Man, I love this guy.
Wab Kinew and the provinces that need no permission to defend their country
“Maybe we should say that they need to release the Epstein files and then we’ll remove the booze ban.”
Man, I love this guy.
I don’t know if I am always going to agree with Wab Kinew, or see the world the way he does. But his willingness to get down into the dirty details of a political moment with unabashed candour is something we are all sorely missing from public discourse, never mind our politics.
In the clip below, a journalist tries to haggle with Kinew for an admission that Manitoba’s ban of American liquor is unreasonable, or barely worth much as a bargaining chip against the United States.
Kinew does not give him that admission. He holds his ground. And then he ups the ante.
Journalist: “So I just want to be clear, when you say if they remove the tariffs, that is something you would consider removing the ban on American alcohol.”
Kinew: “Which tariffs?”
Journalist: “All of them.”
Kinew: “All of them. 100% of the tariffs. No tariffs, no threat of tariffs. Then you can have the booze back.”
Journalist: “Do you think it could be hindering our ability to get back to the table?”
Kinew: “I don’t know. Maybe we should up the ante. Maybe we should say that they need to release the Epstein files and then we’ll remove the booze ban.”
Yes.
Man, have I ever waited a long time for a Canadian politician to show backbone and stand up to this topic.
And boy oh boy, what a strange strange silence from that interviewer.
The Topics We Pretend to Ignore
A few weeks ago, former B.C. politician Selina Robinson attempted to publicly tar Kinew as an antisemite for simply calling into question Israel’s activities in the Middle East, and accusing Trump of using the attack on Iran as a distraction from the Epstein files, for which he appears criminally implicated.
Mrs. Robinson’s comments were abhorrent, if not also grotesquely ignorant, and hopefully she is spending some serious time educating herself about the topic she thought was worth trying to smear Wab Kinew over.
But the whole incident really goes to show how many real-world hot-button topics we, as a society, have complacently accepted as out of bounds for our politicians and even public intellectuals to discuss.
Which is unfortunate. Because this negative space of topic-avoidance is creating fertile ground for thoughtless, often immoral commentators to drum up public attention and further their own brand, without much, if any, serious thought, care, or reflection.
Negative Space
The manosphere is just one example. It describes a virtual space in which morally garbage-swilling grifters like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate attempt to steal the time and attention of our male youth, who are desperately looking for candid authenticity in the world to help direct their ascent into manhood.
That is what happens when serious people abandon difficult topics. The topics don’t disappear. They simply become monopolized by less capable guides.
And in terms of Canada, if we do not tell our own story, someone else will.
Heading Into Trade Talks
This matters even more as Canada heads into CUSMA/NAFTA trade negotiations.
Mark Carney may need to play the diplomat in the coming weeks and months. Keep the channels open, measured, focused.
That may not be a mistake. But it does have a cost.
Trump patrols the world with a predatory hunger for geopolitical weaknesses that he can first ridicule and then exploit. And much of the world just holds its breath and waits, hoping the smell of his rotting constitution passes.
Even Carney, as active and forward-looking as he has been, continues to shrink from certain topics that would truly hurt Trump most.
The normalization of Trump’s criminal and authoritarian behaviour within the United States contributes to his sphere of manufactured reality, which is what is holding the most powerful country in the world hostage to his pathological intentions.
Kinew’s abandoned that enablement. And it’s piercing reality. The last time he went off on Epstein, he blew up on twitter and made several American news organizations like CNN.
He is not accepting Trump’s threats against Canada as normal. He is not treating the “51st state” rhetoric as some colourful sideshow. He is recognizing it as part of a broader predatory assault on our people, our institutions, and our national self-respect.
So when Kinew says:
“If they want to talk tough about 51st state… then we should just hit them where it hurts,”
That is not weird, or strange in any way whatsoever. It is a totally normal and healthy response to the rise of a psychotic despot.
We should all take note.
What Carney Should Understand
My advice to Mark Carney, for what that’s worth, continues to be about quietly and privately celebrating the courage of people like Kinew for doing what they are doing in this interview. Same with Ford and his Reagan commercial.
As Carney hints at by recently referencing the Canadian defenders Sir Isaac Brock and Tecumseh, we are in a state of soft war. Our once long-trusted ally is leveraging economic attacks to, as Trump has described it, annex our country.
And so, Carney doesn’t need to be the one saying everything. He doesn’t need to be the one highlighting every American hypocrisy. He doesn’t need to be lighting every cannon.
In fact, perhaps it is better that it is not him. Carney can be the gracious diplomat, seizing opportunity on the power play. The rest of us can be in the corners, mucking about for the narrative high ground.
Canada might have one Prime Minister. But it has many Provinces.
And that means:
Plausible deniability.
The Land of Many Canadas
Places like Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, and New Brunswick are so different from each other that sometimes it appears as if they are all from different countries, different versions of Canada. As a country spread across five and a half time zones, communicating with each other has always been a historic challenge. It has often become easier to align our culture and our commerce with our American neighbours to the south rather than our provincial neighbours beside us.
But while this dispersed national identity can often appear like a weakness, it can also be a strength. Communication has always been Canada’s most powerful cultural characteristic. It has galvanized alliances and pioneered creativity during every pressure-packed period of our history.
We know how to reach people. We know how to connect across differences.
Now might be the time to finally double down on that.
Many Canadas, One Fight
The Americans are not dealing with one Canada. They are dealing with many.
One diplomat, and a storm at his back. One hive, many bees. One Churchillian fight, and many beaches, hills, and streets for us all to fight for.
Some diplomatic. Technical. Economic. Some, hilarious.
But all of them, for us. Carney shouldn’t try to control that. He should ride it. That is the Canadian way. That is the rhetorical multi-front battle that the Trump administration has conjured in defiance in the face of their karmically doomed debauchery.
Canada needs to understand what Kinew's comments are worth. The wisdom, insight, and tenacity he is putting on the table is sitting there, largely ignored, while the rest of the continent watches.
Each province, territory, and leader has a unique view on this crazy continent right now, and we need to all hear them penetrate the American consciousness.
“Why are we afraid to talk about it?”
Wab wasn’t.
Bold.
Carney and Team Fed can’t do everything. The can be the front face, while the rest of us work our own niches.
Agree Thanks for the post. I too love Wab.