Michèle Champagne
@michelechampagne.com
Graphic artist, M.Des. Studies mandatory positivity and its effects on freedom of expression, architecture media, and “smart” cities. Invited to Harvard, MICA, McGill, and UQAM.
We’re in the ‘copper wire theft’ phase of late capitalism.
Quebec police arrest 3 men for alleged copper wire theft near Montreal
Quebec provincial police have arrested three men in connection with the theft of copper wire belonging to Bell Canada in a municipality southwest of Montreal.
www.ctvnews.ca
January 25, 2026 at 9:51 PM
We’re in the ‘copper wire theft’ phase of late capitalism.
Yesterday and today.
Extreme cold in Quebec: several outdoor activities cancelled
Environment Canada issued a cold weather warning affecting all of Quebec shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday, with wind chill values ranging from -35 to -38 degrees Celsius.
www.ctvnews.ca
January 25, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Yesterday and today.
Des nouvelles lignes directrices.
– cc @greglindsay.org
– cc @greglindsay.org
Québec impose des balises pour l’usage de l’IA dans la fonction publique
Ces balises s’inscrivent dans les meilleures pratiques, selon des experts.
www.ledevoir.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Des nouvelles lignes directrices.
– cc @greglindsay.org
– cc @greglindsay.org
The People’s Republic of China is looking at this and hoping the Tiananmen Square comparisons don’t last too long.
This administration is cooked. Literally no one is scared of them.
January 25, 2026 at 8:49 PM
The People’s Republic of China is looking at this and hoping the Tiananmen Square comparisons don’t last too long.
This aligns with everything we know about the President from the people who know him well—from his niece to John Bolton and Michael Wolff. He is a petty, jealous man who wants all of the attention. And as soon as I heard Carney’s speech I thought: the President will be jealous.
Carney is absolutely right in what he says. The problem is that Trump’s latest tantrum was not about the CUSMA or trade with China. He just resorted to his favourite weapon to get back at Carney for upstaging him at Davos. Much ado about nothing!
January 25, 2026 at 7:06 PM
This aligns with everything we know about the President from the people who know him well—from his niece to John Bolton and Michael Wolff. He is a petty, jealous man who wants all of the attention. And as soon as I heard Carney’s speech I thought: the President will be jealous.
Taps the “inspiring speeches-vs–actual actions” sign.
Carney wants to expand trade to new markets, focusing on defence, technology, AI and innovation
This is an experienced Canadian diplomat who got laid off this week.
Make it make sense
This is an experienced Canadian diplomat who got laid off this week.
Make it make sense
January 25, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Taps the “inspiring speeches-vs–actual actions” sign.
Reposted by Michèle Champagne
I wrote for The Star about Carney delivering a pivotal speech about new global partnerships, then immediately laying off the very people who build said partnerships
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
January 25, 2026 at 1:40 PM
I wrote for The Star about Carney delivering a pivotal speech about new global partnerships, then immediately laying off the very people who build said partnerships
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Reposted by Michèle Champagne
Over at @thestar.com, @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social asks how cuts to Canada's public service, and Global Affairs Canada in particular, align with the visions and goals of the Carney doctrine:
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Mark Carney says we need a new global order. So why is he cutting Canada’s most vital tools to build one?
Cuts to the public service will weaken our capacity to build new alliances.
www.thestar.com
January 25, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Over at @thestar.com, @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social asks how cuts to Canada's public service, and Global Affairs Canada in particular, align with the visions and goals of the Carney doctrine:
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Polite conservatives like each other. PM Mark Carney drops by the Monocle café in Zürich to see Tyler Brûlé for a “chat about the past few days”. But Brûlé doesn’t recount that chat. Instead, he tells us he loves charm, cars, and speed. He also mocks Trudeau’s socks.
monocle.com/the-faster-l...
monocle.com/the-faster-l...
January 25, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Polite conservatives like each other. PM Mark Carney drops by the Monocle café in Zürich to see Tyler Brûlé for a “chat about the past few days”. But Brûlé doesn’t recount that chat. Instead, he tells us he loves charm, cars, and speed. He also mocks Trudeau’s socks.
monocle.com/the-faster-l...
monocle.com/the-faster-l...
This is a clever song, and this video is a series of lovely portraits—of people and places. The cinematography is great.
"Prices go up
and they don’t go down.
Cost forty bucks
just to hang around.”
– Suffer, by Boy Golden, Winnipeg
– via @canadianshieldinstitute.ca
"Prices go up
and they don’t go down.
Cost forty bucks
just to hang around.”
– Suffer, by Boy Golden, Winnipeg
– via @canadianshieldinstitute.ca
Boy Golden - Suffer (Official Video)
YouTube video by Boy Golden
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 7:59 PM
This is a clever song, and this video is a series of lovely portraits—of people and places. The cinematography is great.
"Prices go up
and they don’t go down.
Cost forty bucks
just to hang around.”
– Suffer, by Boy Golden, Winnipeg
– via @canadianshieldinstitute.ca
"Prices go up
and they don’t go down.
Cost forty bucks
just to hang around.”
– Suffer, by Boy Golden, Winnipeg
– via @canadianshieldinstitute.ca
And speaking of Quebecois cheesemakers, I highly recommend Fromagerie L’Ancêtre, especially its lactose free selection. Avril supermarkets carry L'Ancêtre as well as Lufa Farms.
À la fine pointe - Fromagerie L'Ancêtre
YouTube video by La Famille du lait
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:17 PM
And speaking of Quebecois cheesemakers, I highly recommend Fromagerie L’Ancêtre, especially its lactose free selection. Avril supermarkets carry L'Ancêtre as well as Lufa Farms.
Taps the ‘inspiring speeches-vs-actual actions’ sign.
My Trade Secrets today. Mark Carney’s speech: nice truth bomb even if not totally original.
But the middle powers finding a new way to run the world requires a massive shift in political will which Carney’s Canada itself has had trouble making.
But the middle powers finding a new way to run the world requires a massive shift in political will which Carney’s Canada itself has had trouble making.
Carney’s new global order needs a huge shift in political will
[FREE TO READ] Middle-power diplomacy of the sort the Canadian PM calls for requires governments to throw off domestic constraints
as.ft.com
January 23, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Taps the ‘inspiring speeches-vs-actual actions’ sign.
Carney talks about a rupture but is not preparing for it.
Almost 10,000 federal workers were told this week they may be laid…
National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views.
nationalnewswatch.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Carney talks about a rupture but is not preparing for it.
And some people don’t. Years ago, I started abandoning Gmail and avoid Google Drive if I can. I switched most of my work to @proton.me, an end-to-end encrypted service owned by the Swiss firm Proton AG. Proton Mail owns its network, located inside four datacenters in Switzerland and Germany.
January 23, 2026 at 5:42 PM
And some people don’t. Years ago, I started abandoning Gmail and avoid Google Drive if I can. I switched most of my work to @proton.me, an end-to-end encrypted service owned by the Swiss firm Proton AG. Proton Mail owns its network, located inside four datacenters in Switzerland and Germany.
Il n’est jamais trop tard pour faire le switch.
Pixelfed, Olvid, Proton Mail, le Chat… Face à notre dépendance aux services numériques américains, des alternatives existent ⤵️
Pixelfed, Olvid, Proton Mail, le Chat… Face à notre dépendance aux services numériques américains, des alternatives existent
Et si Trump nous coupait l’accès aux services numériques américains ? Certains l’envisagent, tant il semble prêt à utiliser tous les leviers à sa disposition. «Libé» a dressé une liste d’alternatives européennes, des réseaux sociaux à l’IA.
www.liberation.fr
January 23, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Il n’est jamais trop tard pour faire le switch.
Reposted by Michèle Champagne
We're talking about this with @jeetheer.bsky.social on CBC Radio's Day 6 tomorrow. Steve Bannon has compared Canada to Ukraine, and talk is more prominent of using a potential Alberta referendum as a reason to try to take Canada.
Bessent pushes Albertan independence from Canada: "Albertans are very independent people. There's a rumor they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."
January 23, 2026 at 3:52 PM
We're talking about this with @jeetheer.bsky.social on CBC Radio's Day 6 tomorrow. Steve Bannon has compared Canada to Ukraine, and talk is more prominent of using a potential Alberta referendum as a reason to try to take Canada.
“To his credit, @mark-carney.bsky.social knows the old world is dying. But the new world he is trying to create is just a refurbished version of that old world. It will not help us in defeating the monsters.”
– @jeetheer.bsky.social
– @jeetheer.bsky.social
Mark Carney Knows the Old World Is Dying. But His New World Isn’t Good Enough.
The Canadian prime minister offered a radical analysis of the collapse of the liberal world order. His response to that collapse is unacceptably conservative.
www.thenation.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:22 PM
“To his credit, @mark-carney.bsky.social knows the old world is dying. But the new world he is trying to create is just a refurbished version of that old world. It will not help us in defeating the monsters.”
– @jeetheer.bsky.social
– @jeetheer.bsky.social
Some of us got the gist of this a year ago, when the threats of annexation got started. First we were told by our government that it was just a “joke”, then we got a fierce electoral campaign by the current Prime Minister who has since governed with appeasement followed by another fierce speech.
-laughs nervously in Ukrainian-
So er, I don't want to be alarmist my Canadian friends but it's not a GREAT sign when the superpower next door starts talking about how the people of a resource rich region of yours yearn for the freedom to join them and suggesting referendums...
So er, I don't want to be alarmist my Canadian friends but it's not a GREAT sign when the superpower next door starts talking about how the people of a resource rich region of yours yearn for the freedom to join them and suggesting referendums...
Bessent pushes Albertan independence from Canada: "Albertans are very independent people. There's a rumor they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."
January 23, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Some of us got the gist of this a year ago, when the threats of annexation got started. First we were told by our government that it was just a “joke”, then we got a fierce electoral campaign by the current Prime Minister who has since governed with appeasement followed by another fierce speech.
It is not lost on many that the country leading the ‘Board of Peace’ is also running “the camps”.
People are dying in Trump’s squalid concentration camps | Will Bunch
Deaths are occurring in ICE detention facilities at nearly 10 times the rate of the Biden years. It will likely get worse.
www.inquirer.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:20 PM
It is not lost on many that the country leading the ‘Board of Peace’ is also running “the camps”.
McGill’s @jaredwesley.ca has kept an eye on this phenomena. I watched his recent talk there, at the Institute for the Study of Canada. It was called “Populism, Sovereignty, and Democracy in Alberta”.
Bessent pushes Albertan independence from Canada: "Albertans are very independent people. There's a rumor they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."
January 23, 2026 at 3:09 PM
McGill’s @jaredwesley.ca has kept an eye on this phenomena. I watched his recent talk there, at the Institute for the Study of Canada. It was called “Populism, Sovereignty, and Democracy in Alberta”.
Reposted by Michèle Champagne
Fun with charts! Now let's add in health care. And school shootings. And minimum wages. And, well, democracy.
Peace in Greenland (for now), so time to roll out the Crimea/Donetsk scenario for Alberta?
Peace in Greenland (for now), so time to roll out the Crimea/Donetsk scenario for Alberta?
Bessent pushes Albertan independence from Canada: "Albertans are very independent people. There's a rumor they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not. People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got."
January 23, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Fun with charts! Now let's add in health care. And school shootings. And minimum wages. And, well, democracy.
Peace in Greenland (for now), so time to roll out the Crimea/Donetsk scenario for Alberta?
Peace in Greenland (for now), so time to roll out the Crimea/Donetsk scenario for Alberta?
Catherine-Anne Toupin est de retour.
«Boîte noire»: machine infernale
La nouvelle pièce de Catherine-Anne Toupin se contente d’effleurer son sujet.
www.ledevoir.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Catherine-Anne Toupin est de retour.
«Top Girls» au théâtre Espace Go.
«Top Girls»: elles dansent avec les loups
Personnages historiques et contemporains se relaient dans l’une des premières pièces écrites par Caryl Churchill.
www.ledevoir.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:47 PM
«Top Girls» au théâtre Espace Go.
These smears against journalism sound familiar: @hootsuite.com chief executive officer Irina Novoselsky “acknowledged on the internal call Thursday that Hootsuite has a contract with ICE but also referred to recent media coverage as ‘fake news,’ containing ‘factual errors’ and ‘misinformation’.”
Hootsuite CEO says ICE contract will stand as long as agency honours terms and conditions
Leader of Vancouver social media management company addresses employee questions in internal call. “We did nothing wrong here,” CEO says
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:56 PM
These smears against journalism sound familiar: @hootsuite.com chief executive officer Irina Novoselsky “acknowledged on the internal call Thursday that Hootsuite has a contract with ICE but also referred to recent media coverage as ‘fake news,’ containing ‘factual errors’ and ‘misinformation’.”