Joe Oliver: Four critical endgames are looming that could change the world

financialpost.com:

Around the world, endgames are looming in four high-stakes political, environmental and military disputes. The results will resonate well beyond the immediate protagonists.

Here at home, a Liberal government in its death throes is engaged in cringeworthy acts of desperation. The prime minister used his officials to publicly chastise his deputy PM for failing to prettify his economic and fiscal debacles. Then, predictably, he failed to persuade Mark Carney to board a foundering vessel with no lifeboats. Unless Trudeau jumps ship early to avoid electoral obliteration, long-suffering Canadians will have to wait 15 months for liberation from: high prices, unaffordable housing, profligate spending, rising taxes, massive deficits, intrusive regulations, divisive identity politics, alienating woke ideology, regional tensions, international humiliation and the absence of moral leadership. Whenever exactly he takes over, Pierre Poilievre will face a monumental task to undo the damage.

Extraordinary events in the U.S. have culminated in an intensely polarized presidential race. On the Democratic left, a west-coast liberal has morphed overnight from an ineffective and unpopular vice president into a charismatic combination of Obama and Demosthenes. On the Republican right, the sui generis MAGA populist triumphantly escaped an assassination attempt and may yet evade the weaponization of the justice system, if only on appeal. Despite what those afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome claim, America’s democracy probably is not on the line. But a great deal is in play.

Compared to a Kamala Harris presidency, a Trump second term would bring: lower corporate and personal taxes; less intrusive regulation; a tougher stance on crime;