Biden's poor debate performance renews questions about Trump, Trudeau and Canada's future
CBC
U.S. President Joe Biden's uneven — and at times incoherent — debate performance Thursday reportedly has triggered panic in Democratic circles as it could result in an insurmountable lead for Donald Trump and a Republican victory in November's vote.
It also has observers on this side of the border wondering what a second Trump presidency could mean for Canada and how political leaders here will handle the sometimes volatile former president if he wins again.
Polls suggest Trump was already leading Biden before Thursday's debate in the six battleground states that are expected to decide the presidential election — Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Some voters have simply shrugged off Trump's criminal conviction and his association with the Jan. 6 siege on Capitol Hill.
Like the Toronto-St. Paul's voters who backed a Conservative in the long-time Liberal stronghold due to frustration with the current state of affairs, some Americans have turned away from Biden as the country grapples with inflation and surging home prices.
The ongoing influx of migrants at the southern border has also been a sore spot for some U.S. voters.
Biden's debate performance Thursday did nothing to silence critics who maintain he's too old and infirm to lead the most powerful country on earth.
A second Trump presidency could be very consequential for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his own political future.
Trudeau has presented himself as a defender of the rules-based international order — a sort of foil to the isolationist "America First" Trump and his disdain for multilateral institutions like NATO.
In a 2016 speech before Parliament, former U.S. president Barack Obama famously praised Trudeau as the leader to carry the torch of liberalism at a time when anti-democratic forces were supposedly on the march.
There's some hope in pro-Trudeau circles that a chaotic Trump presidency could make Canadians sour on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. The Liberals have repeatedly tried to brand Poilievre as Trump-like figure because of his embrace of populist politics.
Some Liberals think that if Canadians recoil at a second Trump victory, they could choose Trudeau in the 2025 general election as a steady hand on the tiller during a period of uncertainty.
Dan Arnold, a former staffer in the Prime Minister's Office who led the Trudeau Liberals' research program during their 2015, 2019, and 2021 election victories, said a second Trump presidency could consume news headlines and reverse Canadians' current appetite for change.
"I think you could make the argument that, if the world is moving in a direction that is very scary, that is very populist, that is very right-wing, we don't want Canada to move in that same direction," he said in an interview.
Days after Calgary’s mayor urged sparing no expense to build a replacement water main due to a pair of catastrophic breaks in 18 months, one city councillor is advising caution.
A Toronto Maple Leafs player paid tribute over the weekend to a grocery store worker and fan who died suddenly last week and is being remembered as a warm, friendly face who loved the team.
A helicopter full of researchers with the Yukon Geological Survey is scouring a remote mountain region in southwest Yukon, looking for avalanches and landslides – evidence of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rattled the area last month.
Environmental group Greenpeace is calling for more transparency on the part of Canada's largest pulp and paper company, saying it has received millions of dollars in government funding without providing the public with details of how that money is being used or sharing its plans for the future of Canada's forests.
A 19-year-old Calgary man who was once placed on a terrorism peace bond for social media posts promoting ISIS and the killing of gay men got into an argument with a judge Monday about his pro-Nazi beliefs.
Proceedings got underway in B.C. Supreme Court Monday in a case that will determine whether faith-based organizations can continue to prohibit medical assistance in dying (MAID) within their facilities.
Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola said Monday that she would challenge Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in this year's midterm elections, vowing to shake up the establishment to make life more affordable for Alaskans.
The federal Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of rewarding "Beijing's intimidation" after some parliamentarians on a trip to Taiwan decided to return earlier than planned.
Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to northern B.C. to meet with Coastal First Nations before leaving on his trip to China, a government official confirmed to CBC News.
Police have charged another man in connection with a 2023 gold heist at Pearson airport, saying he was arrested after flying into the country on Monday.
Documents show the Ontario government has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on external legal fees to fight a successful legal challenge — which the province is appealing this month — against its plan to remove bike lanes on major Toronto streets
Gulf Island Peat Moss is monitoring a waste pile of shavings on its property in Foxley River after the pile caught fire Monday morning, a company representative says.
Officials from the London, Ont., and several neighbouring counties will push the Ford government for improved passenger rail service in the region when they meet with the Ontario government at a conference in Toronto this month.