World powers meet as Canada squanders its biggest opportunity

Trump is sitting across from Xi. Reform UK just wiped out Labour in Wales. And Canada's biggest energy opportunity in a generation is stalled over a carbon tax negotiation. The world is moving. Today on The Really Big Show, Jim Csek and Iain Burns ask why Canada isn't.Not every story today is a scandal. Canada's skilled trades sector is positioned for a decade of demand, Canadian-owned lumber companies have quietly outflanked U.S. tariffs by producing American lumber on American soil, and Ottawa says regulatory reform is coming. The bright spots are real. The question is whether this government can get out of the way long enough to let them happen.Today's show covers:- The largest corporate delegation ever to accompany a sitting U.S. president has landed in China, with Trump set to meet Xi Jinping in what is expected to be the most significant U.S.-China summit in years- Bloomberg reports Canada's surge in exports outside the U.S. is driven almost entirely by rising gold and oil prices, not by businesses breaking into new markets, undermining government claims that Canada is successfully diversifying its trade- TC Energy CEO François Poirier says Mexico approves pipeline permits in 8 months while comparable Canadian projects face years of regulatory delays, calling Mexico's framework a model Canada should follow, as Ottawa prepares new regulatory reform legislation it says will streamline major project approvals- Canada's Food Price Report 2026 confirms tariffs and counter-tariffs have increased grocery costs while U.S. food prices have remained relatively stable, with the average family of 4 now spending $17,571 annually on food, up nearly $1,000 from last year and 27% more than 5 years ago- Federal managers proposed copying a Liberal Party logo for a government housing program, while the Treasury Board secretary admitted the "Canada Strong" slogan used in Liberal fundraising has effectively become official government branding, despite Treasury Board policy explicitly banning taxpayer-funded advertising from containing political party slogans- Zelensky announces Canada and Ukraine have begun preparations for a military drone deal with no confirmation from the Canadian government, on the same day Zelensky's former chief of staff Andriy Yermak appeared in court in Kyiv as a suspect in a $10.5 million money laundering scheme involving suspected corruption in Ukraine's drone and military equipment procurement- The U.S. lumber lobby claims Trump's tariffs have cut Canada's share of the American lumber market from 36% in 2016 to 19% today, while obscuring the fact that West Fraser, Interfor and Canfor have quietly acquired sawmills across the U.S. South, meaning Canadian-owned companies are now producing American lumber to avoid the tariffs entirely- CBC has confirmed it ran an undercover media sting targeting commentators who questioned claims around the Kamloops residential school discovery, with the taxpayer-funded project involving American activist Igor Vamos, co-founder of hoax group The Yes Men, and funded in part by Canadian Heritage grants-Canada Post lost a record $1.57 billion last year, has received $2.04 billion in government loans and has not turned a profit since 2017, while the Parliamentary Budget Office says Canada Post refused to disclose the cost of operating its 3,361 rural post offices as cabinet prepares to lift a moratorium on rural closures- Health Canada confirms Canadians with past drug convictions can obtain federal licences to grow, process and sell cannabis, but refuses to disclose how many of its 891 licensees have criminal records, despite RCMP warnings before legalization that organized crime would attempt to infiltrate the industry, with roughly 1 in 5 cannabis purchases still coming from illegal sourcesLet us know what you think in the comments.