Expect trend to increase with Trump as US
President
From 2021 to 2024, it seemed like the famed former member of Greenpeace was a regular on Canadian news networks serving as Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, which is a position he still holds. Guilbeault seemingly spoke as Prime Minister of Canada 1A creating policies to force Canada to move towards a green economy. He was the star shown all over the place as it seemed to be Canada was positioned to be the hero that was going to save the world from climate change under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Guilbeault was seen regularly in early January 2025 until January 20 rolled around and Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States of America for a second term taking over from Democrat Joe Biden, who beat Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election. Since becoming the President of the United States again, Trump signed off on an avalanche of executive orders changing numerous aspects of life in that country and using the threats of tariffs to declare economic war on first Canada and Mexico along with seemingly the rest of the world.
Of course, he keeps repeating that line about making Canada the “51st state.”
All of that has thrown Canada’s political scene in a crisis mode with the country’s economy being very dependent on what has traditionally been a good relationship with the United States. Under the specter of this current political climate, it seems like there is a fear that Canada could turn into a third world country overnight, if Trump makes good on his plans.
All of a sudden, you don’t hear much about Guilbeault and talk about Canada’s environmental policies has become muted. If they are talked about, they seem out of place in dealing with the economic challenges Canada now faces.
Shifting to the sporting world, Trump appeared at Super Bowl LIX on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received big cheers, but left early as the Philadelphia Eagles stormed to a 34-0 lead and hammered the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs 40-22. The Chiefs scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter to make the final score look better cosmetically.
On Sunday, Trump appeared at the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Air Force 1 took a flyby of the track and Trump road in his armoured Cadillac limousine nicknamed “The Beast” and lapped the track with his presidential motorcade leading the field of cars.
In Canada, the national anthem of the United States has been booed before NHL and NBA games hosted in Canadian cities and the two 4 Nations Face-Off games the United States team played at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The booing is done to show displeasure with Trump’s tariff threats.
On Monday, Bill Guerin, who is the Team USA general manager for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, said on Fox News he would be very happy to see Trump in the crowd for Thursday’s championship game. The USA will face Canada in the final to be played at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (7 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet). At the moment, it does not look like Trump will be attending this contest.
Trudeau was in attendance for the preliminary round game between Canada and the USA taken 3-1 including an empty-net goal by the Americans last Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. That game started with three fights in the first nine seconds of the opening frame.
If the United States wins the 4 Nations Face-Off title game, you can be sure you will see messaging on social media that Canada was put in its place and that the USA owns Canada. You will likely hear messages from the folks in the United States that Canada has become an embarrassment in the game it loves and that Canada really isn’t a real country and should become a state.
When it comes to sport on the international scene, sport has become the place where a sizable number of countries use that space as the spot that proves their country and culture is superior that of another country and its culture.
When the Soviet Union existed, it often used both Summer and Winter Olympic Games along would world championships to declare being the world’s most superior nation state. Russia would do that under the rule of Vladimir Putin before their sports bodies were banned at Olympic and various other international sporting events following their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
When Canada’s NHL players face the Soviet Union in the famed eight-game Summit Series of 1972, it became a tribalistic battle between cultures and peoples out on a hockey rink. Canada claimed that series with four wins, three losses and one tie on Paul Henderson’s famed Game 8 winner that broke a 5-5 tie and gave Canada a 6-5 victory with 34 seconds remaining in the third period.
Unfortunately, I believe the politics of the current day has devolved into a clown show and that has happened over the last 15 years.
To me, the extreme left that is seen as the woke left follows Trudeau. To me, it seems like that group of people believes concerns about the environment and climate change surpass all other issues, people are not born with a gender and can chose their gender, the Christian religion is evil, religion has no place in government, diversity, equity and inclusion is important, people are citizens of the world and should work toward a good of the globe view, the media should be controlled, the right wing voices should be silenced and the education system should conform to the leftist view that were listed.
To me, the extreme right follows Trump and the idea of Trumpism. To me, it seems like that group of people believes the economy is the issue of greatest concern, being hired on merit is more important than diversity, equity and inclusion, the Christian religion is good, religion has a place in government, there are only two sexes in male and female, women’s sports are for biological women, concerns about the environment and climate change have gone too far, those on the left wing are crazy, being combative with the media and those that don’t share your views is an acceptable behaviour and the education system should conform to the rightist view that were listed.
For both the extreme left and extreme right, I feel like if you don’t follow the dogmas I listed for each side those on each side believe you are an evil person that should be destroyed or at minimal cancelled.
Both sides have had their surprises.
In Canada especially Western Canada, the Liberals climate agenda when fully implemented would see only electric vehicles being used in Canada and all structures would be warmed by electric heat pumps. If you lived in Saskatchewan the last 10 days and experienced the extended extreme cold weather, those policies would mean no one would go anywhere and people would be freezing to death as electric heat pumps quit when it is colder than -25 C. In already following a green economic policy that has partially been put into action, tent cities and homeless has become the norm in Canadian centres of all sizes due to job losses and increased poverty.
Also if only electric vehicles were used, people at the moment would need to pay $31,000 to $75,000 to replace a battery on an electric vehicle. You are not likely to get three years out of a battery of an electric vehicle. The battery in an electric vehicle like all batteries declines in efficiency every time it is used, and electric vehicle batteries decline faster due to the size of the charge they need to hold.
Also, it does way more environmental damage to mine for the lithium for electric batteries for vehicles, and as my mechanic told me, the electric vehicle graveyard is already bigger than the gas vehicle graveyard. The world also doesn’t have enough lithium for there to be a full conversion to electric vehicles.
In the United States, President Trump’s second term so far has been more than anyone expected on the surprise front with all the executive orders he has signed. He is trying to change how government there operates, clear out senior executives in the FBI, send buyout offers to the entire CIA workforce, threaten economic war with Canada and Mexico and seemingly most other parts of the world and has seemingly sided with Russia in its war with Ukraine falsely saying that Ukraine started that war.
To me, both those on the far left and far right are trying to work things on the financial front to profit themselves and their buddies. If they do actually want to help the people they govern, they don’t truly know how to do that.
I said this before, but I personally have no use for Trudeau and Trump. I also believe there is value in trying to understand why people vote for either side, especially if their views are moderate or centralist. I believe it helps to figure out why we got to where we are in the world.
I believe the strong centralist voice has been lost. I believe good democracy comes from doing the art of the compromise well.
I also believe there are too many lies told in this world being both “white” lies and straight out lies. Those lies make trust hard to achieve and gives conspiracy theories traction.
I believe I don’t fit with either the far left or the far right, which means those on both spectrums will hate me. I understand that is an “it is what it is” thing, and I am fine with it.
Things will play out however they play out, and I will adjust to those factors when the effect me the best I can using the cards that are dealt my way. I feel like I have constantly said that since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic started in March of 2020.
For myself, I personally wish sports and politics did not mix. Unfortunately, the reality is sports and politics do mix, and they have mixed pretty much for all time. The intensity of how sports and politics mix constantly changes as the years go on and can rage for a small to no mix up to a big mix.
With the way the world is currently especially in North America, the sports and politics mix appears set to happen on a more regular and intense basis going forward. Buckle up.
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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