by Tod Maffin
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In 1985, the National Film Board of Canada released a short animated film called The Big Snit.
It’s about a married couple in their house. The husband cheats at Scrabble, the wife catches him, they start yelling at each other. She relieves stress by shaking her eyes, he by sawing the furniture.
Outside, the world is ending in a nuclear war. But this couple doesn’t notice. They’re too busy arguing.
That tension between trivial obsession and looming catastrophe is exactly what gives the film its dark punch. It was nominated for an Oscar.
The illusion of safe distance
Yesterday, America reached another tragic milestone in its race to destroy its Great Experiment.
Watching it from Canada, besides the grotesque absurdity of it all — the shouting matches on cable news, the cruel memes on Facebook — it’s easy to feel as if violence is happening further away than it is.
Less than an hour after Charlie Kirk was killed, a kid in a school in Colorado shot two classmates, and then killed himself. The news reports followed the same, tragic template, right down to parents interviewed outside the school saying they couldn’t believe it could happen to their kids, in their school, in their community. It’s easy to feel as if violence is happening further away than it is.
T O D B I T
The shooting at the Colorado school was the 47th school shooting in the United States this year.
No border for rhetoric
Whatever you think of Charlie Kirk, nobody disagrees that his death was a product of the ugly, overheated political talk that’s been building for years in the United States.
And some of that talk has crept across the border. Reckless talk, where politicians replace debate with soundbites engineered to rile their base. Insults, instead of ideas.
Donald Trump called the border between our two countries an artificial line. He’s not wrong. It’s a line on paper. A line we defend, a line we protect, but there’s no wall that keeps cable news out. Our border agents aren’t checking rhetoric.
Canada, today, is at its own turning point.
A real line we draw
We can continue to look the other way when our political leaders chase cheap points from the American playbook. And if we do, it will carry the same risk. The louder the words get, the easier for violence to be the next logical step.
Or, we can choose the other path and call out politicians who trade in the same poison. We can stand up at rallies and say “No, we don’t substitute anger for leadership here. We don’t confuse cruelty with strength. Not here.”
That’s a decision we make. That’s a line we draw that’s not artificial.
On my desk, I have a TV. It’s usually tuned to Canadian news. But today, I watched American cable news. Sure, the Kirk killing was covered. But they spent more time on other stories. Veterans doing something for 9/11. European interest rates. A UN emergency meeting.
Not even 24 hours, and the news cycle is ready to move on.
There’s still time to choose
At the end of The Big Snit, that animated film, it’s too late. The bombs are already in the air. Nothing can bring them back.
Canada’s not there yet. We’re still a young country. We have time to put down the saw, close the Scrabble board, and look each other in the eye.
We can still be the country that shows the world that disagreement doesn’t have to mean destruction. That decency can be stronger than division.
If we choose to.
THE WEEKLY CROSS-CANADA POLL
Have Your Say!
In ten years, Canadian politics will be…
Last Week’s Results
THE WEEK THAT WAS
The News You Didn’t Hear… But Should Have
There’s Still Good News Out There ❤
Gen Z 🤝 Gen Nana: An 82-year-old Toronto grandmother is heading back to school at UofT, studying alongside her grandson while her daughter teaches as a professor.
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (aka SickKids) has been ranked the world’s top pediatric hospital, beating out some of the top medical facilities worldwide.
B.C. border crossings into Washington dropped 40% this August compared to last year, marking the seventh straight month of decline.
Parks Canada is planting nearly 300,000 seedlings in Gros Morne National Park to bring moose-browsed meadows back to life after years of feeding.
Wild Things 🐻
Shark Week, but make it live: Whale watchers off the coast of Nova Scotia got an unexpected show when a great white shark was spotted eating a floating whale carcass.
Sweet, sweet revenge: A BC beekeeper’s shop was swarmed by thousands of “robber bees” in what she’s calling an attempted honey heist.
A nurse rescued a drunk baby raccoon nicknamed Otis from a dumpster, giving it CPR after it nearly drowned following a feast on fermented peaches.
A man who raised a pack of wolf-dogs says he’s relieved the animals will be moved to an Ontario sanctuary instead of being euthanized.
Trade War: Canada vs U.S. 🥊
About time: Feds have uncovered dozens of cases of grocers falsely labelling imported goods as Canadian-made, with complaints peaking during the height of the U.S.-Canada tariffs.
"It’s not the tariffs, it’s the chaos": Even CUSMA-compliant products are getting hit with U.S. levies, and it’s leaving businesses on both sides of the border scrambling.
The Sorry Files 🤦♂
Just Ken: A B.C. man received a 90-day driving prohibition after being caught impaired behind the wheel of a pink Barbie Jeep during the morning commute on his way to grab a Slurpee.
An investigation has exposed a sprawling online industry openly advertising fake Canadian visas for up to $40K and cross-border passage for $4K.
Someone come get their grandpa: A 71-year-old Montreal man has been sentenced to six years in a British jail for trying to smuggle cocaine hidden inside his mobility scooter into the U.K.
Shawshank but petty: Calgary police say a 46-year-old man 'tunnelled' a hole from his apartment into his neighbour’s unit after the two had been having ongoing issues.
Across Canada 📍
The Alberta government promised to fight for its school pronoun law after 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy groups filed a legal challenge.
The law, which came into effect this school year, requires children under 16 to get parental consent to change their names or pronouns, while 16- and 17-year-olds must notify their parents.
Get that bread (literally): Canadians can now apply for their share of a $500M settlement in the bread price-fixing class action, covering purchases of packaged bread products between 2001 and 2021.
A Haitian family who spent nearly two months in a U.S. ICE detention centre after being turned away by Canadian border agents has finally been allowed into the country.
She's got beef: The owner of Woodstock’s Bird’s Hill Farms says Maritimes chefs are clamoring for her Wagyu, but federal rules make shipping outside the province costly and complicated.
Alberta plans to pull out of the federal dental care plan by 2026, but what that means for patients still isn't clear.
Surrey is projected to surpass Vancouver as B.C.’s most populous city by 2038, according to new regional growth forecasts.
Dystopian Hellscape 🔥
A 77-year-old retired Toronto banker was falsely identified in thousands of social media posts as the shooter of Charlie Kirk.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Chris Landau, says foreigners who celebrate or make light of Kirk’s assassination online could be banned from entering the United States.
They are going to have to shop at Target: A 5-foot emotional support alligator is no longer welcome in a Pennsylvania Walmart.
Ho Ho Oh No: Petaluma’s longtime Santa Claus was arrested following an armed standoff with police at his California home.
HOW CANADA’S COMPANIES ENDED THE WEEK
The Market
Royal Bank | |
TD Bank | |
Enbridge | |
ScotiaBank | |
Bank of Montreal | |
CP Rail | |
Shopify | |
Canadian Tire | |
Loblaws | |
Tim Hortons (RBI) | |
Dollarama | |
Rogers |
I write this newsletter because I care about this country, and I know you do too.
There’s no big media boss here. No hedge fund. Just one person with a keyboard, some facts, and a healthy dose of Canadian side-eye.
If that’s worth something to you, please consider chipping in if you can. 💚
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