The water has drained out of the Right Honorable Justin Trudeau’s political bathtub, and for the sake of his legacy and the good of the country he should leave without further delay.

Perhaps surprising to some, this truth is clear with the events this week in the most westerly province of the country, British Columbia. Kevin Falcon, head of the BC United Party announced that his neo-liberal party is merging with the far-right Conservative Party of BC, led by John Rustad.

This means that in BC, the move to “Unite the Right” will soon be complete. There are still a lot of complications, such as the two BC parties on the conservative side of the political spectrum now have nominated candidates in the same ridings. That problem will quickly disappear.

People in the U.S.A., Canada and the world can feel more hopeful than they have been for a long time after Kamala Harris’ powerful, compassionate, and visionary speech Thursday night to accept her presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

Unlike the recent rambling convention speeches by President Joe Biden and the much-feared Donald Trump, Vice President Harris delivered a concise, and forceful talk. Although she has been criticized for being too “smiley,” Harris was serious, presidential and, unafraid to mix it up with Trump.

American patriotism was alive and well at the lively DNC, and the raucous crowd of freshly-discovering-Kamala-believers was happy to wrap themselves in the Stars and Stripes. “I love my country with all my heart,” Harris asserted.

“The middle class is where I come from,” she said, having been raised mainly by a single Asian immigrant mother “on the flats” of Oakland, California, not the high hills inhabited by the more fortunate in that city.

Many hockey fans would agree with the choice of the new captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, while others would oppose the selection.  But either way, everyone in the hockey world will sit up and take notice that Auston Matthews is the new Leafs captain.

Afterall, Matthews’ stats in the NHL speak for themselves.  Since joining the league in 2016-17 he has scored 368 goals and has 281 assists. In the 2023-24 year he scored no less than 69 goals. The California-born player is only the second non-Canadian captain of the Leafs (after the Swede, Matt Sundin) in their history.

This writer of Against the Flow blog has been among the sceptics about Matthews.  Back in October of 2023, I reproached him for urging fans in a television ad to “Bet on Yourself”. The comment conjured up memories of Pete Rose, ‘Mister Hustle’ in baseball who has been rightly turned down several times for admission to the baseball Hall of Fame, due to his betting on baseball during his playing and managing career with the Cincinnati Reds.

Two giants in the hammer throw, a very young phenom in the pool, and a gritty soccer team that fought back.

These are some of the highlights from the point of view of the Against the Flow blog on the Paris Olympics.

Nothing attracts attention and kudos like Gold at the Olympics.  Canadian Summer McIntosh won three gold medals and a silver at the Paris Games. She is a wonder at just age 17, and she could well return for still more medals at the next summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. 

Then there were the two hefty hammer throwers, Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers, both world champions, who captured gold medals for Canada in Paris. For Rogers this was Canada’s first gold in a women’s track and field event since 1928. That’s 96 years ago, folks.

And yet, this country’s greatest triumph at these Olympics occurred not in track and field or in the pool but on the soccer pitch.  That was where the women’s soccer team refused to die after the coaching staff’s unacceptable use of drones to spy on opposing teams. The resulting scandal left the entire Canadian Olympic team in France embarrassed and down heartened.

The women’s team was handed a six-point penalty for the drone scandal but overcame that with a win against Columbia.
 
Vanessa Gilles's soccer teammates know her as "the magnet, for her knack of attracting the ball at just the right time. But she truly showed her true character and grit scoring the winning goal in her team’s comeback victory over host France last Sunday. Then, he spoke her mind clearly and with great force:

​"We haven't slept in the last three days. We haven't eaten. We've been crying. Like, I wouldn't say they're ideal performing situations. But we've held each other through it, and we've had absolutely nothing to lose," Gilles said while still standing on the field.                              

    Summer McIntosh with her gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley​