Investigations

Dossiers, fact-checks and stress tests on Canadian politics, finance and media. These are working files: open lines of inquiry, sourced but not conclusions, and kept apart from the main record. ← Back to the Library

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01Bad-Faith Crisis Management: How the Liberal Government's Response to Trump's "51st State" Remarks and the 2025 Tariff War Signalled UnreliabilityThe Liberal government (Trudeau, then Carney, with Joly at Foreign Affairs) responded to a U.S. negotiating signal — Trump's "51st state" taunts and tariff threats — with performative nationalism ("elbows up," "Canada is not for sale") and domestically-aimed outrage rather than sustained, direct engagement, then repeatedly reversed course under pressure (DST rescinded hours before collection; counter-tariffs walked back; an apology for the Reagan ad), producing a pattern critics across the spectrum called "capitulation."ResearchCanadian politics & power19 figures · 6 sources1 Sep

02The Unreliability Ledger: A Forensic Case Study of Canada as a Bilateral Partner to the United StatesCanadian officials made firm public commitments (NATO 2%, the digital services tax, USMCA dairy access, the F-35), contradicted them privately or in campaigns, then reversed under U.S. pressure and reframed the retreat as strategy — leaving Canada, as of mid-2026, with Section 232 and Section 122 tariffs still in place, the CUSMA review unresolved, and a U.S. counterpart that openly says Ottawa won't honour commitments.ResearchCanadian politics & power33 figures · 7 sources1 Sep