CTV National News: The Catholic Church's first American pope
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Vatican correspondent Gerard O'Connell tells Adrian Ghobrial how Pope Leo XIV is a 'man of peace' who will continue the reforms begun by Pope Francis.
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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Fearing Trump's anger, non-U.S. G7 members will pursue low-bar victories in Kananaskis
The four European members of the G7 face a delicate summit in Kananaskis, Alta. They know that U.S. President Donald Trump is in attack-dog mode on tariffs, defence spending and other issues and that lashing out against him could backfire. Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and executive director of the public policy think tank's Brussels office, believes the G7 will focus on Mr. Trump – but the goal will be to avoid antagonizing him. 'They aren't looking for a fight with Trump,' he said. 'Part of their victory would be just having him there and engaged without any overt conflict with him.' The non-American members of the G7 – Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Germany and Britain – know from experience that Mr. Trump can be a force of disruption at the summits, as he was in 2017 in Taormina, Sicily. There, he berated the other six for skimpy defence spending, threatened to leave the Paris climate agreement (which he later did) and shunned the traditional closing news conference. Ditto at the 2018 summit in La Malbaie, Que. Mr. Trump left it early after a spat about trade with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The U.S. did not appear in the final G7 communiqué. The two-day summit in Kananaskis begins June 17, and the non-U.S. members no doubt have spent months plotting strategies. One option is to present a united front against Mr. Trump on tariffs, China, defence spending, support for Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend – and other issues. Another option is to go soft on demands for fear of triggering Mr. Trump's wrath, which could see him unleash another round of tariffs. Carney should ignore any antics from Trump at G7 and focus on business, Chrétien says Certainly, the six have plenty of reasons to be wary of Mr. Trump – and furious with him – for the turmoil he has inflicted on global trade. Since taking office in January, he has imposed double- and triple-digit tariffs on America's trading partners, reversed or lowered them several times, then threatened to reimpose them, as he did in May with his vow to hit the EU with a 50-per-cent trade tax (now suspended until July 9). Today there is a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on most countries, though not Canada and Mexico, plus a 25-per-cent levy on autos. Early this month, Mr. Trump doubled the tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent, a level high enough to cripple Canadian exports of both products. A Reuters analysis says the tariffs have cost the biggest companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia – among them Porsche, Apple and Sony – more than US$34-billion in lost sales and higher expenses. The analysis did not include the damage inflicted on the thousands of smaller companies that are not listed on the leading stock market indexes such as the S&P 500 or Europe's Stoxx 600. Since all the non-U.S. G7 members, plus the European Union itself (whose leaders will also be in Kananaskis), are in various stages of negotiating new trade deals with the White House, they will be wary of jeopardizing any progress they have made so far by angering Mr. Trump. For instance, if the EU fails to negotiate a trade deal by the July deadline, the threatened 50-per-cent levy may come into effect. If it does, the EU would almost certainly plunge into recession. 'Tariffs are the keystone of his approach to the world, and no international meeting is going to change this,' said trade lawyer Lawrence Herman of Toronto's Herman & Associates. 'Until the Trump ascendancy, G7 leaders tended to find consensus on major issues. It's hard to see that happening in Kananaskis, especially given Trump's unpredictability as well as the adversarial relationship between the U.S. and the Europeans and Canada.' Since convincing Mr. Trump to back down on tariffs seems like a long shot, progress elsewhere may be pursued. Bulking up militaries will almost certainly be included. In principle, all the G7 countries agree that spending has to rise, especially among the EU countries, which face the prospect of the U.S. winding down its commitment to NATO, leaving Europe less able to confront a revanchist Russia. Carney lays out defence boost, says era of U.S. dominance over NATO's current defence spending target for its 32 member states is 2 per cent of GDP. Mr. Trump wants to see it rise to 5 per cent. NATO, whose own summit will be held June 24-26 in the Dutch city of The Hague, is set to embrace that figure, though it could be fudged by allowing 3.5 per cent in hard military spending and the rest for infrastructure, cybersecurity and other outlays not directly related to weapons or military headcounts. Defence spending in much of Western Europe, especially Germany, is surging. In March, the German parliament ripped up the government's 'debt brake,' which will allow Chancellor Friedrich Merz to spend essentially unlimited amounts to rebuild the country's military and infrastructure. Still, some countries will resist doubling their military budgets. They will have to consider their positions carefully ahead of the G7 and NATO summits, since Mr. Trump has been insistent since his first term as president that the U.S. will no longer support a NATO full of cheapskates. Italy will almost certainly argue that it already has one of the biggest militaries in Europe, including two aircraft carriers and an order for 115 Lockheed Martin F-35s, the most advanced fighter jets in the NATO arsenal, suggesting that its relatively small military budget in no way means it is an inefficient spender. With agreements on tariffs and defence bound to be hard work at the G7, easier victories will likely be sought. Mr. Lesser said they might strive for a common front on the relationship with China in areas such as intellectual property, investment screening and disapproval of Beijing's support for Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. What is known is that Mr. Trump will be the wild card at the Canadian G7, as he was at previous G7s.
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
Alberto Mingardi: When the Italians chose media freedom
'Liberty' hasn't been very popular in recent elections — economic freedom in particular. Article content There are many reasons for that, but the main one seems to be that concepts such as freedom, the market, and competition are abstract to most people. 'Market' was a metaphor, connecting the act of trading with a village's fair. Now, the word evokes big financial entities, government bonds and a world of transactions impossibly detached from our daily lives. Article content Article content Article content Still, there are heartening counter-examples on this account. Thirty years ago, a referendum in Italy — not a country particularly known for its economic libertarianism — showed that freedom of choice may have a go with voters, if they understand it as something concrete. Article content Article content In 1994, media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi surprisingly won the national election and was appointed prime minister. He was then new to politics, though he would embark on a long and controversial career. Yet, only after a few months, his coalition collapsed, and his political enemies tried to cripple his media empire with three referenda that appeared a sure-fire way to win the vote. Article content They failed. Berlusconi's television networks were not big on information or politics. They thrived on entertainment, free from any attempt to lecture the public. They were a little revolution, in a country that for years was used to government television only. Article content Television in Italy was conceived as a monopoly and, as such, debuted in 1954. Article content Article content Only in the 1970s did a Constitutional Court's ruling open the way to some limited competition to Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), the government-owned broadcasting company which featured news and entertainment. At that time, dozens of small cable networks running on shoestring budgets emerged, running quiz shows and local sports news programs, but then the government introduced such complex cable TV regulations that these networks that wanted to survive transitioned to radio. Article content Article content The 1970s were the heyday of the Italian interventionism. The entrepreneurial state ran at full speed, owning and purchasing businesses, trade unions were an informal part of the government, and regulations stifled private ventures. The arrival of independent media broadcasters was seen as nothing less than a barbarian invasion by many at the time. Article content At 40 years old, real estate developer Silvio Berlusconi bought his first TV network in 1976, a small cable TV system that operated from a satellite city he built near Milan. He did not think that private competition should be happy with whatever space the government TV left it. Berlusconi wanted to compete with government TV. He aimed big. The government had three networks; he wanted as many. He bought movie rights and courted famous TV stars.
Globe and Mail
15 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Travel guru Rick Steves has a new focus: Saving America
For decades now, Rick Steves has arguably been the world's pre-eminent European tour guide. While his primary audience has been in his home country of the United States, his influence has extended far and wide. Along the way, he's encouraged millions of people to broaden their thinking by getting to know the local customs and culture of the destinations they're visiting – to gain new perspectives by interacting with the people who call these places home. His accessible and relentlessly upbeat style (especially on his long-running show on public television) has made him a traveller's favourite. Along the way, he's become a much-admired figure and, as a result of his massive following, a highly influential one, too. In recent years, however, some of Mr. Steves's commentary has taken a darker turn. While he's never hid his progressive leanings – he's advocated for the legalization of marijuana for years – he hadn't been known for being overtly activist when it came to national politics. That has changed. In 2018, two years into Donald Trump's first term as U.S. president, Mr. Steves produced a documentary called The Story of Fascism in Europe, which chronicled the emergence of authoritarian movements on the continent. While Mr. Trump himself wasn't featured, the subtext was clear: democracy is fragile and it doesn't take much for an aspiring dictator to make it quickly disappear. The film was a warning bell that Mr. Steves was sounding, one he is ringing even louder in the early days of Mr. Trump's second administration. Opinion: Donald Trump is making America a monarchy again Last month, Mr. Steves gave an emotional speech at a 'Hands Off' rally in his hometown of Edmonds, Wash., in which he criticized the Trump administration for attacking several U.S. universities. Recently, he posted a long note on his Facebook page in which he encouraged his compatriots to attend 'No Kings' rallies set to take place across the U.S. this weekend, saying the country is effectively under attack by a man who wants to follow in the footsteps of totalitarian dictators of the past. 'A perfect storm of political conditions has left American democracy in an existential struggle,' he wrote. 'We have a President who wants to literally replace our system of government – a system which has inspired freedom-lovers across the planet for nearly 250 years – with an oligarchy … a dictatorship.' Mr. Steves has clearly been shaken by what he has witnessed in the last few months – events he couldn't imagine 10 years ago. What has rattled him the most is the speed at which the U.S. President has undermined the American Constitution, gutted long-standing institutions, installed cronies and sycophants in important positions for which they are grossly unqualified and turned the White House into a corrupt kleptocracy. In Mr. Steves's mind, there are striking parallels between the MAGA movement in the U.S. and the repressive authoritarian regimes that rose up across Europe 100 years ago. In an interview with Vanity Fair last month, Mr. Steves said there are certain things any wannabe autocrat needs to do to overthrow a democracy, beginning with an attack on truth itself. 'You've got to be able to tell lies repeatedly with such confidence that people believe them,' Mr. Steves told the magazine. 'You've got to discredit journalism … You've got to target higher education. You've got to target the courts. You've got to create an external enemy, some kind of fear – refugees or Jews, somebody to scapegoat.' Every time Mr. Steves reads the news today, he thinks to himself: that's exactly what Adolf Hitler did, or what Benito Mussolini did. 'You've got to intimidate people at the voting booths,' he said. 'You've got to be able to disappear people into some kind of concentration camp or a prison in another land. You just look at any news flash that deals with how [Mr.] Trump is taking or consolidating his power and you can see that it is from the fascist autocrat's playbook.' I realize there are some people who continue to brush off remarks like these as hysterical overstatement, the words of someone suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Let me say, those people are either fools, or ones benefitting from the unequal, unjust society the President is creating – one that benefits the rich (and mostly white) at the expense of everyone else. Autocracy is like bankruptcy; it happens slowly at first, and then suddenly. Americans used to seeking out Rick Steves's normally cheery travel advice may want to pay attention to the wise counsel he is offering them today. It has nothing to do with cool spots abroad they may want to explore. Rather, it's about a dangerous threat emerging in their own backyard that they need to stop now, before it's too late.
