King Charles’ US Visit

Irony dies as King Charles speaks to Congress:


TL,DW: It was a good speech, apparently written at least partly by Charles himself. And both Democrats and Republicans enthusiastically applauded its themes of democracy, rule of law, diversity, integration, respect for all religions, service to the world, the importance of peace over war, and concern for the environment. In other words, everything Trump and all the Congressional Republicans have denied, trivialized, downgraded or trashed.

Other comments on the visit:

This was a weird one — the White House staff and Cabinet are lined up to shake hands with King Charles, and Trump blocks him out to shake hands with these people himself.

At the state dinner:

King Charles: I cannot help noticing the readjustments to the East Wing. I’m sorry to say that we British of course made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) April 28, 2026 at 7:00 PM

After all, remember that this was in the news just a month ago:

Trump didn’t know that King Charles is the head of state of Canada 🙄

www.cbc.ca/news/politic…

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— Kate H 🇨🇦 (@quietvoice.bsky.social) April 5, 2026 at 8:11 PM

Spring Economic Update
Starting with a side note, I found out from Paul Wells column that Finance minister François-Philippe Champagne is sometimes called Frankie Bubbles around Ottawa!
Today, Frankie was using the catch-phrase “Let me make it real” Susan Delacourt reports in the Toronto Star (gift article):

…In that one short, sharp sentence, Finance Minister François Philippe Champagne acknowledged the political juggling act that Mark Carney’s government is trying to pull off as it embarks on its second year of power.
It is a government that boasts it’s delivering long-term change to Canada, but one that is also keen to assure Canadians that it can also come up with short-term, quick fixes for their affordability struggles — the “real” stuff.
…“We have ensured that as revenues have grown, two-thirds of this increase over the past year have been directed toward affordability measures that make a real difference in the lives of Canadians,” Champagne said in his statement to the Commons.
… a main purpose of this newest economic statement is also in “providing a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.”
This is emerging as a schism between the ruling Liberals and opposition Conservatives, with Pierre Poilievre escalating his criticism in recent weeks on the Carney government’s inability to deliver tangible results in any meaningful timeline, whether that’s on the trade war with the U.S., balancing the budget or reducing taxes.
Poilievre has come out swinging too on the whole swath of major projects, saying they’re just pipe (or pipeline) dreams for now, and calling the high-speed rail proposal a far-off, “pie-in-the-sky” scheme.
This dovetails with another consistent line of attack from the Conservatives, depicting Carney and his government as anti-populists, more interested in governing for corporate boardrooms or global elites.
You could read the rollout of this mini-budget as a bit of a reply to that criticism. …
It will be up to Canadians to judge in the weeks and months ahead whether this spring economic statement is tangibly delivering on affordability. But Champagne made sure to pepper his speech with seven references to what’s “real” and people should probably expect to hear this government making this a refrain: “Let me make it real.”

Actually, Avi, the trade unions will be pretty happy with 100,000 new members:

After #Canada’s weakest Winter Olympic medal count in years, Carney’s govt ups sport funding by millions.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11821216/spring-economic-statement-sport-funding/

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— Anna Anthro (@annaanthro.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy) April 28, 2026 at 3:29 PM

The federal government plans to ban cryptocurrency ATMs as part of a suite of measures in its spring economic statement targeting financial crimes.

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— CHEK News (@cheknews.ca) April 28, 2026 at 3:00 PM

I’m not crying, you’re crying
I was today years old when I found out that the Buffalo Sabres always sing Oh Canada at their games, whether a Canadian team is playing or not – I guess they usually get a lot of Ontarians at their games. So tonight, the singer’s mic cut out, but the crowd just kept on singing:

Mic cut out during O Canada and the Buffalo crowd brought it home

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— Jomboy Media (Unofficial) (@jomboymedia-mirror.bsky.social) April 28, 2026 at 6:06 PM

I nominate the Buffalo Sabres as an Honourary Canadian Team now (though I’ll still be cheering for Montreal if they meet in the second round.)