole world that "a whole civilization will die tonight." The Iranian regime now has something it did not have before, and we can thank President Trump for it. Yet there is nothing for which to be thankful.

Needless to say, there is no proposal from Iran about ending its nuclear program, its desire to annihilate Israel or extending more freedoms to its populace. Of course, the Iranian regime isn't interested in these things, and neither is Donald Trump. The Iranians know Trump is looking for a way out and they knew he would take anything they offered him.

Last week, the Iranian regime had rejected a 15-point proposal from the Trump Administration. One of its chief problems was that no one knew what the hell was in the proposal. Not that it mattered much due to Trump's eagerness to accept their own proposal. 

Now don't get me wrong. Trump's rhetoric concerning "a whole civilization will die tonight" was certainly unhelpful and made him come across as more maniacal than the Iranian regime.

Yet when one reads Trump's statement, it his third sentence which is the dead giveaway.

However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump made reference to an official statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.  

Araghchi has been Iran's Foreign Minister since August 2024 and was previously the chief negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal from which Trump saw fit to withdraw in 2018.

Where exactly is this Complete and Total Regime Change to which Trump is referring?

Last month, Trump claimed there had been regime change in Iran "because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with."

Yet as I pointed out at the time, "Oh, there might be some new faces, but the regime is exactly as it was before."

The only difference now is that Iranian regime is stronger now than it was before. They are grinning ear to ear because of Trump's bravado and desperation. Perhaps the Iranian regime will name a sewer after him.

Trump Spent 90 Minutes Telling the World How Deranged He is

 

If a Trump supporter wants to accuse you of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) then please refer them to today's White House press conference. 

Because he spent 90 minutes telling the world how deranged he is.

The world was treated to Trump telling us, among other things, that he could run for President of Venezuela and win while easily learning Spanish in the process, brags about how great he gets along with North Korea's Kim-Jong un, that the real reason he is mad at NATO is because they won't let him have Greenland and that Vladimir Putin has explained NATO to him. 

Now, I'm sure Putin has explained his view of NATO to Trump. The fact that Trump accepts Putin's word at face value is both deranged and delusional. It is also treacherous.

Of course, Trump has been deranged for many years.

The difference now is the derangement is accompanied by incoherence with a splash of incontinence as Trump demonstrates his unseriousness concerning Iran.

Because anytime the President orders our troops into battle it must be done so with the utmost seriousness and sobriety and making a clear case as to why Iranians and the world are better off without a regime which has been a cancer to the world for nearly a half century.

But as long as Trump insists discussing his political aspirations in Venezuela, his chumminess with Kim, how he covets Greenland and everything he knows about NATO is from Putin coupled with his cruelty towards American civilians (whatever their legal status), Trump has succeeded in making the world more scared of the United States than Iran and (dare I say) Russia and China. That is some doing.