Why this family is quitting Canada; U.S. says it won’t tolerate trade retaliation from Canada; and more

Ari Blaff and his wife celebrate his first year as an American citizen with a walk on the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty on July 4. Photo by Ari Blaff

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It’s Friday, August 14. Here are the top stories we’re following today.

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Quitting Canada: Why I am moving to the United States

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“I feel that same sense of bewildering malaise looking back in the rear-view, a sense of loss at what Canada was and what it’s become today. I’m not happy to be leaving. Until a few years back, the thought of living anywhere but Canada was unthinkable,” states journalist Ari Blaff, who lists antisemitism, a declining standard of living and a “national insecurity” among the reasons his family is leaving.

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attends a Cabinet meeting hosted by President Donald Trump at Camp David in Maryland, on July 31, 2026. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images

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U.S. ‘not going to tolerate’ retaliation from Canada in trade talks, U.S. representative says

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“If a country retaliates against us, we’re obviously not going to tolerate that. We’ll take action. My sense is the Canadians, they want to have a more conciliatory approach, but we’ll see,” Jamieson Greer said on Friday, as trade talks have ramped up between the two sides.

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U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Jesse Kline: Carney doing nothing to stop businesses fleeing to escape Trump tariffs

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Kline writes that the only strategy that appears to work with Trump is to up the ante — a tactic successfully employed by China and Iran. He argues that because Canada does more trade with the U.S. than China, any retaliatory measures we impose could have a big impact on the American economy. “And with the midterm elections looming, now would be the time to make our move.”

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Cyclists ride down the bike lanes in Toronto on Friday, June 26, 2026. Photo by Peter Power/Postmedia

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Scott Stinson: Ontario Appeal Court hands Doug Ford a win, allows bike lane removals

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“The legislature is free to legislate to remove a bicycle lane from a road — indeed, it may remove a road entirely — without implicating the Charter,” the court ruled. Stinson writes that while he personally is in favour of bike lanes, the place to stop Doug Ford from removing them “was not in the courts, but at the ballot box.”

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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to reporters on the House steps after a series of votes at the U.S. Capitol on July 22, 2026. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

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Geoff Russ: Woke 1 was crazy. Woke 2 is worse and has already conquered Canada

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“Woke 1 was deeply tied to racial tensions,” Russ writes. “Alongside that came the rise of land acknowledgements and activist students ripping the gender signs off campus washrooms.” He says Woke 2 will be dominated by Middle Eastern affairs and will swap out rants about “privilege” for removing “barriers,” in effect, curtailing the career advancement for straight, white men to the benefit of everyone else.

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Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria, a man accused of being a Mafia boss in Ontario who has successfully fought off deportation for more than 40 years. Photo by Brice Hall/Postmedia

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After 42 years of trying, Canada loses another bid to deport alleged top Mafia boss in Toronto

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The federal government first ordered Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria out of Canada in 1982, while he was in prison for second-degree murder. He successfully defeated that deportation — and every other attempt to remove him since.

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