Leni Spooner

Agreed. The longer we keep our powder dry the better.

New #BehindThePaywall:
Carney heads to Washington as Trump reopens the CUSMA fault lines — and Ottawa stalls on AI guardrails.
Can Canada stay sovereign when the rules keep changing? 🇨🇦

lenispooner.substack.com/p/behindthep...

#CUSMA #AI #Fall24 #cdnpoli

A colourful display of locally grown produce at a rural market in Collingwood, Ontario. The produce section features neatly arranged rows of red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers, leafy greens, carrots, leeks, cucumbers, mushrooms, and herbs under a chalkboard listing farm origins and prices. The scene captures the abundance of Ontario-grown food and the pride of small producers supplying local markets.

From Collingwood’s farm stalls to city halls — how we grow back local food systems. What is Canada's 'missing middle'?
#SundayRead  📚
lenispooner.substack.com/p/how-munici...

A diverse group of silhouetted people standing on a ridge at sunrise, looking at a glowing Earth—symbolizing collective global responsibility and hope for climate action. People everywhere are beginning to look up—and insist on changing who pays to protect it. The billable path is shifting.

The rebellion isn’t in the streets — it’s in the mailbox.
Families are done paying for the planet’s mistakes.
🌍 When the Bill Comes Due #climate #cdnpoli between-the-lines.ca/when-the-bil...

TA Childhood on Superior — and a Fight for the Great Lakes From campfire suppers to sovereignty stakes — why the Lakes aren’t just scenery.

🌊 #SundayRead: From campfire suppers to sovereignty stakes — why the Lakes aren’t just scenery.

Superior shaped my childhood. Now the fight is over who controls the Great Lakes.

👉 The Great Lakes: Canada’s Sleeping Sovereignty Crisis

open.substack.com/pub/lenispoo...

Canada Post says green light to end door-to-door deliveries can help with climb out of financial hole | CBC

Gov't says Canada Post can permanently stop door-to-door home deliveries, shifting those addresses to community mailboxes over several years. Mail delivery can be expanded to 3 - 7 days

Colour me shocked that Carney is doing what Harper wanted to do.
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
#CdnPoli #CanadaPost

Canada at the Crossroads: BRICS, Trump, and the Fight for Trade Sovereignty As BRICS expands and Trump pushes protectionism, Canada faces tough choices. Should we deepen ties to the U.S. through USMCA, diversify toward Europe and Asia, or risk being left adrift in a multipola...

We talk hockey trades more than trade wars — but BRICS + Trump could change what’s on our tables and in our wallets. 🇨🇦
👉 lenispooner.substack.com/p/canada-bri... #cdnpoli #economy #Canada #CUSMA #BRICS

I agree. I'm very impressed with the PM on the world stage. Time will tell how well he manages the domestic stresses...and there are many and not of his making. I don't regret my vote either!

Stolen Childhoods: Canada’s UN Spotlight on Ukraine’s Abducted Children Prime Minister Mark Carney used his first UN appearance to accuse Russia of abducting thousands of Ukrainian children — making it Canada’s top priority on the world stage. Here’s why the choice matter...

Canada broke UN protocol to put one issue first: Russia’s abduction of Ukraine’s children. Some stories can’t wait.

👉 lenispooner.substack.com/p/stolen-chi...

#cdnpoli #UNsummit #ukrainehttps://lenispooner.substack.com/p/stolen-childhoods-canada-un-ukraine-children

A shopfront window displays two red-and-white signs reading “We Are Hiring” and “Apply Today.” The empty bottom panel underscores how opportunities are shrinking, symbolizing the gap between visible job ads and the reality of scarce, unstable work for young Canadians in 2025.

🇨🇦👩‍🎓 Youth unemployment in Canada just hit its highest non-pandemic level in 15 years. With summer jobs behind us, fall/winter prospects aren’t looking much better. #cdnpoli #youth #unemployment

I unpack the history and the numbers here: between-the-lines.ca/youth-unempl...

Brilliant!

If Canada’s media repeats the same 5–6 stories a day, what voices and issues are we missing? #cdnpoli #media between-the-lines.ca/broken-infra...

Let’s do it #Canada

    🙏 thanks!

🇨🇦 From tariffs to tables: Canada can cut U.S. food dependence by 50%.
💡 $2.6B of that shift is as simple as you and me choosing Canadian at the checkout.

Full piece 👉 between-the-lines.ca/from-tariffs...

A New Housing Road Map: Canada’s Biggest Build Push Since WWII - Between the Lines Canada is in a housing crisis — and this week, Ottawa responded with the most ambitious federal push since the postwar era. Prime Minister Mark Carney launch...

🇨🇦 Half of Canadian households earn under $90K — and they’re at the heart of Ottawa’s new housing roadmap.

Deeply affordable housing, rental protection & supportive builds for almost 50% of us. #cdnpoli #housing

👉 between-the-lines.ca/new-housing-... between-the-lines.ca/new-housing-...

B.C. goes ahead with next step of single-use plastics ban.
Tofino has become the first city in Canada to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles. #cdnpoli

Wonderful early fall #sundayread!

Why Resilience, Not Certainty, Is the Best Inheritance Farmland shrinks, costs rise, and the world grows more unpredictable. The one inheritance we can truly pass on to our children isn’t…

“Certainty is fragile. Resilience lasts.”
A war bride once taught me that survival isn’t about wealth or luck, but about solidarity, resourcefulness, and courage. #Sundayread

📖 Resilience Is the Best Inheritance — now on Medium. medium.com/living-digit...

Freedom Found Close to Home - Between the Lines This summer reminded me that freedom isn’t always about how far we travel, but how deeply we root ourselves in the places close to home. From gardens and con...

🌿 Freedom isn’t always found in far-off places — sometimes it’s right at your own kitchen table, garden, or neighbourhood.

✨ A reflection on what it means to live free, close to home:

☕️ Take a #read break and let me know what freedom feels like to you.
between-the-lines.ca/freedom-foun...

Hilarious. All too true, and hilarious.

H55 Accelerates North American Expansion with New Aircraft Battery Pack Manufacturing Facility in Canada - H55 Over 100 systems already sold on the Bristell B23 Energic platform, as the company inaugurates its Québec facility to continue supporting its customers   LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC, CANADA – August 28, 2025 – ...

H55 is a Swiss multinational company that has built their new battery factory in Canada.
h55.ch/en/h55-accel...

Canadians made three million fewer trips to the U.S. during summer travel boycott August continued a pattern of U.S. visitors to Canada outnumbering Canadians travelling to the U.S.

August 2025:

Returning by vehicle ⬇️ 33.9%
Returning by air ⬇️ 25.4%

An estimated loss of $2.1B for the US travel sector this summer as a result of the Canadian boycott.

#Canada
#USBoycott

I'm hoping that there will be a big push to rebuild our agriculture to consumer middle included in the second wave of nation building projects. We can't afford to keep importing all value added food stuffs from USA. We lost too much in the way of processing to the USA in the original NAFTA fallout.

Speaking as a boomer, recent generations have it a lot harder. The right to repair is all but gone, and almost everything is built to be thrown out not reused. It is going to take all generations working together to push back on big retail etc. -- but I think it can be done if we all work together.

We did have an advantage in years gone by. Most things then actually could be repaired. These days it is almost impossible to get anything repaired. Either the warranty is voided or spare parts are unavailable.

"These are tough times. We have to make tough choices for a better future," says PM Mark Carney on plans for cuts to government expenditures in its upcoming federal budget as he addresses Liberal party caucus in Edmonton.

#cdnpoli

A sepia-toned portrait of a young couple—a woman in a blouse and a man in an RAF uniform—sits on a wooden kitchen table beside a steaming metal teapot, an open notebook with a pen, and a closed journal. Overlaid text reads: “No Going Back: Families in an Age of Scarcity. Why resilience—not certainty—is the best inheritance we can pass on. lenispooner.substack.com.”

⚡ Life doesn’t run on certainty anymore—it runs on resilience.

🇨🇦 With tariffs, CUSMA talks & rising costs, the best inheritance isn’t wealth—it’s adaptability, creativity & endurance.
💭 What qualities will Canadians need most to roll with change?
👉 Read: lenispooner.substack.com/p/no-going-b...

Poilievre’s Hallucinatory Politics | The Walrus He conjures up castles and valleys of gold. But can his fevered imagination eclipse Mark Carney’s grounded reality?

"However, for all the differences of approach, it’s in their descriptions of reality that Poilievre and Carney differ most, and that may be the point of most friction in the coming months. For, whereas Carney likes to stick to facts, Poilievre has the tendency to stray from them." #cdnpoli

1/9 🇨🇦 CARNEY ANNOUNCES $80M TARIFF-RELIEF FUND FOR ATLANTIC CANADA 🇨🇦

PM targets small and medium businesses hit by Trump's trade war. Part of the larger $1B national fund.

CBC reports from St. John's shipyard announcement.
#cdnpoli #AtlanticCanada #Trump #TradeWar #Tariffs #TrumpTariffs