Canada-U.S. trade war turns into a war of words; the Trump administration’s ‘really weird’ meme attacks; and more

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to journalists outside his office in Ottawa on Sept. 1, 2026. Photo by Blair Gable/Postmedia

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It’s Tuesday, September 1. Here are the top stories we’re following today.

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Mark Carney tells U.S. to stop ‘doing memes’ and ‘throwing shade’ as war of words escalates

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After days of harsh comments and insults towards Canada from multiple U.S. government officials, Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said Americans should “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough, and start being serious.” Carney said the comments are “not constructive,” as the two countries are embroiled in a trade war.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2026. Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

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Pete Hegseth’s post just the latest ‘frat boy’ insult to Canada, academics say

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“In the second Trump administration, there’s been no real effort to restrain rhetoric, to not post really defamatory and tasteless videos, to go after opponents with the full power of the American state,” a political science professor in Canada says. “And to do all sorts of things that would have been hard to fathom not that long ago.”

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Flags from Canada and the U.S. fly atop the Peace Arch at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington. Photo by David Ryder/Bloomberg

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Canada’s living standards ‘languishing’ behind U.S. as gap in economic performance widens: study

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The Fraser Institute study compared economic outcomes in the two countries by looking at living standards, incomes, employment, investment, and productivity. It found that in every category, Canada has fallen further behind. The study suggests that Canada’s trailing economic performance didn’t begin until 2014. Before then, Canada largely kept pace with, or in some cases exceeded, the U.S. across multiple measures, it said.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney with now newly-elected MP Daniel Gobeil, during a visit to a fruit farm in Saguenay, on Aug. 6, 2026. Photo by Francis Vachon/Postmedia

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Tasha Kheiriddin: Liberal byelection sweep cements Carney’s flag-rallying strategy

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After the Liberals swept three federal byelections on Monday, Kheiriddin writes that with its elbows-up response to U.S. President Donald Trump, “the Liberal Party is steadily identifying its brand with the nation itself.” She says it’s “a page from a very old Liberal playbook” and Mark Carney is “now pulling off the 21st-century version, with Trump supplying copious amounts of glue.”

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Prime Minister Mark Carney talks during a news conference in Levis, Quebec, on Monday August 24, 2026. Photo by Francis Vachon for Postmedia

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Here’s what Mark Carney said when asked if he would run in the next federal election

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The prime minister said more than a hundred words and none of them were “yes.”

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