Afternoon front page: Trump makes good on Lake America threat; Lutnick says French doesn’t matter to America; and more
- Executive Order 14420 emphasizes the United States' claim over most of Lake Ontario's volume, highlighting its importance as a national asset and part of the country’s heritage.
- The U.S. commerce secretary accused Canada of manufacturing its abrupt exit from trade negotiations to gain political advantage in Quebec and Alberta, dismissing concerns over French language laws in the talks.
- Since February 2024, the U.S. has exported more power to Canada than it imported, with Canadians purchasing $330 million in U.S. electricity last December, making cutting off electricity to the U.S. less threatening than in the past.
- A column suggests that despite tensions between the U.S. and Canada, these disagreements reflect Canada’s evolving status from a colony to a confident, globally significant nation.
It’s Thursday, Aug. 27. Here are the top stories we’re following today.
Executive Order 14420 calls America “the greatest protector of the Great Lakes,” and states: “The body of water currently known as Lake Ontario is a tremendous asset to the United States and part of our Nation’s heritage. With the deepest parts of the Lake’s waters lying within United States territory, the United States claims most of the Lake’s volume.” Read the story.
The U.S. commerce secretary claimed Thursday that Canada’s abrupt exit from trade negotiations last week “was manufactured” to score political points in Quebec and Alberta, where independence debates ring loudest. He also disputed that French language laws were ever part of the talks, asking: “Do I care about how the Québécois speak? I mean, what could matter less to America?” Read the story.
Since February 2024, there have been seven months when more U.S. power was sent north than vice versa — most recently last December when Canadians bought $330 million worth of U.S. electricity, but sold just $220 million of power in the other direction. “Cutting off electricity to the U.S. would have been a much more dire threat 40 years ago,” explains Tristin Hopper. Read the story.
Given the uneven correlation of economic and other forces between the United States and Canada, this disagreement is bound to produce some inconveniences,” writes Black, “but it could also conclude Canada’s long transition from colony to semi-colonial dominion, to branch-plant middle power, to the G-7, to one of the world’s recognized twelve or so most important countries, distinct, confident, and distinguished.” Read the column.
“You’re gonna be a cop? Really? A pig? You sure about that,” retired Guelph police detective Julie Meier’s said her elder brother Steve Heimbecker asked her in 2002 when she triumphantly told her family she’d been hired. Just over 20 years later, she was shocked to learn that Steve had been named in more than a dozen Ontario civil court cases, accused of fraudulently using almost $150 million in investors’ funds. Read the story.